Target has revised the numbers of customers whose credit card data may have been breached from Nov. 27 to Dec. 15 from 40 million to 70 million and now to 110 million.

Target has said it will provide one year of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection to all customers who shopped at its stores, not just those who have been affected. Customers have three months to enroll in the program by going to Target’s Web site.

Target's q and a page on the breach is here.

The New Jersey Assembly will release 907 pages of documents obtained pursuant to the subpoena of Port Authority official David Wildstein. The documents will be posted to a state website today.

The previously released emails are here.

Christie took a big risk yesterday when he emphatically and categorically denied any knowledge of his aides actions and said he was blindsided. If the new batch of documents shows differently, he's got big problems.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced today the Department of Justice will recognize same-sex marriages in Utah while the issue makes its way through the appeals courts.

The 1,300 or so couples that married before a Utah court invalidated them will receive federal benefits.

"I am confirming today that, for purposes of federal law, these marriages will be recognized as lawful and considered eligible for all relevant federal benefits on the same terms as other same-sex marriages," Holder said.

Holder's videotaped statement is here.

Via Sentencing Law and Policy, the U.S. Sentencing Commission has issued this press release calling for comments about a suggested two level reduction in offense level for all drug offenses under the federal sentencing guidelines. The proposed reduction would amount to about 11 months per sentence but would not (and could not) affect mandatory minimum sentencing statutes.

The Commission says the amendment would reduce the number of inmates in the federal system: [More...]

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The Obama Administration has issued a set of guidelines for schools. They urge an end to "zero tolerance" policies. Minor infractions should lead to a visit to the principal's office, not the police station.

The Administration says the policies have had a racially discriminatory effect on minorities.

The recommendations are nonbinding, but, in essence, the federal government is telling the school districts around the country that they should adhere to the principles of fairness and equity in student discipline or face strong action if they don't.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has fired his top aide, deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly, and is giving a news conference. He maintains Kelly lied to him and said he's embarrassed and humiliated by his team's conduct.

DOJ is now investigating whether laws were broken.

A judge in NJ has refused to block a subpoena for David Wildstein, a former executive at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, to testify before the legislature.

Christie also instructed his former campaign manager, Bill Stepien, to withdraw from consideration as Republican party chair of N.J.[More...]

This is an amazing story. 72 former NYC cops and 8 former fireman are among 106 people charged in New York state court for a massive social security fraud scam that robbed the Government of an estimated $400 million. The amounts paid to these defendants was over $20 million. You can read the Indictment here.

The scheme was allegedly spearheaded by a former FBI agent who is former prosecutor (in the rackets unit, no less, of the Nassau County DA's office.) He and the other three organizers allegedly collected $28,000 per applicant.

Keep in mind, the Indictment is merely a charge, and all of them are presumed innocent. Their lawyers say they did nothing wrong.

The DA says many of the defendants falsely claimed they were disabled due to PTSD from the 9/11 attacks.

What did them in? Their Facebook pages, showing photos of them doing activities they claimed they were too disabled to do. And recorded undercover telephone calls. [More...]

It sure is cold outside, but the view from my living room was very pretty today.

I've been mostly reading news from Mexico today. The papers there have been filled the past few days with revelations that the DEA made deals with top Sinaloa cartel members to provide information about rival cartels in exchange for immunity and the freedom to continue their illegal activities. This is about the case of Jesus Vincent Zambada-Niebla, awaiting trial in Chicago. I'm not sure why the Mexican papers are just picking it up now -- it was news in the U.S. in 2011. Here's a long post I wrote about the case and the DEA's "snitch and carry on" policy. It's an interesting question whether Humberto Loya-Castro, the Sinaloa lawyer who became a DEA informant and provided information about rival cartels for years to the DEA, and who set up a meeting in Mexico City between the DEA and Zambada-Niebla, at which Zambada-Niebla claimed the DEA offered him the same deal as Loya (become a snitch against rivals and continue on without fear of busts) was not so much an informant as an agent of the Cartel.

Snitch and receive a get out of jail free card pales in comparison to snitch, stay in business and be free from arrest. The DEA used the same strategy in Colombia when targeting Pablo Escobar. It's called "Divide and Conquer."[More...]

The new TV season is beginning. Last night, I got bored during Downton Abbey and was not impressed with The Good Wife. They both seemed sluggish and a bit dull. Tonight, The Bachelor begins a new season, which of course I'll watch, but it will be the same old formula (although the Bachelor this year is from Venezuela and a native Spanish speaker.)

I think know why these shows, which I used to really like, now seem plodding and predictable to me: For the past few months, I've been watching Teleseries produced in Colombia, including La Reina Del Sur and Pablo Escobar: El Patron del Mal, and they just rock. They are like the Sopranos on speed. Only Breaking Bad and the first season of Homeland come close in terms of capturing your attention and holding it.

But here's the problem and why I'm writing about this. Other than these two shows, which were available with English subtitles when I watched them on MUN2-TV, since I can't understand Spanish when spoken rapidly, I have no way to watch other shows like El Capo, El Cartel de Sapos (Snitch Cartel), Alias al Mexicano and Los Tres Caines. None of the networks airing these other shows provide English subtitles or even English closed captioning.

These shows aren't all fictional. From the cartels to FARC and the right-wing paramilitary death squads, to the militarization of law enforcement, corrupt cops and the global reach of the DEA, many are educational as well as entertaining. [More...]

"Jihadi Jane" aka Colleen La Rose, has been sentenced in Philadelphia to ten years in prison for her role in the planned attack on Danish newspaper cartoonist Lars Vilks.

Prosecutors depicted Ms. LaRose as a “lonely and isolated” woman who sought excitement by joining the jihadist cause. She was flattered to get an assignment to kill a foe of Islam.

The original indictment is here. Rose has already served four years, so she has about four more years to do. She cooperated with authorities to avoid a life sentence.

“The fact that out of boredom, or out of being housebound, she took to the computer and communicated with the people she communicated with, and hatched this mission, is just unbelievable,” Judge Tucker said.

Still to be sentenced in the case: Jamie Paulin Ramirez, originally from Colorado, who became a mail-order bride for alleged co-conspirator Ali Damache, an Algerian national in Ireland who pleaded guilty there during trial to sending a menacing message by telephone to an American Muslim activist. [More...]

[Bump and Update from Friday. Thanks to those of you who donated over the weekend, I'll be sending thank you e-mails later this week.]

New Years is always the time I re-assess blogging. Should I continue? Have I been doing this too long? (TalkLeft has been publishing daily for 11 1/2 years.) Should I keep paying hundreds of dollars a month for a dedicated server? Should I pay thousands on a professionally done site overhaul to get it off Scoop and onto Wordpress or another blogging platform? Should I go back to taking ads or start charging for full, premium access? Should I keep the site as is but invest in making a mobile version of the site, compatible with mobile devices?

I've finally made a few tentative decisions. I want to keep blogging. I don't want to charge people for reading the site or clutter the site with ads. I want to be done with Scoop and move to Wordpress. I want to be able to write using easy to read Google-type fonts. I want to stop having to check for spammer registrations every few days. I don't want to keep paying hundreds of dollars a month to keep the site going.

So changes are coming, here's what's in store: [More....]