Idiocracy

Roll Call reports: Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson is considering a run for Congress in Texas, two sources familiar with his plans said Friday. Jackson was the chief White House physician in 2018, when President Donald Trump nominated him to be Veterans Affairs secretary. But Jackson withdrew his nomination from consideration amid allegations that he abused alcohol and mishandled prescription …

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports: A growing number of Republican lawmakers are urging Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, a fellow Republican, to either provide evidence of the voting “irregularities” he has alleged or concede Tuesday’s election to Gov.-elect Andy Beshear, who defeated him by 5,189 votes. “The best thing to do, the right thing to do, is for Governor Bevin to concede …

The Daily Beast reports: According to three people with knowledge of the situation and another source close to Trump, Apprentice creator Mark Burnett and the president have sporadically kept in touch, mostly over the phone, since Trump won the election. The pair remain friends, these sources say, and have discussed reviving their creative partnership, pitching each other details on potential …

Last night Glorious Leader retweeted a Birmingham News item about University of Alabama students being warned that they will be punished for “disruptive protests” during his visit for a football game. But as it turns out, his amplification of that warning is moot. From an update to the same story: Jason Rothfarb, vice president for Student Affairs for University of …

Mediaite reports: CNN New Day featured on Wednesday a panel of Pennsylvania voters from swing districts that was moderated by anchor Alisyn Camerota — and two had a jaw-dropping answer when asked what President Donald Trump could do to lose their vote. The last question in the segment was put to Crystal, who was the most ardently pro-Trump. Camerota asked …

The Washington Post reports: Smuggling gangs in Mexico have repeatedly sawed through new sections of President Trump’s border wall in recent months by using commercially available power tools, opening gaps large enough for people and drug loads to pass through, according to U.S. agents and officials with knowledge of the damage. The breaches have been made using a popular cordless …

“When you have the president of the United States using language that even on our crazy show we’d bleep out, then society’s in trouble. Do you want to start bleeping out the president of the United States during his speeches? Whether they’re government leaders, economic leaders, religious leaders — when they misbehave, when they say the norms don’t matter, when …

Politico reports: House Republicans who raked in the most money for a private fundraising event at Trump Hotel on Tuesday night got a little extra reward: a roast from President Donald Trump. The president — unscripted, unfiltered and totally in his element — went on an extended riff about a wide range of topics, from his recent White House meeting …

Newsweek reports: Rudy Giuliani—who was mayor of New York during the September 11 attacks—has drawn the ire and vexation of Twitter after misspelling the name of Osama Bin Laden. The 75-year-old, who is now President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, attempted to condemn Democrats over the criticism they have directed at the president and his handling of the Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi …

Fox Business reports: For years, they both stridently defended Donald Trump before recently turning against him. Through it all they’ve remained friends and now possible allies in an attempt to unseat their old boss in the 2020 election. We’re talking about Anthony Scaramucci and Michael Cohen, who form one of the political world’s more enduring and entertaining relationships. And it …

Fox News reports: Former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus frequently watches his former colleague, Sean Spicer, on “Dancing with the Stars” — and told Fox News that the latter’s success was due to his experience in President Trump’s administration. “People are voting for him so all these liberals that are all up in arms over the fact that …

The New York Times reports: American forces and their Kurdish-led partners in Syria had been conducting as many as a dozen counterterrorism missions a day against Islamic State militants, officials said. That has stopped. Those same partners, the Syrian Democratic Forces, had also been quietly releasing some Islamic State prisoners and incorporating them into their ranks, in part as a …

The Hill reports: President Trump announced Friday that he plans to nominate Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette to replace outgoing Energy Secretary Rick Perry. In a series of tweets, Trump described Brouillette as a “total professional” and said his experience in the energy sector is “unparalleled.” Trump also praised Perry for doing an “outstanding job” and said he would leave …

The Associated Press reports: A farming business owned by the family of West Virginia’s billionaire governor has received $125,000 in soybean and corn subsidies, the maximum allowed from a federal program meant to help American farmers through the U.S. trade war with China. There is no evidence Gov. Jim Justice did anything illegal. But at least one analyst said the …

Reuters reports: U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday played down the crisis in Syria touched off by Turkey’s incursion against U.S.-allied Kurdish forces, saying the conflict was between Turkey and Syria and that it was “fine” for Russia to help Damascus. Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, said imposing U.S. sanctions on Turkey would be better than fighting …

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports: In Eastern Kentucky’s Red River Gorge area, an 18-foot replica of President Donald Trump’s border wall is being scaled not only by experienced mountain climbers, but by novices and young children. One climber even scaled it while juggling. “You don’t tell a climber that something can’t be climbed or that it’s impossible,” said Rick Weber, the …

The Middle East Eye reports: When Recep Tayyip Erdogan ended his call with Donald Trump on Sunday, there was a sense of frustration in the Turkish capital and a feeling that Ankara’s concerns had not been properly considered. Just hours later those sentiments were reversed, as the White House released an explosive readout declaring its support for a Turkish assault …

Politico reports: Energy Secretary Rick Perry is expected to announce his resignation from the administration by the end of November, according to three people familiar with his plans. Perry, who had been Texas’ longest-serving governor before joining President Donald Trump’s Cabinet in 2017, has largely avoided the controversies that felled others in the administration. But his travels to Ukraine lately …

The Daily Beast reports: A book that has fueled corruption allegations at the center of an unfolding impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump appears to have lifted portions of text from news articles and Wikipedia pages without proper citation or attribution. The Daily Beast found more than a dozen instances in which Secret Empires, the bestselling book by investigative journalist …

The Guardian reports: A video posted by Donald Trump has been removed from Twitter following a copyright claim by the rock band Nickelback. The video took aim at the Democratic candidate Joe Biden, opening with a clip of him saying he had never discussed business dealings with his son Hunter. Trump’s efforts to encourage the Ukrainian president to investigate Hunter …