Bruce Springsteen performed a concert in Ireland yesterday, but the singer’s thoughts were clearly on a major story taking place in America: The George Zimmerman verdict that acquitted this Florida resident in the wake of his shooting of Trayvon Martin. Springsteen performed “American Skin (41 Shots),” telling the crowd before doing so: “I want to send this out as a letter back home, for justice for Trayvon Martin.” Bruce Springsteen – “41 Shots” The track was penned in 1999 after New York City police officers shot and killed an unarmed man named Amadou Diallo. Earlier this week, Kim Kardashian Tweeted her thoughts on Martin, but got in a lot of trouble for doing so. We doubt The Boss will face the same backlash.
With controversy swirling over the latest Rolling Stone cover – it features Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and teases how he “became a monster” – the magazine has come out with an online statement. As an editor’s note to the Web version of the story, Rolling Stone writes: “Our hearts go out to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, and our thoughts are always with them and their families. The cover story we are publishing this week falls within the traditions of journalism and Rolling Stone’s long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day. ” It continues: “The fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is young, and in the same age group as many of our readers, makes it all the more important for us to examine the complexities of this issue and gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy like this happens.” Along with stinging criticism from those who feel the cover story is inappropriate, CVS has announced a boycott of the issue. The chain says it will not sell the August edition of Rolling Stone “out of respect for the victims of the attack and their loved ones.” Where do you stand? What do you think of the magazine putting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on its cover? Why not? He’s topical and interesting … What a disgrace. View Poll »
The Boston bomber had been coo coo for coco puffs for a long time! Boston Bomber’s Ex Says Bomber Tried To Brainwash Her According to The Sun An ex-girlfriend of dead Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev has told how he tried to brainwash her into becoming a Muslim fanatic who hated America. Nadine Ascencao, 24, said Tamerlan made her wear an Islamic hijab and pray to Allah and slapped her when she wore Western clothes. But she was so blindly in love with the handsome boxer who had taken her virginity, she did her utmost to make him happy. Nadine said: “I went to his mosque a couple of times and even looked into converting to make him happy. I thought, ‘This is crazy’ — but I still did it for him. “Tamerlan had taken my virginity and said he loved me because I was pure and hadn’t been with any other guys. I was in love and scared he’d leave me if I didn’t do what he said. Looking back I had a lucky escape.” Tamerlan, 26, who with 19-year-old brother Dzhokhar killed three people and injured 260 when they exploded two bombs at the Boston marathon, started dating Nadine in 2006 when she was 17. During their three-year relationship she watched him change from a smoking, party-loving teenager into a violent extremist. She said: “One minute he’s this funny, normal guy who liked boxing and having fun, the next he is praying four times a day, watching Islamic videos and talking insane nonsense. “He became extremely religious and tried to brainwash me to follow Islam. Tamerlan said I couldn’t be with him unless I became a Muslim. He wanted me to hate America like he did. They say once you get in the mind the body follows. Mind control is real people. AP
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has admitted that he and his brother were behind the Boston Marathon bombings, a law enforcement official said this afternoon. Tsarnaev made his admissions to FBI agents who questioned him at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Boston Globe reported on Tuesday. He is still hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds. The suspect had been given a Miranda warning at the time of the confession. Tsarnaev was charged with using a weapon of mass destruction Monday. Attorneys for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (left, above) are certain to challenge the legality of those admissions, and claims that he and his brother acted alone . The 19-year-old, who was captured after a massive manhunt Fiday night, reportedly said his older brother was radicalized in an extreme form of Islam. But in an interview with the Globe, a senior police official said authorities are not worried about the initial admission to authorities being thrown out. This is due in part to the fact that they reportedly have a strong witness: the man who was abducted by the Tsarnaev brothers last Thursday night. Police sources told the Globe that the carjacking victim has told police that Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his brother pointed guns at him that evening. At that point, Tamerlan reportedly told him, “We just killed a cop. We blew up the marathon. And now we’re going to New York. Don’t [expletive] with us.” The carjacking took place in Allston shortly after, police say, the Tsarnaevs ambushed and murdered an MIT Police Officer in his cruiser in Cambridge. Boston Police, State Police, Watertown Police, Transit Police and other officers confronted the Tsarnaevs early Friday after the stolen SUV was spotted. “We already knew these guys had admitted to killing three civilians and a police officer, and that they were prepared to kill many others,” the senior official said. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died in a shootout with police, while Dzhokhar escaped on foot and somehow managed to avoid capture for nearly 24 hours. According to the official, the bombers told the carjack victim that they were going to New York and used his ATM card at various locations for cash. Investigators are trying to determine if the two had either friends or co-conspirators in New York, where they said they were headed more than once. But the haphazard, ill-planned escape has many investigators skeptical that there were other any radical Islamists involved in the brothers’ attack. “If they had accomplices in New York, you’d think they would have had an established contingency plan to get there, and wouldn’t be shooting cops and stealing cars,” the official said. “That said, we haven’t ruled out anything in New York. We’re looking into who they knew down there and was anyone in New York prepared to hide them.”
Monday saw Dzhokhar Tsarnaev charged with using a weapon of mass destruction, but officials aren’t focused exclusively on the suspect in custody. Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, the wife of deceased Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, is wanted for questioning by federal authorities. The widow says she learned her husband and brother-in-law were the accused Boston Marathon bombers the same way as most Americans: on TV. A lawyer for Katherine, also the mother of Tamerlan’s 3-year-old daughter, Zahara, claims she had no clue her husband allegedly plotted the bombing. Federal investigators visited the 24-year-old at her parents’ home in North Kingstown, R.I. Her attorney says she is “decidinh how we want to approach this.” Tamerlan Tsarnaev , 26, died after a shootout with cops early Friday after officials say he and brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, fatally shot an MIT officer. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, remains in a Boston hospital, but is unable to speak – according to some sources, due to a self-inflicted throat wound. Dzhokhar was somewhat miraculously captured alive and in custody Friday night after a massive, city-wide manhunt that lasted nearly 24 hours. Authorities want to speak with Katherine as they are trying to piece together a motive, and whether the pair had ties to any Islamic terror cells. The brothers, ethnic Chechens, left Russia with their family in 2002 and became legal residents of the U.S. Dzhokhar later became a U.S. citizen. Investigators are focusing on the six months Tsarnaev spent last year in the predominantly Muslim provinces of Dagestan and Chechnya. They want to know if he was radicalized by the militants in the area who have waged a low-level insurgency against Russian security forces for years. The suspects’ parents moved back to Russia.
Law enforcement did an amazing job of bringing this d-bag to justice! Video Of Police Surrounding Area Where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Was Found To think, police still might not have been able to locate Dzhokhar if the boat owner had not discovered the blood trail. Image via YouTube
