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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 2 years ago

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[h/t Scott Horton]

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The firmament has shifted. :: March 31, 2023

Robert B. Hubbell

On Thursday, March 30, 2023, the Manhattan District Attorney confirmed that a grand jury has indicted Donald Trump. With that announcement, the firmament has shifted. For seven frustrating years, we were condemned to wander a landscape in which the crimes of lawless president were litigated in the press through rumors and leaks. Reckless statements and bad faith lies were given flight on cable news. Speculation and innuendo were traded on social media like cigarettes in a prison yard.

No more. The firmament has shifted.

The charges and defenses will be contested in a court of law in accordance with New York procedure and rules of evidence. While the landscape of rumors and lies will continue unabated outside the courtroom, statements by counsel in the courtroom must have a good faith basis. If not, the judge will punish the lawyers.

The firmament has shifted.

The indictment will be read word-for-word, and Trump will be required to admit or deny the charges in a plea consisting of one word or two: “Guilty” or “Not Guilty.” There will be no incoherent rambling, no oblique calls for violence, no code-words for antisemitism, and no appeals for campaign donations.

The firmament has shifted.

Every statement made by Trump on social media or the campaign trail will be a potential admission or effort to obstruct justice. Any rational defendant would curtail his speech to maximize chances of acquittal. Trump will either follow his lawyer’s advice (and minimize the likelihood of conviction) or he will continue apace (and subject himself to new charges of obstruction of justice).

Of course, we do not know what charges are contained in the sealed indictment. The indictment might charge only misdemeanors. Or it might charge an array of financial crimes connected to the prosecution of the Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg.

Either way, the Manhattan indictment serves a necessary and valuable purpose. Trump will be indicted twice more (at least)—once in Fulton County, Georgia, and at least once in D.C. for insurrection, the false electors’ scheme, and / or unlawful retention of national defense documents. The shock of indicting a former president for the first time occurs only once. For good or ill, Alvin Bragg has accepted that burden to the relief of Fani Willis and Jack Smith.

The scandal of Trump's indictment for paying hush money to save his presidential campaign is that the DOJ failed to indict Trump in 2018 when Michael Cohen was convicted for helping Trump commit the underlying crime. Bill Barr killed the federal investigation into Donald Trump in 2018, and Merrick Garland failed to pick up the investigation in 2021. So, yes, Bragg’s indictment is late and (according to some) ill-timed. But given the delay of Merrick Garland and Fani Willis, Bragg should not be blamed for proceeding first with the weakest charges that Trump will face.

The reaction by Republican leaders has been lawless and antisemitic. Earlier this week, Kevin McCarthy refused to comment on the mass killing of schoolchildren in Tennessee because he wanted to “get the facts” before condemning the slaughter of innocents. But without the benefit of seeing the sealed indictment, McCarthy was quick to condemn the unknown charges and to threaten Alvin Bragg.

McCarthy said,

Alvin Bragg has irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our Presidential election.

The American people will not tolerate this injustice, and the House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account.

Of course, the House of Representatives has no power to hold Bragg “to account.” McCarthy’s statement is a naked attempt to intimidate a prosecutor—and should be investigated by the DOJ as obstruction of justice.

But the statement by Governor Ron DeSantis was much worse. He said that Florida would “not assist in an extradition request” to transfer Trump to New York “given the questionable circumstances at issue.” DeSantis’s threat was hollow because Trump had already signaled his intention to appear voluntarily in New York. But make no mistake, DeSantis was threatening nothing less than a state-sanctioned effort to harbor a fugitive in violation of state and federal law.

A man who is running for an office sworn to uphold the US Constitution just demonstrated his manifest unfitness for the presidency. Like his ill-considered description of Russia’s war on Ukraine as a “territorial dispute,” DeSantis’s vow to break the law to protect Trump bordered on rebellion and was monumentally stupid.

But DeSantis also invoked antisemitism in his refusal to extradite Trump to New York. He twice described Alvin Bragg as being backed by George Soros—a fact of no relevance except as a dog whistle to white supremacists and antisemites everywhere. See ADL, The Antisemitism Lurking Behind George Soros Conspiracy Theories.

As explained by the ADL,

Even if no antisemitic insinuation is intended, casting a Jewish individual as a puppet master who manipulates national events for malign purposes has the effect of mainstreaming antisemitic tropes and giving support, however unwitting, to antisemites and extremists who disseminate these ideas knowingly and with malice.

Of course, DeSantis’s references to Soros interfering in Bragg’s investigation were not “unintentional.” As a presidential candidate whose every word is carefully scripted, DeSantis’s multiple references to Soros were intentional—as were the antisemitic tropes embedded in his statement.

For the moment, Trump intends to surrender in New York next Tuesday for booking and arraignment. If that happens, it will be a singular moment for the rule of law. It will remind the world that America can hold its leaders to account for their crimes—a proposition that was sorely in need of proof. See op-ed by Dennis Aftergut in Washington Post, By indicting Trump, Alvin Bragg restores our faith in the rule of law.

The always-wise Josh Marshall made a point on MSNBC on Thursday evening that should be our guide in the coming days. Marshall urged that we avoid “living inside Donald Trump's drama.” We fell for Trump's dramatic ploy last week when he claimed, “I will be arrested on Tuesday.” He and others will spend endless hours drawing us into conversations that second guess Alan Bragg regarding the timing of the indictment, the charges included (or excluded), the credibility of witnesses, etc.

The Editorial Board of the Washington Post dove head-first into the Trump psycho-drama with its editorial, The Trump indictment is a poor test case for prosecuting a former president. After listing everything that could go wrong with the prosecution, the Post Editorial Board concludes,

This prosecution needs to be airtight. Otherwise, it’s not worth continuing.

The Editorial Board’s demand that the case must be “airtight” to be “worth continuing” invokes a standard unknown in western jurisprudence. It is a standard that exists only inside the vortex of Donald Trump's fever dreams—in which the WaPo Editorial Board has become hopelessly mired. We should not repeat their mistake.

Setting aside the imaginary rules that apply only to the Trump melodrama, here is where we are: Trump has been indicted in New York. He will be tried before a jury of his peers. He will be convicted or acquitted, or the jury will be unable to reach a verdict. It’s that simple. Trump wants to make it a circus to upend the rule of law. Don’t fall into his trap.

We should avoid living inside the Trumpian drama to the extent we can. The case of the People v. Donald J. Trump will take months or years to unfold. In the meantime, we have federal, state, and local elections to win . . . regardless of what happens in the (first) criminal trial of Donald Trump. Stay the course!

Meanwhile, in Congress.

As if we needed a reminder of why we must take back the House, GOP led committees put an exclamation point after that proposition on Thursday. In the first instance, GOP. Rep. Barry Loudermilk used the first hearing of his sub-committee on Capitol security to present a sham video that allegedly cleared Loudermilk of giving reconnaissance tours of the Capitol to insurrectionists on January 5th. See MSNBC / Maddow Blog, Investigating the Jan. 6 investigation, GOP rep exonerates himself.

Loudermilk’s self-proclaimed “exoneration” presentation failed to address crucial questions like, “Why was he giving tours of the Capitol when it was closed to the public?,” and “Why did his tour include members of the crowd that stormed the Capitol the next day?” Loudermilk must believe that his constituents are idiots who will believe anything he says . . . .

In the Jim Jordan “weaponization” committee hearing, Jordan allowed two witnesses to “read” their testimony into the record and then walk out of the hearing without being questioned by members of the committee—including Democrats eager to discredit the witnesses. Video of the shameful episode is here, WaPo, Democrats’ anger boils over after GOP witnesses testify without taking questions.

I urge you to watch the video so you can see for yourself the smirk that plasters Jordan’s face as he lamely tries to explain that Democrats can ask their questions even though the witnesses have departed the hearing. Jordan resorted to such bad-faith tactics because Democrats have been dismantling Republican witnesses in the Weaponization Committee hearings. Jordan decided to avoid a repeat of that embarrassment by allowing the witnesses to flee the room before Democrats were able to cross-examine the witnesses. They have no shame . . . . and we must replace every last one of them!

Republican Judge rules that ACA-mandated free testing for HIV and cancer screening is unconstitutional.

As noted previously, the federal bench in Texas is on a mission to dismantle as much of the “administrative state” as possible. In the latest example, federal district judge Reed O’Connor ruled the ACA’s requirement of free HIV testing and cancer screening was unconstitutional. See Ian Millhiser in Vox, The lawsuit that threatens everything from cancer screenings to birth control, explained.

As Millhiser notes,

Five years ago, Judge Reed O’Connor attempted to repeal the entire Affordable Care Act. His decision striking down Obamacare was widely mocked, even in conservative circles — in the words of one National Review article, O’Connor’s reasoning “doesn’t even merit being called silly. It’s ridiculous” — and the decision was eventually reversed by a 7-2 vote in the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, on Thursday, O’Connor handed down a new decision that blocks a key provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires health insurers to cover a wide range of preventive health care services — ranging from cancer screenings to obesity counseling to drugs that prevent the spread of HIV.

Millhiser explains that the re-configured reactionary majority on the Supreme Court is likely to uphold Judge O’Connor’s ruling. If that happens, large swaths of the ACA will be overruled despite the earlier decision of the Court upholding the ACA’s constitutionality.

The case of Braidwood Management v. Becerra will be in the news for several years—and may change the face of healthcare as we know it today. Why? Because Justices Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, and Barrett live in a world where premium healthcare is unaffected by their sham conservative legal principles. They get free healthcare no matter how much they gut Obamacare. Meanwhile, forty million Americans will suffer worse health outcomes, including death, because of the conservative majority’s social Darwinism approach to the law.

What’s the solution? Enlarge the Court!

A reflection on hope and optimism

For your weekend reading, I recommend a remarkable op-ed by Amanda Ripley in WaPo, This element is critical to human flourishing — yet missing from the news. (The link should work for everyone.) It is filled with helpful advice about remaining hopeful during difficult times.

You may be surprised to learn that I receive fairly consistent criticism from readers (including in today’s email!) that my hopeful and optimistic outlook does a disservice to my readers. I am frequently told that I am naïve, and that my optimism lulls people into a false sense of security and inaction. As I frequently respond, “If you tell people that the future is hopeless, they will believe you”—and then what?

Amanda Ripley addresses some of these criticism in her article, explaining why as a journalist, it is “easier” to adopt a cynical, negative view. She writes,

As a journalist, trying to look smart in story meetings, it always felt safer to remain skeptical. It was easier to pitch stories about buffoonery than about progress. It’s a strange trick of the mind, especially because it’s the news media’s relentless negativity that has led so many people to give up on institutions . . . . . Cynicism feels protective, even when it’s not.

Being pessimistic is the easy way out—and creates a self-fulfilling doom narrative. Being optimistic is hard. As Ripely writes,

Hope is more like a muscle than an emotion. It’s a cognitive skill, one that helps people reject the status quo and visualize a better way.

And for those critics who claim that I ignore bad news and minimize the threats we face, you haven’t been reading the newsletter closely for the last seven years. But there is a difference between recognizing bad news and surrendering to despair. As I told a reader today—with sincere affection—“I am sorry you feel that way. My best advice is that you try not to discourage other people.”

Optimism is contagious. So is pessimism. If you choose to mediate reality by assuming the worst, that may be the best strategy for you, but it is a poor basis for rallying others to continue the struggle for a better future. If the seemingly relentless bad news of the last week has you down, read Amanda Ripley’s article. She may be able to persuade you to be hopeful, even if I have failed.

Concluding Thoughts.

On March 7, 1965, John Lewis awoke in a hospital bed with a fractured skull suffered at the hands of white police officers who attacked 600 marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Ten days later, March 17th, he testified at a federal hearing about those unprovoked beatings—known as Bloody Sunday. Four days later, March 21st, John Lewis joined 3,200 marchers who resumed the march from Selma to Montgomery.

In addition to his bravery, John Lewis was driven by unflagging hope. Was he foolish? Or naïve? Did he lull others into a false sense of security or inaction? I am not comparing myself to John Lewis—nor should you. But we can learn from his refusal to give in to despair—even though he had ample reason to do so.

“Hope is more like a muscle than an emotion.” Exercise it. It will come in handy as we face the challenges to come.

Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter

#Scott Horton #Tr***#TFG #Robert B. Hubbell #Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter #US Justice System #justice #The Rule of Law #Defending Democracy #The Trumpian Drama #Indicted Ex-President

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banji-effect · 1 year ago

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WASHINGTON—Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday in an unprecedented criminal case accusing the former president of trying to subvert the will of American voters through his attempts to cling to power after he lost the 2020 election. The indictment by a federal grand jury in Washington charges Trump with four crimes, including conspiring to defraud the U.S., obstructing an official proceeding, and conspiring against the rights of voters for his actions that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by his supporters on the U.S. Capitol. The indictment charges Trump alone, but describes six co-conspirators working with him, including people identifiable as Rudy Giuliani and several other lawyers who worked with him to contest the 2020 election results. Many of the details referenced in the case have been previously revealed, including from a House panel that investigated the attack. But the 45-page document paints a detailed portrait of Trump’s alleged efforts to press claims that the election had been marred by fraud, even though he had been told repeatedly they had no merit, and how he leaned on officials in battleground states he had lost including Arizona, Georgia and Michigan to support his efforts. After those initial efforts failed, the indictment alleges, Trump pushed his own Justice Department to falsely claim election fraud, and pressed Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results, telling Pence at one point: “You’re too honest.” He then called his supporters to Washington and urged them to “fight like hell” just before they marched to the Capitol on Jan. 6. Brought by special counsel Jack Smith, the indictment opens a second federal criminal case against Trump under the administration led by President Biden, who beat him in the 2020 race for the White House and is now his potential opponent next year, with Trump the GOP front-runner for 2024. Trump is scheduled to appear in federal court in Washington on Thursday.

In a brief appearance where he took no questions, Smith called the Capitol attack “an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies.”

Despite losing, Trump spread lies that there had been fraud in the election, and that he had actually won, the indictment alleges. “Each of these conspiracies…targeted a bedrock function of the United States federal government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election,” prosecutors assert in the indictment.

In a social media post, Trump said the case was a “pathetic attempt” by the Justice Department to “interfere with the 2024 Presidential Election.”

Within minutes, the Trump campaign sent a fundraising email, portraying him as a victim of political persecution. “It’s not just my freedom on the line, but yours as well—and I will NEVER let them take it from you,” it read.

In the indictment, prosecutors acknowledged that Trump had a right to challenge the election results and even falsely claim fraud. But they said what he did went far beyond such rights and involved discounting legitimate votes.

The indictment adds to the cloud of legal challenges. Smith’s office also is prosecuting Trump on separate charges that he improperly retained classified government documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort and obstructed the government’s efforts to retrieve them.

The district attorney in Fulton County, Ga., also has been investigating Trump for election interference. He awaits trial on 34 felony charges brought by local prosecutors in New York in a business-records case stemming from a hush-money payment made to a porn star in the final stretch of the 2016 election.

Trump has denied wrongdoing in the federal, New York and Georgia matters, and accused prosecutors of pursuing him for political reasons.

Prosecutors have charged more than 1,000 people in connection with the riot, for crimes ranging from trespassing to assault and obstructing the Congressional proceeding, almost all of whom were at the Capitol during the violence. More than 500 have pleaded guilty, and several who were convicted of playing a leading role in the violence have been sentenced to years in prison. Trump is among the first who didn’t directly participate in the riot to face federal charges in connection with the attack.

The Jan. 6 Capitol attack led to Trump’s unpredecented second impeachment, with the Democratic House alleging that Trump, who by then was out of office, incited an insurrection. Trump was acquitted in the Senate.

The probe has advanced for months on several tracks, with prosecutors examining efforts that included assembling fake slates of electors to send to Congress; pressuring former Vice President Mike Pence to thwart the congressional certification of Biden’s win; pressing state officials to undo their results; fundraising with false claims of election fraud; and rallying his supporters to march to the Capitol.

Federal grand jurors in Washington have heard from witnesses including election officials from several states, White House lawyers and a list of Trump’s closest aides. Pence, Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows and other senior officials in Trump’s closest circles also testified after Trump’s lawyers unsuccessfully tried to block their appearances, citing executive privilege. Prosecutors interviewed Trump’s former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani for eight hours.

The co-conspirators are unnamed, though the descriptions in the document indicate that they are Giuliani, Trump lawyers John Eastman, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro and former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark. A sixth is described as a political consultant, whose identity is unclear.

The six, while unindicted, could potentially face charges as Smith’s investigation is ongoing.

“Every fact Mayor Rudy Giuliani possesses about this case establishes the good faith basis President Donald Trump had for the actions he took during the two-month period charged in the indictment,” his political adviser, Ted Goodman, said.

Clark and lawyers for Eastman and Chesebro didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment. A lawyer for Powell declined to comment.

In Smith’s separate probe of Trump’s handling of government documents, prosecutors recently added three new counts, alleging Trump and his aides sought to have surveillance footage from the club deleted so that it couldn’t be turned over to a grand jury. A federal judge has scheduled the trial in that case to begin on May 20, 2024.

The original June indictment in the documents case charged Trump with 37 counts on seven different charges, including willful retention of national-defense information, withholding a record, false statements and conspiracy to obstruct.

Despite his compounding legal problems, Trump has remained the clear front-runner for the GOP nomination as he has portrayed himself as the victim of a broad effort to keep him out of office. He has seen fundraising spikes surrounding his two previous indictments, and most of his Republican rivals for the nomination have joined in criticizing his prosecution.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has denied that the Justice Department’s investigations are politically motivated—he wasn’t in Washington on Tuesday but was roughly 175 miles away in Philadelphia, attending an anticrime event. He appointed Smith, whom he called a “veteran career prosecutor,” in November 2022 as special counsel to insulate the probe and give it a degree of independence from the agency’s political appointees.

#I think this is a pretty good article and interesting to read from a pro-gop paper like the wall st. journal #the whole thing is under the read more #us politics

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ninjastormhawkkat · 2 years ago

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need more on the steampunk/victorian au

Here are some roles and headcanons right now.

Scoops works for a newspaper press as a delivery boy but wants to work as the youngest reporter out there. He has a conspiracy theory board to track down all the criminals and crimes committed in Fair City. His biggest goals are finding out Shadow Girl's identity or who Professor Terror is.

Violet's mom works as a nurse in a hospital and Violet usually helps or mom or works in a flower shop. She dreams of being a renowned artist one day.

Becky serves as her dad's assistant and works with him in his lab (when he is not being Professor Terror). She also aids in the public library part time.

Rose Franklin works with her dad in the pretzel factory but also dreams of being an investigative reporter like Scoops dreams of being a reporter one day.

Sally Botsford is the first and only female District Attorney in this au. Her huband Tim was a factory worker who later quit for medical reasons now does odd jobs around the city while helping to raise their son TJ.

The Henchmen are hired delivery men during normal hours but also moonlight as Professor Terror's gopher's and personal staff.

Mr. Big is a merchant who raised himself up from poverty levels to wealth. His method's of mind control come from inventing and learning about different forms of hypnotism around the world. Leslie is his bookkeeper/bodyguard.

The Butcher and his dad were food vendors who were struggling with competitors. Professor Terror offered them a solution to help with their competition as long as they work for him. They willingly agreed. Now Kid Potato and The Butcher don't summon foods, they can control and manipulate them with telekinesis.

Victoria's parents payed off Dr. Calvin Barriton handsomely for their and their kid's powers. Victoria and Victor don't have any idea as their parent's lied and said they were inherited because they are the best family in Fair City. They are an aristocratic family that claim to be descended from nobility.

Tobey is a robot inventor still yet his mother doesn't know about his antics due to Professor Terror hiding them under the guise of Tobey being a teacher's aide for Steven. Tobey knows Steven and Professor Terror are the same person and has encountered Becky before. Becky and Tobey have a friendly rivalry between them. Tobey doesn't investigate the idea of Becky being shadow girl because everyone in the organization knows that Becky is off limits or Professor Terror comes for you.

Professor Terror wears a silver mask to hide his identity.

Joseph "Joe" Smith is a miner who goes to night school to take a job as a caregiver.

Granny May is from a middle class family with a name that has been part of Fair City for a long time. She used to be an engineer before she retired and is now still as ever a con woman.

Professor James Doohickey was a scientist that went missing and came back as a villain known as technarchist who seems to have a vendetta against Professor Terror even though neither he nor Steven were behind what happened to him.

Professor Robert Tubing was inflicted with a disease and was trying to find a cure for others and himself, he ended up becoming a crazy monster shapeshifter.

Chuck was a frustrated sandwich maker who felt being outshone by his brother and his mother's favoritism. He started becoming a criminal to create a name for himself. After being caught by Shadow Girl the first time, Professor Terror came by and promised to fund Chuck as long as he worked for him. Chuck agreed.

Alex Guyson (Amazo Guy) was hired by Steven when Becky was younger to be a manny for her. Steven and Professor Terror both began to develop crushes on him. Alex has difficulty determining if Professor Terror is truly evil because he rescued him one night from thugs (not staged it was just people looking for loot and a fight.) Professor Terror saved him and flirted with Alex a bit as well. Alex was very flustered.

This is what I have for now. I don't have all the character's roles worked out yet.

@melodythebunny

@drtwobrainsstuff

#wordgirl #wordgirl au #becky boxleitner au #shadow girl au #victorian steampunk holmes au #steven boxleitner #professor terror #melodythebunny #answered ask

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foreverlogical · 2 years ago

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Congress has never recommended that a former U.S. president be charged with a crime before.

But former President Donald Trump just shattered that historical precedent.

The committee investigating the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021 on Monday voted to refer Trump to the Department of Justice to be charged with multiple crimes relating to the deadly riot at the Capitol and his attempts to hold power despite losing the 2020 election. The suggested charges include conspiracy, false statements, and alleged Trump’s role in inciting and providing support to the violent mob.

Any decision to charge Trump will now fall to the Department of Justice. And while most legal experts say the committee’s referral is unlikely to have a big impact on the department’s thinking, the vote marks a historic moment in the history of the American presidency—and yet another milestone in Trump’s epic stretch of dubious distinctions.

Trump is already known to history for being the first president to ever have been impeached by the House of Representatives twice. He also committed actions that, as detailed in investigator Robert Mueller’s final report, would have left him susceptible to being charged with obstruction of justice if he had not been the president at the time (and therefore protected by a DOJ policy against charging sitting presidents), according to a letter signed by over 1,000 former prosecutors.

