The Commentariat -- April 21, 2013

Maureen Dowd pouts that once again it is President Obama's fault that Congress didn't do something: in this case, that gun control legislation didn't pass the Senate (even though a watered-down background-check bill received a majority of votes.) You can read Dowd's argument. ...

     ... CW: Here's what I think. (a) Dowd never misses a chance to diss the President. (I guess that's a given.) (b) Obama is playing the long game, & Dowd is too shortsighted to see it. Even if Obama had succeeded at all the arm-twisting Dowd recommends & overcome the GOP filibuster, there is no way in hell a background check bill would have passed the GOTP House. So, given that reality, Obama is working toward getting a different Congress, something he has not bothered to do in the past but appears to be mobilizing to do now. Yes, innocent people are going to die between then & now because Congress won't pass a bill which attempts to limit gun ownership to competent, lawful people. But that is not President Obama's fault, MoDo. That is the fault of both Houses of Congress. ...

... ** Former Obama Chief of Staff Bill Daley in a Washington Post op-ed: Heidi Heitkamp betrayed me & I want my money back, specifically the $2,500 I contributed to her campaign. "... nine in 10 Americans and eight in 10 gun owners support a law to require every buyer to go through a background check on every gun sale. In North Dakota, the support was even higher: 94 percent. Yet in explaining her vote, Heitkamp had the gall to say that she 'heard overwhelmingly from the people of North Dakota' and had to listen to them and vote no. It seems more likely that she heard from the gun lobby and chose to listen to it instead.... I’ll have some advice for my [deep-pockets] friends in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles: Just say no to the Democrats who said no on background checks." CW: so besides being a PretendDem, Heitkamp is a brazen liar.

Prof. William Reese in a New York Times op-ed on "the first race to the top" -- in mid-19th-century Boston.

Jeremy Herb & Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Two powerful GOP senators [that would be famed sabre-rattlers John McCain & Lindsey Graham] are calling on the Obama administration to treat the captured suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings as an 'enemy combatant' and deny him counsel even though he is reportedly an American citizen." ...

... Steve Benen: "The same week in which Senate Republicans insisted that the Second Amendment is sacrosanct, McCain and Graham are arguing that the Fourth Amendment is a nicety that the nation must no longer take seriously." ...

... Canning Miranda. Glenn Greenwald says, get over it, liberals; what Graham & McCain are proposing is already Obama's policy. ...

... Emily Bazelon of Slate: "The police can interrogate a suspect without offering him the benefit of Miranda if he could have information that’s of urgent concern for public safety. That may or may not be the case with Tsarnaev. The problem is that Attorney General Eric Holder has stretched the law beyond that scenario.... Who gets to make this determination [as to whether or not to invoke the public safety exception]? The FBI, in consultation with DoJ, if possible. In other words, the police and the prosecutors, with no one to check their power." ...

... Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Obama administration’s announcement that it planned to question the Boston Marathon bombing suspect for a period without first reading him the Miranda warning of his right to remain silent and have a lawyer present has revived a constitutionally charged debate over the handling of terrorism cases in the criminal justice system." ...

... CW: excuse me while I get pragmatic. Let's say the federal investigators don't mirandize Tsarnaev & he gives them a boatload of information, some of which, BTW, is self-incriminating. What next? Why, his lawyers can argue that he wasn't mirandized & the incriminating information he gave up cannot be used against him. Then let's suppose the court agrees. Guess what? There's already enough evidence against this kid to convict him of capital murder. I get what Greenwald & Bazelon, et al., are saying, & it could certainly be relevant in other cases where there is not enough evidence to convict without information obtained -- directly or indirectly -- from the interrogation. I just don't think it matters in this case. It's more important to learn what Tsarnaev has to say than it is to afford him his Fifth Amendment rights. None of which is to say, BTW, that I agree with a word Sens. Frick & Frack have said.

Koch Brothers Planning to Kill U.S. Journalism. Amy Chozick of the New York Times on the Koch brothers' plan to purchase the Tribune Company, which owns the Chicago Tribune & other papers including The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The Orlando Sentinel and The Hartford Courant. If they succeed, they will exert editorial control to press their anti-government ideas.

Neil Diamond sang "Sweet Caroline" during the 8th inning at Fenway Park Saturday. "The Fenway tradition has been used by teams across all sports to honor Boston since Monday's marathon bombings. The crowd got into the song like never before with Diamond leading them." Sorry about the echo; that's just how it is:

     ... More from Jimmy Golen of the Boston Globe.

News Ledes

AP: "A Massachusetts police official say the brothers suspected of bombing the Boston Marathon before having shootouts with authorities didn't have gun permits." ...

... New York Times on the London Marathon, which took place today "with no security scares and the minds of virtually all involved soaring westward to the victims of last Monday’s attack." ...

... NBC News: "Despite a serious throat wound that prevents him from speaking, the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect is beginning to respond to questions from investigators, federal officials tell NBC News. Nearly 48 hours after he was taken into custody following an intense gun battle and manhunt, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was communicating with a special team of federal investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital. He was responding to questions mostly in writing because of the throat wound, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The suspect remains in serious condition. The throat wound may be the result of a suicide attempt, investigators said." ...

... New York Times: "The Massachusetts State Police on Sunday released new video showing the final moments of Friday night’s standoff with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, before he was taken into custody." Includes video. ...

... AP: "... the city's police commissioner said the two suspects [in the Boston Marathon bombings] had such a large cache of weapons that they were probably planning other attacks.... 'We have reason to believe, based upon the evidence that was found at that scene — the explosions, the explosive ordnance that was unexploded and the firepower that they had — that they were going to attack other individuals. That's my belief at this point." [Commissioner Ed] Davis told CBS's 'Face the Nation.' ... The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is tracing the weapons to try to determine how they were obtained by the suspects."

Boston Globe: "Speaking on 'This Week’ today, Senator Dan Coats of Indiana, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Committee, said, 'The information we have is that there was a shot to the throat [of Dzhohkar Tsarnaev], and it’s questionable when and whether he’ll be able to talk again.  Doesn’t mean he can’t communicate.  But right now I think he’s in a condition where they can’t get any information from him at all.'” ...

... AP: " Doctors say the Boston transit police officer wounded in a shootout with the marathon bombing suspects had lost nearly all his blood and his heart had stopped from a single gunshot wound that severed three major blood vessels in his right thigh. Surgeons at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge say 33-year-old Richard Donohue is in stable but critical condition. He is sedated and on a breathing machine but opened his eyes, moved his hands and feet and squeezed his wife's hand Sunday."

New York Times: "Secretary of State John Kerry announced Sunday morning that the United States would double its aid to the Syrian opposition, providing $123 million in fresh assistance." ...

... AP: "Wrapping up a 24-hour visit to Istanbul, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday sought to cement and speed up an improvement in relations between Turkey and Israel as well as explore new ways to relaunch Mideast peace efforts."

Denver Post: "Gunshots pierced the fog of marijuana smoke hanging in Denver's Civic Center on Saturday afternoon, sending attendees at the largest pot smokeout in the country scrambling for their lives. Denver police said two people who were shot in their legs were rushed to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Also, a juvenile grazed by a bullet walked to a nearby hospital."

Reuters: "A Cairo court on Saturday ordered Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak released pending a verdict on illicit gains charges, the second release order in a week, but he will remain in detention because he still faces other charges, court sources said. The appeal hearing on Saturday was held in Torah prison, to where 84-year-old Mubarak was transferred from an army hospital on Wednesday after an apparent improvement in his fragile health."

AP: "Rescuers and relief teams struggled to rush supplies into the rural hills of China's Sichuan province Sunday after an earthquake left at least 180 people dead and more than 11,000 injured and prompted frightened survivors to spend a night in cars, tents and makeshift shelters."

The Commentariat -- April 20, 2013

The President's Weekly Address:

     ... The transcript is here.

I've added links to some stories regarding the Boston Marathon bombing suspects to yesterday's post titled "Bedlam in Boston."

Mark Drajem & Jack Kaskey of Bloomberg News: "The Texas plant that was the scene of a deadly explosion this week was last inspected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1985. The risk plan it filed with regulators listed no flammable chemicals. And it was cleared to hold many times the ammonium nitrate that was used in the Oklahoma City bombing. For worker- and chemical-safety advocates who have been pushing the U.S. government to crack down on facilities that make or store large quantities of hazardous chemicals, the blast in West, Texas, was a grim reminder of the risks these plants pose..... There are no federal rules mandating that such plants be located away from residential areas, and the current company safety plans aren't always shared widely with residents nearby.... The company [that owns the West, Texas, plant] has been cited for a series of violations over the past few years.... In Texas, OSHA conducted 4,448 inspections in the last fiscal year, a pace that would mean it would visit every workplace in 126 years...." ...

... Joshua Schneyer, et al., of Reuters: "The fertilizer plant that exploded on Wednesday, obliterating part of a small Texas town and killing at least 14 people, had last year been storing 1,350 times the amount of ammonium nitrate that would normally trigger safety oversight by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Yet a person familiar with DHS operations said the company that owns the plant, West Fertilizer, did not tell the agency about the potentially explosive fertilizer as it is required to do, leaving one of the principal regulators of ammonium nitrate - which can also be used in bomb making - unaware of any danger there." ...

... Bill Minutaglio in a New York Times op-ed: "The explosion in West, which killed at least 14 people, is now entering a dark pantheon of events in Texas, ones that will surely lead to debates in the state about government regulation and oversight -- or the lack thereof.... It is finally time for this pathological avoidance of oversight to end in Texas." ...

... Here's the video Minutaglio mentions in his op-ed. As of this morning it has had almost 17.5 million views:

... CW: It is worth noting that many more people died & were injuried in the Texas fertilizer explosion than were victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. (And, no, pointing this out does not diminish the values of the lives of the Marathon victims.) In Boston, we saw how government and the people worked together to solve a crime. In Texas, we saw how government doesn't work when people -- and their elected representatives -- oppose sensible, lifesaving industrial oversight. From the beginning of human civilization, the primary purpose of government has been to protect those citizens. Nobody likes red tape; nobody likes "some bureaucrat telling me what to do." But a well-regulated nation is an infinitely safer nation.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. -- Preamble to the U.S. Constitution

... Those primordal screams about "Second Amendment rights," BTW, might abate if the screamers paid a little more attention to the "well-regulated" part of the Amendment. We are, by nature, individuals first, but we are citizens second. As citizens, we have a fundamental obligation to cooperate with each other in furtherance of those Constitutional objectives. Part of that cooperation is voluntarily subjecting ourselves to reasonable regulation and demanding that others -- including gun owners and those vaunted "jobs creators" -- do the same.

Stupid Quote of the Week. ... being shot in the head by a lunatic does not give one any special grace to pronounce upon public-policy questions.... Her childish display in the New York Times is an embarrassment. -- Kevin Williamson of the National Review, commenting on form Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' Times op-ed

... Timothy Johnson of Media Matters: "The argument by conservative media that former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and other survivors of gun violence who supported a failed Senate compromise to expand background checks on firearms sales are 'props' of the Obama administration is both hypocritically partisan and logically flawed.... Logical flaws aside..., presidents routinely evoke the experiences of victims in advocating for policies that would prevent future tragedies. In 1991, former President Ronald Reagan evoked his own experience of being shot by a would-be assassin, as well as the experiences of others wounded in the 1981 attack in order to advocate for background checks on gun sales." ...

... Same Subject, Better Quote. Who would design a system in which a President recently reëlected by a margin of almost five million votes could not move a piece of legislation supported by some ninety per cent of the country through even one chamber of the Congress -- even when a majority of legislators in that chamber voted for it? -- Ryan Lizza in "Four Reasons Why the Gun-Control Bills Failed"

... CW: but, hey, Larry Summers says the federal legislative system does not have a "structural problem," and the gridlock built into our Constitutional (and, now, extra-Constitutional) structure isn't always a bad thing. ...

... Rick Hertzberg & John Cassidy of the New Yorker elaborate on minority rule:

... "Filibuster Delenda Est." Jonathan Bernstein: "... it is wrong to say that insisting on 60 is threatening a filibuster. The demand is the filibuster, under the conditions -- which hold now, and have held for decades -- that the way a filibuster is conducted is by notifying people of the demand for 60. And so, whenever 60 is demanded, and however that is resolved, the press should report that a measure has been filibustered, and if it fails -- again, however it is resolved -- they should report that it has been defeated by filibuster." (CW: Title, thanks to Ed Kilgore.)

Carrie Brown of Politico: "... when Democrats got a look at the 844-page [proposed immigration] measure, they discovered that their negotiators extracted more concessions than they thought possible. Those include an expansive version of the DREAM Act and subtle but meaningful tradeoffs on all the major pieces of the system, from family reunification to legalization and border security."

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "The Boy Scouts of America are calling for an end to their ban on homosexual members, while maintaining the ban for adult leaders. The organization is proposing a resolution stating that 'no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.' The change still must be approved by the group's roughly 1,400 national council members at a meeting the week of May 20."

"Tailgunner Ted." Dana Milbank: "Democrats see a potential bogeyman in [Sen. Ted] Cruz [RTP-Texas] because of his outrageous pronouncements, and reporters love his inflammatory quotes. Republican leaders, however, don't know how to control this monster they created." A good read. I'll bet Ted Cruz read it, too. And smiled smirked.

Pete Williams, Trending. Dylan Byers of Politico: "On Wednesday, while CNN was self-destructing after falsely reporting that a suspect has been taken into custody, [NBC's Pete] Williams rightly reported otherwise. Through Thursday, he reported what was known, while resisting the temptation to speculate on what he did not. Then, in the early hours of Friday morning, Williams was among the first to report on the ongoing developments of the search for the suspects -- including that one of the suspects was dead and that both suspects were legal residents with foreign military training.... When the dust from Boston Marathon bombing clears, viewers will remember two things about the cable news coverage of this historic event: that John King blew it, and that Pete Williams got it right." ...

... AND when New York Post editor Col Allan refused to apologize for the paper's egregious "coverage" of the Boston Marathon bombings, the group Animal stepped in & did it for him. Via Dan Amira of New York:

Right Wing World

Every Bad Thing Is the Government's Fault. Miranda Blue of Right Wing Watch: "The Family Research Council is joining many of its fellow right-wing groups in celebrating Wednesday's Senate filibuster of a bill that would have expanded background checks on gun sales. In an email to supporters [Thursday], the group claims that gun violence prevention legislation isn't needed because it wouldn't have stopped the Boston marathon bombing. What is to blame for recent mass murders, the group claims, is 'the government's own hostility to the institution of the family' compounded by Congress' supposed encouragement of 'abortion, family breakdown, sexual liberalism, or religious hostility.'"

News Ledes

John Miller on the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev:

Boston Globe: "Russian authorities warned the FBI in early 2011 that suspected bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev may have been a follower of 'radical Islam,' a revelation that raised new questions in Congress on Saturday about whether the Boston Marathon attacks that killed three and wounded more than 170 could have been prevented." ...

... Reuters: "Runners at the London Marathon on Sunday will wear black ribbons and observe a 30-second silence to honour the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings, under the watchful eyes of increased numbers of police deployed to reassure the public." ...

... Politico: "President Barack Obama met Saturday with his national security council to discuss the investigation of the bombings in Boston and terrorism threats." ...

... ABC News: "A hospital spokesperson said early this morning that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was still alive, however the FBI asked they give no updates on his condition." ...

     ... AP Update: "Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said Saturday afternoon that Tsarnaev was in serious but stable condition and was probably unable to communicate. Tsarnaev was at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where 11 victims of the bombing were still being treated."

... Reuters: "The Federal Public Defender Office said Saturday it will represent Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, once charges are filed. Miriam Conrad, head of the Boston office that represents criminal suspects who cannot afford a lawyer, said via email that 'we have been informed that we will be appointed after charges are filed.'" ...

... New York Times: "the investigation into the Boston Marathon bombings turned on Saturday to questions about the men's motives, and to the significance of an overseas trip one of them took last year." ...

... AP: "Police say three people have been taken into custody for questioning at a housing complex where the younger marathon bombing suspect may have lived. New Bedford Police Lt. Robert Richard says a private complex of off-campus housing at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth was searched by federal authorities Friday evening." ...

... NPR: "Watertown, Mass., resident David Henneberry's name was on many people's lips Saturday, as the hero who called police to say bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev might be hiding in his back yard." ...

... ABC News: people want to help Henneberry get a new boat, since his is apparently riddled with bullets.

Guardian: "Giorgio Napolitano, an 87-year-old political veteran who had been planning to embark on a well-earned retirement within weeks, has become the first Italian president to be re-elected to serve a second term, after squabbling and discredited party leaders who had failed to agree on his successor begged him to stay on 'in the higher interests of the country'."

Reuters: " A strong 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit a remote, mostly rural and mountainous area of southwestern China's Sichuan province on Saturday, killing at least 156 people and injuring about 5,500 close to where a big quake killed almost 70,000 people in 2008."

AP: "Iraqis braved the fear of violence on Saturday to vote in the first election since the U.S. military withdrawal, though delayed voting in some parts of the country and an apparently lackluster turnout elsewhere has cast doubt about the credibility of the vote." ...

... Reuters: "A dozen small bombs exploded and mortar rounds landed near polling centers in Iraq on Saturday, wounding at least four people during voting in the country's first provincial elections since the departure of U.S. troops."

AP: "A Pakistani judge on Saturday ordered former military ruler Pervez Musharraf be held in custody for two weeks until the next hearing in a case related to his 2007 decision to sack and detain several judges. The police then declared Musharraf's lavish country residence a jail, paving way for him to be taken and held there under what is essentially house arrest."

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.