This version is set to a compelling series of images from the protests and response of the National Guard at Kent State in 1969.

Things haven't changed. They've gotten worse. Radley Balko, author of “Overkill: The Rise of the Warrior Cop:The Militarization of America's Police Forces" testified before Congress in 2007 that swat team raids were up 1500% in the past two decades. [More...]

The Washington Post reports Hillary and Bill Clinton have been cozying up with former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro, giving rise to speculation she might tab him as her running mate.

Castro has been a nationally rising star since the 2012 Democratic Convention. (I wrote at the time, "Michelle Obama was good, but hands down, the star of the night was Julian Castro.) In May, Obama nominated him as Secretary of HUD. He will be sworn in on Monday. His twin brother Joaquin is a Texas congressman.

In response to U.S. air strikes in Iraq, AQAP (al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula) has reportedly issued a statement supporting ISIS and blasting America and Obama, and urging attacks on the U.S.

The statement is titled "In the name of G-d the merciful. Subject: Statement on the US bombing on Iraq."here. It was issued by al Aswirti Media and posted on justpaste.it. You can use Google Translate or Bing Translator to translate (very rough translation, but it's enough to make out the important parts.)

ISIS has still not threatened to attack the U.S. It remains focused on building its Caliphate state in Iraq and Syria, and then in the other Muslim countries in the region. It does not control AQAP. Nor does it control its fanboys sitting behind computers in other countries who post threats to the U.S. [More...]

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has agreed to leave office.

Maliki ended eight years of often divisive, sectarian rule and endorsed fellow Shi'ite Haider al-Abadi in a televised speech during which he stood next to his successor. Earlier, a leading figure in the Sunni minority told Reuters he had been promised U.S. help to fight the Islamic State militants.

Ahmed Khalaf al-Dulaimi, the Governor of the Anbar province, told Reuters that the U.S. promised air support for its fight against militants.

"Our first goal is the air support. Their technology capability will offer a lot of intelligence information and monitoring of the desert and many things which we are in need of.

"No date was decided but it will be very soon and there will be a presence for the Americans in the western area."

The White House has not confirmed his statements, which were part of conversations he had with diplomats and a Pentagon official. [More...]

Time for an open thread, all topics welcome, including TV (as a commenter requested earlier.) Since I've only been watching Senor de Los Cielos this summer, I'm not going to be much help leading that discussion.

Twitter is still zapping the ISIS province accounts, preventing everyone from monitoring their actions. These are the symbols to look for when they come back up, but watch out for imposter accounts.

Here is the transcript of President Obama's remarks today on the Yazidis, ISIS and Ferguson.

He said air strikes would continue in Iraq, but maintains there will be no boots on the ground.

Wherever we have capabilities and we can carry out effective missions like the one we carried out on Mount Sinjar without committing combat troops on the ground, we obviously feel a great urge to provide some humanitarian relief to the situation.

On Ferguson, he said the FBI will investigate the death of Michael Brown. As to last night's violence, he said while there are differing accounts: [More...]

Police fired tear gas, smoke bombs and rubber bullets in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri.

The situation became more tense after nightfall, with police ordering people to go home and then using smoke bombs and later tear gas after some people threw Molotov cocktails and other things at them.

Here's an AP photo. Here's a live-streamed video of the lead up to the police actions and the aftermath. From the video, it was the police who advanced first, on a crowd that seems peaceful, and had their hands in the air while they chanted "Hands up, don't shoot."

Not on the video, there is a photo of some protesters trying to light a molotov cocktail (unsuccessfully, according to the caption) and another of a protester throwing a burning tear gas canister back at police (In other words, the police threw first.)Here's a photo of an empty tear gas canister picked up at the scene. [More....]

Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, says the new military advisers who went to Sinjar have found the crisis is over. Military assistance (as opposed to humanitarian assistance) is not needed.

The Obama administration has ruled out for now a risky US military mission to rescue thousands of Iraqis stranded on a northern Iraqi mountain, declaring a siege by Islamist extremists to be over. ...Kirby said in a statement that the team on Mount Sinjar found a situation less dire than the administration and international organizations initially thought when the US sent its warplanes back to Iraq for the first time since 2011.

The Denver Post today has a detailed profile of Senior District Court Judge John Kane, who is well-known for challenging authority.

As a boy growing up in Depression-era Denver,John Kane learned to identify with those on the fringes of society, the powerless, those who were forced to sit in the balcony at movie theaters. He also learned to challenge authority — a skill he embraces with gusto as a federal judge.

Judge Kane was our first public defender in 1964. He served as a Deputy Director in the Peace Corps. He was appointed to the federal bench by President Carter in 1977. He's been an outspoken critic of the war on drugs for decades and of the draconian child p*rn sentencing guidelines. Most recently, he's been in the news for his decisive and much heralded rulings in inmate Jamal Hunter's abuse lawsuit against Denver sheriffs at the Denver County Jail. [More...]

Update: CENTCOM says the U.S. today struck an ISIS convoy west of Sinjar using a remotely piloted aircraft. This new Guardian op-ed explains why military intervention by the U.S. is the wrong answer.

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Deputy national security adviser Benjamin J. Rhodes, speaking from Martha's Vineyard today, said Obama will consider proposals to use ground troops to save the Yazidis. He also said the U.S. would not use ground troops in combat in Iraq.

ISIS meanwhile marches on.[More...]

Colorado is spending $2 million on a campaign called "Don't Be a Lab Rat" to warn teens about possible brain damage from marijuana. As part of the campaign, life size rat cages have been set up at the Denver Public Library and Denver Skate Park (Photo via CBS Denver.) More are planned. The cage at the skateboard park has already been defaced. [More...]

Update 8/12: A new detailed statement from the Marin County Sheriff's on Robin Williams death. Really sad.

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As Howard Cossell would say, "An unspeakable tragedy tonight in Tiberon, CA." Robin Williams, who struggled so hard against depression, lost the battle and took his own life today at age 63. The Marin County Sheriff's office has issued a release:

At this time, the Sheriff's Office Coroner Division suspects the death to be a suicide due to asphyxia, but a comprehensive investigation must be completed before a final determination is made. A forensic examination is currently scheduled for August 12, 2014 with subsequent toxicology testing to be conducted.

Depression kills. Our condolences to his family and everyone who knew and loved him.

There aren't many people who could dislodge Iraq and ISIS from all three major cable news networks, for over an hour, and Robin Williams is clearly one of them. R.I.P. Robin, and thank you for sharing your talent and generosity will so many millions of people. You will be missed.