• Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe): Elon Musk's "thoughts" on Russia and Ukraine today prove the theory of why Trump likes Putin and Kim. All these guys like one another because they think they think alike, like power-obsessed sociopaths for whom human lives are mere statistics and inconveniences.

• Andrea Junker (@Strandjunker): Just for those who may be a little confused: Elon Musk did not generously donate his Starlink satellite internet to Ukraine. The Biden administration had to pay him for it.

• Duty To Warn (@duty2warn): Jamie Raskin says that the names Michael Flynn and Roger Stone come up so often in Jan 6th Committee discussions, that they've begun calling them "The Flynnstones." Yabba Dabba Coup.

• A Trump employee has told federal agents about moving boxes of documents at Mar-a-Lago at the specific direction of the former president, according to people familiar with the investigation, who say the witness account — combined with security-camera footage — offers key evidence of Donald Trump’s behavior as investigators sought the return of classified material. The witness description and footage described to The Washington Post offer the most direct account to date of Trump’s actions and instructions leading up to the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of the Florida residence and private club, in which agents were looking for evidence of potential crimes including obstruction, destruction of government records or mishandling classified information. The people familiar with the investigation said agents have gathered witness accounts indicating that, after Trump advisers received a subpoena in May for any classified documents that remained at Mar-a-Lago, Trump told people to move boxes to his residence at the property. That description of events was corroborated by the security-camera footage, which showed people moving the boxes, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation ... - Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey, Trump worker told FBI about moving Mar-a-Lago boxes on ex-president’s orders, Washington Post

• The panel dedicated a large part of Thursday’s hearing to arguing that Trump’s efforts to overturn the election were “premeditated”. The committee aired footage of comments from Trump associates Steve Bannon and Roger Stone saying before the vote in November 2020 that Trump would prematurely declare victory and dispute the results if he were to lose. “I suspect [the results] will still be up in the air. When that happens, the key thing to do is to claim victory. Possession is nine-tenths of the law. ‘No, we won. F**k you,’” Stone said in documentary footage from November 2020 that was aired on Thursday. Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren also said during the hearing that Trump had a plan to dispute a potential election loss even before the votes were counted. “This ‘Big Lie’ – President Trump’s effort to convince Americans that he had won the 2020 election – began before the election results even came in,” she said. “It was intentional. It was premeditated. It was not based on election results or any evidence of actual fraud affecting the results or any actual problems with voting machines.” For her part, Cheney stressed that Trump knew that his election fraud claims were false – a central theme of the committee’s hearings this year. “There is no defence that Donald Trump was duped or irrational,” the Republican congresswoman said. “No president can defy the rule of law and act this way in a constitutional republic – period.” - Five key takeaways from ninth January 6 committee hearing, Al-Jazeera

• Duty To Warn (@duty2warn): Just a reminder: Steve Bannon's sentencing is coming up October 21. At long last, a cell door will open, a MAGA criminal will enter, and the cell door will close. Followed by ... silence. While I'm sure he'll continue to bloviate, nobody will hear except others in his cell block.

Dark Brandon Gives Young Voters A Taste of BFD

• Amanda Litman (@amandalitman): Biden has delivered big for young people with historic action on climate change, student debt relief, & massive steps forward on marijuana policy -- our collective next step is to talk about all that endlessly in every space & place possible until (and after) polls close.

• Joe Biden (@JoeBiden): Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. Today I announced a pardon of all prior federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana, urged governors to do the same, and asked HHS and DOJ to review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law. Sending people to prison for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit. That's before you address the clear racial disparities around prosecution and conviction. Today, we start to right these wrongs.

• Using the authority Congress granted the Department of Education, we will forgive $10,000 in outstanding federal student loans. In addition, students who come from low-income families which allowed them to qualify to receive a Pell Grant will have their debt reduced $20,000. Both of these targeted actions are for families who need it the most — working and middle-class people hit especially hard during the pandemic making under $125,000 a year.  You make more than that, you don’t qualify. No high-income individual or high-income household, on top of the 5 percent — in the top 5 percent of incomes, by the way, will benefit from this action.  Period.  In fact, about 90 percent of the eligible beneficiaries make under $75,000 a family. Here’s what that means: If you make under $125,000, you’ll get $10,000 knocked off your student debt.  If you make under $125,000 a year and you received a Pell Grant, you’ll get an additional $10,000 knocked off that total for a total of $20,000 relief. - White House: Remarks by President Biden Announcing Student Loan Debt Relief Plan     

• President Biden will travel to Egypt to attend this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP27, according to two people familiar with his plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a trip that is not yet public. Biden’s planned attendance at the climate conference will give a boost to the gathering, which had been at risk of delivering little concrete action amid disputes over ambition and funding. The developing world has been asking for sharply more assistance from the rich nations that are responsible for the bulk of global warming over history. But those industrialized nations have been reluctant to make any promises. Now Biden, who also attended last year’s conference in Scotland, will have a chance to showcase the progress his administration has made in the past year – and to cajole other countries to make similar efforts. Climate advocates say the Inflation Reduction Act will help deliver a boost to green industries that can outlast the Biden administration, helping to bypass some of the climate whiplash that comes from sharply different visions toward global warming from Democrats and Republicans. - Washington Post, Biden will attend COP27 — the U.N’s climate change summit — in Egypt"

ROEVEMBER!

