A top Washington state official said on Oct. 29 that the state has no way to confirm whether people are U.S. citizens when registering them to vote.
"We don't have a system that can identify whether someone is an actual noncitizen," Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said during a press conference in King County.
Hobbs also said that "it's not unusual for noncitizens to actually be on voter rolls" and that "we never said that there are none on there."
Federal officials recently saidthey identified more than 400 people registered to vote in Washington state who are suspected of being noncitizens.
They said they would send Hobbs's office a list of the people and ask him to set aside ballots from those individuals until their citizenship status could be confirmed.
Hobbs, responding in a letter on Wednesday, said a preliminary analysis showed that some of the people on the list are not currently registered to vote and that others are U.S. citizens, "based on information of which Washington is aware." Hobbs asked the federal government for "individualized proof that certain registered voters in Washington are ineligible."
Washington state has automatic voter registration. That means people who present proof of citizenship to state agencies are automatically registered to vote.
To meet the requirements, a person must sign a statement saying they're a U.S. citizen and provide identification.
Hobbs told the briefing, after saying the state lacks a system to verify citizenship, "That's why when people go up to get their registration done at a [government facility], they are asked if they are a noncitizen, they are asked to sign the form; they're attesting whether or not they're a U.S. citizen."
Hobbs's comments show that the state "does nothing to confirm citizenship" and is "knowingly sending out ballots to noncitizens and trusting that the noncitizens will not fill out the ballot," Charles Neil Floyd, acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, said in a statement to news outlets on Oct. 29.
"Registering noncitizens to vote with or without their knowledge could jeopardize their ability to become citizens. The noncitizens we have interviewed tell us that they assumed they could vote because the state sent them a ballot."
Hobbs said registering noncitizens to vote could happen because a noncitizen wasn't listening to what a government worker said or because a government worker clicked the wrong box.
He said that there have been 15 cases of noncitizen voting between 1982 and 2025 in the state.
Hobbs and King County Elections Director Julie Wise, who has expressed concerns in the past about noncitizens being registered to vote, told the briefing that noncitizens who are registered to vote have in the past called authorities to have their names removed.
"It is not a crime to be accidentally put on the voter roll, because sometimes it's not their fault," Hobbs said.
Officials noted that voting as a noncitizen is a crime, with prison time among the penalties upon conviction.
The U.S. military killed five people Tuesday aboard what Southern Command described as a "go-fast vessel" associated with "narco-terrorists" in the eastern Pacific Ocean, bringing the death toll from its campaign against suspected drug traffickers to at least 240 since September 2025.
U.S. Southern Command said Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere carried out the Oct. 27 strike against a speedboat traveling along known drug-trafficking routes.
The command said intelligence confirmed the vessel's involvement in narcotics trafficking but did not publicly provide evidence supporting that assessment, with the majority of these killings occurring at sea.
Video released by U.S. Southern Command on X appears to show the vessel sitting nearly motionless in the water before a large explosion engulfs it. The footage does not establish whether the vessel was anchored or disabled.
On October 27, under the direction of #SOUTHCOM, Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere executed a lethal, kinetic strike on a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific. Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel's active involvement... pic.twitter.com/egwWVgoypi
The families of two men killed in an October 2025 strike have also sued the U.S. government, alleging wrongful death and extrajudicial killing. The lawsuit, filed with assistance from the American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Constitutional Rights, concerns Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41, both from Trinidad and Tobago.
Their families say the men had been fishing and working in Venezuela and were returning home when the military struck their boat. The lawsuit seeks damages and a finding that their deaths were unlawful.
The Trump administration has maintained that the strikes are lawful. SOUTHCOM previously told Task & Purpose that all military operations had complied with the law of armed conflict and that every person killed was a confirmed member of a designated terrorist organization.
