TalkLeft

Gitmo, Illinois?

Jeralyn — 2009-11-14T19:46:15-05:00

The Bureau of Prisons may buy Thomson Correctional Center, about 150 miles from Chicago, and use it to house the remaining Guantanamo detainees. Officals will be visiting Monday.

Officials from the department of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security, and the federal Bureau of Prisons will be will be visiting the maximum-security Thomson Correctional Center, about 150 miles west of Chicago, on Monday, the officials said.

... If the Bureau of Prisons purchases the site, it would operate primarily as a federal prison and a portion of it would be leased to the Defense Department to house the Guantanamo detainees, the official said.

[More...]

ABC has more. The faciilty is new. From the Ill. Dept. of Corrections website:

Thomson Correctional Center is a safe maximum-security environment. Prison design, movement patterns and programming options will allow a strong community of order to be maintained. Inmates will be monitored under constant armed and electronic surveillance. Education, mental health services, recreation and skilled development will be available to inmates as mandatory and or voluntary programming options. These choices, under professional guidance, are opportunities for inmates to enrich their lives with the tools necessary for successful living.

Thomson Correctional Center is a Level 1 adult male maximum-security facility comprised of 1,600 cells and eight housing units. The facility also has a 200-bed minimum-security unit. The facility is 146 acres and consists of 15 buildings, totaling 625,000 square feet. Construction in the cell houses is pre-cast, reinforced cement walls. The facility is enclosed by a 12-foot exterior fence and 15-foot interior fence, which includes a dual sided electric stun fence.

Thomson was built in 2001 to ease overcrowding. It never opened due to state budget problems. Some minimum-security inmate have been sent there.

Saturday Late Afternoon Open Thread : Snow

Jeralyn — 2009-11-14T18:05:14-05:00

It's really coming down now. Huge, wet snowflakes. And the snow is going to continue until tomorrow late afternoon. I've got a good book (Shantaram ....."Crime and punishment, passion and loyalty, betrayal and redemption are only a few of the ingredients" ) and I'm looking forward to the down time.

Here's an open thread for you, all topics welcome.

Sarah Palin Trashes American Justice

Jeralyn — 2009-11-14T17:36:35-05:00

Think Progress reports that Sarah Palin has weighed in on her Facebook page decrying the Obama Administration's decision to try the 9/11 suspects in federal court. She laments that criminal defense attorneys will use "technicalities" to try to get them off.

Criminal defense attorneys will now enter into delaying tactics and other methods in the hope of securing some kind of win for their “clients.” The trial will afford Mohammed the opportunity to grandstand and make use of his time in front of the world media to rally his disgusting terrorist cohorts.

...It is crucially important that Americans be made aware that the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks may walk away from this trial without receiving just punishment because of a “hung jury” or from any variety of court room technicalities. If we are stuck with this terrible Obama Administration decision, I, like most Americans, hope that Mohammed and his co-conspirators are convicted. Hang ‘em high.

So lawyers who protect constitutional rights are engaging in "courtroom technicalities." And there's no need to wait for a verdict, in Palin's view, she's ready to "hang 'em high." [More...]

While I could care less about what Sarah Palin thinks, what's troubling are the comments to her Facebook entry-- filled with garbage like the following:

Why is this a surprise to anyone? We have a muslim in the White House who is a racist, and a racist as our Attorney General, so why is anyone shocked by this move? I'm not, I expected it and more!

and

We all know they are quilty, they are not american citzens they do not deserve a trial. They should have been shot when they were caught

and

Obama has now shown his true Muslim Colors, Military removal now in order for Treason to the American People and our Troops.

Some of the most ignorant comments I've seen anywhere are on Sarah Palin's Facebook page. Sarah Palin talks trash and trash follows her. Why am I not surprised?

Napolitano Says Obama Ready to Work on Path to Legalization

Jeralyn — 2009-11-14T13:36:39-05:00

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano yesterday said the Obama Administration is ready to move forward with plans to create a path to citizenship for the undocumented.

