Homemade Bombs In New York And What Comes Next

A story can be false and still feel true when it hits your emotions first. I talk through a rapid set of breaking events, starting with the Gracie Mansion arrests where homemade explosive devices and TATP residue point to a real terrorism threat even though one device did not detonate. The bigger issue is how fast the narrative hardens when early labels like “suspicious device” or a tone-deaf headline soften what actually happened. If you care about situational awareness, this is a reminder to verify early and stay flexible as facts change.

From there, the conversation shifts to practical preparedness you can act on today. With multiple same-day incidents under terrorism investigation, I explain why “Run, Hide, Fight” and Stop The Bleed training are not internet hype but real-world life-saving skills. We get concrete about first aid preparedness: tourniquets, wound packing, and why being ready to treat bleeding matters just as much as staying alert.

I also touch on energy insecurity and how geopolitical risk near the Strait of Hormuz can spike oil prices and raise gas costs even when the United States produces most of what it uses. The goal is not panic, it’s planning: keep your tank topped off when you can and build small buffers that reduce stress when headlines turn.

The final takeaway is digital resilience. Misinformation and disinformation can drain your focus until you are “chasing shadows,” so I share why I’m stepping back from social media and how protecting your time is part of preparedness. If this helped you think clearer, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review so more people can prep with common sense.

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Transcript

Cold Open And Quick Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:02

You are listening to the Common Sense Practical Prepper. My duct tape. The real duct tape. It fixes everything except that decision. Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. America. From border to border, coast to coast, and all ships at sea. Here is your host, Keith.

