Wiretap: New York bombings, Pepe the Frog and why Obama is still on the ballot

Maximum chaos

Officials can’t yet seem to agree whether to call the New York City bombing a terrorist act. But the two bombs — one that injured 29 people and one that failed to detonate — were definitely designed, writes The New York Times, “to create maximum chaos and fatalities.

Chelsea bomb

What we know and what we don’t know about the bomb that exploded in Chelsea. Reports from The New York Times.

Sorry not sorry

Is it fair to say that Donald Trump sounded happy when he told the Colorado Springs crowd about the New York City bomb? Maybe, maybe not. But it is fair to guess that uncertainty helps the Trump campaign and that the bombs did push the Trump non-apology apology on birtherism lower down on the front pages. Via The New Yorker.

Panic button

Nate Silver: Democrats should panic — if the polls still look like this in a week. Via FiveThirtyEight.

Far enough

Clinton is far ahead among Hispanic voters. But Democrats worry that she’s not far enough ahead. Via The Washington Post.

Hope and change

Barack Obama says he’s on the ballot even when he’s not. And he says if black voters don’t turn out for Clinton, he’ll take it as a “personal insult.” Via Politico.

The birther’s back

Meanwhile, Democrats are hoping that Trump’s birther news conference gives them a chance to bring out the Obama coalition. Via The Washington Post.

Crackpot Trump

Nicholas Kristof: What to do when a crackpot runs for president (or whose fault is it when Donald Trump is 15 points ahead on trustworthiness?). Via The New York Times.

You can’t sit with us

Is RNC chair Reince Priebus really saying that if John Kasich doesn’t support Donald Trump, the Republicans might well try to block him from running in 2020? Via The Weekly Standard.

Granite state

In the beginning, there was New Hampshire (well, right after Iowa anyway). And at the end, it could all come down to New Hampshire again. Via Bloomberg.

Pepe the Frog

We’re about seven weeks out from Election Day, so what better time than now to take a deep dive into alt-right Pepe the Frog. Via New York magazine.

Photo credit: Michael Pittman, Creative Commons, Flickr 

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