Lavoni Kidd was born in Kansas. A star athlete, he led the Idaho Vandals in rushing in 1995. By 2003, he had earned an overseas scholarship.

That’s when the Feds arrested him at Dulles Airport.

”I was made to sit in a small cell for hours and hours and hours buck naked,” he told the New York Times in 2004. ”I was treated worse than murderers.”

Kidd was held without charge for more than two weeks, through a series of high-security prisons. Even when he was released, he was ordered to live with his in-laws in Vegas, with his travel restricted to adjacent states. He was required to check in with probation officers. His passport was revoked.

Kidd would not enjoy the freedom of an American citizen again for thirteen months — when a judge granted his request to remove the remaining restrictions. By that time he was divorced, under the strain of the circumstances. And although he had never been charged with a crime, much less tried or convicted, Kidd found it hard to get a job.

Maybe being called a terrorist by the FBI director had something to do with it.

Oh, sorry, we left out something. Back in college, Lavoni Kidd had changed his name. To Abdullah al-Kidd.

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This happened a while back, but this video went viral when Dan tried to stem the tide of gay kids killing themselves. He’s done a wonderful thing:

Joe Miller scores a twofer today:

“East Germany was very, very able to reduce the flow… Now, obviously, other things there were involved. We have the capacity to, as a great nation, obviously to secure our border. If East Germany could, we could.”

Really, all it takes is the right security detail.

Joe Miller On Securing The Border: ‘If East Germany Could, We Could’ [TPM]

“So that’s what we want is a secure and sovereign nation and, you know, I don’t know that all of you are Latino. Some of you look a little more Asian to me. I don’t know that. What we know, what we know about ourselves is that we are a melting pot in this country. My grandchildren are evidence of that. I’m evidence of that. I’ve been called the first Asian legislator in our Nevada State Assembly.” [Las Vegas Sun]

“Alaska Dispatch founder and editor Tony Hopfinger sits with his wrists in handcuffs after being arrested by Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller’s private security detail Oct. 17, 2010.”

That’s the caption from the Anchorage Daily News. We can’t improve on it.

Miller security guards handcuff journalist [ADN]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BCa8xw9yGY

Y’know, Jack, when you put it that way, mocking Christianity, worshiping Aqua Buddha, and ending federal “faith-based” initiatives almost earns Randy a Coveted Stinque Endorsement.

But wait, it gets weirder: In their debate Sunday night, Randy came back strong with, of all things, a Joseph Welch reference:

“Jack, you should be ashamed of yourself. Have you no decency? Have you no shame?”

Is Kentucky dyslexic? Because it looks from here like they have their D’s and R’s crossed.

Rand Paul To Jack Conway: ‘You Demean Kentucky’ [TPM]

An amazing life:

Benoit Mandelbrot, who died on October 14 aged 85, was largely responsible for developing the discipline of fractal geometry – the study of rough or fragmented geometric shapes or processes that have similar properties at all levels of magnification or across all times.

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