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The resistance strikes back

“What a week” as “Washington Week” anchor Robert Costa would say. Last Saturday, we saw the worst of America, with neo-Nazis leading to the death of three people at a keep-the-Confederate-statues rally, so-called, in Charlottesville.

But since then the country has rallied around the counter-protest. Democrats and Republicans alike have denounced President Donald J. Trump’s there-was-bad-on-many-sides response to the Charlottesville tragedy. Business CEOs have exited his advisory council and one – James Murdoch, CEO of 21st Century Fox and son of archconservative Rupert – has pledged $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League and has urged his fellow 1-Percenters to do likewise. ...

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The Orlando shooter, mad men and the literature of rejection

When tragedy occurs, it’s always best to think before acting or speaking. (Right, Donald Trump?)

And yet, you knew what the profile of Omar Mateen would turn out to be, and I’m not talking about his religious and ethnic profile. He was a man. He was a young man. He had anger management issues. He demonized others – particularly women. And despite all the conspiracy theories, he appears to have acted alone. 

In other words, he was a loner and a loser. Sound familiar? Plug in the names of the Charleston/Newtown/Columbine/Boston shooters/bombers, throw in Lee Harvey Oswald, Timothy McVeigh and John Wilkes Booth, now add Osama bin Laden and Adolf Hitler and it’s always the same narrative – someone with a disproportionate rage at rejection who focuses it on some group or groups in a lethal way. Whether they act alone or in groups or even as the heads of nations, they have an aggrandized sense of themselves that they see as aggrieved. They are so profoundly disturbed that they must explode else they’ll implode. ...

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