Devastating to Trump. On Twitter last night, Alicia Machado thanked Hillary for the shout-out during the debate. Here's Alicia telling her story in May, 2016:

Another interview the same month is here. [More....]

It's gonna be huuuuge.

Great timing for the Tecate beer wall ad mocking Donald Trump's border wall.

Update: The audience has had enough. They are laughing at Trump and cheering Hillary. She even got his sexism in. What a dismal performance by Trump, even worse than I expected. He even blew his attempt to criticize her stamina. No closing statements. The media will have a field day with how unpresidential Trump was. Hillary didn't have a single mis-step.

Updater: PINOCCHIO! Trump lies and says he never supported the war in Iraq. Here's Trump in 2002.

Update: The quiet audience laughed out loud when he said he has a better temperment than Hillary. He says he has a winning temperment.

Go Hillary! She blows off Trump's insult to her temperment and changes the topic back to what the question was. And then gives an example of a Trump statement on Iran that shows he's not fit to be Commander in Chief. Hillary does a good imitation of Trump's cavalier attitude. " A man who gets provoked by a Tweet" should not have his hand anywhere near the nuclear codes. [More...]

As promised, the New York Times editorial board today released its opinion on why Donald Trump doesn't deserve to be President.

The ending is the best part. It sums up the qualities Trump exudes:

....bluster, savage mockery of those who challenge him, degrading comments about women, mendacity, crude generalizations about nations and religions. Our presidents are role models for generations of our children. Is this the example we want for them?

Back to the beginning:

I'm really tired of seeing the media proclaim Trump and Clinton have the lowest favorability ratings in modern history. So what?

If there's a story here, it's that Trump's favorability rating is 9 points lower than Hillary's, according to the latest Gallup poll. And his unfavorability rating is 8 points higher than Hillary's.

Sept 19-25, 2016 and Sept 17 to 24, 2016:

• Trump Favorable 32
• Trump Unfavorable 63
• Hillary Favorable 41
• Hillary Unfavorable 55

Also, Trump favorability is down a point while Hillary's is up a point.

[More...]

Do candidates, like athletes, use music to psych themselves up for the big event? I bet they do.

So what would Hillary be listening to? (I wouldn't be surprised if Trump is tone deaf and listens to nothing but his own voice, so I'm not including him.)

Since she's no millenial, I think the music on her smart phone is going to reflect her generation.

I'm picking three songs for her: One to pump her up, one to watch on her phone and inspire her right before she's introduced, and one to listen to during the break when she thinks she can't stand another moment of being on stage with Donald Trump.

I'd like to hear your choices in comments. My picks below.

At the iHeart Music Festival in Las Vegas Friday -- U2 blows up Donald Trump on the big screen. Bono says, "Las Vegas, Are you ready to gamble?" "Are you ready to gamble your house?" "Are you ready to gamble the American dream?" On the big screen behind him, Donald Trump, with a sneer, proclaims "The American Dream is Dead." Bono screams back "The American Dream is Alive!"

The screen then shows Donald Trump in a baseball cap asking, "What do you have to lose?"

Bono repeats, "What do you have to lose?" He answers, "Everything!"

In the longer clip, available here, U2 then launches into "Desire" with the first words, "You can't deny her."

Loved it.

Pablo Escobar's son lists 28 inaccuracies in Narcos Season 2. Not to be outdone, with Narcos planning of butchering the story of the Cali Cartel next, William Abadia-Rodriguez, son of Cali leader Miguel Rodriguez-Orejuela, has an op-ed in La Semana blasting narcodramas in general, and especially the one about his family in particular, En La Boca Del Lobo, calling the informant-protagonist a nobody telling fantasy tales.

The Harvard educated lawyer, now living in Miami (thanks to his plea deal with the U.S, which saw his 21 year sentence reduced to 5 years, after he agreed to testify against his father and uncle, with their blessings, and allowed him, his wife and children and mother-in-law to stay in the U.S) still insists he was only involved in the money laundering and bribery of politician business, not drugs. [More...]

