Elena Kagan, of Massachusetts has been confirmed by a vote of 61 to 31 as Solicitor General.

Kagan became the first woman dean of Harvard Law School in 2003. Prior to that, she was President Bill Clinton's Associate White House Counsel. Clinton nominated her for a Court of Appeals judgeship but Sen. Orrin Hatch killed it.

She's known for being a legal scholar, not a trial lawyer.

Before this appointment she had limited courtroom experience (she has never argued a case at trial) and has not argued before the Supreme Court of the United States.

83 year old Josias Kumpf, a resident of Racine, Wisconsin since 1956, was http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/March/09-crm-252.html, following his removal from his home earlier this week by ICE officials. The New York Times reports:

[Kumph]admitted that he participated in a murderous November 1943 Nazi operation that went by the code name “Aktion Erntefest” — Operation Harvest Festival — in which roughly 42,000 Jewish men, women and children were murdered at three Nazi camps in eastern Poland in two days.

Mr. Kumpf acknowledged his role was as a guard and an assassin at the Trawniki Labor Camp, where 8,000 men, women and children were shot dead in a single day, Nov. 3, 1943, Justice Department officials said.

In 2007, Spiegel Online reported Kumph obtained U.S. citizenship in 1964 but it was stripped from him in 2005, because he failed to disclose his past on his entry visa. [More...]

Since the onset of the war in Iraq, the U.S. has detained over 100,000 people in Iraq. Very few have been charged with crimes.

Now, as the U.S. prepares to hand over the detention system to the Iraqis, thousands are expected to be freed this summer. Why?

[B]ecause there is little or no evidence against them.

[More...]

What's interesting about the new DC J-List insiders' (just kidding) take on the AIG bonus mess is how they do not make the obvious connection to the bigger problem of Treasury's timidity regarding the financial crisis. Of course in the scheme of things, the AIG bonuses are a drop in the bucket -- but the problem here is, to coin a phrase, "systemic." Too much energy and political capital has been wasted by the Obama Administration in propping up the old Wall Street order and not enough in trying to figure out what exactly would be best for the country. Thus when Yglesias writes:

NYTimes:

Spurred on by a tidal wave of public anger over bonuses paid to executives of the foundering American International Group, the House voted 328 to 93 on Thursday to get back most of the money by levying a 90 percent tax on it. . . . In one sign of the bonus issue’s political potency, 85 Republicans joined 243 Democrats in the House in voting for the measure, rather than for a rival proposal put forth by the Republican leadership. Only 6 Democrats voted against the bill, along with 87 Republicans.

The GOP House Leadership voted against:

I'm busy at work today, as is BTD. But here are some random thoughts. Feel free to add your own:

Things that make me feel old:

• Charles Manson is 74, take a look at him then and now.

Things that make me annoyed:

• The number of emails I get that from people and organizations promoting their online content that have no relevance to issues covered by TalkLeft.
• Unsolicited faxes where you have to call the 800 number to be removed
• People who twitter boring stuff or news everyone already knows with no added original content

[More...]

The Obama political team seems to be out of whack these days. Via Greg Sargent, Axelrod reveals some real political tone deafness:

People are not sitting around their kitchen tables thinking about AIG,” Axelrod said. “They are thinking about their own jobs.”

I assume Axelrod said that earlier in the week. No way he said that yesterday or today. At least, I hope not.

Speaking for me only

Today is the beginning of the great distraction known as March Madness. I am tied up today (and not watching March Madness) so posting will be light from me. J, TChris and Ethan will no doubt hold down the fort.

This is an Open Thread.

We should be so lucky. In any event, the Fed pumped a trillion dollars into the economy yesterday (yes a trillion):

The Federal Reserve sharply stepped up its efforts to bolster the economy on Wednesday, announcing that it would pump an extra $1 trillion into the financial system by purchasing Treasury bonds and mortgage securities. . . . [T]o the surprise of investors and analysts, the [Fed Open Market] committee said it had decided to purchase an additional $750 billion worth of government-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities on top of the $500 billion that the Fed is already in the process of buying. In addition, the Fed said it would buy up to $300 billion worth of longer-term Treasury securities over the next six months. That would tend to push down longer-term interest rates on all types of loans.

This is known as quantitative easing, increasing the money supply and, hopefully spurring economic activity. But the general view is quantitative easing is not especially efficient. Krugman wrote in September 2008:

Apropos of the rhetorical question asked in this post -- "why isn't every squad car in America equipped with a dashboard video camera?" -- here is a possible answer:

Two Peoria police officers have been arrested in connection with the 2008 beating of a man who claims he was pepper sprayed, kicked, punched and shocked with a stun gun following a police chase that was videotaped by a squad car camera. ... Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons, who decided to pursue the case after seeing the videotape, said the recording shows Bryce Scott stopped running and cooperated before the officers allegedly beat him.

The officers apparently forgot that the squad car video camera was still operating.

Brian Nichols, convicted of 54 charges resulting from killings he committed during and after his escape from a courthouse in Atlanta four years ago (TalkLeft coverage collected here), was spared death last year after a jury deadlocked during the penalty phase of his trial. He instead received multiple sentences of life without parole.

As Jeralyn discussed in December, a Georgia prosecutor asked the Justice Department to bring a federal death penalty prosecution against Nichols because one of his murder victims was a customs officer. The Justice Department has sensibly declined.

[more ...]

My picks:

First round winners - L-Ville, Ohio St, Ariz, Wake, Dayton, Kansas, BC, Mich St, UConn, Tex A&M, N. Iowa, Miss St., Utah St, Mizzou, Maryland, Memphis, Okla, Mich, 'Cuse, Ariz St, Gonzaga, Western Ky, LSU, UNC, Duke, Texas, Nova, UCLA, Xavier, FSU, Tenn and Pitt.

My Final 4 - Mich. State, Villanova, Syracuse, Memphis. Memphis beats Syracuse for the championship.

Speaking for me only