-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
from The Huffington Post | The Full Feed http://ift.tt/2cQOLrw
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
January Jones has made it clear that her ex Ashton Kutcher is just a distant memory.
The actress appeared on “Watch What Happens Live” Thursday night and ended up talking about her one-time boyfriend when a snarky caller brought up an awkward past interview.
“January, have you ever talked to Ashton Kutcher since he said you couldn’t act, and what do you think about his acting skills?” the caller asked, and host Andy Cohen pointed out that she was referencing a 2009 GQ article.
Jones had told the magazine that her first boyfriend in Los Angeles wasn’t supportive of her acting, having told her, “I don’t think you’re going to be good at this.” Though she didn’t mention Kutcher specifically, writer Mark Kirby connected the dots and named the “That ‘70s Show” actor.
“I said that someone I had dated previously wasn’t encouraging of my acting, not that I couldn’t,” Jones told the caller on “WWHL,” again refusing to call out Kutcher by name. “I don’t know if that person had ever actually seen me act.”
After a successful run as Betty Draper on “Mad Men” and a few Golden Globe nominations, it’s safe to say Jones is the clear winner here. (Though, to be fair, Kutcher has won a Razzie award.)
“And I haven’t talked to him,” Jones added in her response to the caller. “I’m super happy for him and his family to be political and all that.”
“Was it him?” Cohen asked, going in for the kill.
Jones simply laughed along with the studio audience, leaving us to think, how could it not be?
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
GENEVA ― Good news for the Saudis and not-so-good news for the civilians of Yemen: The United Nations Human Rights Council voted Thursday to establish a national inquiry into human rights abuses in Yemen with the help of a U.N. technical assistance team.
The decision is a major blow to the attempt, led by the Netherlands, at a resolution that would instead require an international inquiry into the atrocities unfolding in Yemen. This is the second year in a row that the council managed to agree only on a national inquiry, which tends to be one-sided and ignorant of the degree to which people are suffering.
The Netherlands withdrew its text on Yemen during the deliberations on Thursday and instead compromised on the draft resolution, which called for the national inquiry and was put forward by the council’s group of Arab states.
This decision comes as a relief to Saudi Arabia and the Arab states, which want to avoid international meddling into a conflict that they have a major stake in.
A Saudi-led coalition has been targeting Houthis in Yemen since March of 2015 after it helped run the country’s president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, into exile. It has mercilessly bombed civilian-heavy areas in the country, most recently targeting medical facilities and schools.
The Houthis, who are supported by Iran, aren’t innocent either. They’ve also been accused of repeated human rights violations, including the use of humans as shields during attacks.
Meanwhile, the team from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights working on Yemen is “disappointed” in the outcome, Mohammad Ali Alnsour, special assistant to the high commissioner, told The Huffington Post. “We did not have any say in the final text. It was a package deal so basically we have to live with it,” he said.
The resolution asks that the U.N. technical assistance team provide an oral update of its findings at the next council session in March and then put together a written report of human rights violations in time for next September’s session.
The OHCHR Yemen team just did this, and it wasn’t easy. It delivered a report recently about the situation on the ground after several months of investigating and found that Yemeni representatives were difficult to work with and didn’t meet the international standards for data collection.
Alnsour anticipates that the U.N. assistance team will face the same uphill battle in receiving credible information from the Yemenis this time around, he added.
Some nongovernmental organizations were more optimistic about the outcome.
“Although imperfect, the Human Rights Council resolution provides the UN High Commissioner a clear mandate to send more investigators to Yemen, vigorously investigate abuses by all sides, and report publicly,” John Fisher, Geneva director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “With this vote, council members overcame obstruction by Saudi Arabia and showed they recognize the need for accountability for the grave human rights violations in Yemen.”
The U.K., although allied with Saudi Arabia, did shift its position and come out in support of the international inquiry.
The United States, unsurprisingly, did not. It’s also a longtime ally of the Saudis, and reports have indicated that some of the coalition bombs used in Yemen were sold to the Saudis by the U.S.
