Shots Fired
- Thread starter GURPS
- Start date
What Happened
CLIP: Witness tells BBC he saw gunman on roof and yelled at SS.
CLIP: Second witness tells CBS News he saw a guy climb on building and told police (1:11).
Early this morning, the FBI identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, from Pittsburgh, PA. For now, I would consider that identification to be preliminary. Mr. Crooks —or whoever it was— in full view of bystanders, carrying a rifle, walked between two buildings and climbed up onto the roof of the building closest to the rally venue, army-crawling to the roof’s shallow peak. Here’s the setup:
CLIP: the full video of the assassination attempt on President Trump (2:39).
According to many reports, the shooter’s building lay outside the official security perimeter. How the shooter knew where to go is anybody’s guess, and he’s not talking, and never will. There has been wild speculation about whether the Secret Service ‘failed’ to prevent the shooting. We don’t know yet, but it appears certain that Trump’s security detail was understaffed. Fox ran a story last night headlined, “Mayorkas denied 'repeated requests' for more Secret Service protection for Trump, GOP lawmaker says.”
Many, many questions remain. But we do not know enough, not yet, to lay blame. President Trump is back online, and he thanked the Secret Service:
Think critically, but keep an open mind.
Independent videos making the rounds online appeared to show alert bystanders yelling at the shooter, at police, and at Secret Service, trying to warn somebody. But within several short minutes, five shots were heard, followed quickly by return fire from Secret Service snipers on the roof of the building behind Trump’s platform.
The shooter was instantly killed. Of his five shots, four connected. Two bystanders were injured. One, shot in the head, died. And President Trump was grazed in the ear.
There is extensive video of Trump’s shooting, since lots of media were there covering the rally, which was also being filmed by the campaign. At 6:12pm, Trump can be seen speaking. He turns his head slightly to the right and then suddenly reacts, clapping a hand to his ear. He looks at the hand, sees blood, and drops.
Secret Service agents begin piling on top of the President. Then they all stand, surrounding the President, but Trump can be clearly seen several times, which resulted in the various photographs. At first he looks shocked and disheveled, but Trump quickly rallies, pumps his fist several times, and mouths “Fight!”
The Secret Service agents around Trump quickly escort him off the stage and into a black SUV. There has been much online criticism of how poorly Trump was screened and how (relatively) slowly he was evacuated from the stage to his vehicle. Shooting to evacuation took about two minutes.
At 8:13pm, Joe Biden spoke for about two minutes and clearly condemned Trump’s shooting in particular and political violence in general. He also said, four times, that he tried to call Trump but couldn’t get through.
As of writing this post, that appears to be the sum of what we know for certain so far. Obviously, hot takes and theories abound on social media.
The articles were no better than the headlines. For example, CBS dismissively called the shootings “an incident at the rally:”
But, after the FBI formally declared it an “assassination attempt” early this morning, corporate media headlines and articles began describing the shootings more accurately. Still, most headlines downplayed ‘the incident’s’ severity, emphasizing that Trump was only grazed. For example, NPR:
Bloomberg:
On the other hand, conservatives expressed outrage and suspicion. Congressman Thomas Massie (R-Ky.):
Warblogger Brian Berletic (a personal favorite) posted an extended takedown of many security failures, which admittedly are most obvious in hindsight:
Countless conservatives focused on liberals’ deplorable record of calling for political violence:
͏͏͏CLIP: montage of liberals calling for violence against Trump (2:20).
Liberals, for their part, were busily posting and then deleting their various violent thoughts, and complaining when people pointed them out. For instance, Representative Steven Woodrow (D-Co.)’s now deleted tweet:
Or this now-deleted tweet from BBC reporter David Aaronovitch:
Many liberals were disappointed that President Trump survived. For one of many revolting examples, behold Dr. Karen Pinder, medical professor, Cape Town University (account now deleted):
www.coffeeandcovid.com
Last evening, President Trump was holding a campaign rally in Bethel Park, PA. Around six o’clock, several bystanders noticed a young man dressed in camo climbing onto a nearby roof. Two different bystanders told media that they yelled at police and Secret Service, who just looked puzzled.CLIP: Witness tells BBC he saw gunman on roof and yelled at SS.
CLIP: Second witness tells CBS News he saw a guy climb on building and told police (1:11).
Early this morning, the FBI identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, from Pittsburgh, PA. For now, I would consider that identification to be preliminary. Mr. Crooks —or whoever it was— in full view of bystanders, carrying a rifle, walked between two buildings and climbed up onto the roof of the building closest to the rally venue, army-crawling to the roof’s shallow peak. Here’s the setup:
CLIP: the full video of the assassination attempt on President Trump (2:39).
