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2020-12-25 Home Front: WoT
Explosion in downtown Nashville damages buildings Christmas morning, visitors evacuated
Police say an "intentional act"
[USA Today] An explosion was reported in downtown Nashville early Christmas morning that was felt for miles.

Police and firefighters responded to an area near Second Avenue and Commerce Street about 6:45 a.m. Friday. Officials are on the scene trying to put out the fire and see if anyone is inside the building.

The fire department confirmed a bomb squad was on the scene with an active investigation by Metro police and federal agenices. It sent out a tweet asking residents and others to avoid the area
Posted by Frank G 2020-12-25 10:01|| || Front Page|| [11141 views ]  Top

#1 Fox has aerial footage. Looks like a Beirut street
Posted by Frank G 2020-12-25 10:09||   2020-12-25 10:09|| Front Page Top

#2 I suspect it's something local. Nashville isn't exactly most terrorists first choice of location.

I realize it's a potential test run by someone as well, but right now I still think it's unlikely. Now if we see more like this in a week or so, then I'll suspect something bigger.

And if BLM/Antifa is involved, I expect they would wait til after Jan 20 to go kinetic.
Posted by Silentbrick 2020-12-25 10:20||   2020-12-25 10:20|| Front Page Top

#3 Apparently at 6AM, a call came in about a suspicious vehicle. The investigating cop wisely called out the bomb squad. The destruction is considerable
Posted by Frank G 2020-12-25 10:22||   2020-12-25 10:22|| Front Page Top

#4 Christmas Day jihad?
Posted by Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 2020-12-25 10:32||   2020-12-25 10:32|| Front Page Top

#5 
Posted by 3dc 2020-12-25 10:36||   2020-12-25 10:36|| Front Page Top

#6 Media blames Trump in 3, 2, 1.....
Posted by Bangkok Billy 2020-12-25 10:45||   2020-12-25 10:45|| Front Page Top

#7 RV. Just a guess but maybe someone sleeping over night in a rarely used RV visiting family for Christmas that filled with leaking propane until they got up at 6AM and turned on the heat or whatever that sparked the whole thing.
Posted by Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 2020-12-25 10:56||   2020-12-25 10:56|| Front Page Top

#8 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/21/tennessee-newspaper-ad-islam-muslims-nashville

Coincidence?
Posted by BrerRabbit 2020-12-25 10:57||   2020-12-25 10:57|| Front Page Top

#9 /\ I was thinking of a propane tank as well, but can such a tank cause so much damage (along with the fuel tank full, perhaps) and to be heard "12 miles away"?
Posted by Clem 2020-12-25 11:00||   2020-12-25 11:00|| Front Page Top

#10 Check out the pics of the extent of damage. This was no leaking propane tank. The FBI is taking the lead, so expect "White Rightwing Extremists™" to be the focus
Posted by Frank G 2020-12-25 11:03||   2020-12-25 11:03|| Front Page Top

#11 FBI is taking the lead

That's what I was afraid of.
Posted by Clem 2020-12-25 11:06||   2020-12-25 11:06|| Front Page Top

#12 Lots of extremists of all shapes and sizes around Nashville. It does appear to be a fuel air/propane type of explosion. That street is like a canyon and would have magnified the effect of the blast. Intentional or unintentional remains to be seen...first reports are always suspect.
Posted by Tennessee 2020-12-25 11:10||   2020-12-25 11:10|| Front Page Top

#13 A tranny that didnt get hired at hooters taking out his frustration
Posted by Bob Grorong1136 2020-12-25 11:59||   2020-12-25 11:59|| Front Page Top

#14 I heard there was a shots fired 911 call first, then this an hour later.
Posted by gorb 2020-12-25 13:01||   2020-12-25 13:01|| Front Page Top

#15 What to think about this?
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-12-25 13:10||   2020-12-25 13:10|| Front Page Top

#16 The audio warning is particularly ominous, MM.

Is the action an overall warning of what is to come?

Don't know if this is Antifa as the voice warning was grammatically coherent and audio had associated warning tones, not unlike a robotic Mass Notification message.

I'm going to wait on a bit more info.
Posted by Mullah Richard 2020-12-25 13:23||   2020-12-25 13:23|| Front Page Top

#17 Some speculation it was and LRAD message. Even more ominous.
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-12-25 13:27||   2020-12-25 13:27|| Front Page Top

#18 My SWAG:
Suspicious vehicle report.
RV with multiple propane tanks or other explosives
Call the bomb squad
Start evacuation
Earth Shattering KABOOM
Posted by SteveS 2020-12-25 13:31||   2020-12-25 13:31|| Front Page Top

#19 If BLM/Antifa have gone kinetic and it gets known, expect their next call to riot have unwanted visitors.
Posted by Silentbrick 2020-12-25 13:32||   2020-12-25 13:32|| Front Page Top

#20 The IRA shifted from blowing up people to blowing up property to avoid scaring off their fan club in Boston which started freaking out about the murders. Could be something similar once we know who set it off.
Posted by rjschwarz 2020-12-25 14:19||   2020-12-25 14:19|| Front Page Top

#21 It's a weird story. There was a warning and then a countdown before the kaboom. Intentional. Someone didn't like their cable bill or service? AT&T owns CNN, the communist news network.

My mother-in-law lives out near Bellvue and it seems her landline phone is affected as we can't get in touch with her.
Posted by JohnQC 2020-12-25 14:23||   2020-12-25 14:23|| Front Page Top

#22 Police say the warning messages were coming from the RV.

Apropos of nothing in particular, I'm a bit surprised the Pantifas have not used car bombs or similar improvised devices already.
Posted by SteveS 2020-12-25 14:26||   2020-12-25 14:26|| Front Page Top

#23 Here comes the whirlwind...
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-12-25 14:29||   2020-12-25 14:29|| Front Page Top

#24 Seems familiar to anyone from Belfast or Baghdad.
Foreign links?
Training, direction, money, materiel...?
Posted by Lionel Grumble4796 2020-12-25 14:32||   2020-12-25 14:32|| Front Page Top

#25 Wow. Multiple warnings, a countdown, and a dangerous wake up call with a fuel air explosive device on Christmas morning in Nashville...

If that device would've been detonated without warning on a regular New Years Eve anywhere near Broadway in the Nashville party district it would've been devastating.

BLM and Antifa were there in force back in the late spring...Muslim extremists dwell in the greater Nashville area as well (my son was stopped in traffic and threatened by one these fools several years ago - a bunch of mouth about the mosque that was burned and he sped off)...although that has quietened down. The Muslim extremist recruiting is heavy in the prison system though. The frustrated right wing is very loud, not sure how organized. They were very organized back in 1993. This kinda has a 1993 OK City feel to it...that feeling is offset by the fact that this is an attack in the South on Christmas Day.

There are cameras everywhere downtown...MTF I guess.
Posted by Tennessee 2020-12-25 14:33||   2020-12-25 14:33|| Front Page Top

#26 Thank goodness the FBI's on the case. They'll find the Richard J-type / T. supporter soon enough
Posted by Grineting Thronter6650 2020-12-25 14:41||   2020-12-25 14:41|| Front Page Top

#27 A pre attack warning is something I have never heard Jihadists provide. Leaning toward antifa.
Posted by Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 2020-12-25 14:44||   2020-12-25 14:44|| Front Page Top

#28 My mother-in-law lives out near Bellvue and it seems her landline phone is affected as we can't get in touch with her.

Multiple 911 lines down in Middle Tennessee - not sure if this is connected via a separate event or due to a report that the Nashville explosion damaged an AT&T data center...outages to ATT&T service reported across the South.
Posted by Tennessee 2020-12-25 14:45||   2020-12-25 14:45|| Front Page Top

#29 A pre attack warning is something I have never heard Jihadists provide. Leaning toward antifa.

Yes. This btw is the IRA / Provo m.o. Very common during the Troubles.

Might want to look for an Antifa(s) with family or educational links to Northern Ireland
Posted by Rupert Sluper8789 2020-12-25 14:52||   2020-12-25 14:52|| Front Page Top

#30 And, unless a change in tactics by the Jihadis, no second explosion once first-responders arrive on the scene.

Alex Jones calling for a false flag in 3...2...1 (probably did already).
Posted by Clem 2020-12-25 14:55||   2020-12-25 14:55|| Front Page Top

#31 The shots fired an hour or so before the countdown and audio warning suggoa way to draw serious attention to the area and the bomb squad callout to an RV hints at some sort of visual clue to promt the uniform to get a bomb squad out on Christmas morning. While the ATT link to CNN is a stretch it might have a connection to the importance of that site and/or the locality of choice cor the bombers. FBI lead is predictable and given their current behaviors worrisome since they will play the usual games if there is a political aspect the 7th floor finds unacceptable to Obama 3.0 and Xi.
Posted by NoMoreBS 2020-12-25 14:59||   2020-12-25 14:59|| Front Page Top

#32 bomb went off at 630am

now about 8 hours later no one saying 'we did it'

Jihadis would probably have claimed credit by now.
Antifa would probably have claimed credit by now.
Posted by Lord Garth 2020-12-25 15:07||   2020-12-25 15:07|| Front Page Top

#33 Antifa wouldn't have warned anyone.
Posted by Spike Glusoling9558 2020-12-25 15:40||   2020-12-25 15:40|| Front Page Top

#34 A colleagues son was in the Marines in Fallujah and he said that for really dangerous buildings they would attach a fused stick of C-4 on a propane tank and roll it through the door. The explosion would take the roof off—-problem solved.
Posted by Alaska Paul 2020-12-25 15:42||   2020-12-25 15:42|| Front Page Top

#35 Good finds, all. Thank you for posting this for us this morning, Frank G. It will be very interesting to see who was so criminally stupid as to do this thing in Tennessee instead of California or elsewhere in the Northwest.

The local newspaper, The Tennessean is also updating as new information comes in:

Massive downtown Nashville explosion: $10,000 reward offered for info, FBI vows to find culprit

Just before the blast, witnesses in the area reported a dire warning coming from the RV: “Evacuate now. There is a bomb. A bomb is in this vehicle and will explode."

Then, the voice started a 15-minute countdown.

Officers were conducting door-to-door checks in the area and redirected a man walking his dog along the street. The force of the explosion knocked an officer to the ground and gave another officer what police hope is temporary hearing loss. Three people were hospitalized with injuries, police said.

The most recent related headlines on the news front page:

AT&T outage map: Planes grounded, 911 disrupted

REPUBLIC camera captures downtown Nashville explosion

White House, Gov. Bill Lee release statements after Nashville explosion

Surely the authorities have tracked the ownership of the RV by now, and if stolen or rented are working to track down the person who parked it there.
Posted by trailing wife 2020-12-25 16:10||   2020-12-25 16:10|| Front Page Top

#36 How much stuff easily tracked down or right out in the light of day is ignored now by the media, the FBI, the DOJ, state election bureaus, CDC, NIH, etc?
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-12-25 16:34||   2020-12-25 16:34|| Front Page Top

#37 Motive?

Mass casualties. No.
Terror. Not really. Terrorists just don't set up speakers announcing an explosion in advance.

Get Attention. Yes, but for who?
I think it
Posted by Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 2020-12-25 16:54||   2020-12-25 16:54|| Front Page Top

#38 The amount of damage doen doesn't seem consisten with the amount of propane + liquid fuel an RV that size might carry. AT&T blackout covers a large area. Commercial flights shut down. Somebody got some serioys band for the buck. Time of day suggests civilian fatalities / injuries were not what was desired.
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-12-25 16:58||   2020-12-25 16:58|| Front Page Top

#39 Serious bang for the buck...
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-12-25 17:00||   2020-12-25 17:00|| Front Page Top

#40 Fauxi says we have to stop using telephones / driving RVs / going to Nashville in 3-2-1...
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-12-25 17:02||   2020-12-25 17:02|| Front Page Top

#41 "FBI vows to find culprit."

Right. And they had Hunter Biden's laptop for a year and....
Posted by Clem 2020-12-25 17:04||   2020-12-25 17:04|| Front Page Top

#42 The "usual suspects" are smoking meth in a trailer somewhere in Idaho right now...
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-12-25 17:09||   2020-12-25 17:09|| Front Page Top

#43 Perhaps this is a preemptive warning about what they could do if Trump does something before he leaves off, if he does? The rumor of a strike on an Iranian nuke site, or some other Trumpian act might be why this was done to show what consequences might follow? It is the highest Holy Day in Christianity, if that has some bearing? But it was also planned for max visibility, least casualities, so that suggests it wasn't to draw a reaction, but make a point about what could be. As for the ATT/airplanes impact, it might be a feature of the site choice, not a coincidence. Something was on/around that RV that had a message/motive that the FBI are not sharing...?
Posted by NoMoreBS 2020-12-25 17:12||   2020-12-25 17:12|| Front Page Top

#44 Current center of the US, population wise, is one state to the west...
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-12-25 17:18||   2020-12-25 17:18|| Front Page Top

#45 At least one fatality reported now, not confirmed yet...
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-12-25 17:32||   2020-12-25 17:32|| Front Page Top

#46 An RV is a curious choice. Only someone with actual experience of leisurely travel and camping in an RV would know or consider that it uses propane. So very likely not a jihadi or other foreign-born ... unless he's from one of those north European countries where "caravan" holidays are common.

Prob'y white + prob'y Antifa + prob'y someone with experience of RV or "caravan" camping. That's a pretty tiny population I'd wager ..
Posted by Vernal Gurly-Brown6782 2020-12-25 17:33||   2020-12-25 17:33|| Front Page Top

#47 ^ if you're right, VGB, then there probably aren't more than 100-200 people in the US who satisfy those three conditions
Posted by Gerthudion Hapsburg8151 2020-12-25 17:35||   2020-12-25 17:35|| Front Page Top

#48 ^ Probably also walked away before the blast.
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-12-25 17:35||   2020-12-25 17:35|| Front Page Top

#49 Satan: "McVeigh! What are you smiling about?"
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-12-25 17:36||   2020-12-25 17:36|| Front Page Top

#50 Human remains found.
Posted by Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 2020-12-25 17:48||   2020-12-25 17:48|| Front Page Top

#51 Started looking into WHO is in the general area.
But nothing I would see as a worthy target (still looking) doing a GOOGLE Street View drive around...???

Davidson County Election Commission 2nd Ave S 1st Floor Nashville, TN (Too far away)

Stacy Abrams & AOC offices and several others running have offices On GAY St. (Too Far away)


Maybe this was a Heads up warning shot for bigger demands yet publicly released.

BTW: the video of the blast shown on FOX showed a BRIGHT WHITE FLASH, not YELLOW. Which points to a certain type of harder to acquire explosive materials.


Posted by NN2N1 2020-12-25 18:14||   2020-12-25 18:14|| Front Page Top

#52 Stacy Abrams running for office in Tennesee? AOC has an office there. Gawd help us all...
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-12-25 18:22||   2020-12-25 18:22|| Front Page Top

#53 RV is vintage, appears in good shape. Rented? Maybe. Bought on Craigslist / Ebay? Maybe. Stolen? Maybe.
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-12-25 18:28||   2020-12-25 18:28|| Front Page Top

#54 Vintage could be recently manufactured with vintage styling - Airstream for ex.
Can't be too hard to trace the purchase regardless
Posted by Throluns Wherert8540 2020-12-25 19:19||   2020-12-25 19:19|| Front Page Top

#55 Witnesses heard 4 volleys of gun fire before the explosion.

Hero alert. Video shows a police officer warning a man walking his dog of a bomb threat and was escorting him and his dog back to his home when the explosion occurred, the officer assisted the man and dog back into their home and immediately returned to the street seconds after the explosion.
Posted by Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 2020-12-25 19:22||   2020-12-25 19:22|| Front Page Top

#56 
Posted by Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 2020-12-25 19:24||   2020-12-25 19:24|| Front Page Top

#57 Live local coverage.

Posted by Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 2020-12-25 19:32||   2020-12-25 19:32|| Front Page Top

#58 Trivial and less than anecdotal, but... one San Diegan flipped through this morning's OTA network news-n-schmooze every few minutes for a solid hour without seeing any trace whatsoever of this event. Struck me as a little odd even for a Christmas morning in 2020.
Posted by Solomon Tingle1162 2020-12-25 19:42||   2020-12-25 19:42|| Front Page Top

#59 Note the red car behind the camper in the above picture.
Posted by Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 2020-12-25 19:51||   2020-12-25 19:51|| Front Page Top

#60 Was parked next to the AT&T building, downtown, which may have been the primary target.
Posted by Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 2020-12-25 20:05||   2020-12-25 20:05|| Front Page Top

#61 "This kinda has a 1993 OK City feel to it...that feeling is offset by the fact that this is an attack in the South on Christmas Day."

OK City was a couple of idiots upset that Iraqi civilians were caught up in the war their government started. Supposed right-wing groups rejected the idiots; the supposed militia connections were their failed attempts to get support.
Posted by Rob Crawford 2020-12-25 20:06||   2020-12-25 20:06|| Front Page Top

#62 Blew up AT&T. Affected internet in the wider area. If they can't pin this RV on someone, could be government operation. Or something similar.
Posted by gorb 2020-12-25 20:08||   2020-12-25 20:08|| Front Page Top

#63 OK City was a couple of idiots upset that Iraqi civilians were caught up in the war their government started. Supposed right-wing groups rejected the idiots; the supposed militia connections were their failed attempts to get support.
Posted by: Rob Crawford

What?

Ok City bombing in 95 was in response to the Waco siege and Ruby Ridge... Anniversary of Waco fiasco.
Posted by Tennessee 2020-12-25 20:13||   2020-12-25 20:13|| Front Page Top

#64 + anniversary of shot heard 'round the world / Lexington & Concord.

Not clear how AT&T relates to Dec. 25... or anything significant, really
Posted by Clyde Gleng3393 2020-12-25 20:25||   2020-12-25 20:25|| Front Page Top

#65 flipped through this morning's OTA network news-n-schmooze every few minutes for a solid hour without seeing any trace whatsoever of this event. Struck me as a little odd even for a Christmas morning in 2020.

They're scrambling to fit it into the narrative.
Trying to find a way to blame Trump, deplorables, Whitey etc
Posted by Knuckles Phaising1861 2020-12-25 20:50||   2020-12-25 20:50|| Front Page Top

#66 "Ok City bombing in 95 was in response to the Waco siege and Ruby Ridge... Anniversary of Waco fiasco."

I'm pretty sure it was kicked off by anger over Iraq. The Waco/Ruby Ridge angle likely came later.
Posted by Rob Crawford 2020-12-25 20:52||   2020-12-25 20:52|| Front Page Top

#67 Will RV's be banned now?
Posted by Clem 2020-12-25 22:13||   2020-12-25 22:13|| Front Page Top

#68 Black painted mirrors. Looks like this could be the same or similar model.

1999 Ford Econoline 6.8L For Sale in Crowley LA
Posted by Besoeker 2020-12-25 22:49||   2020-12-25 22:49|| Front Page Top

17:48 49 Pan
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