November 15, 2025

Kyle Cheney of Politico: “... Donald Trump has — for the second time — pardoned Dan Wilson, a militia member who joined the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021 and was also convicted of illegally possessing firearms in his Kentucky home. Trump had already erased Wilson’s felony conviction for his role in the riot when he issued his Inauguration Day pardon for all of the participants in the attack. But Wilson was one of a handful of Jan. 6 defendants who remained incarcerated for other federal crimes. He was due to be released from prison in 2028.... Wilson ... has identified himself as a member of the Oath Keepers and Gray Ghost Partisan Rangers militia.... U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, sentenced Wilson to five years in prison, a sentence that began shortly before Trump took office.” Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

~~~ Justin Glawe of Public Notice has a nice review of Trump's serial abuse of the pardon power. MB: A real Congress could and would impeach & convict Trump for these abuses, but we haven't had a useful Congress for several decades.

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Status of Wag-the-Dog Plans Remains Uncertain. Dan Lamothe, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump said Friday night that he has 'sort of made up my mind' about how he will proceed with the possibility of military action in Venezuela, following a second consecutive day of deliberations at the White House that included top national security advisers. Trump’s vague remarks aboard Air Force One were delivered as he traveled for the weekend to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and included no additional new details. The comments came as U.S. forces in the region awaited possible attack orders and after days of high-level discussions about whether — and how — to strike in Venezuela.... Joining Trump in deliberations Friday were Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller....”

Now that the Democrats are using the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans, to try and deflect from their disastrous SHUTDOWN, and all of their other failures, I will be asking A.G. Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him. --

~~~⭐Erica Green, et al., of the New York Times: “When a trove of Jeffrey Epstein’s emails were made public this week, Donald J. Trump’s name was all over them. But on Friday, when Mr. Trump demanded that the Justice Department investigate a list of powerful men mentioned in the emails, his own name was nowhere to be seen — he had singled out only Democrats. Equally remarkable was how quickly Attorney General Pam Bondi acquiesced to his demand, even though four months ago the Justice Department formally declared that nothing in the Epstein files warranted further investigation. That about-face, as much as any action Ms. Bondi has taken this year, demonstrated the near-complete breakdown of the Justice Department’s traditional independence to prosecute cases based on facts and the law, as opposed to presidential fiat. And, crucially, it could foreclose any further disclosures of the Epstein files.... If an investigation into any one of the targets suggested by Mr. Trump were to ultimately start, it could allow the Justice Department to refuse to release any further files related to Mr. Epstein by claiming that the disclosures could harm continuing inquiries. In his social media post connecting Democrats with Mr. Epstein, Mr. Trump named [President Bill] Clinton, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and the venture capitalist and megadonor Reid Hoffman.” The link is a gift link. The NBC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Sisak & Jesse Bedayn of the AP: “Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years, didn’t explain what supposed crimes he wanted the Justice Department to investigate. None of the men he mentioned in a social media post demanding the probe has been accused of sexual misconduct by any of Epstein’s victims.... Asked later Friday whether he should be ordering up such investigations, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: 'I’m the chief law enforcement officer of the country. I’m allowed to do it.'... On social media Friday night, [Reid] Hoffman called for Trump to release all the Epstein files, saying they will show that 'the calls for baseless investigations of me are nothing more than political persecution and slander.' He added, 'I was never a client of Epstein’s and never had any engagement with him other than fundraising for MIT.' Hoffman bankrolled writer E. Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit against Trump.” ~~~

~~~ Sad! Donnie Breaks Up with Margie. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: Donald “Trump is done with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. Once one of Mr. Trump’s most reliable allies on Capitol Hill, the Georgia Republican has increasingly broken ranks with him, most notably by calling for the release of the Justice Department’s files about the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.... 'I am withdrawing my support and Endorsement of “Congresswoman” Marjorie Taylor Greene, of the Great State of Georgia,” he wrote on social media [Friday evening]. Over the past several weeks, Mr. Trump said, 'all I see “Wacky' Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!... She has told many people that she is upset that I don’t return her phone calls anymore, but with 219 Congressmen/women, 53 U.S. Senators, 24 Cabinet Members, almost 200 Countries, and an otherwise normal life to lead, I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day,' he said.” The Independent's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Meredith Hill of Politico: “House Republican leaders are planning to hold a vote Tuesday on legislation to force the release of federal files related to Jeffrey Epstein.... Scores of Republicans are expected to break ranks and support the bill, which would then have to be approved by the Senate and signed by Trump to take effect. Neither is likely, but the process could drag out for weeks, extending the controversy over Trump’s ties to Epstein.” MB: Also, as NYT reporters point out in the story linked above, the DOJ's "investigations" of Democrats implicated in the Epstein scandal will serve as an excuse not to release the files.

