Octopus Overlords

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 12:48 pm

pr0ner wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 12:41 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 12:34 pm

pr0ner wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 12:24 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 12:11 pm

pr0ner wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 12:03 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 11:57 am

pr0ner wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 11:53 am Quite a leap to put the Nashville bombing in a political violence thread without all the facts.

It is a reasonable guess. Bombings are typically political (in fact almost always). It'd be a leap to say much more than that - I was considering the police are calling it intentional.

Intentional != political.

Yes there is a chance it isn't political - as acknowledged - but it seems reasonable to believe it will be political. Since it is an intentional act that caused an explosion. That's it. What is the problem here?

The problem is your conclusion is not at all reasonable.

I think it is pretty reasonable to think that an intentional 'explosion' on a major holiday...is almost certainly political. (Since most bombings are political). I might end up being wrong on that guess but again what is the problem with the post? It really feels like people are having an unreasonable reaction to the post IMO.

Starting a new thread in EBG about this incident would have been more appropriate than dumping it in a political violence thread with zero evidence other than conjecture. Your decision is what is unreasonable, not the reaction of others to where you posted it.

I think there is a bit more than zero evidence but whatever. Sorry to disappoint the forum VSP. We'll see.

There's really no point in engaging with you anymore.

Jesus, Twitter is an absolute mess on this right now. Tons of stories, hard to say which ones are credible.

Fortunately, there's a LOT of surveillance in a downtown area. We'll know a lot more in just a few hours.

pr0ner wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 1:01 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 12:48 pm

pr0ner wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 12:41 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 12:34 pm

pr0ner wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 12:24 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 12:11 pm

pr0ner wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 12:03 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 11:57 am

pr0ner wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 11:53 am Quite a leap to put the Nashville bombing in a political violence thread without all the facts.

It is a reasonable guess. Bombings are typically political (in fact almost always). It'd be a leap to say much more than that - I was considering the police are calling it intentional.

Intentional != political.

Yes there is a chance it isn't political - as acknowledged - but it seems reasonable to believe it will be political. Since it is an intentional act that caused an explosion. That's it. What is the problem here?

The problem is your conclusion is not at all reasonable.

I think it is pretty reasonable to think that an intentional 'explosion' on a major holiday...is almost certainly political. (Since most bombings are political). I might end up being wrong on that guess but again what is the problem with the post? It really feels like people are having an unreasonable reaction to the post IMO.

Starting a new thread in EBG about this incident would have been more appropriate than dumping it in a political violence thread with zero evidence other than conjecture. Your decision is what is unreasonable, not the reaction of others to where you posted it.

I think there is a bit more than zero evidence but whatever. Sorry to disappoint the forum VSP. We'll see.

There's really no point in engaging with you anymore.

It isn't engagement. It was IMO a scold-y overreaction to a post. The tweet literally says the police said there was likely an 'intentional explosion'. Which is btw more than 'zero evidence'. I still think it is reasonable to believe that an 'intentional explosion' of a vehicle is political since they *almost always are*. Is it speculation? A little sure, but talking about reasonableness is rich here.

The article I posted above described the explosion as outside a AT&T building. I just looked it up. It looks like it was the central telco switching building for the area. Interesting because that is potentially a infrastructure target. Also interesting because those often are some of the most hardened buildings in a city.

BTW - more facts. FBI is in the lead. Andrew McCabe just said on CNN that reports are that the police got a call of 'shots fired' from the location and police were on-route to the scene when it exploded. He also said a massive intentional explosion of a vehicle will almost certainly be worked as a 'terrorist' action first and foremost until they have a reason not to be believe that.

Huh.

One of the comments is bananas if true. It'd help explain the time/lack of injuries.

The ABC article also mentions it was in front of a court house.

It's possible that this was aimed at cops. Someone is warning people to get away, then firing shots to make sure police are summoned. Then bang.

But that's pure speculation.

Little Raven wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 1:56 pm It's possible that this was aimed at cops. Someone is warning people to get away, then firing shots to make sure police are summoned. Then bang.

But that's pure speculation.

That was what McCabe was saying. They could have been trying to get cops to respond but also could have been a coincedence.

So there's a news conference now. Police official confirms that officers called to the scene heard message saying a bomb would go off in 15 minutes.

Just got a good look of the telco building - the blast punched a good size hole and breached below ground, the 1st floor, and the 2nd floor of a telephone switch building. That is pretty crazy. If you've never been in one, they are formidable. The switching gear/network meet me rooms are usually on higher floors for just this reason -- ground level explosions - but I'd be curious to know if circuits are down in the area. It depends where the main trunks from the street come into the building.

Edit:

Freyland wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 1:52 pm The ABC article also mentions it was in front of a court house.

The court house is well away from it. I'd bet real money the target was the telephone switching building.

$iljanus wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 2:09 pm So there's a news conference now. Police official confirms that officers called to the scene heard message saying a bomb would go off in 15 minutes.

Which would not be an effective way to kill cops.

This seems like someone trying to demonstrate what they can do in the future. Creepy as hell.

So we still don't know the motivation, but it was pretty definitely a terror attack or demonstration based on those latest reports.

Holman wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 2:39 pmThis seems like someone trying to demonstrate what they can do in the future. Creepy as hell.

These type of terror attacks (initial device, followed by multiple secondary devices targeting first responders) are quite common around the globe. I couldn't tell you why it's not happened here, but it's something I know we (public responders, emergency responders, etc....) have been educated about and aware of since 9/11.

My initial gut reaction is that this was a test of a car/truck bomb design, to assess how well it works. It looks like it was parked in the middle of the block, between a tall, nondescript commercial building and a block of restaurants and clubs. Nothing about the location seems like anything specific would be a likely target, although it's within a half mile or so of any number of state and federal buildings, including the State Capitol.

One bright spot is Trump's apparent lack of interest in jumping all over the story. He's not trying to make a Reichstag fire out of it.

Max Peck wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 3:32 pm My initial gut reaction is that this was a test of a car/truck bomb design, to assess how well it works. It looks like it was parked in the middle of the block, between a tall, nondescript commercial building and a block of restaurants and clubs. Nothing about the location seems like anything specific would be a likely target, although it's within a half mile or so of any number of state and federal buildings, including the State Capitol.

The ATT building is full of DSLAMs and fiber switches.

I’m seeing reports that human remains have been found near the blast, but they’re not sure if they’re related. This whole thing is grade A creepy.

Lets see.....unmarked RV, explosion, remains....my God Walter White is dead!....again.

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 6:55 pm I’m seeing reports that human remains have been found near the blast, but they’re not sure if they’re related. This whole thing is grade A creepy.

Yeah - it'd be crazy if this turned out to just be some weird suicide thing. That probably is a remote chance but the whole thing is so damn unusual.

malchior wrote:

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Dec 25, 2020 6:55 pm I’m seeing reports that human remains have been found near the blast, but they’re not sure if they’re related. This whole thing is grade A creepy.

Yeah - it'd be crazy if this turned out to just be some weird suicide thing. That probably is a remote chance but the whole thing is so damn unusual.

It almost reminds me of something that would be a plot device in an elaborate heist movie. The AT&T building needs to be hit so the communication lines to some computer gets knocked out to break into some McGuffin.

Yeah, my gut instinct is that it was an isolated person, and not the part of some greater terrorist scheme. Everything about it is just so bizarre that it reminds me of past "lone wacko" style shenanigans.

Did I read earlier that the recorded voice was female ?

I don’t know where I got that impression earlier, as I’ve not seen it said again (if I ever did In the first place ).

Unagi wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 12:38 pm Did I ready earlier that the recorded voice was female ?

I don’t know where I got that impression earlier, as I’ve not seen it said again (if I ever did In the first place ).

The video of it (don't know if it has been authenticated) had a female voice.

Though it's not clear to me that the voice is from the actual perpetrator. Might have been an artificial voice (or distorted).

Defiant wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 12:51 pm

Unagi wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 12:38 pm Did I ready earlier that the recorded voice was female ?

I don’t know where I got that impression earlier, as I’ve not seen it said again (if I ever did In the first place ).

The video of it (don't know if it has been authenticated) had a female voice.

Though it's not clear to me that the voice is from the actual perpetrator. Might have been an artificial voice (or distorted).

Yeah - its very easy to synthesize voice nowadays. Especially if it was unattended.

Where was Kelly Loeffler?

Named now.

I wish I hadn't wasted the last hour down the rabbithole. I feel like I need a shower to wash off the conspiracy theories.

Beside the name, the only confirmed news is that some human remains have been discovered at the blast site. I guess it could be someone unfortunate enough not to heed the recorded warning, but I kind of wonder if this was an elaborate suicide.

I hate headlines like: FBI TURNING OVER EVERY STONE TO FIND EXPLOSION SUSPECTS. And here I thought they would do a cursory exam and call it a day.

My favorite story was an apparently AI-written story -- a guess solely based on the utter weirdness of the composition of the piece -- talking today that "the police had called a bomb squad due to circumstances of the RV". Hey Ai, do you mean the circumstance surrounding how the RV announced it was going to explode and was counting down? The future of news -- today!

It shouldn't take investigators long to figure out what the explosive was.

It sucks that everyone is rushing to find a political aspect to this. It’s very possible that like the Vegas shooter from a few years ago, this is a mentally ill human being. But we live in such a polarized world right now, I guess the most likely explanations will always take a back seat.

Occam's sledgehammer.

hepcat wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 9:39 pm It sucks that everyone is rushing to find a political aspect to this. It’s very possible that like the Vegas shooter from a few years ago, this is a mentally ill human being. But we live in such a polarized world right now, I guess the most likely explanations will always take a back seat.

I get that but mentally ill people often are the impacted by polarized times. Assuming this was a suicide - which looks more and more likely - how do the times influence them? In the end, that suicidal person may have built a huge RV bomb and tried to destroy a Central Office. This person didn't organically come up with this idea on their own. Anyway, in the short, it can easily be both a suicide *and* terrorism.

malchior wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 9:52 pm

hepcat wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 9:39 pm It sucks that everyone is rushing to find a political aspect to this. It’s very possible that like the Vegas shooter from a few years ago, this is a mentally ill human being. But we live in such a polarized world right now, I guess the most likely explanations will always take a back seat.

I get that but mentally ill people often are the impacted by polarized times. Assuming this was a suicide - which looks more and more likely - how do the times influence them? In the end, that suicidal person may have built a huge RV bomb and tried to destroy a Central Office. This person didn't organically come up with this idea on their own. Anyway, in the short, it can easily be both a suicide *and* terrorism.

I would believe it if the office was Comcast.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 10:03 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 9:52 pm

hepcat wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 9:39 pm It sucks that everyone is rushing to find a political aspect to this. It’s very possible that like the Vegas shooter from a few years ago, this is a mentally ill human being. But we live in such a polarized world right now, I guess the most likely explanations will always take a back seat.

I get that but mentally ill people often are the impacted by polarized times. Assuming this was a suicide - which looks more and more likely - how do the times influence them? In the end, that suicidal person may have built a huge RV bomb and tried to destroy a Central Office. This person didn't organically come up with this idea on their own. Anyway, in the short, it can easily be both a suicide *and* terrorism.

I would believe it if the office was Comcast.

I talked to someone today who made a plausible case for "disgruntled (former) employee." I'm sure that thought crossed the authorities' minds. It's as good a theory as any right now.

Given that they have a name, I imagine that if he were a former employee of any of the businesses damaged, it would have already been released.

A couple more things:

At least two tips were called into the FBI about Warner before the explosion. I don't believe we've been told what the tips were about, but since it was the FBI (and not just local police) it must mean someone thought he was up to something serious.

A month ago he sold his house to a woman in LA for zero dollars. I don't know if we know their relationship.