For at least a week, there have been reports that the leader of Jabhat al Nusra in Syria, Abū Muhammad al-Jūlānī, (sometimes spelled al-Jolani and al-Joulani and al-Golani), is about to announce the group's split from al Qaida.

Yesterday, it happened. Announcements were made by both groups, emphasizing this is not an ideological split. The U.S says it's just a rebranding, PR move. Al Qaida and al Nusra say it's much more than that. [More...]

Hillary did what she needed to do. She was Presidential, confident, experienced, committed, and determined. It's so easy to picture her as Commander in Chief.

Her ending: The world is watching. Let's be stronger together. Let's look to the future. Let's build a better tomorrow for our children.

The crowd erupts. Tim Kaine joins her on stage. Then Bill. Donald Trump must feel like chopped liver right now. He should -- that's all he is.

Highlights below:

"I am not here to repeal the Second Amendment. I'm not here to take away your guns." I'm here to keep you from being killed by someone who shouldn't have a gun in the first place. [More..]

Windows 10 free upgrades end tomorrow. I've been dreading installing it on my office computer, because like everything these days, text is an afterthought to graphic icons and video. I have been using Windows 10 on my laptops for 6 months and I still waste far too much time trying to find things. I like text, not pictures. I rarely find the icons intuitive.

Here's the good news. This morning when I got the message "Your computer is ready to upgrade" and it told me all my files would be in the same place and I could switch back if I didn't like Windows 10, I took a deep breath and hit the "OK" button.

For a few hours I worked on documents while it was doing something in the background. Then I left and forgot about it. When I got back around 5 pm, there was a big message on the screen saying I was ready to go. The best part was it asked me if I wanted to use custom settings (like for Groove music and Windows photo program) and had a very small button to click that said "no, use my existing programs to open everything." So I clicked the very small button and lo and behold: My desktop looks just like it did in Windows 7, my photos open with Adobe Photoshop and my music and video is in iTunes. It also gave me the choice to turn off all the notifications to Microsoft and syncing apps and location services, which of course I chose to do. [More...]

Update: Obama knocked it out of the park at the end. So forceful, uplifting, genuine... and Here's Hillary! With Stevie Wonder's "Signed Sealed, Delivered" playing the background, the two of them make an amazing sight. I think Bill Clinton is so overcome with emotion he might cry. What a moment. Just the best. Thank you, President Obama. Welcome, Hillary Clinton. Anyone who doesn't think she will own this election is delusional. Americans are a lot of things, but they are not stupid enough to elect the inexperienced egotist Donald Trump.

Update: It's Obama time. After that horribly weak and depressing introductory video, I hope he reverses the tone and has something inspiring to say.

He does. He calls Hillary the woman who never quits, who is absolutely qualified to be President. He praises and vouches for Tim Kaine.

Best line about Trump: "Don't boo, Vote." Good question he asks: Does anyone believe that someone who never did anything for working people is now going to be your daddy?

Obama says he looks much older now than he did at his first convention 12 years ago. That would be Boston in 2004. Here's a photo I took of him at the Bloggers' Breakfast in Boston at the DNC: [More...]

I just tuned on the TV for the first time today. I caught the last part of Madeline Albright and thought she was terrific. I purposely waited until certain mothers were finished.

Now it's time for Bill Clinton.

"In the spring of 1971, I met a girl."

Bill looks very healthy, rested and tan.

He met Hillary at law school and it took him a few days to talk do anything but stare at her. She finally came up to him and said, "I'm Hillary Rodham, who are you?"

"We've been walking and talking and laughing together ever since." Through good times and bad, joy and heartbreak. "We built up a lifetime of memories."

"Knowing her was one of the greatest gifts Hillary ever gave me." [More....]

Open Thread.

Bill Clinton tonight in the 10 o'clock hour. Also Meryl Streep and Alicia Keys.

At 8 Mothers of the Movement.

I start at the 12 minute mark and drone on for an hour.

.@OMAROSA discusses @HillaryClinton foriegn policy failures @GOP response at @DemConvention #DemsInPhilly pic.twitter.com/q4qLQaPGye

— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) July 26, 2016

"Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding President and I am proud to stand with her tonight. Thank you very much."

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Original Post

Entering to Simon and Garfunkle's "America," Bernie Sanders takes the podium. He looks rested and tan. He looks happy, his young supporters in the audience do not.

Bernie touts Elizabeth Warren and Michelle Obama. He thanks the hundreds of thousands of volunteers in his campaign and his 2 1/2 million campaign supporters. He thanks the 13 million Americans who "voted for the political revolution", which gave him the "1,846 pledged delegates here tonight." He looks forward to their votes at the roll call tomorrow night. (Is he still asking his supporters to vote for him?)[More...]

Update: Michelle Obama looks terrific, that blue is a great color for her and her dress really showcases her super-toned arms.

"I trust Hillary to lead this country because I've seen her devotion to children, not just her own, who she has raised to perfection...Hillary has spent decades doing the relentless work to make a difference in their lives."

"When she didn't win the nomination 8 years ago, she didn't get angry or disillusioned. Hillary didn't pack up and go home."

"Hillary doesn't buckle under pressure." She never takes the easy way out. She doesn't give up.

Really great speech. Bill Clinton, in the audience, was ecstatic. So was the crowd. [More...]

It's Day One of the DNC. Among the prominent speakers tonight are Michelle Obama,Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, will not open the convention (she resigned this weekend.) The opening, at 4pm, will be done by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, secretary of the Democratic National Committee.

The online streaming coverage seems messy, with intrusive comment feeds, live pundit commentary and multiple video frames. The You Tube channel for the DNC is here. [More....]

The DEA and Mexico (at the request of the U.S.) have been trying to find Rafael Caro-Quintero since 2013, when Mexico released him from prison after serving 28 years of a 40 year sentence, following a court decision later reversed.

I doubt they had a clue where he is. And I wonder if they haven't just used an old trick on him: Accuse him of something he hasn't done so he surfaces to make a denial. If so, it worked, because El Proceso will broadcast an interview with Caro Quintero from an undisclosed location today -- his first since his 2013 release from prison. [More...]