“The truth does not require your participation in order to exist.

Bullshit does.”

— Terence McKenna

Not long after I came to New Hampshire, decades back, a chap in Littleton decided to hold up the local bank. Unfortunately, he made the elementary mistake of rolling the ski-mask down over his face not just for the robbery but also to case the joint. A teller at the bank, strolling back from lunch, noticed the ski-masked bloke standing on Main Street peering through the windows for some length of time, and she thought it rather odd. So, when he entered the lobby to hold up the joint, they were ready for him.

That’s pretty much what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania – except, instead of a perspicacious bank clerk acting swiftly to prevent the crime, there were vast numbers of Secret Service agents who instead let the guy go ahead and commit it.

In the last seventy-two hours, we have learned there were at least three government snipers in the very building whose rooftop the assassin was trying to access. They sat inside and watched him through the windows, as he arrived and peered up at the roof, and then wandered away.

They watched him when he came back and took out a laser range-finder to calculate the distance between the building and Trump’s head, and then left again.

They watched him a third time when he returned with a bulky backpack.

They watched him for the best part of half-an-hour …and then they let him go ahead and shoot the Republican presidential candidate.

When seconds count, the police are half-an-hour away from getting off their butts. The Federalist‘s Sean Davis asks the relevant question:

Who gave the order to do nothing until after the assassin shot Trump, killed an innocent man on that stage, and fired round after round after round after round?

That’s a good way to put it: the Secret Service agents on-site did nothing for half-an-hour because that’s what they were ordered to do, by some fellow somewhere in the bureaucracy in a position to give such an order. Who is he?

There were consequences to his decision: A genuine public servant – volunteer fireman Corey Comperatore – died shielding his wife and daughters because the ersatz “public servants” of the Secret Service allowed his killer to open fire.

They sat back and watched as his killer cased the roof, made his range-finder calculations, returned with the backpack, and then ascended to his position. The Secret Service provided no service whatsoever; they were the Secret Spectators: they did nothing until after Mr Comperatore, Trump and the others had been shot.

Why?

Mark Steyn

Contrary to what the drug companies would have you think, anxiety can sometimes be useful and necessary. Like, for example, when that anxiety triggers a call to sensible action. Let’s say you feel anxious at the sight of an oncoming physical threat. You duck, move, run, or strike out against it. All of these things involve action – rational action that could save your life.

The problem arises when anxiety is based on things for which no immediate action is possible, or perhaps where no action is required. The most common form of this (and I see it every day in my office) is worry over something you can’t control.

The purpose of anxiety is to guard against real and actual dangers, not just perceived ones. And there are certainly enough real dangers out there. But the modern world, made possible by the limited science, rationality and freedom humans have permitted themselves to have, shields us from many dangers we might otherwise face. Put simply, it’s a lot less dangerous to live in a society with automobiles, grocery stores and satellite technology than to eke out an existence in a primitive jungle as a hunter-gatherer.

Danger is an objective term, but also a contextual one. What we consider dangerous in a contemporary society is different from the dangers faced daily by someone unfortunate enough to be born into an impoverished country. The responsibility therefore falls on us to regulate our own anxiety. And regulate does not simply mean control. It means assuming responsibility for gaps that might, at any given moment, exist between our minds and objective reality.

In many cases, the best way to accomplish this is to ask yourself, “What’s the real danger here?” When you’re anxious, your brain is telling you, “Danger, danger!” But by asking yourself, “What is the danger, exactly?” you accomplish two things: First, you determine whether there is, in fact, a clear threat. Usually there isn’t; the brain has simply reacted automatically. Second, if a plan of action is actually required, then you focus on that.

People who worry about things they can’t control should ask themselves, “What form of action is possible for me right now?” If none exists, and all precautions have been taken, then permission must be granted, by oneself to oneself, to let it go and focus on something else. In other words, people who live their lives in a near-chronic state of anxiety are not facing constant or immediate danger. They just feel that they are.

