While I was at home having a late lunch, the following bulletins came on my phone in rapid succession:
- AP Mobile: Breaking (1:41PM EDT): Law enforcement official: Arrest imminent in marathon bombing, suspect to be brought to court.
- WSJ: Suspect in Boston bombings about to be arrested, according to AP. WSJ can’t independently confirm.
- NYTimes: Investigators Say They Have Video of Man Believed to Have Planted Bombs in Boston
- AP Mobile: Breaking (2:02PM EDT): Law enforcement official: Boston Marathon bomb suspect in custody, expected in federal court.
And then just now, as I was typing this, the following:
- AP Mobile: Breaking (2:47PM EDT): Federal officials deny that Boston Marathon bombing suspect is in custody.
OK, first, why on Earth would any law enforcement official say someone was about to be arrested when the suspect was not yet in custody? Do they suppose mad bombers don’t have smartphones? I mean, a guy doesn’t even need a police scanner these days to keep tabs on the cops at this rate.
And then, on that last bulletin — What the…? Does anyone, in the media or the law enforcement establishment, know what’s going on?
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“Missed it by that much” – Maxwell Smart (Agent 86)
Well Brad- this is just another example of why no one should really pay the media much attention these days.
John King of CNN stated emphatically today around 2pm that a “high level” source within the Boston PD told him that the suspect was in custody and had been arrested (I have a picture of the tweet from my phone). John is from Boston and I would guess knows it as well as anyone.
2 mins later Pete Williams of NBC News stated the opposite- that no suspect was in custody and his sources – high level officials within the Federal Government – were adamant about no arrest being made and no one was in custody. (I also have a photo of tweet of this info).
Both of these reports were within 2 mins of each other on television.
Could it be that both are correct? That once the Boston PD got the suspect in custody and the Feds found out who it was, that maybe the guy was not someone they want known to be in custody?
Listening for the black ops helicopters over my house…
Saw news reports that Obama met with a high ranking Saudi official today and it wasn’t on the schedule. Where’s my tinfoil sombrero?
Inside job. http://www.infowars.com/boston-bombing-culprits-found/
Briefing the Saudis before the arrests are revealed? Somehow, we are going to end up losing more freedoms from this tragic event. I should probably go out today and stock up on black powder and even smokeless powder.
I thought that at first- but doesn’t appear that way. Media folks simply screwed it up big time.
From the first moment of the explosions, this whole thing has been one huge egg laid on behalf of the new media, and I include social media in that as well as TV and most “print” outlets that try to maintain websites that are as “speedy” (read: speed-trumps-accuracy) as any other media outlet. (At first I saw NYT refusing to add the “arrest” to their website, and I confess for a moment I thought “what’s with these slow guys?” only to feel a little pride that they later had nothing to “walk back”).
First we had 2 bombs, then 3, then 5, then back to 3, then 2. We had an attack on the JFK library, then it wasn’t. We had 12 dead, then 2. Now we have an arrest, except we don’t. What does it matter, one might ask, the rapid offering of wrong info as long as it ultimately gets cleared up? I think there’s a uptick in cynicism, the enduring suspicion of any facts as presented by the media, new or old.
You’ll note that the best national newspapers — the NYT, the WSJ — will wait until they KNOW. WSJ reported that AP reported an arrest was imminent, but used some of the tiny space available in the bulletin to note that they could not confirm it.
In this case, NYT was being more conservative, more Old School. So they came out looking better.
Dewey beats Truman!!!
Maybe the CIA is water-boarding the guy right now so he’s not in “custody”. Wink-wink, nudge, nudge.
No, I’m next on the list, so I would have gotten the waterboarding call.
Just focus and breath through your mouth, it’s not that bad… pure media sensationalism.
SDII, are you volunteering? b/c I can give a demonstration in the ADCO parking lot any afternoon, if you are a willing volunteer.
This may have been the scenario: Boston PD source/snitch overhears reference by FBI to having suspect in custody. Not happy that FBI wasn’t appearing to share the credit, he goes to his media source to leak the news first to lay claim for some credit for his department.
Only problem (besides stepping out of turn) was that what he overheard was actually the FBI talking excitedly about the Ricin mailer takedown in Mississippi. Classic Keystone Kopper move – which may also explain the big pow-pow yesterday late afternoon; the FBI laying down the law for the local politicians and law enforcement agencies. So now they are all on information lock-down and the trust has been ruptured, which won’t help in solving this marathon case.
cue “Yakety Sax”
More important, why is the Saudi national person of interest, who is also from a prominent Saudi family being rushed out of the country. One day a suspect, the next day Obama personally is wanting him out of the country.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/18/report-saudi-national-ruled-out-as-suspect-in-boston-marathon-bombings-to-be-deported-on-national-security-grounds-next-week/