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Thoughts from the Back Porch

 It's been a busy couple of weeks recently.


  • There was an attempt to assassinate former president Trump.
  • Amid mounting pressure, President Biden quit his reelection effort. Vice President Harris is now the Democrat candidate for that office.
  • Ukraine forces have crossed into Russia near Kursk, making substantial gains.

It was a minor miracle that Mr. Trump survived the attempt on his life. The shooter was nearly at point-blank range for the AR-15 he was wielding. My observations on the matter...

After the attempt and subsequent killing of Thomas Crooks, his parents seem unemotional. Your son tries to kill a nationally known figure, then is shot dead by a counter sniper, and you just go "oh well"? The detachment shown is striking.

The shooter was alone on that rooftop. However I'm not convinced Crooks planned this attack by himself. Somebody managed to radicalize this man enough to want to assassinate a major political figure. Where did he get the idea of using drones, rangefinders to survey the target sight and who taught him about making IEDs?  

The Secret Service. While the men and women assigned to directly protect Trump acted in the highest fashion, not much can be said in regards to those in charge of site prep and threat assessment. For all effective purposes there was no security on site, Trump was placed in a kill-box by individuals reaching up to the very top of the service. A haunting re-creation of ancient Rome's Praetorian Guard - who killed a number of emperors they did not like.

My bets are on any investigations hitting massive walls of stone, leading to little to no corrective action.


Communications stove-piped at the scene before and during the shooting. This was something that was supposed to have been corrected after 9/11. The Department of Homeland Security was created to increase the interoperability between member agencies. That goal is clearly a failure, leaving one to doubt the use of having such a department at all. Why are we being subjected to TSA screening before flights while thousands of unvetted men and women stream across our borders daily?

After years of increasingly feebleness, Biden finally steps down. Was he pushed? Hell yeah. Some talking heads are complaining that this action denies the population at large of their say in who becomes the party choice for President. People forget that all political parties are private organisations, they have no obligation to listen to the populace for anything. Making decisions used to be done in smoke-filled back rooms.

Surprise, it's being done again. And the media has turned on a dime, recasting Harris from "Oh God, we can't let her take Joe's place." to the new messiah that will lead us all to the promised land of Socialism and DEI.

Finally the war in Eastern Europe. Since the beginning of the fighting aid to Ukraine has had restrictions about it being for defensive use only. Which is like telling a boxer they can only block punches thrown at them ( ahem - US policy for Israel dealing with terror groups ).











Something has changed, Ukraine has gone on the offensive and make big gains into territory around Kursk. Has the US changed it's tune? I doubt it. But Europe has and quite openly. Arms are beginning to flow to Ukraine without strings on usage. Even the Greens in Germany have decided to give Ukraine the unrestricted help it needs.


Naturally Putin is beside himself as Russian forces fold like badly-made lawn furniture under the Ukrainian onslaught.











Drones, artillery, and anti-air systems have all been brought to bear with amazingly good results for the Ukrainians. Question remains, what will Putin do in response? 

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