Sen. Arlen Specter's long career as a U.S. Senator is ending.

Mr. Specter won just three counties, including Philadelphia, but not by the huge amounts needed to offset the wins by Representative Joe Sestak everywhere else in the state.

Mr. Sestak’s campaign focused relentlessly on Mr. Specter’s party switch, saying that it symbolized his opportunism and that he was out for himself. Mr. Specter may have sown the seeds of his own destruction when he readily admitted that he changed sides to keep his seat.

Is this a sign of rage against incumbants others will feel in November? I doubt, as Governor Rendell is quoted in the Times article, that Specter lost because of the rain in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

“The rain killed Arlen,” Mr. Rendell said dejectedly. “Whatever chance he had went down with the rain.”

Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, pleaded guilty in New York yesterday to charges arising from the hijacking of the U.S.S. Maersk Alabama in Apri l 2009.

As part of the agreement, prosecutors said they would seek a sentence of at least 27 years but no more than 33 years and 9 months. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 19.

What about his age? His lawyers expect he'll get a break from it at sentencing.

Although he agreed to be judged as an adult as part of the agreement, one of his court-appointed lawyers, Philip L. Weinstein, made clear in court on Tuesday that his age could be used as a mitigating factor at sentencing.

Muse's reward for pleading guilty was the Government's agreement to drop the most serious charge against him which would have brought a mandatory life sentence: “the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations,”

I'm following the results closely - who will get the first pick in the NBA draft and then the right to draft the great John Wall? Oh you aren't following that? Maybe you were more interested in Dave Zabriskie's win in Stage 3 of the Tour of California? No? Yanks-Sox? Celts-Magic? No?

Dancing With The Stars? Lost penultimate episode? No?

Well there are some election results in PA, KY and AR too. I'd like to see Halter beat Lincoln, but a runoff is likely. Other than that? Meh.

You can keep us informed in the comments.

Open Thread.

Glenn Greenwald and Matt Yglesias have a curious exchange (see Kevin Drum for the weirdness of the dispute) about President Obama and civil liberties. For the full argument, click the links, but I found these two quotes to be the key takeaways. Yglesias wrote:

"This is what I think: If public opinion were friendly to civil liberties, then public policy in the Obama era would be friendlier to civil liberties than it currently is."

I say duh. Obama is a pol. And they do what they do. I think the actual issue is identified in this from Yglesias:

[P]eople who want to halt the erosion of civil liberties need to do a better job of persuading people that the erosion of civil liberties would be a bad thing.

The question is, is Obama one of those "people?" And if so, why is he not doing more? Yglesias, like me, is cynical about politicians, and expects nothing from Obama on this. I do not see this as excusing Obama, but being realistic about him, and every pol. That is why a true progressive flank can never accept a role as cheerleader for any pol. Glenn chooses to criticize Obama. Me? I criticize the supposed progressive flank for being unthinking Obama cheerleaders. (NOTE: I have strong disagreements with Greenwald on certain civil liberties issues and find myself defending the position the Obama Administration has taken that Glenn disagrees with. But I make no pretense to being part of the progressive flank on civil liberties.)

Speaking for me only

The ACLU and other civil rights groups have filed a class action lawsuit challenging Arizona's immigration law.

"Arizona's law is quintessentially un-American: we are not a 'show me your papers' country, nor one that believes in subjecting people to harassment, investigation and arrest simply because others may perceive them as foreign," said Omar Jadwat, a staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project. "This law violates the Constitution and interferes with federal law, and we are confident that we will prevent it from ever taking effect."

Grounds for the suit:

The lawsuit will challenge Arizona's law on the grounds that it interferes with federal authority over immigration matters, and that it invites racial profiling against people of colour in violation of equal protection guarantees enshrined in the Constitution.

More from the ACLU here. [More...]

My iPad has arrived! I'm about to take it from its box and set it up. Many thanks to the very generous TalkLeft reader who gifted it to me. It's got wi-fi and 3G and a docking station/keyboard.

I'll report back on how long it takes to set up and what I think of it in a few hours.

If anyone has any ideas for a great apps to add (non-games) please let me know.

If you're not watching sports, there's "24" and Dancing With the Stars. I know we have an open thread up, but since I'll be busy with my iPad for a few hours, here's another one. All topics welcome.

Tonight at 9 Los Suns! get back in action as they face the defending champion Lakers in LA.

Go Suns! Beat LA!

Here is a preview from the Suns fan (which is all of us, right?) perspective.

Open Thread.

BTD is in depositions today and I'm busy at work.

As I wrote last night, Bernie Kerik starts his 48 month prison term today. I read somewhere he'll be at Cumberland, MD. It's a medium security prison with an adjacent camp. I assume he'll be at the camp.

As for Bernie and Rudy, in an interview last month Bernie said he hadn't spoken to Rudy since 2006 but "We will be friends for life." Memo to Rudy: Don't even think about running, you'll never live down your association with Bernie.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Just reading the list of 35 signatories to this letter sent to Attorney General Eric Holder today urging him to abandon efforts to have Congress water down Miranda rights, gives hope that progressive lobbying is still alive in this country.

In its letter to the Attorney General, the coalition stated, “Current law provides ample flexibility to protect the public against imminent terrorist threats while still permitting the use of statements made by the accused in a criminal prosecution. Weakening Miranda would undercut our fundamental Fifth Amendment rights for no perceptible gain.”

Here are the groups and the text of the letter: [More...]

The Supreme Court today ruled that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life without parole for crimes other than murder.

The United States is the only country in the world that allows life sentences without parole for juveniles.

An estimated 111 defendants in the United States have been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for crimes other than murder committed when they were under age 18. About 70 percent of them are imprisoned in Florida.

Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, available here: [More...]

The season finale of Pacific, Survivor, and Desperate Housewives all air tonight, while Celebrity Apprentice gets down to the final two. As if that's not enough, there's a new Breaking Bad and Brothers and Sisters.

What are you watching?

Here's an interesting op-ed from 2000 on why we need to maintain Miranda by former prosecutor and author Scott Turow. I like this part:

Catching bad guys is important, but it is not the only thing this society values; we also care about certain minimal standards of decency in the government's treatment of citizens and limits on the authority of the state.

The requirement to recite Miranda is an important reminder to the police that the war on lawlessness is always subject to the guidance of the law.

Turow has a new book out, the sequel to "Presumed Innooent" called Innocent, in which former prosecutor Rusty Sabich is back in the defendant's chair, charged with murdering his wife.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.