THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Boston! (Applause.) It is great to be back in Boston. (Applause.) Good to be back in Massachusetts. (Applause.) And, most of all, it is great to be here with the next senator from Massachusetts — Ed Markey. (Applause.)
First of all, I want to thank Ed for that great introduction. (Applause.) Because I am here with my great friends from Boston, because I’m here to campaign on behalf of somebody who will be an outstanding member of the United States Senate, I am not going to talk trash about the hockey game. (Laughter.) I’m not going to say anything about the outstanding qualities of the Chicago Blackhawks. (Laughter.)
AUDIENCE: Boooo –
THE PRESIDENT: I’m not going to say anything. I’m not going to do it. (Laughter.) Because I don’t want to make you all feel bad. (Laughter.) I want you to feel good.
Part of the reason you should feel good is not only do you have an outstanding congressional delegation, you also have a great Governor — my good friend, Deval Patrick. (Applause.) You’ve got one of the finest mayors in the United States of America — we love Tom Menino. (Applause.) I was just backstage talking to Tom, and he doesn’t just inspire Boston and make it a better place, he inspires the country. And we’re grateful for his lifetime of service.
The last time I saw Tom, the last time I saw a lot of you was for the memorial service honoring the victims of the Marathon bombing. So this morning, before I came here, I wanted to spend some time with some Bostonians, so we stopped by Charlie’s Sandwich Shop — (applause) — and I got a burger and fries. And we were saying hi to everybody and hugging folks, and Ed was with me. And one of the people I met in the shop just by happenstance was a young man whose family had been injured by the bombing. And he was with a nurse who had been at Mass General the day those folks got brought in. And she was on her day off. But I gave her a big hug and I reminded her of how much what she did had meant to so many people all throughout the city and she was an example of the spirit of Boston during a very difficult time.
And I asked people, how is the city doing? And they said, you know, we’re bouncing back. Boylston Street may be open again. Life may be back to normal in a lot of ways. But we know there’s still too many middle-class families that aren’t seeing their hard work rewarded, too many young people who are looking for work and can’t find it, too many Americans who feel like the rungs on the ladder of opportunity have grown farther and farther apart. And that’s why Ed and I are focused on building the true engine of long-term economic growth — and that is a rising, thriving middle class. (Applause.)
And every day I wake up, I ask three questions: How do I make America a magnet for good jobs? How do we make sure our workers earn the skills and education they need for those jobs? How do we make sure those jobs are paying a decent living? And the answer to that is, government can’t do it by itself. Obviously, the private sector is the driver of our economy. It’s the engine of our growth.
But when people say the whole problem is government, they don’t understand government can help by establishing smart priorities, by making smart choices, by investing in American manufacturing so we’re bringing more of our jobs back from overseas — (applause) — investing in our roads and our bridges and our ports to make sure that we are staying competitive all around the world; educating our children from the earliest years, keeping them safe from gun violence; rethinking our high schools, making college more affordable — (applause) — making sure we stay at the cutting edge in science and technology; securing our energy future; addressing climate change. There are some things that government can do that will help middle-class families, and that’s what Ed Markey is committed to doing. (Applause.)
We can do all this. We have all the plans. We have all the policies. We have solutions to our challenges. We have all the ingredients for success. This is not only the greatest nation on Earth in the past, this is going to be the greatest nation on Earth for the foreseeable future. There’s no country on Earth that would not gladly trade places with the United States. But what’s holding us back right now is inaction in Washington, gridlock in Washington — too many folks in Washington who are putting the next election ahead of the next generation. (Applause.)
Now, Boston, I want you to know I’ve run my last campaign. Michelle is very happy about that. (Laughter.) So my only concern is making sure that we advance the interests of the broadest number of Americans and we leave our children a stronger, safer, more prosperous country than the one we inherited. That’s all I care about. (Applause.) And that means I’m willing to work with anybody — I’ll work with Republicans, Democrats, independents — anybody who wants to make progress. I’m ready to get going. I want to work with them. (Applause.)
So, for example, right now on immigration, we’ve got a good bipartisan bill moving through the Senate that strengthens our borders and reforms the system so that everybody is playing by the same rules — reform that will allow us to continue to attract talent from all around the world, the best and the brightest. And whenever Republicans are ready to work with me, I’m ready to work with them. (Applause.) I want to govern not just politic. (Applause.)
And I notice on gun violence, there are a lot of Republicans out there who recognize that we need some common-sense gun safety measures. Some Republicans may be rethinking the stances that they took in the past. That’s the good news. We want to encourage that.
But the fact of the matter is that a whole bunch of Republicans out there are not interested in getting things done. They think compromise is a dirty word. They think the problem we’ve got is just working people who join unions — that that’s what holding us back. They think environmental regulations are what’s holding us back. They think that we’re spending, I guess, too much money on science and research and technology.
And because of those attitudes, we’ve got to have some Democrats like Ed Markey, who will stand up and do the right thing. That’s what we need. (Applause.)
Ed mentioned that the idea of being a Democrat — look, I don’t believe that any single party has a monopoly on wisdom. My favorite President is a guy from Illinois who founded the Republican Party, effectively — Abraham Lincoln, our first Republican President. (Applause.) But what does make me a Democrat is the basic idea that in this country, no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from, no matter who you love, you should be able to get ahead if you’re willing to work hard and act responsibly. (Applause.)
