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by Wm. Steven Humphrey

Here’s your daily roundup of all the latest local and national news. (Like our coverage? Please consider making a recurring contribution to the Mercury to keep it comin’!)

• A right wing member of the violent Proud Boy group who pointed a gun at protesters last weekend (and yet was not arrested), was not arrested again after showing up to a Gresham protest yesterday… again with a gun.

Police say they’ve been looking for the man who pulled a gun on antifascist protesters at Saturday’s violent protest in downtown Portland.

He isn’t that hard to find. Our reporters saw him leading a rally in front of Gresham City Hall yesterday. https://t.co/1pgpuWPHfk
— OPB (@OPB) August 27, 2020

• Also not arrested: Proud Boy Tusitala “Tiny” Toese who also proudly showed up at a Portland protest this weekend and was ignored by the cops, even though he has a warrant out for his arrest. A judge just issued an additional warrant for his arrest… which probably won’t happen either.

• In a reaction to local rich person/property owner Greg Goodman’s anti-homeless hissy fit, Mayor Ted Wheeler made big promises to the Portland Business Alliance today saying he’ll work harder to get tents off the streets, stop the “bad behavior” during nightly protests against police brutality, and clean up downtown to get our local economy moving again… HURRRRAH!! (Too bad that COVID thingy is the primary driver of Portland’s economic troubles—but it’s a great way to appease the wealthy Greg Goodmans of Portland by targeting homelessness and protests, isn’t it?)

• Meanwhile, Portland Police and the mayor are insisting that getting rid of the Gang Violence Reduction Team has led to increased shootings… but local experts who’ve studied the subject say that argument is exaggerated at best, and deliberate politicization at worst. Our Blair Stenvick has more.

• Yet another headline that begs the question “Exactly WHY are we not taking money away from the police department again?”: “Analysis shows Black people more likely than whites to be arrested at Portland protests.”

• From last night’s protest (and turn on the sound for best results).

Bizarre push north on SW Moody while the protesters’ sound system plays “yakety sax.” pic.twitter.com/1Jmnz4e3n3

— Suzette Smith (@suzettesmith) August 27, 2020

• Good on Powell’s Books who say they will no longer sell on Amazon, because the megacorp drains too much money from local, independent booksellers.

IN NATIONAL NEWS:

• Hurricane Laura landed in Cameron, Louisiana last night, causing a “catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds and flash flooding,” according to the National Hurricane Center. Today Laura has been downgraded to a tropical storm and is expected to move over Arkansas tonight. At least four people have died from the storm.

Hurricane Laura toppled a Louisiana Confederate statue — just two weeks after local officials voted to keep the statue up at a courthouse. https://t.co/HLuQxRJd7i

— NPR (@NPR) August 27, 2020

• Kyle Rittenhouse—the teen gunman accused of killing two and injuring another at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin following the police shooting of Jacob Blake—was a Trump supporter who posed with guns online and also supported the “Blue Lives Matter” movement.

• VERY MUCH RELATED: For the final night of the GOP Garbage Parade (AKA the Republican National Convention), Trump is expected to accept his corrupt party’s nomination and deliver a lie-filled speech about the dangers of radicalism. (The same kind of rhetoric that inspired Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse.)

• Meanwhile talks have once again broken down on the subject of coronavirus relief, as Dems and White House met to discuss how to help jobless Americans and the administration once again refused to negotiate.

• NBA players went on strike yesterday, prompting the league to postpone its current playoff games. The WNBA is now joining that strike.

• Today in AUTHORITARIANISM:

The White House is reportedly compiling a “very large” dossier on a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter and others who it said are a “disgrace to journalism and the American people.”

Imagine being on your deathbed and thinking: “well, seeing smash mouth was totally worth it” https://t.co/LKM8FQKVaM

— Kaveh Shahrooz کاوه شهروز (@kshahrooz) August 27, 2020

• Congrats to Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom on the birth of their baby girl, Daisy Dove Bloom. TOO. CUTE.

• THE WEATHER REPORT: Heating up a touch tomorrow with yet another fine, sunny day with a high of 86.

• And finally, I’m like this goat… if the mountain were covered with vintage Taylor Swift or High School Musical T-shirts.

These incredible ibex defy gravity climbing a near-vertical dam in search of nutritious salt.. pic.twitter.com/5Ys8B1Poig

— Nature And Science Zone (@ZoneNature03) August 27, 2020

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