The The Butler Novel begins by considering similarities between the recent attack on a former President’s election campaign and a Greek assassination in 514 BC. Aristogeiton was offended because Hipparchus, the younger brother of Athen’s ruler, Hippias, showed an “interest” in Aristogeiton’s young lover, Harmodius. Jealousy, anger, and power-seeking killed the three men.
What could connect the sins of Ancient Greece with The Latest Chapter of The Butler Novel about Butler County, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024 AD? A day or two after the shooting in Butler, a post from the shooter’s mother made a heartfelt complaint: “racist homophobes should stop bullying my son.”
Her sincere words prompt a question that many prefer to “redact”: “What, except for knowing about her son’s same-sex identification, could have prompted his mother to call those who insulted him: ‘homophobes’?”
Genuinely concerned people in gay and straight communities are not afraid to ask that question because we want everyone to be safe from those who prey on the vulnerable. Those who prefer “redaction” make the usual excuses to keep politically incorrect Truth from being sought or recognized. Unlike the good, truth-seeking citizens of Butler and other places, they choose to live in “Redactorville”.
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Did this Chapter of The Butler Novel begin when someone was told to find a confused, intelligent young man (SAT Scores of 1500!), needy for approval from a manipulative authority figure? Many are asking the question that some prefer to “redact”: “Did this vulnerable 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks lose his life after being seduced into believing how ‘rightfully and historically important’ he could and should be if he assassinated a Presidential Candidate unpopular with many?”
The advantage of an Updatable Book! This anonymous, updatable, free book, The Butler Novel, began to be written after July 13, 2024 to answer That Question. This week, February 22, 2025, interest in That Question was shared by Elon Musk at the CPAC Conference.
In an interview with Rob Schmitt, Elon Musk blurted out, “And they still haven’t told us about the guy (the young assassin) in Butler!”
Hopefully: His overseas and local phone connections are examined and fellow school students are interviewed to identify thoughts, inclinations, and desires they noticed. His phone calls, email records, and writings are carefully reviewed. Books, movies, videos, magazines, and information he chose to access are examined. New adult contacts in the last year or so of his life are identified and questioned, under oath. Open, honest people want all that is found to be “Made Public”, with “No Redactions” in what is a “National Emergency” that all “redactions” will help to be repeated.
Parental Liability is explored. Recently, a jury found that the parents of a school shooter were guilty of allowing their confused daughter easy access to the firearms she took to school and used to kill several students. Do parents of the Butler shooter have even greater liability because they are “professional counselors” who make a living by getting clients to understand: “We meaningfully care about identifying and curing psychological problems.”?
It seems his parents did care and did do something! The Butler Novel considers his parent’s anguished recognition of their son’s problems when they called the FBI to report him “missing”. How often does someone call the FBI to report a family member who is merely “missing”? That call was a sure-to-have-been-recorded conversation. To whom did they speak? Will the call and identities of those on the call be “redacted” because avoiding admission of mistakes is more important than Truth? Did the parents call the FBI because it was the only solution they could think of for a problem they, as experienced, professional, certified counselors, had good reason to be very concerned about? Had they reported their “missing son” may have had the similarly “missing semi-automatic rifle”? That explains their Very Important Call to the only Agency that could provide the help they were desperate to find.
Did the FBI commit a grievous error by not immediately taking concerns from Certified Psychologists seriously enough to spend half an hour locating the exact position of his cell phone with their powerful telephone-locating search engines and have one or two (of exactly how many FBI Agents within an hour or so away?), immediately locate and interview him? Were they not given his cell phone number? Was parental fear of coming problems confirmed when they hired attorneys who may easily convince a jury of randomly chosen American citizens that the FBI’s willful failure to provide the quick, competent response that could be reasonably expected from such an Agency is a major contributing factor to the tragedy? Did the parents warn them of legal, mind-altering medications prescribed to their son or of associates who may be leading him astray?
Everyone is asking Five Questions!
1. Who were the agents who made the decision to ignore the warning from the parents of young Mr. Thomas Matthew Crooks?
2. Were those agents praised or criticized by superiors for not responding to the sincere warning of danger and request for help from the Certified Psychological Counselors who are his parents?
3. Were higher-ranking evaluators more likely to praise or criticize them?
4. Is this the Greatest Security Failure since Abraham Lincoln’s Pinkerton guard left his position at Ford’s Theater and went to the tavern downstairs, leaving the door to Abraham Lincoln’s box seat unlocked so John Wilkes Booth could easily enter and assassinate the President?
