FBI Foils Alleged Assassination Plot on Trump at White House UFC Event

The FBI has disrupted an alleged terror plot targeting the UFC Freedom 250 event held on the White House South Lawn this past Sunday — where President Trump was front and center celebrating his 80th birthday and America’s 250th anniversary.

What We Know So Far

Court records indicate the plan involved explosive-laden drones to trigger chaos and mass evacuation, steering crowds into sniper fire, with a follow-up assault on White House grounds. At least five people arrested, up to 23 allegedly involved. President Trump was listed among the high-value targets.

The suspects, driven by anti-government grievances, hoped to "jumpstart a revolution." Thankfully, authorities stopped it cold.

This marks another serious threat against President Trump since he took office in 2025, following an April 2026 incident where a gunman attempted to storm a White House press gala.

Why This Matters

Happy Holidays and taking a short break

 I'm going to take Xmas Eve and Xmas Day off from this blog. I will also take New Years Eve and New Years Day off from this blog. As I tweeted last nite, sometimes you just have to unplug. Of course I won't entirely unplug things are still going on around the world.

Perhaps you may be paying attention to my long running blog, I'm thinking Xmas is a good time for a holiday there. You got to unplug sometimes.

— Levois J (@levois) December 23, 2020

2020 has been the wildest year in the world in memory, I think only 2001 was wild. However the events that took place just about 20 years ago doesn't compare to the weirdness of '20. The pandemic, the unrest, and unfortunately this election.

I had predicted to a college classmate in '16 that whoever won that race would lose in '20. And while I'm just not happy about it, that seems to have come to pass this year. My frame of reference for that was the mudslinging between Hillary Clinton and Trump. With the situations that have come to pass this year I'm pretty sure Clinton wouldn't have gotten a second term even with help from the media, the same media who's continually attacked Trump and he in turn attacked them.

On the other hand things were humming along until coronavirus and these lockdowns and I knew Trump would have a harder time. Of course there were other things I factored in including the riots over the summer and the measures taken for the election owing to the pandemic. So I should've anticipated how weird things were going to be in November and we're still processing.

BTW, I just need to share this with you now I'm seeing something about Georgia legislators attempting to decertify the results of the 2020 presidential election there. While its hope for those who don't want Biden to take office next month, I don't know if this gambit will take off. I think there are a few moving parts that won't cooperate in that. However, time will tell as the US Congress will still count all electoral votes on January 6, '21.

So, I just wanted to add that I had been planning on writing a post about the 2006 election. If '20 was rough on voters or even '16, '06 was rough on me. Probably in those latter elections a foregone conclusion went sideways and likely due to some intervening events.

In '06 I didn't really recognize this at the time, but it was a wave year. The Iraqi war wasn't going very well and that went down the ballot and voters decided to vote Democrat. Democrats regained control of both houses of Congress for the first time since the early 1990s. Nancy Pelosi made history as the first woman Speaker of the US House of Representatives.

For me in that year I paid attention to two races. I wanted Rod Blagojevich out of the governor's office and thought perhaps Illinois would elect the late Judy Baar Topinka in his stead. They didn't, if I recall that race was called very early that evening on election day. Topinka then the state treasurer didn't have a chance, was it because of the wave year? Yeah I do think so, Blago as a great campaigner though a terrible governor likely took advantage of this.

Another race locally that I kept an eye on was for Cook County Board President well the choices there weren't as clear cut. Basically the incumbent was named John Stroger and a short time before the '06 primary he suffered a health issue and was incapacitated. There was some Weekend at Bernie's type things going on around him but ultimately he needed to be taken off the ballot and in his stead was his son Todd Stroger.

I'm sure the argument at the time to justify this nepotism was the white folks were getting away with this type of thing so why shouldn't we do it. Stroger - probably similarly to other attempts at handing off an elected office to a close relative - was simply not a remarkable public servant. He had served in the Illinois House of Representatives and as a Chicago Alderman and I don't recall much from him. He wasn't visible though perhaps for some politicos that was perfect because it's not always good to make waves in that world.

Well his opponent was Republican Tony Peraica - who was a suburban Cook County Commissioner. I was all in on him, but as it turned out '06 was a bad year. And I will bet that Black voters went all in on Stroger handing him his legendary father's old office which he would hold for only one term. Todd was often lauded for his finance acumen, however, unlike Blago he just didn't have great political skill.

We all know what happened with Blago he gets re-elected and perhaps two years after his re-election he would be arrested by the FBI, impeached and removed from office. Then he went to trial twice as the first trial resulted in a mistrial and the second trial resulted in him getting a long sentence. That sentence was commuted earlier this year and you might find him on Newsmax talking about Democrat politics.

I just gave you a taste of what I wanted to write about but never got it down to my satisfaction.

Meanwhile I hope you all enjoy your holidays. In these trying times I hope you make it a good one.

Real white privilege

I have to share this from Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit from October 2nd: "When social justice is privileged white people destroying Black neighborhoods"

That post links to a N.Y. Times piece from a member of their editorial board with the subtitle: "'Insurrectionary anarchists' have been protesting for racial justice all summer. Some Black leaders wish they would go home."

Allow me to excerpt:

That’s the thing about “insurrectionary anarchists.” They make fickle allies. If they help you get into power, they will try to oust you the following day, since power is what they are against. Many of them don’t even vote. They are experts at unraveling an old order but considerably less skilled at building a new one. That’s why, even after more than 100 days of protest in Portland, activists do not agree on a set of common policy goals.

Even some anarchists admit as much.

“We are not sure if the socialist, communist, democratic or even anarchist utopia is possible,” a voice on “The Ex-Worker” podcast intones. “Rather, some insurrectionary anarchists believe that the meaning of being an anarchist lies in the struggle itself and what that struggle reveals.”

In other words, it’s not really about George Floyd or Black lives, but insurrection for insurrection’s sake.

So they don't know what they want. They want mayhem and chaos. They want to tear down statues because many of them - and I'm not talking about the Confederate statues - represent the best of America. They may attack politicians who are sympathetic to BLM because they represent the system, it doesn't matter if these are progressives who are well meaning but just choosing to pander as a safe bet.

And why I say real white privilege check out this article out of NY. Rioting is the voice of the unheard, how unheard are you if you have privilege? Are the unheard the people who's city you're choosing to destroy to fill some empty need? 

It sure is white privilege to say "fcuk the police" when you live in a nice community of your own, especially if it's protected by an effective police department. Meanwhile you leave those communities of folks you purport to fight for vulnerable. Beware of your allies, they may not have your best interests at heart.

BTW, back to the NY Times piece. They discuss the work of one Jeremy Lee Quinn who actually works in media though furloughed. He's been looking at these so-called "insurrectory anarachists" he's been marching with them. He's noting the weirdness and has documented them on his own site at Public Report. So I would like very much to check out his work in the near future.

Remember murder hornets

 And the media was sounding the alarm about them even before the summer's unrest amidst the pandemic lockdowns.

Well it's amazing that in a link via Instapundit wildlife officials actually caught one live. I still wonder if anyone was worried about it.

Was hoping to find a video to embed since Instapundit link went to a Weather Channel video about the subject, however, I found this interesting. A praying mantis defeats a murder hornet in a fight, well I'm being nice here. Let's just say nature takes its course as far as what really happens. [VIDEO]

Been a while since reading 1Wrestling.com

Used to be the go to site for pro-wrestling news at least for me back when there was a WWF, WCW, and ECW. And saw this nice recap of last nite's Monday Night Raw.

And the latest NXT call-ups are interesting. Will Johnny Gargano lose his newly won NXT North American title to the Velveteen Dream (and I heard some spoilers)? Also what about Tomaso Ciampa and his NXT Championship will he be forced to relinquish his championship or otherwise lose it on a future episode of NXT.

Also what about the continuing schism between Gargano and Ciampa as former tag team partners as #DIY. I wish that could be resolved before Vince McMahon pretends their feud never happened.

And as long as McMahon runs WWE, Raw and SmackDown Live will always be his show!

Here's the Raw introduction to #DIY [VIDEO]

Virtual Railfan - Barstow, California

[VIDEO] Another live rail cam to follow Amtrak's Southwest Chief. This time on YouTube Virtual Railfan now has a demo cam in Barstow, California. Unfortunately according to the schedule the train arrives in Barstow overnight on the way to Los Angeles and at night perhaps before bed time (at least for me) on the way back to Chicago. Just remember if you look at the Amtrak schedule the times for Barstow will be pacific time.

Just remember a few months ago I shared a live cam also from Virtual Railfan of the Cajon Pass another route the Southwest Chief takes between Los Angeles and Chicago. On occasion you can see that cam on Virtual Railfan's YouTube, however, it might be seen as a cam of the week when it is up. Also bear in mind that with many of these cams you won't only see Amtrak trains you will often see freight trains also.

It's time to look into a subscription to this very exciting site to see all the rail cams they offer beyond the live cams we see on YouTube. Sometimes I wish I can request some cams in urban areas. Perhaps there are some places in the Chicago area where Virtual Railfan can figure out how to place some live cams.

As always feel free to check out my Railcam page. As I wrote this I see it's raining and storming in LaPlata, Missouri.

Judge Kavanaugh feeds the homeless

And yet, there are those who don't like him mainly because of who appoints him. It's also because of what he might represent beyond the Trump connection. All the same now that I know he's willing to feed the homeless, I have more respect for him! I still don't have a sense of who he is, what he represents other than the fact that he does already serve on the federal bench appointed by another hated Republican president by the name of George W. Bush.

Black unemployment rate

What helped this blog get noticed during the last decade was mostly racial stuff. Nothing too controversial just political stuff, local political stuff mainly. And for the most part I have gotten away from that.

Just bear in mind at any point in time this blog will cover anything that interests me at that moment. This may include tech, vacations, or politics. Which also means some of the more racial subjects may be covered over at my neighborhood/local issues blog The Sixth Ward.

I write this to say I want to share this post from there on Monday and it's from the CapFax about whether or not Illinois does have the highest unemployment rate among Blacks in the nation. We are in election season here in Illinois and it's definitely coming up in the governor's race. I'm sure it will be an issue in the 2019 Chicago mayor's race.

What Rich Miller seems to note however is that the headlines about having a high Black unemployment rate appears to be valid.

CapitolFax: Does Illinois really have the highest black unemployment rate? https://t.co/Aq1bPgvVbZ pic.twitter.com/kIkhUf0aL7

— The Sixth Ward (@TheSixthWard) June 25, 2018

Set up a railcam page on this blog

Flagstaff, AZ July 2016

This is one of the few times you will see a page here. Just think back in 2005 when I starnted this blog the thought of pages would've been unthinkable. In fact pages weren't available until 2010 so for quite a while pages were unthinkable.

Anyway, I wanted to share two live cams on this page which is to be called - Railcam. A service called Virtual Railfan has a YouTube channel that features several livecams around the country for the benefit of railfans who like to watch trains roll by.

Because I like to see Amtrak trains I chose the two cities from where these webcams operate - La Plata, Missouri & Flagstaff, Arizona - because these are the two stops for Amtrak's Southwest Chief (SWC). On the page you can expect to find a schedule for the SWC and a train tracker also. Both will help you determine when you'll see SWC trains arrive at these respective stations.

My two SWC trips were 11 years apart in 2005 & 2016. They both were memorable trips as it's not often that I see the great plains, the prairie, and the southwest desert. The most memorable and unique in all the years I've taken the train occurred in 2016

In 2016 after arriving in LA at the architecturally significant LA Union Station we stayed in the LA area for no more than two days before moving on to Las Vegas by bus. This was part of the plan by my family and actually there was no plan we were planning it as we go. After at least two nights in Las Vegas we left for the Grand Canyon.

We spent the day at the Grand Canyon having arrived there via a tourbus and then from there we spent the night in Flagstaff, Arizona. We got on board a westbound SWC in the wee hours of the morning to return home.

While I don't want to ever not have a plan to go from city to city on vacation - i.e. Las Vegas or Grand Canyon - this is something I'm looking forward to in the near future. Especially if I can afford a sleeper onboard the train.

States I've visited

More accurately, states I've either visited or passed through. Will I ever visit all 50 states?

Click above photo so that you can also share a map of all states you've visited or if you wish passed through.

Dave Ramsey: 20 things the rich do every day...

I wonder if this is true. The list you will read at DaveRamsey.com, does the rich truly engage in these many behaviors? Better yet, I would wonder if this has less to do with your income as the individual. Successful people engage in these behaviors from the day they were born wether or not they grew up poor or wealthy. To be sure this list is certainly one way to start with making your New Year's resolutions.

I know it's Christmas so, hopefully you would consider this your early Christmas present.

2012 Iowa Caucus items

Let's start with a map of all the counties of Iowa. This map was provided by radio station WHO - which according to Marathon Pundit this station employed future US President Ronald Reagan - which is based out of Des Moines, IA.

Basically in following the results for the most part I followed the results according to Politico and tweeted them as often as I could. The speeches were interesting, but to be sure it still left a lot to be desired. There was still no clear frontrunner. Let's not forget that the Primary season has just started although the Iowa Caucuses isn't considered a conventional primary.

According to Politico as I type this at 1:51 AM Chicago time Mitt Romney was up by eight votes but has only 25% of the vote along with his closest competitor former US Senator Rick Santorum. Ron Paul was in third place with only 21.5% of the vote.

Also American Rattlesnake - the immigration website - provides their thoughts on the Iowa caucus results.

BTW, why is there a Buddy Roemer in this caucus race. I can understand why Cain is even in the running, but what about Roemer. If he's in the running and he's barely even in this race then why not former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson. Surely he could've gotten less than 1% of the vote in Iowa whether or not those two gentlemen were in the race!

Now when is New Hampshire, the next big early primary?

Reason magazine remembers Lanny Friedlander...

Who actually died this past March, however, Reason magazine remembers the founder of the libertarian leaning publication. He left the publication during its earliest years in the 1970s, but Reason recognizes his vision starting in the early days of it's publication. You know apparently they used a "ditto-machine" to produce editions of Reason. I can only imagine what today's publication entrepreneurs could use to publish a magazine.

Now back to regularly scheduled programming

There are other things I had wanted to post on other subjects but chose not to. I remained focused on the capture of OBL and all details related to it. Didn't want to focus on all the fallout and opinion on this subject. However, my thoughts about this story is coming in the near future. Perhaps even before the weekend is out.

For now enjoy this graphic provided by 2nd City Cop. If you don't get the caption provided in the pic it's a reference to whoever in his family (or any other thug who was caught by the police) may choose to deny his role in any criminal activities. Sometimes 2nd City Cop will just remark sarcastically that said thug was an honor student who would've cured cancer or something to that effect.

Interesting research regarding the OBL raid...

Presented by one of my former Morehouse professor in the Political Science Deptartment. Something I found on FB:

Dr. Tobe Johnson is conducting preliminary research on African-American responses to the Osama bin Laden capture. If you're a current Man of Morehouse, please help him out by answering three short questions in this survey. All answers are completely confidential and we have no way of knowing who you are or what you said:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KF8NQ5R

Well alas I would like to know more about this survey, but I'm a Morehouse alum unfortunately. If you do know any current Morehouse students feel free to share this link.

Also, I look forward to whatever the research would conclude. It should be interesting.

YouTube Blog: Mashups, parodies and lip dubs: Ask a legal expert...

YouTube Blog talks about Fair Use and how YouTubers are able to take clips from other media sources without being sued for copyright infringement.

Another "original" YouTube cited fair use in one of his videos. I used "original" to say that he posted videos people watched starting a short 8 years ago. Man it's unbelieveable how long ago that was.

Kaskaskia: First Capital of Illinois

[VIDEO] Earlier this month the Tribune took a trip to the town of Kaskaskia, IL

As noted the town of Kaskaskia was the first state capital of Illinois located along the southwestern border of Illinois which is essentially the Mississippi River. According to the Wiki article about the town the population is only 14 as of 2010. It is the least populated area of this state.

Kaskaskia was the state capital until 1819. Illinois became a state in 1818 so it was only a year where state government was located. After 1819 thru 1839 our state capital was located in Vandalia, Illinois. As a matter of fact a State House was built in hopes that state government would remain in Vandalia.

Unfortunately for Vandalia, state government would move again to Springfield, Illinois where it has been since 1839. Also note that a future President of the United States, one Abraham Lincoln, was instrumental in moving the state capitol from Vandalia to Springfield.

More history of Illinois' state capitols can be found here. That page is part of a website @ http://www.ilstatehouse.com/ which is dedicated to promote the current state capitol building in Springfield.

Anonymous Political Scientist: Less Marxism is More...

Dr. Drew Offers Tips For a Better State of the Union Address

Well this didn't offer much except a swipe at Obama's past. This was written late last month and at least three days before the President's State of the Union address.

I think I know why Obama never released copies of his undergraduate transcripts from either Occidental College or Columbia University. His poor marks would be consistent with the utter failure of the stimulus package to live up to all the Democrat party hype.

My recommendation as a political scientist who has read a lot of history and taught courses on the office? Lay-off the vodka martinis, the cigarettes and the nicotine gum. Bring in new people who understand that the Midwest Academy, Bill Ayers, Alice Palmer and Rev. Wright all have the wrong recipe for turning around the U.S. economy.

I would like more thoughts on this. Of course I can agree that it's entirely possible that Obama wasn't ready or prepared for this new position. Well indeed can anyone really be prepared to take on leading a nation. Fact is that in 2008, I wasn't certain if Obama had a skill set that could predict success as President. Of course it may not be very easy to predict anyway.

Also while I understand the swipes at some of his associates, the academic record matters very little to me. That's primarily because in voting for Obama, his past academic record wouldn't even be a consideration. No more than a tax return for either Governor or Mayor as it has been recently. Let's not forget that even if Obama had poor marks as an undergrad he still went to Harvard Law School as well.

If it's true that Obama was overwhelmed by the Presidency then more needs to come out about that. In fact it has as I had blogged earlier about an interview with an Obama insider. I hope it's less about his collegiate marks and more about his current performance as President.

Also read this link (via Instapundit) about Bill Maher believe Obama is less a Christian more a "secular humanist". Hey you thought I was going to say a Muslim didn't you?

Check out these wallets

This first wallet is from the Chicago Transit Authority's (CTA) Gift Shop:

The Mighty Wallet is printed with the licensed graphics of the CTA and is not only functional for quick transfer info on the go but it also adds a level of stealth that safeguards your valuables from theft. Mighty Wallets have actually evaded theft in real life situations through their uncommon stealthy design.

Made from Tyvek (think express mail envelopes), the Mighty Wallet resists tearing because of thousands of interlocking plastic fibers spun in random patterns giving the wallet incredible strength.

This might be very cool. Such a wallet can foil theft attempts, especially if a potential pickpocket thinks that this is merely a CTA Map.

Also check out this second wallet:

A dot-matrix wallet from ThinkGeek. The description doesn't mention foiling thieves, but it does mention that it's made of a similar material to the CTA Mighty Wallet. The fact that it's a dot-matrix wallet should ring a bell to old-time computer geeks.

Some of the other wallets you might find at ThinkGeek may have some added features that may foil criminals. Although the hazard isn't necessarily to think of actual pickpockets or theft as opposed to a theft of a different type.

Jay-Z blames Reaganomics and Iran-Contra for drugs in urban communities

He was on Late Show last night with David Letterman and I got wind of this via Newsalert!

If you read the comments at BreitBart.tv you will see that there are many who disagree. And they blame "liberal" (leftist) policies. The slums there are some in the comments who advocate for allowing people to use drugs. Others just say that this is another Hollywood "genius".

To be sure, this isn't the best interview in the world. In answering Letterman's questions, well it seems Dave had to pull them out of him. This wasn't the best interview I have ever seen and perhaps this was a better venue than anything that was serious. Let's say like either Tavis Smiley or even if he had been interviewed by the late Ed Bradley. They tend to be serious.