Wired Magazine has released the full version of the instant messaging chat logs of Wikileaks suspect Pvt. Bradley Manning and Adrian Lamo.

Previously, Wired had published only portions of the logs, due to Manning's privacy interests. It's changed its mind. Why?

[I]ndependent reporting elsewhere has tipped the scale in favor of publishing. By all evidence, Manning is a figure of historic importance. Inasmuch as the conversations shed light on the personal pressures in Manning’s life at the time of his arrest, publishing the logs serves a valid news interest, and at this point we believe it will cause little additional harm to Manning’s privacy.

Update: The death toll is now at 21, with more than 100 injured. Indian authorities say fuel-filled, molotov cocktail type devices were used. Forensic experts on scene say the prime ingredient was ammonium nitrate, with RDX as a booster, and all of the devices contained shrapnel to maximize the damage. As of now, no one has taken credit, and it doesn't sound like they know who is responsible.

Original Post: The death toll now stands at 13 in last nights Mumbai bombings. 54 have been injured. The numbers could rise. Indian authorities believe it was a coordinated attack by terrorists.

Latest details available at NDTV twitter feed. Here's the official statement.

Mumbai police believe the Indian Mujahideen is behind the attacks.

The Nation has released an investigative report with details of a walled compound completed four months ago in Somalia, and a secret basement prison at the Somalia’s National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters. The CIA maintains an aircraft at the new compound, and CIA agents conduct interrogations of prisoners in the basement prison, some of whom are plucked off the streets. The U.S. is footing the bill for the salaries of the Somali intelligence agents.

At the facility, the CIA runs a counterterrorism training program for Somali intelligence agents and operatives aimed at building an indigenous strike force capable of snatch operations and targeted “combat” operations against members of Al Shabab, an Islamic militant group with close ties to Al Qaeda.

[More...]

Via Atrios and Krugman, Third Wayer William Galston claims to have discovered, appropriately in The New Republic, "a new theory" of our economic troubles - it is the household balance sheet due to the homeowners crisis:

Movement conservatives argue that the weight of a government that “spends too much, taxes too much, and borrows too much” [. . .] Keynesian liberals, meanwhile, counter that the problem is the collapse of demand and that the government’s failure to offer a large enough stimulus is consigning us to a rate of growth not easy to distinguish from stagnation. What if they’re both wrong? That’s the claim of Amir Sufi, a finance professor at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. The data tell a compelling story, he argues: “The main factor responsible for both the severity of the recession and the subsequent weakness of the economic recovery is the deplorable weakness of the U.S. household balance sheet,” which is, Sufi shows, “in worse condition than at any other point in history since the Great Depression.”

Heh. Tomorrow, Galston will invent the wheel.

Speaking for me only

It really is a battle royale in the conclaves of the GOP. Here is Murdoch's Wall Street Journal defending McConnell's cave:

The hotter precincts of the blogosphere were calling this a sellout yesterday, though they might want to think before they shout. The debt ceiling is going to be increased one way or another, and the only question has been what if anything Republicans could get in return. If Mr. Obama insists on a tax increase, and Republicans won't vote for one, then what's the alternative to Mr. McConnell's maneuver?

I think the alternative is obvious - extracting as much in spending cuts as you can. Is the WSJ seriously afraid of negotiating with the Obama Administration? The obvious move was the one Boehner was executing - take the spending cuts being offered by Biden and call it a day until the next hostage situation. Frankly, McConnell's move is inexplicable, not the least of which is because I do not think it can get through the GOP House.

In any event, it is fun to watch the GOP make a mess of a political negotiation for once. However it turns out, this is good news for the President's political fortunes.

Speaking for me only

Update: The storm has moved into Denver. The thunder is loud and flash flood warnings now include us. The cable tv just went out. (Added: It's back on now.) Internet probably won't be far behind. I better go find the flashlight in case power is next.

Tonight brings tornado warnings and more flash flood warnings. The Emergency Broadcast Service has been coming on every few minutes. So far, they are in surrounding counties to Denver, so no immediate danger.

A federal judge in Virginia has overturned a death sentence in a drug case saying the defendant was wrongfully convicted due to the lying testimony of accomplice who got a deal for life. The judge blasted the prosecution who claimed not to know the testimony was false: [More...]

Why do people confess to crimes they didn't commit? Frontline tonight is airing "The Confessions", the story of the Norfolk 4.

How could four men confess to a brutal crime that they didn't commit? Inside the incredible saga of the Norfolk Four -- a case that cracks open the justice system to reveal almost everything that goes wrong when innocent people get convicted.

Update: Netflix customers are not taking the news well.

Is Netflix shooting itself in the foot by raising prices 60% and de-bundling streaming from physical dvds?

Customers in the United States who want both services will pay $7.99 per month to rent one DVD at a time plus $7.99 for unlimited streaming, or a total of $15.98 per month, the company said on Tuesday. The previous cost of this plan was $9.99 a month.

I think the problem for Netflix is that its offerings are dated. The best of the new movies aren't available for streaming. Why pay $7.99 for a new movie on DVD from Netflix when you can get it the same day it's released in HD for $5.99 via On Demand? (And avoid the hassle of fast-forwarding through four or five previews?) [More...]

Via daily kos, Politico is reporting on a rumored proposal on the debt ceiling that would be a clean win for President Obama:

Desperate to get out of the political box they helped to create, Senate Republicans are actively pursuing a new plan under which the debt ceiling would grow in three increments over the remainder of this Congress unless lawmakers approve a veto-proof resolution of disapproval.

If this is the end result of the Debt Ceiling Kabuki, then President Obama will have won. Period. No cuts for the debt ceiling. A de facto clean raise of the debt ceiling. Moreover, Progressives and liberals would have won too, because cutting Medicare and Social Security would have proven to be utterly anathema, no matter what Obama wants to do.

I think the chance of this deal happening is zero. But, if it happens, then I will have been completely wrong about these negotiations. But I don't think I am, and I still think deep spending cuts will be the price the GOP extracts for raising the debt ceiling. But it would be great if I was wrong.

Speaking for me only

On Saturday, I wrote about the Obama Administration's new Southwest Border Drug Control Policy. Here is the 2011 National Drug Control Policy. The Administration wants us to believe it is focused on prevention and treatment. And Sections 1-4 of the Action List do address treatment and prevention. The devil is in the details.

Obama has no intention of reducing the crack/powder disparity further than the 18:1 ratio passed by Congress. Or reducing any other mandatory minimums for drug crimes. Or reducing any current federal drug penalties. Under the action section, "4.2.D. Foster Equitable Drug Sentencing", in red letters, is the word "Complete." [More...]

Open Thread.

Of all the disagreements I've had with President Obama over the years, this could be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back. I strongly suspect I'm not the only one who feels this way.

• 2008: Obama Disses Boomers
• 2011: Don't Blame it on the Boomers

A generational war is the last thing Obama or the Democrats need.