The New York Times reports on what a Supreme Court defeat of the Affordable Care Act may mean for Obama.

Paul Krugman on the problems with prison privatization.

Dick Cheney is delighted over daughter Mary's marriage to her partner Heather.

Mexico goofs in drug arrest. It parades a 24 year old in front of the cameras, proclaiming to the word he was Chapo Guzman's son. Turns out, he was an innocent car salesman with no connection to Guzman.

BTD -Spain-France at 2:45. Must see at the Euros. Also too, Yanks to avenge loss to Mets yesterday. Let's go SPAIN! Let's go Yanks!

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Jerry Sandusky has been convicted of 45 of 48 counts. He was not guilty of assault on victim 2 (McQueary count), Victim 5 and Victim 6.

He was remanded into custody immediately. He didn't display any emotion. Some of the counts have a 10 year mandatory minimum. Sentencing will be in 90 days. NBC says he will be sentenced to at least 60 years, an effective life sentence.

The cheering by the mob outside the courthouse was disgusting to watch. Do they think this is a football game?

His lawyer said earlier he would be shocked by an acquittal and the atmosphere at the Sandusky residence is like a funeral home.

We need another thread to continue the analysis of the George Zimmerman statements, interviews with police and crime-scene re-enactment.

So many were released yesterday, I doubt anyone but true case afficionados have listened to them all. I know I haven't. Yet across the internet, people are cherry-picking, pointing to minor variations as if they are contradictions affecting the totality of George Zimmerman's version of events.

If George Zimmerman told the exact same story over the course of days, people would say it was rehearsed and false. Variations are to be expected, human memory is not like a video recorder, it changes over time. So what is a reasonable test? How about this? [More...]

Too busy, no blogging.

Open Thread.

Attorney Mark O'Mara has released George Zimmerman's written statement, his audio interviews and the video of the re-enactment of the scene (which disappointingly doesn't show anything but a parked car -- it's really an audio of the re-enactment.)

All of the recordings are available here.

I've only read the written statement and listened to the re-enactment so far, so I'll update later today with my thoughts after I've had an opportunity to listen to all the interviews.

Update: For reference, here is the transcript of the 911 call.

Congressman Jared Polis grills DEA Chief Michele Leonhart on the dangers of heroin and meth as compared to marijuana. Great job by Polis. Not so great job by Leonhart who couldn't answer the simple question of whether methamphetamine or heroin is worse for your health than marijuana.

The hearing was held yesterday by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security and the subject was Oversight of the DEA. Here is Leonhart's prepared testimony. [More...]

Sanford City Manager Norton Bonaparte has issued a press release stating Police Chief Bill Lee, who has been on paid leave since he submitted his resignation in April, has been terminated.

"After much thoughtful discussion and deep consideration for the issues facing the City of Sanford, I have determined the Police Chief needs to have the trust and respect of the elected officials and the confidence of the entire community. We need to move forward with a police chief that all the citizens of Sanford can support. I have come to this decision in light of the escalating divisiveness that has taken hold of the city."

Interim chief Richard W. Myers will stay on the job while they search for a permanent replacement. I wonder why Myers isn't getting the job permanently.

I don't read much into this. I've seen nothing official to indicate he is being fired because he didn't arrest George Zimmerman right after the shooting, or that the initial determination that they lacked evidence to dispute that Trayvon Martin's shooting was an act of self-defense, was wrong. It was just unpopular with the public, causing friction in the community. This seems to be tying up loose ends, so that Sanford can stop paying his salary when they know he's not returning to the position.

Long day at work, and the TL kid is coming over for dinner -- Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Update: Holder was held in contempt. It's meaningless:

The contempt resolution will have little practical effect on Holder or the Obama administration. The Democratic-controlled Senate will not take action on a contempt resolution.

Here's part of Holder's statement calling Issa's action political "election-year tactic intended to distract attention": [More...]

Our morning open thread is full. Here's another one.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange may seek asylum in Ecuador.

Jerry Sandusky's wife testified today and ABC reports his lawyers say they are leaning towards him taking the stand (no link for ABC because their videos play automatically.)

Mitt Romney says he is vetting Mark Rubio as a VP choice.

Your turn, all topics welcome.

A place for your unrelated comments, intelligent or not so much.

I'm gone for the day and won't be around tomorrow either.

Open Thread.

Not Snark:

Obama's Lawless Presidency Close To Totalitarianism

The chief executive who swore to faithfully execute the nation's laws picks those he'll ignore and makes up others through regulation and executive order. He sees no need for a Congress or Constitution.

[. . . ]Then came ObamaCare, which would prove to be a monumental assault on the First and 10th Amendments to the Constitution.

Obama needed the Congress for that particular brand of totalitarianism I think.

These people are certifiable. They are the Republican Party.

The brouhaha about what Mitt Romney said about Wawa touch screens overshadowed a bigger point, as explained by Joan McCarter, Medicare requires more paperwork to avoid fraud. But it also revealed that, shocking I know, Mitt Romney is a liar. Mediate explains:

[T]he mainstream media are so accustomed to being worked over by right-wing cries of “bias” that they leapt to condemn MSNBC’s completely reasonable editing of the clip, even as they ignored the glaring lie Romney told in the longer clip. As it turns out, MSNBC did him a favor by omitting his stupid comparison, but they won’t get much thanks for it. [...]

Romney’s anecdote about the optometrist and the 33-page change of address form:[?][...] He only missed it by 31 pages. That’s right, the form that’s so very inferior to the sandwich computers at “Wawa’s” is two pages long, four if you include the instructions. That optometrist is either delusional, or a delusion of Romney’s. Either way, it’s inexcusable for journalists to let this go,

We'll see what happens today. Probably nothing.

Speaking for me only

Via Atrios (not sure what he thinks about this), the WSJ writes about the Fed's ability to lower interest rates has been rather ineffective at spurring demand:

The U.S. recovery is hobbled by an economic divide that separates Americans not by income or wealth but by their access to credit. The housing bust left behind millions of people with credit records damaged by plunging home prices, lost jobs, past overspending or bad luck. Many are now walled off from the low interest rates engineered by the Federal Reserve to spur the economy and remedy the aftereffects of the borrowing boom.

Shrunken access among credit have-nots is triggering more than personal plight. It has weakened the influence of the Fed—one of the best hopes for spurring stronger economic growth—and raised doubts within the central bank about whether it is doing much to reduce unemployment.

The credit divide factors into their thinking. Fed officials have been frustrated in the past year that low interest rate policies haven't reached enough Americans to spur stronger growth, the way economics textbooks say low rates should.

It never factored into the VSP's thinking about the housing and homeowner crisis. This is the failure of Tim Geithner especially, who blocked real help for homeowners while choosing to give free money to the banks.

The banks are fine now. The country is not.

Geithner remains a corrupt incompetent who, if Obama loses, will be the cause of the loss.

Speaking for me only

The Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, will hold a hearing this morning on solitary confinement. It begins at 10 am ET. BOP Director Charles Samuels will be speaking. I wonder if his medical director and co-defendant, Newton Kendig, will be with him. Sen. Richard Durbin is chairing the hearing. There will be a webast at the Senate's website.

The lawsuits are trickling in now. (More here. I hope the side arguing against solitary confinement gets the most media attention.

The biggest horror story I've read yet is that of John Jay Powers, in the suit filed yesterday:

Mr. Powers was convicted of bank robbery in 1990. At that time, he had no history or symptoms of serious mental illness. While in custody, he witnessed three inmates murder another inmate, stabbing him 13 times. He was transferred to protective custody, twice testified against the murderers, and suffered repeated threats against his life by other inmates. Around this time, he began to suffer from PTSD. He briefly escaped from prison and was transferred to ADX in 2001, where he spent nearly 10 years in an isolation unit and became mentally deranged.

[More...]