Bump and Update: After suffering a cardiac arrest this morning, Hector "Macho" Comacho was removed from life support. His heart stopped shortly thereafter. His organs cannot be donated due to the length of time he was on life support after being declared brain dead.

A funeral will be held Tuesday in Santurce, PR. The family wanted to take him back to New York for a funeral and burial, but they said his financial condition didn't allow for it, unless he was cremated. Maybe one of the many media networks replaying his fights and career highlights, like ESPN Classic which is airing 7 hours of this fights today, will donate some of their advertising dollars for the trip to New York. [More...]

Today's picks (2 units unless otherwise indicated): Georgia Tech +14½ over Georgia, Mississippi State +1½ over Mississippi, Virginia +10 over Virginia Tech, Stanford -2 over UCLA, Tulsa -5 over SMU, Oklahoma State +7 over Oklahoma, Vanderbilt -12 over Wake Forest, South Carolina +4 over Clemson, Oregon -10 over Oregon State (7 units), Pittsburgh -2 over Rutgers, Texas Tech +3 over Baylor, Penn State -3 over Wisconsin, Ohio State -3½ over Michigan (3 units), Connecticut +12 over Louisville, USC +6 over Notre Dame (3 units), San Jose State (+5) over La Tech (3 units.)

In the only game that matters, Florida (+7) over FSU. Go Gators!

Open Thread.

Two weeks ago, the U.S. denied Russia's request to return Viktor Bout to Russia under the 1983 Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons. The full letter of denial is here. DOJ's reasons:

"The United States denied the transfer application because the prisoner has a pending appeal, because of the seriousness of the offense, because of serious law enforcement concerns and because the prisoner is a poor candidate due to his criminal history."

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said it won't give up. It believes Bout's extradition from Thailand to the U.S. and his prosecution were politically motivated. [More...]

Bonus Friday college football picks (all picks 2 units):

Arizona -3 over Arizona State, Cincinnati -14 over South Florida, Washington State +14 over Washington, Nebraska -15 over Iowa, LSU -12½ over Arkansas, Utah -23 over Colorado, Iowa State +1½ over West Virginia, Ohio +9½ over Kent State, and Syracuse -8 over Temple.

For kdog:

Open Thread.

Of all the Thanksgiving Day traditions, my favorite is still the one that comes at noon, when KBCO in Boulder (and other stations around the country) play the 23 minute version of Arlo Guthrie singing "Alice's Restaurant" in 1967. While everyone else is cooking turkey, the TL kid and I are eating bacon and eggs and listening with the sound turned up loud, smiling as if it's the first time we've ever heard it. If your local station isn't playing it, you can stream it live (noon MT) here.

Or, you can pick your own time and listen, courtesy of KDKP in Arizona. But you'll miss that special feeling that comes with knowing thousands of others around the country are listening at the same time and sharing the tradition. How to describe it? It's like our nation has a liberal anthem, but only for one day each year, so you don't want to miss it when it comes around.

Two other songs I like listening to on Thanksgiving: [More...]

President Obama is going to pardon the turkey with the most Facebook friends.

India today executed Ajmal Kasab by hanging. Kasab, 25, was the sole surviving terrorist carrying out the November, 2008 Mumbai attacks. More here. His defense team welcomed the speedy execution.

In Chicago, David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Rana have yet to be sentenced. Rana, acquitted of participating in the Mumbai attacks but convicted of conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist conspiracy to maim and murder people in Denmark, and providing material support to the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT). is set for sentencing on December 4. He faces 30 years.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Update: Reuters reports a ceasefire has been agreed to.

Yesterday a truce between Israel and Hamas seemed very close. Hillary Clinton traveled from Israel to Egypt for further truce talks. Today, a truce seems less likely. As to what's changed?

Hamas has stepped up its rocket launches into Israel, firing 80 missles into southern Israel in the past 24 hours. 20 were intercepted, in Ashkelon, Beersheba, Be'er Tuviya, Hof Ashkelon and Ashdod.

A package bomb was placed on a bus in Tel Aviv today (no deaths, several injured, seems to be the work of amateur terrorists). On al Aqsa (Hamas) TV: "G-d willing, we will soon see black body bags."

In Gaza yesterday, a Hamas gunman executed 6 people believed to be Israeli collaborators. The bodies were then tied to a motorcyle and dragged through the streets. Photos here, video here. [More...]

Yesterday, Declan McCullagh of CNET wrote an article stating that Sen. Patrick Leahy, bowing to pressure from conservatives and law enforcement groups, was revising his proposed bill amending the Electronic Communication Privacy Act (ECPA) to strengthen privacy rights and now going in the opposite direction. He posted a draft of a leaked copy of the amended bill (available here.) McCullagh wrote:

Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has dramatically reshaped his legislation in response to law enforcement concerns, according to three individuals who have been negotiating with Leahy's staff over the changes. A vote on his bill, which now authorizes warrantless access to Americans' e-mail, is scheduled for next week.

Leahy's rewritten bill would allow more than 22 agencies -- including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission -- to access Americans' e-mail, Google Docs files, Facebook wall posts, and Twitter direct messages without a search warrant.

Hours later, Sen. Leahy denied drafting or supporting the circulated revision of his proposed bill. [More...]

The Real Housewives of Tampa evolve into Desperate Housewives: If you thought Natalie Khawam and Gloria Allred were going to answer questions about Gen. Petraeus, Gen. Allen or her sister Jill Kelley's relationship with them, you'd be mistaken.

Today's news conference was a publicity fest about Khawam's custody battle which Allred wants to turn into a women's rights issue. Does anyone care that Natalie and Jill played softball and tennis and like cooking and playing chess and piano? [More...]

Getting busy now (no radio obviously). But here is an excellent post from Ed Kilgore on the The Phony War in the GOP over its future:

Yes, years from now conservatives will sit around campfires and sing songs about the legendary internecine battles of late 2012, when father fought son and brother fought brother across a chasm of controversy as to whether 98% or 99% of abortions should be banned; whether undocumented workers should be branded and utilized as “guest workers,” loaded onto cattle cars and shipped home, or simply immiserated; whether the New Deal/Great Society programs should be abolished in order to cut upper-income taxes or abolished in order to boost Pentagon spending. There’s also a vicious, take-no-prisons fight over how quickly to return the role of the federal government in the economy to its pre-1930s role as handmaiden to industry. Blood will flow in the streets as Republicans battle over how to deal with health care after Obamacare is repealed and 50 million or people lose health insurance. Tax credits and risk pools or just “personal responsibility?”

Heh, indeed. Open Thread.

I'm off to see Bruce Springsteen at the Pepsi Center -- tickets courtesy of Big Tent Democrat -- Thanks, BTD!

Update: Awesome seats, awesome concert. Reviews (with setlist) and pictures here and here.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The fighting continues as do truce talks. According to Israel Defense Forces:

Today 67 rockets fired from #Gaza hit #Israel. Overall, more than 650 rockets hit Israel in the last six days.

Israel says Hamas is using Palestinians as human shields. (Video here and here.)They are prepared to move to ground attacks if the rocket attacks don't stop.

The Iron Dome has stopped about 90% of the rockets fired into Israel. Here's how the Iron Dome works. [More...]