The U.S. raided an Islamic State prison in Iraq to free hostages. Most of those jailed were locals, some are said to be ISIS members suspected of being spies. About 20 of them were Iraqi security forces.

One U.S. Special Forces member was killed.

The raid was led by Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

Joe Biden announced he will not run for President.

He made the right decision.

I wonder what job Hillary will give him if she's elected.

Senate Democrats blocked the Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act yesterday by a vote of 54 to 45. Republicans needed 60 votes to keep the bill, introduced by Vitter of Louisiana, moving forward.

The bill would have stopped some law enforcement funding and community development grants to states and cities that don’t hold immigrants for federal immigration officials.

The bill would have also mandated a five- to 10-year minimum prison sentence for a person convicted of a felony or drug-related misdemeanors who reenters the United States illegally.

[More...]

Just say no, Joe. (more here.)

Joe Biden has been the nation's #1 crime-warrior and police supporter for his entire career, authoring or shepherding through Congress almost every bad crime bill of the last 25 years.

He will be 76 years old when he takes office, should he be elected, meaning in all probability, he'd be a one term president, putting the Democrats at greater risk in 2020. He's also politically tone-deaf, which is why his prior campaigns never took off.

I wouldn't vote for Joe Biden any more than I'd vote for Rudy Giuliani. He's tried twice before. If anyone should understand "three strikes you're out", it's Biden. He should retire and write his memoirs.

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

On October 7, 2015, Trey Gowdy sent a public letter to Rep Elijah Cummings that made the false accusation that:

In addition to Sidney Blumenthal's business interests, Secretary Clinton also apparently received classified infonnation from Blumenthal-information she should have known was classified at the time she received it. In one email, Blumenthal writes "Tyler spoke to a colleague currently at CIA, who told him the agency had been dependent for intelligence from [redacted due to sources and methods] ." This information, the name of a human source, is some of the most protected information in our intelligence community, the release of which could jeopardize not only national security but also human lives. Armed with that information, Secretary Clinton forwarded the email to a colleague-debunking her claim that she never sent any classified information from her private email address.49 There may be other instances as well where Secretary Clinton passed on classified information she received from Sidney Blumenthal. [My emphasis]

Yesterday, the CIA confirmed that Gowdy lied:

[A]ccording to committee correspondence reviewed by Newsweek, the CIA did tell the [Benghazi] panel on Saturday that it had reviewed 127 emails between Clinton and her close friend and outside adviser, Sidney Blumenthal, and none of it was deemed classified. “The CIA reviewed the material in question and informed State that it required no redactions,” the agency informed Susan Sachsman Grooms, staff director and general counsel for the panel’s Democrats, on October 17. [My emphasis]

This is a scandal and a disgrace.

After much bluster and obfuscation, Rep Trey Gowdy admits he altered the documents that he used to make false claims against Hillary Clinton in a response to a letter from Rep Elijah Cummings. The key parts:

[M]y understanding is the CIA advised the Committee in a very brief email late Saturday night that it had reviewed the material in question and asked for no material to be redacted [. . . ]

Our Committee has access to career civil servants, former federal prosecutors, former intelligence experts as well as military experts who are uniquely well suited to gauge intelligence information and how it should be handled. Although the Executive Branch is ultimately responsible for classification, we remain concerned with the naming of sources and methods and will continue to protect that information now and going forward where it is readily apparent to us. As such, we will continue to redact certain information to protect sensitive information regardless of how others treat that information [...] [My emphasis.]

Gowdy admits that he decided to make this improper redaction. That he attempts to obfuscate the point by stating the "Executive" branch, AFTER Gowdy appointed himself as arbiter of classification, asked for the redaction on PRIVACY grounds, something Cummings himself stated in his letter, does not obviate the fact that Gowdy purposefully altered a document in order to falsely accuse Clinton of wrongdoing.

It is a scandal. Will anyone in the Media care?

Gowdy fabricated redactions on to Clinton's email to make it look like she'd outed a spy. http://t.co/zxY5v90ya2 pic.twitter.com/QV6AAHhb26

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) October 18, 2015

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland), the ranking member of the eGhazi committee,, makes a startling charge against Rep. Trey Gowdy, the Chairman of the eGazi committee:

The U.S. is still using electronic surveillance to locate Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Last week, intercepted cell phone signals or satellite communications (take your pick) led them to believe he was in the "Golden Triangle", the region shared by Chihuahua, Sinaloa and Durango. The U.S. passed the info on to Mexico's Navy, which launched a search operation. It came up empty, finding only some clothes and discarded cell phones and other objects.

The Mexican government today released a statement confirming the unsuccessful search operation. It says El Chapo was injured in fleeing from the site of the raid, but not by direct confrontation. [More...]

After my historic debacle last week, I've had to mortgage the house, break my 401(K), sell my stocks and break my piggy bank. But hope springs eternal and really, do my daughters REALLY need to go to college? The picks, with a little bit of analysis of the 4 biggest games:

Michigan (-7) over Michigan State. There was never a doubt, not even a little bit, that Harbaugh would have Michigan back on top. The surprise is that he's doing it this fast. Michigan' talent level is not as good as the other major powers, though it probably is equal to Michigan State's (certainly not Ohio State.) But Michigan a 7 point favorite over MSU? Feels like too much in a rivalry game. But Sagarin rates Michigna 18 points better than MSU. And the game is in Ann Arbor. Can't ignore the numbers.

Alabama (-4) 4 units over Texas A&M. Every year people stat the season remembering how good Saban is. Then he has an early struggle or loss an they seem to forget. Bama always improves a lot during the season. They are doing so now. Yes the game is in College Station but by November this game would have a double digit line. Good opportunity here imo.

LSU -7 over Florida. Obviously I'm rooting for a different result. But this is a tough matchup for Florida who can;t match LSU's depth. A Saturday night in Baton Rouge is almost impossible when you have the better team. Here Florid probably does not. Even with Will Grier at QB (he's suspended for the season), probably would not. I expect good things from Treon Harris, Florida's replacement for Grier - he has the experiene and the talent to do well. But Heisman winner to be Leonard Fournette wil b too much for my Gators.

But Go Gators!

More on the flip,

Photo by Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News

Housing Secretary Julian Castro endorsed Hillary Clinton today. They spoke at joint rally in San Antonio to enthusiastic crowds.

Hillary and Castro have been building ties for a while now. He's often been mentioned as a potential VP choice for her. At the 2012 Democratic Convention, he spoke the same night as Michelle Obama -- I thought: "Michelle Obama was good but hands down, the star of the night was Julian Castro.

Definitely a winning combination in my book.

Open Thread.

(Update (Jeralyn): I am still dealing with Comcast problems. Seven days and they still can't figure out how to connect my phones and keep my internet going. A tech is here now. I will post later, assuming I still have internet.)