You should be able to buy a home and send your kids to college, and save a little bit for retirement, make sure your kids get a good education, not go bankrupt when you get sick. Most Americans aren’t asking for a lot. They know they’ve got to take care of themselves. They just want to make sure that if they’re working hard, they can get ahead. That’s the essence of what it means to be a Democrat.
And that’s why we’ve got to have folks like Ed Markey, who are going to help keep weapons of war off the streets and out of our schools; make it harder for criminals to get a gun in their hands.
That’s why we’ve got to have a Democrat who is going to make sure that we implement the Affordable Care Act — because in a nation this wealthy, nobody should have to go without affordable, accessible health care. They don’t have to do it in Massachusetts. They shouldn’t have to do it anywhere else. (Applause.) It’s the right thing to do, and we need Ed Markey to make sure that it gets implemented. (Applause.)
We’re fighting to make sure that when it comes to women’s health, no employer or insurance company or politician gets to decide your health care. Women should make decisions about their health care, not some politician in Washington. (Applause.)
We need somebody who is going to be supportive of the Consumer Financial Protection Board that Elizabeth Warren and I started talking about even before I was elected President and that we’ve now implemented to make sure you’re not getting cheated by unscrupulous financial practices. We need somebody who is going to support that robustly. That’s what Ed is going to do.
We don’t need politicians who are going to roll back these rights. We need somebody like Ed Markey who is going to fight to secure them, no matter how many times the Republicans in Washington want to refight the old battles.
Do you know that the House Republicans have held nearly 40 votes to repeal Obamacare? They did another one just two weeks ago because they figured that they were a couple new representatives that hadn’t had a chance to vote against Obamacare. That’s not a productive thing to do, people.
This law is going to mean big things for the economic security of middle-class families. We should be spending time figuring out how to spread the word that if you don’t have health insurance, you can now get it.
We need a senator from Massachusetts who will help me, work with me, to deal with climate change in an honest, realistic way. (Applause.) Ed has been fighting this battle for decades. If we want our children and our grandchildren to live in the same beautiful planet, the same abundance and natural glory that we have enjoyed in our lives, we’ve got to double down on our investment in science and basic research. We can’t just develop the energy sources of the past. We’ve got to develop the energy sources of the future.
We’ve got the tools and the capabilities to make huge strides. We’ve already doubled the production of clean energy. We’ve already doubled fuel-efficiency standards on cars. We’ve got to keep on going forward, not backwards. And that’s what Ed Markey is going to help us do. (Applause.)
We’ve ended a war in Iraq; we’re winding down the war in Afghanistan responsibly. Now we’re going to have to take care of our veterans and keep Americans safe. And I will keep working with the other side of the aisle on these issues. But I want somebody like Ed Markey who every single day is going to be fighting on behalf of our veterans, going to be fighting on behalf of our first responders.
These budget battles we have in Washington, they have implications for whether or not we’re helping cities and states fund their firefighters, fund their police officers. And everybody here in Boston knows how much those first responders mean to us when a crisis has hit. (Applause.) And we’ve got to make sure we’re there for them. (Applause.)
So, look, here’s the bottom line. We’ve gone through some tough times over these last few years and so many of you put your faith in me in 2008 and 2012 — (applause) — the folks here in Massachusetts were very kind to me back in 2004, when nobody could pronounce my name. (Laughter.)
And every single day, I think about all of you. I look out on the faces in this crowd — some of you I know, some of you have knocked on doors for me, some of you poured your heart and soul into our efforts.
But here’s the thing that I think all of us understand — the job of rebuilding America, the job of making sure our kids have a great education, the job of making sure everybody has health care, the job of making sure that financial institutions treat everybody fairly, the job of making sure our veterans have the care that they need, the job of making sure we have a bright energy future, the job of preserving our environment, the job of making sure we stay on the cutting-edge when it comes to innovation — that job is not mine alone.
I can’t do it by myself. I’ve got to have folks with me who care as passionately about these things as I do. (Applause.) I’ve got to have folks in the United States Senate who are willing to stand up for working people just like I have. I need folks in the United States Senate who, every day, are waking up thinking about the people who sent them there, and trying to figure out how do I make sure that they are getting a brighter future.
That’s who Ed Markey is. I need Ed Markey in the United States Senate. (Applause.)
So this election is going to come down to turnout. We’ve got a whole lot of Democrats in this state and a whole lot of Obama voters, but you can’t just turnout during a presidential election. You’ve got to turn out in this election. You can’t think, oh, I did my work in 2012. You’ve got some work to do right now in 2013. (Applause.) You can’t just pat your back and say, well, I knocked on some doors back in November. I need you knocking on some doors right now in June. (Applause.)
And if you work with the same focus and the same passion — if you are knocking on some doors and making some phone calls, if you’re talking to your friends and you’re talking to your neighbors — if you’re talking to cousin Jimmy who doesn’t always vote unless you give him a phone call — if you are making sure that people know Ed Markey’s remarkable record in Congress, then I guarantee you he will be the next United States senator from Massachusetts. (Applause.) He’ll join Elizabeth Warren. He’ll carry on the legacy of Ted Kennedy and John Kerry. He will be my partner, and we will continue the march forward on behalf of not just this generation, but future generations.
