Yes, it's still snowing here.

In other news, Lance Armstrong dodged a bullet. The U.S. Attorneys Office in Los Angeles announced the doping investigation is finally done, and no more charges will be brought.

The U.S. Army made it official today that Bradley Manning will face a full courts-martial. the announcement, which I haven't found, came from Maj Gen Michael S. Linnington of the Military District of Washington.

An inmate in Vermont is going to be in hot water for making decals for police patrol cars that had a picture of pig in it. (It's one of the spots on the cow.)

Komen restores funding to Planned Parenthood.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

There are a ton of them and I'm on them. Here's part 1 of my Super Bowl props:

From first note starts until she completes saying "Brave". All wagers have action, if she restarts for any reason, wager will start from restart. How long will it take Kelly Clarkson to sing the National Anthem? Under 1 minute 34 Seconds

What will Kelly Clarkson wear to sing the National Anthem? Anything else [besides NFL gear] -300

Will Madonna wear an NFL Jersey or shirt at any point during the Super Bowl Halftime show? Yes +250

Will Madonna be wearing fishnet stockings at any point during the Super Bowl Halftime show? No -110

Will Madonna wear a hat at any point during the Super Bowl Halftime show? Yes -140

From kick off until final whistle. Half-time does not count towards wager. Book manager's decision is final. How many times will David Tyree's 2008 Super Bowl catch be shown be shown on TV during the game?(4027) Over 1˝ (EVEN)

How many times will Peyton Manning be shown on TV during the game? Over 3˝ (-135)

This just scratches the surface. Part 2 prop bets tomorrow. Actual game stuff Sunday. Open Thread.

It's been a busy day for Anonymous, which in addition to publishing the FBI-London police telconference call, has hacked the website of the law firm Puckett & Faraj which represents Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the marine who recently got a sweetheart deal for his role in the Haditha killings. You can view Anonymous' message (not the e-mails) here.

The link to the e-mails was posted on Pirate Bay in the last hour. And no, I'm not reading them. I don't have a Torrent program to open them and I'm not downloading one. [More...]

Anonymous strikes again. It has released a 17 minute conference call held Jan. 17, 2012 between the FBI and London's Metropolitan Police about hacking investigations into Anonymous, LulzSec, Antisec and related groups, and the cases of specific defendants and targets, such as Ryan Cleary, Jake Davis and Kayla. They also talk about whether Chronis is T-Flow and the mechanics of an extradition request.

The call reveals British police and the FBI discussing the delay of court proceedings against two alleged members of the LulzSec hacking group, which attacked a number of sites in 2011 including the US Congress and UK Serious Organised Crime Agency.

How embarrassing for the FBI and Metro police. It appears that an FBI agent sent out an email about the conference call and Anonymous had hacked the email account learning about the conference call. [More...]

Komen sez "never mind":

We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives. [. . .] Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.

Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.

Planned Parenthood accepted the apology:

Long overdue:

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today filed a lawsuit against several of the nation’s largest banks charging that the creation and use of a private national mortgage electronic registry system known as MERS has resulted in a wide range of deceptive and fraudulent foreclosure filings in New York state and federal courts, harming homeowners and undermining the integrity of the judicial foreclosure process. The lawsuit asserts that employees and agents of Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, acting as "MERS certifying officers," have repeatedly submitted court documents containing false and misleading information that made it appear that the foreclosing party had the authority to bring a case when in fact it may not have. The lawsuit names JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Bank of America, N.A., Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as well as Virginia-based MERSCORP, Inc. and its subsidiary, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc.

[More....]

Very good job news:

The United States economy gained momentum in January, adding 243,000 jobs, the second straight month of better-than-expected gains. The unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent, giving a cause for optimism as the economy shapes up as the central issue in the presidential election. The Labor Department’s monthly snapshot of the job market uses a different survey, of households rather than employers, to calculate the unemployment rate.

Both the unemployment rate and the number of jobless — which fell to 12.7 million — were the strongest since February 2009, President Obama’s first full month in office.

