Good morning, it's Friday, Oct. 23, and we're covering the final presidential debate, the ongoing conflict in the Caucasus, and Ghislaine Maxwell. Have feedback? Let us know at [email protected].

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NEED TO KNOW

Debate Night

President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden faced off in the second and final presidential debate last night, a tense but substantive 90-minutes moderated by NBC News' Kristen Welker. A contrast to the first debate, last night's event featured less interruptions, with more focus on concrete policy discussion.

Much of the back and forth focused on the coronavirus, with Trump defending the administration's response, and Biden repeatedly raising the issue of face masks. Both candidates also discussed healthcare, with Trump saying he would eliminate and the Affordable Care Act and build an alternative, while Biden said he'd build on existing policy. The Trump campaign, in an effort to highlight recent reports on Hunter Biden's business dealings, invited a former business associate of Hunter's to the event. Tony Bobulinski has claimed ($$, WSJ) he helped facilitate business investments between the Bidens and Chinese firms (see overview). The elder Biden denied the claims.

Moderator Kristen Welker was lauded for keeping both on track. See some of the highlights here.

The debate was the highest-profile event remaining on the campaign calendar before the election—now just 11 days away. It will take a few days to determine whether last night helped Trump close the polling gap; he trails Biden significantly in national polls as well as in key swing states, though the margins there are closer (see polls). Biden also holds a significant cash advantage, having entered the month with $177M, compared to Trump's $63M.

More than 49 million people have already voted (track here), roughly 35% of the entire 2016 turnout. Ten times more voters have returned ballots than at the same point in 2016, and twice as many people have voted in-person. Analysts project 150 million people may vote, or 65% of eligible voters—the highest voting rate since 1908.  

Finally, you can play around with this interactive electoral vote calculator to simulate different election outcomes. 

Escalation in the Caucasus

The death toll in the ongoing conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region has risen to an estimated 5,000 people, according to reports, as Armenia and Azerbaijan trade blame over a series of failed cease-fires. The ethnic conflict, nestled in the South Caucasus, threatens to draw in neighboring Turkey and Russia (see map), potentially escalating hostilities.

The contested region, roughly the size of Rhode Island, is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but is semi-autonomous and 90% Armenian. In addition to ethnic differences, Azerbaijan is predominantly Muslim, while Armenia is mostly Christian. The Azeris share close ties with Turkey, while Turkish-Armenian relations are nonexistent. See background on what has been called the "frozen war" here. 

While the scale of the clashes is still relatively small, the conflict has stirred memories of the Armenian genocide, in which the Ottoman Empire killed an estimated 1.5 million Armenians living in what is now Turkey and adjoining areas between 1914 and 1923. 

Maxwell Deposition Released

A 2016 deposition of Ghislaine Maxwell, arrested earlier this month for allegedly helping deceased sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls, was released yesterday. The document originates from a civil suit brought by Virginia Giuffre, who said she was recruited by Maxwell and kept as a sex slave by Epstein, and forced to have sex with wealthy associates, including Prince Andrew. Maxwell, who fought the deposition's release, denied the claims and said—under oath—that she never saw Epstein have sex with an underage woman. See highlights, along with the full 418-page deposition, here.

The 58-year-old British socialite currently faces six counts related to sex trafficking and perjury. A holder of French and British passports, Maxwell was considered a flight risk and was denied bail; she currently resides in a Manhattan jail, with the trial scheduled to begin in July. 

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LIKE BUYING NETFLIX IN 2007?

What do Netflix and an internet company 1/50th the size of Google have in common? Well, for starters, they're both smaller than Google (ha!). But they also both have a special connection with our pals, Tom and David Gardner.

The Gardner brothers founded The Motley Fool back in 1993, and every month since then, Tom and David have searched far and wide with their independent teams to release their most promising stock picks. Because these teams work entirely independently of each other, their picks are—more often than not—very different. But every once in a while, they'll arrive at the same recommendation. Which brings us back to Netflix. Back in 2007, both Tom and David recommended the little-known DVD-subscription site, and returns have been a whopping 16,971%. In fact, their teams have only arrived at the same pick 26 times in the entire history of The Motley Fool, with average returns of 1,258%.

