Why the Virginia Election Is Freaking Democrats Out  —  Ms. Cottle is a member of the editorial board.  —  With just under a week to go, the governor's race in Virginia has gotten tighter than Spanx on a hippo, prompting much agita in Democratic circles.  When the Democrats won full control …

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 …

New cases down nearly 60 percent since delta variant surge … New coronavirus infections in the United States have dropped nearly 60 percent since a September spike brought on by the more contagious delta variant, according to data compiled by The Washington Post.

A fear grows in Trumpworld: Have we gone too conspiratorial?  —  For months, conspiracies about the 2020 election being stolen from Donald Trump have fueled Republican efforts nationwide to rewrite election laws.  But now, some GOP operatives and Trumpworld luminaries are worried …

January 6 committee plans to subpoena John Eastman  —  ‘Scary’: John King reacts to memo from Trump lawyer  —  (CNN)The House select committee investigating the US Capitol insurrection plans to subpoena John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who had worked with then-President Donald Trump's legal team …

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 …

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 …

How to tax Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos  —  Secretary Yellen: How new billionaire tax would work  —  Edward J. McCaffery is Robert C. Packard trustee chair in law and a professor of law, economics and political science at the University of Southern California.

Bidenomics Is Working  —  Consumer prices are high and rising, and so is disapproval of Joe Biden.  In recent days, the president's net-favorability rating has hit new lows in FiveThirtyEight's aggregation of polls.  Meanwhile, America's headlines are full of testaments to economic discontent.

Political Speech for Human Dingleberries Has Never Been More Robust  —  There might be a “cancel culture” chilling effect out there, but it isn't chilling performers.  —  When considering the inescapable “free speech” debate there is an important maxim I want everyone to keep at the top of mind:

Harvard's modern-day Darwin warns against humanity's downward slope  —  The Harvard University scientist who has called for setting aside half the planet as a nature preserve says the slope of human history will always be downward unless there is global cooperation to save existing species.

The Moral Chasm That Has Opened Up Between Left and Right Is Widening  —  Mr. Edsall contributes a weekly column from Washington, D.C. on politics, demographics and inequality.  —  There has been a remarkable erosion in public tolerance of “offensive expression about race, gender and religion …

Herschel Walker gets McConnell's blessing  —  Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker has won the endorsement of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, cementing his support from the Republican Party establishment in a race that could determine which party controls the chamber.

Biden heads abroad with most of his ambassadorial picks stranded in the Senate, stunting U.S. diplomatic efforts  —  President Biden — who has made renewed international engagement a hallmark of his foreign policy ethos — is headed to a pair of global summits in Europe this week with just a handful …

Final New York Mayoral Debate Descends Into Exchange of Personal Insults  —  The televised confrontation between Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa a week before Election Day seemed unlikely to change the dynamics of the race.  —  There was talk of schmoozing with murderous gang members …

'We're being pressured into sex by some trans women'  —  Is a lesbian transphobic if she does not want to have sex with trans women?  Some lesbians say they are increasingly being pressured and coerced into accepting trans women as partners - then shunned and even threatened for speaking out.

An Excerpt from The Long Red Thread  —  Dear Readers: Crystal Ball Managing Editor Kyle Kondik's new book, The Long Red Thread: How Democratic Dominance Gave Way to Republican Advantage in US House Elections, was published by Ohio University Press this week.

Jailed Capitol rioter from Amherst now says he loathes Trump: ‘January 6th was a disgrace’  —  An Amherst man charged in the attack on a police officer amid the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., called his conduct “unequivocally an aberration” and that he was “consumed by the mob mentality.”

U.S. General Likens China's Hypersonic Weapon Test to ‘Sputnik Moment’  — Top U.S. general says suspected test is ‘very concerning’  — Afghan war a failure as the ‘regime that we supported lost’  —  The U.S.'s top uniformed military officer called China's suspected test …

Federal Trade Commission Scrutinizing Facebook Disclosures  —  Lawmakers want agency to determine if Facebook engaged in deceptive conduct; company says internal research is mischaracterized  —  WASHINGTON—Federal Trade Commission staffers have begun looking into disclosures …