Handmaid's Tale?  U.S. Supreme Court candidate's religious community under scrutiny  —  (Reuters) - Some have likened People of Praise, a self-described charismatic Christian community, to the totalitarian, male-dominated society of Margaret Atwood's novel “The Handmaid's Tale.”

Cindy McCain Endorses Biden, Citing Trump's Disparagement of Troops  —  The widow of Senator John McCain praised Joe Biden's “character and integrity” and noted that both he and her family had children who had served in the military.  —  WASHINGTON — Cindy McCain, the widow of Senator John McCain …

GOP senators' report calls Hunter Biden's board position with Ukraine firm ‘problematic,’ but fails to show how it changed U.S. policy  —  A pair of Senate Republican committee chairmen released a report Wednesday arguing that Hunter Biden's board position with a Ukrainian energy company was …

The Russian Trolls Have a Simpler Job Today.  Quote Trump.  —  As part of their attempt to interfere with the 2020 election, Russians are grabbing screenshots of President Trump's tweets, or quoting his own misleading statements, analysts and officials say.

CIA clamps down on flow of Russia intelligence to White House  —  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Gina Haspel and President Donald Trump attend the swearing-in ceremony for Haspel as CIA director May 21, 2018, in Langley, Va. |  The CIA has made it harder for intelligence about Russia to reach …

Kamala Harris Downplays Debate Skills as Buttigieg Stands In for Pence  — Former prosecutor known for withering attacks on opponents  — Harris created viral moments in presidential primary debates  —  Kamala Harris's team is working to manage public expectations that her upcoming debate …

West Michigan man says yard signs were stolen.  So he put up Joe Biden freeway billboards.  —  After he said eight yard signs were stolen or vandalized, Marshall Stern had had enough.  —  Stern, a Democrat who lives in Newaygo County, a historically red area in west Michigan …

Scoop: Meadows puts agencies on notice about staff shake-up  —  White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told administration officials Monday to expect senior aides to be replaced at many government agencies, according to an internal email obtained by Axios.  —  Behind the scenes …

Trump extends ban on racial discrimination training to federal contractors  —  President Trump on Tuesday extended his administration's ban on training involving race- and sex-based discrimination to include federal contractors, doubling down on an issue to appeal to his base, and white voters in particular.

House Democrats and Trump admin strike deal to avert government shutdown  —  The House on Tuesday passed legislation to fund the government through Dec. 11, by a vote of 359-57.  —  Why it matters: The bill will avert a government shutdown when funding expires in eight days.

Foreign Actors and Cybercriminals Likely to Spread Disinformation Regarding 2020 Election Results  —  The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are issuing this announcement to raise awareness of the potential threat posed …

US House passes forced labour bill that would bar Xinjiang imports  —  The legislation, which now goes to the Senate, would require any importer of Xinjiang-sourced products to prove they were not made using forced labour The bill, called the Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act …

The Election That Could Break America … There is a cohort of close observers of our presidential elections, scholars and lawyers and political strategists, who find themselves in the uneasy position of intelligence analysts in the months before 9/11.  As November 3 approaches …

Reopening Colleges Likely Fueled Covid-19 Significantly, Study Finds  —  Research suggests in-person classes led to thousands of additional cases each day in the U.S.  —  Colleges and universities that reopened for face-to-face instruction might have caused tens of thousands of additional cases …

Colorado Senate Moves From Toss Up to Lean Democrat  —  With a Supreme Court nominee now all but certain to be confirmed by the GOP-controlled Senate this year (either before or after the election), it looks like there will only be two defections from Republican ranks — Maine Sen. Susan Collins …

Judith Butler on the culture wars, JK Rowling and living in “anti-intellectual times”  —  Thirty years ago, the philosopher Judith Butler, now 64, published a book that revolutionised popular attitudes on gender.  Gender Trouble, the work she is perhaps best known for, introduced ideas of gender as performance.

Dutch lawmakers demand answers after U.S. ambassador holds party for right-wing populists at embassy  —  Dutch officials demanded answers from Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, on Tuesday in light of reports that the Trump appointee had held a private event …

Trump-world clashes over Barrett vs. Lagoa  —  Donald Trump's looming Supreme Court decision is dividing the president's political orbit between the pragmatists and the purists.  —  One camp is dominated by the GOP operative class overseeing the party's electoral efforts, including the president's own campaign advisers and donors.

Scientific American's Scientifically Indefensible Biden Endorsement  —  An editorial that begins and ends with lies is, by definition, not credible and unworthy of a purportedly “scientific” journal ...  Breaking with 175 years of nonpartisan objectivity, German-owned Scientific American endorsed Joe Biden …

More voters picked Jacobs than Gómez in 53rd Congressional District, poll shows  —  But “undecideds” are 38 percent of the vote, a new 10 News/San Diego Union-Tribune poll finds  —  If “undecided” were a candidate, it would be tied for first place with Sara Jacobs …

Belarus: Lukashenko secretly inaugurates himself after disputed election  —  Belarus has been rocked by mass protests since the contested vote last month  —  Belarus's under-fire autocrat Alexander Lukashenko has secretly inaugurated himself as president in a ceremony at his palace in Minsk.

DHS awarded $6 million in contracts to firm where Acting Secretary Wolf's wife is executive … WASHINGTON — The consulting firm where the wife of acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf is an executive has been awarded more than $6 million in contracts from the Department …

Demographic shifts since 2016 could be enough to defeat Trump.  But it's complicated. … Four years ago, President Donald Trump lost the popular vote by 2.9 million votes and still won the White House thanks to a near-perfect geographic vote distribution that allowed him to capture big Electoral College prizes by razor-thin margins.

It's not just Roe v Wade.  Trump's Supreme Court pick could challenge Brown v Board of Education  —  Nearly 30 Trump nominees have refused to say the ruling in the landmark case — which overturned segregaton in schools — was the correct one  —  Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death leaves …

Estimated Senate seats  —  Our model is updated every day, blending the latest data on polls and fundraising with “fundamental” factors like incumbency and each state's partisan lean.  Below is a chart over time of our best estimate of the most likely number of Senate seats each party will win …

The RNC is wiring cash to Texas.  Is it a 2020 battleground?  —  The Republican National Committee cut million-dollar checks to six state parties in August as it prepared for the fall campaign.  But one payment stands out amid a torrent of money flowing to traditional battleground states: $1.3 million to once-brick red Texas.

I'm a conservative and I'm voting for Joe Biden  —  The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer.  —  The original meaning of the term conservative, as articulated by Edmund Burke, was the desire to conserve aspects of tradition and social stability as society moves forward.