Ohio Death Row Inmate Billy Slagle committed suicide on in the early morning hours of August 4, three days before his scheduled execution. An official "after action review report" publicly released yesterday finds the guards did not make their required rounds every 30 minutes as required and that the electronic logs about one guard's rounds that evening were falsified. Videos show the actual time the rounds occurred.

According to the review, DRC officer John McCollister, 30, falsely indicated on the prison's electronic log that Slagle's death row cell was checked consistently in 30-minute intervals, as required by the DRC, during the overnight shift.

The log shows rounds were conducted in the required intervals beginning at 10 p.m. Aug. 3 – when the shift began -- until about 5 a.m. Aug. 4, when Slagle's body was found hanging in the cell. The DRC review states that corrections officer Clay Putnam, 19, conducted the shift's first check on Slagle's cell at 11:20 p.m. and that he completed rounds once every hour beginning just after 2 a.m.

The actual report is available here. It concludes: [More...]

Police have identified Aaron Alexis, a 34 year old from Texas, as the Navy Yard shooter. 13 people are dead, including Alexis.

Aaron Alexis, a native of New York, who served in the Navy from 2007 to 2011 as an aviation electrician’s mate 3rd class, allegedly entered the base early Monday morning, perhaps using another man’s identification card to pass through the gates.

....From 2008 until his discharge in 2011, Alexis was a member of an aviation support squadron based in Fort Worth, Texas, where he worked on C-40s, a military version of the Boeing 737 that the Navy uses as a cargo plane. Law enforcement officials said that he was more recently working as a military contractor.

He was born in Queens, NY. Authorities say he used another employee's ID to enter the yard. But they don't believe that employee was involved. His motive is unknown.

It's still raining hard here in Colorado. Latest numbers: 19,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed, 11,700 people have been evacuated and 1,200 people are unaccounted for.

It looks like Bob Dylan has joined the copyright crowd -- There are very few live performances still on You Tube. I couldn't find a good one for Shelter From the Storm, so here's one from somewhere with a nice rainy graphic of NYC and with good sound. If you move your mouse or pointer past the right border, the distracting social media links go away.

Shelter from the Storm - Hurricane Irene New York City

[More...]

The picks: Vanderbilt +14 Competitor: South Carolina; Alabama -8½ Competitor: Texas A&M (3 units); Oklahoma -24 Competitor: Tulsa; UCLA +3 Competitor: Nebraska; Georgia Tech -9 Competitor: Duke Mississippi State +6 Competitor: Auburn, Army +30 Competitor: Stanford; Utah -3 Competitor: Oregon State; Purdue +19 Competitor: Notre Dame; Kentucky +15 Competitor: Louisville; Oregon -28 Competitor: Tennessee (3 units); Bowling Green +3 Competitor: Indiana; Washington -10 Competitor: Illinois; Mississippi +3 Competitor: Texas.

Open thread.

Below, John Amato of Crooks and Liars and I talking sports and various sundry things. Also to be broadcast on Netroots Radio tomorrow morning at 9 am EST (noon PST):

Saturday College Football Open Thread tomorrow morning.

Open Thread.

The rains are expected to continue. Denver was spared for the most part, but Boulder, Lyons, Estes Park, Fort Collins, and some areas of Jefferson County are a mess. And we're not out of the woods. The latest alert has lots of counties including Denver under a flash flood warning until tomorrow morning.

Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Gilpin, Jefferson, Larimer, Park, Weld

Live Boulder Press Conference (4:00 pm MT): Boulder is reminding people to stay out of the water -- it's filled with sewage. Evacuation orders are not being lifted because more rain is on the way. 80 people are unaccounted for, and another death was confirmed today. For those with flooded basements, the city can't help, they need to call a recovery company. Here's how to find a reputable one. [More...]

Al Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri yesterday called for more lone wolf and other small scale attacks against the U.S. His reasoning is that even small attacks cause us to overreact with security, which is expensive and contributes to diminishing our economy.

In an audio speech released online a day after the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 strikes, Zawahri said attacks "by one brother or a few of the brothers" would weaken the U.S. economy by triggering big spending on security, SITE reported.

..."We should bleed America economically by provoking it to continue in its massive expenditure on its security, for the weak point of America is its economy, which has already begun to stagger due to the military and security expenditure," he said.

He also wants to see big strikes -- the kind that that take ten years to plan -- against the U.S.

Somewhere between where I parked my car at the courthouse and the courtroom today, I dropped my wallet with all my credit cards. Since I keep my ID in a separate card folder, I had no idea it was missing. When I got to my office after court to get the mail, the receptionist handed me my wallet and said a man in a sports coat dropped it off and didn't leave his name.

On a blustery, rainy day, this person drove or walked a half mile from federal court to my office to return a wallet I had no idea was missing. What an incredibly nice thing to do.

Since I have no idea who he is, all I can do is thank him here and hope he sees it. Thanks, stranger!

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Open thread.

Update: The voters of El Paso and Pueblo have spoken. Senate President John Morse and Senator Angela Giron are out. They will both be replaced by Republicans.

Today was voting day on the efforts to recall two Colorado legislators over their support for new gun control laws.

For Senate President John Morse: El Paso County Clerk and Recorder live update results here. For State Senator Angela Giron: Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder live update of Senate District 3 results here. [More...]

President Obama is about to address the nation on Syria. Here's a thread to discuss.

Update: Shorter version is Obama is asking Congress to delay a vote.

Obama lays out the evidence Assad's regime used chemical weapons. He says if we don't act, Assad will not hesitate to do it again. Other dictators will try to obtain chemical weapons, as will terrorist groups. Turkey Jordan and Israel are at risk.

He determined in the national security interest of the U.S. to respond by a targeted military strike. He knows it won't be popular, after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The purpose is deterring and degrading Assad's chemical capability.

Even though he has the authority to order the strike himself, he took the debate to Congress. [More...]

Now that the entire world is following my advice on Syria, my work is done. (snark) Here is an open thread to comment on that and other important issues, like how the Oregon Ducks beat the Washington Redskins last night.

Open thread.