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Lawmakers call for changes at Secret Service after second assassination attempt

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From The Center Square

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“If Trump had a full USSS security detail following J13, the shooter at Mar-a-Lago wouldn’t have gone unnoticed for 12 hours”

U.S. lawmakers are calling for changes in how the U.S. Secret Service protects former President Donald Trump after a second assassination attempt Sunday.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was able to hide outside a golf course where Trump was golfing. Authorities say Routh pointed the barrel of an assault-style rifle through a chain-link fence toward the golf course, was spotted by an agent, who fired at Routh. The suspect was soon arrested after fleeing the scene.

Routh reportedly waited for 12 hours outside the golf course but was only spotted just in time, raising ongoing concerns about the Secret Service’s work and Trump’s safety.

“If Trump had a full USSS security detail following J13, the shooter at Mar-a-Lago wouldn’t have gone unnoticed for 12 hours,” U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, one of several lawmakers to call for an increase to Trump’s security detail.

The near-miss encounter comes just two months after Trump was nearly fatally shot July 13 in Butler County, Pennsylvania, when a shooter was able to get on a rooftop overlooking the former president’s position and fired several shots. Trump was grazed in his ear, one rally attendee was killed and two others were wounded. The Secret Service’s handling of that incident – from allowing the shooter to get a direct line of sight to the poor pre-planning to the nearly nonexistent communication with local officers – was widely criticized across the political spectrum and led to the resignation of the agency’s head.

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., called for Trump to receive the same protection as President Joe Biden, given the circumstances.

“While we are still awaiting more details about this horrific event, I am thankful that the perpetrator was unsuccessful and the Secret Service agent acted swiftly to ensure that the former president is safe,” Blackburn said in a statement. “But one thing is abundantly clear: within the span of a mere two months, there have been two assassination attempts against a major presidential candidate and former president in the United States of America. It is unfathomable and unacceptable that this incident occurred.”

A coalition of Senators sent a letter to Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe calling on him to allocate more resources to Trump.

Previous Trump requests for more security have reportedly been rejected.

Since Trump is not currently president, he does not receive as large of a team of agents as Biden. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told Congress after the first assassination attempt that Trump’s threat-level status would be increased.

Security experts have echoed that concern. Chris Ragone, owner of Virginia-based Executive Security Concepts who has worked with the Secret Service on presidential security in the past, told The Center Square that if a full presidential-level team of Secret Service agents had been assigned to Trump, they would have found the suspect much faster.

“If they were taking this threat serious… the entire perimeter should have been checked, and they would have found this guy,” Ragone told The Center Square. “You know, if he had parked his car 30 minutes before and got out, OK, but we now know that guy was there for 12 hours, which means there were no resources that checked that entire perimeter. And that’s always the first thing we do is check a perimeter and lock it down.

“I think it wasn’t noticed it because it was a manpower issue,” he added.

As The Center Square previously reported, President Joe Biden told reporters that the U.S. Secret Service “needs more help” though he failed to give specifics when asked.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called on Vice President Kamala Harris to support presidential-level security for Trump as well.

“Two attempted assassinations in 64 days, two failures by Secret Service for having woefully insufficient personnel,” Cruz said on his show, “The Verdict” Monday. “If President Trump wins in November, less than two months away, he will instantly get full presidential Secret Service protection on Election Day. Given that fact, and given the threats and the failures we have seen, the only reasonable and rational thing to do is assign President Trump right now, a full presidential detail that includes the perimeter coverage so that you can’t get a sniper that close, and if Joe Biden doesn’t do it, and by the way, if Kamala Harris had any sense at all, she would join in the call to do this.”

