Last night around 3:00 a.m., at the conclusion of several hours of insane police-scanner monitoring and reports of gunfights and explosions in the Boston suburbs, local law enforcement officials on their working radio band identified their quarry by name:
Before the blast took both his legs below the knee, Jeff Bauman says that he looked into the eyes of one of the alleged bombers. According to Jeff's brother Chris:
This morning, the New York Post published on its front page a photo of two spectators near the Boston Marathon finish line, one wearing a backpack and one with a duffel bag slung at his side, under the headline "BAG MEN."
Today, almost four months to the day after a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the Senate started voting on a series of amendments to President Obama's gun bill, and the body immediately voted down a bipartisan plan to extended background checks on gun sales. At 54 to 46, most of the Senators approved of the plan, which would have required checks for guns sold online or at gun shows. But that wasn't enough, because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took a deal requiring every amendment get 60 votes to pass. Why did he do that? The Washington Post explains:
Following the clusterfuck that was—and continues to be!—the media's coverage of Monday's Boston Marathon bombing, the latest disaster being CNN's completely false scoop that a suspect had been arrested, the FBI is finally sick of everyone's shit. This afternoon, the federal police body released this statement, which explains that there have been no arrests and that the FBI thinks the media is a bunch of rubes:
Researchers at the University of British Columbia say they've discovered yet another use for Tylenol besides breaking a fever and relieving pain: Reducing anxiety associated with "thoughts of existential uncertainty and death."
In fashion typical of the day, a horse-drawn carriage delivered Margaret Thatcher's coffin to St. Paul's Cathedral in London earlier this morning. The procession route passed a divided crowd, split between cheerers and hecklers. The threat of demonstrations, particularly those from Irish Republicans, caused an influx of security throughout London. The procession was flanked with British Army, Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy as well as over 4,000 Metropolitan Police on duty for the event.
On Tuesday, the Associated Press and Fox 5 in Atlanta obtained photos from an FBI intelligence bulletin showing what's left of one of the bombs that exploded during the Boston marathon. As earlier reported, at least one of the bombs used in the attack was improvised from a conventional pressure-cooker.
A death toll in the hundreds is expected following a massive earthquake in southeast Iran near the border of Pakistan on Tuesday. Measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, the quake is the country's largest in decades, and its tremors reportedly caused buildings to sway as far away as New Delhi and Qatar.
The situation in North Korea has gone from bad to worse since Dennis Rodman's VICE-sponsored trip to the country. There's been declarations of entering a "state of war," veiled threats to diplomats, and hacking attacks; things have gotten so bad that even the mayor of Austin is concerned. So naturally, the thing to do is for Rodman to go back to North Korea.
Three months after Gun Appreciation Day resulted in several accidental shootings, another gun-advocating event has been marred by gun violence. On Saturday, it was reported that a man died from gun shot wounds suffered at NASCAR's NRA 500 race at Texas Motor Speedway. Late Sunday afternoon, medical investigators ruled the shooting a "self-inflicted injury," saying the man shot himself in his head.
Today, the French senate voted to legalize gay marriage after a week of heated debate. The bill, which won a 179-157 majority vote, will now return to the National Assembly for a second reading before expected approval in May. The second reading is seen as a technicality as the members of the National Assembly approved the move on February 12.
Security screeners at a court in Honolulu were having a regular, run-of-the-mill day earlier this week when they noticed something unusual as they X-rayed a man's bag – an object appeared to be moving inside. When the guards asked the man, Michael Hubbard, to open his bag, he initially refused. The screeners insisted.
