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On Monday, two blasts were reported near the finish line of the annual 26.2-mile Boston Marathon, resulting in at least two three dead and scores132 176 injured, according to the Boston Police Department and news reports. The explosions—the first of which was on the north side of Boylston Street—occurred roughly three two hours after the winners crossed the finish line. "There are a lot of people down," runner Frank Deruyter of North Carolina told the Associated Press shortly after the explosions. The cause of the blasts were not initially known.
Here's video of the incident, via MSNBC:
Here are two photos from the scene (warning: graphic):
"I saw two explosions. The first one was beyond the finish line. I heard a loud bang and I saw smoke rising," said Herald reporter Chris Cassidy, who was running in the marathon. "I kept running and I heard behind me a loud bang. It looked like it was in a trash can or something. That one was in front of Abe and Louie's. There are people who have been hit with debris, people with bloody foreheads."
In response to this news, New York City counterterrorism units were dispatched. "We're stepping up security at hotels and other prominent locations in the city through deployment of the NYPD's critical response vehicles (CRVs) until more about the explosion is learned," New York City Police Department Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne said in a statement Monday afternoon. Washington, DC, and Los Angeles security were also put on high alert. The White House is in contact with state and local authorities in Boston and Massachusetts. "Our prayers are with those people in Boston who have suffered injuries. I don't know how many there are," Vice President Joe Biden said while on a conference call about gun legislation, when he was informed of the blasts.
More from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency:
If you are trying to reach friends or family and can't get through via phone, try texing instead (less bandwidth)
An intelligence official told the AP on Monday that two additional explosive devices were found at the Boston Marathon, and were being dismantled, but those reports were later refuted by law enforcement and government officials.
Via the New York Times, here is a street map of where the explosions occurred:
UPDATE, Monday, April 15, 4:40 p.m. EDT: Via NBC News broadcast, Alasdair K. Conn, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, said in a press conference that the hospital is treating six severely injured patients who required immediate resuscitation. They have 19 patients in total; 5 are "pretty badly off," according to Conn. "This is like a bomb explosion we hear about in Baghdad or Israel," he continued.
UPDATE 2, Monday, April 15, 4:44 p.m. EDT:
Here is footage of the initial blast near the finish line, via Boston.com
Here it is from the perspective of a runner headed toward the finish line:
And here is video of the second blast, which occurred about 10 seconds after the first blast:
UPDATE 3, Monday, April 15, 5:02 p.m. EDT: Edward Davis, Boston police commissioner, said at a press conference Monday:
At 2:50 p.m. today, there were simultaneous explosions that occurred along the route of the Boston Marathon at the finish line. These explosions occurred 50 to 100 yards apart. Each scene resulted in multiple casualties. At this point in time all the victims shave been removed from the scene, we have sent officers to hospitals to be in touch with family members and possible witnesses. We immediately activated a system of response that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and federal government has in place for these types of incidents…We have at this point in time determined that there has been a third incident that occurred. An explosion that occurred at the JFK library. This is very much an ongoing event at this time. We are not certain if these incidents are related, but we're treating them as if they are.
There were no injuries at the JFK library that the police know of, per commissioner Davis.
If you are trying to locate someone, call: 617-635-4500. If you have any information about the explosions, call: 1-800-494-TIPS.
Update: The incident at the JFK library was later determined to be unrelated to the initial explosions.
UPDATE 4, Monday, April 15, 5:22 p.m. EDT: A law enforcement official told the AP that cellphone service was shut down in the Boston area "to prevent any potential remote detonations of explosives." Other reports cast serious doubt on this story, given reports of functioning cell phones and other factors. The FAA announced a ground stop for Boston's Logan airport.
UPDATE 5, Monday, April 15, 5:25 p.m. EDT: Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick released the following statement:
This is a horrific day in Boston. My thoughts and prayers are with those who have been injured. I have been in touch with the President, Mayor Menino and our public safety leaders. Our focus is on making sure that the area around Copley Square is safe and secured. I am asking everyone to stay away from Copley Square and let the first responders do their jobs.
UPDATE 6, Monday, April 15, 5:47 p.m. EDT: Amtrak issued the following statement via Twitter, regarding the Boston Marathon explosions:
At this time all Amtrak trains are operating as scheduled. We will provide an update if this changes. We are increasing security at stations & track right-of-ways. We ask passengers to […] report anything suspicious to 1-800-331-0008 or 911.
UPDATE 7, Monday, April 15, 6:16 p.m. EDT: President Obama held a press conference on the explosions, starting at 6:10 p.m. ET. "We still don't know who did this or why, but make no mistake, we'll get to the bottom of it," the president said.
Obama: "Boston is a tough, resilient town and so are its people."
