'I have doubts about her'

'Take a big step back'

'This plays into those fears'

Rancor, recriminations, and serious formal misconduct complaints have plagued all levels of the Secret Service detail assigned to protect former President Donald Trump over the past year, distracting the team from its core mission of securing Trump from physical harm and preventing an assassination. Trump’s regular detail team, a force of 60 employees—special agents and support staff—has been beset by internal division, long workdays and weeks, and constant stress. Last year, the team lost one of its members to suicide. Among the allegations are accusations of improper sexual relationships or fraternization within the team, debilitating mental health issues, non-merit-based promotions, conflict of interest issues, unfair retaliation, and the creation of inappropriate memes and social media posts. On May 15, the top two leaders of Trump’s detail sternly dressed down the entire 60-member staff in a virtual meeting, announcing formal investigations into what they argued were serious misconduct violations, several sources in the Secret Service with direct knowledge of the online meeting tell RealClearPolitics. Sean Curran, the detail leader and top boss of Trump’s regular 60-member protective team, and his deputy, Matthew Piant, complained of “rumors, innuendo, and toxicity” among the detail, as well as “selfishness and immaturity.” They reminded all employees that they had worked to mentor and train them, and, up to this point, had refrained from referring agents and support employees for discipline even though there had been violations that they could have reported to agency headquarters for investigation. Curran and Piant complained that they were not getting the same treatment in response from the team. Over the past year, the two leaders have been the target of formal complaints, and some members on the team viewed the all-hands lecture as an effort to turn the tables and retaliate on those complaining about their leadership. ‘Humor and Gossip’ Piant spoke first, accusing someone on the detail of stealing from another. But he quickly shifted to harshly condemning an incident in which a teammate took cellphone photos of two members of the support staff sleeping in a command post while guarding Mar-a-Lago and circulated those to others on the detail. The No. 2 on the detail deemed the prank a betrayal of the team for the purpose of “humor and gossip,” according to detailed accounts. Those encountering the sleeping individuals should have simply held the team members accountable by waking them up with a nudge, he said. Piant also argued that taking the photos of individuals who fell asleep and circulating them among the other staff made those team members less safe and endangered the mission. He told the entire team that the pranks and the divisiveness showed a “lack of basic human decency” that had drawn the attention of headquarters “at the highest levels,” according to the sources familiar with the meeting. He then announced an inspection investigation for potential policy violations and promised consequences for those exercising “bad judgment.” Yet, some rank-and-file members of the detail team familiar with the sleeping incident said the real outrage was that the individuals who fell asleep while guarding Mar-a-Lago were, to their knowledge, never disciplined. They noted that at least one was the daughter of a retired former Secret Service leader who remained influential among the agency’s top brass. Sleeping on the job at Mar-a-Lago this spring, the critics said, was especially egregious because of a series of recent security breaches across the Secret Service, including one in which a drunken intruder entered Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s home in the middle of the night. That incident occurred in April 2023 even though Sullivan has a 24/7 Secret Service protective detail because of the high-profile and highly sensitive nature of his job. Admonishing the Pranksters Curran spoke after Piant, expressing deep disappointment in the team, echoing the contention that the pranksters had put their teammates’ safety in jeopardy just for a laugh. Toward the end of the virtual meeting, Curran said he was issuing a final warning to the entire team. Though he didn’t want to alert headquarters to the violations of a handful of people, he said he might have to do so if everyone didn’t start supporting one another. The detail leader also acknowledged that the team, which has been solely dedicated to protecting Trump from the beginning of his reelection campaign, likely carries more stress than any other division in the Secret Service, and he admonished the pranksters for adding to the tension. During his remarks, Piant obliquely referred to the team member’s suicide last year, arguing that all members of the team should be especially attuned to mental health problems and risks involved with ridiculing people. Over the last two weeks, the Secret Service inspections department, which investigates employee misconduct, is homing in on allegations against an agent on the Trump detail who played a key role during the July 13 Butler, Pennsylvania, rally and is partially responsible for developing the security plan, which contained egregious mistakes that left an opening for shooter Thomas Crooks. An official briefed on the matter, but not authorized to discuss it publicly, told RCP that the Secret Service Office of Professional Responsibility also investigated the allegations of sexual impropriety and fraternization within the Trump detail and found the allegations to be “unfounded.” Agent Under the Microscope The allegations against the site agent are a separate matter. The agent is now under the microscope not only for her role in devising the security plan for the rally. She’s also facing internal scrutiny for posting videos and photos from her protective assignments to social media. The Secret Service discourages the practice, especially while standing watch on protective duty because it can pinpoint to would-be assailants exactly where the Secret Service positions its assets, risking the protectee and fellow law enforcement agents and officers, according to several sources within the Secret Service community. The agent in question served as the official site agent for the Butler event that ended in an assassination attempt wounding Trump in the ear and killing rallygoer Corey Comperatore in front of his family. RealClearPolitics is not naming the agent out of concern for her personal safety. As a member of Trump’s 60-member regular detail, the agent was responsible for helping formulate the security plan for the event, although she was mostly focused on the inner perimeter. She also joined forces with the event’s lead agent, a woman from the Secret Service’s Pittsburgh Field Office, in conducting a walk-through of the security with supervisors. The lead agent typically oversees security at the entire event from airport arrival to event to hotel stay to airport departure. An RCP analysis of the Butler rally site agent’s Facebook account noted a photo that appears to be taken from Mar-a-Lago looking across the intercoastal waterway. “A sunset to be grateful for …” the post states, including a heart and sunset emojis and the hashtags “#nofilter #southflorida #thankful #workmode …” Sources familiar with the videos said most appeared on the agent’s Instagram