"Tropical Storm Eta strengthened into Hurricane Eta early Monday while heading for Central America, with forecasters warning it could prove 'devastating.' Eta, whose formation tied a record for the most named storms in as single season, is expected to hit Nicaragua's coast early Tuesday."
"Covid-19 deaths could be twice as high over the winter as they were in the first wave of the pandemic, PM Boris Johnson is expected to warn MPs later… In a Commons statement he will say there is "no alternative" as he seeks to win support for a planned four-week lockdown in England from Thursday."
"A small but key UK study has found that 'cellular immunity' to the pandemic SARS-CoV-2 virus is present after six months in people who had mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 - suggesting they might have some level of protection for at least that time." Same caveats, small study, not peer-reviewed yet. T-cells, the important part. And this is good, but you also have the same immune response to the cold, and then lose it around month 8.
"President Donald Trump suggested to a Florida crowd he may fire Dr. Anthony Fauci after the election, escalating his feud with the nation's leading expert on infectious diseases and providing a window into a potential post-November 3 administration purge." Of course he will. Nov 4th would be my guess.
"Oil prices fell sharply on Monday as new lockdowns across Europe and record coronavirus cases in the United States slammed the outlook for energy demand."
"China’s factory activity expanded for the sixth straight month in October as business confidence grew to its strongest in years, a private survey showed on Monday… The Caixin/Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index for Chinese manufacturing came in at 53.6 for October, better than the 53.0 forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll. The latest reading was the highest since January 2011, the survey results showed."
"As mass anti-government protests build across Thailand and calls for reform of the monarchy grow, King Maha Vajiralongkorn has called his country 'the land of compromise,' suggesting there may be a way out of the months-long political impasse."
"The Trump administration has issued an executive order that would fundamentally restructure the federal workforce, making it easier for the government to fire thousands of federal workers, while also allowing political and other considerations to affect hiring." This is exceptionally dangerous.
"On Wednesday, both of those winning streaks will be on the line. Hours after the polls close on Election Day and with a new justice on the bench, the court will be confronted by a case in which one side has to lose… At issue is the city of Philadelphia's decision to stop referring children in need of foster care to Catholic Social Services, for decades one of its most reliable contract agencies, after discovering that it would not place kids with same-sex couples."
"The president also referred to the incident during rallies earlier Sunday. Video of the incident, which occurred Friday, showed Trump supporters surrounding the Biden campaign bus with their vehicles in Texas. The video showed two cars colliding, and the Biden campaign said the pro-Trump trucks tried to run the bus off the road as it traveled from San Antonio to Austin."
"In several instances over the last few days, supporters of President Trump have disrupted traffic. In Texas on Friday, Trump supporters surrounded a Biden campaign bus, and in New York and New Jersey on Sunday, Trump supporters halted traffic on two major highways… On Sunday, the F.B.I. said it was investigating the Texas incident, which Mr. Biden described as an effort to run his team 'off the road.'…But Mr. Trump defended the Texas drivers in a post on Twitter on Sunday night, saying, 'In my opinion, these patriots did nothing wrong. Instead, the FBI & Justice should be investigating the terrorists, anarchists, and agitators of ANTIFA, who run around burning down our Democrat run cities and hurting our people!'"
"A federal judge in Texas will hear a GOP-led challenge Monday seeking to invalidate nearly 127,000 drive-thru ballots cast in the Democratic-leaning Houston area… Sunday, the Texas state Supreme Court denied a similar petition on drive-thru ballots. Roughly 10% of the votes cast in person during the early voting period have been cast at those sites."
"Early voting numbers have been historic, but this presidential election could drag on well beyond Election Day as lawyers line up across the nation to challenge voting rules and individual votes… Michael McDonald, a University of Florida professor who specializes in American elections, says it appears that about 100 million early votes will be cast by Tuesday."
"A federal judge on Sunday ordered the United States Postal Service to mandate some of the "extraordinary measures" the agency announced earlier this week to address the slow down of ballot processing in key states… The order from federal Judge Emmet Sullivan, which comes just two days before Election Day, requires USPS to utilize the Express Mail network -- which guarantees delivery in one to two days -- for all ballots that are traveling longer distances, even after Election Day."
"There's no easy answer, but at least there's a catchphrase: a 'perception hack.' This describes a relatively small-scale intrusion that probably won't cause much actual harm, yet it may have an outsized psychological impact once it's uncovered and enters the public bloodstream via government officials, news organizations and social media." We have an older word for that, terrorism.
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