Google Plunges After Ugly Top And Bottom Line Miss, As AI Cannibalizes Search And Ads
Today, ahead of the doubleheader of Mag 7 reports when both Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet report, we wrote in our preview that Microsoft has become the consensus long, while Alphabet "still feels like the consensus funding short across megacaps." And both have to convince a market that, as Goldman's Rich Privorotsky put it this morning, now has "eye watering expectations":
"These really matter. Eye watering expectations… buyside probably closer to Azure growth around high 40s%, Google Cloud around mid 90s%. The question isn't whether those are good numbers, but whether they can surpass already high expectations... Azure probably needs a guidance raise to be properly supportive. The nuance is capacity… if they miss elevated expectations simply because they cannot bring enough compute online. That's disappointing for near term revenue but potentially even more bullish for the scarcity premium and future spending. Watch customer concentration, how broad the demand really is and, crucially, the relationship between revenue growth, capex and margins. The market wants evidence that the incremental economics work."
In other words, a cloud beat is just the price of admission, and the debate tonight is what all that cloud costs, and who pays for it.
Within the Mag 7, Microsoft and Alphabet sit at opposite ends. Goldman's derivatives desk has Microsoft at 8/10 on its positioning score (the same score Meta carried into its print last week, and we all know how that went). Alphabet, meanwhile, keeps getting sold to pay for everything else. JPMorgan's TMT trader Brian Heavey wrote this morning that "we continue to see GOOG being used as a source of funds (note there was another negative 3P check ahead of earnings - all pointing to a Search miss)." The stock dropped 10% from its October 13 high into Monday.
There are some signs of a thaw. Goldman's US desk saw "a buyer of 50k GOOGL 15Jan 360 calls" on Tuesday, and Privorotsky notes that "people have barely begun to re-risk. What we've really seen so far is the abatement of supply, rather than meaningful fresh demand."
Away from Goldman, and focusing on Alphabet, the whole debate fits in one line from JPMorgan's Mark Schilsky, whose Tech Sketch "Earnings Preview Bonanza" (available to pro subs) frames it as "Street (Consensus) Fighter II: Search vs. Cloud":
"On the one hand, Google Cloud Revenues are likely to crush this quarter, thanks to TPU sales. On the other hand, Search Revenue growth is expected to miss the Street because the alt data (which is always right!) suggests so... GOOGL is also on a path to where Google Cloud Revenues could be equal to Search Revenues by late 2028. That's massive! Who thought that was possible 1 year ago? And now we're debating whether or not Search is going to miss by like -50 bps this quarter. Who cares?!?"
Plenty of people care, apparently. Schilsky gives Alphabet a 5 out of 10 on his investor expectations gauge, vs. a 9 for Meta last week:
Here is the buyside bar, combining Schilsky and the UBS bogeys:
Search: investors expect ~14% growth, FXN and reported, vs. the Street's ~15%. UBS has the bogey at 14-14.5%. Goldman's analysts are 1% below consensus. Per Schilsky, "everyone 'knows' that Search is likely to miss by about -100 bps because that's where the alt data is," so "if this beats, the stock is almost assuredly going higher T+1." Watch paid clicks too (+13% in Q2), where "the comps get 3 points harder this print."
YouTube: ~11-12%. "Honestly, no one really cares about YouTube. As long as growth doesn't dip below +10% Y/Y, investors will continue to ignore it."
Google Cloud: this is where the buyside is way above the sellside. Schilsky hears +105% to +115%, UBS +100-115%, Goldman's analysts ~+100%, and Privorotsky's desk "mid 90s," all vs. the Street at roughly +90-96%. Implied TPU sales in the quarter: "most are in the $5B to $7B range."
Operating income: ~$45 billion vs. the Street's ~$43 billion (UBS says $44-45 billion).
Note just how wide the range is on Google Cloud in Bloomberg's consensus: the median is $29.1 billion, but individual estimates run from $24.3 billion to $36.7 billion, roughly 60% to 140% growth. Elsewhere, Search is expected at $64.9 billion, YouTube at $11.4 billion, and total operating income at $43.2 billion. And look at the bottom line: consensus has Alphabet generating negative free cash flow of $3.5 billion this quarter, as $55.8 billion of capex swallows $53.9 billion of operating cash flow.
For Schilsky, the sneaky most important number is the Google Cloud margin: "given that this is the first quarter in which TPU sales are likely to be truly meaningful, any beat to the Street's ~33% EBIT Margin estimate will be rightfully viewed by investors as modest validation that TPU margins are close to – or possibly higher than – core Google Cloud Margins." Goldman's TMT specialists add the other side of that ledger: "Watch cloud margin commentary as they have flagged modest pressure... Search still funds the build. Any softness in search monetization or YouTube would compound the spend narrative."
Then there's the consumer agent. UBS says investors want two things before sentiment can inflect: "a credible AI agent that helps ease Muse/Search concerns, and a broader Gemini 4 rollout." Perceptions of Alphabet as a direct competitor to the leading frontier labs "have faded" after the latest Gemini delay (and after Gemini 4 Argon proved to be, well, benchmaxxed). Goldman's Eric Sheridan sees "an eventual consumer agent launch, possibly aligned with Gemini 4 ahead of the holiday season," and Schilsky expects "a 'real' competitor to META Muse in the coming months."
The $350 Billion Question
As always, the number that moves the stock may not even be in the quarter. Alphabet's 2026 capex guide sits at $195-205 billion, and UBS says the focus tonight is simply a reiteration. 2027 is another story:
2027 capex: Street ~$305 billion, per Schilsky. The buyside is at "$330B to $350B" (JPM) or "$350-375 bn" (UBS). Goldman's own estimate is $350 billion.
2028 capex: "Trust me, I've been asking investors for weeks for this number, but the most common answer I've received is a combination of 'Higher' and 'If anyone tells you with any certainty what their estimate for Google's 2028 is, they are b*#!$#!ing you.'"
2027 EPS: $14.50-16.00 per JPM, $15-16 per UBS, vs. the Street at ~$15. 2028 EPS is anyone's guess, with the "modal outcome" in the low $20s vs. the Street at ~$18.
2027 Google Cloud growth: the Street is at +68%, while "most investors are >+100% Y/Y."
So, a 70%-plus jump in capex to $350 billion or more is now the bull case. Recall what Sundar told us in July when the market balked at the last increase:
*ALPHABET CEO: NEXT GEN FRONTIER MODELS WILL BE MUCH LARGER
With all that in mind (and it's quite a lot), here is what GOOGL reported moments ago, which judging by the negative stock reaction to the revenue and EPS miss a sign that the company is failing to generate enough return to justify its massive investments in AI, is a mirror image of the meltup after the stellar 2nd quarter, may explain why as noted above, GOOGL has been the funding short across the Mag 7 space:
Google advertising revenue $82.01 billion, +11% y/y, missing estimate $83.57 billion as AI is starting to aggressively cannibalize search and ad revenue
Google Search & Other Revenue $63.35 billion, +12% y/y, missing estimate $64.85 billion
Google Subscriptions, Platforms and Devices Revenue $14.29 billion, +11% y/y, missing estimate $14.78 billion
Google Cloud revenue $30.71 billion vs. $15.16 billion y/y, beating estimate $29.1 billion
Other Bets revenue $372 million, +8.1% y/y, missing estimate $387.8 million
Other items:
Hedging gains $194 million, estimate $21.1 million
Total TAC $16.37 billion, +10% y/y, estimate $16.53 billion
Operating income $40.58 billion, +30% y/y, estimate $43.16 billion
Operating margin 32% vs. 31% y/y, estimate 33.7%
Google Services operating income $39.16 billion, +17% y/y, estimate $40.53 billion
Other Bets operating loss $2.05 billion vs. loss $1.43 billion y/y, estimate loss $1.72 billion
Alphabet-level activities operating loss $7.66 billion vs. loss $4.47 billion y/y, estimate loss $5.49 billion
Number of employees 204,757, +7.7% y/y, estimate 200,614
Last but not least, Capex:
Capital expenditure $51.36 billion vs. $23.95 billion y/y, estimate $55.78 billion
Oops.
Here are the results visually:
Cloud was the only big beat. Google Cloud came in at $30.7bn vs $29.1bn expected (+103% y/y), but Search, YouTube, Subscriptions and Services all missed. Operating income of $40.6bn was 6% light.
