hotair--2020-11-01--Third Breonna Taylor grand juror disputes findings

Just when you thought the fallout from the Breonna Taylor shooting was mostly in the rearview mirror , yet another twist has emerged in the story .
For the third time , a member of the grand jury that declined to press charges relating to Taylor ’ s death against any of the officers involved has come forward ( anonymously ) to claim that the jury proceedings were flawed .
Speaking only through the attorney representing them , this juror chimed in with yet another claim that the prosecution didn ’ t offer the jurors the opportunity to consider additional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conclusion of the proceedings .
Considering how this new development may further inflame tensions in the streets of Louisville , this is hardly a welcome development .
( NY Post ) A third grand juror in the Breonna Taylor case plants [ sic ] to speak out about the controversial deliberations that cleared three Louisville cops of any criminal liability in the 26-year-old emergency room tech ’ s death , according to reports .
The announcement comes just three days after two other jurors spoke out for the first time on “ CBS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ General Daniel Cameron a “ liar ” for suggesting the 12-member panel signed off on clearing the cops .
“ After much reflection , Anonymous Grand Juror # 3 has joined Anonymous Grand Jurors # 1 and # 2 in promoting truth and transparency regarding the Breonna Taylor case , ” Kevin Glogower , the attorney for the other two panel members , said in a statement , WWBT-TV reported .
As I mentioned above , this juror is the third one to step forward without identifying themselves .
Two other jurors have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ liar ” for suggesting that the jury agreed with the conclusion that further charges were not justified .
Given the anonymous , secret nature of the grand jury system , we ’ re left with a couple of pressing questions about these objections .
If only three jurors have come forward , does that mean that a significantly larger number of jurors were okay with the conclusion ?
Or are they insinuating that a majority wanted more charges , but they weren ’ t offered the opportunity ?
That part hasn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but you don ’ t need a unanimous vote in such cases .
What ’ s also unclear is whether or not the jurors understood their role in the process .
After hearing all of the evidence , it ’ s the prosecutors who offer up potential charges and ask the jurors if they believe it ’ s justifiable to move forward with them .
It would be unusual for them to offer charges that look likely to fail at trial .
If these jurors really want to make their case , their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hurling insults at the Attorney General .
Some specifics about what procedures they believe were not followed correctly would be in order .
But unless that jury heard something shockingly different than the information that ’ s been made public thus far , expecting the AG to offer some sort of murder or homicide charges against the officers in Taylor ’ s death sounds unlikely in the extreme .
We now know as supported by the testimony of Taylor ’ s own boyfriend that the conditions on that fateful evening were simply chaotic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from a dark hallway where they couldn ’ t make out any details .
They returned fire in the direction of where they saw a muzzle flash .
Trying to prove intent to kill Taylor would be impossible .
Even a charge of homicide via reckless endangerment would be a massive leap given the boyfriend ’ s admission that he shot one of the cops , claiming he thought they were intruders .
It ’ s actually something of a miracle they weren ’ t both killed .
As I said , if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the public that the grand jury heard and it would suggest more direct culpability on the part of the police , the grand jurors should bring that forward through their attorney .
But that would imply a massive coverup that the police and the DA couldn ’ t possibly have thought they would get away with .
If the jurors ’ only complaint is that the state isn ’ t even going to attempt to prosecute a case they would clearly lose badly , it ’ s not much of an objection .

Just when you thought the fallout from the Breonna Taylor shooting was mostly in the rearview mirror, yet another twist has emerged in the story. For the third time, a member of the grand jury that declined to press charges relating to Taylor’s death against any of the officers involved has come forward (anonymously) to claim that the jury proceedings were flawed. Speaking only through the attorney representing them, this juror chimed in with yet another claim that the prosecution didn’t offer the jurors the opportunity to consider additional charges against the other officers at the conclusion of the proceedings. Considering how this new development may further inflame tensions in the streets of Louisville, this is hardly a welcome development. (NY Post)
A third grand juror in the Breonna Taylor case plants [sic] to speak out about the controversial deliberations that cleared three Louisville cops of any criminal liability in the 26-year-old emergency room tech’s death, according to reports. The announcement comes just three days after two other jurors spoke out for the first time on “CBS This Morning”, calling Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron a “liar” for suggesting the 12-member panel signed off on clearing the cops. “After much reflection, Anonymous Grand Juror #3 has joined Anonymous Grand Jurors #1 and #2 in promoting truth and transparency regarding the Breonna Taylor case,” Kevin Glogower, the attorney for the other two panel members, said in a statement, WWBT-TV reported.
As I mentioned above, this juror is the third one to step forward without identifying themselves. Two other jurors have already claimed that Daniel Cameron is a “liar” for suggesting that the jury agreed with the conclusion that further charges were not justified.
Given the anonymous, secret nature of the grand jury system, we’re left with a couple of pressing questions about these objections. If only three jurors have come forward, does that mean that a significantly larger number of jurors were okay with the conclusion? Or are they insinuating that a majority wanted more charges, but they weren’t offered the opportunity? That part hasn’t been made clear at all, but you don’t need a unanimous vote in such cases.
What’s also unclear is whether or not the jurors understood their role in the process. After hearing all of the evidence, it’s the prosecutors who offer up potential charges and ask the jurors if they believe it’s justifiable to move forward with them. It would be unusual for them to offer charges that look likely to fail at trial. If these jurors really want to make their case, their attorney should be doing more than simply hurling insults at the Attorney General. Some specifics about what procedures they believe were not followed correctly would be in order.
But unless that jury heard something shockingly different than the information that’s been made public thus far, expecting the AG to offer some sort of murder or homicide charges against the officers in Taylor’s death sounds unlikely in the extreme. We now know as supported by the testimony of Taylor’s own boyfriend that the conditions on that fateful evening were simply chaotic. The officers had been fired upon from a dark hallway where they couldn’t make out any details. They returned fire in the direction of where they saw a muzzle flash. Trying to prove intent to kill Taylor would be impossible. Even a charge of homicide via reckless endangerment would be a massive leap given the boyfriend’s admission that he shot one of the cops, claiming he thought they were intruders. It’s actually something of a miracle they weren’t both killed.
As I said, if there was other crucial evidence withheld from the public that the grand jury heard and it would suggest more direct culpability on the part of the police, the grand jurors should bring that forward through their attorney. But that would imply a massive coverup that the police and the DA couldn’t possibly have thought they would get away with. If the jurors’ only complaint is that the state isn’t even going to attempt to prosecute a case they would clearly lose badly, it’s not much of an objection.


hotair--2020-11-01--Texas Supreme Court correctly tosses GOP suit over drive-through voting

The Texas Supreme Court is tossing another lawsuit by Republicans over drive-through voting sites in Harris County .
Justices didn ’ t say why they rejected the suit on Sunday only ruling the emergency relief request was denied .
The best guess on why the Court rejected the suit involves previous suits filed by Republicans likely dealing with timing and the Election Code .
Votes are already being counted and tossing all 127K would be rather dumb .
The lawsuit was filed in October despite Harris County Clerk Christopher Hollins announcing months ago ( in July ! )
that he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ General Election .
The time for state GOP activists to raise concerns about drive-through voting was back then , not weeks before the election .
Bad move by Republican activists as it suggests they fear the state may end up going for Democrat Joe Biden instead of Republican Donald Trump .
Fear about the fate of Republican Senator John Cornyn may also be a factor along with power in the Texas Legislature .
Even the one Republican Texas Supreme Court justice who dissented on an earlier ruling on drive-through voting appeared to do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the entire thing would promote fraud .
Perhaps , as stated before , if the suit had been filed over the summer instead of in October things would be different .
The entire saga isn ’ t over because of a federal lawsuit on the issue .
Via The Texas Tribune : The tens of thousands of votes are still in flux , however , as the federal courts now weigh the issue .
[ The GOP suit ] asked the district court this week to toss the votes , arguing the county @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. Constitution .
