HEADLINES THAT MISLEAD: George Zimmerman Road-Rage Incident Ends in 20-Year Sentence. A 20 year sentence for . . . Florida man Matthew Apperson, who shot at Zimmerman’s car and “even seemed joyful because he mistakenly thought he’d killed Zimmerman.”

THAT WOULD EXPLAIN THE RISE OF THE LUTHERAN CALIPHATE… Russell Simmons: ‘Probably More Christians Are Radicalized’ Than Muslims.

HOW QUANTUM EFFECTS COULD improve Artificial Intelligence.

THE NEW CIVILITY: Justice Sonia Sotomayor says she thought about hitting Antonin Scalia with baseball bat.

THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER GOES NUCLEAR TABLOID ON HILLARY’S SCANDALS: The National Enquirer claims a former Clinton “fixer” has spilled the beans on roughly 25 years of scandals. The story will detonate tomorrow, but Drudge is already touting it. Yup, The National Enquirer, take it for what it’s worth. But let’s remember it told the truth about John Edwards, and the lefty mainstream media wouldn’t. My latest Observer essay says this election has a certain type of tabloid simplicity. The Enquirer’s story, however, isn’t simple. It’s tabloid as nuclear warfare. We’ll have to see if the publication can back up its sensational allegations.

UPDATE: Yes, E. Don’t know how the I sneaked in. (My excuse: Working on another column.)

WELL, THAT’S IMPRESSIVE. BUT WHAT IF THE DRIVER PASSES OUT? The track version of the Aston Martin-Red Bull hypercar will be able to hold four Gs of lateral acceleration.

GET YOUR TRICK-OR-TREAT ESSENTIALS at the Amazon Halloween Shop.

Plus, save on Home Essentials from Amazon Basics.

CONSERVATIVES ARE FED UP WITH THE CROOKED MEDIA’S SELECTIVE ORGASMS OF PRIVILEGED OUTRAGE.

HUMAN SHIELDS IN MOSUL: Of course the Islamic State is using them.

FUNNY, IT WAS ALL GOOD WHEN HILLARY, FRANKEN, OBAMA AND EVEN BIDEN WANTED TO “TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK.” IT’S ONLY RACIST WHEN THE RIGHT SAYS IT.

CRONY-CORPORATISM: Silicon Valley Gets Government Favors – While Boosting Leftists and Blocking Conservatives.

ADAPTATION: Just 2 weeks in the mountains can change your blood for months. “When the researchers analysed the results from the blood tests, they realised that the red blood cells weren’t being replaced – they were changing, and as rapidly as a few hours after exposure on Day 1.”

IF WIFE APPROVES, CURT SCHILLING WILL CHALLENGE ELIZABETH WARREN IN 2018.

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: UN’s special envoy warns ‘Aleppo will not be there anymore’.

Aleppo is one of the oldest cities in the world, a trade center with a continuous history going back 7,000 years.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: FSU Poster: Harambe Costumes Are ‘Cultural Appropriation.’

OVERSOLD: The Misleading Promise of I.V.F. for Women Over 40. “What the industry didn’t say is that the success rate for older women is consistently low. . . . It focused on the 20 percent of women who succeed, not the 80 percent failure rate. The industry avoided saying that the technology hasn’t worked for an estimated 20 million women globally during the last 40 years.”

If you really want kids, you should start younger. Considerably younger:

The doctor acknowledges the dilemma faced by women who seek higher education and want to become established in a career before attempting to start a family. And he realizes that “ideally pregnancy should also occur when they are settled with a life partner who will share the burden of raising offspring.”

Nonetheless, Dr. Sauer points out, the facts of biology are irrefutable. “Biologically speaking,” he wrote, “women are most fertile between the ages of 15 and 30.” Although from a career perspective, many are unwilling to start a family then, ages 35 to 45 represent the “terminal decline in normal fecundity,” as well as a greatly increased risk of producing eggs and embryos with chromosomal and other abnormalities.

Biology is a stubborn thing.

CHUCK BERRY TURNS 90 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL PIONEER:

During his weekend set at Desert Trip, Paul McCartney made sure to send early birthday wishes to Chuck Berry.

The ‘50s-era rock icon turns 90 on Oct. 18 and it isn’t an exaggeration to say that his classics “Maybelline,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Johnny B. Goode” and a score of other memorable guitar chargers influenced most of that Desert Trip lineup – especially McCartney and The Rolling Stones.

