Where to Find the Colors Your Screen Can’t Show You Ryan Moulton
Cometary impacts an unlikely pathway towards the origins of life on Earth Nature
Burial at Sea Biographic
Climate/Environment
Second historic flood event in about ten days impacting the Four Corners region Balanced Weather
Climate change helps insects devour more crops even as farmers spray more pesticides Yale Climate Connections
Strange, catastrophic landslides are kicking off across the far north Grist
Pandemics
Two human cases of bird flu in Yakima County, including one patient hospitalized with severe illness, are concerning reminders that this threat continues even as attention fades.
We need timely information on:
1️⃣ Genomic sequencing from both cases to assess relatedness and any concerning viral changes.
2️⃣ Detailed exposure histories, including any shared exposures or possible epidemiologic links.
3️⃣ Patients’ symptoms and clinical course.
4️⃣Treatments received and outcomes.
Just because we want to ignore infectious diseases doesn’t mean they’ve gone away. The pathogens remain and continue to evolve which is why surveillance is critical.
https://t.co/Q72edO8yIj
— Krutika Kuppalli, MD FIDSA (@KrutikaKuppalli) November 1, 2026
China?
Chartbook 482 China’s billionaires in the age of China Shock 2.0. Adam Tooze
China’s Social Security System Fails to Narrow Inequality, Chinese Scholars Argue Pekingnology
Zhang Ming: China Needs Reform, but Not the IMF’s Prescription The East Is Read
Ukraine has shown Taiwan how to fight Goliath and survive Iain MacGregor, a fellow of the Royal Historical Society; The Telegraph
Syraqistan
Israel forces Palestinians in Gaza to choose between assassination alone or death with their families: Report The Cradle
Hebron economic losses in millions as Israeli siege continues for 10th day Al Jazeera
Israel assassinates five police officers in southern Gaza amid ongoing attacks The Cradle
Under pressure from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Trump administration may be within days of launching a nuclear strike on Iran. The target would be Pickax Mountain in central Iran, where Israeli intelligence claims the Iranian government has restarted its nuclear enrichment program. No conventional weapon in the American arsenal can penetrate 300 feet of solid granite to destroy the tunnels where enrichment is supposedly taking place. The only military option is a nuclear strike. Netanyahu has been pushing hard for one. “Bibi calls Trump about it every day,” says an informed observer.
Netanyahu is cornered and desperate. After last week’s election results, he can’t form a government unless Trump intervenes directly in Israeli politics and brokers a deal with other parties that gives Netanyahu 61 seats in the Knesset. Otherwise, he is out as prime minister and on his way to ignominy, investigations and possibly jail. Netanyahu must stay close to Trump. He needs this war.
To that end, he’s applied maximum pressure to his closest allies in the administration, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper. Both oppose a negotiated settlement to the war they’ve so grievously mismanaged; both are pushing to restart major combat operations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA director John Ratcliffe are also following Netanyahu’s lead, as are leaders of the Democratic Party. In a recent meeting on the subject, former president Barack Obama said he opposes the current Iran peace deal being drafted in Doha.
The rest of America’s longtime allies in the Middle East are terrified by the prospect of more war. On September 27th, Netanyahu flew secretly to Abu Dhabi to enlist the UAE in his lobbying effort for a final attack on Iran. The Emiratis refused. After eight months of conflict, Gulf economies are teetering. So are global energy and fertilizer markets. They won’t recover soon. Globally, there are a total of about 850 supertankers used to transport oil from producers to the rest of the world. In October alone, 11 of them were badly damaged in Hormuz. At this pace, a global depression is imminent. A nuclear strike would radically accelerate the destruction. Fallout from a ground explosion at Pickax Mountain would contaminate the Persian Gulf, poisoning the water supply for 100 million people.
And those are just some of the immediate consequences for the region. The rest of the world is every bit as exposed. No country other than the United States has ever used a nuclear weapon in war. Some would like to. An American nuclear attack on Iran would set a new precedent. The Russians have already told at least two other governments that an American nuclear strike on Iran would free them to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Pakistan and India would be tempted to do the same against each other, as would North Korea against Seoul. After the first nuclear strike, World War Three is inevitable. That war would be short and final.
We’ve been sleepwalking toward this moment for months. Since February, the administration has quietly rewritten America’s nuclear doctrine to make first use of so-called “battlefield nukes” easier and therefore more likely. No one in Washington in either party seems bothered by this. Now we’re on the brink of it.
Close observers say Trump is likely to decide by next weekend whether or not to use nuclear weapons. That would be November 7, six days from now. To his credit, he’s hesitating. At the moment, Trump is listening to his vice president, JD Vance, and to his envoy and friend Steve Witkoff, both of whom argue a deal with Iran can be made.
