On the menu today: I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. In the final week of this annus horribilis, we look at the Nashville bombing and try to figure out why that guy decided to end his life in such high-profile, terrifying fashion; the president signs the pandemic relief and omnibus spending bill; the New York Post tries to stage an intervention; and a special offer that ends with 2020!
The Christmas Day explosion in downtown Nashville wasn’t just frightening terrorism; it was creepy, with an almost cinematic sense of timing and drama.
The suicide bomber either used gunshots or audio of gunshots to attract attention shortly after 5 a.m. on Christmas morning. A loudspeaker on the recreational vehicle started playing a woman’s voice declaring and repeating, “This area must be evacuated now. If you can hear this message, evacuate now,” in a dispassionate tone fit for an airport terminal-change announcement. In between, the speakers played “Downtown” by Petula Clark from 1964. This was some Joker-level theatrics.
And then at 6:29 a.m., the bomb detonated, injuring three people. Considering the power of the bomb and the scale of the physical damage to the surrounding buildings, it was a near-miracle that no one was killed.
