What Glenn Said.

Open Thread.

I liked this post by Kevin Drum on persuasion:

My own experience, which I think is fairly generalizable, is that within the course of a single conversation hardly anybody ever changes their mind — including me. Arguing is a dominance game, and in a face-to-face confrontation over anything of significance (virtual or otherwise) we hairless apes will go to considerable lengths to avoid conceding dominance. So if we find ourselves on the losing end of a confrontation, we end up simply switching to new arguments, trying to redefine the terms of debate, cherry picking our evidence a little differently, burrowing down into ever more trivial subarguments, or reverting to mockery and then walking away. In other words, pretty much anything other than actually conceding that someone else is right and that our worldview might need to be updated.

That's lawyering. Kevin extrapolates to discussing politics - "arguments will start to sink in maybe a day or a week later when the emotional charge has worn off. You'll probably never know that you've successfully persuaded your adversary, since it's a gradual change that happens offstage and is rarely acknowledged (dominance games again), but it happens. [. . .] Thus politics." I disagree with that - that's political punditry. In politics, a large swath of the electorate has no commitment to a particular belief - if they do have a commitment, it is to jersey color. If there is, it is jersey color commitment. Generally, folks will agree with whoever does best for them- the old "are you better off now" question. Most people don't think about policy, and process even less, than pundits think.

Open Thread.

I just got back from the Farmers Market. Not too many things are worth getting up early on a Saturday, but the produce at the market is so far superior, I didn't mind at all.

Why is Kim Kardashian's wedding getting so much coverage? Does the media think she's the American equivalent of Princess Kate? I certainly don't and could care less.

Manhattan DA Cy Vance is expected to announce Tuesday whether he'll dismiss charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The latest: The DA is asking the accuser's lawyer for documents regarding settlement dicussions with Strauss-Kahn's lawyers in June. There are reports he offered to have the accuser stop cooperating with authorities if a settlement was reached. The private settlement discussions, held in mid-June, were reported by the New York Times on July 27. [More...]

Travel day for me.

Another exciting day at the track in lower Manhattan expected.

Open Thread.

My fourth and final day of court for the week. I'm way far behind at blogging. Things should ease up by next week.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the Manhattan DA's office decides next week on whether to dismiss or keep going with the Dominique Strauss Kahn case.

More bad news for Phil Spector, who at age 71 is serving a 19 year sentence. The California Supreme Court declined to hear his case yesterday, which means he's got one avenue left: a habeas petition in federal court.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Open Thread.

President Obama's Chicago campaign headquarters were the site of a protest today over deportations and Secure Communities:

Latino activists held a protest outside President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign headquarters on Tuesday to ask him to end a criminal deportation program they say is snaring large number of illegal immigrants who have not committed crimes. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, established the Secure Communities program in partnership with local law enforcement agencies as well as the FBI to deport unauthorized immigrants with criminal convictions.

Denver police have agreed to a $200,000. settlement of a class action lawsuit brought by arrested protestors and others at the 2008 Democratic National Convention and the ACLU. A federal judge ruled a few months ago that the mass arrests were unconstitutional:

“This case identified serious flaws in Denver’s training and policies on crowd control and policing demonstrations,” said Mark Silverstein, ACLU Legal Director. “The settlement, and the resulting improvements to Denver’s crowd-control manual, underscores an important lesson for Denver police: They must have individualized facts showing that each separate person they arrest was violating the law. Police violate the Constitution when they simply arrest everyone who happens to be in the area.”

The agreement must be approved by the Judge and the Denver City Council.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Open Thread.

It was 40 years ago today, August 15, 1971, I moved to Colorado. I don't think it ever occurred to me back then it might be permanent, but I can't think of a better place to call home. How happy are you with where you live?

I'm off to court for the rest of the day, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Watching tonight: The finale of the Next Food Network Star (go Susie or Jeff.) The season opener of the Great Food Truck Race. And, of course, Big Brother and Breaking Bad. Am I missing anything?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome, TV related or not.

There is little news being reported other than Republicans, and I'm not interested in them.

What's left? I finally made the switch yesterday from a drip brewer to a single serve coffee maker with pods. I should have done it a year ago. I forgot what fresh coffee tastes like. If you haven't switched yet, and you make coffee only for yourself every morning, try it. I was afraid the coffee would taste like instant or be too weak or not hot enough. All false. It's great and fast and no pot or filter to clean. I got the Keurig Special Edition B60.

Second new thing I did: I wanted to hear BTD on the radio on Sirius yesterday, which meant driving somewhere, but what's open at 9 am on a Saturday morning? The local Farmer's market. I am so tired of grocery store tomatoes. Even their heirlooms have little taste. Our farmer's market was excellent -- aside from tomatoes with real flavor, I got sweet onions that were picked hours before I bought them, Olathe corn on the cob and Pallisades peaches and the best melons I've had in years. Yes, Whole Foods has them too, but not as fresh. Go early and skip the crowds.

I'd rather write about the news, but for now I'm not seeing anything interesting, so here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

In court all day. Flying tonight. Tomorrow morning at 10 am EST is our Daily Kos Radio debut on Sirius XM Channel 127. You can get a 30 day free trial online subscription. Hope you can join us. Open Thread.