Bump and Update: Majid Kahn pleaded guilty today at Guantanamo. The ACLU says his plea deal must be viewed through the lens of torture. Carole Rosenberg at the Miami Herald, who was at the hearing, reports that under the plea deal, he could be freed in four years when he's sentenced:

Under the plea deal, a military jury will hear the case and sentence Khan in 2016. The jury can order him to serve up to 40 years, after which a military judge would reduce it to at-most 25 years. A senior Pentagon official would then have the authority to suspend any or all of it. Once the sentence is over, it would be up to the Executive Branch to decide whether to keep him as a post 9/11 war-on-terror prisoner like the vast majority of the 171 captives here.

Here are the plea agreement and the Appendix, and the Statement of Facts. [More...]

Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones reports that a vote on the Blunt Amendment, which will allow employers to opt out of providing any form of health insurance coverage they object to, will happen soon, perhaps tomorrow.

Erick Erickson is criticizing Mitch McConnell for providing Dem Senators "cover" by offering the Blunt Amendment:

On its surface, it is a good amendment. It will allow religious employers to opt out of the new Obamacare mandate on contraception and abortifacient drugs. But strategically, it is another lame effort by Senator Mitch McConnell to let Senate Democrats in swing states absolve themselves of any blame for what Barack Obama has done.

Erickson assumes Democratic Senators will vote for the Blunt Amendment. It would surprise me if any Dem other than Ben Nelson would do so. More importantly, I think it should disqualify any Dem from support if they did. The DSCC has issued a petition against it:

At the RSA Conference this week in San Francisco, Imperva released a report called Anatomy of an Anonymous Attack. It says Anonymous left clues during an attack on the Vatican and the report details how attacks are planned and carried out.

[It] offers a rare glimpse into the specific strategies, tools, and tactics used by Anonymous in its attempts to infiltrate or take down websites.

The New York Times has more on this.

Update (3/1): The written decision rejecting the Crown's bail appeal for Kim DotCom has been released. You can read it here.

The Crown, representing the U.S., has lost its appeal to reverse MegaUpload co-founder Kim DotCom's release on bail. I just received confirmation from The High Court's media department via e-mail: "I am able to advise that Kim Dotcom's bail appeal has been dismissed." A copy of the decision should be available soon. When I receive it, I'll post it.

9:00 pm MT: First on Twitter, the New Zealand Business Review: Kim Dot Com Stays Free. NZBR said it was standing room only in the High Court. [More...]

Bump and Update, 8:25 p.m.: Romney has taken both states.

Update, 7: 30 pm MT: Romney takes Arizona and leads in Michigan.

Results should start coming in shortly for the Michigan and Arizona Republican primaries. Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum? Who would you rather see Obama face in November? [More...]

Law enforcement officers swept through Europe and South America today, arresting 25 suspected Anonymous hackers in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain.

The arrests followed an ongoing investigation begun in mid-February, which comprised searches of 40 locations in 15 cities and included the seizure of 250 pieces of information technology equipment and mobile phones, Interpol said.

....Anonymous has no real membership structure. Hackers, activists, and supporters can claim allegiance to its freewheeling principles so it is not clear what impact the arrests will have.

Perhaps in response, Anonymous has taken down Interpol's website. It's still down. [More...]

It's a big day for Kim DotCom of MegaUpload. At 4:30 pm New Zealand time (1 hour from now) High Court Justice Tim Brewster will issue his decision on the Crown's appeal of Kim DotCom's release on bail. Hopefully, Kim DotCom won't be returning to jail.

A hearing has been going on all day in another division of the High Court on Kim DotCom and his wife Mona's request to unfreeze assets for living expenses. They say their living expenses are $220,000. a month. The Crown Prosecutor, Ann Toohey, who is representing the U.S., objected to the expenditures as excessive.

DotCom is requesting 28,000 a month for legal and living expenses. The amount of $200,000 is for rent at the mansion. Kim DotCom put $6.5 million into renovations at the property, which he will lose if he can't pay the rent.

Toohey also said she was informed yesterday by the FBI that U.S. prosecutors are investigating Mona DotCom and have made some sort of application: [More...]

President Obama today issued a Presidential Policy Directive setting out the procedures for determining whether terror detainees will face military or FBI custody. The rules implement Section 1022 of the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012.)

The FactSheet is here. The full directive is here.

Obama says Section 1022 does not apply to U.S. citizens, and the he has decided to waive its application to lawful permanent residents arrested in the United States: [More...]

The leaked Stratfor e-mails contain one by Fred Burton of Stratfor a year ago saying the U.S. has a sealed Indictment for Julian Assanage.

Email-ID 375123
Date 2011-01-26 15:23:28
From burton@stratfor.com
To secure@stratfor.com
Not for Pub --

We have a sealed indictment on Assange.

Pls protect
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Burton, the vice-president of intelligence for Stratfor, is a former deputy chief of the counter-terrorism division of the US State Department's diplomatic security service. The Sydney Morning Herald reports on the email here, and Forbes here. [More...]

Update: Response from Bodog Brand founder Calvin Ayre.

Not sure what to say. BodogBrand.com is a brand-licensing organisation based outside the US. The brand left the market last year and the domain in question has been dormant globally for longer than that. We are only currently doing brand licensing deals outside the US so this domain had no place in any of our current plans.”

A new gambling indictment and website seizure by ICE and Homeland Security has been announced.

The sports gambling site Bodog was shut down and four Canadians indicted, including founder Calvin Ayre, for illegal gambling that generated more than $100 million in winnings, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday. The website’s domain name was seized Monday and the indictments which were handed down Feb. 22, were unveiled Tuesday in Baltimore, prosecutors said.

[More...]

Update: The Prosecutor confirms there was no bullying and no drugs were involved. Lane chose his victims randomly. He's just someone who is "not well."

"He chose his victims at random. This is not about bullying. This is not about drugs," Joyce said. "This is someone who's not well, and I'm sure in our court case we'll prove that to all of your desires and we'll make sure justice is done here in this county."

Three of the students shot in the cafeteria of Chardon High School in Ohio have died.

The suspect, T.J. Lane, will have a court hearing this afternoon in juvenile court.

The attorney for T.J. Lane's family has issued this statement apologizing to the community and identified Lane by name. He also said Lane had "pretty impressive" grades, had doubled up on some classes and planned to graduate early this May. He said he was quiet but did have friends. It's not clear why Lane was attending an alternative school. [More...]

After hearing arguments in New Zealand's High Court today on whether to grant the Crown's appeal of the decision granting bail to MegaUpload co-founder Kim DotCom, the Court reserved ruling until 4:30 p.m. tomorrow.

It doesn't sound like the Prosecution had anything more to offer than last week:

The Crown, on behalf of the US Government, argued today that there is a very real risk that Dotcom still has access to offshore funds he is linked with.

But Dotcom's lawyer Paul Davison QC says there is no evidence of this, so his client's flight risk remains low. He said it would make no sense for Dotcom to leave his family or assets behind.

I hope the Judge doesn't reverse the granting of bail. With the extradition hearing not until August, the Crown should have to show more than unsupported speculation he has sources of funds and would likely flee. So far it hasn't.