Trump has lost the best tools he used to deflect prosecutors during his presidency, and investigations are now swirling around him in multiple jurisdictions. The DOJ appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith to investigate Trump for his role in Jan. 6, and also whether Trump should be charged for taking documents bearing classification markings from the White House to his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach.

In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating whether Trump and his allies should be charged for attempting to flip his 2020 electoral defeat in that state into a victory.

Now, the question becomes whether Trump will achieve the ultimate accolade of his recent trajectory: Become the first former president in U.S. history to be charged with a crime.

The charges

The Jan. 6 committee said evidence exists to charge Trump with multiple crimes. One of the simplest is obstructing an official proceeding.

The committee accused Trump of attempting to “corruptly” interfere with the Congressional certification of Biden’s victory, which was taking place on Jan. 6 when the mob attacked the Capitol. Such a charge would put Trump squarely in line with rank-and-file rioters, some 300 of whom have been charged with attempting to obstruct the official proceeding.

But the committee also argued Trump should be charged with a far more obscure crime: The law that makes it illegal to incite or provide aid or comfort to an insurrection.

That crime hasn’t been prosecuted since the U.S. Civil War, and legal experts say that makes it relatively less likely to be brought against a former president than some of the other potential charges he’s facing (including the more straightforward Mar-a-Lago documents case).

The committee also argued Trump committed a crime known as “conspiracy to defraud the United States.”

That crime involves an agreement to obstruct a function of the U.S. government, such as collecting taxes. In this case, however, the accusation is about attempts to thwart the certification of an election.

The committee also pointed to a statute that makes it illegal to use phoney documents to make false representations to officials. The committee said the plot to submit slates of fake electors to the National Archives, in an attempt to create the basis for declaring Trump the winner of the election, appears to have broken this law.

“The evidence is clear that President Trump personally participated in a scheme to have the Trump electors meet, cast votes, and send their votes to the joint session of Congress in several states that Vice President Biden won,” the summary of the report states.

VISIT WEBSITE

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if-you-fan-a-fire · 1 year ago

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"To Investigate Message About Tim Buck Trial," Kingston Whig-Standard. June 15, 1933. Page 2. ---- Judge McLean Asks That Telegram Be Brought to Attention of Attorney-General of Ontario. --- Charging that the indictment against Convict Tim Buck for participating in the Penitentiary riots of October 17, 1932, had been "framed" and demanding that it be rescinded, a telegram from the Finnish Organization of Canada was delivered to Judge Evan McLean yesterday afternoon during the trial of Convict Hugh Burling. Judge McLean read the telegram to the Court and then instructed Crown Attorney T. J. Rigney to report the matter to Attorney General.

The telegram read as follows:

"Judge In Charge Tim Buck Trial "Care W. D. Rigney. K. C. "We, the members of the Finnish Organization of Canada, assembled in our national convention in the elty of Toronto, hereby demand the rescinding of the frame-up indictment against Tim Buck and the establish-ment of the rights of a the political prisoners. Convention Committee." Mr. Rigney delivered the telegram to the Judge, while Guard William H.Godwin was giving evidence for the Crown in the Burling case. Judge McLean halted proceedings while he read the telegram to the Court, He then said that no organization had any right to attempt to influence or intimidate any Judge and advised. Mr. Rigney to report the matter to the Attorney-General Guard Godwin Guard William Godwin was the first witness for the Crown to the case of Convict Hugh Burling when Court was resumed in the afternoon. Burling's case is the first in the large docket of twenty-seven cases that will probably come before the General Senaton of the Peace and County Court. Burling one of twenty-four convicts charged with taking part in the Penitentiary riots, a twenty-two years of age, and was sentenced at Sandwich In 1931 to five years in the Kingston Penitentiary for assault and robbery,

For the benefit of the jury Guard Godwin gave a minute description of the lay-out of the penitentiary with particular reference to the work-shops in the main dome where the not was centred. A plan was exhibited to enable the jury to gain a clear picture of the interior.

Witness said that precautionary procedure was taken by the prison authorities in preparation for the rumored riot which was to take place on the afternoon of October 17. The guards in the towers were doubled and the steel shop doors were locked. He described how the convicts assemble in the shop dome, what was saild and what was done there. Godwin said that any official sttempting to leave the dome was gently but firmly told to remain where he was. The doors were barricaded with stone bankers and condemned machinery. Inspector Smith had made an attempt to leave the building, but had been prevented from doing so.

According to Godwin, Tim Buck asked the men if they were going to give in or "fight it out". When the convicts had elected to fight it out, Buck had told them to barricade the doors and fill every available utensil with water. These orders had been carried out by the men. "Why didn't you stop these men?" asked Crown Prosecutor Col. Keiller MacKay. "It wasn't possible." "Why not?" "The men were out of control and crow-bar. I did not want to get my brains knocked out." Witness stated that he had seen Burling in the dome. He named several convicts he had seen there, among them Convict Burling. Under cross-examination by W. H. Herrington counsel for the defence, Godwin admitted that there were some men who did not leave the shops when the trouble started, and also that there were men in the dome who did not join in the shouting nor in the general milling around. He said that when Inspector Smith and he entered the dome the doors had been barricaded immediately behind them. Witness said that at all times he had felt that his life was in considerable danger.

Mr. Herrington made a strong attempt to upset Godwin's evidence that he had seen Burling in the dome. He quoted the testimony given at the preliminary hearing and pointed out that Convict Burling had not been mentioned then. Godwin stoutly maintained that when he saw Burling in the Court he remembered that the Inter had been one of the men taking an active part in the demonstration. He also maintained that the only person with whom he had talked over the convict trials had been the Crown Prosecutor, Col McKay. He said when he saw Burling yesterday he remembered that the accused had been carrying a load of mall-bags to barricade the doors of the mail-bag department. Guard Robinson Guard Harold Robinson testified that Burling, who had been working in the change-room, had stopped working and joined the other men when the riot started. He also said that he had seen Burling later in the afternoon carrying a crow-bar. Robinson testified that in the dome the men were shouting rushing around and carrying crow-bars, hammers, pieces of street and other weapons.

Judge McLean made an appeal to both counsel to try to reach some agreement whereby unnecessary evidence would be curtailed thus saving time of the Court. Counsel were granted a brief recess to arrive at a decision, but no announcement was made of the result when the trial was resumed.

Witness testified that some of the convicts were armed with clubs and that the mob was making a terrific noise. He said that a large number of the men had joined in breaking down the shop-doors.

Counsel questioned witness regarding a meeting at the Warden's house - at which a number of prison officials were alleged to have talked about the trials. Robinson claimed that nothing had been said about giving evidence except that the truth was to be told. "The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth"? asked Mr. Herrington.

"Yes" "Of course, you realize that you must not suppress any evidence even is helpful to the accused?" "Yes." "You weren't told to at the meeting to suppress any evidence that might be of assistance to Burling?" "No, nothing was said about the matter at all." Only Armed Convict "What makes you remember so perfectly that you saw Burling carrying an iron-bar? Is there a something about his face that impresses you?"

"No. I remember his because he was the only armed convict among numerous convicts at the time that I saw him."

Robinson said that he saw Burling rush into the change-room with a crow-bar. "Why didn't you follow him?" "I thought there might be trouble?" "Were you afraid?" "No, I was not."

"You to the Crown that, you went into the paint-house to see what was going on, but if you saw Burling rush into the change-room with a crow-bar don't you think that was the logical place to go If you wanted to view a spectacle?"

"I didn't think it was wise to do so." "You are certain that you know Burling?" "Sure," Witness looked at Burling and the two exchanged smiles.

"Can you name any convicts who were barricading the door?" "No." "Can you name any of the convicts that were in the dome?" "Yes, There was Buck, Behan, Parkes, and Garceau, among others." "Did you see Burling there?" "No." "You know the rules of the Penitentiary, of course?" "Yes." "You know that the convicts are supposed to obey the guards and do as they are told?" "Yes." "Well, when the riot first started did you hear any guards tell the convicts to go back to work?" "There was no time to do that." "Did you make an effort to re-strain the men?" "I did not have enough time for that, I was in the change-room and the men rushed away from me before I could say a word.

"Convict Curry was the only man to stay behind and he asked what he should do, I told him that he had better stick around."

"Did he?" "I believe he did." Court was then adjourned until this morning.

#kingston ontario #kingston penitentiary #1933 prisoner trials #1932 kp riot #prison riot #riotous assembly #destruction of property #eyewitness testimony #prison guards #convict revolt #great depression in canada #crime and punishment in canada #history of crime and punishment in canada #tim buck #section 98 #finnish organization of canada #canadian labor defence league

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jasminelu1127 · 1 month ago

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Meaningful Engagement(nominate2)

Delving deeper into this ancient city, I discovered that Athens is exceptionally hot in the summer, reaching a high of 43 degrees Celsius(Studio，2023). According to studies, high temperatures are detrimental to health, causing death and worsening of many diseases, increasing the risk of accidents and infectious diseases, and in severe cases causing heat stroke(n.d.). Therefore, I started to investigate the causes of hot weather. Putting aside the main cause global climate change that leads to extreme weather, the other main cause is that Athens is far less green than it is building(Studio，2023). As Athens Mayor Haris Doukas focuses on raising funds in the face of extreme heat this summer, the goal is to make Athens more resilient to record heat by planting more trees and opening air-conditioned public spaces(Smith，2024). In order to be able to address this issue, I believe that my professional media can contribute. Using the media and public forums to increase the visibility of the issue of greening scarcity in Athens and thus increase public participation, especially through popular social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and Tiktok, which not only reach local Greeks, but also bring the issue to the attention of people around the world. Secondly, public awareness is raised through education and information campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of greening and to encourage them to participate in the greening of the city. The topic of Green Athens was developed to motivate travelers to plant a tree when they visit Athens and to encourage them to return to the area to check on the growth of the tree.

（Source：https://sothebysrealty.gr/blog/97693/）

Reference List:

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Heat and health. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-heat-and-health#:~:text=Heat%20is%20an%20important%20environmental,transmission%20of%20some%20infectious%20diseases.

Studio, E. (2023, July 23). Athens: Concrete City with few green spaces - perpetual victim to heatwaves. NEOS KOSMOS. https://neoskosmos.com/en/2023/07/22/news/all-concrete-no-trees-athens-ill-prepared-for-heatwaves/

Smith , H. (2024, July 10). “it’s about survival”: Athens mayor focuses on getting capital through extreme heat. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/10/athens-mayor-extreme-heat-greece

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jcmarchi · 2 months ago

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School of Engineering faculty and staff receive awards in spring 2024

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/school-of-engineering-faculty-and-staff-receive-awards-in-spring-2024/

School of Engineering faculty and staff receive awards in spring 2024

Faculty, researchers, and staff receive many external awards throughout the year. The School of Engineering periodically highlights the honors, prizes, and medals won by community members working in academic departments, labs, and centers. Spring 2024 honorees include the following:

Lallit Anand, the Warren and Towneley Rohsenow Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was named a 2024 Society of Engineering Fellow. Fellows are awarded to individuals who are distinguished in a relevant field and who have made meaningful contributions to the Society and the technical community.

Adam Belay, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received a Google Research Scholar Award, awarded to professors based on merit to support their cutting-edge research.

Michael Birnbaum, associate professor in the Department of Biological Engineering, received the Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching, given annually to a faculty member whose contributions to education have been characterized by dedication, care, and creativity.

