PUBLISHED: 10:31 EDT, 17 August 2019 | UPDATED: 17:44 EDT, 17 August 2019
Texas has been hit with a wave of ransomware attacks targeting at least 20 local government entities.
The Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) said late Friday that it is leading the response to a ‘coordinated ransomware attack’ that is crippling critical government infrastructure across the state.
Ransomware disables computer networks and holds them hostage in demand for payment.
‘Currently, DIR, the Texas Military Department, and the Texas A&M University System’s Cyberresponse and Security Operations Center teams are deploying resources to the most critically impacted jurisdictions,’ the department said in a statement.
WHAT IS RANSOMWARE?
Cybercriminals use ‘blockers’ to stop their victim accessing their device.
This may include a mesage telling them this is due to ‘illegal content’ such as porn being identified on their device.
Anyone who has accessed porn online is probably less likely to take the matter up with law enforcement.
Hackers then ask for money to be paid, often in the form of Bitcoins or other untraceable cryptocurrencies, for the block to be removed.
In May 2017, a massive ransomware virus attack called WannaCry spread to the computer systems of hundreds of private companies and public organisations across the globe.
The department urged local jurisdictions who have been impacted to contact their local TDEM Disaster District Coordinator.
‘DIR is fully committed to respond swiftly to this event and provide the necessary resources to bring these entities back online,’ the agency said.
It was not immediately clear which cities had been impacted by the attacks and what entity is suspected of perpetrating them.
A spokesman for DIR did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com on Saturday.
The attack came within hours of a massive failure of U.S. Customs and Border Protection computers that caused huge travel delays across the country – although the federal agency has insisted that the outage was not ‘malicious’ in nature.
‘The affected systems are coming back online and travelers are being processed. CBP will continue to monitor the incident. There is no indication the disruption was malicious in nature at this time,’ CBP said in a statement at 6.30pm ET on Friday.
Self-driving cars can be controlled by hackers to cause traffic jams
Texas state Capitol building in Austin. This week, state officials confirmed that 22 municipalities have been infiltrated and ransom demanded.
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images
Updated at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday ET
Texas is the latest state to be hit with a cyberattack, with state officials confirming this week that computer systems in 22 municipalities have been infiltrated by hackers demanding a ransom. A mayor of one of those cities said the attackers are asking for $2.5 million to unlock the files.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and state cybersecurity experts are examining the ongoing breach, which began Friday morning and has affected mostly smaller local governments. Officials have not disclosed which specific places are affected.
Investigators have also not yet identified who or what is behind the attack that took the systems offline, but the Texas Department of Information Resources says the evidence so far points to “one single threat actor.”
Elliott Sprehe, a spokesman for the department, said he was “not aware” of any of the cities having paid the undisclosed ransom sought by hackers. He said the areas impacted are predominantly rural. The department initially put the number of cities attacked at 23.
Two cities so far have come forward to say their computer systems were affected. Officials in Borger in the Texas Panhandle, said the attack has affected city business and financial operations. Birth and death certificates are not available online, and the city can’t accept utility payments from any of its 13,25o residents. “Responders have not yet established a time-frame for when full, normal operations will be restored,” city officials said.
Keene, Texas, a city of some 6,100 people outside Fort Worth, was also hit, officials announced. The city’s government is also unable to process utility payments.
Keene Mayor Gary Heinrich told NPR that the hackers broke into the information technology software used by the city and managed by an outsourced company, which he said also supports many of the other municipalities targeted.
“Well, just about everything we do at City Hall is impacted, Heinrich said.
Heinrich said the hackers want a collective ransom of $2.5 million.
“They got into our software provider, the guys who run our IT systems,” Heinrich said. “A lot of folks in Texas use providers to do that, because we don’t have a staff big enough to have IT in house.”
State officials would not comment on the nature of the attack or confirm the ransom amount. But Heinrich said there is no way his city will be coughing up anything for the hackers.
“Stupid people,” he said of the cyber-attackers. “You know, just no sense in this at all.”
Experts say that while government agencies have increasingly been hit by cyberattacks, simultaneously targeting nearly two dozen cities represents a new kind of digital assault.
“What’s unique about this attack and something we hadn’t seen before is how coordinated attack this attack is,” said threat intelligence analyst Allan Liska. “It does present a new front in the ransomware attack,” he said. “It absolutely is the largest coordinated attack we’ve seen.”
Liska’s research firm, Recorded Future, has found that ransomware attacks aimed at state and local government have been on the rise, finding at least 169 examples of hackers breaking into government computer systems since 2013. There have been more than 60 already this year, he said.
The hacker bait tends to come in the form of a seemingly benign email with links or attachments that, once opened, can infect a system. There are other popular ways of tapping into government networks, Liska said, like through remote desktop systems, which can be vulnerable to hackers.
While the attackers tend to be anonymous and their locations undisclosed, Liska said his research has found that few are based in the U.S. Many, he said, are breaching local government computer systems from operations based in parts of Eastern Europe or Russia.
And sometimes local governments see no other option to restoring their crippled networks than paying a ransom demanded by hackers. In Lake City, Fla., a town of about 12,000 residents, officials paid $460,000 in the form of bitcoin, the preferred payment method among cybercriminals.
“They turned off the servers. They literally went room through room through city hall, unplugging people’s networks cables and turning off all the computers,” Mike Lee, a sergeant with the Lake City Police Department, told NPR in July.
The ransom was paid by insurance, but taxpayers were still on the hook for a $10,000 deductible.
The Recorded Future study found that about 17% of local agencies hit with ransomware viruses paid up, a practice federal law enforcement officials discourage, saying it incentivizes cybercriminals to keep engaging in the activity.
Liska said in cities he has worked with that have been preyed upon by hackers, there are instances in which ponying up for the return of data is the only viable option.
“Sometimes the reality of the situation may call for it,” he said. “If the backups aren’t working or if the bad guys have encrypted your backups, then unfortunately that’s what you’re left with.”
Individuals, businesses and institutions such as hospitals have been targeted by ransomware attacks for years. With the recent attacks on state and city government, local officials are rushing to secure their computer systems, holding new training and backing up their servers, Liska said. But in smaller, cash-strapped localities, there could be challenges to building a security defense.
Tad McGalliard studies local government cybersecurity at the Washington-based city manager group ICMA. He has been pushing for municipalities to find more funding to fight back against hackers.
“Somebody out there on the bad guy front is seeing an opportunity in local governments and we got to make a better job of making sure our employees are as well-trained and as well-equipped as possible,” McGalliard said.
McGalliard said the Texas case should be a wake-up call to cities in remote parts of the country.
“We might have thought this was a big city problem, or at least an affluent city or county problem, but I think what’s clear now is just about any local government is vulnerable,” he said.
In Texas, state authorities have not yet disclosed where exactly the attacks were based or how many computers have been swept up in the breach, meaning it is not yet known what services or data might have been compromised.
“Hitting 23 towns at once was bad, but we don’t know how much damage was done,” Liska said. “One computer in each town versus 100 computers in each town is a big difference.”
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Donald Trump says he will risk a ‘RECESSION for two months’ as a price for his China trade war saying only ‘dumb people’ don’t get what he us doing – and he admits he IS considering emergency tax cuts
Donald Trump spent morning retweeting aides and media allies to back his claim that recession warnings are a plot to unseat him in 2020
He retweeted a supporter who described him as having ‘super human energy,’ and a series of claims that the media is trying to crash the economy
‘Somebody had to take China on,’ he argued. ‘China’s been grifting off this country for 25 years’
Told a reporter asking about a recession: ‘I am doing this whether it’s good or bad for your statement about, “Oh, will we fall into a recession for two months?” ‘
Trump declared, ‘The fact is, somebody had to take China on. My life would be a lot easier, if I didn’t take China on. But I like doing it, because I have to do it’
Also tweeted Mike Pence claiming Michigan’s economy is strong on day electorally-critical state was hit by U.S. Steel layoffs
Admitted during an Oval Office meeting with Romania’s president that he’s considering a payroll tax cut and railed against the Federal Reserve and China
Dow closed 173.35 points down at 25,962.44 after rallying on Monday, in the latest market fluctuation.
PUBLISHED: 15:35 EDT, 20 August 2019 | UPDATED: 18:52 EDT, 20 August 2019
President Donald Trump says he’s willing to risk a ‘recession for two months’ to bring China to heel, declaring Tuesday that only ‘dumb people’ don’t understand his trade war and tariffs policies.
An angry Trump warned reporters that if he hadn’t challenged China, theft of intellectual property would hurt companies like Apple even more in the long term than his tariffs.
‘Somebody had to take China on,’ he argued. ‘China’s been grifting off this country for 25 years, but longer than that. And it’s about time, whether it’s good for our country, or bad for our country short term. Long term, it’s imperative that somebody does this because our country cannot continue to pay China $500 billion because stupid people are running it.’
He argued, ‘Whether its good or bad short term is irrelevant. We have to solve the problem with China.’
‘Whether it’s good or bad, the short term is irrelevant. We have to solve the problem with China because they’re taking out $500 billion a year plus. And that doesn’t include intellectual property theft and other things. And also, national security, so I am doing this whether it’s good or bad for your statement about, “Oh, will we fall into a recession for two months?” ‘ he told a journalist asking him about the possibility of a downturn.
Trump declared, ‘The fact is, somebody had to take China on. My life would be a lot easier, if I didn’t take China on. But I like doing it, because I have to do it. And we’re getting great help. China’s had the worst year they’ve had in 27 years, and a lot of people saying the worst year they’ve had in 54 years, OK?
President Donald Trump says he’s willing to risk a ‘recession for two months’ to bring China to heel, declaring Tuesday that only ‘dumb people’ don’t understand his trade war and tariffs policies
Trump will risk recession as trade war with China ‘had to be done’
Fuming, the president insisted to journalists: ‘We’re winning big. I took it on.
‘And I’m happy to do it. Because it had to be done. And the smart people say, thank you very much. And the dumb people have no idea. And then you have the political people, and they go with the wind. But they all know.’
He defended his tariffs on China, arguing, ‘My trade deals aren’t causing a problem. This is something that had to be done.’
Trump also confirmed that he’s looking at a payroll tax cut, acknowledging that it’s ‘something we think about and a lot of people would like’ him to pursue to stimulate the economy.
Sitting next to Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, the president denied that the U.S. economy is in distress.
‘I think the word recession is a word that’s inappropriate,’ he asserted. ‘Certain people and the media are trying to build up, because they’d love to see a recession.’
He urged the Federal Reserve to cut rates again and said at a ‘minimum they should be doing nothing,’ as he lashed out against the financial institution.
Trump slams Fed, says US economy is ‘far from a recession’
Trump said it should not be decreasing the amount of money in circulation, a monetary policy known as quantitative tightening.
‘The fed is psychologically very important,’ he said in the Oval Office meeting, where he took half-an-hour of questions from gathered journalists.
The president offered up the EU and Germany as examples, saying, ‘You have to be proactive, and so we really need a fed cut rate because if you look what’s going on with the European Union, as an example, they’re cutting.
‘If you take a look at Germany, what they’re doing and what they’re doing, and what they’re paying, they’re actually doing something inverse, nobody’s ever seen it before, we have to at least keep up to an extent,’ he said. ‘So we’re looking for a rate cut.’
Trump’s remarks aired on television as Wall Street was winding down for the day.
It closed 173.35 points down at 25,962.44 after rallying on Monday, in the latest market fluctuation.
Trump accused Democrats Tuesday of running a strategy to drive the nation into recession, as he amplified claims from his allies that the economy is stronger under his leadership.
In a morning tweet storm which came as White House officials discussed how to stimulate the economy at the same time as Trump is denying a recession is looming, he retweeted Mike Pence, his campaign manager and three favored media allies – Geraldo Riviera and Jesse Watters of Fox News and Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business network.
One credited Trump with ‘super human energy,’ and pushed his own claim that Democrats are trying to drive the country into recession to beat him in 2020.
And GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel argued in tweets that manufacturing optimism is up and unemployment is down.
Trump seconded his campaign manager, Brad Parscale, who proclaimed in a message, ‘The liberal media is so deranged by President [Donald Trump] that they’re now cheering for the economy to tank – sorry to disappoint Democrats, but the economy has never been stronger!’
And the tweetstorm pointedly included praise for the economy in Michigan from vice president Mike Pence, who was traveling there Tuesday, on the day that U.S. Steel was revealed to be laying off hundreds and shuttering blast furnaces.
Tweet storm of praise: Trump turned to Twitter for backers of his claim that warnings of a recession are being driven by a desire to remove him from office
U.S. Steel – a company whose renaissance has been a key part of the Trump narrative – said it would lay off 200 workers. It will also idle two blast furnaces for at least six months at Great Lakes and Gary Works plants, citing lower steel prices and softening demand.
The layoffs were characterized as temporary in filings,but the company admitted they could last longer than six months, in another indicator that the U.S. economy is slowing down.
Michigan is critical to Trump’s re-election prospects after the shock victory there played a key part in putting him in the White House.
In more bad news for Trump, a top lender, JP Morgan Chase assessed that Trump’s tariffs on China will cost American consumers $1,000 a household.
Despite Trump’s bravado on social media and previous bullish public comments, his White House spokesman Hogan Gidley confirmed talks were under way on some form of stimulus.
He denied only a specific report that the measure bring considered a payroll tax cut and told Fox News: ‘It’s not being considered at this time but he’s looking at all options out there to try and give people back so much of the hard earned money they’ve made.’
A Washington Post report had cited sources at the White House said the administration was considering a temporary cut to the 6.2 percent tax to prevent a downturn.
The suggestion was modeled after a two percent slash Obama made in his first term, which expired in 2013 as job growth ticked up again.
On Monday night, a White House official told DailyMail.com that a payroll tax isn’t under discussion currently, although the person left the door open to future tax cuts to stimulate the economy.
‘As Larry Kudlow said yesterday, more tax cuts for the American people are certainly on the table, but cutting payroll taxes is not something under consideration at this time,’ the official said.
Kudlow had on Fox News Sunday said the president’s Oct. 2018 promise to pursue tax cuts for the middle class was still alive.
He denied that the nation was on the verge of a recession, however, after fill-in host Dana Perino asked about emergency action to counteract a recession.
‘Well, first of all I don’t see a recession at all. Second of all, the Trump pro-growth program, which I believe has been succeeding lower tax rates, bid rollback of regulations, energy opening, trade reform, we’re going to stay with that,’ he said. ‘We believe that’s the heart of the free enterprise. We want an incentive-oriented supply-side economy, providing opportunities for everybody across the board.’
He said, ‘That’s about as good as it gets and I notice, at the end of the week, a lot of the Wall Street firms have been marking up their economic growth forecasts. I think we’re in pretty good shape and I want to just say you know, we should not be afraid of optimism.’
Under questioning about a call that Trump had last Wednesday with JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon and the CEOs of two other leading lenders, he suggested the conversation was about the president’s tariffs on China.
The lender said Tuesday that the next round of tariffs, which were delayed until Dec. 15, are likely to bring the cost per household this year up to $1,000.
Trump and his aides have now spent days denying publicly that a recession is on the horizon and the U.S. needs to take action. The president said Sunday that he’s ‘prepared’ to counteract one, though, if a financial downturn takes the country by surprise.
‘I don’t see a recession,’ he said. ‘China is doing very, very poorly. They’ve had the worst year they’ve had in 27 years because of what I’ve done. And they want to come to the negotiating table.’
Trump insisted that American consumers are ‘not paying for the tariffs’ that he has on $250 billion of Chinese goods, so far, and said he’s reconsidering a plan to put tariffs on laptops and cells phones in December, to protect American consumers and companies.
He accused his political opponents of trying to bring down the United States’ economy to hurt his reelection chances on Monday, as his administration tried to put out a wildfire of claims that a recession might be on the way.
Trump said Monday that economy is doing well despite ‘very selfish’ political angling of Democrats on a mission to oust him from the White House.
‘Our Economy is very strong, despite the horrendous lack of vision by Jay Powell and the Fed, but the Democrats are trying to “will” the Economy to be bad for purposes of the 2020 Election. Very Selfish! Our dollar is so strong that it is sadly hurting other parts of the world,’ he tweeted.
On the spot: Donald Trump and his aides have now spent days denying that a recession is looming
+9
Trump said that economy is doing well despite ‘very selfish’ political angling of Democrats, who are on a mission to oust him from the White House
He added, ‘The Fed Rate, over a fairly short period of time, should be reduced by at least 100 basis points, with perhaps some quantitative easing as well. If that happened, our Economy would be even better, and the World Economy would be greatly and quickly enhanced-good for everyone!’
Last week, the president accused the media of ‘doing everything they can to crash the economy because they think that will be bad for me and my re-election.’
He blamed a wide array of third parties, including Joe Biden and the Hong Kong protesters, accusing them of scuttling a trade deal with Beijing that would help both countries’ economies.
Three-quarters of economists predict a U.S. recession by 2021 in survey – but number who say it will be after the presidential election rises
A number of U.S. business economists appear sufficiently concerned about the risks of some of President Donald Trump’s economic policies that they expect a recession in the U.S. by the end of 2021.
In total, 74% economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics, in a report being released Monday, said they believe a slowing economy will tip into recession by 2021.
However there is some good news in the survey for the president, with the number who see a recession in 2020 down from 42% to 38%, while the number predicting a 2021 recession is at 34%. That’s up from 25% in a survey taken in February.
Only 2% of those polled expect a recession to begin this year, down from 10% in February. A slightly higher number than before – 14% – say it will be later than 2021.
Trump, however, has dismissed concerns about a recession, offering an optimistic outlook for the economy after last week’s steep drop in the financial markets and saying on Sunday, ‘I don’t think we’re having a recession.’ A strong economy is key to the Republican president’s 2020 reelection prospects.
The economists have previously expressed concern that Trump’s tariffs and higher budget deficits could eventually dampen the economy.
Response: What business economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics are saying about a downturn
The Trump administration has imposed tariffs on goods from many key U.S. trading partners, from China and Europe to Mexico and Canada.
Officials maintain that the tariffs, which are taxes on imports, will help the administration gain more favorable terms of trade. But U.S. trading partners have simply retaliated with tariffs of their own.
Trade between the U.S. and China, the two biggest global economies, has plunged. Trump decided last Wednesday to postpone until Dec. 15 tariffs on about 60% of an additional $300 billion of Chinese imports, granting a reprieve from a planned move that would have extended duties to nearly everything the U.S. buys from China.
The financial markets last week signaled the possibility of a U.S. recession, adding to concerns over the ongoing trade tensions and word from Britain and Germany that their economies are shrinking.
The economists surveyed by the NABE were skeptical about prospects for success of the latest round of U.S.-China trade negotiations. Only 5% predicted that a comprehensive trade deal would result, 64% suggested a superficial agreement was possible and nearly 25% expected nothing to be agreed upon by the two countries.
The 226 respondents, who work mainly for corporations and trade associations, were surveyed between July 14 and Aug. 1.
That was before the White House announced 10% tariffs on the additional $300 billion of Chinese imports, the Chinese currency dipped below the seven-yuan-to-$1 level for the first time in 11 years and the Trump administration formally labeled China a currency manipulator.
As a whole, the business economists’ recent responses have represented a rebuke of the Trump administration’s overall approach to the economy.
Still, for now, most economic signs appear solid. Employers are adding jobs at a steady pace, the unemployment rate remains near a 50-year low and consumers are optimistic. U.S. retail sales figures out last Thursday showed that they jumped in July by the most in four months.
The survey showed a steep decline in the percentage of economists who found the $1.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade ‘too stimulative’ and likely to produce higher budget deficits that should be reduced, to 51% currently from 71% in August 2018.
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Recession is at the top of Trump haters’ wish list
Are the Trump haters trying to cause a recession in the US so the president won’t be re-elected?
I’m not saying they are just hoping for a recession. It’s obvious the haters would like that.
But are they trying to cause a recession?
Comedian and Trump ultra-hater Bill Maher has already spoken for his side. “We have survived many recessions. We can’t survive another Donald Trump term,” Maher is quoted as saying.
You know what: Trying to cause a recession would actually be the most rational thing the president’s opponents have tried. The trouble is, this strategy doesn’t seem to be working. Not yet, at least.
But first let’s go over the more irrational solutions that the president’s opponents have considered or have actually acted upon.
Right after the election, the Trump haters floated these doozies: Get the Electoral College voters to go against the wishes of their states and keep Trump from the presidency. When that didn’t work, they tried — at least according to a wishful press — to get members of Trump’s own cabinet to decline him unfit for office.
Strike two.
And, of course, there was whatever was going on inside the FBI and other intelligence agencies that were spying on the Trump campaign and pulling dirty tricks before and after his election.
That didn’t work either and we will find out more about what was going on when a report concerning all this comes from Michael Horowitz, the inspector general of the Justice Department, sometime in the very near future.
So that brings us back to the possibility — and for the haters, the last hope — that there will be a recession and that it will affect the next presidential election, which is a little more than a year away.
As I said, this isn’t an irrational tactic to take against Trump.
Elections are mostly won or lost on how the economy is doing. And right now, while there is lots of talk about a 2020 recession that will hurt Trump, that’s really all it is — talk. And it’s mostly talk in the media and among Democrats.
But this chatter is causing Trump to bring up the issue of a recession regularly to defend himself — which publicizes the possibility of an economic downturn even more.
You have probably heard that consumers control about 80% of the US economy. Recessions happen for a lot of reasons — a mistake by the Federal Reserve, economic problems overseas, careless lending by banks, a stock market crash, trade wars and war wars.
Some of those things, and others, can lead to a recession. But most of the things I just mentioned have been going on at times over the past 10 years and still there hasn’t been a recession since the Great One of 2007 to 2009.
But the quickest way to cause a recession is to kill the confidence of consumers. Without the consumer being willing to spend, the economy will crap out.
That’s where all the talk of a recession comes in. If the Trump haters in and outside the media can convince consumers that the next recession is right around the corner, the next recession just might be right around the corner.
And with any luck, the recession will happen just in time to be on voters’ minds when they decide whether to keep President Trump in office or kick him to the cul-de-sac.
What the haters really need is for Americans to forget all the irrational stuff they’ve already failed at and just focus on the economy. “It’s the economy, stupid,” is a Bill Clinton campaign motto that would need to be revised.
But here’s the problem. While helping cause a recession might be the rational thing for the haters to do politically, it comes with many drawbacks.
The biggest is that voters might figure out what the haters are doing and be pissed.
A recession will bring job losses. Will the American public blame the president, or can Trump cast the blame on his opponents?
And if this tactic is perceived as just another dirty trick, it might take the Democrats a very long time to regain the public’s support.
Trump certainly isn’t getting the kind of economy he wanted and even predicted. But growth is still around 2% a year, about where it was during most of the Obama administration.
Unemployment for everyone is down. And people are still spending, as recent retail sales figure show.
And the stock market is doing just fine, despite the president’s panic every time if falls a few percentage points.
But US debt levels have skyrocketed as Trump tried to boost the economy through a tax cut. And a tricky thing is happening in the bond markets — yields of shorter maturity government securities are higher than long-maturity yields.
This yield “inversion,” the experts say, is an omen of a coming recession. And the haters hope they are right.
Maybe, maybe not.
The chaos in the world could be making the US bond market flaky as foreign investors try to get assets out of their own country and into ours. And that, or some other market quirk, could be causing the inversion.
This is all quite intriguing and will make a great movie one of these days. But right now, it’s just a drama that will end — thankfully — in November 2020.
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J. Michael Bostwick, M.D., a Mayo Clinic psychiatrist discusses an editorial commentary on an essay in Mayo Clinic Proceedings titled “Guns, Schools, and Mental Illness: Potential Concerns for Physicians and Mental Health Professionals.” The authors focus on recent mass shootings and argue that these actions were not and could not have been prevented by more restrictive gun legislation. They further contend that a diagnosis of mental illness does not justify stripping Second Amendment rights from all who carry such a diagnosis, most of whom will never commit violent acts toward others. Dr. Bostwick argues several points including that mass shootings are carefully planned — often spanning weeks or months. There is plenty of time for a meticulous planner and determined killer to get a gun somewhere in that time, he argues.
Most Mass Shooters Are Not Mentally Ill | Carmela Epright | TEDxGreenville
Carmela Epright is a bioethicist who advocates for resources for mental illness while dispelling myths about the profiles of mass shooters. Carmela Epright is a Professor of Philosophy at Furman University and a Clinical Professor of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. She has served as a visiting scholar to the Medical University of South Carolina, The University of South Carolina Medical School’s Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities and to the Institute for Applied Ethics at Dartmouth College. Dr. Epright received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in philosophy and an M.A. in Applied Ethics from Loyola University, Chicago. In 2004 she was awarded the Alester G. Furman, Jr. and Janie Earle Furman Award for Meritorious Teaching at Furman University. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
http://www.physicianfocus.org | http://www.massmed.org/physicianfocus | Dr. Bradley, who retired from the Unites States Army with the rank of Colonel and was previously Chief of Psychiatry at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, appears as the principal guest on the December episode of Physician Focus with the Massachusetts Medical Society. He is joined by Michael Tang, D.O., M.P.H., a psychiatry resident at Harvard South Shore Psychiatry, a program of Harvard Medical School, to discuss a range of topics surrounding mental illness and violence. Hosting the program is John Fromson, M.D., Vice Chairman for Clinical Affairs of the Department of Psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Chief of Psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital.
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Trump warned by NRA over background checks
Josh Dawsey and Seung Min Kim, The Washington Post
Published
President Donald Trump has repeatedly told lawmakers and aides in private conversations that he is open to endorsing extensive background checks in the wake of two mass shootings, prompting a warning from the National Rifle Association and concerns among White House aides, according to lawmakers and administration officials.
Trump, speaking to reporters Wednesday before visiting Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, where weekend shootings left 31 dead, said there “was great appetite for background checks” amid an outcry over government inaction in the face of repeated mass shootings.
Trump’s previous declarations of support for tougher gun controls, including after the deadly Parkland, Florida, shooting in February 2018, have foundered without a sustained push from the president and support from the NRA or Republican lawmakers. Even Trump’s advisers question how far he will go on any effort.
NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre spoke with Trump on Tuesday after the president expressed support for a background check bill and told him it would not be popular among Trump’s supporters, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss internal talks. LaPierre also argued against the bill’s merits, the officials said.
The NRA, which opposes the legislation sponsored by Sens. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., and Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., declined to comment.
Advisers to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he would not bring any gun-control legislation to the floor without widespread Republican support. Trump has waffled, current and past White House officials say, between wanting to do more and growing concerned that doing so could prompt a revolt from his political base. Even some supporters of the Manchin-Toomey bill, which would expand background checks to nearly all firearm sales, say it is unlikely to pass.
“I don’t think the president or his Republican allies are going to become out of nowhere advocates of aggressive gun control,” said Matt Schlapp, who leads the American Conservative Union and is a close ally to Trump.
Trump has focused on guns extensively since the shootings, calling lawmakers and surveying aides about what he should do – outreach that began Sunday evening. White House officials say there have been a series of meetings on a response, convened by acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, including a session Tuesday morning. The president has discussed with aides the idea of a Rose Garden bill-signing ceremony for gun-control legislation, a notion that seems premature to many in the West Wing.
Trump also asked lawyers about what he could enact through an executive order, officials said.
“He seems determined to do something and believes there is space to get something done this time around,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who said he had spoken to Trump “four or five times” since the shooting. “The president has a pretty common-sense point of view. He’s never been a sports or gun enthusiast. But he is more determined than ever to do something on his watch.”
Manchin said Trump called him at 6:30 a.m. Monday and that the two spoke again on Tuesday, when Trump said he wanted legislation before September, when the Senate is scheduled to return.
Trump did not express explicit support for the Manchin-Toomey bill but asked a range of questions. Most of the recent mass shootings were carried out with guns purchased legally.
“He was inquisitive, wanting to know why it hadn’t happened. He wanted to know all about it,” Manchin said. “I told him we couldn’t get enough Republicans to help us.”
Manchin said he told Trump that he would need to back any gun-control legislation or it would fail again. Those comments were mirrored by almost a dozen GOP and White House aides.
“If you don’t stand up and say, ‘This is a piece of legislation I support,’ we’re not going to get enough cover to have Republicans stand tall. They won’t be able to do it,” Manchin said.
On Tuesday, Trump outlined some NRA concerns in a second call with Manchin. “We talked about that,” Manchin said. “I told him, we don’t expect the NRA to be supportive. Mr. President, in all honesty, when you did the bump stocks, they weren’t for you. They were against that, too. You didn’t take any hit on that.”
In March, the administration administratively banned bump stocks, the devices used to make semiautomatic rifles fire rapidly like machine guns.
A White House official said Trump had asked some advisers and lawmakers this week about whether the NRA had enduring clout amid an internal leadership battle and allegations of improper spending, as well as what his supporters would think of the bill. The Washington Post reported this week that LaPierre sought to have the NRA buy him a $6 million mansion in a gated Dallas-area golf club after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 students and staff members were killed.
Toomey said he has spoken with the president at least three times since the weekend shootings. He declined to elaborate on the conversations, although he stressed that Trump hasn’t specifically endorsed the bill. Their conversations have been more general, he said, but Toomey noted that they had been “encouraging” and “very recent.”
“I will just tell you generally the president is open-minded about this,” Toomey said.
Some measures – such as a ban on assault weapons – have been ruled out, White House officials and legislative aides say. Recent polls indicate a majority of Americans support some form of a ban on assault rifles, though there is a large partisan divide and fewer than half of Republicans support such measures. A July NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll found 57 percent of the public supported a ban on “the sale of semiautomatic assault guns, such as the AK-47 or the AR-15.” Fewer than 3 in 10 Republicans supported the proposal, rising to a slight majority of independents and more than 8 in 10 Democrats.
“There’s no political space for that,” Graham said. “So I don’t think he’s going to go down that road.”
However, about 9 in 10 Americans support requiring background checks for all gun purchases, including more than 8 in 10 Republicans, Democrats and independents, according to polling.
Trump was vague about what he would do in his comments Wednesday, and current and former White House officials said he is often ambivalent on what he should do after shootings.
After the Parkland shooting, Trump expressed support for background checks for gun purchases and greater police power to seize guns from mentally disturbed people. But he faced significant resistance from the NRA and Republicans and abandoned the ideas.
On Air Force One after the October 2017 shooting in Las Vegas that left 58 dead, Trump said he wanted to enact a law to keep such shootings from happening again and would question others for ideas but did not have specific proposals.
After shootings, Trump regularly would poll aides about what measures would have political support, but if they did not gain backing, he was not inclined to lead the charge.
“He would not be blocking it, but he’s not going to be the one forcing it to happen,” this official said.
Some of the president’s more moderate friends and donors have pressed for more-robust gun-control measures. But Trump has also told advisers that he cannot lose any members of his “base.”
“Republicans are headed for extinction in the suburbs if they don’t distance themselves from the NRA. The GOP needs to put forth solutions to help eradicate the gun violence epidemic,” said Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor.
In public, Trump has promoted “red flag” laws – also known as extreme risk protection orders – that allow family members or law enforcement to petition a judge to ban gun access for someone they believe is an imminent threat to themselves or others. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have such laws already in place, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which advocates more restrictions on firearms.
White House aides said such a bill was the most likely outcome and had the most support in the West Wing. Schlapp said that Trump could convince Republicans to support some measures seen as less restrictive.
“It’s the best route forward because it can pass, the president will sign it and it can actually stop the next attack,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who drafted legislation to encourage more states to pass their own red flag laws, said in a phone interview Wednesday. He began working on the legislation after the Parkland shooting.
“If you look at all the studies that have been done, you see that invariably, with perhaps the exception of Las Vegas, they all exhibited signs and warnings to people around them that they could do something,” Rubio said.
Yet any effort on Capitol Hill to implement firearms restrictions is likely to face, at a minimum, skepticism from conservatives concerned about any measure viewed as restricting gun rights.
Early on in his administration, Trump moved to loosen restrictions on gun purchases by people with mental illnesses, signing legislation overturning an Obama-era regulation that barred certain people with mental health issues from purchasing firearms.
Some Republican officials have pointedly noted that Graham didn’t consult other GOP senators before forging ahead with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., on a plan to advance red flag legislation through the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A handful of Republican members of the Judiciary Committee, through aides and in public comments, have indicated they are open to policies that would encourage states to implement such laws.
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., appeared the most skeptical, with a spokesman saying merely that Sasse has asked to review the legislative language from Graham. A spokesman for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the lawmaker “believes red flag laws are one of the tools states can consider, but that there are dangers depending on how a state implements these laws,” expressing concern about protecting “due process and our constitutional rights.”
Democrats, while generally supportive of red flag laws, questioned how much congressional efforts would actually help states – particularly conservative ones with Republican governors – enact them. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday that Democrats would demand a vote on legislation expanding background checks that had already passed the House and is opposed by the Trump administration in tandem with any Senate vote on red flag laws.
“The question is, what difference can the federal government make in what is largely a state decision?” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., one of the most vocal advocates of gun control in Congress. “I’m all for federal action on extreme risk protection orders. I’m just not sure it’s going to move the needle.”
Republican senators get behind first federal gun control law since 1994 after mass shootings with backing for ‘red flag’ laws to seize guns from dangerous people
Growing number of Republican senators say they back bipartisan bill for nationwide ‘red flag’ laws to seize guns from people who are dangerous
Donald Trump signaled support for the plan Monday in address to the nation after El Paso and Dayton shootings, which claimed 32 lives
Bill is by Lindsey Graham, the Republican close to Trump, and Democrat Richard Blumenthal
In sign of fear among Republicans that mass shootings will harm them, Congressman Adam Kinzinger, proposed more sweeping restrictions
Kinzinger said there should be universal background checks, a raise in the legal age to purchase a gun, and ban on high capacity magazines
A major donor also warned the GOP needs to move toward gun reform so it doesn’t lose the suburbs
‘Republicans are headed for extinction in the suburbs if they don’t distance themselves from the NRA,’ Dan Eberhart said
Democrats have also been pushing for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to call a special session to vote on universal background check legislation
PUBLISHED: 10:44 EDT, 6 August 2019 | UPDATED: 21:34 EDT, 6 August 2019
A bipartisan proposal to encourage states to adopt ‘red flag’ laws to take guns away from people believed to be a danger to themselves or others was gaining support among Congressional Republicans Tuesday.
The still-emerging plan would create a federal grant program to encourage states to implement the laws.
The measure would be the first major federal gun control law since the 1994 assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004.
But it will go nowhere near as far as Democrats are demanding, with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer demanding a Senate vote on a universal background checks bill which has already passed the House.
The ‘red flag’ laws already apply in at least 15 states and the District of Columbia, but the measure would make them likely to go nationwide.
The bipartisan proposal by Sens. Lindsey Graham, the Republican from South Carolina, and Richard Blumenthal, the Democrat from Connecticut, was gaining support among GOP senators Tuesday.
Donald Trump appeared to voice support for such a measure Monday when he spoke at the White House – but there has been no indication from Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell on how he will proceed.
The alleged El Paso shooter, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius (pictured) gunned down those shopping in a Walmart and the alleged Dayton shooter was 24-year-old Connor Betts who was shot dead by police less than a minute after he opened fire
Bipartisan move: Republican Lindsey Graham, the Republican from South Carolina, and Richard Blumenthal, believe they can get ‘red flag’ laws passed – the first major federal gun control move since 1994
Move on guns: The last significant federal gun control legislation was the 1994 assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004. Since then Democratic attempts at more controls have been rebuffed
Nearly all Senate Democrats support red flag laws, along with a growing number of Republicans, including Pennsylvania’s Pat Toomey, Indiana’s Mike Braun and Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, a former Judiciary chairman.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told reporters Tuesday he is open to the proposal, noting that the alleged shooter in Dayton, Ohio, had so-called kill lists of intended targets.
‘Clearly people knew something was wrong with this guy, and yet nobody went to the proper authorities or the proper authorities didn’t respond,’ Portman said.
‘RED FLAG’ LAWS AND HOW THEY WORK
HOW DOES A RED FLAG LAW WORK?
In general, red flag or ‘extreme risk protection order’ laws allow courts to issue temporary orders barring someone from possessing guns based on some showing of imminent danger or a risk of misuse.
State laws vary, but most stipulate that only specific people – usually family or household members – may petition a court for an extreme risk protection order.
In some cases, a preliminary order may be granted without prior notice to the person who is the subject of the order.
Such an order typically is brief, ranging from a few days to about three weeks.
Once the person who is alleged to pose a risk of gun violence has been given an opportunity to respond, a more permanent order may be granted, typically for up to a year.
Importantly to Graham and other supporters, before an order can be entered, some factual showing must be made that the subject of the order poses a risk of using a firearm to harm themselves or others.
WHAT IS THE NEW PROPOSAL?
Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal are still developing the plan, but a similar bill proposed last year by Florida Sens. Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson essentially would pay states to implement red flag law programs.
A bid last year by Graham and Blumenthal to let federal courts keep guns away from people who show warning signs of violence failed to generate political support.
Blumenthal called the failed effort to create a federal program a learning experience and said the new proposal would set a national standard that states must meet in order to be eligible for federal grants.
He compared it to federal highway laws where grants are dependent on states setting speed limits or drunk-driving standards.
‘If you have speed limits, you get the money,’ he said, adding that the red flag law would operate on the same principle.
A red flag law may ‘bridge this issue of the guns and the mental health issue, where you identify somebody who has a mental health history that might not be formally diagnosed, but that people know about,’ he said.
Many mass shootings ‘involved individuals who showed signs of violent behavior that are either ignored or not followed up on,’ said Graham, chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee.
‘State red flag laws will provide the tools for law enforcement to do something about many of these situations before it’s too late.’
In an interview Tuesday, Blumenthal said there’s ‘a growing wave of support on both sides of the aisle’ for the red-flag plan – more momentum in fact ‘than any other gun violence plan’ being debated in Congress, including a proposal Blumenthal supports to require universal background checks for gun purchases.
However McConnell, who has adopted the nickname the ‘Grim Reaper’ to celebrate his success at blocking Democratic bills, is widely considered the single biggest roadblock to changes in gun laws or any significant legislation in Congress.
The majority leader has not publicly indicated a position on red flag laws but said in a statement Monday that ‘Senate Republicans are prepared to do our part’ to address gun violence.
He said he has spoken with Graham and other committee chairs and asked them to consider ‘potential solutions to help protect our communities without infringing on Americans’ constitutional rights.’
Congress passed a modest measure last year to shore up the federal background checks system and approved a grant program to prevent school violence – signs that action on gun violence is possible, McConnell said.
A National Rifle Association spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a statement, the group said it welcomes Trump’s call ‘to address the root causes of the horrific acts of violence that have occurred in our country. It has been the NRA’s long-standing position that those who have been adjudicated as a danger to themselves or others should not have access to firearms and should be admitted for treatment.’
However the organization is now significantly weakened by infighting, allegations of financial impropriety and litigation against it by New York State’s Democratic attorney general over whether it broke laws governing non-profits.
In a sign of concern in Republican ranks at the political impact of the weekend of mass shootings, Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger published an op/ed on Medium that demanded universal background checks and raising the legal age for those purchasing a gun to 21- and a ban on high-capacity magazines.
Connor Betts had two 100-round magazines when he opened fire in Dayton early Sunday morning.
Kinzinger said his proposal is offering a compromise between those who call for the total banning of firearms with those who advocate for loosening gun restrictions so the ‘good guys with guns’ can protect against ‘bad guys with guns.’
‘[T]hose of us not in those two mindsets are left feeling helpless, frustrated, and at a loss,’ Kinzinger wrote. ‘We have a gun violence epidemic, and to address it, we need to change some laws and change some hearts.’
For laws that required drivers of early automobiles to take certain safety precautions, see Red flag traffic laws.
States with red flag laws
In the United States, a red flag law is a gun violence prevention law that permits police or family members to petition a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present a danger to others or themselves.[1] A judge makes the determination to issue the order based on statements and actions made by the gun owner in question.[2] Refusal to comply with the order is punishable as a criminal offense.[3][4] After a set time, the guns are returned to the person from whom they were seized unless another court hearing extends the period of confiscation.[5][6]
Such orders are known by various names, including “Extreme Risk Protection Orders” (ERPO) (in Oregon, Washington, Maryland, and Vermont); “Risk Protection Orders” (in Florida); “Gun Violence Restraining Orders” (in California); “risk warrants” (in Connecticut); and “Proceedings for the Seizure and Retention of a Firearm” (in Indiana).[7] As of August 2019, 17 states and the District of Columbia have passed some form of red-flag law. The specifics of the laws, and the degree to which they are enforced, vary from state to state.[8]
Other state legislatures considered similar legislation.[30][6][31][32] In 2019, legislatures in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina are considering such legislation.[8]
The Virginia General Assembly voted down red flag legislation in its January 2019 session, and then after being convened for a special session after the Virginia Beach shooting to consider gun control legislation, opted to refer the legislation to the State Crime Commission for study. The bill is scheduled to be taken up again in another special session after the November elections.[33]
The specific provisions of red-flag laws differ from state-to-state, on issues such as who may petition for a risk protection order.[36] For example, in Indiana, only law enforcement may petition for an order.[36] In contrast, in Oregon, any person living with the person of concern may file a petition.[36] The California Legislature passed a measure in 2016 to allow high school and college employees, co-workers and mental health professionals to file such petitions, but this legislation was vetoed by Governor Jerry Brown.[10]
Effects
A 2016 study published in the journal Law and Contemporary Problems analyzed data from the 762 gun removals under Connecticut’s “risk warrant” law from October 1999 through June 2013 and determined that there was “one averted suicide for every ten to eleven gun seizure cases.”[37] The researchers concluded that “enacting and implementing laws like Connecticut’s civil risk warrant statute in other states could significantly mitigate the risk posed by that small proportion of legal gun owners who, at times, may pose a significant danger to themselves or others.”[37]
A 2018 study published in the journal Psychiatric Services utilized CDC data from all suicides in all 50 states from 1981-2015 to “examine the effects of Connecticut and Indiana’s risk-based firearm seizure law on state-level firearm suicide rates.”[38]The researchers concluded that “Indiana’s firearm seizure law was associated with a 7.5% reduction in firearm suicides in the ten years following its enactment, an effect specific to suicides with firearms and larger than that seen in any comparison state by chance alone. Enactment of Connecticut’s law was associated with a 1.6% reduction in firearm suicides immediately after its passage and a 13.7% reduction in firearm suicides in the post–Virginia Tech period, when enforcement of the law substantially increased.” The study also found that “Whereas Indiana demonstrated an aggregate decrease in suicides, Connecticut’s estimated reduction in firearm suicides was offset by increased nonfirearm suicides.”[38]
Usage
In the first four months after Florida’s risk protection law took effect, a total of 467 risk protection cases were filed in Florida. Slightly over one-fourth of the cases involved holders of concealed-carry firearm licenses; when an order is granted against a license-holder, the license-holder’s license is temporarily suspended.[39]
In California in 2016 and 2017, 189 petitions for gun violence restraining orders were granted. Of these, 12 petitions were filed by family members, while the rest were filed by law enforcement.[40][41]
In Maryland, the courts reviewed 302 petitions for a gun removal order in the first three months of the state’s law; the petition was granted in 148 cases (about half the time). About 60% of petitions were filed by family or household members, one petition was filed by a healthcare worker, and the rest were filed by police.[42] In November 2018, a Maryland man was killed by Anne Arundel County police officers serving a removal order after refusing to surrender his firearms; police said that there was a struggle over the gun and a shot was fired before officers fatally shot the man.[43]
In Marion County, Indiana (which contains Indianapolis, and the most of the uses of Indiana’s ERPO law), a 2015 study published in the journal Behavioral Sciences & the Law found that seizure petitions were filed in court 404 times between 2006 and 2013, from persons identified at being a risk of suicide (68%), violence (21%), or psychosis (16%). The study found that 28% of firearm-seizure cases involved a domestic dispute and 26% involved intoxication. The study found that “The seized firearms were retained by the court at the initial hearing in 63% of cases; this retention was closely linked to the defendant’s failure to appear at the hearing. The court dismissed 29% of cases at the initial hearing, closely linked to the defendant’s presence at the hearing. In subsequent hearings of cases not dismissed, the court ordered the destruction of the firearms in 72% of cases, all when the individual did not appear in court, and dismissed 24% of the cases, all when the individual was present at the hearing.”[44]
In Connecticut, some 764 “imminent risk” gun seizures were served between October 1999 and July 2013, according to a 2014 study in the Connecticut Law Review.[45] Of gun seizure orders served, 91.5% were directed at men and 8.5% were directed to women, and the average age of the individuals was 47.4 years old.[45] Police reports associated with the Connecticut gun seizures in 1999 to 2013 indicated that at the time of confiscation, about 30% of the subject gun owners “showed evidence of alcohol consumption” and about 10% “indicated using prescribed pain medications.”[45] At the time the warrants were served, the majority of gun owners (60% of men and 80% of women) were sent to a local hospital emergency department for an emergency evaluation; a minority (20%) were arrested.[45] The study noted that “In over 70% of the cases, the outcome of the hearings was unknown. For the cases with outcomes reported, the judges ruled that the weapons needed to be held by the state 68% of the time. Weapons were returned in only twenty of the reported cases. In fifteen other cases, guns were given to a family member; in thirty cases, the guns were destroyed.”[45]
Federal legislative proposals
Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, introduced a bill, the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act, which would allow states to use grants to develop red flag laws and make it a federal felony under 18 U.S. Code § 922(g) to possess a firearm in violation of a state red flag law. The legislation is supported by 25 Democratic senators and two Democratic-aligned independent senators.[46][47] Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, introduced a separate bipartisan bill that would use grants to encourage the passage of state red-flag laws.[46] Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said in 2019 that he also planned to introduce legislation to encourage states to pass red flag laws.[36]
Support and opposition
An April 2018 poll found that 85% of registered voters support laws that would “allow the police to take guns away from people who have been found by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others” (71% “strongly supported” while 14% “somewhat supported” such laws).[48][49] State-level polling in Colorado and Michigan has shown similar levels of support.[50][51]
Democrats and some Republicans are receptive to this law.[2] Such laws are supported by groups that support gun control, such as Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and Everytown for Gun Safety. The latter group conducted a nationwide study showing that the perpetrators of mass shootings showed warning signs before the event 42% of the time.[13]
Opponents of red flag laws argue that such legislation infringes on the constitutional right to bear arms and the right to due process of law, and object to ex parte hearings.[52][53][54] There has been debate about how soon after the ex parte hearing the adversarial hearing should be held; for example, in Virginia, state senator Glen Sturtevant argued that instead of 14 days, he “would think that for an important issue like this, we would want to have that hearing within 48 hours.”[55]
The National Rifle Association (NRA) had previously argued that red flag laws unnecessarily hamper the right to due process of individuals who are restrained by them,[30] and worked to defeat such legislation in Utah and Maryland.[56] In a March 2018 policy reversal, the NRA suggested that it might support such laws, but conditioned any openness to such laws on an extensive list of conditions,[31][56] including a judicial finding by “clear and convincing evidence” that the person poses a significant risk of danger.[56] The NRA did not identify any federal or state red flag laws that it supported,[56] and even after its March 2018 announcement continued to work to defeat or weaken red flag bills introduced in state legislatures.[57] In summer 2018, the NRA mobilized to defeat red-flag legislation proposed in Pennsylvania because it objected to allowing initial hearings ex parte.[57] In Arizona in 2019, the NRA ghostwrote an opinion piece for sheriffs to submit to the local press stating their opposition to the legislation.[58] A 2019 study by gun rights advocate John Lott found red flag laws have no significant effect on murder, suicide, the number of people killed in mass public shootings, robbery, aggravated assault, or burglary.[59]
Some counties and cities have adopted “Second Amendment sanctuary” resolutions in opposition to red flag laws.[58][60][61] As of 2019, some 75 jurisdictions have declared themselves sanctuaries that oppose emergency protection orders and enforcement of gun background checks, at times with assistance from the NRA.[58]
In the wake of the El Paso, Texas shooting and Dayton, Ohio shooting of August 4 and 5, 2019, President Donald Trump called on states to implement red flag laws to help remove guns from “those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety.”[36]
Gun sales are surging after the weekend mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, fueled by first-time buyers seeking pistols they can carry with them for protection.
The latest jump validated a big increase in purchases and background checks recorded by the FBI that show the four most recent months higher than the same months in 2018.
What’s more, the trend in the “National Instant Criminal Background Check System,” or NICS, is on a path to make 2018 the second biggest year since 2016, when gun owners and prospective gun owners filled stores before the presidential election that was expected to elect gun control advocate Hillary Rodham Clinton.
According to the latest NICS numbers just released, this year there have been nearly 16 million background checks, which are done for gun sales, applications for concealed carry permits and other gun-related legal issues.
As with past mass shootings, applications for concealed carry permits and interest in smaller pistols has increased. But the twin shooting has sparked even more interest.
We checked in with Hyatt Guns in Charlotte, N.C., one of the nation’s largest, and Marketing Director Justin Anderson explained the trend to us.
“While we have seen a measured rise in sale of certain tactical rifles and accessories this week, most customers are looking for concealed carry handguns,” Anderson said.
“Just this week we have fielded hundreds of calls from people that have never purchased a gun before. Our concealed carry training classes are filling up quickly. People are realizing that even a trip to Walmart isn’t safe these days and they want to be able to protect themselves. Remember that nothing stops a lunatic bent on carnage better than a law abiding citizen with a gun. I continue to urge people to get a gun, get trained with that gun, and carry, always,” he added.
Story 3: Is The U.S. Economy Going Into a Recession?
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The likelihood of a U.S. recession in the next 12 months rose to 35% in an August survey of economists, from 31% forecast previously, as global trade tensions fuel economic uncertainty.
Growth in the world’s biggest economy will average 2.3% this year, down from 2.5% seen in a July survey. Gross domestic product expansion is forecast to slow to a 1.8% annualized pace in the third quarter, from 3.1% in the first three months of the year and 2.1% in the second quarter.
“Trade tensions are needlessly roiling financial markets, which could eventually destabilize a stable economy,” Parul Jain, chief investment strategist at Macrofin Analytics LLC in Wayne, New Jersey, said in comments attached to her survey response.
President Donald Trump last week announced new tariffs on imported Chinese goods, to take effect on Sept. 1, causing steep declines in global stock markets. The S&P 500 index of U.S. stocks has fallen more than 3% since July 31. That was the day the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time since 2008, to a range of 2% to 2.25%, in a bid to support the economy.
Economists moved up expectations for the next Fed interest-rate cut to September from December and now see a 25-basis-point reduction in the benchmark rate, to a range of 1.75% to 2%, at the next meeting, according to the poll.
Global growth forecasts for 2019 were also cut, to 3.2% from 3.3%. Bloomberg’s survey was conducted Aug. 2 to Aug. 7.
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Trust no one? Americans lack faith in the government, the media and each other, survey finds
Alia E. Dastagir, USA TODAYPublished 11:33 a.m. ET July 23, 2019 | Updated 12:43 p.m. ET July 23, 2019
A study recently published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found those who showed higher signs of trust lived longer than those who didn’t. Buzz60’s Mercer Morrison has the story. Buzz60
Three-quarters of Americans believe trust in the federal government is shrinking, and more than two-thirds say the same for personal trust, according to a study released Monday by the Pew Research Center.
The survey of 10,618 U.S. adults found those who tend to be less trustful in their personal lives also tend to be less trustful of institutions, which includes elected officials, the military, religious leaders and the media.
“Many people no longer think the federal government can actually be a force for good or change in their lives. This kind of apathy and disengagement will lead to an even worse and less representative government,” one survey respondent said.
Despite the current outlook, Americans are hopeful declining trust is a solvable problem. The survey found 84% believe confidence in the federal government can be improved, and 86% think the same of confidence in one another.
Other key findings:
69% say the federal government withholds important information from the public
61% say the news media ignores important stories
58% of adults are not confident people can hold civil conversations with those who have different views
57% are not confident people will cast informed votes in elections
Young adults are about half as hopeful as older Americans when asked how confident they are that Americans respect the rights of those who are not like them
The share of whites who show high levels of trust (27%) is twice as high as the share of blacks (13%) and Hispanics (12%).
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say trust in the federal government is shrinking (82% vs. 66%) and that makes it harder to solve many of the country’s problems (70% vs. 57%).
But there is one thing Americans agree on regardless of politics: Trust in both the federal government and in one another must improve. Among the solutions respondents provided: less political partisanship, tribalism and sensationalist stories, and more empathy all around.
One survey respondent, a 63-year-old woman, suggested five things that would make it better:
“1. If members of each party would be less concerned about their power and the next election and more concerned with how they can serve their people. Term limits a possibility.
2. Rules about lobbyists/corporate money influencing politicians.
3. Importance of ethics laws and follow through for violators.
4. Promoting fact-based legislation. 5. Better relations among both parties and leaders; this is not a war.”
Most Americans say they have lost trust in the media
THE RESULTS OF A NEW Knight Foundation and Gallup poll released on Tuesday won’t come as a huge surprise to most journalists: Trust in the media is down. Again.
A majority of those who were surveyed said they had lost trust in the media in recent years, and more than 30 percent of those who identified themselves as being on the conservative end of the spectrum said they had not only lost faith in the media, but they “expect that change to be permanent.” According to a separate Gallup poll from earlier this year that tracked trust in major institutions, newspapers and television news were among the lowest, exceeded only by Congress.
Is this decline in trust related to the repeated attacks on “the lying media” by President Trump and his supporters, who like to describe the press as “the enemy of the people?” That kind of analysis is beyond the scope of the latest Knight/Gallup study, but it has to be part of the backdrop. Respondents who said they paid the least amount of attention to the news were among those who mistrusted the media the most—is that because all they hear about the media is that it makes things up and is out to get the president?
When people were asked why they don’t trust the media, about 45 percent referred to things like inaccuracy, bias, “fake news,” and “alternative facts,” the latter two being common descriptions given by Donald Trump and members of his administration. A general lack of credibility and the fact that reports are “based on opinions or emotions” are two of the other reasons given for a loss of trust. About 10 percent of those surveyed also mentioned sensationalism, “clickbait,” or hype as a negative factor. Interestingly, twice as many young adults (18 to 34) as older respondents said politically focused coverage or partisan bias was a factor in their lack of trust.
The study did try to come up with a few rays of light. For example, the survey asked people whether they thought their trust in media might be restored somehow, and almost 70 percent of them said yes—60 percent of those who identified themselves as Republicans and 86 percent of those who said they were Democrats. And what might restore that lost trust? Respondents chose a variety of factors such as accuracy (including “not reporting stories before [a news outlet] verifies all the facts and being willing to correct mistakes it makes”), as well as lack of bias, and transparency (including “providing fact-checking resources and providing links to research and facts that back up [the news outlet’s] reporting”).
As the study’s authors admit, however, these proposed solutions aren’t as straightforward as they might appear. Whether a news outlet is being accurate when reporting the facts of a story, for example, is something different readers are going to come to different conclusions on, depending in some cases on their political views. If an outlet reports that Donald Trump is under suspicion for influence peddling with the Russians, to take just one hypothetical example, those who are inclined to believe this may see it as accurate, while those who vehemently disagree will see it as inaccurate and therefore untrustworthy. Trust, as an earlier Knight/Gallup poll suggests, is a slippery topic when it comes to the media.Here are some more links about the complex relationship between trust and the media:
The rebound effect: Both Twitter and Facebook have talked about trying to expose users to a broader range of views to burst their filter bubbles, but a sociologist writing in The New York Times says his research shows that doing this causes people to become more entrenched in their views, not less.
What about trust ratings? Another experiment by Knight and Gallup using the same testing platform looked at whether crowdsourced ratings of trust or accuracy changed people’s expectations about a news article, and it turns out they do—stories that have trust ratings are actually trusted less than those that don’t.
A culture of listening: The American Press Institute recently held a symposium on ways that media organizations can help to build or regain the trust of their readers, and those who participated came up with a number of recommendations, including talking with “ex-fans” to see why they left, and also not being an “ask-hole.”
Optimizing for trust: New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen has written about what it means when a media outlet “optimizes for trust,” a recipe that includes transparency about potential conflicts, a commitment to accuracy, and a view of readers that sees them more as contributors rather than just consumers of content.
Other notable stories:
Brazilian fact-checkers working with Facebook to flag fake news stories in the run-up to elections in that country next month say they have been harassed and even subjected to death threats for their work, according to a report from Poynter.
Cory Doctorow writes about why European authors, journalists, and publishers need to fight the European Union’s newly proposed copyright laws, which could forceonline services and publishers to remove content if it matches an index of copyrighted works, and could also impose a tax for linking to external articles.
Bryan Goldberg, the founder and CEO of Bustle, plans to re-launch Gawker, the flagship site of the former Gawker Media, which filed for bankruptcy after a lawsuit launched by former wrestler Hulk Hogan. Goldberg acquired the domain name and archives of Gawker for $1.3 million in an auction in July.
Facebook is testing a new feature in its CrowdTangle service for journalists that would allow them to flag a news story as inaccurate from inside the service. CrowdTangle, which Facebook acquired in 2016, allows journalists and other users of the tool to see what stories, photos and videos are trending on the network.
Twitter and Facebook may get most of the attention when it comes to news, but a Pew Research Center study seems to show that Reddit is the most news-centric social service of them all. According to the survey, 73 percent of Reddit users say they get their news there, compared with 71 percent for Twitter and 67 percent for Facebook.
Nick Diakopoulos writes for CJR about an emerging category of social-media “bots” or automated accounts that actually help rather than cause harm, by aggregating or distributing information that has public value, including automated accounts that track changes in New York Times articles or Wikipedia entries.
Left-leaning news site ThinkProgress has complained that one of its articles was improperly flagged as inaccurate by The Weekly Standard, a conservative site that is a member of Facebook’s fact-checking program. Alexios Mantzarlis, who runs the International Fact-Checking Network, wrote on Twitter about some of the problems raised by the case, which he says were exacerbated by the post’s headline.
Trust and Mistrust in Americans’ Views of Scientific Experts
More Americans have confidence in scientists, but there are political divides over the role of scientific experts in policy issues
In an era when science and politics often appear to collide, public confidence in scientists is on the upswing, and six-in-ten Americans say scientists should play an active role in policy debates about scientific issues, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
The survey finds public confidence in scientists on par with confidence in the military. It also exceeds the levels of public confidence in other groups and institutions, including the media, business leaders and elected officials.
At the same time, Americans are divided along party lines in terms of how they view the value and objectivity of scientists and their ability to act in the public interest. And, while political divides do not carry over to views of all scientists and scientific issues, there are particularly sizable gaps between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to trust in scientists whose work is related to the environment.
Higher levels of familiarity with the work of scientists are associated with more positive and more trusting views of scientists regarding their competence, credibility and commitment to the public, the survey shows.
Overall, 86% of Americans say they have at least “a fair amount” of confidence in scientists to act in the public interest. This includes 35% who have “a great deal” of confidence, up from 21% in 2016.
But a partisan divide persists. More Democrats (43%) than Republicans (27%) have “a great deal” of confidence in scientists – a difference of 16 percentage points. The gap between the two parties on this issue (including independents who identify with each party, respectively) was 11 percentage points in 2016 and has remained at least that large since.
There are also clear political divisions over the role of scientific experts in policy matters, with Democrats more likely to want experts involved and to trust their judgment. Most Democrats (73%) believe scientists should take an active role in scientific policy debates. By contrast, a majority of Republicans (56%) say scientists should focus on establishing sound scientific facts and stay out of such policy debates. The two political groups also differ over whether scientific experts are generally better at making decisions about scientific policy issues than other people: 54% of Democrats say they are, while 66% of Republicans think scientists’ decisions are no different from or worse than other people’s. Finally, Democrats and Republicans have different degrees of faith in scientists’ ability to be unbiased; 62% of Democrats say scientists’ judgments are based solely on facts, while 55% of Republicans say scientists’ judgments are just as likely to be biased as other people’s.
The Center’s new survey highlights the degree to which the public values scientific expertise and how those perceptions are sometimes shaped by the crosscurrents of politics as well as familiarity with scientists and their work. More specifically, it shines a spotlight on trust and potential sources of mistrust connected with scientists who work in three fields: medicine, nutrition and the environment. They include medical research scientists, medical doctors, nutrition research scientists, dietitians, environmental research scientists and environmental health specialists.
The survey of 4,464 adults was conducted in January 2019 using Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel, a nationally repr
esentative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults.
The survey probed for people’s trust in scientists, along with potential sources of mistrust. To capture trust, the survey asked respondents how often they can count on scientists to perform their jobs with competence, to show care or concern for the public and to present their findings or recommendations in a fair and accurate way. The survey also asked for views about scientific integrity, including the extent to which misconduct is a problem, the degree to which scientists are open about potential conflicts of interest, and whether they accept accountability for mistakes.
Among other important findings:
Despite generally positive views about scientists across all six specialties, most Americans are skeptical about key areas of scientific integrity. No more than two-in-ten Americans believe scientists across these groups are transparent about potential conflicts of interest with industry all or most of the time. Similarly, minorities (ranging from 11% to 18%) say scientists regularly admit their mistakes and take responsibility for them. Between about a quarter and half of Americans consider misconduct a “very big” or “moderately big” problem, with the public generally skeptical that those engaged in misconduct routinely face serious consequences.
Americans tend to trust science practitioners, who directly provide treatments and recommendations to the public, more than researchers working in the same areas. For example, 47% say dietitians provide fair and accurate information about their recommendations all or most of the time, compared with 24% for nutrition scientists discussing their research. There is a similar gap when it comes to information from medical doctors and medical research scientists (48% and 32%, respectively, say they provide fair and accurate information all or most of the time). However, trust in environmental health specialists – practitioners who offer recommendations to organizations and community groups – is about the same as that for environmental research scientists.
When Americans gauge the kinds of things that would influence their faith in scientific findings, their verdict is clear: Open public access to data and independent committee reviews inspire the most confidence in scientists and boost their trust in research findings.
A majority of U.S. adults (54%, including equal shares of Democrats and Republicans) believe the public should play an important role in guiding policy decisions on scientific issues; 44% say public opinion should not play an important role because the issues are too complex for the average person to understand.
Public confidence in medical scientists is similar to that for scientists overall; 87% report either a great deal (35%) or a fair amount (52%) of confidence in medical scientists to act in the best interests of the public.
Americans with more factual science knowledge have greater confidence than those with less science knowledge that scientists act in the public interest. (For more information about the science knowledge index, see “What Americans Know About Science.”)
Black and Hispanic adults are more likely than whites to see professional or research misconduct as a very or moderately big problem. For doctors, for example, 71% of blacks and 63% of Hispanics say misconduct is at least a moderately big problem, compared with 43% of whites. A larger percentage of blacks (59%) and Hispanics (60%) than whites (42%) say misconduct by medical research scientists is a very big or moderately big problem.
1. Partisanship influences views on the role and value of scientific experts in policy debates
A majority of U.S. adults support the participation of scientific experts in policy debates, but Democrats are more likely than Republicans to think scientists should be involved and are more likely to value their decisions. Partisan divisions also arise in beliefs about the value of the scientific method and the likelihood of bias in scientists’ judgments.
Overall, 60% of Americans say scientists should play an active role in policy debates about scientific issues, the Center’s new survey shows. A smaller share (39%) says scientists should “focus on establishing sound scientific facts and stay out of public policy debates.”
But there are dueling perspectives along party lines about the role and value of scientific experts in science-related policy debates, with most Democrats (73%, including leaners) saying scientists should take an active role. In contrast, a majority of Republicans (56%, including leaners) say scientists should focus on their research and stay out of policy debates, while a smaller percentage (43%) say scientists should play an active role in such debates.
Democrats also are more inclined than Republicans to value the opinions of scientific experts in policy matters. Some 54% of Democrats think scientific experts are usually better at making decisions about scientific issues than other people. In contrast, 34% of Republicans say the same.
How much people know about science can also impact their perspectives on these topics, but the findings show the influence of people’s science knowledge on their views depends on their partisan lens. For example, 84% of Democrats with high science knowledge say scientists should play an active role in science policy debates, compared with 58% of Democrats with low science knowledge. No such pattern exists among Republicans. Four-in-ten Republicans with high science knowledge (40%) – and 52% of those with low science knowledge – say scientists should play an active role in science policy debates. Past Pew Research Center surveys have found a similar pattern on a range of views related to climate and energy issues.
More Democrats than Republicans trust the objectivity of scientists and the scientific method
Most Americans believe the processes of science – namely, the scientific method of observing and collecting empirical evidence – are fundamentally sound.
Overall, 63% of Americans say the scientific method generally produces accurate conclusions, while a smaller share (35%) says it can be manipulated to produce a desired conclusion.
Further, a majority of U.S. adults (55%) believe scientists’ judgments are “based solely on the facts,” as opposed to scientists being “just as likely to be biased” in their judgments as other people (44%).
On average, however, more Democrats than Republicans (including independents who identify with each party) are inclined to express confidence in both the scientific method and scientists’ conclusions.
Seven-in-ten Democrats (70%) say the scientific method generally produces accurate conclusions. Opinion among Republicans is more divided, with 55% saying the scientific method produces accurate conclusions and 44% saying the scientific method can be manipulated by researchers to produce desired results.
About six-in-ten Democrats (62%) say scientists make judgments based solely on the facts. By comparison, 44% of Republicans say scientists’ judgments are based on facts, while 55% say scientists’ opinions are just as likely to be biased as other people’s.
Science knowledge levels also influence people’s views on these issues, but the correlation depends on their partisanship.
Among Democrats, an overwhelming majority of those with high science knowledge (86%) think the scientific method generally produces accurate conclusions. In contrast, about half of Democrats with low science knowledge (52%) say the scientific method produces accurate conclusions. Differences are modest by comparison among Republicans with high, medium and low science knowledge levels.
But when it comes to questions of susceptibility to bias, 64% of Republicans with high science knowledge say scientists are just as likely to be biased as other people, while 42% of Republicans with low science knowledge agree. Democrats with low, medium and high science knowledge are all about equally likely (in the 34% to 39% range) to view scientists as susceptible to bias.
Thus, knowledge and information can influence beliefs about these matters, but it does so through the lens of partisanship, a tendency known as motivated reasoning.
Public trust in scientists is only sometimes correlated with political party
Despite political differences over the role and value of scientific experts, public support for and trust in scientists is not uniformly connected with politics, but rather differs depending on the field of scientific study. The Center’s survey looks at public trust in scientists specializing in the environment, medicine and nutrition. Democrats have more trust than Republicans in environmental scientists – whether researchers or environmental health specialists – to perform their jobs with competence, to show concern for the public interest and to present their findings or recommendations in a fair and accurate way. There are also some partisan differences in views of nutrition researchers, but there are no such differences when it comes to medical doctors, medical researchers or dietitians. For details, see “Partisan differences in overall views of and trust in scientists occur primarily for environmental scientists.”
Prior Pew Research Center studies have shown wide political divides on public attitudes related to climate, energy and the environment but no differences or only modest ones when it comes to a host of other science-related issues, including beliefs about the safety of childhood vaccines and the health risks of eating genetically modified foods.
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Death toll in El Paso Walmart massacre rises to 22 – with victims including a grandfather who shielded his wife and nine-year-old granddaughter from bullets, an Army veteran and a hero mom who saved her two-month-old son
The number of people killed in Saturday’s mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, rose to 22 by midday on Monday
The shooter was confirmed to be 21-year-old Patrick Crusius of Allen, Texas
Less than 20 minutes before the shooting, Crusius allegedly shared a twisted and seething anti-immigrant manifesto outlining his sickening motives
One of the victims was David Johnson, 63, who was killed while protecting his wife and granddaughter from gunfire
Arturo Benavides, 60, was also killed while shopping with his wife, who escaped
The victim’s niece described him as ‘a strong-willed, caring, giving, and special person’ well known in the community after years as a Sun Metro bus driver
Jordan Anchondo, 25, and her husband Andre were confirmed among the dead
Jordan’s heartbroken sister Leta Jamrowski said the mother fell on her son after she was shot, and he is now in the hospital being treated for broken bones
Mexican authorities said seven of their nationals were also killed
One of them, Jorge Calvillo, died shielding his granddaughter’s soccer team
To add a victim to this list, please contact megan.sheets@mailonline.com
PUBLISHED: 09:06 EDT, 5 August 2019 | UPDATED: 17:19 EDT, 5 August 2019
The number of people killed in Saturday’s mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, has risen to 22, El Paso police announced Monday morning.
A gunman, identified by police as Patrick Crusius, opened fire on the crowded store in what authorities are calling an act of domestic terrorism.
Witnesses said the shooter showed ‘no remorse’ as he unleashed a spray of bullets on the super-store at the Cielo Vista Mall, a popular shopping destination for people both sides of the US-Mexico border.
At least 22 people were killed and more than two dozen were injured before Crusius was arrested.
Among the victims were a grandfather who shielded his wife and nine-year-old granddaughter from a hail of bullets, an Army veteran, a 15-year-old boy and a pair of hero parents who saved their two-month-old son.
Less than 20 minutes before the shooting, Crusius allegedly uploaded a twisted and seething anti-immigrant manifesto to an online forum outlining his sickening motives and revealing that he intended to target Hispanics.
Mexican authorities confirmed that seven Mexican nationals were among those killed.
People pray beside crosses with the names of victims who died in the shooting to a makeshift memorial after the shooting that left 22 people dead at the Cielo Vista Mall WalMart in El Paso, Texas
A police officer walks past a makeshift memorial outside Walmart, near the scene of a mass shooting which left at least 22 people dead
THE VICTIMS
David Johnson
David Johnson, 63, was killed while protecting his wife and nine-year-old granddaughter from gunfire, according to family members.
Johnson’s family got separated from him during the rampage and was initially told that he was receiving medical attention.
When they arrived at the hospital they learned that the person identified as David Johnson was not their loved one, and their search for him continued.
On Sunday the family received confirmation that he was killed.
His wife and granddaughter both returned home safely thanks to his heroic actions.
David Johnson, 63, was killed while protecting his wife and nine-year-old granddaughter from gunfire during the shooting rampage at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday
Arturo Benavides
US Army veteran Arturo Benavides, 60, had been shopping with his wife when gunfire erupted. She managed to escape, but her husband did not.
Several family members posted to social media over Saturday and Sunday looking for information about the man they knew as ‘Turi’. They were heartbroken to learn that he was among the victims.
Benavides’ niece, Jacklin Luna, described her uncle as ‘a strong-willed, caring, giving, and special person’ who well known in the community in the years he spent as a Sun Metro bus driver.
‘He was the person to always give a helping hand, a home to stay, and a meal,’ Luna told Buzzfeed of her uncle on Sunday.
‘He loved each and every one of us in our own ways. Loved oldies on a Sunday morning, sitting out on his chair in the front porch with his dog Milo at his feet.’
Arturo Benavides, 60, has been identified as one of the 22 people killed in Saturday’s shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas
Benavides’ niece, Jacklin Luna (above together), described her uncle as ‘a strong-willed, caring, giving, and special person’ who well known in the community in the years he spent as a Sun Metro bus driver
Jordan and Andre Anchondo
Hero mom Jordan Anchondo, 25, was killed while shielding her two-month-old son from bullets.
She was shopping for back-to-school supplies when the attack happened.
Anchondo’s heartbroken sister Leta Jamrowski said the mother-of-three fell on top of the infant as she was shot. The boy suffered broken bones and is being treated in a hospital.
‘From the baby’s injuries, they said that more than likely my sister was trying to shield him,’ Jamrowski, 19, told the Associated Press.
‘So when she got shot she was holding him and she fell on him, so that’s why he broke some of his bones.
‘He pretty much lived because she gave her life.’
Jordan’s husband Andre was also killed in the attack, the family confirmed Sunday.
A friend recalled that he had recently turned his life around after struggles with drug dependence and run-ins with the law.
The friend, Koteiba “Koti” Azzam said: ‘I love the guy. He had the character and the charisma..
Azzam said Anchondo had started a business in El Paso, building things from granite and stone, and made it successful through hard work.
He also was on the verge of completing a home he was building for his family.
In addition to their two-month-old son, the couple also share two daughters.
Jordan Anchondo, 25, was shot dead while shielding her two-month-old son (above together) from gunfire during the massacre
Anchondo’s heartbroken sister Leta Jamrowski revealed she was among the 22 people killed. The 25-year-old victim is seen left and right in photos posted to social media
Jordan’s husband Andre Anchondo (right) was also among the dead
Jordan and Andre Anchondo are seen in a wedding photo from a year ago
Andre Anchondo (above with his two daughters) is still missing as of Sunday afternoon
Woman pleads for information on missing relative after shooting
Angelina Englisbee
Angie Englisbee, an 86-year-old grandmother, was also killed, relatives told media.
Her son Will Englisbee told CNN that his brother last spoke to their mother by cell phone while she waited in line at Walmart, just minutes before the shooting.
Her granddaughter Mia told the New York Times that Angie had seven children and a son who died in infancy. She raised her children alone after her husband died of a heart attack.
Mia said: ‘She was a very strong person, very blunt. It feels like hell — it doesn’t feel real.’
Angie Englisbee, an 86-year-old grandmother, was also killed
Javier Rodriguez
Javier Rodriguez, 15, was identified by his aunt, Elvira Rodriguez, on Sunday afternoon.
She shared a photo of the boy on Facebook asking for any information about her nephew, only to follow it up two hours later with a confirmation of his death.
‘Thank you to everybody who helped us search for my nephew. We found him,’ she wrote.
‘I just don’t get why ? I know I’ll never have answers. I’m so confused, hurt, mad!!!!! May you Rest In Peace baby boy!!! We love you so much baby!!!!!’
+31
15-year-old Javier Rodriguez (right), was identified by his aunt on Sunday
A relative shared this image of Javier Rodriguez after the shooting asking if anyone had seen him
Leonardo Campos and Maribel Hernandez
Leonardo Campos Jr and his wife Maribel Hernandez were among those killed in the attack, the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo school district said.
A statement to the Monitor said: ‘The PSJA Family is sad to hear reports of the loss of one of our own, PSJA High School Class of 1996 Alum Leonardo Campos Jr during yesterday’s tragic shooting in El Paso’.
A friend posted on Facebook: ‘Leo, you were a great friend and always with a big heart. We are going to miss you brother.’
Hernandez’s brother told KFOX14 they dropped off their dog at a groomer and then went shopping.
He said he knew something was wrong when the groomer called and said the dog was never picked up.
A family member tracked the GPS on the couple’s vehicle and saw it was in the Walmart parking lot.
Police confirmed on Sunday that both Hernandez and Campos had died.
Leonardo Campos Jr and his wife Maribel Hernandez were among those killed in the attack
A friend posted on Facebook: ‘Leo, you were a great friend and always with a big heart. We are going to miss you brother’
Seven Mexican nationals
Mexican authorities confirmed that seven of their nationals were among those killed.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed that six others were injured, including Mario de Alba Montes, 45, Olivia Mariscal Rodriguez, 44, and 10-year-old Erika de Alba Mariscal.
Those killed were:
Sara Esther Regalado and Adolfo Cerros Hernández
The children of Sara and Adolfo announced on Facebook that their parents had been killed in the attack.
The children of Sara and Adolfo announced on Facebook that their parents had been killed
Sara Esther Regalado (left) and Adolfo Cerros Hernández (right)
Gloria Irma Márquez
The family of Gloria Irma Marquez confirmed online that she had been killed.
They wrote online: ‘Gloria was a dedicated mother, grandmother and friend.’
Gloria Irma Marquez was a mother and grand mother
Jorge Calvillo García
Jorge Calvillo, of Torreón, Mexico, was one of the first people killed in the shooting when Crusius opened fire on a group of people raising money for his granddaughter Emily’s soccer team.
Calvillo’s nephew Raul Ortega said the grandfather jumped in to shield the young girls from the bullets when he was shot.
His son Luis Calvillo, Emily’s father and coach of the soccer team, was also shot. He is said to be in critical condition.
Jorge Zermeño Infante, the mayor of Jorge Calvillo’s hometown Torreón, confirmed his death, writing on Facebook: ‘God comfort his family and friends, as well as all those affected with this event.’
Jorge Calvillo (left) was one of the first people killed in the shooting when Crusius opened fire on a group of people raising money for his granddaughter Emily’s soccer team
María Eugenia Legarreta Rothe
María Eugenia Legarreta Rothe, originally from Chihuahua, was confirmed killed by her sister, who wrote online: ‘It’s something I can’t assimilate’.
María had reportedly gone to El Paso to pick her daughter up from the airport, but had stopped at Walmart to do some shopping first.
María Eugenia Legarreta Rothe was confirmed killed by her sister
Ivan Filiberto Manzano
Ivan Filiberto Manzano, of Ciudad Juarez, was confirmed killed by by Mexican authorities.
He had two children, aged five and nine.
Ivan Filiberto Manzano was a father of two
Elsa Mendoza de la Mora
Elsa Mendoza de la Mora, of the city of Yepomera, was a teacher and principal of Jaime Torres Bodet Elementary School.
She had gone into the Walmart to buy some items, while her husband and son waited in the car, her family told Mexican newspaper Milenio .
Former students described her as ‘an excellent teacher loved by all’.
Elsa Mendoza de la Mora was among those killed, it was confirmed
The twenty-minute massacre was the eighth deadliest in US history.
Surveillance video shows a man believed to be Crusius walking in through the front entrance of the Cielo Vista Mall Walmart with an AK47-styled assault rifle.
The gunman, wearing what appears to be ear defenders and cargo pants, first opened fire in the parking lot outside the store, shooting and killing ‘locals that were fundraising outside the Walmart selling water. Children and adults.’
He then walked through the front door in a calm and confident state, as if he was ‘on a mission’, a witness said.
President Donald Trump addressed both the El Paso shooting – and another massacre that took place 13 hours later in Dayton, Ohio, – from the White House on Monday morning.
He described Crusius as a ‘wicked man’ who ‘shot and murdered 20 people and injured 26 others, including precious little children’.
Trump said he is asking the Justice Department to propose legislation to ensure that those who commit hate crimes and mass murders face the death penalty.
Referencing both shootings, the president said: ‘These barbaric slaughters are an assault upon our community.
‘We are outraged and sickened by this monstrous evil. … We are a loving nation and our children are entitled to grow up in a just, peaceful and loving society. Together we lock arms to shoulder the grief.
‘In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy.’
The Dayton shooting took place just after 1am on Sunday, leaving nine people dead and 26 injured.
Antonio Basbo cries while standing next to the cross for his partner Margie Reckard at the make shift memorial for the mass shooting
A man prays beside crosses with the names of victims who died at a makeshift memorial after the shooting that left 22 people dead
A man kneels and prays at the make shift memorial for the mass shooting that happened at a Walmart in El Paso
Patrick Crusius has been described by those who knew him as a short-tempered ‘loner’ with long-held animosity toward Mexican immigrants. The 21-year-old suspect from Allen is seen left in a driver’s license photo and right in the back of a police car after his arrest
Surveillance footage shows the shooter entering the Walmart wielding an AK-47 assault rifle
White Nationalists Pose Challenge to Investigators
Home-grown terrorists, some motivated by white-nationalist ideologies, often fly under the radar
Mourners gather at a vigil Sunday after a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio. PHOTO: JOHN MINCHILLO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Dan Frosch, Zusha Elinson and Sadie Gurman
The shootings in Texas and Ohio that killed at least 31 people over the weekend left authorities searching for how to confront the challenges posed by mass violence and domestic terrorism, especially attacks driven by white-nationalist ideologies.
Violence committed by white men inspired by an extremist ideology make up a growing number of domestic terrorism cases, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Of about 850 current domestic terrorism cases, 40% involve racially motivated violent extremism and a majority of those cases involve white supremacists, the FBI said.
*Mass shootings are the mass killings that involve guns, with four or more people killed, not including the assailant. †Year to date
Sources: News reports (deadliest shootings); Associated Press/USA Today/Northeastern University Mass Murder Database (killings, shootings by year)
Saturday’s attack in majority-Hispanic El Paso, Texas, which left at least 22 people dead, was allegedly committed by a 21-year-old white man who was believed to have posted a manifesto of sorts that espoused anti-immigrant and white-nationalist ideology on a popular far-right website not long before the shooting.
Assailants in other recent attacks, including at synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway, Calif., also espoused white-nationalist beliefs.
“We are most concerned about lone offenders, primarily using firearms, as these lone offenders represent the dominant trend for lethal domestic terrorists,” Michael McGarrity, the FBI’s top counterterrorism official, recently told lawmakers. “Frequently, these individuals act without a clear group affiliation or guidance, making them challenging to identify, investigate and disrupt.”
As of Sunday night, the motive of the Dayton, Ohio, shooter, who killed nine and injured 27, was unclear, authorities said. The man was shot dead by police.
Preventing—and understanding—such crimes has been vexing for federal law-enforcement officials, who in recent years had been more focused on the threat posed by radical Islam and homegrown terrorists who pledge fealty to Islamic State. But now, Mr. McGarrity said, that approach is changing as domestic-terrorism-related arrests and killings have surpassed those involving Islamic extremism in recent years.
The young white men who have largely perpetrated the recent shootings typically aren’t on law enforcement’s radar or part of any larger organized enterprise, experts said. The ideology they often claim adherence to appears on shadowy websites like 8chan, which describes itself as “The darkest reaches of the internet.”
Those corners of the internet can be tough for law enforcement to mine, said Clint Watts, a research fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. “It’s a free-for-all and it’s anonymous,” said Mr. Watts. Mr. Watts said law enforcement now has to use more “human intelligence” sources. Rather than relying on computers scraping websites and forums for suspicious activity, law enforcement increasingly must turn to the expensive and difficult work of gathering information through individual relationships and infiltration of extremist groups, he said.
Another difficulty in thwarting attacks: The vast majority of young disaffected men who embrace white nationalist ideology won’t commit mass violence, said Dr. Jonathan Metzl, a professor at Vanderbilt University who has studied the role of white nationalism in mass shootings. He said that more focus is needed on combating the ideology, given the difficulties of trying to predict the next mass shooters.
Others, including some members of Congress and experts who study U.S. extremism, said the FBI has been too slow to divert some of the extensive resources it devotes to combating Islamic terrorism to thwarting domestic hate groups. The bureau expended considerable resources on white supremacy in the 1990s but changed its focus after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“As the Justice Department adapted counterterrorism as their number one priority, we weren’t looking at all terrorism equally,” said Michael German, a former FBI agent who worked undercover in white-supremacist and neo-Nazi groups in California and Washington during the 1990s.
In an interview, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who left the Trump administration in May, said fighting racist ideologies is a job for both law enforcement and politicians. Mr. Trump, he said, can play a role by personally condemning white nationalism.
Mr. Rosenstein, who in a tweet Saturday noted an urgent need to combat white terrorism, said the president “can deter it by making clear that he does not approve, just as he does for Islamic terrorist ideologies. The lesson of 9/11 is that the government should focus on deterring future attacks and not just condemning past killers.”
In the past, Mr. Trump at times appeared to be equivocal about such groups. After white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., clashed with counterprotesters in 2017, leading to a woman’s death, the president said there were “very fine people, on both sides.”
The White House didn’t respond to requests for comment.
One pervasive belief that has linked white-nationalist mass shooters all over the world—from Norway in 2011 to New Zealand earlier this year and now El Paso—is that they and their countries are under attack by nonwhites and immigrants.
The shooters in El Paso and in April at a synagogue in Poway, Calif., both allegedly wrote that they were inspired by the attacker who killed 51 people in Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand in March.
The Christchurch shooter titled his manifesto “The Great Replacement,” also the name of a 2011 anti-immigration book by French author Renaud Camus. The book holds that white people are at risk of being replaced by migration and the growth of minorities.
The anti-immigrant screed written by the alleged El Paso shooter also cited the “great replacement” theory. It described a potential mass shooting as a response to an “invasion of Texas” by Hispanic immigrants.
The manifesto also leveled charges at corporations, calling them the engines that drive illegal immigration, and blaming them for the “destruction of our environment by shamelessly overharvesting resources.”
A new analysis by the anti-extremism think tank Institute for Strategic Dialogue found 1.5 million tweets referencing the “great replacement” theory in the past seven years. Such tweets nearly tripled to 330,000 in 2018 from 120,000 in 2014, according to the study.
Kathleen Blee, a University of Pittsburgh sociologist who has written several books on racist groups, said the fear of being replaced dates to at least the Jim Crow era, when white plantation owners in the South worried they would be outnumbered by freed slaves and Northerners who went south after the Civil War.
The notion has only strengthened in recent years. Said Ms. Blee: “Christchurch, Charlottesville, Pittsburgh. It’s all the same pattern.”
—Valerie Bauerlein and Ben Kesling contributed to this article.
PICTURED: Gunman, 21, who opened fire with an AK47 at an El Paso Walmart ‘killing at least 18 and injuring 21’, sending terrified shoppers fleeing before SWAT dramatically swooped and arrested him
El Paso mayor’s office confirms multiple fatalities in a mass-shooting inside a local Walmart on Saturday
Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick says the suspect, a 21-year-old male, has been taken into custody alive
Law enforcement sources said the suspect is Patrick Crusius, 21, of Dallas, Texas
Surveillance footage shows an image of the gunman walking through front entrance of Walmart on Saturday
The shooting took place at the Walmart near the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso, Texas on Saturday
A local NBC affiliate is reporting that at least 18 people were killed and nearly two dozen were wounded
A number of local businesses, shops, and restaurants were in lock down during the shooting
Witnesses posted video on social media showing panicked shoppers fleeing during the shooting
PUBLISHED: 13:50 EDT, 3 August 2019 | UPDATED: 17:14 EDT, 3 August 2019
At least 18 people were reportedly killed and at least 22 others, including a four-month-old baby, were wounded on Saturday after a gunman reportedly opened fire inside a Walmart in El Paso.
One suspect is in custody. He has been identified in press reports as Patrick Crusius, a 21-year-old man from Dallas.
Crusius is allegedly the man seen in surveillance footage walking in through the front entrance of the Walmart with an AK-47 assault rifle.
The gunman is seen wearing what appears to be either headphones or ear defenders.
Law enforcement sources told The Washington Examiner that Crusius ‘shot and killed locals that were fundraising outside the Walmart selling water. Children and adults.’
El Paso Mayor Dee Margo confirmed that there were multiple fatalities.
One suspect in Saturday’s mass shooting in El Paso is in custody. He has been identified in press reports as Patrick Crusius, a 21-year-old man from Dallas. Crusius is allegedly the man seen in surveillance footage walking in through the front entrance of the Walmart with an AK-47 assault rifle
The gunman is seen wearing what appears to be either headphones or ear defenders during the shooting on Saturday
Panicked shoppers flee the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso on Saturday after a gunman opened fire inside a nearby Walmart
Local reports indicate that at least 22 people were killed in the shooting in El Paso on Saturday
Kendall Long (left) comforts Kianna Long (right) who was in the freezer section of a Walmart during the shooting
Hawkins and Gateway are two streets that flank the Walmart. El Paso police later confirmed that the active shooter was inside a Walmart, according toUSA Today.
At least three other businesses in the area were also on lock down, including a Red Lobster franchise and a Hooter’s location.
One witness said he saw at least one person inside the store with a fatal head wound, and he saw shoppers in bloodied clothes.
Video posted on Twitter showed customers at one department store being evacuated with their hands up.
‘Hands in the air!’ an officer can be heard shouting in the footage.
‘We heard shots and saw smoke,’ said Victor Gamboa, 18, who works at the McDonald’s inside the Walmart store where the shooting took place.
‘I saw a man on the floor full of blood. He appeared to be dead. It happened very quickly.’
Gamboa said employees sheltered customers who huddled on the ground during the shooting rampage.
They were on the ground for some 15 minutes until officers arrived and led the survivors to a Sam’s Club across the street.
A family of three was one of a dozen waiting outside a local bus station, trying to get back to their car, in blocked-off Walmart parking lot.
‘I heard the shots but I thought they were hits, like roof construction,’ said Adriana Quezada, 39, who was in Walmart with in the women’s clothing section with her two children.
She said she saw four men, dressed in black, wearing shirts, moved together firing guns indiscriminately.
‘I saw four men, shooting everywhere,’ Quezada said.
‘I told my son, those are gunshots.’
Her daughter, 19, and son, 16, threw themselves on the ground, then ran out of the Walmart through an emergency exit.
They were unhurt.
Evan McMorris-Santoro, a reporter for the Vice news site, tweeted that he was at a town hall event for House Rep. Veronica Escobar when it was shut down due to the situation nearby.
Morris-Santoro clarified that the scene was ‘not close to us.’
Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. congressman who represented El Paso, tweeted: ‘Truly heartbreaking. Stay safe, El Paso.
‘Please follow all directions of emergency personnel as we continue to get more updates.’
After his tweet, O’Rourke said he was distraught by the news of the mass-shooting in his hometown.
An emotional O’Rourke told reporters on Saturday in Las Vegas that he had spoken by phone to El Paso Mayor Dee Margo, the city’s sheriff and U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar.
He says they were still learning details about the attack at or near the Cielo Vista Mall, in which police say multiple people were killed and a suspect was taken into custody.
O’Rourke said he planned to return home immediately to be with his family.
He asked ‘for everyone’s strength for El Paso right now. Everyone’s resolve to make sure that this does not continue to happen in this country.’
O’Rourke’s successor, House Rep. Veronica Escobar, tweeted: ‘Utterly heartbroken by the developing news in El Paso.
‘Monitoring the situation and in communication with our law enforcement. Please stay safe.’
Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted: ‘In El Paso, the Texas Dept. of Public Safety is assisting local law enforcement & federal authorities to bring this tragedy to the swiftest & safest possible conclusion.
‘We thank all First Responders for their courageous response & urge all area residents to remain safe.’
The White House says President Trump has been briefed on the shooting and has spoken to Attorney General William Barr and Abbott.
Trump tweeted: ‘Terrible shootings in ElPaso, Texas. Reports are very bad, many killed. Working with State and Local authorities, and Law Enforcement.
‘Spoke to Governor to pledge total support of Federal Government. God be with you all!’
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives announced that it has dispatched federal agents to the scene to assist local law enforcement.
‘Please stay away from the area and refrain from posting first responder activity on social media,’ the ATF’s Dallas bureau tweeted on Saturday.
A family that was shopping near Walmart during the shooting sought cover in nearby Landry’s Seafood, hostess Sofia Cervantes told USA TODAY.
‘They are in shock right now,’ Cervantes said. ‘They were barely able to talk to us.’
An employee of a nearby Olive Garden told The New York Times that the restaurant has also been placed in lock down.
At least 10 people ran into the restaurant seeking cover, the employee said.
‘We don’t have any information, just that there’s an active shooter at the Walmart in the same parking lot as we are,’ the employee said.
‘We’re just on lock down right now.
‘The SWAT team just came in and told us that they had cleared the building and told us lock the doors.’
An assistant manager at a Men’s Wearhouse in the Cielo Vista Mall said at least 15 people came into the store when the shooting started.
Susana Franco said police officers, military and the SWAT team could be seen from her store’s front windows.
‘They’re not letting people in the parking lot,’ she said. ‘They’re trying to evacuate all of the mall.’
El Paso is located on the border separating the United States and Mexico
Heavily armed police are seen next to an FBI armored vehicle next to the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso on Saturday
Police stand at attention during an active shooter at a Walmart in El Paso on Saturday
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms dispatched agents to aid local law enforcement
A local police officer is seen directing passersby near the scene of the shooting in El Paso on Saturday
Heavily armed police are seen outside the Walmart near the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso on Saturday
Police said there were no more threats to the area after a suspect was apprehended
Law enforcement officials are seen in front of a Hooters restaurant, which was placed on lock down during the shooting
A police officer armed with an assault rifle and wearing a bulletproof vest is seen at the scene of the shooting in El Paso on Saturday
A heavy police presence was observed on the roadways near the mall in El Paso
The suspect was taken into custody alive after the shooting in El Paso on Saturday
A local police officer is seen near the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso on Saturday
Walmart issued a statement on its Twitter account which read: ‘We’re in shock over the tragic events at Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso, where store 2201 & club 6502 are located.
‘We’re praying for the victims, the community & our associates, as well as the first responders.
‘We’re working closely with law enforcement & will update as appropriate.’
El Paso, which has about 680,000 residents, is in West Texas sits across the border from Juarez, Mexico.
There’s been a massive outpouring of support from the local El Paso community after the mass shooting at a shopping center in the city.
Frances Yepez is waiting to donate blood at Vitalant Blood Services on N. Zaragoza Rd, where she said there is a two-hour wait to give blood.
Yepez said the center is at maximum capacity and is no longer taking donations today, but there’s already a line to sign up to donate tomorrow.
“The line just continues and continues to grow,” she told CNN.
Yepez described the scene to CNN’s Alisha Ebrahimji:
“It’s quiet. The TV is on and a local station is providing updates. People are sniffling (crying) some are upset. I was at home. My son called me as he was at work. I quickly called my other son who works at the mall in one of the kiosks and luckily he was off and at home. I have a group text with my immediate family and everyone checked in. And my extended family has a group text and we all let everyone know we were ok.”
Story 3: Mass Shooting in Dayton, Ohio, 9 Killed Including The Shooter and 27 Injured — Videos
EXCLUSIVE: Man who drove with Dayton mass shooter and sister before massacre was his best friend – who Connor Betts then shot and is now cops’ best hope of finding motive for murders
The man who drove to Dayton with Connor Betts before his mass shooting can be revealed as Charles ‘Chace’ Beard, 24, the gunman’s best friend
Beard was shot and critically wounded outside the Ned Peppers Bar – where Betts also gunned down his own sister Megan
The three had driven from their family homes in Dayton suburb of Bellbrook to the Oregon District before Betts’ mass shooting early Sunday morning
Beard and Megan are not believed to be romantically involved; he is said to be in a relationship with another woman but was friends with Betts at high school
Confusingly, Beard was also on ‘kill list’ of targets he drew up when he was at the school
Revelation will deepen mystery over motive for Betts’ mass shooting, which cops do not believe was linked to the El Paso shooting the previous day
Beard will be key witness but it is unclear if he has been able to help police yet; his parents spoke to officers Monday
PUBLISHED: 19:45 EDT, 5 August 2019 | UPDATED: 21:22 EDT, 5 August 2019
Dayton gunman Connor Betts shot and critically injured his best friend when he killed nine victims including his own sister, Megan, 22.
DailyMail.com has exclusively learned that Charles ‘Chace’ Beard, 24, was the man who was in the car with Betts and Megan when they drove to the Oregon District where Betts carried out the second mass shooting of the weekend.
And Beard was among the first victims to be shot by 24-year-old Betts in his so-far motiveless massacre conducted in the early hours of Sunday morning.
He and Megan Betts appear to have been standing outside Ned Peppers Bar when Betts opened fire.
Betts, who was armed with an AR-15, wearing body armor and a mask and had as many as 250 rounds of ammunition, was taken down by cops about 30 seconds after he opened fire.
Chillingly, DailyMail.com can reveal, that Beard and Megan Betts were both ‘among the first victims,’ according to police. Beard appears to be friendly with Megan too, but according to his social media profile is in a relationship with another women.
The two drove in the Betts family’s 2007 Toyota Corolla to downtown Dayton with murderer.
Friends: Charles ‘Chace’ Beard (left and right) was a high school friend of Connor Betts. He drove with Betts and his sister Megan to Dayton from their home of Bellbrook – but Betts shot both of them, killing hisown sister and wounding Beard
Megan Betts was among the first killed in the massacre, according to police, at the same point at which Chances ‘Chace’ Beard was shot and wounded. The three drove together to the Oregon District of Dayton
Killer: Cops are mystified by the actions of Connor Betts in killing his sister Megan and eight other people. Charles Beard is now their most significant witness to an action which Dayton Police chief Richard Biehl said ‘seems to defy believability’
As the sole survivor of the car journey with Betts and a witness to the moments leading up to the atrocity, Beard could hold the key to why Betts embarked on his killing spree.
He was critically ill in the hospital in Dayton Monday but has been been speaking tio police.
But the fact Beard shot both his friend and his sister will only add to questions over his motive for killing nine people.
On Monday Dayton Police chief Richard Biehl said it ‘seems to defy believability’ that Betts would target his sister in what had initially seemed to be a mass shooting without a specific target.
‘It’s also hard to believe that he did not recognize his own sister,’ Biehl said. ‘So we just don’t know.’
The focus on Beard as a possible key to the mystery was stepped up by police Monday.
Two Bellbrook Police officers visited Beard’s parents, James and Linda, for more than 30 minutes Monday afternoon in their home less than a mile away from Betts’s own.
Beard studied computer engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Indiana.
His Facebook page lists him as an electrical engineer for Raytheon, the defense contractor. Dayton’s biggest employer is Wright-Patterson Air Force base.
Beard knew Betts from childhood and went to Bellbrook High School with him.
High School yearbook pictures show Betts and Chace, who were in the same year, performing in school plays together.
They were both in the chorus in a 2012 production of Rogers & Hammerstein’s musical version of Cinderella.
And there are numerous images of them together on Beard’s social media.
The young men’s closeness only seems to be confirmed by a Bellbrook police report.
Betts was arrested and booked for driving under the influence following a traffic stop on 5 May 2016 in the early hours of the morning.
His passenger went home as Betts was taken to the local police station to be processed.
Investigation: Two officers from Bellbrook PD spoke to Charles Beard’s parents James and Linda at the family home Monday. Their son was critically wounded but is also the key witness
As they were: Connor Betts and Charles Beard were part of the drama club at their high school, where both the chorus of Rogers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella in 2012
Childhood friends: Charles ‘Chace’ Beard and Connor Betts goofed around on pictures posted on social media, apparently during their time at high school or soon after
Graduates: Friends Charles Beard and Connor Betts graduated from Bellbrook High School, in the Dayton suburbs
Police said on Monday that it was hard to imagine Betts purposefully shooting his sister but also difficult to believe that he would not have recognized her as he opened fire on the street given the close proximity. The siblings are pictured with their mother Moira Cofer Betts
Connor Betts drove his 22-year-old sister Megan Betts and their friend Charles Beard to Dayton, Ohio in their family’s 2007 Corolla earlier on Saturday evening before he opened fire
Betts was described as ‘glassy eyed’ and struggled with sobriety tests administered on the scene of the traffic stop.
When asked to sign his name to the report Betts scratched out the barely legible word, ‘Handcuffed.’
And when was released later that morning it was Beard who came to collect him, signed him out and agreed to accept responsibility for him.
Yet – confusingly – DailyMail.com has been told that Beard was on the ‘hit list’ that Betts wrote while he was a sophomore at Bellbrook High School.
The existence of that list, divided into two columns: boys he wanted to kill and girls he wanted to rape, is just one of the disturbing details to have emerged as people struggle to understand what could have possibly prompted Betts to act.
Former classmates have described him as obsessed with death, with a history of violence and of having threatened to shoot up the school. He was suspended for a year as a result.
The apparent discrepancy between the ‘hit list’ and Betts’ ongoing friendship with Beard was alluded to by Dayton Police chief when he said he was not drawing conclusions from single pieces of evidence from the past.
Ex-classmate of Dayton gunman Connor Betts says she reported him to police in high school after he told her she was on his ‘rape list’ – as others reveal he had an obsession with death
Dayton gunman Connor Betts allegedly had an obsession with killing and death as former high school classmates say the warning signs were there long before he slaughtered his sister and eight others.
The 24-year-old massacred nine people, including his 22-year-old sister Megan Betts, with an assault rifle at about 1am on Sunday in a section of the city known for its nightlife.
Betts, who was wearing body armor and a mask during the rampage, was shot dead by police outside a bar about 30 seconds after he first opened fire.
As investigators try to piece together a motive and determine if he targeted his sister, a disturbing profile has since emerged painted by former classmates who claim he was obsessed with death, had a history of violence and threatened to shoot up the school.
Multiple former classmates at Bellbrook High School have said they reported Betts’ behavior to police but claim nothing was done to address the red flags and say they weren’t surprised he was responsible for the recent massacre.
Jessica Masseth, a female classmate who was named on a rape list compiled by Betts, said she contacted police at the time and that she handed her phone over to authorities so they could see threats he sent her.
Crowds call on Ohio governor to ‘do something’ following mass shooting
Jessica Masseth, a former high school classmate of Dayton gunman Connor Betts, said she reported a rape list he had compiled to police but claims they did nothing about it
She said that Betts had texted her a copy of the rape list.
‘The school failed us. The police failed us. He spoke and wrote of rape, decapitation and just the total destruction of those on that list, which included me,’ Masseth wrote on Facebook.
‘None of us are surprised by this. My mom called me with his name and I said ‘makes sense’. If Bellbrook High School had taken it more seriously… If the police had treated it like it should have been treated… There are levels of failure here that are sick.
‘This could have been prevented 10 f**king years ago when I made that phone call, when I was interviewed by the police and when I told the school.’
None of us are surprised by this. This could have been prevented 10 f**king years ago.
Ex-classmate Jessica Masseth
The rape list included girls who had spurned his advances or thought they were better than him. There was another ‘kill list’ that included names of boys who he considered a threat.
Betts was once taken off a school bus by police and then later suspended after the lists were reported to authorities.
An ex-classmate who worked with Betts at a fast food restaurant claims he threatened to kill customers who didn’t leave tips and another said he regularly spoke of rape and decapitation.
‘Conner Betts was a psychopath… I remember when he threatened to shoot up our school and had a hit list of people that he wanted to kill. I’ve worked with him too and he scared the employees on a daily basis,’ Bri Monique said.
‘Everyone who knew him knew he had issues. I would tell people all the time to just stay away from him because he’s threatened to kill people.
‘When the customers didn’t tip him, he would threaten to go to their house and kill them. I thought he was just all talk but then I would be at work by myself with him and hear him chanting things that sounded like he was worshiping the devil. I would be calling his name for him to stop and he wouldn’t answer.’
Betts, who was wearing body armor and a mask during the massacre, was shot dead by police outside a bar about 30 seconds after he first opened fire
As investigators try to piece together a motive and determine if he targeted his sister, a disturbing profile has since emerged painted by former classmates who claim he was obsessed with death
Another woman, who didn’t want to be identified but whose name was on the rape list, recalls receiving a phone call from police during her freshman year to tell her that she was included on a list of potential targets.
‘The officer said he wouldn’t be at school for a while,’ she said. ‘But after some time passed he was back, walking the halls. They didn’t give us any warning that he was returning to school.’
Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Schools officials have declined to comment about the lists and only confirmed that Betts attended schools in the district.
The discovery of the hit list early in 2010 sparked a police investigation, and roughly one-third of Bellbrook students skipped school out of fear, according to an article in the Dayton Daily News.
Though Betts, who was 17 at the time, was not named publicly by authorities at the time as the author of the list, the former classmates said it was common knowledge within the school he was the one suspended over the incident.
It’s not clear what became of that investigation and police have not yet commented on it.
Former Bellbrook Principal Chris Baker, who resigned last year, said he ‘would not dispute that information’ about the hit list suspension but declined to comment further.
It has also emerged that Betts was a member of junior ROTC military program during his time at Bellbrook.
Demoy Howell, one of his classmates who was also in the program, told the Dayton Daily News that he recalls it having a calming influence on Betts.
‘He was always a bit of an oddball,’ Howell. ‘He had a dark sense of humor — jokes about people dying. He would wear all black. I remember sensing a dark energy around him.
‘I think this is less of a hate crime and more of an ‘I hate everybody’ crime. I honestly feel more comfortable now knowing that he’s gone.’
The image above released by Dayton police shows the .223-caliber rifle and additional high-capacity magazines used by Betts to carry out the shooting
At about 1am on Sunday as the bars were getting ready to close, Betts started shooting at people outside the Ned Peppers Bar with his rifle. Surveillance video showed terrified people fleeing from outside the bar as gunfire rang out
Dayton PD release timeline of shooting and police response
Despite suggestions that Betts had been bulled during high school, some classmates have since come forward to say that wasn’t the case and that he was a ‘classic glorifier of violence’.
He was described by one former classmate as a ‘real scumbag’ who allegedly threatened to kill women and attack his school.
‘You can blame bullying (which would be lying), you can blame media (which would be extremely untruthful) or you can blame a society where threats against women that are bad enough to get you kicked out of high school are simply forgotten and allowed to ferment for almost a decade so he can kill nine people,’ Ben Seitz wrote on Facebook.
‘His violence was simply ignored as a ‘boys will be boys’ rhetorical/willfully ignorant cop out to protect that status quo.
‘A lot of blame all around: He had access to guns, he was toxically masculine a**hole, the cops did nothing about his threats. The list goes on.’
Drew Gainey was also among those who went on social media to say red flags were raised about Betts’ behavior years ago.
‘There was an incident in high school with this shooter that should have prevented him from ever getting his hands on a weapon. This was a tragedy that was 100% avoidable,’ he wrote on in a Twitter post on Sunday.
Police investigating the massacre said that Betts had no criminal record as an adult and it is not clear what, if any, criminal charges he faced when he was under 18.
Ohio law bars anyone convicted of a felony as an adult, or convicted of a juvenile charge that would have been a felony if they were 18 or older, from buying firearms.
Court records show that Betts was arrested for a DUI in 2016, which resulted in a $500 fine and probation. He later spent time in jail after violating his probation, ABC13 reports.
It comes after police said there was nothing in Betts’ background that would have prevented him from purchasing the .223-caliber rifle with extended ammunition magazines that he used to open fire outside the crowded bar.
Betts, pictured graduating from Bellbrook High School in 2013, was suspended over a rape and kill list he compiled in 2010
Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Schools officials have declined to comment about the lists and only confirmed that Betts attended schools in the district. Pictured is Bellbrook High School
At about 1am on Sunday as the bars were getting ready to close, Betts – who was by then dressed in body armor and a mask – started shooting at people outside the Ned Peppers Bar with his rifle.
Investigators are trying to confirm exactly when Betts retrieved the weapon and where he had stashed it in the lead up.
Authorities said a shotgun that was not used in the attack was later recovered from the trunk of his car.
They said he had at least 250 rounds of ammunition on him at the time and they have since recovered about 41 of his spent shell casings at the scene.
The rifle, which was fitted with an extended drum magazine that could hold 100 rounds, had been purchased legally online from a dealer in Texas and shipped to a local firearms dealer.
Police say it was modified after it was purchased. The five men and four women killed in the massacre include: Nicholas Cumer, Logan Turner, Thomas McNichols, Derrick Fudge, Saheed Saleh, Lois Oglesby, Monica Brickhous, Beatrice ‘Nicole’ Warren-Curtis and Betts’ sister Megan.
PUBLISHED: 16:57 EDT, 4 August 2019 | UPDATED: 03:47 EDT, 5 August 2019
A gunman in body armor opened fire early Sunday in a popular entertainment district in Dayton, Ohio, killing nine people, including his sister, and wounding dozens of others before he was quickly slain by police, city officials said.
Connor Betts, 24, was killed by police less than a minute after he started shooting a .223-caliber rifle in the streets of Dayton’s historic Oregon District at about 1am in the second US mass shooting in less than 24 hours.
His 22-year-old sister Megan, the youngest of the dead, were all killed in the same area, police said.
The other men and women were identified as: Lois Ogelsby, 27; Saeed Seleh, 38; Derrick Fudge, 57; Logan Turner, 30; Nicholas Cumer, 25; Thomas McNichols, 25; Beatrice Warren Curtis, 36; and 39-year-old Monica Brickhouse.
