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Here’s a Quick Recap of What You Need to Know About the Boston Bombings Today

By: Billy Hallowell / The Blaze

BOSTON (TheBlaze/AP) — An explosion at the finish line of the Boston Marathon Monday killed three people and injured dozens more. TheBlaze brought you intense live coverage of the aftermath. Considering all that has unfolded, here’s an an at-a-glance look at the facts in the case:

THE EXPLOSIONS

Two bombs exploded about 10 seconds and 100 yards apart at about 2:50 p.m. Monday in Boston’s Copley Square, near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Three people were killed, including an 8-year-old boy named Martin Richard (TheBlaze has profiled Martin here), and more than 140 were injured. The explosions occurred four hours into the race and two hours after the winners had crossed the finish line, but thousands of runners were still on the course.

An injured woman is tended to at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts.

Yesterday, TheBlaze spoke with an eyewitness who explained what unfolded.

“I was probably 150 yards past the finish line,” Jerry McLaughlin, an Air Force and National Guard veteran, told TheBlaze. “You receive a blanket and food and proceed to pick up your baggage. Then we heard a boom, so we all turned around. Immediately there were tons of police officers there and they were pushing people to go down the street.”

THE INVESTIGATION

The FBI took charge of the investigation into the bombings, serving a warrant late Monday on an apartment in the suburban Boston town of Revere and appealing for any video, audio and still images taken by marathon spectators. No arrests had been made, and authorities weren’t commenting about suspects.

Bill Iffrig, 78, lies on the ground as police officers react to a second explosion at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Iffrig, of Lake Stevens, Wash., was running his third Boston Marathon and near the finish line when he was knocked down by one of two bomb blasts. 

PRESIDENTIAL RESPONSE

President Barack Obama vowed that those responsible will “feel the full weight of justice.” The president was careful not to use the words “terrorism” or “terrorist attack” in his remarks, but a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still unfolding, said the attack was being treated as an act of terrorism.

Appearing before reporters on Tuesday, Obama said the events in Boston were a “heinous cowardly act, and given what we now know about what took place, the FBI is investigating it as an act of terrorism. Any time bombs are used to attack innocent civilians it is” a terrorist act, he said. Still, he cautioned that it was not known who or what organizations might have carried it out. Read more about the press conference here.

People react as an explosion goes off near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions went off at the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts.  

SECURITY RESPONSE

The area around Copley Square remained closed Tuesday morning, as did exit ramps from major highways to the area. The Federal Aviation Administration barred low-flying aircraft within 3.5 miles of the site. Other cities also beefed up security in response to the bombing and the Secret Service expanded its security perimeter around the White House.

People react to an explosion at the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts.

WHAT’S NEXT

The FBI, U.S. Attorney’s office and other law enforcement officials planned to brief the media at 9:30 a.m. Obama will be briefed Tuesday on the investigation and the ongoing response efforts from FBI Director Robert Mueller, homeland security assistant Lisa Monaco and other senior members of his team.

For TheBlaze’s complete coverage, including extensive videos and images of the events that unfolded, click here.

Saudi in custody for Boston bombing had burn injury

From Jihad Watch / Posted by Robert Spencer

He had a burn injury and yet ran, such that people had to chase him down. Why wasn't he seeking medical help? Why did he run?

"Authorities question Saudi national in Boston attack," by John Miller for CBS News, April 15:

(CBS News) Following the twin blasts at the Boston Marathon that has claimed two lives and dozens injured, a Saudi national is being held in custody in relation to the incident who was near the scene of the blast, CBS News correspondent John Miller reported. Law enforcement sources told Miller a witness saw a person acting suspiciously when the explosions happened along the marathon route.

"They see him running away from the device," said Miller. "Now, a reasonable person would be running away. But this person had noticed him before. This is a civilian -- chases him down, tackles him, turns him over to the Boston police. The individual is being looked at [and] was suffering from burn injury. That means this person was pretty close to wherever this blast went off, but not so close as to suffer the serious injuries that other people did."

Authorities told Miller that the person in custody is not charged and not under arrest. He is being cooperative, answering their questions, and denying involvement. They'll likely be going over this person's communications and examine every aspect of his life, as well as talk to the witness who tackled him to find out what the person of interest did that seemed suspicious.

"So if that individual pans out that," said Miller, "that of course,it gives the case a big jump forward. If not, then they're back to physical evidence, forensics, witnesses, and whatever they can pick up on those surveillance cameras."...

The 10 Worst Bombings in US History

By: John Hawkins / Townhall Columnist who runs Right Wing News

We still don't have all the facts about yesterday's horrific Boston Marathon bombing. At the time this column is being written, it's being reported that 3 people died and more than 100 were injured in the attack. While bombings are not a common occurrence in America, there have been more of them than most people realize.

10) The World Trade Center Bombing (February 26, 1993): A van filled with explosives went off in the parking garage beneath the World Trade Center. Almost unbelievably, although over a thousand people were wounded, only six were killed. It could have been much worse because the goal of the bombing had been to take down both towers. Had that happened, the body count would have been even larger than 9/11. The terrorist behind the attack was Ramzi Yousef, who is now serving a life sentence.

9) The Preparedness Day Bombing (July 22, 1916): The Preparedness Day parade was designed to lift morale in San Francisco in anticipation of the possible entry of the United States into World War I. Before the event, anti-war activists were harshly critical and during the parade a suitcase bomb went off, killing 10 and wounding 40. Labor leaders Thomas Mooney and Warren Billings were convicted of the crime and were both eventually sentenced to life in prison. After the two men spent 20 years in jail, Democrat Governor Culbert Olson grew concerned about whether they received a fair trial and pardoned them.

8) The LaGuardia Airport Bombing (December 29, 1975): Four days after Christmas, a powerful bomb that had been placed in a locker at LaGuardia Airport went off. It collapsed the ceiling and fired shrapnel across the room. Eleven people were killed and seventy five were injured by the bomb. Although a number of groups were thought to potentially be responsible including FALN, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the Jewish Defense League and also a Croatian nationalist named Zvonko Busic, no organization ever claimed credit and the crime remains unsolved.

7) The Haymarket Affair (May 4, 1886): A protest rally in Chicago led to a clash between anarchists, union members and police. During the protest, an anarchist threw a bomb at the police. A police officer was killed by the bomb and several others were wounded. That led to an exchange of gunfire between the cops and the violent crowd. Seven police officers and four members of the crowd were killed while one hundred twenty people were injured. While no one ever figured out exactly which anarchist actually flung the bomb, seven were prosecuted for the crime. Ultimately, Oscar Neebe received 15 years in prison, Michael Schwab and Samuel Fielden served life in prison, Louis Lingg killed himself while he was jailed and Adolph Fischer, Albert Parsons, George Engel and August Spies were hung.

6) The Los Angeles Times Bombing (October 1, 1910): A bomb wired to 16 sticks of dynamite exploded in an alley next to the Los Angeles Times. The bomb killed 20 employees of the paper and injured another 100. It turned out that two brothers who were members of the Iron Workers Union, John and James McNamara, were angry about the anti-union slant of the Times and set the bomb as retaliation.

5) The Bath School Disaster (May 18, 1927): After losing an election for Township Clerk, School Board Treasurer Andrew Kehoe decided to take revenge by executing what turned out to be the worst massacre at a school in American history. After murdering his wife, Kehoe set off bombs that he had secretly been planting inside the school for months. As rescuers arrived to begin helping the wounded children and teachers, Kehoe drove up in a truck filled with explosives and blew himself up, slaughtering even more people. By the time it was over, 44 people were dead and 58 were injured.

4) The Wall Street Bombing (September 16, 1920): A horse drawn carriage packed with 100 pounds of dynamite and 500 pounds of iron was detonated outside the headquarters of J.P. Morgan Bank on Wall Street. Although anarchists were believed to be responsible, no culprit was ever prosecuted for the bombing that took the lives of 30 people and injured another 300.

3) United Airlines Flight 629 (November 1, 1955): John Gilbert Graham had a poor relationship with his mother, Daisie Eldora King. After taking out 4 life insurance policies on her, he offered his mother a "Christmas present" that turned out to be a bomb. It went off while United Airlines Flight 629 was in the air, 35 miles outside of Denver. All 44 passengers and crew died.

2) Continental Airlines Flight 11 (May 22, 1962): Thomas G. Doty bought a couple of large insurance policies, purchased 6 sticks of dynamite and then got on Continental Airlines, Flight 11. Doty then committed suicide via explosion in hopes that his wife and child would receive the insurance money. All 45 passengers on the plane died when the bomb knocked the plane out of the sky.

1) The Oklahoma City Bombing (April 19, 1995): Timothy McVeigh, along with his co-conspirators Terry Nichols and Michael Fortier were responsible for destroying a large section of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building with a truck bomb. They were motivated by anger at the government in general along with the heavy handed tactics used by the Clinton Administration during the Waco Siege and at Ruby Ridge. There were 169 people killed in the bombing and 675 were wounded.

Circumnavigating Obamacare

By: Hal Scherz /Townhall Columnist

  

Turn back the clock to 2009. President Obama launched his first term, committed to bringing healthcare under government control. His team deftly manufactured a crisis, convincing America that millions of Americans had no access to healthcare, and that if we did not act quickly, healthcare costs would bankrupt us. Never mind that 85% of people had satisfactory health insurance, or that no one is ever turned away from a hospital in need of care. The President’s political allies and a compliant media sold their fairy tale, and after a contentious and highly partisan battle, the Affordable Care Act (ACA, Obamacare) was passed.

In the three years since the law passed, it is becoming increasingly clear to everyone that centralizing control of the healthcare economy in Washington is increasing costs, causing confusion and making the bureaucracy more difficult to navigate. With each passing month, new surprises are revealed, just as Nancy Pelosi predicted.

The newest revelation coming from Washington is the need for Obamacare Navigators. These individuals are “necessary” to assist people signing up for health insurance under the new state exchange systems. The “simple” 21 page application for federal insurance subsidies, along with the 61 page addendum, is apparently not quite as straightforward as promised. It has been suggested that these positions would be “awarded” to deserving individuals - supporters of this administration- union members, former ACORN employees, and other political cronies. The fact that voter registration has been included in the application suggests that only the “right people” will be hired as navigators.

The truth is that the ACA is not and never was intended to “fix” American health care.  Its purpose is to place control of American’s health care in the hands of Washington bureaucrats giving them enormous power and control of the electorate.  If there was any doubt about this reality, it is quickly evaporating as the details of the law become clearer with each new healthcare revelation, now happening almost daily.

The only possible way to accomplish the overly ambitious goal of providing health care for all, is with the creation of a massive and expensive new bureaucracy. The paradox should not be overlooked- healthcare spending is bankrupting our country, yet we are primed to spend far more money to create a massive bureaucracy in order to put it under government oversight.

How everyone could not predict what we are currently witnessing is amazing. The ACA created 159 new commissions, boards and departments. This translates into a huge, new and expensive bureaucracy.  It has been predicted that in California alone, 20,000 navigators will be necessary, which means that nationally, hundreds of thousands will be needed. The number of new government employees needed to staff all of these new agencies is incalculable.  Currently, 1/3 of Americans are covered by government financed healthcare, which accounts for 1/5 of our GDP. If some in Washington have their way, and healthcare is eventually totally financed by the federal government, the costs of running the bureaucracy will consume such a large part of our budget, that we will be able to afford little else.

With 20,000 pages of regulations already generated from the 2700 page ACA, we are witnessing the birth of a new bureaucracy, which may rival, if not surpass that of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The irony is that an integral part of the new healthcare system depends upon interconnectivity between these two massive agencies- HHS and the IRS- but we have learned in recent Senate testimony that no one has any idea how to accomplish this task.

Obamacare navigators were not necessary. We already had healthcare navigators in every community across America. They are called independent insurance agents. These are individuals with extensive training in the complexities of insurance benefits. The federal government wanted the control of the Obamacare enrollment in the hands of bureaucrats, not the private sector. This one example is illustrative of how the political class believes that things run better out of Washington than out of our own communities.

This is just the beginning; it won’t be long before the next Obamacare surprise.  The ACA was never about healthcare; it has been and will always be about control and power. We should be grateful to Ms. Pelosi for her honesty. She said that we would find out what was in the bill once they passed it, and we have. We now know the truth about this law, which is impossible to hide and equally impossible to carry out.

The Goal Is To Destroy All Constitutional Culture

by Brandon Smith / Personl Liberty Digest

PHOTOS.COM

In America, our cultural method of debate tends to divide individual issues into carefully separated spheres of discussion. This hyperfocus on single issues, from gun rights to illegal wars to invasion of privacy, draws us away from looking at the bigger interconnected picture, otherwise known as the “macro.” Each social or political conflict is compartmentalized by the mainstream, the dots are left isolated and the overwhelming overall threat to our foundational principles is marginalized.

The problem with this civic philosophy is that the general public is left without peripheral vision and unequipped to comprehend that there is a process in motion, an overarching plan that is eating away at the edges of our liberty from every angle, one small piece at a time. That is to say, we have been conditioned to obsess over the pieces and ignore the plan.

I want you to imagine the globalist establishment and the useful socialist idiots it employs as a hive of ants lurking in the grass around a bountiful picnic basket you (or your forefathers) worked very hard to procure. Now, one ant snatches a single crumb and races away, and you think to yourself that losing that one crumb is not such a sacrifice. A few more ants pilfer crumbs, and you shrug it off. A dozen more arrive, and you start to worry a little but are still too lazy to pull out the Raid. The rest of the hive sees your apathy and attacks, gobbling everything in a swarm of single-minded destruction.

Left with nothing, you sit dumbfounded and hungry, wondering where you went wrong. The truth is, you went wrong with the first ant.

Not only are personal wealth and property ransacked by the collective in this way, but also personal freedom.

Every time a smaller attack on liberty is exposed or openly announced by the cult of statism, elitists invariably respond with a false face of rationality and common sense. They claim that they respect the line. They claim that they will take only the minimum. They claim that they are pursuing only a reasonable compromise. They expound on the “virtues” of their motives. They sing songs of unity, brotherhood and the greater good. They appeal to our diplomatic side; and if that doesn’t work, they try to shame us instead for being “selfish” or “ignorant” of so-called “social progress.” But this never has been and never will be about social progress.

Their goal is not to introduce greater understanding or awareness. It is not about public good or public safety. And at the very core, it is not about truth. If they cared about truth or principle and if their objectives were honorable, they would not feel the need to constantly lie, cheat, steal, manipulate and threaten in an effort to impose their own worldview on the rest of us. If their purpose was as righteous as they pretend, then deceit and subversion should be beneath them. Their philosophy should be able to carry itself, without their convoluted efforts.

The power elites and the people who blindly follow them are not interested in being on the right side. They are interested only in being on the winning side, and the two are certainly not the same. In the end, the result they covet most is not to achieve compromise on Constitutional ideals, but to achieve total and unequivocal destruction of those ideals. They seek to erase our heritage from history, along with those of us who value it. They want to annihilate Constitutional culture.

Through the efforts of the liberty movement, many Americans are now at least loosely aware of such issues as the National Defense Authorization Act, which allows the designation of anyone — including American citizens — as enemy combatants subject to the laws of war, thus destroying the Constitutional right to due process and trial by jury. They have witnessed the vicious trampling of the 4^th Amendment and our right to privacy through legislation like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. They have been confronted with the gross tyranny of Barack Obama’s executive assassination lists and predator drone fetish. They are aware of the existence of Department of Defense efforts to remove all vestiges of Posse Comitatus and allow standing military authority in the United States through the U.S. Northern Command (Northcom).