Tamara Broderick, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was named a 2024 Class of Institute of Mathematical Statistics Fellow for her significant contributions to theoretical modeling and computational methodology at the intersection of Bayesian Statistical Machine Learning and Bayesian nonparametric theory and applications.

Michael Cima, the David H. Koch Professor of Engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was named a 2024 American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Fellow in recognition of his distinguished and continuing achievements in medical and biological engineering.

Tal Cohen, associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, received the Arthur C Smith Award, presented to a member of the MIT faculty for meaningful contributions and devotion to undergraduate student life and learning at MIT.

Jesús del Alamo, the Donner Professor of Science in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received the Intel 2023 Outstanding Researcher Award. The annual award program recognizes the exceptional contributions made through Intel university-sponsored research that help further Intel’s mission of creating world-changing technology that improves the lives of everyone on the planet.

Betar Gallant, Class of 1922 Career Development Professor and associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, received the Electrochemical Society’s Charles W. Tobias Young Investigator Award (245th meeting). The award recognizes outstanding scientific and/or engineering work in fundamental or applied electrochemistry or solid-state science and technology by a young scientist or engineer.

Marzyeh Ghassemi, the Germeshausen Career Development Professor and associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, received a Google Research Scholar Award, which are awarded to professors based on merit to support their cutting-edge research.

Linda Griffith, the School of Engineering Professor of Teaching Innovation in the Department of Biological Engineering, was named to the inaugural Time100 Health, a list of the world’s most influential people in health.

Jack Hare, assistant professor and the Gale (1929) Career Development Professor in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, received the 2024 Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching. This award recognizes a person who exemplifies the best in furthering engineering design education through vision, interactions with students and industry, scholarship and impact on the next generation of engineers, and a person whose action serves as a role model for other educators to emulate.

Marija Ilić, senior research scientist and adjunct professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received the IEEE PES Prabha S. Kundur Power System Dynamics and Control Award, which is awarded annually to leading society members and industry principals for their notable contributions to IEEE Power & Energy Society and the power and energy industry.

Piotr Indyk, the Thonas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Membership is a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive.

Linda Kaelbling, the Panasonic Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received the 2024 Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching. This award recognizes a person who exemplifies the best in furthering engineering design education through vision, interactions with students and industry, scholarship and impact on the next generation of engineers, and a person whose action serves as a role model for other educators to emulate.

Douglas Lauffenburger, the Ford Professor of Engineering in the Department of Biological Engineering, was awarded the Ernst Dieter Gilles Prize, which honors outstanding scientific achievements in the field of systems theory, system dynamics, control engineering, and systems biology.

William Oliver, the Henry Ellis Warren (1894) Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was elected to the 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows. Election as a fellow honors members whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications in service to society have distinguished them among their peers and colleagues.

Maggie Qi, assistant professor and the Joseph R. Mares ’24 Career Development Professor, received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, which supports early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.

Manish Raghavan, the Drew Houston (2005) Career Development Professor and assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received a Google Research Scholar Award, awarded to professors based on merit to support their cutting-edge research.

Ritu Raman, the Eugene Bell Career Development Professor of Tissue Engineering and assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, received the 2024 Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching. This award recognizes a person who exemplifies the best in furthering engineering design education through vision, interactions with students and industry, scholarship and impact on the next generation of engineers, and a person whose action serves as a role model for other educators to emulate.

Daniela Rus, an Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, in recognition of her distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Membership is a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive.

Julian Shun, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received the 2023 Association for Computing Machinery Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award, which honors specific theoretical accomplishments that have had a significant and demonstrable effect on the practice of computing.

Michael Short, associate professor in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, received the Capers (1976) and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Advising, which recognizes leaders in engineering and applied sciences who, as exemplary mentors and advisors, have significantly and consistently supported the personal and professional development of others.

Jessica Stark, the Underwood-Prescott Career Development Professor and assistant professor in the Department of Biological Engineering, received the V Foundation’s Women Scientists Innovation Award for Cancer Research, awarded to women scientists to advance their innovative work in the cancer field. The award helps to address the significant funding disparities for women in science.

Greg Stephanopoulos, the Willard Henry Dow Professor in Chemical Engineering, was elected to Academia Europaea. The object of Academia Europaea is the advancement and propagation of excellence in scholarship in the humanities, law, the economic, social, and political sciences, mathematics, medicine, and all branches of natural and technological sciences anywhere in the world for the public benefit and for the advancement of the education of the public of all ages.

Russ Tedrake, the Toyota Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received the School of Engineering Distinguished Educator Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to undergraduate and/or graduate education by members of its faculty and teaching staff (lecturer or instructor).

Caroline Uhler, an Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was named a 2024 Class of Institute of Mathematical Statistics Fellow for her interdisciplinary excellence, merging mathematical statistics and computational biology in innovative and impactful ways.

Franz-Josef Ulm, the Class of 1992 Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, received the 2024 Paul Gray Public Service Award, which recognizes a member of the MIT faculty who exemplifies building “a better world” through his or her teaching, research, advising, and service.

Martin Wainwright, a Cecil H. Green Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, awarded annually to individuals making their mark in the social sciences, the natural sciences, the humanities, and the creative arts.

Ryan Williams, professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was awarded the 2024 Gödel Prize, awarded for outstanding papers in the area of theoretical computer science.

Lizhong Zheng, professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received the 2024 Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching. This award recognizes a person who exemplifies the best in furthering engineering design education through vision, interactions with students and industry, scholarship and impact on the next generation of engineers, and a person whose action serves as a role model for other educators to emulate.

The School of Engineering also recognizes administration staff with yearly awards each spring.

The Ellen J. Mandigo Award recognizes staff who have demonstrated, over an extended period of time, the qualities that Mandigo possessed in abundance during her long career at MIT: intelligence, skill, hard work, and dedication to the Institute. The 2024 recipients are:

Ted Equi in MIT Leaders for Global Operations;

Carol Niemi in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics; and

Gwen Wilcox in the Department of Chemical Engineering.

The Infinite Mile Award recognizes and rewards members of the MIT School of Engineering’s administrative, support, sponsored research, and, when appropriate, academic staff in the categories of excellence, diversity and community, and institutional cooperation. This year’s honorees are:

Marygrace Aboudou in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering;

Amanda Beyer-Purvis in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science;

Mahia Brown in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering;

Steven Derocher in MIT Leaders for Global Operation/System Design and Management;

Tia Giurleo in the Dean’s Office of the MIT School of Engineering;

Linda Gjerasi in the Department of Mechanical Engineering;

Suxin Hu in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics;

Alexis Runstadler in the Department of Biological Engineering;

Rebecca Shepardson in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering;

Michael Skocay in the Department of Mechanical Engineering;

Justin Snow in the Masters in Supply Chain Management Program; and

Christina Spinelli in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

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ulkaralakbarova · 4 months ago

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A team of U.S. government agents is sent to investigate the bombing of an American facility in the Middle East. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Ronald Fleury: Jamie Foxx Janet Mayes: Jennifer Garner Grant Sykes: Chris Cooper Adam Leavitt: Jason Bateman Sergeant Haytham: Ali Suliman Damon Schmidt: Jeremy Piven Colonel Faris Al Ghazi: Ashraf Barhom Robert Grace: Richard Jenkins Aaron Jackson: Tim McGraw Francis Manner: Kyle Chandler Elaine Flowers: Frances Fisher Gideon Young: Danny Huston Ellis Leach: Kelly AuCoin Maricella Canavesio: Anna Deavere Smith Miss Ross: Minka Kelly Lyla Fleury: Amy Hunter Kevin Fleury: Tj Burnett Prince Ahmed Bin Khaled: Omar Berdouni Prince Thamer: Raad Rawi FBI Agent: Peter Berg Kidnapper: Sala Baker 35 Year Old Son: Ahmed B. Badran Janine Ripon: Ashley Scott Haytham’s Father: Nick Faltas Izz Al Din: Uri Gavriel Abu Hamza: Hezi Saddik Aunt: Yasmine Hanani General Al Abdulmalik: Mahmoud Said Rex Burr: Tom Bresnahan Earl Ripon: Trevor St. John Maddy Ripon: Sarah Hunley Range Rover Driver: Kevin Brief Pitcher: Brian Mahoney Reporter: Merik Tadros Suicide Bomber: Hrach Titizian Reporter: Sean Donnellan FBI agent: Markus Flanagan Inner-Circle: Anthony Batarse Special Forces Officer: Gino Salvano Kidnapper: Eyad Elbitar Passport Officer: Nick Hermz Self (archive footage): Osama Bin Laden Self (archive footage): George H. W. Bush New Reporter: Robin Atkin Downes Self (archive footage): Saddam Hussein Self (archive footage): John F. Kennedy Self (archive footage): Larry King Self (archive footage): Colin Powell Self (archive footage): Ronald Reagan Film Crew: Director: Peter Berg Screenplay: Matthew Michael Carnahan Producer: Michael Mann Director of Photography: Mauro Fiore Editor: Colby Parker Jr. Editor: Kevin Stitt Costume Design: Susan Matheson Producer: Scott Stuber Original Music Composer: Danny Elfman Producer: Tim Smythe Executive Producer: Sarah Aubrey Executive Producer: John Cameron Executive Producer: Ryan Kavanaugh Executive Producer: Mary Parent Unit Production Manager: Steven P. Saeta Casting: Bruria Albeck Casting: Amanda Mackey Casting: Cathy Sandrich Gelfond Production Design: Tom Duffield Assistant Editor: Kris Cole Stunts: Zoë Bell Stunts: Sala Baker Art Direction: A. Todd Holland Supervising Art Director: Patrick M. Sullivan Set Decoration: Ronald R. Reiss Visual Effects Supervisor: John ‘D.J.’ Des Jardin Stunt Double: Shauna Duggins In Memory Of: Nick Papac Stunts: Sherry Leigh Stunts: Layla Alexander Stunts: Doug Coleman First Assistant Director: K.C. Hodenfield Associate Producer: Maria Williams Special Effects Makeup Artist: Quin Davis Makeup Department Head: Bill Myer Hairstylist: Barbara Lorenz Hair Department Head: Roxie Hodenfield Makeup Artist: Deborah La Mia Denaver Hairstylist: Deidra Dixon Makeup Artist: Michael Germain Hairstylist: Lisa Bertuzzi Makeup Artist: LaLette Littlejohn Key Hair Stylist: Melissa Forney Hairstylist: Jeffrey Sacino Second Unit Director: Phil Neilson Second Assistant Director: Jeff Okabayashi Supervising Sound Editor: Gregory King Sound Designer: Yann Delpuech Special Effects Coordinator: John Frazier Special Effects Coordinator: Burt Dalton Stunts: Kaily Alissano Stunts: Daniel Arrias Stunts: Greg Anthony Stunts: Jon Braver Stunts: Brian Brown Stunts: Chino Binamo Stunts: Eric Chambers Stunts: Jack Carpenter Stunts: Douglas Crosby Stunts: Max Daniels Stunts: Gokor Chivichyan Stunts: Steve Dent Stunt Double: J. Mark Donaldson Stunts: Eyad Elbitar Stunts: Paul Eliopoulos Stunt Double: Eddie J. Fernandez Stunts: Glenn Goldstein Stunts: Tad Griffith Stunt Driver: J. Armin Garza II Stunts: Nick Hermz Stunt Double: Chris Guzzi Stunts: Alex Krimm Stunts: Mark Kubr Stunts: Michael Hugghins Stunts: Theo Kypri Stunts: Krisztian Kery Stunts: Nito Larioza Stunt Driver: Aaron Michael Lacey Stunt Double: Brian Machleit Stunt Double: Jalil Jay Lynch Stunts: Anthony Martins Stunts: Eddie Matthews Stunts: Anderson Martin Stunts: Damien Moreno Stunts: Roman Mitichyan Stunts: Aladine Naamou Stunts: Aryan Morgan Stunts: Robert Nagle Stunt Driver: ...

