RIP Beth Chapman, and our deepest condolences to Duane ("Dog the Bounty Hunter") and their family. There really aren't enough positive adjectives in the dictionary to describe this incredibly unique, forceful, talented, loyal, generous, beautiful, protective and socially committed woman. This is a huge loss. To her family: I hope the memories of your good times together get you through this difficult time.

From Dog's twitter feed an hour ago:

It’s 5:32 in Hawaii, this is the time she would wake up to go hike Koko Head mountain. Only today, she hiked the stairway to heaven. We all love you, Beth. See you on the other side.

More....

Time for a new open thread, all topics welcome.

In the wake of a police shooting of a citizen last week, and then a bar shooting last night, South Bend IN Mayor and presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg faced a really emotional and angry crowd at a town hall today.

Buttigieg answered questions at a frequently raucous and angry meeting with South Bend residents in which he was heckled, booed and screamed at by a minority of audience members. He admitted efforts to make the city’s police force more diverse had failed, “and I take responsibility for that.”

.... Buttigieg, 37, remained calm throughout the town hall meeting even as he struggled to make himself heard, shouted down by mainly black protesters, some of whom shouted “liar!” as he sought to explain how he will deal with the shooting investigation, and as he promised transparency.

[More...]

Donald Trump has cut foreign aid to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Hundreds of millions of dollars will be diverted.

With its other hand, the Trump Administration has made a deal with Ecuador to allow the U.S. to fly military surveillance aircraft from the airport on the Galapagos Islands to "fight drug trafficking". Legislators in Ecuador are quite unhappy and calling on the Government to explain.

The Galapagos Islands, 563 miles (906km) west of continental Ecuador, are a Unesco World Heritage site renowned worldwide for their unique array of plants and wildlife.

In addition, the plan is said to violate Ecuador's constitution:

....any presence of foreign armies in Ecuadorean territory is unconstitutional. According to article five of the 2008 Constitution, Ecuador declares itself as a territory of peace, where "the establishment of foreign military bases or foreign installations for military purposes will not be allowed. In addition, it is prohibited to cede national military bases to foreign armed or security forces."

The U.S. should stop militarizing the War on Drugs, and stop encroaching on the sovereignity of other nations in its futile attempt to end drug trafficking.

Good Riddance to Sarah Sanders who is leaving her job which consists of ensuring Donald Trump's opinions get more media play.

Sanders is nothing but a Trump shill with a bit more spine than some of the others who reportedly were in contention for the job.

I wish her well, I just hope she stays away from politics, as her credibility score calculated on her own acheivements, has got to be less than zero.

I also doubt anyone will remember her name in 3 years (unless she did something bad while serving Trump, and gets added to a future Indictment charging him.

It took only five years for Colorado to take in $1 billion in tax revenue from legal marijuana.

According to the DOR, the state currently has 2,917 licensed marijuana businesses and 41,076 individuals who are licensed to work in the industry. In a statement announcing the new tax milestone, Governor Jared Polis wanted to make sure that growth continued as more states legalize marijuana for medical and recreational purposes.

I am so glad that Jared Polis is our new governor.

I've been offline for a week because it's moving time again -- after 4 years in my condo that the movers set on fire when moving in my stuff, the owner has decided to sell when my lease is up in September.

I am pretty sure I have OCD when it comes to new places to live: I turn on the shower to test the water pressure, knock on the bathtub to see if it's plastic, open the cabinet door on top of the microwave above the gas stove to make sure it's vented to the outside, make sure the apartment or condo is not too close to the trash room, the freight elevator, the residents' elevator or the inside dog park. I remember to ask if my Weber barbecue with a one pound propane cannister is allowed on the balcony. I ask if every unit is pre-wired for gigabyte speed internet; is the washer dryer stacked or side by side and are they full size; and on and on. Not to mention, who would want to live in a mid rise or high rise anywhere near downtown Denver and not have a gorgeous and unobstructed view of the mountains or city skyline? They are becoming harder and harder to find. [More....]

I'm sending good thoughts to Kim Dotcom and his Megaupload partners by playing this catchy tune today as they face their final showdown in the New Zealand Supreme Court which will decide once and for all whether the entrepreneurs can be extradited to the U.S. on charges of copyright violation.

This was the status last July when they lost in the Court of Appeals.

The Supreme Court has provided a handy and fairly concise explanation of the case to date and issues here. [More...]

Kamala Harris will speak in South Carolina tonight, focusing on a defense of her prosecutorial record.

“She will bust myths that claim the black community doesn’t want any type of law enforcement or that say being a prosecutor and being progressive are mutually exclusive,” the aide said. “Just as she prosecuted cases against those trying to harm the people, she will lay out the case against Trump — what she will call 'the case for a new president.’”

Kamala Harris can't run from her record, which is anything but progressive.

Time after time, when progressives urged her to embrace criminal justice reforms as a district attorney and then the state’s attorney general, Ms. Harris opposed them or stayed silent. Most troubling, Ms. Harris fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful convictions that had been secured through official misconduct that included evidence tampering, false testimony and the suppression of crucial information by prosecutors.

You can't put toothpaste back in the tube. And Harris shouldn't be allowed to change the topic to Trump when her history comes up. It's apples and oranges.

Trump has called off his plan to impose tariffs on goods imported from Mexico. Does he expect applause for creating a crisis and then avoiding it?

I listened to Queen Elizabeth's opening remarks at the state dinner on the car radio early this afternoon on the way back to Denver from court. She didn't say a single nice thing about Donald Trump. She pretty much ignored him, and stuck to talking about the friendly relations the U.S. and Great Britain have shared, focusing on WWII. I only heard the beginning of Trump's remarks, in which he too stuck to WWII (although he did highlight a time in WWII when Queen Elizabeth fixed a vehicle engine.) It seemed like both of them had their aides research WWII to come up with quirky anecdotes that would offend no one.

I am beyond chagrined that someone let Trump out of the White House to represent America at an official function. In my constitutionally protected opinion, he belongs in a closet in the oval office, with his public appearances limited to the virtual world and his public comments restricted to Twitter.

As for Melania, all the media talks about are her clothes. It seems today she channeled Princess Diana. At least tonight at dinner, she didn't wear a tiara to match the Queen and Duchess Camilla. Update: I can't believe we are paying for the entire Trump brood to go on this vacation - what is Tiffany Trump's role? She not a minor, she doesn't live with Trump and she doesn't work for the White House or even the Trump re-election campaign. I wonder if D, Jr. got to bring his girlfriend. If so, they've been hiding her thus far.[More...]

I´ve been super busy this week because I had a lot to get done before leaving tomorrow for the annual Aspen legal conference. Here is this year´s agenda. It´s always a privilege to be one of the speakers among the terrific group lawyers who speak and attend every years.

I´ll be online sporadically through the weekend and will try and post some stuff. Until then, I´ll leave the conversation to you. This is an open thread, all topics welcome.