This can be fixed by taking time to reprogram the mind to recognize the degree to which one’s anxiety is out of proportion to objective reality. If you’re living life in twenty-first century civilization, and you feel you’re constantly in danger, chances are (unless you’re an international spy – I don’t know any of them) you’re probably not in danger at all. Yes, you might be uncomfortable. And perhaps you’re in need of some rational planning. But that doesn’t change the fact that most advanced societies require less need to confront immediate, physical dangers. But they do place an added responsibility on the individual to plan and think long range; to anticipate trouble and do whatever needs to be done to prevent it from arriving. Good examples could include bankruptcy, a bad marriage, or having children before one is ready.

The question I am most often asked is, “How can I get rid of my anxiety — and quickly?” If you want to live your life with less anxiety, you’ve got to start looking at things differently. Train yourself to stop anticipating danger around every corner, and instead look for opportunities to grow, survive and plan. It can take a long time and a lot of effort to reprogram your mind to these new habits, yet, in any single moment, you still retain the power to choose whether – or not – to  think rationally.

Follow Dr. Hurd on Facebook. Search under “Michael Hurd” (Charleston SC). Get up-to-the-minute postings, recommended articles and links, and engage in back-and-forth discussion with Dr. Hurd on topics of interest. Also follow Dr. Hurd on Twitter at @MichaelJHurd1, drmichaelhurd on Instagram, Michael Hurd Ph.D. on LinkedIn, @DrHurd on TruthSocial

The mystery surrounding Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, the slain gunman who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Saturday, continues to deepen as law enforcement investigators are no closer to finding a motive behind the shooting.

The FBI has analyzed Crooks’ cell phone and talked to Crooks’ parents, Matthew and Mary Crooks, but have found little insight, other than Crooks’ parents describing him as someone who didn’t appear to have any strong political leanings and had few, if any, friends, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.”

The government can’t find any motives or explanation for the attempt to kill an American president? THAT’S BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT IS INVOLVED IN THE ATTEMPTED KILLING. You can’t expect a criminal to reveal any findings about himself. If you put a serial killer in charge of investigating himself, he would not incriminate himself.

Our own government is our biggest enemy. When they finish with Trump, they are coming for any and all dissenters, beyond what they are already doing. America is not America. It’s just another corrupt, authoritarian dictatorship. I base this assertion not on theory or feelings; I base it on 100 percent of their actions. They prove what they are every hour of every day.

*******************

“Nobody wants to hear this because of the implications, but oh well, because it needs to be said: Joe Biden’s security regime deliberately and with malice and forethought created the conditions that led to an attempted assassin shooting Donald Trump in the head. It is by the grace of God that he lived and our nation is not currently in the midst of a violent civil war.

They deliberately starved Trump’s security team of the resources it needed. And they did it repeatedly, over many weeks and months.”

— from The Federalist

*******************

The head of the Secret Service will not resign. Of course she won’t. She’s doing what they’re all paid to do–get Trump, by any means possible. Then get all who support him. If reason and justice are ever to return to America, she will be near the top of the list for a treason conviction, along with appropriate punishment. Anything less, and America will not survive.

Follow Dr. Hurd on Facebook. Search under “Michael Hurd” (Charleston SC). Get up-to-the-minute postings, recommended articles and links, and engage in back-and-forth discussion with Dr. Hurd on topics of interest. Also follow Dr. Hurd on Twitter at @MichaelJHurd1, drmichaelhurd on Instagram, Michael Hurd Ph.D. on LinkedIn, @DrHurd on TruthSocial

The conventional wisdom now seems to be that Donald Trump is going to win the November election.

I understand the reasons for that conclusion.

However, one overriding fact remains: The Establishment WILL NOT — I repeat WILL NOT — permit this to happen. The Establishment WILL NOT let Donald Trump (nor anyone like him) ever be president again. Not unless or until the Establishment is toppled, imprisoned and defeated to a point where they cannot come back.

By “Establishment” I mean just about everyone — the Uniparty, the bureaucracy, the Biden-Obama regime, the Deep State, the universities, the woke corporations, the out-in-the-open “dark” money (primarily Soros), the careerists in Congress and the executive branch, possibly the entire Supreme Court (minus Alito and Thomas), most (not all) of the federal courts, the high up woke, Commiefascist officials in the military, the weaponized and politicized legal system, the utterly compliant media … EVERYONE.

They WILL NOT permit Donald Trump to be president again.

Does this mean Trump will not be president again? I cannot predict that. He will try like nothing we have ever seen. Does this mean they, the Establishment, will take particular actions to prevent it? Presumably so — additional actions, that is. Inventing legal crimes and convicting him in kangaroo court seems like a preventative tactic; lying daily in the media is a preventative tactic; SHOOTING the former president while he’s campaigning, with the apparent help of a selectively weakened Secret Service operation (that works just fine for the Establishment) seems like a preventative tactic. What in the hell more evidence do you need?

I will say it again, hoping to penetrate your denial. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO LET IT HAPPEN.

This is not speculation. We are talking overwhelming facts … most of them observable in plain daylight.

So be ready. And stay ready.

Michael J. Hurd

Pressed about his shaky debate performance June 27 that threw his reelection hopes into doubt, Biden confronted Holt.

“Where are you on this,” Biden said, leaning forward. “Why doesn’t the press talk about all the lies he told?”

On July 8, Biden, 81, spoke to some of his biggest donors and said they needed to shift the election campaign’s focus from him and his poor debate performance to Trump, the Republican nominee in the Nov. 5 election.

“I have one job and that’s to beat Donald Trump … We’re done talking about the debate. It’s time to put Trump in the bulls-eye,” he said.

Some Republicans zeroed in on that comment as they blamed Biden for creating a climate that sparked the assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Biden has repeatedly decried political violence.

The president has endured more than two weeks of questions about his political future, so far facing down calls to step aside as the Democratic presidential candidate after the debate sparked a crisis within his party. Trump repeated well-worn falsehoods during the debate, including that he won the last election. Biden beat Trump in 2020.

The president reiterated in the interview that he is not leaving the race, while acknowledging that people’s questions about his age were legitimate.

Pressed about his shaky debate performance June 27 that threw his reelection hopes into doubt, Biden confronted Holt.

“Where are you on this,” Biden said, leaning forward. “Why doesn’t the press talk about all the lies he told?”

On July 8, Biden, 81, spoke to some of his biggest donors and said they needed to shift the election campaign’s focus from him and his poor debate performance to Trump, the Republican nominee in the Nov. 5 election.

“I have one job and that’s to beat Donald Trump … We’re done talking about the debate. It’s time to put Trump in the bulls-eye,” he said.

Some Republicans zeroed in on that comment as they blamed Biden for creating a climate that sparked the assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Biden has repeatedly decried political violence.

The president has endured more than two weeks of questions about his political future, so far facing down calls to step aside as the Democratic presidential candidate after the debate sparked a crisis within his party. Trump repeated well-worn falsehoods during the debate, including that he won the last election. Biden beat Trump in 2020.

The president reiterated in the interview that he is not leaving the race, while acknowledging that people’s questions about his age were legitimate.

The president has sought to turn attention to his opponent, highlighting Trump’s falsehoods, his refusal to accept the 2020 election results and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.

Biden turned back to those themes repeatedly during the NBC interview.

“I’m not the guy that said I want to be a dictator on day one. I’m not the guy that refused to accept the outcome of the election,” Biden said.

He cited the former president’s comments about a bloodbath ensuing if he loses the 2024 election and making fun when former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul was attacked by an intruder with a hammer at their home.

“How do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says? Do you just not say anything because it may incite somebody?” Biden said. “I have not engaged in that rhetoric. Now … my opponent’s engaged in that rhetoric.”

The president said he would debate Trump again in September. He said he had not spoken to former President Barack Obama, for whom he served as vice president, in some two weeks. But he batted away the suggestion Obama and his wife, Michelle, could be more supportive of him amid the calls that he step aside.

“They’ve helped me from the beginning. This is my job to get this done,” Biden said.

The president, who is seeking to prove that he is fit to stand for reelection and govern for a second four-year term despite concerns about his age, noted that millions of people had voted for him to be the Democratic Party’s nominee.

“I listen to them,” he said.

Biden also weighed in on Trump’s selection of Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate.

Asked by Holt what Vance’s selection said about Trump’s values, Biden replied: “He’s going to surround himself with people who agree completely with him.”

Chuckling, Biden pointed out Vance made critical comments about Trump previously.

© 2024 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.

A majority of Americans (according to leftist polls) want Donald Trump as president again. Some of these polls suggest a landslide, something not seen in the U.S. for 40 years.

Yet the federal government is trying to imprison him, and even murder him. They are imprisoning many of his aides and supporters for things that officials in that government already do.

The message is clear: The majority may not and will not get the candidate they want. Nor any of his policies–not ever.

The precedent has been established. If the government decides it doesn’t like one particular candidate, then it will decide that about others. I know absolute fools — some of them Republicans, “libertarians” or “Objectivists” — who actually claim or imply that, “It’s just with Trump. He’s a special exception. We’ll put up with Biden, with anyone or even anything to get rid of Trump.”

Get rid of Trump. And then the government will behave itself again. Seriously? The world has gone mad; or more accurately, the world has become irretrievably stupid.

Has it occurred to most Americans yet that this government is not their protector–but their enemy?

Follow Dr. Hurd on Facebook. Search under “Michael Hurd” (Charleston SC). Get up-to-the-minute postings, recommended articles and links, and engage in back-and-forth discussion with Dr. Hurd on topics of interest. Also follow Dr. Hurd on Twitter at @MichaelJHurd1, drmichaelhurd on Instagram, Michael Hurd Ph.D. on LinkedIn, @DrHurd on TruthSocial

How the media coordinated the failed assassination of Donald Trump

Two months ago, I predicted that the media were laying the groundwork for justifying the assassination of Donald Trump after the New Republic published an entire issue depicting the former president as Adolf Hitler. I wish I could claim some supernatural gift of foresight, but it was not the first time I had made this prediction, and I was not alone, as several other pundits, including Tucker Carlson, had also seen the writing on the wall.

The attempted assassination of the leading presidential candidate on Saturday was shocking, but in many ways it felt inevitable. The American media have been steadily intensifying their anti-Trump rhetoric for years, whipping their audience into a murderous frenzy. The disgusting freaks who constitute the regime press are not concerned or outraged at the attempt to murder Trump; they are simply disappointed that the instrument of their vengeance was a bad shot.

The media have always portrayed Republican candidates as dangerous to some degree, but from the moment Trump announced his candidacy in 2015, he inspired a particularly rabid form of vitriol from the press. The real-estate tycoon spoke to a forgotten constituency: working- and middle-class Americans in areas like the Rust Belt. These were old and obsolete Americans, the kind of voters who embarrass even the GOP, and the ruling class had slated them for replacement. These obsolete Americans were supposed to quietly fade away, slowly dying deaths of despair, until Trump gave them a voice.

This was Trump’s unforgivable sin, and from the moment of his improbable victory, the press set out to destroy this rogue president.

The left has been calling conservatives racists, sexists, and homophobes for decades. That kind of relentless slander is corrosive to the public discourse, but at this point it has become so common that it turns into background noise. During the Trump presidency, leftists escalated their vile rhetoric to include first “white supremacist” and eventually “fascist.” People who are used to being constantly villainized by every major institution do not always notice a critical shift in the zeitgeist, but this change in language put the United States on the path to this perilous moment.