#arab #Assassin #assassination #bomb attack #Chase #explosive #fbi #Investigation #medical examiner #Police #saudi arabia #terrorism #Top Rated Movies

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dankusner · 4 months ago

Video

youtube

jason kohler — is exhibiting ALL the telltale signs of a liar.

from shrugging his shoulders

to touching his lips...

to smiling when he says, "HONESTLY kind of sad."

raising his eyebrows for approval...

lack of details when questioned....

all are deceptive traits.

"you never know"

"they JUST made fun of him"

makes sense since the guy is so young he think he could pull off racing to a newscamera.

everyone who said columbine was because of trench-coat mafia and eric & dylan were losers...

all of that was false, misleading and deliberately perverted our grief. what way can you explain um I mean he would sit alone at lunch I mean he was just the outcast and you know how kids are nowadays so they're going to see someone like that and they gonna target him because they think it's funny or whatever so it's the best way I can describe it and it's honestly kind of sad like I don't want to say this is what provoked it but you never know said he yeah um I want to say he was a loner more because he was just he was quiet but like he was just bullied like he was bullied so much so much this is high school yeah what did they do you remember at all what they said to him or called him no um he just made fun of I guess for the way he dressed his appearance how do he dress uh like they were just saying jeans he'd wear hunting outfits sometimes uh I he would always wear a mask even after covid he he wore a mask like a CO mask like even after Co was over and all that yeah like a Former student Max R. Smith remembered Crooks as an intelligent classmate with conservative political leanings.

Smith recalled participating in a mock debate in a course they took together, where their teacher posed questions on government policy and had students stand on opposite sides of the classroom to signal their support or opposition.

“The majority of the class were on the liberal side, but Tom, no matter what, always stood his ground on the conservative side,” Smith said.

“That’s still the picture I have of him. Just standing alone on one side while the rest of the class was on the other. ... It makes me wonder why he would carry out an assassination attempt on the conservative candidate.”

https://amyletter.substack.com/p/teenage-suicide-dont-do-it-heathers

https://youtu.be/sO3WEfBIPvM?si=wCtEN5jGPTC8ZSpV HEATHER DUKE In the distance, a T.V. CAMERA CREW is interviewing STUDENTS. HEATHER DUKE dashes toward them. HEATHER MCNAMARA freezes. HEATHER MCNAMARA Oh God, Veronica. My hair! My clothes! HEATHER MCNAMARA moans, vibrates, then suddenly races toward the cameras. VERONICA looks down at the soaked, stopped Swatch on her arm. She takes it off and drops it in a nearby trashcan I choose to remember the good times, like when we got our ears pierced at the mall.

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

Shooter on roof with cops inside

Security decisions around sniper’s roost raise further questions

Police who were assigned by the Secret Service to help spot threats in the crowd at Donald Trump’s rally Saturday were inside the building where a gunman positioned himself on the roof to shoot at the former president, according to a Secret Service official briefed on the incident.

From inside the Agr International building, they saw a man acting furtively, walking back and forth around the building with some gear, and radioed a Secret Service command post to alert them, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

The revelations add to the growing list of questions about the Secret Service’s plan for securing areas outside the perimeter and about the failure of law enforcement to act quickly enough on multiple early warnings of suspicious activity.

The Washington Post reported in a video analysis Monday that bystanders at the Trump rally in Butler, Pa., warned local police that they had seen a man clambering onto the roof of the building.

A video posted to social media shows one man shouting, “Officer! Officer!” as others point toward the building. “He’s on the roof!” a woman says.

Emerging tensions

The account from a Secret Service official also underscores emerging tensions between that agency and local authorities over who is to blame for the fact that the gunman was able to access a clear view of the event.

The Secret Service was responsible for the overall security plan, but the agency has said it relied on local law enforcement in areas outside the security perimeter.

The Agr building was not inside the perimeter, which required members of the public to pass through a metal detector before entering.

The Secret Service official said the sniper team inside the building was from Beaver County, which neighbors Butler County, where Saturday’s rally took place.

Local authorities said it was common for SWAT teams in nearby counties to supplement security for large events throughout western Pennsylvania.

The Beaver County district attorney’s office confirmed that a SWAT team from the county was at Saturday’s rally but declined to release additional information, pointing to ongoing investigations by state and federal authorities.

In a written statement Tuesday, the county district attorney’s office said, “We are proud of the heroic actions taken by our officers.”

Richard Goldinger, the Butler County district attorney, said in an interview that the SWAT teams from his jurisdiction were all inside the secure perimeter.

“Secret Service was in charge, and so it was their responsibility to make sure that the venue and the surrounding area was secure,” he told The Post.

“That’s common sense I think. That’s their job.”

He added, “For them to blame local law enforcement is them passing the blame when they hold the blame, in my opinion.”

The local newspaper, Beaver Countian, reported on Monday that counter-snipers were inside the building beyond the security perimeter for the event.

The outlet reported that a Beaver County police officer warned a command center that he had seen a man with a range finder — a device the helps estimate distances — before gunfire erupted.

A police sniper reportedly took a picture of 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks before bullets began to fly, but never took a shot at him.

Counter-sniper

The Secret Service counter-sniper who killed the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, had him in his sights and was trying to assess whether he had a weapon and was a threat, the official said.

Secret Service radio traffic had relayed that local police either spotted or were trying to find a suspicious man around that building.

The counter-sniper was a veteran marksman who is considered a legend in the Secret Service because of his high ratings for accuracy at long distances.

The counter-sniper who killed Crooks fired as soon as he saw Crooks lift a weapon, the official said.

That counter-sniper killed Crooks in one shot but seconds after he had fired at Trump, the official said.

The Secret Service’s advance security plan for addressing one of the main risks at the event — someone shooting from higher ground from outside the perimeter of the rally — was to have two teams of Secret Service counter-snipers stationed in front of the crowd, on the roofs of two barns behind Trump’s stage.

The local counter-snipers inside the Agr building were to provide “overcover” and surveil the crowd from the back and outside the perimeter.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said in a television interview Tuesday morning that part of the reason the agency did not require a police officer to stand atop the roof of the Agr building was its slope.

“That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point, and so there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof,” she said. “So, you know, the decision was made to secure the building from inside.”

Sloped roofs

The roofs of the barns where sniper teams were located are more steeply sloped than the roof of the Agr building, a Post analysis of visuals from the event found.

The risk of an open line of sight for a shooter has been a security concern that the Secret Service has sought to address in planning for public appearances of presidents ever since John F. Kennedy was assassinated by a rifleman positioned in the sixth-floor corner window of the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas in 1963.

Secret Service agents current and former have expressed shock that a gunman was able to get this close to the former president, an incident that is considered the most serious Secret Service security failure since the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

The Post ’s video analysis shows a police officer in a black uniform looking up toward the top of the building.

Crooks began firing two minutes and two seconds after the starting point of the newly published video, which begins with a man’s voice saying that people were pointing toward the roof.

The shots began 86 seconds after the first audible attempts to alert police, according to the analysis, which synchronized several clips based on the sound of Trump’s voice over the public address system.

ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

Shooter was ‘an outcast’

Classmates, FBI weigh in on motive for Saturday’s attack

BETHEL PARK, Pa. — After three days, an enigmatic portrait has emerged of the 20-year-old man who came close to killing former President Donald Trump with a high-velocity bullet:

He was an intelligent loner with few friends, an apparently thin social media footprint and no hints of strong political beliefs that would suggest a motive for an attempted assassination.

Even after the FBI cracked into Thomas Matthew Crooks’ cellphone, scoured his computer, home and car, and interviewed more than 100 people, the mystery of why he opened fire on Trump’s rally Saturday, a bullet grazing Trump’s ear, remained as elusive as the moment it happened.

“He sat by himself, didn’t talk to anyone, didn’t even try to make conversation,” said 17-year-old Liam Campbell, echoing the comments of classmates who remembered the shooter in this quiet community outside of Pittsburgh.

“He was an odd kid,” but nothing about him seemed dangerous, he said. “Just a normal person who seemed like he didn’t like talking to people.”

No apparent motive

So far, there has been no public disclosure the shooter left any writings, suicide note, social media screed or any other indicator explaining his reasons for targeting Trump.

Crooks was registered as a Republican in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he gave $15 to a progressive political action committee on Jan. 20, 2021, the day Democratic President Joe Biden was sworn into office.

The absence of a satisfactory explanation has led Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to recount the lengthy federal investigation into the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, the deadliest such attack in the nation’s history.

That probe closed after 17 months without finding any motive for what drove the 64-year-old gunman to fire more than 1,000 rounds into a crowd of concertgoers other than to “attain a certain degree of infamy.”

Crooks, with a slight build, wire-rimmed glasses and thin hair parted in the middle, went by “Tom.”

He was described by classmates at Bethel Park High School as smart but standoffish, often seen wearing headphones and preferring to sit alone at lunch looking at his phone.

Some said he was often mocked by other students for the clothes he wore, which included hunting outfits, and for continuing to wear a mask after the COVID pandemic was over.

“He was bullied almost every day,” classmate Jason Kohler said. “He was just an outcast.”

Historic precedent

After graduating from high school in 2022, Crooks went on to the Community College of Allegheny County, earning an associate’s degree with honors in engineering science in May.

He also worked at a nursing home as a dietary aide.

A 1997 Secret Service study into those who had attempted assassinations since 1949 found there was no single indicator that a person might seek to take the life of a public figure.

However, two-thirds of all attackers were described as “social isolates.”

Like Crooks, few had any history of violent crime or criminal records.

Most attackers also had histories of handling weapons but no formal weapons or military training, according to the study.

As a freshman, Crooks had tried out for his high school rifle team but was rejected for poor marksmanship, the Associated Press has reported.

Through his family, he was a member of the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, a shooting range about 11 miles east of Bethel Park.

“We know very little about him,” club president Bill Sellitto said. “That was a terrible, terrible thing that happened Saturday — that’s not what we’re about by any means.”

Access to range, gun

The club has an outdoor range for high-powered rifles with targets set at distances of up to 187 yards.

Crooks was well within that range when he opened fire on Trump on Saturday from about 147 yards from where Trump was speaking, unleashing two quick volleys of rounds at the former president with an AR-15 style rifle.

His father, Matthew Crooks, bought the gun in West Mifflin, Pa., in 2013 from Gander Mountain, an outdoors chain.

Access to the Crooks home remained blocked by yellow police tape, with officers keeping watch and preventing reporters from approaching.

The day before the shooting, Thomas Crooks went to the sportsman’s club and practiced on the rifle range, according to a federal intelligence briefing obtained by the AP.

On the day of the attack, he purchased 50 rounds of 5.56 mm ammo for his rifle from a local gun shop and drove alone to Butler, Pa., the site of the Trump rally.

