Los Angeles Time - 08.08.2019

EL PASO — For days,

President Trump tried to

disprove critics who said he

was incapable of uniting the

nation after mass shootings

in Texas and Ohio last week-

end reignited the anger and

pain over gun violence.

He denounced the white

supremacist ideas that offi-

cials say apparently influ-

enced a Texas man to target

Latinos at a Walmart on Sat-

urday, killing 22 people. He

said that “hatred and men-

tal illness pull the trigger,”

when speaking of El Paso

and Dayton, where nine peo-

ple died. Before heading to

the stricken cities Wednes-

day, he told reporters that he

“brings people together”

and wanted to “stay out of

the political fray.”

As the president met

with victims, posed for pho-

tos and tweeted residents

that “we love you!” hundreds

of protesters were in the

streets not far away, holding

signs that said, “No assault

weapons,” “Stand up to the

NRA” and “We can end gun

violence.” Another simple

message also appeared fre-

quently: “Do something.”

The diverging reactions

to Trump’s visit revealed the

sharp divisions in the na-

tion.

Though he skipped me-

morials at shooting sites, the

president said he would

“come up with something

that’s going to be really

good” to combat gun vi-

olence. He didn’t say what

that would be, aside from a

vague promise of stronger

background checks. He said

there was no “political ap-

petite” for a ban on assault

rifles like those used in the

killings.

Then he logged on to

DEMONSTRATORSdenounce President Trump’s visit to El Paso on Wednesday. Protesters in Dayton, Ohio,
staged similar rallies. The president visited hospitalized victims in both cities after the mass shootings there.

Mario TamaGetty Images

Trump visits

grieving cities,

and lashes out

President’s trips to

El Paso and Dayton —

and attacks on critics

— amplify national

divide after shootings.

By Jaweed Kaleem ,

Molly Hennessy-Fiske,

Eli Stokols

and David Montero

PRESIDENT TRUMPgreets Dayton, Ohio, Mayor

Nan Whaley and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). He

later criticized both leaders on Twitter.

Saul LoebAFP/Getty Images

$2.75DESIGNATED AREAS HIGHER © 2019 WST D THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2019 latimes.com

W

earing a surgical
gown and a mask,
9-year-old Adam
Litwin watched in awe as his
grandfather, a podiatrist,
mended a fractured foot.
“I was just mesmerized,”
Litwin recalled. “I literally
knew from that moment on
that there was nothing else I
wanted to do with my life.”
He began to ask for med-
ical posters and textbooks
for his birthday. He had his
own stethoscope. In his
teens he wore a beeper and
paged himself, pretending
the hospital needed him to
consult on a patient.
Decades later, Litwin,
now 47, has finally achieved
his dream. He graduated
from a medical school in the
Caribbean last year and
passed the final board exam
required to be a doctor.
Though Litwin must still
complete some training and
licensing before he can treat
patients on his own, he is an
MD in the United States.
But to accomplish his
goal, he first had to get past
the time 20 years ago when
he went to jail — for imper-
sonating a doctor at UCLA.
The way Litwin tells it, he
ended up at UCLA because
he was blinded by his love of
medicine.

COLUMN ONE

Being a

doctor

was all

an act

Adam Litwin served

time for his deceit.

Now, he’s a real MD.

By Soumya
Karlamangla
reporting from chicago

[SeeDoctor,A12]

Orange County, long a
Republican stronghold, has
officially turned blue.
The county that nur-
tured Ronald Reagan’s con-
servatism and is the resting
place of Richard Nixon is
now home to 547,458 regis-
tered Democrats, compared
with 547,369 Republicans,
according to statistics re-
leased early Wednesday by
the county registrar of vot-
ers. The number of voters
not aligned with a political
party has also surged in re-
cent years, and stands at
440,711, or 27.4% of the coun-
ty’s voters.

Democratic leaders at-

tributed the shift to chang-

ing demographics, aggres-

sive recruitment efforts and

President Trump.

“Trump’s toxic rhetoric

and exclusionary policies

alienate women, millennials,

suburban voters, immi-

grants and people of color —

critical components of the

electorate in Orange Coun-

ty,” said Katerina Ioannides,

co-chairwoman of the Or-

ange County Young Demo-

crats, one of several groups

that has worked to increase

party registration.

“The Republican Party’s

platform no longer reso-

nates in a rapidly diver-

sifying, increasingly college-

Going blue in Orange County

The longtime bastion of conservative Republicans has fallen

By Seema Mehta
and Melanie Mason

[SeeOrange County,A5]

Feb. 10,

2013

Aug. 7,

2019

309,

583,

442,

No party

preference:

440,

Republican:

547,

Democratic:

547,

Sources: 2013 data from California secretary of state, 2019 data from Orange

County registrar of voters.

Chris Keller Los Angeles Times

O.C. now has more registered

Democrats than Republicans

Democrats hit

back at Trump

2020 presidential candi-

dates denounce what

they see as his influence

on violent white suprem-

acists. NATION, A

[SeeTrump,A8]

California has the tough-

est gun laws of any state,

particularly when it comes

to the types of weapons used

in a spate of recent mass

shootings. EBay, the state’s

biggest e-commerce com-

pany, would like to give the

impression it takes a simi-

larly hard-line stance on

them.

The auction site prohib-

its sellers on its marketplace

from offering complete fire-

arms of any kind, from

varmint guns to Glocks. And

it specifically bars parts and

accessories for assault rifles,

which California banned in

1989 and further restricted in

2 016.

But while its larger rival

Amazon enumerates a long

list of banned items includ-

ing ammunition magazines,

pistol grips, flash suppres-

sors and folding stocks —

the components that sepa-

rate assault weapons from

legal rifles in California’s

eyes — EBay takes a hazier

approach. Its marketplace

rules prohibit only

“products that mention ca-

pability with an assault

weapon, even if the part or

accessory fits non-assault

weapons.”

That language leaves

plenty of gray area that sell-

ers are happy to exploit.

[SeeEBay,A8]

Gun parts sellers

evade EBay’s ban

Merchants exploit

company policy

loopholes to continue

selling assault rifle

accessories online.

By Jeff Bercovici

The Manson murders mostly are remembered

as two events that occurred 50 years ago this

month: the killing of actress Sharon Tate and four

others in Benedict Canyon and then the butchering

of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in Los Feliz.

But cold-case investigators and others long

have believed that Charles Manson and his cult fol-

lowers were responsible for many more deaths.

The Los Angeles Police Department officially

has a dozen unsolved homicide cases linked to

Manson. And there are additional slayings outside

the jurisdiction that some believe to be the work of

his “family.” Some of those ties seem more plausible

than others, but all have been extensively exam-

ined and theorized — as are all things involving

Manson.

The supposed suicide of one Manson follower’s

boyfriend in England. The drowning of an attorney

whom Manson declared during the middle of his

trial he never wanted to see again. A young man

killed during a game of

CHARLES MANSONand his “family” of followers were convicted of

nine murders. Investigators have long suspected there were more.

George BrichAssociated Press

How many more did

Manson family kill?

It’s an enduring murder mystery involving

several slayings that fit the cult’s pattern

By Richard Winton

REET JURVETSON

was stabbed 150 times in

a 1969 murder possibly

linked to Manson.

Associated Press

[SeeManson,A9]

■■■ ELECTION 2020 ■■■

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RACKof lamb kebab served at Shamshiri Grill.

Christina HouseLos Angeles Times

Islamic State’s

U.S. counterparts

White supremacists’

radicalization, tactics

and narratives resemble

those of Mideast extrem-

ists.BACK STORY, A