POLITICO Playbook: Youngkin's crowds dwarf McAuliffe's on election eve  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  TERRY MCAULIFFE wanted GLENN YOUNGKIN and DONALD TRUMP to campaign together so badly that when it didn't happen, McAuliffe simply invented a Youngkin-Trump event that didn't exist.

Georgia official: Trump call to ‘find’ votes was a threat  —  ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump was threatening Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger when he asked him to help “find” enough votes to overturn his loss in Georgia to Democratic President Joe Biden, Raffensperger writes in a new book.

9,000 Unvaccinated N.Y.C. Workers Put on Unpaid Leave as Mandate Begins  —  Mayor Bill de Blasio said thousands more did get the shot and that the first day of the vaccine mandate went smoothly, without significant service disruptions.  —  Hundreds of firefighters called in sick in what appeared to be an organized protest.

Photos show QAnon believers gathering in Dallas — where they believe JFK Jr. will reveal he's still alive  —  On Monday night, believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory congregated for a mass gathering at the AT&T Discovery Plaza in Dallas, Texas.  —  According to reporter Steven Monacelli …

Republican senator Josh Hawley worries feminism has driven men to ‘pornography and video games’ … The effort to combat toxic masculinity in the US has led men to consume more pornography and play more video games, the Missouri senator Josh Hawley claimed in a speech to a group of Republicans.

Scoop: FEC lets foreigners finance U.S. ballot fights  —  The Federal Election Commission has ruled foreign donors can finance U.S. referendum campaigns, opening the door to foreign spending on fights over high-profile policy issues, Axios has learned.  —  Why it matters: Foreign nationals …

Yale Law Diversity Director at Center of ‘Traphouse’ Controversy Got an Anti-Semite Invited to the Yale Law Journal  —  The Yale Law School administrator caught on tape pressuring a student to apologize for an allegedly racist party invitation pushed the Yale Law Journal to host a diversity trainer …

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 …

White House announces new methane regulations, kicking off global pledge  —  Biden calls climate change challenge of our collective lifetime  —  GLASGOW, Scotland — The Biden administration on Tuesday announced plans to introduce some of the nation's strongest regulations against methane emissions …

The Risky Move That Could Save Kyle Rittenhouse—or Doom Him  —  The alleged far-right vigilante has to prove he was scared when he killed—and there's one simple way to do that.  —  Kyle Rittenhouse's highly anticipated and politically polarizing murder trial began on Monday.

Dozens killed and wounded as blasts and gunfire hit Kabul hospital  —  At least 25 people were killed and more than 50 wounded in an attack on Afghanistan's biggest military hospital on Tuesdaywhich saw two heavy blasts followed up by gunmen assaulting the site in central Kabul, officials said.

Yahoo pulls out of China, citing ‘challenging’ environment  —  HONG KONG (AP) — Yahoo Inc. said Tuesday it has pulled out of China, citing an increasingly challenging operating environment.  —  The withdrawal was largely symbolic, as many of the company's services were already blocked by China's digital censorship.

Manchin's Secret Meeting With Coal Barons and Climate Deniers at a Luxury Golf Resort  —  As Manchin is held responsible for blocking key climate provisions in Build Back Better, his personal and financial ties to the coal industry have faced increasing scrutiny

There's always someone out there willing to make the GOP's fascism seem respectable  —  It's hard to pick one apologist to pick on.  —  It's election week.  So it bears repeating.  The race for Virginia governor is not going to tell us much about next year's congressional elections.

The NRA's ‘First Lady’ Thought Donald Trump Owed Her a Favor.  Here's How That Went  —  A new book chronicles how Wayne and Susan LaPierre used his gun lobbying job as their ticket to high society, bizarre elephant hunting safaris, and millions in questionable spending

BIPOC or POC?  Equity or Equality?  The Debate Over Language on the Left.  —  For those pushing for changes in society on race and other issues, words matter.  They can also muddle.  —  In California, a Black college freshman from the South is telling a story about his Latino friends …

Breitbart has outsized influence over climate change denial on Facebook, report says  —  A new report suggests 10 publishers, including Russia Today and the Federalist Papers, are responsible for nearly 70 percent of interactions with climate change misinformation on the platform

More people globally see racial, ethnic discrimination as a serious problem in the U.S. than in their own society  —  Concerns about racial and ethnic discrimination are widespread in most of the 17 advanced economies surveyed by Pew Research Center this spring.

Poison in the Air  —  Mapping Cancer-Causing Industrial Air Pollution … From the urban sprawl of Houston to the riverways of Virginia, air pollution from industrial plants is elevating the cancer risk of an estimated quarter of a million Americans to a level the federal government considers unacceptable.