The U.S. delegation is pleased with the resolution, which “includes a much more robust and explicit mandate to report on human rights abuses and violations,” according to Ambassador Keith Harper, the U.S. representative to the HRC. He views it as a major improvement compared with last year, even though the resolution itself doesn’t differ much.
And while diplomats continue to spar in Geneva, the humanitarian situation on the ground in Yemen continues to deteriorate.
“At least 7 million people ― a quarter of the population ― are living under emergency levels of food insecurity,” the World Food Programme said in June.
The toll of war has been particularly hard on children. Preventing disease and death among children in the country has been set back almost a decade, according to UNICEF. More than 1.5 million children are suffering from malnourishment.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Just call her the Little Lady of the Dance.
Two-year-old Georgia couldn’t resist joining in the fun when she spotted Sean-nós dancer Emma O’Sullivan performing in the street in Galway, Ireland, on Tuesday.
She adorably imitated the All-Ireland champion’s moves — and even managed to pull off a killer jump.
“She hasn’t danced before as such,” Jakob Stenberg Vester, Georgia’s father, told The Huffington Post on Friday.
But Vester said he has played Irish music for most of his life, and he believes that might have inspired the toddler’s impromptu performance as she was walking through the town center with her mom, Almudena Carrascosa.
Vester’s mother has also taught Irish set dancing in his native Denmark for the last three decades, while his father has played Irish music for the same amount of time.
“So maybe it is in the blood,” he said.
Galway now Magazine posted the clip to Facebook, and it had garnered more than 4.7 million views as of Friday.
“Myself and Georgia’s mother are both a bit overwhelmed by everything,” Vester added.
Check it out in the clip above.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Funny, isn’t it, how the Trump campaign really, really wants us to be talking about that thing that Donald Trump ostentatiously didn’t quite say on Monday night. Adultery expert Newt Gingrich thinks Trump “was a gentleman” and “proved that he had the discipline to remain as a decent guy” by not explicitly talking about Bill Clinton’s past behavior The twice-divorced Trump is not concerned about how the issue might bring up his own history, because “I have a very good history.” They really think they have a winning line here. All this has Republicans who remember how this all played out in the 1990s and/or have tested the issue with actual voters cringing and head-desking:
Tim Miller and Katie Packer, two Republican strategists who oppose Trump, conducted focus groups before the primaries where they tested attacks tied to the former president's sex scandals with female swing voters. They concluded it was a political dead end.
"These voters were completely turned off and disgusted by it," Miller said in an e-mail. "We found time and again these attacks turned Hillary into a victim and that it engendered sympathy for her."
Greg Sargent has a theory that this isn’t a lead-up to putting Hillary Clinton on the spot in a debate:
No, what’s probably going on here is that the Trump campaign is trying to get the media to talk about the idea that Hillary’s supposed enabling of Bill’s affairs should somehow undercut her highlighting of Trump’s misogyny and chauvinism. That’s why Trump and his advisers keep telling the press that Trump himself didn’t bring up Bill’s affairs at the debate — even though he could have! — out of respect for Chelsea Clinton…oh, and by the way, political reporters, make sure you mention Bill’s affairs and Hillary’s alleged enabling of them in your stories about Trump’s self-restraint!
Now, any theory that relies on Donald Trump’s impulse control when he’s been challenged is subject to being abruptly undone when he loses his temper. But this certainly seems like the plan right now. Send out surrogates to talk about the Clintons’ past incessantly just to keep it in the news, especially as a distraction from Trump’s grotesque attacks on former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.
For her part, Hillary Clinton simply said “no” when asked if it was her responsibility to “speak out on a spouse’s indiscretions or past.”
Can you chip in $3 to help elect Hillary Clinton?
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
GRAND LAKE — A week removed from its first win in program history, Lake Charles College Prep dominated Grand Lake 29-13 Thursday night for win No. 2.
“Our kids are playing hard and they are doing everything we ask them to do,” LCCP head coach Erick Franklin said. “I told them one day that it is going to click and it is finally starting to click.”
The key to the Trailblazers’ (2-2) second consecutive win and 2-0 start to District 4-1A play was the play of their defensive front seven and junior quarterback Kevin Guidry. The Trailblazers’ defense held the Hornets to 288 yards and forced three turnovers.
Junior linebacker Chris Meeks got things started in the first quarter for LCCP when he intercepted Grand Lake (3-2, 0-2) quarterback Kade Delcambre and returned it 68-yard for the touchdown.
Junior linebacker Kendrick Simmons and defensive lineman Shannon Booker each recovered a fumble and recorded a pair of tackles for a loss. Simmons fumble recovery led to Guidry’s first touchdown pass, a 26-yarder to Dre Gregory with 11:04 left in the second quarter.
Guidry threw a season-high three touchdown passes to three receivers and%
JENNINGS — Jennings didn’t need long to put up big numbers against Lake Arthur in its 56-28 victory against the Tigers on Thursday night.
The Bulldogs (5-0) scored on three of their first offensive plays from scrimmage and lead 28-14 at halftime despite having possession for less than 5 minutes.
Jennings had four drives in which in needed just one play to score, and all but one drive ended in a touchdown. They Bulldogs let time expire on their final drive.
“We haven’t had that all year long,” said Jennings head coach Rusty Phelps. “It kind of reminded me of last year. We ran four plays and had 21 points. I’m proud of our coaching staff and proud of our football team.”
After forcing Lake Arthur (3-2) to turn the ball over on downs in the opening drive, Jennings quarterback Kendrick LeJeune took a carry 51 yards to set up a 2-yard Tyrik Sonnier touchdown run.
Lake Arthur responded with a long, lumbering touchdown drive capped off by a 6-yard touchdown run by running back Trey Hargrave.
But the tie did not last long as Travis Etienne maneuvered, then sped his way past the Lake Arthur defense for a 51-yard touchdown score.
After forcing another turnover on downs, Jennings extended its lead with another one-play touchdown drive when LeJeune took a keeper 78-yards to the house.
Lake Arthur closed the gap with an 8-yard touchdown run from Jayren McZeal, but Jennings took a 28-14 lead into the halftime break after another Etienne touchdown, this one from 8 yards out.
The Bulldogs needed 12 plays and more than 4 minutes to garner 228 yards and four touchdowns in the first half.
Jennings blew it open with on the opening play of the second half when LeJeune found Etienne for a 49-yard touchdown pass.
Less than 3 minutes later, Jennings regained possession on an interception and LeJeune once again ran one into the end zone from 41 yards out to give Jennings a 42-14 lead that allowed the Bulldogs to coast to their fifth consecutive win.
Etienne finished with eight carries for 147 yards, and LeJeune ran for 191 yards on six carries.
Hargrave led the Tigers with 47 carries for 205 yards. The performance but him over 1,100 yards for the season.
Jennings will kick off its District 4-3A schedule next Thursday when it hosts Iota.
Barbe (3-1, 0-1) at New Iberia (2-2, 1-0)
The Bucs saw their three-game winning streak end in heartbreaking fashion with a one-point loss at Acadiana. Bucs starting QB Gavin Nettles left injured for the second game in a row. Backup Luke Richard has showed promise filling in, and the Bucs defense has shown improvement compared to last year. Kirkland Banks had nearly 200 yards of offense last week. NISH had perfect balance last week, with 138 yards rushing and 138 passing. The Yellow Jackets allowed 197 rushing yards, a bad omen when facing Banks. NISH has allowed seven points over the past two weeks after allowing 80 in two season-opening losses to Breaux Bridge and Carencro.
Acadiana (2-2, 1-0) at Sulphur (4-0, 1-0)
There are five weeks left in the season after this week, but the District 3-5A race could be decided tonight at Matt Walker Memorial Stadium. Acadiana has been the top dog in the district for most of the last decade while the Tors are looking for their first district title since 2007, which was also the last time they beat the Rams on the field (Sulphur won by forfeit in 2010). Acadiana runs its usual championship winning veer offense led by running back Ziggy Francis (74 carries, 624 yards, 9 TDs) but they will have to find a way to stop the Tors who are averaging 38.8 points and 492.8 yards per game. Sulphur’s J’Cobi Skinner is the top back in the district with 103 carries for 770 yards and six touchdowns.
Sam Houston (0-4, 0-0) at Comeaux (3-1, 0-1)
It will be Sam Houston’s District 3-5A opener as the Broncos try to right the ship and avoid their first 0-5 start since 1993. But Comeaux is coming off a 42-41 heartbreaking loss to Sulphur and will be looking to take their frustrations out on the Broncos. Sam Houston will have to watch out for Spartans wide receiver Tanarious Achan who had a career game last week with 11 catches for 215 yards and a touchdown. Sam Houston will need to clean up its play on offense, losing three fumbles last week. Sam Houston has seven turnovers in four games.
Crowley (1-3) at DeQuincy (3-1)
After suffering its first loss of the season, DeQuincy will look to regroup at home against a dangerous Class 4A Crowley team that has lost three games by a combined nine points. The Tigers will need a strong defensive performance to stop Gents running back Keith Wilson (78-464, 9 TDs). The Tigers’ balanced offense (867 rushing/690 passing) will be key to make up for last year’s 51-6 loss to the Gents. Dual-threat quarterback Will Smith has 683 yards through the air, 273 on the ground and has accounted for 12 touchdowns.
Leesville (2-2) at Iowa (3-1)
Two high-powered offenses will face off in a nondistrict finale that will also act as the Yellow Jackets’ homecoming game. Andre Sam caught three touchdown passes, in addition to returning a punt and a blocked punt for touchdowns in Iowa’s 41-14 win against Oakdale. After losing two straight, Leesville returned to winning form last week with a 41-21 victory against Pineville.
Ferriday (2-2) at Washington-Marion (0-4)
W-M head coach Freddie Harrison will face his former team. The Charging Indians feature one of the area’s top running backs in Jacobi Taylor (423 yds., 2 TDs), but has struggled to find consistency on offense, scoring 31 points through four games. Ferriday committed six turnovers and allowed defensive and special teams touchdowns last week in a loss to Wilkinson (Miss.) Count. Ferriday features playmakers at running back and receiver in Milak Williams and Dantrieze Scott.
DeRidder (1-3) at Westlake (1-3)
After a two-game road swing, the Westlake Rams return home to host the DeRidder Dragons. At 1-3, both teams are looking to turn their seasons around. The Rams will have the added incentive of homecoming festivities but will need to shore up a defense that has given up more than 40 points three times. DeRidder’s offense has struggled lately, scoring nine points in its last three games.
Vinton (3-1) at South Beauregard (4-0)
Vinton will face its second straight undefeated opponent in the second game of a four-game road trip. The combined record of those four opponents (Northwest, South Beauregard, Kinder, DeQuincy) is 14-2. South Beauregard has been battle tested after facing four Class 4A schools and will be playing a smaller school for the first time. The game will feature two of the best small school running backs in Southwest Louisiana in Vinton’s Tony St. Julien (46-495, 8 TDs) and South Beauregard’s Matt Uhlik (102-501, 4 TDs).
Pineville (0-4) at St. Louis (2-2)
The Saints got back on track last week with a 13-7 victory on the road at Cecilia. Quarterback Bailey Hardy will look to put up big numbers against a winless Pineville squad that has allowed 40 points per game. The Saints’ defense, which has held three opponents to under 15 points, will look to keep Pineville in check and improve to a winning record.
Welsh (4-0) at Rosepine (0-4)
The Greyhounds have looked dominant as they’ve run through its nondistrict schedule with an average winning margin of 32.8 points per game. Rosepine will have to find a way to slow down Welsh’s powerful running game of Reggie Jackson, Charlie Watkins and quarterback Zach Hayes in order to pull off an upset and earn its first win.
