Top Items:
Jessica Piper / Politico:
Elon Musk pours another $76 million into boosting Republicans — SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gave another $76 million to boost Republicans in the first two weeks of October, bringing his total giving this cycle to more than $442 million. The additional funds, which Musk gave to his super PAC …
Discussion:
NewsMax.com, Bloomberg and Election Law Blog, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
Bloomberg:
Musk Giving Tops $445 Million in Midterm Election Push for GOP — With a fresh infusion of cash to his super political action committee in the first two weeks of October, Elon Musk has now given more than $445 million in the current election cycle and become one of the biggest-ever contributors to such groups.
Discussion:
The Hill, THE FARCE, Gizmodo, The Independent, Mediaite and The Japan Times
Andrew Howard / Politico:
Democrats' top Senate super PAC has raised $354M this year
Sasha Vakulina / Euronews:
Starlink restrictions not lifted in Ukraine despite Trump's claims, defence officials say — Ukrainian forces continue to experience disruptions to critical battlefield communications despite Donald Trump's assertion that restrictions have been removed, raising fresh questions about Kyiv's dependence …
Discussion:
Straight Arrow, Washington Post, The Guardian, Associated Press, WTOP News, The Daily Wire and NewsMax.com
RELATED:
New York Times:
Trump Asked Musk to Reverse Limits on Ukraine's Military Internet Use — The call from the president about the Starshield network came after officials in Ukraine reported that they found new limits on the use of military drones in their war against Russia. — President Trump called Elon Musk …
Discussion:
CBS News, The Kyiv Independent, Off Message, KIFI-TV, HotAir, National Review, New York Post, Eschaton, CNBC and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Jimmy Rushton / The Kyiv Independent:
Ukraine's Starshield access is still crippled, and no one is taking the blame
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
GOP pushes for oversight of Musk's dominance of space
GOP pushes for oversight of Musk's dominance of space
Discussion:
Politico
Avani Kalra / The Washington Sun:
Democrats Aim to Build Red State Momentum With an Epstein Ad Blitz — As the limits of where Democrats hope to win in 2026 creep further into reliably red territory, party operatives have been turning more often to a wedge issue that helped Donald Trump win in 2024 — disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Discussion:
HuffPost, Washington Post and Florida Politics
RELATED:
Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
Corruption is voters' top issue ahead of midterm election, CNBC survey shows … Voters are now more concerned about government corruption than any other issue, including high grocery and gas prices, according to the final CNBC All-America Economic Survey before the Nov. 3 midterm election.
Discussion:
Washington Post and Election Law Blog
RELATED:
Chris Stein / The Guardian:
Trump attacks Ohio governor over call for Ramaswamy to drop ‘deeply troubling’ ad — Republican Mike DeWine said ad featuring estranged mother of Democrat Amy Acton was ‘wrong’ — Donald Trump issued a swift rebuke against Mike DeWine, Ohio's Republican governor, who on Thursday …
Discussion:
The Hill, Salon, Straight Arrow, CNN, New York Times, Ohio Capital Journal, The Washington Sun, NewsMax.com, CNBC, ABC News, Associated Press, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, NBC News, The Statehouse News Bureau, Blaze Media, MS NOW, CBS News, New Republic, HuffPost, Cleveland 19 News, archive.is, Forbes, Los Angeles Times, Talking Points Memo, Newsweek, The Independent, National Politics, Politico, Washington Examiner, The Daily Signal, Scripps News, Dr. Amy Acton for Governor, Toledo Blade and WTOP News
RELATED:
CBS News:
Trump doubles down on Vivek Ramaswamy ad
Discussion:
ABC News, The Independent, New Republic, The Guardian, Talking Points Memo, Washington Examiner, The Wrap and National Politics
Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
The Meaning of the Republican War Over Ramaswamy's Vile Ad
The Meaning of the Republican War Over Ramaswamy's Vile Ad
Discussion:
National Politics, MS NOW and The Bulwark
Wall Street Journal:
Justice Department Reviewing Allegations Against Corey Lewandowski — The inquiry is one of the first in Trump's second term to target someone close to the president — WASHINGTON—The Justice Department is examining allegations that Corey Lewandowski profited off his top position …
Discussion:
Straight Arrow, Reuters, CBS News, WTOP News, Associated Press, Townhall, The Independent and New York Post
RELATED:
Charlie Warzel / The Atlantic:
‘If Anything Happens to This Guy ... Everyone Is Screwed’ — Ondřej Surý was a relatively anonymous volunteer working on PHP security. Then the internet exploded. — On Tuesday, the world found out about two massive security vulnerabilities in PHP, a programming language …
Discussion:
404 Media, Reason, ClearanceJobs, NPR, New York Times, The Verge, Ars Technica, CBS News, Wired, The Register, Politico, The Guardian and Washington Examiner, more at Techmeme »
Matthew Cole / Vanity Fair:
The Art of the Deal: Jared Kushner's Hacked Phone Revealed His Secret Negotiations—Including More Than $700 Million in Transfers — An exclusive excerpt from Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed's Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East examines how bank accounts linked …
Discussion:
CBS News, New Republic, emptywheel, Gizmodo, Forbes, Patterico's Pontifications, Newsweek, Mediaite and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
Supreme Court says New Hampshire student IDs can't be used to vote in November — The high court said a federal judge shouldn't have changed the rules so close to the Nov. 3 election by blocking guidance issued by New Hampshire's secretary of state.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and The Independent
RELATED:
ProPublica:
Bird Flu Is Raging on a Mink Farm. It Could Spark a Human Pandemic, Experts Say, but Officials Won't Act. — The strain of bird flu that's ripped through American barns for the last four years has killed two people who caught it from sick animals. But as far as anyone can tell, humans can't spread it.
