AK: Peltola pauses Senate campaign after car crash

Source: BBC News [UK state media]

“Mary Peltola, Alaska’s Democratic Senate candidate, has paused campaigning ahead of the US midterm elections after sustaining ‘minor injuries’ in a car crash. Peltola, 53, and her family were travelling to an event on Saturday when the vehicle they were in was hit by another driver, her campaign said in a statement. She is running in one of the most closely watched races in the elections, which take place on 3 November – one that could help decide the balance of power in government. Peltola has rescheduled campaign events ‘as she takes time to recover’ on the advice of medical professionals, her campaign manager, Cheryl Bruce, said in a statement. ‘Mary and her family sustained minor injuries but are in good spirits,’ Bruce said.” (10/26/26)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cky93gep3gyeo

Steve Trinward

The Write-In Stuff

Source: The American Conservative
by Bill Kauffman

“Must all change always be for the worst? In classic ‘arsenic or cyanide, sir?’ fashion, New Yorkers are given the Hobson’s choice between a Democratic Party that has lost any connection to rural and working-class Americans and a Republican Party that is running this year on the Iran War and building more data centers. Whoopee! Ever Pollyanna, I tease out the silver lining in this assault on democracy by scribbling write-in votes, so on November 3, 2026, I’ll be doing just that. And y’know, it’s kinda fun.” (10/26/26)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-write-in-stuff/

Thomas L. Knapp

The Most Important Midterm Race Is El-Sayed vs. Rogers in Michigan

Source: Common Dreams
by James Zogby

“The Michigan Senate race between the Democratic nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, and his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, is this year’s most important election. It’s significant, on a number of levels, not the least of which is that El-Sayed is an Arab American Muslim of Egyptian descent. Prior to this, we’ve had four Arab Americans elected to the US Senate (former Majority Leader George Mitchell [D-ME], James Abourezk [D-SD], James Abdnor [R-SD], and John Sununu [R-NH]), none of them Muslim. If elected, El-Sayed would be the first Muslim in the Senate. This is a breakthrough that hasn’t been lost on Republicans and President Trump, who have made a determined effort to exploit it at every turn. They’ve done TV ads alleging that El-Sayed’s mother was affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1970s.” [editor’s note: The headline is likely correct, but maybe not for the reasons given here – SAT] (10/26/26)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/the-most-important-midterm-race-is-el-sayed-vs-rogers-in-michigan

Steve Trinward

Elvis Presley’s rights [sic] holders sue Anthropic, saying it trained AI on his music

Source: NBC News

“The owners [sic] of Elvis Presley’s music have sued Anthropic, alleging it used his copyrighted lyrics without permission to train its AI models and generating infringing versions of his songs. In a lawsuit filed Friday, Authentic Brands Group, the licensing platform that controls Presley’s intellectual property [sic] — along with other companies, trusts and individuals who own rights [sic] to his music — accused Anthropic of infringing copyrights to 274 songs without any license or payment. … The lawsuit by Presley’s rights [sic] holders comes amid a larger wave of lawsuits against Anthropic and other AI companies accused of using copyrighted musical works without consent or compensation.” (10/25/26)

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elvis-presleys-rights-holders-sue-anthropic-saying-trained-ai-music-rcna605551

Thomas L. Knapp

Vatican confirms Pope Leo’s Latin America trip after post-surgery checkup

Source: SFGate

“Pope Leo XIV will proceed with his planned Nov. 6-17 trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, after doctors determined there are no medical reasons preventing him from traveling three weeks after lung cancer surgery, the Vatican confirmed Monday. The Vatican press office said the pope’s recovery continues to progress in line with favorable assessments from his medical team. It also confirmed the pope is keeping the already ambitious trip program with no announced changes. Surgeons on Oct. 13 removed a lobe where the nodule later diagnosed as malignant was located, in the first major health event of Leo’s 17-month pontificate. The surgery confirmed he had adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer. Since returning to the Vatican, Leo has gradually resumed his activities while adjusting his schedule to prioritize recovery and periods of rest, the statement said.” (10/26/26)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/vatican-confirms-pope-leo-s-latin-america-trip-22494956.php

Steve Trinward

Despite party backlash, Omar joins Piker at campaign event

Source: Fox News

“Rep. Ilhan Omar [sic] [D-MN] is set to share the stage with far-left streamer Hasan Piker on Monday night despite mounting opposition from fellow Minnesota Democrats, some of whom have publicly urged the congresswoman to cancel the appearance just eight days before the midterm elections. Rep. Angie Craig [D-MN] has called Piker’s rhetoric ‘polarizing and dangerous’ and said embracing him is ‘a mistake’, while Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s gubernatorial campaign called a number of his past statements ‘reckless and unacceptable’. Other Democratic officials and party groups have gone further, calling on Omar and state Sen. Omar Fateh, who is hosting the sold-out Minneapolis event, to cancel the appearance. The controversy is exposing a divide among Minnesota Democrats in the closing stretch of the midterms over whether Piker’s enormous following among younger progressives outweighs the political liability of his past rhetoric.” (10/26/26)

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ilhan-omar-joins-polarizing-dangerous-streamer-campaign-event-despite-democratic-backlash

Steve Trinward