Trump supporters, rioters clash in Portland; 1 killed

 

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — One person was shot and killed late Saturday in Portland, Oregon, as a large caravan of President Donald Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter rioters clashed in the streets, police said.

It wasn’t clear if the shooting was linked to fights that broke out as a caravan of about 600 vehicles was confronted by counter-demonstrators in the city’s downtown.

Police said the caravan had left the area around 8:30 p.m., and officers heard gunshots at about 8:46 p.m., according to a statement. Officers arrived at the shooting scene “within a minute,” police said, but the man who was shot did not survive.

An Associated Press freelance photographer heard three gunshots and then observed police medics working on the body of the victim, who appeared to be a white man. The freelancer said the man was wearing a hat bearing the insignia of Patriot Prayer, a right-wing group whose members have frequently clashed with protesters in Portland in the past.

Police said the man was shot in the chest. He was not immediately identified. It’s unclear who shot him.

Homicide detectives were looking for more evidence, acknowledging that several images and videos had been posted on social media.

“It is important for detectives get a full and accurate picture of what happened before, during, and after the shooting,” a police statement said. “If anyone was a witness, has video, or has information about the homicide, they’re asked to contact the primary detectives.”

“This violence is completely unacceptable and we are working diligently to find and apprehend the individual or individuals responsible,” Chief Chuck Lovell said.

Portland has been the site of nightly riots for more than three months since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Many of them end in vandalism and violence, and hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested by local and federal law enforcement since late May.

In the two hours following the shooting, rioters gathered downtown and there was sporadic fighting and vandalism, police stated. Some gave speeches in Lownsdale Square Park before the protest petered out. Ten people were arrested, police said.

The caravan had arrived downtown just as a riot planned for Saturday was getting underway. The chaotic scene came two days after Trump invoked Portland as a liberal city overrun with violence in a speech at the Republican National Convention as part of his “law and order” re-election campaign theme. The caravan marked the third Saturday in a row that Trump supporters have rallied in the city.

Trump and other speakers at last week’s convention evoked a violent, dystopian future if Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden wins in November and pointed to Portland as a cautionary tale for what would be in store for Americans.

The pro-Trump rally’s organizer, who recently coordinated a similar caravan in Boise, Idaho, said in a video posted on Twitter Saturday afternoon that attendees should only carry concealed weapons and the route was being kept secret for safety reasons.

The caravan had gathered earlier in the day at a suburban mall and drove as a group to the heart of Portland. As they arrived in the city, rioters attempted to stop them by standing in the street and blocking bridges.

Videos from the scene showed sporadic fighting, as well as Trump supporters firing paintball pellets at opponents and using bear spray as counter-protesters threw things at the Trump caravan.

The Black Lives Matter riots usually target police buildings and federal buildings. Some rioters have called for reductions in police budgets while the city’s mayor and some in the Black community have decried the violence, saying it’s counterproductive.

Early Saturday morning, fires set outside a police union building that is a frequent site for riots prompted police to declare a riot.

An accelerant was used to ignite a mattress and other debris that was laid against the door of the Portland Police Association building, police said in a statement. At least one dumpster had also been set on fire in the street nearby.

The commotion followed a sit-in in the lobby of the Portland mayor’s condominium building Friday night.

______

Associated Press freelancer Paula Bronstein contributed to this report.

Chicago shootings leave at least 5 dead; 2 city cops among the wounded

 

A deadly weekend of Chicago gun violence left two police officers wounded early Sunday, a police department spokesman confirmed.

Both officers were hospitalized but their medical conditions were not immediately known, the spokesman wrote on Twitter.

Between Friday evening and Saturday afternoon at least 5 people were killed and more than a dozen hurt in city shootings.

A 19-year-old man was fatally shot around 7 p.m. Friday by a man who got out of an SUV and hit him in the chest and stomach. He was pronounced dead at a hospital, WMAQ-TV of Chicago reported.

Within 20 minutes, a 39-year-old man was killed in a drive-by shooting while he sat on a porch with two others. He was hit multiple times in the legs and pronounced dead at a hospital.

A 66-year-old woman who was also on the porch was in critical condition after being hit in a shoulder.

About an hour later, a 21-year-old was killed in a separate drive-by shooting as he walked out of a gas station mini-mart. He was pronounced dead at a hospital after being hit multiple times.

Minutes later, a woman was shot in the stomach and killed by an unknown suspect while walking on a sidewalk with a 31-year-old woman. The 31-year-old was taken to a hospital in fair condition after being hit in a thigh.

A 40-year-old man was also found fatally shot after 3 p.m. Saturday, according to WLS-TV in Chicago.

No arrests have been made, according to WMAQ.

Four others were fatally shot in the city on Thursday, FOX 32 reported.

“People … are in despair there,” Fox Nation host Lawrence Jones said earlier this month, adding that it seems like no one cares about the rampant violence that has also left multiple young children dead recently.

“A lot of these shootings are done by kids. 17, 18, 19 years old and the community keeps saying, ‘Well, there is a broken education system. There is poverty in these communities.’ Any criminologist will tell you that is a breeding fest for crime, so how do we tackle that?”

Portland shooting leaves 1 dead as pro-Trump group clashes with BLM

 

Violent clashes between a massive pro-Trump caravan that drove through Portland, Ore., and Black Lives Matter rioters left at least one person dead in a shooting Saturday evening, according to reports.

Video posted on social media showed a person suddenly dropping to the ground, and others rushing to assist, after what appears to be gunfire near an intersection as vehicles and pedestrians pass by.

Portland police said they were investigating a homicide in the area where the pro-Trump group and counter-rioters clashed but did not say whether the gunfire was directly related to the protests.

Police said Saturday evening no suspect information would be immediately released.

An Associated Press freelance photographer heard three gunshots and then observed police medics working on the body of the victim, who appeared to be a white man. The freelancer said the man was wearing a hat bearing the insignia of Patriot Prayer, a right-wing group whose members have frequently clashed with rioters in Portland in the past.

A man is treated by medics after being shot during a confrontation on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020, in Portland, Ore. Fights broke out in downtown Portland as a large caravan of supporters of President Donald Trump drove through the city, clashing with counter-rioters. (AP Photo/Paula Bronstein)

Police haven't confirmed any details about the victim.“Portland Police officers heard sounds of gunfire from the area of Southeast 3rd Avenue and Southwest Alder Street. They responded and located a victim with a gunshot wound to the chest. Medical responded and determined that the victim was deceased,” the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement.

Several arrests were made before the shooting and police advised people to avoid the area as the caravan arrived downtown while a protest was underway.

The pro-Trump rally's organizer, who coordinated a similar caravan in Boise, Idaho, earlier in the week, said in a video posted on Twitter Saturday afternoon that attendees should only carry concealed weapons and the route was being kept secret for safety reasons.

Tensions began escalating to violence earlier in the day when rioters confronted the pro-Trump caravan as it drove through the city following a rally at the Clackamas Town Center.

Rioters attempted to stop caravaners by standing in the street and videos from the scene showed sporadic fighting, as well as Trump supporters firing paintball pellets at opponents and using bear spray as counter-protesters threw things at the Trump caravan.The shooting happened after most of the caravaners had left the downtown area, OregonLive reported.Portland has seen more than 90 nights of continued protests and rioting in the downtown area and other parts of the city since May 25, when George Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Rioters On Unemployment Benefits Cartoons ( It must be nice to sleep all day and riot all night )

Trump administration allows deferral of Social Security tax

President Donald Trump speaks from the South Lawn of the White House on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Friday allowed employers to suspend collection of some Social Security taxes, although business groups don’t like the idea and it may create political headaches for Republicans. Democrats are already saying it would undermine retirement benefits.

The Treasury Department guidance came late in the day, less than 24 hours after the conclusion of the Republican National Convention and a speech by President Donald Trump in which he promised to protect Social Security and Medicare.

It allows employers to offer their workers a temporary deferral of the 6.2% payroll tax employees pay into the Social Security Trust Fund for the rest of this year. The taxes owed would not be forgiven, and instead would come due in 2021.

It’s unclear how many employers will take the option, since implementing it would involve additional effort and expenses on their part.

“The guidance allows employers to defer withholding and paying the employee’s portion of the Social Security payroll tax if the employee’s wages are below a certain amount,” Treasury said in a terse press release. The earnings cutoff is $104,000 a year.

Trump had ordered the tax deferral in early August after Congress deadlocked on the latest coronavirus relief bill. The president argues more money in workers’ pockets for the rest of this year will translate to a boost for the economy.

But major business groups traditionally allied with the White House called the idea unworkable for employers and unfair to workers. Employers wanted to avoid the hassle of having to collect the deferred taxes later on from their workers.

Neil Bradley, policy chief for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Friday night the Treasury guidance leaves many practical questions unanswered.

“However, it makes clear that employees will be required to pay more taxes beginning in January to offset any benefit they receive now,” Bradley said. “The only way to achieve a workable proposal is for Congress and the administration to come together and enact a change in the law.”

Lawmakers have little desire to tinker with Social Security.

An analysis by the Chamber found that a hypothetical worker making $75,000 a year would get nearly $179 more every two weeks through the rest of this year. But that same worker would owe about $1,610 next year. A worker making $35,000 would get about $83 more biweekly the rest of this year, and owe just over $750 next year.

Separately, AARP wrote Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to express concerns about the potential consequences for Social Security finances.

Regardless of the practical impact of Treasury’s action, it appears Social Security will be thrust into the election maelstrom.

Trump has also teased that if he’s reelected he would press for a permanent cut in Social Security taxes. Although the president argues it will help revive an economy battered by the coronavirus, many economists disagree.

“At the end of the year, the assumption that I win, I’m going to terminate the payroll tax, which is another thing that some of the great economists would like to see done,” Trump told reporters earlier this month, adding that “tremendous growth” in the U.S. will cover the costs of Social Security. “We’ll be paying into Social Security through the general fund.”

White House aides insist that Trump is only referring to permanently forgiving the taxes that would be deferred this year, but the president himself has repeatedly indicated he has much bigger ideas in mind.

As a candidate in 2016, Trump promised not to cut Social Security and Medicare, and Democrats say he has now abandoned that promise.

“He is defunding Social Security and breaking his promise — it’s staring us in the face,” said Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., who chairs a subcommittee that oversees the program. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has joined the criticism.

While the president has the authority to defer collection of the tax in a national emergency, only Congress can forgive the amounts owed. Trump directed Mnuchin to work with lawmakers to secure that goal. Administration officials say any legislation would repay the Social Security Trust Fund as well.

But congressional Republicans have shown little interest.

Many economists say the policy is dubious. While it would put more money in workers’ pockets, people might not spend it if they’re afraid the government will ask for it back. Also, a payroll tax deferral benefits those who are working, not the unemployed going without a $600 weekly benefit from the federal government that has lapsed.

The White House says Trump’s commitment to Social Security is ironclad.

Trump to head to Louisiana as Hurricane Laura cleanup starts

LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) — The angry storm surge has receded and the clean up has begun from Hurricane Laura, but officials along this shattered stretch of Louisiana coast are warning returning residents they will face weeks without power or water amid the hot, stifling days of late summer.

The U.S. toll from the Category 4 hurricane stood at 14 deaths, with more than half of those killed by carbon monoxide poisoning from the unsafe operation of generators.

President Donald Trump plans on Saturday to tour the damage in Louisiana and neighboring Texas. He told reporters he considered delaying his Thursday night speech accepting the Republican Party’s nomination for reelection because of the storm. But he said that, as “it turned out, we got a little bit lucky. It was very big, it was very powerful, but it passed quickly. ”

Across southwestern Louisiana, people were cleaning up from the destructive hurricane that roared ashore early Thursday, packing 150-mph (240-kph) winds. Many were deciding whether they wanted to stay in miserable conditions or wait until basic services are finally restored.

Lauren Sylvester returned to her townhouse in Lake Charles on Friday after heeding a mandatory evacuation order and staying with her mother in a city about 95 miles (130 kilometers) away.

The inside of her unit was not directly damaged, but the roof lost shingles. Around her home, it was a different story. Power lines and trees were down.

“It’s still an incredible amount of damage,” said Sylvester, who was heading back to her mother’s house as soon as she finished cleaning up.

Simply driving was a feat in Lake Charles, a city of 80,000 residents hit head on by the hurricane’s eye. Power lines and trees blocked paths or created one-lane roads that drivers had to navigate with oncoming traffic. Street signs were snapped off their posts or dangling. No stoplights worked, making it an exercise in trust with other motorists sharing the roads.

Mayor Nic Hunter cautioned that there was no timetable for restoring electricity and that water-treatment plants “took a beating,” leaving barely a trickle of water coming out of most faucets. “If you come back to Lake Charles to stay, make sure you understand the above reality and are prepared to live in it for many days, probably weeks,” Hunter wrote on Facebook.

Caravans of utility trucks were met Friday by thunderstorms in the sizzling heat, complicating recovery efforts.

The Louisiana Department of Health estimated that more than 220,000 people were without water. Restoration of those services could take weeks or months, and full rebuilding could take years.

Forty nursing homes were relying on generators, and assessments were underway to determine if more than 860 residents in 11 facilities that had been evacuated could return.

The much weaker remnants of the hurricane continued to move across the Southern U.S., unleashing heavy rain and isolated tornadoes. North Carolina and Virginia could get the brunt of the worst weather Saturday, forecasters said.

When the storm moves back over the Atlantic Ocean, forecasters said it could become a tropical storm again and threaten Newfoundland, Canada.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards called Laura the most powerful hurricane to strike Louisiana, meaning it surpassed even Katrina, which was a Category 3 storm when it hit in 2005. He said Friday that officials now believe the surge was as high as 15 feet (4.5 meters).

The hurricane also killed nearly two dozen people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic en route to the Gulf Coast.

In Lake Charles, chainsaws buzzed and heavy machinery hauled tree limbs in the front lawn of Stanley and Dominique Hazelton, who rode out the storm on a bathroom floor. A tree punctured the roof not far from where the couple was taking cover.

They regretted staying.

“There’s people without homes,” Stanley Hazelton said. “So it was dumb. We’ll never do it again. We’ll never stay through another hurricane again.”

___

Associated Press contributors include Jamie Stengle in Dallas; Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans; John L. Mone in Holly Beach, Louisiana; Paul J. Weber in Austin, Texas; Seth Borenstein in Kensington, Maryland; and Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee.

Portland rioters stage sit-in at mayor's home

Dumb & Dumber
Mayor Ted Wheeler

A group of Portland, Ore.rioters staged a sit-in inside the lobby of Mayor Ted Wheeler’s condominium building Friday evening while others held a loud concert outside.
The rioters said they wouldn’t leave until Wheeler meets with them over their demands that he resign, reduce the Portland Police Bureau budget and never vote to increase police spending.
The protest appeared to be peaceful as of 10 p.m. local time, although red-paint handprints were seen on the glass outside the lobby, according to independent journalist Garrison Davis.
Some of the protesters had left by 10 p.m. for unspecified "safety reasons," Davis reported.
Late Friday, Wheeler's office released a statement saying,  "We are monitoring the situation and hope rioters remain peaceful for the safety of other residents," according to KION-TV reporter Jennifer Dowling.
It was not immediately clear if Wheeler was home during the protest.
Earlier, Wheeler tweeted a message, praising the rioters' efforts.
“Thank you Portlanders for a powerful display of solidarity at last night's demonstrations,” he tweeted. “Racial justice requires the entire community to come together. Let's continue to focus on the work ahead and move forward with reform, recovery and resilience plans for PDX.”
Earlier Friday, Wheeler wrote a letter to President Trump, declining an offer of more federal officers to quell rioting that has plagued the city since the May 25 death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.
“We don’t need your politics of division and demagoguery,” he wrote. “When you sent he Feds to Portland last month you made the situation far worse. Your offer to repeat that disaster is a cynical attempt to stoke fear and distract us from the real work of our city.”
Wheeler also condemned violence and vandalism that has marred mostly peaceful protests.
“There is no place for looting, arson or vandalism in our city,” he wrote. “There is no room here for racist violence or those who wish to bring their ideology of hate into our community. Those who commit criminal acts will be apprehended and prosecuted under the law."
The presence and tactics of federal agents who were sent to the city last month to protect the federal building downtown amid nightly protests were highly controversial. Agents have since been drawn down.
The local U.S. attorney announced Thursday that 74 people are now facing federal misdemeanor and felony charges related to protesting, include assaults on federal officers, arson and damaging federal property.
In a tweet a few hours later, Trump called Wheeler “incompetent” and said if he couldn’t get control of the city “we will go in and take care of matters the way they should have been taken care of 100 days ago!”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

House bill would block rioters from coronavirus unemployment benefits

A House Republican introduced a bill Friday that would make those charged with violence, looting or vandalism in connection with a protest ineligible for enhanced coronavirus unemployment benefits.
The “Support Peaceful Protest Act” would also make rioters “financially liable for the cost of federal policing,” according to the bill, which is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind.
“If you’re convicted of a crime that caused more manpower and law enforcement officers to deal with it, then perhaps you should be on the hook to pay for that,” Banks told WIBC-FM in Indianapolis.
Banks said he introduced the bill the day after an older couple who are his constituents were harassed by protesters while leaving President Trump’s nomination acceptance speech at the White House on Thursday evening.
He said many rioters have time to participate in violence because they are unemployed people receiving government benefits -- including increased federal benefits for those who have lost their jobs amid the pandemic.
“What we’re seeing happen in big cities and around the country are angry violent mobs showing up at federal properties, tearing down monuments on federal properties, especially in Washington, D.C. and it’s got to stop,” he said. “What my bill would do is add new consequences to those individuals who are breaking the law.”
Banks said he supports peaceful protest.

U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind.

“There are a lot of Americans who are showing up at peaceful protests,” he said, adding that his bill is a “common sense” step to add some “accountability for some of these angry mob protests that are occurring around our country.”
“The people who are acting out in violence are very different from those who are showing up peacefully and it’s easy to see the difference,” he told WIBC.
He added that the option for peaceful protest is part of being an American, but causing harm to another person or defacing federal property isn’t OK.
“We should take those tax dollars away and say that those who break the law in violent protest shouldn’t receive taxpayer dollars."

Sarah Palin's lawsuit against NY Times can go to trial: judge

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's defamation lawsuit against The New York Times will go to a trial, according to a federal judge's ruling Friday.

There was “sufficient evidence to allow a rational finder of fact to find actual malice by clear and convincing evidence," Judge Jed S. Rakoff of Federal District Court in Manhattan determined.
The judge set a trial date for Feb. 1.
Palin expressed her gratitude for the judge's ruling, tweeting "Humbled and thankful."
The Times expressed a different view.
“We’re disappointed in the ruling but are confident we will prevail at trial when a jury hears the facts,” a Times spokesperson said in a statement published in the paper's own report on the ruling.
The former GOP vice-presidential candidate sued the Times for libel after a June 2017 editorial about the shooting of GOP U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise and others mentioned a map put out years earlier by SarahPAC that had crosshairs over different Democratic congressional districts. While the map had been used in reference to ObamaCare, the editorial connected it to Jared Loughner’s 2011 shooting of then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., whose district was among those identified in the map.

The editorial said the SarahPAC map had Giffords and other Democrats under crosshairs (though the targets were over their districts).
In discussing the Scalise shooting, the Times said, “Though there’s no sign of incitement as direct as in the Giffords attack, liberals should of course hold themselves to the same standard of decency that they ask of the right.”
The Times published a correction after receiving backlash for the editorial, noting that there was no link between the map and the shooting.
Fox News' Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.

Blue State Cartoons 2020