Pickering (3-1) at Mangham (4-0)
Mangham, which lost the 2A championship game to Kinder last season, has showed no signs of slowing down. JaKarie Nichols leads the Dragons with 575 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. The Pickering defense has been dominant over the past three weeks, allowing a total of 12 points with two shutouts. Pickering QB Patrick Hinson was hurt last week. If he can’t play, RB Codie Williams (422 yds., 4 TDs) will have to take on a bigger load for the Red Devils.
South Cameron (1-3, 0-1) at East Beauregard (3-1, 1-0)
Since being held to eight points in an opening-week loss to undefeated Ascension Episcopal, East Beauregard is averaging 34 points per game in a three-game winning streak. South Cameron has gone the opposite direction since losing starting QB Jakin Morales, getting shut out twice since opening the season with 40 points in a win over North Central. With one returning starter, the Trojans figure to improve over the course of the season as its youngsters continue to gain experience.
Hamilton Christian (1-3, 1-0) at Elton (0-4, 0-1)
After going 0-3 in nondistrict play, the Warriors looked like the defending district champions with a dominant 47-22 in which they posted 26 points in the fourth quarter. Kenan Fontenot thrived at a mobile quarterback position, running 12 times for 215 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Oberlin (2-2, 1-0) at Merryville (1-3, 0-1)
The Tigers jumped out to a 1-0 start in District 4-1A with a one-point victory against Elton last week thanks to a stopped 2-point conversion near the end of regulation. Oberlin will look to improve to 2-0 in district against a Merryville squad coming off a 50-20 district-opening loss to East Beauregard.
Port Barre (1-3) at Basile (1-3)
Basile has scored 13 points in its three losses, which have come to teams with a combined record of 10-2. Port Barre has followed a similar script, scoring a total of 26 points. The Red Devils shut out St. Edmund 6-0 last week, holding the Blue Jays to nine first downs and 144 yards of offense. Port Barre held Basile to a lone touchdown in last year’s 18-7 home win.
In the face of a changing climate and the challenges that come with it, companies the world over have been attempting to pull solutions out of thin air — literally.
There are firms turning air into fuel and others transforming it into stone. Some are even extracting clean drinking water from it.
Israel’s Water-Gen has built devices that create and store drinking water by harvesting condensation from the air. It was among a group of Israeli firms that presented their technological innovations at the United Nations General Assembly last week.
“Put simply, [our technology] leverages the same process as a dehumidifier, but instead captures and cleans the moisture,” said Zach Gorin, a company spokesman, in an email this week. “This ‘plug-and-drink’ technology is fully independent of existing water infrastructure. All we require is an electrical outlet and the humidity found in the air.”
Water-Gen isn’t the only company to market such a technology, but it says its machines ― known as atmospheric water generators ― are far more energy-efficient than any other water production device currently available.
“Our technology takes one-fifth of the amount of energy used by other methods ― around three liters of water produced for every kilowatt of energy. That makes the water we produce much cheaper, too,” Gorin said.
At current energy prices, Water-Gen estimates the water its machines generates would cost less than 10 cents per gallon.
The company’s devices come in three sizes: industrial, medium and one for use in the home or office. Each machine comes equipped with a system of plastic “leaves” which cools the air and then collects any resultant condensation. The water collected then passes through a water filtration system which filters out any chemical and microbiological contaminants.
The smallest device can yield up to 5 gallons daily, while the largest can produce more than 800 gallons a day. Gorin noted, however, that the technology is easily scalable.
Water-Gen got its start providing its water generation technology to the Israeli military and other armies, including those of the U.S. and France. But the company said its focus has recently shifted to providing the technology to communities facing water scarcity.
“We think it’s possible to bring drinking water to all countries. Humidifiers, army solutions, etcetera are a secondary issues,” Maxim Nasik, Water-Gen’s chairman, told Business Insider in an interview this month. “What’s important for us is to bring water to the people. This is a basic human right.”
