As I wrote here, there are statistics for the yearly number of Muslim-American terror arrests in the U.S. and they have been declining, not rising.

The statistics are compiled every year by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy.

I was just re-reading the report for 2012 published in February, 2013, in which there were 9 plots (14 arrests), and was struck by the role of the FBI in the arrests. We all knew the FBI is fond of stings, but the details are telling: [More...]

I have been complaining forever about news sites that auto-play their annoying videos when you click on an article. The problem has become more pronounced in recent months, apparently because videos are a huge money-maker for news sites (apparently young people prefer watching them to reading.)

Finally, I found a way around them and it's easy in all browsers.

Firefox:

• Type "about:config" into your URL bar.
• A warning will come up - dismiss it
• An alphabetical list will come up of various processes. Scroll down to "plugins.click_to_play". Right click on it and choose "toggle." Restart Firefox.

That's it. the next time an article with a video comes up, it will look like like the one below. If you want to watch it, just click on it. [More...]

So much for the Boston Police' public speculation that Dzhokar Tsarneav may have shot himself in the neck in a suicide attempt -- and their claim the gunfire battle occuring at the boat was two-way.

Officials now say Dzhokar was unarmed when he was captured. No gun was found on or around the boat.

Two U.S. officials say Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect, was unarmed when police captured him hiding inside a boat in a neighborhood back yard. Authorities originally said they had exchanged gunfire with Dzhokhar for more than one hour Friday evening before they were able to subdue him.

Interesting that instead of this being the headline, CBS has a headline referring to a speculative claim by police in the article that Tamerlan may have financed the venture with marijuana sales. No support for is given other than Tamerlan was unemployed.

According to his wife, he was the stay at home dad while she worked 60 to 80 hours a week. That's hardly evidence of drug dealing. [More...]

Yesterday I mentioned a doozy of an indictment against 13 prison guards in Baltimore that sounded like a plot from the Wire. It's really more like a soap opera.

Here is the FBI press release. All of the charged guards are female. Four were impregnated at the jail by the same imprisoned alleged gang leader -- one of them twice.

Correctional Officers Smuggled in Cell Phones and Drugs and were “in Bed” with BGF Inmates; Surprise Searches Conducted by Federal Agents and Trusted Officers from Outside Baltimore

In addition to the 13 guards, 12 jailed inmates and/or their associates are charged in the huge RICO indictment. It took 170 agents to arrest them and execute related search warrants. [More...]

Via CNET:

Senior Obama administration officials have secretly authorized the interception of communications carried on portions of networks operated by AT&T and other Internet service providers, a practice that might otherwise be illegal under federal wiretapping laws.

The secret legal authorization from the Justice Department originally applied to a cybersecurity pilot project in which the military monitored defense contractors' Internet links. Since then, however, the program has been expanded by President Obama to cover all critical infrastructure sectors including energy, healthcare, and finance starting June 12.

EPIC obtained the documents though an FOIA lawsuit.

18 year old Abdella Tounisi is the latest terror sting victim of the FBI. He is a U.S. citizen and a college student. His parents are Jordanian. He's now in federal detention in Chicago charged with providing material support to a terrorist group. The material support he allegedly was willing to provide was personnel -- himself.

He isn't charged with planning anything in the U.S. -- he had decided to go to Syria and fight with jihadists there. The FBI caught him by setting up a pretend Islamic terror recruiting website. He fell for the bait. During their online communications, Tounisi told the FBI he was very physically very small and had no fighting experience. He also told them he had no contacts in Syria. The FBI assured him his size didn't matter, they would train him, and then instructed him on how to make flight arrangements to Turkey. It even sent him a bus ticket for the next leg of his journey. He was arrested at O'Hare after checking in for his flight to Turkey.

According to the Complaint, the FBI monitored his google searches, the You Tube videos he watched, his IP address log-ins, and e-mails. In a later filing, the Government filed a notice it will be relying on FISA evidence. [More...]

The law enforcement leaks are over the top. It is inexcusable that the FBI or law enforcement officials with whom they shared information are leaking details of a purported confession by Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

The Washington Post has more leaks. Among the unnamed sources cited: A senior law enforcement official; a U.S. counter-terrorism official; "a U.S. official who has been briefed on the interrogation and who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing"; and a U.S. intelligence official. [More...]

I spent all day writing my outline on social media dangers and opportunities in criminal cases for the NORML Aspen Legal Seminar next month and am just catching up on the news.

Coincidentally, I see that two big stories today are the release of the Ricin suspect:

Attorney Christi McCoy said her client has been framed by someone who used several phrases Curtis likes to use on social media.

“I do believe that someone who was familiar and is familiar with Kevin just simply took his personal Paul Kevin Curtis: Ricin Letter-Writing Suspect Released on Bond information and did this to him,” McCoy told CNN. “It is absolutely horrific that someone would do this.”

Longer article here.

And someone hacked Twitter sending the Dow plunging for a while. [More...]

It's another Champion's Leage Day, as the semifinals commence with the first leg of a Battle of the Titans: Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich.

The big question: Is Messi healthy? Without him. Barca has looked pedestrian. Bayern has looked tremendous all season (and the rich get richer as Bayern buys their German rival Dortmund's best player, Mario Goetze.)

I took Bayern to qualify (12 units at +140), but I fear Messi.

Tomorrow it's Dortmund vs. Real Madrid.

Open Thread.

R.I.P. Richie Havens.

Federal defenders in Tsarnaev's case filed a motion this afternoon asking that two experienced death penalty lawyers be appointed as co-counsel with them. Federal law provides that in any case with the potential for the death penalty, the defendant is entitled to "learned counsel". Here's the motion. They cite the Jared Loughner and Eric Rudolph cases. Judy Clarke's phone must be ringing off the hook. (She represented both Loughner and Rudolph as well as the Unabomber -- and was also part of Zacarias Moussaoui's team.) If she'd agree, it would be the biggest break Tsarnaev could hope for. When it comes to saving a life, there's no one better. The New York Times had this profile of Judy in 2011 during her representation of Loughner. [More...]

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was charged by federal complaint yesterday and advised of his rights today at the hospital by U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler.

The judge ordered him removed from the custody of the FBI and into the custody of the U.S. Marshals. He was represented by Assistant Federal Defender William Fick. Also to be representing him: Attorneys Conrad and Watkins.

He has been charged with two counts (Complaint here):

• Destruction 18 U.S.C. s 844(i): Malicious Destruction of Property Resulting in Death
• 18 U.S.C. s 2332a(a): Use of a Weapon of Mass Destruction

The 10 page Affidavit with probable cause for the charges is here. From the court minutes on PACER: [More...]

Recommended reading: 10 Essential Points about the Boston Marathon bombers, Islam, and America

Chechnya is a fairly remote region. There are few people on TV with actual expertise about Chechnya. Most of these “instant experts” go to Wikipedia to get their information. Because of the 24-hour news media, we now have created a cult of instant experts who need to be able to fill the airways now about Iraq, now about Afghanistan, now about Chechnya, without necessarily having set foot on these places, knowing their languages, their history, or spoken with their peoples. Complex geo-political realities are collapsed into cliché tropes of “jihad” and “terrorism.”

....Here is one simple revelation: Read the Wikipedia page on Chechnya, and then see how many of its phrases show up in the sound bites of these instant experts.

[More...]