Not 'al-qaeda', the CIA, or the Branch Davidians this time.
In an effort to explain the massive, nuclear bomb-like blast, media outlets have also tried to fit it into the mold of previous explosions. For example, reference has been repeatedly made to the 2001 explosion at a Toulouse chemical factory where ammonium nitrate WAS stocked. The Toulouse explosion killed 31 people and, as noted by CNN, left a massive crater in the ground.
Here's an image of ground zero after the West, Texas explosion:
No crater at West, Texas explosion site
The first video was shot by a local man with his son from his car:
Here are a few frames of the same video just before and after the explosion slowed down and toggled back and forth. These frames show something coming into the picture from the left just before the explosion.
The same video carried on a news report shows slightly more of the picture on the left:
And the same video slowed down, frame by frame and toggled back and forth.
Another video of the explosion, from another angle. You can also see something entering from the left here, but this video contains very clear audio, just before the explosion, of what sounds a lot like a missile (of some description).
Compare that sound with the sound of the missile in this video:
In October last year I made a pretty convincing case that the alleged "ammunition bunker" explosion in Minden, Louisiana, was a meteorite. No one really paid any attention, perhaps because no one was injured. The event in West, Texas, this week killed at least 15 people and injured over 100. Is it time to sit up and take notice yet?
Postscript:
Admittedly, the one problem I have with the Texas explosion being caused by a meteorite is how to explain the fire that was burning before the explosion.
Update: As of today, there have been claims that the facility may have also had 270 tons of ammonium nitrate as of December 2012.
"The horrific explosion at a West, Texas, fertilizer plant on Wednesday came from a more unlikely source than you might think. The chemical stored there is not generally considered as much of a fire or explosion risk as other nitrogen-based fertilizers. But it seems that under certain conditions, what’s been thought of as a safe chemical can turn deadly.
[...]
Ammonium nitrate, a combination of nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen, is a lot more volatile, prone to combustion and reaction, thanks to the fact that it is a strong oxidant. (Anhydrous ammonia can be converted to ammonium nitrate using nitric acid.)
So what caused the explosion at the West plant? Something grimly ironic. City University of New York physicist Michio Kaku told CBS News that the water firemen were using to fight a routine fire may have set off a chain reaction of explosions.
“The [Environmental Protection Agency] regulations say it's OK to have this amount of material, because nothing's going to happen, but there's a rare sequence of events, the right pressure, temperature and right amount of water will set off anhydrous ammonia," Kaku told CBS.
[Link]
"According to news reports, the West Fertilizer plant—which is located close to schools and residences—was storing as much as 54,000 pounds of the dangerous gas at the site as recently as 2007.
According to a report filed by Texas regulators and reviewed by The Dallas Morning News, the stored fertilizer posed no fire or explosive risks. The worst possible scenario, the report said, would be a 10-minute release of ammonia gas that would kill or injure no one.
Wednesday's explosion, which happened around 7:50 p.m., suggested otherwise. Beyond the death toll, which authorities said was unclear, the blast injured dozens of people and was compared to a "nuclear bomb" by some witnesses.
The ultimate cause of the explosion, which decimated a four-block area around the factory and shook the ground as far as 50 miles away, is still under investigation.
Sgt. William Patrick Swanton of the nearby Waco police department said authorities are not sure if the fire and the subsequent explosion was an accident or the result of an intentional act, according to ABC News.
"We are not indicating that it is a crime, but we don't know," Swanton said. "What that means to us is that until we know that it is an industrial accident, we will work it as a crime scene."
[Link]