Two speeds. Cloud doubled; Search grew 12% (vs the ~14% buyside bogey and ~15% Street), YouTube 9% (below the 10% line Schilsky said investors would tolerate), and Network just 1%.
Cloud margin jumped to 36.2% from 23.7%, well above the ~33% Street figure Schilsky flagged. But Alphabet-level losses rose 71% to $7.7bn and Other Bets lost $2.0bn, so about half of Cloud's $7.5bn profit gain went straight back out.
The cost of compute. R&D (+36%) and cost of revenues ex-TAC (+32%, where depreciation sits) both grew faster than revenue (+25%). G&A fell 17%, and headcount was still up 7.7% to 204,757.
Operating income was up 30%, but EPS fell 26% to $2.12. A $21bn swing in other income, including an $8.66bn net loss on equity securities, wiped out the operating gain. There was also a new $298mm preferred dividend line.
Capex rose 114% y/y to $51.4bn (below the $55.8bn consensus). Operating cash flow fell 13% y/y to $42.3bn, far short of the $53.9bn consensus, so the capex 'miss' did not help free cash flow.
Free cash flow was negative for a second straight quarter: -$9.1bn vs -$3.5bn consensus. Trailing-12-month FCF collapsed 73% to $19.7bn, from $73.6bn a year ago.
The funniest part is just how dramatic the Y-axis rigging was in the company's presentation to make the YoY growth better:
Some more comments from the press release:
Model Apis Now Processing About 32B Tokens Per Minute
Gemini App Has Reached 1 Billion Users
Gemini App Has Reached Oneb Users—making
Shares Drop 7% After 3Q Earnings Report
Surpassed 150M Youtube Music & Premium Subs
Gemini 4 Argon & Carbon Are Now Leading at Frontier
3Q Net Loss on Equity Securities $8.66B
Google Cloud Rev. Grew 103%
Surpassed 150M Youtube Music & Premium Subs Globally
We expect to hear much more on the call, including capex guidance: as a reminder, Google’s race to build AI infrastructure for both itself and its customers has sent its capital expenditures soaring to record levels. At the same time, the investments have helped Google evolve into a top supplier of computing power to AI companies including Anthropic PBC and Meta. The problem is that AI is now too successful, and is clearly cannibalizing from the company's core "bread and butter" advertising and search business, which missed badly across the board.
The company is also working to develop AI models itself and integrate them into consumer products such as the search engine, YouTube and Gmail - though those efforts have yet to pay off relative to the level of Google’s spending.
In response to the dramatic top and bottom line miss, GOOGL stock plunged 8%, not only reversing the July surge, but dragging the stock back to levels last seen in April as some 6 months of gains have been unwound.
An Illinois man was charged Monday with mailing letters containing a white granular substance to four members of Congress, telling investigators he used salt because it looked like anthrax, according to a federal criminal complaint.
The complaint says the letters were postmarked Oct. 19 in Springfield, Illinois, and arrived at district offices between Oct. 21 and Oct. 23.
Three contained the handwritten note "HA HA", while one to a senator's office read "HAH enjoy the gift," according to the filing. Preliminary testing found no chemical or biological toxins in the letters.
An anonymous tip reached the FBI's National Threat Operations Center on Oct. 16, with the tipster saying he overheard Matthew G. Unglesbee in a restaurant discussing the mailings. The tipster provided Unglesbee's name, address, and date of birth, the filing said.
According to the complaint, the envelopes also included Unglesbee's name and his return home address.
FBI agents interviewed Unglesbee at his Quincy home on Oct. 25, and he admitted mailing the four letters.
Unglesbee told agents the substance in the letters was salt because it "kind of looks like" anthrax. He acknowledged he knew recipients "took it serious" and would have "hazmat come in white suits" because "anthrax is dangerous," according to the complaint.
He said he was joking but recognized the recipients would not know that and could perceive it as a threat, the filing said.
A search of his residence turned up a fifth, unmailed envelope addressed to one congressperson's Washington office.
