To begin with, this is your president. This ought to be one of the most shameful things ever said by a sitting president.
"Do you have any words to the victims of the hurricane?"
BIDEN: "We've given everything that we have."
"Are there any more resources the federal government could be giving them?"
BIDEN: "No." pic.twitter.com/jDMNGhpjOz
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 30, 2024
We must have spent too much money on Ukraine to help Americans in distress. I don't…… [read more]
Polling data from Morning Consult shows 34% of registered Democrats believe it’s “definitely credible” or “probably credible” that the shooting was staged, according to The Washington Free Beacon. Another 18% of Democrats don’t know/aren’t sure whether the shooting was real.
Staged. As if it’s possible to shoot << 1 MOA into an ear, and as if someone would put themselves at risk to pull something like that off.
Here are a couple of good videos, but before we get into them, remember a few things. There is a difference between accuracy and precision. Accuracy has to do with how well your gun does at targeting the same view you have in your crosshairs. Precision has to do with how well your gun groups even if the gun is zeroed on the target.
When we speak of a sub-MOA gun, or a 1 MOA gun, or 1.5 MOA gun, it’s almost always an imprecise figure of speak. Technically, we should speak of a gun that is _____ precise (fill in the blank with 1 MOA or whatever), tested with 5 rounds, or 7 rounds, or 25 rounds, or 100 rounds, using cold bore conditions, with a relative error of ___% (or fractional standard deviation of ___).
It’s easy to say that a gun shoots 1 MOA. It’s much hard to shoot the requisite number of rounds with that gun to get a passing standard deviation with the data. A 3-shot or 5-shot group rarely proves anything. The grouping will increase with increasing number of shots (even under cold bore conditions) until the tails of the distribution are filled in and you have met the Central Limit Theorem. I think most readers will understand what I’ve said here.
This is math, and I know what I’m talking about.
It’s a shame that people rely on politics to inform them rather than admit when they don’t understand mathematics. The inability to admit ignorance is called stupidity. Ignorance isn’t a sin. Stupidity is.
Now to the videos. No one in their right mind would believe you could pull off a fake or staged shooting like this to damage just an ear, especially with a cheap rifle using a red dot sight rather than magnified optics.
A 72-year-old Montana man shot and killed a grizzly bear after it attacked him while he was alone picking huckleberries, according to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
The man was hospitalized after the encounter, which happened Thursday evening near Columbia Falls on Flathead National Forest lands, the agency said in a news release.
FWP’s wardens and bear specialists referred to the incident as a “surprise defensive encounter.”
The man reportedly shot the bear with a handgun after the adult female grizzly charged him, the release stated. FWP responded to the incident and confirmed the bear was killed.
Neither the article or the press release says what make, model or caliber the handgun was. We would like to know this information.
It’s likely the man is alive because he quickly deployed a handgun rather than following the stupid advice to try bear spray first.
She said the Secret Service was aware of the security vulnerabilities presented by the building Crooks took a sniper’s position on to aim at Trump. However, a decision was made not to place any personnel on the roof.
“That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point. And so, you know, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof. And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside,” she said.
I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous in my life. First of all, men work on sloped roofs all day, every day, in America. Second, this is the secret service. It’s their jobs. Third, the most insulting thing is that she expects us to swallow this explanation, which is obviously fabricated. No decent SS agent would have objected to this assignment.
Finally, if you really want to be safe on a sloped roof, use a lanyard. I can teach them how to do it, but that isn’t necessary. They already know. So none of that is necessary. They know how to ensconce on sloped roofs. They know how to use lanyards. They aren’t concerned about SS agents falling off of roofs. They didn’t refuse to position agents on that roof because it’s sloped.
There is also this disturbing tidbit.
“I’m being told that the shooter was actually identified as a potential person of suspicion. Units started responding to seek that individual out,” Cheatle told ABC News. “Unfortunately, with the rapid succession of how things unfolded, by the time that individual was eventually located, they were on the rooftop and were able to fire off at the former president.”
“Rapid succession of events.” Again, how insulting that she expects us to swallow this ridiculous explanation.
“Slow down shooter, we can’t respond quickly enough. Give us time, for God’s sake.”