~~~ Ken Bensinger of the New York Times: “Right-wing media had a similar first response to new emails tying ... [Donald] Trump to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein: thunderous silence.... But as time wore on, right-wing media figures began coalescing around another approach: focusing on a single redacted name in the emails. They argued that Democrats on the House Oversight Committee — who had released three emails early on Wednesday — had created a false narrative by hiding the name of one of Mr. Epstein’s victims in one of the messages. The redaction, the theory went, was meant to cover up that the victim, Virginia Giuffre, previously said she had never witnessed Mr. Trump involved in sexual abuse of minors.... The core message that ended up emanating from conservative media this week originated within the Oversight Committee itself, which jumped on the redaction question less than an hour after the three emails dropped.... The White House also jumped into the conversation.... After [press secretary Karolin] Leavitt ... called the redactions an effort to 'smear President Trump’..., Republicans on the committee released an unredacted copy of the email that the Democrats had put out, in apparent violation of the committee’s policy.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here's the amazing thing: during the 2016 election cycle, right-wingers developed a broadly-publicized, elaborate & baseless conspiracy theory -- Pizzagate -- claiming that high-ranking Democrats were running a pedophile ring out of the basement of a Washington, D.C., pizzeria. After Wikileaks published John Podesta's hacked emails, wingers said they had discovered "coded messages" in his email exchanges that connected top Democrats to a sex-trafficking ring. That's all they had. Made-up suppositions. But now, but now. Now they have proof of a real, extensive, international sex-trafficking ring involving real high rollers. It's everything they theorized. And more. But they don't believe it. That is, they believe a hoax, but when the contours of the hoax prove to be true -- but with a different cast of characters -- they can't believe it.   

Digby cites Asawin Suebsaeng & Prem Thakker of Zeteo: “The confidential drafting process for Donald Trump’s still-unpublished National Security Strategy, laying out the president’s vision for the world, has stunned some in government who’ve seen the pages so far. A federal staffer tells Zeteo that one version of the draft they saw reminded them of 'fascist internet trolls getting worked up about something they saw on Twitter.'... The NSS draft also states plainly that it is in the US national-security interest to help foster the success – and elections – of MAGA-aligned and like-minded, right-wing, populist-nationalist political parties in Europe, and specifically highlights Vice President JD Vance’s February speech at the Munich Security Conference as a model. The draft document rages against the 'erasure,' per two of the sources, of European culture and civilization due to factors like migration rates. It denounces speech regulations and efforts to ban far-right parties, including Alternative for Germany, or AfD.” Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: No president would write his own National Security Strategy, but Donald Trump won't even read the one his administration releases. Therefore, whatever the authors -- Tulsi Gabbard? Stephen Miller? -- produce will be what stands. And that will apparently be a fascist manifesto. ~~~

~~~ Andrew Roth & Helena Smith of the Guardian: “The US state department has announced that it will designate four European self-described anti-fascist groups as Foreign Terrorist Organisations, as the Trump administration broadens its campaign against what it portrays as an international wave of leftist violence. In a public statement on Thursday, the state department said it would designate Antifa Ost in Germany, the Italy-based International Revolutionary Front, and two organisations in Greece – Armed Proletarian Justice and Revolutionary Class Self Defense – as 'Specially Designated Global Terrorists … conspiring to undermine the foundations of Western Civilization through their brutal attacks'. The designation was the first time that 'antifa' groups had been deemed a foreign terrorist threat.... Mary Bossis, emeritus professor of international security at Piraeus University in Athens, said it was 'plain wrong' to conflate anti-fascist activists with violent extremists.”

Marie: Donald Trump and some corrupt allies have instituted new means to secure bribes and other anti-legitimate payoffs. One is a "settlement shakedown." Another is a "complaint con." We already know the Trump administration settled a supposed wrongful-death suit with the family of insurrectionist Ashley Babbitt for about $5 million. MEANWHILE, Trump has demanded that the DOJ drop a mere $230 million on him for complaints he lodged against the department's investigations of his (alleged!) crimes. The person who will approve (or who already has approved -- it's secret!) the payout is, well, Trump. The trick then is to commit a federal crime, then sue the government for dealing with the crime. Now comes this: ~~~

~~~ Hafiz Rashid of the New Republic, republished by Yahoo! News: "Michael Flynn is seeking restitution from the government to the tune of $50 million. Donald Trump’s onetime national security adviser is now negotiating a settlement with his Department of Justice, claiming that he was unjustly prosecuted by former special counsel Robert Mueller for lying to the FBI about conversations with a Russian official. Flynn initially pleaded guilty and then fought the prosecution, eventually receiving a pardon from Trump in 2020. Flynn later filed a lawsuit against the government for damages, only to have a federal judge dismiss the case in December last year. While the Biden administration fought Flynn’s case, the Trump administration seems open to a settlement." Thanks to RAS for the lead.

Trump Tries to Fix a Part of the Problem He Caused. Ana Swanson of the New York Times: “The Trump administration said on Friday that it would lift tariffs on foreign products including beef, tomatoes, bananas and coffee, an effort to alleviate some of the price pressures consumers have faced since its global levies took effect. The exemptions, which were made effective from Thursday, were applied to certain 'reciprocal' tariffs that ... [Donald] Trump announced on other countries’ exports in April. They walk back one of the president’s signature policies, the sweeping tariffs that he has suddenly paused, raised and lowered in recent months, causing chaos for trading partners and international businesses. The White House said the tariffs were no longer needed, given the substantial progress it had made in its trade negotiations, including more than a dozen 'framework deals,' final trade agreements and investment agreements.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: How many times did Trump insist that he was forcing "foreign countries" who had "taken advantage" of the U.S. to pay the tariffs? And how many times did economists say, no, no, American importers and consumers pay the tariffs? And now, gosh, it turns out American importers and consumers pay the tariffs -- and that is reflected in the inflated prices of "groceries" at the checkout counter. But the Trumposphere cannot flat-out admit all that because it would prove Trump is as stupid as he is. AND in today's Comments, gonzo is wondering how "lifting these tariffs support the claim that tariffs are vital for national security reasons."  ~~~

     ~~~ Update. David Lynch of the Washington Post is direct about Trump's culpability. Here's his lede: “... Donald Trump’s bid Friday to soothe consumers by dropping tariffs on a wide array of groceries, including coffee, beef, bananas and tomatoes — contradicting his repeated claims that the levies were not affecting retail prices — shows he is on the defensive over his signature policy initiative.” ~~~

     ~~~ Will Weissert of the AP: Trump's “abrupt retreat from his signature tariff policy on so many staples key to the American diet is significant.... 'We just did a little bit of a rollback on some foods like coffee,' Trump said aboard Air Force One as he flew to Florida hours after the tariff announcement was made. Pressed on his tariffs helping to increase consumer prices, Trump acknowledged, 'I say they may, in some cases' have that effect. 'But to a large extent they’ve been borne by other countries,' the president added.”

Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: Donald “Trump withdrew his nomination of Donald L. Korb, a veteran tax attorney, to serve as the top lawyer at the Internal Revenue Service after Mr. Korb came under fire from the far-right activist Laura Loomer, deepening a leadership crisis at the tax agency. The Senate had been preparing to vote to confirm Mr. Korb to be chief counsel of the I.R.S., a powerful post that oversees how the government interprets the tax code and defends those views in U.S. Tax Court. This year, the I.R.S. legal office has been at the center of the Trump administration’s attempts to use tax information to help deport migrants. It has also been caught up in Mr. Trump’s efforts to strip liberal organizations, and universities like Harvard, of their tax-exempt status.... In recent days, Ms. Loomer criticized Mr. Korb, arguing that he was too friendly to Democrats and would not use the power of the I.R.S. to aggressively pursue left-wing groups.... Mr. Korb ... was the I.R.S. chief counsel during the George W. Bush administration.... After Mr. Trump pulled the nomination, Ms. Loomer ... took credit....” Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Under Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's direction, the IRS also has changed its legal guidance so as to allow hedge fund managers -- including Bessent -- to avoid Medicare taxes and Social Security taxes, too (Bessent did decide to pay his Social Security taxes). 