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Wales Becomes First UK Testbed for Citywide AI-Powered Facial Recognition Surveillance

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Wales is that part of the UK the authorities have picked as the testbed for the first citywide deployment of what some consider to currently be the most radical form of mass biometric surveillance in public places – “AI”-powered live facial recognition.
What is likely to be the reason behind the “trial,” privacy campaigners are warning, is the eventual permanent deployment of this type of biometric surveillance throughout the country.
South Wales Police said that Cardiff will be covered by a network of CCTV cameras with facial recognition tech embedded in them, while the excuse is providing security during the international Six Nations rugby event. But the police also characterized the move as “semi-permanent.”
This appears to be a distinction between what the police in the UK have used thus far to carry out surveillance based on live facial recognition: vans with one camera.
The decision to move to position a host of cameras in the central zone of Cardiff makes this a significant expansion of the technique.
And while the police are reassuring citizens that expanding live facial recognition “really enhances” law enforcement’s ability to do their job –  the Big Brother Watch privacy group slammed the move as a “shocking” development and the creation of an “Orwellian biometric surveillance zone.”
And while capturing everyone’s biometric data, and in that way, according to Big Brother Watch’s Senior Advocacy Officer Madeleine Stone, turning Brits into “walking barcodes” and “a nation of suspects” – in terms of solving crime, this is proving to be a waste of public money.
“This network of facial recognition cameras will make it impossible for Cardiff residents and visitors to opt out of a biometric police identity check,” Stone underlined.
And yet, over the three years that live facial recognition has been in use at sporting venues (only) – the use of the technology has not led to any arrests.
“No other democracy in the world spies on its population with live facial recognition in this cavalier and chilling way,” Stone warned, adding, “South Wales Police must immediately stop this dystopian trial.”
The technology works by capturing the faces of every person passing through an area covered, in real time, to then compare them to a database of those described in reports as “wanted criminals.”
However, when South Wales Police spoke about who is on their “watchlist,” it also included people “banned from the area” and those “who pose a risk to the public.”
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Hamas, Palestinians paraded dead babies coffins through streets before handover to Israel

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MXM logo  MxM News

Quick Hit:

Hamas paraded the caskets of Israeli hostages, including what they claimed were the bodies of a mother and two young children, through the streets of Gaza before handing them over to the Red Cross. Videos show crowds cheering as armed terrorists carried the coffins as part of a prisoner exchange with Israel.

Key Details:

  • Videos from Khan Younis, Gaza, show Hamas and other terrorists parading four caskets, including those of two young children, before handing them to the Red Cross.
  • Crowds cheered as the terrorists, armed and unmasked, carried the coffins, with celebratory music playing in the background.
  • The deceased were identified as members of the Bibas family, including the youngest hostages from the October 7 attack.

 

Diving Deeper:

During a ceremony in Khan Younis, Gaza, Hamas paraded the caskets of Israeli hostages through the streets, including what they claimed were the bodies of a mother and her two small children. The display occurred before the remains were handed over to the Red Cross as part of a prisoner exchange agreement with Israel. Crowds of Gazans were seen cheering and celebrating as the coffins were carried by armed terrorists.

Videos from the event show masked militants loading a casket into a Red Cross aid truck, while another militant, adorned with symbols of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, filmed the procession. Another video shows adults and children waving and celebrating as Hamas fighters, armed and in trucks, paraded through the streets. Reuters footage also captured members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP) helping carry a casket, highlighting the involvement of multiple terrorist factions in the display.

Hamas presented the bodies as those of the Bibas family, who were captured during the October 7 attack. The children, aged four years and less than one year, were among the youngest hostages taken during the brutal assault that triggered the ongoing 15-month conflict. The fourth body was identified as 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, according to Jewish News Syndicate. Hamas has repeatedly blamed the deaths on Israeli airstrikes, though no evidence was provided to support the claim.

Israel and Hamas are currently observing a temporary ceasefire agreement, facilitating the exchange of civilian hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Despite the ceasefire, Hamas has continued to celebrate the October 7 attacks, which resulted in the largest mass killing of Jewish people since the Holocaust. During the ceremony, a stage displayed a poster depicting Israel as a “Nazi Army,” underscoring Hamas’s longstanding agenda of hostility towards the Jewish state.

The shocking parade of caskets, accompanied by celebratory music and cheering crowds, has drawn international condemnation and further underscored the brutal nature of Hamas’s actions. As the exchange process continues, the emotional toll on the families of the victims remains immeasurable.

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