account, which is marked private. Sources within the Secret Service say the site agent was inexperienced for such a critical security role, but noted that the position is rotated throughout the Trump detail, not routinely assigned based on merit or experience. Will Site Agent Take the Fall? There is now concern within the agency that the site agent for the Butler rally will take the fall for the event’s egregious layers of security failures—that acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. will fire her over her social media posts, but not for any security failures at the July 13 event. In contrast, the lead agent had decades of experience within the Secret Service, but did not have experience on a protective detail, the innermost ring of security for presidents, first ladies, former presidents, and their families, according to sources in the Secret Service community familiar with her background. While the months of rancor and recriminations leading up to the assassination attempt against Trump undoubtedly distracted the Trump detail from its ultimate mission, the Butler rally served as a wake-up call and a reset, according to sources close to Curran. “Some agents have referred to it as their 9/11 moment where people are opting back onto the detail,” remarked a source in the Secret Service community. “Morale is high; people are motivated. These agents [protecting Trump] are stiff-jawed with steel in their spine.” Rowe also plans to address the entire workforce on the Aug. 14 and to be present in Chicago for the Democratic National Committee next week. While many agents are approaching their protective mission with new vigor, lawmakers are demanding the firing of those responsible for the security failures at Butler. After a month, they say, we still don’t know exactly who was at fault for failing to man the rooftop where Crooks opened fire. Sources within the Secret Service, however, argue there was plenty of blame to go around that day. It was the first time countersnipers were assigned to a Trump reelection event, apparently because of an elevated Iranian threat. But Secret Service leaders at headquarters didn’t provide a sniper team for the rooftop where would-be assassin Crooks fired off his shots. Nor did they allocate a countersurveillance unit, roaming agents who work to find and intercept suspicious people or fortify vulnerable areas during a rally. In addition, supervisors from the Pittsburgh Field Office and the Trump detail were ultimately responsible for evaluating and signing off on the security plan and were thereby integral to ensuring that the plans are sound and all vulnerable areas were covered. Acting Chief’s Senate Testimony During Rowe’s July 30 Senate testimony, Sen. Josh Hawley demanded to know the identity of the lead agent for the rally, implying that the person was responsible for the decision to leave the American Glass Research (AGR) building up to local law enforcement to protect. Hawley, however, erred slightly in his questioning, combining the jobs of site agent and lead agent, two separate roles. Rowe responded that he couldn’t give Hawley that agent’s name because the person was still “operational, still doing investigations, still doing protective visits.” Hawley then demanded to know why Rowe hadn’t fired the person. Rowe explained that the agent is cooperating with the FBI investigation and with the Secret Service’s Office of Professional Responsibility. “We will let the acts of the mission assurance and any other investigations play out,” Rowe said. He also objected to Hawley’s efforts to “zero in on a particular agent” instead of the “entire decision process” involving multiple individuals responsible for formulating and executing the Secret Service security plan and allocating assets for the rally. “I want to remain neutral and make sure we get to the bottom of it and interview everybody to determine whether there was more than one person who perhaps exercised bad judgment,” Rowe said. Both lead agents and site agents are typically involved in walk-throughs with supervisors. The lead agent oversees a whole team of site agents for the airport, the overnight accommodations, and the rally. The lead, considered the point person for the entire trip of a protectee, typically requests the number of post-standers, countersnipers, and other security assets needed for every stop during a visit to a region, including the main event—in this case, the Butler rally. An additional member of the Pittsburgh team was responsible for working with local law enforcement entities for the plan in the outermost perimeter and likely determined whether local law enforcement needed to be posted on top of or inside the AGR building, from where Crooks fired at Trump and the crowd. Set Up for Failure? But these same sources argue that the system that simply rotated the site agent role and didn’t require protective experience for the lead agent set both up for failure. The top supervisors who had to sign off on the security plan for the Butler rally are Tim Burke, special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Pittsburgh Field Office, and Nick Menster, assistant special agent in charge of the Trump detail. Burke is a friend of Rowe’s from the time they both served on a counterassault team together early in their careers. Some critics within the Secret Service community question whether their close ties are impacting Rowe’s decision not to fire Burke or anyone else in the Pittsburgh Field Office. Curran was one of the agents who quickly used their bodies as human shields to protect Trump in the iconic photo of the assassination attempt showing the former president raising his fist, bloody and defiant, against the backdrop of an American flag. Trump has repeatedly praised the members in that inner security ring, including Curran and a female agent who also appeared in the photo, placing her body across the president’s torso. The woman has been ridiculed on social media by Elon Musk and many others for being too short to fully shield Trump from additional bullets. “There was great bravery displayed … Every one of them. There wasn’t one that was slow,” Trump told the crowd at a rally in late July. “There was a woman to my right shielding me. A beautiful person. She was shielding me with everything she could.” Despite the clear bravery of several Secret Service agents and the professionalism of the countersniper who killed Crooks, a month after the assassination attempt, critical questions remain unanswered, including why no one was occupying the AGR rooftop when Crooks opened fire. Rowe, during Senate testimony July 30, said he could not defend the decision not to have anyone posted on that rooftop, but wouldn’t say who made the decision. Instead, he blamed local law enforcement. “Why was the assailant not covered when we were told that building was going to be covered?” Rowe angrily demanded during his testimony. “That there had been a face-to-face that afternoon—that our team leads met.” ‘Bizarre’ Break-Ins Aside from the Butler rally, there has been a string of security lapses or improper activity across the Secret Service as a whole. The latest, which came to light late last week, involved a bizarre July 27 intrusion or break-in of a Pittsfield, Massachusetts, salon, allegedly by the Secret Service covering Vice President Kamala Harris’ first fundraiser. It’s still unclear whether the Secret Service or local law enforcement