Update: My thoughts: The U.S. just got handed a price tag of $120,000. a year to warehouse these four men should they be convicted. (Per Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, June 16, 2015, the annual cost of housing a prisoner at a Bureau of Prisons facility is $30,621.00.) For what? Creating and running the most successful file uploading and sharing business ever? Yes, some people, including Dotcom and his partners, may have improperly allowed site users to share copyrighted material, for which Hollywood is owed money. So sue them. Prison is not the answer to every conceivable economic and social ill.

Update: Summing up:Kim Dotcom can be extradited. The court decision must be approved by Justice Minister Amy Adams (requirement of the Extradition Act.) Once the decision is signed off on, Kim Dotcom and the others have 15 days to appeal. {More...]

Let me stipulate a few things: (1) Debbie Wasserman Schultz, along with the entire Dem Establishment, from the top, President Obama, to the lowliest local official, wants Hillary Clinton to be the Dem nominee, (2) The debate schedule is travesty and is designed to minimize the exposure of Clinton opponents and (3) if there is a chance for the Dem Establishment to swing a close race to Clinton, they will take it (think Super Delegates.)

Now that that is out of the way, let me tell you about the easy “fix” the Dem Establishment COULD have done to insure a Clinton victory that would ALSO have been good for our democracy and our Party — end the Iowa/NH stranglehold on going first in the primary process.

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Decision here.

It's wrong imo and the logic imperils the entire trademark registration system as well as the prohibition against disparaging commercial speech (see Trademark Dilution Act for example.) Federal Circuit has just created a huge mess.

My earlier post on the subject here.

Update: For some reason, the "recent comments" in the sidebar have been disappearing. The only thing I can think of is perhaps some commenters used too many characters in the subject line of their comments, making them not fit in the space. So can you please try using short subject lines in your comments for a while so I can see if that's the problem? Thanks.

It's been days since our last open thread. Here's a new one, all topics welcome.

Is something wrong with Donald Trump? Who makes these kinds of comments?

Donald Trump launched an aggressive attack on Hillary Clinton on Monday night, saying she was "disgusting" for using the restroom during the latest Democratic debate and that she was "schlonged" by a male political opponent.

... "She was favored to win, and she got schlonged," Trump said, turning a vulgar noun for a large p*nis into a verb.

"Schlonged?" I haven't heard that word since I was a kid. And why is it so "disgusting" that Hillary went to the bathroom? My response: Beware of the candidate who thinks his sh*t doesn't stink.

Ivanka should come out and disassociate herself from her father's spew of garbage. He is beginning to sound out of control.

If you respond in comments, please do not use profanity, as your comment will be deleted. You may use asterisks in place of a letter or two as I have done. [More...]

Update 12/22: Judge approves extradition. Bail continued. Appeals next.

The New Zealand courts tweeted a few hours ago that the decision on Kim Dotcom's extradition will be released tomorrow afternoon. More from the New Zealand Herald here.

I'm sending good thoughts his way. [More...]

I barely knew he was in the race, but Lindsay Graham today ended his campaign for the Republican nomination for President.

It's time for several other Republicans to follow his lead.

Caution: Spoilers ahead, don't read if you haven't watched the Homeland finale.

Season 5 of Homeland wrapped up last night. I think this Variety recap is the best.

For me, it was an okay season, but not one of the best. There were too many subplots going on in each episode, I never felt like I had a grasp of what was happening. [More...]

OMG, the announcer made a mistake announcing the winner of Miss Universe. He announced the winner was Ms. Colombia.

After the applause they crowned Ms. Colombia, and she was waving to the crowd with her flowers and little flag of Colombia when the show host came back to the stage and said "Ok Folks, I have to apologize, the First Runner is Colombia. Ms. Universe 2015 is Philippines."

He read the wrong name. Ms. Colombia, who doesn't speak English and used an interpreter all night, had no idea what happened. Either did Ms. Philippines, the intended winner, even though she does speak English.

[More....]

I've been writing about the DEA's most excellent African Adventures since 2009, particularly the sting cases where people from all over the world are extradited (or kidnapped and forcibly brought) to the U.S. for trial on drug offenses that had nothing or little to do with the U.S. In many, the DEA claimed a terror connection.

Ginger Thompson of Pro Publica (formerly an outstanding New York Times reporter) has been investigating these cases for a long time. She recently traveled to Mali and other far-off places to interview people directly involved. (Days before she left, I spoke to her on the phone about the cases for a very long time.) Two weeks ago she published her findings in an excellent article called The Narco Terror Trap.

The DEA warns that drugs are funding terror. An examination of cases raises questions about whether the agency is stopping threats or staging them.

[More...]

The Democratic Debate at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. begins at 8pm ET. ABC is hosting the debate. Here's a thread to discuss it.

ISIS is probably very happy tonight knowing the candidates all know what's in their videos. If the Government succeeds in taking them down, how will the candidates know what they are sayig?

O'Malley is like Henney Penny "We're Under Attack." He says we don't have enough spying. He wants CIA covert intelligence and diplomatic intelligence. And human intelligence. We need a cabinet member. ISIS is now a "genocidal threat." Even Central America is a threat. [More...]

Here's the complaint Bernie Sanders' campaign filed in federal court against the DNC for suspending its access to public voter data. The case was quickly resolved. What the ruckus was about:

The suit came shortly after campaign manager Jeff Weaver acknowledged at a Washington news conference that Sanders staffers had improperly reviewed information gathered by rival Hillary Clinton earlier in the week. But he accused the DNC of over­reacting to the breach by suspending the Sanders campaign’s ability to access the computer system containing information about Democratic-leaning voters, including data the campaign has gathered about its own supporters.

The Dems will debate tonight in New Hampshire. What should Hillary say about Sanders' data breach and the DNC's response?