A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/texas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Texas</a> man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to killing nearly two dozen people during a mass shooting at an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/el-paso" target="_blank" rel="noopener">El Paso</a>, Texas, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/walmart" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Walmart</a> in 2019.
The 24-year-old man of Allen, Texas, is facing 90 federal charges, including hate crime and firearms charges, related to the August 3, 2019, massacre. His attorneys said last month that he intended to plead guilty after prosecutors with the federal government said they would not seek the death penalty, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-united-states-government-patrick-crusius-texas-el-paso-a2a924593883056af3782f33e3200fee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Associated Press</a>.
“I plead guilty,” the man said in a court house in El Paso. The courtroom was filled with the family members and friends of those killed in the shooting about three-and-a-half years ago.
Though U.S. prosecutors do not intend to push for the death penalty, the man still could face the death penalty. He still faces state charges which carry with them the possibility of capital punishment should he be found guilty. The defendant has pleaded not guilty to the state charges.
Federal prosecutors plan to recommend that the defendant face 90 consecutive life sentences in prison. Defense attorney Joe Spencer said that his client wanted to take responsibility for the shooting and begin serving his sentence.
“We’re glad that it’s finally done,” Spencer said, according to the <a href="https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/crime/2023/02/08/patrick-crusius-pleads-guilty-el-paso-walmart-shooting-hate-crime-charges/69881963007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">El Paso Times</a>. “And he’s glad that it is finally done. There are no winners in this case. He’s going to be serving 90 consecutive life sentences.”
The admitted shooter drove from Allen, a suburb north of Dallas, to El Paso on the day of the massacre. After reaching El Paso, he posted online about a “Hispanic invasion” of Texas, prosecutors said.
“This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas. They are the instigators, not me. I am simply defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by the invasion,” the man allegedly wrote in a document titled, “The Inconvenient Truth.”
After posting the message, he <a href="https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2023/02/08/el-paso-walmart-shooting-suspect-patrick-crusius-guilty-plea-updates/69881966007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">took</a> a rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition and shot dozens inside a local Walmart and in the store’s parking lot. Twenty-three people died in the rampage and dozens more were wounded. The shooter surrendered to law enforcement shortly thereafter.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott <a href="https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-statement-on-second-anniversary-of-el-paso-shooting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> a statement on the two-year anniversary of the shooting, calling it a “heinous and senseless act of violence.”
&#8220;Two years ago today, a heinous and senseless act of violence destroyed countless lives in the El Paso community. As we dealt with the aftermath of the horrific violence and overwhelming grief, we also saw the true spirit of what it means to be a Texan,” Abbott said.
“People from every corner of the Lone Star State banded together to support and uplift El Pasoans during their time of loss. And together as a state, we stepped up to protect our communities and prevent future tragedies,” he added.

El Paso

Texas Man Pleads Guilty In El Paso Walmart Shooting That Left 23 Dead

Crime

El Paso Shooting

Texas

U.S.

Walmart

The Justice Department will not seek the death penalty against the man accused of killing dozens of people in a racially motivated attack at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019.
Federal prosecutors made their position known Tuesday in <a href="https://elpasomatters.org/2023/01/17/crucius-wont-face-death-penalty-in-federal-hate-crime-charges/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a brief court filing</a> in the case against the Texas native, who The Daily Wire is not naming in keeping with a policy of depriving mass shooters of undeserved notoriety.
The alleged gunman surrendered to law enforcement nearly a mile away from the Walmart where 23 people were fatally shot and about two dozen others were injured in August 2019. He allegedly confessed to being &#8220;the shooter,&#8221; <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/08/09/749954115/el-paso-alleged-gunman-admitted-i-m-the-shooter-police-say" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to an arrest affidavit</a>.
The shooter also allegedly told police he planned the attack and drove from Allen, a suburb of Dallas, to the border city of El Paso to target &#8220;Mexicans.&#8221; In addition, authorities believe he posted a manifesto online that espoused white nationalist and anti-immigrant sentiments, condemning the ”<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walmart-sued-over-el-paso-shooting-targeting-mexicans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hispanic invasion” of the state</a>, among other things.
The shooter faces dozens of federal <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtx/pr/federal-grand-jury-el-paso-returns-superseding-indictment-against-patrick-crusius" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hate crime and firearm charges</a>. He entered <a href="https://kvia.com/news/crime/2020/07/23/feds-says-further-delay-in-prosecution-of-accused-walmart-shooter-would-be-miscarriage-of-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a written plea of not guilty</a> to the federal charges in 2020, and now faces up to life in prison in that case. His federal trial is scheduled to start in January 2024, following delays in the court system <a href="https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/crime/2020/08/22/trial-el-paso-walmart-mass-shooting-least-year-away/5521472002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic</a>.
The timing matters. When a federal grand jury <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtx/pr/federal-grand-jury-el-paso-returns-superseding-indictment-against-patrick-crusius" target="_blank" rel="noopener">returned a superseding indictment</a> in the summer of 2020, the Justice Department said the attorney general will decide whether to seek the death penalty &#8220;at a later time.&#8221;
Attorney General Merrick Garland <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/page/file/1408636/download" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paused federal executions</a> in the summer of 2021 pending a review of the Justice Department&#8217;s policies and procedures after the Trump administration <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/14/supreme-court-federal-execution-injunction-360490" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resumed putting inmates to death</a> for the first time in 17 years. President Joe Biden had made it a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/22/death-row-inmates-biden-promise-end-federal-executions-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">campaign promise</a> to work toward ending capital punishment on the federal level.
The El Paso Walmart shooter has also pleaded not guilty to state capital murder charges for which he could still face the death penalty. A trial date has not be seen in that case, <a href="https://elpasomatters.org/2023/01/17/crucius-wont-face-death-penalty-in-federal-hate-crime-charges/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to El Paso Matters</a>.

