That homicidal, score-settling bitch we all know and love, occupying the Eternal City, merging with the lingering spirits of Roman generals and politicians, totally laying waste, chunks and shards of glass spread over ancient cobblestones on the Appian Way.

What percentage of Americans have even a fraction of a clue about what the Russian hackers are up to? Two days ago Team Obama accused the Russkis of “stealing and disclosing emails from the Democratic National Committee and a range of other institutions and prominent individuals, immediately raising the issue of whether President Obama would seek sanctions or other retaliation,” etc. Is all this a forewarning that one way or the other that the Russian government, which is known to be interesting in swaying the U.S. election in Donald Trump‘s favor just as Trump is known to be a Putin loyalist, is going to try and fuck with the 11.8 vote tally? Today’s Putin is more actively hostile to the U.S. than any Russian commie ogre of the past (Breshnev, Krushchev, Stalin).

“Zero chance I’ll quit” = Donald Trump‘s commitment to facing the howling winds and taking his upcoming electoral defeat like a man. If he’s smart (which of course he isn’t), he’ll class up tonight’s debate by politely refusing to touch anything the least bit mucky-mucky, and that means leaving poor Bill Clinton alone. On one level Trump is Richard Nixon after the revelation of the smoking-gun tape, and on another he’s St. Augustine, alive as you or me, tearing through these quarters in the utmost misery with a blanket underneath his arm and a coat of solid gold, searching for the very souls [who’ve] already have been sold.