1 It would only take a handful of security staff to occupy all vantage points from which a gunman might shoot. This basic precaution was ignored.
2 Security staff ignored the spectators telling and showing them the rifleman climbing on a roof and setting up to shoot.
3 The accuracy of the shots, suggesting a professional sniper or assassin. He didn’t miss by more than a few millimetres when Trump turned his head away momentarily.
4 The security rifleman with gun support who killed the shooter from a position on another roof overlooking the shooter’s position not noticing him until he fired. He was literally and figuratively overlooking him. The shooter can’t now testify.
5 A routine protection against shots at a human target would be to have a movable toughened glass or plastic transparent plate on a tripod screening a bullet’s trajectory but not the crowd’s view of the target. Where was it?
6 Obama & others: “There is absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy.”
Nigh on two centuries history of political assassinations at home and abroad.
7 Trump was reportedly shouting “fight!”. I lip-read it as “fuck!”.
Yes, all valid observations of security failure. I also thought Trump said Fuck You! as he raised his fist--was it the bird he flipped but can't quite see? I await to see what new security means FSB employs for Putin. Imagine if a lancet or something similar was employed.
And again it is the mainstream media that prove how perverted, unscrupulous, amoral and mendacious the whole of Western "civilization" is. One day I want to see the people in charge there brought to justice. There are serious criminals at work there.
I first heard the term "presstitutes" come out of Gerald Celente's mouth; punchy and accurate description. I sometimes just use regime stenographers to describe what is being passed off as journalism.
TRUMP BLEEDING, RUSHED OFF STAGE AFTER SHOTS FIRED AT PENNSYLVANIA RALLY
The Secret Service works with local law enforcement as part of layered defense, cf. Tim McMillan on Twitter.
1. On the podium
2. In front of the the podium, scanning the crowd.
3. Dispersed throughout the crowd.
4. Rooftop snipers to scan the far perimeter; Notice the downward slope movement of the rooftop sniper's weapon as he takes out the assassin.
5. External perimeter (local LEO)
There are two dedicated local LEO to communicate with the SS to avoid chaos. Whoever on the local LEO team was informed by bystanders of someone climbing on the roof likely communicated properly with the message getting lost in the process..
We have a breakdown and failure in the local law enforcement contingent, likely made up from various sources. The how will come out in time.
The Trump SS team repeatedly asked for more resources. DHS refused. DEI female Head of SS had a prior job in charge of protecting potato chips at Pepsi. There will be some changes, come January.
Yes, but: if they could take the shooter out so easily from their elevated position a few seconds after shots were fired (without visibly having to change direction of their rifles to do so), that means they could see the shooter on the lower elevation roof before the shots were fired. Basically, a teenager with a small remote-controlled drone could have provided better security than these Mayorkas-run idiots. It certainly looks like they waited until after the shots were fired before eliminating the shooter. So many different plausible scenarios are possible but if there is an innocent explanation, it's certainly a very strange combination of failures.
If Mayorkas doesn't resign within 48 hours, and all those female USSS DEI execs with him, I will incline to believing this was an organized LIHOP which failed. If they are guilty somehow, they will stick together and not resign. If they are honourable public servants they should have resigned already. Either way, I personally don't care what the objective truth was or is, rather what happens next in the nation. And that will be playing out over time. One thing for sure: ratings for the Republican Convention will go through the roof. And probably the Dem one after with Biden either doing a Comeback Kid extravaganza or his replacement being the new Savior of the Nation.
There'll always remain too many questions and not enough answers to this event. As I wrote earlier, it's impossible for me to make any sort of definitive judgement without actually examining the scene. I await video to appear on social media capturing the shooter establishing his firing position.
I have read two things that contradict your last paragraph. I certainly don’t know the truth. I have read that the HSA refused extra security for Trump and denied any protection for JFK. Since the assassination attempt I’ve read the HSA DID NOT refuse Trump extra protection.
As for the qualifications of the female head of the Secret Service’s qualifications as representative of a DEI failure, I view this as an unproven ideological proposition without presented evidence. I have read that the lady in question had a distinguished career in the Secret Service with leadership experience. Maybe that’s why a big corporation hired her to head its security. Again, I don’t know. But let’s not go down evidence-less rabbit holes just yet. Clearly on-site security sucked, and hopefully the investigation will identify all those responsible for their inadequate performances.
It seems as if DHS did refuse the requests but we will have to wait for leaks to come out, if credible.
The Head of the Secret Service is a political appointee and serves at the request of the President. She came from Pepsi where there was a different line of security work. If she was a Secret Service employee before that I was not aware of. In the last few years, as you may know, there has been an ongoing revolt inside the Secret Service about the extensive DEI staffing. Maybe that is still a distinguished career, not in my book.
According to the 1st link I saw when I googled a minute ago—Axios—Kimberly Cheatle was a 27 year veteran of the Secret Service before her appointment to head the Agency. While I have zero knowledge of the DEI related staffing problems that you say currently affect the Secret Service, Director Cheatle’s service began long before DEI was even a concept. If unqualified hires are related in any way to the failures at the incident, let’s hope they are revealed in the investigation.
The same Axios link reported a renewed claim from a Florida Congressman claiming Trump requests for more Secret Service assistance had been denied. Secret Service spokesperson explicitly denied this claim, further stating that additional resources had in fact been added to account for the increased pace of the campaign. Some information is just a click away, but we will have to wait for the investigation to learn the explanations for the particular and obvious failures that occurred at the rally. Until those facts are in, I’m not willing to place the blame on unidentified incompetent DEI hires…
The overall context here is that this happens as part of the ongoing Fedsurrection. This is part of the coup, perhaps the part to which Zappa referred as "taking away the curtains from the brick wall at the back."
That Fedsurrection is part of global machinations where the ruling elite are struggling to maintain their grip on power in the face of surging populism. The EU elections demonstrate this. And Fico. Send prayers for Orban. And maybe Meloni; seems like she's getting fed up.
"Not long before shots rang out, rallygoers noticed a man climbing to the roof of a nearby building and warned local police, according to two law enforcement officials.
One local police officer climbed to the roof and encountered Thomas Matthew Crooks, who pointed his rifle at the officer. The officer retreated down the ladder, and Crooks quickly took a shot toward Trump, and that’s when Secret Service snipers shot him, said the officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation."
It looks like a cover-up to justify the lack of reaction from the police/security to witnesses' stories, after these started circulating on the news and social media. Something like:
"We tried to do something, we sent a policeman to investigate, but he was threatened, he backed off and, while he was coming to us to request assistance, the attacker shot at Trump!"
The initial story by BBC was of someone trying to alert security about the presence of the shooter and him not being taken seriously, or so the story was told last night. No, I don't believe the Guardian at all as no police officer is going to back down as described.
At bottom, it remains a security failure, and there's no way to spin that into something else.
Putting the who dun it aside, because frankly any one of hundreds could have tried - Taibbi captures the real story here: "Self-described guardians of democracy spent years creating a lethal atmosphere around Donald Trump " for example-
A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.
Jimmy dore did a review of vicious attacks on Trump just the other day in fact - "he wants to destroy our democracy so he can rule like a dictator" by the Lincoln Project - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dky_2IWbQDI
These aren't one offs but a concerted non-stop narrative of extremist rhetoric for years put out by leaders in the democrat party, Biden, Pelosi, elected politicians, non-Maga republicans, think tank activists, the media personalities, late night tv shows, hollywood celebrities, all over social media, for years since they created Pussy Hats.
And most of all by the MSM like the WP above pushing Kagan's evil deceitful and disgusting views aka Lies aka Propaganda.
Brought to you by the same ideologues who brought you the Twitter Files and censorship everywhere with social media accounts banned and lies about Russiagate, no criticism of lock downs or vaccines over covid, and more. Had anyone not protected have said similar about Biden or someone else in the west they would have been shut down online or had the police at their doors.
For years it has been: **Trump is such a dire threat to the US and Democracy we'd be better off if he was dead. How could anyone support Trump when he is going to destroy our democracy and set himself up as a Fascist Dictator over America like a Hitler or a Putin?**
LIES LIKE THIS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Propaganda Lies always do. An assassination attempt should be no surprise. No inside job or deep state conspiracy theory is required here.
Kremlin spokesman Peskov beat all others with the proper description of what was done to create the situation as I noted in my initial set of comments. I wasn't at all surprised to hear the initial news but was relieved that the shooter failed. Otherwise, your comment is garbage as Putin isn't a dictator of any sort nor was Trump in his first term.
