Things go boom

[The Johnny]

Illuminatus! II: The sequel nobody actually wanted.

[Cain]

And, as Craig Murray points out, either the FBI or the FSB or both are being uncharacteristically unparanoid in how they treated the elder brother.  So, in 2010, the FSB have decided that Tamerlane is enough of a dangerous Islamist radical to warn the Americans about him - despite the bad blood between the USA and Russia on the Chechen issue, Georgia and a whole host of other things relating to that region (namely oil and gas pipelines).

The FBI look him over in 2011 and declare him all clean.  Strange, given he was apparently radicalised online.

Then, in 2012, the Russian government apparently let him back into the country to allegedly attend a training camp with Chechen insurgents.

Seems a little...odd.

[Junkenstein]

Weird about the uncle. Wired covering the beginings of the aftermath:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/04/cult-of-tsarnaev/

Barely two days after cops apprehended Suspect #2 in the Boston Marathon bombings, supporters of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are rallying online. A flood of Twitter, Instagram and web postings are mirroring the crowdsourced effort to find the bomb culprit, except this time they're out to exonerate him. Analysts of online extremism are watching closely to see if Tsarnaev becomes a cult figure.

The #freejahar hashtag on Twitter is about what you'd expect after the most highly publicized manhunt in the country. It's a mix of conspiracy theories, sympathy for Tsarnaev and skepticism of the official narrative surrounding the 19-year-old's arrest. Much of it is consumed with an effort to crowdsource Tsarnaev's exoneration, pointing to photos from the scene and speculating about them — similar to what took place on 4chan and Reddit to hunt the bombing perpetrators.

"He's fucking innocent. If he were 'guilty', it wouldn't take this long to fucking prove it, and there would actually be evidence," says one supporter, although the government has yet to charge the incapacitated, hospitalized Tsarnaev with a crime.

@J_Tsarsupport posted a photo (warning: graphic) claiming "proof that half the 'victims' are fake" based on a suspicion that there ought to be more blood. Links to conspiracy accusations on Infowars — which disrupted an FBI press conference on Thursday — proliferate. Photos circulate purporting to show, as with this one, that the backpack containing the bomb matches one carried by a different individual. "We The Private Eye have Proven Jhar innocent an soon he will publicly be innocent ..Keep up the great job campaigners," tweeted another advocate using the hashtag #TroyCrossleyTruth. Compressing the cycle of accusation and refutation online, the hashtag is already getting trolled

[P3nT4gR4m]

Exhaled a cup of coffee, down my nose this morning when the bbc news informed me that Tsarnaev was being charged with using WMD's

[Lenin McCarthy]

Well, charging someone for using shitty kitchen-made bombs sounds much less dramatic.

[Cain]

Weird about the uncle. Wired covering the beginings of the aftermath:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/04/cult-of-tsarnaev/

Barely two days after cops apprehended Suspect #2 in the Boston Marathon bombings, supporters of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are rallying online. A flood of Twitter, Instagram and web postings are mirroring the crowdsourced effort to find the bomb culprit, except this time they're out to exonerate him. Analysts of online extremism are watching closely to see if Tsarnaev becomes a cult figure.

The #freejahar hashtag on Twitter is about what you'd expect after the most highly publicized manhunt in the country. It's a mix of conspiracy theories, sympathy for Tsarnaev and skepticism of the official narrative surrounding the 19-year-old's arrest. Much of it is consumed with an effort to crowdsource Tsarnaev's exoneration, pointing to photos from the scene and speculating about them — similar to what took place on 4chan and Reddit to hunt the bombing perpetrators.

"He's fucking innocent. If he were 'guilty', it wouldn't take this long to fucking prove it, and there would actually be evidence," says one supporter, although the government has yet to charge the incapacitated, hospitalized Tsarnaev with a crime.

@J_Tsarsupport posted a photo (warning: graphic) claiming "proof that half the 'victims' are fake" based on a suspicion that there ought to be more blood. Links to conspiracy accusations on Infowars — which disrupted an FBI press conference on Thursday — proliferate. Photos circulate purporting to show, as with this one, that the backpack containing the bomb matches one carried by a different individual. "We The Private Eye have Proven Jhar innocent an soon he will publicly be innocent ..Keep up the great job campaigners," tweeted another advocate using the hashtag #TroyCrossleyTruth. Compressing the cycle of accusation and refutation online, the hashtag is already getting trolled

Sounds odd to me.  Even given the inconsistencies surrounding the background of the brothers, it seems almost certain they were the bombers.  It's their motivations and affiliations that are suspect, not their involvement in the bombing.

