Explosions at Boston Marathon

[JonInMiddleGA]

Good read, if rather sad, about the MIT officer that was murdered during the Boston manhunt. ESPN did the piece because the officer's brother works for one of the NASCAR teams.

NASCAR - Door-to-Door - Andrew Collier proud of his late brother Sean - ESPN

[JonInMiddleGA]

Possibly interesting development from Orlando, FL this morning.

My Way News - FBI: Man fatally shot in Boston bombing probe

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Possibly interesting development from Orlando, FL this morning.

My Way News - FBI: Man fatally shot in Boston bombing probe

Sounds like one less asshole to worry about in this world.

At what point when being questioned by the FBI does attacking the guys with guns become a good idea?

[molson]

The upside for Todashev is that he now has the distinction of "retiring" as an undefeated MMA fighter.

Ibragim Todashev MMA Stats, Pictures, News, Videos, Biography - Sherdog.com

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Boston's fire chief resigns amid criticism over handling of bombing | Fox News

[Coffee Warlord]

Noted a couple weeks ago a friend of mine's brother (FBI hostage rescue operator) died in a fast-rope training accident. Turns out he was involved in apprehending these guys.

10 years in the FBI, 5 years on the hostage rescue team, two stints in Afghanistan attached to an Army unit, and winds up dying in a training accident. Rather depressing.

[Matthean]

Article about the guy who was in the wheel chair with his legs essential blown off.

Beyond the Finish Line - NYTimes.com

[Dutch]

The New Rolling Stone magazine is out.

[Lathum]

Seeing all the coverage on CNN today just makes me angry at what happend.

[stevew]

The Rock Center with Brian Williams about the Manhunt for the bombers was pretty good. Dunno if it's on Hulu or not but it was interesting.

[Edward64]

Its pretty obvious to me he was influenced by his brother and there are probably upbringing issues etc. I'm all for the death penalty but my bet is he'll get life.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/08/us/tsa...nse/index.html

Boston (CNN)—We are reaching the final stretch of the capital trial of the Boston Marathon bomber, and he is going out with more of a whimper than a bang.

We've heard a lot of family drama and seen photos of an adorable little boy and chick-magnet teen.

But we are no closer to understanding what transformed this boy into a terrorist. All the defense case has amounted to is a two-week special edition of "This Is Your Life." We got to know about him but we never really got to know him.

At this point, it is difficult to hate Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. It would be easier to hate his older brother, Tamerlan, if he were still alive. But it also is hard to care about the kid brother everybody calls Jahar. And someone is going to have to care about him if his life is to be saved.

It just takes one juror to spare him.

[jeff061]

I don't understand why it's relevant at all. Everyone as sick as he is is influenced greatly by something or someone.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by jeff061

I don't understand why it's relevant at all. Everyone as sick as he is is influenced greatly by something or someone.

Agreed, the lesson here should be YOU are responsible for YOUR actions. I'm okay with somebody saying on the record that he was terribly influenced and may God have mercy on his soul, but other than that...unless we can get confirmation that the people who died are cool with it, I say he give him the death penalty.

[Kodos]

Fry him.

[jeff061]

I just don't want to pay for his food and lodging. He certainly can't be freed. So remove him from this world. No one should have to take on his burden.

[SteveMax58]

Originally Posted by jeff061

I don't understand why it's relevant at all. Everyone as sick as he is is influenced greatly by something or someone.

Thats where I am on these things as well. Of course any person is influenced by their upbringing and social structures. Does it really matter if that person's dysfunctional life produced murder at 17, 28, or 55 years old?

I guess it comes down to what you view the rationale of the death penalty to be (if you are not completely against it). And I see it as a continuum of punishment vs risk-avoidance (and certainly a degree of both would be expected for pro-death penalty advocates). I fall in the risk-avoidance camp more.

So when we say that somebody needs to be killed via the death penalty, rather than live in a box forever, we're saying they are irreparably broken as a human in my view. Or at least thats the way I think application of the death penalty should be. The individual cannot be trusted to ever function properly around other people, no matter what we do to rehabilitate them.

Thus my perspective on the death penalty is that it is only in the most extreme cases but more & more I think psychology will begin unraveling the human mind to where we'll someday be capable of reverse engineering brain function that produces completely abhorrent behavior. A bit scary in one sense if in the wrong hands, but perhaps the potential to eradicate violent crime will make it worthwhile. It would also lead to a myriad of ethical debates as well, including whether a "re-engineered" mind should be sent to prison if the threat of repeating crime can be determined to be provably near-zero. Anyway...sidebar topic but I do find it interesting to consider.

