Links 11/1/2025 | naked capitalism

The violence of facelifts Unherd

🚨3I/ATLAS Just Got Bluer Than the Sun and Nobody Knows Why

3I/ATLAS is changing fast. As it hit perihelion on October 29 the interstellar object rapidly brightened and shifted to a color bluer than the Sun itself.That’s what Avi Loeb just confirmed from new STEREO, SOHO, and… pic.twitter.com/UP48mn01Xs

— Skywatch Signal (@UAPWatchers) October 30, 2025

From poison to power: How lead exposure helped shape human intelligence ScienceDaily (Anthony L)

#COVID-19/Pandemics

Coronavirus found in samples from 96% of flights AirSpot

⚠️ BREAKING:

Virologist warns of pandemic risk as bird flu spreads in Germany 🇩🇪

German virologist Klaus Stöhr warns growing H5N1 spread in Germany could spark a pandemic, saying the virus “has all the characteristics” needed.

He urged urgent vigilance and preparedness. pic.twitter.com/dEmwjlBmIg

— SARS‑CoV‑2 (COVID-19) (@COVID19_disease) October 31, 2025

Climate/Environment

The 2025 state of the climate report: a planet on the brink BioScience Oxford

After a modest decline over the first half of the year (and after record 2024 warmth), global temperatures are ticking back up. The past two days have been the warmest on record for this time of year in ERA5 and the highest temperature anomalies since January. pic.twitter.com/P9ObtsPBiZ

— Zeke Hausfather (@hausfath) October 28, 2025

China?

>Chinese pundits claim victory after Trump’s trade concessions Asia Times (Kevin W)

China’s rare earth export delay offers US a chance to weaken Beijing’s grip on the market Associated Press (Kevin W). Note top of the article at odds with headline. Is AP engaging in soft self censorship?

China NBS Manufacturing PMI falls to 49 in October, contraction deepens Action Forex

China housing slump deepens as oversupply drags prices PropertyGuru

Koreas

How North Korea will fight back against the South’s nuclear submarine plans NKPro

Antipodes

Australia’s housing market is turning sub-prime MacroBusiness

Africa

Hundreds reportedly killed at Sudanese hospital as evidence of RSF atrocities mounts Guardian

Sudan’s military expels top UN food aid officials as conflict escalates BBC

Tanzania shaken by unprecedented protests at ‘sham election’ Financial Times

South of the Border

Maduro turns to Moscow, Beijing, Tehran as US presence builds in Caribbean Anadolu Agency

Venezuela under Attack Vanessa Beeley and UK Column

European Disunion

ECB keeps interest rates on hold despite eurozone inflation fears Guardian

Euro-homeless, time to hit the trash heaps? TopWar (Micael T)

The municipal toolbox Makroskop via machine translation (Micael T). On addressing housing shortages.

Poland’s Superpower Dreams resurface after centuries Forum Geopolitica (Micael T)

What grim fate awaits EU member states? Just look in the Dutch crystal ball RT (Micael T)

The Left Wins the Irish Presidential Election in a Landslide Counterpunch (resilc)

Old Blighty

Rachel Reeves wants Brits investing — just as the City fears an AI bubble Politico

Isreal v. The Resistance

Testing boundaries James Dorsey

Israel has erected nearly 1,000 barriers in the West Bank during the war in Gaza, group says Independent

Lebanese president orders army to confront Israeli incursions after deadly raid Guardian

Iran rebuilding its ballistic missile program Long War Journal

Dubai: the dark truth — what lies beneath the wealth and glamour? The Standard (resilc)

New Not-So-Cold War

NATO’s Three-Pronged Response To The Latest Russian Scare Raises The Risk Of A Larger War Andrew Korybko

Moscow Won’t Accept Peace Without Rewriting the Post-1991 Order Global Affairs (Micael T)

Sending them to their deaths in war? Söder demands that Ukraine change the relaxed exit regulations for young men Nachdenkseiten via machine translaton (Micael T)

The Christchurch massacre and Ukraine Events in Ukraine

Imperial Collapse Watch

US begins troop drawdown in Romania Politico

Leaks expose collapse of EU/US-backed Belarusian ‘opposition’ The Grayzone

Trump 2.0

Red states to be hit hard by Trump disability eligibility rules Propublica. When I would fly the NYC-Birmingham, AL direct flight, the proportion of wheelchair passengers was much higher than on any other route I have traveled.

Chuck L notes, “When you’ve lost Bill Kristol…”

Purges of senior military officers.

If this were happening elsewhere, we’d understand right away what was happening.

It’s hard to grasp that it’s happening here. But it is…https://t.co/ESDlODaPj6

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) October 30, 2025

‘Startup City’ Groups Say They’re Meeting Trump Officials to Push for Deregulated ‘Freedom Cities’ Wired (Paul R)

Banks and retailers run short on pennies as the US Mint stops making them Associated Press (Kevin W). More incompetence. Australia got rid of the penny before 2002, and required retailers to round up or down to the nearest five cents.

