Every year, there are 400,000 immigrants held in U.S. detention centers. President Obama will announce a re-organization today, which includes no longer sending children and families to the notoriuous T. Don Hutto Residential Center outside Austin, TX. Hutto is a former state prison currently being operated by Corrections Corp. of America through a federal contract. It is also the subject of a lawsuit by the ACLU.

While the Obama administration will stress the new program will be more humane, there is unlikely to be a decrease in the number of detained immigrants. [More...]

Via e-mail from the Democratic National Committee:

There's been a lot of media coverage about organized mobs intimidating lawmakers, disrupting town halls, and silencing real discussion about the need for real health insurance reform.

The truth is, it's a sham. These "grassroots protests" are being organized and largely paid for by Washington special interests and insurance companies who are desperate to block reform. They're trying to use lies and fear to break the President and his agenda for change.

Health insurance reform is about our lives, our jobs, and our families -- we can't let distortions and intimidation get in the way. We need to expose these outrageous tactics, and we're counting on you to help. Can you read these "5 facts about the anti-reform mobs," then pass them along to your friends and family?

[More...]

Via Firedoglake, I see the "teabaggers" will be out in force tomorrow at a health care event being conducted at a medical clinic for the homeless by Colorado Reps. Diana DeGette and Jared Polis, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. More details here.

I'll be attending, so if you're in the neighborhood, come on down.

Nancy Pelosi, Jared Polis and Diana DeGette will be at Denver’s Stout Street Clinic Tomorrow.

When: August 6, 2009, Time: 2:00 PM
Where: Stout Street Clinic
2100 Broadway, Denver, CO

Speaker Pelosi and Members of the Colorado Delegation will see firsthand how the economic recovery funds are being used to offer vital health care services, create jobs, and lay the foundation for health insurance reform,” DeGette’s office said Wednesday in a statement.

[More...]

Egregious cases of wrongful convictions continue to come to light. Kenny Ireland of Connecticut was imprisoned at age 20 for a rape and murder DNA evidence now shows he did not commit. He was released from prison today.

East Haven State Rep. Mike Lawlor issued this statement:

“This is yet another Connecticut example of an innocent person having spent two decades in prison for a very serious crime while an actual rapist and murderer has been roaming free since 1986. This is not acceptable.

“The legislature, working with the Advisory Commission on Wrongful Convictions, must determine whether any state laws need to change and whether the law enforcement community is using best practices in the investigation of cases in order to avoid wrongful arrests and convictions.

Congrats to the CT Innocence Project which represented him. Ireland will be allowed to apply for compensation under CT law. It will never be enough to make up for two decades of his life.

William Jefferson (D-LA) was convicted by a jury today on 11 of 16 counts of an Indictment, including bribery, racketeering and money laundering. He was acquitted on five counts including wire fraud and obstruction of justice. The backstory:

The backstory: In 2007, Jefferson, was charged on 16 counts of bribery, racketeering, and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The government alleged that Jefferson used his congressional office to help promote business projects in western Africa in return for payments for his family. The most vivid evidence put on display: that feds found in Jefferson’s freezer $90,000 stuffed in Boca Burger and pie-crust boxes.

Jefferson’s lawyer, Robert Trout argued at trial that Jefferson’s behavior was perhaps unethical and even stupid but not criminal. “To make something that isn’t criminal into a crime, ladies and gentleman, that is power,” Trout told jurors.

Over the objections of the prosecutor, Jefferson's bond was continued until sentencing. According to the prosecutor, Jefferson's sentencing guideline range could be more than 20 years.

Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme will be paroled on August 16, after serving 34 years for pointing a gun at President Gerald R. Ford. She is 60 years old.

The former Manson disciple (she was not part of the Tate/LaBianca murders) was eligible for parole in 1985 but did not request it. She was granted parole in 2008, but had to do extra time due to a separate sentence imposed for a 1987 escape attempt from a West Virginia prison. [More...]

After 7 years as L.A. Police Chief, Bill Bratton today announced he's stepping down in October to take a job with a private security firm.

Bratton will "reunite" with Michael Cherkasky. Cherkasky and Bratton have been close associates. Before becoming chief, Bratton worked as a consultant for Cherkasky, advising governments in several countries on how to reform and build modern police forces.

Cherkasky runs a company called Altegrity. [More...]

Think Progress has the round-up, but Podhoretz takes the prize:

[N]ow that they are out of jeopardy, Ling and Lee deserve to be held accountable, at least in the realm of public opinion, for the unthinkably bad judgment they displayed in their preposterous, vainglorious, and astoundingly naive venture. Possessing some fantasy about presenting an inside look at North Korea on an justifiably unwatched (because unwatchable) cable channel called Current TV, they thought they could sneak undetected into a Gulag state, film some footage with a DV camera, and then sneak back out to the hosannas of the Peabody Award committee. This is something they chose to do and were given license to attempt by their employers, and for which they paid a horrific, far too horrific, a price. That must be the case as well for Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, the co-owners of Current TV, who have doubtless existed in a state of terrible “what have I done” anxiety about this since the arrests.

Oookaaaaay.

Speaking for me only

Kevin Drum writes about James Joyner's post on there being enough lunatics to go around:

James Joyner admits that there are lots of conservative lunatics running around these days:

But here’s the thing: There’s plenty of crazy to go around. Remember Bush Derangement Syndrome? The 9/11 conspiracy theorists who thought Bush and Cheney were in on the whole thing? The Diebold plot to steal the 2004 election? . . .

Now, obviously there's some truth to this, but . . . The Diebold folks couldn't even get a hearing at Daily Kos, let alone anywhere more mainstream. The 9/11 truthers have always been a tiny band.

(Emphasis supplied.) Kevin has this right. Indeed, it went beyond Truthers and Diebolders, who were not allowed to post at Daily Kos when I was there (I'll leave the primary wars for another time.) It was so for all lunatic conspiracy theories. More . .

You can watch it on C-Span 2 or online here.

I have been reading with some amusement the back and forth between Glenn Greenwald and Jane Hamsher and their readers on L'Affaire Olbermann (did Immelt make a deal with Murdoch to silence Olbermann's attacks on BillO in exchange for BillO not covering GE?)

My disdain for Olbermann is a matter of record, and the journalistic value of Olbermann's attacks of BillO (or BillO's "reporting" on GE for that matter) seems dubious to me. But the principle matters. Glenn and Jane are right about that. The idea of the corporate interest of a journalistic enterprise driving editorial content is anathema to principled journalism. But when it comes to Olbermann and BillO, I can't get too worked up. Neither are really journalists (though Olbermann has less of a need to depart from reality, for as Rob Cordrry famously remarked, "the facts have a liberal bias.")

Speaking of non-journalists, Arianna has her Clinton Hate on again.

This is an Open Thread.

Via Confluence:

President Obama's statement. More . . .