Click here for the full text of Obama's statement; the speech lasted about three-and-a-half minutes. Here's an excerpt:
We still do not know who did this or why. And people shouldn’t jump to conclusions before we have all the facts. But make no mistake -- we will get to the bottom of this. And we will find out who did this; we'll find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice.
Today is a holiday in Massachusetts -- Patriots’ Day. It’s a day that celebrates the free and fiercely independent spirit that this great American city of Boston has reflected from the earliest days of our nation. And it’s a day that draws the world to Boston’s streets in a spirit of friendly competition. Boston is a tough and resilient town. So are its people. I'm supremely confident that Bostonians will pull together, take care of each other, and move forward as one proud city. And as they do, the American people will be with them every single step of the way.
UPDATE 8, Monday, April 15, 8:00 p.m. EDT: The New York Times reported three other unexploded devices, including one in Newton, which is on the marathon route (there were however conflicting reports on this. Update: On Tuesday, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said during a press conference that no other explosive devices were uncovered at the scene of the Boston Marathon). CNN is reporting 132 bombing victims so far, and at least 10 amputations. Doctors are reportedly pulling ball bearings, or some sort of metallic objects, out of victims. One of the twothree confirmed dead is an 8 year old boy. One bit of good news: The runners representing the families of the Newtown, Conn. mass shooting—including Laura Nowacki, whose daughter survived the shooting—are safe.
Boston is such elite race, 90% runners are sub-4-hrs. Sparing thousands from attack. In NYC bombs @ 4-hr mark woulda been more deadly.
UPDATE 9, Monday, April 15, 9:00 p.m. EDT: There are now three confirmed dead. The FBI has taken the lead role in the investigation.
UPDATE 10, Monday, April 15, 9:15 p.m. EDT: Did you see this amazing picture taken by Boston Globe photographer John Tlumacki? He'd just finished running the marathon himself:
Now there's a story about the runner on the ground, Bill Iffrig, who got up and finished. You can see a picture of Tlumacki taking the picture here. John Eligon, one of the writers of the lede New York Times piece, had also just run the marathon and somehow managed to file this story.
UPDATE 11, Monday, April 15, 9:15 p.m. EDT: A group called the NYC Light Brigade projected various NYC Loves Boston signs on the side of the Brooklyn Art Museum Academy of Music, a.k.a. BAM:
UPDATE 12, Tuesday, April 16, 12:15 a.m. EDT: One of Monday's most gripping—and graphic—images was a picture of a young man who appears to have lost both of his legs being frantically wheeled to an ambulance. On Reddit, a poster says he is friends with the victim, that the young man's name is Jeff, and that Jeff is at the Boston Medical Center ER and in stable condition. The thread also has a Facebook message from someone asking for prayers for his son, Jeff Jr., who was injured in the blast:
Can everyone pray for my Son Jeff jr who was at the finish line today in Boston. He is in surgery right now with injuries to his legs. I just can't explain whats wrong with people today to do this to people. I'm really starting to lose faith in our country.
On Twitter, there's been a lot of discussion about the ethics of running the picture without blurring the young man's face, as the Atlantic did for over an hour on its site before altering the image. The Washington Postchose to crop the image so the victim's legs are visible only above the knee.
One of the responders in the photograph—the man in the cowboy hat—has been identified as Carlos Arredondo, a Costa Rican immigrant whose Marine son died in action in Iraq in 2004. The day he learned of his son's death, Arrendondo locked himself in a van with five gallons of gasoline and a propane torch and set the van on fire. He survived, became a peace activist, and was among the spectators who rushed toward the fumes after the explosion today. After tying a tourniquet onto the young man's legs and wheeling him past the finish line to emergency help, Arredondo, seen badly shaken and trembling in this video, gripping a small American flag drenched in blood, talks to some bystanders on the street about the explosion:
UPDATE 13, Tuesday, April 16, 10:53 a.m. EDT: On Tuesday morning, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, and FBI Special Agent Rick DesLauriers held a press conference. "Two and only two explosive devices were found yesterday," Patrick said. "All other parcels in the area of the blast have been examined, but there are no other unexploded bombs found." The tally of injured has increased to 176, with 17 in critical condition. Officials stated that no one had yet claimed responsibility for the blasts.
UPDATE 14, Tuesday, April 16, 11:30 a.m. EDT: President Barack Obama issued a statement Tuesday morning referring to Monday's attacks as an "act of terror." The president emphasized that the government does not yet know who carried out the attack or why. Here's a transcript:
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. I've just been briefed by my national security team, including FBI Director Mueller, Attorney General Holder, Secretary Napolitano, and my Counterterrorism and Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco, on the attacks in Boston. We continue to mobilize and deploy all appropriate law enforcement resources to protect our citizens, and to investigate and to respond to this attack.
