I wrapped up my three biggest (as in most serious with the most work) cases yesterday in court. My month long trial is officially off.

I have a bunch of personal errands to run, and have five nights of Senor de los Cielos to catch up on, and quite a few Peloton rides, all of which I have unable to do more than a week.

I hope to have that done by Saturday, and will be blogging as usual from then on.

Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses, and that's my plan for the next two days.

I got a text from Fishcamp saying restoration of cell phone service and internet is ongoing.

Thanks for putting up with the light blogging, and here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

The iPhone X (ten) does away with the home button and fingerprint ID and uses Face ID instead.

What's wrong with it?

From Slate: In the event you get arrested, a cop can just put your phone in front of your face and get all the stuff on it.

Even more likely, in my opinion, since most of us won't get arrested, muggers and robbers will know they can put your phone in front of your face and get all your banking info -- and after emptying your bank account at an ATM or charging up a storm for a few hours, sell the phone to a hacker.

Here's what Edward Snowden thinks.

I need a new phone now. The iPhone 8 and 8plus, which are revamped versions of the iPhone 7, are taking pre orders starting tomorrow. [More...]

I think all TalkLeft readers will welcome the news that I received word today from Fishcamp (though two of his friends) that he is fine and wanted me to let his friends in Aspen, his sister and TL readers know. I've called his sister and a friend of his in Aspen who can notify his (very large) community of friends there. I'm sure when he gets power and cell phone service back, he will tell more in his own inimitable way.

I'm inundated with finalizing two large cases both of which go to court tomorrow and should be back to normal by Friday.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

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

One of my favorite songs mentioning hurricanes -- from Zachary Richard's 1992 Snake Bite Love album:

I’ve been waiting here since this morning,
I’ll wait as long as it will take.
Down in the old town of the city of New Orleans,
With my heart so heavy it might break.

Last night they put up a hurricane warning,
Last night you came into my room.
Around midnight the rain started falling,
I was holding on to you.

Midnight ET: It looks like Miami and Palm Beach were spared a direct hit, but Irma should reach Naples and Fort Myers sometime Sunday. Tampa is in big trouble and the Keys are expected to get hammered at daybreak when Irma makes land contact. Here is the 11 pm ET advisory from the National Weather Service. [More...]

CNN says Florida will be a direct hit. South Florida is evacuating. How are our Florida readers doing?

I think I have good news -- my month long trial that begins 9/18 may settle after all, which means my blogging hiatus will be over next week.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Sending good thoughts to those in the Caribbean, who are about to experience the force of Hurricane Irma.

Category 5 Hurricane Irma has become one of the strongest storms recorded in the Atlantic, and is threatening to slam into Caribbean islands including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands with "potentially catastrophic" force on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said.

Antigua and Barbuda are less than 100 miles from the path of the storm.[More...]

This is so sad. Donald Trump announced the DREAMER's program created by President Obama through executive action will end.

Senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security said the agency would no longer accept new applications for DACA other than those submitted before Tuesday. Immigrants enrolled in the program will be permitted to continue until their two-year work permits expire. And those whose permits expire through March 5, 2018, are allowed to seek renewals provided they do so by Oct. 5, officials said.

Here is the actual announcement.

Obama took to his Facebook page today to call Trump's action cruel and an affront to basic decency. [More...]

The Rolling Stones and Guns 'N Roses singing "Salt of the Earth." My favorite song for Labor Day.

Here's one of my favorite statue/sculptures, in downtown Omaha, at the Lewis & Clark landing, along Omaha's Missouri River Walkway. If you're ever there, it's well worth a visit. It's the second-largest labor monument in the U.S. Two-hundred-fifty tons of cement and 39,000 pounds of steel were used in its construction. It's by Matthew Placzek.

Larger version here.

