Financially beleaguered Real Housewife of Tampa co-star Jill Kelley thought she'd try her hand at a business deal (using her closeness to Gen. David Petraeus and her honorary South Korea title.) She was rebuffed as an amateur, when she asked for an $80 million commission.

Adam Victor, president of TransGas Development in New York, recounts the adventure to the Tampa Bay Times. He met Kelley at an event at the Tampa Convention Hall at the Republican National Convention.

Victor said Kelley described herself as a close friend to Petraeus, which impressed him. In fact, he said, Kelley told him she might help him with a coal gasification project in South Korea. She said she could gain him access to the highest levels of the South Korean government, Victor said. Kelley told him she was an honorary consul for South Korea, and Victor said she told him she had obtained the position with the help of Petraeus.

Kelley followed up with Victor at a meeting in New York (his company flew her there first class.) Kelley told him that if the deal went through, she expected an $80 million commission. [More....]

I wonder if there will be a new episode today in the Real Housewives of Tampa. (h/t Mike Ditto.) Don't socialites lose standing when their friends find out they are broke? I wonder if the parties are over.

Aurora shooting suspect James Holmes had to have his court date continued. He's been hurting himself at the jail, slamming his head into concrete cell walls, and had to go to the hospital.

Mitt Romney figured out why he lost the election (snark):

The 2012 Republican presidential nominee told top donors in a conference call Obama followed the "old playbook" of offering big-government largess to win votes from specific interest groups, "especially the African-American community, the Hispanic community and young people," The New York Times, one of two newspapers on the call, reported.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett today announced his office will dismiss all pending cases charging adult possession of up to an ounce of marijuana and/or related drug paraphernalia.

District Attorney Stan Garnett will dismiss all pending criminal cases of possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, saying the overwhelming support for Amendment 64 in Boulder County makes it highly unlikely a jury would ever reach a guilty verdict in any of those cases.

"You've seen an end to mere possession cases in Boulder County under my office," Garnett said Wednesday, becoming the first Colorado district attorney to drop pot cases because Colorado voters approved Amendment 64 earlier this month.

Boulder police responded by announcing they will no longer issue citations for these offenses: [More...]

The FBI agent/friend of Jill Kelley who brought the anonymous e-mails she received to the FBI is Frederick W. Humphries. Humprhies works on terrorism cases. His friends describe him as obsessive, with "experience in counterterrorism, conservative political views and a reputation for aggressiveness."

Humphries and his wife were "social friends" with Jill Kelley. Humphries contacted Rep. Dave Reichert because he was convinced the FBI was stalling the case for political reasons. Reichert connected him with Eric Cantor, who passed his info on to FBI Director Mueller.

A friend of Humphries says the shirtless photo was sent years earlier and was "a joke." The Kelley and Humphries families often exchanged photos of each other.

First penalties: Paula Broadwell lost her security clearance today and Jill Kelley lost her special clearance to access the MacDill military base. [More...]

The 11 Show, starring me, today at 11. Keeping up with the Petraeuses and a preemptive strike on Tom Friedman. How to Listen Your options to listen LIVE:

• Click on the embedded Flash player below
• Go to netrootsradio.com and click on the embedded player or direct link there
Click on this direct link if you need a non-Flash player, say, for iPad or iPhone
• iPad and iPhone users can download the SHOUTCast Radio app for your mobile device and search for "Netroots Radio"
• For Android: Try either the "StreamFurious" or "TuneIn" apps
• BlackBerry users, see this guide by idbecrazyif

Listen to Daily Kos Radio right here:The Daily Kos Radio Player

Non-Flash

Best bet for listening is the non-flash link with winamp or a similar listening software.

Open Thread.

There are lots of articles about the background of Tampa socialite and party planner Jill Kelley and her twin sister, lawyer Natalie Khawam, and their access to top military officials, here and in the Middle East, including Gen. David Petraeus and John Allen.

The first question that comes to mind: Why were Gen. Allen and Jill Kelley, who has no particular expertise in foreign affairs, the military or Government, exchanging 20 to 30,000 pages of documents (including several hundred e-mails) over a two year period? What documents would be of mutual interest to a party planner socialite and a top General? It doesn't sound like there was any romantic relationship between them, so what was their mutual interest? Was she feeding him information? About what? Where did she get the documents she sent him? What documents was he sending her?

[T]he bureau turned over a mountain of documents to Pentagon officials, including an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 pages, based largely on communication between Allen and Kelley, prompting Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to order an inspector general inquiry.

[More...]

I'll be at the jail the rest of the day. Here's an open thread for other news.

Jill Kelley has retained lawyer Abbe Lowell and crisis manager Judy Smith, who once represented Monica Lewinsky. Like Paula Broadwell, she is married to a physician, cancer surgeon Scott Kelley. Jill Kelley has a twin sister Natalie Khawam, who recently lost an ugly custody battle. Both Petraeus and Gen. Allen wrote support letters in support of her attempt to overturn the ruling. (You can read them here.)

Kelley, who grew up in Philadelphia, is of Lebanese descent. Her family, Maronite Catholics, immigrated from Jounieh, Lebanon, in the mid-1970s, according to a 1988 article about her family's restaurant, Sahara, in The Philadelphia Inquirer. She has a twin sister, Natalie, the article said.

[more...]

Gen. John Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, is now under investigation for alleged "inappropriate communications" with David Petraeus' friend Jill Kelley -- the Tampa woman who asked her FBI agent friend (who is also under investigation) to help find out who was sending her harassing e-mails.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in a written statement issued to reporters aboard his aircraft, en route from Honolulu to Perth, Australia, that the FBI referred the matter to the Pentagon on Sunday. Panetta said that he ordered a Pentagon investigation of Allen on Monday.

The FBI is going through 20,000 to 30,000 pages of communications between Kelley and Allen between 2010 and 2012. When did Gen. Allen have time for work? And if Kelley was not a paid Government employee, what were she and Allen exchanging? Books from Amazon? [More...]

The 11 Show, starring me, today at 11. How to Listen Your options to listen LIVE:

• Click on the embedded Flash player below
• Go to netrootsradio.com and click on the embedded player or direct link there
Click on this direct link if you need a non-Flash player, say, for iPad or iPhone
• iPad and iPhone users can download the SHOUTCast Radio app for your mobile device and search for "Netroots Radio"
• For Android: Try either the "StreamFurious" or "TuneIn" apps
• BlackBerry users, see this guide by idbecrazyif

Listen to Daily Kos Radio right here:The Daily Kos Radio Player

Non-Flash

Yesterday's show accessible on the flip.

The FBI began searching Paula Broadwell's home around 8:40 pm ET tonight, according to WCNC reporter Dianne Gallagher, who is updating on Twitter. The search is still going on. Gallaher says there are lots of media outside the home, and she'll have a live report at 11 (RT) on WCNC.

Broadwell and her husband were out of town on a romantic getaway to celebrate her 40th birthday when the scandal broke. Friday night, her husband emailed guests who were scheduled to attend a birthday party for her, telling them it was canceled. It sounds like they haven't been home since, although they checked out Friday. The Broadwells are now at an undisclosed location. [More...]

Iranian blogger Sattar Beheshti, was arrested on October 30 for cybercrimes and dead a week later. He had been interrogated and according to an Iranian prosecutor, his body showed signs of torture in several places.

Before he died, Behesti wrote this letter to the head of Evin Prison. Yesterday, Iran announced an investigation into Behesti's death. More here.

Three of his interrogators were arrested. [More...]