El Paso Walmart Shooting

Feds Decline To Seek Death Penalty Against El Paso Walmart Shooter

Department of Justice

Shooting

The mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas has resulted in 10 Mexican citizens filing a lawsuit, with the help of the Mexican government, against the retail giant.
On August 3, a 21-year-old man from Allen, Texas, who has espoused anti-immigrant and white nationalist sentiments, opened fire in a Walmart in El Paso, murdering 22 people and injuring another two dozen. The horrific shooting infamously took place the same day that a man expressing <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/08/07/dayton-shooting-what-do-we-know-connor-betts-politics/1943289001/">extremist left-wing</a> ideology fatally shot 10 people and injured a total of 27 in Dayton, Ohio.
Of the two shootings, the El Paso shooting has received the most media attention, in part because of the shooter&#8217;s white nationalist and anti-immigrant views,  as well as former Democratic presidential candidate Beto O&#8217;Rourke, who is from El Paso, making the shooting a key piece of his campaign messaging.
The ethnicity of many of the victims also played a role in the shooting&#8217;s national coverage. Of the 22 people killed, eight were Mexican nationals, while another eight of the 24 injured were likewise Mexicans.
On Wednesday, the Mexican foreign ministry issued a statement Wednesday declaring its rationale for supporting the lawsuit.
&#8220;The objective of these suits, presented in El Paso county, is to hold the company responsible for not taking reasonable and necessary measures to protect its clients from the attack,&#8221; the foreign ministry said in a statement reported by <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/mexicans-sue-walmart-over-el-paso-shooting-185938190.html">AFP</a>. &#8220;The plaintiffs are seeking not only justice for themselves, but security for the general public.&#8221;
The ministry said that among the ten Mexican citizens who brought the lawsuit are survivors of the shooting and relatives of the victims.
Before going on his rampage, the El Paso shooter posted a manifesto condemning the &#8220;Hispanic invasion&#8221; of the state; after he was arrested, he told authorities that he was deliberately attempting to kill Mexicans. The case is being investigated as an act of domestic terror and potential hate crime.
AFP notes that Walmart announced in September changes to how it handles the sale of firearms and ammunitions. The retailer will no longer sell some &#8220;military-style&#8221; rifles, will no longer sell ammunition for handguns, and will bar customers from carrying weapons inside the store.
The Mexican government&#8217;s announcement of the lawsuit against Walmart came just two days after another <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/19/walmart-shooting-duncan-oklahoma-double-murder-suicide-domestic-dispute/4237436002/">shooting</a> at the retailer, this time in the parking lot of a store in Duncan, Oklahoma, where police say a man shot his wife and her boyfriend before turning the gun on himself.
Following the shooting, O&#8217;Rourke, a former congressman from El Paso, made mass shootings and gun control the center of his presidential campaign, which he ended on November 1 after failing to gain traction in the polls and fundraising. At the third Democratic debate in September, O&#8217;Rourke famously declared that, &#8220;Hell yes,&#8221; he is indeed calling for the confiscation of Americans&#8217; guns to prevent future mass shootings.
“Some on this stage have suggested a voluntary buyback for guns in this country,” ABC News host David Muir <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/beto-says-hell-yes-were-going-take-americans-guns-james-barrett">said</a> in comments directed to O’Rourke. “You have gone further. You said, quote, ‘Americans who own AR-15s and AK-47s will have to sell them to the government, all of them.’ You know the critics call this confiscation. Are you proposing taking away their guns and how would this work?”
“I am, if it is a weapon that was designed to kill people on a battlefield,” he said, the Democratic crowd erupting in applause even before he could add the “battlefield” qualifier.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/colt-suspends-production-rifles-civilians-says-its-james-barrett">Colt Suspends Production Of Rifles For Civilians, But Says It’s Not Why You Think</a>

Walmart Sued Over El Paso Shooting Targeting Mexicans

Beto O'Rourke

Mexico

The Democratic debate in Houston on Thursday contained a whole lotta falsehoods, so many that the Associated Press decided to do a &#8220;fact check&#8221; on the numerous claims spouted by White House wannabes.
It wasn&#8217;t pretty.
There were claims that America has among the worst child poverty rates in the world, that the Obama-Biden administration didn&#8217;t &#8220;lock people up in cages&#8221; at the border, and that &#8220;every study&#8221; shows Medicare-for-all is &#8220;the most cost effective approach.&#8221;
Yeah, not so much, said the AP.
But the most egregious claim was that President Trump &#8220;inspired&#8221; — nay, &#8220;directed&#8221; — the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas. The shooting at a Walmart happened on August 3, killing 22 people and wounding 24. The FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and a possible hate crime.
Robert &#8220;Beto&#8221; O&#8217;Rourke, who is barely a blip on most polls, sought to tie Trump directly to the shooting.
“Everything that I’ve learned about resilience, I’ve learned from my hometown of El Paso, Texas, in the face of this act of terror, that was directed at our community, in large part by the president of the United States. It killed 22 people, and injured many more, we were not defeated by that. Nor were we defined by that,&#8221; the former Texas congressman said.
Julian Castro, another candidate who is far behind the field, went even further.
“Look, a few weeks ago a shooter drove 10 hours inspired by this president to kill people who look like me and people who look like my family,&#8221; the former U.S. housing secretary said.
&#8220;THE FACTS: Nobody has claimed that Trump &#8216;directed&#8217; the shooting, as O’Rourke suggested,&#8221; <a href="https://www.apnews.com/93c4326ad44843978ec761a9fbb10f60">the AP wrote</a>.
&#8220;It is difficult to know for sure what led the gunman to open fire inside a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 people. The suspect posted a manifesto online before the shooting that echoed Trump’s comments on immigration,&#8221; said the fact check. &#8220;The screed spoke of what the suspect called a &#8216;Hispanic invasion of Texas,&#8217; railed against immigrants and warned of an imminent attack. Nearly all of the victims had Latino last names.&#8221;
But then the AP wrote that the shooter &#8220;said his own views &#8216;predate Trump and his campaign for president.&#8217;”
That&#8217;s about as big a &#8220;false&#8221; as you&#8217;ll get from the left-leaning wire service.
On other whoppers told at the debate, the AP shot down Sen. Bernie Sanders&#8217; claim that “We have the highest child poverty rate of almost any country on Earth.” The AP said the U.S. &#8220;fared better than Russia, Chile, Spain, India, Turkey, Israel, Costa Rica, Brazil, South Africa and China,&#8221; then gave Sanders a primer on what poverty is, saying it is a &#8220;relative measure in which someone who is poor in one nation might look rather prosperous in another.&#8221;
Sanders made another iffy claim: “Every study done shows that ‘Medicare for All’ is the most cost-effective approach to providing health care to every man, woman and child in this country.”
&#8220;THE FACTS: Not exactly,&#8221; said the AP.
<blockquote>The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in a report earlier this year that total spending under a single-payer system, such as the one proposed by Sanders, “might be higher or lower than under the current system depending on the key features of the new system.”</blockquote>
Those pesky details.
And on Joe Biden&#8217;s claim that the Obama-Biden administration &#8220;didn’t lock people up in cages, we didn’t separate families,&#8221; the AP was brutal.
&#8220;THE FACTS: His comment about cages is wrong,&#8221; said the wire service, adding that at the southern border, &#8220;the same enclosures were employed when Biden was vice president.&#8221;

gettyimages-1149455832.jpg

AP Grudgingly Admits That Despite Dem Claims, Trump Didn’t ‘Inspire’ El Paso Mass Shooting

Associated Press

Bernie Sanders

Julian Castro

Medicare

A man who claimed to have thrown things at the El Paso mass shooter in an attempt to save victims was arrested Monday while visiting the White House to be honored as a hero. In addition, El Paso police said video surveillance of the shooting does not show what the alleged “hero” claimed.
The Washington Examiner <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/secret-service-arrested-el-paso-shooting-hero-as-he-was-about-to-be-honored-by-trump-at-white-house">reported</a> that Chris Grant was arrested by the Secret Service Monday as he was about to attend the White House event honoring heroes of the El Paso shooting. Grant had an outstanding criminal warrant. He also had a criminal record — but that shouldn’t matter if his act of heroism actually occurred.
But Sgt. Enrique Carrillo, spokesman for the El Paso police department, said no one checked with them to corroborate Grant’s account of the shooting. On August 3, a gunman entered an El Paso Walmart, killing 22 people and injuring many others. Grant was shot in the ribs and kidney during the attack. Grant told multiple news outlets that he threw bottles at the gunman to try and stop him.
&#8220;Nobody bothered to check with us,&#8221; Carrillo told the Examiner. &#8220;They would have been informed, as I am telling you now, that our detectives reviewed hours of video and his actions did not match his account.&#8221;
He added: &#8220;His statements were inconsistent with what was revealed on video.&#8221;
Grant was interviewed previously by CNN’s Chris Cuomo, where he claimed to have tried to stop the shooter.
“To deter him, I started just chucking bottles, I just started throwing bottles, random bottles at him,&#8221; Grant said on CNN. &#8220;And I&#8217;m not a baseball player, so one went this way, one went that way. And then one went right towards him and then that&#8217;s when he saw me &#8230; When I got hit, it was like somebody put a hand grenade in my back and pulled the pin.&#8221;
In <a href="https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2019/08/05/el-paso-shooting-man-tried-stop-walmart-shooter/1928443001/">an interview</a> with the El Paso Times, Grant’s former wife Laura Hromatka said he told her “that the shooter was targeting Mexicans and was passing whites, African Americans.&#8221;
Even though Grant was not at the White House ceremony, a member of his family attended. Trump said of Grant:
<blockquote>Chris grabbed — listen to this — soda bottles and anything else in front of him, and began hurling them at the gunman, distracting him from the other shoppers and causing the shooter to turn toward Chris and fire at Chris, whereby Chris suffered two serious gunshot wounds. But he is recovering well, and we wish him the best. His family is here. So please thank Chris for us, please.</blockquote>
Grant may not have acted the way he claimed during the shooting, but he is still a survivor.
Unlike David Briscoe, who claimed that he helped save children during a high school shooting in Santa Fe in 2018. Briscoe was interviewed by multiple media outlets, including CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and TIME. IN April 2019, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49090/he-told-heroic-story-saving-kids-during-school-ashe-schow">it was revealed</a> that not only did Briscoe not save children as he claimed — he wasn’t even at the school during the shooting, nor did he even work for the school district.

Walmart Employee After El Paso Shooting

El Paso ‘Hero’ Arrested During White House Honoring, Allegedly Made Up Story About His Heroism

Speaking to The Des Moines Register, California senator and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris attacked President Trump for the recent mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, snapping that he didn’t pull the trigger “but he’s sure been tweeting out the ammunition.”
Harris stated, “You have to speak truth about it. To be sure, this issue of white supremacists or racism or anti-Semitism or homophobia or transphobia or Islamophobia … they are very real.”
Harris bragged, “I know. I, as a prosecutor, prosecuted hate crimes. As the attorney general of California, where I ran the second largest department of justice in the United States, I, on an annual basis, published the hate crimes report, so I will tell you, this stuff is not new in our country.”
Then she turned to Trump:
<blockquote>It certainly predates the election of Donald Trump but it has also increased under Donald Trump. And, you know, he&#8217;s been fueling the flames of hate and I&#8217;ve said recently, you know, on the issue of El Paso, you know, when people ask me is he responsible for those killings, well, no, I mean he obviously didn&#8217;t pull the trigger, but he&#8217;s sure been tweeting out the ammunition.
And so, how do we deal with it? Let&#8217;s take it to the point of how we&#8217;re going to actually address it and work towards solving the problem. There are a number of things that we have to do. One is we have to speak truth about the history. Two, we have to say collectively as a people that whenever and wherever that hate presents itself, that we will all speak out and speak up.
We also have to agree as a society that whoever is the target of that hate should never be made to fight alone. And then you have to deal with, to your point, systemic racism. It is real.</blockquote>
Harris ignored her own contribution to stoking the flames of the racial divide. In January, after actor Jussie Smollett insisted that he had been attacked by two white men, Harris leaped into action, tweeting, “.<a href="https://twitter.com/JussieSmollett">@JussieSmollett</a> is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know. I’m praying for his quick recovery. This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate.”
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">.<a href="https://twitter.com/JussieSmollett?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JussieSmollett</a> is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know. I’m praying for his quick recovery.
This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) <a href="https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1090361495119187969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
After evidence surfaced that Smollett might have paid two Nigerian brothers to pull off an elaborate hate crime hoax, Harris was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43629/watch-kamala-harris-literally-speechless-when-paul-bois">asked by a reporter</a> whether her feelings had changed about the tweet. She responded, “Which tweet? What tweet? … Um &#8230; I &#8230; I &#8230; Okay, so I will say this about that case, the facts are still unfolding, and, um, I’m very, um, concerned about obviously, the initial, um, allegation that he made about what might have happened. And it’s something we should all take seriously whenever anyone, um, alleges that kind of behavior, but there should be an investigation. And I think that once the investigation has concluded then we can all comment, but I’m not going to comment until I know the outcome of the investigation.”

Democrat Presidential Candidates Attend Building Trades Unions Conference

Kamala Harris Links Trump To El Paso Shooting: He’s Been ‘Tweeting Out The Ammunition’

Donald Trump

Kamala Harris

The executive editor of The New York Times said on Monday that a headline saying President Trump had urged unity against racism after two mass shooting shook the nation was &#8220;a f***ing mess.&#8221;
During a hastily arranged meeting lasting more than an hour, <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-york-times-editor-dean-baquet-trump-unity-headline-was-a-fcking-mess">The Daily Beast</a> reported, Dean Baquet and the paper&#8217;s top leadership discussed how to address charges of racism against Trump — and that headline.
After two mass shootings within hours left 32 dead and 52 wounded, Trump delivered a somber statement from the White House. He laid out several avenues as potential solutions, called for unity and bipartisanship, soothed Americans as the comforter-in-chief and loudly denounced racism and white supremacy.
&#8220;Together, we lock arms to shoulder the grief, we ask God in Heaven to ease the anguish of those who suffer, and we vow to act with urgent resolve,&#8221; he said. &#8220;In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America. … Now is the time to set destructive partisanship aside — so destructive — and find the courage to answer hatred with unity, devotion, and love.&#8221;
An editor at The Times wrote a headline for the first edition of the print newspaper that sought to capture the essence of the president&#8217;s speech: &#8220;TRUMP URGES UNITY VS. RACISM.&#8221; But liberals berated the paper for even implying that Trump might not be a card-carrying KKK member.
Former Rep. Robert &#8220;Beto&#8221; O&#8217;Rourke, a candidate for the presidential nomination in 2020, found it &#8220;unbelievable.&#8221; Sen. Cory Booker, another 2020 hopeful, wrote: &#8220;Lives literally depend on you doing better, NYT. Please do.&#8221; &#8220;That&#8217;s not what happened,&#8221; said candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
And Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic socialist the Democratic National Committee chairman called &#8220;the future of the party,&#8221; jumped in. &#8220;Let this front page serve as a reminder of how white supremacy is aided by — and often relies upon — the cowardice of mainstream institutions,&#8221; she wrote on Twitter.
In their Monday meeting, Banquet told top editors that the person who wrote the headline is &#8220;sick&#8221; about it. &#8220;He feels terrible,&#8221; Baquet said.
&#8220;The top editor reiterated that the headline was a mistake — &#8216;It was a f***ing mess,&#8217; he told the staff — but joined other newsroom leaders in cautioning staff not to overreact to Twitter comments about the paper&#8217;s editorial decisions,&#8221; the Beast reported.
For its second edition — after a flurry of criticism on Twitter — the editors threw out the &#8220;unity&#8221; headline and subbed it for: &#8220;ASSAILING HATE BUT NOT GUNS.&#8221;
&#8220;Baquet said the paper shouldn&#8217;t allow itself to be edited by Twitter outrage,&#8221; the Beast wrote.
<blockquote>During Monday&#8217;s meeting, Baquet, the first African-American executive editor of the paper, emphasized that rather than simply labeling the president or other leaders &#8220;racist&#8221; or using euphemisms like &#8220;racially charged,&#8221; the paper should demonstrate instances of racism through concrete examples.</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/50522/shapiro-nyt-trying-link-mainstream-conservatism-daily-wire">SHAPIRO: NYT Is Trying To Link Mainstream Conservatism To White Supremacy</a>

Dean Baquet

‘F***ING MESS’: Top NY Times Editor Regrets That Time Paper Said Trump ‘Urges Unity Against Racism’

Media Bias

New York Times

Racism

The Daily Beast

Trump Administration

On his top-rated radio program on Monday, Rush Limbaugh predicted that, in contrast to earlier congressional responses to mass shootings, this time &#8220;there is gonna be some kind of a deal made on new gun control legislation or gun legislation.&#8221;
Following the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio last week that left over 30 people dead and dozens injured, congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle have been discussing possible gun control measures, particularly &#8220;red flag&#8221; laws, which many Republicans have signaled that they would support and which President Trump has openly backed, along with improved background checks.
Limbaugh <a href="https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2019/08/12/youre-going-to-see-some-kind-of-gun-legislation/">predicted</a> Monday that we would see some form of gun legislation, citing &#8220;the prevailing winds in Washington&#8221; which are telling lawmakers, &#8220;We&#8217;ve gotta do something! Just do something so it can be seen that they&#8217;ve done something. So it can be seen that there has been a response by our government to the tragedies.&#8221;
Limbaugh made clear that he doesn&#8217;t believe any gun legislation enacted by the federal government will actually prevent tragedies like those that occurred in El Paso and Dayton because, in the end, &#8220;it&#8217;s not gun legislation that is responsible for it.&#8221;
&#8220;You can ban guns left and right,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You can take guns away from the law-abiding all day. People who intend, who have made up their minds to use guns in a criminal way are going to find them. They are, by definition, criminals.&#8221;
But the mounting pressure to &#8220;do something,&#8221; he predicted, will win the day in Washington this time because of human psychology.
&#8220;They&#8217;re demanding anything &#8217;cause everybody just wants to feel better about this,&#8221; he said of the public outcry for action. &#8220;Everybody just wants to think we’re doing something about it, &#8216;even if it doesn&#8217;t matter, we want to do something.&#8217; Because of the psychological need to do something. And then you add on to the psychological need that to do something, the government has to do it.&#8221;
After playing a clip of Gun Owners of America Senior Vice President Erich Pratt warning Trump about doing an &#8220;about-face&#8221; on gun control and potentially violating the Second Amendment, Limbaugh stressed his larger point again: The reflex to &#8220;do something&#8221; ultimately &#8220;comes under the umbrella of the false premise that Washington can stop things, that Washington — that legislation — can somehow eliminate these shootings, and what we have here are people that are not really interested in solving this.
&#8220;They&#8217;re interested in making people think they care and are doing something,&#8221; he continued, adding, &#8220;I&#8217;m just telling you here that the motivation for anybody involved in this is not to actually stop this. If somebody knew how to stop this, it would have been done long ago. If anybody had the answer to this, it would have been implemented long ago. Nobody does.&#8221;
Limbaugh went on to provide a few reasons he says we&#8217;ve seen an escalation of mass shootings, among them that we&#8217;ve &#8220;scourged the concept of fatherhood and maleness as barbarism&#8221; and that social media &#8220;has led to the literal isolation of people.&#8221; The latter, he said, results in people wanting to do things just to &#8220;get noticed,&#8221; to &#8220;be famous&#8221; — and the media inflames the situation by covering the mass shootings &#8220;like whoever does this is gonna get the dream that they&#8217;ve always wanted.&#8221; Then there&#8217;s abortion, Rush suggested, which erodes &#8220;the perception of the sanctity of life.&#8221; &#8220;I mean, it&#8217;s a cascade of a whole lot of things over a long period of time,&#8221; he said.
Transcript via <a href="https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2019/08/12/youre-going-to-see-some-kind-of-gun-legislation/">RushLimbaugh.com</a>

