Brittany Griner is back in the U.S. and Viktor Bout is back home in Russia, 14 years after the U.S. engineered his arrest in Thailand and extradition to the U.S. as part of a sting operation in which DEA informants posed as FARC rebels.

Mr. Bout was sentenced to 25 years in jail in a federal court in Manhattan in 2012, protesting his innocence to the end. Prior to that he spent around two years in detention in Bangkok pending extradition to the U.S., and then a further two years in detention in America before he was convicted.

Even former Judge Shira Scheindlin, who sentenced
Bout, said last year Bout's sentence was excessive:
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The Trump Organization was convicted by a New York jury on all 17 counts of fraud (tax fraud and a scheme to defraud), conspiracy and falsifying business records.

Shorter version: The jury didn't believe Alan Weisselberg acted only for his own enrichment. They believed that he also acted to benefit the Trump Organization.

Remember Michael Cohen? I heard him on the car radio last week on MSNBC and he said what the Trump Org. and Weisselberg were doing is called "Grossing Up". He thought it was a theory that might appeal to the jury. In essence, by paying bonuses to Weisselberg and sons in real property, like apartments in Trump-owned buildings, instead of increasing their salaries on which the company would have to pay payroll taxes, the Trump Organization saved big on taxes. (Same for paying for private school tuition for the Weisselberg grandkids and for new expensive cars every year)[More...]

The mainstream press sells the DEA's story: Opioid deaths and suicides are up among seniors. Time to rachet up the war on pain doctors.

That misses the point, of course, which is why? VICE News gets it right in This Couple Died by Suicide After the DEA Shut Down Their Pain Doctor. Millions of people live in chronic pain, and only strong opioids, including fentanyl patches prescribed by their doctors, brings them down from a pain scale of 10 to something livable, like a 5.

There are millions of chronic pain patients suffering just like me," Danny Elliott wrote before ending his life. "Nobody cares."

It's the war on pain doctors that needs to end, so they can exercise their judgment without fear of intimidation. Prosecutors, legislators and drug agents don't have medical licenses. They shouldn't be making one size fits all rules for what type of pain medicine and how much of it a chronically ill patient is allowed to have.

Just like with lethal injection, you wouldn't do a dog this way. Chronic pain kills. It killed Prince. Leave the pain doctors treating seniors and others with chronic pain alone.

I hope your holiday is filled with great food and spirits, warmth and pleasant company.

I think that there actually are a few things we can be thankful for this year -- but we are not yet out of the woods: The good news is the narcissist who posed the biggest threat to our democracy in the last century (at least) has slipped to the back-burner and faces legal hurdles at every turn, from his removal of documents from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, his or his legal team's attempts to overturn the 2020 election, especially in Georgia, troubles over his and his corporation's taxes, a pending civil lawsuit for sexual assault, and probably more.

More good news is that vaccines and new COVID treatments have lessened the likelihood of severe illness and death the past several months. [More...]

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I'm trying to figure out Mastodon, the "fediverse" alternative to Twitter that journalists, media sites big and little, analysts and bloggers are joining en masse while abandoning Twitter. TalkLeft's account is here. Hopefully over Thanksgiving I can figure out how to properly use the place. It's very enticing, and friendly, and free. But not particularly intuitive to me. It's like switching to MAC when you've always been a Windows person, it takes some getting used to. [More...]

Update: 11/17 6:00 pm: Now there are only 500 votes separating Boebert and Frisch. Looks like there will be an automatic runoff recount. At noon, Boebert had 162,175, 50% and Frisch had 161,078, 50%. I think the question now is, if Boebert holds her 500 vote lead, will there be enough mistakes in the recount for Frisch to win?

Update: I hate being wrong. But it looks like Lauren Boebert will skip to the lou for another 2 years. She's now more than 1,000 votes ahead. Her lead in Mesa County (Grand Junction) alone is 11,000 votes.

So even though she loses Aspen (Pitkin), Vail (Eagle), Telluride (San Miguel) and Crested Butte (Gunnison) by a landslide, and she even loses Garfield County (Glenwood Springs) and Pueblo (which used to be a Democratic stronghold and is apparently much more mixed now) by several thousand votes, those voters all turn into chopped liver because they're outnumbered by the Biden-hating Trump lovers.

Update: CNN is using higher percentages for the votes already counted in Colorado -- almost all at 95%. The New York Times and NPR are using the percentages I did below.

****Original Post

I would love if Lauren Boebert lost to Adam Frisch. Then maybe she'll pick up her guns and go skip to her lou someplace where we don't hear from her again.

The final vote count may not be in for a few days. Colorado has a process for "curing" votes. And if the candidates are within .05% of each other, there's an automatic recount.

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>p> Update 10:24 pm: Congrats to Colorado Governor Jared Polis who won a second term easily tonight. I'm glad to see that Sen. Michael Bennet also won re-election, and of course, our indefatigable Congresswoman Diana DeGette.

Florida gets its first Gen Z Democrat. 25 year-old Maxwell Alejandro Frost, won Val Demings's Orlando house seat. He describes himself as a young, Black Latino who is focused on "gun violence, climate change, abortion rights and Medicare for all." Democrat Demings, unfortunately, lost her bid to take over Marco Rubio's Senate Seat.

*****Original Post*****

There was a total lunar eclipse last night and early this morning. Did you miss it? Here's a handy little webpage that tells when it was visible in major cities.

It seems like there is a consensus in the media that the Republicans will take the House. The difference is in the number of seats they win. There are presently 222 Democrats and 213 Republicans in the House. Some predict a 15 seat gain for Republicans. I think it will be less.

The Senate could be a toss-up. Right now it is 50/50. Even one seat lost is a disaster for Dems. Biden will have lame-duck status for the next two years. [More...]

It's official. Elon Musk has closed his $44 billion purchase of Twitter. He started by firing some of the company's chief honchos. I don't think it's a good investment. Technology will leave Twitter in the dust someday, to be buried with blackberries, palm pilots, and VCRs.

I read fewer and fewer Twitter accounts, especially those written in this country. I don't like seeing other people's "likes" show up on my page, or most retweets, not to mention the increasing number of ads. On the other hand, it's still pretty good for some international things like the Middle East. I actually like Turkish President Erdogan's feed, he's always talking about accomplishments rather than problems (after all, he's running for re-election.) I also like that he's doing the exact opposite of the rest of the world to fight inflation and stop the hemorraging of the Lira --He's lowering interest rates instead of raising them. Other countries thinks he's nuts, but I don't. (Then again, I know nothing about the economy. I only know about crime and the hype over it is too depressing to write about right now). [More...]

Chris Cuomo returns to our televisions every weeknight, at 8pm ET and again at 11 pm ET, on News Nation. Here's how to watch without cable.

I completely stopped watching cable news when his show went off the air. Taking his job away for defending his brother just seemed really unfair to me.

Who else has shows on News Nation? Legal analyst and now media scion Dan Abrams (who I suspect may own the channel, or a big chunk of it) and Ashley Banfield (whose reporting I have always liked since she was with MSNBC.)

I wish them all well and I intend to make time to watch.

Also on a media note, I'm sending good thoughts to Katie Couric, who recently announced she finished radiation treatment for breast cancer. (She's going to be fine).

I'm no longer counting, but it's my birthday.

If you'd like to donate some appreciation, it would be more than welcome. Here is the link.(link fixed)

It has been more than a few years since I last asked readers for donations, mostly because my posting activity decreased during COVID. But I'd like to keep writing. I also intend to continue rejecting ads on the site. That said, the site does cost a significant amount to maintain, and help is always welcome. (And of course, no one should feel compelled to contribute).

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

At 1:05 pm ET, NBC posted this photo:

Two hours ago, the National Weather Service had this map:

The latest forecast: [More...]

Tampa and Fort Myers seem to be in the cross-hairs of Hurricane Ian, which is headed their way. According to the 1:00 pm statement by the National Hurricane Center, there is also a Tropical Storm Warning for the upper Florida Keys and a Tropical Storm Watch for the Middle and Lower Florida Keys.

Florida has set up "Know Your Zone" so Floridians know when they should evacuaate their homes. The Zones are from A to L with A being most likely to get an evacuation call and it is unlikely that Zones E or after will be called.

That's only half of it. The website says Floridans must also "know their homes".

If an evacuation order is not issued for your area, you may consider sheltering in place. Not all evacuations zones are always ordered. If you shelter in place, it’s important to Know Your Home and its ability to withstand strong winds and heavy rain.[More...]