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Nearly 100 minutes before former President Donald J. Trump took the stage in Butler, Pa., a local countersniper who was part of the broader security detail let his colleagues know his shift was ending. He exited the second floor of a warehouse that overlooked the campaign rally site, leaving two other countersnipers behind. Outside, the officer noticed a young man with long stringy hair sitting on a picnic table near the warehouse. So at 4:26 p.m., he texted his colleagues about the man, who was outside the fenced area of the Butler Fair Show grounds where Mr. Trump was to appear. He said that the person would have seen him come out with his rifle and “knows you guys are up there.”

Persons: Donald J, Trump, ” Locations: Butler, Pa

On Today’s Episode:Biden Called ‘More Receptive’ to Hearing Pleas to Step Aside, by Carl Hulse, Michael S. Schmidt, Reid J. Epstein, Peter Baker and Luke BroadwaterBiden Tests Positive for Covid, by Michael D. ShearJ.D. Vance Plants His Appalachian Roots in the 2024 Race, by Michael C. BenderAt R.N.C., Senators Berate Secret Service Director Over Assassination Attempt, by Jonathan SwanGunman’s Phone Had Details About Both Trump and Biden, F.B.I. Officials Say, by Glenn Thrush, Jack Healy and Luke BroadwaterA Blind Spot and a Lost Trail: How the Gunman Got So Close to Trump, by David A. Fahrenthold, Glenn Thrush, Campbell Robertson, Adam Goldman and Aric TolerAn Algorithm Told Police She Was Safe. Then Her Husband Killed Her, by Adam Satariano and Roser Toll Pifarré

Persons: Biden, ‘, Carl Hulse, Michael S, Schmidt, Reid J, Epstein, Peter Baker, Luke Broadwater, Michael D, Michael C, Bender, Jonathan Swan, Glenn Thrush, Jack Healy, David A, Campbell Robertson, Adam Goldman, Aric, Adam Satariano Organizations: Vance, Trump, Biden, F.B.I

About an hour before a gunman let loose a volley of bullets that nearly assassinated a former president, the law enforcement contingent in Butler, Pa., was on the verge of a great policing success. Among the thousands of people streaming in to cheer former President Donald J. Trump at a campaign rally on Saturday, local officers spotted one skinny young man acting oddly and notified other law enforcement. The suspicious man did not appear to have a weapon. Remarkably, law enforcement had found the right man — Thomas Matthew Crooks, a would-be assassin, though officers did not know that at the time. Twenty minutes before violence erupted, a sniper, from a distance, spotted Mr. Crooks again and took his picture.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, — Thomas Matthew Crooks, Crooks Locations: Butler, Pa

2In the background of the page, a satellite image of Nuseirat shows the location of a building with 1 hostage, and a nearby building with 3 hostages. On June 8, Israel conducted one of the most high-risk operations of the war — a rescue in broad daylight of four hostages held by Hamas in Nuseirat, a densely populated area. Israel achieved that goal, but within minutes, the operation escalated into a firefight and a series of airstrikes that killed scores of people. The Israeli military said it came under fire by Hamas and ordered the strikes. The New York Times was not able to verify which came first.

Persons: Israel Organizations: New York Times Locations: Nuseirat, Israel

☆ Trump Shooting Live Updates: Investigators Focus on Security Lapses and Gunman’s Motive
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-16 | by ( The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +8 min

“He didn’t want attention, good or negative,” said Julianna Grooms, 19, who first remembered seeing Mr. Crooks when they were freshmen. The Bethel Park School District confirmed that Mr. Crooks graduated from high school in 2022, but declined to release any other details about his school record. “He was a very good student,” said Mr. Knapp, who retired two years ago as a guidance counselor. “He liked the idea of being by himself because that was his human nature,” Mr. Knapp said. Mr. Crooks had been a member of the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, a gun club that features a 200-yard-rifle range.

