I'll be busy the rest of the day, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

12 agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice, AG Eric Holder and others for discrimination.

[Their lawyer says] agents hired in the U.S. who come to Puerto Rico receive a bonus for working in a so-called high-intensity drug trafficking area, which Puerto Rican agents already on the island don't get. She says they also get more dangerous assignments because they have local experience that the U.S. agents lack.

Reading through the Complaint, available on PACER: the lawsuit claims National Origin Discrimination in federal employment practices; Disparate Treatment; and Equal Protection violations. It alleges the Justice Department has violated the Federal Workforce Flexibility Act of 2004. The agents, who are from Puerto Rico, claim they are not receiving the same benefits as "non-local hires" and receive 25% less pay.

The agents also claim they are being used as "cannon fodder" for the DEA, forced out of administrative positions and back onto the dangerous streets. [More...]

The State Department issued a notice today that the U.S. Embassy in Syria has closed and all employees have left the country.

The recent surge in violence, including bombings in Damascus on December 23 and January 6, has raised serious concerns that our Embassy is not sufficiently protected from armed attack. We, along with several other diplomatic missions, conveyed our security concerns to the Syrian Government but the regime failed to respond adequately.

The violence in Syria continues to escalate.

Mimi Beardsley, now Mimi Alford, was a 19 year old intern for JFK. In 2003, JFK's former assistant Dave Powers, wrote a book in which he mentioned a young intern as one of JFK's paramours. She would not discuss it.

Now 69, she has written a book about it. The New York Post has excerpts. The affair lasted 18 months. She was interviewed on the Today Show this morning.

Her reason for coming forward now? She says living with this kind of secret is debilitating. [More...]

Update: Superbowl video here. Better quality here or here (but 15 second commercial.)

I'm tuning into the Superbowl but just for the halftime show with Madonna which is about to start. She'll sing 4 songs, 3 old and "Give Me All Your Luvin'" her new song with Nikki Manaj. She told Anderson Cooper she's nervous:

"First of all, it's the Super Bowl. I mean the Super Bowl is kind of like the holy of holies in America right? ... I have to put on the greatest show on earth, in the middle of the greatest show on earth. I have eight minutes to set it up and seven minutes to take it down and 12 minutes to put on the greatest show on earth. That's a lot of pressure."

How do you think she did?

I like the Giants (+3) (15 units.) Some late Pats money seems to be coming in.

Open Thread.

The U.S. military has dismissed a murder charge against Army Specialist Michael Wagnon, the remaining member of the 5th Stryker Brigade charged with pre-meditated murder in the 2010 "Thrill Kill" spree of killings and corpse mutilation of unarmed Afghan civilians.

The dismissal of the case against Wagnon, 31, brought to an abrupt end the Army's prosecution of the most egregious atrocities that U.S. military personnel have been convicted of committing during a decade of war in Afghanistan.

Five members of the infantry unit formerly known as the 5th Stryker Brigade were charged with killing Afghan civilians in cold blood in random attacks staged to look like legitimate combat engagements. Seven other GIs were charged with lesser offenses in a case that began as an investigation into rampant hashish abuse within the unit.

[More..]

Part 2 on the flip.

Open Thread.

Megaupload's Kim DotCom may be in jail, but he's not giving up. The New Zealand Herald reports he has filed papers in the New Zealand High Court seeking the return of his seized funds and assets.

Papers have been filed with the High Court at Auckland which claim freezing orders used to seize his fortune have gone too far and money should be returned.

There are also more details of the commando-style arrest raid which according to past statements of New Zealand police, involved 76 officers.

Detective Inspector Grant Wormald [Organised & Financial Crime Agency} would not reveal why police carried out the surprise assault. However, he confirmed the Special Tactics Group - the most highly trained armed officers in the force - were involved.

Looks like Newt Gingrich fizzled in Nevada and Mitt Romney will win the state's Republican caucusesby double digits.

Here's the makeup of voters: 4 of 5 are Conservative, 3 out of 4 said they were tea partiers, and 1 of 4 are Mormons.

Where's Romney today? In Colorado Springs, campaigning for Coloradans' votes in the caucuses which will be held Tuesday.

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.)

As BTD noted, 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 1½ (EVEN)

How many times will Peyton Manning be shown on TV during the game? Over 3½ (-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: