Republican Senator James Inhofe today on Obama's plans to restart military commission trials at Guantanamo:

I knew then that we couldn’t afford to close GITMO, because it is nothing less than a crown jewel.

Charles Manson follower Patricia Krenwinkle has a parole hearing today. At 63, she has a clean record during her 40 years of incarceration. Will she get parole? Highly unlikely. (Update: parole denied.)

Omar Saeed Sheikh, the Briton convicted of killing reporter Daniel Pearl, is likely to be freed, as a new report shows the Pakistanis used tainted evidence to convict him and vein analysis shows Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who confessed during his forced interrogations, was the killer. The report is here. The U.S. does not plan to charge him since it would complicate their 9/11 case. Saeed Sheikh has been appealing his conviction for 9 years.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

If you missed American Idol last night, "The Road to Hollywood" continues tonight. Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez are both good additions, but last night, it was Tyler who stole the show. It's worth watching tonight just to hear what will come out of his mouth next.

"Well, hellfire, save matches, f--- a duck, and see what hatches!"

When a female contestant opened her blouse to show huge metallic cardboard stars pasted onto her breasts, Steven asked her: "What's with the jujubees on your ooh-ooh-bees?"

The news headlines today point out that ratings last night were down in the coveted categories. The show still pulled in 26 million viewers, more than the other networks, and 2 million more viewers than last May's finale. And its overall viewership still beats Dancing With the Stars by 20%. [More...]

Rudy Giuliani will be on CNBC's Kudlow Report tonight. He's considering another run for the Republican nomination for President. Here's an excerpt, received by e-mail from CNBC:

LARRY KUDLOW: " Will you take a look at 2012, there are lots of rumors in New York City?"

RUDY GIULIANI: "I will take a look at 2012. It's really a question of, can I play a useful role? Would I have a chance of getting the nomination? Those are things that I'll have to evaluate as the year goes along.

LARRY KUDLOW: "But the door is open, that's what I'm hearing from you tonight?"

RUDY GIULIANI: "Yes, yes, Absolutely Larry."

He never could stand to be out of the limelight for long. Is this just a way for him to rev up demand (and fees) as a motivational speaker? [More...]

Sexist a**hole:

When [Arianna] Huffington said there's nothing in the Duelfer Report to bolster [Joe] Lieberman's conclusions, the senator replied, "I don't think you've read it, sweetheart."

Unfreakingbelievable.

Speaking for me only

Matt Yglesias writes:

Apple doesn’t have “monopoly power” (its market share isn’t even that big) in the markets for laptops or smart phones. What Apple has is intellectual property—operating systems.

The definition of "relevant market" is crucial here. In a good comment thread, the issue is fleshed out a bit. It's complicated though. A lot of my work involves this issue so I'm not going to write about it here. I will point you to this related development from the past few years - the Bush DOJ's policy on Sherman Act Section 2 enforcement (PDF) and the Obama DOJ's withdrawal of the policy. Now talk amongst yourselves about it.

Speaking (or not, as the case may be) for me only

Following up on medical marijuana raids conducted last fall, the Feds have indicted 11 people in Nevada. John Birmele, Jr., the owner of The Happiness Consultants, is charged with 15 counts including distribution of marijuana, using a firearm in
drug trafficking and concealing information from social security. The indictments are here and here.

Nevada state law is a little peculiar.

Under Nevada state law, a person with a medical marijuana license can legally possess up to one ounce of pot and grow seven plants. Technically, it's illegal to buy or sell it.

Many people who are authorized to possess pot in Nevada have argued that state law is a "catch 22". Unlike California, there aren't any legal dispensaries patients can go to. The Las Vegas businesses that were raided are only legally licensed to consult patients in getting medical marijuana cards.

Nevada needs to authorize and regulate dispensaries as do other states. While its law allows people to use medical marijuana, they must grow it themselves. Not everyone has a green thumb. And it's questionable whether it's legal for anyone to possess the seeds needed to grow a marijuana plant.

It begins:

A number of the House GOP’s leading conservative members on Thursday will announce legislation that would cut $2.5 trillion over 10 years, which will be by far the most ambitious and far-reaching proposal by the new majority to cut federal government spending. [. . . The] “Spending Reduction Act” would eliminate such things as the U.S. Agency for International Development and its $1.39 billion annual budget, [. . .] the $1.5 billion annual subsidy for Amtrak, $2.5 billion in high speed rail grants [. . .] and it would cut in half to $7.5 billion the federal travel budget.

But the program eliminations and reductions would account for only $330 billion of the $2.5 trillion in cuts. The bulk of the cuts would come from returning non-defense discretionary spending – which is currently $670 billion out of a $3.8 trillion budget for the 2011 fiscal year – to the 2006 level of $496.7 billion, through 2021.

This is, of course, just a scare document, intended to move the conversation in the Norquist direction. When Boehner comes in with a lower spending cuts number, he'll be "the reasonable one." Boehner will "negotiate" with Demint. Who will Obama negotiate with? Oh BTW, extension of the Bush tax cuts cost more in revenue ($4 trillion) to the government than the amount of the draconian cuts the GOP will propose today ($3.3 trillion.) What is interesting about this proposal though is what it does not touch - defense spending, Social Security or Medicare. How about that?

Speaking for me only

Good news for President Obama. Is it good news for progressive policies? Time will tell.

Open Thread.

Via Atrios, Felix Salmon asks the unaskable question:

[W]hat if part of the problem is that Obama’s economic team just wasn’t a good team? What if, in fact, it turns out to have been a very bad team?

My answer is that is was in fact a very very bad team. Obviously not as bad as Bush's economic team, but really bad. And the real problem is Obama had a bad economic team during a time that cried out for a great and bold economic team. Obama's Brain Trust was simply a disaster. Imo of course. YMMV.

See also Jason Linkins and Marcy Wheeler.

Speaking for me only

I think this bit from Ezra Klein exemplifies Beltway Dems' fundamental misunderstanding of politics and goes far in explaining why even when Republicans lose elections, they gain ground in the policy debate:

For the first two years of his administration, Obama benefited from huge Democratic majorities that allowed him to get things done by locating the senator who would be the 60th vote in the Senate and aiming legislation right between the whites of his or her eyes.

"The 60th vote" generally has no idea where they stand on any particular piece of legislation. For the most part, they look to see where everyone else stands first and then pick ground between the two sides. More . ..

A new report released last month by the Washington Office of Latin America (WOLA)has some interesting statistics on Mexican and Central American drug arrests.

The unprecedented one-year comparative study of the drug laws and prison systems in eight Latin American countries – Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.

The weight of the law falls on the most vulnerable individuals, overcrowding the prisons, but allowing drug trafficking to flourish.

How so? [More...]

President Obama is about to lift the ban on military commission trials at Guantanamo.

One of those expected to be recharged and tried is Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, who was captured in 2002. Al-Nashiri was originally charged by the Bush Administration with participating in the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole. He was facing the death penalty. The Obama Administration moved to dismiss the charges against in in 2009. Al-Nashiri's co-defendants were moved to federal court. Why wasn't Al-Nashiri? The obvious answer is because the evidence against him was obtained by torture. His lawyer, Lt. Com. Stephen Reyes says:

“Nashiri is being prosecuted at the commissions because of the torture issue,” Mr. Reyes said. “Otherwise he would be indicted in New York along with his alleged co-conspirators.”

[More...]