Under Vinay Prasad, employees at a key FDA center fear speaking out, look for the exits STAT

Shutdown

Trump administration blocked from suspending Snap benefits for millions of Americans Guardian (Kevin W). See our related post. This frees up only a few weeks of emergency funding, although the plaintiffs contend more coins could be found in the couch cushions.

Tariffs

America’s Suez Warwick Powell

14 Republican lawmakers say Argentinian beef imports ‘undermine American cattle producers’ in new letter The Hill (resilc)

Immigration

Unmarked, Plate-Less Vehicles Seen in ICE Arrests Across U.S., Report Finds: ‘The Agency Clearly Wants to Appear Like a Ghost’Los Angeles Times (Paul R)

Sobbing daughter captures ICE ‘detain her mom for not having social security number memorized’ Mirror (resilc)

US will limit number of refugees to 7,500 and give priority to white South Africans Guardian

Charlie Kirk

State employees fired over Charlie Kirk posts inundate courts The Hill

Mamdani

Billionaires are spending big to stop Zohran Mamdani’s NYC mayoral bid CNBC (Li)

Kathy Hochul admits socialist Zohran Mamdani’s ‘tax the rich’ plan would hurt NY’s middle class: ‘I cannot do that’ New York Post

New Yorkers predict city will become a cesspit of violence, vacant stores and antisemitism under Mamdani in disturbing new poll… but this is why they’ll give him a landslide victory anyway Daily Mail (Li)

Police State Watch

Pentagon orders states’ national guards to form ‘quick reaction forces’ for ‘crowd control’ Guardian

Our No Longer Free Press

Stephen Miller Wife CRASHES OUT On Cenk: Threatens Deportation Breaking Points. Entertaining if your taste runs to train wrecks and may also be an indicator of increased desperation among Israel allies in the US over having lost control of “the narrative”.

As I was saying: https://t.co/KfJ4Jqsc61

— Lara Friedman (@LaraFriedmanDC) November 1, 2025

For background:

Tucker Carlson tells Nick Fuentes he despises Christian Zionists more than anyone on earth, calling Christian Zionism a dangerous heresy within Christianity.

He names Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, John Bolton, Karl Rove, and George W. Bush as examples.

Carlson says Christian Zionism… pic.twitter.com/741M5Tuvbj

— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) October 28, 2025

EU parliament could block Russian media – Politico RT (Micael T)

Mr. Market is Moody

How Bad Could the Private-Credit Crisis Get? Just Look at 1929 Barrons

BlackRock loses $500m on shadow banking blow-up Telegraph. BlackRock is a latecomer to this business.

Proliferation of private credit raises fears of looming financial crisis NPR

Oracle Bond Risk Jumps on Concerns Over AI Spending Spree Bloomberg

Economy

Largest capacity purge in history coming Freight News

Federal Reserve plans to shrink board of top banking supervisor Financial Times

The Bezzle

Crazy stat of the day:

Nvidia’s market cap is now greater than the GDP of every country in the world except US and China

Totally normal pic.twitter.com/s6N0YTBC3S

— Ankur Nagpal (@ankurnagpal) October 29, 2025

NVIDIA × Samsung — The Barter Relationship:I give you 50,000 GPUs, you supply me with memory chips. I recognize revenue, you recognize revenue. No cash needed — cash is useless. pic.twitter.com/TDephlFs87

— Kakashii (@kakashiii111) October 31, 2025

A closer look at the record-smashing ‘Hyperion’ corporate bond sale Financial Times

Meta Stock Plummets as Investors Horrified at How Much Zuckerberg Is Spending on Misfired AI Futurism

How A Pharma Giant Is Looting The Pentagon The Lever

Big tech’s futile attempt to kill death New Statesman (Micael T)

Guillotine Watch

Royal Flush: Sotheby’s to Sell Maurizio Cattelan’s 18-Karat Gold Toilet in New York ART News)

Class Warfare

Mapped: Where U.S. Families are Most Strained by Debt Visual Capitalist (resilc)

⚠️The US job market is in a RECESSION:

The long-term unemployment rate (jobless for 27+ weeks) hit 25.7% of all unemployed people, the highest in 4 YEARS.

When this metric first breached 25% during the FINANCIAL CRISIS, the US was already more than a year into recession. pic.twitter.com/yq0P1JlngN

— Global Markets Investor (@GlobalMktObserv) October 29, 2025

Americans are drowning in auto loan debt CNBC

Chipotle stock craters as company says young people without jobs can’t afford their food anymore Yahoo

Antidote du jour (via):

And a bonus (Chuck L):

This lion pride getting pranked by an Elephant 😂 pic.twitter.com/IlklIlXwMz

— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) October 30, 2025

A second bonus:

The dog had no clue what was going on and just stared at the police officer like, “Sir, I’m gonna need some context.”pic.twitter.com/5WNJxAjkUg

— Puppies 🐶 (@PuppiesIover) October 31, 2025

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.