Blue Wave or Blue Ripple?

<p>This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss where the midterms stand mere weeks out from Election Day, the legal and cultural issues at the heart of the deeply disturbing Cornell University rape case, and the perennial American debate over whether to make Daylight Saving Time permanent.</p><br><p><strong>Here are this week’s chatters:</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Emily: Samuel A. Alito Jr. for The Wall Street Journal: Opinion: Commentary: <u><a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/justice-samuel-alito-even-originalists-make-mistakes-02cedb8c" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Justice Samuel Alito: Even Originalists Make Mistakes</a></u></p><br><p>John: Hamed Aleaziz, David A. Fahrenthold, Nicholas Nehamas, Tyler Pager, and Niraj Chokshi for The New York Times: <em><u><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/04/us/politics/kristi-noem-planes-donor.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kristi Noem’s Agency Gave Her Donor a Lucrative Contract Just Before She Left</a></u></em>; David Gilmour for Mediaite: <u><a href="https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/abc-news-mysteriously-deletes-report-on-trump-sons-6b-business-dealings/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ABC News Mysteriously Deletes Report on Trump Sons’ ‘$6B’ Business Dealings</a></u> (original from <u><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20261007144205/https:/abcnews.com/Politics/trump-sons-investments-won-billions-pentagon-contracts-election/story?id=137049598" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ABC News on Internet Archive</a></u>); Dana Mattioli, Drew Hinshaw, Rebecca Ballhaus, and Joe Parkinson for The Wall Street Journal: <u><a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/guilfoyle-amex-donor-100-000-0e02cdc3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Exclusive: ‘Honey Please’: Kimberly Guilfoyle Pushed Donor to Wire $100,000 to Her Amex Account</a></u>; <em><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Record-Lows-CJ-Green/dp/1538777371/tag=slatmaga-20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Record Lows</a></u> </em>by CJ Green; Historian <u><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/tj-stiles.bsky.social/post/3mwjkm5ofuc2q" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">T.J. Stiles on Bluesky</a></u> on <u><a href="https://play.history.com/shows/grant" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Grant documentary</a></u> (also available on <u><a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81698437" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Netflix</a></u>)</p><br><p