Well Hell's bells, or in Steven Tyler's words (on another topic), “Sh*t fire and save matches, f*ck a duck and see what hatches.” Bernie Sanders is going to endorse Hillary on Tuesday.

Nap time. No profanity in comments please. Asterisks are okay.

Our last open thread is full. Here's a new one, all topics welcome.

ISIS has released a 15 minute English video outlining the structure of the Kalifah, from al-Baghdadi at the top, on down. It explains the hierarchy. I was going to link to it but the last minute or so is very graphically violent (things like beheadings with blood spurting from necks) so I won't.

Analyst and collector of ISIS official documents Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi has this analysis.

This video tells the viewer ISIS as a governing state continues to exist and is expanding. There's a central committee under al Baghdadi. The central committee is in charge of the Wilayats (provinces.) There are presently 35 Wilayats, 19 in Iraq and Syria and 16 elsewhere. [More...]

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome. Keep it civil and free of potentially libelous comments please.

Bob Corker has withdrawn his name from consideration as Donald Trump's running mate. Newt Gingrich is up next, appearing with Thump in Ohio today.

Newt: The man who wanted to put a contract on America as speaker of the House in 1995:

The Republican version of a crime bill in 1995 was even worse. It was called the "Take Back Our Streets Act" which was part of Newt Gingrich's Contract on America (he called it "Contract With America.")

[More...]

Oscar Pistorius is back in jail today, sentenced to 6 years following last month's re-sentencing hearing which was the result of the state winning an appeal over the judge's decision to toss the murder charge.

The judge said there were mitigating factors and rejected a prosecution request for a 15 year sentence. He will be eligible for parole in 3 years.

One mitigating factor:

Mr. Pistorius, the judge said, had shown genuine remorse in trying, repeatedly and unsuccessfully, to apologize in person to the victim’s parents.

There were others, and the Judge recognized that a long term of imprisonment would not be in the best interests of justice. [More...]

The FBI put an end to speculation that Hillary Clinton will face charges for her use of a private email server. Director James Comey said today at a press conference that no reasonable prosecutor would file charges. He said there was no evidence she intended to send or receive classified emails. The FBI press release is here.

Even Bernie Sanders knew the email issue wasn't worth the hype. But it's good that they made the announcement before the convention. [More....]

Another 4th of July weekend comes to a close. Fireworks here are about to begin (it's not quite dark at 8:00 pm.)

Some thoughts on freedom:

For me, I keep seeing our freedom slip away. As in 2011, the holiday rings a little hollow to me this year.

In TV news, a new female character is introduced tonight on Senor de los Cielos (which has only two weeks left.) She is Emiliana Contreras, the daughter of one of Aurelio's rivals, Lencho Contreras, one of the "old guard" narcos who ended up in prison supposedly because of Aurelio. Her role is to get Aurelio to fall in love with her and then take him down. [More...]

I have always been fascinated by the story of the Princess and the DEA. My computer is filled with thousands of pages I downloaded from PACER in her civil lawsuit against the DEA in the Federal Court of Claims: Case No. 97-cv-00579-MCW. In this overly long post about the DEA and money laundering stings, at the very end I wrote:

I hope the Princess gets $10 million or more from the Government for what the DEA did in her case. Her expert witness, former DEA Agent Michael Levine, filed an 861 page report (97-cv-00579-MCW, Document 196, Filed 05/31/11). I''m surprised there hasn't been a made for TV movie of the case yet. It's filled with tales of informant and agent-induced money laundering schemes,cops picking up money and sending it around the world, kidnappings, agents breaking rules and even stealing the traffickers' money, and corrupt foreign officials.

Now there's a book out about her case. It's called Snatched: How the DEA Got a Cartel Queen to Flip by Bruce Porter, the author of "Blow," which became a hit movie. The Daily Beast published an excerpt this week. The Daily News recaps the story here, along with photos of the Princess and some others. [More...]

There are several interesting articles on ISIS this week. Here are two so far:

• Turkey Did Nothing About Jihadists... Until It Was Too Late

• The Messaging and Concepts Behind Islamic State Execution Propaganda

ISIS has taken credit for the attack at the Holy Artisan Bakery in Dhaka, Bangladesh in which 28 people were killed, many of whom were foreigners.

At least three of the attackers attended a private English immersion school in Dhaka. They have been identified as Rohan Imtiaz, Shameem Mubasher, and Nibras Islam. According to witnesses, the attackers gave the people in the restaurant a test:[More...]

Enjoy the weekend.