*Interpol’s Unsolved Case Involves its Chief | Brazil’s Ugly Election | Don’t Drink The Devil’s Nectar

Yesterday’s Pnut’s special edition received a lot of feedback. We’ll be sharing Pnut readers’ feedback later this week as to how faith and legitimacy might be restored in America’s institutions.

The combination of praise and vitriol from the edition is a reminder of the importance of civil discourse and citizen engagement. As a result we’d like to sponsor midterm elections get togethers. We’ll be holding one in downtown San Francisco on the evening of November 6th (Tuesday). Please RSVP here. This is our first offline event, and we are excited to meet our readers in person! And if you’d like to sponsor a midterm election get together, then please complete this form.

We humbly request that you ask all of your attendees to also vote that day. And if there are more than 10 people who attend your get together, then we’ll provide funds for food and drinks. And if you are able to draw a bipartisan get together, then we’ll provide even more support. This set of events should help explain why our parent company is called Media Mobilize.

“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow; but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” – Agatha Christie

“One doesn’t recognize the really important moments in one’s life until it’s too late.” – Ibid.

Where in the World is Interpol President’s (and Carmen Sandiego?):Interpol is the international criminal police organization based in Lyon, France. The organization links up police officials from its 192 member states to broaden searches for fugitives or missing persons. When a country requests information go public, Interpol issues the closest thing to an international arrest warrant, called a “red notice.” “Yellow notices” are issued for missing persons. On Saturday, Interpol sent a formal request to China through official law enforcement channels for information on 64 year old Meng Hongwei, the organization’s chief since 2016, who disappeared after leaving France and flying home on business September 25. On Sunday Meng’s wife told a press conference in Lyon, France that her husband had sent her the image of a knife shortly before he went missing, and she was convinced it was his way of signaling he was at risk.

Hours later Beijing admitted Meng was being held “under the monitoring and investigation” of China’s new government anti-corruption unit, the National Supervision Commission, for suspected serious violations of state law. No further information about the reason for his arrest and detention was given. Meng had over 40 years of criminal justice experience before becoming Interpol’s first Chinese chief. He still holds the title of vice-minister for public security, and has expertise in the field of drugs control, counter-terrorism, immigration and border control. Meng’s wife and two children are under French police protection after they received threats on social media and by telephone.

MISSING: Saudi Journalist: Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident Saudi journalist and writer critical of the country’s leadership, is believed to have been assassinated inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey last week. Khashoggi had gone to the consulate about 1:30 pm Tuesday to obtain a document certifying he had divorced his ex-wife, so that he could marry his Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz. Investigators believe the 15-person Saudi team that had arrived at the consulate Tuesday murdered Khashoggi, dismembered him, and carried the body parts away in boxes. The team then returned to Riyadh the same day. Saudi officials have called the accusation baseless. (WaPo)

New Letter Covers Letter That Covered The Cover Up: Six weeks ago a former Vatican ambassador to the US, Carlo Maria Viganò, wrote an incendiary letter accusing Vatican hierarchy and Pope Francis of covering up years of alleged sexual abuse by a US prelate, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Finally a highly placed Canadian cardinal, Marc Ouellet, has written a combative letter defending the pope and calling the cover-up accusations a “political plot.” (WaPo)

Additional read: The Archbishop’s office of Santiago, Chili published a manual to prevent sexual abuse on its website last month that gave numerous descriptions of physical behavior it said were inappropriate for clergy members to do to minors, without ever describing the behavior as sexual abuse. After public outrage, the guidelines were taken down two days later. (NYT)

Cheese Danishes Don’t Usually Have Cheddar: A 48-year-old London-born financier now living in Dubai, Sanjay Shah, is accused by Danish authorities of bilking Danes out of $2 billion with a fraudulent tax schemeShah claims was merely “taking advantage of a loophole.” This latest bombshell adds to a deepening distrust in Danish politics that citizens were already feeling since learning of the $230 billion money-laundering fiasco at Danske Bank, the country’s largest lender. (NYT)

