Ides of October 2016

Afternoon Update:

Molly Redden of the Guardian: "Some 20 years ago, [Cathy Heller] claims, when she met Donald Trump for the first and only time, he grabbed her, went for a kiss, and grew angry with her as she twisted away. 'Oh, come on,' she alleges that he barked, before holding her firmly in place and planting his lips on hers.... Heller has added her voice to a chorus of women now accusing Trump of unwanted behavior. 'He can't claim we're all liars,' Heller said.... Heller had told [the story to] many friends and family members over the years, but is only now telling in public." Not only that, Trump pulled this stunt at Mar-a-Lago, on Mothers' Day, in front of a large gathering of Heller's family, including Heller's husband. -- CW

Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Escalating his criticism of Hillary Clinton's debate performances, Donald J. Trump came to a state battling a drug epidemic [-- New Hampshire --] and suggested without any evidence Saturday that his opponent had been on drugs during their second debate. 'I think we should take a drug test prior to the debate,' Mr. Trump told a crowd of thousands gathered in the parking lot of a Toyota dealership on a chilly afternoon. He continued: 'We should take a drug test prior, because I don't know what's going on with her. But at the beginning of her last debate -- she was all pumped up at the beginning, and at the end it was like, "Oh, take me down." She could barely reach her car.'" ...

     ... CW: Given Donald's history of projecting his own foibles on others, this comes close to verifying suspicions that Trump is self-medicating. My own recollection of the end of the second debate was that Hillary Clinton & her family rushed right out to shake hands with the town-hall attendees while Trump stood around lethargically talking to his family until someone -- perhaps Ivanka -- pushed him to go shake a few hands. The energy on the post-debate stage was the Clinton family's, not Trump's. He looked dejected & tired, IMO.

King Kong vs. the World. Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: When Donald Trump decided his teleprompters weren't working properly at a rally in Charlotte, N.C., Friday night, he "physically dismantled one of the teleprompters. Then he knocked the other one down." -- CW

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's rallies have never been the friendliest places for reporters. But lately, as Trump has come under increasing fire, an unwelcoming atmosphere for the press has turned into outright hostility.... Reporters are now concealing or removing their press credentials when leaving the pen to avoid confrontations with Trump's supporters. The atmosphere is particularly threatening to female reporters and to female TV reporters whose faces are well known, reporters say." -- CW ...

... Here are some nice new tees for the angry Trumpbots. Thanks to unwashed for the link:

CW: In case you were wondering how GOP rally attendees got so vicious, remember Sarah Palin. Republicans have been ramping up this kind of vitriol ever since.

*****

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "Negotiators from more than 170 countries on Saturday reached a legally binding accord to counter climate change by cutting the worldwide use of a powerful planet-warming chemical used in air-conditioners and refrigerators. The talks in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, have not drawn the same spotlight as the climate change accord forged in Paris last year. But the outcome could have an equal or even greater impact on efforts to slow the heating of the planet. Here's the President's full statement. President Obama called the deal 'an ambitious and far-reaching solution to this looming crisis.'" -- CW

Presidential Race

Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton's advisers are ramping up attacks on WikiLeaks and the Russian government over a damaging email hack, lashing out at Donald Trump and the media for failing to treat the breach as a threat to national security. The Clinton campaign gathered its top national security advisers for a blistering conference call with reporters on Friday, framing the email dump as a provocative cyber-attack by foreign adversaries with ties to terror groups. The advisers described the hacks as unprecedented interference in the U.S. election that threatens the nation's sovereignty, and warned there would be 'consequences' for the hackers and potentially the 'Russian state actors' supporting them.... The campaign ... questioned whether [Trump] and his advisers, driven by their own foreign business interests, have conspired to aid the Russians. And Clinton's allies fumed at the media's coverage of the leaked emails, saying the focus has been on trivial political minutia rather than the national security implications." -- CW ...

... Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "WikiLeaks on Saturday published a new batch of more than 800 emails it says were stolen from the archive of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.... In all, the group has published more than 11,000 emails. WikiLeaks claims to have 50,000 of Podesta's messages, indicating it plans to release them in batches moving forward. U.S. intelligence agencies have said the release may be part of a Russia-backed plot to interfere with the presidential election." -- CW

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama on Friday implored voters [in Cleveland, Ohio,] to 'reject a dark and pessimistic vision' offered by Donald J. Trump and urged a robust turnout on behalf of Hillary Clinton in a state where the presidential candidates are locked in a razor-thin contest. Following by a day Michelle Obama's deeply personal denunciation of Mr. Trump, the president also assailed the Republican nominee as a morally compromised and intellectually inferior person who fakes his concern for the working class in America. 'The guy spent 70 years on this earth showing no regard for working people,' Mr. Obama said, describing Mr. Trump as a wealthy opportunist who is pretending to be something he has never been. 'And then suddenly, he's going to be the champion of working people? Come on. Come on, man.'" -- CW

Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "On Thursday and Friday alone, Mr. Trump unleashed a barrage of near-apocalyptic warnings about the potential destruction of the country, broad accusations about the illegitimacy of American democracy, and crude innuendo about his opponent that is almost without precedent in modern presidential history. He warned that Hillary Clinton was conspiring with financiers to destroy American sovereignty, claimed the fate of civilization depended on his victory and ridiculed the appearance of the one of the women accusing him of sexual harassment, while also deriding Mrs. Clinton's looks and saying she ought to be in prison. He also said the presidential election amounted to 'a big ugly lie.'" -- CW ...

... Steve M. speculates that Trump may be trying "to commit political suicide by media cop." -- CW ...

By Driftglass.Politico: "Donald Trump ... kicked off his Saturday by lashing out at the media and 'Crooked Hillary' for trying to 'poison the minds' of voters with claims that Trump has a long history of forcing himself on women.... [He] fired off two tweets before 8 a.m. -- using the Android phone that indicates the tweets are from Trump himself...: '100% fabricated and made-up charges, pushed strongly by the media and the Clinton Campaign, may poison the minds of the American Voter. FIX!' Trump tweeted early Saturday. He followed up with, 'This election is being rigged by the media pushing false and unsubstantiated charges, and outright lies, in order to elect Crooked Hillary!'" -- CW

She was the most corrupt person to ever seek the presidency of the United States and her specialty has been, as you see over the years, it's character assassination. -- Donald Trump, at a rally in Charlotte, N.C., Friday

See anything wrong with that sentence, other than the part where he uses two verbs in one clause ("has been" and "is")? Like accusing your opponent of character assassination while assassinating her character? -- Constant Weader

I'm well informed and I don't listen to the 'lame stream media.' -- Elizabeth Earl, who attended the Trump rally in West Palm Beach Thursday (no link)

... Nick Corasaniti & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump used a campaign speech in North Carolina on Friday to attack the women accusing him of sexual assault or unwelcome advances as fame-seekers and liars, while portraying himself as the victim of a vast conspiracy on the part of the news media and Hillary Clinton's campaign. Speaking at a rally [in Greensboro], Mr. Trump dismissed as 'total fiction' the accounts of a growing number of women who say he groped them or made unwanted sexual advances. But he offered no evidence to cast doubt on their allegations. Instead, Mr. Trump assailed their motives, suggesting that they might have been paid off." [Trump said two of his accusers, Jessica Leeds & Natasha Stoynoff, were too unattractive to interest him.] "Mr. Trump also accused The New York Times, and Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire who is its largest individual holder of common shares, of conspiring with the Clinton campaign 'to try and keep their grip on our country.'" -- CW ...

... Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump suggested several times Friday that he would not have sexually harassed the women who have accused him of assault because of their physical [un]attractiveness. The comments, which appeared to be made offhandedly, drew repeated laughs from the audience.... While Trump said Thursday that he would soon present evidence proving that his accusers are not telling the truth, he offered no such corroboration at the rally Friday in Greensboro." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Eli Stokols of Politico: "Explaining that he was ignoring his own advisers, Trump seethed with contempt for the women who've claimed he assaulted them. But his rambling, at times incoherent, comments seemed to instantly invalidate two of his defenders' key talking points: That he regrets past comments judging women by their looks and treats them with respect." -- CW

As the Prick Shrivels. I am standing at the podium and she [Hillary] walks in front of me. And believe me when she walks in front of me I wasn't impressed. -- Donald Trump, at a rally Friday

I had assumed that when Trump repeatedly said, "Hillary doesn't look presidential," the implication was, "because she's a woman." But no. It turns out the unstated condition was, "because checking out her ass doesn't give me a hard-on." -- Constant Weader

Dahlia Lithwick: "Summer Zervos, who is represented by attorney Gloria Allred..., says she met Trump on Season 5 of The Apprentice, then went to see him at his offices in New York in 2007, at which time [he] kissed her several times on the mouth, in casual greetings that made her uncomfortable. A few days later Trump allegedly ... had Zervos brought to his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where she saw his clothes on the bed, and he called out to her from a room adjacent to his bedroom.... After 15 minutes, he joined her with his clothes on and began kissing her, open-mouthed and dragging her toward him. He allegedly grabbed her shoulder and her breast. She describes him having 'led her to the bedroom' as she resisted. She described him as 'thrusting his genitals' against her clothed body.... Allred confirmed in a Q&A with reporters following the event that she has two corroborating witnesses for this account, and that Zervos -- a Republican -- was not contacted by anyone to come forward." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Brendan Morrow of Heavy has more details. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

That Time Donald Trump Groped Me. Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "Kristin Anderson was deep in conversation with acquaintances at a crowded Manhattan nightspot and did not notice the figure to her right on a red velvet couch -- until, she recalls, his fingers slid under her miniskirt, moved up her inner thigh, and touched her vagina through her underwear. Anderson shoved the hand away, fled the couch and turned to take her first good look at the man who had touched her, she said. She recognized him as Donald Trump.... Over the years, Anderson, now 46 and a photographer living in Southern California, has recounted the story to people she knew...." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Before the day is out, there will be more evidence publicly that shows and calls into question these allegations. --mike pence, Friday morning on CBS

Unless you think "evidence" = "those women are too unattractive to assault," mike's assurances were false. -- Constant Weader ...

... Wait, Wait, I Was Wrong! Gilby Was There! Daniel Halper of the New York Post: "Donald Trump's campaign says a British man is countering claims that the GOP presidential nominee groped a woman on a cross-country flight more than three decades ago. The man says he was sitting across from the accuser and contacted the Trump campaign because he was incensed by her account -- which is at odds with what he witnessed.... In an exclusive interview arranged by the [Trump] campaign, [Anthony] Gilberthorpe said he was on the flight -- in either 1980 or 1981 -- where Jessica Leeds claimed Trump groped her." -- CW ...

