Think comparing Butler to Uvalde is a wee bit extreme? Guess again. The Daily Muck reported some rather chilling information about Secret Service negligence and incompetence that took place Saturday:
Donald Trump's would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was captured in a chilling video lurking near the former president's rally stage just an hour before he unleashed a hail of bullets. The disturbing footage, shot by someone in the crowd, appears to show the 20-year-old gunman stalking around a building he would climb 60 minutes later in order to get the perfect vantage point from which to target Trump. In the harrowing clip, obtained by local station WTAE, Crooks does not appear to be holding the AR-style rifle he used to shoot Trump through the ear at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday.... The footage was revealed amid a series of stunning developments Wednesday that raise more questions about the massive security failure that led to the attempt on Trump's life and claimed the life of a local firefighter who died protecting his family from the gunfire. It emerged the gunman's' father called police on the day of the shooting because Crooks didn't return from what he thought was a routine Saturday trip to the local gun range. And it was revealed Crooks was at the former president's rally three hours before opening fire, even sparking the suspicions of the Secret Service during that time because he was carrying a rangefinder used by hunters to take long shots. But he was never stopped or questioned.... At around 3pm on Saturday, Crooks was spotted at the rally's security screening area and tried to pass through metal detectors with the rangefinder, which is used by shooters to measure distance. The device, which looks like a small pair of binoculars, would not have prevented him getting into the rally but did put him on law enforcement's radar. Witnesses said he was acting strangely, furiously checking his phone and operating the rangefinder. The Secret Service watched him but lost track of Crooks when he left the secure area. Rest of article, videos, and pictures.
Unbelievable. Maybe the Secret Service really is that incompetent. Dominic Pinto reported in National Review Monday:
In 2012, the federal government released a 229-page list of allegations against Secret Service agents going back to 2004. They included “involvement with prostitutes, leaking sensitive information, publishing pornography, sexual assault, illegal wiretaps, improper use of weapons and drunken behaviour,” the Guardian reported at the time. The list was heavily redacted, and it was not clear how many of the allegations were true.... A 2014 panel of independent experts, commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security, made 19 recommendations to improve the Secret Service. A 2022 report from the Government Accountability Office found that six of the recommendations were still not fully implemented. One of the recommendations was that agents on the presidential and vice-presidential protection details should spend 25 percent of their time in training. The Secret Service bargained that down to 12 percent, saying 25 percent was not feasible given staff levels. The GAO found that time actually spent in training never exceeded 7.5 percent between 2015 and 2020. The 2014 panel recommended a new White House fence. The Secret Service did not begin construction on the fence until 2019. It was not scheduled to be completed until 2023. The GAO also found that the agency was consistently understaffed. That included special agents, who protect the president and other individuals, and uniformed officers, who protect the White House grounds, the vice president’s residence, the Treasury, and diplomatic missions in Washington, D.C. The federal government spends $6 trillion a year and somehow can’t manage to hire enough people to protect the president and sensitive sites in the capital city. Rest of article (paywall).
Poor training usually results in ..... say it out loud, class...... poor performance. Throw in a Director who says snipers weren't on the closest rooftop because the roof's slope was too dangerous and we have a total Secret Service fiasco.
23 comments:
BS to all of this, lies, lies & more lies. Biden doesn’t care about others!
Thanks, Kingfish, for accurately calling it incompetence rather than buying into the conspiracy theories swirling about.
Why wasn't wokeness mentioned? It's a contributing cause to incompetence.
KF, is it reasonable to suggest that extreme gross incompetence is actually just premeditation.
Fed LE has always been clownshoes. Too much politics infesting agency SOPs and political hires making agency policy based on feelings instead of tactical realities. The current head stated she wanted 30% women. That's fine if they can find 30% women that meet the standard not an alternate standard. I wouldn't want a man or a woman on my detail if they can't drag a 200 pound person wearing body armor out of the line of fire. Trump is 6' 3" and 215 at an absolute minimum. To effectively shield and move him if incapacitated physically takes a large fit person. That's just how physics works and no political belief about women in the workplace will change that.
"included “involvement with prostitutes, leaking sensitive information, publishing pornography, sexual assault, illegal wiretaps, improper use of weapons and drunken behavior,”
Sounds like every LE and military organization I've even been associated with. In high stress jobs, there's a "work hard, play hard," mindset, this helps relieve tension/stress and improves focus, but you have to separate the mission from these activities.
"No I didn't. Honest...I ran out of gas! I-I had a flat tire! I didn't have enough money for cab fare! My tux didn't come back from the cleaners! An old friend came in from out of town! Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!!!"
And COVID came from bat meat.
