488 Comments
founding

Sorry. This whole thing stinks to high heaven. The only thing that's preventing the FBI from "solving" this case is those pesky cellphone videos.

I mean how does the ladder get there?

Are we to believe he just carried it and a long gun from an economy sized car?

Are we to believe he just set it there right before the assassination attempt without anyone noticing?

If he set it up before how did they miss that it also happened to be the closest elevated surface with a clear shot? I mean without the ladder his whole operation doesn't happen.

How did he know the roof would remain unguarded?

Does this sound like the actions of a lone wolf?

What about the bomb in his car? Why bring it if his only objective was to kill Trump?

I could go on forever....

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author

https://x.com/LtTimMcMillan/status/1812383798740324380

this is a useful primer on how the security was likely structured.

SS was likely in close and at "outside 500-1000m" the middle donut was local law enforcement and it seems to have been integrated poorly. missing a ladder behind bushes sounds like a dumb cop move. i don't think it pays to over estimate how good these people are. my buddy (former seal) used to laugh about how easy it would be to just walk though the SS. remember those fence jumpers at the fricking white house? this is not the infallible team they try to project the image of.

leaving that spot open is a ridiculous charlie foxtrot, but it may be nothing beyond "everyone thought someone else was doing it."

i watched the videos pretty carefully and it looks to me like the counter snipers we surprised as hell by the initial shots and had to take their range focus WAY in. it sounds like the radio systems are not linked to the locals.

the whole thing is pretty keystone cops once you dig into it.

the bombs are weird. maybe they were for in case he got away? these things are always full of strange detail. assuming rationality and reason pervade every fact can be dangerous.

look, maybe something nasty did happen here, i have no ability to rule it out. but i'd be very cautious about presuming so when "these people are not actually that good at what they do, it's mostly that they are so rarely tested" may also serve as explanator. i think we need to keep that as our null hypothesis.

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founding

yeah. i get what your saying...like 122 sequential human errors that led to Chernobyl.

you make a compelling case...but still...i'm torn after watching all the deliberate stuff that's happened over the last 8 years.

I think that actually lends itself to Occam's Razor

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author

it's a difficult post facto task. after the culprit is found, which of 10,000 clues the detective "should have seen" are always obvious.

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founding

You seem very sure of yourself given the environment we live in.

I'm not sure either way. But I can tell you the events leading up to the attempt and after stink like a decapitated catfish in milk.

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author

i've just done a lot of analysis work around complex systems and activities. you can always find all kind of sinister seeming linkages and post facto, it's always clear what people should have known or listened to. in real time, it's a pile of 100 tiles. the next day, it's obvious which two mattered.

conspiracies are hard to run and to hide than people think and evidence afterward has a certain rorschach nature to it. we're all always looking for patterns.

i'm not saying we've disproven any plot, but i have not yet seen anything that de facto seems to require or prove one either. so my base prior tend to be "stupidity, complex systems, and randomness" until we can find a sound reason to reject that as a null hypothesis.

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founding

Maybe this guy was just trying to impress Jody Foster...lol

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founding

I agree. I'm just speculating. That's all.

If we disagree it'll break 4 years of me agreeing with you.

Cheers!

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Agreed. But….in a normal situation where half or more of the people at work that day are sleepwalking, the accumulation of small errors seems plausible. But these are life and death situations that demand critical acuity. Similar to a heart operation. Everyone knows without question you can’t ‘same old, same old’ your way through it.

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>>>>>>but i have not yet seen anything that de facto seems to require or prove one either<<<<<<

And you won't.

You are ONLY going to see what the powers that be want you to see

we are being told that the 20 year old - alleged - perp had a a clear criminal record -no social media footprints - had no ID on him - so WITHIN 8 hours from the criminal event the FBI used DNA to identify him.

That is pure unadulterated bullshit.

Until that issue is cleared NOTHING they say is trustworthy - reason Alejandro "El Pendejo" Majorkas won't let Cheatle testify before the House or conduct press conferences.

The system is rigged.

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founding

"Don’t ascribe to malice what can be plainly explained by stupidity."

~ Hanlon's Razor

That said, the stench is rather overpowering, especially given the long-standing track record of the praetorian agencies, not to mention, as gato notes, the unprecedented level of pure bile we have been subjected just in the last few weeks clearly intended to ratchet up covid-like levels of hysteria.

The Orange Terror was not the only one who dodged a fatal bullet. I shudder to think of what might have come to pass had he not.

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founding

It wouldn't have been pretty.

That I don't think is speculation.

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This can’t be explained by stupidity. That is the issue. And Cheadle’s lies add to the stink.

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Especially if you’ve read JFK and the Unspeakable. It’s not like this is their (IC) first rodeo.

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And there have been many unexplained suspiciously timely deaths surrounding a lot of political corruption. It’s not like these people or these kinds of people haven’t done it before.

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100 percent...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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And on that point , WHY are they STILL refusing to relase JFK's archives 65 years after the fact. ?!?!?!?!?!?

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founding

Looks like you might be right about Newsom getting the bid tho. Several reports coming out saying Bidens exit from race is imminent....like before the weekend.

It's gonna be interesting....buckle up.

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Not so fast , Ryan.

Synopsis : The Deep State giveth and the Deep State taketh Away .

