THE BIG STORY

The Proud Boys got a bunch of new followers after Trump said to “stand by”

The Proud Boys is a far-right extremist group with a history of instigating violence. During Tuesday’s presidential debate, President Donald Trump declined to condemn the group. In the wake of that refusal, The Proud Boys received a flood of new members.

On debate night, after moderator Chris Wallace asked the president to condemn white supremacists and the Proud Boys, Trump interrupted Wallace in a back-and-forth, then responded: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”

The group celebrated the comments on the semi-private social media networks they’ve been forced to inhabit after Facebook and Twitter banned them in 2018. They put the president’s words on their logo, posted a cheering video, and began to sell T-shirts saying “stand down stand by.”

One expert told us, Trump’s comments were “not a dog whistle but a foghorn for [far-right extremist] groups.” Meanwhile, conservative commentators tried to downplay the president’s statement. One pro-Trump commentator said, “Trump is bad at this, he’s awful with language.”

Nathan Howard / Getty Images

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

Ukraine is investigating the killing of a US Embassy employee in Kyiv

The American woman, who works at the US Embassy, was found by a passerby after she had suffered a large head injury near Kyiv’s Nyvky Park, according to authorities. The US Embassy sits only a half-mile away from where she was found. She later died in hospital.

Authorities said police were working to track down at least one male suspect they believe to be responsible for what they called a “deliberate murder.”

The embassy confirmed the death but said it did not have any new information. “We are heartbroken to report the death of an American member of the U.S. Embassy Kyiv community,” the embassy said in a statement.

SNAPSHOTS

A judge has ordered the Justice Department to release more portions of the Mueller Report before election day. The judge ruled that the Justice Department improperly redacted significant portions of the Mueller report, and must release those sections by Nov. 2.

A man was arrested for the ambush shooting of two Los Angeles sheriff's deputies. Deonte Lee Murray, 36, was charged with attempted murder in the shooting that left two deputies in critical condition.

A member of Congress is facing death threats after QAnon went after him. The House Republican campaign committee falsely accused Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski of protecting sexual predators. Then followers of QAnon — a collective delusion — targeted him, leading to death threats.

Meet the Hollywood Fix, a 38-year-old paparazzi YouTuber who follows around popular teen TikTokers for a living. Fletcher Greene has taken all the traditional paparazzi methods you know, and applied them to social media influencers — with huge results.

Chrissy Teigen has suffered pregnancy loss following hospitalization. This is a heartbreaking, difficult story. Teigen and John Legend have lost their third child following weeks of pregnancy complications that led to Teigen being hospitalized. The couple announced the news on Instagram, adding that they had named the baby Jack.

NET NEUTRALITY

The era of influencers being apolitical online is over

The online communities we inhabit can bring us comfort and connection.

This was no different for the Facebook group for fans of blogger and influencer Lauryn Evarts Bosstick — after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, they headed to the Facebook page to post their tributes and chat with other women about the death of an icon.

Instead, former members of the once-56,000-person-strong group claim, posts about RBG were deleted. After some women complained, Bosstick abruptly shut down the group.

Shortly after, Bosstick posted to her 1 million followers on Instagram that she wanted to keep her group free of politics and religion in order to “try and keep a POSITIVE space.” Her fans were furious.

Stephanie McNeal unpacks the incident, and how it’s come to represent a new limitation for online influencers: while politics, social justice issues, and current events are inextricable from our daily lives, being an influencer can no longer exist in a realm that pretends these things don’t exist.

SPOOKY SEASON

Thrillers that will make you lose sleep this fall

It’s fall! It’s the season for a blanket and tea and a good book. On that front, we have you covered — we’ve put together a list of new thrillers and mysteries, just in time for spooky season.

And what are you reading? Don’t hesitate to share that with us, too.

Prioritize the things that restore your happiness today,

Elamin