5. Will any public media ask such questions or expect to get answers for “mere citizens” to the question, “Can the FBI be sued for dereliction of duty or willful misconduct?”
An important part of The Butler Novel wonders exactly who decided to send what is said to be the first “counter-sniper team” to a former President’s Campaign Rally in this campaign. Was the “expert counter-sniper” planned to be precisely and perfectly placed to kill the carefully positioned young assassin before he could be captured and disclose who helped him? Is Computer-age Presidential Assassination Planning now designed to avoid the long time it took to get Lee Harvey Oswald, whose last recorded words included “I’m only a patsy.” in front of the terminally ill Jack Ruby and his handgun after President Kennedy was assassinated?
The Butler Novel/Movie/Video explores how and when the young assassin found, or was given, more details about the pre-arranged Presidential Rally location than The Secret Service was able to find and protect. Computer records of his searches on sites like Google Maps will be publicly examined. Every concerned citizen has a right to expect that young Mr. Crook’s computer searches, including those he made on school, friends, or public library computers and phones, will not be “redacted”.
Questions about: “How did he find his way between secured buildings, park among local Law Enforcement vehicles, get onto a heating/air conditioning unit, and climb from it onto the ideal sniper position on a strangely unguarded roof in a complicated, crowded, seemingly secured, unfamiliar location surrounded by police while carrying a rifle?” will be answered. The mysterious “disappearance” of the 15-foot ladder he recently purchased will be explained by finding out how and when he learned he would not need it.
This, and other questions, will hopefully not be “redacted”: “Were warnings and actual sightings reported by concerned Butler County citizens and our outstanding Local Law Enforcement Officers intentionally overlooked by people told to ‘Be ignorant on purpose.’?”
More Mysteries in The Butler Novel: At 5:14 pm ET, did a local sniper team take photos of young Mr. Crooks, inside the AGR building, nearly an hour before the shooting at 6:11? Why wasn’t he stopped?
A Pennsylvania State Trooper was posted under a nearby water tower. He spotted young Mr. Crooks at 6:08 p.m. that evening. He put out a radio dispatch warning all: “There’s someone on the roof!”
Did someone order Federal Agencies: “Do not use the programmed radios that Local Law Enforcement provided to send and receive such Emergency Messages to provide better Security.”? Those radios provided the same channel to let all Security Personnel from every Agency easily communicate, but were never used. Even worse, “The Secret Service never bothered to pick them up!” according to our concerned Local Law Enforcement and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
Did security failures begin the night before the rally? That is when stacks of un-inspected chairs were said to have been put in place by volunteers who came and went without having their identities checked. According to one volunteer who helped: “Anyone could have been there!” Were explosives intended to be hidden to put dozens of that politically incorrect candidate’s supporters, including Congressman Mike Kelly, his family, and supporters sitting near the candidate, at risk of death or injury? Did people assigned to do that fail, or were they ordered not to do so? Will such considerations be “redacted” by the leading citizens of Redactorville, or fully and honestly investigated for “mere citizens”?
Why are those concerns important? Powerful explosives were found in both the assassin’s home and car! Explosives are among the most “traceable” things in this country! Where, exactly, did those explosives come from? Who taught young Mr. Crooks how to use them? Was material for shrapnel found? Will Local Law Enforcement be allowed to find honest, complete answers without “redactions” from those who want to hide such truths?
“Why was the mysterious ‘white van’, also with explosives inside, said to have an Arizona license plate? Whose license plate was it? Who owned the van? Did the disappearing “ladder” fit inside it with or without the rear door open so it could be seen on nearby service station videos? How did the license plate get to Pennsylvania? Was it mailed, sent by a private mail delivery service, provided by an interested party, or was the van driven to his home in Pennsylvania? What happened to its Pennsylvania license plate, if it had one? Will Local Law Enforcement be allowed to investigate and release ownership details, maps of its travel, and ‘pings’ to and from the driver identifying all in contact with him or her?
Television ‘crime shows’ let us see that good, local police investigators often follow such ‘pings’, even weeks and months after a crime, often for dozens and hundreds of miles, and spend endless hours reviewing gas-station videos of who is using restrooms and buying food while filling up their vehicle with fuel. Will that be done to let us see anyone in ‘the white van’ and every associated vehicle? Or, will ‘redactions’ ordered by the Rulers of Redactorville keep those facts hidden from “mere citizens”?”
