Ukrainian military officials say their troops are increasingly capturing severely but not freshly wounded Russian soldiers on the battlefield in what the Telegraph describes as “meat wave” attacks meant to put otherwise defective Kremlin assets to use and that it’s “normal practice” for Ukrainians to see the enemy limping onto the fight, even on crutches. UK intel sources estimate in just the last two months the Russians have suffered as many as 1,000 dead per day.

“Although this new approach has increased the pressure on the frontline, an effective Ukrainian defence and a lack of Russian training reduces Russia’s ability to exploit any tactical successes, despite attempting to stretch the front line further,” the UK Ministry of Defense wrote.

A saddened Lindsey Graham was not in the mood to address NBC’s Kristen Welker’s questions about the unhinged tweets by Senator JD Vance and Georgia MAGA Congressman Mike Collins directly blaming Joe Biden for the failed assassination attempt on convicted felon former President Trump on Saturday night. Vance had tweeted “Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination,” while Collins wrote “Joe Biden sent the orders” while quote-tweeting a right wing media asshole Steve Guest pointing out that Biden had said it was time to put a bullseye on Trump.

Law enforcement in Butler, Pennsylvania have found explosives in the vehicle driven by would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks to Saturday night’s MAGA rally, the Wall Street Journal reports.

And maybe the media giving oxygen to all the shit about how “Democrats’ rhetoric caused this” might want to dig this up to remind people that in his first campaign the now-convicted felon came a hell of a lot closer to suggesting his opponent be shot than Joe Biden ever did with “it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye” a few days ago during a private call to donors. Maybe this was much more the kind of violence-charged political rhetoric that an unhinged 20 year-old with an AR-15 would respond to than accurately calling the fat bastard the singular threat to Democracy he is.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, no stranger himself to nearly being murdered by unhinged Republican voters, issued an updated statement Sunday morning following the assassination attempt on convicted felon former President Trump in Pennsylvania, writing “Karen and I thank God that President Trump is safe and recovering following yesterday’s attempted assassination and are grateful for the swift response by Secret Service that undoubtedly saved lives. We are praying for his full recovery and for those lost and injured in this horrific attack. There is no place in America for political violence and it must be universally condemned,” ABC News reports.

This is Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.

Instead of focusing on keeping our leaders like Trump safe, she’s more worried about diversity and hiring more women.

She should be fired and investigated immediately.

This is a national security risk.pic.twitter.com/baF4nhaI5h

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 14, 2024

A 20-year-old registered Republican named Thomas Matthew Crooks has been identified as the gunman who shot into a Trump rally Saturday evening, slicing the earlobe of Republican martyr and presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump, killing one spectator and wounding another.

From Bethel Park, a suburban Pittsburgh community about 40 miles from the shooting sight, Crooks’s background matches that of many people who commit violent public acts:  he was quiet and unassuming.

A 2022 high school graduate, he was recognized with a “star award” and a $500 prize for achievement in math and science during his senior year.  The upcoming election would have been the first national contest Crooks was eligible to vote in, although he did make a $15 contribution to the Progressive Turnout Project, a voter registration effort, in 2021 when he was 17. 

One day after getting cut by a piece of flying metal, presumptive Republican presidential candidate and released another statement that fails to call for all Americans to unite and instead seems to focus more on his cult members and how they’re the ones to “show our True Character as Americans”:

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening. We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness. Our love goes out to the other victims and their families. We pray for the recovery of those who were wounded, and hold in our hearts the memory of the citizen who was so horribly killed. In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win. I truly love our Country, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin. 🙏 DJT

Five senior law enforcement agents have a tentative identification of the shooter, a Pennsylvania man approximately 20 years old who is from the area around Butler, Pennsylvania, where the shooting took place, NBC News reports.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, whose Justice Department will oversee the investigation into the security failings that led to an ear miss in an assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, released a statement Republicans will say provides cover to the Deep State operatives Jamie Comer will claim conducted the attack:

I have been briefed on the shooting at former President Trump’s rally, and have briefed the President. The FBI, ATF, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and the Department’s National Security Division are currently working with the Secret Service as well as state and local law enforcement partners on the ground in Butler, Pennsylvania.

My heart is with the former President, those injured, and the family of the spectator killed in this horrific attack.

We will not tolerate violence of any kind, and violence like this is an attack on our democracy. The Justice Department will bring every available resource to bear to this investigation.

In the wake of an attempted assassination nicking the ear of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, House Oversight Committee chair Jamie Comer finally found a legitimate reason to hold a hearing, calling for the director of the Secret Service to testify, per Chad Pergram of Fox News.

After expressing the expected shock and horror at the attack, Comer told Pergam, “I have already contacted the Secret Service for a briefing and am also calling on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear for a hearing. The Oversight Committee will send a formal invitation soon.”

Hours after getting a cut ear and at least one fewer vote during a Pennsylvania rally where a gunman attempted to assassinate Donald Trump but ended up killing one spectator and wounding another, Trump took to his failing social media platform to post the following likely written by an aide:

I want to thank The United States Secret Service, and all of Law Enforcement, for their rapid response on the shooting that just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania. Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the Rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured. It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country. Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead. I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

President Joe Biden reacts to the assassination attempt against presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 13th, 2024. Biden said there is no place in America and American politics for violence.  (Note that is from someone in the room as it was being broadcast, not from the broadcast itself, so audio is premium.)

Video of the live rally from Donald Trump’s rally in Pennyslvania show Trump glance to his right before grabbing the right side of his face, with Secret Service rushing the stage.  After speaking for around five minutes, Trump dove onto the stage and was covered by Secret Service agents, who surrounded Trump as he raised a fist.

A photo on the Washington Post website, taken from an off-stage-left angle shows blood on the right side of Trump’s head, apparently coming from his ear.

UPDATE 8:18 p.m. BIDEN STATEMENT SUMMARY: Biden says he’s been “thoroughly briefed.” says he tried to get ahold of doctors. “There’s no place in America for htis kind of violence. It’s sick. It’s sick. …. We cannot condone this. … The Trump rally should have been completed without any problem. … Everybody must condemn it. Everybody.” Asked if this was an assassination attempt, Biden said he did not have enough information to make that determination.

It looks like the fat bastard took a shot to the ear, based on video and that he was bleeding as Secret Service escorted him off the stage. Details still sketchy, stay tuned.

Fitness celebrity Richard Simmons has sweated to his last oldie as TMZ reports the late 20th century VHS aerobics icon has died at 76, just days after his birthday.

It’s going to be difficult to capture the women’s vote for presumptive Republican presidential nominee and adjudicated rapist Donald Trump when every female in his family won’t publicly endorse his campaign.  But that’s what’s going to happen at next week’s Republican National Convention as none of the women in Trump’s family are scheduled to give a keynote speech, per WPVI ABC 6 in Philadelphia.

While Lara Trump is expected to speak as RNC co-chair, Trump’s wife and two daughter will not take the microphone:  unlike 2020, Melania, Ivanka and Tiffany will not address the crowd.  The only other women on the list:  Georgia Congresswoman and missing link Marjorie Taylor Greene; rapper Amber Rose; reality television character Savannah Chrisley; and billionaire widow of a construction mogel (and former television producer) Diane Hendricks.  Cultist Alina Habba, Oedipal replacement Kimberly Giulfoyle, and tradwife Katie Britt, join a half dozen female sycophants from Trump’s only term in office or Congress.  Former primary opponent Nikki Haley is absent.

The four possible VP nominees–Senators Marco Rubio (FL), JD Vance (OH) and Tim Scott (SC) as well as North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum–are all on the slate.  Tucker Carlson, Lee Greenwood, Matt Gaetz, Byron Donalds join Franklin Graham, Charlie Kirk and Vivek Ramaswamy in promoting family values as they nominate the rapist.  And convict Peter Navarro, scheduled to be released from federal prison on Wednesday, is listed as a speaker.

Mexican man charged with killing two children in Wisconsin is in US illegally https://t.co/7LeQcYbFoz

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 13, 2024

You can kind of tell right away that, since there are no photos of the victims in the Fox News tweet that they aren’t white. How else are they going to provoke outrage from their perpetually aggrieved fans who need their daily fix? If you click on the article itself you may or may not notice the “Local media reported that the victims are the suspect’s wife and children” in the sub-headline, but if not then it’s buried in the fourth paragraph, under his mugshot, that “According to WQOW, the victims are Gomez-Acosta’s wife and daughters.” So the tweet could have just said “Mexican man charged with killing his two children in Wisconsin is in US illegally,” but they obviously chose not to.

Convicted felon former President Trump was irritated for obvious reasons Friday night after the House Appropriations Committee failed to advance an amendment defunding Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutions, posting “Just heard from Great Congressman Andrew Clyde of Georgia that the Amendment to Defund the Prosecution of a Presidential Candidate prior to November’s Election did not pass, 26-25 – It lost by only one vote, because one Republican, Mike Simpson of Idaho, stupidly voted NO, and two ‘Republicans,’ David Valadao of California and Dan Newhouse of Washington, the only two remaining Impeachers in the House of President Donald J Trump, didn’t show up to vote. They must have had more important things to do. Also, Mike Garcia of California, David Joyce of Ohio, and Juan Ciscomani of Arizona, didn’t show up to vote.”

“Thanks very much, fellas, for your great support!” Donald added at the end, plainly sarcastic.

Thing is, if this was so important to Trump – important enough to shitpost about it – you would think that maaaaybe he would have been staying on top of the markup hearing and not just finding out from some asshole MAGA Congressman three days later since the vote was on Tuesday.

Five visitors to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming escaped serious injury after their SUV plunged into a volcanic pond Thursday, the National Park Service said in a press release. The truck was traveling on a park road between Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Junction when for whatever reason the driver lost control and rolled into the Semi-Centennial Geyser, an inactive thermal fountain that hasn’t erupted since the 1990s, but is now a pond at least nine feet deep.

All five occupants were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after getting drenched in acidic water as hot as 105° Fahrenheit. The SUV itself was beyond totaled and it took two hours for divers to hitch it up to be towed out by a wrecker. Worse things have happened at Yellowstone.