President Trump’s job-performance rating returns to pre-Covid level, poll says

 

President Trump’s approval rating is back up to its pre-pandemic high of 52 percent, according to a Rasmussen poll.

Friday’s Rasmussen Reports approval rating for Trump was 52%. At the same time, 48 percent disapprove. Strong feelings for the president are equal on both sides-- 42 percent strongly approve of the president’s job and 42 percent strongly disapprove.

The last time Trump hit 52 percent approval was late February, weeks before coronavirus lockdowns kicked in.

The highest approval rating Trump has had was in late September 2019, at 53 percent, according to Rasmussen. The highest former President Barack Obama had was 52 percent, in late January 2011.

Daily tracking results for Rasmussen are collected via telephone surveys of 500 likely voters a night and reported on a three-day rolling average basis.

In past reelections, both Obama and President George W. Bush had a 51 percent approval on the day they won.

President Trump had approval ratings in the low-to-mid 40s throughout April, May, June and July, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Other polls have found differing results. According to a FiveThirtyEight, which estimates by factoring in polling data from multiple outlets, 52.1 percent  disapprove of the president’s job and 44 percent approve.

Crazy Nancy and the hairdresser Cartoons

 

Salon owner who tangled with Pelosi responds to Trump's call for her to run House

EXCLUSIVE: She's a salon owner and a single mom, and Erica Kious told Fox News Thursday she just may not be able to work in a new assignment from President Trump - Speaker of the House. After Kious found herself tangling with Nancy Pelosi, who got an illicit blowout at Kious's E SalonSF in violation of coronavirus restrictions, Trump decided he liked her style. In a tweet Thursday and later at a rally in Pennsylvania, he floated the idea of Kious running for the House of Representatives and taking over as speaker. TRUMP SUGGESTS HAIR SALON OWNER SHOULD BE 'RUNNING' THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AFTER PELOSI CONTROVERSY “I want the salon owner to lead the House of Representatives,” Trump said at the Latrobe rally. Kious heard the commander-in-chief's call, and responded in a phone interview with Fox News late Thursday. “I see how hard the president fights for America and it has inspired me to do what is right for the people in my industry and small businesses everywhere,” Kious said. “I never expected all of this, but the House I am focused on right now is the House with two little girls under 10, with social-distanced learning. But I appreciate the sentiment.” Kious added: “But he is my president and I will do what I need to do.” Earlier, the president tweeted, “Nancy Pelosi says she got ‘set up’ by a Beauty Parlor owner. Maybe the Beauty Parlor owner should be running the House of Representatives instead of Crazy Nancy?” placeholder Fox News first reported the California Democrat's visit to the San Francisco hair salon despite it being closed due to coronavirus-related local ordinances. In security footage obtained by Fox News, and timestamped Monday at 3:08 p.m. Pacific Time, the Californian speaker is seen walking through ESalonSF in San Francisco with wet hair, and without a mask over her mouth or nose. The stylist doing her hair can be seen following her wearing a black face mask. EXCLUSIVE: PELOSI USED SHUTTERED SAN FRANCISCO HAIR SALON FOR A BLOW-OUT, OWNER CALLS IT 'SLAP IN THE FACE' Pelosi dug in over the controversy and claimed that she was “set up” at the hair salon, which she said she had been to “over the years many times.” “I take responsibility for trusting the word of the neighborhood salon that I have been to many times,” Pelosi told reporters Wednesday. “When they said they could accommodate people one at a time, and we can set up that time, I trusted that.” Salons in San Francisco had been closed since March and were only notified they could reopen on Sept. 1 for outdoor hairstyling services only. placeholder “The salon owes me an apology for setting me up,” she added. Pelosi, on Wednesday, downplayed the fact that she didn’t wear a mask in the salon. “I just had my hair washed. I don’t wear my mask when I’m washing my hair,” she said. “Do you wear one when you wash your hair?”

Pelosi’s Republican challenger points to neighbors ‘mad at salon owner’ after blowout backlash

Time for her to retire.

 

John Dennis and Family.

John Dennis, a longtime Republican challenger of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Vote John Dennis in and throw Pelosi out!

