Careful on Your Commute and Keep Your Eyes Open, America

September 19, 2016

Monday morning, another bomb, this time in Elizabeth, New Jersey:

A backpack that appeared to contain pipe bombs exploded early Monday as a police robot examined it near a New Jersey train station.

Mayor Chris Bollwage told reporters the bomb squad robot was "cutting into the device when it exploded" in the city of Elizabeth. A spokesman for Bollwage had earlier described the blast as a controlled detonation.

The explosion occurred shortly before 1 a.m. ET Monday.

At around 6 a.m. ET, officials familiar with the investigation confirmed to NBC News that heavily armed FBI agents spotted at a fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth were involved in the tri-state bombs probe.

Several law enforcement officials told NBC News that they are concerned that an active terrorism cell with multiple players could be at work in the New York-New Jersey area.

Multiple senior law enforcement officials told NBC News that the suspicious device discovered Sunday night in Elizabeth looked similar in appearance to the one that exploded Saturday morning in Seaside Park, N.J.

Show a little love and your unneeded pocket change to the next homeless man you meet today; the most unexpected among us can rise to the occasion and end up saving lives: "In Elizabeth, that two homeless men found backpack w/wires hanging in a trash can near train tracks. Notified police."

This morning NYPD announced that Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old male, is being sought in connection with the Chelsea bombing. He is a naturalized U.S. citizen, a resident of New Jersey, and is considered armed and dangerous. If you spot him, call 911 immediately.

The FBI wanted poster can be found here. He is "United States citizen of Afghan descent born on January 23, 1988, in Afghanistan."

Just Level With Us, Is It Too Much to Ask?

You know why a political environment is never set in stone? Because we never know what's going to happen between now and Election Day. CNN's web site, Sunday night:

Donald Trump got enormous grief from the national media for his declaration at a Colorado rally, "Just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York and no-one knows exactly what's going on."

(The media had much less consternation about Hillary Clinton's declaration about an hour or two later that, "I've been briefed about the bombings in New York and New Jersey and the attacks in Minnesota.")

Yes, Trump spoke before the public or authorities knew for certain that the explosion was a bomb. Yes, it could have been a gas leak, or some other accident. And yes, there's a significant difference between you and me hearing the news and saying, "I'll bet it was a bomb," and a presidential candidate stating it as fact before anyone knows for sure.

But let's observe that when we hear about a large explosion in Manhattan on a Saturday night, injuring lots of people, it's not unreasonable to think, that's the sort of thing a terrorist would want to do.

I remember in the first hour or so after the Boston Marathon bombing, when the first reports of the second explosion came in, someone on television — it might have been a sportscaster, not used to covering a live mass casualty event (as if anyone is) — saying something like, "How awful it is to have two gas explosions not far apart on the day of the Boston marathon!"

Yes, in fact the odds against two separate gas explosions just happening to occur during the marathon route on the day of the marathon are astronomical. When something sudden and awful happens in circumstances that maximize casualties, it's not irresponsible to suspect foul play or a deliberate act. An explosion at 3 a.m. when the streets are empty is less likely to be terrorism. An explosion on 8:30 on a Saturday night? It's fair to start thinking about those worst-case scenarios.

The media really wanted to make Trump's declaration a major mistake. But Trump's gut reaction turned out to be right. A person might be quicker to suspect terrorism if he had heard about the Seaside Park, New Jersey pipe bomb, another explosion in a public place that targeted innocent people, earlier that day. And by the time of the report of a second device being found, calling it a bombing was hardly unreasonable.

Yet late Saturday night, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio seemed to be terrified of using the "t" word:

An explosion that rocked Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood and injured at least 29 people appears to have been "an intentional act" -- but not related to terrorism, according to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The cause of the explosion has not been determined, said New York City police commissioner James O'Neill. The explosion, which seriously injured at least one person, happened on West 23rd Street late Saturday in an area frequented by shoppers and diners.

"New York City experienced a very bad incident," de Blasio said at a news conference. "We have no credible and specific threat at this moment."

The editors of the Wall Street Journal point out that Americans are coming under attack by terrorists more frequently.

The most harm was done across the country in St. Cloud, in central Minnesota, where a man stabbed nine people Saturday night before he was shot dead by an off-duty police officer. The FBI is investigating the background of the attacker whose name had not been publicly released by the time we went to press. But witnesses said the man referred to Allah, and an Islamic State news agency said Sunday the attacker was a "soldier of Islamic State."

ISIS has sometimes claimed opportunistic credit for attacks undertaken by lone attackers with no formal connection to the group. But the example of the solo killer inspired by Islamic State propaganda over the internet is now familiar in the U.S.

No matter the motivations for these attacks, they show how the daily lives of Americans have been altered by the reality of modern terrorism. Americans know that anyone at anytime anywhere can become a target, and that is why they expect their political leaders to focus on preventing attacks, not merely deploring them after the fact.

ADDENDA: Morning Jolt reader William notes a surprisingly pro-life-theme in USA Network's Suits drama:

In the final episode, one of the firm's partners, never-married, middle age Louis Litt, madly in love with a woman in a parallel relationship with another guy on the west coast, learns that his amore is pregnant, and most likely by the other guy.

The story line that follows for the remainder of the season finale is pretty extraordinary. Louis not only categorically states that he doesn't mind that she is pregnant by another man, indeed he loves her and will raise the child as his own if she'll have him. In discussing the circumstance with his secretary and confidante, he refers to the fetus as a "baby:" "Donna, we are talking about a baby here."

The finale proceeds with Louis proposing marriage to the woman, she accepts his proposal, and they intend to move forward with the pregnancy.

Back in 2014, our friend Jonah noticed it was hard for Hollywood storytellers to celebrate their support for abortion rights and give the audience the happy ending they want: "There's a reason sitcoms since Maude haven't had a lot of storylines about abortion. Indeed, nearly every pregnant TV character treats her unborn child as if it's already a human being."