Day: July 5, 2022

Putin Sacks Top Priest over Ukraine War

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date July 5, 2022

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Vladimir Putin has sacked Metropolitan Hilarion, often described as the foreign minister of the Russian Orthodox church, and effectively its deputy head. Even if you’re not an ecclesiastical expert or even just an occasional watcher of the church, this personnel move really matters because the institution is a semi-official arm of the Putin regime.

Until his dismissal last month, Hilarion was the church’s de facto crown prince. And unlike its current leader, the woodenly pro-regime Patriarch Kirill, Metropolitan Hilarion is an energetic and highly intelligent cleric, a noted theologian, and an accomplished composer. And while Kirill’s steadfast support for the Kremlin’s policies seems to be motivated mostly by opportunism, Hilarion has over the years toed the line but in a more independent manner. His dismissal signals that Putin can no longer tolerate even the slightest independent thinking in his vicinity. When authoritarian regimes reach this stage of decay, they usually can’t survive – although the period between visible rot and collapse can be messy and painful.

Anyone wishing to exercise humility need only take a look at Hilarion’s CV. Aged just seven, little Grigory Alfeyev — as he then was — gained acceptance to a highly selective Moscow music school, where he specialized in violin and composition until his graduation in 1984. As was required at the time, Alfeyev then completed two years of military service, after which he studied composition studies at the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory. But in 1987 he quit to become a monk at a Russian Orthodox monastery in (then-Soviet) Lithuania, taking the name Hilarion.

He’s remained a Russian Orthodox monk ever since, in recent years serving as a bishop. Indeed, he has risen quickly through the ranks; aged 44 he was already a Metropolitan (the Russian Orthodox Church’s equivalent of Cardinal) and Chairman of its Department of External Church Relations – the Church’s primary link with the rest of the world. He’s also amassed a plethora of other ecclesiastical roles, including as a member of the Presidential Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations, and become known for his engagement in interfaith dialogue.

In the meantime, he has also gained doctorates in theology from Oxford University and the Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris, and has written a large number of scholarly — and respected — works on church history and the theological discipline known as systematic theology. He has become a professor at the University of Fribough in Switzerland. Oh, and he has written several large works for chorus and orchestra, some of which have been broadcast by the BBC. Others are available on Spotify. As an occasional classic-music writer, I will say that while they’re not on the level of Johann Sebastian Bach, the compositions are sophisticated, and they’re easy on the ear.

Hilarion is, in fact, such a formidable force that his elevation to the Russian Orthodox Church’s top post was considered to be only a matter of time. That will require the 75-year-old Kirill to die or step down, and thus far he shows no sign of doing either; indeed, despite Western sanctions for his enthusiastic endorsement of the invasion of Ukraine, he seems to be greatly enjoying leading the Church, and, perhaps even more, his proximity to the Kremlin.

Metropolitan Hilarion is also a patriot, or a nationalist, as his detractors call him. When Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, Hilarion issued no condemnation. When, in March, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union wrote to Patriarch Kirill, asking him to condemn the war, Hilarion responded, saying that “we call upon everyone to pray fervently for the cessation of every military confrontation between Russia and Ukraine.” On other occasions, he has spoken about the evils of war, without singling the Kremlin out. His muted opposition reflects the reality of intellectuals and civic leaders in countless authoritarian regimes through history: is it better to try to co-exist with the regime? Voice dissent? Go into exile? (In my book God’s Spies, I tell the story of how the Stasi recruited East German pastors as agents.)

Hilarion’s circumspection set him apart from his boss, who has condoned the Kremlin’s aggression. “Let this image inspire young soldiers who take the oath, who embark on the path of defending the fatherland,” Patriarch Kirill said as he gave an icon to General Viktor Zolotov during a service at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral.

The criticism of the war in general was not enough for the University of Fribough, which in March suspended Hilarion, berating him for not using “his ecclesiastical and political influence, to publicly and unequivocally condemn the military invasion of Ukraine by Russia”. And now he’s been fired by the Russian Orthodox Church over his lack of support for the Ukraine war. Or rather, he has been demoted. On June 7, Kirill made Hilarion Metropolitan of Budapest and Hungary, where he served two decades ago. In Orthodox Church terms, Hungary is a distinct backwater in Orthodox church terms,; it has so few Russian Orthodox believers that the faith doesn’t even get its own entry on the list of the country’s denominations.

Officially, Hilarion’s appointment is merely ecclesiastical. But it says a great deal about the state of mind of Putin, the man Kirill so faithfully serves. By dismissing Hilarion, who had kept any criticism of Putin out of the public eye, Kirill is signaling that Putin won’t tolerate any dissent, however muted. Putin, for his part, is signaling that he only wants the most obsequious around him, and as voices of Russian officialdom.

And by signaling that, the president is unwittingly telling the world that his regime is decaying. Towards the involuntary end of their rule, all authoritarian leaders try to tighten their grip on power by excluding anyone who might question them. As a result, they no longer hear even mildly voiced alternative views. That’s not to say that the yes-men are enthusiastic regime supporters. They will simply oblige for as long as it suits them.

Those Westerners who know Hilarion may dislike him, though many academics respect his scholarship. But his sacking suggests that Putin’s regime has entered a dangerous stage of decay. That is further evidence that its end is coming, although it is quite possible that before that events may take an even darker turn.

Elisabeth Braw is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where she focuses on defense against emerging national security challenges. She is also a columnist for Foreign Policy and the author of ‘The Defender’s Dilemma: Identifying and Deterring Gray-Zone Aggression’ (AEI Press, 2022) and ‘God’s Spies’ (Eerdmans, 2019), about the Stasi.

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Police: Gunman fired 70 plus rounds at July 4 parade, 7 dead

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date July 5, 2022

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) — The gunman who attacked an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago fired more than 70 rounds with an AR-15-style gun that killed at least seven people, then evaded initial capture by dressing as a woman and blending into the fleeing crowd, police said Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Lake County Major Crime Task Force told a news conference that the suspected shooter, who was arrested late Monday, used a high-powered rifle “similar to an AR-15” to spray bullets from atop a commercial building into a crowd that had gathered for the parade in Highland Park, a close-knit community on the shores of Lake Michigan that has long drawn the rich and sometimes famous.

More than 30 people were wounded in the attack, including one who died Tuesday, task force spokesman Christopher Covelli said.

Investigators who have interrogated the suspect and reviewed his social media posts have not determined a motive for the attack or found any indication that he targeted anyone by race, religion or other protected status, Covelli said.

The shooter spent several weeks planning the assault, Covelli said.

Authorities have not filed criminal charges.

Earlier in the day, FBI agents peeked into trash cans and under picnic blankets as they searched for more evidence at the site where the assailant opened fire. The shots were initially mistaken for fireworks before hundreds of revelers fled in terror.

A day later, baby strollers, lawn chairs and other items left behind by panicked parade goers remained inside a wide police perimeter. Outside the police tape, some residents drove up to collect blankets and chairs they abandoned.

David Shapiro, 47, said the spray of gunfire quickly turned the parade into “chaos.”

“People didn’t know right away where the gunfire was coming from, whether the gunman was in front or behind you chasing you,” he said Tuesday as he retrieved a stroller and lawn chairs.

The shooting was just the latest to shatter the rituals of American life. Schools, churches, grocery stores and now community parades have all become killing grounds in recent months. This time, the bloodshed came as the nation tried to find cause to celebrate its founding and the bonds that still hold it together.

“It definitely hits a lot harder when it’s not only your hometown but it’s also right in front of you,” resident Ron Tuazon said as he and a friend returned to the parade route Monday evening to retrieve chairs, blankets and a child’s bike that his family abandoned when the shooting began.

“It’s commonplace now,” Tuazon said. “We don’t blink any more. Until laws change, it’s going to be more of the same.”

A police officer pulled over Robert E. Crimo III north of the shooting scene several hours after police released his photo and warned that he was likely armed and dangerous, Highland Park Police Chief Lou Jogmen said.

Authorities initially said Crimo, whose father once ran for mayor of Highland Park, was 22, but an FBI bulletin and Crimo’s social media said he was 21.

The shooting occurred at a spot on the parade route where many residents had staked out prime viewing points early in the day.

Among them was Nicolas Toledo, who was visiting his family in Illinois from Mexico. He was shot and died at the scene, his granddaughter, Xochil Toledo, told the Chicago Sun-Times. Also killed was Jacki Sundheim, a lifelong congregant and “beloved” staff member at nearby North Shore Congregation Israel, which announced her death on its website.

Police have not released details about the victims, but Toledo’s granddaughter told the Sun-Times that Toledo had spent most of his life in Morelos, Mexico. Xochil Toledo said she remembers looking over at her grandfather, who was in his late 70s, as a band passed them.

“He was so happy,” she said. “Happy to be living in the moment.”

Xochil Toledo said her father tried to shield her grandfather and was shot in the arm. Her boyfriend also was shot in the back and taken to a hospital.

Sundheim had spent decades on the staff at North Shore Congregation Israel, teaching at the congregation’s preschool and later coordinating events, “all of this with tireless dedication,” the congregation said in its statement announcing her death.

“Jacki’s work, kindness and warmth touched us all,” the statement said.

NorthShore University HealthSystem said it treated 39 people at four of its hospitals after the shooting. Nine people, ranging from 14 to 70, remain hospitalized Tuesday. One patient, a 69-year-old man, was in critical condition from a gunshot wound.

Since the start of the year, the U.S. has seen 15 shootings where four or more people were killed, including the one in Highland Park, according to The Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University mass killing database.

Scores of smaller-scale shootings in nearby Chicago also left eight people dead and 60 others wounded over the July 4 weekend.

Highland Park Police Commander Chris O’Neill said the gunman apparently fired from a rooftop where he was “very difficult to see.” He said the rifle was recovered at the scene. Police also found a ladder attached to the building.

Covelli said Crimo legally purchased the gun in Illinois within the past year.

In 2013, Highland Park officials approved a ban on assault weapons and ammunition magazines of more than 10 rounds. A local doctor and the Illinois State Rifle Association quickly challenged the liberal suburb’s stance. The legal fight ended at the U.S. Supreme Court’s doorstep in 2015 when justices declined to hear the case and let the suburb’s restrictions remain in place.

Crimo, who goes by the name Bobby, was an aspiring rapper with the stage name Awake the Rapper, posting on social media dozens videos and songs, some ominous and violent.

In one animated video since taken down by YouTube, Crimo raps about armies “walking in darkness” as a drawing appears of a man pointing a rifle, a body on the ground and another figure with hands up in the distance.

Federal agents were reviewing Crimo’s online profiles, and a preliminary examination of his internet history indicated that he had researched mass killings and had downloaded multiple photos depicting violent acts, including a beheading, a law enforcement official said.

The official could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Crimo’s father, Bob, a longtime deli owner, sought the mayor’s office in 2019, calling himself “a person for the people.”

The community of about 30,000 on Chicago’s affluent North Shore has mansions and sprawling lakeside estates and was once home to NBA legend Michael Jordan.

Shapiro, the Highland Park resident who fled the parade with his family, said his 2-year-old son woke up screaming later that night.

“He is too young to understand what happened. But he knows something bad happened,” Shapiro said. “That’s chilling.”

___

Foody reported from Chicago. Groves reported from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Associated Press writers Martha Irvine and Mike Householder in Highland Park; Mike Balsamo and Bernard Condon in New York; David Koenig in Dallas; Jeff Martin in Woodstock, Georgia; Fabiola Sánchez in Monterrey, Mexico; and Jim Mustian in New Orleans contributed.

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In pretending that Covid is over, the UK government is playing a dangerous game | Stephen Reicher

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date July 5, 2022

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Covid is alive and kicking. About 2.3 million people are infected with the virus in the UK, including as many as one in 18 in Scotland. There are more than 10,000 Covid patients in hospital. These infections are increasing the burden on the NHS and contributing to the staff shortages that are already causing chaos in airports and elsewhere. And that’s before we even consider deaths and long Covid.

Yet our government talks and acts as if Covid is dead and gone. The health secretary, Sajid Javid, claims that we are in a post-pandemic phase. The prime minister insists that sky-high infections are no cause for concern (and indeed that Covid is so trivial that he hasn’t even bothered to think about the issue “for a while”). The government’s own website recommends wearing masks in enclosed crowded spaces (as do other agencies such as the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control), but ministers and MPs conspicuously fail to wear masks in spaces such as the House of Commons.

