Watching TV tonight: Shameless, the Good Wife and the finale of Downton Abbey.

There are new details in the Pistorius murder case.

Adam Lanza is back in the news, PBS's Frontline will run a show on Tuesday, Raising Adam Lanza.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

"Child's Pose" has won the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival.

Calin Peter Netzer's film is a tale of corruption and guilt in modern Romania. It follows a rich and controlling mother, played by Luminita Gheorghiu, as she bribes witnesses into giving false statements to save her son from jail after he accidentally runs down and kills a boy.

The film sounds like it's more about the unhealthy relationship between the mother and son than about the legal case or corruption. [More...]

I've got a busy day at work, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Oscar Pistorius has been charged with premeditated murder in South Africa.

Maureen O'Connor, former mayor of San Diego and widow of the founder of Jack in the Box, gambled over a billion dollars and has been charged in federal court with money laundering. The feds have agreed to a deferred prosecution, very unusual in federal court. She allegedly transferred more than $2 million from her late husband's foundation to her personal account to pay gambling debts, which bankrupted the charity. The money laundering charge includes only one $449,000. transfer. If she pays the charity back the money she took, the case will be dropped and no guilty plea will be required.[More....]

From our heart to yours, Happy Valentine's Day.

Now we need some Valentine's Day tunes - for love, and all the joy, despair, reckless abandon and hopefulness that comes along with it. A few that come to mind:

Bob Dylan: The Wedding Song (love the lyrics)

[More...}

President Obama is recalling 34,000 troops from Afghanistan.

He will deliver his State of the Union address tonight at 7pm ET.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Are drones being used to find Christopher Dorner?

In Texas, updated reports show that since 1992, the state has paid $65 million to 89 wrongfully convicted persons.

The Navy Seal who killed Osama bin Laden is interviewed in Esquire. He says the government has failed "to help its most experienced and skilled warriors carry on with their lives.

This 60 Minutes report last night on how and why you are unlikely to succeed in getting credit reporting bureaus to rectify mistakes on your credit report was pretty shocking.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The ACLU says CISPA is going to be reintroduced in the House this week.

That's right, the same bill that allows companies to turn over your sensitive internet records directly to the NSA and the Department of Defense without requiring them to make even a reasonable effort to protect your privacy. The same bill that lets the government use the information it collects for cybersecurity purposes "to protect the national security of the United States"—a concept that is, of course, undefined and incredibly expansive. Here we are, ten months later, with a much-deserved veto threat from the administration, a smarter Senate alternative, and an Executive Order that will address part of the information-sharing issue—yet the House starts with the same old privacy-busting bill as before.

The Grammy's have already started giving out awards. You can watch here. CBS has Grammy Connect, letting you choose from a variety of ways to watch. I'm not going to watch until the actual show, at 8 pm ET. The nominees are here.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The blizzard is now being referred to as "Nemo."

Jesse Jackson, Jr. reportedly has a plea deal that may include up to 5 years in prison. He can ask the judge for probation or any lesser term. He's expected to plead guilty to one felony count of misuse of campaign funds.

I'll be in court the rest of the day, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Open thread time, all topics welcome.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) has introduced a bill to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and allow states to decide whether to legalize it. The DEA would no longer have control of marijuana policy. Instead, the ATF would assume control. The ATF would be renamed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Marijuana and Firearms. The bill is the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act. Polis' fact sheet on the bill is here.

A comprehensive report on the CIA's extraordinary rendition and secret detention programs under GW Bush was released this week by the Open Justice Society. The full report, Globalizing Torture, is here. It documents 136 individual cases and the participation of 54 countries in the two programs. On a related note, law prof Jonathan Hafetz discusses the "proxy detentions" of terror suspects in Djibouti and extradition to the U.S. to face criminal trials under Obama's administration.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Anonymous hacked the Department of Energy last month, the agency confirmed. No classified info was taken, just personal data. There are also claims that Anonymous is responsible the release of 4,000 bank executives' data today, as part of Operation Last Resort. But the database posted as the U.S. Sentencing Commission's data may not have been a fake. Anyone can claim to be Anonymous.

There's a hearing tomorrow morning in the George Zimmerman case. Here are the motions that will be addressed. His family won't be attending, but his supporters will be singing "Happy Birthday Travyon" in front of the courthouse. (Trayvon would have turned 18 tomorrow.)

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

It's that time of year again - exotic Super Bowl bets time.

Here what I did:

SUPER BOWL XLVII - The largest points lead of the game by either team will be Over 13½ (6 units)

SUPER BOWL XLVII - Margin of Victory - San Francisco 49ers 7 to 12 points 4/1 (2 units)

SUPER BOWL XLVII - The First Score of the Game will be? Field Goal or Safety (+120) (2 units)

SUPER BOWL XLVII - Will the opening kickoff result in a touchback? No (2 units)

SUPER BOWL XLVII - Who will win the coin toss?Baltimore Ravens (2 units)

SUPER BOWL XLVII - Coin Toss Tails (2 units)

UPDATE - Took the Niners on the moneyline at the half +300, 5 units.

More on the flip.