Great article, but since the likelihood of the system being changed are slim, some tips on what people can do to balance the power imbalance would have been very helpful.

His plan, while very good, isn't realistic.  If 97% of cases are plea bargains, what kind of resources would be needed to get judges in the middle, more than any jurisdiction will ever fork up, IMO.

Were I Ms. Hickox and her boyfriend and given the electoral results, I'd bail from Maine altogether. That state likely doesn't deserve good people like them. Rather, they deserve to suffer the consequences of their own stupidity and ignorance, because that's exactly what they just doubled down upon.

Dish lost 12,000 pay-TV customers during the third quarter.

And their solution, try and squeak out lower costs which appears to mean losing more channels, yet charging their customers the same price.  

For actual news, I watch PBS Newshour and Al Jazeera America, and I listen to the BBC. When I want other people's opinions, I'll come here to TL because at least most of it is informed.

But with the exception of Rachel Maddow, who at least tries to offer informed commentary and journalism, the rest of TV cable news programming is the equivalent of watching the mountain gorillas on exhibit at the L.A. Zoo, as they fling their own poo at their human visitors.

(The gorillas have actually done that the last few times we've been there. They're a popular exhibit, and one would think the zookeepers would take a hint that the animals are perhaps stressed by their human gawkers, and strictly limit the number of people who can view them at any one time.)

In my experience, that formulation's always been reliably applicable anywhere you go in this country -- from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters and all points in between.

In April, 2012, Webb blasted Obama on his leadership on Obamacare. While I agree with some of his assessment, his statements just prior to the 2012 elections was a boon to the Republicans. Here is a couple of quotes over and above "Obama's failed leadership" comments from that interview:

Webb also said that if Obama had opted for a smaller measure, he would have stood a chance of winning the support of a significant number of Republicans on Capitol Hill.
...
Webb added that he believes most Virginia voters--outside the staunchest partisans--have not yet begun to focus on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee.

"People are getting ready to pay attention to his message, the average person, rather than the nominating base," Webb said. "Romney has a case to make. He has to make his case."

In May 2007, Webb joined with other conservative Dems to prevent cloture on Reed/Feingold which would have put a time frame on funding the Iraq invasion. Obama and Clinton voted for cloture.

In September, 2007, Webb joined with other conservative Dems to prevent cloture on another  Reed/Feingold bill which also attempted to put a time frame ending the Iraq invasion. Obama and Clinton voted for cloture.

Thanks to a post by Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees at the Orange for additional information on Webb some highlights:

The DW Nominate system scores members of Congress from -1.00 (most liberal) to 1.00 (most conservative). For the 112th Congress, Jim Webb clocked in at -0.193, between Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Tom Carper (D-DE). He is listed to the right of Max Baucus (D-MT) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT)....
...
Jim Webb voted with Republicans and Joe Lieberman to oppose the Democrats' plan to extend the Bush tax cuts for only the first $250,000 in income. Webb wanted millionaires to get their full tax cuts, too.
...
In 2012, Jim Webb was the only Democrat to vote against extending reduced interest rates for student loans. He was a staunch student loan reform in general.

Read the whole post. It outlines his votes on the environment, closing tax loopholes for big oil and his stand on affirmative action.

His domestic policies  would be a disaster for this country.

He hates to campaign and hates politics. If his ideas didn't get recognized as brilliant and adopted immediately as law, I could envision him throwing up his hands in disgust and walking away from the table much like he walked away from his Senate seat. The closest description of his political leanings IMO is that he is a Reagan Democrot.