It’s not just the government acting as if it’s all over. So is the public. The huge crowds at the jubilee, at Glastonbury and now at Wimbledon show that, for many, life has returned to normal. This is corroborated by official figures. The Office for National Statistics says that the proportion of people who report wearing masks in public spaces fell from 57% in May to 38% in June. Mask wearing on public transport declined sharply in the same period.

This is hardly surprising. Evidence from this pandemic and others shows that people take precautions only when they perceive a risk. When we are told by those in charge that there is no risk any more, we naturally believe there is no reason to take precautions any more. But we still need to ask: a risk to whom? The common-sense answer is risk to oneself. But the evidence tells a different story. From early on in the pandemic it became clear that a sense of risk to the community was a critical factor in whether people followed Covid measures. And indeed, our own unpublished data shows that adherence to these measures is linked more to communal risk than to personal risk.

In other words, most people wear masks and follow other precautions to keep their community safe, especially its more vulnerable members. Our reasons for following these measures are more about social than personal responsibility. The government’s recent and relentless emphasis on the personal has chipped away at this communal sense of concern and undermined our belief that caution is necessary.

Our behaviour isn’t just determined by what we believe about risk. It is also affected by what we think others believe. If we think our personal attitudes go against social norms – especially the norms of people like ourselves – then social norms generally play a bigger role in shaping our behaviour than personal attitudes. This can create a number of paradoxes. If our actions are determined by our beliefs about others, then we can all end up doing something that virtually no one believes in. During the pandemic, for instance, people believed that others rejected the rules far more than they actually did. This led people to break the rules themselves, even if they believed in them. And these violations in turn became evidence that others rejected the rules – creating a vicious spiral.

Our political leaders – the government, its advisers and the opposition – are critical in breaking this spiral. A key dimension of good leadership is the ability to bring people together, to help them realise that their concern for the safety of their community is shared by others, and to feel empowered to act on this.

However, one of the main reasons people aren’t wearing masks has nothing to do with masks at all. We resent being told what to do by others, and tend to respond by reasserting our autonomy. This becomes even more acute when we believe this is a matter of “us” and “them”. That is precisely what has happened with Covid, and more specifically with masks. We live in a populist age, which divides society into “the people” and “the elite”, and where some believe the elite (or establishment) is seeking to control the people.

According to this worldview, the government and its experts have introduced Covid measures on the pretext of protecting us, but they are actually trying to control us. If this is true of Covid measures in general, it is particularly true of masks, portrayed as a potent symbol of control: they are muzzles. What people are rejecting, then, is less the mask and more the political and scientific establishment that proposes it.

Providing evidence about the risks of Covid and the effectiveness of masks will do little to restore disbelievers’ faith in the measure. After all, if the problem lies with the establishment, you are just as likely to reject its evidence about masks as its recommendation to wear one. Rather, the key lies in creating a relationship of trust between those who propose Covid measures and those for whom they are proposed. As with vaccines, this is a matter of community engagement: working with different groups to show how measures are something done for them (not to them). With trades unionists, for instance, protective measures are part of taking health and safety at work seriously. For those who are religious, they are about loving thy neighbour.

Rebuilding trust between politicians, scientists and the public is critical to dealing with the current crisis. But it is equally important for the future. Early on in the Covid period there was much talk of learning lessons and of “building back better”. As time has gone on and our leaders have made a general effort to forget the pandemic (and deny its ongoing reality), this has been forgotten. It is as if we want to erase the fact that Covid ever happened. Those who deny history are condemned to repeat past mistakes. Acting as if it’s all over not only leaves us exposed and helpless in the present. It also makes us exposed and helpless next time.

Stephen Reicher is a member of the Sage subcommittee advising on behavioural science. He is a professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews, a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and an authority on crowd psychology

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Highland Park massacre suspect Robert Crimo, 22, is rapper ‘Awake’

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date July 5, 2022

Published: 03:49 BST, 5 July 2022 | Updated: 13:35 BST, 5 July 2022

The man suspected of killing six people and wounding more than a dozen others during a July 4 parade in Highland Park, Ill., is a Donald Trump-supporting rapper with a seemingly successful music career.

Robert ‘Bobby’ Crimo III, 22, who goes by ‘Awake the Rapper,’ has more than 16,000 listeners per month on Spotify.

Music videos posted by Crimo online last fall include a drawing of himself shooting people online, and a disturbing clip of himself throwing bullets on the floor of a classroom while wearing armor in what appears to be a joke about school shootings.

Crimo also had a Discord server where he would chat with friends and fans, and his most recent post was a picture of Budd Dwyer, the Pennsylvania state treasurer who killed himself on live TV in the 1980s, which he captioned: ‘I wish politicians still gave speeches like this.’

He also made references to suicide and frequently posted on a message board discussing graphic depictions of murder and death, including a recent video he shared of a beheading.

Crimo was ‘known to law enforcement’ but it is not yet known if this was due to the disturbing content he shared online, or if he committed other crimes.

Among those killed was synagogue teacher Jacki Sundheim, a married mother, and grandfather Nicolas Toledo, 78. Four others have not yet been named.

Another 25 people aged between eight and 85 suffered gunshot wounds. Six people remain in hospital.

The US has now seen 309 mass shootings so far this year in which four or more people, excluding the shooter, were shot or killed. Eleven alone took place over the holiday weekend.