The company is in talks with several governments, including the United States, India, China, Brazil and Mexico. And it’s currently doing field tests in cities such as Mumbai, India, and Shanghai, China.
Water-Gen said it’s also working with industrial manufacturers to scale up production for its home appliances. The company’s products are expected to be commercially available in 2017.
“We’ve all seen the numbers about the global water crisis: under conservative estimates, one out of every ten people in the world lacks access to safe water; one out of every five deaths of children under the age of 5 is the result of a water-related disease,” Gorin said. “Global leaders have made it clear that all sectors ― government, business, and non-profit ― must take significant steps to reduce our carbon footprint while conserving existing resources. Water-Gen’s technology is a critical to expanding access to safe, clean, and sustainable water supplies.”
According to the World Bank, 1.6 billion people live in countries and regions that struggle with water scarcity. That number is expected to balloon to 2.8 billion by 2025.
“There is zero doubt that the threat posed by global climate change means that water supplies will be under increasing amounts of stress each year,” Gorin said. “We’re excited about the impact we can make for the world.”
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
If you’re spending your days dreaming up ways to escape the swiftly approaching winter, there’s a brand new option for you to consider ― and it’s straight out of a dream.
Earlier this month, a colony of 30 overwater oases popped up in the turquoise waters of Riviera Maya, Mexico. The bungalows are part of the El Dorado Maroma resort, located on the northeastern shoreline of the Yucatan Peninsula.
In this heavenly corner of the Caribbean, the weather is warm and the water crystal clear.
According to Karisma Hotels, these are Mexico’s first overwater bungalows, meaning it is now much easier for those of us in the Americas to experience this kind of villa, which is typically found on South Pacific islands like Bora Bora and Tahiti.
The group of bungalows juts out from famed Playa Maroma, a white sand beach with calm water and bright blue sea as far as the eye can see. Each unit has a panoramic view of the ocean and beach, as well as its own ladder so you can hop in the water whenever you want. Each one also features an outdoor shower, private infinity pool, jacuzzi and sun deck.
And if being surrounded by ocean isn’t enough for you, you can even see the water from inside the bungalows, through glass panels in the floor.
The resort also features an overwater spa and restaurant, just steps away from the bungalows.
And if you’re looking for a vacation that goes beyond sunbathing and relaxation, there is plenty of adventure near the resort.
Riviera Maya is one of Mexico’s most popular tourist destinations, with rainforests, aquatic adventures and archaeological treasures to explore. Tulum, which is about an hour south of the resort at Playa Maroma, is home to some of Mexico’s most incredible Mayan ruins.
Breathtaking, absolutely. But one of the bungalows will cost you a pretty penny, starting at $950 per adult per night. The price is inclusive, which means food, drinks and some of the resort activities come with your stay ― but still, bliss doesn’t come cheap.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Filed under: Etc.,Buick,Luxury
Apparently Buick thought the name was the only marketable part of the Avenir concept.Continue reading Buick Avenir will be made...as a trim level instead of a car
Buick Avenir will be made...as a trim level instead of a car originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Sep 2016 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsWell, the first presidential debate didn’t go exactly as Donald Trump planned, even though he (and plenty of “voters” from Russia) claimed otherwise. No matter what you think about Hillary Clinton’s policies, she played Trump perfectly at the Hofstra University debate.
Donald Trump’s achilles heel is the fact that he refuses to ever admit he was wrong about anything. And he doesn’t just change the subject or evade the question the way most politicians do, he doubles and triples-down, insisting he was right about everything from calling Rosie O’Donnell a “fat pig,” to humiliating a young Miss Universe.
The days after the first debate have been even more interesting than the debate itself (which was fascinating), mainly because The Donald continues his “triumphant” rampage. He even says he’s picking up more of the female vote because of the nasty things he didn’t say at the debate. Enjoy the cartoon, then go take a shower, then visit me on Patreon and join me behind-the-scenes.