RE "Otherwise, your comment is garbage as Putin isn't a dictator of any sort nor was Trump in his first term. "
Garbage? Gee thanks Karl. I suppose you could not possibly be mistaken about **my comment**? What do you think the Jimmy Dore ref and the rest of my commentary says and my last comment "Lies like this do make a difference." is all about assuming it was not 'garbage'?
I suspect your POV is that of most Americans. What I find hard to answer is why the polity is so polarized in comparison to the only previous time when the political issues were rather clear and led to the Civil War--slavery and state's rights. How many really understand what I mean when I refer to the status quo and who/what benefits from its continuation? For that matter, how many really know what caused the Civil War besides the very general issue of slavery? Why did the American Democracy as the national democrat party was known at the time split into four factions that allowed the nascent Republicans--the former Whigs-- to win the election?
The underlying context is both simple and complex, domestic and international, and all related to the continuation of the Outlaw US Empire. Just a few days prior to Trump's rally in Pennsylvania, Hudson and Desai discussed the upcoming NATO confab which IMO after an initial look provides some of that context, https://michael-hudson.com/2024/07/nato-focus-from-defensive-to-offensive/
Now, I need to return to that and finish its contents.
"For that matter, how many really know what caused the Civil War besides the very general issue of slavery?"
The English ended slavery in their empire a generation before the Americans. They had the Royal Navy make serious attempts to end the slave trade. They also had the might to enforce it. The English speaking intellectuals and progressive religious leaders were also increasingly against slavery. They were adamant and offered persuasive arguments. The issue of free labor vs slave labor had to be resolved on a national, defensible level. The North, though with inferior military leadership compared to the South, had the population, industrial, plus transportation advantages that were lacking in the South. Also, it was an idea whose time had come.
The real political reason was State's Rights and their ability to pursue their own form of political-economy, in this case plantation agriculture based on slave labor, slaves being considered an asset with a higher monetary value than the land they worked. The South's Grandees were the Fire-Eaters--Radicals--who pushed their cause. Lincoln sought compromise but was ignored--sound familiar? The issue in Charlestown was the ownership of the forts protecting the port, which were Federal and paid for by all the states, not South Carolinian. Lots of evidence points to Lincoln maneuvering the Fire-Eaters into losing their patience and firing the first shot, thus justifying a federal military response. The aim being the maintenance of the Union/Empire. There's more to add to this very basic outline, but that will need to suffice.
i can sympathise with anyone not wanting to vote for either biden or trump but isn't the fact that failing to vote for either just promotes the other because of dividing the vote?
We need an authoritative vote: i.e. each vote genuine, registered to a real person and guaranteed only one vote per person.
The govt will not do that for us. They do not want it. Better for them 'polls' and 'surveys' which they use to further their own ends.
But we could do it for ourselves and the results being so clearly provable authentic would enlighten and inform everyone, high, low, in power, powerless and cause enormous change.
It would be empowering democratic people with a realtime democratic voice for the first time in history.
It can be done. The essence of it is already being done, it seems. And, note, the real essence of it is tht it be done open source by the people, NOT by govt. Get away from this ludicrous notion that govt will help us fight govt.
Well, it's not "the government"; it's those who've gained control of the political system at the national level, commonly known as the Donors--those that turned both the Rs and Ds into private corporations so they can select whomever they want without any public input as the courts recently ruled after the 2020 Primary debacle for Sanders. This electoral failure can be traced to the 1787 Constitution that failed to make the entire election machinery public and has been gamed ever since. State and local systems are only marginally better. Otherwise, your argument is correct--we need public systems to control government and laws that make that so.
Thanks for that. It's my hope that did we have our own 'digital voting' up and running then simply the fact of it being there telling the indisputable story of what the people want would be enough to make everything fall into line over time.
Another link posted at MOA is Brian Berletic’s take on security lapses evident from MSM coverage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6-z0PqTKeU One insight from Berletic’s marine training is that flags are utilized at US Marine shooting ranges so shooters can judge the wind speed and direction and accordingly adjust their gun sights. At the Trump rally the large US flag flapped freely as it hung from a crane. Berletic says there are ways to secure a flag or to otherwise display patriotic symbols that do not serve as wind gauges and that those in charge of security should have seen to. Instead we get the iconic photo of Trump with his fist raised high and the Stars and Stripes flapping behind and above. The photo reminds me of the famous one of Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima in WWII….
No "platform" with clear view of the podium should existthat is not covered by eyes! This is securing the president 101, and goes back to what they learned in Apr 1865.
Colossal failure of the secret service. So egregious the management of the DHS must be cashiered, from top to agents.
Find some agency outside DC to investigate!
No report from FBI, Justice or DHS can be allowed.
I agree despite not being a Trump partisan as I'm a non-violent partisan, unlike those who are responsible for many deaths who said that such violence isn't to be tolerated--Biden, Clinton, Obama, etc. And as I've opined, security needs to prepare for drone attacks at outdoor venues. And Trump needs to get the plexiglass box-type gig the Pope uses--why wear a Kevlar vest and not have a something to protect your head?
Yes indoor venue is a likely change, or maybe just resource and do the job properly. It may become a campaign cost with the SS just doing the close in work. The commentary in various places has flushed out all the instant firearms experts , many who probably have never picked up a rifle let alone shoot for real accuracy , judging by the nonsense they spout. Such is life.
I read about this shooting this morning over here in Europe and after digesting many articles and comments this is my take.
1 This was a real attempt at assassination. You don't miss by inches from 130 yards to try to FF anyone. The guy was a good shot and unlucky, probably stressed.
2 The SS (really, could they not choose a better acronym???) failures were so obvious that the team should be arrested and be under questioning now. This is not accidental in my view. I could have done a better job with zero experience in the field.
3 The guy was killed not captured. Useful if you want to cover your tracks.
4 The guy used an AR15, the bogeyman rifle of the left. Well what a surprise.
5 He could not have known that an obvious vantage point of the podium wuld be unguarded unless previously informed.
6 There are many important and powerful people who would benefit from Trump's death at the hands of a "lone wolf" shooter.
7 The press in Europe has described this as an assassination attempt. Maybe the US press is doing so now.
Anyway - go figure. My guess is that this incident will be regarded by c 50% of the USA population as sponsored by powerful anti-Trump interests - and anti what he claims to stand for. If that is indeed the case, then we are much further along the path to a terrible situation in the USA. The circumstantial evidence does not point to a lone wolf and an SS training failure or suchlike. Bit like bat soup and CoVid.
The Secret Service was formed in the 19th Century well before the Nazis and their SS. Again, it was clearly a security failure. We don't know a whole lot. For example, did the shooter do a quick scouting of the situation to determine if any firing positions were available before getting his rifle? That's what I would do. Yes, the obvious Q is was that roof left open and the shooter told? The reason the Texas Schoolbook Depository Building's windows weren't cover/closely watched is because there was a massive tree with branches full of leaves blocking the vision from that building that was cutdown as part of the clean-up, but we have photos to prove that it existed as I described.
Yes, most media now appear to be calling the spade a spade. But with the shooter dead and what appears to be very little in that way of usable background on him, the conspiracy issue will remain alive forever.
There is a reason for declaring only two local LEOs to be valid, credentialed communicators. There is likely enough chaos in crackling headphones as is.
In a crisis you need cool heads with self control, well-trained at that.
Oddnesses
1 It would only take a handful of security staff to occupy all vantage points from which a gunman might shoot. This basic precaution was ignored.
2 Security staff ignored the spectators telling and showing them the rifleman climbing on a roof and setting up to shoot.
3 The accuracy of the shots, suggesting a professional sniper or assassin. He didn’t miss by more than a few millimetres when Trump turned his head away momentarily.
4 The security rifleman with gun support who killed the shooter from a position on another roof overlooking the shooter’s position not noticing him until he fired. He was literally and figuratively overlooking him. The shooter can’t now testify.
5 A routine protection against shots at a human target would be to have a movable toughened glass or plastic transparent plate on a tripod screening a bullet’s trajectory but not the crowd’s view of the target. Where was it?
6 Obama & others: “There is absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy.”
Nigh on two centuries history of political assassinations at home and abroad.
7 Trump was reportedly shouting “fight!”. I lip-read it as “fuck!”.
Yes, all valid observations of security failure. I also thought Trump said Fuck You! as he raised his fist--was it the bird he flipped but can't quite see? I await to see what new security means FSB employs for Putin. Imagine if a lancet or something similar was employed.
Trump said an "F" word three times, fist pumping!
The polite assumption has been "fight".
I would accept the other candidate as appropriate toward the Biden administration!
Security failure like Oct 7th or set-up like Oct 7th for the 'we're all MAGA now' response?
Neither. If the shooter had succeeded, we'd be in a very deep pile of shit and not writing about much of anything. That he missed was pure chance.
And again it is the mainstream media that prove how perverted, unscrupulous, amoral and mendacious the whole of Western "civilization" is. One day I want to see the people in charge there brought to justice. There are serious criminals at work there.
I first heard the term "presstitutes" come out of Gerald Celente's mouth; punchy and accurate description. I sometimes just use regime stenographers to describe what is being passed off as journalism.
TRUMP BLEEDING, RUSHED OFF STAGE AFTER SHOTS FIRED AT PENNSYLVANIA RALLY
The Secret Service works with local law enforcement as part of layered defense, cf. Tim McMillan on Twitter.
1. On the podium
2. In front of the the podium, scanning the crowd.
3. Dispersed throughout the crowd.
4. Rooftop snipers to scan the far perimeter; Notice the downward slope movement of the rooftop sniper's weapon as he takes out the assassin.
5. External perimeter (local LEO)
There are two dedicated local LEO to communicate with the SS to avoid chaos. Whoever on the local LEO team was informed by bystanders of someone climbing on the roof likely communicated properly with the message getting lost in the process..
We have a breakdown and failure in the local law enforcement contingent, likely made up from various sources. The how will come out in time.
The Trump SS team repeatedly asked for more resources. DHS refused. DEI female Head of SS had a prior job in charge of protecting potato chips at Pepsi. There will be some changes, come January.
As myself and others have said, security failure. Comms failure with joint/separate instead of unified commands is far too likely as you allude.
Yes, but: if they could take the shooter out so easily from their elevated position a few seconds after shots were fired (without visibly having to change direction of their rifles to do so), that means they could see the shooter on the lower elevation roof before the shots were fired. Basically, a teenager with a small remote-controlled drone could have provided better security than these Mayorkas-run idiots. It certainly looks like they waited until after the shots were fired before eliminating the shooter. So many different plausible scenarios are possible but if there is an innocent explanation, it's certainly a very strange combination of failures.
If Mayorkas doesn't resign within 48 hours, and all those female USSS DEI execs with him, I will incline to believing this was an organized LIHOP which failed. If they are guilty somehow, they will stick together and not resign. If they are honourable public servants they should have resigned already. Either way, I personally don't care what the objective truth was or is, rather what happens next in the nation. And that will be playing out over time. One thing for sure: ratings for the Republican Convention will go through the roof. And probably the Dem one after with Biden either doing a Comeback Kid extravaganza or his replacement being the new Savior of the Nation.
Meanwhile, the rot goes on.
There'll always remain too many questions and not enough answers to this event. As I wrote earlier, it's impossible for me to make any sort of definitive judgement without actually examining the scene. I await video to appear on social media capturing the shooter establishing his firing position.
I have read two things that contradict your last paragraph. I certainly don’t know the truth. I have read that the HSA refused extra security for Trump and denied any protection for JFK. Since the assassination attempt I’ve read the HSA DID NOT refuse Trump extra protection.
As for the qualifications of the female head of the Secret Service’s qualifications as representative of a DEI failure, I view this as an unproven ideological proposition without presented evidence. I have read that the lady in question had a distinguished career in the Secret Service with leadership experience. Maybe that’s why a big corporation hired her to head its security. Again, I don’t know. But let’s not go down evidence-less rabbit holes just yet. Clearly on-site security sucked, and hopefully the investigation will identify all those responsible for their inadequate performances.
Yes it "sucked" and was filled with Big Eye Swiss Cheese holes, the shooter filling only one of those holes.
It seems as if DHS did refuse the requests but we will have to wait for leaks to come out, if credible.
The Head of the Secret Service is a political appointee and serves at the request of the President. She came from Pepsi where there was a different line of security work. If she was a Secret Service employee before that I was not aware of. In the last few years, as you may know, there has been an ongoing revolt inside the Secret Service about the extensive DEI staffing. Maybe that is still a distinguished career, not in my book.
