Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

In my day, never was longer.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

No one could have predicted…

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Consistently wrong since 2002

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

“But what about the lurkers?”

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Everybody saw this coming.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Boston bomber arrested?

Reader Interactions

247Comments

  5. 5.

    dmsilev

    There being camera footage doesn’t surprise me at all; that area is lined with retail stores, most or all of which probably have some security cameras. Going from that footage to a suspect in two days, that’s kind of surprising.

    Assuming that the story is true, of course.

  6. 6.

    James K Polk, Esq

    Worthless surveillance state…

    Obviously the only functional solution is private companies watching the populace’s every move.

  7. 7.

    ranchandsyrup

    U.S. Atty’s office sez no arrests yet.

    ETA: found on twitters Dave Wyllie ‏@journodave 2m

    US Attorney’s Office in Boston says no arrest has been made –

  10. 10.

    Mnemosyne

    A surprising number of people in the Yahoo! comments are referencing Richard Jewell. I guess regular Americans remember that fiasco better than the media does.

  12. 12.

    Emerald

    My right-wing neighbor just told me with smug satisfaction that it’s a “dark-skinned male.”

    I feel smug satisfaction too if they’ve got the bastard, but I think he was smug about the “dark-skined” part of the description.

  13. 13.

    dmsilev

    @Emerald: One wonders how your neighbor knows that, since the news stories right now just say ‘arrest imminent’ with no details as to gender or skin hue.

  14. 14.

    ranchandsyrup

    @Mnemosyne: The Yahoo comments are a heck of a place to get out of the boat, Mnem. You are brave. :)

    ETA: excellent tips from the onion on how to find a suspected terrorist. My fave: Is your suspect an Arab? If not, you just have to start again. Yes, it’s frustrating, but you just have to.

    http://www.theonion.com/articles/the-onions-tips-for-finding-a-suspected-terrorist,32085/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=standard-post:headline:default

  15. 15.

    Trentrunner

    On CNN just now Fran Townshend AKA Jackie Bauer just said that, with this arrest, we could now be facing the ticking time bomb scenario.

    And then she came on camera.

  18. 18.

    Elie

    I doubt that they could have his name yet. Not surprised that they have his picture from the surveillance camera.

    I dunno — while I am sympathetic about fears regarding the police state, I AM glad that we have the opportunity to apprehend this horrible person using surveillance information. Like the driver’s license, I guess that could be seen as an invasion of privacy, but there is a tradeoff we need to live in such a complex society. Would you rather have no means to track this or anyone? I think its needlessly paranoid to just complain about the police state while not acknowledging that we need some means to track people in our crazy times. Lets have the conversation about the real trade-offs that make sense — not absolutist bullshit that would have us never using surveillance of any kind…

  22. 22.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    CNN: “TASTES GREAT!”
    NBC: “LESS FILLING!”

    Jeeeesuskeeeeristonabike I hate the 24/7 news cycle.

  23. 23.

    MCA1

    @dmsilev: I’m not all that surprised, myself, given the resources apparently brought to bear here. You get a hundred FBI agents poring through videotape, you can get through a lot of evidence pretty quickly. Tracking and nabbing the suspect once identified, I guess, is a little surprising in such a short amount of time. Maybe they were stupidly overconfident they’d gotten away with it. Or maybe it’s the guy they picked up on Monday and were monitoring at a hospital, the reported Saudi national, who never would have had the opportunity to go into hiding.

  25. 25.

    beltane

    @PeakVT: I haven’t been in a Lord & Taylor in decades. I figured they were one of the many department stores that bit the dust in the 1980s and 90s.

  26. 26.

    Helmut Monotreme

    This whole speculate on who did it and why crap that has been going on since the bombings is at least instructive in one way. It shows us what groups are most hated and by whom. If Austin Powers was a media celebrity, he’d either blame Dr Evil or Carnies. Kemal Ataturk would have blamed the Armenians. Joseph McCarthy would have blamed communists. Everyone just takes the opportunity to smear #1 on their own personal shit list.