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An important part of The Butler Novel wonders exactly who decided to send what is said to be the first “counter-sniper team” to a former President’s Campaign Rally in this campaign. Was the “expert counter-sniper” precisely and perfectly placed to be able to kill the carefully positioned young assassin before he could be captured and disclose who helped him? Again, the question: Is Computer-age Presidential Assassination Planning now designed to avoid the long time it took to get Lee Harvey Oswald in front of the terminally ill Jack Ruby and his handgun after President Kennedy was killed by someone on the Redactor-Ignored “grassy knoll”, as the latest examination of recently released autopsy photographs of President Kennedy indicates to experts in that field?
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The most fascinating scene in The Butler Novel/Movie/Video focuses on visualizing what may be the actual thoughts of the “expert counter-sniper”. It might open with sight pictures of a deer, woodchuck, or person targeted by a similar, high-powered telescopic scope at the same distance to let viewers see what an easy target the “expert counter-sniper” had from his amazingly perfect “counter-sniper” position. Exactly how powerful was the “expert counter-sniper’s” telescopic sight? Will details about the expertly chosen caliber and ammunition specifications be shared or “redacted” to protect rabid raccoons, coyotes, and vicious predators from helpful “varmint hunters”?
The Butler Novel/Movie/Video considers what the “expert counter-sniper” may not have helped but think as he watched the assassin fire seven more shots in the following seconds. Was there an average “thinking time” between the eight shots that may have taken as long for “a mere citizen” to say out loud some part of: “One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, one thousand four, one thousand five, one thousand six, one thousand seven.” during the volley that killed one person and seriously wounded two more of our Butler County neighbors whose only “crime” was public support of a former President? Do some think that “crime” is as serious as those said to have been committed by American citizens sentenced to collective centuries in jail for peacefully using their “right to free speech” after many were invited into The Capitol Building that was built upon The Foundation of that Constitutional Guarantee?
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Accurate images and audio will let us see and hear the actual, micro-second time delay between sight and sound in each shot of the video reenactment. Using “real-time” will show exactly what the “expert counter-sniper” actually watched and heard as he watched the assassin fire seven more shots, unless that visualization is “redacted”.
Were those seven shots allowed by the expert “counter-sniper” because orders had been given to him before he began his assignment: “Remember, Crooks may have to shoot several times.” Or, were those orders given to him by radio after each of the assassin’s shots to give him a chance to hit the candidate with his next bullet? “Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait.” Those seconds may be the most fascinating scene in any movie or video in History! Interspersed pictures in the scenes between shots show each person killed or wounded being hit following those shots of the assassin’s volley.
Then, Four Big Questions!
1. Did those “seven Waits” end at the moment he, or his controllers, saw that a well-placed shot from one of our fine Local Law Enforcement Officers (That formerly redacted “Hero of The Day” was recently identified as Sgt. Aaron M. Zaliponi of the Adams Township Police Department.) was shown to have hit the assassin’s rifle, making it unable to fire?
2. Did that prompt “the expert counter-sniper” to realize, or was he given a half-second command the moment the shooter could no longer kill the Candidate: “Shoot!”?
3. Will even considering that scene be “redacted” by orders to obedient media?
4. Will the actual names of all “redactors” and all requested “redactions” of any answers to any questions asked in The Butler Novel and by others be released, or will they be “redacted”? Who would not want to know who has chosen to live in “Redactorville” and to know exactly what they wanted to be “redacted”?
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Immediately after the shooting, how did the mysterious “man in the suit”, now confirmed to be an ATF Agent, get to the rooftop so quickly? Where was he in the previous minutes, hours, and days? Why did he have pictures of the shooter sent to another ATF agent? Did that ATF agent personally know young Thomas Matthew Crooks? Why hasn’t he been publicly interviewed? Does he keep a photo of young Mr. Crooks in his wallet?
Obvious, common-sense questions must be considered:
“Was Mr. Crook’s body ordered to be left on the roof for several hours after The Butler County Coroner tried to remove his body so molecular disintegration would cause drugs to disappear? Who ordered that two Coroner’s Reports from two County Coroners in two different Counties must be provided? Were they ordered to provide ‘conflicting information that must, therefore, be ignored.’? Did either Coroner’s Report provide a chemical analysis of legally prescribed psychological medications (not illegal drugs) or abuse in or on him? Is that why the assassin’s body was cremated rather than released? Will the full release of both reports be ‘redacted’? Will signs of damage around his prostrate be released? Is that something for which autopsies routinely check? Were actual blood samples retained for independent labs to analyze?”
