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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Sax Mallard

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Chicago blues and jazz saxophone player Sax Mallard. Enjoy!

^{Sax Mallard And His Orchestra - Teen Town Strut}

"The key element of social control is the strategy of distraction that is to divert public attention from important issues and changes decided by political and economic elites, through the technique of flood or flooding continuous distractions and insignificant information."

-- Noam Chomsky

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News and Opinion

Bell Review Confirms Only Anti-Israel Attitudes Are Rising, Not Antisemitism

I’m still thinking about the admission in the UK’s “antisemitism” review contradicting widespread claims by the western political/media class that antisemitism is rising to dangerous levels throughout our society.

We discussed this yesterday, but as a reminder, the UK’s Department for Education released a review led by David Bell which the British press have been citing as evidence that rising antisemitism is an urgent problem in schools throughout the nation — claims which have been thoroughly debunked by outlets like Middle East Eye and Double Down News. That review contains the following quote:

“British attitudes relating to Jewish people and Israel show two broad trends. Anti-Jewish attitudes are typically less prevalent and have remained more stable, whereas anti-Israel sentiments are more prevalent and have been increasing.”

A few months ago I said, “You’re being told there’s a dangerous explosion of Jew hatred to cover up the fact that there’s actually a very healthy explosion of Israel hatred.” The Bell review is here admitting that my assertion is correct.

I just can’t get over what a massive admission this is. If we lived in a world where politicians and media cared about facts, THIS would be the leading story. “ANTI-ISRAEL ATTITUDES INCREASING, ZERO INCREASE IN ANTISEMITISM.” That’s the actual headline here.

Perhaps the most stark and revealing (accidental?) admission in the David Bell 'antisemitism in UK schools report. Antisemitic attitudes aren't increasing, only anti-Israel ones are. That's what most of this is about.
From the horse's mouth:
https://t.co/uxpNPelsEy https://t.co/PCqzZ9boga

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) October 23, 2026

The pro-Palestine movement has been so successful in separating opposition to Israeli atrocities from hatred toward Jews that there has been zero increase in public hatred toward Jews throughout three years of genocide. That’s an incredibly impressive achievement in activism and education regarding a mass atrocity we’re always told is a super duper complicated issue that’s almost impossible to understand.

This one fact, by itself, completely destroys just about every argument the hasbarists have ever made about the pro-Palestine movement. People who’ve been taking a stand against the Gaza holocaust have been absolutely impeccable with their messaging, taking great care to help the public understand the distinction between the religion of Judaism and the apartheid state of Israel.

If mainstream pundits and politicians actually cared about truth and morality, they would be falling all over themselves to apologize and correct the record on the narrative they’ve been pushing that the pro-Palestine movement is responsible for a surging epidemic of antisemitism in our society. They would be telling everyone that it turns out there is in fact no epidemic of antisemitism, and the pro-Palestine movement has conducted itself with saintly meticulousness in ensuring that hatred toward the Jewish faith gains no purchase within their ranks or their message.

But mainstream pundits and politicians do not care about truth or morality. They care about promoting the interests of a genocidal apartheid state, no matter how many lies they need to tell in order to do so.

This is why instead of seeing headlines about the Bell review’s finding that there has been zero increase of antisemitism among British people, we’ve been seeing headlines falsely claiming that British schoolchildren are evil antisemitic Nazis who must be brought to heel.

“Holocaust school lessons to be improved after ‘shocking’ antisemitism review,” reads a headline from the BBC.

“Report reveals vast scale of antisemitism in English schools,” blares Sky News.

“Education secretary promises change after report shows ‘shocking scale’ of antisemitism in schools,” says ITV News.

People who support Israel are disgusting, manipulative liars, and the western political/media class are the very worst among them.

Weaponized “antisemitism” allegations kill orders of magnitude more people than actual antisemitism in today’s world, because they are used to crush all resistance to wars and genocidal atrocities which have amassed a mountain of corpses since Israel’s founding. If our politicians and news media actually cared about facts and morality, they’d be focused on eliminating the exponentially more dangerous threat.

If anything this gives me so much hope for humanity. The fact that the general populace has managed to keep a religion and the acts of a genocidal ethnostate separate despite the barrage of propaganda attempting to conflate the two is truly astounding if you really think about it. As a whole, the humans are choosing what is right over what is egoically gratifying. The sway of propaganda is losing its hold. The humans are choosing to hold to the correct moral view when it would be so much easier to collapse into bigotry.