Charlotte police have released the dash cam video of the shooting of Keith Scott. (No link due to auto-play video -- I can't even find an article without one to know what's in the video, so if you are following the story, use google.)

If there's one thing I won't be buying, it's the new Spectacle sunglasses by Snapchat. I wouldn't be surprised to learn Homeland Security has invested in the product. What a privacy invasion. Beware of people wearing the brightly colored sunglasses around you.

They're connected sunglasses that record video snippets that get saved to your Snapchat Memories....Tap the button on the top left-hand corner of the sunglasses to begin recording a snap. It will automatically stop recording after 10 seconds — but if you want additional recording time, you can tap again to add another 10-second increment.

I think this has the potential to cause violent reactions from anyone who realizes they are being recorded by a stranger.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The New York Times today endorsed Hillary Clinton for President.

We will explain in a subsequent editorial why we believe Mr. Trump to be the worst nominee put forward by a major party in modern American history.

[More...]

Update: Barbra Streisand writes an op-ed for Huffpo blasting Trump. In a section responding to Trump's claim that Hillary doesn't look presidential, she describes him as "a guy who looks like a raccoon in a tanning bed... with a flying squirrel on his head. "

Will Donald Trump soon go into free-fall? I think so. Here's today's Trump news:

In a new interview in Rolling Stone, Bruce Springsteen calls Donald Trump a "moron."

What do you make of the Trump phenomenon?

Well, you know, the republic is under siege by a moron, basically. The whole thing is tragic.

He says he is enthused about Hillary:

Is there a lack of enthusiasm for Hillary on your own part?

No. I like Hillary. I think she would be a very, very good president.

[More...]

A new poll of Hispanic voters in several key battleground states show Hillary with a significant lead among Hispanic voters. The poll is by the Florida Atlantic University Business and Economic Polling Initiative. The press release is here and the poll results are here.

The states are: Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Colorado and North Carolina. Some interesting points before we get to the numbers:

• Clinton leads Trump among younger Hispanic voters (18 to 34 years old) in all five states by a range of 24 to 45 points. Clinton is also winning among Hispanic Independents in every state except Ohio.
• Trump suffers from a very unfavorable image in every state, faring worst in Colorado with nearly 80 percent of Hispanics having an unfavorable opinion of him. Trump’s highest favorable rating is in Florida at 33 percent. Clinton has more than 50 percent of favorable ratings among Hispanics in every state except Florida, where she is at 49 percent.

[More...]

Thumper's running mate, Michael Pence, today said:

“Trump and I believe there’s been far too much talk about institutional bias and racism within law enforcement.”

Trump thinks bringing back stop-and-frisk is a solution to city crime problems.

Thumper's son, Donald, Jr., today defended his much criticized Skittles tweet about refugees, saying in Utah it was an analogy.

University of Utah political science professor Tim Chambless, associated with the U.'s Hinckley Institute of Politics, said Trump Jr. did nothing to help alleviate those concerns with his latest statements.

"You wonder where is his and his father's sense of humanity and decency," Chambless said, noting that many Utahns trace their roots back to the Mormon pioneers who were driven out of their homes and came West as refugees themselves.

They are all out to lunch. Seriously, could they be any more tone deaf, let alone disconnected? If there's any consolation, in my personal opinion, it's that his supporters mostly seem to be the lunatic fringe of America -- joined at the hip by their fanaticism, misplaced nationalism and Clinton hating. Who knows how many of them intend to vote-- or are even eligible to vote? [More...]

ISIS is getting ready for the attack on Mosul: It plans on creating a "river of fire" along the city's perimeter.

The group has been working hard this month to dig a two-metre by two-metre trench along the city's perimeter and position oil tanks nearby to create a river of fire that would impede advancing troops and hinder aerial surveillance, according to senior Iraq military officers, Mosul residents, and local officials based outside the city.

The U.S. wants to send more U.S. troops to Mosul. [More...]

Here's Yahoo's statement on the hack of 500 million user accounts by what it suspects is "a state sponsored actor."

What they got: users' names, emails, phone numbers, and dates of birth.

What they didn't get: bank account and payment information which are stored in a different system.