How annoying for El Chapo's wife Emma and El Chapo that this young woman keeps showing up at court appearances claiming to be El Chapo's daughter and talking to media about how she misses her dad, when the family says he doesn't recognize her and has never lived with her or spent time with her. Her birth certificate shows someone else as her father. El Chapo has denied he's her father. She's been around a while with her claims, many of which have been proven false. Could she be a daughter of El Chapo? Yes. Could she be one that has spent time with him or anyone in the family and is recognized by him? Unlikely, given the number of El Chapo's close relatives who deny it.

Another person not to give credence to: José Luis González Meza, 73 year old histrionic activist-lawyer from Mexico who attends court appearances gets himself on the media with things like asking Trump to send El Chapo back to Mexico. He does not represent El Chapo. [More...]

Donald Trump has nominated ten people to serve as federal judges. All are conservatives.

Not a single criminal defense attorney was nominated. Several are long term prosecutors. A few were law clerks to Justice Clarence Thomas or deceased Justice Anton Scalia. Some only have state court or academic experience. [More..]

France dodged a right-wing bullet by electing Emmanuel Macron. Marine Le Pen has conceded the race.

I heard earlier on the car radio that French turnout was high -- 77% or so. That may be considered high when compared to the U.S. which has hovered around 55%. But reports are that the French turnout was around 75%, lower than the past two French elections. Then again, this report has French turnout in 2012 at 71%. (Belgium had an 87.2 percent turnout rate in 2014, Turkey's was 84.3 percent in 2015, and Sweden's was 82.5 percent in 2014.)

Regardless, it was not a close race. Marcron won 65.% to Le Pen's 35%.

Lucky for France they don't have an electoral college.

Trump's going to the Middle East. With Melania, Jared and Ivanka. Trump is going first to Saudi Arabia and then to Israel and then to Italy.

Israeli news reports Trump is expected to have an entourage of 1,000 people.

It sounds like he wanted to give a sermon on the mount: Israeli news says Trump was considering making a speech from the the ancient mountain fortress of the Masada ruins in the Negev desert.

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman-Loera returned to court today. A trial date was set for April, 2018. A "Cuercio" hearing was held about a potential conflict of interest due to the federal defenders having briefly represented some of the witnesses against El Chapo. He waived any potential conflict and said he is happy with his federal defenders. His wife, whom he has not been permitted to visit with, was in court.

Yesterday the Judge ruled on his challenge to the conditions of his confinement (the 18 page order is available here).

Essentially, the order upholds the Government's SAMS. One exception is that El Chapo will be allowed to send pre-screened messages to his wife, both about his choice of counsel and any assets from which lawyers can be paid, and about personal matters. The messages will be screened by a variety of agencies, from Homeland Security to the DEA to "firewall counsel" (prosecutors not on the current prosecution team.) [More...]

Republican House Members today passed a health care bill that betrays every promise Republicans made. It will "cover fewer people, charge higher premiums, raise copayments, and raise deductibles."

It takes money allotted for health insurance for the poor and converts it into tax cuts for the rich. [More...]

Republicans say they have enough votes to pass their nightmare health care bill. No one seems to think the Senate will pass it -- without modifications.

Whatever you do, if you have health care now, don't let it lapse. Millions of people, including children, will be disadvantaged by this bill.

Jimmy Kimmel explains in this powerful and emotional segment describing his new born son's heart surgery last week. [More...]

I have never seen so many ugly, bizarre, poorly fitting fashion designs as those worn at last night's Met Gala. Here is the NY Times slideshow of 84 photos. Even the severe hairstyles and pointy ears were unflattering. I can't even pick out the worst because they are all horrible.

Rhianna looks like she's being swallowed by rose petals . This one made me laugh out loud. Julianne Moore looks like she's wearing confetti. Here's the Wicked Witch of the West feigning boredom. I have no words for this look or whoever is wearing them, they both look terrible.

P. Diddy looks like a Windows screensaver. (I saw that description on Twitter.) Katy Perry played Little Red Riding Hood while this woman played Snow White. [More...]

Democrats and Republicans in Congress reached an agreement for a $1 trillion funding authorization that will keep the Government running until September. The agreement covers funds for the remainder of the 2017 budget year, until October 1, 2017, when the 2018 budget kicks in. What's in it and what's not:

• No money for Trump's border wall
• $61 million to reimburse local law enforcement agencies for the cost of protecting Trump's trips to his homes in Florida and New York
• $1.5 billion for border security measures including additional detention beds.
• $15 billion "down payment" on defense
• No language on withholding grant money from "sanctuary cities"
• No defunding of Planned Parenthood
• No cuts for "medical research and infrastructure grants."
• $295 million to help Puerto Rico continue making payments to Medicaid,
• $100  million to combat opioid addiction.

The entire 1,665 page document is available here. [More...]

TalkLeft is moving to a different server tonight. The site should only be inaccessible a few minutes while the DNS changes over. You can always check our backup site and I'll put something there when the site has finished moving.

Busy work day, this is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Update: Winter storm is here, 6 to 12 inches of snow expected.

Koi, the sushi restaurant in the TrumpSoho hotel, is closing. It used to be filled with celebrities. Business has tanked since the election. (Koi's other New York Restaurant in Bryant Park is reportedly doing very well.)

The success of Koi in the Trump Soho is of little interest meanwhile to the president, as he does not actually own the hotel and is instead paid to manage the property, which bears his name.

A similar decline in dining attendance was reported by the Michelin-starred restaurant Sixteen, which is located in Chicago's Trump Tower.

And that's not all. Grub Street says it's collateral damage from the rise of Trump: [More...]