More Questions include:
This simple question is asked by millions of people: “The most modern, high-resolution, camera-carrying drones in the world are available to Federal Security Forces. Why weren’t they put to use?”
The Butler Novel accompanies That Question with three more: “Were camera-carrying drones actually in use? Were one or more “supervisory agents” using drone-mounted cameras to watch the assassin crawl across the roof without warning anyone before he began shooting? Was there operational control over the confused young man through tiny earphones or his cell phone?”
Millions more are asking: “Were our extraordinarily competent and concerned Butler County and Local Law Enforcement Officers the only people who cared enough to offer to provide one or more modern, high-tech security drones that some Federal Authorities may, and should, be identified as having rejected?”
More “Confusion from above” is described in an article from Spotlight PA: “The Butler County Emergency Services Unit, a special weapons and tactical squad, had toured the Butler Farm Show during the week and had identified the AGR building as a threat. In the meeting, Butler County officials raised the issue with the Secret Service, said Goldinger, the Butler County District Attorney, but ultimately, the agency did not post anyone on the roof. ‘This was their ballgame.’ Goldinger correctly said of a Secret Service proud of its operational control.” That was an honest and courageous statement!
Local Law Enforcement agencies can track “pings” on cell phones and make “maps” to find where people have been visiting, with whom they have been communicating, and identify those who have called or visited them. Was this tracking done on the confused young shooter’s cell phone(s) in the hours and days before and after he seems to have been filmed walking around at an earlier Festival in downtown Butler? With whom did he have breakfasts, lunches, dinners, conversations, or visits? Will maps of his travels be provided, as they often are on “Crime Shows”, or isn’t this a serious enough “crime” for that? The Butler Novel will try to let us know what Local Law Enforcement was, and was not, allowed and encouraged to investigate fully. All “redactions” help us understand how little truth the “redactors” want us “mere citizens” to know. What a joy to go to Judgment after a lifetime of seeking truth rather than hiding it! Many souls are stained by willfully undermining trust and truth.
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Will an enjoyable part of The Butler Novel be watching questions being avoided by skilled, professional “redactors” who steadfastly repeat the beautifully calculated vagueness of those who will endlessly and solemnly avoid honestly answering politically incorrect questions by seriously and slowly intoning: “We are looking into that.” to proudly demonstrate their mastery of what has become a popular way to provide “redaction”, even as they throw local law enforcement and officials under the bus? (Will that be the longest coherent sentence in The Butler Novel?)
Another popular way to avoid Truth: “As a matter of longstanding policy, the U.S. Secret Service does not comment on pending or proposed litigation.” That, at least, required someone to do the hard work involved in copying and pasting the usual reasons for “redaction”. Many are too lazy even to do that, preferring the silence that “redaction approvers” are encouraged to embrace: “The DHS did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.” It seems the ‘man in the suit’ is admitted to being from the ATF, but was there in a mysterious ‘personal capacity’. He has also disappeared into The Swamp of Self-serving Silence, along with an explanation of how any ‘personal capacity” can replace “the sworn duty to uphold the law” for residents of Redactorville.
It was only discovered in Congressional Testimony that The Secret Service personnel taking The Candidate for immediate medical care after the shooting were not sure how to get to The Butler Hospital and their cell phones had a hard time finding directions. They ignored that error, though a Director of The Secret Service did admit in Congressional Testimony that he “was very concerned” about what caused so many mistakes. Intentionally hiring people of limited ability to provide high-paying jobs for otherwise unemployable relatives of important people did not seem to have crossed his mind as a reason for the institutionalized incompetence.
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Many find The Butler Novel intriguing because the best fiction is filled with facts.
May God bless us all to see that Local Law Enforcement and Butler County Officials did a far better job than those who did not meaningfully want to do so. The comparative incompetence, or worse, of a few people in a few Federal Authorities is an ongoing embarrassment to the many good people and Agencies. Their good people are exemplified by those who bravely shielded the Presidential Candidate with their bodies as shots were being fired! Comparing their courage, and that shown by Local Law Enforcement and Local Officials, explains the overpowering urges for “redaction” from those whose mistakes call their intellects and moral values into question.
Included among them are those described by Tyler Durden on 9/30/24: “In the video footage of the assassination attempt, criticism was particularly aimed at the conduct of the few female agents who were part of President Trump’s detail that day. Several women were noticeably overweight, with one seen cowering behind other agents and President Trump immediately after the shots rang out, while another one visibly struggled to re-holster her weapon as President Trump was being escorted into a vehicle to be taken to the hospital.”
One person summed up the failures that allowed this tragedy to happen: “It’s pretty clear that it wasn’t just one screw-up here,” said Andrew Vitek, a professor who teaches about terrorism at Penn State University. “This is indicative of multiple systemic failures all coming down around their ears at once.”
We pray that all involved will work diligently to avoid any “redactions” of every truth, including releasing all Emergency Calls about this situation. The more high-sounding such efforts are made to seem, the more clearly we see the desire to provide truth-hiding “redactions” especially the names of those who made mistakes. In cases like this, there must be a Policy of “No Redactions” so that all future political candidates from every Party will be safer. “Redactions” are forms of “bearing false witness” that threaten Truth and Democracy and the life of every candidate in every Party who cares enough to run for Public Office.
May God bless all who meaningfully love our Faith, Freedom, and Families with the courage to demand: “No Redactions!”, even for those who choose to live in “Redactorville”, the Capital City of The Self-Serving Swamp.
A wonderful alternative would be to provide an Official Government Report with “no redactions”. The Official Government Report could be reduced to Four Short Sentences on One Page:
Official Government Report:
1.“We cannot do more than identify the single Federal employee who may have done something wrong or failed to do things properly and intelligently through no fault of her own.
2. It would be wrong to put anyone except our approved scapegoat in fear of putting their salaries, bonuses, benefits, pensions, and reputations at risk.
3. It would be worse to hurt their feelings by publicly enumerating identified individuals’ mistakes.
4. No Official Government Report is allowed to do such awful things.”
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Then, an accompanying Unofficial Report for Mere Citizens could ask and answer far more questions than those considered in The Butler Novel. No one would appreciate that more than those respectable government workers who could not publicly recognize what an important contribution “The Unofficial Report for Mere Citizens” would make, in the words of Superman from what must be the Divine Coincidence of coming from DC Comics that verbalize our prayers and hopes that in Washington, DC, “Truth, Justice, and The American Way” will prevail.
Follow-ups:
1. Two months after young Mr. Crooks tried to assassinate the Presidential Candidate, Ryan Routh, an older, rifle-armed sniper with the same goal was stopped at a Florida golf course. Details about Mr. Routh’s background were not allowed in most media. But, he somehow knew where an unannounced schedule change would have the Candidate playing golf. That raised concerns about how an individual could put himself in place 12 hours before he attempted to ambush from an uninspected point of vulnerability on the edge of the golf course where only security forces should have known Mr. Trump would be. The Secret Service did not explain how that could have happened, but they were open and honest enough to say: “Mr. Trump, you can no longer play golf.”
2. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis accused the FBI of blocking a State investigation into that second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
3. There are still problems with security! On Friday, September 27, 2024, nearly two months after the attempted assassination, people went to care for horses stabled inside the Butler Fair Grounds. They were kept from entering by nearly a dozen Big, Black, Gleaming, Suburban-type Vehicles that kept them from driving to the barn that housed the horses for which they were caring.
The horse owners were told by armed agents: “This facility is shut down! No one may enter while we do a security check in advance of Trump’s upcoming Rally on October 5, 2024.”
The “mere citizens” who wanted to feed and brush their horses politely and respectfully explained to the armed agents: “You are in the wrong place. The upcoming Rally will not be held at The Butler Fairgrounds, but at The Butler Farm Show Grounds. That is 6.3 miles, 11 minutes, away.”
The mistake is understandable. The word “Butler” precedes both the word “Fair” and the word “Farm”, making them easily confused. Both words begin with a large capital “F”. Two of the three remaining letters in each word, ‘a’ and ‘i’ are the same! More confusing: the syllable ‘grounds’ is in both names! The two different places are easily confused because “New Ways to Teach Reading” are an important part of the “dumbing-down” process that keeps many Public School students, the main source of government employees, from being able to read as well as they otherwise would, another “fact” that is sure to be “redacted”.
Their supervisor did have the intellectual ability to use his cell phone to confirm the truth of what “mere citizens of Butler County” were telling him. He called a higher-level employee with the necessary reading skills to confirm that their Impressive Cavalcade had mistakenly arrived at the wrong address. He promptly ordered everyone back into their Impressive Cavalcade and left with a not-unprecedented bureaucratic refusal to say even a grateful “Thank you!” to helpful people from Butler County. The agents were spotted later that day at the Butler Farm Show. Thankfully, with help from the mere citizens of Butler County, they could finally find and inspect the right place. Too bad such citizens weren’t asked to drive the wounded Candidate to The Butler Hospital instead of the Secret Service Personnel who had a hard time getting directions from their cell phones to a place they had not bothered to locate before the shooting.
Hopefully, these mistakes will not be “redacted”, but recognized so that better preparation will make all candidates safer. “Remedial Reading Classes” provided by non-public schools may be of nationwide assistance to all of us.
4. The Director of the FBI tried to hide the errors his agents made by denying that the Candidate was even hit by a bullet! Jim Hoft wrote on October 8, 2024: “Chris Wray, who has a record of setting up innocent men in fake kidnapping plots, spying on Catholics at Church, raiding the homes of peaceful pro-life activists, terrorizing J6 protesters and their families, and targeting parents at school board meetings, took a swipe at President Trump during his testimony before Congress in late July.
Wray suggested that a bullet did not hit President Trump, but that it was instead shrapnel that caused his injury on stage at the Butler rally.
Wray did admit his agency and other federal government employees had allowed 8 shots to be fired at Trump during his speech – 8 shots before the gunman was neutralized!” Amazingly, he did let one bright ray of truth shine forth in his testimony: He was either able to count to 8, or he was able to properly remember or read that number from his notes or teleprompter. May “mere citizens” celebrate that fact while we pray his small step in the right direction will be followed by more.
5. The cover-up continued through October, according to The National Post: “Top officials in the United States Secret Service (USSS) are stonewalling Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General Joseph Cuffari‘s probe into security lapses that resulted in the July 13 assassination attempt on President Donald J. Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. In the aftermath of the attempt on Trump’s life, managers within the USSS told employees to notify them if they received requests for documents, information, or interviews from the Inspector General—suggesting the agency wished to coach potential witnesses before speaking with the government watchdog.
Internal USSS emails, first obtained by RealClearPolitics, direct employees to immediately inform their supervisor if they are contacted by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG).”
6. The Organization, AbleChild, asks an interesting question: “AbleChild was interested in the alleged shooter’s employment at The Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The alleged shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, would have had a photo ID and would have had to pass a background check including fingerprints to obtain that employment.”
Were the names of people whom 20 year old Thomas Crooks listed as references checked to determine their relationship with the shooter? Is that information still unaltered, undeleted, and available?
7. Gateway Pundit reports that in a hearing in early December 2024, Secret Service Director Rowe screamed repeatedly at a Congressman who dared to hold him to a standard high enough to show he’d made mistakes that included taking assets away from Trump’s security detail, specifically the security division responsible for threat assessments.
8. In early December, 2024, a young man named Luigi Mangione assassinated the CEO of a large Health-Care Company. Monica Showalter, a brilliant analyst, and writer reported on the wonderful American Thinker website on December 11, 2024, that the media released far more information on Mr. Mangione than “redactors” wanted anyone to know about Thomas Matthew Crooks: “Within hours of his apprehension in Pennsylvania in connection with the cold-blooded murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, scads of information rolled out about the life and times of suspect Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old man who has been accused of the killing, and in a very short period of time, the Internet being a fast medium.
“We’ve seen pictures of his family, and heard their statements of shock and regret at the news. We learned he grew up wealthy, the son of the owner of two resorts near Baltimore. We learned he once worked in a nursing home owned by his family. We learned where he went to school, even high school where he was a valedictorian, and that he was quite accomplished in the difficult subjects of computer science and engineering at an Ivy League university. . . his friends say he was normal and outgoing, with some even seeing leadership qualities in him. We learned he was athletic and outdoorsy, enjoying hiking and surfing. We learned he was well-traveled, living as a digital nomad in Hawaii, traveling to Japan, living in San Francisco, as well as Pennsylvania and Maryland in his life earlier.
“We learned about his online presence through his many social media accounts, posting pictures of his rippled physique, liking the Unabomber, disliking Jordan Peterson, getting into deep philosophical discussions with others.
“We learned about his surfing accident which led to back surgery, leaving him with four pins in his back, apparent pictures of which he posted on his social media bannerheads. We even learned that, according to a friend, that the surgery made it too painful for him to have sexual relations ever again, which he resented.”
Many compare that complete coverage with the “redaction” of coverage on Thomas Matthew Crooks reported in the rest of Monica Showalter’s incredibly perceptive American Thinker article: “It’s in striking contrast to the last high-profile killer who came to our attention last July, Thomas Crooks, another young man with a similar background who got his name in the news for attempting to kill President Trump amid a sea of Secret Service incompetence, but did manage to murder an innocent firefighter who was nearby, and injure two others in addition to President Trump, before he was shot dead by a cop. His age was similar, his engineering background was similar, his working in a nursing home was similar.”
“But we hear nothing of the level of information Mangione got, little about his political motivations, which political party he identified with, what his political views were, who his friends were, nothing about his very strange family who threw away their silverware to prevent police from finding it in a home search after the killing and attempted assassination, nothing about the strange associated classmates who could have been involved in the attack.
“We know nothing about the strange ad he made for Blackrock, or the 18 burner phones in his backpack. We don’t know who he was talking to on the phone, seen in a video, before he launched into his assassination bid. If he had a manifesto, we haven’t seen it. And his social media accounts were quickly scrubbed and shut down.
“. . . Where are the classmates who knew him? Why is his family so silent? Why has his social media presence been suppressed?”
Butler County residents are not the only people smart enough to see the vast difference in reporting that was allowed to appear about assassins whom media are ordered to approve and those they aren’t.
9. Yesterday, December 11, 2024, Chris Wray resigned from the FBI. Many “mere citizens” are asking Two Intelligent Questions: 1. Was Mr. Wray’s resignation caused by the wonderful Investigative Report that Butler County’s Congressman Mike Kelly and his investigating team made? 2. Had they shared facts with Mr. Wray that they did not make public but could? Many conclude: “Since truth prevailed ‘behind the scenes’, we can thank Mike Kelly, a shining star in ‘The Butler Novel’!”
10: On 12/12/24, Gateway Pundit let us know Something Very Interesting about the marksmanship ability of one Secret Service Member: “According to Jesse Watters, citing Trump Assassination Task Force’s report, a Secret Service agent confronted would-be assassin Ryan Routh, who was hiding in the bushes outside Trump’s golf course. Incredibly, the agent, standing just five feet away, fired not once but six times—and missed every single shot. Six shots, all missed.”
We who are “mere citizens” ask two questions: 1. “Was the agent told to miss?” 2. “Is it possible to find better proof of Government hiring based on preference for the utterly unqualified?”
11. After Elon Musk wanted to know: “What about that guy in Butler?” at a CPAC meeting on Feb 20, 2025, The New York Post replied with an article (Feb. 27, 2025) that included what his former High School Guidance Counselor said: “I believe evil exists in the world and the devil caused him to snap. Something got into his brain and controlled it. The devil fed on him and got him, hook, line, and sinker.”
Another concerned citizen said: “We don’t think he acted alone,” Doug Hagmann told The Post. “This took a lot of coordination. In my view, Crooks was handled (interesting choice of words) by more than one individual and he was used for this (assassination attempt). And I wouldn’t preclude the possibility that there were people at the rally itself helping him.”
That, of course, is another way of saying that he was seduced into a deadly sin. No one seems anxious to explore that possibility. Nor does anyone want to ask: “The FBI knows the influencers in Mr. Crooks’ life. Why don’t they release the names they must know of all connected?”
The refusal to answer such questions is a reason for those who seek truth to Be Catholic, where “bearing false witness” is a sin and not a reason for promotion.
Why are we “mere citizens” more concerned as we learn more facts kept from us by Compliant Media?
When “mere citizens” do something wrong, our names and mistakes are made known by newspapers and other media. That “Higher Standard” encourages “mere citizens” to avoid making mistakes that cause us to be publicly embarrassed.
Those in some government services know their names will not be made public. That “immunity from public accountability” is a “Lower Standard”. When we ask: “What kind of people demand that truth be hidden by anonymity?”, we see The Sad Answer: “Those who demand that mistakes be hidden behind anonymity believe they are above God’s Commandment: ‘You shall not bear false witness.’“
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A Lesson Learned:
Butler County Commissioner Leslie Osche brilliantly described what Federal Agencies seem to be focused on: “And I am waiting for the results of an investigation by qualified institutions instead of endless finger-pointing.”