Forty-one years ago, when I filed the first bills in the history of Massachusetts to fight discrimination, none of us enjoyed any rights anywhere in the U.S. Today, we have a national inclusive hate crimes law; we have ended bias in the military; we are no longer denied security clearance; in several states, employment discrimination is banned; and many of us have been able to marry the person we love.
But most LGBT people don’t have that right, and my marriage to Jim still lacks federal recognition. There is no national law banning job bias, and in most states, it is still legal to fire us because of who we are.
There is one major obstacle to our winning the fights that remain: the overwhelming opposition of the right-wing-dominated Republican Party. Four Republicans out of 280 in Congress support our right to marry. As long as Republicans control the U.S. House, no bill to end employment discrimination will ever be allowed to get a vote. We were able to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” only because for two years we had a Democratic House, Senate and president.
I wish the issue of LGBT legal equality was not partisan. I also wish I could eat more and not gain weight, but I’ve learned that acting on my wishes, when they’re not realistic, has bad results.
Given that reality, keeping Democratic control of the Senate and regaining Democratic control of the House is the necessary condition for finally winning our fight.
But that won’t happen without your help. I’m asking you to chip in $5 or more today to help elect Democrats who will finish the fight for equality:
There is no better way to ensure that we can take advantage of what I never expected to live to see — the chance to drive a legal stake through the heart of that terrible prejudice that has tormented so many of us for so long.
Deceased Boston bombing “Suspect 1″ Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s American born wife and young daughter were on food stamps and Aid to Families with Dependent Children in Massachusetts during the six months he traveled to and stayed in Russia in early 2012.
The Boston Heraldreported on Saturday that Tsarnaev’s wife, Katherine Russell Tsarnaeva, whom he married in June 2010, and their now 3 year old daughter received both food stamps and AFDC from September 2011 to November 2012. Food stamps are paid by federal taxpayers and AFDC is paid by both federal and state taxpayers.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev flew to Moscow on an Aeroflot flight in January 2012 and did not return to the United States until July 2012. During this six months trip to Russia, Tsarnaev stayed with his father in the Russian republic of Dagestan for three months, but also visited Chechnya. It is unclear if Tsarnaev met with Islamist radicals during this trip who may have trained him in preparation for the April 15, 2013 Boston bombings he and his brother Dzhokhar are alleged to have carried out.
The rest of this garbage, from this garbage online rag, can be found at BREITBART.com.
I am using this particular 3 paragraphs from that garbage rag to prove a point.
The American TANF system is flawed and needs to be fixed.
A terrorist family should not be on TANF (welfare) while the father/husband of said family is off studying bomb making 101 in a classroom halfway around the world filled with Chechnya killers. Americans should not be asked to foot the bill for this terrorist family while he is off planning the demise of Americans.
That make sense?
I’m not even going off into the whole race/skin color thing.
Oh hell ….yes I will.
These Tsarnaev’s welfare recipients are NOT people of browned-skinned color (which I continually get reminded are the ONLY ones scamming TANF) ….but they are scamming the TANF system.
It’s a calm, quiet day in Boston today. It’s difficult to believe that such horror filled our streets only a week ago.
Two times, bombs rocked the streets of Copley Square. Three lives were taken that day, and a law enforcement officer was killed just three days later. More than 260 people were wounded, many of whom remain hospitalized with amputations and other scars of tragedy.
I’ve heard from folks across the country, asking what they can do to help. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Tom Menino have formed a fund to help the people most affected by these tragic events.
During the Boston Marathon, everyone in our city cheers for each other. We help each other across the finish line. When terror struck, we acted as a family. Throughout the chaos, courageous people ran toward danger to help strangers in need.
Now we cry together. We pray together. We help each other.
No one can replace what we’ve lost here in Boston. But today, and in the weeks and months ahead, we’ll get through it together — through sorrow and anger, rehabilitation and recovery. That’s what families do.
The OFA family knows how to work together to accomplish amazing things. Let’s make a difference for the Boston Marathon victims.
Your donation will directly help the families who need it most.
Please make a donation now to The One Fund Boston:
From West, Texas to Watertown, Massachusetts, we remember and honor the men, women, and children we lost last week. We help those whose lives will never be the same. And we thank our first responders, medical professionals, law enforcement officers, and National Guard for their heroic work.
I’m very proud of the people of Massachusetts for their strength, resolve, and courage. Bostonians are tough.
We are fighters — and we cannot be broken.
No matter where you live, thank you for being with us in our time of crisis and our time of healing. We run together.
This has been a very long, complex and evil filled 4 months since December 14th, 2012. I don’t have to recap the events since that evil dark Friday in December but it seems a cloud of horror, tragedy and death has taken up permanent residence over America and her citizens.
Without the leadership, love, compassion and guidance of Barack Hussein Obama & his administration, where would we be?
