JOHN HINDERAKER: Voter Fraud In Minnesota.

PARTY OF SCIENCE: Trump Effect? School Bullying Isn’t Increasing, But Hillary Clinton Wants to Spend $500 Million Fighting It; Clinton and Co. blame Trump from a rise in bullying that may not even be happening.

JANN WENNER: ROLLING STONE ERRED IN RETRACTING RAPE ARTICLE.

“We did everything reasonable, appropriate up to the highest standards of journalism to check on this thing,” Mr. Wenner said in a libel trial in federal court here. “The one thing we didn’t do was confront Jackie’s accusers — the rapists.”

As he has previously, Mr. Wenner assigned much of the blame to the woman at the center of the article, identified as Jackie, whose account of being raped began to fall apart shortly after the article was published two years ago. Mr. Wenner said there was nothing a journalist could do “if someone is really determined to commit a fraud.”

He said that while the magazine rightly retracted “the Jackie stuff,” he disagreed with the decision to retract the entire article in the wake of a damning report on it in April 2015 by The Columbia Journalism Review. He said the bulk of the article detailed ways that the University of Virginia could improve its treatment of victims of sexual assault.

“I stand by the rest of the article: personally, professionally and on behalf of the magazine,” Mr. Wenner said.

Wenner also  “apologized” to the embattled ex-UVA dean, then played the victim card, the New York Post notes:

Wenner apologized in a deposition to the former University of Virginia dean who is suing the magazine for defamation — but said he disagreed with the decision to retract the entire campus-rape story, it was revealed Friday.

“I’m very, very sorry. It was never meant to ever happen this way to you*,” Wenner told Nicole Eramo in taped testimony played at the $7.85 million defamation trial.

“And believe me, I’ve suffered as much as you have,” he said. “And I know what it’s like. I hope that this whole thing hadn’t happened but it is, and it’s what we live with.”

The Daily Beast has a slightly different version of Wenner’s “apology,” which makes it sound much snottier than how he’s quoted by the Post:

“We screwed up. Bring it on. We suffered,” Wenner said, before going on to apologize to Eramo. “It was never meant to happen this way to you. And believe me, I’ve suffered as much as you have. But please, my sympathies.”

The “please, my sympathies,” if an accurate quote, doesn’t sound very sincere. Particularly when preceded by “Believe me, I’ve suffered as much as you have.” Sure, Wenner is the real victim here. And as Iowahawk adds, “Did he also apologize to the innocent students he accused of violent rape? No? Then F his apology.”

Apologize? Wenner still believes the students at UVa are guilty – and that his magazine’s story is fake but accurate, to coin a phrase.

* Exit question: How deep is this Obama-appointed DoE official’s involvement in the Rolling Stone hoax?

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Academics Write Rubbish Nobody Reads.

I dunno, my scholarly writing gets read rather a lot.

GOVERNMENT IS JUST ANOTHER WORD FOR THE INNOVATIONS WE SQUASH TOGETHER: Comma.ai developer kills semi-autonomous device after NHTSA request. Though there have been worse cases. “NHTSA wasn’t forbidding Hotz from selling the product. The organization emphasized its opinion that it should be delayed, but Hotz still could have continued with his product roll-out. NHTSA was seeking more information on the autonomous device, such as how it will be installed, how it will work, what vehicles and conditions it operates in, and what emergency safety features or procedures are included, among other things. If Hotz missed the reply deadline of November 10, he could have been fined up to $21,000 per day, which is probably what he referred to as a ‘threat.'”

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HILLARY TO THE PRESS: Message: I am not a crook!

Plus, from the comments: “Remember all the shock, horror, dis-endorsements and refusals to appear with the candidate among establishment Republicans when the tape was released of Trump saying ‘pussy’? Prima facie evidence of sexual assault!!! Have there been, are there or will there be any such repugnance among Democrats not just over these most recent revelations but also for the whole ghastly modus operandi of the Clintons? Or is this just now accepted as part of the way political business is done? If so, the rot in the Republic runs much deeper than anyone imagined.”

FLASHBACK TO 1958: “The Atomic Pen’s design called for a tiny packet of radioactive isotopes, which would heat the ink to produce a selectable range of line densities. Perhaps understandably, no production units were ever made.”

HILLARY’S RUNNING MATE TIM KAINE ON JAMES COMEY: “Jim was in the U.S. Attorney’s office in the in the Eastern District of Virginia when I was the mayor of Richmond, and he’s somebody with the highest standards of integrity.” Of course, he said that several days ago, before the latest investigation-news, so I’m sure it’s no longer operative now.

UPDATE: From the comments: “It could literally be the truth that Comey ‘has the highest standard of ethics’ of anyone Kaine knows. Of course, that’s a pretty low bar.”

JOURNALISM: Wikileaks: New York Times Reporter Sought Quote Approval from Clinton Campaign.

New York Times reporter Mark Leibovich sought quote approval from the Hillary Clinton campaign following an interview with campaign manager Robby Mook, potentially in violation of the paper’s reporting policy, according to an email published by WikiLeaks.” . . .

The New York Times banned “quote approval” in 2012, in a memo from then-editor Jill Abramson. The practice “puts so much control over the content of journalism in the wrong place,” the executive editor told the paper’s public editor in an interview. “We need a tighter policy.” Abramson went on to say that quote approval, if allowed to continue, would lead to “control and manipulation.”

It is unclear whether current NYT honcho Dean Baquet has reversed the policy — or whether an exception has been made for the Clinton campaign.

Lots of exceptions are made for the Clinton campaign, and for Hillary herself. But the exceptions may be coming home to roost.

I’LL BET SHE DIDN’T: Attorney General Loretta Lynch didn’t want FBI Director Comey to announce he was reopening the Hillary classified info investigation. We don’t yet know what information was found in the emails discovered on the Abedin-Weiner devices. Everyone suspects the new evidence has to be very significant for Comey to do a one-eighty. As I wrote yesterday when this story broke, I think Comey is in derriere protection mode. The FBI’s reputation has been impugned and its integrity compromised. It’s what happens when you sell out the rule of law. Comey’s decided to repair the FBI’s reputation and take some tarnish off of his own. Lynch said Comey’s decision to announce he was reopening the investigation would damage Hillary’s reputation “even though there’s no finding by a court.” Heh. Comey shielded Lynch from taking the responsibility to decide if Hillary should be indicted. Stay tuned.

WELL, THAT’S A RELIEF: Biden Has No Interest in a Clinton Cabinet Position.

With the exception of our semi-retired hard-partying president, I’ll bet most in the administration can’t wait for it to end.

WELL, YES: Getting The Flu Provides Stronger Immunity Than Getting A Flu Shot. But, you know, it also involves getting the flu.

HEH, INDEED: “I Did Not Have Classified Relations With That Woman, Mrs Clinton.”

Shot: NYT Exec. Editor: Fox News, CNN Campaign Coverage ‘Bad for Democracy.’

Chaser: NYT columnist Thomas Friedman: democracy itself is bad! “One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century.”

Hangover: Then-NYT columnist Frank Rich in 2009: “The G.O.P. Stalinists Invade Upstate New York.”

The D.T.s: NYT publisher endorses communist Vietnam: “Pinch was a political activist in the Sixties, and was twice arrested in anti-Vietnam protests. One day, the elder Sulzberger asked his son what Pinch calls, ‘the dumbest question I’ve ever heard in my life.’ If an American soldier runs into a North Vietnamese soldier, which would you like to see get shot? Young Arthur answered, ‘I would want to see the American get shot. It’s the other guy’s country.’ Some Sixties activists have since thought better of their early enthusiasms. Pinch hasn’t. [Emphasis mine; story also reported by the New Yorker–Ed]”

As Matthew Continetti of the Washington Free Beacon summed up the Gray Lady a couple of years ago when then-editor Jill Abramson was fired, “I have to say…that scandal confirms one of my pet theories. The theory is this: The men and women who own and operate and produce every day the world’s most important newspaper are basically children.”

