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….MORE IMAGES TO BE POSTED AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE
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Suspect Number 2 Taken Into Custody – Daily Caller
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Update, 8:55 p.m. EST: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, was taken into police custody this evening in Watertown, Massachusetts.
Update, 8:52 p.m. EST: “Great job,” says Boston police scanner.
Update, 8:48 p.m. EST: Police scanner corroborates that suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, second suspect in Boston Marathon bombing, has been taken into custody.
Update, 8:47 p.m. EST: “Suspect in custody. Officers sweeping the area. Stand by for further info,” says Boston Police Twitter feed.
Update, 8:44 p.m. EST: Police scanner chatter continues to refer to ”suspect in custody,” but it is not clear if that is at 67 Franklin Street or Watertown High School. Permimeter around Franklin Street remains intact.
Update, 8:41 p.m. EST: Police scanner chatter says “suspect in custody.”
Update, 8:39 p.m. EST: Police scanner reporting an “abandoned black bag” within walking distance of the scene at Franklin Street.
Update, 8:38 p.m. EST: Police scanner chatter says there’s a “bearcat” on the scene. A Bearcat is a bomb disposal truck.
Update, 8:34 p.m. EST: New at The Daily Caller: Josh Peterson notices that former Obama administration official David Axelrod, who earlier this week speculated that the president was too polite to say the bomber was a Tea Party zealot, has been silent since the suspects have been named.
Update, 8:21 p.m. EST: There is a standoff of some kind on Franklin Street in Watertown. Explosions have been heard and the suspect is said to be surrounded and alive. It is not clear what the situation is. Police scanner chatter says the area of 67 Franklin Street has been secured. There is speculation that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is wearing explosives.
Update, 8:05 p.m. EST: Police scanner chatter says negotiator is on the scene.
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Update, 8:00 p.m. EST: Fox and CNN reporting that the suspect is injured. Not clear how this is known.
Update, 7:53 p.m. EST: Two explosions have been heard in vicinity of 67 Franklin Street. Some reports say “eight to ten explosions.”
Update, 7:47 p.m. EST: All newsnets are reporting that the suspect is alive and surrounded, possibly hiding in or under a boat in the backyard at 67 Franklin St. in Watertown.
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Update, 7:17 p.m. EST: Police are sending a robot into an address on Franklin Street in Waterton. Reports that a woman called in a report of bloody clothes that brought the cops to the address.
Update, 7:04 p.m. EST: Fox News and others are reporting “more than 20 shots” fired in Watertown. Police source says a suspect is down.
Update, 6:45 p.m. EST: Recent coverage of the Tsarnaev manhunt from The Daily Caller:
City of Boston gave ‘subsidy’ to bombing suspects’ radical mosque, by Patrick Howley
One bombing suspect loved pot and Obama, the other was married, by Robby Soave
New York Times shows sympathy for Boston terrorist suspects, by Christopher Bedford
Peter King on spread of radical Islam: ‘We can’t be politically correct’ [VIDEO], by Jeff Poor
Naming of suspects foils racialist, sociological agendas, by Tim Cavanaugh
Allen West: ‘We have domestic radical Islamic terror problem in America’ by Caroline May
Update, 6:21 p.m. EST: Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick at press conference says shelter-in-place order for Boston area has been lifted.
Update, 6:08 p.m. EST: In press conference, Col. Timothy Alben of the Massachusetts State Police says no leads in the pursuit of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev “have been fruitful.” Says police have “no direct knowledge that [Tsarnaev] is here in the Boston area” but does not believe he has fled.
Update, 3:50 p.m. EST: Tonight’s Red Sox game, Bruins game and Big Apple Circus have all been cancelled as the city remains under government lockdown.
Update, 3:09 p.m. EST: A photo provided to The Daily Caller shows what appear to be Blackhawk helicopters on the lawn of UMass Dartmouth, the school attended by at-large bombing suspect Dzokhar Tsarnaev. The photo was taken this morning as the school was evacuated.
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Update, 2:35 p.m. EST: The conservative blog Potluck notes that the car that was allegedly hijacked by the Tsarnaev brothers last night is the proud home of a “Coexist” bumper-sticker.
Update, 1:58 p.m. EST: More relatives of the Tsarnaev brothers are now talking to authorities and the press. Maret Tsarnaev, their aunt, tells CNN that the boys came to the U.S. in April 2002. The FBI, meanwhile, is talking to their sister in northern New Jersey.
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Update, 1:50 p.m. EST: NBC’s Richard Engel says American authorities want to know whether the Islamic Jihad Union, an Al Qaeda offshoot, was involved in the Boston attacks.
Update, 12:46 p.m. EST: Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov says his country is not to blame for the Boston attacks. According to an article on a Russian news service translated for The Daily Caller by Cambridge resident Gene Barsukov, Kadyrov said that if the Tsarnaev brothers did commit the bombings, their views were formed in America, not Chechnya. He also said that he is tired of people blaming Chechens for everything, “even tsunami.”
Interestingly, Foreign Policy reports that one of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s favorite YouTube videos was one that called the Muslim Kadyrov an “apostate” for his pro-Russian views.
Update, 12:24 p.m. EST: NBC News reports that at-large Boston bombing suspect Dzhokar Tsarnaev is a naturalized American citizen. According to the news network, he became a citizen last year on September 11th.
Update, 11:56 a.m. EST: Ruslan Tsarni, the uncle of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, described his nephews as “losers” Friday morning. Via TheDC’s Patrick Howley:
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“Being losers,” Ruslan Tsarni, the uncle of bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, said in a press conference outside his Maryland home Friday when asked what motivated his nephews to carry out the bombings….“Anything having to do with religion, with Islam, is a fake,” Tsarni said, in regard to reports that his nephews’ Muslim religion may have influenced their terrorist attack. Tsarni said that his nephews never expressed any hatred toward America.
Update, 11:51 a.m. EST: Business Insider has put up a Google-translated statement from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov that was posted on Instagram this morning:
“The tragic events took place in Boston. The blast killed people. We have previously expressed their condolences to the people of the city and the people of America. Today, as reported by the media, while trying to arrest a Tsarnaea was killed. It would be logical if he was detained and investigated, found all the circumstances and the degree of his guilt. Apparently, the special services needed by all means to calm the result of society. Any attempt to make the connection between Chechnya and Tsarnaevymi if they are guilty, in vain. They grew up in the United States, their attitudes and beliefs were formed there. It is necessary to seek the roots of evil in America. From terrorism to fight the whole world. We know better than anyone else. We wish recovery to all the victims and share the feelings of sorrow Americans.”
Update, 11:47 a.m. EST: Foreign Policy has put together a useful guide to Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s favorite YouTube videos.
Update, 10:37 a.m. EST: TheDC’s Patrick Howley has put together all we currently know about Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the now-dead Boston Marathon bombing suspect. He “was a student at Bunker Hill Community College and a Golden Gloves boxer who trained at Wai Kru mixed martial arts gym in Boston and competed in a national Golden Gloves competition.” He also described himself as a “very religious” Muslim. Read the full story here.
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Update, 10:20 a.m. EST: The now-deceased bombing suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, apparently posted a video touting an Al Qaeda-linked “prophesy.” You can watch it here.
Update, 10:03 a.m. EST: Buzzfeed reports that high school classmates of at-large Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzokhar Tsarnaev, 19, are shocked by today’s news. The former classmates describe Dzokhar as a “sweet, sort of quiet” boy with a number of friends at the prestigious Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.
Update, 9:37 a.m. EST: Anzor Tsarnaev, the father of both Boston Marathon bombing suspects, spoke with The Associated Press by telephone from the Russian city of Makhachkala on Friday: “My son is a true angel. … Dzhokhar is a second-year medical student in the U.S. He is such an intelligent boy. We expected him to come on holidays here.” Read the full AP story here.
