Your turn.

Open Thread.

Despite concerted attempts by the Media and its "factcheckers" to dismiss the Bain story, Mitt Romney has blown it so badly that it is now the Media issue of the campaign. While Romney is clearly suffering badly under the Obama onslaught on Bain (mostly I submit, mostly due to his own political incompetence -- how in blazes does he expect to distance himself from Bain - the company he founded, owned and ran for 25 years? The very company that is basically his "economic" credential? Incredible political incompetence), so too are the "factcheckers", who have become subjects of ridicule and lampooning at this point.

The tipping point was the Boston Globe story on Bain's SEC's filings from 1999 to 2002, which listed Romney as the CEO, Chairman of the Board and sole stockholder of the company whike earning at minimum, $100,000 a year for serving as Bain CEO. Since then other articles and information have come out that pretty much point to Romney having a continuing involvement with Bain during that period. Let me say that that is as it should be given Romney's retention of the titles mentioned above. If he wasn't involved, one would have to question Romney's basic competence. But for whatever reason, Romney has chosen to lie about his role in Bain from the 1999 to 2002 period, making the story much bigger than it would have been -- it now becomes about Romney's character as well as his policies (See Krugman for why discussion of Bain by the Obama campaign makes sense in the larger political narrative regarding the GOP-Romney policy of taking from the poor and the middle class to give more to the rich.)

A somewhat surprising casualty of the Bain story is the "factcheckers", who look like complete fools (or worse.) In particular, Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post, who has been bombarded with ridicule for his assertion that the Bain SEC filings describing Romney as CEO, Chairman of the Board and sole stockholder as not being relevant to whether Romney was involved with Bain. It's gotten so bad that Kessler wrote a personal defense of his writings on the subject:

CBS and Gizmodo are reporting that the Department of Homeland Security has developed a new device which uses laser-based scanning technology to search people for traces of “explosives, dangerous chemicals, or bioweapons.” Explosive and narcotics residue detection is certainly nothing new, but the ability to detect it from 164-feet away and without physical contact is nearly unprecedented in law enforcement investigation.

Developed by the private tech company In-Q-Tel, nicknamed the “Wizards of Langley,” the Picosecond Programmable Laser (PPL) is leaps and bounds ahead of the x-ray machines, millimeter wave scanners, and residue detectors the TSA currently uses in airports across the country. In contrast to the current models, which all require either direct contact or extremely close proximity to the subjects, this new device works:

by blasting its target with lasers which vibrate molecules that are then read by the machine that determine what substances a person has been exposed to. This could be Semtex explosives or the bacon and egg sandwich they had for breakfast that morning.

[More....]

I'm off to Aspen for a 75th birthday party for Hunter Thompson. (Not the live reading of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas going on at the Hotel Jerome. George McGovern and Hunter's son Juan will be among the readers.)

I'll be checking in but not blogging much if at all for the next few days. Maybe BTD will check in, you never know. BTD - Something tomorrow. Promise.

(Thanks to Fishcamp for the photo.)

Enjoy your weekend, whatever you are doing, and this is an open thread, all topics welcome.

George Zimmerman's attorneys, Mark O'Mara and Don West, have filed a motion to recuse Judge Lester. The 17 page motion, chock full of examples of why Zimmerman believes the judge is biased and should not preside over either a Stand Your Ground hearing or trial, is here.

The motion also takes a shot at State's Attorney Angela Corey for not bringing the case to a grand jury, and at the woefully weak Affidavit the state filed in support of the second degree murder charges.

Under Florida law, the judge must accept the facts as alleged in the motion as true. The question becomes whether the facts as alleged in the motion would reasonably cause George Zimmerman to fear he will not get fair treatment from the Judge, and whether his fear is objectively reasonable.

I think the motion is spot on. [More..]

Will Mitt Romney pick Condoleezza Rice as his running mate?

It's a jail day for me, which means an open thread for you. All topics welcome.

In Sanford Investigator Chris Serino's 2 page interview with the FBI, he says he felt pressure from three officers to charge Zimmerman, even though he didn't feel there was enough evidence to charge. He didn't believe Zimmerman was motivated by racial bias. The Miami Herald article is here, and Serino's FBI interview is here.

According to Serino, one of the cops pressuring hims was a Sgt. Barns, who Serino said is a friend of Tracy Martin's. Barns even asked Serino for Martin's phone number. Serino says he ended up getting it from somewhere else. My likely suspect: Team Crump.

Serino told the FBI this during a discussion about his concern that officers were leaking information.

Serino also told the FBI that he didn't think George was racist, but that he may have had something of a "hero complex". [More...]

I'm starting to make my way through the new discovery in the George Zimmerman case. A lot more was released than I expected. You can read the 284 page document release here. Our forums on the case are here, and again, no character attacks are allowed on anyone involved.

Big Brother begins its new season tonight.

Since I've been offline all day, I haven't yet seen any news. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The three most memorable TV moments of the last 50 years according to a research poll conducted by TV researcher Nielsen and Sony Electronics:

1. The 9/11 Attacks
2. Hurricane Catrina
3. The O.J. Simpson Verdict

The killing of Osama bin Laden was number 5, after the Challenger space shuttle disaster.

Princess Diana’s funeral, the Columbine HS shootings in Colorado, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the 2010 earthquake and tsunami in Japan also scored in the top 10. The sudden death of Whitney Houston made the cut, but the death of Michael Jackson did not.

Here's the top 20. [More...]

Another Guantanamo detainee released. Ibrahim al Qosi, a former driver for Osama bin Laden, finished his sentence and is repatriated to Sudan. He spent 10 years at Guantanamo.

Who's left? The Miami Herald reports 168, including 46 designated for indefinite detention, without charge or trial.

The new discovery in the George Zimmerman case will be available to the media tomorrow morning. The Orlando Sentinel describes what is likely to be included. It will be the items from the Second Discovery Disclosure not exempted by law and the judge.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

MegaUpload founder Kim DotCom has made an interesting offer to the Justice Department, via his Twitter account. He later told the Guardian he meant it:

On Wednesday morning Dotcom laid down the gauntlet to the US department of justice, offering to travel to the US under his own steam and faces charges – with conditions. "Hey DOJ," Dotcom said on his Twitter account, "we will go to the US. No need for extradition. We want bail, funds unfrozen for lawyers and living expenses."

He told the Guardian that the offer was genuine but he was not holding his breath. "Considering the way the US government has conducted their case and the way I was treated, I never expect to get a fair trial in the United States," he said.

He's not happy that his extradition hearing just got delayed until March, 2013. [More...]

Yesterday was a bad day for Lance Armstrong in federal court in Austin, Texas. The judge dismissed his request for a temporary injunction preventing the USADA from forcing him to choose between participating in arbitration, where he almost certainly will be permanently banned from cycling and stripping him of his titles, or not participating and accepting the sanctions it doles out. (Details below the fold.) But the Judge said he could refile and today he did just that. (Details of the new suit are also below.)

As Armstrong battles on, today the USADA banned three of his associates for life for drug violations. They include former staff members and consultants on the cyclist’s winning Tour de France teams for drug violations.

Luis Garcia del Moral was a team doctor; Michele Ferrari was a consulting doctor; and Jose “Pepe” Marti (team trainer) worked for Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel squads. All had been accused by USADA of participating in a vast doping conspiracy on those teams during part or all of Armstrong’s seven Tour victories from 1999-2005.

More...