Democrat Andy Beshear declared victory in Kentucky's gubernatorial race Tuesday night, and he did get more votes than incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin (R) — 5,189 more votes, according to the uncertified final tally, or a margin of about 0.4 percentage points.
But this doesn't appear to be the end of the process. Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes said her office considers Beshear the victor and doesn't believe Bevin can make up the gap. Yet Bevin refused to concede, citing unspecified "irregularities," and The Associated Press hasn't called the race.
Kentucky doesn't have an automatic recount provision, though candidates can petition — and bankroll — a statewide recount, Joe Sonka explains at the Louisville Courier Journal. First, losing candidates typically request a recanvas of the vote in each county. The recount is the next stage, and it involves a judge counting ballots and determining the winner, subject to appeal up to the Kentucky Supreme Court.
Republican Senate President Robert Stivers suggested a dicier option Tuesday night: Let the GOP state legislature decide the winner. Section 90 of the state Constitution says "contested elections for governor and lieutenant governor shall be determined by both houses of the General Assembly, according to such regulations as may be established by law." Stivers said his staff believes that might apply in this case. The last "contested" governors race was in 1899, the Courier Journal reports.
Sam Marcosson, a constitutional law professor at the University of Louisville, told the Courier Journal that Republicans can't just make up a legal procedure to review the election, and warned it's a risky "proposition to suggest that the General Assembly would take vague allegations of unspecified irregularities and call into question a gubernatorial election." Joshua Douglas, a professor at the University of Kentucky Law School, explained Bevin would have to call a special session of the General Assembly, then a panel of eight House members and three senators "would hear evidence and make a final determination. And that determination would be final."
The Kentucky Constitution stipulates that the next governor be sworn in Dec. 10. Peter Weber
It seems just one Game of Thrones prequel still won't be enough for HBO.
The network already has a prequel of the hit series in the works for 2022 called House of the Dragon, but Entertainment Weekly reports HBO wants to order "several" more.
Among them may be a series based on George R.R. Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg, as Variety and The Hollywood Reporter report an adaptation of these novellas, which follow Ser Duncan the Tall and Aegon V Targaryen nine decades before A Song of Ice and Fire, is in early development.
That would be the second Thrones prequel after House of the Dragon, an upcoming series about the Targaryens. But that may not be all, as Entertainment Weekly writes "the idea is for HBO to go big on Thrones for HBO and HBO Max, not entirely unlike how Disney has done with Star Wars and Disney+." At a recent investor presentation, Disney laid out an avalanche of new Star Wars shows coming to its streaming service, including spinoffs of The Mandalorian.
A Thrones prequel about Robert's Rebellion, a war frequently referred to in Thrones, is one concept being explored, EW says, adding that all of the ideas currently being considered would be prequels rather than sequels or direct spinoffs. At one point, there were five Thrones scripts at "various stages of development" at HBO, as Martin revealed in 2017, though it wasn't clear whether more than one of them would actually end up on the air. House of the Dragon ended up moving forward, but another Thrones spinoff was scrapped in 2019 after already filming a pilot episode.
But it sounds like HBO is still interested in the idea of multiple Thrones series, as it evidently looks to go all in on the franchise and bet viewers disappointed by the original show's finale will return. Brendan Morrow
Facebook's oversight board has taken on a major case, as it's set to review the company's decision to boot the president of the United States from its platform.
Facebook announced Thursday it has referred its decision to indefinitely suspend former President Donald Trump's account to the Facebook independent Oversight Board, which has accepted the case.
"We believe our decision was necessary and right," Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice president of global affairs and communications, said. "Given its significance, we think it is important for the board to review it and reach an independent judgment on whether it should be upheld. While we await the board's decision, Mr. Trump's access will remain suspended indefinitely."
Facebook suspended Trump's account in the wake of the deadly riot at the Capitol building by his supporters, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying the "risks of allowing the president to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great" as he attempted to "undermine the peaceful and lawful transfer of power." Facebook said the suspension would continue "indefinitely" and "at least" until he was out of office.
The oversight board pledged to offer a "thorough and independent assessment" of the case and provide "policy recommendations from the board on suspensions when the user is a political leader." Facebook noted that whatever decision the board reaches will be binding and can't be overruled by the company's executives. A decision will come within 90 days.
Twitter also took action against Trump over the Capitol riot by permanently banning his account. But NBC News' Dylan Byers notes that referring the case to the oversight board allows Facebook to "outsource" this final decision. Brendan Morrow
In the latest news story that's improbably not a 30 Rock episode description, Jenna Maroney actress Jane Krakowski has denied secretly dating the MyPillow guy for nine months.
A report from the Daily Mail on Thursday claimed controversial MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who has recently made headlines for his false election fraud claims in support of former President Donald Trump, had a "secret nine month romance" with Krakowski until the "passionate" relationship ended last summer.
Lindell, the report claimed, supposedly "wooed the actress for close to a year, showering her with gifts and flowers." An anonymous source told the outlet, "She said she had known him for about eight years and that they had been friends but then they started a relationship about a year ago." The source also claimed, "They would fight and Jane would throw all of the gifts that he had given her away. Then they would make up and there would be more gifts again." The alleged romance reportedly baffled Krakowski's friends just as much as it did social media on Thursday when the article was published.
Both Krakowski and Lindell are denying the report — and claiming they never even met at all. "I've never met the man," Krakowski told the Daily Mail, while Lindell went a step further, saying, "I have never even heard of Jane Krakowski???"
Still, should NBC ever decide to reboot 30 Rock, we've got some good news for Tina Fey: the Daily Mail has already provided the first script. Brendan Morrow
When walking around the neighborhoods and grocery stores in Philadelphia, virtually everyone I see is wearing a mask. That's great news — we should all be happy to endure a little discomfort to fight the pandemic. Unfortunately, nearly all the masks are simple cloth varieties. While these are better than nothing, there are better masks available. President Biden and his administration should be pointing this out, and doing what they can to get those masks into the hands of the American people.
There have been multiple studies on whether masks work to slow the spread of coronavirus, and the general consensus is that they do — but the better the mask, the more they help. Cloth masks are good, 3-ply surgical masks are better, and medical-grade N95 or N100 respirators are better still. Yet so far public health authorities, and Biden himself, have typically just recommended the use of masks in general without any quality distinctions.
The CDC website is confusing on this point. It recommends that people do not use medical-grade N95s, as apparently there is still a global shortage and they should be reserved for medical workers. But it also recommends against surgical masks, which are widely available, for the same reason, and does not mention KN95s, which are probably only a bit worse than normal N95s. (Alas, there are reportedly a slew of counterfeit or low-quality masks out there.)
The Biden administration could upgrade its pandemic-fighting strategy by clearly explaining what kinds of masks are good and appropriate for normal citizens. It could further certify which manufacturers are trustworthy, so people aren't tricked by sleazy ripoff artists on Amazon. Best of all, as part of Biden's invocation of the Defense Production Act, he could send every household in the United States a free weekly supply of the best masks that can be produced (as Taiwan is doing). I would wager that within a month or two, every American could be using KN95s at least, and the spread of coronavirus would be slowed markedly, saving many thousands of lives. Ryan Cooper