A North American city screeches to a halt

 
Imagine one of North America's largest cities brought to its knees as two of its central roadways are shut down. A perimeter is established around a suspect site where a rental car is examined.

Bomb squad technicians guide a robot to the car's trunk. When the trunk is opened, three live explosive devices -- each nearly two feet long -- are found.

The explosives are loaded into a armored vehicle. Bridges over a normally busy highway are sealed off. A massive convoy of police and bomb-squad vehicles transports the three live bombs

The bombs are gingerly driven to a deserted area and detonated in a controlled explosion that can be heard more than a mile away.

A man -- a Lebanese immigrant named Adel Mohamed Arnaout -- is arrested for a series of letter bombings and attempted murder.

Police search the Ashdale Avenue basement apartment of suspect Adel Arnaout. He is accused of three counts of attempted murder and sending three letter bombs. A neighbor claims that as many as 20 or 30 people were living in the apartment at a time. Neighbors are shocked and stunned.

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Do you think all of this might make a newsworthy story? One that our beloved mainstream media could cover?

Well, apparently not. All of this occurred in Toronto on Friday.

Maybe someone will alert the media so their crack reporters can get on the case. They'll fire up their typewriters and print an extra afternoon edition. Get their fingers dirty with typewriter ribbons and cigarette stains while working the phones. Yell questions at police spokesmen. Demand answers and break stories, scooping their competition.

Or not.

Hat tips: Atlas and Larwyn. Photos: Brent Foster, National Post. Police sketch: Alex Tavshunsky for the Toronto Star.