None of the brains trust spewing incoherent bile managed to notice that The Donald had just secured the endorsement of the NRA, thanks to his “gun friendly” stance. He urged gun owners to turn out to vote. Yeah, make guns easier to obtain, that’ll make America safe, won’t it? OK, scrub that one for a moment, move on to the tried and tested claim that the shooter was a Democrat. Take that, Dems! Except it soon emerged that he wasn’t.
Despite more of those wackos reinventing the “Shooter is a Dem” claim, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks was, at least in 2022, a registered Republican. Also registered as a Republican, Mike Collins represents Georgia’s tenth district in the House. As a holder of elective office, one might think he would try and calm the situation. And one might think wrong.
After someone took a pre-debate comment from Joe Biden - “We’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye” - off he went. “Joe Biden sent the orders”. Could he get more apeshit? Er, “The Republican District Attorney in Butler County, PA, should immediately file charges against Joseph R. Biden for inciting an assassination”. Absolute head case.
How about some closer-to-home idiocy? Well, over at the increasingly alt-right Spectator magazine, Kate Andrews has a hot take on the shooting. Except, er, let’s just look at the headline. “Today, we’re all MAGA”. And there’s a straight-A fuck right off. We can be concerned without backing the GOP.
Closer still to home? How about Reform UK Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage? Adam Bienkov of Byline Times noted "Nigel Farage says violent language by BBC comedians and Radio 4 commentators have ‘encouraged’ what happened to Trump and ‘have a lot to do with this’”. Mr Thirsty says The Beeb Done It. The person who said he would “pick up a rifle” if Brexit was not delivered to the satisfaction of Himself Personally Now.
Farage, meanwhile, has been given a platform by the BBC. Despite the claims he made about them. And despite his own claim that he was going to boycott the broadcaster because a Question Time audience gave him some stick. Nige, remember, got attacked too. By two dastardly milkshakes.
Meanwhile, Shayan Sardarizadeh of BBC Verify has noted “OSINTdefender, Laura Loomer and some other major accounts are falsely claiming this is a photo of the shooter at Trump's Pennsylvania rally. This is the picture of an X user, who posted it himself as a trolling attempt a couple of hours ago and is very much alive”. Ms Loomer was banned by both Uber and Lyft after complaining she could not get an ethnically pure hire car driver. Wibble.
For the real howling-at-the-moon right, Marjorie Taylor Greene (imagine her as Trump’s VP pick) brought us “Pray for America. The left wants a civil war. They have been trying to start one for years. These people are sick and evil. All of us on the right want peace, security, equal justice, freedom, and prosperity for ALL Americans”. Like they did on January 6th, 2021, eh?
Maybe we don’t have the detail yet, eh? Tom Nichols of The Atlantic put it this way: “Anyone in your timeline saying this is staged, the fault of one side or the other, whatabouting, or really, anything other than sitting tight and waiting for more information, is likely someone you'll never have a productive conversation with and might as well block”. Amen to that.
And Dan Kaszeta (ex US Army and USSS) concluded “A lot of the commentary right now ranges from unhelpful to actively harmful”. Too many out there are using this incident to promote their own warped view of the world, while the rest of us actually want to know what happened.
And remember, you don’t back the NRA and then condemn gun violence.
https://www.patreon.com/Timfenton
Where's the beef?
ReplyDeleteIt's what Yanks do to each other. Always have done. See the publicly available data.
Not is it confined to the USA (that's the country former thereto-ambassador John Freeman said had "...mortgaged their souls to psychiatrists.")
Murderous US "business" at home and abroad as usual... despite the "special relationship".
This state of affairs cannot be understood without a working knowledge of the US Civil War and, just as importantly, it's lingering aftermath. Old tribalist hatreds still exist. Add that to their collectively insane guns-obsession and you have a recipe for this latest symptom of a sociopolitical culture in terminal decline.
ReplyDeleteThe concern now is what they do next to the world and themselves. Their terrible history doesn't give cause for optimism.
Honestly, my first thought was, had Trump set this up himself? The truth is yet to be determined, that is, if people will agree on it when the facts are known, so until then, make no hasty decisions.
ReplyDeleteMine too. However, like all bullies he's a colossal coward so that rules that out.
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ReplyDeleteSpeaking purely hypothetically, if you don't like Trump and you felt an urge for a bit of assassination coming on, wouldn't it be smarter to shoot Joe Biden and thereby do 38000 Gazans a posthumous favour, deprive Trump of martyrdom (or at least some impressive 'defiance' propaganda pics) and have a more winning replacement Democrat candidate in place for November?
The Reichstag has just burned down.
ReplyDeleteSinister Agent S, my tame Capitol-Watcher, notes:
ReplyDelete“The shooter's registered affiliation might well be a red herring, though. […] Pennsylvania has so-called "closed" primaries and apparently it's a tradition to register for the other party and vote for the weakest candidate in the primary, hoping that ensures they'll lose the election.”
One less degree turn of the head and it would have hit him in the temple.
ReplyDeleteShades of the film Day Of The Jackal.