Police issued a search warrant on Betts’ home earlier on Sunday and are still trying to establish a motive.
Though several African-American men and women were killed during the attack, police said they haven’t found any indications that the shooting was racially or politically motivated.
However, police did find writings that suggest Betts had an interest in killing people.
Shoes are piled outside the scene of a mass shooting including Ned Peppers bar on Sunday
PICTURED: The victims of the Dayton mass shooting, including the gunman’s sister
Lois Ogelsby
Ogelsby had just had her second child in June. Several photos on her Facebook page show the young mother cradling her baby girl, Reign.
She also had another young daughter.
Derasha Merrett, a close childhood friend, told Dayton Daily News that Ogelsby had recently returned to work after taking maternity leave.
Merrett said that while Ogelsby was working at daycare, she was also taking classes at nursery school, where she hoped to work in a profession where she could show her love for children.
‘She was a wonderful mother, a wonderful person,’ Merrett said.
‘I have cried so much, I can’t cry anymore.’
Lois Ogelsby, 27, had just had her second child in June. Several photos on her Facebook page show the young mother cradling her baby girl, Reign. She also had another young daughter.
Merrett said the Oregon District where the shooting took place usually has a large police presence.
‘We never, ever would have thought this type of thing would happen right here in our city,’ she said.
‘A lot of people like to go down to the Oregon District because they feel safe.
‘All of the police that stay down there, they didn’t see that man with an AR-15? Come on.’
Nicholas Cumer
Nicholas Cumer was a graduate student in the master of cancer care program at Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania.
He had completed his undergraduate work at the university as an exercise physiology major.
The university’s president, Fr. Malachi Van Tassell, released a statement explaining that Cumer had been in Dayton ‘as part of his internship program with the Maple Tree Cancer Alliance’.
Nicholas Cumer (pictured), 25, was a graduate student in the master of cancer care program at Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania. He had completed his undergraduate work at the university as an exercise physiology major
‘Nicholas was dedicated to caring for others. He was recognized at the 2019 Community Engagement Awards among students who had completed 100+ hours of service.
‘In addition he was a graduate assistant with the university marching band. We join the nation in mourning Nicholas, along side all of the victims of this tragedy,’ the statement reads.
‘Our thoughts and prayers are with their family and friends during this most difficult time. A Mass in Nicholas’ memory will be arranged on campus this week, and we will share other arrangements as we learn of them.’
The university is also providing counseling services for community members. The Counseling Office may be reached at 814-472-3211.
Thomas McNichols
Thomas McNichols was known as ‘TeeJay’ to his close friends and family members.
He was remembered on Sunday as ‘a great father, a great brother — he was a protector,’ his cousin, Jevin Lamar, told The New York Times.
McNichols would often play kickball at family gatherings, according to Lamar.
A bereaved relative wrote on Facebook: ‘This is TOO MUCH. Rest peacefully my Angel TeeJay James.’
‘[M]y cousin did NOT deserve this at all.
‘The provider, the protector, & the rock.
‘Damn my cousins don’t deserve to mourn the loss of their brother, he was all they had.
‘This life we live is so unfair.
Relatives remembered Thomas McNichols as ‘a great father, a great brother — he was a protector.’
‘Please pray for my family peace, comfort and understanding.’
Donna Johnson, McNichols’s aunt, remembered her late nephew as a ‘gentle giant.’
‘He was so tall and a lot of folks thought he was older than he really was,’ she told Dayton Daily News.
McNichols was living with Johnson in the Westwood section of Dayton. He returned home from work on Saturday and ate Twizzlers candy with his aunt.
He then left with his cousin to the Oregon District.
After midnight, Johnson received a phone call from her niece telling her to quickly go toward East Fifth Street.
‘Everybody loved him. He was like a big kid,’ Johnson said.
‘When all of the movies come out – Batman, Black Panther – he would get all his nephews and take them to the movies.’
McNichols is survived by four children – two girls and two boys whose ages range from two to eight.
Derrick Fudge
Derrick Fudge was out with his family in the Oregon District on Saturday night, his sister told Dayton Daily News.
Fudge was enjoying a night out in Dayton with his son, his son’s fiancee, and several others.
‘They were all just down there enjoying themselves and had stepped out of, I think, one of the clubs and were in a line to get some food,’ Twyla Southall said.
Southall, who lives in Columbus, which is about an hour’s drive away, received a phone call late at night.
‘His son is very distraught,’ Southall said.
She said her brother loved his family, which included a dog named Lucy.
‘He was a good man and loved his family,’ Southall said.
Fudge was enjoying a night out in Dayton with his son, his son’s fiancee, and several others when the shooting started
Derrick Fudge was out with his family in the Oregon District on Saturday night, according to his sister
Monica Brickhouse and Beatrice Curtis
Monica Brickhouse was among the first victims to be identified. She leaves behind a six-year-old son.
According to a friend, Brickhouse was with her friend, Curtis, when they were both killed.
Monica Brickhouse (pictured left and right) was another victim in the shooting. She leaves behind a six-year-old son
Beatrice Warren Curtis (left and right), 36, was at the bar with her friend Brickhouse when they were both killed by the gunman
Logan Turner
Logan Turner was remembered by his mother as the ‘world’s best son,’ according to Dayton Daily News.
Danita Turner said that Logan was both ‘sweet and smart.’
‘He was very generous and loving and the world’s best son,’ she said.
‘Everyone loved Logan. He was a happy go lucky guy.’
A native of Springboro, Ohio, Logan completed his studies at Sinclair Community College.
Logan Turner, 30, a machinist from Springboro, Ohio, was remembered by his mother as the ‘world’s best son’
He then attended the University of Toledo, where he obtained an engineering degree.
Turner also took classes at Wright State University.
His mother said that Turner recently began a job as a machinist with Thaler Machine Co. in Springboro.
The neighborhood where the shooting took place is home to bars, restaurants and theaters, is ‘a safe part of downtown,’ said police Lt Col Matt Carper.
Dayton mayor Nan Whaley said the shooter was wearing body armor and had additional high-capacity magazines. Had police not responded so quickly, ‘hundreds of people in the Oregon District could be dead today,’ she said.
Police said they found writings that suggest Betts (pictured left, with his sister, Megan) had an interest in killing people
Whaley said at least 27 people were treated for injuries, and at least 15 of those have been released.
Several more remain in serious or critical condition, hospital officials said at a news conference.
Some suffered multiple gunshot wounds and others were injured as they fled, the officials said.
Police haven’t released further information about Betts or publicly discussed a motive.
One witness described hearing one gunshot and then a second one, which is believed to be when Betts shot his sister and her boyfriend.
The witness said after the second shot the fire was ‘rapid’ and several people started to run.
Trump says Dayton and El Paso shooters ‘seriously mentally ill’
Nikita Papillon, 23, was across the street at Newcom’s Tavern when the shooting started. She said she saw a girl she had talked to earlier lying outside Ned Peppers Bar.
‘She had told me she liked my outfit and thought I was cute, and I told her I liked her outfit and I thought she was cute,’ Papillon said.
She herself had been to Ned Peppers the night before, describing it as the kind of place ‘where you don’t have to worry about someone shooting up the place.’
Authorities retrieve evidence markers at the scene of a mass shooting on Sunday
Dayton mayor Nan Whaley and police Lt Col Matt Carper give the latest update on the mass shooting during a news conference at the Dayton Convention Center
‘People my age, we don’t think something like this is going to happen,’ she said. ‘And when it happens, words can’t describe it.’
Tianycia Leonard, 28, was in the back, smoking, at Newcom’s. She heard ‘loud thumps’ that she initially thought was someone pounding on a dumpster.
‘It was so noisy, but then you could tell it was gunshots and there was a lot of rounds,’ Leonard said.
Staff of an Oregon District bar called Ned Peppers said in a Facebook post that they were left shaken and confused by the shooting. The bar said a bouncer was treated for shrapnel wounds.
A message seeking further comment was left with staff.
President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and praised law enforcement’s speedy response in a tweet Sunday.
Gov. Mike DeWine issued his own statement, announcing that he ordered flags in Ohio remain at half-staff and offering assistance to Whaley and prayers for the victims.
Whaley said she has been in touch with the White House, though not Trump directly, and with DeWine. She said more than 50 other mayors also have reached out to her.
The FBI is assisting with the investigation.
First responders were seen removing bodies from the scene early Sunday morning
Authorities remove bloody rags and debris at the scene of the mass shooting
A family assistance center was set up at the Dayton Convention Center, where people seeking information on victims arrived in a steady trickle throughout the morning. Authorities at the scene on Sunday afternoon
A family assistance center was set up at the Dayton Convention Center, where people seeking information on victims arrived in a steady trickle throughout the morning.
Some local pastors were on hand to offer support, as were comfort dogs.
The Ohio shooting came hours after Patrick Crusius, 21, allegedly opened fire in a crowded El Paso, Texas, Walmart , leaving 20 dead and more than two dozen injured.
Just days before, on July 28, 19-year-old William Legan shot and killed three people, including two children, at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California.
Sunday’s shooting in Dayton is the 22nd mass killing of 2019 in the US, according to the AP/USA Today/Northeastern University mass murder database that tracks homicides where four or more people were killed – not including the offender.
The 20 mass killings in the US in 2019 that preceded this weekend claimed 96 lives.
Whaley said the Oregon District is expected to reopen Sunday afternoon, and a vigil is planned for Sunday evening at 8pm.
The shooting in Dayton comes after the area was heavily damaged when tornadoes swept through western Ohio in late May, destroying or damaging hundreds of homes and businesses.
‘Dayton has been through a lot already this year, and I continue to be amazed by the grit and resiliency of our community,’ Whaley said.
Story 4: Red Flagging The Gun Grabbing of Radical Extremist Democrat Socialist (REDS) — Racists of Color — Mass Shooters Are Not Mentally Ill But Evil — They Knew Exactly What They Were Doing — Vote Out of Office All Democrats and Republicans Voting For Red Flag Laws — Infringement of Second Amendment Right — Trump Betraying Second Amendment Rights of American People — Videos
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Congressman Massie Interview on Red Flag Laws
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Message to the school shooters: past, present and future
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Jordan Peterson on the worst thing about Donald Trump
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Forensic Psychologist Profiles Mass Killers
Mayo psychiatrist: Taking guns away from mentally ill won’t eliminate mass shootings
J. Michael Bostwick, M.D., a Mayo Clinic psychiatrist discusses an editorial commentary on an essay in Mayo Clinic Proceedings titled “Guns, Schools, and Mental Illness: Potential Concerns for Physicians and Mental Health Professionals.” The authors focus on recent mass shootings and argue that these actions were not and could not have been prevented by more restrictive gun legislation. They further contend that a diagnosis of mental illness does not justify stripping Second Amendment rights from all who carry such a diagnosis, most of whom will never commit violent acts toward others. Dr. Bostwick argues several points including that mass shootings are carefully planned — often spanning weeks or months. There is plenty of time for a meticulous planner and determined killer to get a gun somewhere in that time, he argues.
Most Mass Shooters Are Not Mentally Ill | Carmela Epright | TEDxGreenville
Carmela Epright is a bioethicist who advocates for resources for mental illness while dispelling myths about the profiles of mass shooters. Carmela Epright is a Professor of Philosophy at Furman University and a Clinical Professor of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. She has served as a visiting scholar to the Medical University of South Carolina, The University of South Carolina Medical School’s Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities and to the Institute for Applied Ethics at Dartmouth College. Dr. Epright received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in philosophy and an M.A. in Applied Ethics from Loyola University, Chicago. In 2004 she was awarded the Alester G. Furman, Jr. and Janie Earle Furman Award for Meritorious Teaching at Furman University. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
http://www.physicianfocus.org | http://www.massmed.org/physicianfocus | Dr. Bradley, who retired from the Unites States Army with the rank of Colonel and was previously Chief of Psychiatry at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, appears as the principal guest on the December episode of Physician Focus with the Massachusetts Medical Society. He is joined by Michael Tang, D.O., M.P.H., a psychiatry resident at Harvard South Shore Psychiatry, a program of Harvard Medical School, to discuss a range of topics surrounding mental illness and violence. Hosting the program is John Fromson, M.D., Vice Chairman for Clinical Affairs of the Department of Psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Chief of Psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital.
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For laws that required drivers of early automobiles to take certain safety precautions, see Red flag traffic laws.
States with red flag laws
In the United States, a red flag law is a gun violence prevention law that permits police or family members to petition a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present a danger to others or themselves. A judge makes the determination to issue the order based on statements and actions made by the gun owner in question.[1] Refusal to comply with the order is punishable as a criminal offense.[2][3] After a set time, the guns are returned to the person from whom they were seized unless another court hearing extends the period of confiscation.[4][5]
Such orders are known by various names, including “Extreme Risk Protection Orders” (ERPO) (in Oregon, Washington, Maryland, and Vermont); “Risk Protection Orders” (in Florida); “Gun Violence Restraining Orders” (in California); “risk warrants” (in Connecticut); and “Proceedings for the Seizure and Retention of a Firearm” (in Indiana).[6] As of August 2019, 17 states and the District of Columbia have passed some form of red-flag law. The specifics of the laws, and the degree to which they are enforced, vary from state to state.[7]
Other state legislatures considered similar legislation.[29][5][30][31] In 2019, legislatures in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina are considering such legislation.[7]
The specific provisions of red-flag laws differ from state-to-state, on issues such as who may petition for a risk protection order.[34] For example, in Indiana, only law enforcement may petition for an order.[34] In contrast, in Oregon, any person living with the person of concern may file a petition.[34] The California Legislature passed a measure in 2016 to allow high school and college employees, co-workers and mental health professionals to file such petitions, but this legislation was vetoed by Governor Jerry Brown.[9]
Effects
A 2016 study published in the journal Law and Contemporary Problems analyzed data from the 762 gun removals under Connecticut’s “risk warrant” law from October 1999 through June 2013 and determined that there was “one averted suicide for every ten to eleven gun seizure cases.”[35] The researchers concluded that “enacting and implementing laws like Connecticut’s civil risk warrant statute in other states could significantly mitigate the risk posed by that small proportion of legal gun owners who, at times, may pose a significant danger to themselves or others.”[35]
A 2018 study published in the journal Psychiatric Services utilized CDC data from all suicides in all 50 states from 1981-2015 to “examine the effects of Connecticut and Indiana’s risk-based firearm seizure law on state-level firearm suicide rates.”[36] The researchers concluded that “Indiana’s firearm seizure law was associated with a 7.5% reduction in firearm suicides in the ten years following its enactment, an effect specific to suicides with firearms and larger than that seen in any comparison state by chance alone. Enactment of Connecticut’s law was associated with a 1.6% reduction in firearm suicides immediately after its passage and a 13.7% reduction in firearm suicides in the post–Virginia Tech period, when enforcement of the law substantially increased.” The study also found that “Whereas Indiana demonstrated an aggregate decrease in suicides, Connecticut’s estimated reduction in firearm suicides was offset by increased nonfirearm suicides.”[36]
Usage
In the first four months after Florida’s risk protection law took effect, a total of 467 risk protection cases were filed in Florida. Slightly over one-fourth of the cases involved holders of concealed-carry firearm licenses; when an order is granted against a license-holder, the license-holder’s license is temporarily suspended.[37]
In California in 2016 and 2017, 189 petitions for gun violence restraining orders were granted. Of these, 12 petitions were filed by family members, while the rest were filed by law enforcement.[38][39]
In Maryland, the courts reviewed 302 petitions for a gun removal order in the first three months of the state’s law; the petition was granted in 148 cases (about half the time). About 60% of petitions were filed by family or household members, one petition was filed by a healthcare worker, and the rest were filed by police.[40] In November 2018, a Maryland man was killed by Anne Arundel County police officers serving a removal order after refusing to surrender his firearms; police said that there was a struggle over the gun and a shot was fired before officers fatally shot the man.[41]
In Marion County, Indiana (which contains Indianapolis, and the most of the uses of Indiana’s ERPO law), a 2015 study published in the journal Behavioral Sciences & the Law found that seizure petitions were filed in court 404 times between 2006 and 2013, from persons identified at being a risk of suicide (68%), violence (21%), or psychosis (16%). The study found that 28% of firearm-seizure cases involved a domestic dispute and 26% involved intoxication. The study found that “The seized firearms were retained by the court at the initial hearing in 63% of cases; this retention was closely linked to the defendant’s failure to appear at the hearing. The court dismissed 29% of cases at the initial hearing, closely linked to the defendant’s presence at the hearing. In subsequent hearings of cases not dismissed, the court ordered the destruction of the firearms in 72% of cases, all when the individual did not appear in court, and dismissed 24% of the cases, all when the individual was present at the hearing.”[42]
In Connecticut, some 764 “imminent risk” gun seizures were served between October 1999 and July 2013, according to a 2014 study in the Connecticut Law Review.[43] Of gun seizure orders served, 91.5% were directed at men and 8.5% were directed to women, and the average age of the individuals was 47.4 years old.[43] Police reports associated with the Connecticut gun seizures in 1999 to 2013 indicated that at the time of confiscation, about 30% of the subject gun owners “showed evidence of alcohol consumption” and about 10% “indicated using prescribed pain medications.”[43] At the time the warrants were served, the majority of gun owners (60% of men and 80% of women) were sent to a local hospital emergency department for an emergency evaluation; a minority (20%) were arrested.[43] The study noted that “In over 70% of the cases, the outcome of the hearings was unknown. For the cases with outcomes reported, the judges ruled that the weapons needed to be held by the state 68% of the time. Weapons were returned in only twenty of the reported cases. In fifteen other cases, guns were given to a family member; in thirty cases, the guns were destroyed.”[43]
Federal legislative proposals
Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, introduced a bill, the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act, which would allow allow states to use grants to develop red flag laws. The legislation is supported by 25 Democratic senators and two Democratic-aligned independent senators.[44][45] Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, introduced a separate bipartisan bill that would use grants to encourage the passage of state red-flag laws.[44] Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said in 2010 that he also planned to introduce legislation to encourage states to pass red flag laws.[34]
Support and opposition
An April 2018 poll found that 85% of registered voters support laws that would “allow the police to take guns away from people who have been found by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others” (71% “strongly supported” while 14% “somewhat supported” such laws).[46][47] State-level polling in Colorado and Michigan has shown similar levels of support.[48][49]
Democrats and some Republicans are receptive to this law.[1] Such laws are supported by groups that support gun control, such as Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and Everytown for Gun Safety. The latter group conducted a nationwide study showing that the perpetrators of mass shootings showed warning signs before the event 42% of the time.[12]
Opponents of red flag laws argue that such legislation infringes on the constitutional right to bear arms and the right to due process of law, and object to ex parte hearings.[50][51][52] The National Rifle Association (NRA) had previously argued that red flag laws unnecessarily hamper the right to due process of individuals who are restrained by them,[29] and worked to defeat such legislation in Utah and Maryland.[53] In a March 2018 policy reversal, the NRA suggested that it might support such laws, but conditioned any openness to such laws on an extensive list of conditions,[30][53] including a judicial finding by “clear and convincing evidence” that the person poses a significant risk of danger.[53] The NRA did not identify any federal or state red flag laws that it supported,[53] and even after its March 2018 announcement continued to work to defeat or weaken red flag bills introduced in state legislatures.[54] In summer 2018, the NRA mobilized to defeat red-flag legislation proposed in Pennsylvania because it objected to allowing initial hearings ex parte.[54] In Arizona in 2019, the NRA ghostwrote an opinion piece for sheriffs to submit to the local press stating their opposition to the legislation.[55] A 2019 study by gun rights advocate John Lott found red flag laws have no significant effect on murder, suicide, the number of people killed in mass public shootings, robbery, aggravated assault, or burglary.[56]
Some counties and cities have adopted “Second Amendment sanctuary” resolutions in opposition to red flag laws.[55][57][58] As of 2019, some 75 jurisdictions have declared themselves sanctuaries that oppose emergency protection orders and enforcement of gun background checks, at times with assistance from the NRA.[55]
Locations of US mass shootings in 2015, according to Shooting Tracker.
Mass shootings are incidents involving multiple victims of firearm-related violence. The precise inclusion criteria are disputed, and there is no broadly accepted definition.[2][3][4] One definition is an act of public firearm violence—excluding gang killings, domestic violence, or terrorist acts sponsored by an organization—in which a shooter kills at least four victims. Using this definition, one study found that nearly one-third of the world’s public mass shootings between 1966 and 2012 (90 of 292 incidents) occurred in the United States.[5][6] Using a similar definition, The Washington Post records 163 mass shootings in the United States between 1967 and June 2019.[7]
Gun Violence Archive, frequently cited by the press, defines a mass shooting as firearm violence resulting in at least four people being shot at roughly the same time and location, excluding the perpetrator.[8][9] Using this definition, there have been 2,128 mass shootings since 2013, roughly one per day.[8][10]
There is no fixed definition of a mass shooting in the United States.[4] The Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012, signed into law in January 2013, defines a “mass killing” as one resulting in at least 3 victims, excluding the perpetrator.[16][4][17][18] In 2015, the Congressional Research Service defined a mass shooting — for the purposes of its report entitled “Mass Murder with Firearms” — as “a multiple homicide incident in which four or more victims are murdered with firearms, within one event, and in one or more locations in close proximity”.[19] A broader definition, as used by the Gun Violence Archive, is that of “4 or more shot or killed, not including the shooter”.[20] This definition, of four people shot regardless of whether or not that results in injury or death, is often used by the press and non-profit organizations.[21][22][23][24][25]
Studies indicate that the rate at which public mass shootings occur has tripled since 2011. Between 1982 and 2011, a mass shooting occurred roughly once every 200 days. However, between 2011 and 2014, that rate has accelerated greatly with at least one mass shooting occurring every 64 days in the United States.[26] According to the non-profit Gun Violence Archive, there were 251 mass shootings between January 1 and August 4, 2019—the 216th day of the year.[27]
In recent years, the number of public mass shootings has increased substantially, although there has been an approximately 50% decrease in firearm homicides in the nation overall since 1993. The decrease in firearm homicides has been attributed to better policing, a better economy and environmental factors such as the removal of lead from gasoline.[28]
Differing sources
A comprehensive report by USA Today tracked all mass killings from 2006 through 2017 in which the perpetrator willfully killed 4 or more people. For mass killings by firearm for instance, it found 271 incidents with a total of 1,358 victims.[29]Mother Jones listed seven mass shootings, defined as indiscriminate rampages in public places resulting in four or more victims killed,[30] in the U.S. for 2015.[31] An analysis by Michael Bloomberg’s gun violence prevention group, Everytown for Gun Safety, identified 110 mass shootings, defined as shootings in which at least four people were murdered with a firearm, between January 2009 and July 2014; at least 57% were related to domestic or family violence.[32][33]
Other media outlets have reported that hundreds of mass shootings take place in the United States in a single calendar year, citing a crowd-funded website known as Shooting Tracker which defines a mass shooting as having four or more people injured or killed.[23] In December 2015, The Washington Post reported that there had been 355 mass shootings in the United States so far that year.[34] In August 2015, The Washington Post reported that the United States was averaging one mass shooting per day.[35] An earlier report had indicated that in 2015 alone, there had been 294 mass shootings that killed or injured 1,464 people.[36]Shooting Tracker and Mass Shooting Tracker, the two sites that the media have been citing, have been criticized for using a broader criteria – counting four victims injured as a mass shooting – thus producing much higher figures.[37][38]
Demographics
The majority of perpetrators are white males who act alone.[39] According to most analyses and studies however, the proportion of mass shooters in the United States who are white and male is not considerably greater than the proportion of white males in the general population of the US.[40]
Contributing factors
Several possible factors may work together to create a fertile environment for mass murder in the United States.[41] Most commonly suggested include:
Higher accessibility and ownership of guns.[41][5][13] The US has the highest per-capita gun ownership in the world with 120.5 firearms per 100 people; the second highest is Yemen with 52.8 firearms per 100 people.[41]
Mental illness[42] and its treatment (or the lack thereof) with psychiatric drugs.[43] This is controversial.[44][45] Many of the mass shooters in the U.S. suffered from mental illness, but the estimated number of mental illness cases has not increased as significantly as the number of mass shootings.[5] Under 5% of violent behaviors in the U.S. are committed by persons with mental health diagnoses.[46]
The desire to seek revenge for a long history of being bullied at school. In recent years, citizens calling themselves “targeted individual” have cited adult bullying campaigns as a reason for their deadly violence.[47]
Desire for fame and notoriety.[41][5] Also, mass shooters learn from one another through “media contagion,” that is, “the mass media coverage of them and the proliferation of social media sites that tend to glorify the shooters and downplay the victims.”[52][53]
Failure of government background checks due to incomplete databases and/or staff shortages.[54][55]
Weapons used
Several types of guns have been used in mass shootings in the United States. A 2014 study of 142 shootings by Dr. James Fox found 88 (62%) were committed with handguns of all types; 68 (48%) with semi-automatic handguns, 20 (14%) with revolvers), 35 (25%) with semi-automatic rifles, and 19 (13%) with shotguns.[56][57][58] The study was conducted using the Mother Jones database of mass shootings from 1982–2018.[59]High capacity magazines were used in approximately half of mass shootings.[60] Semi-automatic rifles have been used in six of the ten deadliest mass shooting events.[61][62]
The following mass shootings are the deadliest to have occurred in modern U.S. history (1949 to present). Only incidents with ten or more victim fatalities are included.[63]
Story 1: President Trump To Declare A National Emergency and Keeps Big Government Open Instead of Downsizing and Laying Off Permanently Non-essential Government Employees and Closing Departments– Trump Sides With Rollover Republicans and Radical Extremist Democrats– American People vs. Washington Political Elitist Establishment — Democrats and Republicans Continue To Betray Their Voter Base By Siding With Drug Cartels Massive Smuggling of Illegal Aliens and Illegal Drugs Into United States — Time For New Viable Political Party — Videos —
BREAKING NEWS: White House says Trump will sign spending bill to avoid shutdown but will declare border emergency TOO – as Pelosi warns GOP a future Democratic president could use the same tactic to impose gun control
President’s approval is required to avoid another government shutdown
Trump said he was ‘not happy’ with the compromise but White House signals he will accept it
White House said Trump ‘will sign the government funding bill’
But at the same time he will declare a national emergency to build the wall
Pelosi didn’t rule out legal action to block the move
She warned Republicans of the precedent it could set for the future
Rep. James C. Clyburn of South Carolina said he’s ‘sure’ it will pass
Deal must be signed into law by midnight Friday to avoid another shutdown
Senate adopted the measure by a vote of 83-16
House was set to vote Thursday evening on $328 billion package
President Donald Trump will sign a bipartisan spending deal – but will declare a ‘national emergency’ in an effort to procure funds to build a border wall, the White House said Thursday.
The move drew both statements of relief from lawmakers who wanted to avoid another government shutdown – and a threat from Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the emergency declaration.
Pelosi called it an ‘end-run around the will of the people,’ speaking to reporters minutes after news of Trump’s position broke, while warning it could come back to bite Republicans.
‘We will review our options, we’ll be prepared to respond appropriately to it,’ Pelosi said, asked about Trump’s planned emergency declaration.
President Donald Trump has expressed misgivings about a bipartisan deal, but will sign it, the White House said
She also brandished the threat a future Democratic president could use the same tactic of Trump moves forward
‘I know the Republicans have some unease about it, no matter what they say. Because if the president can declare an emergency on something that he has created as an emergency, an illusion that he wants to convey, just think of what a president with different values can present to the American people,’ she said.
‘You want to talk about a national emergency? Let’s talk about today, the one-year anniversary of another manifestation of the epidemic of gun violence in America,’ Pelosi said, referencing the one-year anniversary of the Parkland, Florida school shooting.
‘That’s a national emergency. Why don’t you declare that emergency, Mr. President? I wish you would. But a Democratic president can do that. [A] Democratic president can declare emergencies as well,’ she threatened.
Within minutes after the White House announced its support, the Senate adopted the legislative package by a vote of 83-16. The House was to follow suit Thursday night.
Sen. Mitch McConnell updated colleagues on his conversation with Trump, saying he ‘indicated’ he is ‘prepared to sign’ the budget bill minutes before the White House announced his support
‘The precedent that the president is setting here is something that should be met with great unease and dismay by the Republicans,’ said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
But Pelosi, even while touting the package as the product of compromise, bristled at Trump’s stated move to get around strict funding limits it included, namely $1.4 billion for border fencing.
‘So the precedent that the president is setting here is something that should be met with great unease and dismay by the Republicans. And of course we will respond accordingly when we review our options,’ Pelosi said.
Pelosi also blasted Trump for ‘making an end run around Congress.
‘The power of the purse, the power to declare war … and of course the responsibility to have oversight.’ Although she said Democrats would ‘review our options,’ and did not commit to filing a lawsuit against the move.
Pelosi said Congress maintains ‘the power of the purse, the power to declare war … and of course the responsibility to have oversight.’
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York blasted the move in even more scathing language. ‘Declaring a national emergency would be a lawless act – a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that President Trump broke his core promise to have Mexico pay for the wall,’ Schumer told colleagues moments after the deal passed the Senate.
‘It would be another demonstration of President Trump’s naked contempt for the rule of law and congressional authority. Congress just debated this very issue. There was not support for the president’s position on this issue,’ Schumer said, pointing to the legislative history that a court would likely consider.
‘For the president to declare an emergency now would be an unprecedented subversion of Congress’s constitutional prerogative,’ he said.
WHAT HAPPENS IF DEMOCRATS CHALLENGE A TRUMP-DECLARED BORDER ‘EMERGENCY’ IN COURT?
If President Trump declares that a national emergency exists on the U.S.-Mexico border, it’s likely that court challenges will quickly seek to stop him from exercising the powers federal law would give him.
Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said Thursday that ‘the Constitution grants Congress the authority to appropriate federal dollars, so I’m sure such action will be litigated in the courts.’
Congress passed the National Emergencies Act in 1975 in order to force post-Watergate presidents to explain themselves if they claim powers beyond what Congress has authorized.
Trump would have to cite the specific laws he’s relying on for emergency spending power.
The most likely basis is found in Section 2808 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code. It allows presidents to order the Defense Department to ‘undertake military construction projects’ during times of emergency ‘that are necessary to support … use of the armed forces.’
Trump began sending military troops to the southern border last year, tasking them with supporting border patrol units. Among their jobs has been hanging more than 150 miles of razor wire as a barrier to protect the border agents.
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who met with Trump in the Oval office on Thursday afternoon, said in a Feb. 4 speech ‘they’re putting up barbed wire. What’s the difference between barbed ware and a steel slat? I’m confident the president has the legal ability to do this.’
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said Thursday that ‘it will be challenged in court and is of dubious constitutionality.’
Trump’s opponents will have to find a loophole in Section 2293 of Title 33, which allows presidents to repurpose military ‘civil works’ budgets to build ‘authorized’ projects ‘that are essential to the national defense.’
That law applies in times of war or ‘national emergency.’
The largely civilian Army Corps of Engineers has already spent the past 18 months contracting out the work of building miles of border walls. It’s the Pentagon’s civil-works construction agency
It’s unlikely a federal court would weigh in on whether Trump has the legal authority to use his own discretion in declaring declare a national emergency. The 1975 law leaves that judgment up to the White House.
Every president since Gerald Ford has used it at least once. Barack Obama did it 12 times. Americans are still living under the conditions of 31 of the 58 declared ’emergencies.’ The U.S. Supreme Court has never invalidated one.
But his opponents would likely argue that Section 2808 can’t be used to build permanent walls that go beyond what’s necessary to protect the troops on border deployments.
And lawyers will squabble over whether Section 2293’s reference to ‘national defense’ includes border security in the first place.
A White House official said Thursday that the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which provided for wall construction along the border, is enough to show Congress has ‘authorized’ what Trump might want to fund unconventionally.
The official said the administration is betting that federal judges won’t want to weigh in on what is and is not related to national defense, a concept federal law has never clearly defined.
Trump said on Feb. 1 that while he expects legal challenges, ‘we have very, very strong legal standing to win.’
It would be ‘hard’ for Democrats to stymie him, he claimed, ‘but they tend to go to the Ninth Circuit,’ traditionally America’s most liberal and most often-overturned bank of judges.
‘And when they go to the Ninth Circuit, things happen.’
‘President Trump couldn’t convince Mexico, he couldn’t convince the American people, he couldn’t convince their elected representatives to pay for his ineffective and expensive wall. So now he’s trying an end run around Congress in a desperate attempt to put taxpayers on the hook for it,’ said Schumer.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told fellow senators Thursday that Trump was ‘prepared to sign’ the budget deal, and the White House soon confirmed it with stronger language.
Said White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders in a statement: ‘President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before he will also take other executive action – including a national emergency – to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border. The President is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country,’ she added.
With the flurry of action Thursday afternoon, the Senate and House were set to vote in sequence on the $328 billion package.
McConnell made his announcement on the Senate floor after signals of indecision from the White House were once again raising fears of a government shutdown after Friday.
Joint statement from Democratic leaders Schumer and Pelosi on possible declaration of ‘national emergency’
‘Declaring a national emergency would be a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that President Trump broke his core promise to have Mexico pay for his wall.
It is yet another demonstration of President Trump’s naked contempt for the rule of law.
This is not an emergency, and the president’s fear-mongering doesn’t make it one.
He couldn’t convince Mexico, the American people or their elected representatives to pay for his ineffective and expensive wall, so now he’s trying an end-run around Congress in a desperate attempt to put taxpayers on the hook for it.
The Congress will defend our constitutional authorities.’
McConnell spoke to Trump Thursday, and told his colleagues the president ‘indicated he’s prepared to sign’ the deal, which was inked Wednesday night.
Declaring a national emergency will allow Trump to repurpose billions of dollars Congress approved last year for other projects at the Pentagon and other agencies. The White House and Democrats have indicated that they expect interest groups to sue, challenging the president’s power to sidestep lawmakers’ power of the purse.
With Washington on edge a day before another shutdown deadline with no clear signal from the White House, McConnell told colleagues: ‘I’ve just had an opportunity to speak with President Trump, and he would, I would say to all my colleagues, has indicated that he’s prepared to sign the bill.’
‘He will also be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time. And I’ve indicated to him that I’m going to prepare – I’m going to support the national emergency declaration. So for all of my colleagues, the President will sign the bill. We’ll be voting on it shortly,’ McConnell said.
A top Democrat immediately blasted the move to declare an emergency for funds Congress would not approve.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland intruded on an NBC live broadcast to say ‘declaring a national emergency when there is no national emergency is not good for a President to do, and frankly I don’t think it’s good for precedent for future Presidents.’
A leading Senate Republican opened Thursday’s session with a prayer that President Trump would have the ‘wisdom’ to sign a bipartisan spending deal – after another day of mixed signals from the White House.
‘Let’s all pray that the president will have wisdom to sign the bill so the government doesn’t shut down,’ said Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, who has been a powerful defender of Trump’s but who also is pushing to make sure Special Counsel Mueller’s report gets shared with Congress.
Grassley’s appeal to a higher authority came hours after a senior Trump advisor said only that Trump was ‘taking a look’ at the legislation, which a bipartisan panel of House and Senate lawmakers agreed to Wednesday night.
Vice President Mike Pence, traveling in Poland, said Trump is ‘not happy’ with the deal – which includes just a quarter of the amount he wanted for a border wall, with funds restricted to existing forms of fencing.
‘I think he’s been very clear that he’s not happy with it. Seeing less than $ 1.4 billion dollars in border wall funding I know is a disappointment to the president, but he’s considering the bill,’ Pence said.
The president himself was circumspect, tweeting: ‘Reviewing the funding bill with my team at the @WhiteHouse!’
Trump’s earlier Twitter effort was even less revealing. It said simply ‘funding bill’, and was an apparent typo.
Other senior Republicans were taking a wait-and-see approach to avoid getting out ahead of the president. Prominent voices on the right came out Thursday to urge Trump not sign onto the deal.
‘This bill must NOT be signed by @realDonaldTrump,’ wrote conservative host Laura Ingraham. She added: ‘This bill is tantamount to an illegal immigration ‘stimulus’ — de facto amnesty to any ‘sponsor,’ family member or ‘potential sponsor’ of an unaccompanied minor. #ChainMigrationAmnesty,’ and in another swipe, wrote: ‘This 1,169 page monstrosity will green light more ‘family units’ crossing illegally—without a doubt.’
‘Let’s all pray that the president will have wisdom to sign the bill so the government doesn’t shut down,’ said Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa
The president said only he was ‘reviewing’ the bill
TAKE ONE: Trump deleted his initial tweet
On Thursday morning, the White House had yet to signal Trump was certain to sign the deal, after high-profile conservative commentators balked at the arrangement, which gives the president far less than the $5.7 billion he demanded for a border wall.
White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow told reporters Thursday Trump was still ‘looking at’ the compromise that finally reached written form late Wednesday.
‘He’s looking at it. I think it came in very late last night. He’s taking a look at that, you’ll hear more about it when he’s ready,’ Kudlow said.
Lawmakers released the text of the 1,159-page bill Wednesday night.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., said he is ‘sure’ the deal will pass
‘I think he’s been very clear that he’s not happy with it,’ Vice President Mike Pence said of Trump
White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow told reporters Thursday Trump was still ‘looking at’ the compromise that finally reached written form late Wednesday
The deal restricts fencing to existing types already in use
Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama tweeted Wednesday that Trump ‘was in good spirits,’ and once again called the bill a ‘down-payment’ on the wall. Trump has indicated he will use other methods to procure wall funds.
Following the 35-day shutdown, Trump allowed a bipartisan group of lawmakers from both parties to negotiate a compromise. Pulling away from it could once again tag Trump with producing a shutdown.
The agreement provides $1.4 billion for border fencing, but not the $5.7 Trump demanded for wall construction. Trump has been tweaking his rhetoric as the deal approached. His Tuesday rally at the Texas border city of El Paso had banners that said ‘finish the wall,’ and Trump says repeatedly that it is already being built.
Trump said Wednesday he is taking a ‘very serious’ look at a bipartisan compromise deal to give him just a quarter of the $5.7 billion he wants for a border wall – following reports sourced to his advisors that he is preparing to sign it.
Government funding legislation is once again hinging on President Trump’s support for a border wall.
‘A pretty good deal’: Senators react to border spending bill
‘We haven’t gotten it yet,’ Trump said, in reference to the bipartisan compromise that has yet to be turned into final bill language. ‘We’ll take a very serious look at it,’ Trump added during a meeting with the president of Colombia.
He said he would look for ‘landmines’ surreptitiously buried in the legislation negotiated by Republicans and Democrats from both chambers of Congress, but would not formally commit to signing it.
There was a last minute standoff over back-pay for federal contractors who lost millions during the shutdown that began in December.
Republican Sen. Roy Blunt said he was told the president would not back the effort.
Senate Appropriations chair Richard Shelby of Alabama says he told Trump the wall funding was a ‘down payment’
A bipartisan compromise would provide $1.37 billion for new border fencing
‘We’ll be looking for landmines, because you could have that,’ Trump said, indicating his advisors would be scrubbing legislation to fund the government in search of any surprises. Trump said he would take a ‘very serious’ look at bipartisan legislation to fund the government
‘I’ve been told the president won’t sign that,’ Blunt said Wednesday, adding ‘I guess federal contractors are different in his view than federal employees.’ Negotiators left the proposal out of the final compromise.
‘I’m sure it’s going to pass. I don’t know of any drama,’ said House Democrats’ chief vote-counter, Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., told the Associated Press.
President Donald Trump hasn’t given his final signal that he will sign a bipartisan compromise with $1.37 billion for border fencing, after a lengthy shutdown where he was demanding $5.7 billion for wall construction, though he is expected to do so
By accepting the compromise, Trump avoided yet another shutdown after the 35-day partial federal shutdown that began in December, battering Trump and Republicans in public opinion polls.
McConnell’s announcement caught Capitol Hill off guard. The Senate then voted to overwhelmingly approve the measure 83-16, sending it to the House for a vote late Thursday. The House approved the measure 300-128.
ABC News has learned the president plans to announce on Friday his intention to spend about $8 billion on the border wall with a mix of spending from Congressional appropriations approved Thursday night, executive action and an emergency declaration.
A senior White House official familiar with the plan told ABC News that $1.375 billion would come from the spending bill Congress passed Thursday; $600 million would come from the Treasury Department’s drug forfeiture fund; $2.5 billion would come from the Pentagon’s drug interdiction program; and through an emergency declaration: $3.5 billion from the Pentagon’s military construction budget.
(Erik S. Lessser/EPA/Shutterstock) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walks onto the Senate floor at the Capitol, Feb. 14, 2019.
Many Republicans, including McConnell, had advised the president against declaring a national emergency, which is a challenge to Congress’ “power of the purse” — the power to decide how and where taxpayer money is spent. However, McConnell, in announcing the president’s decision Thursday afternoon, said he now supported the move.
“I will fully support the enactment of a joint resolution to terminate the President’s emergency declaration, in accordance with the process described in the National Emergencies Act, and intend to pursue all other available legal options,” Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-New York, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement. “The Judiciary Committee will also use its authority to hold the Administration to account and determine the supposed legal basis for the President’s actions.”
Democrats and some Republicans came out against the president’s plans.
(J. Scott Applewhite/AP) Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi talks to reporters during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 31, 2019.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a joint statement, said the declaration would be a “lawless act” and a “gross abuse of the power of the presidency.”
“It is yet another demonstration of President Trump’s naked contempt for the rule of law,” their statement said, calling it “a desperate attempt to put taxpayers on the hook” for his border wall, adding that Congress “will defend our constitutional authorities.”
In a statement late Thursday, Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said, “If President Trump declares a national emergency to fund his border wall, I’m prepared to introduce a resolution to terminate the President’s emergency declaration.”
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Thursday afternoon, “This approach does set a very bad precedent for future presidents, whether it’s a Democrat or a Republican, to feel that they can get around Congress’s constitutional role to allocate funding.
“It’s very serious and troubling to me,” she added.
Senior House Democrats and aides were waiting for Trump’s emergency declaration Thursday before deciding on how to best respond, but one aide said the House could take up and pass a joint resolution disapproving of any national emergency declaration — a move that would force Republican senators to go on the record on Trump’s controversial move.
(Joe Raedle/Getty Images) People work on the U.S./Mexican border wall, Feb. 12, 2019, in El Paso, Texas.
“We’re going to fight him,” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the chairman of the House Rules Committee, said of Trump’s plans. “I think he’s going well beyond his constitutional powers, and he’s in for a hell of a fight.”
The spending deal crafted by top appropriators funding for the Department of Homeland Security and a handful of other federal agencies impacted by the 35-day government shutdown last month.
It includes $1.375 billion to build a physical barrier on the southern border – enough to construct about 55 miles of new fencing in new geographic areas, but less than the proposal rejected by the president late last year ahead of the shutdown.
(Joshua Roberts/Reuters) Rep. Hakeem Jeffries questions acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker as he testifies to the House Judiciary Committee on oversight of the Justice Department on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 8, 2019.
It also includes hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for new border security and inspection technology at points of entry, and humanitarian relief, along with additional funding to increase the number of immigrant detention beds.
The increase in funding for the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was enough for a handful of prominent progressive House Democrats to oppose the deal.
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rep. Kay Granger speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol, Feb. 13, 2019, in Washington, DC.
“We want to be abundantly clear: this is not a rebuke of federal workers or those who depend on the services they provide, but a rejection of the hateful policies, priorities, and rhetoric of the Trump Administration,” Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., said in a statement.
Hours later, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., a leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, also said she would vote against the deal.
“Congress must pass a strong DHS appropriations bill to bring accountability and humanity to our detention system. Unfortunately, this bill did not accomplish this and that is why I will vote no,” she wrote.
ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky and Trish Turner contributed to this report.
We’re now $22 trillion in debt, yet despite all that red ink, the Mexican cartels have control of our border and we’re not one bit closer to spending money on our own security. We’ve gone into deep debt for everything except the core function of the federal government.
It feels like it was yesterday when I was watching the news as a kid with my parents in 1995, listening to Newt Gingrich, during the infamous shutdown fight, warn about the dire consequences of crossing the $5 trillion debt milestone. It feels like it was yesterday when I was writing press releases for candidates in “the year of the Tea Party” on how Obama and the Pelosi Congress took the debt to $14 trillion in such a short period of time. Now, over eight years into varying degrees of GOP control of Congress and the White House, we have crossed the $22 trillion mark, expanding the debt more rapidly than at any time in our history. Whereas the debt exploded by $5 trillion during Bush’s eight-year tenure, a shocking figure at the time, it has now increased $8 trillion just since Republicans controlled the House in 2011 and by $4 trillion over the past four years, since they controlled at least two of the three political organs of government.
Now, the only question Republicans have is how many pennies of border security they will fight for, while refusing to challenge any of the nonessential and even harmful programs of the federal government. The GOP platform on debt and spending is a lie from top to bottom, as Republicans plan to pass more budget bills allowing us to blow through the budget caps without any effort to systemically reform the way we budget.
Even more indefensible, unlike during the end of Bush’s years and the beginning of Obama’s tenure, when we first began accruing trillion-dollar annual deficits, we are not facing a deep recession. In fact, we are enjoying the most robust period of job growth since the late 1990s, and revenue is at a record high baseline.
Let it be known for all of time that dire predictions of revenue slumping as a result of the tax cuts were fake news. The entirety of the current deficit problem is due to increased spending. According to the latest monthly report released by the Treasury Department yesterday, spending was up 9.6 percent for the first three months of fiscal year 2019 relative to the first three months of FY 2018. What about revenues? They actually rose slightly by 0.2 percent, despite some declines in certain revenue categories. This is an important statistic, because it is the first clean metric we have comparing a period of time with the tax cuts in full implementation to a period before the tax cuts.
Moreover, some of the increased tax revenue from more payroll taxes likely would not have occurred without the job creation spawned by the tax cuts. If you isolate the revenue tallies for individual and corporate taxes, the government obviously did lose some revenue in certain categories, but it was made up by a $15 billion increase in payroll tax revenue (FICA, Social Security taxes), in addition to increased revenue from excise taxes.
The annual deficit after just three months stood at $319 trillion, well on pace to smash the trillion-dollar deficit mark for the first time in a booming economy.
Thus, this bipartisan era of debt is worse than anything we’ve seen this generation, and it is all happening with record revenue and a booming economy – with no world war consuming our economy and budget.
Thanks to Republican-approved budget deals, for the first three months of the fiscal year, outlays for HHS are up 12.5 percent, outlays for the Department of Education spiked 23 percent, and outlays for the Department of Commerce have doubled! Meanwhile, outlays on Homeland Security have actually been down by 30 percent because of less disaster spending under FEMA than last year. But it’s not like we went on a spending binge for Border Patrol and ICE. Outlays on military spending are up 8.45 percent, but again, what is the purpose of the military if we use it everywhere else in the world except against those who most directly harm us at our own border?
All of this spending is creating a crisis with interest payments on the debt. Net interest payments for the first quarter are up to $100 billion. That is an annualized pace of $400 billion, almost twice the level it has been in recent years. And this is just the beginning.
What is driving the most debt? The issue where Republicans now agree with Democrats: socialized medicine. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is now bashing the Freedom Caucus for opposing the key element of Obamacare responsible for driving up the cost of insurance, thereby generating the massive spending and the monopoly created by the health care industry.
Health care is the 800-pound gorilla in the room. Federal spending on health care (not including state expenditures) is projected to be $17 trillion over the next 10 years, dwarfing the cost of Social Security and the military. By 2047, health care spending will be about 25 percent greater than the insolvent and crushing cost of Social Security. As such, health care in itself is the largest driver of the other great crisis, as noted: the mushrooming cost of the interest on the debt itself. Health care spending alone will be greater than all the revenue from payroll taxes and corporate income taxes combined and almost as large as individual income tax revenue.
This is all going to the creation of a monopoly in a circuitous death spiral of price inflation and increased government spending. It’s no mystery why our national expenditures on health care have popped from $27 billion in 1960 to over $3.3 trillion today. Assuming health care would rise at the same rate as the rest of the economy, that number would be under $250 billion today. If we flushed $1.6 trillion down the toilet every year, we’d come out with a better result because we’d just waste money. Now, we are taking that wasted money and artificially inflating the cost of health care to the point that nobody can afford it without government continuing the death spiral of spending, monopolizing, and price inflation.
Yet Republicans have acquiesced to every degree of this baseline and are only debating how much more socialized medicine they will countenance while fake-fighting the rest. Then they will say we have to agree to the new socialized medicine in order to fight the next plan. Rinse and repeat.
With the deficits for FY 2019 skyrocketing just as much as the illegal immigration numbers, at some point conservatives need to asses their rate of return on the Republican Party.
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McCabe: There were 25th Amendment discussions at DOJ to remove Trump from office
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe says that after President Trump fired his boss, FBI Director James Comey, there were discussions within the Department of Justice about invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
Last year, the New York Times reported that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed recruiting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment.
“There were meetings at the Justice Department at which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment,” Pelley said.
In a statement released by the Justice Department, Rosenstein said McCabe’s account of a discussion of invoking the 25th amendment was “inaccurate and factually incorrect.”
Trump responded in a pair of tweets later Thursday morning.
Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump
Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a “poor little Angel” when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax – a puppet for Leakin’ James Comey. I.G. report on McCabe was devastating. Part of “insurance policy” in case I won….
….Many of the top FBI brass were fired, forced to leave, or left. McCabe’s wife received BIG DOLLARS from Clinton people for her campaign – he gave Hillary a pass. McCabe is a disgrace to the FBI and a disgrace to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
The discussions occurred between the time of Comey’s firing in May of 2017 and the appointment eight days later of special counsel Robert Mueller to oversee the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
According to the Times, Rosenstein also suggested that he secretly record Trump in the White House. Rosenstein disputed the account, and a Justice Department official said he made the remark sarcastically. But McCabe told Pelley that Rosenstein’s offer to wear a wire was made more than once and that he ultimately took it to the lawyers at the FBI to discuss.
McCabe, who was named acting director of the bureau after Comey’s firing, launched obstruction of justice and counterintelligence investigations into whether Trump obstructed justice by firing Comey.
He told Pelley he did so in order to preserve the FBI’s Russian probe in case there was an effort by Trump to terminate it.
“I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground, in an indelible fashion,” McCabe said. “That were I removed quickly, or reassigned or fired, that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace.”
Former FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe and President Trump. (Photo Illustration: Yahoo News; photos; Alex Wong/Getty Images, AP)
More
McCabe’s comments come ahead of the release of his new book, “The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump,” due out next week.
In an excerpt of the book published Thursday in the Atlantic, McCabe describes a phone call he received from Trump on his first full day on the job as acting director of the FBI. According to McCabe, Trump told him that he had “hundreds of messages from FBI people [saying] how happy they are that I fired [Comey].”
“You know — boy, it’s incredible, it’s such a great thing, people are really happy about the fact that the director’s gone, and it’s just remarkable what people are saying,” Trump said, according to McCabe. “Have you seen that? Are you seeing that, too?”
McCabe was eventually fired in March 2018, less than two days before he would have collected a full early pension for his FBI career.
Trump has since railed against McCabe dozens of times on Twitter. “He LIED! LIED! LIED! McCabe was totally controlled by Comey – McCabe is Comey!” he exclaimed last April. “No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes!”
Story 1: Mentally Disturbed Former Marine War Veteran, Ian Long, Was Mass Killer That Murdered 12 and Injured Others in Thousand Oaks, California, Borderline Bar and Grill — The War Came Home — Videos —
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John R. Lott Jr. is a columnist for FoxNews.com and the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center. He has authored books such as More Guns, Less Crime, The Bias Against Guns, and Freedomnomics. Lott holds a Ph.D. in economics from UCLA and has worked and taught at the University of Chicago, Yale University, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Maryland, College Park, and at the American Enterprise Institute.has worked and taught at the University of Chicago, Yale University, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Maryland, College Park, and at the American Enterprise Institute.
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After Former Marine Kills 12 in Thousand Oaks, CA, a Discussion on Mental Health for Veterans
On November 7, 2018, a former marine opened fire at a country music bar in Thousand Oaks, California, killing 12 people, mostly college students. Police have identified the gunman as 28-year-old Ian David Long, a Marine veteran who had deployed to Afghanistan and had a history of mental health issues, including possible PTSD. The shooting has reignited a national discussion over mental healthcare for veterans returning from war. Earlier this year, Ian Long was evaluated by mental health professionals after police responded to a disturbance at his home, where he lived with his mother—and was cleared by the specialists. For more, we talk with Suzanne Gordon, whose new book probes the history of the Veterans Health Administration providing healthcare to U.S. veterans, generating medical innovations and healing the wounds of war.
Imagine the absolute worst day of your life and reliving it every single night just as vivid, scary & violent as when it happened. And knowing when you go to sleep, that’s what is waiting for you, every night ALL night! And people wonder why vets blow their brains out.
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Site of Thousand Oaks Mass Shooting a Gun-Free Zone
The site of the Thousand Oaks, California, mass shooting was a state-mandated gun-free zone.
By AWR Hawkins
Breitbart News reported that former U.S. Marine Ian David Long opened fired in the Borderline Bar & Grill on Wednesday, killing 12 people. He used a “legally-purchased” handgun to carry out his attack.
Crime Prevention Research Center’s (CPRC) John R. Lott reported that the Borderline Bar & Grill was a gun-free zone by law. CPRC posted a California Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms form explaining that the state of California prohibits the carrying of firearms “in a place having a primary purpose of dispensing alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption.”
The state-mandated gun-free status of places serving alcoholic beverages to be consumed guaranteed that Ian Long would not have to worry about patrons shooting back once he began his attack.
In this way, the gun-free status of the bar played to his favor, and such gun-free policies have been benefiting criminals for over 60 years. CPRC reports that 97.8 percent of “mass public shootings” from 1950 to May 2018 occurred in gun-free zones.