is responsible for picking the salon door lock to allow emergency medical services agents and local law enforcement officers, and possibly others, to use the salon’s bathroom. A woman in what appeared to be Secret Service special agent attire covered the salon’s front-door Ring camera with duct tape, in what knowledgeable sources tell RCP is a common practice at event sites to guard against any camera possibly capturing Harris or other protectees in private moments. The salon owner has said she was left with a messy bathroom and felt violated by the incident. The head of the Boston Field Office called her to apologize for any role the agency played in entering the salon without the owner’s permission. Several other instances of bizarre behavior and serious security lapses have occurred over the past year and a half. In late April, Michelle Herczeg, a special agent assigned to Harris’ detail had an apparent mental breakdown at Joint Base Andrews, home to Air Force One and Air Force Two. RCP has since learned that former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who chaired the Rowley Training Center when Herczeg was training there, passed her even though Herczeg failed to meet some critical standards and some fellow workers expressed concern about her mental fitness, according to four sources within the Secret Service community.   Cheatle, who resigned amid bipartisan furor after her July testimony about the Butler rally security lapses, was reportedly “livid” over the Sullivan security failure in May 2023. The agency chalked up the security lapse to “human failure” or inattention among agents guarding Sullivan’s home. Luckily for Sullivan, the intruder appeared to be an intoxicated neighbor who simply entered the wrong home. There were no signs of forced entry into Sullivan’s home, but the agents stationed outside also did not detect the intruder, with whom Sullivan had a brief physical encounter.  Intrusion at Obama’s Hawaii Home Over the past year, there have been at least two other previously undisclosed intrusions, some that have been reported, but two that have not. One involved a breach at former President Barack Obama’s Hawaii residence, and another involved a strange intruder stay at the Miami Field Office this spring. In the Obamas’ residence intrusion, the Secret Service managed to locate the intruders. Two sources described those who managed to breach the waterfront compound’s cutting-edge security as young people trying to get photos of the residence and its impressive grounds to post on social media. The property previously served as the set for the popular law enforcement drama television series “Magnum P.I.” in the 1980s and in a more recent remake. The former president and first lady were not home during the time, but sources said their two daughters were on the premises. (The Obamas’ friend Marty Nesbitt, a wealthy Chicago businessman, purchased the three-acre property on Oahu, paying $8.7 million in 2015. As of at least the spring of 2018, the property was held in an LLC registered to Nesbitt, who serves as chairman of the Barack Obama Foundation. That same year, the owners tore down the dated 9,000-square-foot residence, known on the television series as “Robin’s Nest,” according to Honolulu magazine. In its place, Nesbitt, with the Obamas’ input, built three custom structures on the compound, including a state-of-the-art security system and two swimming pools.) In late May of this year, an erratic man was able to infiltrate and spend at least one night in the Miami Field Office, according to four sources familiar with the incident. Some agents working out in the gym violated office policy by propping open the door to help ventilate the room. A man in shorts and a T-shirt entered through that partially opened door, and no one noticed. The man, identified as Ashtyn Domenech by one knowledgeable source, apparently found the “bunk room,” took a shower, and fell asleep in a bed overnight, sources said. Domenech accessed computers on an open internet line and downloaded and watched porn, according to two sources familiar with the trespassing incident. The next morning, Domenech asked administration staff where he “could get a cup of coffee around here,” and the employees responded by fulfilling his request for coffee without realizing he didn’t belong there, the sources said. He then ventured into a class on defensive tactics that a supervisor was teaching. The supervisor confronted him about his identity and apprehended him. The Secret Service didn’t arrest Domenech on federal charges, but instead turned him over to the local Miami Beach Police Department, which charged him with burglary, petty theft, and unlawful use of a police badge. Domenech had been arrested earlier that month for indecent exposure, according to Miami court records. Originally published by Real Clear Politics and made available via RealClearWire. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Dissension, ‘Toxicity’ Plagued Trump’s Secret Service Detail Before Assassination Attempt appeared first on The Daily Signal.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Former officials in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration condemned what they described as the FDA’s duplicity in allowing off-label use of so-called puberty blockers while loudly condemning the use of far safer drugs to treat COVID-19. “During the Trump administration, the media falsely accused us daily of ‘politicizing America’s public health agencies.’ Yet the same media is now silent on [Vice President Kamala] Harris and [President Joe] Biden’s FDA’s anti-science, purely political insanity,” Brian Harrison, former chief of staff at HHS and now a member of the Texas House of Representatives, told The Daily Signal in a written statement. “We’ve now learned that the same FDA that banned mothers from importing safe formula for starving babies and kept safe COVID treatments from patients was apparently pushing dangerous puberty blockers for kids,” Harrison added. Shocking New Evidence Harrison pointed to an email obtained by the conservative nonprofit America First Legal and published first by The Daily Signal. In the Jan. 25, 2022, email, Shannon Sullivan, clinical team leader at the FDA’s Division of General Endocrinology, noted that the agency’s Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products performed a “safety review of the GnRH agonist class in pediatric patients in 2016/2017.” GnRH stands for “Gonadatropin-releasing hormone.” GnRH agonists prevent the natural release of testosterone and estrogen that initiate puberty. “Our review focused on suicidal ideation/depression, seizures, and bone health,” Sullivan wrote in the 2022 email. Although most of the minors in the study suffered from central precocious puberty (in which puberty starts too early), she said, “a handful were transgender kids using the drugs off-label.” “We found no effect on bone (after factoring in catch-up growth), including no increase in fracture risk,” she noted. “We did find increased risk of depression and suicidality, as well as increased seizure risk and we issued [safety-related labeling changes].” Yet, as The Daily Signal reported, Sullivan went on to recommend approving GnRH agonists for minors. The FDA’s Division of Urology, Obstetrics, and Gynecology, she wrote, “has done a patient listening session with trans kids and separately with trans adults, which I participated