A Last Word on Virginia  —  Dear Readers: Join us Thursday, Nov. 4 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. for our annual American Democracy Conference.  The virtual event will begin with a presentation by Project Home Fire's Larry Schack and Mick McWilliams on our ongoing polling and data analytics project.

Senate candidate Sean Parnell's wife testified that he tried to choke her and hit their children  —  BUTLER, Pa. — The estranged wife of Sean Parnell — the candidate endorsed by former President Donald Trump to be the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania …

An unusual alliance appears likely to fracture Texas's abortion ban  —  Most of the justices seem to understand that SB 8 is a direct attack on the Constitution.  —  The abortion providers suing to block SB 8, Texas's aggressive anti-abortion law, came into Monday's Supreme Court argument with four votes on their side.

NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National Poll: Trust in Elections, Threat to Democracy, Biden Approval, November 2021  —  Americans See a Serious Threat to Democracy; Trust Elections Largely on Partisan Basis  —  A majority of Americans (62%) say they will trust the results of the 2024 election …

Here's how many NYPD cops are on unpaid leave over vax mandate  —  Only a few a dozen NYPD members were placed on unpaid leave Monday after refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine — but thousands of unvaccinated employees remain on the job with pending exemption requests, the city's top cop said.

Gun dealers sell parts, ammo using anti-Biden meme 'Let's go, Brandon'  —  It arose from a crowd chant at the NASCAR racetrack in Talladega, Ala.  —  Gun dealers are marketing weapon parts and ammunition using a right-wing slogan widely understood as code for profanity directed at President Joe Biden.

Manchin calls on Democrats to slow down on $1.75 trillion spending package, putting imminent House vote in jeopardy  —  West Virginia Democrat raised concerns about debt and inflation and demanded that House lawmakers approve a separate infrastructure bill.  —  Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) …

Axios is pleased to report that Twitter will “pre-bunk' climate misinformation,' i.e. any inconvenient truths that hurt preferred climate change narrative  —  Joe Biden's in Glasgow for the UN Climate Change Conference, because the international community needs to come together to fight for climate justice.

‘Parents’ rights' is code for white race politics  —  After white supremacists spilled blood in defense of keeping up Confederate statues in 2017, the GOP candidate for governor of Virginia, Ed Gillespie, said the monuments should stay up as a matter of heritage and history.

Donald Trump Is Now the Odds-On Favorite to Be President in 2025  —  Be very afraid.  —  So Donald Trump is now the odds-on favorite to be president of the United States in 2025.  —  I know that lede sentence was also the headline, but I wanted you to read it one more time just to let it really settle …

China Locks 30,000 Visitors Inside Shanghai Disneyland After One Guest Got Covid-19  —  Guests are required to take coronavirus test to exit after a positive case shuts down the park  —  HONG KONG—Shanghai Disneyland was temporarily shut down from Sunday after a visitor was found to be Covid-19-positive …

Greene accrues at least $48K in fines for ignoring House mask mandate  —  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has been reprimanded by the House sergeant-at-arms at least 20 times this year for refusing to wear a mask in the chamber, which has added up to $48,000 worth of associated fines.

Liberals Read, Conservatives Watch TV  —  Explaining why Trump emerged on the right, why only liberals debate filibuster reform, how anti-vax became a partisan issue, how David Shor is half right, “Dems are the real racists” and much else. … How are conservatives and liberals different?

Trump: Until recently Israel ‘literally owned Congress’ — and that was a good thing  —  (JTA) — Former President Donald Trump told a conservative Jewish radio host that Israel until recently “literally owned Congress,” a claim similar to those that have triggered accusations of antisemitism against other politicians.

What Will Drive China to War?  —  President Xi Jinping declared in July that those who get in the way of China's ascent will have their “heads bashed bloody against a Great Wall of steel.”  The People's Liberation Army Navy is churning out ships at a rate not seen since World War II …

How Big Business Got Woke and Dumped Trump  —  The CEOs started calling before President Trump had even finished speaking.  What America's titans of industry were hearing from the Commander in Chief was sending them into a panic.  —  It was Nov. 5, 2020, two days after the election …

U. of Florida's Accreditor Will Investigate Denial of Professors' Voting-Rights Testimony  —  The University of Florida's accreditor plans to investigate the flagship campus over the revelation that administrators denied three professors' requests to serve as paid experts in a voting-rights lawsuit.

A Year Ahead of the Midterms, Suburban Erosion Has Driven Biden's State-by-State Decline  —  Polling in all 50 states shows suburbanites who have been key to Democratic victories have largely turned on the president  — In most states, the change in sentiment about Biden among suburban voters tracks …

Josh Mandel Might Be Craven Enough to Win  —  Back when the Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel was a young man in politics, he had a spiel in his stump speech about bristling when people told him to wait his turn.  Now, as Mandel approaches middle age, it seems that those people were onto something …