Strange Days

Last night I hunched in my chair following the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in real time on Twitter. It is a tribute to American strength that he was taken alive, and I am relieved that he will not evade American justice. Like they say, ‘hanging’s too good for him.’ And the pattern of the suicide bomber denies the victims their day in court. Thank you to the staff of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for keeping him alive so the world can see him on trial.

Today I woke up around 5am for no reason, then couldn’t focus enough to leave the house till 10. I had some family time and was grateful.

I went to Shaw’s Market in Warwick which was unusually empty for a Saturday. People were really nice. Everything looks different, like it did after 9/11, when I thought about what it is to be American.

In 2001, the current president said that, “they hate us for our freedom.”

But as of today, we don’t know exactly who “they” are. We have enemies, but none of them so far are claiming these two young men whose own uncle called, “losers”.

Strange days on familiar streets. Everyone being really nice in Shaw’s market. Who we love, who we are, we see it now.

4 thoughts on “Strange Days

  1. After all the horror, I find it oddly comforting to hear the American justice system working, appointing an attorney for the accused, etc. It’s civilized; and civilized is good.

  2. Wow! We’re all on the same page. Yes, I trust our justice system to handle this. I even agreed with John Ashcroft on the radio when he said that the evidence is so overwhelming it doesn’t matter what the accused says or does. Guilty as hell.

  3. TV and movies have managed to give the public a poor understanding of “Miranda”warnings-the warning of rights is given if there is an expectation a statement will be used to prosecute the arrestee(Miranda doesn’t apply to non custodial settings)-if a case can be made without any statement,there is no need to give such a warning.I can recall a case in 1986 where we arrested a fugitive on a murder warrant and he made a statement without being asked anything-it was highly incriminating-but the judge ruled it was not voluntary because the defendant was handcuffed to a ring on the wall of the room and had not received a warning.Hence,the statement couldn’t be used-the defendant was convicted on a wealth of other evidence supplied by a co-conspirator and by his girlfriend as well as other witnesses.The media doesn’t explain this.

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