John Dennis, a longtime Republican challenger of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco, took to Twitter late Thursday to show just how deep the support for the liberal Democrat is in the district, even after she was caught using a shuttered salon in the city for a blowout.

"I live near the salon where Nancy Pelosi went for her mask-less wash and blow out," Dennis wrote. "Right now people in my neighborhood are on Next Door vigorously defending....PELOSI. They're mad at the owner of e Salon. Now do you understand why I've had some difficulty defeating her?"

Dennis lost to Pelosi during the general election for California's 12th Congressional District in 2014 and 2012, never receiving more than 17 percent of the vote, according to Ballotpedia. During the district's primary election in March this year, he received less than eight percent of the vote.

He wrote in a Twitter post how local residents were using Next Door, a social networking service for neighborhoods, to defend Pelosi and excoriate Erica Kious, the owner of eSalonSF.

One of the posts he cited, read, "Boycott eSalon on Union street. The owner Érica Kious went on fox entertainment channel and out and out lied. Totally set up the speaker! Pelosi stylist backs her up!"

Pelosi insisted that she was "set up" by Kious. Her critics called the video the height of hypocrisy due to her stance on mask-wearing and lockdowns.

In security footage obtained by Fox News, and timestamped Monday at 3:08 p.m. PT, Pelosi is seen walking through the salon with wet hair, and without a mask over her mouth or nose.

Kious spoke to Fox News' Tucker Carlson hours after Pelosi addressed the backlash, claiming she had frequented the salon “over the years many times," and demanding an apology from the owner "for setting me up.”

Meanwhile, the San Francisco cosmetologist who reportedly worked on Pelosi's hair during the visit this week attempted Wednesday to distance himself from Kious. Through a statement issued by his lawyer, hair stylist Jonathan DeNardo said Kious appeared to be "furthering a setup of Speaker Pelosi for her own vain aspirations."

Fox News' Brooke Singman and Yael Halon contributed to this report

Biden makes awkward ‘they’ll shoot me’ quip during Kenosha appearance

 

Former Vice President Joe Biden used an unfortunate choice of words Thursday while visiting Kenosha, Wis. in the aftermath of the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Biden's speech aimed at addressing racial unrest veered into talking about inequities in taxes at one point. He stopped himself from laying out his tax policy in detail, saying if he goes on any longer "they'll shoot me."

The Democratic nominee, who has been prone to gaffes, billed his first trip to Wisconsin during the 2020 campaign as a moment for healing in the wake of racial unrest and violence.

He met with community leaders at Kenosha's Grace Lutheran Church and listened to their concerns on topics like economic inequality, restoring faith in policing, criminal justice reform and improving education.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks as he meets with community members at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Wis., Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Biden also visited the family of Blake, a 29-year-old Black man whose shooting by police last month set off another round of protests and in, some instances, riots and violence in Wisconsin and elsewhere.

President Trump visited Wisconsin earlier this week but didn't meet with Blake's family. Instead, he centered his message on supporting police and rebuilding damaged businesses.

Biden said he's seeking common ground that Trump is incapable of reaching with “law and order” rhetoric and repeated refusals to acknowledge racism in America.

“I can’t say if tomorrow God made me president, I can’t guarantee you everything gets solved in four years,” Biden said. But “it would be a whole better, we’d get a whole lot further down the road” if Trump isn’t re-elected.

“There’s certain things worth losing over,” he concluded, “and this is something worth losing over if you have to — but we’re not going to lose.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Suspect in fatal shooting of Patriot Prayer supporter killed after ‘threatening lives’ of officers: feds

 

An Antifa sympathizer who was said to be a suspect in the fatal shooting of a Patriot Prayer supporter in Portland, Ore., last month was reportedly killed Thursday night as authorities moved in to arrest him.

Michael Forest Reinoehl, 48, died in Lacey, Wash., outside Seattle, during an operation by a federal fugitive task force, The New York Times reported.

Reinoehl's death was also confirmed by a senior Justice Department official, according to The Associated Press. The suspect was shot by law enforcement after drawing a gun on officers, the AP report said.

