House Democrats Roast Kevin McCarthy on Twitter for Marathon Speech: ‘Please Saw Me in Half and Put Me Out of My Misery’  —  Ahead of Thursday night's House vote on the Build Back Better legislation, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) used what's known as a “magic minute” to talk for much, much, much longer than that.

‘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 …

Harris to become first woman with presidential power while Biden is under anesthesia for routine colonoscopy  —  (CNN)President Joe Biden on Friday will temporarily transfer power to Vice President Kamala Harris while he is under anesthesia for a routine colonoscopy, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.

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 …

Reconstructing the Rittenhouse Shootings: How Kenosha Echoed America's Polarization  —  A police officer in Kenosha, Wis., shoots a Black man named Jacob Blake seven times from behind, leaving him partially paralyzed.  [gunshots] “Black lives matter!”  Crowd: “Black lives matter!”

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.

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.

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.

Court bars New York Times from publishing Project Veritas memos in move called ‘unconstitutional’  —  The order is temporary for now, but press freedom advocates say it violates First Amendment principles long upheld by the Supreme Court  —  A New York state judge ruled on Thursday …

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.

Joe Biden's Infrastructure Bill Is a Big Success  —  Joe Biden Is Succeeding  —  Voters may pummel Democrats next year but future generations will be grateful.  —  GUEST ESSAY  —  Europe Has Made a Deadly Bargain With Autocrats  —  The chaos at the Belarus-Poland border is partly of the European Union's making.

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.

Scoop: GOP donors “furious” with McConnell  —  Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told his colleagues this week top party donors were “furious” with the number of Republicans — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, two sources familiar with his remarks tell Axios' Alayna Treene.

Manhattan school to sort kids by race during social justice discussions  —  A Manhattan junior high school plans to racially separate students while discussing identity and social justice topics next week, The Post has learned.  —  The Lower Manhattan Community School will conduct …

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.

‘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 …

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 …