The Nashville Christmas Day Bombing

The Nashville Christmas Day Bombing is but the latest in a litany of shocking events that have unsettled our world as we close out these last days of 2020, which is still unfolding as investigations continue.

Anthony Quinn Warner, the focus of interest, died at the scene and his DNA was found at the site of the explosion, according to U.S. attorney Don Cochran. Apparently, Warner parked a vehicle on a street in downtown Nashville on Dec. 25th before allegedly broadcasting a warning before the explosion Cochran stated that Warner “is the bomber” and “he was present went the bomb went off.”

Thus far no one or group is claiming responsibility for this act of terrorism, leaving the purpose, intent, or target of the act open to debate.  On December 27th, rampant speculation that this attack has something to do with the 2020 Presidential election surfaced on social media and several other news outlets such as Chicago Now.

The AT&T building that was heavily damaged is a significant part of infrastructure in Nashville and the explosion impacted internet, TV and cell service in a large area, that were down as far away as Clarksville, TN.

AT&T was reportedly contracted to do a forensic audit on Dominion Voting Machines and those machines were being moved to Nashville this past week. According to Wikipedia, the former owner of the AT&T building in Nashville is William Kennard, a board member for Cerberus Capital Management and AT&T, who was also FCC Chairman under Bill Clinton and President Obama’s Ambassador to the EU.  Dominion voting is owned by Cerberus Capital Management, which is run by Staple Street Execs and Joe Biden’s brother-in-law, Steven Owens, is the cofounder of Staple Street Execs, along with Kennard.

According to fact-checkers at Snopes.com, however, both AT&T and Dominion have disclaimed the notion that the former company was engaged in an audit of the latter, or that any Dominion-related systems were being moved to Nashville in preparation for a forensic audit; and no available external evidence suggests AT&T was involved in any such audit.

As of now, Warner is believed to have been “paranoid about 5G technology” rather than pursuing any election related motive.

This would seem to indicate that the incident was perhaps a politically motivated attack; however, it is equally likely the explosion was a test upon the impact of taking out one of these communication nodes. This leads to speculation involving something much wider.   One bomb next to one communication node can cripple a large swath of real estate, while several simultaneous or sequential attacks could cripple communications nationwide, first by taking large geographic areas then by overwhelming what hasn’t been damaged in the form of rolling communications blackouts. It is also possible this was homegrown terrorists who were targeting police.

FBI spokesman Douglas Korneski said Sunday, Dec. 27th, that there is no indication anyone else was involved in the explosion. Hours of surveillance footage was reviewed by officials, which was used in making the determination that Warner was the lone individual involved, he said.

Korneski said DNA examinations of tissue samples found at the blast were consistent with those of Warner, but also called on anyone who may have known Warner to reach out to them about a possible motive.

When asked about a motive, Cochran did not say whether one was established by law enforcement and said officials are continuing to investigate.

Until someone claims responsibility and the intent and target are known, we won’t know for certain what this was about.

The inference is we are all at risk and that is the definition of terrorism. It’s not the size of the act, it is the consequences, the changes in behavior, the unsettling of the population, and the heightened fear and distrust of those already at odds with each other, which are already on full display.