-Karol Marcowicz on Florida's COVID strategy, which killed 60,000 people

Today in Somewhat Deflating January 6 Developments: One of the last GOP Trump critics will retire from Congress, a federal judge has accused Justice Department prosecutors of royally blowing it, and House investigators have another troublesome witness on their hands. 
 

• Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump in the wake of the insurrection and one of two GOP members on the January 6 committee, announced in a Friday video that he won’t seek reelection in 2022. He’s the second pro-impeachment Republican to do so, after Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) decided to call it quits last month. “2 down 8 to go!” Trump bragged in a statement.
   
• In reality, Trump had some extra help from Illinois Democrats. Kinzinger announced his retirement just hours after the Illinois legislature approved a new congressional map that drew him into the same district as the more Trump-friendly Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL), setting Kinzinger up for a virtually unwinnable primary. Make no mistake, Kinzinger has a terrible voting record and continues to oppose voting-rights legislation, but his departure isn’t a great sign for the de-Trumpification of the GOP.
   
• Especially when you look at who’s on the rise to take his place. At least 12 Republicans who participated in the events of January 6 will be on the ballot in next week’s elections, many of them state lawmakers and local officials who are running for reelection. Many more insurrectionists will be running for office in 2022, including a number of congressional hopefuls. At least 21 state lawmakers attended the rally in DC; when you include those who spread lies about the election and supported efforts to overturn the results, the number’s closer to 600.

Part of what makes that normalization possible is the Justice Department’s wishy-washy prosecution of the Capitol rioters, according to a very pissed-off judge.
 

• Beryl Howell, the chief judge of the federal District Court in Washington, DC, on Thursday slammed federal prosecutors as seeming “almost schizophrenic” as they described the insurrection in the gravest terms, only to turn around and offer the perpetrators low-level misdemeanor plea agreements. “No wonder parts of the public in the U.S. are confused about whether what happened on January 6 at the Capitol was simply a petty offense of trespassing with some disorderliness, or shocking criminal conduct that represented a grave threat to our democratic norms.”
   
• If Attorney General Merrick Garland wants to make the Justice Department’s approach more coherent, he can always start by prosecuting Steve Bannon for contempt of Congress! There may be more referrals on the way: Members of the January 6 committee have reportedly gotten tired of waiting around for former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to cooperate with their subpoena, and are considering pursuing criminal-contempt charges against him, too.

The Republican Party is purging itself of the few remaining members who have stood up against Donald Trump’s authoritarian impulses, at his behest. That makes it all the more critical for the Biden administration to not only say that Trumpism poses a fundamental threat to democracy, but to consistently act like it.

Jason Concepcion’s popular weekly digital series ALL CAPS NBA is back! Check out the latest episode where Jason will be covering what’s happening this NBA season, Ben Simmons’ continued saga in Philly, and whether or not the Knicks are finally the team of destiny. Subscribe to the Takeline YouTube channel to never miss an episode.

Happy Halloween, we got you some spooky numbers. A new Washington Post/Schar School poll found that the Virginia governor’s race is a dead heat, with 49 percent of likely voters supporting Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe and 48 percent backing Republican Glenn Youngkin. That paints a better picture than the Thursday Fox News poll that gave everybody a heart attack, but not by much! The Post-Schar poll found that a larger share of voters considered education a top issue in their vote compared with poll results from last month, so it’s probably for the best that the McAuliffe campaign didn’t ignore Youngkin’s school culture war, and instead grabbed an opportunity to drag him for being in favor of banning books. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has backed off from his teased/threatened trip to Virginia to stump for Youngkin in the race’s final days, and will instead headline a telly-rally on Monday night. Don’t panic, but do sign up to help organizers reach every last voter before the polls close on Tuesday: votesaveamerica.com/virginia.

• The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a set of cases that challenge the EPA’s authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions—and Congress’s power to give the EPA that authority. Concerning!
   
• New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced she’s running for governor.
   
• President Biden said that Pope Francis told him he can continue to receive communion during a Friday meeting at the Vatican, despite U.S. bishops who want to deny it to him over his position on abortion rights. 
   
• Republican Missouri Senate candidate/Barefoot Gun Husband Mark McCloskey told an audience last week that he believes 13-year-old victims of rape and incest should be denied abortions, which ideally would mark the end of his political career, but here we are. 
   
• A federal judge has prohibited Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) from looking at the evidence against him alone out of concern he might tamper with witnesses. Fortenberry was indicted last week for lying to the FBI about foreign donations to his campaign.
   
• Iowa lawmakers have approved a new congressional map, which largely maintains the current state of affairs. 
   
• Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has requested records about any possible conflicts of interests that may have influenced the USPS Board of Governors’ reluctance to fire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
   
• This is a great read on the government’s doomed effort to save the Hamptons from climate change with a whole bunch of sand.
   
• PETA wants Major League Baseball to stop saying “bullpen” and rename it the “arm barn,” and you know what? They’re right. #TeamArmBarn #WithArmBarnsWideOpen

Buckle up for the shock of a lifetime: The Koch network is behind the “critical race theory” madness. In September 2020, a conservative activist appeared on Tucker Carlson and started banging the CRT drum for the first time at the national level, prompting then-President Donald Trump to issue an executive order banning any federal diversity training that mentioned systemic racism. In the popular narrative, that led to an organic grassroots uprising, which in turn led to more than 25 states taking action to ban CRT from school and government programs. In fact, the CRT debate quieted down for months after the Carlson segment. It only lurched back to life after President Biden took office thanks to a sudden flood of content from conservative think tanks and organizations with ties to Charles Koch, in service of the Kochs’ ongoing campaign to privatize schools (and keep billionaire-friendly Republicans in power). Like the Tea Party, the anti-CRT “movement” is astroturf all the way down.

In 2021 mental health is finally a thing, especially as people are not feeling like their normal selves. Let’s support one another and talk openly. Whether or not therapy is your thing, knowing it’s available and affordable is important, for you or perhaps a loved one.  

Millions of people are trying and loving online therapy. It doesn’t have to be sitting around just talking about your feelings.

So, what is therapy, exactly? It’s whatever you want it to be.

You can privately talk to someone if your stress is too much to manage, you’re battling a temper, having relationship issues, anxiety, depression, etc… Whatever you need, there’s no more shame in these normal human struggles. We take care of our bodies, why not our minds, too? Without a healthy mind, being truly happy and at peace is HARD.

BetterHelp is customized online therapy that offers video, phone and even live chat sessions with your therapist, so you don’t have to see anyone on camera if you don’t want to. It’s much more affordable than in-person therapy and you can start communicating with your therapist in under 48 hours.

It’s always a good time to invest in yourself, because you are your greatest asset. See if online therapy is for you by heading to BetterHelp.com/crooked for 10% off your first month.

The FDA has authorized small Pfizer doses for kids ages five to 11, and final CDC approval could come as soon as next week.

The Supreme Court declined to block a vaccine mandate for Maine health care workers which does not include a religious exemption.

A Michigan court struck down a law passed by the state’s GOP legislature in 2018 which was designed to block progressive ballot initiatives.

At least 237 LGBTQ candidates will be on the ballot in Tuesday’s elections, up 18.5 percent from the last off-year election in 2019. At least eight of those candidates could become historic firsts.