... CW: Feeling dismayed? Wondering if Leeds invented her story? Let's ask Kevin Drum, who's been checking up on the posh Mr. Gilberthorpe. There was that time when Gilberthorpe "announced his engagement in the Times to Miss Leah Bergdorf-Hunt. 'But there was no engagement, and indeed no Miss Bergdorf-Hunt.'" And that time Gilby (as his ex-friends call him) invited an MP friend & his mistress out to the Gilberthorpe country place, whereupon "it transpired [that Gilby] fitted out the spare-room with hidden cameras and microphones and shopped his loyal friend to the tabloid [Sunday Mirror] for £25,000." And so forth. Yep. Gilby is the guy the Trump campaign puts forth as fact-checker & character witness. Soon we'll hear from Trumpbots that "a friend of Queen Elizabeth's proved" Leeds made a pass at Trump, who delicately turned her down. ...

... Evelyn Rupert of the Hill: "Donald Trump's presidential campaign released a statement on Friday to rebut allegations of sexual assault against the candidate. The cousin of a woman accusing Trump of groping her, John Barry of Mission Viejo, Calif., said Summer Zervos is making the allegations to get back on reality television. 'I am completely shocked and bewildered by my cousin, Summer Zervos, and her press conference today. Ever since she was on The Apprentice she has had nothing but glowing things to say about Mr. Trump,' the statement reads.... The Trump campaign also released an email from Zervos to Trump's secretary dated April 14, 2016, in which Zervos talks about her California restaurant and says she hopes to reconnect with the GOP nominee." ...

     ... CW: How odd that the Trump campaign didn't release Zervos' contemporaneous e-mail, directed to Donald himself, in which she wrote (according to her account), "I have been incredibly hurt by our previous interaction." P.S. to those who may not get it: victims of sexual assault frequently say nice things about the men, especially powerful men, who have abused them. We also have no idea about the veracity of Barry's remarks. I'm not saying he's another Gilby, but we don't know.

Washington Post Editors: "... when ... Donald Trump was outed as a serial abuser of women, first by his own words and then by testimony from a lengthening list of alleged victims, he responded with tactics worthy of the Russian ex-KGB man Vladimir Putin, whose leadership he so admires. Mr. Trump branded the women liars and blamed 'the establishment and their media enablers' for the purported smear.... Mr. Trump went on to compound verbally the insult he already inflicted on his victims, through his conduct, with predictable attacks on their veracity, motives and, of course, appearance.... Beyond merely denying the truth of the allegations about his treatment of women, he recast them as evidence that U.S. democracy itself is no longer legitimate.... A greater measure of accountability belongs to the men and women who purport to lead the GOP faithful, and have, with a few honorable exceptions, so manifestly failed the moral test Mr. Trump's candidacy poses."

Nancy Collins, in the Hollywood Reporter, produces a transcript of a 1994 interview of Donald Trump. For a shorter version, see Megyn Reynolds of Jezebel who highlights the lowlights. CW: Like Reynolds (and probably everybody else), I was struck by Trump's instant transition from "I have great relations with women" to "The woman's a liar, extremely unattractive, lots of problems because of her looks." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Alyssa Rosenberg of the Washington Post: "For a long time, it has been abundantly clear that Trump bases his valuations of women, including his own daughter, on their appearance. But he also has a record of suggesting that women he deems unattractive are somehow unreliable or incompetent in other ways or that there's something wrong with men who are attracted to women Trump himself is not." -- CW

Dana Priest & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Former senior U.S. national security officials are dismayed at ... Donald Trump's repeated refusal to accept the judgment of intelligence professionals that Russia stole files from the Democratic National Committee computers in an effort to influence the U.S. election. The former officials, who have served presidents in both parties, say they were bewildered when Trump cast doubt on Russia's role after receiving a classified briefing on the subject and again after an unusually blunt statement from U.S. agencies saying they were 'confident' that Moscow had orchestrated the attacks.... Trump has assured supporters that, if elected, he would surround himself with experts on defense and foreign affairs, where he has little experience. But when it comes to Russia, he has made it clear that he is not listening to intelligence officials, the former officials said." -- CW

Oliver Willis of Media Matters: "The racist white nationalist movement is once again thrilled with ... Donald Trump, this time over a Thursday speech he gave that has been criticized for trafficking in anti-Semitic themes.... The white nationalist 'alt-right' site The Right Stuff praised Trump's speech, with writer Lawrence Murray arguing, 'somehow Trump manages to channel Goebbels and "Detroit Republicanism" all at the same time.' Murray added that the speech was 'almost unprecedented in its militancy and vitriol for the luegenpresse and the brahmins.' ('Luegenpresse' is a term Nazis used to denigrate the media -- 'lying press' -- that has recently been revived by racists.) He also described Trump's speech as '88% woke' (88 is used by white nationalists as an abbreviation of 'Heil Hitler')." -- CW

** Sarah Posner & David Neiwert in Mother Jones: "Trump did not become the object of white nationalist affection simply because his positions reflect their core concerns. Extremists made him their chosen candidate and now hail him as 'Emperor Trump' because he has amplified their message on social media -- and, perhaps most importantly, has gone to great lengths to avoid distancing himself from the racist right. With the exception of [David] Duke, Trump has not disavowed a single endorsement from the dozens of neo-Nazis, Klansmen, white nationalists, and militia supporters who have backed him. The GOP nominee, along with his family members, staffers, and surrogates, has instead provided an unprecedented platform for the ideas and rhetoric of far-right extremists, extending their reach.... Trump's tacit welcoming of these hate groups into mainstream American politics will have long-lasting consequences, according to these groups' own leaders, regardless of the election outcome." -- CW

Vanessa Williams of the Washington Post: "A progressive advocacy group is launching an advertising campaign accusing Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who also is the Republican vice-presidential nominee, of sanctioning voter suppression after state police raided the offices of a voter registration program aimed at signing up African Americans. Patriot Majority USA will place the ads on black-oriented radio stations and in print and online with black newspapers throughout the state starting Saturday, said the group's director, Craig Varoga. Patriot Majority is affiliated with the Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC that supports Democratic candidates." CW: A nice coda to pence's claim on CBS yesterday that he was all worried about voter fraud.

The Economist: "By normalising attitudes that, before he came along, were publicly taboo, Mr Trump has taken a knuckle-duster to American political culture.... Mr Trump's reality-television persona makes that proposition appear less alarming. It creates an ambiguity about how serious he is, and how seriously his audience needs to take him.... Not all those at Trump rallies are bigoted. But they are prepared to stand next to someone shouting chauvinist abuse or wearing a 'Trump that bitch' T-shirt and conclude that if that's what's needed to defeat Mrs Clinton, then so be it.... If Mr Trump actually wins the election, Republicans will have to meet the expectations he has created -- of protectionism, spending increases allied to tax cuts, hostility to foreigners and a retreat from decades of foreign policy. That would make America poorer, weaker and less secure.... If Mr Trump loses, Mrs Clinton will begin her presidency with tens of millions of people believing that she ought to be in jail...."

Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone assesses the state of the presidential race: "Trumpian license has pushed hatred of Hillary Clinton beyond all reason.... For grown men and women to throw around words like 'bitch' and 'cunt' in front of their kids, it means things have moved way beyond the analytical.... Trump's shocking rise and spectacular fall have been a singular disaster for U.S. politics. Built up in the press as the American Hitler, he was unmasked in the end as a pathetic little prankster who ruined himself, his family and half of America's two-party political system for what was probably a half-assed ego trip all along, adventure tourism for the idiot rich." ...

... Michelle Cottle of the Atlantic is worried about what will happen to "the guy -- attending a Trump rally with his wife and small children -- who opted to wear a 'She's a Cunt. Vote Trump' T-shirt." CW: I'm more worried about what that guy will do to his family & the rest of us, whether or not Trump loses. (Also linked yesterday.)

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd., Show & Tell Edition. Erik Wemple of the Washington Post demonstrates how Sean Hannity urges his guests -- in this case, women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault -- to lie, & how those lies bleeds into Fox "News"' "news" reports. This week's fabrication: that the "lamestream media" never even tried this election season to cover the accusations the women had made against the former president. -- CW

Other News & Views

Doni Bloomfield of Bloomberg: "A 114-character tweet from Senator Bernie Sanders' twitter account cost Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. investors as much as $387 million on Friday afternoon. 'Drug corporations' greed is unbelievable. Ariad has raised the price of a leukemia drug to almost $199,000 a year,' said the tweet, linking to an article about the drugmaker written by Stat News. The shares slumped as much as 15 percent, the biggest intraday decline in more than a year, and traded down 12 percent to $11.51 at 2:52 p.m. in New York.... Ariad has raised the wholesale acquisition price of Iclusig, its therapy for a rare advanced form of leukemia, four times this year, according to Bloomberg data. A 30-day pack of the pill now costs more than $16,000, or about $199,000 a year." -- CW

Have a Cigar. Mimi Whitefield of the Miami Herald. "President Barack Obama issued a presidential directive on Cuba Friday that seeks to cement his policy changes toward the island and encourage further engagement even after he leaves office. His administration also released a sixth set of regulatory changes designed to enhance business and trade between the United States and Cuba. The new rules allow Cubans and Americans to engage in joint medical research and lift monetary limits on the amount of Cuban products Americans can bring back in their luggage for personal use. Currently the limit is $400, which included a combined total of $100 of alcohol and tobacco products. Now U.S. travelers can bring back as many cigars and bottles of rum as they like.... -- Akhilleus (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "Just seven months after Florida revamped its death penalty law, the state's Supreme Court struck down the new statute as unconstitutional because it does not require juries to be unanimous about handing down the sentences. This ruling further adds to the uncertainty surrounding the death penalty in Florida, one of the country's leading practitioners of capital punishment and home to one of the nation's biggest death-row populations.... The Florida Supreme Court decision Friday marks the second time this year that a court has overturned the state's death-sentencing statute. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state's old law as unconstitutional in January because it allowed judges, not juries, to make the final decision about imposing capital sentences." -- Akhilleus (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

American Terrorists, Ctd. Mark Berman & Sarah Larimer of the Washington Post. "Three Kansas men were accused of plotting a bomb attack targeting an apartment complex home to a mosque and many Muslim immigrants from Somalia, authorities said Friday. Curtis Allen, Gavin Wright and Patrick Eugene Stein face federal charges of conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction, the Department of Justice announced Friday." -- CW

