Early this month, I went to Toledo, Ohio, to meet with Hillary Clinton, to sit down with her for a while and take the measure of her ordeal. It was five weeks before an unnervingly high-stakes Election Day. Every campaign produces candidates declaring that “the most important election of our lifetimes” is at hand. Usually this is true only for the person running (no doubt 2012 was the most important election of Mitt Romney’s lifetime). But this year’s stakes feel legitimate. This is not only for the milestone that Clinton’s election would achieve, and all the cultural Rorschach tests, gender dynamics and political scar tissue embedded within. It’s because of Donald Trump, an astonishing figure unlike any who has ever come close to assuming power in this country. “Near existential” is how Tim Kaine recently described this campaign, and it did not come off as complete hyperbole.

But it's also worth remembering that Clinton remains a deeply flawed candidate. Her dominance among women in polling often masked the deep reluctance I hear from women who were supporting her on the campaign trail.

We really don't know yet what the true political fallout will be of Friday's bombshell report on the tape, which was published by The Washington Post. But we know that it came on the heels of a horrific two weeks for Trump during which he flubbed his first debate performance, engaged in a Twitter-shaming feud with a former Miss Universe and defended the notion that he may not have paid federal taxes over an 18-year period.

The 2005 tape has thrown the Republican Party into disarray, shattering the fragile alliance of GOP support around him, as dozens of top lawmakers and officials announced they could not stand behind what they viewed as sexist and misogynistic comments. His taped apology, many of them said, was not enough.

That’s not to say that many Republicans didn’t deal with what promises to be a searingly painful chapter of the cycle with more reality-based answers. Some simply condemned the nominee’s remarks, buttoned up their mackintoshes and faced the storm. Others, took the full leap and said that they were withdrawing their support or foreclosing the chance that they might one day come around.

Instead, Trump went another way with the most ferocious attacks he could muster – often effectively delivered – against Hillary Clinton. It was the stuff of fantasy for a Republican base that believes their party’s electoral misfortunes of 2008 and 2012 were due to a lack of brutality

Hurt: Trump victory of biblical proportions - WashTimes: “Not since Daniel entered the lion’s den has any mortal walked into a room with a fierce political machine and a monolithic media more resolutely against him…The release of this decade-old tape, of course, was perfectly calculated between the Clinton campaign and the shameless media to extinguish any hopes of a Trump resurgence in Sunday night’s debate. Well, they better hope that tape kills him. Because the Donald Trump that showed up for Sunday night’s debate utterly destroyed Hillary Clinton.”

It was a reminder of all the other hare-brained schemes that conservatives and establishmentarians have talked about since this time last year. The candidates would unite to defeat Trump. No wait, candidates would drop out of the race to stop Trump. Hold on, “strategic voting” will deny Trump the delegates he needs. Scratch that, rules of the convention can be changed to steal the nomination from Trump. How about third-party bid?

Reid, Clinton supporters hit Trump over Nevada pronunciation Published October 06, 2016 FoxNews.com Facebook0 Twitter0 livefyre9791 Email Print Now Playing What's Trump doing to prepare for 2nd presidential debate? Never autoplay videos Supporters for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Sen. Harry Reid attacked Donald Trump after the Republican presidential nominee told his supporters about the “correct” way to pronounce Nevada. Trump, during a rally Wednesday in Reno, insisted the correct way to pronounce the name of the Silver State was “Neh-VAH-da.” He declared that “nobody says it the other way.” Clinton supporters and Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, both used the moment to assail Trump. American Bridge immediately put up a video declaring that Trump was “looking like an idiot” for getting the name wrong. A statement from Reid declared that Trump’s stop in Reno was “disastrous.” "If Donald Trump wants to come down from the penthouse his daddy bought him to lecture us on how to say Nevada, he could at least pronounce it correctly,” Reid said in a statement. "Instead, Trump told us we pronounce the name of our state wrong minutes before he refused to take a position on Yucca Mountain. Predictions Map See the Fox News 2016 battleground prediction map and make your own election projections. See Predictions Map → “I have news for Donald: it's pronounced Nev-AD-a and Yucca Mountain is dead.” Trump made a stop at the International Church of Las Vegas and the International Christian Academy before his rally in Reno. He said the Pledge of Allegiance with schoolchildren at the school. He also visited with Hispanic business leaders at a Mexican restaurant before departing for northern Nevada. Fox News’ Chad Pergram and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