PORTLAND OFFICIALS ARREST 3 FOR PROTEST-RELATED ASSAULTS, THREATS AGAINST CITY EMPLOYEES: DOJ

The task force was composed of personnel from the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service.

In a statement early Friday, the Marshals Service said the task force was acting on a murder warrant issued for Reinoehl by Portland police.

"Initial reports indicate the suspect produced a firearm, threatening the lives of law enforcement officers," the statement said. "Task force members responded to the threat and struck the suspect who was pronounced dead at the scene."

A car with shattered windows and likely bullet holes stands in the area where a man suspected of fatally shooting a supporter of a right-wing group in Portland, Ore., last week was killed as investigators moved in to arrest him in Lacey, Wash., Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020. (Associated Press)

Portland police had issued the warrant for Reinoehl earlier in the day, amid their investigation into the Aug. 29 fatal shooting of Aaron “Jay” Danielson, 39, on a night in which supporters of President Trump clashed with backers of the Black Lives Matter movement in Oregon’s largest city.

'Hunting me'

Earlier Thursday, Reinoehl was quoted in an interview on the Vice website, claiming he was a marked man.

“They’re out hunting me,” Reinoehl,  told an independent reporter in the interview posted Thursday by Vice.

“There’s nightly posts of the hunt and where they’re going to be hunting. They made a post saying the deer are going to feel lucky this year because it’s open season on Michael right now.”

Officials work at a scene, late Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020, where a man suspected of fatally shooting a supporter of a right-wing group in Portland, Ore., the week before, was killed as investigators moved in to arrest him in Lacey, Wash. (Associated Press)

Reinoehl told journalist Donovan Farley in the interview that he had no regrets about firing his weapon last weekend.

“I was confident that I did not hit anyone innocent and I made my exit,” he said.

Prior to Thursday's law enforcement action, the assertion that Reinoehl was a person of interest in the Danielson shooting came from Reinoehl’s sister and an anonymous law enforcement source, both of whom spoke this week with The Wall Street Journal.

Several confrontations

Reinoehl was a frequent participant in the nightly protests in Portland that have been occuring since the May 25 death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis -- and was reportedly involved in several confrontations.

Among them: In July, Reinoehl suffered a gunshot wound while trying to wrestle a gun away from a stranger, and was also cited for allegedly carrying a loaded gun to a protest on July 5, The Oregonian reported.

On July 26 he was wounded in a brawl in a downtown Portland park.

On the evening of the Danielson shooting, Reinoehl said in the Vice interview, he tried to assist a friend who was being confronted by Trump supporters. He said one man threatened him and his friend with a knife.

"Had I stepped forward, he would have maced or stabbed me," Reinoehl claimed.

Michael Reinoehl is seen in a screen capture from an interview posted on the Vice website.

Videos shot by bystanders appear to show a man resembling Reinoehl firing two shots at Danielson and then walking away, the Vice report said.

'ANTIFA all the way'

In an online post from June 16, Reinoehl described himself as being "100 % ANTIFA all the way!"

“Every Revolution needs people that are willing and ready to fight,” he allegedly wrote, according to The Oregonian. “There are so many of us protesters that are just protesting without a clue of where that will lead. That’s just the beginning that’s that where the fight starts. If that’s as far as you can take it thank you for your participation but please stand aside and support the ones that are willing to fight. I am 100 % ANTIFA all the way! I am willing to fight for my brothers and sisters! ... We do not want violence but we will not run from it either! ... Today’s protesters and antifa are my brothers in arms.”

Earlier this week, a friend of Danielson's claimed that Danielson was "executed" and "hunted down" for his conservative views.

Chandler Pappas told The Common Sense Converstive he was with Danielson as part the Patriot Prayer group in downtown Portland on Saturday when counterprotesters arrived in the area. The two groups quickly clashed in tense confrontations that escalated into violence.

"We have a First Amendment in the country," Pappas told the news site. "And for whatever reason, there seems to be this opposition that thinks we can't do that. They have been attacking us for years. Really for decades in the grand scheme of things but very heavily in Portland."

Pappas claimed he and Danielson were targeted because they were wearing Patriot Prayer caps.

"It takes a second for you to process everything that happened. 'Did he just shoot at me?'" Pappas said while standing in front of a Blue Lives Matter flag. "I'm OK. I turn over and Jay's dead because he believed something different. Jay's not a racist, a xenophobe or whatever. He's not an 'ist' or 'ism.'"

"They executed my parter," he said. "They hunted him down."

Around the same time Thursday night that news reports were breaking about Reinoehl being killed, President Trump tweeted his frustration that police hadn't yet made an arrest in the death of Danielson.

"Why aren't the Portland Police ARRESTING the cold blooded killer of Aaron "Jay" Danielson," the president wrote. "Do your job, and do it fast. Everybody knows who this thug is. No wonder Portland is going to hell!"

Fox News' Louis Casiano and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

California 2020 Exodus Cartoons

 

Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best steps down, claims cuts left her 'destined to fail'

 

Carmen Best, the first Black police chief in Seattle's history, left her post Wednesday, saying on her way out that the city council's police budget cuts had put her in a "position destined to fail," according to a report.

Best, 55, announced her resignation Aug 10, after the council made good on its promise to approve sweeping proposals that would slash the police department budget by $4 million and cut as many as 100 officers from the force.

"I believe 100% that they were putting me in a position destined to fail. Cutting a police department that already had low staffing numbers, that was already struggling to keep up with the demand," Best told NPR on Wednesday. "How are we going to provide for adequate public safety in that environment?"

Succeeding Best as interim chief is Adrian Diaz, who said he planned to shift 100 officers from "specialty units" to standard patrol units to help improve the department's 911 response time, Seattle's KOMO-TV reported.

Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best speaks to reporters, Aug. 11, 2020. (Asociated Press)

Best left her position amid a tumultuous last few months on the job, highlighted by protests against systemic racism and police violence, following the death of George Floyd in police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis. Protesters would take a six-block autonomous zone in the heart of the city's downtown for weeks -- free of law enforcement presence  -- after police vacated a nearby precinct building.

In late July, Best lashed out against rioters after an explosive device left an eight-inch hole in a wall of a city police precinct building.

“What we saw today was not peaceful,” Best said at the time, according to the Seattle Times. “The rioters had no regard for the public’s safety, for officers’ safety or for the businesses and property that they destroyed.”

Last month, Best said her decision to leave was "not about the money, and it certainly isn’t about the demonstrators."

“I mean, be real, I have a lot thicker skin than that," she added. "It really is about the overarching lack of respect for the officers, the men, and women who work so hard, day in and day out."

Backers of the “Defund the police” movement across the U.S. have sought to reduce or even eliminate funding for the nation’s police departments, pointing to what they say is a history of police mistreatment of African-Americans and other minority groups.

Seattle Mayor Durkan and Best had urged the council to slow down its discussions about police budgets, saying the issue could be taken up in earnest when the 2021 city budget is considered.

On her last day, Best remarked how she had mixed feelings about leaving the department amid nationwide protests, as well as an ongoing debate on police tactics.

"We're in the middle of a social reckoning, you know, racial reckoning in the country ... and we have to acknowledge that policing has a history that has in many ways been conducive to the racism that we're experiencing," she told NPR. "But we also have to acknowledge that policing is working really hard to change that narrative. And we need to work with the public to figure out how we're going to do that."

Best detailed her last day in a series of Twitter posts, starting off with a socially distanced interview, where she bid farewell to members of the community and the "hard-working men and women" with whom she worked over the years.

Best, who had been Seattle’s police chief since August 2018, served with the Seattle PD for nearly three decades and held almost every position within the department.

"I am honored. I am blessed," she said Wednesday.

Members of her original security detail then took her to what she described as a "swanky breakfast." She posted photos of the meal and remarked how she felt "fortunate to have had such dedicated public servant‘s by my side."

Later, members of law enforcement and residents lined up on Fifth Avenue in downtown Seattle near police headquarters to wave goodbye.

"So grateful for the @SeattlePD sworn and civilian who lined 5th Ave today to say goodbye — on my last day with the Dept," she wrote. "Thank you for 28 wonderful years!"

Fox News' Edmund DeMarche and Dom Calicchio contributed to this report