The town of Princeton, New Jersey, wants to use surgical sterilization to help control its overabundant whitetail deer herd. On July 8, the Town Council approved a plan submitted by Princeton’s deer management contractor, White Buffalo Inc., that would use an elaborate procedure to capture and sterilize at least 40 does this winter.
According to the neighborhood news site Tap Into Princeton, sterilization teams would shoot does with tranquilizer darts and transport the deer to a temporary surgical unit at an old fire station, where “the wildlife biologists will have about 20 minutes to remove her ovaries, staple the wound, apply a tag and radio collar, and return her to her original site before the drugs wear off.” The operation would be conducted at night, and biologists would remain with each deer until it regains consciousness.
They would choose an expensive procedure for deer birth control rather than turn urban archery hunters loose on a herd! What on earth is wrong with these people?
What a mess, but a lot of things learned in the process.
First of all, the SS is utterly incompetent – or intentionally and willfully negiligent.
this BBC interview with a guy outside the security perimeter who claims he saw the shooter before he fired is absolutely wild pic.twitter.com/vJpKZTxSAe
This BBC reporter is blind, and out-reported anyone in the U.S. media on the event. Here is a similar account.
Another eye witness says that he told law officers there was a man on the roof climbing between multiple rooftops and they did absolutely nothing to stop him until it was too late! WTF!
We need an investigation into the Trump assassination attempt immediately!
So it’s obvious that there was adequate indication that something bad was going wrong. But it gets worse.
A local police officer saw the gunman on the rooftop during former President Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania rally on Saturday but was unable to engage him, Butler County Sheriff Michael T. Slupe told CNN’s Pamela Brown on Sunday.
Slupe said that Butler Township officers received calls about a suspicious person outside the perimeter of the rally and went looking to find that person. The initial calls did not indicate the suspicious person had a gun, he said.
During the search for the suspicious person, officers with township police discovered that the gunman was on the roof, and one local officer hoisted another to get up to the ledge. The shooter turned around, saw the officer peering over and pointed his gun at him. The officer let go of the ledge to “take cover” and save his own life.
The title of that report was “Local officer tried to stop gunman on the roof but was unable to engage him.” Of course, that’s a lie. He didn’t try to engage the shooter, he took cover like all cowards do. Why does a man like that even have the job of police officer?
Next up, the SS has said they knew there was a shooter on the roof but couldn’t engage him.
Here’s my reporting on why the Secret Service did not shoot until AFTER the shooter engaged and some context about the House Republicans’ investigation already underway (months before Trump’s assassination attempt) into whether the agency’s DEI policies are affecting its…
For the record, I don’t believe that, but they know that they must do something to answer the obvious question “If the counter sniper was able to engage the shooter so quickly, why wasn’t he able to see the shooter before he started shooting?” And the answer is yes he was able to, and he didn’t, and their excuse is ROE.
Again, I think that’s a lie. I don’t think the SS has to wait on anything at all to protect the president or presidential candidates. Prove me wrong.
UPDATE:
Just now saw a contrary report to the one linked above that said the cop who got to the top of the agricultural building climbed a ladder just like the shooter. If that’s true, there is no excuse for not engaging the shooter.
The SS agents can’t even reholster their weapons.
Absolute humiliation for this gaggle of female Secret Service Agents.
Look at the disorder:
– Can’t holster weapons
– Gear falling to the ground
– Erratic, fearful movements
– No show of force, composure
Finally, I’ll point out that the guys at reddit/Firearms did the ballistics work. The local airport showed wind to be at 8 MPH. At 130 yards, the drift at that distance would have been 1.4 inches. If the shooter had brought a Kestrel and knew how to use it (as well as mounted a relatively cheap optic rather than used iron sights) and used a holdoff of about 1.5 MOA, Trump would be dead now.
This is a failure of epic proportions.
I still want to know what equipment the counter sniper was using. I suspect a nice AR-10 in 6.5CM, Seekins Precision, DD or Barrett, with Night Force, Leupold or US Optics glass, mounted on a tripod.
Not that this matters to any great degree. I’m just interested.
The Secret Service blamed local police for failing to secure the rooftop from which gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump, insisting it was outside of the perimeter the federal agency was tasked with protecting.
Instead, securing and patrolling the factory grounds of AGR International Inc. — located about 130 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking Saturday — was the responsibility of local Pennsylvania police, Secret Service representative Anthony Gugliemi said, according the New York Times.
The Secret Service was only tasked with covering the grounds where Trump’s rally took place, with local police being recruited to assist with those efforts and secure the area outside of the rally.
But neighbors living near Butler Farm Show Grounds told The Post they were never visited by any law enforcement agencies — local or federal — in the days before or during the rally.
You should fully expect the SS to testify that way before Congress. They will point the finger of blame at the state police, and the state police will point the finger of blame at the SS for failing to communicate rules of engagement sufficient to stop the threat.
This is a bit off the beaten path, but that’s why you come here, right?
What’s the first thing tyrants do when they want to control people? I think you know. If you don’t want to watch the entire video, both of which are interesting, fast forward to 11 (eleven) minutes for both of them.
This is an awful exchange. First of all, the VA shouldn’t be in the position of removing of God-given rights.
Second, their refusal to obey congressional acts is treasonous.
Third, the entire thing has been misapplied. Having someone else do your finances for you includes deploying overseas and having no access to your bank accounts, thus the need to name someone in charge of fiduciary responsibilities.
It’s worth noting that much of this comes from the administration, not just the VA.
The VA doesn’t care about veterans. But you already knew that.
In its first official platform since 2016, the Grand Old Party (GOP) slashed all mention of its gun policy positions.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) Platform Committee voted 84-to-18 on Monday to adopt the new 2024 platform language after skipping the process entirely in 2020. The finalized document leans into former President Donald Trump’s “America First” outlook and parrots many of his stances on issues ranging from immigration to trade. However, it also minimized the party’s emphasis on gun policy compared to its previous platform.
The entire platform discusses gun rights just once, in a preamble statement about the party’s dedication to defending “our fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to keep and bear arms.” The final product omits any discussion of tangible gun policy ideas.
The Republican Party platform’s downplaying of Second Amendment issues comes as the gun-rights movement finds itself in a precarious position politically. As guns have become increasingly polarized along party lines, gun-rights supporters have found themselves reliant on Republicans for political support. President Joe Biden has made gun control a fixture of his tenure in office and is already campaigning on even more sweeping proposals, including a ban on sales of the popular AR-15, in a potential second term. At the same time, while the GOP’s current standard-bearer has continued to seek the support of the National Rifle Association and make promises in speeches to the group, he has been fickle on gun policy at times. His felony convictions also mean he can no longer legally own or possess firearms.
The 2024 platform’s cursory discussion of gun policy priorities marks a significant departure from the party’s 2016 platform. The party previously dedicated an entire section to the Second Amendment. In it, the GOP listed specific pro-gun policies it wanted to enact, as well as gun-control measures it opposed.
“We support firearm reciprocity legislation to recognize the right of law-abiding Americans to carry firearms to protect themselves and their families in all 50 states,” the 2016 document reads. “We support constitutional carry statutes and salute the states that have passed them.”
“We oppose ill-conceived laws that would restrict magazine capacity or ban the sale of the most popular and common modern rifle,” the section continues. “We also oppose any effort to deprive individuals of their right to keep and bear arms without due process of law. We condemn frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers and the current Administration’s illegal harassment of firearm dealers. We oppose federal licensing or registration of law-abiding gun owners, registration of ammunition, and restoration of the ill-fated Clinton gun ban.”
[ … ]
The Trump campaign celebrated the final draft of the platform and emphasized the former President’s personal influence on its contents.
This is excellent reporting and a very informed writeup at The Reload.
They’ve also dropped their vocal support of pro-life policies.
I’m not making this up. It’s in the platform. Of all the people the GOP cannot afford to lose, gun owners are at the top of the list. But this is a “win at all costs” platform focused on soccer moms in the suburbs.
Combine that with support for the bump stock ban, red flag laws, alignment with the ill-fated and obscene NRA, and the GOP has miles to go before they can make up for this failure.
Of course, it’s not as if Cornyn or Tillis paid any attention to the last platform.
