Category: You have to be kidding, right!?!
Donald Trump was rushed to safety by the Secret Service after agents spotted a man with an AK-47 near his golf course and agents opened fire, law enforcement sources said.
The former president was on the links at Trump International Golf Course West Palm Beach at the time, about 2 p.m. on Sunday. The gunman was spotted by an advance team several holes ahead of Trump, the sources told The Post.
It’s not clear whether the man was on the course or near it.
An agent opened fire, shooting multiple times.
The man was later arrested by local police on I-95.
It comes almost exactly two months after Thomas Matthew Crooks shot Trump at a rally in Butler, Pa. on July 13 — wounding him in the ear.
Sen. Lindsey Graham took to X minutes after news of the shooting broke to laud the former president for his fortitude.
“Just spoke with President Trump. He is one of the strongest people I’ve ever known. He’s in good spirits and he is more resolved than ever to save our country.”
President Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity. No further details at this time,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said Sunday afternoon.MEGA
The West Palm Beach course is about five miles inland from Mar-a-Lago, which Trump dubbed the “Winter White House.”
The Secret Service — which came under widespread criticism following the July assassination attempt — wrote on X that it was investigating a “protective incident” involving the former president that occurred shortly before 2 p.m.
The agency said it’s coordinating with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office on the investigation.
Initial reports suggested two people were firing at each other. However, sources said investigators now believe the Secret Service agent was the only shooter.
The man’s motives are not yet known. He was arrested by Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies.
The White House issued a statement soon after the incident: “The President and Vice President have been briefed about the security incident at the Trump International Golf Course, where former President Trump was golfing. They are relieved to know that he is safe. They will be kept regularly updated by their team.”
CNN reported that the gunman fired at Trump, however sources told The Post that the only reported shooter so far is the Secret Service agent.
This is a developing story.
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The Baker family was about to sell their property when a criminal hid in their home. They were not prepared for what came next.
KALISPELL, Mont.—Vicki Baker was ready to close the sale of her house in McKinney, Texas, in July four years ago. She and her new husband were settling into a new home in Montana. Her daughter, Deanna Cook, lived in the McKinney house pending the sale closing.
She said the future seemed as bright and boundless as the view from her Montana mountaintop home.
On July 25, 2020, the sale was canceled, the house had more than $50,000 in damage courtesy of the McKinney Police Department’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, and a fugitive was lying dead in what had been Baker’s master bedroom.
Baker and the public interest law firm Institute for Justice have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her claim that the damage constitutes a taking under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. As such, the city would be obligated to provide Baker just compensation for the damage.
The city of McKinney denies that it owes Baker anything because the police were legally exercising their power while responding to an emergency. McKinney appears to have legal precedent on its side.
“Our appellate counsel will be responding in opposition to Ms. Baker’s request to the Supreme Court to hear an appeal of her case,” Denise Lessard, McKinney’s senior media & public relations manager, wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.
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However, Jeffrey Redfern, who is representing Baker, said the lower courts got it wrong. He said those courts claim to have found exceptions to the takings clause where none are listed.
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He pointed out that when the Fifth Amendment was written, the United States had no professional law enforcement agencies.
“So I think the idea that, you know, James Madison, when he was drafting this would have thought that there was an unwritten sort of secret exception for a type of government officer, that he couldn’t have even imagined yet, is pretty far out there,” he told The Epoch Times.
Redfern said the Supreme Court has consistently ruled that the Constitution requires payment for property damage under the Fifth Amendment’s takings clause.
The takings clause states, “No person shall be … deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
In its petition, the Institute for Justice stated that such compensation should be considered an expense of providing public safety.
“As a society, we pay for police salaries, training, equipment, and the cost of running a criminal justice system. We should also pay for the damage that the police must sometimes inflict on innocent property owners,” the Institute for Justice’s petition reads.
Vicki Baker looks through the almost $60,000 in receipts for repairs she had to make to her house after the 2020 raid by the McKinney Police SWAT team. Michael Clements/The Epoch Times
Redfern said the raid on Baker’s property was just as much a taking as if the city had demolished the house to make way for a road. This concept has been enshrined in Supreme Court decisions as far back as 1871, he said.
“The U.S. Supreme Court recognized in a pretty famous case involving the building of a dam that when the government destroys private property physically, that’s also a taking,” Redfern said.
Baker said her ordeal began when her phone rang on that Saturday afternoon in 2020. She was in Montana when her daughter, Cook, called to tell her that a SWAT team had surrounded the McKinney house.
Baker’s former part-time handyman, Wesley Little, had barricaded himself in the home with a 15-year-old girl. Cook relayed the seriousness of the situation to her mother with an ominous statement.
“She said, ‘Mom, you don’t know how bad this man is,’” Baker told The Epoch Times.
Little released the teen, who told police he was armed and in no mood to surrender. Little told police negotiators the same thing. Eventually, the SWAT team decided to go in after the fugitive.
Before it was over, windows were broken, the garage door was smashed in, and everything in the house—walls, floors, and furniture—was saturated with tear gas.
Little kept his promise not to be taken alive by shooting himself in Baker’s bedroom.
“On my beautiful, beautiful, beautiful bed,” she said.
Baker is not the only Institute for Justice client left holding the bag after a SWAT team raid, according to Redfern.
Carlos Pena has owned and operated NoHo Printing and Graphic Design for more than 30 years. On Aug. 3, 2022, he was in the shop that he had leased in North Hollywood, California, for 13 years when he was confronted by a man running from U.S. Marshals, court records state.
Carlos Pena shows some of the damage done to his business by a Los Angeles SWAT team. Courtesy Institute for Justice
The fugitive knocked him to the ground and then ran into the shop. Stunned, Pena got up as the Marshals ordered him away from the building, according to court records.
“I didn’t realize exactly what was going on,” Pena told The Epoch Times. “I was out of it because you never think that this is going to happen to you.”
The Los Angeles police SWAT team was called to assist. The team raided the business using tactics similar to those used in McKinney.
Pena said that when it was over, his business had holes in the ceiling and walls. There were footprints on some of his equipment, and boxes of supplies were torn open, exposing the contents to tear gas that flooded the building. In court, he claimed that there had been $60,000 in damage.
“I saw all the work of my life thrown away,” Pena said.
The fugitive escaped, court records state.
Pena and Baker contacted their respective insurance companies and city officials for help with repair and cleanup costs.
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Baker’s home insurance provider, which she says was very sympathetic, said there was little she could do other than pay for cleaning up the blood from Little’s suicide. Most homeowner policies don’t cover damage sustained through government action.
The city’s insurance carrier, the Texas Municipal League, sent an Aug. 20, 2020, letter advising that neither the city nor any of its employees were responsible for the damage.
“The officers have immunity while in the scope and course of their job duties. For this reason, we must respectfully deny this claim in its entirety,” Yvonne Cantu, a claims specialist for the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool, wrote in the letter.
Interior damage sustained to Vicki Baker’s house in Texas during the 2020 raid by a SWAT team. Courtesy Deanna Cook
On March 3, 2021, Baker and the Institute for Justice sued the city in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Redfern said that after Judge Amos L. Mazzant denied the city’s request to dismiss Baker’s suit, the city offered her $50,000 to settle.
“Vicki was willing to settle the case, but only if the city adopted a policy to ensure that anyone in Vicki’s situation in the future would also be compensated,” Redfern said. “The city refused.”
Ultimately, Mazzant ordered the city to pay Baker $59,656.65.
The city appealed, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed that ruling on Oct. 11, 2023.
“The city recognized the unique effects on Ms. Baker when it offered her the full amount of her damages. Regrettably, she rejected the city’s offer. However, we are pleased with the Fifth Circuit’s ruling,” Lessard wrote in her email to The Epoch Times.
Redfern agreed that police sometimes must damage property in emergency situations, as the Fifth Circuit court outlined in its ruling. However, he said violence is engaged in to protect society, not just the individual property owner.
