The reaction of most Americans to the tragedy in Boston was typical: We came together as a nation, mourned our fallen, and applauded our newest heroes. The sight of first-responders running to the sound of danger within mere seconds of the explosions, not away from disaster as human instinct might dictate, was nothing short of exceptional—but also characteristically American. Indeed, for 237 years, Americans have risked all to help their fellow citizens, strangers, and foreigners equally.
NBC reports that Russia is telling American authorities that it overheard a wiretapped conversation between the suspected Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his mother about jihad:
Law enforcement officials are carefully reexamining any possible role that Katherine Russell Tsarnaeva, the wife of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, played in the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, according to three federal officials with knowledge of the investigation. The intense scrutiny comes as a result of information provided by Dzokhar Tsarnaev in his on-again, off-again interrogation by FBI officials before he was read his rights by a federal magistrate.
Vice President Joe Biden made a joke today at the memorial service for slain MIT police officer Sean Collier:
"One of my favorite poets is Seamus Heaney," said Biden, who is of Irish descent. "I know the congressman thinks I always quote Irish poets because I'm Irish. That's not the reason I do it. I quote Irish poets because they're the best poets and that's the reason why," Biden deadpanned. "And the Collier family knows that, right?"
Vice President Joe Biden called the Boston bombers "two twisted, perverted, cowardly, knock-off jihadis" in remarks at a funeral service in Massachusetts for Sean Collier, the slain MIT police officer:
Secretary of State John Kerry announced today in Brussels, Belgium that the Boston bomber was radicalized in Russia, Chechnya. "[H]e learned something where he went and he came back with a willingness to kill people," Kerry said in response to a question from the press.
The question from the reporter, according to a transcript provided by the State Department, was, "Sir, with the problem we have that young people go to Syria (inaudible), does that matter also to the U.S., do you have the same problem?"