Via Think Progress, 98 Rush Limbaugh sponsors have now instructed Premiere Radio Networks not to put their ads on Rush's show. But now it's not just Rush. Their memo to to "Traffic Managers" said:

To all Traffic Managers: The information below applies to your Premiere Radio Networks commercial inventory...They’ve specifically asked that you schedule their commercials in dayparts or programs free of content that you know are deemed to be offensive or controversial (for example, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Tom Leykis, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity).’

[More...]

The Associated Press has obtained two reports on the NYPD surveillance of Muslims. One is here and the other is here. The reports show widespread surveillance by the Intelligence Division's Demographics unit based on religion.

Gloria Allred apparently needs to get back in the limelight. She's sent a letter to Palm Beach prosecutors saying Rush Limbaugh should be prosecuted for his comments about Sandra Fluke. The basis: An 1883 statute: [More...]

Here's Sabu on December 25 taking credit for the Stratfor hack:

We did the hack under #antisec which is an operation within anonymous.... we are decentralized

Here's what was taken from Stratfor and released:

860,000 usernames, emails, and md5-hashed passwords; data from 75,000 credit cards, including security codes used for no card present transactions; and over 2.5 million Stratfor emails, internal Stratfor documents from the company’s intranet, and support tickets from it.stratfor.com.

While Sabu had his associates and followers thinking he was on the run, he was actually encouraging others to commit the same crimes he always had, except this time under the direction of the FBI. [More...]

At his change of plea hearing (transcript here) Anonymous/LulzSec hacker Hector Monsegur, aka Sabu, was asked to explain in his own words what he did wrong. The Government said Sabu would read from a statement. I think Sabu's explanation of the fraud counts is interesting to anyone concerned about identity theft.

Credit Card Fraud:

With the use of my computer I obtained dozens of credit card numbers of other people from an online site which provided stolen credit card numbers. I also hacked into the computers of two companies. I used these credit card numbers without authorization to pay my own bills as well as gave them to others to make fraudulent purchases. More than $1,000 in charges resulted from the use of these stolen numbers over the course of a one-year period. I knew my conduct was illegal.

[More...]

Thanks to Reuters legal correspondent Basil Katz for publishing the plea agreement and transcript of guilty plea hearing for Anonymous/LulzSec hacker-turned-informant Hector Monsegur, aka Sabu.

Sabu's plea agreement is "global", meaning it is binding on all 94 U.S. Attorney's offices. No other federal district can charge him with other crimes (excluding criminal tax violations, as are typically excluded.)

Sabu won't be federally charged for any other past crimes he voluntarily disclosed, although the court can consider them as relevant conduct at sentencing. These include attempts to sell pounds of pot, hooking up buyers of marijuana and prescription drugs to potential sellers from 2009 to 2011, racking up $15,000 worth of unauthorized charges on his employer's credit card, purchase of stolen jewelry and electronics, and possession of a handgun. And any other uncharged hacking offenses committed between 1999 and 2010. [More...]

I've got court this morning. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The Mississippi Supreme Court has upheld the pardons of former Governor Haley Barbour.

Via Sentencing Law and Policy, this factsheet from the Federal Defender's Office says the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) analysis of federal sentencing disparity released this week is flawed.

TRAC’s analysis fails to meet minimal academic standards and should not be a basis for policy making.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Barrett Brown says it looks like he will be indicted. Yesterday he posted this statement about the FBI searches of his apartment and his mother's house. At least he's lawyered up. (Added: During a video chat today he said the feds wanted him to do 9 years.)

In Sabu news, the transcript of LulzSec informant Hector Xavier Monsegur's guilty plea hearing has been unsealed. From news sources quoting it, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Pastore told the judge: [More...]

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals questions the constitutionality of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's policy of forcing male inmates to wear pink underwear.

It's a sad story. The opinion is here. The inmate, Eric Vogel, a paranoid, delusional, psychotic detainee, never convicted of any crime, is dead. Here's what happened. [More...]

Tonight, Sean Hannity interviews the Keepers of the Breitbart Flame.

Preview here.

Kevin Drum considers whether fight from progressives might work:

If this is right, it's bad news for Bob, who's consistently argued against the Foxification of the left and for a tough but fundamentally factual approach to fighting the modern right. But Suzy is suggesting that although the key to success in Virginia was partly better organization, it was mostly about using more incendiary language. Likewise, in the case of Rush, the key to success had nothing to do with his odious point of view. It was all because we could highlight a single word — slut — that enraged people.

I don't know if this is correct. I'm just tossing it out for comment. But politics has always been about emotion, not cool logic, and maybe these two recent examples suggest that liberals are rediscovering that lesson. We'll see.

We'll see? We've SEEN. (To be fair, Kevin is asking whether Dems will remember this.) Fighting Dems and Fighting Progressives -standing up from a crouched posture, has always worked best. Kevin might want to revisit the debate on the "American Taliban".

Speaking for me only

Apple will be announcing its new iPadHD at 10 am PT.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.