Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other 9/11 defendants have hearings this week, beginning tomorrow at Guantanamo's court for military commissions -- their first hearings since May.

Reporters who are there tonight say on Twitter the number of reporters seems to have decreased by 50%. Some estimate only 25 reporters are there, and several of them are there for the first time, representing organizations such as Jesuit Weekly and the Bergen Record.

The defense lawyers complained today that the office space they were given is infested with rats, rat feces and mold and making them ill. They filed a Motion called "Mr. Mohammad's Emergency Motion to Delay the October 2012 Hearing due to Defense Offices Being Deemed Unsafe by the US Naval Hospital Guantanamo Bay due to the Presence of Hazardous Mold, Rodents, and Rodent Feces." While (naturally) the motion and responses are sealed, the Court's one sentence order denying the motion is available on the docket (choose the active case for KSM from the dropdown list and then the link for all documents at the bottom or the docket link.) [More...]

Arlen Specter has passed away. He was 82. A pretty important figure, from the "magic bullet" theory, to blocking Bork, to making sure Clarence Thomas was confirmed, to switching to the Democratic Party at the end of his career, Specter was always in the middle of contention.

When he was running for the Democratic nomination n 2010 against Joe Sestak, I got a chance to speak to him extensively. I'll write in more depth about him later, but for now, here are some links - On Kagan and Supporting the Public Option through the reconciliation process.

A moment of silence please, for the season of the New York Yankees, who won't be winning their 28th championship this year, and lost their captain, Derek Jeter, to a fractured ankle last night.

A sigh of relief for the Florida Gators, who survived a lackluster performance at Vandy to keep their season record perfect at 6-0. Next week, an angry South Carolina team coached by the greatest Florida Gator, the Old Ball Coach hisself, Steve Spurrier. A scary game for the Gators.

Finally, while I do not delve too much in to picking NFL games (too much variable in effort from these teams imo), I have to say that I think the 49ers (-7) over the New York FOOTBALL Giants seems like a terrific investment opportunity. The Giants have been lackluster all year. The 49ers are still fuming over their loss last year in the playoff game and Harbaugh is insane. Take the Niners, lay the 7. I expect a blowout. (My personal investment here will by 5 units.)

Open Thread.

POSTSCRIPT - Why not much on the state of the Presidential race? Because everything you might read, think or hear today will be overwhelmed by the most anticipated second Presidential debate since 1984 (when America wanted to know if Reagan was senile (he was, but everyone decided to pretend he wasn't cuz he got off that practiced one liner about Mondale"s "youth and inexperience.")) Whatever you read now is pointless. After Tuesday night we'll have an idea where we will stand in the race.

I'm a wreck. My Gators and my Yanks play tonight and it's tough sledding for both.

Open Thread.

The picks (2 units unless otherwise indicated):

TCU +7 over Baylor, USC -13 over Washington, Arkansas -17 over Kentucky (3 units), Louisiana Tech +9 over Texas A&M, South Carolina +3 over LSU (5 units), Vanderbilt +9 over Florida, Ohio State -17½ over Indiana, Oklahoma State -27½ over Kansas, Tennessee +3 over Mississippi State, California -7 over Washington State, Bowling Green -7½ over Miami Ohio, BYU -5½ over Oregon State (3 units), North Carolina -7½ over Miami (Florida) (5 units), Utah +9½ over UCLA (3 units), Maryland +1½ over Virginia (3 units), Missouri +21½ over Alabama, Notre Dame -7 over Stanford (5 units), Boise State -7 over Fresno State (3 units), Michigan -25 over Illinois, West Virginia -4½ over Texas Tech (5 units), SMU -18 over Tulane (3 units), Temple +5½ over Connecticut, Louisville -3 over Pittsburgh, Northwestern -3½ over Minnesota, Oklahoma -3½ over Texas (5 units), Iowa +9 over Michigan State, Army +3 over Kent State, Syracuse +7½ over Rutgers, Kansas State -7 over Iowa State, Wisconsin +2 over Purdue, Auburn +6 over Mississippi

Open Thread.

Via the New York Times: U.S. Rethinks a Drug War After Deaths in Honduras

All joint operations in Honduras are now suspended. Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, expressing the concerns of several Democrats in Congress, is holding up tens of millions of dollars in security assistance, not just because of the planes, but also over suspected human rights abuses by the Honduran police and three shootings in which commandos with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration effectively led raids when they were only supposed to act as advisers.

DEA's FAST program began under George W Bush. (Obama has extended it.) FAST stands for Foreign-deployed Advisory Support Team. In plain English, squads of commandos. It operates in Haiti, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Belize. Here's a powerpoint about it.

The Administration's total Drug War budget for 2013 is $25 billion. [More.]

Mitt Romney made a blood vessel in Jeralyn's eye pop with his demand she believe him and not her lying eyes. She's out of action because of Romney.

I'm out of action because I'm too nervous about my Yanks.

Will be back tomorrow with this week's disastrous college football picks.

Open Thread.

I'm watching the Yankees. You're on your own.

Go Yanks! Go Biden!

Ok, one quick comment on the debate - Biden kicked ass of course. But what really worked was he did it as Joe Biden, the authentic Joe Biden. That's why it really worked.

CBS snap poll - Biden 50-31 winner among Independents (uncommitted voters.).

Sorry CNN, Biden kicked his ass.

Looks like we need another open thread. I will be watching the debate and look forward to reading your comments tomorrow. I just got a broken blood vessel in my eye a few hours ago, and will be offline tonight to give my eyes some rest.

If Big Tent Democrat is available, he'll start a new thread for the debate.

For this thread, all topics welcome.

I mentioned this speech from FDR in my appearance with David Waldman on Daily Kos Radio yesterday, and Ed Kilgore dug up the You Tube:

Notice the similarities between Bill Clinton's lines and style in the You Tube below and FDR's speech. Our 2 best pols of the last century might be worth studying for the Obama/Biden reelection campaign.

I've often said Obama is a great politician, but maybe not so great in a slugfest filled with lying liars. Worth looking at a couple of the great ones in such a situation.

Open Thread.

I was on Kagro in the Morning for Daily Kos Radio today. You can listen here.

Big Dog on Mitt Romney:

Open Thread.

Another busy day. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Update: Jerry Sandusky sentenced to 30 to 60 years.