Thanksgiving's White House Fence Leaper

A man draped in American flag climbs over the fence surrounding the White House grounds Thursday. Vanessa Pena

The White House was on lockdown for a while Thursday, Thanksgiving, November 26, 2015, after a white man wearing an American flag jumped its newly upgraded fence while President Barack Obama and his family were inside the residence for the holiday.

The man, identified as Joseph Caputo, was apprehended about 2:45 p.m. ET on the North Lawn of the White House grounds — the "front door" side along Pennsylvania Avenue, said Robert Hoback, a spokesman for the Secret Service. Police said Caputo was carrying a manila folder, NBC Washington reported. 

Joseph is from Ioseph, the Latin form of Greek Ιωσηφ (Ioseph), which was from the Hebrew name יוֹסֵף (Yosef) meaning "he will add." In the Old Testament, Joseph is the eleventh son of Jacob.

Caputo is a common Italian surname, especially found in the South, in the area of Campania. It derives from the Latin root of caput, meaning "head." It therefore can be a Southern Italian nickname meaning "stubborn'," "obstinate," thus literally for "someone with a large head."

The fence lines along the north and south lawns remained closed late Thursday afternoon.

Fencing around the White House was bolstered with a new topping of sharp metal spikes beginning in June after an Army veteran pleaded guilty to scaling a White House fence with a folding knife in 2014.

In an update, a sheriff's deputy shot and killed Curtis Smith of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, after he slashed a guard at the Chester County Courthouse the morning of Tuesday, August 25, 2015. Smith is the man who investigators say once jumped a fence at the White House. 

Curtis Smith, 33, of Coatesville, allegedly climbed over the outer perimeter stone wall of the White House at 15th and E Street NW Sunday, March 1, 2015, around 1:45 p.m. He was immediately arrested and taken into custody by Secret Service Uniformed Division Officers.

Ian Boone, 40, of Cambridge, Ontario and Michael Fogg, 27, of Newport News, Virginia, were also charged in two other White House security breaches during the same window as Smith's incident.

Boone allegedly climbed over the bike rack at the outer perimeter near 15th and E Street, NW around 11:30 p.m. Sunday, March 1, 2015, before being detained by Uniformed Division Officers.

Fogg allegedly entered a pedestrian gate to the White House after a construction worker exited near East Executive and Pennsylvania avenues, NW around 6:45 a.m. Monday, March 2, 2015. He was also detained by Uniformed Division Officers.

See also 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Predicting Terror: Thanksgiving & Black Friday

What is going to happen on Black Friday?

President Barack Obama decided to conduct an unusual surprise news conference. He held a special press conference on Wednesday morning, November 25, 2015, apparently to calm fears about terrorism over the upcoming American Thanksgiving holiday, Black Friday, and the weekend.

"As of now, we know of no plot intending to threaten our homeland" and urged Americans who will be traveling over the weekend to "go about their usual Thanksgiving activities," saying that security and intelligence officials are constantly working to prevent any security threats.

"They did so before the Paris attacks and they do so now," said Obama. "As we go into Thanksgiving weekend, I want America to know we are taking every possible step to keep America safe."

As news talking heads discussed today, there seems to be a government sense that a "global terror alert" is important to give for these upcoming few days, "just as there was over the July 4th weekend."

Of course, no one in the media follows up with the observation that no terrorist events occurred on the July 4, 2015, date or over that following weekend. Terror fears were whipped up in July (see here), but nothing happened. CNN was not able to have another "Breaking News" moment. 

Now we are getting similar "alerts" on the American news networks about the dangers of this holiday week.

What might be the reality behind these "warnings"? What potential indicators exist to have official agencies' guard up for November 26 (Thanksgiving), November 27 (Black Friday), and the weekend.

First off, I think the "copycat" calendar cannot be ignored. The Paris Terror Attacks occurred on Friday the 13th, exactly two weeks ago from Black Friday, November 27th.  The copycat effect has an internal clock that often works on two week, one month, and one year anniversary cycles. Therefore, while organized terrorists might not do anything on this coming Friday, it actually is the lone player, triggered or inspired by the Paris events, who would.

Terrorists, with an international perspective, have a longer view of history, also, and that may be a key to why something might happen this weekend.

If you say "Remember 26/11" to Americans, most would not have a clue to what you are talking about. 

But in Asia, even in Europe, it means a great deal.

In November 2008, 10 Pakistani members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamic militant organization, carried out a series of 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks lasting four days across Mumbai. The attacks, which drew widespread global condemnation, began on Wednesday, 26 November ("26/11" outside the US) and lasted until Saturday, 29 November 2008 ("29/11/08"), killing approximately 166 people, plus 9 terrorists, and wounding at least 308.

Metro Adlabs cinema (historic Art Deco movie theater; Mumbai is the center of the Bollywood film industry)

Eight of the attacks occurred in South Mumbai: at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital, the Nariman House Jewish community centre, the Metro Cinema, and in a lane behind the Times of India building and St. Xavier's College. There was also an explosion at Mazagaon, in Mumbai's port area, and in a taxi at Vile Parle. Read more on India's 9/11, here.

Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel (above, a castle-like 1903 landmark, across from the Gateway of India monument)

The master plan for the Paris attacks very much matched the Mumbai attacks. 

Therefore, the anniversary of the Mumbai attacks (November 26 through 29) and the two-week copycat short-term ripple effect from the Paris attack (on Black Friday, November 27), do point to why there may be some concern.

Where? The intelligence communities are talking about Washington D.C. area (e.g., at a high profile site, like Union Station or a football stadium) or New York City (e.g., the Statue of Liberty, the Eero Saarinen-designed TWA Flight Center, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, or a score of other locations).

The law enforcement authorities need to put extra security around some of the most obvious of targets, despite the fact these actions might be ridiculed by some. Protect important American symbols, keep our citizens safe. Put more guards around the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade's Dino!!

The terrorists might surprise everyone with an attack in, say, a Kansas City mall, or elsewhere. Snopes, of course, is putting to rest most of the rumors. But is there a reality to any of this?

What is real is the psychology of terror.

What do the terrorists want? They desire the fear of being blown up by terrorists to destabilize and immobilize the population. So, of course, Obama's talk versus the wall-to-wall televised news stations' "Breaking News" and "Terror Alerts" makes some sense.   It hardly spreads any secure feelings when CNN's Wolf Blitzer is trying to "restore calm" with his shrill reading of every new detail about "terrorists at large."

In The Copycat Effect: How The Media and Popular Culture Trigger The Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headlines (NY: Simon and Schuster, 2004), I document how this attitude is dealt to us as "death sells."

Due to what the calendar tells us, we should not ignore the danger, but should we buy into this climate of fear, either?

No.

Black Friday's Dark News

Black Friday's first victim: Jdimytai Damour

The 2011 Honda Civic of Black Friday's latest victim: Patrick Henry Boyd.

Some have asked, "Why is there a concentration of attention on 'bad news' on this blog?".

Fair enough.

The simple answer is that social science on the twilight language is done more easily through tracking violent events in the media, as those are noted more routinely.

In The Copycat Effect: How The Media and Popular Culture Trigger The Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headlines (NY: Simon and Schuster, 2004), I document how this attitude is dealt to us as "death sells."

While it would be wonderful to track daily events and changes in terms of positive behaviors, that is rather difficult. The copycat effect, for example, is working all the time, whether in milder forms such as people copying "fads" like hula hoops, buying the same color of cars or shooting victims in schools.

The media gets more involved with acts of violence, because, if it bleeds, it leads is a truth of modern news.

So, here we are, the day after Thanksgiving 2013, in the USA. It is Black Friday, which is named for businesses going into the "black" (turning a profit) in revenue. The death is rising, and even the English are following the history of "worst clashes."

The day's name - Black Friday - originated in Philadelphia, where it first was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Use of the term started before 1961 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975.

