Libertarian Candidate Drops Out of Arizona Senate Race and Endorses Masters  —  “This is another major boost of momentum as we consolidate our support,” Blake Masters said.  —  The Libertarian candidate running for Senate in Arizona — who had threatened to play spoiler in the closely watched race …

Chief Justice Roberts temporarily delays release of Trump tax records  —  Lawmakers have said they need Trump's tax returns from his time in office to help evaluate the effectiveness of annual presidential audits.  —  Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Tuesday temporarily halted the release …

Migos Rapper Takeoff Dead at 28, Shot in Houston  —  7:11 AM PT — In a new video you can hear Quavo on the phone, presumably with a 911 operator, and he's asking ... “What does she need to do?”  A woman on the scene had said she was a nurse and was offering to help Takeoff.

Twitter Limits Content-Enforcement Tools as US Election Looms  —  Twitter Inc., the social network being overhauled by new owner Elon Musk, has frozen some employee access to internal tools used for content moderation and other policy enforcement, curbing the staff's ability to clamp down on misinformation ahead of a major US election.

Even the Sane Republicans Are Embracing Election Deniers  —  Chris Sununu is just the latest to put party before country.  —  Chris Sununu, the governor of New Hampshire, is one of the saner people in today's Republican party.  He concedes that the 2020 election was free and fair.

Biden hopes to use Florida's ‘extreme MAGA Republicans’ as foils for his closing midterm pitch  —  When President Joe Biden rallies Democrats in Florida on Tuesday for a final-stretch campaign stop, he will finally land in the state his advisers have long eyed as the ideal backdrop for his warnings against “mega-MAGA” Republicans.

Iran is preparing to send additional weapons including ballistic missiles to Russia to use in Ukraine, western officials say  —  Iran is preparing to send approximately 1,000 additional weapons, including surface-to-surface short range ballistic missiles and more attack drones …

I helped run the ‘Fire Pelosi’ effort.  Our toxic politics goes too far.  —  Doug Heye is a former communications director of the Republican National Committee and founder of communications firm Douglas Media.  —  As communications director for the Republican National Committee in the 2010 election cycle …

The Supreme Court Has No Reason to End Affirmative Action.  They're Doing It Anyway.  —  Oral arguments in a pair of much-anticipated cases about the future of affirmative action sprawled over almost six hours on Monday, yet the outcome was obvious within the first 30 minutes …

Elon Musk has pulled more than 50 Tesla employees into his Twitter takeover  — Tesla CEO Elon Musk, now sole director and CEO of Twitter, is asking employees of the social network to redesign their subscription and verification systems within one week.  — Musk has authorized dozens …

Mehmet Oz's medical research was rejected in 2003, resulting in 2-year ban  —  At issue were questions about the strength of the data used by Oz to reach an important medical conclusion, according to several of those who recalled the events  —  In May 2003, Mehmet Oz was the senior author …

NSA Watchdog Concluded One Analyst's Surveillance Project Went Too Far  —  An “experienced” analyst working at the National Security Agency developed a surveillance project about a decade ago that resulted in the unauthorized targeting and collection of private communications of people …

Early Turnout Appears to Be Highest in 23 Years … Here's what's at stake as Israelis cast their ballots.  —  As Israelis vote on Tuesday in their fifth parliamentary election in less than four years, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hoping to return to power, but polls are predicting another deadlock.

Americans' Thought, Enthusiasm About Midterms Down From 2018  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — The 49% of Americans who say they have given “quite a lot” of thought to this year's congressional elections is essentially unchanged from the previous reading in June.  In addition, 2% volunteer …

An evangelical GOP House candidate in Texas wrote a novel about Anne Frank finding Jesus  —  (JTA) — The Republican nominee for Congress in Texas' 7th district is a self-proclaimed history buff, but his take on Anne Frank is not one that most historians would endorse.

Treasury Sanctions Terrorist Weapons Trafficking Network in Eastern Africa  —  WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action against the Islamic State in Somalia (ISIS-Somalia), its first designations against this affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

If Oregon Turns Red, Whose Fault Will That Be?  —  PORTLAND, Ore. — An ad for one of the candidates for governor of Oregon begins with shots of trash and the tarp-covered tent encampments that line many of Portland's streets.  “Nobody in Oregon would say, 'Let's keep doing exactly what we've been doing,'” says the candidate.

DeSantis' voter fraud arrests unravel  —  In August, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) held a “campaign-style event” and announced that 20 people had been arrested “for breaking Florida's elections laws.”  In a press release, DeSantis' office set aside the presumption of innocence, branding the group “election criminals.”

Trevor Noah, Samantha Bee, and the Future of Liberal Late Night T.V.  —  Trevor Noah recently surprised fans (and, according to some accounts, also Comedy Central management) when he announced plans to leave “The Daily Show.”  His departure is one of many notable personnel changes in late-night television …

Italy's Meloni picks Nazi-armband lawmaker as junior minister  —  Galeazzo Bignami, a lawmaker of the rightist Brothers of Italy party who sparked outrage in 2016 after a newspaper published a picture of him wearing a Nazi swastika on his left arm, was named junior infrastructure minister on Monday.

Truth Social's Influence Grows Despite Its Business Problems  —  The right-wing social network faces two federal investigations and an uncertain financial future.  But it has still managed to outpace its rivals.  —  Truth Social, the right-wing social network, has faced one business calamity …

Arizona GOP nominee Kari Lake mocks attack on Paul Pelosi at campaign event  —  The remark by the candidate for governor drew laughter from the crowd.  The House speaker's husband remains in intensive care.  —  The Republican nominee for governor of Arizona, Kari Lake …

Let's Declare a Pandemic Amnesty  —  In April 2020, with nothing else to do, my family took an enormous number of hikes.  We all wore cloth masks that I had made myself.  We had a family hand signal, which the person in the front would use if someone was approaching on the trail and we needed to put on our masks.

Job Openings Rose in September Despite Higher Interest Rates  —  The labor market has remained stronger than expected even as the Federal Reserve has tried to get inflation under control.  —  The nation's extreme shortage of job seekers worsened in September, the Labor Department reported Tuesday …

MAGA porn, hate for Trump: China-based accounts stoke division  —  A fake China-based account called MAGA ‘Hot Babe’ was among nearly 2,000 that sought to influence America's midterms and were removed by Twitter  —  Twitter has disrupted three China-based operations that were covertly trying …

Judge Blocks a Merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster  —  The government's case blocked the merger of two of the United States' largest publishers and reflected a more aggressive approach to curbing consolidation.  It was closely watched by the publishing industry.

Two leaders of True the Vote jailed by federal judge for contempt of court  —  Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips were escorted away after refusing to disclose the name of a mystery man who supposedly helped them investigate election software company Konnech.

Fetterman on debate: ‘I thought it was important that I show up’  —  Pennsylvania Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman anticipated that his debate against Republican Mehmet Oz “wasn't going to be easy” following a stroke earlier this year but “thought it was important that I show up,” …

Judge Who Put Harvey Weinstein Away Denied Reappointment by Mayor Adams' Advisory Panel  —  During the trial, Judge James Burke enraged a Weinstein defense attorney, who also happens to be a close friend of Frank Carone, Adams' chief of staff.  —  The veteran Manhattan judge …