Reminder Biden was SELECTED & INSTALLED by the Deep State,

Democrat Politicians

vs

National Security State

It is true that from a POLITICAL STANDPOINT Biden is a Liability to the Democrat Party.

But Biden knows that the NATIONAL SECURITY STATE WANTS AND NEEDS BIDEN »»»» BIDEN ONLY ««««<

The National Security State can easily STEAL the election again.

CIA Agents John Brennan , James Clapper and Victoria Nuland will see to it: They want to

1- perpetuate the Ukranian Proxy War - Ukraine is their Colony Victoria Nuland created it - she just stated “NO WAY TRUMP WILL WIN”

twitter.com/runews/status/1812574457833…

2- Trump must be punished for dissing the CIA and intelligence agencies

twitter.com/runews/status/1812574457833…

The CIA found it easier to shoot President Trump than using their VAULT 7 UMBRAGE Techniques.

twitter.com/runews/status/1812574457833…

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founding

Can't disagree

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Agreed Ryan. Covid made us alert and very suspicious of all things authoritarian.

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The Bad Guys messed up an exposed themselves. A great "silver lining" of Covid is we now have a much better idea of who the real villains ("threats to the world") are. We can use this info to our advantage going forward.

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founding

agree 100% Bill

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It seems there are only two real choices: intentional malice or massive incompetence on the part of the security team (I believe this is how Erik Prince stated it). I think that is correct. Normally, they don’t allow access to buildings at such proximity, but man some of the videos of the ladies “protecting” Trump were pretty indicting from a competence standpoint. And you know the local cops were in over their heads.

However, the Alphabet agencies have a history of radicalizing loser-types and setting them loose with means and motive. Does anyone still believe that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone? The CIA, FBI, and State Dept. all do this: see color revolutions, “terror plots”, and all of the unanswered questions surrounding them all.

But gato is right in calling for calm, cool reason at this point. Who knows? We may never.

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We're sunk as a society - and our children and grandchildren will have dismal long-term futures - unless we have a massive purge of the top echelons of leadership in every important organization. If Donald Trump understands this and starts taking action to run-off and expose hundreds of thousands of sociopaths and dumb asses in leadership positions, he will be a historic president.

Really draining the swamp won't be easy. Some of these people will try to kill you to protect the swamp.

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Many of us 'ultra' MAGA Trump supporters have been concerned about the level of 'jingoistic hate' coming from the Dems/progressives/leftists and that it clearly was intended to eventually manipulate and motivate their gullible and not overly bright base to assassinate The Donald. However, the ever-so much more intelligent 'moderates' pooh-poohed us as tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists. Aux contraire. It's the self-important, oh-so-civil establishment 'conservatives' who have been lost in a self-created fantasy world that has existed only in their imaginations. We are dealing with people, complex and often not smart, and others who manipulate these unfortunates on a historically regular basis. The reality is that people are often NOT NICE, and are often dangerously so. Our history is one of constant wars and violence against one another from the time we first stood erect. To think it's otherwise leads to what we just experienced this weekend. And in spite of assurances to the contrary from all the 'experts', I doubt the violence is over.

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Precisely said Bill. I am not prone to hero worship, but that ridiculous display of clearly incompetent females was an unmitigated disaster, let alone a complete embarrassment.

I am one badass female mama bear that would (and maybe could) tear anyone to shreds if you fecked with my loved ones. However, God didn't divine me a man! I am not built to do the job of protecting a 6 ft 2" powerhouse of a man. Period. End of story.

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It's just basic "scientific" human anatomy. There's a reason, for thousands of years, that militaries didn't recruit females to fight wars.

Some women could do this, but they are the exception.

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Jul 17·edited Jul 17

The females SS on Trump's detail were a total embarrassment. But I noticed when Trump entered the RNC convention his SS detail were a lot of very large, serious looking MEN.

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These swamp people are scared that their illegal, immoral, and utterly perverse doings will be exposed. When a rat like that feels cornered, watch out!

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He needs a big chainsaw like Javier Milei has! And he needs to say "You're Fired" to more bureaucrats than Milei did!

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Bad news Bill

Tucker Carlson:

Socialist Demon Rats have prepared over 100 NUISANCE Lawsuits in order to PARALYZE a future President Trump Administration.

Obama-Biden Deep State Appointees will refuse to provide clearances to President Trumps nominees.

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founding

Right!

i think we're all calm here. the worst thing we can do is not be calm.

gato wrote about that in a piece a couple months ago.

That right now is the acid test that will determine if we stand behind our convictions.

to do otherwise would be a self-own

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author

in a certain sense, the game theory here requires us to act as though this was not a plot.

if it wasn't, then this was the correct take.

if it was, then we have a very dangerous IC in place so our goal must be to remove it. the best way to remove it is to take the presidency. the best way to take the presidency is to win the middle. the middle tends to reject "plot" claims as "conspiracies." so, take the high road, act brave and purposeful, and go sell the vision not the victimhood or the "plot."

likely the best way to remove such plotters as might exist is to act as though they don't, get power, then clean house.

perhaps this is one of those game theory constructs where the dominant strategy is the same regardless of the start state.

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founding

Last paragraph...very good point

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have you seen the meme "100 million pissed off Republicans. 0 cities destroyed." ?