Obviously our first thoughts this morning are with the victims, their families, and the city of Boston. We know that two explosions gravely wounded dozens of Americans, and took the lives of others, including a 8-year-old boy.
This was a heinous and cowardly act. And given what we now know about what took place, the FBI is investigating it as an act of terrorism. Any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians it is an act of terror. What we don’t yet know, however, is who carried out this attack, or why; whether it was planned and executed by a terrorist organization, foreign or domestic, or was the act of a malevolent individual. That's what we don't yet know. And clearly, we’re at the beginning of our investigation.
It will take time to follow every lead and determine what happened. But we will find out. We will find whoever harmed our citizens and we will bring them to justice.
We also know this -- the American people refuse to be terrorized. Because what the world saw yesterday in the aftermath of the explosions were stories of heroism and kindness, and generosity and love: Exhausted runners who kept running to the nearest hospital to give blood, and those who stayed to tend to the wounded, some tearing off their own clothes to make tourniquets. The first responders who ran into the chaos to save lives. The men and women who are still treating the wounded at some of the best hospitals in the world, and the medical students who hurried to help, saying “When we heard, we all came in.” The priests who opened their churches and ministered to the hurt and the fearful. And the good people of Boston who opened their homes to the victims of this attack and those shaken by it.
So if you want to know who we are, what America is, how we respond to evil -- that’s it. Selflessly. Compassionately. Unafraid.
In the coming days, we will pursue every effort to get to the bottom of what happened. And we will continue to remain vigilant. I’ve directed my administration to take appropriate security measures to protect the American people. And this is a good time for all of us to remember that we all have a part to play in alerting authorities -- if you see something suspicious, speak up.
I have extraordinary confidence in the men and women of the FBI, the Boston Police Department, and the other agencies that responded so heroically and effectively in the aftermath of yesterday’s events. I’m very grateful for the leadership of Governor Patrick and Mayor Menino. And I know that even as we protect our people and aggressively pursue this investigation, the people of Boston will continue to respond in the same proud and heroic way that they have thus far -- and their fellow Americans will be right there with them.
Thank you very much. And you can expect further briefings from our law enforcement officials as the day goes on. When we have more details, they will be disclosed. What I’ve indicated to you is what we know now. We know it was bombs that were set off. We know that obviously they did some severe damage. We do not know who did them. We do not know whether this was an act of an organization or an individual or individuals. We don’t have a sense of motive yet. So everything else at this point is speculation. But as we receive more information, as the FBI has more information, as our out counterterrorism teams have more information, we will make sure to keep you and the American people posted.
Along those veins, the Washington Post's Greg Miller reports that early stories from the New York Post and others about a Saudi citizen being detained or treated as a suspect in the wake of the bombings were incorrect:
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 and is in the United States on a Saudi scholarship to study at a university in the Boston area.
UPDATE 16, Tuesday, April 16, 2:55 p.m. EDT: Several news organizations are reporting that the explosive devices were hidden inside backpacks transported to the scene. A second Boston Marathon victim has been identified as Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old woman from Medford, Mass.
UPDATE 17, Tuesday, April 16, 3:04 p.m. EDT: Via the blog SpyTalk, here's a post on the Facebook page of Richard Clarke, who served as a counterterrorism adviser to both Bushes and Clinton. The post, titled "How they will investigate the Boston Bombing," runs down how investigators will likely go from here. Here's an excerpt:
While detectives and federal agents have started the laborious process of interviewing thousands of people in Boston, much of the work that is likely to be key to solving the Boston Bombing is technical and forensic.
First, the FBI will stitch together hundreds of hours of video camera recordings from private and public surveillance and traffic cameras, as well as recordings made by private citizens attending the race. They will look for when the bombs might have been left behind and then examine the faces of everyone who was in the area around that time. They will try to put names to those faces, using facial recognition matching software, drawing on drivers license, passport, and visa databases. In the case of the Mossad operation in Dubai, the police in the United Arab Emirates were able to recreate most of the the assassination operation by using snippets from dozens of surveillance cameras. For the FBI in Boston, a similar process has now begun.
UPDATE 18, Tuesday, April 16, 4:15 p.m. EDT: The Boston Globe is reporting that investigators have uncovered the circuit board they believe was used to trigger the explosions at the Boston Marathon.
