October surprise? 32 Republicans and 0 Democrats infected at the latest count.  The second picture is provocative:

Asking The Question That Nobody Dares To Ask Publicly: Who targeted the President?

The real story on Trump's tax payments:

Carney: NYT Is Wrong — Donald Trump Paid Millions in Taxes in 2017

Trust in fake news:

Nolte: Number of Americans with Zero Confidence in Media Hits New High

Los Angeles' content-based speech restrictions are a First and fourteenth Amendment no-no.  Doesn’t it just fry the LA City Council liberals’ bacon to have to pay the NRA?

Judge Orders LA to Pay NRA over $100,000 After 1st Amendment Ruling

There’s lots more!

Let me ask: are Republican leaders framing the election properly?  Are they doing a good job describing what’s at stake in this election?  I believe they can do better.  In fact, they must do better.  Here’s why and how.

This election is a contest between a man, Donald Trump, who believes America is good, and a man, Joe Biden, who is controlled by a movement that believes America is bad. Or to put this another way, between a man who wants to preserve the American way of life and a man who will end up destroying it.

Republican leaders are too focused on policy. This is not a policy election. This is a regime decision; a way of life election.

Chris Wallace’s overt defense of Joe Biden throughout the debate on Tuesday night was so obvious, so blatant, he should be proscribed from ever “moderating” a debate again.

Wallace’s performance was as Biden’s protector, his advocate, and that is undeniable.  He stepped in at every moment Biden seemed lost: court-packing, lack of support of law enforcement, and Hunter’s criminality.

The debate was so poorly managed.  The questions were designed to aid Biden, to coddle him.  No wonder Trump felt duty-bound to interrupt.  Trump was debating both Wallace and Biden and only one of them is sentient.

Wallace’s intent was clear – sabotage Trump.  Wallace succeeded only in looking like the stooge he is.

If you call 911 in a large American city, there is no guarantee that anyone will answer promptly and send out police to aid the endangered. So gun sales have soared. Some people who never before owned weapons, or who even opposed the use of firearms, are now terrified to remain unarmed.

Large swaths of the American West are now charred by out-of-control wildfires. Some governors and many federal bureaucrats blame the conflagrations on “climate change.”

But those who actually live within forests, or on mountains and foothills, that are historically vulnerable to wildfires know that the epic droughts of 2013–15 killed or dried out millions of acres of trees and vegetation.

Yet most of these decaying trees were never removed by authorities. They now predictably provide the fuel for the current wildfire Armageddon.

If I were a betting woman, I’d say that, over the next month, we’re going to see a steady drip, followed by an onrushing stream, of information about the corrupt origins and practices behind the Russia hoax.

To start: the big news is that yesterday (9/29), Lindsey Graham released a letter from John Ratcliffe, the Director of National Intelligence (full letter in link). In it, Ratcliffe wrote that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were both involved in originating the Russia hoax and that former CIA director John Brennan pushed the investigation.

Ratcliffe’s letter to Graham contained three specific pieces of new information:

“The Rock” – the man Forbes magazine lists as the world’s highest-paid actor, Dwayne Johnson, has just endorsed Joe Biden for president.

In a seven-minute video pinned to his Facebook profile, “The Rock” explained, “In this critical election, I believe Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the best to lead our country, and as my first ever (public) presidential endorsement, I proudly endorse them for the presidential office of our United States.”

From reading through what are now over 100,000 comments in response to Johnson’s Facebook post, it’s clear at once that Johnson’s endorsement backfired. There are almost no comments supporting his decision. Roughly 95 percent of the comments are expressions of anger and feelings of betrayal.

Perhaps Johnson has laid an egg. Perhaps he didn’t know his fans at all. Or perhaps he didn’t care about his American fans.

This has not been a good year for China.

The economy suffered a 6.8 percent economic contraction in Q1, followed by a 3.2 percent rebound (anemic by Chinese standards) in Q2. Relations with the United States remain tense and complicated.

On top of that, heavy rains have caused massive flooding that has wiped away billions of dollars of value in China, washing up factories, homes and agricultural land in a frothy tide of destruction. This last is important.

While China supports over 20 percent of the world’s population, it has a little over 12 percent of its arable land (according to the World Bank). Heavy rains and floods are bad enough; add in an African Swine Fever resurgence in some parts of southern China and the question of food security gains traction as something to watch.