However, as if strangely prophetic, another common vehicle used in TV and movie westerns was having main and indispensable characters who happened to encounter gunfire to emerge with what were always described as either (1) "flesh wounds" or (2) instances where they were conveniently "just grazed" by stray or intended bullets.
Saturday evening in Butler, Pennsylvania, former President Donald Trump's right ear was, as if by life imitating fifties movie art, just grazed. With a flesh wound. Deduct a little upper ear cartilage and add maybe just a big enough hole for a fashionable men's earring and what do you have? Trump owns a flesh wound on account of being grazed like a fifties TV cowboy.
Of course, no cowboys were involved here, seemingly just a young, all too common 20-year-old dorky loner guy with a past history of being bullied. Was he influenced by Internet morons or activists of some similar ilk? So far nothing shows up, but his phone still requires research. We are told he had explosive devices or materials at home or in his possession? Thomas Matthew Crooks was his name before, according to some, part of his head was blasted into eternity by a Secret Service sniper. Tragic that Crooks' shooting was a little more accurate regarding innocent bystanders among the bleachers crowd, leaving one man dead and two other men badly injured. For a kid who was rejected for his high school rifle team because he allegedly couldn't shoot accurately, it appears he proved the school only partially correct on Saturday, fortunately for President Trump, who seems to have turned his head to the side, getting only a little more than nicked in the bloody nick of time.
Meanwhile, we await the usual suspects in Congress demanding an end to "assault" rifles. They will primarily be Democrats who would confiscate all guns from every American if they could. None of them care that "assault" weapons have been in public hands since the fifties, obviously demonstrating that it's the people, not the guns which have changed over the decades. There is no current fix for brains gone wild among the anonymous.
To entertain the grotesque for a moment, there do exist people who wonder why these shooters spend so much time and expense in advance preparing and prettying up their intentions, only to end up shooting the "wrong people." I guess that might make sense, because it could be argued that there are "right people" whose fateful and deadly encounters with twisted, yet determined gun-wielding lunatics or messaged actors would be of some benefit to society. However, the mere suggestion of such societal gains will never be taken up in conversations with Congress or local law enforcement personnel.
We join the rational world in wishing Mr. Trump well, expressing condolences to family members of the dead, and hoping the best for those wounded. In the meantime, note to adults everywhere: An uncomfortable number of your kids have gone bonkers.
What of the Secret Service? Failures aplenty seem disturbingly routine everywhere in a government administered by the Biden gang, and the very chief of the Secret Service may be a lady hired because of DEI standards. DEI, by the way, is nearly destined to fall apart, as it should.
An additional word to the Biden gang: While this is not the time for partisan politics (well, according to some), we do hope you'll all take another look at your original decision NOT to provide Secret Service protection to RFK, Jr. Obviously, the implications of such ill-advised, politically driven decisions should now become crystal-clear.
And regarding President Biden's urgent (??) Sunday evening TV address: Was this intended to send a message about unity, or by including an obligatory mention of January 6 was this a mini-campaign speech for Democrats? Strange they would offer this brief appearance, since Biden's televised words on Saturday following the shootings would seem to have covered everything.
From my point of view, the toxicity of DEI and Internet lies on impressionable young minds is not irrelevant. The solution could involve better parenting and a return to basic education in schools and colleges, not Internet censorship. High among questions is the bearing outrageous anti-Trump lies may have exerted upon the young shooter.
The thing about Saturday's tragedy is, the attempted assassination of a President wasn't carried out by some shady terrorist network's members. History may record that the whole thing was planned and accomplished by some geeky or nerdish-appearing all-American boyish-looking man who, for all appearances, appeared every bit the kind who used to get a certificate of achievement from the chamber of commerce for doing good deeds in his community like saving kittens trapped in a well. Again, we are infamously deceived.
