Ohio Governor John Kasich has followed the recommendation of the Ohio Parole Board commuted the death sentence of Joseph Murphy to life without parole. The issue: "childhood growing up in West Virginia in which he was beaten, starved and sexually abused."

Joseph Murphy’s murder of Ruth Predmore was heinous and disturbing and he deserves—and continues to receive—severe punishment. Even though as a child and adolescent Murphy suffered uniquely severe and sustained verbal, physical and sexual abuse from those who should have loved him, it does not excuse his crime. However, the Ohio Supreme Court split 4-3 on whether Murphy should receive the death penalty and the late Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, in his dissent against the death penalty in this case, said that 'in all of the death penalty cases I have reviewed, I know of no other case in which the defendant ... was as destined for disaster as was Joseph Murphy.'"

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Dominique Strauss-Kahn didn't have dipolmatic immunity in the criminal case with the New York hotel maid, but are civil cases different? Strauss-Kahn filed a motion to dismiss Nafassitou Diallo's lawsuit today saying the court lacked jurisdiction over him. The NY Daily News reports:

in the court papers, Strauss-Kahn's lawyers argued that a different standard, the UN Specialized Agencies Convention, grants the top official of international organizations like the IMF "absolute diplomatic immunity."

That the United States never signed on the Specialized Agencies Convention is of no matter, the lawyers argued, because so many other countries have signed it. It has now "achieved the status of what is known as customary international law," they said.

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The Senate tonight passed a stopgap budget bill to keep the government funded through November 18.

The new pact, which the Senate approved 79 to 12 and the House is expected to ratify next week, will keep federal agencies open until Nov. 18 at a level of spending that represents a 1.5 percent cut from this year’s levels.

After FEMA said it had enough funds to last through Friday, Senators dropped a billion dollars for disaster relief from the bill:

Democrats and Republicans have agreed to drop $1 billion in disaster relief funding that had been thought to be necessary to replenish FEMA’s coffers before the week ended.

Say hello to the new Scotus Blog,now sponsored by Bloomberg Law. I haven't had a chance to read through the the changes, but the Bloglift is really nice.

Boeing's stock rose big-time today with its delivery of the new Dreamliner. I wonder if they timed it with the premimere of Pan Am last night (which featured the inaugural flight of its big transatlantic plane of the day.) I think Pan Am (the show) is a winner. Anyone see it?

Breaking Bad was good last night, but not as riveting as the prior two episodes featuring Gus. Only two episodes left this season.

Desperate Housewives is definitely right to call it quits after this season if last night's show is any indication. Way too dark and depressing.

Time for the news, what's happening in the world? Here's an open thread to discuss it -- and any other topics.

Open Thread.

Bill Simmons:

I'm amazed that a 2012 presidential candidate hasn't taken advantage of [dog loving], filmed a series of dog-loving commercials and pushed for things like "more dog beaches" and "better veterinarian health care benefits" as part of their platform. Dog lovers are totally irrational. I include myself. If Obama wants to improve his approval rating, he should rescue a mutt every six weeks and keep, like, 10 or 12 dogs in the White House — he'd have dog-lover voters saying, "Even if I'm let down by the last four years, I gotta be honest … it was pretty neat how Obama kept rescuing those dogs."

Interesting thought I think. Can you think of other such gimmicks that might work?

If you bought prescription pills on the internet, and get a phone call from the DEA saying you violated the law and can get out of being charged by paying a fine (also via the internet), the DEA says don't fall for it, it's a scam.

Where is it happening? So far, in Aspen. Here's the Aspen/Pitkin County press release. [More...]

Three best bets on this college football Saturday - Georgia Tech (-7) over North Carolina, Oklahoma State (+4) over Texas A&M and Georgia (-10) over Ole Miss.

Also too, ManU(-1) over Stoke City.

Go Gators!

Open Thread.

So UARS passed over the U.S. and is down somewhere. NASA was checking on where an hour ago, and then must have gone home to bed because there's no tweets since. There are reports it was sighted in MN, continued on to Canada, Africa and Australia.

Anyone see anything?

PFC Andrew Holmes, a member of the "Kill Team" of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan that killed villagers for sport, was sentenced today to 7 years in prison for killing an unarmed 15 year old.

Five members of the former 5th Stryker Brigade have faced murder charges in connection with what military prosecutors say were staged attacks on Afghan villagers. In the attacks, prosecutors say, U.S. soldiers fired volleys of guns and grenades at innocent people and then planted weapons to make it look as though the victims had shot first.

Holmes is the 9th soldier convicted. Charges remain pending against two or three others. [More...]

This has been the worst week for the stock market since 2008.

The Dow lost 6.4 percent for the week, its biggest drop since the week that ended Oct. 10, 2008, when it fell 18 percent. That was at the height of the financial crisis.

Investors fear a recession or worse. The Administration is out pushing its deficit/jobs plan and telling us there are hard choices to make.

Yesterday, the Navy published a notice seeking a contractor to repair the bowling alley, youth center and Liberty Center at Guantanamo, at a cost of $3 million. (Note, this is not for the detainees, but the military employees.) [More...]

Apparently, it has occurred formally now. A NYTimes Editorial today said:

Last year, President Obama’s speech to the United Nations was full of promise and determination to advance Palestinian statehood through negotiations with Israel. This year, his address was about lowering expectations and a dispiriting realpolitik as the president spoke of how “peace is hard” and vowed to veto the Palestinians’ bid for statehood if it came to a Security Council vote. Mr. Obama had no choice but to stand by Israel, this country’s historic ally. [. . .] But there should be no illusions about the high cost both Israel and this country will pay if this stalemate is allowed to drag on any longer.

There is plenty of blame to go around. The main responsibility right now belongs to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel who refuses to make any serious compromises for peace.

In a meeting with bloggers yesterday, Bill Clinton explained that part of this is due to the changing demographics of Israel, with many newcomers having little respect for the Palestinian position and driving for more land on the West Bank. Josh Rogin of Foreign Policy provides more detail on Clinton's remarks on the Israel- Palestine situation.