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.

There has been a hubbub about President Obama's recent signing statement regarding the stopgap spending bill

Despite my continued strong objection to [Sections 1112 and 1113 - regarding transfer of Gitmo detainees] these provisions, I have signed this Act because of the importance of avoiding a lapse in appropriations for the Federal Government, including our military activities, for the remainder of fiscal year 2011.

Nothing indicates an intent to violate the law there. The part of the signing statement many have focused on is the "czar" issue:

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner:

The hard thing is not to raise the debt limit, because Congress will always do that, and they recognize that. The hard thing is to try to take advantage of this moment, and get Republicans and Democrats to come together and lock in some reforms that will reduce our long-term deficits.

(Emphasis supplied.) No one ever wants to take "advantage of" a moment to help create jobs. In case you're wondering, Grover Norquist has won.

Speaking for me only

I was looking for a Bob Seger version, but this was just too good.

On TV tonight: New episodes of The Killing (AMC); Celebrity Apprentice, Desperate Housewives, Brothers and Sisters, and The Next Iron Chef.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The Indictment of the 11 internet poker company executives and payment processors is only part of the story. Along with the Indictment, which was returned on March 10 but not unsealed until this Friday, the Government filed a civil lawsuit, available here, seeking forfeiture of $3 billion, as well as the company's domain names and websites.

The Defendant Entities are liable to the Government for a sum of money representing the amount of property, funds, or monetary instruments involved in the money laundering offenses described above, in an amount that is no less than $1.5 billion for the PokerStars Entities; $1 billion for the Full Tilt Poker Entities; and $500 million for the Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet Entities.

[More...]

In August, 2010, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals became the first federal appeals court to rule that prolonged GPS tracking of a suspect's vehicle without a warrant violated the Fourth Amendment. In doing so, it reversed a conviction and life sentence of an alleged major drug trafficker.

This week, the Obama Administration petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari in the case, asking it to find neither probable cause nor a warrant is required. You can read the petition, which has the circuit court's opinion attached, here. [More...]

In the news:

Barry Bonds may have an excellent argument for throwing out his obstruction conviction.

Al Qaeda in Yemen figured out how to get around U.S. electronic surveillance.

Georgia wants to take the mantle from Arizona as being tough on immigration. It just passed a law allowing police "to demand documentation of residency and to detain people they reasonably suspect are in the country illegally." The law is here.

The internet poker crackdown continues to be major news. Some major players speak out on what they think will happen to online poker. And no one seems to have a definitive answer as to whether online poker is illegal.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Friday's announcement of a massive indictment against 11 big wigs in the world on online poker follow a predictable pattern: Earlier busts and flips.

Looking at today's indictment, available here, it's obvious there was an earlier, preceding indictment. The case is numbered 10-cr-336 which means it was filed in 2010. And today's indictment is called a "Superseding Indictment."

Who got indicted first in case no 10-cr-336? Daniel Tzvetkoff, age 27, owner of Intanet, an online payment processing company in Australia. He was indicted in New York in April, 2010 on money laundering and related charges for processing $543 million in payments for online gambling companies and disguising the transactions as being unrelated to gambling. [More...]