Weather Report: The category 5 Hurricane Patricia, described as the strongest storm ever to hit the Western Hemisphere, made landfall on Mexico’s southwest Pacific coast last night. Winds of 160 mph carrying heavy rain caused tree falls and landslides. The roof was ripped off houses. Authorities declared a state of emergency in the states of Colima, Nayarit and Jalisco.

But despite its initial power, the storm has since dropped from a category 5 to a 1, with top winds at 75 mph.

Police Beat: FBI Director James Comey said yesterday at the University of Chicago that the rise in crime in some cities is the result of increased scrutiny of police officers that has resulted in the cops being less aggressive on the streets. “I do have a strong sense that some part of the explanation is a chill wind that has blown through American law enforcement over the last year,” Comey said. His remarks came as a surprise after incidents in which police officers have been held accountable for questionable, and sometimes clearly unjustified, killings of criminal suspects.

Permawar: The US soldier killed this week in a raid on the Islamic State has been identified as 39-year-old Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler, whose death reveals that the elite Delta Force commandos are in combat in Iraq. Wheeler was a member of the 75th Ranger Regiment, assigned to Delta. He was part of a raid with Kurdish forces to free prisoners held by ISIS. How deeply Delta is involved in the fighting, the Pentagon isn’t saying, but its an escalation.

The Darwin Club: Former Rhode Island Gov. and Senator Lincoln Chafee dropped out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination yesterday. He was polling at about 1 percent popularity and having trouble raising money. Chafee said after his announcement in Washington, “Obviously it was a good week for Secretary Clinton. She did well in the debates and then Senator Webb got out, Vice President Biden declined to join the race, she did well in the Benghazi hearing and Gov. Chafee got out of the race.”

On the Republican side, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has ordered layoffs, pay cuts, and a reduction of travel for his Miami headquarters. The Bush campaign says it’s reorganizing to focus efforts on the early-voting primary states, but Bush is running third in Republican polls and having trouble raising money.

The internal memo said, “We would be less than forthcoming if we said we predicted in June that a reality television star supporting Canadian-style single-payer health care and partial-birth abortion would be leading the G.O.P. primary.”

Boys of October: The Kansas City Royals beat Toronto last night to win game 6 of the American League Championships and a spot in the World Series to face the NY Mets. The Series begins Tuesday in Kansas City.

Nation: In an aggressive move against Planned Parenthood, Texas is demanding that the organization’s outlets in that state turn over thousands of pages of patient records, many of them pertaining to abortions. The state wants detailed records including orders and procedures as well as patient and staff names and addresses.

The state’s demand comes just three days after Texas cut off Medicare payments to Planned Parenthood. The state is citing discredited sting videos shot inside Planned Parenthood offices as evidence that the organization was illegally dealing in fetal tissue for research. Planned Parenthood has called the investigation “outrageous” and an invasion of patient privacy.

Small Screen: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump hosts NBC’s Saturday Night Live on Nov. 7^th. They know a natural comedian when they see one.