Unglesbee said he sent the letters after hearing someone mention a news story about other suspicious white powder mailed to officials. He denied any role in those mailings.
Unglesbee was charged with mailing threatening communications, false information, and hoaxes to at least four members of Congress, and with claiming that those letters contained a white granular substance. An attorney for Unglesbee could not be identified.
Election Offices Targeted
Unglesbee's case comes amid similar incidents in October, ahead of the November midterm elections.
On Oct. 15, the FBI confirmed to The Epoch Times that "a series of suspicious mailings" had been sent to election offices across the country. As part of this, four Republican election officials reported they were the intended recipients of the suspicious mail. A spokesperson said the agency was not confirming the number of mailings intercepted at the time.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose confirmed that his office was an intended recipient of one of the mailings, but federal investigators intercepted the letter. Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson's office was also an intended target, according to his spokeswoman, Liz Jonson. The Wisconsin Elections Commission said it received an envelope with white powder, according to a statement, and that tests concluded it was not hazardous.
In an alert on Oct. 23, the FBI also said it found suspicious substances in mail sent to media organizations, public and private polling companies, secretaries of state and related election offices, and other election-related entities. No hazardous material had been identified.
In a similar incident before the 2024 general elections, election officials in six states reported receiving envelopes with powdery substances. Investigators tested the substances and found no hazardous materials.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made a direct appeal to Cubans on Friday, encouraging them to partner with the CIA if they want to see change in the communist country.
"To those who seek to create positive change in Cuba - now is the time," Rubio said in an Oct. 23 post on X. "The disappointment of failed promises, corruption, and the privileged lives of only a few; seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA."
The CIA followed up Rubio's post on the same platform with the same message in Spanish and included instructions on how to contact the agency. It urged Cubans to use non-personal devices and VPNs.
Cuban leader Miguel Diaz-Canel attends a rally in Havana on May 22, 2026. Norlys Perez/Reuters
Cuban-born Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (R-Fla.) said in a post on X that the Cuban regime must be "relegated to the ash heap of history."
U.S. President Donald Trump hinted at a new American intervention in Cuba, potentially with military force, as he addressed supporters at a midterm campaign rally in Florida on Oct. 23.
He made the comments about Cuba after touting investments in the U.S. military and in military operations this year in Venezuela and Cuba.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran will tell you that we have the best equipment," Trump said, before appearing to respond to comments about Cuba from someone in the crowd. "He wants to know 'what about Cuba?' Give me a break. Give me a break. Don't worry. We'll take care of Cuba on our way back from Iran."
Cuban Deputy FM Carlos Fernández de Cossío mocked Rubio's direct bid to the island.
"Now the U.S. is resorting to public recruitment campaigns for the CIA," he said in an Oct. 23 post on X. "There must be a lot of desperation or a serious lack of resources within the agency if it has to market its offers like toothpaste."
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced earlier this month that state authorities had secured an arrest warrant for former Cuban leader Raúl Castro Ruz.
Castro was charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in connection with the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue over international waters.
"The Castro regime's spies operated in our communities, fed intelligence to Havana, and helped put civilian pilots in the crosshairs of Cuban MiGs," Uthmeier said. "Thirty years later, we are still fighting for justice for Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario de la Peña, and Armando Alejandre Jr."
Castro, then minister of the Cuban armed forces and first vice president of Cuba, was a final decision-maker in the chain of command that authorized the shootdown, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit stated that Castro gave senior military leaders standing orders that said, "Fine, shoot them down at sea when they show up, and those who have the authority are not to consult anyone."
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez described the arrest warrant against Castro as a "disgraceful act" with no legal, ethical, or practical value, during a press conference on Oct. 21, Spanish news agency EFE reported.
Trump issued an executive order in January that said the government of Cuba had "taken extraordinary actions that harm and threaten the United States."
It said that the regime aligns itself with, and provides support for, numerous hostile countries and organizations, including Russia, China, Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah.
It noted that Cuba hosts Russia's largest overseas signals intelligence facility and also continues to build deep intelligence and defense cooperation with the Chinese communist regime.
