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Secret Service Encourages Trump Campaign to Stop Outdoor Rallies
Secret Service officials encouraged Donald Trump’s campaign to stop scheduling large outdoor rallies and other outdoor events with big crowds after the assassination attempt on the former president in Butler, Pa., according to people familiar with the matter.
In the aftermath of the shooting, agents from the Secret Service communicated their concerns about large outdoor rallies going forward to Trump campaign advisers, three people familiar with the matter said.
The people familiar with the matter spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.
For upcoming events, Trump’s team is scouting indoor venues, such as basketball arenas and other large spaces where thousands of people can fit, people familiar with the request said. The campaign is not currently planning any large outdoor events, a person close to Trump said.
A Trump campaign spokeswoman declined to comment. A spokesman for the Secret Service said the agency does not comment on its protective methods.
Trump has held hundreds of outdoor rallies since launching his first presidential bid, often bragging about – and sometimes falsely inflating – his large crowds. They have become something of a cult favorite among his most passionate fans, with tailgate parties in parking lots, vendors lining open areas near the rally and large parades of traffic, often with gargantuan pickup trucks.
They usually include large rosters of speakers before Trump takes the stage, with crowds sometimes enduring the heat or the cold for many hours. The crowd sometimes departs before Trump, who is regularly late, finishes speaking.
The rallies are often held at airports but are also held at fairgrounds, football stadiums or other large outdoor venues.
Sarah Matthews, a former Trump spokeswoman turned critic, said Trump would often get upset if people were not moved past the magnetometers quickly enough and the outdoor venues were not filling up quickly enough.
“We’ve seen from the early days of his presidency even, and before that during his first campaign in 2016, how important crowd size is to him. It gives him a lot of joy and energy being with large crowds. He feeds off their energy. It’s almost like a source of comfort for him,” said Matthews, who served as a deputy press secretary in the Trump White House.
Indoor rallies are more expensive, campaign advisers said. But one campaign official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private plans said the indoor events are inherently safer because it is easier to control who comes through a finite number of doors, and there are fewer line-of-sight issues.
“Obviously with an indoor venue, you have a capacity,” she said. “It doesn’t pack the same punch. There’s something about being at one of those outdoor rallies.”
The rallies have long been viewed as onerous by the Secret Service because they include complicated outdoor venues with thousands – if not tens of thousands – of people. Most other former presidents rarely appear in public, and when they do, they usually appear in settings such as conferences and restaurants with fewer people. Trump requires a much larger security footprint than other past presidents because he holds so many large events.
Agents usually arrive well in advance, putting together a security plan for the large outdoor venues.
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday in the aftermath of the assassination attempt, telling staff that she took “full responsibility,” according to a copy of a letter sent to agency staff and obtained by The Washington Post.
In early 2024, Trump advisers told the Secret Service they were planning to do large events regularly, and would need increasing amounts of protection and assets, a person familiar with the conversation said. But the two sides often battled over resources – with requests from Trump’s detail being rejected by the Secret Service.
(c) Washington Post
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Robes, Light Bulbs and More: The Stuff People Steal from Hotels
Many hotel guests get comfortable lounging around in the plush, cozy robe hanging in their closet. So comfortable, in fact, that they find the garment too irresistible to leave behind, leading managers to add price tags and anti-theft warnings to rooms.
It’s fine to pack up your room’s bar soap and shower cap, but hotel experts say guests sometimes think too far outside the toiletry kit when it comes to take-home items. And while an individual hotel’s response may vary, travelers shouldn’t be surprised to find extra charges if they treat their room like a department store.
“We dealt with it all the time,” said hospitality consultant Anthony Melchiorri, a former hotel manager and the host of the Travel Channel show “Hotel Impossible.” “That’s one of the reasons you take a credit card and check in with a deposit.”
In recent years, hoteliers have taken more steps to combat theft: selling in-demand products online, displaying signs in rooms that indicate what can be purchased, and using trackable chips in linens or electronics.
“Hotels can implement controls to minimize the risk of theft, but the more controls, the more the hotel begins to resemble a prison,” Sean Hennessey, a clinical associate professor in New York University’s hospitality program, wrote in an email. “So it’s a balancing act.”
Hennessey wrote that most brands have also boosted security to better track and monitor access to rooms “such that hotel theft is probably less prevalent today than in the past.”
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The most-stolen items at hotels
Major hotel chains contacted by The Washington Post, including Marriott and Hyatt, did not respond to questions about hotel room theft. Industry experts say there are no publicly reported statistics.
But hospitality insiders with years of experience shared the items that they’ve known to walk away, including towels, lightbulbs, hangers, hair dryers, smart speakers, coffee makers and, of course, robes.
“You’re not entitled to taking the pillows, which people will do,” said Lonny Wolfe, a former general manager who works with hotels to turn around troubled properties. “You’re not entitled to taking the iron, which people will do.”
Peter Eckert, executive vice president of operations for Davidson Hospitality Group, said there was a time when smartphone-docking radio clocks would get stolen, but those aren’t used anymore. TVs have also disappeared with guests.
“All those things get charged back to the customer,” said Eckert, who noted that theft has been rare in his experience. “If there’s something noticeable, we pass the cost on.”
Wolfe said one guest at a hotel he was working with in South Florida reported that he didn’t like his room, nor the second or third that he tried. Wolfe noticed the Bible was missing from all three rooms; after checking security cameras in public areas, he could see footage showing the man throwing the Bibles in garbage cans.
“I caught him red-handed,” he said. After the man returned to the hotel to complain about rooms yet again, Wolfe told the property to never let him return.
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Taking furniture and electronics
It’s not just rooms that get raided.
Melchiorri said one guest at a New York City hotel claimed late at night to an employee that Melchiorri had given permission to use new lobby furniture for a house party. The guest removed one chair – and then the night manager cried foul, foiling a larger plan.
“We got it back the next day,” Melchiorri said.
Michael “Doc” Terry, a senior instructor at the University of Central Florida’s hospitality school and longtime hotelier, remembered running a large convention hotel when thieves swooped in.
“They came right in the front door, grabbed A/V equipment and just [went] right out of the hotel right in front of everybody,” he said, noting that they could have easily been legitimate contractors. “You have crews coming in all the time.”
He said the items people will take – and the response from management – will vary according to the type of hotel, amount the owners have invested, risk management approach and housekeeping practices.
Mehmet Erdem, who teaches lodging operations at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, said hotels need to keep a careful inventory, meticulously check for missing items and be sure about the culprit if they plan to charge a guest for pilfered items or report theft to police.
Melchiorri said if a guest takes one towel or washcloth, they probably won’t get hit with a bill.
“However, if you consistently take things, we’ll definitely charge you,” he said. “Some hotels, some management companies are a lot more strict than others.”
He said guests might dispute a charge and try to initiate a chargeback. That’s when a hotel would have to provide some kind of proof.
“Listen, there’s security cameras everywhere today,” he said.
While some towel snatchers might get away with their scratchy souvenirs, travelers shouldn’t assume there will be no consequences. In 2010, a hotel guest in Nigeria was convicted of stealing two towels. They were ordered to serve three months in jail or pay a $20 fine, ABC News reported at the time.
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What hotels expect to lose
There are items hoteliers expect people to take.
“You have to find the line between stealing and taking what the hotel owes you,” Ross says. “For example, hair dryer: no, no, no. But shampoos and conditioners: yes, yes, yes.”
Eckert, whose hospitality management company includes 86 hotels and resorts under different brands, said hotels even welcome it when guests take some knickknacks home; a pen emblazoned with the name of a hotel, a tiny sewing kit or a little lotion bottle can serve as a mini piece of marketing.
“They’re all branded and part of it is people will see it,” he said, calling it “a decent opportunity to catch someone’s attention.”
Some properties include locally inspired body products, small samples of which are available in the room; larger versions can be purchased. Often, though, single-use products that used to be available for the taking are being swapped for larger bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash in an effort to cut down on waste.
“Sustainability is changing a lot of what is in the guest rooms for people to take with them to reduce that single-use plastic,” Eckert said.
He said theft occurs in a “very, very small percentage” of cases and noted it hasn’t been a big discussion in his 32-year hospitality career.
“The one that comes up the most that we charge people for is the robe,” he said. “Another opportunity for us to promote the brand of the hotel and resort that we’re operating.”
(c) Washington Post
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GOP Israel Branch Targeting US Citizens in Israel as Potential Republican Voters
The Republican Party’s organizing effort in Israel is leaving nothing to chance, especially given the record of Kamala Harris, the U.S. vice president whom U.S. President Joe Biden has endorsed and whose record suggests she is to the left of Biden on policies toward Israel.
Marc Zell, chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel, told JNS that about 500,000 of the estimated 750,000 U.S. citizens living in Israel—per the U.S. State Department count—are of voting age and eligible to vote in U.S. elections.
“Our task is to reach out to them. The party calls them low-propensity voters,” Zell told JNS. “If we can get them to vote, then they’ll vote Republican by a large majority, which is unusual for Jews, as you know, here in the United States.”
U.S. Jews historically vote heavily Democratic, although those figures have shifted in the past two election cycles.
“In Israel, they’ve already understood where their fate lies in terms of American politics, and it lies with the Republican Party,” Zell told JNS.
Half a million low-propensity voters sounds like a small number, given Biden defeated Trump in 2020 by 7,060,347 votes. But Zell cites the 2000 presidential election, in which George W. Bush defeated Al Gore in Florida by 537 votes. With that margin, the Republican took the Electoral College and the presidency.
In that election, 1,200 U.S. voters with Florida residency voted from Israel, almost certainly swinging the election to Bush, according to Zell.
“Had they not done so, the election would have changed and history would have changed as a result,” Zell told JNS. “This election cycle looks like it will be close in many of the swing states, particularly large states where there are significant Jewish populations,” such as Pennsylvania and Michigan.
In recent weeks, Zell’s organization found about 100 Americans living in Israel with Minnesota residency, many of whom were unaware that they had the right to vote. The North Star State is considered to be a swing state this cycle.
Even if the Israeli-American vote doesn’t decide the Electoral College, Zell thinks it is important for two other reasons. The popular vote doesn’t decide the presidency but still carries weight in terms of legitimacy, and every vote has equal value, he said.
And it is important for party officials and politicians to take the Israel-based vote seriously, Zell told JNS.
“Five-hundred thousand people is a lot. It’s a lot more than many states in the union,” he said. “So it’s important that they understand that Israel is on the electoral map, along with the jurisdictions in the United States.”
Zell, who also serves as general counsel for the larger Republicans Overseas operation, is making do with what he describes as limited resources.
Speaking to JNS from last week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, he said Republicans Overseas Israel has a database of several thousand self-identified Republican voters in Israel.
“We can do much better, and that’s one of the things we’re trying to do,” he said. “We’re doing a crowdfunding campaign and a private donation campaign to provide us with resources, because the Republican Party does not support expat voting anywhere in the world, including Israel.”
{Matzav.com}