According to the 1st link I saw when I googled a minute ago—Axios—Kimberly Cheatle was a 27 year veteran of the Secret Service before her appointment to head the Agency. While I have zero knowledge of the DEI related staffing problems that you say currently affect the Secret Service, Director Cheatle’s service began long before DEI was even a concept. If unqualified hires are related in any way to the failures at the incident, let’s hope they are revealed in the investigation.
The same Axios link reported a renewed claim from a Florida Congressman claiming Trump requests for more Secret Service assistance had been denied. Secret Service spokesperson explicitly denied this claim, further stating that additional resources had in fact been added to account for the increased pace of the campaign. Some information is just a click away, but we will have to wait for the investigation to learn the explanations for the particular and obvious failures that occurred at the rally. Until those facts are in, I’m not willing to place the blame on unidentified incompetent DEI hires…
The overall context here is that this happens as part of the ongoing Fedsurrection. This is part of the coup, perhaps the part to which Zappa referred as "taking away the curtains from the brick wall at the back."
That Fedsurrection is part of global machinations where the ruling elite are struggling to maintain their grip on power in the face of surging populism. The EU elections demonstrate this. And Fico. Send prayers for Orban. And maybe Meloni; seems like she's getting fed up.
Humpty Dumpty is not going back together.
Yes, possible as my reply to joe alludes.
Have you read the latest?
From The Guardian, citing AP News (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/jul/14/trump-rally-shooting-assassination-attempt-shooter-thomas-matthew-crooks-pennsylvania-latest):
"Not long before shots rang out, rallygoers noticed a man climbing to the roof of a nearby building and warned local police, according to two law enforcement officials.
One local police officer climbed to the roof and encountered Thomas Matthew Crooks, who pointed his rifle at the officer. The officer retreated down the ladder, and Crooks quickly took a shot toward Trump, and that’s when Secret Service snipers shot him, said the officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation."
It looks like a cover-up to justify the lack of reaction from the police/security to witnesses' stories, after these started circulating on the news and social media. Something like:
"We tried to do something, we sent a policeman to investigate, but he was threatened, he backed off and, while he was coming to us to request assistance, the attacker shot at Trump!"
Do they really believe we will buy this?
The initial story by BBC was of someone trying to alert security about the presence of the shooter and him not being taken seriously, or so the story was told last night. No, I don't believe the Guardian at all as no police officer is going to back down as described.
At bottom, it remains a security failure, and there's no way to spin that into something else.
A trained police officer with a hand gun should have taken the slow reacting long gunner out!
What the LEO did when the shooter turned on Trump......
The supposed failed action does not excuse the lack of "scouting" the potential sniper positions and keeping them unoccupied.
Putting the who dun it aside, because frankly any one of hundreds could have tried - Taibbi captures the real story here: "Self-described guardians of democracy spent years creating a lethal atmosphere around Donald Trump " for example-
A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.
By Robert Kagan https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/30/trump-dictator-2024-election-robert-kagan/
Jimmy dore did a review of vicious attacks on Trump just the other day in fact - "he wants to destroy our democracy so he can rule like a dictator" by the Lincoln Project - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dky_2IWbQDI
These aren't one offs but a concerted non-stop narrative of extremist rhetoric for years put out by leaders in the democrat party, Biden, Pelosi, elected politicians, non-Maga republicans, think tank activists, the media personalities, late night tv shows, hollywood celebrities, all over social media, for years since they created Pussy Hats.
And most of all by the MSM like the WP above pushing Kagan's evil deceitful and disgusting views aka Lies aka Propaganda.
Brought to you by the same ideologues who brought you the Twitter Files and censorship everywhere with social media accounts banned and lies about Russiagate, no criticism of lock downs or vaccines over covid, and more. Had anyone not protected have said similar about Biden or someone else in the west they would have been shut down online or had the police at their doors.
For years it has been: **Trump is such a dire threat to the US and Democracy we'd be better off if he was dead. How could anyone support Trump when he is going to destroy our democracy and set himself up as a Fascist Dictator over America like a Hitler or a Putin?**
LIES LIKE THIS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Propaganda Lies always do. An assassination attempt should be no surprise. No inside job or deep state conspiracy theory is required here.
Kremlin spokesman Peskov beat all others with the proper description of what was done to create the situation as I noted in my initial set of comments. I wasn't at all surprised to hear the initial news but was relieved that the shooter failed. Otherwise, your comment is garbage as Putin isn't a dictator of any sort nor was Trump in his first term.