UPDATE 19, Tuesday, April 16, 4:26 p.m. EDT:Mother Jones interactive editor Tasneem Raja has the story on soldiers (participating in "Tough Ruck 2013") who ran the Boston Marathon wearing 40-pound packs to honor comrades killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, or lost to suicide and PTSD-related accidents after coming home. And when the bombs went off, the soldiers sprang into action. Here's an excerpt:
When the explosion went off, Fiola and his group immediately went into tactical mode. "I did a count and told the younger soldiers to stay put," Fiola says. "Myself and two other soldiers, my top two guys in my normal unit, crossed the street about 100 yards to the metal scaffoldings holding up the row of flags. We just absolutely annihilated the fence and pulled it back so we could see the victims underneath. The doctors and nurses from the medical tent were on the scene in under a minute. We were pulling burning debris off of people so that the medical personnel could get to them and begin triage."
UPDATE 20, Tuesday, April 16, 4:39 p.m. EDT: The AP reports:
The father of a man who was photographed being pushed away from the Boston Marathon bombing in a wheelchair says his son has had both legs amputated. Jeff Bauman says his son, 27-year-old Jeff Bauman Jr., is the man in an Associated Press photo taken shortly after the bombing.
His father says on his Facebook page that his son had to have both lower limbs removed at Boston Medical Center because of extensive vascular and bone damage. He says his son also had to have another surgery because of fluid in his abdomen.
One of the men who rescued Bauman was identified as Carlos Arredondo—"the man in the cowboy hat." Read our story on Arredondo's heroism at the Boston Marathon here.
UPDATE 21, Tuesday, April 16, 5:43 p.m. EDT: Boston University has released a statement confirming that the third victim of Monday's bombing was a BU graduate student who attended the race with two friends. The school is not releasing the student's name for now, citing the family's wish for privacy.
UPDATE 22, Wednesday, April 17, 10:35 a.m. EDT: A report from a Chinese state-run newspaper states that the third victim is Lu Lingzi, a Chinese graduate student who was attending Boston University.
UPDATE 23, Wednesday, April 17, 10:42 a.m. EDT: Here's Amy Davidson of The New Yorker on the Saudi citizen wrongly labeled a "suspect." An excerpt:
A twenty-year-old man who had been watching the Boston Marathon had his body torn into by the force of a bomb. He wasn’t alone; a hundred and seventy-six people were injured and three were killed. But he was the only one who, while in the hospital being treated for his wounds, had his apartment searched in “a startling show of force,” as his fellow-tenants described it to the Boston Herald, with a “phalanx” of officers and agents and two K9 units. He was the one whose belongings were carried out in paper bags as his neighbors watched; whose roommate, also a student, was questioned for five hours (“I was scared”) before coming out to say that he didn’t think his friend was someone who’d plant a bomb—that he was a nice guy who liked sports. “Let me go to school, dude,” the roommate said later in the day, covering his face with his hands and almost crying, as a Fox News producer followed him and asked him, again and again, if he was sure he hadn’t been living with a killer.
UPDATE 24, Wednesday, April 17, 10:59 a.m. EDT: Here are two photos of Martin Richard, the 8-year-old boy who was killed in Monday's attack. A vigil was held for the family on Tuesday night in Dorchester, Mass.
Whitehotpix/ZUMA Press
Whitehotpix/ZUMA Press
UPDATE 25, Wednesday, April 17, 1:22 p.m. EDT: We'll have more on this as details are confirmed:
UPDATE 26, Wednesday, April 17, 1:54 p.m. EDT: CNN is reporting that an arrest has been made based on two different videos. The Associated Press also reported that an arrest has been made; NBC and CBS say otherwise.
UPDATE 28, Wednesday, April 17, 3:35 p.m. EDT: The FBI released the following statement on recent media reports. The statement comes from the bureau's Boston division Special Agent Greg Comcowich:
Contrary to widespread reporting, no arrest has been made in connection with the Boston Marathon attack. Over the past day and a half, there have been a number of press reports based on information from unofficial sources that has been inaccurate. Since these stories often have unintended consequences, we ask the media, particularly at this early stage of the investigation, to exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting.
UPDATE 29, Thursday, April 18, 11:15 a.m. EDT: President Obama attending an inter-faith memorial for the victims of the bombing.
Watch live now: President Obama to speak at Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston nyti.ms/11h79fA
UPDATE 30, Thursday, April 18, 12:36 p.m. EDT: President Obama addressed the inter-faith memorial service, emphasizing that "We will finish the race... We will finish the race."
"I have no doubt you will run again. You will run again! Because that's what the people of Boston are made of," Obama said. "It should be pretty clear they picked the wrong city [to mess with]. Not here in Boston! Not here in Boston."
Obama: "You welcomed me when I was a state senator and few people could pronounce my name right." #boston
updateClick here to read the president's prepared remarks. Here's an excerpt:
Boston may be your hometown, but we claim it, too. It’s one of America’s iconic cities. It’s one of the world’s great cities. And one of the reasons the world knows Boston so well is that Boston opens its heart to the world.