According to many reports, the shooter’s building lay outside the official security perimeter. How the shooter knew where to go is anybody’s guess, and he’s not talking, and never will. There has been wild speculation about whether the Secret Service ‘failed’ to prevent the shooting. We don’t know yet, but it appears certain that Trump’s security detail was understaffed. Fox ran a story last night headlined, “Mayorkas denied 'repeated requests' for more Secret Service protection for Trump, GOP lawmaker says.”
Many, many questions remain. But we do not know enough, not yet, to lay blame. President Trump is back online, and he thanked the Secret Service:
Think critically, but keep an open mind.
Independent videos making the rounds online appeared to show alert bystanders yelling at the shooter, at police, and at Secret Service, trying to warn somebody. But within several short minutes, five shots were heard, followed quickly by return fire from Secret Service snipers on the roof of the building behind Trump’s platform.
The shooter was instantly killed. Of his five shots, four connected. Two bystanders were injured. One, shot in the head, died. And President Trump was grazed in the ear.
There is extensive video of Trump’s shooting, since lots of media were there covering the rally, which was also being filmed by the campaign. At 6:12pm, Trump can be seen speaking. He turns his head slightly to the right and then suddenly reacts, clapping a hand to his ear. He looks at the hand, sees blood, and drops.
Secret Service agents begin piling on top of the President. Then they all stand, surrounding the President, but Trump can be clearly seen several times, which resulted in the various photographs. At first he looks shocked and disheveled, but Trump quickly rallies, pumps his fist several times, and mouths “Fight!”
The Secret Service agents around Trump quickly escort him off the stage and into a black SUV. There has been much online criticism of how poorly Trump was screened and how (relatively) slowly he was evacuated from the stage to his vehicle. Shooting to evacuation took about two minutes.
At 8:13pm, Joe Biden spoke for about two minutes and clearly condemned Trump’s shooting in particular and political violence in general. He also said, four times, that he tried to call Trump but couldn’t get through.
As of writing this post, that appears to be the sum of what we know for certain so far. Obviously, hot takes and theories abound on social media.
Reactions
For most of the evening, corporate media ran awful stories with headlines reporting “popping noises” and a “disrupted rally” without mentioning anybody getting shot. There clearly was a coordinated media effort to downplay what happened and to avoid calling it an “assassination attempt.” My favorite was CNN’s take, reporting that Trump “fell” at the rally, as though he’d simply stumbled over a sandbag:
The articles were no better than the headlines. For example, CBS dismissively called the shootings “an incident at the rally:”
But, after the FBI formally declared it an “assassination attempt” early this morning, corporate media headlines and articles began describing the shootings more accurately. Still, most headlines downplayed ‘the incident’s’ severity, emphasizing that Trump was only grazed. For example, NPR:
Bloomberg:
On the other hand, conservatives expressed outrage and suspicion. Congressman Thomas Massie (R-Ky.):
Warblogger Brian Berletic (a personal favorite) posted an extended takedown of many security failures, which admittedly are most obvious in hindsight:
Countless conservatives focused on liberals’ deplorable record of calling for political violence:
͏͏͏CLIP: montage of liberals calling for violence against Trump (2:20).
Liberals, for their part, were busily posting and then deleting their various violent thoughts, and complaining when people pointed them out. For instance, Representative Steven Woodrow (D-Co.)’s now deleted tweet:
Or this now-deleted tweet from BBC reporter David Aaronovitch:
Many liberals were disappointed that President Trump survived. For one of many revolting examples, behold Dr. Karen Pinder, medical professor, Cape Town University (account now deleted):
☕️ STILL STRONG ☙ Sunday, July 14, 2024 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠
BREAKING NEWS BONUS POST: What we know for sure so far, how reactions are evolving, and what it all means.
www.coffeeandcovid.com
BOP
Well-Known Member
If he was AT Chuck Norris level, that nick in his ear wouldn't be there. Sh*t would have bounced off and apologized for getting in Trump's way.
But he's getting there.
You are the sickest fawk POS I've encountered in my 66 years.
WingsOfGold
Well-Known Member
Don't blame me, I'd give him a week off but since it's not my ball of wax and I'm only board mommys sex toy.............
Did you notice the line through his name?
WingsOfGold
Well-Known Member
No, MANY thanks!!!!!
Lying sack of sh*t. Making up more crap wont get you out of the gutter where your mommy gave birth to you. We can see why she left you there.
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