Robert Mueller will testify Wednesday. The New York Times has these questions for him.

But, it recommends, don't get your hopes up:

There is virtually no chance that will happen when he testifies for about five hours before two congressional committees this week. It took weeks of negotiations just to persuade him to show up. He has already said that his testimony won’t go beyond what is in the 448-page report he delivered, and he urged people to read it.

With a little help from the First Step Act, Mexican drug trafficker Miguel Caro-Quintero, brother of Rafael Caro-Quintero, has finished his 17 year prison sentence and been released, presumably to ICE which will return him to Mexico.

Caro-Quintero did not cooperate. He was scheduled to be released in October, 2019, but under the new First Step Act, which changes the way BOP calculates an inmate's 54 days a year good time, he was entitled to another 7 days per year. (Until now, due to the way it was calculated, 54 days actually translated to 47 days). So his release date moved up from October to July 19.

Contrary to some news reports, Caro Quintero was not released from SuperMax in Florence. He has been serving his sentence since at least 2016 at Victorville, California, a medium security prison. [More...]

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

NBC has found footage from 1992 showing Epstein and Trump together at a Trump hosted party in Palm Beach.

Esptein is doing nothing inappropriate in the footage and none of the women appear to be minors.

This is the screenshot that leapt out at me as I watched.

Donald Trump, Grabber-in-Chief.

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman-Loera was sentenced today to life in prison plus 30 years. When given his chance for allocution, he rebuked the U.S.

“Since the government will send me to a jail where my name will not ever be heard again, I take this opportunity to say: There was no justice here,” El Chapo told Cogan, according to the New York Daily News.

“I drink unsanitary water, no air or sunlight, and the air pumped in makes my ears and throat hurt. In order to sleep, I put toilet paper in my ears. My wife had not been allowed to visit, and I can’t hug my daughters,” he said, according to NBC News. “This has been psychological, emotional and mental torture 24 hours a day.”

“My case was stained and you denied me a fair trial when the world was watching. What happened here is the U.S. is not better than any other corrupt country,” Guzman added.

I agree with him. This trial was a showboat, run by his former associates who were given license to claim whatever they wanted in exchange for a reduction in sentence for their own misdeeds. Freedom is a commodity far more precious than money.[More....]

The Judge in Jeffrey Epstein's case in the SDNY said he likely won't rule today on whether Jeffrey Epstein will be granted release on bail.

Bail is not intended to be punitive. Even though there is a presumption that he is a flight risk and danger to the community based solely on the nature of his charges, the statute allows him to present evidence to rebut the presumption. If he does, the government must prove flight risk by a preponderance of the evidence and danger to the community by the higher standard of clear and convincing evidence. The Court can still consider the presumption in making its final decision.

Epstein successfully completed his community supervision after jail and has incurred no new charges until now, and these charges relate to activity before his Florida case. Photographs in a safe is all the prosecutor has to show he's still a danger. 14 years of compliance in my view is enough to rebut the presumption. [More...]

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Protesters against Donald Trump's immigration raids were out in force across the country today as cities implemented policies to assist the immigrant community.

The raids are expected in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, LA, Miami, NYC, Newark, San Francisco and Washington, DC. New Orleans got a delay due to the storm.

I'm sorry for my lack of posting. Work and trying to get ready to move has consumed almost all my time.

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

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is scheduled to be sentenced on July 17. Yesterday, the Government filed its sentencing position via a written letter (available here)to the Judge. The Government says the Court must sentence him to life on the continuing criminal enterprise count and a consecutive 30 year term for his conviction on using a firearm (a "machine gun") in connection with a drug offense. The Probation Department apparently agrees. The Government also says a life plus 30 year sentence is appropriate.

Why not just ask for life plus cancer? Maybe they are saving that request for Jeffrey Epstein.

I just waved goodbye to Miss Fourth of July
The queen of the roses has left us with nothing but thorns
Don't say we never tried, Miss Fourth of July

From Reuters: Trump casts himself, military, Republican VIPs as stars of July 4th pageant

So Donald Trump, in a blaze of inimitable narcissistic infamy, robs us of the meaning of the Fourth of July holiday by bringing tanks and the military to the streets of Washington, D.C., for no reason other than to pretend his crown has not fallen off his head.

He is no King, he is no President and he certainly is not a leader. I wish everyone would just ignore this latest equivalent of a temper tantrum by Little Miss Fourth of July. He's not even worth a protest. He should go back to his desk in the Oval Office and sulk as he ponders why no one came out to applaud him and who to blame. But, he won't. He'll go play golf.

This is a Fourth of July I won't be watching the news and I certainly won't listen to a word he says.

It's midnight in New York, and CNN just cut to Seoul where Donald Trump and the South Korean President Moon are about to hold a news conference. But the big news apparently is that Trump is hoping the North Korean leader Kim Jong will meet him a few miles away at DMZ. Trump says he will walk across the line of demarcation into North Korea to meet him if necessary.

CNN analysts call it a photo op. No serious policy change will result.

During the presser, Moon says he will go to the DMZ with Trump. Trump then talks and says he'll make a short statement because he's going to the DMZ to meet Kim. He rambles for a bit and says he made the offer to Kim yesterday and Kim agreed.

He is ad-libbing. He says Obama begged for a meeting and Kim wouldn't meet. But Kim is looking forward to meeting with him.

He said he's had the idea to meet Kim for a long time but he just thought of it yesterday and extended the offer to Kim.[More...]