Off with Their Heads: Saudi Arabia has charged 11 people in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and says it will seek death for five of them.
The prosecutor’s office said that the 15-man team sent to confront Mr. Khashoggi in Istanbul had orders to return him to the kingdom, but killed him when he resisted.
That’s still a tacit admission that someone higher in the government ordered Khashoggi to be kidnapped.
Self Justification: The Justice Department yesterday issued a defense of the appointment of acting Attorney Gen. Matt Whitaker, saying it conforms with both the Constitution and federal law even though he was not approved by the Senate.
Let’s hit that nail on the head again. The Justice Department, which is now controlled by Whitaker, whose appointment is under challenge, says his appointment is perfectly legal.
The state of Maryland is suing in federal court, claiming President Trump may not “bypass the constitutional and statutory requirements for appointing someone to that office.” The lawsuit says control of the Justice Department should have passed to Deputy Attorney Gen. Rod Rosenstein, who was vetted by Congress.
What the Justice Department memo did not address was whether Whitaker should recuse himself from oversight of the Russia investigation. He spoke out against it before he was appointed.
De-Pressed: In its legal spat with CNN over credentials for White House Correspondent Jim Accosta, the administration is arguing it has the right to choose which reporters cover the beat.
Accosta’s credentials were confiscated after a confrontation with the President last week.
White House lawyers said in a filing, “The President and White House possess the same broad discretion to regulate access to the White House for journalists (and other members of the public) that they possess to select which journalists receive interviews, or which journalists they acknowledge at press conferences.”
Taking that logic to the extreme, the White House could make Fox Newsthe only outlet allowed to cover the White House.
Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at first said Accosta was ejected because he put his hands on a White House intern trying to take away the microphone. He didn’t. Then she changed her story to say it was because of Accosta’s combative behavior.
Asked about the suit by The Daily Caller, Trump said, “guys like Acosta” are “bad for the country.”
Trump asked, “Is it freedom of the press when somebody comes in and starts screaming questions and won’t sit down?”
Sometimes, yeah, it is.
The Missing: The number of dead in the Camp fire in Northern California has grown to 56 and is likely to get bigger.
Authorities have released a list of about 100 people missing after the devastating fire in the town of Paradise. Many of them are in their 80s and 90s.
That’s not the entire list. The names are being released in batches so authorities are not overwhelmed with calls. It’s not unusual for people to be unaccounted for after a disaster, but this is going on ominously long.
Paradise, with a population just under 30,000, had a high percentage of retirees. There were only two roads out of town when fire swept through, killing a number of  people in their cars.
Gov. Jerry Brown said, “The natural world is the power, and we create a lot of comfort and we create a lot of security. But at the end of the day, we are physical beings in a biological world.”
The Brexit Plan: Prime minister Theresa May’s cabinet yesterday approved a plan for Britain to exit the European Union, vanquishing critics who said she doesn’t have the leadership to get the job done. The cabinet meeting was described as “impassioned,” which probably means there was a lot of shouting.
Despite fears that some cabinet members would resign in protest, none have — yet.
Parliament and 27 other EU countries still need to approve.
Speaking of shouting, that’s what President Trump is reported to have done to May last Friday when she called him about the midterm elections. The Washington Post says Trump went ballistic over Britain’s handling of Iran, trade deals, and her Brexit plan.
The News Roundup: An early winter snow storm is moving into the East Coast. It’s snowing in Washington this morning. — Celebrity lawyer Michael Tavonatti was arrested yesterday on charges of domestic abuse. His estranged wife says she’s not the accuser and Avenatti says he’s never hit a woman. —- Responding to attacks by President Trump, French President Emanuel Macron said, “I do not do policy or diplomacy by tweets.” — At the demand of Melania Trump, Deputy National Security Adviser Mira Ricardel has been removed and “reassigned” within the administration. — The first members of the migrant caravan have arrived at the border in Tijuana to ask for sanctuary in the US. Amazingly, they are not throwing themselves on the barbed wire strung by US soldiers.
Everybody Says It: Speaking about election results to The Daily Caller, President Trump said, “The Republicans don’t win and that’s because of potentially illegal votes, which is what I’ve been saying for a long time,” adding, “I’ve had friends talk about it when people get in line that have absolutely no right to vote and they go around in circles. Sometimes they go to their car, put on a different hat, put on a different shirt, come in and vote again.”