•Former President Bill Clinton, 75, is hospitalized in Orange County with an infection not linked to COVID-19, according to a spokesman and two of his physicians, the L.A. Times reports. Clinton was in Southern California for a private reception and dinner for the non-profit Clinton Foundation.
•A federal court has sided with Texas on its controversial abortion law, which will remain in effect pending further review.
Retail Sales Rise 0.7% in September – Here’s some good economic news: retail sales rose 0.7% in September according to the Commerce Department, despite supply constraints, the Delta variant of the coronavirus and the end of unemployment benefits, The Wall Street Journal reports. The September rate of inflation was 0.4%, although it stands at 5.4% for the year.
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Bannon Faces Contempt Charges – The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection meets next Tuesday to begin contempt charges against former Trump advisor Stephen K. Bannon for his refusal to respond to a subpoena, The Washington Post reports. Former Trump administration aides Mark Meadows and Kash Patel were initially expected to testify before closed doors this week but will be granted an extension or continuance.
Dan Scavino, former White House deputy chief of staff for communications also has had his hearing before the committee postponed after delivery of his subpoena was delayed.
Note: While the House committee considers Bannon potentially the key witness in its investigation of January 6, his refusal to appear by excuse of “executive privilege,” which doesn’t exist (i.e., Trump is no longer president, so that privilege is moot), is nothing more than red meat for the most die-hard of Trump’s supporters. Bannon will revel in his continuing defiance of the “deep state.” And may find himself in an orange jump suit.
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You’re Not Fired, After All – Andrew McCabe, former deputy director of the FBI has had his full law enforcement benefits restored by the Justice Department, NPR’s Morning Edition reports, more than three years after he was fired in a dramatic television reality show-like Trump administration stunt. Trump fired McCabe hours before his retirement package was set to take effect after the ex-president’s Justice Department charged the career FBI official with “lack of candor” in a media leak investigation.
Note: The “lack of candor” phrase came from then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions regarding McCabe’s authorization of a conversation between the FBI and The Wall Street Journal. McCabe became FBI director in 2017, after James Comey was fired by Trump. Sessions was to be fired by Trump in November 2018. All the best people.
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Pledge of Allegiance Made to January 6 Flag – Participants in a “Take Back Virginia” rally in which former President Trump endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin recited the Pledge of Allegiance to a flag apparently carried at the January rally preceding the Capitol insurrection, Newsweek reports.
Youngkin has tried to distance himself from Trump in Virginia as the campaign heats up ahead of the November 2 election. He put out a statement Thursday that “While I had no role in last night’s event, I have heard about it from many people in the media today. It’s weird and it’s wrong to pledge allegiance to a flag connected to January 6. As I’ve said many times before, the violence that occurred January 6 was sickening and wrong.”
Outgoing Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a term-limited Democrat, and Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate running against Youngkin for governor both condemned the event, with McAuliffe calling it a “racist dog whistle,” according to Politico. A Fox News poll finds that Trump has a 53% unfavorable rating in purple Virginia, with McAuliffe, Youngkin and President Biden all more popular.
Note: We’ve for a long time said that the Virginia race for governor is the first true test of Trump’s post-January 6 popularity. Most recent polls have Youngkin pulling close to a dead heat with McAuliffe, but the pro-Trump rally and Trump’s endorsement of Youngkin is likely to wake up Virginia’s Democratic and independent voters despite the Republican candidate’s efforts to distance himself from the ex-president.
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DeSantis to Sue Over Vaccine Mandates — Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said he will challenge in federal court vaccine mandates proposed by President Joe Biden in September to be enforced by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Politico reports. According to Politico DeSantis said at a news conference, “Let's not have Biden come in and effectively take away — threaten to take away — the jobs of people who have been working hard throughout this entire pandemic. I am offended that a police officer could potentially lose their job.”
Note: Interesting that DeSantis is playing the law-and-order card when it seems that obeying the law is something that is selective according to many Republicans, including a resident of his state. While the duty of many police forces is “protect and serve,” (1) there have been 722,000 deaths associated with COVID and (2) studies show that the available vaccines have a high effectiveness of protecting individuals from contracting — and consequently passing — the virus, supporters of that ethos should have been first in line when the vaccines became available.
In addition to which, has DeSantis forgotten that the vaccines were the result of “Operation Warp Speed,” which was arguably his apparent role model’s only tangible accomplishment?
--Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash