Kyle Rittenhouse Found Not Guilty in Fatal Kenosha Shooting  —  “The defendant will rise to face the jury and hearken to its verdicts.”  “As to the first count of the information, Joseph Rosenbaum, we the jury, find the defendant, Kyle H. Rittenhouse, not guilty.

‘No one tells me what to do’: Sinema praises infrastructure, questions spending and inflation in wide-ranging interview  —  Kyrsten Sinema says she is worried about inflation.  The U.S. senator from Arizona says new tax hikes could harm businesses still struggling in the wake of the pandemic.

Biden expected to replace Ron Bloom, USPS board chair and key DeJoy ally, on postal board  —  Bloom, a Democrat, has backed the postmaster general as the agency slowed mail delivery standards and raised prices  —  President Biden is expected to announce Friday that he will not renominate Ron Bloom …

For 85 minutes, Kamala Harris became the first woman with presidential power  —  (CNN)President Joe Biden on Friday temporarily transferred power to Vice President Kamala Harris while he was under anesthesia for a routine colonoscopy for one hour and 25 minutes, according to the White House.

Wisconsin Republicans Push to Take Over the State's Elections  —  Led by Senator Ron Johnson, G.O.P. officials want to eliminate a bipartisan elections agency — and maybe send its members to jail.  —  Republicans in Wisconsin are engaged in an all-out assault on the state's election infrastructure …

Fauci's office flooded with attacks over beagle experiments  —  Covid chief's phone line rings 3,600 times in 36 hours after campaign by little-known animal rights group  —  Anthony S. Fauci was swamped by so many angry messages and threats that in late October his assistant quit answering the phone for two weeks.

Peng Shuai: UN calls for proof of Chinese tennis star's whereabouts; WTA chairman willing to pull out of China  —  Hong Kong (CNN)China is facing pressure from the United Nations over Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai's whereabouts as the organization called for an investigation into her allegations of sexual assault.

POLITICO Playbook: McCarthy filibusters, Biden dithers and Fauci unmasks  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  If a “New York minute” is a few passing seconds, then the opposite is a “McCarthy minute” — something that drags on and on for hours.  —  On Thursday night, at 8:38 p.m. …

Trump's ire grows as DeSantis' popularity with Republicans takes off  —  People close to both men first noticed the palpable shift in Trump's posture toward DeSantis earlier this year as enthusiasm for the Florida governor swelled among donors and GOP operatives who praised his laissez-faire response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘Typical Bullsh*t’: Fox News Host Melts Down When Mediaite Asks About Fox's Vaccine Policy and Whether Trump Lost in 2020  —  Fox News host Pete Hegseth was my guest on this week's episode of The Interview.  Hegseth is the co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend and a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I Made the World's Blandest Facebook Profile, Just to See What Happens  —  In 2019, a researcher at Facebook conducted an experiment to see whether the platform really has a tendency to send users down a rabbit hole of extreme and conspiratorial content.  The employee set up a pair of fake profiles …

Schools face parents who want to ban critical race theory — and don't get how teaching works  —  An educator's top goal is to teach students to think.  Parents who dictate curricula with their personal opinions, ideologies and biases hinder that goal.  —  CRT outrage & the VA governor's race

‘Tiger mother’ Amy Chua: ‘Boldness is my downfall’ … Owing to my forgetfulness, my lunch with Amy Chua starts awkwardly before it even begins.  On the train to New Haven, home of Yale University where Chua has been a tenured professor for 20 years, I realise that I forgot to reserve …

What is The Cook Political Report?  —  The Cook Political Report is an independent, non-partisan newsletter that analyzes elections and campaigns for the US House of Representatives, US Senate, Governors and President as well as American political trends.

Scoop: Surprise Trump book, ‘Our Journey Together’  —  Former President Donald Trump today shocked the publishing world that has tried to cancel his administration by revealing that he is releasing his first post-White House book in December, titled Our Journey Together.

The Ugly New Charges Against Jan. 6 Rioter ‘Baked Alaska’  —  “No more ‘Happy Hanukkah,’ only ‘Merry Christmas,’” racist livestreamer Baked Alaska allegedly said as he tore down a Jewish group's signage.  —  A notorious U.S. Capitol riot suspect and white supremacist livestreamer who goes by the alias …

Kathy Hochul's Got Seven Months … The governor of New York was sitting in the back of the Apollo Family Restaurant in Buffalo one recent Wednesday afternoon when an older man in a VFW baseball hat approached.  The governor, wearing a light-brown suit and a gold nameplate necklace that read “VAXED,” looked up from her rice pudding.

Gov. Kristi Noem losing another chief of staff, taps attorney Mark Miller to assume position  —  An attorney advising Gov. Kristi Noem for the last 13 months is taking on a larger role in her administration.  —  High-ranking state officials and staff in the South Dakota governor's office …

Scientists mystified, wary, as Africa avoids COVID disaster  —  HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — At a busy market in a poor township outside Harare this week, Nyasha Ndou kept his mask in his pocket, as hundreds of other people, mostly unmasked, jostled to buy and sell fruit and vegetables displayed on wooden tables and plastic sheets.

A Tesla factory worker alleges sexual harassment is rampant in a rare lawsuit.  Now other women are stepping forward.  —  Jessica Barraza said co-workers commented on her body and touched her inappropriately; supervisors and HR failed to put a stop to the behavior, she alleges