Joran Van der Sloot has been transferred to Miguel Castro Castro maximum security prison. (Google translation here.)

Our post on the problems at Miguel Castro Castro prison is here. His lawyer calls it "Dante's Inferno." Pervian authorities say he will be segregated from other prisoners.

Peruvian prisons have very high rates of tuberculosis.

Who else is at Castro Castro, besides murderers? [More...]

3 WC games on tap tomorrow. More group and game previews will be provided before 7 AM tomorrow.

Open Thread.

AP:

Gov. Charlie Crist has vetoed a bill that would have required women seeking an abortion during the first trimester to undergo an ultrasound exam and pay for it. Crist said Friday it put an inappropriate burden on women seeking an abortion. Crist was a Republican until he left the party recently to make an independent bid for the Senate.

His veto message.

Boo France! Boo Henry! Well, at least that's what everyone seems to feel. Me? Not so much. I'm a oontrarian though. I also think France wins.

FINAL - 0-0. Not an advertisement for association football. Just an awful, awful game.

Semi-Live Blog below the fold.

Joran Van der Sloot has been charged with aggravated murder in Peru, (Google translation here) with findings he intended to rob Stephany Flores, persuaded her to come to his hotel room and then brutally murdered her and tried to cover it up. (Added: Later press release from the court (English Google translation here) explains it differently. It's homicide with special circumstances and simple theft.)

Another version here (Google translation here.)

Three cab drivers were also charged with failure to report a crime. The complaint alleges they knew of the crime when or after they drove Joran. Some reports say the maximum sentence for murder during the commission of a robbery with extreme violence is is 35 years, others say it's life.

As to the cover-up, it may have to do with his having pretended to have lost the key to his room. [More...]

Open Thread. I'm watching the World Cup.

FINAL - South Africa 1, Mexico 1. Overall, lousy game. One great goal by South Africa.

I would be embarrassed if my name were attached to this story. Just when you thought the Beltway Media could not be less dignified or relevant, the Politico's John Harris and Marin Cogan prove that wrong.

The inanity and vacuousness of the Beltway is truly stunning.

Let's make this an Open Thread so that an interesting discussion might arise.

Speaking for me only

The federal court in Alabama has unsealed the Affidavit in support of the complaint charging Joran Van der Sloot with extortion. You can read it here.

The Affidavit begins with Van der Sloot contacting a "cooperating witness" who from all accounts, seems to be Holloway's lawyer John Q. Kelly. What's not said is what prompted Van der Sloot to contact Kelly, and whether it was one of Hollway's private detectives or persons they knew to be in touch with Joran. In other words, just because Joran contacted Kelly before Kelly contacted him, doesn't mean the idea didn't originate with Team Holloway and Joran just took the bait. [More..]

Project Deliverance continues -- Attorney General Eric Holder announced the arrest of 429 people yesterday in a drug sweep. That brings the total number arrested to 2,200.

Yesterday, 429 individuals in 16 states were arrested as part of Project Deliverance, which targeted the transportation infrastructure of Mexican drug trafficking organizations in the United States, especially along the Southwest border, through coordination between federal, state and local law enforcement. More than 3,000 agents and officers operated across the United States to make yesterday's arrests. During yesterday's enforcement action, $5.8 million in U.S. currency, 2,951 pounds of marijuana, 112 kilograms of cocaine, 17 pounds of methamphetamine, 141 weapons and 85 vehicles were seized by law enforcement agents.

[More...]

At Sportsleft, I've posted the first of my group previews. This one discusses Groups A and B. Of note, I predict that the best player in the world will not be playing in the second round - Argentina does not get out of Group B and Messi won't be doing this:

A shame really. But Maradona? What were they thinking?

The TL kid and I are headed up to Aspen for the annual NORML drug law conference. There's live coverage this year. We're staying with Anita at Owl Farm. The TL kid gets to sleep in Johnny Depp's room. (No, he won't be there, it's called that because it's the room he always slept in when he visited Hunter.) Here's the speaking agenda . I'll be speaking Saturday on new forms of electronic surveillance.

I'll have my iPad and my laptop and will be checking in, and maybe posting occasionally. (I will be following developments in Peru with Joran Van der Sloot but won't be able to devote as much time to them.)

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.