This is a pleasant surprise from Tom Edsall, a column that has some good insights on both Democrats and Republicans. First on the Democrats and something very smart that Rahm Emanuel said:

Representative Rahm Emanuel, the Democratic Caucus chairman, pointed out that 16 of the seats the party won in November were suburban or exurban. He contended that the election marked the emergence of a new “metropolitan” populism, “a revolt of the center against the Rovian model of polarization politics.” In Emanuel’s view, “Prescription drugs, gas prices and economic populism are no longer associated with blue-collar downscale voters. Office park workers can be just as populist as industrial workers — they are struggling under rising college and health care costs too. They resent giveaways to H.M.O.s; they don’t want subsidies to oil companies when oil is 68 bucks a barrel. We are going to deal with the oil royalty issue, and we can cut the interest rates for student loans.”

This is a critical insight - populism now extends beyond the lower working class. To Broder, this would mean independent centrism when in fact it is broadbased populism and rejection of Republicanism. More.

In the news:

• Robert Gates' confirmation hearing as Defense Secretary is underway. He says we are not winning the war in Iraq.

• Former President Bush dissolves into tears of love for son Jeb at a speaking event. Was he drunk?

• Hillary reaches out to Dems in New Hampshire and Iowa. Will she announce before the end of the year?

• Obama praises Hillary in New York. Once again, I see a Hillary-Obama ticket in our future.

What's on your news screen today?

At Balkinization, Brian Tamaha writes a terrific piece on Judge Richard Posner's "pragmatic realism":

His views on these two topics can be summarized as follows: Posner believes that judging on the Supreme Court is almost entirely political, and he believes that judging on the Court of Appeals (his court), and judging generally, is substantially political. This view of the political nature of judging is widely shared among legal academics and political scientists, although many judges disagree. Posner, furthermore, advocates that judges should decide cases in a pragmatic fashion, oriented toward rendering the most reasonable decision in a given case (all things considered).

Posner seems to, unfortunately, correctly describe the current state of affairs. But he is wrong to believe that it should be this way. I'll explain why on the flip.

The Second Circuit affirmed on Thursday the conviction of former law enforcement officers convicted of civil rights violations under 18 U.S.C. §§ 241 & 242 for falsifying information to get search warrants, fictitious informant payments, and stealing property from targets of their search warrants.  They were also convicted of using a firearm during a "crime of violence," that is, the drawing of their weapons during the execution of a search warrant which is inherently violent. United States v. Acosta, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 29607 (2d Cir. November 30, 2006) (unpublished). This is an unpublished opinion, and the facts are abbreviated, but it is interesting still sheerly because of the fact a police officer was convicted for something that many narcs do without a second thought:

Via law prof Michael Froomkin at Discourse. Net, the Bush Administration is rushing plans for new prison construction at Guantanamo.

The Miami Herald reports:

The Pentagon is invoking emergency authority to fast-track funding of a comprehensive war-crimes court compound at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, according to a letter to Congress obtained by The Miami Herald.

Department of Defense spokesmen would not say when -- if ever -- the Pentagon had last invoked similar authority.

The text of the Pentagon's November 17 letter attempting to justify the plan is here (pdf.) The proposal itself is here (pdf.)

Froomkin says:

Hard to escape the feeling that the rush here is that once the Democrats are in Congress they won't allow this sort of travesty, and Rumsfeld wants to, as Menachem Begin used to put it, "make facts" on the ground.

I'd add that they are probably going to try to house as many detainees there as possible before January when the Dems take reign. It will be a lot harder to get the detainees out of Gitmo once situated there than it will be to prevent new arrivals.

Via Political Wire, it's not out yet but you can pre-order it.

The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward - A New Approach

It's looking even more likely today that Hillary Clinton is going to put her hat in the 2008 presidential ring. She's hired a veteran national political fundraiser.

Phil Singer, a veteran of Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign who most recently was spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, will join the Clinton communications team, her senior adviser Howard Wolfson said.

Wolfson cautioned that Clinton may still decide against a run but that Singer would play a senior role if she becomes a candidate, as expected. "I called him the day after the election," Wolfson acknowledged.

More new hires:

Karen Hicks, a veteran field organizer who served as New Hampshire director for Howard Dean's upstart 2004 campaign...The campaign has also signed a national finance director, veteran Democratic fundraiser Jonathan Mantz.

Update: Arianna thinks Obama is going to upset the Hillary cart.

Last Night in Little Rock wrote here and here about the unnecessary use of aggressive tactics to execute search warrants or make arrests -- tactics that needlessly kill innocent people. In a similar vein, deputies who raided an apartment in Wilmington, N.C., intending to arrest 18 year old Peyton Strickland for allegedly stealing two Playstation 3 video games, instead shot him to death. While the details are unclear, here's one account:

Peyton Strickland's roommate, Mike Rhoton, said Strickland was unarmed, but may have been holding a video game controller when he went to the door as it was bashed in by officers.

The Sheriff has so far declined to answer a simple question: why were police using aggressive tactics over a simple theft of property? The Sheriff says Strickland was accused of using violence to take the Playstations, but apparently isn't claiming that Strickland was armed at the time or that he has a history of violent behavior.

The Sheriff also seems to blame Strickland for not answering the door promptly. For this he deserved to die?

Even though the trial judge, a conservative, called the 55 year sentence of Weldon Angelos excessive, the Supreme Court let it stand today.

Angelos' crime? Carrying a handgun during three 8 oz. marijuana sales.

The Supreme Court on Monday let stand a mandatory 55-year prison sentence, condemned as excessive by the federal judge who imposed it, for a man convicted of carrying a handgun during three marijuana deals.

It didn't matter than he never brandished or used the gun.

Record producer Weldon Angelos received the minimum sentence under the law - a harsher sentence than a child rapist or a terrorist who detonates a bomb aboard an aircraft would receive, according to his attorneys. The justices, without comment, left the prison term undisturbed.

Sal Magluta, the last of the cocaine cowboys, was resentenced Thursday to 195 years in a federal prison. There will be an appeal.

I think The Sal Magluta - Willie Falcon case is one of the most fascinating cocaine cases in South Florida's history. I have been following the case since it was first brought ten years ago, through the trials, appeals and ancillary actions.

He was acquitted of the most serious charges against him, ordering murders of prospective witnesses. His conviction for bribing a juror in his first trial was later overturned on appeal. Thus, his only convictions were for non-violent money laundering crimes, each of which carry a 20 year sentence. The judge stacked the sentences.

Bloggers are weighing in on the torment of Jose Padilla.

Digby:

I know that all the tough guys on the right will say that Padilla is just being a typical whining malcontent but I have a feeling that most of them would crumble into blubbering babies after five minutes in his position. This treatment is extremely inhumane. They basically blinded, deafened and then isolated him, essentially destroying his mind. There is no reason on earth to put those goggles and earphones on him to go to the dentist in the prison in South Carolina except to keep him from ever feeling like a normal human being, part of the natural world. It's sick.

John Bolton has resigned. Even he knew the votes weren't there.