Kim Dotcom claims a double-cross. More here. The brief his legal team filed yesterday in the Eastern District of Virginia is here.

Megaupload and Dotcom are also seeking to have the search warrant from June 24, 2010 against Carpathia Hosting company unsealed. (It was provided to Carpathia and Megaupload when issued by the Court, but has never been officially unsealed for the public.) It notes that Wired, in this article, has already published the search warrant. The warrant was sought in an investigation of Ninjavideo (government press release on sentencing in Ninjavideo here.)

Another good article explaining all this is here. Dotcom lawyer Ira Rothken explains the relevance here. [More...]

Good news. Hillary Clinton has been discharged from the hospital. A full recovery is expected.

Secretary Clinton was discharged from the hospital this evening. Her medical team advised her that she is making good progress on all fronts, and they are confident she will make a full recovery," Philippe Reines, a deputy assistant secretary of state, said in a statement.

Al Jazeera announced today it will launch a new U.S.-based news channel and that it has bought Al Gore's Current TV. From its press release:

Al Jazeera Media Network also announced that it has acquired Current TV in the United States and that the new U.S.-based news channel will be available on Current’s distribution network when it is launched in 2013. There will be a transition from existing programming until the new Al Jazeera channel begins to air.

The new channel will be headquartered in New York City. In addition to the existing Al Jazeera news bureaus in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago, Al Jazeera will open additional bureaus in key locations across the United States. Al Jazeera’s expansion will double the network’s U.S.-based staff to more than 300 employees.

I like Al Jazeera's reporting and think it will be a welcome addition. It plans to scrap Current TV's current programming. Forbes reports the network paid in the neighborhood of $400 million for Current.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

BTD Go Gators! I actually think Florida is a great bet but I'm staying way, took under 48.

The votes on H.R. 8 are being tallied now. You can watch live here. So far, 7 Dems and 70 Republicans have voted against it. Right now it's at 122 to 75 in favor. They are voting on a motion to agree to the Senate Amendments.

Looks like it will pass. It's been running 50 votes ahead on the ayes. 10 Dems and 100 Republicans have so far have voted no.

Vote's over. It passed easily. Final vote was 257 to 167. 16 Dems voted against it. Here's the roll call vote.

Happy New Year!

My bowl game picks for today:

Florida State -15 over Northern Illinois (6 units), Stanford -6 over Wisconsin (10 units), Georgia -9 over Nebraska (12 units), Purdue +17 over Oklahoma State, Northwestern -2 over Mississippi State, South Carolina -5 over Michigan.

Open Thread.

Update 12:10 am MT : The Senate passed the fiscal cliff bill. Sens. Rand Paul, Carper (D-DE), Tom Harkin, Michael Bennet, Rubio, Grassley, Shelby and Lee voted against it. The vote is 89 to 8. The House will not vote tonight. AP article here.

Interesting that Colorado Senator Mark Udall voted for it while Senator Michael Bennet voted against it -- both are Democrats. Here's why Tom Harkin opposed it.

One additional saving: Congress won't be getting a $900 pay raise scheduled to take effect this spring.

Update: 11:45 pm MT: The Senate is now voting. [More...]

Colorado is ringing in the new year with marijuana social clubs, open only to members. The first is called, appropriately enough, Club 64 (After Amendment 64 which legalized marijuana in Colorado.) It opened today at 4:20 pm. You can apply for membership here.

Recreational marijuana clubs opened Monday in Colorado, less than a month after the state governor signed into law a constitutional amendment allowing recreational pot use.

With a reggae soundtrack and flashing disco-style lights, Club 64 in an industrial area just north of downtown Denver opened Monday afternoon, with some 200 people signed up. The opening came less than 24 hours after club organizers announced they would charge a $29.99 admission price for the bring-your-own pot club.

What do you think of the President Obama's Happy New Year photo the White House tweeted? I think it's dark and depressing.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Intelligent and reasonable persons can disagree on whether what appears to be the emerging fiscal cliff deal is a deal worth making. It certtainly is not a good deal, but it might be the least bad option.

However, it does confirm that Madman Political Bargaining works. Republicans are getting much more than they should have in this deal.

In my August 2011 post about the debt ceiling "end of the world" negotiations of 2011 (soon to be repeated apparently), I argued:

It will be a cold New Year's Eve in Colorado. I'm staying in. If you're out and about tonight, don't drink and drive -- the cops will be out en masse.

One innovative solution: Try Uber, if you live in Denver, Washington, San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia or several other major cities. You can download the app to your smart phone and sign up now. You just send a text-- they will see your location (or you can text it.) A private car will pick you up within minutes. Usually it's not much more than a taxi, but tonight surge pricing will be in effect. Before you text, you can see on your smart phone how close the drivers are to you and how many cars are near you. They text you as the driver is approaching. No need for a credit card or to sign anything with the driver, or tip, it's all just charged to the credit card you sign up with.

Update/1/1/13:: Check out their Tumblr page with photos from New Years' Eve of their staffers around the world with their Macs. The Stockholm office is beautiful. Miami ooks like such a happy place to work -- as does Seattle. The London group looks really busy. (I don't think these are all offices- some of the staffers seem to be working from home -- the Indonesia group looks like they are at a hotel bar.) Forbes today called them "brilliant." [More...]

In New York City this weekend:

Morgan Gliedman, 27, and her 31-year-old boyfriend, Aaron Greene, were arrested on weapons-possession charges Saturday after officers with a search warrant discovered a plastic container with 7 grams of HMTD, a highly explosive white powder used in bomb making, police and prosecutors said.

Also found in the living room were numerous written items containing instructions on the manufacture of explosive materials and bombs, including a collection of pages that had a cover page entitled "The Terrorist Encyclopedia," court papers said.

Greene was ordered held without bond. Ms. Gliedman is 9 months pregnant and will have a court appearance today. Police got the search warrant because she was being investigated for credit card theft. She grew up on Park Avenue, attended Dalton, and her father, a doctor, is the director of radiation oncology at Beth Israel Hospital, Brooklyn Division. Her boyfriend, Aaron Greene, is a Harvard graduate and attended graduate school at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He is an Occupy Wall St. activist. [Correction: This was falsely reported by the New York Post.][More...]

President Obama is about to speak, addressing the fiscal cliff. You can watch here.

Preventing a middle class tax hike has been his top priority. An agreement is within sight. But it's not done. Issues remain. He's hopeful Congress can get it done.

The agreement would extend tax credits for families with kids, extend tuition and clean energy tax credits and unemployment benefits. He would have liked a grand bargain, a bigger deal, that deals with taxes and spending. But, that was too much to hope for with this Congress. So it will take several steps.[More...]