Poll: Amid Kavanaugh Confirmation Battle, Democratic Enthusiasm Edge Evaporates  —  Just over a month away from critical elections across the country, the wide Democratic enthusiasm advantage that has defined the 2018 campaign up to this point has disappeared, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.

QAnoners Cheer Trump's Text Alert Test, See It as a Step Toward Martial Law  —  ‘That is how we will receive orders if all else fails.’  —  Phones across the country buzzed Wednesday afternoon for the first national test of FEMA's presidential-level emergency alert system.

How Times Journalists Uncovered the Original Source of the President's Wealth  —  Three reporters spent over a year digging through more than 100,000 pages of documents and chasing down key sources familiar with President Trump's father and his empire.  —  Times Insider delivers behind …

Where Brett Kavanaugh lost me: A conservative former appeals judge explains why he turned against the nominee  —  It seems very few minds were changed by the Christine Blasey Ford-Brett Kavanaugh hearings.  But mine, I'm sorry to say, was one of them.  —  I was enthusiastic about the Kavanaugh appointment.

Signed, 650+ Law Professors (and Counting).  —  The following letter will be presented to the United States Senate on Oct. 4.  It will be updated as more signatures are received.  —  Judicial temperament is one of the most important qualities of a judge.  As the Congressional Research Service explains …

The Senate's two faces: A day marked by bipartisan achievements and character attacks  —  The Senate took on a split-screen image throughout Wednesday — one side showing what bipartisan efforts can achieve and the other dominated by the sort of personal character attacks that are well outside …

House Rating Changes: Eight More GOP Seats Move Towards Democrats  —  Five weeks out, several personally popular Republicans who appeared to be defying the “blue wave” in Clinton-won districts are beginning to see their leads erode.  GOP Reps. Carlos Curbelo (FL-26), John Katko (NY-24) …

Suspect in custody, situation over after 3 Florence Co. deputies, 2 city officers shot in Florence  —  FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) - Five law enforcement officers have been shot in Florence and a suspect is now in custody.  —  Florence County Emergency Management officials said on Facebook around 6 p.m …

The Meritocracy Against Itself  —  How Ivy League resentments took over the Kavanaugh debate.  —  A week ago, Elizabeth Bruenig of The Washington Post wrote a column about the dreadful feeling of being yanked back, thanks to the allegations of teenage sexual assault against Brett Kavanaugh …

I stepped down as U.S. ambassador to Estonia.  Here's why.  —  James D. Melville Jr. is a former member of the U.S. Foreign Service who served as ambassador to Estonia from 2015 until his resignation in July.  —  When you serve as U.S. ambassador to a foreign capital, you represent your country, of course.

The Cruelty Is the Point  —  The Museum of African-American History and Culture is in part a catalogue of cruelty.  Amid all the stories of perseverance, tragedy, and unlikely triumph, there are the artifacts of inhumanity and barbarism: the child-size slave shackles, the bright red robes …

This Ohio Woman's Run-In With The FBI Gives Us A Window Into Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia Probe  —  WASHINGTON — Cassandra Ford tends to stay online late into the evening and then sleep in.  So when two FBI agents dispatched by special counsel Robert Mueller's office pounded on her boyfriend's door …

Fox News Poll: Republicans make gains in top Senate races  —  A new round of Fox News battleground polls shows a Republican trend in the fight for the U.S. Senate.  The GOP candidates are helped by increased interest in the election among Republicans and pro-Donald Trump sentiment.

Kevin Yoder says he won't attend Trump Topeka rally, citing scheduling conflict  —  Republican Congressman Kevin Yoder won't attend President Donald Trump's campaign stop in Topeka this weekend, he said Wednesday, citing a scheduling conflict in Johnson County.

Trump's claims about his drinking are ‘bogus baloney,’ Sen. Leahy says  —  The longest-serving U.S. senator found himself under sudden attack from President Trump on Tuesday night, and hours later, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) remained bewildered by the whole thing.

Federal Anti-Discrimination Official Under Fire for Racial Comments  —  The federal official in charge of enforcing fair-lending laws that are intended to prevent discrimination is facing criticism for a series of racially provocative comments spanning the last 14 years.