[RainMaker]

He wasn't completely sheltered from the world. I mean the guy lived in the dorms in college, had friends there, had a social life outside his brother. Obviously he was influenced but he had plenty of opportunities in life to see the world from other perspectives.

[Lathum]

Death by lethal injection. That's too good for him.

[Kodos]

Good enough.

Although the Mance Rayder treatment would be better.

[NobodyHere]

Normally I disagree with the death penalty. So I disagree with the sentence.

[Lathum]

They should cut his legs off and let him bleed out.

[BillJasper]

Should've put him in prison for six or seven decades. Lethal injection is the easy way out.

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

Should've put him in prison for six or seven decades. Lethal injection is the easy way out.

He'll be there for half that anyway won't he?

[jeff061]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

Should've put him in prison for six or seven decades. Lethal injection is the easy way out.

Don't want to pay for his food, lodging and security. Shuffle him off the planet. Don't care if it's better or worse than death.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by jeff061

Don't want to pay for his food, lodging and security. Shuffle him off the planet. Don't care if it's better or worse than death.

Even though all the appeals and whatnot will end up costing more than his food, lodging, and security on Death Row?

As I'm morally opposed to the death penalty in all cases, the cost doesn't come into it for me... but if it does for some, the cost of life in prison is less than on death row.

[BillJasper]

Sometimes you have to show that you're better than evil people trying to destroy your way of life. Here? Death will just bring on more death.

[ISiddiqui]

Especially if the dude wants to ultimately be a martyr.

[Chief Rum]

He deliberately stopped the breath of a large number of people, who didn't get the chance to say goodbye to their lived ones or to live out their lives and give the world the further benefit of their existences. Every breath he takes is one more that he no longer has the right to have.

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

He deliberately stopped the breath of a large number of people, who didn't get the chance to say goodbye to their lived ones or to live out their lives and give the world the further benefit of their existences. Every breath he takes is one more that he no longer has the right to have.

If killing him would bring those people back, I'd volunteer to pull the trigger myself. But his death does nothing but continues to give the U.S. a black eye world over and does nothing to solve the issues that lead to people like him to begin with.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

If killing him would bring those people back, I'd volunteer to pull the trigger myself. But his death does nothing but continues to give the U.S. a black eye world over and does nothing to solve the issues that lead to people like him to begin with.

I understand and respect your perspective and there is value to what you're saying there. But to me, this isn't a situation to take advantage of to make us look better to the world, and those who hate us will find a reason to do so, regardless. The world can do and think what it wants. This is about punishment. This is about showing what happens to those who commit these horrible crimes. And it is about healing and closure for the families of victims and for a nation under attack. He deserves to die. So he shall.

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I understand and respect your perspective and there is value to what you're saying there. But to me, this isn't a situation to take advantage of to make us look better to the world, and those who hate us will find a reason to do so, regardless. The world can do and think what it wants. This is about punishment. This is about showing what happens to those who commit these horrible crimes. And it is about healing and closure for the families of victims and for a nation under attack. He deserves to die. So he shall.

I'm just not sure there's much healing and closure for families or the nation as this works its way through the appeals process for the next decade. It'll be an open wound for a long time to come.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

I'm just not sure there's much healing and closure for families or the nation as this works its way through the appeals process for the next decade. It'll be an open wound for a long time to come.

That's one of the reasons why I would like to see the appeals process handled differently and in a more expeditious manner.

[MrBug708]

Why not let him colonize Jupiter?

[Kodos]

Without a helmet.

[SteveMax58]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Why not let him colonize Jupiter?

Actually launching people like this to the sun seems like a way to solve a couple of problems.

[cuervo72]

If only we had Kryptonian technology.

[lungs]

I oppose the death penalty in all cases but this certainly won't be a case I would use to argue for its abolition.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by lungs

I oppose the death penalty in all cases but this certainly won't be a case I would use to argue for its abolition.

This.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Even though all the appeals and whatnot will end up costing more than his food, lodging, and security on Death Row?

If it was life, wouldn't there still have been appeal after appeal?

IMO, better to get his out of the gene pool.

[EagleFan]

A bullet is cheap. They should have carried out the sentence on the way out of the courtroom.

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

That's one of the reasons why I would like to see the appeals process handled differently and in a more expeditious manner.

Even knowing that an estimated 4% of people on death row are innocent?

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

Even knowing that an estimated 4% of people on death row are innocent?

You note I didn't say to get rid of the appeals process, right? There's a lot of fluff in the appeals process that can certainly be removed from the process.