The Voice is back. The singers are so much better than those trying out for American Idol. They just need to get rid of their new "social media correspondent" and posting tweets onscreen.

Is anyone going to watch Smash?

Anonymous is now at war with Symantec. (Background here.) They published emails of the company offering them $50,000 not to release the source code taken in 2006 and according to Anonymous, to lie. Anonymous says it's declined and sometime tonight will release the source code for free. (Update: They have posted the code. You can find their link to it on Twitter or Pirate Bay. Symantec acknowledges the e-mails are real but says the FBI was in on the negotiations -- they viewed it as an extortion attempt and had contacted them. Anonymous says Symantec tried to bribe them.)

The National Lawyers Guild is ready to help out Anonymous members. They've put up this webpage. You can follow the latest via @YourAnonNews and AnonymousIRC or just #Anonymous or #AntiSec.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

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.