The Bully in the Room: Abdul El-Sayed Says Americans Are Ruled by Intimidation and They Must Take That Power Back

By Mars Strangelove Jr.

October 30, 2026

There is a particular kind of political power that does not depend on competence, persuasion, or even the ability to govern. It depends on making everyone else afraid to challenge it. Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed believes Donald Trump has created precisely that political environment in Washington.

Speaking with comedian Hasan Minhaj on his podcast, El-Sayed offered an unusually blunt assessment of the president and the people surrounding him. “We are being actively bullied by the dumbest people in the room,” he said, before calling Trump an idiot whose one particular talent, in his view, is attracting attention.

Patrick Stewart, A Thespian and Science Fiction Legend, Dies at 86

By Mars Strangelove on Duty

October 29 2026

Sir Patrick Stewart, the British actor whose career bridged Shakespearean theatre, science fiction and Hollywood, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 86. His death was announced Thursday through a statement shared on his social media accounts. He died Wednesday at home, surrounded by his family and wife, singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell.

Ramaswamy Ends Controversial Ad Featuring His Opponent's Estranged Mother

By Mars Strangelove Jr., on duty

Ohio · U.S. Politics - October 29, 2026

Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, running for governor of Ohio, has stopped airing a controversial television advertisement featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton. The advertisement showed Donna Arthur calling her daughter a liar and urging voters not to support her. Acton and her mother have been estranged for nearly five decades.

The family history behind the advertisement is particularly painful. In 1978, Arthur lost custody of her children after her husband was indicted for raping Acton, who was then 12 years old. Acton has said she has had no contact with her mother since that period.

The Ghost Candidates: America's Long History of Electoral Dirty Tricks

October 29, 2026

From JFK's 1946 congressional campaign to Florida's 2020 elections and today's Alaska controversy, political operatives have repeatedly tried to manipulate the ballot with gangster-style tricks

By Yiannis Damellos and Mars Strangelove Jr.

American politics has a peculiar tradition. Politicians spend enormous amounts of money telling voters how important democracy is, how sacred the ballot must remain, and how dangerous it is to allow their opponents to undermine the electoral process. Yet, behind the campaign slogans, political operatives have repeatedly found ways to manipulate that very process for partisan advantage.

US midterms: Five days to go – What the polls say as Trump, Harris campaign

US Midterm Elections 2026

By Elizabeth Melimopoulos

Published On 29 Oct 2026

With five days to go before the United States midterms, Democrats are ahead in national polls, but several Senate races remain close.

President Donald Trump, former President Barack Obama and Vice President JD Vance were out campaigning on Wednesday in Ohio, Georgia and North Carolina, as both parties fight for control of Congress.

Jamie Dimon Warns of Five Risks Lurking Beneath America’s Strong Economy

By Mars Strangelove Jr.

Source: The Street

October 29, 2026

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has a message for anyone trying to understand where the American economy is heading: strong profits today do not eliminate the risks building for tomorrow.

JPMorgan Chase reported $15.3 billion in net income for the third quarter of 2026, equivalent to $5.57 per share. Although revenue increased 8% from a year earlier, the results fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, according to CNBC.

Neil Young sues Trump campaign again for playing Rockin' in the Free World at rally

Nardine Saad - Yesterday

Rock veteran Neil Young has filed a $10m lawsuit against a fundraising committee that supports US President Donald Trump, citing "unauthorised" use of his 1989 song Rockin' in the Free World. 

The Canadian-American star alleges that the Trump 47 Committee infringed on his copyright when it played the song before Trump took the stage at a 12 October rally in Ohio. Playing the song amounts to an "unauthorised public performance", the lawsuit says.

The Object Beside the Dragon: What Is China Doing in Orbit?

October 28, 2026

By Yiannis Damellos and Mars Strangelove Jr.

Newsroom Live

PART I — THE ASSIGNMENT: FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE

The photograph arrived without an explanation.

Against the blackness of space, a small winged spacecraft hangs above Earth. Its shape recalls an American space shuttle, stripped of the machinery and proportions of its larger predecessor. Beneath it, a separate structure extends outward, its solar panels unfolded like dark wings. The spaceplane's payload-bay doors are open. There is no astronaut in the picture. No national insignia announces its mission. No visible instrument reveals what the spacecraft has been doing or what it intends to do next.

Judge declines to block California from counting alleged noncitizen voters’ ballots in DOJ lawsuit

The DOJ said it had identified over 20,000 “likely non-citizens,” but California officials said that the claim wasn’t backed by evidence and that the government was trying to interfere in the election

Oct. 28, 2026, 4:52 PM GMT-8

By Gary Grumbach and Dareh Gregorian

A federal judge in California on Wednesday refused the Trump administration’s request to segregate 20,000 mail-in ballots from individuals it alleges are noncitizens.