First Read's Morning Clips: It's Nev-ADDD-ah, not Nev-AHHHH-dah Share Share Tweet Share Email Print Comment advertisement OFF TO THE RACES: It's Nev-ADDD-ah, not Nev-AHHHH-dah Donald Trump's attempt to pronounce "Nevada" in the Silver State last night didn't go well. Tim Kaine praised his own Tuesday night debate performance. Trump says he's "getting a lot of credit" after Mike Pence's widely-praised debate. Pence is taking heat from Latinos after his "Mexican thing" remark. From the Washington Post: "Sen. Tim Kaine may have awakened Wednesday to poor reviews after the first and only vice-presidential debate, but his acerbic performance in Farmville, Va., revealed that the Clinton campaign's strategy for these debates extends far beyond the stage. Armed with pre-planned Web videos, television ads and tweets, the campaign has used key debate moments this week and last as a cudgel against the Republican ticket, showing a level of discipline and organization largely absent from Donald Trump and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's campaign." Trump said yesterday: "They say Donald Trump loves Putin. I don't love, I don't hate. We'll see how it works." And here's Trump on the issue of Yucca Mountain: "Number one is safety and it is a little too close to major population, so I will take a look at it and I will have an opinion." The New York Times does a deep dive into Trump's business ventures. "Of the roughly 60 endeavors started or promoted by Mr. Trump during the period analyzed, The Times found few that went off without a hitch. One-third of them either never got off the ground or soon petered out. Another third delivered a measure of what was promised — buildings were built, courses taught, a product introduced — but they also encountered substantial problems, like lawsuits, government investigations, partnership woes or market downturns." Here's how Pennsylvania boosted its swing-state status, according to the Washington Post. An interesting data point from PRRI/The Atlantic: "White likely voters who still live in their hometown strongly prefer Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton (57 percent vs. 31 percent), while nearly half (46 percent) of those who live more than a two-hour drive away from their hometown are supporting Clinton compared to 40 percent who are supporting Trump." The Atlantic endorsed Hillary Clinton, only the third time it has weighed in on a presidential election since 1857. Via POLITICO: With hopes in Pennsylvania fading, Trump is hoping to make gains in the Mountain West. From the AP: "Donald Trump once called data "overrated" in politics. But with Election Day swiftly approaching, the Republican presidential nominee is spending millions of dollars on data and digital services in an effort to land donations and win over voters. Ushering Trump toward a more analytical approach are Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser, and Brad Parscale, the campaign's digital director and a veteran Trump Organization consultant." Sean Hannity is accusing Megyn Kelly of supporting Hillary Clinton. "Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has throughout his career given campaign contributions to state attorneys general while they weighed decisions affecting his business, a review of his political donations shows," notes the Wall Street Journal. From the New York Times yesterday: "The F.B.I. secretly arrested a former National Security Agency contractor in August and, according to law enforcement officials, is investigating whether he stole and disclosed highly classified computer code developed by the agency to hack into the networks of foreign governments. The arrest raises the embarrassing prospect that for the second time in three years, a contractor for the consulting company Booz Allen Hamilton managed to steal highly damaging secret information while working for the N.S.A." What will happen to Merrick Garland's nomination in December? The

Serialpossesses the ability to reference previous episodes in a waythat mimics drama but is related to what Garner called the “ticking,glinting” factor of Koenig’s writing: the hallmark of confessional-style feature writing. Without the intimacy of serialization, an audi-ence might find Koenig’s pronouncement, “You’ve heard this infor-mation before. Let me recap,” grating. Interestingly, Koenig andteam feel by the final episode that they have built up enough of aserialized rapport with their audience that they do not even have tointroduce Don when he finally comes forward. (Woe betide any non-fans who might not have understood by episode nine that Don wasHae Min Lee’s current boyfriend when she went missing in January1999.) In episode seven, “The Opposite of the Prosecution,” Koenigfeels she had to pause speaker Deirdre Enright’s real-time commen-tary to remind the listeners that “Don was Hae’s new boyfriend”—the momentum between episode seven and episode nine has crystal-lized audience rapport and loyalty.Serial’sconfidence in its audiencehaving understood the twists and turns of narrative has been bol-stered by its insistence on a serialized form with a recognizablestructure.

What?! Gutierrez freaks out! This is the magic information. Jay testifies that after his last interview with detectives, in April of ‘99, he had no contact with the cops or the prosecutors until September 6. So a long stretch where he doesn’t know what’s going on. He says he called the office of the public defender to try to see if he could get himself a lawyer, and they told him that unless you’ve been charged, we can’t help you. Which is true. So Jay says the next thing that happens is the cops come to see him, on September 6, and tell him he’s about to be charged with accessory after the fact and that he’ll be able to get a lawyer. The next day, September 7, they come pick him up, they book him, and they take him to the State Attorney’s office. He meets Kevin Urick, the prosecutor. Jay says he’s never met Urick before and then he says Urick introduces him to Anne Benaroya, who can represent him for free. Jay and Benaroya talk privately for a while, and then they sign a plea agreement. Then, that same day, they all go across the street to the courthouse and present the signed plea to a judge. If you or a loved one is an attorney, your jaw is hanging open right now, correct? Prosecutors do not find attorneys for witnesses they are prosecuting. That is not a thing. A former prosecutor that worked in the Baltimore office at the time said she’s never heard of

So, something just happened. Jay just admitted something, or didn’t admit something, but I honestly can’t tell if it’s a point for the defense, or for the prosecution, or if it’s a draw. Thereare lots of stretches like this where it seemed as if her cross-examination went so far into the weeds it was hard, even for me reading it years later, to hack back to the main trail. A juror that Dana interviewed, a guy named Theodore Wojtas, said Christina’s strategy was a little lost on them too.

Well, I literally, I just thought of it when I was sitting here, thinking it’s a lot of legwork, if we had a team of five students, we could get those things done with people that are being supervised. So think about that. I’m totally hooked.Sarah KoenigI did think about it. I said ‘yes, go ahead.’ Not that I would work with her, my job, unlike theirs is not to figure out if or how I can exonerate Adnan. But sure, if they wanted to take a look at the case on their own, of course I’d welcome that. Many more sets of eyes, some fresh, some jaded, could only be helpful, it seemed to me. I went down to Charlottesville tosee how they were getting along. Here is the sound of a law clinic getting ready to consider a new case.

At first blush, Koenig has done her job as a journalist. She has supported her statement about immigrant parents with a quote from the source. The problem is that Syed never says the word “immigrant.” Instead, he says “parameters,” which is about as neutral and clinical of a word as one could come up with in that situation. It’s possible that there are other parts, not heard, in which Syed explains the point further, but if they exist, they have been excised, meaning that all we’re left with is Koenig’s inference that those “parameters” necessarily mean “immigrant culture.” In a startling omission, the Lee family has not yet appeared in Serial. Without their presence, and Koenig’s insistence on directing the reader towards the typical immigrant family who raised the typical American teenager, the Lees and the Syeds have been rendered as Tiger Parents — overbearing and out-of-touch. The problem isn’t just the leap itself — that we would hear about strict parents and assume they were all similar — but Koenig’s confidence that we will make it with her.It gets worse. Also in the second episode of Serial, Koenig reads passages from Hae’s diary. Koenig notes, “Her diary, by the way — well I’m not exactly sure what I expected her diary to be like but — it’s such a teenage girls diary.” (My emphasis added.) This statement seems to suggest a colorblind ideal: In Koenig’s Baltimore, kids will be kids, regardless of race or background. But I imagine there are many listeners — especially amongst people of color — who pause and ask, “Wait, what did you expect her diary to be like?” or “Why do you feel the need to point out that a Korean teenage girl’s diary is just like a teenage girl’s diary?” and perhaps, most importantly, “Where does your model for ‘such a teenage girl’s diary’ come from?” These are annoying questions, not only to those who would prefer to mute the nuances of race and identity for the sake of a clean, “relatable” narrative, but also for those of us who have to ask them because Koenig is talking about our communities, and, in large part, getting it wrong.The accumulation of Koenig’s little judgments throughout the show — and there are many more examples — should feel familiar to anyone who has spent much of her life around well-intentioned white people who believe that equality and empathy can only be achieved through a full, but ultimately bankrupt, understanding of one another’s cultures. Who among us (and here, I’m talking to fellow people of color) hasn’t felt that subtle, discomforting burn whenever the very nice white person across the table expresses fascination with every detail about our families that strays outside of the expected narrative? Who hasn’t said a word like “parameters” and watched, with grim annoyance, as it turns into “immigrant parents?” These are usually silent, cringing moments — it never quite feels worth it to call out the offender because you’ll never convince them that their intentions might not be as good as they think they are.

