Raw: Phoenix Crews Battle Large Debris Fire

Helen Lewis: “One of the mysteries of this election is how the Democrats approached polling day with a set of policies on gender identity that they were neither proud to champion—nor prepared to disown.” “Although most Americans agree that transgender people should not face discrimination in housing and employment, there is nowhere near the same level of support for allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports—which is why Donald Trump kept bringing up the issue.

“The Russian military has assembled a force of 50,000 soldiers, including North Korean troops, as it prepares to begin an assault aimed at reclaiming territory seized by Ukraine in the Kursk region of Russia,“ the New York Times reports. “A new U. S. assessment concludes that Russia has massed the force without having to pull soldiers out of Ukraine’s east — its main battlefield priority — allowing Moscow to press on multiple fronts simultaneously.”

NOTUS: “There had been rumblings about the financial situation since September, said one Democrat. Another said the campaign had missed its fundraising goal in September, after money slowed in August and the boon from the convention wasn’t as high as the campaign expected. Now, the second Democrat said, Harris has begun to ask questions about where the money went.” “Some blamed the major hole on TV reservations and consultant contracts that were agreed to while President Joe Biden was still on the ticket and in charge of this behemoth organization that the Harris campaign then fulfilled.

Axios: “A fierce divide has emerged from the early autopsies of Democrats’ election disaster: Was it policy — or culture — that doomed the party with working-class Americans?” “Joe Biden touted himself as the most pro-union president in U. S. history. He joined a picket line, bailed out union pensions and invested massively in manufacturing jobs.

“Despite calls from some liberal activists for Justice Sonia Sotomayor to step down while Democrats can fill her seat before political power changes hands in January, she has no plans to retire from the Supreme Court,“ the Wall Street Journal reports. Said one person close to Sotomayor: “This is no time to lose her important voice on the court.

CNN: “Democrats’ shell shock is real, and not just because top Harris aides were telling Biden senior staff and former President Barack Obama aides past 9 p.m. on Tuesday that she was about to win.“