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.

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.

The Colorado Secretary of State confirmed today that the initiative to legalize adult personal possession and use of marijuana has obtained enough signatures to be on the November ballot.

The measure would legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for people 21 years and older. It would also allow for people to grow up to six marijuana plants in their home. Special stores would be allowed to sell marijuana, but communities would also have the option of banning those businesses.

More here. The taxed proceeds will go to benefit education.

The full text of the initiative is here.

Pierce on The War on Drugs: PED Edition.

Open Thread.

A suspect has been taken into custody in a school shooting in Chardon, Ohio. As of now, one student has died and four are wounded. Chardon is 30 miles outside of Cleveland.

The student opened fire at 7:30 am in the cafetera.

Comcast just interrupted programing for 3 minutes with an emergency child abduction alert. Only there was no information and instead a carpet cleaning commerical and radio bit about the Denver Broncos played annoyingly.

It was the kind of alert that comes on for hurricanes and testing of the emergency broadcast system. One child going missing is not a national or community-wide emergency. It's a local police issue. Emergency interruptions should be limited to dangers to everyone in the community.

It's bad enough Amber Alerts are broadcast on highway signs. They are dangerous distractions, just like texting while driving. Drivers' eyes should be on the road, not trying to read details of a crime alert. To have them forced on us in our own homes is even worse. [More...]

Here's Wikileak's announcement about its publication of more than 5 million Strator e-mails. The e-mails were obtained in December by activists associated with Anonymous.

The emails date from between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal’s Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defense Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods...

Wikileaks says the emails "contain privileged information about the US government’s attacks against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks and Stratfor’s own attempts to subvert WikiLeaks." [More...]

The Oscars are about to start. I'm really looking forward to Billy Crystal.

Here's a Cheat Sheet.

Update: Billy Crystal's best line:

“Nothing can take the sting out of the world's economic problems like millionaires handing each other gold statues.”

The skit was good, his singing not so much.

Where to watch online?

• TV Guide's Fashion Cam -- Just started.
• MTV Live Stream
• On the Red Carpet Live

Who looks great to you? Who missed by miles? Fast Photogalleries: New York Times and BBC News

Here's a ballot for the nominees. Who are you rooting for to win?

FARC has announced it will free its hostages and cease economic kidnapping.

Since I will shortly be turning my attention to the Oscars, here's an open thread for other news, all topics welcome.