Gracie Mansion IED Details

Media Framing And Fast Verification

Two Terror Attacks And Medical Prep

Oil Spike And Hormuz Risks

Misinformation Fatigue And Stepping Back

Time Is Traded Not Spent

Prepper Camp Plug And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Everybody, you're listening to the Common Sense Practical Prepper Podcast. My name is Keith, March the 3rd, 2026. And as per usual, I have ripped up the script probably three times in the last 18 to 24 hours because things, especially today, are moving very fast. So I'm going to go ahead and just give you what I have now. Probably need to do an update tomorrow or maybe Saturday. So let's talk about Gracie Mansion. So those two guys were arrested, and I'm not going to say their names. They are 18 and 19 years old. They are being charged with federal terrorism charges. One of the jars, it contained TATP, a kind of homemade explosive, nuts, bolts, and screws packed into it as shrapnel, lit, and then thrown. One of the videos that is out there on the internet shows one of these cats throwing one of the devices down at some police officers' feet. There is another video where this the main suspect like climbs up the back of some counter-protester and then yeets it towards the other counter-protesters. I don't know which was which. I don't know which one was the true IED with the TATP and which one, I guess, was the other. Regardless, real explosives didn't go off, thank goodness, because that would have killed or seriously injured whoever was within a relatively short distance. So self-radicalized, ISIS inspired, they've made statements, watching videos, they yelled what most terrorists yell, and a couple days after the FBI raided a storage unit in Pennsylvania, where they're from, and found traces or residue of TATP, the same explosive. So that shot down any no threat or reports of them not being a threat, or the two devices not being a threat. These are from earlier posts. And again, I provided that information as I had it. Initially, NYPD called them suspicious devices, smoke jars, or no explosion. Obviously, that's wrong because one of them was truly an IED that did not detonate. So again, another example on how we verify early, and also another example that information flips very fast. And then get this CNN's first take. This was a headline they posted on the internet. Two Pennsylvania teens crossed into New York for what could have been a normal day enjoying the city's abnormally warm weather until they got arrested for throwing homemade bombs. So it's like their day was interrupted. It's like they came from Pennsylvania to enjoy the weather. Oh, and by the way, they threw IEDs at counter-protesters and law enforcement. How tone-deaf do you have to be? Now, five hours later, they removed that headline, but it's too late. It's like retractions in newspapers and magazines. Somebody will write something in error, either accidentally or accidentally on purpose. There'll be a retraction, but the retraction will be on page 15 down below the comics in size 1.2 font that nobody ever reads to begin with. So people saw this headline and got that visceral gut punch. Oh, these poor kids. They just came to New York for the sunshine and the abnormally warm weather. Never mind the IEDs, never mind the police officer they targeted, never mind the residue, and never mind the counter protesters they targeted. Some will still believe they came for the weather. That's like saying John Wilkes Booth slipped into Washington, D.C. on a mild April night hoping to catch a show at the Ford's Theater, but in less than an hour his evening took a tragic twist. He shot President Lincoln in the back of the head and escaped into the dark. People need to use their brains. Those two terrorists from Pennsylvania came with bombs. They were not there for the ice cream in the warm weather. And today alone, about 10 30 or 11 this morning Eastern time, a shooting at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, an hour and a half from where I sit. One dead, two wounded, the shooter is deceased. The FBI about 45 minutes ago released a statement they are investigating this as an act of terrorism with the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Now, I have read several posts in the last 20 minutes where the suspect's name and a little bit about his history has been released. I am not going to release that information. It appears to be accurate, but I am not going to put that out there. Also, today, a truck rammed a synagogue up in Michigan. A guard was injured. Kids from the preschool area of the synagogue were evacuated and are safe. The shooter has been neutralized, investigated as an act of terrorism. Apparently, security guards or law enforcement shot and killed the terrorist. He rammed his vehicle into the synagogue, exited with a rifle, and began shooting, but was neutralized fairly quickly. Let me say this, folks. Here are two acts of terrorism within four or five hours of each other. I've talked about run, hide, fight, I've talked about stop the bleed. Folks, if you have not taken a basic first aid course, if you have not taken stop the bleed, if you do not know how to pack a gunshot wound, if you do not know how to properly put a tourniquet on a victim that needs it, please take those classes. If nothing else, go on to YouTube. There's plenty of instruction on YouTube. There's plenty of instruction on the internet. Again, I'm not a doctor. I have no formal medical training. But what I'm saying is, you are going to save your life or the life of others if you're ever injected into a situation like Michigan and Old Dominion University. So a few days ago, oil went nuts as well. Three days ago, oil spiked at$119 a barrel. It came down pretty quick the next day when President Trump said that the strikes against Iran are very complete. The Straits of Hormuz is still open, but Iran has threatened to lay mines in the strait. U.S. Intel folks said that a few dozen of those mines have been laid already. About that same time, we took out 15 or 16 of their small boats that were considered mine layers. Oil tankers are still navigating the straits. They're still going with their transponders out, so they're going dark to try to dodge these threats. Three commercial tankers have been hit so far. One was a Thai tanker. There were injuries and missing crew, but nothing since Monday that I am aware of. So there's no true blockade, but it's still a real threat. Gas prices have gone up. Here in Richmond, Virginia, about$337 a gallon is the average. National pushing about$360 per gallon. So it's always a good idea to fill up when you can, because all it takes is something to kick off in the Middle East, something relatively minor. And those who set the price of oil are going to take advantage of it. 90% of oil that the United States consume is drilled here domestically. We get very little oil from the Middle East. We get very little oil from anywhere else in the world, but that doesn't mean that certain entities are not going to take advantage of the situation and hike up the price of crude. Here's another update. So, in all honesty, I am unplugging from social media for a bit. I've come to find out, especially in the last four or five days, we've talked about AI, we've talked about misinformation, disinformation. In my opinion, every post appears to be a trap. That bomb threat on the plane ends up being an intoxicated, unruly passenger. I've read nothing about a true bomb threat. The postings about Gracie Manchin, a Molotov cocktail was thrown. Found no information that the Molotov cocktail was even involved. It seems like, and I'll talk about me personally, the time, the hours that I have wasted trying to verify what is real from what is from what is just noise. And maybe that's the goal. And I've said this before. Drown us with misinformation. So we're busy trying to figure out which side is up, and then we just get so discouraged that we just quit trying to gather information. I've said this before. If Elon Musk had not purchased Twitter or X, we wouldn't be getting any of the truthful information. I'm a firm believer that because X is the freest social media outlet out there, that people are personally trying to counter the truth with all of this other crap. And folks, it is tiring. I can't imagine the citizen journalists or whatever you call them. I cannot imagine the people who scrub social media as a profession. I cannot imagine how frustrating and stressful it is. So basically, I'm done chasing shadows. With that said, the podcast stays on. Unplugging from socials really has nothing to do with the show. I enjoy speaking to you all. I keep it very simple. We talk about prep. There's no hype, and I give you my honest opinion. And here's another reason why I'm stepping back. I heard something yesterday that really hit home. Time is not something that you spend, it's something that you trade. And time does not offer refunds. We trade our mornings for a meeting. We trade dinner with our family, catching up with emails. We trade time with our parents while we're planning tomorrow. So today or tomorrow or whenever you listen to this podcast, say yes to something that actually matters. Take a walk, make a call, call your parents, your grandparents if you're lucky enough to still have your grandparents alive. Call your kids, whether they live five minutes away or five continents away. Say no to scrolling that eats up your day. I'm not trying to be preachy. I'm not trying to psychoanalyze anybody out there. I'm not really trying to pass out any life advice. I'm just articulating why this matters to me. Social media is noise, and it's a very loud noise. But time is louder. Stay sharp, verify, and unplug when you need to. So if you think you need to unplug from social media, you're already past the point to where you should already have unplugged. That's not to say that I'm not going to check headlines. That's not saying that I'm not going to keep track of current events, because I believe that is very important. All right, folks, don't forget I'm going to be at Prepper Camp 2026, August 14th, 15th, and 16th, I believe. I'll be teaching Run Hide Fight. Tickets, I believe, are still at a discount. Go to preppercamp.com and check out, I believe it's the Meet the Speakers page. I'm on there, little photo, little bio, and again, I'll be teaching Run Hide Fight. I've got a few emails that I will get to. I'll do another mailbag episode, but I wanted to get this information out to you all because if I didn't, I'd write, I'd rewrite the script two more times tonight, and I'd be just driving myself bananas. Practicalprep podcast at gmail.com. Of course on the Twitters, prep underscore podcast. And my next podcast, I'm going to give a shout out to a lot of new listeners. Several new countries have checked in, and we are currently coming up on 4,100, 4,100 unique cities across the world where we have listeners. About 83% of the listeners are located in the United States. And that leaves a lot of folks around the world. South Korea, tons. Nepal, some folks in Nepal have checked in. So when I get a chance, I'm going to give a shout out to all these people. And it's because of you sharing, liking, subscribing that helps boost our audience. And I really do enjoy talking to everybody. I enjoy keeping it simple, keeping it practical, no fluff, no doom and gloom, no buy these five items before the world comes to an end. Or you better watch this podcast because we're all gonna die tomorrow. I am never going to be a doomsday kind of guy. That is not what this is about. All right, folks, as always, please be careful out there. Take care of one another. And until next time.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

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