Persons: Thomas Crooks, Jim Knapp, Crooks, ”, ” Mr, Knapp, Julianna Grooms, Donald J, Trump, Jennifer Meredith, Matthew Crooks, Ms, Grooms, SpongeBob, “, Mr, Anna Dusch, ” Jill Bortz, That’s, Michael Rothfeld, Aric Toler, Susan C, Beachy, Julie Tate Organizations: Bethel Park High School, Trump, Secret, Bethel Park School District, Community College of, Republican, Democrat, eBay, Osage, Osage County Guns Locations: Bethel, Pittsburgh, Butler, Pa, Bethel Park, Bethel Park’s, Community College of Allegheny County, Osage County, Wright City, Mo

Last summer, two years after an upside-down American flag was flown outside the Virginia home of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., another provocative symbol was displayed at his vacation house in New Jersey, according to interviews and photographs. This time, it was the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which, like the inverted U.S. flag, was carried by rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Also known as the Pine Tree flag, it dates back to the Revolutionary War, but largely fell into obscurity until recent years and is now a symbol of support for former President Donald J. Trump, for a religious strand of the “Stop the Steal” campaign and for a push to remake American government in Christian terms. Three photographs obtained by The New York Times, along with accounts from a half-dozen neighbors and passers-by, show that the Appeal to Heaven flag was aloft at the Alito home on Long Beach Island in July and September of 2023. A Google street view image from late August also shows the flag.

Persons: Samuel A, Alito Jr, Donald J, Trump, Alito Organizations: Capitol, The New York Times Locations: Virginia, New Jersey, Long

Provoked Violence, Unchecked for Hours The New York Times used videos filmed by journalists, witnesses and protesters to analyze hours of clashes — and a delayed police response — at a pro-Palestinian encampment on Tuesday. On Tuesday night, violence erupted at an encampment that pro-Palestinian protesters had set up on April 25. The videos showed counterprotesters attacking students in the pro-Palestinian encampment for several hours, including beating them with sticks, using chemical sprays and launching fireworks as weapons. The melee began when a group of counterprotesters started tearing away metal barriers that had been in place to cordon off pro-Palestinian protesters. 12:26 a.m.Sean Beckner-Carmitchel via ReutersAt times, counterprotesters swarmed individuals — sometimes a group descended on a single person.

Persons: KAPLAN, COUNTERPROTESTERS, ROYCE HALL POWELL LIBRARY KAPLAN, counterprotesters, Mel Buer, Harbu, ”, Sean Beckner, Sergio Olmos, Calmatters, “, Counterprotesters, Mary Osako, ’, U.C, Michael Drake, L.A.P.D, Mark Abramson, Gene Block, Gavin Newsom, enforcement’s, Hussam Ayloush, U.C.L.A Organizations: The New York Times, . University of California, Los Angeles University of California, Los Angeles ROYCE HALL, POWELL LIBRARY KAPLAN, ROYCE HALL POWELL, HAINES, ROYCE HALL, POWELL, COUNTERPROTESTERS KAPLAN, HAINES HALL POWELL LIBRARY, ROYCE HALL POWELL LIBRARY, UCLA, Powell Library, Royce Hall, Palestinian, Arrows, Police, New York, University of California, Times, Security, Real News, Israel Defense Forces ’, The Times, Reuters, Associated Press, Los Angeles Police Department, Patrol, Riot, California, Daily Bruin, California Gov, Los Angeles Jewish, Los, Los Angeles Area, Islamic, Jewish Federation Los Locations: U.C.L.A, Los, Los Angeles, Israel, Gaza, Carmitchel, StringersHub, California, Palestine

Palestinian officials in Gaza on Thursday increased the tally of bodies discovered in a mass grave on the grounds of a hospital to 392 from 283, amid conflicting accounts between Israel and the Gazan authorities over how and when some of the bodies were buried. “This is the biggest mass grave since the beginning of the war,” Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defense, a search and rescue department within the Hamas-controlled territory, said Thursday before calling for an international investigation. Gazan authorities say that mass graves had been dug on the hospital grounds before an Israeli raid there in February but accuse Israel of later opening the site to add bodies. It was not clear how those who were buried at the Nasser Medical Complex in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, had died or exactly when. While The Times could not determine the cause of death for individual people, the initial burials took place amid a weekslong Israeli offensive in the city that began in mid-February.

Persons: Mahmoud Basal, Israel, Khan Younis Organizations: Gaza’s Civil Defense, New York Times, Nasser Locations: Gaza, Israel, Khan

☆ Middle East Crisis E.U. Will Impose New Sanctions on Iran for Attacking Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Lara Jakes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Mr. Abu Jayyab said the strike hit less than 10 meters from where the children were playing. Mr. Abu Jayyab said Luji had been eager to meet the new baby that her parents, Mr. Abu Jayyab’s brother and sister-in-law, were expecting. In his grief, Luji’s father decided they would name the baby after her, Mr. Abu Jayyab said. “Doctors say he needs a miracle to survive, and we should prepare ourselves for the bad news,” Mr. Abu Jayyab said in a phone interview. Two of the girls’ cousins, 15-year-old Ahmed and 18-year-old Abdullah, as well as a 60-year-old neighbor were also killed in the strike, Mr. Abu Jayyab said.

