--- description: What's Next for Republicans Republicans won a decisive victory Tuesday night, winning at least 52 seats to gain control of the Senate for the first... title: Morning Must Reads: November 5 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Morning Must Reads](/tag/morning-must-reads/) ## Morning Must Reads Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Morning Must Reads: November 5 by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 5, 2014 12:18 PM CUT  The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC.Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 5, 2014 12:18 PM CUT [What’s Next for Republicans](http://time.com/3557627/2014-midterm-elections-republican-senate-majority-mitch-mcconnell/ "undefined") Republicans won a decisive victory Tuesday night, winning at least 52 seats to gain control of the Senate for the first time since 2006\. Now comes the hard part: governing with President Barack Obama and positioning the party for 2016 [Guide to the 2016 GOP Primary](http://time.com/3556624/republican-presidential-campaign-2016-bush-walker/ "undefined") As the starting gun sounds on the presidential election in two years, all signs point to an unwieldy pack of Republican candidates [Voters Lit Up for Marijuana](http://time.com/3557760/2014-midterm-elections-marijuana-pot/ "undefined") Legalization activists won victory in various pot measures during the midterm election. TIME rounds up the 2014 marijuana votes [Benedict Cumberbatch Is Getting Hitched](http://time.com/3558121/benedict-cumberbatch-announces-engagement/ "undefined") The _Sherlock_ actor has announced his engagement to actress Sophie Hunter in an old-school newspaper classified ad. Cumberbatch, 38, who is also the voice of Smaug the dragon in the _Hobbit_ trilogy, had largely kept his relationship with Hunter, 36, out of the media [Government Requests for Facebook User Data Up 24%](http://time.com/3557378/facebook-government-requests/ "undefined") Government requests for user information rose by 24% between the second half of 2013 and the first half of 2014, while the number of government requests for content restriction rose by 19%, according to a new report by the social-media giant [Amnesty International Accuses Israel of War Crimes](http://time.com/3556631/israel-amnesty-international-gaza-war-crimes/ "undefined") The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the accusations, adding that “investigations are currently under way by several bodies inside and outside the Israel Defense Forces, into over 90 incidents” that occured during the war against Hamas in Gaza this summer [Taylor Swift’s _1989_ Has a Huge Week](http://time.com/3557916/taylor-swift-1989-debut-first-week/ "undefined") Swift’s chart-topping album sold 1.287 million copies in its first seven days of release — that’s more than any other album since 2002, when rapper Eminem shifted 1.322 million copies in a week of _The Eminem Show_ [WNBA Star Brittney Griner Cut But OK After Knife Attack](http://time.com/3557779/wnba-brittney-griner-china-knife-attack/ "undefined") American basketball player Brittney Griner was lightly injured in Shenyang, China, on Monday after a knife-wielding man attacked her and two teammates as they were boarding a team bus. “The guy was clearly either mentally ill or very drunk,” she said afterward [Here’s Where Ice Bucket Challenge Money Is Going](http://time.com/3556217/ice-bucket-challenge-als-money/ "undefined") New research projects dedicated to solving ALS have begun to receive millions of dollars in additional funding thanks to this year’s Ice Bucket Challenge. The funding marks the ALS Association’s first move toward distributing the $115 million it raised to fight the disease [Dunham Lawyers Threaten Lawsuit Over Abuse Allegations](http://time.com/3557597/lena-dunham-lawsuit-sex-abuse/ "undefined") Lena Dunham’s lawyers have threatened a suit over an article claiming that a passage from her new memoir indicates she had sexually abused her sister. “Childhood sexual abuse is a life-shattering event for so many,” Dunham tells TIME [C-3PO Says _Star Wars: Episode VII_ May Be Best Sequel](http://time.com/3557676/c-3po-actor-says-star-wars-episode-vii-may-be-best-sequel-yet/ "undefined") _Star Wars_ alum Anthony Daniels took to Twitter to share his excitement about _Star Wars: Episode VII_, the first installment of a sequel trilogy in which he’ll reprise his role as the voice of C-3PO. Daniels hinted that the new film may be better than _Empire Strikes Back_ [Vikings’ Adrian Peterson Pleads No Contest to Misdemeanor](http://time.com/3557047/vikings-adrian-peterson-misdemeanor/ "undefined") Per terms of the agreement between Peterson and the prosecution, the plea makes no reference to family violence or violence against a minor. Peterson must pay a $4,000 fine, will be placed on probation and will be ordered to perform 80 hours of community service [_Get_ ](http://time.com/politicsemail "undefined")[TIME](http://time.com/politicsemail "undefined")[_’s_ ](http://time.com/politicsemail "undefined")[_The Brief e-mail every morning in your inbox_](http://time.com/politicsemail "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3558225/morning-must-reads-november-5/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3558225/morning-must-reads-november-5/"},"headline":"Morning Must Reads: November 5","datePublished":"2014-11-05T12:18:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:14:04.039Z","description":"What's Next for Republicans Republicans won a decisive victory Tuesday night, winning at least 52 seats to gain control of the Senate for the first...","url":"https://time.com/3558225/morning-must-reads-november-5/","keywords":["Morning Must Reads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Morning Must Reads","caption":"Capitol","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/morning-must-reads/","name":"Morning Must Reads"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3558225/morning-must-reads-november-5/","name":"Morning Must Reads: November 5"}}]}] ```