THERE IS SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW: Election Nonsense Got You Down? Talk about Duran Duran. “The Durans have never failed to deliver.”

WELL, ON A LONG ENOUGH TIMELINE… Hollywood’s Closing Argument: We’re All Gonna Die!

JOHN HAWKINS: 6 Horrible Problems with Social Media That Most People Haven’t Grasped Yet.

REPORTING FOR DOODY: Kerry Rolled Out by DNC in 11th-Hour Pitch to ‘Safeguard Our Freedoms.’

LINDSEY 2.0: Lindsey Graham Roasts The Media Like A Pro, Points Out Why Democrats Are Losing Because Of It.

Plus: “A recent Rasmussen poll put Republicans ahead in the congressional race by one point. While this may not seem like a lot, Rasmussen itself points out that the left is typically louder about its voting habits than the right, and that Republicans may be further ahead than many can guess if 2016 was any indication.”

Stay tuned…

IT’S AMELIA HAMILTON’S “GROWING PATRIOTS” PODCAST autumn holiday special with Guy Fawkes and a little Halloween history for your kids or grandkids.

Amelia asked me to help with a little voiceover work, and of course I obliged.

THE INFANTILIZATION OF AMERICAN POLITICS (CONT’D): Dem Pollster Says ‘We’re Kind of Just in the Bed-Wetting Phase Now.’

GREAT POWER POLITICS: China Plays the Japan Card.

The reason for Xi’s apparent turnabout is clear enough: Relations with Washington are rapidly getting worse, and President Donald Trump is not backing down from either his trade war or his increase in U.S. military operations in maritime areas claimed by China. Beijing’s bluff and bluster has failed, and Xi likely is realizing that he is in for a long war of attrition with Washington.

Thus, the Japan card. Beijing needs to remain an attractive trade partner, especially given Abe’s success in pushing through the Trans-Pacific Partnership after Trump’s withdrawal and in signing a new free-trade pact with the European Union. Perhaps Xi believes that Tokyo will be enticed to join Beijing’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, leaving only America out in the cold. Promising to ease the pressure over the Senkakus is an easy concession by Xi, given that Tokyo remains committed to defending them. Perhaps, if relations appear to warm enough, Beijing will try to persuade Tokyo to slow down its increases in defense spending.

If the Japan card works for Beijing, what’s in it for Tokyo? As China represents the greatest long-term threat to Japan’s security, Abe is eager for any reprieve in the pressure Xi has brought to bear since taking office, even though he has been uncommonly successful in reaching out to other Asian leaders and positioning himself as an alternative to dealing with the often overbearing Chinese. The summit with Xi will bolster his diplomatic credibility while also potentially opening up Chinese markets that could help keep his economic plans on track. Yet Abe undoubtedly harbors no illusions as to why Xi is reaching out at this particular time.

In reality, there are all too few areas of common interest between Japan and China. The poisonous history between the two fuels nationalism in both countries, but especially in China. Their struggle for predominance in Asia remains a zero-sum game, as Japan under Mr. Abe has assiduously deepened its relations with India, in Southeast Asia, and with Australia, all due to fears of China’s growing military ambitions and its expansive Belt and Road Initiative. For his part, Xi has shown no inclination to back down from China’s assertive regional policies.

That last line is the key. China is a disruptive power, full of seething grievances and with territorial ambitions. The United States is none of those things, which makes it unlikely that Beijing can displace us as Japan’s (or South Korea’s, or Taiwan’s…) international partner, without the use of military force.

DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY: ‘Nazis Weren’t Socialists’ Says SJW History Major Arrested For Throwing Milk At Conservatives.

TYLER O’NEIL: 5 Reasons to Vote Republican in the Mid-Terms.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Does antimatter fall upwards? New CERN gravity experiments aim to get to the bottom of the matter.

Predictions say that antimatter particles should mostly follow the same rules as their normal counterparts, but it’s worth double-checking to be sure – after all, any other differences could bring into question the entire Standard Model of particle physics. A few years ago, the CERN team trapped and studied the optical spectrum of antihydrogen for the first time and, breathing a big sigh of relief, found that it was identical to that of hydrogen.

Another fundamental question is whether antimatter reacts to gravity the same way. Again, predictions say it should fall like regular matter, but there’s about a one-in-a-million chance that it actually falls up instead. So far, antimatter has only been studied while suspended in an electromagnetic trap, since letting it fall to the bottom (or top?) of any normal container will destroy it.

Two new experiments at CERN are ready to test out the problem. In both cases, after the antimatter is created, the scientists will switch off the electromagnetic traps holding it, then examine where in the tube the annihilations occur. That will allow them to measure the effects of gravity on antiatoms, and see if there are any discrepancies.

Fascinating.

SCRAPPLEFACE: Election Outcome Uncertain, Expert Says Stay Angry.

MICHAEL LEDEEN: Don’t Romanticize What America Has Been Like for the Jews. “Quotas still exist, and if the current band of student radicals have their way, there will be more of them. In my day, Jews were limited because of their religion. Nowadays, it’s Zionism. But the effect is the same, and throughout the establishment, suspicion of Jews is more common than you’d imagine.”

MICHAEL WALSH: Under Obama, the CIA Suffered a ‘Catastrophic’ Disaster. “With prominent links to Iran and China. Why are we just hearing about this now?”

To ask the question is to answer it.

RASMUSSEN: Generic Congressional Ballot’s All Tied Up.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds that 46% would choose the Republican candidate if the elections for Congress were held today. Forty-five percent (45%) would vote for the Democrat. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent (6%) remain undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

A week ago, Democrats held a 47% to 44% lead. Since Rasmussen Reports began the weekly surveying in early May, Democrats have led every week but one until early last month. Following the controversy surrounding the Senate confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanuagh, the Generic Congressional Ballot was tied for two weeks, but then Democrats moved back ahead.

The GOP now has a small lead among voters not affiliated with either major party. But significantly, 20% of these voters remain undecided or prefer someone other than the Republican or Democratic candidates.

In other words: Don’t get cocky.

AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR: Utah mayor, a father of 7, ID’d as US service member killed in ‘insider attack’ in Afghanistan.

AND THAT MAKES IT OK THEN? ‘I Was Angry’: Woman Referred to DOJ and FBI for Alleged False Rape Claim Against Kavanaugh.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: The Orange Man Bad Election and Much, Much More. “The Dems only need a technical majority to take over and probably put Rep. Nunes in a wood chipper. Maxine Waters will be in charge of the Financial Services Committee. It’s gonna be crazy and when it gets crazy, Trump will win reelection in 2020.”

A great reason to vote Republican tomorrow is to teach the Democrats that crazy doesn’t pay. But it seems likely that one outcome would drive them mad, and the other would drive them mad with power.

“MAY”: Democrat Stacey Abrams Admits Her Plans May Require Georgians to ‘Turn Their Guns In.’

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: New York Lawmakers Drafting Bill That Would Allow Social Media Checks Before Gun Purchase. “Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and state Sen. Kevin Palmer’s proposal would allow authorities to review three years of social media history and one year of internet search history of any person seeking to purchase a firearm.”

WELL: Hugin Says Internal Polling Shows Slight Lead Over Menendez in New Jersey Senate Race.

EURABIA: In France, spate of homophobic attacks on record is just ‘the tip of the iceberg.’

“On the ground, many attacks go unreported. Often, victims don’t complain for fear of reprisals, or because they’re afraid of speaking to police officers who aren’t aware of issues relating to LGBT identity. They’re scared of not being listened to.”

One example of this was provided in an interview that Mickael, 30, gave to Têtu, a specialist French magazine for gay people. He recounted that after being insulted by the manager of a Paris bar while paying the bill, “when I spoke to the police, I felt insulted for the second time – having to discuss with them on the meaning of the word ‘faggot’ was utterly bewildering”. The bar manager got a caution – but the specifically homophobic nature of the insult was not officially recorded.

According to the latest report by rights group SOS Homophobie, a mere 4 percent of victims of LGBT-phobic insults in France file a complaint.

This France24 report doesn’t give a single detail about the nature of the attackers — not one.

FRANK BRUNI: What Kind of Democrat Can Beat Trump in 2020? “Too many Democrats spend too much time trumpeting Clinton’s popular-vote victory, blaming the Russians or combing the shadows for anything that absolves them of error. They dismiss Trump as an accident, a freak or a fad. It’s consoling, sure. It’s also an invitation to his next inauguration.”

REPERCUSSIONS: A Huge Floating Drydock Sank and Nearly took Russia’s Only Aircraft Carrier with It.

Last week I posted a short item about the damage suffered by Russia’s only aircraft carrier when a crane collapsed on its floating drydock. But apparently the drydock has sunk in 160 feet of icy water, and its loss will create ripple effects:

PD-50 was nonetheless the largest floating drydock in Russia, and the only extra large one serving Russia’s Northern Fleet—home to the better part of Moscow’s critical ballistic missile submarine force. In fact, those huge nuclear-powered subs made very heavy use of PD-50. While some shore-based drydocks are available, of course, transferring ships into them takes a lot longer, and vessels currently being worked on can’t be quickly swapped out.

PD-50 was also uniquely of an appropriate size to help refurbish the Russian Navy’s huge nuclear powered battlecruisers—particularly the Pyotr Veliki , which was scheduled to undergo renovation soon.

The report also notes that, “the drydock sinking may significantly impair the Russian Navy’s submarine, cruiser and carrier operations, and particularly its efforts to modernize its larger, older platforms.”

And replacing PD-50 won’t be easy or cheap:

Russia does maintain a few other large floating drydocks that can accommodate its ballistic-missile subs—though probably not the larger Admiral Kuznetsov. Two other drydocks in the Black Sea measures roughly 300 and 250 meters long, but are considerably narrower. The Japanese-built PD-41, which services the Pacific Fleet in the Russian Far East, may be large enough but is quite distant.

These drydocks could only be towed across to the Northern Fleet slowly, at great expense and at some risk of mishap during transit through icy waters ad narrow straits. Of course, moving them would deny those other bases their vital services.

Nor can PD-50 be easily replaced, as it was purchased from Sweden. Given current tensions and sanctions imposed on Moscow, a new purchase from any European source is currently unlikely. The Soviet Union formerly relied heavily on the Ukrainian Mykolaiv shipyards for carrier construction — in fact, China’s first aircraft carrier is a Kuznetsov sister ship purchased from Ukraine — but Kiev is unlikely to assist Moscow given Russia’s invasion of Crimea and eastern Ukraine. East Asian shipyards would have few qualms, but a replacement would still take years to produce and would still need to be transited over a long distance to Severomorsk.

Moscow’s naval rebuilding program just hit a huge speedbump.

BLUE WAVE? Nate Silver Admits He Doesn’t Know What’s Going to Happen With Midterms. “Both outcomes ‘extremely possible’.”