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Keller @ Large: No Surprises In Globe's Tsarnaev Family Report

BOSTON (CBS) - If you haven't yet read the Sunday Boston Globe articles about the Tsarnaev family, by all means, do so.

This is well-reported storytelling that draws a more detailed picture of the alleged mass-murderer brothers without resorting to the grossly inappropriate celebrity touch-ups employed in the rightfully-reviled Rolling Stone cover story last summer.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

Keller at Large Dec 16 2013

But for me, as much as I admire the journalism and the effort to cover new ground, there is nothing to be learned here that we didn't already learn eight months ago.

For instance, we are informed that the elder Tsarnaev brother heard "voices," and may have been mentally ill.

This is unsurprising. I would have been more surprised to learn that a remotely sane person could randomly murder four strangers, including a child, while trying to kill many more.

We learn that just about every member of the Tsarnaev family was involved in criminal activity at one point or another, and again, this makes perfect sense. No one with any respect for the law would do what the brothers allegedly did.

We are informed that they struggled to make it in life, and failed to realize their dreams.

Welcome to the world of millions of Americans for whom things don't turn out like they planned, but still manage to muddle through without indulging in a homicidal frenzy.

As I said, kudos to the Globe for a job worth doing and worth reading. But it really doesn't change anything.

Any compassion I might otherwise have for people who have a tough time of it and make foolish decisions is, in this case, reserved for the innocent victims.

The Tsarnaev brothers were able-bodied men who apparently, inexplicably chose to destroy themselves and others.

For that, the observation that they are human cannot compete with the desire to see the younger brother, if convicted, join his older brother in hell.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

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