Five women accuse journalist and ‘Game Change’ co-author Mark Halperin of sexual harassment  —  Veteran journalist Mark Halperin sexually harassed women while he was in a powerful position at ABC News, according to five women who shared their previously undisclosed accounts with CNN and others …

Announcement: RT and Sputnik Advertising  —  Twitter has made the policy decision to off-board advertising from all accounts owned by Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik, effective immediately.  This decision was based on the retrospective work we've been doing around the 2016 U.S. election …

In Hill interviews, top Dems denied knowledge of payments to firm behind Trump dossier  —  (CNN)Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta and former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz both privately denied to congressional Russia investigators …

Why Harvey Weinstein is disgraced but Donald Trump is president  —  The allegations against Weinstein and Trump are strikingly similar.  Why have the outcomes been so different?  —  The story, by now, reads as familiar.  Summer Zervos got her big break appearing on a network television show.

APNewsBreak: Georgia election server wiped after suit filed  —  https://apnews.com/877ee1015f1c43f1965f 63538b035d3f  —  Link copied!  —  A computer server crucial to a lawsuit against Georgia election officials was quietly wiped clean by its custodians just after the suit was filed, The Associated Press has learned.

Like a lot of men, I've had a sinking feeling when I see how many friends have posted using the #MeToo tag.  I've also read suggestions on how men can play a role, and sadly I've had several ex-partners who were victims.  One is well-known, but hasn't shared her story (so neither will I).

10-Year-Old Immigrant Is Detained After Agents Stop Her on Way to Surgery  —  A 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy has been detained by federal immigration authorities in Texas after she passed through a Border Patrol checkpoint on her way to a hospital to undergo emergency gall bladder surgery.

Scott Brown: more complaints surface over behaviour of US ambassador to New Zealand  —  Ambassador said to have been ‘culturally insensitive’ at party in Samoa and is alleged by one woman to have stared at her breasts … It was a balmy 32 degrees when the US ambassador to New Zealand …

Ben Sasse On Alabama Senate Race: “It Feels Like This Party That I'm A Part Of Has Gone Post-Constitutional”  —  An interesting bit from Jonah Goldberg's podcast, The Remnant.  Goldberg puts Sasse on the spot by asking whether he'll be following the lead of his libertarian-ish colleagues in the Senate …

Trump to Declare Opioid Crisis a ‘Public Health Emergency’  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday will announce he is directing his Department of Health and Human Services to declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency, senior administration officials said …

Selma Blair and Rachel McAdams Share Their Stories of James Toback's Sexual Harassment  —  Both women encountered the director early in their careers.  Both describe remarkably similar experiences of his targeting and humiliation of young actresses.  —  A week after The New York Times …

Trump Spending $1.75 Million on Presidential Furniture, Redecorations  —  WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's administration is spending $1.75 million on furniture for the White House and offices tied to it, according to government records.  —  That includes $17,000 for custom rugs …

Trump associate Cohen sold four NY buildings for cash to mysterious buyers  —  WASHINGTON  —  Donald Trump's long time business lawyer Michael Cohen may be best known for his aggressive campaign television defenses of the real estate mogul, his role in an abortive effort to build a Trump Tower …

The Republicans Have Developed a Theory of Alt-Collusion to Defend Trump From Mueller  —  Having apparently decided that defending the Trump campaign against charges of collusion with Russian cyberattacks is an impossible task, the Republican Party has decided to go on offense.

‘I hope someone truly shoots you’: online conspiracy theorists harass Vegas victims  —  Those who lived to describe the mass shooting face flood of abuse on social media accusing them of being actors, as hoax claims flourish on YouTube  —  Braden Matejka survived a bullet to the head in the Las Vegas massacre.

Threats are preventing Frederica Wilson from voting in Washington  —  WASHINGTON  —  Congressional Democrats celebrated Rep. Frederica Wilson on Wednesday by wearing stickers adorned with a red cowboy hat and posing for a group picture on the steps of the Capitol.  —  But one notable person was missing: Wilson herself.

Bill O'Reilly dropped by another talent agency  —  Fox gave O'Reilly contract after $32 million settlement  —  Bill O'Reilly will be dropped by William Morris Endeavor, the talent agency that handles his book deals.  —  In a statement provided to CNN, a spokesman for WME said that the agency will …

The Recruitables: Why Trump's Team Was Easy Prey for Putin  —  By now, it should be clear to anyone following the news that Russian intelligence made a formidable effort to approach the Trump campaign and assess the potential to manipulate its members.  As a former officer of the CIA's Directorate …

Cambridge Analytica used data from Facebook and Politico to help Trump  —  Speech by company executive contradicts denial by Trump campaign that the company used its own data and Facebook data to help the campaign  —  Did Cambridge Analytica influence the Brexit vote and the US election?  —  Read more

Justice Department settles IRS lawsuits from 400 conservative groups claiming discrimination … WASHINGTON - Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday that the Justice Department is settling class action lawsuits brought by more than 400 conservative groups who said they were “improperly” …

Second Woman: George H.W. Bush Groped Me  —  Earlier this week, actress Heather Lind said in a now-deleted Instagram post that former president George H.W. Bush had sexually assaulted her.  “He touched me from behind from his wheelchair with his wife Barbara Bush by his side,” she wrote.

Sessions threatened to quit over Chinese dissident  —  Attorney General Jeff Sessions went to the mat recently against pro-China officials within the Trump administration to prevent the forcible return of a dissident businessman to China.  —  According to a person familiar with the issue …

Police: Delaware City man spies on ‘Muslims’ who were not Muslims  —  10/25/17 Damian Giletto/The News Journal  —  The man Delaware City Police arrested last week for threatening his neighbors believed they were Muslims bent on doing him and the nation harm, and he told investigators he would stop them.

Tea Party leader: Trump should “stay out” of Mississippi race  —  Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin told Axios that the GOP Senate primary in Mississippi could be heated this year, and warned that President Trump should “stay out of it” or risk angering grassroots voters.

Who Knew Trump Would Be a Weak President?  —  He campaigned with a lot of swagger.  But his first nine months in office have been defined by indecision, vacillation, and a reluctance to call shots.  —  At his rallies, presidential candidate Donald Trump excited his most avid supporters through displays …

Trump on Chinese president: ‘Some people might call him the king of China’  —  President Trump during an interview on Wednesday touted his “very good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping.  —  “People say we have the best relationship of any president-president …

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Freedom Of Religion and Speech  —  U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Sessions joined me this morning to discuss threats to First Amendment freedoms as well as other pressing topics at the Department of Justice:  —  10-26hhs-sessions  —  Transcript:

Technology Firms Shape Political Communication: The Work of Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, and Google With Campaigns During the 2016 U.S. Presidential Cycle  —  Abstract  —  This article offers the first analysis of the role that technology companies, specifically Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft …

Tom Perez Says ‘Electoral College Is Not a Creation of the Constitution’ (It Is.)  —  DNC chair gets Constitution wrong in speech to law students  —  Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez incorrectly stated “the Electoral College is not a creation of the Constitution” during a Tuesday night speech.

How Rex Tillerson Is Remaking the State Department  —  The former CEO is bent on a full private-sector-style redesign even as trouble brews abroad.  —  Secretary of State Rex Tillerson doesn't know what to make of news reports that morale is low at his agency and that he's not doing a good job running it.