And what is so compelling about Tsarnaev as a cult figure of sympathy?

[Junkenstein]

I think it comes down to young-ish, white-ish, lived out fantasies that the "admirers" wish they had the balls to do themselves.

In this age, I suspect that you could arrest someone while they are still holding the bloody knife above the corpse screaming "I'm not even sorry!" and there would still be those who defend the person.

Best I've got.

[LMNO]

And then there's this...
http://gawker.com/amanda-palmers-a-poem-for-dzhokhar-is-the-worst-poem-476820444

This weekend... an actual crime against humanity was being ignored: Musician Amanda Palmer was writing the worst poem ever composed in the English language, "A Poem for Dzhokhar."

[Suu]

I think it comes down to young-ish, white-ish, lived out fantasies that the "admirers" wish they had the balls to do themselves.

In this age, I suspect that you could arrest someone while they are still holding the bloody knife above the corpse screaming "I'm not even sorry!" and there would still be those who defend the person.

Best I've got.

Sounds like a lot of it is a state of shock and disbelief from his friends and family. It sounds like the younger of the two was doing quite alright for himself, so now people have to get past the, "He's such a nice guy!" phase. Then again, there are still people who think Charlie Manson is innocent, so let's not go there.

And then there's this...
http://gawker.com/amanda-palmers-a-poem-for-dzhokhar-is-the-worst-poem-476820444

This weekend... an actual crime against humanity was being ignored: Musician Amanda Palmer was writing the worst poem ever composed in the English language, "A Poem for Dzhokhar."

Yeah well...It's Amanda Palmer.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

So....

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/23/17873250-muslims-helped-foil-alleged-canada-train-bomb-plot?lite

[The Good Reverend Roger]

And then there's this...
http://gawker.com/amanda-palmers-a-poem-for-dzhokhar-is-the-worst-poem-476820444

This weekend... an actual crime against humanity was being ignored: Musician Amanda Palmer was writing the worst poem ever composed in the English language, "A Poem for Dzhokhar."

Blocked.   

[Cain]

Its the lyrical equivalent of this

[The Johnny]

And then there's this...
http://gawker.com/amanda-palmers-a-poem-for-dzhokhar-is-the-worst-poem-476820444

This weekend... an actual crime against humanity was being ignored: Musician Amanda Palmer was writing the worst poem ever composed in the English language, "A Poem for Dzhokhar."

Blocked.   

    you don't know how it felt to be in the womb but it must have been at least a little warmer than this.

    you don't know how intimately they're recording your every move on closed-circuit cameras until you see your face reflected back at you through through the pulp.

    you don't know how to stop picking at your fingers.

    you don't know how little you've been paying attention until you look down at your legs again.

    you don't know how many times you can say you're coming until they just stop believing you.

    you don't know how orgasmic the act of taking in a lungful of oxygen is until they hold your head under the water.

=/

[The Good Reverend Roger]

And then there's this...
http://gawker.com/amanda-palmers-a-poem-for-dzhokhar-is-the-worst-poem-476820444

This weekend... an actual crime against humanity was being ignored: Musician Amanda Palmer was writing the worst poem ever composed in the English language, "A Poem for Dzhokhar."

Blocked.   

    you don't know how it felt to be in the womb but it must have been at least a little warmer than this.

    you don't know how intimately they're recording your every move on closed-circuit cameras until you see your face reflected back at you through through the pulp.

    you don't know how to stop picking at your fingers.

    you don't know how little you've been paying attention until you look down at your legs again.

    you don't know how many times you can say you're coming until they just stop believing you.

    you don't know how orgasmic the act of taking in a lungful of oxygen is until they hold your head under the water.

=/

It's awful, but I think James MacGonnagal's title is safe.

[The Johnny]

I've never quite liked or disliked her before this, but now... being controversial just for the sake of attention is just disgusting.