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President Trump delivered his closing midterm pitch Monday afternoon at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, capping roughly two dozen rallies across 19 states since October 1. He's pairing the speech with nine tele-rallies today and warned voters that Democrats have nominated "extremists" who shouldn't be handed power. National polls still point to significant Republican losses tomorrow.
The Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to reverse a lower-court block and allow roughly 20,000 California ballots to be segregated pending review. It's one of several pre-election legal skirmishes landing less than 24 hours before polls open. Separately, a federal judge rejected an administration suit seeking to block certification of Alaska's Senate race.
Cost of living is the dominant midterm issue, with annual inflation running near 3.7 percent and gas prices squeezing household budgets. A Fox News poll has the president's approval at a record-low 36 percent, driven largely by affordability anxiety. The Fed held rates steady October 29 but left a December hike on the table.
Investigators say there are preliminary indications the Learjet 60 that crashed Sunday near Cresthaven, Florida, was coming apart before impact, scattering debris across roughly a half-mile. All nine aboard died after the crew reported icing, turbulence, and an overspeed condition at altitude. The co-pilot was identified as 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha, who earned her private license at 17.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday that weekend talks with Qatari mediators produced no major breakthroughs, though the process continues. Trump told reporters the US will "do something" eventually but is in no hurry, claiming Iran's navy, air force, and missile production have been gutted. Washington has reportedly told Gulf allies to prepare for a possible short, intense campaign after tomorrow's vote.
A third consecutive weekend of cost-of-living unrest drew hundreds of thousands into French streets, with Molotov cocktails thrown at police, looted storefronts, and more than 1,300 arrests nationwide. Paris prosecutors opened an attempted murder investigation over a firebomb hurled at officers. Italy, Belgium, Spain, Greece, and Albania are now seeing parallel demonstrations.
North Korean state media showcased Kim overseeing attack-drone drills against mock-ups of American armor, the latest in an accelerating weapons-testing tempo. Pyongyang has also claimed progress on cluster-munition warheads for tactical ballistic missiles. Analysts read the display as a message aimed at Washington and Seoul.
NASA detailed three robotic missions to seed a permanent lunar outpost near the south pole, with Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander, Astrobotic's Griffin carrying the FLEX rover, and the Lunar Vertex mission to study the Moon's mysterious magnetic swirls. The agency plans roughly 20 billion dollars over seven years, with habitats arriving around 2032. All three launches are targeted before year's end.
The FBI formally attributed last week's record crypto theft to Pyongyang's TraderTraitor unit, which drained Binance wallets in about 20 minutes after allegedly compromising a DevOps engineer's laptop. Roughly three billion dollars has been frozen on-chain and the exchange says it has replenished about 90 percent of stolen assets. Binance insists user funds are safe and that it will cover all losses.
Sandro Castro, grandson of Fidel, posted a Halloween video dressed as a vampire riffing on Cuba's endless blackouts, water shortages, and dengue and hepatitis outbreaks. The joke landed as unintentional commentary on the system his grandfather built. It is, somehow, one of the more honest assessments of Cuban infrastructure this year.