In reality, in recent years, it has become capitalism's version of "Devil's Night," chiefly associated with the serious vandalism and arson seen in Detroit, Michigan from the 1970s to the 1990s. Violence has been frequent news byproduct of reports on Black Fridays, since 2006, and the media appears to be enjoying detailing every fight, shooting, or near riots on Black Fridays.

Black Friday 2008 seemed especially dangerous. A New York Wal-Mart employee Jdimytai Damour died after 2000 bargain hunters broke down the doors to the store, pushing him to the ground. The 34-year-old male employee was pronounced dead an hour after shoppers breached the doors to the shopping center at 77 Green Acres Road, Valley Stream, Long Island. On the same day, two people were fatally shot during an altercation at a Toys "R" Us, Desert Crossing Shopping Center at 72314 Highway 111, in Palm Desert, California.

This year, here's the rundown, thus far, as noted by the Black Friday Death Count:

2013 Teen returning home from Black Friday shopping fell asleep at wheel, killed in wreck

The wreck happened at 7:24 a.m. on South Point Road near Tucker Road, in front of Jim's Grocery. The driver, 19-year-old Patrick Henry Boyd, of 6915 Treebark Lane, Clover, South Carolina, died in the wreck. Boyd's 2011 Honda Accord struck a sign at 1901 South Point Road.

2013 Man Stabbed During Black Friday Event at Carlsbad Mall

A man was hospitalized after being stabbed, just after 12:30 a.m., police received a report of a stabbing at the Westfield Plaza Camino Real mall located at 2525 El Camino Real. An 18-year-old man, who they identified as Javier Covarrubias, stabbed the man in the stomach, and then fled the scene on foot with another suspect towards the Movie Max Theater at the mall. He was arrested; the other man vanished.

Click the links, below, for more details on each incident:
2013 Newport, Arkansas Walmart employee injured during Black Friday sales
2013 NBPD confirm woman trampled at Wal-Mart
2013 Scenes of chaos during chain store's Black Friday sales in Ireland
2013 Several injured in Black Friday-related shooting outside Kohl's in Illinois
2013 Black Friday: Virginia Man Stabbed In Walmart Parking Lot Over Space
2013 Rialto Walmart brawl sends one police officer to hospital
2013 Shopper carrying TV home from Target shot in Las Vegas

More collections of Black Friday's Dark News (2013 edition) can be found here, here, and here. Heck, you can just follow it on the Drudge Report too, for the next few hours.

(H/T to Enki & JWC.)

Red Dawn Is Coming

This Thanksgiving, the Fight begins at Dawn.

What will happen with this new film's opening on Wednesday, November 21, 2012? What sites of significance are tied to this movie? Products? Names?

Anonymous left the following comment on my earlier "Red Dawn" posting: "The original trailer, on the laserdisc release, includes a scene with a tank rolling up to a McDonald's where enemy soldiers are eating. The scene does not appear in the final cut, and was likely removed due to a mass murder at a McDonald's in San Ysidro, CA, weeks before the film opened."

Red Dawn, production photo, 1984.

The San Ysidro McDonald's event was a mass shooting that took place on July 18, 1984, at a McDonald's restaurant in the San Ysidro neighborhood of San Diego, California. James Oliver Huberty (born October 11, 1942, Canton, Ohio) shot and killed 21 people (including five children) and injured 19 others.

First of all, for those who weren't alive then, the images above and below give you some idea of the Columbine-like wall-to-wall nature of the coverage. The media seized this reality form of broadcasting in 1963, when the television networks were made aware they could increase ratings as they covered the JFK assassination for four straight days in November.

How specific were the graphic images that were published at the time? One lasting picture was the following one. It showed Omarr Hernandez lying next to his bicycle on July 18, 1984. The photo would become a symbol of the "devastating McDonald’s massacre in 1984." The 11-year old boy was among the victims killed by the shooter. Photograph was captured by Barry Fitzsimmons.

This is a real boy. This is a real victim. His family and friends were forever changed by the event.

At the time it was released, Red Dawn (1984) was considered the most violent film by the Guinness Book of Records and The National Coalition on Television Violence, with a rate of 134 acts of violence per hour, or 2.23 per minute (Source). The DVD Special Edition (2007) includes an on-screen "Carnage Counter" in a bizarre nod to this.

It is worthy of noting that the first person killed in Red Dawn (1984) was the African-American teacher, Mr. Teasdale, played by former NFL player Frank McRae This link probably goes back to first person killed in American Revolution was an African-American, Crispus Attucks. Who is the first individual killed in Red Dawn (2012)?

Red Dawn, production photo, 1984.

Certainly, the San Ysidro-McDonald's event did change the Red Dawn that would be seen in 1984. It appears the filmmakers made a correct decision in changing the film, at least regarding the McDonald's "trigger" imagery.

Red Dawn (1984) was released on August 10, 1984.

San Ysidro, California, shooting site, 1984.

Red Dawn, deleted scene, 1984.

The new Red Dawn movie does not appear to have a "Colonel Ernesto Bella" in it, as in the 1984 version. "Bella" was played by Ron O'Neal (who became most famous as "Super Fly" in the movie of the same name, 1972, and then played minor roles, like "Charles Zurich" in Knight Rider's "Sky Knight" episode, 1985). O'Neal died in 2004.

Enki, who saw an early screening of Red Dawn (2012), writes: "I do not have much to report in the sync department, except for the fact that the new film takes place in Spokane, Washington instead of Colorado, and as Michael noted, Simon Bolivar is considered to be the George Washington of South America. The school shooting from the first film is absent from the remake, which was probably a no-brainer decision on the part of the filmmakers, and another memorable and unsettling scene from the original was altered to be less disturbing."

But recent copycat events are giving a bit of a pause. Enki forwards this, today: "Lammers allegedly planned to shoot up the B&B Bolivar Cinema 5, which is located on Bolivar's East Aldrich Road. Aldrich = old or wise ruler, which makes me think of a king. The accidental gun discharge took place at king-resonating Regal Cinemas on Sanguinetti Road in Sonora. Sanguinetti = little blood. The King-Kill current I was sensing seems to be coming to the surface. Might the next red dawn event be a political assassination?"

Needless to say, few of us have to be reminded that November 22nd is the anniversary of the JFK assassination.

What do you notice in this film?

One thing is certain. There is a new red dawn coming.

++++++

For the links to older postings about 

Colorado's Aurora's red dawn symbolism, please see also:

Red Dawn 2012

Red Dawn Again

Red Dawn

Recent interviews, about the Aurora shootings:

WGN - Mike McConnell: Loren Coleman

The Corbett Report: The Copycat Effect with Loren Coleman

Binnall of America: Loren Coleman and Bruce Rux

Talk Shoe - 42 Minutes: Loren Coleman

Red Ice Creations: Loren Coleman

The Copycat Effect

(NY: Simon and Schuster, 2004)

The enemy takes over McDonalds, 1984.
What product placements are in the new 2012 version of Red Dawn?
Be alert: Look for Pepsi and Subway.

Source.

New Red Dawn Redux

The enemy takes over our McDonalds. 

"This Thanksgiving, the Fight begins at Dawn." 

Humm. The just released poster for the 2012 remake of Red Dawn, according to Yahoo Movies, highlights their new tagline. It was followed yesterday by a new trailer, see below.

Recently, an unnamed individual (Anonymous) left the following new comment on my post "Red Dawn":
"The original trailer, on the laserdisc release, includes a scene with a tank rolling up to a McDonald's where enemy soldiers are eating. The scene does not appear in the final cut, and was likely removed due to a mass murder at a McDonald's in San Ysidro, CA, weeks before the film opened."

Red Dawn, production photo, 1984.

(I wanted to post about the dates mentioned to fact-check the above comment for my readers. This movie is being noted more and more, every day, as in this weekend's "The Soldier of the Apocalypse" posting.)

The San Ysidro McDonald's event was a mass shooting that took place on July 18, 1984, at a McDonald's restaurant in the San Ysidro neighborhood of San Diego, California. James Oliver Huberty (born October 11, 1942, Canton, Ohio) shot and killed 21 people (including five children) and injured 19 others.

