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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’!)

• Michael Forest Reinoehl, the man who seemingly confessed to fatally shooting Aaron “Jay” Danielson at a pro-Trump rally in downtown Portland last Saturday, was gunned down by officers last night in a hail of bullets in Washington state. Officers reportedly came in contact with Reinoehl outside of an apartment, and “40-50 shots” were fired as he tried to escape. Authorities say Reinoehl had a gun, but are not saying whether or not he used it. Our Blair Stenvick has more.

AG Barr “applauds” law enforcement killing Reinoehl: pic.twitter.com/Bak1lik9UF
— Alex Zielinski (@alex_zee) September 4, 2020

Angel Romero, 2nd from L, talks at his Lacey, WA home. A man suspected of fatally shooting a right-wing activist was killed Thursday when officers tried to arrest him. Romero says one bullet entered his home, and was inches from hitting his brother, dogs: https://t.co/JNlFZKDdnd pic.twitter.com/WGly5m4P0H
— Erika Schultz (@ErikaJSchultz) September 4, 2020

• A 17-year-old protester has accused a Portland cop of sexually harassing her during an arrest, squeezing her thigh as he frisked her and denying her the opportunity to be searched by a nearby female officer. Cata Gaitáin reports.

• ALERT! ALERT! Facebook finally did something right: They’ve taken down the personal account of Joey Gibson, the leader of the far-right, violent, pro-fascist group that has attacked peaceful protesters around the Northwest for years. In other news, I still despise Facebook.

• Gov. Kate Brown warned Oregonians today to be extra careful this Labor Day weekend since too many people are still making stupid, unsafe choices when it comes to COVID and are fucking it up for the rest of us. (My words, not hers.) But seriously, every holiday weekend a bunch of selfish fart cushions blithely prance around infecting everyone which sends the state back five steps and keeps us all further away from reopening our businesses, schools, and our SANITY. So for the love of Christ, WASH YA DAMN HANDS, WEAR YA DAMN MASKS, AND KEEP YA DAMN DISTANCE!

Big plans this weekend? Past holiday weekends have led to spikes in #COVID19 cases. Remember to celebrate safely this weekend so we can keep our case rates low.

🇺🇸After Memorial Day: cases ⬆ 240%
🎆After July 4: cases ⬆ 58%

Ways to stay safe: https://t.co/e4PLpZY3kJ pic.twitter.com/77M2XCuJSI
— Multnomah County Health Dept (@MultCoHealth) September 4, 2020

• Get all the latest food and drink news and gossipy-gossip in our weekly FOOD NEWS ROUNDUP!

IN NATIONAL NEWS:

• The Atlantic published a wildly damning report that Trump routinely disparages veterans, service members, and those who died in war, calling them “losers” and “suckers.” He also reportedly wanted to keep wounded veterans out of parades, because “nobody wants to see” amputees. Trump denies making the comments, but no one believes him because he says terrible stuff like that all the time. Meanwhile, Biden is having a FIELD DAY.

Now Trump is saying he even phoned Melania back in Washington to say how disappointed he was that he couldn’t go to the military cemetery outside of Paris. In fact, Melania was with him in Paris. He just made up his alibi. pic.twitter.com/pYErQ3yMB6

— John Aravosis 🇺🇸🇬🇷🏳️‍🌈 (@aravosis) September 4, 2020

• In Trump’s continuing war against the media, the president’s toady Defense Secretary Mark Esper threatened to close Stars & Stripes newspaper, which has been providing journalism to the military for over 100 years. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle as well as troops pitched a major fit, causing Trump and Esper to reverse their stupid decision.

• According to DHS intelligence reports, Russia is actively seeking to undermine Americans’ trust in mail-in voting… hey, just like Trump and Barr. They all have so much in common!

• Related: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida tried to tour a USPS facility to check on the status of mail delays, but was blocked by security who told her that USPS leadership said she couldn’t come in.

• The editor of respected medical journal The Lancet is saying that Trump’s idea to rush through a safe coronavirus vaccine by election day is “simply wrong.” Trump’s own “vaccine chief” agrees.

• According to a draft report from the Department of Homeland Security, white supremacists present the most dangerous terror threat to the United States—which sounds exactly fucking right.

More than 93% of BLM demonstrations have been peaceful, yet 42% of population believe that protestors are trying to incite violence or destroy property.
“Research indicates that this disparity stems from political orientation and biased media framing”https://t.co/wsZWqwRf37

— Teymoor Nabili (@teymoornabili) September 4, 2020

• THE WEATHER REPORT: A cooler Saturday with a high of 84 kicks off a pleasant Labor Day weekend with temperatures hitting 95 by Monday.

• And finally, me going into the Labor Day weekend like….

Amazon’s new tire delivery sylstem is pretty great.

And it even rings the doorbell… pic.twitter.com/kOwYTaIFNo
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) September 4, 2020

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