Trump administration considers travel ban-like order for Mexican border  —  WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is considering an executive action that could use travel ban-like authority to block certain asylum seekers at the Mexican border, sources familiar with the discussions said Thursday.

New questions raised about Avenatti claims regarding Kavanaugh  —  “I do not like that he twisted my words,” one woman says of lawyer Michael Avenatti.  —  When Sen. Chuck Grassley referred attorney Michael Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick to the Justice Department for criminal investigation Thursday …

Newt Gingrich: 'We'll see whether or not the Kavanaugh fight was worth it'  —  Megyn Kelly's rocky two years at NBC  —  Saudi Arabia concedes Khashoggi's murder was premeditated  —  Numerous pipe bombs sent to prominent critics of President Trump  —  CNN's New York offices evacuated after reports of a suspicious device

Michael Avenatti's Past Won't Stop Him From Running in 2020  —  The woman approached Michael Avenatti with obvious purpose.  A 79-year-old retired physicist with long blond hair, she wore a blue T-shirt that said AVENATTI IS MY SPIRIT ANIMAL.  It was mid-August, and Avenatti had just finished giving …

Why was MBS so afraid of Jamal Khashoggi?  —  Why was Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman so afraid of Jamal Khashoggi that he reportedly gave orders this past summer to bring the Post contributing columnist back to Saudi Arabia?  —  We'll still be left with that question after the Saudi …

F-Bombs and Real Bombs  —  Our problem isn't “incivility.”  It's right-wing violence.  —  On Wednesday night, after bombs were sent to a number of Donald Trump's most prominent enemies, he held a rally in Mosinee, Wis. A president with even a pretense to statesmanship would have canceled it …

Trump fears Florida wipeout  —  The president is mounting an 11th-hour effort to head off high-profile losses for governor and Senate in his adopted home state.  —  The White House is planning a political rescue mission in Florida, fearing a wipeout in a key swing state next month …

Megyn Kelly was making racist comments long before ‘blackface.’ NBC hired her anyway.  —  Megyn Kelly is reportedly on her way out of the Today Show and maybe NBC.  Her past racial demagoguery should have disqualified her in the first place.  —  CONNECT  —  “Megyn Kelly said something really racist …

Ted Cruz leads Beto O'Rourke by 6 in Texas Senate race, UT/TT poll finds  —  Republican incumbents lead their Democratic challengers in the top four races on the general election ballot, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. … Republican Ted Cruz leads Democrat …

Trump used charity money to buy his own portrait because no one else would: lawyers … Donald Trump had no choice but to blow $10,000 in charity money on a giant painting of himself — because no one else wanted it, his lawyers claimed in court Thursday.  —  Trump picked up the infamous painting …

U.S. economy grew at annual rate of 3.5 percent in 2018's third quarter  —  The U.S. economy slowed in the third quarter to a still-strong 3.5 percent annual growth rate, the Commerce Department said in its final assessment of economic health before the November congressional elections.

Simona Mangiante has been reported to ICE, sources close to George Papadopoulos say  —  Simona Mangiante, the wife of convicted ex-Trump adviser George Papadopoulos, has been reported to federal immigration authorities by those close to Papadopoulos, per 2 sources with knowledge of the situation …

Housing Is Tanking in the Northeast.  Guess Why.  —  Losing big deductions for state and local property taxes is having the expected effect.  —  Sales of new single-family houses were down 13.2 percent in September from a year earlier, the Census Bureau reported Wednesday.

Trump's tweet claiming he ‘only uses government phones’ was sent from an iPhone  — President Donald Trump routinely uses unsecured iPhones to speak with friends and associates instead of a secure White House line, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Senate: 11 Days Out; NJ Moves to Toss Up  —  With November 6 just 11 days away, it seems that the overall Senate playing field won't change much, although it appears that some of the races in Toss Up are getting even tighter, if that's possible.  —  That said, it is getting more difficult to see a path to the majority for Democrats.

New voters get notices listing wrong Dodge City polling site  —  WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — After moving Dodge City's sole polling site outside city limits, county election officials sent newly registered voters an official certificate of registration that listed the wrong place to cast a ballot …

DOJ Ties a Trump FISA Release to Obstruction  —  In court filings last week the Department of Justice deployed what could be the nuclear option in its latest effort to prevent President Trump from declassifying information regarding FISA warrants used to spy on his campaign aide Carter Page …

Judge denies Nunes access to secret depositions on Steele dossier  —  The chairmen of two congressional committees, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Cal., who sought sealed testimony in a South Florida court case from key players in the Trump-Russia investigation ran afoul …

There's Just No Way That a Terrorism-by-Mail Scheme Targeting the Political-Media Establishment Could be a False Flag.  I Mean, It Couldn't Happen Again, After The Last False Flag Mail Terror Attack in 2001  —  Everyone remember the Anthrax mailings?  —  Real anthrax, by the way.  Not fugazi.

I thought Trump would help the LGBTQ community.  I was wrong.  —  Caitlyn Jenner is a transgender rights advocate and author.  —  These past two years under President Trump have given me the opportunity to reflect on a lot of topics that have come up in the LGBTQ community and in our nation.

Eggs with benefits: Sydney's same-sex penguins become parents  —  SYDNEY (Reuters) - Two male penguins entrusted with the care of a fostered egg have welcomed a tiny sub-Antarctic Gentoo chick into the world, Sydney's Sea Life Aquarium said on Friday.  —  The pair, Magic and Sphen …

Careless cruelty  —  Civil servants said separating families was illegal.  The administration ignored us.  —  The meeting was way overdue, and it wasn't going well.  —  It was May 21.  The Department of Homeland Security, where I worked as a senior adviser in the Office for Civil Rights …

Stop Using Blowtorches to Kill Spiders in Your House  —  While this should seemingly go without saying, it turns out that “kill it with fire” is not a great idea when it comes to ridding your home of pests.  Nonetheless, there is no shortage of failed cases of people attempting to kill spiders …

A New Nuclear Arms Race Has Begun  —  President Trump says he plans to withdraw from a nonproliferation treaty that I signed with Ronald Reagan.  It's just the latest victim in the militarization of world affairs.  —  Mr. Gorbachev is the former president of the Soviet Union.

Let's Be Honest: The Rage Is Partly the Media's Fault  —  Is Trump irresponsible?  Of course he is.  But he's not the only one.  It's not Trump who programs and hypes all these crazy media frenzies.  —  Matt Lewis By Matt Lewis  —  In the wake of being targeted by mail bomb attempts …

Here's how many times Trump attacked pipe bomb targets  —  Stelter: Trump on Twitter is a Fox News host  —  John Avlon is a CNN senior political analyst and anchor.  The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own.  View more opinion articles on CNN.  —  (CNN)Words matter.

Final stretch of campaigns dominated by race  —  The final stretch of the midterm campaign is increasingly dominated by debate over one of the most sensitive issues in American culture: race.  —  In Florida, accusations of racism are playing a central role in the hotly contested campaign for governor.

Instagram Removes Milo Yiannopoulos Post Praising Mail Bombs After Daily Beast Report  —  Instagram had first told The Daily Beast that Yiannopoulos' post regretting that the bombs didn't go off had not violated its standards.  —  Instagram deleted a post from right-wing figure Milo Yiannopoulos praising …

U.S. Democratic campaigns target healthcare as Republican weak spot: Reuters poll  —  (Reuters) - Democratic candidates for the U.S. Congress are closing out the campaign season with an ominous warning: telling voters millions of Americans could lose their health insurance or be forced to pay significantly more if Republicans win.