In Michigan today, Vice President Pence held a rally for congressional candidates Mike Bishop and Lena Epstein. In tow, he brought a rabbi to offer a benediction and prayer of mourning for the eleven Jews killed in the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre. Only it wasn’t a rabbi, or at least not one who would be recognized as such by American Jews. Rabbi Loren Jacobs is a “Messianic Jew”, better known as ‘Jews for Jesus’. If this isn’t something you’re familiar with these are Jews by ancestry who maintain the trappings of Judaism and some of the ritual law while accepting Jesus as the Messiah and the entirety of Christian theology. They make up an incalculably small number of American Jews and are largely supported, subsidizedand advanced by evangelical groups hoping to convert Jews to Christianity. Read More

With a week and a day until the midterm elections, battles over who will get to cast a ballot are in full swing. Tierney Sneed’s weekly primer on voting rights (Prime access) is essential reading.

I managed to involve myself this weekend in a tiny eddy in the storm around the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre. As you can see below, early yesterday evening I happened upon this interview on Lou Dobbs’ Fox Business News show in which a guest, Chris Farrell, claimed the migrant caravan in southern Mexico was being funded and directed by the “Soros-occupied State Department.” This is, as I explained, straight out of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the foundational anti-Semitic tract, first circulated and perhaps authored by the Czarist secret police in the first years of the 20th century.

If you’re not familiar with this world, “ZOG” is a staple of white supremacist and neo-Nazi literature and websites. It stands for “Zionist Occupied Government” and is a shorthand for the belief that Jews secretly control the US government. Chris Farrell’s phrasing was no accident. All of this is straight out of the most rancid anti-Semitic propaganda. Rob Bowers, the shooter in the Pittsburgh massacre, appears to have been specifically inspired by this conspiracy theory. Indeed, Bowers had also reposted references to “ZOG” on his social media accounts. Read More

We should, among all priorities, not be silent, now more than at any time. Let’s not forget that President Trump closed his 2016 campaign with a final ad rife with anti-Semitic themes and imagery. Right out in the open.

Just moments ago, after the massacre, after the mail bombs, guest on Lou Dobbs says “Soros-occupied State Department” is funding and direct migrant caravan.

Straight out of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Just moments ago, Lou Dobbs guest Chris Farrell (head of Judicial Watch) says Caravan is being funded/directed by the "Soros-occupied State Department". pic.twitter.com/QBSong7uk1

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) October 27, 2018

At the risk of telling things you already know, this is only days after a man inspired by President Trump’s rhetoric sent a mail bomb to Soros’s home and the same day a man who was angry that Jews were behind the caravan murdered eleven people at their synagogue.

Wednesday: Armed man in Kentucky tries and fails to enter black church. Instead goes to local Kroger and shoots and kills two African-Americans. Later tells white man who confronts him, “Whites don’t kill other whites.”

Friday: Serial mail bomber is arrested by the FBI after sending at least 13 mail bombs to Americans targeted by President Trump.

Saturday: Gunman storms Pittsburgh Synagogue and kills at least eight people.

In brief remarks to reporters at Joint Base Andrews before he boarded Air Force One, President Trump lamented that the Pittsburgh synagogue attacked during a bris didn’t have armed guards. He spoke repeatedly of the bad “results” of the shooting that reportedly left multiple people dead, as if it were a poor quarterly earnings report. Watch.

KEY DETAILS: Mass shooting incident at Pittsburgh synagogue (Tree of Life in Squirrel Hill). There are at least eight fatalities. The suspect, wounded in a police shoot out, is in custody. Suspect is white male, beareded, reportedly 46 years old. Local CBS affiliate reports that shooter yelled anti-semitic slogans/slurs as he opened fire on worshippers. “All Jews must die.”

MORE: Eight confirmed fatalities. Three police officers shot, conditions unknown. A bris (Jewish circumcision ceremony) was reportedly underway when the shooting erupted.

MORE: Local CBS affiliate KDKA reporting the name of suspect/shooter is Rob Bauer, either 46 or 48 years of age. Heavy-set white male.

We are monitoring reports of an active shooter at a Pittsburgh synagogue. There are reports of fatalities and reports of two police officers being shot. But we’re in that early phase where there are conflicting reports and we need to wait for clearer confirmation of details. All that seems clear now is that the situation is on-going, that there are multiple casualties and likely fatalities among them. Await more updates.

MORE: The synagogue is the Tree of Life Synagogue. Local CBS affiliate is reported at least seven dead. The shooter has reportedly now surrendered after being injured himself.

MORE: CBS local affiliate now confirming at least 8 dead. Suspect/shooter described as white male with beard. There are multiple reports from journalists on Twitter quoting anti-Semitic statements by the shooter. This is hardly surprising given the target. But these reports appear to be going directly from police scanner/radio. So want to wait for more confirmation.

I still watch Trump’s speeches all the way through whenever I have the chance. It’s important to know what he says. Last night, in the wake the arrest of Cesar Sayoc, Trump spent the first half of his speech castigating the press for its “anger” and as the cause of a climate of anger and violence in the country. Aside from a few introductory, scripted lines about unity, the subtext (and often the straight up text) of the speech was clear: the press and the President’s Democratic enemies are responsible for violence against them. In so many words, they brought it on themselves. He even mocked and led the crowd in a round of angry jeers directed at Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), one of the literal targets of Sayoc’s mail bombs. Read More