Roshaja Harvey was found to have violated the terms of his supervised release for using marijuana. Harvey appealed, contending that because he had a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana in California pursuant to the California Compassionate Use Act of 1996, he did not violate the possession prohibition of the Federal Controlled Substances Act. He also argued a doctor's "order" was different than a "prescription."

The 9th Circuit has rejected his defense, affirmed the trial court's order, and added:

Whatever else “order” might mean under § 844(a) of the Controlled Substances Act, it does not include a mere recommendation from a physician pursuant to the Compassionate Use Act.

[More...]

Joshua Monson, a defendant charged with drug possession in King County, Washington stabbed his lawyer with a pencil. The Court gave him another lawyer. Same thing. And a third lawyer, whom he stabbed in the side of the head with a pen. Monson was out of luck.

The Court ordered Monson to trial pro se (with standby counsel.) Monson was strapped in a restraint chair and surrounded by security officers during trial. He was convicted.

Next up: Monson has a pending second degree murder trial for alleging killing a man while he was talking on a cell phone. He also has pending charges for assaulting his attorneys and corrections guards.

State doctors found Monson competent to stand trial.

Update: This is now a Barrett Brown individual mission, not an Anonymous mission. Here's Brown's latest. Shorter version: Barrett Brown, drug warrior recruit.

Anonymous has again canceled OpCartel, its threatened exposure operation against the Zetas cartel. It says its kidnapped member has been released. It also says retaliation threats played a role.

The cartel had threatened to kill 10 people for each name of a Zeta supporter revealed.

Barrett Brown, on Twitter, says he will "now go after other cartels with help from informants" and that the e-mails identifying Zeta supporters will go to Der Spiegel.

Raj Rajaratnam has been designated to FMC Devens, in Massachusetts.

Rajaratnam' medical issues were a big focus at sentencing. It's likely he will need a kidney transplant and dialysis during his 11 years in prison. FMC Devens contracts with the University of Massachusetts for kidney transplant services.

Recently, FMC Devens published a contract solicitation for mortuary services for its inmates. It estimates a maximum of 25 inmate deaths per year. Currently, there are 1,096 inmates at FMC Devens. [More...]

Who's going home on The X-Factor? Last night I thought the judges were done voting and it was just the viewers vote that count. Not so. The 10 contestants with the highest viewer votes are safe. The bottom 2 will sing again and the judges will decide which one stays and which one goes home. Kind of odd -- would any one of these judges vote off a contestant in his or her group? I think Leroy Bell will be in the bottom two. He's got a great voice, but he's 59 and I doubt his fans voted 50 times each for him.

Update: So glad I was wrong about the bottom two. I totally agree with the viewers' votes. I'll be back after the show has aired on the west coast (to not spoil it) as to why I think the bottom two got the lowest votes. I'm surprised I didn't think of it before, but I didn't. [More...]

Anonymous has changed course again and now its plan to release names of supporters of the Zetas cartel is back on. The Atlantic interviewed Barrett Brown, speaking for the group, who said:

After it was cancelled we got to talking about it, and the video got a whole lot of views. [Members of Anonymous] had a vote amongst themselves and decided to go ahead."

The group will release about 60 names on Nov. 5, including that of a District Attorney in the United States. [More...]

Busy day at work today. BTD - me too.

Closing arguments are today in the Dr. Conrad Murray manslaughter trial.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The X-Factor Live show tonight: Judge Nicole Sherzinger criticized singer Rachel Stow for changing, at Simon's request, the line in the song she sang, Katrina and the Waves' "Walkin' on Sunshine," to "You're My Sunshine." Nicole ssid she preferred the original version.

But the judges didn't say a word when Malanie Amparo not only changed a few words of the Eagles' Desperado, but sang verses out of order, combined lines from different verses and left lines out of a verse. She sounded great, but she butchered the lyrics and no one said a word. [More...]

Occupy Oakland is the news tonight. There are 4,500 protesters at the Port, which is effectively shut down. Police are being called in from other jurisdictions.

The action is part of the general strike called by Occupy Oakland, which intended to shut down the city for the day in a rally cry against corporate greed, widespread unemployment and wage inequality. The general strike is the first event of its kind in Oakland since 1946.

...Several businesses, including Tullys, the Men's Wearhouse and the Grand Lake Theater, closed to support the general strike to protest the inequality of wealth and power.

Reuters has more here. You can watch live here at CNN. Is anyone keeping lists of these supporting businesses, so people can show appreciation by choosing them over competitors when they shop?

The ACLU has released a downloadable guide explaining the legal rights of protesters. It's available here.

Smart move by Anonymous: They are backing off plans to name and publish details about supporters and associates of the Zetas cartel (Details here.).

According to Stratfor Intelligence Group (which automatically plays a video when you click, I hate that):

Since we have seen evidence of cartels employing their own computer scientists to engage in cybercrime, it is logical to conclude that the cartels likely have individuals working to track anti-cartel bloggers and hackers. Those individuals involved thus face the risk of abduction, injury and death — judging by how Los Zetas have dealt with threats in the past.

Anonymous is no match for the Zetas or any cartel. [More...]

A California judge has ordered 30 days more jail time for Lindsay Lohan. She has to report Nov. 9. It's expected that she will serve about 6 days due to jail over-crowding issues. [More...]