• 136,000 Jobs were reportedly created in September; even so, wage growth slowed to 2.9%, while unemployment fell to 3.5%. Bond yields slipped for a seventh straight month as well. In October, 128,000 jobs were created, wage earnings increased by a mere 3%, and unemployment ticked up to 3.6%. According to the November 2019 jobs report, manufacturing slowed for a fourth consecutive month, but wages rose by 3.1% in November. Labor participation trickled from 63.3% to 63.2%.. Unemployment sat at 3.5% in November and the economy created 266,000 jobs.
• The World Trade Organization found that the European Union has been subsidizing their airline service “Airbus”, which paved the way for a number of American tariffs on EU goods ranging from fruits to textiles and totaling $7.5 Billion.
• In a moment of history, in 2018 billionaires wound up paying less than working class citizens in taxes.
• A report by the Brookings Institute found that almost half of American workers work in low-quality, low-paying jobs, and that most of those workers are in their prime working years, and are not teenagers.
• Congressman Elijah Cummings passed away.
• It seems that the Supreme Court is increasingly less willing to shut up and listen than they used to be, as they are showing more signs of talking over each other as well as the men and women arguing cases before them.
• Religious Leader Ralph Reed called for Evangelicals to be “obedient” in supporting Trump in 2020.
• The electric utility Pacific Gas and Electric sparked some controversy when they hosted a series of planned service shut-offs for hundreds of thousands of customers supposedly to help prevent the spread of forest fires.
• Trump accidentally sent – for a second time – talking points to Congressional Democrats on how to respond to the Ukraine investigation. He also started advocating for the whistleblower to be exposed to the world.
• Through Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Trump Administration – in defiance of international law and the position of the United Nations - announced that it was no longer the position of the United States that the settlements in Palestinian territory by the Israelis was a violation of international law.
• Trump’s long-time political consultant Roger Stone was found guilty of his seven criminal charges which included lying to Congress, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering.
• Nikki Haley – former Ambassador to the UN – claimed that those anonymous subversive forces within the Trump White House tried to recruit her to help them “save the country” from Trump.
• Energy Secretary Rick Perry resigned and promised it had nothing to do with Trump seemingly throwing him under the proverbial bus relative to Ukraine.
• CBS uncovered a potential scandal involving the appointment of Trump’s ambassador to the Bahamas. The nominee had given a million dollars to Trump’s inauguration fund and while his nomination was hung up in the Senate the Republican Party chair emailed him about making a hefty donation, to which the nominee responded that a fast-tracked confirmation would warrant a response from he and his wife.
• Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman – a senior official in the White House charged with handling Ukraine – told Congress that he had no doubt that Trump was trying to use quid pro quo to force Ukraine to help him damage Biden.
• Trump’s Acting Ambassador to Ukraine told Congress that an aide of his overheard the president’s attempts to trade military aid funds for a damning investigation of the Bidens by Ukraine.
• Vice President Pence was implicated in the scandal surrounding Trump’s attempt to use a quid pro quo arrangement of exchanging military aid to Ukraine for dirt on the Bidens. The accusation about Pence being aware of the effort came from the testimony of Ambassador Sondland. Pence denied knowledge of the issue. President Trump dismissed the testimony almost entirely – after initially trying to block said testimony -, saying he didn’t know Ambassador Sondland, but then he cherry-picked parts of the testimony for his own benefit.
• Ohio Republicans proposed forcing doctors to re-implant pregnancies in women who could actually die from said pregnancies. The pregnancies at issue are dangerous as they occur outside of the womb, which typically happens after a woman has had a hysterectomy or otherwise had her tubes manipulated so as to prevent pregnancy. They also proposed a bill which would empower students to not properly do their science homework and to substitute religious views for scientific facts.
• It was reported that the Trump administration wants to reduce regulations for nursing homes, saying that current rules are too strict.
• White House records revealed that Trump regularly communicates with lawyers – including Giuliani – and others on unsecure lines which could be potentially monitored by foreign surveillance agencies.
• A scientific report found that human activity is causing the oxygen in the ocean to deplete at dangerous rates, endangering the current balance of the ecosystem.
• The president openly said on the White House lawn that he would ask the Chinese to do as he wanted Ukraine to do: investigate Vice President Biden and his son.
• Trump’s Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary resigned, which continued a trend of leaving another vacancy in the executive branch and created a fresh scenario – in Trump’s everlasting pursuit of loyalty amongst his Cabinet – wherein he will continue to have “Acting” leaders, instead of official ones.
• Important documents were released which showed the officials from the Bush, Obama, and Trump Administrations – including each of the White House occupants – misled the American people about the necessity for and the conditions in the war and occupation of Afghanistan.
• Education Secretary DeVos – whose career started as a leader in private charter schools, and who was scolded in October by a federal judge for ignoring a court order to stop collecting student loan payments incurred by fraudulent “schools” – refused to allow full loan forgiveness for college students defrauded by private colleges which scammed them into signing up.
• Trump has been rapidly filling – at an historic rate - federal court vacancies which had been left open by the filibustered Senate throughout Obama’s presidency. He recently managed to flip a handful of federal courts to “Republican majority” as a result.
• The House of Representatives impeached Donald Trump on two charges: obstruction of Congress and abuse of power.
• The Trump Administration eliminated an interactive map – called TOXMAP – which had allowed citizens to track pollution activities across the nation (which relied on data provided from various sources), particularly from pollution-producing companies.
• Trump signed a new defense authorization bill which militarized space – by creating a sixth branch of the military, called the “Space Force” -, with 12 weeks of paid family leave for federal workers and a relatively minor pay increase (of 3.1%) for the military servicemembers.
• The Russian Federation revealed that they have developed a new hypersonic weapon which can carry a nuclear weapon to the United States and potentially evade missile defense systems. This is a byproduct of Trump’s unwinding of nuclear agreements and his calls for a new arms race as Russia appears to be hoping for a renewal of the New START treaty negotiated under Obama.
• Anti-US demonstrators protesting recent US airstrikes in Iraq stormed the American Embassy in Baghdad. Iraq has been immersed in scandal in the past few months as their prime minister was recently forced to resign after Iraqi Security Forces killed protestors.

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• The June Jobs Report showed that 224,000 jobs were created in June, Unemployment rose to 3.7%, and wage growth stood at 3.1%. 2^nd Quarter GDP Growth was only at about 2%.  In July, 164,000 jobs were reportedly added, with the unemployment rate remaining stagnant. The August jobs growth showed only 130,000 jobs created – which were predominantly the product of temporary hires for the next Census -, a continuing unemployment rate unchanged at 3.7%, and wage growth at .4% in the month. The slowing growth triggered a second Federal Reserve Interest Rate Cut for the first time in over a decade. The trade war is not helping at all, as the tariffs imposed by Trump reportedly hurt American businesses with a loss of $3.4 Billion.
• It was announced that June 2019 was the hottest ever (up to that point) month ever recorded on this planet.
• Trump argued with his team for about two hours about the effectiveness of his tariffs before eventually compelling them to stop pushing back and then getting their help drafting a tweet announcing an expansion of tariffs to all products.
• According to a recent estimate, we are three decades away from the current rate of how wealth is flowing from the very wealthy have absolute possession of our wealth.
• Trump nominated a former Big Pharma Executive, Alex Azar – a man known for tripling the cost of insulin – to lead the Health Department, claiming on Twitter that the man will “lower drug prices”.
• Labor Secretary Alex Acosta resigned amidst the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal.
• The Justice Department restricted Robert Mueller’s testimony to only what he mentioned in his report, as they explained that they would assume “executive privilege” over any additional information.
• Nissan had to cut over 12,000 jobs, citing a 99% decline in profits.
• The Trump Administration reached an agreement with the Fascist leader of Brazil (Jair Bolsonaro) to allow private development of the Amazon – claiming that it was the only way to protect the vital region – and offered a “biodiversity fund” in part to help reach businesses seemingly stranded in the middle of the rainforest.
• Some Republicans in Congress started floating around a rumor that Trump has indicated he is open to cutting Social Security and Medicare if he wins reelection and if they regain power in Congress.
• The Trump Administration proposed eliminating what they call a “loophole” in the SNAP (Food Stamp) program. This supposed loophole permits families receiving TANF funds (welfare) to be automatically enrolled in the SNAP program. It is estimated that around 3 million people will be cast out of the Food Stamp program as a result of this proposal.
• Trump fired his neocon hyper-warhawk National Security Adviser John Bolton.
• The Trump Administration approved a trophy-killing souvenir of a slain and critically endangered animal to be brought back to the states by a big game-hunting American. The act was supposedly approved to help “preserve” the species.
• Trump recklessly handled classified information (again) by tweeting out a satellite photo of an accident which occurred in Iran accompanied by a statement which offered well-wishes to the Iranian government in getting to the bottom of it while also denying the U.S. government had any role.
• It was reported that since the water crisis began in Flint, Michigan a few years ago, the number of special needs amongst that school district’s students has jumped to 1 in 5.
• A report came out which found that Trump and – in passing – suggested using nuclear weapons to combat hurricanes.
• Forgetting the limitations on his power for a moment during a trade spat with China, Trump issued an “order” via Twitter to U.S. companies, commanding them to not do business with China.
• An American citizen with a Latino name and look was racially profiled and held by authorities three days longer in detention past the date that a judge ordered him freed.
• Trump’s Homeland Security Department announced that they will be changing the Flores Settlement Agreement to permit the indefinite detention of migrant families to be placed in a cell together with their children until their case has been resolved.
• With a temporary victory in the Supreme Court, the Trump Administration revealed a plan to raid funding from the military’s “Blended Retirement System” in order to help pay for the Border Wall.
• It was reported that Trump has come to demand that the Wall be built as quickly as possible, even if it means violating the law and taking private lands against the will of the owners. He suggested that if laws are broken to achieve this goal he will simply pardon those who break said laws.
• The Trump Administration requested that the Supreme Court permit employers to terminate employees on the basis of them being transgender.
• Royal Dutch Shell forced their employees to clock-in and attend a rally of President Trump’s, threatening a loss of pay if they refused to do so.
• The Trump Administration decided it was going to heavily reduce its own authority to protect endangered species.
• While Trump’s national efforts on pollution reflect a rollback on regulations, his pettiness towards California’s stricter policies has led the Environmental Protection Agency head – Andrew Wheeler – to demand that California deal with their “backlog” of pollution cases which apparently number around 130 in order to continue receiving federal funding for highways.
• Trump’s EPA also sought to protect RoundUp – a weedkiller owned by Monsanto – from label requirements which would inform consumers of a potential cancer risk.
• Lowes has become one of the latest companies to exploit the 2017 tax cuts to buy back their own shares for a huge profit while also screwing over their workers with no notice or severance pay upon laying them off.
• The Trump Administration put forward a proposal for changes to immigration rules which would exclude visa consideration for impoverished immigrants.
• In the wake of the shooting in El Paso (where hatred of immigrants inspired that slaughter) and the one in Dayton, Trump half-asked for action to deal with background checks, violent video games, and doubled-down on the need for his version of immigration reform. He also expressed his support for social media companies helping to track down would-be mass shooters.
• The Department of Justice announced that it will be resuming federal executions after a lengthy halt which had been due to the controversy over the lethal injection drugs being cut off.
• Attorney General Barr spoke at an event hosted by the Fraternal Order of Police wherein he proclaimed that “resisting arrest” needed to be a prosecutable crime handled with “zero tolerance”. To emphasize his point, he said that citizens should “comply first…complain later”.
• With the Russians advancing banned nuclear weapons activity, the United Statesformally withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
• It was revealed through an extensive investigation by journalists that the Russian Government facilitated the 2016 Conspiracy Theory about slain DNC member Seth Rich supposedly being murdered by the Clinton Campaign.
• After an attack by “Yemen-based Houthi rebels” on Saudi oil fields, the Trump administration blamed Iran without evidence and announced that American soldiers will be dispatched to protect Saudi interests.
• Trump stood by Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro as the fascist in Brazil rejected international aid meant to help battle the fires in the Amazon.
• The 10^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a “faithless elector” from Colorado who cast his Electoral College vote for Kasich instead of Hillary Clinton. This is a decision in keeping with the original intent of the Founding Fathers.
• Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified before Congress and stated that his report did not exonerate the president of obstruction of justice and that the investigating team had deferred to long-standing Justice Department policy which holds that a president can not be charged while in office.
• Facing the prospect of impeachment over his latest scandal which emerged after a whistleblower revealed that Trump leveraged U.S. military aid to “ask” for a political favor from the Ukrainian Government in getting dirt on Biden’s family, the White House accidentally sent talking points about this to Congressional Democrats via email and then quickly requested the Democrats “send them back”.
• Trump had reportedly dangled a sought-after White House meeting for the new Ukrainian President during their controversial call, and insisted repeatedly that Attorney General Barr help the Ukrainian government investigate the Bidens – for a purported relationship with a natural gas company, something that Trump asked eight times for help in investigating - as well as look for the hacked Democratic Party server.
• The impeachment inquiry soon broadened after Speaker Pelosi formally announced it, with a host of potential targets for public and private inquiry surfacing in the name of getting to the truth.
• While looking for the facts about what was and wasn’t said to the leader of Ukraine, it was discovered that the Trump Administration has been coding a series of international phone calls as “classified” even when the context of the call was not intended to be classified. This permitted the President to converse with leaders like Vladimir Putin and the Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman without having transcripts forwarded to other officials. Reportedly, the change in handling transcripts began after the embarrassing news about his earlier calls with the Australian and Mexican leaders had surfaced. Additionally, there were reportedly no records of what was said in calls with Putin and with the Saudis – the latter being significant because some of these calls occurred around the time of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi -, and it was even revealed that Trump – back in 2017 – told Russian officials during the controversial oval office visit that he “didn’t mind” the Russian interference.
• An unpaid special envoy to Ukraine – Kurt Volker -, who helped set up a meeting with Rudy Giuliani and the President of Ukraine (at the request of the Ukrainian government) decided to step down.
• Trump reportedly pressured the Australian Prime Minister to help investigate – and discredit - the origins of the Russia probe (with special emphasis on the president’s insistence that there were anti-American spies operating amongst the CIA and FBI) alongside the Attorney General.
• Trump remarked that he would like to find out who leaked information to the whistleblower, calling the person or persons “a spy” and then likened the act of leaking to “treason”, suggesting in veiled language that the perpetrators ought to be put to death. Moreover, he angrily tweeted that House Intelligence Chairman Congressman Adam Schiff is a traitor and that he should be arrested.

