21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof, of Eastover, SC, is in custody in Charleston, SC. He was arrested after a traffic stop in Shelby, NC, waived extradition and was flown back to Charleston.

His friends say he was planning the attack for some time: [More...]

It was a big deal back in 2007 when Francisco Javier Arrellano-Felix was sentenced to life in prison.

In 2014, the judge reduced it to 23.5 years. Everything was sealed until this week when the Judge released a 9 page order denying a request by Arellano-Felix's lawyer to reduce it more, saying the government was too stingy with its 40% reduction for cooperation.

Arellano-Felix has been held in severe conditions and 23 hours a day lockdown for most of the time, although he's flown around the country and to Mexico with the DEA to cooperate. The Judge acknowledges the harsh conditions, but quotes a line from a Merle Haggard song, "And the joint [is] a bad place to be." [More...]

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

Matthew Apperson has been charged with attempted murder in Florida for shooting at George Zimmerman while Zimmerman was driving.

Today, the State Attorney's Office in Sanford filed three charges against Apperson: attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault with a firearm and shooting into an occupied vehicle.

Apperson was in a mental hospital weeks before the shooting. He was fixated on Zimmerman, according to police. Zimmerman sustained minor injuries from flying glass and debris.

New Attorney General Loretta Lynch today announced a major bust: 200 people nationwide have been charged with fraudulently billing medicare and other related crimes.

The total amount of alleged fraud exceeds $700 million. 46 of those charged are doctors and health care professionals. Lynch says it's the largest health care fraud case in DOJ history.

The suspects are accused of scams ranging from identity theft to money laundering and conspiracy to commit health-care fraud. Dozens of those arrested were charged with defrauding the Medicare prescription-drug program, officials said.

James Comey said the FBI has 2,700 pending health care fraud investigations.

ISIS yesterday released a new video of kids in Raqqa training to be fighters and snipers. In it, they talk about the Crusaders, defeating opposing forces and threaten to kill President Obama. The physical training is almost the same as in the adult training videos.

What's unusual is that some of these kids these do not appear to be children of ISIS sympathizers, but Syrian kids who were traumatized by the Bashar regime. [More...]

TalkLeft is officially 13 years old. Here is our first post, from June 15, 2002. On our first "blogiversary" we had 1 million page views. We've now past 100 million page views.

Thanks to every one who has taken the time to read a page, posted a comment, given us a news tip, linked to TalkLeft, donated dollars and befriended us. [More...]

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

Move over Jeb Bush. Your 15 minutes are up. Donald Trump has announced his candidacy for President.

In a rambling 40 minute speech, he said he'll be the greatest president ever with respect for to the economy. He said our country is now run by losers. He said he has a net worth of $8.7 billion.

“The American dream is dead,” Trump said at the end of his speech. “But if I win, I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before.”

Trump is good for one thing: entertainment.

The Colorado Supreme Court yesterday ruled employers can fire workers who use marijuana outside of the workplace. The opinion in Coats v. Dish Network is here.

The supreme court holds that under the plain language of section 24-34-402.5, 13 C.R.S. (2014), Colorado’s “lawful activities statute,” the term “lawful” refers only to those activities that are lawful under both state and federal law. Therefore, employees who engage in an activity such as medical marijuana use that is permitted by state law 16 but unlawful under federal law are not protected by the statute. We therefore affirm the court of appeals’ opinion.

Brandon Coats, a quadriplegic and medical marijuana user who was fired from his job as a telephone operator at Dish Network for using marijuana in his off-job hours. [More...]

Here comes Jeb Bush, with a new exclamation point next to his name. Here's his launch video. He looks tired.

Also considering jumping into the race: John Kasich.

If Twitter is any gauge of popularity: Hillary has 3.6 million followers on Twitter. Jeb has 196,000.

The U.S. conducted an airstrike inside Libya today, killing Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the Algerian former al Qaida terrorist who left al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)to form the al Mulathameen Brigade, which joined with Al Murabitoon. Via the New York Times:

In a significant escalation of American counterterrorism operations, the United States carried out an airstrike against a midlevel operative of Al Qaeda in Libya early Sunday, American officials said.

It was the first time the American military has carried out any kind of airstrike in Libya since the NATO operation there in 2011 helped oust Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

[More...]