Open Thread. All topics welcome. But I will add a few words about today's World Cup matches.

While both Brazil and Portugal are virtually assured of going through to the Round of 16 (Brazil IS assured), this morning's game between them has significance nonetheless- it determines who will play Spain (if Spain gets through) in the Round of 16.

Interestingly, if you wanted to avoid Spain (Chile is a very good team), you would not know whether to play to win or draw. Spain does not face Chile until this afternoon.

If Spain falters, avoiding Chile to instead play Switzerland would be a big plus. In any event, Brazil and Portugal should be incapable of playing an uninteresting game. A must see. In the afternoon, Spain again plays for its World Cup life against a very good Chile team. (Group H turned into the real Group of Death.) Switzerland can, indeed, should, beat Honduras. If it does, Spain MUST beat Chile to advance. In effect, Spain must win the Group or go home. I like Brazil, Ivory Coast, Spain and Switzerland in today's matches.

Howard Kurtz at the Washington Post reports that the Enquirer says the masseuse accusing Al Gore of sexual improprieties asked for $1 million for her story. It says it decided not to pay her anything and conducted only a brief interview with her, verified some facts (like Al Gore was in Portland and the woman had billed the hotel for his massage) and then wrote the story mostly from police reports.

The accuser told police she had no interest in money. Here's what she says in her January, 2009 police statement on page 22:

I consulted with an attorney as this was so overwhelming and I felt the need to understand my rights and choices in a private setting. Since all I have ever been interested in with this situation is stopping this from happening to others, I decided I was not interested in making any money from this case.

I did not want to be labeled a gold digger like women in this situation are often labeled. And I don't care about judgments for money and some army of lawyers fighting another army of lawyers who would not bring back my pre-assault sense of peace and safety. I don't want to be bought off into silence. I only want Justice and having this ugly thing come out of the shadows and into the light where it cannot continue any more. And for this man to be stopped from what he has been doing which should have been done a long time ago. I know that I'm not the first Woman to be assaulted by him.

[More...]

President Obama has surfaced in the Blagojevich trial about what he knew about Blago's desire for a cabinet position if he named Valerie Jarrett to the Senate. Blago's former Chief of Staff John Harris testified he thinks Obama did know. Obama has said he didn't and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said the same when announcing Blago's Indictment. Now Team Blago wants the FBI 302 (investigative report) of Obama's interview with the feds. Will they get it? This judge doesn't seem to give Blago's lawyers an inch, between limiting their cross and sustaining objection after objection to their questions, so I doubt it. He also refused today to delay the trial so the defense could study any effect of the Skilling opinion on honest services fraud. He told Team Blago, it "may not offer a lot of hope for you."

The report in Sarah Palin's latest ethics probe is out. Her fund for legal fees was unethical. She's agreed to pay back more than $300,000. The report found no criminal conduct because she relied on advice of counsel. This latest probe was one of the reasons she gave for resigning as Governor. The report is available here.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Update: The Judge sentenced Joe Nacchio to 70 months, a reduction of only two months from his prior sentence. She cut his forfeiture from $52 million to $44 million and left the $19 million fine in place. Hardly what Nacchio was hoping for.

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At 2:00 pm, the court will issue its new sentence for former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio.

The Denver Post reports the Judge today said she accepted the Government's version of the amount of loss and is putting it at 28 to 32 million, which means his guidelines would be the same, 63 to 78 months. His original sentence was 72 months.

So, the question is, will the Judge agree to a downward departure from the guidelines or a variance from a guideline sentence under the factors in 18 USC 3553(a)? [More...]

Update: I think CNN's headline that Joran's lawyer is seeking his release is a bit off. In an interview with the Dutch media today, his lawyer was asked what's next if he wins the habeas: (Google translation here):

The process should be back to square one. In Peru there are just two reasons to dictate detention: one is in flagrante delicto, that is, at the time of the offense, and the other is by court order. In the case of flagrante delicto Joran has not been because they have not caught when he allegedly committed the crime. There has been an injunction based on research that has been made fraudulently. Then the prosecution would be null too. Not that Joran van der Sloot will go free, because once you take your statement with all the guarantees of the law, and he is back to his arrest.

Some good news for Enron's Jeff Skilling and for Conrad Black: The Supreme Court has ruled in their favor on their challenge to the "honest services" portion of the fraud statute.

