Bedlam in Boston

Saturday morning, boston.com is rich in stories related to the bombings & manhunt.

Boston Common, last night:

Updated New York Times map of events occurring in the hunt for the Boston Marathon bombers. See related content at the Times site:

CLICK TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.

Pete Williams: Obama administration -- Tsarnaev will be put on trial in federal court.

Kevin Robillard of Politico: "President Barack Obama on Friday night praised the people of Massachusetts for their response to the bombings at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and wounded more than 100. 'Tonight our nation is in debt to the people of Boston and the people of Massachusetts,' Obama said from the White House briefing room after police arrested the remaining suspect in the bombing. 'After a vicious attack on their city, Bostonians responded with resolve and determination.'”

Erica Goode & Serge Kovaleski of the New York Times: "A kaleidoscope of images, adjectives and anecdotes tumbled forth on Friday to describe Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, the two brothers suspected of carrying out the bombings at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and gravely wounded scores more."

Adrien Chen of Gawker: "A cached profile photo that matches his picture, and tweets from other users he's interacted with suggest that this is the twitter account of 19-year-old Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, the fugitive suspect #2 in the Boston Marathon bombings: @J_tsar. The account is listed under the name 'Jahar,' which is what classmates called him.... Surprisingly, Tsarnaev has been active on Twitter since the bombing." ...

... Peter Graff of Reuters: "Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev posted links to Islamic websites and others calling for Chechen independence on what appears to be his page on a Russian language social networking site."

Alex Johnson of NBC News: "Onlookers erupted in spontaneous applause and cheers Friday night as news spread that the second suspect in this week's Boston Marathon bombing had been taken alive — gratitude that quickly spread across the U.S."

CBS News: "As first reported by CBS News correspondent Bob Orr, the FBI interviewed [Tamerlan] Tsarnaev ... [two years ago] at the request of a foreign government to see if he had any extremist ties, but failed to find any linkage.... CBS News correspondent John Miller reports it is likely Russia asked to have the elder Tsarnaev vetted because of suspected ties to Chechen extremists.... This is an issue they've had in the past. They interviewed Carlos Bledsoe in Little Rock, Ark., before he shot up an Army recruiting station in 2009. They were also looking into Major Hasan Nadal before the Fort Hood shootings."

"In this Feb. 17, 2010, photo, Tamerlan Tsarnaev smiles after acceping the trophy for winning the 2010 New England Golden Gloves Championship." AP photo via CBS News.

Smoking Gun: "A grisly post-mortem photo of one of the suspected Boston Marathon bombers appears to have been taken early today after medical personnel turned the body over to law enforcement officials. The image of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, began circulating online this afternoon after it was posted on popular web sites like Reddit and 4chan. The source of the photo remains unclear." Includes photo.

CW: Charles Pierce appeared on Rachel Maddow's show briefly before the press conference started; I think he'll be back. Update: guess not; upstaged by Obama.

Police press conference at 9:30 pm ET. Ed Davis, Boston Watertown police commissioner (or chief), says a man walked out of his house after the governor lifted the stay-in-place order & noticed the blood, then lifted the tarp & saw the suspect. He "retreated" and called police. Hostage rescue team tried to talk him out of the boat, though he was "not communicative." No IEDs found when Tsarnaev captured.... Carmen Ortiz, US Attorney: active investigation; will give no Miranda warning because of public safety exception. Another policeman says he had been at the house that they surrounded this morning, that they found blood in the house (and maybe in the yard). ...

     ... Update: Ian Millhiser of Think Progress explains the public safety exception.

Politico has some photos of the Tsarnaevs, taken by AP photographer Bob Leonard, shortly before the first bomb detonated.

Lindsey Graham Is Still an Ass. "Constitution? What Constitution?" David Graham of the Atlantic: Sen. Lindsey "Graham [R-S.C.] (no relation) is suggesting that an American citizen, captured on American soil, should be deprived of basic constitutional rights. Keep in mind that Graham isn't just an angry citizen; he's not even just a U.S. senator. He is also a trained lawyer, a colonel in Air Force Reserve, and a member of the Judge Advocate General's Corps, the legal arm of the Air Force." ...

... Oh, and Glenn Beck is still crazy.

Boston Globe: "The man believed to be responsible for placing the bombs that struck the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing 3 and injuring more than 170, has been taken into custody after a standoff lasting nearly two hours. Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, of Cambridge was apprehended shortly before 8:45 p.m.... A state official said that the suspect was in 'extremely serious' condition. He was found on the stern side of the boat, leaning over." New York Times story here.

It's Over. WHDH: Police are saying they have "a successful recovery." He's in custody & he's alive; have asked for medic. It's over. There's an ambulance on the scene. People on the sidewalk are reacting with cheers. Pete Williams: he'll be in federal custody. Boston Police: Officers are sweeping the area. Residents are cheering passing police cars.

Boston Globe: "Police arrested three college-age suspects in New Bedford related to the bombing investigation, according to the Globe." ...

     ... Update. Dee DeQuattro of ABC Providence: "Neighbors say three have been arrested in New Bedford in connection with the Boston Bombing suspect. Police apprehended suspects from the Hidden Brook Apartments on Carriage Drive in New Bedford. Neighbors say they think that the girlfriend of 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev may have lived in the complex and they have seen him in the area as recently as yesterday."

