U.S. Air Force veteran gets 35 years for trying to join Islamic State

Tairod Pugh, a U.S. Air Force veteran convicted of attempting to join Islamic State, was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday after delivering an impassioned speech in which he maintained his innocence and decried what he called the United States' racism and Islamophobia.Pugh, who spoke for about half an hour before U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis cut him off, said he had done nothing wrong, and was treated unjustly because of his race and religion.