[Discussion] Sooo, Nashville...

A place for Nashvillains to check in as safe, a spot for the latest news, and a repository for wild conjecture about the Christmas bombing.

I would say part of the reason is the brain drain agencies have suffered under Trump.

The FBI has known for years that white supremacists and right wing extremists were the biggest domestic terrorism threat, but Trump has deliberately ignored them and been extremely combatitive with them over stuff like election security.

As for DHS, Trump has fired or sidelined anyone who wants to even look at anything other than illegal immigration.

Not electing Islamaphobes who set budget and priorities of executive agencies would be a good start.

Trump has set the priority for the FBI and DHS away from what can be seen as right-wing terrorism, just like other administrations neutered the FEC and the IRS investigatory arms. As Mixolyde notes, having someone competent and even-handed would be a good start.

But also remember, the FBI was not (before 9/11) terribly focused on traditional intelligence work within the US. The work they did against White Supremacists and Patriot Militias in the 90's definitely turned the publuc against that, and Republicans were only too happy to kick that to the curb. And the CIA was not even allowed to operate against domestic targets (although I think foreigners in the US were legit monitoring targets) because they had abused the privilege in the 50's through the 70's. And most importantly, until 2004 there was no Director of National Intelligence, so each agency had its own policies on what info to share, when to share it, and with whom.

I find it odd that domestic terrorism went on the rise in a time we shifted resources away from domestic terrorism.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

I find it odd that domestic terrorism went on the rise in a time we shifted resources away from domestic terrorism.

Good people on both sides, brah. Govt can't tread on my free speech right to expression by suicide bombing.

And during the Obama admin when DHS warned of right-wing extremists, Republicans went ballistic. DHS caved and reduced surveillance of those groups.

Republicans: Get tough on crime!
Obama: Ok.
Republicans: We meant black people!

farley3k wrote:

How many acts of Islamic terrorism have happened during that time frame? I think their focus on Islam may be misguided by a huge margin.

I completely agree with this statement.

Again, I'm trying to walk over eggshells because I see the US from the outside. I really want to be part of this discussion without posting something that could be seen as me disregarding people's feelings about this.

It really does feel like Islam has become this bogeyman. Of course when I say 'Islam' I mean 'Islamic extremism'.

Leaders have always pointed the finger at others to rally the people and have them forget their domestic worries.

Hobbes2099 wrote:

It really does feel like Islam has become this bogeyman. Of course when I say 'Islam' I mean 'Islamic extremism'.

The problem in the US is that, for Republicans, Islam *is* a boogeyman. But then so are Communist Authoritarians (usually labeled "Democrats"), the social safety net (Communism), taxes (used to implement Communist policies), public health (Communist policies), safety and environmental regulations (Communism), voter's rights (Communist vote manipulation), anti-corruption laws (used by Communists to suppress freedom-loving politicians and businessmen), anti-racism laws (enables Communist voters), higher education (Communist indoctrination) and fluoridation of the water supply (the OG Communist plot to weaken our bodily fluids). I'm sure there's more but the answer is always "Moar Communism"...

The GOP is fundamentally the "anyone not like me is evil" party.

The US labeled Islam a threat from the very beginning of the movement in the US. At first it was simply because it was unifying black Americans in another religion other than Christianity. So that was a double no for America. Can’t have black peoples unifying...and certainly not under any other religion other than the slave religion.

Girlfriend warned Nashville police Anthony Warner was building bomb a year ago, report shows

The Tennessean wrote:

...

On Aug. 21, 2019, the girlfriend told Nashville police that Warner "was building bombs in the RV trailer at his residence," the MNPD report states. Nashville police then forwarded the information to the FBI.

Officers were called to the home of Warner's girlfriend, roughly a mile and a half from Warner, who lived at 115 Bakertown Road.

Police were called by the woman's attorney, Raymond Throckmorton III, who was concerned about comments she had made. When they arrived, they found her sitting on the porch with two unloaded guns nearby.

"She related that the guns belonged to a 'Tony Warner' and that she did not want them in the house any longer," MNPD spokesman Don Aaron said in a statement to The Tennessean.

While at the house, the woman told police about the bomb comments Warner had made.

Throckmorton, who served as the woman's attorney, told officers Warner "frequently talks about the military and bomb making," the document said.

Warner "knows what he is doing and is capable of making a bomb," the attorney said to the officers, according to the report.

In an interview Tuesday night, Throckmorton told The Tennessean he urged police at the time to look into the woman's claim. He said she feared for her safety, believing Warner may harm her.

According the police report and Throckmorton, the woman was experiencing a mental health crisis at the time. Officers called their mobile crisis division, and after talking with the woman, she agreed to be transported by ambulance for a psychological evaluation, Aaron said.

Police then went to Warner's home, but he didn't answer the door after they knocked several times.

Officers saw his RV behind the house, but the vehicle was fenced off and police were unable to see inside of it, the report said. While there, police noted that there were "several security cameras and wires attached to a alarm sign on the front door."

The officers notified supervisors and detectives about the incident.

"They saw no evidence of a crime and had no authority to enter his home or fenced property," Aaron said of officers' unsuccessful attempt to make contact with Warner or look inside the RV.

The department's hazardous devices unit was given a copy of the report.

The next day, Nashville police sent the report and identifying information about Warner to the FBI to check their databases, Aaron said in a statement to The Tennessean.

Later that day, Aaron said, "the FBI reported back that they checked their holdings and found no records on Warner at all."

Darrell DeBusk, a spokesperson for the FBI, told The Tennessean Tuesday night the inquiry was a standard agency-to-agency record check.

Then on Aug. 28, 2019, the Department of Defense reported back that "checks on Warner were all negative," Aaron said.

During the week of August 26, 2019, police called Throckmorton, who declined to allow police to interview Warner or go on Warner's property, the FBI told The Tennessean.

So this could have all been prevented if the police actually f*cking did their jobs instead of listening to Warner's girlfriend and going "this Female Doggo is crazy."

Double WTF points for claiming they had no authority to enter and search Warner's property when that would have never been raised as an issue if Warner was Muslim or a POC. It would have been door kicking time.

Gawd, of course they had a chance. Ugh.

Even the FBI. They'll have to add Warner's attack to their The Lone Offender Terrorism Report, which they published less than two months after his girlfriend called the police and the police contacted them.