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The power of imagery. – politicalbetting.com

The Trump campaign has a great deal of thanks to give to Evan Vucci. For it is he that has taken what will be the defining photo of the 2024 US election.
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I have a photo of the actual assassination attemptt. Robert Peston has confirmed the provenance of the photograph.
"My God, that photo, made me want to vote for him"
Given that he lives in Truro, Cornwall this should not unduly influence the US elex - he hasn't got a vote; but I thought it was an interesting reaction. And it supports your thesis
TSE quotes Robert Peston as a reliable source.
And Leon has an odd friend in Cornwall!
To what is this site coming?
But as with many things when these issues are involved no easy answers.
Worth saying that Short Brothers next door has similar issues, Airbus has "bought" it from Boeing but the vast majority of it's production is for none Airbus products and they don't want those parts and seemingly nor does Bombardier.
Actually, given the number of photographers at the event, the ability of current digital cameras to take 15 shots per second, and the fact the the backdrop for the stage was staged with lots of US flags in it, it would have been surprising had no one come up with such a compelling image.
The famous image was taken later that afternoon. It was not staged specifically for the photograph as some claimed (there is film of it that proves this) but neither was it the original flag raising in the immediate aftermath of combat.
ON topic, what surprises me is how willing liberal media are to use this image. The NYT has it plastered everywhere, page 1. 2, 3 and on. Endless
They must know it is very powerful and already iconic and is great for Trump. Nonetheless they use it constantly, so that suggests it is SUCH a good photo the political disbenefits are outweighed by its catnip quality for readers
Forgemasters' solution - like the Tories
After all, the rational response to the weekend's events is to say, very loudly, "too many people have too many guns in America, and it isn't making the country safer". And I don't hear anyone who wants to be elected saying that.
No one can even hint at the absurd notion that Trump dodged the draft with a spurious justification. Anyway, everyone knows heel spurs are a debilitating condition.
He's proved he's a big boy now!
Whatever government decides, paying the owners a large dividend is going to make funding any solution more difficult, not easier.
What's the timescale for building those two if they were to be given the go ahead this year ?
94k jobs in Scotland 220k in UK. Most jobs are in the supply chain rather than direct.
https://fullfact.org/economy/sunak-scotland-oil-jobs/
https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/donald-trump-rally-shooting-latest-news-assassination-attempt-thomas-matthew-crooks-hnrb6xjvr
Yes it was very expensive but most of that was the civil engineering works which would have lasted a century or more (far more if maintained well).
That is the sort of thing Labour will have to overcome - and fast - if they are going to suceed with actions their good intentions with words.
"Having senior WH staff repeatedly use the phrase “big boy press conference” on purpose, again and again can only be sabotage from within designed to purposely make Biden look terrible.
Who wrote that line?"
https://x.com/brucefenton/status/1811474347447521708
It tells neither supporters nor opponents anything they didn't know yesterday or last week. It will no doubt be parodied to death which might be entertaining but heroic it is not! My favourite so far is the bandaged Van Gogh!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Oxsboy05Dk
Here's the continuous video for the 2 minutes from the first shot to the ambulance departure,
00:53 "SHOOTER'S DOWN." Multiple times repeated.
1:25 Trump steps out of his security guard shelter and does his raised fist gesture.
https://youtu.be/LAk6dXEzIUo?t=50
These numbers are pretty well known because of the experience of previous downturns.
Realistically I would assume that the 40K direct jobs are at risk and a reasonable proportion of the 100K directly supporting jobs. I don't know how you could or should quantify the 80K jobs which might be affected by a regional downturn.
So whilst there are more than 200,000 jobs in the UK being supported by the O&G sector, not all of those would be at risk. Maybe half of them? But that would depend a lot on the wider economy.
"No risk" is an after the fact judgment.
If we are not to regress to the 19th Century or earlier, then with current scientific knowledge and technology we have to be destructive of some environments.
No one ever wants it to be their local one though.
Although things like migrating fish getting past a dam assume someone has come up with some solution. A chain of weirs bypassing the dam perhaps?
