Busy day at work today. I blogged a lot this weekend, so scroll down if you haven't read the posts.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Who is leaving town for the holidays? I'll be right here.

Pro Publica, the New York Times and Frontline have a joint report on the failure of India and the UK to connect the dots regarding plotters of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The report is largely about Zarrar Shah (real name Abdul Wajid), the chief technology guy for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and cites documents released by Edward Snowden. It also notes the failure of the U.S. to connect the dots on David Coleman Headley. Headley is serving 35 years for his role in the attacks, after making a cooperation deal with the Government to avoid the death penalty. (Headley is the twice convicted heroin dealer who became a DEA informant and with the Government's blessing, was allowed to go to Pakistan and let off supervised release early. The Transcript is here.) [More...]

December likely is the month that bloggers balance the ledger sheet and reassess their time commitment to blogging because of the financial drain. How many hours were spent blogging, how much money did it cost in lost income from their day job and how much did the blog earn from donations? When they do, the blogosphere runs the risk of losing them. They may be news junkies, policy wonks or activists, but they live in the same capitalist world that you do.

So, as you're putting a little something in the pocket of your doorman, housekeeper, hairstylist, secretary, whomever.....think about the bloggers whose sites you read day after day either for enjoyment or enrichment, and please make a note to add them to your gift list. If ever there was a month to do it, this is it.

If you would like to contribute to TalkLeft, I certainly would appreciate it, and you can do so via credit card or paypal. [Links below]

It's the end to a busy week for me. Our last open thread is about to be filled. Here's a new one, all topics welcome.

Our last open thread is full. Here's a new one, all topics welcome.

Your turn. Our last open thread is full. All topics welcome.

I've got another busy day today. Here's a new open thread. All topics welcome.

Looks like an supporter of an Islamic militant group has taken between 13 and 50 people hostage at a chocolate shop in Sydney. He's making the hostages stand at the window with a black Islamic flag (that does not appear to match ISIS's flag. The news says it's an Islamic Shahada flag.) Here's a picture of the guy. Police say he may have an IED.

Update on Khalid el-Masri, the German shoe salesman who was mistaken for an al Qaeda operative and kidnapped by the CIA and tortured. I wrote about a few days ago. (I've been writing about him since 2005, the posts are collected here.) His lawyer says his life is destroyed.

Here is the latest on the Shami Witness investigation. He faces more questioning in Bengaluru where he is being held, but the investigation will primarily take place in New Delhi. [More...]

Here's a new open thread. All topics welcome.

Time for a new open thread. All topics welcome.

It's a dentist day for me in Boulder. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Homeland is back tonight, the Good Wife is not.
Our last open thread is full, here's a new one. All topics welcome.

Our open threads have been filling up much more quickly the past few weeks. They close automatically at 200 comments. So please don't be a blog-clogger. No one should have 20 or more comments in a single thread. And there's no need to take up a comment space just to say "wow" or "me too." Comments are for your thoughts and observations. An open thread just means you get to pick the topic you want to write about. Whether it's politics, what you cooked for dinner, TV, your pet, it's all fine.

As always, no name-calling (including calling others "trolls") and no personal attacks or profanity. TalkLeft welcomes all points of view. No one is a "troll" because they don't share your (or my) viewpoint. On the other hand, repetitive chatter -- making the same point over and over is objectionable, and those commenters will be limited to the number of times they can comment in a particular thread. If you want to have an extended conversation with a single commenter, please find another site for that. Open threads are not for extensive personal banter between two people. [More...]