In another bloody day of violence in the US:

The gunman stood on a roof shooting randomly at passersby at the Independence Day parade at 10.15am
Revelers thought the gunfire was fireworks or part of the July 4 celebrations before people started to flee
Five adults were killed at the scene and another died in hospital from their injuries, with dozens wounded
Shooter fled in a Honda, sparking an eight-hour manhunt before his arrest after a car chase
Police said he was ‘known to law enforcement’ and posted violent material online and in music videos
His father is a local businessman who ran for mayor and mother is a Mormon alternative healer
Joe Biden said he was ‘shocked’ and vowed to continue to fight against the ‘epidemic of gun violence’
Two police officers were wounded in a shooting in Philadelphia hours later in another weekend of mayhem

Robert ‘Bobby’ Crimo III is pictured during his arrest after an hours-long manhunt following the massacre in which six people were killed

The suspect is surrounded by police after an eight-hour chase as he was finally arrested following the horrific massacre

In one online bio, Crimo boasted of having a net worth of $100,000. On his Spotify page, he has over 16,000 monthly listens, He is pictured as his rap alter-ego Awake

Crimo posted multiple disturbing videos which have taken on a new relevance in the wake of the shooting, including a clip where he reached into his bag in an empty classroom, before the screen cut to him in body armor scattering bullets around the now-trashed room

Police have said he was ‘known to law enforcement’ but it is not yet known if this was due to the violent videos which included a drawing of a shooter lying in a pool of blood near armed police

Crimo has attended multiple Trump rallies in the past. One of which was described as ‘tense’ after counter-protesters showed up, according to the Chicago Tribune

Armed police carry out a search in the vehicle after Crimo’s arrest following a brief chase in Lake Forest yesterday

Crimo was arrested after an hours long manhunt that involved local and federal authorities

One YouTube music video – which saw Crimo eerily discuss his ‘destiny’ – depicted a figure that appears to be the suspect firing a rifle, while one victim lies on the floor and another holds their hands in the air

A synagogue teacher has been identified as the second victim of the July 4 Highland Park gun massacre that killed six people.

Jacki Sundheim, a longtime staffer at North Shore Congregation Israel, was shot and killed when a gunman opened fire at the event, unleashing a hail of bullets on the crowd, the synagogue announced in an email to congregants Monday night.

‘Jacki was a lifelong congregant of NSCI and a cherished member of NSCI’s staff team for decades,’ the synagogue wrote in an email that announced her murder ‘Jacki’s work, kindness and warmth touched us all.’

Sundheim, was the Reform synagogue’s events and b’nei mitzvah coordinator, according to its website. She is survived by her husband Bruce and daughter Leah, the Times of Israel reported.

‘There are no words sufficient to express the depth of our grief for Jacki’s death,’ the synagogue added.

Jacki Sundheim, a longtime staffer at North Shore Congregation Israel, was shot and killed when a gunman opened fire at the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois on Monday

Earlier on Monday evening, a beloved grandfather from Mexico had been identified as one of the victims, by his family who said he was shot in the head as he sat in his wheelchair, his blood splattering on them.

Nicolas Toledo, 76, had not wanted to attend the parade in Highland Park, Illinois, his granddaughter told the New York Times.

But because of his disabilities that restricted him to a wheelchair, and his family’s insistence of going, he obliged.

Nicolas Toledo, 76, had not wanted to attend the July 4th parade in Highland Park, Illinois, on Monday, his granddaughter told the New York Times. But because of his disabilities that restricted him to a wheelchair, and his family’s insistence of going, he obliged

President Joe Biden said he and his wife Jill were ‘shocked by the senseless gun violence that has yet again brought grief to an American community on this Independence Day’, and vowed to continue the fight against the shooting ‘epidemic’. Kamala Harris is expected to visit Chicago today but it is not known if she will meet victims.

Crimo was arrested after an hours long manhunt that involved local and federal authorities. It has now emerged his father Bob Sr, 58, is a local deli owner who once ran for mayor, while his mom Denise Pesina, 48, was once arrested on suspicion of domestic battery.

She appears to have become a Mormon and is also into alternative therapies, according to her Facebook page.

Crimo has two siblings, including a 27 year-old sister called Lynette Pesina, with the family residing in a comfortable $425,000 home in Highwood, close to the scene of the shooting.

In 2020, Crimo was pictured attending a Donald Trump rally while dressed as Where’s Waldo. Another picture has emerged showing the suspect wrapped in a Donald Trump flag.

At one of the rallies that Crimo was pictured at in Northbrook, Illinois, the Chicago Tribune described it as ‘tense ‘ but said that there was no arrests made as counter-protesters showed up at the event. The ex-president was not present at that rally.

The suspect’s IMDb page describes him as being the middle child of three who grew up in an Italian-American family in Highland Park, Illinois.

The suspect’s ties to the community go back as far as his grandfather, Robert Crimo, who was born in Highland Park in 1929. Robert Crimo died in 2018.

His obituary names the suspect’s parents as Bob Jr. and Denise. Most of the family mentioned in the tribute live in the Highland Park-area.

The family lives along Pleasant Avenue in Highwood, just north of Highland Park.

Their home is located across the street from Oak Terrace Elementary School.

In April 2019, Crimo’s father ran for mayor in Highland Park.

It does not appear that his campaign was backed by a political party. His slogan was a: ‘A Person for the People.’

Bob Crimo was defeated by the town’s current mayor, Nancy Rotering, a liberal, who ran her campaign partly on a platform about gun control.

In a pre-election profile, Bob Crimo said that he was the owner of two restaurants in the area, White Hen in Ravinia and Bob’s Pantry & Deli in Braeside, Illinois.

He wrote in the profile: ‘I’m running as mayor as a person for the people in our community.’

He continued: ‘It’s my way of giving back to the community who have been so supportive of me over the years. I live local and I will stay local.’

In a 2018 feature with the Chicago Tribune, Bob Crimo was pictured with Denise Pesina.

He describes his restaurant as a ‘family-run and family-orientated store.’

In February 2015, Pesina was arrested in Highland Park on charges of domestic battery while driving, reported Patch.com at the time.

Further details on the outcome of that case have not been shared.

Following his defeat, Bob Crimo wrote on Facebook: ‘This has been a great experience. I cannot thank my supporters enough.

‘Although the polls weren’t in my favor, I will continue to do my best to further the improvement of Highland Park for my fellow neighbors. Thank you all so much again.’

While on his Twitter page, Bob Crimo follows one account, an archived account of ex-President Donald Trump’s tweets.

On May 27, the same day that 19 children and two teachers were slaughtered at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Bob Crimo liked a tweet that read: ‘Protect the Second Amendment like your life depends on it.’

The suspect’s mother, Denise Pesina, is a healer with a business named Trilogy Energy Systems.

She regularly posts revealing photos of herself on her Facebook, often while posing with her sphinx cat Sanjay.

According to the company’s mission statement: ‘Trilogy Energy Systems is committed to the wellbeing of ALL energy systems.

‘A FULL SPECTRUM HEALING cooperative. One person has the ability to influence innumerous lives.’

The profile on that page says that Pesina studied at Traditional Chinese Medicine at Shanghai University and at the The Ayurvedic Institute, a New Mexico-based school that teaches the principles and practices of Ayurveda, an alternative medicine teaching.

The gunman’s father Bob Crimo (left) ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Highland Park in 2019 where he owns a deli. The suspect’s mother Denise Pesina (right) is an alternative healer who was once arrested on suspicion of domestic battery

On May 27, the same day that 19 children and two teachers were slaughtered at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Bob Crimo liked this tweet

Bob Crimo was defeated by the town’s current mayor, Nancy Rotering, a liberal, who ran her campaign partly on a platform about gun control.

The family’s home shown here in Highwood, just north of Highland Park. The shooter’s family has not yet commented

The suspect pictured watching President Donald Trump’s motorcade leave an airport with other supporters

This year Crimo released an EP titled: ‘Brainwashed.’ The tracks included: ‘Dead Again’ and ‘I Am the Storm’

In his final post on Discord, Crimo posted a video of Budd Dwyer shooting himself on live TV, and said: ‘I wish politicians still gave speeches like this.’

The Pennsylvania state treasurer killed himself during a press conference on January 22, 1987.

The politician had been expected to resign but gave a rambling speech, took out a Smith and Wesson .357 revolver and put it in his mouth.

Before he pulled the trigger, people ran for their lives and those who stayed pleaded with him to put the gun down, others had tried to snatch it from his hand.

His final words were: ‘Don’t, don’t, don’t, this will hurt someone’.

His suicide was broadcast to a television audience across Pennsylvania that lunchtime and again later in the day.

Dwyer had been a politician for 22 years, serving in the state’s house of representatives and in the state senate.

But in his role as treasurer he had been found guilty of racketeering, bribery, fraud and conspiracy after being accused of taking a bribe during a bidding process for a $4.6million government contract.

The following day, January 23, he had been due to be sentenced and was expecting to be jailed for 55 years.

In one of the suspect’s songs, Crimo rapped: ‘My actions will be valiant and my thought is unnecessary, I know what I have to do, I know what’s in it, not only for me, but for everyone else.

According to the FBI, Crimo’s has tattoos showing four tally marks with a line through them on his right cheek, red roses and green leaves on his neck and cursive script above his left eyebrow that reads: ‘Awake.’

The feds said that Crimo has ties in the communities of Rockford, DeKalb and Elgin in Illinois.

An IMDb page about the suspect describes him as a ‘rapper, singer, songwriter, actor and director from Chicago.’

The most viewed video on the rapper’s YouTube channel is the music video for his song: ‘On My Mind.’ The video, showing a the suspect in a classroom.

Crimo operated two channels both of which have been deleted for ‘violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines.’

The track begins as a slow ballad, including the lines: ‘You’re always on my mind. Cutie with the fat ass, I wanna make you mine. I’m running out of time. Shorty we can skip class, smoke and chill online.’

The song has a sudden change in tempo and shows Crimo reaching into a backpack. The screen goes black and when the music returns it’s dubbed with maniacal laughter and, fast paced piano music and a heavy drum beat.

The video then shows the classroom ransacked with the suspect smiling.

Crimo is clad in a combat helmet as he falls to the floor clutching his face and dropping bullets to the floor.

The bio goes on to say that his music career began when he was 11 when Crimo began uploading music online.

His music is in the genre of LoFi rap, according to his Spotify page. He has released three albums, the first in 2017 titled ‘Messages,’ that was followed with 2018’s ‘Observer’ and 2021’s self-titled ‘Awake the Rapper.’

This year he released an EP titled: ‘Brainwashed.’ The tracks included: ‘Dead Again’ and ‘I Am the Storm.’

Crimo has an average of 16,46 listens per month on Spotify.

Horror on Independence Day: A police officer bows his head in grief next to abandoned strollers and chairs after a shooting that killed six people in Highland Park, Illinois

The bloody scene in Highland Park, Illinois, on Monday after a shooter opened fire on a Fourth of July parade shortly after 10am

Law enforcement officers look over a park near the scene of a mass shooting at a 4th of July celebration and parade in Highland Park, Illinois

Strollers and chairs were abandoned at the scene after the shots rang out at 10.14am, just ten minutes after the parade began

In his most recent tweet from October 2021 on his artist Twitter page, the suspect tweeted: ‘I am not a robot.’

The gunman’s attack began less than 15 minutes after the start of the parade. Witnesses have now told how they saw children being picked off in the crowd.

Chilling videos obtained by DailyMail.com replay how the gunman first unleashed one long hail of bullets before stopping – presumably to reload – and then resuming fire.

Brigham Temple, the medical director of emergency preparedness for Northshore university health system, said they received 20 patients aged between eight and 85 – 10 of them by ambulance.

Four of five patients were children, he said. One of the children who arrived at Northshore was too critically ill to be transported initially. He was stabilized and airlifted to a children’s hospital in Chicago.

Temple said some of the patients were in critical condition.

Of the 25 who arrived at the hospital with gunshot wounds, 19 were treated and discharged home.

The aftermath of the scene in Highland Park on Monday after a shooter opened fire on the parade. Chairs and strollers were abandoned by attendees

Law enforcement officers investigate the scene of a mass shooting at a 4th of July celebration and parade in Highland Park, Illinois, USA, 04 July 2022. A gunman opened fire as people gathered to watch a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, killing at least six people and injuring dozens

Police officers cross under police tape at the scene of a mass shooting at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade

Law enforcement search in downtown Highland Park, a Chicago suburb, after a mass shooting at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade, Monday, July 4, 2022

One had to be transferred to Evanston hospital. Two patients are still being treated at Northshore.

‘It is a little surreal to take care of an event such as this,’ he said.

‘But all of us have undergone extensive training.’

He said there was a team of therapists and counsellors standing by. His hospital was one of three taking in patients from the parade shooting.

Witnesses described seeing children being shot at the parade. All of the confirmed deaths so far are those of adults.

Abandoned chairs, strollers, and blankets – once being used by families celebrating the holiday – were left behind in the chaos.

Bloodied bodies were strewn on the ground in the immediate aftermath of the shooting as people frantically fled from the area.

‘All of a sudden everyone behind us started running. I looked back, probably 20 feet away from me, I saw a girl shot and killed. I saw her die. I’ve never seen anything like this,’ a woman, who gave her name only as Zoe, told CNN.

Police say they recovered a ‘rifle’ at the scene but witnesses described multiple rounds being fired in quick succession which they say could only have come from a semi-automatic.

‘A rifle? No, no. It was an automatic weapon. It was pop, pop, pop – rifles don’t do that,’ she said.

President Biden – who has been calling for gun reform since the Uvalde shooting on May 24 which claimed 19 lives – issued a statement on Monday afternoon.

He said he had given his support to the Governor of Illinois and the Highland Park Mayor, and he celebrated his recent passing of a gun control bill.

‘I recently signed the first major bipartisan gun reform legislation in almost thirty years into law, which includes actions that will save lives.

‘But there is so much more work to do, and I’m not going to give up fighting the epidemic of gun violence,’ he said.

How shooter climbed ladder to stage rooftop massacre and then disappeared for more than EIGHT hours before cops finally arrested him in dramatic traffic stop

On July 4, a gunman shot and killed six people and wounded 24 more during an independence day parade in the affluent Chicago suburb of Highland Park, Illinois.

The suspect in the shooting has been named as local man Robert ‘Bobby’ Crimo III, 22.

Crimo was arrested more than eight hours after the shooting following a multi-agency manhunt. He was taken into custody not far from where the shooting took place.

Dramatic photographs from the scene show the suspected mass-murderer – who posted creepy clips about shooting massacres online – being pinned to the ground face-down by police.

A total of 26 victims aged between eight and 85 were injured, with six still receiving hospital treatment. The area has a large Jewish community, although police have yet to share a possible motive for Monday’s slaughter.

DailyMail.com has pieced together the key moments from Monday’s shootings, based on information so-far shared by investigators

1. Shooter opens fire from rooftop of outdoor supplies store around 10am local time

The location where the shooter was holed up is thought to be on top of Gearheads, an outdoor equipment store. A ladder can be seen propped against its wall in this image taken after the shooting

A close-up shows the ladder propped against the wall of the single-story Gearheads store. It has been suggested that this is where shooter Bobby Crimo opened fire from, although investigators have yet to confirm that this was the ladder he used

According to authorities, the violence began approximately 10:15 am local time, around 15 minutes after the parade began.

Reports say that the gunman climbed an unsecured ladder that was attached to Gearhead Outfitters, an outdoor equipment store formerly known as Uncle Dan’s.

At that point, Crimo opened fire on the crowd, killing six and injuring dozens more in including the elderly and children. It has not been confirmed for how long the shooting went on for.

Witnesses have now told how they saw children being picked off in the crowd.

The type of gun used by Crimo in the attack has not been confirmed. Investigators have so far only referred to it as a high-powered rifle.

A witness named Zoe described the scene saying: ‘All of a sudden everyone behind us started running. I looked back, probably 20 feet away from me, I saw a girl shot and killed. I saw her die. I’ve never seen anything like this,’ according to CNN.

Police say they recovered a ‘rifle’ at the scene but witnesses described multiple rounds being fired in quick succession which they say could only have come from a semi-automatic.

‘A rifle? No, no. It was an automatic weapon. It was pop, pop, pop – rifles don’t do that,’ she said.

Law enforcement who were at the parade responded to the shooting but Crimo quickly fled the scene in a 2010 Honda Fit prompting a multi-agency manhunt.

2. FBI agents search Crimo’s $425,000 family home, which sits just six minutes drive from the location of the shooting

The suspect lives in a small apartment behind his family’s home in Highwood, Illinois

Crimo lives in a small apartment behind his family home along Pleasant Avenue in Highwood, just north of Highland Park. His uncle, Paul Crimo, told CNN that he saw his nephew at home the night before the shooting.

It sits just 1.5 miles away from Gearhads, and is around six minutes drive away from the location of the shooting when traffic is light.

The home is valued at over $400,000. Paul Crimo says that he lives in the home too. When he last saw the suspect, Paul Crimo says: ‘Everything was as normal’

He said that the home is owned by the suspect’s father, Bob Crimo. The FBI made contact with the family around 2:30 pm. Crimo’s father gave investigators permission to search the home.

Paul Crimo went on to tell CNN: ‘He’s a quiet kid. He’s usually on his own. He’s a lonely, quiet person. He keeps everything to himself.’

It’s not clear at what time he left the home to begin his rampage.

3. A subsequent manhunt for Crimo ends with his dramatic roadside arrest just before 7:00 pm

Crimo’s was arrested hours after the massacre in which six people were killed

Robert Crimo, shown here, was also a rapper who went by the moniker: ‘Awake the Rapper’

The shooter’s uncle Paul Crimo said he was first contacted by the FBI at 2:30 pm local time, reports CNN.

In an evening news conference around 5pm, law enforcement named Crimo as a suspect in the shooting.

Crimo was described as being between 18 and 20 with long black hair, white, ‘slight build’ and wearing a t-shirt. His car was described and cops gave out his license plate number.

Around 7:00 pm local time, authorities said in a brief news conference that Crimo was in custody, having been arrested around 30 minutes earlier.

According to Chief Lou Jogmen of the Highland Park Police, Crimo was first spotted by members of a North Chicago police unit. Jogmen said that Crimo fled when officers attempted to pull him over.

Following a brief chase, Crimo came to a stop and was arrested Lake Forest, Illinois, not far from the where the shooting occurred.

A young woman who survived the July 4 Chicago gun massacre that killed six has shared distressing images of the facial injuries she suffered.

This victim, known only by the Twitter handle Lili, began posting photos around noon on July 4, just hours after the shooting began.

The first photo shows blood pouring down her face, neck and on to her chest. She wrote in the caption: ‘I cant f**king believe i was in the middle of a mass shooting.