RE "Otherwise, your comment is garbage as Putin isn't a dictator of any sort nor was Trump in his first term. "
Garbage? Gee thanks Karl. I suppose you could not possibly be mistaken about **my comment**? What do you think the Jimmy Dore ref and the rest of my commentary says and my last comment "Lies like this do make a difference." is all about assuming it was not 'garbage'?
Regarding how this incident will affect Trump's pick for VP, I believe it should be Tulsi.
Tom Luongo says Tulsi is Trump's best assassination insurance.
Yep, I don't like the orange guy or the lost guy, but I don't won't either to be killed. I wonder now how many copycats we'll have in the near future?
Thanks for the run down I haven't had time to read everyone.
I suspect your POV is that of most Americans. What I find hard to answer is why the polity is so polarized in comparison to the only previous time when the political issues were rather clear and led to the Civil War--slavery and state's rights. How many really understand what I mean when I refer to the status quo and who/what benefits from its continuation? For that matter, how many really know what caused the Civil War besides the very general issue of slavery? Why did the American Democracy as the national democrat party was known at the time split into four factions that allowed the nascent Republicans--the former Whigs-- to win the election?
The underlying context is both simple and complex, domestic and international, and all related to the continuation of the Outlaw US Empire. Just a few days prior to Trump's rally in Pennsylvania, Hudson and Desai discussed the upcoming NATO confab which IMO after an initial look provides some of that context, https://michael-hudson.com/2024/07/nato-focus-from-defensive-to-offensive/
Now, I need to return to that and finish its contents.
"For that matter, how many really know what caused the Civil War besides the very general issue of slavery?"
The English ended slavery in their empire a generation before the Americans. They had the Royal Navy make serious attempts to end the slave trade. They also had the might to enforce it. The English speaking intellectuals and progressive religious leaders were also increasingly against slavery. They were adamant and offered persuasive arguments. The issue of free labor vs slave labor had to be resolved on a national, defensible level. The North, though with inferior military leadership compared to the South, had the population, industrial, plus transportation advantages that were lacking in the South. Also, it was an idea whose time had come.
The real political reason was State's Rights and their ability to pursue their own form of political-economy, in this case plantation agriculture based on slave labor, slaves being considered an asset with a higher monetary value than the land they worked. The South's Grandees were the Fire-Eaters--Radicals--who pushed their cause. Lincoln sought compromise but was ignored--sound familiar? The issue in Charlestown was the ownership of the forts protecting the port, which were Federal and paid for by all the states, not South Carolinian. Lots of evidence points to Lincoln maneuvering the Fire-Eaters into losing their patience and firing the first shot, thus justifying a federal military response. The aim being the maintenance of the Union/Empire. There's more to add to this very basic outline, but that will need to suffice.
i can sympathise with anyone not wanting to vote for either biden or trump but isn't the fact that failing to vote for either just promotes the other because of dividing the vote?
We need an authoritative vote: i.e. each vote genuine, registered to a real person and guaranteed only one vote per person.
The govt will not do that for us. They do not want it. Better for them 'polls' and 'surveys' which they use to further their own ends.
But we could do it for ourselves and the results being so clearly provable authentic would enlighten and inform everyone, high, low, in power, powerless and cause enormous change.
It would be empowering democratic people with a realtime democratic voice for the first time in history.
It can be done. The essence of it is already being done, it seems. And, note, the real essence of it is tht it be done open source by the people, NOT by govt. Get away from this ludicrous notion that govt will help us fight govt.
https://abrogard.com/blog/2023/12/25/dont-write-to-congress/
this talks of the current employment of the voting aspect:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_voting_system
Well, it's not "the government"; it's those who've gained control of the political system at the national level, commonly known as the Donors--those that turned both the Rs and Ds into private corporations so they can select whomever they want without any public input as the courts recently ruled after the 2020 Primary debacle for Sanders. This electoral failure can be traced to the 1787 Constitution that failed to make the entire election machinery public and has been gamed ever since. State and local systems are only marginally better. Otherwise, your argument is correct--we need public systems to control government and laws that make that so.
Thanks for that. It's my hope that did we have our own 'digital voting' up and running then simply the fact of it being there telling the indisputable story of what the people want would be enough to make everything fall into line over time.