We can take enormous hope from all of this. We are waking up. Mark my words. We are waking up.

ISRAEL BREACHED IRANIAN AIRSPACE TO TRIGGER AN IRANIAN RESPONSE - w/ Trita Parsi

‘Gaza’s suffering has become campaign fodder’: Palestinians fear the worst from Israel election

As Israel prepares to go to the polls, Palestinians in Gaza are bracing for an outcome that could shape their future, knowing their fate rests with the country that has reduced much of the territory to rubble and killed nearly 75,000 people. Gaza, where nearly a million displaced Palestinians face dire sanitary conditions, water shortages and the constant threat of Israeli strikes, has been largely absent from the election campaign.

Both Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition and Gadi Eisenkot’s opposition Yashar party have focused instead on the goal of destroying Hamas in the wake of the 7 October attacks and the trauma inflicted on Israeli society. The humanitarian catastrophe unfolding just across the border has received little, if any, attention.

“We hope a government will come to power that is less inclined towards killing, displacement and our extermination,” said Sami Abu Rumi, 47, from Rafah, who is now displaced in al-Mawasi, Khan Younis. “But, ultimately, we see the thinking of Israeli governments as largely similar.” Neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot has set out a clear plan for Gaza’s future. Both have vowed to end Hamas rule and both support Donald Trump’s controversial peace plan.

Eisenkot, the former military chief whose party is leading Netanyahu’s Likud in the polls, has pledged to restore Israel’s international standing after three years of war. Yet he is no dove. A senior commander during Israel’s 2006 war with Hezbollah, Eisenkot, whose son and two nephews were killed fighting in Gaza, later championed the “Dahiya doctrine”, which advocated overwhelming force against civilian areas where militants operated. Critics say the strategy has since been employed in Gaza, causing widespread destruction that, they argue, amounts to war crimes.

“Eisenkot talks of defeating Hamas, while Netanyahu boasts about military operations and the killing of Palestinians,” said Abu Rumi. ‘‘Gaza’s suffering has become campaign fodder. Meanwhile, families here struggle to feed their children, keep them in school and access medical care. With homes and infrastructure destroyed, simply surviving has become a daily struggle.”

ISRAEL IN CHAOS: Netanyahu Faces TREASON, IDF REFUSES ORDERS

Israeli Media: IDF Chief Resisted Netanyahu Order for Military Action Related to Iran

Israeli media reported on Sunday that an “unprecedented confrontation” is unfolding between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, as the army chief is resisting an order to take unspecified military action related to Iran ahead of Tuesday’s Knesset elections.

It’s unclear exactly what Netanyahu has ordered, but the report from Israel’s Channel 12 said that the clash between the two is related to the “Iranian issue” and “the concern of Zamir and the military echelon that the political echelon could lead Israel into a scenario of miscalculation facing Iran just before the elections.”

According to The Times of Israel, a military source said that it “relates to an action that could lead to a lightning confrontation with Iran, at a sensitive and dramatic moment, creating this [potential] miscalculation.” Other sources said military leaders were concerned about an effort by political leadership “to utilize the Iranian issue for political benefit,” while a political source was quoted as calling the allegations a “lie.”

Nima R. Alkhorshid: BREAKING: Political Earthquake in Tehran as Mecca Pact Makes Its Move

‘We May Do Another Little Epic Fury,’ Trump Says After Claiming Not to Know About Possible Strike on Iran

When President Donald Trump landed in Florida for a Friday campaign rally, he dismissed comments from one of his own ambassadors that the US could strike Iran this weekend as part of his illegal nearly eight-month war—but once the commander-in-chief took the stage, he changed his tune, threatening more bloodshed.

In an interview with online commentator Mario Nawfal published earlier Friday, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who is also Trump’s special envoy to Syria and Iraq, said: “Could there be a strike this weekend? Absolutely.”

“The president is very clear. He’s open and available and accessible to a deal. And we’ve been at the table for months and months and months,” he continued, noting that in addition to the nuclear priorities and aiming to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the US is “in a bargain for unfreezing assets, releasing sanctions, no more kinetic engagement, [and] supplying the needed help to Israel, our ally.”

BREAKING: AMB. TOM BARRACK WARNS U.S. STRIKE COULD HAPPEN THIS WEEKEND

I asked Trump's Special Envoy, Tom Barrack: “Could there be a strike on this this weekend?