He parked at a gas station lot about a third of a mile from the event.

He wore camoflauge shorts, a black belt and a gray T-shirt with the logo of a popular YouTube channel dedicated to firearms.

Witnesses and law enforcement officials say Crooks walked around for at least a half-hour before climbing onto the roof of a building adjacent to the Butler Farm Show grounds, where Trump was speaking.

As spectators screamed for police to respond, Crooks opened fire, letting loose two quick bursts.

A Secret Service counter sniper fired back within about 15 seconds, killing Crooks with a shot to the head.

https://www.clairtonsc.org/new-shooters

Trump shooter had limited prep time

Crooks left little trace of deadly plot or ideology

Thomas Matthew Crooks wasn’t an ex-CIA agent with a homemade gun that could slip through metal detectors.

He didn’t carry an Uzi and wear a black tuxedo.

He was not a professional killer in the image of a Jason Bourne or John Wick.

Crooks was an isolated Gen-Zer with an associate degree who worked a low-wage job and lived with his parents.

Yet in an increasingly online world, where digital surveillance is easier than ever, the 20-year-old stayed unusually hidden while devising a plan to murder a former U.S. president – nearly successfully – in just 10 days of planning.

Butler, Pennsylvania, population 13,000, would not have been the most likely campaign stop for Donald Trump.

In fact, he had visited just once before his now-infamous July 13 rally, on Halloween night in the days leading up to the November 2020 election.

It wasn’t until July 3 that The Butler Eagle and other outlets reported that Trump would become the first-ever president, current or former, to return to the city for a second rally.

Until that point, there would have been no way to predict that this rally would be held at the Butler Farm Show grounds – putting the Republican nominee for president 54 miles from the Crooks family home.

Or that Secret Service agents and local police would leave the rooftop of an industrial building 150 yards from Trump’s podium unmanned.

Hours before the shooting, Crooks stopped at a Home Depot in his hometown of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, and purchased a ladder, CNN and NBC reported.

Somewhere outside the rally venue, he parked a car with an explosive device in the trunk.

Although police were reportedly stationed inside the building, Crooks appears to have climbed on top with an AR-15-style gun, undetected, until some in the crowd spied him and began pointing and shouting.

'The security failures by law enforcement that day helped him look a lot more sophisticated than he would normally,' said Seamus Hughes, a researcher at the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education Center at the University of Nebraska Omaha.

Still, Hughes said, it seems clear that Crooks demonstrated 'a level of sophistication,' plotting the attack on short notice, without amassing an internet footprint delineating any ideology – or even hitting law enforcement’s radar.

Crooks grew up in a three-bedroom brick house in Bethel Park.

It’s a red-leaning suburb of 13,000 residents near Pittsburgh where the median household income is $100,000 and grass yards blend together without fences.

His parents were licensed counselors, dad a Libertarian, mom a Democrat.

He had a sister, also a Libertarian, two grades older.

His own political leanings remain unclear.

He donated $15 to ActBlue, a political action committee supporting Democrats, in January 2021, the day of President Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Eight days after his 18th birthday that September, Crooks registered to vote in Allegheny County as a Republican.

He liked to shoot guns.

He and his father were members of the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club.

Some former classmates described Crooks as a loner – a smart kid who kept to himself and had few friends.

He went by 'Tom,' said Sean Eckert, who went to school with him in Bethel Park from fifth through 12th grade.

He rarely spoke up in class.

He often wore hunting clothes.

Eckert said he didn’t remember Crooks playing any sports, belonging to any clubs or student groups or going to school events.

Jason Kohler, who attended Bethel Park High School with Crooks, said he sat alone at lunch and was 'bullied every day.'

Kids picked on him for wearing camouflage and for his quiet demeanor, Kohler said.

Others, though, insisted he was not bullied at all.

Colan Saffer, who had known Crooks since elementary school, said they both tried out for the Bethel Park High School rifle team their freshman year.

Kohler said Crooks was asked to leave because he was 'a bad shot.'

A year before he earned his diploma in spring 2022, Crooks dual-enrolled at Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, studying engineering science.

He also worked as a dietary aide at a nearby nursing home, a food preparation job that pays $16 an hour, according to a job listing.

He completed his associate’s degree in May, school officials said, graduating with high honors and no discipline record. He planned to enroll at Robert Morris University in the fall.

This summer, Crooks was still too young to buy a beer, but he could legally buy an AR-15-style rifle. He didn’t need to, though; according to FBI officials, he used his dad’s. Law enforcement officials remain flummoxed so far about Crooks’ motive, multiple news outlets reported.

Although they gained access to his phone, CNN reported that they still haven’t found evidence of a political or ideological impetus and that his search history did not show he had researched homemade explosives.

In some ways, Crooks resembles a typical mass shooter, said Hughes:

Namely, he was young, male and apparently a loner.

In other ways, Crooks seems to buck trends.

Those who threaten public officials are typically twice Crooks’ age.

Whereas more than two-thirds have documented criminal histories, Crooks had none.

The National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education Center, where Hughes works, studies such threats.

Among people arrested on federal charges for threatening public officials, those with an ideological bent veered toward right-wing, racially motivated – and often misogynistic or religious – violent extremism.

But of the 503 arrested individuals, more than half did not display any ideological bent, Hughes said, which can be frustrating for the public and law enforcement to accept.

In that way, he said, Crooks more closely resembles the man who shot more than 400 people at a Las Vegas concert, killing 60, whose motive police still don’t understand.

'He may fall in this category of what we call ‘The Joker Effect,’' Hughes said.

'Some people want to become infamous, or they just want to watch the world burn.'

Secret Service under scrutiny after shooting

Homeland Security investigating rally security failures

The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general’s office said Wednesday that it will investigate the Secret Service effort to provide security at Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Pennsylvania where the former president was shot and a rallygoer killed .

A notice posted on the office’s 'ongoing projects' website said the goal is to 'evaluate the United States Secret Service’s (Secret Service) process for securing former President Trump’s July 13, 2024 campaign event.'

The Secret Service falls under Homeland Security.

Also Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced a bipartisan task force within the House to investigate the assassination attempt, saying 'we need answers for these shocking security failures.'

President Joe Biden previously ordered an 'independent review' of the security measures at the event.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle called the shooting 'unacceptable' but said she will not resign.

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has subpoenaed Cheatle to appear at a hearing on Monday.

Trump was speaking Saturday before throngs of supporters at the Butler Farm Show grounds in Pennsylvania when a gunman opened fire from the roof of a nearby building.

Trump, his face bloodied from a bullet that apparently injured his ear, was hustled off the stage by Secret Service personnel.

Trump supporter Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed and two other rallygoers were critically wounded before a sniper fatally shot the gunman, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks.

The Secret Service has drawn criticism for failing to keep the shooter from gaining access to the roof - 150 yards from the rally - with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle.

Local police officers had been stationed inside the building but none on the roof.

A tree close to the roof may have blocked the view of one of the sniper teams in charge of protecting Trump, CBS News reported, adding that another sniper team oriented in a different direction reacted to the shooting and killed the gunman.

The two people who were injured in the shooting, James Copenhaver and David Dutch, have been upgraded from critical to serious condition, Allegheny General Hospital said Wednesday.

The family of Copenhaver issued a statement Tuesday thanking first responders and those who have provided him with medical treatment since the shooting.

The statement said Copenhaver, a 74-year-old Pennsylvania resident, sustained 'life-altering injuries' in the attack and is in critical but stable condition at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. The family also asked for privacy as Copenhaver recovers.

Friends and family of Comperatore will gather Thursday in Freeport, a small town on the Allegheny River, to pay their respects.

Funeral services will be held on Friday at his longtime Butler County church.

Comperatore has been proclaimed a hero after Gov. Josh Shapiro said the former volunteer firefighter dived onto his family to protect them when the shooting started.

James Sweetland, a doctor from Dubois, Pennsylvania, who was at the rally, rushed to help Comperatore.

But he had suffered a shot to the head above his ear and never regained consciousness.

Biden did not mention guns or gun violence during his first three public remarks on Saturday’s shooting including during a primetime Oval Office address Sunday night.

But in a speech Tuesday in Las Vegas at the NAACP National Convention, Biden finally did − declaring it’s time to ban assault weapons like the one used to shoot Trump.

Biden has responded to multiple gun massacres in recent years by reviving calls for stronger gun laws, including reinstating the nation’s ban on assault weapons, which expired in 2004, and requiring background checks on all gun purchases.

But the proposals have repeatedly failed amid Republican opposition in Congress.

'An AR-15 was used in the shooting of Donald Trump, just as it was assault weapons that killed so many others including children.

It’s time to outlaw them,' Biden said, drawing applause from supporters.

The gunman’s father, Matthew Crooks, called police after the shooting, worried that his son and a gun were missing, three senior law enforcement officials told NBC News.

Meanwhile, Fox News is reporting that the family called authorities before the shooting took place.

Iran rejected 'malicious' reports of an alleged plot to assassinate Trump, saying the Islamic nation seeks a 'legal path to bring him to justice' for ordering the assassination of an Iranian general in 2020.

The White House confirmed to USA TODAY a report that Trump’s security was increased in recent weeks after intelligence showed Iran had been plotting to kill him.

National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson, in a statement issued Tuesday, said Iran has sought revenge since Trump ordered the killing of Qassem Soleimani, who Trump later described as 'the number-one terrorist anywhere in the world.'

Are We Already Moving On from the Assassination Attempt on Trump? Less than a week after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, on July 13th, in Butler, Pennsylvania, it appears that most of the public and much of the media have already started to move on. This should not be surprising, given all that we hear these days about our short attention spans and the speed of history. But I admit that I have found it somewhat disturbing—not because I believe a great national trauma has taken place and that the country has decided to bury it deep under the ground, but because this swift diminishment of interest seems to reflect the manner in which we prioritize and value different types of violence. When I began writing this column, this past Tuesday, around 5:30 P.M. on the West Coast, there were no stories about the shooting in the top slots on the Web sites of the New York Times, the Washington Post, or the Wall Street Journal, all of which were focussed, appropriately, on the Republican National Convention. Evidently, the gunman, a twenty-year-old from suburban Pittsburgh named Thomas Matthew Crooks, did not leave behind a manifesto or some lengthy and lurid trail of online crumbs, and so, it seemed, there was no real story to tell. We still know little about him, save for a few details that already feel rote: he was a registered Republican who had donated to a liberal voter-turnout group; he worked in a nursing home; he showed passing interest in both computers and guns; and the few people who crossed his path never saw anything like this coming. On Wednesday, the F.B.I. reported that its agents had conducted numerous interviews, looked through documents, and could find no motive. Rather than regard the assassination attempt as an incident of political violence, many have begun placing it within a more common, even sadly pedestrian classification: the random shooter. A loner with an AR-15 commits an act of violence, and we typically have nothing to say except that this seems to happen all the time in America.

Is there more to say? Perhaps not much, or at least not much that would be especially newsworthy. Some of Trump’s supporters at the G.O.P. Convention are wearing faux bandages on their ear, in tribute to their hero; many commentators have demanded answers from the Secret Service, and have argued that Crooks’s near-success reflects major failures of the agency. But the lack of any serious and meaningful interpretations of why the shooting happened—outside of a few limp attempts to peg the shooting on one party or the other—suggests that we are not waiting for more details about the event, and that a flood of meaning will not likely come later. It seems that the public memory of violence in the United States has come to depend on our ability to ascribe a motive to the perpetrators that tells us something about our politics. Unexplainable tragedies vanish from the spotlight much more quickly than we expect, regardless of the scope of human suffering and death they inflict.

