Tag: bombings

When Israel Bombed AP’s Gaza Office

On May 15, 2021, as part of its “Operation Guardian of the Walls” military campaign in Gaza, Israel bombed the Associated Press offices’ building, based on the still evidence-free claim that the AP headquarters “housed Hamas”. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the week prior, IDF bombed two other office buildings that “housed more than a dozen international and local media outlets.”

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) gave the tenants of the al-Jalaa Building in Gaza—which included AP, other news agencies including Al-Jazeera, and residential homes—a stern warning. IDF informed them they had one hour to evacuate their homes before the building would be bombed by Israeli missiles. Sixty minutes and three Israeli missiles later, the 12-story building was leveled to the ground.

The IDF posted a short vague statement that provided no evidence for their claim the building was being used by terrorists but made sure to repeat the term “Hamas terror organization” four times, in just four sentences—five times if you count “Hamas military intelligence” in the headline.

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36 Years Ago Today, Police Fire Bombed a Neighborhood in Philly, Killing Women & Children

Since the beginning of time, there has been a constant struggle between people who want to be free and those who seek to control them. It is an unending war that that rages just beneath the surface of “civilized” society, waiting to reach a boiling point where violence can erupt on the streets between police and citizens—or the oppressor and the oppressed.

Since our history is passed down by those who seek to control us, this struggle is framed in a way where the oppressors are always the innocent victims, and the oppressed the senseless terrorists when in reality, the opposite is usually true.

Nowhere is this situation more obvious than in the media coverage and cultural myths surrounding the American Civil Rights movement. Police would regularly raid the offices and homes of civil rights leaders, shooting first and asking questions later. In fact, many civil rights leaders did not make it through the 60s and 70s alive, and most of the original Black Panthers were either killed by police or imprisoned for life. Yet this aspect of the situation was entirely absent from the media reports of the day and is even rarely discussed in modern times.

One of the worst acts of police terrorism against the Civil Rights movement occurred on May 13, 1985, when the Philadelphia Police Department bombed the homes of a black liberation group called MOVE, killing 11 people, five of whom were children.

MOVE was a Philadelphia-based organization formed by Civil Rights leader John Africa in 1972, with the goal of creating a radical change in society by creating communities that lived according to their own rules and values, instead of under the authority of the federal government. MOVE crowdfunded the purchase of multiple adjacent homes in the city to build their headquarters, where members of the group lived communally and planned protests. Unfortunately, it was not long before they caught the attention of local police, who were threatened by their philosophy and their presence in the community.

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Michigander Who Allegedly Told Cops He Wanted To ‘Blow Up’ Satanic Temple Indicted On Explosives Charges

A Michigan man who allegedly revealed he had explosive devices because he wanted to blow up The Satanic Temple (TST) in Massachusetts last year faced explosives-related charges Wednesday, according to federal prosecutors.

Luke Isaac Terpstra, 30, of Grant, Michigan, “has been charged with transporting an explosive with the intent to kill, injure, or intimidate individuals or to unlawfully damage or destroy a building,” according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Michigan. Terpstra was also separately charged with illegally possessing a destructive device, according to the statement.

Terpstra built several improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and transported them together with some firearms and ammunition from Michigan to the TST location in Salem, Massachusetts in Sept. 2023 with a self-professed intention to “blow up” the temple, prosecutors alleged in the statement.

Michigan’s Grant Police Department arrested Terpstra Jan. 2 following an investigation and charged him with Explosives — Possession of Bombs with Unlawful Intent, according to a mid-January joint statement by Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo and Salem Police Chief Lucas Miller. He appeared to have visited Salem to plan the attack but did not seem to have contacts in Salem, the joint statement observed.

The arresting officers found Terpstra with IED-making materials such as “a plastic container with coins attached to it and a piece of cannon fuse coming out of the lid; numerous metal carbon dioxide (CO2) cartridges; PVC pipe; ammonium nitrate; and hobby fuses,” according to the prosecutors’ statement.

Terpstra’s mother and stepfather aided the investigation, according to WZZM 13.

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FBI Records Link OKC Bomber to Bank Robbers, Suggesting Case is Still Unsolved

This Friday marks the 29th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed at least 168 people, including 19 children in the deadliest domestic terrorist event in U.S. history.

While that attack may seem like ancient history for some, one attorney in Utah continues to pursue lawsuits against the Justice Department for records about it. The attorney, Jesse Trentadue, thinks that others helped the supposed “lone wolf,” Timothy McVeigh. Specifically, Trentadue has implicated the Aryan Republican Army, or ARA, a gang of neo-Nazi bank robbers who were operating around the same time as McVeigh.

