memeorandum: Biden apologizes for being late to G20 press conference: ‘We were playing with elevators’ (Jon Brown/Fox News)

10:15 PM ET, October 31, 2021

Top Items:

Warnings of violence before Jan. 6 precipitated the Capitol riot — and his team had spotted increasing signs that supporters of President Donald Trump were planning violence when Congress met to formalize the electoral college vote, but federal law enforcement agencies did not seem to share his sense of urgency.

Discussion: Slate, Mother Jones, Raw Story, Reuters, The Mahablog, Eschaton and Digby's Hullabaloo

Washington Post:

Former president Donald Trump's response to the findings of The Post's Jan. 6 investigation — On Oct. 31, The Washington Post published a three-part investigation that found that law enforcement officials failed to heed mounting red flags that there would be violence when Congress formalized the electoral college vote on Jan. 6.

Discussion: Raw Story and Digby's Hullabaloo

Washington Post:

BEFORE THE ATTACK — Law enforcement officials did not respond with urgency to a cascade of warnings about violence on Jan. 6 — Alerts were raised by local officials, FBI informants, social media companies, former national security officials, researchers, lawmakers and tipsters.

Discussion: Election Law Blog, Raw Story, The Daily Beast, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Mediaite

Ryan J. Reilly / HuffPost:

Jan. 6 ‘Influencer’ Who Said She's ‘Definitely Not Going To Jail’ Should Go To Jail, Feds Say — Jenna Ryan, a Trump-loving real estate broker, called Jan. 6 “one of the best days of my life” and bragged that she wouldn't go to jail because she's white. — Federal prosecutors …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story

Washington Post:

What happened on Jan. 6: Trump stands back as rioters breach Capitol — For 187 harrowing minutes, the president watched his supporters attack the Capitol — and resisted pleas to stop them. — President Donald Trump had just returned to the White House from his rally at the Ellipse …

Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite

Sally Buzbee / Washington Post: Letter from Washington Post Executive Editor Sally Buzbee about The Post's Jan. 6 investigation

Devlin Barrett / Washington Post: After Jan. 6, threats and disinformation take hold across the U.S.

Matt Taibbi / TK News:

The “Let's Go, Brandon!” Freakout Goes Next-Level — A Southwest pilot earns ISIS comparisons for joking into a loudspeaker, as pundits continues to mass-forget the previous four years — FBI Special Agent-turned-CNN Political Analyst Asha Rangappa — gosh that resume sounds unsurprising …

Discussion: The Daily Wire, Twitchy, The Daily Caller, Insider, Washington Examiner, TheBlaze, BizPac Review, Scripting News and RedState

Karen Townsend / HotAir:

Southwest Airlines apologizes for pilot's “Let's Go Brandon” remark — A pilot on a Southwest Airlines flight from Houston to Albuquerque delivered a three-word sentence that set off some of his passengers. During the pilot's greeting to the passengers, he finished up with “Let's Go Brandon”, a popular hashtag on social media.

Discussion: New York Times, MSN, Louder With Crowder and Twitchy

Adela Suliman / Washington Post:
Southwest Airlines to investigate pilot's purported anti-Biden chant

Discussion: The Wrap, IJR, Althouse, Twitchy, HotAir, Slate and RedState

New York Times:

In the Final Days Before Virginia Votes, Both Sides Claim Momentum — Glenn Youngkin and Terry McAuliffe crisscrossed Virginia on the last weekend of what has become an increasingly close race for governor. — MANASSAS PARK, Va. — The high-stakes race for governor of Virginia entered …

Discussion: Washington Times, Politico, Associated Press, New York Post, Terry McAuliffe, Conservative Brief and Insider

E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
Take the win, Democrats, and don't look back

Discussion: Raw Story and Conservative Brief

Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News:
In a tight Virginia race, Covid concerns still make campaigning difficult for Democrats

Discussion: MSNBC and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Mark Murray / NBC News:

Biden's job rating sinks to 42 percent in NBC News poll a year from midterms — NBC News Poll: Biden job approval falls — WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans now disapprove of President Joe Biden's job performance, while half give him low marks for competence and uniting the country …

Quinn Scanlan / ABC News:
Biden, Democrats failing to sell agenda to American people: POLL

Discussion: RedState, National Review, Washington Examiner, HotAir and Twitchy

Jess Bidgood / The Boston Globe:

The car becomes the weapon — Demonstrators around the country have been injured and killed by vehicle rammings, but there's been precious little justice. And new laws could make accountability even scarcer. — Switch to light mode — TULSA, Okla. — On May 31, 2020 …

Carol Rosenberg / New York Times:

U.S. Military Jury Condemns Terrorist's Torture and Urges Clemency — Seven senior officers rebuked the government's treatment of an admitted terrorist in a handwritten letter from the jury room at Guantánamo Bay. — GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — Seven senior U.S. military officers …

Brett Bachman / Salon:

GOP candidate: Michael Flynn trying to run extortion plot on U.S. officials to reinstall Trump — Pennsylvania Senate candidate Everett Stern made the bombshell accusation in a press conference Saturday — A Republican Senate candidate alleged over the weekend that former national security adviser …

Discussion: emptywheel

Will Bunch / The Philadelphia Inquirer:

‘When do we get to use the guns?’ The life-or-death stakes of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial — The late conservative icon Barry Goldwater famously said “extremism in defense of liberty is no vice,” but last Monday the limits of that — and American political speech in general …

Discussion: The Intercept

Julie Bosman / New York Times: Kyle Rittenhouse's Homicide Trial Will Be a Debate Over Self-Defense

Jon Brown / Fox News:

Biden apologizes for being late to G20 press conference: ‘We were playing with elevators’ — Biden is around 20 minutes late to events, according to a recent Fox News tally — President Joe Biden holds a press conference at the G20 summit — President Biden apologized for being late …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and RedState

New York Times:

The Demand for Money Behind Many Police Traffic Stops — Busted taillights, missing plates, tinted windows: Across the U.S., ticket revenue funds towns — and the police responsible for finding violations. — Harold Brown's contribution to the local treasury began as so many others have in Valley Brook …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

New York Times: Why Many Police Traffic Stops Turn Deadly

Bill Schneider / The Hill:

2022 and ‘the passion gap’ — why Republicans are more fired up — The culture war in the U.S. has been raging for more than 50 years, ever since the 1960s when divisions over values (civil rights, diversity, sexual liberation) began to emerge. Those divisions have intensified to the point where today …

Cristina Marcos / The Hill:

Cheney in defiant floor speech: Trump on ‘crusade to undermine our democracy’ — Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) warned in a fiery floor speech on the eve of her expected ouster from House GOP leadership that the decision by many in her party to enable former President Trump's falsehoods …

Discussion: Insider

Mitt Romney / Washington Post:

Filibuster or bust: Maintaining the minority's power in the Senate is critical — Mitt Romney, a Republican, represents Utah in the U.S. Senate. — For several years, many of us have recoiled as foundational American institutions have repeatedly been demeaned: The judiciary has been accused …

Discussion: The Hill and CNN

Jon Brown / Fox News:

Jen Psaki tests positive for COVID-19 — Psaki last saw Biden a day after he coughed into his hand and shook hands with the public while maskless — Fox News Flash top headlines for October 31 — White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Sunday she has tested positive for COVID-19 despite being vaccinated.