Breaking Up with the Democratic Party  —  I changed my voting registration from ‘Democrat’ to ‘Independent’ today.  It was a strangely emotional experience.  —  I registered as a Democrat back in 1995 when I was 20 years old to vote for Bill Clinton's re-election.  It was a no-brainer for me.

McConnell reactivates his connection to Biden — with a sharp debt warning  —  Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell's two-man emergency hotline had gone silent — until now.  —  The Senate minority leader on Monday morning prodded the president to talk his party into raising the debt ceiling without the GOP …

USPS Begins Postal Banking Pilot Program  —  The test allows customers to cash business or payroll checks at the post office and place them onto a gift card.  —  The United States Postal Service (USPS) has taken the most dramatic step in a half-century to re-establish a postal banking system in America.

Trump, talked out of announcing a 2024 bid for now, settles on a wink-and-nod unofficial candidacy  —  As turmoil in Afghanistan reached a crescendo in August, Donald Trump began talking again with advisers about whether he should announce his 2024 campaign for president right away.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema makes liberal heads explode.  And that's just fine with the Arizona Democrat  —  When Kyrsten Sinema ran for Senate in 2018, she could not have been more clear.  The Democrat did not call herself a Democrat but rather an “Arizona independent.”

Scoop: House Republican says he's facing federal prosecution  —  The top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee's agriculture panel says he's facing federal prosecution, Axios has learned.  —  Driving the news: In a new fundraising page for his legal expense fund, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry …

Florida Gov. DeSantis' wife diagnosed with breast cancer  —  Fox News Flash top headlines for October 4  —  EXCLUSIVE - Casey DeSantis, the wife of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, has been diagnosed with breast cancer.  —  “I am saddened to report that Florida's esteemed First Lady …

Supreme Court declines to hear dispute over DC representation in Congress  —  The Supreme Court on Monday turned away an appeal by Washington, D.C., residents over their lack of voting rights in Congress.  —  The justices' move affirmed a lower court ruling that held that D.C. residents …

Exclusive: Stephanie Grisham says ‘I regret’ enabling culture of dishonesty in Trump White House  —  The former Trump aide spoke exclusively to ABC News' George Stephanopoulos.  —  In an exclusive interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, Stephanie Grisham, one of former President Donald Trump's …

Pelosi shows her power  —  If you are betting on politics, here's my advice — put your money on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).  —  Historian Robert Caro famously crowned Lyndon Johnson the “Master of the Senate.”  —  After last week, it's clear Pelosi is his equal in the House.

One-time presidential candidate Evan McMullin will mount an independent bid to oust Republican Sen. Mike Lee, Robert Gehrke reports  —  A McMullin candidacy challenges the rigid two-party standard, which leaves too many Utahns unrepresented.  —  Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin speaks …

Ex-U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, sunk by ‘legitimate rape’ remark, dies  —  Former U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, a conservative Missouri Republican whose comment that women's bodies have a way of avoiding pregnancies in cases of “legitimate rape” sunk his bid for the U.S. Senate and became a cautionary tale for other GOP candidates, died late Sunday.

Jan. 6 rioters exploited little-known Capitol weak spots: A handful of unreinforced windows  —  Four major access points that Jan. 6 rioters used to break into and overtake the U.S. Capitol had something unusual in common: They were among a dozen or so ground-floor windows and glass-paned doors that had not been recently reinforced.

Republicans Shout Down Lindsey Graham for Pushing Vaccine  —  “Well, I'm glad I got it.  Ninety-two percent of people in hospitals in South Carolina are unvaccinated,” he told the crowd of Republican activists who booed him.  —  Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was booed by Republican activists Saturday …

U.S. Signals No Thaw in Trade Relations With China  —  The Biden administration said it would not immediately remove the Trump administration's tariffs and would require that Beijing uphold its trade commitments.  —  WASHINGTON — The Biden administration offered its strongest signal yet …

The Facebook Whistleblower, Frances Haugen, Says She Wants to Fix the Company, Not Harm It  —  The former Facebook employee says her goal is to help prompt change at the social-media giant  —  The former Facebook Inc. employee who gathered documents that formed the foundation …

Facebook Is Weaker Than We Knew  —  A trove of leaked documents, published by The Wall Street Journal, hints at a company whose best days are behind it.  —  One possible way to read “The Facebook Files,” The Wall Street Journal's excellent series of reports based on leaked internal Facebook research …

Covid, in Retreat  —  New cases in the U.S. have fallen by more than a third in the past month.  —  Covid-19 is once again in retreat.  —  The reasons remain somewhat unclear, and there is no guarantee that the decline in caseloads will continue.  But the turnaround is now large enough …

White Riot In 1992, thousands of furious, drunken cops descended on City Hall — and changed New York history.  —  This story was produced in partnership with The Garrison Project, an independent, nonpartisan organization that will address the crisis of mass incarceration and policing.

IATSE Members Vote to Authorize Nationwide Film and TV Production Strike … The members of the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees have voted to approve a strike authorization, giving the union president the power to shut down film and TV production across the country.

New video: Man splashes paint on George Floyd statue in Union Square  —  UNION SQUARE, Manhattan — After a statue of George Floyd was vandalized Sunday morning in Union Square, the NYPD early Monday released new surveillance video of a man dousing the statue with paint in broad daylight.

Lt. Col. Scheller Rejects Trump Support: 'I Don't Need or Want Your Help'  —  Prior to MAGA Trump supporters raising more than $2 million to help with his legal costs, Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller publicly denounced help from the former president and his son, saying he would “rather sit in jail” than accept their support.

Foreign money secretly floods U.S. tax havens.  Some of it is tainted.  —  (Washington Post illustration; Photograph by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)  —  SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Across from a Holiday Inn, in a red-brick building with a welcome sign that reads “The Heart of America,” …

Company That Routes Billions of Text Messages Quietly Says It Was Hacked  —  Syniverse handles billions of text messages a year, and hackers had unauthorized access to its system for years.  —  Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai  —  A company that is a critical part of the global telecommunications …