All of these things are clearly part of a violent war on our Constitutional rights, but what about the more subtle poison being introduced under the surface? The first place to look is always in your child’s school.

In Duvall County, Fla., the father of a 10-year-old boy discovered his son had been asked by a teacher to write and sign this statement as part of a school project: “I am willing to give up some of my constitutional rights in order to be safer or more secure.”

When questioned on the purpose of directing fourth-graders to sign such a statement, the school district argued that the students participated in the activity of their own free will and that the lesson was designed to “create an awareness of the five rights contained in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution” and help students “determine their opinions on which rights they value most and least.”
First of all, let’s be honest; I went through public schooling, and anyone else who went through it knows as well as I do that almost nothing within the public school system is treated as voluntary.

Threats, fearmongering and mob mentality are all used by State teachers all across the country daily to manipulate and terrorize children into submitting to the program. As a nostalgic refresher, re-examine the incident in a North Carolina school in which a teacher screamed down a student who criticized Obama, claiming that people “could be arrested” for speaking ill of the President.
Secondly, if the teacher in Duvall County was looking to encourage students to “think critically” about their Constitutional rights, then perhaps it would have been helpful to educate them on what those rights are. Unfortunately, the children had not been given practical lessons on their rights before being asked to abandon them for “safety.”

This is a perfect example of the indoctrination process in action. While the gun rights issue has brought the politicization of public schools out in the open, with federalized education centers punishing children across the Nation for merely playing with imaginary guns or talking about toy guns, the real target is not the gun issue for the establishment.  The real target is all Constitutional thought.

Perhaps this is why the methodology of home-schooling has been so demonized by the mainstream, and why Ron Paul’s latest home-schooling initiative is already being attacked as “Christian fundamentalism.” The real reason the establishment’s panties are in a twist is simple; they do not like the idea of parents being able to compose their child’s own curriculum and, thus, remove anti-Constitutional conditioning from their daily lives.

The erasure of Constitutional culture has spread far beyond schooling, however.

The city of New Rochelle, N.Y., has demanded a local veterans’ post take down its Gadsden flag, a flag in existence since the Revolutionary War, because it has been adopted as a symbol of the Tea Party. The city council, led by Democratic Mayor Noam Bramson, voted to remove the flag after voicing concerns about the flag’s message.

Obama sycophant and hardcore big-government mouthpiece Bill Maher this week stated that the left (neo-liberals) needs to stop being afraid of its true goal in the gun debate — to dissolve the 2^nd Amendment — rather than play at compromise.

“I’m so sorry, but this is the problem with the gun debate — it is that it’s a constant center-right debate,” Maher said. “There’s no left in this debate. Everyone on the left is so afraid to say what should be said, which is the Second Amendment is bullshit. Why doesn’t anyone go at the core of it?”

My response would be: “Yes, please do admit your true goals, gun grabbers and opponents of civil liberties. At least be honest about your fascist intentions so that we can stop playing games and have a real eye to eye debate (or fight) on the subject.:

And finally, NASCAR has come under siege by anti-2^nd Amendment legislators as well as the media in general for allowing the National Rifle Association to endorse races. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called on broadcasters to block transmissions of the NRA 500 because it would bring national attention to gun rights while the Senate is legislating for gun control (which, in his opinion, is bad).

Perhaps this is purely coincidental, but the timing of this stance against NASCAR’s support of gun culture has arisen right as Oath Keepers, a Constitutional organization dedicated to teaching current serving military, veterans and law enforcement about civil liberties and the affirmation of their oath, announced it is working with racecar driver Jeffrey Earnhardt to bring an Oath Keepers-sponsored vehicle to the NASCAR track.