Over successive generations, you’ve welcomed again and again new arrivals to our shores -- immigrants who constantly reinvigorated this city and this commonwealth and our nation. Every fall, you welcome students from all across America and all across the globe, and every spring you graduate them back into the world -- a Boston diaspora that excels in every field of human endeavor. Year after year, you welcome the greatest talents in the arts and science, research -- you welcome them to your concert halls and your hospitals and your laboratories to exchange ideas and insights that draw this world together.
And every third Monday in April, you welcome people from all around the world to the Hub for friendship and fellowship and healthy competition -- a gathering of men and women of every race and every religion, every shape and every size; a multitude represented by all those flags that flew over the finish line.
So whether folks come here to Boston for just a day, or they stay here for years, they leave with a piece of this town tucked fimly into their hearts. So Boston is your hometown, but we claim it a little bit, too. (Applause.)
I know this because there’s a piece of Boston in me. You welcomed me as a young law student across the river; welcomed Michelle, too. (Applause.) You welcomed me during a convention when I was still a state senator and very few people could pronounce my name right.
UPDATE 31, Thursday, April 18, 1:54 p.m. EDT: The New York Post is at the center of another Boston-related media controversy. The Guardian reports:
The New York Post on Thursday has printed on its cover an image of two men standing together at the marathon under the headline "BAG MEN: Feds seek these two pictured at Boston Marathon." The image shows two young men, one with a duffle bag and one wearing a backpack, talking to one another.
The problem – a very big problem, for any media organization that would aspire to meet the most basic standard of accuracy – is that neither man appears to be a suspect in this attack.
Yep.
UPDATE 32, Thursday, April 18, 2:36 p.m. EDT: The teen boy pictured on the controversial cover of the New York Post speaks out. ABC News has the story:
The teenage boy authorities once investigated as possibly being connected to the Boston Marathon bombing told ABC News today he was shocked to see his face pop up on television and all over social media.
Salah Barhoun, 17, said he went to the police yesterday to clear his name after he found himself tagged in pictures online. He had just gone to watch the race, he said, but soon after the explosions, he was singled out by internet sleuths as looking suspicious. Federal authorities passed around images of Barhoun, attempting to learn more information about him, sources told ABC News... Barhoun's younger brother, who declined to be identified, said that it made his mother "sick and upset" that her son had been connected to the tragedy."
"It made her think he had done something wrong," the teen's younger brother said. "My brother is not the bomber."
Here's the "BAG MEN" New York Post cover from this morning:
UPDATE 33, Thursday, April 18, 2:56 p.m. EDT: The editor of the New York Post said Thursday that the paper "stands by its story." But it has taken remarkable heat, even by its usual standard, for the potentially damaging misinformation it has spread in the wake of the attack.
The NY Post put an innocent 17-year-old runner on its front page as a "potential bombing suspect." Nice going. deadsp.in/3zIw5ME
UPDATE 34, Thursday, April 18, 3:02 p.m. EDT: The Atlantic Wire has a solid rundown of the federal investigation. (Click if you need a refresher on the supposed and misreported "suspects.") According to the Boston Globe, "[a]uthorities have clear video images of two separate suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings...and are planning to release the images today in an appeal for the public's help in identifying the men." The Globe cites a source reportedly briefed on the case. However, CBS News' John Miller maintains that images will be released Thursday, but only of one "person of interest." (This is a reminder to question everything you read or hear—particularly in early reports—about the Boston Marathon bombing.)
UPDATE 35, Thursday, April 18, 5:26 p.m. EDT: The FBI has released images of two "persons of interest." "No one should approach them...Do not take action on your own," they said during the press briefing. Here is the FBI's YouTube clip of the two individuals; each had a backpack:
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a nonprofit government watchdog, has asked the Senate ethics committee and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to probe whether aides to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell improperly conducted political opposition research on federal government time.
A tape of a February McConnell campaign meeting that Mother Jones released Tuesday includes a section in which a McConnell aide states that McConnell's "LAs"—congressional parlance for legislative assistants—helped gather background information on Ashley Judd, who was at the time considered a potential opponent in McConnell's 2014 reelection race. The tape also refers to a "Josh" who worked on the research, which CREW's complaint speculates might be Josh Holmes, McConnell's congressional chief of staff.
Senate ethics rules forbid legislative assistants and other Senate employees from participating in political activities on government time. "In general, however, the ethics rules do not bar staffers from engaging in campaign activity provided they do it on their own time and do not involve government resources or property," Tara Malloy, a government ethics expert at the Campaign Legal Center, told Mother Jones on Tuesday. You can read the relevant section of the ethics rules here. Bottom line: If McConnell's aides did the research in their free time, they're in the clear. But if they used government resources or worked on political matters on government time, they could be in trouble.
