Dzhokhar Tsarnaev just got the biggest gift of his life -- Judy Clarke has been appointed by the court to represent him along with the Federal Defenders.

Among the lives Judy has helped save: Jared Loughner, Eric Rudolph, Susan Smith, and Ted Kaczinski.

I wrote a week ago that her phone must be ringing off the hook, and I'm so glad she accepted the appointment. There is no one more suited for the task and more capable. More on Judy here and here.

Tsarnaev has become the new poster child for "the worst of the worst." If anyone can gain his trust to be able to provide him an effective defense and save his life, it's Judy.

Judy rarely talks to the media but last week, she was the keynote speaker at a Loyola Law School conference, and spoke a little bit about being a death defense lawyer.

Excellent read: BMaz at Empty Wheel, Tsarnaev: Right to Counsel, not Miranda, is the Key.

NBA star Jason Collins announces he's gay.

Ricin suspect J. Everett Dutschke appears in court.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Long-time Colorado concert promoter Barry Fey has died. He was a local legend. From Ebbets Field to Mile High Stadium to Red Rocks, Barry Fey defined Colorado concerts. No one came close to matching his three decades of bringing the biggest groups to Denver. He was also quite a colorful character.

The past few years weren't great for him, health-wise or financially. He was recovering from a difficult hip replacement surgery last month. Sources say he took his own life.

Hunter Thompson also couldn't get past difficult hip replacement surgery. In his last note, written to his wife Anita four days before he took his own life, he wrote:

"No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun — for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax — This won't hurt."

R.I.P. Barry Fey. Your legacy in Denver lives on.

Misha has come forward. He is Mikhail Allakhverdov, 39 years old and lives in Rhode Island. Christian Caryl interviewed him and his family today.

He confirmed he was a convert to Islam and that he had known Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but he flatly denied any part in the bombings. “I wasn’t his teacher. If I had been his teacher, I would have made sure he never did anything like this,” Allakhverdov said.

Misha says he's cooperated with the FBI and they are going to close the case on him. He also said he's never met the Tsarnaev relatives accusing him of radicalized Tamerlan. [More....]

John Collauti, the public relations spokesman for the Federal Medical Center at Devens, says Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is in segregation in a small cell with a steel door that allows food to be passed through and prison officials to watch him.

Collauti said in a telephone interview that Tsarnaev is in secure housing where authorities can monitor him. His cell has a solid steel door with an observation window and a slot for passing food and medication.....[M]edical workers making rounds each shift monitor the inmates. He said guards also keep an eye on some cells with video cameras.

Also, inmates in the more restrictive section do not have access to TVs or radios, but can read books and other materials, he said.

In other words, he's in the hole. [More...]

President Obama is about to take the stage at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Michelle looks great as usual.

Big Media blew a lot of stories this year, especially in the early reporting days of major events -- like Adam Lanza and the Boston bomb suspect. They are like a big echo chamber, with too many of them citing each other instead of doing original reporting.

Nevertheless, tonight's their night, and I'll probably watch some of it. Is anyone else here watching?

Ezra Klein writes:

The Democrats have lost on sequestration

The Democrats have lost on sequestration. That’s the simple reality of Friday’s vote to ease the pain for the Federal Aviation Administration. By assenting to it, Democrats have agreed to sequestration for the foreseeable future.

This is a curious conclusion. After all, the deal is to restore $253 million to the FAA, relative chump change in terms of the federal budget. Is this really the moment Democrat "lost" on sequestration? Not really. Ezra writes:

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been moved from the hospital to BOP's medical prison at Fort Devens. Here's an interesting overview of the facility from a brochure seeking psychology interns.

The New York Times has transcribed the interview his parents gave yesterday in Makhachkala, Russia.

Authorities now say the carjacking did not happen in Cambridge, but across the river in Allston. Also, they have been searching the Crapo Hill Landfill in New Bedford, perhaps for a computer.

The Senate Judiciary Committee today passed a bill, originally proposed by Sen. Patrick Leahy, that would amend the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and require law enforcement to get a search warrant for emails that have been in electronic storage for more than 180 days. (A search warrant is currently required for emails in storage less than 180 days.)

Here is a copy of the bill.

Contrary to Republican disinformation, it would not affect terror cases, since there a provision that explicitly excludes FISA. [More...]

Busy work day. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

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...]