London Bridge Attack

A white van mowed down pedestrians as it sped down London Bridge in the British capital on June 3, 2017, Saturday night, leaving bodies lying in the roadway, knocking people into the air, and forcing people to jump off the Bridge.

London attack latest, as of Sunday AM, June 4, 2017:

- Seven dead, 48 injured and taken to hospitals

- Incident declared as terrorism

- Three suspects shot dead

- Total dead is ten

"It looked to me that the van was aiming at the people," a witness tells CNN.

A witness reported the attackers screamed "This is for Allah."

Concurrently or shortly after the London Bridge incident on June 3, 2017, Saturday, three men entered a restaurant at Borough Market, just south of the Bridge, and stabbed four people inside. The patrons sheltered in the basement.

Both incidents have been declared terrorist incidents.

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On this night, June 3, 2017, the planet Jupiter is very apparent in the sky, only a few degrees from the Moon.

Sky & Telescope details what is happening with Jupiter tonight in these words:

Saturday, June 3
• Jupiter is the bright "star" with the Moon, as seen at right. They're only a couple degrees apart as viewed at dusk from North America. But Jupiter this evening is 1,860 times farther away.
• Lower left of them is Spica. Much closer to them in the opposite direction is fainter Gamma (γ) Virginis, a close double star for telescopes (separation 2.6 arcseconds this year).
• And, a double shadow-transit occurs on Jupiter tonight. From 10:22 p.m. to 12:22 a.m. EDT, both Io and larger Ganymede are casting their tiny black shadows onto Jupiter's face.
• And then, Jupiter's Great Red Spot transits the planet's central meridian around 12:55 a.m. EDT (9:55 p.m. PDT). Quite a telescopic night for this little group of objects.

Another Jupiter directly clashed with London Bridge. On June 13, 1984, as the HMS Jupiter was leaving the Pool of London after a visit to the capital, she collided with London Bridge causing significant damage to both ship and bridge. The ship's Captain, Commander Colin Hamilton, was later court martialed at Portsmouth on December 4, 1984.

London Bridge is usually rather calm. On February 28, 1992, a bomb exploded at London Bridge station injuring 29 people.

On June 3, 1982, the Israeli Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, Shlomo Argov, was shot outside the Dorchester Hotel by three gunmen from the Abu Nidal group. The ambassador survived a three-month coma, but was paralysed and required constant medical attention until his death in 2003 as a result of the wounds. See other "Terrorist Incidents in London" here.

The first bridge near this site was built in about AD 50, probably by the Romans. This version of the London Bridge was begun in 1971, and first opened on March 17 (Saint Patrick's Day), 1973, a little over 44 years ago.

The lyrics to a children's song, perhaps as old as the Late Middle Ages (circa A.D. 1301–1500), has made the London Bridge famous around the World.

London Bridge is falling down,

Falling down, falling down.

London Bridge is falling down,

My fair lady.

At top, an engraving by Claes Visscher showing Old London Bridge in 1616, with what is now Southwark Cathedral in the foreground. The spiked heads of executed criminals can be seen above the Southwark gatehouse.

Egyptian Palm Sunday: 45+ killed

A bomb blast at a church north of Cairo killed 27+ people and wounded 100 or more who had gathered for Palm Sunday mass, state media reported, in the latest apparent attack on Egypt's Coptic Christians.

One of two known blasts struck at a Coptic Church in the Nile Delta City of Tanta, 75 miles north of Cairo. The other in Alexandria killed 16+. Some sources claim at least 45 were killed as a total for both attacks.

Palm Sunday is one of the holiest days of the Christian calendar, marking the triumphant entrance of Jesus to Jerusalem. It is celebrated by the Coptic Church, as well as in the West.

The state-run Nile television channel said the explosion struck inside the Mar Girgis Coptic Church in Tanta just before 10:00am (0800 GMT).

"Either a bomb was planted or someone blew himself up," provincial governor Ahmad Deif said, adding that security forces had searched the church and surrounding areas for additional explosive devices.

Tanta, in some languages, means "too much," "way too much."

There are reports of a second blast outside a church in Alexandria, also in Egypt, with at least 16 dead with 66 injured. In the Alexandria blast, a suicide bomber approached the church and detonated his vest after being stopped by police. Three officers died after they prevented the killer from getting into the church and causing greater bloodshed.

CCTV shows the fanatic, dressed in a blue pullover, approaching the gate at St Mark's in Alexandria but being told to go through the metal detector first by officers. He then passes a female police officer talking to another woman, and enters a metal detector before an explosion engulfs the area.

The atrocity, which followed another attack in Tanta, was thought to have been aimed at Pope Tawadros II, leader of the ancient Coptic church, who was worshipping in St Mark's at the time but escaped unharmed.

Now, it appears obvious, after the USA attack against Syria, American church bodies and other gatherings will be on high alert for potential Easter Sunday terrorist attacks.

Stockholm Rammings

A truck has rammed into a large crowd of people at a department store at a mall in Stockholm killing at least three people.

Witnesses say the large vehicle drove into people in the shopping district of Drottninggata in the Swedish capital.

There are reports of another ramming and gunfire elsewhere in Stickholm.

Drottninggatta = Queen's Way or Queen's Road.

Police said a number of people had been hurt in the incident, which comes after trucks were used in terror attacks in Nice and Berlin last year.

Gunshots were heard, bloodied bodies are seen in early coverage, and hundreds of people ran from the scene.

It is a fluid breaking news story.

What Shocker Will Happen on Mardi Gras 2017?

The days leading up to Mardi Gras have been ones filled with precursor events. What are we to assume is in the works for today, or more likely tonight?

New Orleans' Mardi Gras celebration already has figured as the background for one violent incident. Twenty-one people were injured Saturday night, February 25, 2017, when a pickup truck crashed into spectators at the Krewe of Endymion parade in the Mid-City section of Crescent City. The crash was reported at about 6:45 p.m. at North Carrollton and Orleans avenues. 2/25. On cable television, the old film Speed, where bus number 2525 has to be driven above 50 mph or a bomb goes off, played the same night.

In recent days, Jewish bomb threats and act of Jewish cemetery vandalism have been occurring throughout America.

Hollywood has gained our attention too, with the death of Bill Paxton (derived, in one etymological analysis, from the Latin pax, meaning "peace" + ton meaning "town"), who had pink sync links to JFK in time and space, and with the Oscars' name games.

What does this all mean? What is to be expected on Mardi Gras? No one anticipated a terrorist truck ramming in Nice, France, on Bastille Day, did they? What deeper meaning bubbles forth from Mardi Gras?

Mardi Gras, also called Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday, in English, refers to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday," reflecting the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season.

Related popular practices are associated with Shrovetide celebrations before the fasting and religious obligations associated with the penitential season of Lent. In countries such as England, Mardi Gras is also known as Shrove Tuesday, which is derived from the word shrive, meaning "confess."

On Tuesday, February 28, 2017, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time, President Donald J. Trump, in the United States Capitol in the House Chamber, also known as the "Hall of the House of Representatives,” will address Members of both the House of Representatives and Senate in his first address to a Joint Session of Congress.

Will President Trump unconsciously "confess" something significant to the listening audience?

Will something startling happen in New Orleans, Brazil, or some other site of a Mardi Gras celebration today?

Or via one of indicators already in the wind?

Stay tuned. 

Posted at 11:23 am, Eastern, February 28, 2017.

Update/ I just turned on Headline News at 11:29 am, Eastern, and discovered this has occurred:

Gulf Shores, Alabama – Emergency crews have responded to an incident at the Mardi Gras parade in Gulf Shores. According to WKRG, the CBS affiliate in Mobile, a driver crashed into a crowd of people before the start of the parade.
Specifics are still being determined, but there appear to be multiple injuries, according to WKRG.
Portions of Highway 59 and surrounding roads are closed at this time.

Reports are that a car crashed into a high school band and the parade has now been cancelled.

Warning:

Flashing body parts is done to obtain beads, which are thrown in appreciation in the flashers' direction. Be prepared for this event, if you travel to New Orleans, as I did with my sons, over a decade ago, during Mardi Gras.

September Attacks?

Investigators in the US are trying to find out if the New York City bombing, a St. Cloud, Minnesota mass stabbing and a Seaside Park, New Jersey pipe bomb blast are linked to terrorism.

I'm on the road, traveling. I'll be posting about these events mid-week, and perhaps more details will be available, as well.

Incidents on August 5, 2016

'

The day began quietly. Most people in the world got through their morning with their favorite breakfast drink and a croissant.

The following are what we are hearing for the events that have occurred on Friday, August 5, 2016.

Jens Preshaw Photo.

USA Today reported that the

...iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris was evacuated Friday night [August 5, 2016], then French police said it was a false alarm, according to Reuters and other media reports.
Armed police and soldiers searched tourists and had cordoned off the area, the U.K.'s Daily Star and Daily Mirror reported. Witnesses posted a series of images and videos on social media of the evacuation.
The Braderie de Lille annual flea market, which attracts visitors from across France and scheduled for Sept. 3 and 4, was canceled for security reasons, Martine Aubry, the mayor of the northern French city announced earlier Friday. It is the latest summer festival to be canceled in the country due to a fear of terror attacks.
The country has seen a spate of attacks in the last 18 months, including the attacks in Paris in November that left 130 dead, the attack in Nice in July that left 85 dead [the total went up from the earlier 84] and the murder of a French priest in Normandy last week.

Twitter reports talk about an out-of-place backpack or misplaced piece of luggage near the Eiffel Tower, as the cause of this alert.

