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.

Sinema Slams ‘Wholly Inappropriate’ Protesters Who Confronted Her in Bathroom  —  The sounds of toilets flushing punctuated a protester's attempts to tell the senator she needed to support “what you promised us.”  —  Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) came out swinging on Monday …

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.

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.

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 …

What House Progressives don't have in common with the Freedom Caucus  —  Flipping Beltway predictions, progressives become powerful allies for Biden agenda  —  Democratic leaders hoped to reach an agreement on President Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan last week, which would in turn clear …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

Court orders Trump to give a deposition in a lawsuit over Summer Zervos' sexual-assault claims before Christmas  — A New York State court said Donald Trump should give a deposition in Summer Zervos' lawsuit by December 23.  — Zervos sued Trump, accusing him of defamation after he denied …

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.

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,” …

Matthew Dowd Gets Snippy with Brianna Keilar, Dismisses Deleted Tweets as Fox ‘Conspiracy’: ‘I Answered Three Times’  —  Tensions briefly flared between CNN's Brianna Keilar and Matthew Dowd as the former George W. Bush strategist fielded questions about a major Twitter purge he did.