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founding

no. but i'm looking for it now...because i want to dunk on a friend with TDS

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Well, there's not a single city burning after the assassination attempt. We're calm. Maybe too calm. But it does draw very myopic attention to the "otherside".

The SS detail for that rally was incompetent or pd to respond poorly. Either way, it's ALL ON VID for the world to see.

As far as the shooter, the govt is really excelling at activating killers.... if you get my meaning. Very easy to get psychopaths to do all the awful things when the wicked rhetoric from MSM never stops. Programming is extremely easy, given what we saw during covid.

Thx gato!

Another awesome thread here! Love this community!

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There is a third possibility: A dash of both intentional malice and incompetence. The incompetence part Gato touched on in another comment, but the malice was (if other internet commenters could be trusted) providing Trump with security levels appropriate for a former POTUS, rather than for an active candidate for POTUS. Regardless of whether this is true, it is 100% guaranteed that most democrats have been encouraging such behavior with wild rhetoric, which one must be certain can lead to this (see, e.g., the 2017 Congressional baseball shooting).

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The local cops who climbed a ladder and saw a gunman and who did not engage must be fired. Bare minimum. Maybe even indicted. Is ‘Dereliction of Duty’ indictable?

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>>>>>>>It seems there are only two real choices: intentional malice or massive incompetence <<<<<<<

Respectfully disagree.

Special Counsel John Durham found out that the FBI had INTENTIONALLY disregarded the Law in order to persecute President Trump.

FBI AGents from DC broke protocol when they personally conducted the Mar-A-Lago Raid instead of transferring the case to the US Attorney - SD FLA and to Local Agents.

Then they bragged that their order included an authority to shoot President Trump.

"Special Counsel" Jackass Smith was forced to admit that evidence submitted to Judge Canon was FAKE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Yeah. Covid convinced me it’s not stupidity. Yes. There are useful idiots. But I’m sure there was a lot of intentional stuff that contributed. I didn’t say caused but contributed. The DEI stuff? That’s not stupid, there are smart people behind it using a bunch of useful idiots.

$20 says it comes out eventually that the feds “knew of him.” Knew of him and had talked to him.

Guarantee he had support. Was it the entire organization? No, but enough evil people exist in this organization.

Over time I’ve become more convinced “don’t attribute to malevolence what you can attribute to stupidity” is much like the phrase “conspiracy theorist.”

The average person is rather dumb and therefore they think everyone is dumb and just makes mistakes.

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Or "correlation isn't causation". It's the new garlic and wooden stake blanket magic words.

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"Occam's Razor"

I think that a bunch of poorly trained DEI hires understaffing an event an event where some, especially perhaps the newer agents, were charged with defending who they are absolutely certain is Literally Hitler could completely be the simplest explanation.

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founding

Isn't that what I'm saying if you read the body of my comments?

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I'd go with Hanlon's Razor:

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

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founding

Or Sheftalls...which is inverse...;]

I'm not ruling out a combo....yet

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It's amazing how unfathomable incompetence and malevolent intent can look alike, or even a mix of the two. Oh look a shooter on that unsecured roof, let's give one free shot. That said, I agree with you. Based on all the past history, guilty until proven massively, unfathomably incompetent. With regard to unification, that's what Trump's Term 1 was. If he learns from that total failure, term 2 should be get on board or get out of the way.

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Re malice or stupidity: 1. If those in charge really didn’t care whether he lives or dies there is little distinction. 2. They might think ‘if he dies on my shift on some level a lot of people will be happy with me’.

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I also can’t rule something else out. Something I am Seeing everywhere. Vax fuzziness. The number of mistakes I am seeing from formerly competent professionals is insane.

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ding ding ding! sprinkle a few other toxins in and voila!

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As one considers the options of 1) our government is incompetent or 2) our government conspired to assassinate a Presidential candidate, I think it would be valuable to consider how the USSS "sees" Trump with regard to protection. There's alot of commentary from experience SEALS/Snipers discussing holes in the protective coverage but I'm not sure they're considering the possibility that the USSS may not be providing Trump with Presidential protection but rather, Former POTUS protection and Rival Candidate Protection. I think the current POTUS enjoys a high level of protection and Trumps is less "robust" because he's only a former and only a frontrunner candidate. While it seems obvious to everyone that Trump needs maximum protection particularly at these public events, I think that upper level partisans at the SS could easily provide him with reduced coverage and "get away with it".... and it seems like they did that.

While this doesn't void the possibility of the shooter having inside help/knowledge, it provides USSS with plausible deniability and a bureautic explanation/talking point during a Senate hearing/investigation.

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My guess is that will be the spin/excuse/explanation. That is, current presidents get much larger Secret Service attention than a candidate for president. The reality is Donald Trump would be the person at the top of any list of possible/likely "assassination attempts."

So you deploy more resources for the most likely threat. (The reason Trump was the most likely assassination candidate is numerous powerful people - like the President of the United States - keep calling him a grave threat to the world and democracy.)

No smart "risk analysis" was performed ... because we are being led by the obtuse.

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Because of Trump's rally schedule his regular SS team was working to the point of burnout. Requests for additional SS to ease the burden were repeatedly denied. Only one of his regular SS team was present at Saturday's rally, the rest being temps brought in only a day or two before the rally.

