One of the better pieces on the midterm fallout that I’ve seen this morning is this one, from Salon’s Joe Conason: No Excuses.

Soundly trouncing his detractors in the Democratic party, Bush carried his chosen senators and governors to victory last night, re-establishing GOP control of the Senate, and paving the way for two years of serious political ass-whuppin’, Texas style. Sigh. Elections suck.

We’re back to the dark jacket look (or perhaps it’s a dark dress that just looks like a jacket) at the Winona Ryder trial. See the wiki’s WinonaRyderOnTrial page for the latest images and commentary. Today is jury-deliberation day, with the possibility of a verdict before the day is over. My prediction: a guilty verdict, followed by a sentence involving probation, fine, and counseling, but no jail time. But I think an actual stay behind bars is still a possibility, if the judge decides to try to set the little lady straight and scare her away from future acts of self-destruction. Update: No verdict today (Tuesday); jury to return tomorrow for more deliberations.

U.S. military forces (actually, the CIA, it turns out) apparently used a missile to blow up a car in Yemen early today, thereby killing six people, at least one of whom was believed to have been a high-ranking al Qaeda member. Welcome to the doctrine of pre-emption.

Norman Solomon has a nice piece over at Working for Change called Branding new and improved wars, about the careful attention politico-military types give these days to choosing catchy names like “Enduring Freedom” for their activities.

Winona returns to an outfit reminiscent of the white-dress stunner of October 16. Photos and commentary in the wiki’s WinonaRyderOnTrial page. Update: The defense rests, with no calling of Winona to testify on her own behalf. The prosecution has given its closing statement; the defense’s closing statement is expected later today. Later: Some interesting bits about the closing statements are in this Associated Press article. Judge’s instructions and jury deliberation tomorrow.

The heads of the both the Democrat and Republican Senate campaign committees appeared on CNN Saturday, with each predicting that his party would win a Senate majority on Tuesday. One of them is wrong, obviously, and while I suppose it’s possible that that one just has bad poll data, I think it’s much more likely that he already knows his side is going to lose, and is just whistling past the graveyard. Tune in Tuesday to find out which one he is. The article also talks about Clinton’s campaigning in Florida yesterday on behalf of Jeb-challenger Bill McBride, and mentions that Al Gore will be doing the same today and tomorrow. Mmm. Gore campaigning against Jeb in Florida. This could be good.

Just when you thought it was safe, with the trial on hold for the weekend, here comes even more Winona coverage. Specifically, check out this nice article from the New York Times: For the Ryder Trial, a Hollywood Script. It gives a good summary of where things stand currently, along with some speculation about why someone like Winona would have shoplifted.

Today’s look from Winona (see the bottom of the wiki’s WinonaRyderOnTrial page) is nearly indistinguishable from yesterday’s, at least based on the two photos that have come out so far. It’s a different dark coat over the top, and looks like a dark sweater, rather than a dark jacket, in the middle layer, but the shirt could be the same one as yesterday’s, and the purse is the same, too. Haven’t seen the pants yet. I wonder if this reflects a growing recognition on Winona’s part of the seriousness of what she’s involved in here. When defending yourself against charges that you’re clothes-crazy enough to go shoplifting stuff you could easily have just purchased, maybe the wearing of wackily different outfits each day of the trial hurts more than helps.