John Hinckley, Jr., the attempted assassin of President Ronald Reagan, was given his release to his family today, August 5, 2016.

Rio2016, the Summer Olympics of 2016, opened in Brazil on August 5, 2016.

Six suspects were arrested in a raid Friday morning [August 5, 2016] on Batam, an Indonesian island near Singapore, police said. 

The suspects were allegedly planning a rocket attack on the Marina Bay Sands resort, a major hotel, retail and entertainment hub in Singapore, Indonesian National Police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar told CNN.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2016/08/05/asia/indonesia-terror-plot-arrests/index.html

Thirteen people died in a fire late Friday [August 5, 2016] night in northern France when fire broke out in a bar full of patrons celebrating someone's birthday, according to reports.

The fire was started by an accidental explosion in a bar known as Cuba Libre in the town of Rouen in Normandy, local media reported.

Eight people dead were initially reported dead and several others wounded, fire department officials said.

The number of victims climbed to 13 early Saturday, according to Paris-Normandie, a local news website.

At least six people were wounded, according to reports. 

The bar was full of young people celebrating someone's birthday, officials said.

The terrible news had many in France on edge even as officials said preliminary investigations pointed to an accidental explosion sparking the deadly flames.

The region of Normandy still reeling from a deadly, ISIS-inspired church attack July 17 that left a priest dead, just as France is struggling after a spate of deadly terrorist attacks at home and neighboring Belgium. 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/fire-france-bar-packed-birthday-celebration-kills-13-article-1.2740357

At least 42 people were injured when a fence collapsed during rapper Snoop Dogg’s concert in New Jersey Friday night, authorities said.

The incident in Camden on Friday night sent fans over the ledge at the outdoor BB&T Pavilion around 10:25 p.m. ET, fire officials said.

Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa were performing at the time, media sources are reporting.

[This is a live blog posting. It will be updated in real time if there are any major breaking news incidents.] 

Promenade des Anglais: 84 Dead in Nice

At least 84 people have been killed and over a hundred more injured in the southern French city of Nice on Thursday, July 14, 2016, after a truck (lorry in the UK reports) was "deliberately driven" into a crowd out celebrating Bastille Day in a confirmed terrorist attack.

Considering I just posted about Zombieland and how Zombie-like the Pokeman Go players are behaving, it is intriguing that the Nice attack is being compared to Zombie movies. 

"Truck Attack similarity to zombie movies," writes Steve Lindsay.

"The white truck ---- equals the White horse ----The First Horseman of Book of Revelations -> R 9/11. The carnage scene today in France was described as apocalyptic."

World War Z and Dawn of the Dead/Two Buses from Hell. (See here and here.)

Those who have read my book, The Copycat Effect, realize that graphic images like these ones (below) actually stimulate more copycats. The bodies on the avenue is the lead photograph from The Drudge Report. I post it here for editorial reasons. To reveal and make known is to undermine the syndrome.

Crowds watching fireworks for France's Independence Day were mowed down by a large white truck that plowed, via a zigzag pattern, through the gathered people.

The first victim to die was a Muslim mother of seven named Fatima Charrihi.

Nicolas Leslie, a University of California, Berkeley, student who was missing after a truck drove through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 84, died in the attack, the school said Sunday, relaying information it had received from the FBI.

He is the third American confirmed killed in the Thursday attack. A father and son from Texas also died in the attack.

Sean Copeland, 51, and his 11-year-old son Brodie were among the more than 80 people killed Thursday when a truck zig-zagged through a screaming crowd for more than a mile along the Promenade des Anglais.

The driver of the truck engaged in gunfire with law enforcement officers, and died in the fire fight. Grenades and guns were found in the truck.

An identity card of a 31 year-old Nice resident of Tunisian ancestry was found in the truck, according to various French media.

The @guardiannews quotes @Nice_Matin that the identity of the #NiceAttack driver is allegedly French-Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, 31.

The focus is the Promenade des Anglais.  Promenade des Anglais means "Avenue of the English." In the early 1800s, many wealthy English tourists came to Nice to spend their winters. They settled mainly in the area to the west of the Old Town, where they built villas and hotels as well as establishing their own Anglican church and cemetery. Thus this area became the "Avenue of the English."

Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the French National Day, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. In France, it is formally called La fête national (The National Celebration) and commonly Le quatorze juillet (the fourteenth of July).

The French National Day commemorates the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, an important event in Paris in The French Revolution, which had begun two days earlier, as well as the Fête de la Fédération which celebrated the unity of the French people on 14 July 1790. Celebrations are held throughout France. The oldest and largest regular military parade in Europe is held on the morning of 14 July, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris in front of the President of the Republic, along with other French officials and foreign guests.

In an unrelated accident, a fire has been reported and pictured burning at the Eiffel Tower in Paris.