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.

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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

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VOGUE/Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, VOGUE/Mario Testino

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.

Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan provides many facets of analysis. Does this reflect the final step of extreme right wing domination of the GOP? Would Romney's decisions as President be subject to veto by the most radical element of the conservative movement? Would this just the first of many instance where, as Grover Norquist put is, Romney would just be an "autopen" for extreme right wing policies?

These are obviously important questions, but they all stem from an underlying assumption -- that the choice of Paul Ryan as the GOP's VP candidate harms Romney's chances of winning in November. I share this view. the main reason is Florida, a must win state for Romney. I can imagine victorious electoral maps for Romney where he loses Wisconsin or Iowa or Pennsylvania. I don;t see a winning Romney map where he loses Florida.

And the Ryan choice puts Romney's chances of winning Florida in extreme jeopardy. I'll explain why I think so on the flip.

I'll be busy the rest of the afternoon. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

BTD - some posting tonight, particularly on why the Ryan pick was an ill advised political move for Romney (think Florida and the fact his VP candidate can not campaign there).

Bump and Update: Mark O'Mara said at a press conference today he will appeal Judge Kenneth Lester's denial of his recusal motion. When asked about his announcement last week his client will file a Stand Your Ground motion, he said:

He told reporters today that he believes the facts of the case show his client didn't have any option to retreat rather than shoot.

"I think the facts suggest in this case that what probably happened was that my client was reacting to having his nose broken" while lying on his back being pummeled, O'Mara said.

I agree. But he had no duty to retreat under Stand Your Ground. If O'Mara is discussing a "duty to retreat", I would think he's not talking Stand Your Ground, but traditional self-defense. (I didn't hear the press conference, but the media is reporting he said he's not proceeding under SYG but self-defense, and intends to argue it at a pre-trial hearing.) Earlier post below:[More...]

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan today said they want to overhaul Medicaid and food stamps.

Here are the statistics on hunger in America.

One of the most common misconceptions is the assumption that if someone is hungry, that means they do not have a job and are living on the streets. What most people don’t understand is that anyone can experience hunger. It is a silent epidemic that affects 49 million Americans.

According to the US Census Bureau, in 2010, 21 million people lived in working-poor families. This translates into nearly 9.6 percent of all American families living below 100 percent of poverty have at least one family member working . In fact, 36 percent of client households served by the Feeding America network have one or more adults working.

Robert Greenstein, President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, called Ryan's plan "Robin Hood in reverse, on steroids."