memeorandum: NYPD chief: Marathon suspect says brothers were headed for New York to party (U.S. News)

4:30 PM ET, April 24, 2013

Top Items:

Chris Cassidy / Boston Herald:

Tamerlan Tsarnaev got Mass. welfare benefits — By: — Marathon bombings mastermind Tamerlan Tsarnaev was living on taxpayer-funded state welfare benefits even as he was delving deep into the world of radical anti-American Islamism, the Herald has learned.

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:

Boston bomb suspect's name was on classified government watch lists — (Reuters) - The name of one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was listed on the U.S. government's highly classified central database of people it views as potential terrorists.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Weasel Zippers, BuzzFeed, American Prospect, Taylor Marsh, Business Insider, Hot Air, Wake up America, The Hinterland Gazette and Jihad Watch

U.S. News:

NYPD chief: Marathon suspect says brothers were headed for New York to party — Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is telling authorities he and his brother, Tamerlan, learned how to make bombs from Al Qaeda's online magazine, which recommends using fireworks. Officials say Tamerlan bought fireworks in New Hampshire before the bombing.

Discussion: New York Post, Politico, Hot Air and CBS New York

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

WHOA!... Zubeidat Tsarnaeva Tells CNN: “I Don't Care if My Youngest Son Is Killed. I Don't Care If I Am Killed. I Will Say Allahu Akbar!" (Video) — Whoa! — Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, the mother of Boston Marathon bombers Tamerlan and Tzhokhar Tsarnaevso, made these shocking statements on CNN tonight:

Discussion: The Jawa Report, International Business Times, The Right Scoop, Jihad Watch and Riehl World News

The Boston Globe:

Russia contacted US government ‘multiple’ times — WASHINGTON — Russian authorities alerted the US government not once but “multiple” times over their concerns about Tamerlan Tsarnaev — including a second time nearly a year after he was first interviewed by FBI agents in Boston …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Weasel Zippers

Michiko Kakutani / New York Times:

Unraveling Boston Suspects' Online Lives, Link by Link — It is America's first fully interactive national tragedy of the social media age. — The Boston Marathon bombings quickly turned into an Internet mystery that sent a horde of amateur sleuths surging onto the Web in a search for clues to the suspects' identity.

Discussion: NewsBusters, Hot Air, The Dish, National Review, msnbc.com, New Yorker and The Gateway Pundit

Adrienne Mong / U.S. News:
Boston bomb suspect's aunt: Mosque won't bury Tamerlan Tsarnaev

Discussion: Washington Post, Mediaite and The Raw Story

The Boston Globe:
Russia alerted US repeatedly about suspect, senators say

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Hot Air, Los Angeles Times and The Daily Beast

Numbers / Pew Research Center for the People …:

Mixed Reactions to Senate Gun Vote — Democrats More Disappointed than Angry — OVERVIEW — The key Senate vote that halted gun control legislation last week is drawing a mixed reaction from the American public: 47% express negative feelings about the vote while 39% have a positive reaction …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Moderate Voice, Hit & Run, Taylor Marsh, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Booman Tribune, Outside the Beltway, Washington Post, Business Insider, ABCNEWS and CNN

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Why the American public isn't mad as hell about the failure of the gun bill (in numbers) — Not so much, according to a new Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll. Yes, a plurality (47 percent) describe themselves as either “angry” or “disappointed” about the failure of the gun legislation …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, CNN, National Review, Wake up America, WHAS-TV, BuzzFeed, The PJ Tatler and Politico

Dana Blanton / Fox News:
Fox News poll: During a manhunt, 69 percent of voters want a gun

Discussion: Taking Note, Hot Air, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and neo-neocon

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Pelosi Best Known, Least Liked of Congressional Leaders — Americans view top four leaders in House and Senate negatively, on balance — PRINCETON, NJ — The top Republican and Democratic leaders in the U.S. House and Senate are a generally unpopular foursome, with Democratic House Minority …

Discussion: Wake up America, The Daily Caller, Right Turn, Politico, CNN, Post Politics and CBS DC

Kevin Robillard / Politico:
Sanford ‘debates’ cardboard Pelosi

Discussion: Island Packet and CNN

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Poll finds Pelosi best known, but least liked congressional leader

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Outside the Beltway and National Republican …

FBI:

New York Man Charged with Internet Extortion and Cyber Stalking … A 21-year-old Great Neck, New York man was charged in a criminal complaint in the Eastern District of Michigan with Internet extortion and cyber stalking, announced United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, BuzzFeed, Crooks and Liars, Wonkette, Gawker, The Other McCain, The Raw Story, Twitchy and Riehl World News

NY Daily News:

Former Romney campaign intern busted in nude-pics blackmail scheme — Adam Savader, who also interned for Newt Gingrich and Paul Ryan, is charged with illegally obtaining nude photos of 15 women and threatening to make them public unless they sent more. He is currently being held pending his bail hearing.

