"Hillary Clinton gave a stem-winder of a speech Friday in Washington, trying to put Donald Trump on the defensive. Mrs. Clinton must be stunned by the turnaround in the polls, especially in states like Florida and Ohio. The Clinton campaign had to make a statement and chose the personal route. The main theme of her talk was that Trump is unfit to be president: 'Donald Trump looks at President Obama after eight years as our president, he still doesn't see him as an American. Think of how dangerous that is. Imagine a person in the Oval Office who traffics in conspiracy theories and refuses to let them go, no matter what the facts are.' It is clear that Secretary Clinton is playing the invective card, there was little policy in her speech today. Will that tactic work? Probably not, because those who believe as Mrs. Clinton does are already in her camp. The 10% of Americans who are still persuadable have heard all the anti-Trump stuff before. The big reason Hillary Clinton went after Trump in a personal way is to refocus negative media attention on him, thereby taking it off her. For his part, Trump seems to be listening to his new team, which has imposed discipline on the campaign. Today in Washington some generals endorsed Trump, concentrating on national security and the military, and then Trump spoke for less than 30 seconds on the birther issue: 'President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period. Now we all want to get back to making America strong and great again.' Going forward, there are 10 days until the first debate and both candidates will be doing serious prep work. The whole world will be watching this debate and there is no coming back if you screw up. So it would behoove both of the candidates to avoid controversy before the debate. Personal attacks at this point will most likely hurt the attacker. It was almost pathetic today to watch the ravings on cable news by anti-Trump zealots. Did you just find out about the birther issue? If Trump is conceding, why the vitriol? Again, hatred never plays well with the folks. What fair-minded Americans really want are solutions to vexing problems. They want specifics, clarity, consistency. Whoever delivers that best from here on will win the White House."

The Factor analyzed Hillary Clinton's ridicule of Donald Trump with Eric Bolling and Geraldo Rivera. "You are not emphasizing enough what a gift Donald Trump gave to Hillary Clinton," Rivera declared. "She had not just two bad weeks, she had two horrifying weeks! Now people will not be talking about her fitness or other scandals that plague her, they'll be talking about Trump and birtherism." But Bolling argued that Donald Trump has neatly put the entire question behind him. "He took 25 seconds and got rid of the issue, it's gone. She's on the ropes, he dismissed this appropriately." The Factor concurred, saying, "My contention is that the birther issue is done because Trump won't engage in it and he is on the record."

Fox News anchor Brit Hume entered the No Spin Zone with his take on Donald Trump's recent surge in many polls. "We should keep a couple of things in mind," he began. "Not only have there been misfortunes suffered by Mrs. Clinton, but Donald Trump has also avoided problems. He has stuck to his scripts, he is laying out specifics, and he is behaving with some dignity and grace. So she's been doing worse, he's been doing better, and the momentum is real." Hume also theorized that Hillary Clinton's attacks on Trump are losing some power. "She might have already shot all the fish in that barrel. There are a lot of people who consider Donald Trump completely unacceptable and she already has them. This race will be decided whether people's desire for change is such that they will not vote for a status quo, stay-the-course candidate."

The Factor welcomed Jesse Morton, a Pennsylvania-born former Al Qaeda recruiter who has been hired by George Washington University as a homeland security expert. "My radicalization and my affinity for Al Qaeda's ideology started at a very young age," he recalled. "I had a traumatic upbringing, which made me open up to alternative ideologies. Criminal behavior was also an underpinning of my youth, and I was radicalized by a preacher in jail just before 9/11. I expressed my rage and frustration through a counter-cultural movement, albeit a violent one." Morton also explained his remarkable transformation, which began when he was arrested and imprisoned. "I was given the opportunity to cooperate with law enforcement and ultimately I was released. I determined that the ideology I had was completely false, and I decided to find an avenue where I could educate the public and policy makers about radicalism. I was also able to realize the value of the American system."

Fox News correspondent William Lajeunesse, who has been investigating the illegal immigration situation, joined The Factor to reveal his findings about a new study that was commissioned by the federal government. "For years we have been told that the administration catches or deters 80% of illegal immigrants on the Southwest border," he asserted, "but this report shows that it is more like 50%. Secondly, this report has been paid for and is complete, but it is still not being released. Eight Ph.D. researchers spent one year and made three trips to the border and their report has been peer reviewed. They want the report released, but people at Homeland Security told them they had to go through the White House."

Mike Love of The Beach Boys, 75 years old and still going strong on tour, has written a new book about the storied band. The Factor, admittedly a huge fan, spoke with Love about the band's drug issues. "Back in the 60s," Love said, "LSD came along and that really messes with some people's brains. I never took it, but Dennis and Carl and Brian did. Brian Wilson said that once he took LSD he started hearing voices saying derogatory things to him." Love also revealed that his bandmate Dennis Wilson became very friendly with the madman Charles Manson. "We knew he was weird, but we didn't know how weird. Charlie and 'the girls' moved into Dennis Wilson's house, they took cars and clothing and anything that wasn't nailed down." The Factor lauded The Beach Boys as "probably the best American group ever."

Mike Kelleher, Cork, Ireland: "Bill, you must have a very obscure vantage point if you think Fox News analysts are split 50-50 on Trump. More like ten to one for him."

Ruth Windsor, Scarborough, England: "Bill, what planet are you on? CNN International is very biased in favor of the Democrats. I've never seen Ms. Amanpour saying one good thing about Republicans."

Drew Bloom, Philadelphia, PA: "Mr. O, I'm sure you'll get all kinds of grief for interviewing Oliver Stone. But I've got to hand it to you - you took the perfect tone and got him to open up."

N. Scott Jones, Fort Worth, TX: "While my politics don't align with Mr. Stone's, I appreciated the thoughtful points he raised on surveillance."

During an appearance on Comedy Central, Bill Clinton reminded viewers that America has made tremendous progress, saying the nation is "less racist, sexist, homophobic" than ever before. That is a timely reminder to Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players who are disrespecting the flag and the National Anthem.