The following story of Dzhokhar & Tamerlan Tsarnaev, The City Of Boston, The Boston Marathon Bombings and the City Of Watertown, is an ongoing story and this post will ultimately become old and incomplete as new facts and information becomes evident.
This is what I have gathered from a multitude of sources around the World Wide Web……for now.
First some history on The Northern Caucasus, Chechnya and Dagestan Regions Of Russia:
Boston Marathon Bombings
The Boston Marathon bombings were a coordinated pair of terrorist attacks during the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, in which two bombs exploded, killing three people and injuring 183 others. The bombs, at least one of which was a pressure cooker bomb, had been placed near the finish line, along Boylston Street. They detonated at 2:49 p.m. EDT (18:49 UTC), 13 seconds apart. No warning was given. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) led the investigation into what it identified as a terrorist attack.
Police continued the manhunt in Watertown to find his brother, Dzhokhar. Almost everyone complied with the authorities’ request that all residents of Watertown and of the entire city of Boston stay indoors (a so-called shelter in place). The entire public transportation system, most businesses, and many public institutions were shut down, resulting in a deserted urban environment of historic size and duration. The purpose of the lockdown was to help the police in their door-to-door hunt for Dzhokhar, but he was in fact not apprehended until the authorities lifted the voluntary curfew and a citizen found the wounded suspect hiding in a trailered boat in his backyard. Dzhokhar was captured alive on the evening of April 19.
On Patriots’ Day, Monday, April 15, 2013, the annual Boston Marathon began without any indications of an imminent attack. Officials swept the area for bombs twice before the explosions; the second sweep occurred one hour before the bombs went off. People were able to come and go freely, and carry bags and items in and out of the area.
At 2:49 p.m. EDT (18:49 UTC), two bombs detonated on Boylston Street near Copley Square about 180 yards (170 m) apart, just before the finish line. The first exploded outside Marathon Sports at 671–673 Boylston Street at 2:49:43 p.m. EDT; the second, one block farther west at 755 Boylston Street at 2:49:57 p.m. EDT.
The bombs were improvised explosive devices containing explosives, bits of metal, and ball bearings, placed in black nylon duffel bags or backpacks. One device was described as a pressure cooker bomb, thought to be made using a Fagor-brand pressure cooker; the other device was housed in a metal container of unclear construction. About 13 seconds passed between the two blasts. The blasts blew out windows on adjacent buildings but did not cause any structural damage.
At the time of the first explosion, the race clock at the finish line showed 04:09:43. The bombs detonated about two hours after the winner crossed the finish line, with more than 5,700 runners yet to finish. Some runners continued to cross the line until 2:57 p.m., eight minutes after the explosions.
Victims
The toll from the bombings was three people killed and 183 injured. A number of the injuries were grievous, requiring intensive care, and appeared to be “war-like injuries” of mutilation, shrapnel wounds, and dismemberment. The trauma surgery chief at Boston Medical Center said: “We see patients like this, with mangled extremities, but we don’t see 16 of them at the same time, and we don’t see patients from blast injuries.”
An MIT police officer, Sean Collier, 26, was shot and killed three days later when he was ambushed by the suspects, leading to a manhunt.
Injuries
Ten local hospitals treated more than 178 people.
Many victims suffered lower leg injuries and shrapnel wounds, which indicated the devices were low to the ground. Some suffered ruptured eardrums. At least 13 of the injured suffered severed limbs. Doctors described removing “bearing-ball type” metallic beads a little larger than BBs, and small carpenter-type nails about 1 to 2.5 centimeters (0.4 to 1.0 in) long. Similar objects were found at the scene. The New York Times stated that, according to doctors, because the bombs were low to the ground, the injuries mainly affected legs and feet instead of abdomens, chests, and heads, and as a result few deaths occurred.
During the manhunt three days later, MBTA police officer Richard Donohue, Jr., 33, was critically wounded in a shootout with the suspects.
Response
Rescue workers, medical personnel on hand to assist runners, bystanders, and runners rushed to help the wounded in the immediate aftermath.
The marathon was halted abruptly. Police, following emergency plans, diverted the remaining runners away from the finish line to Boston Common and Kenmore Square. The nearby Lenox Hotel was also evacuated. Police closed down a 15-block area around the blast site; this was reduced to a 12-block crime scene on April 16.Massachusetts Army National Guard soldiers already on scene joined local authorities in rendering aid. Bomb squads searched the area. Many bystanders had dropped backpacks and other bags as they fled, requiring each to be treated as a potential bomb. Boston police commissioner Ed Davis recommended that people stay off the streets.
No more bombs were found, although various bags and packages found on the street were initially treated as potential bombs. At one point on April 15, the Boston Police Bomb Squad said they would perform a controlled explosion of one such package found on the 600 block of Boylston Street,but later decided it was unnecessary. Some news reports initially said that more bombs had been found.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency suggested people trying to contact those in the vicinity use text messaging, instead of voice calls, because of crowded cellphone lines. Cellphone service in Boston was congested but remained in operation, despite some local media reports stating that cell service was shut down.
The American Red Cross helped concerned friends and family receive information about runners and casualties. The Boston Police Department also set up a helpline for people concerned about relatives or acquaintances to contact and a line for people to provide information.Google Person Finder activated their disaster service under Boston Marathon Explosions to log known information about missing persons as a publicly viewable file.