And I don't think a forced decision on this shipyard is particularly dispositive on the issue,
You're right about the risks of administration, but there are no perfect, or even good solutions here. There's considerable risk involved if it were to be bailed out.
No one had any idea if there were more shooters. The working assumption is that there are - so you shuffle away the target ASAFP
It was trumps choice to ignore that and stand up so he could look defiant and tough - and it worked - political instinct at its sharpest there
It wouldn’t have looked quite so good if a 2nd shooter had taken him out as he shook his fist with defiance
What is the purpose of liberalism?
Why we oppose political violence
https://www.infinitescroll.us/p/what-is-the-purpose-of-liberalism
And as a general note, if you are in an absolutely terrifying situation like that your brain is going to be going haywire and throwing up all sorts of weird responses. I did particularly note Trump asking about his shoes because that to me is really indicative of the brain stress response in moments like that - you can start focussing on weird minutiae rather than the bigger picture.
(Happily revisionist historians have suggested it was fake so perhaps the soldier still walks amongst us and the photographer's still famous)
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20131022-robert-capa-photo-warrior
Swansea obvs isn't going to balance that, but other projects might.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/14/media/msnbc-morning-joe-pulled-trump-assassination/index.html
A person familiar with the matter told CNN that the decision was made to avoid a scenario in which one of the show’s stable of two dozen-plus guests might make an inappropriate comment on live television that could be used to assail the program and network as a whole.
The 'heroic' image as discussed. Personally I think he looks a bit of a bellend there but there will be those who are stirred by it. It adds something to his brand which was previously missing. Physical courage. Up to now he's tended to come across as what he is - flabby, vain and cowardly. It's the vanity that has driven this response/photo but it can look like courage. To some it will.
It throttles the DEM's main line of attack - the warning that he's a threat to democracy and the constitution. This charge, although entirely justified, can now be painted as a demonisation exercise that has led to him almost being murdered. It provides the GOP with their own iconic date (13th July) to play against the DEM's Jan 6th. There's no equivalence, Jan 6th was instigated by Trump and perpetrated by his followers, whereas July 13th was a lone nutcase and zero to do with Biden, but this will only matter to people who can think properly. Plenty can't.
Finally, icing on the cake, it likely cements Joe Biden in place as the DEM candidate, gifting Trump with an opponent too frail to campaign effectively and clearly too frail to serve a second term.
So, all told, the catastrophic prospect of Trump2 has been rendered more likely by this dreadful event. Thank you, Thomas Matthew Crooks, thanks a bunch.
Thatcher knew that we had to close the coal mines, which also saw decent and hardworking people out of work, more than 200,000 of them. We can do better than Thatcher by supporting the transition better.
Brilliant.
Not sure where your 100K O&G jobs comes from, but you get many more jobs from renewables (including wave).
Even if you want to 'protect' these 100K jobs, doubling down on this amount of fossil fuel investment - subsidised, foreign-owned, sunset industry - is suicidal both economically and environmentally, no?
Secondly there is no transition plan that I can see. Perhaps you know different ?
Hope I've got the maths right there...
(1): https://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/swansea-bay-tidal-lagoon-what-11999320
If he's an American Hitler then why is assassination a step too far? They can't distance themselves from their own rhetoric without revealing that they don't really believe it and never have done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADgQZwuPyt4
A few years ago, there were similar problems in a prison in Baltimore, Maryland. A state senator suggested replacing women guards with ugly men in men's prisons. (As the state senator was an older black woman, she could get away with saying something commonsensical like that.) I don't think the state followed her advice.)
A judge threw out another case earlier to add to his momentum.
He looks unstoppable now frankly, but my view is that he won anyway on the evening Biden did debate and showed everyone he was too old to govern any longer.
No person who believed sincerely in minimising carbon emissions, as opposed to being on a sociopathic mission to destroy Britain's economy, would welcome this sort of move.
Let us see how the land lies by the Dem Convention. Although that probably means another month of Leon spamming the site with his ejaculations over the Presidential Election.
You can even hear Trump saying "Wait! Wait!" at 1:23 here:
https://youtu.be/LAk6dXEzIUo?t=81
"Shooter down" repeated multiple times is pretty conclusive.
When he gets to the edge of the stage, he stops them again to pose and wave to the crowd.
It's pure vibes but they're clearly very positive for him.
Ignoring the hysterical hyperbole, those 12 jobs to be set against the literally thousands of new jobs, investment returns and export potential of leading on renewables and transitioning away from fossil fuels.
(All the Rosebank oil will be exported incidentally. Ebbs and flows of oil stocks plus different grades of crude)
But he didn't. He stopped his security taking him away immediately.
It's very different as to how the Reagan assassination attempt was handled in 1982 - Reagan was just bundled straight into the car.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Jid5uRFo4
"We don't have a plan so let's not change anything?"
Wow.
TR did it because he thought it his BIG opportunity to win re-election.
DJT's motivation, which led to The Picture, may have been similar, and also instinctive (ditto Teddy).
One is that, at the moment, there is still the oppotunity to stop Trump by democratic means, and that is definitely better.
The other is that labelling Trump as an American Hitler is to miss the point. I doubt that Trump has much of a plan beyond saying "I'm the WINNER" for the next four years. Big chair in the big office. What should worry anyone concerned with democracy is the Project 2025 types who are using him as a figurehead. Last time they stuffed the Supreme Court, and I don't think anyone is denying the P2025 ambitions for another Trump term.
Which makes DJT not so much an American Hitler as an American Quisling.
The numbers for July are now Biden 44% Trump 42% and Kennedy 10% and Stein 1% and West 1% post debate.
The numbers for June taken before the debate were Biden 42% Trump 41%, Kennedy 10%, Stein 1% and West 1%.
So if anything Biden has actually increased his lead by 1% net. Nobody is going to change their mind on what 1 Florida judge thought on Trump's confidential docs case which the prosecution will appeal anyway.
I doubt any Independents will change their mind over Trump's getting a grazed ear from the poor shooting of an incel before he was eliminated by the Secret Service either.
I expect Trump to take the lead after his convention and VP pick though as is normal but Biden will then claw that back after his convention in turn
https://conservativehome.com/2024/07/15/lord-ashcroft-my-latest-poll-finds-expectations-of-a-trump-victory-strengthening-amongst-us-voters/#:~:text=Across the three surveys, we,age group up to 44.
Bizarrely then instead have decided to argue with an idiot who has dragged them don to his level and is now beating them on experience..
We are, across the political spectrum and from sea to shining sea, in a state of shock after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
Shock is NOT as profound as in 1963 (John F Kennedy) or 1968 (Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert F Kennedy, Sr) or even in 1981(Ronald Reagan). More like unsuccessful attempted assassinations in 1933 (Franklin D Roosevelt) and 1975 (Gerald Ford).
HOWEVER think the attack on DJT is more shocking because it's been a generation (at least) since the last attempt against a President, former President or Presidential candidate.
NOT surprising, perhaps. But that does not take away the shock - if anything makes it worse.
https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/jGKWHzuoZdoQTXPT/
In case of Ronald Reagan in 1981 the Secret Service was right there, as with Donald Trump this Saturday. Major difference was that RR was physically in no shape to do what DJT did.
Years of underinvestment and lack of political direction are being blamed for the state of the German railways, which have in recent years been beset by a massive increase in breakdowns, delays, cancellations and other major technical mishaps and led to unflattering comparisons with infrastructure in the developing world.
Deutsche Bahn, the national railway company of Germany, a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government, has also become the butt of international jokes at the Euro 2024 football championships.
Over the four-week tournament, football fans from England to Georgia discovered often to their surprise just how unreliable the trains were. “If it wasn’t already clear, the [experience during the] Euros showed just what a problem Deutsche Bahn has with reliability and punctuality,” wrote Die Zeit on Monday.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/15/germany-close-key-rail-corridor-overhaul-train-network-deutsche-bahn
Yet we've been continually told that nationalised railways are so much better.