Since Minnesota United started losing players at the beginning of June, to international teams and to injuries, the Loons have simply been trying to hold on until they had their team back together – and hold on to points, late in games.

They couldn’t do it in Portland, they couldn’t do it in Los Angeles, but Saturday in Houston, Minnesota finally managed it, drawing 1-1 with the Houston Dynamo. It ended Minnesota’s six-game losing streak and gave the Loons a precious point in the standings for the first time since June 8.

Of course, it also extended the Loons’ winless streak to eight games, but after six consecutive games with zero points, even earning one must have felt like a weight coming off Minnesota’s shoulders.

Minnesota broke the deadlock in the 70th minute – and they did it, as they so often have this season, from a set piece.

Joseph Rosales took a corner kick from the left, and while his initial ball into the penalty area was cleared, Franco Fragapane picked up the clearance. Fragapane played an outstanding pass back to Rosales, curving it with the outside of his right boot and leaving Rosales wide open to play in another cross. This time, Robin Lod was making a run at the near post, and he flicked the pass inside the post to give Minnesota the lead.

Twelve minutes later, though, Houston was back level, from a corner kick of its own. Minnesota’s defense failed to get a head on the corner, which bounced to Sebastian Ferreira, who had time to steady himself and blast a shot from five yards away that was moving too fast for any Minnesota player to affect it.

MNUFC’s best chances of the first half came barely 200 seconds in, as a pass from Lod found Joseph Rosales open on the left side of the penalty area. The Honduran’s shot was straight at goalkeeper Steve Clark, however.

Moments later, a cross found Bongokuhle Hlongwane making a run at the near post, but his flick cannoned off the outside of the post and away.

According to the league’s website, Minnesota had just 19.8% of the possession in the first half.

Loons manager Eric Ramsay was at pains, the day before the game, to insist that Minnesota’s system isn’t just a simple 5-2-3 formation every week. In this one, the manager introduced a few wrinkles, having his team defend with a 5-3-2 formation and then flip to a 3-4-3 look when in possession.

The match also marked Carlos Harvey’s first start for Minnesota at center back, playing on the right side, in the spot that had often been occupied by Kervin Arriaga before Arriaga’s sale to FK Partizan.

Kickoff of the game was delayed for almost an hour, due to lightning in the area. Houston’s game last Sunday was postponed after Hurricane Beryl arrived a bit earlier than planned, and the Dynamo had to wait a bit longer to return to the field.

On the subject of returns, Minnesota will finally welcome Tani Oluwaseyi and Dayne St. Clair back this week from Copa América. Both of the Canadian Loons started the third-place playoff against Uruguay, marking Oluwaseyi’s first start ever for Canada. The striker played 66 minutes and the teams tied 2-2 after regulation, but Canada lost the penalty shootout 4-3.

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By: Nathaniel Ballantyne

New York – New York – Former President Donald Trump was rushed to the hospital after being grazed by an assassin bullet that pierced his right ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. “I felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” said Donald Trump as he walked out of the hospital. The suspected gunman was killed, and two other people were badly injured. 

This assassination attempt came two weeks after Donald Trump won his first presidential debate against his opponent, President Joe Biden. Biden, who was out of the White House, was briefed by the head of the Secret Service and Homeland Security about the assassination attempt on Trump. The White House says that Biden attempted to reach out to Trump by telephone to no avail. Several

High-ranking officials in the Democratic Party have already publicly condemned the attack on Trump.

As a former president, Trump has a certain level of Secret Service protection, but the team protecting him is not as large as it should have been. According to the Secret Service, there is a plan to increase his team before the Republican convention this week.

Assassination attempts on U.S. Presidents have been numerous, ranging from the early 19th century to the 2020s. On January 30, 1835, Andrew Jackson was the first president to experience an assassination attempt when Richard Lawrence twice tried to shoot him in the East Portico of the Capitol after Jackson left a funeral held in the House of Representatives  Chamber. 

The attempt failed when both of Lawrence’s pistols misfired. Since then, four sitting presidents have been killed: Abraham Lincoln (1865, by John Wilkes Booth), James A. Garfield(1881, by Charles J. Guiteau), William McKinley (1901, by Leon Czolgosz), and John F. Kennedy (1963, by Lee Harvey Oswald). 

Additionally, three presidents have been injured in attempted assassinations: former president Theodore Roosevelt (1912, by John Schrank), Ronald Reagan(1981, by John Hinckley Jr.), and Donald Trump (2024). In all of these cases, the attacker’s weapon was a firearm. 

