Our picksWhen to Take Conspiracies Seriously | Fighting Fire with Fire | Tech-Savvy Chinese Propaganda, and more

Jeffrey Epstein and When to Take Conspiracies Seriously (Ross Douthat, New York Times)
The challenge in thinking about a case like the suspicious suicide of Jeffrey Epstein, the supposed “billionaire” who spent his life acquiring sex slaves and serving as a procurer to the ruling class, can be summed up in two sentences. Most conspiracy theories are false. But often some of the things they’re trying to explain are real.

Twitter’s Ban of McConnell Shows Tech’s Censorship Power (Kalev Leetaru, RealClearPolitics)
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign was locked out of its own Twitter account Wednesday for sharing a cellphone video documenting some of the threats made against his life by protesters amassed outside his home. The company’s actions – and its subsequent explanation — is a reminder of the enormous power it has to censor political speech even as it becomes the de facto publishing platform of political candidates and public officials.

They Lost Their Daughters in the Parkland Shooting. They Couldn’t Stay in Broward Anymore (Martin Vassolo, Miami Herald)
Their houses have been sold. The rooms that their daughters once occupied belong to someone else now. Their children’s lives are summarized in the wrongful death lawsuits filed in the aftermath of the worst school shooting in Florida history.
A year-and-a-half after 17 students and faculty were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, two grieving families with opposing political views on gun control but a shared sense of distrust for their old home have reached the same conclusion. South Florida isn’t home any more.

Europe Poised to Put Warning Labels on Jewish-Made Products (Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon)
The European Union is poised to mandate that Israeli products made in contested territories carry consumer warning labels, a decision that could trigger American anti-boycott laws and open up what legal experts describe as a “Pandora’s box” of litigation, according to multiple sources involved in the legal dispute who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon.