Hillary is increasing her lead over Donald Trump, according to a new poll.

Hillary Clinton has emerged from the two major party conventions and their aftermath with an eight-point lead over Donald Trump, aided by a consolidation of support among Democrats and a failure so far by Republicans to rally equally behind their nominee, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Clinton and her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.), now lead Trump and his running mate, Gov. Mike Pence (Ind.), by 50 percent to 42 percent among registered voters, double the four-point advantage the Democrats held on the eve of the Republican convention in mid-July. Among likely voters, the Democratic nominee leads by 51 percent to 44 percent.

Here is the poll.

Through one of its FOIA lawsuits, the ACLU has obtained new documents concerning the Obama Administration's guidelines for targeted killings of suspected terrorists.

The primary document is the May, 2013 Presidential Policy Guidance, available here. [More...]

Has ISIS in Afghanistan captured a U.S. soldier? A statement today by ISIS-affiliated news agency Amaq, accompanied by photographs displaying the Identification card of U.S. Army soldier Ryan Jay Larson, and what is purportedly his equipment, leaves that impression. But the statement stops short of claiming Larson was seized or killed

The statement says ISIS successfully repelled an attack by the Afghan army in the Tor Ghondi and Kha’stan Kamar areas in Nangarhar. It adds ISIS then conducted a counterattack and took control of three of of their points, killing two and injuring several others. It reports many fled. It says ISIS took “ghanimah” of weapons and ammunition. [More...]

They are starting to air the the Olympic Opening Ceremony on NBC. I wish Lester Holt could narrate the whole thing, he's got the best voice, doesn't dumb it down or hyperventilate or overly dramatize the small stuff.

I've had NBC on in the background for an hour, and so far, the coverage has been very good and interesting (except for the half hour the local affiliate had the air, what a difference between them and the big leagues.)

This is a thread for all things Olympics and Rio related only.

Here is the live stream schedule for the Olympics. Opening ceremonies are tomorrow but the games have already begun. The Torch has now reached Rio.

The media seems intent to run down Rio as host city to the Olympics. I'm seeing articles with headlines like No Game: The Olympics, Rio and Terror, Rio 2016 will be a Brazilian carnival of greed, doping and tear gas, For Olympic athletes in Rio, a lack of buzz over Zika concerns. There's even this Henny Penny articley: Freak 15-foot waves flood TV broadcasting building on Rio’s Copacabana Beach sparking fears it could collapse into the sea

I'm a big fan of Rio and Brazil, I was there in 1977. Yes, things change in 40 years, but the natural wonders of the country remain. [More...]

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

President Obama today commuted 214 more federal sentences, bringing his total to 564, more than the previous 9 presidents combined.

67 of today's commutations went to those serving life sentences with no chance of release. To date, he has commuted 197 life sentences. (Some were commuted to 30 years, not time served.)

It seems no one can help [us] now
[we're] in too deep
There's no way out
This time [we] have really led [ourselves] astray
Runaway train never going back
Wrong way on a one way track

Republicans are having a conniption fit over their uncontrollable candidate. There are reports the campaign is in turmoil. Some Republicans are talking about an intervention.

Newt Gingrich says Trump is presently unacceptable: [More...]

A 10 year old attending a Trump rally with his mother, Pam Kohler, of Mount Vernon, VA, stood up twice and yelled out "Take the b*tch down" when Trump mentioned Hillary Clinton's name.

His mother identified herself to reporters as and stuck up for her son's remark. She said, “I think he has a right to speak what he wants to."

Ms. Kohler and her son were sitting in the media section of the rally and according to the Wall St Journal, both were holding signs that said "Hillary for Prison.....Asked where he would learn such a phrase, she said, "Democratic schools"

BS. He learned it from his mother. [More...]

It's been a long 7 years for Cameron Douglas, son of actor Michael Douglas. This week the former heroin addict and meth seller was released from federal prison to a half-way house.

He looks in much better shape than he did at the time of his original arrest in 2009.

In 2012, Cameron was badly hurt in prison. In 2011 and 2012, I provided a lengthy recap of his legal troubles from court pleadings available at the time here and here. In 2010, I wrote about the sentencing pleadings and very candid family letters and provided a recap of events . Posts about his 2009 arrest and release on bail are here and here.

I took all of the information in the posts from publicly available pleadings, not just in his case, but in the cases of the Escalera brothers, against whom he testified. All of my posts on his case are accessible here.

Here's a letter Cameron wrote from prison in 2013. According to the Page 6 article, he's planning on writing a book of his experiences.

The Bureau of Prisons failed Douglas in my view. He more than did his time, under very harsh conditions. I wish him and his family well.

New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has resigned. He was expected to announce he would not seek a second term, but the resignation, effective next month, was a surprise to most. NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill will take over as interim chief.

Bratton previously served as New York Police Commissioner under Rudy Giulani from 1994 to 1996, and is credited with the "broken windows" theory of policing (with which I have never agreed.)

I have not followed events involving Commissioner Bratton since he returned to New York. I do remember when he became Police Commissioner of Los Angeles in 2002 since I was attended his swearing-in, along with two other defense lawyer pals. We were invited because we all are friends with his wife, former criminal defense attorney turned TV host and legal analyst, Rikki Klieman). I wrote a long post on it and the parties afterwards here.

We're bombing Libya again. I say again because many media outlets are erroneously reporting this is the first time. It's not, it's merely the first strike against ISIS in Libya conducted with the approval of the new Government of National Accord in Tripoli.

Previously, there was an airstrike in February, 2015, when the U.S. struck an ISIS training camp in Libya. It's believed there were no civilians at the camp. The U.S. said it targeted and killed ISIS extremist Noureddine Chouchane, linked to the Tunisian beach attacks at Sousse which killed 30 Britons. But Serbia said the U.S. attack killed two of its embassy employees who were being held hostage. The Intercept said evidence supports Serbia's claim. More than 40 people were killed in the strikes. And Libya complained it was not consulted and had not approved.

In November, 2015, the U.S. struck Libya and said it took out Abu Nabil, another suspected Isis leader. The BBC reported: [More...]