E Minus 20: In a rare personal remark by a sitting president about a candidate running to succeed him, President Obama said Donald Trump should “stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes.”

After days of Trump claiming the election is rigged, Obama said, “I have never seen in my lifetime or in modern political history, any presidential candidate trying to discredit the elections and the election process before votes have even taken place,” Mr. Obama said. “It’s unprecedented. It happens to be based on no facts.”

Adding a new issue to his campaign, Trump said that as president he would push for a Constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress; six years for the house and 12 for the Senate. “It is time to drain the damn swamp.”

“Collusion must and will come to an end,” Trump said. “It’s time to sweep the corruption out of Washington.” Part of his new plan, which isn’t crazy, is to impose five-year bans on former administration executives and members of Congress from becoming lobbyists.

But, almost, conceding his defeat in advance of the election, Trump also said yesterday that, “History will record that 2017 was the year that America lost, truly lost its independence. Truly lost its independence.”  He declared, “It’s going to be a one party system.”

Debatable: The candidates face off one last time tonight in Las Vegas. The question about Donald Trump is whether he will continue firing from the hip as he has since the last debate, or temper himself in one last attempt to look like a president. It will be difficult for Hillary Clinton to set the right tone for herself. So far she has not directly engaged on the accusation of sexual harassment against Donald Trump. She may get into it tonight, but she’ll be wading into the swamp.

Pasta Diplomacy: The Obamas hosted their 13^th and final State Dinner last night at The White House in honor of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. The food was made by New York chef Mario Batali. In his remarks, President Obama said, “Tonight, we’re reminded that American democracy has been graced by the touch of Italy. We look at the dome of the US Capitol and marvel at the touch of Brumidi. Yet some days our presidential campaigns can seem like Dante’s Inferno.”

Net Nanny: The Ecuadorian embassy in London explained that it had restricted Julian Assange’s internet access because his postings of hacked emails on Wikileaks are at attempt to influence the American election.  

Saudi Justice: For the first time in 40 years Saudi Arabia executed a member of the royal family. Prince Turki bin Saud al-Kabir, who was convicted of shooting and killing another man in a brawl, was executed in Riyadh. The Saudi news service didn’t reveal the method of execution, but usually it is beheading in a public square. The last execution of a Saudi Royal was 1975, when Prince Faisal bin Musaid was beheaded for assassinating King Faisal.

Blowin’ in the Wind: The enigmatic singer/songwriter Bob Dylan — okay, that’s a cliché — has failed to respond to the Swedish Academy’s award of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Maybe, as with a lot of lit’rachuh purists, Bub doesn’t believe he deserves it. Like a lot of things about Dylan, we may never know.

Odd Zschiedrich, the administrative director of the Swedish Academy, said, “We have stopped trying — we said everything we needed to his manager and friend, he knows about us being eager having confirmation from him, but we haven’t heard anything back.”

Yes, He Can: Donald Trump has invited Barack Obama’s half-brother Malik, who is a Trump supporter, to be his quest at tonight’s final presidential debate. Malik told the NY Post that he has been disappointed by brother Barack’s administration and “Make America Great Again is a great slogan.” Malik has only half of Barack’s genes.

Man of Few Words: New England Patriot coach Bill Belichick, who is known for the terseness of his replies to reporters’ questions, went off on a five-minute rant yesterday.

“They’re just too undependable,” Belichick said.“It’s basically a problem every week.” And, “I just can’t take it anymore.”

What was he talking about? The Microsoft Surface tablets issued to teams by the NFL. “As you have probably noticed, I’m done with the tablets,” Belichick said.

And probably done speaking as well.

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