It looks like the cancellations of the Air France to LAX flights yesterday were a false alarm:

French investigators questioned seven men pointed out by U.S. intelligence but found no evidence they planned to use a Los Angeles-bound jet to launch terror attacks against the United States, French authorities said Thursday.

U.S. intelligence officials told their French counterparts that members of the al-Qaida terrorist network would try to board the planes over Christmas, said a French judicial official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The seven questioned men, who all had tickets for Air France Flight 68 to Los Angeles, were on a watch list provided by U.S. authorities, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. But all were released after questioning Wednesday night, the spokesman said. "There are no longer any investigations," he said. France's anti-terrorism judicial unit chose not to launch a formal investigation because of a lack of evidence of an attack, the judicial official said.

While that's the news in France, U.S. officials say they believe one of the planes was to be hijacked en route to LA and crashed in Las Vegas. The article says the U.S. foiled the attack. But this article suggests Las Vegas was just a vague mention, not a specific threat.

Update: Las Vegas officials deny a threat to their city.

USA Today correctly notes in an editorial that John Lee Malvo's life sentence in the sniper case reflects justice, not vengeance. Try as they might, prosecutors trying to blame the verdict on a sympathy factor borne of the holidays, are wrong. The jurors affirmatively stated the holidays never entered their discussions:

Plainly, capital punishment is a crapshoot. Across the nation — even within aggressive death-penalty states such as Virginia — juries, prosecutors and judges apply it in an arbitrary fashion. This reflects the public's abiding equivocation, which often produces the erratic application of justice and, in some cases, death sentences for those who have been wrongly convicted.

In Malvo's trial, jurors landed on the more appropriate alternative — life without parole. No risk of mistaken execution. No risk of release. Indeed, one pro-death juror said she changed her mind because she believed that spending 60 to 70 years behind bars was a harsher sentence.

That's not exactly the Christmas spirit. But it shows how even those who endorse the death penalty can find comfort — even vengeance — in a sentence that ensures certain punishment and avoids uncertain justice.

David Cole, Georgetown University law prof and author of "Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism, has an op-ed in today's Los Angeles Times on the recent 2nd and 9th Circuit Copurt of Appeals decisions reminding Mr. Bush he is President Bush and not King George.

Foreign nationals, no less than U.S. citizens, have a right not to be locked up arbitrarily, based in the Constitution's guarantee that "no person shall be deprived of liberty … without due process." And indefinite incommunicado incarceration without charges, trial or hearing is the definition of arbitrary detention.

Detaining the enemy on the battlefield has of course always been — and remains — a legitimate tool of war. Neither the 2nd nor the 9th Circuit ruled to the contrary. But they both insisted that preventive detention under U.S. jurisdiction must be subject to the rule of law. And the rule of law, like liberty itself, is not a right reserved for U.S. citizens.

A friend of Al Gore III and his two companions, arrested last week and charged with misdemeanor pot possession, says these are the true facts (posted in comments on TalkLeft):

Alright, so I am a close friend of Yann, Marc and Al, and y'all need to hear what really happened. First of all, on the subject of OUI - out of the question. I know for a fact that none of the occupants in the vehicle had used marijuana or alcohol within four hours of driving. The car was pulled over as it was exiting a parking garage, and Al had yet to turn his headlights on.

The three had borrowed Tipper's car and were smoking cigarettes - The windows were rolled down so that the car wouldnt stink of tobacco upon thier return. As for the suspected smell of marijuana eminating from the vehicle - impossible. No marijuana had been smoked in the car at any time.

The police reported that they found a half-smoked joint, which is a lie. The report also stated that a soda can was found that had been modified to serve as a makeshift bong - That never existed.

What the police did find was a small bag of marijuana under the back seat of the vehicle. However, the validity of this find has recently come into question due to illegal search procedure. Pulling out onto the street without your headlights on in no way serves as probable cause to warrant a full search of the vehicle, and it was only after the identity of the driver was revealed that the occupants were given a hard time by authorities.

Sounds plausible to us. And don't forget, innocent until proven guilty. Thanks, "Snake," and please keep us updated.

Dennis Kucinich has qualified for matching funds. He's raised at least $100,000, with $5,000 coming from people in 20 states, in individual contribution amounts of $250 or less.

The Federal Election Commission has declared Rep. Dennis Kucinich qualified to receive federal matching funds, making the Ohio congressman eligible for up to $18.6 million, the FEC said Wednesday.

We hope this means the press will put reporters back on his campaign. Doesn't this make him a bona fide candidate worthy of media coverage? We think he has the best stand on issues, so we want more people to hear what he has to say.

Meanwhile, John Kerry has taken out a personal mortgage of $6.5 million on his home to finance his campaign. Maybe Kerry is thinking Dean will peak early and that the nomination is Dean's to lose. That's a big risk, but who knows?

Howard Dean is touting his Christianity. We wish he wouldn't.

Presidential contender Howard B. Dean, who has said little about religion while campaigning except to emphasize the separation of church and state, described himself in an interview with the Globe as a committed believer in Jesus Christ and said he expects to increasingly include references to Jesus and God in his speeches as he stumps in the South.

Eric Alterman's new Nation column is up--read why Howard Dean is a true threat to Washington.

Check out Jeb Bush's comments as he spoke to the inmates Wednesday at the inauguration of Florida's first faith-based prison:

During the dedication ceremony, many of the prisoners jumped to their feet, smiled brightly and clapped in rhythm as a gospel singer performed "His Eye is on the Sparrow." Some shouted "Sing it!" and "Amen!"

Bush told the inmates, "I can't think of a better place to reflect on the awesome love of our lord Jesus than to be here at Lawtey Correctional. God bless you."

While many prisoners loudly applauded Bush, some remained seated throughout the ceremony, staring straight ahead with no expression.

We're surprised no one booed. Oh, right, those who didn't want to participate were given the option of transferring out before inaugural day. Where's the ACLU on this? Right here:

Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, called the prison program part of "a major constitutional showdown on the legality of his preference to replace government programs with religious programs." He said the ACLU is waiting for the results of a test case challenging a state law authorizing school vouchers, which 85 percent of recipients use to enroll in religious schools.

So how is a faith-based prison different from all other prisons? Here's the revised daily schedule at the prison according to Palm Beach Post columnist Frank Cerabino.

Politics in the Zeros has the latest Ashcroft memo--

From: John Ashcroft, US Attorney General

To: Tom Ridge: Department of Homeland Security

Subject: Santa Claus: Threat to the nation

This Santa character. We need to keep an eye on him. He dresses in red and appears to be a ringleader for wealth distribution across the planet, with this giving-away-toys-for-free ploy of his. Seems like a damn Socialist to me. And I find those talking reindeer flying through the sky to be highly suspect. Witchcraft, that's what it is!

However Santa does have a potentially highly useful list of who's been good and who's been naughty. If we could gain control of this list, it could prove useful in our fight against terrorism - and against our political enemies too!

I propose we preemptively arrest this Santa character on some pretext, cruelty to reindeer or violating labor laws by making the elves work without overtime pay. Yes, we will have to arrest him based on those noxious liberal animal cruelty and labor laws, painful as this may be to us - however, hear me out.

We arrest Santa, then lean on him. Sleep deprivation, etc. Let's get that naughty/nice list! Feed it into Department of Homeland Security computers, and I'll bet we'll be able to indict, prosecute and jail tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands!

Have a blessed Christmas!

John Ashcroft

There's more about the Santa Conspiracy, go read. Also, Hessiod at Counterspin has some news of investigations related to Ashcroft.

A mentally retarded teenager from Guinea has been freed after 3 years in detention.

Mr. Jarno, described by his lawyers as mentally retarded, had been held in an adult correctional facility in York, Pa., that also houses other illegal immigrants. He and his case became a symbol for the thousands of child immigrants who arrive alone in the United States and are then detained by immigration services.

