After the Orlando shooting, America is clearly maturing from its hashtag approach to tragedy into a more proactive open letter-based approach. You know Donald Trump is taking the Orlando shooting seriously as he’s spent about as much time on it on Twitter as he did Robert Pattinson's love life. And Republican lawmakers offered their thoughts to Orlando’s LGBT community and prayers to a God they hope will make Orlando’s LGBT community burn in eternal hellfire. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Monday, June 13th, 2016:
DONALD TRUMP UNVEILS NEW LIE - Jeremy Diamond: "Donald Trump responded Monday to the worst terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11 with a tough call to clamp down on Muslim immigration. He also appeared to falsely claim that the perpetrator of the Orlando mass shooting was born outside the U.S., though he was born in New York to parents from Afghanistan, while blasting Hillary Clinton for policies that he alleged would only increase the threat of terror. 'We have to screen applicants to know whether they are affiliated with or supporting radical groups and beliefs,' Trump said. 'We have to control the amount of future immigration in this country and we have to prevent large pockets of radicalization from forming inside America.'" [CNN]
SENATE DEMS TO TRY TO PUSH GUN BILLS THIS WEEK - Ryan Grim and Mike McAuliff: "Senate Republicans are scheduled to take up a key spending bill this week, but Democratic aides say they’re getting signals that the GOP is rethinking its approach to the measure so the party can avoid uncomfortable votes on gun amendments that could come along with it. In the wake of Sunday morning’s mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Democrats are renewing calls to bar people on the terrorism watch list from purchasing weapons of war, such as the AR-15 used in the massacre. Republicans have resisted the effort, warning that it is an unconstitutional abridgment of the Second Amendment…The spending bill coming up this week is the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, which would be a germane vehicle to try to load up with gun amendments, since it involves the Department of Justice. Democrats would first try to attach the watch-list measure, Schumer said. Other measures are also possible, such as background check improvements and assault weapons bans." [HuffPost]
"Is your favorite bar ready for a terrorist attack?" unpleasant story asks.
TRUMP, SENATE DEMOCRATS AGREE ON GUN-GRABBING - It's almost as if Donald Trump is not really a Republican. Sahil Kapur: "Donald Trump and Senate Democrats may have something in common in the terrorism debate: they both want to block suspected terrorists from acquiring guns. The idea was considered by the Senate in December when a Democratic amendment to let the attorney general block a person from buying a gun if there's a 'reasonable belief' the firearm will be used in connection with terrorism was rejected by 54 out of 55 Republicans. On Monday, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and other Democrats reignited the push to approve that measure after a mass shooting in Orlando, Florida. Asked in November on ABC's This Week if people on an FBI terror watch list should be allowed to buy a gun, Trump responded, 'If somebody is on a watch list and an enemy of state and we know it's an enemy of state, I would keep them away, absolutely.' Reached by phone on Monday, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said the presumptive Republican presidential nominee still holds that position. “I don't think it's changed,' he said. 'I haven't seen anything contrary to it.'" [Bloomberg]
Trump's campaign is revoking the Washington Post's credentials.
IT'S ALMOST LIKE PEOPLE BORN BEFORE 1960 DON'T HAVE THE BEST SENSE ABOUT EMAIL - Paul Singer: "In 2006, when a judge ordered Donald Trump's casino operation to hand over several years' worth of emails, the answer surprised him: The Trump Organization routinely erased emails and had no records from 1996 to 2001. The defendants in a case that Trump brought said this amounted to destruction of evidence, a charge never resolved. At that time, a Trump IT director testified that until 2001, executives in Trump Tower relied on personal email accounts using dial-up Internet services, despite the fact that Trump had launched a high-speed Internet provider in 1998 and announced he would wire his whole building with it. Another said Trump had no routine process for preserving emails before 2005." [USA Today]
It's almost like Trump doesn't listen to advice: "A source who works closely with the Trump campaign, granted anonymity in order to speak freely to NBC News, said after Sunday's attack that the party had asked the candidate to offer condolences and then to stay silent. Trump clearly chose a different approach." [NBC's Benjy Sarlin and Katy Tur]
DELANEY DOWNER - Carl Bialik: "Terror attacks in the U.S. increasingly involve guns. Although terrorism still accounts for a negligible share of all gun deaths in the U.S. — since 1970, fewer than five deaths most years — from 2002 to 2014, 85 percent of people killed by terrorists in the U.S. were killed using guns, according to our analysis. Every terrorist attack in the U.S. last year in which someone other than the perpetrator was killed involved guns, according to a preliminary list provided by Erin Miller, who manages the Global Terrorism Database. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the number of people killed by guns in terror attacks in the U.S. has risen, as has the number of terror attacks involving guns." [fivethirtyeight.com]