The Robe Comes Off! Amy Wang of the Washington Post. "A Michigan judge, growing increasingly frustrated with a defendant who was talking back to him, stormed down from his bench and rushed to help subdue the man as he resisted being handcuffed. Though the incident took place in December, video footage of the scuffle was published this week on Mlive.com. It showed a rare instance of a judge physically intervening in a courtroom situation -- something that at least one of the Michigan judge's colleagues said was justified in this case." -- CW

News Lede

Weather Channel: "Trees and power lines were downed throughout Oregon Saturday as a powerful Pacific Northwest storm began to ramp up.... Friday a rare occurrence shook the West Coast when two confirmed tornadoes tore through Tillamook County, Oregon. One of the twisters tore through the town of Manzanita, Oregon, in the morning, leaving damage in its wake. A second tornado was spotted in Oceanside. The National Weather Service in Portland later rated the former twister an EF2." -- CW

The Commentariat -- October 14, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Nick Corasaniti & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump used a campaign speech in North Carolina on Friday to attack the women accusing him of sexual assault or unwelcome advances as fame-seekers and liars, while portraying himself as the victim of a vast conspiracy on the part of the news media and Hillary Clinton's campaign. Speaking at a rally [in Greensboro], Mr. Trump dismissed as 'total fiction' the accounts of a growing number of women who say he groped them or made unwanted sexual advances. But he offered no evidence to cast doubt on their allegations. Instead, Mr. Trump assailed their motives, suggesting that they might have been paid off." [Trump said two of his accusers, Jessica Leeds & Natasha Stoynoff, were too unattractive to interest him.] "Mr. Trump also accused The New York Times, and Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire who is its largest individual holder of common shares, of conspiring with the Clinton campaign 'to try and keep their grip on our country.'" -- CW ...

... Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump suggested several times Friday that he would not have sexually harassed the women who have accused him of assault because of their physical [un]attractiveness. The comments, which appeared to be made offhandedly, drew repeated laughs from the audience.... While Trump said Thursday that he would soon present evidence proving that his accusers are not telling the truth, he offered no such corroboration at the rally Friday in Greensboro." -- CW

Dahlia Lithwick: "Summer Zervos, who is represented by attorney Gloria Allred..., says she met Trump on Season 5 of The Apprentice, then went to see him at his offices in New York in 2007, at which time [he] kissed her several times on the mouth, in casual greetings that made her uncomfortable. A few days later Trump allegedly ... had Zervos brought to his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where she saw his clothes on the bed, and he called out to her from a room adjacent to his bedroom.... After 15 minutes, he joined her with his clothes on and began kissing her, open-mouthed and dragging her toward him. He allegedly grabbed her shoulder and her breast. She describes him having 'led her to the bedroom' as she resisted. She described him as 'thrusting his genitals' against her clothed body.... Allred confirmed in a Q&A with reporters following the event that she has two corroborating witnesses for this account, and that Zervos -- a Republican -- was not contacted by anyone to come forward." -- CW ...

     ... Brendan Morrow of Heavy has more details.

That Time Donald Trump Groped Me. Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "Kristin Anderson was deep in conversation with acquaintances at a crowded Manhattan nightspot and did not notice the figure to her right on a red velvet couch -- until, she recalls, his fingers slid under her miniskirt, moved up her inner thigh, and touched her vagina through her underwear. Anderson shoved the hand away, fled the couch and turned to take her first good look at the man who had touched her, she said. She recognized him as Donald Trump.... Over the years, Anderson ... has recounted the story to people she knew...." -- CW

Nancy Collins, in the Hollywood Reporter, produces a transcript of a 1994 interview of Donald Trump. For a shorter version, see Megyn Reynolds of Jezebel who highlights the lowlights. CW: Like Reyolds (and probably everybody else), I was struck by Trump's instant transition from "I have great relations with women" to "The woman;s a liar, extremely unattractive, lots of problems because of her looks."

Michelle Cottle of the Atlantic is worried about what will happen to "the guy -- attending a Trump rally with his wife and small children -- who opted to wear a 'She's a Cunt. Vote Trump' T-shirt." CW: As for me, I'm more worried about what that guy will do to his family & the rest of us, whether or not Trump loses.

Have a Cigar. Mimi Whitefield of the Miami Herald. "President Barack Obama issued a presidential directive on Cuba Friday that seeks to cement his policy changes toward the island and encourage further engagement even after he leaves office.... The new rules allow Cubans and Americans to engage in joint medical research and lift monetary limits on the amount of Cuban products Americans can bring back in their luggage for personal use. Currently the limit is $400, which included a combined total of $100 of alcohol and tobacco products. Now U.S. travelers can bring back as many cigars and bottles of rum as they like -- as long as they are for personal use.... -- Akhilleus

Mark Berman of the Washington Post. "Just seven months after Florida revamped its death penalty law, the state's Supreme Court struck down the new statute as unconstitutional because it does not require juries to be unanimous about handing down the sentences. This ruling further adds to the uncertainty surrounding the death penalty in Florida, one of the country's leading practitioners of capital punishment and home to one of the nation's biggest death-row populations.... The Florida Supreme Court decision Friday marks the second time this year that a court has overturned the state's death-sentencing statute. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state's old law as unconstitutional in January because it allowed judges, not juries, to make the final decision about imposing capital sentences."...Akhilleus

*****

Presidential Race

Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: "President Barack Obama on Thursday night tore into Republican leaders for 'riding this tiger' of what he repeatedly called 'crazy' hoaxes and conspiracies that created the conditions for Donald Trump to become their presidential nominee -- and blasted anyone now trying to distance themselves out of what he derided as political expediency.... 'They stood by while this happened, and Donald Trump as he's prone to do, he didn't build the building himself -- he just slapped his name on it and took credit for it,' Obama said.... Clearly veering off-script, Obama turned to the example of proud Obama antagonist Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, whom he didn't name, but noted had ordered the state National Guard to observe the 2015 Operation Jade Helm military exercises after right-wing media exploded with conspiracy theories about how it was actually secret prep for an Obama led junta." -- CW ...

... Here's a clip:

Greg Sargent: "Michelle Obama is a tremendously popular public figure, who is probably better positioned than anyone else in the country to make this particular case. And that's what makes this a seminal, defining moment.... If Trump has a capacity for basic and sustained public decency, it has yet to make its appearance. And now we really seem to have crossed a point of no return. Michelle Obama marked it down. No going back":

(CW P.S. While Michelle Obama was giving one of the most consequential speeches of the campaign season, Fox "News" was airing some show where Newt Gingrich was sitting on a couch surrounded by attractive women wearing short skirts. You can watch the video at the linked site, but I'm going to guess he wasn't talking about Michelle Obama or women's rights.) ...

... See also Mike Pence's response, embedded below. ...

... Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump pushed back aggressively on Thursday against what he called 'false smears' from women who claimed unwanted advances, seeking to stabilize his campaign as Michelle Obama declared 'it doesn't matter what party you belong to, no woman deserves to be treated this way.'... In a series of messages posted on Twitter on Thursday morning, Mr. Trump said that the article in The Times was a 'total fabrication' and denied the incident described by Natasha Stoynoff, a former writer for People, who said that Mr. Trump had forced his tongue down her throat while she was working on an assignment for the magazine about his first anniversary with his wife, Melania." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... CW: The argumentum ad hitlerum is no longer ad absurdum. The only word Trump left out was "jüdisch," but it was implied. This is a frightening, stunning, if not entirely unexpected, turn as the candidate spirals toward complete madness. If, like me, you joked about Trump being carried out in a white coat, we should not have laughed. It decidedly is not funny:

Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plan the destruction of global sovereignty.... It's a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities. -- Donald Trump, Thursday. in West Palm Beach, Florida ...

By Driftglass.... ** Philip Rucker & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump issued a breathtaking call to arms Thursday as he emphatically denied allegations that he groped and kissed multiple women without their consent, charging that his accusers were part of a global conspiracy to extinguish his outsider movement. Scrambling to turn around his floundering campaign, Trump declared war on the media and multinational corporations, alleging they are colluding with Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton to orchestrate 'the single greatest pile-on in history' and undermine his campaign, which he said was an 'existential threat' to the global establishment.... Trump's fiery invective came just minutes after first lady Michelle Obama tried to summon the morality of a nation by saying Trump's degrading comments about women were an affront to all citizens.

Trump's remarks, which he read from a teleprompter, were laced with the kind of global conspiracies and invective common in the writings of the alternative-right, white-nationalist activists who see him as their champion. Some critics also heard echoes of historical anti-Semitic slurs in Trump's allegations that Clinton 'meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty' and that media and financial elites were part of a soulless cabal out to destroy 'our great civilization.'... The speech bore the imprint of Stephen K. Bannon, the Trump campaign's chief executive, who until recently was the executive chairman of Breitbart, a conservative website that serves as the virtual town square of the alt-right movement.

... Travis Gettys of Raw Story: "Donald Trump lashed out at global elites who undermine American sovereignty through 'international banks' -- and many observers couldn't help but notice the underlying anti-Semitic message.... Many internet users were alarmed at Trump' language, noting its reliance on anti-Semitic themes and more suited to a fascist dictator than a presidential candidate." ...

... ** Josh Marshall: "There's a new conspiracy theory rapidly gaining traction among Trump supporters about the origin of the 'Access Hollywood' Trump tape.... The conspiracy theory is rapidly taking on an explicitly anti-Semitic character.... It's catching fire with numerous [Trump] supporters and surrogates - most notably Jerry Falwell Jr.... The claim is also being pushed by Breitbart and David Duke in various neo-Nazi web forums. Notably, in recent months Breitbart, with which the Trump campaign has now effectively merged, has itself more openly embraced anti-Semitism.... The claim is that Dan Senor, a prominent GOP political operative, who is Jewish..., is behind the tape disclosure and part of a plot of 'GOP elites' to destroy Donald Trump.... Senor is now cast as the Jewish 'traitor' working for the conspiracy of political elites, international financiers and the media who Trump railed against today in his speech.... It's not just that Trump and his campaign are bringing marginalized extremists into mainstream politics. He's radicalizing new people." -- CW ...

... CW: So were you lying then (2005) or are you lying now? "These women" are credibly reporting episodes of your sexually assaulting them that align with your own boasts about your interactions with women. And, uh, when is the "appropriate time"? Somewhere around when you release your tax returns? Sorry, you diddling douchebag, I'm with the women. ...

