Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez

UPDATE: Man charged with Obama assassination attempt

A 21-year-old man accused of firing a semiautomatic rifle at the White House last week was formally charged Thursday with attempting to assassinate President Obama or members of his staff.

Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez of Idaho Falls, Idaho, made his first court appearance before a federal magistrate in Pittsburgh on Thursday, one day after he was arrested at a western Pennsylvania hotel. He will be taken from the federal court in Pittsburgh to face the charges in Washington.

If convicted, Ortega-Hernandez could face life in prison. He will remain in federal custody until a magistrate in Washington can determine whether he should remain jailed until his trial on the charge.

Ortega-Hernandez sat quietly as the hearing began, his hands free but his feet shackled, the Associated Press reported. He said only, "Yes, ma'am" when he was asked whether he understood that he would be going back to Washington to face the charge.

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Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, a 21-year-old from Idaho, achieved fame in an instant.

From the New York Times:

Federal law enforcement officials on Wednesday arrested a 21-year-old Idaho man suspected of firing a semiautomatic rifle at the White House on Friday night, and the Secret Service reported finding that at least one bullet had struck the presidential residence.

The suspect, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, was arrested at a hotel near Indiana, Pa., about 12:35 p.m. by the Pennsylvania State Police, acting on information from Secret Service agents in Pittsburgh, the Secret Service said.

“Ortega-Hernandez is currently in the custody of the Pennsylvania State Police,” the statement said.

The man, previously referred to in a warrant as Oscar Ramiro Ortega, has a background of legal problems and is said to have a history of aberrant behavior. During an encounter earlier on Friday with the police in Arlington County, Va., he said he was from Idaho Falls. The police there said his family had reported him missing last month.

Gunfire was heard in the vicinity of the White House and the National Mall shortly after 9 on Friday night, and the Secret Service said its officers had seen a car speed away west on Constitution Avenue. A few minutes later, the car was found about seven blocks away, abandoned, with an assault-style semiautomatic rifle inside.

Investigators were examining evidence found in the car and talking with Mr. Ortega-Hernandez’s relatives, who told them that he appeared to have a fixation on the White House or President Obama, one official said. Another official said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had traced the origin of the weapon, but the official declined to disclose the circumstances of its purchase.

The United States Park Police had obtained an arrest warrant charging Mr. Ortega-Hernandez with a felony count of carrying a deadly weapon.

...Late on Friday, the police searched the Occupy DC protest camp, on McPherson Square just blocks from the White House, after reports that the suspect might have spent time there. Protesters there said on Wednesday that the police had been through their encampment several times since then, showing around a photograph of Mr. Ortega-Hernandez.

Well. The shooter was hanging out at the Occupy DC camp.

That should be big news, but it isn't receiving the attention it deserves.

Given the attention the media are devoting to the Occupy movement, it's obvious that there's an effort to downplay the connection that the man who allegedly fired a semiautomatic rifle and hit the presidential residence has with the Occupiers.

John Nolte, Big Journalism, points out the double standard being applied.

Yes, that’s right, our suspected shooter apparently spent time with Occupy.

But the memo has obviously gone out throughout the entire journOlist community that this connection must be played down to where it hardly registers at all.

Ace of Spades:

Jared Loughner never once attended a Tea Party, nor did he read Tea Party literature, or subscribe to Tea Party ideas.

Nevertheless, within 24 hours the media elected him to be Chairman Emeritus of the Tea Party movement.

A guy shoots at the White House, and guess what? He’s with the Occupy movement.

And let’s not forgot how Sarah Palin was figuratively lynched by the media for the crimes Loughner’s been charged with after it was discovered her campaign put targets on a map that, uhm, Loughner had never seen.

...If the MSM looks into this Occupy connection at all, it will be in a cursory and dutiful way that doesn’t damage their pathetic narrative that a movement that’s starting to resemble a domestic terrorist outfit is really just a bunch of harmless, groovy hippies trying to fix the income inequality, man.

There's no denying that the media are doing their best to avoid highlighting the connection Ortega-Hernandez has with the Occupiers.

They aren't pinning the violence of Ortega-Hernandez on the Occupy movement. They aren't condemning the protests for inciting the shooting.

You can be sure that wouldn't be the case if Ortega-Hernandez were a Tea Party member. The media would be hanging on that. They'd probably call him the Tea Party shooter, or something similar. But because Ortega-Hernandez is an Occupier, that barely gets mentioned.

Double Standard.
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Video: Suspect in White House Shooting Arrested in Pa.