The New York Times has endorsed President Obama. It leads with the dangers of a Romney win:

• The economy is slowly recovering from the 2008 meltdown, and the country could suffer another recession if the wrong policies take hold.

• The United States is embroiled in unstable regions that could easily explode into full-blown disaster.

• An ideological assault from the right has started to undermine the vital health reform law passed in 2010. Those forces are eroding women’s access to health care, and their right to control their lives.

• Nearly 50 years after passage of the Civil Rights Act, all Americans’ rights are cheapened by the right wing’s determination to deny marriage benefits to a selected group of us. Astonishingly, even the very right to vote is being challenged.

As to Mitt:

President Obama laid out his second-term agenda in an off the record conversation with the Des Moines Register, which his campaign provided to the paper today with permission to publish. He says he will get immigration reform done in 2013. The full transcript is here.

"The second thing I'm confident we'll get done next year is immigration reform," Mr. Obama told the newspaper. "And since this is off the record, I will just be very blunt. Should I win a second term, a big reason I will win a second term is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community. And this is a relatively new phenomenon.

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This week's picks (2 units unless otherwise indicated, BEST BETS in BOLD):

Michigan +1½ over Nebraska (4 units), Oklahoma -13 over Notre Dame (5 units), Baylor +3 1/2 over Iowa State, Alabama -23 over Mississippi State, Oregon State -3½ over Washington (6 units), Texas A&M -14½ over Auburn (5 units), South Carolina -14 over Tennessee (4 units), Penn State +1 over Ohio State (3 units), Georgia Tech -3 over BYU, Missouri -14 over Kentucky, Arizona State -7 over UCLA (8 units), Maryland +3 over Boston College, Arkansas -6 over Mississippi, Wisconsin -6 over Michigan State (3 units), Arizona TO WIN +210 over USC, Georgia +7 over Florida, TCU +7 over Oklahoma State, Kansas State -7½ over Texas Tech.

Go Gators! Open thread.

Meatloaf skewers "America the Beautiful" at Mitt's campaign rally. As TMZ says, it was a "musical train wreck." Check out Mitt's reaction.

I'll be in court today, this is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The State's Attorney's Office has filed this Memorandum in support of its second motion for a gag order on attorneys in the George Zimmerman case. The pleading is not on the court's website yet, but Jeff Wiener of the Orlando Sentinel has posted it. He describes it here. The hearing on the motion is today at 1:30 p.m. Fox 35 Orlando will be live-streaming it.

It's not the defense that needs gagging. While I don't think Judge Nelson will issue a gag order, as opposed to just reminding all the lawyers they are subject to disciplinary rules for improper prejudicial extra-judicial comments, it's important to note that that the State asks in its Memorandum, as it did in its Second Motion for Gag Order (and its first motion in April) that the court restrict not just prosecutors, O'Mara and defense lawyers, but all lawyers "involved" with the prosecution or defense. [More...]

No rest for the weary.

Here's another open thread, all topics welcome.

This one played twice here last night.

Even if you don't care about the Presidential race, please vote yes on Amendment 64

October 30 is the last day to register to vote here by mail. Find out how to request a mail ballot, how to mail them in or drop them off, and just about any other information you might need at JustVoteColorado.org.[ more...]

Open Thread (plus snarky comment in the comments.)

Update: Michael Skakel lost his bid for parole. (Background here) It will be five years before he gets another chance.

I will be very busy at work and in court until late Friday afternoon. I won't have much, if any, time to check the news. I'm not sure of Big Tent Democrat's schedule, so there may be a lot of open threads until then.

Here's one for today, all topics welcome.

BTD - My schedule is sh*t. Lots of Open Threads coming your way.

Michael Skakel, whose parole hearing is today, has filed a libel suit against Nancy Grace, Tru-TV host Beth Karas, Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting, for falsely stating evidence of Michael Skakel's DNA was found near the scene of the crime.

In the segment, "Kennedy Cousin Asks Judge for Shorter Jail Time," Grace asks Karas if Skakel was masturbating in a tree near Moxley's window. Karas responds: "His DNA was found."

The lawsuit says that both Grace and Karas "are thoroughly familiar" with the fact that there was no DNA evidence linking Skakel to the Moxley murder.

Here's the video. Karas says his DNA was found and Nancy reminds her it was semen. Henry Lee testified at the trial that there was no direct evidence, no DNA, no semen:

Henry C. Lee, the former head of the Connecticut State Police and a renowned forensic criminologist, testified today that state prosecutors have no direct scientific evidence, like fingerprints or DNA, to connect Michael C. Skakel to the 1975 killing of Martha Moxley.

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I'm watching the local news. 7 news reports the crowd showing up for Mitt Romney tonight at Red Rocks tonight exceeded the outdoor amphitheater's 10,000 capacity. (The campaign gave out 25,000 tickets.)

Unless several thousand went to see Kid Rock perform for Romney instead of Romney himself that's a big showing. (Kid Rock sang Born Free and yes, I'm being facetious.) Also stumping for Romney at the event: New Mexico's female "Latino Governor" The news referred to her as "star power" and said the appearance of star power "wasn't an accident." The supporters placed closest to Romney were those holding signs that read "Democrats for Romney."

Traffic to Red Rocks was seriously delayed at rush hour, but the news said part of the reason was someone had hit a deer. [More...]

The full version of the October 19 hearing in the George Zimmerman case is now available without commentary on You Tube (Parts 1 and Part 2.)

Of particular interest to me are the issues surrounding Witness 8, aka "Dee Dee", Trayvon Martin's phone friend who reportedly was speaking with Travyon in the minutes leading up to the shooting. The media has referred to her as "Dee Dee", but her true identity is protected by court order (so please don't speculate on it here, that's not the point of this post.)

When Martin family lawyer Benjamin Crump held a press conference in Ft. Lauderdale on March 20, to introduce the nation to the existence of this witness, he played a tape recording of a telephone interview he conducted with her the day before. He said the interview shows George Zimmerman's version of the events leading up to the shooting are not believable. The transcript of his press conference is here. Crump announced he would send the recording to the Justice Department. Video is here (part 1) and here (part 2.) [More...]