in, and there is definitely a need for these drugs to be approved for gender transition, as they are typically not covered by insurance and are expensive out of pocket.” Sullivan also said that “no company has come in” to provide “GnRH agonists in the transgender population” yet. However, she added, “it was my understanding” that the FDA division “would take these applications if and when they do come in.” Screenshot Transgender activists claim that minors who identify with the gender opposite their biological sex need experimental medical alterations such as GnRH agonists either to prevent puberty or to force their bodies to resemble the bodies of the opposite sex. Activists mask the nature of these interventions with the term “gender-affirming care” and insist that without these interventions, kids will commit suicide. Roger Severino, former director of the Office of Civil Rights at HHS and now vice president of domestic policy at The Heritage Foundation, emphasized the contradiction between the rhetoric supporting “gender-affirming care” and the findings noted by the FDA’s Sullivan. “HHS still claims puberty blockers for 12-year-olds are fully ‘reversible,’ seemingly oblivious to the fact that suicide is as irreversible as it gets,” Severino quipped. FDA’s Duplicity on COVID-19, ‘Puberty Blockers’ David Gortler, a Yale University-trained pharmacologist who previously was a senior adviser to the FDA commissioner on policy and drug safety, raised the alarm about GnRH agonists for minors. Gortler told The Daily Signal that the Food and Drug Administration is being “duplicitous” in how it uses its Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS), a database of reactions to certain drugs that users report to the FDA. The FDA relied heavily on the reporting system’s data to declare that hydroxychloroquine was unsafe after finding only a few hundred reports of adverse events, he said, but the agency dismisses a considerably higher number of such reports for GnRH agonists. “GnRH agonists account for 70,000 adverse reports,” Gortler said. “While these reports still need to be reviewed, it is a remarkable number of adverse events for what should be a niche, otherwise rarely clinically indicated, class of drugs.” Yet the FDA often dismisses these reports as “not confirmed”; “not establishing causation”; “no definitive proof”; and “not establishing a rate of occurrence.” Gortler, who has analyzed the data himself, showed that preliminary analysis to The Daily Signal. According to his analysis, AERS reports 70,000 adverse reactions to GnRH agonists, 2,510 of them involving children aged 14 or younger. Adverse reactions include hallucinations, bone disorders, cardiac arrest, abdominal pain, migraine, mood alterations, a clot in the heart, pelvic pain, seizures, abnormal skin odor, blindness, and more. Among patients ages 4 to 13, a total of 21 had thoughts of suicide. The AERS database includes 30 records noting the death of a patient between the ages of zero and 14 where a “puberty blocker” is the primary suspect drug. These cases include a 10-year-old who died of a hemorrhagic stroke after taking Lupron, a brand of synthetic hormone, in March 2014; a 5-year-old who died of cancer reported in May 2022; an 8-year-old who died of liver failure after receiving leuprolide acetate, a synthetic drug, in March 2004; and a 14-year-old who “completed suicide” in April 2017. “Even though this drug is objectively unsafe, they seem to be selectively turning a blind eye to it, seemingly in sync with White House messaging,” Gortler said, referring to FDA officials. “At the same time,” he added, “the FDA selectively heavily involved itself in the off-label administration of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, both of which were relatively much safer than GnRH agonists, based on clinical studies, randomized controlled trials, AERS reports, plus other epidemiological findings.” Where Do ‘Puberty Blockers’ Come From? The former FDA adviser also told The Daily Signal that physicians developed GnRH agonists to help treat certain cancers that depend on estrogen or testosterone. Removing estrogen and testosterone from cancer patients to prolong their lives makes sense, Gortler said, because it prevents the progress of an invasive, malignant disease. But giving these drugs to physiologically and genetically healthy kids is a completely different story, he said.  “This drug was tested, designed, and FDA-approved for use in an older, cancer-afflicted population,” Gortler said. “The human body has around 100 trillion cells,” Gortler noted. “High school biology taught us that in each of those nucleated cells, there are either XX or XY chromosomes denoting a female or male sex, respectively. No drug or medical procedure will ever be able to fight 100 or so trillion cells, and trying to do so would be a fool’s errand.” He compared “puberty blockers” to the outdated, dangerous custom of Chinese footbinding, in which a young girl’s feet would be tightly wrapped to keep them from growing naturally. “Similarly, GnRH agonists block a normal, healthy development process from occurring,” Gortler said. “Just because it’s not something that isn’t directly and obviously visible doesn’t mean that it’s any less clinically, scientifically, or ethically dangerous.” The FDA did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment. The post ‘ANTI-SCIENCE’: Former Health Officials Slam FDA Duplicity on ‘Puberty Blockers’ in Light of New Evidence appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The NLRB is Facing Ever More Pushback from Corporations

Thanks a lot, The CW. After AMC canceled the extremely anti-cop drama 61st Street, it seemed we'd no longer be subjected to the blatant hate and propaganda against police officers the show was famous for. Unfortunately, The CW decided the world needs to continue watching hateful, woke, BLM, anti-cop garbage and revived the show. Granted, the acting is superb, the writing is smooth, and the characters are well-developed. But painting one side (you can guess which one) as wholesome, Christian, prayerful, and innocent while the other is entirely corrupt, evil, murderous, hateful, racist, violent and Nazi-like ruins the show for anyone who isn’t a far left, woke, BLM extremist. We’re only halfway through this second season and it’s been absolutely packed with propaganda. Of all the shows I’ve covered for The MRC since 2017, this show might just be the worst. Of course, we watch, so you don’t have to. Here is a comprehensive breakdown of each episode from the first half of the season that’s aired so far (4 out of 8 episodes). Brace yourselves! It’s a doozy, and this is after cutting out a huge portion of offensive scenes and quotes for brevity. Brevity just isn't possible when you're dealing with this much woke, liberal propaganda: Episode 1 - “After the Morning After” Season 1 left off with the acquittal of Moses Jones (Tosin Cole), who was set up by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to shoot and kill officer Michael Rossi (Patrick Mulvey) because Rossi was collecting evidence of corruption within his department. Lieutenant Brannigan (Holt McCallany) is the head of the department and leader of the corrupt cops, which appears to be every cop in the department minus Rossi. As he and Rossi’s former partner Johnny Logan (Mark O'Brien), who uncovered Rossi’s evidence of corruption after his murder, are drinking at a