Dzhokhar Tsarnaev charged with use of WMD

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Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been officially charged, but one of the charges relates to Weapons of Mass Destruction. I agree he should be charged with terrorism, but not WMDs.

Their bombs did kill 3 people and severely injure many others. However, the Colorado Theatre Massacre resulted in more dead and many injured just through the use of a semi-automatic rifle.

The U.S. Government also doesn't define its cluster bombs as WMDs, so how on earth could a pressure cooker bomb be defined as such?

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The WMD are the mad mullah's preaching hate....take them off line.

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The 'merkin government is the BIGGEST purveyor of WMD in the world.

And they have shown that they have so little regard for human life that they are prepared to use WMD (of the nuclear variety) to instantly snuff-out tens of thousands of human beings in the blink of an eye, not just once, but twice!!

What Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother did in Boston was mere piffling larikanism by comparison.

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From the Los Angeles Times....

Why did the suspected Boston bomber pivot from benign to brutal?

By DAVID HORSEY | 5:00AM - Monday, April 22, 2013



DZHOKHAR TSARNAEV, the younger of the two brothers accused of perpetrating the Boston Marathon bombing, is the baffling mystery man in this crime.

His older brother, Tamerlan, who died in a shootout with police in the dark early hours Friday morning, better fits the stereotype of a disaffected, nascent terrorist.

He was nearing adulthood when he came to this country from Russia’s predominantly Muslim central Asian region. He talked of having no American friends. He had openly disdained the immorality of American society and adopted a zealous brand of Islam. He had left school and was in a troubled marriage.

On social media, he had connected to sites touting extremist Muslim ideology. He had traveled back to Chechnya and Dagestan, where he conceivably could have met with and been trained by terrorist groups. The Russians had asked American authorities to check him out, prompting the FBI to question Tamerlan and his family in 2011.

It’s not hard to concoct a scenario for Tamerlan that ends with a bombing. But Dzokhar?

Seven years younger than Tamerlan, Dzokhar came to the U.S. when he was 8 years old. Recently, he became a citizen. In between, he lived a relatively normal American life.

He was a successful student and competed on his high school wrestling team. He had many friends. Those friends say he was upbeat, always smiling. He was enrolled at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. He lived in a dorm. He went to parties. He worked out at the gym.

To one teacher, he did express an interest in the troubled history of his distant family homeland, but he seems to have been happy living a well-adjusted American life.

How could Dzokhar have pivoted from that to the vicious act of which he is accused?

It is good that police were able to apprehend him alive. If and when he recovers from his serious wounds, Dzokhar may be able to enlighten us about his apparent turn to heartless violence. In the meantime, there will be plenty of speculation.

Conspiracy theorists will imagine that he is some sort of sleeper agent for Muslim terror groups; that his sunny demeanor concealed a sinister, coldblooded intent. It could be true, but I suspect the reality is much simpler.

Dzokhar is 19 years old, an age when many young men act on impulse and sudden passions. It is the age when boys trying to prove their manhood are easy to recruit. It may be to the military, it may be to religion, it may be to the brotherhood of a hard-drinking fraternity or it may be to a cause that promises them the chance to change the world.

Perhaps, most of all, it is an age when someone older with a firm vision of life can have an inordinate influence. It may be a professor, a drill sergeant, a religious figure — or an older brother.

When we finally learn the truth about this alleged bomber, the shock may not be that he is so sinister or so consumed by a cause. The shock may be how easily this young man — like many young men — could be swayed from the light to the most brutal darkness.

www.latimes.com/news/politics/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-boston-marathon-bomber-20130421,0,6625818.story

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Apr 23, 2013 12:49:37 GMT 10 Gort said:

WMD description (US)

Criminal (civilian)
For the purposes of US criminal law concerning terrorism, weapons of mass destruction are defined as:

any destructive device defined as any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas bomb, grenade, rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces, missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce, mine, or device similar to any of the devices described in the preceding clauses

any weapon that is designed or intended to cause death or serious bodily injury through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals, or their precursors

any weapon involving a biological agent, toxin, or vector

any weapon that is designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's definition is similar to that presented above from the terrorism statute:

any explosive or incendiary device, as defined in Title 18 USC, Section 921: bomb, grenade, rocket, missile, mine, or other device with a charge of more than one quarter ounce

any weapon designed or intended to cause death or serious bodily injury through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals or their precursors

any weapon involving a disease organism

any weapon designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life

any device or weapon designed or intended to cause death or serious bodily injury by causing a malfunction of or destruction of an aircraft or other vehicle that carries humans or of an aircraft or other vehicle whose malfunction or destruction may cause said aircraft or other vehicle to cause death or serious bodily injury to humans who may be within range of the vector in its course of travel or the travel of its debris.

Indictments and convictions for possession and use of WMD such as truck bombs,[32] pipe bombs,[33] shoe bombs,[34] cactus needles coated with botulin toxin,[35] etc. have been obtained under 18 USC 2332a.

Well, in my opinion, that is a poor definition.

Those bombs caused very little damage in the grand scheme of things. Yes, great loss to the victims individually, but collectively quite small in comparison to a semi-automatic rifle!

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from The Durango Herald (in small-town Colorado, USA)....

In catbird seat no more

Board takes issue with Edgemont Ranch couple’s catwalk creation

By ROBERT GALIN | 12:06AM - Tuesday, April 23, 2013


Teddy Bear makes his way along the stairway after crossing the catwalk that Spence, who uses only one name, and Martha Spence,
built at their Edgemont Ranch second-floor apartment. The catwalk, which leads to a pine tree from a cat door in a bathroom
window, is verboten, according to the sub-association is chartered by the Edgemont Property Owners’ Association.
— Photo: JERRY McBRIDE/The Durango Herald.

WHEN “Spence” and Martha Spence rented a unit in the Farmhouse East section of Edgemont Ranch, they didn’t know they’d stir up trouble. But the catwalk they built between their second-story bathroom and a nearby tree has become the object of admiration from some and disapproval from the homeowners sub-association.

The Spences have until April 30th to remove it or face charges for removal as well as daily fines, possibly $100 a day.

The sub-association is chartered by the Edgemont Property Owners Association, though an association staff member said the association was unaware of the issue.

The 13-foot catwalk allows the Spences’ two cats, Teddy (full name, Teddy Bear) and Gus, to go outside even during winter months, the couple explained while sitting in their apartment. Teddy, 15, was adopted with a broken foot which is essentially healed. Gus, less than 2 years old, joined the clan from the La Plata County Humane Society when they visited to get a companion for Teddy.

Cold weather spurred the Spences to develop the elaborate catwalk, which includes a circular staircase around the tree.

The Spences had been letting the cats out through the front door, but colder fall temperatures meant keeping the door closed, they said. Martha Spence looked up cat ladders online, and the couple decided to create something along those lines for their cats.


The Spences are hoping to get a hearing for an appeal before a homeowners sub-association
that has asked them to remove the structure. — Photo: JERRY McBRIDE/The Durango Herald.

Spence — who uses only his last name, much as pop singer Prince (Prince Rogers Nelson), who was known mostly by his first name, or Cher — took a 16-foot emergency-fire escape ladder and strung it between the building and the tree. He was careful not to put any screws or nails into the building, which is against the covenants, conditions and restrictions.

Spence said those who created the homeowners association and sub-associations “created a new layer of government that is out of control by the standards of the American tradition.”

But the cats weren’t going for it, he said, so he added wooden slats and made the ladder firmer. But the critters were having a difficult time getting down the tree. Spence decided to add “stairs” on the tree, held in place with angled bookshelf brackets.

The cats now look forward to their morning escape out the temporary cat door in the bathroom window to the tree, Spence said. The cat door is blocked at night, Martha Spence said.

Originally, Spence said, “We heard from a third party that one of the board members liked it, one didn’t,” but also heard the third member voted for it. “So we could keep it.”

However, there was still that one board member who didn’t like it. That person stayed on the board when the two others left, and when two new members took office, the board voted to order the catwalk’s removal, Spence said.

“Once they had approved it, even if it’s not in writing, (the approval) should stay in effect,” Martha Spence said.


Gus strolls on the Spences’ catwalk, which was initially developed to avoid having to open the apartment’s door in the dead of winter.
— Photo: JERRY McBRIDE/The Durango Herald.

What the Spences did not have is advance approval, even though that is required in the covenant rules. They received a copy of the rules along with their lease when they moved into the unit July 3rd, 2012.

Spence said, “We would like a hearing (from the sub-association board),” but, “in the worst-case scenario, we’d remove the ladder.”

The actual property owner received a notice from the sub-association that she would be charged the costs of removing the ladder. She then notified the Spences. Of course, the costs would be passed on to the couple.

Spence’s father was a missionary in Honduras, where he spent much of his childhood. He then lived for many years in Arizona, where the couple met. He is a portrait photographer for the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in the summer, and, last year, he also drove a city bus. He plans to work for the D&SNG again during the 2013 tourist season.

Martha Spence is a temporary office worker and is looking for a full-time office job.

While the couple waits for a reprieve, they can take some pride in their project getting international attention as part of the “Cat Ladder Hall of Fame” on the Cat Ladders Blog Spot.

Perhaps with a bit of resignation, Spence said, he had hoped that if the couple moved from the Edgemont unit that the next tenant could enjoy the catwalk, which now may not be the case.

www.durangoherald.com/article/20130422/NEWS01/130429861/In-catbird-seat-no-more