memeorandum: China Suggests U.S. Is Stirring Tensions in Asia-Pacific Region (New York Times)

3:35 PM ET, April 16, 2013

Top Items:

Authorities ID person of interest as Saudi national in marathon bombings, under guard at Boston hospital — Investigators have a suspect — a Saudi Arabian national — in the horrific Boston Marathon bombings, The Post has learned. — Law enforcement sources said the 20-year-old suspect …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Fox News, Hit & Run, nation.foxnews.com, Los Angeles Times, Esquire, Informed Comment, Algemeiner.com, The Boston Globe, Guardian, Jihad Watch, Salon, Telegraph, Daily Kos, Post Politics, National Review, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, petitions.whitehouse.gov, Associated Press, Poynter, The Moderate Voice, Gawker, The Times of Israel, Business Insider, The Right Scoop, Doug Ross, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Weekly Standard, The Gateway Pundit, NPR, Twitchy, Power Line, The Week, BuzzFeed, The Daily Caller, Sister Toldjah, Israpundit, Scared Monkeys, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Jawa Report, The Hinterland Gazette, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, Reuters, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, American Power, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Atlas Shrugs, The American Conservative, Hot Air, The PJ Tatler, Riehl World News, Restoring Liberty, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New York Times, The Lonely Conservative, CBS News, Washington Free Beacon, CBS Boston, Taylor Marsh, Daily Mail and ThinkProgress, more at Mediagazer »

Greg Miller / Washington Post:

Injured Saudi is a witness, not a suspect, in Boston bombing — U.S. law enforcement officials said Tuesday that a Saudi national injured in the Boston Marathon bombing is regarded as a witness, not a suspect. — The Saudi, who is recuperating at a Boston hospital, is in his 20s …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Katherine Connell / National Review:

After Boston, Congressman Urges Caution on Immigration Reform — Representative Steve King of Iowa, a prominent House conservative, says Congress should be cautious about rushing immigration reform, especially after Monday's bombing in Boston, where three people were killed.

Discussion: The Hill, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Taking Note, Mediaite, The National Memo, The Daily Caller and Post Politics

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

PHOTOS of SAUDI NATIONAL Person of Interest in Boston Custody ...Update: Saudi Ruled Out as Suspect — Here is the Facebook page of the Saudi national guarded by federal agents at a Boston hospital. — Abdulrahman Ali Alharbi — The name was released by Townhall and Free Republic.

Discussion: Townhall.com, Little Green Footballs, Weasel Zippers, freerepublic.com, The Hinterland Gazette, Joe. My. God., Riehl World News, The Right Scoop, Fox News Insider and Jihad Watch

Mark Arsenault / Boston Globe:

Three killed, more than 100 injured in marathon blast — Area is locked down as FBI leads investigation — Two bomb blasts, 12 seconds apart, rocked the finish line of the 117th running of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing at least three people, including an 8-year-old Dorchester boy …

Discussion: FBI, Washington Post, NPR, Yahoo! News, The Boston Globe, New York Times, Hot Air, New Republic, Telegraph, Macleans.ca, msnbc.com, NY Daily News, Business Insider, Daily Kos and Daniel W. Drezner

Larry Celona / New York Post:

FBI grills Saudi man in Boston bombings — ‘Smells of gunpowder’ — An FBI investigator examines a bag inside an apartment in Revere, in a building on the street where a man being questioned in the bomb attack lives. — Police took a 20-year-old Saudi national into custody near the scene …

Discussion: Guardian, Atlas Shrugs, The Lonely Conservative, The PJ Tatler, Riehl World News and Jihad Watch

Daily Mail:

Pictured: Boy, 8, who was waiting to give his runner father a hug at finish line is named as one of three Boston Marathon bombing victims along with woman in her twenties while 152 are injured and 17 left in critical condition — Martin Richard, 8, and woman in 20s among three confirmed dead …

Discussion: Riehl World News, Weasel Zippers, Israel Matzav, The Daily Caller and The PJ Tatler

Bridget Johnson / The PJ Tatler:

An Al-Shabaab Link to Boston Marathon Bombings? — A series of Twitter gloats today raised questions about the possible involvement of Somali terror group Al-Shabaab in the Boston Marathon bombing. — No person or group has yet directly taken responsibility for the attack that killed three and wounded 176, 17 of those critically.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers and Washington Free Beacon

Mark Landler / New York Times:

Bomb Details Emerge in Boston Case — BOSTON — The explosives used to kill three people and injure 176 at the Boston Marathon on Monday were likely some kind of “pressure-cooker” devices that sent sharp bits of shrapnel flying into victims in the vicinity of the blast, several law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Jawa Report, JustOneMinute, US News, Deadspin, Yahoo! News, Hot Air, Daily Kos, Atlas Shrugs and New York Post

CBS News:

Boston Marathon bombings: Suburban apartment searched — Law enforcement officers investigating the Boston marathon bombings searched an apartment in the Boston suburb of Revere, Mass. late Monday into early Tuesday, CBS Boston station WBZ-TV reports.. — Massachusetts State Police confirm …

Discussion: CBS Boston, Boston Globe, MyFoxBoston, The Gateway Pundit, The Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Israel Matzav, CANNONFIRE, Taylor Marsh, The Agonist, Weasel Zippers, The Hinterland Gazette, Scared Monkeys, CNN and National Review

John Miller / CBS News:
Authorities question Saudi national in Boston attack

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Riptide 2.0, Scared Monkeys, Algemeiner.com, Israel Matzav, Jihad Watch, Talking Points Memo, The Agonist and Atlas Shrugs

Kate Kowsh / New York Post:
Roommate calls Saudi national ‘quiet and clean;’ number of injuries rises to over 170

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, The Gateway Pundit, Atlas Shrugs, Deadspin, The Hinterland Gazette and Jihad Watch

Israel News Agency:
Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah Celebrate Boston Terror Attack

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Gateway Pundit

Nancy Chen / WHDH-TV:
8-year-old boy killed in blast, mother and sister injured

Discussion: Macleans.ca, CNN, Politico, Deadspin, BuzzFeed and Gawker

Carl Weiser / Politics Extra:
Schmidt: 'I've never been so close to death'

Discussion: The Hill and Yahoo! News

Reuters:
Obama calls Boston bombing “act of terror,” police plea for help

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Associated Press, Guardian, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

Alyssa Newcomb / ABCNEWS:
8-Year-Old Died at Boston Marathon Waiting to Greet Father

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Yahoo! News, nation.foxnews.com, NPR and susiemadrak.com

Talking Points Memo:
Steve King Urges Caution On Immigration Reform In Light Of Boston Attacks

Discussion: Mediaite, The Daily Caller and Balloon Juice

Roger Robinson / Guardian:
The Boston Marathon's spirit of openness horribly abused | Roger Robinson

Discussion: Business Insider, The Huffington Post and The Week

Bill Forry / Dorchester Reporter:
Ashmont boy killed in bomb blast; mom and little sister badly hurt

Discussion: Washington Post, Weasel Zippers and New York Times

USA Today:
Boston bombs were pressure cookers filled with metal

Discussion: ABC 7 Eyewitness News, The Week, Outside the Beltway and Guardian

Mike Konczal / nextnewdeal.net:

Researchers Finally Replicated Reinhart-Rogoff, and There Are Serious Problems. — In 2010, economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff released a paper, “Growth in a Time of Debt.” Their “main result is that...median growth rates for countries with public debt over 90 percent of GDP …

Discussion: Paul Krugman, Marginal Revolution, Wonkblog, A plain blog about politics, Corrente, Jared Bernstein, Economist's View, Hullabaloo and The Big Picture

peri.umass.edu:

Does High Public Debt Consistently Stifle Economic Growth? A Critique of Reinhart and Rogof — Abstract: — Herndon, Ash and Pollin replicate Reinhart and Rogoff(2010a and 2010b) and find that coding errors, selective exclusion of available data, and unconventional weighting …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Economix

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:
Is The Reinhart-Rogoff Result Based on a Simple Spreadsheet Error?