Rush Limbaugh and Donald Trump

Limbaugh: Here’s Why We’re Going To See Gun Legislation This Time

Dayton Shooting

Gun Control

Rush Limbaugh

Second Amendment

According to the family of the couple who died protecting their baby from the El Paso shooter on August 23, they have received death threats because they met with President Trump, according to a new report.
Andre and Jordan Anchondo, the parents of two-month-old Paul, were shot and killed by the El Paso shooter in a Walmart in an attack in which 22 people were murdered. Jordan was trying to protect her young son while Andre was trying to shield both of them. Paul was left with broken fingers.
After the massacre, Trump visited El Paso, where he met with members of the Anchondo family, including Paul&#8217;s uncle Tito Anchondo, who is a Trump supporter, as was his brother Andre.
Tito Anchondo had told <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/08/07/748972066/family-of-el-paso-victims-speaks-out">National Public Radio</a>, &#8220;I want to see his reaction in person. I want to see if he&#8217;s genuine and see if my political views are right or wrong and see if he feels maybe some kind of remorse for statements that he&#8217;s made.&#8221;
While Trump was there, a photo was taken of first lady Melania holding Paul Anchondo as President Trump smiled; Tito Anchondo was in that photo.
Jordan&#8217;s grandfather, John Jamrowski, said the hospital had informed him that President Trump was coming; he said he wanted to avoid making a political statement if he declined to meet with the president. He asserted, &#8220;We&#8217;re politically neutral. We discussed it as a family and said, &#8216;You know what, this could be spun around.'&#8221;
Tito Anchondo said that after the photo was posted he received death threats, according to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7349927/Miracle-baby-El-Pasos-family-say-received-DEATH-THREATS-met-Trump.html">The Daily Mail</a>. He stated, &#8220;We should be coming together as a country at this time instead of threatening each other with hate messages,&#8221; adding that Trump &#8220;was just there to give his condolences and he was just being a human being. Is it that hard to try and understand that a family is trying to not be sad at a moment like this? We&#8217;re trying to be as strong as we can. My brother is gone.&#8221;
The Daily Mail noted that after the photo of Trump and the family was posted on Melania Trump&#8217;s Twitter account, Democratic strategist Greg Pinelo said: &#8220;This is a photo of Trump grinning while Melania holds a baby orphaned by the shooting. A baby who was taken from home and forced to serve as a prop at a photo-op for the very monster whose hate killed her/his parents. I would need 280,000 characters to say how furious I am.&#8221;
Washington Post columnist Brian Klaas echoed, &#8220;I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ve ever met anyone who would think the appropriate response would be flashing a smile and thumbs up. Something is wrong with him.&#8221;
As <a href="https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2019/08/08/el-paso-shooting-survivors-decline-meet-donald-trump-umc-hospital/1955699001/">The El Paso Times</a> reported, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said: &#8220;The president and first lady met with victims of the tragedy while at the hospital. I&#8217;d also point you to the video the White House posted this evening, which shows the president and first lady being received very warmly by not just victims and their families, but by the many members of medical staff who lined the hallways to meet them. It was a moving visit for all involved.&#8221;

President Trump

Report: Family Of Slain Couple In El Paso Met With Trump. Now They Say They’re Getting Death Threats.