Persons: Abu, Yousef Abu Jayyab, Abu Jayyab, ”, Abdel Kareem Hana, Luji, Abu Jayyab’s, Luji’s, Mila, Ahmed, ” Mr, Abdullah, Aric Toler Organizations: Palestinian, The New York Times, Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, Associated Press, United Nations Locations: Gaza, Israeli, Al Aqsa, Credit

Lalzawmi Frankcom’s text message was short and sweet: a heart emoji reply at 10:38 p.m. on Sunday to her friend Josh Phelps, who had sent along photos of their humanitarian work together on a reservation in South Dakota. Ms. Frankcom, an Australian known as Zomi, had a big day ahead on Monday. She and her colleagues from World Central Kitchen in Gaza were waiting for a ship to arrive at their newly built jetty so that they could unload hundreds of tons of sorely needed humanitarian aid. They “were so excited, like they were going to a wedding,” said Shadi Abu Taha, whose brother, Saif, was among them. Israeli strikes hit their convoy that night, killing Ms. Frankcom and six of her colleagues from World Central Kitchen, the charity group founded by the chef José Andrés that has been delivering millions of meals in Gaza.

Persons: Josh Phelps, Frankcom, Deir al Balah, ”, Shadi Abu Taha, Saif, José Andrés Locations: South Dakota, Gaza, Rafah, Deir

When four men were detained by the Russian authorities in connection with the massacre at a concert hall outside Moscow last week, they were dressed in the same attire as the assailants seen in videos of the attack, according to a New York Times analysis of footage from the hall, social media profiles and images leaked or released by Russia. The identical clothing and other corresponding details suggest they carried out the attack. A video of one of the suspects being detained, for instance, shows him wearing a light brown T-shirt with a distinctive logo on the left breast and pants with a Boss label: Those details match the clothes worn by a gunman in propaganda footage of the attack released by the Islamic State, a.k.a. In addition, the Times analysis shows, the car that the suspects were driving when they were apprehended is the same color and type as one seen in footage from outside the concert hall during the attack.

Organizations: New York Times, Islamic, a.k.a, ISIS Locations: Moscow, Russia, Islamic State

What We Know About the Deaths Near the Gaza Aid ConvoyGazan authorities said that more than 100 people were killed and hundreds more injured in a chaotic scene early Thursday morning in Gaza City, where a crowd gathered around a convoy of trucks carrying desperately needed aid and the Israeli military opened fire. A small number of people may have been struck by aid trucks during the panic, and two Israeli military vehicles are also visible at the scene. Israeli military vehicles Aid convoy AL RASHID Israeli military vehicles Aid convoy AL RASHID Israeli military vehicles Aid convoy AL RASHID Still image of Israeli military drone footageA separate video released by Al Jazeera of the crowd near the aid convoy captures the sound of gunfire and shows multiple tracer rounds, originating from the southwest where an Israeli military base is located. The two tanks visible in the drone video were stationed on Al-Rashid around 250 meters from the base. Aid delivery has also been hampered by the breakdown of civil order as increasingly desperate civilians converge on aid convoys before the trucks can get to distribution centers.

Persons: Rashid Al, Rashid, Al Jazeera, Kamal Adwan, Copernicus, Corey Scher, Den, Biden Organizations: Convoy, Al, Planet Labs, RASHID, Crowds, Aid, Shifa, Kamal, Ahli Arab Hospital, Copernicus Sentinel, CUNY, Center, Den Hoek of Oregon State University, The United Nations, United Nations Locations: Gaza, Gaza City, Rashid, Rashid Al Jazeera, Al, Rashid Israeli, Jazeera, RASHID Israeli, Ahli, Den Hoek of, Israel

Al-Shifa, Israeli officials have argued, is an example of Hamas’s willingness to use hospitals as cover and turn civilians into human shields. The portion of the tunnel visible in the Israeli military video is at least 350 feet long. But beyond accusing the Israeli military of planting evidence at hospitals, Hamas and Gazan officials have not directly refuted the evidence presented by Israel. The Israeli military declined to provide additional imagery to support its assertion that this was a tunnel entryway or part of a tunnel complex. Concrete sections of the Al-Shifa tunnel are visible in this still image from the video released by the Israeli military.

