Shoehorning Multiple-Causation Shootings into Single-Cause Narratives

Jim Geraghty

On Saturday afternoon, after the El Paso shooting but before the Dayton shooting, New York Daily News opinion editor Josh Greenman observed, “It’s never just guns. It’s never just mental health. It’s never just radical ideology. It’s never just sad manhood. It’s almost always a toxic combination.”

We keep hearing the same kinds of anecdotes after a mass shooting. The details change, but the gist is the same. Often but not always, there’s no father in the home. Often but not always, the shooter has few or no friends and nothing resembling a real support network. Often but not always, the shooter is unemployed or barely employed. Often but not always, the shooter has some mental-health issue, sometimes formally diagnosed, sometimes not. Often but not always, the shooter played violent video games. Often but not always, the shooter was active on extremist or Columbine-focused chat boards or had a noticeable interest in or obsession with previous mass shootings. Often but not always, the shooter has gotten in trouble in school or has been kicked out of ... Read More

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Crush This Evil

The Editors

We are contending here not with another “lone wolf,” but with the fruit of a murderous and resurgent ideology — white supremacy — that deserves to be treated by the authorities in the same manner as has been the threat posed by militant Islam.

We Should Fear Free-Speech Curbs More Than Exposure to Racist Manifestos

John Fund

Restricting access to the rantings of mass killers only makes their writings a form of “forbidden fruit” -- all the more sought after because they are censored.

Federal Judge Halts Trump Administration Policy of Denying Asylum to Those Who Cross Border...

Mairead McArdle

A federal judge on Friday ruled against the Trump administration's policy of denying asylum to migrants who fail to enter through a legal port of entry.

For the Democrats, It’s Winnowing Time

George Will

The safer that GOP control of the Senate seems, the better are the Democrats’ chances of winning the White House.

Debate-watching, &c.

Jay Nordlinger

On politics, North Korea, the campus, ‘Big Tech,’ and more.

Hiring Slows, Unemployment Holds Steady in July

Mairead McArdle

The U.S. labor market remained strong in July despite a slowdown in hiring, according to Labor Department data released Friday.

WHAT NR IS READING

The Smallest Minority: Independent Thinking in the Age of Mob Politics

Kevin D. Williamson

A dizzying tour through a world you’ll be horrified to recognize as your own. With biting appraisals of social media, political hustlers, journalists and identity politics, The Smallest Minority is a defiant, funny, and terrifyingly insightful book about what we human beings have done to ourselves.

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