Another link posted at MOA is Brian Berletic’s take on security lapses evident from MSM coverage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6-z0PqTKeU One insight from Berletic’s marine training is that flags are utilized at US Marine shooting ranges so shooters can judge the wind speed and direction and accordingly adjust their gun sights. At the Trump rally the large US flag flapped freely as it hung from a crane. Berletic says there are ways to secure a flag or to otherwise display patriotic symbols that do not serve as wind gauges and that those in charge of security should have seen to. Instead we get the iconic photo of Trump with his fist raised high and the Stars and Stripes flapping behind and above. The photo reminds me of the famous one of Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima in WWII….
No "platform" with clear view of the podium should existthat is not covered by eyes! This is securing the president 101, and goes back to what they learned in Apr 1865.
Colossal failure of the secret service. So egregious the management of the DHS must be cashiered, from top to agents.
Find some agency outside DC to investigate!
No report from FBI, Justice or DHS can be allowed.
I agree despite not being a Trump partisan as I'm a non-violent partisan, unlike those who are responsible for many deaths who said that such violence isn't to be tolerated--Biden, Clinton, Obama, etc. And as I've opined, security needs to prepare for drone attacks at outdoor venues. And Trump needs to get the plexiglass box-type gig the Pope uses--why wear a Kevlar vest and not have a something to protect your head?
Yes indoor venue is a likely change, or maybe just resource and do the job properly. It may become a campaign cost with the SS just doing the close in work. The commentary in various places has flushed out all the instant firearms experts , many who probably have never picked up a rifle let alone shoot for real accuracy , judging by the nonsense they spout. Such is life.
I read about this shooting this morning over here in Europe and after digesting many articles and comments this is my take.
1 This was a real attempt at assassination. You don't miss by inches from 130 yards to try to FF anyone. The guy was a good shot and unlucky, probably stressed.
2 The SS (really, could they not choose a better acronym???) failures were so obvious that the team should be arrested and be under questioning now. This is not accidental in my view. I could have done a better job with zero experience in the field.
3 The guy was killed not captured. Useful if you want to cover your tracks.
4 The guy used an AR15, the bogeyman rifle of the left. Well what a surprise.
5 He could not have known that an obvious vantage point of the podium wuld be unguarded unless previously informed.
6 There are many important and powerful people who would benefit from Trump's death at the hands of a "lone wolf" shooter.
7 The press in Europe has described this as an assassination attempt. Maybe the US press is doing so now.
Anyway - go figure. My guess is that this incident will be regarded by c 50% of the USA population as sponsored by powerful anti-Trump interests - and anti what he claims to stand for. If that is indeed the case, then we are much further along the path to a terrible situation in the USA. The circumstantial evidence does not point to a lone wolf and an SS training failure or suchlike. Bit like bat soup and CoVid.
The Secret Service was formed in the 19th Century well before the Nazis and their SS. Again, it was clearly a security failure. We don't know a whole lot. For example, did the shooter do a quick scouting of the situation to determine if any firing positions were available before getting his rifle? That's what I would do. Yes, the obvious Q is was that roof left open and the shooter told? The reason the Texas Schoolbook Depository Building's windows weren't cover/closely watched is because there was a massive tree with branches full of leaves blocking the vision from that building that was cutdown as part of the clean-up, but we have photos to prove that it existed as I described.
Yes, most media now appear to be calling the spade a spade. But with the shooter dead and what appears to be very little in that way of usable background on him, the conspiracy issue will remain alive forever.
Well, someone found a connection between the alleged shooter & Blackrock:
https://x.com/i/status/1812483062837493869
That was discovered last night.
That's surprising. I thought the fbi didn't even identify him until early this morning.
Well, that's when I read it at about 1am Eastern from someone posting at MoA.
I missed the post at MOA; sleeping.
After a bit of research, I found the Blackrock connection was originally posted by Lara Loomer as an exclusive at 5:30 am est.
I posted it at today's open forum at MOA post #2, & just saw Scorpion linked to Loomer's Gateway Pundit article an hour or so after.
Those are the only places I've seen it so far.
There is a reason for declaring only two local LEOs to be valid, credentialed communicators. There is likely enough chaos in crackling headphones as is.
In a crisis you need cool heads with self control, well-trained at that.
thanks karl... much of your commentary i agree with and share...