I wonder if Mexico is paying for it
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It is sad that it has gotten to this.
I know that Presidents need protection but it is unfortunately people do not respect this. It is amazing to think that way before, the White House was pretty much open.
And the recent book I was reading about Lusitania talked about President Wilson going for a ride or walk every evening. He would just take his driver and they would head out.
@taiwan_girl: And Harry Truman at the end of his term walked on out of the White House and up the road to Union Station and got on the train back to Hannibal, just like regular folks.
Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka
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@taiwan_girl: And Harry Truman at the end of his term walked on out of the White House and up the road to Union Station and got on the train back to Hannibal, just like regular folks.
@Catseye3 I think it's still like that for many Congress-folk and supreme court justices. I.e. heads of the other branches of govt.
I was about to say JFK was a tipping point (and it probably was) - but Abe was assassinated as well. I'm guessing folks had a more 'que sera, sera' attitude in earlier generations plus the President probably wasn't as potent of a symbol - an embodiment of the country to some degree - as it is today.
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@taiwan_girl: And Harry Truman at the end of his term walked on out of the White House and up the road to Union Station and got on the train back to Hannibal, just like regular folks.
@Catseye3 said in I wonder if Mexico is paying for it:
@taiwan_girl: And Harry Truman at the end of his term walked on out of the White House and up the road to Union Station and got on the train back to Hannibal, just like regular folks.
We're a long way from 1954.
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Lincoln was skeptical about personal protection, saying there'd be no stopping 'any man who wants to trade his life for mine'.
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@jon-nyc said in I wonder if Mexico is paying for it:
Truman walked across the street to do his own banking too.
And almost got shot while going to work one day (I believe he was living in the Naval Observatory while the White House was being remodeled, though I I may be wrong on that detail).
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@jon-nyc said in I wonder if Mexico is paying for it:
I don't know, the secret service does a pretty good job of preventing even that.
They try, but they can't.
As an exercise in what if, I went through the steps in my head to assassinate a former president. I was in the right building, with a clear shot to where he was speaking. I could have nailed that shot. But it definitely would have been a one-way act, as I wouldn't have made it a mile down the street.
And if idiot me can see how easily this could be done, there are multiple other ways to do it.
If I was on the Presidential detail, I would be in a constant state of fear. Too many nutcases, too hard to protect POTUS completely.
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Jolly - I think it’s a lot easier for someone to find themselves in a spot where they say ‘man if I had a gun now I’d have a good shot’ then to plan ahead and do it.
The secret service limits the amount of foreknowledge you can have about locations, scouts vulnerable spots in advance, and looks for stored weapons.
Obviously it’s not totally impossible, but it hasn’t happened in over half a century and no ones gotten close in almost four decades, but I’m sure that’s not not for lack of trying.
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Jolly - I think it’s a lot easier for someone to find themselves in a spot where they say ‘man if I had a gun now I’d have a good shot’ then to plan ahead and do it.
The secret service limits the amount of foreknowledge you can have about locations, scouts vulnerable spots in advance, and looks for stored weapons.
Obviously it’s not totally impossible, but it hasn’t happened in over half a century and no ones gotten close in almost four decades, but I’m sure that’s not not for lack of trying.
@jon-nyc said in I wonder if Mexico is paying for it:
Jolly - I think it’s a lot easier for someone to find themselves in a spot where they say ‘man if I had a gun now I’d have a good shot’ then to plan ahead and do it.
The secret service limits the amount of foreknowledge you can have about locations, scouts vulnerable spots in advance, and looks for stored weapons.
Obviously it’s not totally impossible, but it hasn’t happened in over half a century and no ones gotten close in almost four decades, but I’m sure that’s not not for lack of trying.
I could have walked down the stairs and out the building to my truck, and had a .270 in my hands in less than two minutes.
Thank God I have no intention of ever doing something so heinous. But as I said, there are nuts out there. Ask Steve Scalise.
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From what I’ve read, when such a spot exists the secret service has it surveilled one way or another.
Again I offer 40 years no shootings as evidence. People haven’t gotten less crazy or less interested in making a name for themselves in that time frame.
I’m just talking about the president of course.
I’m a bit surprised no one’s gone after specific scotus members yet.
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I agree with Jolly. If someone is determine enough, smart enough, has enough money, and able to plan long term, have extreme patience, then it is impossible to protect anyone completely, even I think the President of the US.
Of course, many of the crazy people fortunately are not able to plan long term and are not smart enough to do it. For that i am super glad!!!!
I think Jolly(?) posted something about a sniper from Canada who shot someone from 1.5 km or something crazy like that?
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Saw Clinton at an outdoor event in 1994. I was near the back of the crowd. Reached into my coat pocket to get out a smoke and noticed 2 Agents watching me very carefully with hands on the butts of their weapons.
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Still, if you were willing to die, could you have gotten a shot of two off? Life isn't the movies...It takes a head shot for immediate neutralization.
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Still, if you were willing to die, could you have gotten a shot of two off? Life isn't the movies...It takes a head shot for immediate neutralization.
@Jolly 100 yards with a handgun? Nope, probably not.
