All the Lone Wolves

Trump’s big moment came and went last night. He failed to distinguish himself. He didn’t rise to the moment but instead gave a long, boring, bewildering ramble of a speech. He seemed subdued. Of course, who wouldn’t be after almost getting killed by an assassin’s bullet?

Soon after last Saturday’s shooting, I started exchanging phone and text messages with friends and family members. I imagine this was true for many people — most of us need to talk about shocking news events in order to help process them.

Once the shock wore off, the familiar narrative arose. “The shooter was a quiet guy nobody seems to have known very well.”

Those investigating the crime must be especially careful not to miss any of the small signs that might contradict this dominant narrative, lest they get swept up in the societal rush to judgement.

That is an investigator’s burden in these cases. To be clear, I’m not suggesting that in this particular case there’s anything else going on; I’m just commenting generally on the process that is underway.

We always have to be patient until the truth reveals itself. And maybe that will be that the shooter was a lone wolf, a quiet guy nobody seems to have known very well.

HEADLINES:

• Behind the Curtain: Top Dems now believe Biden will exit (Axios)

• Doctors Are Increasingly Worried About Biden (New Yorker)

• Trump closes out RNC with charged speech after assassination attempt (The Hill)

• Gunman’s Phone Had Details About Both Trump and Biden, F.B.I. Officials Say (NYT)

• The vibe at the RNC is worse than you can imagine (LAT)

• Special counsel Jack Smith appeals dismissal of Trump classified documents case (CNBC)

• In 2022, Thomas Homan, the head of ICE under Trump, accepted an invitation to speak at a racist event hosted by Nick Fuentes. Wednesday night, he addressed the RNC, describing immigrants as an existential threat to America. [HuffPost]

• The Search for Alien Life Starts on Earth (Atlantic)

• Navy exonerates Black sailors charged after 1944 Port Chicago disaster: ‘A tremendous wrong’ (WP)

• Crows can count out loud like human toddlers — when they aren't cheating the test (NPR)

• Elephants Are Doing Something Deeply Human (Atlantic)

• Iran denies plot against Trump, after U.S. reports unspecified threat (WP)

• Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, visited Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, threatening to disrupt Gaza cease-fire talks. [AP]

• Wall Street Journal in press freedom row over dismissal of union leader (Al Jazeera)

• Goldman’s Top Stock Analyst Is Waiting for AI Bubble to Burst (Bloomberg)

• OpenAI Slashes the Cost of Using Its AI With a “Mini” Model (Wired)

• AI’s ‘Oppenheimer moment’: autonomous weapons enter the battlefield (Guardian)

• China deploys censors to create socialist AI (Financial Times)

• Usha Vance Gently Corrects RNC Usher Attempting To Deport Her (The Onion)