  27. 27.

    Trentrunner

    CNN is reporting that US Marshalls are taking him the Federal Courthouse.

    NBC is now denying the bombing ever happened. Also, they said I don’t look fat in these jeans.

  28. 28.

    mk3872

    Apparently the Lord & Taylor store had a surveillance camera facing the bomb site

    And now it’s time for Glennwald, ACLU and his Libertarian flock to poop their pants because … LIBERTY!

  32. 32.

    geg6

    @mike with a mic:

    CNN said dark skinned male and said they didn’t like that they had to mention he was dark skinned.

    I guarantee that Wolf Blitzer has a cum-filled handkerchief in his suit pocket as we speak.

  42. 42.

    PeakVT

    @Just Some Fuckhead: Having a largely private (video) security state might be better than a government one, at least at this stage. Most of the footage currently recorded is ditched unless there is a crime. OTOH, people in the government would be tempted to hoard it for no particular reason. And they probably will after a couple of more cycles of storage density improvement.

  44. 44.

    Cervantes

    @beltane:I haven’t been in a Lord & Taylor in decades. I figured they were one of the many department stores that bit the dust in the 1980s and 90s.

    They have at least four stores in the Boston metropolitan area.

  47. 47.

    Trentrunner

    OMG: On CNN, you could just hear John King say, off camera, presumably into his phone: “OK, I had a source, Fran had a source, but I’ll double back. I’ll double back.”

    Tune in NOW to watch John King eat some shit.

  48. 48.

    dmsilev

    So, at this point the suspect has/has-not been identified and has/has-not been arrested.

    Got it.

  49. 49.

    beltane

    At least this has diverted attention from Margaret Thatcher’s funeral. All the hagiographies were too much.

  52. 52.

    nellcote

    There’s no arrest at this time. The msm just smells blood in the water, so to speak.

  58. 58.

    Eric U.

    @PeakVT: Seagate shipped 2 billion drives, half of them in the last 4 years. So the capacity is growing faster than it ever has even with the slowdown in desktop sales. They have special drives for video recording applications

  60. 60.

    raven

    A U.S. law enforcement source told Reuters that a suspect had been identified and that a formal announcement would be made later in the day.

  62. 62.

    mouse tolliver

    @geg6:

    CNN said dark skinned male and said they didn’t like that they had to mention he was dark skinned.

    I guarantee that Wolf Blitzer has a cum-filled handkerchief in his suit pocket as we speak.

    So very dark. So very skinned.

  66. 66.

    The Dangerman

    @Trentrunner:

    …but I’ll double back. I’ll double back.

    Word wasn’t “back”; it was “hack”. John King soon to be on a street corner with a “will report for food” sign.

  67. 67.

    Trollhattan

    @Eric U.:

    Did a billion of them fail? Because I had to return the last two Seagate drives I bought for replacement–one the same day and one a couple months after purchase (and what a pain in the arse that process was). Will be avoiding them for the time being, even as I’m keeping a digital eye on y’all.

    Yes, I’m tooootally off topic.

  73. 73.

    raven

    The Associated Press reported this afternoon that a suspect had been taken into custody in the bombing case, citing a law enforcement source. The suspect was to be brought to federal court, the news service reported.

  78. 78.

    ladybug

    So what exactly does ‘dark skinned’ mean anyway? John Boerner-orange? Kim Kardashian hue? Eddie Murphy?

  80. 80.

    Trollhattan

    Beeb reporting suspect “held” and says there will be a three-o’clock (EDT) press briefing.

  81. 81.

    mouse tolliver

    Didn’t the whole “dark skinned male” hysteria lead to an innocent man getting shot after the London bombing?

  84. 84.

    MattR

    The only good thing to come of this is that we are not being inundated with coverage of Margaret Thatcher’s funeral.

