Free Republic

The man convicted and sentenced to death for carrying out the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 is fighting to keep federal prosecutors from seizing the funds he has accumulated in his prison canteen account. The Boston Herald reported an attorney for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 30, filed an appeal seeking to stop the feds in Boston from taking the $4,200-plus in Tsarnaev's account,

[Make sure to read Robert Spencer’s contributions in Jamie Glazov’s new book: Barack Obama’s True Legacy: How He Transformed America.]Many people are seeing the war between Israel and Hamas as an apocalyptic showdown between good and evil, and there is good reason to see it that way. And as has so often been the case, Donald Trump enunciated what many others were thinking but didn’t dare to say.Trump: “The fight between Israel and Hamas is between civilization and savagery, between good and evil. There is no comparison between a group that worships death and a group that cherishes life. Every...

MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) -- The father of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing claims that his son who is still on the loose is a smart and accomplished young man. Anzor Tsarnaev spoke with The Associated Press by telephone from the Russian city of Makhachkala on Friday after police said one of his sons, 26-year-old Tamerlan, had been killed in a shootout and the other, Dzhokhar, was being intensely pursued. "My son is a true angel," the elder Tsarnaev said. "Dzhokhar is a second-year medical student in the U.S. He is such an intelligent boy. We expected him to...

The New York Times's David Herszenhorn on Friday wrote up a bizarre new conference held by the parents of the Boston Marathon bombers in the Russian Republic of Dagestan, where they have lived for the past year: "Parents Deny Son's Guilt And Accuse U.S. of Plot." It's puzzling why Herszenhorn chose such a credulous tone to the conspiratorial rants of the bombers' mother Zubeidat Tsarnaeva (The Washington Post made do with a brief mention at the very end of a related story on Friday). The parents of the two brothers accused in the bomb attack that killed three people and...

Full title: "As FBI investigates Vegas attack, remember its FAILED investigations of Orlando jihadi mass murderer, Boston bombers, Garland jihadis, Boston beheaders" If previous FBI history of jihad terror investigations is any indication, it’s that they are incompetent or complicit. Whatever their motives, they are deeply compromised, and clearly the worst agency to lead this Vegas investigation. The Orlando jihadi who opened fire on gay nightclub revelers at the Pulse Nightclub called 911 during the attack and pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State. The FBI investigated the Orlando mass shooter for 10 months and found nothing. The FBI was...

Introducing CNN This Morning's segment today on the 10th anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing, co-host Poppy Harlow said: "This is a day to not forget. To never forget what happened." Except that CNN did "forget" to mention a central fact about "what happened" that day! The attack, which resulted in the deaths of five people and injured hundreds, was perpetrated by two Chechen jihadi terrorist brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Their family entered the United States on a tourist visa, was eventually granted asylum and received welfare benefits for many years. Ilhan Omar infamously described 9/11 as "some people...

The father of a Chechen man shot to death by authorities in Florida while being questioned in the Boston Marathon bombing investigation has written to President Barack Obama asking for help finding out what happened. Abdulbaki Todashev wrote in a letter released Monday that son Ibragim Todashev knew dead marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, through boxing but had no connection to the bombing or any other crime. He said his son voluntarily went to an FBI office in Orlando to speak with agents four times before they showed up at his apartment on May 22....

The U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty sentence imposed on Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The death sentence had been tossed out earlier by a federal appeals court. “Dzhokhar Tsarnaev committed heinous crimes,” Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the majority opinion. The Supreme Court on Friday reinstated the death penalty sentence imposed on Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, reversing a lower federal appeals court ruling that had voided that punishment. In its 6-3 ruling, the high court rejected arguments by Tsarnaev’s lawyers that his trial judge erred in barring certain questions to prospective jurors, and in blocking...

Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has reportedly sued the federal government for $250,000 over his treatment at a Colorado prison where he is currently serving a life sentence. The lawsuit specifically cites in part the allegation that prison guards took his hat and bandana away while restricting his use of showers, something Tsarnaev asserts is contributing to his anxiety. The Boston Herald reports that Tsarnaev “specifically cites the confiscation of his white baseball cap and bandana that he purchased at the prison commissary and not being able to take more showers.” The report notes that Tsarnaev claims “the harsh treatment...

