Here's this morning's article: "Suspected Gunman Said He Was Willing to Fight and Die in Ukraine/Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, told The New York Times in 2023 that he had traveled to Ukraine and wanted to recruit Afghan soldiers to fight there" (NYT). Excerpt:
Mr. Routh, who had no military experience, said he had traveled to the country after Russia’s invasion and wanted to recruit Afghan soldiers to fight there. In a telephone interview with The New York Times in 2023, when Mr. Routh was in Washington, he spoke with the self-assuredness of a seasoned diplomat who thought his plans to support Ukraine’s war effort were sure to succeed. But he appeared to have little patience for anyone who got in his way. When an American foreign fighter seemed to talk down to him in a Facebook message he shared with The New York Times, Mr. Routh said, “he needs to be shot.”
In the interview, Mr. Routh said he was in Washington to meet with the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, known as the Helsinki Commission “for two hours” to help push for more support for Ukraine. The commission is led by members of Congress and staffed by congressional aides. It is influential on matters of democracy and security and has been vocal in supporting Ukraine.
He said he was meeting with the Commission? Was he?
Mr. Routh also said he was seeking recruits for Ukraine from among Afghan soldiers who had fled the Taliban. He said he planned to move them, in some cases illegally, from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine. He said dozens had expressed interest.
Again, things he said. Was that fact-checked in 2023? What I'm seeing in the old article is: "It is not clear whether he has succeeded [in recruiting Afghan soldiers], but one former Afghan soldier said he had been contacted and was interested in fighting if it meant leaving Iran, where he was living illegally."
I want to know more about Routh's connections and activities.
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239 comments:
1 – 200 of 239 Newer› Newest»Weirdos used to be just weird. Now they shoot up a school or try and kill a politician.
We must not jump to conclusions until J.D. Vance tweets which Democrats are to blame.
He’s CIA.
Does he speak Pushtun?
See-Eye-Eh
Biden is expected to announce this week that the CIA puppet government in Ukraine will be given the green light to launch U.S. made long-range missiles, targeting Russian cities, and risking nuclear war. Duck and cover! I know nothing about Routh, but I’ve long suspected that U.S. soldiers disguised as mercenaries are fighting in Ukraine.
Vance doesn’t need to tweet, he talks directly to the lefty media and puts them to shame. What a concept, eh Concept?
Elon Musk used this to complain that "And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala"
Perhaps 'Mr Free Speech' should stop wishing someone shoot Presidential candidates. Emphasizes the cesspool he has turned that site into quite well, though.
I am sure the advertisers who left will now be convinced to return.
"I want to know more about Routh's connections and activities."
CIA cutout. How does one go about getting a Visa to visit the Ukraine without the involvement and approval of the federal government?
Newsweek interviewed him.
NYTimes interviewed him.
Times of India has a great story on his background in various conflicts.
OpenSecrets has his history of ActBlue donations.
This guy has already been thoroughly investigated. We know exactly who he is and what his motive was and who he was working for.
He was raising a mercenary army for the CIA and Harris-backed undeclared war against Russia. Every international reporter in the media knows this guy. He's been everywhere the CIA is.
The only remaining question is how they'll cover it all up.
This is a completely insane post, Mark. You are following the lunatic Democrat strategy of blaming Trump for his own murder. Take a deep breath and consider how psychotic you’ve become.
Althouse misstates the make-up of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
It is not staff of Congress. It is members of Congress:
"Nine Members of the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives."
"Nine Members of the Senate appointed by the President of the Senate."
I want to know if he knows Alexander Vindman. Has he ever met Max Boot?
What a handy list of suspects!
"I want to know more about Routh's connections and activities."
Well...now that the FBI is in charge, you'll never actually know his deep background. They may end up 'leaking' to some press member (David Ignatius?) that he once attended a rally for some conservative group and let that thread run its own course.
I don't disagree with Mr. Begley. Does he speak Pushtun? Again, we'll never know.
But I find it interesting that we've had two attempts on Donald Trump (that we know of) in a matter of weeks. And our press is already treating it as (a) Old News, as if this is something akin to reporting on Kamala speaking to a room of 3rd graders (or was it a room of Democrat supporters?), or (b) Trump's fault because, well...he's Trump.
It is absolutely the height of obtuseness when your networks and press spend their days- for years now- creating this story that Trump represents evil, the end of women, the end of Black people, the end of trans and gay people, the end of Jews the end of the ability to kill babies, the end of, well...the planet, and of course, the end of Democracy- and then call it his fault when people try to take him out.
The CIA has recruited some very fine people (Thomas Crooks, Ryan Routh). I have to believe there are millions more on the edge just like these guys. Recruited or not, they are out there. And, well...MSNBC has a lot of work to do.
Asshole Mark and a few others need their own personal “community notes”.
Vindman's wife was out immediately with a snarky tweet lamenting that Trump survived the attack.
Sounds like he “claimed” several clear violations of US and international law including human trafficking. Like Hodgson, the guy who tried to assasinate Republicans at baseball practice and severely wounded Rep. Scalise, this creep and NYT “hero” is a Bernie Bro. His son said “he hates Trump like all rational people” and claimed his dad had never before fired a gun. How much more hateful eliminationist rhetoric must we endure from Harris and Biden and other Democrats before the Media says anything? They caused this. They set the table with their tone and overheated rhetoric. Dana Bash just yesterday told Vance he was responsible for bomb threats in Springfield because he voiced his constituents concerns. When will anyone to the Left of center step up to calm their side and reign in their murderous followers?
