In hearings this year before the Sentencing Commission around the country, federal judges have been complaining about the excessive sentencing guidelines for possession of child p*rn.

Judges, for the most part, have based their argument on a belief that some of the defendants who view child pornography have never molested a child or posed a risk to the community and may be better served by treatment rather than prison.

As federal guidelines now stand, the number of images and the way the contraband is obtained enhance prison terms. A first-time offender with no criminal history can be sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

In one case currently pending before a Colorado federal judge who has granted non-guideline sentences of probation to two such defendants in the past, defense counsel argues: [More...]

Time for the professionals again. Here are picks for today's NFL slate:

Houston (+3) over the Colts, the Browns (+13.5) over the Bengals, the Vikings (-10.5) over the Bears, Washington (+9.5) over the Iggles, the Fish (-3) over the Bills, Tenn (-2) over Arizona, the Rams (+4) over the Seahawks, the Falcons (-12.5) over the Bucs, Carolina (+3.5) over the Jets, 49ers (-3) over the Jags, the Chargers (-13.5) over the Chiefs, and the Steelers (+7.5) (Roethlisberger is out) over the Ravens.

This is an Open Thread.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has a new report on Afghanistan.

The report states categorically that bin Laden was hiding in Tora Bora when the U.S. had the means to mount a rapid assault with several thousand troops at least. It says that a review of existing literature, unclassified government records and interviews with central participants "removes any lingering doubts and makes it clear that Osama bin Laden was within our grasp at Tora Bora."

The blame for blowing the chance to get bin Laden -- and for the current state of the war in Afghanistan -- is placed squarely on former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his top commander Tommy Franks.

The full report is here (pdf). [More...]

It turns out David Headley, aka Daood Gilani, the former DEA cooperator now indicted for terrorism in Chicago and suspected of playing some role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is the half-brother of the Public Relations Officer to Pakistan's Prime Minister. In a statement, Danyel Gilani says:

Seeking to de-emphasize the connection, the PRO said, “Being much younger to Daood, I have heard that he studied at the Hasan Abdal Cadet College for sometime and in the mid-1970s shifted to America to live with his mother. Since then, the family here only had occasional links with him. In fact, because of his involvement with issues related to drugs my father wanted the rest of the family to stay away from his influence.”

Speculation keeps mounting that the feds here used Headley to infiltrate Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and that at some point he either went rogue and joined LeT, or became a double agent. [More...]

Via Politico:

The chairman of the House’s top investigative committee said he will review Secret Service security practices after the agency allowed an uninvited couple into the Obama administration’s first state dinner.

Rep. Ed Towns (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, said he is “deeply disturbed” that the Secret Service failed to follow basic security protocols, which allowed Tareq and Michaele Salahi into President Barack Obama’s gala for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

In shopping news, Julie & Julia will be released on dvd Dec. 9 and it's on sale today for $9.99.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The crash of the Russian train yesterday going from Moscow to St. Petersburg, killing at least 25 and injuring 100, was the result of a bomb.

The key suspects for investigators would be "either militants from Russia's North Caucasus region or nationalist extremists, pro-Nazi groups".

Some really vivid pictures are here. The train carried 650 people, many businesspeople, which has many speculating it was targeted for that reason, as a kind of class warfare.

"Whoever is responsible, this attack clearly seems aimed not so much at the public, but directly at the ruling class."

[More...]

The New York Times reports on two "black jails" still being operated by the U.S. military in Afghanistan. It has interviewed several released detainees whose accounts are similar. They had no access to the Red Cross. One is a special unit at Bagram:

The site consists of individual windowless concrete cells, each lighted by a single light bulb glowing 24 hours a day, where detainees said that their only contact with another human being was at twice-daily interrogation sessions.

The jail’s operation highlights a tension between President Obama’s goal to improve detention conditions that had drawn condemnation under the Bush administration and his desire to give military commanders leeway to operate. ...While Mr. Obama signed an order to eliminate so-called black sites run by the Central Intelligence Agency in January, that order did not apply to this jail, which is run by military Special Operations forces.

The other is at Balad Air Base in Iraq. An Obama Adminisration official says Obama's orders to close the black hole sites applied to those run by the CIA, not military Special Operations forces, and there are no plans to close these jails.

Tim Tebow has been the most polarizing figure in college sports for the past few years. Of course for a Gator fan like me, it's easy. He's been a great, great COLLEGE football player (though not as great as people say he is.) Certainly one of the 20 best of all time. Tebow as a football player is great but annoying for fans of teams other than the Gators. And not just because of the worshipping of Tebow that is done by Gator fans and the Media. He is also incredibly fun to watch. He plays a tough and exciting style of football. He also does all that cheering and yelling that is annoying.

What also grates some people about Tebow is that he wears his religiosity on his sleeve (and on the black under his eyes.) Tebow really does great work. At the same time, we hear too much about it. And for a Democrat like me, knowing that Tebow is certainly a conservative Republican who will likely be a politician in the future (Governor of Florida is the least he can aspire to) is a bit dismaying. But that is for later. As a Gator fan, I am enjoying Tebow the football player, and he is a joy to watch. More . . .

Tiger Woods is out of the hospital. His injuries were not serious. He did hit a tree and a fire hydrant. Alcohol was not a factor.

The rumor mill: He may have been Driving while Ambien'ed or his wife and he may have fought about a woman named Rachel Uchitel. TMZ reports his face scratches came from his wife.

Who went shopping today? Who shopped online? The more ads I see, the more I want to just hoard my money. I did succomb to a few items, one of which wasn't on sale. I hope I'm done. I think the best deals are at Amazon Black Friday Deals but they sell out fast. For the foodies among you, you can get a year of Food & Wine for $5.00.

The Christmas lights are going up all over Denver tonight, from the City and County Building, to Union Station, LoDo, Larimer Square, the 16th St. Mall and the Denver Pavillions. Our Mayor is on TV now for the ceremony, and he says when the switch gets flicked, everyone is supposed to make a wish. I'm not sure I can think of one thing to wish for on such short notice.

I hope your holiday weekend is going well, please feel free to share your thoughts. This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

George Washington Law Professor Paul Butler has a new book out, Let's Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice. It's a book about why the U.S. is wrong to lock up so many people, and how we can safely reduce our incarceration rate.

He devotes a chapter to an intriguing question: "Should Good People Be Prosecutors?" I agree with his answer: [More...]

Thomas Wilner, who represented some of the Guantanamo detainees in their babeas cases in the Supreme Court has an op-ed in todays' Wall St. Journal explaining why the Obama Administration made the correct call in deciding to prosecute the 9/11 detainees in federal court. What's truly frightening is the abundance of ignorant comments to his article.