Oh, Look Who's Using the Autopen Now. Jim Mustian, et al., of the AP: “The Justice Department posted pardons online bearing identical copies of ... Donald Trump’s signature before quietly correcting them this week after what the agency called a 'technical error.' The replacements came after online commenters seized on striking similarities in the president’s signature across a series of pardons dated Nov. 7.... In fact, the signatures on several pardons initially uploaded to the Justice Department’s website were identical, two forensic document experts confirmed to The Associated Press. Within hours of the online speculation, the administration replaced copies of the pardons with new ones that did not feature identical signatures. It insisted Trump, who mercilessly mocked his predecessor’s use of an autopen, had originally signed all the Nov. 7 pardons himself and blamed 'technical' and staffing issues for the error.... The questions about Trump’s signature come amid a new flurry of clemency and weeks after the president claimed to not even know Changpeng Zhao, a crypto billionaire he pardoned last month.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I can't say that I see how a "technical error" could have caused Trump to miraculously sign seven documents with identical signatures nor how the "Democrat shutdown" caused this remarkable "technical error," as administration spokespeople claimed. Whenever Trump accuses somebody else of doing something untoward or unprofessional, it's safe to assume Trump does that thing himself. 

Another Trump-Endorsed Health Insurance Scam. Peter Whoriskey of the Washington Post: “With enhanced government subsidies for Obamacare plans expiring this year and millions of Americans facing soaring insurance costs, many are expected to consider enrolling in the kind of 'short-term' plans ...  that Trump administration officials have promoted.... Unlike most insurance, these plans are not required to cover preexisting conditions or even basic needs such as maternity care and mental health. Their coverage is so full of holes that five states have banned their sale, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group.... The Biden administration referred to them as 'junk' plans.... In addition to the five states that have banned them — including California and New York — nine states have rules so prohibitive that no short-term plans are offered, leaving 36 states where they are sold, KFF has found.... Short-term plans, which were previously limited to a duration of four months, were vastly expanded in 2018 by the Trump administration, which saw them as an alternative to ACA plans, which they opposed.... The Trump administration ruled that a short-term policy could last as long as three years.”

Look What Can Happen When Somebody Stands Up to a Trump Extortion Racket. Alan Blinder of the New York Times: “A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Friday not to coerce the University of California by threatening its research funding in defiance of the First Amendment, an extraordinary rebuke to the federal government’s pressure campaign against elite schools. The judge, Rita F. Lin of Federal District Court in San Francisco, also said the government was forbidden 'from seeking payments' from the university system in connection with civil rights investigations — an order that could upend the Trump administration’s settlement talks with the university months after the Justice Department demanded more than $1 billion. Trump administration officials have spent much of this year trying to remake elite American universities that they perceive as hubs of liberal indoctrination and depict as epicenters of antisemitism. They have often wielded the halting of federal research funding to prod schools into negotiations, and the government has already reached settlements with a handful of top universities, including Brown, Columbia and Cornell.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gosh, that sure makes the timid, obsequious leaders of Brown, Columbia & Cornell look like stupid patsies. You'd think with all their education and their high-powered lawyers and their savvy boards of directors, they would know better.  

Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: “The Trump administration is taking steps to threaten the state of Colorado, in an attempt to compel the release of an infamous former Mesa County elections clerk serving a nine-year prison sentence for an illegal scheme to try to prove ... Donald Trump's election conspiracy theories. According to 9 News, 'The Colorado Department of Corrections confirms it received notice from the Federal Bureau of Prisons on Nov. 12, a concrete move toward a speculative strategy' to spring Tina Peters. '... Trump cannot pardon the former Mesa County clerk....' Per Trump's pardon attorney Ed Martin, 'We did it in a way that puts the right kind of pressure on them. If the feds say we want something, you change your tune.'” 

Natalie Allison of the Washington Post: “A law enforcement officer was hospitalized Friday night after a 'serious' crash occurred in Vice President JD Vance’s motorcade in Tennessee. The crash happened in Maryville, Tennessee, as Vance’s motorcade made its way to a Republican National Committee fundraiser at the luxury Blackberry Farm resort, according to law enforcement officials briefed on the incident. Vance was traveling with his wife, Usha Vance, for the event. The couple was unharmed.”

Giddy-yap! High Plains Grifters. Justin Elliott, et al., of ProPublica: “On Oct. 2..., Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived at Mount Rushmore to shoot a television ad. Sitting on horseback in chaps and a cowboy hat, Noem addressed the camera with a stern message for immigrants: 'Break our laws, we’ll punish you.' Noem has hailed the more than $200 million, taxpayer-funded ad campaign as a crucial tool to stem illegal immigration. Her agency invoked the 'national emergency' at the border as it awarded contracts for the campaign, bypassing the normal competitive bidding process.... A Republican consulting firm with long-standing personal and business ties to Noem and her senior aides at DHS [is] running the Mount Rushmore shoot[, C]alled the Strategy Group, [its name] does not appear on public documents about the contract. The main recipient listed on the contracts is a mysterious Delaware company, which was created days before the deal was finalized. No firm has closer ties to Noem’s political operation than the Strategy Group. It played a central role in her 2022 South Dakota gubernatorial campaign. Corey Lewandowski, her top adviser at DHS, has worked extensively with the firm. And the company’s CEO is married to Noem’s chief spokesperson at DHS, Tricia McLaughlin.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So the full message “Break our laws, we’ll punish you” should include the caveat, “But when we break out laws, we don't punish ourselves.” Akhilleus differs. He writes (in yesterday's Comments), “the tag ... should be 'Not white? You’re fucked.'” 

Grace Yarrow of Politico: “The Trump administration will require millions of low-income people to reapply for food stamps as part of an effort to crack down on 'fraud,'  Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said. Rollins told Newsmax on Thursday that she plans to 'have everyone reapply for their benefits, make sure that everyone that’s taking a taxpayer-funded benefit through ... food stamps, that they literally are vulnerable and they can’t survive without it.'... State SNAP administrators already require participants to recertify their information as often as every six months, and families that receive benefits are expected to keep their work history, income and other personal information up to date. USDA did not immediately respond to a request to clarify a timeline for Rollins’ new plan or how it differs from current state-level requirements for participants to reapply for the program.”

Bill Pulte, Trailer Park Slum Landlord. Matthew Goldstein, et al., of the New York Times: “When Bill Pulte appeared before the Senate committee considering his nomination to be one of the nation’s top housing regulators, he presented himself as the anointed representative of his family’s home-building empire.... But Mr. Pulte, 37, no longer has any official connection to PulteGroup, which has built 800,000 homes across the country since the 1950s. He was pushed off the company’s board in 2020.... And his family’s $500 million charitable foundation, run by an aunt and his father, issued a statement two years ago saying that 'Bill Pulte does not represent, nor is he a spokesperson for, all members of the Pulte family, in any capacity.' These days, one of Bill Pulte’s primary connections to the residential real estate business is a group of five aging mobile home parks he owns in Florida, some badly in need of repair.” The link is a gift link. Pulte claims somebody else manage the trailer parks, but the Times publishes a whole lotta photos of Pulte's decrepit trailers. “What a dump!” comes to mind.

Schmuck! Mark Arsenault of the New York Times: “The president of the Boston University College Republicans has been attacked online for saying on social media that he had called immigration agents before a raid at a Boston carwash in which nine workers were detained. Zac Segal, a Boston University junior and a track athlete, according to his school bio page, posted on social media on Nov. 7 that he had 'been calling ICE for months' about workers at Allston Car Wash, near the Boston University campus in the Allston neighborhood. Federal agents swarmed the business on Nov. 4, detaining five women and four men who worked there, according to their lawyer, Todd Pomerleau. The workers are contesting their detentions in court, he said.... Hundreds of people have attacked Mr. Segal online for his post.” 

Lauren Weber of the Washington Post: “After spending years on the fringes of the medical community and dismissed as peddlers of dangerous misinformation about vaccine safety, the anti-vaccine group [Robert] Kennedy[, Jr.] founded, Children’s Health Defense, is now stronger than ever and wielding clout in ... Donald Trump’s administration. With about 1,000 people in attendance, members of the group reveled in its success at its annual convention in Austin on Saturday and Sunday, and mapped out plans for the growth of the 'Make America Healthy Again' movement. MAHA, which Kennedy has pitched as aimed at combating childhood chronic disease, has proved to be a disruptive force in national and local politics.” Thank you for RAS for this gift link.  