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Until next time…

• Two Federal Reserve officials expressed concern that inflation is too weak, which compelled them to consider future rate cuts to alleviate some of the economic tension.
• The economy grew at a 3.2% rate in the first quarter – while simultaneously having the most layoffs in a first quarter in ten years - of 2019. 196,000 jobs were created in March, with the unemployment rate sitting at 3.8%. In April, 263,000 jobs were added, unemployment fell to 3.6%, and wages rose by 3.2%. Only 75,000 jobs were created in May, with just barely more than 20,000 of those being private sector jobs (the worst performance in nine years). Unemployment held at 3.6% and the stock market rallied with the news as they anticipated lowered interest rates. Overall, the economic growth in the counties which voted for Trump grew faster than elsewhere since his election; although, the pay increase has been sluggish, but Baby Boomers started seeing the fastest decline in their employment in 4 years. With the tax rates having changed in 2017, the reduced tax refunds took a chunk out of retail spending this season.
• Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein resigned.
• Trump pulled the United States out of an international arms treaty which was intended to help stop the proliferation of weapons around the world, including into the hands of terrorists.
• The Trump Administration officially banned transgender soldiers.
• An 11 year old child was ordered deported when they were mistakenly left off an immigration court docket.
• David Bernhardt – a man with a past as an executive in fossil fuels - was confirmed by the Senate to be the Secretary of the Interior.
• Trump’s family sued Capital One and Deutsch Bank to try and keep them from complying with Congressional subpoenas.
• Private health insurers are reportedly looking for any loopholes available to escape the requirement to cover mental health, helping to contribute to a rise in suicides. Yet another example for why we need to take profit out of healthcare and adopt a single payer program.
• The United Statesstood alone in rejecting an international binding agreement to reduce plastic waste.
• Climate Change wreaked havoc on the Arctic Ocean – while the measure of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere reached 415 PPM, the highest in human history - as temperatures exceeded 80 degrees in the area earlier this year. It was found that the totality of human behavior in exploiting and abusing the environment, our population growth, and our insatiable consumption, is threatening 1/8^th of the world’s nonhuman animal population with extinction.
• Thanks to automation, the quickening pace of the market’s evolution towards a more “efficient” approach will likely eliminate just under half of all jobs – with a particular focus on part-time, “low-skilled” work – within two decades.
• The Supreme Court reached a compromise on the abortion question pertinent to a law in Indiana where they upheld a provision on burying fetal remains while dismissing a provision which restricted abortion rights. The Court also struck down an attempt to force a non-gerrymandered redrawing of congressional districts in Ohio and Michigan.
• After her failure to fix the Brexit deal debacle, Theresa May stepped down as British Prime Minister.
• After Congress voted to reject arming Saudi Arabia’s war with Yemen, Trump declared an “emergency” – claiming a threat from Iran – so as to circumvent Congress in selling arms to the Saudis.
• It was reported that a North Korean nuclear envoy was executed by the Kim regime after he was charged with spying for the United States – along with four others – following the failed nuclear summit back in March. Still, Trump continues to praise the dictator and even made history becoming the first U.S. President to step foot in North Korea as he and Kim Jong Un experienced a jovial moment wherein they accomplished little beyond a historical photo/video and an agreement to revive the nuclear talks that Trump had abandoned earlier on.
• Trump ordered Hope Hicks and his former White House counsel Don McGahn to ignore a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee.
• Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn revealed that on a number of occasions someone affiliated with the White House or with the Republicans in Congress had reached out to him to try and procure his interference in the Mueller Investigation. Trump was hell bent on controlling the direction of the investigation.
• Former Special Counsel and Former FBI Director Mueller delivered his public remarks about the special investigation. He noted clearly that there was no way that the investigation could lead to an indictment of the sitting president, because of Justice Department policy. He declared that the investigation would have explicitly exonerated Trump if they felt they could. In other words, he was leaving the door wide open for Congress to impeach the president.
• The Trump Administration wants to cut $191 Billion from food stamps over the next decade while also charging retailers a fee for accepting such.
• Neil Gorsuch and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were the only two dissenting Justices in a Supreme Court ruling which upheld the so-called “separate sovereigns” doctrine pertinent to “double jeopardy”. If the dissent had been the successful wing of the ruling, a presidential pardon could have exonerated a citizen from a state charge for the same crime; thereby expanding Trump’s powers at a crucial moment when his team is under legal fire.
• Trump “jokingly” suggested that his supporters might demand that he stay in office past his permitted time.
• Despite the use of children soldiers by Saudi Arabia in the Yemen Civil War, Secretary of State Pompeo has kept Saudi Arabia off of the United States list of countries which recruit children to wage war.
• Trump claimed executive privilege to inhibit congressional attempts to acquire documents pertinent to the administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Even so, the Supreme Court blocked the implementation of the question – for the time being – out of concern for the process by which the Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross added it to the census form.
• A British General who is helping lead counter-terrorism efforts in the Middle East contradicted claims by the Trump Administration that Iran represents a growing threat in Iraq and Syria.
• After some drama over his personal life started to come to light, the Acting Defense Secretary – former Boeing Executive – Patrick Shanahan withdrew from consideration for the confirmation process. Trump announced that the Army Secretary – who also used to be in the military industrial complex – will be replacing Shanahan. All of this turmoil amidst the rising tensions with Iran; which our own Intel reveals that our government has provoked. In fact, one of the claims made by the U.S. Government was disputed when a Japanese oil tanker reported that one of tankers attacked was reportedly not by a mine, but by a “projectile”.
• Trump ordered and then quickly cancelled an attack on Iran in response to a spy drone that Iran shot down. He claimed – in a tweet wherein he misspelled “site” (using “sight” instead) – that he cancelled out of concern for casualties.
• Walmart got caught attempting to bribe third world country governments to try and secure permits.
• Trump said he would contemplate both reporting to the authorities and seeing or hearing what information offered by a foreign interest about his political opponents.
• The United Statesset a new record by going longer than it has at any other period without increasing the federal minimum wage standard.
• The Justice Department argued before federal court against having to provide a bed, toothbrushes, and soap for detained children. They claimed it was not essential for remaining “clean and sanitary”.
• Press Secretary Sarah Sanders stepped down, apparently contemplating a run for Governor in Arkansas; where her father previously served multiple terms as Governor.
• The five conservatives on the Supreme Court ruled in favor of overtly partisan gerrymandering, saying that the decision on how to draw legislative districts was purely “political” and was thereby out of reach for the courts to intervene.

• Jobs in January jumped by 304,000 and unemployment rose to 4% while wages rose by .1%. A month later, jobs climbed by a mere 20,000 with unemployment falling to 3.8% while wages increased on the year-to-year measure by 3.4%.
• The Trump Administration issued a gun regulation change – which, sadly, had been previously considered by the Obama Administration before the Sandy Hook massacre forced a change of heart - shifting the export of weapons – including semi-automatic weapons, flamethrowers, and grenades – from being handled by the State Department to the Commerce Department. As a result, the fees and “red tape” will be FAR less burdensome and the threat of terrorists getting their hands on more dangerous weapons will increase.
• Within hours of the Trump Administration pulling the United States out of the Cold War-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (a decision that was subsequently duplicated by Russia) – which banned nuclear weapons which could be fired from land to anywhere between a few hundred and a few thousand miles -, we, Russia, and France launched nuclear-capable missiles in tests.
• Chief Justice Roberts joined the four left-leaning justices to block a Louisiana anti-abortion law which was written for the purpose of severely limiting the number of clinics by requiring hospital admittance for the doctors performing abortions. This was not a ruling on the law’s constitutionality.
• Many Americans started to see that their tax refund or bill got worse after the 2017 Tax law passed by Republicans.
• The Senate confirmed Trump’s second Attorney General, William Barr, a more sympathetic appointee with respect to the Mueller investigation who had previously served in the role under George H.W. Bush.
• After growing grassroots pressure – driven by concerns over gentrification and the ridiculously high tax breaks offered by state lawmakers -, Amazon decided to withdraw from their previous plans to invest in the construction of a new headquarters in New York City.
• According to the Administration, thousands more immigrants were separated than previously reported and it is now supposedly too much of a “burden” to reunite these families in all as a result of the terrible job Trump officials did in keeping track.
• In violation of the law, U.S. officials reportedly sought to expedite the transfer of nuclear technology information to the Saudi government.
• Trump signed the stop-gap measure to prevent yet another government shutdown, even without funding for the wall. However, he decided to issue a national emergency declaration so as to raid emergency funds so as to build his useless wall. The declaration immediately triggered over a dozen state Attorneys General to file a lawsuit against the Trump Administration. Moreover, in what was widely believed to be political retribution for California’s legal opposition to the declaration, Trump announced plans to withdraw almost a billion dollars in grant funds that had been authorized for the state’s planned high speed rail project.
• Trump’s former personal fixer/lawyer, Michael Cohen testified before Congress again. He clearly said that Trump is a liar, that he is a racist, and that he is a conman. He also noted that the President’s tax returns will be of significant interest, and that the president paid him to help keep people silent about his past. That was only the surface of what Cohen revealed. He also warned that Trump is not likely to give up power without a fight.
• An alarming scientific report came out revealing that insects are dying at an accelerating rate which may well result in their total extinction after a century, which will have a catastrophic cascading effects on the rest of life on our planet. This is a growing feature of Earth’s sixth mass extinction event, which was triggered by human activity.
• Senator Lindsey Graham expressed his belief that Trump’s national emergency declaration is justified, even if it means diverting funds from reconstruction efforts from natural disasters.
• Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas – who has been accused of sexual harassment in the past – broke with precedent recently by openly stating that the Supreme Court should reconsider the 1964 ruling in New York Times v. Sullivan, which sets a higher standard for libel (in protecting the First Amendment) as it pertains to public officials.
• Trump signed a presidential directive which lays the foundation for Congress to create a space force, calling is a “national security priority”.
• The U.S.-recognized Right-Wing aspiring leader of Venezuela, Juan Guaido, signaled an intent to open Venezuela’s oil excavations to private entities (likely multinational corporations headquartered mostly here in the U.S.) should he successfully wrestle control of the government from the current leader, Maduro.
• After learning that President Trump ordered his son-in-law’s security clearance to be granted (following an apparent finding that he should not be granted one), the House Oversight Committee requested specific documents related to Kushner’s clearance, and the White House rejected that request.
• Having done an about-face on his previous position of withdrawing troops from Syria, President Trump suddenly declared that he is now completely in favor of maintaining our troop presence.
• The FDA Commissioner, Scott Gottlieb – who drew surprised reactions when he oversaw a warning against the dangers of e-cigarettes – resigned from his post.
• Republicans managed to pick up their fourth special election victory in a “blue district” in a state legislative race.
• The Housing Market experienced its largest quarterly drop – 3.5% - in home value since the Great Recession.
• Our military is gradually getting pulled – via mission creep – into a bloody and illegal war in Somalia as we have recently killed hundreds in the area.
• Just as she had back in 2006 after that year’s midterm election gave her the gavel for the first time, Speaker Pelosi has again indicated that she opposes impeachment. She claims that Trump is “not worth it”.
• Trump proposed the largest budget in American history, with a 5% increase in military spending (more than the Pentagon wanted) and severe cuts to safety net programs such as Medicaid, Social Security, Food Stamps, Housing Assistance, etc.
• Before deciding to ground the model temporarily himself, Trump tweeted his misgivings about how the latest Boeing 737 model’s recent tragic crashes signaled that computers were taking over the job of flying and how pilots “are no longer needed”.
• Trump issued an executive order which reversed an Obama-era rule that had previously required transparency in civilian deaths in American operations as far as “noncombat areas” are concerned. The end result is that military and drone strikes in regions of the world where we are not in an official military engagement will not have to reflect the civilians harmed as a consequence.
• After the House of Representatives voted as one to make the Mueller Report public and after Senator Lindsey Graham blocked consideration of the bill in the Senate, Trump unleashed hell on Twitter, claiming that the investigation was “illegal”, saying it should not exist, and that “no president” should ever have to endure this again.
• All five of the conservatives on the Supreme Court ruled that immigrants awaiting deportation could be detained indefinitely, and not just when they get out of jail.
• One Republican lawmaker in the Missouri State Legislature proposed a bill which would require every adult citizen to own an AR-15 so long as they don’t have any legal restrictions from such.
• For the first time in his presidency, President Trump vetoed a bill and it was the bill passed to rescind his emergency declaration.
• To make way for the wall, Trump has ordered the clearing of land in a number of national wildlife refuges.
• Trump’s proposed budget offers a 90% cut to the federal funding behind an environmentally-vital Great Lakes Restorative Initiative which was established in 2010 to expedite clean up of the lake and keep out invasive species, among other tasks. Trump later, at a rally, promised to protect the funding.
• To help pay for a proposed increase of $60 Million for charter schools (from which the Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos originates as the leader of the K-12 program), Trump has proposed, as part of a broader 10% cut for the Education Department – with DeVos on the frontlines – for $18 Million to be cut from the Special Olympics, which would amount to a loss of 10% of their budget. Also part of the Department’s cuts is a proposal to eliminate subsidized student loans as well as the student loan forgiveness program, and reducing the loan repayment plans to one wherein the cap for income-based repayments will be raised from 10% of one’s income to 12.5%.
• The Mueller probe finally came to an end, and Mueller himself refused to close it with a press conference, breaking with precedent and maintaining his public silence.
• It was revealed that a number of the dozen-plus Saudi agents who murdered the journalist Jamal Khashoggi had received training in the states prior to the incident.
• After asserting that Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras have helped to create the desperate “caravans” he demonized starting last fall, Trump declared that we will be cutting off aid to those countries.

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• China landed a spacecraft on the side of the moon which never faces the Earth, becoming the first to do so.
• The new Fascist Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro kicked off his first day in office by rapidly winding back numerous progressive policies, from diversity education funding to various diversity programs involving protections for LGBT citizens as well as switching consideration of territory designation for the indigenous from the justice ministry to the agriculture ministry (which effectively makes the decision a matter of profit over people). He then dissolved the Ministry of Culture. Additionally, Bolsonaro has transformed how the country treats its journalists, with a wide array of restrictions placed on their ability to cover government activity.
• The Jobs Report showed a leap of 312,000 jobs created, unemployment at 3.9%, and wage growth at 3%. Home sales plummeted to their worst showing in three years.
• A lower federal court issued a ruling (later upheld by the Supreme Court) which permitted Trump to limit the military service of transgender members.
• In the midst of the longest government shutdown in history – which disrupted vital services such as food inspections by the FDA and forced “essential” federal employees such as federal prison guards to report for work unpaid and even work double shifts to cover call-offs, and which only ended after Trump finally agreed to a short-term reopening wherein he received NOTHING that he was demanding -, Trump floated the idea of abusing his power to declare a national emergency so as to build the wall – which he now claims he never meant Mexico would DIRECTLY pay for - using disaster funds typically reserved for mostly-natural disaster emergencies.  When the shutdown led Speaker Pelosi to force Trump into postponing the State of the Union address – citing security concerns-, the president childishly responded by preventing her from going on an important national security-related foreign trip via military aircraft. The shutdown had also featured the detachment of Trump’s Administration from the plight of the working class, as Trump’s Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, dismissed reports of unpaid federal workers going to food pantries and struggling to pay their bills; saying that those workers should just take out a loan to pay for their needs. Trump had himself displayed his lack of grasp on reality (big surprise, I know) when he claimed that unpaid workers could ask for leniency from grocery stores. In the end, it was the unpaid air traffic controllers effectively shutting down a handful of major airports which tipped the scales and applied the final push required to bring the shutdown to its close.
• The debate over the wall brought up some interesting reports, which covered some facts about what a wall would NOT do: stop most illegal immigration, and put a dent in the trafficking of illegal drugs.
• Republican Congressman Tom Marino resigned just 20 days after being sworn in for a fifth term so that he could pursue a job in the private sector.
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected and criticized HR 1 – the For The People Act of 2019 – which would make Election Day a federal holiday, require presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns, require that Super-PACs disclose their donors while incentivizing small donations to campaigns, and which protects voters from being unjustly purged. Mitch considered it to be a “power grab”.
• Trump’s ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, postponed his public testimony before Congress, citing a series of public “threats” against him and his family by the president and the president’s lawyer-spokesman, Rudy Giuliani.
• Longtime political consultant to Trump, Roger Stone, was arrested in a dramatic FBI late-night raid. He was charged with obstruction for attempting to mislead investigators in the Russian probe.
• There was reportedly a secret transport of nuclear bomb-making, radioactive material by Trump’s government across the country into Nevada without the state government of Nevada’s knowledge.
• As part of the Russia probe, Mueller’s team is prosecuting a Russian firm accused of financing the hacking which interfered with the 2016 election. Russia decided to hire American lawyers and exploit their right to disclosure to obtain the evidence presented against them. After getting those files, the Russian government then took the shared documents and made them public via a hacking twitter account.

• Unemployment for November remained unchanged, the economy added a mere 155,000 jobs, and wages barely rose by 6 cents.
• It was found that Trump’s promise of $4 Trillion in repatriated profits from businesses after the major tax breaks passed last year proved to be a bust as the total repatriated profits reached a mere $514 Billion.
• Trump’s Chief of Staff John Kelly decided to resign.
• The emergence of populism spread further into France, giving rise to the “Yellow Vest” movement which itself is an angry response to higher taxes and fuel proposals to curb global warming by incentivizing the purchase of fuel efficient vehicles. The problem is that President Macron has also launched an assault on working class citizens there with labor reforms and reduced taxes on the wealthy. The result has been a burden shift to the working class.
• Justice Kavanaugh joined with Chief Justice Roberts and the four supposedly liberal Justices to deny the conservatives the four votes they needed to hear a case on Medicaid funds for Planned Parenthood. This could have proved to be a crucial case on abortion rights.
• A Russian spy named Maria Butina, who had infiltrated the NRA and influential Republican circles, was revealed to be cooperating with federal investigations as part of a plea deal.

• Trump nominated former Attorney General – under George H.W. Bush – and Mueller critic William Barr to replace Sessions.
• Trump nominated former Fox News personality and State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert to replace Nikki Haley as Ambassador to the United Nations.
• For the first time officially, Trump was connected – via the Justice Department – to a criminal act on the federal level, at it was alleged that he personally ordered the use of money to silence two women who claimed sexual interaction with him.
• Immersed in his own set of scandals, Trump’s Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke stepped down.

• Angry over how he has been portrayed by “Saturday Night Live”, the President openly suggested on Twitter that the legal system should restrict the right to make fun of him.
• Voyager 2 finally entered interstellar space.
• It was discovered that thousands of mailed-in ballots weren’t counted in Florida because they were not delivered by the mandated deadline on Election Day.
• Proving yet again that all that matters to them is power, Senate Republicans confirmed (with the help of Vice President Pence) Jonathan Kobes to a U.S. Circuit Court a nominee rated “unqualified” by the American Bar Association due to the difficulty the Association had in assessing the nominee’s credentials and his failure to meet their criteria.
• The United States joined with Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait to block the acceptance of the damning climate report into the UN’s COP 24 conference.
• Seeing their grip on power slipping away, Wisconsin Republicans rushed through sweeping legislation which reduced early voting to two weeks, eliminated the Solicitor General’s office from the State Department of Justice – which limits the ability of any future Democratic Attorney General from challenging Republican achievements -, and which seriously otherwise limits the authority of future Governors. Also, in North Carolina, Republicans have attempted to put Republicans in charge of overseeing EVERY election in the state from now on.
• The Trump Foundation – a money-laundering scheme masked as a charity – was ordered to be dissolved with all remaining assets to be disbursed to reputable charities preapproved by a New York Court.
• The Justice Department took a surprisingly good move and redefined so-called “bump stocks” to classify them as a machine gun accessory so that they would effectively be banned under federal law.
• The Trump Team released an ad urging voters to call an 800 number to “thank” the president for his supposed “hard work” before being redirected to the campaign.
• The President refused to sign a continuing resolution to fund the government – which also had the effect of permitting the Violence Against Women Act to expire - because it did not have $5.7 Billion in funding for his wall. This was despite the fact that the Republican-controlled Congress had a bill with bipartisan support that they were ready to pass. Trump initially indicated that he would sign until he was faced with immense pressure from conservative media figures which threatened to upset the base. He later threatened to close the entire Southern border (an impractical proposal, but I digress) lest he get said funding for the wall.
• The First Step Act was signed into law which reforms criminal justice and made low-level drug offenders find a pathway back into society, including qualifying for early-release through serving the last portion of their sentence out of prison in half-way houses and in programs meant to curb recidivism.
• The Trump Administration argued that the EPA mercury emission standards for coal plants are no longer “necessary” and that the measures needed to enforce them are too costly for energy companies.
• Trump shocked everyone by announcing withdrawals of forces from Syria and thousands of soldiers from Afghanistan. This triggered the resignation of Defense Secretary Mattis.
• Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was forced by a federal court to cancel the student loan debt of citizens victimized by fraudulent private schools.
• In the lame-duck session, the Republican General Assembly in Ohio overrode Governor Kasich’s veto of a number of bills, including one which included help for safety forces and their families, but which had been tainted with a provision that increased salaries for state elected officials. Then again, Kasich signed a bill which banned – without exception for rape or incest victims – abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy via a process called “dilation and evacuation”.
• Someone who will be sitting as an advisor to the EPA once allowed energy industry interests to edit his science journal.
• President Trump visited our troops in Iraq for the first time and held a campaign-style rally wherein he lied to them, claiming that he secured for them a 10% pay raise.
• It was found that the President’s Inaugural Committee may have been overcharged for services rendered to the Trump Organization via in large part the Trump Hotel in the Capitol. Additionally, Trump’s Businesses have been charging over a million dollars for services rendered to the President’s reelection campaign.
• A Conservative Judge ruled the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional in light of the 2017 tax law which repealed the individual mandate penalty.
• The President used the USDA to change regulations in terms of distributing SNAP funds since the latest Farm Bill did not make it harder to receive benefits. The changes will expand the work requirements and force more states to abide by them.
• As Wells Fargo has been laying off thousands of Americans to reduce their costs by $4 billion they have also been hiring workers from overseas.
• The Supreme Court blocked the Trump Administration’s attempt to deny asylum to people who’ve entered the country illegally. This was done when Chief Justice Roberts proved to be a swing vote as both of Trump’s nominees on the bench sided with the Administration.

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• Late item from October 31^st: The Trump Administration released a new EPA rule without publicizing for mass public review which indicates that states can increase their smog (ozone) pollution by 43% without consequences.
• 250.000 jobs were created in October, unemployment remained at 3.7%, and wages increased by 0.2%
• Trump announced that all sanctions on Iran were officially going to be reinstated.
• President Trump – in his attempts to fire up the rabid rightwing base ahead of the election – had originally stated that U.S. troops deployed to the border could treat rocks thrown by migrants as shots fired from a gun and could respond in kind. He then backtracked a day later.
• Despite an earlier draft of the 2020 census suggesting that their numbers would be counted, the LGBTQ community was outraged to find that the Trump administration had removed questions relative to sexual orientation and identity.
• The French President advocated for the European Union to create its own military force to counter its adversaries, even counting the United States amongst possible threats.

• Housing sales slowed to their worst pace in nearly two years, kicking off worries that we were on the verge of a crash in that particular market.
• In the midst of the close election in Florida for Senate and Governor which triggered dual recounts, Senate Candidate and Current Florida Governor Rick Scott and President Trump attacked the recount process, claiming there was “fraud” involved in a supposed attempt to steal the elections for Democrats. Protests broke out near one of the locations responsible for counting the votes at the infamous BrowardCounty.
• Despite Republican promises that their tax cuts late last year would produce job growth and an increase in wages, the business community has largely reduced benefits and handed out “breadcrumbs” while giving their top executives decent sized bonuses.
• The development of “Smart ID” technology as proliferated by tech giants such as China’s ZTE poses a serious risk to privacy and empowers any despotic regime to track the citizenry and suppress dissent.
• In off-the-cuff recorded remarks, A Republican Senator from Mississippistated that she felt it was a “great idea” to make it harder for liberals to vote.

• Citing the need to restructure due to increased costs from the tariffs and a changing car market, GM announced that they will be cutting almost 15,000 jobs – including some managerial staff – and shutting down 3 plants.
• The midterms had some mixed results – Trump himself called it a “tremendous success”, though his party was swept out of power in the House -, with much of the major developments happening at the state level, wherein Democrats took over 7 governorships and over 400 state legislative seats, setting the stage for a contentious battle when the next census comes around in 2020. Democrats also flipped a number of Republican Senate seats, with one being the seat in Arizona. Which effectively means the Republicans only gained a net of two seats.
• In the wake of a midterm election wherein the Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives, President Trump had a bitter and heated spat with a CNN White Press Correspondent Jim Acosta wherein Trump yelled at Acosta, saying CNN should be ashamed to employ him, attempted to have his microphone forcefully removed, and then later briefly banned Acosta from the press corps. As part of the fight, Trump’s administration argued that the president has expansive authority to regulate press access to the oval office, including determining which correspondents can and can’t get a pass. In the end, though a Judge ruled that Acosta had to be reinstated the Judge also didn’t question the President’s authority to regulate access.
• Trump’s administration finalized the administrative rule changes allowing employers to “opt-out” of providing no-cost women’s health coverage.
• Almost 30 years after Congress mandated that all federal agencies must face an audit, the Pentagon was finally audited, and failed. Many – though, unspecified – discrepancies were found in the budget.
• The President lauded his supposed role in the Republican Party’s net gain of two seats in the U.S. Senate despite sweeping Democratic gains elsewhere and subsequently asserted that any attempts by the incoming Democratic House to hold him accountable would spark a “war-like” situation.
• Also in the wake of losing control of the House, Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions and replaced him with an “acting” Attorney General (with questionable constitutionality) named Matt Whitaker, a man whose past comments about the Russia probe leave much doubt as to his willingness to let the probe proceed unimpeded. The probe is now under Whitaker’s supervision.
• In Texas, where 59 Republican judges were all swept out of office, one judge wholesale released 7 minors irrespective of their charges the day after he lost.
• North Koreawas reportedly getting very anxious with Trump as his administration stalled negotiations. Neither side will offer concession first and it is increasing tensions.
• Trump named a friend of his – handbag designer and a member of the Mara Lago Resort – named Lana Marks to be the Ambassador to South Africa.
• The Trump Administration sided with Saudi Arabia and Sudan in a lawsuit relative to the deaths of the Al-Qaeda terror attack on the U.S.S. Cole in late-2000. The argument is that the lawsuit was served to an embassy instead of at Sudan’s capitol. This position about “wrong address” has been a long-standing position of the U.S. government as it fears that the U.S. government could be sued via one of its foreign embassies.
• Visiting the wildfires in California, Trump blamed the increasing intensity and frequency of the fires on “forest management” and the lack of sufficient leaf raking, instead of climate change.
• While the nation was distracted by the political fallout from the midterms, the lameduck Republican House voted in favor of removing gray wolves from the endangered species list.
• After skipping a ceremony in France meant to honor the sacrifice of fallen Americans in the First World War – and blaming it on the weather and wanting to avert causing bad traffic -, Trump then subsequently skipped out on visiting Arlington Cemetery and claimed he didn’t visit because he was “busy” on the phone.
• Claiming that CNN has “little competition” (eh, did he forget about Fox News and MSNBC?), Trump declared that we need a global news network run by the United States Government to counter CNN and to show the world how “GREAT” we are. Basically, he wants a propaganda media outlet (aside of Voice of America or even the de facto rightwing propaganda outlet known as Fox News) run by the state…like what we see with dictatorial regimes.
• Trump issued an authorization for soldiers to use lethal force against the caravan of migrants largely seeking refuge from the turmoil in Central America.
• Migrants attempting to enter the U.S. after the entry points were blockaded were met with tear gas – despite having children in their midst – after a number of those entering threw rocks at American border patrol officials.
• The CIA confirmed that the Saudi Arabian government ordered the assassination of Washington Post journalist, U.S. resident, and Saudi-dissident, Jamal Khashoggi.
• President Trump lashed out at a federal judge appointed by President Obama after said judge – who he called an “Obama judge” - ruled against his asylum policy. Then, Chief Justice Roberts – a George W. Bush appointee – shot back at Trump, saying that there are no “Obama judges” or judges of any other president past and present.
• In the weeks after he won election as the next Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, Secretary of State Jon Husted ordered that the purge of voter resume of citizens whom had not voted since 2012 or responded to mailers seeking information pertinent to the voter.
• Despite the fact that it came from his own administration – with the help of 13 agencies -, Trump insisted that he didn’t believe a disturbing climate change report which was intentionally buried in the news on Black Friday. Later on, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders stated that the report wasn’t based on “data” or “facts”, but that it was based on a “model”.
• Just as he did last year, at the UN event on climate change this year Trump plans on hosting an event of his own promoting coal.
• Although the VA had promised Congress not long ago that they would reimburse Student veterans retroactively for underpayments made according to their educational benefits as per the “Forever GI Bill”, the VA recently revealed that they would basically ignore the law and their obligation to pay the veterans what they were owed.
• Trump surprised everyone by announcing support for comprehensive criminal justice reform which would make it easier for returning citizens to find work after they serve their term, reduce mandatory minimums, and reform punishments under “three strikes” laws and for nonviolent offenders.
• Trump idiotically revealed that he wants to cancel aid to Puerto Rico for the recovery from Hurricane Maria, because he believes – without proof – that Puerto Rico is using the aid to pay off their debts.
• Sinclair Broadcasting forced 100 of its local stations around the country to air – within 48 hours – a commentary piece by its “Chief Political Analyst”, Boris Epshteyn – who had served as a staffer for President Trump previously – which offered a full-throated defense of the use of tear gas against the migrant “invaders”.
• Trump blocked his CIA Director Gina Haspel from briefing Senators on the evidence available pertinent to Saudi Arabia’s role in murdering Journalist Jamal Khashoggi about a week after issuing an odd tweet wherein he nonsensically thanked Saudi Arabia for the gas prices in decline.
• Despite losing control of the House, Republicans in the House are trying to use their lameduck session to compel Democrats to support funding for the Wall as part of a stop gap measure to continue funding the government.
• Trump issued a threat to House Democrats, saying that if they “harass” him and his team that he will go out and declassify any document he can to “expose” the Democrats and the Mueller probe as being in cahoots with each other.
• Trump’s former fixer/lawyer, Michael Cohen, plead guilty to lying to Congress about the period of talks between Trump and the Russians pertinent to a MoscowTrumpTower. Trump later angrily shot back, saying that Cohen is a liar, but that he did nothing wrong even if Cohen wasn’t lying, as he supposedly was allowed to run his business however he wanted during the campaign; including making arrangements with the Russian government.
• The FBI raided the home and several other locations related to a former lawyer of Trump’s who represented him on tax matters.
• German authorities raided Deutsch Bank headquarters, related to the infamous Panama Papers scandal and may implicated President Trump.
• President George H.W. Bush passed away.

The day is finally here! The last election I covered through this blog was the 2012 Presidential Election. Before that, I had covered 2008 here,  but had live-updated statuses on Facebook during the 2o16 election. This will be the first Mid-Term that I analyze and cover via this blog because it truly is the most important election in the history of our country.

 

I will be highlighting races from Congress to State and Local Level elections. EVERY ELECTION is important. It is vital that the Democrats (at the VERY LEAST) take control of the House of Representatives. Should they do so it will allow them to force Trump and Congressional Republicans to halt their radical agenda against democracy and the working class. However, if the Democrats fail to capture the House, Trump and his Congressional Republicans will proclaim that such represents a green light for them to push forward on that agenda.

 

I will also be looking closely at the campaign for Senate control. Pundits expect Republicans to retain control there, but Democratic victory is crucial here as well to stop Trump and the Republicans from radically changing the balance of our Courts to fit the oligarchic agenda of the super wealthy. Winning the House means NOTHING in the fight for the Courts. It is all about the Senate here.

 

Control of the State Governorships and Legislatures is key for the battle for our democracy and the working class as well. Most of the attacks on worker's rights and progressivism have been spearheaded at the State level (one of the reasons I don't trust Kasich, no matter how nice he looks on TV compared to Trump). The states have always been used as a factory for ideas tested before advancing them on the national level (think "Obamacare"/"Romneycare"). Moreover, since many states still permit the exploitation for political gain of their constitutional responsibility to redraw legislative district lines after the census, the state elections (including the legislature, Governor, and Secretary of State; the last of which is the chief elections officer of a state) are crucial to preserving and protecting our democracy.

 

On local races, I will largely be looking at the county-level races here in my home county, but may remark on elections throughout the country. Too many people take for granted the importance of EVERY campaign up and down the ballot. I will do what I can to help point out why we have to care about every office up for grabs.

 

After the coverage, I will be summarizing my thoughts in a traditional "Tonight's Conclusion" segment. Stay tuned!

 

Coverage (Time of Update in parentheses and in EST):

(6:45 PM) I will be live updating the progress as much as possible. There will be a brief period, though, where I will be unable to do so. I have to give my brother and his son a ride home and that will take about half an hour. I will catch up and summarize on whatever news breaks during that period.

 

(7:01 PM) Bernie wins re-election! So does Tim Kaine. Obviously good news.

 

(7:13 PM) Ohio and a few other states will see their polls close in 17 minutes. I will not be able to update at that point because I will be taking my brother and his son home.  If there is breaking news while I am out I will catch up once I get home.

 

(8:07 PM) Just got back. A number of Democrats have won re-election in the Senate, including Senator Brown here in Ohio. Democrats have flipped 2 seats so far in the U.S. House. I will list the states won at the end of this post as a recap. All new victories I will cover here.

 

(8:41 PM) Issue 1 in Ohio - reducing penalties for drug offenders and seeking to shift financing to treatment - has apparently gone down in flames. Probably wasn't the best decision to propose this as a State Constitutional Amendment.

 

(9 PM) Indiana just ousted their Democratic Senator, Donnelley, for Mike Braun. It looks as though the hopes of a wave are dissipating while a number of contested Congressional seats are being called for Republicans. The loss of Indiana's Senate seat makes control of the Senate harder. Manchin wins reelection.

 

(9:06 PM) Blackburn wins in Tennessee U.S. Senate race. Democrats are seeing their hopes of controlling the Senate slip away. There were a bunch more calls of predictable races, but I will list them at the bottom by the end of the night.

 

(9:30 PM) I'm sure that my local paper has already called it, but the race for Licking County Commissioner here in Ohio seems to have gone to the incumbent, Rick Black. Shame, too, as Adam Rhodes was a damn good candidate.

 

(9:33 PM) Note: I have decided to finish the tally below after all the results for the night are in. I can't possibly keep track of hundreds of races at once. I will reserve my updates for the biggest news; particularly news with respect to control over Congress, the Governorships, and Legislatures. Additionally, I am going to sadly predict that although the races are "too close to call" it looks as though Andrew Gillum - an amazing progressive candidate for Governor in Florida - will lose to the Trump-worshipping Ron DeSantis and that Senator Bill Nelson will lose to the Republican Governor Rick Scott.

 

(9:37 PM) Congratulations to Colorado for electing the nation's first ever openly gay governor!

 

(9:47 PM) Back to the races here in Ohio. All Democratic statewide candidates not named Sherrod Brown are having trouble as they are all behind. Meanwhile, control of the General Assembly is likely to remain in Republican hands with my friends Jeremy Blake and Tyler Shipley, as well as Melinda Miller all trailing their respective incumbent Republican incumbents.

 

(9:49 PM) Silver lining in Ohio races is that it looks like all of the Democratic judicial nominees (at least those of which I was aware where I live) are winning.

 

(9:59 PM) The vote-suppressing puppet of Trump from the fake commission on "Voter Fraud" and Secretary of State for Kansas, Kris Kobach has just went down in flames!!

 

(10:08 PM) I will return shortly. Have a quick emergency errand to run. It looks like Democrats will come close to a majority of Governors, but will fall just short there and in the Senate. Also, the probability of a Democratic House has exponentially increased. I'll be back as soon as possible so that I may continue my coverage.

 

(10:12 PM) Real quick, breaking news holds that Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp loses her seat in North Dakota thanks in part to voter suppression efforts by the Republican controlled state government whose actions kept many Native Americans from getting to the polls, which hurt Heitkamp more that the Republican. However, it doesn't help matters that Heitkamp has been more conservative than necessary in many respects except with one important vote (on Kavanaugh). Her vote on Kavanaugh may have helped cost her the race. Finally, Ted Cruz pulls off a squeaker victory over his flamboyant Democratic Challenger, Beto O'Rourke.

 

(10:32 PM) With the aforementioned victory of Cruz, Republicans will retain the Senate, but as I returned I have just learned that Democrats have clinched the Senate and are inching closer to ousting some prominent Republicans from certain governor's mansions.

 

(10:35 PM) Democrats have picked up a number of Governors' seats. I am curious as to what the makeup of state legislative seats will look like.

 

(10:50 PM) In a call which was apparently made while I was out, Ohio has elected Mike DeWine to succeed Kasich and I am assuming that all of the other statewide Democrats were declared as the losers as well. Very tragic, but given the fact that Cordray lost to DeWine for Attorney General 4 years ago, this was predicted by a number of us back in the spring. Cordray would have been a decent governor, but this was a lost opportunity for sure.

 

(11 PM) Although his race is still "too close to call", Gillum has conceded his race for Governor. Showing his character as a stand up guy. I am predicting that Democrats will lose their Senate seats in Florida (Nelson) and Missouri (McCaskill), which will at least result in a net-loss of one seat for the Democrats in the Senate.

 

(11:48 PM) U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill has officially lost in Missouri. Nelson is still holding on to Rick Scott's heels. Democrats must win all remaining uncalled Senate races to avoid a net loss of seats in the Senate.

 

(12:17 AM, November 7th) Beto was just giving a rousing concession speech. Was broadcast on national television telling his supporters "I'm so fucking proud of you!" Had to laugh out loud at that. Any Trump supporters who attack him for that are hypocrites...just saying. Anyways, the guy looked like an Obama-esque Presidential Candidate. He may even be way better than President Obama depending on his stance on the issues affecting the working class. Keep an eye on him for sure.

 

(12:47 AM) Maine's Governorship has just flipped to the Democrats, and we are still waiting to see who wins the remaining races. I will stay up until 1:30 or 2 AM covering and analyzing this election. If no new developments come before then I will call it a night since I have to take my kids to school in the morning before heading to work. Any new developments after I awake will be reviewed once I get a chance tomorrow.

 

(7:37 PM, November 12th) It has almost been a week since the election and we have yet to find out all the consequences of this election. It looks like the best Republicans will do is a net gain of two seats in the U.S. Senate, and even that could go down if Democrats pull off a miracle and flip the Mississippi Senate Seat which is going to a special election runoff later this month. If the recount in Florida manages to show that Nelson wins reelection, then flipping the Mississippi seat would result in a ZERO net gain for either party in the Senate. One can only hope. I will be back one more time when we have all the results so that I may give my complete election analysis.

 

Tally (Update: This is to be completed by the end of the vote counts):

SENATE

Ohio - Brown Reelected!

Virginia - Kaine Reelected!

Maryland - Cardin Reelected!

Delaware - Carper Reelected!

Connecticut - Murphy Reelected!

Rhode Island - Whitehouse Reelected!

Massachusetts - Warren Reelected!

Vermont - Bernie Reelected!

New Jersey - Menendez Reelected!

Indiana - Braun Elected (Gain for Republicans)

 

HOUSE (Not going to list names, just the breakdown of which party has the most seats)

Will provide number at end of election.

(EDIT: 5/31/2019) As of this writing, one seat remains undecided in North Carolina following a scandal which involved a Republican Congressman paying a group to steal absentee ballots. A protracted debate culminated in a hearing wherein a new election was demanded and the Incumbent Republican bowed out of the race. The special election is now pending. Final analysis - complete with the much-delayed "Tonight's Conclusion" - to come following that race's decision.

 

STATE LEGISLATURES (Special Emphasis on Ohio)

Will provide numbers at end of election.

(EDIT: 5/31/2019)

Per Ballotpedia, Democrats had a net-gain of 309 seats across 86 state legistlative bodies. There are 99 in total and 87 of them held elections, but one was not a "regularly scheduled partisan election". In the process of flipping those seats, Democrats seized control of six chambers and Republicans gained none. Although, the Republicans lost their supermajority in North Carolina even as they managed to negotiate a shared-control agreement with Democrats in Alaska; where the Democrats had previously controlled it.

 

GOVERNORS

Pennsylvania - Wolf Reelected!

Massachusetts - Baker Reelected

Rhode Island - Raimondo Reelected!

Illinois - Pritzker Elected!

Arkansas - Hutchinson Reelected

Tennessee - Lee Reelected

 

OHIO LOCAL ELECTIONS

Will provide figures at end of election.

(EDIT: 5/31/2019)

Per Ballotpedia, The Ohio Republicans gained a seat in their State Senate majority when they picked up a vacant seat to increase their majority to 24-9. In the State House, Democrats picked up 6 seats, with one victory being a vacated seat; numbers are now at 61-38 with the Republicans holding the advantage.

 

Tonight's Conclusion

 

Coming soon.

 

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