I suppose everyone has their bottom line about a luxury with which they refuse to part. In Al Sharpton's case, it is the power breakfast at the New York Lowes' Regency Hotel, which is closing for a year for renovations. He says, of the restaurant that charges $8 for a cup of coffee and $24 for an omelette:

“All my life, I’ve fought for the 99 percent, but I guess this time I will have to fight for the 1 percent to have a place to have breakfast.”

What does he like about it so much?

Where else, he asked, would a United States senator like Barbara Boxer stop by his table in a jogging suit, without makeup, to harangue him about what to discuss on his talk show on MSNBC?

One person who is probably glad to see the hotel close is John Edwards: It's where Rielle Hunter picked him up at the bar the fateful evening they met. If only he'd gone to a different hotel for drinks, his entire life might have turned out differently. [More...]

Last week I wrote about Manhattan federal court Judge Katherine Forrest's granting of a permanent injunction against the indefinite detention provision of the National Defense Authorization Act. Her 112 page opinion is here.

The feds sought a stay pending appeal from Judge Forrest but she denied it.

Today, the feds appealed to the Second Circuit, seeking an emergency stay of Judge Forrest's ruling. Wired has the details and the 154 page brief is here. [More...]

A hearing is underway in federal court in North Carolina to determine whether new evidence, when considered collectively rather than piecemeal, is sufficient to overturn the murder convictions of former Army surgeon and Green Beret Jeffrey MacDonald, imprisoned since 1982 for the 1970 Charles Manson-style attack on his wife and daughters.

Here is the 2008 order denying relief. In 2011, the Appeals court reversed and ordered a new hearing. [More...]

Weeds ends tonight, for good, with an hour long finale. I could watch a few more seasons.

Boardwalk Empire begins a new season tonight.

The new judges for American Idol are set: Mariah Carey, Nicki Minnaj and Keith Urban. Is Keith the counter to Blake Shelton on the Voice? Randy Jackson is back as the fourth judge. Check out these salaries:

According to sources, Carey’s contract with the show, factoring in allowances for wardrobe, hair and makeup, is worth close to $18 million. Minaj will pocket a cool $12 million for her part with Urban coming in at half the price. Seacrest earns $15 million a year and is committed to the show for two more seasons. The new judges are locked in for one year. Worth noting: Jackson also co-manages Carey.

What Idol needs is better contestants. The last couple of seasons have been boring. The Voice and X-Factor have better singers. This is an open thread, all topics, tv-related or not, welcome.

Pretty clever. This is the bleeped version, the original is here. H/T to Fishcamp.

The State Department has ordered the departure of all non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Tunisia and Sudan and advises Americans not to travel to either country.

On September 15, 2012, the Department of State ordered the departure of all dependents of U.S. direct hire personnel and all non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Sudan, following the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum.

...On September 14, 2012 the Department of State ordered the departure of all non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Tunisia, following the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tunis

The fastest way to get updates on State Department advisories is probably through its twitter feed. Here is the State Department's list of countries with current warnings.

The FBI says it is too dangerous to send agents into Libya right now to investigate the embassy attack. [More...]

California film producer Nakoula Basseley Nakoula has been released after voluntarily going to an LA Sheriff's station to be questioned by federal probation officers. According to sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore, he decided not to return to his besieged home and was taken to an undisclosed location. His most recent attorney, Steven Seidman, who did not represent him in his federal bank fraud case for which he is on supervised release, visited the home this morning saying he was not at liberty to discuss his representation.

Nakoula is a Coptic Christian. In his federal case, an Arabic translator was required and appeared at all proceedings. He is a U.S. citizen. His lawyer in the case was James Henderson, Sr., who replaced Jack Whitaker due to a potential conflict of interest issue that arose.

Nakoula was detained in that case since his arrest in June, 2009. The Government asserted he was an extreme flight risk. He did not contest detention. After cooperating with the government in exchange for leniency at sentencing, in June, 2010, he was sentenced to 21 months, to be followed by 6 months in a halfway house. The Judge recommended he serve his sentence at Lompoc, and BOP records show his release date as June, 2011. There is no indication in the court record of any subsequent violations. He was also ordered to pay $794,700.57, in restitution. [More...]

Today's picks:

Michigan State -6 over Notre Dame (5 units), Georgia -42 over Florida Atlantic (2 units), Houston +17 over UCLA (2 units), LSU -42½ over Idaho (2 units), Mississippi +10 over Texas, Utah +3½ over BYU (2 units), Boise State -21 over Miami Ohio (2 units), Georgia Tech -10 over Virginia (2 units), Ohio State -17 over California (3 units), Mississippi State -16 over Troy, Northwestern -3½ over Boston College (2 units), Virginia Tech -10½ over Pittsburgh, USC -9 over Stanford (5 units), Nebraska -23 over Arkansas State, Texas A&M -11 over SMU, Arkansas +20 over Alabama, Connecticut -3 over Maryland, TCU -21 over Kansas (2 units).

EPL specials - Chelsea (-1) and Manchester City (-1).

SEASON RECORD - 19-20 ATS, -4 investment units.

Open Thread.

The U.S. Marines have arrived in Yemen following an attack there on the U.S. embassy.

Closer to home, bomb threats at University of Texas and North Dakota State University have led to evacuations.

Rhonda Weldon, the school’s director of communications, said the university received a call about 8:35 a.m. from a man claiming to be affiliated with Al Qaeda. The man said he'd placed bombs all over the campus that would detonate in 90 minutes.

There have also been attacks on embassies in Tunisia and Sudan.

The protests are rapidly escalating around the world. The U.S. has now identified Nakoula Basseley Nakoula as the a self-described Coptic Christian, as the key figure behind the anti-Muslim film that sparked the protests. He is on federal probation in California for bank fraud and the Probation Department confirms they are reviewing his case to see if he violated his probation. One of the terms was he could not use the internet. Authorities say he is "a self-described Coptic Christian."

Twitter has given up its fight against a court order requiring it to turn over tweets of Wall St Protester Malcolm Harris. It provided the tweets to the court today.

Harris was one of hundreds arrested during a mass protest on the Brooklyn Bridge in October 2011. The Manhattan district attorney's office wants the tweets, which are no longer available online, to try to undermine Harris' argument that police officers appeared to lead protesters on to the bridge's roadway only to arrest them for obstructing traffic.

The Harris case was unusual because Twitter joined the case as a third party, seeking to prevent the disclosure. On June 30, the Court ordered Twitter to comply.

[More...]

Busy day. No blogging by me.

Open Thread.

Here's the podcast from my show today on Daily Kos Radio:

The 11 Show Daily Kos Radio 09.13.2012 by Blue Skies Radio

NBC release polls for Florida, Ohio and Virginia, President Obama leads in each among Likely voters. In Florida and Virginia, he leads by 5, and in Ohio he leads by 7.

Open Thread.