A Pennsylvania SWAT officer said his team did not have communication with Secret Service agents prior to the Trump rally in Butler. “We were supposed to get a face-to-face briefing with the Secret Service snipers whenever they arrived, and that never happened,” Jason Woods, the Beaver County SWAT team’s lead sharpshooter, said on ABC News. “So I think that was probably a pivotal point, where I started thinking things were wrong because that never happened,” he continued. “We had no communication with the Secret Service,” he added. “Another alarming security failure. A local SWAT officer in PA told ABC his team had no contact with Secret Service at the rally until after the assassination attempt on President Trump. Our House Task Force will find the answers the American people deserve,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said. WATCH: Another alarming security failure. A local SWAT officer in PA told ABC his team had no contact with Secret Service at the rally until after the assassination attempt on President Trump. Our House Task Force will find the answers the American people deserve. pic.twitter.com/RojvR4YfDb — Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) July 28, 2024 Per ABC News: In their first public comments since the assassination attempt, the SWAT team on the ground that day and their supervisors spoke exclusively with ABC News Senior Investigative Correspondent Aaron Katersky. It is the first time any key law enforcement personnel on-site July 13 have offered first-hand accounts of what occurred. They explained that they did what they could to try to thwart the attack but now have to live with the failure. The episode last week led to the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle. And, in the wake of the assassination attempt, a series of law-enforcement, internal and congressional probes have been announced – with communications and coordination a key focus of investigators’ attention. The Secret Service, whose on-site team was supplemented as usual by local, county and state law-enforcement agencies, was ultimately responsible for security at the event. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi declined to respond directly to the comments from Woods and his colleagues. He said the agency “is committed to better understanding what happened before, during, and after the assassination attempt of former President Trump to ensure that never happens again. That includes complete cooperation with Congress, the FBI and other relevant investigations.” Woods told ABC News he would have expected to have seen more coordination with the Secret Service and to have had greater communication between their team on the ground that day and the agents with Trump’s detail. The first communication between their group and the Secret Service agents on the scene that day, he said, was “not until after the shooting. By then, he said, “it was too late.” The lack of communication between local police officers and Secret Service agents is the latest revelation of the abysmal failures during the rally on July 13th. Earlier this week, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) said a whistleblower claimed local law enforcement offered the Secret Service drones to utilize at the rally. However, the agency reportedly declined the offer. “Whistleblower tells me local law enforcement partners & suppliers offered drones to Secret Service BEFORE the rally – but Secret Service declined,” Hawley wrote. “According to reports, the shooter used a drone to survey the site in preparation for his attack. This was confirmed by FBI Director Christopher Wray in his testimony just yesterday. In fact, he confirmed that the shooter was operating the drone approximately two hours before President Trump took the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania,” Hawley said in the letter. “According to one whistleblower, the night before the rally, U.S. Secret Service repeatedly denied offers from a local law enforcement partner to utilize drone technology to secure the rally. This means that the technology was both available to USSS and able to be deployed to secure the site. Secret Service said no. The whistleblower further alleges that after the shooting took place, USSS changed course and asked the local partner to deploy the drone technology to surveil the site in the aftermath of the attack,” he continued. NEW – Whistleblower tells me local law enforcement partners & suppliers offered drones to Secret Service BEFORE the rally – but Secret Service declined pic.twitter.com/UM0jfrMc9z — Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 25, 2024 From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Security preparations for presidential campaign visits are dayslong operations in which federal agents lead teams of local officers, often from across several jurisdictions, to protect both the candidate and crowds of supporters that can number in the thousands. The meetings between the agencies are supposed to give every officer and law enforcement leader on scene a full picture of the security plan well before the candidate takes the stage. “There are no secrets,” Donald Mihalek, a retired Secret Service agent and ABC News contributor, told the Post-Gazette just days after the shooting. The breakdowns that led to the worst security lapse in decades for the Secret Service have come under intense scrutiny by congressional committees and federal agencies since the gunman fired eight rounds at the former president. A central focus of the inquiries is how a gap in the security plan allowed the shooter to climb onto a rooftop — a location that should have been one of the biggest concerns for law enforcement — and open fire.

Paris 2024 organizers apologized on Sunday to Catholics and other Christian groups angered by the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. It began with a mockery of what appeared to be The Last Supper by a host of freakish people taking the place of Jesus Christ and the apostles. Drag queens, a transgender, and a […] The post Paris 2024 Gave an ‘Apology’ for Their Decadent Ceremony appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

NFL kicker Harrison Butker reacted to the controversial opening ceremonies of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, which featured what’s being seen as a parody of The Last Supper recreated by drag queens. The 29-year-old previously went viral in May for sharing his thoughts on the role of women during a commencement speech at a Catholic college in Kansas. Butker published his reactions on social media. “This is crazy,” he wrote on social media, following that with a Bible quote. He also quoted scripture on X, writing, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting.” “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting.” Galatians 6:7-8 pic.twitter.com/bhCHoO1HXk — Harrison Butker (@buttkicker7) July 26, 2024 The clip he shared included a clip of the performance, which has been slammed on social media and eventually was removed from the official Olympics YouTube page following intense backlash. Besides the Last Supper parody, there were several other moments during the opening ceremony that led to strong reactions from viewers, including a headless Marie Antoinette and a “pale horse” which drew comparisons to the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Thomas Jolly, creative director of the opening ceremony depictions, had this to say about his vision. “The extraordinary thing is that everyone in France and the rest of the world has an idea of what France is all about. And I want to play with that, that’s where I want to start from – breaking down clichés, because clichés come along other things,” he said, according to the Olympics website. “Above all, I want this ceremony to include everyone. We must all celebrate this diversity,” Jolly added.  He also said, “I was overwhelmed at first. I wondered how I could create a show where everyone can feel represented as part of this great union. This responsibility was ambitious, complex, but magnificent for an artist.” Jolly continued, “When we watch ‘Emily in Paris’ or ‘Amélie Poulain,’ we know it’s not quite the real Paris. We’re going to play with all those cliches, but we’re also going to challenge them. Paris is also a vibrant youth. Different cultures rubbing shoulders in the streets. I’ll be fired if I tell you anything. All I can tell you is that it will be very meaningful for the artists that will perform.”

“Full House” actress Candace Cameron Bure shared her thoughts on the opening ceremonies for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. “Hi friends. So I didn’t really wanna weigh in on the Olympics opening ceremony publicly because… I always risk it becoming a headline. But it felt too important not to,” the 48-year-old star told followers during her video reaction posted to Instagram. “I love the Olympic Games,” she said, mentioning that her husband Valeri Bure, a retired professional hockey player, and several other family members were Olympic competitors.     View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Candace Cameron Bure (@candacecbure) “The Olympic Games have always brought me so much joy. It’s the best of the best athletes in the world competing for the title,” Bure went on.  “So to watch such an incredible and wonderful event that’s gonna take place over the next two weeks and see the opening ceremonies completely blaspheme and mock the Christian faith with their interpretation of the Last Supper was disgusting,” she said. “And it made me so sad. And someone said, ‘You shouldn’t be sad. You should be mad about it.’ And I’m like, ‘Trust me. It makes me mad.’ But I’m more sad, because I’m sad for souls,” she said.  The outspoken Christian star went on to quote Scripture, choosing the same passage that NFL star Harrison Butker mentioned in his social media reaction.  “I pray for my heart to break over what breaks God’s heart. And I just think about all the people that have rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ or don’t know the gospel of Jesus Christ. And in the Bible in Galatians [6:7-8] it says, ‘God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap. Because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh. But the one who sows to the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit.'” “So, what do we do with this?” Bure continued in her video reaction. “I want to continue, believers, with what Paul is saying here. He continues and says, ‘Let us not get tired of doing good. For we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.'” “So this is my encouragement to you,” the “Full House” alum continued. “Don’t get tired of doing good. Keep sharing the gospel. And it’s not just for the people that like openly mock God. There’s so many people – there’s Christians out there that say, ‘Well I’m a Christian, it didn’t really bother me.’ Those people need to hear the gospel too. It’s the ones that are lukewarm about it that may think like, ‘Ah – I don’t want to ruffle any feathers. Live and let live. Let people do what they want. I’m just gonna stay in my corner and be quiet about it.'” Bure went on to encourage followers to either boycott the Olympics or “support our athletes,” which was the path she chose.  “There are a lot of great Christian athletes competing as well, but I want to cheer them on. I want to see God getting the glory. And I’m gonna watch,” she said while pointing out that the athletes didn’t design the opening ceremony events. The actress mentioned in the post caption that some followers believed the opening ceremonies were not mocking Da Vinci’s famous “Last Supper” painting, but said she’s “not buying it” and doesn’t “see how that relates to unifying the world through competitive sports and [is] acceptable for children to watch.”