“I stopped counting how many neighborhoods I’ve erased,” the caption reads on the video posted to his personal TikTok, accompanied by a militaristic anthem. Since Israel’s invasion in October, soldiers have shared videos from Gaza on social media, offering a rare, unsanctioned look at operations on the ground. The New York Times reviewed hundreds of these videos. Some show unremarkable parts of a soldier’s life — eating, hanging out or sending messages to loved ones back home. Others capture soldiers vandalizing local shops and school classrooms, making derogatory comments about Palestinians, bulldozing what appear to be civilian areas and calling for the building of Israeli settlements in Gaza, an inflammatory idea that is promoted by some far-right Israeli politicians.

Persons: “ Organizations: New York Times Locations: Gaza

☆ Israel-Hamas War Israel Releases Video It Says Shows Hamas Tunnel Under Hospital
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Isabel Kershner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

A still image taken from a video released by the Israeli government said to be of a tunnel below Al-Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza. The military released two videos, one of which appeared to have been filmed by a drone and shows parts of a metal spiral staircase. The Israeli military also released videos later Sunday that it said showed two hostages being taken inside the hospital on Oct. 7, when Hamas launched a cross-border attack from Gaza. They provide further evidence, Israeli officials said, that Hamas has used the hospital area for military operations. It was the same shaft that appeared in the videos released on Sunday.

Persons: ”, Israel, “, Aric Toler Organizations: Shifa, Sunday, New York Times, Al, Hamas, Times, Gaza’s Health Ministry, Ministry, Health, The New York Times, Shin, Toyota Locations: Gaza, Gaza City, Israel, Al

The government in the predominantly Muslim republic said that the outburst had been calmed and vowed to prevent further clashes. Russian aviation authorities said that the airport, in Makhachkala, the republic’s capital, would reopen on Tuesday. Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, said on Monday that Mr. Putin had been receiving reports about the events in Dagestan. Some people in the videos held Palestinian flags and carried signs opposing the war in Gaza, and some chanted “God is great” in Arabic. The local authorities in Dagestan blamed “extremist” outlets administered by “Russian enemies” for inciting the unrest.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Dmitri S, Peskov, “, ”, Sergei Melikov, Ilya Ponomaryov, Volodymyr Zelensky, ” Aric Toler Organizations: The New York Times, Red Wings, The Times, Telegram, Kremlin Locations: Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russian, Tel Aviv, Russia, Kremlin, Israel, North Caucasus, Ukraine, Gaza, ”, Caucasus, Khasavyurt

☆ Be very wary of the Telegram account claiming Putin was found convulsing from a heart attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Kremlin has issued a denial after a prominent Russian Telegram account said Putin had a heart attack. The anonymous account, General SVR, regularly pumps out fascinating claims about Putin. There's good reason to be highly skeptical of the account, experts have told Insider. They originated in a post by the anonymous Russian Telegram account General SVR, an infamous source of juicy but unsubstantiated tales about Putin and his circle. The General SVR Telegram account, with more than 390,000 followers across three accounts, is a major purveyor of such rumors.

Persons: Putin, —, breathlessly, Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, General SVR —, pooped, Lucy Birge Organizations: Russian Telegram, SVR, Service, Kremlin, TASS, General SVR Telegram, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, General SVR, New York Times Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Russia

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have continued to target Israel with deadly rockets from hidden launch sites inside Gaza. Palestinian rockets have malfunctioned in the past and one estimate says 15 percent of rockets launched by Gazan militant groups fail. Hamas immediately blamed an Israeli airstrike, while the Israel Defense Forces soon denied any responsibility and placed the blame on a malfunctioning Palestinian rocket. Numerous media outlets have shown the video footage and several have cited it as evidence that a Palestinian rocket hit the hospital. It was launched from Israel, not Gaza, and appears to have exploded above the Israeli-Gaza border, at least two miles away from the hospital.

