Genuine Humanity in Boston

On the way to the little village of Lisnice, CZ...in the Land of Oz

This is what decency and common humanity look like - in this insightful, compassionate look at Boston 'Bomber' Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Heather is a defense attorney's daughter and she is already preparing a follow up posting on the grounds for an appeal.

Yesterday, I Saw the Boston Marathon Bomber

April 23, 2015 § 14 Comments

I stood mere feet from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

I don’t mean the fateful day of the 2013 Boston Marathon; I had the good luck to be outside the city on that day. Or any time previously, although we apparently traveled in similar circles: he lived in Cambridge; I worked there and lived nearby for awhile. I had a friend at UMass Dartmouth, where he was going to college. I teach at the community college his brother attended, the college he probably would have gone to after flunking out of UMass Dartmouth, if circumstances had been different. I often think of the times I may have passed him on the street in Central Square over the years, just another mop-headed teen I never looked too closely at.

I saw him yesterday, in person, in the courtroom.

Read the full article here at her blog Helter Skelter in a Summer Swelter

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The Confused Citizen's Guide to the Boston Marathon Bombings

Just posted this at my new blog, Prague Noir: Ruminations of a Crime Novelist. 

In response to requests from friends and students (and with hope in my heart and a prayer for justice), I've compiled this short summary of the competing narratives surrounding the Boston Marathon Bombing of April 13, 2015. The subject is grim, but through such terrible ordeals we are given a glimpse of human nature at it's best, not only its worst.

Links to detailed resources (which avoid the more extreme theories) will follow, so for simplicity's sake I must skip many details and I can't corroborate every assertion I make. Interested readers can follow up. I'm not interested in making an argument, simply providing another prism through which the events of those days can be viewed - since the MSM and the defense team of the present trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have failed to do so. Yes, his defense lawyer said 'he did it,' more about that calculated, expedient gamble later.

The basics: two bombs exploded near the finish line of the marathon, killing four and wounding some 260 others, including those who reported minor injuries such as hearing loss as late as two weeks later.

Within several hours of the bombings, police officials announced that they had CCTV footage from the department store across the street from the 2nd bombing site of an individual laying down a black duffel bag or holdall bag near the metal barricades and then leaving the scene (an hour before principal suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, arrived on the scene). They assured the public they were following this lead vigorously, and they asked the public for any information about individuals dragging large black bags on that day. This bag can be seen in numerous photos taken from across the street.

Read the full posting here at Prague Noir

Martin Richards, the youngest victim of the Boston Marathon Bombings

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