Duterte also blamed the United States for causing the unrest on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao. "As a matter of fact, we inherited this problem from the United States," he said. "Why? Because they invaded this country and made us their subjugated people. Everybody has a terrible record of extrajudicial killing. Why make an issue about fighting crime?"He added: "Look at the human rights of America along that line. The way they treat the migrants there."In response, Obama suggested earlier Monday his planned meeting with Duterte might not go forward."I always want to make sure if I'm having a meeting that it's productive and we're getting something done," Obama said during a news conference. .m-infographic--11 { background: url(http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2016/images/08/24/killings-list2.jpg) no-repeat 0 0 transparent; height: 470px; margin: 15px auto; width: 300px; } @media (min-width: 640px) { .m-infographic--11{ float: left; margin-right: 15px; } }

Then, there are some stray things. That, eh, I don’t know what they mean. Or if they mean much of anything. But I’m going to tell you about them in case. A note came up at trial. After Hae and Adnan broke up, in early November, Hae had written Adnan a frustrated letter... “I’mreally getting annoyed that this situation is going the way it is” she wrote, “you know, people break up all the time. Your life is not going to end. You’ll move on and I’ll move on. But apparently you don’t respect me enough to accept my decision.” End quote.Aisha Pittman read this note at trial, Hae was her best friend. Adnan had shown Aisha the letter, apparently in health class. And they had written notes to each other on the back. Aisha in pencil, Adnan in pen. They were joking, making fun of Hae, making fun of themselves, it’s all just silliness. But then, at the top of the page it says, “I’m going to kill.” In pen. I talked to Aisha about it.

Cuba and the United States agreed to allow up to 90 daily round-trip flights between the two nations, the Department of Transportation said. Six airlines have been approved for flights to nine Cuban cities other than Havana, but not all of them have announced their schedules.Mr. Foxx said far more airlines had expressed interest in flying to Havana, the capital, than could be accommodated.“I haven’t seen anything like it,” he said.On Wednesday, the Department of Transportation announced that Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and United Airlines would operate the coveted Havana flights. The airlines will fly from Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Fort Lauderdale; Houston; Los Angeles; Miami; Newark; New York; Orlando, Fla.; and Tampa, Fla.

Adnan SyedSo--huh.Sarah KoenigWhen I told Adnan that Dana and I more or less did it in the time allowed, the twenty-one minutes, his overall reaction was incredulity.Adnan SyedIt seems like five minutes--from what I can remember, those busses didn’t clear in five minutes cuz I can remember sometimes we would have to wait in that parking lot, for those busses to clear. I don’t know. I just--to me, that was always stuck in my mind, was those busses. That you have to wait for the busses. So, I don’t know. That’s kinda disheartening. I always--I don’t know how long the crime would have taken. I don’t know how long--I don’t know. If you guys said you did it, then you did it, but I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know what to say to that. I don’t know what to say, I just always thought in my mind that--Sarah KoenigThis is what I’ll say is that it doesn’t make me think--to me it doesn’t prove anything except that it’s possible. It doesn’t mean that I think you’re lying or that I think it even happened at the Best Buy, I’m just saying, if you’re going to debunk the State’s timeline-

This doesn’t ever get cleared up really and they sort of let it go. But a bunch of things are fishy. The path he takes in the woods, it doesn’t really lead to the log. So why does he end up there? He didn’t need to head toward the log to find a spot to pee, there so many other choices. And if you’rewalking through brush and brambles, wouldn’t you sort of naturally avoid a big log you would need to step over? What they are trying to get at is, did you really just stumble on this body? Or were you looking for this body, because you already knew where it was? That is a reasonable question, because Hae’s body wasn’t just hard to spot, it was nearly impossible to spot.Alright, we’re in the State’s Attorney’s office, we just got delivered the first box of what they’re saying is discloseable under whatever public information act that I did.I didn’t understand how camouflaged the body was until I saw photos of the crime scene, the way Mr. S found it, before they removed the body. I was in the State’s Attorney’s office in Baltimore. I went there with a crime reporter from the Baltimore Sun. His name is Justin George. I had been talking to Justin about this story and he was interested in maybe writing about it too. We opened a packet of photos together. Some of them were awful to see as you’d imagine. There was one where you could make out a bit of black hair amid dirt and leaves

Thomas Phillips