Johnson announced his pitch to avoid a shutdown.  It's already hitting a wall.  —  It already seems unlikely the spending plan could pass the House, with the new speaker saying they would need Democrats to support it.  —  Speaker Mike Johnson is leaning into the demands of his right flank …

The Authoritarianism Is The Point  —  Why is the Trump campaign so loudmouthed about its autocratic policy plans?  —  If elected next year, Donald Trump's plans for his second term are not a secret.  Indeed, for the past six months or so there has been story after story about what he intended to do come January 20, 2025.

The age pretext  —  I wanted to make a couple of follow-up points to Paul's excellent post below because bad faith arguments like Douthat's are going to become increasingly common, especially if some combination of Manchin and Romney decide to run a No Labels ratfucking campaign.

Ukrainian military officer coordinated Nord Stream pipeline attack  —  Roman Chervinsky, a colonel in Ukraine's Special Operations Forces, was integral to the brazen sabotage operation, say people familiar with planning  —  A senior Ukrainian military officer with deep ties …

This school board made news for banning books.  Voters flipped it to majority Democrat  —  Meghan Budden's family was considering moving if their Pennsylvania school district didn't change course.  She normally isn't politically active, she said, but felt compelled to volunteer when a slate …

The librarian who couldn't take it anymore  —  She loved books.  And in a time of spreading book bans in public schools, that's why this Florida librarian had to quit.  —  Deep Reads features The Washington Post's best immersive reporting and narrative writing.

Why Aren't More People Getting Married?  Ask Women What Dating Is Like.  —  Sarah Camino had been in a relationship for two years when she found out she was pregnant.  The father, whom she met while they were both working at a restaurant in Times Square, was initially excited.

Voters are worried about Biden's age.  He knows it.  —  AGE IS JUST A NUMBER — When the clatter of someone tripping interrupted President Joe Biden's remarks at an Illinois event this week, he paused and asked, “You OK?  I want the press to know that wasn't me.”

Should Joe Manchin Run for President?  —  In the emotional life of the liberal mediasphere, there was so little space between the release of the New York Times/Siena poll showing President Biden losing to Donald Trump handily across a range of swing states (doom! doom!) and the Democratic overperformance …

U.S. military aircraft crashes in Eastern Mediterranean during training operation, Pentagon says  —  A U.S. military aircraft crashed Friday night while taking part in a training operation in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Pentagon said.  —  The aircraft “suffered a mishap and went down,” …

‘Travesty in darkness’: Trump backs drive to televise his D.C. election subversion trial  —  Trump, who is facing four criminal prosecutions as well as several civil lawsuits, has been trying in recent weeks to leverage those proceedings to amplify his message to voters.