On the Road Again: Burned by her own description of half of Donald Trump followers as a “basket of deplorables,” Hillary Clinton returned to campaigning yesterday saying she will keep things on the upbeat.

“I want to give Americans something to vote for, not just against,” Clinton said in Greensboro, NC. “From now until Nov. 8, everywhere I go I’m going to talk about my ideas for our country,” Mrs. Clinton said. She said she plans to talk about children, families, and improving the economy.

Clinton told reporters she was glad to have the time off to recover from pneumonia. “I talked with some old friends,” she said. “I spent time with our very sweet dogs. The campaign trail doesn’t really encourage reflection, and it’s important to sit with your thoughts every now and then.”

With the race getting tighter, Clinton is beginning to appeal to people planning to vote for the third-party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein.

According to the NY Times “Upshot,” Clinton’s chances of getting elected are still high, but dropping. Now 74 percent Clinton, 26 percent Trump.

Promises, Promises: Donald Trump pledged yesterday that as president he would create 25 million new jobs over the next 10 years. Trump’s proposal failed to acknowledge that the labor force is expected to grow by only 8 million in that period of time.

Never mind that. Trump said he would finance his jobs by demanding that US allies pay the full cost of America aiding in their national defense. He mentioned Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea as wealthy countries that have the money to fully defend themselves.

“You could ask yourself, how long would Saudi Arabia even be there if we weren’t defending them?” Mr. Trump said in a speech at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. “And I think we should defend them, but we have to be compensated properly.”

Birther BS: In an interview with The Washington Post, Trump still refused to say that President Obama was born in the United States. “I’ll answer that question at the right time,” Trump said. “I just don’t want to answer it yet.”

Trump fed the “birther” movement that questioned whether Obama was a US citizen. His campaign came out later yesterday and said Trump does believe Obama was born in the US, but he didn’t say it himself.

Crime Blotter: A professional killer told the Philippine Senate that back when his country’s President Rodrigo Duterte was mayor of Davao, he ordered the killings of about 1,000 drug dealers and criminals to clear the streets of crime.

Former Philippine militiaman Edgar Matobato, 57, said, “Our job was to kill criminals like drug pushers, rapists, snatchers. These are the kind we killed every day.” He said he even fed one suspected kidnapper to a crocodile.

The Philippine senate is holding the hearings to look into the current spate of extrajudicial killings of criminals believed to be ordered by President Duterte. About 3,000 have been murdered so far.

Hermit Kingdom: North Korea is looking for international help following devastating floods that forced the evacuation of about 100,000 people. Just a week following the country’s 5^th nuclear bomb test, it’s a rare admission of the country’s weakness and inability to handle its own problems.

North Korea’s news agency says about 130 people have died and tens of thousands of buildings were destroyed in what they describe as the country’s worst disaster since World War II.

-30-