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THEY JUST WANT TO TAKE AWAY EVERYTHING THAT WORKS:  California’s Climate Insanity: Gas Stoves Could Soon Come With Warning Labels.

THIS LEADS TO THINK… HOW BIG IS THE MACHINE FRAUD IN MINNESOTA?  How Crazy Are Minnesota’s Democrats?

SHOCKED, SHOCKED, SHOCKED, BEHOLD MY SHOCKED FACE:  OH Gov. DeWine: Springfield Bomb Threats Were All Hoaxes Originating Overseas.

I HAD BEEN RELIABLY ASSURED THAT OUR BORDER CZAR HAD SECURED THE BORDER:  Over 100 suspected Tren de Aragua gangbangers were part of the massive migrant group that rushed the border.

ED MORRISSEY ON BLOOMBERG’S TOP HEADLINE: Trump Pounces on Second Assassination Attempt! Update: WaPo Worse?

We just had the second attempt to assassinate a major-party nominee for president in the last two months. If you’re a major news media outlet, what would be the headline for today that leads your website? Trump Survives Second Assassination Attempt? Secret Service Fails to Secure Former President Again? Or perhaps just Suspect Arrested in Firearm Incident?

Not if you’re Bloomberg. They headline a story that went up late yesterday, just a couple of hours after the Secret Service managed to stop the second would-be assassin. Their big takeaway is … all of the pouncing Trump did:

Take a look at the headlines below that for a taste of Bloomberg’s priorities. The assassination attempt plays second fiddle to Trump’s reaction to it. This story went up at 8:13 pm ET and got updated this morning at 11:19, and it does nothing to inform its readers about the actual assassination attempt.

Instead, they seem most concerned that Trump blames Democrats for their incendiary rhetoric in creating an environment that fosters radicalism and irrational behavior:

* * * * * * * *

It’s never the actual story when it comes to news that plays against Democrats; the story is always about the Republican reaction to it.

Yes. As Jim Treacher has written:

Ed writes that “Bloomberg couldn’t even wait four hours after the story broke to spin it as a Republicans Pounce!™ issue.” His colleague Beege Welborn screenshotted an even more literal “Republicans Seize” headline from Bloomberg:

Her tweet was in response to former Ted Cruz flack Steve Guest’s screenshots of various DNC-MSM newspapers doing their best to sweep this latest assassination attempt on Trump down the memory hole:

And speaking of the memory hole, as Paula Bolyard asks: Why Were Social Media Companies So Quick to Scrub Ryan Routh’s Accounts?

UPDATE: Pouncing, seizing, and now seething! The Hill: Republicans seethe after second foiled Trump assassination attempt.

#HIMTOO? Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs arrested. The arrest comes amid a wave of lawsuits filed against the music mogul alleging sexual assault.

OPEN THREAD: This thread’s for you.

OHIO NEWSPAPER RIPPED TO SHREDS AFTER DRAMATIC ESCALATION OF TWISTED ‘TRUMP ASKED FOR IT’ BLAME GAME:

Though pretty much nothing the mainstream media does shocks me anymore, I still can’t help but be amazed sometimes at the sheer brazenness of some of the things they treat as news, the way more serious stories are either downplayed or framed, and how they make zero apologies for it – even after being called out.

Case in point, the sickening “it’s Trump’s fault” narrative they’ve shamelessly spun in the aftermath of the second assassination attempt on GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s life in three months.

For instance, some outlets declared Sunday it was Trump and not Democrats who should be calling for the rhetoric to be dialed down after the second attempt on his life, reportedly at the hands of a crazed left-winger. Perhaps most audacious was the “report” from NBC News anchor Lester Holt, who said “Today’s apparent assassination attempt comes amid increasingly fierce rhetoric on the campaign trail. Mr. Trump, his running mate JD Vance continue to make baseless claims about Haitian immigrants…”

But anyone who didn’t think it could get any worse than what they’ve already seen come from these people in response to Sunday’s chilling incident and subsequent arrest might want to take a look at a reader letter greenlighted for publication by the Cincinnati Enquirer that quite literally suggested that Trump “brings a lot of this stuff on himself”:

No, really — that’s not a paraphrase by Stacey Matthews (aka “Sister Toldjah”) above:

The paper didn’t have the guts to slam Trump directly, they instead promoted a letter to the editor:

As Matthews writes, “Yep, it’s a variation of the classic ‘some people are saying’ media tactic, and as Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) observed, it’s utterly disgusting.”

