Rolling Stones Magazine has decided to feature on its front page the Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev looking like a pop star.
Why? Is he a rock star? Did they actually go to the jail and set up a photo shoot?
The tagline says:
"How A Popular, Promising Student Was Failed by His Family, Fell Into Radical Islam, and Became a Monster.”
Rolling Stone's justification:
Our hearts go out to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, and our thoughts are always with them and their families. The cover story we are publishing this week falls within the traditions of journalism and Rolling Stone’s long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day. The fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is young, and in the same age group as many of our readers, makes it all the more important for us to examine the complexities of this issue and gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy like this happens. –THE EDITORS
Disgusting.
CVS pharmacy, Walgreens ad Tedeschi food shops have refused to sell this edition of the magazine.
Good on them.
Although Dias Kadyrbayez, Azamat Tazhayakova, and Robel Phillipos might not have directly had anything to do with the Boston Bombings, the fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's pals knowingly and willingly got rid of evidence makes them complicit and deserving of punishment. The two from Kazakhstan deserve some jail time and then deportation.
Fox news says that according to the FBI, the three fellow UMass-Dartmouth roomies, after discovering the Tsarnaevs were responsible:
..... allegedly went to Tsarnaev's dorm and took a laptop, the backpack and some Vaseline that may have been used in making the deadly pressure cooker bombs that killed three and injured more than 200 at the race. [snip] The affidavit filed in support of a complaint said Kadyrbayev was the one who carried out the disposal of the backpack after the three saw the fireworks that had been hollowed out and emptied of gunpowder. "Kadyrbayev knew when he saw the empty fireworks that Tsarnaev was involved in the Marathon bombing," the affidavit reads. "Kadyrbayev decided to remove the backpack from the room in order to help his friend Tsarnaev avoid trouble." The three acted on April 18, three days after the bombing and hours after investigators aired surveillance footage identifying Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan as the suspects in the bombing, though not by name, according to authorities. Phillipos first saw footage depicting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the news Thursday, and told Kadyrbayev over the phone that he suspected their friend was the bomber. When Kadyrbayev later texted Tsarnaev and said he bore a resemblance to the subject of an intense manhunt, Tsarnaev allegedly sent back a chilling response: "Lol, You better not text me." He also texted Kadyrbayev to say "Come to my room and take whatever you want," according to the affidavit.
The Kazakh boys have been charged with obstruction of justice, but I would venture to say they will more than likely be deported, since they were found to be violating their student visas by not attending classes.
I think it's time universities start taking responsibility for their foreign student population, and report any irregularities to the authorities. In fact, it's time to start regulating from which countries students can get student visas.
A Huffington Post article on the terrorist Tsarnaev brothers has some interesting details about the Chechen immigrants, and who influenced whom. It appears that the mother and Tamerlan and Dzokhar gradually became increasingly more religious in recent years. So if there were any doubts about the kids not being radicalized this should put those to rest.
From a woman who used to get facials from the mum, Zubeidat, at the Tsarnaev house:
In a blog entry, Kilzer's daughter, Alyssa, suggested that the mother became increasingly religious as their acquaintance progressed. For instance, she began wearing a hijab, the traditional Muslim headscarf.
"She started to refuse to see boys that had gone through puberty, as she had consulted a religious figure and he had told her it was sacrilegious," Alyssa Kilzer wrote. "She was often fasting. She told me that she had cried for days when her oldest son, Tamerlan, told her that he wanted to move out, going against her culture's tradition of the son staying in the house with the mother until marriage."
She said the mother also expressed some rather strident views about the U.S. government. But it was difficult to know who was influencing whom in the household.
"During this facial session she started quoting a conspiracy theory, telling me that she thought 9-11 was purposefully created by the American government to make America hate Muslims," Alyssa Kilzer wrote. "`It's real,' she said. `My son knows all about it. You can read on the internet.'"
Others discuss the change in the boys, including their uncle Ruslan Tsarni, and events that point to radicalization.
.jpg)