Asa Hutchinson, under secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, signed the order--after pressure from Congress:

In a letter to Mr. Hutchinson in August, members of Congress contended that Mr. Jarno was a victim of "reprehensible mistreatment" by federal immigration officials.

Susan Benesch, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International U.S.A. in Washington, said: "We are delighted that Malik is finally out of detention, but of course remain concerned about any juveniles who are needlessly spending months and even years in detention. I hope that people will remember that while his case is especially heart-rending, there are so many others."

There are 500 detained immigrant children in the U.S. They are treated as detainees first, and children second. Among those who weren't so lucky: a 13 year old from Ghana, also detained three years, who lost his bid to stay in the U.S. this month and will be deported:

The 9th Circuit has ruled that it's legal, although deplorable, for prosecutors to convict two persons for the same crime when they know only one can be guilty.

In a 2-1 ruling Monday, the court upheld a 16-month increase in Jonathan Shaw's prison sentence for a 1995 restaurant robbery in Fairfield, based on the jury's conclusion that he held a gun to the restaurant manager's head.

In a separate trial more than two years later, prosecuted by the same Solano County district attorney's office, another jury found that a second participant in the robbery, Mango Watts, was the one who held the gun to the manager's head, a finding that added 10 years to Watts' sentence. That jury was unaware of Shaw's verdict.

Like other courts that have reviewed the case, the appeals court said only one of the two men could have wielded the gun, but no law prohibits prosecutors from making inconsistent arguments to different juries, as long as they don't falsify the evidence. "There is little doubt that the actions of the prosecutors in the case before us may be characterized as something between stunningly dishonorable and outright deplorable,'' said Judge Cynthia Holcomb Hall in the majority opinion.

We agree with the dissenting judge who said:

We finally found our Christmas story. Darryl Hunt was released from prison today after serving 18 years of a life sentence for a murder he did not commit. Hunt is 38 years old.

Through two trials and several hearings over nearly two decades, his supporters had accused police and prosecutors of railroading Hunt with questionable witnesses despite the lack of physical evidence tying him to the crime. Then, last week, investigators looking into the case came up with a new DNA match - tying the crime to another man, Willard E. Brown, 43.

Police suspected Brown in the Sykes case early on after he was identified by the victim in another downtown rape. But investigators ruled him out because they believed he was in prison the day Sykes was killed as she walked to work at the now-closed Winston-Salem Sentinel. Investigators learned last week, after a database search of DNA samples turned up Brown's name, that he had been released on parole two months before Sykes died.

....Hunt was first convicted in Sykes death in 1985, but he won a new trial after a city manager's report blasted the police department for shoddy work in the investigation and the State Bureau of Investigation began its own investigation. At the second trial, in 1990, he was convicted again.

Even though DNA testing four years later excluded Hunt as the source of the semen collected from the crime scene, a judge denied Hunt's motion for a third trial, saying the DNA results didn't necessarily clear him of involvement. Hunt continued to fight the conviction, and earlier this year, at the request of his attorneys, a new round of DNA testing was ordered to compare the Sykes sample against state and federal databases of DNA profiles taken from convicted felons. That testing turned up the match with Brown.

Brown, already jailed for a probation violation, is now is now charged with murder, rape, kidnapping and armed robbery. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

Mr. Hunt, in a telephone call from jail on Tuesday, had this to say:

"Basically I was trying not to get overexcited because we had been close before and let down," Hunt said. "Everyone was basically wishing me luck, telling me this was finally it. They were praying for me, the guards and the inmates."

Here's an update on Jeb Bush's attempt to install 'faith-based' prisons in Florida. Our background post on the issue from Dec. 3, when Ashcroft went to Florida to push the program, is here, .

It's not just Jeb. GW wants to institutionalize religious bias as well, as we reported here.

Bush is trying to get Congress to exempt religious groups from adhering to anti-discrimination laws on hiring policies. He wants the groups to be able to discriminate based on religion and sexual orientation.