Update, 9:14 a.m. EST: The Weekly Standard reports that wanted Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev received a city scholarship from Boston in 2011, and attended the same prestigious secondary school as actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
Update, 9:07 a.m. EST: It appears Boston PD was relaying threats posted by this Twitter account. … It is possible but unconfirmed that someone impersonating Boston Marathon bombing “Suspect 2″ Dzhokhar Tsarnaev created the account on Twitter one hour ago, tricking Boston police …
Update, 9:03 a.m. EST: Offer relays harrowing news over police radio: “He is posting online, ‘I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU, AS YOU KILLED MY BROTHER,’” officer says. … 19-year-old Suspect 2 may try to avenge deceased brother, 26-year-old Suspect 1, who was killed earlier today in a shootout with police. … “SUSPECT IS POSTING ONLINE, HE’S GOING TO KILL EVERYONE BECAUSE YOU KILLED MY BROTHER,” officer says at 9:02 a.m. … Police also looking at home on Boyleston Street, where there is a report of a man with a hoodie on a laptop …
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Update, 8:50 a.m. EST: “Did anyone get a clear visual of him running into a home?” an officer asks on the scanner. There is no response. … Officer then says he saw suspect wearing hoodie OUTSIDE THE POLICE PERIMETER. … Air unit alerted. …
Update, 8:38 a.m. EST: Tactical team is in place at Willow Park. “We don’t need any more help here,” one officer said over the police radio at 8:38 a.m., before voicing concern that units are rushing into the Willow Park area haphazardly, and abandoning previously secured perimeters and locations. … “We need to move the media back,” one officer says. … Police report finding a “rocket” in a house basement near Willow Park. … Officer notices window curtains rustling. …
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Update, 8:33 a.m. EST: Foot pursuit at Willow Park. … Watertown PD is responding. … Police are on Dexter by Willow Park, #17, pursuing a suspect in a dark hoodie. … “All units use caution, there’s plainclothes officers in there also.” … “Some officers, stay on Dexter in case he doubles back. Somebody get back here! … Guys, get behind cover. Warning: Use caution on approach. Trigger was found on body at the morgue.” …
Update, 8:18 a.m. EST: “All officers, use extreme caution. Suspect may have suicide vest on,” officer says on Boston PD scanner. … “SUSPECT IS REPORTED TO BE WEARING SUICIDE VEST,” another officer says seconds later. … DECEASED “SUSPECT 1″ HAD TRIGGER ON HIS BODY FOR EXPLOSIVE DEVICE … The 19-year-old suspect at large was born in Kyrgyzstan, while his deceased older brother was born in Russia, authorities confirm. …
Update, 7:57 a.m. EST: A man named Tamerlan Tzarnaev recently described himself as “very religious” and did not like to take his shirt off around females, according to a social media post uploaded by a boxing blog. Tamerlan Tzarnaev was the real name of Boston Marathon “Suspect 1,” who is now deceased. The Daily Caller has not confirmed the Tzarnaev described and photographed by the boxing blog is in fact Suspect 1, and is working to verify that they are the same person.
“If he wins enough fights there, Tamerlan says he could be selected for the US Olympic team and be naturalized American,” the boxing blog post reads. “Unless his native Chechnya becomes independent, Tamerlan says he would rather compete for the United States than for Russia.”
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Update, 7:54 a.m. EST: Police are going door to door looking for Suspect 2, according to the official Boston PD Twitter account:
#CommunityAlert: Door-to-door search 4 suspect in Watertown continues. Uniformed officers searching. Community consent critical.
- Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) April 19, 2013
Update, 7:34 a.m. EST: Police are being dispatched to the Moakley federal courthouse after reports that Suspect 2, the only living suspect, entered a cab and headed towards the courthouse. … The two Boston Marathon suspects are brothers, according to CNN. … NBC reports the older brother and deceased “Suspect 1″ was 26-year-old TAMERLAN TZARNAEV. …
This disturbing video was taken from the suspect’s social media page:
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Update, 7:16 a.m. EST: This photo of the 19-year-old “Suspect 2″ (real name Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev) who is currently terrorizing Boston is now circulating on social media. According to Russia Today, here is his social media profile. The profile identifies the man as Muslim, with his world view listed as “Islam.”
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Update, 7:15 a.m. EST: Suspect may be in a cab headed towards courthouse, officer reports on police scanner. No make or model available on the cab, officer reports. …
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Update, 7:00 a.m. EST: A pipe bomb has just been detonated near Commonwealth Avenue, according to a Boston police scanner. … EMTs have been requested to respond. … The AP has identified the two suspects as coming from the “Russian region near Chechnya.” … Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, is reportedly the remaining suspect. … “Russia’s North Caucasus region has been plagued by an Islamic insurgency stemming from separatist wars in Chechnya,” AP reports. … (READ THE AP REPORT) … Successful controlled detonation reported by police …
Update, 6:37 a.m. EST: Five tactical police teams have just begun a house-by-house search to clear quadrants in Watertown, looking for Boston Marathon bombing “Suspect 2,” according to Boston PD. … Two men are still in handcuffs at the location of the cab mentioned in the 6:17 a.m. update below, and the bomb squad is on the scene. … Police are responding to #10 Fairfield, where a resident has reported that her shed door lock has been broken. …
Stunning picture surfaces on Twitter of military presence in Boston (look to far right, on the roof):
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Update, 6:27 a.m. EST: Police are still working to confirm location of second suspect. … Photographs of the suspect are being sent to officiers. … Boston University announces it is closed today. …
Update, 6:17 a.m. EST: “HE’S IN CUSTODY RIGHT NOW,” unit radios in on Boston PD radio apparently referring to Boston Marathon suspect 2. Suspect 2 apparently was in a cab with 2 other occupants in Watertown, according to the radio broadcasts. The Daily Caller is working to confirm. … “Boston Cab 375, occupied by one white male, one Middle Eastern male,” an officer radioed in at approximately 6:17 a.m.. “Sir, as of right now, they’re all on the deck outside the car. We haven’t checked the trunk yet.” “DON’T CHECK THE TRUNK, DON’T USE YOUR CELL,” commanding officer radios back. … Officers swarming scene. … ALL BOSTON BUSES AND SUBWAYS HAVE BEEN SHUT DOWN. …
Update, 6:08 a.m. EST: It’s dawn in Boston, but police are complaining that fog is obscuring visibility. Bomb squad officials are going through cars on Laurel Street (pictured below). … Police are investigating a house with a wide open door at 20 Beachwood. The resident is “afraid to go in on his own,” according to police dispatcher. … A white male with a dark-colored bag has been spotted trying to catch a ride by flagging down random vehicles near Beacon Park and Mass Pike Road in Brighton. Officers are now approaching. … “Tac teams should be ready to receive their quadrants,” a dispatcher says, as officers prepare to begin systematic search. … To recap, one Boston Marathon bombing suspect is confirmed dead, and another (who was seen in a white baseball cap on the day of the bombings) is on the loose. … One MIT police officer is dead. …
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SWAT teams are also actively clearing Laurel Street, as of 6:05 a.m.:
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Update, 5:46 a.m. EST: Suspect ducked into the woods when police attempted to make contact, according to a police radio broadcast that just went out seconds ago. …
Update, 5:43 a.m. EST: Police have called in a negotiator. It is unclear whether the second suspect has been cornered or located. … According to NBC, police have confirmed both suspects have “international links” and have been in the country legally for approximately one year. … All subway lines/commuter rail/ T public transportation service has been suspended …
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Update, 5:26 a.m. EST: Police are now approaching a white male on a bike with a heavy backpack coming from Cambridge towards Boston.
Update, 5:05 a.m. EST: Officers dispatched to investigate “large Mack truck” near Harvard Business School. … Police chief warns residents not to open their doors. … Boston Marathon “Suspect 2″ on the loose, “Suspect 1″ dead, police confirm. … FBI believes both suspects lingered after remotely detonating Marathon bombs and watched the carnage from close by. … NBC is reporting the suspects may have overseas military training, and came to the country a year ago with the intent of committing acts of terror. … Middlesex district attorney says suspects killed MIT police officer, then stole car at gunpoint and released driver unharmed. During a chase with police, they reportedly tossed bombs from their car … MIT now reports campus is all clear. …
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Update, 5:00 a.m. EST: Three injured officers have been reported by EMS via radio at “Boston PD command post” at Arsenal mall. … “Multiple officers injured, Arsenal court.” … All canine units in Watertown have now been deployed. … Bomb units respond to 540 Memorial Dr., but find nothing dangerous. … One suspect still remains at large. … Heavily armored “BearCat” bomb neutralization truck moving now to Lauriet & Dexter. …
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Update, 4:39 a.m. EST: First suspect was reportedly dead on arrival at a local hospital, Mt. Auburn. Police just issued a radio warning to officers searching for the remaining suspect: “UNITS, USE CAUTION. WE’VE JUST RECEIVED INFORMATION THE PARTY MIGHT HAVE AN EXPLOSIVE OBJECT ON HIS PERSON.” … Another officer said on the radio at 4:33 a.m. that the first suspect may have died when a suicide vest or bomb he was carrying detonated when he was taken into custody. … “The person that is currently at large might have a device on his person if we come across him. … [that is] believed to be based on a device found on the first subject.” … FBI bomb technicians have been called to the scene. … “All tactical commanders” have just been called to the “state police command truck” for an immediate briefing …
Update, 4:28 a.m. EST: Boston police have released this photo of one of the suspects they are currently seeking. It was taken at a local convenience store tonight. … A suspicious package has been cleared at Fairfield & Oliver … “It wouldn’t hurt to have ‘em,” one officer on Dexter St. said at 4:25 a.m. when asked if he needs a 15-officer SWAT team currently idling at the Arsenal mall command post … At Fairfield & Dexter in Watertown, there is a four-door older brown or tan sedan that “the two suspects were seen going into and out of at some point during the evening,” an officer said on Boston PD radio at 4:27 a.m. … Officers are now securing that vehicle … At 475 Arsenal Court, a suspicious male has been seen carrying a backpack. Officers from Watertown PD are now responding to that location as well, and looking to talk with the witness who called it in at 4:28 a.m. …
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Update, 4:09 a.m. EST: A canine unit has been requested to head to Dexter & Fairfield and 89 Dexter St. “ASAP.” A police “tactical bear” bomb disposal unit and bomb technician have been requested to respond as well. Police continue to search houses and adjoining streets and backyards. .. TACTICAL SILENCE: “Units heading to 89 Dexter, do not use your radios,” one officer warned at 4:13 a.m., in an apparent effort to avoid tipping off the suspect who may be hiding there … Officers on Spruce St. are being told to “kill your headlights.” …
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Update, 3:41 a.m. EST: “We’re going to wait back and do a coordinated sweep when the light is with us,” one officer is saying on Boston police radio. Police are planning to search a contained perimeter for the remaining suspect shortly. A supervisor is now making the rounds to “make sure there’s no gaps” around the police’s perimeter. Multiple news websites are reporting pressure cooker devices have been found in Watertown. … At 100 Calcot Street, police are investigating why “motion sensor [alarms] are tripping.” … (VIEW A MAP OF KEY LOCATIONS AFFECTED BY TONIGHT’S EVENTS) …
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Update, 3:37 a.m. EST: Police are again now looking for a “Middle Eastern male” with a “charcoal gray hoodie,” according to Boston Police/EMS radio. They are reviewing store surveillance photographs from nearby stores. Twitter users and some reporters are speculating the suspect may be this missing Brown University student. The Daily Caller has been unable to confirm those reports. Sunil Tripathi, 22, went missing from the Ivy League school in March.
Update, 3:37 a.m. EST: A Twitter user has posted this photo, apparently showing a suspicious man with a backpack walking near Laurel Street:
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Update, 3:21 a.m. EST: Police have established a command post at the Arsenal mall. All officers who are not actively involved in maintaining a perimeter or crime scene have been ordered to report to the command post immediately. … Plainclothes officers, for the second time tonight, have been told to remain with uniformed officers. “Officers should be very careful of other officers,” one police official said at 3:20 a.m. over the radio. … “We want to make sure we’re not engaging each other. You should have something identifying you on. Stay with uniformed officers if you can.” Officers have been told they will be assigned a specialty once they reach the ad hoc command post at Arsenal mall.
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A local resident posted to Twitter a picture of bullets in his home, under the Twitter username “AKitz”:
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And another picture of the ongoing search on Laurel Street:
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Update, 3:14 a.m. EST: Newton PD dispatch is now saying “there is no foot pursuit.” None of the department’s officers are engaged in a foot pursuit any longer. Suspect remains at large.
Update, 3:12 a.m. EST: Local news station WHDH is reporting a suspect has died in a hospital from injuries. A Newton PD police officer is reporting a foot pursuit past Cypress & Dexter and 321 Arsenal St. near Charles River Road. The suspect “possibly matches the description” of one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, an officer told dispatchers at 3:11 a.m. “I need an undeployed tactical team,” another replied. Canines have been deployed, and officers are forming a perimeter. Cruisers are lining up to prevent suspects from jumping into the nearby Charles River. “Only SWAT assets at this time,” one officer said over the radio at 3:06 a.m.
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Update, 2:46 a.m. EST: Officer: “Suspect could have an IED explosive device on him, use extreme caution in the area of Brighton, Watertown and Cambridge.” The suspect that is outstanding, according to an officer on Boston PD radio, “is the party in the white hat that was identified in the photos,” apparently referring to the Boston Marathon bomber in recently released FBI photos. He is currently dressed in a black hoodie and has curly hair, police are saying. A police robot has been deployed to search parked cars and suspicious items.
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Update, 2:43 a.m. EST: Police are now looking for a “white male,” who is “armed and dangerous” with an “assault rifle” and possibly “explosives.” … The Boston Globe is reporting an MIT police officer has died.
Update, 2:35 a.m. EST: Report of “pipe bombs in the roadway” goes out over radio. According to the Boston Globe, one suspected Boston Marathon bomber is in custody. (Pictured above, a picture from CNN appears to show a suspect surrendering at gunpoint. It is unclear whether he is a suspect in the Marathon bombing.) Officers are searching an immobile gold Nissan Maxima. Six shots have been reported near Aberdeen Avenue by witnesses.
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Update, 2:30 a.m. EST: A handgun magazine has been found by officers near 14 Hazel Street. Report of “possibly 15 shots fired” near Aberdeen and Mount Auburn just went out over the radio.
Update, 2:25 a.m. EST: 14 Hazel Street has been cleared. No suspects were inside, according to police radio.
Update, 2:16 a.m. EST: SWAT is involved in the raid on Hazel Street (pictured below, from Twitter user sethmnookin). Suspects are confirmed to “definitely” have “long guns” by two officers on police radio. A commanding officer is asking nearby officers to remain in “cover, not concealment,” because of the threat.
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Update, 2:15 a.m. EST: Police have established a perimeter around a multi-story house at 14 Hazel Street and are right now making entry. Dogs are involved in the search. MIT students who are scared by the night’s events are requesting police escorts, according to a dispatcher.
Watch amateur video of the shootout (WARNING: Graphic language):
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Update, 2:06 a.m. EST: Police, with helicopter support, are clearing a street “where a car is abandoned on.” They are reporting “very bad visibility” and are accompanied by “state police and the Fox Channel 4 helicopter.” Weather is “very soupy,” one officer says on the radio, adding that “we can’t be here very long.”
Update, 1:55 a.m. EST: Police radio suggests “code black” in effect at Auburn hospital.
Update, 1:50 a.m. EST: Police dispatcher says officers are looking for a “clean shaven Middle Eastern male,” wearing clothing with a “snowflake” logo of some kind. No further description was immediately passed to officers.
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Update, 1:40 a.m. EST: Police responded briefly to a report of shots fired at a local children’s hospital, but are confirming over their radios now that “no shots were fired” at the hospital. Police are also saying “we do not have a second suspect in custody,” according to the police scanner. They are actively looking now for a second suspect.
Update, 1:27 a.m. EST: An officer came over the radio saying it might be “mundane,” but ordered officers to keep the streets “clear” to ensure that squad cars can rapidly deploy.
Update, 1:20 a.m. EST: “We’ve got a second suspect in custody,” one officer says over the police radio. He then added: “We’re not sure it’s him.”
Update, 1: 14 a.m. EST: MIT police say one suspect is in custody, but another may be at large. Officers were told over the radio to turn off their cellphones for fear of detonating explosive devices nearby.
“CP – to all units in area – power down all cellphones for fear of explosion,” a commanding officer said over the radio. “Power down your cellphones from a safe distance.”
According to Fox News, a reporter was told to power down his phone if he “wants to live.”
Update, 1:00 a.m. EST: At least one heavily armed assailant with “grenades” and “explosives” and firing “automatic gunfire” is loose near MIT’s campus, according to police dispatchers and the school’s emergency website, and police say are looking for “dark-skinned” and “Middle Eastern” suspects. (Listen to the live feed here)
According to a live audio feed from MIT police, an officer has been shot in the arm and taken to the hospital. Suspects with grenades and explosives apparently stole the officer’s gun and a “state police SUV,” according to officials talking on the police radio, and may have stormed a nearby convenience store.
“They have explosives, [and] some type of grenade. Shots fired, shots fired. Loud explosion. Loud explosion – shots fired, shots fired,” one officer says.
Officers could be heard screaming on their radio for backup officers “with long guns” at 12:55 a.m. EST.
Multiple media outlets have reported that at least one police officer has died.
Hair-raising reports coming in from a Boston Police scanner indicate that a report of a second officer down” and ”definitely hand grenades and automatic gunfire.”
“Responding agencies are actively investigating the situation, which remains very fluid at this time,” campus police officials wrote at 12:28 a.m. “Police continue to sweep the campus. Stay indoors and remain inside until further notice.”
“We’re going to try to block them in in an alley,” one officer says on the radio at 11:34 p.m. “They’re both armed with firearms. They both paid cash at the shell station, then fled towards Harvard square. … Only one firearm was displayed.”
“[Suspects are] dark-skinned and one’s Middle Eastern,” another officer said over the radio. The Daily Caller has been unable to confirm the suspects’ ethnicities, and no other officers referenced a Middle Eastern suspect on the radio.
An earlier update on MIT’s website said gunshots had been fired.
“At 10:48 p.m. gunshots were reported near Building 32 (Stata) which is currently surrounded by responding agencies. The area is cordoned off. Please stay clear of area until further notice. Unknown if injuries have occurred. Although the situation is considered active and extremely dangerous, an investigation is underway. Updates will be provided at this site when more information becomes available.”
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Dozens Killed, Hundreds Injured In Fertilizer Plant Explosion – KTXA
A fertilizer plant explosion in the town of West, north of Waco, has killed as many as 70 people and injured hundreds. However, no official numbers have been released.
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Meanwhile, the residents of the town of 2,700 are being asked to evacuate due to ammonia fumes after the explosion of West Fertilizer. The plant is located at 1471 Jerry Mashek Drive, just off Interstate-35. School buses and ambulances are being used to evacuate residents from the area.
Firefighters had been called to the plant to battle a small fire around 7 p.m. Crews were working to bring the blaze under control when the explosion happened around 7:50 p.m. Officials have said firefighters are among the missing.
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Emergency crews from central and north Texas have been called in to help respond to the injuries and destruction from the explosion. Into the early morning hours Thursday the plant was still smoldering and active ingredients were still inside. The situation is still too volatile to have firefighters try and battle any flames.
Trooper D.L. Wilson of the Texas Department of Public Safety estimates that as many as 75 homes were severely damaged and an apartment complex with 50 units was gutted by the blast. West EMS Director Dr. George Smith said, “We’ve got a lot of houses on one street especially there that look like a war zone. They’ve been collapsed, so there may be people inside those houses, either critically injured or deceased.“
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Tommy Muska, West’s mayor, said at a news conference three hours after the explosion that buildings in a five-block radius from the plant were severely damaged by the explosion. Among them was the West Rest Haven Nursing Home, a location where first-responders evacuated 133 patients, some in wheelchairs. “We did get there and got that taken care of,” Muska said.
Trooper Wilson said said 133 patients from the nearby nursing home were evacuated. He could not comment on the extent of any patient injuries, but says all patients have been evacuated from the building.
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Dr. Smith said he saw the initial fire and became concerned. “When I saw the fire I went to the nursing home, because I knew there were hazardous chemicals [in the plant], and I helped the nursing home personnel move them [residents] away from the area close to the explosion.” Then the doctor said there was chaos. “It exploded while I was in the nursing home. I had debris and glass windows all over me… had to get out of there myself,” he said. “Luckily we had got most of the residents on the other side. Hopefully I think that saved some lives.”
The hotline number (254) 202-1100 has been set up at Hillcrest Hospital for family and friends to check on loved ones.
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Dr. Smith said some 66 people were taken to Hillcrest Hospital and several others to Providence. Smith said the patients being admitted ranged in age from babies to elderly.
Click here for a full list of emergency resources
Triage was initially set up at the local high school football field, however it was moved to a nearby softball field because of a strong odor in the area.
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CBS 11′s Brian New reports there are dozens of ambulances lined up at the triage area.
Information was hard to come by in the hours after the blast, with even Governor Rick Perry saying state officials were waiting for details about the extent of the damage.
“We are monitoring developments and gathering information as details continue to emerge about this incident,” Perry said in a statement. “We have also mobilized state resources to help local authorities. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of West, and the first responders on the scene.”
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Aerial footage showed fires still smoldering in the ruins of the plant and in several surrounding buildings, and people being treated for injuries on a flood-lit local football field, which had been turned into a staging area for emergency responders.
A woman passing through West on Interstate-35 at the tie of the explosion told CBS 11 News she saw a fireball 100-feet wide shoot into the air.
USGS says the blast was the equivalent of a 2.1 magnitude earthquake.
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West Fertilizer has been in business for decades, selling fertilizer to farmers between Hillsboro and Waco.
American Red Cross crews from across Texas were being sent to the site, the organization said. Red Cross spokeswoman Anita Foster said the group was working with emergency management officials in West to find a safe shelter for residents displaced from their homes. She said teams from Austin to Dallas and elsewhere are being sent to the community north of Waco.
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A state representative in Massachussetts is being investigated after allegedly sending pictures of his genitals to a government computer.
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The investigation is ongoing and the committee has not formally reprimanded the individual in charge, but it is being widely reported that Democratic State Representative John Fresolo is the one behind the scandal.
He allegedly sent ‘lascivious photos of his privates’ to a computer at the State House, and an aide complained to the Ethics Committee to start the investigation.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo has not confirmed any accusations in the case except that he did say there was ‘sufficient cause’ for an investigation.
‘In order to protect the integrity of the Ethics Committee investigation, Speaker DeLeo will have no further comment on this matter,’ spokesman Seth Gitell said.
Local blogs and radio hosts have taken the case further, saying that it was definitely Fresolo who sent the salacious pictures.
Though he was curt and dismissive when a reporter from The Republican newspaper called him, he did not deny the claims.
‘I’m going to hang up now, but I want you to know I am not resigning,’ he said.
This is not his first scandal, as he has a history of violence towards his family members that has put him in trouble with social services.
In 2005 he reportedly physically abused his then-13-year-old daughter, and that came nearly a decade after he was arrested for beating his then-wife in 1996. She later dropped the charges.
Blogger Michele McPhee reports that he is now on paid administrative leave, which is allegedly angering his colleagues.
‘It’s bad enough that he pulled an Anthony Weiner and had pictures of his penis on State House computers, but then he tried to get his per diem pumped up. No one puts in for 220 days of commuting and with his commute that’s a lot of money,’ a state representative told her on the condition of anonymity.
Adding a dash of irony to the case, the accusations come on the same day that the state politicians underwent ethics training.
Alcohol-fuelled mayhem caused up to £30,000 worth of damage to a family home after around 800 teenagers gatecrashed a schoolgirl’s party after she advertised it on Facebook.
A piano was smashed up in the front garden in astonishing scenes of carnage in and around the three-bedroom house in Billericay, Essex.
Elsewhere in the house foul language was written on walls, furniture was overturned and smashed while doors were ripped from their hinges by hordes of youngsters who gatecrashed the party.
The party was thrown by Sarah Hine, 14, but got out of control despite her mother, Esther, 56, being there to try and keep order.
Mrs Hine said: ‘There must be £20,000 to £30,000 damage but insurance won’t pay out because we invited them in. I told the parents I would be here to keep an eye out for trouble.’
Witnesses at the party claimed teenagers had broken into the loft and were bouncing on ceiling insulation before one fell through into the bedroom. The wild partygoers also destroyed a piano outside the front of the house.
The family’s bedrooms were ripped to pieces, as furniture was pulled apart and thrown about the room and walls were daubed with vulgar sexual messages.
The party had been dubbed the ‘Project X of Essex’ in reference to American blockbuster Project X in which three High School students plan a giant house party to make a name for themselves, with massive consequences.
Partygoers continued to spread the word about the Friday night party on Facebook and Twitter, even as it spiralled out of control.
Terrified and angry neighbours called the police, who arrived around 9pm to disperse the unruly crowd.
One neighbour, who declined to be named, said: ‘It was like Belfast in the 1970s out there. It was
terrifying to see it in the quiet road. There were hundreds of people out to cause trouble.’
Another said: ‘I would have said there was about 800 of them when the police turned up at around 8.30pm
‘They were trying to escape up the road not realising it was a cul-de-sac.
‘We’ve never seen anything like this before as it’s usually a very quiet road.’
Police reported no injuries to partygoers at the gathering, which had been planned by Sarah as an early birthday celebration ahead of her birthday in the New Year.
Mrs Hine added: ‘I am stunned – why would they do this?
‘There wasn’t supposed to be drink but the police told me they confiscated an unbelievable amount of alcohol from the groups.’
Mrs Hine revealed she had ignored warnings made two weeks ago that the party could get out of hand when staff at her daughter’s school saw an open invitation to the event had appeared on Facebook
She added: ‘I just didn’t think this would happen. I knew Sarah knew some people but did not expect that many to turn up.’
Despite the carnage, Mrs Hine, who works for her husband’s computer consultancy business, has said she will not ground her daughter.
A spokesperson for Sarah’s school, the Anglo European School in Ingatestone, Essex, said: ‘We were saddened to hear about the damage caused to one of our pupil’s homes this weekend following a party which got out of control.
‘We were aware that the party was being advertised on Facebook and advised the mother and daughter of the risks this posed.
‘We regularly speak with our students about the dangers of social media and while young people from across Essex attended the event we hope our students will learn lessons from this incident.’
An Essex Police spokesman confirmed police had attended a house in Billericay, Essex, on Friday night to disperse a large number of teenagers.
She continued: ‘Police were called after calls from residents regarding nuisance behaviour in the street.
‘Officers found a large number of teenagers had visited the area to attend a party advertised openly on social media.
‘No arrests were made and no complaints were made regarding criminal damage.
‘However, police cleared the area and assisted with the dispersal of the teenagers and their safe travel home via Billericay rail station.’
Last week it was reported that more than 1,000 revellers, including Britain’s Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon, packed into the home of the parents of Ollie Boorman in the village of Tewin, Hertfordshire, after he posted it on Facebook.
The party was called Project XXX and strangers from as far afield as Manchester turned up. Boorman pleaded guilty to public nuisance and was given a community order and ordered to pay £500 compensation to Hertfordshire Police and £85 costs.
The Little Desert That Grew In Maine – New York Times
Maine evokes ocean breezes, the smell of beach roses and the sight of lobster boats trawling for the evening catch. But a few miles from the coast in Freeport, there’s an anomaly that has delighted young children and intrigued curious adults for nearly 90 years. Called the Desert of Maine, it is not really a desert at all – but it sure looks like one. And although it is operated as a tourist attraction, this is no ersatz Sahara built of trucked-in sand and designer dunes. Nature laid it down, human error uncovered it, and the hucksters and gawkers arrived late in the game.
On a clear late-summer morning with temperatures in the low 70’s, the “desert,” which emerges incongruously from the surrounding green hills, shimmered at 90 degrees from the reflected heat of its shifting dunes. Walking to the middle of this silent expanse, you’ll find it difficult to believe you are anywhere in the eastern United States, let alone Maine.
Most visitors tour this otherworldly landscape – which takes up most of the Desert of Maine tourist attraction’s 47 acres – on 30-minute tram tours. But there are also easy hiking trails, and visitors can wander on their own. In places, dunes tower high above the trails, kept at bay by trees – the surrounding forest is the natural fence that keeps the sand from spreading.
My 12-year-old son and his friend, young sophisticates who had feigned lack of interest in anything in Maine unattached to a hotel pool, the ocean or a Game Boy, became so interested in their desert explorations that they didn’t want to stop to pose for pictures.
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The Desert of Maine is well known locally, according to Robert Doyle, a retired head of the Maine Geological Survey and former associate professor at the University of Maine at Augusta. “My father took me there when I was 10,” he said.
The story of this strange place began more than 10,000 years ago, Mr. Doyle explained, when the glaciers of the last Ice Age slowly scraped the soil and ground rocks into pebbles and then to a sandy substance known as glacial silt, forming a layer up to 80 feet deep in places in southern Maine. Then, over the centuries, topsoil formed a cap, concealing the “desert,” enabling forest to grow and, when settlers came to North America, supporting agriculture.
Enter William Tuttle, a farmer who bought 300 acres of prime farmland in 1797. Tuttle built a large post-and-beam barn on the site and operated a successful farm for decades, raising cattle and crops. His descendants added sheep to sell wool to textile mills. Poor crop rotation and overgrazing by sheep, which tear the plants out of the soil by the roots, resulted in soil erosion and something eerily beyond.
One day, a patch of sand the size of a dinner plate became exposed. It grew until the family became alarmed. But it was too late. The “desert” had made its entrance, and the more the soil eroded, the more the sand underneath was exposed.
The Tuttles didn’t give up right away, and tried for years to fight the inevitable. But slowly the sand claimed the farm, swallowing buildings and pasture. By the early 20th century they abandoned the place. Proving that one person’s disaster is another’s gold mine, Henry Goldrup bought the farm in 1919 for $300 and opened it as a tourist attraction in 1925. It now attracts 30,000 visitors a year, according to Mary and Bob Kaschub, who work as tour guides.
The tram tour travels through the starkest portions of the desolate landscape, like the site of a springhouse, built in 1935, that was overtaken by sand by 1962 and is now invisible under eight feet of sand. Pine trees have adapted to the sand and seem healthy, with only their tops exposed and their trunks buried as much as 50 feet deep. The contrast is vivid between the brightness of the dunes and the surrounding forest.
Mica in the silt sparkles in the Maine sun. It also reflects heat, explaining the high temperatures in the middle of the sandy expanse. Readings of more than 100 degrees are not uncommon, Ms. Kaschub said.
Over several years as a tour guide, she has learned to respect the power of the sand. On one tour, a powerful gust of wind suddenly made it impossible to see and nearly impossible to breathe, she said. Visitors and staff had to cover their eyes, noses and mouths until the swirling sandstorm subsided several minutes later. Ms. Kaschub also pointed out trees that had been stripped of much of their bark, essentially sandblasted smooth from the wind. “Every year, I wonder, will the desert win, or will the forest win?” she mused.
On the day of our visit the air was still, making it easy to admire the area’s odd beauty and to feel sorry for the hapless Tuttles. They tried to make bricks out of the sand swallowing their farm, but because of the high mica content, the bricks just crumbled and fell apart. So the sparkling quality that helped make the place a tourist attraction essentially prevented its practical use.
Once the touring and hiking are done, there are more activities for children. A staff artist gives free lessons in fashioning art from the sand, which varies in color. For the purchase of a bottle for a few dollars and a quick lesson in shaping a sand creation, visitors can spend an absorbing hour creating a piece of the “desert” to bring home.
Also on the site are a museum with agricultural implements and a play area where children can search for colored stones that the staff has scattered on the sand.
In the 1950’s, the Desert of Maine kept a camel named Sarah to add to the desert atmosphere. It developed the unfortunate habit of biting and spitting at the tourists and was eventually sent to a zoo. Taking its place now are two life-size statues of camels, one lying down and the other standing. They are not nearly as interactive as Sarah was, but at least tourists who want a souvenir picture won’t have to worry about fending off a dromedary with anger management issues.
VISITOR INFORMATION
The Desert of Maine (207-865-6962; http://www.desertofmaine.com) is at 95 Desert Road, Freeport, Me. To reach it from Interstate 295, which follows the coast, get off at Exit 20, turn west and drive for two miles. The Desert of Maine is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. between Memorial Day and Oct. 15; the last tour leaves at 4:30. Tickets are $8.75 for adults.
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Admission to the picnic area is included with the price of admission, but the Desert of Maine store sells only snack food. For more substantial picnic fare, Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster Company in South Freeport is just two miles away (36 Main Street; 207-865-3535). It’s an informal place overlooking the Harraseeket River that features fresh lobster (two one-pound lobsters for $19.95) or, for the kids, chicken fingers and $1.50 hot dogs.
A trip to Freeport would be incomplete without a stop at the mothership of shopaholics, L.L. Bean, which has had its headquarters there since 1917. Three million visitors arrive each year to visit the flagship store (800-441-5713) on Main Street in the center of the village. It is open 24 hours a day every day of the year.
In these horrific pictures, an incensed 70-year-old man is seen biting a queue-jumping teenager in the Chinese city of Guangzhou.
The unnamed pensioner launched the shocking attack after the teenager was believed to have pushed in front of him as they waited to board a subway train.
Although there were a number of empty seats on the train, the disgruntled 70-year-old man pursued the teenager while berating him.
A witness claimed the pensioner struck the younger man before a fight broke out, ending with the 70-year-old digging his teeth into the teenager’s flesh and drawing blood.
The pictures show the pensioner set upon the teenager as he sits down. The two seem to struggle before the older man digs his teeth into the younger man’s arm.
As the teenager attempts to fight his attacker off, the pair roll onto the floor as the attack continues.
One witness of the grisly attack said: ‘The pensioner also took out a pensioner certificate requesting the young man to leave the seat to him, although there were many empty seats.
‘After the oldie was refused, he suddenly punched the lad, who fought back by kicking on the oldie.
‘Instantly they twisted together. The oldie was quite strong, and he even bit the lad, who bled profusely.’
Frightened passengers on the moving train called the police, who boarded at the next stop.
Both men were apprehended, but were later released after admitting their ‘wrongdoings’.
The teenager was reported to have refused to have his injuries treated at a hospital.
VIDEO: The metro attack… WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT…
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The Taiwanese company New Media Animation (NMA) has a shockingly astute understanding of American politics. NMA has had a field day animating some of the more parody rich moments in this last year of the American election cycle. The site, which boasts the slogan “All the news that is fit to animate,” has beaten many American pundits and humorists to the punch this week with a hysterical, masterfully animated version of the presidential Debates from Wednesday night. Here are some of the highlights:
There are elephants, donkeys & Sesame Street characters in the audience
Romney wears massive boxing gloves, talks trash
Obama spins a beanie hat propeller
78-year-old Jim Lehrer is being reminded by death that time is running out
Romney comes out swinging
Ouch
Punches Obama on jobs
Punches Obama on tax cuts
Punches Obama on the economy
Proves that Romneycare does not equal Obamacare with a comically large marker
Finds a chainsaw (a reference to a pundit’s remarks on Friday)
And you don’t want to know what he does to big bird with it
Here is a hint
Sesame Street characters cheering for Obama in the front row get ‘Gallaghered’
Obama breathes fire into Lehrer’s face
Donkeys at home are disappointed
Mitt finishes with a roundhouse kick
Walker Texas Ranger style
Maybe this was the mysterious thud?
Happy Romney
Does a jig
Watch the epic and hysterical version below:
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Jon McNaughton, a painter with a edge for political commentary, has released his latest image: “Obamanation.”
The painting depicts President Barack Obama standing on a podium while around him are artifacts of his term as president thus far: Osama Bin Laden, a Fort Hood tombstone, a trashcan representing the Solyndra scandal, an unemployed man, toilet humor he used at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and more.
McNaughton writes on his website, “I am just one person, a citizen of this country using my first amendment rights to speak out through my art. This is my declaration that we have never had a president do more to harm our country than Barack Obama.”
He describes “Obamanation” as representing ”all the subtle, mindless, radical and dangerous atrocities of the Obama administration” in a single painting.
No stranger to McNaughton’s work, TheBlaze first reported on his “The Forgotten Man” piece in 2010 and then again earlier this year as it was making its round on the Web.
Like all of McNaughton’s works, he has posted his latest image online and made it interactive. Viewers can hover over various elements of the painting and information regarding what it represents pops up. Try it here.
“There are over 60 [symbols] in the painting,” he writes on his website. “No person can analyze this image and learn about these facts and still, in good conscience, vote for Obama in 2012.”
Watch this video to see McNaughton’s development of the piece with voice-over of his thoughts regarding what it represents:
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Hurricane Isaac Pounds Louisiana On Anniversary Of Katrina – Fox News
Hurricane Isaac headed inland towards New Orleans as a Category 1 storm on the 7th anniversary of the catastrophic Hurricane Katrina.
Early Wednesday water came over a levee in the town of Braithwaite in Plaquemines Parish, Fox News confirms.
Parish spokesman Caitlin Campbell said an 18-mile stretch from the St. Bernard Parish line south to White Ditch was taking water early Wednesday and some homes had flooded.
Sheriff’s deputies from St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes were going house to house getting residents who’d remained after an earlier evacuation order to move to higher ground.
Campbell said streets in the area were still passable.
Parish President Billy Nungesser said part of the roof of his home on the parish’s west bank had blown off. He described wind-driven rain entering his home as “like standing in a light socket with a fire hose turned on.”
There are reports of homes with flooding of 5-7 feet of water in the parish and at least one family is trapped in the attic of their home according to WVUE.
The U.S. national Hurricane center in Miami said before dawn Wednesday that Isaac’s center was expected to pass over Louisiana today and tomorrow and on to neighboring Arkansas early Friday. It will weaken over the next two days as it passes over land.
Isaac came ashore Tuesday night near the mouth of the Mississippi River, then went nearly stationary for several hours over the sparsely populated neck of land that stretches into the Gulf of Mexico.
The storm drew intense scrutiny because of its timing – just before the anniversary of the hurricane that devastated that city, while the first major speeches of the Republican National Convention went on in Tampa, Fla., already delayed and tempered by the storm.
While many residents stayed put, evacuations were ordered in low-lying areas of Louisiana and Mississippi, where officials closed 12 shorefront casinos.
One of the main concerns along the shoreline was storm surge, which occurs when hurricane winds raise sea levels off the coast, causing flooding on land.
A storm surge of 11 feet was reported at Shell Beach, Louisiana, late Tuesday while a surge of 6.9 feet was reported in Waveland, Mississippi, the Hurricane Center said.
Ed Rappaport, the center’s deputy director, said Isaac’s core would pass west of New Orleans with winds close to 80 mph and head for Baton Rouge.
“On this course, the hurricane will gradually weaken,” Rappaport said. He said gusts could reach about 100 mph at times, especially at higher levels, which could damage high-rise buildings in New Orleans.
As Isaac neared the city, there was little fear or panic. With New Orleans’ airport closed, tourists retreated to hotels and most denizens of a coastline that has witnessed countless hurricanes decided to ride out the storm.
“Isaac is the son of Abraham,” said Margaret Thomas, who was trapped for a week in her home in New Orleans’ Broadmoor neighborhood by Katrina’s floodwaters, yet chose to stay put this time. “It’s a special name that means ‘God will protect us’.”
Officials, chastened by memories and experience, advised caution.
“We don’t expect a Katrina-like event, but remember there are things about a Category 1 storm that can kill you,” New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said, urging people to use common sense and to stay off any streets that may flood.
Tourists and residents alike appeared to have heeded that warning. Shortly after midnight in and around the French Quarter, streets normally packed with partiers were deserted, washed by sheets of rain and blown by winds that made hanging building signs swing wildly.
“Nobody is actually out here partying from what I’ve seen,” said Jared Farrell, a parking valet for several hotels.
Tracy Smith, 26, a New Orleans resident who decided that she and her family would be safer at La Quinta hotel near the quarter than at home, ducked out shortly after midnight to gauge the storm’s severity. Farrell yelled over to her to watch out for a restaurant sign that had become partially detached from a building and threatened to fly off.
Smith, a former deputy sheriff, was trapped for several days with about 100 inmates in a New Orleans jail during Hurricane Katrina, up to her waist in floodwaters. She is still haunted by the experience.
“That’s why I was panicked for this storm,” she said.
Tens of thousands of people were told to leave low-lying areas, including 700 patients of Louisiana nursing homes, but officials decided not to call for mass evacuations like those that preceded Katrina, which packed 135 mph winds in 2005.
Isaac also promised to test a New Orleans levee system bolstered after the catastrophic failures during Hurricane Katrina. But in a city that has already weathered Hurricane Gustav in 2008, calm prevailed.
“I feel safe,” said Pamela Young, who settled in to her home in the Lower 9th Ward – a neighborhood devastated by Katrina – with dog Princess and her television. “Everybody’s talking `going, going,’ but the thing is, when you go, there’s no telling what will happen. The storm isn’t going to just hit here.”
Young, who lives in a new, two-story home built to replace the one destroyed by Katrina, said she wasn’t worried about the levees.
“If the wind isn’t too rough, I can stay right here,” she said, tapping on her wooden living room coffee table. “If the water comes up, I can go upstairs.”
While far less powerful than Katrina, Isaac posed similar political challenges, a reminder of how the storm seven years ago became a symbol of government ignorance and ineptitude.
Political fallout was already simmering. Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, who canceled his trip to the convention, said the Obama administration’s disaster declaration fell short of the federal help he had requested, and asked for a promise to be reimbursed for storm preparation costs.
“We learned from past experiences, you can’t just wait. You’ve got to push the federal bureaucracy,” Jindal said.
FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said such requests would be addressed after the storm.
A fired employee gunned down his ex-boss on a packed Midtown sidewalk before dying in a police shootout that left nine bleeding bystanders sprawled Friday outside the Empire State Building, authorities said.
Cold-blooded killer Jeffrey Johnson, wearing a business suit and carrying a briefcase, pumped three fatal bullets into his victim near the 33rd St. entrance to the skyscraper, a witness told the Daily News.
Johnson, 53, after casually strolling from the murder scene, was shot to death within minutes in a wild Fifth Ave. gunfight with cops that sent tourists and pedestrians diving for cover.
“There was blood on the sidewalk,” said witness Rebecca Fox. “It was like a scene out of CSI, but it was real. I was literally shaking.”
Nine other people were wounded, none too seriously, before the shooting stopped just after 9 a.m. near the main Fifth Ave. entrance to the iconic building.
Among the injured were a Bronx mom and a North Carolina yoga instructor.
Two officers fired 14 rounds at Johnson from about five feet away after the gunman started blasting without provocation, officials said.
Mayor Bloomberg credited a construction worker with identifying the wandering killer to the cops, preventing any additional bloodshed. The killer was carrying an extra magazine of ammunition inside his briefcase.
The streets around the Midtown building were choked with emergency vehicles, and witnesses reported bloody victims calling for help after as the smoke was still clearing.
Johnson, of Manhattan, used a .45-caliber handgun to kill Steve Ercolino, 41, his former boss at Hazan Imports, outside the company offices at 10 W. 33rd St., said Bloomberg.
He was a designer of women’s accessories and was fired last year when the company downsized, the mayor said.
The killer and his victim had a history of problems, with each accusing the other of workplace harassment, said NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
The unidentified construction worker followed the fleeing suspect and notified two cops assigned to the Empire State entrance.
When they approached Johnson, he pulled the handgun from a black bag and started shooting – with the cops returning fire, said Kelly.
Construction worker Chris Ogden was working on a scaffold above the building’s 33rd St. entrance when he watched in disbelief as the gunman wordlessly pulled the trigger.
Ogden, after hearing a gunshot, saw the gunman fire again at his victim from point-blank range. “The guy went down,” said Ogden, 23. “He took a second shot when he was down.”
The shooter then “walked down the block, like nothing was happening, real casual,” Ogden said. “We were screaming from the top, ‘It’s the guy in the grey suit!’”
The gunman turned the corner onto Fifth Ave., where he was shot to death by cops.
“The shot rang out, and everybody started running,” said another witness, a 40-year-old truck driver. “Oh man, there must have been 12 or 13 shots. It was amazing.”
Witness Steve Vaccaro said bleeding victims were lying in the street outside the 102-story building as bystanders stood gaping.
Among the wounded was a Bronx mother of two headed to a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts when the shooting started.
Her friend, Chris Collins, was aboard an express bus when he spotted her splayed across Fifth Ave. near 35th St.
“I saw her bleeding,” said Collins, 44, of the Bronx. “She was saying, ‘I don’t want to die.’ She said she was walking, and all of a sudden there was a ‘pop-pop-pop’ sound.”
The woman took a bullet to the back of her left knee. She was among the six wounded taken to Bellevue Medical Center, police said. Three other victims went to New York Presbyterian Hospital.
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The terrified victims, with gunshot wounds to the legs, buttocks and elbows, were all expected to survive the shooting.
FBI agents were on the scene, but law enforcement sources said there was no apparent evidence that the shooting had any link to terrorism.
Enough is enough!
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1,500 patriots gathered in downtown Cleveland, Ohio today to rally against media corruption.
Conservative favorites Dana Loesch, Michelle Malkin and Sonnie Johnson headlined.
Politomix has terrific photos from the rally and march.
And Diana Price, a Cleveland Tea Party leader, sent this link for more photos from today.
It was the nation’s first “Occupy the Truth” rally against media bias and #Occupy domestic terrorism.
Michelle Malkin, Andrew Marcus, Jenny Beth Martin, Dana Loesch and Chris Loesch.
The historic march and rally was organized by me and friend Andrew Marcus, director and producer of Hating Breitbart.
Some leftist troll decided to start an argument with Dana Loesch… Big mistake.
After the rally we marched through downtown Cleveland to the Federal Reserve – the building the #Occupiers had planned to bomb before they were arrested.
We also went out to the Cuyahoga National Park Bridge to bring awareness to the terrorist activities of the Democrat-endorsed Occupy movement.
We brought our rally mascot – Stinky Stanley the Occupooper – to the bridge with us.
My niece and her friend Amy made Stinky Stanley for the event. Stanley marched downed Superior Avenue with us to the Federal Reserve.
Here’s the banner that we marched down the street with.
Dana Loesch fires up supporters in Clevekand.
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Meanwhile, MSM is still silent.
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For the record… There were no broken windows, no arrests and no little turd piles left on the sidewalk for anyone to clean up.
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Stinky Stanley the Occupooper Puppet helped organizers Andrew Marcus and Jim Hoft lead a cheer.
Tabitha Hale posted more photos from the “Occupy the Truth” rally here.
A cruel religious sect kept 27 children locked away in dark and unheated underground cells – some for a decade.
The youngsters, aged from one to 17, have never seen daylight and have now been rescued from their living hell in Russia.
They were kept in an eight-level warren of cramped rooms underneath a three-storey house, without ventilation or electricity in a suburb of the city of Kazan, in the eastern region of Tartarstan.
Underground leader: The local leader of the underground sect is led out of the cave in Kazan by Russian police in video footage released by the Government of Tatarstan
The underground bunker: The religious group lived for more than a decade in a bunker below a this mosque in Kazan
Child cruelty: Children aged between one and 17 were found in the bunker – some of whom have never seen sunlight
The children’s parents have been charged with child abuse and the elderly leader of the Muslim sect, 83-year-old Faizrakhman Satarov, faces charges of negligence.
Members of the sect call themselves ‘muammin’ after the Arabic term that means ‘believers’.
Self-declared prophet Satarov, a former top imam in a neighbouring province, had declared the derelict house an independent Islamic state.
He ordered 70 followers to live in the underground cells and only a few sect members were allowed to leave the premises to work as traders at a local market.
The children are now in hospital and will go on to be placed temporarily in an orphanage.
Tatarstan police have said that the house will be demolished – but Satarov’s deputy Gumer Ganiyev declared on local television that it would be destroyed ‘over our dead bodies’. None of those charged have been arrested.
Isolated: Children were kept in an underground eight-level warren of cramped rooms beneath the mosque
Captive: Members of the religious group explore their surroundings after exiting the underground cave
Seeing the light: The video shows children being led up the stairs of the underground tunnel – possibly for the first time in their lives
‘They will come with bulldozers and guns, but they can demolish this house over our dead bodies!’ he said.
Satarov has followers in several other cities in largely-Muslim Tatarstan and other Volga River provinces.
He has said that he founded the sect after falling out with other clerics and authorities in the Communist era, when the KGB sent him to Muslim nations to spread stories about religious freedom in the officially atheist Soviet Union.
Government-approved Orthodox Christian, Muslim and Jewish clerics routinely travelled abroad on Soviet publicity trips.
The group’s leader founded the sect after falling out with other clerics and declared himself a ‘prophet’
Two women emerge from the bunker with one appearing to carry a young child
Angry: Members of the sect shout at media assembled by the bunker
‘That’s how I became Satan’s servant, a traitor,’ he was quoted as saying. “When I understood that, I repented and started preaching.’
Muslim leaders in Tatarstan said Satarov’s views were contrary to their own.
Kazan-based theologian Rais Suleimanov said: ‘The teachings of Satarov, who declared himself a prophet, have been rejected by traditional Muslims.’
He added that the sect, which had stopped accepting new members, were ‘only dangerous to themselves and their children’.
The underground cells were discovered by police on Friday as part of an ongoing investigation into the killing of a local Muslim leader who had been critical of radical Islamist groups.
Poor living conditions: Rubbish stacked up inside the mosque
Building site: Boxes and crates are stacked up around the entrance of the bunker
Kazan: The city, with a population of 1.5million, has been shocked by claims that a sect has been keeping children underground for up to ten years
Religious harmony: The Kul Sharif Mosque in Kazan, left, and a catholic church nearby is an example of how Muslims and Christians co-exist in the city
Locator: Kazan is at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka rivers in the province of Tartastan, southeast of Moscow
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If ever you hear someone talk about how peaceful and American the Occupy movement is, you need only to send them this story.
Local news reports out of Oakland, Calif., have noted that the Occupy Oakland group held a march on the 4th of July that resulted in vandalism of a police headquarters and a patrol car. And while that’s true, The Blaze has found some of the pictures and video from the event that paint a much more sinister picture – a picture filled with burned American flags and anti-American sentiment.
For a little background, here is how the Oakland Tribune describes what happened:
The march began about 8 p.m. near 14th Street and Broadway, continued down Broadway to police headquarters at Seventh Street and Broadway and then moved to other streets before coming back to Frank Ogawa Plaza. The one arrest occurred at the plaza.
Sgt. Roland Holmgren said protesters painted “kill cops” on a door at police headquarters and similar messages at City Hall, the police Internal Affairs Division near City Hall, a clothing store, hotel and a bank.
Protesters also spray-painted a patrol car parked near Seventh and Washington streets, punctured one of its tires and broke a window, Holmgren said. The garbage bin was set ablaze near 11th and Clay streets.
But that doesn’t do what happened justice. A search of the group’s regular internet haunts shows the extent of the vandalism and the anti-American sentiment.
For starters, it should be noted that the march was dubbed “Fu** the Fourth,” hardly a name meant to celebrate patriotism. A flickr page shows some of the vandalism on the police. But the real tone of the event is captured on a Facebook page sympathetic to the cause. It includes the police photos but also goes further and shows some of the group burning American flags and attaching them to what appears to be City Hall:
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But that doesn’t do what happened justice. A search of the group’s regular internet haunts shows the extent of the vandalism and the anti-American sentiment.
For starters, it should be noted that the march was dubbed “Fu** the Fourth,” hardly a name meant to celebrate patriotism. A flickr page shows some of the vandalism on the police. But the real tone of the event is captured on a Facebook page sympathetic to the cause. It includes the police photos but also goes further and shows some of the group burning American flags and attaching them to what appears to be City Hall:
But the photos aren’t all. The Occupiers were so proud of what they were doing that they even recorded their actions. Below are two videos of what happened. The first is a shortened version and the second is the full length video (CONTENT WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC LANGUAGE):
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One outlet notes that it appears the violence was the result of anarchists. But Occupy Oakland has long been a safe place for anarchists to find shelter, and its become nearly impossible to talk about one group without referencing the other.
So what happened to the Occupiers as a result? News reports note no one was arrested for the violence. One person, however, was taken into custody “on suspicion of not having a sound permit for a speaker system and obstructing an officer.”
You’ve Got To Check Out This Chinese Ghost Town In… Angola? – The Blaze
We know, we know, we write about Chinese ghost towns a lot on The Blaze. But you know what? The subject never seems to get old or any less creepy. That being said, here’s the latest from the world of centrally-planned boondoggles: a Chinese “satellite city” in Angola.
“[S]tate-owned China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) has built a town in Angola. And it’s fairly empty,” writes Business Insider’s Mamta Badkar.
“Just outside Angola’s capital city of Luanda is Nova Cidade de Kilamba a residential development of 750 eight-story apartment buildings, a dozen schools, and more than 100 retail units,” the report adds.
The development cost $3.5 billion and was supposed to house approximately 500,000 people, according to the BBC.
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“Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos has touted the ‘Kilamba social housing project’ as an example of his social policy, and he has brought international policymakers including Chinese vice-president Xi Jingping to the site,” the BI report adds.
Guess how much apartments in the much-touted complex cost: while the BBC claims that it’s somewhere between $120,000 and $200,000, other evidence claims that a 3-bedroom apartment can run as much as $250,000.
Keep in mind this is Angola. Considering that the country’s GDP per capita in 2011 was $5,144, according to World Bank data cited by Badkar, a $250,000 apartment sounds, um, a wee bit expensive.
“Despite efforts by the government to portray Kilamba as a thriving community through promotional videos, only 220 of the 2,800 apartments have been sold in the first year and the commercial space and schools remain empty,” Construction Digital reports. Shocker.
So why is this Angola development mostly empty?
There’s the usual reason: it was centrally planned from miles away by a committee that failed to take into account the actual and existing market demands of the local population as well as the overall economic health of Angola.
But there’s also this interesting theory from Business Insider: “Angola serves as China’s largest source of oil in Africa. Some like energy expert@pcdunham speculate this could be in preparation for oil money that is expected once the country begins developing new oil discoveries.”
Whatever the reason, the city is almost entirely empty and, as mentioned in the above, supremely creepy. See for yourself [all photos via BI]:
Colorado Wildfires: Several Fires Explode Across Front Range – Denver Post
A three-day-old wildfire erupted with catastrophic fury Tuesday, ripping across the foothills neighborhoods of Colorado Springs, devouring an untold number of homes and sending tens of thousands fleeing to safety in what was shaping up as one of the biggest disasters in state history. “This is a firestorm of epic proportions,” said Colorado Springs Fire Chief Richard Brown. The Waldo Canyon fire in El Paso County – which had been growing in the forested hills on the city’s west side – blew into an inferno late in the afternoon, raging over a ridge toward densely populated neighborhoods.
An apocalyptic plume of smoke covered Colorado’s second-largest city as thousands of people forced to evacuate clogged Interstate 25 at rush hour trying to get to their homes or to get out of the way.
By nightfall, roughly 32,000 people left their homes, chased out by the flames.
“We have homes burning right now,” El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said shortly before 9 p.m.
The sheriff was among those forced from their homes by the fire.
“This is a very bad day,” said Colorado Springs Mayor Steve Bach.
As the fire continued to grow, all of northwest Colorado Springs was ordered evacuated, including the Air Force Academy.
“People are freaking out,” said Kathleen Tillman, who drove up I-25 from Pueblo to her house in northern Colorado Springs. “You are driving through smoke. It is completely pitch black, and there is tons of ash dropping on the road.”
At the same time the fire in Colorado Springs was erupting with a new fury, a lightning-sparked wildfire in Boulder blew up in the tinder-dry forest above the city. The Flagstaff fire grew in minutes to an estimated 228 acres and sent a smoke column over Boulder Valley. Twenty-six homes were evacuated, and residents of more than 2,000 homes in south Boulder were told to be ready to flee as the fire crept one ridge away from coming into the city.
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Fire crews assembled at Fairview High School in case the wildfire burned into the city.
“This is the structure-protection plan,” said Jeff Long, battalion chief for Boulder Fire Rescue. “We are staying here in case it takes a turn for the worse. As long as the city is threatened, we’ll be here.”
It is a scenario that firefighting officials have feared as the conditions continued to get worse over the past week.
Scorching temperatures have baked the Front Range for several days as thousands of firefighters on the ground and more than 100 planes and helicopters have been battling more than eight wildfires across the state.
Denver tied a record with its fifth straight day of temperatures of at least 100 degrees, and weather in the 90s is expected to continue for several days even as officials hoped that seasonal subtropical moisture would eventually creep into the region and bring much-needed rain.
While Colorado Springs and Boulder took over the headlines, crews working on the High Park fire west of Fort Collins was measured at 87,250 acres with still 55 percent containment. That fire, the most destructive in state history, has torched at least 257 homes, nine more than previously thought.
Conditions are dry throughout the state. Even a fire near Last Chance on the Eastern Plains blew up to 45,000 acres in just eight hours.
But as darkness arrived, it was clear that the biggest fight in the state was in Colorado Springs, where ghostly orange flames rose across the city’s western edge.
Gov. John Hickenlooper arrived in Colorado Springs late Tuesday.
“The bottom line is we’re just going to have to work through this – all of us,” Hickenlooper said. “We just flew over the fires… It was like looking at a military invasion.”
Wind gusts of 65 mph and the hottest day on record for Colorado Springs – the high hit 101 degrees – proved to be an explosive combination for the Waldo Canyon fire, which until Tuesday had not touched a structure.
“I’ve seen a lot of fires, but I have never seen one move this quickly,” Sheriff Maketa said.
By early evening, the website for the Flying W Ranch, a Western-themed attraction west of Garden of the Gods, announced that it had “burned to the ground.”
“Please keep us in your thoughts and those whose homes are close to us,” an official of the Flying W Ranch said in an e-mail.
…………………Click on the image below to view them all.
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These stunning pictures show what home life is really like for the richest members of the Roma Gypsy community.
Carlo Gianferro has lifted the lid on the notoriously secretive race to reveal their living conditions are a far cry from the cramped caravans of Channel 4′s Big Fat Gypsy Weddings.
His series of ‘Gypsy Interiors’ portraits show how the often outwardly loud and vivacious people have equally gaudy coloured living rooms and kitchens in their mini-palaces in Romania and Moldova.
Some are packed full of antique furniture, tapestries, paintings, religious images and china, while others look like they are simply empty spaces waiting to be filled.
Their accumulated wealth is demonstrably on display in their palatial homes and villas in Romania and Moldova.
Women are seen sitting on elegant sofas, or portrayed during intimate family moments. Young people are immortalised lounging on beds in their luxurious rooms and elders amongst their mementos.
Earlier this year the Rome-based snapper told klphotoawards.blogspot.co.uk: ‘In my projects I particularly focus on people and their communities.
‘They are the ones that shape their surroundings. Either in the positive and the negative aspects it’s essential to talk about all the changes people generate in their environments.
‘They are impressions of life. I try to see things from different points of view, to get somehow out from stereotypes. In my ‘Roma Interiors’ series, I showed the Gypsy people in a new way. No more beggars or the poor living in camps.’
His series won first prize for Portrait Stories at the World Press Photo Awards 2009.
It was also shortlisted for the Grand Prix at Fotofestiwal 2009 and the 8th International Festival of Photography in Lodz, Poland.
darcprynce
Dave C
Gatordoug