HOW’S THAT “PIVOT TO ASIA” GOING? Duterte Threatens to Scrap Defense Pact (Again).

A Philippine decision to ax the EDCA would deal another major blow to the Obama administration’s Asia rebalance. The bilateral defense agreement, signed in 2014, was strategically designed to make the Philippines a major staging area for projecting U.S. naval and air power in the Pacific. Last November, Obama travelled to the Philippines to make the case for the EDCA as the Philippine Supreme Court questioned its constitutionality. The agreement cleared that hurdle in January, but with Duterte’s latest diatribe its future is in doubt.

When Duterte threatened to tear up the pact earlier this month, the Pentagon downplayed his comments. But his latest threat, together with his cryptic words about staying in power long enough, have renewed uncertainty about U.S.-Philippine security cooperation. The timing of his comments is particularly awkward coming on the heels of a U.S. diplomatic visit meant to smooth the waters, and ahead of Duterte’s trip to Japan, a major U.S. ally.

Remember when our smart, universally-loved commander in chief was going to run America’s diplomacy so much more smoothly and intelligently than that dumb cowboy Bush?

CHUTZPAH: Liberal CNN Commentator Blames Republicans for Obamacare’s Rising Premiums.

BECAUSE AFTER EIGHT YEARS, TURNABOUT IS FAIR PLAY? Philippines’ Duterte Leaves U.S. Policymakers “Baffled”

BLOOMBERG POLLSTER: “This race may come down to the independent vote. Right now, they tilt for Trump. By a narrow margin, they opted for Obama over Romney in 2012.” And: “A mere 7 days ago, Bloomberg Politics had Clinton with a 9 point lead.”

Plus, Bob Wright on media bias against Trump: “Well, my concern is that they are so ham-handed about it — they’re so obvious about it — that it won’t work.”

It’s 2016, man. Nobody should be cocky.

Related: Dishonest media 101: ‘Your bias is showing.’

ANDREW KLAVAN: “Democrat Corruption is Much Worse Than Trump.” Plus a nifty callback to the earlier, funnier days of The Simpsons: “If Trump is Kang, I can’t help but feel that Kodos is still much worse.”

Read the whole thing.

THE 1980s CALLED… YOU KNOW THE REST: Russia Unveils RS-28 Sarmat ‘Satan 2’ Nuclear Missile.

NEVER, AS LONG AS THEIR ALLIES IN THE PRESS CAN COVER FOR THEM: David Harsanyi: When Will Liberals Answer For Obamacare’s Failures? Is there any accountability in politics for being completely wrong? Not for defenders of Obamacare.

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HUMA ABEDIN EMAIL: Hillary ‘still not perfect in her head’

Top aide Huma Abedin warned the Clinton campaign team in a 2015 e-mail that Hillary was “still not perfect in her head” and would have to “stick to notes” during an event.

The e-mail is among thousands hacked from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s account that have been released by WikiLeaks.

The exchange came at the end of a discussion among staffers about how Clinton would address then-GOP candidate Jeb Bush’s use of Super PAC money to fund his campaign.

Unfit to stand up to Jeb Bush, but ready, willing, and able to re-reset with Vladimir Putin.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. “Only one presidential candidate has wielded the sledgehammer of government against personal enemies.”

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Trump Supporters Trigger SJWs By Chanting “USA” (Video).

21ST CENTURY CRIME: National Intelligence Director Says Data Suggests ‘Nonstate Actor’ Was Behind Cyberattack.

Network experts studying the attack are also starting to rule out usual suspects, such as national governments and online blackmailers. That suggests, they said, the attack was another cry for attention by online attack-for-hire services and their customers looking to make a statement.

“All the arrows point away from any sort of political motivation,” which hurts “the nation-state argument,” said Allison Nixon, a researcher at online-security firm Flashpoint. “Of course, you never know until someone’s got handcuffs on them.”

Evidence instead points to the “loosely knit social circle of kids and young adults” who tend to launch similar attacks, Ms. Nixon said. Flashpoint called comments from online groups like WikiLeaks and the New World Hackers that claimed a connection to the attack “dubious.”

It isn’t at all comforting that a loose group of “script kiddies” might be responsible for such a large attack.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE’S “BLACK JEOPARDY” SKETCH AND THE MORAL BLINDNESS OF IDENTITY POLITICS: “Good luck getting anyone on the left to recognize the fallacy of special pleading when it’s right in front of their eyes.”

Read the whole thing.

ERASING THE HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.

SUNSHINE: Trump Has 2-Point Edge in Bloomberg Politics Poll of Florida.

Marco Rubio is up by ten in his Senate race.

ASHE SCHOW: Sabrina Rubin Erdely and the ‘banality of evil.’

When Rolling Stone author Sabrina Rubin Erdely interviewed Jackie for her article “A Rape on Campus,” the now discredited writer described the fraternity alleged to have raped her subject as representing the “banality of evil.”

The phrase “banality of evil” was coined by another author decades ago, and has itself generated fierce debate and criticism ever since. To be clear, Erdely is no Hannah Arendt, the woman who coined the term. Arendt is still widely respected and her writing, including her book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil.

Years from now, people will continue to respect Arendt’s work, while they no longer respect Erdely’s.

True. By the way, I’d still like to know more about the role of the Obama Administration, and Emily Renda, in this whole affair.

Catherine Lhamon, who heads the Department’s civil rights wing, was identified in a letter sent last month by University of Virginia Dean of Students Allen Groves to Steve Coll and Sheila Coronel, the two Columbia Journalism School deans who conducted a review of the Nov. 19 article, written by disgraced reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely.

