Of Gods and Gremlins: These Aren't Airline Accidents, But Acts of War

Our world hangs in a more precarious balance than what you might think, and wars are happening that you can't see.

"Well, that's the story. So if your air conditioner goes on the fritz or your washing machine blows up or your video recorder conks out; before you call the repairman, turn on all the lights, check all the closets and cupboards, look under all the beds, 'cause you never can tell -- there just might be a gremlin in your house” - Murray Futterman, Gremlins (1984)

The term "gremlin" has origins rooted in the folklore of the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. Long before the 1984 featured film by that name, the word gremlin was first used by RAF pilots to describe mischievous, mythical creatures that were supposedly responsible for mechanical failures or other mishaps in aircraft. The term might have been influenced by earlier folklore or words like "goblin" or "gremmich" (a German word meaning "a fixed idea").

During the war, particularly from 1942 onwards, the narrative of gremlins became widespread among RAF pilots. The creatures were often blamed for various issues with aircraft, from minor malfunctions to more serious problems like engine failure or compass errors. The gremlins were said to live in aircraft, particularly in the wings or engine, tweaking and tampering with vital parts.

The concept of gremlins then spread beyond the RAF, influencing American airmen as well. This was partly due to the shared operations between British and American forces. The gremlins' fame was further boosted by stories, poems, and cartoons.

In 1943, Roald Dahl, then a pilot with the RAF, wrote a children's book titled "The Gremlins," which was his first published work. Although not a commercial success, it helped cement the gremlin in popular culture. Over time, the notion of demonic little creatures that cause mechanical problems eventually led to the 1984 Horror Film.

ARE THE RASH OF RECENT PLANE CRASHES JUST GREMLINS?

As you know, noticing things is my schtick. That’s what I’m into. That’s why Insight to Incite exists. And one thing you notice when you notice things, is how many people aren’t noticing things at all. It’s like the guy who comes into the coffee shop with a hoodie and a bulge in his pocket. By the time you figure out he’s a Trayvon Martin impersonator with a large smart phone, nobody else has even noticed he’s there. At a certain point, you start noticing things for other people who don’t notice at all.

And that’s the thing about this recent spike in plane disasters. While they’re all being reported as singular, catastrophic incidents, few are noticing the pattern. Those that do, just mention it as a strange coincidence, and a few more attempt to blame Trump for government spending cuts, or Democrats for promoting DEI diversity hires. But few, if any, are wondering if it’s more complicated than all of that. After all, if something weird happens once, it’s an anomaly. If something weird happens twice, it’s a coincidence. But if it happens three times, it’s likely a conspiracy.

Having so many plane crashes in such a short amount of time, it’s like the odds of a Hollywood celebrity mom having three kids and two are transgender. It means that fishiness is afoot.

One of the most devastating incidents occurred on January 29, 2025, when an American Airlines regional jet collided mid-air with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. This tragic event claimed the lives of all 67 individuals on both aircraft.

Just days after the Washington tragedy, on January 31, a medical jet transporting a child patient crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood. The Learjet, operated by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, resulted in seven fatalities, including those on board and one person on the ground.

On February 6, the aviation community was alerted to a missing Cessna 208B Grand Caravan in Alaska, which was later found crashed on sea ice, confirming the deaths of all 10 aboard.

Most recently, on February 17, a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis crash-landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport, flipping over on the runway. While no lives were lost, 18 passengers were hospitalized.

But that’s not all! In total, there have been 13 crashes around the world that have led to deaths and 87 in-the-air accidents. It’s a huge spike.

BLAMING ANYTHING BUT GREMLINS

With the Washington D.C. crash involving both military and commercial aviation, questions about coordination and communication between different sectors of air traffic control have come to the fore. The crashes in Philadelphia and Alaska have prompted reviews of aircraft maintenance procedures, especially for smaller, less regulated flights. The Toronto incident has led to discussions about pilot training for adverse weather conditions and the infrastructure of airports to handle such scenarios.

As investigations continue, particularly by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the aviation sector is expected to implement new safety measures or reinforce existing ones. The findings will likely lead to policy changes, enhanced training, and possibly technological innovations aimed at preventing future tragedies.

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Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary, has blamed President Trump’s budget cuts, despite there not yet being any budget cuts. Conservatives have blamed Pete Buttigieg, who emphasized DEI hiring over competency, and was too busy breast feeding the kids he bought while on maternity leave (or whatever gay dudes do on maternity leave) to ever show up to work.

But why isn’t anybody talking about gremlins? Yes, I’m serious. Kind of.

SHIFTING GEARS

You might recall, if you follow me on X, a thread I did on January 29, explaining that the most likely cause of the Pacific Palisades and Maui fires was Chinese hacking our infrastructure and sabotaging our safety mechanisms (you can find that thread here).

As I explained then, the most plausible explanation - if not the official one - is that both fires were caused by sudden and inexplicable surges to the power grid. In both fires, experts have claimed that sparks were thrown from blown power lines and/or transistors that started the original blaze (in the Pacific Palisades, there were fires set by the homeless and other arsonists, but were not responsible for the start of those fires). And in both fires, weird and conflicting accounts were given by government officials to explain why water was available to fire fighters.

Various conspiracy theories arose for both, ranging from space lasers (this technology does exist, by the way) in Maui to wanting to clear the area for environmental reasons in California. And in both cases, the incompetence from local government officials was so off-the-charts ridiculous, if one didn’t know better, it would appear to coordinated incompetence. This gives immediate credence to any theory that asserts the fires and lack of firefighting response to be intentional sabotage.

Although, I’ll confess, it’s not beyond the realm of reasonable that government officials or private corporations could or would financially benefit from clearing the land of its residents, or be so capable of evil as to watch the homes burn for one nefarious reason or another, there is another, more likely explanation.

It actually was sabotage. There was no conspiracy by the American or state governments to burn the residences of their Citizens to the ground. Although Democrat incompetence is of increasingly epic proportions, there are too many similarities between both Maui and the Palisades and cascading failures to chalk them all up as mere ineptitude.

If Occam’s Razor is correct, and the most simple explanation is the most likely, then logic would deduce that both fires were intentional sabotage, but required no sophisticated government conspiracy to carry out. A government too incompetent to fight wildfires is probably too incompetent to carry out a coordinated and secret burn order. No, the most simple explanation is that it was sabotage…by another, more capable government.

I don’t want to rewrite that X-thread here, but I’ll summarize it for those who aren’t on X for whatever reason.

WARNINGS GALORE

It turns out, gremlins do exist, and they happen to be Chinese.

Complete with links and screenshots of news articles going back several years, I provided the receipts showing that U.S. intelligence agencies were warning that China not only had the capacity, but the intention of hacking our critical infrastructure. In fact, China already had done these things.

Hackers from a group known as Volt Typhoon have been targeting sectors critical to U.S. operations, including communications, energy, transportation systems, and water and wastewater systems. This campaign has been ongoing for at least five years, using "living off the land" techniques where they utilize existing tools within the compromised networks to maintain anonymity and persist undetected.

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There's a high confidence assessment that these actors are pre-positioning to potentially disrupt operational technology assets in scenarios of heightened geopolitical tensions or military conflict.

For example, former FBI Director Christopher Wray testified to Congress that Chinese hackers are not just aiming for espionage but are preparing to inflict "real-world harm" to American citizens by targeting infrastructure like water treatment plants, the electric grid, oil and natural gas pipelines, and transportation systems.