Because of the closure of several hotels near the blast zone, some out-of-town visitors were left with nowhere to stay; many Boston-area residents opened their homes to them.
United States government officials stated that there had been no intelligence reports that indicated such a bombing would take place. Representative Peter King, member of the House Intelligence Committee said: “I received two top secret briefings last week on the current threat levels in the United States, and there was no evidence of this at all.”
Though not treated as suspects, several people who were near the scene of the blast and the surrounding area were taken into custody and questioned about the bombings, including a Saudi man who police stopped as he was walking away from the explosion, and detained when some of his responses to questions “made them uncomfortable”. Law enforcement searched his residence in a Boston suburb, but CNN later reported that he was found to have no connection to the attack, with an unnamed U.S. official saying “he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The FBI reported that this pressure cooker fragment is part of one of the explosive devices.
At least one of the devices was reportedly made from a pressure cooker packed with shards of metal, nails and ball bearings to inflict maximum casualties; it was placed in a backpack. The lid of one pressure cooker was found on a nearby rooftop. Investigators found remains of an electronic circuit board that was possibly used in the timer of the bomb. Gunpowder was most likely used in the explosive devices.
On April 18, in a 5:20 p.m. news conference, the FBI released photos and a video of two suspects and sought the public’s help in identifying them. The FBI said that one of the suspects was seen placing a backpack at the bombing scene minutes before the second bomb exploded.[64] Jeff Bauman, a victim who lost both legs, said he provided detailed descriptions to the authorities of a suspect who left a bag beside him two and a half minutes before the blast.
The authorities identified two brothers as suspects:
Tamerlan Tsarnev (Russian: Тамерлан Царнаев), 26 years old, born October 21, 1986
Dzhokhar Tsarnev (Russian: Джохар Царнаев), 19 years old, born July 22, 1993.
The brothers are ethnic Chechens born in the North Caucasus. Their parents also have two daughters. The entire Tsarnaev family, including both brothers, immigrated in 2002 to the United States, where they applied for refugee status and settled in Massachusetts, with Tamerlan living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the past ten years. They had previously lived in Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan, and Makhachkala, Dagestan. Both brothers are Muslims.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed during a massive manhunt launched in the early hours of April 19. He was born in the Russian SFSR in the Soviet Union. After arriving in the United States in 2002, he attended Bunker Hill Community College with hopes of becoming an engineer. An aspiring talented boxer, he dropped out of school to concentrate on his sport, training at the Wai Kru Mixed Martial Arts Center, a Lowell club.In 2010 he was the New England Golden Gloves heavyweight champion and won the Rocky Marciano Trophy. According to a 2010 photo essay about him published by Johannes Hirn in The Comment, the graduate student magazine of Boston University‘s College of Communications, Tamerlan declared that he was working to become a naturalized citizen in time to be selected for the US Olympic boxing team. He added that he would “rather compete for the United States than for Russia”, though stating that he “didn’t understand” Americans and had no American friends.
He was arrested in 2009 for domestic assault and battery after allegedly assaulting his girlfriend. He was interviewed by the FBI in 2011 after information was received from a foreign government. He was a permanent resident but not a citizen of the United States. He was married to a U.S. citizen who converted from Christianity to Islam to marry him. The couple have a 3-year-old daughter.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was seriously injured during a firefight with police the night of April 18/19 and later taken into federal custody following a standoff on the evening of April 19, 2013. At the time of the incident, he was a student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, with a major in marine biology. He was also an avid wrestler and part of the all-star wrestling team at his school. Born in Kyrgyzstan, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen on September 11, 2012. Tamerlan’s boxing coach, John Curran reported to NBC that “the young brother was like a puppy dog following his older brother”. On television, his uncle from Montgomery Village, Maryland, pleaded with Dzhokhar to turn himself in.
At a point in time after this murder, the suspects carjacked a silver Mercedes SUV in Cambridge and forced the owner to use his ATM card to obtain $800 in cash. They released the man after the ATM cash limit was reached but his cellphone remained in the vehicle which the police used to track the vehicle. The suspects told the man that they were responsible for the Boston bombings. Police chased the vehicle to Watertown, Massachusetts. Police in Watertown reported that they exchanged gunfire with two suspects following the MIT shooting, with explosions and much gun fire heard. It was later determined that about 200 rounds were exchanged.
Later in the night, The Boston Globe reported that the shooting suspects were the same men being sought in the Marathon bombings. A Watertown resident observed the two suspects exchanging gunfire with police and throwing a bomb at them, which exploded. One suspect, Tamerlan, was tackled and captured by police officers; the other, Dzhokhar, managed to escape in the SUV, driving over his brother and forcing the police officers to dive away. He then abandoned the SUV and escaped on foot. A transit police officer, identified as 33-year-old Officer Richard H. Donahue Jr., was critically wounded, and was taken to Mount Auburn Hospital, where he was in critical but stable condition.
During the morning of April 19, after the car chase and exchange of fire with law enforcement, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was taken by police to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he died of multiple gunshot wounds and a possible blast injury. The FBI released additional photos of the two suspects during the Watertown incident. Early on April 19, Watertown residents received reverse 911 calls asking them to stay indoors.
