House progressives retract Russia-diplomacy letter amid Dem firestorm  —  House progressives on Tuesday retracted a letter calling on President Joe Biden to engage in direct diplomacy with Russia, less than 24 hours after it sparked intense backlash from other Democrats.

House Overview: 10 Rating Changes as Democrats' Blue State Problems Grow  —  Two weeks out, Republicans have the momentum in the race for House control.  Last week, the GOP regained the lead in FiveThirtyEight's generic ballot average for the first time since August amid worsening economic news.

Billionaire No More: Kanye West's Antisemitism Obliterates His Net Worth As Adidas Cuts Ties  —  The superstar rapper no longer has a place on the Forbes Billionaires' list now that his lucrative deal with Adidas is over.  —  Just days ago, the rapper-cum-fashion entrepreneur Kanye West challenged Adidas …

DOJ overcomes Trump's privilege wall in Jan. 6 investigation, pushing deeper into former President's inner circle  —  The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to force the top two lawyers from Donald Trump's White House counsel's office to testify about their conversations with the former President …

Biden Debt-Ceiling Gaffe Could Destroy His Presidency … Last week, a reporter asked President Biden if he would support a repeal of the debt ceiling.  “A permanent repeal of the debt ceiling? ...  Just say we don't have a debt limit?” he asked with a laugh, as if the notion were fantastical.

As midterms near, Trump shifts focus to 2024 and his own political future  —  Donald Trump is accelerating his plans for another presidential campaign, buoyed by a belief that Republicans are on the precipice of significant gains in next month's midterm elections and that many of his handpicked candidates will prevail.

Scoop: National Republicans jump back into New Hampshire Senate race  —  The National Republican Senatorial Committee is recommitting resources into the New Hampshire Senate race, according to an NRSC official, just days after the Senate GOP's top super PAC cancelled its spending on behalf of nominee Don Bolduc.

Exclusive: Twitter is losing its most active users, internal documents show  —  “Is Twitter dying?” billionaire Elon Musk mused in April, five days before offering to buy the social media platform.  —  The reality, according to internal Twitter (TWTR.N) research seen by Reuters …

Florida GOP Paid Thousands To Far-Right Charlottesville Attendee  —  A man who was allegedly attacked while canvassing this week appears to be an activist with a prominent history of violence and racist comments.  He was also on the Florida Republican Party's payroll this summer.

The Desecrations of Michael Flynn  —  A prayer at a “ReAwaken America” event in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a few days ago, at which Michael Flynn appeared, captured the sensibilities of this moment: “Father God, we come to you in the name of Jesus.  We're asking you to open the eyes …

The student debt relief whiplash  —  FINAL EXAM — Heading into the two-week homestretch of the midterm election, President Joe Biden's student debt relief plan is rippling across the campaign trail.  It's not exactly getting the attention of top-tier issues like the economy …

In 14 days, the American people face a choice  —  Editor's Note: Joe Biden is the President of the United States.  The views expressed here are his own.  Read more opinion on CNN.  —  CNN —  Over the past nearly two years, we have made enormous progress.

New York Supreme Court reinstates all employees fired for being unvaccinated, orders backpay  —  State Supreme Court found that being vaccinated ‘does not’ stop the spread of COVID-19  —  Fox News Flash top headlines for October 25  —  The New York state Supreme Court has reinstated …

Biden Job Approval Back Down to 40%  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden's job approval rating is 40%, a step down from the 44% measured in August but still above his term-low 38% from July.  In all other months in 2022, his approval rating has been in the 40% to 42% range.  —  ###Embeddable###

You're Not Imagining It: There Are Fewer Polls This Cycle  —  And a larger share come from partisan sources.  —  By Geoffrey Skelley  —  Oct. 25, 2022, at 6:00 AM  —  “The polls are in crisis.  Polling is dead.”  We heard variations on this theme after somewhat larger-than-average polling errors …

How the Mountain Jews of Azerbaijan Endure  —  By a river in the hills near the Russian border, a 300-year-old community of multilingual Jews keeps 'Europe's last shtetl' alive  —  Deep in the Azerbaijani foothills of the southern Caucasus Mountains lives one of Europe's most interesting communities, the Red Village Mountain Jews.

The country is asleep to the threat it is facing  —  PBS Frontline's “Michael Flynn's Holy War” is an epic piece of TV journalism  —  The United States faces a grave threat from an extremist movement that was unleashed by Donald Trump and inflamed by his defeat.  It is a growing threat — not a diminishing one.

No, ‘Russiagate’ Wasn't the Hoax That Team Trump Claims It Was  —  It looks like John Durham's investigation is going out with a whimper.  —  The acquittal last week of think tank analyst Igor Danchenko is a fitting final chapter in the “Russiagate” saga, as John Durham's three-year-old probe judders to a halt.

Mike Davis: 1946-2022  —  A brilliant radical reporter with a novelist's eye and a historian's memory.  —  Mike Davis, author and activist, radical hero and family man, died October 25 after a long struggle with esophageal cancer; he was 76.  He's best known for his 1990 book about Los Angeles, City of Quartz.

LA police investigating if racist recording taped illegally  —  Los Angeles detectives are investigating whether a recording last year that captured city councilmembers' racist remarks was made illegally, the police chief said Tuesday.  Disclosure of the recording earlier this month unleashed …

Penn State Cancels Event by Proud Boys Founder, Citing Threat of Violence  —  The university's president said that the event had been canceled in the interests of public safety, after a peaceful protest against it turned violent.  —  Pennsylvania State University canceled a planned comedy event …

Secret Service received shooting threat against Chuck Schumer on January 6 … The Secret Service received notice of a shooting threat against then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as the Capitol was under attack on January 6, but did not pass it along to Capitol Police for more than an hour …

Russia's Recruiting Afghan Commandos  —  Abandoned special forces veterans are getting job offers for a very different kind of battlefield.  —  Members of Afghanistan's elite National Army Commando Corps, who were abandoned by the United States and Western allies when the country fell …

National Archives denies Trump referral to DOJ was connected to Dems  —  The National Archives is denying Republican accusations that its decision to refer Donald Trump's handling of classified records to the Justice Department had anything to do with an inquiry from a top House Democrat.

J.D. Vance Has a Burnt Monkey Testicle Problem  —  The GOP Ohio Senate nominee's investment in a biotech firm that does testing on live animals is raising questions about his true values  —  WHAT KIND OF man profits from scalded monkey junk?  —  On the campaign trail …

Remembering Ashton Carter  —  He devoted his life—and brilliant intellect—to the defense of the country.  —  Ashton Carter, the 25th secretary of defense, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Monday evening, October 24.  His passing is, of course, a stunning loss for his family and friends …