Accused al-Qaeda terror suspect Fahad Hashmi, extradited from the UK in 2007 and held in solitary at MCC in Manhattan for three years pleaded guilty today to one count of providing material support to terrorists. Both sides agreed to a sentence of 15 years. three other counts were dropped. Hashmim would have faced a maximum of 70 years if convicted on all counts.

Hashmi is a 30-year-old U.S. citizen who was born in Pakistan; grew up in Flushing, Queens, where his family still lives; and received his B.A. from Brooklyn College and his master's from London Metropolitan University. At Brooklyn College, in 2002, Hashmi was a student of mine in a seminar on civil rights. [More...]

I haven't been following Goldman Sachs or today's financial hearings. If you have, feel free to weigh in.

It's American Idol with Shania Twain tonight (Crystal and Lee are locks in my view), DWTS (will Jake go home?) Biggest Loser and the Good Wife tonight. I haven't even watched "24" from last night or Pacific, Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters from Sunday yet.

Boycott Arizona!

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Poor Arizona Iced Tea. They are trending on Twitter, with questions about a boycott. But, the company is located in New York.

IS THE COMPANY HEADQUARTERED IN ARIZONA?
No, it is located in Lake Success, New York. (Long Island)

WHY DID YOU NAME THE PRODUCT ARIZONA?
John Ferolito and Don Vultaggio, the two owners of the Company looked at a map to see where it was hot. At first they thought of naming it Santa Fe, then they focused on AriZona and the rest as they say, is history.

Last year, they were in Arizona on May 5 for Cinco de Mayo related events. It's a privately held company and Chairman Vultaggio still goes to work every day. I wonder if they'll soon be sorry they didn't name the product Santa Ee.

The saga over the Apple employee's lost iPhone that was a prototype of the upcoming G4 version continues. Police have identified the person who found it in the bar, who may or may not be the person who sold it to Jason Chen, the Gizmodo/Gawker blogger/journalist. (Gizmodo is an online site run owned by Gawker. Chen has worked for them since 2006, writing hundreds of articles.)

At Apple's request, a criminal investigation was launched and a search warrant was issued and executed at Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's home. He and his wife were out and police busted in and took several computers, servers and records.

Gawker protests, citing a CA shield law. The cops say they won't examine what what was taken until it's decided whether the shield law applies.

Why wouldn't it apply? [More...]

Oklahoma has enacted two bills intended to restrict abortions, overriding the Governor's vetos. The bills become effective immediately.

Under one law, women must listen to an ultrasound and hear a spiel describing the fetus.

Oklahoma’s law goes further [than those in other states] requiring a doctor or technician to set up the monitor where the woman can see it and describe the heart, limbs and organs of the fetus. No exceptions are made for rape and incest victims.

The second law exempts doctors from malpractice suits for failing to tell prospective parents their fetus has birth defects.

Maybe Oklahama and Arizona can secede from the union. They deserve each other. We deserve better than both of them.

The Boycott Arizona movement is growing. The San Francisco City Attorney has joined the call and is urging businesses to take a stand against the law.

AZ Governor Jan Brewer shrugs it off. She thinks the outrage will fade. Not a chance.

It doesn't happen often, but this is another week that both BTD and I are locked into our day jobs. BTD has depositions all week, and I've spent the past 96 hours straight (with a few for shut-eye) reviewing and re-reviewing 15,000 pages of wiretap applications and orders, and 19,000 intercepted telephone calls to draft motions to suppress. The last was filed at midnight. There are 22 defendants in the case which means all their motions have to be read as well, and then a seocnd set of motions filed adopting the grounds in their motions that might fit my client.

So BTD is in depositions Tuesday, Weds. and Thurs. and traveling Friday, and I'm going to be in time-out today so I can shake all the details out of my head and move on to the next case for a while.

What this means for you, is a lot of open threads this week and fewer blog posts by me unless they are related to a topic I am very interested in: which means criminal cases, celebrity illnesses (I'm still sending good thoughts to Bret Michaels)and trying to maintain my sanity.

I hope you are having a more relaxed week than BTD and I are. Which is why, we'd like you all to take over in the open threads.

Thanks everyone, and I'll be back as soon my eyes lose their blurriness from reading so many documents, and I can focus on something other than what's right in front of me. Hope you understand.

MileHi Hawkeye points us to this:

Former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), who crusaded for tough anti-immigration measures while in Congress, told KDVR-TV that while he supported the new immigration law in Arizona he thought it went too far. Said Tancredo: "I do not want people here, there in Arizona, pulled over because you look like should be pulled over."

(Emphasis supplied.) As MileHi says, if Tancredo thinks you went too far in Latino loathing and immigrant bashing, then you probably crossed the line about 100 hundred miles back.

Via Digby, the conservative Arizona Republic editorializes:

[Arizona Gov.] Brewer's televised signing ceremony for this harsh, unnecessary legislation constitutes the low point of an administration we have come to admire for its often surprising grit in the face of hard times. We held out hope for more.

Whether Arizona pays a price for indulging the whims of state Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, is no longer the issue. We are paying a price. Not since the dismal days of our nationally infamous fight over a holiday to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., has the profile of Arizona descended this low.

(Emphasis supplied.) Meanwhile, Lindsey Graham is upset that Democrats want to take up immigration reform. If there was ever a doubt that Republicans loathe Latinos, this removes it.

Open Thread.

Kevin Drum misreads the findings of the WaPo poll on FinReg:

I'm a little unsure if this is good news or bad news. It's good that there's generally majority (or better) support for all this stuff, but the majorities aren't all that big. [. . . T]he public doesn't exactly seem ready to hit the streets with pitchforks and torches. Maybe public opinion would be stronger if we could somehow convince them that Goldman Sachs planned to convene death panels?

What Kevin misses is that the partisan divide is already reflected in these poll findings. ("44 percent of Republicans approve of stricter guidelines, joining 75 percent of Democrats and 57 percent of independents on the issue.")

This is THE best issue the Dems have by far. It is no coincidence that the Dems are having a vote on it today.

Speaking for me only

Let's hope so:

“I don’t think there’s much doubt that there will be a bank tax,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus told POLITICO. And more than ever, the Montana Democrat signaled that Congress will also crack down on wealthy hedge fund and private equity partners who shelter their income as capital gains — taxed at half the top 35 percent rate.

Glenn Greenwald touches on Ross Douthat's typical selective outrage when it comes to censorship, but I want to touch on a different point -- on what censorship actually is. The South Park example Douthat focuses on is an especially poor choice in my view. The South Park program that Douthat champions is no longer run by Comedy Central, which is owned by Viacom, a publicly traded corporation. Whether Viacom should run the episode or not, is of course, a matter of opinion.

What is not an opinion is that it is utterly Viacom's RIGHT to decide whether it will run the episode or not. This is a much different issue than government censoring speech. The South Park duo, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, can express themselves in just about any manner they choose, but Viacom is not obliged to run it on their channels.

Indeed, Douthat himself proves the point when he seems to lament the lack of limits on expression in our culture: