I'm making a huge pot of soup with all the vegetables I bought Saturday at the Farmers Market, and watching Big Brother. Today's 98 degree heat broke a 75 year record.

The New Jersey Supreme Court has ordered changes to rules regarding eyewitness evidence . More on the changes here. The changes are expected to be watched closely by other states.

Currently, a defendant has the burden of proving there was undue suggestion during the identification process. That won't change. But the court has ordered that when a defendant can show some evidence of suggestiveness by police, a pretrial hearing must be held to explore it.

The court also requires a system be developed to better explain to juries the potential flaws with eyewitness identifications.

Steve Jobs has stepped down at Apple. He said:

"I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know," Jobs said in a letter to "the Apple community" that was released by the company. "Unfortunately, that day has come."

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Hectic day for me. No blogging.

Open Thread.

Busy day ahead.

Open Thread.

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.