Good call by Time Magazine. The 2011 person of the year is The Protester.

The weekend has arrived, just in time for an open thread. All topics welcome.

Marin County Superior Court Judge Faye D'Opal has invalidated California's new execution protocol for multiple failures to comply with the Administrative Procedures Act, including a consideration of the alternative one drug method used elsewhere (and proposed in public comments to the changes.) Six years ago, a federal court in California invalidated the three drug protocol, finding it could constitute cruel and unusual punishment. The state decided to come up with new protocols, for which it had to comply with the Administrative Procedures Act.

D'Opal said...that the state's failure to consider replacing the former execution practice with a single-injection method violated state law and ignored the courts' and public criticism of the previous protocols.

The case is Mitchell Sims vs California Department of Corrections Rehabilitation, et al, case number CIV 1004019. I've uploaded the ruling here. [More...]

A state court in Pennsylvania held a preliminary hearing today for Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, the two Penn State officals charged with perjury before the grand jury investigating sexual assault allegations against Jerry Sandusky and failing to report child abuse.

Mike McQueary testified, and Joe Paterno's grand jury testimony was read into the record, as was that of the two officials.

Other witnesses were Thomas Harmon, a former director of Penn State's university police and John McQueary, Mr. McQueary's father.

The court found there was probable cause the officials committed the charged crimes and they were bound over for trial. [More...]

Wait, what?

If Tebow wins the Super Bowl, against all odds, it will buoy his faithful, and emboldened faithful can do insane things, like burning mosques, bashing gays and indiscriminately banishing immigrants. While America has become more inclusive since Jerry Falwell’s first political forays, a Tebow triumph could set those efforts back considerably.

The rabbi, Josh Hammerman of Temple Beth El in Stamford, appears to claim to be a progressive. I claim he is an idiot.

Speaking for me only

Update: Bonds was sentenced to 2 years probation and 30 days home detention. The sentence was stayed pending appeal.

Former baseball giant Barry Bonds faces sentencing today (11 am PT) for his conviction for obstruction of justice, resulting from his evasive answer to a grand jury question in the BALCO steroids use probe.

Prosecutors are asking for 15 months. The Presentence Report by the Probation Department recommends probation, location monitoring and community service.

Pvt. Bradley Manning, accused of aiding the enemy and violating the Espionage Act by leaking the Wikileaks documents and other material, is finally getting a hearing in military court.

Firedoglake has bloggers in the overflow media center. They can't post while court is in session, but are posting during recesses with a running live blog. The Guardian also has a running live-blog. [More...]

The U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York issued a press release yesterday about its massive civil lawsuit alleging money laundering against the defunct Canadian Lebanese Bank and various U.S. businesses and auto dealerships for engaging in monetary transactions to support Hezbollah. . The 66 page complaint is here.

8 of the car dealerships are in Michigan. According to a Detroit news station, DEA Special Operations Chief Derek Maltz told ABC's Brian Ross that the dealerships, as well as all 30 US businesses named in the Complaint are being investigated to determine whether they were aware their proceeds from sales of cars shipped to Africa ended up in Hezbollah's coffers. Maltz said it's not clear yet whether the businesses did have knowledge. [More...]

Christopher Hitchens has passed away . He died of pneumonia, a complication of his oesophageal cancer. He was 62.

Here is his last political column, written for Slate 3 weeks ago. His final personal column, written for Vanity Fair and the Jan. 2012 issue, is here.

Also at Vanity Fair, Graydon Carter writes Christopher Hitchens: In Memoriam. VF's Christopher Hitchens page is here.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced today that Maricopa County has been terminated from the controversial 287(g) Secure Communities program as a result of the Justice Department's report today finding civil rights violations.

“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is troubled by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) findings of discriminatory policing practices within the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO). Discrimination undermines law enforcement and erodes the public trust. DHS will not be a party to such practices. Accordingly, and effective immediately, DHS is terminating MCSO’s 287(g) jail model agreement and is restricting the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office access to the Secure Communities program.

DHS will utilize federal resources for the purpose of identifying and detaining those individuals who meet U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) immigration enforcement priorities. The Department will continue to enforce federal immigration laws in Maricopa County in smart, effective ways that focus our resources on criminal aliens, recent border crossers, repeat and egregious immigration law violators and employers who knowingly hire illegal labor.”

Now it's time to end Secure Communities.

It's official. The Senate, by a vote of 86-13, has passed the $662 billion NDAA, which was passed by the House yesterday.

The bill now goes to President Obama to sign, and his advisers are no longer recommending a veto over the detainee provisions.

You can read the detainee provisions here.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics has released two new reports on prisoner population in 2010. The total number of prisoners has declined for the first time in 40 years. But while the number of state prisoners declined, the number of federal prisoners increased.

The total U.S. prison population fell to 1.6 million at year end 2010, a decline of 0.6 percent during the year, the first decline in the total prison population in nearly four decades.

This decline was due to a decrease of 10,881 in the number of state prisoners, which fell to just under 1.4 million persons and was the largest yearly decrease since 1977. The federal prison population grew by 0.8 percent (1,653 prisoners) to reach 209,771, the smallest percentage increase since 1980.

1 in 33 adults, 7.1 million people, were under the supervision of adult correctional authorities at the end of 2010. The reports are Correctional Population in the United States, 2010 and Prisoners in 2010.