August 27, 2020

It's 5:30 a.m. in Louisiana. Here's the latest on Hurricane Laura.

Source: CNN

Downgraded: Hurricane Laura made landfall as a Category 4 storm, but it has since weakened to a Category 2. It still has winds of 110 mph.

More weakening expected: Further weakening will continue, and Laura will likely become a tropical storm later today as it tracks from Louisiana into Arkansas.

The storm surge threat: The storm surge for Laura could spread up to 30 miles inland in southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas -- reaching all the way to Interstate 10 potentially between Beaumont and Lake Charles. The National Hurricane Center warned the surge could be "unsurvivable" in some areas.

Not everyone heeded evacuation warnings: Cameron Parish, Louisiana, was put under a mandatory evacuation, but out of 6,500 residents, 150 have refused to leave, said Ashley Buller, assistant director of Emergency Operations for the parish.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/hurricane-laura-updates-thursday/h_43e757fb39c37b8e37b73d4144885ea3

---

https://twitter.com/ReedTimmerAccu/status/1298877061252222977

https://twitter.com/iCyclone/status/1298870448927707136

August 27, 2020

Is it me, or have there been very few Hispanics speaking at the RNC?

August 27, 2020

Minneapolis mayor sets a curfew, calls for National Guard after downtown stores looted

Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Minneapolis police say a man suspected in a Wednesday afternoon homicide fatally shot himself hours later on Nicollet Mall as officers closed in, sparking protests and looting in the heart of downtown.

The man, who is Black, was wanted in the slaying of a man in a downtown parking garage. He was on foot at 8th and Nicollet at 6 p.m. As police pulled up, he ducked into a doorway and shot himself in the head while onlookers scrambled away. The man has not been identified.

...snip...

An agitated crowd swiftly grew into the hundreds after the suicide as police tried to cordon off the area and form a perimeter. As darkness fell, some broke out the windows of Nordstrom Rack, while others tried to enter Target as the security gates closed. Officers occasionally sprayed a chemical deterrent and arrested a few people attempting to loot the Foot Locker. An activist walked through the crowd with a megaphone attempting to calm the crowd down, saying, “We have the video. The man killed himself.”

Gov. Tim Walz said the State Patrol was headed to Minneapolis to help restore order. “Minneapolis, it’s time to heal. We must rebuild and recover. Dangerous, unlawful behavior will not be tolerated,” Walz said in a statement.

Read more: https://www.startribune.com/mpls-windows-smashed-crowds-gather-after-police-say-shooting-suspect-killed-himself/572231992/

August 27, 2020

The Kenosha Police Officer Who Shot Jacob Blake In The Back Has Been Identified As Rusten Sheskey

Source: BuzzFeed News

Rusten Sheskey has been identified as the Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back as he tried to get in his car with his children inside, the Wisconsin Department of Justice said.

In a statement released Wednesday, the agency said that officers had attempted to arrest Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, and a taser did not subdue him.

Details released by the Wisconsin DOJ leading up to the moment of the shooting lines up with bystander video of the incident that was shared widely early this week. Blake walked around his car and opened the driver's side door, and Sheskey grabbed Blake's shirt and fired his gun into his back, the statement said.

"No other officer fired their weapon," the statement said, adding that the officers were not wearing body cameras because the Kenosha police department does not have them.

Read more: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/clarissajanlim/kenosha-police-officer-rusten-sheskey-shot-jacob-blake?bftwnews&utm_term=4ldqpgc#4ldqpgc

August 27, 2020

Minneapolis Police: "Really, it wasn't us! Here's proof!" (Warning: graphic content!! NSFW)

https://twitter.com/CityMinneapolis/status/1298800121342287872

(I'm aware of the "no graphic content rule, but this is directly from the Police Dept and City Government)

August 27, 2020

Former football player Jack Brewer (at RNC) under investigation for Stock Fraud...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed civil insider trading charges against Brewer in August 2020. The SEC alleged that Brewer sold 100,000 shares in a penny stock, COPsync, after receiving confidential information indicating that the share price was likely to drop, and that Brewer "profited by approximately $35,000 more than he otherwise would have." Brewer did consulting work for COPsync which promoted a messaging system for law enforcement, described as an "Amber Alert for police officers." Brewer had also recruited eight former and current athletes to promote the company. COPsync went bankrupt 2017, and in 2018 the SEC revoked the registration of the company's stock.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Brewer_(American_football)

August 27, 2020

More games being cancelled

https://twitter.com/latimes/status/1298790534715064320

https://twitter.com/FOXSoccer/status/1298784618544377856

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1298789847491121156?s=20

August 27, 2020

Joe Biden statement on Jacob Blake

https://twitter.com/DavidAFrench/status/1298709012301545474

August 27, 2020

Hurricane Laura forcing water in the Mississippi River northward

https://twitter.com/EricHolthaus/status/1298774014014390273

August 27, 2020

The Trump campaign has gone dark on broadcast TV for the second time in a month.

Source: New York Times

The Trump campaign has halted its broadcast television advertising campaign, pulling down all broadcast ads on Tuesday with no new ads scheduled to start until Sept. 8, a two-week dark period with less than 70 days to go until the election.

It is the second time over the past 30 days that the Trump campaign has gone completely dark on air, having paused advertising in late July following the shift in leadership as Bill Stepien took over as campaign manager from Brad Parscale. They are maintaining a presence on national cable.

The pause comes as the Biden campaign has been amping up its television advertising presence. In the period that the Trump campaign is slated to be dark, the Biden campaign has roughly $20 million booked in battleground states. In the immediate aftermath of the convention, the Biden campaign will have the airwaves to itself.

In a statement, the Trump campaign said the recent campaigning by President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, combined with the coverage of the convention, was enough media to carry them. The campaign also said, “we will be back up on broadcast TV well before September 8th.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/08/26/us/rnc-convention-election/the-trump-campaign-has-gone-dark-on-broadcast-tv-for-the-second-time-in-a-month