Lester Holt: boat tarp had a tear in it; also blood stains around the boat.

Brian Williams is also surprised Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is (evidently) still alive. Apparently, a lot of things surprise Brian Williams.

This is a Bing Maps street view of the boat in the back yard on Franklin Street.Michael Isikoff: a police negotiator is on the scene. Brian Williams can't figure out why they would bother with a negotiator.

Michael Brunker & Bill Dedman of NBC News: "The family of the widow of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev confirmed Friday that their 24-year-old daughter was married to the Chechen immigrant who died in a confrontation with police earlier in the day, saying, 'We cannot begin to comprehend how this horrible tragedy occurred. Our daughter has lost her husband today, the father of her child,' Warren and Judith Russell, whose daughter Katherine was married to Tsarnaev, said in a statement distributed to about a dozen reporters who gathered outside their home in this well-landscaped, upper middle class neighborhood outside Providence."

WBZ Boston: suspect covered in blood, possibly from incident last night. The location of the boat is just outside the perimeter of the Watertown area where the police went door-to-door.

Brian Williams says there were two incidences of gunfire. Pete Williams: there is a fire in the boat.

Boston Globe: police determined a person was in the boat via thermal imaging.

NBC News: a woman on Franklin Street thought there was something wrong with the boat. NBC has put up a still photo of the boat, which is standing on a trailer in front of a detached backyard garage. (Update: see photo above.)

A CNN producer says he's heard explosions. Police are under the assumption there are explosives in the yard where the boat is located. Oh, the explosive sounds are from "flash-bangs" which police are using to try to flush the suspect out of the boat. Police removed the family of about ten people from the house where the boat is located.

CW: Chris Matthews said there was another round of heavy gunfire at about 7:49 pm ET, but Andrea Mitchell says it was a replay; she reports that police scanner says there is someone sitting up in the boat & police have been told to hold their fire. Pete Williams is reporting he's been hit but is still alive; believe he has been in the boat much of the day. This is all pretty terrible.

Kerry Sanders of NBC News heard volleys of gunfire in Watertown at about 6:58 pm ET & said law enforcement vehicles were rushing toward the scene. NBC Boston says dozens of officers are crouched in defensive positions around a particular area. "Not clear who was firing at whom." ...

     ... Update: so now the story is that a resident who lives near the Charles River noticed a ladder perched up against a boat (in his yard, I gather) which had not been there before. The gunfire came from officers on the scene. Apparently somebody saw a person's limbs on the boat, so they're "sure" a person is hiding in the boat. Police, bomb squad, etc., are forming a perimeter around the boat to secure the scene. Residents in the area are again being asked to stay in place. ...

... Boston Globe: person in boat is not moving.

"Police patrolled through a neighborhood in Watertown, while searching for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings." Boston Globe. AP photo.

At a presser, Gov. Patrick says authorities are lifting the stay-indoors request effective immediately (6:09 pm ET). The Watertown police chief said, "There's a lot of events in Watertown tomorrow, and we're gonna have 'em." The chief of the Massachusetts State Police Superintendent Timothy Alben says suspects were not involved in the armed robbery of the convenience store but were coincidentally in the vicinity & that's how they obtained the image from some surveillance camera. Says authorities believe suspect is still in the Boston area; they don't know of any vehicle he may be driving. ...

... Natalie DiBlasio of USA Today, "There was a 7-Eleven robbery in Cambridge last night, but it had nothing to do with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects. Margaret Chabris, the director of corporate communication at 7- Eleven, says the surveillance video of the crime was not taken at a 7-Eleven and that the suspect that did rob the 7-Eleven does not look like Tamerlan or Dzhokhar Tsarnaev."

"Substituting Identity for Motivation." Paul Waldman of the American Prospect: "Assuming these two brothers are indeed the bombers, they're literally Caucasian, but they're also Muslim. Most importantly, as of yet we know absolutely nothing about what motivated them. Nothing.... But for many people, their motivations are of no concern; all that matters is their identity. The sentiment coming from a lot of people on the right today runs to, 'See! See! Mooslems!!!' Some of them are using the suspects' identity as a reason why we shouldn't pass immigration reform...." ...

... Which brings us to the Brain of the Senate: Chuck "Death Panel" Grassley. Ashley Parker & Michael Shear of the New York Times: Grassley (R-Iowa) "said Friday that the approaching political debate about an immigration overhaul should take into account the revelation that the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing had apparently emigrated to the United States from the former Soviet Union.... Grassley..., the most senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, opened a hearing on immigration legislation by stressing that the issue was important 'particularly in light of all that’s happening in Massachusetts right now and over the last week.'"

CBS News Boston: "CBS News correspondent Bob Orr ... reported Friday afternoon that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev became an American citizen on Sept. 11, 2012." Hmmm. September 11??

Via the Atlantic, "There will be a press briefing at 5:30 p.m. with Mayor Menino, Gov. Deval Patrick and state police officials."

Mike Isikoff of NBC says the police have already found 7 IEDs in the Boston area.

