Summary of Cost Estimate for H.R. 5376, the Build Back Better Act  —  As Posted on the Website of the House Committee on Rules on November 3, 2021 (Rules Committee Print 117-18), as Amended by Yarmuth Amendment 112  —  37.51 KB  —  CBO estimates that enacting this legislation would result …

Kamala Harris' communications director is leaving the administration  —  (CNN)Vice President Kamala Harris' communications director, Ashley Etienne, is leaving the administration, according to a White House official, to pursue “other opportunities.”  —  Etienne's departure comes …

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.

Manchin Seeks Meeting With Fed's Brainard, Follow-Up With Powell  — West Virginia Democrat remains undecided as Biden weighs pick  — President poised to announce nominee before Thanksgiving  —  Democratic Senator Joe Manchin is looking to meet with Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard …

Judge Tries to Block New York Times's Coverage of Project Veritas  —  The state court order, which The Times said it would immediately oppose, raised concerns from First Amendment advocates.  —  A New York trial court judge ordered The New York Times on Thursday to temporarily refrain …

The Incredible True Story Behind TV's Strangest Space Jew  —  The science-fiction genre has long been inflected by Jewish influences, whether audiences realize it or not.  Take this past month's blockbuster Dune, adapted from the famed Frank Herbert novel.  The film's main character …

Man spotted with AR-15 outside Kyle Rittenhouse trial confirms he is a fired Ferguson police officer  —  KENOSHA — A man who screamed obscenities about Black Lives Matter and carried an AR-15 rifle outside the Kenosha County Courthouse while the Kyle Rittenhouse jury deliberated is a former Ferguson …

Search for Jimmy Hoffa Leads the F.B.I. to Jersey City Landfill  —  A deathbed statement by a man who claimed to bury the Teamster boss' body in a steel drum brought agents to the site for an inspection.  —  The disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, a mystery that has gripped the American imagination …

Exclusive: Marriott refused to host Uyghur conference, citing “political neutrality”  —  The Marriott hotel in Prague declined to host a conference of activists and leaders from China's Uyghur diaspora this month, citing “political neutrality,” an email shared with Axios shows.

‘Professor or comrade?’  Republicans go full red scare on Soviet-born Biden pick  —  Senator asks Saule Omarova, nominated to be comptroller of the currency, if he should call her ‘professor or comrade’  —  Three decades have passed since their hero, Ronald Reagan, went to Berlin …

Prominent scientist who said lab-leak theory of covid-19 origin should be probed now says evidence points to Wuhan market  —  Controversy continues amid sketchy data and lack of transparency from Chinese authorities  —  The location of early coronavirus infections in late 2019 in Wuhan …

TGIF: Inflation Rises.  Russiagate Falls Apart.  And J.K. Rowling Is Erased.  —  Plus: The challenge of reporting about Kenosha in the aftermath of the riots.  —  Welcome back to TGIF.  We've got the news that fills our group chats, a few good reads, and a summary of this week in Common Sense.

Chinese tennis star who accused party leader of abuse has disappeared and now (allegedly) recants by email  —  If you have any kind of public platform in China and you dare to say something the government doesn't like, there's a very good chance you will disappear.

Even if the Steele dossier is discredited, there's plenty of evidence of Trump's collusion with Russia  —  In early November, John Durham, a special counsel appointed by the Trump administration, indicted a Russian American analyst who had been a contributor to the Steele dossier of lying to the FBI about where he got his information.

The U.S. is warning Russia on Ukraine.  So far, the message isn't getting through.  —  The guns of November are locked and loaded, as Russia continues to defy U.S. and European pressure to withdraw its troops from the volatile Ukraine border.  —  The tense Ukraine standoff is a case study …

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.

Strike on U.S. Base Was Iranian Response to Israeli Attack, Officials Say  —  Iran has not acknowledged the attack, but U.S. and Israeli officials said it was retaliation for Israeli airstrikes, drawing the U.S. into Iran's shadow war with Israel.  —  An armed drone strike last month …

Adams loves the nightlife, but it's about more than boogie  —  NEW YORK — He loves the nightlife.  —  But it's not all boogie.  —  “When you're out at night, it helps decrease crime.  It attracts tourists to the city.  That industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry,” Mayor-elect Eric Adams told NY1 in one-on-one interview.

Man Is Spared Prison After Guilty Plea in Sexual Attacks on 4 Teens  —  The judge who sentenced the man, Christopher Belter, said that he had “agonized” over the decision but that incarceration wasn't “appropriate.”  —  The girl was 16 when Christopher Belter raped her, according to court documents.

McCarthy delays swift passage of spending plan with record-breaking floor speech  —  House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) delayed quick passage of Democrats' social spending and climate package late Thursday night by holding the floor for more than eight hours in a filibuster-style speech.

State Capacity: What Is It, How We Lost It, And How To Get It Back  —  The concept of state capacity - “the ability of a state to collect taxes, enforce law and order, and provide public goods” - was developed by political scientists, economic historians, and development economists to illuminate …