NEW YORK -- Donald Trump shamed a former beauty pageant winner Friday for her sexual history and encouraged Americans to check out what he called her "sex tape," in an early-morning tweet-storm that dragged him further away from his campaign's efforts to broaden its appeal to women.
A day after he injected former President Bill Clinton's dalliances into the campaign, Trump accused Hillary Clinton's campaign of helping 1996 Miss Universe winner Alicia Machado get U.S. citizenship, but offered no proof. He said Machado had a "terrible" past that a "duped" Clinton had overlooked before holding her up "as an 'angel' in the first presidential debate.
"Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in the debate?" read a missive from Trump posted on his verified Twitter account at 5:30 a.m.
Trump's taunt appeared to refer to footage from a Spanish reality show in 2005 in which Machado was a contestant and appeared on camera in bed with a male contestant. The images, posted this week to a newspaper's website, are grainy and do not include nudity.
The show took place almost a decade after Trump invited reporters to watch Machado exercise and mocked her publicly for gaining weight after she won Miss Universe, which Trump owned at the time. In Monday's debate, Clinton brought up Trump's taunts of Machado.
Shaming Machado over intimate details from her past was particularly risky as Trump tries win over more female voters, many of whom are turned off by such personal attacks. It also risks calling further attention to the thrice-married Trump's own history with women.
The outburst was an extreme reminder of how Trump has seemed unable to restrain himself from veering into unhelpful territory, even with the election less than 40 days away. Trump's allies have implored him to stick to attacks on Clinton over her family foundation, her emails or her long history as a political insider, critiques that fall further out of view whenever Trump sparks a new controversy.
Rather than back way from the comments about Machado, Trump has repeatedly pushed it back to the center of the conversation, even as early voting in critical states gets underway. He said this week that Machado had gained "a massive amount of weight," adding that it was "a real problem."
On Friday, Trump said Clinton had been "set up by a con" in holding up Machado "as an 'angel' without checking her past, which is terrible!" He suggested Clinton had helped the Venezuela-born actress gain citizenship. Clinton's campaign, which has released videos featuring Machado and arranged for reporters to interview her, has highlighted her status as a new American and her plans to cast her first vote for Clinton.
Clinton's campaign had no immediate formal reaction. But Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon took to Twitter to ask, "What kind of human being is this?"
The flurry on Twitter began shortly after 3 a.m. on the East Coast when Trump complained about stories about his campaign based on anonymous sources and told his supporters not to believe them.
"There are no sources, they are just made up lies!" he wrote.
Trump has repeatedly gotten himself in trouble with his late-night and early-morning tweets, which appear to be written by the candidate himself. The reality TV show star once said that aides help him tweet during the day but that in the evenings, he tweets by himself. Trump has, at various points during his campaign, toned down the content of his tweets, but rarely for long.
His latest broadside against Machado came the day after he warned voters that a Hillary Clinton victory would bring her husband's sex scandal back to the White House. It was Trump's latest effort to bounce back from Monday's debate performance, which was widely panned for being less effective than Clinton's.
"The American people have had it with years and decades of Clinton corruption and scandal. Corruption and scandal," Trump said Thursday. "An impeachment for lying. An impeachment for lying. Remember that? Impeach."
The fresh rehash of the 1990s Monica Lewisnky scandal came despite Trump's insistence that he's been showing impressive restraint by not bringing it up. Trump has said he declined to mention it during the debate out of respect for Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, who was in the room.
Clinton has tried largely to stay out of the fracas over Trump's comments about women and her husband, hoping not to get in her opponent's way while he keeps stepping into controversies her campaign sees as damaging his prospects. Asked Thursday about the possibility that Trump would raise her husband's infidelities, Clinton said he could run his campaign "however he chooses."
"That's up to him. I'm going to keep talking about the stakes in this election," Clinton said.
Trying to draw a contrast with Trump, Clinton has delivered a mostly positive message in the days since her debate performance re-energized her candidacy. On Friday she was campaigning in Friday, a key battleground, where she planned a speech focused on national service in Fort Pierce and an organizing event in Coral Springs.