Map from the New York Times. Go to the Times page for explanatory blurbs on each point of the map:

Since we're doing maps, for those of you unsure of where Chechnya is, here's the answer:

Boston Globe: "A relative of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects said he repeatedly warned the 19-year-old fugitive Dzhokhar Tsarnaev about the bad influence of his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed overnight in a shootout with police. A picture has begun to emerge of 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev as an aggressive, possibly radicalized immigrant who may have ensnared his younger brother Dzhokhar -- described almost universally as a smart and sweet kid -- into an act of terror that killed three people and injured more than at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday."

Bianna Golodryga & Christinia Ng of ABC News: "The father of a suspected Boston Marathon bomber called on his son today to give up peacefully, but warned the U.S. that if his son is killed 'all hell will break loose.' Anzor Tsarnaev spoke to ABC News from his home in the Russian city of Makhachkala as Boston police carried out an intense dragnet for his son Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.... 'If they kill my second child, I will know that it is an inside job, a hit job. The police are to blame,' the father told ABC News. 'Someone, some organization is out to get them.' Anzor Tsarnaev said that his sons were 'set up' and that they are 'very nice kids' who have no experience with weapons and explosives."

Re: commentary by James S. -- Jessica Misener & Rachel Sanders of BuzzFeed: "Jessica Cadorette, a store manager at a Dunkin' Donuts in Newton, Mass., told BuzzFeed: 'There was an automated message going around telling businesses to close, but because we're Dunkin' Donuts, we called the police department and they said we didn't have to [close].' ... Dunkin' Donuts has released the following statement to BuzzFeed. 'At the direction of authorities, select Dunkin' Donuts restaurants in the Boston area are open to take care of the needs of law enforcement and first responders.'"

I wonder how many Boston liberals spent the night cowering in their homes wishing they had an AR-15 with a hi-capacity magazine? -- Arkansas State Rep. Nate Bell (R)

Far be it from me to suggest that any of my fellow residents of the Commonwealth (God save it!) might want to discuss Representative Bell's insights with him, but here's his official contact page. Be polite. Be nice. Tell him that God loves him as he loves all mouthy hicks. -- Charles Pierce

Bell later apologized for his "poor choice of timing."

Pete Williams: Dzhokhar may have been wounded in shootout earlier today.

NBC: The FBI considers a third person an accomplice. Another IED has been disarmed in the Boston area.

The Lede (9:56 am ET) 5-year-old photo essay of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was an amateur boxer.

New York Times The Lede (10:08 am ET): "The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police, which has authority over the [Amtrack] track in New York and Connecticut, along with police from Norwalk, Conn., stopped the [Boston-New York City] train between the East Norwalk and Westport, Conn., stations and the Norwalk Police Department’s SWAT team swept the train, but did not find the suspect, the official said. While the authorities believe it was unlikely he was aboard, they were reviewing video surveillance footage from the stations in Providence, New Haven and New London, to be sure that the suspect did not get off before the train was stopped and searched.

CNN: high school friends, former teacher say Dzhokhar was a very nice kid, on the wrestling team, not at all a troublemaker, etc.

NBC: third suspect was apprehended on a train. Police believe they have "cornered" Dzhokhar in Watertown.

CNN: a suspect may be in a gray Honda CRV. Massachusetts plate. Update: '99 Honda CRV:

NBC: Sean Collier, 26, was the MIT officer who was killed.

Pete Williams: the family came here in about 2002, claiming political asylum because the father was some kind law enforcement official in or near Chechnya.

AP has contacted the father in Russia.

NBC News: police say they know where Dzhokhar is; have "concern" for another person. Pete Williams says there may be an accomplice or accomplices.

Another image of Dzhorhar Tsarnaev, from the Massachusetts State Police.

NBC News: the Tsarhaev brothers have lived in the U.S. for at least a decade.

CNN: there's a huge police presence at a particular site in Watertown. Homes have been evacuated. May have located Dzhokhar.

NBC says "person" is in police custody, taken from home where suspects lived. Update: is not a suspect. Update 2: Now says two non-suspects from the home are in custody. Three dozen FBI agents have secured the area.

Air space over Boston also shut down.

CNN is saying the younger brother drove over the other in making his escape. Also, they IDed themselves as the Marathon bombers to the driver of the vehicle they carjacked. Doctor where Tamerlan was taken said he had burns on his body, apparently from explosive device, as well as bullet wounds.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the suspect at large.The NBC News livefeed is here. The CNN livestream is here.

Gov. Deval Patrick , law enforcement authorities held a brief press conference at 8 am ET. The "shelter-in-place" recommendation extends to all of Boston.

NBC 2: Suspect No. 2 born in Kurdistan Kyrgyzstan (or Ubeki-beki-beki-stan-stan); brother who was killed was born in Russia.

CNN: The older brother -- Tamerlan Tsarhaev -- was 26 years old, attended Bunker Hill Community College.

Charles Pierce lives in the "extended crime zone."

Shelley Murphy, et al., of the Boston Globe: "A massive manhunt is underway this morning in Boston and several surrounding communities for one of the suspects in the Boston Marathon terror bombing attacks. A second suspect has died in a confrontation with police, while one police officer has been killed and another wounded."

Katharine Seelye, et al., of the New York Times: "The two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings led police on a wild and deadly chase through the suburbs here early Friday morning that ended in the death of one of the suspects as well as a campus police officer; the other suspect remained at large while hundreds of police officers conduct a manhunt through Watertown, about five miles west of downtown Boston.... About 10:30, police received reports that a campus security officer at M.I.T. was shot while he sat in his police cruiser. He was found with multiple gunshot wounds.... The officer was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A short time later, police received reports of an armed carjacking of a Mercedes SUV by two males in the area of Third Street in Cambridge, the statement said. 'The victim was carjacked at gunpoint by two males and was kept in the car with the suspects for approximately a half hour,' the statement said. He was later released, uninjured, at a gas station on Memorial Drive in Cambridge. Police immediately began to search for the vehicle and pursued it into Watertown. During the chase, 'explosive devices were reportedly thrown from car by the suspects,”'the statement said, and the suspects and police exchanged gunfire in the area of Dexter and Laurel streets."

Pete Williams, et al., of NBC News: "With a bomb strapped to his chest, one of the Boston Marathon suspects was killed early Friday after he and his accomplice brother robbed a 7-Eleven, shot a police officer to death, carjacked an SUV and hurled explosives in an extraordinary firefight with law enforcement, authorities told NBC News."

NBC News: The 2 suspects are brothers -- Dzhokhar Tsarhaev, who is still at large is 19, a resident of Cambridge, has a Massachusetts drivers license, he & his brother are legal & permanent residents of the U.S.

Here are pretty good explanations (yes, more than one) of more-or-less what happened last night & this morning:

An eyewitness account:

Boston Globe liveblog: "Police this morning are searching a 20-block area in Watertown for one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects after a violent night during which an MIT Police officer lost his life and a Transit Police officer was seriously wounded in a firefight. The other Boston Marathon bombing suspect, who was wearing a black hat in photos released Thursday evening, is dead after firing bullets and launching explosives at police. Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said the man now known as Marathon bombing Suspect #2, the man with the white baseball cap who actually dropped the bombs at the race finish line, is the person being sought by a massive collection of federal, state, and municipal police."

Authorities have shut down all public transportation -- buses, subway, taxi service, Amtrak -- in Boston. No vehicles are allowed into or out of Watertown. Public schools, all universities have been shut down. Newton, Watertown, Waltham, Belmont, etc., are on lockdown. Thousands of police are going door-to-door to find Suspect No. 2.

New image of Suspect 2, who is the subject of a massive manhunt. 

The Commentariat -- April 19, 2013

Nedra Pickler of the AP: "Blocked by Congress from expanding gun sale background checks, President Barack Obama is turning to actions within his own power to keep people from buying a gun who are prohibited for mental health reasons."

Katharine Seelye & Michael Cooper of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. released still and video images of two men whom they characterized as suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings on Thursday evening and asked for the public's help in identifying them. One of the men was captured on video setting down a backpack at the site of the second explosion, said Richard DesLauriers, the special agent in charge of the F.B.I.'s Boston field office."

Suspects 1 & 2.

Two images of Suspect 2.More photos on Boston Globe liveblog, beginning at 5:26 pm. ...

"If you have visual images, video, and/or details regarding the explosions along the Boston Marathon route and elsewhere, submit them on https://bostonmarathontips.fbi.gov/ No piece of information or detail is too small. You can also call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) prompt #3, with information." -- FBI Website

     ... Update: the FBI site now has high-res versions of the photos. You can access them here.

... The related surveillance video:

... Alex Seitz-Wald of Salon: "It didn't take long for a lawmaker to pick up the latest right-wing conspiracy theory about the Boston Marathon bombings. Just hours after controversial terrorism expert Steve Emerson reported last night on Sean Hannity's show that unnamed 'sources' told him the government was quietly deporting the Saudi national who was initially suspected in the bombing, South Carolina GOP Rep. Jeff Duncan grilled Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on the rumor at a hearing this morning." Here's how the exchange ended:

Duncan: Wouldn't you agree with me that it's negligent for us as an American administration to deport someone who was reportedly at the scene of the bombing?

Napolitano: I am not going to answer that question, it is so full of misstatements and misapprehensions that it's just not worthy of an answer.

      ... Like that idiot Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) who thought he outsmarted Energy Secretary & physicist Steven Chu, Duncan is so dumb he thought he got the best of Napolitano & proudly posted to his Website video of his "questioning" of Napolitano:

... Bag Men! Jed Lewison of Daily Kos: "Move over, CNN -- The New York Post wants to reclaim its spot as the most unreliable source of information in America.... Even though they [admitted they] had no idea their front page was accurate, The Post decided to run with it anyway. I guess they figured the photo told a great story, whether or not there was any evidence connecting it with the bombing. Two guys with bags, one of whom looks like he might even be of Middle Eastern ancestry? Print it! It would be irresponsible not to! Of course, the real story isn't what The Post was hoping":

... Shahriar Rahmanzadeh, et al., of ABC News: "The teenage boy authorities once investigated as possibly being connected to the Boston Marathon bombing told ABC News today he was shocked to see his face pop up on television and all over social media. Salah Barhoun, 17, said he went to the police yesterday to clear his name after he found himself tagged in pictures online." ...

... Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs: "It's hard to express how massive a fail this is -- but it's surpassed by the even more massive fail of the right wing blogs, who universally jumped all over the Post's latest fake story even though they were just burned by the last fake story." ...

... "The Boston Bombing Witch Hunt Bags Another Innocent Kid." Barry Petchesky of Deadspin: "On Monday, the New York Post doggedly stuck to its claim that 12 were killed in the Boston Marathon bombings. On Tuesday, CNN (among others) reported that a suspect had been arrested, before walking that all the way back. Today [Thursday], the Post wrests back the 'what the fuck are you doing?' crown by putting two 'potential suspects' on the cover of the newspaper.... But maybe there was a reason for them to be at the marathon, wearing track jackets and carrying bags: they're runners."

Alina Selyukh of Reuters: "The House of Representatives passed legislation on Thursday designed to help companies and the government share information on cyber threats, though concerns linger about the amount of protection the bill offers for private information.... The bill drew support from House Democrats, passing on a bipartisan vote of 288-127, although the White House repeated its veto threat on Tuesday if further civil liberties protections are not added." ...

... Republicans, who have been howling like banshees about privacy issues surrounding the relatively small (but potentially dangerous) number of Americans purchasing guns, are completely unconcerned about a bill that puts every American's expectation of a certain level of privacy right in the dumpster. -- Akhilleus, in yesterday's Comments ...

... ** How Our "Public Servants" Become Multi-Millionaires. Tech Dirt: "It would appear that Rep. Mike Rogers, the main person in Congress pushing for CISPA, has kept rather quiet about a very direct conflict of interest that calls into serious question the entire bill. It would appear that Rogers' wife stands to benefit quite a lot from the passage of CISPA, and has helped in the push to get the bill passed." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link.

Chamber of Ironies

(1) Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "All that remained of a broad package of measures representing the most serious changes to the nation's gun laws in 20 years were two amendments: one that would address mental health care, and another that would penalize states that divulge information about gun owners except under very specific circumstances like a criminal investigation. Both passed overwhelmingly, the only two gun-related measures to clear the Senate's 60-vote threshold for passage. The vote on the amendments has no practical effect, since the underlying legislation has no immediate prospect of passing. Despite the push from proponents of stricter gun regulations, the amendments that received the most support in two days of voting were not the ones that tightened restrictions on weapons purchases, but the ones that loosened them. Fifty-seven senators voted on Wednesday to essentially nullify state laws that prohibit carrying concealed weapons. Fifty-six senators voted to restore gun ownership rights to veterans who have had them taken away."

(2) Petula Dvorak of the Washington Post: "'Shame on you!' shouted ... Lori Haas from the Senate gallery after ... [the Senate] refused to impose any new restrictions on gun ownership.... Haas's ... daughter Emily ... survived two bullet wounds to the head during the Virginia Tech massacre.... She and Patricia Maisch -- who also shouted 'Shame on you' but is better known as the hero who knocked a high-capacity magazine out of [Jared Lee] Loughner's hands before he could kill more people in Tucson -- were escorted out of the Senate gallery by Capitol Police. 'They detained us for about an hour and a half,' said Haas.... They had to turn over their IDs and wait. For what? A background check." ...

... Greg Sargent: New Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake (R) takes hits from the state's largest paper -- the Arizona Republic -- from Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly -- and from Patricia Maisch -- for his "no" vote on the Manchin-Toomey amendment. ...

... CW: there's this, too:

Our own Sen. Marco Rubio keeps harping that the culture of violence must be changed, but he refuses to see the practicality of instant background checks that have, indeed, turned away scores of criminals from buying guns legally at stores. He voted No. Shameful. Right here in Miami we are witnessing a spike in gun violence, especially in poor neighborhoods. Where are those guns coming from? -- Miami Herald Editors

... Nate Silver does a statistical analysis -- natch! -- on why the Senators voted as they did on Manchin-Toomey. Worst Senator Award: Heidi Heitkamp. ...

... CW: I accidentally clicked on this New York Times story by Peter Applebome about Newtown, Connecticut, & its role in gun safety legislation. If you want to know how the NRA is winning, it's by convincing people that this is an accurate depiction of the ideological divide: '"The antigun sentiment is at a height because of the tremendous amount of emotion associated with it, but there's probably the same percentage of people who are in favor of the Second Amendment as those who are in favor of these stringent laws," said Daniel Cruson, the town historian. He puts himself in that first camp." That's pretty obvious. ...

... AND Dylan Byers of Politico is very, very upset about media bias against criminals & crazy people who purchase guns & ammo: "Even by the standards of today's partisan media environment, the response has been noteworthy. Television hosts, editorial boards, and even some reporters have aggressively criticized and shamed the 46 Senators who opposed the plan, while some have even taken to actively soliciting the public to contact them directly." CW: Wow! Even editorial boards! whose, um, job it is to express opinions. Just not gun safety opinions, I guess.

Another Reason to Be Glad Krugman Has a Job at the New York Times. His column today: "...the Reinhart-Rogoff fiasco needs to be seen in the broader context of austerity mania: the obviously intense desire of policy makers, politicians and pundits across the Western world to turn their backs on the unemployed and instead use the economic crisis as an excuse to slash social programs. What the Reinhart-Rogoff affair shows is the extent to which austerity has been sold on false pretenses. For three years, the turn to austerity has been presented not as a choice but as a necessity. Economic research, austerity advocates insisted, showed that terrible things happen once debt exceeds 90 percent of G.D.P. But 'economic research' showed no such thing; a couple of economists made that assertion, while many others disagreed.... So will toppling Reinhart-Rogoff from its pedestal change anything? ... I predict that the usual suspects will just find another dubious piece of economic analysis to canonize, and the depression will go on and on."

Obama 2.0. Matthew Wald of the New York Times: "The Senate energy committee formally approved the nomination of Ernest J. Moniz to be energy secretary, the committee announced on Thursday. The 21-to-1 vote is an indication that Mr. Moniz, who served as an undersecretary in the Energy Department in the Clinton administration, will have no trouble being confirmed by the full Senate. Some opponents had complained that an energy initiative he leads at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is financed heavily by the oil industry and other conventional energy industries." ...

... Obama 2.0 Emmarie Huetteman of the New York Times: "Responding to sharp criticism from Republicans for his work on housing discrimination and voting rights at the Justice Department, Thomas E. Perez, President Obama's choice to head the Labor Department, on Thursday defended his record and said that if confirmed, his focus would be on tackling the nation's high unemployment rate."

News Ledes

ABC News: "At least 13 people, including firefighters and emergency medical workers, were killed and about 200 more injured in the massive explosion and fire at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, according to officials. The number of deaths and injuries could still grow as search and recovery efforts continue at the site of the plant, the Texas Department of Public Safety said." ...

     ... NBC News Update: "While the death toll from a horrific fertilizer plant explosion was raised to 14 Friday, after two additional bodies were found...."

... Washington Times: "Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday he is declaring McLennan County a disaster area and calling for federal relief from President Obama in the wake of a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant that killed up to 15 people and injured scores more.... Mr. Obama called the governor from Air Force One en route to Massachusetts.... 'We greatly appreciate his call and his gracious offer of support, of course, and the very quick turnaround of the emergency declaration that will be forthcoming and his offer of prayers,' Mr. Perry said."

The Hill: "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) moved close to lifting the three-month grounding of the Boeing 787 'Dreamliner' airplane Friday by approving a redesign of the aircraft's lithium battery. U.S. airlines have been banned from flying the Boeing 787 on commercial flights since January, after a string of incidents in which the plane's lithium-ion batteries nearly caught fire."

Reuters: "Pakistani police took former president Pervez Musharraf into custody at their Islamabad headquarters on Friday, hours after a court had ordered him placed under house arrest, Musharraf's spokesman said. Mohammed Amjad said police had escorted the former army chief from his residence on the edge of the capital to a guest house at the city's police headquarters where he will spend two days on remand ahead of a court hearing."

The Commentariat -- April 18, 2013

Michael Shear & Julia Preston of the New York Times: the anti-immigration foment which right-wing talkshow hosts churned up in 2007 to defeat immigration legislation backed by President George W. Bush may not work this time around. Even some of the wingers, like Sean Hannity, have "evolved" on the issue. ...

... CW: Yeah, because there's this, for example. Jamie Self of the State: "Three out of four South Carolinians support immigration reforms that include giving undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship, according to a Winthrop University poll released Wednesday. The results to that poll question -- asked exclusively for The State -- were nearly the same for registered voters who identified themselves as Republicans and Democrats." South Carolina!!

President Obama's remarks at a memorial prayer service in Boston:

... The text of the President's speech is here. The text of Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's remarks is here. ...

... Andrew Ryan, et al., of the Boston Globe: "In a powerful, uplifting speech at an interfaith service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Obama said he had come to join people to 'pray and mourn and measure our loss. We also come today to reaffirm that the spirit of this city is undaunted and the spirit of this country shall remain undimmed.'" ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said Thursday morning that the National Rifle Association 'made a big mistake' by opposing his gun background checks compromise legislation, saying the amendment would have gotten 70 votes without the NRA's interference." With video. ...

... President Obama made remarks following the Senate's defeat of the Manchin-Toomey background check amendment. See also yesterday's Commentariat, including some great post-vote commentary. I have been surfing the net in search of punditry as profound as that of Reality Chex contributors. No luck. ...

... Tho Charles Pierce does quite well in discussing the "World's. Greatest. Deliberative. Body." With special props for Heidi Heitkamp (SupposedDem-N.D.) & Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) -- "Sarah Palin with Verbs."

... Ed O'Keefe & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "President Obama's ambitious effort to overhaul the nation's gun laws in response to December's school massacre in Connecticut suffered a resounding defeat Wednesday, when every major proposal he championed fell apart on the Senate floor.... The national drive for laws that might prevent another mass shooting unraveled under intense pressure from the gun rights lobby, which used regional and cultural differences among senators to prevent new firearms restrictions." ...

... ** Gabrielle Giffords, in a New York Times op-ed: "We know what we’re going to hear: vague platitudes like 'tough vote' and 'complicated issue.' I was elected six times to represent southern Arizona, in the State Legislature and then in Congress. I know what a complicated issue is; I know what it feels like to take a tough vote. This was neither. These senators made their decision based on political fear and on cold calculations about the money of special interests like the National Rifle Association, which in the last election cycle spent around $25 million on contributions, lobbying and outside spending." ...

... Dana Milbank: "Courage was in short supply at the Capitol on Wednesday."

... Jonathan Cohn & Eric Kingsbury of The New Republic highlight how very undemocratic the Senate is. This, of course, is not news. ...

... BUT, as Jonathan Chait of New York writes, "Don't Blame the Founders for the Gun Debacle." ...

... DITTO from Ezra Klein: "It's typical to say that this is how the Senate's always been. It's also wrong. The filibuster didn't emerge until decades after the first congress, and its constant use is a thoroughly modern development. As for the small state bias, that, too, has changed over time. During the first Congress, Virginia, the largest state, was roughly 12 times the size of Delaware, which was, at the time, the smallest state. Today, California is 66 times the size of Wyoming. That makes the Senate five times less proportionate today than it was at the founding."

... Juliet Lapidos of the New York Times on "Harry Reid's Conscience." ...

... Mitch McConnell thinks the murders, suicides & mayhem that will result from the failure of this bill are a hoot. ...

... Jonathan Bernstein, in the Washington Post: "Late word has it that Harry Reid will pull the gun bill down from the Senate floor prior to a final vote in order to be able to bring it back at some point in the future." ...

... Tweet from Sam Stein of the Huffington Post: "Howard Dean prediction on Morning Joe: Brian Schweitzer will either primary or replace Baucus over background check vote" Via Greg Sargent.

Linda Greenhouse: "If you read only one judicial opinion this year, you might consider skipping the Supreme Court entirely and going right to a decision issued early this month by Judge Edward R. Korman of Federal District Court in Brooklyn. The ruling ordered the Obama administration to lift age restrictions on the over-the-counter availability of emergency contraception." ...

... AND NEWS FLASH! Crazy Old Bigot Still on Supreme Court. Luke Johnson of the Huffington Post: "Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Monday that the Voting Rights Act is an 'embedded' form of 'racial preferment.' ... He later criticized United States Supreme Court precedents that expanded the number of minority groups, positing that 'child abusers' could be a minority, but do not deserve special protection." CW: Pause for a moment & ponder the logic there. Also, Scalia seems to think homosexuality is a crime. ...

... Charles Pierce: "The 'emergency' to which the VRA was a response in 1965 began almost as soon as the Civil War ended.... And anyone who's been alive since 2010 ... knows that the "emergency" hasn't gone away. It's just put on a suit and gone to law school."

Outrage of the Day. Boing, Boing, Boing. You know those piddly checks the banks agreed to settle on mortgagors whom they'd screwed out of their homes? Well, the first ones have been going out, and they're bouncing. Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "The mishap is just the latest setback to troubled homeowners. It took more than two years to resolve a federal investigation into the foreclosure abuses. Even after the settlement in January, the checks were delayed for weeks. 'It's the perfect ending for such a debacle,' said Michael Redman, a paralegal who runs a Web site for victims of foreclosure abuse. He said he had received 15 e-mails on Tuesday from homeowners whose checks bounced."

Obama 2.0. Sam Youngman of Reuters: "President Barack Obama's choice to lead the Office of Management and Budget appeared Wednesday to be on a clear path toward Senate confirmation. Sylvia Mathews Burwell/strong>, a former official in the administration of President Bill Clinton and until recently head of Wal-Mart Stores' philanthropic wing, sailed through committee votes without Republican opposition on Wednesday, virtually assuring her confirmation as the next head of OMB."

Thomas Edsall, in the New York Times: "Obama is unlikely to achieve top-rank historic status based on his legislative agenda. What he does have is a shot at using the platform of the presidency to jumpstart the process of economic adaptation by strengthening public awareness. People need to understand that the economic problems facing the country -- wage polarization, inequality and lost middle class jobs -- are structural, not just cyclical.... He can nurture greater empathy for workers, encourage majoritarian opposition to the conservative anti-regulation-anti-tax agenda, and reactivate dormant instincts of self-determination among the previously marginalized."

"The Kids Are Not All Right." Charles Blow: "According to a Unicef report issued last week -- 'Child Well-Being in Rich Countries' -- the United States once again ranked among the worst wealthy countries for children, coming in 26th place of 29 countries included. Only Lithuania, Latvia and Romania placed lower, and those were among the poorest countries assessed in the study."

You might be surprised to learn that Paul Kevin Curtis, the suspect in the ricin-laced letters sent to President Obama & Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker (R)(name sounds like a patio store; h/t Stephen Colbert) seems to be crazy as a loon who is "on the front lines of a secret war." Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed reports. ...

     ... UPDATE: Aaron Davis & Stephanie McCrummen of the Washington Post: "As Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was about to appear in a federal courtroom in Oxford, Mississippi, a lawyer who once represented him said Curtis had suffered for years with a mental illness, and that his family had struggled to keep him on medication to treat it."

Edward Krudy of Reuters: "How a student took on eminent economists on debt issue -- and won."

In New Zealand, Government Works. "As the votes are announced in the New Zealand Parliament that affirm the Definition of Marriage Amendment (allowing equal marriage rights for the gay community), spectators in the gallery break into a Maori love song which most of the Members of Parliament then join in with":

... New Zealand MP Maurice Williamson makes a speech prior to the vote:

Andy Borowitz: "Authorities who have spent the past forty-eight hours combing CNN in the hopes of finding any information whatsoever have called off their search, they confirmed today." ...

... CW: Actually, you get plenty of news on CNN. It's just totally unreliable. Note the crawl in the screenshot above. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "Wednesday afternoon has seen a flurry of contradictory reports about the status of an alleged suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, but for the past hour or so, CNN has been going all-in with sources that said an arrest had already been made. A few minutes ago, though, CNN's chyron went from 'Sources: Arrest In Boston Bombing' to 'Defcon: Oh, Crap,' as CNN contributor Tom Fuentes came on the air to tell Anderson Cooper that two 'highly-placed sources' say there has been no arrest, followed by Fran Townsend reporting that 'two administration officials' have confirmed that there has been no arrest." ...

... The FBI is cautioning media outlets -- CNN -- to cut said crap: "Since these stories often have unintended consequences, we ask the media, particularly at this early stage of the investigation, to exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting."

Kevin Drum on why the Republican brand isn't dead.

Right Wing World

CW: This post by Florida winger Javier Manjarres of Shark Tank, in which he squeals about the MarcoPhone, is hilarious. ("Move over 'Obama phone,' we present the new 'Hola, Como Estas?!' MarcoPhone.") At least Manjarres backs down with his updates, the gists of which are self-evident to anyone who reads the damned bill in the first place. ...

... Ed Kilgore: "I'm having trouble feeling bad for Rubio getting a taste of what it's like to be on the receiving end of a Tea Party delusion."

I knew it. Obama bugged McConnell's office. John Stanton of BuzzFeed: "White House logs and the Twitter feed of Shawn Reilly, one of two men at the heart of the McConnell wiretapping scandal, show he met with White House officials on Dec. 5, just days before his organization Progress Kentucky began a messaging blitzkrieg against the Republican leader." Oh. Near the end of his post, Stanton writes, "... a source familiar with the situation said Reilly was one of 83 other people from Kentucky and Tennessee who attended the event. An administration official addressed the attendees, discussing the then-looming fiscal cliff fight and other items on the White House's upcoming agenda. Neither Reilly nor any of the other people in attendance had 'intimate' one on one meetings with [Valerie] Jarrett or other senior White House officials.... Still, Republicans pointed to the evidence of the visitors logs to argue that Reilly is far more connected to the Democratic establishment than leaders would have the public believe."

News Ledes

New York Times: "A former justice of the peace who had been convicted of robbery was charged Thursday with the revenge killings of the prosecutors who handled his case, closing a chapter in one of the more chilling cases of assault on American law enforcement officers."

Washington Post: "A massive explosion at a fertilizer plant in central Texas Wednesday night left more than 160 people wounded and killed an estimated five to 15 people, officials said, likely including firefighters who had been battling the blaze at the factory that triggered the explosion." ...

     ... New York Times UPDATE: "Rescue workers searched the rubble of a fertilizer plant on Thursday, looking for missing firefighters and survivors of a huge explosion that tore through this small central Texas town on Wednesday night, killing as many as 15 people and injuring more than 160 others, laying waste to buildings and potentially sending toxic fumes into the air, the authorities said.... Homes and businesses were leveled in the normally quiet town of West, just north of Waco, and there was widespread destruction in the downtown area, Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton of the Waco Police Department said Thursday morning."

Boston Globe: "In a potential breakthrough in the investigation into the Boston Marathon bombing, investigators have isolated images of a suspect carrying and perhaps dropping a black bag believed to have held one of two bombs that exploded 12 seconds apart Monday near the finish line of the historic race, said an official briefed on the investigation. Authorities were 'very close' Wednesday in their pursuit of the bomber, said the official...." ...

     ... UPDATE: "Authorities have clear video images of two separate suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings carrying black bags at the explosion sites and are planning to release the images today in an appeal for the public's help in identifying the men, according to an official briefed on the case. The official said that the two suspects were seen separately on videotape -- one at each of the two bombing sites, which are located about a block apart."

... New York Times: "... a senior law enforcement official ... said the authorities were trying to boil down the number of people of interest in the videos and would then decide whether to ask the public's help in locating them." ...

... Boston Globe: "President Obama will speak at an interfaith prayer service to honor victims of the Boston Marathon bombings Thursday morning at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.... Four former governors will attend, Governor Deval Patrick said: Mitt Romney, William F. Weld, Michael S. Dukakis, and Jane M. Swift."

AP: "A Chicago-area transportation agency on Wednesday alleged that some of the nation's largest and best known companies including AT&T, Sears Holdings Corp., Verizon and Target are running 'sham' offices as part of a scheme with two small northern Illinois communities to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes in Chicago and Cook County."

AP: "Former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf and his security team pushed past policemen and sped away from a court in the country's capital on Thursday to avoid arrest after his bail was revoked in a case in which he is accused of treason. Local TV broadcast footage of the dramatic scene in which Musharraf jumped into a black SUV and escaped as a member of his security team hung to the side of the vehicle. He sped away to his large compound on the outskirts of Islamabad that is protected by high walls, razor wire and guard towers." CW: luckily, Obama has seen to it that Dubya will never have to hide out behind barbed wire surrounding his Crawford ranch.

Reuters: "Ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was ordered to be transferred back to prison from a military hospital on Wednesday on the recommendation of a medical team after he appeared fitter at his aborted retrial."