‘I’ve felt safe at this parade for 18 years and today I got hit with a bullet and nothing will change in America this is ridiculous.’

In a subsequent video, Lili showed a close-up of a deep laceration high on her cheek, just inches from her brain. She confirmed that the laceration was after being grazed by a bullet.

Lili wrote in the caption of this pic: ‘I’ve felt safe at this parade for 18 years and today I got hit with a bullet and nothing will change in America this is ridiculous’

Lili also took time to highlight vicious trolls who accused her of being a ‘crisis actor,’ someone who pretends to have been injured in an incident as a means to generate political sympathy

Lili posted another photo showing her giving a statement to local police

Afterward, she then posted a photo of the gunman writing: ‘This is the c**t who killed and injured innocent people.’

Lili posted photos of the stitches covering her wound saying: ‘My aftermath of the Highland Park shooting. I’m still in shock. I am so sorry for everyone who lost loved ones today.’

Another photo shows blood drenched on to Lili’s jeans and sneakers. In a reply to one well-wisher, Lili says that she already has a session booked with a trauma therapist for July 5.

In a later photo, Lili gives a statement to a police officer.

By the time that Lili’s boyfriend got to the hospital to comfort her, the hospital was on lockdown. Later, Lily said that she was reunited with him and that: ‘He brought me flowers and stuffed animals and his comfort blanket and let me cry to him and made me feel so safe.’

Lili also took time to highlight vicious trolls who accused her of being a ‘crisis actor,’ someone who pretends to have been injured in an incident as a means to generate political sympathy.

In her last tweet, Lili wrote: ‘I want to thank everyone whos interacting with and sharing my post , I didn’t post for attention to myself, I wanted to share the reality of what is happening to so many people, and help people realize that things NEED to change. Thank you guys for your well wishes and support.’

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90 women file $1 billion lawsuit against FBI for idly sitting by as Larry Nassar continued to sexually assault them for 421 days

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date July 5, 2022

fbi.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1

“The FBI knew that Larry Nassar was a danger to children when his abuse of me was first reported in September of 2015. For 421 days they worked with USA Gymnastics and USOPC to hide this information from the public and allowed Nassar to continue molesting young women and girls. It is time for the FBI to be held accountable,” said NCAA national champion gymnast Maggie Nichols in a statement. Nichols is one of 90 young women who are suing the FBI for more than $1 billion after it tragically bungled its investigation of child rapist and former U.S. Olympic team doctor Larry Nassar.

From NBC News:

The majority of the claimants say Nassar abused them after his abuse was reported to the FBI in 2015, during a yearlong period in which no meaningful investigative action was taken and Nassar continued to sexually abuse young women and children. Many are athletes who were associated with the USA Gymnastics program or with Michigan State University, where Nassar maintained a clinic.

The Justice Department announced just before the Memorial Day weekend that the individual FBI agents whom the inspector general identified as responsible for the failure of the investigation — and for subsequent attempts to mislead investigators for the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General — would not face charges.

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What We Know About the Shooting in Highland Park

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date July 5, 2022

Continue reading the main story

Police detained a person of interest after a manhunt across the Chicago area. The shooting, in which six people were killed, sent a chill across the suburb.

Items left behind after people fled from the scene of a parade when a gunman opened fire during a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Ill.Credit…Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times

July 5, 2022, 5:01 a.m. ET

A gunman shooting from a rooftop killed six people and wounded dozens more during a Fourth of July celebration in Highland Park, Ill., on Monday morning. A 22-year-old man the authorities described as a “person of interest” was taken into custody after an hourslong manhunt.

Here’s what we know so far.

Police have not charged the man and said the investigation was in its early stages.

For hours after the shooting, hundreds of police officers fanned out across the region searching for the suspect, who they said was armed and dangerous. At about 6:30 p.m., officers attempted to pull over a Honda Fit matching the license plate belonging to Robert E. Crimo III, a man they said was a person of interest. When officers attempted to pull him over, he briefly led the police on a chase before he was taken into custody.

Federal and local police were continuing their investigation at the scene along the parade route, where lawn chairs, strollers and blankets remained strewn about in a sign of the chaos and terror that followed the shooting.

Six people were killed, and dozens more, ranging in age between 8 and 85, were injured. Most of their identities have not been released.

One of the six who died, Nicolas Toledo, 76, was sitting along the route in his wheelchair when he was shot at least three times, according to his granddaughter. His son and his granddaughter’s boyfriend were also shot.

Another, Jacki Sundheim, a member of the North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, Ill., was identified by the synagogue, where she had worked as an events coordinator and teacher.

Authorities said they recovered a high-powered rifle at the scene of the shooting, which appeared to match witnesses’ description of events.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is running tests on the recovered weapon and ammunition.

The shooting in Highland Park was the fourth in Illinois since Friday in which at least four people were shot, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The state has among the strictest gun-safety laws — universal background checks, red flag warnings and safe storage requirements — but is surrounded by states with fewer restrictions to gun ownership.

Just 10 hours before the parade shooting, at about midnight, five people were shot at a housing complex in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. On Friday, two people were killed and seven injured in two separate shootings in Chicago, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Also on Monday, there were shootings with four or more injured across the country in Boston, Sacramento, Kansas City, Mo., and Richmond, Va., the group reported.

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Parade Shooting Live Updates: 22-Year-Old Is in Custody After Manhunt

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date July 5, 2022

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HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — It sounded at first like fireworks to the parents who had brought excited children to a charming Fourth of July parade in their town. Or perhaps a military salute to the flag.

But within seconds, as marching band members and politicians strutted down the street, horrified spectators realized the noise from a nearby rooftop was a high-powered rifle spraying bullets into the crowd, killing six people and wounding dozens.

The attack in Highland Park, a usually safe lakefront suburb north of Chicago, set police on a sprawling manhunt that forced residents to shelter in place for much of the day, and prompted neighboring cities to cancel their holiday events. About eight hours later, the police said they had taken into custody a 22-year-old man whom they described as a person of interest.

Even in a country battered from the constancy of mass violence — at grocery stores and elementary schools and on urban street corners — the carnage in Illinois proved shocking. According to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group, the shooting on Monday was the 15th this year in which at least four people were fatally shot in the United States.

For reasons that remained unclear to the police Monday evening, officials said a young man had climbed onto a rooftop with a rifle and begun firing into a sea of families in lawn chairs who were celebrating Independence Day.

“My wife looks up and screams, ‘Get up, run. Get up, run,’” said Shawn Cotreau, 47, a Massachusetts resident who was visiting family in Illinois, and who said he initially thought there were firecrackers nearby.

Mr. Cotreau estimated his family was sitting in chairs about 20 feet away from the gunman, who was on the roof of a store firing down.

“I can’t even get the image of the guy out of my head,” he said, describing a man with a large gun, wearing fatigues and a hat pulled down. “He was just opening up fire. And I saw the bullets hitting the tree that was like literally in front of us.”

Police officers, who were already assigned to the parade route, arrived and rushed to help the wounded, the authorities said. Victims ranged in age from 8 to 85, doctors who received the injured at local hospitals said.

The gunfire stopped around the time officers arrived, police said, and the gunman was able to get away. By late afternoon, SWAT teams were still combing the area, and officials were asking residents and businesses to turn over photos or videos that might provide clues. Authorities warned that he was believed to be armed, and told the public not to approach him.

“Could this happen again?” Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office asked Monday afternoon, while the search for a gunman was on, and as other Chicago suburbs rushed to cancel parades and fireworks shows. “We don’t know what his intentions are at this point.”

Robert E. Crimo III was taken into custody in nearby Lake Forest after a brief chase, the police said.

Survivors described a joyous family event, with high school football players and a marching band that turned suddenly into a scramble to live. Dr. David Baum, an obstetrician who had come to the parade to watch his 2-year-old grandson push a bubble lawn mower alongside dozens of other children, said he rushed to help after what sounded like a sonic boom and people yelling, “‘Bodies down, bodies down!’”

Dr. David Baum, an obstetrician, rushed to help victims who were injured.Credit…Mary Mathis for The New York Times

Diego Rosas, who was working at a grocery store near the parade route, heard perhaps 30 shots, then saw people running toward the store. He let them inside.

Alexander Sandoval, who had arrived early with his family long before the parade started to stake out a prime viewing spot, said he did not immediately realize what was going on.

“When it started happening, I thought it was the Navy saluting the flag,” said Mr. Sandoval, a construction contractor and a lifelong resident of Highland Park. “Then I grabbed my kid and we ran and tried to break a store window to get away from it.”

Mr. Sandoval said he also tried to break a door down at a closed business, but then had to continue running.“I was punching the door but couldn’t punch through it,” he said. “I think the shooter stopped and reloaded, and that’s when I ran around the corner and put my son and little brother in a dumpster.”

Mr. Sandoval said he saw a police officer carrying a wounded boy about the age of his own child. “It’s just emotional,” he said.

The shooting brought outpourings of sympathy from across the state and country, and renewed pleas among Democrats for stricter gun laws, barely a week after President Biden signed the most significant gun legislation to clear Congress in decades. President Biden said he was “shocked by the senseless gun violence.” Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, a Democrat, vowed to “end this plague.”

“There are no words for the kind of monster who lies in wait and fires into a crowd of families with children celebrating a holiday with their community,” the governor said. “There are no words for the kind of evil that robs our neighbors of their hopes, their dreams, their futures.”

Those victims included Nicolas Toledo, who had recently moved back to Highland Park from Mexico to spend more time with his family, according to his granddaughter, Xochil Toledo.

Ms. Toledo said her family had gone out at midnight to line up chairs so 15 of them could be together for the Fourth of July. Three in that group would be shot.

Nicolas Toledo, center, was killed during the shooting in Highland Park on Monday.Credit…

“We brought him over here so he could have a better life,” Ms. Toledo said of her grandfather. “His sons wanted to take care of him and be more in his life, and then this tragedy happened.”

After the shooting, 26 people were taken to Highland Park Hospital, 25 of them with gunshot wounds, said Dr. Brigham R. Temple, the medical director for emergency preparedness at NorthShore University HealthSystem. At least 10 other patients were taken to nearby hospitals, he said. Their injuries ranged from minor to severe.

With downtown still considered an active crime scene and residents encouraged to stay inside, many in Highland Park spoke of a mix of shock, grief and anger.

“On a day that we came together to celebrate community and freedom, we’re instead mourning the loss, the tragic loss, of life and struggling with the terror that was brought upon us,” Mayor Nancy Rotering said.

“I think every parent now in this community and every other community starts to look at risk completely differently,” said Dr. Baum, before referring to the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school dead. “Uvalde is a couple thousand miles away, but Uvalde happened in Highland Park in a different way.”

The attack on Monday came less than eight months after the driver of an S.U.V. stormed through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wis., about 80 miles northwest of Highland Park, killing six people and wounding dozens more.

In Illinois, Chief Covellisaid that officials had recovered a rifle, and that hundreds of local, state and federal law enforcement officers had searched for the gunman.

The Lake County coroner said at least five of the six people who died were adults. Officials did not immediately release their names.

Highland Park Police Sargent Christopher Covelli at a press conference after the shooting.Credit…Max Herman/Reuters

News of the shooting rattled people across the Chicago area, as officials weighed whether to go forward with their own celebrations amid the grief and the manhunt.

Several cities and towns called off parades and fireworks displays, and even closed beaches. In Highland Park and neighboring Deerfield, residents were advised to stay indoors.

Michelle Bernstein, a resident of Deerfield, said the her two teenage daughters were at friends’ houses at the time of the shooting. She told them to stay there until the gunman was apprehended. One of her daughters was scheduled to work as a lifeguard at a local pool, she said, but the pool closed for the day.

“I’m hoping they catch the person so my kids can come home,” Ms. Bernstein said in the hours before a person of interest was taken into custody. “Right now I don’t want to go outside.”

And as the afternoon dragged on without an arrest, signs of sudden terror remained scattered along the parade route.

Abandoned strollers and empty lawn chairs, some with half-consumed drinks in the cupholders, were lined up along the sidewalk. A child’s bicycle was discarded along the curb. And a cheerful-looking balloon, left alone in the grass, said “God bless America.”

Maggie Astor, Adam Goldman, Michael Levenson, Noam Scheiber and Alan Yuhas contributed reporting.