The Senate last night approved Sen. Diane Feinstein's Amendment to the NDAA banning military detention of U.S. citizens and green card holders arrested on U.S. soil. It passed 67 to 29. 20 Republicans joined the 46 Democrats in approving the Amendment. The Amendment states:

"An authorization to use military force, a declaration of war, or any similar authority shall not authorize the detention without charge or trial of a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States apprehended in the United States, unless an Act of Congress expressly authorizes such detention."

Unfortunately, the Senate also passed the Ayotte Amendment preventing the use of funds to transfer or release detainees from Guantanamo to the U.S. The vote was 51 to 44 in favor of the ban.

The ACLU says Feinstein's Amendment doesn't go far enough. Here's why: [More...]

Dominique Strauss-Kahn may have reached a settlement the civil suit brought by the New York hotel housekeeper.

The U.N. has upgraded Palestine's status to that of "non-member observer state."

The 193-member U.N. body voted 138 to 9 in favor of a resolution that stops well short of conferring independence on the Palestinians, but grants their territory limited privileges as a state, including the right to join international treaty bodies. Forty-one countries abstained

Bradley Manning will be allowed to plead guilty to 7 or 8 charges carrying a possible sentence of 16 years. [More...]

How much trouble can your insta-messaging and texting get you into? Plenty.

Two former stockbrokers, age 34 and 32, who later went to law school together and are now lawyers, were indicted yesterday in the Southern District of New York for insider trading while they were stockbrokers. One is a lawyer in Denver. He was arrested today at his home in Lousiville, CO.

They texted about wanting to avoid jail and not end up like Martha Stewart. The odd thing about the Indictment: The "unindicted co-conspirators" (my translation: cooperators) made $700k. The Colorado lawyer made $2,500.00. (His indicted pal made $130 k.) The unindicted co-conspirator who started spreading the word is from Australia and returned there when he learned of the investigation.

Not only did this young lawyer get indicted for his $2,500. gain, the Southern District of New York is asking he be held without bond. The lawyer made his first appearance in court in Denver today, and according to the docket, he was remanded into custody and detention hearing will be held tomorrow. He's got a good lawyer, and I can't imagine he won't be granted bond, but still, seeking pre-trial detention seems like overkill by the U.S. Attorney's office. [More...]

I'll be in court today. If BTD comes by, and is going to be on the radio, I hope he'll add the details so everyone can listen.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

There were two winning tickets in the $579.9 million powerball lottery last night. But check all your numbers anyway:

An additional 8,924,123 players won smaller prizes.

The winning numbers: 5, 16, 22, 23, 29 and Powerball of 6.

Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) today introduced an Amendment to the NDAA that would ban indefinite detention of U.S. citizens.

The language of the amendment assures that no authorization to use military force, war declaration or any similar authority would allow an American apprehended in the United States to be held without charge or trial.

Co-sponsors include Senators Paul (R-Ky.), Coons (D-Del.), Collins (R-Maine), Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Kirk (D-Ill.), Tester (D-Mont.), Johnson (D-S.D.), Sanders (I-Vt.), Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Baucus (D-Mont.) and Heller (R-Nev.)

The 668 page NDAA bill for 2013 is S. 3254, available here.

Sen. Diane Feinstein today released a Nov. 15 study by the GAO on the feasibility of housing Guantanamo detainees in U.S. prisons. The study does not make a recommendation, but it reports that it's feasible. It finds 6 Defense Department prisons and 98 BOP prisons would be able to house them. The full study is here. Wired reports on the study here.

In other Guantanamo news, the ACLU and several other human rights group have sent this letter to President Obama urging him to veto the NDAA if it extends the ban on transferring Guantanamo detainees to the U.S.[More...]

George Zimmerman today announced a change in his legal defense fund. The fund will be transferred to an independent manager of George's choosing and be hosted on a website that is not affiliated with his legal team. The new website is up and running here. The site says the monies will go (in order) to: George's living expenses, costs of litigation, and if any remains, to legal fees. Neither Mark O'Mara or Don West have been paid any fees to date.

The announcement is not on the George Zimmerman legal case website maintained by Mark O'Mara. He merely tweeted a link to it.

The new site says the change is at George's request and more active solicitation of funds is likely. My translation: O'Mara was fine with accepting donations, but as a lawyer, actively soliciting funds can be dicey. By removing the fund from his lawyer's trust account and control, George can avoid many of the restrictions contained in the rules of professional responsibility applicable to lawyers, particularly as to what can be said about his case publicly. [More...]

Congrats to Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani for winning the mirror ball trophy on Dancing With the Stars. Melissa is a terrific dancer -- I thought she should have won in 2009. This season, I only watched the last two shows since I boycotted DWTS due to Bristol Palin being on again, but I've watched Melissa dance enough over the years to believe she deserved it.

Also fun on last night's show: the Gangnam Style number . Psy is up to 831 million views of Gangnam Style today. More power to him. [More...]

Federal judges have been complaining for a long time that our child p*rn penalties are too high. In 2010, judges departed below the sentencing guidelines or granted downward variances in 43% of cases. (For other crimes, the average departure rate was 18%.)

So what does Congress do? Yesterday, the Congress that agrees on nothing, agreed on increasing child p*rn penalties. The statutory maximum will be 20 intstead of 10 years in cases involving pre-pubescent children or those under age 12. The bill, already passed by the House, passed the Senate yesterday on a voice vote and will now go to President Obama for signing. Here's the text of the bill that passed yesterday. [More...]

A giant passes.

Marvin Miller, RIP.

The Powerball has grown to $500 million.

Apple begins sales of its new iMacs on Friday. They are pretty impressive looking.

Sen. Patrick Leahy has introduced his latest amendment to to the e-mail privacy bill which would require a search warrant to access the content of stored e-mails, regardless of age. [More...]