Suspicion Falls on Dead Terror Suspect's Widow

At the New York Post, "Wife of suspected Boston Marathon bomber faces FBI's heat."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "Feds to question Boston bomber's widow as she says she was 'watching TV when she discovered husband was a suspect'."

Canada Terror Plot Thwarted

It's been feeling a lot like the days after September 11, 2001.

At Atlas Shrugs, "MAJOR JIHAD TERROR PLOT TO ATTACK NEW YORK-TORONTO RAILROAD THWARTED IN CANADA: 'IT WAS MEANT TO BE SPECTACULAR AND THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN A LOT OF CARNAGE'."

And check Blazing Cat Fur:

* "Canada: Muslims Fear Backlash Over Latest Thwarted Terror Plot - Linked to Amish Division of Al Qaeda."

* "Idiot Apologists: Cair Canada Demands Government Not Pass Combating Terrorism Act Same Day As Via Rail Muslim Terrorists Arrested."

* "Chiheb Esseghair web page disappears in a Hurry."

More at Telegraph UK, "Canadian police foil al Qaeda-backed plot to derail train."

CNN Stumbles in Boston Terrorism Coverage

From David Carr, at the New York Times, "The Pressure to Be the TV News Leader Tarnishes a Big Brand":

Like a lot of Americans, when I woke up on Friday morning and found out there was a manhunt in the Boston area for the remaining suspect in Monday’s bombing at the marathon, I turned on CNN.

It’s a common impulse, although less common than it used to be. The news audience has been chopped up into ideological camps, and CNN’s middle way has been clobbered in the ratings. The legacy networks’ news divisions can still flex powerful muscles on big stories, and Twitter and other real-time social media sites have seduced a whole new cohort of news consumers.

But the biggest damage to CNN has been self-inflicted — never more so than in June, when in a rush to be first, it came running out of the Supreme Court saying that President Obama’s health care law had been overturned. It was a hugely embarrassing error.

Still, when big news breaks, we instinctively look to CNN. We want CNN to be good, to be worthy of its moment. That impulse took a beating last week. On Wednesday at 1:45 p.m., the correspondent John King reported that a suspect had been arrested. It was a big scoop that turned out to be false.

Mr. King, a good reporter in possession of a bad set of facts, was joined by The Associated Press, Fox News, The Boston Globe and others, but the stumble could not have come at a worse time for CNN. When viewers arrived in droves — the audience tripled to 1.05 million, from 365,000 the week before, according to Nielsen ratings supplied by Horizon Media — CNN failed in its core mission.

It was not the worst mistake of the week — The New York Post all but fingered two innocent men in a front-page picture — but it was a signature error for a live news channel.

Continue reading.

I didn't even turn on the TV during much of the breaking news. Twitter is where the action is.

Boston Terrorism Update: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Responding to Questions in Writing

At the Wall Street Journal, "Bombing Suspect In and Out of Consciousness." Also, "Prosecutors Plot Strategic Course."

Also, at the New York Times, "Officials Say Bomb Suspects Appeared Set to Attack Again."

Al Neuharth, 1924-2013

From the Los Angeles Times, "Al Neuharth dies at 89; newspaper mogul created USA Today":

USA Today was a different kind of newspaper, designed for a generation of readers raised on television who lacked the time and inclination to read lengthy stories. A bold retort to the gray pages of traditional newspapers, it had color photographs, eye-catching graphics and bite-sizestories with paragraphs set off by bullets. Organized into four distinct sections, it featured a brightly hued full-page weather map and catered to sports fans with a mass of game results and other statistics.

Neuharth, who aimed to capture an increasingly mobile generation of readers desiring an easy-to-digest format when they were at home or on the road, dubbed it "The Nation's Newspaper."

"Our audience will be the whole damned country, but we think we can attract a slice of 4 or 5 percent of the more affluent, better-educated people over most areas of the country," Neuharth predicted in a 1982 interview with the Miami Herald. "We won't compete locally. We will be a second buy."

Critics, however, derided the paper as gimmicky and "junk food journalism." "McPaper" became a favorite put-down by traditional journalists appalled by its emphasis on brief, breezy stories. Newsweek poked fun at its founder as "the man who shortened the attention spans of millions of Americans."

It lost money for the first five years. But by its fifth anniversary in 1987, revenues had begun to rise and critics began to change their tune, with stories in other newspapers describing USA Today as innovative, even revolutionary.

By the early 1990s, major dailies, including the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, were redesigning their pages to be more reader-friendly, adding color, snappy graphics and stories that read more quickly.

RTWT.

An interesting guy.

Sorry, Media, No White Tea Partiers Were Involved

From Investors Business Daily:

In 2002, about 40 armed Chechen separatists took more than 900 hostages at Moscow's Dubrovka Theatre, a siege that resulted in the deaths of 130 hostages and all of the Chechen terrorists.

The world also watched in horror in 2004 as armed Islamic separatist militants, some Chechen, occupied a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, and killed more than 380 people.
By all accounts, the Tsarnaev brothers were fully Americanized, permanent residents attending U.S. schools. But as such they were the perfect "sleepers," terrorists in waiting, ripe for recruiting, particularly considering their place of origin.