cop bar, Brannigan laments about a legit complaint in real life among many officers - that their job is harder to do in the current anti-cop climate. But the show twists it into something evil. Fueled with rage over the death of his former partner and Brannigan’s words, Logan stumbles out of the bar drunk and disoriented when he encounters a black man, Jalil Watts (Marcus Hopkins-Turner), loudly playing a rap song on his car radio about getting revenge on police by shooting them: News Anchor: Celebration erupted on the south side as the not guilty verdict was read in the Moses Johnson murder trial of slain CPD officer Michael Rossi. People took to the streets prompted by the unexpected acquittal of the 19-year-old track phenom. A CPD spokesmen, when asked to comment, said that the verdict… Brannigan: What does it mean, a verdict like that? Means you’re entitled to run from a police officer. And you’re entitled to fight us when we’re doing our duty. Only one thing you need to have all that going for you- your skin has to be the right color. So, here’s my question. Given that 90% of the people committing crimes in this city have that same skin color, how’re we supposed to do our job? Who are we? Radio: (Playing “16 Shots” by Vic Mensa) Somebody tell these mothaf*ckas keep they hands off me. I ain't a mothaf*ckin' slave, keep your chains off me. You better hope this 9-millimeter jam on me. Or get blown, I hope you got your body cam turnt on. Fuck a black cop too, that's the same fight. You got a badge, bitch, but you still ain't white. This for Laquan on sight, when you see Van Dyke. Tell him I don't bring a knife to a gunfight. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, f*ck 12. Logan: Hey! Turn that off. Jalil: Not tonight. Radio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, f*ck 12. 16 shots. And we buckin' back 16 shots. Jalil: Police? Yeah, I ain’t breaking no law, so…12. F*ck you. Moses’ lawyer Franklin Roberts (Courtney B. Vance) is shown on a television program as a hero wanting to bring together the black community and police officers, which is juxtaposed with Logan violently assaulting Jalil: Franklin: People come on to your show to plug things. A new TV show, a book. Well, I’m selling something, as well. Truth and reconciliation. Host: That’s two things. Franklin: Well, you can’t have one without the other. Segregation, torture, apartheid…my people have been on the wrong end of all of them right here in Chicago. I want a segregated city and a divided country to come together by agreeing about its past, not denying it. It’s not a witch hunt. It’s an opening of the gate to transparency. I’m not going after bad cops. I’m inviting police officers to talk about their experiences, their culture, truthfully. Host: Why would they do that? Franklin: Not everything that’s faced can be changed, but nothing will be changed until it is faced. James Baldwin. Is he right? How ‘bout you, sir? Yes, you, soundman. How ‘bout you? What do you think? Is he right? Soundman: He’s right. Franklin: And how about you, Mr. Cameraman. Is he right? Cameraman: Sure. Absolutely. Franklin: And how about you (audience)? Shall we do this? Franklin ends up recording the testimonies of several people of color (one of whom is wearing a “Black Lives Matter” shirt) about their distressing encounters with police. There’s no one from the police’s side to share the traumatic stories of what they’ve endured while trying to protect the public. Oh, that’s right. That’s because there aren’t any good cops and the few that exist are killed by the corrupt ones. Right. #eyeroll When Franklin is asked if he’s worried about re-traumatizing the community by sharing these testimonies, he compares the police to Nazis as he recalls a mentor of his who made sure to tell everyone the names of his six family members that were killed in Nazi death camps so “no one could ever say it didn’t happen.” It’s not the first time the left has tried to paint conservatives and/or cops as antisemitic, which we all know now didn’t age well since it’s actually the left who is now out protesting against Israel, calling for the death of Jews with chants of “From the river to the sea,” and destroying public property with warnings that “Hamas is Coming.” When Logan talks with Brannigan in his office after waking up from his drunken stupor the night before, we see a Blue Lives Matter and Thin Blue Line flag on the wall that’s perfect for brainwashing viewers into thinking of evil, corrupt cops like Brannigan whenever they see the flag in real life. Brannigan assures Logan the police “took care of everything” to cover up his crime, which Logan doesn’t remember: Brannigan: Close the door. Sit down. Where’s your gun? Logan: I, umm… Brannigan: You don’t know, or you don’t remember? Logan: What happened? Brannigan: You tell me. Logan: I was at the Low Bar and I was drinking, and I kept drinking. Brannigan: Then what? Nothing? You got into an altercation outside the bar. Logan: An altercation. That sounds like police speak. You got me worried. Brannigan: The other guy got the worst of it. Logan: Where’s my gun? Brannigan: We took care of everything. Logan: What did I do? Brannigan: You don’t remember? Wracked with guilt as bits and pieces of the assault come back to him, Logan visits the hospital to check on Jalil. Watts is unresponsive in the ICU and barely clinging to life. A nurse mistakes Logan for an officer who is there to investigate the case and says it’s about time because no other officers have come by before him. The victim’s wife Naimah (Karen Aldridge) had to ask her local councilwoman (who happens to be Franklin’s wife) to look into it because the police were ignoring it. When Watts ends up dying from his injuries, Logan is flooded with guilt and remorse, but still can’t remember exactly what happened. Franklin scores another victory in court when a judge orders the release of hundreds of thousands of complaints against the CPD over the last 25 years. She gives them 18 months to comply. Franklin worries he might not be alive in 18 months because he’s quickly dying from a mystery illness. Brannigan informs Logan of Watts’ death, then remarks, “Or maybe you knew already.” Logan lies and claims he didn’t know, and it’s obvious by the look on Brannigan’s face that he’s been watching Logan and knows he was at the hospital. When Logan later sees a recording of the assault on a phone he stole, he’s filled with so much remorse that he runs straight to Franklin to confess.   