A judge’s decision that Sir Allen Stanford was not competent to stand trial — in part because of a traumatic brain injury suffered at the hands of fellow inmates while in custody — is notable only in that this episode of prison violence involves a high-profile white-collar criminal.

The U.S. Civil Rights Commission finally emerges from its dark period of Bush era politicization.

Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission issues its reports — plural. The commission split on party lines.

Zack Roth finds a great tidbit: former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the commission “he could not remember the press conferences or news reports about mortgage fraud.” It was FBI press conferences.

Also worth noting, both Gonzales and his successor Michael Mukasey told the commission “that mortgage fraud had never been communicated to them as a top priority.”

Sarah Palin: The Soviet Union collapsed because the Soviets spent so much money winning the space race.

Back in the gory days of the financial crisis Sir Allen Stanford, a Texan who operated investments from Antigua, was the runner-up to Bernie Madoff as the arch-ponzi schemer of the day. Today a federal judge ruled that he is not currently competent to stand trial because of traumatic brain injury, addiction to anti-anxiety medication and major depressive disorder.

The House Ethics Committee dismisses cases against seven congressmen being investigated for fundraising from the financial services industry in the immediate run-up to the vote on financial regulatory reform.

Lockheed research labs have just opened something that for the Trek geeks among us sounds a lot like a Holodeck.

Unreformed Bush era DOJ politicizer now claims the Obama Justice Department is the one that’s really politicized.

This is one of those stories at the critical intersection of science fiction, technology and parody. Political Computer scientists working for the advanced research arm of the Air Force have devised a computer forecasting program they claim can accurately predict civil unrest and domestic insurrections in countries around the world.