Wut?

Let me get this straight. While Trudeau's minions on the pretty side of the Niagara River were operating under the assumption that yesterday's vehicle explosion (my emphasis) at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls was "terror-related", their counterparts in the Paranoid States of America, directed by NY Governor Kathy Hochul (D) are now saying there is "no indication of a terrorist attack" at this time.

In a statement released late yesterday, FBI Buffalo said, [it] "has concluded our investigation at the scene of the Rainbow Bridge incident. A search of the scene revealed no explosive materials, and no terrorism nexus was identified. The matter has been turned over to the Niagara Falls Police Department as a traffic investigation."

Wur? A "traffic investigation"? Really?!

Walt's crack incident reconstruction team [meaning me. Ed.] has sifted through the multiplicity of eyewitness statements, police statements, CBP statements, FBI statements, yada yada yada, to compile this timeline.

A "Western New York man" -- so far unnamed -- and his wife cross the Rainbow Bridge yesterday morning to attend the KISS concert scheduled for Toronto in the evening. Apparently they were unaware that the Tuesday night concert in Ottawa had been cancelled, owing to the illness (from "flu") of singer-guitarist Paul Stanley, and the Toronto concert was also scrubbed.

So, the disgruntled American couple went back across the bridge in a huff [a minute and a huff? Ed.] or perhaps it was a Bentley, always a great concert-going car. Then, perhaps maddened by having to pay the toll for nothing, they drive home -- location so far unrevealed -- load up the Bentley with enough explosives to blow up... errr... something large*, and tear back through beautiful downtown Niagara Falls (NY) at speeds of 100 mph. Those who know the alleged city will tell you that, in itself, is a pretty good trick.

Then, instead of turning into the Rainbow Bridge entry lanes, where the only checkpoint or obstruction to entering Canada is the toll-booth, they aim the vehicle at the United States CBP facility on the southerly side of the plaza. 

The 13 or 14 booths referred to by Ms Hochul (see yesterday's post) are there to intercept travellers coming into the USA. Someone trying to get into Canada from that side would encounter a forest of "wrong way" signs, fences and other barriers. Of course if you were flying through the air, you'd miss them... or most of them.

The vehicle hit one of the booths and exploded in a rather large ball of flame -- much too large to have been caused by a malfunctioning EV battery, or even a tankful of cheap American gas. Initial reports said the car was "packed with explosives", but nothing has been said about that since the FBI took over the investigation.

Meanwhile, the Rainbow Bridge remains closed. (The other three bridges across the Niagara River have been reopened.) After all, it was only a traffic accident... right? Is there anythiing else about which your Democratic government can reassure you today?

* Further reading: "Activist darling of the leftist media arrested for allegedly trying to ‘firebomb’ an Israeli company in New Jersey", American Thinker, 22/11/23 (same day as the Rainbow Bridge "traffic accident")

VIDEOS: James Bond & the Electromagnetic Pulse

Sorry to interrupt our yearend review again, but it has come to Walt's attention that there are some who consider the idea that the explosion(s) which rocked Nashville on Christmas Day were caused by an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), rather than a simple stick of dynamite or other device a suicide bomber* might use, a bit farfetched. One reader has even suggested that such a WMD doesn't exist outside of a sci-fi writer's imagination! 

Just in the nick of time, Agent 3 has come up with evidence that the existence of EMPs was known, talked about, and written about at least a quarter-century ago. Indeed, it is the basis of the plot in the James Bond movie GoldenEye, released in 1995. 

Here's the IMDb synopsis: Years after a friend and fellow 00 agent is killed on a joint mission, a secret space based weapons program known as "GoldenEye" is stolen. James Bond sets out to stop a Russian crime syndicate from using the weapon. And here's the official trailer.

   

A new YouTube channel called Movie Fun has the entire film, divided into 15 parts. Even with Pierce Brosnan playing James Bond, it's pretty good. Lots of action and more-gorgeous-than-usual Bond girls. *** (3 stars). But if you're only interested in learning about the EMP, go to Part 5. The part you want to see begins at about 5:45.

   

What just happened there? The question is answered in the following part, about one minute in.

   

Now I ask you... Don't you think it possible that an explosion which damaged 41 buildings in Nashville and caused power outages and communications disruptions across TN and four neighbouring states might have been caused by just such a device? 

But wait! Another piece of the puzzle was revealed today. * Authorities said the man suspected of setting off the "bomb" -- they're still calling it that -- died in the explosion. Investigators said they used DNA to identify the remains found at the scene as those of a Tennesseean named Anthony Quinn Warner. The FBI said it also matched the RV's vehicle identification number to a registration belonging to Mr Warner. 

There's still more. Public records show that Mr Warner had experience with electronics and alarms, and had worked as a computer consultant for a Nashville realtor. Just like "Boris", the computer geek who programmed and controlled the EMP in the movie! He had been linked to the "bombing" since at least Saturday, when federal and local investigators converged on a Nashville home linked to him.

Investigator have yet to uncover any motive for the "bombing", nor have they figured ouot why Mr Warner selected the location, which was not far from a large building occupied by... wait for it... AT&T. The explosion disrupted phone service and police and hospital communications in several southern states. Could be Mr Warner was unable to pay his bill, but I think there must be more to it than that. What do you think?

Some awkward questions about the Nashville explosion

We interrupt Walt's yearend review to ask innocent questions re the news out of Nashville. In case you were sleeping off the Christmas cheer and missed it, Metro Nashville police officers responded around the dawn of Christmas Day to a report of shots fired in the downtown Nashville area. 

When they got to the scene, they encountered an RV blaring a recorded warning that a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes, which it did. Fortunately police evacuated nearby buildings before the blast. Law enforcement officials have said since shortly after the explosion occurred that they believe the blast was intentional, but have not talked publicly about a target or motive except to suggest the possibility of a suicide bombing. 

The obvious questions are: (1) Was this a terrorist attack? Suicide bombings are a stock-in-trade of a certain kind of terrorist. 

(2) What sort of terrorist(s) am I talking about? Let's not jump to any conclusions. There are two other questions worth asking.

(3) What was the point of giving the 15-minute warning? Wouldn't your typical Islamic terrorist want the attack to be a surprise, so as to kill as many "infidels" as possible?

(4) How is it that the detonation of a single car bomb somehow damaged 41 (count `em, 41!) buildings, caused power outages, and disrupted communications services not just in Nashville but in Louisville KY, Knoxville TN, Birmingham AL, Atlanta GA, Gallatin TN and South Charleston WV?

The President of Technology at T-mobile tweeted today, "We continue to see service interruptions in these areas following yesterday's explosion. Restoration efforts continue around the clock & we will keep you updated on progress." he said in a tweet Saturday. 

And believe it or not, Governor Bill Lee asked the White House -- yes, the TRUMP White House -- for federal assistance due to the "severity and magnitude" of the impact of the explosion. 

I'm not much for conspiracy theories, but let me just throw out [Watch your language. Ed.] the suggestion that the Nashville explosion, was either a test to see how much damage a sophisticate device could do OR the premature detonation of a number of such devices, linked by the Internet, set to go off a bit later on Christmas morning, when all the good Christians would be in church. Just sayin'....

DISTURBING FOOTNOTE ADDED AT 1945: Dr Suzanne Pearson, who I met some years ago at a conference organized by the late Father Nicholas Gruner, used to talk about electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons, which she (and many others) could be used to damage or destroys the electronic systems in an object by means of damaging current and voltage surges. 

EMPs have been around for a century or so, and you can buy an EMP generator online for under $200. According to a 2013 article on the ExtremeTech website, North Korea has these weapons and could use them to produce a blast like this. 

Even a small EMP could do a lot of damage, and would account for the power outages and disruption of electronic communications observed in Nashville. Makes you think, eh.

Who's behind Ariana Grande concert explosion?

This just in from England, where Ariana Grande was giving a concert at Manchester Arena.

The explosion reportedly occurred in the foyer area of the arena at around 2230 BST. The North West Ambulance Service tweeted that area residents requiring ambulance services may face delays because "we have a large number of resources at the incident in Manchester."

Inspector Knacker of the Yard offered no further details about the incident. The phrase "Allahu akbar!" has not yet been mentioned. However, Reuters closes its report by noting that the UK is on its second-highest alert level -- "severe" -- meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely. Fancy that.

Latest on MS804: Explosion theory looks more likely

Early on Thursday, this Egyptair Airbus A320-232, registration number SU-GCC, was en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 people aboard when it vanished from radar. The plane was last "seen" by Greek radar. The Greek defence minister said the plane turned 90 degrees, then 360 degrees, before plummeting into the Mediterranean sea.

Yesterday, an Egyptian aviation official contradicted the Greek report. Ehab Azmy, who is head of Egypt's state-run provider of air navigation services, told AP that the plane had been flying at its normal height of 37,000 feet before dropping off the radar. It was not observed, he said, to swerve and change direction before it disappeared. The reason for the discrepancy between the Greek and the Egyptian aviation official's accounts of the crash is not clear, and neither Egyptair nor the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation have commented on the final movements of the aircraft.

Greek aviation officials had said air traffic controllers spoke to the pilot when he entered Greek airspace and everything appeared normal. They tried to contact him again at 02:27 Cairo time, as the plane was set to enter Egyptian airspace, but "despite repeated calls, the aircraft did not respond." Last week, the Aviation Herald reported that smoke detectors went off in the plane's toilet and electrical systems three minutes before it disappeared.

As reported here yesterday, a number of messages were transmitted by the plane's ACARS system, which sends short transmissions from the aircraft to receivers on the ground, before it disappeared. Ed. has sourced the actual texts. Time stamps are in "Zulu time", that is GMT, two hours behind Cairo time.

00:26Z 3044 ANTI ICE R WINDOW
00:26Z 561200 R SLIDING WINDOW SENSOR
00:26Z 2600 SMOKE LAVATORY SMOKE
00:27Z 2600 AVIONICS SMOKE
00:28Z 561100 R FIXED WINDOW SENSOR
00:29Z 2200 AUTO FLT FCU 2 FAULT
00:29Z 2700 F/CTL SEC 3 FAULT

I wrote yesterday of the increasing speculation that the ACARS signals indicated that a bomb or incendiary device had exploded, affecting the right side of the aircraft. This morning we have an initial assessment from an Egyptian forensics official that human remains retrieved from the crash site suggest that there was an explosion on board the plane, although no traces of explosives have been detected.

The official based his assessment on the small size of body parts so far recovered from the Mediterranean Sea, where MS804 crashed. 23 bags of body parts have been collected since Sunday. "The size of the remains points towards an explosion," the official said. "The biggest part was the size of a palm."

However, another senior forensics official said only a tiny number of remains had arrived so far, and it was too early to specify whether there had been an explosion aboard. Investigators rely on debris, bags and clothes as well as chemical analysis to detect the imprints of an explosion, according to people involved in two previous probes where deliberate blasts were involved.

Supposing the cause of the crash really was an explosion. Who do you think might be responsible? Click here to read "MS804: 'We will bring this plane down'", WWW 23/5/16.