EPISODE 2- “Trust Me” Surprisingly, when Logan tells Franklin, “I should burn for this,” Franklin replies, “You can’t plead guilty for something you don’t remember doing.” Logan then tells him about the coverup by the police and Franklin urges him to get as much evidence as possible and bring it to him: Franklin: So, how are they treating you? They looking after you? Like they do. No suspension? No meaningful inquiry? Good. Logan: Good? Franklin: Get back out there. Investigate yourself. Logan: Get back out there? Franklin: Do your job. Bring me back evidence of what they did to hide what you did. Logan: I’m not safe out there. Franklin: I know. Bring me evidence of that, too. When Logan arrives back at the station, it’s obvious that pretty much every cop is dirty and involved in the coverup: Cop 1: Looking pretty good, Logan. Logan: What’s up, boys? Cop 2: What are you doing here? You come to slum it up with us in between cappuccino breaks? I tell you what. I’ll switch details with you. Yeah, come on. I could use the break. Logan: A break from what? I only ever seen you break a sweat from drinking. Cop 2: Yes, coming from you, Logan. Logan: I’m on the wagon. Cop 1: Really? Logan: After the other night, yeah. Losing recall is bad. You know, blank pages, you should probably stop, you know? Cop 1: Hey, man, all I know is I was doing Irish Car Bombs at 7, by 9:30 I was sleeping like a lamb face down on my bathroom floor. Logan: Oh yeah? How’d you get home? Cop 1: No idea. Logan: Yeah, me neither. It’s like we all lost our memory at the same time. Cop 2: Yeah. Looks that way. Franklin’s wife Martha (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) introduces Franklin to Naimah who describes more police corruption in the handling of her husband’s case. As they talk, Franklin begins to realize the cop that came to the hospital was Logan: Martha: Hi, Franklin, this is Naimah. Naimah, this is Franklin. Franklin: I just want to say how sorry I am for what you’re going through. Naimah: Thank you. Coming from you, that really matters. Franklin: Thank you. Martha: Alright, well go on in. Come on. Have a seat. You want anything? Franklin: Hey, so, has the CPD done any investigation? Naimah: As far as they’re concerned, there’s nothing to investigate. Martha: Managed to get the attention of the mayor. Franklin: A meeting? Martha: End of the week, but I need something more. Something that shows that something more than incompetence was at play. Franklin: Like a police report? Martha: Cops didn’t even look for his family when he was in the hospital. Jalil was a “John Doe” for 36 hours before Naimah figured out where he was and gave them his name. And then one cop, one visit. Franklin: How do we know about that? Naimah: The nurse in ICU said he couldn’t wait to get away like he didn’t want to be there. Martha: Yeah, see, we need to figure out who that cop is. Because that means there is a formal investigation which means there is a police record of some kind. And if not, then we’re into the cover up of it all. Right Franklin? Franklin: Jalil had no ID? Naimah: Sure, he did. They must have taken it from him at the scene. Martha: It was like they didn’t want him to be identified. Franklin: Buy them time to construct a story. Martha: Exactly. Naimah: My husband, he would have so liked to meet you. Franklin: I kind of feel responsible for what happened to him. Naimah: Are you kidding me? I was dancing with joy because of what you did for Moses Johnson. And Jalil…you made Jalil feel there was hope. Turn up the music there’s hope in the world! Franklin later tracks down a homeless witness and realizes Jalil’s car was on the scene before and during the assault but was missing afterward. The witness said Brannigan interviewed her but didn’t take any notes and didn’t seem concerned by anything she told him.   Logan tells his dad Robbie, who is a former cop, that he’s overwhelmed with guilt. Robbie is corrupt, as well (of course), and tells him regret is dangerous and that he can’t ever look back or he won’t see what’s coming at him. Logan finds Jalil’s vehicle in an impound lot and quickly dusts it for fingerprints. He secretly delivers the vehicle back to Naimah. Logan asks a friend at the station to run the fingerprints for him as a favor and not to tell anyone, claiming he’s worried he might have gotten something wrong in one of his cases and he doesn’t want anyone to know. Later, Brannigan enlists Logan’s help to fake an arrest of Brannigan’s informant “Tweety Bird” (Jalen Gilbert) so they can question him without revealing he’s an informant to his friends. On the off chance we didn’t remember Brannigan is an evil, hateful racist, we get treated to this horribly racist remark as a reminder: Tweety: What am I up on? PBWB? Logan: What’s that? Tweety: Playing basketball while black. Brannigan: You know we love you, Tweety Bird. Tweety: Yeah, well my knees beg to differ. My ego is a little bruised, too. Brannigan: Put some cocoa butter on it. Tweety: On my ego? Brannigan: Isn’t that the cure all for you people? Brannigan uses the information he got from Tweety to get a warrant for a case he’s working. Brannigan knows everything Logan has been up to, so he puts Logan on the team that executes the warrant. While on the scene, Logan gets a call informing him the prints in Jalil’s vehicle were from another cop who happens to be part of the team executing the warrant with him. He realizes something’s not right as Brannigan puts him in front. Sure enough, he ends up shot and lying on the ground motionless as the episode ends. EPISODE 3- “Do No Harm” Logan survived because of his bulletproof vest. Brannigan stands over him menacingly and says, “An inch to your left. One inch. You got the luck of the Irish.” It’s obvious he was set up and this was a warning to him to stop looking into the coverup. Logan meets with Franklin, anyway, panicked after almost losing his life. Franklin convinces him to keep going because they need more evidence and gives him a burner phone. Logan asks, “What if I die?” Franklin quips, “That’s the best possible evidence.” As Logan leaves, Franklin’s partner Nicole (Emily Althaus) sees him. She confronts Franklin and guesses Logan is the one who killed Jalil. When he explains that Logan is a whistleblower, she protests. But Franklin laments in a strained, distraught voice near tears, “Why is it okay for cops to kill us, Nicole? Why do they do what they do?” She warns no one will stand with him if he defends Logan. Brannigan approaches Logan at an event and tries to get him to confess all he’s been up to. Like a scene out of The Godfather he points out that Logan’s father Robbie raised him, they trained him, and after he “put Jalil in his place” they covered for him, and “all they asked in return was that (he) accept (their) help in the spirit in which it was given.” Brannigan: Mayors come and go. Governors, too. Only cops are forever. You ever get vertigo? Logan: No. Brannigan: Anything you want to tell me? Anything you need to get off that bruised chest of yours? Logan: No, I'm good. Brannigan: I vouched for you. Sure, I knew you could go either way. The Michael Rossi of it all. But Robbie raised you, and we trained you. So, when you put Jalil Watts in his place, we stood by you. And all we asked in return was that you accept our help in the spirit in which it was given. Why couldn't you do that? Logan: I had to know what I did. Brannigan: You bashed in his skull. You hit him repeatedly with the butt of your gun. The blows got harder, not softer. It was brutal. You were brutal. There. Feel better? You beat a man to death. That was you. That is you. Logan: Why? A short while later, Brannigan lets Logan know they’re not covering for him anymore, that he’s about to go down for what he did, and then tries to tempt him to commit suicide by jumping off the building: Brannigan: It's over now, Johnny. Logan: Huh? Brannigan: The gun you used to bash in his skull is about to land on the state's attorney's desk. See, an anonymous tip was just called in, which led us to your gun. When the state's attorney tests your gun, she'll find Jalil Watts' brain matter all over it, after which a warrant will be issued for your arrest. The city is angry. The whole country is angry. It needs a place to put all that anger. That place is about to be you. I've been watching you, Johnny. Real close. And I'm not