In our current moral framework, racists are bad people, guilty of one of the most terrible crimes, but they are still humans. Fascists, on the other hand, are Nazis, descendants of our modern secular version of Satan, Adolf Hitler. Fascists are inhuman agents of evil, and every kind of action, including horrific violence, is justified if it is deployed in the service of stopping a Nazi takeover. This is why the left began using the slogan “punch a Nazi” in 2017 and then steadily extending the term fascist to anyone who opposed the progressive agenda.

Political violence is a fire that quickly burns through the fabric of your society. Once that fire is sparked, it becomes impossible to control, which is why any ruling elites who care about the future of their country know better than to deploy it.

Political street violence and assassination attempts drive power in a state hurtling toward civil war. This is why the Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots of 2020 were a terrible omen. When riots rage across the country for weeks and the police spend most of their time kneeling in front of protesters, it sends a clear message. It appeared that political violence was acceptable, but the protesters during January 6 quickly learned that this new rule only applied to one side. The left expects to deploy political violence at a whim without consequences, but that is a demon no one can control for long.

Cable news media and assorted Democratic politicians had been throwing around the label of fascist for a few years, but the truly alarming escalation came when Joe Biden began to employ the language in 2022. The president first tested the language at a fundraiser in August of that year before using it in his infamous “blood red” speech in front of Independence Hall. During the speech, Biden claimed that Trump and his supporters “represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” while warning that “equality and democracy are under assault.”

Biden’s X account is full of similar language, with one post reading, “Donald Trump is a genuine threat to this nation. He’s a threat to our freedom. He’s a threat to our democracy. He’s literally a threat to everything America stands for.”

Declaring your political opponent a threat to the nation and everything it stands for is already a “will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?” kind of moment, but things have only escalated from there. At some point leftists started sneaking “existential threat” into their rhetoric. For anyone unfamiliar, existential threat is not a light turn of phrase. It means something that will end your existence if you do not stop it. It is something that one needs to stop with any and every means available — including violence.

The regime has attempted to bankrupt Trump, remove him from the ballot, and throw him in jail. All three strategies have failed, and if Trump is truly an existential threat to freedom, democracy, and the nation itself, then there is only one logical course of action left. The media knew this and broadcasted their unhinged message of hate to every unstable fanatic they could reach until someone finally took them seriously.

The Biden administration has been using the Justice Department, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and recently even the Pentagon to label Trump supporters as domestic terror threats while teaming up with the media to groom real leftist assassins in waiting.

Corey Comperatore was a volunteer fire chief from Pennsylvania who had recently celebrated his 50th birthday. He had posted enthusiastically on X about hearing Trump speak at his rally. On Facebook, Comperatore’s daughter described the Trump supporter as a devout Christian and dedicated father. According to the post, when the shots rang out, the first responder did not hesitate, forcing his wife and daughter to the ground before shielding them with his own body.

In that moment, Comperatore covered himself in glory, paying the ultimate price to protect those he loved. The hands of the left, however, are covered in his blood.

Donald Trump reacted to the attempted shooting with stunning composure. After being hit with a bullet, the former president did not freeze up or scurry away, but immediately jumped to his feet and pumped his fist yelling “Fight!” to his supporters. The iconic photo of his defiant pose will go down in history. Progressives have quickly realized that a nearly martyred Trump is an optical disaster for them, but instead of backing away from their rhetoric, the media have escalated it.

In saner times, a former president and leading candidate narrowly avoiding death with steely courage would be celebrated by a reunified country, but we do not live in those times. It takes a particular kind of soulless degenerate to get on cable news the day after Trump is shot and treat the billionaire and his supporters as the real threat, but apparently MSNBC and CNN are well stocked with such people. Celebrities like George Takei have immediately returned to using violence-inspiring rhetoric like “existential threat to democracy” without missing a beat. David Frum responded to the assassination attempt by writing a piece in the Atlantic calling Trump a dictator.

The left managed to groom one shooter, and they will not stop until they groom another.

The Blaze, Auron MacIntyre