Democracy at the Brink

Start your day smarter with the most important world news, plus intriguing and offbeat stories. www.ozy.com [OZY]( [OZY]() Your World. Bold & Bright [Presidential Daily Brief]( Start your day smarter with a dossier on the most important world news, rounded off with a shot of intriguing and offbeat stories. Like the president, you deserve no less. Nov 03, 2022 Today Bolsonaro supporters in Brazil want the military to take charge, claiming the election was stolen. Biden is asking candidates to accept midterm election losses for the sake of democracy. Ethiopia and Tigrayan rebels have agreed to a truce. And U.S. interest rates are creeping up once again. All this and more in today’s PDB. IMPORTANT Conceding Nothing Bolsonaro Backers Won’t Accept Defeat, Ask Military to Intervene Supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro refuse to believe Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Sunday’s election. Following the 2020 U.S. election playbook, Bolsonaro stayed mum for days before agreeing to the transfer of power. But after years of questioning the integrity of elections, Bolsonaro’s message has taken root. Protesters have blockaded roads and swarmed military bases, alleging voting fraud — and even demanding the military take control to prevent da Silva taking office. Bolsonaro has called on protesters to dismantle the roadblocks, saying, “I am as upset and sad as you are, but we have to put our heads in the right place.” (Sources: [NYT](, [BBC]() ‘Path to Chaos’ Biden Warns of Threats to Democracy, Political Violence President Joe Biden addressed the nation Wednesday night from Washington, D.C.’s Union Station, just steps from the Capitol. Invoking the memories of Jan. 6 and the recent politically motivated assault on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Biden called on Americans to defend democracy. He warned that political violence must end, and candidates must be willing to accept defeat or risk setting the country on a “path to chaos.” Law enforcement agencies are bracing for potential violence surrounding next week’s midterms, and early voters are already reporting intimidation by armed “election monitors” in some states. (Sources: [WaPo](, [Newsweek]() Arms Down Ethiopia, Tigrayan Forces Agree to End Two-Year War African Union mediators announced that after a week of formal peace talks in South Africa the warring parties have agreed to a “permanent cessation of hostilities,” including coordinated disarmament and unhindered access to humanitarian aid. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed hailed the agreement, saying, “The commitment to peace remains steadfast. And our commitment to collaborating for the implementation of the agreement is equally strong.” Tigrayan rebels said they’d made concessions to “build trust” but noted that reaching an agreement “speaks volumes about the readiness on the part of the two sides to lay the past behind them to chart a new path of peace.” (Source: [Al Jazeera]() Up, Up and Away Fed Raises Interest Rates, Warns More Hikes on the Way The Federal Reserve boosted interest rates another three-quarters of a point Wednesday, its fourth consecutive 0.75% increase. Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank would consider a smaller hike at its December meeting, but warned that more are likely. “It is very premature to be thinking about pausing,” Powell said. “We have a ways to go.” U.S. markets slumped following the news, with the S&P 500 dropping 2.5% and the Nasdaq falling more than 3%. The benchmark rate, which was near zero in March, is now in the 3.75-4% range — the fastest increase since the early 1980s. (Sources: [Reuters](, [WSJ]() Briefly Here are some things you should know about today: ICYMI: ICBM. North Korea continued its barrage of missile launches Thursday, firing an intercontinental ballistic missile over its eastern waters. (Source: [AP]() Pay up. Paramount and CBS must cough up $9.75 million after a state investigation found the network covered up sexual misconduct allegations against former CEO Les Moonves. (Source: [NYT]() Time to think. Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz was sentenced to life in prison without parole after a jury last month spared him the death penalty. (Source: [USA Today]() INTRIGUING In the Bag Professional Cornhole Rocked by BagGate Scandal First chess, now cornhole: Is nothing sacred? The pro version of a game most people know from family cookouts and tailgate parties — yes, there is pro cornhole — is mired in a controversy involving illegal beanbags. In the wake of a scandal so serious that it eclipsed the sporting prowess on display at the 2022 American Cornhole League World Championships in August, when multiple competitors’ bean bags weren’t regulation size, new rules are brewing. A beanbag crackdown is underway. As one cornhole pro noted, most players are good people, “but all it takes is one bad apple.” (Source: [WSJ]() They Found It! Scientists Map All 10,000 Nerve Fibers in Human Clitoris After decades of assuming the human clitoris contains 8,000 nerve fibers — a number from a 1976 book that was based on cow anatomy — researchers finally counted them. Dr. Blair Peters of Oregon Health and Science University led the research, using donated samples from seven transmasculine patients who underwent phalloplasty, the surgical construction of a penis from other tissues. The research highlights how little is known about the clitoris, and hints at a broader lack of research on female pleasure. While Peters notes that “this work came from trans people and is also for trans people,” it could also benefit women who have had trouble reaching orgasm. (Sources: [LiveScience](, [Gizmodo]() Broken Glass Yale Replaces Smashed ‘Racist’ Stained Glass Window Six years ago, a frustrated kitchen employee at Yale University dramatically [smashed]( a “racist, very degrading” stained glass window depicting slaves picking cotton, saying, “I shouldn’t have to come to work and see things like that.” Now the university has replaced 12 windows celebrating the antebellum South and slavery-supporting politician John C. Calhoun. The new panels — in a building recently renamed from Calhoun College to Grace Harper College in honor of a pioneering computer scientist — were designed by Black artists Faith Ringgold and Barbara Earl Thomas. One depicts a Yale dining hall with a cracked window emblazoned with the words “Broken is Mended.” (Source: [Artnet News]() For Creel Want to Live in Vecna’s House From ‘Stranger Things’? If you’re shopping for a 6,000-square-foot Victorian with “unparalleled provenance and pop culture pedigree” — and you have $1.5 million lying around — you can buy your own portal to the Upside Down. The 140-year-old mansion known as the Creel House in Stranger Things season four went on the market just before Halloween. According to the [realtor’s listing](, it boasts a “majestic formal dining room where telekinesis is no longer practiced during meals” and possibly “some residual demogorgons skulking about the property.” But if you’re set on Hawkins, Indiana, there’s bad news: Vecna’s place is in Rome, Georgia, where the series is filmed. (Sources: [Nerdist](, [Daily Mail](, photo by [Netflix]() Stellar Astros Pitchers Combine for First World Series No-Hitter Since 1956 Cristian Javier owned the Philadelphia Phillies so completely in the Astros’ 5-0 Game 4 win that it seemed he might take them down single-handedly — and without a hit. But after 97 pitches and six innings, he passed the ball to the bullpen. Relievers Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly picked up where Javier left off, blanking the Phillies’ sluggers and recording the first combined no-hitter in postseason history and just the second no-hitter in World Series history. With the series now tied 2-2, the Astros will have Cy Young winner Justin Verlander on the mound for Game 5 in Houston. (Sources: [USA Today](, [Yahoo Sports]() COMMUNITY What else are you curious about? 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