Charles Cooke writes, “Why, given how fashionable it remains, has the term ‘stochastic terrorism’ not been swiftly applied to this case? As I have previously contended, I consider the notion of ‘stochastic terrorism’ to be a cynical, vague, hollow tool whose sole purpose is to permit America’s self-appointed ‘expert’ class to ‘prove’ scientifically that their ideological opponents are rotten. But others seem to take it seriously. So why not here?” As Cooke asks: What Are the Rules? “If those are, indeed, the rules, then what should we make of the man who tried to kill Donald Trump — that’s the second man to try to kill Donald Trump, for those keeping score at home — having echoed a literal Kamala Harris campaign slogan on his Twitter account”

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TYLER O’NEIL: 12 Influencers Who Called for Violence Against Trump, Called Him an ‘Existential Threat to Democracy.’

THE STORY BEHIND TRUMP’S SECOND ASSASSIN TOOK A STRANGE TURN…and It Involves the Media:

Ryan Wesley Routh has a criminal record that spans the Himalayas. We’re waiting to see if he was on the radar for any federal law enforcement agencies vis-à-vis recent threats: the FBI has a terrible track record of being ‘in the know’ concerning future perpetrators of firearm-related crimes nowadays. Yet, in an odd turn, the media had this joker on their radar. They interviewed him. When his name was released, The New York Times must’ve checked their clips because there he was. The publication interviewed him about the ongoing war in Ukraine—Routh appears to have been obsessed with the subject:

To invert Trotsky, you may be interested in Ukraine, but that doesn’t mean that Ukraine will be interested in you: ‘Full of s—’ suspected Trump gunman was rejected by Ukraine army.

There were many such cranks in Kyiv at the time, latching on to the war to pose as international men of action, and boasting of high-level contacts in the Pentagon or CIA.

Regular Legionnaires did their best to avoid them, referring to them variously as “Call of Duty Warriors”, “Volun-tourists” and “Screamers” (the latter a reference to their reaction if coming under fire).

But there was little to stop them promoting themselves on social media, as Mr Routh did prolifically, claiming to be an active recruiter for the Legion ranks.

“Any gender, any age, any skill level to no skill level,” he claimed to Newsweek in 2022. “Yeah, if you wanna fight, come and see me and I’ll put you in a unit so you can go fight.”

Mr Routh, who claims to have had contacts in the Middle East, caused the Legion particular problems by attempting to recruit volunteer soldiers from Afghanistan and Syria, who’d be unlikely to be admitted to Ukraine because of security concerns.

“He was never in Ukraine in any official capacity, he simply decided that he was going to come here and save the day himself,” a Ukrainian military source told The Telegraph.

“I was in contact with him multiple times to request to him that he stop his activities, most of which were bizarre and alarming.”

You don’t say.

UPDATE: Are there any DNC-MSM journalists that Routh didn’t have on speed dial?

How many journalists was Ryan Routh in touch with?

Here's another one: pic.twitter.com/xz55NS1RL0

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) September 16, 2024

PROFESSOR CARRINGTON, CALL YOUR OFFICE: A Perfect Storm of Solar Activity Is About to Unleash an Amazing Show.

SPOILER: NO. Will the Media Apologize to Trump and Vance After Bomb Threats in Springfield Turned Out to Be Hoaxes?

Until the media goes after Democrats for inciting actual violence, I don’t much care about claims that Republicans are inciting hypothetical or fake violence.

WIRED TRIES TO TURN THINGS AROUND: Elon Musk Is a National Security Risk: Musk’s now-deleted post questioning why no one has attempted to assassinate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris renews concerns over his work for the US government—and potential to inspire extremist violence.

What he actually asked, I believe, is why nobody seems worried about Harris’ or Biden’s safety with all these assassination attempts aimed at Trump. It’s a legitimate question given the behavior of the Secret Service.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: I Was Divorced And Alone — Until I Met An Unlikely Soulmate On A 40-Foot Sailboat.

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Kamala Safe And In Stable Condition After Attempted Interview.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: No Rest for the Wicked in the Aftermath of Trump’s Second Assassination Attempt. “You might think that a second unsuccessful assassination attempt on a presidential candidate calls for a respectful pause of at least a day or two before winding up the next potential whackjob until he snaps, but no.”

WE USED TO HEAR ABOUT THE SAVAGE BARBARITY OF THE BELGIAN CONGO. THE BELGIANS ARE LONG GONE, BUT THE SAVAGE BARBARITY CONTINUES: The Calamitous Rape Crisis Unfolding in Congo’s War: Around 80% of women in camps for the displaced have been raped in brutal attacks, as international attention wanes. ‘If the war ends, I won’t have to be raped anymore.’

Over a decade ago, political leaders and celebrities from around the globe made a high-publicity pledge to put an end the use of rape as a weapon of war. Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, met survivors in eastern Congo, which amid years of back-to-back and parallel conflicts, had become known as the “rape capital of the world.” The U.K.’s then-foreign secretary, William Hague, who visited Goma, the biggest city on Congo’s border with Rwanda, with actress Angelina Jolie, likened sexual violence in conflict zones, and the world’s quest to end it, to “the slave trade of our generation.”

But it gets worse: Congo’s Forgotten Curse: Epidemic of Female-on-Female Rape. “Rape in conflict zones has long been the subject of news reports and academic study and large amounts of donor funding is channeled to organizations that respond to it. But rape specifically perpetrated by women has received less attention. Recent studies suggest the problem is more widespread than many experts previously believed. In 2010, Harvard academic Lynn Lawry and a team of researchers conducted a survey of human-rights abuses in over 1,000 households in conflict-ridden eastern Congo. It was the same year that Margot Wallstrom, the U.N. special representative on sexual violence in conflict, dubbed Congo ‘the rape capital of the world.’ Lawry’s study asked victims of sexual violence to specify their assailant’s gender. It found that 40% of the women — and 10% of the men — who said they were subjected to sexual violence were assaulted by a woman.”

Also rape by U.N. “peacekeepers.”

And of course, there’s lots of rape of men in Congo too. “During his escape from the civil war in neighbouring Congo, he had been separated from his wife and taken by rebels. His captors raped him, three times a day, every day for three years. And he wasn’t the only one. He watched as man after man was taken and raped. The wounds of one were so grievous that he died in the cell in front of him.”

INCOMPETENCE, OR WORSE: Gat on a Hot Tin Roof: July 13 Whistleblower Report Exposes Secret Service Incompetence.

DON’T LET THE FEDS IN WITHOUT A WARRANT OR TALK TO THEM WITHOUT A LAWYER:

The FBI visited my house today for free speech acts they knew were not crimes.

You can see the shame on their faces.

This is the Democratic regime manifest. pic.twitter.com/RldC0JWMsx

— Jeremy Kauffman 🦔 (@jeremykauffman) September 16, 2024

Cute, but I have to agree with Sal:

Tell them in a calm, polite voice that you will say nothing to them except on advice of your attorney and then slowly return inside your home to call your attorney. If you don’t have one ready to call, then get one. You don’t need one on retainer, but every adult should have a number to call.

It is worth every billable hour.

Indeed.

LIFE EXTENSION: Economists vs. the Public.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Why Were Social Media Companies So Quick to Scrub Ryan Routh’s Accounts?

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LOSES ITS HONOR: UVa ends disciplinary proceedings against pro-Palestine protesters. Arrested students will not be tried before the University Judiciary Committee after agreeing to meet personally with Student Affairs officials.

UVA was once extremely proud of its honor code, which dates back, I believe, hundreds of years. But the students in question, who violated both law and the student code of conduct, are woke Hamasniks, and woke ruins everything. Two questions: (1) On what basis does UVA haul *anyone* before the Judiciary Committee without inviting a deserved lawsuit for arbitrary enforcement? and (2) How will this play in the lawsuit pending against UVA for discriminating against Jewish students?

ENOUGH:

ENOUGH.

Republicans leaders need to stand together for safety and sanity, now. The RNC, House and Senate should jointly announce that all members and surrogates will refuse to appear on ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC and CNN until those networks institute policy against for radicalizing…

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 16, 2024

Turn this back around on the Left.

They’ve had eight years — without accountability — of decrying Trump’s not-all-that-out-of-the-ordinary rhetoric while indulging and amplifying everything from “Russian stooge” to “Literally Hitler.”

There need to be consequences or this will continue until some assassin succeeds.

Related: FBI Expert Blames Anti-Trump Rhetoric for Assassination Attempt, Warns of More Attempts.