The Good Wife returned for a new season Sunday night. I really didn't care for last season but tuned in anyway, expecting to be bored. I'm glad I did. Someone must have slipped some steroids into the writers' morning Wheaties. [More...]

ISIS has just declared the equivalent of World War III. The announcement comes in the form of a long-awaited statement by ISIS official spokesman Shaykh Abū Muhammad al-‘Adnānī ash-Shāmī.

Adnani calls on Muslims everywhere to attack Americans and Europeans wherever they find them. You can find the English version of the ten page statement here. But be forewarned, it's not a pleasant read. [More...]

It's a mess in Yemen. Houthi rebels (who are Shi'ite and a minority) have stormed government headquarters, ministries and TV stations in Sanaa. The Prime Minister of Yemen has resigned.

Last night UN envoy Jamal Benomar had announced a truce with the rebels. It's unclear what that means now, although Yemen's President says the accord will be signed today.

The Houthis are based in the north of Yemen, bordering on Saudi Arabia. As part of their demands, they want Yemen's recent decreases in fuel subsidies rolled back.

The fighting is said to benefit AQAP, which has been attacking Yemen security forces while the Houthis wage their battle. Yemen has also been fighting separatist rebels in the south.

ISIS released 49 hostages Saturday. They are Turkish diplomatic officials, family members and three Iraqi workers who have been held since June when they were seized at the Turkish Embassy in Mosul.

Turkey says no ransom was paid and the rescue was not a military operation. It says it knew where the hostages were kept through electronic tracking and intelligence.

The Turkish General Counsel, one of the hostages, says they were almost killed by U.S. airstrikes, which killed two of their guards outside and wounded some inside. [More...]

ISIS released the full version of its latest propaganda video yesterday, "Flames of War." It's available on You Tube here.[new link] The speaker narrating the video sounds American. This struck me as an (unintentionally) funny line, which they attribute to al Qaida's Abu Musab al Zarqawi:

Our last open thread is full, here's another one, all topics welcome.

The DEA brought a bunch of Afghan police to Quantico to train them. It says it polygraphed them and took their passports. That didn't stop two of them from taking off in Georgetown Saturday.

They have now been found. They will be returned to Afghanistan. There's a suggestion in the article they may have intended to seek asylum and "a better life" here.

It’s not known if Samimi and Ataye intended to seek asylum, but it’s likely they left their supervised group to seek a better life in the United States.

More here.

Scotland voted to stay in the U.K. "With 31 of 32 constituencies declared, unionists had won 55 percent of the vote while separatists were on 45 percent."

The bill to arm and train "moderate" Syrian rebels has now passed in the Senate.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

British reporter John Cantlie was first captured by extremists in Syria in July, 2012. Here he is in a new video, calmly sitting at a table dressed in the tell-tale orange detainee garb, telling the public this is the first of a series of programs from him. There's no man in black, no desert in the background. He says he will expose the truth. He begins by saying the U.K. and U.S.A. are the only countries that refuse to pay ransom demands. He also asks why, after two disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Government is so keen on getting into yet another unwinnable conflict, this time with the Islamic State.

He says, "I know what you're thinking" -- that he's being forced to do this video and there's a gun to his head. He says, it's true, he is a prisoner. But "seeing as I've been abandoned by my government and my fate now lies in the hands of the Islamic state, I've got nothing to lose. Maybe I will live and maybe I will die."

The House voted to train and arm "moderate" Syrian rebels.

Australia carried out big anti-terror raids. Official government statement here. The media says a senior ISIS member, who is Australian, had called for a random public execution via beheading in Sydney.

This is a open thread, all topics welcome.

President Obama addressed the military in Tampa today.

"I want to be clear. The American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission," Obama said.

"We will train and equip our partners. We will advise them and we will assist them. We will lead a broad coalition of countries who have a stake in this fight."

Also today, Iraqi Prime Minister Abadi ruled out foreign ground troops in Iraq. [More...]

The iPhone 6 will be in stores on Friday. You can also preorder. It comes in two sizes. You can compare models here. If you are conflicted about which one to buy, read this. And if you currently have a grandfathered-in unlimited data plan, make sure it's still available if you buy a new phone. I'm going to take a pass for now since Apple gave me a new iPhone 5S for free 2 weeks ago when mine died. I also think it's too big.

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

At a congressional hearing today, General Martin Dempsey would not rule out sending ground troops to Iraq.

“My view at this point is that this coalition is the appropriate way forward. I believe that will prove true,” he said. “But if it fails to be true, and if there are threats to the United States, then I of course would go back to the president and make a recommendation that may include the use of U.S. military ground forces.”

The plan so far, according to Dempsey and Secretary Hagel: [More...]