Groves’ letter was included as a footnote to the Columbia deans’ report, which was released on Sunday and cataloged the failures and lies that led to the article’s publication.

In the letter, Groves wrote that he has suffered “personal and professional” damage as a result of Erdely’s reporting and comments Lhamon made about him which were included in the article.

As the Rolling Stone article fell apart, Lhamon’s involvement has gone virtually unmentioned. But a deeper look reveals her ties to Emily Renda, a University of Virginia employee and activist who put Erdely in touch with Jackie, the student whose claim that she was brutally gang-raped by seven members of a fraternity on Sept. 28, 2012, served as the linchpin for the 9,000-word Rolling Stone article.

President Obama nominated Lhamon to become the Education Department’s Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in July 2013. The Senate approved her unanimously the following month.

She has served as the Education Department’s designee to the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault which Obama created on Jan. 22, 2014. Renda served on the same task force. . . .

Lhamon has been invited to the White House nearly 60 times, according to visitor’s logs. Renda has been invited six times. Both were invited to the same White House meeting on three occasions.

The whole thing smells.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Richard Nixon could only wish he got Hillary’s FBI treatment.

Michael Goodwin:

One result is that, while “Nixonian” is a synonym for illegal abuse of authority, his resignation and the smooth transfer of power marked a ringing triumph of justice. The fundamental principle that nobody in America is above the law was upheld in practice.

Now imagine another scenario. America wakes up on Nov. 9 to President-elect Hillary Clinton, and to the cold reality that the same principle of equal justice is null and void.

Her election would mean that some people are above the law. It would mean that one of them will assume the commanding heights of our country despite abundant evidence that she committed crimes and got away scot-free.

Oh, for the good old days of Watergate and of public servants like Elliot Richardson and William Ruckelshaus. We should be so lucky now.

I’m still having trouble believing we actually get the government we deserve.

PARTYING LIKE IT’S 1939, ESPAÑOL STYLE.

Shot:

When the heroics of the Spanish Civil War come up — Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia, Hemingway’s fictions or the effusions of various poets — there is a very large and usually unremarked elephant in the room: Orwell, who actually fought, and Hemingway who wrote about fighting, were on the wrong side.

The strategic point is simple: had the Stalinists won war, then during the period of the Hitler-Stalin pact from 1939 to mid-1941, they would have allowed Hitler to cross Spain and seize Gibraltar. Had this happened, the British forces in the Mediterranean, including the British Empire’s last remaining field army in action, would have been cut off. The British army and fleet could probably have been supplied through the Suez Canal, at least for a while, but their positions would have been immeasurably weakened, and the enemy’s position immeasurably strengthened.

— Hal G.P. Colebatch, “Orwell’s Bad Republicans,” the American Spectator, August 7th, 2007.

Chaser: Spain faces condemnation as it prepares to refuel Russian battle group heading to bomb Aleppo.

—The London Telegraph, today.

Hangover: Adjacent to the above Telegraph article is the headline “Trump says Clinton’s foreign policy would start World War Three.”

Say, who was America’s Secretary of State in 2011, when Syria imploded?

WELL, BESIDES THOSE, YEAH: 9 Controversies Obama Didn’t Mention When He Denied Any ‘Major Scandals.’

HMM: Trump cuts off fundraising events for Republican Party.

Donald Trump’s campaign has ended fundraising events meant to support the Republican Party’s get-out-the-vote efforts in next month’s elections.

Aides to the Republican nominee told Fox News on Tuesday that Trump Victory, the joint fundraising committee for the GOP and the campaign, held its most recent fundraiser on Oct. 19 and no more such events were scheduled.

The move, which was first reported by The Washington Post, cuts off a key money source for Republicans hoping to keep hold of both houses of Congress.

WITH THIS POOR PERFORMANCE, I PREDICT TIM COOK WILL DOUBLE DOWN ON THE “SOCIAL JUSTICE” POSTURING BY WAY OF DISTRACTION: Apple’s soft iPhone sales send its stock down sharply.

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: At Berkeley, safe spaces are out. “Spaces of color” are the new hot ticket.

Are those spaces separate but equal — to coin a phrase? Michael Graham, call your office.

HMM: Obama administration delays selection of new FBI site.

Officials in Virginia and Maryland who have been competing for years to land a new headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Investigation will have to wait a few more months to find out which state has the winning pitch.

The General Services Administration said Monday it will delay selecting a site for the headquarters until March. The agency initially planned to choose between the three sites in play — two in Maryland and one in Virginia — by the end of the year.

The delay drew pointed criticism from members of Maryland’s congressional delegation, including Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, who has made landing the headquarters in Maryland a priority for the final months before her retirement in January.

Mikulski, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, along with other members of the delegation, helped secure federal funding for the project late last year. A spending measure approved by Congress in December included $390 million for the headquarters.

“I’m deeply disappointed in more delay,” Mikulski said in a statement. “I will continue to work my earrings off to put the funds in the federal checkbook for a new, fully consolidated headquarters. This is a headquarters that belongs in Prince George’s County, keeping our country and the American people safe while creating new jobs in Maryland.”

At a guess — shared by the Maryland reader who sent me this story — they’re trying to figure out a way to give it to Terry McAuliffe instead of to a state with a Republican governor. But given the FBI’s conduct lately, I think the HQ should be located in Nenana, Alaska.

FLASHBACK: Under ObamaCare Your Premiums Will Fall “By As Much As 3000%”

That’s a lot.

PRESIDENT ASH CARTER: Raqqa Offensive Against ISIS to Begin Within Weeks.