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I'm pretty sure the team size is the former president detail level. And the performance surely suggests B team players.

I once slipped down a step at a Rockets game and grabbed HW Bush's shoulder to steady myself. I was a bit tipsy. His SS detail just glanced at me, nothing more. Overweight, seemingly bored.

That's part of the problem. But one cannot look at this without recognizing how DC works and who needs Trump gone. They could and will do it if that's the only option remaining.

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founding

Sorry. Not trying to abuse my responses, but what's your contacts thoughts about when the ladder was placed?

Seems to me that is the fulcrum. It begets a lot of ancillary questions.

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Investigators could perhaps easily find out when the ladder was NOT there. (Maintenance or grounds employees of the Window plant business could tell them this). You might luck-out and find surveillance footage of when the shooter put it against the wall (if he did this). You could also easily find out what law enforcement officer(s) was supposed to do a security sweep of this business/area and why they didn't "flag" this ladder (or discover it). This person would/might be a suspect in a possible conspiracy to make it possible that the shooter had access to the roof.

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Handy excuse: “The ladder was placed the day before by the US SS. That roof was supposed to be manned. We forgot to man it.” The obvious question would be ‘how did the shooter know it would be there?’ But that wouldn’t be asked.

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"Investigators believe Crooks made his way to the spot where he fired from by scaling an air conditioning unit of an adjacent building accessible from the ground and pulling himself up onto the roof, sources said"

https://abc7.com/post/trump-assassination-attempt-fbi-examines-thomas-matthew-crooks/15064141/

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founding

regardless...i thought my post would spark some conversation...:}

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I've only written one arm-chair QB piece about Saturday's event, but in that event I highlighted the significance of the ladder.

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Sparking! We agree on all your questions and points. And do we really think we'll hear a clear explanation? Haven't seen a lot of humility out of DC for decades.

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founding

You can run a muck for miles without transparency and accountability

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But you can't make it drink.

Maybe I need to explain. You can lead amuck to water......

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founding

;]

Hi suannee!

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It definitely smells but I can’t see a 20 year old kid being the conspiracy triggerman. And to El Gato’s point re: incompetence, look no further than the heavier-set female SS agent who kept trying to holster her pistol at the Suburban and after 3-4 attempts just pulls it back up. At least her trigger finger wasn’t inside the trigger guard or someone else could have been shot. Just totally pathetic.

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Agree. A 20 year old nerd who couldn't make the rifle team in HS? Surely if it was some sort of government/dark cabal conspiracy they would at least used a more competent perp. Then again, our government is not currently known for competence.

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AT first the FBI claimed that it could not crack his iphone - then they claimed that it had "encrypted data which connected the iphone to a foreign country" - so they are going to claim that he was talking to someone in Iran, China, Russia or North Korea.

Instead od admitting that he was talking to someone in the Biden Junta,

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our null hypothesis needs to be that all events in the major news are manipulated and controlled by the cabal who own all the pieces on the chess board, who have a many-generations-long agenda, and who are VERY good at this manipulation and control game. Our job becomes sorting out how the narration manipulation benefits the cabal and what they're planning to do with it. Therein lie the likely culprits and the purpose. The cabal wants WWIII, stable coin / CBDC, and they're gearing up the bird flu scam bonus round. How would this event step us toward those? It seems to me a wounded "tough guy" Trump everyone has rallied behind could easily sell us WWIII as the "greatest" war and JPMorgan's stable coin as the "greatest" currency and the bird flu jabs as the "greatest vaccine ever" and the people would cheer. Biden / insert-replacement-puppet-here? not so much. It's their game to manufacture consent. They'll install whoever serves that purpose most efficiently.

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A fellow cynic! me too.

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Yeah I abandoned any illusions that there are two “parties” a long time ago. We’re watching cabal puppet theater. I’d say it’s more just observing reality than cynicism. I mean we all just lived through the covid psyop, right? The GLOBAL covid psyop. These folks control not just the US, but the world. Of course they control the US political game.

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Yes. And those who don't believe the weather is manipulated and, thus, crops and food supplies are affected, are blinder than blind. IMO anyway.

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This happens over and over again - the "first responders" we all put on a pedestal are incompetent or freeze when they shouldn't and/or are afraid to put their lives at risks when shooters are killing people. There's multiple examples of this going back to Columbine.

But, still, we're all conditioned to trust the police, FBI, Secret Service ... CIA. They are the experts and professionals.

The "watchdog" press doesn't question or challenge these people and agencies. They wait for a "statement" from these groups telling them what happened. That "confirms" the truth.

Basically, we are "being led by the obtuse" (and/or proven liars). Saturday's event is yet another example of this.

https://billricejr.substack.com/p/take-aways-from-yesterdays-near-miss

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Actually Bill, rather than wait for the statement they fall all over themselves praising what a great job the agents on the ground did . . . until someone who actually knows something about high level security points out 17 different fuckups by that group and how many different times Trump was left exposed despite the dog pile.

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Yep. It bugs me how the pack media always waits for the press conference or the official statement to confirm what happened.

Often, the people who screwed up, get to tell us what really happened. This happened in Covid every day for years. We kept listening to experts who had been wrong about every single point they made for years.

