I'll be on Daily Kos Radio with Jesse LaGreca today at 11 Eastern. Listen here.

Open Thread.

New Zealand High Court Judge Winkelmann delivered a solid win to Kim Dotcom and his Megaupload codefendants late yesterday. Judge Winkelmann upheld District Court Judge David Harvey's order directing the U.S. to disclose evidence to the defense for use at the extradition hearing.

Kim Dotcom's extradition has become less certain after a judgment which will see the FBI having to prove it has the evidence to back up its charges - and a finding the legal document asking he be sent for trial in the United States did not comply with the law.

[More...]

I don't usually read articles about Zumba, but when looking for news about Kim Dotcom in the New Zealand Herald tonight, I came across a new series of articles and videos about Zumba and I got sucked in.

First, Zumba flew a reporter from New Zealand to Florida to attend its annual instructor's conference in Orlando last week. Attending the convention: 8,000 instructors from 80 countries. Here's his video report on the "United Nations of Zumba."

Second, Zumba, which is already said to be worth a half billion dollars, is branching out into the music business. With 14 million people now taking Zumba classes, it figures who needs radio stations? Zumba Fitness CEO Beto Perlman says:

We have 14 million people and we're democratic. They are all listening to the music that we give them.

So why not make deals directly with the artists, whose music they will feed directly to the Zumba-ites at classes, where music is already a key component? Instead of buying music heard on the radio, millions will buy a song after dancing to it at Zumba class. Pretty clever. It's a win-win -- Zumba classes won't get stale, artists make some money, and Zumba rakes in millions. [More...]

Ross Douthat:

Most Republicans would have been happy posing as deficit-reducers while arguing for deficit-financed tax cuts. But Ryan, despite his own supply-side sympathies, deliberately drew up a plan for deficit reduction that would work with our current tax code, and doesn’t require any rosy fantasies about how tax cuts will spur unprecedented growth. [Emphasis supplied.]

Wait, what?

Ryan’s assumptions provide the key to understanding his political thinking. He predicts that his plan would bring in more revenue from increased economic activity even while cutting the top tax rate and corporate rate from 35 percent to 25 percent, adopting the supply-side theories that he has subscribed to since he was at Miami University of Ohio. [Emphasis supplied.]

It's the old cut taxes on the rich + ? = Prosperity gnome plan. Get this:

If Rep. Paul Ryan’s newly unveiled 2012 budget is signed into law, this is what Ryan’s economic forecasters say will happen: The unemployment rate will plunge by 2.5 percentage points. The still-sinking housing market will roar back in a brand new boom. The federal government will collect $100 billion more in income tax revenues than it otherwise would have. And that’s just in the first year. By 2015, the forecasters say, unemployment will fall to 4 percent. By 2021, it will be a nearly unprecedented 2.8 percent.

Sounds like a "rosy fantasy" to me. Ross Douthat is both a fool and a knave.

I'll be on Daily Kos Radio with Jesse LaGreca today at 11 Eastern. Listen here. (Tech should not be an issue today.)

Open Thread.

Today is the day that hundreds of thousands of undocumented young persons who have been residing in this country can start applying for a two year period of protection from deportation.

Under President Obama's recent order, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is handling the applications. The forms became available today.

Individuals requesting consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals must submit Form I-821D, Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization (with accompanying fees); and an I-765WS, Worksheet. USCIS recently developed a series of resources to inform the on how the process will work. The website, www.uscis.gov/childhoodarrivals, includes a flier, a How do I brochure, frequently asked questions, and a number of other resources. USCIS encourages individuals with questions to visit this website or call the USCIS National Customer Service line at 1-800-375-5283.

[More...]

The New York Times had an article yesterday about impoverished grandmothers in Swaziland who are growing Swazi Gold to support themselves and the orphaned grandchildren they are raising, many of whose mothers died of Aids. They are high up in the hills near a place called Piggs Peak. They fear the police.

Maybe they ought to fear the DEA who could decide to make Piggs Peak the next stop on their excellent African Adventures tour.

If you don't think the DEA is in Swaziland, you'd be wrong. The DEA has an office in South Africa, where is where the Times says the grandmothers' pot ends up, which covers:

Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Central African Republic, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Mada-gascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

[More..]

Vogue Magazine has a 9 page interview with Chelsea Clinton in its September issue, which will be on the newsstands August 21. But you can read it now here. A slideshow of images is here. [More...]

Mark O'Mara has posted the Petition for Writ of Prohibition and all Appendices filed in the 5th Circuit DCA on the GZlegalcase website. The index as to what is in the Appendices is here. The Petition for Writ of Prohibition (concerning the recusal of Judge Kenneth Lester) is here.

The Appendices have transcripts of the April 20, April 27, June 1 and June 29 hearings. They also have transcripts of Investigator Singleton and Serion's interview of Zimmerman the night of the shooting and Investigator Serino's telephone call with George on 3/25/12. There's also a transcript of witness 6 ("John")'s interview with FDLE on March 20, 2012. He is the witness who saw the struggle between Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin and says Trayvon was on top and Zimmerman was struggling to get up. [More...]

I will be on Daily Kos Radio with Jesse LaGreca this morning at 11 Eastern. Listen here.

Open Thread.

In 2005, Paul Ryan not only endorsed the Bush Administration's plan to privatize Social Security, he argued it did not go far enough.

In his 2010 "Roadmap," Ryan continued his advocacy for privatizing Social Security:

One of Rep. Paul Ryan’s many past proposals to remake the federal safety net included a sweeping plan to privatize Social Security[. . . .] The proposal was in Ryan’s 2010 “Roadmap For America’s Future,” a broad blueprint to remake the federal budget which elevated the little-known congressman into the Republican Party’s visionary. It involved shifting Social Security funds to private retirement accounts as well as reducing benefits and gradually raising the age of eligibility.

I assume we will find out how that proposal plays in Florida.

Via digby, Paul Ryan on "anchor babies":

Paul Ryan is big on civility when discussing immigration. He very civilly refers to "anchor babies" and endorses a racist schpiel. But he is very civil as he "agrees" with the racism.