motherjones:

The Boston marathon bombers might still be at large if they hadn’t been so careless.

For instance: Why did they interrupt their carjacking to stop for snacks?

newsweek:

Crowdfunding Campaign of the Day: Let’s Fix David Henneberry’s Boat (That Got Ruined in the Boston Bomber’s Standoff)!

Wouldn’t it already be covered by insurance?

motherjones:

Hundreds are injured and many feared dead in the small central Texas town.

We’ve embedded the Soundcloud of the emergency dispatcher, along with the video we linked to earlier. More to come in the morning.

The Marathon was the old, drunk uncle of Boston sports, the last of the true festival events. Every other one of our major sporting rodeos is locked down, and tightened up, and Fail-Safed until the Super Bowl now is little more than NORAD with bad rock music and offensive tackles. You can’t do that to the Marathon. There was no way to do it. There was no way to lock down, or tighten up, or Fail-Safe into Security Theater a race that covers 26.2 miles, a race that travels from town to town, a race that travels past people’s houses. There was no way to garrison the Boston Marathon. Now there will be. Someone will find a way to do it. And I do not know what the race will be now. I literally haven’t the vaguest clue.

Boston Marathon explosion  - Grantland
Story by Charles P. Pierce
Photo by Aram Boghosian/Boston Globe/Getty Images

newsweek:

We’ve got the latest on the Boston Marathon bombing, tracking updates from a variety of news sources and witnesses. At least two are dead and up to 23 injured.

[Above photo via Twitter]

Even Dictionaries Grapple With Getting ‘Marriage’ Right by Geoff Nunberg

“When it comes to the words that do the cultural heavy lifting, we’re not about to defer to some lexicographer hunched over a dusty keyboard. Except, of course, if the word is ‘marriage.’” (NPR)

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The Strange Alliance Between John Boehner and Liberals by Ezra Klein

“As badly as Obama wants a budget deal, Boehner seems just as determined to keep him from reaching one. For liberals, this is close to an ideal situation. The Republican Party’s brand continues to worsen. The Democratic president manages to look reasonable without ever actually signing a painful compromise into law. And Medicare and Social Security remain safe.” (Washington Post)

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Southwest Border Security: Are We Getting Our Bang for the Buck? by Bob Ortega

“This picture suggests that the costs of securing the border already have been extraordinarily high, not just in dollars, but in lives. It suggests that all of this security has done little to stanch the flow of millions of pounds of drugs north — or of 250,000 guns a year and billions of dollars south. And it suggests, as those who have studied this issue closely maintain, that locking down the entire border would be prohibitively expensive and still fail to halt drug smuggling.” (Arizona Republic)

Ten Steps Toward a Simpler World by Cass R. Sunstein

“Consider the best computers, cellphones and tablets. They have unfathomably complicated machinery, but for users, they are simple and intuitive. You don’t need a manual. You can work with them on the basis of what you already know. Interactions with governments, businesses, hospitals and schools should be a lot more like that.” (Wall Street Journal)

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Proposal Would Allow State Religion in North Carolina by Laura Leslie

“A bill filed by Republican lawmakers would allow North Carolina to declare an official religion, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Bill of Rights, and seeks to nullify any federal ruling against Christian prayer by public bodies statewide.” (WRAL)

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Leno Blesses ‘Tonight Show’ Succession Plan by Bill Carter

“Mr. Leno said in an interview: ‘The main difference between this and the other time is I’m part of the process. The last time the decision was made without me. I came into work one day and — you’re out.’ This time around ‘there really aren’t any complications like there were the last time,’ he added. ‘This time it feels right.’” (The New York Times)

Under the Gaydar by Alison Gash

“Where marriage equality advocates had little choice but to engage in open political battles and bring high profile constitutional court cases on behalf of their fundamental rights, the fight for same-sex parental rights has mostly played out in obscure family courts, with few reporters present, and with advocates consciously delaying or avoiding high court review. This below-the-radar strategy created a foundation of “facts on the ground”—tens of thousands of intact gay and lesbian-headed families with children-well before most conservative activists were even aware the phenomenon existed, making their subsequent efforts to block same-sex parenting an uphill fight.” (Washington Monthly)

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In Honduras, Fighting HIV/AIDS Through Music And Theater by Jens Erik Gould

“As people arrive to hear the drumming, the musicians become actors in a play. The plot centers on a court case: The Garifuna are putting HIV itself on trial.” (NPR)

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Will Driverless Cars Solve Our Energy Problems — Or Just Create New Ones? by Brad Plumer

“Last week, the National Academy of Sciences released a big report on how the United States could cut gasoline use and transport emissions 80 percent by 2050 — a key step toward tackling global warming and U.S. oil dependency… The report assumed our transportation system would look basically the same in 2050, only with somewhat cleaner vehicles. And that might well be wrong. What if self-driving cars become ubiquitous and utterly transform the way we get around? The task of getting off oil and curbing emissions could be much easier — or much harder — than anyone thinks.” (Washington Post)

soupsoup:

For the first time scientists have printed human embryonic stem cells using a 3D printer.

The Heriot-Watt University team’s research could eventually lead to human organs being printed on demand and an end to animal drug testing. Jim Drury of Reuters reports.