Boston Bomber Blogger Baiting?

On one hand, I don't think that what the Tsarnaevs believed even remotely is more important than what they did--which was an act of murder, mutilation, and terror that would easily serve to discredit the value of anything else that they could possibly have meant to say by their actions. On the other hand, I do wonder how they came to their murderous point of view. Which is why this does seem kind of interesting, but only raises more questions:

The programme discovered that Tamerlan Tsarnaev possessed articles which argued that both 9/11 and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing were government conspiracies. 

Another in his possession was about "the rape of our gun rights". 

Reading material he had about white supremacy commented that "Hitler had a point". 

Tamerlan Tsarnaev also had literature which explored what motivated mass killings and noted how the perpetrators murdered and maimed calmly. 

There was also material about US drones killing civilians, and about the plight of those still imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay.

I'm kind of weird--I "possess" some right-wing conspiracy literature from time to time myself, but I doubt anyone would necessarily suppose I believe or endorse it, I...guess. Maybe it would be different if I snapped out and decided to kill and.or maim a bunch of people. The possession of white supremicist material and the stuff looking for motivations of other mass killers though. kind of looks like they might have been psyching themselves up. I don't know. Maybe if one wants to kill a bunch of people, and doesn't have any one good reason, looking for a bunch of shitty reasons does just as well.

Sometimes I do wonder if there are people who start off fucked up, and then fill in their justifications. But I don't know that an article like this necessarily "proves" any particular affinity, you know?  And I definitely don't think that having any particular political point of view even remotely makes the tools they used understandable. The main thing I take away from what they did is they had hate in them. And ultimately, the "whys" lose their shape in the enormity of their actions.

If they had a message--they could have started a fucking blog, or something. Otherwise, they were just sick fucks. Although maybe Dzhokar can be prison pen pals with Anders Breivik. And I still wonder what the fuck is wrong with people.

PSA: Don't Be a Terrorist "Shovel Buddy"

It should hardly need to be said, but this sort of thing is a Very Bad Idea:

The events that ensued led to federal charges filed Wednesday against Tazhayakov, Kadyrbayev, and a third friend, Robel Phillipos, who also attended UMass-Darthmouth. They have not been accused of participating in the bombing. Instead, Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev, who have been in custody since being arrested April 20 on immigration violations, were charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice for knowingly destroying, concealing, and covering up objects belonging to Tsarnaev, namely a backpack containing fireworks and a laptop computer. Phillipos, meanwhile, was charged with making false statements in a terrorism investigation. 

An affidavit written in support of the complaints against the three men by FBI special agent Scott Cieplik provided summaries of what the three men told investigators in numerous interviews last month. It also offered a glimpse of Tsarnaev’s actions in the days between the bombing and his April 19 apprehension. The accounts given by the three men differ at various points, especially on questions of timing, but, according to the affidavit, all three admitted to investigators that on the night of April 18 they removed Tsarnaev’s backpack from Tsarnaev’s dorm room, and Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov further admitted that they agreed to get rid of the backpack “after concluding from news reports that Tsarnaev was one of the Boston Marathon bombers.”

Seriously. If an emergency should ever befall one of your buds, there is some honor in, perhaps, deep-sixing his spank bank or flushing his stash--but honestly? If said friend is suspected of being a terrorist and you don't find this implausible--this would be where "see something" should equal "say something".

And now you know!

The Terror and the Humanity

 There isn't much I can say just yet about the horror that occured today in Boston, except to point out that in this short clip you see the example of the worst people can do to one another, in the form of the blast that spilled so much blood, and the best of humanity in those who rush to help those who had been injured, throwing aside the fencing to make it easier for emergency aid to get to them.

Otherwise, I'm pretty well sickened by what certainly looks like devices planned to cause the most amount of carnage, and I absolutely wouldn't speculate about who would do such a thing. I understand the nature of people to see things (conspiracies, blame) in events like this--we are reasoning beings, and we want events to make sense. The more horrific an act, the more we want to make sense of it, so that we can feel that the world is not a senseless place. But even if it's an understandable response, it isn't helpful, and I've read a share and a half of nonsense today, already. So at least I won't add to it.