Following two mass shootings that occurred in less than 24 hours last week and resulted in over 30 people dead and dozens injured, The Washington Post published Sunday a list of all of the names of the victims of every mass shooting since 1966.
During that 54-year span, a total of 1,196 people have died at the hands of mass shooters, averaging 22 deaths per year via mass shooting over that period. Since the Sandy Hook massacre, which took place in December 2012, the average number of deaths per year from mass shootings is 64.
&#8220;Eleven hundred ninety-six,&#8221; the Post tweeted Sunday along with a photo of its published list of victims&#8217; names. &#8220;That’s the number of names on this page. People who were doing ordinary things until they were shot to death by killers bent on mass fatalities. In today&#8217;s Washington Post, a special 12-page print section lists every mass shooting victim since 1966.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Eleven hundred ninety-six.
That’s the number of names on this page. People who were doing ordinary things until they were shot to death by killers bent on mass fatalities.
In today’s Washington Post, a special 12-page print section lists every mass shooting victim since 1966. <a href="https://t.co/kgXDJq8bMY">pic.twitter.com/kgXDJq8bMY</a>
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) <a href="https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1160567450850734081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
In a follow-up tweet, the Post notes that the pace of mass shootings has significantly picked up since the horrific Sandy Hook shooting. &#8220;The pace of the deadliest public mass shootings has accelerated significantly in recent years,&#8221; the Post tweeted. &#8220;The 423 people represented here died between the Sandy Hook massacre and last weekend’s attack in Dayton, Ohio. They accounted for more than a third of the 1,196 killed since 1966.&#8221;
&#8220;This is a moment to reflect on the horrific human toll of mass shootings in our country and to remember the individuals whose lives were cut short,&#8221; said the Post&#8217;s Executive Editor Marty Baron.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">The pace of the deadliest public mass shootings has accelerated significantly in recent years. The 423 people represented here died between the Sandy Hook massacre and last weekend’s attack in Dayton, Ohio.
They accounted for more than a third of the 1,196 killed since 1966. <a href="https://t.co/04mkucWlM6">pic.twitter.com/04mkucWlM6</a>
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) <a href="https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1160568811537481728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">“This is a moment to reflect on the horrific human toll of mass shootings in our country and to remember the individuals whose lives were cut short,&#8221; said Executive Editor <a href="https://twitter.com/PostBaron?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PostBaron</a>. <a href="https://t.co/W6OuwpIK2X">pic.twitter.com/W6OuwpIK2X</a>
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) <a href="https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1160570338079629313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Though the Post intended to underscore the severity of mass shootings with its publication of the names, the statistics prompted a flood of responses online from pro-Second Amendment advocates suggesting that the Post was actually undermining gun control advocates&#8217; attempt to use mass shootings as a rationale for significantly restricting gun rights.
Many gun rights advocates stressed that while any death is tragic, particularly preventable ones, the total number of deaths from mass shootings has been relatively small compared to other national issues, including the opioid crisis and gang violence. As noted by The Daily Wire&#8217;s <a href="https://twitter.com/emzanotti/status/1160627132378337280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1160627132378337280&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fgregp-3534%2F2019%2F08%2F12%2Fa-media-own-goal-washington-post-page-on-mass-shootings-shows-how-rare-they-are%2F">Emily Zanotti</a>, opioid-related deaths reached <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm675152e1.htm">nearly 50,000 </a>in 2017 alone. Gun-related homicides in Chicago, largely the result of gang violence, came up in several responses, the city averaging <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/31/us/chicago-murders-drop-2018/index.html">over 600 homicides</a> a year in recent years.
&#8220;Mass shootings are horrible, but your chances of being killed in one are about the same as being struck by lightning [<a href="https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-victims">49 per year</a>],&#8221; wrote one gun control advocate. &#8220;Chicago has the same number of people killed about every two years. The USA is a massive country, 327 million people. This isn&#8217;t to under[mine] the severity of mass shootings, they are horrible and we all want to put a stop to them. However, putting a list of names of people killed over a 65 year period is pure sensationalism and an attempt to exaggerate the problem.&#8221;
&#8220;So far, 1636 people have been shot in Chicago this year. How many of those names have appeared in the Post?&#8221; wrote The Daily Caller&#8217;s <a href="https://twitter.com/derekahunter/status/1160587281268432896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1160587281268432896&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fgregp-3534%2F2019%2F08%2F12%2Fa-media-own-goal-washington-post-page-on-mass-shootings-shows-how-rare-they-are%2F">Derek Hunter</a> (h/t <a href="https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2019/08/12/a-media-own-goal-washington-post-page-on-mass-shootings-shows-how-rare-they-are/">Twitchy</a>). &#8220;If they don&#8217;t help the liberal agenda they don&#8217;t exist.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">So far, 1636 people have been shot in Chicago this year. How many of those names have appeared in the Post? If they don&#8217;t help the liberal agenda they don&#8217;t exist. <a href="https://t.co/NUIrCkdla9">https://t.co/NUIrCkdla9</a> <a href="https://t.co/eS9CEWu4Ne">https://t.co/eS9CEWu4Ne</a>
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) <a href="https://twitter.com/derekahunter/status/1160587281268432896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
For perspective on scale of deaths, some pointed to the number of unborn children aborted every year. According to the <a href="https://nrlc.org/uploads/factsheets/FS01AbortionintheUS.pdf">Guttmacher Institute</a>, between 1973 and 2018, over 60 million abortions were performed, averaging 1.3 million abortions per year. &#8220;The trend on mass shootings is a serious issue, but I&#8217;m not sure that this is a good way to frame it,&#8221; wrote <a href="https://twitter.com/AG_Conservative/status/1160603473680982017?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1160603473680982017&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fgregp-3534%2F2019%2F08%2F12%2Fa-media-own-goal-washington-post-page-on-mass-shootings-shows-how-rare-they-are%2F">AG Conservative</a>. &#8220;For context: Many on the left argue that late-term abortions are very rare and therefore not a big issue, but there are 10,000-12,000 such abortions every year.&#8221;
Others noted that gun control advocates&#8217; renewed push for banning assault weapons ignores the prominence of other types of guns, particularly handguns, in mass shootings. A study by <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/476409/mass-shootings-in-the-us-by-weapon-types-used/">Statista</a> released this year found that between 1982 and August 2019, handguns were used in 93 mass shooting incidents, shotguns in 26, and rifles in 45.
A few days after the tragic mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, President Trump called for bipartisan action to help address the problem, particularly discussions about so-called &#8220;red flag&#8221; laws, which a growing number of Republicans have signaled that they are willing to consider.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/50510/watch-dan-crenshaw-urges-conservatives-join-red-molly-prince">WATCH: Dan Crenshaw Urges Conservatives To Join The Red Flag Law Debate: ‘Take Control Of The Narrative’</a>

Washington Post

WaPo Lists All Deaths From Mass Shootings In Last 54 Years; Gun Rights Advocates Respond

Guns

President Trump’s historic speech against the mass shooting epidemics lays the first collective brick on the pathway of a national preventing violent extremism program. Addressing the nation on Monday August 5th, 2019, President Trump declared that “these <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzQx_jg5ZRw">sinister ideologies must be defeated</a>.”
The sinister ideologies (white supremacism, Neo-Nazi supremacists, Antifa, Islamist extremism) in many ways mirror the frameworks of cults and gangs. While the latter has often been confined to specific demographics or otherwise contained in a pipeline, ideological extremism bleeds through and recruits every vulnerable mind through either recruitment or self-radicalization. The president’s defining speech sets the stage for a national bipartisan conversation on extremism, arriving with urgency at the heels of another shooting spree over the weekend.
On Saturday, August 3rd, a gunman opened fire in a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, killing at least 20 people including the parents of a two-month whose parents used their bodies to shield their newborn. The El Paso gunman posted a manifesto online shortly before the attack, not unlike the New Zealand Christchurch shooter who walked into a mosque and destroyed the lives of peaceful worships, all while live steaming the attack in some disjointed reality in which he imagined himself a hero. The second attack took place in Dayton, Ohio, which killed at least 9 people. Both attacks come within a week of a shooting spree at a garlic festival in Northern California that took the lives of three people, including a six-year-old boy.
Ideological drivers behind the attacks are complex but both pushed the <a href="https://clarionproject.org/fueling-to-brink-of-destruction/">theory of acceleration</a>, which looks to force society toward the brink of destruction in what can be classified as the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fq27dPEAqU&amp;t=8s">war of extremes</a>. Yet, outright ideological extremists launching domestic terror attacks aren’t alone in that drive toward annihilation.
Less than 48 hours after domestic terrorist attacks, agitators took to Twitter to incite violence. In a <a href="https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1158476809220055041?s=20">tweet</a>, One American News Network host Jack Posobiec pointed to “<a href="https://www.phillyvoice.com/local-antifa-leader-i-fight-whats-wrong-and-i-know-im-winning/">Antifa leader</a>” Daryle Lamont Jenkins. Also in a tweet, Jenkins urged his followers to show up at a Baltimore clean up event organized by conservative activist Scott Presler and attended by other conservative personalities who all pitched in to help clean up a city that has been attacked in recent headlines for its dilapidated condition.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">HEADS UP, BALTIMORE! If you are anywhere near N. Fulton Ave. and Westwood Ave, a few well-known neo-fascist gloryhounds that like to pull stunts and pretend they are not &#8211; namely Jack Posobiec and Scott Pressler &#8211; are in Baltimore making like they are doing a cleanup of the city.
— Daryle Lamont Jenkins (@DLamontJenkins) <a href="https://twitter.com/DLamontJenkins/status/1158413660378861570?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Jenkins is just one example among many, especially in a climate that has seen <a href="https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1158491318118572033?s=20">Antifa attacks against journalists</a> go unpunished with <a href="https://onenewsnow.com/media/2019/07/17/aoc-her-squad-refuse-to-condemn-antifa-terror-attack-on-ice">congressional leadership refusing to denounce Antifa</a>.
Domestic terrorism has many faces. Speaking to the rise of domestic terrorism, Brian Levin, the director of Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism observes, “We’re seeing a coalescence of traditional hate crime with <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-08-02/domestic-terrorism-white-supremacy">political violence</a>.”
For many, simply holding a different political opinion can make you a target or force you into alienation from your community. In some cases, as we’ve seen with freshman Democratic Congresswomen, there is an <a href="https://clarionproject.org/aoc-omar-nodding-to-political-violence/">open nod to violence</a> against political opponents. In fact, as I recently shared with Laura Ingraham and Candace Owens, political divisions have become a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCNx3X3wXb8&amp;t=212s">gateway drug to radicalization</a> in that violence is tolerated as a means to an end.
Domestic terrorism also doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s often a reaction to larger failed conversations and policies that have pushed individuals toward the fringes of society. Disruptive <a href="https://twitter.com/AsraNomani/status/1158104159238930432?s=20">dog whistles</a>, for example, pull the trigger assaulting our collective consciousness long before a literal trigger is pulled. The mind is the weapon, while the behavior is the vessel and the gun is the tool. Rather than focusing on the ideological weapons, to date the conversation has been a tug of war hinged on a gun debate that undermines the constitutional fabric of our society at a time when loose threats are already being pulled at by those who would like radical ideological changes both within and without government. A conversation on national security against domestic terrorism deserves to be much bigger than that; it deserves to be honest and and move with integrity.
Instead of honest conversations, mainstream narratives represent a national dialogue as reactionary sound bytes that pin white supremacist attacks on political conservatives. The <a href="https://twitter.com/hradzka/status/1158539658894221312?s=20">truth is more complex</a>. The El Paso shooter, for example, was an Elizabeth Warren supporter whose manifesto echoed anti-corporation themes.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Per the manifesto, the El Paso perp was a white nationalist (w/ a side of environmentalism/ecofascism). The Dayton perp&#8217;s social media and people who knew him describe him as a Hard Lefty. He was a socialist, and an acquaintance from the music scene described him as antifascist.
— David Hines (@hradzka) <a href="https://twitter.com/hradzka/status/1158540667871735810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
However, in the problem we also see the solution. The fact that the portrait of a domestic extremist is complex (and falls across the spectrum of ideological extremisms), tells us that we need to be looking at broader vulnerabilities.
For starters, discordant and distorted rapid fire online exchanges have broken down conversation pathways, compacted in part by the 24/7 instant connectivity of the internet. At the same time, violent attacks by domestic terrorists are often seen as <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/08/how-can-fbi-fight-far-right-extremism-ideology/595435/">isolated and unconnected incidents</a> when in fact the two are co-dependent factors. What this tells us is that to prevent violent extremism, we’re going to need to shift beyond the online space and return to real time, to communities and families.
In July of 2019, I traveled with Clarion Project to meet with congressional and senate leaders to introduce a preventing violent extremism training program rooted in community resilience. The program is designed to bring together key stakeholders across law enforcement, education, clergy, civil leaders, and business. Our nationwide pilot program launches out of Georgia, where bipartisan leadership is invested in cultivating initiatives that inform their sectors about identifying and intervening against signs of ideological extremism.
The second prong of the preventing violent extremism (PVE) program goes further and caters specifically to youth. Speaking with school administrators, it was clear there was a pressing need to develop viable counter messaging against the rise of neo-Nazi incidences on high school and junior high campuses. With co-collaborators that include a Native American elder and a Samurai warrior to name a few, I’ve co-created a series of 18 workshops to help cultivate empathy, listening skills, perspective shifting, and tolerance among children as young as nine-years-old. Those workshops are built on, inviting youth to a conversation across themes of human dignity in way that captures the heart and mind of a child.
This is the first step, but additional steps must to be explored if we’re going to flank the problem of domestic extremism in the spirit of American excellence that has always applied ingenuity and imagination toward every problem.
Cameron Sinclair, the managing director at <a href="https://www.armoryofharmony.com/">Armory of Harmony</a>, encourages political leaders to avoid “jamming bills together as political leverage” in what will inevitably be a politically charged conversation going into the 2020 election. Speaking privately, Sinclair adds, “As someone who is creating a solution to the perversive nature of gun violence, I look to the path of least resistance, so should politicians. Focus on clear mandates and act swiftly.”
While conservatives have not been shy about calling out other forms of ideological extremism, including Islamist radicalization, as a nation we have been slow to develop solutions to address the problem domestically. We can’t afford to fall behind the curve of extremist acceleration when it comes to white supremacism, as we had been even after the April 2019 congressional hearing on “<a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/439118-how-the-conversation-on-hate-crimes-reinforces-hate-and">Hate Crimes and the Rise of White Nationalism</a>,” where the conversation reinforced many of the same tropes we’re struggling with in the public space while without the mention of any tangible data-driven solutions.
One solution is a national mandate for preventing violent extremism programs that pairs community driven program with education initiatives. That solution must come with the patience and understanding that it is a long game invested in relationship building to restore and empower the community as the frontline defense against ideological extremism.
A second solution comes from Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang in the form of his universal basic income, the Freedom Dividend, which grants $1000 to every American over the age of 18. In his <a href="http://yang2020.com/">yang2020.com</a> policy position, he shares how the dividend would offer security while opening up lifestyle pathways for Americans that help them escape the gridlock of day to day living.
Yang believes universal basic income (UBI) models can help curb extremism among youth. In conversation, he shares, “The less our system appeals to the downtrodden, the weaker we are in the ideological war. When people give up hope in a current system, they are more vulnerable to finding hope in another system or ideology.”
Yang’s theory is supported by academic findings on the push and pull factors that drive extremism. Disaffection and alienation, a failure to belong to mainstream society, is often what drives youth to seek alternative and fringe ideological models. What we’re seeing with the shootings over the weekend is a Frankenstein-like mash up of different extremist leanings with no clear orientation other than a desire accelerating civilizational downfall.
What Yang is essentially offering in UBI models is a counter message that pivots away from simply taking away the threat. While there are many debates around gun restriction and now video game restriction as a means to curb violence, what I see with the rise of hate in school campuses is that the lack of a counter message is literally killing us. If we want to move forward as a nation, we must look at how we can empower the building blocks of society: the communities. From there we need to look at how we’re incentivizing youth with philosophy that prepares them for the world they’re walking into while also rewarding them with means to invest in their future.
Shireen Qudosi is a conservative writer and speaker on faith, identity and belonging. Follow her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/ShireenQudosi">@ShireenQudosi</a>.

Dayton

QUDOSI: After Mass Shootings, National Preventing Violent Extremism Programs Is The First Step Forward.

Radical Islam

Terrorism

White Supremacy

On Wednesday night, billionaire Oprah Winfrey doled out some wisdom in the wake of recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that took the lives of 31 innocents. The media mogul took a deeper approach than we are used to from Hollywood, taking aim at the &#8220;morality&#8221; issue plaguing the United States.
&#8220;I think what people are missing is a core moral center,&#8221; Winfrey <a href="https://extratv.com/2019/08/07/oprah-winfrey-speaks-out-on-mass-shootings/">told</a> &#8220;Extra&#8221; reporter Renee Bargh.
&#8220;Churches used to do that,&#8221; the former talk show host explained. &#8220;It was a central place you could come to and there was a core center of values about a way of living and being in the world. Until we can return to that, however that is, in whatever form, we will continue to be lost.&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s why I actually believe storytelling is a form of a new religion because it&#8217;s a place where people can gather and be inspired and see themselves and get filled,&#8221; she added.
After an armed man murdered nearly dozens of innocents in an El Paso area Walmart on Saturday, Gov. Greg Abbot (R-TX) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/50216/breaking-shooting-el-paso-multiple-fatalities-frank-camp">released</a> a statement assuring Texans that the state&#8217;s government will be doing all they can to &#8220;ensure justice is delivered to the [perpetrator] of this heinous act.&#8221;
&#8220;Today, the El Paso community was struck by a heinous and senseless act of violence. Our hearts go out to the victims of this horrific shooting and to the entire community in this time of loss,&#8221; Abbot said on Saturday. &#8220;While no words can provide the solace needed for those impacted by this event, I ask that all Texans join Cecilia and me in offering our prayers for the victims and their families. The state of Texas and the Department of Public Safety are assisting the El Paso Police Department as they conduct their investigation. We have deployed troopers, special agents, Texas Rangers, tactical teams, and aircraft to the scene in a support role. The state of Texas will do everything it can to ensure justice is delivered to the perpetrators of this heinous act.&#8221;
The following day, nine more people were murdered in Dayton by another mass shooter. Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) said he and his wife Fran were &#8220;absolutely heartbroken&#8221; in the hours following the tragedy.
&#8220;Fran and I are absolutely heartbroken over the horrible attack that occurred this morning in Dayton,&#8221; the statement said. &#8220;We join those across Ohio and this country in offering our prayers to victims and their families. I have spoken with Mayor Nan Whaley and offered any assistance on behalf of the state. I have been briefed by the Ohio Department of Public Safety, and the Ohio State Highway Patrol has offered assistance to local law enforcement as they investigate this heinous act. I commend Dayton Police and other first responders for their bravery and quick response to save lives and bring an end to this tragedy.&#8221;
In recent years, rumors have flown over a possible Winfrey run for the White House. But the celebrity quieted the whispers last summer, telling British Vogue that politics is just, well, too dirty. &#8220;In that political structure — all the non-truths, the bulls***, the crap, the nastiness, the backhanded backroom stuff that goes on — I feel like I could not exist,&#8221; she said, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/03/entertainment/oprah-winfrey-vogue-trnd/index.html">according</a> to CNN. &#8220;I would not be able to do it. It&#8217;s not a clean business. It would kill me.&#8221;
WATCH:
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Oprah Winfrey

WATCH: Oprah: Mass Shootings A Symptom Of Lost ‘Values,’ Drift From ‘Moral Center’

Ohio

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