People Tied to Project Veritas Scrutinized in Theft of Diary From Biden's Daughter  —  The F.B.I. carried out search warrants in New York as part of a Justice Department investigation into how pages from Ashley Biden's journal came to be published by a right wing website.

Virginia Gov.-elect Youngkin's underaged son tried to vote in Tuesday's election, elections officials said  —  The 17-year-old son of Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin (R) tried to cast a ballot in Tuesday's gubernatorial election twice despite being too young to vote, Fairfax County officials said in a statement released Friday.

Rachel Maddow's Shocking New Low  —  With last night's loony response to the indictment of Igor Danchenko, the MSNBC anchor takes a bold leap off the credibility cliff  —  Yesterday, Special Counsel John Durham indicted Brookings Institute analyst Igor Danchenko, better known as the primary source …

Pelosi tries to rev House Dems after season in the ditch  —  Democrats got a taste this week of how brutal their midterms could be.  Now Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her team are trying to turn things around before it's too late.  —  House leaders entered the Capitol Friday optimistic …

Retiring GOP lawmaker warns Trump will try to steal the next election  —  Programming note: A new CNN documentary, “Trumping Democracy: An American Coup,” reported by Jake Tapper about former President Donald Trump's attempts to subvert the 2020 election, premieres at 9 p.m. ET on Friday, November 5.

Pfizer antiviral pill reduced risk of covid hospitalization and death by 89 percent in high-risk people, company study shows  —  An experimental coronavirus pill reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 89 percent in high-risk people infected with the virus, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced Friday.

Trump DOJ official who aided effort to overturn election declines to answer Jan. 6 questions  —  A top Trump Justice Department official who aided the former president's quest to overturn the 2020 election refused to answer substantive questions in a meeting with congressional investigators on Friday.

No million-dollar checks: Democratic governors may sit out Florida  —  TALLAHASSEE — The Democratic Governors Association has no plans to give significant financial help to Florida Democrats as they seek to unseat Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022, a major setback that will make it harder for challengers to take on the popular Republican.

Cuomo Sex-Crime Charge May Be ‘Defective,’ D.A. Says  —  A judge granted the Albany County district attorney's request for an adjournment, after prosecutors cited potentially “exculpatory” mistakes in the investigation.  —  The sex-crime case against former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was thrown …

Texas attorney general sues Biden administration, slams ‘flatly unconstitutional’ federal vaccine mandate  —  Paxton says the mandate represents ‘federal overreach’  —  Dana White explains why he opposes vaccine mandates  —  Texas' Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit …

Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, Know What Happened to Pols Who Did What They're Doing  —  It's a core principle of economics that people do what they are incentivized to do.  That may be why Senators Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., haven't hesitated to oppose popular progressive policies …

John Eastman Is Not Good With Computers  —  The legal scholar who advised Trump on his Jan. 6 strategy is making a lot of mistakes.  —  John Eastman is having a rough go of it.  The 61-year-old attorney, founding director of the Claremont Institute's Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence …

A Very Exciting Introduction  —  TGIF.  A weekly report from Nellie Bowles.  —  Hello and welcome to the Common Sense weekly news roundup.  I'm Nellie Bowles.  Until a couple weeks ago, I was a reporter at the New York Times.  Funky local paper.  —  During my four years at the Times …

They Just Keep Closing Schools and Mandating Masks  —  Given this week's surprise drubbing at the polls—not just in Virginia, New Jersey, and Long Island, but also in many of the estimated 117 school districts where board seats were contested on the issues of COVID-19 response, race-based policies …

University of Florida Reverses Course to Allow Professors to Testify Against State  —  Facing a storm of protest, the university said three professors could testify as expert witnesses in a voting-rights lawsuit against the state.  —  Acceding to a storm of protest, the University …

CIA director dispatched to Moscow to warn Russia over troop buildup near Ukraine  —  (CNN)President Joe Biden dispatched CIA Director Bill Burns to Moscow earlier this week to warn the Kremlin that the US is watching its buildup of troops near Ukraine's border closely, and to attempt to determine what is motivating Russia's actions.

The Missing Kabul Drone Strike Report  —  the Defense Department announced that it had completed its investigation into the Aug. 29, 2021 drone strike that killed 10 civilians, including seven children, in Kabul.  The report itself remains classified.  The official single-page fact sheet asserts …

The Surprising Strategy Behind Youngkin's Stunner  —  Sometimes you want to hear from the strategists rather than the candidate.  —  With all due respect to Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin — who, for a first-timer from the world of high finance, proved to be remarkably disciplined on the stump …

Democratic Aide Irritated with Biden: I'm Almost Ready to Chant 'Let's Go, Brandon'  —  To the extent President Biden commented about the seemingly endless negotiations over the spending bills on Capitol Hill, he has offered generic, optimistic assessments: “I believe that Joe [Manchin] will be there.”