If you happen to be an aspiring domestic terrorist, particularly in or around Boston, with a hankering to blow up a marathon or some other large, public event, it’s been a pretty good week for you. First we learned that Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s death penalty sentence has been revoked. (At least temporarily.) And now we find out that the elite Boston Transit SWAT team that was widely celebrated for bringing Tsarnaev to justice has been unceremoniously disbanded. Officers assigned to the highly-trained unit were told to turn in their special equipment and return to more regular duty. (CBS...

A man who lost his leg in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing ripped the decision of an appellate court Friday to toss the the death sentence and overturn three of the convictions of terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. “It’s ridiculous,” Marc Fucarile said when asked about the ruling on the local Boston WEEI radio show “Ordway, Merloni and Fauria.” Fucarile — who lost his right leg during the second of two finish-line explosions that killed three and left more than 260 wounded in April 2013 — said the case should be clear cut. “The guy did this. Put him to rest,” Fucarile...

BOSTON (CBS/AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday overturned the death sentence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the man convicted in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. The three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston issued the decision more than six months after arguments were heard in the case. The April 15, 2013, attack killed three people and injured more than 260 others.

The death sentence for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was behind the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing, was overturned by a federal appeals court on Friday. The decision was made by a three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after they concluded that the judge who oversaw the case did not properly screen jurors for biases. The panel ordered a new trial to see whether the 27-year-old terrorist should be executed. “But make no mistake: Dzhokhar will spend his remaining days locked up in prison, with the only matter remaining being whether he will die by execution,” the judges stated. U.S. Circuit Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson wrote in...

Former Gov. Michael Dukakis says a Cambridge man facing five years in federal prison for repeatedly lying to the FBI about his pal Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is “a fine young man” who “could have a great future in public service.” Dukakis went to bat for Robel Kidane Phillipos, 21, in a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock ahead of Phillipos’ sentencing today for making false statements to the FBI in its investigation of the Boston Marathon bombings. Prosecutors want five years. Phillipos and Tsarnaev, both 21, grew up together in Cambridge and were classmates at the University of...

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris says she owns a gun and called it a “false choice” that the only two gun control options are complete, unrestricted access or a desire to seize everyone’s guns. The senator from California told reporters after a campaign event in Iowa that she is a gun owner. She says, “I own a gun for probably the reason that a lot of people do: for personal safety.” …

I have long had very little regard for the abilities of Kamala Harris. She entered politics on her back, as the mistress of Willie Brown, a man decades older, and ran for office more on the basis of her good looks and enticing and exotic intersectional cred as mixed race child of  black (from a Jamaican, not African-American) father and an Indian (South Asian, not Native American) father. He performance in office, from her work as an assistant DA in Oakland on through California AG and her brief tenure as a US Senator has not been impressive. But now...

For cripes sake, if you’re going to waffle your way through an answer to this question, at least serve up a tastier waffle than a trite, vaguely condescending dismissal about having a national “conversation.” In fact, don’t waffle at all: You should be able to formulate a firm position on whether incarcerated felons should retain their voting rights or not. Join Team Bernie in the conviction that voting is a sacred privilege of citizenship and prisoners remain citizens no matter how evil their actions. Or join Team Buttigieg in the belief that choosing to plant bombs in a crowd...

In the "who had the craziest left-wing proposal" sweepstakes, Bernie Sanders certainly emerged as the winner from CNN's marathon back-to-back town halls last night, featuring five of the Dem presidential candidates. His notion that not merely former felons but ones currently incarcerated — including the Boston Marathon bomber — should be allowed to vote definitely sounds like a winner. As to who was the biggest loser, this morning's New Day panel pointed to Kamala Harris. The California senator was singled out for failing to take definitive positions on a number of issues, resorting too often to the "let's have a...

Music superstar Cher hit back at 2020 Democratic frontrunner Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday after he argued that criminals serving time in prison, including the Boston Marathon bomber, should be able to vote. During a CNN town hall on Monday night, Sanders was asked by a Harvard student if he supports “enfranchising people” like Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whom she noted was a “convicted terrorist and murderer,” as well as “those convicted of sexual assault.” Sanders said he wanted a “vibrant democracy” with a “higher voter turnout.” He argued that despite being in prison for any crime, “everybody can...

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) argued Monday that all prisoners, including domestic terrorists like the Boston Marathon bomber, should have the right to vote while they are incarcerated. Speaking at a CNN town hall, Sanders was asked if he believes the right to vote should extend to serious criminals, such as Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is in prison and has been sentenced to death. “If somebody commits a serious crime, sexual assault, murder, they’re going to be punished,” Sanders said. “They may be in jail 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, their whole life. That’s what happens when...