The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Nashville: ‘Lone Wolf’ Suicide Bomber

Posted on | December 29, 2020 | Comments Off on Nashville: ‘Lone Wolf’ Suicide Bomber

Police have identified Anthony Quinn Warner, 63, as the perpetrator of the Christmas morning explosion in Nashville. It is believed that Warner acted alone and that he died in the blast:

Metro Nashville Police Department Spokesman Don Aaron confirmed Warner’s identity to the Associated Press on Sunday. He did not provide any more details. However, Warner had experience with electronics and alarms, according to public records. . . .
It appears to be a “lone wolf” situation, but the motive remains under investigation. Authorities do not believe the city of Nashville is in danger.
Separately, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press that federal investigators have started examining Warner’s digital footprint and financial history.

The Internet has been buzzing with two slightly separate but related theories of Warner’s motive, based on the fact that the target of his attack seems to have been the AT&T facility in downtown Nashville. Either (a) Warner was “paranoid” about 5G technology or (b) Warner was concerned about AT&T’s (very real) involvement in federal surveillance.

Keep in mind that both of these theories are just speculation. We do not yet know if Warner left behind any kind of “manifesto” or some other indication of his motive. Warner’s father, who died in 2011, “once worked for BellSouth communications before it merged with AT&T,” according to investigators, so it is possible that Warner had some kind of personal grievance against the company. Much speculation, however, has focused on conspiracy theories about 5G technology:

Law enforcement and intelligence agencies warned in May of this year about escalating threats targeting 5G communications infrastructure, a possible motive now being considered by investigators looking into the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville, according to government documents reviewed by Yahoo News. . . .
5G is the latest standard for broadband cellular networks, which is expected to dramatically increase data transfer speeds. . . .
A May 14 Joint Intelligence Bulletin produced by the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center warns of social media posts calling on people to “target critical infrastructure including cell towers, locations associated with the electric power grid, and other sites associated with perceived impending government action against citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic” and referring to past attacks in Europe and the United States on cell towers.
The bulletin notes that there have been dozens of recent attacks on cell towers, particularly those associated with 5G service, in Western Europe. While there have been fewer such attacks in the United States — just six, according to the bulletin — there have been increasing online calls for such attacks, according to the document. . . .
“Online calls for targeting have focused particularly on those facilities believed to be equipped with 5G wireless technologies, probably in part because of the recent proliferation of conspiracy theories that falsely link the COVID-19 pandemic spread with 5G infrastructure development, including beliefs that 5G towers cause the spread of COVID-19 or weaken the immune system allowing transmission of COVID-19,” the document says.
The intelligence bulletin also says that some of the calls for attacks on critical infrastructure sites, like those connected to 5G, appear to come from white supremacists.

Oh, of course, they had to throw in the “white supremacist” angle, despite the complete lack of evidence connecting Warner to any such ideology, and despite the fact that 5G conspiracy theories are also rampant in minority communities and among left-wing anarchist types.

Beyond mere speculation and politically motivated finger-pointing, however, there is the reality — not a theory, but a fact — that AT&T is working with the National Security Agency.

AT&T Helped U.S. Spy on Internet on a Vast Scale

That’s a 2015 headline from the New York Times which, so far as I know, is not a right-wing “white supremacist” conspiracy theory site.

The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities

That’s a 2018 headline from the Intercept, and although Nashville was not named as a site of one of these “NSA spy hubs,” there’s this:

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.

So if you’re concerned about federal surveillance, you would certainly consider AT&T one of the bad guys. But it’s best to avoid any kind of potentially paranoia-inducing information if you’re concerned about your mental health. That is to say, if we are being targeted for warrantless surveillance by an all-powerful “Them” — Big Brother, the Deep State, rogue agents trampling on our constitutional rights — I don’t want to think too much about it, or it might drive me completely bonkers.

“How to Maintain Your Sanity” — trust me, I’m an expert.




 

Category: Crime, Tennessee, Terrorism

In The Mailbox: 12.28.20

Posted on | December 29, 2020 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 12.28.20

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: They Suffered A Failure Of The Victim-Selection Process
EBL: Reviews – Room 237, also, The Parking Lot Movie
Twitchy: Rapper Who Campaigned For GA Senate Candidates Has Some Problematic Tweets
Louder With Crowder: Fed Up Restaurant Owner Blocks Health Inspector’s Car, Delivers Awesome Rant
Vox Popoli: Why I Am Confident, also, Why The President Signed The Spending Bill
Stoic Observations: Practical Communism

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Merry Christmas
American Conservative: Profiles In Conservative Cowardice
American Greatness: An Essential Man, also, Did Americans Come To Love Big Brother?
American Power: How Christopher Lasch Repudiated The Radical Left
American Thinker: It’s For Mike Pence To Judge Whether A Legitimate Presidential Election Was Held At All, also, What Denying Election Fraud Accomplishes
Animal Magnetism: Holiday Totty
Babalu Blog: Castro Regime Will Take 75% Of The Wages Paid To Its Slave Doctors In Panama, also, The “Freedom Squad” Is Ready To Take On The Socialist “Squad” In Congress
BattleSwarm: LinkSwarm For December 25, also, UT Disbands PC Police
Cafe Hayek: Wise Warnings Conveyed With Wit, also, Making Visible Some Of The Unseen Tragedies Of COVID Derangement Syndrome
CDR Salamander: The Navy Has Problems And Must Be Bold To Fix Them
Da Tech Guy: Seeing Is Not Believing, also, Brady Vs. The Expectations Game Revisited
Don Surber: Thank You, Kirk Cameron, also, California Proves Lockdowns Don’t Work
First Street Journal: Big Brother Is Watching You – And The Left Thinks You Need To Be Watched More Closely, also, Killadelphia
The Geller Report: Sidney Powell Releases Massive 270-Page Document Detailing Alleged Election Fraud, also, Muslims Slaughter Nigerian Christians In Sickening Christmas Eve Attack
Hogewash: That Was The Year That Was – Fits 1,2, & 3, also, I Don’t Believe Her
Hollywood In Toto: Adam Carolla Says Mainstream Media & Big Tech Rigged The Election For Biden, also, How To Die For Predicted The Rise Of Social Media Influencers
The Lid: Red Chinese Puppet – GA Democrat Jon Ossoff Urged Americans To Follow Chicom State Media
Legal Insurrection: St. Fauci says American’s Can’t Handle The Truth About The Pandemic, also, Jeffrey Epstein’s Last Cellmate Died In November From COVID
Nebraska Energy Observer: Joy To The World, also, Random Observations
Power Line: Are Democrats In Trouble In 2022? also, Reject Woke Civics
Shark Tank: Eskamani Slams Republicans & Trump For Lack Of COVID Relief
Shot In The Dark: Un-Krakened
STUMP: Happy Stu Day!
This Ain’t Hell: A Response To Our Resident “Boomer-Hater”, also, Special Forces Sergeant Charged In Shooting
Victory Girls: Rand Paul Condemns Governors As “Tin Pot Dictators”, also, Kamala Chameleon Tells Kwanzaa Tales
Volokh Conspiracy: Trump Campaign Loses Another Court Appeal
Weasel Zippers: Buzzfeed Discovers Chicom Slave Labor Camps, also, Madison – We Closed Your Businesses & Ruined Your Life, But If You Don’t Clear The Snow We’ll Fine You
The Federalist: Dr. Fauci Admits He’s Treated The American People Like Children, also, Five Big Things We’ve Learned About Our Elites In 2020
Mark Steyn: The Mark Steyn Christmas Show, also, Boxing Day With Mark & Friends

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Category: Linkagery

‘Something for Everyone to Hate’

Posted on | December 28, 2020 | 1 Comment

It would be interesting to know how many high-school students in Loudon County, Virginia, would be able to identify Col. Edward D. Baker. If you are a student of the Civil War, you know that Baker’s death in the Battle of Ball’s Bluff was the chief inspiration for the creation of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, chaired by the radical abolitionist Sen. Ben Wade of Ohio. This tale is told artfully by Bruce Catton in a dozen pages (pp. 68-80) of Mr. Lincoln’s Army, a book I doubt any recent student at Heritage High School in Leesburg has actually bothered to read, despite the fact that the historic events related by Catton happened about five miles down the road from the high school.

Military history is almost completely absent from the 21st-century curriculum, which is big on “social justice” themes and short of any genuinely useful knowledge. What students are expected to learn in school now is not facts, but rather a politically-correct attitude. The way history is now taught, the chief goal of the curriculum is to inspire teenagers with the kind of fanatical passion for “progressive” values that one might find in an Antifa riot in Portland, Oregon — fire-bombing police cars as your senior project. But I digress . . .

Heritage High School was the scene of a teenage melodrama this summer, when a vindictive punk decided to make a big deal out of a Snapchat video, thus destroying the reputation of the captain of the school’s varsity cheerleading squad. “There’s something for everyone to hate in this story,” Ed Driscoll remarks, and indeed I found something:

How long must the South be chastised for its history? For the editors of the New York Times, apparently, the answer is, “Forever.” Nothing could be more obvious in its intended purpose than the non-accidental choice of Leesburg, Virginia, for the latest iteration of the tiresomely familiar “Legacy of Slavery” theme in the New York Times.
If you are not a Southerner, or if you pay no attention to the New York Times, you may be unfamiliar with that newspaper’s long tradition of invoking slavery, the Civil War, and Jim Crow as a means of insinuating the South’s permanent status of moral inferiority. . . .

Read the rest of my latest column at The American Spectator.




 

Category: American Spectator, History, New York Times, Virginia

Rule 5 Sunday: Sally Field

Posted on | December 28, 2020 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

I was thinking earlier that Smokey & The Bandit was a movie that couldn’t be remade these days, because in an age when you can walk into any supermarket in most states and get whatever beer you want, who would smuggle a semi-trailer full of Coors from Texas to Georgia? Also, who could replace Jerry Reed, Burt Reynolds, and Jackie Gleason, to say nothing of Sally Field? Apparently Universal wants to give it a try, though. Here’s Sally in a still from the movie.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

Now there’s a runaway bride worth chasing!

Ninety Miles From Tyranny: Hot Pick of the Late Night, The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #1211, Morning Mistress, and Girls With Guns.

Animal Magnetism: Merry Christmas and the Saturday Gingermageddon.

EBL: The Petersens, The Magic Flute, Nordic Solstice, Cendrillon, Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem, The Ronettes, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Feast Of The Seven Fishes, Darleen Love, La Boheme, Judy Garland, Hansel & Gretel, Felicity Jones, Celtic Women, El Cid, The Merry Widow, and MAGA Ivanka.

A View From The Beach: Out of Season – Autumn Reeser, A Biden Crime Family Christmas, Fish Pic Friday – Christmas Edition, Christmas Time is Here, By Golly, “Pontoon”, Wednesday Wetness, Tattoo Tuesday?, Your Monday Morning Stimulus and Palm Sunday

Thanks to everyone for all the luscious linkagery!

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Category: Rule 5

FMJRA 2.0: Eastbound & Down

Posted on | December 28, 2020 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: Eastbound & Down

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

British Court Rules It’s OK to Call ‘Stephanie Hayden’ a ‘Pig in a Wig’
357 Magnum
EBL

The Lewinsky Scandal and Media Bias
Rotten Chestnuts
EBL

A Grim Anniversary in Kansas
357 Magnum
EBL

Do You Have Enough Ammunition?
357 Magnum
EBL

FMJRA 2.0: The Mountain Road
A View From The Beach
EBL

Rule 5 Sunday: Santa Ereshkigal
Animal Magnetism
Harsh Brutus
Ninety Miles From Tyranny
A View From The Beach
EBL
Proof Positive

The Wedding Was Lovely
Bacon Time
Dark Brightness
EBL

Be Patient
The Pirate’s Cove
Dark Brightness
A View From The Beach
EBL

In The Mailbox: 12.21.20
A View From The Beach
357 Magnum
EBL
Proof Positive

Ode to SCOTUS
357 Magnum
EBL

The Destructive Meaning of ‘Equality’
357 Magnum
EBL

In The Mailbox: 12.23.20 (Afternoon Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
Proof Positive

Raphael Warnock: Dindu Nuffin
EBL
Proof Positive

In The Mailbox: 12.24.20 (Afternoon Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
Proof Positive

In The Mailbox: 12.24.20 (Christmas Eve Edition)
A View From The Beach
EBL
Proof Positive

‘Happy Trails, Hans’: What Is Everybody’s Favorite Christmas Movie Really About?
357 Magnum
EBL
Proof Positive

Top linkers for the week ending December 25:

  1.  EBL (16)
  2.  (tied) 357 Magnum, A View From The Beach, & Proof Positive (7)

Thanks to everyone for all the links!

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Category: FMJRA Award

Left-Wing Journalist Among 4 Arrested in Arkansas for Firebombing Police Cars

Posted on | December 27, 2020 | 6 Comments

Renea Baek Goddard, 22, came to the United States as a child when her Air Force father, who had met her mother while stationed in South Korea, was transferred to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The family later moved to Arkansas when her father was transferred to Little Rock AFB. While a student at the Little Rock campus of the University of Arkansas, Goddard became a journalist and worked last year for a public radio station (KUAR) while also writing for other outlets including the left-wing site Truthout, where she wrote that “journalists have a responsibility to be vigilant” against white supremacists.

Well, I guess somebody needs to be “vigilant” against journalists, too:

Four suspects, including a journalist, from Little Rock, Ark. with extreme far-left ties were taken into custody and charged by federal authorities last week in connection to coordinated firebombings of police cruisers over the summer.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas announced that Brittany Dawn Jeffrey, 31, Renea Baek Goddard, 22, Aline Espinosa-Villegas, 24, and Emily Nowlin, 27, were arrested following a months-long ATF investigation.
The four suspects have been charged with malicious destruction of property belonging to an entity receiving federal funding, conspiracy to commit those acts and possession of a destructive device.

You can read the rest about this motley crew, but my favorite tidbit in this pathetic saga was unearthed by Andy Ngo:

Renea Goddard is a decidedly weird person. She has denounced U.S. “imperialism” for saving South Korea from Communism, and identifies as a Marxist lesbian even while vending her “slutty” images via the capitalist venue OnlyFans. Too bad we can’t send her to Pyongyang.




 

Category: Arkansas, Crime

‘Person of Interest’

Posted on | December 26, 2020 | Comments Off on ‘Person of Interest’

Everybody is now reporting — although police have not yet officially confirmed — that Anthony Quinn Warner, 63, has been identified as a “person of interest” in Friday’s Nashville explosion. ATF and FBI agents are reportedly searching Warner’s home in the Nashville suburb of Antioch, Tennessee. He reportedly gave away his home to a woman last month, and at least to me, this would seem to suggest that Warner (who was unmarried and had no children) was in a state of suicidal despair.

So my guess would be that Warner blew himself up in the explosion, and the real mystery is why he apparently targeted the AT&T building.




 

Category: Crime, Tennessee

Mysterious Explosion in Nashville

Posted on | December 26, 2020 | 4 Comments

This appears to be some kind of terrorist attack:

A bomb planted in a recreational vehicle parked in the deserted streets of downtown Nashville exploded early Christmas morning, injuring three people and creating chaotic communications outages that took down police emergency systems.
The explosion was preceded by a chilling warning that urged people to evacuate the area.
Three people were hospitalized in stable condition Friday evening, and human remains may have been found at the scene, authorities said.
“We have found tissue that we believe could be remains,” Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said at a news conference Friday afternoon. The chief said it was unclear if the remains came from someone in the RV.
“The RV was detonated so if it was someone inside, we have no idea,” Drake said. “It was such a large explosion.”
Police were responding to a report of shots fired when they found the vehicle, with an eerie recording playing, Drake said. The voice on the recording commanded: “If you can hear this message, evacuate now.”
Police called in the bomb squad and rushed to clear nearby buildings.
“The officers immediately began knocking on doors and evacuating residents here, not knowing if the bomb was going to go off immediately, or if it was going to go off in the time that was stated,” Drake said. “The officers saved lives today, and their heroism should be noted.”
The blast occurred at 6:29 a.m. local time, before the bomb squad arrived.
The explosion was near an AT&T building, causing disruptions in phone service and 911 systems up to 180 miles away. The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily stopped flights out of Nashville International Airport due to the communications problems.
AT&T said in a statement it was “putting the full force of our disaster recovery efforts into responding to this morning’s explosion in Nashville.”

That the bomb was placed next to an AT&T building suggests that this was the intended target. So who would want to take out this communication facility and why? And why Nashville, of all places?

Also, what about that recorded warning to evacuate the area? This is further evidence suggesting that the bomber sought to destroy the AT&T building, rather than seeking to maximize human casualties, as terrorist bombers normally would. Setting the bomb at 6:30 a.m. on Christmas morning, when the streets were empty, is also evidence pointing in the same direction. But that might be a red herring, an attempt to mislead investigators by creating misleading evidence. The bomb might be an elaborate cover-up to conceal another crime, as police suspected in the case of the Speedway Bomber.

The investigation will obviously begin with determining who owned that RV. Once that is known, the rest of the relevant facts will come tumbling out in a rush. Building an enormous bomb requires time and resources, as well as extensive specialized knowledge. Achieving a timed detonation, as appears to be the case here, is a difficult feat, requiring the bomb-maker to avoid a premature accidental detonation.

If the motive for this bombing is political, what sort of politics? They did not choose as their target a synagogue or a mosque, nor was the target a government building or the office of a political party. The choice of the AT&T building — what does that suggest? AT&T is a gigantic conglomerate that bought out Time-Warner a few years ago. But why would the bomber target the company’s Nashville office? This is a strange puzzle, and I’m sure when the case is solved — probably within the next 72 hours — the story behind it will be quite interesting.

UPDATE: A 63-year-old man is reportedly a “person of interest.”




 

Category: Crime, Tennessee, Terrorism
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