  85. 85.

    Full Metal Wingnut

    @Mnemosyne: what happened to that man was absolutely despicable. Honestly, a lesser man would have become a mass murderer from the shit he went through.

  86. 86.

    Tonal Crow

    @Trentrunner:

    On CNN just now Fran Townshend AKA Jackie Bauer just said that, with this arrest, we could now be facing the ticking time bomb scenario.

    And a dinosaur-killer asteroid *could” be on target for 10 seconds from now t*&^$&#*&&&)(()@NO CARRIER hahahaha had you there.

  89. 89.

    bryan

    For what its worth, WBUR Boston is reporting an arrest, confirmed by their reporter David Boeri.

  92. 92.

    Scott S.

    It occurs to me that one could start a whole lot of trouble by standing outside network HQs and yelling random scoops at reporters.

    “They caught the bomber!” “They didn’t catch the bomber!” “Obama is a Scientologist!” “Kim Kardashian is running for the Senate!”

    They’d all have to be reported. There’s a source out there…

  93. 93.

    Trentrunner

    Thanks to CNN today, Jon Stewart has material for 2-3 shows.

    Amazing. John King is now gone off the screen. AC, Cuomo Jr., and NotChristianeAmanpour are now backpeddling furiously.

  95. 95.

    raven

    I think this jerk on CNN who is singing the praises of the heat is the same one that was screaming yesterday about
    no progress”

  97. 97.

    Tumbrel For Hire

    CNN rodeo clown: “Probable cause…uh…is a significant legal standard.”

    All of you are now qualified to fail out of law school.

  99. 99.

    Trollhattan

    @raven:

    Well there you go–a screen refresh and now they have it at five, also, too. HOW CAN i FUNCTION IF i HAVE TO WAIT THAT LONG?

    I blame this on Obama.

  102. 102.

    Tonal Crow

    @mk3872:

    And now it’s time for Glennwald, ACLU and his Libertarian flock to poop their pants because … LIBERTY!

    And you’re done…what to impede government from running cameras up our asses 3 times a day? Without the ACLU, we’d be living in Singapore, at the very best.

  103. 103.

    ericblair

    @PeakVT:

    OTOH, people in the government would be tempted to hoard it for no particular reason. And they probably will after a couple of more cycles of storage density improvement.

    It depends on how you approach data privacy. The US model tends to be that you are restricted in what data can be collected and how, but then you can do whatever you feel like with it. The EU model tends toward being pretty free with what data can be collected and how (to the surprise of Americans sometimes), but the restrictions are on how you use or disseminate the info. I think the EU model will age better.

    This is all a lot of fun when you’ve got multinational cloud computing deployments and these models start conflicting. And this is to do with Personally Identifiable Information, not copyright/licensing bullshit.

  105. 105.

    Calouste

    @Heliopause:

    Somebody help me with the running score. CNN & FOX say arrest, NBC says no.

    That means the score is 1-0 in favor of no arrest.

    At least, I assume you only want credible sources to count.

  107. 107.

    LanceThruster

    As long as Rudy G. can continue his ‘noun-verb-and 9/11’ narrative like he did on Morning Joe…all will be right with the world.

  108. 108.

    YellowJournalism

    I get more accurate and resourced reports about playground arguments from four-year-olds than what’s happening here with The MSM an international news story.

  110. 110.

    Trentrunner

    Unbelievable. CNN is just now had another former FBI dude on saying there have been NO arrests, don’t know identity of the person. Have photos of the person.

  111. 111.

    Tonal Crow

    @Suffern ACE: No. I couldn’t resist the joke, which in retrospect rather spoiled the point. I will resist the urge to blame the atmosphere of snarkiness and accept full responsibility.

  113. 113.

    Heliopause

    FOX and CNN now saying “conflicting reports.”

    I have an idea for a drinking game. Take a drink every time a coiffed moron on TV uses the exact phrase, “my sources…”

  114. 114.

    SatanicPanic

    Guardian:

    A spokesman for the FBI at their national office in Washington DC confirmed to the Guardian’s Matt Williams that “no arrests had been made” in the Boston case.

    CNN= self-immolaters

  115. 115.

    Alex S.

    Oh my God, I grew up during the Gulf War (the Bush Sr. one) and CNN was THE news source, the name stood for something. And now, they’re all desperate clowns with the credibility of TMZ.

  116. 116.

    Trollhattan

    Globe is saying “arrest imminent.” That’s the same as somebody’s been arrested, amirite?

  118. 118.

    The Dangerman

    CNN is now reporting that it wasn’t even a man but, rather, a monkey and everyone should be on the lookout for any suspicious looking organ grinders…

  119. 119.

    Tom Q

    CNN seems to want to replay its triumphant “Obamacare is unconstitutional!” scoop. Maybe having John King on the scene’s bad luck.

    It may turn out the arrest/not arrest thing is purely semantic — i.e., someone’s with the police, not officially arrested. But if the emphatic “No” we’re getting from NBC is the truth, CNN takes another step on the down-a-lator.

  120. 120.

    Amir Khalid

    @beltane:
    I’ve seen a picture of the Brazilian man, Jean Charles de Menezes. He looked white to me, but then I guess the white/nonwhite divide probably lies in a different place for us brown folks.

  121. 121.

    LanceThruster

    @Tonal Crow:

    we’d be living in Singapore, at the very best.

    Have you seen just how much discarded gum the average sidewalk is littered with? It looks like a cat box had a run-in with a steam roller.

  122. 122.

    Comrade Jake

    The arrest was imminent, until the suspect found out the arrest was imminent, whereupon the suspect ran away.

  131. 131.

    Hungry Joe

    Stumbled — it was an accident, I swear — onto the Alex Jones site. Lots of photos of the crowd, with circles & arrows, people with backpacks. Comments point out that the backpack folk look Jewish (“noses,” one of them notes), proving that this was a Mossad/CIA operation. Consensus is that the Feds have a patsy ready to go. So that’s that.

  132. 132.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Heliopause: You want us to die? I know mid-career alcoholics who might succumb to alcohol poisoning in that game.

  133. 133.

    LanceThruster

    I hope the perp is from someplace exotic and then the MSM talking heads can set-up their directors chairs on the corner there.

  134. 134.

    MCA1

    And to think I was concerned that that show “The Newsroom” on HBO was catching up to the present day too quickly in its first season and would run out of material. In the time between seasons, however, we’ve already had both the ACA ruling coverage and now this colossal clusterbomb of confusion. They could just do an episode every week on real life news bricklaying as it happens, just a week behind. Incredible how failed our media is.

  136. 136.

    Roxy

    @dmsilev: “So, at this point the suspect has/has-not been identified and has/has-not been arrested.

    Got it.”

    Or call it Even Stevens, 50/50 etc.

  137. 137.

    beltane

    @Amir Khalid: “Real Englishmen” are even whiter than Real Americans so even a light shade of olive could be seen as being brown by the type of people who serve in the police force.

  138. 138.

    Amir Khalid

    @Trollhattan:
    I have trouble believing a competent law enforcement agency would disclose an “imminent” arrest. People who know they’re about to be arrested usually run for it.

  139. 139.

    Tonal Crow

    @LanceThruster:

    @Tonal Crow:

    …we’d be living in Singapore, at the very best.

    Have you seen just how much discarded gum the average sidewalk is littered with? It looks like a cat box had a run-in with a steam roller.

    Republicans get hard and wet thinking about the whippings the offenders would get in Singapore. I get nauseated. Time to kick in some more bucks to the A.C.L.U.

  141. 141.

    bryan

    And WBUR just now (2:36pm) retracts their report of an arrest. Oh well.

    ETA: this is from a tweet from the Boston Police: (Despite reports to the contrary… no suspect is in custody)

  143. 143.

    Cassidy

    @LanceThruster:

    I hope the perp is from someplace exotic and then the MSM talking heads can set-up their directors chairs on the corner there.

    Oooh. Like the edge of a cliff. That’s exotic right?

  147. 147.

    Chris

    @Alex S.:

    From what I understand (was 4 years old at the time), CNN basically used the Gulf War to “redeem” itself for its inexcusably liberal behavior in the Vietnam War by basically turning itself into the New U.S. Military’s cheerleader in chief. If I have that right, then I’m not sure it “meant” as much as all that back then.

    ETA (as corrected below): CNN didn’t exist at the time of Vietnam, but the “liberal antiwar media” stereotype was lingering (as it does to this day), hence attempts to disprove it by being impeccably pro-war.

  150. 150.

    Heliopause

    Why don’t they call in CSI Boston so some attractive thirty year olds can solve this in under an hour?

  152. 152.

    Tonal Crow

    @Chris:

    From what I understand (was 4 years old at the time), CNN basically used the Gulf War to “redeem” itself for its inexcusably liberal behavior in the Vietnam War….

    Whaaat? I’ve been living in a 15-year time warp all this…time?

  154. 154.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @beltane:

    BPD says no arrest has been made.

    Thanks for playing, CNN.

    First with the report means nothing if it’s wrong.

  157. 157.

    YellowJournalism

    @Alex S.: Hubby and I were watching some National Geographic special about important event of th 80’s las night. It featured a bit about CNN starting up and how shaky things were at first until Baby Jessica in the Well. Then two years later they were so well-trusted that they were an international success. Now I might be inclinedz to trust TMZ reports over CNN.

  158. 158.

    Chris

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Sorry, you are of course right – for the media’s role in Vietnam (in general). The notion that “fucking liberal media failing to report the good news is the reason we lost Vietnam” was well ingrained enough in the American public (heck, it still is) that reporters felt an obligation to disprove the stereotype. Hence the coverage.

  159. 159.

    Trollhattan

    @Amir Khalid:

    Actual active investigators would keep their yaps shut–they’re busy enough. Such a leak–accurate or not–would more likely come from a support staffer or somebody with supposed inside access, like a Boston PD clerk, Mass state police civilian employee, etc. Local reporters would have a list of such contacts to work, and they’d be working the bejeezus out of them with a story such as this.

  163. 163.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Chris: And yet CNN’s coverage of the first Gulf War was fairly skeptical, some would even argue overly receptive to Iraqi propaganda (see Arnett, Peter.)

  167. 167.

    Trollhattan

    @Heliopause:

    Good point. They have that magical photo processing software that can take a few hundred pixels and turn it into a da Vinci mural.

    “Done. Next case?”

  168. 168.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Chris: I know a lot of winger in that era, including Archie Bunker, hated Cronkite and Rather specifically for their Vietnam coverage, and IIRC at least a few accused CNN– Arthur Kent, Bernard Shaw, another guy, a Brit who was in a Bagdad hotel during the first bombing?– of being anti-American.

    And I made a google like a young person. Peter Arnett:

    His reports on civilian damage caused by the bombing were not received well by the coalition war administration, who by their constant use of terms like “smart bombs” and “surgical precision” had tried to project an image that civilian casualties would be at a minimum. White House sources would later state that Arnett was being used as a tool for Iraqi disinformation and CNN received a letter from 34 Members of the United States Congress accusing Arnett of “unpatriotic journalism”.

  170. 170.

    Another Halocene Human

    Lord & Taylor? They’re still in business? I thought they were a source of cardboard boxes for my grandmother to repackage birthday presents in. ///

    Officially the first time in my life I’ve been interested in anything in a Lord&Taylor.

    @PeakVT: Ha ha, beat me to it.

  171. 171.

    Heliopause

    BREAKING NEWS: Television is filled with self-important idiots who have no idea what they’re talking about. My sources, one of whom is a highly-ranked member of the Heavenly Host, tell me that there will be a briefing at 5:00 PM EDT.

  173. 173.

    Tumbrel For Hire

    CNN’s John King now “pretty sure” the suspect is a “dark skinned man” named Ba-ba al -Booey.

  174. 174.

    4tehlulz

    BTW, if this turns out there is no arrest, John King should (virtually) torch his source until there nothing but (virtual) carbon.

  175. 175.

    LanceThruster

    I wish CNN would use in their network promos that scene from “Airplane!” where the reporters knock over the bank of payphone booths.

    CNN – America’s ‘Most Trusted’ News Source…or at least the firstest with the mostest.

  177. 177.

    Quicksand

    @Gin & Tonic:

    CNN did not exist during the Vietnam war.

    I have a high-ranking source who tells me that yes, CNN did in fact exist during the Vietnam war.

  178. 178.

    beltane

    @? Martin: They’re in business to verify these things and make sure the information they present to their viewers is as accurate as possible. I’m pretty sure a chimpanzee could re-tweet whatever the AP comes up with, and for free. CNN should be held to higher standards than your average ape.

  180. 180.

    ? Martin

    FWIW, the stuff I’ve read said ‘in custody’, not ‘arrested’. That’s not unusual. What evidence would they have at this point to arrest them? So, they may be questioning someone, but no arrest yet.

  182. 182.

    LanceThruster

    Is CNN at least using their virtual reality holodeck in the reporting? Seems like a good place for a sheep analogy.

  186. 186.

    SatanicPanic

    CNN has now retracted its report that an arrest had been made. The network has now broadcast three separate contributors citing multiple unnamed sources each that there has not been an arrest, contrary to John King’s earlier report. One of the contributors was Tom Fuentes, former assistant director of the FBI, now on contract to CNN.

    Huh

    Tom Fuentes, who served as the FBI’s assistant director in the office of international operations from 2004 to 2008.

    I see

  187. 187.

    ? Martin

    @beltane: Did CNN say ‘arrested’ or ‘in custody’? I have no TV here. I’m questioning whether CNN fucked up, or the people reiterating what CNN said – and heard ‘in custody’ but commented ‘arrested’.

    But AP and everyone else seems to be saying ‘in custody’. All the denials are denials that there’s been an arrest. Those are entirely consistent statements. I think people are glossing over that.

  188. 188.

    Another Halocene Human

    @Elie: But businesses have these cameras to spy on their employees, and nowadays, they do hoard the video. What they don’t do is point the cameras anywhere to keep anyone safe. Cops pull surveillance a LOT but it’s often worthless or close to it.

    I think Britain’s surveillance cam system has been very good. The issue there is that the cops got a black eye in the view of the public in the Thatcher years which makes everyone suspicious of them. They also have declined to prosecute old cases of cop misconduct, because they want to “look forward, not back”. In some cases the string of fuckups and malicious behavior and coverups was pretty extreme. Like that time all those football fans got trampled due to cop incompetence.

    Britain has a much lower crime rate than the US so they must be doing something right. (Their GINI index score is better, but not that much better. Guess it depends which US state you compare it to.)

  191. 191.

    geg6

    @Chris:

    There was no CNN during Vietnam. CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS. That was all. Funny enough, their news departments were almost all extremely competent back then when “the news” was on for 15 and then 30 minutes per day. Competent, non-opinionated, and non-partisan. No 24 hours to fill with hysterics to keep eyes on the screen. Hell, the screen went off at 2am on every channel, not to be seen again until the 6am local farm report.

  192. 192.

    Another Halocene Human

    @Trollhattan: I love that. It’s so ST:TNG. “Computer. Enhance.”

    And then they match a side shot from above to a DMV photo.

    Science! It’s like magic!

  193. 193.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Another Halocene Human:

    Britain has a much lower crime rate than the US so they must be doing something right.

    They accomplish this by being Britain, and not the United States. Canada has pulled off the same trick.

  194. 194.

    Amir Khalid

    @Trollhattan:
    Of course I know reporters have such sources. But a competent news org would know better than to run with a story from such a source without corroboration.

  196. 196.

    raven

    @Warren:

    Thrown like a star in my vast sleep
    I open my eyes to take a peep
    To find that I was by the sea
    Gazing with tranquillity.

  198. 198.

    Suffern ACE

    @Cassidy: Yep. We got Wolf Blitzer out of the first Gulf War, because they kept telling us women found him dreamy and so manly reporting breathlessly from Saudi Arabia. 20 years on, we can’t get rid of that guy. No one seemed to notice at the time that he reported scud missle attacks and warm-day-puppy-walks-on-the-beach-with-frisbees in exactly the same obnoxious breathless manner.

  199. 199.

    Jay in Oregon

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I think Richard Jewell is in some libertarian circles a martyr to big gov’t incompetence

    Yes, because if some gun-toting patriots thought he was the bomber, they would have simply shot him without the benefit of a trial. No worries about exonerating him later!

  200. 200.

    Mnemosyne

    @? Martin:

    But AP and everyone else seems to be saying ‘in custody’. All the denials are denials that there’s been an arrest. Those are entirely consistent statements.

    Good point. Someone can be in custody while they’re being investigated, and then released without ever being arrested. In custody =/= under arrest.

  201. 201.

    raven

    @geg6: You want to see some in-depth reporting about the Nam?

    The Quiet Mutiny [1970]

    . In his iconic documentary debut ‘The Quiet Mutiny’, Pilger reports from the front line in Vietnam where he finds disillusioned American troops in open rebellion against the war.

  204. 204.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Suffern ACE:

    No one seemed to notice at the time that he reported scud missle attacks and warm-day-puppy-walks-on-the-beach-with-frisbees in exactly the same obnoxious breathless manner.

    Asthma?

  206. 206.

    max

    @Trollhattan: Actual active investigators would keep their yaps shut–they’re busy enough. Such a leak–accurate or not–would more likely come from a support staffer or somebody with supposed inside access, like a Boston PD clerk, Mass state police civilian employee, etc. Local reporters would have a list of such contacts to work, and they’d be working the bejeezus out of them with a story such as this.

    Quite. And it’s obvious that somebody has been trying to leak to the media for a while and that person has a hate-on for Arabs.

    CNN (at a minimum) has been thoroughly played, putting aside deliberate moves by the feds to throw the media off the trail.

    max
    [‘If this person turns out to be an Alex Jones fan, the ass-covering from that uh, ‘outfit’ is going to be hilarious.’]

  208. 208.

    Trollhattan

    @Amir Khalid:

    But a competent news org would know better

    There you go. :-)

    Of course, it could have been, “Sally in accounting and Bob, the maintenance guy both confirm….”

  210. 210.

    Mike E

    @geg6: We now can possess a device that fits in one’s shirt pocket that has more computing/communication power than all of the whole 70’s decade’s worth of NASA spacecraft technology. It’s enough to make you turn into Rod Blagojevich holding a vacant Senate seat…

  211. 211.

    Chris

    @max:

    Quite. And it’s obvious that somebody has been trying to leak to the media for a while and that person has a hate-on for Arabs.

    I’m wondering if someone actually leaked it to the media, or if some talking head or reporter just pulled it out of his ass just to keep the news cycle rolling and appended the “oh yes, high up anonymous sources, totally” for appearances’ sake.

    Who broke the story first, anyway? If it was Fox, then my suspicion that that’s what happened goes up to 11.

  212. 212.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mnemosyne: But custody is more than just sitting and talking to the police. Being in custody triggers a number of Constitutional protections. Rule of thumb: if you can’t just leave, you are in custody.

