Who is looking forward to the Oscars?
To Oscar Pistorius' Trial?
To the next story on Chapo Guzman and our failed war on drugs?

If those don't entice you, please pick a topic that interests you. This is an open thread.

More than 1,000 protesters held a "Free Shorty" march in Culiacan yesterday for Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Another report says there were 2,000 marchers.

Attorney General Eric Holder went to the hospital today after feeling faint and short of breath.

Schapelle Corby's first words after release revealed in interview that will air Sunday in Australia.

Alfredo Vasquez-Hernandez, one of the two defendants set for trial in May in the Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla case, will plead guilty without a plea agreement next week. His lawyer says it has nothing to do with capturing "El Chapo" Guzman. The second says he's likely to plead as well.

It's a court day for me, here's an open thread for you.

I'm really glad the Voice is back.

Also, Camelia la Tejana begins tonight on Telemundo. I hope it's better than Unimas' La Viuda Blanca, the story of Griselda Blanca, which started Sunday. So far I don't like it at all.

What I'm really looking forward to is El Capo 3 which begins in March on MundoFox. Since Xfinity doesn't offer MundoFox in Denver (it's only available over the air), I had to get an antenna. The first one brought in 40 channels but no MundoFox. The second one, an RCA that cost $30, brought in 50 channels, including MundoFox. [More...]

Ex-Congressman Mel Reynolds has been deported from Zimbabwe after pleading guilty to an immigration offense. The p*rn charges were dismissed.

I'm pretty much glued to the Chapo Guzman story, so here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

A little birdie told me some of our Talk Left cohorts are in the Big Apple. Unfortunately for me, I'm out of town on business.

Open Thread.

Larger version here

Planes sure are getting smaller these days. This one, which I flew on yesterday, seats 18. Yes it was loud and the wind blew it around sideways and up and down, but no one seemed nervous. I fly back on it tonight.

These little planes fly out of local airports, not Denver International. I think it's the first flight I've been on since 9/11 where there was no metal detector or bag searches, for either passengers, carry-on or checked luggage.[More...]

It's a travel day for me, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Does anyone think the proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner is good for cable customers?

"Sometimes, to keep prices low, it's not just the actual competition that is important but also potential competition," said Sanjai Bhagat, a provost professor of finance at the University of Colorado at Boulder. "I don't know of any industry whereby having fewer players, the customers have been made better off."

The New York Times examines "cord cutters" and predicts cable companies will raise rates on internet usage, making eliminating cable less of a bargain for them.[More...]

From our heart to yours, Happy Valentine's Day.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Shaun White finished 4th in the half-pipe at the Socchi Olympics. Iouri Podladtchikov of Switzerland, known as I-Pod, took the Gold.

It appears solitary confinement was the motive for parolee Evan Ebel's killing of a pizza driver and Colorado Corrections chief Tom Clements. In court documents released in the case of Stevie Vigil, the woman who has pleaded guilty to providing Ebel with the gun he used in his killing spree, a partial transcript of a recording Ebel had the pizza driver make before killing him, the pizza driver said:

"For twenty years we've been subject to your faddism not witness ours, you didn't give two (expletive) about us or our families and you ensured that we were locked behind a door, to disrespect us at every opportunity, so why should we care about you and yours...

...In short, you treated us inhumanely, and so we simply seek to do the same, we take (comfort) in the knowledge that we leave your wives without husbands, and your children fatherless. You wanted to play the mad scientist, well they will be your Frankenstein."

A movie script about Barry Seal, the infamous pilot and DEA informant linked to the Medellin cartel, the CIA, the contras, Oliver North, and the Bush, Reagan and Clinton Administrations, who was killed in the 1980's, has been sold to Universal for $1 million. The movie, Mena, about Seal's activities in Mena, Arkansas, will be directed by Ron Howard.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Opening ceremonies for the Sochi Olympics are underway.

An attempt to hijack a Turkish plane to Sochi has failed.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The comments to this Gawker article about the two-toilet stalls at Sochi are pretty funny. Here's a photo.

Sochi will be the most expensive Olympic games in history, coming in around $50 billion, which is $40 billion over budget.

Shaun White has dropped out of the Slopestyle. Too much risk of injury on the oddly built course. He'll still compete in the half-pipe.

"There are definitely concerns about the course," he said. "It's been interesting to see how it's developed and changed over the past couple days. The big question is if it will continue to change. Because every day, they have riders meetings and they give feedback. Sometimes there's changes, sometimes there's not."

In TV news, Hollywood week starts tonight on American Idol. The show is much improved with new Judge Harry Connick, Jr. All the judges are good this year. [More....]