During a baby naming ceremony

Today in Pittsburgh:

A gunman attacked a Pittsburgh synagogue during services Saturday morning, killing multiple people and wounding three police officers, among others.

The suspect opened fire inside the Tree of Life Synagogue during a baby naming ceremony, Philadelphia’s attorney general told the Associated Press.

Ah, during a baby naming ceremony. Thoughtful touch.

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During a standoff, the suspect spoke multiple times about wanting or needing to kill Jews, police dispatchers said on the radio.

He surrendered to police around 11 a.m. Dispatchers said he had a pistol on his ankle and another in his waistband, and had been injured. KDKA reported that he came out crawling.

The Tree of Life synagogue is located in a leafy residential enclave near Carnegie Mellon University that has a significant Jewish population. Its “traditional, progressive and egalitarian” congregation, formed in 1864, is Pittsburgh’s oldest Jewish congregation.

It reminds me of the shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, and the Birmingham bombing. Get people at their most peaceable and vulnerable, and mow them down.

Speaking to reporters later at Joint Base Andrews, President Trump said the shooting was “far more devastating than anybody originally thought” but did not offer details. “It’s a terrible, terrible thing what’s going on with hate in our country, frankly and all over the world and something has to be done,” he said.

He said that the death penalty should come in “vogue” and suggested that armed security would have made a difference. When asked if all churches and synagogues should have armed security Trump said, “it’s certainly an option.”

If he really thinks it’s a terrible, terrible thing what’s going on with hate in our country then he should do something about it. He could do something, and he should. He could and should stop cold his own hatred-stoking, and he could and should tell his fans to stop too. He could and should condemn it and reject it. He could and should apologize for all the hatred-stoking he’s done to date, and disavow and reject all of it. He could and should but he won’t.

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