sure you can take what's about to go down. The thing about vertigo- It's not a fear. It's an urge. And sometimes, the urge can become desire. And then... then it's impossible to resist. After news breaks of Logan’s guilt, Franklin becomes worried for him and finds him in a dark parking lot with a bottle of booze in one hand and a gun in the other as he considers ending his life. Franklin is floored when he finds out Brannigan had the murder weapon this whole time and was at the scene. He encourages Logan to fight and promises to stand by him and save his life: Franklin: Is that for your own safety? Logan: My dad took me here all the time. Franklin: So, what's happening? Why is there a warrant out for you? Logan: Brannigan kept the gun. Franklin: What? Logan: He said he ditched it, but he didn't. So, I'm gone. Franklin: He told you that? What else? What else? Jalil Watts. Wait. Logan: Brannigan filled in the blank. Franklin: He was there? And he does nothing? He was there and he does nothing? All his energy, all of his everything goes into covering it up? Logan: There's no way out. Franklin: That's what they want you to think. They need you gone so they can carry on being who they are, doing what they do. Logan: There's no way out! Franklin: I'm your way out! Don't you see it?! I'm the way out. I sent you out there to get more. We have more now. We've got everything we need! Everything that I wanted to do, I can do now. I can keep you alive. Logan: Alive? Franklin: You don't see it? Logan: Alive? Franklin: Yes. Logan: For what? Franklin: Atonement. Truth. Redemption. All the Bible words are in this one. You may not know this in the front of your brain, but I believe this is why you came to me. You came to me to redeem yourself, to atone for your sins, to tell the truth. So, no. No. No, no, no, no, no, you cannot leave. You cannot leave, not when we're just getting started. Put that gun away! I won't let you. You can't leave now. You can't get out. You cannot leave. So get yourself together, make the right decision, and let's go! Filled with anger over Brannigan’s involvement, Franklin visits the cop bar to confront him. After the two exchange insults, Franklin gets the best of him by shocking him with the news that he’s representing Logan. He pumps his fists in the air as he walks out while another Blue Lives Matter/Thin Blue Line flag is visible on the wall in front of him. A not-so-subtle smack in the face to officers everywhere, especially those who’ve lost their lives in the line of duty: Brannigan: A lawyer walks into a cop bar. Franklin: Cop doesn't realize the joke's on him until it's too late. Y'all don't spend enough time together at work? Brannigan: The bond we share- I wouldn't expect a lawyer to get it. Franklin: A lot of my clients learned about that bond the hard way. Brannigan: And I lost a good cop to one of your clients. So, maybe in the grand scheme of things, that makes us about even. Why are you here? Franklin: Jalil Watts. Word on the street is that the warrant might be for a cop. Brannigan: I wish I had your sources, counselor. If it's true, it's a damn shame. Franklin: If it's true, you and I are going back into the courtroom. Brannigan: Let me guess. Wrongful death suit against the CPD? Franklin: No, no, no, no, no. You got me all wrong. I'm not representing the Watts family. Johnny Logan is my new client. I'm for the accused. You know, I... For 30 years, I've been wanting to say this, and it just never felt right until now. Ahh! That's good. I'll see you in court. Of course, anyone watching, even those who see through the propaganda, can’t help but feel happy that Franklin, who is a kind, giving, selfless man, triumphed over the horrifically evil and corrupt Brannigan. We’d all do the same in real life if this was happening anywhere. But that’s the problem. It’s not. And to vilify everyone in law enforcement while also painting the other side as innocent victims when we’ve all seen video evidence of officers having to make split-second life and death decisions with people who resist arrest, fight them, pull weapons on them, ambush them, etc. is not only wrong but flat out dangerous to both sides. All it will do is stir up more hatred for police, make people of color feel like they’re victims being hunted by all police officers, further the race divide, and make future encounters between suspects and police more wrought with fear, tension, anger and hate. That puts everyone’s life in danger and thus is completely irresponsible of this show to do. At the end of the episode, Franklin ensures there’d be a huge crowd of reporters as he escorts Logan to the police station to turn himself in. The more attention on Logan, the safer he is, Franklin explains. Episode 4- “Kamikaze” Episode 4 opens with a bail hearing which ends up being set incredibly high by the black, female judge, as Franklin murmurs to Logan, “They got to her.” Notice how the show includes people of color in the corruption so that when a person of color defends or sides with cops in real life, viewers will remember this propaganda and perhaps think, “They got to him/her,” or they’re an “Uncle Tom.” Protestors: No justice, no peace! No justice, no peace! Traitor! Traitor! Judas! ...No peace! No justice, no peace! Motherwell: You doing this? Gives a whole new meaning to "Gun for hire." Judge: What does the state say about bail, Ms. Motherwell? Motherwell: It's hard to imagine a more egregious breach of trust than a serving police officer beating a member of the public to death. The accused is in an emotionally fraught state of mind, which makes him a real flight risk. Franklin: Flight risk? We're all here right now, Your Honor, because Officer Logan walked into a police station to give himself up. He wants to be here. My client wants his day in court. How that makes him a flight risk I have no idea. Motherwell: I got to say the state is also concerned for the accused's own safety. Franklin: He's not safe, and you want to put him in County? That's "Alice in Wonderland" logic, Your Honor. A police officer at County is a walking target, and this police officer, under these circumstances… Logan: They're trying to kill me. Judge: What was that? Logan: They're gonna kill me. Judge: $3 million D-bond. I'm assuming he doesn't have the 300k up front, Counselor. Franklin: No, Your Honor. Judge: Then I am entrusting the accused to the safekeeping of the fine men and women of Cook County Sheriff's Department. Next. Franklin: They got to her. They got to her. Let's go. As Logan is whisked off to jail, he tells Franklin to look into Brannigan’s informant Tweety for more evidence of corruption. Meanwhile, protestors broke into Martha’s office overnight and vandalized it with graffiti. calling her a liar, sellout and a cop lover because her husband is representing Logan. Brannigan shows up to investigate Martha’s office to investigate the vandalism. He taunts Martha saying, “I almost wonder if you paid for this paint job to get the public attention I know you crave so much.” If the cops aren’t evil, they’re dense and stupid, as Brannigan’s partner doesn’t know what the word “impunity” means. After Brannigan and his unintelligent partner leave, Martha forces Franklin to look at the graffiti, turning his face to each one, including “cop lover” and demanding he look at it. Apparently “cop lover” is supposed to be an insult.   Back at the prison, Logan tells a psychiatrist handling his intake that he’s never been suicidal and doesn’t feel suicidal now. She puts him on suicide watch anyway and he gets placed in a solitary cell with a camera. Franklin is living alone in an apartment after Martha kicks him out and he tells a visitor who questions his motives, “When Moses was found not guilty, it didn't feel like the end of something. It felt like the beginning, you know… I think I can get the people who are trying to hurt us to look in the mirror, and for most of them, it'd be the first time they've done that, if I can keep them there looking long enough.” He then learns that Norma has been dating, and is now pregnant by, a man named Phil (Jerod Haynes) who is an undercover cop, unbeknownst to her. Franklin proclaims it’s a good thing because they can use it against the police as more evidence. Norma ends up telling Phil that Tweety is planning to meet with Franklin and tell him everything he knows about the police corruption. Of course, word gets back to the police and Tweety ends up being arrested by 3-4 officers before he can meet with Franklin: Cop 1: What's up, Tweet? Let's take a little ride. Tweety: I'm down to do another warrant with y'all. It'd be cool to get paid for the last one we did, though. Cop 1: Ah, look at you, Tweet, out here hustlin'. I ain't mad at that. No worries, bro. You'll get your money. Tweety: That's what's up. Cop 2: Hey, I heard that fancy lawyer was looking for you. You talk to him? Tweety: Nah, I don't mess with lawyers. I didn't talk to nobody like that. Cop 2: Really? Tweety: He came by my old lady's pad, but I didn't talk to him, though, and that's on everything, for real. Cop 2: Really? Tweety: Yeah. Cop 1: Give me your phone. The phone. Where's your phone? Get his phone. Tweety: Hey, hey! Cop 1: Huh. Do you recognize that number, Danny? Danny: Hmm. Rings a bell with me. Rings a bell with me. Cop 2: Call him. Franklin: Tweet? Tweet? I'm at the bar, waiting. Where are you? Tweet? Tweet, is that you? Is that you? Cop 1: I know that voice. Cop 2: We all know that voice. Tweety: Where we going? The officers deliver Tweet to Brannigan in his office, where he’s brutally murdered and the scene is staged to look like it was a drug overdose as Brannigan coldly and casually orders the officers to “dress it up.” (Warning: Extremely Disturbing) Tweety: Yo, you ain’t right. Cop: Let's go. Hands free. Brannigan: I'm sorry, Tweet. Let's dress it up. I can only imagine how angry such a scene would make anti-cop viewers. That’s obviously the goal. And it’s nothing like reality because if this were to happen in real life, everyone of every skin color on both sides of the political aisle would be up in arms demanding justice together, and rightly so. Back to Logan- he gets escorted by police through the jail cafeteria to instill fear in him as inmates call him a pig, “white boy,” and other names while spitting on him and threatening him. When he eats his first dinner alone in his cell, he bites into a mouthful of glass. An attempt is made on his life by jail personnel while the camera is off in his cell but, suspecting what was up, Logan made a move that drew too much attention to the scene which saved his life. Logan’s corrupt ex-cop father Robbie manages to get the $300k for his bail, but he’s angry at him for turning on the police. Robbie tells him he bailed him out because it’s what his mother would’ve wanted. He hands him $10 and a change of clothes and tells Logan he’s done with him. There we have it! Race-baiting and ACAB propaganda at its finest. And that's just four episodes. We still have 4 more to go. Implying all cops are bad/bastards should get them cancelled without any hope for revival. But The CW decided it was a good idea to give them a second season to push their BLM hate with no accountability whatsoever.   To take the raw emotions of vulnerable people on both sides and stir up hatred and division for ratings is the epitome of shamelessness. To portray the anti-cop side as the only side telling the truth, the only side that’s “good,” the only side that’s innocent/right, the only side that’s interested in unity, the only side that’s moral and virtuous and painting all officers as corrupt, evil, racist, violent, dishonest, and murderous is dangerous and unfair to the vast majority of good, hardworking officers in real life who put their lives on the line every day for the safety of the public. If the show was truly interested in unity and understanding both sides, where are the horrible stories from cops who’ve been targeted, ambushed, and hated, having to fear for their own lives while protecting ours in an increasingly hostile environment? That would humanize cops, though, and might cause viewers to have empathy for them, and we can’t have that now, can we?

A Washington Post journalist faced the wrath of online critics after he asked whether the Biden administration was considering taking action against an interview of former President Donald Trump hosted on the X social media platform. Cleve Wootson asked the bizarre question during Monday's media briefing at the White House just ahead of the interview by X owner and billionaire Elon Musk. 'It is incredibly important to call that out as you are doing.' "I think that misinformation on Twitter is not just a campaign issue; it's an America issue," said Wootson. "What role does the White House or the president have in sort of stopping that, or stopping the spread of that or intervening? Some of that was about campaign misinformation, but you know, it's a wider thing, right?" he added. "Don't have anything to read out from here about specific ways that we're working on it, but we believe that they have the responsibility, these are private companies, so we're also mindful of that too," responded press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. "But, look, it is incredibly important to call that out as you are doing. I just don't have any specifics on what we've been doing internally as it relates to the interviews, and that's something that I'm tracking," she added. Video of the interaction was posted to social media, where it was widely circulated with millions of views. Many users lambasted the reporter for demanding government censorship. "Democracy Dies in Darkness," responded writer Charles C.W. Cooke of National Review, referring ironically to the Post's motto. "This is what 'what in the actual F' was created for," replied commentator Mary Katharine Ham. "That time when a Washington Post reporter revealed he did not understand the part of the Constitution that literally enables his job," responded history podcaster Jack Henneman. "Why would any news organization employ someone like @CleveWootson, who wastes their opportunity to ask the White House a question to advocate for censorship? @JeffBezos, you're paying for this to the tune of $77 million per year. You down with this? Do you have zero f's to give?" replied Derek Hunter. "The White House literally peddled the misinformation/disinformation that Joe Biden was alright for years. They should sit this one out," read another response. The X interview of the ex-president began late but continued as planned without government intervention. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Shut Up, They Explained: UK Journalist Calls for Police to Investigate Author Douglas K Murray

Stephen Colbert's Audience CRACKS UP When He Praises CNN's Kaitlan Collins for Reporting the News (Watch)