UNCONVENTIONAL:  The Democratic National Convention opens today with Vice President Kamala Harris giving Donald Trump fits in the polls.

  The Latest NY Times Sienna College poll has Harris leading Trump 49 to 47 percent in a head-on national race. That same poll also has Harris leading 49 to 47 in Wisconsin and Michigan, both critical states.

  In Pennsylvania, Times/Siena has Harris up by a narrower 49 to 48 percent, within the margin for error. Arizona appears to be in play with the two candidates tied at 47 percent.

  Both CBS and ABC News polls have Harris leading by significant margins. Both polls say that in a multi-candidate race, Trump falls further.

  The word among the talking heads is that Harris is famous yet unknown to the public and needs to have them get to know her during the convetion.

  Harris on Friday laid out aggressive plans for the economy, criticized even by some Democrats as “wishful thinking” and by former President Trump as “communist.”

  Instead of challenging Harris on issues, Trump is keeping it personally insulting. Here’s a montage of things Trump said over the weekend: “Joe Biden hates her … This was an overthrow of a president … Have you heard her laugh? That is the laugh of a crazy person! It’s the laugh of a lunatic … As soon as she laughs, the election’s over … I say that I’m a better looking person. I’m a better looking person than Kamala.” 

  Interestingly, a Washington Post poll says 57 percent of voters view Trump unfavorably “as a person.”

  President Biden speaks tonight making the official handover of the candidacy to Harris. Expect him to be graceful and enthusiastic, masking what may be some lingering bitterness over being pushed aside by his party.

  Also speaking tonight, Dr. Jill Biden and Hillary Clinton. Later in the week, former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. One surprise on the schedule is former Republican Rep. Adam Kinziger, who was voted out after opposing Trump. He speaks Thursday before Kamala Harris.

  Outside the United Center, where the convention is being held, tens of thousands of protesters are expected, many of them anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian. The Gaza war is a divisive issue for the Democrats and the protesters are expected to be impassioned, to say the least. Hundreds of protesters already marched yesterday. Everyone recalls that when Chicago hosted the 1968 Democratic convention in the midst of the Vietnam war, the protesters had their own little war with the Chicago cops. 

THE WAR ROOM: Ukrainian forces have blown up two vital bridges in the Kursk region as the Ukrainians strengthen their hold on about 400 square miles of Russian territory. Russia has been sending forces north to block and try to repel the Ukrainians while also taking more Ukrainian ground in the south.

  Robyn Dixon writes in an opinion piece for The Washington Post that, “Faced with crisis, Vladimir Putin tends to freeze,” and that, “Moscow’s slow, fumbling military response to Ukraine’s surprise occupation of parts of the western Kursk region is the latest example of the Kremlin chief failing to respond with quick, decisive action to match his bellicose rhetoric.”

  The Institute for the Study of War says that, “Both Russian and Ukrainian forces lack the capability to conduct individual decisive war-winning operations” and that, “It is too early to assess the outcomes and operational significance of the Ukrainian incursion into Russia and the ongoing Russian offensive effort in eastern Ukraine.”

THE OBIT PAGE: Alain Delon, the intense and devastatingly handsome French actor who played everything from Corsican gangsters to hot Italian lovers has died at 88. French President Emmanuel Macron described Delon as “a French monument.” Adored in Europe as the star of his time, some American critics dismissed him as just a pretty boy.

THE OBIT PAGE: Leonard Hayflick, a biomedical researcher whose research explained why no one can live forever, has died at home in Sea Ranch, California at 96. Hayflick discovered that normal human cells can divide only a certain number of times, setting a limit on the human life span.

  While doing cancer research, Hayflick and a colleague found that nonreproductive divide between 40 and 60 times, before lapsing into what he called senescence and the aging and decline of the body. Ironically they found that the only cells that do not go into senescence are cancer cells. 

THE SPIN RACK: One person is missing and 100 had to be evacuated after 6 to 10 inches of rain fell in southest  Connecticut causing flash flooding.  — Former New York Rep. George Santos is expected to plead guilty today to multiple counts in his federal fraud case. He’s accused of lying to Congress about his wealth, collecting unemployment benefits while working, and using campaign contributions to pay for personal expenses. —New York Mayor Eric Adams and others in his election committee have been issued subpoenas in a long-running investigation into possible corruption. — A statue of John Lewis, the civil rights leader and congressman, was installed Friday in front in front of the DeKalb County Courthouse in a space occupied for more than 100 years by a Confederate memorial. The memorial obelisk was removed in 2020 after years of protest over its presence. — Archeologists in Iowa have unearthed what they say is a well-preserved mastodon skull that carbon dates at 13,600 years old. They say there might be evidence that the creature was killed by humans.

BELOW THE FOLD: Following last year’s rain-drenched mud bath at the Burning Man festival, enthusiasm and ticket sales are slow for the annual cultural happening in the California desert.

  Economics are part of the problem. Festival demographics show an increase of attendees with personal incomes of $100,000 to $300,000, and a decrease in those who earn less than $50,000.You have to be rich to get naked in the desert.

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