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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

Corporate Minimum Tax Resurfaces as Democrats Hunt for Money  —  Senators offer updated plan to impose minimum levies on profitable corporations; key moderate lawmaker Kyrsten Sinema endorses proposal  —  WASHINGTON—Senate Democrats announced a 15% minimum tax on large companies' income on Tuesday …

Virginia on the Brink  —  I grew up in Northern Virginia; right along border between McLean and Falls Church.  My springs were spent at McLean Little League.  I spent the fall rooting for a football team whose name no longer exists.  —  My Saturday mornings were spent at Temple Rodef Shalom, struggling through Hebrew school.

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.”

Email Shows Biden Ordered Afghanistan Evacuation Flights Be Filled With Unvetted Refugees  —  During America's chaotic exit from Afghanistan earlier this year, the Biden administration issued a directive that evacuation flights be filled to “excess” with refugees who had not been properly vetted …

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.

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 …

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

Dozens denied absentee ballots in Linn County due to shorter request period  —  CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Changes to Iowa voting laws have caught some off guard, with the deadline to request an absentee ballot for the November 2 election already passing a week ago.

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.

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?

'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.

‘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.

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.

Pushing election lies, TPUSA audience member asks Charlie Kirk when they can “use the guns” and “kill these people”  —  Audience member to Charlie Kirk: “When do we get to use the guns? ...  That's not a joke.  I'm not saying it like that.  I mean, literally, where's the line?

Jan. 6 committee expected to subpoena lawyer who advised Trump, Pence on how to overturn election  —  The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is expected to subpoena John Eastman, the pro-Trump legal scholar who outlined scenarios for denying Joe Biden the presidency, according to the panel's chairman.

The pandemic has been a political non-event  —  Joe Biden is among those who have overestimated the clamour for change  —  That history is “one damn thing after another” is such a good line, it's almost a shame it isn't true.  For the most part, history is the sum of all that does not happen.

Twitter Data Has Revealed A Coordinated Campaign Of Hate Against Meghan Markle  —  Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have long cited social media toxicity as a factor in their decision to step back from royal life.  And now, an analysis of more than 114,000 tweets about the couple …

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.

EXCLUSIVE: McAuliffe-Linked Law Firm Fighting Virginia Student Who Said She Was Gang-Raped  —  A law firm that employed Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe has made a cottage industry out of aggressively fighting victims of alleged sexual abuse in schools, being paid huge sums …

Four Measures That Are Helping Germany Beat COVID  —  Having grown up in Germany, I am skeptical of the popular notion that life is so much more rational and efficient in the country than it is anywhere else.  Those who believe that Germans are incapable of irrationality should suggest imposing a speed limit on the country's highways.

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.

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 …