Links 10/31/2026 | naked capitalism

By News on SantoshHub Oct 31, 2026 0

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 a month+, 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.

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?

Nvidia’s relationship with China just got even more complicated as report says Jensen Huang was target of spy plot Yahoo

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

Actor Wolfgang Zarnack: “The vast majority of Germans are against the war, and we should make that clear” Ismaele

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

Iran pushes ‘sea mines’ story after Hormuz tanker attack — but limpet mines are a familiar Iranian tactic Gulf News

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

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.

Rappers For Regime Change: How the CIA Recruits Hip Hop Artists Around the World Mint Press

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

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 AI bubble could expose your deepest secrets BBC

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

American workers are finding their take-home pay isn’t keeping up with inflation, with their wallets ‘stretched thinner and thinner’ MarketWatch

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: