In their final debate, Donald Trump and Joe Biden fight over how to tame the coronavirus. Pundits credit the quality of the debate to “muted mic deterrence.” “It’s not the actual power of the mute but the threat of the mute.” / The Associated Press, The New York Times, Twitter
Nate Silver projects total turnout in the presidential race to be 154 million, with an 80th percentile range between 144 million and 165 million. In 2016, turnout was 137 million. / Twitter
Since 2016, an estimated 20 percent of US polling locations have been closed. / VICE
Fact-checks, summarized: “Toned-down Trump continues his onslaught of falsehoods.” / CNN
For what it’s worth, no US president has ever been able to impose a federal mandate of vaccines across the country. / Quartz
“A person who is looking for a full-time job that pays a living wage — but who can't find one — is unemployed.” If you accept that definition, then the true unemployment rate in the US is a colossal 26.1%. / Axios
Much remains secret about the family separations begun in secret by the White House in 2017. A 24-year-old talks about caring for the separated kids. / The New York Times
President Trump is all about "norm erosion." If Democrats win in November, they might need some norm erosion of their own to get anything done. / The New York Review of Books
Unrelated/related: An 85-year-old school building “walks” across Shanghai in 18 days. / The Morning News
Spain and France become the first two Western European countries to reach 1 million Covid-19 cases. / NPR
The FDA approves the antiviral drug Veklury (remdesivir) for the treatment of Covid-19 requiring hospitalization. A new study from the WHO says remdesivir has “little to no effect” on Covid patients' chances of survival. / FDA, BBC News
Remdesivir’s price tag ignores an enormous investment in its development by the National Institutes of Health. / STAT
Meanwhile, for the first time since records began, "the main nursery of Arctic sea ice in Siberia" has yet to start freezing in late October. / The Guardian
Alexis Goldstein: The US is missing a chance to tackle the climate crisis and pandemic relief together. / TruthOut
Twelve more protesters calling for an end to police brutality were killed in Nigeria, bringing the death toll over the past two weeks to at least 56. / The Associated Press
Stuck at home, people are repainting their interiors, and an entire ”quarantine palette has taken shape.” / ARTnews
The color russet, often seen in autumn, is more than just red-like, or red-adjacent. It’s also the color of “peasants, fox fur, and penance." / The Paris Review
The history of sneaker design in a poster of a single sneaker. / We Are Dorothy
A brief feminist history of the cardigan. "College men at Northwestern complained that women were 'handicapping themselves.'"/ The Week
To truly understand exploitation in the music industry, try Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise (1974). / Pitchfork
ABC lost TV hitmaker Shonda Rhimes to Netflix—and an entire sea change took place in Hollywood—over a pass to Disneyland. / The Hollywood Reporter