     ... Update. Before the day is out, there will be more evidence publicly that shows and calls into question these allegations. --mike pence, today on CBS ...

... Notice how pence steamrolls O'Donnell & Rose, both of whom are supposed to be knowledgeable journalists, not Billy Bush, for pete's sake. They either don't know enough or don't care to contradict the absurd remarks of a polite politician. For example, pence: "Voter fraud, bad; poll-watching, good." O'Donnell & Rose: "Thank you for jointing us, Guv." More on pence below.

Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "Although Trump supporters have long disdained the media and faced the press pen to lambast reporters during Trump's speech, this time the traveling press were booed and jeered for minutes after their arrival. The only positive feelings towards any of the press were expressed when a single Trump supporter cheered praise for a reporter for InfoWars -- a fringe rightwing website that traffics in conspiracy theories..." --safari...

... ** Aaron Rupar of ThinkProgress: "Around the same time Trump was smearing the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) declared Trump to be a threat to press freedoms throughout the world. In an move unprecedented in the CPJ's 35-year history, the nonprofit organization released a statement on Thursday that says, 'Trump, through his words and actions as a candidate for president of the United States, has consistently betrayed First Amendment values.' [The] statement goes on to cite a number of examples of Trump mocking, insulting, and expelling journalists from events." Includes multiple videos/images of Trump or his Trumpers screaming at the media, including one with a note left on a press desk with a Nazi symbol scribbled next to the word "Media".--safari...

...The following video was uploaded to Youtube in May 2016, so you could add a whole new round of highlights. --safari

Just last week Megyn Kelly of Fox "News" complained that "Donald Trump ... will go on Hannity and pretty much only Hannity and will not venture out to the unsafe spaces these days." Not Any More. Brian Stelter of CNN: "On Thursday morning, [Trump] canceled on his friend Sean Hannity, a Fox News spokeswoman said. He had been scheduled to appear on Hannity's Fox News show Thursday night. He backed out around 11:30 a.m. ET. Hannity is still set to interview the four Clinton critics who appeared with Trump at a pre-debate photo op on Sunday: Kathy Shelton, Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, and Juanita Broaddrick." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Tim Egan: "... those who take pleasure in watching Trump destroy the Republican Party are missing the bigger picture. He's trying to destroy the country, as well. Civility, always a tenuous thing, cannot be quickly restored in a society that has learned to hate in public, at full throttle. Trump has made compassion suspect. Don't reach out to starving refugees -- they're killers in disguise. Don't give to a charity that won't reward you in some way. Don't pay taxes that build roads and offer relief to those washed away in a hurricane. That's a sucker's game. We're not all in this together. Taxes are for stupid people." -- CW

Cameron Joseph of the New York Daily News: "... Donald Trump claims he gave generously to help his city in the dark days after the deadly terrorist attacks.... City Controller Scott Stringer conducted a review of hundreds of pages of previously sealed records of the two main 9/11 charities at the request of the Daily News, and found that Trump and his charity hadn't donated a dime in the months after 9/11.... The Daily News also reviewed every Form 990, which provides financial information for nonprofit companies or charities, for the Donald J. Trump Foundation from 2001 through 2014. There are no donations to the Twin Towers Fund or the NYC Public-Private Initiative listed. The only Sept. 11th donation in those documents was a $1,000 donation in 2006 to ... a group founded by Tom Cruise that used scientifically questionable methods approved by Scientology to help rescue workers.... The only recorded major donation to 9/11 causes that Trump has made was $100,000 from his foundation -- which has been bankrolled by others without any money from Trump for years -- to the 9/11 Museum in April 2016...." -- CW

Kevin Cirilli of Bloomberg: "Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump rebuffed political aides' requests to research his past, people familiar with the matter said, a decision that contributed to his campaign being caught unprepared for the past week's barrage of claims he mistreated women. Corey Lewandowski, Trump's first campaign manager, requested that Trump submit himself to a forensic evaluation that is traditional for any public figure seeking office.... Paul Manafort and his team made a similar request when they took over the reins after Lewandowski, who was ousted this June. Trump declined, the people said, and the issue became a point of contention among his closest political advisers and some long-time employees at the Trump Organization." -- CW

Gideon Resnick & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: Donald Trump "has a long history of demeaning women and people with disabilities. But even for The Donald, this is sick.... He repeatedly called a deaf actress 'retarded,' three sources tell The Daily Beast. Trump, who was accused on Wednesday of making sexual comments to Marlee Matlin, an Oscar-winning actress who once competed on Trump's Celebrity Apprentice, also apparently had a habit of insulting, mimicking, and demeaning as mentally handicapped his star female contestant -- all because she was deaf.... Trump would regularly disrespect the actress and would even treat her as if she were mentally disabled. Sometimes the insults would be behind her back; other times they would be right in front of her.... Matlin declined to comment on this story." The sources give disgusting specifics. -- CW ...

... Steve Helling of People: "When Donald Trump presided over the Celebrity Apprentice, he had complete control of the boardroom.... 'Watching him in the boardroom making sexual comments to Marlee Matlin, to all of the women on the Apprentice, it was obvious that that's just a part of who he is,' says 2011 contestant Richard Hatch. 'It was obvious and it was grotesque. It was blatant and it was frequent. He did it with Lisa Rinna; He did it with Marlee Matlin. He did it with whomever happened to be there at the time.... No matter how [Matlin] responded..., he would push it a step further with comments about her looks, and how she was making him feel, and about what he thought of her, and how happy he would be to do something with her. 'It was a lot of innuendo, far beyond the norm.... He did it in front of [his daughter] Ivanka.'" -- CW

Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: "Trump's message for most of this week was that women alleging sexual assault -- regardless of how many years had passed, whether they filed charges, whether their claims were held up by the courts -- deserve to be heard, rather than discredited or attacked. Trump made this clear by holding a news conference with three of Bill Clinton's accusers, urging the media to tell their stories and speaking about them in his rallies. Then, four women came forward alleging Trump groped or kissed them without their consent. And Trump's stance changed. He attacked the women personally, cast doubt on their motives, called them liars and a part of a politically orchestrated attack." -- CW

Hmmm. Seema Mehta of the Los Angeles Times: Melania Trump has demanded, under threat of legal action, that People magazine retract a portion of Natasha Stoynoff's story -- but not the meat of story. She's okay with the sexual assault part apparently, but is all upset about the part where Stoynoff said they met accidentally on the street months after the alleged assault & exchanged friendly greetings. "'The true facts are these: Mrs. Trump did not encounter Ms. Stoynoff on the street, nor have any conversation with her. The two are not friends and were never friends or even friendly. At the time in question, Mrs. Trump would not have even recognized Ms. Stoynoff if they had encountered one another on the street,' wrote attorney Charles J. Harder." -- CW ...

     ... CW: Oh, come on. Stoynoff no doubt introduced herself, IDed herself as the person who conducted the People interview, & Melania Trump either remembered her or pretended to, & the two engaged in normal, brief chitchat. You've probably done the same thing Melania likely did in a similar situation. I have. The suit is stupid. BUT. Melania's threatened suit seems to be signalling that -- as far as she knows -- Stoynoff's story, or at least the timeline, is accurate. This is as close to a confirmation as we're going to get from a Trump, at least until the divorce.

Ben Weyl of Politico: "Mike Pence is standing firmly with Donald Trump, blasting the media Thursday for airing explosive accusations of sexual misconduct by his running mate. The Republican vice presidential nominee slammed reporters for spending so much time on 'unsubstantiated allegations against my running mate, allegations that he has categorically denied,' rather than focusing on 'the corruption and the deceit of the Clintons and the Clinton machine.'... Pence offered only praise for Trump and his 'strong, broad-shouldered leadership.'" CW: That "broad-shouldered" bit is a sexist line pence has incorporated into his stump speeches. The message: "A girl can't protect us." ...

... Evelyn Rupert of the Hill: "When asked during an interview with Ohio's 10TV if Trump has ever groped or kissed a woman without consent ... Pence said he believes Trump's denial of the accusations.... 'I can say with certainty that Donald Trump has denied that any of those actions that have been alleged have ever occurred. And I believe him,' Pence said when pressed by anchor Scott Light for a yes-or-no response." -- CW ...

... Theresa Avila of New York: When the Ohio reporters asked pence "what he would say to a young girl who had commented that Trump's words in campaign commercials (presumably about women's bodies) made her 'feel bad' about herself. Pence's answer? Hillary Clinton and foreign policy." Pence: "Blah, blah, Hillary Clinton, weak, blah blah I would say to any of our kids that if Donald Trump and I have the chance to serve in the White House, that we're going to work every day for a stronger, safer and more prosperous America." CW: If I shared pence's religious views, I would say he was going to hell.

Andrew Kaczynski (now) of CNN: "Donald Trump Jr. defended his father on Thursday following a New York Times report on Wednesday night wherein two women alleged that Trump groped them. 'Come on guys, it's so ridiculous, I've never heard anything dumber in my life. All of sudden, two, three weeks before election, someone comes out -- it's not like he hasn't been in the public eye for 30 years,' Trump Jr. said on Charlotte Morning News on WBT radio. 'I think it's probably a typical New York Times smear campaign.'... Trump also defended his father for his 2005 comments made on a hot mic, first reported by The Washington Post Friday.... 'So I mean, listen I know plenty of people,' Trump Jr. said. 'I've had conversations like that with plenty of people where people use language off color. They're talking, two guys, amongst themselves. I've seen it time and time again. I think it makes him a human.'" ...

     ... CW: I'll take you at your word, Junior. So you did have "conversations like that with plenty of people." That makes you a creepy little predator, too. Not that we didn't already know, but thanks for confirming how "human" you are. See also Michelle Obama's remarks on your humaniness. ...

     ... Update. Junior Has Always Been a Feminist. Jon Passantino of BuzzFeed: "... Donald Trump Jr. dismissed workplace sexual harassment in a 2013 radio interview -- and suggested that women who couldn't take it should become kindergarten teachers. The comments came in a March 2013 episode of The Opie and Anthony Show, during a discussion of whether women should be allowed in all-male golf clubs.... 'If you have a guys' place you have a guys' place,' Trump Jr. ... said, describing himself as a 'guy's guy.' A host interjected that women 'complain, "it's harassment" -- that's why we hate having them around. They stop us from doing what we want to do.' 'I'm of that mindset -- and I'll get into trouble, I'm sure I'll get myself in trouble one of these days,' Trump began. 'If you can't handle some of the basic stuff that's become a problem in the workforce today, then you don't belong in the workforce. Like, you should go maybe teach kindergarten.'" -- CW

David Wright of CNN: "Barbara Res worked for Donald Trump for 18 years as a construction executive, and asked Thursday if she believed the allegations of sexual misconduct and assault against him, she was frank. 'I do believe it. Yes, absolutely,' Res told CNN's Alisyn Camerota in an interview on 'New Day.' 'He's a blatant sexist.' 'I saw him be aggressive in business, and throw his weight around and use the fact that he had power. And I think sexual assault and sexual harassment are really about the abuse of power -- "I can do this to you because I am who I am" -- I do think it went to his head. So much else went to his head that it does make sense to me that he would do something like that,' Res, who is supporting Hillary Clinton for president." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.)