Thousands of law enforcement personnel participated in a door-to-door manhunt in Watertown, as well as following up other leads, including at the house the brothers shared in Cambridge. The father of the suspected Boston Marathon bombers, speaking from his home in Makhachkala inDagestan, encouraged his son to give up peacefully: “Give up. Give up. You have a bright future ahead of you. Come home to Russia.” NBC News reports seven IEDs were recovered in the searches so far: some in Watertown and some at the Tsarnaevs’ house in Cambridge.
The manhunt ended on the evening of April 19, 2013, when authorities surrounded Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who had taken refuge under the plastic shrink wrap cover of a Watertown resident’s boat that was on a trailer in a backyard. He was discovered by the boat’s owner when the boat’s owner stepped outside of his home shortly after the “shelter-in-place” order had been lifted in Watertown and noticed that the cover covering the boat was cut.
When the boat’s owner looked into the boat, he saw a human form lying in a pool of blood and promptly notified police. Tsarnaev’s presence and movement was later verified through a thermal imaging device in a State Police helicopter. He was taken into custody around 8:42 p.m. EDT after a standoff and transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he was listed in serious condition.
Post-arrest
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was not given Miranda warnings as federal law enforcement officials invoked the public safety exception. United States Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain suggested that Tsarnaev, a U.S. citizen, should be tried as an unlawful enemy combatant rather than as a criminal, potentially preventing him from obtaining counsel. Alan Dershowitz, an American lawyer, said that the senators’ suggestion “show[ed] absolute ignorance of the law.” On the same day, the FBI, the West New York, NJ Police Department and the Hudson County Sheriff’s Department seized computer equipment from the West New York apartment of Alina Tsarnaeva, one of the sisters of the suspects, after being alerted by an interview that ABC News’s Anthony Johnson conducted with Tsarnaeva, that had been broadcast at 8 am EST that morning.
Reactions
Law enforcement, local and national politicians, and various heads of state reacted quickly to the bombings, generally condemning the act and expressing sympathies for the victims.
Local
As a safety precaution, the NHL postponed a Boston Bruins home game against the Ottawa Senators at TD Garden scheduled for April 15, to April 28 instead. The Boston Symphony Orchestra canceled its April 15 performance. On April 16, the MBTA public transit system, which was partly shut down, was under heavy National Guard and police presence and it was shut down a second time April 19 during the manhunt. The NBA‘s Boston Celtics game scheduled for April 16 against the Indiana Pacers was canceled since both teams’ playoffseedings were already set. The Boston Red Sox game at Fenway, the Bruins game, and the Big Apple Circus performance scheduled for April 19, were postponed to support efforts of law enforcement officers. Boston University established a scholarship in honor of deceased student Lü Lingzi.
National
PresidentBarack Obama addressed the nation three hours and twenty minutes after the attack. He said that, while the perpetrator(s) were still unknown, the government would “get to the bottom of this” and that those responsible “will feel the full weight of justice”. The President again addressed the American people the next day. He later described the bombing as terrorism, declaring, “Any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians, it is an act of terror.” President Obama issued a proclamation ordering flags to half-staff until April 20 on all federal buildings as “a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on April 15, 2013, in Boston, Massachusetts.”
A moment of silence was observed at the openings of the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ and NYMEX on the day after the bombings. Moments of silence were also held at various events across the country, including the Boston Remembrance Run held in Portland, Oregon, on April 17, which drew over 1,000 runners in a silent show of support.
The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon organizers asked runners, volunteers, and spectators to wear red socks in commemoration to the tragedy in Boston. Andrea Miles, an organizer for the Oklahoma City marathon said, “As Oklahomans and folks participating in the OKC Memorial Marathon, we have such a deep connection to not only the marathon but the events from the Murrah bombing that have lead to this memorial,” Miles said. “So now we’re not just running to remember the 168 people who were lost in 1995 but also to honor Boston and stand in solidarity with them.”
Several broadcasting companies cancelled or postponed some episodes of crime dramas as response to the bombing.
International
The bombings were denounced and condolences were offered by many international leaders as well as leading figures from international sport. In China, users posted condolence messages on Weibo in response to the death of Lü Lingzi. Chris Buckley of The New York Times said “Ms. Lu’s death gave a melancholy face to the attraction that America and its colleges exert over many young Chinese.”
Organizers of the forthcoming London Marathon, planned for April 21, 2013, reviewed security arrangements for their event, despite there not being any specific threats against it. Security measures were increased worldwide in the wake of the explosions in Boston.
The Russian government, which is holding several international sports events in the near future, including the 2014 Winter Olympics, stated that special attention will be paid to security at those events. Vladimir Putin condemned the “barbaric crime” and “stressed that the Russian Federation will be ready, if necessary, to assist in the US authorities’ investigation.”
When news broke that the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings were ethnic Chechens, Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic wrote the following on Instagram: “Today, as the media report, a certain Tsarnaev was killed during a detention attempt. It would be logical if he was detained and an investigation was conducted, all the circumstances and degree of his guilt explained. Apparently, the [US] special forces needed a result at any price to calm society. Any attempt to make a link between Chechnya and the Tsarnaevs, if they are guilty, is in vain. They grew up in the US, their views and beliefs were formed there. The roots of evil must be searched for in America. The whole world must battle with terrorism.”
