Boston Marathon Explosion: President Obama Address The Nation

President Obama addressed the nation Monday evening after being briefed about the explosions that took place at the Boston Marathon. He said his security team is continuing to monitor and respond to the situation, and that he has directed the full resources of the federal government to help state and local authorities “help protect our people.” He also spoke to Gov. Deval Patrick and Mayor Thomas Menino to assure them that they have every resource to help the families and victims.

“We will get to the bottom of this. We will find out who did this. We will find out why they did this,” Obama said.

He also praised the city, saying, “Boston is a tough and resilient town, so are its people. No doubt they will pull together in this time of tragedy.” He added, “The American people will say a prayer for Boston tonight.”

President Obama also urged people to reserve any judgments about the attack. “We still do not know who did this or why. People shouldn’t jump to conclusions before we have all the facts,” he said. He added that tragedies like this transcend party lines. “On days like this there are no Republicans or Democrats, we are Americans, united for our common causes,” Obama said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security are now involved in the incident. “Anyone responsible will feel the full weight of justice,” the president said.

At this time, many are wondering what they can do to help the victims of the explosions. The American Red Cross is accepting monetary and blood donations, but anything other than that should be considered a scam. A fake Boston Marathon Twitter account was set up shortly after the explosions, saying that for every retweet, $1.00 would be donated to the victims. Twitter users realized the account wasn’t legitimate, and it has since been suspended.

Any Twitter of Facebook pages asking for likes, shares, or retweets should be considered suspicious, and donation pages should be avoided.

[Photo credit: maxhphoto / Shutterstock.com]