Hallie Jackson & Alex Johnson of NBC News have new details on Donald Trump's (alleged) sexually aggressive behavior against Temple Taggart McDowell in 1997, when (then Taggert) was a 21-year-old beauty pageant contestant representing Utah. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: NYT lawyer to DJT lawyer: Trump has no reputation to protect. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

"Ladies..., Grow Up." Katie Zezima of the Washington Post: "Trump's top supporters, many of them middle-aged or older men, have tried to explain away Trump's behavior in terms that range from puzzling to offensive -- angering people in both parties and complicating the Republican nominee's attempts to move past the controversies.... Some, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, have described Trump's comments on the video as typical male behavior in general. Others are also attempting to discredit the women accusing Trump of assault. And some of Trump's male supporters seem more than willing to lecture women on how they should put up with sexist talk. 'Ladies out there, this is what guys talk about when you're not around. So if you're offended by it, grow up. Okay?' actor Scott Baio said on Fox News." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Peter Sterne of Politico: "Fox Business Network anchor Lou Dobbs publicized the address and phone number of Jessica Leeds, one of the women who accused Donald Trump of groping her, to his 792,000 followers on Thursday morning. Dobbs linked to a post from a conservative news site that purported to link Leeds to the Clinton Foundation. The site published Leeds' address and phone number -- taken from public records -- and then claimed, falsely, that her phone number is the same as a phone number for the Clinton Foundation. He also quoted a tweet from a Trump supporter, which has since been deleted, that included Leeds' phone number and address." Dobbs later tweeted an apology to Leeds. CW: Nice, Lou. Now, pay for Leeds' 'round-the-clock security detail. I forgot that racist jerk Lou Dobbs was still around. Apparently he is, & now we know he's still a menace to society.

Jonathan Martin, et al., of the New York Times: "Several of the Republican Party's most generous donors called on the Republican National Committee on Thursday to disavow Donald J. Trump, saying that allegations by multiple women that Mr. Trump had groped or made inappropriate sexual advances toward them threatened to inflict lasting damage on the party's image. To an elite group of Republican contributors who have donated millions of dollars to the party's candidates and committees in recent years, the cascade of revelations related to Mr. Trump's sexual conduct is grounds for the committee to cut ties with the party's beleaguered standard-bearer, finally and fully." -- CW

Jeff Stein of Vox: Donald Trump's campaign, his surrogates & his supporters are questioning the "timing" of the accusers' coming forward. "But ... there really is no mystery about why these women are speaking now -- at least if you take the time to listen to what they say." The accusers said they revealed their stories now because they heard Donald Trump claim during the second debate that he had not actually sexually assaulted women as he told Billy Bush. "The only mystery is why anyone still thinks it's a more important question to ask than whether Trump committed sexual assault." -- CW

Matthew Belloni of the Hollywood Reporter: "Billy Bush's exit from NBC News isn't going to be as amicable as many thought it would be. The embattled Today show host, who has been suspended for his role in the lewd Donald Trump tape recorded in 2005 when Bush was an anchor at Access Hollywood, has hired a prominent Los Angeles litigator to help work out his separation from the network. And that lawyer is now going on the attack." ...

     ... CW: Sorry, Billy Boy. You might have got away with that fawning fanboy routine on the bus, but when you got off the bus & urged Arianne Zucker to give Trump "a little hug," you made youself complicit in what Trump had just threatened to make a gross sexual assault on Zucker. Unless there's no morals clause in your contract, you've got no case.

Michael Grynbaum & Rachel Abrams of the New York Times: "Mark Burnett, the reality-show auteur whose 'Apprentice' series catapulted Donald J. Trump to national stardom, issued a forceful denunciation of Mr. Trump's presidential bid on Wednesday evening, saying he rejected 'the hatred, division and misogyny that has been a very unfortunate part of his campaign.' The statement capped an unusually challenging few days for Mr. Burnett, one of television's most powerful figures, who has faced growing demands that he release footage from the 'Apprentice' set that some former crew members say could reveal Mr. Trump acting in vulgar and offensive ways." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Trump Apologizes! Molly O'Toole of Foreign Policy. "The list of women accusing the Republican presidential nominee of sexual assault is growing, along with Republican leaders and voters who have abandoned his presidential campaign. [Donald] Trump's answer: Apologize -- but to Serbians, for the U.S.-led air campaign in the Balkans in the 1990s that helped stave off potential civilian slaughter in Kosovo...'The bombing of Serbs, who were our allies in both world wars, was a big mistake,' Trump told the Serbian weekly magazine Nedeljnik in an article published on its website Thursday. He promised 'a new policy with the Balkans,' though he didn't specify what it would look like. 'Serbians are very good people,' he said. 'Unfortunately, the [Bill] Clinton administration caused them a lot of harm, but also throughout the Balkans, which they made a mess out of.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Akhilleus: The interview, which Trump now claims never took place (funny because it's a cover story on the magazine and appears on their website), bears all the hallmarks of Russian propaganda. Trump's main point in apologizing, apparently, is that the US led bombing stopped those nice Serbian ethnic cleansers, the war criminals Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic, from murdering even more Muslims. The idea! But apologize for sexual assault? Never! ...

     ... Update. Haynes Brown of BuzzFeed: "The Serbian magazine that published a purported interview with Donald Trump in which the Republican nominee apologized for the US intervention in the Balkans in the 1990s says it is trying to determine now whether it was the subject of a hoax -- something the Serbian-American at the heart of the story denies." CW: You'll have to read all the details to make up your mind. Sounds like a hoax to me, although the Trump campaign's record of false denials makes it impossible to know. Newsweek, which the Trump campaign claims published the original U.S. story on the Serbian magazine's purported interview; it has since updated its story to reflect the Trump campaign's denial. O'Toole has drastically revised her Foreign Policy story to incorporate BuzzFeed's findings.

Congressional Races

Paul Krugman is thinking past the election, to what Hillary Clinton's agenda could be, depending on what kind of Congress we elect. "In any case, the bottom line is that if you're thinking of staying home on Election Day because the outcome is assured, don't. Barring the political equivalent of a meteor strike, Hillary Clinton will be our next president, but the size of her victory will determine what kind of president she can be."

Donald Who? Shane Goldmacher of Politico: "The campaign arm of Senate Republicans has all but excised Donald Trump's name from their email pitches after previously making him central to their online fundraising efforts — a sign of just how toxic the GOP nominee has become since the video of his lewd comments came out last week." -- CW

Other News & Views

Ryan Foley, et al., of the AP: "During the first six months of this year, minors died from accidental shootings -- at their own hands, or at the hands of other children or adults -- at a pace of one every other day, far more than limited federal statistics indicate.' -- CW

Sari Horwitz & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "The FBI will launch a pilot project early next year to begin collecting use-of-force statistics nationwide and create the first online national database on both deadly and nonfatal interactions the public has with law enforcement.... Although [Attorney General Loretta] Lynch can impose financial penalties on law enforcement agencies that fail to report data about 'civilians' who died during interactions with authorities or in their custody, the Justice Department cannot require state and local agencies to report the far larger number of such situations that are not fatal. Participation in the new use-of-force program by those agencies is voluntary." -- CW

Juan Cole: "The US Navy in the Red Sea fired Tomahawk missiles into Yemen early Thursday morning, taking out three radar stations. Those facilities had allowed the Houthi rebels who control North Yemen to target US destroyers in the Red Sea on several occasions in recent days (they missed each time). The Obama administration has backed the Saudi-led war on the Houthi government of north Yemen since it began in March of 2015, offering logistical support and even help in choosing targets for airstrikes. Presumably the Houthis were firing at US destroyers in an attempt to take revenge on the US for its involvement in the war on them." --safari

Beyond the Beltway

Myles Ma of NJ.com: "Enough probable cause exists for a citizen's official misconduct complaint against Gov. Chris Christie to move forward in connection with the governor's alleged failure to stop politically-motivated lane closures at the George Washington Bridge in 2013, a judge in Bergen County ruled Thursday. The complaint by Bill Brennan, a retired Teaneck firefighter and citizen activist, alleges that Christie knew of the closures while they were happening and should have halted them. He alleges that inaction constitutes second-degree official misconduct, a charge punishable by five to 10 years in prison. 'I'm satisfied that there's probable cause to believe that an event of official misconduct was caused by Gov. Christie,' Municipal Presiding Judge Roy McGeady said. 'I'm going to issue the summons.'" ...Akhilleus (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

American "Justice", Ctd. Elizabeth Nolan Brown of The Daily Beast: "A sergeant who used hand-sanitizer to draw a penis on his female subordinate's car. Rape investigators accused of joking about masturbating to victims' stories. These are just a few of the scandals to rock the Seattle-area sheriff's over the past four years. And after settling a sexual-harassment lawsuit for $1 million in 2013, the King County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) is again embroiled in a legal fight over its treatment of female officers..... In this latest lawsuit, initially filed in April 2015, two former King County deputies and one current sergeant seek damages from King County for gender-based harassment, discrimination, and retaliation." The allegations range from 'pussy grabbing', to homophobia, to ridiculing a woman's hair because she was going through chemotherapy and wore a wig. And of course serial double standards between men and women. Sounds like a typical day in Trump's 'Merica. --safari

Way Beyond

AFP: "There are a dizzying two trillion galaxies in the universe, up to 20 times more than previously thought, astronomers reported on Thursday. The surprising finding, based on 3D modeling of images collected over 20 years by the Hubble Space Telescope, was published in the Astronomical Journal." --safari

Guardian: "Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, has spoken of 'cleaning' the besieged city of Aleppo, where a quarter of a million people are caught under heavy bombardment by his government's forces, and using it as a 'springboard' for winning the country's war. With Britain leading international outcry over the regime's campaign against rebels in Aleppo and Russia's backing for it, Assad declared that victory in the strategic city would allow the Syrian army to liberate other areas of the country from 'terrorists'." --safari

Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "Ten days after voters in Colombia rejected their government's peace deal with leftist FARC rebels, the country's main opposition party has published proposals that would modify the agreement but leave significant portions intact. At first glance, the proposals by the Democratic Center party of former president Álvaro Uribe appear to reflect relatively modest changes to the deal and may raise hopes that Colombia can avert a return to war." -- CW

News Lede

New York Times: "The United States Anti-Doping Agency is seeking to reassure American athletes that their private medical information is safe after Russian hackers gained access to the email account of one of the agency's officials. The same cyberespionage group that stole private medical information from the World Anti-Doping Agency's athlete database last summer more recently compromised the email account belonging to the science director of the American agency. The agency believes the breach occurred in early September in Rio de Janeiro, at the start of the Paralympic Games." -- CW

The Commentariat -- October 13, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump pushed back aggressively on Thursday against what he called 'false smears' from women who claimed unwanted advances, seeking to stabilize his campaign as Michelle Obama declared 'it doesn't matter what party you belong to, no woman deserves to be treated this way.'... In a series of messages posted on Twitter on Thursday morning, Mr. Trump said that the article in The Times was a 'total fabrication' and denied the incident described by Natasha Stoynoff, a former writer for People, who said that Mr. Trump had forced his tongue down her throat while she was working on an assignment for the magazine about his first anniversary with his wife, Melania." -- CW ...

... Greg Sargent: "Michelle Obama is a tremendously popular public figure, who is probably better positioned than anyone else in the country to make this particular case. And that's what makes this a seminal, defining moment.... If Trump has a capacity for basic and sustained public decency, it has yet to make its appearance. And now we really seem to have crossed a point of no return. Michelle Obama marked it down. No going back":

"Ladies..., Grow Up." Katie Zezima of the Washington Post: "Trump's top supporters, many of them middle-aged or older men, have tried to explain away Trump's behavior in terms that range from puzzling to offensive -- angering people in both parties and complicating the Republican nominee's attempts to move past the controversies.... Some, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, have described Trump's comments on the video as typical male behavior in general. Others are also attempting to discredit the women accusing Trump of assault. And some of Trump's male supporters seem more than willing to lecture women on how they should put up with sexist talk. 'Ladies out there, this is what guys talk about when you're not around. So if you're offended by it, grow up. Okay?' actor Scott Baio said on Fox News." -- CW

** Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: NYT lawyer to DJT lawyer: Trump has no reputation to protect. -- CW

"Last week Megyn Kelly of Fox "News" complained, "Donald Trump ... will go on Hannity and pretty much only Hannity and will not venture out to the unsafe spaces these days." Not Any More. Brian Stelter of CNN: "On Thursday morning, [Trump] canceled on his friend Sean Hannity.... He had been scheduled to appear on Hannity's Fox News show Thursday night. He backed out around 11:30 a.m. ET. Hannity is still set to interview the four Clinton critics who appeared with Trump at a pre-debate photo op on Sunday: Kathy Shelton, Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, and Juanita Broaddrick." -- CW

Hallie Jackson & Alex Johnson of NBC News have new details on Donald Trump's (alleged) sexually aggressive behavior against Temple Taggart McDowell in 1997, when (then Taggert) was a 21-year-old beauty pageant contestant representing Utah. -- CW

David Wright of CNN: "Barbara Res worked for Donald Trump for 18 years as a construction executive, and asked Thursday if she believed the allegations of sexual misconduct and assault against him, she was frank. 'I do believe it. Yes, absolutely,' Res told CNN's Alisyn Camerota in an interview on 'New Day.' 'He's a blatant sexist.' 'I saw him be aggressive in business, and throw his weight around and use the fact that he had power. And I think sexual assault and sexual harassment are really about the abuse of power -- "I can do this to you because I am who I am" -- I do think it went to his head. So much else went to his head that it does make sense to me that he would do something like that,' Res, who is supporting Hillary Clinton for president." -- CW

Michael Grynbaum & Rachel Abrams of the New York Times: "Mark Burnett, the reality-show auteur whose 'Apprentice' series catapulted Donald J. Trump to national stardom, issued a forceful denunciation of Mr. Trump's presidential bid on Wednesday evening, saying he rejected 'the hatred, division and misogyny that has been a very unfortunate part of his campaign.' The statement capped an unusually challenging few days for Mr. Burnett..., who has faced growing demands that he release footage from the 'Apprentice' set that some former crew members say could reveal Mr. Trump acting in vulgar and offensive ways." -- CW

AND I suppose I should post this, the contrast with reality being so stark. Thanks to Whyte O. for the link:

Myles Ma of NJ.com. "Enough probable cause exists for a citizen's official misconduct complaint against Gov. Chris Christie to move forward in connection with the governor's alleged failure to stop politically-motivated lane closures at the George Washington Bridge in 2013, a judge in Bergen County ruled Thursday. The complaint by Bill Brennan, a retired Teaneck firefighter and citizen activist, alleges that Christie knew of the closures while they were happening and should have halted them. He alleges that inaction constitutes second-degree official misconduct, a charge punishable by five to 10 years in prison. 'I'm satisfied that there's probable cause to believe that an event of official misconduct was caused by Gov. Christie,' Municipal Presiding Judge Roy McGeady said. 'I'm going to issue the summons.'" ...Akhilleus

Trump Apologizes! Molly O'Toole of Foreign Policy. "The list of women accusing the Republican presidential nominee of sexual assault is growing, along with Republican leaders and voters who have abandoned his presidential campaign. [Donald] Trump's answer: Apologize --  but to Serbians, for the U.S.-led air campaign in the Balkans in the 1990s that helped stave off potential civilian slaughter in Kosovo...'The bombing of Serbs, who were our allies in both world wars, was a big mistake,' Trump told the Serbian weekly magazine Nedeljnik in an article published on its website Thursday. He promised 'a new policy with the Balkans,' though he didn't specify what it would look like. 'Serbians are very good people,' he said. 'Unfortunately, the [Bill] Clinton administration caused them a lot of harm, but also throughout the Balkans, which they made a mess out of.'" ... ... Akhilleus: The interview, which Trump now claims never took place (funny because it's a cover story on the magazine and appears on their website), bears all the hallmarks of Russian propaganda. Trump's main point in apologizing, apparently, is that the US led bombing stopped those nice Serbian ethnic cleansers, the war criminals Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic, from murdering even more Muslims. The idea! But apologize for sexual assault? Never!

Presidential Race

Washington Post Editors: "IN THE gloom and ugliness of this political season, one encouraging truth is often overlooked: There is a well-qualified, well-prepared candidate on the ballot. Hillary Clinton has the potential to be an excellent president of the United States, and we endorse her without hesitation." -- CW ...

Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "Hillary Clinton denounced 'scorched earth' tactics by Republicans on Wednesday, saying Democrats must not allow themselves to turn away from the election in disgust. Those tactics have recently included protesters accusing former president Bill Clinton of rape. Clinton's campaign appearances were interrupted two days in a row this week by people shouting while holding or wearing T-shirts that brand her husband a rapist." -- CW ...

... CW: They weren't really protesters. They were entrepreneurs. Or something. ...

... Alastair Jamieson & Frank Thorp of NBC News: "Multiple hecklers shouting 'Bill Clinton is a rapist' interrupted President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at separate rallies after a pro-Donald Trump radio host offered a cash reward to anyone carrying out such a stunt. Three separate protesters disrupted Hillary Clinton's election campaign rally with Al Gore in Miami, while three others -- including two wearing 'Bill Clinton rapist' T-shirts -- cut into Obama as he addressed a crowd in North Carolina.... Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist and right-wing radio host who founded the Infowars website..., on Friday offered $1,000 to supporters pictured on television for at least five seconds wearing a 'Bill Clinton rape' T-shirt and $5,000 to anyone who can be heard shouting 'Bill Clinton is a rapist' while wearing such a garment. Jones, who believes the Sandy Hook shootings were a hoax, also says Obama and Hillary Clinton are demons who smell like sulfur." See also Sam Reisman's post, linked below, on Eric Trump's fake news tweet. -- CW

Politico: "Hillary Clinton's campaign escalated its response Wednesday to WikiLeaks' ongoing publication of hacked emails from John Podesta.... 'It is also now clear that the illegal hack of John Podesta's email is the work of the Russian government, according to the FBI,' campaign spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement issued after Roger Stone, a longtime Trump confidant, told NBC News that he was in touch with WikiLeaks through a 'mutual friend' of founder Julian Assange.... 'I have a back-channel communications with WikiLeaks,' Stone said. 'But they certainly don't clear or tell me in advance what they're going to do.'... On Tuesday, Podesta directed reporters to an Aug. 21 tweet by Stone that he said showed 'advance warning' of the hack. 'Trust me, it will soon the Podesta's time in the barrel,' Stone tweeted.... 'We did not deny this,' Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said of the hacking allegations in an interview with CNN on Wednesday. But, he ad[d]ed, 'They did not prove it.'" -- CW ...

... WYSIWYG. Russell Berman of the Atlantic: "... the leak of thousands of hacked email exchanges among [Hillary] Clinton's top advisers ... capture a candidate, and a campaign, that seems in private exactly as cautious, calculating, and politically flexible as they appeared to be in public.... The emails made public by WikiLeaks reveal little about her as a person. These were hacked from the accounts of John Podesta, her campaign chairman, and very few of them are from Clinton herself." -- CW ...

... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The FBI is reacting to the hacking of Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta's emails by re-issuing a broadly-worded statement about cyber threats to those active in American politics.... The statement ... is identical to one the law enforcement agency issued on July 29 in response to reports of hacking into systems run by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.... However, as the reports of hacking spread across the Democratic establishment, FBI officials decided not to publicly confirm or deny each new hacking victim." -- CW ...

... See also "The WikiLinks Strategy" report by the New York Times, linked below.

... Washington Post Editors: "... Donald Trump, is, as we have written, 'uniquely unqualified to serve as president, in experience and temperament.' Below is just a sampling of his many erroneous, malicious and ignorant comments since he launched his campaign in June 2015, along with commentary from Post Opinions writers and The Post editorial board." -- CW

CW: To those of you who doubted predictions here that Donald Trump would go nuts before the election (or as Charles Blow puts it in today's NYT, "a maladroit savage spiraling out of control"), read on:

Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Four women accused Donald Trump of groping or kissing them without their consent in news reports published Wednesday, just days after the Republican presidential nominee insisted in a debate that he had never engaged in such behavior.... Separately, CBS News on Wednesday reported 1992 footage filmed for 'Entertainment Tonight' in which Trump is heard commenting about a young girl, 'I'm going to be dating her in ten years.' Also Wednesday, Rolling Stone published a story that included the allegations of Cassandra Searles, Miss Washington 2013.... Searles wrote, 'He probably doesn't want me telling the story about that time he continually grabbed my ass and invited me to his hotel room.'... Early Thursday morning, Trump's campaign released a letter from attorney Marc E. Kasowitz demanding a retraction from the Times." -- CW

Meghan Twohey & Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "More than three decades ago, when she was a traveling businesswoman..., [Jessica] Leeds said, she sat beside Mr. Trump in the first-class cabin of a flight to New York. They had never met before. About 45 minutes after takeoff, she recalled, Mr. Trump lifted the armrest and began to touch her. According to Ms. Leeds, Mr. Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt. 'He was like an octopus,' she said. 'His hands were everywhere.' She fled to the back of the plane. 'It was an assault,' she said....

     ... [Rachel] Crooks was a 22-year-old receptionist at Bayrock Group, a real estate investment and development company in Trump Tower in Manhattan, when she encountered Mr. Trump outside an elevator in the building one morning in 2005.... They shook hands, but Mr. Trump would not let go, she said. Instead, he began kissing her cheeks. Then, she said, he 'kissed me directly on the mouth.'... Their accounts echo those of other women who have previously come forward....

     ... In a phone interview on Tuesday night, a highly agitated Mr. Trump denied every one of the women's claims.... He said that The Times was making up the allegations to hurt him and that he would sue the news organization if it reported them. 'You are a disgusting human being,' he told the reporter as she questioned him about the women's claims." -- CW

When you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. -- Donald Trump to Billy Bush, 2005

Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post: Mindy "McGillivray, 36, said she was groped by Trump at Mar-a-Lago 13 years ago. She said she never reported it to authorities. But her companion that day, photographer Ken Davidoff, vividly remembers when McGillivray pulled him aside moments after the alleged incident and told him, 'Donald just grabbed my ass!'... According to Davidoff, it was Jan. 24, 2003, when he and his father, the late Palm Beach society photographer Bob Davidoff, took photos at Mar-a-Lago during a concert by Ray Charles.... Ken Davidoff said he brought his friend McGillivray to help him during the concert.... After the show, Davidoff and McGillivray were standing in a pavilion behind the main house in the middle of a group of people.... To McGillivray's immediate right was Trump and his fiancée, Melania.... 'All of a sudden I felt a grab, a little nudge.... I turn around and there's Donald. He sort of looked away quickly. I quickly turned back, facing Ray Charles, and I'm stunned.... It was pretty close to the center of my butt. I was startled. I jumped.' Later, near a restroom, Trump began flirting with McGillivray, but Melania interrupted them. -- CW

Natasha Stoynoff of People: "'Just for the record,' Anderson Cooper asked Donald Trump, during the presidential debate last Sunday, 'are you saying ... that you did not actually kiss women without (their) consent?' 'I have not,' Trump insisted. I remember it differently.... In December 2005, around the time Trump had his now infamous conversation with Billy Bush, I traveled to Mar-a-Lago to interview the couple for a first-wedding-anniversary feature story.... When we took a break for the then-very-pregnant Melania to go upstairs and change wardrobe for more photos, Donald wanted to show me around the mansion. There was one 'tremendous' room in particular, he said, that I just had to see. We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat." Please read on. -- CW

Molly Redden of the Guardian: "Donald Trump deliberately walked in on two young Miss USA 2001 contestants while they were naked and getting dressed for a rehearsal, one of the former beauty contestants has claimed in an interview with the Guardian.... Just before he entered, the former contestant said, she heard the security detail outside the dressing room tell someone approaching the door that the women inside were naked. 'Mr Trump just barged right in, didn't say anything, stood there and stared at us,' she recalled. Trump's attitude, she said, seemed to be: 'I can do this because I can.'... The woman -- who did not wish to be identified -- is the second competitor from the 2001 Miss USA pageant to claim that Trump took advantage of owning the pageant, which he broadcast on NBC, in order to view the contestants naked.... The other 2001 beauty contestant to accuse Trump of misconduct was Tasha Dixon." -- CW

Tessa Stuart of Rolling Stone provides some "'highlights' from Trump's storied history as a [beauty] pageant creep." -- CW

CW: There must be hundreds of women who have similar true stories to tell. Any politician who endorses Donald Trump, anyone who votes for him, is condoning, supporting & encouraging unchecked violence against women. An extra-special shoutout to those "Towers of Jello" -- story linked below -- who endorsed Trump, then unendorsed him because they were so "shocked" by the Trump-Bush tape, then re-endorsed him because they thought it would help their sorry political careers. How many of these geniuses figured no women would out Trump in the coming days? And let's hear from Gov. mike christian-family-man pence.

CW P.S.: We all owe thanks to these brave women for coming forward to describe how Donald Trump abused & humiliated them. I'm sure they know Trump & his supporters will do their best to further demean them. We all know it takes guts to stand up to bullies. It takes a lot of guts to do it on a national stage.

Greg Sargent: Donald Trump "is threatening to sue the New York Times for its story quoting two of the women, and his lawyers are charging the paper with recklessly providing those out to smear Trump with 'a platform.' It's almost as if Donald Trump thinks you are too stupid to remember that only a few days ago, he literally tried to provide a platform for Bill Clinton's accusers, when he attempted to parade them into his family box at Sunday's debate, in hopes of creating a great confrontation before an audience of tens of millions, only to see his plot thwarted by the debate organizers." CW: And of course Trump did provide a platform for the women shortly before the debate in a feint he described as "debate preparation." Now, of course, he's complaining that the debates are "rigged" (story linked below). Did we mention Bill isn't running for president?

By Driftglass. Multiple applications today.Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "One day after warning the GOP that his 'shackles' are off..., Donald Trump floated the prospect of a 'sinister deal' preventing Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) from coming to his defense. Trump at a Florida rally on Wednesday questioned why Ryan, who effectively conceded Trump's White House chances during a call with lawmakers this week, wouldn't come out and congratulate him after Sunday's presidential debate....'"You'd think they'd say, "Great going, Don. Let's go, let's beat this crook...." No, he doesn't do that. There's a whole deal going on. We're going to figure it out. I always figure things out. There's a whole sinister deal.'" -- CW

Adam Raymond of New York: "Donald Trump blasted the Commission for Presidential Debates on Wednesday, claiming the bipartisan group is 'rigged' and declaring himself 'done' with it. 'The head guy worked for Bill Clinton. Ay yai yai. What a rigged deal this is,' Trump said at a rally in Florida. He was referring to CPD co-chair Mike McCurry, who served as Clinton's press secretary.... What Trump did not mention is that McCurry's co-chair is Frank Fahrenkopf, chairman of the Republican National Committee while Ronald Reagan was president. Trump went on to suggest that he might skip the third debate, scheduled for October 19 in Las Vegas.... Trump spokesperson Jason Miller told the Daily Beast's Olivia Nuzzi that Trump does, in fact, plan to participate in the third debate." -- CW

Hillary Clinton 'lost as much as $6 billion in taxpayer money while she was running the State Department. Now, some people say it was misplaced. Oh, billions of dollars misplaced.' -- Donald Trump, remarks in Panama City, Fla., Oct. 11

The $6 billion was not lost or misplaced; it's that $6 billion in contracts had missing paperwork. On top of that, the majority of contracts with missing or incomplete paperwork stemmed from the Bush administration, before Clinton became secretary of state. So it's ridiculous to claim Clinton was in anyway responsible for the problems with the contracts. The only thing 'lost' in Trump's statement is reality. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post

The WikiLeaks Strategy. Patrick Healy, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump is suddenly embracing an unlikely ally: The document-spilling group WikiLeaks, which Republicans denounced when it published classified State Department cables and Pentagon secrets about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.... Mr. Trump, his advisers, and many of his supporters are increasingly seizing on a trove of embarrassing emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign that WikiLeaks has been publishing -- and that American intelligence agencies said on Friday came largely from Russian intelligence agencies, with the authorization of 'Russia's senior-most officials.' The Trump campaign's willingness to use WikiLeaks is an extraordinary turnabout after years of bipartisan criticism of the organization and its leader, Julian Assange, for past disclosures of American national security intelligence and other confidential information. The accusation that Russian agents are now playing an almost-daily role in helping fuel Mr. Trump's latest political attacks on Mrs. Clinton raises far greater concerns, though, about foreign interference in a presidential election." -- CW

The Sore Loser Strategy. Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: "Trump is either victorious or victimized, but never a loser. This week marked the end of Trump trying to actually win, and the beginning of him plotting to explain why the election was stolen." -- CW ...

... The Denial Strategy. Brian Stelter of CNN: "With Hillary Clinton extending her lead nationwide and in key battleground states, Trump is toying with what might be called 'poll denialism.'... ;Even the polls are crooked,' he said at a Monday night rally, expressing disbelief that he is losing to Clinton in Pennsylvania. 'Look, we're in a rigged system.'... On Tuesday when Bill O'Reilly told him that 'you're behind with women,' Trump responded, 'I'm not sure I believe it. I'm not sure I believe it.' Nearly every national poll finds Clinton well ahead among women.... Some of Trump's bullish talk is run-of-the-mill campaign rhetoric ... but there are times when Trump and his aides are clearly misleading voters. Trump told O'Reilly that 'Virtually everybody, other than, you know, some crooked polls, said that we won the debate easily.' In fact, every scientific poll of debate watchers found that Clinton was the victor. O'Reilly did not interject to correct Trump." -- CW

The Chattel Strategy. Joshua Green of Bloomberg: "Donald Trump believes his ploy at the Oct. 9th presidential debate to invite three women who claim they were assaulted by former president Bill Clinton ... has left Hillary Clinton 'shaken' and helped unify Republican voters behind his embattled campaign. So he's doubling down on the strategy, which his advisers believe will make his opponent toxic and depress turnout among a key demographic group -- young women -- Clinton is counting on to win. A senior Trump adviser says the campaign will soon bring forward new accusers: 'Women are coming to us who have been groped or sexually abused by Bill Clinton.'... On Thursday night, the Trump campaign will begin a new media blitz, his advisers say, with [Juanita] Broaddrick, [Kathleen] Willey, and [Paula] Jones appearing together on a one-hour Fox News special hosted by Sean Hannity. Additional interviews will follow." ...

