Have I mentioned that I really hate election years? We’ve got twenty days of watching the same awful politics ads on the television. We’ve got twenty more days (at least) of wondering if we’re heading for more disaster or a reprieve. Or some of both.
Yes, This Was Convenient
You might remember a while back that a right-wing agitator was shot and killed in Portland by another man who has been identified in headlines with antifa, although whether that’s completely accurate is arguable. Anyway, the alleged shooter was 39-year-old Michael Forest Reinoehl. A few hours after Reinoehl became the official suspect in the shooting he was killed by members of a U.S. Marshalls task force sent to take him into custody.
A few hours before he was killed, Reinoehl had made a video claiming he shot in self-defense. Whether that is true I do not know. We’ll probably never know.
Today the New York Times has a detailed analysis of the killing of Reinoehl that describes Reinoehl’s death as an execution. The marshalls did not even try to take Reinoehl into custody. They just shot him to death on sight.
Mr. Reinoehl did have a .380-caliber handgun on him when he was killed, according to the county sheriff’s team that is running a criminal homicide investigation into Mr. Reinoehl’s death. But the weapon was found in his pocket.
An AR-style rifle was found apparently untouched in a bag in his car.
Five eyewitnesses said in interviews that the gunfire began the instant the vehicles arrived. None of them saw Mr. Reinoehl holding a weapon. A single shell casing of the same caliber as the handgun he was carrying was found inside his car.
Garrett Louis, who watched the shooting begin while trying to get his 8-year-old son out of the line of fire, said the officers arrived with such speed and violence that he initially assumed they were drug dealers gunning down a foe — until he saw their law enforcement vests.
“I respect cops to the utmost, but things were definitely in no way, shape or form done properly,” Mr. Louis said.
Not proper, but politically convenient. Of course, if Mr. Reinoehl had been a Proud Boy he would have been arrested alive and probably treated to a hamburger on the way to arraignment.
Michael Reinoehl
The Coward’s Way Out
You might remember that after Trump was diagnosed with the ‘rona, the debate commission decided that tomorrow night’s town hall debate could only be done remotely. Trump threw a fit and dropped out. Biden then decided to hold his own town hall meeting, which will be on ABC tomorrow night.
Today Trump announced he would also have his own town hall meeting, at exactly the same time, on NBC. That’s a slick way to get out of facing Biden again, although Trump pretty much beat himself up in that first debate. Biden mostly just stood there being incredulous. But I think that’s a sucky thing for NBC to do. They should have scheduled Trump on another night. Not that I would watch him on any night. It’ll be fun if the Biden show gets higher ratings than the Trump show.
October Fizzles
It’s possible Trump would not be POTUS now had James Comey not stupidly announced there were MORE CLINTON EMAILS to be investigated right before the 2016 election. Now, four years later, the Trumpers are desperate for another October surprise to save Trump’s ass.
Attorney General Bill Barr obviously has been tasked with getting the goods on somebody, but he keeps coming up short. Barr’s investigations into the investigation of Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign just aren’t coming up with anything as juicy as Hillary Clitnon’s emails. In just the past few days, it was announced the investigation into the beginnings of the Russia invesgitation would not reach any conclusions before the election. Yesterday the investigation into whether Obama-era officials improperly requested the identities of individuals whose names were redacted in intelligence documents concluded without finding any wrongdoing.
But today right-wing media were exploding with glee over HUNTER BIDEN EMAILS that allegedly tie Joe Biden to Burisma, the Ukraine oil company that employed Hunter for a time. Nour Al Ali, Bloomberg News:
The Biden campaign on Wednesday denied a New York Post report that said the former vice president met with a senior official from a Ukrainian energy firm that was at the center of a controversy over the dismissal of a prosecutor investigating the company.
“We have reviewed Joe Biden’s official schedules from the time and no meeting, as alleged by the New York Post, ever took place,” campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement.
The newspaper offered no proof the meeting took place, but cited unverified emails it said it was given by surrogates of President Donald Trump. The report said that Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board at Burisma, thanked Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, in an April 2015 email for inviting him to Washington and “giving an opportunity to meet your father.” The then-vice-president’s son had joined the company’s board about a year earlier, according to the Post.
It’s so bizarre that to comment on it risks amplifying it.
But the New York Post published a story Wednesday morning claiming to have received from Rudy Giuliani a copy of a hard drive from a Hunter Biden laptop.
And yet, for a supposed October surprise, nothing in the story or where it came from is particularly surprising. A right-leaning news outlet known for loose editorial standards peddles emails of unknown provenance from Giuliani, bag man for the President whose antics already got President Trump impeached over the same allegations last year.
