Big Tent Democrat and I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

Don't forget to check in with your local radio station to find out what time they will play Alice's Restaurant. It was November 28, 1965 that Arlo was convicted of littering in Stockbridge, MA. You can read the backstory here.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone. This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

There was another Republican debate tonight. The hopeful candidates called for more terror laws and extension of the Patriot Act. I didn't watch, did Newt ask for a law sentencing terrorists to life plus cancer?

Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber has imposed a moratorium on the death penalty for the remainder of his term. He says he is morally opposed to it. He regrets that two executions took place during his term. Gary Haugen was scheduled to be killed in two weeks.

In addition to Frontline's A Perfect Terrorist (see here), it's performance night on The X-Factor. Simon Cowell says no one has invited him to their home for Thanksgiving yet.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Bump and Update: On Frontline tonight, don't miss A Perfect Terrorist, about former DEA informant David Coleman Headley, aka Daood Giliani, who pleaded guilty in Chicago in exchange for a life sentence for his role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

FRONTLINE and ProPublica investigate the mysterious circumstances behind David Headley’s rise from heroin dealer and U.S. government informant to master plotter of the 2008 attack on Mumbai.

By most accounts except its own, the DEA turned Headley from a drug informant into a terror informant. And failed to notice he had joined the terrorists for real. [More..]

At the airport.

BTW Bronco fans, how about Tebow Time?

Open Thread.

Booman responds to my post in which I write:

If I am understanding this argument correctly, Booman is saying that the South was not lost to Dems by the Civil Rights movement, it was lost by the Vietnam War. That is a pretty stunning claim it seems to me. Ridiculous even. What happened since the 60s, at least in terms of politics, is that the South became solidly Republican and the rest of the country became more Democratic.

Booman ignores my point, and instead continues discussing "countercultural" progressives:

[T]he post-Vietnam War progressive movement grew out of the counterculture, and you can't make a very good case for running the country if your disposition is counter to the culture and power structures of the country.

[MORE . . .]

Update: Tony Rezko was sentenced today to 10 1/2 years in prison. Since he's served 45 months, with good time of 54 days a year after the first year, he should be out in about 5 years.

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Antoin (Tony) Rezko finally faces sentencing today in Chicago. Prosecutors are asking for 11 to 15 years. Rezko is asking for time served (53 months.)

Last week I read through the initial 100 pages of sentencing pleadings filed, and summarized the arguments.

On Friday, Rezko filed another response, alleging among other things:[More...]

President Obama has decided to pardon more than a White House turkey this Thanksgiving. Yesterday, he issued 5 pardons and commuted one sentence.

The pardons are unimpressive. Three of the pardons were issued to people who had received probation more than a decade ago. The other two pardons were issued to people who finished serving their sentences 20 years ago.

On the other hand, the commutation deserves praise: Obama commuted the sentence of a woman named Eugenia Jennings, who was sentenced in 2001 to 22 years (262 months) for distributing crack cocaine in the Southern District of Illinois. It was her third felony crack conviction. Under Obama's order, she'll be released next week, after serving 10 years. She'll still have to serve 8 years of supervised release.

I just finished reading her 2001 sentencing transcript and her rejected 2008 motion to reduce her sentence under the Sentencing Commission's two level reduction in crack cocaine guidelines that year. Both are available on PACER. It's a very interesting story, one the sentencing judge, G. Patrick Murphy, called a tragedy.

Here's the tragedy of Eugenia Jennings:[More...]

Is anyone surprised that the feds bowed out of yesterday's New York terror arrest due to concerns about the role of the informant and entrapment? The New York Times has the details. As I wrote last night,

Who wants to read about an informant-induced, non-operational terror plot in NYC that never was going to get off the ground when you can watch Homeland? It's much more compelling and about as real as the chances of a "lone wolf" pulling off a terror attack under the watchful, ever-present eye of the NYPD.

The Times reveals there were 400 hours of recordings between the suspect Jose Pimentel and the informant. They smoked marijuana together, and some of Pimentel's incriminating statements were made while high. Pimental had no money -- it sounds like the informant paid for the bomb parts and provided the pot. [More...]