Contrary to Trentadue’s theory, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who helped prosecute McVeigh, continue to insist that the bomber acted alone—receiving only minor help in gathering explosives material from accomplice Terry Nichols.

Garland and the other officials insist there was no link between the ARA and McVeigh. Their media mouthpieces, such as The Washington Post, have said the same. Amidst the ARA and McVeigh’s criminal proceedings in 1997, the Post declared there was “no proof that McVeigh knew the Aryan robbers.”

But the records provided by Trentadue indicate otherwise. Those records show that the FBI also thought McVeigh and the ARA were in cahoots.

One set of previously unpublicized records provided by Trentadue even shows that the FBI directed its field offices to investigate potential McVeigh-ARA links within days of the April 1995 attack. The records are briefly referenced in an epic biography of McVeigh, but have otherwise remained hidden for the last nearly 29 years—until now.

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Trans Antifa member arrested over bombing at Alabama Attorney General’s Office

A trans person with links to Antifa was arrested and charged with the February detonation an improvised explosive device, a nail bomb, outside the Alabama attorney general’s Montgomery office.  

Kyle Benjamin Douglas Calvert, 26, of Irondale, Alabama, was indicted on Wednesday and charged with malicious use of an explosive and possession of an unregistered destructive device. 

The charges per the indictment allege that Calvert “maliciously damaged, and attempted to maliciously damage, by means of fire and explosive materials, the Alabama Attorney General’s Office,” and that Calvert “knowingly possessed a firearm, to wit: a destructive device… which was not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.” 

A detention memo from a US attorney’s office stated, “That device had the characteristics of an IED, and Calvert added a substantial number of nails and other shrapnel to increase its destructive capability.” 

The explosion was outside the office of Attorney General Steve Marshall on February 24, in the early hours of the morning, at approximately 3:42 am. Surveillance footage showed an individual wearing dark clothes, a mask, and goggles near the statehouse.  

In addition to the explosive device, law enforcement officers discovered that Calvert vandalized state buildings with stickers that were advocating for various political ideologies. These included Antifa and anti-police sentiments as well as sentiments expressing opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

Some of those stickers read, “Support your local antifa,” and surveillance footage showed the individual putting the stickers on the doors of the Alabama State Capitol Building. Shortly thereafter, the suspect could be seen near the attorney general’s office, right before the explosion. They were then seen walking away. 

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CIA Deployed Bomb Technicians To Capitol Area On Jan. 6, New Records Show

The Central Intelligence Agency deployed two bomb technicians to assist with a pipe bomb found at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6 and there were “several CIA dog teams on standby,” according to records obtained by Judicial Watch.

References to CIA involvement on Jan. 6 were included in text messages obtained from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) under a U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit Judicial Watch filed in 2023 against the U.S. Department of Justice.

“These striking records show that CIA resources were deployed in reaction to the January 6 disturbance,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a March 13 news release.

Among the 88 pages of heavily redacted records obtained by Judicial Watch is a group of text messages labeled “Jan. 7 Intel Chain” that includes two references to CIA assets in use or on standby on Jan. 6, 2021.

“FC I has two CIA bomb techs with us—EEO [redacted] in route,” one text read. Just prior, what appeared to be a text from the ATF said, “Our assets: SRT in Capitol with Group I, Groups II and III assisting with pipe-bomb scene on New Jersey and D St. SE.”

The CIA bomb techs are referenced in a text later that afternoon as “helping Capitol Police bomb squad clear Capitol.”

Another text refers to the availability of K9 units to assist in clearing buildings. “7 NGA dog teams, 2 ATF and several CIA dog teams on standby,” the text said.

The disclosures are the first documented references to the CIA having any involvement in response to the protests, chaos and later rioting at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Two pipe bombs were discovered near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6: one in an alley between the Capitol Hill Club and the Republican National Committee building, and the other in the bushes on the southwest side of the DNC building. Despite a three-year federal investigation and an offer of $500,000 in reward money, no arrests have been made.

The names of most of the participants in the group text are redacted in the records turned over to Judicial Watch. One name on the text chain is Ashan M. Benedict, the ATF’s incident commander in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6 who in December 2023 became assistant chief of U.S. Capitol Police.

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The Pipe Bombs Before Jan. 6: Capital Mystery That Doesn’t Add Up

The newly disclosed video shows a dark SUV pulling up to the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., at 9:44 a.m. on Jan. 6, 2021. It sits for several minutes until a uniformed man with a bomb-sniffing dog enters from the right and steps up to the vehicle. The driver complies with his command, the dog sniffs inside and outside the car which is soon allowed to enter the parking garage. The man and his dog exit back to the right.