His answer was direct: "Absolutely.”

Amb. Barrack laid out exactly where things stand with Iran right now.

“The consequence won’t be regime change. The president is interested in rebalancing so that there’s no hostages, no threats, and the world can calm down.”

Trump is "open and available and accessible to a deal, but he's also been very clear about what he wants."

And the Iranians may not be willing to give it to him...

@USAMBTurkiye

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) October 23, 2026

Trump had said on his Truth Social platform earlier this month that “we are having productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran. I want to make it clear to everybody that, while Iran is in very bad condition, both Economically and Militarily, and while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, with Oil flowing in Record Numbers of Barrels through the Hormuz Strait (22 Million Barrels, last night alone, with not one barrel coming from, or going to, Iran!), we will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd.”

Asked about Barrack’s suggestion that a US attack could come soon while on a Florida runway, and whether it meant Trump was rethinking that position, the president responded: “That was my ambassador? He’s a pretty powerful man, I guess. Well, if that’s the case, I don’t know anything about it.”

While replying to the reporter, Trump exchanged a glance with Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who giggled at the president’s answer.

Q: Your ambassador to Turkey just said that 'absolutely, there could a strike on Iran this weekend.' Have you gone back on holding off until after the midterms?

TRUMP: If that's the case, I don't know anything about it https://t.co/WWvHA49wXM

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 23, 2026

Once Trump was onstage at Florida Gulf Coast University’s Alico Arena, he bragged about ditching the Obama administration’s Iran nuclear deal, and overseeing two military operations: Midnight Hammer, the June 2025 strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, and Epic Fury, the war he and Israel launched in February, in violation of the US Constitution and international law.

“We may do another little Epic Fury, or they’ll agree,” Trump told the crowd. “If they’re smart, they’ll just say, ‘Let’s get down to business.’ But, you know, I doubt they’ll do that because perhaps they’re not smart—but we did a number on them.”

Trump’s illegal war—which has killed thousands of people across the Middle East—and its resulting economic impact have been key topics for Democrats hoping to reclaim control of both chambers of Congress, and potentially impeach him a historic third time.

LTCOL. Bill Astore : Permanent War.

Correct.

Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be.

Starshield, a different system, is controlled by the US government. What they decide to do is up to them.

Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week.

Starlink remains critical to the defense of Ukraine, as it is the only system that cannot be jammed or blown up, at least for now. Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately. This is NOT a threat, it is simply a statement of fact.

Starlink was also crucial to preventing Russia from overrunning Ukraine in the early days of the war, as all other means of communication were destroyed or jammed by Russia.

SpaceX has done more to defend Ukraine than any private company on Earth BY FAR.

That said, I have nothing but UTTER CONTEMPT for the virtue-signaling evil warmongers who push for endless slaughter and offer no realistic solution to the conflict. May you burn in hell.

End of story.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 24, 2026

Jeffrey Sachs: “I Am a Defender of Ukraine” — NATO Fights to the Last Ukrainian

Thousands March Across Europe Against Inequality and ‘for Young People’s Future’

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across Europe on Saturday as anger continues to build over the rising cost of living and deteriorating social services.

While demonstrators emphasized different demands in different countries, the protest wave reflects a sense that the status quo has ceased to work for ordinary people, especially the young.

“I see so many more similarities than differences,” Alice de Brito, the vice president of French student union UNEF, told CNN of the protests. “We are all talking about the need for investments in education, in the universities, in youth in general. But we are also talking about the cost of living, about housing.”
France

Across France, between 410,000 and 800,000 people turned out in the continuation of protests that erupted in September when students continuation of protests that erupted in September when students began to mobilize against underfunding, teacher shortages, and other poor conditions in their schools. Adult workers have joined with the students, criticizing widespread inequality and the rising cost of living, leading to mass demonstrations on October 17 and again a week later.

“Looking at countries like the United States, we don’t want to end up like them, where part of the population has everything and the others have nothing,” Paris protester Louis Ledoux--Xatard told The Associated Press.

“Too many billionaires; we are preparing the revolution,” one group of protesters chanted, according to Al Jazeera.

There were 289 protests in France, including in Marseilles, Nantes, Nice, Lyon, Bordeaux, and Orleans. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said that almost 1,000 people were arrested, though the number was expected to grow. Two people sustained significant injuries.