They’re right, though it won’t be simple. The Iranians are famously frustrating to negotiate with under any circumstances, and elements of that government have become more radical since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his family were killed in February. After decades of isolation, even relatively moderate Iranian leaders seem confused by how decisions are made in the West. (There is a widespread belief in Tehran, for example, that the United States government controls Israel.) But overall, people who have spoken to decision-makers in Iran say there is consensus there that more war is bad for everyone and a deal is worth making.
One group that hasn’t been consulted so far is the global population — the hundreds of millions of people who will be killed along with their children if Trump is pushed by Netanyahu into launching a nuclear strike next week. Now would be the time for them to speak up.
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) November 2, 2026
Iran designates MI6 as ‘hostile group’, British navy and air force as ‘terrorist organizations’ IRNA
Saudi Hits Biggest Port Under Houthis’ Control, Group Calls It “War Crime” NDTV
Syria considering entry into Mecca defence pact, says foreign minister Al Jazeera
Brick by Brick The Baffler. “An ancient construction material in an Iran under sanctions.”
O Canada
New information challenges military’s account of deadly Wainwright fire Global News
Why Quebec’s strategic reserve of maple syrup is running dry CBC
European Disunion
Belgium’s PM at royal palace to offer resignation to king after budget talks fail Euronews
My country, France, is sinking further each day into a system of governance that is authoritarian and destructive to liberty.
Placing activists who oppose their government’s policies under house arrest is an attempt to intimidate and frighten any form of dissent.
Equating their activism with terrorism is revolting, scandalous, and reminiscent of the worst authoritarian regimes around the world.
Resistance is more necessary than ever to defend the values of liberty and solidarity in our country.
— Agnes Callamard (@AgnesCallamard) November 1, 2026
🇨🇭🔥🎃 FLASH – Une nuit de tensions se prépare à Zurich pour dénoncer le réarmement et les inégalités sociales. Des poubelles sont déjà en feu et des bouteilles en verre ont également été lancées sur les services d’urgence. (20 Minuten) https://t.co/rA0UOKIf1q
— SuisseAlert (@SuisseAlert) October 31, 2026
🚨 PROTESTS HIT 12 NATO COUNTRIES IN 3 WEEKS. HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED TO EACH:
🇩🇪 Germany — looting and rioting spread to Frankfurt last night for the FIRST time. Petrol bombs at police, a GUN STORE looted. Organisers say 120,000 marched against cuts, military spending and conscription
🇫🇷 France — 320,000 marched yesterday, the 3rd straight weekend. 70,000 police out, tear gas in Lyon and Toulouse. THOUSANDS of shops damaged or looted in recent weeks
🇮🇹 Italy — tens of thousands out in Friday’s general strike against living costs and MILITARY SPENDING. Clashes near the Colosseum
🇵🇱 Poland — top court chief SUSPENDED for a month. Riot police at the court in Warsaw, several hundred protesters, clashes. President Nawrocki turned his plane back: “forcible takeover”
🇬🇧 UK — every department told to cut 1% of capital budgets to fill a £4.7 billion DEFENCE hole, after 1% cuts earlier this year. Gen Z protested in London on Oct 25 over rent, tuition and jobs
🇪🇸 Spain — Barcelona riots on Oct 24: 132 arrested, 83 of them MINORS. 30+ fires, 14 stores vandalised or looted
🇦🇱 Albania — Molotovs at police in Tirana yesterday, protesters demand PM Rama RESIGN. At least 295 injured, 186 of them police
🇬🇷 Greece — seafarers struck at Piraeus on Friday, as dockworkers at 113 ports in 22 countries struck against ARMS shipments: “We will not work for their wars”
🇵🇹 Portugal — police baton-charged a Lisbon housing protest camp today. House prices MORE THAN DOUBLED since 2017
🇧🇪 Belgium — nearly 200 ARRESTS after protests in Brussels and Liege over education reforms and budget cuts
🇳🇱 Netherlands — riot police in The Hague yesterday, at least 10 arrested, shops BOARDED UP
🇨🇿 Czechia — several thousand in Prague against a plan to replace public media licence fees
Outside NATO:
🇷🇸 Serbia — Vucic conceded defeat on Oct 25 to a student-led movement
🇨🇭 Switzerland — national strike called for Nov 20: “Fight for our future, not their wars!”
🇦🇹 Austria — Vienna university demo against cuts of around 10% in real terms
🇮🇪 Ireland — Cork student housing protests
12 countries, different sparks: a top court, housing, a prime minister. Not every protest is about NATO.