Leftists such as Sirota bemoan "profiling" and "stereotyping" while they engage in a variety all their own. Sirota complained that the likes of Timothy McVeigh are treated as lone wolves while Muslim terrorists are treated as existential threats, that "white male privilege means white men are not collectively denigrated/targeted" for their acts.

Islamofascist terrorists, and the regimes and groups that support them, do constitute an existential threat. There have not been many Swedish terrorists; and what Sirota calls profiling we would call a description of the suspects. We wonder what part of "death to America" Sirota and his colleagues do not understand.

More at that top link.

And see, "'Emotionally, it is very hard for me to consider such ilk as fellow Americans, let alone as decent human beings...'"

Katherine Russell, Widow of Marathon Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Converted to Islam, Wore Hijab, Was 'Brainwashed' by Extremist Husband

Such an ultimate bummer that this young lady got mixed up with that jihadi loser scum.

At London's Daily Mail, "EXCLUSIVE - How doctor's daughter became the Muslim convert widow of Boston bomber: Terrorist husband 'brainwashed' her and she gave up her dreams of college to have his baby at 21":

None who knew her as a child could have dreamed that this would be the face she would one day present to the world, nor that her life and those of so many Bostonians would be so violently caught up with two brothers from Chechnya and a cause as unclear as it was brutal.

As a girl growing up in Rhode Island Katherine was known to her friends as Katie. One school friend who asked not to be named recalled: ‘I saw her like a few months ago and she was just totally transformed. She was not the same person at all.’

Sunday Night Rule 5

Via Guns and Bikinis:

What We Know About the Tsarnaevs

From Mandy Nagy, at Legal Insurrection, "The Lives of the Boston Bombers: What We Do and Don’t Know."

Marxist Melissa Harris-Perry Rejects Islam as Relevant to Boston Bombing

Well, I'd call it bizarre but this is MSNBC we're talking about.

Via Pat Dollard, "MSNBC Terror-Enabler Melissa Harris-Perry Says Jihad Had Nothing To Do With Boston Attack, Only Bigots Would Think So." (Via Memeorandum.)

#Boston Bombing: Obama Lulled America Into False Confidence Over Terror Threat

At Flopping Aces, "Obama lulled America into false sense of security."

This administration has never been about fighting terrorism to keep Americans safe --- it's been about fighting to keep Democrats in power.

Remember "President Gutsy Call"?

Well, it's jihad in America now. The Democrats will have plenty to answer for come November 2014.

Cartoon Credit: Bosch Fawstin.

Looks Like Wendy Greuel's Gonna Need a Bigger Comeback Kid!

Here's yesterday's report at KABC-TV Los Angeles, "Bill Clinton joins Wendy Greuel at LA mayoral campaign event."

But as the Los Angeles Times reports today, Greuel's trailing badly in the mayor's race, "Garcetti opens 10-point lead over Greuel":

Eric Garcetti has opened a commanding 10-point lead in the Los Angeles mayor's race over rival Wendy Greuel, whose dogged fight to win the backing of public employee unions appears to be undercutting her on her home turf in the San Fernando Valley, according to a new USC Price/Los Angeles Times poll.

A month before the May 21 runoff, likely voters favored Garcetti over Greuel by 50% to 40%.

The survey also found no sign of success for Greuel's effort to gain an edge among women by highlighting her potential to make history as the city's first female mayor. Women preferred Garcetti, 50% to 41%.

Latinos and younger voters backed Garcetti by still wider margins. The city councilman from Silver Lake has strengthened his standing in the central city and Eastside neighborhoods that he won decisively in the March primary. He has also built a solid lead on the Westside — a key target of Greuel's.

Perhaps most worrisome for Greuel, the city controller, is her failure so far to establish a base in the Valley, where the two are effectively tied. Greuel, who lives in Studio City, had hoped that audits by her office that found wasteful spending of taxpayer money would appeal to the Valley's Republicans, often a pivotal vote in L.A. elections.

Instead, Garcetti has emerged with a lopsided lead among conservatives citywide, picking up support from many of those who voted in the primary for Republican radio personality Kevin James, now a Garcetti backer.

Greuel's tepid support in the Valley, which she represented on the City Council from 2002 to 2009, poses a major challenge for her in the closing weeks of the race. Though Democrats dominate the Valley, many of the city's Republicans live on its western and northern ends.

She's through.

I doubt even the "Comeback Kid" can help her at this point.

Garcetti's a stealth Marxist, by the way. This ought to be interesting.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Thermal Imaging Video

Via Blazing Cat Fur, "Video of Dzhokar Tsarnaev In Boat."

Pathetic Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Idiotstan) Attacks GOP as 'Islamophobic'

At Gateway Pundit, "Here We Go… Sen. Feinstein Accuses GOP Rep. Peter King of Islamophobia After Boston Bombings (Video)."

Also at iOWNTHEWORLD, "Congressman Peter King: Stop Being ‘Politically Correct’."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

More at Reaganite's, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES," and Jill Stanek's, "Stanek Sunday funnies 4-21-13."

Also at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies." And Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Obama’s Cube."

CARTOON CREDIT: William Warren.

Jessika Jinx Rule 5

Well, some babe blogging is overdue.

Here's Ms. Jinx on Twitter.

Now, from some of our babe blogging friends.

At Laughing Conservative, "Emily Ratajkowski." And Subject to Change, "In the Kitchen."

Now at Proof Positive, "San Francisco Season Opener Against Green Bay Packers Set for Sept. 8," and "Friday Night Babe - Lena Headey!"

Also at Bob Belvedere's, "Rule 5 Saturday - Amanda Ammann." (That was last Saturday --- expect updates from the hots at TCOTs!)

More at Randy's Roundtable, "Thursday Nite Tart ... Sarah Stephens."

And at Pirate's Cove, "If All You See……is an awesome home garden providing locally grown veggies in order to reduce Mankind’s carbon footprint (instead of just being a way to grow your own superfresh veggies), you might just be a Warmist."

Also at Pirate's, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup.

And at Guns and Bikinis, "Today's Hot Babes."

At Woodsterman's,"Advice to an Old Guy ~OR~ Rule 5 Woodsterman Style."

Plus, at Daley Gator, "DaleyGator DaleyBabe Sunny Reichert."

More Rule 5 blogging later ... send me your links and I'll update!

Runners at London Marathon Hold 30-Second Silence for Victims of Boston Marathon Bombing

At the Guardian UK, "London Marathon observes silence for Boston bomb victims – video."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "'It was never an option not to be here': Prince Harry praises London Marathon runners and brave Boston bomb victims as tens of thousands hit the streets to enjoy spectacular race in spring sun."

More video, "UK Marathon crowds undaunted by Boston bombings," and "London Marathon runners show support for Boston."

Miranda Rights for the Boston Bombing Suspect

I think it's a no brainer that the suspect should be Mirandized and tried in civilian courts. Sure, he's a terrorist, but he's also an American citizen who was captured by domestic law enforcement. Save the military tribunals for enemy combatants. The New York Times has the background, "Legal Questions Riddle Boston Case." And Glenn Greenwald, "What rights should Dzhokhar Tsarnaev get and why does it matter?"

I can't speak for Robert Stacy McCain, although he cracks me up, as usual:

I once more quote eminent law enforcement authority, Inspector Harry Callahan, SFPD: "Well, I'm all broken up over that man's rights."

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) April 20, 2013

Via Bob Belvedere, "Boston Terrorist Attack Aftermath: Best Tweets."

The Climate Circus Leaves Town

From Steven Hayward, at the Weekly Standard:

If you had told environmentalists on Election Day 2008 that four years later there’d be no successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol, that a Democratic Congress would not have enacted any meaningful climate legislation, that domestic oil production would be soaring even after a catastrophic offshore oil spill, and that the environmental community would be having a lively internal debate about whether it should support reviving nuclear power, most might have marched into the ocean to drown themselves. Yet that’s the state of play four months into President Obama’s second term...

Continue reading.

And see Fred Barnes as well, "Obama's Agenda Is Collapsing."

I guess that's why he was getting so angry out at the Rose Garden the other day. Some big temper tantrums from Baracky, and it's still early!

10 Depressing, Morally Confused Reactions to 4/15/13, the Boston Jihad

From David Swindle, at Pajamas Media:

I would like to primarily address those who have not yet given up progressivism, moral relativism, and the Democratic party — the three idols I grew up worshiping for the first two decades of my life. (I realize now that the reason I abandoned progressivism is simply that I didn’t go to graduate school whereas most of my friends did. My brainwashing gradually wore off after I got out into the real world and had to try and survive.)

This is not an oppressive, Corporate Imperial war waged against harmless Muslims. It is a war that Islam has declared against Enlightenment-based societies. The problem is not the Koran or Islam. The problem is radical (as in going to the root of the idea) Islam or Islamism, or Orthodox Islam, or the traditional Islam of history that requires the marriage of mosque and state accompanied by full implementation of chop-your-hands-off-style Sharia. Muslims who reject Koranic literalism and affirm Enlightenment philosophy are A-OK. (See Robert Spencer’s article this morning to see the great Jazz music some of them have made. And note Roger L. Simon today — Islam is not a race.) Muslims who embrace America instead of demanding American submission can enjoy the riches of Liberty just as every immigrant who has come to this land throughout the centuries to worship their God and work hard.

We need to stand with genuine Muslim liberals against both the terrorists and stealth (non-violent) jihadists rebelling against the Modern world.

That requires identifying those in the political and media classes who sabotage these efforts. Here are 10 examples of those whose ideas undermine the safety of Americans and the twin projects to nurture political liberalism in the Muslim mind and Enlightenment values in the Islamic soul.

Continue reading.

The radioactive waste that is the lineup at MSNBC makes an excellent showing.