The Court Hits Pause: A federal appeals court has granted Donald Trump a delay for the release of presidential documents sought by the House committee investigating the January 6^th Capitol insurrection. The deadline had been today.

  The court set oral arguments on the matter for November 30^th.

  The House committee is seeking about 700 documents held by the National Archives, including call logs, White House visitor logs, memos, and even a hand written note by Trump’s then chief of staff Mark Meadows, who said he will not cooperate until there’s a final decision on the official records.

  Trump has claimed executive privilege to shield the documents from view even though he is no longer president. In a ruling earlier this week, a lower court judge wrote that, “His position that he may override the express will of the executive branch appears to be premised on the notion that his executive power ‘exists in perpetuity.’ But Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.”

  The House committee has written that there’s great potential harm in keeping the documents locked away, writing that “Our democratic institutions and a core feature of our democracy — the peaceful transfer of power — are at stake.”

Covid Nation: A 17-year veteran of the San Francisco Police Department on paid leave for missing the city’s November 1^st vaccination deadline has died of Covid-19. 

  Police departments across the country have become pockets of vaccine resistance. The head of the Chicago police union advised members to ignore the city’s deadline and “hold the line.” As many as 150 Massachusetts state officers have resigned or put in their papers rather than comply, according to their union.

  Across the country, Covid cases have taken a slight upward tick, up two percent over the past two weeks. As of this morning, just short of 760,000 Americans are dead of Covid-19.

  Earlier this week, Colorado health officials declared the entire state a high-risk environment for COVID-19, saying all vaccinated adults now qualify for booster shots.

  Over in Europe, Germany is in its fourth and worst wave of the Covid pandemic with more than 30,000 new cases a day. The country’s health minister calls it “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”

  In the Netherlands, the government announced plans to introduce a partial lockdown to tamp down a fourth wave of the pandemic. Starting tomorrow, restaurants, bars, and cafes will have to close at 7 pm and sports events will be held without spectators. 

Patriot Games: Capitol rioter Jenna Ryan, a real estate agent from Texas who tweeted that she was “definitely not going to jail,” has been sentenced to 60 days in jail after pleading guilty to one count of “parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol building.” She said during the proceeding, “this is not anything that remotely resembles who I am.”

  Ahh, but last winter she posted a video saying her group came to “storm the capitol.” And on Facebook live she said, “Life or death, it doesn’t matter. Here we go.” Later she tweeted, “We just stormed the Capital. It was one of the best days of my life.”

  But somehow that was not the real Jenna Ryan when she was standing in front of a judge.

Unfree Press: A military court in Myanmar has sentenced American journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years in prison on charges that he worked for a banned media outlet circulating comments that “cause fear” or are “false news,”  The 37-year-old Fenster  from Detroit is one of about 100 journalists detained since the February coup and about 30 of them are still behind bars.

  Earlier this week he was hit with two new criminal charges under the country’s sedition and terrorism laws, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison, his lawyer said. The charges include attempting to bring hatred, contempt or disaffection toward the government and military.

The Spin Rack: The defense rested yesterday in the trial of 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who’s accused of murder in the killing of two demonstrators and the wounding of a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August last year. Closing arguments are Monday. — A 22-year-old woman in the crush at the Travis Scott concert in Houston has died of her injuries, becoming the 9^th fatality of the event. — The Justice Department is suing the Uber ride service, accusing the company of discriminating against passengers with disabilities by charging them added fees when they take more than two minutes to get in the car. — Former Las Vegas Raider wide receiver Henry Ruggs III has been charged with four felonies and a misdemeanor stemming from the car crash in which he was driving 156 mph, killing a 23-year-old woman and her dog. — Following a Twitter poll in which participants voted that Tesla chief executive Elon Musk should sell some of his stock, he sold $5 billion worth. He also exercised options to buy $2.2 billon worth, so netting out he’s got $4 billion in cash.

Hang ‘Em: Former President Donald Trump in an interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl declined to denounce Capitol rioters who were chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” because the vice president planned to certify the Electoral College vote.

  “Because it’s common sense, Jon,” Trump replied. It’s common sense that you’re supposed to protect. How can you—if you know a vote is fraudulent, right—how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress?”

  The former president asked, “How can you do that?”

  He said he was never concerned for Pence’s safety. The vice president was evacuated to a secure location as rioters stormed the building.

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