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.

President Obama yesterday congratulated his Colombian counterpart, Juan Miguel Santos, on the historic peace agreement with Farc. The guerillas, holding their 10th National Conference, (background here) celebrated with a mini-Woodstock.

Daylong deliberations ended with nightly concerts on a huge outdoor stage complete with a smoke machine. The guerrillas sang along with fervor to staples of Latin America’s revolutionary repertoire such as El Pueblo Unido (“The People United”) and swayed their hips to the cumbia rhythm of an all-guerrilla band called the Rebels of the South whose songs speak of the end of the war and impending peace.

“It’s a strange mix of an internal consultative process about the peace accord … and a mini Farc Woodstock,” said Alex Fattal, an American anthropologist from the University of Pennsylvania studying the Farc’s media strategy.

[More...]

Ahmed Khan Rahami, the suspect in the Chelsea pipe bomb explosions, has been charged with "five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon in connection with the shootout in Linden, N.J., that led to his arrest."

Police do not suspect he is part of a larger terror cell.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said after Rahami’s arrest that authorities were not looking for any other suspects. "There is no other individual that we are looking for at this time ... but vigilance is called for.

[More...]

Update: I think Jimmy Kimmel is doing a terrific job.

I loved the part with his mother making PB&J sandwiches for everyone. Great delivery on line about how people who are allergic to peanuts are out of luck, they could only afford one epi-pen.

I also liked his asking Marcia Clark if she was rooting for OJ tonight. And the Trump bashing -- by everyone. Kimmel's best Trump line: "If it wasn't for television, would Donald Trump be running for president? He would be at home right now rubbing up against his wife Malaria."[More...]

A new CBS poll on the battleground states says Hillary and Trump are now about equal. The poll is conducted on the internet. It's not really a poll by CBS, but for CBS, by an online polling company.

The CBS News 2016 Battleground Tracker is a panel study based on interviews conducted on the internetof registered voters in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire,Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin, California, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, and Texas. The poll was conducted by YouGov, an online polling organization.

More significant, I think, is this new poll in Pennsylvania, which has Hillary at a 9 point lead in the state:

Democrat Hillary Clinton has a 9-point lead among likely Pennsylvania voters as Republican Donald Trump continues to struggle among groups key to winning the state, according to a Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll released Saturday.

[More...]

Update: A tumbler account has claimed credit in the name of gay rights.The post has since been removed.

Officials do not think the pipe bomb found in a garbage can at Seaside Park on the Jersey Shore is linked to last night's pipe bomb explosions in Chelsea.

Officials said there’s no evidence currently linking the explosion to terrorism, and said the incident appeared to be unrelated to a pipe bomb explosion earlier Saturday in Seaside Park, New Jersey near the start line of a charity run.

“We know from everything we’ve seen so far that this was an intentional act. Again we do not know the nature of it, we do not know the motivation,” de Blasio said

A source told CBS News "both the Chelsea bombs and the Seaside Park bombs used cell phones as triggers." The Chelsea device may have utilized a pressure cooker. [More...]

Amaq News Agency (associated with ISIS) claims an ISIS supporter is responsible for the knife attacks at a Minnesota mall:

Local news in Minnesota is identifying the attacker, who was killed, as Dahir Adan:

(no link due to auto-play video.) He is reportedly a Somali-American. His family has issued an apology. He was a college student with (as far as they know) no history of violence. He told his family he was going to the mall to buy an iPhone, and they don't know what happened after that. 8 or 9 people were injured at the mall, none with life-threatening injuries, and Adan was killed outside Macy's by an off-duty police officer. [More...]