The Weekly Standard's Daniel Halper has suggested that the McConnell aide on the tape explicitly says that the LAs who worked on the opposition research did so "in their free time." Jesse Benton, McConnell's campaign manager, made the same argument in an interview with WHAS-11, a Louisville television station. But "it doesn't really matter" whether the McConnell aide on the tape claimed that the political work was done in the LAs free time, explains Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director. "The question isn't what somebody said, it's what they did," she says. "We need to know if it was on office time and with office resources. Those are the relevant questions here."
Benton has acknowledged that McConnell's Senate staffers do campaign work, but says they only do it in their off hours. "We do have several legislative staff that do contribute their free time, which is perfectly fine, perfectly legal, and cleared ahead of time by the ethics committee," he told WHAS-11.
The FBI is currently investigating how the tape of the McConnell meeting was made. But Sloan says the bureau should expand its probe. "McConnell should welcome a review of the tape," she says. "If McConnell thought it was so important for the FBI to investigate, the FBI should investigate everything about the incident. I think that's hard to argue against. The tape certainly gives you probable cause to believe something improper occurred. It clearly merits investigation."
A secret recording of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and aides discussing in February how they might attack actor/activist Ashley Judd, then a potential 2014 challenger to McConnell, attracted widespread attention after Mother Jones published it Tuesday morning. Much of the news coverage focused on the McConnell team's comments about Judd's religious views and her mental-health history. But the tape might raise ethics questions for McConnell and his staff.
Senate ethics rules prohibit Senate employees from participating in political activities while on government time. But the tape indicates that several of McConnell's legislative aides, whose salaries are paid by the taxpayer, were involved with producing the oppo research on Judd that was discussed at the February 2 meeting.
More Mother Jones coverage of Mitch McConnell and the 2014 Kentucky Senate race.
Presenter: So I'll just preface my comments that this reflects the work of a lot of folks: Josh, Jesse, Phil Maxson, a lot of LAs, thank them three times*, so this is a compilation of work, all the way through. The first person we'll focus on, Ashley Judd—basically I refer to her as sort of the oppo research situation where there's a haystack of needles, just because truly, there's such a wealth of material. [Laughter.]
Ah, you know Jesse slogged through her autobiography. She has innumerable video interviews, tweets, blog posts, articles, magazine articles.
The presenter was explaining that the opposition research on Judd was compiled by several people. "LAs" is congressional parlance for legislative assistants; one of the legislative assistants, Phil Maxson, gets his own shout-out. The question is whether Maxson and the other McConnell LAs were digging up material on Judd while on government time. If they were engaged in this research while on annual leave or vacation—or working outside Senate hours—they wouldn't be violating Senate rules. But if this was done on Senate time, McConnell could have a problem.
[UPDATE: The Weekly Standard's Daniel Halper suggests that the aide in the transcription isn't saying "thank them three times," he's saying "in their free time." That's plausible, and if it's true, McConnell and his aides are in the clear. You can listen for yourself here. UPDATE 2: On even closer listen, "in their" isn't plausible, but "free time" is. You should decide for yourself.]
Here's how Tara Malloy, an expert on ethics rules at the Campaign Legal Center, described the issue in an email:
Any assessment under the Ethics rules would require some more facts—most particularly whether any official resources were used in connection to the conversation or oppo research, and/or whether the conversation or other activities took place on government property. In general, however, the ethics rules do not bar staffers from engaging in campaign activity provided they do it on their own time and do not involve government resources or property.
As discussed more fully below, Senate Rule 41 prohibits Senate staff, with the exception of specified "political fund designees," from handling federal campaign funds. Subject to that restriction, however, and as long as they do not neglect their official duties, Senate employees are free to engage in campaign activities on their own time, as volunteers or for pay, provided they do not do so in congressional offices or otherwise use official resources. An employee's "own time" includes time beyond regular working hours, any accrued annual leave, or non-government hours of a part-time employee. Staff may not be required to do political work as a condition of Senate employment. Just as Senate employees are free to campaign for their employing Members on their own time, they may also use their free time or, with the permission of their employing Members, reduce their Senate hours (with a commensurate reduction in pay) to campaign for presidential candidates, other federal candidates, or state or local aspirants. With respect to the question of leave time to perform campaign activities, it is the Committee's understanding that the Senate does not recognize a "leave of absence."
We asked Jesse Benton, McConnell's campaign manager; Allison Moore, a spokeswoman for his Senate office; and Phil Maxson, the LA named on the tape, to explain whether the oppo work was done on Senate time, but they did not respond.
Guy Cecil, the executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is working to defeat McConnell, sent out a series of tweets on Tuesday noting this issue:
@zekejmiller Neither does using official Senate staff to do opposition research on potential opponents.
The giant plush Oreo is friendly enough—it waves its stubby, T-Rex-scale arms when it realizes I want to take a photo. We are at South by Southwest, the annual music, film, and interactive (read: tech) festival that's drawn huge crowds to Austin, Texas, for more than 25 years now. I'm here to figure out how to convince more people to read MotherJones.com so we can sell more ads. The Oreo is here to sell more Oreos.
Almost everyone at South by Southwest is here to sell you something. Much of the conference is about marketing—and you're the mark. The guy who promises to teach you how to make your videos go viral is gunning for a cut of your resulting YouTube ad revenue. The folks who claim to know all about social-media metrics want you to subscribe to their service, which tracks social-media metrics. A woman who has "spent her groundbreaking career redefining orgasm"wants to sell you classes in orgasmic meditation. Nearly every panelist has a book to sell, too. Al Gore wants to sell you on the idea that his sale of Current TV to Al Jazeera, an international news network backed by a Middle Eastern petrostate, somehow dovetails neatly with his climate change crusade. (He also wants you to buy his book.) The internet security company CEO who's warning you that "you are exposed" wants you to persuade your company to buy his web security services. (He has a book, too.)
You can't walk more than a block near the Austin Convention Center without someone trying to get you to download their app. LevelUp lets you pay for $3.50 Pepsis and $7.00 sandwiches with your phone. Hater, an app that takes seriously the tongue-in-cheek argument for a Facebook "dislike" button, lets you "share the things you hate." I've counted at least four different taxi-related apps. The startup apps are promoted by nervous young women in colorful T-shirts, or pedicab advertisements, or giant foam mascots, or just signs taped to trees, or all of the above.
The kings of the SXSW salesmen are those who don't have to fake enthusiasm for what they're selling: They're not paid $12 a hour to twirl a sign around or dress up in a foam suit or ask strangers to download apps. Elon Musk wants to send your satellite into space. Bre Pettis hopes you’ll to buy a 3D printer for your kid, so she can make her own plastic toys and grow her imagination. By the way, Pettis' MakerBots start at $2,200. 3D printers are undeniably cool, but it gnaws at your soul to watch a speech and realize you're sitting through a dressed-up infomercial for a product few Americans can afford.
"SXSW As Cool And Real As It Gets, Reports Marketing Associate," the Onionsnarked on Monday. But even the marketers realize what's happened here. SXSW is now "as much a marketing event as it is a tech gathering," Digiday, a digital media and marketing website, proclaimed Monday. Digiday's coverage of the conference was—no joke—"sponsored by Centro," which is "a provider of media services and software that aims to improve campaign performance and digital media teams' productivity," whatever that means. How much Centro paid for the privilege isn't listed on Digiday's rundown of the costs of different SXSW marketing maneuvers.
The constant SXSW marketing is most obvious at the interactive conference, but it extends to the music and film portions, too. The smaller bands are here to score record deals. The indie filmmakers are here to sign distribution deals. The big bands here are half hidden under the coattails of their sponsors: Passion Pit, brought to you by Taco Bell. When Jay-Z was here last year, you had to have an American Express card to attend the show.
SXSW is the 21st-century equivalent of a medieval market town, just with more horseshit. It's an orgy of capitalism, an unrestrained, unselfconscious celebration of sales, marketing, branding, and "gamification." Even the dumbest of memes have been recruited in the service of sales. Grumpy Cat is here, and she wants you to buy Friskies.
For a gathering so driven by the pursuit of money, the question of who has it—and who doesn't—goes almost completely unmentioned. There are talks about social and civil rights issues—feminism, race, female genital cutting—but words like "inequality" literally aren't on the schedule. (A search for "taxes" returns a session that mentions how awesome it would be to have a robot who could do them.) Maybe that's because everyone knows that almost everyone here coughed up several hundreds of dollars for a conference pass, and hundreds more for lodging. Conversations about inequality are awkward. Conversations about futurism, tech triumphalism, entrepreneurship, and the "intersections" thereof reign supreme. There's almost no talk of religion, electoral politics, or labor unions—anything that smacks of old-school collective action. This is a place of unfettered technological optimism, where coders and entrepreneurs can solve any societal problem. SXSW has a politics, but it's one that mirrors the technolibertarianism of the Reddit generation: civil liberties (read: free speech, Larry Lessig, and Aaron Swartz), entrepreneurship, and individualism.
