3 things that matter
lula wins a historic fourth term in brazil — and bolsonaro refuses to concede
lula da silva won brazil’s presidential runoff sunday with 51% of the vote, securing an unprecedented fourth term over senator flávio bolsonaro. bolsonaro has refused to concede and is seeking to annul the result — the same playbook his imprisoned father attempted in 2022. reuters reported that trump’s state department had pushed for sanctions against brazil to weaken lula ahead of the vote, it didn’t work. lula now governs with a more conservative congress and a deeply divided country, but the right-wing wave sweeping latin america hit a significant wall on sunday.
microsoft offered buyouts to 60,000 employees — and says layoffs remain on the table
microsoft announced monday it is offering voluntary exit packages to roughly 60,000 employees — 27% of its global workforce — across the u.s., canada, india, and the uk. workers have until early december. the company was clear: this program does not replace layoffs, which will continue regardless. workers who declined earlier buyout offers were later included in mandatory cuts. separately, the department of labor suspended microsoft from its green card sponsorship program just 18 days before the memo landed, creating immigration uncertainty for thousands of foreign workers weighing the offer. more than 150,000 tech workers have lost jobs to AI-driven restructuring so far in 2026. microsoft is spending $175 billion on AI infrastructure this year.
four days out: what the midterm map actually looks like
election day is tuesday, november 3. forecasting models give democrats an 86% chance of taking back the house and a 58% chance of winning the senate. democrats hold a 10-point advantage on the generic congressional ballot. the economy is the throughline — the iran war, record diesel prices, and tariffs have put iowa, ohio, kansas, and north carolina in play in ways republicans didn’t expect. more than 13 million ballots have already been cast, a 44% increase over 2022 at this point. the house is widely expected to flip, and the senate is genuinely uncertain.
1 thing to know
brazil is the story underneath the midterms
lula’s win matters beyond brazil’s borders in a specific way: trump had bet on a bolsonaro family dynasty as the anchor of his latin america strategy — a reliable ally, a market friendly to american investment, a counterweight to the region’s left-leaning governments. that bet lost on sunday.
lula has explicitly positioned brazil as a country that will maintain relationships with all major world powers, including china, which has become brazil’s largest trading partner. the trump state department’s reported push to sanction brazil before the election — to tilt the outcome — didn’t stay quiet, and it will color every interaction between washington and brasília for the next four years. with colombia already led by a left-leaning president and venezuela still in crisis, the u.s. is entering a midterm week with a significantly weakened hand in its own hemisphere. that’s the part of the story that doesn’t fit neatly into the election night coverage, but it matters as much as any senate race.
1 thing to try
lion’s mane
lion’s mane is a mushroom that’s been used in traditional medicine for centuries and is now getting serious attention from researchers — specifically for its effect on brain health. the interesting part isn’t that it “boosts focus” in the vague way that half the supplement aisle claims to. it’s that it stimulates nerve growth factor, a protein involved in the maintenance and repair of neurons. there are peer-reviewed trials showing real improvements in cognitive function and mood, which is not something you can say about most things marketed as nootropics.
it takes four to eight weeks to notice anything, which is actually a good sign. most supplements that do something fast are doing something blunt, this one works slowly. the one thing worth knowing before you buy: look for a product that specifies fruiting body, not mycelium on grain. the latter is cheaper to make and has a fraction of the active compounds. host defense and om mushrooms are both great options.