Akhmed Zakayev, the head of the secular wing of the Chechen rebel movement (which split from the Islamist wing in 2007), now in exile in London, condemned the bombings as terrorist and expressed condolences to the families of the victims, while speculating that the attack benefited those who oppose Chechen independence. Zakayev denied that the bombers were in any way representative of the Chechen people, saying that “the Chechen people never had and can not have any hostile feelings toward the United States and its citizens.”
Reporting mistakes
At 1:48 p.m. Eastern, Wednesday, April 17, John King announced on CNN that an arrest had been made. Fran Townsend also reported the same. CNN’s report was followed by similar reports by the Associated Press about 2:05 p.m with addition that the suspect was expected in federal court. CNN’s report also described the arrestee as being “dark skinned“. At 2:11 p.m. NBC’s Peter Williams replied that no arrest had been made as did CBS. About 2:30 p.m., CNN backed off on its report with Townsend saying “The situation is very fluid… There was a misunderstanding. That was said to me, not so much that we had misunderstood, but that there has been a misunderstanding and lots of cross communication.” The same mistake was made by Fox News and The Christian Science Monitor website.
The New York Post in its April 18 front page showed two men carrying bags (a man in blue athletic gear with a blue shoulder bag and a man in a black jacket with a black backpack). The headline proclaim “Bag Men” and then in smaller print “Feds seek these two pictured at Boston Marathon.” The two were not the ones being sought. They were a 17-year old man and his track coach (the latter of whom was wearing a white cap). The young man from Revere, Massachusetts turned himself over to the police immediately and was cleared after a 20 minute interview in which they advised him to delete his Facebook account. The Post editor Col Allan reported, “We stand by our story. The image was emailed to law enforcement agencies yesterday afternoon seeking information about these men, as our story reported. We did not identify them as suspects.” The two were also imputed as possible suspects via crowdsourcing on the website Reddit.
Because of a report by the police commissioner, sources throughout the Internet reported that the brothers had robbed a 7-11 store in Cambridge. State Police later established that someone other than the bombing suspects robbed the convenience store in Cambridge. A statement from State Police spokesperson Dave Procopio says “the bombers did purchase gas at a gas station in Cambridge later in the chain of events and we recovered images of them there.” The commissioner also later said that the “robbery” he referred to was in fact a carjacking by the bombing suspects. The director of corporate communications for the store was “calling journalists all day to ask them to make a correction”.
Boston Marathon Bombings Timeline
– MONDAY, APRIL 15: Two bombs explode near the finish line of the Boston marathon, killing three and wounding nearly 180.
US President Barack Obama says he did not know who was behind the attacks and ordered his administration to do whatever was necessary.
– TUESDAY, APRIL 16: Doctors said the victims of the bombings were peppered with pellets, shrapnel and nails. The FBI said there had been no claims of responsibility, and investigators were considering a wide range of suspects.
Obama brands the bombings an act of terror and “a heinous and cowardly act.”
– WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17: US authorities deny media reports that an individual has been arrested in connection to the bombings, but police said they had images of a suspect from surveillance video and still images taken around the finish line at the time of the blasts.
– THURSDAY, APRIL 18: Obama attends a special interfaith service at a Boston cathedral with victims, rescuers, and city and state leaders. He vows a relentless hunt for those who killed Martin Richard, 8; Krystle Campbell, 29; and Lu Lingzi, a 23-year-old Chinese national, saying “we will find you”.
The FBI releases pictures and video of two men suspected of involvement in the attacks, appealing to the public to help identify them.
In the evening, a campus police officer is shot dead at Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a shoot-out erupts with the suspected perpetrators of the attacks. Another police officer is injured.
– FRIDAY, APRIL 19: One of the two Boston bombing suspects is killed after a shoot-out with police, in the Boston suburb of Watertown.
He is identified as 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, an ethnic Chechen.
A major manhunt is launched to find his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, during which all public transport in Boston is brought to a standstill, schools are closed and residents told to keep their doors closed.
Shortly after 7.30pm (0030 GMT Saturday), Boston Police say Dzhokhar is in custody following a stand-off at a house in the city’s suburbs. People in the area greet the news with loud cheers and applause.
Watertown celebrates after Boston Marathon Bomber is captured
Jubilant crowd celebrates capture if Boston marathon bomber
“CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody,” Boston Police tweeted shortly after the initial announcement.
Mass. State Police: “We Have a Suspect in Custody”
Boston police chief Ed Davis says Dzhokhar is in hospital in serious condition. He was captured thanks to a tip from a local resident who found the suspect in a boat in a backyard “covered in blood”.
Boston Police: Bombing Suspect Is in Custody
Raw: Suspect in Hospital Under Heavy Guard
Obama says: “We will determine what happened. We will investigate any associations that these terrorists may have had. And we’ll continue to do whatever we have to do to keep our people safe.”