So, a Secret Service guy shot at a CIA guy?
That NYT article is a classic. They were interviewing an obvious lunatic but quoted him anyway.
Does any of this raise questions about the quality of the journalism we are getting about Ukraine?
Takes Musk out of context. Bad faith interpretation. Victim shaming. Mark hit the Lefty media trifecta. Bravo performance asshole!
“Bearclaw” Vindman and his fat, mudskipper of a wife can’t get lost fast enough.
And missed. How on-brand for the USDEISS
Revenge for Dealy Plaza where a CIA guy shot at a bunch of Secret Service guys.
Ok, Mike, explain how the context.
It's worth noting that he deleted the post later after calling it a joke. Because jokes about assassination are funny as MJB regularly argues here.
An obvious lunatic? Who got US State Department clearance to travel back and forth to the Ukraine, while he was advertising in US media his work raising a mercenary army to support the US-backed Ukrainians.
How does the international desk at the NYTimes get put on to a guy like that?
Fine point
Mark, you’re so demented that you’ve twisted the meaning of that quote, which is clearly to state that the violence is all being perpetrated by your side. Examine your conscience, if you’re not too mentally ill to do so.
It was in poor taste, as some of Musk’s tweets are, but he was getting at the real issue in a way clowns and cowards like you never will—Democratic rhetoric drives the violence.
Leftie call to action plus personal political compulsion obsession and you get this. He's about two action steps ahead of the leftie posters here though he sounds only as crazy as typical leftie poster here...and isn't this how citizen political activist groups like weather underground offshoots and our government dark agencies get their work done? Plant the seed and nurture for someone who meets the personality criteria to take action? This isn't new or novel..
Kamala joking about killing Trump on the Ellen show.
https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1835456657456804163
“I want to know more about Routh's connections and activities.”
The State of Florida is on the case. But to grease the skids, Routh is like a good many other progressive Democrats:
Deluded, a fervent need to see themselves as heroic, messianic, ethically and morally challenged and untethered from reality.
Apparently a unit of American mercenaries headed to Ukraine rejected him for being an obvious nut job. He has a photo he took of the guy, he says that nobody took facial photos for OpSec reasons.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1835468974890381401.html
If it wasn’t for the person who got the license plate, he probably gets away.
If Harris had any moral code, she would thoroughly denounce these assassination attempts and even the consideration of them. She should be publicly repentant regarding previous “threat to democracy” talk. If anything happens to Trump, it’ll be totally on her and Biden and Obama.
Let's just cut to the chase. Motive unknown, ongoing investigation, but wuddabout, pool on the guys expire date in custody.
Her remarks yesterday were and are completely inadequate, especially for someone vying to be President.
That’s millions more on the edge who want to kill Trump. If Trump is Hitler like the Left says, shouldn’t he be stopped by any means necessary? Stealing votes is not enough, right?
I had to look up mudskipper. LOL
Would a CIA operative be this incompetent?
...and that's indicative of the schism commenters here see while major swaths of the electorate don't. Supposedly rational actors in highest level of government embrace the radical activist mindset...
Have you ever seen the results of CIA meddling? They practically *specialize* in incompetence.
Yes, Guitar Joe, the CIA has uses for incompetent people too, though he may just be an unconnected nut. But plausible deniability when an agent is also a nut is useful too. For the most successful of such inexplicable nuts, see Lyndon LaRouche. I also firmly believe, based on years of research, that Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, and probably Jeff Jones and Eleanor Raskin-Jones, also dropped a dime on their fellow Weathermen/BLA compatriots to avoid prison time, which makes their 8-year constant involvement with Barack and Michelle Obama even more suspect.
The one friend I'm sure is a CIA operative is entirely insane. Multi-lingual, has just the right academic connections and vitae. Very intelligent, has achieved substantial television notoriety, but very unstable.
In any case, still no MSM reporting, which is even more disturbing.
The CIA speculation is meant as a joke, right? No one genuinely believes that the CIA is so powerful that it can stage coups and destroy all evidence of its activity, but simultaneously so incompetent that it has to set up assassinations by recruiting crazy people who can't shoot and leaving just enough breadcrumbs for Mr. Average Internet to follow their trail, right?
The shooter looks like a hammered Peter O'Toole.
And isn't it ironic that just yesterday the Mail dropped the story of how much more RFK and JFK were involved in Marilyn Monroe's death, then it was carwfully wormholed by intelligence agencies? So I guess we might find out about this guy in 65 years or so.
Tom T.
That was sarcasm, correct?
It is hard to tell these days.
The evidence of the CIA coup in Ukraine in 2014 is all over the place, cited frequently by RJK, Jr and Victor Davis Hanson, among others, and decisively proven by Victorian Nuland’s own communications. They didn’t bother to destroy the evidence.
Here's this morning's article: "Suspected Gunman Said He Was Willing to Fight and Die in Ukraine …”
But you notice that he never actually left the US of A.
Buckley who briefly worked with the agency 'the evidence of such an operation was the target was not killed' gallows humor
Routh was attempting to recruit Afghan mercenaries to join the International Legion, but seems to have been an utter failure at that. Although he tweeted about having recruited a thousand or more, the only hint of success in the real world was that he was in contact with one Afghan trying to get out of Iran, who would probably have stiffed him on the mercenary thing if he had managed to get out of Iran.