“It’s not about wrongdoing [by police] … but what’s the fair way to allocate that [financial] burden? Is that something that society as a whole should bear? Or is it something that we dump on one random, innocent, unlucky homeowner?” Redfern asked.
Pena said that after the raid, he lost the lease on his store, most of his big clients, and almost all of his walk-in business. He now works from his garage doing whatever jobs he can get with second-hand equipment. His wife, who had retired, has gone back to work.
Los Angeles Police Department’s SWAT team and K9 officers prepare to rescue hostages on Dec. 13, 2017. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times
“I’ve lost about 80 percent of my income,” Pena said.
In July 2023, Pena sued the city of Los Angeles over the raid. According to court records, city officials ignored his claims for compensation. In March, the court denied his claims on the basis that the police were engaged in a legitimate law enforcement action.
Pena said he hasn’t decided whether to appeal the ruling.
Ivor Pine, deputy director of communications for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office, declined an interview request.
“We do not comment on pending litigation,” Pine wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.
Pena, like Baker, doesn’t dispute the legitimacy of the police operation.
“The judge denied it, alleging that the SWAT team is immune because they were doing their job. So, in other words, it’s Carlos Pena’s [property], and so he has to pay. It’s ridiculous,” Pena said.
When asked whether he is concerned that a victory in Baker’s case could chill police responses to situations that may result in property damage, Redfern said he expects the opposite effect.
“When we’ve talked to police officers who’ve been involved in these cases, they have generally told us that they were under the impression that the property owner was going to get compensated,” he said.
“I think they would be more likely to hesitate if they knew that they were going to be visiting financial ruin on an innocent septuagenarian retiree who has no idea where she’s going to get the money to fix her house.”
SWAT teams advance through a parking lot after a gunman opened fire at a King Sooper’s grocery store in Boulder, Colo., on March 22, 2021. Chet Strange/Getty Images
Idaho Hunters Survive Grizzly Attack
“It was lifting me off the ground and then slamming me back on the ground,” Hill said. “… It was like playing tug of war with your dog, but he was playing it with my arm and ripping it apart.”
Moments earlier, the bear had charged out of nowhere, dramatically altering a peaceful morning as the two hunters from Rexburg and Menan faced one of the fiercest predators in North America.
Hill dropped his archery bow, pulled a 10mm Springfield from the holster on his hip and shot the bear once in the right side.
“Grizzly bears don’t usually get off their target, but this one did,” Hill said. “This one turned looked right at me, and he’s charging, charging fast.”
The two friends were only about twelve feet apart from each other, and Meyers tripped and fell on the ground.
Hill had time to shoot the bear with three more bullets in the face and shoulder region before its iron jaws clamped down on his arm.
Immediately, the grizzly began to fling Hill around.
Meyers stood up and saw the bear attacking Hill.
He “fumbled around,” pulled out his Taurus 1911 .45 ACP pistol and fired four to five shots at the bear before the gun jammed.
Taurus. Jammed.
“(The bear) just kind of looked up at me, and I saw its eyes, and I just started (shooting),” Meyers said. “It put its head back down, and I shot some more (in the spine), and (that) did the trick.”
During one shot in the barrage, Hill felt the bear’s grip on his arm loosen slightly.
With his one free hand, Hill said he “ripped open that jaw, ripped my arm out, and then I remember I stood up, and I was freaking out. I didn’t know if the bear was coming after me again.”
He grabbed his gun off the ground and fired three more rounds at the grizzly’s head.
In total, the hunters shot 24 bear bullets at the grizzly to bring it down.
Idaho Fish and Game officers conducted a thorough investigation and determined that Hill and Braxton Meyer’s actions were justified.
The two friends learned later that local ranchers had long called that bear the “King of the Hill.”
“This bear has always been a problem up there of cattle, and there’s a lot of farmers that … (are) pretty happy with us because we took out the bear that was eating their cattle,” Hill said.
The bear was 20-years-old, an extraordinarily long life for a grizzly in the wild.