I was thinking about this kind of forgetting on a recent trip to Las Vegas, as I looked at the golden windows of the Mandalay Bay. In 2017, a gunman named Stephen Paddock busted out those windows and shot more than a thousand rounds into the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest festival of country music, killing sixty people and injuring hundreds more. Ten months later, Clark County’s sheriff said, “What we have not been able to definitively answer is why Stephen Paddock committed this act.” The windows of the Mandalay Bay have since been replaced, of course. The resort, which stands at the far edge of the Strip and thus is not squeezed between other audacious buildings, looks almost lonely, as if it is waiting for another hulking title to sidle up along its empty northern edge. The memory of the Route 91 Harvest massacre is, for most people, almost purely statistical: it is the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. If or when that record is broken, Route 91 Harvest will become harder to distinguish from all the other mass shootings. I spend what can be called an unusual amount of time in Las Vegas, which means that I find myself looking up at those golden windows a couple times a year. Each time, I find myself searching for some profound, perhaps even Sebaldian thought, about ghosts, forgetting, and the glaziers of history. But I can never tease it out, at least not fully.

Why do these apparently senseless acts fade from our minds? The obvious answer is in that very senselessness. Because these events do not seem to reflect something explicit and obvious about our politics or our culture—and because it is difficult to blame anyone other than the gun manufacturers and the gun retailers and the shooters themselves, who are often dead—the acts don’t lend themselves to the narratives of the news or of history. But, in truth, many of the acts that have become sizable parts of this country’s collective memory, events that were more easily adapted into a familiar political narrative, were interpreted using messy bits of online commentary, deranged manifestos, a few evocative details dug up by the press or found by the police. If Crooks had joined a worrisome WhatsApp group or posted a few things on Discord, he might have become yet another example of online radicalization; there would be politicians to blame, and histories to be recounted about other violent splinter groups. But I believe this is generally a stupid way to think about these events. The difference between a supposedly meaningless mass shooting and a properly memorialized tragedy that prompts reflections on the state of politics in this country should not come down to whether a deranged young man clicked a particular box or typed a short message on some terrible Web site.

There is, of course, a conspiracy-minded segment of the American public that does not accept the standard interpretations of these events. They gather online and pore over aerial photos, scrub through every published news story, and actually read the dutiful government reports that come out long after the rest of the country has moved on. These people are suspicious of the sameness of these shooters, the way they seem almost engineered to ward off commentary or inquiry; these people fill in the gaps with fantasies of motive and causation. The attempted assassination of Trump has been ceded to conspiracy theorists with remarkable speed. The conspiracists, more than the media or historians—and perhaps even more than Trump, who, beyond some predictable self-aggrandizement, has not noticeably changed his rhetoric since the shooting—will keep the story alive. There were long stretches when Alex Jones almost single-handedly kept the Sandy Hook shooting in the news, because he repeatedly and falsely claimed that the killing of twenty children and six adults at an elementary school was a hoax, and was eventually sued by parents of those children who had been harassed by his followers. The Route 91 Harvest massacre has similarly, if more quietly, become a central fixation of the conspiracy community. This online imprint, shoved away in corners of the Internet—bulletin-board forums, subreddits, group chats—is like a ghost in the public memory. Here, the images, the texts, and the audio of these massacres—even those that do not have the political valence of the march on Charlottesville in 2017 or the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th—are continuously refreshed.

I imagine that is where the attempted assassination of Trump will ultimately reside: as a story in conspiracy land, shoved somewhere near the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, forty years before—an event which has remained much clearer in our minds, it must be said, because the shooter had seemingly done it to impress Jodie Foster, putting the act into the realm of pop culture. For the rest of us, the already infamous photo of a bloodied Trump raising his fist in the air might be all that remains, an icon of the defiance that his movement has embodied.

But, with each act of mass violence, the population of conspiracy land grows. Almost instantly, there were thousands of people online speculating about what the Secret Service might have been doing in the moments leading up to the shooting, how a twenty-year-old in 2024 had no social media presence at all, and whether the entire thing was staged for Trump’s benefit. The speculators are not all disaffected men or people who live entirely online; many are ordinary people who are trying to recount a story that everyone else seems to have agreed is inexplicable. Some of them will find other conspiracy theories and other people asking similar questions. Before too long, their world views may have profoundly changed. A culture of conspiracy is one of the inevitable costs for a country with so much violence, and so much forgetting, and so much insistence, however implicit, that a tragedy is only worth dwelling on if we can fit it into one of the political stories we already like to tell.

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UPDATE Requests rejected Lack of motive in attack upsets public However, analysts say it fits pattern of event defying categorization

In the week since the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, details have emerged about sniper positions and Secret Service agents, witnesses and warnings.

But the answer to the biggest question remains elusive: Why?

So far, investigators say, they have found little evidence of an ideology driving the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old nursing home aide who was killed at the scene. The information gleaned from his phone, family and friends doesn’t offer a motive, national security analysts say, and the absence of a quick explanation has left room for the rapid-fire spread of partisan and conspiratorial theories shaping how millions of Americans view the attack.

Barring a breakthrough in the investigation, Crooks appears poised to join a string of high-profile attackers with no discernible ideological driver, or with influences from a mixed bag of beliefs. That outcome is frustrating for a nation struggling to make sense of the event, analysts say, but it fits into a pattern of bloody episodes that defy categorization along a traditional left-right spectrum.

“It’s hard, because when you go after a political target, you do assume political motive,” said Daniel Byman, a terrorism researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a national security think tank.

Investigators haven’t produced evidence showing an ideological motive that meets official definitions of terrorism, Byman and other analysts say.

Authorities typically explore other theories, too, including mental illness or a quest for notoriety.

The lack of conclusive findings has been difficult to accept for many Trump supporters. Attacks without clear motivation aren’t unusual and have increased, researchers say, in part as a reflection of the ideologies that swirl together on social media and gaming platforms, creating a toxic soup of grievances with no cohesive political agenda.

In 2022, an attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was carried out by a hammer-wielding man who had been involved in nudist activism and Green Party support before more recent racist rhetoric and expressions of hatred toward Democrats, according to analysts who have studied his writings.

As with Trump’s would-be assassin, extremists and partisans quickly stepped in to exploit the vacuum where a clear-cut motive would be.

The deadliest recent example was the 2017 mass shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas that killed 60 people and injured hundreds. To this day, it’s unclear precisely why 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire on concertgoers.

The FBI has released a trove of documents that showed he had a serious gambling habit but never declared a motivation for the rampage. Paddock killed himself before authorities reached him.

While many have assumed the motives behind the July 13 shooting were rooted in the heated rhetoric of a presidential campaign, a 1997 Secret Service study of American assassins and would-be assassins of public figures found that “attackers and near-lethal approachers of public officials rarely had ‘political’ motives.” Karl Schmae, a retired FBI supervisory agent, said the most relevant comparison to Crooks may be John Hinckley Jr., who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

“John Hinckley was a troubled guy and he just wanted notoriety,” Schmae said. “There was nothing in particular about Reagan other than killing him would make Hinckley famous.”

Top officials at the U.S. Secret Service repeatedly denied requests for additional resources and personnel sought by Donald Trump’s security detail in the two years leading up to his attempted assassination at a rally in Pennsylvania last Saturday, according to four people familiar with the requests.

The Secret Service, after initially denying turning down requests for additional security, is now acknowledging some may have been rejected as the organization was forced to make difficult decisions amid competing demands, a growing list of protectees and limited funding. WASHINGTON

Secret Service chief facing calls to resign

Champion for diversity hiring, she refused to bolster security for Trump events

WASHINGTON — When Kimberly Cheatle led the Secret Service’s operations to safeguard the American president and other dignitaries, she said she would talk to agents in training about the “awesome responsibility” of their job.

“This agency and the Secret Service has a zero fail mission,” Cheatle, who is now director of the agency, said in 2021 during a Secret Service podcast called “Standing Post.”

“They have to come in every day prepared and ready with their game face on.”

Now, the Secret Service and its director are under intense scrutiny following an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump during a July 13 rally in Pennsylvania that wounded his ear.

Adding to that scrutiny is the agency’s acknowledgment late Saturday that it had refused to grant some of the Trump campaign’s requests for added security at his events, after initially denying that it had done so.

Cheatle, who will testify before lawmakers Monday after congressional committees and the Biden administration launched a series of investigations, told ABC News that the shooting was “unacceptable.”

When asked who bears the most responsibility, she said ultimately it is the Secret Service that protects the former president.

“The buck stops with me,” Cheatle said. “I am the director of the Secret Service.” She said she has no plans to resign, and so far she has the administration’s backing.

Democratic President Joe Biden appointed Cheatle in August 2022 to take over an agency with a history of scandals, and she worked to bolster diverse hiring, especially of women in the male-dominated service.

The second woman to lead the Secret Service, Cheatle worked her way up for 27 years before leaving in 2021 for a job as a security executive at PepsiCo. Biden brought her back.

Details are still unfolding about signs of trouble the day of the assassination attempt, including the steps taken by the Secret Service and local authorities to secure a building that the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, climbed within an estimated 147 yards of where Trump was speaking.

An ex-fire chief at the rally, Corey Comperatore, was killed and two others were wounded.

The Biden administration has directed an independent review of security at the rally.

The Homeland Security Department’s inspector general has opened three investigations and congressional committees have launched others as calls mount for Cheatle to resign.

Two Republican senators demanding answers followed her as she walked through the Republican National Convention this past week.

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee subpoenaed Cheatle to appear Monday, and she is expected to be there.

Kristie Canegallo, Homeland Security’s acting deputy secretary, said the department has the “utmost confidence” in Cheatle.

The committee chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said “the American people have lots of questions and they deserve answers. And this hearing tomorrow will serve as the beginning of that process to get answers for the American people as to what went wrong with an agency that has a no-fail mission.”

He told “Fox News Sunday” that Cheatle should expect about a six-hour hearing with “hundreds of questions that she’s going to have to answer and the American people will be watching.”

The Homeland Security Department did not make Cheatle available for an interview, but Canegallo defended her work.

Women in security roles

AFTERMATH:

After the assassination attempt, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and the female Secret Service agents who protected Donald Trump have faced scathing criticism and questions about whether Cheatle lowered hiring standards. Supporters are adamant that has not happened.

‘DISRESPECTFUL’:

“It is disrespectful to the women of the Secret Service of the Department of Homeland Security and to women law enforcement officers around the nation to imply that their gender disqualifies them from service to the nation and their communities,” said Kristie Canegallo, Homeland Security’s acting deputy secretary.

RECRUITING:

Like many law enforcement agencies, the Secret Service has been wrestling with how to attract and retain agents and officers. Women account for about 24% of the agency’s staff, according to its website. In a May 2023 interview with CBS News, Cheatle said she was conscious of the “need to attract diverse candidates and ensure that we are developing and giving opportunities to everybody in our workforce, and particularly women.” Pa. sheriff:

Officer encountered shooter on roof before Trump assassination attempt

“The officer had both hands on the roof to get up on the roof [but] never made it because the shooter had turned towards the officer, and rightfully and smartly, the officer let go,” Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe said

Police1BUTLER, Pa. — Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe has confirmed that an armed municipal officer encountered shooter Thomas Crooks before he fired shots at former President Donald Trump’s rally on July 13, KDKA reported.

