CNN and Fox are broadcasting Whitney Houston's funeral live. Skip CNN, it has pundits talking during it. People, the AP, CBS and other sites are streaming it. If you are watching, or if you aren't but have something positive to say, please feel free to comment.

So far it's very upbeat and religious, The point is made that this is a day to celebrate her life.

Photos here.

R.I.P. Whitney.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has vetoed the same-sex marriage bill passed by the state legislature, but he calls it a conditional veto.

Gov. Chris Christie this afternoon conditionally vetoed the gay marriage bill and suggested appointing an ombudsman to address complaints of same-sex couples and strengthen New Jersey’s civil union law.

"I have been just as adamant that same-sex couples in a civil union deserve the very same rights and benefits enjoyed by married couples — as well as the strict enforcement of those rights and benefits,’’ Christie said in a prepared statement.

Is anybody fooled that this is not a veto? A referendum will not happen. Legislative action has ended for now, and the deadline for an override of the veto is Jan. 14. [More...]

Congress has passed the extension of the Payroll Tax Cut.

According to the AP, ICE is now saying the agent shooting involved a workplace matter. A subordinate agent shot a supervising agent, a third agent intervened and shot the subordinate agent. The subordinate agent/first shooter is the one who died. The agent he shot is in the hospital. The intervening agent who killed the shooter is fine.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

A lot of action in Long Beach today. At 2:30 p.m., a small plane crossed into President Obama's airspace in Riverside, CA while he was in the Marine One Helicopter en route to the airport. Fighter jets intercepted the plane and followed it until it landed at Long Beach at 2:30 pm. The plane was searched when it landed, and officials found 40 pounds of marijuana in it. The pilot was questioned by Homeland Security, turned over to local police and booked into the Long Beach jail. The plane is registered to David W. Major and is based in Grover Beach, Calif., near San Luis Obispo.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the department's Homeland Security Investigations unit questioned the pilot, who has been turned over to Long Beach police and remains in custody. He will face local prosecution, Kice said.

Also today, just before 6 pm, three ICE agents were involved in a shootout -- with each other -- on the 7th floor of the federal building in Long Beach. Two died, one is in the hospital. Here's Norad's statement on the incident. The shooter was one of those killed.(Update: ICE says only two agents were involved, one of whom died.)

I wonder if the incidents are related. The Long Beach Courthouse (state) is across the street from the federal building. Were any of the ICE agents in the shootout involved in the earlier search of the plane or questioning of the pilot? Or with Obama's visit? Updates below:

Good news for Patricia Spottedcrow of Oklahama, whose travails I described here. The Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Paroles has agreed to early consideration of her parole, possibly in April.

Patricia pleaded guilty and received a 12 year sentence for selling $20 of marijuana to a police informant at the home she shared with her mother and possession of marijuana in the presence of a child. The severity of her sentence caused her case to receive national media attention. Spottedcrow, age 25, has four children, no prior convictions, was broke and had recently lost her home. cently lost her home. The two children present in the home, one of whom was a 10 month old infant, did not witness the transaction according to Patricia. [More...]

The New Jersey Assembly has passed a bill allowing same-sex marriage. The Senate approved the bill last week, so it now goes to Governor Chris Christie, who has said he will veto it.

Both chambers lack the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto by Christie blocking gay marriage, a hot-button social issue that is gaining traction in the 2012 U.S. presidential election campaign.

Same sex marriage is legal in six states: New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Iowa. Washington's governor signed a bill authorizing it on Monday, but it is not yet in effect and may face a voter initiative challenge.

As expected, a federal judge in Detroit today sentenced Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, aka the Underwear Bomber and Captain Underpants, to life in prison for his failed attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight en route to Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009. Since the federal system has no parole, a life sentence means exactly that.

“The defendant has never expressed doubt or regret or remorse about his mission... “To the contrary, he sees that mission as divinely inspired and a continuing mission.” [Judge Nancy Edmonds] said she can't control his motives, but she can control his opportunity.

She ordered the life sentences to be served consecutively. As he was led out of the courtroom, he said, "G-d is Great."

In Abdulmutallab's statement to the Court, he ranted against Jews (see below for quotes): [More...]

It's becoming clear that the old Republican political Wurlitzer is simply not what it used to be. Check out yesterday's story to circulate - the OMB director gaffedbecause he insisted the Obama Administration had not raised taxes and would not raise taxes on any person earning $250,000 or less. That's a gaffe? In a campaign year? Here's the theory, as transmitted through Politico:

On Wednesday, acting Office of Management and Budget Director Jeffrey Zients appeared to tell the House Budget Committee that the individual mandate isn’t a tax. Which could be a bit of a problem, since the Obama administration is defending the mandate before the Supreme Court by arguing that it is a tax — for legal purposes, anyway.

Oh noes! The ACA is sunk in the Supreme Court now! seems to be the political theory. Needless to say, this will have no effect on what the Supreme Court does. (Hell, I even have a stalwart conservative judge's legal opinion to explain why it does not matter in the legal process.) But in theory, it could matter politically - Republicans are arguing that the Obama Administration will not raise taxes on persons making $250,000 or less. I would think that the Obama Administration would be happy about this. I'm not sure what political purpose it serves Republicans.

Karl Rove must wonder how stupid the people running the GOP Wurlitzer are these days.

A new study by the ACLU has found New York City cops initiated street stops (aka Terry stops, stops and frisks or interrogations) 684,330 times in 2011, an increase of 600% since Bllomberg took office in 2002.

Of the stops, 90% were "completely innocent" (no arrest or summons issued) and 87% were Black or Latino.

Last year alone, the NYPD stopped enough totally innocent New Yorkers to fill Madison Square Garden more than 30 times over,” NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said. “It is not a crime to walk down the street in New York City, yet every day innocent black and brown New Yorkers are turned into suspects for doing just that. It is a stunning abuse of power that undermines trust between police and the community.”

[More...]

In 2009, North Carolina enacted the Racial Justice Act which requires a judge to convert a death sentence to life in prison without parole if it is later shown that race played a significant role in the conviction or sentence. To make the showing, the Act permits the introduction of statistical evidence.

The defendant doesn't have to prove race caused the verdict, only that it played a significant role, meaning:

...that race weighed heavily in prosecutors' and jurors' decisions concerning the death penalty "in the county, the prosecutorial district, the judicial division, or the State at the time the death sentence was sought or imposed."

Closing arguments concluded yesterday in the first hearing under the Act, which has taken 2 1/2 weeks. The case involves Marcus Reymond Robinson, an African American, who was sentenced to death for killing a 17 year old white man. He is challenging his conviction and sentence, arguing there was racial bias in jury selection and in the criminal justice system.[More...]

Medical marijuana dispensaries are officially out of business today in Fort Collins.

Underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, will be sentenced tomorrow in Detroit for his failed attempt to blow up a plane on Christmas Day. He represented himself and pleaded guilty. At least one count mandates a life sentence. His stand-by counsel is seeking less time, alleging the statute violates the 8th Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment and the Commerce Clause. He also moved to strike the report of the Government's "martyr" and suicide bombing expert, Simon Perry from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who has never been qualified by the court in this case as an expert and whose reference materials for his conclusions about future risk of dangerousness were not provided to the defense. Having read Dr. Perry's report (available on PACER and described at length here) I agree the expert's report should not be considered. Plus, excluding it won't make a difference given the mandatory life sentence requirement -- so all the Government is doing is providing Abdulmutallab provide another ground for appeal. [More...]

TMZ is still running articles about Whitney Houston. Today it has a story quoting unnamed sources about how her friends enabled her alcohol use. The conclusion the article wants readers to reach is that Whitney Houston's friends contributed to her death by encouraging her excessive alcohol use. The article ends with:

We know she drank alcohol shortly before her death, and we're told she typically took Xanax -- one of the drugs found in her room -- before a performance to calm her nerves, and she was scheduled to sing at Clive Davis' Grammy party.

But other sources, like Rolling Stone, with quotes from Clive Davis, say Whitney was not scheduled to perform at the party, she was only scheduled to attend.

"She was so looking forward to tonight even though she wasn't scheduled to perform. She loved music, and she loved this night that celebrates music."

[More...]