     ... CW: This brilliant strategy makes a lot of sense to those who believe wives are nothing more than extensions of their husbands. Hey, maybe this explains why Hillary's campaign isn't doing an anti-Melania blitz. That, or the Clinton campaign has some decency, sense & integrity.

Michael Kranish & Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "The populist candidacy that upended the GOP order and has torn through many of the norms of American politics is now raising a concern among critics in both parties: that Trump is, in effect, running to be a strongman with dictatorial powers.... His latest campaign ad ends with the words: 'Donald Trump will protect you. He is the only one who can.'... It would seem few aspects of daily life would be beyond the reach of the power he envisions.... Trump has repeatedly praised authoritarian leaders.... Trump has also expressed admiration for some dictators.... Constitutional scholars say they are alarmed that Trump does not seem to understand the separation of powers." This is a straight news report. -- CW

Towers of Jello. James Hohmann of the Washington Post: "Republican elected officials are personally outraged and ashamed by something their party's nominee says or does. So they distance themselves. But as soon as they face a whiff of blowback from some in the party, they cave and fall back in line. Then they offer up excuses and rationalizations, twisting themselves into pretzels to justify voting for a guy who some will tell you privately is a danger to the Republic. It's happened over and over again now, and it validates what Trump himself said during the primaries: Many politicians are indeed craven and interested mainly in maintaining power for themselves, principles be damned." Akhilleus: I think I'm being unkind to weasels. Even calling these pusillanimous frauds cowardly would be unfair to most cowards. They are a special brand of spineless poltroon. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Gaslight. Rudy 9/11 Attacks Clinton for Saying What She Never Said. Aaron Rupar of Think Progress: "During a Donald Trump rally Wednesday afternoon in Ocala, Florida, Rudy Giuliani ... [said of Hillary Clinton,] 'Yes, yes you helped to get benefits for the people who were injured [September 11]. But I heard her say she was there that day. I was there that day, I don't remember seeing Hillary Clinton there.... As far as ThinkProgress could discern, there's no record of Hillary Clinton ever saying she was at Ground Zero on September 11, 2001." [She was in Washington, D.C., when the Pentagon was hit.] "But as Clinton detailed during a recent interview with CNN, she traveled to Ground Zero the very next day. In fact, numerous photos of her at the site with Giuliani exist." -- CW ...

... Sam Reisman of Mediaite: "Eric Trump was delighted to discover an article that proved -- proved -- that protesters at Trump rallies were paid by the Clinton campaign. 'Finally the truth comes out!' he wrote [in a tweet], appending the hashtag CrookedHillary and a link that, at first glance, pointed to a damning ABC News article.... The only problem is the article is completely fake, as is the 'ABC News' site on which it appears, a fact that Trump may have picked up on if he had noticed the curious '.com.co' domain.... Or the fact that Trump supporter Ann Coulter and former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski tweeted out the exact same fake story in March." CW: Funny how Little Dracula is horrified by fake paid Clinton "protesters" but apparently not troubled at all by real paid Alex Jones protesters. Also funny how the Trump campaign has no message control. ...

... Mary Ann Georgantopoulos of BuzzFeed: "Eric Trump sent a fundraising email out to supporters Wednesday morning" that included a U.S. map which apparently showed that Daddy-o was winning in a number of states that have been leaning Clinton. Eric claimed in the e-mail that "right now all the momentum is on our side." "Here's the problem," Georgantopoulos writes: "That map GIF is from FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver, showing what the election would look like if only men voted." CW: Who knows? Maybe "The Trump Master Plan for Improving the U.S. Constitution," as yet only partially disclosed, is to rescind the 19th Amendment, too. Great! One less responsibility for the weaker sex. ...

... CW: BTW, Little Dracula:

... CW: The two maps, Eric's "Manmentum" map & the one posted above, appear in one post by Silver, so it's not as if the Boy Trump, dumb as he is, didn't know he was lying to Trump supporters for the purpose of getting them to transfer their cash to Dad's campaign. ...

... Trump Family Values, Ctd.:

Buyer's Remorse. Leigh Ann Caldwell of NBCnews. "Two big-money donors who have given or raised tens of thousands of dollars for Donald Trump are livid at the Republican presidential nominee and are asking for their money back, according to a bundler who raised money for Trump. 'I cannot express my disappointment enough regarding the recent events surrounding Mr. Trump,' one donor wrote to a Trump fundraiser in an email with the subject line 'Trump support withdrawal.'... The donor, who had given to and raised money for Trump, said. 'I respectfully request that my money be refunded.' Senior Trump spokesman Jason Miller said the campaign is 'unaware of any donors making such a request.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Akhilleus: Anyone think Trump will actually return the money? Soitanly not! I mean the guy doesn't pay anyone. Why would he give money back to schmoes he's already conned? Besides, Trump has already spent that money on a rack full of those pussy bow blouses Melania wore to the debate. The ones Maureen Dowd wasted an entire column considering.

Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: "Liberty University students on Wednesday issued a reprimand against their school's president, calling his defense of Donald Trump disappointing.... 'In the months since Jerry Falwell Jr. endorsed him, Donald Trump has been inexorably associated with Liberty University. We are Liberty students who are disappointed with President Falwell's endorsement and are tired of being associated with one of the worst presidential candidates in American history,' the student organization Liberty United Against Trump wrote in a statement Wednesday. 'A majority of Liberty students, faculty and staff feel as we do. Nevertheless, President Falwell eagerly uses his national platform to advocate for Donald Trump,' the statement read." -- CW

Meet Your Trump Supporters. Message from Russia: Elect Trump or Else. Andrew Osborn of Reuters: "Americans should vote for Donald Trump as president next month or risk being dragged into a nuclear war, according to a Russian ultra-nationalist ally of President Vladimir Putin who likes to compare himself to the U.S. Republican candidate. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a flamboyant veteran lawmaker known for his fiery rhetoric, told Reuters in an interview that Trump was the only person able to de-escalate dangerous tensions between Moscow and Washington." Akhilleus: Yes, and I am Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Zhirinovsky goes so far as to award Trumpy a pre-wrapped Nobel Peace Prize, which he can gaze at while Putin goes on a rampage across Eastern Europe. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Congressional Races

Alex Isenstadt & John Bresnahan of Politico: "Speaker Paul Ryan told top donors on Wednesday evening that he's growing concerned about whether House Republicans will be able to weather the political storm this November -- and suggested the outcome for his party could be dire. During a conference call, Ryan said he believed that House Republicans had taken a serious hit amid Donald Trump's freefall following release of the now-infamous 'Access Hollywood' video...." -- CW

Other News & Views

Martin Longman of the Washington Monthly: "... I can't see Paul Ryan actually being the Speaker of the House next year. And if he is, I can't see him lasting for very long." -- CW

Stacy Cowley & Michael Corkery of the New York Times: "The scandal engulfing Wells Fargo toppled its chief executive on Wednesday, as John G. Stumpf announced his departure from the company, effective immediately. The move was a swift and stunning fall for an executive whose bank made it through the 2008 financial crisis relatively unscathed only to be undone by a product sales scandal that pervaded its community banking division and has percolated under the surface for years.... The timing and swiftness of his departure came as a surprise to the bank's board." -- CW

Gary Gately of the Washington Post: "Many white people fought alongside African Americans in the civil rights movement. But few made as vital and enduring an impact as Jack Greenberg, a protege of and successor to Thurgood Marshall at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Mr. Greenberg, who died Oct. 12 at 91, joined the New York-based legal organization in 1949, fresh out of Columbia Law School. At the time, civil rights law was a small field frequently overlooked by ambitious white lawyers, but Mr. Greenberg said he was invigorated by the principles at stake and the intellectual challenge on hand." -- CW

Linda Greenhouse: Litigious conservatives now seek out judges who will "legislate from the bench," as long as the judge is likely to "legislate" their way. "The notion of legislating from the bench was never more than a political slogan. Now it's simply fatuous. That doesn't mean that it won't be heard at the next Senate confirmation hearing. It's easier for some senators to accuse judges of legislating from the bench than to do any actual legislating themselves." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

Scott Suppression Scheme Scotched. Gary Rohrer of the LA Times: "Floridians will get one more week, through Tuesday, Oct. 18, to register to vote, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. The move could tip the balance of a pivotal swing state as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump make their pitch to voters in the final month of the campaign. After a one hour hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker ruled the right to vote was fundamental and shouldn't be jeopardized because of a natural disaster like Hurricane Matthew.... The suit was filed Sunday by the Florida Democratic Party after Gov. Rick Scott refused to extend the deadline due to disruptions caused by Hurricane Matthew." -- Akhilleus (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dave Altimari, et al., of the Hartford Courant: "Traffic is once again flowing on Main Street [in Hartford, Ct.], where a twin-engine plane crashed yards from Pratt & Whitney property Tuesday, but questions linger about the cause of the crash. A high-ranking local law enforcement official said Wednesday that the student pilot [Feras M. Freitekh] and instructor were arguing shortly before the crash, which killed the student. Another source said the student pilot started flying the plane erratically and the instructor fought to gain control before the crash. The source said the student was distraught and feeling stressed over his poor performance at the flight academy. A federal official told The Courant that the crash appears to have been a case of suicide, and that nothing had been found by Wednesday evening to suggest terrorism." -- CW

Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "The San Francisco Police Department stops and searches African Americans at a disproportionately high rate and does not adequately investigate officers using force, a Justice Department review found. The review -- released Wednesday by the Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services -- uncovered 'numerous indicators of implicit and institutionalized bias against minority groups,' along with insufficient training and data collection. It found the vast majority of those killed by police were people of color." -- CW

Wesley Lowery & Cheryl Thompson of the Washington Post: "Keith Lamont Scott was struck at least three times by bullets fired by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer, with at least one of the fatal shots striking him in the back, according to a private autopsy conducted for his family and obtained by The Washington Post." -- CW

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday for work that the Swedish Academy described as 'having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.' He is the first American to win the prize since Toni Morrison in 1993, and a groundbreaking choice by the Nobel committee to select the first literature laureate whose career has primarily been as a musician." -- CW

New York Times: "King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, who took the throne of the kingdom once known as Siam shortly after World War II and held it for more than 70 years, establishing himself as a revered personification of Thai nationhood, died on Thursday in Bangkok. He was 88 and one of the longest-reigning monarchs in history.... The military junta, which seized power in a coup two years ago, derives its authority from the king. The king's heir apparent, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, is seen by many as a jet-setting playboy and not held in the same regard as his father. And the king’s death raises questions about the future of the monarchy itself." -- CW