Many assassination attempts, both successful and unsuccessful, were motivated by a desire to change the policy of the American government.  Not all such attacks, however, had political reasons. Many other attackers had questionable mental stability, and a few were judge legally insane.

Historian James W. Clarke suggests that most assassination attempters have been sane and politically motivated, whereas the Department of Justice legal manual claims that a large majority have been insane.  In this case, we may never know whether Trump’s attempted assassin was insane or whether this was politically motivated.

Some assassins, especially mentally ill ones, acted solely on their own, whereas those pursuing political agendas have more often found supporting conspirators. We have yet to find out whether the killed assassin had any co-conspirators in his attempt to kill Donald Trump.

In the past most assassination plotters were arrested and punished by execution or lengthy detainment in a prison or insane asylum.

Since the vice president, the successor of a removed president, usually shares the president’s political party affiliation, the death of the president is unlikely to result in major policy changes. Possibly for that reason, political groups typically do not coordinate such attacks, even in times of partisan strife.  

Threats of violence against the president are often made for rhetorical or humorous effect without serious intent, while credibly threatening the president of the United States is a federal felony.

Donald Trump is the last former president since Ronald Reagan in 1989 to be shot.  The answer to the question of whether this was politically motivated may never be answered. The gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, and without the gunman, it would be hard to make that determination. 

Many groups, including the Haitian American Pastors Association led by Rev. Rudy Laurent, are praying for Donald Trump’s quick recovery. According to Rev. Laurent, the attack on President Trump was prophetic and only cemented the need for his reelection as the next president of the United States. 

The Republican National Convention is scheduled for Monday, July 15 to Thursday, July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and we expect increased security, especially around President Trump and his family. 

By Darlene Superville and Christina A. Cassidy, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Before Saturday’s apparent attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, there have been multiple instances of political violence targeting U.S. presidents, former presidents and major party presidential candidates.

A look at some of the assassinations and attempted assassinations that have occurred since the nation’s founding in 1776:

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the 16th president

Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated, shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, as he and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, attended a special performance of the comedy “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington.

This April 1865 file photo provided by the Library of Congress shows President Abraham Lincoln’s box at Ford’s Theater, the site of his assassination. (AP Photo/Library of Congress, File)

Lincoln was taken to a house across the street from the theater for medical treatment after he was shot in the back of the head. He died the next morning. His support for Black rights has been cited as a motive behind his killing.

Two years before the assassination, during the Civil War, which was fought over slavery, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation granting freedom to slaves within the Confederacy.

Lincoln was succeeded by Vice President Andrew Johnson.

Booth was shot and killed on April 26, 1865, after he was found hiding in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia.

JAMES GARFIELD, the 20th president

Garfield was the second president to be assassinated, six months after taking office. He was walking through a train station in Washington on July 2, 1881, to catch a train to New England when he was shot by Charles Guiteau.

Alexander Graham Bell, the telephone inventor, tried unsuccessfully to find the bullet lodged in Garfield’s chest using a device he designed specifically for the president. The mortally wounded president lay at the White House for several weeks but died in September after he was taken to the New Jersey shore. He had held office for six months.

Garfield was succeeded by Vice President Chester Arthur.

Guiteau was found guilty and executed in June 1882.

WILLIAM McKINLEY, the 25th president

McKinley was shot after giving a speech in Buffalo, New York, on Sept. 6, 1901. He was shaking hands with people passing through a receiving line when a man fired two shots into his chest at point-blank range. Doctors had expected McKinley to recover but gangrene then set in around the bullet wounds.

FILE – An undated photo of William McKinley, 25th President of the United States. He was inaugurated in 1897, and again in 1901 just prior to being assassinated on Sept. 6, 1901. (AP Photo, File)

McKinley died on Sept. 14, 1901, six months after opening his second term.

He was succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt.

Leon F. Czolgosz, an unemployed, 28-year-old Detroit resident, admitted to the shooting. Czolgosz was found guilty at trial and put to death in the electric chair on Oct. 29, 1901.

JOHN F. KENNEDY, the 35th president

Kennedy was fatally shot by a hidden assassin armed with a high-powered rifle as he visited Dallas in November 1963 with first lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Shots rang out as the president’s motorcade rolled through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas.

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Kennedy was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he died soon after.

He was succeeded by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, who was sworn into office in a conference room aboard Air Force One. He is the only president to take the oath of office on an airplane.

Hours after the assassination, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald after finding a sniper’s perch in a nearby building, the Texas School Book Depository.

Two days later, Oswald was being taken from police headquarters to the county jail when Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby rushed forward and fatally shot Oswald.

GERALD FORD, the 38th president

Ford faced two assassination attempts within weeks in 1975 and was not hurt in either incident.

In the first attempt, Ford was on his way to a meeting with California’s governor in Sacramento when Charles Manson disciple Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme pushed through a crowd on the street, drew a semi-automatic pistol and pointed it at Ford. The gun wasn’t fired.

FILE – President Ford ducks behind his limousine and is hustled into the vehicle after a shot was fired as he left the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, Sept. 22, 1975. The President was rushed to the airport to return to Washington. (AP Photo, File)

Fromme was sentenced to prison and released in 2009.

It was 17 days later when another woman, Sara Jane Moore, confronted Ford outside a hotel in San Francisco. Moore fired one shot and missed. A bystander grabbed her arm as a second shot was attempted.

Moore was sent to prison and released in 2007.

RONALD REAGAN, the 40th president

Reagan was leaving a speech in Washington, D.C., and walking to his motorcade when he was shot by John Hinckley Jr., who was in the crowd.

Reagan recovered from the March 1981 shooting. Three other people were shot, including his press secretary, James Brady, who was partially paralyzed as a result.

FILE – In this Monday, March 30, 1981 combination file photos, President Reagan waves, then looks up before being shoved into Presidential limousine by Secret Service agents after being shot outside a Washington hotel. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)

Hinckley was arrested and confined to a mental hospital after a jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity in shooting Reagan. In 2022, Hinckley was freed from court oversight after a judge determined he was “no longer a danger to himself or others.”

GEORGE W. BUSH, the 43rd president

Bush was attending a rally in Tbilisi in 2005 with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili when a hand grenade was thrown toward him.

Both men were behind a bulletproof barrier when the grenade, wrapped in cloth, landed about 100 feet away. The grenade did not explode, and no one was hurt.

Vladimir Arutyunian was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY, presidential candidate

Kennedy was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination when he was killed at a Los Angeles hotel — moments after giving his victory speech for winning the 1968 California primary.

Kennedy was a U.S. senator from New York and the brother of President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated five years earlier.

FILE – In this June 5, 1968 file photo, Hotel busboy Juan Romero, right, comes to the aid of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, as he lies on the floor of the Ambassador hotel in Los Angeles moments after he was shot. Romero was a teenage busboy in June 1968 when Kennedy walked through the Ambassador Hotel kitchen after his victory in the California presidential primary and an assassin shot him in the head. He held the mortally wounded Kennedy as he lay on the ground, struggling to keep the senator’s bleeding head from hitting the floor. (Richard Drew/Pasadena Star News via AP, File)

Five other people were wounded in the shooting.

Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. That was commuted to life in prison, where Sirhan remains after his latest petition for release was denied last year.

GEORGE C. WALLACE, presidential candidate

Wallace was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination when he was shot during a campaign stop in Maryland in 1972, an incident that left him paralyzed from the waist down.

Wallace, the governor of Alabama, was known for his segregationist views, which he later renounced.

Arthur Bremer was convicted in the shooting and sentenced to prison. He was released in 2007.

The St. Paul Saints will be happy to leave Louisville, Ky after Sunday’s game, and they get four days off for the break.

St. Paul rallied with two runs in the eighth inning on Sunday, forcing extra innings. But the Saints ended up losing 5-4 in 10 innings, their fifth loss in a row all in Louisville. After Sunday’s afternoon game, St. Paul will take it’s break along with the rest of the International League.

In the 10th on Saturday, the Saints had two runners on after Payton Eeles walked to join automatic runner Chris Williams. But Anthony Prato struck out, Patrick Winkel lined out and Alex Isola ended the inning with a fly out.

In the bottom of the inning, St. Paul reliever Diego Castillo (0-2) intentionally walked the leadoff batter to put two runners on. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners up, Castillo followed with another intentional pass to load the bases, but Castillo threw a wild pitch that allowed the winning run to score.

Earlier, Isola had a pair of RBI singles, Prato also had an RBI single for the Saints.

Randy Dobnak started for St. Paul and allowed three runs — one earned — in five innings. He gave up five hits and two walks and struck out six.