The Mueller Investigation Nears the Worst Case Scenario  —  WE ARE DEEP into the worst case scenarios.  But as new sentencing memos for Trump associates Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen make all too clear, the only remaining question is how bad does the actual worst case scenario get?

Ex-FBI Director James Comey exasperated after closed-door interview on Capitol Hill  —  (CNN)Former FBI Director James Comey, after facing aggressive questioning from members of Congress on Friday, expressed exasperation that he had been dragged to a private setting on Capitol Hill …

VA secretary praised Confederate president as a “martyr to ‘The Lost Cause’” in 1995 speech  —  (CNN)Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie praised Confederate States President Jefferson Davis effusively in a 1995 speech, calling him a “martyr to ‘The Lost Cause’” and an “exceptional man in an exceptional age.”

Self-professed neo-Nazi James A. Fields Jr. convicted of first-degree murder in car-ramming that killed one, injured dozens  —  CHARLOTTESVILLE — An avowed supporter of neo-Nazi beliefs who took part in the violent and chaotic white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally in this city last year …

Trump leans on McConnell to vote on criminal justice reform  —  President Donald Trump pressured Senate Majority Leader Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Friday to pass criminal justice reform, hoping to push a reluctant McConnell to put it on the floor during a crowded lame duck session.

Ammon Bundy Quits Militia Movement in Solidarity With Migrant Caravan  —  Ammon Bundy is best known as a leading light of the American militia movement (a motley coalition of various different flavors of firearms enthusiasts who hate the federal government).

Vice Chair of Bladen County Board of Elections abruptly resigns  —  The election scandal engulfing North Carolina's 9th district, where Republican Mark Harris leads Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes, took an unusual turn on Friday night.  Jens Lutz, the Vice Chair of the Bladen County Board …

Dana Carvey Remembers George Bush, From Muse to Friend  —  Late on Nov. 8, 1988, the phone rang.  I answered, and a familiar voice said: “Well, congratulations.  You won.”  —  “I won?  What do you mean I won?”  —  “Bush won, so you won,” he answered.  —  “Jon?”  —  “YES, it's me!  JON LOVITZ!

Virginia Teacher Fired after Refusing to Call Trans Student by Preferred Pronoun  —  A Virginia high-school teacher was fired on Thursday after refusing to address a transgender student by the student's preferred pronoun.  —  The school board of the West Point Consolidated School District …

Mattis Erupts Over Niger Inquiry and Army Revisits Who Is to Blame  —  WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was livid last month when he summoned top military officials to a video conference at the Pentagon to press them about an investigation into a 2017 ambush in Niger that killed four Americans on a Green Beret team.

Access Journalism Must Die  —  In the Atlantic today, Elaina Plott published what she described as a piece about “why it's so annoying when people sneer at so-called ‘access journalism.’” She went there, folks.  —  Plott's piece is a defense of access journalism by way of praising Richard Ben Cramer's book What it Takes.