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TRUMP IMPLIES OBAMA IN LEAGUE WITH ISIS - At the very least it's a way of reminding everyone that he's a rampant birther. Sam Stein: "Donald Trump, a renowned conspiracy theorist, was at it again on Monday morning, implying that President Barack Obama harbored some sort of connection, perhaps even sympathies, to Muslims who had committed acts of terror in the United States. The presumptive GOP nominee made this allegation the morning after the deadliest shooting in modern American history — a slaying of 50 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando — during an interview on 'Fox and Friends.' ''[Obama] doesn’t get it, or he gets it better than anybody understands,' Trump said of the president’s response to the nightclub shooting. 'It’s one or the other. And either one is unacceptable.' . . . Beyond the suggestion that Obama is collaborating with ISIS, Trump called on the president to resign for refusing to utter the words 'radical Islam.'" [HuffPost]
Newt Gingrich wants a new HUAC, though in President Trump's case, it'd be HU(GE)AC: "Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) on Monday suggested taking broader federal action to investigate and prosecute U.S. citizens with ties to terrorism in the wake of the nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, that left 49 people dead and 53 others injured. Gingrich, who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential running mate to presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, told Fox News that the United States ought to investigate possible 'Islamic supremacists' the same way it sought to ferret out Nazi sympathizers during the 20th century." [HuffPost's Igor Bobic]
Amurrica update: "State Rep. Andy Holt announced a campaign fundraiser and turkey shoot last week at which he'd be giving away an AR-15 assault rifle as a 'door prize.' And after this weekend's mass shooting in Orlando, the deadliest one in the history of the country, in which 49 people were killed by a gunman wielding an AR-15, Holt is doubling down on his door prize, quite literally — he's now going to give away two." [Nashville Post]
WE MAY NOT GET GUN LEGISLATION, BUT WE DO GET A RECONFIGURED TRUMP SLOGAN! - Jesse Byrnes: "Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump released a slightly different version of his 'Make America Great Again' campaign slogan on Monday, after the massacre at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla., over the weekend. 'Make America Safe Again!' blared the title of a fundraising email Trump sent to his followers one day after 49 people were shot and killed at a gay nightclub, with dozens more injured. Trump told supporters that he will 'protect and defend all Americans' as president, an email pledge that came hours after he attacked President Obama as clueless on battling terrorism. 'We will not stand by and allow another tragedy like this to happen. We are going to make America safe again and great again for everyone,' Trump added in his email." [The Hill]
RUBIO OPENS DOOR TO SENATE REELECTION, CITING ORLANDO ATTACK - It's literally not possible to politicize an event more than saying the event makes you want to get political. Sam Stein: "The Florida senator seemed to soften his tone on that decision during a Monday morning interview on Hugh Hewitt’s radio program as he talked about the mass shootings in Orlando. 'It really gives you pause to think a little bit about your service to your country and where you can be most useful to your country,' Rubio said. The GOP primary field in Florida currently includes two sitting congressmen, Reps. David Jolly and Ron DeSantis, the sitting lieutenant governor and longtime Rubio ally Carlos López-Cantera, and self-funded millionaire Carlos Beruff...But tight deadlines aren’t the only thing impeding Rubio’s return to the Senate. His newfound sense of duty could also run up against the reality of paying the bills...Rubio’s upset victory over Florida Gov. Charlie Crist for the U.S. Senate gave him a national profile, but also brought new money woes." [HuffPost]
@Rsherlock:People shouting "die motherfuckers" and "fuck your #Muslims" as drive by the mosque where #OrlandoShooter prayed. One held up #Trump banner
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here are some kittens.
Just a reminder to avoid all people at all cost: "The father of the Orlando shooter has a YouTube channel and Facebook page that he used to talk at length about his political beliefs, which included support for the Afghan Taliban... Seddique Mateen also posted a number of photos to Facebook featuring himself in the halls of Congress, and in posed photos with Reps. Charles Rangel, Dana Rohrabacher, and Ed Royce." [BuzzFeed's Tarini Parti and Rosie Gray]
COMFORT FOOD
- Breaking down last night's episode of "Game of Thrones."
- Video of a modern paratrooper drop.
- Particle physics might soon change dramatically.
TWITTERAMA
@laurenduca: Only a matter of time before Trump says he's a good friend to the BLT community
@joshrobin: Trump calls for forming "partnerships" with US Muslims. My sense is his ban on their relatives visiting complicates that endeavor.
@delrayser: hey remember when Trump was going to tone it down after he won the nomination
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