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You and Ryan both make very good points. We don't know how this happened, and I'm afraid we may never know.

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Sorry, but the shooter was about 125m away, so "outside 500m" is a bullshit excuse.

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Sure. How smart can someone be who is willing to stand between a bullet and a politician? LOL

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I agree

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I heard that the counter-sniper had the assassin in his sights for three minutes but was not allowed by the SS officer in charge to take the shot. If it was just an odd fact here and there, I don't think it would be a big deal, but when you get so many "coincidences" you start wondering.

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Does anyone know if those counter-snipers have access to radios? Surely, they do, but in the close-up photos of the counter-snipers nearest Trump I can't see any ear pieces. You would think with so many witnesses screaming, "There's a man on the roof! he has a gun!" some cop would have reported this on his radio device ... and the SS would have heard this and got Trump off the stage before the shots started.

Lots of common-sense questions have yet to be answered.

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Really....in 2024....we don't know how to coordinate communications between law enforcement agencies with ample opportunity to plan...at an event that obviously requires good communication? Are we using Vietnam era radios and walkie-talkies? Just absurd.

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maybe they don't know how to buy stuff on AMAZON!

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Have you watched any of the crewed space flights to the ISS? The audio coms from the capsule - still on the ground - sound as bad as in the 1960s. We should be hearing them in 7.1 channel surround sound by now.

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founding

none of the different law authorities radios could communicate effectively/efficiently because they are not on the same "frequency".

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Think about that. You have a huge rally - with 30,000 people. You've got cops spread throughout the area who, one presumes, are looking for potential assassins. They find one with a gun on a roof ... and yet they have no means of getting this information to the Secret Service agents who are just a couple of steps away from the target of the assassination.

... Nor, perhaps, do the counter-snipers know anything about what eye-witnesses are screaming 130 yards away.

All that training and all those "security experts" and this is what happens.

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The answer to that is to set up a central security hub. One person with a multi-band radio that can monitor all the different frequencies and relay communications between services. This is basic security stuff.

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Yes -- this is how we do it in Civil Air Patrol. There is a central communications person at the incident command center monitoring and relaying. Sometimes it's not even different frequencies, but the fact we have assets that are too distant to communicate directly.

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Central Command and Control. Tripple C baby!

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wasn't that what supposedly happened with J6? That ruse was swallowed that time ...

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founding

Yup. You are correct

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That's just great. That problem goes back to WWII. And we are still workin' on it!

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Actually, JL, the Romans had similar communications problems in Britain, 2000 years ago. And no doubt, Pharaoh's armies, 2000 years before that, were plagued with them too.

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Hi Andy! Yes, of course you are correct, the ability of separate elements of a mission force to communicate with one another has been - since the dawn of human conflict a critical component in the success or failure of a military operation. Development of com systems is an evolving science, but the problem of who's on such and such a freq and where's everybody else? is a problem that was critical in WWII because of wireless com system importance and the speed at which new systems were being introduced to the battlefield. Seemed to be largely sorted out by Vietnam and the solid-state systems coming on line. Since then we've refined the systems so well thru the several generations of digital electronic communication evolutions that there are no further excuses beyond inter-agency ineptitude.

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The "Fog of War" extends far beyond the actual Battlesapce, it turns out.

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Oh geez. Screwed once again by holy technology.

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Questions that will never be answered. The narrative is already being spun. This was a lone wolf, a nut. Im sure some sort of manifesto or journal will surface. The semantics will be forgotten, or explained away. Most likely this DEI hire in charge will step aside with her full pension to show that something is being done. Ladders, unmanned rooftops, communications, all will be ignored away.

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If there were no radio communications, this is eerily similar to what happened in 9-11 in lack of coordination amongst federal/state/local agencies.

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The 2nd counter-sniper, behind the 1st, clearly has a voice communications -he could have been talking with someone.

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It's clear from the video that the countersniper had the shooter in his sights for a while. His rifle doesn't move when he finally takes the shot. However, his reaction does indicate surprise when the sniper starts firing.

I have zero experience shooting rifles at targets over longish distances. But I don't understand how the countersniper can have the shooter sufficiently sighted to take him out in a couple seconds when he starts firing, but not have a sufficient view of him to identify him 100% as a threat to the president. Maybe someone with sniper experience or training can comment on that.

But even if we accept that not taking the shot was a reasonable call due to the risk of killing an innocent, getting the president off the stage until they confirm or debunk the threat is a relatively low-risk option that wasn't taken. Just one more factor in the "incompetency or malice" assessment.

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At 130 yards with a 4x or better scope, and that counter-sniper scope was a much more powerful scope, you should be able to identify a rifle. But yes, if there was any question, remove the President until the situation is resolved.

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founding

super critical point

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From what I've seen, that story is a little suspect, but still crazy that we're even considering that is a valid possibility. :/

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Theodore Roosevelt (shot in Milwaukee one block from where the Republican Convention is being held), JFK, RFK, , MLK, George Wallace, Watergate Plumbers, Ronald Reagan, Iran Contra, January 6 "insurrection", Trump attempt this weekend after all the lawfare attempts to imprison and remove his eligibility to run . . . and the beat goes on. So considering valid possibilities? Ya, You Betcha.

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We either had a lone nutcase would-be assassin (who was a murderer of a very fine man). This person was no doubt motivated to act because of all the "hate speech" he'd heard non-stop about Trump being a great threat to the world ... and this person came millimeters from pulling off an assassination that would probably have led to the break-up of the United State of America ... all because of the stunning incompetence of the "security" experts.

Or: We had an inside job to assassinate Trump.

Both scenarios are a tad disconcerting.

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Don't be surprised if this kid was on some type of drug to treat depression, anxiety, etc.

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A Midwestern Doctor wrote about depression meds and mass shootings on his Substack earlier this year.

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So you know what I'm referring to.

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I'm not seeing it now, and can't find my original source, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere over the weekend that the shooter's pronouns are They/Them.

As EGM notes, tho, probably best not to enter that into evidence but it sure would explain the behavior.

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RFK, Jr. and Tucker Carlson keep making this taboo point.

"Boo! Boo! Boo!"

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founding

cluster B soy boy

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The captured MSM is the main weapon of the Transnationals. The mindless are easily influenced.

This whole thing is quite suspicious.

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Jul 16·edited Jul 16

Peter Schott, I agree

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Just like the photos of the shooter get younger and younger - pretty soon he'll be shown as a fetus - the length of time the sniper had the shooter in his sights keeps getting longer, from 45 seconds to now 3 minutes. Recall that we have reports of "an officer" confronting the shooter on the roof and backing down seconds before the shooter began to fire. That's reason enough for the sniper to hesitate to shoot.

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I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this once the Congressional investigation begins (crowd rolling on the floor laughing).

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I'm also thinking long and hard about that ladder, Ryan.

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SS said- it wasn’t their job to secure that building. They left that to the local police. Makes total sense…

Also, and I’ve watched the video, the shooter was in a BlackRock video (unless AI is freaking amazing). His phone is unable to be hacked by “our best” and he had no social media presence as a 20 year old. It all stinks. This was planned but by which group?

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Some X user posted an interesting video clip. This person, a citizen correspondent, wanted to drive to the shooter's house Saturday night or Sunday night. He was blocked from getting there by some person who wouldn't identify himself as law enforcement. He had to turn around and couldn't get close to the house.

This makes one wonder who is at that house right now and what evidence they might be scrubbing. This anecdote makes me think of the agents who raided Epstein's house in Manhattan and later his island in the Virgin Islands. What was their real purpose?

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founding

Right?! Like I said; I could go on forever...;]

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As Mark Steyn describes them, a "known wolf".

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The private sector military and such have ai, that it puts the rest of us to shame. We graphic designers, ai designers, whatever got the downgraded version. You can’t trust what you see. I was a graphic designer in the late 1990s. I knew we were going down a very rough road.

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They tell us that their stuff is world class, but their performance in Ukraine shows that we paid the MIC trillions of dollars for gold-plated garbage that isn't fit for purpose.

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In the video have you seen the woman in the black hat and sunglasses with a sign acting very strange. Using the sign as a sort of code for the shooter. She knew what was going down

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founding

Yes! I thought I was the only person to notice

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Our cell phones were tracked in 2020 to determine lockdown compliance, and my purchasing habits are tracked online as evidenced by related pop-up ads. Yet the FBI can't access an assassin's cell phone? Seriously?

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That Big Brother surveillance is used to track and monitor people who think the Covid shots are NOT "safe and effective" or who think the 2020 election was stolen ... or that the J-6 protestors should not be in prison.

Our 20 "intelligence" services probably aren't tracking crazy left-wing nuts who want to kill Donald Trump ... or people who want to throw anti-vaxxers in quarantine camps. This guy would have never been flagged or monitored.

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“Officer, could you make sure nobody steals my gun bag while I go get my extension ladder?”

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"Pay no attention to the long-haired 20-year-old with the rifle and the ladder."

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Oh… and what the hell are Drones not being used to surveil the area from above?!?!?! That is a glaring omission!!!

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Guess what ? A drone was being used ............ BY THE PERPETRATOR !!!!!!!

AIn't that some Shih-Tsu?

https://www.thedailybeast.com/even-trump-shooter-thomas-crooks-had-a-drone-why-didnt-the-secret-service

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That ladder looks like it's built into the wall. I can't tell from the fuzzy images. But how did he know about it? How did he know to go to the one unprotected location where he could shoot Trump? And having explosives in his car that he couldn't possibly use if he's a lone sniper just reeks of FBI setup. Yes, the whole thing stinks.

BTW, we have reports of "an officer" confronting the shooter on the roof and backing down. I have not seen any mention of the sex of the officer. Local police, apparently. But was the officer an XY male or an XX female? Trump's SS detail was full of women placed in jobs they couldn't do. Was that the case with "the officer"? Don't know.

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I've thought about that. If the ladder is a permanent fixture, how did this guy know about it?

Also, if there is a permanent ladder that anybody could climb to get on those roofs, security should have at least had one of their own agents on top of that roof.

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Maybe Street View might help

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According to Fox, Crooks was there three hours b4 the rally , walking all over creation , casing the joint.

https://www.wtae.com/article/trump-rally-gunman-thomas-crooks-video-prior/61623731#

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founding

why don't they just tell us that? seems their silence indicates the existence of the ladder is crucial. malice or incompetence or both is what they're trying to cover up....or they'd just answer that question

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And who owns the building? I bet they've got a lot on their mind...