The job growth numbers really do not match the economic growth numbers so, to me at least, this is a little perplexing. Call it recovery-less job growth. But good news is good news. And this is unreservedly good news. Not just for President Obama, who will assuredly win reelection if this trend holds up (over 200,000 jobs were created in December.)

Bump and Update: Kim DotCom has lost his appeal for bail. The High Court decided last night. Justice Raynor Asher of the High Court found he was a flight risk, lacked ties to New Zealand and it was possible he had other assets besides those seized by the U.S.

His lawyer reacts here.

He has made a home for himself and his family here in New Zealand...He has absolutely no intention of doing other than remaining here and fighting extradition and the suggestion that he is a risk and that he would take some extraordinary steps to leave New Zealand is a flight of fancy and has no evidential basis so far as my client is concerned.

They are considering their next options which could include an appeal to New Zealand's Supreme Court or a new application for bail. [More...]

I wrote yesterday that as I tuned in to the end of the Fast and Furious hearing yesterday, Attorney General Eric Holder was castigating some Republican who had just questioned him, calling the Republican disrespectful.

Here's the text of Holder's comments in response to some of the questions. Holder isn't the only one who should be disgusted by these Republicans. Everyone should be. Good for Holder for showing some backbone and ripping into them: [More...]

Roseanne Barr is running for President. She plans to run on the Green Party ticket and has filed the necessary papers. The Green Party elects its candidate in July. I'd vote for her before I'd vote for a Republican.

We're getting a big blizzard starting tonight that will last until Saturday. The local news has been reporting on it non-stop for two days. The grocery store was unbelievably crowded today at 3pm and the shelves were getting empty -- the checker said it was like 2012 and the end of the world had arrived. What did people do before the news developed technology to announce storms days in advance?

And the rich get richer. Look who's going to make billions from the Facebook IPO.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Via Hunter, Pink became the new anti-science crazy last November PDF):

Susan G. Komen for the Cure® has never funded human embryonic stem cell research (HESCR) nor does Komen currently fund H-ESCR. Komen supports research on the isolation, derivation, production, and testing of stem cells [that . . .] are derived without creating a human embryo or destroying a human embryo.

The question is why all the prevarication on the Planned Parenthood cutoff? Komen seemed to make clear last November that it is a right wing anti-science organization. Why pretend it is not regarding PP? They should be proud of their wingnut bona fides, no?

Speaking for me only

The short fingered vulgarian and charlatan Donald Trump, the celebrity for folks who find the Kardashians too refined for their tastes, endorsed Mitt Romney today at a hotel in Las Vegas that carries his name (what his ownership percentage of the the hotel is, is not clear.)

Trump has previously stated that if the "right candidate" does not win the GOP nomination, he would launch an independent bid. Presumably then, if Newt Gingrich miraculously wins the nomination, the short fingered vulgarian and charlatan will launch his own bid, right? Of course not. Trump is a charlatan and a clown.

Speaking for me only

Attorney General Eric Holder testified today before the Korematsu McCarthy Star Chamber Renewal Committee (aka the House Oversight Committee, led by Darryl Issa.) When I tuned in, Holder was castigating one of the House members who had just finished questioning him for his lack of civility and disrespect for the Justice Department as an institution. It must have been quite an attack because the next questioner, a Republican, agreed with Holder that his colleague's approach was unfortunate and should not have occurred.

The last Republican who spoke said no one on the Committee is accusing Holder of having actual knowledge about Fast and Furious. Just goes to show these Republicans are not out for the truth, but for Holder's head.

Here's me talking with Conn Carroll of the Heritage Foundation about various and sundry things:

Open thread.

The Donald is endorsing Newt Gingrich today[Update - fearing the point I am making here, Trump is going to endorse Romney and thus justify his not running. The short fingered vulgarian is a charlatan of course.] The Media needs to ask the short fingered vulgarian what happens when Gingrich loses to Romney. In December, Trump said:

It is very important to me that the right Republican candidate be chosen to defeat the failed and very destructive Obama administration[. . . .] But if that Republican, in my opinion, is not the right candidate, I am unwilling to give up my right to run as an independent candidate.

I demand that Trump run. Media, hold The Donald's feet to the fire. The clown car needs its biggest clown.

Speaking for me only