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By MICHAEL R. SISAK, KATE BRUMBACK and JILL COLVIN…..APNews

NEW YORK (AP) — As Donald Trump’s lawyers try to block the White House from releasing records to the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, the former president faces a flurry of other investigations that could come to a head in the coming weeks and the new year.

That includes two major state criminal investigations — one in New York and one in Georgia — and lawsuits concerning sexual assault allegations, a fight over an inheritance and questions of whether he should be held personally liable for inciting the insurrection.

Trump has long dismissed the investigations as nothing more than a politically motivated “witch hunt” that began with the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. But while Trump has spent most of his life dodging legal consequences, he is no longer shielded by the protections against indictment enjoyed by sitting presidents. And any charges — which would be the first against a former president in the nation’s history — could affect both his businesses and his future political prospects as he mulls running for a second term.

Here’s the latest on where the cases stand:

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The Florida State Guard was initially created in 1941 to fill in for National Guard members deployed during World War II. It was later disbanded in 1947.

DeSantis said the proposed unit would “not be encumbered by the federal government,” adding that this force would give him “the flexibility and the ability needed to respond to events in our state in the most effective way possible.”

DeSantis is asking for $3.5 million from the state legislature to establish the unit.

If established, Florida will become the 23rd active state guard in the country.

The idea was part of DeSantis’s larger military budget proposal, which included establishing three new armories, a new National Guard Headquarters and supporting service members getting degrees. 

Florida Democrats pushed back on the proposal, with 2022 Democratic gubernatorial challenger Rep. Charlie Crist (Fla.) calling the proposed unit “handpicked secret police.”

DeSantis’s proposal comes after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austinurged National Guard members to get vaccinated or face losing their pay.

“Nero was the dog which was always with him,” Stuart Hutchison’s mother said of the bond her son and his dog shared

A federal judge on Wednesday said the speakers at the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol attack, including former President Trump, “stoked” the crowd and possibly “inspired” what went down that day. 

District Judge Amy Berman Jackson made the remarks while sentencing defendant Russell Peterson, who reportedly sat in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s (D-Calif.) chair after storming the Capitol on Jan. 6. He was arrested on Feb. 12 and entered a plea agreement in September.

Jackson, without saying the former president’s name directly, said that Trump and the other speakers at the rally on the Ellipse “explicitly encouraged them to go to the Capitol and fight for one reason and one reason only — to make sure the certification of the election didn’t happen.”

There may be others who bear greater responsibility and should be held accountable,” Jackson told Peterson, according to CNN. “But this is not their day in court. It’s yours.”

“You did receive a lot of overwhelming inaccurate information on social media,” the judge continued, “but you had a choice to reject the lies and not to join the antidemocratic call for martial law.”

Jackson is known for her sharp criticisms of the Trump administration and has handled numerous Capitol riot cases so far. She has rejected defense attempts to paint the rioters as political prisoners.

CCTV footage from inside the Capitol as well as livestreamed video filmed by Peterson confirmed that he had entered the building. His mother, Shelly Peterson, who also traveled to the Capitol that day, later wrote on Facebook that her son had entered the Capitol and “sat in Pelosi’s char.”

As part of his plea agreement, Peterson agreed to plead guilty to one count of picketing inside the Capitol.

Peterson was sentenced to 30 days in jail, which was twice the amount of time prosecutors had recommended. He was also fined $500 for damage done to the Capitol.

By Jim Hoft  Published November 30, 2021

Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016.

Vladimir Putin is openly mocking the US today. The Russian tyrant told reporters Joe Biden’s announcement to run again in 2024 was “absolutely” the right thing to do.

There is nothing Russia would love more than to have a weakened United States in decline on the world stage with a “dementia patient as president”.

No President in modern history has done more for Russia than Joe Biden who killed the US energy sector and gave the Russian economy a huge boost.

Putin also has the dirt on the Bidens. So he knows how to keep them in check.

Even Hunter Biden admitted to a hooker while smoking crack that the Russians have his laptop and may use it for blackmail.

Vlad Putin is very pleased.

Newsmax reported:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday he had not yet decided whether to run for six more years in the Kremlin when his current term ends in 2024, while praising U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to seek reelection in that year.

Putin has been in power as president or prime minister since the turn of the century, making him the longest-serving Kremlin leader since Josef Stalin. Russia passed reforms last year allowing him to run for two more six-year terms, without which he would have had to step down in 2024.

Speaking at an investment forum in Moscow, the Kremlin leader suggested that the very option of him being able to run for president again had prevented the political system from being undermined.

“Whether or not I do this is yet to be decided, but the very existence of this right (to run) is already stabilizing the domestic political situation,” he said…

“What President Biden said about his possible reelection I think he was absolutely right to do. Because if you don’t start preparing for the elections, I think the governability of the country will suffer to a significant degree,” Putin said.

Via The Print:

Over three months after the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) began its crackdown on European children’s literature and destroyed 5,000 books for being “offensive” to indigenous people, the body has again sparked an uproar for having withdrawn its support for a book club event with Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad, fearing it could “offend” Muslim students.

The event was supposed to carry discussion on two books in presence of their authors — Marie Henein’s ‘Nothing But the Truth: A Memoir‘ and Nadia Murad’s ‘The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State‘.

The board said it has withdrawn support to hold the October event with Henein, the daughter of Egyptian immigrants and one of Canada’s most prominent lawyers, because her book was “problematic” as she “defended” former CBC host Jian Ghomeshi when he was accused of sexual assault.

For Murad’s event, which was to be held in February 2022, the board said the book written by her could “promote Islamophobia” and “offend” their Muslim students.

Murad, a Yazidi human rights activist, was 19 when she was taken as a sex slave in 2014 by the Islamic State militants who invaded her village in northern Iraq.

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Via NYT:

Jury selection began on Monday in the trial of Jussie Smollett, the actor who nearly three years ago reported he had been the victim of a hate crime in Chicago, setting off a wave of public fury that quickly turned into accusations that it all had been a hoax.

When Mr. Smollett reported in January 2019 that two men, yelling racist and homophobic slurs, had beaten him, he had primarily been known for his role in the music-industry television drama “Empire.” He later lost that role after being indicted on charges that he had lied to the police, who concluded that he had paid two brothers to stage the attack.

Mr. Smollett is now standing trial on six counts of felony disorderly conduct associated with the reports he had made to the police. The grand-jury indictment asserts he had “no reasonable ground for believing that such an offense had been committed.”

Mr. Smollett entered the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago around 9 a.m. on Monday, exiting a black S.U.V. and clutching the arm of his mother, Janet Smollett.

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Real nice…

Via Washington Examiner:

The Norwegian Postal Service released a new Christmas ad depicting Santa Claus as a gay man, celebrating a historic milestone for the LGBT community in Norway.

“Posten is an inclusive workplace with great diversity,” the postal company’s marketing director Monica Solberg told LGBTQ Nation . The commercial is meant to celebrate 50 years since Norway decriminalized homosexuality. “This year, Santa is happy that Norway Post can relieve him a little, so that he can be with the one he loves.”

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