Sad news from the Agitator: Pain Relief spokesperson Siobhan Reynolds, who for years fought the feds, and proseuctor Tanya Treadway, advocating for the rights of pain patients and doctors who prescribe to them, died in a plane crash this weekend. She was 50.

See this Slate article by Radley Balko on the vindictive grand jury investigation against her.

One of the people she helped: Richard Paey, a 45-year-old father of three in a wheelchair, suffering from multiple sclerosis and chronic pain from botched back surgery, sentenced to 25-years for forging prescriptions to treat his pain. Reynolds helped get the sentence reversed. An interview with Paey is here.

One more to read: Cato's 2005 Treating Doctors as Drug Dealers:The DEA’s War on Prescription Painkillers.

Advocates against the war on drugs have lost an important ally. RIP, Sibohan Reynolds.

Christmas is over, the news is slow, I'm starting on my "end of year" tasks. What are you hoping to wrap up or change by New Year's?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The Mexican Army announced tonight it has captured the chief security guard for Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

The army will name and "present" him to the media tomorrow. He was captured in Culiacan.

The army said the man they had arrested also ran cartel activities in Durango and southern Chihuahua state, and was responsible for carrying out secret burials of cartel victims, kidnapping, extortion and arson. They did not say if the arrest moved the military closer to capturing Guzman, an arrest that would be seen as a major victory for the government of President Felipe Calderon.

Update: The person captured is Felipe Cabrera Sarabia. It was not, as I thought, Manuel Alejandro Aponte Gomez, aka "el Bravo." (The Mexico Attorney General's office (PGR) put out a $2 million reward for Aponte Gomez 3 months ago, referring to him as "an ex-captain of the Mexican army who defected to become the head of security "El Chapo" Guzman." (Reward notice here, Google Translation here.)

Stratfor has sent out this updated message on the hacking of its subscriber data base, which included customer credit card information.

At least one person's data I saw on Pastebin had the full credit card number and 3 digit "CVV" code (I'm not linking to it.) If Stratfor didn't encrypt the card data and left the full credit card numbers and pins on its servers, I wonder whether it failed to be in full compliance with PCI Data Security Standards. See page 14: [More...]

Update: Anonymous denies it hacked Stratfor. Here is its press release.

Second Update: Stratfor has sent out this updated message. It may be too little too late. If they didn't encrypt the card data and left full credit card numbers and pins on their servers, it sure doesn't seem like they would be in compliance with PCI Data Security Standards. There will undoubtedly be lawsuits over this. Stratfor can hire the best security firm on the planet now, but its poor judgment is going to cost it subscribers and business and its reputation is going to take a serious hit.

Third Update: There's bickering going on. Sabu responds to a tweeter who says no one else in Anonymous besides #AnonymousIRC and #Anonymous Sabu knew about the hack:

We did the hack under #antisec which is an operation within anonymous. Unsure who made you a leader, but we are decentralized

[More...]

Christmas Eve has arrived. This year at the TL house, we're celebrating with dinner and movies. "Love Actually" is my favorite for this time of year, even though I've probably seen it 10 times.

Whether you're cooking, watching movies, relaxing or celebrating with friends and family, we wish you a Very Happy Holiday Eve.

Darlene Love on Letterman is a Christmas Tradition. I really like this 2005 version.

If you're tracking Santa, he just arrived in Uzbekistan.

What's getting you in the mood for Christmas?

The tradition of making Christmas as pleasant as possible for the inmates at the Pitkin County jail continues. Deputy Sheriff and jail administrator Don Bird says the inmates will not only get their special Christmas day meals, but also wake up to little presents outside their cell door.

[P]roviding good food and a couple of small gifts for those who are incarcerated goes a long way toward helping morale at what can be an exceptionally hard time of the year.

“Nobody’s getting anything pricey,” Bird said. “It’s just something that somebody can get on Christmas so [when] they get up in the morning, there’s something outside their door.”

[More...]

Wait, what? That's right- SATURDAY NFL Open Thread. My investment touts:

Redskins (-7) (3 units); Cardinals (+4 1/2) (3 units); Ravens (-12) (4 units); Chiefs (-3) (3 units); and the J-E-T-S! JETS JETS JETS JETS! (-3) (5 units.) I'm rooting for the G-Men, but the Jets are going to win.

Also too, here's my top investment opportunity in 4 years - Oklahoma State (-3 1/2) over Stanford. LOVE this one. I like the Cowboys by 20.

Finally, Joe Posnanski on Tebow Time:

The Tebow story might be the only story in recent years about which I literally cannot get enough. We live in the Era of Overkill, and most of the wonderful sports stories lose their joy just a few hours into their news cycle. The story (and Tebow himself) have been hyped, re-hyped, soaked, drained, lauded, scorned, celebrated, mocked, on and on and on, to the point where it’s clear that we’re not even talking about Tebow anymore. We’re talking about so many other fascinating things — faith, teamwork, convention, talent, history, will and so on. We’re probably talking about ourselves.

Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings!

The ACLU has the Criminal Justice Year in Review.

EFF reviews 2011 as "The Year Secrecy Jumped the Shark."

Former DEA agent (now author and security consultant) Robert Mazur, who laundered millions for the cartels on behalf of the agency, smacks down Congressman Darryl Issa's misguided call for a DEA money-laundering probe. (He also delivers a few punches to Union Bank in San Diego, which was in Issa's district, as well as Wachovia.) [More...]

The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department has rejected South Carolina's Voter ID law on the grounds that it discriminates against minorities.

The law, passed in May and signed by Gov. Nikki Haley ®, requires voters to show a driver’s license or one of several other forms of photo identification.

....The rejection leaves the state with the option of trying to get the law approved by a federal court or passing another law and submitting it to the Justice Department.

It's good to see the Justice Department stepping up to the plate.

We've got blue skies and sunshine today. Time to head outdoors and get all those last minute errands run.

If you missed the X-Factor last night, Melanie Amaro won the $5 million Sony record contract and has producers lining up. The other two finalists needn't worry, Simon Cowell says contracts are also likely to be offered to Josh Krajik, Chris Rene (and Astro.) Ratings were high last night, the show will be back for a second season. I hope it's without Nicole Scherzinger.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.