I've been really busy at work and I'm not sure when it will break. I know there's a lot of news, from the Patriot Act renewal to the latest in the Chicago terror trial.

Colorado Senator Mark Udall says he will vote against the Patriot Act extension unless critical changes are made.

There's also the DWTS finale, the final performances on American Idol and The Voice. Go Lauren.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

I'm a big fan of former Florida Gator and current Chicago Bull Joakim Noah. Like Charles Barkley, Noah is my favorite player. In Sunday night's game against the Heat, Noah delivered a gay slur at a heckling fan. He issued an apology immediately after the game, and was fined Monday by the NBA:

The NBA on Monday fined Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah $50,000 for hurling profanity and a gay slur at a fan during the Bulls’ Game 3 loss to the Miami Heat. Noah had immediately apologized for the slur and said he expected a stiff financial penalty for his words. “I got caught up. A fan said something,” Noah said after Sunday’s game. “I said something back. I apologize. I don’t mean no disrespect to anybody.”

I believe and hope the apology was sincere. Noah's a pretty openly progressive person politically, so it is not a stretch to believe the apology was sincere. Hopefully, he'll learn from this incident. Also, I hope he has a good game tonight against the Heat, who lead the series 2-1 over the Bulls.

Speaking for me only

Pakistan has issued a statement following David Coleman Headley's testimony Monday in the Chicago trial of Tahawwur Hussein Rana, saying his statements that Pakistan's ISI supported the Mumbai bombings is not credible:

"This is a completely incorrect statement from him (David Coleman Headley). ISI & serving officers did not provide support to David Headley, and ISI had nothing to do with the Mumbai attacks. David Headley was a double agent. He is not a credible witness."

Will the real Major Iqbal please stand up? No one seems to have identified him yet. He used the e-mail address chaudherykhan-at-yahoo.com. Who gave Headley the opportunity to be a double agent? The DEA. Who else is playing both sides? Pakistan. There's plenty of dirt to go around.

Globe and Mail reporter Colin Freeze is doing a great job of live-tweeting the trial. All of our coverage since the 2009 arrest of Headley is accessible here.

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a ruling by a panel of three federal judge holding that conditions in California's prisons are so horrendous they violate the 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The panel had found that overcrowding was a primary cause of the abysmal conditions, and ordered California to reduce its prison population to no more than 137% of design capacity. The Supreme Court's opinion is here. From the opinion:

Prisoners retain the essence of human dignity inherent in all persons. Respect for that dignity animates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

[More...]

Opening arguments were held this morning in the Chicago terror trial of Tahawwur Hussein Rana, charged with conspiracy in the Mumbai bombings and a planned attack on a Danish news agency.

“The defendant didn’t carry a gun or throw a grenade. In a complicated and sophisticated plot, not every player carries a weapon. People like the defendant who provides support are just as critical to the success,” [AUSA] Streicker said.

Streiker said Rana "not only knew of the attacks, he approved of them, and agreed with them." The defense said David Headley is a master manipulator who made a fool of Doctor Rana.

David Headley, aka Daood Gilani, is the Government's first witness.[More...]

Busy day.

Open Thread.

Who will win Celebrity Apprentice, Marlee Matlin or John Rich? I'm looking forward to finding out. What I could do without: More of Neme, the desperate housewife from some city or another.

The Tyler Hamilton interview about Lance Armstrong is on "60 Minutes." I thought they did this Thursday. Here's Facts For Lance.

The New York Times takes a well-deserved swipe at Nancy Grace and her brand of TV injustice and rush to guilt.

Ms. Grace, a former prosecutor in Atlanta who was reprimanded for stepping over a line more than once, obliterates lines every night on “Nancy Grace.” Working with a contingent of experts who have all the independence of a crew of trained seals, Ms. Grace races toward judgment, heedlessly ignoring nuance and evidence on her way to finding guilt.

[More...]

There's an attack on a Pakistani naval base in Karachi. Several have been killed and there may be hostages. This is the Navy base.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik says "This is an attack on Pakistan. Al- Qaeda and Taliban are enemies of Pakistan and are trying to destroy our assets.”

The assets destroyed include two expensive P-3C Orion surveillance aircraft we provided Pakistan.

IWatch News has new details in the alleged sexual assault case of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, all from anonymous Sofitel Hotel workers. It says some of the workers testified before the grand jury.

First, the new details. Then the inconsistencies, between this version, earlier versions, police statements and leaks and the court documents. [More...]

Opening arguments begin tomorrow in the trial of Tahawwur Rana, alleged to have conspired with David Headley, aka Daood Gilani and others in the Mumbai bombings and a planned attack on a Danish news agency. Michael Isikoff has this summary today.

I've been writing about Headley and Rana in depth since Headley's arrest. All of our coverage is available here.

The Government will attempt mightily to keep Pakistan's ISI out of the trial. The Judge has already rejected Rana's planned defense that he thought he was working for the ISI rather than Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT.)

The main question is who was Headley's handler, referred to as Major Iqbal, allegedly a serving Pakistani ISI officer? And how, despite his being a named defendant in the Chicago case, and the subject of an Indian charge sheet and Interpol Red Notice, can no one know his identity? [More..]

Yesterday, the Australian reported information from Pakistani officials that the three wives of Osama bin Laden had turned on each other, and the older two were accusing the youngest, Amal Ahmed al-Sadah of Yemen, of betraying Osama bin Laden, either by supplying information or by allowing herself to be tracked to the compound. It read like an episode of Desperate Housewives.

Today, via The Sunday Times of London, the Australian reports the Seals left behind a comprehensive pocket guide, that indeed seems there must have been a mole. And that the Obama Administration's insistence that it wasn't sure Osama would be at the compound was disingenuous, at best. [More...]

The New York Times profiles Anne Sinclair, wife of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is not only a famous television personality in France, but an heiress.

It's a good thing for DSK she's an heiress. In addition to being able to foot the bill for hefty legal fees, New York apartments and $200,000 a month to the private security company guarding DSK while on bond, there may be the fees of a crisis management firm, called TDI, based in Washington, D.C.

TDI is composed of former CIA agents and diplomats. What exactly might they do? Here's what they said they did for an African politican: [More...]