I haven't checked the news in about a week. I missed Hurricane Harvey, and the sham border wall talk. Best of all, I haven't heard anyone mention Donald Trump's name. I'm trying to figure out how to ask the jury whether they agree with his position on the border wall without using the P. word. I've never referred to him that way on TalkLeft, and I can't imagine saying it out loud without choking.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

U.S. District Court Judge Orlando Garcia has issued a 94 page opinion (available here) blocking the implementation the most significant provisions of Texas S.B. 4, which had been scheduled to go into effect Sept. 1. The case is City of El Cenizo v State of Texas.

The ACLU says:

The law, recently signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, strips localities and local law enforcement in the state of the authority to determine how to best use their limited resources to ensure the safety of their communities. The law also turns Texas into a “show me your papers” state. Law enforcement

Thank you, ACLU.

I am in trial prep mode and will not be blogging before the end of next week, after our Final Trial Preparation conference. I have not read the news since Wednesday. I am inundated by jury instructions, witness lists, exhibit lists, motions in limines, etc. Since I don't write about my own cases, that is all I will have to say about it, other than to say the trial is expected to last a month.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Hillary calls Trump a "creep" in her new book. She describes the second debate, the one where he stalked her all over the stage:

“This is not okay, I thought,” Clinton said, reading from her book. “It was the second presidential debate and Donald Trump was looming behind me. Two days before, the world heard him brag about groping women. Now we were on a small stage and no matter where I walked, he followed me closely, staring at me, making faces.

“It was incredibly uncomfortable. He was literally breathing down my neck. My skin crawled. It was one of those moments where you wish you could hit pause and ask everyone watching, ‘Well, what would you do?’ Do you stay calm, keep smiling and carry on as if he weren’t repeatedly invading your space? Or do you turn, look him in the eye and say loudly and clearly, ‘Back up, you creep. Get away from me. I know you love to intimidate women, but you can’t intimidate me, so back up.’”

Jared Kushner is in Cairo. His meeting with the foreign minister was cancelled because the day before, Rex Tillerson told Egypt the U.S. was canceling $95 million in foreign aid due to Egypt's poor record on human rights violations. Does Trump's right foot know what his left foot is doing? Why is Jared wasting our money?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Update: I doubt I will watch Trump. I'd rather take a spin class on my Peloton. Please use this thread to comment on his speech.

From the Washington Post: Derek Chollet, an assistant secretary of defense in the Obama administration, says:

“This is Trump’s war now,” Chollet said. “Putting 50 percent more troops in Afghanistan — that’s ownership. And it’s not something he can blame on his predecessor.”

Donald Trump will interrupt our TV schedules tonight to give a speech to the American public about his decision on how the U.S. should move forward on Afghanistan and South Asia.He's going to announce an increase in U.S. troops in this unwinnable war. [More...]

Donald Trump and his family's travel and vacation expenses will result in 1,100 Secret Service agents working overtime this year, and the Secret Service today said it will run out of money November 30.

The spending limits are supposed to last through December, but the cost of protecting the president and members of the extended first family, who have traveled extensively for business and vacations, has strained the Secret Service, local governments and at least one other federal agency, the Coast Guard.

Presidential travel for Trump and the first lady — who fly to their oceanfront Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., and to their golf club in Bedminster, N.J., on many weekends — has added costs for taxpayers and complications for the government. The Secret Service also must provide protection for Trump’s four adult children.

NASA's eclipse site is here.

The eclipse in Denver will begin at 10:23 a.m. and finish at 1:14 p.m. Colorado is only getting a 75% partial view. Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas are among the states that will experience the totality. Wyoming, which has a population of 600,000, is expecting another 600,000 people toll converge on the state to witness the event.

According to CDOT (Colorado Dept. of Transportation) all our highways, north and south, east and west, will be filled with people headed to and from Wyoming and Nebraska from Colorado and New Mexico (for whom we are likely to be a pass-through state.) CDOT says this may be the most significant traffic event of the year. The worst will be after the eclipse on Monday, when everyone leaves to go home, wherever that may be:

Imagine 6 Denver Broncos games all getting out at the same time on the same highway to go home.

[More...]