A question from the AP's ongoing report on a divided America: "Consider two women in their 70s, both residents of the Kansas City area. One is white and affluent; the other is black and working class. Guess which one is more optimistic about the country's future and that of their grandchildren?" In America, if you're black or Latino, you're much more likely to be in bad financial shape than your white counterparts. You're also much more likely to be hopeful about the future of the American dream (and much less nervous about the outcome of the presidential election): Minorities hopeful, whites sour on future.

+ "It all flipped, so fast. Suddenly, we were in the minority. That was kind of a scary feeling. It makes you wonder where the Christians went." From the NYT: Split Over Donald Trump and Cut Off by Culture Wars, Evangelicals Despair.

"The next thing I know, I'm on the floor. We are plowing through something ... and when the train came to a stop, I could see the parts of the roof on the first car and some of the debris next to me" A New Jersey Transit train crashed into a Hoboken station during rush hour, killing at least one person and sending scores to the hospital.

+ Some social media photos and vids from the scene.

"On one side of the divided national security community is the State Department and intelligence agencies, which are pushing for a greater response in Syria, especially to the ongoing Russian-led assault in eastern Aleppo ... On the other side is a Pentagon arguing that any kind of intervention is too risky, backed by a White House that embraces any argument for not escalating U.S. involvement in Syria during the remaining four months of the administration." In the meantime, is Putin getting away with murder in Syria?

+ The US has threatened to call off talks with Russia, and send more weapons to rebels.

+ John McCain and Lindsey Graham mocked the threat to call off talks: "We can only imagine that having heard the news, Vladimir Putin has called off his bear hunt and is rushing back to the Kremlin to call off Russian airstrikes on hospitals, schools, and humanitarian aid convoys around Aleppo."

"You can say a lot of negative things about Trump. But one thing you have to admit is that he is the master self-promoter in the age of self-promotion. Kanye West thinks he needs too much attention. He has figured out a way to put his name on buildings he doesn't fully own. He is the most famous rich guy who isn't even that rich. And in the last year, he has become the most talked-about human in the world. And that's just what he set out to become." Another tour de force by the remarkable Dave Pell (with a little help from his dad): Donald Trump is Trying to Lose.

+ Gary Johnson was unable to name a foreign leader he admires. In other news, there are people who are voting for Gary Johnson.

"Five years ago, Theo Epstein took a job that even his friends called career suicide. A boy genius who had guided the Boston Red Sox to their first World Series victory in 86 years, Epstein chose to double down on that feat -- by agreeing in 2011 to lead the colossally vexed Chicago Cubs, whose fruitless quest of a World Series championship dates to 1908, when they last won it." The NYT's Bill Pennington on Theo Epstein's quest to do the impossible in baseball. Twice.

"Which mammal is most likely to be murdered by its own kind?" I know what you're thinking. But we humans aren't even close. Lions and wolves are higher on the list. But even they don't come close to the meerkat. Meerkats could be the only creatures that don't think meerkats are cute.

"The real threat isn't a thrown election. Nationwide electoral fraud would be extremely difficult to pull off, mostly because votes in the U.S. are tallied by more than 7,000 counties and townships. Hacking enough of them to tip the balance would be a monumental undertaking -- and one certain to be detected. (Tabulators are designed not to be connected to the internet at all.) Rather, the risk is a violation of trust: that Election Day mishaps borne of outdated, poorly engineered technology will confirm and amplify the fear pervading this campaign." From Bloomberg: The Computer Voting Revolution Is Already Crappy, Buggy, and Obsolete.

+ Before you knock supposedly obsolete tech, check out this Commodore 64 that's still being used to run an auto shop in Poland. (Warning: This image might not render correctly on your Apple Newton.)

"Everybody wants to stand out from the crowd, but so few of us have the knack, and fewer still the stomach for bearing up under the crush of conformity. It was always Abe's rare gift not just to stand out, and bear up, but to do those things with panache. And the way in which he expressed his difference most reliably, and with the greatest panache, was through dressing up." From Michael Chabon: I took my son to Paris Fashion Week, and all I got was a profound understanding of who he is.

"If you're an NBA rookie, you really don't want to go up against LeBron James. Anyone's trivia night would be ruined by seeing Ken Jennings on another team. And if you find yourself at the world's biggest pun competition, the last person you want to face is four-time defending champion Ben Ziek." Wired takes you inside the groan-inducing world of pun competitions. (Amateurs...)

"Here you'll find a floor-to-ceiling display of every flavor of instant ramen put out since the mid-20th century; a kitchen to prepare fresh ramen noodles; a sprawling assembly line -- reservations required -- to create your own Cup Noodles concoction to take home." To celebrate its 45th birthday, NPR takes a closer look at Cup Noodles. (If you still have a cup from that original batch, you're down to about three hundred thousand years until they expire.)

+ CityLab: In Houston, Taco Trucks Serve Up Voter Registration. That makes election day Taco Tuesday!

+ Selena Gomez just reached 100 million Instagram followers.