So you can discuss the appropriate punishment for the Patriots and/or Sheldon Silver.

Open Thread.

It's a jail day for me, which means an open thread for you.

Anyone see the start of the new season of Justified? Looks like this season will be the final showdown between Raylan and Boyd.

I wonder if Japan will pay ISIS its ransom. I'm thinking it will not. India is hosting President Obama next week, and Britain just told India it's received intel ISIS may be planning an attack there soon.

Again, this is an open thread, all topics welcome.

How is Obama doing? I'm just tuning in to the State of the Union. (Added: the full text of his speech is here.)

Update: Obama seems re-energized, confident and relaxed. Other points:

Lots of red states, blue states, United States stuff.

Criminal Justice: The crime rate and numbers of prisoners has declined at the same time. We need to keep reforming our criminal justice system. He uses the example of a father whose son is harassed by police, and a woman waiting for her police officer to come home after his shift. It seemed like there was louder applause for the police officer's wife.

It's time to close Gitmo." (He actually says Gitmo rather than Guantanamo.)[More...]

Today is a day to remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his significance to the global struggle for peace, justice, and reconciliation.[More...]

I'm still busy with work today. Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

The Judge has rejected Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's request for a trial delay based on the Paris attacks.

"My detailed review of juror questionnaires in preparation for voir dire has so far confirmed, rather then undermined, my judgment that a fair and impartial jury can and will be chosen to determine the issues in this case,"

I'm in court all day, this is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The big bitcoin trial over Silk Road begins today. WIRED tells you why it matters.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome

I didn't even realize the Golden Globes were on. There's an hour left, I hope I didn't miss much. Juliana Margulies is on now giving an award to George Clooney. His new wife is with him.

New seasons of Episodes and Shameless start tonight on Showtime. There's also Downton Abbey and a new episode of The Good Wife.

Update: The Good Wife apparently features the Ferguson and Eric Garner cases. It begins with a notice that it was it was written before the grand jury decision, and references to Ferguson are to events in August after the Michael Brown shooting. I wonder why they needed the disclaimer. (It's just starting here.)

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

For those of you missing Big Tent Democrat's political coverage (and that includes me) I have some good news. He will resume blogging at TalkLeft very soon, most likely over or right after the weekend, and says he will be posting regularly.

I've been gone all day, so I haven't seen any news yet and now I'm making chicken soup, even though it's been almost 70 degrees all day. 'Tis a privilege to live in Colorado.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

I'm done here for the day, having used all my blogging time to write about the Dershowitz/Virginia Roberts story.

If I had more time, I'd also write about Celebrity Apprentice. It's very entertaining this season. I hope Geraldo and Leeza Gibbons are the final two. I was a guest on both their talk shows many times in the 90's. In the six degrees of separation department, one of the Leeza shows I did was with Alan Dershowitz. Leeza not only flew us out to LA, she flew our sons out. The topic was representing the hated defendant and part of that was how it affected our families. (Our sons were also interviewed on air.) She is such a warm and genuine person, and a consummate professional. As for Geraldo, none of today's cable news shows come close to being as good as CNBC's "Rivera Live" in the 90's. Geraldo was my friend back then, and while I haven't seen him in years, I still like him.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Sunday night TV is back. Tonight, the new season of Downton Abbey begins, as does Celebrity Apprentice. The Good Wife is also back tonight.

Tomorrow night, the Bachelor returns.

Showtime is running last season's Shameless all night, which means a new season will begin soon. [More...]

A new Jeep for the New Year. My last three Jeeps have been black, charcoal and granite. Time for a change. I'll probably spend the rest of the weekend learning all its new features.

V-8 engines are getting scarcer, and despite the promotions, I don't think V-6 engines come close in power when you're heading up a big hill (like I-70 from Golden to the mountains.) This one makes it a breeze. It's also much quieter than the V-6. Since I drive less than 5,000 miles a year, the reduced gas mileage isn't a big issue for me.

One thing I've learned my lesson on: When you're buying rather than leasing, get the extended warranty. After 3 years, my old jeep had only 10,000 miles, but the warranty ended in July and the cost of everything, from diagnosis to actual repairs is really high. [More...]