Senator Mark Udall has lost the U.S. Senate race to Cory Gardner. The media called the race for Gardner early, but Udall waited a few hours before giving his concession speech, which you can view here. The Post says he "held back tears" but he didn't look very upset to me. He smiled a lot and made some jokes. Gardner reminds me of a throwback to his lookalike predecessor, Gov. Bill Owens. I muted the TV for his speech. In Denver, Gardner only got 26% of the vote to Udall's 69%.

Both Udall and Gardner ran relentless negative ads on local TV for what seems like months. They were both like one trick ponies. Udall harped on Gardner's stand on abortion while Gardner attacked Udall as a clone of Obama. It's a shame Udall didn't focus more on his record of accomplishments, particularly since Gardner has none.

Gov. Hickenlooper and Republican challenger Bob "Wrong Way" Beauprez are still battling it out. With 89% of the vote counted, Beauprez has 5,000 more votes, but it's too close to call. [More...]

Results are coming in from today's elections. Here's a thread to discuss them, and your take on their significance.

Joran Van der Sloot's wife says he has been tortured and stabbed since his transfer to the hellhole known as Challapalca prison in Peru. Prison authorities claim she's lying. His lawyer says a prosecutor will investigate.

Joran was transferred there after a warden said Joran threatened him after taking his cell phone away. Joran said it was the warden who gave him the cell phone and was trying to set him up.

Joran's wife says the guards torture the prisoners and the other prisoners want to kill Joran because it would bring world-wide attention to the abysmal conditions of the prison, which could lead to the prison's closing.

Inmates are entitled to humane treatment. This prison has been notorious for human rights violations for years (report here.) Here's a 2013 State Department report on Peru's prisons.

The prosecution in South Africa is appealing Judge Masipa's ruling in the Oscar Pistorius case.

It claims she misapplied the doctrine of dolus eventualis and should have found him guilty of first degree murder. It also argues his sentence was too light.

The prosecution's filing is here. An article supporting her judgment is here. Another is here. Yet another is here. My view, as I've expressed many times: the appeal should fail and I disagree with the articles taking the opposite view.

Update: New thread here.

I finally got my ballot to the Denver Election office today. I hope it helps Sen. Udall and Gov. Hickenlooper. The New York Times has a special page for following today's elections results.

Here's an open thread for all matters pertaining to today's elections.

Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, age 14, died Friday of her injuries from last week's Marysville, WA shooting. She is the fourth teen to die as a result of the incident. Jaylen's cousin Andrew Fryberg remains in critical condition. His other cousin, Nate Hatch, is doing better.

A tribal service was held Thursday for Jaylen Fryberg. More than 1,000 people attended. His (former) girlfriend, Shilene, has posted her first tweet since the shooting:

Don't forget to turn your clocks back tonight.

If you could really turn back time, what year would you make it? While you are thinking, along comes Cher to support Hillary. "If I Could Turn Back Time."

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

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

In the New York Times, Peter Theo Curtis, aka Theo Padnos, provides a detailed and fascinating account of his 2 years as an Al Nusra hostage in Syria. He is now home in Vermont, having been released in August, days after the James Foley execution, when Qatar finalized negotiations with al Nusra for his release, reportedly after Qatar paid a big ransom (which Qatar denies.) al Nusra is every bit as brutal as ISIS, and their only differences, according to Padnos, are over which one will control Syria's oil fields.

Padnos' account of his abuse and captivity is very compelling reading. So are his timeline and description of the Free Syrian Army "moderate rebels" and al Nusra's second in command, Abu Mariya (or Maria) al Qahtani, which is what I focus on below: [More...]

This doesn't seem to have picked up as much traction in the U.S. as it has elsewhere, and it may not be huge, but it does represent a shift in stance on the U.S. global war on drugs.

Robert Brownfield, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, speaking at a foreign press conference in New York on October 9, while discussing the third of the four pillars of global drug policy, said (Full text here):

Things have changed since 1961. We must have enough flexibility to allow us to incorporate those changes into our policies … to tolerate different national drug policies, to accept the fact that some countries will have very strict drug approaches; other countries will legalize entire categories of drugs.

[More...]

Sorry everyone, I've been swamped at work and didn't know the last open thread was full. Here's a new one, all topics welcome. I'll be back soon.

Update: Have any of you had trouble accessing TalkLeft today? I am, and our webmaster says others have too. We are trying to figure out if it's a network issue or a server issue. Thanks.

The FBI and DEA's impersonation tactics have been facing a lot of criticism lately. First, there was the case of the cocaine defendant in New York who has filed a lawsuit to stop the DEA from impersonating her on Facebook. The DEA used photos and personal information from her seized cell phone to set up a fake Facebook account in order to trick her friends and associates into revealing incriminating information.

Then there was the disclosure a few days ago that in 2007, the FBI created a fake Associated Press article, put a spyware tool in it and sent it to the My Space account of a Seattle teen suspected of making bomb threats. [More...]