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Is the ladder a permanent fixture? Or was it placed there?

Some witness interviewed on local TV said that cops were inside that building!

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founding

Ooh. Good point

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Read that again, slowly

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That little punk nerd never managed an extension (which I assume it to be) ladder. I watch husband playing with those babies. Requires muscle and skill.

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Yes, it was the most blatant plot ever seen, with both SS and police standing down....

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He was an autistic kid running smack into the usual gang of idiots and here we are.

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Why didn't the ladder cop shot him?

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I wonder if that story is true. Maybe it is. If it is, it's deeply disturbing. If nothing else, you get to the top of the ladder, see a sniper who is not a SS agent ... and you pull out your hand gun and start shooting at the guy. It doesn't even make any difference if you hit him. He's not going to be shooting accurately at the president when he's being fired at from his flank position.

That would also alert the counter-snipers to start doing their thing.

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Because like most cops he was a coward. Cops are great harassing joe citizen, walking around with soldier gear on to intimidate people. Once any real danger lurks, forget it. They will duck and dodge and cowher under staircases.

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Assuming the story is true, you can thank that cop for Trump not being killed. Unless you're a Navy Seal or some such, you aren't likely trained to climb a ladder with your weapon in one hand.

So, the cop climbs to the edge of the roof, pokes his head over the top, the shooter sees him and points his gun at the cop's head. No reasonable person is going to keep himself exposed to be shot at while he draws his gun. Instinct and good judgement, demands you duck, then draw your weapon.

At this point the shooter knows he's been spotted and knows it's now or never if he's going to shoot. Now, in a panic and a very big hurry, he hastily fires off a few ill aimed desperate shots, misses (mostly) and seconds later meets his maker.

If he'd had more time, if that cop hadn't spooked him, Trump would probably be dead.

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Come on dude. Any self respecting homeowner can climb a ladder with cordless drill in one hand and a set of screws in his teeth. I get the rest of your argument and it makes sense, but let's not make it out like this was the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc.

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Well, the cop never drew his weapon it seems. He ducked and ran. Which is my point. If he woulda ducked and pulled his weapon and confronted the guy, maybe he gets off a few less shots and the innocent bystander isn’t killed. I will not give that cop credit for saving anyone, except possibly himself.

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the cop is only "investigating" the civilian reports of a guy on the roof with a gun, why wouldn't he be drawn?? if it turns out to be a kid with a telescope no biggie, but i cant believe he would climb up there with a holstered gun??

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Even if he did, pop down a rung or two, radio it in, and then climb back up and shoot at the guy. Why not fire three or four shots at the next building? ‘Shots fired!’ Etc.

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Because, reports are the ladder was attached to the wall of the building. That means it is vertical, a 90 degree angle, relative to the ground. Pretty hard to ascend that with one hand.

You fall, or lose your grip, "You'll shoot your eye out!"

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really??? you dont think police are trained to climb a ladder with a weapon in hand? how do firemen get up a ladder with any gear? somebody else already posted on here (so i wont take credit) but 50% of the readers of this post have scaled a ladder with a drill/paint can/ tools with no problems...

also, in today's news, this kid bought a ladder at home depot 48 hours ago (not yet confirmed to be this one), and the building he fired from was the police tactical staging area.

still think nothing is fishy??

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Supposedly, and this is what my husband read on x, he fell backwards or something like that…

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PFFT LOL

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See, the one point in this that really begs the question is the access to the roof.

How did he know that he would be able to access that roof. If you asked anyone if law enforcement would be on a roof 150 yards from a political gathering like that, almost everyone would say “of course.”

This guy didn’t live in that town. He had to drive 40 miles with a long gun not knowing if he would be able to get on that roof. Not knowing if law enforcement was going to be up there. That sounds like a ludicrous plan, one bound to fail if you were to plan such an assassination attempt. A plan no one would make.

So, either he had no set plan, or someone conspired with him and told him that no one would be on that roof. Who decides to do something like this and not plan their course of action?

I say Occam’s razor dictates that he had help of some sort- even if it was just someone telling him that no one would be on that roof.

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founding

We agree

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i really do hate to go full oliver stone on a deal like this, but "gross incompetence" seems like a fairly generous explanation. The very first article i looked at saturday night, that had a satellite photo, i looked at my wife and said, "why wouldnt they have snipers on this roof?" this was way before we interviewed any military security folks to say it was a fuck up. it isnt like this is an urban area or his bronx rally, with 300+ options to do this. there are only 2 buildings there?? this is barely more than 100 yds away. i realize we are in an age where i frequently overestimate the competence and sense of urgency of most people daily, but come on... truly, if you looked at recon photos and tried to plan this a week ago, that would be either choice 1 or 2 of where to set up?? and the extension ladder being left there?? how are there multiple civilian videos of people yelling, "theres a guy on the roof with a gun...", and NOBODY responsible for "security" is scanning the only roof ~150 yds away and sees this?? i also find it odd that trump has done 3 of these rallies a week for about 10 years without so much as fight over spilled beer happening, but now, the week the race is decided (at least in the minds of the dems) we get this?? and this kid that did it- he makes lee harvey look like chris kyle. he didnt even make the HS rifle team??

i realize all of this isnt "proof", but i have ZERO faith in anybody truly getting the facts out, even congress. i am usually the person who shies from conspriacy when stupidity is the simpler explanation, but i dont know... this is 5 or 6 galactically stupid acts, that are compounded geometrically--meaning if just ONE segment of this ISNT the most stupid thing ever it doesnt "work". seems like some sort of conspiracy is actually a more "rational" thought here.

