Vox Sentences: Unmasking “Jihadi John”

1. Jihadi John

Mohammed Emwazi, aka "Jihadi John." (YouTube)

• "Jihadi John," an ISIS member who has beheaded several hostages on video, has been identified as the Londoner Mohammed Emwazi.

  [Washington Post / Souad Mekhennet and Adam Goldman]

• Emwazi was born in Kuwait and raised in a middle-class family in West London; he graduated from the University of Westminister with a degree in computer programming.

  [Washington Post / Adam Taylor]

• Emwazi claimed he faced years of harassment from British intelligence officials, starting with a 2009 trip to Tanzania.

  [CAGE]

• But the story of him gradually radicalizing over time has some holes; according to "people who have moved in jihadi circles in west London," Emwazi started to get involved about five to six years ago.

  [The Guardian / Randeep Ramesh, Ian Cobain, and Ewen MacAskill]

• He also expressed solidarity with al-Qaeda member Aafia Siddiqui after she was sentenced by a US court in 2010.

  [Vox / Max Fisher]

• While he's the most famous Brit to make his way to Syria, he's far from the only one; an estimated 600 fighters from the UK have traveled there.

  [Washington Post / Swati Sharma]

• Cases like his often prompt concern about fighters returning to plot terrorist strikes in their home countries, but this threat is exaggerated; for one thing, a lot of these fighters die abroad, and others who come back are disillusioned.

  [Brookings / Daniel Byman and Jeremy Shapiro]

• The fact that Western-born fighters tend to broadcast their activities on social media also makes them easier to catch.

  [Lawfare / Daniel Byman]

2. FCC won't let me be

• The Federal Communications Commission approved new net neutrality rules today, as expected.

  [Vox / Timothy B. Lee]

• The rules "reclassify" internet service providers (ISPs) like Verizon or Comcast so they're regulated like utilities, meaning the FCC can require them to treat all websites equally.

  [Vox / Timothy B. Lee]

• Predictably, ISPs weren't pleased with the move. Verizon released a press release written on a typewriter and dateline for 1934:

  [Vox / Timothy B. Lee]

• One thing they might have a point about: the regulations also apply to cell phone networks, where they're less necessary and arguably harmful.

  [Vox / Timothy B. Lee]

• Next up is a court fight over the rule, which could center around the question of whether net neutrality breaks the First Amendment, since prioritizing some sites over others (as internet providers want to be able to do) could constitute speech.

  [Bloomberg View / Noah Feldman]

• In a less-covered decision, the FCC also "preempted" a Tennessee state law that banned Chattanooga from providing super-fast fiber-optic internet to more rural areas.

  [Washington Post / Reid Wilson]

• That's very good news for municipal fiber, arguably the best option for creating a real alternative to cable and phone companies for internet access.

  [Vox / Timothy B. Lee]

3. Shutdown update

John Boehner, looking bemused. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

• House Republicans are considering proposing a bill to keep the Department of Homeland Security open for less than one month.

  [Politico / Burgess Everett and Jake Sherman]

• Senate Republicans' plan had been to just vote to fund it through September, when funding for the rest of the government runs out.

  [Vox / Dara Lind]

• A shorter-term bill would disrupt that, especially if House Republicans include language "that would choke off DHS funding if a federal appeals court allows President Barack Obama to resume rolling out his policies to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation," as they're considering.

  [Politico / Burgess Everett and Jake Sherman]

• A clean measure would pass easily, but President Obama has been very clear that he'll veto anything with strings attached.

• Reminder: a shutdown won't hamper Obama's immigration actions, and 85 percent of department employees would still go into work.

  [Vox / Dara Lind]

4. Misc.

• The Deaf community is developing signs for internet slang astonishingly quickly (the one for "selfie" is particularly cool).

  [Hopes and Fears / Mike Sheefield]

• Norwegian novelist Karl Ove Knausgaard, on assignment from the New York Times Magazine, attempted to "drive across America and write about it without talking to a single American."

  [NYT / Karl Ove Knausgaard]

• Introducing Vicemo, a feed of people using Venmo to pay each other back for drugs, strippers, prostitutes, and more (but mostly drugs).

  [Washington Post / Caitlin Dewey]

• Everyone knows there's a big gap between the most and least successful musicians — but it's not actually bigger than inequality among Americans in general.

  [NYT / Paul Krugman]

5. Verbatim

• "That’s what depression is—it isn’t sadness or moodiness, it is above all a logic that undermines from within, that brings to bear all the mind’s mighty resources in convincing you that you’re worthless, incapable, unloveable, and everyone would be better off without you."

  [Peter Railton]

• "Speaker Boehner just answered my question on a DHS shutdown with four air kisses."

  [Todd Zwillich]

• "An awkward truth for politicians looking to help the middle class is that there’s much less the government can do for them than for the poor."

  [NYT / Josh Barro]

• "Genetic differences explained roughly 33% of the variations in individual savings rates."

  [Quartz / Matt Phillips via Greg Mankiw]

• "A South Korean court on Thursday abolished a 62-year-old law that criminalized extramarital affairs, and the stock price of a prominent condom maker immediately shot up 15 percent."

  [AP]