Odds and Ends — 26 October 2026

preparedwombat(78)

Published in

#oddsandends

Words

805

Reading

4 min

Listen to this post

~5 min

Coronavirus and Public Health:

Measles Surge Exposes Republicans’ Vulnerability

A growing measles outbreak coupled with health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s vaccine scepticism has emerged as a political problem for Republicans as November’s midterm elections approach.
Next month, the U.S. is expected to lose its measles elimination status as determined by the World Health Organization, joining the UK, Canada and other countries. As of October 22, the U.S. had 4,588 confirmed measles infections, double the number of cases in all of 2025 and the most since 1991.

Bird Flu Is Raging on a Mink Farm. It Could Spark a Human Pandemic, Experts Say, but Officials Won’t Act.

Iran:

America’s Least Bad Option in Iran

In broad strokes, there are three options. First, ramp the war back up. Some—including U.S. President Donald Trump—have floated the idea of returning to a full-scale bombing campaign similar to what we saw during the conflict’s initial phase. Others have proposed escalating the war, for example by using ground forces to seize Iranian territory.
At the other end of the spectrum lies a second option: The United States could walk away from the conflict. Even Republican supporters of the Trump administration have increasingly called for an end to the war.
The third option is to stay the current course: Maintain the blockade and economic pressure campaign, respond with force when Iran or its proxies strike U.S. or partner targets, and push for negotiations that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the Iranian nuclear program. Of the three options, this may be the least satisfying; it almost certainly will not bring quick results. But it is strategically prudent.

Politics:

Trump Unlawfully Fired Maurene Comey

A federal judge on Monday said that the Department of Justice’s firing of New York federal prosecutor Maurene Comey last year was unlawful.
Judge Jesse Furman also ordered that Comey, who is the daughter of former FBI director James Comey, be retroactively reinstated to her job as an assistant United States attorney in the Southern District of New York.

https://x.com/admcrlsn/status/2114505501215981843
https://x.com/SethAbramson/status/2114534428668043440

GOP Closes Campaign with Unapologetic Bigotry

Republicans keep saying their campaign against Abdul El-Sayed isn’t trying to exploit fear and hatred of Muslims.
Then they keep doing things to prove that it is.
They’ve been at it for months—literally since the first hours after El-Sayed won the Democratic nomination in early August, when the GOP launched ads referring to him by his full first name, ‘Abdulrahman.’ But they may have hit a new low last week, with an attack ad that’s all over the internet and television. Its central claim is that El-Sayed wants to impose sharia law, the religious code of Islam, on the rest of America.

https://x.com/FrakMAGA2022/status/2114338740168479226

Lula Wins Record Fourth Term in Brazil

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva came from behind to win Brazil’s runoff election, halting a right-wing wave sweeping Latin America and defying predictions that the 80-year-old political veteran had finally reached the end of his extraordinary career.
The electoral court declared Lula the winner with 51.76% of the vote to Flávio Bolsonaro’s 48.24% on Sunday, after a messy election day marked by allegations of voter suppression and a last-minute extension of voting hours.

https://x.com/AlexDemSoc_161/status/2114518060577013805

Student List wins Serbian election in political earthquake as Vučić concedes defeat

https://x.com/TheMaineWonk/status/2114516107973529879

Trump Rips Norway Over Nobel Prize Beef

Donald Trump is still upset he didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize, and he’s blaming Norway for it.
Said Trump: “I’m not in love with Norway. Frankly, Norway sucks.”
He added: “Norway has become a shithouse country, actually.”

https://x.com/KareemRifai/status/2114134578449580392

https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2114512521402966456
https://x.com/USMCLiberal/status/2114334898831974403

I can’t imagine that this is going to succeed. France and the UK both have veto power.

A Texas Cop Signed on to Help ICE Deport His Neighbors. It Tore the Town Apart.

https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/2114506077039734813

https://x.com/ChrisInSLC/status/2114477502660063293

———— Blatant In-Your-Face Corruption ————

https://x.com/Kasparov63/status/2114355247233614253

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2114043218337620405

https://x.com/Tendar/status/2114275667810341242

The US-Russia Alliance Is Signed—In Ukrainian Blood

———— Smoot-Hawley 2.0 ————

Trump started a trade war with Canada. GOP candidates became casualties.

Often, presidents suffer from events they didn’t cause — the coronavirus pandemic in Trump’s first term, for example. This year, by contrast, Trump has seen some of the lowest presidential approval numbers ever recorded, and his decisions have driven the plunge.
The tariffs of up to 50 percent on Canadian goods that Trump announced in July provide a prime example.
At a time when voters are acutely focused on the cost of living, tariffs are a visible step that drives prices higher. And the trade war with Canada has hurt residents of border states especially hard.