Of course, the International Legion are not in fact mercenaries. Words have meanings, and mercenaries are soldiers who will fight for either side if the money is right. There are plenty of mercenaries fighting in Ukraine - Somalis, Nepalis, and citizens of a couple dozen other Third World shitholes - but they're all fighting for Russia.
Foreigners fighting for Ukraine are paid the same as the Ukrainian armed forces: $500 a month, last I heard. No American is going to risk his life for less than half of the national minimum wage. Americans and others in the International Legion are there because they love Ukraine, or hate Russia, or both. (Total numbers are classified, but the nationality with the largest number killed so far is Georgians: they're surely motivated by the desire to kill Russians in the short run, and to get experience for the liberation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the long run.) Anyone who calls the International Legion 'mercenaries' is a liar or a fool.
A shorter list would be which democrats not to blame.
Peter O'Toole was hammered pretty much of the time.
Well I interpreted Musk’s remarks as a comment on the basic rationality and willingness to abide by the of the people right of center. For all our guns, there have been no assassination attempts against Harris, Walz, or before them Biden, Obama, and the Clintons. Is that maybe because, unlike your average Democrat, we are not evil criminals at heart?
There is only one group of warmongers that is more delusional and gullible than Harris supporters.
'tim in vermont' repeats a lie I have corrected half a dozen times when he said it before. Mercenaries fight for money, as the very name implies (it's etymologically related to 'merchant', 'merchandise', and 'mercantile'). Members of the International Legion are paid the same as Ukrainian soldiers: $500 a month, I believe, which is less than half the minimum wage. No one risks death for that kind of money. They're there because they love Ukraine, or hate Russia. Will 'tim' ignore the facts and repeat his lie in the next week or two? All signs point to 'yes'.
No ayers was saved by mark felts sloppy breakins chronicled in media pennsylvania
If his rap sheet is 50 pages long, then what is his incarceration record? For this many arrests, the man has received a remarkable list of probationary sentences. Until we have more evidence, I'm guessing the guy is bi-polar or some other form of walking-around crazy.
I want to know more about Routh's connections and activities.
“The Hawaii man suspected in former President Donald Trump’s assassination attempt on Sunday is a long-time Democrat, donating exclusively to the party’s candidates 19 times since 2019, records show. Between September 2019 and March 2020, Ryan Routh contributed more than $140 on the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show. The filings indicate he lived in Kaaawa, Hawaii, at the time of the donations. The records indicate that he was “not employed.” While the money went to ActBlue, it was earmarked for individual 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidates including former Rep. Beto O’Rourk (D-Texas), Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer of New York and Sen. Elizabeth Warren”
By the way, if someone insists that foreign soldiers fighting in a war their own country is not involved in are always 'mercenaries', loosely defined, I would reply that I've never heard anyone call George Orwell a mercenary. He didn't join the Trotskyite POUM militia for money, he joined so he could fight Franco's army.
When they search the nut balls apartment they found several hundred copies of The catcher in the rye. I know it's true because I heard it from Tucker Carlson on Victor David Hanson's show
Routh probably saw himself as Peter O'Toole playing Errol Flynn in "My Favorite Year" when he looked in the mirror. Travis Bickle may have been more accurate.
“I want to know more about Routh's connections and activities.”
Routh was lying in wait. How did he know where Trump would be and when?
Was Trump's schedule for yesterday published in advance for some reason? I don't know. Maybe it was.
This is like 1974 with Ford. Didn't he have 2 attempts on his life within a month? Modern day R's are tough, or lucky, as they survive assassination attempts.
Amadeus 48 - Good point. There were classic Letterman appearances (before Dave lost his mind) where O'Toole was clearly hammered, but still quite the storyteller.
A mind muddled with a Choice can be a useful proxy in some contexts.
How does Harris get away with statements like “As we gather the facts, I will be clear: I condemn political violence.”, when she worked to bail out the BLM rioters?
We'll know less and less about the would-be assassin and his motives the longer the FBI investigation goes on.
I'm still wondering why Vindman isn't overseas fighting for his beloved Ukraine. I'm pretty sure I know why, I just want to hear him say it.
Evidence that Routh was a fantasist about meeting with important people:
"In a May 2020 post, he invited Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, to Hawaii for a vacation and offered to act as “ambassador and liaison” to resolve disputes between the two nations.""
A BLM, Antifa, Weather Underground, CAIR, transhumanist, PP et al, domestic terrorist in others.
She subscribes to the Pro-Choice ethical (i.e. situational) religion.
Yes, they do believe it. The armchair warriors and investigative specialists here think they have it all figured out. It’s a Dem plot and nothing will dissuade them. They don’t even consider the old adage, live by the sword, die by the sword. Nothing Trump says could possibly get the attention of number of confused crazies out there. The crazier Trump’s rhetoric the bolder and more driven the crazies are/will get.
CIA? Is that a joke? He seems like the usual nutjob. Very entertaining that he has been interviewed as an "expert."
Because they're short of everything over there: men, tanks, exercise equipment, promotions past 0-5, donuts...everything.
Sean Hannity, rather deftly I might say, hinted or suggested that the top SS people purposely didn't set the perimeter big enough and that the spot where Routh set up is known to be vulnerable. The street bordering the 4th and 5th holes should have been shut down.
