Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
    • The Best of Reason Magazine
    • Why We Can't Have Nice Things
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

Reason Roundup

Capital Gazette Shooter Not Motivated by Milo or Maxine Waters, Had 'Long-Standing Grudge Against the Paper': Reason Roundup

Plus: conservatives feel more censored on social media, nearly 600 arrested at immigration sit-in

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 6.29.2018 9:30 AM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests
CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA

Yesterday's "targeted attack" on the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Md., left five people dead and two others injured. The shooter was arrested and charged with five counts of first-degree murder. He was identified via facial recognition software as 38-year-old Jarrod W. Ramos.

His motive doesn't seem related to any of the political agendas offered up in the immediate aftermath by hacks and provocateurs. The Gazette describes Ramos, of Laurel, Md., as a man "with a long-standing grudge against the paper." He had sued the paper in 2012 for defamation for its coverage of a criminal harassment case against him, and a Twitter page in his name featured the columnist who had written about him as Ramos' avatar. The account's bio:

Dear reader: I created this page to defend myself. Now I'm suing the s— out of half of AA County and making corpses of corrupt careers and corporate entities.

From the earliest reports of the shooting on Thursday afternoon, people were quick to assign blame to their pet peeves du jour. Sean Hannity seemed to blame Maxine Waters' recent calls to confront Trump officials. Many media and Twitter types credited Milo Yiannopoulos with inspiring the attack, after he said last week that he couldn't "wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight."

On his radio show yesterday, Hannity commented: "I've been saying now for days that something horrible was going to happen because of the rhetoric. Really Maxine? You want people to create—Call your friends, get in their faces,' and Obama said that, too. 'Get in their faces, call them out, call your friends, get protesters, follow them into restaurants and shopping malls,' and wherever else she said."

Hannity later denied that these comments were meant to link Waters' rhetoric to the shooting.

Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik condemned "the hypocrisy, the dishonesty, the willingness by Hannity to try and score partisan political points on the bodies of five dead journalists."

"I would give anything for time to truly process my feelings before writing about the shooting that left five dead Thursday at The Sun's sister publication, the Capital Gazette," wrote Zurawik at the Sun yesterday. "But Sean Hannity made that impossible with another one of his partisan culture-war, bomb-tossing comments."

Yiannopolous responded with comparably more humanity than Hannity, although after noting that "like any normal person I am saddened to hear of needless death," the bulk of his response was devoted to decrying the blame he was assigned in the first place:

You're about to see a raft of news stories claiming that I am responsible for inspiring the deaths of journalists. The bodies are barely cold and left-wing journalists are already exploiting these deaths to score political points against me. It's disgusting. … I made a private, offhand troll to two hostile reporters, who breathlessly publicized it and like vermin their fellow journalists swarmed to remind the world how much they hate Milo.

In the midst of all this, Gazette reporters have been trying to keep the focus on their experience and their fallen colleagues:

  • Rob Hiaasen
  • Rebecca Smith
  • Gerald Fischman
  • John McNamara
  • Wendi Winters

FREE MINDS

Conservatives perceive more social media censorship. A new poll from the Pew Research Center found 70 percent of Americans think popular social media platforms are actively censoring certain political views. Republicans and conservatives are more likely than liberal-leaning counterparts to believe they're being censored.

"Eighty-five percent of Republicans and those who labeled themselves conservative independents said it's likely that social media platforms censor political speech," notes Bloomberg. "And 64 percent of Republicans think technology companies support the views of liberals over conservatives."

Overall, 43 percent of Pew survey respondents said tech companies "support the views of liberals over conservatives." Around a third of those surveyed said tech firms "support the views of men over women."

QUICK HITS

  • Around 575 people, mostly women, were arrested yesterday at a Washington, D.C., sit-in protesting President Trump's immigration policies.
  • The Senate has passed a farm bill that does not include the controversial food stamp provisions passed by the House.
  • ICE agents call for the abolition of ICE.

In the most inoffensive possible way, US Steel confirms to @GlennKesslerWP that Trump is wrong about the company opening "six" (or, last night, "seven") plants. Trump keeps saying the company CEO called to tell him about these fictional openings. https://t.co/45NJA2j3qE pic.twitter.com/5aEDjCvlYr

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) June 28, 2018

  • "New Jersey is just days away from a government shutdown," reports The Washington Post. "Unlike shutdowns of the federal government over partisan fights between the political parties in Congress, the fight in new Jersey pits Democrats against each other."
  • The more you know: "The Earliest Mammals Kept Their Cool With Descended Testicles."

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

NEXT: Activists Say Straws Should Be Banned Because They Are a 'Gateway Plastic'

Elizabeth Nolan Brown is a senior editor at Reason.

Reason Roundup
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Show Comments (173)

Latest

The Latest Escalation Between Russia and Ukraine Isn't Changing the Course of the War

Matthew Petti | 6.6.2025 4:28 PM

Marsha Blackburn Wants Secret Police

C.J. Ciaramella | 6.6.2025 3:55 PM

This Small Business Is in Limbo As Owner Sues To Stop Trump's Tariffs

Eric Boehm | 6.6.2025 3:30 PM

A Runner Was Prosecuted for Unapproved Trail Use After the Referring Agency Called It 'Overcriminalization'

Jacob Sullum | 6.6.2025 2:50 PM

Police Blew Up This Innocent Woman's House and Left Her With the Bill. A Judge Says She's Owed $60,000.

Billy Binion | 6.6.2025 1:51 PM

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2024 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

r

Do you care about free minds and free markets? Sign up to get the biggest stories from Reason in your inbox every afternoon.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

This modal will close in 10

Reason Plus

Special Offer!

  • Full digital edition access
  • No ads
  • Commenting privileges

Just $25 per year

Join Today!