Weekly Review

Fifty people were killed and 50 others were wounded at a mosque by a white supremacist in Christchurch, New Zealand.¹ The shooter, who livestreamed the attack, shouted, “Subscribe to PewDiePie!” several times and published an 87-page manifesto of ironic memes, xenophobic statements, and praise for Donald Trump.^{2 3 4} In an official statement, a senator for Queensland, Australia, wrote, “The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place”; a 17-year-old boy responded by cracking an egg over the senator’s head, and the boy has said he will donate the $64,000 raised for his legal fees to victims of the shooting.^{5 6 7} The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has shown an edited version of the livestream at several campaign rallies.⁸ A Trump supporter in Cleveland, Ohio, drove a float that read build the wall, making america great again in front of a multifaith vigil mourning the victims; Guns Down, Gloves Up, an event discouraging gun violence in Lafayette, Louisiana, ended when a 22-year-old man was shot; and, after his son called him crying, a man in West Palm Beach, Florida, took an AK-47 to his child’s middle school and began threatening teachers.^{9 10 11} Thirty-three parents, who paid a college-prep program between $200,000 and $6.5 million for their children’s guaranteed admission to elite schools, were charged following an FBI investigation.^{12 13} “I believe everyone has a right to go to college, man,” said the brother of a student whose SAT and ACT scores were inflated for $125,000.¹⁴

The reputed boss of the Gambino crime family was shot on Staten Island, and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who oversaw a secret campaign to imprison, kidnap, and torture citizens who criticized the government, has had some of his authority removed.^{15 16 17} An airplane headed to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, turned back to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after a passenger realized she had left her baby at the terminal, and, after complaining that planes were “becoming far too complex to fly” and that Jeanine Pirro was wrongfully suspended from Fox News, President Trump signed his first veto.^{18 19 20 21} “You criticize every sentence or word I say,” said Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines, in a speech at an event honoring women in law enforcement and security.²² Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has announced a “deep restructuring” of his government, and, following a contested election, newly elected senators in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have not taken their seats.^{23 24} Beto O’Rourke became the 15th Democrat to announce a campaign for president.²⁵ In Serbia, demonstrators broke into the state-run television station’s studios to protest a lack of coverage for their rallies.²⁶ A federal appeals court ruled against a police officer who gave a Michigan woman a harsher ticket after she flipped him off.²⁷

A fire at a crematorium in Germany caused $1.7 million in damages to the building; the bodies were not damaged.²⁸ Thieves stole a fake 17th-century painting from an Italian church; it was the second theft of the reproduction.²⁹ An app that allows users to review local businesses “from a conservative perspective” was released.³⁰ Chickens in Brittany pecked a fox to death, and Butterball recalled nearly 80,000 pounds of ground turkey after four cases of salmonella.^{31 32} Judges at a spelling bee in Fort Worth, Texas, ran out of words and requested 25 additional ones from the Scripps national office; the competition lasted 63 rounds.³³ A New Jersey man found a book he had checked out from his school library 53 years earlier and returned it.³⁴ The speaker of the British House of Commons said he would not allow a third “meaningful vote” on Brexit unless the motion was significantly different; the United Kingdom is scheduled to leave the European Union in 10 days.³⁵—Violet Lucca