Happy Halloween! Let’s celebrate with some links. Science:

Meet the Diabolical Ironclad Beetle. It’s Almost Uncrushable.
Nursing Home Staff Networks and COVID-19
COVID-19 can affect the heart
Emergence and spread of a SARS-CoV-2 variant through Europe in the summer of 2020 (“It is currently unclear whether this variant is spreading because of a transmission advantage of the virus or whether high incidence in Spain followed by dissemination through tourists is sufficient to explain the rapid rise in multiple countries.”)
Effectiveness of Face Masks in Preventing Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2
Biden’s Call for ‘National Mask Mandate’ Gains Traction in Public Health Circles

Other:

Anti-mask protesters target state epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn
What to Do if You Change Your Mind About Voting by Mail
The Day After Election Day. Current and former Trump administration officials are worried about what might happen on Nov. 4.
COVID-19 Is Killing My People—And No One Seems to Care
The Atlantic’s troubled niche-sports story
8th Circuit Threatens to Steal Minnesota Election
Trump’s Thoroughly Modern Masculinity. The president isn’t a throwback to old-school masculinity. He’s a he-man specifically engineered for our image-based, sensation-saturated times.
Purge the Courts
States say they lack federal funds to distribute coronavirus vaccine as CDC tells them to be ready by Nov. 15
Police Response Slowed. The Community Stepped In. In Minneapolis this summer, 911 response times increased as officers left the force. Instead of asking for more police, some residents reimagined public safety for themselves.
Republicans are trapped by Trump’s insane ideas about how to win this election
Glenn Greenwald Throws a Fit. In his spectacular departure from The Intercept, he previewed a new media venture that seems destined to showcase the most insufferable people in American media.
As pandemic raged and thousands died, government regulators cleared most nursing homes of infection-control violations. Despite promises of ‘aggressive enforcement,’ over 40,000 residents died in homes that received a clean bill of health (boring regulation by the executive branch matters)
Not Even the President’s Most Shameless Lackeys Are Pretending He’ll Get More Citizens’ Votes on Tuesday
The State Department wouldn’t reveal its payments to Mar-a-Lago. Here’s how we found them.
William Rehnquist Is Ratf*cking This Election From the Beyond. After a green light from Brett Kavanaugh, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has thrown Minnesota into chaos.
‘There’s no help coming before the election’: Indiana’s RV capital faces its worst coronavirus outbreak alone
Four New Justices, No Matter What. The Democrats prefer to whine about Republican extremism rather than retaliate. If the party wins in November, nothing less than absolute ruthlessness will do.
Trump pandemic worse than ever
The radical implications of the Supreme Court’s new ruling on Wisconsin mail-in ballots
‘Just like propaganda’: the three men enabling Trump’s voter fraud lies
How Trump and Bolsonaro Broke Latin America’s Covid-19 Defenses