Obama today authorizes the first boots on the ground in Syria. The White House still claims they won't be in a combat role.

On CNN today, a Republican called that distinction false, saying the dividing line is whether our troops will be in harm's way and because these troops will be battling ISIS, they will be in harm's way and there will be casualties. At least some Democrats are voicing disapproval. [More...]

[Lou Reed, Nico and the Velvet Underground, 1966.)

The New York Times: Parents of heroin addicts are urging a kindler, gentler drug war.

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

Hillary Clinton today espoused her views on the death penalty.

"I think that we have a lot of evidence now that the death penalty has been too frequently applied and very unfortunately in a discriminatory way," Clinton said at Saint Anselm's College. "So I think we have to take a hard look at it and a lot of states are doing that."

Clinton said that the United State needs to be "smarter and more careful" about how the death penalty is applied, but that in some "egregious" cases, capital punishment is still needed.

"I do not favor abolishing it, however," Clinton said, arguing that it should be used in "very limited and rare" instances.

How about a moratorium then, until the system is fixed? Is it more important to kill an egregious offender or not to kill someone who was unfairly sentenced to death on the basis of race?

Boulder, CO will host tonight's Republican debate.

Trump is slipping, Carson is gaining, and Jeb Bush still has no momentum.

Here are the issues the debate will focus on.

President Obama's advisers are promoting the greater use of special forces and stepping up air fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

The debate over the proposed steps, which would for the first time position a limited number of Special Operations forces on the ground in Syria and put U.S. advisers closer to the firefights in Iraq, comes as Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter presses the military to deliver new options for greater military involvement in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

Apparently, the Pentagon agrees we've hit a "stalemate" in the battle against ISIS. [More...]

Another beautiful day in Colorado, here's the western view from my balcony. (larger version here and here.)

[More...]

Tonight is the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Iowa. There are 100 days left before the Iowa caucuses.

Hillary is on now. You can watch here. She is all fired up.

"Republicans say I'm playing the gender card. Well if talking about equal pay, paid, family leave, affordable child care and women's health is playing the gender card, deal me in."

Long time terror defendant James Ujaama was finally sentenced yesterday. For his cooperation, he received a sentence of time served.

I've been writing about him since his arrest in 2002. He was initially arrested in Denver as a material witness in a case in Virginia, and then charged in federal court in Washington with trying to set up an al Qaida traing camp in Bly, Oregon. (The terror camp that never was.) After being detained in Seattle, he agreed to cooperate and pleaded guilty in exchange for a 2 year sentence. But he fled to Belize before sentencing, probably to avoid having to testify against Abu Hamza, the AQ Sheikh with one eye and hooks for hands, or as he later testified in 2009, because he was no longer trusted and didn't fit in. [More...]

Mexico's Attorney General this week announced the arrest of six people (and a few more with arrest warrants who are not yet caught) who helped Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman escape from Altiplano prison in July. She didn't name them but their names are available on Mexican news sites. (More here and here.)

Several were arrested in July and August -- in other words, not all are new arrests, just newly disclosed arrests. So who are they? See below: [More...]

A flat tire and the dentist, all in one day.

I'm working on an El Chapo post, here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

I listened to an hour or so of the 9 hour hearing on Benghazi today. Republicans failed to land any punches. And Hillary sounded just like she intended: calm and in control. Bottom line: She got a free 9 hours of air time to tout her knowledge of foreign affairs and show she's the most presidential of all the candidates.