Slupe stated that the officer was alerted to a suspicious person and was hoisted by another officer to the roof where Crooks was positioned. Election 2024 Trump

The gunman, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, fired multiple shots at the stage from an “elevated position outside of the rally venue”

The officer let go and dropped off the roof when Crooks pointed his rifle at him, according to the report.

Crooks then began firing into the crowd, grazing Trump, killing one bystander and injuring two others.

“All I know is the officer had both hands on the roof to get up on the roof, never made it because the shooter had turned towards the officer, and rightfully and smartly, the officer let go,” Sheriff Slupe told KDKA.

Crooks was ultimately killed by sniper fire.

Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company chief Corey Comperatore “died a hero” when he “dove on his family to protect them,” Gov. Josh Shapiro said“I would have done the same thing, absolutely,” Slupe said.

“I mean, people think the officers are supermen like you hold on the roof with one hand while you are hanging on for dear life and pull a gun out. It doesn’t work that way.”

Slupe acknowledged there may have been a security failure but stressed the importance of waiting for the investigation’s results.

“There is not just one entity responsible; the Secret Service plays a key role in protecting, in this case, former President Trump, but they don’t act alone,” he said.

The Secret Service receives support from local police departments, which form a secondary ring of security around high-profile figures.

Election 2024 TrumpEffective presidential protection relies on more than just federal efforts.

Learn how local officers can contribute, stay informed and maintain crucial roles

Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger noted that multiple local agencies assisted with SWAT teams and snipers, according to the report.

“We provided some snipers for them. Some quick response teams. We didn’t have any responsibility with securing the perimeter or anything outside of that venue,” Goldinger said.

He explained that the hierarchy of command for security was led by the Secret Service, followed by state police, and then local municipal departments.Slupe expressed concern over how Crooks accessed the rooftop and remained undetected.

Election 2024 Trump

The Trump rally shooting demonstrated commendable actions like quick thinking by citizens, as well as shortcomings such as poor site selection and training gaps

Election 2024 Trump

Effective presidential protection relies on more than just federal efforts.

Learn how local officers can contribute, stay informed and maintain crucial roles

Election 2024 Trump

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

Secret Service chief: ‘We failed’

Bipartisan calls for her resignation come after congressional hearing

Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee called for U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign Monday, saying she had lost the nation’s confidence after failing to answer detailed questions about the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

Republican Chairman James Comer of Kentucky and ranking Democrat Jamie Raskin of Maryland were among the Congress members who urged Cheatle to step aside after she testified for 4 1/2 hours at the first congressional hearing since the attack on Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

Raskin said both parties were united in their “bafflement” over the stunning operational failures that led to the shooting.

He lamented the “extraordinary communications gap” between Cheatle and Congress during the hearing.

“I will be joining the chairman in calling for the resignation of the director just because I think that this relationship is irretrievable at this point,” Raskin said at the hearing’s end. “I think that the director has lost the confidence of Congress at a very urgent and tender moment in the history of the country and we need to very quickly move beyond this.”

Cheatle has faced growing calls to step down as director after the security failures at the Trump rally, the first attack against a U.S. leader on the protective agency’s watch in more than 40 years.

She has said she will not resign.

Cheatle remained stoic as several lawmakers with the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability berated her and called for her resignation.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of Cailfornia urged Cheatle to resign because the assassination attempt has shaken public faith in the Secret Service and her ability to lead the agency.

He said the issue transcends politics.

“I think you need to reflect,” Khanna told Cheatle. “You cannot go leading a Secret Service agency when there is an assassination attempt on a presidential candidate.”

Cheatle told lawmakers she accepted responsibility for the failure to stop the attack and acknowledged that it was the most significant stain on the agency’s record in decades.

Cheatle also told the panel she does not personally review the security plans for thousands of events attended by the 36 people under the agency’s protection.

Those reviews are conducted by a team of Secret Service officials, she said.

Questions

The lawmakers questioned why Trump was allowed to take the podium about 15 minutes after officers at the fairgrounds sighted a suspicious individual, later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Cheatle sought to make a distinction between suspicious behavior and a direct threat, saying the Secret Service would have “paused the rally had they known there was an actual threat.”

Cheatle said the agency is reviewing when agents were notified about Crooks, the 20-year-old gunman, and what they did about it.

Crooks gained access to an unsecured roof less than 150 yards from the stage of Trump’s campaign rally in Pennsylvania, where he opened fire with an AR-style rifle, injuring Trump, killing one man in the crowd and seriously wounding two others.

He was killed at the scene by a Secret Service countersniper.

Cheatle said the Secret Service is conducting an internal “mission assurance investigation” and that the report is due within 60 days.

She told the committee members she shared many of their questions and would report back with the answers once the investigation is complete.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York told Cheatle that 60 days is “not acceptable.”

“It has been 10 days since an assassination attempt on a former president of the United States regardless of party,” Ocasio-Cortez told Cheatle. “There need to be answers.”

Probes into attack

The internal report is in addition to the FBI’s criminal investigation and other probes into the attack.

Cheatle shared some preliminary findings, acknowledging that the gunman used a drone in the area before the shooting.

“That information has been passed on to us from the FBI,” she said in testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

Cheatle also confirmed that a detonator device was found with Crooks’s body.

Cheatle told lawmakers that the FBI found explosives in Crooks’s possession and is investigating who may have shown him how to make them.

She confirmed that he appeared to have acted alone.

Cheatle frustrated several committee members by declining to answer detailed questions.

She would not say how many agents were assigned to Trump that day but said the number was “sufficient.”

Cheatle did not say whether the Secret Service deployed a drone to surveil the area and declined to answer questions about how Crooks was able to get his rifle onto the roof and when the area would have been “swept,” or inspected, before the rally.

“So can you answer this question, which I think is on the mind of most Americans thinking about this?” Raskin said. “How can a 20-year-old with his father’s AR-15 assault weapon climb onto a roof with a direct 150-yard line of sight to the speaker’s podium without the Secret Service or local police stopping him?”

She did not have the answer.

“I will say we are nine days out from this event, and I would like to know those answers as well, which is why we are going through these investigations to be able to determine that fully,” she said.

Dodging questions

Lawmakers’ frustrations grew as Cheatle continued to dodge questions about what constituted a threat.

She said she did not want to speak prematurely about an ongoing investigation.

But lawmakers said she could at least tell them what she knew.

The tone of the hearing grew more heated as lawmakers accused Cheatle of stonewalling.

One exasperated Republican lawmaker, Rep. Pat Fallon of Texas, derisively told Cheatle to “go back to guarding Doritos.” Cheatle worked as a top security official at Pepsi Co. North America, which manufactures the snack food, before her appointment as Secret Service director in September 2022.

Under repeated questioning by Rep. Jake LaTurner, R-Kan., Cheatle confirmed that the FBI informed her that the Beaver County emergency services unit noticed Crooks on the roof and photographed him before Trump took the stage.

Cheatle did not say when the FBI relayed that information to the Secret Service or when the agency deemed Crooks a threat.

Cheatle confirmed at the hearing that Crooks arrived at the rally with a range finder, a tool used to gauge outdoor distances for use in photography, surveying or shooting.

But she said that a “range finder is not a prohibited item” and that carrying one did not necessarily make him a threat.

LaTurner asked Cheatle when agents might have identified Crooks as a threat.

“If that same individual with the range finder is found on a rooftop, is that still just suspicious, or is that considered threatening?” LaTurner shot back.

“That could be termed still as suspicious,” she said.

Calls for resignation

The initial part of Monday’s hearing was notable for members’ sober, serious tone, with a methodical approach to questioning Cheatle by Republican and Democratic members.

Some Republican members started shaking their heads and audibly saying “no” when Cheatle declined to say whether Secret Service agents were positioned on the roof used by the attacker.

Republicans berated Cheatle and some called for her resignation because of the lack of answers and concern that the security flaws exposed at the Pennsylvania rally are ongoing.

Cheatle signaled that she intends to stay.

“I think I am the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time,” Cheatle said in response to questioning from Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina that cast doubt on her leadership qualifications.

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina asked Cheatle if she would like to use the lawmaker’s five minutes of time to “draft her resignation letter.” Cheatle quietly responded, “No, thank you.” Republican says he re-created shooting

Frisco lawmaker tells panel it’s ‘a miracle’ Trump lived

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon was in prone position on a sloped roof, holding his AR-15 rifle. The time was 6:30 p.m. Distance to target, 130 yards.

The Frisco Republican sought to recreate the conditions that faced a would-be assassin who opened fire on former President Donald Trump during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pa.

Fallon recounted the simulation Monday at a House Oversight Committee hearing, during which lawmakers delivered a brutal, bipartisan tongue-lashing to U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle over the agency’s failures in Butler and what they characterized as a lack of information since.

Fallon said he wasn’t sure which of two kinds of scopes the shooter had used, so he took eight shots with each type during his exercise.

Behind him, an aide displayed two human-shaped targets riddled with bullet holes.

“You know what the result was? Fifteen out of 16 kill shots,” Fallon said as his voice rose and he banged his fist on the table. “And the one I missed would have hit the president’s ear. That’s a 94% success rate. And that shooter was a better shot than me. It is a miracle President Trump wasn’t killed.”

Fallon said he’s never received long-gun training and had shot his AR-15 only once before, six years earlier.

Cheatle testified her agency failed in its mission, promising to discover what went wrong and “move heaven and earth” to ensure it never happens again.

Frustrated Republicans and Democrats grew more pointed in their questions as she repeatedly refused to provide specific answers about what happened and why.

Cheatle often referred lawmakers to the FBI, which is conducting a criminal investigation.

The Oversight Committee often features bitterly partisan fighting, but there was plenty of shared frustration on both sides of the aisle over Cheatle’s lack of answers.

Members from both parties, including its Republican chairman and top Democrat, called for her resignation during the hearing.

U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Waco, cited her nearly 30 years of experience with the U.S. Secret Service and said Cheatle should be able to provide some analysis of where protection broke down.

“How long do we have to wait before you can give us credible answers?” Sessions asked.

Cheatle said the agency’s goal is to complete an internal investigation within 60 days and cited various other investigations in progress.

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, used her time to make points about addressing potential bias among law enforcement officers, the role of gun regulations in preventing shootings and the need for politicians to tone down their rhetoric.

She added that Cheatle’s lack of answers could feed conspiracy theories about the shooting.

“I don’t doubt the Secret Service is on the side of the American people,” Crockett said.

“But right now, so long as these conspiracy theories continue to fester, it is going to make your job that much harder.”

Fallon was deeply biting in his assessment, questioning how anyone could have confidence in the agency’s ability to stop trained foreign professionals if its personnel could be outsmarted by a 20-year-old loner.

He brought up claims security personnel weren’t on the roof used by the shooter because of safety concerns about its slope. He said those are “pathetic excuses” and “cow dung.”

He mockingly referred to Cheatle’s previous job as senior director in global security at Pepsico, which manufactures snack foods.

“Your horrifying ineptitude and your lack of skilled leadership is a disgrace,” Fallon said. “Your obfuscating today is shameful. And you should be fired immediately and go back to guarding Doritos.”

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And right after they passed that law, we ended up with Uvalde.

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