Discussion: The Tell and Gawker

CEPR: How Much Unemployment Was Caused by Reinhart and Rogoff's Arithmetic Mistake?

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

What Obama's learned about talking about terror — When bombs went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon Monday afternoon, President Barack Obama was quick to speak out — but extremely cautious about what he said. — Obama's decision to step before cameras despite sketchy information …

Discussion: CNN

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Axelrod: Obama Thinks Boston Bombings Could Be Related to ‘Tax Day’

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and Jihad Watch

CNN:
Why terrorist bombings have been rare in U.S. in past decade

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Facebook:

Jeff Flake · 19,330 like this — In a previous post I said that I wanted to study the Manchin-Toomey proposal before commenting on it. — Here are a few thoughts: Manchin-Toomey would expand background checks far beyond commercial sales to include almost all private transfers …

Discussion: The Plum Line, Washington Post, New York Times and The Fix

Politico:
Gun control bill in peril

Discussion: NY Daily News, Weekly Standard, Taylor Marsh, Naked DC, Daily Kos, American Spectator, CNN, Examiner and The Hill

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Mark Kelly threatens to back challenger to Flake over gun votes

Discussion: CNN

Scott Shane / New York Times:

U.S. Practiced Torture After 9/11, Nonpartisan Review Concludes — WASHINGTON — A nonpartisan, independent review of interrogation and detention programs in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks concludes that “it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture” …

Discussion: Guardian, ThinkProgress, The Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog, Booman Tribune, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Shakesville

Tom Kington / Los Angeles Times:

Pope Francis reaffirms crackdown on U.S. nuns — The pontiff backs a Vatican assessment last year that the Leadership Conference of Women Religious was promoting ‘radical feminist themes.’ — A nun watches Pope Francis hold Mass in Vatican City last month before his first Easter message.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Taylor Marsh and Shakesville

Laurie Goodstein / New York Times:
Pope Upholds Reprimand of American Nuns' Group

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and The Agonist

David Weigel / Slate:

Why the Conspiracy Theorists Will Have a Tough Time With Boston — Shortly before 9 p.m. I got out of a much-needed, much-delayed catch-up with a friend who shared my desire to escape — briefly — the news from Boston. It was unescapable. A bar next door had turned a flatscreen toward the street …

Discussion: Althouse

Alex Seitz-Wald / Salon:
Alex Jones: Boston explosion a government conspiracy

Discussion: Gawker, Mediaite, The Hinterland Gazette, The Week, Right Wing Watch, The Reaction, The Atlantic Wire, Patterico's Pontifications, RT and CANNONFIRE

Jeffrey Goldberg / Bloomberg:

Obama's Second Term Already Looks Like a Failure — President Barack Obama's second term has so far been a story of high liberal hopes and scant liberal achievements. — The president has been re-elected, demographic trends favor the growth of his coalition, his party has a technological edge …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, American Prospect and National Review

James Chapman / Daily Mail:

Obama's snub to Thatcher: President won't send envoy to funeral - and leaves it to her old allies from the Reagan era — President Obama made decision not to send a member of his administration before yesterday's bombings in Boston — Instead, Reagan's former Secretary of State George Shultz …

Discussion: National Review, Hot Air, The PJ Tatler, Ed Driscoll, Ricochet Conversations Feed and Heritage Action for America

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Barney Frank: ‘No Tax Cut Would Have Helped Us Deal With This’ — Barney Frank discussing the Boston marathon bombing on CNN this morning: — “We are talking about recovery here all morning, as this city, as this state tries to bounce back from this,” the CNN host said to Frank, a former congressman from that state.

Discussion: Politico, Michelle Malkin, Naked DC, The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers and The Right Scoop

BBC:

Major earthquake strikes south-east Iran — A major earthquake has struck south-east Iran, with tremors felt across Pakistan, India and the Middle East. — The US Geological Survey said the epicentre of the 7.3-magnitude quake was 86km (53 miles) from the city of Khash, near the border with Pakistan.

Discussion: FP Passport, Gawker and NPR