This scene is unremarkable except for one detail: The uniformed man and his trained canine came within a few feet of where a plainclothes Capitol Police officer would soon discover a pipe bomb that had been planted there the night before. The bomb, which the FBI has described as viable and capable of inflicting serious injury, along with a similar one found at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee, would appear to be the most overt act of violence perpetrated on Jan. 6.

Responding to the video discovered by this reporter, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, the Georgia Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee subcommittee now conducting a separate inquiry into Jan. 6, asked, “How could a bomb-sniffing dog miss a pipe bomb at the DNC? We’ll add this to our long list of unanswered questions and continue getting to the truth.”

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The FBI Knows What Car Was Used In J6 DNC Pipe Bomb, But Refuses To Identify Prime Suspect

The FBI is continuing to stonewall congressional oversight of the agency’s investigation into a pair of pipe bombs found at the Democrat National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters on Jan. 6, 2021.

On Wednesday, House Republicans on the Judiciary Committee re-upped demands for a comprehensive briefing on the two-year-old case over which the FBI has refused transparency.

“Your failure to comply with our request is particularly concerning given recent media reports regarding the pipe bomb investigation,” lawmakers wrote.

Earlier this month, an FBI whistleblower told the Washington Times the FBI identified the vehicle the suspect entered shortly after planting the bombs but has not pursued the individual.

“The FBI had surveillance video that showed the person entering a car with a visible license plate after exiting a Metro stop in Northern Virginia,” the Times reported.

Kyle Seraphin, a former FBI agent who worked on the case, told the paper that the agency “tied whoever the person was that dropped the bombs with [surveillance] cameras all the way through the train and getting into a car with that license plate.” Seraphin also told the Washington Times that the two bombs were inoperable.

“One former FBI assistant director observed, ‘[i]t just doesn’t add up … there’s just too much to work with to not know who this guy is,’” the Judiciary Republicans wrote.

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Dave McGowan’s Boston Bombing investigation

The Boston Marathon bombing incident produced an exceedingly bloody, gore-filled scene. We know that because virtually all avenues of the mainstream media, as was obvious from the very first reports, wanted us to know that. Never before can I recall seeing so many blood-soaked images being so prominently displayed. Newspapers and network and cable news broadcasts seemed to be on a mission to bring you the bloodiest, most graphic images they could come up with. The most disturbing of those images, by far, all involved a guy who had reportedly just had both of his legs blown off. The most heavily circulated and iconic of those images are of the legless guy being rolled away from the scene in a wheelchair, his unbelievably graphic wounds uncovered and on full display for the waiting cameras.

How crazy would it sound to suggest that that did not happen by accident — to suggest that not only were his injuries staged, but that they were specifically designed for that high-profile wheelchair ride? Pretty crazy … right? After all, I have in the past been rather critical of other researchers who have alleged that the victims of high-profile mass murders are actually actors. Nothing, it seems to me, could possibly serve to better alienate and offend the general public than attacking the victims as being part of the conspiracy. But what if the evidence is so overwhelming that it simply cannot be ignored?

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Confounding, Unresolved Questions About Boston Marathon Bombing Suspects

April 15 marks the 10th anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing. Within days of the horrific attack, our news site, WhoWhatWhy, concerned about a growing list of anomalies in the face of a rapidly forming (and unvetted) media narrative, began investigating. In the weeks and months that followed, we produced dozens of articles and podcasts scrutinizing and establishing the facts. 

Conflicting particulars emerged at the time — and much remains unclear. But according to American Manhunt, a recent Netflix documentary featuring key law enforcement figures, the following is a timeline of events after the explosions.

Per standard practice, the early investigation quickly focused on closed-circuit footage from local businesses. As FBI agents pored repeatedly over the video without success, the bureau got a lucky break when a member of the public reached out with still photos showing a bag on the ground near where the explosion would take place. The FBI matched those photos to a young man in a white hat, and later to a seemingly related man in a black hat.

What followed in rapid succession was a manhunt, the shooting of a police officer, and a climactic scene in which the two suspects, brothers from a Muslim immigrant family from Chechnya, were cornered in a firefight. The older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, died when the younger one, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, accidentally drove over him while escaping. Dzhokhar was eventually found hiding in a boat in a neighborhood backyard. 

After a trial in which he did not testify, nor asked why he had committed the act of which he was accused, he was convicted and is on death row in a federal maximum security prison. 

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