What’s even less surprising is how the Trump campaign and the associated Fox News apparatus have latched on to the story.
Kovensky goes on to explain all the ways this story is hinky. Twitter has banned anyone from posting the New York Post article. As of now there’s nothing about this story on the New York Times website, which is a pretty good indication it’s not getting any traction outside of the fever swamps.
This is all just so tiresome. I am done with the SC hearings and would just as soon they vote and be done. The outcome is foregone. And I turned it off when Ted Cruz was on. I just don't listen to him. I keep donating and hoping. Looks to me like a landslide vote is necessary.
I watched reruns of old Law & Order episodes rather than get my blood pressure up watching Amy dodge & weave & refuse to answer questions. I may have seen those episodes 2 or 3 times before but the outcomes were never any less in doubt than this sham process to install another Federalist Society / religious wacko on the Supreme Court.
thanks for the info
I too hate election years and the repetitious, lying political ads.
However, here in the capital city of the Mississippi of the Midwest (aka Indiana) there have been some things of interest.
In the white flight county north of Indianapolis, there is a democrat running for the congressional seat in a district where democrats don't always bother having a candidate. That county has not elected a democrat to a county-wide or congressional district for more than a century. It is an open seat due to the rePuke holding the seat seems to have given up on the rePuke party. The amount of money being spent on that seat indicates that it is competitive for the democrat. The rePuke has 'loaned' a million dollars to her candidate; the NRCC and Club For Growth are spending a lot on ads yet the democrat's ads are as frequent as the rePuke ads.
In a state congressional district that is also white flight north, there is a democrat actually running as a progressive. That is unheard of in Indiana. She has my favorite ad of the year which I enjoy seeing repeatedly. It is in black & white with a 1950ish family of three (mom, dad, girl of about 10). The family talk about how glad they are that the rePuke wants to ban gays from being allowed to be teachers; about how happy it makes them that the rePuke wants to allow children to carry guns to school; and about how delighted they are that rePuke men want to make the health care decisions for women. The sarcasm is beautiful.
Election year my ass. They were chattering about 2020 candidates before the vote tally from 2016 was complete. It’s all election season all the time now. We’re three weeks from starting the next 4 year season.
The best time to cancel your cable TV was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
Dude — I well remember them talking about 1972 candidates before the vote tally was done from 1968. And so on. But usually you can ignore it, because it's nearly always bullshit. The candidates they talk up right after one election is over are hardly ever the ones who are real contenders four years later. And they don't start running the horrible political ads until summer before the election. But this election is more nerve wracking than usual.
It's only going to intensify AFTER Election Day. This is the lull before the storm. Trump will call out his Proud Boys for some 2nd Amendment action ("Democrats are stealing the election!!"), while Republican lawyers will try to invalidate as many ballots as they can. It may come down to the Supreme Court, and we'll soon know where Amy ("I Know NOTHING!") Barrett stands.
Unlike many people, I've watched the hearings for Coat Hanger Barbie the last two days, and I've managed to keep whatever it is that's still left of my sanity. My secret? I mute the RepubliKKKLAN Senators. This way, I don't have to listen to their usual whining and bullshit, but still watch the Democrats grill the latest turd the Federalist Society pooped out – this time for Notorious RBG's seat on the SCOTUS. Also, you have to go into watching these things knowing the nominee isn't going to answer any questions. It's like the GOP judicial nominees were born yesterday, and have no opinion on any single thing! Or these robots are rebooted every night.
About Danielson and Michael Reinoel, imo, Reinhoel was the first (?) and hopefully last victim of a tRUMP "Death Squad." He was assassinated. The question is, why? What was he, and/or what did he know that necessitated his summary execution?
As for the latest batshit-crazy Biden "theory" running through conservative's empty skulls like a lonely hamster on an exercise-wheel in his cage in an empty basement, I won't soil my already filthy mind with reading that kind of utter nonsense.
And consider where this crap was published! Outside of its excellent sports section, the NY Post shames Alexander Hamilton, its founder, each and every day!
If you buy it for its sports section though (as I used to), the question is, what do you do with the paper when you're done?
You can't wrap a fish in the Post, because it's an insult to the intelligence of the poor dead fish. And you don't want to line a birdcage with it, because it'll scare the poor bird shitless to the point where it poops itself to death.
Final thoughts for the evening: Biden's up nationally AND in the battleground states. And many Democrats running for Congress in Red States are looking good! And early-voting is SHATTERING old early-voting records!
With those thoughts in mind, have a wonderful night!!!