Busy work day.

Hillary widens her lead in Pennsylvania

The Right wing in Colombia refused to approve the peace deal with FARC. The mis-guided public listened to the right wing rhetoric of former President Alvaro Uribe.

Hurricane Matthew slams Haiti, heads to Florida.

Anyone watching the Veep debate tonight? I'll pass.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The New York Times publishes some of Donald Trump's tax records and says he may have avoided paying taxes for 18 years based on his loss amount for 1995.

Alec Baldwin plays the Thumper tonight on Saturday Night Live. [More...]

Is anyone not sick of hearing about Donald Trump?

There's a new report by the Inspector General finding the DEA misused money for informants. It paid informants $237 million between 2011 and 2015.

We found that the DEA did not adequately oversee payments to its sources, which exposes the DEA to an unacceptably increased potential for fraud, waste and abuse, particularly given the frequency with which DEA offices utilize and pay confidential sources,” the inspector general’s office wrote

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

It's never my birthday until I see a chocolate cupcake with icing and a cherry on top!

I'm grateful to be younger than the candidates running for President.

Birthday wishes (and donations for a birthday drink, paypal here) are welcome.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

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.

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...]

I really don't like writing about Donald Trump, he just leaves such a bad taste. In my opinion, he's a sour, dour, spoiled, arrogant, and uninspiring individual, lacking in any identifiable talent and I don't trust a word he says. I have no idea what he really believes. Electing him would really be like buying the proverbial pig in a poke.

Trump's had a bad week. I still don't believe he will win -- I think people are bemused by him, and curious as to what outlandish thing he will do or say next. I doubt his supporters will turn out in big numbers to vote.[More...]

It's a court day for me. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Colombia is mulling over whether to allow companies to put coca in their products.

Lawmakers are working on a proposal that would allow anyone — not just indigenous groups — to harvest coca crops for traditional and medical uses. According to the project’s sponsor, Sen. Juan Manuel Galán, tens of thousands of coca farmers currently locked in the drug trade could be selling their crops to a thriving industry making products like the ones Coca Nasa has pioneered.

Sen. Juan Manuel Galán is the son of former Liberal party presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan Sarmiento, who was killed in August 1989 by the Medellin cartel. In May, he announced his candidacy for President of Colombia in 2018.

Someone besides me takes issue with the series Narcos and its "reliance on doctored history."

Time for a new open thread. All topics welcome.

I have written three absurdly long posts on all the things wrong with season 2 of Narcos. I may ditch them altogether, or I may publish them in pieces. In any event, Narcos is confirmed for Seasons 3 and 4, and they are now on track to butcher the story of the Cali Cartel the way they did the Medellin cartel. For Narcos' acknowledgements of which characters are made up or composites, and which events didn't happen, go here. I've got a lot more to add to the list.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

I have nothing to write about. Trump has become boring and predictable. Only the ignorant and persons who can't manage their perceived anger will vote for him.

Things seem stable for the time being in Sinaloa. Yes, a nephew of Zambada-Garcia (Edgar Parra Juvanny Zambada, age 42) got killed, but he seemed like a straight arrow working for a seafood company. Maybe it was road rage? (Added: Probably not. His brother, Juan Jose Parra Zambada, alias "El Juanjo", was arrested with Jesus "El Rey" Zambada Garcia (El Mayo's brother) in 2008 and their father, Juan Jose Parra "El Diablo", was Zambada Garcia's brother in law, having married his sister Ana Maria Zambada Garcia. According to an interview El Mayo gave to the magazine Proceso, Juan Jose Parra "El Diablo" introduced Ismael Zambada-Garcia to drug trafficking when he was 16. [More...]