A bit odd how the SS sniper saw the assassin so quickly he could immediately return fire with deadly accuracy. If the sound track is anything to go by it was just a few seconds. But didn't see him before......
Biden claimed "no place for violence in the USA."
ReplyDeleteThe reality is:
https://apnews.com/article/violence-mass-shootings-summer-b004331ee7d3da95bce6646547f8d43f
Mail headline and web address
ReplyDeleteThomas Matthew Crooks pictured: Everything we know about Biden donor who shot Trump during rally
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13633009/Thomas-matthew-crooks-biden-donor-trump-shooter-pictured.html
Para 2
“The registered Republican and 2022 high school graduate"
From the comments under a WaPo article:
ReplyDelete“Republicans are just fine with school children being massacred by the dozen.
But someone takes a shot at a corpulent, grifter circus freak who incited violence in virtually every speech?
NATIONAL SCANDAL.”
Does Farage really believe that a recent high school graduate in Pennsylvania listens to The News Quiz on Radio 4? Of course not! Why is he given a platform to promote himself by spouting nonsense?
ReplyDeleteThat Stephen, is one of the great mysteries of the day. Of course our fave Spart would have a few theories, but the easiest, sadly, is that Robbie Gibb and the Tory press see him as the new 'great leader' to replace their heros Thatcher and Johnson. Farage constantly talks utter rubbish, is never called out for it, and then establishment figures look bemused when his latest pet project does well...
Delete'Ere, wot's orl vis abaht samwan shewtn Tramp.
ReplyDeleteMustv been wonner dem commy Rushns, Chineez, Kewbins, Kreeyins or Vennerzweylins, no warrameen. I rekkin it woz dem wot sabbertarjd Ar Boys in Berlin, weeda pissed orl over dem avverwize. Kam on yew Free Lyins!
I ad dat Tom Tuggernat in the backer me cab last week. Wot a geezer, asked me t'drop im off at Voxall Cross. Fewcher pm if y'ask me.
Gawd bless iz an er royl majesteez an d'Princer Wyles.
What became the United States came about through a form of political violence known as invasion and colonisation.
ReplyDeleteViolence is built into its very foundations.
The declaration of independence contains a reference to merciless Indian savages. Who wouldn't respond violently if their land was being stolen by outsiders?
Going to be much black comedy around if Trump wins their "election".
ReplyDeleteEspecially when the Starmer Quiff Quisling has to do his usual transAtlantic grovel, the one he just did with Sleepy Joe. He'll try to get his head up anyone's arse if it adds to his bank account. That's what happens to Zionist-without-qualification people with "no emotional space".
I am just amazed that the usual media pond life didn't instantly go off on X and claim it was immigrants or muslims.
ReplyDeletePleased to see that Bertie has given a thoughtful comment for once.
ReplyDeleteWhatever we socialists (ie. Everyone who regularly comments here except BB) might think, this is an issue for the right.
Seems like Trump is now virtually guaranteed to win the election.
ReplyDeleteWhat then?
Hopefully, he will succeed where others narrowly failed. Divisive hard right policies, allowing the bible bashers to take over education even more so than now, rolling back LGBT rights, then the religious rights ultimate goal, the supreme. Court ruling the civil rights act unlawful. An inward looking foreign policy that restricts imports, and antagonizes the USAs neighbours to the point where even US's placemen can no longer stem anti US sentiment. Toadying up to Putin that splits NATO, and the USA becoming so insular even the UK govt can no longer suck up to them. All this hopefully opening up the fault lines in that repugnant nation, to the point it can no longer pose a threat to literally, all life on Earth. Only the voices in Trumps head will be listened too, and as he becomes ever more deranged, and as long as they can keep his demented hand off that shiny red button, we may hopefully see the US's baleful domination broken at last. And then, as if from a wonderful dream, I woke up...
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ReplyDeleteSpot on, Anonymous. The word on the boulevard down here is that there's a brand new top-of-the-range campervan recently appeared in Vidkun Starmer's Islington car port, high-end builders have arrived with architects' drawings for a 400 room palace-style extension and Mrs Quiff's shoe collection is approaching Imelda Marcos/Elena Ceausescu proportions.
Keep it up. Corruption awareness has never been more necessary.
12:47.
DeleteGosh.
U OK hun?
ReplyDeleteAnother of your posts that I appear in, Mark.
You're nothing if not consistent. Or obsessive.
'We socialists',eh? Sense of the absurd at all?
Btw, any luck with the review of your old posts?
If not, please leave me alone , as requested.
The corruption isn't limited to the USA (as if we didn't know). Take this example of Milburn, hireling of the Bliar/Brown war criminals, possible hireling for the Starmer/Reeves Quisling looting of the NHS:
ReplyDeletehttps://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/private-healthcare-millions-starmer-alan-milburn
A safe bet Trump now falls into line. Which was probably the reason for Bozo's visit.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, while everybody else immediately reported the shooting as an assassination attempt CNN and some other corporate media creeps said he "fell down after popping sounds".
Poor Orange Face can't get a square deal even in a near death experience. Which is why he'll now stop behaving like a College Yell and do as he's told. Just like Starmer/Reeves and the Quislings.