Based on information currently available:
..an obvious nut case, fringe, extremist, whatever;
..committed crimes and proudly admits it;
..vigorous support of US undeclared war against Russia;
..lauded by NYT and other MSM;
..not "on the FBI radar."
"It was in poor taste"
When in doubt or lack any verifiable information go immediately to the Powerline reason to shut down the poster.
Just like Dennis Rodman. LOL
The woman -- who lived next to Routh for nearly two decades -- claims her former neighbor "had a lot of guns" and that "a lot of people were afraid of him back in the day.”
However, she never imagined he’d try to assassinate a former president.
Multiply this by everyone who has a Democrat living near them at this point.
he spoke with the self-assuredness of a seasoned diplomat
So from this I should infer that to a Times reporter there is no difference between a nut job and a member of the US Foreign Service?
Did you ask to see their warrant before you let them in, Howie?
Inga, cite an actual instance of violence instigated by Trump.
Inga, I can cite two actual instances of violence instigated by your rhetoric, the two assassination attempts on Trump.
Dr. Weevil writes, "Anyone who calls the International Legion 'mercenaries' is a liar or a fool."
It is difficult to pin down Weevil's motivation for this diatribe, but it is easy to demonstrate his absurdly narrow definition of mercenary. If one were to base his entire understanding of this concept on one or two incidents in late 15th-century involving Cesare Borgia and noted by Niccolo Machiavelli in The Prince. The Borgias great rival, Alfonso d'Este, persuaded Casare's undersupplied mercenary army to defect to Ferrara with a promise of an immediate bonus in silver and a congratulatory feast. If that was one's only exemplar, then yes, " [w]ords have meanings, and mercenaries are soldiers who will fight for either side if the money is right."
However, words do have meanings, and Dr. Weevil's is absurdly warped unless he believes the pilots of the American Volunteer Group, the famous and revered Flying Tigers, were just a pay raise short of fighting for Hirohito instead of Chiang Kai-Shek. Read any scholarly work about the fighter group raised by Claire Chennault and one will find the term mercenary applied to them consistently and accurately.
So, is Weevil a liar or a fool. I'm leaning toward FOOL.
Based on information currently available:
..an obvious nut case, fringe, extremist, whatever;
..committed crimes and proudly admits it;
..vigorous support of US undeclared war against Russia;
..lauded by NYT and other MSM;
..not "on the FBI radar."
Bears repeating, with emphasis on the "nut case" part. But Inga will continue to insist that he's a "Republican" so as to put all the onus on the guy being shot at, rather than on the system arrayed against the guy being shot at, a system that's been pounding into our brains for eight years now that he is an "existential threat" to everything that good people hold dear. As if that sort of talk isn't going to inflame nut cases regardless of the system's intent.
This is only anecdote, but while I was doing kitchen stuff this morning my Alexa screen dealie didn't show a single mention of an assassination attempt.
Several people here and elsewhere have mentioned CIA incompetence. They might be. On the other hand, the appearance of incompetence might be just good tradecraft.
Remember WC Fields playing poker in My Little Chickadee? Pretending to never have played before?
Remember Paul Newman in the card game on the train with Robert Shaw? Pretending to be drunk?
Best of all, remember Woody Harrelson in White Men Can’t Jump? Acting like a total “chump” at pickup basketball with Wesley Snipes?
There’s a reason why this trope is so common in movies. It’s because it is a common hustle in real life.
In the 80s, when I last held a job, I went to a training on how to deal with FDA inspectors. One of the things we were taught was that they often seemed slow, stupid, not knowing anything about pharmaceutical manufacturing and so on. Chumps in other words. Some of them were, we were told. But most acted that way because they were trained to. They were trained this way to put us off guard, to make us less careful what we showed and said than we might be if we thought they were really sharp.
If the CIA is so dumb and incompetent (apparently) it causes adversaries to let their guard down.
So is CIA incompetence real? Or is it an illusion and good tradecraft?
John Henry
Bob, do you have proof of that? Maybe boarding passes from flights to Kyiv and back (the latter dates months later)? Or even boarding passes to and from Eastern European nations from where he could have caught a convenient train into Ukraine?
Is this still a story? This happened almost 24 hours ago. Time to move on and get back to the important issues of how Haitians saved Springfield, Trump hates immigrants and is a Threat to Democracy™.
They are ticking time bombs, each and every one of them. Thousands of these twisted geeks just awaiting orders from Progressive Jag-Off Central.
A borderline case, yes, but with access to some kind of trust fund to travel to Ukraine, Hawaii, DC, etc. And enough to get him out of scrapes with the law in NC, including getting caught with a machine gun. Although some kind of shady connection to CIA could also supply the funds and clout. (But we'll never hear about that, as others here have noted.)
Doesn’t have to be CIA stupid bint. Way to miss the point.
cite an actual instance of violence instigated by Trump.
Have you been paying attention to what is happening in Springfield, OH? It is only a matter of time, if Trump and Vance continue with their lies (and Vance actually admitted yesterday that he is making shit up), before bomb threats and property damage shift to violence against residents.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2024/09/16/concern-raised-over-fbi-official-whos-involved-in-the-investigation-of-2nd-trump-assassination-attempt-n2644822
No, this guy was registered as “unaffiliated”. He voted for Trump in 2016. He became disillusioned by Trump. He supported Tulsi Gabbard and Bernie Sanders in 2020 and then he supported Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy in 2024. It’s apparent he was a very confused person who was influenced and motivated by current events. Crooks, the first Trump assassin was the registered Republican, but who knows what thoughts swirled around in his brain?
There are different ways of "meeting with the commission." Would all 21 members be convened to hear from him, or would he just speak to a staffer or two? Probably the latter. Even if they thought he was NYT important, he wasn't DC important. The story is going around that Routh voted for Trump in 2016. Was that true, or disinformation? And if it's disinfo, then whose, his or the authorities?
The shooter does seem like a random nutcase and that's the best assumption to make at this point, but if a government agency did want to kill a presidential candidate, wouldn't a perfect professional assassination be likely to attract suspicion? Wouldn't a random nutcase be the right person to charge with the task?
Mark defamed me, writing: "Because jokes about assassination are funny as MJB regularly argues here."
I have never written that "jokes about assassination are funny" much less "regularly" argued so. You as a lawyer should know that defaming someone online is still wrong so I'm assuming you did so mistakenly. You have two choices:
1. Show me proof of the thing you claim.
or
2. Admit you are mistaken.
Note also you absolutely did take Musk out of context by posting his X comment without any context, as in what he was responding to or commenting on. Second, I don't buy your interpretation that he was "complaining" that no one is trying to kill Harris, as you are a known liar. Third, Musk is the victim of a conspiracy to drive advertisers away via false information posted by Media Matters, an outfit that resembles you in word and deed. Therefore I stand by each element of the trifecta I described. Unlike you, I can back up my opinions. You as a self-described lawyer should understand that context.
So are you stating as a fact that I "regularly argue" here on Althouse's blog that "jokes about assassination are funny" as you said above? I'd really like to know, Mark.
The CIA is just another federal bureaucracy run by careerists. In other words, they are typically incompetent, but have success now and then when enough resources are put into the task.
This Routh character probably has a few loose connections with the CIA, but he is not part of a CIA plot. He was simply inspired by his craziness and the daily TDS we hear from the media and our usual suspects on this site.
I'd like to know where he got the notion... 'if I k*** Trump they will make me a hero.' 'Get my mugshot up on Rushmore, next to Biden, if Pelosi permits it.'
For Dr. Weevils edification, the definition of a mercenary accepted by military historians is a paid soldier in the service of a foreign polity. This definition does not exclude ideologically motivated mercenaries, such as Tadeusz Kościuszko, Kazimierz Pułaski, and Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben -- all foreign noblemen and revered heroes of the American Revolutionary War, and all mercenaries by definition.
I agree that few mercenaries would risk their lives for $500/month.
But there are a lot of men who grew up playing soldier with their friends, staging mock battles with toy guns and such. (As I did) Most grew out of it (as I did)
But a non-zero number of them never did grow out of it and they go around the world fighting in wars just for the thrill of getting shot at.
Back in the day teaching wage and salary administration we were talking about motivation and why people work. One of my students, a Commander, a Naval Aviator with a pretty impressive record, who had been "downtown" more than once in North Vietnam, lots of carrier landings and such, stood up and talked about what motivated him.
"Going supersonic, 100 feet off the deck, in an F-14" (Paraphrasing) The money and benefits were OK, he told us, but if he could not fly, he would resign the next day. He probably would have paid the navy to let him fly if he didn't have wife and kids to support.
Best way for the Navy to motivate him? Give him more cockpit time. (His words)
Lots of men, and some women, are drawn to danger. They want to live on the edge. Nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at a missed, as Churchill said. Unless it is to shoot back and hit, as someone else added.
No doubt some of the volunteers in Ukraine are motivated by hatred of russians, support of Ukes and such. Some, like the Georgians mentioned above may be there to gain experience to fight the Russians later in Georgia.
I suspect that money is somewhere down the list on what motivates many (most?) "mercenaries"
John Henry
I have archived comments as a PDF as of 9:50AM EDT. They may come in handy in the future.
"Lots of guns" but "never fired a gun in his life" according to his son(?)
Possible, I suppose. Not the way I would bet, though.
John Henry
Bet he's never met anyone in the CIA. NEVER
https://x.com/LangmanVince/status/1835631151236452695
The AVG were not so much volunteers as "volunteers". They were encouraged, if that is the right word, to volunteer by the Army.
Not meant as snark, just statement of history.
John Henry
Here’s an article about a reporter who met Routh in Ukraine:
https://www.newsweek.com/ryan-wesley-routh-donald-trump-assassin-last-message-1954387
Harris’s main focus in the debate was to malign Trump. No policy, no aspirational direction, no “unity”, just mock, bait and malign Trump. Don’t forget. She is responsible for fomenting this violence. She’s certainly not doing anything to quell it.
Thank you, Freder, for pointing out that you can’t name a specific instance of violence instigated by Trump.
He's never been incarcerated. Despite the fact that he was arrested for possession of a weapon of mass destruction. It was a sawed-off shotgun ... same weapon that got Randy Weaver's wife murdered by CIA sniper Lon Horiuchi.
There is a dangerous collection of kooks fanatics psychos and freaks, mostly aligned with the left, but not always, who float around in the political ecosphere like a virus looking for a cell to infect. And like a virus only one has make it through to cause catastrophe. Usually they fail. But not always. I predicted this phase of "the campaign" back in June. If lawfare or scandal or simple exhaustion didn't down Blormf there was always the "nut with a gun" option. Already vetted by the NYT too it seems. Probably "on FBI's radar" too as the saying goes.
I lived for a number of years with someone who worked for the CIA.
Be afraid, Birches. Be very afraid.
John Henry
If you see something, for God's sake don't call the FBI. Call the Florida Highway patrol.
I don’t suppose you have proof of your assertion as to how Routh voted in 2016, Inga?
"We're glad he wasn't even injured for Christ sakes. Let's move on." - Kamala Harris
Yeah, this guy was approved for travel to the Ukraine by the US State Department. He was a CIA bagman.
Sometimes a nut is just a nut. This guy was a nut.
"Althouse misstates the make-up of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is not staff of Congress. It is members of Congress."
The only thing I stated is what was in the NYT. I didn't misstate that.
Hmmm. Wikipedia's lengthy article on the Flying Tigers uses the word 'mercenary' once: "One army pilot, Albert Baumler was refused a passport because he had earlier flown as a mercenary in Spain, so only 99 actually sailed for Asia." Looks like the Flying Tigers didn't want any former mercenaries, which implies that they did not think of themselves as mercenaries.
Unlike the Internation Legion, Flying Tigers may well have been motivated at least in part by money: pilots were paid $600 a month, which is equivalent to roughly $162,000 today.
Finally, my motivation should be obvious: everyone on this site who calls the International Legion 'mercenaries' is quite obviously using the word to degrade and defame them, like common swine.
A Manson-family cult member named Squeakie Fromme tried to murder Ford. Her gun failed to go off because she forgot to chamber a round.
The quote in the NYT is "The commission is led by members of Congress and staffed by congressional aides." There's a link on the last few words goes to the statute establishing the commission. You can see the details there.
But where did this guy get the money to jet off to Ukraine and support himself there for months on end? And go back and forth from Hawaii to DC and NC? And amazingly enough have NYTimes and international reporters be put in touch with him in DC and Ukraine? As Althouse said, his connections (and I would say funding) are the real story here.
Let's give you 24 hours to resolve it then, Mark, since your reaction time has noticeably slowed since early this morning. Quick with the lying smear and slow to correct. No surprises there.
Wait ... I thought Kamala Harris is 5 points ahead of Trump in the polls.
Seems her assassin corps doesn't believe her polls.
That would be typical of all committees in the Congress. Every single one of them is staffed by Congressional aides who do 95% of the work. Not sure why you were called out on the carpet for this assertion.
In a perverse way, Donald Trump owes his life to that first attempt. Cook was not a sophisticated assassin. He nearly succeed because of Secret Service incompetence. This latest attempt was far more sophisticated, but didn't come as close. The Secret Service were on top of their game and spotted the gun before the assassin spotted the President. I would guess that they now have more competent agents in place. I don't think the team that was present at Butler would have spotted this shooter.....Providence works in strange ways, and Trump is fortune's favorite.
Iman: lol
Keep in mind, this guy had a GoPro set up to film the assassination. Meaning that he intended to publish that video (or get paid for providing it to others who would publish it). Maybe he had prior contacts with those people.
Lefty Mark is approaching Inga level psychosis.
Althouse asking the right questions- I noticed the same thing in the first stories from yesterday- lots of claims about Routh had said he had done without much evidence that he had actually done any of it. It does seem likely that the man was a big talker (Ukraine would have given him a gun and sent him to the Donbass had Routh wanted it).
The man was mentally broken by everything I have seen. I am waiting to hear that he was on the FBI's radar all along.
Poor little Bich.
How does one come to such certainty about how a person voted? Is there a copy of this guy’s 2016 ballot for examination? If so, how did that ever become available? And so quickly?
Or is this hearsay about what something might have saw on the internet taken as gospel truth?
As for Crooks, what swirled in his brain was the fragments of a .300 winmag.
...one former Afghan soldier said he had been contacted and was interested in fighting if it meant leaving Iran, where he was living illegally."
Is that an immigration policy? or are you just happy to see... anything.
"I want to know more about Routh's connections and activities." - Ann Althouse
You can read all about him. He wrote an autobiography last year calling for the assassination of Trump. It's for sale on Amazon. Still. Even now.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13856043/trump-assassinaton-suspect-ryan-wesley-routh-iran-kill-former-president-book.html
The guy was in a barricaded suspect incident in 2002 with a machine gun. Where did he get his AK 47?
Ukraine is a nut magnet.
This leftist whack-job is a product of the left's coordinated never-ending smear and hate machine against Donald Trump.
Social media/ the media/ hollywood - all call Trump "Hitler" - Literally non-stop.
This inspires crazy leftwing liars to follow thru. They want to be the Trump killing hero.
This leftist freak asked Musk for a missile
comments vanishing again.
Yeah, hard to be a proper Field Marshal unless you've got some Krispy Kremes.
I tend to agree with someone above that Ukraine would have standards that even this guy wouldn’t make.
However, if the FBI or ATF does anything at all, then how could this guy, as reported, not be on their radar? There is a report of illegal possession of a machine gun. That should be a federal offense and recorded. Throw in his clear advocacy and attempts to recruit Americans to join a foreign war and travel to such war zone. Wouldn’t that be of interest to the FBI before this past Sunday?
I understand dismissing the guy as a kook, but kooks that have done what this guy is reported to have done shouldn’t just be dismissed by federal law enforcement that have authority to look into things like this guy was doing. Arms trafficking, human trafficking, representing oneself as a foreign agent. That seems like reason to investigate and have a record.
Plausible reports on Twitter said that Routh tried to join the International Legion two years ago but was rejected as too old (56) and not a veteran. They do not accept anyone without military experience. Someone in the I.L. said he tried to join his unit and was rejected for being a nutcase, too, though they probably just told him he was too old and non-veteran. Trent Telenko calls him a Walter Mitty character, which seems exactly right.
this is just normal Democrat behavior now
let's not pretend Jack Smith and Merrick Garland are any better than Ryan Routh or Thomas Crooks
they all wanted Trump out of the race and they were all willing use violence
Democrats are all a fountain of lies and persecution from top to bottom
Yes. Florida LEOs can be trusted. Probably half are refugees from Democrat cities.
Apparently Routh thought that assassination was diplomacy by other means.
"The shooter looks like a hammered Peter O'Toole."
Now that is a thread-winner!!!
Radical Leftwing Social Media - created this guy.
Media/Hollywood non-stop Trump-Hate - created the environment where lunatics think they will be heroes for killing "literally Hitler."
Inga - you really are a lying pile of shit. This guy is a leftist. Period.
He is a fraud and a lunatic... and your team created him.
Me too.
Inga and Freder back as a team. Crazies seem to flock together.
"While the money went to ActBlue, it was earmarked for individual 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidates including former Rep. Beto O’Rourk (D-Texas), Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer of New York and Sen. Elizabeth Warren”
See, proof that he was a Trump support gone mad- he donated to Elizabeth Warren and Beta O'Rourk!
Other than dutifully saying "he was a registered republican" - which makes no sense - The FBI and the corrupt left/ corrupt Democrat Media Mahcine - have erased the first attempt on Trump's life.
Here's an Intenational Legion veteran warning people about Routh last June (link): "Warning about Ryan Routh: he is not, and never has been, associated with the International Legion or the Ukrainian Armed Forces at all. He is not, & never has been, a legion recruiter. He is misrepresenting himself and lying to many people."
In other words, not just a Walter Mitty and a nutcase, but a grifter.
And yet Freder will be the first person to post and declare, "Oh, yeah. Prove it!"
He's always a little slow in apology when proven wrong.
If Trump is the greatest Threat to Democracy™ since the Civil War, shouldn't we be applauding Routh's actions while lamenting his failure?
Musk was pointing out the irony that even though Biden and Harris ruined the country, it is Trump that crazy Democrats are shooting at
at this point we can only hope Dementia Joe and Zero Primary Votes don't decide nuclear war is preferable to an election
Just be aware that Bich is changing his moniker on a daily basis right now.
Howard, do far you have not wigged out like the other lefties here. Try to keep it that way.
Reddit Video: What are you doing here in Ukraine?In other words: Looking for heroism
That’s because your comments are so stupid.
Someone a day or so ago theorized that quick successive comments might be caught up in the spam filter. I haven't tested it myself yet.
I like the part where he says that only foreign fighters on Russia's side are mercenaries, because nobody in the whole world would view fighting against NATO and the US, the countries that demolished civil society in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, bombed Serbia, Yugoslavia, etc, etc, there are too many to list, as a simple economic transaction. Nobody in the whole world could carry a grudge against NATO, which is an aggressive military bloc, or the US, which has been starting and fighting wars all over the globe for decades.
Thank you for your input on Musk's post Dave. Unfortunately, if the X post is no longer available (I don't care enough to check) we cannot see for ourselves what the ACTUAL CONTEXT was.
Inga can read minds and knows how people voted, especially those as crazy as she is.
Doesn't matter. Blogger can identify him if need be, along with his aliases. It would be especially wonderful if he is actually a lawyer as claimed. I'm really warming up to the idea of discovering more. My handle (with the exception of the diminutive "Mike") here is the same one I use on X and publish under elsewhere. I have nothing to hide. And I have very good attorneys who NEVER post shit on blogs or social media.
Not me by the way. I might agree with the sentiment, but it's not the rhetoric I would use. I need to create a profile picture.
Also, I don't see any of this as party politics anymore, and I haven't for a long time. It's insider/outsider, dc/non-dc, globalist/nationalist. To me, D and R is like Tennessee vs. Alabama in a football game. The two sides don't compete; they cooperate to motivate fans to attend games and provide donations.
Aggie, some people are simply zealots. We may regard them as "crazy" in the colloquial sense, but they're not mentally ill in the sense that voices in their heads are ordering them around. This guy Routh strikes me as the same type of assassin that Booth and Oswald were (to name just two examples): People fixated on a cause, who wanted to play a decisive, heroic role in advancing that cause.
Routh's cause, apparently, was Ukraine's victory over Russia. Based on the reports that have come to light, he was over there trying to become the Russia-Ukraine War version of T.E. Lawrence. However, he wasn't getting anywhere with that project because it required the buy-in of a lot of people who in fact weren't taking him seriously. So, he switched gears and decided that his best move would be to try to kill the world's most prominent and potentially most powerful opponent of the war, Donald Trump, which was something could do on his own rather than with the support of others. MAYBE some well-placed people put that idea in his head, but I highly doubt any concrete evidence of it will ever come out.
Blue-Anon mind-reader Inga - in denial of all the radical left's past and present lies - and Hate mongering - continues to lie for her precious corrupt party.
No. Roush was a "nut" with a rifle. A very important detail you're glossing over.
Again Inga- YOU LIE. No one is saying it was a Dem plot. It might be - but it could just be the radicalized violence inspiration - that is a natural occurrence after 8 years of nothing but "Trump is Hitler" rhetoric.
Wasn't the [probably a paid patsy] guy who shot and killed a Trump supporter at the rally in PA & tried to kill Trump - in a Blackrock AD ?
Inga - Obsessed with the notion that the guy was a Trump supporter. His history is leftist. Period.
That's whole point of an FBI investigation. To either bury a defendant with charges or bury the evidence from public view for half a century. Nobody obfuscates better than the FBI. I bet if you look up stonewalling in a meme dictionary there's probably a picture of an FBI director explaining to a senator why he can't tell him anything because of an "ongoing investigation".
I bet Routh was quite moved by the Dark Brandon speech... Inga says "What?"
So again... unguarded location sniper walks up and sticks a gun through bushes... and he is 'on their radar'....
let's not pretend Jack Smith and Merrick Garland are any better than Ryan Routh or Thomas Crooks
I think you nailed it Dave!
Again Inga- YOU LIE. No one is saying it was a Dem plot. It might be - but it could just be the radicalized violence inspiration - that is a natural occurrence after 8 years of nothing but "Trump is Hitler" rhetoric.
Actions speak louder than words and a dude who donates to leftists through ACTblue is a leftist supporter. Even if the party reg lie were true, what does it matter if he supports leftists, like Liz Cheney does? Trump hate comes in all colors as we've seen.
It's getting crowded under the rug.
Is "radar" slang for payroll?
Like Trump's other shooter, this guy appeared in a Blackrock commercial.
Instead of lurking at trad Catholic Masses the FBI could try investigating every person who's worked a Blackrock ad.
Weevil cites Wikipedia and fails to understand the citation, "Albert Baumler was refused a passport because he had earlier flown as a mercenary in Spain"
Baumler was refused a passport because the State Department has no authority to issue passports to non-citizens. American citizens cannot lawfully carry arms in service of a foreign power. The penalty for such action is loss of citizenship. Similar statues are common across the globe, which accounts for several records-keeping provisions in the French Légion étrangère. Recruits are not required to provide any proof of identity, nor will the Légion confirm the service of any of its members to any foreign entity. This is to protect the citizenship of a former légionnaire returning to his country.
Albert Baumler flew a Polikarpov I-16 fighter in the Spanish Civil War in a Republican unit supplied and financed by the Soviet Union through its external affairs agency, the Comintern, in contravention of standing law, consequently his passport was revoked. The AVG succeeded because Roosevelt signed a pledge of amnesty for any American citizen who served in its ranks. Baumler wasn't a citizen, could not receive a passport, and therefore could not serve, ergo FDR's amnesty pledge did not apply. Roosevelt could have pardoned Baumler and gotten him into the AVG, but for some reason, he did not. Perhaps Chennault didn't want him. Perhaps FDR was thinking of the bad publicity attached to pardoning a ComIntern collaborator. As it transpired, the AVG flew its first sorties weeks after Pearl Harbor, consequently if push came to shove regarding their citizenship, the Flying Tigers might have successfully argued that they were not mercenaries for the purposes of the law. A similar amnesty was applied to Americans who illegally crossed into Canada to join the RCAF.
She is unburdened by what has been... Forward!
The perp is 58 and fit. Howie has cog diss here.
Mark wants Elon canceled... like a good apparatchik.
Eat teh cat, Rich.
See Dark Brandon speech.
..and fly to Ukraine to recruit soldiers.
Delusion. Inspired by relentless hatred. .. or bullying.
Temujin said:
"It is absolutely the height of obtuseness when your networks and press spend their days- for years now- creating this story that Trump represents evil, the end of women, the end of Black people, the end of trans and gay people, the end of Jews the end of the ability to kill babies, the end of, well...the planet, and of course, the end of Democracy- and then call it his fault when people try to take him out. "
Very important absolute truth.
Mark sees free speech as - only approve leftist/ democrat party approved authoritarian speech allowed.
Also the shooter has a BIDEN-HARRIS bumper sticker on his vehicle. Most conservatives are anti-sticker and ALL of us are anti-Leftist-sticker for sure.
The S of a B can’t rebound though!
There have always been murderous weirdos. They were probably more murderous before the modern era, when there were fewer checks on behavior.
"The AVG were not so much volunteers as "volunteers". They were encouraged, if that is the right word, to volunteer by the Army. Not meant as snark, just statement of history."
That was certainly true in the case of Pappy Boyington....much to our nations eventual benefit....as well as whiskey producers!
This latest New Soviet Democratical talking point inspired assassination attempt is the very definition (assuming the New Soviet Democraticals have not changed the definition in the last 24 hours....something they often do) of stochastic terrorism.
"In other words, [Routh is] not just a Walter Mitty and a nutcase, but a grifter."
The link provided goes to an X comment made by someone calling himself King Jack Strong, whose identity isn't bluechecked. The so-called International Legion is chock full of nutters and stolen valor poseurs who are far more willing and able to denounce and file lawsuits against each other than execute a tactical plan on a battlefield. As soldiers they are more dangerous to Ukraine than to the Russian army. Several of them have posted selfies on social media that explicitly reveal their location. That's not only unsoldierly, it's extremely stupid. Ukraine doesn't want them and would expel the lot if the effort wasn't such a distraction from urgent operations. In other words, Routh was denounced as a nutjob and a grifter by another nutjob and grifter.
Frankly, Weevil needs better sources before he can post with big boy pants on.
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