Three Arab states back Greece in dispute over Turkey-Libya maritime accord

Reuters

October 27, 20262:57 AM GMT-8 Updated October 27, 2026

ATHENS, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates aligned with Greece to denounce a Turkey-Libya maritime accord as a threat to regional security and international legal order ​in a long-standing dispute over sea borders in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Spain Train Disaster: At Least 64 Dead, The Guardian Reports, as Investigators Examine Signalling Failure

Mars Strangelove Jr. on Duty

October 28, 2026

TOLEDO, Spain — At least 64 people have been killed and dozens injured after two high-speed trains collided in Spain’s Toledo province on Wednesday morning, according to the latest figures in live reporting supplied to The Greek Courier. Rescue operations remain underway at the scene.

The collision occurred shortly before 9 a.m. local time on the high-speed railway connecting Madrid with southern Spain. The trains involved were a Renfe AVE service travelling from Madrid towards Seville and a train operated by private rail company Iryo. The two services were carrying hundreds of passengers.

It Appears That the AI Bubble Has Just Burst in China

"And now we see the bubble bursting."

By Frank Landymore

Published Oct 27, 2026 10:57 AM EDT

As economists in the rest of the world look at the billions being poured into the AI industry with their hands over their eyes, the fate of China’s AI industry may be a sign of things to come.

A report from Reuters suggests that the AI bubble in China “has already burst.” Or it might be more apt to say that it shriveled like a rapidly deflating balloon: over the past four months, Reuters notes, the country’s STAR50 index of AI and semiconductor companies collapsed by 40 percent, wiping out $480 billion in market value. That is not a typo.

Grand jury refuses to indict former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, AP sources say

By —Alanna Durkin Richer, Associated Press
By —Eric Tucker, Associated Press
Oct 27, 2026 6:40 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Tuesday failed to secure a grand jury indictment against a former White House staffer who provided dramatic but disputed testimony against President Donald Trump before a House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Electoral Deadlock in Israel Means Only One Thing: Nothing's Gonna Change

By Mars Strangelove Jr.

October 27, 2026

Associated Press, Reuters, The Times of Israel

Israel’s election has ended without a clear path to a governing majority, leaving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his principal challenger, Gadi Eisenkot, facing a difficult political calculation. Neither camp appears to have secured the 61 seats required to command a majority in the 120-member Knesset. Meanwhile, Arab-led parties have made significant gains and could influence the formation of the next government.

The initial exit polls placed Netanyahu’s bloc at approximately 50–52 seats and the opposition led by Eisenkot at 49–53, depending on the broadcaster. Arab-led parties were projected to win 17–19 seats. With roughly 40% of ballots counted early Wednesday, October 28, the official count remained incomplete. Exit polls indicate the political balance, not the final seat allocation. 

Israelis smash turnout records to pass wartime judgment on Netanyahu

By Steven Scheer and Alexander Cornwell 

October 27, 2026

JERUSALEM, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Israelis streamed to the polls on Tuesday in record numbers to pass wartime judgment on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in what some described as the most consequential election in the nation's history.

Follow the results of the Israeli elections here

Flávio Bolsonaro Is Sought in Brazil, But Rumored to Have Fled to America. Will Trump Protect Him Despite the US–Brazil Extradition Treaty?

By Yiannis Damellos and Mars Strangelove Jr.

October 27, 2026 

Illustrations: Gemini

Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro has disappeared from public view after losing Sunday's presidential election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. On Tuesday, October 27, Brazilian Federal Police sources told Reuters that Flávio had missed a Supreme Court deadline to surrender his passports and that the documents had been cancelled. Authorities were trying to establish his whereabouts. 

Argentina said it had no record of his entry, while people close to the Bolsonaro family were unable or unwilling to clarify where he was. A senior Brazilian Federal Police official said he had not left through a regular migration checkpoint. His departure from Brazil, let alone his arrival in the United States, has not been confirmed.

Three Russian Diesel Tankers Head for America as the UN Documents the Human Cost of Moscow’s War

Mars Strangelove Jr.

October 27, 2026 

Trump’s deal with Putin is opening an American market to Russian fuel just as international investigators document the human cost of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine. The arrangement has triggered bipartisan opposition in Washington, raised questions about federal law and exposed the conflict between domestic fuel prices and national security.

Three tankers carrying approximately 140,000 tonnes of Russian diesel are heading toward American ports under a temporary sanctions exemption negotiated by President Donald Trump’s administration. According to the Financial Times, the vessels are expected to arrive in November, shortly after the November 3 midterm elections. One of them, the Leruo, is sanctioned by the United Kingdom, the European Union and Canada. The shipments are among the first to move toward the United States under Trump’s October 9 arrangement with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Walter Koenig, Ensign Chekov on the original ‘Star Trek’ series, dies at 90

By JONATHAN LANDRUM JR.
Updated 12:24 PM GMT-8, October 26, 2026
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor Walter Koenig, who played Ensign Pavel Chekov, the youthful Russian navigator on the “ Star Trek ” television series and several movies, has died. He was 90.