National News, Monday, Aug. 5th – America Mourns as Two Mass Murders Take Place in El Paso & Dayton, Ohio

News Stories from around the nation from Basin Life Magazine

Making his first formal remarks after the weekend mass shootings, President Trump said Monday the nation was overcome with “shock” and “sorrow” and that the nation must condemn “white supremacy.”

Trump said a “wicked man” went to a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, in that mass shooting and said a “twisted monster” carried out the shooting in Dayton, Ohio, just hours later.

“These barbaric slaughters” are an “attack on our nation,” Trump said.

“Our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy” the president said.

He said glorying violence on the internet must stop. “The perils of internet and social media cannot be ignored and will not be ignored,” the president said.

He also said the nation needs to strengthen mental health laws. “Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun,” he said.

“Today I am also directing the Department of Justice to propose legislation ensuring that those who commit hate crimes and mass murders face the death penalty and that this capital punishment be delivered quickly, decisively…” the president said.

Trump said the country needs to put partisanship aside, saying it is “not up to mentally ill monsters, it is up to us.”

Television networks carrled the president’s remarks live but it was not a formal speech to the nation. Trump spoke before pool reporters and cameras from the Diplomatic Room of the White House, not the Oval Office. Vice President Mike Pence stood at his side.

The president did not repeat his suggestion about gun background checks that he tweeted about earlier Monday.

In those tweets, Trump proposed “strong background checks,” perhaps, he said, tied to immigration reform.

In tweets earlier Monday morning, the president said, “We cannot let those killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, die in vain.”

Today at the White House, President Trump said he wanted Washington to “come together” after two weekend mass shootings on legislation providing “strong background checks” for gun users, but he provided no details and previous gun control measures have languished in the Republican-controlled Senate.  It’s an issuse plaguing the country at this time.

The president who will make remarks to the nation later Monday, tweeted about the weekend shootings in Texas and Ohio that left 29 dead and dozens wounded.

He said: “We can never forget them, and those many who came before them.”

The Democrat-led House has passed a gun control bill that includes fixes to the nation’s firearm background check system, but it has languished in the Senate.

The president suggested that a background check bill could be paired with his long-sought effort to toughen the nation’s immigration system. But he didn’t say how.

President Trump also faulted the media for “the anger and rage that has built up over many years.”

“News coverage has got to start being fair, balanced and unbiased, or these terrible problems will only get worse!” President Trump tweeted.

Over the weekend, the president tried to assure Americans he was dealing with the problem and defended his administration in light of criticism following the latest in a string of mass shootings.

“We have done much more than most administrations,” he said, without elaboration. “We have done actually a lot. But perhaps more has to be done.”

Investigators focused on whether the El Paso attack was a hate crime after the emergence of a racist, anti-immigrant screed that was posted online shortly beforehand.

Detectives sought to determine if it was written by the man who was arrested.

In recent weeks, the president has issued racist tweets about four women of color who serve in Congress, and in rallies has spoken of an “invasion” at the southern border.

His reelection strategy has placed racial animus at the forefront in an effort that his aides say is designed to activate his base of conservative voters, an approach not seen by an American president in the modern era.

President Trump also has been widely criticized for offering a false equivalency when discussing racial violence, notably when he said there were “very fine people, on both sides,” after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that resulted in the death of an anti-racism demonstrator.

In the wake of a shooting in El Paso, Texas, that left 20 dead and dozens more injured, people wasted no time heading to blood donation centers and stood on line for hours for the chance to help.

Hours later, another community was left reeling in the wake of a mass shooting, after a deadly rampage in Dayton, Ohio, in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Officials in both communities are asking for help from the public, though in slightly different ways.

Dayton is still just hours removed from the shooting, so more specific ways to help remain largely in the works.

For now, though, police are calling for witnesses to reach out with any and all tips regarding the shooting, which took place just after 1 a.m. local time.

They have launched a family assistance center for friends or relatives of possible victims to gather and receive information.

As El Paso recovers from the massacre that unfolded at a Walmart on Saturday, officials are calling on the public — both nearby and from afar — to help.

Vitalant, in El Paso, has reached capacity for walk-ins, but they’ve asked those who want to donate to make an appointment at bloodhero.com or call 1-877-258-4825.

The El Paso Community Foundation has set up an online fund to help those impacted by the shooting. The foundation said it will waive administrative fees and pay credit card fees associated with fundraising for the victims, and that it will work with the city of El Paso and the county to disburse funds.

The VA of El Paso urged any victims, or family of victims, who are veterans to call the Veteran Crisis Hotline at 1-800-273-8255.

Other ways to donate:

The Pebble Hills Regional Command Center is accepting ice and water.

The local chapter of the American Red Cross has mobilized staff and volunteers and are working with local emergency officials in El Paso. Those looking to help can fund more information on the local chapter’s website.

The City of El Paso also tweeted a link for those who would like to help by donating to the Paso Del Norte Community Foundation.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson slammed for his tweet about mass shootings

Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson decided Sunday to comment on the recent mass shootings in Texas and Ohio: “In the past 48hrs, the USA horrifically lost 34 people to mass shootings.” From there, it listed several other prominent causes of death “across any 48hrs” — including medical errors and automobile accidents. What really ticked people off was Tyson’s concluding thought: “Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data.”

… Thousands responded. One person tweeted back: “This is really not the time to be the smug counterfactual guy.”

… Another person responded with: “This needs to be said again, because you don’t seem aware of it. We’re working to prevent medical errors. We’re working to prevent the flu. We’re working to prevent suicide. We’re working to prevent car accident. We’re doing [zip] about mass shootings. Spot the difference.”

Study says elevator chitchats is off limits. 

Hey you in the big city…If you think riding in an elevator with random people can be awkward, you’re not alone. A new study has found that 66 percent of people don’t want to talk while in one. Of the two-thirds who don’t want to talk on an elevator, about a quarter of them said they don’t talk because they just don’t like speaking to people they don’t know.

… There are about 7 billion elevator rides around the world each day.

Happy birthday to cornflakes which were invented 125 years ago this week (August 8) by John Harvey Kellogg, who created them thinking they would be healthy for the patients of a sanitarium in Michigan where he was superintendent. The breakfast cereal proved popular among the patients and the Kellogg Company (Kellogg’s) was set up by John’s brother, Will Kellogg, to produce corn flakes for the wider public. A patent for the process was granted in 1896.

… This idea for corn flakes began by accident when John Kellogg and brother Will left some cooked wheat to sit while they attended to some pressing matters at the sanitarium. When they returned, they found that the wheat had gone stale, but being on a strict budget, they decided to continue to process it by forcing it through rollers, hoping to obtain long sheets of the dough. To their surprise, what they found instead were flakes, which they toasted and served to their patients. This event occurred on August 8, 1894.

United Airlines flight canceled after both pilots too drunk to fly the plane. For the most part, planes pretty much fly themselves these days, but still, no way do you want a drunk pilot flying you plane. On Saturday two pilots for United Airlines were arrested for violations of the Railways and Transport Safety Act before their flight from Scotland to Newark Airport in New Jersey. The pilots, aged 45 and 61, had been drinking.

… To be fair, the drinking limit for commercial pilots is a BAC below 0.04, which is pretty much one drink.

Our least favorite chores…. In the warmer months, the average American does 53 hours of manual labor around the house and yard every month.

… Nearly a full day every month (21 hours) is devoted just to home-related tasks, while even more (32 hours) goes into keeping the yard looking fresh.

… Our most disliked chores, in order:

  1. Pulling weeds
  2. Cleaning the bathroom
  3. Edging the lawn
  4. Laying mulch
  5. Mowing the lawn
  6. Washing dishes
  7. Laundry
  8. Tending to the garden
  9. Vacuuming
  10. Outdoor cleaning (yard/patio)

Tom Brady of the Patriots…is back.
The sixth contract extension between quarterback Tom Brady and the New England Patriots arrived Sunday. The two sides have finalized a two-year agreement that will pay Brady $23 million in 2019, making him the sixth-highest-paid quarterback in the NFL this season. Brady turned 42 on Saturday and is the league’s oldest active player outside of the kicker position.

… Brady will get an $8 million raise this year, with $30 million and $32 million due in the following years.

As if we needed further proof that plastic bottles are one of planet earth’s worst enemies, a guy doing some Earth Day cleanup in April found one in a California river that had been dropped into the ocean in Hawaii — 13 years ago. Inside the bottle was a folded and rolled piece of 8½-by-11-inch paper with black, handwritten lettering and the date: January/February 2006. Also spelled out were the names of three children — siblings from the Bricker family, then ages 4, 7, and 10 — and the Norman, Oklahoma, street address they called home at the time.

… Somehow, against the odds, that plastic bottle made it back to the family 13 years later. Ironically they now live in California and the finder of the bottle tracked them down.

How many friends do you have now? 

 How popular you are may very well depend on your age. And the magic one seems to be 29. Those approaching their third decade have approximately 80 friends, which is about 30 percent more than those in any other age group, based on a survey of 1,505 Britons. What’s behind the almost-30-somethings’ popularity? The company that conducted the study (Genius Gluten Free) explains that at 29, people are still in touch with school friends but have also forged new bonds with work colleagues.

It now takes about $300,000 to raise a child.


A middle-income family can expect to spend $291,570 (including inflation) to raise a child born in 2019 to adulthood. The U.S. government estimate covers food, shelter and other necessities for a child to age 18. The figure does not include the cost of childbirth or college.

… Housing accounts for one-third of expenditures on children. Food accounts for 16 percent, the same as child care and education.

Texting….

An Allstate Foundation and National Organizations for Youth Safety survey found that 80 percent of teen girls and 58 percent of teen boys text while driving. Teens are the most dangerous drivers on the road, with a crash rate double that of 20- to 24-year-olds, three times that of 25- to 29-year-olds, and more than four times that of 30- to 69-year-olds.

… According to the CDC, auto crashes are the number one cause of death for American teenagers, accounting for more than one in three teen deaths.

Cheerleading is getting more and more dangerous.   

A study found that most catastrophic sports injuries among high school and college athletes occur on the sidelines. Researchers (National Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio) found that six sports account for 70 percent of school sports injuries: running, basketball, football, volleyball, soccer, and gymnastics. But cheerleading was found to be the leading cause of catastrophic injuries — those usually involving spinal cord damage — among high school and college athletes.

Mozart for your baby won’t make them smarter. 

According to a study (found in Psychological Science) babies whose parents play Mozart for them aren’t any smarter than the ones whose parents don’t.

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