The judge in the Boston Marathon bombing trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has set his trial to begin November 3, 2014. The defense had asked it begin in September, 2015.

The defense says the FBI has yet to turn over 2,000 pieces of physical evidence still being analyzed.

The defense has until June to decide on whether to seek a change of venue.

The House of Representatives has voted 221 to 201 to pass a Clean Debt Ceiling bill. The bill extends federal borrowing authority for one year with no strings attached and avoids a Government shutdown at the end of February.

Without an increase in the statutory debt limit, the U.S. government would soon default on some of its obligations and have to shut down some programs, a historic move that would likely cause market turmoil.

The Republicans are in disarray.

The episode showed that Boehner still has difficulty exerting control over his fractious caucus, in which conservatives backed by the Tea Party movement hold considerable sway.

WAPO has more on Boehner's bad day.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee today suspended the use of the death penalty in the state for the duration of his term.

"There have been too many doubts raised about capital punishment, there are too many flaws in this system today," Inslee said at a news conference. "There is too much at stake to accept an imperfect system."

The decision is part of a growing trend.

Last year, Maryland abolished the death penalty, the 18th state to do so and the sixth in the last six years.

More from Inslee: [More...]

Shaun White finished 4th in the half-pipe at the Socchi Olympics. Iouri Podladtchikov of Switzerland, known as I-Pod, took the Gold.

It appears solitary confinement was the motive for parolee Evan Ebel's killing of a pizza driver and Colorado Corrections chief Tom Clements. In court documents released in the case of Stevie Vigil, the woman who has pleaded guilty to providing Ebel with the gun he used in his killing spree, a partial transcript of a recording Ebel had the pizza driver make before killing him, the pizza driver said:

"For twenty years we've been subject to your faddism not witness ours, you didn't give two (expletive) about us or our families and you ensured that we were locked behind a door, to disrespect us at every opportunity, so why should we care about you and yours...

...In short, you treated us inhumanely, and so we simply seek to do the same, we take (comfort) in the knowledge that we leave your wives without husbands, and your children fatherless. You wanted to play the mad scientist, well they will be your Frankenstein."

A movie script about Barry Seal, the infamous pilot and DEA informant linked to the Medellin cartel, the CIA, the contras, Oliver North, and the Bush, Reagan and Clinton Administrations, who was killed in the 1980's, has been sold to Universal for $1 million. The movie, Mena, about Seal's activities in Mena, Arkansas, will be directed by Ron Howard.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Say hello to The Intercept, Glenn Greenwald's new journalism website, published by First Look Media and funded by EBay founder Pierre Omidyar.

While announcing the formation of First Look in October, Omidyar said he is contributing $250 million to pursue independent journalism, and tapped Greenwald to lead editorial operations.

One of today's two articles is about the NSA's role in the targeted assassination program.

The list of authors and staff is impressive -- it includes Marcy Wheeler (Empty Wheel) as Senior Policy Analyst, and Peter Maass, and Dan Froomkin as senior writers. Reporters include Ryan Gallagher, Ryan Devereaux, and Murtaza Hussain.

I hope they are a great success. We need more independent journalism ventures like this.

There are articles on every major media site this morning about the Obama Administration wrestling with a decision whether to target an American for killing who is working for al Qaeda in another country and planning a terror attack against the U.S.

While the country and person aren't named, it sounds like the Administration's chief purpose in releasing this information is to let the target know what's in store for him and observe his response, rather than transparency on policy decisions at home.

Update: Video here.

Update: Schapelle Corby has been released. She's in this photo with the black and white plaid head covering. Some video here. Here's a picture of the media scramble as she left. She was whisked into a prison bus, where she will be taken to the prosecutor's office to be processed, a 40 minute drive, and then to the Bali Corrections Board office, a thirty minute drive, where she'll be met by her parole officer and then released.

Schappelle Corby will be released today from Bali's Keborkhan prison. The head of the prison said the release papers have arrived and she will definitely be leaving through the front door of the prison today.

The media is out in force waiting at the prison door. More than 100 police officers are on hand to ensure her safety.

9 years, 4 months and 2 days.

Boycott Bali.

Opening ceremonies for the Sochi Olympics are underway.

An attempt to hijack a Turkish plane to Sochi has failed.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Joe Biden says there is no reason he shouldn't run for President in 2016. He hasn't yet decided.

I can think of a dozen reasons, almost all related to his crime-warrior legacy.

If he runs, it will be the first time I sit out a presidential election.

Philip Seymour Hoffman's funeral was today.

According to NYC police chief Bill Bratton, his death is not a criminal investigation.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said the search for the dealer who sold Hoffman the lethal dose was continuing — although he noted it was not a criminal investigation.

“We’re dealing with a death,” Bratton said Friday. “It is, I would emphasize, not a narcotics investigation ... but rather the investigation of a death.”

Update 1:50 a.m: Schapelle Corby has been granted parole. She could be released at any time -- as soon as the prison receives written confirmation. It most likely will be Monday. More here. Here's a live video of the press conference with translation. She will have to remain in Indonesia until 2017. This is interesting: Had she not asked for or been granted parole, she could have returned to Australia in 2015 as her sentence would have expired and there would be no requirement of supervision.

Update 1:45 am: More media confirm parole was granted at what sounds like one of the most confusing press conferences ever.

Corby has got parole. Press statement clarifies that she has "fulfilled all substantive administrative requirements". Date up to prison

Update 1:35 a.m. What he said was 1,291 cases of the 1,700 have been processed. He didn't specifically say Schapelle was one of them. But reporters say his press release says she got parole. And ABC News Australia says parole was granted. [More...]

The comments to this Gawker article about the two-toilet stalls at Sochi are pretty funny. Here's a photo.

Sochi will be the most expensive Olympic games in history, coming in around $50 billion, which is $40 billion over budget.

Shaun White has dropped out of the Slopestyle. Too much risk of injury on the oddly built course. He'll still compete in the half-pipe.

"There are definitely concerns about the course," he said. "It's been interesting to see how it's developed and changed over the past couple days. The big question is if it will continue to change. Because every day, they have riders meetings and they give feedback. Sometimes there's changes, sometimes there's not."

In TV news, Hollywood week starts tonight on American Idol. The show is much improved with new Judge Harry Connick, Jr. All the judges are good this year. [More....]