The February 14, Parkland high school shooting, the May 18, Sante Fe high school shooting, and the attack on Borderline patrons, show gun-free zones are still the attractive target.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
Ex-Marine with PTSD ‘posted on Instagram with a gun in one hand and a phone in the other’ as he killed 12 people at country bar massacre as it’s revealed he was bullied for his lazy eye in high school
Police found Ian Long’s Instagram on Wednesday night after he opened fire on Borderline Bar and Grill
He had been updating his Instagram story as he fired shots inside the bar, killing 12 people
His Instagram page and his Facebook page, where he spoke about gun control, have both been deleted
He was dressed in all-black and used a legally owned Glock.45 handgun which had an extended magazine
Witnesses said he also let off smoke grenades inside to confuse the terrified crowds as they ran for their lives
In April, police and mental health specialists were called to Long’s home after neighbors heard crashes inside
One neighbor said they heard a gunshot and there was a bullet hole in the wall afterward
Long, they said, holed himself up inside the home for several hours and had to be coaxed outside by police
Long was a Marine combat veteran who served as a machine gunner in Afghanistan and may have had PTSD
But neighbors said he behaved oddly before his military service, and he wrote ‘death’ as his HS yearbook goal
Long killed himself on Wednesday in an office in the bar after killing 11 in the bar including a sheriff’s sergeant
PUBLISHED: 02:21 EST, 9 November 2018 | UPDATED: 15:27 EST, 9 November 2018
Ian David Long is shown in a high school yearbook photograph. He was teased for having a lazy eye, according to former classmates
The PTSD-suffering ex-Marine who slaughtered 12 people at a country music bar in California on Wednesday was updating his Instagram story throughout the massacre, it has been claimed.
Ian Long, 28, filmed himself as he opened fire on Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, holding his Glock .45 in one hand and his cell phone in the other, according to police sources cited by TMZ.
The footage was found on his Instagram story after he killed himself before SWAT teams entered the building and has since been wiped from the internet along with his Instagram and Facebook account.
On Facebook, he posted a chilling final message about gun control and how ‘prayers and tears’ were not enough to stop atrocities such as the one he committed.
His ominous social media presence has begun to emerge along with details of his life before he joined the Marines in 2008.
According to former friends and classmates, Long was bullied at Newbury Park High School for his lazy eye and could not take jokes well. One former track coach said he attacked her, groping her backside and stomach once, when she did not give him a phone he said was his.
He hoped to be a professional baseball player but was not talented enough and did not have a good rapport with other members of the varsity team.
One friend said he was ‘cocky’ and was ‘one of those bros who drove a huge car to high school.’
Despite suffering PTSD, Long never sought help from Veterans Affairs. A VA official told DailyMail.com on Friday that he was never enrolled in any of its health programs.
‘God bless all of the victims and families of the victims. Thank you to Law Enforcement,’ they said.
The friend, Rebekah Homokay, told The Wall Street Journal that he set his sights on the Marines because he ‘loved America and loved guns.’
His Facebook post read: ‘I hope people call me insane… (laughing emojis).. wouldn’t that just be a big ball of irony?
‘Yeah.. I’m insane, but the only thing you people do after these shootings is ‘hopes and prayers’.. or ‘keep you in my thoughts’… every time… and wonder why these keep happening…’
The remarkable post, which uses language common to gun control advocates, could not be independently confirmed by DailyMail.com.
Long, a Marine combat veteran who investigators said may have had PTSD, was a regular at the bar where the shooting occurred, several of his friends said.
Long, a Marine combat veteran who investigators said may have had PTSD, was a regular at the bar where the shooting occurred, several of his friends said.
Long is pictured in Instagram footage that one of the survivors filmed while he opened fire on the dark bar and grill. When the first shots were fired, the DJ cut the music and everyone on the busy dance floor scrambled
Long, 28, killed 11 at the Borderline Bar and Grill in California on Wednesday and a cop. He is shown, right, in high school, when he was bullied for his lazy eye
On Friday morning, President Trump said the shooting was ‘horrible’ and made him ‘sick’.
‘It’s a disastrous problem it makes you sick to look at it. He was a war veteran, he saw some pretty bad things.
‘A lot of people say he had the PTSD. That’s a tough deal. It’s a horrible thing. They come back, they’re never the same,’ he said.
He likely would have been aware that the country music bar was a regular gathering spot for survivors of the Las Vegas massacre last year, in which 58 were killed at a country music festival.
Survivors from the Thousand Oaks area regularly gathered at Borderline for mutual support, and considered the bar a ‘safe haven’ after the terrifying shooting in Las Vegas.
Several Las Vegas survivors were present when Long stormed the bar, and one of them, 27-year-old Telemachus Orfanos, was killed.
Many of the dead had no connection to the prior shooting, though, so it is unclear whether Long targeted the bar specifically because of its connection to the massacre in Las Vegas.
Other victims killed inside the bar included: Sean Adler, 48; Cody Coffman 22; Blake Dingman, 23; Jake Dunham, 21; Alaina Housley, 18; Justin Meek, 23; Daniel Manrique; Kristina Morisette; and Noel Sparks.
Long’s page has been deleted. In a chilling final post written immediately before he launched the attack, he spoke of gun control and how ‘hopes and prayers’ are not enough. His page is pictured before it was taken down
Gunman Long (left and right) was a machine gunner in the Marines Corps and served until 2013 when he was given honorable discharge. He was deployed once to Afghanistan and received 10, standard-issue medals during his service
In his junior year of high school, Long wrote ‘death’ in the section of his year book page (above) for his goals after baseball
Long’s mother took out this ad in his high school yearbook, quoting the children’s book Love You Forever. He was living with her when he committed the shooting and police were called to the residence after a furious dispute between the two in April
Survivors of the Las Vegas shooting held a Route 91 Harvest banner at Borderline earlier this year where they often gathered and developed a ‘family-like’ bond. One of the people killed Wednesday was a survivor of the Las Vegas shooting
Mourners cry and comfort each other during a vigil for the victims of the mass shooting at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza on Thursday in Thousand Oaks, California. Twelve people including a Ventura County Sheriff sergeant died
Long then shot sheriff’s sergeant Ron Helus, a 54-year-old, 29-year veteran who was one of the first on the scene. He died in the hospital of multiple gunshot wounds.
Victim Noel Sparks’ final Snapchat message shows the scene inside the Borderline Bar moments before the shooting
Between 10 and 15 people remain in hospital, some with severe injuries. The mayor has appealed for blood donations, and hundreds responded by turning out to donate.
Survivors used bar stools to smash windows to climb out of and some hid beneath pool tables. One woman ran into the kitchen and was told by staff to climb a ladder into the attic.
According to survivors, Long was dressed in all-black, wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses and a mask covering the bottom part of his face.
Before SWAT teams entered the building, Long took his own life in an office inside.
He used a legally purchased .45 caliber handgun to carry out the attack and had modified its magazine so it could hold more rounds.
In April, police were called to Ian Long’s home in Newbury Park after neighbors heard loud crashes coming from inside the house he shared with his mother Colleen.
She lived ‘in fear’ of him, the neighbors said, adding that Long, who friends have described as ‘cocky’, was ‘hell to live with.’
The neighbors already suspected that he was suffering from PTSD after returning from a tour of Afghanistanbetween 2010 and 2011 and say he was disrespectful and rude whenever he passed them in the street.
When police arrived at the home, they called in mental health specialists to help resolve the situation and, according to The Wall Street Journal, it took hours for them to get Long out of the house.
Vivi Tzavaras, 27, was married to Borderline Bar gunman Ian Long, from 2009 to 2013. Facebook photos reveal Vivi posted a series of sexy pictures (above) on the same day the couple filed a joint divorce petition
Inside, furniture had been tossed all over the house and there were holes in the wall including the one caused by a bullet, they said.
GUNMAN’S MARINES RECORD
2008: Long joins the Marines on August 4, 2008. He was 18 at the time.
Nov. 16, 2010 – Jun. 14, 2011: Deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom
August 11, 2011: His rank is listed as Corporal after his tour
2011-2013: His last known assignment was in the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Third Marine Division, based out of Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
March 3, 2013: Long leaves the Marines. The circumstances are unknown.
2013 – 2016: Long studies at the California State University Northridge and majors in athletic training
‘They couldn’t get him out for a long time, like half the day,’ neighbor Richard Berge said on Thursday.
They had heard gunshots, they said, coming from inside the home and there was a bullet hole in the wall.
Despite the combination of red flags, the mental health specialists who responded decided that Long was not suitable to be involuntarily committed under Section 5150 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code.
He was never arrested and continued living in his mother’s home until Wednesday night’s attack.
Police are yet to reveal why he was not committed after that April incident. The law states that any qualified officer or clinician can confine a person who they suspect has a mental disorder if they are a danger to themselves, others or are ‘gravely’ disabled.
It is also unclear if Long bought the Glock .45 he used in Wednesday’s attack before or after the April incident or if it was the same one he used to put a bullet through the wall.
The gun was legally purchased but Long, who was a machine gunner in the Marines, had modified its magazine so that it could hold 30 rounds, three times the legal limit.
He enlisted in the Marines in 2008 when he was 18 after being told that his dreams of playing professional baseball would never come to fruition.
A shirtless man and two others carry an injured person out of the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, on Wednesday night after Long opened fire at 11.20pm
A bullet hole is seen in the window of the Borderline Bar after a shooter killed 11 inside the country music venue
People kneel around lit candles during a vigil to pay tribute to the victims of a shooting in Thousand Oaks, California
People gather to pray for the victims of the mass shooting during a candlelight vigil in Thousand Oaks on Thursday
People mourn those lost during a shooting in Thousand Oaks during a vigil at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza
WHY WASN’T GUNMAN COMMITTED IN APRIL AFTER ‘FIRING BULLET THROUGH WALL AND HAVING STANDOFF WITH POLICE?’
In April, police were called to Ian Long’s home in Newbury Park after neighbors heard loud crashes coming from inside the house he shared with his mother Colleen.
She lived ‘in fear’ of him, the neighbors said, adding that Long, who friends have described as ‘cocky’, was ‘hell to live with.’
The neighbors already suspected that he was suffering from PTSD after returning from a tour of Afghanistan between 2010 and 2011 and say he was disrespectful and rude whenever he passed them in the street.
When police arrived at the home, they called in mental health specialists to help resolve the situation and, according to The Wall Street Journal, it took hours for them to get Long out of the house.
Inside, furniture had been tossed all over the house and there were holes in the wall including the one caused by a bullet, they said.
‘They couldn’t get him out for a long time, like half the day,’ neighbor Richard Berge said on Thursday.
They had heard gunshots, they said, coming from inside the home and there was a bullet hole in the wall.
Despite the combination of red flags, the mental health specialists who responded decided that Long was not suitable to be involuntarily committed under Section 5150 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code.
He was never arrested and continued living in his mother’s home until Wednesday night’s attack.
Police are yet to reveal why he was not committed after that April incident. The law states that any qualified officer or clinician can confine a person who they suspect has a mental disorder if they are a danger to themselves, others or are ‘gravely’ disabled.
It is also unclear if Long bought the Glock .45 he used in Wednesday’s attack before or after the April incident or if it was the same one he used to put a bullet through the wall.
The gun was legally purchased but Long, who was a machine gunner in the Marines, had modified its magazine so that it could hold 30 rounds, three times the legal limit.
He enlisted in the Marines in 2008 when he was 18 after being told that his dreams of playing professional baseball would never come to fruition.
Under Section 5150 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code, ‘a qualified officer or clinician can involuntarily confine a person suspected to have a mental disorder that makes them a danger to themselves, a danger to others, and/or gravely disabled.’
‘A qualified officer, which includes any California peace officer, as well as any specifically-designated county clinician, can request the confinement after signing a written declaration stating the psychiatric diagnosis that the diagnosing medical professional believes to be the cause or reason why they believe the patient to be “a danger to themselves or others” or the psychiatric disorder that has rendered the patient incapable of making their own medical treatment decisions.’
Meanwhile, other disturbing incidents from Long’s past indicate that his mental troubles may have predated his combat service in Afghanistan.
Julie Hanson, who lives next door to Long’s ranch-style home, described him as ‘odd’ and ‘disrespectful’ well before he left home a decade ago, got married and enlisted in the Marines, becoming a machine gunner.
On Long’s high school yearbook page, under the section for goals after baseball, he simply responded ‘death’.
‘We had kids messing around, saying jokey stuff, but this definitely looks disturbing now. It’s unbelievable,’ Matt Goldfield, who was one of the team coaches that year, told the New York Daily News.
Goldfield and fellow coach Scott Drootin remembered Long as an ‘socially awkward’ kid with ‘sad eyes’ who quit baseball his junior year after striking the final out of a playoff game that dashed his team’s hopes for a championship.
Long enlisted in the Marines at 18 and was married as a 19-year-old in Honolulu in June 2009, according to military and court records.
His military service lasted nearly five years, and he was honorably discharged with the rank of corporal in 2013, the Pentagon said. He was part of the infantry, responsible for hauling and shooting machine guns.
During his service, Long’s marriage fell apart. He and his wife separated in June 2011, while he was deployed on a seven-month tour in Afghanistan.
The couple cited irreconcilable differences in divorce papers filed in May 2013, two months after Long left the Marines.
Long is seen during his military service. He was in the Marines from 2008 to 2013 and served in Afghanistan
After leaving the Marines, Long returned to California. The gunman is pictured in a 2014 picture with his mother (left) and (right) while studying at California State University Northridge where he last attended classes in 2016. He dropped out of his athletic training major in 2016 after three years
Dominique Colell trained Long, 28, at Newbury Park High School when he was a teenager
Curtis Kellog, a friend who he served with, said Long had a ‘great sense of humor’ and was excited to return to southern California after leaving the military.
‘He had a great sense of humor and like most Marines who have seen combat it could get dark at times, just like all of us.
‘He was excited to get out so he could go back home, ride his motorcycle again and finish school,’ he told Click 2 Houston.
Later, he enrolled at nearby California State University, Northridge, dropping out in 2016, the school said in a statement.
‘I found out a little too late that just wasn’t the job for me. Maybe the ego got the better of me but it took only one time for a 19 year old D-2 athlete to talk down to me and tell me how to do my job that I realized this wasn’t the career I wanted to head,’ he said of his departure in a March 2017 post that was uncovered by CNN on the forum Shadowspear.
Blake Winnett, who claims to have shared an apartment with Long in 2014 while he was a student at CSUN, told The New York Post that he was a ‘loner’ who danced alone in their garage.
Police are seen outside Ian David Long’s home in Newbury Park, near Thousand Oaks, on Thursday morning. His mother’s red truck was parked in the driveway beneath an American flag draped from the garage. Their home is 5.5miles from the bar where the attack took place
Coleen Long (right), mother of Thousand Oaks shooter Ian Long, is seen leaving her house in Newbury Park, California
colleen Long (white hat) is seen leaving her home. She was spotted speaking with FBI agents on Thursday
FBI agents collect evidence at the home of suspected nightclub shooter Ian David Long, in Thousand Oaks, California
‘He didn’t want to help anyone do anything. He was just lazy I guess,’ he claimed, adding that he once responded:
‘That’s not my f****** job’ when Winnett asked him to take out the trash.
‘He wasn’t violent but he was mean. He would go to the gym and then he would, I guess, try to learn dance moves or something. ‘He would close the garage and be playing music and dancing in there, like sweating.
‘I would open the garage and would be like, ‘What are you doing?” he said.
More recently, Long was living in his mother’s home, where neighbors said they could hear frequent, aggressive shouting between the two, especially over the last year.
About 18 months ago, Don and Effie MacLeod heard ‘an awful argument’ and what he believes was a gunshot from the Longs’ property. Don MacLeod said he did not call police but avoided speaking with Ian Long.
‘I told my wife, ‘Just be polite to him. If he talks, just acknowledge him, don’t go into conversation with him,” Don MacLeod said Thursday.
Jordan Hopkins places his hand on the photo of Sean Adler during a vigil at the Rivalry Roasters coffee shop Thursday
A picture of victim Noel Sparks is seen during a candlelight vigil in Thousand Oaks, California on Thursday
Sparse pictures on social media showed a happy Long family. His mother, Colleen, posted Facebook photos of her son in his military uniform in 2010 and 2011.
‘My Son is home, well sort of, back in Hawaii, soon to be in Cali come January, hooray!’ she wrote on Dec. 14, 2012.
Another photo from 2014 shows Ian Long with his arm draped around his mother in front of Dodger Stadium. The two were wearing Dodgers T-shirts and smiles.
But about six months ago, a next-door neighbor said he called authorities a when he heard loud banging and shouting at Long’s home.
‘I was concerned because I knew he had been in the military,’ neighbor Tom Hanson said Thursday, as federal and local law enforcement officers searched Long’s house, where an American flag flew over the garage.
Hanson described Long as an introvert and said he was ‘dumbfounded’ by the massacre.
Long’s only other contact with authorities came after a traffic collision and after he alleged he was the victim of a violent encounter in 2015 at another bar in Thousand Oaks, the sheriff said.
Family members are saluted by law enforcement officers after the hearse carrying the body of Sergeant Ron Helus arrived at the medical examiner’s office in Ventura, California on Thursday
Law enforcement officer march as the hearse carrying the body of Sergeant Ron Helus leaves Los Robles Hospital
Authorities haven’t identified what motivated Long to open fire during college night at Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, around 40 miles (64 kilometers) from downtown Los Angeles. The city of about 130,000 people is consistently near the top of lists ranking the safest places in California.
The dead included 11 people inside the bar and a veteran sheriff’s sergeant who was the first officer through the door.
The Marine Corps said Long earned several awards, including a Combat Action Ribbon and a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Third Marine Division in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
Long’s mother Colleenn Long, 61, was spotted by DailyMail.com being interviewed by FBI agents on Thursday.
She emerged from her house around 1.45pm and was shepherded into another red truck resembling the one the shooter used to drive to the Borderline Bar & Grill where he carried out the massacre. She and several officers left the house in the smart suburb of Newbury Park in a convoy of three trucks.
In addition to the 11 Long killed inside the Borderline Bar and Grill on Wednesday, ’10 to 15′ victims were injured.
A verified GoFundMe page has been set up to help cover their medical bills. They have raised $27,000 of the $50,000 they hope to get.
Victims killed in Borderline Bar shooting in California
Cody Coffman
Cody Coffman’s father Jason confirmed his 22-year-old son was among the 11 dead victims.
The distraught father rushed to the bar after hearing news of the shooting and calls to his son’s cellphone went unanswered. Jason used a tracking app on his son’s phone and it indicated the device was still inside the venue.
He said he spoke to his son just before he went to the bar Wednesday night.
Ventura County Sheriff’s sergeant Ron Helus
‘The first thing I said was ‘Please don’t drink and drive.’ The last thing I said was ‘Son, I love you’,’ he said.
Cody had plans to go into the military and was speaking with U.S. Army recruiters.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus
Ventura County Sheriff’s sergeant Ron Helus, 54, was first on the scene of the shooting on Wednesday night.
Helus was shot multiple times as he and a California Highway Patrol officer exchanged fire with the gunman inside the bar.
Alaina Housley
He was a 29-year veteran of the department. He was speaking to his wife Karen when he received the call about a mass shooting.
The last thing he said to her was: ‘Hon, I got to go, I love you. I gotta go on a call’.
Alaina Housley
Alaina, the niece of actress Tamera Mowry-Housley and her husband Adam Housley, also died in the shooting.
Her suitemate at Pepperdine University had earlier posted photos on Twitter saying that the freshman was missing.
Alaina’s Apple Watch and iPhone appeared to still show her location as inside the bar. She was at the bar with several friends who have all been accounted for.
‘My heart breaks. I’m still in disbelief,’ Mowry-Housley wrote in a tribute to her niece on Instagram.
‘It’s not fair how you were taken and how soon you were taken from us. I was blessed to know you ever since you were 5. You stole my heart. I will miss our inside jokes, us serenading at the piano.
‘Thank you for being patient with me learning how to braid your hair, and I will never forget our duet singing the national anthem at Napa’s soccer game.
‘I love you. I love you. I love you. You are gonna make one gorgeous angel.’
Justin Meek
Justin Meek was identified as one of the slain victims by his family and his former college.
The 23-year-old, who was a recent graduate of California Lutheran University, worked at the Borderline Bar and organized the college night event.
Meek is believed to have heroically saved lives as the shooting unfolded, according to university president Chris Kimball.
During college, he worked in the school’s veteran resource office and often worked with the Veterans Club to plan events and help veteran students.
Meek also loved singing in choir and took part in the school’s Kingsmen Quartet.
He planned to join the US Coast Guard.
‘Justin was a criminal justice and criminology major who had a passion for doing what was right,’ Jenn Zimmerman, Cal Lutheran’s veterans coordinator, said in a statement.
‘I’m not shocked he took action to protect the people at Borderline.’
Sean Adler
Sean Adler, 48, was working as a bouncer at the Borderline Bar & Grill when he was killed.
He was a wrestling coach who had only recently opened a coffee shop in the local area.
Sean Adler
Noel Sparks
Noel Sparks, a 21-year-old student at Moorpark College, was also confirmed dead. The United Methodist Church in Westlake Village, of which she was a member, posted condolences to her parents on Facebook.
Sparks’ friends had been in tears throughout the day as they desperately searched for her in the aftermath of the shooting.
Blake Dingman
Blake Dingman, 21, was identified by his girlfriend as a victim of the mass shooting.
‘My sweet Blake… my heart is hurting more than words can say. I cannot believe you’re gone. I am so grateful for our little infinity and all of our deep talks, cuddles, late nights, and adventures,’ she wrote in a tribute.
‘I am so incredibly grateful for every moment we spent together. God brought us together for a reason and I will hold our memories in my heart forever. I love you with all of my heart my sweet boy and my angel.’
Blake Dingman (left) and Telemachus Orfanos (right)
Telemachus Orfanos
Borderline employee Telemachus Orfanos was also among those confirmed dead.
Orfanos was an Eagle Scout who served in the Navy. Friends said that he was a survivor of the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting massacre in Las Vegas last year, in which 58 died.
Survivors of the Las Vegas shooting regularly gathered in the Borderline bar for country music night as a way of offering mutual support and healing.
Orfanos’ social media indicates he attended the local Thousand Oaks High School and Moorepark College.
Kristina Kaylee Morisette
Morisette worked as the cashier at Borderline Bar and Grill. Family members confirmed that she died in the shooting.
She attended Simi Valley High School.
Kristina Kaylee Morisette
Daniel Manrique
Manrique, 33, was a Marine veteran.
‘He had spent his entire adult life, post military service, helping veterans readjust to civilian life and had just recently accepted a position with Team RWB as the Pacific Regional Program Manager,’ family member Gladys Manrique Koscak wrote in a tribute on Facebook.
‘I have no doubt that he died a hero, shielding others from gunshots. He will forever be our hero, son, brother, and the best uncle anybody could ever ask for,’ she said.
Jake Dunham
Jake was among the missing for hours.
His distraught father kept calling his cell phone after learning about the shooting and grew increasingly concerned when there was no answer.
‘It just keeps ringing out. And he always answers his phone,’ he said on Thursday.
He is thought to have been at the bar with Dingman, who was his friend.
Jake Dunham and Marky Meza Jr.
Marky Meza Jr.
Marky, 20, worked at Borderline as a bus boy and food runner. He grew up in Santa Barbara.
‘Marky was a loving and wonderful young man who was full of life and ambition.
‘His family is devastated by his loss. Marky would have turned 21 on November 19.
‘His family asks for peace and respect at this time to allow them to grieve privately,’ they said in a statement.
PUBLISHED: 09:51 EST, 8 November 2018 | UPDATED: 12:11 EST, 9 November 2018
Eight of the 12 the victims shot dead in the crowded country music bar in California have now been identified.
Sean Adler, 48; Cody Coffman, 22; Blake Dingman, 23; Jake Dunham, 21; Justin Meek, 23; Daniel Manrique; Kristina Morisette; Telemachus Orfanos, 27; and Noel Sparks were among those killed in the massacre at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks on Wednesday night.
Alaina Housley, the 18-year-old niece of ‘Sister, Sister’ actress Tamera Mowry-Housley and her husband Adam Housley, was also killed.
Ventura County Sheriff’s Sergeant Ron Helus, who was first on the scene, was killed after being shot multiple times when he exchanged fire with the 28-year-old gunman, Ian David Long.
Sergeant on Brink of Retirement
Ventura County Sheriff Sgt. Ron Helus was among those killed. He was shot multiple times by the gunman after responding to the first 911 calls and later died in hospital
Ron Helus, 54, was set to retire from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department next year after 29 years on the job.
He was among the first to respond to calls of a shooting at the Borderline Bar, and was shot multiple times as he and a California Highway Patrol officer exchanged fire with the gunman inside the bar.
Helus was speaking to his wife Karen when he received the call about a mass shooting.
The last thing he said to her was: ‘Hon, I got to go, I love you. I gotta go on a call’.
Devoted Son
Cody Coffman, 22, was killed in the massacre at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California on Wednesday night
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Cody Coffman’s father Jason sobbed as he confirmed that authorities had told him on Thursday that his oldest son had died.
‘Oh Cody, I love you son,’ he said. ‘This is a heart I will never get back.’
He said he spoke to his son just before he went to the bar Wednesday night.
‘The first thing I said was ‘Please don’t drink and drive.’ The last thing I said was ‘Son, I love you’,’ he said.
Cody had plans to go into the military and was speaking with U.S. Army recruiters.
His father Jason had earlier rushed to the bar after hearing news of the shooting and calls to his son’s cellphone went unanswered. He feared the worst when a tracking app on his son’s phone indicated the device was still inside the venue.
Jason said he was alerted to the shooting when several of Cody’s friends started banged on their front door after 1am.
‘Some of his girlfriends got out but they didn’t know where Cody was,’ Jason said.
Barman Who Rushed to Save Others
Justin Meek, 23, (above) worked at the Borderline Bar as a bouncer and was the organizer of the bar’s country music college night, which was taking place when the gunman struck
Justin Meek was identified as one of the slain victims by his family and his former college.
The 23-year-old, who was a recent graduate of California Lutheran University, worked at the bar where he was killed.
Meek is believed to have heroically saved lives as the shooting unfolded, according to university president Chris Kimball.
‘Justin was a criminal justice and criminology major who had a passion for doing what was right,’ Jenn Zimmerman, Cal Lutheran’s veterans coordinator, said in a statement.
‘I’m not shocked he took action to protect the people at Borderline.’
During college, he worked in the school’s veteran resource office and often worked with the Veterans Club to plan events and help veteran students.
Meek also loved singing in choir and took part in the school’s Kingsmen Quartet.
He planned to join the US Coast Guard.
Las Vegas Shooting Survivor
Borderline employee Telemachus Orfanos was also among those confirmed dead. He survived the mass shooting that killed 58 at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas last year
Borderline employee Telemachus Orfanos, 27, was also among those confirmed dead.
In a cruel twist of fate, Orfanos was a survivor of the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting massacre in Las Vegas last year.
An estimated 50 to 60 survivors of the Las Vegas shooting were at the Borderline Bar on Wednesday – they often met there for mutual support.
Orfanos was an Eagle Scout and served in the Navy.
His social media indicates he attended the local Thousand Oaks High School and Moorepark College.
Niece of Sitcom Actress
Alaina Housley, the 18-year-old niece of actress Tamera Mowry-Housley and her husband Adam Housley, died in the shooting
Actress Tamera Mowry-Housley and her husband Adam Housley (left) issued a statement saying their hearts were broken following her death
‘Sister, Sister’ actress Tamera Mowry-Housley and her husband Adam Housley revealed that their 18-year-old niece had also been killed.
The couple issued a statement, saying: ‘Our hearts are broken’.
‘We just learned that our Alaina was one of the victims of last night’s shooting at Borderline Bar in Thousand Oaks.
‘Alaina was an incredible young woman with so much life ahead of her and we are devastated that her life was cut short in this manner.’
Mowry-Housley posted this tribute to her slain niece on Instagram after the shooting
The teenager was a freshman at Pepperdine University and had been at the bar with several friends.
Her Apple Watch and iPhone showed her location as still inside the bar in the aftermath of the shooting.
Her uncle Adam, who is a former Fox News correspondent, had rushed to the hospital at 3.30am in search of his niece after hearing reports of the shooting.
‘My gut is saying she’s inside the bar, dead. I’m hoping I’m wrong,’ Adam had told the LA Times before her dead was confirmed.
Two of her friends jumped out of a broken window and ran for safety but say they lost Alaina in the mayhem. They are in hospital being treated for major injuries.
Waitress with Bright Smile
Kristina Kaylee Morisette, who worked as the cashier at Borderline Bar and Grill, was also confirmed dead in the shooting
Kristina Kaylee Morisette, who worked at Borderline Bar and Grill, was also confirmed dead in the shooting.
She attended Simi Valley High School.
Morisette was reportedly working the cash register at the front of the bar when the gunman stormed in and began shooting.
‘The worst things happen to the best people,’ a friend wrote on Twitter. She was such a sweet girl and cared for everyone.
Churchgoing College Student
Noel Sparks, a 21-year-old student at Moorpark College, was also confirmed dead
Noel Sparks’ final Snapchat post
Noel Sparks, a 21-year-old student at Moorpark College, was also confirmed dead.
The United Methodist Church in Westlake Village, of which she was a member, posted condolences to her parents on Facebook.
Sparks’ friends had been in tears throughout the day as they desperately searched for her in the aftermath of the shooting.
Her friend Madison Nenkervis posted a tribute to Sparks on Facebook, writing: ‘one of the Victims of the shooting was a dear Church friend of my families and Such a sweet Amazing soul.’
Nenkervis shared Sparks’ chilling final post on Snapchat from shortly before the shooting.
It showed the dance floor at Borderline half empty, with the caption ‘It’s quite [sic] tonight’.
Entrepreneurial Bouncer
A friend places his hand on a photo of Sean Adler during a vigil at the Rivalry Roasters coffee shop on Thursday. Adler had recently launched the business when he was killed
Sean Adler, 48, was working as a bouncer at the Borderline Bar & Grill when he was killed.
He was a wrestling coach who had only recently opened a coffee shop in the local area.
The married father of two had big dreams for Rivalry Roasters, but stuck with his job working the door at Borderline to ensure he’d be able to support his family.
Adler had dreamed of becoming a police officer, and was training with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department last year when a heart attack forced him to reconsider his career path.
He is survived by his wife and two sons, ages 12 and 17.
Motorsports Enthusiast
Blake Dingman, 21, was identified by his girlfriend as a victim of the mass shooting
Blake Dingman, 21, was identified by his girlfriend as a victim of the mass shooting.
‘My sweet Blake… my heart is hurting more than words can say. I cannot believe you’re gone. I am so grateful for our little infinity and all of our deep talks, cuddles, late nights, and adventures,’ she wrote in a tribute.
‘I am so incredibly grateful for every moment we spent together. God brought us together for a reason and I will hold our memories in my heart forever. I love you with all of my heart my sweet boy and my angel.’
Dingman played high school baseball at Hillcrest Christian School in Thousand Oaks.
His Facebook page shows his enthusiasm for motorsports, including monster trucks and racing.
Jake Dunham, 21, was also killed
Loyal Friend
Jake Dunham, 21, was also among those killed in the shooting.
He had gone to the bar to play pool with his friends, his father Ken Dunham told NBC Los Angeles.
‘I keep calling it but there’s no answer,’ Ken said. ‘It just keeps ringing out… he always answers his phone.’
Some published reports said that Dunham was at Borderline with his friend, Blake Dingman, who also was among those killed.
Dunham and Dingham were known to be close friends.
Marine Veteran
Marine veteran Daniel Manrique, 33, was another victim confirmed killed in the shooting
Marine veteran Daniel Manrique, 33, was another victim confirmed killed in the shooting.
‘He had spent his entire adult life, post military service, helping veterans readjust to civilian life and had just recently accepted a position with Team RWB as the Pacific Regional Program Manager,’ family member Gladys Manrique Koscak wrote in a tribute on Facebook.
‘I have no doubt that he died a hero, shielding others from gunshots. He will forever be our hero, son, brother, and the best uncle anybody could ever ask for,’ she said.
Frantic Search for Survivors
A shirtless man and two others carry an injured person out of the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, on Wednesday night after a gunman opened fire at 11.20pm
A number of parents rushed to the bar and used tracking devices to look up their children’s iPhones and iWatches.
Many of the devices were still located inside the bar as the parents said they hadn’t heard from their loved ones since the shooting happened.
There were roughly 100 people inside the bar when the gunman opened fire.
Many of those inside were students at Pepperdine University and others are thought to have gone to California Lutheran University – both are Christian schools.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s office said the victim notification process was ‘slow and methodical’. They said they were doing everything possible to notify relatives.
EMTs treat a victim from the shooting at Borderline Bar and Grill on Wednesday. In addition to the 12 innocent people who were killed, another 12 at least were injured
Authorities said Long was wearing a hood and dressed all in black when he used a smoke bomb and handgun to open fire at the bar.
Patrons screamed in fear, shouted ‘get down!’ and used barstools to smash second-floor windows and jump to safety as gunfire erupted at the bar, a hangout popular with students from nearby California Lutheran University.
Authorities said 21 people injured in the shooting had been released from various hospitals by Thursday morning.
‘It’s a horrific scene in there,’ Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean said. ‘There’s blood everywhere.’
The gunman, who was a former marine, deployed a smoke device and used a .45-caliber handgun in the attack.
He first fired on a person working the door and then appeared to shoot at random at people inside, according to witnesses.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.
Most people who go through traumatic events may have temporary difficulty adjusting and coping, but with time and good self-care, they usually get better. If the symptoms get worse, last for months or even years, and interfere with your day-to-day functioning, you may have PTSD.
Getting effective treatment after PTSD symptoms develop can be critical to reduce symptoms and improve function.
Symptoms
Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms may start within one month of a traumatic event, but sometimes symptoms may not appear until years after the event. These symptoms cause significant problems in social or work situations and in relationships. They can also interfere with your ability to go about your normal daily tasks.
PTSD symptoms are generally grouped into four types: intrusive memories, avoidance, negative changes in thinking and mood, and changes in physical and emotional reactions. Symptoms can vary over time or vary from person to person.
Intrusive memories
Symptoms of intrusive memories may include:
Recurrent, unwanted distressing memories of the traumatic event
Reliving the traumatic event as if it were happening again (flashbacks)
Upsetting dreams or nightmares about the traumatic event
Severe emotional distress or physical reactions to something that reminds you of the traumatic event
Avoidance
Symptoms of avoidance may include:
Trying to avoid thinking or talking about the traumatic event
Avoiding places, activities or people that remind you of the traumatic event
Negative changes in thinking and mood
Symptoms of negative changes in thinking and mood may include:
Negative thoughts about yourself, other people or the world
Hopelessness about the future
Memory problems, including not remembering important aspects of the traumatic event
Difficulty maintaining close relationships
Feeling detached from family and friends
Lack of interest in activities you once enjoyed
Difficulty experiencing positive emotions
Feeling emotionally numb
Changes in physical and emotional reactions
Symptoms of changes in physical and emotional reactions (also called arousal symptoms) may include:
Being easily startled or frightened
Always being on guard for danger
Self-destructive behavior, such as drinking too much or driving too fast
Trouble sleeping
Trouble concentrating
Irritability, angry outbursts or aggressive behavior
Overwhelming guilt or shame
For children 6 years old and younger, signs and symptoms may also include:
Re-enacting the traumatic event or aspects of the traumatic event through play
Frightening dreams that may or may not include aspects of the traumatic event
Intensity of symptoms
PTSD symptoms can vary in intensity over time. You may have more PTSD symptoms when you’re stressed in general, or when you come across reminders of what you went through. For example, you may hear a car backfire and relive combat experiences. Or you may see a report on the news about a sexual assault and feel overcome by memories of your own assault.
When to see a doctor
If you have disturbing thoughts and feelings about a traumatic event for more than a month, if they’re severe, or if you feel you’re having trouble getting your life back under control, talk to your doctor or a mental health professional. Getting treatment as soon as possible can help prevent PTSD symptoms from getting worse.
If you have suicidal thoughts
If you or someone you know has suicidal thoughts, get help right away through one or more of these resources:
Reach out to a close friend or loved one.
Contact a minister, a spiritual leader or someone in your faith community.
Call a suicide hotline number — in the United States, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255) to reach a trained counselor. Use that same number and press 1 to reach the Veterans Crisis Line.
Make an appointment with your doctor or a mental health professional.
When to get emergency help
If you think you may hurt yourself or attempt suicide, call 911 or your local emergency number immediately.
If you know someone who’s in danger of attempting suicide or has made a suicide attempt, make sure someone stays with that person to keep him or her safe. Call 911 or your local emergency number immediately. Or, if you can do so safely, take the person to the nearest hospital emergency room.
You can develop post-traumatic stress disorder when you go through, see or learn about an event involving actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violation.
Doctors aren’t sure why some people get PTSD. As with most mental health problems, PTSD is probably caused by a complex mix of:
Stressful experiences, including the amount and severity of trauma you’ve gone through in your life
Inherited mental health risks, such as a family history of anxiety and depression
Inherited features of your personality — often called your temperament
The way your brain regulates the chemicals and hormones your body releases in response to stress
Risk factors
People of all ages can have post-traumatic stress disorder. However, some factors may make you more likely to develop PTSD after a traumatic event, such as:
Experiencing intense or long-lasting trauma
Having experienced other trauma earlier in life, such as childhood abuse
Having a job that increases your risk of being exposed to traumatic events, such as military personnel and first responders
Having other mental health problems, such as anxiety or depression
Having problems with substance misuse, such as excess drinking or drug use
Lacking a good support system of family and friends
Having blood relatives with mental health problems, including anxiety or depression
Kinds of traumatic events
The most common events leading to the development of PTSD include:
Combat exposure
Childhood physical abuse
Sexual violence
Physical assault
Being threatened with a weapon
An accident
Many other traumatic events also can lead to PTSD, such as fire, natural disaster, mugging, robbery, plane crash, torture, kidnapping, life-threatening medical diagnosis, terrorist attack, and other extreme or life-threatening events.
Complications
Post-traumatic stress disorder can disrupt your whole life ― your job, your relationships, your health and your enjoyment of everyday activities.
Having PTSD may also increase your risk of other mental health problems, such as:
Depression and anxiety
Issues with drugs or alcohol use
Eating disorders
Suicidal thoughts and actions
Prevention
After surviving a traumatic event, many people have PTSD-like symptoms at first, such as being unable to stop thinking about what’s happened. Fear, anxiety, anger, depression, guilt — all are common reactions to trauma. However, the majority of people exposed to trauma do not develop long-term post-traumatic stress disorder.
Getting timely help and support may prevent normal stress reactions from getting worse and developing into PTSD. This may mean turning to family and friends who will listen and offer comfort. It may mean seeking out a mental health professional for a brief course of therapy. Some people may also find it helpful to turn to their faith community.
Support from others also may help prevent you from turning to unhealthy coping methods, such as misuse of alcohol or drugs.
A mass shooting is an incident involving multiple participants of firearms-related violence. The United States’ Congressional Research Service acknowledges that there is not a broadly accepted definition, and defines a “public mass shooting”[1] as one in which four or more people select someone indiscriminately, and kill them, echoing the FBI definition[2][3] of the term “mass murder“. However, according to the Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012, signed into law in January 2013, a mass killing is defined as a killing with at least three deaths, excluding the perpetrator.[4][5][6][7] Another unofficial definition of a mass shooting is an event involving the shooting (not necessarily resulting in death) of five or more people (sometimes four)[8] with no cooling-off period.[9][8][10] Related terms include school shooting and massacre.
A mass shooting may be committed by individuals or organizations in public or non-public places. Terrorist groups in recent times have used the tactic of mass shootings to fulfill their political aims. Individuals who commit mass shootings may fall into any of a number of categories, including killers of family, of coworkers, of students, and of random strangers. Individuals’ motives for shooting vary.
Responses to mass shootings take a variety of forms, depending on the context: number of casualties, the country, political climate, and other factors. The media cover mass shootings extensively and often sensationally, and the effect of that coverage has been examined. Countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia have changed their gun laws in the wake of mass shootings. In contrast, the United States’ constitution prohibits laws which disallow firearm ownership outright and owns about half of the world’s guns.[11][12][13]
The characterization of an event as a mass shooting depends upon definition and definitions vary.[14][15] Under U.S. federal law the Attorney General may on a request from a state assist in investigating “mass killings”, rather than mass shootings. The term was originally defined as the murder of four or more people with no cooling-off period[2][15] but redefined by Congress in 2013 as being murder of three or more people.[16] In “Behind the Bloodshed”, a report by USA Today, a mass killing is defined as any incident in which four or more were killed and also includes family killings.[17]A crowdsourced data site cited by CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, the BBC, etc., Mass Shooting Tracker, defines a mass shooting as any incident in which four or more people are shot, whether injured or killed.[9][18] A noteworthy connection has been reported in the U.S. between mass shootings and domestic or family violence, with a current or former intimate partner or family member killed in 76 of 133 cases (57%), and a perpetrator having previously been charged with domestic violence in 21.[19][20] The lack of a single definition can lead to alarmism in the news media, with some reports conflating categories of crimes.[21]
In Australia, a 2006 paper defined a mass shooting as “one in which ⩾5 firearm‐related homicides are committed by one or two perpetrators in proximate events in a civilian setting, not counting any perpetrators”.[22]
Crime violence research group Gun Violence Archive, whose research is used by all major American media outlets defines Mass Shooting as “FOUR or more shot and/or killed in a single event [incident], at the same general time and location not including the shooter” differentiating between Mass Shooting and Mass Murder [Killing] and not counting shooters as victims.[23]
An act is typically defined as terrorist if it “appears to have been intended” to intimidate or to coerce people;[24] a mass shooting is not, in itself, an act of terrorism. A U.S. Congressional Research Service report explicitly excluded from its definition of public mass shootings those in which the violence is a means to an end, for example where the gunmen “pursue criminal profit or kill in the name of terrorist ideologies”.[1]
The single deadliest event was the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 164 people were killed and a further 308 people were wounded by terrorists.
South Korea
South Korea has suffered multiple mass shootings in the South Korean Army, mainly due to soldier’s stress and conflicts from its violence and detention from society.
Japan
Japan has as few as two gun-related homicides per year. These numbers include all homicides in the country, not just mass shootings.[25] (note that this is not including the Yakuza)[citation needed]
Israel
There have been many mass shootings in Israel such as the 1972 Lod Airport Massacre, which killed 26 and injured 80, the 2002 Bat Mitzvah massacre and the June 2016, massacre at the popular Sarona center complex. These were all planned or executed by Palestinian or Arab terrorists.
In addition there have been two mass shootings by Jews in Israel. In 1991, Ami Popper was convicted of murdering seven Palestinian men in a mass shooting carried out in 1990. In 1994 Baruch Goldstein murdered 29 Muslims worshipping and injuring a further 125 in Hebron. Also known as the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre.
Total U.S. deaths by year in spree shootings: 1982 to current (ongoing).[26]
The U.S. has more mass shootings than any other country.[27][28][29][30]
However, when adjusting for different population sizes, analysing data between 2009 and 2015 (therefore excluding shootings like the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting and the 2017 Las Vegas shooting), the US falls to 12th in a comparison between the US and Europe.[31]
In one study by Adam Lankford, it has been estimated that 31% of public mass shootings occur in the U.S., although it has only 5% of the world’s population.[32]CNN cites a study by criminologist A. Lankford that finds that “there are more public mass shootings in the United States than in any other country in the world”.[33] The study concludes that “The United States and other nations with high firearm ownership rates may be particularly susceptible to future public mass shootings, even if they are relatively peaceful or mentally healthy according to other national indicators.”[34] Criminologist Gary Kleck criticized Adam’s findings stating the study fails to provide evidence that gun ownership increases mass shootings and that Lankford has been unwilling to share a list of his cases, provide a list of the number of attacks per country, or even list his sources so that others can check his numbers.[35] Mass shootings have also been observed to be followed by an increase in the purchase of weapons, but this phenomenon seems to be driven by a minority since neither gun owners nor non-owners report an increased feeling of needing guns.[36]
Notable mass shootings in Australia include the 1987 Hoddle Street massacre and the 1996 Port Arthur Massacre[37]. There were 13 mass shootings with five or more deaths between 1979 and 1996, and none thereafter, following stricter gun control laws.[38] Australia has had two mass shootings with 5 or more deaths since 1996, however these shootings involved family members.
New Zealand
Notable mass shootings in New Zealand include the 1990 Aramoana massacre.
Victims and survivors
After mass shootings, some survivors have written about their experiences and their experiences have been covered by journalists. A survivor of the Knoxville Unitarian Universalist church shooting wrote about his reaction to other mass shooting incidents.[39] The father of a victim in a mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, wrote about witnessing other mass shootings after the loss of his son.[40] The survivors of the 2011 Norway attacks recounted their experience to GQ.[41] In addition, one paper studied Swedish police officers’ reactions to a mass shooting.[42]
Mass shootings can be motivated by misanthropy[50] and terrorism and caused by mental illness, inceldom[51][52] and extensive bullying[53] among other reasons.[45] Forensic psychologist Stephen Ross says that extreme anger and the thought shooters are working for a cause, rather than mental illness, is most often the explanation.[54] A study by Vanderbilt University researchers found that “fewer than 5% of the 120,000 gun-related killings in the United States between 2001 and 2010 were perpetrated by people diagnosed with mental illness”.[55]John Roman of the Urban Institute argues that, while better access to mental health care, restricting high powered weapons, and creating a defensive infrastructure to combat terrorism are constructive, they don’t address the greater issue, which is “we have a lot of really angry young men in our country and in the world.”[56]
Author Dave Cullen described killer Eric Harris as an “injustice collector” in his 2009 book Columbine.[57] He expanded on the concept in a 2015 New Republic essay on injustice collectors,[58] identifying several notorious killers as fitting the category, including Christopher Dorner, Elliot Rodger, Vester Flanagan, and Andrew Kehoe. Likewise, mass shooting expert and former FBI profiler Mary O’Toole also uses the phrase “injustice collector” in characterizing motives of some mass shooting perpetrators.[59] In relation, criminologist James Alan Fox contends that mass murderers are “enabled by social isolation” and typically experience “years of disappointment and failure that produce a mix of profound hopelessness and deep-seated resentment.”[60][61]Jillian Peterson, an assistant professor of criminology at Hamline University who is participating in the construction of a database on mass shooters, noted that two phenomena surface repeatedly in the statistics: hopelessness and a need for notoriety in life or in death.[62] Notoriety was first suggested as a possible motive and researched by Justin Nutt. Nutt stated in a 2013 article, “those who feel nameless and as though no one will care or remember them when they are gone may feel doing something such as a school shooting will make sure they are remembered and listed in the history books.”[63]
In considering the frequency of mass shootings in the United States, criminologist Peter Squires says that the individualistic culture in the United States puts the country at greater risk for mass shootings than other countries, noting that “many other countries where gun ownership is high, such as Norway, Finland, Switzerland and Israel . . . tend to have more tight-knit societies where a strong social bond supports people through crises, and mass killings are fewer.” He is an advocate of gun control, but contends there is more to mass shootings than the prevalence of guns.[64]
Social science and family structure
According to Michael Cook and Carolyn Moynihan of Mercatornet,[65] an angle that is missed by mainstream media is the findings of important social scientists such as eminent Harvard sociologist Robert J. Sampson who wrote: “Family structure is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, predictor of variations in urban violence across cities in the United States. The close empirical connection between family breakdown and crime suggests that increased spending on crime-fighting, imprisonment, and criminal justice in the United States over the last 40 years is largely the direct or indirect consequence of marital breakdown.” His views are echoed by the eminent criminologists Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi, who have written that “such family measures as the percentage of the population divorced, the percentage of households headed by women, and the percentage of unattached individuals in the community are among the most powerful predictors of crime rates.”[66]
Based on the research of another social scientist who was himself raised by a single mother, Bradford Wilcox, “boys living in single mother homes are almost twice as likely to end up delinquent compared to boys who enjoy good relationships with their father.”[66]
Moynihan said that “almost all school shooters come from families where the parents are either divorced or alienated”,[65] and Cook argued that “perhaps they wouldn’t need more gun control if they had better divorce control.”[67]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2017)
Some people have considered whether media attention revolving around the perpetrators of mass shootings is a factor in sparking further incidents.[68] In response to this, some in law enforcement have decided against naming mass shooting suspects in media-related events to avoid giving them notoriety.[69]
The effects of messages used in the coverage of mass shootings has been studied. Researchers studied the role the coverage plays in shaping attitudes toward persons with serious mental illness and public support for gun control policies.[70]
In 2015 a paper written by a physicist and statistician, Sherry Towers, along with four colleagues was published, which proved that there is indeed mass shooting contagion using mathematical modeling.[71] However in 2017 Towers said in an interview that she prefers self-regulation to censorship to address this issue, just like years ago major news outlets successfully prevent copycat suicide.[72]
In 2016 the American Psychological Association published a press release, claiming that mass shooting contagion does exist and news media and social media enthusiasts should withhold the name(s) and face(s) of the victimizer(s) when reporting a mass shooting to deny the fame the shooter(s) want to curb contagion.[73]
Some news media have weighed in on the gun control debate. After the 2015 San Bernardino attack, the New York Daily News‘ front-page headline, “God isn’t fixing this”, was accompanied by “images of tweets from leading Republicans who shared their ‘thoughts’ and ‘prayers’ for the shooting victims”.[74][75] Since the 2014 Isla Vista killings, satirical news website The Onion has republished the story “‘No Way To Prevent This’, Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens” with minor edits after major mass shootings, to satirise the popular consensus that there is a lack of political power in the United States to prevent mass shootings.[76]
After the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Australia, the government changed gun laws in Australia. As in the United States, figures vary according to the definition of “mass shooting”; a 2006 paper used a definition “one in which ⩾5 firearm‐related homicides are committed by one or two perpetrators in proximate events in a civilian setting, not counting any perpetrators”,[22] compared to the usual U.S. definition of an indiscriminate rampage in public places resulting in four or more victims killed. Between 1981 and the passing of the law in 1996 there were 13 mass shootings with five or more deaths; in the following decade, while the new law was in place, there were no such mass shootings.[22] Overall gun deaths have continued to decline for two decades since the law was passed,[77], however there have been several shootings with three or more deaths since 1996 where the victims were related to the shooter.
There were five significant shootings, though not meeting the “mass shooting” definition of the 2006 paper, between 1996 and June 2018:
the Hectorville Siege in 2011 where 39-year-old man Donato Anthony Corbo shot four people on a neighbouring property (three of whom died), and also wounded two police officers, before being arrested by Special Operations police after an eight-hour siege
the Logan family shooting in 2014 of a neighbour family (Greg Holmes, 48, his mother Mary Lockhart, 75, and her husband Peter Lockhart, 78) by Ian Francis Jamieson
the Hunt family murders, in October 2014 when Geoff Hunt murdered four relatives before killing himself
The Osmington shooting in May 2018, involving the death of 7 when a grandfather shot and killed his four grandchildren, his daughter, his wife and then himself.
In the United States, support for gun law reform varies considerably by political party, with Democrats generally more supportive and Republicans generally more opposed. Some in the U.S. believe that tightening gun laws would prevent future mass shootings.[79] Some politicians in the U.S. introduced legislation to reform the background check system for purchasing a gun.[80] A vast majority of Americans support tighter background checks. “According to a poll [Made by CNN] by Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, 93 percent of registered voters said they would support universal background checks for all gun buyers.”[81]
Others contend that mass shootings should not be the main focus in the gun law reform debate because these shootings account for less than one percent of the U.S. homicide rate and believe that these shootings are hard to stop. They often argue that civilians with concealed guns will be able to stop shootings.[82]
Gun control policies may cause a lot of controversy due to divided opinions on who should be able to carry a weapon. An opinion survey was conducted by the firm GfK Knowledge Networks to differentiate between the different attitudes towards gun control. There was a gun policy survey and a mental illness survey. Studies showed that over 85% of those questioned supported national background checks into the mental health records of citizens attempting to purchase a gun. More than 50% of people felt that those suffering with mental health issues were more deviant and threatening than those who had good mental health. The study also proved that there is large interest in contributing to mental health awareness as well as simply prohibiting those suffering from purchasing guns. Nearly two thirds of respondents supported greater government spending on mental health, with more than 60% of people believing this would reduce gun violence in the USA. (Colleen L. Barry, 2013)
As of June 2016, U.S. President Barack Obama had spoken in the aftermath of fourteen mass shootings during his nearly eight-year presidency, repeatedly calling for more gun safety laws in the United States.[83] After the Charleston church shooting, U.S. President Barack Obama said, “At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency.”[84] After the December 2015 San Bernardino attack, Obama renewed his call for reforming gun-safety laws and also said that the frequency of mass shootings in the United States has “no parallel in the world”.[85] After the February 2018 attack at Florida’s Parkland school shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, the school’s student survivors, teachers, and parents became strong leaders in the effort to ban assault weapon sales and easy accessibility to military weapons.[86]
A headline at Vox.com last week read: “The Cincinnati nightclub shooting shows how more guns lead to more gun violence.”
Since the idea that “more guns lead to more violence” is prevalent in the anti-gun community, we decided to ask author and criminologist John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, about that headline and some other aspects of the story.
A1F Daily: A headline earlier this week at Vox.com read: “The Cincinnati nightclub shooting shows how more guns lead to more gun violence.” The story also stated: “Research reviews by the Harvard School of Public Health’s Injury Control Research Center have concluded that more gun ownership leads to more gun violence. Studies have found this to be true again and again—for homicides, suicides, domestic violence and violence against police.” What does your research show on that relationship?
John Lott: These are all points that I discuss in my new book, The War on Guns. There is a huge gulf between public health researchers and research done by economists and criminologists. Unfortunately, public health researchers use very primitive statistics or conduct their tests in ways that bias their results. They rely on purely cross-sectional comparisons, comparing crime rates in different places at only one point in time. But it’s not possible to accurately account for the differences between different states or countries. Comparisons are commonly made between the United States and the UK, often with the conclusion that the UK has lower homicide rates because of its stricter gun control laws. But it’s unreasonable to assume this causation. After all, the UK had even lower homicide rates before their gun control measures went into effect.I have shown that, even looking only at cross-sectional data over a single year, one will find that the more guns that civilians have, the lower the homicide rate.
Other mistakes are also made. Often, the statistical tests are done incorrectly or the data have errors in them. Here are some problems with the public health discussions about three different areas of crime:
Homicides — Gun possession rates are measured in such a way that make the gun possession rate look much higher in the U.S. than in other countries such as Israel and Switzerland. There is also a failure to clearly distinguish between homicides and murders—a distinction that few in the public are aware of. The difference is that homicides include killings in self-defense. This, too, biases the discussion against the U.S., which has a relatively higher incidence of self-defense.
I have shown that, even looking only at cross-sectional data over a single year, one will find that the more guns that civilians have, the lower the homicide rate. But a much better approach is to look at what happens to crime before and after a change in gun control laws or ownership rates. We can then draw a comparison with places where the laws or gun ownership rates were unchanged. The results of this comparison are pretty clear—more guns mean less crime. The explanation for this relationship is also clear: Gun control laws primarily disarm law-abiding citizens, making it easier for criminals to commit crimes against defenseless people.
Suicides — There are lots of different ways for people to commit suicide, and studies have been unable to find evidence that gun control laws affect overall suicide rates.
Police Deaths — The claim is made that gun control causes a reduction in police deaths. But public health researchers make one crucial mistake in their analysis of the data. Fixing this one mistake reverses their result, and it is hard to believe that the researchers were not cognizant of it.
Suppose that a state’s gun ownership rate is rising at the same time that police deaths are rising nationally. It would be a mistake to attribute the overall rise in police deaths to the rise in gun ownership. To account for that concern, researchers would normally look at how a state’s police death rate changed in comparison to the nation as a whole.
But public health researchers don’t do this. If they had, they would have found that gun ownership reduces police deaths.
A1FD: One section of the story stated: “And, tragically, this is a uniquely American problem in the developed world.” It then further stated: “No other developed country in the world has anywhere near the rate of gun violence that America has.” Isn’t this the same lie former President Barack Obama liked to repeat?
Lott: Yes, and Obama also made similar false claims regarding violence from mass public shootings.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has the best-known list of “developed countries.” Thirty-five countries are listed. Among them are European countries Slovak Republic and Estonia, both of which have firearm homicide rates significantly higher than that of the U.S. The Slovak Republic’s is three-times higher. Mexico, another OECD member, has had a firearm homicide rate that is three-times higher than the U.S.
Brazil and Russia meet the OECD standards of economic development, but are not full members for various political reasons. Their firearm homicide rates are vastly higher than that of the U.S. Brazil’s rate is more than five-times higher. Russia doesn’t provide a breakdown of specifically firearm homicides, but its overall homicide rate is about 120 percent higher than ours.
Nor are mass public shootings uniquely prevalent in the United States, as President Obama hassuggested at least a dozen times. Even after the November 2015 attacks that left 130 dead in Paris, he had the gall to claim, “I say this every time we’ve got one of these mass shootings: This just doesn’t happen in other countries.” Nor are mass public shootings uniquely prevalent in the United States.
Traditionally, the FBI definition of a mass public shooting required four or more deaths in a public place. The shooting cannot have occurred in connection with another crime, such as robbery. That definition tries to pick up on the sorts of cases that capture big headlines. These are shocking attacks—school or nightclub shootings—that are intended to kill lots of people and generate lots of media attention.
During the first seven years of the Obama presidency, the EU and U.S. shared very similar annual mass public shooting fatality rates (0.083 to 0.088). But the EU’s annual injury rate is more than twice as high (1.33 to 0.61). In fact, total annual casualties per million people were 56 percent higher in the EU than in the U.S.
The broader picture is that places with more guns have lower homicide rates, including firearm homicide.
A1FD: The story never mentioned the fact that the shooting occurred in yet another gun-free zone. Do you find that curious, given the research you have done on that topic?
Lott: How these attacks are reported has a major impact on the gun control debate. Much of the push for gun control occurs in the immediate aftermath of these tragedies. My guess is that the gun control debate would be dramatically different if, even once in a while, the media would mention that yet another attack had occurred in a gun-free zone. Instead, the media focus is so often on what guns were used and how they were obtained. Often, these initial reports turn out to be wrong. The easiest fact to check—whether the attack occurred in a gun-free zone—is virtually never mentioned.
I have tried to get TV producers to cover the issue of gun-free zones, but I was told that it would be “too political.” But it isn’t clear why mentioning the attack has occurred in a gun-free zone would be any more “political” than mentioning the guns used or how the guns were obtained, especially since both of these issues are used to justify new gun control laws.
For additional information dealing with gun control and the Second Amendment, check out John Lott’s newest book, The War On Guns: Arming Yourself Against Gun Control Lies. You can order The War On Guns directly fromamazon.com or barnesandnoble.com.
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PICTURED: Trump-supporting, bodybuilding, Native American Florida strip-club worker is revealed as the ‘MAGAbomber’ who ‘sent suspicious packages to 12 liberals’
Federal authorities arrested a suspect in the mail bombing spree on Friday in South Florida
The suspect is reportedly a male in his 50s who has a history of threatening judges
FBI discovered suspicious package addressed to Senator Cory Booker in Florida on Thursday night
Then a postal inspector intercepted another package to James Clapper in Manhattan Friday morning
The suspicious package was addressed to Clapper at headquarters of CNN, where he is a contributor
NYPD bomb squad’s Total Containment Vessel responded to postal facility in Midtown to remove package
Discoveries mark the 11th and 12th suspicious packages targeting outspoken critics of President Trump
FBI warns the public to be on the lookout for similar packages and says there could be more bombs
PUBLISHED: 12:06 EDT, 26 October 2018 | UPDATED: 12:31 EDT, 26 October 2018
The suspect in a mail bombing spree targeting critics of President Donald Trump has been identified.
Cesar Altier Sayoc was taken into custody on Friday morning in Plantation, Florida in connection with the 12 suspicious packages that have been discovered this week.
According to Sayoc’s Facebook page, he is a Trump fan who posted pictures and videos of himself at one of the President’s rallies in October 2016.
He posted a photograph of himself wearing a MAGA hat in front of the US Capitol in 2017.
He is Native American, and according to a picture posted on his social media page, he is a member of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
In a post a year ago, Sayoc shared a photograph of Governor Rick Scott and Donald Trump, writing: ‘The greatest Governor in Country Fla Rick Scott and great friend of We Unconquered Seminole Tribe . Trump Trump Trump’
He shared bodybuilding pictures and appears to have worked in a strip club.
He expressed his dislike of Hillary Clinton and posted stories about incidents of Islamic terrorism.
The suspect in his 50s was arrested in front of an AutoZone store in Plantation, a police source tells DailyMail.com.
Michelle Taylor, a nurse at the Senior Medical Associates clinic, saw police taking a vehicle believed to be Sayoc’s into custody.
‘We’ve been in the office for an hour and we’re so nervous,’ she said. ‘The police were surrounding some kind of a van. Thank god we’re done with our patients for the day and there’s only two of us in here.’
He posted a photograph of himself wearing a MAGA hat in front of the US Capitol in 2017
According to Sayoc’s Facebook page, he is a Trump fan who posted pictures of himself wearing a ‘MAGA’ hat
Sayoc is seen at an event supporting Trump and wearing a ‘MAGA’ hat in this photo posted to Facebook in October 2016
A driver snapped a photo of this van, believed to belong to Sayoc. The van is seen covered in stickers expressing support for Trump, and disdain for his liberal critics
A witness who works at Marlins Insurance said dozens of police cars descended on the area around State Road 7 and SW 8th Street about 10am, a few feet away from her office.
‘It’s really bad,’ the woman said by telephone. She declined to give her name. ‘We heard a loud bang, like a bomb exploding. Police officers who told us to stay inside said they were arrested the guy who’s been sending bombs all over the place. It’s pretty scary but we’re inside trying to get some work done.’
The suspect is reportedly a former resident of New York who is living in Florida. The 12 mail bombs are all believed to have been handled by a regional mail sorting facility in southern Florida.
The suspect is known to law enforcement, and has a history of making terroristic threats to judges, sources said.
Heavy police activity was seen in Plantation, Florida, a town to the west of Fort Lauderdale and directly south of Sunrise, the location of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz’s office, which the bombs listed as a return address.
Police impounded a white panel van that is believed to be connected to the investigation.
The Department of Justice announced a press conference for 2.30pm at which further details are expected to be available.
Police impounded a white panel van (above) that is believed to be connected to the investigation
Investigators are seen impounding a white panel van in Plantation, Florida on Friday in connection with an arrest
The van as covered with a blue tarp and transported away by investigators after the arrest on Friday
Earlier in the day, the investigators said they had found two new packages believed to be part of the mail bombing spree, addressed to Senator Cory Booker and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
The package to Booker was found on Thursday night at a mail sorting facility in Florida, and the package addressed to Clapper was found at a postal facility in Manhattan on Friday.
The two new packages marked the 11th and 12th suspected mail bombs in a spree that has targeted critics of Trump.
Trump’s first public response to the latest suspicious packages was a tweet at 10.19am reading: ‘Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this ‘Bomb’ stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows – news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!’
The FBI found two new packages believed to be part of the mail bombing spree, addressed to Senator Cory Booker (left) and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (right)
The suspicious package (above) addressed to James Clapper at the Time Warner Center was intercepted by postal inspectors at a Manhattan sorting facility on Friday morning
NYPD’s Total Containment vessel arrives as law enforcement respond to the scene of a suspicious package at a postal facility on Friday in New York
The Total Containment Vessel is used to transport explosive devices and is designed to contain powerful blasts
The special NYPD vehicle is seen transporting the package addressed to James Clapper to a secure facility in the Bronx
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller was on scene during an investigation of a bomb addressed to James Clapper at a US Post Office on W 52nd Street on Friday in Manhattan
FDNY set up a command post at an investigation of a bomb at a postal sorting facility in Midtown Manhattan on Friday
A police dog assists in a suspicious package response at a postal facility in Manhattan on Friday morning
Postal workers stand on the street after evacuating a sorting facility during a report of a suspicious package in Manhattan
Postal workers stand on the street after evacuating a Midtown Manhattan postal facility on Friday
The facility was evacuated after inspectors intercepted a suspicious package addressed to James Clapper
The map above shows the locations of 12 suspicious packages that have all been linked to a mail bombing spree
N
The package to Clapper was addressed to CNN’s headquarters in the Time Warner Center in Midtown Manhattan, but was intercepted before delivery.
A photo of the package showed that it matched notable characteristics of the previous mail bombs, none of which have exploded.
Clapper joined CNN as a contributor after stepping down as the nation’s most senior intelligence official last year.
‘At least they got the correct spelling of my name and they got the right network,’ Clapper said in remarks to CNN, referring to a mail bomb sent to CNN earlier this week and addressed to ‘John Brenan’.
John Brennan, a former CIA director, is a contributor for MSNBC.
‘This is definitely domestic terrorism, no question about it in my mind,’ Clapper said in an interview with the cable network. ‘This is not going to silence the administration´s critics.’
Clapper said that he had been on vacation with his wife, and had warned the neighbors who were collecting his mail to be on the lookout for suspicious packages as the mail bomb spree developed this week.
Like the other targets in the mail bomb spree, Clapper has been harshly critical of Trump. In a speech last year, he said that Trump was guilty of ‘ignorance or disrespect’.
First respondents are seen on the scene where suspicious package was found in Midtown. There were no reports of injuries and the stretcher is believed to be a precaution
Police respond to a report of a suspicious package at a postal facility in Midtown Manhattan on Friday morning
Police respond to a report of a suspicious package in the Manhattan borough of New York
Police swarmed the area outside a Manhattan postal facility after a package was found
The package intercepted on Friday was addressed to Clapper care of CNN, but was spotted by postal inspectors at a sorting facility before delivery.
The NYPD bomb squad was on scene at the postal facility at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue on Friday morning.
The NYPD’s Total Containment Vessel was spotted at the scene by about 9.30am.
Streets in the area were closed off and postal workers were seen waiting on the sidewalks after the facility was evacuated.
The containment vehicle departed the area at 10am transporting the suspected bomb to a secure police facility in Rodman’s Neck in the Bronx.
Police respond to a report of a suspicious package addressed to James Clapper in Manhattan
Streets were shut down and the facility evacuated after a suspicious package was found
Police respond to a report of a suspicious package in the Manhattan borough of New York on Friday
On Thursday, a local police bomb squad and canine units joined federal investigators to examine a sprawling U.S. mail distribution center at Opa-Locka, northwest of Miami, Miami-Dade County police said.
Investigators believe that all of the suspicious packages were sorted at the facility, which processes mail regionally in South Florida.
It was at the Opa-Locka facility that the 11th bomb was discovered, addressed to Senator Booker.
Booker is a Democrat from New Jersey. Like Clapper and the other targets of the mail bombs in the recent spree, he is an outspoken critic of Trump.
The identity and motives of the bomber have not been revealed, however, with the FBI saying it is pursuing the case as the agency’s highest priority.
No one has claimed responsibility for the bombs.
A police car sits outside New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker’s office in Camden, New Jersey on Friday. The FBI says a suspicious package addressed to Booker has been recovered in Florida and is similar in appearance to recent mail bombs
A police dog is loaded into an SUV outside New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker’s office in Camden, New Jersey
A police officer and dog are shown outside a postal facility on Thursday in Opa-locka, Florida. The search uncovered a suspicious package addressed to Senator Cory Booker
‘In America, love always trumps hate’: Cory Booker at 2016 DNC
Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told MSNBC on Friday that the mail bombs were stoking fear across the county and that U.S. leaders, including Trump, must reassure the public.
Elected officials and others need to say that this is not who we are as a country, Warner said. ‘That would be a heck of a lot stronger if that message also came from the White House.’
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said that Florida appeared to be the starting point for at least some of the bomb shipments.
‘Some of the packages went through the mail. They originated, some of them, from Florida,’ she said during an interview with Fox News Channel on Thursday.
‘I am confident that this person or people will be brought to justice.’
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Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter of 2018 (table 1), according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 4.2 percent.
The Bureau emphasized that the third-quarter advance estimate released today is based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency (see “Source Data for the Advance Estimate” on page 2). The “second” estimate for the third quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on November 28, 2018.
The increase in real GDP in the third quarter reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), private inventory investment, state and local government spending, federal government spending, and nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from exports and residential fixed investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased (table 2).
The deceleration in real GDP growth in the third quarter reflected a downturn in exports and a deceleration in nonresidential fixed investment. Imports increased in the third quarter after decreasing in the second. These movements were partly offset by an upturn in private inventory investment.
Current dollar GDP increased 4.9 percent, or $247.1 billion, in the third quarter to a level of $20.66 trillion. In the second quarter, current-dollar GDP increased 7.6 percent, or $370.9 billion (table 1 and table 3).
The price index for gross domestic purchases increased 1.7 percent in the third quarter, compared with an increase of 2.4 percent in the second quarter (table 4). The PCE price index increased 1.6 percent, compared with an increase of 2.0 percent. Excluding food and energy prices, the PCE price index increased 1.6 percent, compared with an increase of 2.1 percent.
Personal Income (table 8)
Current-dollar personal income increased $180.4 billion in the third quarter, compared with an increase of $180.7 billion in the second quarter. Accelerations in rental income, wages and salaries, and nonfarm proprietors’ income were offset by a downturn in farm proprietors’ income and a slowdown in dividend income.
Disposable personal income increased $155.0 billion, or 4.1 percent, in the third quarter, compared with an increase of $168.9 billion, or 4.5 percent, in the second quarter. Real disposable personal income increased 2.5 percent, the same increase as in the second quarter.
Personal saving was $999.6 billion in the third quarter, compared with $1,054.3 billion in the second quarter. The personal saving rate — personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income — was 6.4 percent in the third quarter, compared with 6.8 percent in the second quarter.
Source Data for the Advance Estimate
Information on the source data and key assumptions used for unavailable source data in the advance estimate is provided in a Technical Note that is posted with the news release on BEA’s Web site. A detailed “Key Source Data and Assumptions” file is also posted for each release. For information on updates to GDP, see the “Additional Information” section that follows.
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Understanding BLS Employment Projections
Civilian Labor Force Level
162,140,000
Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey
Series Id: LNS11000000
Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Seas) Civilian Labor Force Level
Labor force status: Civilian labor force
Type of data: Number in thousands
Age: 16 years and over
Download:
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Annual
2000
142267(1)
142456
142434
142751
142388
142591
142278
142514
142518
142622
142962
143248
2001
143800
143701
143924
143569
143318
143357
143654
143284
143989
144086
144240
144305
2002
143883
144653
144481
144725
144938
144808
144803
145009
145552
145314
145041
145066
2003
145937(1)
146100
146022
146474
146500
147056
146485
146445
146530
146716
147000
146729
2004
146842(1)
146709
146944
146850
147065
147460
147692
147564
147415
147793
148162
148059
2005
148029(1)
148364
148391
148926
149261
149238
149432
149779
149954
150001
150065
150030
2006
150214(1)
150641
150813
150881
151069
151354
151377
151716
151662
152041
152406
152732
2007
153144(1)
152983
153051
152435
152670
153041
153054
152749
153414
153183
153835
153918
2008
154063(1)
153653
153908
153769
154303
154313
154469
154641
154570
154876
154639
154655
2009
154210(1)
154538
154133
154509
154747
154716
154502
154307
153827
153784
153878
153111
2010
153484(1)
153694
153954
154622
154091
153616
153691
154086
153975
153635
154125
153650
2011
153263(1)
153214
153376
153543
153479
153346
153288
153760
154131
153961
154128
153995
2012
154381(1)
154671
154749
154545
154866
155083
154948
154763
155160
155554
155338
155628
2013
155763(1)
155312
155005
155394
155536
155749
155599
155605
155687
154673
155265
155182
2014
155357(1)
155526
156108
155404
155564
155742
156011
156124
156019
156383
156455
156301
2015
157063(1)
156734
156754
157051
157449
157071
157035
157132
156700
157138
157435
158043
2016
158387(1)
158811
159253
158919
158512
158976
159207
159514
159734
159700
159544
159736
2017
159718(1)
159997
160235
160181
159729
160214
160467
160598
161082
160371
160533
160597
2018
161115(1)
161921
161763
161527
161539
162140
1 : Data affected by changes in population controls.
Labor Force Participation Rate
62.9%
Series Id: LNS11300000
Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Seas) Labor Force Participation Rate
Labor force status: Civilian labor force participation rate
Type of data: Percent or rate
Age: 16 years and over
Download:
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Annual
2000
67.3
67.3
67.3
67.3
67.1
67.1
66.9
66.9
66.9
66.8
66.9
67.0
2001
67.2
67.1
67.2
66.9
66.7
66.7
66.8
66.5
66.8
66.7
66.7
66.7
2002
66.5
66.8
66.6
66.7
66.7
66.6
66.5
66.6
66.7
66.6
66.4
66.3
2003
66.4
66.4
66.3
66.4
66.4
66.5
66.2
66.1
66.1
66.1
66.1
65.9
2004
66.1
66.0
66.0
65.9
66.0
66.1
66.1
66.0
65.8
65.9
66.0
65.9
2005
65.8
65.9
65.9
66.1
66.1
66.1
66.1
66.2
66.1
66.1
66.0
66.0
2006
66.0
66.1
66.2
66.1
66.1
66.2
66.1
66.2
66.1
66.2
66.3
66.4
2007
66.4
66.3
66.2
65.9
66.0
66.0
66.0
65.8
66.0
65.8
66.0
66.0
2008
66.2
66.0
66.1
65.9
66.1
66.1
66.1
66.1
66.0
66.0
65.9
65.8
2009
65.7
65.8
65.6
65.7
65.7
65.7
65.5
65.4
65.1
65.0
65.0
64.6
2010
64.8
64.9
64.9
65.2
64.9
64.6
64.6
64.7
64.6
64.4
64.6
64.3
2011
64.2
64.1
64.2
64.2
64.1
64.0
64.0
64.1
64.2
64.1
64.1
64.0
2012
63.7
63.8
63.8
63.7
63.7
63.8
63.7
63.5
63.6
63.8
63.6
63.7
2013
63.7
63.4
63.3
63.4
63.4
63.4
63.3
63.3
63.2
62.8
63.0
62.9
2014
62.9
62.9
63.1
62.8
62.8
62.8
62.9
62.9
62.8
62.9
62.9
62.8
2015
62.9
62.7
62.7
62.8
62.9
62.7
62.6
62.6
62.3
62.5
62.5
62.7
2016
62.8
62.9
63.0
62.8
62.6
62.7
62.8
62.8
62.9
62.8
62.7
62.7
2017
62.9
62.9
63.0
62.9
62.7
62.8
62.9
62.9
63.0
62.7
62.7
62.7
2018
62.7
63.0
62.9
62.8
62.7
62.9
Employment Level
155,576,000
Series Id: LNS12000000
Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Seas) Employment Level
Labor force status: Employed
Type of data: Number in thousands
Age: 16 years and over
Download:
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Annual
2000
136559(1)
136598
136701
137270
136630
136940
136531
136662
136893
137088
137322
137614
2001
137778
137612
137783
137299
137092
136873
137071
136241
136846
136392
136238
136047
2002
135701
136438
136177
136126
136539
136415
136413
136705
137302
137008
136521
136426
2003
137417(1)
137482
137434
137633
137544
137790
137474
137549
137609
137984
138424
138411
2004
138472(1)
138542
138453
138680
138852
139174
139556
139573
139487
139732
140231
140125
2005
140245(1)
140385
140654
141254
141609
141714
142026
142434
142401
142548
142499
142752
2006
143150(1)
143457
143741
143761
144089
144353
144202
144625
144815
145314
145534
145970
2007
146028(1)
146057
146320
145586
145903
146063
145905
145682
146244
145946
146595
146273
2008
146378(1)
146156
146086
146132
145908
145737
145532
145203
145076
144802
144100
143369
2009
142152(1)
141640
140707
140656
140248
140009
139901
139492
138818
138432
138659
138013
2010
138438(1)
138581
138751
139297
139241
139141
139179
139438
139396
139119
139044
139301
2011
139250(1)
139394
139639
139586
139624
139384
139524
139942
140183
140368
140826
140902
2012
141584(1)
141858
142036
141899
142206
142391
142292
142291
143044
143431
143333
143330
2013
143292(1)
143362
143316
143635
143882
143999
144264
144326
144418
143537
144479
144778
2014
145122(1)
145161
145673
145680
145825
146267
146401
146522
146752
147411
147391
147597
2015
148113(1)
148100
148175
148505
148788
148806
148830
149136
148810
149254
149486
150135
2016
150576(1)
151005
151229
150978
151048
151164
151484
151687
151815
151939
152126
152233
2017
152076(1)
152511
153064
153161
152892
153250
153511
153471
154324
153846
153917
154021
2018
154430(1)
155215
155178
155181
155474
155576
1 : Data affected by changes in population controls.
Employment-Population Ratio
60.4%
Series Id: LNS12300000
Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Seas) Employment-Population Ratio
Labor force status: Employment-population ratio
Type of data: Percent or rate
Age: 16 years and over
Download:
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Annual
2000
64.6
64.6
64.6
64.7
64.4
64.5
64.2
64.2
64.2
64.2
64.3
64.4
2001
64.4
64.3
64.3
64.0
63.8
63.7
63.7
63.2
63.5
63.2
63.0
62.9
2002
62.7
63.0
62.8
62.7
62.9
62.7
62.7
62.7
63.0
62.7
62.5
62.4
2003
62.5
62.5
62.4
62.4
62.3
62.3
62.1
62.1
62.0
62.1
62.3
62.2
2004
62.3
62.3
62.2
62.3
62.3
62.4
62.5
62.4
62.3
62.3
62.5
62.4
2005
62.4
62.4
62.4
62.7
62.8
62.7
62.8
62.9
62.8
62.8
62.7
62.8
2006
62.9
63.0
63.1
63.0
63.1
63.1
63.0
63.1
63.1
63.3
63.3
63.4
2007
63.3
63.3
63.3
63.0
63.0
63.0
62.9
62.7
62.9
62.7
62.9
62.7
2008
62.9
62.8
62.7
62.7
62.5
62.4
62.2
62.0
61.9
61.7
61.4
61.0
2009
60.6
60.3
59.9
59.8
59.6
59.4
59.3
59.1
58.7
58.5
58.6
58.3
2010
58.5
58.5
58.5
58.7
58.6
58.5
58.5
58.6
58.5
58.3
58.2
58.3
2011
58.3
58.4
58.4
58.4
58.3
58.2
58.2
58.3
58.4
58.4
58.6
58.6
2012
58.4
58.5
58.5
58.4
58.5
58.6
58.5
58.4
58.7
58.8
58.7
58.7
2013
58.6
58.6
58.5
58.6
58.6
58.6
58.7
58.7
58.7
58.3
58.6
58.7
2014
58.8
58.7
58.9
58.9
58.9
59.0
59.0
59.0
59.1
59.3
59.2
59.3
2015
59.3
59.3
59.3
59.3
59.4
59.4
59.3
59.4
59.2
59.3
59.4
59.6
2016
59.7
59.8
59.8
59.7
59.7
59.7
59.7
59.8
59.7
59.7
59.8
59.8
2017
59.9
60.0
60.2
60.2
60.0
60.1
60.2
60.1
60.4
60.2
60.1
60.1
2018
60.1
60.4
60.4
60.3
60.4
60.4
Unemployment Level
6,564,000
Series Id: LNS13000000
Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Seas) Unemployment Level
Labor force status: Unemployed
Type of data: Number in thousands
Age: 16 years and over
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Annual
2000
5708
5858
5733
5481
5758
5651
5747
5853
5625
5534
5639
5634
2001
6023
6089
6141
6271
6226
6484
6583
7042
7142
7694
8003
8258
2002
8182
8215
8304
8599
8399
8393
8390
8304
8251
8307
8520
8640
2003
8520
8618
8588
8842
8957
9266
9011
8896
8921
8732
8576
8317
2004
8370
8167
8491
8170
8212
8286
8136
7990
7927
8061
7932
7934
2005
7784
7980
7737
7672
7651
7524
7406
7345
7553
7453
7566
7279
2006
7064
7184
7072
7120
6980
7001
7175
7091
6847
6727
6872
6762
2007
7116
6927
6731
6850
6766
6979
7149
7067
7170
7237
7240
7645
2008
7685
7497
7822
7637
8395
8575
8937
9438
9494
10074
10538
11286
2009
12058
12898
13426
13853
14499
14707
14601
14814
15009
15352
15219
15098
2010
15046
15113
15202
15325
14849
14474
14512
14648
14579
14516
15081
14348
2011
14013
13820
13737
13957
13855
13962
13763
13818
13948
13594
13302
13093
2012
12797
12813
12713
12646
12660
12692
12656
12471
12115
12124
12005
12298
2013
12471
11950
11689
11760
11654
11751
11335
11279
11270
11136
10787
10404
2014
10235
10365
10435
9724
9740
9474
9610
9602
9266
8972
9064
8704
2015
8951
8634
8578
8546
8662
8265
8206
7996
7891
7884
7948
7907
2016
7811
7806
8024
7942
7465
7812
7723
7827
7919
7761
7419
7502
2017
7642
7486
7171
7021
6837
6964
6956
7127
6759
6524
6616
6576
2018
6684
6706
6585
6346
6065
6564
U-3 Unemployment Rate
4.0%
Series Id: LNS14000000
Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Seas) Unemployment Rate
Labor force status: Unemployment rate
Type of data: Percent or rate
Age: 16 years and over
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Annual
2000
4.0
4.1
4.0
3.8
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.1
3.9
3.9
3.9
3.9
2001
4.2
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.3
4.5
4.6
4.9
5.0
5.3
5.5
5.7
2002
5.7
5.7
5.7
5.9
5.8
5.8
5.8
5.7
5.7
5.7
5.9
6.0
2003
5.8
5.9
5.9
6.0
6.1
6.3
6.2
6.1
6.1
6.0
5.8
5.7
2004
5.7
5.6
5.8
5.6
5.6
5.6
5.5
5.4
5.4
5.5
5.4
5.4
2005
5.3
5.4
5.2
5.2
5.1
5.0
5.0
4.9
5.0
5.0
5.0
4.9
2006
4.7
4.8
4.7
4.7
4.6
4.6
4.7
4.7
4.5
4.4
4.5
4.4
2007
4.6
4.5
4.4
4.5
4.4
4.6
4.7
4.6
4.7
4.7
4.7
5.0
2008
5.0
4.9
5.1
5.0
5.4
5.6
5.8
6.1
6.1
6.5
6.8
7.3
2009
7.8
8.3
8.7
9.0
9.4
9.5
9.5
9.6
9.8
10.0
9.9
9.9
2010
9.8
9.8
9.9
9.9
9.6
9.4
9.4
9.5
9.5
9.4
9.8
9.3
2011
9.1
9.0
9.0
9.1
9.0
9.1
9.0
9.0
9.0
8.8
8.6
8.5
2012
8.3
8.3
8.2
8.2
8.2
8.2
8.2
8.1
7.8
7.8
7.7
7.9
2013
8.0
7.7
7.5
7.6
7.5
7.5
7.3
7.2
7.2
7.2
6.9
6.7
2014
6.6
6.7
6.7
6.3
6.3
6.1
6.2
6.2
5.9
5.7
5.8
5.6
2015
5.7
5.5
5.5
5.4
5.5
5.3
5.2
5.1
5.0
5.0
5.0
5.0
2016
4.9
4.9
5.0
5.0
4.7
4.9
4.9
4.9
5.0
4.9
4.6
4.7
2017
4.8
4.7
4.5
4.4
4.3
4.3
4.3
4.4
4.2
4.1
4.1
4.1
2018
4.1
4.1
4.1
3.9
3.8
4.0
Average Weeks Unemployed
21.2
Series Id: LNS13008275
Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Seas) Average Weeks Unemployed
Labor force status: Unemployed
Type of data: Number of weeks
Age: 16 years and over
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Annual
2000
13.1
12.6
12.7
12.4
12.6
12.3
13.4
12.9
12.2
12.7
12.4
12.5
2001
12.7
12.8
12.8
12.4
12.1
12.7
12.9
13.3
13.2
13.3
14.3
14.5
2002
14.7
15.0
15.4
16.3
16.8
16.9
16.9
16.5
17.6
17.8
17.6
18.5
2003
18.5
18.5
18.1
19.4
19.0
19.9
19.7
19.2
19.5
19.3
19.9
19.8
2004
19.9
20.1
19.8
19.6
19.8
20.5
18.8
18.8
19.4
19.5
19.7
19.4
2005
19.5
19.1
19.5
19.6
18.6
17.9
17.6
18.4
17.9
17.9
17.5
17.5
2006
16.9
17.8
17.1
16.7
17.1
16.6
17.1
17.1
17.1
16.3
16.2
16.1
2007
16.3
16.7
17.8
16.9
16.6
16.5
17.2
17.0
16.3
17.0
17.3
16.6
2008
17.5
16.9
16.5
16.9
16.6
17.1
17.0
17.7
18.6
19.9
18.9
19.9
2009
19.8
20.2
20.9
21.7
22.4
23.9
25.1
25.3
26.6
27.5
28.9
29.7
2010
30.3
29.8
31.6
33.3
34.0
34.5
33.9
33.7
33.4
34.0
33.9
34.7
2011
37.2
37.4
39.1
38.7
39.6
39.9
40.7
40.5
40.4
38.7
40.2
40.4
2012
40.2
39.7
39.3
39.2
39.6
40.3
39.3
39.6
39.8
39.6
39.0
37.6
2013
35.6
36.4
37.0
36.5
36.8
36.4
37.3
37.6
37.4
35.1
36.6
36.5
2014
35.3
36.4
35.3
34.9
34.2
33.9
32.7
32.0
31.9
32.4
32.8
32.6
2015
32.2
31.1
30.5
30.8
30.5
28.3
28.2
28.3
26.0
27.6
27.9
27.7
2016
29.4
29.0
28.4
28.1
26.7
28.0
28.0
27.3
27.0
26.6
25.9
25.9
2017
25.3
25.1
25.4
24.3
24.8
24.9
25.0
24.3
26.6
25.8
25.2
23.6
2018
24.1
22.9
24.1
23.1
21.3
21.2
Unemployment Level – New Entrants
578,000
Series Id: LNS13023569
Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Seas) Unemployment Level - New Entrants
Labor force status: Unemployed
Type of data: Number in thousands
Age: 16 years and over
Unemployed entrant status: New entrants
Download:
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Annual
2000
394
420
429
406
466
427
433
499
415
402
419
490
2001
444
396
378
457
468
467
448
485
473
481
495
515
2002
484
507
538
527
497
549
545
612
536
479
591
535
2003
599
584
630
635
630
661
669
652
686
636
593
693
2004
676
666
631
652
718
649
702
704
695
734
700
702
2005
621
753
712
764
710
650
630
626
607
638
673
633
2006
616
711
636
591
517
646
639
646
612
572
591
586
2007
622
599
615
620
530
640
602
588
668
696
678
679
2008
677
656
704
625
797
786
835
821
815
819
763
803
2009
775
999
872
901
965
1001
1004
1085
1153
1102
1330
1241
2010
1195
1192
1146
1187
1202
1174
1208
1278
1217
1277
1275
1306
2011
1342
1287
1287
1305
1227
1242
1281
1254
1378
1287
1277
1282
2012
1260
1367
1388
1376
1358
1325
1303
1257
1260
1301
1333
1291
2013
1272
1253
1295
1302
1272
1246
1259
1289
1207
1221
1154
1199
2014
1165
1214
1156
1085
1064
1036
1098
1050
1103
1074
1044
973
2015
1020
944
804
876
967
905
834
842
840
826
854
866
2016
814
831
762
854
879
889
820
862
803
802
726
791
2017
803
765
769
707
658
680
697
653
663
626
697
581
2018
645
704
625
623
571
578
Not in Labor Force
95,502,000
Series Id: LNS15000000
Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Seas) Not in Labor Force
Labor force status: Not in labor force
Type of data: Number in thousands
Age: 16 years and over
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Annual
2000
69142
69120
69338
69267
69853
69876
70398
70401
70645
70782
70579
70488
2001
70088
70409
70381
70956
71414
71592
71526
72136
71676
71817
71876
72010
2002
72623
72010
72343
72281
72260
72600
72827
72856
72554
73026
73508
73675
2003
73960
74015
74295
74066
74268
73958
74767
75062
75249
75324
75280
75780
2004
75319
75648
75606
75907
75903
75735
75730
76113
76526
76399
76259
76581
2005
76808
76677
76846
76514
76409
76673
76721
76642
76739
76958
77138
77394
2006
77339
77122
77161
77318
77359
77317
77535
77451
77757
77634
77499
77376
2007
77506
77851
77982
78818
78810
78671
78904
79461
79047
79532
79105
79238
2008
78554
79156
79087
79429
79102
79314
79395
79466
79790
79736
80189
80380
2009
80529
80374
80953
80762
80705
80938
81367
81780
82495
82766
82865
83813
2010
83349
83304
83206
82707
83409
84075
84199
84014
84347
84895
84590
85240
2011
85441
85637
85623
85603
85834
86144
86383
86111
85940
86308
86312
86589
2012
87888
87765
87855
88239
88100
88073
88405
88803
88613
88429
88836
88722
2013
88900
89516
89990
89780
89827
89803
90156
90355
90481
91708
91302
91563
2014
91557
91559
91150
92036
92058
92072
92012
92105
92428
92274
92390
92726
2015
92660
93165
93326
93214
93006
93592
93841
93963
94625
94403
94312
93893
2016
94010
93766
93515
94049
94662
94421
94413
94340
94357
94621
94996
95006
2017
94364
94248
94179
94407
95038
94743
94684
94759
94480
95395
95416
95512
2018
95665
95012
95335
95745
95915
95502
U-6 Unemployment Rate
7.8%
Series Id: LNS13327709
Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (seas) Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of all civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers
Labor force status: Aggregated totals unemployed
Type of data: Percent or rate
Age: 16 years and over
Percent/rates: Unemployed and mrg attached and pt for econ reas as percent of labor force plus marg attached
Download:
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Annual
2000
7.1
7.2
7.1
6.9
7.1
7.0
7.0
7.1
7.0
6.8
7.1
6.9
2001
7.3
7.4
7.3
7.4
7.5
7.9
7.8
8.1
8.7
9.3
9.4
9.6
2002
9.5
9.5
9.4
9.7
9.5
9.5
9.6
9.6
9.6
9.6
9.7
9.8
2003
10.0
10.2
10.0
10.2
10.1
10.3
10.3
10.1
10.4
10.2
10.0
9.8
2004
9.9
9.7
10.0
9.6
9.6
9.5
9.5
9.4
9.4
9.7
9.4
9.2
2005
9.3
9.3
9.1
8.9
8.9
9.0
8.8
8.9
9.0
8.7
8.7
8.6
2006
8.4
8.4
8.2
8.1
8.2
8.4
8.5
8.4
8.0
8.2
8.1
7.9
2007
8.4
8.2
8.0
8.2
8.2
8.3
8.4
8.4
8.4
8.4
8.4
8.8
2008
9.2
9.0
9.1
9.2
9.7
10.1
10.5
10.8
11.0
11.8
12.6
13.6
2009
14.2
15.2
15.8
15.9
16.5
16.5
16.4
16.7
16.7
17.1
17.1
17.1
2010
16.7
17.0
17.1
17.1
16.6
16.4
16.4
16.5
16.8
16.6
16.9
16.6
2011
16.2
16.0
15.9
16.1
15.8
16.1
15.9
16.1
16.4
15.8
15.5
15.2
2012
15.2
15.0
14.5
14.6
14.7
14.8
14.8
14.6
14.8
14.4
14.4
14.4
2013
14.6
14.4
13.8
14.0
13.8
14.2
13.8
13.6
13.5
13.6
13.1
13.1
2014
12.7
12.7
12.7
12.3
12.1
12.0
12.1
11.9
11.7
11.5
11.4
11.2
2015
11.3
11.0
10.9
10.9
10.8
10.4
10.3
10.2
10.0
9.8
9.9
9.9
2016
9.9
9.7
9.8
9.8
9.8
9.5
9.7
9.6
9.7
9.6
9.3
9.1
2017
9.4
9.2
8.8
8.6
8.4
8.5
8.5
8.6
8.3
8.0
8.0
8.1
2018
8.2
8.2
8.0
7.8
7.6
7.8
Employment Situation Summary
Transmission of material in this news release is embargoed until USDL-18-1110
8:30 a.m. (EDT) Friday, July 6, 2018
Technical information:
Household data: (202) 691-6378 * cpsinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/cps
Establishment data: (202) 691-6555 * cesinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/ces
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- JUNE 2018
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 213,000 in June, and the unemployment rate
rose to 4.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job growth
occurred in professional and business services, manufacturing, and health care, while
retail trade lost jobs.
Household Survey Data
The unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage point to 4.0 percent in June, and the
number of unemployed persons increased by 499,000 to 6.6 million. A year earlier, the
jobless rate was 4.3 percent, and the number of unemployed persons was 7.0 million.
(See table A-1.)
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.7 percent), adult
women (3.7 percent), and Asians (3.2 percent) increased in June. The jobless rate for
teenagers (12.6 percent), Whites (3.5 percent), Blacks (6.5 percent), and Hispanics
(4.6 percent) showed little or no change over the month. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs
increased by 211,000 in June to 3.1 million, and the number of reentrants to the labor
force rose by 204,000 to 2.1 million. (Reentrants are persons who previously worked but
were not in the labor force prior to beginning their job search.) (See table A-11.)
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by
289,000 in June to 1.5 million. These individuals accounted for 23.0 percent of the
unemployed. (See table A-12.)
In June, the civilian labor force grew by 601,000. The labor force participation rate
edged up by 0.2 percentage point over the month to 62.9 percent but has shown no clear
trend thus far this year. (See table A-1.)
The employment-population ratio, at 60.4 percent, was unchanged in June and has
essentially been flat since February. (See table A-1.)
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to
as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed in June at 4.7 million. These
individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time
because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs.
(See table A-8.)
In June, 1.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, little
different from a year earlier. (Data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals
were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for
a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because
they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)
Among the marginally attached, there were 359,000 discouraged workers in June, down
by 155,000 from a year earlier. (Data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged
workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are
available for them. The remaining 1.1 million persons marginally attached to the
labor force in June had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance
or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)
Establishment Survey Data
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 213,000 in June and has grown by 2.4
million over the last 12 months. Over the month, job gains occurred in professional
and business services, manufacturing, and health care, while employment in retail
trade declined. (See table B-1.)
Employment in professional and business services increased by 50,000 in June and has
risen by 521,000 over the year.
Manufacturing added 36,000 jobs in June. Durable goods manufacturing accounted for
nearly all of the increase, including job gains in fabricated metal products (+7,000),
computer and electronic products (+5,000), and primary metals (+3,000). Motor vehicles
and parts also added jobs over the month (+12,000), after declining by 8,000 in May.
Over the past year, manufacturing has added 285,000 jobs.
Employment in health care rose by 25,000 in June and has increased by 309,000 over the
year. Hospitals added 11,000 jobs over the month, and employment in ambulatory health
care services continued to trend up (+14,000).
Construction employment continued to trend up in June (+13,000) and has increased by
282,000 over the year.
Mining employment continued on an upward trend in June (+5,000). The industry has
added 95,000 jobs since a recent low point in October 2016, almost entirely in support
activities for mining.
In June, retail trade lost 22,000 jobs, largely offsetting a gain in May (+25,000).
Employment showed little or no change over the month in other major industries,
including wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial
activities, leisure and hospitality, and government.
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at
34.5 hours in June. In manufacturing, the workweek edged up by 0.1 hour to 40.9 hours,
and overtime edged up by 0.1 hour to 3.5 hours. The average workweek for production
and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls remained at 33.8 hours.
(See tables B-2 and B-7.)
In June, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by
5 cents to $26.98. Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 72 cents,
or 2.7 percent. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory
employees increased by 4 cents to $22.62 in June. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for April was revised up from +159,000
to +175,000, and the change for May was revised up from +223,000 to +244,000. With
these revisions, employment gains in April and May combined were 37,000 more than
previously reported. (Monthly revisions result from additional reports received from
businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the
recalculation of seasonal factors.) After revisions, job gains have averaged 211,000
per month over the last 3 months.
_____________
The Employment Situation for July is scheduled to be released on Friday, August 3, 2018,
at 8:30 a.m. (EDT).
_______________________________________________________________________________________
| |
| 2018 Preliminary Benchmark Revision to the Establishment Survey Data will be |
| Released on August 22, 2018 |
| |
|Each year, the establishment survey estimates are benchmarked to comprehensive counts |
|of employment from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) for the month |
|of March. These counts are derived from state unemployment insurance (UI) tax records |
|that nearly all employers are required to file. On August 22, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. |
|(EDT), the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will release the preliminary estimate of |
|the upcoming annual benchmark revision. This is the same day the first-quarter 2018 |
|data from QCEW will be issued. Preliminary benchmark revisions for all major industry |
|sectors, as well as total nonfarm and total private levels, will be available on the |
|BLS website at www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesprelbmk.htm. |
| |
|The final benchmark revision will be issued with the publication of the January 2019 |
|Employment Situation news release in February 2019. |
|_______________________________________________________________________________________|
Employment Situation Summary Table A. Household data, seasonally adjusted
HOUSEHOLD DATA
Summary table A. Household data, seasonally adjusted[Numbers in thousands]
Category
June
2017
Apr.
2018
May
2018
June
2018
Change from:
May
2018-
June
2018
Employment status
Civilian noninstitutional population
254,957
257,272
257,454
257,642
188
Civilian labor force
160,214
161,527
161,539
162,140
601
Participation rate
62.8
62.8
62.7
62.9
0.2
Employed
153,250
155,181
155,474
155,576
102
Employment-population ratio
60.1
60.3
60.4
60.4
0.0
Unemployed
6,964
6,346
6,065
6,564
499
Unemployment rate
4.3
3.9
3.8
4.0
0.2
Not in labor force
94,743
95,745
95,915
95,502
-413
Unemployment rates
Total, 16 years and over
4.3
3.9
3.8
4.0
0.2
Adult men (20 years and over)
4.0
3.7
3.5
3.7
0.2
Adult women (20 years and over)
4.0
3.5
3.3
3.7
0.4
Teenagers (16 to 19 years)
13.3
12.9
12.8
12.6
-0.2
White
3.8
3.6
3.5
3.5
0.0
Black or African American
7.1
6.6
5.9
6.5
0.6
Asian
3.6
2.8
2.1
3.2
1.1
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity
4.8
4.8
4.9
4.6
-0.3
Total, 25 years and over
3.6
3.3
3.0
3.3
0.3
Less than a high school diploma
6.5
5.9
5.4
5.5
0.1
High school graduates, no college
4.6
4.3
3.9
4.2
0.3
Some college or associate degree
3.8
3.5
3.2
3.3
0.1
Bachelor’s degree and higher
2.3
2.1
2.0
2.3
0.3
Reason for unemployment
Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs
3,447
2,958
2,854
3,065
211
Job leavers
816
815
852
811
-41
Reentrants
2,055
2,009
1,882
2,086
204
New entrants
680
623
571
578
7
Duration of unemployment
Less than 5 weeks
2,301
2,115
2,034
2,227
193
5 to 14 weeks
1,942
2,017
1,945
1,882
-63
15 to 26 weeks
937
1,036
977
836
-141
27 weeks and over
1,715
1,293
1,189
1,478
289
Employed persons at work part time
Part time for economic reasons
5,264
4,985
4,948
4,743
-205
Slack work or business conditions
3,263
2,994
3,004
3,042
38
Could only find part-time work
1,711
1,586
1,480
1,447
-33
Part time for noneconomic reasons
20,813
21,258
21,095
21,304
209
Persons not in the labor force (not seasonally adjusted)
Marginally attached to the labor force
1,582
1,362
1,455
1,437
–
Discouraged workers
514
408
378
359
–
– Over-the-month changes are not displayed for not seasonally adjusted data.
NOTE: Persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. Detail for the seasonally adjusted data shown in this table will not necessarily add to totals because of the independent seasonal adjustment of the various series. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.
Footnotes (1) Includes other industries, not shown separately.
(2) Data relate to production employees in mining and logging and manufacturing, construction employees in construction, and nonsupervisory employees in the service-providing industries.
(3) The indexes of aggregate weekly hours are calculated by dividing the current month’s estimates of aggregate hours by the corresponding annual average aggregate hours.
(4) The indexes of aggregate weekly payrolls are calculated by dividing the current month’s estimates of aggregate weekly payrolls by the corresponding annual average aggregate weekly payrolls.
(5) Figures are the percent of industries with employment increasing plus one-half of the industries with unchanged employment, where 50 percent indicates an equal balance between industries with increasing and decreasing employment.
(P) Preliminary
NOTE: Data have been revised to reflect March 2017 benchmark levels and updated seasonal adjustment factors.
Story 2: President Trump Selects His Nominee For Supreme Court Justice at 9 P.M. Monday and The Winner is? Brett Kavanaugh But My Favorite Amy Barrett — Mother of Seven — Democrats Immediately Start Throwing Rocks At Outstanding Nomination! — Videos —
Kavanaugh: I am deeply honored to fill Kennedy’s seat
Hannity: Left will take extreme measures to malign Kavanaugh
Laura Ingraham Angle – LIVE FULL SCREEN – Fox News Live Stream – 7/9/2018
Tucker Carlson Tonight 7/9/2018
BREAKING: President Trump announces Judge Brett Kavanaugh as his Supreme Court pick
President Trump Announces the Nominee for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FszugidxkWY]
Napolitano on Trump to Announce Supreme Court Pick Tonight
Senate fight awaits Trump’s Supreme Court pick
Leonard Leo hails Trump’s transparency on Supreme Court pick
Judge Napolitano on Trump’s SCOTUS pick: Titanic battle below the radar
Americans and Fake News Media More Often Than Not Simply Don’t Know What They’re Talking About
The Latest on President Donald Trump’s nomination of a Supreme Court justice (all times local):
9:30 p.m.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says that Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a “superb” Supreme Court pick and that senators should “put partisanship aside” in considering him.
President Donald Trump announced Kavanaugh’s nomination Monday evening.
Democrats are already lining up against Kavanaugh as too conservative. But McConnell says senators should give him “the fairness, respect, and seriousness that a Supreme Court nomination ought to command.”
McConnell says Kavanaugh believes judges should ignore their personal and political views and simply “interpret our laws as they are written.”
The Kentucky Republican faces a challenge in winning Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
Republicans hold a mere 50-49 Senate majority, with the prolonged absence of the ailing Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain. The defection of one Republican would kill the nomination unless at least one Democrat votes yes.
President Donald Trump is nominating influential conservative Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court as he seeks to shift the nation’s highest court further to the right. (July 9)
Judge Brett Kavanaugh says he is “humbled” and “deeply honored” to have been selected by President Donald Trump for the Supreme Court.
Kavanaugh told the president Monday night as he took the microphone to accept his nomination that he was “grateful to you” and “humbled by your confidence in me.”
He also says he is “deeply honored” to be nominated to fill the seat of retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, for whom he clerked.
Kavanaugh says that if he’s confirmed, he “will keep an open mind in every case” and “always strive to preserve the Constitution of the United States and the American rule of law.”
He also thanked his parents and talked about his young daughters, whose basketball teams he coaches. He says his daughters’ teammates call him “Coach K.”
___
9:20 p.m.
The Senate’s top Democrat says President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court puts abortion rights and health care protections for women “on the judicial chopping block.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says by picking Kavanaugh, Trump is delivering on his pledge to “punish” women for their choices.
He says he will fight the nomination “with everything I have.” He’s urging people to make their voices heard, an indirect reference to voicing their objections to senators.
Schumer says if Kavanaugh is confirmed, “women’s reproductive rights would be in the hands of five men on the Supreme Court.”
Schumer and other Democrats have cited campaign statements Trump made to assert that any of the candidates Trump mulled would oppose abortion rights and the Obama-era health care law.
President Donald Trump has introduced his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as “a judge’s judge” and cited his “proven commitment to equal justice under the law.”
Trump announced Kavanaugh as his pick Monday night on prime-time television.
The 53-year-old Kavanaugh is a longtime fixture of the Republican establishment. He has been a judge on the federal appeals court in Washington since 2006. He also was a key aide to Kenneth Starr during the investigation of President Bill Clinton. Kavanaugh also worked in the White House during George W. Bush’s presidency.
Trump says Kavanaugh has “impeccable credentials and unsurpassed qualifications.”
Trump made the announcement in the East Room of the White House and rousing applause broke out as Kavanaugh entered with his wife and two daughters.
___
9:10 p.m.
President Donald Trump made his final decision to nominate Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Sunday night.
A senior White House official says Trump called Kavanaugh on Sunday evening to inform him that he was his choice to be nominated to the Supreme Court.
On Monday, Trump phoned Justice Anthony Kennedy to inform him that his former law clerk would be nominated to fill his seat. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also received a heads-up from the president. The president briefed Senate Republicans at the White House Monday evening shortly before making the public announcement.
The official says Trump decided on Kavanaugh because of his large body of jurisprudence cited by other courts, describing him as a judge that other judges read.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.
— Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed
___
9:05 p.m.
President Donald Trump is nominating influential conservative Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court as he seeks to shift the nation’s highest court further to the right.
Trump chose the 53-year-old federal appellate judge for the seat opened up by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kavanaugh would be less receptive to abortion and gay rights than Kennedy was.
Kavanaugh is Trump’s second high court pick after Justice Neil Gorsuch. Kavanaugh and Gorsuch served as law clerks to Kennedy at the same time early in their legal careers.
Kavanaugh is a longtime fixture of the Republican legal establishment. He has been a judge on the federal appeals court in Washington since 2006. He also was a key aide to Kenneth Starr during his investigation of President Bill Clinton and worked in the White House during George W. Bush’s presidency.
___
9 p.m.
A senior White House official says President Donald Trump intends to nominate influential conservative judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court as he seeks to shift the balance of the court further to the right.
Trump plans to announce Monday that he has selected the 53-year-old federal appellate judge for the seat opened up by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy. The official spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the official announcement.
Kavanaugh is a longtime fixture of the Republican legal establishment. He has been a judge on the federal appeals court in Washington since 2006. He also was a key aide to Kenneth Starr during his investigation of President Bill Clinton and worked in the White House during George W. Bush’s presidency.
— By Associated Press writer Zeke Miller
___
8:55 p.m.
A senior White House official says President Donald Trump intends to nominate influential conservative judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court as he seeks to shift the balance of the court further to the right. Trump plans to announce Monday that he has selected the 53-year-old federal appellate judge for the seat opened up by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy. The official spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the official announcement.
— By Associated Press writer Zeke Miller
___
6:55 p.m.
Sen. Orrin Hatch says he has spoken with President Donald Trump about his nominee to the Supreme Court and doesn’t believe he’s going to pick Amy Coney Barrett.
The Utah Republican said Monday of Barrett: “I don’t think she’s going to be the one who’s chosen this time.”
The senator had stumped publicly for her and called her an outstanding judge. But the president in recent days seemed to narrow his shortlist for the court down to two other appellate judges, Brett Kavanaugh and Thomas Hardiman.
Hatch demurred when asked by reporters whether Trump is nominating Kavanaugh.
He says: “I’m pretty sure who it’s going to be, so I don’t want to give something up.”
Trump is announcing his selection Monday night.
___
6:25 p.m.
Is there a Supreme Court sign in these tea leaves?
A D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2-1 opinion issued Monday is raising speculation that Judge Brett Kavanaugh is President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
Here’s why: Kavanaugh’s court rarely issues opinions on Monday. But if Kavanaugh is Trump’s choice, he likely would step away from pending cases. In the case decided Monday that had to do with attorneys’ fees, there would be no majority if Kavanaugh were to withdraw.
Trump is set to announce his choice Monday night.
Mike Sacks, a reporter for the Fox television affiliate in New York and a self-described lapsed lawyer, was among the first to make the connection on Twitter.
___
4:35 p.m.
Three Democratic senators sure to face tremendous pressure over whether to back President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee have been invited to Monday’s White House announcement of the pick. But Indiana’s Joe Donnelly, North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp and West Virginia’s Joe Manchin all say they won’t attend.
All face tough re-election races this November in states Trump won easily in 2016.
All three states lean heavily Republican. But nearly all Senate Democrats and many Democratic voters are expected to oppose Trump’s nominee. They say the person would likely take strongly conservative views on issues like abortion and health care.
The White House would love to have the Democrats’ votes for confirmation. Issuing the invitations makes the lawmakers choose between humoring voters who think they should be bipartisan and others who feel they shouldn’t condone Trump’s pick.
___
4:10 p.m.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas says Republicans know they’re in for a contentious battle to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve on the Supreme Court, but “won’t back down from the fight.”
Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, says it’s “extremely disappointing” that some Democrats have made clear they’ll oppose the nominee even before the president announces his choice.
Cornyn says Democrats have pledged to stop the nominee at all costs, but “we will see President Trump’s nominee confirmed on a timely basis.”
Cornyn spoke shortly after Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said any of Trump’s likely nominees poses a threat to the Affordable Care Act and a woman’s right to have an abortion.
Senators are trying to frame the debate before Trump’s 9 p.m. announcement.
___
3:30 p.m.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says a weekend move by the Trump administration to undercut the Affordable Care Act is another reason for senators to closely scrutinize the president’s Supreme Court nominee.
With little warning, the Republican administration announced it is freezing payments under an “Obamacare” program that protects insurers with sicker patients from financial losses. If the decision is made permanent, it would lead to higher premiums.
Schumer says the administration’s action highlights the stakes for senators. Trump is announcing his pick to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on Monday night.
He says, “Because President Trump has said repeatedly that he would nominate judges to overturn the ACA, the Supreme Court vacancy is only further putting health care front and center, raising the stakes for maintaining these vital health care protections.”
___
1:55 p.m.
Former Sen. Jon Kyl will guide President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee through the Senate confirmation process.
White House spokesman Raj Shah says the Arizona Republican “has agreed to serve as the Sherpa for the President’s nominee to the Supreme Court.”
Kyl, a former member of Republican leadership, served on the Senate Judiciary Committee before retiring from the Senate in January 2013. He works for Washington-based lobbying firm Covington & Burling.
The White House hopes Kyl’s close ties to Senate Republicans will help smooth the path for Trump’s eventual selection to win confirmation. Trump is set to announce his pick for the vacancy left by retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy at 9 p.m. Monday.
Former New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte served as the ‘sherpa’ for Justice Neil Gorsuch in 2017.
___
1:15 p.m.
President Donald Trump has yet to announce his pick for Supreme Court, but Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania — up for re-election — says he’ll be opposed.
Casey says the list of judges Trump has used to find a Supreme Court nominee is the “fruit of a corrupt process straight from the D.C. swamp.” He cites involvement of the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank in drafting the list.
The Democratic senator is up for re-election this year in a state Trump won in 2016. The race is not expected to be competitive.
Bob Salera, a campaign spokesman for Senate Republicans, said Casey has “given up any pretense of being a moderate voice” by opposing Trump’s nominee sight unseen.
Casey says he is “pro-life,” but regularly sides with supporters of abortion rights in Senate votes.
___
10:25 a.m.
The conservative Judicial Crisis Network is set to launch a $1.4 million ad buy on behalf of President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
Trump is expected to reveal his pick at 9 p.m. Monday. When the announcement is made, the campaign will kick off. It will feature cable and digital advertising in states including Alabama, Indiana, North Dakota and West Virginia.
The campaign will include a biographical ad about the nominee.
The group started advertising after Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement. The new ad brings their total investment to $2.4 million. They will also launch a website with information on the nominee
___
6 a.m.
President Donald Trump is going down to the wire as he makes his choice on a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. But he says with his final four options “you can’t go wrong.”
Trump spoke to reporters Sunday afternoon as he concluded a weekend in New Jersey spent deliberating his decision at his private golf club. Trump insisted he still hadn’t locked down his decision, which he wants to keep under wraps until a 9 p.m. Monday announcement from the White House.
While Trump didn’t name the four, top contenders for the role have included federal appeals judges Brett Kavanaugh, Raymond Kethledge, Amy Coney Barrett and Thomas Hardiman.
Kavanaugh was nominated to the D.C. Appeals Court by Bush in 2003. His confirmation hearings were contentious and stalled for three years over charges of partisanship. Kavanaugh was ultimately confirmed in May 2006 after a series of negotiations between Democratic and Republican senators.[3][4][5]
Following Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy‘s retirement, effective July 31, 2018, Kavanaugh was nominated by President Trump on July 9, 2018, to fill the vacancy.[6][7]
After graduating from Georgetown Prep, Kavanaugh attended Yale University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in 1987. At Yale, he joined the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He then attended Yale Law School, and graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1990. At Yale Law, he served as Notes Editor of the Yale Law Journal. He is married to Ashley Estes, a native of Abilene, Texas, who formerly served as Personal Secretary to the President in the White House at the same time as her future husband. They have two daughters, Margaret and Liza.
After his Supreme Court clerkship, Kavanaugh worked for Starr again, now as an Associate Counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel, where he handled a number of the novel constitutional and legal issues presented during that investigation and was a principal author of the Starr Report to Congress on the Monica Lewinsky–Bill Clinton and Vincent Foster investigation.[12] There, Kavanaugh argued on broad grounds for the impeachment of Bill Clinton.[13] Kavanaugh was later a partner at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis.[11] In Swidler & Berlin v. United States (1998), Kavanaugh argued his first and only case before the Supreme Court when he asked it to disregard attorney–client privilege in relation to the investigation of Foster’s death.[14] The Supreme Court rejected Kavanaugh’s arguments by a vote of 6–3.[15]
Bush White House
After George W. Bush became president in 2001, Kavanaugh served for two years as Senior Associate Counsel and Associate Counsel to the President.[11] In that capacity, he worked on the numerous constitutional, legal, and ethical issues handled by that office. Starting in 2003, he served as Assistant to the President and as the White House Staff Secretary.[11] In that capacity, he was responsible for coordinating all documents to and from the president.
D.C. Circuit nomination and confirmation
Kavanaugh sworn in by Justice Kennedy as President Bush and Kavanaugh’s wife, Ashley, look on.
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary recommended confirmation on a 10–8 party-line vote on May 11, 2006, and Kavanaugh was thereafter confirmed to the court[18][19][20] by the U.S. Senate on May 26, 2006 by a vote of 57–36. On June 1, 2006, he was sworn in by Justice Anthony Kennedy, for whom he had previously clerked, during a special Rose Garden ceremony at the White House.[21] Kavanaugh was the fourth judge nominated to the D.C. Circuit by Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate. Kavanaugh began hearing cases on September 11, 2006 and had his formal investiture on September 27 at the Prettyman Courthouse. His first published opinion was released on November 17, 2006. He authored the opinion of the court for a unanimous three-judge panel in the case of National Fuel Gas Supply Corp. v. FERC.
Accusations of misleading Senate committee
In July 2007, Democratic Senators Patrick Leahy and Dick Durbin accused Kavanaugh of “misleading” the Senate committee during his nomination stemming from the Bush White House detention policy.[22]
Opinions
Judge Kavanaugh in 2016
Abortion
Kavanugh has stated that he considers Roe v. Wade binding under stare decisis and would seek to uphold it,[23] but has also ruled in favor of some restrictions for abortion.[24][25][26]
In May 2006, Kavanaugh stated he “would follow Roe v. Wade faithfully and fully” and that the issue of the legality of abortion has already “been decided by the Supreme Court.”[23] During the hearing, he stated that a right to an abortion has been found “many times”, citing Planned Parenthood v. Casey.[23]
In October 2017, Kavanaugh joined an unsigned divided panel opinion which found that the Office of Refugee Resettlement could prevent an unaccompanied minor in its custody from obtaining an abortion.[26] Days later, the en banc D.C. Circuit reversed that judgment, with Kavanaugh now dissenting.[24] The D.C. Circuit’s opinion was then itself vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Garza v. Hargan (2018).[25]
In 2015, Kavanaugh found that those directly regulated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) could challenge the constitutionality of its design.[39][40] In October 2016, Kavanaugh wrote for a divided panel finding that the CFPB’s design was unconstitutional, and made the CFPB Director removable by the President of the United States.[41][42] In January 2018, the en banc D.C. Circuit reversed that judgment by a vote of 7–3, over the dissent of Kavanaugh.[43][44]
Terrorism
In 2014, Kavanaugh concurred in the judgment when the en banc circuit found that Ali al-Bahlul could be retroactively convicted of war crimes, provided existing statute already made it a crime “because it does not alter the definition of the crime, the defenses or the punishment”.[45][46] In October 2016, Kavanaugh wrote the plurality opinion when the en banc circuit found al-Bahlul could be convicted by a military commission even if his offenses are not internationally recognized as war crimes under the law of war.[47][48]
In Meshal v. Higgenbotham (2016), Kavanaugh concurred when the divided panel threw out a claim by an American that he had been disappeared by the FBI in a Kenyan black site.[49][50]
Scholarship
In 2009, Kavanaugh wrote an article for the Minnesota Law Review where he argued that U.S. Presidents should be exempt from “time-consuming and distracting” lawsuits and investigations, which “would ill serve the public interest, especially in times of financial or national security crisis.”[51] This article garnered attention in 2018 when Kavanaugh was considered among leading candidates to be nominated to the Supreme Court by President Donald Trump, whose 2016 presidential campaign is the subject of an ongoing federal probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.[51]
When reviewing a book on statutory interpretation by Second Circuit Chief Judge Robert Katzmann, Kavanaugh observed that judges often cannot agree on a statute if its text is ambiguous.[52] To remedy this, Kavanaugh encouraged judges to first seek the “best reading” of the statute, through “interpreting the words of the statute” as well as the context of the statute as a whole, and only then apply other interpretive techniques that may justify an interpretation that differs from the “best meaning” such as constitutional avoidance, legislative history, and Chevron deference.[52]
Statistical projections
Several academic studies that have attempted to measure judges based on their ideology or “Scalia-ness” have included Kavanaugh.
One study “derived ideology scores for the D.C. Circuit judges based on lawyers’ (who practiced before these judges) perceptions of the judges’ political preferences,” with Kavanaugh ranked as the fifth most conservative judge on the court.[53] The same study praised Kavanaugh’s “ability to toe a moderate line while ruling predominantly conservatively,” as well as “his moderately conservative behavior and his high level of agreement with the other judges on the circuit.”[53] The study further observed that “[c]ompared to the recent addition of Justice Gorsuch to the Supreme Court . . . Judge Kavanaugh uses less originalist and textualist language in his opinions although he is well-versed in statutory interpretation.”[53]
FiveThirtyEight used Judicial Common Space scores, which are based not off of a judge’s behavior, but rather the ideology scores of either home state senators or the appointing president, to find that Kavanaugh would likely be more conservative than Justices Alito and Gorsuch, but less conservative than Justice Thomas, if placed on the Supreme Court.[54] The Washington Post’s statistical projections predicted that all of Trump’s announced candidates were “largely statistically indistinguishable” and estimating that Kavanaugh would place ideologically between Justices Gorsuch and Alito.[55]
Supreme Court nomination
According to the New York Times, on July 2, 2018, Kavanaugh was one of four circuit judges to receive a personal 45 minute interview by President Donald Trump to replace Justice Kennedy. On July 9, President Trump nominated Kavanaugh for a seat on the Supreme Court.[56]
Hardiman was born in 1965 in Winchester, Massachusetts, and was raised in Waltham.[3][4] His father, Robert, owned and operated a taxicab and school transportation business and his mother, Judith, was a homemaker and bookkeeper for the family business.[3][4][5]
As a teenager, Hardiman began working part-time as a taxi driver, which he continued to do throughout high school and college.[5][6] In 1983, he graduated from Waltham High School.[7]
After graduation, Hardiman joined the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, where he was an associate in the litigation department from 1989–1992.[3] From 1992–1999, he practiced with the Pittsburgh law firm of Titus & McConomy, first as an associate, and then from 1996–1999 as a partner.[9] From 1999–2003, he was a partner in the litigation department at law firm of Reed Smith, also in Pittsburgh.[3] His practice consisted mainly of civil and white-collar criminal litigation.[10]
Hardiman was subsequently nominated to the Third Circuit by President Bush on January 9, 2007, to fill a seat vacated by Judge Richard Lowell Nygaard (who had assumed senior status in 2005).[11] Hardiman was confirmed to that seat by the U.S. Senate by a vote of 95–0 on March 15, 2007. He received his commission on April 2, 2007.[11][12] He was the seventh judge appointed to the Third Circuit by Bush.
In Barkes v. First Correctional Medical, Inc. (2014), Hardiman dissented from a ruling that two Delaware prison officials could be sued for failing to provide adequate suicide prevention protocols after a mentally ill inmate committed suicide. The Supreme Court agreed and unanimously reversed in Taylor v. Barkes.[14]
In United States v. Abbott (2009), Hardiman held that a defendant’s mandatory minimum sentence is not affected by the imposition of another mandatory minimum for a different offense.[17] The Supreme Court affirmed in 2010.
In United States v. Fisher (2007), Hardiman ruled that a judge could find facts to enhance a criminal sentence according to the preponderance of the evidence standard of proof.[18]
Religious freedom
In Busch v. Marple Newtown School District (2008), Hardiman wrote a dissenting opinion in favor of parents who described themselves as Evangelical Christians and were barred from reading from the Bible during a kindergarten “show and tell” presentation. Hardiman wrote that “the school went too far in this case in limiting participation in ‘All About Me’ week to nonreligious perspectives,” which “plainly constituted” discrimination. Hardiman wrote that “the majority’s desire to protect young children from potentially influential speech in the classroom is understandable,” but that students cannot be barred from expressing “what is most important” about themselves.[19]
Gun rights
In United States vs. Barton (2011), Hardiman rejected a challenge to the federal law that bans felons from owning firearms.[20] However, in Binderup v. Attorney General (2016), he held that such a prohibition could cover only dangerous persons who are likely to use firearms for illicit purposes. He wrote “the most cogent principle that can be drawn from traditional limitations on the right to keep and bear arms is that dangerous persons likely to use firearms for illicit purposes were not understood to be protected by the Second Amendment.”[21]
In the 2013 case Drake v. Filko, Hardiman filed a dissenting opinion arguing that the New Jersey requirement that gun owners must show a “justifiable need” to carry a handgun was unconstitutional. Hardiman cited the case District of Columbia v. Heller, writing that based on the Heller ruling, the Second Amendment “protects an inherent right to self-defense.”[22][23]
Free speech
In the 2006 case United States v. Stevens, Hardiman voted to strike down a federal law that criminalized videos depicting animal cruelty.[24]
In the 2010 case Kelly v. Borough of Carlisle, Hardiman ruled that a police officer had qualified immunity because there was no clearly established First Amendment right to videotape police officers during traffic stops.[25]
In the 2013 case B.H. ex rel. Hawk v. Easton Area School District, Hardiman dissented from the court’s holding that a public school violated the First Amendment by banning middle-school students from wearing bracelets inscribed “I [love] boobies!” that were sold by a breast cancer awareness group.[26]
In the 2010 case Valdiviezo-Galdamez v. Attorney General, Hardiman ruled in favor of a man from Honduras who was seeking asylum in the United States to avoid being recruited into a violent gang.[28]
In the 2015 case Di Li Li v. Attorney General, Hardiman opined that the Board of Immigration Appeals must reopen a case when an asylum seeker from China converted to Christianity and argued that “conditions have worsened over time” for Christians in China.[29]
In the 2017 case Cazun v. Attorney General, Hardiman concurred in the judgment to explain that the Immigration and Nationality Act unambiguously forbids aliens subject to reinstated removal orders from applying for asylum and the court should have held as much without resorting to Chevron deference.[30]
LGBT Community
In Brian D. Prowel v. Wise Business Forms, INC., Hardiman “wrote for the court in allowing a gender-stereotyping claim by a gay man who described himself as “effeminate” to go forward, reversing the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the company where the man worked, and which ultimately fired him”.[31] Hardiman determined that the Mr. Prowel’s case could move forward because he is allowed to argue that he faced discrimination for not conforming to the company’s vision of gender norms.[32]
Commerce
In the 2011 case United States v. Pendleton, a man who sexually molested a 15-year-old boy in Germany was convicted and sentenced in Delaware under the PROTECT Act of 2003. The defendant argued that the PROTECT Act was unconstitutional based on the Foreign Commerce Clause. Hardiman ruled that the PROTECT Act was valid because of an “express connection” to the channels of foreign commerce.[33]
Hardiman married Lori Hardiman (née Zappala), an attorney and real estate professional, in 1992.[38] The Zappala family, which includes Stephen Zappala and Stephen Zappala Sr., are prominent Democrats.[38][5] Hardiman is the father of three children.[39]
As a student, Hardiman participated in an exchange program in Mexico, and he later volunteered with the Ayuda immigration legal aid office in Washington, D.C., representing immigrants.[5]
Raymond Michael Kethledge (born December 11, 1966) is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Kethledge appeared on Donald Trump’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees in 2016, and was described by press reports as a finalist in President Trump’s nomination to replace Anthony Kennedy on the court.[1]
Early life and education
Kethledge was born in Summit, New Jersey, the son of Diane and Ray Kethledge.[2][3] His paternal grandfather was Raymond W. Ketchledge, an engineer who invented an acoustically guided torpedo that was used to sink dozens of German U-boats during World War II.[4]
After graduating, Kethledge clerked for Sixth Circuit Judge Ralph B. Guy Jr. in 1994 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.[6] After finishing his clerkship, he served as judiciary counsel to Michigan Senator Spencer Abraham from 1995 to 1997. Following that, Kethledge clerked for Supreme Court of the United States Justice Anthony Kennedy in 1997.
After completing his Supreme Court clerkship, Kethledge returned to Michigan in 1998 to join the law firm of Honigman, Miller, Schwartz & Cohn, where he became a partner. In 2001, he joined Ford Motor Company as in-house counsel in the company’s Dearborn headquarters. He later joined Feeney, Kellett, Wienner & Bush as a partner. In 2003, Kethledge co-founded a boutique litigation firm, now known as Bush, Seyferth & Paige, with its office in Troy, Michigan. In addition to his duties as a federal judge, Kethledge teaches a course at the University of Michigan Law School called “Fundamentals of Appellate Practice,” which focuses on the elements of good legal writing.[7]
Federal judicial service
Kethledge was first nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by President George W. Bush on June 28, 2006, to replace Judge James L. Ryan.[8] From November 2001 to March 2006, Henry Saad had been nominated to the seat, but he had been filibustered by the Senate Democrats and later withdrew. Kethledge’s nomination lapsed when the 109th Congress adjourned in December 2006. Bush again nominated Kethledge on March 19, 2007. However, his nomination stalled for over a year due to opposition from Michigan’s two Democratic Senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow.
In April 2008, the Bush administration struck a deal with Levin and Stabenow to break the logjam on judicial nominees to federal courts in Michigan. In exchange for Levin and Stabenow supporting Kethledge’s nomination (and that of United States Attorney Stephen J. Murphy III to a district court position), Bush nominated Democratic Michigan state judge Helene White, a failed former Clinton nominee to the Sixth Circuit who had been married to Levin’s cousin at the time of her first nomination.[9] Soon afterwards, Kethledge, White, and Murphy were granted a joint hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 7, 2008. Kethledge was voted out of committee by voice vote on June 12, 2008. On June 24, 2008, he was confirmed by voice vote, almost exactly two years after his original nomination.[10] He received his commission on July 7, 2008. Kethledge was the eighth judge nominated to the Sixth Circuit by Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate.[11]
In 2014, The Wall Street Journal’s ‘Review & Outlook’ editorial described Kethledge’s ruling in EEOC v. Kaplan as the “Opinion of the Year”.[12] In 2016, in another ‘Review & Outlook’ editorial,[13] the Wall Street Journal cited Kethledge’s opinion in In re United States, 817 F.3d 953 (6th Cir. 2016), saying: “Writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, Judge Raymond Kethledge dismantled that argument and excoriated the IRS for stonewalling…” Commentators have noted that Kethledge has “broadly criticized judicial deference and specifically criticized deference to federal agencies under Chevron”[14] and “has set himself apart as a dedicated defender of the Constitution’s structural protections.”[15]
In May 2016, Kethledge was included on PresidentDonald Trump‘s list of potential Supreme Court justices.[16] On July 2, 2018, Kethledge was one of the four circuit judges given a personal 45-minute interview in consideration of the vacancy created by Justice Kennedy’s retirement.[17]
Judge Kethledge’s originalism
In July 2018, conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post endorsing Kethledge for the seat left vacant by Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United StatesAnthony Kennedy‘s retirement, declaring that “Kethledge has been faithful for more than a decade to the originalist approach.”[18] In Turner v. United States, 885 F.3d 949, 955 (6th Cir. 2018), Kethledge joined a concurring opinion that argued “faithful adherence to the Constitution and its Amendments requires us to examine their terms as they were commonly understood when the text was adopted and ratified.” In Tyler v. Hillsdale Cty. Sheriff’s Dep’t, 837 F.3d 678, 710 (6th Cir. 2016). Kethledge joined a concurring opinion that quoted District of Columbia v. Heller, declaring that “[w]hat determines the scope of the right to bear arms are the ‘historical justifications’ that gave birth to it.”
Book
In 2017, Kethledge coauthored a book with Michael S. Erwin, a West Point graduate and military veteran.[19] The book, entitled Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude, details how leaders can benefit from solitude. Among the leaders profiled in the book are General James Mattis, Pope John Paul II, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and many others. Through these profiles, Kethledge illustrates how leaders must identify their first principles “with enough clarity and conviction to hold fast to [them]—even when, inevitably, there are great pressures to yield.” Doing so, Kethledge writes, requires “conviction of purpose, and the moral courage” to choose principle over popularity.[19]
The Green Bag Almanac has recognized Judge Kethledge for “exemplary legal writing” in two different years: in 2013 (for Bennett v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance)[24] and in 2017 (for Wayside Church v. Van Buren County).[25]
In 2008, Kethledge wrote a concurrence when the full en banc circuit agreed with the Ohio Republican Party‘s claim that the Help America Vote Act required the state to match voters’ registrations with other public records.[6][29] In October 2008, the Supreme Court unanimously reversed that judgment in an unsigned opinion.[6][30]
Kethledge recused himself when the en banc circuit found that Michigan voters could not amend their constitution to ban affirmative action.[6] In Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action (2014), a plurality of the Supreme Court reversed that judgment by a vote of 6–2.[31]
In May 2013, Kethledge wrote for the en banc circuit when it affirmed the death sentence of Marvin Gabrion.[6][33] Gabrion had murdered Rachel Timmerman, a 19-year-old woman who had reported him for raping her. He bound and gagged her, tied her to concrete blocks, and drowned her in a weedy lake. Because he murdered Timmerman in a national forest, Gabrion committed a federal crime and was also eligible for the death penalty even though the surrounding State of Michigan had outlawed that penalty. The United States charged Gabrion with murder. A jury convicted him and imposed the death penalty. On appeal, Gabrion argued that the district court should have allowed him to argue to the jury that a death sentence was unfair because he would have been ineligible for that sentence had he murdered Timmerman in nearby Michigan territory. According to Gabrion, the murder’s location was a “circumstances of the offense” and thus the kind of “mitigating factor” the Eighth Amendment and Federal Death Penalty Act allow a jury to weigh during sentencing. Writing for a majority of the en banc court, Judge Kethledge rejected that challenge. He wrote that not every “circumstance of the offense” is a “mitigating” factor; otherwise, jurors could consider the “moonphase” during sentencing. Kethledge further explained that mitigating evidence is evidence relevant to a “reasoned moral response to the defendant’s background, character, and crime,” and that the murder’s location was not that kind of evidence.
In Bailey v. Callaghan,[34] the Sixth Circuit considered the constitutionality of a Michigan law that made it illegal for public-school employers to use their resources to collect union dues. As a result of the law, unions had to collect their own membership dues from public-school employees. A number of Michigan public-school unions and union members filed suit, alleging that the law was unconstitutional. Judge Kethledge, writing for the majority, disagreed. The law does not violate the First Amendment, Judge Kethledge explained, because the law “does not restrict the unions’ speech at all: they remain free to speak about whatever they wish.” As for the unions’ Equal Protection challenge, Kethledge first observed: “The applicability of rational-basis review is a strong signal that the issue is one for resolution by the democratic process rather than by the courts.” Judge Kethledge then went on to conclude that there is a conceivable legitimate interest in restricting the use of public-school resources. As a result, the law does not violate the Equal Protection Clause.[6]
In EEOC v. Kaplan Higher Education Corp., 748 F.3d 749 (6th Cir. 2014), the EEOC alleged that Kaplan’s policy of running credit checks on job applicants had a “disparate impact” on African American applicants. To support its claim, the EEOC hired an expert witness who reviewed an unrepresentative sample of Kaplan job applications and asserted that the credit checks had flagged more African American applicants for scrutiny than white applicants. The purported expert had identified the applicants’ races by tasking “race raters” with “eyeballing” the applicants’ drivers’ license photos. The District Court struck the expert’s analysis as unreliable. On appeal, Judge Kethledge wrote a unanimous opinion affirming. He explained that the EEOC had relied on a “homemade methodology, crafted by a witness with no particular expertise to craft it, administered by persons with no particular expertise to administer it, tested by no one, and accepted only by the witness himself.” The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board later commended Judge Kethledge for writing the “Opinion of the Year” and delivering a “sublime” “legal smackdown” that “eviscerated the EEOC like a first-day law student.”
In In re United States, 817 F.3d 953 (6th Cir. 2016), the NorCal Tea Party Patriots filed a class action against the IRS for targeting conservative groups “for mistreatment based on their political views.” The district court ordered the IRS to disclose, among other internal records, the list of the groups it had targeted. Rather than complying with that order, the IRS appealed. In an opinion for the unanimous majority, Judge Kethledge called the allegations “[a]mong the most serious [] a federal court can address” and, according to the Wall Street Journal, “excoriated the IRS for stonewalling during discovery.” Judge Kethledge ordered the IRS to “comply with the district court’s discovery orders . . . without redactions, and without further delay.” And he rebuked the IRS’s attorneys for failing to uphold the Justice Department’s “long and storied tradition of defending the nation’s interest and enforcing its laws—all of them, not just selective ones—in a manner worthy of the Department’s name.” That opinion was also praised by the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board.[6]
Other cases
In 2012, in an opinion by Kethledge in Sierra Club v. Korleski,[35] the Sixth Circuit rejected the argument by environmental groups and the federal Environmental Protection Agency that private persons can sue the State of Ohio under the Clean Air Act’s citizen-suit provision to enforce a state-enacted pollution-control plan against minor polluters. The court held, based on Bennett v. Spear,[36] that the citizen-suit provision does not permit a citizen to sue a state for its failure to perform a regulatory duty. Kethledge wrote that, “[i]n construing a statute, the words matter.” And the court overturned its own precedent reaching the opposite conclusion as superseded by Bennett, describing the earlier decision as “a bottle of dubious vintage, whose contents turned to vinegar long ago, and which we need not consume here.”[35]
Also in 2012, in United States v. CTH,[37] a district court found, by a “preponderance” of the evidence, that the defendant had distributed enough heroin to qualify for up to a 60-month maximum sentence rather than a shorter 12-month maximum sentence. Writing for the court, Kethledge confronted the question whether the Due Process Clause required the district court to find the heroin quantity at the higher standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” To resolve the case, Kethledge applied the relevant Supreme Court precedent. He noted that, in In re Winship, the Supreme Court held: “[T]he Due Process Clause protects the accused against conviction except upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt of every fact necessary to constitute the crime with which he is charged.” And in Apprendi, which rests on Winship, the Supreme Court “held that ‘… such facts’—meaning facts increasing a defendant’s statutory-maximum sentence—‘must be established by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.’” Faced with this precedent, Kethledge found the government’s arguments meritless, writing: “The government, for its part, offers no path out of this box canyon of precedent. . . . The government gives us no reason, therefore, not to apply Apprendi’s due-process holding to CTH’s case.” The court thus held that the district court’s drug-quantity finding should have been made beyond a reasonable doubt.
In Waldman v. Stone,[38] the Sixth Circuit held, in an opinion by Kethledge, that bankruptcy courts lack constitutional authority to enter final judgment on a state-law claim brought by a debtor to augment the estate, even where both parties consent to resolution by a bankruptcy court. The Sixth Circuit concluded that to grant final judgment on those claims would be to exercise the judicial power of the United States, which bankruptcy judges may not do because they lack the life tenure and salary protection guaranteed by Article III of the Constitution, and this infringement on the separation of powers cannot be waived by private litigants. The Supreme Court later reached the opposite conclusion in Wellness International Network, Ltd. v. Sharif, 1353 S. Ct. 1932 (2015), over the dissent of Chief Justice Roberts, joined by Justices Scalia and Thomas.
In United States v. Bistline, 665 F.3d 758 (6th Cir. 2013), Richard Bistline pled guilty to knowingly possessing child pornography. Under the Sentencing Guidelines, Bistline’s recommended sentence was 63 to 78 months’ imprisonment. The district court rejected that recommendation, however, on the ground that Congress had written the relevant guideline itself, rather than allowing the Sentencing Commission to do so. The court then sentenced Bistline to a single night’s confinement in the courthouse lockup, plus ten years’ supervised release. The Sixth Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Kethledge, vacated that sentence as substantively unreasonable. Judge Kethledge explained that the Commission had the authority to fix criminal penalties only because Congress had given the Commission that authority. Thus, saying that “Congress has encroached too much on the Commission’s authority” was “like saying a Senator has encroached upon the authority of her chief of staff, or a federal judge upon that of his law clerk.” It may be true that Congress had marginalized the Sentencing Commission’s role, Judge Kethledge concluded, but “Congress can marginalize the Commission all it wants: Congress created it.”
In United States v. Hughes, 733 F.3d 642 (6th Cir. 2013), Albert Hughes pled guilty to federal drug charges and was sentenced to the mandatory minimum. The Sixth Circuit later vacated his sentence and remanded for resentencing. Before the resentencing could occur, Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced the applicable mandatory minimum. The district court nevertheless reinstated the same sentence. The Sixth Circuit affirmed. In an opinion by Judge Kethledge, the court held that a crime’s penalty is normally the one on the books when the crime was committed, and Hughes could not point to anything that overcame that presumption. The court also rejected the argument that three other statutory provisions, when read together, created a “background sentencing principle” that the court should follow the latest views of Congress and the Sentencing Commission. Judge Kethledge explained that this argument “has little to do with what the statutes actually say, and more to do, apparently, with one’s perception of their mood or animating purpose.” He continued: “But statutes are not artistic palettes, from which the court can daub different colors until it obtains a desired effect. Statutes are instead law, which are bounded in a meaningful sense by the words that Congress chose in enacting them.”
In In re Dry Max Pampers Litigation, 724 F.3d 713 (6th Cir. 2013), the Sixth Circuit reviewed a class-action settlement agreement that awarded each named plaintiff $1000 per child, awarded class counsel $2.73 million, and “provide[d] the unnamed class members with nothing but nearly worthless injunctive relief.” Judge Kethledge, writing for the majority, rejected the settlement as unfair. He found that the parties’ assertions regarding the value of the settlement to unnamed class members were “premised upon a fictive world, where harried parents of young children clip and retain Pampers UPC codes for years on end, where parents lack the sense (absent intervention by P&G) to call a doctor when their infant displays symptoms like boils and weeping discharge, where those same parents care as acutely as P&G does about every square centimeter of a Pampers box, and where parents regard Pampers.com, rather than Google, as their portal for important information about their children’s health.” As a result, Judge Kethledge explained, “[t]he relief that the settlement provide[d] to unnamed class member [was] illusory. But one fact about this settlement is concrete and indisputable: $2.73 million is $2.73 million.” Judge Kethledge also found that the named plaintiffs were inadequate representatives of the class. “The $1000-per-child payments,” Judge Kethledge concluded, “provided a disincentive for the class members to care about the adequacy of the relief afforded to unnamed class members, and instead encouraged the class representatives ‘to compromise the interest of the class for personal gain.’”
In John B. v. Emkes, 710 F.3d 394 (6th Cir. 2013), a federal district court had entered a consent decree governing the steps that Tennessee’s Medicaid Program had to take in order to achieve and maintain compliance with the Medicaid Act. Tennessee later moved to vacate the consent decree largely on the ground that the state was in substantial compliance with the decree’s provisions. The district court granted the motion. In an opinion by Judge Kethledge, the Sixth Circuit affirmed. Judge Kethledge explained that Tennessee was in substantial compliance with all but one part of the decree. He then explained that the failure to comply with that provision did not justify continuing federal control of the state’s Medicaid program. “Consent decrees are not entitlements,” Judge Kethledge wrote; instead, “a decree may remain in force only as long as it continues to remedy a violation of federal law.” And because Tennessee had brought its Medicaid program into compliance with the Medicaid Act, continued enforcement of the decree was not only unnecessary, but improper.
In Shane Group, Inc. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, 825 F.3d 299 (6th Cir. 2016), Blue Cross customers filed a class action alleging that Blue Cross conspired with hospitals throughout Michigan to artificially inflate insurance rates by a total of more than $13 billion. Class Counsel and Blue Cross, however, agreed to settle the claims for only $30 million, largely on the basis of an expert report that the district court had sealed from public view. The district court refused to let the absent class members examine the sealed report and then approved the settlement over their objections and without meaningful scrutiny. Judge Kethledge, writing for a unanimous panel, vacated the settlement agreement and ordered the district court to unseal the substantive filings, restart the objection process, and ensure that the proposed settlement agreement received meaningful scrutiny on remand.
In Wheaton v. McCarthy, 800 F.3d 282 (6th Cir. 2015), the Sixth Circuit held, in an opinion by Judge Kethledge, that an Ohio administrative agency had unreasonably determined that the statutory term “family” did not include a Medicare beneficiary’s live-in spouse. The court noted that some statutory terms “are ambiguous only at the margins, while clearly encompassing a certain core.” Thus, “[t]he term ‘planet’ might be ambiguous as applied to Pluto, but is clear as applied to Jupiter.”
Personal life
Kethledge is married to Jessica Levinson Kethledge, who worked for the Red Cross.[39] They have a son and daughter.[40]
When Kethledge is in northern Michigan, he works in an office he created in a family barn near Lake Huron. The office has a wood stove for heat and a pine desk for a work space.[41] He has spoken publicly about hunting with his son in the Michigan wilderness.[42]
Affiliations
Kethledge was elected to the American Law Institute in 2013[43] and currently serves as an adviser to the Institute’s panel preparing its Restatement of the Law, Consumer Contracts.[44]
Barrett has been included on President Trump’s “shortlist” of potential Supreme Court nominees since 2017. Following the retirement announcement of Anthony Kennedy, she has been mentioned as a possible successor.[5][6]
Barrett spent a year as a law and economics fellow at George Washington University before heading to her alma mater, Notre Dame, in 2002 to teach federal courts, constitutional law and statutory interpretation; she was named a Professor of Law in 2010, and, from 2014–17, held the Diane and M.O. Miller Research Chair of Law.[5][8]. Barrett twice received a “distinguished professor of the year” award, in 2010 and 2016.[8] Barrett continues to teach as a sitting judge.[13]
During Barrett’s hearing, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein questioned Barrett about whether her Catholic faith would influence her decision-making on the court. Feinstein, concerned about whether Barrett would uphold Roe v. Wade given her Catholic beliefs, stated “the dogma lives loudly within you, and that is a concern”.[19][14][20] Senator Dick Durbin asked “Do you consider yourself an orthodox Catholic?”[21] The subject of Feinstein and other Democrats’ concern was a 1998 article by Barrett where she argued that Catholic judges should in some cases recuse themselves from death penalty cases because of their moral objections to the death penalty.[22][14] Feinstein’s line of questioning was criticized by some observers and legal experts[23][24] while defended by others.[25] The controversy focused on whether lines of questioning violated the U.S. Constitution’s No Religious Test Clause.[21][23][24][25] During her hearing, Barrett said: “It is never appropriate for a judge to impose that judge’s personal convictions, whether they arise from faith or anywhere else, on the law.”[23]
On October 5, 2017, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted on a party-line basis of 11–9 to recommend Barrett and report her nomination to the full Senate.[26][27] On October 30, 2017, the Senate invoked cloture by a vote of 54–42.[28] The Senate confirmed her with a vote of 55–43 on October 31, 2017, with three democrats – Joe Donnelly, Tim Kaine, and Joe Manchin – voting for her.[8] She received her commission on November 2, 2017.[2]
Political views
Barrett is affiliated with Faculty for Life, an anti-abortion group at the University of Notre Dame. At an event in 2013 that reflected on the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, she described the decision—in the paraphrase by Notre Dame Magazine—as “creating through judicial fiat a framework of abortion on demand.”[29][30] Barrett also remarked that it was “very unlikely” the court will overturn the core aspect of Roe v. Wade. She went on to say, “The fundamental element, that the woman has a right to choose abortion, will probably stand. . . the controversy right now is about funding. It’s a question of whether abortions will be publicly or privately funded”.[31][32]
In 2015, Barrett signed a joint letter to the Catholic bishop which affirmed the Church’s teachings including “the value of human life from conception to natural death,” and that family and marriage are “founded on the indissoluble commitment of a man and a woman.”[33][34]
Barrett, Amy Coney (2017). “Originalism and Stare Decisis” (PDF). Notre Dame Law Review. 92 (5): 1921–44. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 15, 2017.
PUBLISHED: 13:16 EDT, 8 July 2018 | UPDATED: 05:31 EDT, 9 July 2018
Hillary Clinton has ramped her public presence and her fundraising appeals in recent weeks, leading to speculation she’s plotting her 2020 comeback and preparing for a rematch with Donald Trump.
The former presidential candidate has been appearing at high-profile events – such as for the Clinton Foundation and at Oxford University – in addition to asking for donations to causes she supports.
The New York Post notes that five times in the last month alone, Clinton let supporters know her super PAC was working against Trump.
She has stayed at the top of her supporters’ in-box, using events-of-the-day – such as her email railing against Trump’s controversial ‘zero tolerance ‘immigration policy earlier this month – to spread her message.
Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton were spotted together on a rare outing together on Saturday. The couple were all smiles as they walked off of a flight at Laguardia Airport
Hillary Clinton has ramped her public presence and her fundraising appeals
Speculation has begun Clinton will want a rematch against Trump in 2020
Using the headlines around Trump’s policy as a rallying cry, Clinton raised more than $1.5 million for migrant children and their families being separated at the border with the money going to several groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project.
Half of the donations came from Twitter, with email, Instagram, and Facebook also helping Clinton rake in the cash, Marie Claire reported.
And the day after Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, Clinton announced a new partnership with the group Demand Justice.
The group’s focus is on Trump’s judicial nominees, noting on its mission page: ‘Our courts should be the place that we can trust to safeguard our rights and promote justice.’
And Demand Justice’s executive director is Brian Fallon, who served as Clinton’s campaign press secretary during the 2016 contest.
Clinton’s next scheduled public appearance is at the third annual Ozy Fest that takes place July 21 and 22 in Central Park.
She will be interviewed by Laurene Powell Jobs, president and founder of the Emerson Collective, a nonprofit that advocates liberal causes.
Clinton’s larger-than-life name in Democratic Party carries a hefty weight as Democrats have been locked in an ideological fight since the 2016 election with no clear leader emerging to lead the party through the next few years.
Liberals were furious the party establishment worked against Bernie Sanders to ensure Clinton the presidential nomination.
And leftist candidates, such as self-proclaimed socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s stunning upset victory in the New York primary over Rep. Joe Crowley, have emerged this year as a result.
But as Democrats struggle with an identity crisis, it’s not just Clinton who’s looking ahead to the next presidential election and taking on the mantle of Democratic leader.
Multiple Democratic elected officials have stoked the 2020 speculation fires with talk of challenging Trump in two years.
And former President Barack Obama appears to be playing the role of power broker as he’s holding secret meetings with at least nine potential challengers to the sitting president.
The would-be contenders getting one-on-one time with the former commander in chief include Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden and former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.
Obama is also meeting with some lesser tier contenders, such as Mitch Landrieu, the former New Orleans mayor; Jason Kander, the failed 2016 Missouri Senate candidate; Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana; and Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, who hasn’t been to the Washington office, but got a private meeting when Obama was in Los Angeles in May.
Then there are those rumored to want to run in 2020 who haven’t been through Obama’s door: New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Nevada Senator Kamala Harris and former Virginia GovernorTerry McAuliffe.
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker stopped by last year but hasn’t been back since.
Clinton has been more outspoken about Trump’s policies than Obama, who appears to be playing a backroom power-broker type role in the party.
The former secretary of state slammed Trump’s immigration policy at an awards lunch for the Women’s Forum of New York last month.
‘This is a moral and humanitarian crisis,’ Clinton said. ‘Every one of us who’s ever been a parent or a grandparent, an aunt, a big sister, any one of us who’s ever held a child in our arms, every human being with a sense of compassion and decency, should be outraged.’
The New York Post‘s Michael Goodwin offers these reasons Clinton, who would be 73 at the time of 2020 election, may run yet again: there is no other clear front runner to challenge Trump; she has the name and staying power to emerge from a diverse field of contenders; she could fight off any Democratic challenge on their home turf – challenging would-be contenders from California or New York in their own states; and money is not an issue given Clinton’s proven ability to raise the funds she needs to run a campaign.
In 2016, her campaign committee raised $563.75 million, according to Open Secrets.
Clinton could emerge as leader of the Democratic Party as it fights for its identity
Clinton has been more critical of Trump in public than former President Barack Obama
And the former secretary of state has publicly indicated what happened in 2016 remains at the forefront of her mind.
In a speech to Oxford University in late June, Clinton bemoaned the American electoral college system that saw her win the popular vote in 2016 but lose the presidency.
‘Populists can stay in power by mobilizing a fervent base. Now, there are many other lessons like this, she said, adding that she had ‘my personal experience with winning three million more votes but still losing.’
In this April 19, 2017 file photo, the casket of Justin Llivicura is carried from St. Joseph the Worker Church after Llivicura’s funeral in East Patchogue, N.Y. Llivicura, 16, was one of four young men found slain in a suspected MS-13 gang killing in a park in Central Islip, N.Y., on April 12. The gang has been blamed for the deaths of nearly a dozen young people in blue-collar Brentwood and Central Islip since the school year began. (AP Photo/Frank Eltman, File)
Frank Eltman
Since 2012, 207 murders have been tied to the gang called “Mara Salvatrucha,” and there are over 500 cases nationwide of MS-13 members being charged in major crimes, according to the report from the Center for Immigration Studies.
But it can sometimes be hard to deport the illegals involved because about half of the crimes detailed in the report occurred in so-called “sanctuary cities” that do not cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
President Trump has pledged to crack down on the gang and deport those in the United States illegally, and report author Jessica M. Vaughan suggested that it can’t happen soon enough.
Detailing how the gang rebuilt itself under Obama’s open-border immigration policies, she said, “this resurgence represents a very serious threat to public safety in communities where MS-13 has rebuilt itself. The resurgence is directly connected to the illegal arrival and resettlement of more than 300,000 Central American youths and families that has continued unabated for six years, and to a de-prioritization of immigration enforcement in the interior of the country that occurred at the same time.”
The research she supervised at the immigration think tank found that MS-13 concentrations were in areas where so-called “unaccompanied alien children” were put under Obama, including Virginia, California, Maryland and New York. They included those participating in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals who Democrats in Congress are fighting for.
She cited an example of a Maryland DACA recipient charged with gang activity who urged pals in El Salvador to take advantage of Obama’s policies:
One MS-13 clique leader in Frederick, Md., who had received a DACA work permit and was employed as a custodian at a middle school in Frederick, Md., and who was recently incarcerated for various gang-related crimes, reportedly was told by gang leaders in El Salvador to take advantage of the lenient policies on UACs to bring in new recruits, knowing that they would be allowed to resettle in the area with few questions asked. Several of these unaccompanied minors now have been arrested and incarcerated for various crimes, including a vicious random attack on a sheriff’s deputy in 2015.
Crime, torture and theft are the trademarks of the gang.
“The MS-13 members identified in the cases we found were accused of very serious crimes, including 207 murders. More than 100 were accused of conspiracy/racketeering, and dozens of others were charged with drug trafficking, sex trafficking, attempted murder, sexual assaults, and extortion,” said the report. Vaughan is the center’s policy director.
The report noted the difficulty in seizing and deporting some of those involved because the crimes occurred in many of the 300 sanctuary regions in the nation that don’t cooperate with ICE.
he proliferation of sanctuaries may complicate disruption of MS-13,” said the report. “Many of the hotbeds of MS-13 activity are also places where local officials have adopted sanctuary policies. These policies prevent ICE from working effectively with local law enforcement agencies. There are approximately 300 sanctuary jurisdictions in the country, and they include municipalities, counties, and states.11 About half of the MS-13 arrests in our case set (222) occurred in sanctuary jurisdictions,” said CIS.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Great to be here. Oh, do I know this location well. That beautiful Bethpage State Park. I spent a lot of hours there. Great place. Thank you very much and good afternoon.
We’re here today to discuss the menace of MS-13. It’s a menace. A ruthless gang that has violated our borders and transformed once peaceful neighborhoods into bloodstained killing fields. They’re horrible people, by the way.
Thank you very much to Secretary Nielsen; Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — Rod, thank you; Acting ICE Director Tom Homan, who is going to be — I hope you’re going to be with us for a long time. I’m hearing he’s going to go into a little bit of an easier job, but you won’t be happy. You won’t be happy. What a job you’ve done. Thank you very much, Tom. And Acting Assistant Attorney General John Cronan. Thank you very much. Thank you, John.
And we also have a couple of folks with us today — Laura Curran, Nassau County Executive. Wherever Laura may be. Hi, Laura.
CURRAN: Hi.
THE PRESIDENT: How are you, Laura? (Applause.) Thank you very much.
I want to thank a very good friend of mine for a long time that this area knows very well, the great Peter King. Thank you, Peter. Thank you. (Applause.) Doing a good job. And he’s fully got my endorsement, even though I assume he has no opponents. I don’t know if he has any opponent. Nobody would be that crazy to run against Peter. (Laughter.)
Congressman Lee Zeldin. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you, Lee. Great job you’re doing. Thank you for all your help.
And Congressman Daniel Donovan, really known as “Dan,” right? Dan Donovan. (Applause.) He’s been a friend.
For their great leadership in combatting MS-13. Also, Erin King — you know who I’m talking about — Sweeney. Where’s Erin? Where are you? Where are you? Hello, Erin. How are you? A little bit of a relationship.
REPRESENTATIVE KING: That’s my wife, Rosemary, next to her.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, Rosemary. Hi, Rosemary. See, you say, “That’s my wife.” I know that’s your wife. (Laughter.) Nice to see you. Thanks, Rosemary. Thanks for being here. Thank you very much, Erin. It’s a great honor to have you.
We’re also grateful to be joined by Commissioner Geri Hart of Suffolk County, and Commissioner Patrick Ryder. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you very much. And they know this threat probably as well as anybody.
We’re especially moved today to be joined by families who have suffered unthinkable heartbreak at the hands of the MS-13 gangs. I’m truly honored to be joined again by the courageous families who were my guests at the State of the Union. That was a special evening. Elizabeth Alvarado, Robert Mickens, Evelyn Rodriguez, and Freddy Cuevas. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you.
Their beautiful daughters, Kayla and Nisa, were murdered by MS-13 gang members, many of whom exploited glaring loopholes — and we have the biggest loopholes of any country anywhere in the world. We have the worst immigration laws of any country anywhere in the world. But they exploited the loopholes in our laws to enter the country as unaccompanied alien minors. They look so innocent; they’re not innocent.
We are praying for these families with us today, and we pledge to honor the memory of those you lost with action and resolve — and I’ll just add another word — with great success. And thank you very much for being here. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. (Applause.) And they will not have passed in vain, that I can tell you.
MS-13 lives by the motto, “Kill, Rape, and Control.” That’s actually their motto. “Kill, Rape, and Control.” Last month, MS-13 reportedly called for its members here on Long Island, where I essentially grew up. You know Jamaica, right? I always said, “Long Island.” It’s very close. To call and to see what happened is just incredible.
But they killed a cop for the sake of making a statement. They wanted to make a statement, so they killed a cop, a policeman. Here in Nassau County, MS-13 gang members were charged with killing and hacking up a teenager. And police officers just told me four other young men were brutally murdered recently by MS-13 in Suffolk — Suffolk County.
In Maryland, MS-13 gang members are accused of stabbing a man 100 times, decapitating him, and ripping out his heart. Police officers also believe the MS-13 members beat a sex-trafficked 15-year-old girl with a bat 28 times, totally disfiguring a beautiful young woman.
In Texas, two MS-13 gang members were charged after kidnapping, drugging, and raping a 14-year-old girl. They then murdered her and somebody else.
Crippling loopholes in our laws have enabled MS-13 gang members and other criminals to infiltrate our communities, and Democrats in Congress refuse to close these loopholes, including the disgraceful practice known as catch and release. That’s — you catch them, you write up a little piece of paper that’s meaningless, and then you release them. And they go all through the country, and they’re supposed to come back for trials. They never come back — or very rarely. It’s the rare person that comes back.
Democrats have to abandon their resistance to border security so that we can support law enforcement and save innocent lives. And I noticed recently, where Democrats — Nancy Pelosi, as an example — are trying to defend MS-13 gang members. I called them “animals” the other day, and I was met with rebuke. They said, “They are people.” They’re not people. These are animals, and we have to be very, very tough. (Applause.)
So I’d now like to turn this over to a man — really, he has been a great friend of mine — a tremendous supporter — and I’ve always been a supporter of his, Peter King. He does an incredible job, and nobody knows this situation and this horror show, and these laws — how bad they are — worst in the world — better than Peter King. Peter.
REPRESENTATIVE KING: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much. And let me say what a — (applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
REPRESENTATIVE KING: Mr. President, what an honor it is to have you back here on Long Island. As you say, you’re a neighbor. You were in Suffolk County last year; Nassau County this year. And you, more than anyone in the country, is highlighting the evil of MS-13. So I congratulate you. I thank you for leading this effort. It’s a — they are horrible, vicious, rotten murderers. And you are really leading the charge. And thank you for doing this. Thank you for assembling all of us here today. And thank you for mobilizing all the efforts of the federal government behind this. So thank you very much.
Also, on a somewhat jocular note, let me tell Laura Curran — I want to thank her — I’ll be giving visas to Donovan and Zeldin, to let them into Nassau County. (Laughter.) I promise you I’ll get them out of here as soon as I can. Okay? (Laughter.)
CURRAN: They can stay as long as they want.
REPRESENTATIVE KING: Okay. This is a very serious issue. To have these family members here. I’ve worked with them; I know what they’ve gone through.
And for anyone who wants to minimize the danger of MS-13, just ask Commissioner Hart, Commissioner Ryder. They know firsthand exactly what this is all about.
Let me also commend ICE for the great job that they do. Tom is here and he’s done excellent work in Suffolk County and in Nassau County, working with our Nassau and Suffolk Country Police.
So, Mr. President, you have experts here that can talk. I just want to, again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you’re doing. Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much, Peter. (Applause.)
I do want to say, and I have to pay great tribute to ICE and Border Patrol. But ICE came in and they are doing a job. We are taking them out by the thousands.
Now, if we had laws that were proper, they wouldn’t be coming back to the extent, but they’ve taken them out by the thousands. And it’s way down, but it’s still far too much. And it’s unacceptable.
So I thought maybe what we’ll do is we’ll go around the table, say a few words, if you might. We’ll start right here. You have done a fantastic job and we appreciate it.
Let’s go. Why don’t we start? Thank you, John.
CRONAN: Thank you, Mr. President. On the very day that Attorney General Jeff Sessions was sworn in, you signed an executive order with a very clear directive: reduce crime in America.
And it is my honor to support carrying out your mandate by helping to bring MS-13 to justice and by working to dismantle this gang that’s terrorizing our communities. I know people in this room are very familiar with the horrifying stats, but MS-13 is one of the most violent and formidable threats that our country faces today.
MS-13 leaders may operate out of prisons in El Salvador but the gang is alive and well in our streets. It is estimated there are 10,000 MS-13 members in the United States; 2,000 are estimated to be right here in Long Island. And their ranks are continually being refilled with new emissaries from El Salvador. MS-13 is infiltrating our high schools, our middle schools, even our elementary schools.
The gang’s brutality, as you alluded to, Mr. President, just cannot be captured by words. You mentioned their motto, “Kill, Rape, Control.” They live by that motto. They kill — murdering their victims, murdering them with machetes, chains, knives, bats, firearms. They rape — gang-raping young girls, selling them for sex. They control — killing not just rival gang members but also fellow MS-13 members who are suspected of being cooperators with law enforcement or violated gang rules.
For example, in March, an MS-13 member named Elmer Lopez pled guilty to murdering a fellow gang member who was suspected of cooperating with law enforcement. Lopez and his cohorts brought their victim to a secluded wooded area in Brentwood, maybe about 15 miles from here, where they took turns slashing and stabbing him to death. Mr. President, the victim’s skeletal remains were discovered more than four months later.
A few months ago, an MS-13 member, Raul Landaverde-Giron, who also is facing federal charges for illegally — allegedly illegally reentering the company [sic] after he was deported. Landaverde-Giron was convicted of murdering someone who had fled El Salvador, for Maryland, to avoid a kill order from MS-13. Landaverde-Giron and his fellow thugs lured that victim to the woods, shot him in the head, and stabbed him in the face and neck. For his role in the murder, Landaverde-Giron received a promotion from MS-13.
Well, Mr. President, thanks to our criminal justice system, he will also be receiving a mandatory life sentence. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Great.
CRONAN: And to give one other example, Mr. President — last November, Yerwin Hernandez-Ordonez, a Honduran national, who was illegally in the United States, was sentenced for his role of an MS-13 murder in Virginia. Hernandez-Ordonez oversaw two young MS-13 recruits. They were tasked with murdering a rival gang member to gain admission into MS-13.
After two failed attempts to shoot the victim, the victim almost managed to flee. But Hernandez-Ordonez made sure he didn’t get away. He chased him down, caught him, and brought him back. The two recruits then shot their victim in the head and were initiated into MS-13 later that same day.
Mr. President, these and the disgraceful examples that you mentioned in your opening remarks are just a small sample of the unspeakable violence of MS-13. But we are hitting MS-13 hard, with targeted prosecutions across the country, including right here in Long Island. We are surging federal prosecutors, surging them to the border to prosecute immigration offenses; surging them to U.S. attorneys’ offices around the country to prosecute violent crimes. We are working with our partners in Central America — work that has resulted in thousands of arrests of MS-13 members.
We want these savages incapacitated before they can try to cross over our borders. We cannot — and we will not — permit our country to be a playground for MS-13 to pursue its murderous mission. Dismantling violent gangs is a top priority of this Department of Justice, under Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and it will remain such as we continue to use all law enforcement tools at our disposal to rid our streets of the scourge of MS-13.
Thank you, Mr. President. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, John. Great job. Thank you. (Applause.) Great job, John.
Tom?
HOMAN: Mr. President, I want to — first of all, I want to thank you for your leadership on this issue. I want to thank the Secretary. I couldn’t ask for two better bosses that take border security and public safety more seriously than you all.
I also want to give a shout-out to law enforcement officers in this room, the ones that carry a badge and gun every day and put their lives on the line for the communities. We got a President — unprecedented support for law enforcement, and I thank you guys. As a 33-year veteran of law enforcement, you’re doing a tremendous job. You got the backs of law enforcement. You got their six recruits here. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
HOMAN: Now, I’m much older and blinder than John, so I got to wear my glasses, because there are some important numbers I want to read to back you up on the statements you made coming here, because a lot of times you’re questioned about it. So I want to read some numbers.
I want to thank Rod and John for partnership. They are stepping up. We are prosecuting more MS-13 members and gang members in the history of ICE. ICE is working hard to ensure the United States does not become a safe haven for these criminals. HSI — our criminal investigators at HSI have continued to attack the efforts of MS-13 here, domestically and abroad, which I’ll speak to in a minute.
We have doubled our arrests of MS-13 members under your command, President Trump. In FY17, the first year, HSI and ICE arrested 896 MS-13 leaders, members, and associates. They totally arrested — they arrested another 4,800 total gang members throughout the United States, to include MS-13.
Since FY16, ICE has removed nearly 11,000 criminal gang members. Specifically about New York — the target of MS-13 on Long Island is one of the primary goals of ICE because New York is under attack. With a cooperative focus on sources and intelligence — our on ongoing initiative — we arrested, in the past year, 300 MS-13 criminal arrests here on Long Island, and more than 40 percent of those we have verified are unaccompanied alien children. So it is a problem. There is a connection.
MS-13 terrorizes communities and they commit violent crimes, as you said. I know you’ve been taken a hit on your comments about animals and MS-13, but I think you’re being kind. Animals kill for survival; MS-13 kills for sport. They kill to terrorize, and there’s a big difference there.
We want to push our borders South, so we’re attacking MS-13 where the command and control is in El Salvador. Our attaché offices in Central America are working very closely with the federal police in El Salvador, along with El Salvadorian prosecutors. We have arrested and taken off the streets in El Salvador hundreds of MS-13 gang members.
We just did a trip down there. We took local law enforcement and some prosecutors down there to meet with the federal police and the prosecutors who we’ve totally vetted, they are part of our vetted unit, and we trained them. We went to one of the prisons down there, where 70 percent of the population in that prison is MS-13 gang members. These are the worst of the worst. And because of ICE’s work along the Bureau and Department of Justice, our intelligence and our evidence supplied to the officials in El Salvador put most of their people in that prison — which, if you think about it, we prevented many of these people from getting to the United States, and took them out right there in El Salvador.
We’ll continue to do that. We’ll continue to work along our Salvadorian and Central American partners to play the away game, and stop most of them before they get there. I can tell you that ICE is not going to stop making this a priority until we totally dismantle this organization. We won’t rest until that’s happened.
So I want to thank you again for your leadership. ICE is on the job. ICE isn’t going away. New York, despite your Governor’s comments about ICE, ICE has done a lot for this state, and we’ll continue doing a lot for this state. We’ve taken nearly 5,000 criminal aliens off the street in New York, and we’re not going anywhere. We’re going to be here and do our job, and try to make this the safest place that the community is going to have.
Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Tom. (Applause.) Thank you, Tom. Great job. Thank you.
Rod. Thank you.
ROSENSTEIN: Thank you, Mr. President. Under your leadership, Attorney General Sessions has made violent crime and illegal immigration a top priority for the Department of Justice, and we’re making tremendous progress. We’re working in coordination with Homeland Security and with our other federal partners, as well as state and local law enforcement.
The feedback that we’re getting, as Tom mentioned, around the country, is that state and local law enforcement appreciate their partnership. It’s an unprecedented level of coordination with federal law enforcement around the country, particularly on this challenge of violent crime and MS-13.
John mentioned that some of the recent cases, the horrific cases we’ve handled in the Department of Justice. I saw this firsthand when I was U.S. Attorney in Maryland in 2005. We began using federal racketeering statutes to try and dismantle the MS-13 gang, and we had tremendous success for quite a few years.
What we found in recent years is a resurgence of MS-13 in Maryland, in the D.C. area, and it was fueled by illegal immigration and particularly by the challenge of unaccompanied minor children. And there are several loopholes in federal law that facilitate this. They create a particular problem for Homeland Security and for us, with regard to unaccompanied children who enter the United States illegally.
The first is that they are not eligible for expedited removal, which means that — you know, most aliens who enter the United States, if they’re caught within 14 days, within about 100 miles of the border, they can be removed in an expedited basis without needing to see an immigration judge.
But under federal law, all unaccompanied alien children, regardless of nationality, they have to go before a judge. They cannot be subject to expedited removal proceedings.
The second challenge is that almost all unaccompanied children are released from custody, even if they want to go home. And the reason for that is that there’s an exception for aliens from Mexico and Canada. They’re permitted to withdraw their applications and return home.
But for other countries, even if those aliens request to go home, we’re not allowed to do it. We’re required to put them in immigration proceedings. And in addition to that, Homeland Security is required to turn them over to HHS within 72 hours, as a result of federal law. It can take months and sometimes years to adjudicate those claims once they get into the federal immigration court system, and they often fail to appear for immigration proceedings. In fact, approximately 6,000 unaccompanied children each year fail to appear when they’ve been summoned. They’re released and they don’t show up again.
The third challenge is a consent decree entered by the government in 1997, which continues to burden our efforts to enforce immigration laws. Under that consent decree, INS, at the time, agreed that illegal alien children would be subject to special rules, special judicial supervision that handicaps DHS’s ability to detain and promptly remove unaccompanied alien children.
And the fourth challenge that we face is that, once released, as you mention, many of them never come back again. With very few exceptions, once those unaccompanied alien children are released into the community, even if they’re gang members, they will generally remain in the United States. They frequently abscond and fail to appear for their removal hearings. Approximately 90 percent of all removal orders each year result from a failure to appear at a hearing.
And according to Homeland Security statistics, less than 4 percent of illegal alien children are ultimately removed from the United States. So most of them, once they’re released, they’re here to stay.
The consequence of these loopholes, Mr. President, is that, although we’re doing everything we can to combat crime in the United States, we’re letting people in who are creating problems. We’re letting people in who are gang members. We’re also letting people in who are vulnerable. Many of these alien children, who have no parents, no family structure — we’re releasing them into communities where they’re vulnerable to recruitment by MS-13.
And so some of these kids who come in without any gang ties develop gang ties as a result of the pressure that they face from people that they confront in the communities.
So we’re hopeful, Mr. President, that we can get some assistance from the Congress in closing some of these loopholes so that our law enforcement officers won’t have to work so hard, and so we won’t have more victims like Kayla and Nisa.
Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: And I think that’s great, Rod. And I think it’s happening. I mean, I’m seeing a willingness, even, to a certain extent, by the Democrats. They’re starting to come around, but it’s brutal. It’s brutal. As you know better than anybody, it’s a tough situation. We need the laws enhanced very substantially and very quickly.
Thank you, Rod, very much. Very nice. (Applause.)
Patrick.
COMMISSIONER RYDER: Mr. President, first of all, on behalf of all our Nassau County police officers — and I think I can speak for every officer in this room and in this country — we know we have a President that has our back and supports us every single day when we go out and do the mission that we are tasked to do.
We have about 500 identified MS-13 members in Nassau County. About 250 of them are active. And we do that through — everything is evidence-based and through intelligence-led policing.
Last year, in 2017, we had six kids that were murdered in Nassau County by MS-13. Of those six, one was shot in the face, one was shot in the back of the head, four of them were violently butchered by machetes, and buried in shallow graves throughout our county.
Those victims, three of them were 15 years of age. Two of them were 18. Out of the six people that committed these murders, nine people were arrested last year. Seven of the nine that were arrested were undocumented in this country. So we have a population of 1.3 million people here in Nassau County; 17 percent Hispanic makeup. I’ve been to these communities. I’ve spoken to these people. I’ve addressed them at town hall meetings. And our pop cops have been there. They’re good hard-working people in the community.
Ninety percent of the crime is done by ten percent of the population. MS-13 is making up a good percent of that 10 percent in that community. We need to go out at an intelligence way to attack it. We need to go out with evidence-based approaches.
What I would like to see here in Nassau County — we have a great partnership with Homeland, we have a great partnership with ICE. They’ve done nothing but support us. Our U.S. Attorney’s Office and our District Attorney’s Office has been great in the prosecutions.
We need to get a little bit better on our intelligence sharing and information, and that starts at the border where that information can flow up into the states that we know who, why, when, how. And again, that gives us a better way to approach it, so we don’t burn the bridges and the relationships with those communities that we spent so much time building, that we — they want to come to us and support us.
And the youth programs in those communities — whether it’s a police youth academy, a PAL program — they’re the kids that are being influenced and turned into the gangs, as you heard before. They’re the kids that we need to reach now, not later — now — before some of these gang members push them into it.
Most of the murders that have occurred here in Nassau County were done because somebody wanted to get into the gang, and part of the initiation was to kill and take a body. And these are innocent kids that we are out there, lured into these wooded areas with alcohol and the potential of sex and drugs.
If our intelligence is better, if our evidence-based approach is better, and our community relations stay strong, we can make a difference and turn the tide on that.
And we’re going to look to you for all that help, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Patrick. That’s great. I appreciate it. (Applause.) Thank you. Great job. Really good. You’ve done a fantastic job.
Robert and Elizabeth, we’re going to save you for a couple of minutes. We want to hear from a couple of these politicians first. Right? (Laughter.) And then we’re going to get to the real story. We appreciate it.
Dan, go ahead.
REPRESENTATIVE DONOVAN: Thank you, Mr. President. And I’d remind you, we’re public servants; we’re not politicians. (Laughter.)
But thank you for your leadership here. This is our second visit.
THE PRESIDENT: You are. (Laughter.)
REPRESENTATIVE DONOVAN: This is our second visit here to Nassau County. This is the second time that, through your leadership, you came here — because this community is hurting.
Behind you is a sign that says, “Secure our borders, protect our communities.” That’s one sentence with a comma in it. If we do one, we achieve the other. And it’s the one thing that you’ve been trying to do for the 15 months that you’ve led this nation. We need border security. We need tougher immigration laws. We need to help communities like this.
The examples — I was a prosecutor for 20 years, Mr. President. I was eight years in the Manhattan’s DA’s Office. I was Deputy Chief of the Narcotics Bureau where we saw vicious gang assaults and murders. I was 12 years as the Staten Island District Attorney, as you know. I have never seen the viciousness like you just described in your opening remarks.
We’re here to help. These brave people — Pat, John, Rod, the folks on the ground — they’re enforcing laws, but we have to make the laws. And we learn a lot by listening. That’s why I’m so grateful that you’re holding this roundtable because a lot of what Lee, Pete, and I will do when we go back to D.C. is take the information we learn here and implement them into our laws.
On the way up with you, the Secretary was describing to us how after someone, a criminal, is convicted and they’re illegal — if their home country doesn’t take them back in six months, we have to release them back in the community. Well, what country would take back these people that our fellow crime fighters have just described? Nobody would take them back. We have to change those laws, Mr. President.
Thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your commitment to protect our nation. And thank you for your support of our law enforcement officers.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. Thank you very much, Dan. (Applause.)
And just before — thank you, Dan — just before we get to the Secretary, I have to say that many of these countries we give tremendous amounts of aid to — tens of millions of dollars. And we’re working on a plan to deduct a lot of the aid, because I happen to believe it’s not so hard. You know, they’ll let you think that they’re trying to stop this. They’re not trying to stop it. I think they encourage people from leaving. They don’t want the people. They don’t want the people that we’re getting in that country.
So we’re going to work out something where every time somebody comes in from a certain country, we’re going to deduct a rather large amount of money from what we give them in aid — (applause) — if we give them aid at all, which we may not just give them aid at all. Because despite all of the reports I hear, I don’t believe they’re helping us one bit. And maybe that’s the way life is, but they’re not helping us a lot based on the fact that we know where these people are coming from.
So we’re looking at our whole aid structure, and it’s going to be changed very radically. It’s already started.
All right. Thank you very much, Dan. Secretary Nielsen. (Applause.)
SECRETARY NIELSEN: Yes, sir. Thank you. I might just talk loudly, if that works.
So I just want to thank you, as always, for your leadership on behalf of the largest law enforcement agency in the federal government. We so appreciate your leadership, your support.
I know Tom, and Tom’s folks do — I always tell them that I will always empower them and support them, but you enable me to do that. So we thank you always for your leadership.
I want to thank the commissioners. I want to thank the members of Congress here. And most importantly, my thoughts and prayers continue to go out the families that are here today. This obviously should never have happened, and we will leave no stone unturned until we combat it.
I do want to say, horrifyingly, to knit together everything that folks have said before: Seven of the thirteen gang members that murdered these lovely girls were unaccompanied alien children that came into the country. And the problem with that is, is they come in, they’re recruited, as was described by the Commissioner, but they also come in and they pay a debt. The smugglers require them to serve in the gangs to pay the debt for the smuggling.
So they’re either forced to join the gangs, or they’re tricked into joining the gangs, or they’re recruited to join the gangs. So there absolutely is a tie between all the loopholes the Deputy Attorney General described and the resurgence of these gangs in our communities.
The other two loopholes I might have just mentioned; one was just mentioned. The other one is that we still cannot bar known gang members from coming into our country. We have to change the law. We know who they are, we know what they do. We do not, under the law, have the ability to make them inadmissible on the face of being a gang member. So we have to change that.
So DHS, as the Director knows, we’re leaving no stone unturned, as I said. We’re securing our borders. We’re building your wall. We’re increasing technology. You’ve deployed the National Guard. We have 3,000 apprehensions that are attributed in addition to the fact that the National Guard is there. We’re enforcing the law.
I also would like to join the Director in thanking everyone here that represents law enforcement for putting your lives on the line every day to help our communities. (Applause.) You have tremendous thanks from all of us.
The arrests, under your leadership, are up 42 percent. So the men and women that you have empowered are out there doing their job every day. We’re cracking down on fraud. We have a 315 percent increase in adults who are using children to pose as a family to come into this country illegally. We cannot have that. So we’re cracking down on fraud. We’re cracking down on adults who pretend to be children to come in, because they know that’s a loophole.
And we’re certainly cracking down on the false asylum. If you want to come here for family reunification, that’s not asylum. If you’re coming here to seek a job, that’s not asylum. Those are not legitimate reasons under the law of the United States. We will not grant you asylum.
We are going after the gangs. Director Homan talked a lot about that. We’re protecting children. We need to protect all the children that do come here. So we’re increasing background checks to make sure that when we do, through HHS, hand over a child to a sponsor or alleged family member, that they are, in fact, either a family member or somebody who is not a convicted criminal, smuggler, or trafficker.
And finally, we’re pressing Congress, and I will continue to do that. I had many conversations on the Hill this week. I have made it my duty. I appreciate the members being here for that reason. But we will close these loopholes, and we will take our communities back under President Trump.
So thank you all for being here. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Kirstjen. Thank you. Great job. Thank you. And thank you for the really great job you’re doing. I really appreciate it. Not easy. Not easy.
Lee?
REPRESENTATIVE ZELDIN: Mr. President, thank you for coming back, again. This is your second time in less than a year that you’re on Long Island for this purpose. And the message that gets sent to the victims of MS-13 is certainly being heard and felt by them. And the message is being heard and felt by the law enforcement officers here on Long Island, who MS-13 has been threatening. It sends a strong message not only to Long Islanders who care about our community and our public safety, but it also sends a strong message all throughout our entire country. It’s really important when you run for office that you’re able to keep your promises. And the effort that you have been showing to ensure the defeat of MS-13 is incredibly important, and it’s recognized.
I was, last week, in Jerusalem, where we were moving an embassy and a promise was being kept. I was in the Middle East last Christmas, visiting our troops, where ISIS is almost completely wiped off the map in Iraq and Syria. It’s so important for us to keep our promises.
The message is being sent not to just Long Islanders, but all throughout the entire country.
You have to, when wanting to eliminate a threat, be willing to identify it. And what we saw with the reaction to — the California sheriff asked you about MS-13, and you responded immediately to that remark and called them “animals.” And as our Acting ICE Director said, that was a nice way of putting it. But if you’re not willing to even identify the threat, you have no chance of eliminating it. Same thing if you want to get rid of the heroin and opioid abuse epidemic — another promise that you’re keeping.
Locally, we have seen many indictments coming down from a great local U.S. attorney’s office. There is a U.S. attorney here, Rich Donoghue, who I’m a little biased towards. He’s a former 82nd Airborne Division Paratrooper. But we’re seeing indictment after indictment come down here in the Eastern District, and it’s a product of all of the people who are here at this table, who work for them, working at every level of government. And we’re about to hear from Ms. Hart, our new police commissioner in Suffolk. Everyone working together to ensure that this is accomplished is critical.
This issue should transcend partisan politics. And unfortunately, it’s not right now in Congress. Nancy Pelosi recently took nine hours on the House floor to celebrate the humanity and the behavior that encompasses what has torn apart the hearts of our families who are here. As far as sending messages, it’s also an important message to send to congressional Democrats. You have shown a willingness to compromise on this issue, an uncomfortable — you have put your neck way out there. And you’re — in a way, you end up negotiating against yourself when the congressional Democrats just refuse to work with you. It’s obstructionism.
There are people who are in Congress who have pledged to oppose and obstruct everything and anything, saying they cannot work with you, because if they work with you, they’ll legitimize your Presidency. You were elected President of the United States. They were elected to serve in Congress. They took an oath. They need to protect our constituents here, and they need to protect their own. They need to work with you, because you’re putting your neck out there on the line. They need to do it, as well, even if they’re taking a tough vote from their constituency. (Applause.)
As far as policy issues, we stand with you for stronger border security and interior enforcement. We agree that there is a need to end catch and release, to end this use of visa lottery. Beyond just the worst offenses that we’ve heard a lot about are all the other offenses that aren’t the high-profile incidents that we hear about in the national media. It’s the drug trafficking that takes place here on Long Island and elsewhere. It’s the sex trafficking that takes place on Long Island and everywhere all throughout our entire country.
So all these policy issues are really important. Securing entryways is important not just to keep out people who shouldn’t be entering our country illegally, but also keeping things out of our country that should not be entering our country illegally.
And as you know well — and I appreciate your leadership on the heroin-opioid abuse epidemic — that is something that has been a huge impact on Long Island as well.
Finally, we discussed it once before, when you — also, and I like to report back to my constituents: This isn’t just something that we’re talking about while you’re able to come here to Long Island, but also meetings that have taken place at the White House and other efforts that are underway.
But there is a need to have a tool given to our Justice Department, in my opinion, to be able to end our Homeland Security, to be able to revoke the naturalization of someone who, it turns out that they were engaged in gang violence before they received their naturalization.
Or if it’s six months later or two years later, they engage in gang violence, they should have their naturalization revoked. I introduced, after our last meeting, the Protecting Our Communities from Gang Violence Act, H.R. 5065. I look forward to working with you on all of this, and I just really want to thank all of the fine, distinguished people who are here at this table.
And also, to everyone watching at home who is standing with our President, it’s an important message to send: Whether you vote for a President or not, his success is our success as Americans. (Applause.) And as Americans, you should be rooting for this man to be successful as President of the United States. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Lee. Thank you.
And you bring up a name, U.S. Attorney Donoghue. Where are you, please? U.S. Attorney.
REPRESENTATIVE ZELDIN: He’s out of the country.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, okay.
REPRESENTATIVE ZELDIN: Otherwise he would be here.
THE PRESIDENT: I was just trying to figure out why we didn’t introduce him — only because he’s not here. But he’s doing a great job.
REPRESENTATIVE ZELDIN: Yes, he is.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. Thank you very much.
Geri.
COMMISSIONER HART: Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you for this opportunity to speak with you today on this important topic. I represent the hardworking men and women of the Suffolk County Police Department, and I echo my partner Patty (ph) Ryder’s sentiments to thank you for your leadership on this critical issue.
Just two years ago, in 2016, Suffolk County experienced some of the most devastating and tragic events in our county’s history. On September 13th, 2016, Nisa Mickens and Kayla Cuevas, two beautiful young girls, were killed in a senseless, violent, and outrageous manner. These high school students were murdered shortly after one of the girls had argued with an MS-13 member in school.
Days later, the skeletal remains of three young men were discovered in Brentwood, all of whom are believed to have been murdered by MS-13. Over the next few months, the murders continued, and culminated, in April of 2017, with the quadruple homicide in Central Islip.
These killings shook our communities and sparked a commitment among the Suffolk County Police Department to form a gang eradication strategy to protect our residents and get these MS-13 members off our streets.
As a result, the Suffolk County Police Department has worked extensively with all our law enforcement partners to implement a multi-prong strategy: enhanced and targeted police presence; increased collaborative efforts to gather, collect, and share intelligence; relentless targeting and enforcement of known MS-13 gang members for arrest, prosecution, and removal; federal prosecutions of MS-13 gang members and its leadership, under the RICO Statute; a strong emphasis on community relations; and significant investments in gang prevention and intervention strategies, with a particular focus on unaccompanied alien children.
Since September of 2016, the Department’s multifaceted approach has resulted in 355 arrests of 235 MS-13 gang members. There has not been an MS-13 murder in Suffolk County since April of 2017. MS-13 sustains itself by constantly recruiting new members, and particularly minors. MS-13 members recruit children placed in communities in Suffolk County through the UAC program.
Since 2014, 4,965 UACs have been placed in Suffolk County, making it the largest recipient of UACs in the nation. While the vast majority of these children live law-abiding lives, many of them are susceptible to gang recruitment. They are young, alone; adjusting to a new country, culture, and language; and are seeking a sense of belonging.
This is compounded by the fact that the sponsors of these children, in some cases, prove not to be suitable guardians. The current vetting and screening system of sponsors is in dire need of improvement. It’s vital that, if the federal government places UACs in our community, it’s only after proper screening of sponsors followed by measures to ensure proper guardian compliance. Your assistance in this oversight would be crucial.
As I mentioned, the Suffolk County Police Department has enhanced and targeted police presence and patrols in affected areas in order to effectively destabilize this gang. We will continue to utilize this strategy and assign manpower wherever it’s needed. We will not let up. The Department is committed to eradicating MS-13 from our community.
We are grateful for the commitment and support of the President and the federal government on this important matter. Within the last year, the Suffolk County Police Department received a grant of $500,000, through the Project Safe Neighborhoods, and I thank you for that.
However, we could certainly use additional funding to assist in offsetting additional policing efforts and costs moving forward. I can’t miss out on that opportunity. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: You’re right.
COMMISSIONER HART: Mr. President, we appreciate this opportunity to speak with you. We are committed to having this dialogue further, in order to protect and serve all the residents of Suffolk County. And I thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much, Geri. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. And you’re right, and you should get more.
I think what we’ll do is we’ll close it out with Peter later. But, Robert, I would love to hear from you. Would love to hear from Elizabeth. Maybe you go ahead. Thank you. Thank you very much.
MICKENS: I’d like to say thank you, Mr. President, for all the hard work that you’ve been doing since you got into office, with help eradicating this gang, help bringing some type of peace to our home — even though it’s still not going to be the same.
For those who don’t know, who haven’t been through this, we have to go through every day. It’s an ongoing struggle. It’s not easy for us, especially me, to wake up, look down the hallway, and not see my daughter laying in her bed or me waking her up for school in the morning. It’s very difficult.
You know, we missed two birthdays of hers. This would have been they’re graduating year, this year. And it’s very sad that all these loopholes for all these past couple of years, decades that have been allowing these criminals to come into our country, into our towns, and into our states and do whatever they want, and they feel they could get away with it.
That’s why, Mr. President, I’m glad that you’re at the forefront of this fight and that you’re taking this very seriously. This is a fight, in my opinion, that should have been happening a long time ago. I don’t know why it hasn’t. But thank you for doing what you’re doing right now. And I do honor what you’re doing, and I believe that you are going to do your best to eradicate this gang and all other gangs.
You know, it’s one thing for children to have a little argument, a little fist fight — walk away the next day. But to murder another student, your fellow classmate that you see every day, you’re not — in my opinion, you’re not an ordinary human.
You know, whatever they believe to make them do this, to make them gain recognition inside their gang, then come later on to find out that if they do something wrong they will be eliminated also by their own gang members.
These children are not using they head. I’m not sure if it’s because they’re alone, they’re scared, they’re being pressured. It’s a lot. But these children, they really need to stop hurting each other. Because if these children are our future, we’re not going to have a future. We really won’t.
And I really do believe that, with the President’s help, and Nassau and Suffolk County Commissioner, and to the other 49 states, we will win this war against MS-13 and other gangs, because our streets should not have to be bloodshed. Our streets should be filled with children riding bikes, playing kickball, basketball, baseball, whatever they love to do to make them happy.
Us, as parents, should not have to bury our child. And it’s just hard. It really is hard. You know, there’s people every day who question what the President says, and I try to explain to them the best that I can, but they’re not seeing the bigger picture. It hit home with him because he’s a fellow Long Islander.
And we can’t have children kill children anymore. You know, we — it’s going to be a division amongst communities, eventually, if this doesn’t stop. There’s already a division now between protestors and the ones who are sticking behind our President.
As far as the protestors, they’re not seeing the bigger picture because they’re not living the life that we have to go through every day. If they were to see how we have to live every day, wake up — sometimes I forget and I feel that she is in her room, and I’m ready to go pick on her or do something that a father and daughter would normally do. They don’t — they’re not living through that. They’re not living through the pain where, okay, for a while we could be fine; the next thing you know, something that would spark a memory of our loved one, and it could bring us back to times and places that we try not to remember that’s still going to be in our mind until the — you know, until we rest in peace.
And what they have done to us — we have learned to take a tragedy into something positive. We’re standing here — we’re sitting here, we’re giving speeches, we give comments, we give our concerns, we try to stay active in the community just to reach out to those who may be afraid to speak up or to say something.
And it’s very important for us people in the community to come together with our local law enforcement to help get rid of these members off our streets, out of our schools. Put them where they belong: in prison. (Applause.)
And I would like to say, thank you to everybody up here on the panel for all the hard work and the dedication that you’re putting forward to this.
Obviously, this is a very touching subject because there’s immigration involved, but they have to realize America is based off of immigration. Everybody who came here as an immigrant wanted the American Dream. The American Dream is still there. But if you’re going to come here with acts of violence, you can stay in your own country with that, because we don’t need it here anymore. (Applause.) Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Robert. So beautiful. Thank you, Robert. Incredible. That’s incredible. Thanks.
And the American Dream is coming back bigger and better than ever. You know that.
And I have to say, the protestors, they’re not so big anymore. They’re dwindling. They’re getting it. Everyone is getting it. And what you just said is beautiful, and we appreciate it. Thank you. Really nice.
Elizabeth, would you like to say something? (Applause.) And thank you, Robert.
ALVARADO: Every day I wake up, I feel like she’s coming home. But we have to help our children. We have to educate them. We have to, you know, look into the schools and make sure that your kids are okay.
My daughter was only 15 years old, and she act like a 30-year-old. She already knew what she wanted in her life. And at 5:23, every day of my life, I feel like she’s going to come through that door. But I know she’s not.
And for her legacy, I will try to do the best I can to educate parents, children, little kids. If you need to talk to me, and you’re scared, I’m here. I will always be here, because my daughter wants me to be here. And I miss her very much. There’s not one day that goes by that I don’t think about her.
So I just hope that my message comes out, that we all need to be educated on how MS-13 is. I appreciate everybody’s love and friendship, and meeting the President. Who would ever thought that I would do that? But I met remarkable people in my journey, and I hope they stick by me so that we can put a closure to this. Thank you. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Elizabeth. Beautiful. Thank you, Elizabeth. We will stick by you, too. We will stick by you. Thank you very much.
Freddy, do you want to start? Evelyn, go ahead.
RODRIGUEZ: I want to thank you for having us here today to discuss what’s been going on here on the Island and throughout the United States.
PARTICIPANT: Check the mic.
RODRIGUEZ: Sorry. I want to thank everyone for being here. And, Mr. President, thank you again for listening to us and our needs in eradicating these MS-13 individuals.
My daughter Kayla was a beautiful girl. She had dreams, and they took that away from her. That’s not right. And how these kids were murdered, tortured, is unacceptable. We should not be tolerating this behavior at all whatsoever.
Law enforcement, thank you so much for your hard work and dedication in keeping our kids safe, our communities, and working together as one and helping out each other with information that you guys receive. And again, thank you, Donald Trump, for supporting our law enforcement to the fullest capacity that they need.
You said the other day that these individuals are animals. You’re correct. They are animals in how they kill, how they get these kids and they torture them. No child should ever, ever have to suffer. As parents, we have to endure that pain, that numbness every day of our lives.
My daughter, Nisa supposed to be graduating in a couple of weeks. We’re supposed to be getting, you know, graduation outfits, having a party. We’re unable to do that. No parent should ever have to go through this, at all. We have families here from the four boys from Central Islip: Jose Peña, Jorge (inaudible), Michael, and Jefferson. Their families are suffering every day, but they thank you for your hard work in trying to make the situation a little bit better.
THE PRESIDENT: Please stand. Please. Please. (Applause.)
RODRIGUEZ: People have to realize that these situations originate in school. It plays out in school, and it comes out into the streets. We need to focus on what’s happening in the schools. We have to put in professional educators in there to help the teachers, the school administration how to handle this. They say they know how to handle it; they really don’t.
Two years, as you’ve heard before, I was fighting with the school district — two years, for my daughter — and they did nothing. In fact, they lied in my face.
So we can’t tolerate that behavior either, in the schools. When there’s a problem, they need to notify. When there’s a threat, they need to notify law enforcement immediately. They need to get help. And if they say they have it under control, they’re basically lying in your faces. They do not have this under control.
These people, these individuals, they know what they’re doing. They know how to work. At one point they were called “organized crime.” They know how to work it. We need to stop it.
All originates in school, and it plays out in the streets. And a lot of these kids are innocent. They don’t know, they don’t have the guidance. These kids are coming in unaccompanied. They don’t know who to turn to. They’re afraid. They’re coming from a country that they were afraid with their law enforcement — people they couldn’t trust.
Here, we have to make sure that the resources and the programs are there for them. And the ones that are coming in here unaccompanied, being sponsored, we need to investigate the sponsors to make sure they’re legit. And that one phone call that they do for a follow up — has to be more than that. Home visits — making sure that these kids are going in a straight line, they’re not going off of that straight line. They need to follow rules.
Whether you’re black, white, Hispanic, green, purple, alien out of this space, there is a consequence. When you do a crime, there’s a consequence. You’re not going to get off easy. And especially, especially when you murder a child. That is unacceptable. (Applause.) Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Freddy? Please.
CUEVAS: First and foremost, Mr. President and everybody on this panel — there’s too many names I can say at once — I would like to say, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. This is the third time that you visit Long Island — second time, excuse me — and I appreciate everything and all the efforts that everybody is doing back in D.C. as well.
And also would like to thank Peter King as well, for giving us this privilege to have all the heads of the departments and states to come here and realize the problem that we’re enduring.
My daughter was a beautiful girl. She was a person that was — had achievements, had goals. And those were taken from her. She’s not here no longer because of the situation that these individuals — like you said, I think that you used the correct word, “animals,” that they are — took her away from us and destroyed her dream.
We appreciate everything that’s being done, and we just need to tackle the issue stronger. And hopefully we can eliminate them and make sure that it doesn’t happen again to any of the families or anybody else within our world.
Thank you once again everyone. Appreciate it. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you.
Peter.
REPRESENTATIVE KING: Thank you, Mr. President. Again, let me thank you for doing this. And let me also acknowledge our Town Supervisor Joe Saladino, who is here today and doing a great job. (Applause.)
And, Mr. President, all I can say is, first of all, thank you for doing this. It’s beyond description the good you’re doing by this. I think this is one of the most important and significant events ever on Long Island because it addresses an issue which local people have been facing for a long time. But for the first time, the federal government at your level — the U.S. Attorney has always been trying, and ICE, and others — but no one from your level has ever, ever given the attention you have.
So I want to thank you very much for what you’re doing. Thank you for your dedication. Thank you for always being there. And they can protest all they want. We’re with you. Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Peter. (Applause.)
Well, I just want to — I really want to thank all of the families. And Robert, Elizabeth — so beautiful. Thank you very much. I really appreciate that. That was incredible. And Freddy, Evelyn, thank you very much.
CUEVAS: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Not much you can say other than we are really working hard on this problem. This is a horrible problem. We’re bringing them out, and our people are rougher than them. That’s the only language they understand. It would be wonderful if we could talk nicely and softly, but the only language they understand is that toughness. And, Tom, you’ve displayed it; your people have displayed it. Everybody up here has displayed it. Everybody.
But the records are being set, but they still keep coming in. We need immigration laws. We need strong laws. And we’re going to get them. It’s moving. It’s harder and harder for the Democrats to fight it. Look, I’d like to say it’s just people doing it. They happen to be Democrats. They’re very well unified in this regard, but they’re starting to break up now. Finally, they’re starting to break up.
And the other day was actually a great day, when they were coming to the defense of MS-13. They’re coming to the defense, and that was the end of them because nobody, nobody understood it. Nobody. When they started rationalizing, and — maybe it was the way they grew up. And maybe it was, but we’re stuck with a big problem.
Again, you heard the numbers. You heard what a number of the folks have said. We’re taking them out by the thousands, by the thousands. And they’re being thrown out of the country. They’re being put in jails.
When they’re put in jails, that costs us a fortune for years, and years, and years as a country. But when we throw them out, they go back on the streets; they don’t go anywhere. The countries don’t want them. In some cases, the countries don’t take them. But now, with us, they take them. With the previous administration, they’d say, “No, we don’t want them.” With us, it’s a much different deal. They take them, but you don’t know what they do with them. Do they let them out? Do they put them in jail? Are they incarcerated? They’re murderers, in many cases. Are they incarcerated?
So we’re very tough, but we’re getting a lot tougher. But we do need law changes. We need those laws to change. Because we can be really smart and we can really know what we’re doing — which we do — these are all incredible professionals, every one up here; incredible professionals. But when the laws are no good, the laws are horrible, there’s not much you can do beyond what we’re doing.
We’re down on immigration crossing the border — more than 40 percent. We were actually down 77 percent. Our economy is doing so well, people are coming across the border. The economy is — it’s one bad thing about having a great economy, frankly. But the economy is doing so well that people are crossing the border. In many cases, they’re crossing for reasons of good, but in many cases they’re crossing for reasons of really, really bad.
But these people are incredible people. And I want to thank you all for being here, too. I know what you’ve gone through. I just want to thank you very much for being here.
We are making tremendous strides. We will continue. And in a not-too-distant future, I feel totally confident that this product — this problem will be eradicated. We’re not going to have this problem. I essentially grew up on Long Island. And when I hear Hempstead and Mineola and all of the places that I know so well, that you can’t walk outside — this used to be where you’d leave your doors unlocked, you’d leave your windows open, always. And you have gang members now that are so rough, people are afraid to go outside.
We have these trucks coming in; they used to call them “paddy wagons.” I don’t know what they call them anymore. What do they call them, Tom? But we have the ICE guys coming in, and I’ll tell you something — the ICE guys are a lot rougher than the MS-13 guys. They’re rougher, they’re tougher, and they’re meaner. (Applause.) And they throw them into — I don’t want to mention the name of a town, but a town that I know very well. They throw these guys into these wagons, these rolling jails. And you have people applauding. It’s almost like a war, where you’re getting rid of somebody that’s occupying your nation.
And for me to go through and be in this position, and see towns that I’ve known all my life — I grew up here; I know every one of the towns — and it’s unthinkable that it’s almost like an occupied territory, where your children are afraid to go out, and in many cases, if they go out, bad things happen.
But when you see the scene — and I saw it, Tom; I saw it — of guys being thrown right into these wagons, being taken away, and the crowd is cheering — cheering. And in one way it’s beautiful, and another way it’s terrible that we’re having to even conceivably do that, especially in a place that you’ve known so well all your life that was safe.
I just want to thank the law enforcement, because what they go through and the restrictions that are put on them are incredible: They got to be nice; they can’t be too tough. They have to be gentle. They can’t touch, they can’t do anything. And they do an incredible job. And people understand it.
And to law enforcement — I have to tell you, because I’ve gotten to know the heart of this country maybe better than anybody, and that’s why I’m here. The people out there love you and respect you. You may read a lot of stuff. I will tell you, you are the most respected people there are. (Applause.) And on behalf of everybody, I want to thank you very much for what you do. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Story 2: Governor Abbott Roundtable Meeting in Stopping Mass Shootings in Gun Free Zones Such As Texas Santa Fe High School Shootings With 10 Dead and 14 Wounded –Videos
Second day of Santa Fe shooting roundtable covers mental health and gun regulation
Texas official on school shooting: ‘We cannot…say it’s the gun – it’s us as a nation’
Gov. Abbott leads roundtable discussion on school safety
Alerrt active shooter training may have saved lives in Santa Fe
Texas Lt. Governor: Need armed teachers, fewer school entrances
Word for Word: Texas Gov. Abbott: “We Need to Do More Than Just Pray” (C-SPAN)
WATCH: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott delivers remarks on Santa Fe school shooting
Police chief discusses school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas
Shooting survivor says shooting was inevitable
Lawyers for Texas shooting suspect speak out
Here are the Texas shooting victims’ stories
New details emerge on how the Texas school shooting was carried out
Pres. Donald Trump remarks on Santa Fe school shooting in speech at the Prison Reform Summit
Santa Fe High school shooter studied previous mass shootings and used tactics from them in his own massacre
Dimitrios Pagourtzis burst into an art classroom with shotgun, yelling ‘surprise’
The 17-year-old is in custody and investigators revealed he studied massacres
Among those killed are an art teacher, investigators trying to work out motive
Pagourtzis acted alone, spared students he liked so they could tell his story
PUBLISHED: 03:58 EDT, 21 May 2018 | UPDATED: 19:24 EDT, 21 May 2018
A teenager who opened fire in a Texas high school killing ten people studied previous mass shootings and used them when carrying out his own massacre, it was reported.
Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a 17-year-old Santa Fe High School junior, allegedly burst into an art classroom yelling ‘Surprise!’ while brandishing his father’s shotgun and pistol, before opening fire and gunning down students and teachers.
He was taken into custody Friday morning and two other ‘persons of interest’ have also been interviewed by investigators.
Dimitri Pagourtzis, 17, is being held without bond in Galveston County Jail in Texas
Memorials have sprung up around Santa Fe, Texas for those killed in the high school massacre
Two teachers and eight pupils were killed when Pagourtzis allegedly burst into a classroom and yelled ‘surprise’
A source told ABC News Pagourtzis ‘studied previous mass shootings and used aspects of those [attacks] in his own shooting’.
Investigators have also determined that they don’t expect to charge anyone else besides the alleged shooter, sources said.
Substitute teacher Ann Perkins, 64, art teacher Cynthia Tisdale and students Sabika Sheikh, Chris Stone, Kim Vaughan, Angelique Ramirez, Aaron Kyle McLeod, Christian Garcia and Shana Fisher have been confirmed dead.
Pagourtzis also said he spared the students he liked so he could ‘have his story told,’ according to court documents.
Police are now trying to piece together what motive ‘quiet’ Pagourtzis had for carrying out the shooting, the 22nd school shooting in 2018 alone.
Ann Perkins, 64, a substitute teacher, was one of the first victims of the shooting to be named and pictured. She was a grandmother
A church service was held at Arcadia First Baptist Church near Santa Fe High School on Sunday to honor the lives lost
Angelique Ramirez (left) and Kim Vaughan (right) were confirmed dead by friends and family on Friday evening
Pagourtzis (circled) was a member of a traditional Greek dance group with a local church
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Pagourtzis wrote about planning the attack in journals on his computer and in his cellphone that police obtained.
‘Not only did he want to commit the shooting but he wanted to commit suicide after the shooting,’ Abbott said, adding that Pagourtzis told authorities he ‘didn’t have the courage’ to take his own life.
How the Santa Fe High School shooting unfolded
7.32am – Law enforcement responded to reports of an active shooter
8.02am – Dimitrios Pagourtzis surrenders to cops
8.05am – President Donald Trump tweets ‘School shooting in Texas. Early reports not looking good. God bless all!’
8.13am – Santa Fe Independent School District confirms there was an active shooter and the district has initiated a lockdown
8.30am – Santa Fe High School is evacuated
9am – Assistant Principal confirms the shooter had been arrested
9.15am – Suspected explosive devices are found
10am – Law enforcement confirms eight people are dead
10.45am – Death toll updated to between eight and 10
11.18am – Santa Fe ISD says explosives were found at the high school
Pagourtzis played on the high school’s junior varsity football team and was a member of a traditional Greek dance group with a local Orthodox church.
Acquaintances described him as quiet and unassuming, an avid video game player who routinely wore a black trench coat and black boots to class.
Friends said he had been bullied, including by coaches who told him he ‘smelled bad’.
The other students detained have not been named.
Police were hunting for explosive devices in two homes after finding pipe bombs scattered around the school in the wake of the shooting.
Pagourtzis used his father’s legally owned shotgun and .38-revolver in the massacre, officials said. It’s not clear whether the father knew his son had taken them.
The suspect’s father Antonios Pagourtzis, 63, runs a ship repair and industrial cleaning firm.
He was born in Greece and ‘liked’ NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesh on Facebook.
As well as killing 10, the shooting spree also injured 10 more, including John Barnes, 49, a retired Houston police officer now working as the Santa Fe resource officer who was first to confront the shooter.
The hero cop was shot in the arm and was hospitalized in critical condition after losing significant amounts of blood.
Total U.S. deaths by year in mass shootings: 1982 to 2016.[1]
Map of mass shootings in 2015.
There is no fixed definition of a mass shooting,[2] but a common definition is an act of violence — excluding gang killings, domestic violence, or terrorist acts sponsored by an organization — in which a gunman kills at least four victims. Using this definition, one study found that nearly one-third of the world’s public mass shootings between 1966 and 2012 (90 of 292 incidents) occurred in the United States,[3][4] which has more mass shootings than any other country.[5][6][7][8] Using the same definition, Gun Violence Archive records 152 mass shootings in the United States between 1967 and May 2018, averaging eight fatalities per incident when the perpetrator’s death is included.[9]
The overwhelming majority of perpetrators are male and act alone,[10] and they generally either commit suicide or are restrained or killed by law enforcement officers or civilians.[11]
Definition
There is no fixed definition of a mass shooting in the United States.[2] The Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012, signed into law by Congress in January 2013, defines a “mass killing” as one resulting in at least 3 victims, excluding the perpetrator.[12][2][13][14] In 2015, the Congressional Research Service defined a mass shooting as “a multiple homicide incident in which four or more victims are murdered with firearms, within one event, and in one or more locations in close proximity”.[15] A broader definition, as used by the Gun Violence Archive, is that of “4 or more shot or killed, not including the shooter”.[16] This definition, of four people shot regardless of whether or not that results in injury or death, is often used by the press and non-profit organizations.[17][18][19][20][21]
Studies indicate that the rate at which public mass shootings occur has tripled since 2011. Between 1982 and 2011, a mass shooting occurred roughly once every 200 days. However, between 2011 and 2014 that rate has accelerated greatly with at least one mass shooting occurring every 64 days in the United States.[22]
In recent years, the number of public mass shootings has increased substantially, although there has been an approximately 50% decrease in firearm homicides in the nation overall since 1993. The decrease in firearm homicides has been attributed to better policing, a better economy and environmental factors such as the removal of lead from gasoline.[23] However, this does not account for an increase in firearm injuries or suicides, nor explain the increase in mass shootings.
Differing sources
A comprehensive report by USA Today tracked all mass killings from 2006 through 2017 in which the perpetrator willfully killed 4 or more people. For mass killings by firearm for instance, it found 271 incidents with a total of 1,358 victims.[24]Mother Jones listed seven mass shootings, defined as indiscriminate rampages in public places resulting in four or more victims killed,[25] in the U.S. for 2015.[26] An analysis by Michael Bloomberg’s gun violence prevention group, Everytown for Gun Safety, identified 110 mass shootings, defined as shootings in which at least four people were murdered with a firearm, between January 2009 and July 2014; at least 57% were related to domestic or family violence.[27][28]
Other media outlets have reported that hundreds of mass shootings take place in the United States in a single calendar year, citing a crowd-funded website known as Shooting Tracker which defines a mass shooting as having four or more people injured or killed.[19] In December 2015, The Washington Post reported that there had been 355 mass shootings in the United States so far that year.[29] In August 2015, The Washington Post reported that the United States was averaging one mass shooting per day.[30] An earlier report had indicated that in 2015 alone, there had been 294 mass shootings that killed or injured 1,464 people.[31] Shooting Tracker and Mass Shooting Tracker, the two sites that the media have been citing, have been criticized for using a broader criteria — counting four victims injured as a mass shooting — thus producing much higher figures.[32][33]
Contributing factors
Several possible factors may work together to create a fertile environment for mass murder in the United States.[34] Most commonly suggested include:
A history of adverse childhood experiences (e.g., abuse of children emotionally, physically, sexually) leading to adult criminality[35]
The desire to seek revenge for a long history of being bullied.[36]
Failure of government background checks due to incomplete databases and/or staff shortages.[37][38]
Higher accessibility and ownership of guns.[34][3][39] The US has the highest per-capita gun ownership in the world with 88.8 firearms per 100 people; the second highest is Yemen with 54.8 firearms per 100 people.[34]
The widespread chronic gap between people’s expectations for themselves and their actual achievement,[34] and individualistic culture.[40]
Mental illness[41][42][43] and its treatment (or the lack thereof) with psychiatric drugs[44]. This is controversial. Many of the mass shooters in the U.S. suffered from mental illness, but the estimated number of mental illness cases has not increased as significantly as the number of mass shootings.[3]
Weapons used
Several types of weapons have been used in mass shootings in the United States including rifles, handguns, and shotguns. In contrast to the rest of the world, where the perpetrator typically has only one gun, more than half of US mass shootings are committed with multiple weapons.[3] While pistols are by far the most prevalent weapons in US mass shootings,[45]AR-15 style rifles have been used in a number of the deadliest incidents, and have come to be widely characterized in the mainstream media as the weapon of choice for perpetrators of these crimes.[46][47][48][49][50]
Deadliest mass shootings
The following mass shootings are the deadliest to have occurred in modern U.S. history (1949 to present). Only incidents with ten or more fatalities are included.[51]
Gov. Greg Abbott (top center, in front of U.S. flag) held the first of three roundtable discussions on school safety in Austin on May 22, 2018, in the aftermath of the Santa Fe high school shooting. Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune
After a closed door meeting Tuesday on school safety and gun violence, Gov. Greg Abbott proposed a series of initiatives to prevent future school shootings, though he largely avoided talk of a special legislative session to immediately pass new laws.
The roundtable discussion was the first of three scheduled this week to discuss school safety and gun violence following a massacre at Santa Fe High School last week.
Abbott, a Republican, listed off numerous ideas and suggestions that came out of the three-hour meeting, but focused on four specific ideas that he said could be implemented before students come back to school next fall.
They included trying to provide a grant to the Texas School Safety Center to train local school districts and law enforcement agencies on collaboration, creating a statewide threat assessment system, expanding a Lubbock program aimed at preventing at-risk students from committing violent acts and creating a list of recommendations for all schools on how they can immediately make their schools safer, like re-evaluating entrances and exits and placing law enforcement inside schools.
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“They’re going to be some of the simplest but most effective strategies that can be employed to make sure that our schools are safer places when our kids walk into those schools next August,” Abbott told the press after the meeting.
Other ideas that Abbott mentioned were increasing the number of school counselors, creating incentives for students to share information about potential threats and evaluating an expansion of a state program that arms teachers. He also spoke of a vague idea of mandating parent training to prevent shootings and spoke at length about creating an app that would allow students, parents and law enforcement to monitor school security cameras.
The governor focused largely on what could be done without legislative approval. When asked if a special session was needed to combat the issue of school shootings, as several politicians have suggested, he brushed it off.
“That’s a process question,” he said. “Right now we’re focused on substance issues. We need solutions first.”
Attendees of Tuesday’s discussion included leaders from the Texas House and Senate and the heads of the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Department of Public Safety. There were also local law enforcement and school officials, including the district attorney who will lead the prosecution against 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, the accused shooter in Friday’s killings.
Most of them expressed optimism after the meeting.
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Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — who raised some eyebrows when he mentioned shortly after the shooting Friday that a possible solution could be to remodel Texas schools to limit the number of entrances and exits — said the meeting exceeded expectations.
“You could feel a unification of voices around the issues he discussed from various school districts and law enforcement,” he told The Texas Tribune.
State Sen. Joan Huffman, a Republican from Houston who leads the State Affairs Committee, and her colleague, Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat and chair of the Senate’s Criminal Justice Committee, both echoed Patrick’s optimism after the meeting and were happy with many of the proposals. But Whitmire said they’ll have to be careful to avoid a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.
He said that’s especially true when talking about parental involvement; one idea was mandating parental training. It’s important to understand Houston is different than Round Rock, Whitmire said.
“I know a school district in the Houston area that’s got 20,000 students who’ve got undocumented parents,” he said. “So when we try to incorporate parent involvement and hold parents accountable, you’ve got to face reality that some parents are not welcome to the school.”
Wednesday’s discussion will focus on gun regulations, mental health solutions and underlying causes of gun violence, Abbott said just before Tuesday’s meeting. It will include advocates both for and against further gun restrictions, mental health experts and social media experts, he said.
Thursday will be a day for the victims of mass shootings in Texas, including the school shooting in Santa Fe that killed 10 and one at a church in Sutherland Springs last fall that killed 26. The exact list of attendees for Thursday has not yet been released.
Democrats have largely welcomed a discussion on gun violence but criticized the effectiveness of any changes currently proposed by Republican leadership. State Rep. Chris Turner of Grand Prairie, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said Friday that the state should also pass universal background checks and require the reporting of stolen guns.
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And in a news release Tuesday morning, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, said excluding several groups who want stricter gun regulation, including Moms Demand Action and March for Our Lives, will limit the potential for meaningful action. Texas Gun Sense, which advocates for further gun restrictions, is expected to attend Abbott’s discussion Wednesday.
After the meeting Tuesday, Abbott said the results of the roundtable shows that politician’s actions are already more than just talk.