Discussion:
KIFI-TV
Hannah Schoenbaum / Associated Press:
Trump administration stopped sharing evidence in Good and Pretti killings, Minnesota officials say — The federal government has stopped sharing evidence with Minnesota authorities who are investigating the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers, state officials said in recent court filings.
Discussion:
The Guardian and KSTP-TV
Forbes:
The Woolly Mammoth Billionaire's New Startup Is Genetically Engineering War Dogs For The Military — This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more. — Ben Lamm of de-extinction startup Colossal Biosciences has teamed up with Palmer Luckey's team at Anduril to create a dog that's optimized for military use.
Kate Santaliz / Axios:
Scoop: Some Freedom Caucus members want Brandon Gill out — A small group of Rep. Brandon Gill's fellow House Freedom Caucus members are privately questioning whether he still belongs in the hardline group, Axios has learned. … - The lawmakers spoke on condition of anonymity to offer candid assessments of a colleague.
Discussion:
NewsMax.com and Washington Examiner
Miranda Bryant / The Guardian:
‘Pure arrogance’: anger in Finland as Google illegally fells 250,000 trees for datacentre — Company ordered to stop work at two sites in country, which has found itself at forefront of tech firms' latest push — Behind a wire fence lies a vast gaping wound of earth.
Discussion:
Mother Jones
Dave Philipps / New York Times:
Hegseth Barred Trans Troops. Military Boards Are Rejecting Those Orders. — The service members at Navy and Marine Corps hearings are finding ways to keep trans troops in uniform. — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a slur to proudly announce to an auditorium of Marines in September …
Jordain Carney / Politico:
John Barrasso to campaign with Ken Paxton — Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso will campaign with Ken Paxton next week in Texas as Republicans work overtime to try to hold onto the endangered seat. Barrasso said in an interview that he plans to join a bus tour with Paxton …
Discussion:
Associated Press
New York Times:
Covert Russian Group Injects Baseless Claim Into the Texas Senate Race — Russian influence operations appear to be stepping up efforts to meddle in the midterms, according to intelligence officials. Most are targeting Democrats. — Even as President Trump pursued a thawing of relations …
Discussion:
The Kyiv Independent, San Antonio Current, Global News, Diane Ravitch's blog, Mediaite and Politico
NBC News:
Hegseth staff damaged historic WWII-era Eisenhower globe trying to move it to his office — The globe was especially notable because it had green pen or marker notations where Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower marked areas in Europe, three U.S. officials said. — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's …
Discussion:
The Bulwark, Adam Kinzinger, Metro.co.uk, New York Magazine, HuffPost, The Independent, MS NOW, New Republic, The Guardian, Washington Post, The Hill, Mediaite and Forbes
Irit Skulnik / CNBC:
Democratic socialist set to become D.C. mayor — and face Trump's pushback … Zohran Mamdani famously brought democratic socialism to the largest U.S. city when he became New York's mayor. Now another member of the Democratic Party's progressive flank is poised to lead Washington, D.C.
Damian Paletta / Wall Street Journal:
Congress Will Lose Over 800 Years of Experience—Maybe That's a Good Thing — Plus, Justice Department reviewing allegations against Corey Lewandowski, and is America still afraid of socialism? — Good morning. A tidal wave of retirements, some the easy way (Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Michael McCaul) …
Katy O'Donnell / Bloomberg:
Trump Signs Executive Order Aimed at Taming Housing Costs — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at bringing down housing costs in a bid to show that his administration is addressing voters' affordability concerns in the final sprint to the midterm elections.
Discussion:
The White House, NBC News, Slate, NewsMax.com and The Hill
Media Matters for America:
Jesse Watters on race between Rogers and El-Sayed: “It's kind of silly that you have an FBI agent running against a Muslim” — Watters: “It writes itself” — Trump and Vance attack Republicans “whining” about Vivek Ramaswamy's ad against Amy Acton. Here are the conservative media personalities who criticized it.
Shane Harris / The Atlantic:
The Man in the Middle of Trump's Deeply Conflicted Ukraine Policy — CIA Director John Ratcliffe leads an agency that's at war with Russia, even as Trump makes nice with Putin. — Donald trump and volodymyr zelensky have never enjoyed a warm relationship, or even a stable one.
Bloomberg:
Ship With Russian Diesel Signals US Port After Trump-Putin Deal — A tanker carrying diesel left the Russian port of Primorsk and intermittently signaled New York, potentially marking the first such shipment following a fuel-supply agreement between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
Discussion:
Reuters and Associated Press
New York Times:
There Are Solutions to This Crazy Economy. Voters Will Hate Them. — Ahead of the midterms, Natasha Sarin and Catherine Rampell unpack the state of the economy — and how much responsibility the president bears for it. — One of the biggest issue driving the midterm elections? The economy.
MS NOW:
Netanyahu's office orders West Bank closed after soldiers kill 2 men behind alleged attack — The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it instructed security forces to immediately cordon off the city of Hebron and prepare to fully close all of the West Bank, starting Friday.