But the NATO target is 5% of GDP by 2035.
Britain is already cutting every department for defence, with more cuts hinted.
Germany and Italy marched against military spending.
They signed up for the weapons. Their people got the bill.
Follow me for more.
— Taegun Lee (@TGLetter) November 1, 2026
Autopsy of Europe’s Economic Sellout Marianne Volonte
Rubio, France’s Student Uprising, and Politics of Ethnic Cleansing in Europe Ajamu Baraka, BettBeat
Serbia Revokes Alta Bank License Days After Vucic Election Defeat Clash Report. One of the few Serbian banks that had kept payments with Russia open.
German Imperialism: An Urgent Explainer Kit Klarenberg
Drug Pricing in Germany in the Crosshairs of the United States SWP
Bulgaria’s Iotova wins presidency as Russia-friendly camp strengthens grip on power EUalive
Old Blighty
EU open to flexibility on euro and Schengen if UK tries to rejoin Politico
325 detained at pro-Palestine Action protest at US embassy in London Al Mayadeen
Burnham Promised to End Neoliberalism. His Budget Says Otherwise. Grace Blakeley
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukrainian air alert app hacked with fake nuclear warnings RT
“Give Us Missiles”: Zelensky As Trump Seeks No Attack On Russian Oil Plants NDTV
Von der Leyen, Russian Gas, and Washington’s Energy Contradiction Energy Geopolitics & Statecraft
Soviet Conservatism: An Idea Whose Time Has Come Again? Landmarks: A Journal of International Dialogue
South of the Border
Explosions at Colombian Military Base Kill Four TeleSur
What are the Accusations and Evidence Against Flávio Bolsonaro? Panamerican Dispatch
Trump 2.0
Trump WH plans to govern by executive action if Democrats win Congress Al Mayadeen
Trump’s Blob The New York Review. “The bipartisan foreign policy establishment has absorbed Trump’s brash and pugilistic approach and brought MAGA figures into the fold.”
The Foreign Policy Blob is The Ruling Class Un-Diplomatic
WATCH: U.S. military Avenger short-range air defence systems deployed around Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
NORAD and U.S. Northern Command said the systems were deployed at the Secret Service’s request because of a “heightened threat environment.” https://t.co/5iBu8Etndw
— Clash Report (@clashreport) November 1, 2026
No sign it’s related…
🇺🇸 A Learjet 60 carrying nine people crashed today in a residential area of Palm Beach County, Florida, just 5–9 miles from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, which is now equipped with air defense systems.
Ohh boy…
— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) November 1, 2026
Midterms 2026
Judge Throws Out Trump DOJ’s Push to Block Certification of Alaska Senate Election Common Dreams
A Guide to the Races That Matter to Rural America Barn Raiser + Drop Site
“Messily, corruptly, uncertainly, America goes to the polls.” Patrick Lawrence
Monopoly Round-Up: Did Bernie Sanders Set the Terms for the Midterm Elections? Lee Hepner, BIG by Matt Stoller
Democrats Suck
Haley Stevens endorses Mike Rogers, bucking Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan Senate race Bridge Michigan
Mike Rogers Campaign Spokesperson Is a Registered Agent for Israel, Documents Show Drop Site
Chris Murphy hospitalized following stroke The Hill.
Murphy had spent his pre-stroke days warning about more war against Iran:
Trump is reportedly planning to restart war with Iran after the election.
Some of us have been briefed on the war plan. And while I cannot disclose any details, I can say this: the plan is insane. It will not achieve objectives and will set off a new cycle of escalation. https://t.co/adWJfHVIok
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) October 29, 2026
Police State Watch
Prisons Using AI to Predict When Incarcerated People Will Commit Future Crimes Futurism
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Bad Flock Info Leads Police To Tow Wrong Car, Then Towing Company Totals It Jalopnik
AI
Microsoft just gave us the perfect name for AI thieves: Kyle Ketan Joshi
Musk says cost of running Grok Bot ‘unsustainably high’ relative to revenue Anadolu Agency
You don’t need to believe in a god to get a religious exemption from using AI at work TechCrunch
Imperial Collapse Watch
Ultra-Fossil Empire Tribune
U.S. critical minerals push fuels lobbying boom in Washington Traders Union
War Is A Racket
Western oil majors, Europe’s arms makers win the money war as Saudi Arabia, Qatar lose out Intellinews
Class Warfare
What America Is Living Without New York Times (resilc): “more and more broken for more and more people. USA USA model don’t hunt nooooooooo moooooooooo”
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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