Cruise will soon hit San Francisco with no hands on the wheel Ars Technica

Unelected Bolivian govt detains, doxxes, threatens international observers on eve of election Grayzone

Sacha Baron Cohen: This Time He’s Serious NYT Just watched the Chicago 7 film on Netflix and it wasn’t half bad. In my next life I want to come back as William Kunstler.

France teacher attack: Suspect ‘asked pupils to point Samuel Paty out’ BBC

As Greek Nazis Go to Prison, Their Poison Runs Free Project Syndicate. Yanis Varoufakis.

Biden: Let the troops decide where to invade next Duffelblog

We know it intimately London Review of Books

The two months in 1980 that shaped the future of biotech Stat

#COVID-19

Covid-19: The global crisis — in data FT

Global coronavirus rise by one-day record of 400,000 Reuters

After sidelining scientists, Europe plays catchup with new coronavirus wave Politico

Inside the Fall of the CDC ProPublica

When does incompetence turn into a crime? This is the question we should be asking as government fails again Independent. Patrick Cockburn on failure of UK’s contact tracing system.

Test and trace system failed to reach nearly 250,000 close contacts of people who tested positive for coronavirus, figures reveal Daily Mail

COVID-19: The Case Against Herd Immunity Consortium News

Coronavirus Threatens to Push the Child-Care Industry Over the Edge WSJ

Donald Trump vows to ‘make China pay’ for coronavirus pandemic SCMP

Coronavirus: Empty streets in France as curfew enforced BBC

The UN’s Existential Crisis Project Syndicate. Shashi Tharoor.

Wuhan, Former Pandemic Center, Emerges as Tourist Hot Spot WSJ

BREAKING—Chris Christie was not only hospitalized, but he was in the ICU for 7-days… and he got special VIP access to Eli Lily’s synthetic monoclonal antibody drug direct from the manufacturer (it’s not available to general public since it’s not FDA approved). That’s privilege. pic.twitter.com/YjSdyrWxFs

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) October 15, 2020

Brexit

Experts claim Boris Johnson’s ‘thin’ EU deal will cause major economic upset Guardian

British business groups sound alarm over no-deal Brexit FT

Brexit: “ready” is not an option EU Referendum.com

Murderer who tackled London Bridge attacker with narwhal tusk pardoned Guardian

Trump Transition

How Trump Still Divides The Republican Old Guard American Conservative

Roaming Charges: Pray, Grin and Barrett Counterpunch

Thousands protest Trump’s Supreme Court pick at Washington Women’s March Reuters

Trumpworld’s Corruption Is as Globalized as the Ultra-Rich the President Mingles With Foreign Policy. Find little to disagree with here; only difference for Trump is a matter of degree and not in kind from other members of the world’s elite. That is a nutshell is our problem.

Class Warfare

The San Francisco Ruling Class Is United in Their Hatred of the City’s Socialists Jacobin

Congress Needs To Take Seriously The House Reports On Big Tech’s Anticompetitive Behavior The Federalist

As @ggreenwald points out, both the right and left should be deeply concerned about the power of big tech to censor and manipulate the flow of information. https://t.co/yC4FmKuiTw https://t.co/KhLFRdh2rq

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) October 17, 2020

2020

Facebook and Twitter Have Made a Mess of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden Story The New Republic

Republicans in a Twitter rage over Hunter Biden story FT

Joe Biden’s polling lead slips in wake of Post report on Hunter NY Post

Europe Preparing for the Worst in Washington Der Spiegel

How a contested election in key states could send the U.S. into a constitutional crisis MarketWatch

‘What the hell is wrong with this guy?’ Biden slams Trump for his response to the plot to kidnap Michigan governor Business Insider

After four years of dispassionate silence on the Trump administration, America’s paper of record tells us how it really feels.

Unprecedented. https://t.co/9iRxscfCRd

— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) October 16, 2020

Are you saying the story isn’t true? Because that does not appear to be the reason for the actions taken by Facebook and Twitter. https://t.co/Vdiyjjeb5d

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) October 15, 2020

California Wildfires

California’s record-breaking wildfires consume nearly 1 million acres in a month CNN

White House Reverses Decision And OKs Wildfire Aid For California NPR

California Wildfires Bring On ‘Catastrophic’ Year for Ranchers Bloomberg

Owls, caribou and B.C. forests on the chopping block The Narwhal

Iran

Arms embargo on Iran expires despite US opposition Al Jazeera

India

The Next China? India Must First Beat Bangladesh Bloomberg

Kingdom Fifty Two

China?

Why the US Luxury Recovery Is Not Comparable to China’s Jing Daily

The Logic of Sino-Western Détente Jim O’Neill

And to be clear, this is not tenable either. We get our semiconductors from Taiwan, so a Chinese invasion of Taiwan destroys the U.S. economy. https://t.co/uARff1SspM

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) October 18, 2020

China warns it will detain American nationals following Justice Dept prosecution of Chinese scholars: report https://t.co/JjE2wUKP72 pic.twitter.com/kZooQ6GhAo

— The Hill (@thehill) October 18, 2020

Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia, Azerbaijan accuse each other of violating new ceasefire Al Jazeera

Antidote du Jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.