10 Metal Albums That Are Actually Scary-Sounding Metal Injection (Michael T)
Mental Hospitals at the Movies JSTOR (Micael T)
Life is mostly status competition Aporia (Micael T)
How dangerous is alcohol really? Overton via machine translation (Micael T). Repeat after me: getting in a car is the most dangerous thing people do on a routine basis. Even more so in places with lots of motorbikes.
#COVID-19/Pandemics
Ebola death toll in DR Congo passes 5,000 Aljazeera
US measles cases top 4,800 as the disease surges in multiple states CIDRAP
I think this is what I got. Sick for nearly a mont so far, quite debilitated at points. The younger friend from whom I got it (one week after she started showing symptoms, by having coffee with her outdoors) is still sick. First upper respiratory, made much worse by flying nearly 24 hours. Then a shallow cough too. Also stomach sensitivity to things that never bothered me before like cherries and original Ricolas (and I did not consume much of either).
There is a very strange sickness floating around right now.
And it appears to knock people out for at least a week.
Not flu.
Not “Covid”, per the useless PCR tests.Appears that the 55+ crowd is experiencing it the worst.
Do we have a name for it yet?
— Carole Mac (@HerbsandDirt) October 26, 2026
Climate/Environment
World’s oldest cave paintings under threat as wildfires rage across Indonesia Independent
Ocean’s ability to absorb carbon is weakening as climate change intensifies, UN warn UN
The deep ocean’s protection against warming started to change in 2016. Nobody knows what happens now The Conversation
Strange, catastrophic landslides are kicking off across the far north Grist
Ocean warming and herbivorous fish grazing drive kelp forest collapse along Japan’s Izu Peninsula
PhysOrg
China?
Last year Americans flew to China for a $10,000 cancer drug. Now it’s $200,000. Kevin Walmsley
Southeast Asia
Jewish leader’s relatives, 19 firms under scrutiny after citizenship revoked Bangkok Post
European Disunion
European property slump deepens as borrowing costs force price cuts Reuters
Is the Eurozone heading towards a new sovereign debt crisis? Economics Observatory
Annalena in Uppsala: Baerbock cannot escape her politics Nachdekseitsen via machine transalation (Micael T)
Volkswagen crisis deepens as it reports worst loss since ‘Dieselgate’ scandal This is Money
Germany’s Lithuanian Fetish Scott Ritter
Police state France: RAID, CRS, BRI, GIGN, AGIGN, BRAV-M, GM, LBD 40 – the acronyms of horror Nachdenkseiten via machine translation (Micael T)
French Senate backs ‘Rioters Pay’ bill that could make protesters pay $11,000 fines CNBC
Old Blighty
North Sea oil and gas tax take ‘close to zero’ in five years, OBR says The National
Israel v. The Resistance
Families brace for a fourth winter of wind, rain and floods in Gaza’s camps Aljazeera
The Mecca Alliance: A regional shield or Washington’s new front? The Cradle
Ben Shapiro’s Mask Was Finally Pulled Off Tucker Carlson
Iran War
How Iran Battered U.S. Bases and Caused Billions in Damage Wall Street Journal. Wowsers.
Live: IRGC says four tankers using ‘unauthorised’ route hit in Hormuz Middle East Eye
Iran’s hidden web of military agencies is slipping hardware past the US blockade Reuters
As we said yesterday, Iran already rejected the US position even though it is willing to have tea and cookies talks:
Two supertankers carrying over 2 million barrels of oil and another 3 vessels were attacked yesterday while trying to avoid the Iranian Navy designated maritime route.
The diplomatic negotiation is reaching a stalemate. The exchange of letters and shuttle of mediators continue between Iran, Qatar and Pakistan with little success. Therefore, war is not excluded.
The US and Israel step up preparations for a potential new military campaign against Iran. Dozens of US aircraft carrying more munitions and interception missile system have landed at the Ovda and Nevatim air bases in southern Israel. Nevatim is home to several F-35I squadrons.
Additional US military transport planes were sent to bases in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The US has gathered Dozens of additional aerial refueling tankers that the American military is sending to Israel are stationed at Israeli airbases, rather than Ben Gurion Airport.
— Elijah J. Magnier 🇪🇺 (@ejmalrai) October 31, 2026
Trump Can Start It But He Can’t Finish It. Now He Wants to Island-Hop Larry Johnson. Note ex-Marine Ritter Scott Ritter disagrees (see here) and argues that what is planned are raids to destroy stuff, as in oil-related infrastructure, here for exports.
* * * Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen runs on someone else’s ammo The People’s Art of War (Micael T)
New Not-So-Cold War
Russian forces attack Ukraine with 134 drones overnight, with hits recorded at 20 locations Ukrainska Pravda
U.S. approves $2.1 billion sale of Patriot interceptors to Ukraine NBC
G20 ‘family photo’ cancelled after protests over presence of Russian minister BBC
Russia would pay ‘high price’ for Ukraine attack – NATO Reuters
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Cheap Aftermarket Car Screens Are Loaded With Spyware, By the Way The Drive
Imperial Collapse Watch
John Kiriakou: CIA Regime Change from Ukraine to Iran Glenn Diesen, YouTube. Important.
Rappers For Regime Change: How the CIA Recruits Hip Hop Artists Around the World Mint Press
Triggering Suicidal Impulses from Washington to Tel Aviv, Ottowa to Brussels, West to the Rest Olivier Boyd-Barrett
INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson & Ritter – Weekly Wrap 30-OCT Judge Napolitano, YouTube. See Ritter who argues that any attack on Strait of Hormuz islands would be a raid to bust things up and not an occupation. More important, see at 14:00, keying off this Newsweek story: US Army Starts Practicing Digging Mass Battlefield Graves.
Trump 2.0
Trump’s Ass Stands Grotesquely Exposed W.A. Lawrence
Midterms
Cook Political Report shifts 14 races toward Dems ahead of midterms USA Today
Low-engagement voters are swinging hard toward Democrats G. Elliot Morris
Surprise, Surprise! The Polls Catch Up with the Betting Markets Today Michael Shedlock
Record-High Heating Oil Prices Are Closing Argument in Maine Senate Race DropSite
El-Sayed: Trump called me Abdul Ramadan. Ramadan is the month in which Muslims fast. The thing is groceries under his leadership have gotten so expensive, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is like, “listen, we could just do Ramadan for all.”
“Why are you fasting?”
“I can’t afford food”
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 30, 2026
Pelosi SLAMS Abdul In Final Days Breaking Points. Wowsers
Immigration
The White House Council of Economic Advisers’ Imaginary Cost of Illegal Immigrants Cato (resilc)
ICE lists 36 detainee deaths in fiscal 2026, most since 2018 Nation of Change
Our No Longer Free Press
THE LEGLESS PODCASTERS — WHY THE NAPOLITANO GANG MAKES THE SAME WAR MISTAKE SO OFTEN John Helmer
Australia’s “Antisemitism Envoy” Says The Pro-Palestine Left Are The Real Nazis Caitlin Johnstone (Micael T)
Economy
We’re all paying the price after Republicans increased the cost of living – look no further than an order at Waffle House. https://t.co/6SjDII6Gvv
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) October 28, 2026
AI
The New Bottleneck in America’s AI Build-Out: A Shortage of Cheap Money Wall Street Journal. Help me. Let me translate this lead story headline into common sense English: Only really stupid money will finance AI, since its economics obviously will never work. Even stupid money often wants higher and more certain returns in an inflationary environment.
No Signs of AI Payoff Outside the Tech Sector Apollo
Investors May Have Bought All the AI Bonds They Can Handle Bloomberg
OpenAI slashes funding target by $10bn as tech anxieties mount Financial Times. Lead story. No archived version yet. Expect the decay to continue. The only question is if there is a rout or a long grind, like the unwind of Japan’s joint stock market and real estate bubbles.
The Bezzle
Inside the $5.8B Binance Hack: What’s Confirmed and What Isn’t Bitcoin.com (Micael T)
Private Credit: Facing A Brutal 2027 Seeking Alpha
Hackers allegedly from North Korea steal US$6.3 billion from Binance in world’s biggest crypto heist Channel News Asia
Guillotine Watch
Department of War plays defense for Musk Caleb Ecarma
Class Warfare
Americans are putting groceries and gas on credit, and the debt is piling up New York Post
Half of US workers go without needed care even before Trump Medicaid cuts take effect January 1 WSWS
Strike Threat at Los Angeles, Long Beach Ports Delayed as Union and Employers Extend Talks gCaptain
Antidote du jour (via):
And a bonus:
A clever African grey parrot named Rocco went viral after being caught using Alexa to secretly order snacks and toys from Amazon while home alone.
Rocco, who lives in the United Kingdom with his owner Marion Wischnewski, mastered the smart assistant by mimicking human speech. He successfully added items like strawberries, broccoli, ice cream treats, and toys to shopping lists, and even attempted to place full orders.
His owner first noticed something unusual when random items started appearing in her Amazon cart. After some investigation, she discovered that Rocco had been chatting with Alexa whenever he was left unsupervised.
Originally rescued by the National Animal Welfare Trust, Rocco’s mischievous intelligence has captivated people worldwide, highlighting just how clever and playful African grey parrots can be.
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) October 29, 2026
A second bonus:
Failure is not an option
[📹 Kitty Cruise] https://t.co/D5c8YFy2Cj
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) October 10, 2026
And a third:
Grey wolf howls and gets response from the entire forest https://t.co/W2hGdMD209
— Nature Unedited (@NatureUnedited) October 29, 2026
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