Berry, a St. Louis native (though he did get stuck “90 miles out of Atlanta” in “Promised Land”), isn’t expected to celebrate in any grandiose fashion today, but some music notables hopped on social media to send their best wishes.

I feel so old — I can remember when Chuck turned 60.

MOSUL FALLOUT: EU ‘should prepare for returning jihadists’

CAN CRISPR SAVE BEN DUPREE? Scientists are rushing to figure out how to use the gene-editing tool to stop devastating diseases like muscular dystrophy.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE: NBC somehow didn’t notice Billy Bush acting like a frat boy for fifteen years.

As Stephen Miller noted at Heat Street, NBC has a lot of explaining to do, particularly since this was a period in which the network and its subsidiaries went all-in to promote the party’s “War on Women” narrative while simultaneously paying Trump millions. As Glenn would say, that in mind when any of their anchors starts in on the “have you no shame, sir” sanctimony.

ANALYSIS: TRUE! Virginia Postrel: Hillary Clinton Isn’t Everywoman, She’s A Politician. “Making Clinton the representative of Every Woman Ever may seem like good politics, especially against a guy like Trump, but turning every criticism of Clinton into evidence of misogyny strains credulity and harms serious political discussion.”

Plus: “Yes, Clinton has worked hard. Yes, she has a head full of policy details. And maybe Bill Clinton wouldn’t have become president without her discipline backing him. But it’s not sexist to say her career in politics was made possible by her marriage to the right man. It’s not misogynist to observe that she has trouble making a positive case for her election that doesn’t depend on his presidency and her consequent fame. To many of us who’ve long looked forward to the first female president, it’s depressing to see a former first lady in that role, rather than a woman best known for her own achievements.”

GENERATION SNOWFLAKE: Can Cries of ‘Free Speech’ Be a Weapon? Students Say Yes.

The report, titled “And Campus for All: Diversity, Inclusion and Freedom of Speech at U.S. Universities,” covers a broad range of hot-button topics, including trigger warnings, microaggressions, safe spaces and controversial campus speakers. While it cites “troubling incidents of speech curtailed,” it finds no “pervasive” crisis.

But it does worry about an “apparent chasm” between free speech advocates and student activists, thanks in part to a conversation that sometimes dismisses students’ demands for equity and inclusion instead of parsing how they do, or don’t, infringe on the “bedrock principles” of free speech.

“A rising generation may be turning against free speech,” the report warns. “Before these developments deepen and harden, PEN America hopes to open up a wider, more searching dialogue that can help all sides to these debates better identify common ground.”

There’s no common ground to be found with totalitarian crybullies, but there is a First Amendment.

VIDEO: Fly Along in a Marine Corps Attack Helicopter.

JAYVEE: Tough resistance from Islamic State slows Iraqi advance on Mosul.

The front lines were largely quiet after fierce fighting as Kurdish forces pushed to retake a string of villages on the edge of their territory and turn them into new footholds closer to Mosul. The city is the last main stronghold for the Islamic State in Iraq and represents a critical showdown for both sides.

However, the Iraqi military made some gains. The army’s 9th Division broke into the district of Hamdaniya, also on the eastern front, closing in on the Christian town of Qaraqosh, commanders said.

The intense fight for hamlets some 30 miles from the city suggested that the militants could fight for every inch outside the city, but also that they are unlikely to be able to hold on in the face of a coordinated advance and close air support from a U.S.-led coalition.

Residents who have recently fled the area and Iraqi officials with contacts inside Mosul say the Islamic State has been digging in for a fight, erecting concrete barricades and filling trenches full of oil that can be set on fire to slow advancing forces. The Islamic State claimed to have carried out 12 suicide attacks on the first day of the offensive, according to its affiliated news agency, Amaq.

The fight for Mosul is going to get uglier, but the eventual “peace” between Kurdish, Turkish, and Iraqi forces could prove uglier still.

COVERING ALL THE ANGLES:

● 6 Reasons Your Fifties May Be The Best Decade Of Your Life.

—Cheryl Magness, the Federalist, October 11th.

● You’re right about turning 50: It completely sucks.

—Kyle Smith, the New York Post, yesterday.

I don’t feel anywhere near as curmudgeonly about having made it to the half century mark as Kyle, but I hit the gym six days a week and stopped worrying about my disappearing follicles years ago. If you’ve made this far as well, what’s your take?