While some people may not care less about NASCAR or even the 2^nd Amendment, I would point out that through the gun issue, the establishment is ultimately undermining the holy grail of the 1^st Amendment. If gun rights speech and culture can be silenced in the name of “safety” or “compassion,” then why not any other belief?

Incidents like these by themselves do not necessarily seem like an imminent threat to the freedoms of average citizens; but, taken together as a flurry of strategic movements, they represent a full spectrum attack on the very pillars of our founding structure. Throughout history, when conquerors wished to fully dominate a population, they would seek to slowly subsume the people’s mythology and principles. They would attempt to co-opt cultural ideas and values, twisting them into something completely different or wiping them from memory altogether. When the people lose their traditions and heritage, they become easier to mold and rule. This is exactly what is happening in the United States today: an ideological colonization that views Constitutional life as a mortal enemy and hopes to obliterate it from the pages of time.

Op-ed:

True monsters walk amongst us

By: Diane Sori

Abortion...one of the hot button issues dividing this country...dividing this country along party lines, religious lines, legal lines, and ethical lines. Abortion...made legal with Roe v. Wade and still the law of the land.  Abortion...an issue the government should NOT have gotten involved with in the first place. 

We all know the question of abortion rights ebbs and flows with the political winds, and while my personal beliefs on abortion have NOT, until this point, ever been brought forth in a public forum, seeing the photos of that 7+ month old fetus...born ALIVE and crying with newborn life and then having that life callously and deliberately brought to a brutal end...has haunted me so much that I feel compelled to speak up.

Compelled to speak up and say in NO uncertain terms that late-term abortion...abortions performed after 24 weeks gestation when a fetus is viable...is NOT abortion but is MURDER... cold, calculated, deliberate MURDER of the worst kind for it's the MURDER of the totally defenseless...the totally innocent...the totally pure...it's the murder of babies.

Coming to the forefront with the ongoing capital murder (a death penalty offense) trial of Philadelphia abortion provider Dr. Kermit Gosnell, charged in the deaths of seven babies (he claims what he did was 'fetal demise' NOT murder) and the 2009 overdose death of a 41-year-old patient who was undergoing a late-term abortion, even many of those who say they are pro-choice are appalled with what Gosnell did after seeing the photos of the babies...NO longer fetuses but what were viable living breathing babies... thrown in the trash, dismembered, skulls crushed, with their throats slashed and spinal cords snipped in two by scissors.

After seeing those photos myself, seeing those unwanted precious children reduced to refuse makes me cry and sadly realize that there truly are monsters who walk amongst us...monsters without compassion, without souls, without any humanness left in them for anyone who condones this barbaric procedure...this act of MURDER hiding behind the name 'late-term abortion'...is as guilty as those who perform this travesty for they know well that babies surviving botched abortions are living breathing precious babies fighting hard for their very lives, most of whom would survive if given proper medical care.

And what of the mothers who allow this to be done to their children...mothers who should be nurturers, mothers who should protect their children at all costs, but mothers who instead consent to this, give their permission to this...those mothers are as guilty of MURDER as the butchers who perform this procedure for those mothers could have said NO and given those babies up for adoption...given them a chance at life with families who would love them, protect them, and keep them safe from the monsters amongst us.

So for those who believe that late-term abortion is a victory for women (abortion in general is a topic for another day)...for those who believe that laws which ban late-term abortion are a violation of women's reproductive rights, then to put it bluntly you are in support of murder...the murder of children who had the misfortune of being in the wombs of women who view them as garbage to be thrown in the trash at whim.

And while it's public knowledge that our president supports late-term abortion...he even fought to keep such abortions legal before, during, and after birth and voted in support of it while he was a Senator...there are some things that are just wrong...wrong morally, wrong ethically, and wrong legally.  And if Barack HUSSEIN Obama had even an inkling of a conscience he would put a legal end to this travesty with a swipe of his pen.  He's so free with his Executive Orders, let him issue one banning late-term abortions...now that would be an Executive Order even I would get behind and support.