Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed a new Indictment against Donald Trump in the January 6 case in the District of Columbia. (available here).

The charges are the same. But to comply with the recent Supreme Court decision saying his presidential acts were immune, the government changed the roles of those involved, and the wording and facts are different. The Indictment doesn't refer to acts while he was in the oval office, and instead uses his acts while he was just a candidate.

While prosecutors did not drop the four initial charges from the new indictment, they added more language that describes Trump as a "candidate," and not president, while describing others as "acting in their private capacity" and not "government officials."

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Kamala Harris will accept the nomination tonight. She'll be her own best champion. I'm already on board.

Update: Kamala Harris nailed it. She took on unity, the border, the Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, respect for our military, Nato, Iran, individual freedom, the housing shortage and everything else in the kitchen sink. She called out Trump (no need to rehash that). Her delivery was impeccable: passionate, measured, joyous with a "but don't cross me" undertone.

A transcript of her speech is here.[More...]

I tuned in too late for Bill Clinton (and will watch later) but after several subsequent speeches I did hear and was not impressed by, on comes Oprah Winfrey. Okay, she is a professional entertainer. And only a few of these speakers write their own speeches. But wow, Oprah just knocked their socks off. Kamala should make her Secretary of State.

The only thing Oprah forgot was to credit Bon Jovi for her opening line, "Who Said You Can't Go Home"?

It was Oprah who impressed me the most towards the end of Hillary's campaign, when she came out and mocked people who didn't want to vote for her because they said they didn't like her. Her retort: "You don't have to like her. She's not coming to your house for dinner". (Video here)

Some of the unimpressive speakers: Kamala Harris' very handsome brother-in-law. Maybe it's his background in the Department of Justice. But he came out with an example of Kamala, as a prosecutor, working over a weekend to get a judge to let a woman who she believed to be innocent out on bail, because she wondered, who would feed her children if she spent the weekend in jail. He said, "That's Kamala, standing for justice" or something like that.

Look, Kamala is a career prosecutor. She didn't become one to change the system and reform it for people of color or lesser economic means.

Listening to the next speaker was a head-shaking contrast. It is hard for me to believe this speaker is an elected Democratic Senator. I never heard of her before. And I will mute her from now on should she appear on my screen again. [More...]

Newsflash, read all about it at the Orange County (California) Republican Party's website. Donald Trump is coming to Aspen for dinner this Saturday at an as-yet unpublished location to raise money for his campaign. The event is a joint project of 48 state Republican parties (Colorado is not even one of them).

I know it's hard to believe, but the cost of serving as a dinner "host" is $500,000 per couple, which can either be a direct donation of funds or raising that amount from others. So far, 8 individuals/couples have signed on as hosts. [More...]

It's official. Democratic nominee for President Kamala Harris has announced on Instagram that she has selected MN Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate. (Instagram? seriously? Yes. I guess it's how you reach people in their 20's in hopes of getting them to support the addition of a 60 year old white male on ticket).

Why Walz over PA Governor Josh Shapiro? Is it because Shapiro, like Harris' husband, is Jewish and supports Israel? How did Walz even get on Harris' radar so quickly? [More...]

Here is a list of the 24 prisoners released from prison in a multi-country swap today with Russia. The swap occurred at Ankara, Turkey.

Three of the released prisoners are from the U.S, including Wall St. Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American editor for Radio Free Europe, and Paul Wheeler, a former marine who had traveled to Russia to attend a wedding.

Who did the U.S. swap in exchange? [More...]

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

I've mostly been following the arrests of El Mayo (Ismael Zambada-Garcia) and El Chapo's Son #3, Joaquin Guzman-Lopez. So far it seems the competing versions of how the pair came to end up in U.S. custody have some truthful details and some inconsistent or implausible details. Too many cooks spoil the broth. (Or, in this case, it's too many unidentified sous-chefs, most of whom are unnamed agents of non-identified government agencies and unnamed current or former cartel members, talking to their favorite journalists). The U.S. Government does not seem inclined at this point to deconstruct the mess for us.

Also of interest: The killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. [More...]

Joe Biden has dropped out of the presidential race. He's endorsing Kamala Harris. I'm endorsing Kamala Harris. Anyone who wants a President who doesn't act like he just popped out of a Cracker Jack box should do the same.

From his announcement:

My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.

Run Lola Kamala, Run. You can do this. [More...]

America, it is our choice. Authoritarianism and Xenophobia vs. our representative democracy.

Let's not throw away the last 200 years. Please reject the Manichean, extremist, right-wing ticket.

A 20 year-old named Crooks used his father's semi-automatic weapon to take a sniper shot at Donald Trump at a rally last night.

I'm not going to say "too bad he missed" but I wonder what percentage of the public is thinking that today. (In fairness, the shot grazed his ear and a little trickle of blood was seen.)

Interesting that Trump's comments on his website today were all about "the almighty" saving him. Maybe he has found religion and "the almighty" will tell him next that he's better off making money during these last few productive years of his life than he is having a desk in the oval office with nothing to do but twiddle his small thumbs since leaders of countries all over the world think he's a dangerous cartoon of a leader. On the news this morning, one anchor said other countries are "already preparing" for his ascendancy by making self-protecting plans.

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

I'll be watching and I hope some of you will join me.

When it's over, we can discuss: Where can we go to find America?

Updates with my comments below. Shorter version: It was a disappointing performance by Biden due to his low energy and weak, very low voice, but Trump was an energizer bunny of lies.

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