• Joe Biden (@JoeBiden): Republicans want a national ban on abortion—but if you give me two more Democratic senators and Democrats keep the House, I promise you we will codify Roe v. Wade.

• Piper for Missouri (@piper4missouri), Teacher, Democratic Nominee for State Representative in MO HD1: I just had a man tell me that if a woman dies from an ectopic pregnancy, that’s God‘s will. He’s voting on November 8. Are you?

• Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger): The attack on women’s self-determination and autonomy is as much a part of MAGA’s fascistic affinities as is the cult’s fondness for violence and white Christian nationalism. It's always part of fascism.

• According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, in the 100 days, as of Sunday, since the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, nearly 80 million people find themselves in 13 states that, in effect, ban abortion. There will be a record number of abortion-related measures on the midterm ballot. It would be a mistake to see the focus on abortion as distinct from the MAGA war on democracy ... “Fascism is a rejection of the notion of equality, of an expansive definition of the people. And it comes at a time where people are pushing the parameters of an existing definition, one that basically included males, often male property owners only,” Anne Wingenter, professor of history and women’s studies at Loyola University Chicago, explained in a radio interview in April. “It was pushback against expanding that definition to excluded groups. What we seem to be experiencing today, to me, looks a lot like an attempt to define down that notion of the people again. And some people get to be fully autonomous, and some don’t.” That was certainly the pattern in 1930s fascist Italy. Wingenter explained, “[Benito] Mussolini was known for his kind of pithy little quotes. And he is on record as saying, ‘War is to man, as maternity is to woman.’ ” She continued, “The ideal woman in fascist Italy was the wife and mother of many children” ... In sum, MAGA support for government intrusion into Americans’ most intimate decisions reflects an authoritarian outlook. It is not a coincidence that this targeting of women is occurring in tandem with a developing voter registration gender gap favoring women. They understand all too well that the GOP’s quest for a national abortion ban is about their reproductive rights — and also about their inclusion in society and ultimately the preservation of democracy. - Jennifer Rubin The war on abortion rights meshes perfectly with MAGA authoritarianism, Washington Post 

A Survey of Critical Races

In each update, my "Survey of Critical Races" has focused on races for Senator and Governor, but of course, there are dangers all down the ballet. It is imperative to vote the straight Democratic ticket (unless you're in Utah) up and down the ballot.

Consider this - 

• Duty To Warn (@duty2warn): Trump has normalized coups. The GOP boast that if their secretaries of state are elected they’ll make sure Republicans win. They’re running for election on the platform that they will corrupt elections and overthrow democracy.
  “When my coalition of secretary of state candidates get elected, we're gonna fix the whole country and president trump is going to be president again”—Jim Marchant, Republican candidate for Nevada Secretary of State

Michigan

• A Michigan man involved in a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) in 2020 was sentenced to four years in prison on Thursday, federal prosecutors announced. The big picture: Kaleb Franks, 28, of Waterford, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiring to kidnap the Michigan governor, had faced up to life in prison. But his sentence was reduced due to factors including testifying at federal two trials, per a Department of Justice statement. Those trials "cumulatively resulted in the convictions of co-defendants Adam Fox and Barry Croft and the acquittals of Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta," the DOJ noted. Ty Garbin, who was the first person to plead guilty in the case, had his prison sentence reduced from 75 months to 30 months due to his cooperation at the trials Context: The FBI said in October 2020 its agents uncovered a plot to violently overthrow the government and kidnap Whitmer because the plotters believed she and other elected officials were violating the U.S. Constitution with measures such as pandemic restrictions. What's next: Fox and Croft are due to be sentenced in December. - Rebecca Falconer, Michigan man sentenced to 4 years over plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer, Axios

• The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge): Calling him #DogKillerOz may sound hyperbolic… until you realize that Columbia University was fined for violating the Animal Welfare Act after it was shown Dr. Oz euthanized puppies without anesthetic in some of the cruelest animal experiments imaginable.

Wisconsin

• Wisconsin Democratic Party Ben Winkler cited data from the 2018 election to compare to this year's midterm vote. According to him, they've already surpassed their goals for participation. Typically during midterm elections, the president's party flops. So, in 2018, that was supposed to be a horrific election for Donald Trump. But according to Winkler, the numbers are favoring the Democrats more in the state there than when Trump was in office. "You know, Wisconsinites, like most Americans, love freedom. When someone takes away a basic, fundamental freedom, for more than half the population, it doesn't sit well," said Winkler of the Supreme Court decision to eliminate Roe v. Wade. "We have seen people come out of the woodwork, to run for office because we are so infuriated by what Republicans are doing in our state. Volunteers, we begin our midterm records from 2018 hands down for knocks on the door, phone calls, text messages, and everything else." He also noted what other states are seeing as well, that there has been a dramatic increase in voter registration among women. "And we see, among voters, a huge gender gap in who is registering to vote. Normally a midterm election goes against the president's party," said Winkler. "But this is not a normal moment. I think the reaction to the Republican attack on the freedom to decide what to do with people's own bodies, the decisions about when and whether to start a family, those things are producing a massive, massive backlash that has rendered a governor's race and a senate race that are now 'coin tosses' in the state of Wisconsin." - Raw Story, "Data shows Wisconsin Democrats are seeing dramatic election enthusiasm ahead of the Nov. vote: party chief" 10/9/22