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Agree. I don't think you can be cynical enough these days. In fact, it's an attribute in the current environment

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Yup, what explanation did he provide at the SS checkpoint for carrying a range finder?

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The constant attacking of Trump is bad. Attacking the opponent has always occurred, always been in poor taste. Yes, the attacks of Trump are more extreme and aggressive than the norm.

But I find that leading Dems attack beyond their mere political opponent. They are now attacking 50% of the population (deplorables... we have lost patience with you... etc) is far worse.

Trump may beat the war drums -- but his "targets" have always been the politicians and their flunkies - not the 50% of the population who will vote against him.

It has been different with Hilary and Biden. They openly state a dislike for roughly half the population they are supposed to represent. Does anyone really think that is a tenable relationship between government and those governed?

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There is a difference between Trump saying Biden is the worst president ever and Biden saying Trump is a threat to our way of life, a wannabe dictator and a threat to end democracy in the US.

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And to clarify, I’m not a particular fan of Trumps’s statements either. We just have to be able to recognize the qualitative difference.

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Hillary said all of us deplorable are going to need reeducation.

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Which means that if they succeed in re-installing their animated corpse, (or some other figurehead), we can expect to see "reeducation camps" in our immediate future.

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They've got the educational system sewed up so tight they don't need anything else. It will be two generations' work to begin to grow sensible children and that's only if independents manage to be the most potent political force in the nation.

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You don't need re-education if you can educate them the first time.

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Ain't that the grim truth of it.

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Every school teaches woke ideology. Every company over about 50 employees has to have diversity sessions and meet racial quotas. Every MSM outlet preaches the woke gospel. We're IN the camps already.

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Throughout the western world an elite class has developed and become entrenched. In numerous ways they are separate from the vast majority and live completely separate lives. In the 90’s it was written about. A book called The Revolt of the Elites’ that described their increasing distain for ordinary people. Lately as populism has grown elites have become increasingly defensive and offensive against this growing backlash. It seem to me that they have come to believe they must impose an iron grip digital dictatorship or the rabble will eventually come for them. I think they sense this. This is how our politics has become increasingly hysterical.

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100%.

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Thank you for the book recommendation. I ordered it today. It appears stunningly prescient about what was happening then and was about to happen in the years following publication.

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It is. Amazingly so.

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It ain't over, not by a long shot.

As you said half the population hates the other half. That is only going to get worse.

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I'm not cynical enough to believe that half the population hates the other - not yet at least.

I think the politicians see half the population as the enemy.

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I agree, although I would place it at something like 30% hates the other side. Something like 20% of the left and 10% of the right. I mean hate pretty starkly, as in needs purged/re-educated/expelled/expropriated. I hope it is less.

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More than 20% of the left hates us. I have been a conservative for decades. You have no idea the insults I have endured.

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I have some idea, believe me. I used to work in academia. I am not talking just insults, though. When I say hate I am talking people who are willing and see it as a desirable goal to act towards destroying the other. Much more than 20% of that and we would have lefties routinely killing people in MAGA hats on the streets of cities, and never getting caught, either because the locals hide them or because the cops don't bother to look into it. Think of queers in Palestine.

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In history essential leaders have never been mainstream. They have always been controversial. Lincoln was called a dictator. Churchill had a drinking problem. So did Ulysses S. Grant. I have worked for and with flawed people who were still incredibly successful leaders. A lot of my opinions of them were a bit harsh and looking back premature. Like Gato I am not a fan of Trump the person but we should not let the perfect stand in the way of the good and the essential. Trump is not my pick of the litter but he is the essential leader the U.S. needs today, warts and all.

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I’ll be very interested to hear his RNC speech. I think he gets it. I think he believes his run for president is safe enough and the incident jarring enough that he will turn his own rhetoric down, for the good of the country, and because a brush with death changes people.

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Agreed. I rarely listen to politicians speeches but Trump's speech Thursday will be an exception. I would also like to hear Vance's speech. Trump supporters know him well, have made peace with his faults and look forward to hearing his vision for the country which will delivered in excruciating Trumpese.

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Ha well a brush might change some people. Trump golfed the day after. What?

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Have you ever tried to get tee time at a popular course? You don't blow that off so long as you can swing a club! :D

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😂

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There's no coming back from the COVID debacle without forcefully and permanently ejecting perhaps a majority of public people from their positions. That bullet isn't gonna make things more civil

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author

the price for incivility and vilification of trump just rose dramatically. if they stick to that plan, they'll bury themselves and many seem to know it.

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Agree with both of you....but I pray that Biden isn't the next target by a "lone wolf"

That would play right into the dems hands. Remove Biden from the ticket and restore the democrats with the moral high ground by claiming it was retribution from the MAGA extremists for the Trump assassination attempt.

As insane as it sounds....Praying for Joe Biden.

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