BY THE NUMBERS: Three out of the four most recent national polls conducted between August 22 and 25 have Kamala Harris in the lead over Donald Trump.

• Morning Consult, Harris 48 percent, Trump 44.
• Echelon Insights, Harris 48 percent, Trump 49.
• Morning Consult, Harris 48 percent, Trump 44.
• Kaplan Strategies, Harris 52 percent, Trump 45.

  The Real clear Politics average of polls has Harris leading by  1.5 percent.

IT’S POLITICAL: Donald Trump yesterday visited the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington Cemetery and laid wreaths at the graves of three soldiers who died in the 2021 suicide bombing that killed 13 during the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan. He then traveled to Michigan were he spoke to an audience of about 4,000 saying, “Caused by Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, the humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all around the world.” 

  Trump has long made political capital out of the messy and fatal pullout from Afghanistan. He does not mention that 65 members of the military were killed in action during his presidency.

LEGALITIES: Federal prosecutors filed papers before an appeals court in Atlanta yesterday arguing that the trial judge in Donald Trump’s secret documents case had improperly thrown out the charges. 

  The ruling last month by federal district judge Aileen Cannon that special counsel Jack Smith, the lead prosecutor on the case, was illegally appointed without congressional or presidential approval flew in the face of legal practice and rulings going back to Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal.  

  Cannon’s ruling came on day one of the Republican National Convention, giving Trump political ammunition. The classified documents case had appeared to be the easiest one to prosecute against Trump.

  Cannon had ruled that no statute allows for special counsel appointments, but the filing by Smith’s office pointed to three of them. “The district court’s contrary view conflicts with an otherwise unbroken course of decisions, including by the Supreme Court, that the attorney general has such authority,” lawyers for the special counsel wrote, “and it is at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government.” 

THE WAR ROOM: Ukraine says that it controls 100 settlements and about 500 square miles of territory after its three week incursion into Russia. The Ukrainians say the operation has successfully drawn Russian troops from other parts of the embattled front.

  Cities across Ukraine were hit by another wave of Russian air strikes overnight and this morning, following a similar attack on Monday.

  Russia has been using so-called “glide bombs” to devastating effect. One of the buildings destroyed recently in eastern Ukraine is the Aurora Hotel, frequently used by journalists visiting the front.

  Hanna Chornous reports for CNN that journalists used to joke about the breakfast menu but, “Now there’s a dusty void where the hotel lobby used to be. A part of the building is reduced to rubble. The rescuers and their dogs are still looking for survivors.”

SWITCH HITTER: Boston Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen yesterday became the first Major League Baseball player to play for both teams in a game. He didn’t do it just by running from one dugout to the other.

  Jansen was at bat for the Toronto Blue Jays on June 26^th when the game was suspended during the second inning because of heavy rain at Boston’s Fenway Park. A month later Jansen was traded to the Red Sox. Yesterday the June 26^th game resumed with Jansen in a Red Sox uniform. Jansen entered the history books but Boston lost 4-1.

THE SPIN RACK: The family of Boston police Officer John O’Keefe has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Karen Read, the woman whose murder trial in the death of O’Keefe ended with a hung jury. Read was accused of drunkenly hitting her boyfriend, O’Keefe, with her SUV in January 2022. — Pro-Palestinian activists took control of the student government in elections at the University of Michigan and now refuse to dole out the $1.3 million student activity budget unless the university divests from investments in Israel. — The British rock band Oasis is getting back together 15 years after brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher had a public split. One of their big hits was “Wonderwall.” — Snow has fallen in August in Lake Tahoe, California for the first time since 2004. 

DEPT. OF ERRORS: We mistakenly reported yesterday that The NY Times average of polls had Kamala Harris leading in Georgia. It’s actually Trump by four points. 

BELOW THE FOLD: Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have issued new strictures for women. Their faces cannot be seen and their voices cannot be heard in public. A government spokesman said, “Inshallah we assure you that this Islamic law will be of great help in the promotion of virtue and the elimination of vice.”

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