Phew! August Almost Done

++As if on clue, the largest BP refinery in the U.S. blew up, reminding us of the Gulf disaster of past summers.

++California remains in the most severe drought condition in its history.

++The U.N. climate change report was leaked before it gets redacted showing that we may have gone beyond the point of no return.

++The Right is screaming that President Obama is moving toward a climate change agreement which will not be a treaty but will shame countries. This is to avoid the necessity of trying to ratify a Treaty, which will never pass.

++Mitch McConnell told the Koch Brothers he will attack the EPA and try and roll back environmental regulations.

++Word has leaked out of the Obama Administration that the President will delay his executive orders on immigration until after the mid-terms.

++Oh, by the way, President Obama worn a tan suit. The last guy who wore a brown suit at a press conference was Ronald Reagan.

++ISIS water boarded their hostages and adopted the Gitmo orange jumpsuits for their prisoners. Could we please release the Torture Report!

++Republican Senate candidates in Colorado,Iowa, and Arkansas praised the Koch Brothers for saving their campaigns.

++13% of the Ferguson Police Department has been investigated for police brutality.

++The audio of the shooting of Michael Brown has been verified. It shows that 10 shoots were fired.

++The St. Louis Police Department is trying to get Michael Brown's juvenile records released. A local paper is trying to get the policeman's juvenile records released.

++Senator Gillibrand said that male Senators have made sexist remarks to her. Of course, the media spin is that she should name them. 

++The Beltway pundits have jumped on President Obama for saying he doesn't have a strategy for fighting ISIS. Diane Feinstein, still pissed that the Administration redacted so much of the torture report, said that President Obama was too hesitant in his response against ISIS. Billy Kristol said that we should just randomly bomb them and see what happens.

++The Washington Post says President Obama should get tougher with Russia and ISIS.

++Henry Kissinger, now in his late 80s, says the world order has collapsed.

Morning Coffee

++Josh Marshall had a good piece yesterday urging "Caution" on the Ukraine. He argued that the Germans are looking at this more from the perspective of a WWI threat than Cold War. They have a point.

++The New Republic has a piece on why conservatives love authoritarian types. They quote George Orwell in his analysis on James Burnham,an early creator of National Review,about Burnham's almost fawning respect for Hitler and Stalin. Burnham also predicted that the West would lose WWII because of its hedonism, a theme that continues today about democracy's weakness.

++Henry Kissinger pontificates on his solution to the Ukrainian issue in today's Washington Post. Henry is more ponderous than Zbig's piece the day before but both aim at a Finland type deal with Ukraine maintaining its independence but with close links to Russia. As Henry points out,the Ukraine is where Russian civilization began.

++Andrew Sullivan Dish continues to provide the latest analyses on the Ukraine situation.

++It's only 10 days until the Crimea votes to become part of Russia--can't wait.

++E.J. Dionne blasts the Obama haters for the situation in the Ukraine but loudly proclaiming that what the US should do is what Obama is doing.

++Meanwhile, Cuba and the EU are going to hammer out a political accord which will also deal with human rights.

++You probably missed President Madura's televised answer to Panamanian artist Ruben Blades, who criticized the situation in Venezuela. Today Madura cut relations with Panama because they are "lackeys of the Yankees." 

++Having survived the AIPAC conference,we now must survive CPAC conference. Today's big subject is how to deny climate change.

++In case you missed it. Hillary Clinton won the Presidency of the United States by saying Putin is like Hitler. Hillary knows how red-baiting always goes over well.

++Miss Lindsey again said--this time on the Senate floor--that Benghazi caused Putin to invade Crimea.

President Obama--Release the 6,000 Senate report on Detention and Torture by the Bush Administration.