Accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was found hiding in a boat days after the blasts, left a handwritten message describing the attack as retribution for US wars in Muslim countries, CBSNews reported on Thursday.
The CBS News report, citing anonymous sources, said that Tsarnaev used a pen to write the message on an interior wall of the boat, where police found him bleeding from gunshot wounds four days after the April 15 bombing. The note summed up with the idea that “when you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims,” CBS News reported.
CBS News did not make clear how its sources knew the information, and Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the report. A spokeswoman for the FBI in Boston, Katherine Gulotta, declined to confirm or deny the report.
More details on the Boston case.
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley on Thursday signed into law one of the United States’ toughest gun control measures, even as opponents vowed to overturn it.
The legislation prompted by the Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre requires handgun buyers to undergo safety training and submit fingerprints to obtain a license.
It also bans the sale of 45 types of assault weapons, which have been linked to at least 461 U.S. deaths since 2004, according to the governor’s office.
Opponents of the changes say they aren’t planning to seek any sort of public vote/referendum on the bill, but will instead offer support to an NRA lawsuit which challenges the legality of the new regulations. Similar legislation has been passed in Colorado, New York, and Connecticut following a recent uptick in mass shooting incidents.
Last Tuesday, Maria Melendez witnessed a half-dozen sheriff’s deputies fatally beating 33-year-old David Sal Silva—hitting him with clubs and kicking him— in Bakersfield, California outside Kern Medical Center. She began to film the scene on her phone, yelling to the cops that she was filming them.
Melendez, who had been visiting her son at the hospital, reported that the deputies beat Silva for eight minutes as he screamed and cried for help. He was “basically pleading for his life,” said Laura Vasquez, another witness with Melendez. “Then we couldn’t see him anymore. That’s how many cops were on top of him.”
A spokesperson for the Kern County Sheriff’s Department says that Bakersfield Police Department officers had a warrant for both phones they confiscated last week. Law enforcement officials apparently plan to continue holding the phones, as part of the investigation into Silva’s death, and all of the officers involved have returned to full duty.
Without authorizing the use of force or additional spending, this legislation will begin to implement a more coherent U.S. strategy, both now and for the day after Assad, that is focused on trying to shift the momentum on the ground toward moderate opposition groups while also helping them build support within and outside Syria for a new government.Sen. Bob Menendez • Commenting on a bill he introduced in the Senate last week that would create a $250 million transitional fund for the Syrian rebels and post-Assad government that would inevitably follow a toppling of the existing Syrian regime. While the bill may have found new life in the Senate, thanks to changes which earned the support of Tennessee Republican Bob Corker, we suspect the Obama Administration will have a harder time selling support of the Syrian opposition to the American people if rebel forces fail to prevent future war crimes like the cannibalism story making the rounds today. source
Attorneys for Ariel Castro, the man accused of kidnapping and imprisoning three women and a child for periods ranging from six to eleven years, say he will plead not guilty to the kidnapping and rape charges he faces. Strangely, they also seem to admit that Castro fathered the six-year-old child found with Amanda Berry and two other women last week, telling WKYC-TV that Castro loves his child “dearly.” (Photo via The Guardian) source
It put the American people at risk and that is not hyperbole. Trying to determine who was responsible required very aggressive action.U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder • Defending the Department of Justice’s decision to collect roughly two months worth of various Associated Press employees’ work and personal phone records as part of a criminal investigation. The DoJ is apparently investigating a leak which occured last year, revealing the existence of a failed plot to bomb a U.S. plane, during a time when the Obama Administration insisted the U.S. government was unaware of any terror attacks which might be planned to coincide with the annviersary of Osama bin Laden’s death. source
The Supreme Court agreed with Monsanto on Monday that an Indiana farmer’s unorthodox planting of the company’s genetically modified soybeans violated the agricultural giant’s patent.
The court unanimously rejected farmer Vernon Hugh Bowman’s argument that he was not violating Monsanto’s patent because the company’s pesticide-resistent “Roundup Ready” soybeans replicate themselves. Justice Elena Kagan said there is no such “seeds-are-special” exception to the law.
“We think that blame-the-bean defense tough to credit,” Kagan wrote. “Bowman was not a passive observer of his soybeans’ multiplication; or put another way, the seeds he purchased (miraculous though they might be in other respects) did not spontaneously create eight successive soybean crops.”
We won’t pretend to be well-versed enough in this case and/or patent law (or any legal field for that matter) to have a strong opinion on the outcome of this case, though we suspect there will be more than a few readers who do. Anybody think the Supreme Court got this one wrong?
The Minnesota Senate is expected to give final approval on Monday to a bill that would make the state the 12th in the United States to allow same-sex couples to marry and only the second in the Midwest.
Leaders in the Senate, where Democrats hold a 39-28 majority, have said they believe they have the support to approve a bill legalizing gay marriage. They set a vote for Monday on the measure that members of the state House approved last week.
Democratic Governor Mark Dayton has said he would sign the bill, which would make Minnesota the third state this month to legalize gay marriage after Rhode Island and Delaware. The law would take effect August 1.
In 2007, I was...
I started tumblr when I was at one of the lowest points of...
Exclusive: How the Syrian Electronic Army hacked the...
soon
Yahumblr.
Google found the...
Dr. Kermit Gosnell was found guilty of murder on Monday, for killing three babies during supposed late-term abortion procedures he performed at a clinic which serves low-income women in Philadelphia. He was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, and 21 counts of performing an abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy. Gosnell faces the death penalty for his crimes, and sentencing is expected next week. (Update: Clarified wording based on newer version of the story. — Scott @ SFB; Photo via MicahFries.com) source
If you’ve got the IRS operating in anything less than a neutral and nonpartisan way, then that is outrageous. It is contradictory to our traditions, and people have to be held accountable.President Obama • Commenting on an admission that the IRS targeted conservative groups, many associated with the tea party, during the 2012 election cycle, following an apology from an IRS official on Friday and this morning’s leak of the Inspector General’s report to ABC News. President Obama’s comments came during a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, who’s currently visiting Washington D.C. to discuss the war in Syria. source
The FBI has released its full 207-page report on the deceased “Brother Leader” of Libya. (h/t Gawker)
Editor’s Note — We’ve updated the post to include official figures from the Pentagon’s report. — Scott @ SFB
Copyright 2009-2013 Ernie Smith • Ask us stuff! • E-mail us • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook
