memeorandum: Politicians blame video games for the El Paso shooting. It's an old claim that's not backed by research. (Timothy Bella/Washington Post)

10:30 AM ET, August 5, 2019

Top Items:

Terminating Service for 8Chan — The mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio are horrific tragedies. In the case of the El Paso shooting, the suspected terrorist gunman appears to have been inspired by the forum website known as 8chan. Based on evidence we've seen …

New York Post:

The Post urges Trump to take action on assault weapons — Two mass shootings within 24 hours in El Paso and Dayton, days after the Garlic Festival killings. Three months after Virginia Beach, six months after Aurora, nine months after Thousand Oaks, 10 months after Tree of Life …

Discussion: National Review, Washington Post, The Week, The Wrap, Mediaite, CNN and Associated Press, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

El Paso Shooting Suspect's Manifesto Echoes Trump's Language — At campaign rallies before last year's midterm elections, President Trump repeatedly warned that America was under attack by immigrants heading for the border. “You look at what is marching up, that is an invasion!” he declared at one rally.

Discussion: Townhall, The Federalist, NPR, Washington Post, spiked, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Guardian, The Atlantic, The Texas Observer, Rolling Stone, The Daily Caller, Law & Crime, Vox, Indian Country Today, Common Dreams and Breitbart

New York Times:

We Have a White Nationalist Terrorist Problem — America's leaders need to do more to condemn and combat the extremist ideology — white nationalism — in their midst. — The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher. It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section.

Discussion: USA Today, Vox, Daily Wire, Shareblue Media, ABC News, Slate, CNN, The Atlantic, UPI, Refinery29, The Moderate Voice, Mediaite, Daily Kos and Right Wing Watch, more at Techmeme »

Jessica McBride / Heavy.com:

Connor Betts: Twitter Posts on Being a Leftist, Guns — Connor Betts, the Dayton, Ohio mass shooter, was a self-described “leftist,” who wrote that he would happily vote for Democrat Elizabeth Warren, praised Satan, was upset about the 2016 presidential election results, and added …

Discussion: PJ Media Home, NB Blog, Summit News, Washington Post, WTVR-TV, Instapundit, The American Spectator, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Big League Politics, Breitbart, twitchy.com, No More Mister Nice Blog, Front Page Magazine, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, The Daily Beast and The Other McCain

Tom Scocca / Slate:

Where Taking the Concerns of Racists Seriously Has Gotten Us — Within last week's story of how Ronald Reagan made a racist phone call to Richard Nixon, there was a second story—a parable, effectively: a small point that contained a much larger point. It had nothing, or almost nothing …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, more at Mediagazer »

Devlin Barrett / Washington Post:

FBI faces skepticism over its efforts against domestic terrorism — The FBI insists it is fully engaged in combating the threat of violence from white supremacists, but some former federal officials charge that the government is still coming up short in the face of a strain of American terrorism that now seems resurgent.

Discussion: Townhall, The Week, New York Post and Talking Points Memo

Associated Press:

Classmates: Ohio shooter kept a ‘hit list’ and a ‘rape list’ — DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — High school classmates of the gunman who killed nine people early Sunday in Dayton, Ohio, say he was suspended for compiling a “hit list” of those he wanted to kill and a “rape list” of girls he wanted to sexually assault.

Discussion: KTLA, The Guardian, Associated Press, The Week, Denver Post and Daily Wire

Christina Schaefer / WRGT:

Police: Suspect's sister among those killed in Oregon District shooting — BELLBROOK, Ohio (WKEF/WRGT) — Dayton Police, the FBI and Bellbrook Police have descended upon a neighborhood in Bellbrook in connection with the deadly mass shooting in the Oregon District.

Discussion: Heavy.com, The Daily Caller, Slate and Associated Press

New York Times:

White Extremist Ideology Drives Many Deadly Shootings — White extremist ideology has been linked to at least four of the 10 deadliest active-shooter episodes in the United States in recent years, showing the potential for intense violence among adherents who congregate online to cheer on racist attacks.

David French / National Review:
It's Time to Declare War on White-Nationalist Terrorism

Discussion: CNN, ABC News and BuzzFeed News

E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
On guns and white nationalism, one side is right and one is wrong

Discussion: Refinery29, UPI and NBC News

Timothy Bella / Washington Post:
Politicians blame video games for the El Paso shooting. It's an old claim that's not backed by research.

Discussion: Axios, Slate and One America News Network

George P. Bush / The Atlantic: White-Nationalist Terrorism Must Be Stopped

Adam Serwer / The Atlantic:
The Most Dangerous American Idea

Discussion: Big Think and Daily Kos

Emily Larsen / Washington Examiner:
Confusion: Biden offers sympathy for the ‘tragic events in Houston today and also in Michigan’

Discussion: New York Post and The Gateway Pundit

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
‘How do you stop these people?’: Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric looms over El Paso massacre

Kevin Roose / New York Times:
8chan, Megaphone for Gunmen, Has Gone Dark. ‘Shut the Site Down,’ Says Its Creator.

Discussion: New York Times, USA Today, VICE, The Week, Daily Wire, Vox, MIT Technology Review, The North Star, The Guardian, The Wrap, CNN, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo, The Trace, Quartz, Law & Crime, Deadline and Slate, more at Techmeme »

Kathleen Belew / New York Times: The Right Way to Understand White Nationalist Terrorism

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Republican state lawmaker in Nebraska says his party is ‘enabling white supremacy’

Discussion: Politico and The Hill

Daniel W. Drezner / Washington Post:
America's head of state, M.I.A.

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press and The Week

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Trump calls for ‘strong background checks’ after massacres, suggests pairing gun legislation with new immigration laws

Discussion: Balloon Juice

David Frum / The Atlantic:
The American Exception

Discussion: Chicago Sun-Times, Outside the Beltway and Quartz

Bonchie / RedState:
NEW: The Dayton Shooter Was a Satanist, Leftist-Socialist, and Bernie/Warren Fan, Supported Antifa

Discussion: Power Line, PJ Media Home, Breitbart and Clayton Cramer

Victor Morton / Washington Times:
Ohio gunman described himself as pro-Satan ‘leftist’ who supported Elizabeth Warren

Discussion: National Review, Associated Press, Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit

CNN:
The Dayton shooter wore a mask, bulletproof vest and hearing protection as he opened fire, police chief says

Discussion: VICE, WTVR-TV, KTLA, The Last Refuge, NPR, WGN-TV, WPSD Local 6WPSD Local 6, The Week, Foreign Policy, UPI, Daily Wire, Variety, WPIX 11 New York, The Root, Daily Kos, Townhall and Mediaite

Trip Gabriel / New York Times:

Steve King Narrowly Won in Iowa in 2018. Now His Challenger Will Run Again. — J. D. Scholten, a Democrat who nearly toppled Representative Steve King of Iowa in a heavily Republican district in 2018, will announce on Monday that he will run again for the seat in 2020.

Discussion: The Atlantic, YouTube and Political Wire

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

A Fourth Texas Republican Congressman Plans to Retire in 2020 — Representative Kenny Marchant of Texas is planning to announce his retirement on Monday, according to two Republican officials, becoming the fourth Republican House member from Texas in recent weeks to head for the exits rather …

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Talking Points Memo and Outside the Beltway

The Texas Tribune:
U.S. Rep. Kenny Marchant will not seek reelection, marking the fourth recent GOP retirement in Texas

Discussion: Roll Call and Shareblue Media

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic:

He's Getting Worse — The current, and (to date) most debased, phase of the Trump presidency—the phase that includes the unceasing demonization of minority legislators and the endorsement of North Korean communism—began, in retrospect, on May 8, in the Florida Panhandle, at a rally in Panama City.

Allyson Chiu / Washington Post:

‘Do something!’: Ohio governor drowned out by angry chants at Dayton shooting vigil — Microphone in hand, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) had just finished remarking on the size of the crowd that was crammed tightly into the brick-covered main street of the Oregon District in Dayton, Ohio, on Sunday night when a single voice rang out.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Cincinnati.com:
‘Do something!’ The mourning of Dayton shout down Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in call for action

Discussion: Vox, Hullabaloo, USA Today and Washington Post

Washington Post:

Markets plunge after China lets currency fall to a decade low in payback against Trump's tariffs — BEIJING — China mounted a counteroffensive Monday to new U.S. tariffs by allowing its tightly controlled currency to slide to an 11-year low, a move that could further provoke the ire of President Trump …

National Review:

Crush This Evil — Yesterday, in the Texan border town of El Paso, a young white supremacist opened fire at a Walmart, killing 20 people and injuring dozens more. His intention, per a manifesto he left on the website 8chan, was to exact revenge against “the Hispanic invasion of Texas,” …

Discussion: The American Spectator, The Week, Patterico's Pontifications, The Guardian and Balloon Juice

Paul Kane / Washington Post:

McConnell fractures shoulder in fall at Kentucky home — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was briefly hospitalized after suffering a fractured shoulder from a fall outside his home in Louisville on Sunday, his office said in a statement. — “This morning, Leader McConnell tripped …

Discussion: Tennessee Star, Townhall, The Daily Caller and Breitbart