Biden Administration Aims to Trump-Proof the Federal Work Force  —  If Donald Trump wins a second term, he and his allies want to revive a plan to allow a president to fire civil service workers who are supposed to be hired on merit.  The Biden administration is trying to thwart it.

Congress is in crisis.  There's no clear escape.  —  “We've been seeing this coming ... I just didn't think we were dumb enough to get there,” Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) said.  —  The government is barreling toward a shutdown.  House Republicans threaten to impeach the president — though some of them don't see the evidence.

Trump's New York Fraud Trial in Limbo After His Legal Gambit Works  —  Trump's lawyers are going after Judge Arthur F. Engoron, saying he's overstepped his bounds. … An appellate judge has taken the remarkable step of hitting pause on the New York Attorney General's upcoming bank fraud trial …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to visit Washington next week  —  Zelensky's visit was coordinated with the Biden administration in a joint push to Congress to provide $24 billion in aid  —  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to travel to Washington next week after a gathering …

U.A.W. Strike Is a Real-Time Test of Biden's Economic Agenda  —  White House aides believe the outcome of the battle between the car companies and its workers will underscore many of the president's policy positions.  —  Rarely do so many parts of a president's political identity collide in one place.

What I saw at the Texas border shocked me  —  On Sept. 6, a federal judge in Austin ordered Texas to remove a floating “buoy barrier” wall in the Rio Grande outside Eagle Pass, which has become a symbol of Governor Greg Abbott's (R) Operation Lone Star border program.

How a shutdown could blindfold the Fed  —  The Bureau of Labor Statistics won't collect or publish data such as unemployment numbers and the Consumer Price Index in the event of a shutdown, a spokesperson said.  —  Government funding gridlock is threatening to deprive the Federal Reserve …

With democracy on the ballot, the mainstream press must change its ways  —  US news organizations have turned Biden's age into a scandal and continue to cover Trump as an entertaining side show  —  Christiane Amanpour has reported all over the world, so she recognizes a democracy on the brink when she sees one.

The state of right-wing extremism nearly 3 years after J6  —  “A January 6 can and will happen again, because the architects are still able to do their thing unimpeded,” Andy Campbell says.  —  ∙ Paid  —  🚨 WE'RE OFFERING FREE TRIALS FOR ALL NEW PUBLIC NOTICE SIGNUPS 🚨 …

60 Years  —  There is a lot going on in Georgia.  But I'm not going to write about it tonight, I'm going to leave it for another day.  Enough to know that the emergency hearing to stay the case that we expected to happen tomorrow morning will not take place.

By Asking for Tanya Chutkan's Recusal, Trump Invited a Lesson in His Centrality to January 6  —  Trump's motion for Tanya Chutkan to recuse was not designed to work.  Rather, it was designed as a messaging vehicle, to establish the basis for Trump to claim that a Black Judge was biased …

‘It will take years to recover’ from Tuberville blockade, top Navy nominee says  —  Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy's No. 2 officer, has been leading the service on an acting basis because of the impasse.  —  President Joe Biden's nominee to be the Navy's top officer, Adm. Lisa Franchetti …

Hunter Biden indicted on federal gun charges  —  The indictment against the president's son comes after a plea agreement on tax and gun charges fell apart in July and amid a probe of his finances by House Republicans.  —  Federal prosecutors have indicted Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, on gun charges, court documents show.