Mosque Shooting. Will President Trump Get Thomas Massie’s Scalp? Iran Bombing on Hold. Mangione Babes Get Press Passes. Potty Policies of Graham Plattner. More
Finally, the relative of a mass shooting suspect notified the police beforehand. A mother’s call to the San Diego police department preceded Monday’s shooting at the Islamic Center that left three dead (plus the two suspects):
The police department received a call Monday morning about a runaway juvenile from the mother of one of the suspects, [Police Chief] Wahl said. She reported that she believed her son was suicidal, and that he had taken three of her weapons and departed in her car with a companion, both of them clad in camouflage clothing.
The information led to police using license plate recognition technology to search for the missing juvenile, police said. As they were searching just before noon Monday, a call came in about the shooting at the Islamic Center, Wahl said. Officers arrived at the scene to find three dead men outside the mosque. One was a security guard, he said, who probably helped prevent a far graver tragedy.
A terrifying video showed small children being evacuated from a school in the Islamic Center’s complex. No children were injured. The two teenage suspected gunmen were found dead of self-inflicted gunshot wounds in a BMW near the complex. They have been identified:
The alleged gunmen in a shooting rampage that left three people dead outside a San Diego mosque have been identified as 17-year-old Cain Clark and 18-year-old Caleb Velasquez, according to a law enforcement source.
At least one of the suspects took a weapon from their parents’ home and left a suicide note that talked about racial pride, a law enforcement source told The Post.
Clark attended Madison High School and was a standout wrestler, according to the school’s social media page. …
Anti-Islamic writings were found in the suspects’ vehicle and “hate speech” was written on the firearms used in the shooting, according to the source.
More on Nazi messages on suspects’ gear. The shooting is being investigated as a hate crime. The mother’s call came too late, but I can’t help thinking she deserves credit for trying.
The idea has been growing that the U.S. will have to engage in a renewed bombing campaign to resolve the Iranian war. But President Trump has called off an apparently planned resumption of active hostilities. The president says he received a promising new peace plan at the last minute.
President Trump has not, however, called off active hostilities in his campaign to unseat Kentucky Rep. and libertarian gadfly Thomas Massie, whose primary today is one of several important ones. Bill McGurn of the Wall Street Journal addresses the Kentucky primary:
Tuesday is judgment day in Kentucky.
The Republican primary in the state’s Fourth Congressional District is a contest between seven-term incumbent and MIT graduate Rep. Thomas Massie and challenger Ed Gallrein, a farmer and former U.S. Navy SEAL who earned four bronze stars. Everyone knows this fight is between Donald Trump and Mr. Massie, the president’s most outspoken Republican critic in the House. …
Polls have shown the race is very close. Earlier on, Mr. Massie seemed to have the edge, but the New York Times reports that two new polls—from GrayHouse and SoCal Strategies—show Mr. Gallrein up by 7 points.
If that holds, Mr. Massie could be the president’s second scalp in less than a week.
The first scalp was that of Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, who was defeated in his primary. Cassidy voted to convict in Impeachment II. President Trump settled his lawsuit against the IRS and the Treasury Department over the leaking of his tax returns, and as a result, a $1.7 billion “anti-weaponization” fund has been established to redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare. The liberal Axios dubs this “a gold rush for Trumpworld.”
Adult Content. In other political news—or is it potty news?—a Nazi tattoo is not the only thing Maine’s Democratic Senate Graham Platner needs to hide:
Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, who is already facing criticism over past Reddit posts, made graphic sexual comments on his now-deleted account about masturbating in portable toilets and explicit graffiti found in military restrooms.
In one March 2017 post on Reddit’s r/Military forum, Platner responded to a discussion about nostalgic military smells by writing: “I still have to jerk off every time I sit in a portas—-er… that blue water smell conditioned me.”
The archived posts were made under “P-Hustle,” a now-deleted Reddit account that Platner previously acknowledged was his.
In another post from March 2021 on Reddit’s r/USMC forum, Platner described a crude penis drawing inside a portable toilet while deployed overseas.
Moving from Bad Habits to Bad Ideas. How much fun is it that Kamala Harris, the tutti-fruitti salad of political discourse, has come up with the nonsensical notion that there are no bad ideas? Jonathan Turley sets her straight in “Sorry, Kamala: ‘No bad ideas’ is a uniquely bad idea.” One of Harris’ ideas—packing the Supreme Court—gets a bad review from Jed Rosenfeld at The Free Press.
Bad News. The May 6 teenagers’ brawl inside a D.C. Chipotle near the Navy Yard was something. This USA TODAY article provides diagrams of how the incident unfolded and comments on the truly disturbing event. U.S. Attorney for the District Jeanne Pirro indicated that the parents of the teens could be arrested, and the article asks if arrests have happened yet.
Arguably Worse. The supporters of Luigi Mangioni, on trial for the alleged assassination of a health executive, appear as the “Ghouls Next Door” on the cover of the New York Post this morning—mostly young women. City Hall has given these young women press passes:
Standing outside of court, the gruesome trio — Abril Rios, Ashley Rojas and Lena Weissbrot — proudly showed off their press credentials like fan girls finally getting backstage passes to meet their favorite K-pop group.
They obviously weren’t there to report on the hearing. They were there to endorse and justify the cold-blooded Midtown murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
“I’m standing on business, f—k Brian Thompson. I don’t give a flying f—k he died,” Rojas told reporters.
New York is also in the grips of a Long Island Rail Road strike, which City Journal says Governor Kathy Hochul could end decisively. Many striking workers make more than $100,000 a year. Oh, and also in the grips of a mayor, who won’t rein in Carter-esque spending. A Renaissance man, Mayor Mamdani has just re-released his Palestinian-themed film—it has a secret, if you watch carefully.
For a dead while male, Thucydides has been having a good run since the China summit. “Trump, Taiwan and the ‘Thucydides Trap’” is the headline on Gerard Baker’s WSJ column today. Baker writes:
The lessons you draw vary according to your priors. … Perhaps China is Athens, the rising power riding roughshod over allies and foes alike, misinterpreting its heady ascent for inevitable hegemony and winding up being humiliated by the steady incumbent power.
The only reliable lesson is that there is no inevitability in great-power rivalry. Wise leadership, prudent judgment, strategic patience, the maintenance of alliances, domestic cohesion, promotion of economic dynamism—these are all choices that trump destiny in the pursuit of national greatness. We have only to make the right ones.
Thucydides certainly had staying power. The same cannot be said for former Vice President Al Gore, whose “Long and Persistent Record of Miserable Failure” Kyle Smith reviews in the Wall Street Journal’s “Free Expression” section. Congratulations to iconoclast Alex Berenson, whose good ideas have been vindicated.
Ms. Must is off tomorrow. She returns Thursday.