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Jeremy Barr of the Guardian: “Starting Saturday, the US’s biggest liberal-leaning network – which has been known as MSNBC since its launch in 1996 – will officially become known as MS NOW. The somewhat forced acronym stands for My Source for News, Opinion, and the World. The 'MS' comes from the network’s original partnership with Microsoft back in the 1990s, which ended more than a decade ago.... The change was forced on the network by its parent company, NBCUniversal, which is breaking off MSNBC along with a few other cable networks into a new, separate company called Versant. MSNBC/MS Now is trying to make the best of it, using it as an opportunity to promote the brand anew as a source of patriotic, trustworthy news and analysis.... The network has moved from New York’s most famous media hub [-- 30 Rock --] over to a far less glamorous office building in Times Square that once housed the New York Times.”

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Georgia. Kate Brumback of the AP: “A longtime prosecutor announced he will take over the Georgia election interference case against ... Donald Trump and others, after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was removed from the case and no one else wanted the job. The nonpartisan Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia was tasked with replacing Willis after she was disqualified over an 'appearance of impropriety' created by a romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she’d chosen to lead the case. The organization’s executive director, Pete Skandalakis, said Friday that he would take the case on himself. 'Several prosecutors were contacted and, while all were respectful and professional, each declined the appointment,' Skandalakis said in an emailed statement. Legal action against Trump is unlikely while he is president. However, 14 other defendants still face charges, among them former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani as well as former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Trump earlier this week announced pardons for people accused of backing his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election — including those charged in Georgia — but Skandalakis has said that has no bearing on these state charges.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Dany Raby of CBS News: "Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee has officially dropped three charges out of dozens in Georgia's election interference case against ... [Donald] Trump and others. On Friday, McAfee ordered that Counts 14, 15, and 27, conspiracy and criminal attempt to file false documents and filing false documents, respectively, should be dismissed. Mr. Trump had been charged with two of the counts, 15 and 27. McAfee had signaled in September 2024 that he wanted to remove the charges, arguing that they lie beyond the state's jurisdiction. He was not able to officially drop the charges until the case was remanded to him, which did not happen until Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis's disqualification was finalized by the Georgia courts. In Friday's ruling, he said that the defendants' remaining motions challenging the indictment over the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution were denied, meaning only the three were quashed at this time."

Georgia Senatorial Race. Richard Elliot of WSB-TV (Atlanta): "An AI-generated political ad featuring a deepfake of Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is raising concerns as it highlights the growing use of artificial intelligence in political campaigns. The ad, created by Republican Congressman Mike Collins’ campaign, mimics Ossoff’s appearance and voice.... The ad portrays a fabricated version of Ossoff making controversial statements, which were actually generated by AI....  This use of AI technology in political advertising is legal under current laws.... Despite the bipartisan concerns, the Georgia legislature’s attempt to limit AI-generated political ads did not pass, leaving the door open for more such ads in future campaigns." Via Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God. ~~~

     ~~~ Thanks to RAS for the lead. RAS writes, "The AI slop and abuses these next couple of years is going to be insane. And I don't think that Republicans will pass any legislation to slow it down. Both because the are getting paid off by the AI industry and because they know that while it could also be used against them they know most of the Democrats have morals that will keep them from sinking to their level.... We need make this a nuclear arms race that threatens to burn everybody to ground. Unless Republicans truly fear these fake videos threatening their own power and livelihoods nothing will be done to curb this disinformation. Collins needs to be inundated with a taste of his own medicine immediately and repeatedly."

Kentucky Super-Voters. Brendan Rascius of the Independent (Nov. 4): “Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, a member of the Republican Party, took to social media after fielding complaints from constituents. 'We’re getting calls about polls being closed,' he wrote on X on Tuesday. 'They are closed because we do not have elections today. Kentucky votes next year.... You cannot vote today in Kentucky for the mayor of New York City or the Governor of Virginia,' he added. 'Sorry.'” Thanks to Akhilleus for the link.