The four arrested Megaupload defendants, Kim Dotcom (also known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor),Finn Batato, Mathias Ortmann, and Bram van der Kolk, appeared in a New Zealand court yesterday and were detained pending a bond application set for Monday. The U.S. is seeking extradition on the indictment returned in the Eastern District of Virginia, and will oppose bond.

Kim DotCom says they have nothing to hide.

We don't mind if there is press coverage,' Dotcom said to Judge David McNaughton following an application by media to film the court appearance. 'We have nothing to hide.'

[More..]

So many things to talk about, so little time. Here'a a place for you. all topics welcome.

There's yet another Repbulican debate tongight. I didn't see it, but apparently Newt went off on CNN's John King for asking about the ABC News interview with his ex-wife Marianne that will air tonight on Nightline. Here's Newt:

"I think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run of for public office and I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that," Gingrich said.

"Every person in here knows personal pain. Every person in here has had someone close to them go through painful things. To take an ex-wife, and make it two days before the primary a sign question in a presidential campaign, is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine," Gingrich said.

How clever (not.) A family values spokesman who asks his wife for an open marriage and carries on a 6 year extra-marital affair is now a victim of "personal pain." I wonder if his daughter, the one who's an expert at messaging and branding, came up with that.

The Department of Justice is tweeting its response to the attacks on its website by Anonymous.

Here, here and here:

The DOJ web server hosting http://justice.gov is experiencing a significant increase in activity, resulting in a degradation in service.

The department is working to ensure the website is available while we investigate the origins of this activity... ...which is being treated as a malicious act until we can fully identify the root cause of the disruption.

These are the first tweets by DOJ in over 10 days. [More...]

Unbelievable. The Department of Justice website has been attacked and is now down. So is Universal Music. Anonymous has taken credit, saying it's payback for the MegaUpload Indictment today.

Here's the text of the press release DOJ issued announcing the MegaUpload Indictments.

More here. You can follow along on Twitter, at #OpMegaUpload, #MegaUpload, #Anonymous and @anondaily

One tweet says the FBI's website is next. YourAnonNews says "Incoming Database Dump. Get Ready "

Internet anarchy has arrived. No one should underestimate the abilities of Anonymous. [More...]

The details aren't pretty. While Gingrich was clamoring for Bill Clinton's ouster due to Monica Lewinsky, here's what his ex-wife Marianne says he was doing: Asking for her permission to continue his 6 year affair with his present wife Calista. [More...]

This could be the first domino to fall:

Rick Perry is telling supporters that he will drop his bid for the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday, two sources familiar with the plans told CNN.

Jed asks who Perry will endorse. I say no one for now. [I'm wrong again, he is endorsing Gingrich. Proving yet again that Perry has no clue when it comes to national politics. If by some miracle Gingrich wins the nomination, the GOP will lose a landslide. Perry wants credit for that?] the key point here is with Newt surging in South Carolina, if he has a strong showing, Santorum would be next to drop out and that would set up the much awaited Mitt v.the non-Mitt battle in Florida. I think the Not Mitt forces will make their last stand there.

The Weed Wars continue. Here's the U.S. Attorney's press release on yesterday's California medical marijuana dispensary raids. DOJ's "justification" for the raids is in this earlier press release.

The California Supreme Court has agreed to hear two medical marijuana cases.

The California Supreme Court has jumped into the fray again over the legality of medical marijuana laws, deciding on Wednesday to review two lower court rulings that impact how and whether local governments can regulate pot dispensaries across the state.

In their weekly closed-door session, the justices voted unanimously to review cases out of Long Beach and Riverside that dealt with the ongoing conflict between California's voter-approved law allowing the use of medical marijuana and federal laws barring the use or sale of the drug. The state Supreme Court's rulings in the cases are likely to have a widespread impact in the Bay Area, where cities from San Jose to Oakland have regulations dealing with medical marijuana providers.

[More...]

The latest in corporations are people too:

Hedge funds have been known to use hardball tactics to make money. Now they have come up with a new one: suing Greece in a human rights court to make good on its bond payments.The novel approach would have the funds arguing in the European Court of Human Rights that Greece had violated bondholder rights[.]

It's probably just a semantic question (this may be the court with jurisdiction over the subject matter), but it is certainly funny, in a strange way, to see hedge funds suing in a human rights court. The optics are not the best. The legal argument goes as follows:

Legal experts suggest that the investors may have a case because if Greece changes the terms of its bonds so that investors receive less than they are owed, that could be viewed as a property rights violation — and in Europe, property rights are human rights.

(Emphasis supplied.) Ron Paul might say "We are all Europeans now!" And Mitt Romney might consider apologizing for America not agreeing that property rights are human rights.

Speaking for me only

As if Facebook wasn't intrusive enough, it's taken another giant leap, adding new apps that tell us way more than we want to know about people we've "friended" and telling our "friends" way more than we ever intended to share.

The apps are all set up to use the “frictionless sharing” function on the social network, meaning that users only have to give an app permission to share information once. After that, the app updates automatically to a user’s profile, letting their friends know instantly what they may be eating, studying or listening to at any given moment.

So now, as soon as you buy a concert ticket, your Ticketmaster app will let your friends know what you’ve purchased immediately.

I'm so close to deleting my account entirely. It took me a half hour last night to figure out how to get rid of seeing what news articles on WAPO and Yahoo "friends" read and what they ate. [More...]

Marianne Gingrich, the second of Newt Gingrich's three wives, is ready to unload. ABC News has the interview, which as of now, it plans to air on Nightline Thursday night. Excerpts should be available during the day. They aired a short clip Weds. night with the teaser that she says "there are things voters need to know." The only direct quote is of her saying that Newt looked directly at her and told her "Calista doesn't care what I do." The interviewer asks her what that means, and then cuts out before her answer. Guess we'll find out tomorrow.

Marianne Gingrich as spoken out before. [More...]

More DEA raids on California dispensaries.

The U.S. attorney's office press release issued today states that the raids were part of an ongoing effort to crack down on storefront dispensaries in California, and that letters "went out today to the owners and operators of currently operating or recently closed marijuana stores--nearly three dozen in Costa Mesa, and one now-shuttered store in Newport Beach. All known stores in these two South Orange County cities are now the subject of federal enforcement actions."

The Supreme Court gives a death row inmate another chance after a mailroom mix-up at his lawyer's firm caused a missed filing deadline. The opinion is here.

An alleged $62 million insider trading bust in New York. The 7 charged are accused of reaping profits on shares of Dell, Inc.

A new season of American Idol begins tonight.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.