U.S. alert focuses on planes, trucks  —  For more coverage visit CNN affiliates WPVI and WABC.  Are you there?  Send pictures and video.  —  (CNN) — Suspicious packages found in at least two locations abroad that were bound for Jewish organizations in the United States …

Divided We Fail  —  Barring a huge upset, Republicans will take control of at least one house of Congress next week.  How worried should we be by that prospect?  —  Not very, say some pundits.  After all, the last time Republicans controlled Congress while a Democrat lived in the White House …

Ohio McDonald's employees get voting instructions with their paychecks  —  If you work for this Canton, Ohio McDonald's franchise, you'd better be voting Republican if you know what's good for you.  —  Via ThinkProgress: … The “right people” are John Kasich, Rob Portman, and Jim Renacci for this franchisee.

Why is Assange still alive?  —  I'd like to ask a simple question: Why isn't Julian Assange dead?  —  In case you didn't know, Assange is the Australian computer programmer behind WikiLeaks, a massive — and massively successful — effort to disclose secret or classified information.

Swamping Murkowski  —  The latest from Alaska's procedural wars:  —  Just hours before the final deadline, more than 100 Alaskans came out Thursday to file as write-in candidates in an effort to thwart Sen. Lisa Murkowski's bid to retain her Senate seat.  —  At the urging of a local talk radio host …

Boykin Exposes Obama's Health Care Conspiracy to Build His Brownshirt Army  —  This is Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jerry Boykin, who was the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence under Donald Rumsfeld until video emerged of him explaining that we were engaged in a spiritual war against Islam …

Angle poll data improve  —  Reid countering with huge effort to get out his voters  —  Positioned to pull off the biggest upset in the nation, GOP challenger Sharron Angle heads into Election Day leading Democratic incumbent Sen. Harry Reid by 4 percentage points, says a new poll for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and 8NewsNow.

Attack Ads, Circa 1800  —  Have this year's negative political ads really “taken dirty to a whole new level, as CNN's Anderson Cooper frets?  Is a “return to civility...a relic of a bygone era,” as President Barack Obama laments?  —  Er, not exactly.  —  If anonymous political speech …

Crist Would Caucus With Democrats, Advisor Says  —  Florida Gov. Charlie Crist would caucus with Senate Democrats if he wins Florida's three-way U.S. Senate contest on Tuesday, a close advisor told Washington Wire Friday.  —  That's a big “if.”  Mr. Crist is trailing Republican candidate Marco Rubio in most polls.

Alabama Supreme Court Justice Compares DADT Judge To Al-Qaeda  —  Justice Tom Parker (center) poses with the leaders of two hate groups  —  Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker, a disciple of disgraced former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, released a campaign ad comparing the judge …

Coal Industry Increases Spending to Sway Next Congress  —  WASHINGTON — The coal industry, facing a host of new health and safety regulations, is spending millions of dollars in lobbying and campaign donations this year to influence the makeup of the next Congress in hopes of derailing …

Poll Shows Americans Don't Know GDP Grew With Tax Cuts and Bailout Profits  —  The Obama administration cut taxes for middle-class Americans, expects to make a profit on the hundreds of billions of dollars spent to rescue Wall Street banks and has overseen an economy that has grown for the past four quarters.

Pelosi, Among Others, Could Exit if Dems Lose House  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrives for a press conference on Capitol Hill to discuss Democratic accomplishments during the past congressional session  —  As Nancy Pelosi goes, so might a generation of her colleagues.

Woman Receives Death Threats Days After Beck Targets Her On His Show  —  The League of Women Voters has filed complaints with police in Evanston, IL and the FBI saying that one of their officials has been targeted by death threats relating to a candidatess debate she moderated last week.

Farewell to ‘Precinct Reporting’  —  For as long as anyone can remember, television networks and the Associated Press have reported votes on election night by saying, “With x percent of precincts reporting ...” But, this method of reporting election results is about to go the way of the VCR.

And the FAIR Tax Trap  —  Democrats turn a conservative fad against GOP candidates.  —  Public anxiety over rising taxes is helping Republicans in this midterm election—with one exception.  Democrats are trying to turn the tables on the GOP over the so-called FAIR Tax …

4-Year-Old Can Be Sued, Judge Rules in Bike Case  —  Citing cases dating back as far as 1928, a judge has ruled that a young girl accused of running down an elderly woman while racing a bicycle with training wheels on a Manhattan sidewalk two years ago can be sued for negligence.

Tea Party or No, Palin's Popularity Still Lags  —  Sarah Palin's interest in the presidency is not being reciprocated by most Americans: Two-thirds of registered voters in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll say she's unqualified for the job, and more than half continue to rate her unfavorably overall.

GOP Insurgents May Disrupt Leaders' Plans and Go Rogue  —  DLHawthorne  —  I wish ‘gridlock’ was all it is, but I am afraid that the vast majority of people (left, right, and fringe) do not understand that we are rapidly approaching the threshold of political collapse.

IDIOCY WATCH.... In 2009, three Americans were detained and imprisoned by the Iranian government while hiking near the Iran/Iraq border.  Two of the three — Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer — remain behind bars, accused of espionage.  —  The United States, of course, wants Iran to set them free …

Tancredo: It's ‘Elitist’ For ‘People Who Get Elected’ To Think Their ‘One Purpose’ Is ‘To Make Laws’  —  Third party gubernatorial candidate in Colorado Tom Tancredo was campaigning on Fox Business Network last night when host David Asman started complaining about “the arrogance of power.”