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PaperclipPerfector  7d ago (text post)   25514 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026

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An unknown assassin has attempted to kill President Trump at the White House Correspondents Dinner tonight. One person is dead. President Trump is unharmed. The disposition of the assassin is unknown.

Updated news: nobody is dead, one Secret Service agent was wounded and taken to hospital but is okay. Shooter Cole Thomas (I've also seen it spelled 'Tomas') Allen, maybe biracial or mixed race by this photo, allegedly a school teacher in Los Angeles.

Fun part here is that he donated a (very small) amount to Kamala Harris' campaign. I don't think this says anything in particular about Harris, but the shoe is on the other foot here for Democrats.

His work history lists roles as a mechanical engineer at IJK Controls and a teaching assistant at Caltech. He has also worked as a part-time teacher for C2 Education, a company that offers admissions counseling and test preparation services to aspiring college students. A 2024 post on the company's Facebook page listed Allen as the company's teacher of the month. In 2014, Allen participated in a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Allen also posted that he had developed a video game for the Steam platform based on molecular chemistry. A post under Allen's name said he was working to develop a new "top-down shooter" combat game set in outer space.

Allen is also described as a self-employed indie game developer who created games such as "Bohrdom" and "First Law."

Allen contributed $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris for president in 2024, according to federal campaign finance records.

The attempt seems to be a mixture of well-planned and pure stupid. He checked in as a guest of the hotel, managed to smuggle in guns and knives, then just... charged the security checkpoints with a rifle or shotgun?

It's insane to me that I could book a hotel room for the same time the President is going to be giving a public appearance in its ballroom.

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