In comments here, and in blog posts elsewhere, the lecturing of "the Left", led by Chait, has been boiled down to their personal view of President Obama's accomplishments. For example, Andrew Sullivan writes:

Chait notes how systemic and eternal liberal disenchantment is, and how congenitally useless Democrats are in rallying round a leader, even one who has achieved so much in such a short time. [. . .] (Memo to the left: universal healthcare was achieved under Obama). But much of this is the usual Democratic limpness and whininess. [. . .] If I hear one more gripe about single payer from someone in their fifties with a ponytail, I'll scream.

Universal healthcare was achieved? Why are we not celebrating? Maybe because not everyone thinks ACA has done that. Indeed, I recall a certain "wonky pundit" telling us Obama was a "moderate Republican" whose health plan was based on GOP ideas. More . . .

The Supercommittee explains its failure to reach an agreement on budget cuts and tax increases:

Both sides used remarkably similar language to describe their frustrations. A Democrat involved in the negotiations said: “We made a reasonable offer and got nothing in return. We got naked in the room. Republicans are standing there in overcoats, hats and gloves and are toasty warm.”

A Republican aide, who believed Mr. Toomey made a good-faith proposal and got nothing from Democrats in return, said a few days later: “We showed some leg. The Democrats want us to get completely naked.”

Maybe they should have met at the shvitz.

(Photo: Mark Kauffman,Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images, Apr 01, 1948)

Former FBI Director Louis Freeh will lead the independent sexual abuse investigation into Penn State.

At a news conference, Freeh stressed it is not a criminal investigation. If they uncover what they believe to be criminal acts, they will notify authorities and let them deal with it.

Freeh said the investigation might extend back to 1975, two years before Jerry Sandusky started Second Mile.

Freeh was chosen because of his background in child sex abuse cases and his lack of connection to Penn State and Pennsylvania.

Jon Chait regurgitates his article on "why liberals should not be disappointed in Obama" (in other news, Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen regurgitate their "Obama should not run for reelection" article.) I scanned the first two pages and saw nothing new, so I stopped reading.

I'll regurgitate my old line on why there is seemingly a significant amount of disappointment on the Left in President Obama -- his supporters believed he was really a progressive, unlike that Third Way/DLC Hillary Clinton. You read it here a lot - "not a dime's worth of difference" on policy. Obama supporters (I mean emotional supporters, I supported Obama because I thought he was the most electable of 2 candidates who were basically the same on policy) wanted and did believe otherwise. They were wrong. Now they are disappointed. Not surprising really.

There, I saved you the 10 minutes you would have taken to reread Chait's lecture on why you should not be disappointed in President Obama.

E.J. Dionne:

Everyone on the left side of American politics, from the near end to the far end, has advice for Occupy Wall Street. I’m no exception. But it’s useful to acknowledge first that this movement has accomplished things that the more established left didn’t.

Who wants to read about an informant-induced, non-operational terror plot in NYC that never was going to get off the ground when you can watch Homeland? It's much more compelling and about as real as the chances of a "lone wolf" pulling off a terror attack under the watchful, ever-present eye of the NYPD.

They were watching him for two years. Here's the Complaint. His website, which was being monitored, is trueislam. Here's his You Tube page. The informant was in this with Pimanetel -- they purchased stuff together and started building the bomb together at the informant's apartment, according to the complaint. Contrary to news reports (sloppy reporting), the complaint clearly states Pimentel was arrested with the components at the informant's apartment, not his own. They could have stopped this at any time.

The Inspire Magazine article (it's not a manual) has been all over the web since 2010. (Anyone can buy the Anarchist's Cookbook on Amazon -- there's even a Kindle version.)

Was it important to stop Pimentel? Of course. Did NY dodge an imminent bullet? Hardly.

Also on tonight: A new Next Iron Chef and Boardwalk Empire.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The mini-bus spending bill passed by Congress and signed by Obama is chock-full of law enforcement and prison spending -- $27.4 billion, including increases of $4 billion for the FBI, DEA, ATF and Marshal's Service. The FBI gets an additional $1.1 billion "for new initiatives in national security, surveillance, violent crime and cyber security." The Senate removed a provision that a portion had to go to something called "special surveillance groups." But the DEA is getting $10 million to expand the El Paso Intelligence Center. There's $90 million for prison construction. (Start on page 234.)

It also has detainee and abortion-funding restrictions for female prisoners. (Sections 202-204.) And it tells the Bureau of prisons it can't spend money on cable TV services or videos for inmate recreational purposes. [More...]