At least five former Trump White House staffers are talking to the House January 6 committee  —  Pelosi: Those who defy Jan 6 subpoenas should go to jail  —  (CNN)At least five former Trump administration staffers have voluntarily spoken with the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, CNN has learned.

Dave Chappelle Says Hannah Gadsby Is ‘Not Funny.’ The Laughter At Her Show Taping Suggests Otherwise  —  “Not only did I laugh, but I laughed so hard I might have peed a little,” one audience member told Jezebel.  —  Alerts  —  As Dave Chappelle moves into his third week of defending his Netflix special …

McAuliffe's Infamous ‘Parents’ Quip Wasn't a Gaffe — It's How Democrats Think  —  Terry McAuliffe made an extraordinary in-kind contribution to the campaign of his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, when he declared during their debate that, “I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

Five points for anger, one for a ‘like’: How Facebook's formula fostered rage and misinformation … Five years ago, Facebook gave its users five new ways to react to a post in their news feed beyond the iconic “like” thumbs-up: “love,” “haha,” “wow,” “sad” and “angry.”

Top Democrats aim to strike a deal on Biden's social spending plan within hours  — Democratic leaders said they were closer than ever to reaching a deal on President Joe Biden's plan to invest in the social safety net and climate programs.  — Agreement on the bigger Democratic bill …

Longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin describes sexual assault by US senator  —  Revelation of incident ‘buried’ by Abedin contained in new memoir Both/And, to be published next week  —  Huma Abedin, a longtime close aide to Hillary Clinton, has written in a new book that she was sexually assaulted …

Exclusive: Billionaires back new media firm to combat disinformation  —  A new public benefit corporation backed by billionaires Reid Hoffman, George Soros, and others is launching Tuesday to fund new media companies and efforts that tackle disinformation.  —  Why it matters …

Men shot by Rittenhouse can be described as ‘rioters’ and ‘looters’ but not ‘victims,’ judge rules ahead of trial  —  Kyle Rittenhouse's lawyers can refer to the men he shot as “rioters” and “looters,” but prosecutors still may not call them “victims” at any time during the teen's upcoming murder trial, a judge ruled Monday.

Mort Sahl, Whose Biting Commentary Redefined Stand-Up, Dies at 94  —  A self-appointed warrior against hypocrisy, he revolutionized comedy in the 1950s by addressing political and social issues.  —  Mort Sahl, who confronted Eisenhower-era cultural complacency with acid stage monologues …

Scoop: Biden plan expected to include at least $500B for climate  —  The White House is privately telling lawmakers the climate portion of President Biden's roughly $2 trillion social spending plan is “mostly settled” and will likely cost more than $500 billion, two sources familiar with the talks tell Axios.

‘Reasonable questions’ over financing of Donald Trump's Scottish resorts, court hears  —  There are “reasonable questions” surrounding the money used by Donald Trump to purchase his Scottish properties and the continuing source of the wealth used for their financing, a court has heard.

The Poison Frog Strategy  —  Preventing a Chinese Fait Accompli Against Taiwanese Islands … Introduction  —  How could Taiwan and the United States respond if China seized one of Taiwan's outlying islands, such as Pratas/Dongsha (hereafter Dongsha) in the South China Sea?

FDA advisers back Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for ages 5 to 11, saying benefits outweigh risks  —  More than 10 months after U.S. adults started receiving coronavirus vaccines, the nation's younger children moved significantly closer to getting a shot of protection when advisers …

Pro-Trump Professors Are Plotting an Authoritarian Comeback  —  On Halloween, the second National Conservatism conference, or NatCon II, will kick off in Orlando, Florida.  It is hard to know quite what to make of the lineup for the three-day fest, which boasts a few household names …

Why I'll Keep Saying ‘Pregnant Women’  —  Who can get pregnant?  It sounds like a trick question.  For centuries, English speakers have talked about “pregnant women” without a second thought, but a vocal and growing movement wants to replace that phrase with the more inclusive pregnant people.

The Department of Justice Is Letting the Coup Plotters Get Away  —  While Congress is investigating the events of January 6, why isn't the DOJ doing the same—and more?  —  Early yesterday, Rolling Stone published an explosive report which claims two of the people who helped plan the January 6 …

Manchin: I Convinced Biden That IRS Monitoring $600 Bank Transactions Is “Screwed Up” And Won't Be In The Final Bill  —  Sen. Joe Manchin, one of two Democratic holdouts still negotiating with the Biden administration about the “Build Back Better” budget bill, told the Economic Club of Washington …

'It's absolutely getting worse': Secretaries of state targeted by Trump election lies live in fear for their safety and are desperate for protection  —  (CNN)"I am a hunter — and I think you should be hunted," a woman can be heard saying in a voicemail left for Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in September.

Ron DeSantis' seeks COVID vaccine mandate special session  —  Nothing can hide Florida's descent into Crazyville.  Not the “Don't Tread on Florida” alligator signs held by Gov. Ron DeSantis' supporters at his latest COVID-19 policy proposal announcement.  Not the state's new Ivy League …

Axios-Ipsos poll: Confidence in Biden COVID recovery tumbles  —  Confidence in President Biden's ability to rescue the economy from COVID-19 has dropped since January, even as Americans' faith rises in his ability to make the vaccine widely accessible, according to the latest installment of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index.

John McWhorter Argues That Antiracism Has Become a Religion of the Left … When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.  —  WOKE RACISM  —  How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America  —  Growing up in the 1990s, I was raised to be optimistic about American society.

A Short History of Conservative Trolling  —  David Frum, the former George W. Bush speechwriter and current never-Trump conservative, recently wrote, “The post-Trump right has a style as distinctive as its authoritarian substance: trolling, ironic, evasive.”  But that ain't so.

Covid: Masks mandatory for everyone in the Commons - except MPs  —  Face coverings have been made mandatory for everyone working in the House of Commons except MPs.  —  In updated guidance, the Commons authorities said all staff, visitors, contractors and press must cover their faces to combat the spread of Covid.

Utah Republican legislator charged with poaching and firearms violations  —  Rep. Travis Seegmiller faces three misdemeanor charges related to shooting a deer near private residences in southwest Utah.  —  (Rick Egan |  The Salt Lake Tribune) Rep. Travis Seegmiller, R-St. George …

Enes Kanter says Nike is ‘scared to speak up’ against China and wears ‘Modern Day Slavery’ shoes in protest of Uyghur treatment  —  (CNN)NBA star Enes Kanter has doubled-down on his criticism of China and has called on Nike to do more in fighting against injustice in the country.

Covid Cases Keep Falling  —  Covid cases have been falling in every region of the U.S., offering hope.  —  It is time for one of The Morning's occasional updates on the state of the pandemic.  Today's is focused on the U.S. and organized around three main points.  —  1. Covid's retreat continues

Texas House committee to investigate school districts' books on race and sexuality  —  Rep. Matt Krause, a candidate for state attorney general, asks school superintendents to confirm whether any books on a list of 850 titles are in their libraries and classrooms.  —  Copy link

Republicans Are Manufacturing Fake Fraud  —  Republicans have an election fraud problem.  No matter how hard they look, they can't seem to find any.  To say that voter fraud is vanishingly rare in this country is to overstate its frequency.  —  The crown jewel of right-wing fraud propaganda …

Four Measures That Are Helping Germany Beat COVID  —  And why we're failing to do the same things in America  —  About the author: Yascha Mounk is a contributing writer at The Atlantic, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and the founder of Persuasion.