Maybe it's unfair to expect a conference that's essentially a glorified trade show to concern itself with a broader sort of politics. But SXSW is a big deal: Hundreds of media outlets cover it, and its overall tone sends a message to attendees and the broader culture. And too often, SXSW's focus on buying and selling can devolve into self-parody. One Tuesday panel promised to teach entrepreneurs about "engaging government" for "fun, profit, and meaning." On Sunday, Dan Wagner, the chief analytics officer for President Barack Obama's 2012 presidential campaign, joined Zac Moffatt, the digital director of Romney for President, and two of their former colleagues, for a panel about how they culled electoral, internet usage, viewing habits, and other personal data to better target potential voters. Tom Serres, a former Romney aide on the panel with Moffatt and Wagner, made sure everyone knew about his new online fundraising startup, which is neither indieGoGo nor Kickstarter, but a third thing that is somehow different. The audience, meanwhile, evinced no apparent revulsion towards the idea of national political parties collecting intimate details about the eating, drinking, TV watching, pleasure reading, and weekend relaxation habits of average Americans. Another panel asked whether "crowdfunding can save local government budgets." Maybe one local government budget: The total amount pledged to all Kickstarter projects in 2012 is about $7 million less than Detroit's 2013 budget deficit.
There are things to love about SXSW. The food is even better than you've been led to believe, there are lots of movies and bands to see, and Passion Pit put on a great show, Doritos®Locos Tacos and all. There are many sincere, interesting people here—although it's often hard to talk to them in the context of the conference itself. (I found myself learning a lot more while sharing meals with people than I did going to panels.) If your phone doesn't have enough apps, that problem will be solved. And hey—free Oreos! Did I mention my startup? We have an app. You can buy my boss David Corn's book here.
On Monday, we posted my story on high-speed trading from the January/February print issue of Mother Jones. (Read it!) Here's the nut:
As technology has ushered in a brave new world on Wall Street, the nation's watchdogs remain behind the curve, unable to effectively monitor, much less regulate, today's markets. As in 2008, when regulators only seemed to realize after the fact the threat posed by the toxic stew of securitization, the financial whiz kids are again one step—or leap—ahead...
...[Knight Capital's big loss on August 1] wasn't the worst-case scenario. Not even close. A lot of high-frequency trading is done by small proprietary trading firms, subject to less oversight than brand name financial institutions. But big banks have also tried to get in on the act. Imagine a runaway algorithm at a too-big-to-fail company like Bank of America, which manages trillions, not billions, in assets. Or, says Bill Black, a former federal regulator who helped investigate the S&L crisis of the '80s and '90s, imagine trading algorithms causing "a series of cascade failures"—like the domino effect that followed Lehman's collapse. "If enough of these bad things occur at the same time," he says, "financial institutions can begin to fail, even very large ones." It's not a question of whether this will happen, Black warns. "It is a question of when."
Years of mistakes and bad decisions led to the 2008 collapse. But when the next crisis happens, it may not develop over months, weeks, or even days. It could take seconds.
One quote I couldn't fit in the final story illuminates the point that the nation's watchdogs are behind the curve. When I asked Gregg Berman, the Securities and Exchange Commission expert who headed the agency's inquiry into the flash crash, how he'd describe the SEC's role, he responded with an extended metaphor:
Berman compares the agency's role in the marketplace to how traffic laws are created and enforced. A town can pass rules setting speed limits that take into account traffic flow and safety, and patrol officers can use radar guns to measure the speed of individual cars, issuing tickets when violations occur. But the officer is not actually in the car and cannot step on the brake pedal as soon as the driver begins to violate the speed limit. Similarly, the SEC is not generally an active market participant "steering the car" in real time. Instead, it acts through policies that do act in real time. For example, the single-stock circuit breakers, put in place after the flash crash, are designed to automatically hit the brakes and halt trading under disorderly market conditions, akin to programing the car to hit the brakes automatically when a potential collision is detected.
That the SEC isn't "in the car," steering in real time, is obvious to anyone who works in finance—as Berman notes, the agency is limited to accident-avoidance technologies that are programmed in advance. It's obvious why this is: Giving the SEC the ability to monitor and shut down trading in real time would be enormously expensive and would likely slow down trading considerably. (Imagine if someone sitting in the passenger seat while you drive, with their own wheel and set of brakes. You probably wouldn't like it.)
To the uninitiated, though, this point might seem pretty scary. The SEC is relying on automatic measures—designed in response to the last disaster—to slam on the brakes if a potential collision is detected. But the "cars" (trading firms) are hurtling down highways faster than ever before, and many of them are being "driven" by robots—sophisticated trading algorithms that buy and sell securities automatically, without human intervention.
One crash, and the demise of one trading firm, isn't such a big deal. But what about a chain-reaction crash? What about a multi-car pileup?
Here's the bottom line: If the SEC's automatic measures fail, it won't be able to react in time to avert a crisis. It will only be able to come in after the fact and try to clean up the mess. We accept this sort of thing when it comes to cars. But even the largest of car crashes can't wreak the kind of economic havoc that a series of cascade failures in the market could.