“It was a fighting bear,” Braxton Meyers said. “Another bear or some animal had torn one of its ears off. That was the ear that was facing up the hill, and so it didn’t hear us coming down until we were on the side that had the good ear, and that’s when it got up and come at us.”
The bear had been surprised while it was burrowing in a day bed.
“They’ll dig a hole, and they’ll pull brushes and scrub and whenever to hide them,” Hill said. “So we spooked it, and we weren’t trying to.”
“Magnum P.I.” ran for 162 episodes — 1980 through 1988. Not all episodes had Magnum discharging his Colt MKIV/Series 70 Government Model 1911, but Magnum shot a lot of bad guys with it. I recall this Magnum episode — with Thomas dispensing justice by extinguishing the life of a very bad man.
Although CBS reprised the series, I had no interest in watching it. Tom Selleck is Thomas Magnum. The reality is, if Magnum existed in present-day Oahu and discharged his weapon, even in self-defense, most of the series would have seen Magnum in jail or in court, because he would have been arrested by a bug-eyed police chief who seems to belong in New Zealand, not the USA. In 2024, if you discharge a gun defending yourself or those around you, you will be arrested. At least by this police chief.
The police chief of Honolulu was happy to announce that it didn’t matter if you have “license” to carry a gun and you are defending yourself and, in fact, stop a mass shooting on your own property you will be arrested for murder. A few days ago the following happened:
Three people were killed and two others injured in a shooting at a home stemming from a dispute between neighbors on Saturday night in Waianae, a west Oahu community. The shooter was also fatally shot by a resident, who was arrested on a second-degree murder charge, police said.
Police Chief Arthur Logan (he wants you to call him “Joe”) told the local paper that in the state of Hawaii and in his city, you cannot defend yourself based on “stand your ground” principles. He said:
“In Hawaii, we are a non ‘stand your ground’ state. Even if you have a license to carry, if you’re an individual that discharges a firearm that is involved in injuring another person, … you’re going to be arrested.”
Oh, ok Arthur. The Hawaii Penal Code begs to disagree with Mr. Logan:
§703-304 Use of force in self-protection. (1) Subject to the provisions of this section and of section 703-308, the use of force upon or toward another person is justifiable when the actor believes that such force is immediately necessary for the purpose of protecting himself against the use of unlawful force by the other person on the present occasion.
(2) The use of deadly force is justifiable under this section if the actor believes that deadly force is necessary to protect himself against death, serious bodily injury, kidnapping, rape, or forcible sodomy.
(3) Except as otherwise provided in subsections (4) and (5) of this section, a person employing protective force may estimate the necessity thereof under the circumstances as he believes them to be when the force is used without retreating, surrendering possession, doing any other act which he has no legal duty to do, or abstaining from any lawful action.
Logan had the man arrested although it seems pretty clear that he killed a would-be mass-murderer and was defending himself and others. Logan had the man who stopped a mass-shooting arrested for “second-degree murder.” Logan seems like a man high on his own fumes. The days of “Magnum P.I.” are over. To repeat, “In Hawaii, we are a non ‘stand your ground’ state,” he said. “Even if you have a license to carry, if you’re an individual that discharges a firearm that is involved in injuring another person … you’re going to be arrested.” Arthur will have you handcuffed, perp-walked, booked, photographed for murder. Yes, the man who stopped a mass murder was eventually released, but he will forever be the guy “arrested for murder.”
Nothing like chilling a constitutional right, Arthur.
Short story.
My son had just returned from a deployment in Afghanistan. He and a buddy were with dates. It was 2:00 a.m. They crossed a street midstream and immediately were “lit up” by Honolulu cops for “jaywalking.”
My son was rightfully incensed and asked why he and his buddy were being cited for jaywalking at 2:00 a.m. “It’s dangerous,” replied the overweight cop to the two combat vets. As the cop was writing the citations, two prostitutes jaywalked in front to the cops. My son asked if they were going to cite the women-of-the night for the same thing. The cop just smiled and went back to writing the citations.
I’ve always thought that Hawaii was overrated. I have a choice where to spend my vacation dollars. Hawaii won’t be seeing any.