First of all, for those who weren't alive then, the images above and below give you some idea of the Columbine-like wall-to-wall nature of the coverage. (The media seized this reality form of broadcasting in 1963, when the television networks were made aware they could increase ratings as they covered the JFK assassination for four straight days in November.)

How specific were the graphic images that were published at the time? One lasting picture was the following one. It showed Omarr Hernandez lying next to his bicycle on July 18, 1984. The photo would become a symbol of the "devastating McDonald’s massacre in 1984." The 11-year old boy was among the victims killed by the shooter. Photograph was captured by Barry Fitzsimmons.

Speaking of impact, for example, Andrew Griffin discussing a recent Tulsa killing of two, wrote on his Red Dirt Report: “This Best Buy shooting brought to mind the infamous San Ysidro, California McDonald’s massacre on Wednesday, July 18, 1984. It was days before the start of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and my eyes were glued to the tube that summer. When I saw that story, as a (nearly) 12-year old, I was shocked. The photo of 11-year-old Omar Hernandez, shot dead near his bicycle, seared into my brain. Twenty-two people died and 19 were injured. The politically paranoid survivalist James Huberty, who was also killed, was the perpetrator of that massacre. He had told his wife he was 'hunting humans' and that 'society had its chance.'

This is a real boy. This is a real victim. His family and friends were forever changed by the event. Did the incident slip into the unconsciousness of America, without the obvious hurt associated with the killings, reframing the country, in terms of the copycats that followed after this shooting? More talk of the aftermath, of the hurt, of the survivors, versus the main attention being to the types of guns (as if there would be any change in American policy in that realm), the shooter's motives (as if there would be any understanding from those), or the graphic details of who was killed and how (as if this would stop people from eating out), might have helped.

Looking at exposing the unconscious - the behavior contagion choice option of these shooters - and forcing it out into the open, out into the consciousness of the broader society, perhaps would do more than has been explored. Doing a mediated, analytic reframing actually does change the way such material is taken in by our brains. Talking about murder-suicides on this deeper level does not cause future murder-suicides, but graphically making them entertainment appears to create copycats.

Red Dawn, production photo, 1984.

Certainly, this event did change the movie Red Dawn that would be seen in 1984. It appears the filmmakers did make a correct decision in changing the film, at least regarding the McDonald's "trigger" imagery.

Red Dawn (1984) was released on August 10, 1984.

San Ysidro, California, shooting site, 1984.

Red Dawn, deleted scene, 1984.

The site Fast Forward has this information:

The original theater trailer on the DVD shows a scene with a tank rolling up to a McDonald's restaurant where enemy soldiers are eating. This scene does not appear in the final cut. Some have suggested that this may have been removed due to a mass murder at a San Ysidro, CA McDonald's just weeks prior to the films opening.
There were 21 people massacred at that McDonald's on July 19, 1984, which was at the time located at 460 W San Ysidro Boulevard. It has since moved moved down the street. A campus of Southwestern College is there now with a memorial plaque.
Contributed by: Mountain Mike

"Mountain Mike" got the exact date wrong, but this "deletion due to the mass shooting" story certainly has made the rounds.

It is well known that Hollywood does edit their films based on post-production real world events. For example, in the wake of the Aurora red dawn event, the machine-gunning of the movie audience is being cut from this year's forthcoming film, Gangster Squad. The scene was in that film's initial movie trailer.

One thing is certain. There is a red dawn that's come, and another one that's coming.

For the links to other recent postings about 

Colorado's Aurora's red dawn symbolism, please see also:

Red Dawn 2012

Red Dawn Again

Red Dawn

Recent interviews, about the Aurora shootings:

WGN - Mike McConnell: Loren Coleman

The Corbett Report: The Copycat Effect with Loren Coleman

Binnall of America: Loren Coleman and Bruce Rux

Talk Shoe - 42 Minutes: Loren Coleman

Red Ice Creations: Loren Coleman

The Copycat Effect

(NY: Simon and Schuster, 2004)

(Thanks MM for the news tip about the poster.)