The more elaborate the Rube Goldberg machine of bureaucratic snafus becomes the less tenable the explanation.
Had there been an internet in 1963, the country formerly known as the United States of America would’ve collapsed under the weight of its own lies 60 years ago.
Everyone checkout at google earth, including street view in front of the building where the shooter was. First: There is a elevated water tank some 400' from the shooter's location. I'm guessing counter snipers were on the tank. They would have had a great view of the crown as well as the roof where the shooter was. Second. They are saying now that the "local" snipers were on the second floor of the building adjacent to the shooter's location. They should have seen him also!!! This is getting worse by the day!
Does anyone honestly think that if the situation was reversed that the Main Stream media and Dems in Congress would not be screaming for impeachment and that Trump put out a hit order on Biden?
The same crowd is already screaming that, if elected, Trump will seek revenge (translated: that means they fear Trump will attempt to pull the same stunts they have pulled the last few years). It is gaslighting at it's finest.
Incompetence or conspiracy, either way you can add the Secret Service to the FBI, CIA and other federal agencies that have devolved into enemies of the people.
Remember Biden and Benny still deny Robert Kennedy protection from the Secret Service.
Biden and Benny are both wholly corrupt.
To my tinfoil hat brothers- how crazy is it that this guy was featured in a black rock commercial prior to all this?
I often use the 9:34 quote from the Blues Brothers but hardly ever does anyone get it. Every American regardless of political affiliation, if any, should be appalled by the incompetence. It would be one thing if there was a bit of luck on the shooter’s part. But here it was luck he didn’t kill Trump. I have to wonder if the lazy lackadaisical protection was because so many law enforcement today have no memory of Reagan getting shot. Perhaps the threat isn’t real to them. The threat to presidents has always been and always will be very real.
If no one loses their job over this, it wasn’t just incompetence.
1:21,RFK Jr. was given Secret Service protection on Monday.
Can I bring the tinfoil out for a little while? I'm going to link an article from CNN. That article says, audio recordings from the Trump shooting indicate there were likely three different guns fired.
The FBI, says the boy was the only shooter. Who do we believe?
If y’all don’t think Biden gave the go ahead for the shooting, y’all are crazy. The Democratic Party will do anything to try and maintain control. Today’s democrats are the most evil racists, since biblical times. Unhinged and not going to end well for anyone if they’re allowed to keep lying. They control the CIA, FBI, Secret Service, and who will finally step up and put a stop to it.
322pm….so it takes one opponent almost getting his head blown off to protect another high profile candidate, whose father and uncle were both assassinated. I’m sure there are no nuts out there who like to complete Jr’s story the same way and make themselves famous. Should have been given protection from day 1.
Hopefully they didn’t send the F team like they did for trump.
3:19 said: "If no one loses their job over this, it wasn’t just incompetence."
A more accurate statement would be "If at least 100 people aren't fired over this, it wasn’t just incompetence."
Waiving the statute of limitations multiple times to indict a political opponent, trying to remove the opponent from ballots, non-citizens voting, a Mickey Mouse security detail, and a media that conspires to deny obvious dementia for years in a President; no one can serious argue that we are not a third world country .
As usual, The Babylon Bee nails it.
The Babylon Bee have compiled a list of the 12 requirements that Secret Service recruiters are looking for. Do you measure up?
1. Ability to navigate deadly 5-degree roof pitch: Not for the faint of heart.
2. Can holster a gun in under sixty seconds: Bonus points if you can get it in four tries.
3. Able to avoid getting distracted by people screaming, "Hey, there's a guy with a gun on the roof.": Focus is key.
4. Be less than 5'6" tall: Must be able to easily hide behind the President.
5. Able to do at least two girl push-ups: Only the best for the president.
6. Already owns sunglasses: The Secret Service is on a budget, after all.
7. Can identify the most likely places for assassins to shoot from: Not to guard them, mind you. That's just what they would be expecting!
8. Willing to shield the president with your body after he's already been shot: Patience is critical.
9. Vision between 20/20 and 20/1,000: Just run in the direction of the screaming.
10. Can pull off a 360-degree no-scope sniper headshot: While playing Call of Duty: Warzone, that is.
11. Skilled at taking pictures of assassins setting up their shot: They will be very helpful later in seeing where the bullets came from.
12. Ability to distinguish serious threats: Like a grandma with a small American flag as opposed to a non-threat like a crazed loner holding a rifle on top of a nearby building.
"Forensic analysis suggests that as many as three weapons were fired at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday."
"The FBI said Sunday that the shooter acted alone."
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-rally-shooting-07-14-24#h_e3b77ce122987eb5d2059a2dff21a270
Decisions, decisions.
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