Mexican President Nieto Says He Bluntly Told Trump That Mexico Would Never Pay For His Wall | Trump Denies -- Will He Call Mexico's President Lyin' Enrique?

Mexicans Accuse President of 'Historic Error' in Welcoming Donald Trump New York Times

The general consensus in Mexico is that President Enrique Peña Nieto has betrayed the Mexican people in inviting Donald Trump to meet with him in advance of the American presidential election. Hillary Clinton also received an invitation and said she would meet with President Nieto at the appropriate time. 

“It’s a historic error,” said Enrique Krauze, a well-known historian. “You confront tyrants, you don’t appease them.”

On Mexico’s most popular morning television show on Wednesday, a livid Mr. Krauze likened the president’s meeting with Mr. Trump to the decision by Neville Chamberlain, then the British prime minister, to sit down with Hitler in Munich in 1938.

“It isn’t brave to meet in private with somebody who has insulted and denigrated” Mexicans, Mr. Krauze said. “It isn’t dignified to simply have a dialogue.”

With this backdrop, Donald Trump met with the Mexican president and then make public statements that sought to position Trump as a statesman. It worked for about an hour. And then Twitter blew up with President Nieto's insistence that he made it very clear to the Republican candidate that "Mexico will not pay for the wall." Nieto's statement was in direct contradiction to Trump's assertions before the cameras -- and in the presence of a diplomatic President Nieto -- that the two discussed the wall but not who would pay for it. Read on: Leader Says He Told Trump Mexico Won't Pay for a Wall. 

Hillary Clinton Piles Up Research in Bid to Needle Donald Trump at First Debate New York Times

Writer Tony Schwartz, Donald Trump's ghostwriter and equal revenue partner in 'Art of the Deal', is coaching the Clinton team and her key advisers in preparation for the upcoming debates. It wouldn't surprise us if Clinton finds time in the coming weeks to spend some quality time with Schwartz in a very personal listening tour into Trump's mind and details of his past.

Clintonites are also consulting with psychology experts to 1) assemble a medical psychological profile of Trump including his anticipated responses to attacks and 2) how he can be expected to deal with a woman as his sole adversary on the debate. We keep wondering if Trump could have a total meltdown on the national debate stage . . sort of like his buddy Gov. Paul Lapage in Maine.

The national press clearly has not done their homework, reporting that Hillary is carrying around massive heaps of policy binders. Of course, Clinton is prepping on policy but the deeply competitive debater seems to hope to trip up Trump's massive ego into confirmation of his temperamental unfitness for the presidency. ~ Anne

Colin Powell's foundation and Hillary Clinton's are treated very differently by the media VOX

In 1997, after a distinguished career in military service that culminated with stints as national security adviser under Ronald Reagan and chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, Colin Powell launched a charity. Named America’s Promise, it’s built around the theme of Five Promises to America’s children. And while I’ve never heard it praised as a particularly cost-effective way to help humanity by effective altruists, it was surely a reasonably good cause for a famous and politically popular man to dedicate himself to.

Powell continued to be involved in American political life and accepted the important role of Secy of State with the first phase of the George W. Bush presidency. Powell did not wind down his charity and there was no pressure on him from either political party to do so. 

Powell’s wife, Alma Powell, took it over, and it continued to solicit and receive donations from corporate America. Ken Lay, the chair of Enron, was a big donor, and he also backed a literacy-related charity that was founded by the then-president’s Barbara Bush. Powell interceded as US Secy of State on behalf of Enron in a dispute with the Indian government.   

No one questioned any of the actions around Colin Powell's charity or the people associated with it, even its contributors. This documented reality must be a bitter irony to Hillary Clinton, as VOX points out.  

Because Colin Powell was judged by the press as a good guy, no one ever questioned any potential conflicts of interest associated with his foundation, even though it clearly existed to keep his name in the spotlight as well as doing good. Contributors could bask in the positive halo of Powell's excellent reputation. 

Hillary Clinton has enjoyed no similar relationship with the media, and it's not because she hates press conferences. Clinton knows that the press will NEVER treat her with the same respect and ethical respect they accord Colin Powell. And this is interesting because Hillary Clinton has never been found to be guilty of any wrongdoing. The next post about Julian Assange comes with its own note of irony. 

Julian Assange: American Press Supports 'Demon' Hillary Clinton Politico

This assault by Julian Assange on the presidential election and Hillary Clinton specifically is getting totally out of hand. When Assange calls our presidential candidate a 'demon', that means he's as right wing as the most ardent Trump supporters and Bernie Bros. It remains to be seen if Assange will ever be tried in Sweden on the multiple rape allegations he's charged with. But this man is no hero to us at AOC.

Former Models for Donald Trump's Agency Say They Violated Immigration Rules and Worked Illegally Mother Jones

You may have already heard about the many businesses that Donald Trump refused to pay for services rendered or people bilked out of life savings by investing in Trump University or Trump Tower resorts in Tampa and Baha, Mexico.

Donald Trump will callously and casually exploit anyone who dares to be vulnerable with their hopes and dreams. Now we are learning about the userous, sometimes illegal and very hypocritical treatment of beautiful young women who sign on with his modeling agency. "It is like modern-day slavery."

Having been connected to the fashion industry for so many year, I can honestly say that Trump Models has never registered significantly on my radar. 

Hillary Clinton Headlines Aug. 31, 2016

Bernie Sanders fundraises for Senate candidates, plans campaign stops Washington Post

Clinton camp thinks Trump fell for old trick Politico

Tim Kaine launches attack on Trump as 'threat to American democracy' NBC News

Clinton names Warren ally to transition team Politico

Trump Loses Latest Bid to Derail University Fraud Lawsuit Bloomberg

Associated Press Becomes Latest To Get Burned Chasing Clinton 'Scandal' Stories Media Matters

Poll: Clinton tightens grip on Pennsylvania base Politico

A disturbing history of all the sexism Hillary Clinton has endured  -- and why I stopped buying into it Revelist

Addicted to Making Campaign Contributions The Atlantic

The Media Are Doing an Abysmal Job of Covering Donald Trump's Racism The Nation

Huma Abedin: The Devoted Mother & Good Wife With Strong Desires To Excel In Hillary World Says 'Enough'

Huma Abedin, the Good Wife, Reaches Her Limit With Anthony Weiner The Daily Beast

It seems safe to say that Anthony Weiner, he with the stiff dick and compulsive need to take enormous risk making the same selfie mistakes over and over and over, will not rise again in Democratic party circles. Huma Abedin joins a long line of political Good Wives from Eleanor Roosevelt to Jacqueline Kennedy and Mamie Eisenhower.

Or Eliza Hamilton, writes Michael Daly, whose wifely remains lie at the foot of her husband's grave in Lower Manhattan's Trinity Church cemetery. Alexander Hamilton -- memorialized today on New York's 'Broadway' stage -- is honored on his monument as a PATRIOT, SOLDIER AND STATESMAN of such INTEGRITY and VIRTUE that there was no need to mention that he was also "a PHILANDERER who shtupped a twentysomething tootsie in his marital bed while his wife was away on vacation."

When the scandal broke, the political damage to Hamilton was mitigated by word that his mistress’ husband had been blackmailing him and that the whole thing might have been a set-up.

But what really saved him was his wife’s decision to remain at his side, just as Hillary Clinton would remain at Bill Clinton’s side after he was caught playing around with an intern, and just as Huma Abedin remained at Anthony Weiner’s side the first two times he was caught sexting with other women.

I was totally infuriated yesterday to read a well-known, retired culture critic invite his FB friends -- including me -- to address the question: (to paraphrase) "What do we think -- was Huma Abedin sexy enough, pretty enough and sweet enough to hold her man? Doesn't she know that many men have an intense sex drive and need it daily? In summary, his male friends agreed, no wonder Weiner was always running to other women. The commentary left me speechless, and I said so. 

The New York Times reported that Huma learned about the third sexting scandal and that the NY Post would soon break the story over the weekend, where Abedin, Weiner and their four-year-old son Jordan were in the Hamptons fundraising with Hillary and relaxing. 

By Monday morning, when the Post cover showing Mr. Weiner and his son, Jordan, hit newsstands, Mr. Weiner had left the Hamptons for New York City aware that Ms. Abedin planned to announce their separation, said two people close to the couple who discussed private conversations on the condition of anonymity.

Never one to question another person's decisions around keeping a marriage together or leaving it in divorce, I wondered in July 2016: Has Huma Abedin Overplayed Her Good Wife To Anthony Weiner Role? Thinking Women Wonder Out Loud.

That article chronicled the second Weiner texting expose, as he ran for mayor in the summer of 2013. And it taps into several major pieces written about the Abedin-Weiner marriage, including their May 2013 interview with the New York Times and an essay written by expert Pepper Schwartz who speculated on the glue that kept Huma married to her bad-boy husband. Not quoted in the July 2013 AOC article were these insights that ring true within the worlds of both Abedin and Clinton. 

Abedin's behaviors are squarely in the realm of women's high esteem for love, friendship and loyalty, and for tending and befriending the weak and the beleaguered, as described by UCLA psychologist and professor Shelley Taylor. This gives the impression of being a doormat, but the woman thinks of it as being stalwart and noble. Abedin may not be quite in this category -- but she seems dangerously close to it.

Finally, there is the role of family. For some women "till death do us part" means just that. They believe in staying in a marriage no matter what, especially when a small child is involved. If the man is a good father -- and there is every indication Weiner is -- a wife will go to extremes to stay married

The Wife Without a Ring

Huma Abedin On Her Job, Family, and the Campaign of a Lifetime Vogue

I didn't notice that Huma Abedin wasn't wearing her wedding band in the Vogue US interview and images from the August 2016 issue, posted online Aug. 17. Reports now say that she wan't wearing her wedding ring in Nevada on Aug. 4, and the Daily Mail UK reported in April 2016 that neither spouse was wearing a wedding ring. 

The majority of this Vogue Huma Abedin interview is devoted to her work and relationship since 1996 working in and connected to Hillary Clinton world. Abedin is very complimentary to her now-separated husband Anthony Weiner, praising him for his parenting skills. Huma does express some concern -- call it mom guilt -- over her long hours at the side of Hillary Clinton. 

“It wasn’t so clear in my mind, after my son was born, that I would work with this kind of intensity,” she said. “Many working moms feel this way — there is a lot of guilt. I don’t think I could do it if I didn’t have the support system I have, if Anthony wasn’t willing to be, essentially, a full-time dad.”

“I know Anthony has said this before, but Jordan was the best thing that happened to either of us,” she added. “Our primary concern was the well-being of our son, and ensuring he had everything he needed to feel loved and cared for and to thrive.”

The couple has a full-time network and a devoted family network that has allowed Huma to work at such a frantic pace for Hillary Clinton. Speculation is strong that Huma would be the chief of staff in a Clinton administration. It remains to be seen how the couple will work out all the family arrangements that accompany their separation. 

Related: How Is Huma Abedin Still Married to Anthony Weiner? Vanity Fair July 6, 2016