And this is why none of the bigger "scandals" never stick to Obama.......

exactly. there is a 'Boy who crief wolf' mentality to the GOP and especially the Fox/Right Wing blog/radio machine. Because they need something to talk about, every day is a new manufactured scandal. Rappers at the White House, hidden Sharia messages, etc.   Now that they have found a real scandal (IRS) regular folks cant see the difference.

All of these things deserve scrutiny and investigation. In the cases of Benghazi and IRS, people should (and have) been fired. But I have yet to see anything in any of these that rises to the levels of scandals in past admins (both GOP and Democratic)

Think about the true abuse of power and thwarting of congress that happened with something like Iran Contra. That is on a whole different level and one that is actually tied to the White House. I havent seen anything yet that implies Obama personally did anything wrong, except maybe hire people who hired people who did something wrong.

so maybe there should be a new poll asking which of the current crop of potential candidates is going to self-destruct (via racist remark, sex scandal, etc).

[due to the ties that these two have to radical Islamic thought]

Linsdey Graham has now gone off the deep end.

"Here's what we're suggesting, that the surviving suspect -- due to the ties that these two have to radical Islamic thought and the ties to Chechnya, one of most radical countries in the world -- that the president declare preliminarily that the evidence suggests that this man should be treated as an enemy combatant,"

He is literally suggesting the thought police

Well the default map currently gives the Dems an advantage with 285 EVs before you factor in variables for the candidates or economic and other conditions (PA, MI, WI, NV, IA, NH and VA all now lean Dem). So to win GOP need a stronger candidate or bad conditions or more likely both (since in 2012 the Dems got 332 EVs  with bad conditions)

There is a chance this could help background check legislation. Apparently neither of these guys would have been able to pass one. So if they got their guns from a gun show or via internet sales then that could have big impact. They could start calling it the "Boston Bomber Loophole" or the "Tsarnaev Loophole" and who wants to vote against closing that? (besides Ted Cruz because of 'Freedom' etc)

Yes...yes, after a war devastates the other major industrial powers but leaves us unharmed and with a newly revitalized manufacturing infrastructure. 

If Chris Christie tramples on my god-given right to have one of these...



...then he is dead to me.

The FBI was involved and the US Attorney, so they will get the case, which means federal changes, which means the kid's going to die like Timothy McVeigh

In the wake of 9-11 (which admittedly was a bigger event) Washington created the bloated Dept. of Homeland Security,  authorized torture, started a war with Iraq, and created the 'Patriot Act'...and more of course.

What will the political impact be of Boston and the Tsarnaev Bros?

- Is immigration reform dead?
- Is gun reform even more dead (or could this help if they bought their guns on the net?)
- Patriot Act 2?

...or nothing at all?

From Scanner:
"Negative movement. He's on his back"

Boston Police scanner
http://www.ydr.com/nation-world/ci_23059137/listen-live-boston-police-scanner?source=most_viewed

Just heard a guy say "do not return fire"

Apparently they want him alive

looking at the map the house with the boat is only about 4 blocks away from the shootout in the early AM.  So where is the car he drove off in?

This is starting to seem more an more like the case of Faisal Shahzad the failed Time Sq. Bomber. Immigrants who tried to make it work in the USA then life didn't work out then became 'self-radicalized'

But were their motivations more about Chechnyan nationalism or anti-Western Radical Islam?

It seems like the older brother was trouble. I think his life choices were looked down at by his family, who seem to be the "become a doctor or engineer" types. Thus, he may have become radicalized and brought his brother along. This seems to be based in radical islam. I don't know whether the target was America, the west in general, or even Russia (though wouldn't a consulate or the embassy be a better choice?). I really hope they catch the other guy alive so we can understand their motives.

As I pointed out already, the first bomb blast appears to have been about as close to the Russian flag as it was possible for an unattended bag to have been left.  So it seems to me that the placement of that bomb was intended to be anti-Russian, at least in part.

I wonder if there were any high-profile Russian runners. The bombs went off after the crowd thinned out after most of the runners finished. Max casualties would have been earlier so were they trying to target someone in particular?

There are a lot of names being bandied about, but of the usual suspects of potential 2016 major party candidates, who would you say realistically has no chance of becoming POTUS? (And maybe 'almost no chance')

The father and an aunt seem to be in denial. Aunt says it is all a setup. That should keep the conspiracy theorists going who will claim all the evidence was 'planted' and these kids are patsies.

btw i wont link it but shot of dead body of older bro is at LiveLeak.com

Did these guys think they were going to get away with it. They live only 2 mi from the bombing. The 19 yo was seen on campus at his school this week after the bombing. They appear to have been living at their apt. after the bombing. On the day their photos (but not names) were released they rob a 7-Eleven a few blocks from their place then carjack a guy and force him to give them money. It seems they didn't originally have an escape plan (with car and cash ready). They went along with everyday life.

And if I lived anywhere near there I wouldnt go out on the streets. The kid needs resources so any car or any person is a potential opportunity for cash or transportation.

From what I heard, that uncle only called the older one the loser.  Unfortunately, the younger one apparently got dragged down by by his brother. A shame, as from what I've heard it appears he had a bright future.  Families.  They can lift you up, but they can also drag you down.

How does a 19 year-old slip away? They had a million cops/FBI/etc there and he just drove off? No helicopters?

Since the first cop who was shot was the MIT cop, I suspect the timeline is something like the two were on the MIT campus preparing to plant bombs, the MIT cop discovered them doing what they were doing and ended up being shot and killed, but in doing so started a hurried improvised  manhunt.  Keep in mind, the authorities were presuming that the perpetrators would be trying to hide/get away, not trying to do a second attack in Boston.

This morning both brothers were outside their car in a HUGE shootout with the cops. I saw a guy on MSNBC who lived in apt. overlooking the shootout and he live tweeted it.  He said that one of the suspects got in the car and drove off. Sorry but it seems to me that the cops screwed up. Couldnt follow a car? Even with helicopters. The older one was probably the brains of the pair, but the kid has eluded the cops for about 16 hours now.

How does a 19 year-old slip away? They had a million cops/FBI/etc there and he just drove off? No helicopters?

My bet is he is close by to the location of the shooting. He is probably in some strangers house and is holding them hostage or maybe killed them and his trying to wait it out. That's probably why they are going door to door.

I hate to get political, but this is not going to help immigration reform, especially in the House.

This is starting to seem more an more like the case of Faisal Shahzad the failed Time Sq. Bomber. Immigrants who tried to make it work in the USA then life didn't work out then became 'self-radicalized'

But were their motivations more about Chechnyan nationalism or anti-Western Radical Islam?

Here is where the media is getting their photos/video
http://www.fbi.gov/news/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston/photos

you can get higher res there


EDIT: The InfoWars guys are now calling the FBI Suspects "Patsies" and screaming about how the FBI are ignoring the real culprits which Infowars has identified.

I've seen at least two republicans talk about how the reason they voted against this was because when someone wants to sell his gun on the internet he would be forced to have to run a background check via a gun dealer, as if that was some horrible horrible thing. The amazing thing is that it is legal to sell a gun on craigslist without any background check.

Jesus that explosion registered as a 2.1 earthquake according to the USGS. Even if this was an accident, setting fire to fertilizer plants must have moved to the top of the agenda for any nutjob planning an attack.

but does this make it into the top 5 of crazy Gohmert proclamations?

Certainly not as crazy as his "terror babies"