The protest in Paris had originally been scheduled to run through the center of the city, but authorities relocated it to outskirts and banned marches organized by groups other than unions.

“It won’t stop the movement. It won’t stop students from demanding better conditions in schools,” nurse Soumaya Abed told AP of the changes.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who leads the left-wing France Unbowed party, criticized the government of President Emmanuel Macron for changing the route, but also praised the marchers for carrying on.

“Total victory for the social movement,” Mélenchon wrote on social media. “The march gathered at the new authorized point and is now flowing calmly over more than four kilometers. The provocations for disorder by the Paris police prefect and [French Prime Minister Sébastien] Lecornu are a total failure. For the authorities, it is time to give in, or soon they will have only the exit door left.”

Victoire totale du mouvement social. La marche s'est rassemblée au nouveau point autorisé et déferle dans le calme sur plus de quatre kilomètres. Les provocations aux désordres du préfet de police et de Lecornu sont un échec total. Pour les autorités, il est temps de céder, sinon il ne leur restera bientôt que la porte de sortie.

— Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) October 24, 2026

Media reported that the Parisian demonstration was largely peaceful until the end, when police released tear gas and fired water cannons and some black-clad protesters threw projectiles.

Reporters with Agence France-Presse said they saw:

police charge several times and vigorously use tear gas and batons against some, mostly young, protesters.

“The police started moving towards everyone, telling them to get down and back off. They were just taking people down, you know, beating protesters,” one demonstrator bleeding from a baton blow to his face, who gave his first name as David, told AFP.

Other witnesses also described a repressive police response to The Guardian:

Mike, a 23-year-old student who also declined to give his surname, said: “Look around, they’re just teenagers. Is it normal for teenagers to be teargassed and beaten with batons?”

For Jessica, a 24-year-old student, said: “I just don’t understand why there’s so much violence. I feel like our right to protest is being trampled on.”

Mélenchon lambasted the police and the media for working together to discredit the movement.

“In Paris, to ruin the day and unwind, the so-called forces of law and order gas and fire into the crowd at the back of the procession, all in a bid to get footage for the domestic news channels that spent the whole week airing the images that spurred the Trappes killer,” he wrote on social media, referring to a racially motivated shooting west of Paris on Friday that killed one and wounded five.

In a second post, he added: “It continues with the policing of minds through the televisions of power. Tonight, staging of the « tails of the procession » to spew hatred against the popular movement. Without a single image of the masses in peaceful action. Behind every police officer, a compliant camera.”

He encouraged readers to “turn off the televisions! Form your own opinion without a guardian. Journey through social networks. Stay free to think for yourselves.”
Belgium

In neighboring Belgium, hundreds of people marched in Brussels in a continuation of demonstrations for improvements in the education system.

“We are here for young people’s future, for better work,” rally speaker Celia Ponce told the crowd, as The Brussels Times reported.

She also accused governments of wanting to “destroy public services.”

Protesters build barricades with bikes and scooters in Brussels, Belgium.

Follow Press TV on Telegram: https://t.co/1ymjeeywxb https://t.co/TtQNj1BQYU

— PressTV Extra (@PresstvExtra) October 24, 2026

Police used tear gas to disperse some protesters and, in an incident reported by Reuters, kicked and hit one demonstrator after they fell during a chase.

Spain

Approximately 25,000 people marched in Madrid to support Spain’s pension system and demand that it keep pace with inflation and that a gender gap be eliminated, according to Al Jazeera.

“How beautiful Madrid is when it defends its rights,” Emilio Delgado, deputy spokesperson for left party Mas Madrid, wrote on social media. “We propose that no pension should be below the minimum wage. A lifetime of work deserves a dignified retirement.”

The protests come a month ahead of Spain’s general election, in which current Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party will face off against the right-wing Popular Party. Popular Party leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo has promised to adjust pensions according to inflation if his party wins, but demonstrators are still concerned about what a right-wing victory would mean for the pension system.
Portugal

In Portugal, meanwhile, the main demand was affordable housing.

People marched in Lisbon, continuing a movement that began October 10 in the city of Porto calling on the government to address the country’s housing crisis, according to The Resident.

Palco dos protestos promovidos pelo movimento Acampada de Lisboa, o Rossio voltou a acolher "um mar de gente" que reivindica soluções do Governo para a atual crise da habitação.

Veja a reportagem em direto no local: https://t.co/gpSIyl2mLr

#agitacaosocial #europa #protestos #manifestacoes #lisboa #rossio #pais #portugal #habitacao #custodevida #noticias #sicnoticias

— SIC Notícias (@SICNoticias) October 24, 2026

“We have no home, so we set up tents!” read the slogan of the March, organized by the Acampada de Lisboa movement.

The protesters also opposed new policies from Prime Minister Luis Montenegro that would weaken a limit on annual rent increases and make it easier to evict people who are unable to make rent payments, according to AP.

Italy

Thousands of people joined demonstrations across Italy to protest the affordability crisis as well as the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Protests were called for eight cities including Milan, Turin, and Rome, with 10,000 attending the Milan demonstration alone.

“We are here because of the rising prices and because I believe that our government has no respect for its citizens,” a 17-year-old student participant, who did not give a name, told Al Jazeera. “There are four people in my family. My mother works in a factory, but my father is about to lose his job. It’s hard to make ends meet on just one salary.”

Thousands of protesters took to the streets across Italy to demonstrate against Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government and the rising cost of living, as hundreds of soldiers were deployed to Milan as protests continue.

: https://t.co/JquqwnAyhj https://t.co/B97TnZaY9L

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 24, 2026

The Italian protests were a continuation of demonstrations that have taken place throughout October. There were fewer clashes between police and demonstrators on Saturday compared with earlier marches, though some protesters tried to enter the Colosseum before being pushed back.
Albania

In Albania, outrage over plans by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to build a luxury resort near a protected wildlife area—which is widely seen as an example of government corruption—has dovetailed with demands by students for less corruption in the education system specifically as well as lower tuition fees and more funding.

A demonstration in the capital of Tirana on Saturday marked the 12th day of anti-government protests this month following a summer of mobilizations against the luxury hotel.

Some protesters lit fires and threw projectiles, while police used tear gas, rubber bullets, and water cannons.

Protesters in Albania have fought running battles with police, on a 12th day of anti-government protests.

Police in the capital, Tirana, used water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets after Prime Minister Edi Rama warned he would take strong action to quell unrest. https://t.co/6oZMYPU7Ei

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 24, 2026

One demonstrator, the ⁠28-year-old Daniel Tahiri, told Reuters that the Albanian government was a “dictatorship with the clothes of democracy.”

“Albanians have woken up,” Tahiri said.

As France Explodes, Emmanuel Macron Flexes His Nuclear Muscles w/ John Helmer

European ruling elites are no longer very interested in that democracy thing, if they ever were.

Macron accused of putting France’s right to protest at risk with ‘vandal’s law’

Emmanuel Macron has been accused by trade unions of trying to curb the fundamental French right to protest as the government fast-tracks a bill to make protesters pay for damage caused by vandalism at street demonstrations even if they did not directly cause it themselves. The French president, who leaves office next spring, has faced more than a month of protests in which high-school students have blockaded schools demanding a response to teacher absences, repairs to decrepit buildings and changes to the university applications platform.

Trade unions and gilets jaunes (yellow vest) anti-government protesters are now joining sustained street demonstrations in a growing social crisis over schools, as well as the cost of living and public services. Authorities have increased security measures and placed restrictions on demonstrating after France saw one of its worst days of violence in years earlier this month when largely peaceful demonstrations were marred by looting, fires and vandalism of state buildings.

The senate will this week debate the government’s proposed “vandals pay” law. The legislation would mean that a person protesting could be held liable to pay up to €10,000 for damage and vandalism even if they did not directly cause it themselves, if they were continuing to demonstrate nearby or as part of the same group as perpetrators. The bill also provides for greater use of drones over protests. The prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said the bill, which was originally prepared in the wake of violent clashes after Paris Saint-Germain’s victory over Arsenal in the football Champions League in May, was “absolutely essential” after looting and burning during recent demonstrations across France.

Marine Le Pen, of the far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN), has seen her frontrunner status in next spring’s presidential election boosted as she seeks to reinforce her law-and-order credentials and back police. The RN has claimed the “vandals pay” bill was originally its idea and Le Pen said she would ensure damage to property was paid for by rioters. Le Pen told a cheering crowd of more than 8,000 people at the rally: “Vandals will pay and if it takes their whole life to pay, then they will spend their whole life paying.”

Éric Coquerel, from Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s radical left La France Insoumise, said on Sunday that the “vandals pay” law “would mean the end of street demonstrations” in France because people would not want to take the risk of being held responsible and made to pay up to €10,000 for vandalism they had not committed. The Communist senator Fabien Gay told the parliamentary TV channel Public Sénat: “No demonstration could take place again in our country.”