Section 1346, which proscribes fraudulent deprivations of “the intangible right of honest services,” is properly confined to cover only bribery and kickback schemes. Because Skilling’s alleged misconduct entailed no bribe or kickback, it does not fall within the Court’s confinement of §1346’s proscription.

The 114 page Skilling opinion is here. The Conrad Black opinion is here.

But, the court did not throw out the statute entirely, and it didn't reverse Skilling or Black's convictions, finding the error might be harmless and it will be up to the lower court or appeals court whether to overturn them. Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Kennedy would have found the statute unconstitutional.

But the justices, in an opinion by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, said prosecutors may continue to seek honest services fraud convictions in cases where they put forward evidence that defendants accepted bribes or kickbacks. "Because Skilling's misconduct entailed no bribe or kickback," Ginsburg said, "he did not conspire to commit honest-services fraud under our confined construction" of the law. [More...]

Update: WaPO reports the Enquirer says the woman asked for $1 million for her story, through her lawyer, but it decided not to pay her anything. Instead, it talked to her for a few minutes and relied on police reports for the rest.

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The Enquirer strikes again. This time Al Gore is the target. The 73 page police report (available here) includes the alleged victim's 2009 statement about a massage she gave to Al Gore at a hotel in Portland Oregon in 2006. The Oregonian account is here.

The woman claims he had been drinking. There's a funny part where he asked her to go into the bedroom part of the suite and listen to Pink on his iPod singing "Dear Mr. President," a song about Bush.

She claims he "bellowed" at her when rebuffed. Alternately, he went New Age:[More...]

World Cup - The Azurri in deep trouble, losng to Slovakia 1-0 at half. The Kiwis look non-threatening against Paraguay.

Open Thread.

The Government of Nigeria this week filed this unusual pleading seeking to enter an appearance in the criminal case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab , the alleged "underpants bomber" and asked that it be provided copies of all filings and allowed to be present at hearings and trial.

The pleading states the request is made to insure the integrity of Nigeria is preserved during the proceedings. And,

To ensure that the Defendant who is a citizen of Nigeria is accorded a fair trial, due process of law , effective assistance of counsel and that his trial is in accordance with acceptable international standards without compromising the official position of the government of Nigeria on the nature of crime committed by the defendant which is a total denunciation of the alleged acts committed by the Defendant.

The request was denied. The next status conference is September 13. No trial date has been set.

Sounds to me like this was a public relations move since they can get the non-sealed pleadings off of PACER and court hearings are open to the public. But I hope someone in the Netherlands or Aruba picks up on it and files a similar request for Joran in Peru.

What a disaster in the making. CNN announced today it will replace Campbell Brown in the fall with a show co-hosted by a conservative columnist, Kathleen Parker, and former New York Gov. and Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer. They're pairing a conservative with "the sheriff of Wall Street"? Where's the balance? I guess they want to give Fox News a run for their money.

CNN should stick to reporting the news and skip the talk shows. It's what they are known for and it's what they do best. Their pundits are their weakest link and this pairing hardly seems like a fresh approach.

Anyone think this show has a chance of succeeding?

President Obama is speaking. VP Biden is right behind him.

He says relieving Gen McCrystal the right thing to do.

"War is bigger than any one man."

The Rolling Stone interview undermines the role of the military and erodes the trust that is necessary for our teams to work together.

There must be adherence to a strict code of conduct. There must be respect for the civilian command over the military.

He must do whatever is necessary to succeed in Afghanistan and defeat al Qaida. We cannot succeed without making this change.

Now is the time for all of us to come together.

We need to remember what this is all about. Our nation is at war. We face a tough task. We have a clear goal. We are going to break the Taliban's momentum. We will apply relentless pressure. That's a strategy we agreed to last fall and are carrying out in Afghanistan and Pakistan. [More...]

MSNBC:

President Barack Obama has decided to relieve Gen. Stanley McChrystal of his command over all U.S. military forces in Afghanistan, sources tell NBC News.

Obama is scheduled to make an official 1:30 p.m. EDT announcement about the general. Meantime, the Associated Press reported that Obama has chosen Gen. David Petraeus to replace McChrystal as top Afghan commander.

(Emphasis supplied.) Choosing Petraeus as the replacement is very very shrewd.