“We came up with very solid solutions, and now it’s just a matter of implementing those solutions,” he said
The Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) is a 501(c)(4)non-profit[3] organization that seeks to reduce and ultimately end abortion in the U.S.[4] by supporting anti-abortion politicians, primarily women,[5] through its SBA List Candidate Fund political action committee.[6][7] In 2011, it reported it had 333,000 members.[8]
Founded in 1993 by sociologist and psychologist Rachel MacNair, the SBA List was a response to the success of the pro-choice group EMILY’s List, which was partly responsible for bringing about the 1992 “Year of the Woman” in which a significant number of women, all pro-choice, were elected to Congress. MacNair wished to help anti-abortion women gain high public office. She recruited Marjorie Dannenfelser and Jane Abraham as the first experienced leaders of SBA List. Dannenfelser is now president of the organization and Abraham is chairwoman of the board. Named for suffragist Susan B. Anthony, SBA List identifies itself with Anthony and several 19th-century women’s rights activists; SBA List argues that Anthony and other early feminists were opposed to abortion. Regarding Anthony’s beliefs, the SBA List has been challenged by scholars and pro-choice activists. Anthony scholar Ann D. Gordon and Anthony biographer Lynn Sherr write that Anthony “spent no time on the politics of abortion”.[9]
Founding
The formation of the SBA List was catalyzed in March 1992 when Rachel MacNair, head of Feminists for Life, watched a 60 Minutes television documentary profiling IBM-heiress Ellen Malcolm and the successful campaign-funding activities of her Democratic pro-choice group EMILY’s List.[10][11] MacNair, a peace activist and anti-abortion Quaker, was motivated to organize the Susan B. Anthony List for the purpose of countering EMILY’s List by providing early campaign funds to anti-abortion women candidates.[1][10] Led by FFL and MacNair, 15 anti-abortion groups formed an umbrella organization, the National Women’s Coalition for Life (NWCL), which adopted a joint anti-abortion statement on April 3, 1992.[12]
Also inspired by EMILY’s List, in 1992, the WISH List was formed to promote pro-choice candidates who were members of the opposing Republican Party.[13] In November 1992 after many of the pro-choice candidates won their races to create what was termed the “Year of the Woman“, MacNair announced the formation of the SBA List, describing its purpose as endorsing and supporting women who held anti-abortion beliefs without regard to party affiliation.[14] MacNair determined to challenge the EMILY’s List and the WISH List notion that the top female politicians were primarily pro-choice.[15][16] She said the SBA List would not support right-wing political candidates. “We want good records on women’s rights – probably not Phyllis Schlafly“.[14] The NWCL sponsored the SBA List with $2,485 to create it as a political action committee (PAC)[17][18][19] on February 4, 1993, listing MacNair as the first secretary; the group operated out of MacNair’s office inside a crisis pregnancy center on East 47th Street in Kansas City, Missouri.[19][20][21] The first SBA List public event was held the same month at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the National Woman’s Party.[22] Organized by founding board member Susan Gibbs, the “kickoff” event raised “more than $9000”.[23]
MacNair named the SBA List after the famous suffragist, Susan B. Anthony.[24][25] The leaders of the SBA List say that Anthony was “passionately pro-life”.[26][27] According to the SBA list, Susan B. Anthony “called abortion ‘child murder'”[28] This topic has been subject to a modern-day dispute about Anthony’s views on abortion, with scholars and pro-choice activists “concerned that their heroine is being appropriated”.[29] While Anthony deplored abortion, she never worked against it.[9][30] Anthony scholar Ann D. Gordon and Anthony biographer Lynn Sherr say the quotes SBA List cites are misattributed or taken out of context. Gordon said that Anthony “never voiced an opinion about the sanctity of fetal life … and she never voiced an opinion about using the power of the state to require that pregnancies be brought to term”.[29]
Founding board member Susan Gibbs, later the communications director for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, said, of the early years for the SBA List, “None of us had political experience. None of us had PAC experience. We just had a passion for being pro-life.”[22] Shortly after its founding, experienced political activists Marjorie Dannenfelser and then Jane Abraham were brought on board — Dannenfelser served as executive director, leading the organization from her home in Arlington, Virginia.[31] In 1994, the SBA List was successful in helping 8 of its 15 selected candidates gain office.[22] In 1996, only two challengers who were financially backed were elected, while five SBA-List-supported incumbents retained their positions; a disappointing election for the group.[10][22]
In 1997, the SBA List was re-organized by Dannenfelser and Abraham into its current form as a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization with a connected PAC, the SBA List Candidate Fund.[6] Abraham became president and Dannenfelser held the position of Chairwoman of the Board.[32] The rules for endorsing and financially supporting candidates were tightened: in addition to the politician having to be female, she must have demonstrated a pro-life record (a simple declaration was not enough), and she must be seen as likely to win her race.[10] In 1998, the SBA List began backing male pro-life candidates as well, endorsing three men in a pilot program.[22] One of the three won election to office: Republican Peter Fitzgerald who received $2,910 from the SBA List to assist him in his $12.3 million win over pro-choice Democrat Carol Moseley Braun in a battle for the U.S. Senate seat in Illinois.[33][34][35] Abraham served as president from 1997 until 2006 when Dannenfelser became president.
In 2000 the SBA List contributed $25,995 to pro-life candidates in contrast to the pro-choice candidates who received $608,273 from the WISH List or $20 million from EMILY’s List.[36][37]
Recent history
Contributions from supporters grew by 50% from 2007 to 2009.[38] As of December 2009, the SBA List had outspent one of its pro-choice counterparts, the National Organization for Women, in every election cycle since 1996.[39]
The group had planned to honor Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) at its March gala, but after Stupak’s deal with President Obama, in which Obama would issue an executive order banning federal funding for abortion under the bill,[47]Stupak was stripped of his “Defender of Life Award” three days before the gala because of the SBA List’s doubts, shared by the most prominent pro-life groups, about the effectiveness of the Executive Order.[48][49] Stupak had told Dannenfelser, “They [the Democratic leadership] know I won’t fold. There is no way.”[50] On the day of the vote, Dannenfelser said she promised Stupak that the SBA List was “going to be involved in your defeat”.[50] In a statement, Dannenfelser said, “We were planning to honor Congressman Stupak for his efforts to keep abortion-funding out of health care reform. We will no longer be doing so…Let me be clear: any representative, including Rep. Stupak, who votes for this health care bill can no longer call themselves ‘pro-life.'”[47] No one received the award in his place, and Dannenfelser instead used the occasion to condemn Stupak.[51] The group dropped its plans to help Stupak fend off a primary challenge[51] from Connie Saltonstall, who was running on a pro-choice platform.[52] Stupak later dropped out of the race, announcing his retirement from Congress.[53]
In August 2010, to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, the SBA List held a colloquium at the Yale Club of New York City, billed as “A Conversation on Pro-Life Feminism”.[56][57] The event featured a panel of five scholars in the fields of law, philosophy, history, political science and sociology, who discussed various concepts of feminism and the possibility of broadening the spectrum of pro-life political candidates to include those with more centrist fiscal views.[56][58]
Peter Roff writing for U.S. News and World Report credited the SBA List for the passage in the House of an amendment to defund Planned Parenthood of federal dollars for fiscal year 2011.[62] Writing for In These Times, social media activist Sady Doyle wrote that in striving against Planned Parenthood, the SBA List registered its priority as ending abortion rather than helping women prevent unwanted pregnancies.[63]
In March 2011, the SBA List teamed with Live Action for a bus tour through 13 congressional districts either thanking or condemning their representatives for their votes to defund Planned Parenthood of tax dollars in the Pence Amendment. In response, Planned Parenthood launched its own tour to follow the SBA List bus.[64] The SBA List also bought $200,000 in radio and television ads backing six Republicans who voted to defund Planned Parenthood in response to a $200,000 ad buy by Planned Parenthood against the Pence Amendment.[65]
In July 2011, the SBA List held a rally in New Hampshire supporting the New Hampshire Executive Council‘s decision to cut off state funding for Planned Parenthood.[66] Spokeswoman Marilyn Musgrave, a former United States congresswoman, said the Council’s decision “really will save unborn lives”.[66] The SBA List has lobbied for passage of the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a federal bill which would ban abortions after 20 weeks.[67] Also in 2011, the SBA List founded the Charlotte Lozier Institute. Named after Charlotte Denman Lozier, the Institute has served as the SBA List’s research and education institute ever since.[68]
Strategies
The SBA List employs many strategies in order to attract the public to its mission. Lawyer and Scholar Tali Leinwand explains that the SBA List encourages Republicans not to endorse personhood amendments, and attempts to link the pro-life movement to less controversial causes like opposition to the Affordable Care Act.[69] These strategies, Leinwand argues, attempt to de-stigmatize the pro-life movement.[69]
Elections
The SBA List Candidate Fund primarily endorses pro-life women, and pro-life men running against pro-choice women.[70]
2006 elections
The 2006 midterm elections were very successful for the SBA list. They won 21 of the 38 contests that they endorsed.[71]
Palin headlined the organization’s 2010 “Celebration of Life” breakfast fundraiser, an event which got extensive media coverage and in which she coined the term “mama grizzly“.[74][75][76][77]
According to Politico, Palin’s criteria for endorsing candidates is whether they have the support of the Tea Party movement and whether they have the support of the SBA List.[78]
2009 elections
In September 2009, in a special election to fill an empty House seat in upstate New York, the group endorsed the pro-life third-party Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman over the pro-choice Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava, on the stated basis that Scozzafava was an “abortion radical who does not represent the views of the growing majority of pro-life American women”.[79][80] The SBA List joined forces with the National Organization for Marriage in support of Hoffman, spending over $100,000[81] printing literature, making phone calls, and flooding the district with volunteers from across the country.[82]
2010 elections
For the 2010 elections, the SBA List planned to spend $6 million[83] (including $3 million solely on U.S. Senate races[84]) and endorsed several dozen candidates.[85] The SBA List spent nearly $1.7 million on independent expenditure campaigns for or against 50 candidates.[86]
The SBA List conducted a 23-city bus tour to the Congressional districts of self-described pro-life Democrats in Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania who voted for the health care reform bill and to rally supporters to vote them out.[87][88][89] The bus tour attracted counterprotests at some stops, such as one in Pennsylvania where a group called Catholics United accused the SBA List of lying about health care reform.[90]
The organization launched a “Life Speaking Out” petition to urge the Republican Party to include opposition to abortion in its Pledge to America.[91][92] The petition was sent with over 20,000 signatures on it.[93][94]
The organization especially focused on the California Senate race where Carly Fiorina challenged incumbent Senator Barbara Boxer.[95] The group spent $200,000 in support of Fiorina’s campaign during the Republican primary and expected to spend another $1 million for the general election campaign against Boxer.[96] The SBA List partnered with the National Organization for Marriage to air Spanish language TV commercials attacking Boxer’s positions on abortion and gay marriage.[97] The two groups bought $200,000 worth of airtime for the commercial to air in the markets of Los Angeles, Fresno, and San Diego.[98] However, Boxer prevailed over Fiorina in the November 2010 election.[99]
Other notable endorsements included Sharron Angle, who unsuccessfully[100] challenged incumbent Senate Majority LeaderHarry Reid in Nevada; the SBA List endorsed Angle despite having previously endorsed Angle’s primary opponent, Sue Lowden.[101][102] In September 2010, the SBA List launched a $150,000 campaign on behalf of New Hampshire Senate candidate Kelly Ayotte for the Republican primary.[103] Ayotte won the primary to become the nominee,[104] and later prevailed in the general election.[105] In October 2010, the SBA List endorsed Joe Miller, Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Alaska.[106] The SBA List endorsed Miller after Sen. Lisa Murkowski decided to stage a write-in campaign after losing the Republican primary to Miller, and they launched a $10,000 radio campaign to air ads attacking Murkowski for turning a “deaf ear” to the will of voters who voted her out in the primary.[107] Murkowski defeated Miller, who conceded after two months of court battles over contested ballots.[108] 36 of the SBA List’s 2010 endorsed candidates were elected.[109]
In the 2010 campaign, the organization purchased billboard advertisements in the district of Rep. Steve Driehaus of Ohio that showed a photo of Driehaus and intoned, “Shame on Steve Driehaus! Driehaus voted FOR taxpayer-funded abortion”[110] The advertisement referred to Driehaus’s vote in favor of the health care overhaul bill.[111][112] The SBA List has taken the position that the legislation in question allows for taxpayer-funded abortion, a claim which was ruled by a judge to be factually incorrect.[113]
In response, Driehaus, who represented Ohio’s heavily pro-life[110]1st congressional district, filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission (OEC), claiming the advertisements were false and violated Ohio election law.[114] The OEC ruled in Driehaus’ favor in a probable cause hearing on October 14, 2010.[115] In response, the SBA List asked a federal judge to issue an injunction against the OEC on the grounds that the law at issue stifles free speech[114][116] and that its ads were based on the group’s own interpretation of the law.[113] The ACLU of Ohio filed an 18-page amicus brief on the SBA List’s behalf, arguing that the Ohio law in question is “unconstitutionally vague” and has a “chilling” effect on the SBA List’s right to freedom of speech.[117][118] A federal judge rejected the SBA List’s federal lawsuit on abstention grounds and allowed Driehaus’s OEC complaint to move forward.[111][119]
After the OEC complaint was filed, the SBA List began airing a radio ad in Driehaus’s district in which Dannenfelser stated that the group “[would] not be silenced or intimidated” by Driehaus’s legal action.[120] Driehaus persuaded the billboard company to withdraw the SBA List’s advertisement, which was never erected.[112] Driehaus lost the seat to Steve Chabot, the incumbent whom Driehaus had defeated two years earlier, in the November general election. Driehaus sued the SBA List in a second case on December 3, 2010, accusing the organization of defamation that caused him a “loss of livelihood”,[121] arguing the “First Amendment is not and never has been an invitation to concoct falsehoods aimed at depriving a person of his livelihood”.[112] The SBA List countered by stating the organization would “continue to defend the truth and the right to criticize our elected officials”.[112]
The List continued to seek to have the law in question overturned; the ACLU joined in the organization’s fight against the law.[122] On August 1, 2011, judge Timothy Black dismissed the SBA List’s challenge to the Ohio law, holding that the federal court lacked jurisdiction since the billboards were never erected and the OEC never made a final ruling[123] and denied a motion for summary judgment by the List in the defamation case, allowing Driehaus’s defamation claims regarding other SBA List statements to go forward.[124] Black also directed the SBA List to desist from claiming on its website that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) subsidized abortion as the law does not directly mention abortion.[125] SBA List argued that its statements were opinions and were thus protected, but the court rejected this argument given that SBA List itself had claimed that this was a “fact”.[126][127]
On August 19, 2011, the SBA List appealed the decision on the Ohio law to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.[128] In May 2013, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the SBA List could not challenge the law under the First Amendment.[129] On August 9, 2013, the SBA List petitioned the United States Supreme Court to review the law.[130][131] On January 10, 2014, the Supreme Court accepted the case. The Court heard the case on April 22, 2014.[132]
On June 16, 2014, the United States Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in SBA List’s favor, allowing them to proceed in challenging the constitutionality of the law.[133]
On September 11, 2014, Judge Timothy Black of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio struck down the law as unconstitutional.[134] Black said in his ruling, “We do not want the government (i. e., the Ohio Elections Commission) deciding what is political truth — for fear that the government might persecute those who criticize it. Instead, in a democracy, the voters should decide.”[135]
2011 elections
In October 2011, the SBA List announced it would involve itself in the 2011 Virginia state Senate elections, endorsing challengers Bryce Reeves against Edd Houck, Caren Merrick against Barbara Favola for an open seat, Patricia Phillips against Mark Herring, and incumbent Sen. Jill Vogel in an effort to give control of the Senate to pro-lifers to stop the state Senate from being a “graveyard for pro-life legislation”.[136] It also announced it was spending $25,000 against Sen. Edd Houck to expose his “extreme record on abortion”.[137]Merrick and Phillips lost, but Vogel won re-election and Reeves defeated Houck by just 222 votes.[138]
2012 presidential election
In June 2011, the SBA List unveiled a pro-life pledge for 2012 Republican presidential candidates in which signers commit to appointing only pro-life judicial nominees and cabinet members, preventing taxpayer funding of abortion, and supporting legislation to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the fetal pain concept.[139] Candidates Rick Perry, Tim Pawlenty, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Thaddeus McCotter, Herman Cain, and Ron Paul all signed the pledge, but Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, Jr., and Gary Johnson declined. Romney’s refusal (he said the pledge might have “unintended consequences”) sparked heated criticism from the SBA List, some of the other candidates, and political observers given Romney’s past support for legalized abortion.[139][140][141] Huntsman said he would not sign any pledges from political groups during the campaign[142] and was criticized by the SBA List as well.[142] Cain initially said he agreed with the first three parts, but objected to the wording in the pledge which said he would have to “advance” the fetal pain bill; he said he would sign it but Congress would have to advance it.[143] Cain later signed the pledge in November 2011.[144] Johnson, who is pro-choice, declined.
The SBA supported Rick Santorum in the 2012 Republican Party Presidential Nomination by buying $150,000 of advertising for the candidate in Michigan, and organizing a bus tour for the Santorum and his campaign throughout Michigan.[147] After Mitt Romney became the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party, the SBA List declared that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was unqualified for Vice President due to her describing herself as “mildly pro-choice”.[148][149]
In August, SBA released an ad featuring pro-life activist Melissa Ohden who says she survived an abortion in 1977. The ad criticized Barack Obama, claiming that while serving in the Illinois Senate, he voted four times to deny medical care to infants born alive during failed abortion procedures.[150][151] In a 2008 analysis, FactCheck drew a mixed conclusion overall, finding both the SBA List and Obama had made misleading and/or inaccurate comments regarding Obama’s voting record on the topic in question while he served in the United States Senate.[150][152]
2013 Virginia gubernatorial election
The SBA List made the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial election a priority for 2013, endorsing Ken Cuccinelli and pledging to spend $1.5 million in the election through its Virginia PAC, Women Speak Out. Cuccinelli was defeated narrowly in the general election by the pro-choice Democrat, Terry McAuliffe.[153][154]
2014 elections
The SBA List is seeking to spend $8 million to $10 million on elections in 2014.[155]
The SBA List typically endorses Republicans, but in 2018 they endorsed Democrat Dan Lipinski in a primary election against a pro-choice woman named Marie Newman, spending six figures on advertising, direct mail, and a 70-person canvassing team to turn out voters for Lipinski in the primary in March 2018.[159][160] Lipinski is one of the few Democrats left that the group considers an ally, and Dannenfelser called him “a pro-life hero of legendary courage and integrity”.[161][159] According to an SBA List spokeswoman, the group told Lipinski after he voted against the Affordable Care Act due to concerns over taxpayer funding of abortion that they would always be there to fight for him if he ever came under fire,” and said Lipinski “is the model for how we want pro-life Democrats to act in Congress, to choose pro-life principles over party when those two things clash.”[161] Lipinski won the primary by roughly 2,000 votes, and the SBA List, which knocked on 17,000 doors in the district to support Lipinski,[162] was credited with helping to pull him across the finish line.[163][161]
Story 1: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama Compromised National Security By Emails To Clinton’s Emailer Server Account — Hacked By Several Countries Including Russia Providing Real Leverage or Blackmail of Clinton and Obama — Spy or Mole In Trump Campaign To Provide Early Warning That Russians Gave Trump The Compromising Leverage/Blackmail — None Sent Nor Received by Trump — Obama Knew Everything DOJ, FBI, CIA, and NSA Were Doing! — Videos
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Story 2: President Trump Demands Investigation and Meets With Deputy Attorney General and FBI Director — Videos —
Trump demands that the DOJ look into reports of informant
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Story 3: President Trump Attends Swearing In of First Women C.I.A. Director, Gina Haspel — Videos
Gina Haspel sworn-in as first female CIA director
President Donald Trump: Gina Haspel Will Never Back Down | CNBC
President Donald Trump Attends Swearing-In Of New CIA Director Gina Haspel | NBC News
Trump CIA pick tells lawmakers: ‘My moral compass is strong’
Trump Swears In Gina Haspel as C.I.A. Director, Praising Agency as the ‘Most Elite’ in the World
Image
Gina Haspel was sworn in on Monday as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times
WASHINGTON — President Trump praised Gina Haspel on Monday as she was sworn in as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, congratulating her on becoming the first woman to lead what he called “the most elite intelligence professionals on the planet.”
But even as Ms. Haspel took over as C.I.A. director, conservatives and some Trump allies were accusing her of being part of the “deep state” conspiracy that the president repeatedly claims has been conducting a “witch hunt” against him.
Publicly and privately, Trump supporters have been raising questions about Ms. Haspel’s loyalty to the president, and urging — without providing any evidence — an examination of what she knew about the intelligence community’s efforts to connect Trump to Russia.
In particular, they have questioned whether Ms. Haspel, a 33-year veteran of the spy agency who was the C.I.A.’s station chief in London, knew of the F.B.I.’s highly secretive interview of an Australian diplomat in London, and was aware that the bureau used an informant to gather information there from Trump associates about possible Russian coordination with Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign.
“Who was the CIA London Station Chief in 2016?”Jack Posobiec, a pro-Trump conspiracy theorist with a large Twitter following, asked in a tweet last week. “Gina Haspel.”
In a letter last week, Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, asked Ms. Haspel if the C.I.A. had been involved in spying on Mr. Trump or if the agency had cooperated with foreign intelligence services to monitor Mr. Trump in the years before he officially became a candidate.
It is unclear how much Ms. Haspel knew about the F.B.I.’s activities, which were part of a counterintelligence operation that the bureau called “Crossfire Hurricane,” or when she was made aware of them. But it is standard procedure for the station chief in a major city to be briefed on any major bureau activities in her territory.
“Anything that affects the intelligence community, you would first get the agency’s concurrence through the chief of station,” said Eugene Casey, a former agent who spent more than five years overseas for the F.B.I.
An American official said on Monday that Ms. Haspel was not fully briefed at the time on the F.B.I.’s use of an informant in London to gather information about Trump associates or on its plan to interview the Australian diplomat. The existence of the bureau’s Russia investigation was one of the most closely held secrets in the F.B.I. and the Justice Department.
But just the possibility that Ms. Haspel knew of the informant in the Russia inquiry is enough for some conspiracy theorists to accuse Ms. Haspel of being part of the anti-Trump intelligence bureaucracy they believe is arrayed against the president and his agenda.
Frank Gaffney Jr., of the Center for Security Policy, was particularly angry at the comments Ms. Haspel made during her confirmation hearing about whether she would follow a presidential order she considered immoral (she said she would not).
He also complained that Ms. Haspel, whose nomination was supported by a cross-section of former intelligence officials, was “being strongly recommended for that job by men who have used the C.I.A. and/or other elements of the intelligence community as deep state weapons to try to destroy him, his campaign and his administration.”
For Mr. Trump, the conspiracy theories connected to Ms. Haspel underscore an awkward reality: If the deep state Russia allegations are true, then many of the president’s own intelligence officials are in the same position as her.
In addition to Ms. Haspel, who served in senior C.I.A. positions under former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, many of Mr. Trump’s other senior intelligence officials have played roles in parts of the Russia investigation.
Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who is overseeing the Russia investigation, appointed the special counsel in the case and has defended the investigation. Dana Boente, whom Mr. Trump appointed to be the top lawyer at the F.B.I., signed one of the secret warrants for a wiretap on a Trump associate. And Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, has fought to maintain the independence of the Russia investigation and has said it is not a witch hunt.
Ms. Haspel’s critics are also wary of her connections to the former C.I.A. director John O. Brennan, , whom Mr. Trump assailed in a series of angry tweets on Monday morning, before heading to the C.I.A. for Ms. Haspel’s swearing-in ceremony. Mr. Brennan, who led the agency under Mr. Obama, has supported Ms. Haspel throughout her career and backed her bid to become the director.
Just hours before his visit to the C.I.A. on Monday, Mr. Trump lashed out against Mr. Brennan, quoting a Fox News contributor who says Mr. Brennan “is largely responsible for the destruction of American’s faith in the Intelligence Community.”
Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump
“John Brennan is panicking. He has disgraced himself, he has disgraced the Country, he has disgraced the entire Intelligence Community. He is the one man who is largely responsible for the destruction of American’s faith in the Intelligence Community and in some people at the….
Mr. Trump used the power of his Twitter account to amplify remarks from Dan Bongino, a conservative commentator, who alleged on Fox that Mr. Brennan used an intelligence dossier to begin an illegitimate investigation of the Trump campaign.
“This guy is the genesis of this whole Debacle. This was a Political hit job, this was not an Intelligence Investigation,” the president tweeted to his 52 million followers, quoting Mr. Bongino’s television appearance.
The Monday morning tweets by the president followed a weekend in which he angrily complained about reports that the investigation into his campaign’s contacts with Russia relied in part on confidential informants. Mr. Trump again assailed the investigation as a “Witch Hunt” and demanded that the F.B.I. or the Justice Department investigate whether his campaign was subject to improper surveillance.
“I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!” Mr. Trump wrote on Sunday.
The president repeated that demand on Monday in an email from his re-election campaign, urging his political supporters to sign a petition calling for a Justice Department investigation.
“THIS COULD BE THE GREATEST POLITICAL SCANDAL IN AMERICAN HISTORY,” Mr. Trump wrote in the email from the Trump Make America Great Again campaign committee. “I need you to sign your name right this second to join me in demanding this abuse of power gets investigated.”
Mr. Rosenstein said on Sunday that the department’s inspector general would look into the questions raised by the president. But it is unclear whether that will satisfy Mr. Trump, who has said it was “disgraceful” to hand investigation of the Russia inquiry to an inspector general who was “Obama’s guy.”
The president is scheduled to meet with Mr. Rosenstein, Mr. Wray and Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, at the White House on Monday afternoon, officials said.
Despite the president’s relentless assault on what he perceives as the intelligence community’s improper actions as part of the investigations into his presidential campaign, Mr. Trump praised Ms. Haspel and the agency she is about to lead.
Mr. Trump’s brief remarks were strikingly different from those he delivered on his first visit to the agency the day after his inauguration, when he stood in front of a memorial to fallen intelligence officers and delivered a political diatribe against the news media, Democrats and others who questioned the size of his inaugural crowd.
On Monday, Mr. Trump lauded the “exceptional men and women of this agency,” adding: “I see what you do. I understand what you do and it’s incredible.”
Story 4: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Outlines Strategy with Strongest Sanctions Against Iran — Videos
Pompeo: Iran to face “strongest sanctions in history”
Pompeo outlines new Iran strategy after US exit from deal
WATCH: Secy. of State Pompeo discusses Iran at Heritage Foundation
Pompeo adviser: US requirements for Iran are realistic
Mike Pompeo threatens Iran with ‘strongest sanctions in history’ after nuclear deal withdrawal
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has issued a steep list of demands that he said should be included in a nuclear treaty with Iran to replace the Obama-era deal, threatening “the strongest sanctions in history” if Iran doesn’t change course.
Key points:
Mike Pompeo gives first major speech as Secretary of State and threatens “toughest sanctions in history” on Iran
Submits 12 demands to the Middle East nation which would ensure it “has no possible path to a nuclear weapon”
Mr Pompeo warns punishment against European businesses which continue to trade with Iran
Following President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the deal, the United States will ensure “Iran has no possible path to a nuclear weapon, ever,” Mr Pompeo said.
As he called for a better agreement to constrain Iran’s activities, he said the US would “apply unprecedented financial pressure” to bring Tehran back to the table.
“These will end up being the strongest sanctions in history by the time we are complete,” Mr Pompeo said at the conservative Heritage Foundation, his first major policy speech since taking over as top diplomat.
The Secretary of State’s list of 12 requirements included many that Iran is highly unlikely to consider.
He said Iran must “stop enrichment” of uranium, which was allowed within strict limitations under the 2015 deal. Iran must also allow nuclear “unqualified access to all sites throughout the country,” Mr Pompeo said, alluding to military sites that were off-limits under the 2015 deal except under specific circumstances.
To that end, he also said Iran must declare all previous efforts to build a nuclear weapon, reopening an issue that the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency has already deemed a closed matter.
Mr Pompeo also demanded that Iran cease from a range of activities throughout the Middle East that have long drawn the ire of the US and its allies. He said Iran must end support for Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen, “withdraw all forces” from Syria, halt support for its ally Hezbollah and stop threatening Israel.
Iran must also “release all US citizens” missing in Iran or being held on “spurious charges,” he said.
At the same time, Mr Pompeo offered Iran a series of dramatic potential US concessions if it agrees to make “major changes.”
Under a new agreement, the US would be willing to lift all sanctions, restore full diplomatic and commercial ties with Iran, and even support the modernization of its economy, Mr Pompeo said.
“It is America’s hope that our labours toward peace and security will bear fruit for the long-suffering people of Iran,” he said.
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Mr Pompeo’s speech came after Mr Trump earlier this month infuriated US allies in Europe by withdrawing from the 2015 deal brokered by President Barack Obama, Iran and world powers. Europeans allies had pleaded with Mr Trump not to scuttle that deal and are now scrambling to keep the deal alive even without the US.
Mr Pompeo called that 2015 agreement a “loser deal”.
But the Trump administration has held out hope that those same allies will put aside that frustration and work with the US to ramp pressure back up on Iran through sanctions in a bid to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table for a stronger deal.
Pompeo said he understood that Trump’s decision “will pose financial and economic difficulties for a number of our friends.” But he warned them that the US planned to follow through with threats to punish European companies that continue doing business with Iran that is allowed under the deal but will violate reimposed US sanctions.
“I know our allies in Europe may try to keep the old nuclear deal going with Tehran. That is their decision to make,” Pompeo said. “They know where we stand.”
The Pronk Pops blog is the broadcasting and mass communication of ideas about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, prosperity, truth, virtue and wisdom.
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The Pronk Pops Show 1309. August 20, 2019, Story 1: 23 Texas Towns Hit With Ransomware Attack — Videos — Story 2: President Trump Does Not Support Universal Background Checks But Does Support Meaningful Intelligent Background Checks — Videos — Story 3: President Trump Looking At Payroll Tax Cuts — Videos — Story 4: Big Lie Media, Radical Extremist Democrat Socialists (REDS), and Trump Haters Hope The United States Economy Goes Into A Recession to Defeat Trump — Betrayal of The American People — Videos
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Story 1: 23 Texas Towns Hit With Ransomware Attack — Videos
Ransomware As Fast As Possible
Officials Working To Help 23 Local Texas Governments After Ransomware Attack
Ransomware attack hits government computers in over 20 Texas towns
Texas government agencies hit by ransomware attack
Ransomware attack hits 23 Texas towns
Twenty-two Texas Towns Hit By Ransomware
Ransomware attack hits 23 Texas towns
23 local Texas governments hit with ransomware attack
How Ransomware Locks Your PC & Holds Your Data Hostage
How one ransomware attack cost £45m to fix – BBC News
What is ransomware and how can I protect myself?
Th
RANSOMWARE
Wana Decrypt0r (Wanacry Ransomware) – Computerphile
Texas is hit with ransomware attack as at least 20 local governments come under ‘coordinated’ cyber assault
By KEITH GRIFFITH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 10:31 EDT, 17 August 2019 | UPDATED: 17:44 EDT, 17 August 2019
Texas has been hit with a wave of ransomware attacks targeting at least 20 local government entities.
The Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) said late Friday that it is leading the response to a ‘coordinated ransomware attack’ that is crippling critical government infrastructure across the state.
Ransomware disables computer networks and holds them hostage in demand for payment.
WHAT IS RANSOMWARE?
Cybercriminals use ‘blockers’ to stop their victim accessing their device.
This may include a mesage telling them this is due to ‘illegal content’ such as porn being identified on their device.
Anyone who has accessed porn online is probably less likely to take the matter up with law enforcement.
Hackers then ask for money to be paid, often in the form of Bitcoins or other untraceable cryptocurrencies, for the block to be removed.
In May 2017, a massive ransomware virus attack called WannaCry spread to the computer systems of hundreds of private companies and public organisations across the globe.
‘DIR is fully committed to respond swiftly to this event and provide the necessary resources to bring these entities back online,’ the agency said.
It was not immediately clear which cities had been impacted by the attacks and what entity is suspected of perpetrating them.
A spokesman for DIR did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com on Saturday.
The attack came within hours of a massive failure of U.S. Customs and Border Protection computers that caused huge travel delays across the country – although the federal agency has insisted that the outage was not ‘malicious’ in nature.
‘The affected systems are coming back online and travelers are being processed. CBP will continue to monitor the incident. There is no indication the disruption was malicious in nature at this time,’ CBP said in a statement at 6.30pm ET on Friday.
22 Texas Towns Hit With Ransomware Attack In ‘New Front’ Of Cyberassault
BOBBY ALLYN
Texas state Capitol building in Austin. This week, state officials confirmed that 22 municipalities have been infiltrated and ransom demanded.
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images
Updated at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday ET
Texas is the latest state to be hit with a cyberattack, with state officials confirming this week that computer systems in 22 municipalities have been infiltrated by hackers demanding a ransom. A mayor of one of those cities said the attackers are asking for $2.5 million to unlock the files.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and state cybersecurity experts are examining the ongoing breach, which began Friday morning and has affected mostly smaller local governments. Officials have not disclosed which specific places are affected.
Investigators have also not yet identified who or what is behind the attack that took the systems offline, but the Texas Department of Information Resources says the evidence so far points to “one single threat actor.”
Elliott Sprehe, a spokesman for the department, said he was “not aware” of any of the cities having paid the undisclosed ransom sought by hackers. He said the areas impacted are predominantly rural. The department initially put the number of cities attacked at 23.
Two cities so far have come forward to say their computer systems were affected. Officials in Borger in the Texas Panhandle, said the attack has affected city business and financial operations. Birth and death certificates are not available online, and the city can’t accept utility payments from any of its 13,25o residents. “Responders have not yet established a time-frame for when full, normal operations will be restored,” city officials said.
Keene, Texas, a city of some 6,100 people outside Fort Worth, was also hit, officials announced. The city’s government is also unable to process utility payments.
Keene Mayor Gary Heinrich told NPR that the hackers broke into the information technology software used by the city and managed by an outsourced company, which he said also supports many of the other municipalities targeted.
“Well, just about everything we do at City Hall is impacted, Heinrich said.
Heinrich said the hackers want a collective ransom of $2.5 million.
“They got into our software provider, the guys who run our IT systems,” Heinrich said. “A lot of folks in Texas use providers to do that, because we don’t have a staff big enough to have IT in house.”
State officials would not comment on the nature of the attack or confirm the ransom amount. But Heinrich said there is no way his city will be coughing up anything for the hackers.
“Stupid people,” he said of the cyber-attackers. “You know, just no sense in this at all.”
Experts say that while government agencies have increasingly been hit by cyberattacks, simultaneously targeting nearly two dozen cities represents a new kind of digital assault.
“What’s unique about this attack and something we hadn’t seen before is how coordinated attack this attack is,” said threat intelligence analyst Allan Liska. “It does present a new front in the ransomware attack,” he said. “It absolutely is the largest coordinated attack we’ve seen.”
Liska’s research firm, Recorded Future, has found that ransomware attacks aimed at state and local government have been on the rise, finding at least 169 examples of hackers breaking into government computer systems since 2013. There have been more than 60 already this year, he said.
In recent months, the data networks of Baltimore, the Georgia courts system and a county in Utah have all been hit by ransomware.
The hacker bait tends to come in the form of a seemingly benign email with links or attachments that, once opened, can infect a system. There are other popular ways of tapping into government networks, Liska said, like through remote desktop systems, which can be vulnerable to hackers.
While the attackers tend to be anonymous and their locations undisclosed, Liska said his research has found that few are based in the U.S. Many, he said, are breaching local government computer systems from operations based in parts of Eastern Europe or Russia.
And sometimes local governments see no other option to restoring their crippled networks than paying a ransom demanded by hackers. In Lake City, Fla., a town of about 12,000 residents, officials paid $460,000 in the form of bitcoin, the preferred payment method among cybercriminals.
“They turned off the servers. They literally went room through room through city hall, unplugging people’s networks cables and turning off all the computers,” Mike Lee, a sergeant with the Lake City Police Department, told NPR in July.
The ransom was paid by insurance, but taxpayers were still on the hook for a $10,000 deductible.
The Recorded Future study found that about 17% of local agencies hit with ransomware viruses paid up, a practice federal law enforcement officials discourage, saying it incentivizes cybercriminals to keep engaging in the activity.
Liska said in cities he has worked with that have been preyed upon by hackers, there are instances in which ponying up for the return of data is the only viable option.
“Sometimes the reality of the situation may call for it,” he said. “If the backups aren’t working or if the bad guys have encrypted your backups, then unfortunately that’s what you’re left with.”
Individuals, businesses and institutions such as hospitals have been targeted by ransomware attacks for years. With the recent attacks on state and city government, local officials are rushing to secure their computer systems, holding new training and backing up their servers, Liska said. But in smaller, cash-strapped localities, there could be challenges to building a security defense.
Tad McGalliard studies local government cybersecurity at the Washington-based city manager group ICMA. He has been pushing for municipalities to find more funding to fight back against hackers.
“Somebody out there on the bad guy front is seeing an opportunity in local governments and we got to make a better job of making sure our employees are as well-trained and as well-equipped as possible,” McGalliard said.
McGalliard said the Texas case should be a wake-up call to cities in remote parts of the country.
“We might have thought this was a big city problem, or at least an affluent city or county problem, but I think what’s clear now is just about any local government is vulnerable,” he said.
In Texas, state authorities have not yet disclosed where exactly the attacks were based or how many computers have been swept up in the breach, meaning it is not yet known what services or data might have been compromised.
“Hitting 23 towns at once was bad, but we don’t know how much damage was done,” Liska said. “One computer in each town versus 100 computers in each town is a big difference.”
https://www.npr.org/2019/08/20/752695554/23-texas-towns-hit-with-ransomware-attack-in-new-front-of-cyberassault
Story 2: President Trump Does Not Support Universal Background Checks But Does Support Meaningful Intelligent Background Checks — Videos
White House pushes back on background check claims
Lou Dobbs Tonight 8/20/19 | Breaking Fox News August 20, 2019
Story 3: President Trump Looking At Payroll Tax Cuts — Videos
Bank of America CEO Moynihan on the Economy, Recession Risks and Trade
What are the warning signs of a recession?
Are we heading for a global recession? – BBC Newsnight
The Point: Trump admits China war could bring economic recession
President Trump Wants To Cut Payroll Taxes
President Trump Says He’s Considering Payroll Tax Cut To Boost Economy | NBC Nightly News
President Trump may be considering options to prevent recession
Trump touts economy but payroll tax discussion reveals recession fears
Trump attacks Fed chair, pushes back on recession fears
Donald Trump says he will risk a ‘RECESSION for two months’ as a price for his China trade war saying only ‘dumb people’ don’t get what he us doing – and he admits he IS considering emergency tax cuts
By FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 15:35 EDT, 20 August 2019 | UPDATED: 18:52 EDT, 20 August 2019
President Donald Trump says he’s willing to risk a ‘recession for two months’ to bring China to heel, declaring Tuesday that only ‘dumb people’ don’t understand his trade war and tariffs policies.
An angry Trump warned reporters that if he hadn’t challenged China, theft of intellectual property would hurt companies like Apple even more in the long term than his tariffs.
‘Somebody had to take China on,’ he argued. ‘China’s been grifting off this country for 25 years, but longer than that. And it’s about time, whether it’s good for our country, or bad for our country short term. Long term, it’s imperative that somebody does this because our country cannot continue to pay China $500 billion because stupid people are running it.’
He argued, ‘Whether its good or bad short term is irrelevant. We have to solve the problem with China.’
‘Whether it’s good or bad, the short term is irrelevant. We have to solve the problem with China because they’re taking out $500 billion a year plus. And that doesn’t include intellectual property theft and other things. And also, national security, so I am doing this whether it’s good or bad for your statement about, “Oh, will we fall into a recession for two months?” ‘ he told a journalist asking him about the possibility of a downturn.
Trump declared, ‘The fact is, somebody had to take China on. My life would be a lot easier, if I didn’t take China on. But I like doing it, because I have to do it. And we’re getting great help. China’s had the worst year they’ve had in 27 years, and a lot of people saying the worst year they’ve had in 54 years, OK?
President Donald Trump says he’s willing to risk a ‘recession for two months’ to bring China to heel, declaring Tuesday that only ‘dumb people’ don’t understand his trade war and tariffs policies
Fuming, the president insisted to journalists: ‘We’re winning big. I took it on.
‘And I’m happy to do it. Because it had to be done. And the smart people say, thank you very much. And the dumb people have no idea. And then you have the political people, and they go with the wind. But they all know.’
He defended his tariffs on China, arguing, ‘My trade deals aren’t causing a problem. This is something that had to be done.’
Trump also confirmed that he’s looking at a payroll tax cut, acknowledging that it’s ‘something we think about and a lot of people would like’ him to pursue to stimulate the economy.
Sitting next to Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, the president denied that the U.S. economy is in distress.
‘I think the word recession is a word that’s inappropriate,’ he asserted. ‘Certain people and the media are trying to build up, because they’d love to see a recession.’
He urged the Federal Reserve to cut rates again and said at a ‘minimum they should be doing nothing,’ as he lashed out against the financial institution.
Trump said it should not be decreasing the amount of money in circulation, a monetary policy known as quantitative tightening.
‘The fed is psychologically very important,’ he said in the Oval Office meeting, where he took half-an-hour of questions from gathered journalists.
The president offered up the EU and Germany as examples, saying, ‘You have to be proactive, and so we really need a fed cut rate because if you look what’s going on with the European Union, as an example, they’re cutting.
‘If you take a look at Germany, what they’re doing and what they’re doing, and what they’re paying, they’re actually doing something inverse, nobody’s ever seen it before, we have to at least keep up to an extent,’ he said. ‘So we’re looking for a rate cut.’
Trump’s remarks aired on television as Wall Street was winding down for the day.
It closed 173.35 points down at 25,962.44 after rallying on Monday, in the latest market fluctuation.
Trump accused Democrats Tuesday of running a strategy to drive the nation into recession, as he amplified claims from his allies that the economy is stronger under his leadership.
In a morning tweet storm which came as White House officials discussed how to stimulate the economy at the same time as Trump is denying a recession is looming, he retweeted Mike Pence, his campaign manager and three favored media allies – Geraldo Riviera and Jesse Watters of Fox News and Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business network.
One credited Trump with ‘super human energy,’ and pushed his own claim that Democrats are trying to drive the country into recession to beat him in 2020.
And GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel argued in tweets that manufacturing optimism is up and unemployment is down.
Trump seconded his campaign manager, Brad Parscale, who proclaimed in a message, ‘The liberal media is so deranged by President [Donald Trump] that they’re now cheering for the economy to tank – sorry to disappoint Democrats, but the economy has never been stronger!’
And the tweetstorm pointedly included praise for the economy in Michigan from vice president Mike Pence, who was traveling there Tuesday, on the day that U.S. Steel was revealed to be laying off hundreds and shuttering blast furnaces.
Tweet storm of praise: Trump turned to Twitter for backers of his claim that warnings of a recession are being driven by a desire to remove him from office
U.S. Steel – a company whose renaissance has been a key part of the Trump narrative – said it would lay off 200 workers. It will also idle two blast furnaces for at least six months at Great Lakes and Gary Works plants, citing lower steel prices and softening demand.
The layoffs were characterized as temporary in filings,but the company admitted they could last longer than six months, in another indicator that the U.S. economy is slowing down.
Michigan is critical to Trump’s re-election prospects after the shock victory there played a key part in putting him in the White House.
In more bad news for Trump, a top lender, JP Morgan Chase assessed that Trump’s tariffs on China will cost American consumers $1,000 a household.
Despite Trump’s bravado on social media and previous bullish public comments, his White House spokesman Hogan Gidley confirmed talks were under way on some form of stimulus.
He denied only a specific report that the measure bring considered a payroll tax cut and told Fox News: ‘It’s not being considered at this time but he’s looking at all options out there to try and give people back so much of the hard earned money they’ve made.’
A Washington Post report had cited sources at the White House said the administration was considering a temporary cut to the 6.2 percent tax to prevent a downturn.
The suggestion was modeled after a two percent slash Obama made in his first term, which expired in 2013 as job growth ticked up again.
On Monday night, a White House official told DailyMail.com that a payroll tax isn’t under discussion currently, although the person left the door open to future tax cuts to stimulate the economy.
‘As Larry Kudlow said yesterday, more tax cuts for the American people are certainly on the table, but cutting payroll taxes is not something under consideration at this time,’ the official said.
Kudlow had on Fox News Sunday said the president’s Oct. 2018 promise to pursue tax cuts for the middle class was still alive.
He denied that the nation was on the verge of a recession, however, after fill-in host Dana Perino asked about emergency action to counteract a recession.
‘Well, first of all I don’t see a recession at all. Second of all, the Trump pro-growth program, which I believe has been succeeding lower tax rates, bid rollback of regulations, energy opening, trade reform, we’re going to stay with that,’ he said. ‘We believe that’s the heart of the free enterprise. We want an incentive-oriented supply-side economy, providing opportunities for everybody across the board.’
He said, ‘That’s about as good as it gets and I notice, at the end of the week, a lot of the Wall Street firms have been marking up their economic growth forecasts. I think we’re in pretty good shape and I want to just say you know, we should not be afraid of optimism.’
Under questioning about a call that Trump had last Wednesday with JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon and the CEOs of two other leading lenders, he suggested the conversation was about the president’s tariffs on China.
The lender said Tuesday that the next round of tariffs, which were delayed until Dec. 15, are likely to bring the cost per household this year up to $1,000.
Trump and his aides have now spent days denying publicly that a recession is on the horizon and the U.S. needs to take action. The president said Sunday that he’s ‘prepared’ to counteract one, though, if a financial downturn takes the country by surprise.
Trump insisted that American consumers are ‘not paying for the tariffs’ that he has on $250 billion of Chinese goods, so far, and said he’s reconsidering a plan to put tariffs on laptops and cells phones in December, to protect American consumers and companies.
He accused his political opponents of trying to bring down the United States’ economy to hurt his reelection chances on Monday, as his administration tried to put out a wildfire of claims that a recession might be on the way.
Trump said Monday that economy is doing well despite ‘very selfish’ political angling of Democrats on a mission to oust him from the White House.
‘Our Economy is very strong, despite the horrendous lack of vision by Jay Powell and the Fed, but the Democrats are trying to “will” the Economy to be bad for purposes of the 2020 Election. Very Selfish! Our dollar is so strong that it is sadly hurting other parts of the world,’ he tweeted.
On the spot: Donald Trump and his aides have now spent days denying that a recession is looming
+9
Trump said that economy is doing well despite ‘very selfish’ political angling of Democrats, who are on a mission to oust him from the White House
He added, ‘The Fed Rate, over a fairly short period of time, should be reduced by at least 100 basis points, with perhaps some quantitative easing as well. If that happened, our Economy would be even better, and the World Economy would be greatly and quickly enhanced-good for everyone!’
Last week, the president accused the media of ‘doing everything they can to crash the economy because they think that will be bad for me and my re-election.’
He blamed a wide array of third parties, including Joe Biden and the Hong Kong protesters, accusing them of scuttling a trade deal with Beijing that would help both countries’ economies.
Three-quarters of economists predict a U.S. recession by 2021 in survey – but number who say it will be after the presidential election rises
A number of U.S. business economists appear sufficiently concerned about the risks of some of President Donald Trump’s economic policies that they expect a recession in the U.S. by the end of 2021.
In total, 74% economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics, in a report being released Monday, said they believe a slowing economy will tip into recession by 2021.
However there is some good news in the survey for the president, with the number who see a recession in 2020 down from 42% to 38%, while the number predicting a 2021 recession is at 34%. That’s up from 25% in a survey taken in February.
Only 2% of those polled expect a recession to begin this year, down from 10% in February. A slightly higher number than before – 14% – say it will be later than 2021.
Trump, however, has dismissed concerns about a recession, offering an optimistic outlook for the economy after last week’s steep drop in the financial markets and saying on Sunday, ‘I don’t think we’re having a recession.’ A strong economy is key to the Republican president’s 2020 reelection prospects.
The economists have previously expressed concern that Trump’s tariffs and higher budget deficits could eventually dampen the economy.
Response: What business economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics are saying about a downturn
Officials maintain that the tariffs, which are taxes on imports, will help the administration gain more favorable terms of trade. But U.S. trading partners have simply retaliated with tariffs of their own.
Trade between the U.S. and China, the two biggest global economies, has plunged. Trump decided last Wednesday to postpone until Dec. 15 tariffs on about 60% of an additional $300 billion of Chinese imports, granting a reprieve from a planned move that would have extended duties to nearly everything the U.S. buys from China.
The financial markets last week signaled the possibility of a U.S. recession, adding to concerns over the ongoing trade tensions and word from Britain and Germany that their economies are shrinking.
The economists surveyed by the NABE were skeptical about prospects for success of the latest round of U.S.-China trade negotiations. Only 5% predicted that a comprehensive trade deal would result, 64% suggested a superficial agreement was possible and nearly 25% expected nothing to be agreed upon by the two countries.
The 226 respondents, who work mainly for corporations and trade associations, were surveyed between July 14 and Aug. 1.
That was before the White House announced 10% tariffs on the additional $300 billion of Chinese imports, the Chinese currency dipped below the seven-yuan-to-$1 level for the first time in 11 years and the Trump administration formally labeled China a currency manipulator.
As a whole, the business economists’ recent responses have represented a rebuke of the Trump administration’s overall approach to the economy.
Still, for now, most economic signs appear solid. Employers are adding jobs at a steady pace, the unemployment rate remains near a 50-year low and consumers are optimistic. U.S. retail sales figures out last Thursday showed that they jumped in July by the most in four months.
The survey showed a steep decline in the percentage of economists who found the $1.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade ‘too stimulative’ and likely to produce higher budget deficits that should be reduced, to 51% currently from 71% in August 2018.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7376495/Trump-says-hes-looking-payroll-tax-cut-pushes-recession-claims.html
Story 4: Big Lie Media. Radical Extremist Democrat Socialists (REDS), and Trump Haters Hope The United States Economy Goes Into A Recession to Defeat Trump — Betrayal of The American People — Videos
Are Trump’s media critics rooting for recession?
Bill Maher roots for recession to get Trump out of office
Bill Maher says recession is ‘worth it’ if Trump loses in 2020
Lou Dobbs Tonight 8/20/19 | Breaking Fox News August 20, 2019
Is the world heading for a recession? | FT
Trump Warns of Economic Downturn if He Loses Next Year
Trump’s Victory Shattered The Democrats, They’ve Been Struggling Ever Since
White House dismisses fears of a recession l ABC News
Recession is at the top of Trump haters’ wish list
By John Crudele
August 19, 2019 | 10:30pm | Updated
I’m not saying they are just hoping for a recession. It’s obvious the haters would like that.
But are they trying to cause a recession?
Comedian and Trump ultra-hater Bill Maher has already spoken for his side. “We have survived many recessions. We can’t survive another Donald Trump term,” Maher is quoted as saying.
You know what: Trying to cause a recession would actually be the most rational thing the president’s opponents have tried. The trouble is, this strategy doesn’t seem to be working. Not yet, at least.
I’ll get to that in a bit.
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But first let’s go over the more irrational solutions that the president’s opponents have considered or have actually acted upon.
Right after the election, the Trump haters floated these doozies: Get the Electoral College voters to go against the wishes of their states and keep Trump from the presidency. When that didn’t work, they tried — at least according to a wishful press — to get members of Trump’s own cabinet to decline him unfit for office.
Strike two.
And, of course, there was whatever was going on inside the FBI and other intelligence agencies that were spying on the Trump campaign and pulling dirty tricks before and after his election.
That didn’t work either and we will find out more about what was going on when a report concerning all this comes from Michael Horowitz, the inspector general of the Justice Department, sometime in the very near future.
So that brings us back to the possibility — and for the haters, the last hope — that there will be a recession and that it will affect the next presidential election, which is a little more than a year away.
As I said, this isn’t an irrational tactic to take against Trump.
Elections are mostly won or lost on how the economy is doing. And right now, while there is lots of talk about a 2020 recession that will hurt Trump, that’s really all it is — talk. And it’s mostly talk in the media and among Democrats.
But this chatter is causing Trump to bring up the issue of a recession regularly to defend himself — which publicizes the possibility of an economic downturn even more.
You have probably heard that consumers control about 80% of the US economy. Recessions happen for a lot of reasons — a mistake by the Federal Reserve, economic problems overseas, careless lending by banks, a stock market crash, trade wars and war wars.
Some of those things, and others, can lead to a recession. But most of the things I just mentioned have been going on at times over the past 10 years and still there hasn’t been a recession since the Great One of 2007 to 2009.
But the quickest way to cause a recession is to kill the confidence of consumers. Without the consumer being willing to spend, the economy will crap out.
That’s where all the talk of a recession comes in. If the Trump haters in and outside the media can convince consumers that the next recession is right around the corner, the next recession just might be right around the corner.
And with any luck, the recession will happen just in time to be on voters’ minds when they decide whether to keep President Trump in office or kick him to the cul-de-sac.
What the haters really need is for Americans to forget all the irrational stuff they’ve already failed at and just focus on the economy. “It’s the economy, stupid,” is a Bill Clinton campaign motto that would need to be revised.
But here’s the problem. While helping cause a recession might be the rational thing for the haters to do politically, it comes with many drawbacks.
The biggest is that voters might figure out what the haters are doing and be pissed.
A recession will bring job losses. Will the American public blame the president, or can Trump cast the blame on his opponents?
And if this tactic is perceived as just another dirty trick, it might take the Democrats a very long time to regain the public’s support.
Trump certainly isn’t getting the kind of economy he wanted and even predicted. But growth is still around 2% a year, about where it was during most of the Obama administration.
Unemployment for everyone is down. And people are still spending, as recent retail sales figure show.
And the stock market is doing just fine, despite the president’s panic every time if falls a few percentage points.
But US debt levels have skyrocketed as Trump tried to boost the economy through a tax cut. And a tricky thing is happening in the bond markets — yields of shorter maturity government securities are higher than long-maturity yields.
This yield “inversion,” the experts say, is an omen of a coming recession. And the haters hope they are right.
Maybe, maybe not.
The chaos in the world could be making the US bond market flaky as foreign investors try to get assets out of their own country and into ours. And that, or some other market quirk, could be causing the inversion.
This is all quite intriguing and will make a great movie one of these days. But right now, it’s just a drama that will end — thankfully — in November 2020.
https://nypost.com/2019/08/19/recession-is-at-the-top-of-trump-haters-wish-list/
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