Via TMZ: "On April 22, 2000, Elian was taken from the home of his Miami relatives by U.S. federal agents and eventually returned to Cuba. In 2008, Elian became a member of the Young Communist Union of Cuba."

TMZ reports the recent picture is from Easter Sunday and says he looks "indoctrinated." I can't tell. He looks more wistful to me. Maybe he was humming Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time" in his head. Either way, a sad chapter for their whole family, both the cousins and aunts and uncles in Miami who wanted him to stay, and the father in Cuba who wanted him back. The father clearly had the law on his side.

As for whether Elian would have been lonely and felt separated from Cubans had he stayed in Miami, the answer is probably no. Miami Dade alone has a population of 650,000 Cubans, including those of Cuban descent. I think he'll turn out ok either way, he was a happy child and now is a "purposeful" adult. Good luck, Elian. My sympathies have always lay with you in this ordeal.

Monday has turned out to be the best night of the week for TV. There's Dancing With the Stars, a 2 hour "24", Nurse Jackie, Life Unexpected and Damages. The only way to watch this much TV is with Tivo to fast forward through the commercials.

The AP has a wrapup of the three leading contenders to replace Justice John Paul Stevens if he announces his retirement.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is in the news again. Now he's started a "Pedalvision" program for inmates. If they want to watch TV, they have to do it by riding a stationary bike to generate electricity.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

MSNBC is keeping David Shuster off the air for now as a result of him filming a CNN pilot. (More here.) His contract is up this year, but he may get canned early -- as early as today.

So, will Shuster go to CNN? And will it help? I'd rather see them add news hosts than pundits. CNN has the most boring, recycled, predictable stable of pundits. They get lazy and pontificate off the top of their head, without adding any depth to the discussion. A news network show should not be a coffee klatch. CNN should use more knowledgeable guests with a "fit" to the particular story and rely less on paid personalities who long ago had an inside job in some Administration.

WikiLeaks, a military "whistleblower" website has obtained and posted a video showing the 2007 attack by U.S. soldiers in in a suburb of Baghdad that killed 12 civilians, including two Reuters journalists. You can view the full unedited 39 minute version on You Tube here.

The video, released on Monday, is of high quality and appears to be authentic, the BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says. It is accompanied by a recording of the pilots' radio transmissions and those of US troops on the ground.

The video shows a street in Baghdad and a group of about eight people, whom the helicopter pilots deem to be insurgents. It then shows the individuals on the street being shot dead with the Apache's cannon. Then, a van drives onto the scene, and its occupants appear to start picking up the wounded. It, too, is fired upon. Altogether, around 12 people die. Two children appear to be injured.

As we wrote last month, the San Francisco crime lab is a mess, hundreds of prosecutions have been ditched and the lab itself shut down. Today, Crime Lab Tech Deborah Madden who is at the center of the scandal, pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of possession of cocaine. Police found 1/10 of a gram of coke in her bedroom during a search. (1/10 of a gram of cocaine is a felony in California. Under federal law, possession for personal use is a misdemeanor.)

Thanks to CACJ (California Attorneys for Criminal Justice) the materials, including pleadings, related to the crime lab scandal are available here.

There's also this report, False Positives Equal False Justice. [More...]

Some more Apple news today, via Mashable and Boy Genius Report: Apple is going to announce the 4G version of the iPhone (presumably Verizon will be getting one) on Thursday. It just sent out press invitations for the event. The new phone should be available in June.

And, if you are curious what your favorite website would look like on the iPad, you can check it out here on iPad Peek. TalkLeft looks great.

Philadelphia is making a big change in its marijuana prosecution policy. It will no longer charge adults possessing small amounts of pot with a crime. Rather, they will be charged with a "summary offense" that carries a fine and has no effect on a criminal record.

Under a policy to take effect later this month, prosecutors will charge such cases as summary offenses rather than as misdemeanors. People arrested with up to 30 grams of the drug - slightly more than an ounce - may have to pay a fine but face no risk of a criminal record.

"We have to be smart on crime," said District Attorney Seth Williams, who took office in January. "We can't declare a war on drugs by going after the kid who's smoking a joint on 55th Street. We have to go after the large traffickers."

Two justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, including Justice Seamus P. McCaffery, a former homicide detective, have been working with the D.A. on the new policy. The cops aren't happy. [More...]

BTD has hearings this week, and is taking the week to prepare for them.

I'm not seeing much in the news this morning: Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's doctor, heads back to court where the DA is asking the judge to strip him of his medical license as a condition of bail. They tried it before with an earlier judge and lost. I think Dr. Murray's lawyers are correct, unless the state can show changed circumstances, the bail conditions should not be changed.

The latest tawdry celebrity couple news in the air pertains to Bruce Springsteen. Remember the woman whose husband claimed she had an affair with The Boss when the two got friendly at a New Jersey gym? He's filed court documents claiming she did have an affair with Bruce, She's now filed papers saying her husband made it up, thinking Bruce would pay to keep it quiet. She's also alleging he's a physical abuser who had numerous dalliances during their marriage. Someone ought to deliver a washing machine to the front door of all these couples (Jesse James, Tiger Woods, etc.) so that instead of foisting these personal, embarrassing details on us, they could be reminded to take care of their dirty laundry themselves.

One person in trouble who was impressive last night was Rod Blagojevich, who got "fired" last night on Celebrity Apprentice. [More...]

Hopefully, everyone is unwinding from a pleasant holiday weekend. I'm going to watch Pacific, Celebrity Apprentice and Justified, and call it a night.

If you did get an iPad, please give us your updated thoughts, particularly on good Apps, now that you've had a day to try it out. Gizmodo has a round-up here -- and a handy set-up guide -- and a list of what they call the "essential apps."

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Taking a look at the names most frequently mentioned as a possible replacement for Justice John Paul Stevens who is widely expected to retire this year or next, prospects aren't looking good for progressives.

Elena Kagan and Merrick Garland seem to be at the head of the pack. Garland, now on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, is a former DOJ top prosecutor (Associate Deputy Attorney General) who supervised the Oklahoma City Bombing case. Conservatives would welcome him since he's known for siding with the Government in criminal cases and tough on terrorism. He's been called the Democratic version of John Roberts.

The third person who appears to be in the running is Judge Diane Wood of the 7th Circuit, who is considered more progressive than Kagan or Garland. (She, too, is a former prosecutor -- deputy assistant attorney general under President Bill Clinton.)

Republicans are trying to influence the decision already, promising "bruising battles" and saying Garland is his best bet. Why does Obama have to play it safe? He's already got his "signature issue" -- the health care vote -- behind him. He really has an opportunity here to effect some change, one that could last decades. I hope he doesn't throw it away. And can we please have someone who didn't spend decades working for the Justice Department?

Happy Easter to those of you celebrating the holiday.

I'm not wild about ham or lamb, but if I could have these for dessert, I'd be a happy camper.

Are any of you cooking today? This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

12 year old Alexa Gonzales doodled on her desk with an erasable marker, was yanked from class, brought to the dean's office, searched, arrested, handcuffed behind her back (not in front, big difference), perp walked in front of her classmates, brought to the station and left handcuffed to a pole for two hours.

She and her mother filed a notice of intent to sue the city education department and the NYPD for $1 million in damages.

What did she doodle? ""I love my friends Abby and Faith." The city acknowledges it made a mistake. This is going to be an expensive lesson for them -- and rightfully so. It's also not the first lawsuit of its kind. [More...]