The Devil’s Nectar: During Prohibition in America it was called Bathtub Gin. Whatever they call homemade spirits in Iran these days, it should be imbibed with a whole lot of caution. Poisonous batches of bootleg alcoholhave killed at least 42 people and sent hundreds to hospitals across the country in recent weeks. Alcohol consumption has been illegal in Iran since the 1979 revolution, but the government has had to acknowledge the country might actually have a drinking problem. Hint: that delivery box on your neighbor’s doorstep isn’t full of Qurans. (NYT)

– “Ireland Bill Aims to Crack Down on Excessive Drinking With Health Warning Labels: A bill that passed the Irish Parliament’s lower house on Wednesday limits alcohol advertising, requires that alcoholic products be separated from retail areas inside shops. It also demands health warnings, including about links to cancer, both on bottles and at the point of sale” (NYT)

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Brazil’s Ugly Election Gets Uglier: Brazil’s far-right populist candidate Jair Bolsonaro has won a resounding majority in Sunday’s election, but not enough to avoid a run-off on October 28. Bolsonaro won over 46 million votes, coming in just over 46 percent in a six-person field. Second-place candidate, leftist Workers’ party Fernando Haddad, garnered almost 29% of the vote. Bolsonaro supporters were jubilant Sunday night, gathering outside his home in western Rio de Janeiro to celebrate with fireworks and barbecue. Those opposed to the pro-torture former Army captain point to his history of spewing vitriol against blacks, gays, and women, his focus on loosening gun laws and his admiration for military dictatorships.

The seven-time congressman is such a divisive figure that he was almost stabbed to death weeks ago while campaigning, but the attack actually played into the candidate’s promise to get tough on crime. As his popularity grew, powerful political players threw their support to him, including an evangelical pastor and television magnate, the agribusiness coalition in Congress, and market-minded elites.

The director of Latin American Studies at Johns Hopkins University had an ominous prediction: “It’s going to be a horrible campaign in the second round. It’s going to be one side smearing the other. Bolsonaro is going to be coming out with all the dirt on the PT [Workers’ party] – and there’s plenty of that. And the PT is going to be coming out with a lot of dirt on Bolsonaro – and there’s plenty of that too.” She added: “The next few weeks are just going to be crazy … the country is just going to divide even more.”

– “Desire paths: the illicit trails that defy the urban planners: When cities lack the paths pedestrians need, people vote with their feet” Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, and it got me to the Starbucks slightly faster. (Guardian)

– “China Makes A Big Play In Silicon Valley: A year ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping stood before the 19th Communist Party Congress and laid out his ambitious plan for China to become a world leader by 2025 in advanced technologies such as robotics, biotechnology and artificial intelligence.” (NPR)

– “What the tests don’t show: Doctors are surprisingly bad at reading lab results. It’s putting us all at risk.” An apple a day keeps the false diagnosis away. (WaPo)

– “HPV Vaccine Expanded for People Ages 27 to 45: The vaccine is Gardasil 9, made by Merck, and had been previously approved for minors and people up to age 26.” (NYT)

– “The Best Article Ever Written About Bragging: After feeling belittled, I journey into the heart of bragging and discover 17 modes of showing off.” (Less Peguiny)

– “Yuki Kawauchi Is Distance Running’s Elite Oddball: Kawauchi, 31, works 40 hours a week in the administrative office of Kuki High School in his hometown, just north of Tokyo. As a government employee, he can keep his race winnings ($150,000 for Boston) and bonus money but is not permitted to accept corporate sponsorships, including a potentially lucrative shoe contract.” (NYT)

– “Millions of Americans take vitamin D. Most should just stop.: Outside of rare cases, rigorous studies of the supplement don’t find any health benefit.” (Vox)

“One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one.” – Agatha Christie

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