Under the administration’s plan, illegal immigrants who hope to gain legal status would have to register, pay fines and all taxes they owe, pass a criminal background check and learn English.

.... “Let me emphasize this: we will never have fully effective law enforcement or national security as long as so many millions remain in the shadows,” she said, adding that the recovering economy would be strengthened “as these immigrants become full-paying taxpayers.”

Unfortunately, Napolitano continued to express support for local enforcement of federal laws and other stricter enforcement procedures. More on her speech is available at the Center for American Progress, including a video of her remarks.

Colo. Commission Recommends Lowering Drug Penalties

Jeralyn — 2009-11-14T13:22:07-05:00

The Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJC) has issued recommendations to the state legislature to reduce penalties for possession of drugs.

If Colorado legislators adopt the recommendations, possessing up to 4 ounces of marijuana would become a petty offense instead of a criminal misdemeanor, and possessing 8 to 16 ounces would become a misdemeanor instead of a felony.

The Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice also favored lower-level felony charges for possessing a few grams of cocaine or methamphetamine and reducing the charge for illegally possessing various prescription drugs from a felony to a misdemeanor. It excepted possession of "date-rape" drugs, which would remain a felony.

The Commission members include representatives from all parts of the criminal justice system, including prosecutors, defense attorneys, legislators, probation officers, judges and law enforcement. The full report is here (pdf.)

College Football Open Thread

Big Tent Democrat — 2009-11-14T10:22:58-05:00

Can you believe Ohio State is a 16.5 point favorite over Iowa? Obviously, no one really thought Iowa was a Top 10 team. One of the myths about Iowa was that "the computers loved them." They didn't. The BCS contraption for their computer rankings, where margin of victory is ignored, loved them. The REAL computer rankings thought Iowa was about the 14th best team in the country. Sagarin now rates Iowa as the 25th best team. Before its loss, Sagarin had Iowa as the 13th best team. Yet, Sagarin does not think Ohio State is all that either. But Stanzi is out. Still, 16.5 points? I'll take the Hawkeyes (+16.5).

Tennessee had 3 players (one from my hometown in Florida) arrested for armed robbery this week. In reaction, Tennessee's coach bragged about the fact that it took 11 months in his coaching tenure before one of the members of the team committed a felony. I kid you not. He bragged about it. The Vols play at Ole Miss (-6). Even though Talk Left is a criminal defense site, I am picking Ole Miss (-6). More . . .

The top 3 teams, according to the BCS - are Florida, Alabama and Texas. Florida (-17) travels to play the Ole Ball Coach at South Carolina. Bama (-12) travels to Mississippi State and Texas(-23.5) hosts Baylor. Florida seems the most vulnerable of the 3 this week (maybe every week.) Go Gators! More. . . .

In other games:

Northwestern, conqueror of the once mighty Hawkeyes, travels to Champaign to face the awful Illini. Thw Wildcats are 5 point underdogs. Can you believe that? The Big Ten is not only bad, it is topsy turvy. I like Northwestern (+5).

Boise State plays their in state rivals, the Idaho Vandals this week. The Broncs are 31 point favorites. I like the Vandals (+31).

Notre Dame travels to Pitt today. As much as I despise Notre Dame, I think the Big East is easily the worst conference in the BCS. the Mountain West is no doubt better than the Big East. I like the Domers (+6.5) to win outright.

Arizona travels to Cal in a huge Pac 10 game. I like Zona (+3).

Stanford tries to back up its huge win over Oregon by winning against USC. easier said than done. I like the Trojans (-10.5).

Auburn travels to play Georgia Between the Hedges. I like the Dawgs (-4).

Finally, a big upset special - Troy (+13.5) will beat Arkansas outright today.

I had a rough week (for me) last week, going 3-4. That brought my season record to 36-25 (.590). I am aiming to finish over 60% for the season.

