Extra

A report on the September 18 edition of CBS Evening News contained a singularly disturbing image.

Reporting on the extensive efforts taken to protect the president, CBS's Margaret Brennan explained how members of the Secret Service's elite counter-sniper team "are trained to hit targets dead on and, in the worst case scenario, put themselves in the line of fire."

In Brenna's report—titled "Inside the Secret Service sniper team"—government snipers were shown polishing their skills at a private government shooting range.

Instead of aiming their powerful long-range rifles at a generic black silhouette, however, the snipers in the CBS report were shown shooting at an identifiable human face—in this case, a photo of a white, blond-haired male.

I caught a screen grab of the critical moment (at left). 

The CBS reporter apparently failed to notice the Secret Service snipers' target bore an uncanny resemblance to presidential candidate Donald Trump. (Note that the sides of the portrait were cut away before the photo was placed on the target.) 

A Daily Planet request to CBS asking for a response has so far gone unanswered. 

Here is the complete CBS video: 

There is another disturbing element to the report that is worth noting: In the Secret Service exercise filmed by CBS, the government snipers appear to be aiming most of their fire not at the source of a "would-be assassin's" high-rise window but at the line of cars in a mock presidential motorcade. 

I've never accepted the rationale that snipers are "protective" or "defensive." 

Snipers excel at dispatching individuals easily identified in public spaces. It is much harder for a hidden sniper to draw a bead on another hidden sniper. A sniper killed JFK. How could any number of Secret Service "counter-snipers" have prevented that? Snipers kill from a great distance. How does a "good" sniper identify and zero-in on a "bad sniper"? 

Trump's Reckless Assassination Talk 

Donald Trump has raised hackles and made headlines with a number of reckless statements that seem to suggest that his opponent, Hillary Clinton, should be taken-out-with-the-garbage and, failing that, taken out with a bullet. 

"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know," Trump has said. 

Speaking of Hillary Clinton's Secret Service bodyguards, Trump recently told supporters at a rally in Miami: "Take their guns away — she doesn't want guns. . . — and let's see what happens to her." 

"I think her bodyguards should drop all weapons. They should disarm immediately," Trump told the cheering crowd. 

At the same time, Trump's backers have floated stories suggesting that it is Mr. Trump who is in danger from armed conspirators. 

Is Trump, Himself, an Assassination Target? 

On May 27, 2016, the conservative alt-right news service Breitbart.com reported that hundreds of protesters gathered outside a Trump rally in San Diego were "chanting 'F**k Donald Trump' and holding obscene signs—including one that included a death threat against Trump should he win the presidency in November." 

The "threat" consisted of a "young protester [who] held up a sign that read: 'If TRUMP wins He'll be DEAD with in A week The Cartel wont have his Bullsh*t.'" 

Clearly, that was not an actual death threat. It was simply a somber prediction of how the "Deep State"/Establishment/Hidden Government might be expected to react to the prospect of a Trump White House. 

On August 31, Gateway Pundit.com ran a short piece with the headline: "Despite Death Threats Donald Trump Flies to Mexico City to Meet with President Nieto." 

In July 2015, the story explained, jailed Mexican drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, used his son's Twitter account to threaten Trump prior to the candidate's trip to the Mexican capitol. Guzman allegedly tweeted: "If you keep p****** me off I'm going to make you eat your words you f****** blonde milk-s*****'." 

Milk-s******, for the record, is the English translation of "cagaleche," a homophobic slur. 

Colorful language, to be sure, but still not an actual death threat. 

If you're looking for a clearly articulated death threat, there's South Park. 

In an episode that aired on September 25, 2015, a cartoon Trump was ridiculed, raped and murdered. 

More recently, on February 20, 2016, someone going under the name "weird al yankmadik @drugcaat" posted the following comment on Imgur.com: 

"I have no pain in my heart or morality when I say if trump's elected I will perform an assassination attempt on him, and that i will succeed."  

"weird al" only succeeded in getting himself reported to the local police and the FBI. 

But South Park is fantasy, as is yankmadik's cyber-braggadocio. 

If you're talking about a presidential assassination, there's nothing quite as simple, quick, and untraceable as a bullet from a sniper's gun barrel. 

I think the Secret Service has some explaining to do.