Organizations: National Intelligence, Times, Islamic, Gazan, Israel Defense Forces, Al, Twitter, Ahli Arab Hospital, CNN, BBC, India Locations: Palestinian, Gaza, Israel, Ahli, Islamic Jihad, Gaza ., Jazeera, Al Jazeera

☆ Twitter appeared to limit the reach of investigative news site Bellingcat days after Elon Musk suggested its Texas mall shooter investigation was a 'psyop'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The investigative news website Bellingcat reported on the Texas mall shooter's apparent neo-Nazi beliefs. Right-wing commentators on Twitter suggested that it was fake news, and Elon Musk called it a "psyop." Days later, Bellingcat's founder said its Twitter account no longer appeared in the app's search tool. Bellingcat reported that Garcia had tattoos of a swastika and other Nazi symbols, and posted about being a white supremacist on Odnoklassniki (OK), a Russian social media site. Musk tweeted.

Jack Teixeira, the Air National Guardsman implicated in a vast leak of classified documents, was fixated on weapons, mass shootings, shadowy conspiracy theories — and proving he was in the right, and in the know. Even as he relished the respectability and access to intelligence he gained through his military service and top secret clearance, he seethed with contempt about the government, accusing the United States of a host of secret, nefarious activities: making biological and chemical weapons in Ukrainian labs, creating the Islamic State, even orchestrating mass shootings. “The FBI and other 3 letter agencies contact these unhinged mentally ill kids and convince them to do mass shootings,” Airman Teixeira, 21, wrote in an online chat group, sharing a debunked conspiracy theory after a gunman killed three people at a mall in Indiana last summer. In messages posted on Discord, a social media platform popular among gamers, Airman Teixeira claimed that the 20-year-old gunman behind the rampage at Greenwood Park Mall was one of many mass shooters groomed by the American government as part of a secret plot “to make people vote for” gun control.

The user claimed to be posting information from the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies. A chain of digital evidence collected by The Times ties the posts containing the sensitive information to Airman Teixeira. The posts were made under a user name that The Times has previously connected to Airman Teixeira. Fellow Discord members sent the user birthday wishes on Dec. 21, the same date Airman Teixeira’s sister wished him a happy birthday on Facebook. And he posted a photograph of an antique German rifle for which The Times found an online receipt in Airman Teixeira’s name.

☆ The man who may have leaked top-secret Pentagon documents was a fit and armed military guy who controlled a group of young gamers united by their worship of guns and God: WaPo
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

He was the leader of a group of young gamers who loved guns, military gear, and God, per the outlet. As early as 2020, OG began sending the classified information to his Discord server, which was once named "Thug Shaker Central," per The Post. And at least 10 documents were later sent to another Discord server dedicated to the video game "Minecraft," Toler reported. "He said something had happened, and he prayed to God that his event would not happen," one of the young Discord members told The Post. The "Thug Shaker Central" server has been deleted, Bellingcat reported.

Follow the latest news on the leak of classified intelligence documents. It sounded as if the airman, Jack Teixeira, was in a speeding car, said a member of the group who uses the screen name Vahki. “Guys, it’s been good — I love you all,” Airman Teixeira said, Vahki recounted. I prayed to God that this would never happen. And I prayed and prayed and prayed.

☆ Leaked Pentagon documents appeared on a 'Minecraft' Discord server weeks before officials knew about a breach: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Leaked Pentagon documents appeared on Discord servers weeks before the received official attention. At least 10 documents appeared on the server "Minecraft Earth Map" on March 4, Bellingcat reported. At least 10 such documents were posted in March on a Discord server dedicated to the "Minecraft " video game, Bellingcat investigator Aric Toler reported. Wow_Mao told The New York Times he does not spend much time managing his Discord server but admits he could have moderated it better. The analyst cited conversations with several members of the Discord server, who sent him images of the documents.

☆ Nord Stream mystery: the tanker Minerva Julie spent 7 days idling near the attack site
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Days before the explosions, a tanker called the Minerva Julie was drifting nearby in the Baltic Sea. He discovered that the Minerva Julie, a 600-foot Greek-flagged tanker, was headed east from Rotterdam when, on September 6, it came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the Baltic Sea. From September 6 through September 13, the Minerva Julie drifted near the site of the September 26 explosions, AIS data show. The Minerva Julie stayed there, alternately idling and crossing a roughly 200-square-nautical-mile area above the two natural-gas pipelines, for seven days, from September 6 until September 12. The Minerva Julie, a 600-foot oil and chemical tanker, near the port of Rotterdam in 2020.

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