The wrongfully convicted youths, now men, from the Central Park Jogger case are suing New York for $50 million. NYC says it won't settle.

Jury questioning begins tomorrow in the retrial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. The Chicago Sun Times has re-started its Blago Blog.

Two of the three shut-down online poker companies have agreed with the Government on a refund plan for players.

Big TV night: New episodes of Survivor, American Idol, America's Next Top Model and Justified. And reruns of Breaking Bad from the first three seasons. Most unwatchable show to hit the airwaves in a long time: Mob Wives on VH-1.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Matt Yglesias:

[Y]ou have conservative politicians refusing to make a serious effort to reach an agreement out of some blend of taxophobia and fear of giving the President a win. The result, again, whether the right realizes it or not, is a gift to the wing of the Democratic Party that disagrees with Obama about the desirability of enacting spending cuts.

I doubt this very much. But here's hoping! The problem is tax policy. Will Obama let the Bush tax cuts expire? I hope so.

Now that possession of marijuana for personal use is no longer a crime in Massachusetts, the Supreme Court has ruled police cannot order occupants of a vehicle to exit the car just because they smelled marijuana. From today's ruling:

"Without at least some other additional fact to bolster a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, the odor of burnt marijuana alone cannot reasonably provide suspicion of criminal activity to justify an exit order...."Ferreting out decriminalized conduct with the same fervor associated with the pursuit of serious criminal conduct is neither desired by the public nor in accord with the plain language of the statute,

The ACLU, which participated in the case, says:

“Today’s ruling is a strong statement that police cannot treat decriminalized conduct as if it were a serious crime. Heavy-handed police enforcement in the face of minor drug infractions not only wastes public resources but disproportionately affects communities of color.”

What happened, according to the opinion (link is only temporary, the case is Commonwwealth vs. Benjamin CRUZ. SJC-10738. April 19, 2011):

The Defense Department announced today that Pvt. Bradley Manning will be moved from Quantico to the Joint Regional Correctional Facility at Fort Leavenworth.

The Kansas prison opened in 2010 as part of the Military Correctional Complex.

From their Flickr page, here's a photo of a cell.

Some recent cases challenging military pre-trial detention conditions are here.

In 1979, Jeffrey R. MacDonald, a captain in the Medical Corps, was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife and their two young daughters in the family’s Fort Bragg home. He was sentenced to three life terms and has steadfastly maintained his innocence. He lost his direct appeal and many post-conviction motions for relief. His case was the subject of the book and movie, Fatal Vision.

A year ago, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in his latest request for relief. Today, the Court ordered the trial court to consider DNA evidence casting doubt on his guilt in conjunction with the other submitted innocence evidence. The court said the innocence evidence must be considered together as a whole, rather than piecemeal. The opinion is here.

Via e-mail from the Innocence Project, which filed an amicus brief along with the New England Innocence Project and the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence in the case: [more...]

The Colorado Board of Health is up to its old tricks, now trying to change the definition of caregiver in a way that will restrict patient choice and require patients to pay for unnecessary services. From Sensible Colorado:

Once again, the Colorado Health Department (CDPHE) has launched an attack on medical marijuana caregivers. Hiding behind the Attorney General’s questionable legal interpretation, the CDPHE has rejected the proposed definition of "caregiver" as put forward by the CDPHE Medical Marijuana Advisory Board. After studying the issue, the Advisory Board concluded that providing education about medical marijuana was sufficient to meet the definition of "caregiver".

[More...]

U.S. Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske today unveiled the White House's new action plan to control prescription drug abuse. The press release is here. Background here.

The plan is here. There are four components: education, tracking and monitoring, proper disposal, and enforcement. [More...]

Standard and Poors is a clown car, and I like the Lakers tomorrow. Tonight I like the Celtics, Magic and Blazers.

Open Thread.

The latest Senate Gang wants to cut Social Security and Medicare, and eliminate the mortgage interest deduction. Matt Yglesias is keen to increase the tax on health insurance.

Tim Geithner is thrilled about this kind of talk:

Mr. Geithner said “[. . . I]f you listen carefully now, you see the leadership of the United States of America, the president, the Republican leadership in both houses and the Democrats recognizing now that [. . .] we have to put in place now reforms that bring down our long-term deficits in ways that’ll help strengthen future growth. And that’s incredibly important recognition by people and we’d like to put something in place as soon as we can so we can begin that process.”

Funny, Mr. Geithner was not that concerned about deficits when he was touting tax cuts for the rich when The Deal was passed in December. The gamble by the Obama Administration, spearheaded by Mr. Geithner, is that the economy will be in good shape in 2012, so promises of long term reductions won't affect the President's reelection chances. That seems delusional to me. Time will tell.

Speaking for me only

Crystal Magnum, the woman who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of rape, has been indicted in North Carolina for the murder of her boyfriend, Reginald Daye. She was initially arrested two weeks ago and charged with assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly stabbing him with a kitchen knife. He died from the stab wounds four days ago.

It's hardly her first new brush with the law since the Duke case. In February of last year, she was arrested for the attempted murder of a different boyfriend, and ultimately charged with felony first-degree arson and a slew of misdemeanors, including contributing to the delinquency of a minor, injury to personal property and resisting arrest. [More...]

Matt Yglesias:

[I]t seems to me that it’ll be difficult for Pelosi to hold House Democrats together [on insisting on a clean debt ceiling increase bill] unless the White House also takes a firm line on the issue.

Yes, this is true. Indeed, it is true about almost every bill actually. The President is not quite as impotent as some would like you to think at times.

Speaking for me only

NBA Playoffs? FANTASTIC!

I am gonna let ya'll in on a little secret - Donald Trump is not running for dog catcher, much less President. The Trump-ism explaining why he is not running will be pretty entertaining though, I predict. Give me your guesses as to what excuse Trump will use to explain why he is not running.

Open Thread.