It's dinnertime here -- and then there's the finale of Big Brother and first episode of a new season of Survivor. I'm already missing Senor de Los Cielos and it only ended two days ago. A new narco drama is now airing on Telemundo, Senora Acero (review here), but it was so over the top violent, I doubt I'll keep watching. It's about a simple caring young mother who marries a drug dealer. He gets killed on their wedding night. She goes on to become the biggest drug lord in Mexico. Or something like that (It's in Spanish, and while there are subtitles using an antenna instead of cable, I haven't seen a detailed English plot summary.) In the first episode last night, the bride was kidnapped by black clad killers who descended on her wedding and looked just like ISIS -- it was very jolting to watch. [More...]

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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:

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Long day, just getting home. I'm going to catch up with ISIS and other news.

DWTS has a new season tonight. Tommy Chong is one of the new contestants. This interview with him about the show and pot is pretty funny. (Added: I just saw Tommy dance, he was great. And Cheech driving the car was a great touch. The show is not shying away from his marijuana activism, which is great. He says in the interview he is going to dress in green most of the season. Medical marijuana couldn't have a better placed spokesman.) What happened to Julianne Hough? She's now a judge and looks like Harriet in Ozzie and Harriet. I don't know most of these contestants -- Some lady in red did her dance and then argued with the judges about her performance. She's going to be a pain. Betsy Johnson is a character, I wonder if they added her for comic value alone. She look s like a rag doll. On the other hand, being able to do a cartwheel and a twist at her age is no small feat. I'm surprised she got 5's. Her dancing was about a 2. The young dancer from Duck Dynasty talks like she has marbles in her mouth but what a great dancer.

Update: Anyone see Barbara Streisand on The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon? What an icon. You can watch her sing here.

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I'm off to watch Senor de Los Cielos -- its ending next week, and will leave a big hole in my TV watching. It's as violent as ISIS, complete with decapitations, hand chopping, forced sex, kidnappings, torture, poisoning, murders of mothers, governors, children of rivals, even a priest. Everyone's corrupt, even the DEA guy. Who watches? Apparently millions of people, it's been renewed for a third season.

I think I'm ISIS'd out for a while, at least until they announce the name of the mysterious black-clad executioner. I'm also going to follow the Oscar Pistorius verdict. For other topics, here's a new open thread.

I've got a busy day at work and our old open thread is full. Here's a new one, all topics open.

I'm still following the ISIS news. For those of you who aren't, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Your turn. This is an open thread, all topics welcome.