The U.S. Sentencing Commission has released its report on sentencing in child p*rn cases. It makes several recommendations, including lowering penalties for some offenders.

The Commission believes that the current non-production guideline warrants revision in view of its outdated and disproportionate enhancements related to offenders’ collecting behavior as well as its failure to account fully for some offenders’ involvement in child pornography communities and sexually dangerous behavior. The current guideline produces overly severe sentencing ranges for some offenders, unduly lenient ranges for other offenders, and widespread inconsistent application.

The executive summary is here and the full report is here. The findings and recommendations are here.

Republicans will make a political issue out of anything, even the implementation of existing legal and humane policies concerning undocumented immigrants.

Here is the December, 2012 Detainee Guidance Policy. It limits the use of detainers to individuals who meet the Department's enforcement priorities and restricts the use of detainers against those arrested for minor misdemeanor offenses such as traffic offenses and other petty crimes. The policy is intended to ensure that available resources are focused on apprehending felons, repeat offenders and other ICE priorities. [More...]

I'm off to court and then to the office to pick up my new iMac, which was delivered early this morning.

Update: I'm home from court and about to set up my new iMac. Thanks again to the very generous TL reader who bought it for me, and those who contributed back in December. The contributions will be great for the accessories I'm sure I'll want to add. If you are going to order one, I suggest you have it sent to wherever you are going to set it up. It weighs about 25 pounds and is an odd shape, larger on the bottom than the top, making it awkward to carry. (I had to use a dolly, which is not easy with all the ice and snow around, to get it to the car. But we both survived.)

Back to regular blogging tomorrow. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision written by Justice Alito, today ruled civil rights groups and lawyers representing Guantanamo detainees lacked standing to challenge the 1998 FISA Amendment that allowed their overseas conversations and e-mails to be intercepted. The case is Clapper v. Amnesty International, the opinion is here.

Split 5-4 on ideological lines, with conservatives backing the government and the liberal wing in the minority, the country's highest court said none of the three categories, including human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have legal standing to sue because they could not show they had suffered any injury.

The ACLU, which filed the lawsuit, says: [More...]

(Also see update at the end.)

At Christmas time, I wrote that I would love to get the new iMac as a gift from readers. Lots of you contributed but not enough to buy one. A few weeks ago, a very generous TalkLeft reader bought one for me. I've been patiently waiting for it to arrive. Today was the day, according to Apple and Fedex, it should have arrived at my office.

I was so excited. But it never came. Around 3 pm, I checked the Fedex tracking system. And there it was: Lie Number 1. Fedex falsely said they tried to deliver it and no one was available to accept it. [More...]

Best take on Seth McFarlane by Alex Pappademas:

Contempt

That too-long-by-about-three-halves Captain Kirk bit hinged on the idea that Seth MacFarlane cared about how he'd be remembered as an Oscar host, which meant it was the evening's best joke. Dude made Ted, dude makes hundreds of millions of dollars making Family Guy and was probably the richest person to host the Oscars since Johnny Carson; dude is long, long past the point where the opinions expressed by Entertainment Weekly (or in morning-after roundups like this one) will cost him a millisecond of editing-room-tanning-bed shut-eye. (Also he hates women, so that was 51 percent of the Oscar-opinion-having population factored out right there.) Really, honestly, and truly not giving a sh[*]t is life's cheat code; MacFarlane radiated confidence because he knew, probably from the moment he took the gig, that he wouldn't be invited back. Ricky Gervais's I'm–a–naughty–Golden Globe–host routine is the obvious comparison, but you always knew Gervais was negging Hollywood because he wanted its respect. MacFarlane was in this to offend, and therefore the only truly offensive thing about his performance was its cynicism.

The night begins. Big Tent Democrat's predictions are here. Is Nate Silver as good at predicting Hollywood as he is elections? Here are his predictions.

Enjoy the show, everyone. [More....]

The red carpet is in full swing. I had to turn off E! because I don't like Kelly O. and their manicure magnifier was so ridiculously pointless. Who wants to listen to actresses talk about their nails?

I'm now watching TVGN with the Bachelor's Chris Harrison. He gets better every year, and it's actually pleasant to watch with some meaningful questions about the reason for the event: the movies.

I've never even heard of Seth McFarlane who is hosting tonight. A quick search of Google doesn't leave me expecting much. It's been years since a host did anything spontaneous, so it probably doesn't matter much who is hosting.

Who did you think looked great? Awful? What network are you watching? Updates to follow.

Yes, I still exist. Busy busy. But not too busy for some "investing" fun today - Oscars Edition, on the flip:

Eugene Collier of Oregon thought he saw something on all fours crouching at the edge of his property. Thinking it might be a bear, Collier, an experienced hunter, shot it. The target he fatally shot turned out to be Marine reservist Christopher Ochoa.

Eugene Collier admits he was shooting to kill when he fired the .270-caliber bullet that caused Christopher Ochoa’s death on Oct 21, 2011. But he thought he was shooting at a bear.

Collier, who has been a hunter for 60 years, and his grandson had gone hunting for the weekend, and were staying at Collier's cabin in the woods. When he first realized he shot a human, he froze, thinking maybe he had shot his grandson.

Collier said it wasn’t until he was 100 yards away from his target that he knew he had shot a human. “I froze. I thought the only person up there was my grandson, then I realized he wasn’t dressed like that.”

[More...]

George Zimmerman will not be allowed to depose Benjamin Crump, the judge ruled today.

The hearing is going on now, you can watch live here.

I'm out for most of the day. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.