Alexander Mercouris: Protests Across Europe & End of the Ukraine Peace Talks?

Portuguese police with dogs and batons dismantle housing protest camps

Police in Portugal have dismantled housing protest camps in Lisbon and Porto, baton-charging campaigners in the early hours of Sunday and arresting more than 30 people. The raids were the latest incident in days of clashes between police and campaigners who – inspired by similar camps in Spain – had sought to pitch tents in central squares to protest against the country’s deepening housing crisis.

Dozens of officers, some with dogs, moved shortly after 2am on Sunday to clear out the more than 100 tents that had sprung up in Lisbon’s Rossio Square. Police said they had also taken down a smaller camp of about 50 tents in Porto’s Dom João I Square. The camp in the heart of Lisbon had been set up after thousands of people marched along one of the Portuguese capital’s main thoroughfares to rail against housing prices that have soared past average incomes in the country.

Police described their actions on Sunday as proportionate and said they had earlier urged people to leave the camps of their own accord. The operations in the two cities led to the arrests of 31 people for disobedience and 171 structures were removed, police said on social media. Eleven people were injured, including three police officers. Reuters reported that 25 people detained in Lisbon had been released with orders to appear in court on Monday.

The group Casa Para Viver (A Home to Live In) contested the police figures, saying the raids had left more than 20 people injured as police moved into the camps with batons, dogs and rubber bullets. “Choosing the early morning to deploy police dogs and fire rubber bullets at people who were sleeping or peacefully protesting is a political decision,” the group said in a statement as it called for further protests on Wednesday. “It shows that this government would rather crack down on those who speak out against the housing crisis than solve the crisis itself.”

Lula wins fourth term as Brazil president after historic upset over far-right Flávio Bolsonaro

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian president, has staged a dramatic election fightback, defeating his far-right opponent, Flávio Bolsonaro, to claim a historic fourth term in power. With nearly 99% of votes counted the 80-year-old leftist received 51.75% of the vote to his 45-year-old rival’s 48.25%.

Lula narrowly lost the first round of the election to Bolsonaro in early October, casting his political future into doubt and plunging progressive Brazilians into three weeks of despair. Never, since the return of democracy in the 1980s, has the first round runner-up won the second vote. But Lula did precisely that on Sunday, prompting joyous scenes on the streets of São Paulo, where he had been following the count, and at the hotel where he was watching the count.

As the result was confirmed, Reginaldo Lopes, a key Lula ally, told the Guardian: “I feel incredible … This is Brazil telling the world that the extreme right is fascist, that the extreme right is against black people, is against the poor, against the state, against gay people ... We are going to reorganize the democratic forces [in this country.” The incumbent, who had lost by 2.2 million votes three weeks ago, has now won by 4.3 million.

The 81-year-old leftist appears to have made up much of the difference through what his allies had identified as his main opportunity: persuading his voters to turn out. After a record abstention rate of 21.08% in the first round, which disproportionately affected Lula voters because they tend to live farther from polling stations, the rate fell to 19.21%.

Anthropic sued for allegedly using 274 Elvis Presley songs to train AI models

The owners of Elvis Presley’s music catalogue are suing artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic for allegedly using Presley’s songs to train their models without permission. Authentic Brands Group, the licensing organization that has ownership of both Presley’s music and likeness, is accusing Anthropic of infringing on the rights of 274 songs by Presley. The lawsuit, first reported by Billboard, was filed on Friday.

While AI firms have already faced copyright infringement claims from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and music labels such as Sony, Universal and Warner Records, this case represents one of the first major legal challenges brought directly by an artist’s estate against an AI developer. The result could set a broader precedent for how AI companies are allowed to use existing music catalogues.

“The Elvis plaintiffs bring this action to enforce these exclusive rights against the defendant that has built its entire business model based on copyright infringement at a scale never seen before,” lead attorney Richard Busch wrote in the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that “from its inception, Anthropic’s AI model, ‘Claude,’ has created infringing output of copyrighted material of virtually every song from every catalog available on the internet”.

It further accuses Anthropic of utilizing 274 of Presley’s songs to train its AI model. These works include Can’t Help Falling in Love, All Shook Up and A Little Less Conversation. The plaintiffs are seeking $150,000 per infringed track, or about $41m (about £31m). Musicians have repeatedly expressed concerns that their music and voices are being used without their permission by AI models, as well as fears that AI-generated “slop” music could replace human-made songs.

