Time for an open thread for those who are interested in topics other than the Boston bombing.

All topics welcome.

Cindy Cohn and Trevor Timm have an excellent article at Electronic Frontier Foundation explaining why more government surveillance is not the appropriate response to the Boston bombings or terrorism.

The capture of the Boston suspect was made possible by old-fashioned police work and the willingness of the public to help in such a trying time. Technology surely assisted in this effort, but it’s important to note where it was and was not helpful, and to ensure that we don’t let the few dramatic situations lead us to downgrade our own privacy in everyday law enforcement situations.

Also, see Bruce Schneier in The Atlantic, who wrote after the bombing:

“When we react from fear, when we change our laws and policies to make our country less open, the terrorists succeed, even if their attacks fail.”

Update: A Denver mosque has offered to bury Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

Update: He's not coming to Colorado. According to the Colorado Muslim Society, the man who made the offer doesn't speak for them. They issued this statement:

"It has recently been reported that the Colorado Muslim Society has offered to provide burial services for Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the individuals who perpetrated the grave and destructive bombings at the 2013 Boston Marathon. This report is absolutely untrue. The individual who has reportedly made this offer does not speak on behalf of the Colorado Muslim Society.

George Zimmerman's lawyers have filed a motion seeking a Frye hearing to determine the admissibility of the testimony of any voice experts the state may want to call at his trial on the issue of who was screaming in the background of Witness 11's 911 call to police. The motion is here.

The Martin family thinks it was Trayvon screaming. Zimmerman's family is equally insistent it was George. FBI experts stated no conclusion could be reached due to the quality and nature of the recording.

The Orlando Sentinel retained two experts who used different methods. Tom Owen concluded it was not George but having never heard Trayvon's voice, he couldn't conclude it was Trayvon. He used a new biometric program he developed. The other expert used a different technique and concluded a young male was screaming. (He had never heard Trayvon's voice either.)

I discussed the reliability of voice biometrics here. [More...]

The Government and Defense have filed a joint motion to continue today's hearing in Robel Phillipos case. It includes a stipulation for release on bond. From the Motion:

Since the initial appearance, the parties have conferred extensively and now agree that the Court can fashion strict conditions of release that will reasonably assure the defendant’s appearance at future proceedings.

Specifically, the parties recommend that the Court impose the following conditions: (a) home confinement at the residence of a third-party custodian; (b) defendant shall be monitored for 24 hours a day on an electronic bracelet; and [c] his release will be secured by a secured bond in the amount of $100,000.

Robel filed a motion for bond on Saturday. Links to bond pleadings are here.

The New York Times has an article on how al-Qaeda is using its Inspire Magazine to encourage and teach lone terrorists, like the ones in Boston, how to build bombs at home. In other words, no international travel or training camps necessary.

The Spring, 2013 edition of Inspire, which I detailed at length last month, was 32 pages and did not focus on bombs left at crowded events. But there was another 32 page section called The Lone Mujahdid Pocketbook, which did exactly that. You can read it in English here. [More...]

The FBI is again searching the residence where Tamerlan Tsarnaev lived with his wife at 410 Norfolk St.

Ruslan Tsarnev (the uncle from Maryland) is at the funeral home where the director is still pleading for the Government to step in and find a place to bury Tamerlan, whose body is now being prepared for a proper Muslim burial.

Defendant Robel Phillipos is seeking bail. I have uploaded the bond motion, his mother's affidavit and Robel's resume. [More...]

The funeral director who has Tamerlan Tsarnaev's body says he can't find a cemetary willing to accept his body for burial.

Reportedly, a second autopsy is or has been performed on Tamerlan at the request of the parents or lawyers for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

His father said early on they would like his body returned to Dagestan.

The father said he had no hope that Tamerlan's body would be released by the U.S. authorities to be buried in his homeland.

"They won't give us his body," he said, his voice breaking with emotion. "We wont be able to bury him in our land."

Perhaps he will be cremated and his ashes scattered at sea or returned to Russia. Adam Lanza, Timothy McVeigh, Ted Bundy and Klebold and Harris (Columbine) were all cremated. There's a company in Connecticut that arranges burials at sea, three miles offshore in the Long Island Sound.

I've got lots of errands today.

Has anyone seen The Reluctant Fundamentalist or Silver Linings? This is one of those months I'm wondering why I need Xfinity at all, since there's nothing great on pay per view and their movie offerings seem to be slipping away from the kind of movies I like to watch. I'm hardly tempted to shell out more dollars on top of the $200 a month I already pay them just to see something I'm not sure I'd like.It's like we've gone back to the days of "57 channels and nothing on."

Here's an open thread for you, all topics welcome.

Israel has not yet officially confirmed the news, but everyone else, from the BBC to Al Jazeera to the New York Times, is reporting that Israel launched an airstrike in Syria. An Israeli spokesman says:

“Israel is determined to prevent the transfer of chemical weapons or other game-changing weaponry by the Syrian regime to terrorists, specially to Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

U.S. officials on the other hand say:

US officials say the Israeli air strike happened overnight Thursday into Friday, but the aircraft did not enter Syrian airspace. [More...]

The Boston Globe reports it has seen the death certificate for Tamerlan Tsarnaev and that it states he died from gunshot wounds and blunt trauma.

The document, viewed by the Globe on Friday, shows that Tsarnaev was pronounced dead at 1:35 a.m. April 19.

The death certificate also states that Tsarnaev was shot by police, and run over and dragged by a vehicle.

Police insist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ran him over when fleeing the scene in the carjacked Mercedes. Considering the massive, non-stop video footage of the shootout by news organizations and neighbors, you would think there would be one photo or screen grab showing a vehicle running over Tamerlan and dragging him. I sure haven't seen one. That doesn't stop the media from reporting as fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ran over his brother. [More...]

The Islamic Emirate of Afhanistan (Taliban) have released an official statement on Guantanamo and the hunger strikes.

The Islamic Emirate, which considers the ongoing atrocity in Guantanamo as a crime against humanity and a historical disgrace for mankind, calls on the entire Islamic world, Islamic societies and respected personalities, all the international human right organizations, media groups and charitable organizations to show their opposition and raise their voices against this unlawful action of the American officials as part of their duty and humanitarian obligation. The Islamic Emirate similarly calls on all writers, journalists and professionals to condemn the actions of America carried out against inmates in the infamous Guantanamo prison for the defense of human dignity and to fulfill their religious and humanitarian obligation.

[More...]