Free Republic

Former Gov. Michael Dukakis says a Cambridge man facing five years in federal prison for repeatedly lying to the FBI about his pal Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is “a fine young man” who “could have a great future in public service.” Dukakis went to bat for Robel Kidane Phillipos, 21, in a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock ahead of Phillipos’ sentencing today for making false statements to the FBI in its investigation of the Boston Marathon bombings. Prosecutors want five years. Phillipos and Tsarnaev, both 21, grew up together in Cambridge and were classmates at the University of...

BOSTON (Reuters) - A grand jury on Thursday indicted two students from Kazakhstan on obstruction of justice charges, alleging they helped hide evidence related to the April Boston marathon bombing that killed three and injured 264, the U.S. Attorney's office for Massachusetts said. Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, both 19, were college friends of surviving bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. They are charged with removing a backpack containing fireworks and a laptop from Tsarnaev's dorm room after the FBI released pictures of Dzhokhar and his older brother Tamerlan in an effort to learn the names of the bombers.

Kadyrbayev attended a high school in Almaty, the business capital of Kazakhstan, for students gifted in mathematics. "He wasn't a star student, but he wasn't a hooligan; he was a normal teenager," teacher and deputy principal Yuri Dovgal said. The schoolwork proved too much for Kadyrbayev, however, and he flunked out after his first year. "He had no aptitude for physics or mathematics, but that doesn't mean he was bad," Dovgal said, adding that Kadyrbayev later graduated from an elite private school.

Tazhayakov was allowed to return to the U.S. from Kazakhstan in January despite not having a valid student visa, a federal law enforcement official told The Associated Press. His student visa status had been terminated because he was academically dismissed from the university, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and spoke on condition of anonymity... Kadyrbayev, an engineering major

(CNN) -- The number of people potentially embroiled in the Boston Marathon bombings case grew Wednesday to include friends of surviving suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Not much is known yet about the three 19-year-old men -- Azamat Tazhayakov, Dias Kadyrbayev and Robel Phillipos. But here is what CNN has learned so far. All started at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in 2011, along with Tsarnaev. Each is accused of removing items from Tsarnaev's dorm room after the April 15 attack, which killed three people and wounded more than 260.

The World's Greatest Orator appeared before the press yesterday, and here are some highlights of his remarks: "This is hard stuff. . . . Maybe I should just pack up and go home. Golly. I think it's a little--as Mark Twain said, rumors of my demise may be a little exaggerated at this point. . . . Right now things are pretty dysfunctional up on Capitol Hill. . . . You seem to suggest that somehow these folks over there [in Congress] have no responsibilities and that my job is to somehow get them to behave. That's their job. ....

(CNSNews.com) – Although no group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s deadly bomb blasts at the Boston Marathon, a leading al-Qaeda ideologue last year recommended that jihadists in America include sporting events in their list of prospective terror targets.

Breaking: Boston police take three Boston Marathon bombing suspects into custody By Liz Goodwin, Yahoo! News National Affairs Reporter By Liz Goodwin, Yahoo! News | The Lookout – 10 mins ago Boston police have three additional suspects in custody in connection to the Boston Marathon bombings, the department announced Tuesday. A spokeswoman at the Boston police department directed all questions on the suspects to the FBI, which has yet to disclose their identities.

Owners of 'Terrorista #1' BMW license plate revealed as the SAME friends pictured with the Boston bomber in Times Square Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev are from Kazakhstan They were classmates of bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Dzhokhar may have slept at their house on the night of the bombing They've been in custody since last Saturday and a lawyer says they are 'shocked' by the allegations against their friend Friends of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev arrested last week who cruised around in a car with the ‘Terrorista #1’ license plate have also been revealed to be two of the group of friends...

Two people seen in a photo with suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in New York's famed Times Square are being held by authorities on administrative immigration violations, Fox News has confirmed. The two men were identified to Fox News as Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, both citizens of Kazakhstan. They can be seen standing next to Tsarnaev in a photo believed to have been taken in April 2012 in Time square Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov were arrested April 20 -- five days after the attack at the marathon -- at the Hidden Brook apartments by the FBI and Homeland Security...