Raymond Santana was 14 years old in 1989 when he and four others were wrongfully accused of raping the Central Park jogger. Days after the crime, Donald Trump spent $85,000. on ads in four New York newspapers calling for the death penalty for the five. The ads ran in New York Times, the New York Post, the New York Daily News and New York Newsday, while the jogger was still in the hospital in a coma.

In the ads, which have the banner headline "Bring Back the Death Penalty," Trump wrote, "They should be forced to suffer and, when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes. They must serve as examples so that others will think long and hard before committing a crime or an act of violence."

The youths were convicted at trial and sent to prison, but 13 years later, DNA evidence confirmed they were not the attackers. The person whose DNA did match later confessed. Santana is outraged that Trump, to this day, refuses to apologize. [More...]

Here's the official wedding program for William and Kate, courtesy of the Royal Family website. Kate doesn't arrive to walk down the aisle until 11:00 am, GMT. It's now 2 am in London, and 7 pm in Denver.

In Denver, PBS will be airing the BBC coverage from 1:00 am tonight until 6 am tomorrow morning. Since I have zero interest in the American media spectacle or care to listen to its chatterboxes, I'll either watch the BBC/PBS coverage or watch with the sound off. I can understand the massive coverage by British media -- it's their country and their royalty -- but I totally don't get the U.S. media's obsessive coverage and expenditure of millions of dollars to fly their anchors and teams of vacuous "know it alls" to London. Even worse are the crude attempts by U.S. businesses to cash in on the event: From Kohl's "we'll dress dress you like Kate", to Restaurant X will be serving British food, it's such a turn-off. The crass commercialization of the event has ensured that I will not watch any American network coverage.

I actually think William and Kate make a nice couple and seem to be handling the massive attention well. I'd probably watch if there was a network that had the good sense to just air the event and let us take it in for ourselves, skipping the breathless chatter of their anchors and talking heads. I'm hoping the BBC will do that, although it's probably too much to ask.

Rant over. Your turn. All topics welcome.

The DEA raided four medical marijuana dispensaries in Spokane, WA today. A map of those raided is here, courtesy of Radical Russ of NORML.

Here is the position of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, contained in an April 14 letter to the Washington legislature concerning on a proposed bill to establish a licensing scheme for marijuana growers and dispensaries: [More...]

The "experts":

Ironically, the labor market, which until recently had lagged the economic recovery that got under way in the second half of 2009, is seen underpinning growth in the coming quarters.

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits surprisingly rose last week to their highest level since January in a sign an anticipated recovery in labor markets may take time, a government report showed on Thursday.. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits jumped 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 429,000, up from a slightly upwardly revised 404,000[.]

Happy Days Are Here Again!! Geithner could cost Obama his reelection.

Speaking for me only

Bump and Update: The jury convicted two defendants, including Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, and acquitted two defendants. Giants owner John Mara was one of the jurors.

All defendants except Yaroshenko acknowledged participation in cocaine transactions involving South America and Africa. They denied they were part of a conspiracy to have some of the drugs sent to the U.S. No cocaine was actually shipped anywhere, and the only connection to the U.S. was that the DEA informant in the sting operation told the others he planned to have his portion of the cocaine flown from Ghana to New York. I assume the two who were acquitted were Nathanial French and Mawuko Kudufia, whose alleged roles were to assist in the planned offload of the cocaine in Liberia after it arrived from South America. (Update: Those were the two who were acquitted, the U.S. Attorney's press release on the verdict is here.)

All four were flown from Africa to New York to stand trial in June, 2010, and have been detained since then. At least two will get to go home now. [More...]

Robert Gibbs:

"Donald Trump said he’d release his tax returns as soon as the president released his birth certificate, so the ball is in his court now and I know everybody is anxious to see his tax returns over the last 10 years," Gibbs told POLITICO.

The Obama Team loves Trump being a leading GOP light, for good reason.

Speaking for me only

I'm busy again. Light blogging if any from me.

Open Thread.

The media is in its full Royal Mania phase. There are 8,652 news articles on Google right now about Kate Middleton's wedding dress. No one's figured out who designed it. Bruce Oldfield tells Women's Wear Daily he is not the designer. Vegas odds are on Sarah Burton of Alexander Queen. Other possibilities: Alice Temperly, Sophie Cranston (who says it's not her) , Issa designer Daniella Helayel, and Philipa Lepley. One person who knows but isn't telling: Olivier Theyskens, formerly of Nina Ricci, lately with Theory.

The royal wedding site is here. It has its own You Tube channel where you can watch everything live, starting at 2:00 am PT tomorrow night. Unless I can find a place to watch without media commentary, I'll probably skip it. [More...]

My 2 cents, Obama released the birth certificate too soon. Should have made the GOP Presidential candidates squirm on the issue until the Fall.

Open Thread.

Montana has allowed medical marijuana since 2004. Today, the Senate joined the House in passing a reform bill. It now heads to the Governor. You can read the bill, SB 423 (SB0423.ENR) here. Among the key provisions:

• The law repeals the existing Montana Medical Marijuana Act.
• Lawmakers specified a list of debilitating medical conditions which qualify for a medical marijuana card and defined a standard of care that doctors must comply with to issue a card. The bill now prohibits telemedicine.
• Lawmakers placed regulatory authority with the Department of Health.
• The committee limited the number of plants a card-holder can have to 4 mature plants, 12 seedlings and 1 oz of usable marijuana.
• The amended bill defines chronic pain and forces a patient to either have proof of pain or have 2 doctors certify a chronic pain patient.

[More...]

Glenn Greenwald at Salon reports on a new grand jury subpoena served yesterday that likely relates to the Wikileaks investigation:

In the wake of a massive disclosure of Guantanamo files by WikiLeaks, the FBI yesterday served a Grand Jury subpoena in Boston on a Cambridge resident, compelling his appearance to testify in Alexandria, Virgina. Alexandria is where a Grand Jury has been convened to criminally investigate WikiLeaks and Julian Assange and determine whether an indictment against them is warranted. The individual served has been publicly linked to the WikiLeaks case, and it is highly likely that the Subpoena was issued in connection with that investigation.

Glenn has copies of the supboena and accompanying letter. The subpoena is dated 4/11/2011, and the letter 4/21/2011. Glenn reports it was served yesterday. [More...]

The U.S. Attorney's office in Colorado is the latest one to advise state prosecutiorial agencies that it will continue to prosecute and impose sanctions against those involved in medical marijuana, despite the Ogden Memo and despite state law to the contrary.

Here are the actual letters, from Colorado Attorney General John Suthers to the legislature, from Colorado U.S. Attorney John Walsh to Suthers, and similar ones from U.S. Attorneys in Northern California, Hawaii, Eastern Washington and Montana. [More...]