• I was a reliable Republican voter since I was a Wisconsin College Republican at the same time as future governor Scott Walker and future Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. From the time I managed a Republican campaign for Congress in 1992 until my days as the editor and owner of RightWisconsin, I supported the conservative movement and Republican candidates. But this year party loyalty is asking too much. I am going to vote for Mandela Barnes for U.S. Senate and Tony Evers for governor. I am under no illusions that I have any policy positions in common with Barnes or Evers. I am pro-life. I support school choice. I support smaller government and lower taxes. I believe that we need to reduce crime by putting more police officers on the street and closing the revolving door at our courthouses. But even more dear to me, and more important to the country, is protecting the Constitution. On this, Sen. Ron Johnson and Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels cannot be trusted. -- James Wigderson, "I'm a lifelong Republican but sometimes party loyalty asks too much. I'm voting for Mandela Barnes and Tony Evers" Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

• He’s an election falsifier who recklessly promoted lies about the 2020 presidential race long after it was clear Donald Trump lost. He’s a science fabulist who suggested, without evidence, that the COVID-19 vaccines could make the pandemic worse and who repeatedly touted unproven remedies for the disease — from Ivermectin to mouthwash. He's tried to rewrite the sordid history of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, claiming the attackers were "people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law." He suggested the government should rewrite the rules for the two government programs seniors rely on most — Medicare and Social Security — making them subject to annual political fights in Congress rather than mandatory payments as promised. For years, Ron Johnson has demonstrated that he should be retired to his family's seaside Florida home — and not representing Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate. Voters should send him packing this November. - Editorial Board, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Ohio 

• He opposes same-sex marriage and wants to ban abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest. He said people in “violent” marriages shouldn’t get divorced. He said that rape and incest were “inconvenient.” That’s certainly putting it mildly. Instead of distancing himself from extremists in his party, he welcomes them. He said he was “proud” to have Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s endorsement. Greene, in case you don’t know, blamed wildfires on space lasers funded by “Rothschild Inc.” and said there’s no evidence that a plane crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11. She is, in other words, a lunatic. But rather than denounce her, Vance embraces her. These flip-flops and contortions aren’t just embarrassing. They show exactly the kind of person J.D. Vance is—a craven shapeshifter who will say whatever he needs to say to get elected. - Joan W. Lawrence Former Ohio lawmaker: J.D. Vance a 'craven shapeshifter' regurgitating MAGA speak, Columbus Dispatch
• Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts): This man is running for US Senate. Don’t let him win.
  J.D. Vance (@JDVance1): Alex Jones is a far more reputable source of information than Rachel Maddow. One of them is censored by the regime. The other promoted by it.

• Duty To Warn (@duty2warn): Sen. Raphael Warnock has opened up a 12-point lead against Herschel Walker, according to a SurveyUSA poll released today, amid Walker's mounting scandals.Before tweeting, I checked 538 dot com to see if they reflected the SurveyUSA data in their polling averages and whether they likewise showed change in Warnock's direction ... and yes - they did.

• Elgin Charles (@ElginCharles): “Brian Kemp has made it lethal for women to live in the state of Georgia.”- @staceyabrams

• Marc E. Elias (@marceelias): This is a national scandal.
  Mark Niesse (@markniesse): The eligibility of tens of thousands of Georgia voters has been contested before Election Day under the state's voting law that allows unlimited challenges.

Arizona

• Republicans against Trumpism (@RpsAgainstTrump): Liz Cheney urges Arizonans to reject anti-Democracy candidates such as Kari Lake, adding: “For almost 40 years now I've been voting Republican, I don't know that I have ever voted for a Democrat. But If I lived in AZ now, I absolutely would…for governor and for SOS."

• Hannah Goss (@thehannahgoss): Today in Blake Masters' hometown paper @TucsonStar, his former classmates & teachers published their letter urging their neighbors to reject him. #AZSen "His threat reaches beyond a single school, beyond a single city — it jeopardizes every Arizonan." 

Texas

• 𝐁𝐞𝐤𝐬 (@antifaoperative): Greg Abbott won’t give pardons for marijuana charges, will allow rape survivors to be charged with murder for seeking healthcare and lines his pockets with blood money from the deaths of innocent children. Choose wisely, Texas

Florida

• Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts): Nearly 70% of Florida poll respondents OPPOSE passing permitless carry in the state. Yet Gov. Ron DeSantis has promised gun extremists and gun lobbyists he’ll prioritize this demonstrably dangerous and deadly legislation.