Wednesday, January 18, 2017

First Outage of the New Year

Just in time to avoid the inauguration, TalkLeft is down. It's not intentional though, and I hope it's back up shortly.

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

TalkLeft Server is Down

It got overloaded. You can comment here until we are back up.

Update: Actually, the site was moved to new server hardware and they are having issues with the move. Hopefully it will be back up soon.

Saturday, June 06, 2015

TalkLeft is Down

Sorry everyone. TalkLeft was down today. It's now back up.

Friday, March 13, 2015

TalkLeft is Down

We're working on it. Hopefully it will be back up by morning.

Thursday, July 03, 2014

Server is Down

TalkLeft's server is down. Hopefully it will be back up tomorrow. If you'd like to comment, here's a place.

I was going to respond to a comment about Rick Perry giving up cowboy boots in tonight's open thread.

Ronald Reagan wore cowboy boots to a debate with Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Other presidential contenders who wore cowboy boots during debates or on the campaign trail:

Barack Obama, Rudy Giuliani, and Fred Thompson, have already shown a willingness to identify with the cowboy by donning cowboy hats and/or boots on the campaign trail


Al Gore wore cowboy boots to a debate with Bill Bradley in 1999.

Perry's bootmaker also made boots for Bill Clinton and Bush I.

If Perry thinks cowboy boots cost him the debate or nomination, he has a very unbecoming personality trait -- failure to accept personal responsibility.

Thursday, April 03, 2014

Hosting Company's Server Down

There is an outage at the company where our server is hosted. Talkleft will be back up whenever they get it fixed.


Tuesday, July 09, 2013

TalkLeft Server Down

Our server and forums are down. We're working on it, for now you can comment here if you'd like.

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Hosting Facility Issues

The hosting facility for the server at TalkLeft is having "issues." We hope to be back up soon.

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

TalkLeft is Down

Sorry everyone, TalkLeft appears to be down and I'm having trouble reaching our webmaster. Hopefully we will be back up soon.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread and Blog Issues

TalkLeft has been going down intermittently all day. We're working on it and will probably re-boot the server shortly, so if you get an error message, check back. Hopefully we'll get it resolved soon. If not, I'll post at our backup site here.

In other news, Manuel Noriega has been sentenced to 7 years in France.

The U.S. has added new defendants and charges to the Najibullah Zazi New York terror case.

President Obama has scored his first guilty plea at a Guantanamo military commission hearing.Sudanese-born Ibrahim al-Qos, bin Laden's former cook and driver, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism. Sentencing will be in August.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome. Our apologies for the site problems.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

TalkLeft is Back Up

TalkLeft was down for a few minutes but we're back up now.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Election Night Backup Site

This is the backup site for TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime.

The election results are about to come in. If TalkLeft goes down, you can find us here.

Friday, August 29, 2008

McCain-Palin: A Disaster in the Making?

TalkLeft is on overload. Here's a place to continue the discussion on McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate.

I think this will be a redux of McGovern-Eagleton.

TalkLeft is Down Again

I'm not sure why, maybe the 2,600 people who tried to access it in the last hour. We're working on it.

In the meantime, you can comment here as an open thread.

I've got a lot of pictures up on Picasa. Yesterday's photos are here, earlier convention photos are here.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Invesco Field

If tAlkleft goes down you can fond updates here . I'm uploading pix to Flickr . See box ok the right.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Wednesday At the Convention

In case TalkLeft goes down, as it probably will intermittently, here's a place to continue the discussion.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Hillary's Speech

TalkLeft is crashing . This is the backup site. Feel free to comment.

Hillary just began speaking.The most electric moment of the convention so far.

Michelle Obama, who has been shown all night long laughing and animated, is clapping but with the tightest mouth I've seen on her, as if she's totally nervous. She's constantly pursing her lips. Relax, Michelle, Hillary's on your side now.

Update: She hit it out of the park. Great speech. She also outlined all the Democratic values. Not a hint of bitterness. She projects the voice of experience and leadership with supreme confidence and credibility. The consummate Democrat.

Monday, August 25, 2008

TalkLeft is Back UP

Update: TalkLeft is back up.

Well, as I predicted, TalkLeft went down tonight. I just got back from the Pepsi Center and will upload my photos and provide my thoughts here.

It was an exciting night -- especially since I ended up with a floor pass and was able to roam the entire Pepsi Center, from the bottom-most level where all the production stuff was going on to the club levels and private suites.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

TalkLeft BackUp Site

This is a backup site for TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime. It will also allow immediate posting of updates, photos and video from my i-Phone and other devices during the Democratic National Convention.

Be sure to bookmark it now because if TalkLeft's server crashes or goes down during the convention, you won't be able to access it then to get the link.

This site was set up in 2002 and hasn't been used since, then which explains the very old archived posts. I'm keeping them for posterity. I have updated the templates, added widgets and other new things, and hope it is of value to readers during the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

To comment, you can sign up at Open ID. You may find out when you get there you already have an Open ID account. If possible, please use your Talkleft screen name when commenting so we know who you are.

I experimented with Wordpress and Movable Type before settling on Blogger. For one thing, it the TL server goes down, so would this backup site.

Comments and suggestions, from design to content, are welcome. I'm still trying to figure out how to make the comment template look like the one on TalkLeft, rather than Blogger.


Sunday, July 21, 2002

Bring Back Justice

The Denver Post earns high praise today. Three opinion pieces exploring our ever-increasing lust for vengence over rational and just crime policy.

In One Size Fits All Justice Doesn't Work Peter Chronis of the Post's Editorial Board and former long time crime reporter examines the evolution of murder statutes through interviews with judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys.

Mandatory Madness Grips Our System by Denver Post Deputy Editorial Board Editor Bob Ewegen takes on mandatory minimum sentences. "As Pete Chronis' thoughtful article on this page makes clear, Colorado lawmakers have painted themselves into a corner where a single sentence - life without possibility of parole - is applied to a bafflingly wide variety of criminal offenses."

Ewegen quotes Eric Sterling, president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, a private non-profit educational organization promoting solutions to criminal justice problems, in a Frontline show on the topic, "There have been literally thousands of instances of injustice where minor co-conspirators in cases, the lowest-level participants, have been given the sentences that Congress intended for the highest kingpins. Families are wrecked, children are orphaned, the taxpayers are paying a fortune for excessive punishment."

Ewegen discusses the Lisl Auman case, one that our sister site CrimeLynx has been featuring for some time, and concludes, "The U.S. Congress and the Colorado legislature both need to replace the runaway system of mandatory minimum sentences with laws that once again give trial judges the discretion they need to make the punishment fit the crime."

Last but not least, in an editorial Bring Back Justice the Post opines: "Those who champion iron-fisted laws might consider that more than seven decades of autocratic rule failed utterly to eliminate crime in the former Soviet Union. Somewhere along the way, Americans seem to have forgotten that laws exist to foster justice - not to satisfy the blood lust of victims' kin."