As if there is not enough to be worried about this Easter weekend.  We have Pyongyang throwing a missile parade to honor their first insane dictator, and Assad claiming that the victims of the chemical attack in Syria were actors. Add to that a full blown stampede out of Penn Station during the evening commute in New York city.  Evidently people mistook the sound of a taser being deployed by police on an unruly man for gunfire and all hell broke loose. People rushed out of the station, leaving behind their bags and running for the exits at 6:30 p.m. last night leaving the station looking like a riot had taken place. According to reports 13 people were treated for non-life threatening injuries caused by the panic.

The cause of the melee was the detainment of an unruly passenger from a New Jersey Transit train which had been disabled. Evidently United was not the only company having a bad PR week since an Amtrak train earlier in the day had a train that had been trapped under the Hudson River in a tunnel because of a short in the power supply. It seems that even the NYPD Counter-terrorism group tried to diffuse the tension that broke out in the city after the Penn Station stampede broke out and was followed by a false report of an active shooter around the Harold Square Macy’s store.

Evidently there was a similar stampede of people trying to get out of the Macy’s store at Herald Square after there were false reports of an active shooter at that location as well. Not that I blame the people, I would frankly exist stage left as well if I thought there was an active shooter situation unfolding. Unfortunately, it looks from the photo below that most of these folks would have made themselves prime targets had those reports been accurate.

Given all that has happened in the world lately, one has to wonder if these events are caused by folks being on high alert, or if it is simply a side effect of living in modern times. Either way, going into this Easter weekend I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday.