Kept the cats goalless last week. Couldn't kick a goal this week.
Missing Kez early ruined our already struggling backline.
Sorry to keep highlighting it, but Celine Moody, 63% game time. 2 hitouts, 1 kick, -8m gained. Not good enough.
Celine is no Breann … and we’re not getting full value from Bree either.
I’d play Celine out of the goal square, give Breann more time on the ball and park Jess Good at CHF for decent periods. Of course, none of that would amount to diddley squat if our midfield is ineffective.
Routh's political opinions shift and change over time. He clearly has views that span left to right. He self published a book in 2023 on the war in Ukraine with the following quote :
"I get so tired of people asking me if I am a Democrat or Republican as I refuse to be put in a category and I must always answer independent," he wrote.
Yes, he was MAGA in 2016 but became disillusioned with the cult and its leader, later writing that he was “man enough to say that I misjudged and made a terrible mistake.” He has also been a supporter of former Democrat now MAGA booster, Tulsi Gabbard, as well as Republican presidential hopefuls, Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley, and apparently has a Biden/Harris sticker on his car.
He has been on the fringes of the International Legion in Ukraine but was never part of the organisation and was described as a chaotic presence who kept trying to "sneak around" officials and was "doing more harm than good". Oleksandr Shaguri, from the Foreigners Coordination Department of Ukraine's Land Forces Command, said that “the best way to describe his [Routh's] messages is – delusional ideas.”
Clearly a disturbed, impulsive, serial minor criminal detached from reality.
The shooter didn’t have an AK-47. He had an SKS. AK-47s can be set to fully automatic, come with a 30 round magazine and are classed as illegal assault rifles.
The SKS is a semi-automatic, isn’t an assault rifle and is legal - unless you’re a felon. Routh had fitted an illegal 30 round magazine.
He had also fitted a scope. The SKS is not intended to have a scope and doesn’t have the required fittings. It’s unlikely that the scope on Routh’s SKS could have been zeroed accurately.
Routh’s firing position was at least 300m and probably more like 500m from where the golfers would have been if they had been allowed to continue. The chances of Routh hitting any of the golfers would have been very low.
That doesn’t mean that Routh wasn’t planning on assassinating the former POTUS. It just means that he had little change of success.
We'll have to actually wait and see if there are any further charges beyond the gun ones. Apart from those who may see elements of a conspiracy in the situation it is probably fair to assume he was waiting for Donald. Whether it was 'Duck' or 'Trump' will have to be proven.
Getting a conviction beyond reasonable doubt on a "conspiracy to commit murder" or a similar charge may not be such an easy task. They may be better off going for the gun ones and push for maximum penalties.
Just as an example. Florida law outlines specific penalties for various firearm-related offenses. For example, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is governed by Statute 790.23 and is classified as a second-degree felony, which carries a bond amount of $4,000. Conviction can lead to up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Given their propensity to plea bargain and settle for guilty pleas on lesser charges, the firearm offences may be all that are ever heard in court. There may also be some political pressure to avoid having a MAGA nutjob let loose in court.
I posted in this thread or another just a couple of weeks back about US based associates I have who brag about shooting deer within a couple of hundred metres(yards I suppose) of their own back door in what we would describe as an outer suburb like Deer Park or Cranbourne. It's completely insane.
Today as reported just hours after the initial event, the special investigators have confirmed the shooter never actually fired a shoot!
In the meantime, Trump continues to accuse Democrats of trying to kill him, while lauding himself as a survivor of a second assassination attempt!
If someone is lying in wait with an assault rifle, they're unlikely to be an autograph hunter. It's fair to say that the secret service foiled an assassination attempt ... by a MAGA nutjob!
The USA doesn't need any extra enemies when it has a friend like Elon Musk!
Isn't that Leon Musk?
Meanwhile, it seems that Aurangzeb has got himself a new squeeze; the far-right political activist, racist, Islamaphobic, conspiracy theorist, and thoroughly despicable "internet personality", Laura Loomer.
Even Marjorie Taylor Greene is concerned about Loomer's "rhetoric and hateful tone"
I guess it's dumb on my part to suggest that America might be a better and safer place to live if they weren't freely and legally allowed to carry assault rifles, and if they weren't constantly pursuing a factually incorrect, hate filled political agenda, but what do I know ?
I suspect that a ban on assault rifles isn't far off and some States already have such bans in place. That's as far as it will go with the 2nd Amendment and entrenched gun ownership. Both Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are gun owners. I don't know about Aurangzeb, but, I suspect that he would avoid firearms and rely on others to do his dirty work.
I heard a vox pop with MAGA supporters recently where they were complaining about anti-MAGA protestors. The reporter asked, "What about the 1st Amendment?" and the MAGA responded, "The right to bear arms?" The reporter gently explained that the 1st Amendment was about free speech and the MAGA looked puzzled and asked, "What's that got to do with the protestors?"
Who needs a debate to prove your worth as POTUS....... just go out and dodge some nutters with AK47s.
But how quick did they spot and capture this guy - anyone would think they already knew he was going to be there......
Well, the secret service security detail are highly trained and are actively looking for shooters.
Of course, the agent could have been tipped off by the smell of BBQd cat.
Seriously though, the shooter is a US citizen who is apparently concerned about Aurangzeb doing Putin's bidding over Ukraine. That could place him anywhere on the political spectrum.
You'd think that they would be relying on more sophisticated security surveillance than an agent prowling ahead of Aurangzeb's party. Of course, it's possible that the agent was alerted to the presence of the gunman by a thermal imaging drone or similar.
I should also add that our our current coach is probably the toughest most uncompromising player of his generation. I'm quite confident that if this hard/soft business was really a thing, he would be asking for more players like him.
I think that’s the key Paul.
Vossy will understand that not all players can be cast from the same mould but he would have little tolerance for “Von Trapp” footballers, if indeed there are any at AFL level.
I suspect that he wouldn’t have been too impressed with the Joe the Goose biffo that I mentioned in a previous post. On the other hand, he wouldn’t have tolerated players standing by as Marc Murphy was targeted by the opposition.
