Candidates are slugging it out all over the place in this unusual midterm election, as evidenced by a controversial ad in the Ohio governor’s race. Read more in today’s WSJ Politics Newsletter: (on.wsj.com)
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is ending candidate endorsements and contributions from its political-action committee, reversing the approach it adopted five years ago (on.wsj.com)
The Trump administration wants to bulk up its antifraud push by pursuing tax charges on illicit gains, but its effort risks running up against its own budget cuts (on.wsj.com)
Can Justin J. Pearson Win in Tennessee? - Republicans eliminated the state’s only Black-majority district, in Memphis, so Pearson took a campaign about economic inequality to rural white voters. (www.newyorker.com)
Hemingway’s Vendetta - In 1952, the author read a novel by a thirty-year-old Yale graduate and former bullfighter, branded him a fraud, and launched a secret war to defend his turf. (www.newyorker.com)
Does the D.S.A. Have a Vision for Public Schools in New York? - Mayor Mamdani’s K-12 platform is increasingly perceived as a “blank space.” Some of his supporters have ideas for filling it. (www.newyorker.com)
A Philosopher of War Changes His Mind - Michael Walzer wrote “Just and Unjust Wars” half a century ago. The war in Gaza made him rethink one of its fundamental principles. (www.newyorker.com)
Word Problems About Dealing with a Friend’s Weird Boyfriend - Elizabeth expresses hurt that Jessica would judge Tim based on just one quirk. Jessica replies that it’s not just one quirk. How many quirks does Tim have? (www.newyorker.com)
“You Can See Everything” and the Nathan Fielder Effect - “It’s technically a documentary,” Naomi Fry says of Fielder’s new film about Elizabeth Holmes, “but it seems at times more like a philosophical treatise on the knowability of other people.” (www.newyorker.com)
“Slow Horses,” Apple TV’s Best Show, Retains Its Pungent Relevance - The spy series, which follows a lowly team of pariahs in MI5, mirrors our present moment. (www.newyorker.com)
Gina Hinojosa Thinks Texas Is Different This Time - The Democratic gubernatorial candidate argues that crony capitalism, distrust of data centers, and attacks on public education have disenchanted voters enough to finally bring a blue wave to the state. (www.newyorker.com)
How ICE Is Targeting the 2026 Midterms - In the run-up to the election, the Trump Administration is turning its immigration crackdown into a desperate hunt for voter fraud. (www.newyorker.com)
Wikipedia’s Pyrrhic Victory - The wonder of the online world was built by a community of eccentric volunteers. Can it survive the A.I. models it helped train? (www.newyorker.com)
“Fatherland” Cleans Up the Rough Edges of History - In this dramatization of the novelist Thomas Mann’s 1949 return to Germany, the filmmaker Paweł Pawlikowski tweaks the facts to fit his style. (www.newyorker.com)
Is the Military Low-T? - New data suggest that a quarter of American servicemen may have low testosterone. That doesn’t mean what Pete Hegseth thinks it does. (www.newyorker.com)
Gifts for Cats (and Their Owners) That Are Worth Knocking Off the Table - Scratchers that aren’t total eyesores, toys your feline friend might play with at least once (before fixating on the packaging), books and accessories for cat-obsessed humans, and some ideas for dog people, too. (www.newyorker.com)
“An Unprecedented Case of Child Abuse” - In an L.A. criminal court, new details emerge about the mysterious couple who collected more than twenty babies through surrogacy. (www.newyorker.com)
Dogs That Weren’t Rescued - People make a big deal about the hundred and one Dalmatians, and how they were saved from Cruella de Vil, but rarely do you hear about the hundred-and-second Dalmatian. (www.newyorker.com)
Behind the Settler Attack on Palestinians and a Washington Post Journalist - Jasper Nathaniel, an independent journalist who filmed the attack, describes the significant increase in West Bank violence on the eve of the Israeli election. (www.newyorker.com)
Everyone Can Be Migos Now - The viral “Hotel Lobby” meme, which lets users inhabit the bodies of Quavo and Takeoff using A.I., resembles a kind of digital blackface, but also speaks to a technology that makes appropriation the default. (www.newyorker.com)
Computer Chips Are the Most Magnificent Things Humanity Has Ever Made - They power our phones, cars, dishwashers—and the A.I. systems that prop up the economy. They’re also at the heart of fierce geopolitical rivalry. (www.newyorker.com)