The Nashville Christmas Day bombing was very very odd
Several people have pointed out that the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville had extremely unusual characteristics. When I heard that prior to the explosion an evacuation warning had been broadcast from a loudspeaker mounted on the RV that subsequently blew up, it brought to mind long-ago politically motivated bombings involving prior warnings such as the King David Hotel. Also, the IRA sometimes did this.
But not only did such cases occur in countries other than the US, but they involved situations in which the bombers and their agenda were no mystery at all. The Nashville incident is a complete mystery, at least so far. Here’s Andrea Widburg’s take on it:
Even if a person other than the bomber ended up dying, this bomb blast was not meant to take human life. The street would have been relatively deserted on Christmas morning and the RV itself warned people to leave the area. I therefore doubt that this was Islamic terrorism…
Unlike the Oklahoma City bombing, this bomb did not target a government building. Despite the usual Trump haters conflating Trump supporters and Nazis, this fact alone probably means that one of the vanishingly small numbers of actual white supremacist groups in America was not involved…
This wasn’t the usual anti-corporate bombing. To begin with, those are usually “message bombings (“don’t ship chemicals,” “don’t cut down trees,” “don’t build weapons to hurt third world countries,” etc.). The destruction was also insufficiently showy for the Antifa crowd, which views violence as theater…
In sum, it’s unlikely (although never impossible) that the bomb was Islamic terrorism, or anti-government, anti-corporate, or anti-media terrorism. In some ways, the bomb was so exquisitely done – a huge explosion that wasn’t meant to take any lives – that it seems like showing off. That is, it seems like someone made a point that, if he really wanted to, he could have done much worse.
My conclusions as well. I believe the bombing itself may have been a warning of some sort. But if so, it’s a cryptic one, unless the message is that we are vulnerable. But didn’t we already know that?
Alex Little has more on Twitter about the various possibilities. Also, Nashville police have identified a person of interest, a fact which may or may not lead to anything.
The location of the bomb/vehicle near the AT&T building and the resulting telecommunications outages and delays in the greater Tennessee area seem like the biggest factor to me.
I think we’re seeing what I would call the Shadow War, between the various Deep State factions and others, erupting to the surface.
Fractal Rabbit:
I don’t know whether you read Widburg’s piece, but she doesn’t think that’s all that important and explains why. I’m not sure, but I tend to agree with her. But at any rate, it’s the only obvious possibility for why that location.
I read Widburg’s piece. I’m with Fractal Rabbit. A very odd bombing, and even odder things are so very quiet about the bombing. Yes, comms were disrupted for a brief period but they were extensive. Speculation: a test of just what might be disrupted, the area of disruption, responses to the disruption.
This bombing just does not sit right with me. Too much about it that feels so very different.
Guess I am just so jaded about everything right now.
Neo,
I did read the piece and I found her reasoning regarding AT&T unconvincing, missing the point.
From her piece:
“The CNN connection is also unimpressive. While AT&T owns CNN, if this was an anti-media bomb, why not just bomb CNN?
In any event, this bomb had such delicacy. There is no evidence that I know of saying that AT&T suffered massive structural injuries. AT&T did experience wireless and internet disruption (including 911 services, which were quickly reinstated), but the injury was still a pinprick compared to the immensity of the explosion and to a savvy bomb builder’s ability to destroy infrastructure.”
Correct me if I’m reading it wrong but she’s assuming that the bomber wanted to cause massive damage. I disagree with her because this looks far more surgical (she even uses the word ‘delicacy’ herself) to me. Massive damage wasn’t necessary for widespread disruption of telecommunications. And her statement that 911 services were quickly reinstated is only half true: there are parts of Tennessee that still didn’t have cellular or internet service as of this morning.
I think the people who did this were savvy enough that if they had wanted to destroy that building entirely, they would have. They certainly didn’t seem to want to take any human lives either which as everyone has zeroed in on, is an oddity to be sure. I believe they applied as much force as was needed exactly where it was needed.
And I think this was a message to someone: we can hit you and disrupt your communications when and where we wish to.
The biggest question to me isn’t who is sending the message. It’s who is the message intended for.
Curious.
And we still don’t know, or at least I don’t, what the Stephen Paddock shooting in Las Vegas (2017) was about.
Red State story on this finds that RV was not the direct source of the blast, as seen in this video clip:
https://twitter.com/99freemind/status/1342925995100221444?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1342928463154597892%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstatenation.com%2Fas-person-of-interest-is-identified-in-the-nashville-bombing-people-posted-allegations-that-the-explosion-is-not-originating-from-the-rv-photos-video%2F
Fractal Rabbit:
That’s why I said I’m not sure.
huxley:
Yes, I thought about Paddock too – that is, the unknown nature of his motive. The crime itself was very different, of course.
I don’t know whether you recall that I advanced a theory of sorts for Paddock, here as well as here.
They’re saying that “possible” human remains have been found at the site. Could this have been some sort of bizarre suicide? Whatever it turns out to be it’s very strange.
Another theory I saw is that the target was police. The verbal warning was designed to draw police and 1st responders in
Since we lack evidence, I’ll go with two completely intuited predictions:
1) Since the FBI is investigating we’ll never know anything more about it, just like the LV mass shooting mentioned above.
2) It was China. Trump has caused real economic damage to China. This is a message to the Biden* Admin that an EMP attack could easily kill a third of more of the population of the US by destroying the infrastructure we depend on for everything … including food processing and food transport.
The attack wasn’t intended to kill, so it didn’t.
It will be interesting to learn the identity of the dead person (if we ever do). Was it a random passerby? Or was it the clue to reveal to the FBI/Swamp who did the job? For example, a captured agent or an unmasked infiltrator left in the RV to die in the explosion and thus “send a message”.
This is a message to the Biden* Admin that an EMP attack could easily kill a third of more of the population of the US by destroying the infrastructure we depend on for everything … including food processing and food transport.
Science fiction.
Art Deco: “science fiction”
You’re sure?
Seemed like a message to me, suspiciously placed and timed to make a point.
Wonder what that could be?
hmmmmmm
Don’t ask questions. You don’t have standing and then there are laches. Nothing to see, just a random bombing, Ha! Ha!
Assuming the bomber(s) are/was not simply incompetent, which while possible is unlikely, given the “delicacy” of the blast and the thoughtful planning evident in the facts so far ascertained.
In which case, several factors imply that certain initial inferences can be drawn; firstly, the target was infrastructure. Indicated by the blast occuring on Christmas morning @ 6:30am, a time when the least amount of people was likely to be present. Plus a warning in advance of the blast, so terror was not the objective.
This was not directed at CNN but at AT&T’s infrastructural support for part of the Deep State’s communication network. Specifically, the NSA.
Secondly, the “puzzling” aspect is likely to be intentional as well. As in and of itself, a solitary bombing of infrastructure for which the purpose cannot be determined… serves little purpose.
Yet, people do not blow up bombs without holding the view that an enemy exists to whom a bombing is directed.
However, as the first step in a planned campaign of bombings, initially sowing confusion in the ranks of an enemy has strategic benefits.
And yes, the third inference is that this is only the first of a campaign of bombings to come.
The final inference is that, as bombings are a way for the weaker to strike at the stronger with a reasonable prospect of surviving to fight another day, the bomber(s) are not connected to the Deep State* but instead are in determined opposition to it.
Of course, if the bomber blew themselves up… we’re back to incompetence. In which case we pray this will not inspire future copycat bombings.
* Given the day, time and warning… I’m ruling out foreign actors as unlikely.
Art Deco. See “The Carrington Effect”
I think it was Rudolph. After all those years of Santa oppressing him, the deer just had to send a message: reindeer intersectionality. The remains belong to Mrs. Claus. She always drove the RV. 2020 goes out with a bang.
Another thing occurs to me as I watch the various videos and hear the warning voice: I wonder if there will be a certain Pavlovian effect and if its intentional?
After enough Americans hear the recorded voice, it wouldn’t take much more than playing that recording in a crowded place (difficult enough in many places during the various lockdowns) could make for quite a bit of chaos and panic.
Richard Aurey:
Did you mean the “Carrington Event?” Not science fiction, nor was the upper atmosphere nuclear weapon test that blanked out Hawaii in the late 50’s IIRC. EMP isn’t science fiction contrary to Art Deco’s opinion and all the physics he had in high school.
I am not sure of this, but I would think this may be linked to Pre. Trump warring to Iran about Rocket Attack on U.S. Embassy in Baghdad by a militia linked to Iran regime..
Is Iran regime try sending a warning sign to Trump or US?
EMP effects over Hawaii from the Starfish Prime nuclear test July 9, 1962, not in the late 1950’s.
Wickedmedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime
Still not science fiction.
An EMP is an artificial duplication of a Solar Coronal Mass Ejection, which is what the 1859 Carrington Event consisted of and if memory serves, another CME narrowly missed the earth in 2012.
It’s a real threat that depending upon severity could have a devastating effect upon our electrical grid. There are just 9 primary electrical transformers that serve the US electrical grid. Reportedly, there are no backups with two years needed to construct one and China is the only supplier of these electrical subsystem transformers.
There are indications that Iran conducted tests years ago that could only serve one purpose; an EMP attack. Russia has for years sold a commercial shipping container rocket launch system.
Congress was informed of this many years ago and after learning of it, picked themselves up off the floor, brushed themselves off and then hurried off pretending like nothing had happened.
“I am not sure of this, but I would think this may be linked to Pre. Trump warring to Iran”
If it was Iran there would be countless dead Americans, no? Unless they could not do it themselves and hired it done.
Maybe the hired gang was … not bloodthirsty. Otherwise, no. Not Iran.
It looks like there might be a person of interest. A missing 63 year old white (?) man with the same RV, possible suicide. Or it could be a fake out.
Here’s a slew of info about this man that doesn’t seem to say much, he installed alarms and might have been lonely.
https://heavy.com/news/anthony-quinn-warner/
Deep dive into analysis, with some of the already listed possibilities and some different ones. J. E. Dyer’s conclusion:
https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/12/26/horrifying-bomb-attack-in-nashville-appears-to-target-att-hub/
“I’m not seeing a motive for a foreign or terrorist entity to commit this act. It looks more like someone – most logically, American – who had a specific target in mind within the radius of that RV bomb in downtown Nashville. The second coming of Timothy McVeigh – a terrorist profile – doesn’t fit. Someone who wanted to get rid of something would.”
Additional interesting speculations in the comments there.
One of the other Chicago Boyz contributors wonders if it wasn’t an elaborate distraction, intended to draw interest, blanking out 911 and telecom systems for a hundred mile radius – while some very organized robberies went on someplace else… a place which won’t be discovered to have been emptied of valuables until someone goes into work on Monday morning …
Makes about as much sense as anything else.
Headline this morning says the bomber, who probably died, was paranoid about 5G spying.
It was awiens from another galaxy far far away. They have come to conquer us.
Well, it seems to have been for private reasons. I might have gotten that right, at least. Time will tell.
My guess was that some loner got fired by ATT, or his ex girl friend who jilted him worked there, and he killed himself in a splashy way to illustrate the supposed injustice.
Newsweek article says the person of interest mentioned by Esther above had a father who worked for BellSouth, a branch of ATT. The father died some years ago.
“Earlier on Saturday, the two senior law enforcement sources told Newsweek that federal investigators will swab Warner’s mother to determine a match to the possible remains found in the RV. If her DNA is determined to be linked to the remains found in the RV, one law enforcement official said, the blast is likely to have been a suicide bombing.”
https://www.newsweek.com/nashville-bombing-suspects-father-t-building-may-key-clues-1557416
So this has been happening in my neck of the woods the latter part of this year. Any kind of stories like this in your neighborhoods?
This story is from 2019 but we’ve had local reports of the same type of “loud booms” this summer and fall.
https://www.abc15.com/news/region-southeast-valley/tempe/tempe-police-explosives-found-near-location-of-loud-booms
Where is q when he is really needed? 🙂 🙂
Weird, Eva Marie. Possibly just someone who likes to play with loud noises.
Roger Simon speculated right after the blast, which was directed against ATT, it was related to ATT spying on Americans.
He referenced a 2016 article:
“A for-profit surveillance program carried out by telecommunications giant AT&T was more serious than the 2013 NSA spying revelations, according to digital rights advocates.
“AT&T’s Project Atmosphere was unveiled Tuesday by the Daily Beast to be secretly selling customer data to law enforcement agencies for the purpose of investigating everything from murder to medical fraud.
“Digital rights group Fight for the Future says that making customer data available to local police departments without a warrant goes beyond the government-level surveillance revealed by former NSA contract worker Edward Snowden.
“‘AT&T customers are outraged but this affects everyone,’ Evan Greer, campaign director at Fight for the Future, tells Newsweek. ‘AT&T went far beyond complying with legal government requests and actually built a powerful data mining product to sell our private information to as many government agencies and police departments as they could.’”
For more The Intercept has an article — “The Wiretap Rooms—The NSA Has Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight Cities” that includes the following:
“‘The NSA considers AT&T to be one of its most trusted partners and has lauded the company’s ‘extreme willingness to help.’ It is a collaboration that dates back decades. Little known, however, is that its scope is not restricted to AT&T’s customers. According to the NSA’s documents, it values AT&T not only because it “has access to information that transits the nation,” but also because it maintains unique relationships with other phone and internet providers.”
Why now? Well, it still is 2020, so there’s that.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/was-nashville-blast-the-new-fort-sumter_3632783.html
And this surprises how many of you?
https://justthenews.com/nation/crime/box-truck-playing-evacuation-message-shuts-down-rural-tennessee-road
The same DNA of Warner has been found at the bombing scene (the human remains, I suppose). It is Warner.
https://dailycaller.com/2020/12/27/anthony-warner-nashville-christmas-bomber/
Time stamp 7:25PM
If the Intercept article is accurate, then in principle whoever did this could temporarily hide from NSA eavesdropping over a wide geo while still communicating over some other network.
See https[://]pasteboard[.]co/JH37GQ1[.]jpg for a corrected version of the network map from the Intercept article. If all the links to/from Nashville were taken out (unclear), then other networks that peer into AT&Ts backbone would reroute packets over slower links (so they would stay operational).
As per the Intercept article, those telco buildings are hardened. I didn’t see a crater in the street. So it’s not clear the blast was sufficient to take out all the Nashville fiber links in that diagram.