You can read the Nunes memo here.

I'm swamped at work. Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

SIGAR, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, released a report yesterday on the state of U.S. reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. The report is over 200 pages and large segments of it address the failure of our drug strategy there, the lack of a revised counter-narcotics plan, and the increased participation of the U.S. in Afghan bombing efforts.

The United States has appropriated $8.7 billion for counternarcotics efforts since 2002, but more Afghan land was under opium-poppy cultivation in 2017 than ever before. According to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, cultivation levels increased 63% from the previous year to 328,000 hectares. Potential opium production levels increased 87% to 9,000 tons from 2016. Eradication levels also increased from the prior year’s results, but the 750 hectares eradicated barely registered against the cultivation figure.

[More...]

Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday keeping Guantanamo Bay open indefinitely.

You can read the Order here.

While Obama wasn't able to close Gitmo due to Congressional obstruction, there are only 41 detainees remaining there -- he was successful at transferring many to other countries.

One thing Trump does know how to do is waste money. The cost of Guantanamo is extravagant by any yardstick.

Guantánamo costs U.S. taxpayers more than $400 million per year to operate. The government spent $ ½ billion to renovate Guantánamo for the 780, now 41, detainees held there. Also, keeping detainees at Guantánamo instead of high security federal prison costs more than $10 million more per detainee.

By 2015, the U.S. spent $5 billion on Gitmo.

I am not watching Donald Trump's speech tonight. I don't need to -- we are a nation in disarray. Every day he occupies a desk in the oval office, pretending to know what he is doing, our nation is in greater peril.

He has less credibility than anyone who has ever sat at a desk in the White House. So why would anyone believe a word of what he says tonight?

If you are watching, or just want to vent on the sad state of affairs and the damage he has done to our global standing in the world, here's a place.

The Grammy's red carpet is already streaming live. You can watch here.

The Grammy's Premiere Event starts at 3:30 ET live, hosted by Paul Shaffer and 70 awards will be given out.

The actual "Grammys" begin at 7:30 pm ET and can be viewed online in numerous places, including Grammy.com and CBS.

James Corden is hosting again. JayZ seems to be the featured nominee this year. It's a big year for rap. And for white roses, in solidarity with the T.U. movement.

I'm trying to get some work done this weekend as I recuperate. I've been reading the news about every other day. For TV, I've watched only the Aspen X Games. The Women's Snowboard Super Pipe last night was terrific, one great performance after another. Here is Chloe Kim who won the gold. Arielle Gold's Silver run is here. Maddie Mastro got the Bronze. Women's Big Ski Air is on today at noon, MT.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

I'm not having much fun with Pneumonia. Last week I spent five days in the hospital (Monday until Friday) getting fluids administered intravenously. The antibiotics were brutal. They did the job, I'm pneumonia free, but they wiped me out. I also didn't have a computer with me, so I couldn't blog (or work.)

I've got a lot of work to catch up on, so this will probably be a week of open threads. Hopefully, I'll get things back to normal in the next week or two.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

(From Lillyhammer, with Steve Van Zandt)

With his comments on Haiti, El Salvador and Africa, Donald Trump exposed himself Thursday as the vulgar, insensitive man we all knew he was.

More reports on Trump's alleged sexcapades appeared today.

Trump says things just to push people's buttons. It's how he deflects attention from his failings and how he sneaks atrocious policies in the back door while everyone's too busy clucking about his latest outrageous comments to focus on his actions.

He has single-handedly ruined the image of America around the globe in the last year. How many generations will it take to recover, assuming America is still here?

The news is that despite getting both vaccines a year apart as recommended, I have somehow gotten pneumonia. I was expecting a cold after spending 5 hours in a tiny jail visiting room after Xmas with my client who blew through wads of tissues the entire time, but pneumonia?

I haven't seen any news since Monday because all my time has been spent writing motions to continue in all my cases. The antibiotics are so strong it's hard to concentrate and type for long periods.

Happily it's "atypical" pneumonia which means the antibiotics should do their job in about ten days, and I don't have to stay in bed, just take it easy (no jails or trips to court.) I'm also considered contagious for 10 days.

So that's my news. In TV news: [More...]

Donald Trump held a meeting of some members of from Congress on immigration and DACA and allowed it to be televised. He played the role of deal maker. Of course, no deals were made.

Several media reports I've read on the meeting make it appear he actually conceded something. He didn't. He took every position under the sun, oblivious to inherent contradictions. And of course, promises from Donald Trump aren't worth the time spent typing them.

By the time the president finally kicked reporters out of the meeting, he had said yes to everyone while clarifying virtually nothing. And what was undeniably a victory for government transparency had turned into another frustrating experience for Republicans, who repeatedly implored Trump to tell them exactly what he would accept in a DACA bill.

As I was reading, the phrase that came to mind repeatedly was "Eloquent profanity, it rolls right off my tongue. Roll 'um easy" (Linda Ronstadt, video here.) His promises are nothing but dressed-up dirty lies,

There was something for everyone. Except those with their eyes open.

My final two briefs are due today. Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

Remember what Oprah told people just before the 2016 election when all of a sudden there was a flurry of people saying they didn't like Hillary? She said, you don't have to like her, she's not coming over to your house for dinner, just vote for her.

Now people are chanting Oprah, 2020.
I'm not sure I can think of a person, male or female, that could beat Oprah.