This is an Open Thread.

Getting Acquainted With the 9/11 Defendants

Jeralyn — 2009-11-14T09:24:00-05:00

Today, many of us are only familiar with Khalid Sheik Mohammed or Ramzi Binashibh, who have garnered the most press. Months from now, those of us who follow these cases will know the histories of all five 9/11 defendants like the back of our hands. Here's a helpful primer of links for those who want to get a head start.

Short Profiles of the Soon to Be 9/11 Defendants:

Individually, With Lots of Links

More....

If you want to see the Government's version, check out this military link to the individual transcripts and summaries of evidence of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. Here are the Military Commission Charges Against the Five 9/11 Detainees (individual links here.) Here is the Defense Department press release announcing the death penalty would be sought. The publicly available pleadings filed in those proceedings are here.

TalkLeft has been covering Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh since 2002. My first post complaining about kidnapping and questioning Mohammed's young son's was in 2003. Here's an interview Mohammed and Binalshibh gave to al Jazeera's London Bureau Chief Yosri Fouda in 2002, before their capture and before any torture. The interview is listed as part of the evidence against Khalid.

One of the things I'm now interested in locating is mitigating evidence against the death penalty for each of the five men. If you come across any, feel free to share in comments or by e-mail.

Ohio To Switch To One Drug For Executions

Jeralyn — 2009-11-13T20:00:51-05:00

Ohio announced today it will switch from the three drug cocktail for lethal injections to administering a single drug, thiopental sodium.

Thiopental sodium, an anesthetic, is used to euthanize animals. "Ohio will be the first state in the U.S. to use the one-drug procedure," which was recommended by Dr. Mark Dershwitz, a professor of anesthesiology at the U. Mass Medical Center. In 205, Dr. Dershwitz recommended a single dose of pentobarbital. The problem, he said, was that it could take up to a half-hour for the heart to stop. [More...]

Ohio will have a backup plan:

The backup method involves an injection with a needle into a large muscle such as the arm or upper thigh. It was described as "much like a flu shot." One of the drugs to be used is Dilaudid, a commonly used painkiller.

The new procedure will be ready for implementation on November 30.

Guantanamo Turns Eight Years Old Today

Jeralyn — 2009-11-13T19:08:03-05:00

Happy Birthday, Gitmo? Former President George W. Bush signed the order authorizing detention at Guantanamo on November 13, 2001:

On Nov. 13, 2001, President George W. Bush signed what has become known as Military Order No. 1 [4] in what he termed a Global War on Terrorism. Without informing his national security adviser, his secretary of state, his chief of staff or his communications director, Bush approved [5] what would appear three days later in the Federal Register as: "Military Order of November 13, 2001: Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism."

[More...]

The few people inside the former administration who knew about the order were instrumental in its creation, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, his lawyer David Addington, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, former Attorney General John Ashcroft and a young, and then unknown, lawyer inside the Justice Department named John Yoo .

The first group of detainees arrived at Gitmo on January 11, 2002. Here's a news story from the Washington Post that day describing the arrival. The dramatic pictures of the gagged and manacled prisoners immediately caused a controversy around the world.

On December 21, 2001, The New York Times ran an editorial, How to Try a Terrorist, adovcating trials in federal criminal court. On January 27, 2002, then Defense Secretary Colin Powell broke with the Bush Administration and said the detainnes were entitled to protection by the Geneva Conventions on prisoners of war.

Former Rep. William Jefferson Sentenced to 13 Years

Jeralyn — 2009-11-13T18:55:41-05:00

Former Congressman William Jefferson was sentenced to 13 years today. He was convicted of 11 counts related to public corruption.

Jefferson was found guilty after an eight-week trial of soliciting bribes, depriving citizens of honest service, money laundering and using his congressional office as a racketeering enterprise. The case was best known for the $90,000 federal agents found hidden in the freezer of Jefferson's home in Washington, D.C.

The five charges for which he was acquitted included single count of violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act -- the charge most closely related to the $90,000 found in his freezer.

Prosecutors asked for 27 years. The defense asked for less than 10. Jefferson was allowed to remain on bond pending a hearing next week on the Government's request he be ordered into custody immediately. [More...]

The judge said he will hold a hearing next week to set date for when Jefferson must report to prison. If the judge approves the prosecution's request, the former congressman would have to report immediately. Jefferson's attorneys have asked for Jan. 4 reporting date. Jefferson is expected to be assigned to a low-security prison in the federal system, possibly in Florida. Ellis has not yet ruled on whether Jefferson can remain free while he pursues his appeal, which will likely take months.

The judge also ordered the forfeiture of $$470,653.47 to the government. Jefferson and his wife filed for bankruptcy recently, and his lawyers are owed $5.7 million.

Jefferson intends to appeal:

The attorneys have said that they will challenge several decisions made by Ellis during the trial including his definition of official acts, which they believer was overly broad and his decision not to tell the jury that an FBI agent assigned to the case had a sexual relationship with Mody in 2005 when she was recording conversations with Jefferson.

NYC Mayor Bloomberg Approves Terror Trial

Big Tent Democrat — 2009-11-13T18:13:11-05:00

While Republicans (and Democrats like Jim Webb) quake in their boots all over the Red States, the Mayor of New York City, where, you might remember, the 9/11 attacks struck, says:

I support the Obama Administration’s decision to prosecute 9/11 terrorists here in New York. It is fitting that 9/11 suspects face justice near the World Trade Center site where so many New Yorkers were murdered. We have hosted terrorism trials before, including the trial of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

New Yorkers are not afraid. Apparently, Virginians like Jim Webb are scared senseless.

Speaking for me only

Hearing in Canada on Fate of Child Soldier Omar Khadr

Jeralyn — 2009-11-13T14:02:23-05:00

(Omar Khadr when captured and today, via the Toronto Star)

The Supreme Court in Canada held oral arguments today in the case of Canadian child soldier Omar Khadr. According to Attorney General Eric Holder's statements today, Khadr will be among those tried by military commission.

Holder also revealed that Canadian detainee Omar Khadr will be prosecuted before a U.S. military tribunal – but the attorney general indicated the U.S. government will remain open to the possibility returning detainee Omar Khadr to Canada, depending on the outcome of a Supreme Court hearing underway today in Ottawa.

[More...}

Why is Khadr being kept in a military proceeding? Probably to keep evidence of his torture from the public, and to have a greater chance of using his coerced statements at his trial. In other words, a lack of confidence it could obtain a conviction against Khadr in federal court. As to the Canadian proceeding:

In a 2-1 judgment in August, the Federal Appeal Court agreed with a Federal Court judge's ruling that Khadr's rights under Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms — the rights to life, liberty and security of person — had been breached when Canadian officials interviewed him at the prison in Guantanamo in 2003 and shared the resulting information with U.S. authorities.

In early September, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the federal government's appeal.

AG Holder today, responding to a media question about Khadr:

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was asked during a news conference whether a Supreme Court of Canada directive to the Canadian government to request Khadr's transfer back to Canada would trump the military commission process.

"We'll look at that matter," Holder said. "At this point, it's one of the cases designated for commission proceeding. "We will, as that case proceeds, see how it should be ultimately treated."

The case is the Prime Minister of Canada v. Khadr, 33289, Supreme Court of Canada (Ottawa.) Our past coverage of the case is accessible here.

Reconciliation Solves The Stupak Problem

Big Tent Democrat — 2009-11-13T12:05:08-05:00

Politico:

"There is no way on God's green Earth that the Stupak amendment would pass muster in a budget reconciliation bill," says Bill Hoagland, an insurance lobbyist who was the top GOP aide on the Senate Budget Committee for two decades and served as then-Majority Leader Bill Frist's budget guru. Democratic budget experts in Congress and the administration who asked not to be quoted on the record agree with Hoagland's assessment.

[. . .] If Reid chooses to go the reconciliation route, he can rely on the rules to quash Stupak's amendment, budget experts say. Under the arcane rules of the process, every provision must meet a strict, multi-pronged test -- known as the Byrd Rule -- or it can be dispensed with on a point of order that takes 60 votes to overcome. [. . .] While the Byrd Rule would sharply limit which parts of their health care plan could survive in a reconciliation bill, Stupak's language would be a victim, too, experts say. "It would violate (the) Byrd Rule, period," Hoagland said.

Another reason to favor reconciliation for health care reform.

Speaking for me only

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed To Be Tried In Federal Court In NY

Big Tent Democrat — 2009-11-13T11:52:01-05:00

Explanations are in order:

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and four other men accused in the plot will be prosecuted in federal court in New York City, the United States attorney general announced Friday. But the administration will prosecute another set of high-profile detainees now being held at the military prison at Guant�namo Bay, Cuba — Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who is accused of planning the 2000 bombing of the Navy destroyer Cole in Yemen, and four other detainees — before a military commission.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was tortured by the United States. And yet he can be tried in civilian court. Why then can we not try all of the Gitmo detainees in federal court? No logic is provided to explain the different treatment these detainees are receiving. See also Glenn Greenwald making a similar point.

Speaking for me only

Why The Public Option Is The Critical Component Of HCR

Big Tent Democrat — 2009-11-13T11:31:52-05:00

Via mcjoan, Jacob Hacker and Diane Archer explain:

The public plan is [. . .] critical to reform as a cost and quality benchmark, one that is particularly crucial if private premiums accelerate upwards. The insurance industry has threatened that premiums will skyrocket if an individual mandate is not tough enough. It may be an idle threat, but if a final reform bill ends up looking more like the Senate Finance bill than the House bill, it might not be. In most local markets, competition is likely to be anemic, and regulation of insurers inadequate. There will be little to prevent insurers from raising rates as they have threatened.

Having a public plan in place should also help keep down the rate of growth of health insurance premiums over time. Over the past twenty years, the public Medicare plan has had a substantially slower rate of growth than private insurance. The CBO report on the House bill states that private insurers are better at controlling utilization than a public plan would be. But, to date private insurers have failed to prove their value at cost control and demonstrated they have strong incentives to delay and deny needed care rather than drive efficiencies in the system. [MORE . . ]

And remember: If the private plans continue to misbehave, drive up costs excessively, and otherwise engage in practices that are detrimental to our health security, Congress can later decide to strengthen the public plan and give it greater leverage to rein in costs and serve as a check on private insurers. Creating a public plan down the road is not realistic; that's one reason we seriously doubt any proposal to trigger the public plan would really work. Strengthening an existing public plan would be a far more likely prospect, especially if the public plan is proving its value in the market, as we believe it will.

What’s more, as far as payment and delivery system innovations are concerned, the public plan is really the only tool available for testing and implementing reforms in the market for the non-elderly. Private plans are notorious for keeping their innovations private--when they have them--and have little financial incentive to improve health care if it will not increase their bottom line. Yes, we can continue to rely on the public Medicare plan to test innovations. But working families have somewhat different needs, and it seems appropriate to pursue delivery and payment reforms more broadly, through both Medicare and a public plan focused on those younger than 65.

In short, it’s no time to be despondent about the fate of the public insurance option. For sure, pegging rates to Medicare and obligating Medicare providers to accept these rates would be far preferable, and a public plan with negotiated rates may do less to keep the insurers honest and drive down costs. But it’s still immensely valuable to give Americans an out--another choice--to let the insurers feel the heat of not being the only game in town. The fierce and continuing opposition of the insurance industry suggests that they think that a public option will prove a serious counterweight in an increasingly consolidated private market. The overwrought pessimism of the pundit class should not aid them in their cause of protecting themselves from a public-spirited competitor.