  214. 214.

    sonofsamantha

    Way to spread the mis-information. This should be put in the header on this site.

    “BJ…getting it wrong since day one and proud of it.”

  216. 216.

    J.D. Rhoades

    @Mike E:

    We now can possess a device that fits in one’s shirt pocket that has more computing/communication power than all of the whole 70′s decade’s worth of NASA spacecraft technology.

    And, as a meme I read on the Internet put it, we use it to look at pictures of cats and argue with strangers.

  217. 217.

    Tim F.

    @sonofsamantha:

    “Depending on the news outlet authorities either have a picture of the likely bomber, his name, or they already have him in custody.”

    It is a three sentence post. The first sentence is hardly debatable and the third is a shrug. You must mean this sentence, so show me which part of it is wrong.

  221. 221.

    StringOnAStick

    @Mike E:

    This just in: Margaret Thatcher, still dead.

    Not dead enough. Her policies still live. Tamp the dirt down indeed.

  222. 222.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @beltane: watching MSNBC, looks like the cops wanted to clear out the crowd that gathered when rumors went out about a suspect in custody– which crowd could be an ominous sign.

    I hope I don’t look like somebody some amateur internet detective posts a fuzzy photo of on Facebook

  235. 235.

    ricky

    President Obama has used the T word to describe John King’s reaction to official announcements denying arrests have been made.

  236. 236.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @MattR:

    I guess the question is: could one reasonably (and accurately) state that a person was in custody but had not been arrested?

    Could one accurately state it from a legal perspective? Yes. Is it a reasonable thing for a news organization to do? I think that would really be a question of journalistic ethics. Does it make a huge difference if a person is not free to leave but has not yet been formally told he or she is “under arrest” for a particular crime?

  238. 238.

    JoyfulA

    @Amir Khalid: I had a big argument with Personnel way back when over the “color” of an employee. A long story I’ll tell some other day.

  239. 239.

    sonofsamantha

    @Tim F.: Ahhh all of the above.

    See the link from a post on this very site linking to FBI. Least you can do is wait till all these bullshit stories are proven bullshit. Granted Doug of the BJ Dougs thinks George Will is a good source of info so not much credibility with his posts either….in other words…he fits right in.

    But no….point shoot aim….repeat as necessary.

  240. 240.

    MattR

    @Omnes Omnibus: Gotcha. I was thinking of it more as a semantic game that law enforcement was playing while the journalists were innocently using the two terms interchangeably. It would be a typical non-denial denial for the FBI to emphasize that there has been no arrest even if they have someone in custody (but not technically arrested) (EDIT: Especially if they think there was more than one person involved and they don’t want to spook the accomplices)

  242. 242.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @beltane: Jeez, the WCVB feed is saying that the federal courthouse has been evacuated.

    You were right the first time– Bomb threat. Charlie Pierce says the bomb squad has arrived.

  243. 243.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @MattR: That semantic game is possible. If I were the FBI, I would and were trying not to spook people I would say no one has been arrested – I would not use the term custody at all. Or, if I were really doing my job, I would say, “No comment.”

    Edited.

  244. 244.

    Tonal Crow

    If I were the FBI, I would and were trying not to spook people I would say no one has been arrested – I would not use the term custody at all. Or, if I were really doing my job, I would say, “No comment.”

    All police and prosecutors should be required to say “no comment” outside of the courtroom. The press conferences about high-profile crimes are all about gaining political capital, no matter what that does to the fairness of the suspect’s trial and to the probability that we’ve really tried the right person. Wrong person tried = right person still out there.

  246. 246.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Tonal Crow: The public does have a right to know if an arrest has been made. Especially in a case like this where people may be worried about further attacks. Now, out of fairness to the accused, I don’t think much more than a “yes, a suspect has been arrested and s/he will be brought before a judge tomorrow morning” needs to be said.

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