Thank you, Leslie Osche! We are grateful to you for summing up the thoughts that reflect what millions of mere citizens are praying for in one, incredibly intelligent sentence! “And I am waiting for the results of an investigation by qualified institutions instead of endless finger-pointing.”
Since “endless finger-pointing” never ends for those avoiding blame, may we all be blessed to focus on making The Unofficial Report for Mere Citizens as accurately fact-filled as possible, obeying The Legal Duty to provide what many doing the hardest work of their careers to avoid:
“The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth.”
We may now see updates about mistakes that have been openly discussed in an “Interim Report”:
https://taskforce.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/july13taskforce.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/task-force-interim-staff-report-10.21.2024.pdf
The writers of the “Interim Report” have kindly avoided the word “incompetence” and questions about it being “willful” while making it clear that both must be considered.
As predicted in the suggested four-sentence “Official Government Report” above, those who made mistakes were largely, if not entirely, unnamed.
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Afterword: Lessons from History, Literature, and Religion:
History: Most of us have learned enough History to know that Julius Caesar, one of the Greatest Roman Emperors, was assassinated by an armed gang of jealous, power-seeking rivals. They were led by Brutus, who pretended to be Caesar’s friend and had been greatly helped by him, just as Donald Trump had put Christopher Wray, who did nothing meaningful to stop Trump’s attempted assassin, in charge of the FBI.
Julius Caesar’s chosen heir and successor, Augustus, was blessed to win wars of rebellion led by Brutus and other murderers of Caesar when they tried to seize The Roman Empire with Legions under their command.
Augustus won those wars. Then, his Intelligence Agencies found and “permanently redacted” all who helped in the assassination of Julius Caesar.
History’s Lesson: “Redaction” may occur in “The Redaction of Redactors”.
History’s Better Lesson: “Forgiveness is better than such “redaction” because it provides time for soul-saving “repentance and redemption” for even those who let themselves be overwhelmed by the usual demon-driven lust for earthly power.
Literature: Dante is one of the most widely-read authors in History. His “Divine Comedy” tells us that the souls of all who unrepentantly participate in “Complex Frauds” for personal gain must spend eternity in the lowest six Circles of “The Inferno”.
After a lifetime of praying for “wisdom and understanding”, Dante realized the immortal soul of the assassin, Brutus, is in the lowest circle of “The Inferno”. He forever suffers the greatest pain in Creation, along with Judas Iscariot, the equally treasonous “friend” of Jesus who tried to “redact” He Who Fulfilled The Prophecies for Speaking His Church-Creating Word to the first Catholic Pope: “And I say unto you thou art Peter and on this rock I build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven.”
Religion: Interestingly, Dante’s Inferno puts Mohammed with Brutus and Judas in the lowest place in hell, symbolizing a “reverse trinity”. Like the first to be led to America by Believers in “More for Me”, their followers continue to exterminate or enslave as many “God and neighbor-loving people” as they can. Often, their invasions are made to seem “rightful and peaceful”, but they are allowed and encouraged by those who are also too self-centered to do more than plunder and destroy those who strive to obey “Love God and your neighbors as yourself.”
“The Butler Novel” lets us learn from Dante that no one should worry more about having their immortal souls ‘redacted from Heaven’ than those who unrepentantly ‘redact truths’ on Earth that lead to death and destruction.
Believers ask The Most Important Questions of All:
Many Readers of “The Butler Novel” believe in The Bible. We ask four questions that “redactors” hate for anyone to ask:
1. “Had young Mr. Thomas Matthew (the names of two of the 12 Disciples) Crooks been Baptized in The Name of The Father and of The Son and of The Holy Spirit?”
2. If so, did falling into sin confuse the tiny thought-photons in his mind as he was led to reject any requests to God for Guidance?
3. If he was not Baptized, will his parents ask God to forgive them for not doing that or have him learn that “Thou shall not kill.” is a Word of God that His people obey?”
4. “Should Believers pray that all who willfully choose to break The 8th Commandment, “Thou shall not bear false witness.” will seek forgiveness for their sins as humbly as they proudly committed them?”
The answer to Question 4 is “Yes.”
St. Faustina offers miraculous hope for even ‘willful redactors of truth’ when she tells us: “Jesus loves to save the souls of those who repent the greatest sins.” Some of us ask: “Did Thomas Matthew Crooks have time to say “I’m sorry!” between the time he saw the flash of light from the end of the counter-sniper’s rifle barrel in the fraction of a second before the bullet reached his brain?
