I have motions due today, so no blogging until this evening. Our last open thread is full, so here's a new one, all topics welcome.

Jerry Garcia died 22 years ago. #Be kind to someone to day. (h/t ChuckO in Taylor Swift Thread).

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Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has hired private counsel to represent him on the Indictment in the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).

I think the federal defenders representing him until now have done an outstanding job. But I also think the private lawyers he hired are excellent. Who are they?

Jeffrey Lichtman, Marc Fernich (both in New York), Eduardo Balarezo (Washington, DC) and William Purpura (Baltimore).

While the media mentions in passing Balarezo was involved in the recent case of Alfredo Beltran-Leyva (sentenced to life a few months ago), I think his addition is significant. [More...]

Is this photo "damning proof" fired Denver DJ David Mueller groped Taylor Swift, or does it capture an awkward point when David Mueller scrambled to get into a photo with Taylor Swift and his girlfriend at the last minute?

That question will occupy 9 days of federal court time in Denver this month. Jury selection began yesterday, was completed today, and lawyers made their opening arguments to the 8 jurors selected. Who made the jury? [More...]

The DEA wants to replace your doctor.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on Friday proposed a 20 percent reduction in the manufacture of certain commonly prescribed opioid painkillers as well as other controlled substances for next year.

Just say no.

Sorry for the lack of posting. I've been too busy with work to read the news. I hope to catch up this weekend.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Here is Donald Trump's signing statement on the Russia Sanctions bill. The meat:

....Still, the bill remains seriously flawed – particularly because it encroaches on the executive branch’s authority to negotiate. Congress could not even negotiate a healthcare bill after seven years of talking. By limiting the Executive’s flexibility, this bill makes it harder for the United States to strike good deals for the American people, and will drive China, Russia, and North Korea much closer together. The Framers of our Constitution put foreign affairs in the hands of the President. This bill will prove the wisdom of that choice.

....I built a truly great company worth many billions of dollars. That is a big part of the reason I was elected. As President, I can make far better deals with foreign countries than Congress.

He is such an embarrassment to America.

The Department of Homeland Security issued a press release today stating it is "waiving" the law to start building sections of Donald Trump's "border wall" in San Diego.

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a waiver to waive certain laws, regulations and other legal requirements to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads in the vicinity of the international border near San Diego. The waiver will be published in the Federal Register in the coming days.

... The [San Diego]sector remains an area of high illegal entry for which there is an immediate need to improve current infrastructure and construct additional border barriers and roads. To begin to meet the need for additional border infrastructure in this area, DHS will implement various border infrastructure projects. These projects will focus on an approximately 15-mile segment of the border within the San Diego Sector that starts at the Pacific Ocean and extends eastward, to approximately one mile east of what is known as Border Monument 251.

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The Wall St Journal reports (free link via the Capitol Journal)Donald Trump told a gathering of police officers:

“When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon—you just see them thrown in, rough—I said, please don’t be too nice,” Mr. Trump said, prompting laughter and applause from the audience of law enforcement officers. “Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over? Like, don’t hit their head and they’ve just killed somebody—don’t hit their head. I said, you can take the hand away, OK?”

That comment was over the top for acting DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg, who sent out an agency-wide email repudiating it:

Mr. Rosenberg wrote that although he is certain no “special agent or task force officer of the DEA would mistreat a defendant,” Mr. Trump’s comments required a response.

“I write to offer a strong reaffirmation of the operating principles to which we, as law enforcement professionals, adhere,” the memo says. “I write because we have an obligation to speak out when something is wrong. That’s what law enforcement officers do. That’s what you do. We fix stuff. At least, we try.”

USA Today has more of Rosenberg's memo to DEA agents: [More...]

Anthony Scaramucci is out as Trump's Communications Director. He lasted 9 days. Reports are it was at the best of the newly installed John Kelly.

The New York Times reports Page 6 is having a field day with the reports that his wife filed for divorce and gave birth to their second child just last week while he was in D.C.

They ought to install revolving doors at the White House.

Over at Yahoo News, Robert Reich has a column, Donald Trump: The Biggest Loser. [More...]

I had another Trump-free news weekend, it was so pleasant not thinking about him.

I hate the new layout of Google News -- I would switch to Yahoo but it's worse -- at Yahoo, they make their ads appear to be news articles and they then put one after every second or third headline.

I'm looking for a substitute (in addition to Lexis Nexis which I use to fact-check and find interesting details.) Any ideas?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Reince Priebus is out as Donald Trump's Chief of Staff. John Kelly, currently the head of Homeland Security, will replace him.

Donald Trump seems to be rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. He and his inexperienced family members, masquerading as policy makers, are the problem, not his underlings.

Every thing he does is a fail.

Most mistakes in one article I've seen yet on the health care vote: NBC News. I suspect it will be gone by morning, so I printed and uploaded it. How did they even release it? It seems like it was written before the vote by someone who was convinced the Republicans would succeed:

Senate Republicans narrowly passed their pared-down amendment of an Obamacare repeal bill at 1:00 a.m. Friday morning, less than three hours after the text of the legislation was released.

Update: I was right. NBC has already replaced the article with this version by the same reporter.

Some better coverage with interesting details:

Reuters on McCain's apparently last minute decision to vote against the bill: [More...]