Below is a timeline of events of what occurred in a long night of violence that left one suspect dead and the other still at large, as of 9 a.m. Friday. Most times reported are approximate.
5:10 p.m. Thursday: The FBI releases photos and videos of two suspects investigators believe are behind Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing.
10:30 p.m. Thursday: An MIT campus police officer was found shot in his vehicle in the area of Vassar and Main Streets. According to authorities, the officer was found with multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital and pronounced dead.
Moments later, police received reports of an armed carjacking by two males in the area of Third Street in Cambridge. The victim was carjacked at gunpoint by two males and was kept in the car with the suspects for approximately a half hour. The victim was released at a gas station on Memorial Drive in Cambridge. He was not injured.
Authorities said the suspects threw explosives from the car as police followed it into Watertown, just west of Cambridge. The suspects and police exchanged gunfire, and one of the suspects was critically injured. A transit police officer is seriously injured.
1 a.m. Friday: Gunshots and explosions are heard in Watertown. Dozens of police officers and FBI agents converge on a Watertown neighborhood. A helicopter circles overhead.
2 a.m. Friday: The FBI releases a new photo of Suspect #1 and Suspect #2 on its website.
4 a.m. Friday: Boston Police and Cambridge Police Chief confirmed that the two men involved in the fatal shooting of an MIT campus police officer, and a shootout-chase scene into Watertown were the same suspects believed to be involved in the Boston Marathon bombing.
The Middlesex County D.A. confirmed that Suspect #1 has died while Suspect #2 escaped.
Police release a new image of Suspect #2, apparently taken from a surveillance photo at a 7/11 convenience store that was robbed several hours earlier. He is wearing a grey hoodie-style sweatshirt.
4:30 a.m. Friday: Massachusetts state and Boston police hold a short outdoor news briefing. They tell people living in that section of eastern Watertown to stay in their homes.
5:30 a.m. Friday: Gov. Deval Patrick suspends all public transit service on the MBTA system.
People living in a number of communities were ordered to stay inside homes. The communities included Watertown, Waltham, Belmont, Newton, Allston-Brighton and Cambridge.
MIT, Harvard and other local colleges cancel classes.
6:45 a.m.: The surviving Boston bomb suspect is identified as 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who has been living in Cambridge, Mass.
8:40 a.m.: A U.S. law enforcement official and the uncle of the suspects confirmed that the name of the slain suspect is Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s older brother.
10:20 a.m.: Connecticut State Police say a gray Honda CRV believed to be linked to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been recovered in Boston.
10:35 a.m.:University of Massachusetts Dartmouth says it closed its campus and ordered an evacuation after confirming that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is registered there. The school says it closed the campus “out of an abundance of caution” as the search continued.
Noon: State police in Watertown say officers are searching door-to-door but still have not found the bombing suspect.
7 p.m. ET: Police surround a home in Watertown where they believe the suspect is holed up in a backyard boat
8:50 p.m. ET: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is captured and taken into custody. Boston police soon announce via Twitter: CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody.”
They Were Framed? Mother & Father Of Boston Bombing Suspects Speak Out!
Published on Apr 19, 2013
They Were Framed, FBI Knew About Them 4 Years Ago: Mother & Father Of Boston Bombing Suspects Speak Out!
The marathon bombing suspects’ uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., told the AP that they are from a Russian region near Chechnya and that they lived together near Boston and had been in the United States for about 10 years.
Speaking outside his home, Tsarni told Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — who remained at large and considered “extremely dangerous” — that he brought shame to the family.
“Dzhokhar, if you are alive, turn yourself in and ask for forgiveness,” he said.
It’s a set -up : Mother of Boston bomb suspects speaks out
Published on Apr 20, 2013
The older of the suspected marathon bombers was the black sheep of the family who ‘used his younger brother’ and had fallen out with an uncle he called on the eve of his death, relatives have said.
FBI Official Pictures of the REAL Boston Marathon Explosions Suspects
Published on Apr 18, 2013
Official Pictures of the REAL Boston Marathon Explosions Suspects
FBI release multiple images and three videos of two men designated as ‘suspect one’ and ‘suspect two’
Both men are wanted in connection with Monday’s Boston marathon bombings which killed three people and injured over 180.
NOW for the stooooooopid world of Glenn Beck:
I figured I’d add this post for some comedic relief…….
Beck Gives Obama Till Monday to Admit Boston Bombing was Inside Job
Published on Apr 19, 2013
Glen Beck claiming he has proof the federal government carried out the boston marathon bombing as a false flag opperation. He said that Obama has till monday to admit it or his show will reveal the evidence for his conspiracy theory!
President Obama Speaks at an Interfaith Prayer Service in Boston
Published on Apr 18, 2013
President Obama delivers remarks at “Healing Our City: An Interfaith Service” dedicated to those who were gravely wounded or killed in Monday’s bombing near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. April 18, 2013.
President Obama Speaks to Volunteers and First Responders in Boston
Published on Apr 18, 2013
President Obama thanks volunteers and first responders for their work after Monday’s bombing near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. April 18, 2013.
President Obama Speaks on Bombings in Boston
Published on Apr 19, 2013
President Obama makes a statement about developments in the investigation of the bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
Jueseppi B.
