According to Forbes, and its new list of the world's top ten wanted fugitives, Pablo Escobar can roll over in his grave. The DEA says He's been surpassed by El Chapo, Joaquin Guzman, as the biggest drug lord ever.

Not only that, El Chapo is Number One on the list, surpassing even al Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri.

It's interesting that the U.S. considers a drug trafficker to be more dangerous than the leader of a terrorist group whose goal is to bring down America through violent means. Forbes full list of the most wanted is here.

The General Command of al-Qaeda announced today that Ayman al-Zawahiri will succeed Osama bin Laden. Via Site Monitoring Service (subscription required):

“[We] assure every oppressed [individual] in this world – and most of them are victims of the American Western criminality – that our religion is a religion of justice and equity. We sympathize with the sufferings of the oppressed. Our jihad against American arrogance will lead to the lifting of oppression from them, and it is an effort that will help them in getting rid of the American Western exploitation that enslaved them, robbed them of their wealth, and spoiled their environment and their lives.”

The U.S. believes the statement is genuine. The statement also said the appointment was made after “consultation” and that the selection of the new leader is the “best form of gratitude” for bin Laden."

He's finally giving up. Rep. Anthony Weiner will announce his resignation today.

In less weighty news, Mildred Baena, Arnold Schwarzenegger's former housekeeper and mother of their child together,has decided to tell her story and share a photo of 13 year old Joseph. She says Joseph was told a year ago that Arnold was his father. His response was, "Cool."

She hopes Arnold and Maria can patch things up.

Pakistan denies the allegation in the New York Times that an Army Major was one of those arrested with undercover CIA operatives suspected of providing the U.S. with information about the Osama bin Laden compound in Abboutabad.

Sen. Patrick Leahy today condemned the arrests.

Time Magazine reports a federal grand jury is investigating the 2003 torture and killing of Manadel al-Jamadi at Abu Ghraib as a potential war crime. Years ago, navy seals were charged over the death. At least one went to trial and was found not guilty.

TIME has obtained a copy of a subpoena signed by Durham that points to his grand jury's broader mandate, which could involve charging additional CIA officers and contract employees in other cases. The subpoena says "the grand jury is conducting an investigation of possible violations of federal criminal laws involving War Crimes (18 USC/2441), Torture (18 USC 243OA) and related federal offenses." [More...]

The Pitkin County Commissioners in Aspen met a few weeks ago and condemned the DEA's recent bust of a group of retirement-age drug suspects. More here.

Yesterday they wrote the DEA a letter, lambasting the agency for not telling local law enforcement what they were up to. The Commissioners urge the DEA to "“reconsider the directive you've given to your field agents and employees that places innocent people at risk.”

The letter has more details of the meeting between DEA and local law enforcement after the most recent bust.

Obama in Old San Juan.

NYTimes Editorial on SCOTUS' 5-4 decision (PDF) weakening the securities fraud law. I have not read the decision, but I will note that Congress can overturn this SCOTUS decision and political parties can at least talk about it. Maybe I missed it, but I have not seen any reactions from politicians on this case.

Open Thread.

It's day 3 of deliberations in the retrial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

I've been entrenched in motions writing, and hope to be back here soon.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The Debtors have demonstrated that DOMA violates their equal protection rights afforded under the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, either under heightened scrutiny or under rational basis review. Debtors also have demonstrated that there is no valid governmental basis for DOMA. In the end, the court finds that DOMA violates the equal protection rights of the Debtors as recognized under the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment.

No one expressed the Debtors’ view as pertinent to this simple bankruptcy case more eloquently and profoundly than Justice William O. Douglas in the concluding paragraph of his opinion for the majority in Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 486 (1965):

We deal with a right of privacy older than the Bill of Rights—older than our political parties, older than our school system. Marriage is a coming together for better or for worse, hopefully enduring, and intimate to the degree of being sacred. It is an association that promotes a way of life, not causes; a harmony in living, not in political faiths; a bilateral loyalty, not commercial or social projects. Yet it is an association for as noble a purpose as any involved in our prior decisions. Id.

[More . . .]

Via Atrios, I discovered that Dem political lawyer Ron Klain "overs[aw] implementation" of the infrastructure spending in the 2009 stimulus:

When I worked in the Obama White House, one of my most important assignments was to help oversee implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act[.]

Why was Ron Klain charged with this task? What did he know about infrastructure projects? As Atrios points out he surely knows very little about economics and job creation. Atrios writes:

I wasn't supposed to pay attention to the GOP debate last night was I? cuz I didn't.

Here's a blatantly sexist take on it:

Michelle Bachmann was able to speak in complete sentences and therefore has stolen the critical MILF vote (or more accurately, the vote of those who will vote for women they consider MILFs) from Palin.

Sheesh.

Open Thread.