<p>Boston Herald and others reported on the Tsarnaev sister’s court appearance in Boston. This is the gal who left Cambridge and moved to New Jersey prior to the Boston Marathon incident. The story says she and others were accused of passing counterfeit bills back in 2011.</p>
<p>Look, she may not have any connection to her brothers’ murderous plans but it’s not far-fetched for terrorists to also be involved in currency fraud. It’s a source to support their crimes.</p>
<p>Terrorism aside, I have the impression that none of the members of that immediate family unit–the parents, the kids–ever got the concept of working regular jobs with regular employers. They mostly seemed to be involved in marginal or outright illegal schemes and enterprises. This may have a lot to do with the war-torn, disorganized environment in which they lived before coming here. Or maybe that’s just the way they are. I certainly have known people from respectable backgrounds who were always involved in some kind of pyramid marketing scheme or other marginal enterprise.</p>
<p>It does not appear to be true of the other branches of their family: the uncle, for example.</p>
<p>Those are two good points, Consolation.</p>
<p>The uncle seems like the proverbial “stand up guy.”</p>
<p>And…people who grow up in or are forced to live under extremely harsh political or cultural circumstances (war or discrimination or poverty) not surprisingly can resort to living what an Israeli friend of mine called “the black market life.” He was describing the lifestyle of recent immigrants to Israel from Russia.</p>
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<p>I am an immigrant from Russia and I can tell you first hand that it takes a while for this mentality to go away. For some people it never does.</p>