Morning.

This is an Open Thread.

A new season of American Idol just started. Is anyone watching? There's a new judge this year.

I couldn't help but watch The Bachelor last night. My predictions: He chooses Melissa, with Molly being the #2 and Jillian #3.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

My favorite baseball player, Rickey Henderson, was elected to the Hall of Fame today, his first time on the HOF ballot. Tim Kurkjian writes a great piece on Rickey. Here's a snip:

[T]here's no denying that Henderson is the greatest base stealer ever, and one of the greatest players ever. "But he didn't like day games," [Tom] Candiotti said. "We had a day game in Oakland, and Rickey struck out. He walked all the way through the dugout talking to himself, he always talked to himself. He was saying, 'I don't know who's inside Rickey's body, but he better get out because the guy in there doesn't like day games, he only shows up on day games, so he better get out.' We were all laughing so hard. I wish I'd played my entire career with Rickey because he was just so entertaining. And he was just so good."

In addition, Jim Rice was elected to the Hall in his last year of eligibility.

This is an Open Thread.

I've been an avid Talk Left reader since the Rave Act days in the early 2000s, so I'm thrilled to be posting here for the first time.

A little bit about me: I've been writing about street crime and criminal justice policy for about a decade now for publications such as the Guardian, New York, and Mother Jones. I'm also the author of a couple of books: Queens Reigns Supreme--about the drug trade in Southeast Queens and a money laundering case against hip-hop record label Murder Inc--and Snitch, which exposed the dangerously unregulated world of federal cooperating witnesses and informants. [More...]

TalkLeft is ringing in the new year with a new blogger -- Journalist and author Ethan Brown.

Ethan has written about street crime and criminal justice policy for New York, The New York Observer, Wired, Vibe, Radar, The Independent, GQ, Mother Jones, The Guardian and Men's Vogue. [More...]

Your turn.

A site called Revolution Day is stealing blogposts written by others and publishing them on its site without attribution back to the original blog link.

I've written and asked them to remove TalkLeft's material from their site and gotten no answer. As of now, they have posted 684 of TalkLeft's posts on their site.

Their contact information is provided as: mensajeria@live.com. The company is Powered by PotencialNetworks.com // Administrado por elrOx.

We're not the only blog whose work they are stealing. And they seem to be using feedburner to do it. Check it out and see if your stuff is on their site too.

Is anyone here going to try and catch up on movie going this weekend for tomorrow night's Golden Globes? Slumdog Millionaire is the film I most want to see.

Here's an open thread for those of you online today, all topics welcome.

It's a jail day for me....Here's an open thread for you. What haven't we discussed that's on your mind?

Long time readers of TalkLeft will recall the many posts here by Last Night in Little Rock (LNILR), John Wesley Hall, Jr. He's now a TL alumni, with his own blog at FourthAmendment.com.

John is President this year of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL). The Arkansas Times has a terrific profile of him today. I hope you'll give it a read.

For those interested in things not college football, here is an Open Thread.

Your turn.

Update (TL): I've been gone all day, I'm just catching up now. Today's headlines seem like the same as yesterday's to me so right now I have nothing to add. What am I missing?

One new story: Chris Matthews decided against running for the Senate.