US military gives Elon Musk’s SpaceX access to sensitive tracking data

The US military has given Elon Musk’s SpaceX access to restricted space tracking data, raising a new round of questions about whether the Trump administration is attempting to hand over traffic control in Earth’s orbit to a controversial donor. The access also raises new national security questions, industry observers say.

The move comes after Musk’s Doge in 2025 fired many of the federal government’s nascent space traffic control program’s staff, and the administration has twice attempted to financially gut the department, called the Traffic Coordination System for Space (Traccs). The moves were widely viewed in the industry as an attempt by Musk to privatize space traffic control. The defense department has now granted SpaceX access to its most precise data on potential collisions among satellites and other space objects, which will give Musk’s companies an advantage over competition that offers a similar service.

SpaceX and the Space Force signed the new contract. The commercial US space market is expected to grow to a value of nearly $2tn in value over the next decade, and the unprecedented access to military data appears to be another step toward Musk asserting monopoly control over commercial space activity more broadly, said Cole Donovan, a former Traccs employee now with the Stand Up for Science non-profit.

“It’s making a company the de facto source for space traffic coordination within the US,” Donovan added. “It’s like giving a trucking company control of all the traffic lights, which they can switch to red whenever it’s their competition’s turn to go.” Traccs manages thousands of satellites, debris and spacecraft, and helps prevent up to 50,000 near-collisions, called conjunctions, daily.

Trump administration has pushed off 13% of Americans enrolled in food stamps

Enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) has decreased significantly over the past year in the US following restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, which has forced more people to seek help from food banks or go hungry, stakeholders say. The number of people who receive food stamps has dropped from 41.6 million in July 2025, before the One Big Beautiful Act took effect, to 36.5 million in June 2026, a 13% decrease, according to the latest data from the US Department of Agriculture, which administers the program.

While Donald Trump and other Republicans have said the changes incentivize people to find jobs, elected officials, non-profit leaders and people with food insecurity say the changes simply make it harder for Americans to feed their families. “There is always going to be a percentage of our communities who we need to help – we have to accept that – and so, once we accept it, it is easy to just move forward and do the right thing, which is to provide resources to people who need them,” said Rhona Kamar, founder and executive director of Feed Louisville, a non-profit that aims to reduce hunger and food waste.

The Trump administration’s changes to Snap will reduce spending by about $187bn over 10 years, the congressional budget office projected. Previously, only able-bodied people between ages 18 and 54 who did not have dependents under 18 had to meet a requirement that they work a minimum of 20 hours per week or only get benefits for a maximum of three months over three years. Under Trump, the rules now state that people from ages 18 to 64 who do not have a dependent under 14 had to perform paid or volunteer work for at least 20 hours weekly.

The One Big Beautiful Act also stated that starting October, states had to cover 75% of the Snap administrative costs, whereas before they had to cover half.

Man detained at Georgia immigration detention center dies as hunger strike continues

An immigrant detained at a sprawling detention center complex in Georgia died on Friday, local and federal officials confirmed, after the facility has already faced national scrutiny for its response to an ongoing hunger strike inside. The death inside the D Ray James facility in Folkston, Georgia, comes as federal immigration officials and private contractors are allegedly threatening hunger strikers there with force-feeding, a detained hunger striker, his wife, attorneys and advocates all said this week. Detainees are refusing food to protest prolonged captivity and bad conditions.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Saturday confirmed the death inside the facility, which is adjacent to the Folkston ICE processing center. Together, both facilities make up a large detention complex. GEO Group, the private prison company that runs the facilities under contract for the federal government, referred all questions to ICE. The Georgia bureau of investigation (GBI), a state law enforcement agency, confirmed in an email that the local sheriff’s office requested the GBI conduct an “in-custody death investigation” at the D Ray facility, the Guardian can reveal.

“This was a preventable tragedy,” said Azadeh Shahshahani, the legal and advocacy director for Project South, a social justice organization based in Georgia. “We hold ICE and the private prison corporation fully responsible for any harm that migrants suffer at Folkston. We call for an immediate independent investigation into this tragic death and for accountability. Folkston must be shut down immediately.”

