Miguel and Erik Cerda, two brother who took the law into their own hands on a brutal child molester, decided on a trial rather than a plea deal yesterday. The budding heroes (?) face charges that they tortured convicted San Jose child molester Avelino Rodriguez. "The man was attacked after duct-taping the mouth of an 8-year-girl so she couldn't scream as he sexually molested her last Thanksgiving," reports NY Daily News. "Molester Avelino Rodriguez was whipped, punched and burned with a cigarette in retaliation for the incident."

Avelino Rodriguez received 22 years in prison for the sexual assault.

Miguel, who "considers himself a stepfather to the abused girl," and Erik both turned down a two-year deal. If convicted, the brothers could have faced a mandatory sentencing of seven years to life in prison. Meaning the convicted molester could have conceivably spent less time prison. However, according to the Mercury News, "[u]nder the negotiated resolution in the controversial case, prosecutor Patrick Graber...removed the exposure to life behind bars for both men. He reduced Erik Cerda's sentence to a range of two to seven years and Miguel Cerda's term to two to eight years."

A Facebook page supporting the brothers has been set up. So far, though, only six members have joined.

[NYDaily]

The Contra Costa Times has published disheartening details that have emerged in the lawsuit against the city of San Francisco regarding the torture of Jazzmin Davis and her twin brother at the hands of their aunt and lifelong foster parent, Shemeeka Davis, resulting in Jazzmin's death in 2008.

As SFist reported last year, the twins were born in San Francisco to a drug-addicted mother, and their aunt took them to Antioch at three months old. Davis abused the twins with extension cords, belts, and a hot iron for years, and in 2008, she began locking them in a closet for days on end.

Jazzmin weighed 78 pounds at 5-feet-7 when authorities found her body, and she and her brother were covered in open wounds, sores, and scars.

San Francisco officials have agreed to settle the lawsuit brought against the city's child welfare agency and social worker Ann Marie Smith for ignoring numerous red flags about the abuse. The city has agreed to pay $4 million to Jazzmin's brother, who has not been named.

Code Pink member Toby Blome holds up her hand covered in red paint at a protest at Boalt Law School in Berkeley. Just one in a series of protests demanding the removal of John Yoo, a law professor who helped the Bush administration with the legalities of waterboarding and other types of torture.

For those of you who still find political satire knee-slappingly hilarious -- i.e., those of you who laugh a bit too loudly at Shakespeare comedy previews at the Embarcadero Cinemas -- you don't want to miss this new action figure of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Created by HeroBuilders.com -- who have also fashioned figures in the likes of Rod Blagojevich, Bernie Madoff, John McCain and Barack Obama -- Pelosi comes complete with a power suit, saucer eyes, and a mini waterboard that reads "Water Board: Fun for the Whole Family." (If you recall, Pelosi is in trouble for claiming she didn't know about war crime-worthy torture techniques approved by the Bush administration, going so far as to say the C.I.A. lied to her. Even though, you know, she probably knew about what was going on the entire time.) You can fondle your very own Pelosi doll for a mere $49.95. But according to NBC Bay Area, HeroBuilders.com is already backed up with 250 pre-sale orders.

Dainty House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has come under fire recently for allegedly knowing that the U.S. was committing illegal acts of torture, has refuted statements saying that the top Democrat knew that the Bush administration was using waterboarding on detainees in "the war on terror." (Also, waterboarding is the LEAST of what was done to prisoners of war. But we digress.) Pelosi told reporters, according to AP, "To the contrary ... we were told explicitly that waterboarding was not being used." Passing the buck, Pelosi went on to say, ""I wasn't briefed, I was informed that somebody else had been briefed about it." But, come on, she totally knew what was gong on. Anyway, in an effort to divert all of this unwanted attention, Pelosi plans on setting up some sort of "truth commission" to "investigate the events in the Bush administration that led to the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques."

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice faced a difficult audience of students at a dorm reception yesterday at Stanford, where she's lately gone back to teaching. A few awkward exchanges were caught on video by student Reyna Garcia (watch after the jump).

First, a young man tries to compare U.S. treatment of German prisoners of war during WWII to treatment of detainees at Guantanamo, and Condi gets all finger-waggin defensive about the fact that the Nazis never made it to U.S. soil to kill 3,000 Americans in the Twin Towers, and how Guantanamo was deemed a "model medium security prison" by the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Then, another guy pipes up and says, "So I read a report recently... that you're the one who authorized torture." And she snaps, "Oh is that what you read?" and he corrects himself and says, "I mean waterboarding..." and she ends up having to say, "I didn't authorize anything." Anyway, no huge revelations here, except it's fascinating to see Condi put in the position of responding to a bunch of twenty-year-olds without a Press Secretary to protect her.

Still sniveling over losing the election, Republican leaders like House Minority Leader John Boehner are seriously suggesting opening up historical landmark Alcatraz as the new Guantanamo Bay. See, Obama (rightfully) closed down Gitmo, the Bush administration's favorite rape camp for prisoners of war, just after setting up shop in the Oval Office. A few Republican leaders were less than thrilled to see this alleged freedom-fighting detainment camp close down, then, rather wittily, suggested sticking the prisoners in the heart of the San Francisco Bay.

Supping a big bowl of sour grapes, Boehner told Meet the Press, "If liberals believe they ought to go, maybe we ought to open Alcatraz." Because a national park frequented by red state tourists is the best way to burn the liberal elite. However, San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi provided some confustion, saying:

Perhaps he has not visited Alcatraz .. And let me say, Bill Young is a great member of Congress and I have a great deal of respect for his opinion. Alcatraz is a tourist attraction. It's a prison that is now sort of like a national park.

Robert Kennedy shut down Alcatraz as a federal prison in 1963.