Discussion: The Impolitic, The Week and Reuters

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Obama's tattoo threat — President Barack Obama revealed he and first lady Michelle Obama have a master plan to prevent their two daughters from getting tattoos. — “What we've said to the girls is that 'If you guys ever decide to get a tattoo, then Mommy and me will get the exact same tattoo …

Discussion: CNN

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Biden rails against ‘twisted, perverted, knock-off jihadists’ who attacked Boston — Vice President Biden on Wednesday railed against the “twisted, perverted, knock-off jihadists” alleged to have planted the bombs that killed three and injured hundreds at the Boston Marathon last week.

Discussion: CNN and The Daily Caller

Reid J. Epstein / Politico:
Biden: Tsarnaev brothers ‘perverted, cowardly, knock-off jihadis’

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and The Jawa Report

Brad Stone / Businessweek:

Here Comes Amazon's Kindle TV Set-Top Box — Amazon (AMZN) is making e-readers and tablets and will likely soon introduce a smartphone. As it works to build all types of connected devices, that leaves a natural next step: a television set-top box. The e-commerce giant is planning …

Discussion: TechCrunch, The Verge, Mashable and AllThingsD, more at Mediagazer »

Erica Ritz / TheBlaze.com:

‘ARMED AND DANGEROUS’: BECK'S LATEST REVELATIONS ON SAUDI NATIONAL ONCE A ‘PERSON OF INTEREST’ IN BOSTON BOMBINGS — Editor's note — We'll be discussing this story and all the day's news during our live BlazeCast at 1pm ET...including your questions, comments & live chat:

Discussion: Mediaite, Atlas Shrugs, The Gateway Pundit, Right Wing Watch and The Right Scoop

Hunter Walker / Talking Points Memo:

Meet The New Man At The Center Of The Ricin Case — As the case against Paul Kevin Curtis for allegedly mailing ricin was unraveling Tuesday afternoon, FBI agents were already searching the house of another man in connection with the ongoing investigation. — Their focus has shifted …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Gawker, Tupelo Daily Journal, Associated Press, Crooks and Liars and Little Green Footballs

CNN:
Vindication in ricin case

Discussion: Guardian and The Week

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Ayotte faces backlash over gun vote — Gun show background checks are pretty universally popular in New Hampshire...and Kelly Ayotte is facing some serious backlash from voters in the state for voting against them last week. — Ayotte now has a negative approval rating with 44% of voters giving her good marks and 46% disapproving.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Mediaite

Maggie Haberman / Politico:
Gabby Giffords group hits Mitch McConnell, Kelly Ayotte on guns

Discussion: Daily Kos and WHAS-TV

Jake Sherman / Politico:

GOP pulls contentious Obamacare bill — House Republican leadership abruptly pulled a health care bill from the floor after concerns from conservatives that it extended President Barack Obama's health care law. — The legislation, which was championed by Majority Leader Eric Cantor …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Daily Kos

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
House GOP Seeks To Trap Dems On Preexisting Conditions

Discussion: ThinkProgress and FreedomWorks blogs

Susan Crabtree / Washington Times:

Obama backs out of Planned Parenthood keynote address — President Obama has canceled plans to deliver a keynote address at Planned Parenthood's annual fundraising dinner Thursday night after critics decried his high-profile role at the abortion rights group amid new concerns about the brutality of illegal forms of abortion.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, LifeSiteNews.com Latest …, LifeNews.com and The Daily Caller

Josh Eidelson / Salon:

Fast food walkout planned in Chicago — Breaking: 500 low-wage workers expected to stop working from a dozen chains on Wednesday morning — Demonstrators protesting low wages and the lack of union representation in the fast food industry stand outside of a McDonald's restaurant near Times Square in New York, April 4, 2013.

Discussion: The Nation, Colorlines and ThinkProgress

Ned Resnikoff / msnbc.com:
Hundreds of service workers strike in Chicago

Discussion: Daily Kos, Gawker and The Raw Story

Jonathan Martin / Politico:

Bush on Cheney: 'It's been cordial' — Former President George W. Bush is in the midst of a media blitz to promote the Thursday opening of his presidential library and has generally projected a jaunty, at-peace air as he takes questions about his tumultuous eight years in the White House.

Discussion: First Read, The Maddow Blog and msnbc.com