All of the above dovetails back to Peggy Noonan’s brilliant recent line: “It’s the big fact of American life now, isn’t it? That we are patronized by our inferiors.”

2016, MAN: Partially-nude female clown charged with chasing cars.

ROGER SIMON: Do We Want A Criminal in the White House? As Roger writes, “America is at its most perilous crossroads since World War II.”

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 1269.

THIS WEEKEND SHOULD BE INTERESTING: Reddit Users Declare War On Hillary’s Paid Internet Trolls.

TRUE: Howie Carr: With less than two weeks to go, this thing’s not over yet.

I mean, if they really believed all the smoke their WikiLeaks acolytes have been blowing over the last week or so about Hillary’s impending landslide, then why did all of John Podesta’s pen pals have a collective meltdown on social media within seconds yesterday after the FBI announced that it was going to review the videotape after all.

And these rumpswabs and lickspittles have the audacity to call Donald Trump unhinged? Grief counselors were swarming The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post and all the rest of the failing outlets. The EMTs would have been confiscating their shoelaces and belts, if any of them wore shoelaces and belts (they favor sandals and mommy trousers).

Before he toppled over from the vapors, Paul Krugman called to cancel his nomination of FBI Director James Comey for next spring’s Profiles in Courage award for having the “courage” to broom the obstruction-of-justice rap against Hillary Clinton.

I’m not a big James Comey fan, to say the least. My feeling is, if you want to hide something real good, just stick it in one of his law books. He’s proven he’ll leave no stone unturned, except the one Hillary Clinton is hiding under.

But let’s be real. A bottom feeder like Comey would never have taken this high-stakes gamble if there were any way he could have kept sweeping the dirty laundry under the rug.

What they’ve already turned up from Carlos Danger’s cellphones obviously ain’t about yoga schedules and Chelsea’s wedding plans. Of all people, Comey knows what happens if you take a shot at these people and miss. Ken Starr, anyone?

Plus:

The Beautiful People so despise The Donald, at least since he changed parties. But it’s rather hard to dispute his statement exactly two months ago, when Huma Abedin finally decided to walk out on the perv known as “Carlos Danger” after the last time he lunged for the third rail.

Here’s what Trump said:

“I only worry for the country in that Hillary Clinton was careless and negligent in allowing Weiner to have such close proximity to highly classified information. Who knows what he learned and who he told?”

Hit it on the head, didn’t he?

Yep.

YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GET RID OF A DICTATOR BY ORDINARY POLITICS: Venezuela’s Opposition Considers More Radical Measures.

With an OPEC production freeze in doubt, the long-term outlook for Maduro’s ideologically sclerotic regime is anything but rosy. But in the immediate term, the Venezuelan strongman appears to have wrong-footed the opposition. A representative from the Vatican will supposedly attempt to mediate discussions between opposition and ruling party members this weekend, but with the current state of play, it’s hard to see the government giving much ground.

Of course, trying to predict the course of inherently unstable situations is always a fools’ errand. But as we’ve noted several times before, keeping a close eye on Venezuela’s trajectory is critically important. A cratering Venezuela, potentially spinning out into civil war, with all of the attendant knock-on effects that this would have on the region is something that the next American President will have to be on guard for.

The Bush Administration should have gotten behind the coup that (temporarily) removed Chavez. Untold misery has resulted from their failure to act. Of course, if they’d supported the coup, we’d be hearing how wonderful and democratic Chavez was, and how peaceful and prosperous Venezuela would be now if he’d been allowed to stay in office.

HMM: Tracking poll: Trump within 2 points of Clinton nationally. “Clinton has 47 percent support to Trump’s 45 percent, according to the ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll released Saturday morning.” She was way ahead in that poll just a week ago.

The latest poll was taken entirely before Friday’s FBI revelations.

COLION NOIR: “Clinton and her entire campaign don’t care about black people.”

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