Terrorists, funsters and all the other nice people

[Dr Sardonicus]

Falwell sues Liberty, saying school damaged his reputation (my emphasis)

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Jerry Falwell Jr. has sued Liberty University, alleging the evangelical school founded by his late pastor father damaged his reputation in a series of public statements that followed his resignation as president and chancellor in August amid a series of scandals.

The lawsuit filed in Lynchburg Circuit Court on Wednesday includes claims of defamation and breach of contract. It alleges that Liberty officials accepted what Falwell says are false claims about his involvement in an extramarital affair between his wife and a business partner of the couple's and "moved quickly" to destroy his reputation.
<snip>
"When Mr. Falwell and his family became the targets of a malicious smear campaign incited by anti-evangelical forces, Liberty University not only accepted the salacious and baseless accusations against the Falwells at face value, but directly participated in the defamation. This action seeks redress for the damage Liberty has caused to the reputation of Mr. Falwell and his family," the lawsuit says.
<snip>
The lawsuit further alleges that "Liberty's actions are antithetical to the teachings of Christ." Falwell's attorneys charge the university with hurting its own standing and that of the broader evangelical community "by playing right into the hands of sinister operatives with ulterior motives."

LITIGATION, n. A machine which you go into as a pig and come out of as a sausage.

-- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

[Xyzzy]

A Lincoln Project adviser had provided public relations help to Granda after he went public with his allegations about a sexual relationship with Becki Falwell, although the group said Thursday that it “has had nothing to do with the public finally learning about the true character of the Falwell family.”

[Dr Sardonicus]

Falwell drops defamation lawsuit against Liberty University

LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) — Jerry Falwell Jr. has dropped a defamation lawsuit against his former employer, Liberty University.

A judge granted a motion this week to dismiss the case in a move that left open the possibility of Falwell refiling a similar one later, The News & Advance reported Thursday. Court documents give no indication of why Falwell opted to withdraw the lawsuit.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Police: Suspicious blast wounds 3 in Nashville on Christmas

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — An explosion shook the largely deserted streets of downtown Nashville early Christmas morning, shattering windows, damaging buildings and wounding three people. Authorities said they believed the blast was intentional.

Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said police were responding to a report of shots fired when they encountered a recreational vehicle blaring a recording that said a potential bomb was to detonate in 15 minutes. Police evacuated nearby buildings and called in the bomb squad.

"Shortly after that, the RV exploded,"Drake said at a midday news conference.

Surveillance video published on a Twitter account Friday that appeared to be recorded from across the street captured an audio recording that included the warning, "... if you can hear this message, evacuate now." The blast was captured on the surveillance video seconds later.
<snip>

EDIT: In the "mutability of history" department, if you follow my link to the the AP article I quoted from, you won't find the passage I quoted. The article has been revised "in place," leaving little of my quotation behind. Most of the second paragraph is recognizable, and a slightly edited form of the fourth paragraph of my quotation is a little further down.

The headline has been changed to Downtown Nashville explosion knocks communications offline.

Human remains were found in the vicinity of the explosion, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. It was unclear how the remains were related to the explosion or whether they might belong to the person believed to be responsible or a victim. The officials could not discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Also new,

AT&T said the affected building is the central office of a telephone exchange, with network equipment in it. The blast interrupted service, but the company declined to say how widespread outages were.
<snip>
The blast sent black smoke and flames billowing from the heart of downtown Nashville's tourist scene, an area packed with honky-tonks, restaurants and shops. Buildings shook and windows shattered streets away from the explosion near a building owned by AT&T that lies one block from the company's office tower, a landmark in downtown.

"We do not know if that was a coincidence, or if that was the intention," police spokesman Don Aaron said. He said earlier that some people were taken to the department's central precinct for questioning but declined to give details.

The AT&T outages site showed service issues in middle Tennessee and Kentucky, including Bowling Green about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of Nashville. Several police agencies reported that their 911 systems were down because of the outage, including Murfreesboro and Knox County, home to Knoxville about 180 miles (290 kilometers) east of Nashville.

The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily halted flights out of Nashville International Airport because of telecommunications issues associated with the explosion.

[moebius]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

Police: Suspicious blast wounds 3 in Nashville on Christmas

Mysterious video with loudspeaker announcements shortly before the detonation.
https://twitter.com/HKaaman/status/1342540455939026944

[Dr Sardonicus]

There's a "person of interest" in the Nashville bombing. The Daily Mail has lots of bizarre developments.

[storm5510]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

There's a "person of interest" in the Nashville bombing.

This event seemed to me like a test-run for something much larger in the future. It had shades of Oklahoma City. We do not need anything like that again.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by storm5510

This event seemed to me like a test-run for something much larger in the future. It had shades of Oklahoma City. We do not need anything like that again.

I wondered at first whether there would be any followup threats to that effect.

As of now, it doesn't look that way. Somebody could get "inspired" by the case, of course.

The Nashville Police did a great job getting people out of harm's way. One man was walking his dog right near the RV just before it exploded. An officer got him away from there just in time. The man calls his survival his "Christmas miracle." I'm sure the officers who risked their lives while getting others away from that RV will be up for commendations.

Among the details yet to be nailed down:

1) Did the RV that blew up actually belong to the "person of interest?" Apparently the "interest" came from a tip about the vehicle. The VIN would establish whose RV it was. I don't know where all the VIN is on an RV, but my guess is they'll find it on something.

2) Did the "person of interest" die at the scene? It looks like somebody did. They're checking DNA from tissue at the scene against the person of interest's mother.

3) What was the motive? This may never be known, but they're working on it.

EDIT: Check off (1) and (2) above: US officials: Suspect in Nashville explosion died in blast

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The man believed to be responsible for the Christmas Day bombing that tore through downtown Nashville blew himself up in the explosion, and appears to have acted alone, federal officials said Sunday.
<snip>
Officials said their identification of Warner involved several key pieces of evidence, including DNA found at the explosion site. Investigators from the Tennessee Highway Patrol also recovered parts from the recreational vehicle where the bomb was detonated among the wreckage from the blast, and were able to link the vehicle identification number to an RV that was registered to Warner, officials said.

[Uncwilly]

My guess it will be a person with ill feelings toward AT&T. They appear to be the target, but only as a company, not people. I would expect an announcement before the first day of 2021.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

<snip>
Somebody could get "inspired" by the case, of course.

Sometimes it sucks to be right. I wonder if this one will say it was "just a joke?" No matter, this "joker" is in a heap o' trouble.

Officials: Suspicious box truck on Hwy 231 in Lebanon did not have explosives

Deputies received a call about a white box truck parked at Crossroads Market around 10:30 a.m. The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office said the box truck played audio similar to what was heard before an RV exploded in downtown Nashville on Christmas morning.
<snip>
Sunday night the Rutherford County Sheriff's office said [James] Turgeon, 33, is being charged with two counts of felony filing a false report and one count of tampering with evidence.

"During the course of the investigation, it was revealed Turgeon made a similar announcement at Kings Chapel Independent Missionary Baptist Church at Jefferson Pike and Dunaway Chapel Road while church was in service," Detective Sergeant Steve Craig said.

Craig said the tampering charge comes from Turgeon allegedly damaging the speaker system writing.

He was booked into Rutherford County Adult Detention Center and is being held on $500,000 bond.

[Uncwilly]

Well Parler has been breached and 70TB of data captured. Word of warning, don't drink anything while reading unless you plan on hydrating your screen,
https://cybernews.com/news/70tb-of-parler-users-messages-videos-and-posts-leaked-by-security-researchers/
https://twitter.com/bitburner/status/1348558563019427842?s=20