The man, Luis Sandoval, was 48 and from El Salvador, ICE said in its statement, adding that at about 1.46am on Friday, facility staff found Sandoval with a ligature around his neck. He was pronounced dead less than an hour later. Sandoval was arrested by ICE officials earlier this month, and transferred to the Folkston facility on 8 October. In its press release, the agency said Sandoval had prior convictions for aggravated assault and other crimes, and that his death was under investigation. It was unknown on Saturday whether Sandoval had participated in the hunger strike.

Sandoval is the 60th person to die in ICE custody since the start of the second Trump administration, as ICE continues with its aggressive anti-immigrant crackdown.

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MICHIGAN: Blue Counties FLOOD POLLS In Early Vote Omen

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The US west has lost nearly 300 glaciers since the 1960s. Climate crisis is drastically shrinking what’s left

Across the US west, rising temperatures are causing glaciers to retreat to the point of vanishing. About 300 glaciers have disappeared since the 1960s, with almost all of the rest set to drastically shrink as the climate crisis continues to escalate, a new study has found. At the midpoint of the last century more than 1,450 glaciers – large tongues of ice, snow and rock that move under their own weight and gravity – were threaded throughout the mountains of the American west, providing cool water for ecosystems and agriculture as they gradually melted.

Some, in the Sierra Nevada of California, were formed a few thousand years ago while others, such as those in the Pacific north-west, are remnants from even further back in the last ice age, which ended about 11,700 years ago. The long stories of these perennial masses of ice are coming to a rapid end, however, due to global heating caused by the burning of fossil fuels. The total area of glaciers in the US west has shrunk by a third since the 1960s, the new research found, with evidence this loss is speeding up as temperatures continue to rise.

About 300 of these glaciers have functionally disappeared, meaning they have reduced to the size of about two football fields and no longer move. After dominating mountaintops for thousands of years, hundreds of once regal glaciers have been reduced to tiny, sad scraps of ice just within the span of time since the Beatles released their first record.

“When I realized this it was like, ‘Yikes – that’s a lot more than I thought,’” said Andrew Fountain, a geographer at Portland State University and lead author of the new study. The US’s largest glaciers are still found in Alaska but Fountain said he wanted to conduct the first proper inventory of the “unloved” glaciers that sit closest to where people live, in the lower 48 states. The new research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used satellite data and aerial photography to chart how glaciers across six western US states have receded.

Smaller, south-facing glaciers have experienced the greatest rates of shrinkage, particularly those at lower elevations of below 9,000ft in the Sierra Nevada and under 6,000ft in the Cascade range, which runs along the Pacific north-west. But even many of the larger glaciers are set to disappear in the next half century, previous work by Fountain has found, with the end of the century likely to see them only existing, in a diminished state, atop the tallest mountains in the west such as Mount Hood and Mount Rainier. “The sad conclusion is that we are seeing signs glacier change is accelerating and I’d say a lot of them will be gone by 2100,” Fountain said. “In the summertime they are melting more because it’s hotter and in winter they are getting rain instead of snow, which isn’t nourishing them. It’s a double whammy. There’s no good news on this.”

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Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some of which defied fair-use abstraction.

Israel Has Its Pretext for Total War on West Bank

Trump Says US Oil Companies Are Making a ‘Fortune’ Due to the Iran War

Iranian Army Says It Shot Down US LUCAS Drone That Was Flying Over Southern Iran

Ukraine – CIA More Aggressive – Starlink And Refinery Strikes – Higher Casualties On Ukr’s Side

Patrick Lawrence: Trump & the Rrrrussians

US seized American heir’s cellphone in violation of treaty agreement, lawyer says

Blanche defends DoJ’s pre-emptive suit to block Alaska Senate results certification

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A Little Night Music

Sax Mallard - The Bunny Hop

Sax Mallard Sextet (vocal Andrew Tibbs) - You Can't Win

Sax Mallard - Fine and Brown

Sax Mallard - Slow Caboose

Andrew Tibbs, Sax Mallard, Sun Ra w/ Dozier Boys - In A Traveling Mood bw The Holidays Are Over

Mitzi Mars & Sax Mallard - Roll ‘Em

The Dozier Boys with Eugene Wright & the Dukes of Swing - Big Time Baby

Roosevelt Sykes w/ Sax Mallard - Raining In My Heart

Roosevelt Sykes w/ Sax Mallard - Time Wasted On You

Mitzi Mars & Sax Mallard - I’m Glad

Sax Mallard - The Mojo

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