And recently, Tom and David arrived at another pick independently. Like we hinted at, it's a small internet company roughly 1/50th the size of Google, with massive potential to grow within the entertainment advertising space. Motley Fool Stock Advisor members can check out the report for free—sign up now.

Returns as of 9/11/2020

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IN THE KNOW

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> Street artist Banksy’s Show Me the Monet take on a Claude Monet piece sells for nearly $10M at auction (More)

> Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays face off in Game 3 of the World Series tonight (8:00pm ET, FOX) with the series tied up at 1-1 (More) | NBA Draft to be held virtually Nov. 18 from ESPN Studios (More)

> Marge Champion, legendary television and film dancer who was also the movement model for Disney’s “Snow White,” dies at 101 (More)

Science & Technology

> Archaeologists find evidence the ancient Mayans developed advanced water filters using natural minerals; easy sources of clean drinking water may have fueled the growth of the capital city of Tikal (More)

> Cryo-electron microscopy achieves resolution allowing individual atoms on a protein to be imaged (More) | How to take pictures with electrons (More)

> New app allows the diagnosis of strokes using a smartphone; program uses machine learning to analyze speech patterns and facial muscle movements (More)

Business & Markets

Brought to you by The Ascent

> Initial unemployment claims drop to 787,000 filed during the previous week, the lowest level since March (More)

> Walmart files lawsuit against federal government seeking to clarify pharmacist legal responsibilities in filling opioid prescriptions, as Justice Department officials state the prescriptions shouldn’t have been filled and are threatening to sue the retail giant (More)

> US home sales in September jump 9.4%, highest level of growth since 2006; median price up 14.8% over last year to $311,800 (More)

A credit card that packs up to $1,148 of value? Secure the highest cash back rate on the market that we've come across—with no annual fee to boot. #Ad

Politics & World Affairs

> Senate Judiciary Committee advances Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett in party-line vote; full Senate vote expected Monday (More) | Democrats boycott committee vote (More)

> President Trump releases full unedited clip of an upcoming "60 Minutes" interview; the taping was ended early after Trump argued anchor Lesley Stahl was asking unfair questions (More, w/video)

> Antiviral drug remdesivir receives full FDA approval for treating COVID-19 on the basis that it cuts average recovery times by 30% (More) | See rolling averages for the US (cases, deaths)

IN-DEPTH

The Real Silent Majority

NYT | Yanna Krupnikov, John Barry Ryan. The biggest divide in America may not be between the left and right, but between political partisans and the other 85% of the country. (Read, $$)

Brainwashed

CBC | Staff. The lingering effects of MK-ULTRA, the covert CIA experiment to develop drugs and processes for mind control interrogations. (Read)

How to Spot a Military Impostor

New Yorker | Rachel Monroe. On the road with detectives who track down those falsely claiming military service—and the public shaming that follows. (Read, $$)

Is Anyone Watching Quibi?

Vulture | Benjamin Wallace. (From June) On the heels of Quibi's executives throwing in the towel, look back at the problems that plagued the streaming video platform from the outset. (Read)

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

In partnership with The Motley Fool

You probably don't want to compete with David and Tom Gardner—cofounders of The Motley Fool—on stock portfolio performance. Together, they average 529% returns, beating the S&P 500 by roughly five times. But what's better than a stock pick from David or Tom?

You got it: a stock pick from both David and Tom. When they both pick the same stock independently, average returns have been 1,258%, beating the markets over 11 times! Read their report today about a stock pick that both David and Tom recently made.

Returns as of 9/11/2020

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ETCETERA

Visualizing two decades of home prices in US cities.

NASA shares new images of the asteroid Bennu. 

A fascinating look at how The New York Times rescued itself from collapse.

This village is built around a hedgehog highway.

Santa won't visit Macy's for the first time in 159 years.

Fans left angry as Charlie Brown moves to Apple TV+.

The Caspian Sea Monster rises once more.

When you have a fat dog and a monkey.

Clickbait: Say hello to Pistachio, the green-furred puppy​.

Historybook: First National Women’s Rights Convention begins (1850); Comedian and "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson born (1925); HBD soccer legend Pelé (1940); Suicide bombings at US Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon kills 241 US servicemen (1983); 130 die in Moscow theater hostage crisis (2002).

"Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing."

- Pelé

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