The Florida Republican primary has been called by the news outlets for Mitt Romney.

Mitt's speaking now. He says they will win in November. He says it's time for President Obama to get out of the way. He's ready to lead the party and the nation. He will begin a new era of prosperity. He will save the soul of America. He will balance the budget without raising taxes. He will repeal Obamacare. He will strengthen religious rights.

"I will insist on a military so powerful no one would ever think of challenging it."

What's your prediction for the outcome of today's Florida Republican primary?

Time Magazine says Newt Gingrich is bracing for a loss and in the process of reinventing himself as a grass-roots insurgent. It says Newt is floundering because he was outstumped and outspent.

Gingrich is unlikely to get the chance to implement this vision. But he is shaking things up within his schizophrenic campaign. After skipping from message to message in recent days, he has apparently decided his best shot at knocking off Mitt Romney is to embrace Tea Party populism. And so he has reinvented himself as a grassroots gadfly, ready to dog the GOP “all the way to the convention.”

CNN says the latest polling which includes the 600,000 voters who voted early has Mitt Romney ahead. [More...]

New technology is all abuzz with news of programs that would replace those pesky 10 digit "letter-number -character" passwords we are getting accustomed to, with using our faces as our passwords to log into our protected information instead.

On the one hand, it sounds Orwellian. It takes very little for a copy to get a copy of your photo from these merchandisers, media and social media sites. On the other hand, for those of us with passwords at home, passwords at work and more passwords for online shopping and paying bills, it could be a relief. Except it's not a done deal yet. Why? Because someone cold hold up a picture of you at the computer or whatever, and the computer may not be able to tell the difference.

Yet, this may be the next wave. Why does it have to be the face we show, which is a dead giveaway to law enforcement if they get hold of it? Why can't it be a scar somewhere on your body, or a tatoo that's never visible in your photos? Flash the tat or scar and presto, you're in to your site. And nobody gets to see your face.

How do you feel about having so many images of your face all over the internet?

President Obama held an online forum last night organized by You Tube and Google+. Readers submitted questions via You Tube and text. They also voted on the questions submitted by others. Obama took questions from five people via You Tube.

Those were five lucky people: According to the White House' YouTube channel, almost 230,000 people submitted 133,183 questions, and 1.6 million people gave those questions an up or down vote.

Here's how it worked: [More...}

I've updated my post on the Megaload hosting companies and potential data destruction.

I think it's time for Chuck Schumer to retire. Here's his latest: $140 million for research on how to test drivers for drug use.

The Obama DOJ has cited the NDAA in a brief opposing habeas for a Guantanamo detainee. Here's the Government's brief and the detainee's cert petition.

I'd rather watch The Bachelor than talk more about Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Florida, but if you have more to say, here's an open thread, have at it.

All other topics are also welcome.

Q Poll - Romney 43, Gingrich 29.

PPP - Romney 39, Gingrich 32.

SUSA - Romney 41, Gingrich 26.

NBC/Marist poll - Romney 42, Gingrich 27.

I like the Insider Advantage/NewsMax poll, that says Newt is surging to within 5 points and has the momentum.

Go Newt! I don't believe it, but I like it. Now, if only Trump decides to run, this would be perfect.

The late David Broder was wrong so consistently that pointing out he was wrong yet again may seem like a pointless exercise, but I think Paul Krugman's column today on Broder being wrong about British Prime Minister David Cameron's "expansionary austerity" (talk about an oxymoron) is important:

[I]n October 2010 David Broder, who virtually embodied conventional wisdom, praised Mr. Cameron for his boldness, and in particular for “brushing aside the warnings of economists that the sudden, severe medicine could cut short Britain’s economic recovery and throw the nation back into recession.” He then called on President Obama to “do a Cameron” and pursue “a radical rollback of the welfare state now.”

Strange to say, however, those warnings from economists proved all too accurate. And we’re quite fortunate that Mr. Obama did not, in fact, do a Cameron.

Sadly, High Broderism, with its combination of ignorance, lack of intelligence and misplaced confidence, lives on. We are ruled by idiots.

Speaking for me only

Update: Megaupload's U.S. attorney, Ira Rothken, has tweeted that the two hosting companies, Carpathia and Cogent Communications, have agreed not to destroy the data on the Megaupload servers for at least two weeks while Megaupload works on a solution with the Government.

It sounds like they are working to get funds unfrozen to pay the hosting companies. Which would make Carpathia's statement that it doesn't have the ability to allow users to access the data a little suspect. Either they have the ability to provide access or they don't. Before the takedown, Megaupload users could log on to upload and download, so why can't they now if the Government doesn't object? If some special password is needed, wouldn't Megaupload's lawyers obtain it from their jailed clients and provide it to Carpathia?

[More...]

Update: Shaun White makes the history books. On his third run, when he already had the Gold, he steps up his game and gets the first ever perfect score of 100 from the Judges. Really amazing runs, and considering two days ago he was hobbled by an ankle injury, truly a feat. He is just incredible.

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Shaun White hurt his ankle Thursday but still qualified in first place and will compete tonight in the Men's SuperPipe finals at the X Games in Aspen. He's great, no question, but I'm rooting for Louie Vito. Big changes for Louie this year, no drinking and he's signed with Red Bull. Here are the finalists. You can watch live at 9pm ET on ESPN, TV or online. [More..]

Bump: In an interview on "60 Minutes" tonight, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta criticizes Pakistan for arresting Shakil Afridi, the doctor that the CIA asked to run a fake vaccine program in hopes of getting DNA to confirm Osama bin Laden's presence at the Abbottabad compound. An inquiry commission in Pakistan has since recommended that Dr. Afridi be charged with high treason. Panetta says Pakistan should release Afridi:

“For them to take this kind of action against somebody who was helping to go after terrorism, I just think is a real mistake on their part.

[More...]

"The House I Live In", by Eugene Jarecki, a documentary film that rips our War on Drugs and policies of over-incarceration, won the Grand Jury Prize for best Documentary at Sundance. [More...]

Nearly 400 arrests yesterday at Occupy Oakland.

More of the same stories about Republican primary candidates. I'm back to "Who cares?"

An op-ed in the New York Times highlights Justice Sotomayor's concurring opinion in the warrantless GPS case of U.S. v. Jones, decided last week. (Opinion here) [More...]