The campaign of Texas ’ Democratic U.S. Senate candidate , MJ Hegar , along with national Democratic campaign groups have asked to intervene in the lawsuit — following a national trend in Republican-led fights against voting expansions during the tumultuous election .
Those hoping the federal judge will rule in favor of the Republican should pause and consider this : For what it ’ s worth , drive-through voting still has to follow other election rules .
Poll workers will still need to check IDs and make sure a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
No system , not even the photo ID one , is perfect and fraud is likely .
Texas had a voter fraud case involving a North Texas mayoral candidate this fall .
It ’ s likely any fraudulent votes would not have counted given the voter ID requirements .
One thing to consider : the suit may end up furthering Hollins ’ political career from a low-level appointed politician to a higher office if he plays his cards right .
Hollins can use these suits against any Republican candidate by showing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It would obviously depend on the office ( no , I don ’ t think Hollins could necessarily use this against say , Republican Governor Greg Abbott or Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick in 2022 ) but against a state House or Senate candidate or for a Houston City Council or Harris County commissioner positions ?
Absolutely .
This is a self-inflicted wound by conservative activists which may come back to hurt them at some point in the future .
These lawsuits are dumb and shouldn ’ t go any further .
It would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ filed much , much earlier but conservatives decided now to file them .
I don ’ t expect them to work , nor should they .
Get your popcorn ready for the federal suit , though .
It ain ’ t over .

The Texas Supreme Court is tossing another lawsuit by Republicans over drive-through voting sites in Harris County. Justices didn’t say why they rejected the suit on Sunday only ruling the emergency relief request was denied.
The best guess on why the Court rejected the suit involves previous suits filed by Republicans likely dealing with timing and the Election Code. Votes are already being counted and tossing all 127K would be rather dumb. The lawsuit was filed in October despite Harris County Clerk Christopher Hollins announcing months ago (in July!) that he was planning to expand it into the General Election. The time for state GOP activists to raise concerns about drive-through voting was back then, not weeks before the election. Bad move by Republican activists as it suggests they fear the state may end up going for Democrat Joe Biden instead of Republican Donald Trump. Fear about the fate of Republican Senator John Cornyn may also be a factor along with power in the Texas Legislature.
Even the one Republican Texas Supreme Court justice who dissented on an earlier ruling on drive-through voting appeared to do it on a technicality instead of suggesting the entire thing would promote fraud. Perhaps, as stated before, if the suit had been filed over the summer instead of in October things would be different.
The entire saga isn’t over because of a federal lawsuit on the issue. Via The Texas Tribune:
The tens of thousands of votes are still in flux, however, as the federal courts now weigh the issue. [The GOP suit] asked the district court this week to toss the votes, arguing the county’s implementation of drive-thru voting violates the U.S. Constitution. The campaign of Texas’ Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, MJ Hegar, along with national Democratic campaign groups have asked to intervene in the lawsuit — following a national trend in Republican-led fights against voting expansions during the tumultuous election.
Those hoping the federal judge will rule in favor of the Republican should pause and consider this:
Hanen is very conservative, but he’s surprised observers before (as when he left DACA in place.) Let’s hope he puts the kibosh on this complaint—> https://t.co/h8MrEKzRVA — EricaGrieder (@EricaGrieder) October 31, 2020
For what it’s worth, drive-through voting still has to follow other election rules. Poll workers will still need to check IDs and make sure a ballot hasn’t already been cast. No system, not even the photo ID one, is perfect and fraud is likely. Texas had a voter fraud case involving a North Texas mayoral candidate this fall. It’s likely any fraudulent votes would not have counted given the voter ID requirements.
One thing to consider: the suit may end up furthering Hollins’ political career from a low-level appointed politician to a higher office if he plays his cards right. Hollins can use these suits against any Republican candidate by showing, “Hey…I believe voting matters!” It would obviously depend on the office (no, I don’t think Hollins could necessarily use this against say, Republican Governor Greg Abbott or Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick in 2022) but against a state House or Senate candidate or for a Houston City Council or Harris County commissioner positions? Absolutely. This is a self-inflicted wound by conservative activists which may come back to hurt them at some point in the future.
These lawsuits are dumb and shouldn’t go any further. It would be more understandable if they had been filed much, much earlier but conservatives decided now to file them. I don’t expect them to work, nor should they. Get your popcorn ready for the federal suit, though. It ain’t over.


hotair--2020-11-01--More riots in Washington state after another police shooting, but with a twist

Well , at least this episode of the 2020 reality series “ Police Shootings and Riots ” didn ’ t take place in Portland , though it wasn ’ t far away .
Over the border in the southwestern corner of Washington state , police officers wound up in a deadly use-of-force encounter with a suspect in a drug investigation on Thursday night .
While we ’ re still waiting for any possible body cam footage or other evidence to be released , initial reports indicate that the suspect drew a handgun and fired on police as they approached .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the usual protests to erupt following a vigil for the suspect and they once again spiraled off into violence .
The incidents were centered around a suburb of Vancouver , Washington .
But something different happened this time .
As fast as the BLM masses assembled , a group of counterprotesters supporting the police gathered and took a stand .
( Associated Press ) Tensions boiled over into unrest late Friday following a vigil for a Black man shot and killed by law enforcement in a city near Portland , Oregon , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hazel Dell , an unincorporated area of Vancouver , Washington , where family and friends say Kevin E. Peterson Jr. , 21 , was shot Thursday night .
The city is about 12 miles ( 19 kilometers ) north of Portland .
Hundreds of people gathered for the vigil Friday evening , with some holding signs reading , “ Honk for Black lives .
White silence is violence ” and “ Scream his name.
” Nearby , tensions flared between left- and right-wing protesters .
Video recorded by journalists in a parking lot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ each other .
Also , some armed demonstrators gathered near a building they told reporters they were protecting .
The deceased suspect wasn ’ t initially identified by officials , but his father confirmed that it was 21-year-old Kevin E. Peterson Jr. As to the original incident , as I mentioned above , we don ’ t have all of the details yet and some of the reports conflict with each other .
The Clark County Sheriff issued a statement saying that a joint city-county narcotics task force was conducting an investigation when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bank parking lot .
Rather than surrendering , Sheriff Chuck Atkins said the man fired a shot at the officers and a gun was recovered at the scene .
But the encounter took place in two stages .
The initial confrontation where Peterson reportedly fired on law enforcement officials was with members of the task force in the parking lot of a motel .
( Peterson was believed to have been selling illegal drugs there . )
After he fired , the task force officers backed off a bit , whereupon he fled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
There he encountered three Clark County deputies , whereupon he was shot .
The deputies did not initially report Peterson firing on them at that time .
But a second report indicated that Peterson had also fired on the deputies prompting them to return fire .
That bank parking lot was where the gun was recovered .
The delay between the time Peterson fired and when he was shot by different officers would likely complicate the investigation and raise questions .
But if he also fired on the second group of deputies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fairly open and shut case .
When you shoot at the police , bad things happen .
If they ’ ve recovered Peterson ’ s gun and there were multiple rounds fired , that would likely clear the officers involved .
They still haven ’ t released the bodycam footage if such exists , but if they do , even more questions should be answered .
In reality , even if Peterson didn ’ t fire on the second group of officers , it ’ s a fairly safe assumption that all of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ communication .
If Peterson had already fired on law enforcement once and he had a weapon in his hand when he ran into the sheriffs , it would be hard to convict them of anything .
The other interesting development from this story , as I mentioned at the top , involves how rapidly a counterprotest formed this time .
As the BLM marchers approached the center of Vancouver , there were already reportedly “ hundreds ” of counterprotesters , many of them armed , lined up near a local federal building and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they were protecting the facilities from possible damage during a riot .
There were some loud confrontations between the two groups and it could have turned very ugly if the police hadn ’ t swarmed the area with so many officers .
The other day I asked if we might be seeing signs of a counter-populist revolt in the making .
At the time , I was speaking in the context of fed-up people pushing back against mask mandates and shutdowns in response to the pandemic .
But some of those same people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all the riots , violence , and destruction .
They wouldn ’ t have had that many counterprotesters on the scene in Vancouver so quickly if there weren ’ t local groups maintaining communications on a local level .
Or perhaps this was simply a one-off coincidence of timing ?
We ’ ll have to wait and see , but as these types of situations continue , it ’ s starting to feel as if something is changing .

Well, at least this episode of the 2020 reality series “Police Shootings and Riots” didn’t take place in Portland, though it wasn’t far away. Over the border in the southwestern corner of Washington state, police officers wound up in a deadly use-of-force encounter with a suspect in a drug investigation on Thursday night. While we’re still waiting for any possible body cam footage or other evidence to be released, initial reports indicate that the suspect drew a handgun and fired on police as they approached. Still, it took little time for the usual protests to erupt following a vigil for the suspect and they once again spiraled off into violence. The incidents were centered around a suburb of Vancouver, Washington. But something different happened this time. As fast as the BLM masses assembled, a group of counterprotesters supporting the police gathered and took a stand. (Associated Press)
Tensions boiled over into unrest late Friday following a vigil for a Black man shot and killed by law enforcement in a city near Portland, Oregon, in southwestern Washington state. Mourners gathered in Hazel Dell, an unincorporated area of Vancouver, Washington, where family and friends say Kevin E. Peterson Jr., 21, was shot Thursday night. The city is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) north of Portland. Hundreds of people gathered for the vigil Friday evening, with some holding signs reading, “Honk for Black lives. White silence is violence” and “Scream his name.” Nearby, tensions flared between left- and right-wing protesters. Video recorded by journalists in a parking lot showed two groups of people shouting at each other. Also, some armed demonstrators gathered near a building they told reporters they were protecting.
The deceased suspect wasn’t initially identified by officials, but his father confirmed that it was 21-year-old Kevin E. Peterson Jr.
As to the original incident, as I mentioned above, we don’t have all of the details yet and some of the reports conflict with each other. The Clark County Sheriff issued a statement saying that a joint city-county narcotics task force was conducting an investigation when the suspect fled from them into a bank parking lot. Rather than surrendering, Sheriff Chuck Atkins said the man fired a shot at the officers and a gun was recovered at the scene.
But the encounter took place in two stages. The initial confrontation where Peterson reportedly fired on law enforcement officials was with members of the task force in the parking lot of a motel. (Peterson was believed to have been selling illegal drugs there.) After he fired, the task force officers backed off a bit, whereupon he fled to the parking lot of a bank. There he encountered three Clark County deputies, whereupon he was shot. The deputies did not initially report Peterson firing on them at that time. But a second report indicated that Peterson had also fired on the deputies prompting them to return fire. That bank parking lot was where the gun was recovered.
The delay between the time Peterson fired and when he was shot by different officers would likely complicate the investigation and raise questions. But if he also fired on the second group of deputies, then this one should be a fairly open and shut case. When you shoot at the police, bad things happen. If they’ve recovered Peterson’s gun and there were multiple rounds fired, that would likely clear the officers involved. They still haven’t released the bodycam footage if such exists, but if they do, even more questions should be answered.
In reality, even if Peterson didn’t fire on the second group of officers, it’s a fairly safe assumption that all of the officers in the area were in communication. If Peterson had already fired on law enforcement once and he had a weapon in his hand when he ran into the sheriffs, it would be hard to convict them of anything.
The other interesting development from this story, as I mentioned at the top, involves how rapidly a counterprotest formed this time. As the BLM marchers approached the center of Vancouver, there were already reportedly “hundreds” of counterprotesters, many of them armed, lined up near a local federal building and the police station. They told reporters they were protecting the facilities from possible damage during a riot. There were some loud confrontations between the two groups and it could have turned very ugly if the police hadn’t swarmed the area with so many officers.
The other day I asked if we might be seeing signs of a counter-populist revolt in the making. At the time, I was speaking in the context of fed-up people pushing back against mask mandates and shutdowns in response to the pandemic. But some of those same people are also no doubt growing weary of all the riots, violence, and destruction. They wouldn’t have had that many counterprotesters on the scene in Vancouver so quickly if there weren’t local groups maintaining communications on a local level. Or perhaps this was simply a one-off coincidence of timing? We’ll have to wait and see, but as these types of situations continue, it’s starting to feel as if something is changing.


hotair--2020-11-01--Biden stumbles through another campaign speech: “America is dead because of COVID-19”

Joe Biden is running a campaign based on the principle that this presidential election is a referendum on President Trump ’ s response to the coronavirus pandemic .
Team Biden has put all its eggs into one basket – Americans are dying because Trump has botched the response to the virus .
To hear Joe Biden speak , it is as though Trump has the power to flip a switch and the highly contagious , deadly virus will just magically disappear .
Instead , he ’ s left America in the dark .
Biden ’ s America is a very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the country is populated with racist chumps , ugly people , labeled as such simply for voting for Donald Trump in 2016 , according to Joe Biden .
During the final presidential debate , Biden told the audience that “ We ’ re about to go into a dark winter .
A dark winter.
” He was talking about the president ’ s plan for the coronavirus as we move forward in the coming months .
Biden ’ s message is one of doom and gloom .
In comparison , Trump ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one , a message that will inspire voters .
He frequently tells rally audiences that the best is yet to come .
Joe Biden is taking a different approach .
He not only puts his spin on Trump ’ s handling of the coronavirus but he said in Iowa , “ America is dead because of COVID-19.
” Yikes !
That is quite a big statement .
Does he think the whole country is “ dead ” ?
How can that be ?
It ’ s true that more than 220,000 Americans have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , according to reports , but we are a nation of more than 300M people .
The death of 220,000 Americans is a tragic statistic but it is not the entire population of the United States .
He tried to back up such an outlandish comment by referencing the total deaths in Iowa to his audience .
He botched it .
He starts out with over 30,000 dead and then corrects himself by saying “ nearly 1,700 dead ” .
Biden has a habit of wildly exaggerating the number of deaths from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ American economy when he says America is dead ?
The latest economic numbers point to a ‘ V ’ shaped economic recovery .
Just as the economy was roaring before the pandemic came into our lives , the recovery is going at a remarkable pace if the current numbers hold up .
The only reason Joe Biden is competitive in this race is that the economy was locked down in order to mitigate the virus back in March .
Trump held off doing that as long as he could because he knew what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to remain optimistic to slow the panic that was setting in .
I ’ ll take a leader that keeps a stiff upper lip and tells Americans that we will get through this over a man who succumbs to alarmism and defeat any day .
Most Americans have a can-do spirit , not a cower in the basement attitude .
Our lives are different , thanks to the plague , but that doesn ’ t mean we quit living .
We adjust .
The most vulnerable must be protected while more healthy people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There are safety guidelines in place and we ’ ve been educated about protecting ourselves and those around us .
We aren ’ t dead .
The medical community is sending up red flags as we enter the winter months .
The coronavirus is going to merge with the traditional cold and flu season .
Joe Biden is open to shutting the whole country down again and open to a national mask mandate , likely illegal .
Dr. Fauci is cheering Joe Biden on with that .
Fauci says we may not return @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that mitigation guidelines will need to stay in place throughout 2021 , even with a vaccine becoming available .
“ I can foresee that even with a really good vaccine , that mask wearing will continue well into the third or fourth quarter of 2021 , ” Fauci said in an interview with National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins .
And only after that , “ there will be a graded , gradual progression toward normalcy ” in 2022 , he said in the half-hour interview .
“ We ’ ve got @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Collins agreed .
Fauci laid out his most thorough timeline for recovery yet as the U.S. continues to see 70,000 new COVID-19 cases and some 800 deaths a day .
The good news is that right now , more than 100,000 Americans are participating in six promising , final-stage vaccine trials , with Moderna and Pfizer closest to the finish line , Fauci said .
Other liberals in the medical community are sounding alarmed as coronavirus cases begin to rise in places where it looked like the spread of the virus was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hospitalization rates have declined in many hot spots .
Dr. Peter Hotez , co-director of Texas Children ’ s Hospitals Center for Vaccine Development , is a Trump critic who spoke about the rise in coronavirus cases in some areas in the United States as well as in Texas this week .
It ’ s really accelerating up in the northern Midwest — Wisconsin , especially , and the Dakotas — and also in western states like Wyoming and Utah .
A lot of it is probably linked to colder weather .
People @ @ @ @ @ @ @ really well in that environment .
It could be that not only are more people exposed to the virus indoors , but that they ’ re exposed to a larger inoculum of the virus as well .
I think we ’ ll start seeing hospitalizations go up — not only the number of cases , but severity of cases as well .
I was a bit surprised about El Paso and along the border with Mexico into New Mexico — Las Cruces , places like that .
I ’ m not surprised that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there .
I ’ m just surprised that it ’ s happening now .
I don ’ t know quite what ’ s happened there and what that means for the rest of Texas .
In Houston , the numbers are going up but not dramatically , not nearly as badly as for the rest of the country .
It may be because now the weather ’ s nice and people are outside .
I know the numbers will increase in Texas .
They ’ ll accelerate .
My secret hope is that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as bad as the rest of the country , but I just don ’ t know that for certain .
He admits he just doesn ’ t have any concrete answers about what comes next .
The truth is none of us do , and that includes President Trump and Joe Biden .
Will the coronavirus die off eventually and become like a revved-up form of the flu ?
Will it be eviscerated by a vaccine ?
No one knows with complete certainty .
This is why so many people are not comfortable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finger at Trump and blame him for all the deaths of coronavirus patients .
Some unhinged Democrats accuse him of being a murderer .
Election season can bring out the worst in people .
So , no , Joe Biden , America is not dead , even as we deal with the coronavirus .
Biden likes to say that Trump has waved the white flag and surrendered to his lack of control over the virus .
Results show another story , though .
The economy is coming back , thanks to his administration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rallied the medical community with unprecedented speed as he freed them up to develop a vaccine and therapeutic drugs .
He empowered manufacturing companies to produce medical equipment and supplies .
He ’ s shown leadership when it was needed .
He is criticized for not being diligent about wearing a mask .
I get it .
I mask-up when I ’ m in public .
The debate about masks will continue .
In the meantime , which candidate inspires voters ?
I ’ ll take a balanced , optimistic approach over doom @ @ @

Editor’s note: The original version of this article stated that Joe Biden had said “America’s Dead” during a campaign speech. In reality, Biden said “Americans dead” in reference to the number of deaths caused by COVID-19. The incorrect references have been removed. The amended article continues below.
Joe Biden is running a campaign based on the principle that this presidential election is a referendum on President Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Team Biden has put all its eggs into one basket – Americans are dying because Trump has botched the response to the virus. To hear Joe Biden speak, it is as though Trump has the power to flip a switch and the highly contagious, deadly virus will just magically disappear. Instead, he’s left America in the dark.
Biden’s America is a very dark place. At least half of the country is populated with racist chumps, ugly people, labeled as such simply for voting for Donald Trump in 2016, according to Joe Biden. During the final presidential debate, Biden told the audience that “We’re about to go into a dark winter. A dark winter.” He was talking about the president’s plan for the coronavirus as we move forward in the coming months. Biden’s message is one of doom and gloom. In comparison, Trump’s message is meant to be an uplifting one, a message that will inspire voters. He frequently tells rally audiences that the best is yet to come.
The latest economic numbers point to a ‘V’ shaped economic recovery. Just as the economy was roaring before the pandemic came into our lives, the recovery is going at a remarkable pace if the current numbers hold up. The only reason Joe Biden is competitive in this race is that the economy was locked down in order to mitigate the virus back in March. Trump held off doing that as long as he could because he knew what the results would be. He tried to remain optimistic to slow the panic that was setting in. I’ll take a leader that keeps a stiff upper lip and tells Americans that we will get through this over a man who succumbs to alarmism and defeat any day. Most Americans have a can-do spirit, not a cower in the basement attitude.
Our lives are different, thanks to the plague, but that doesn’t mean we quit living. We adjust. The most vulnerable must be protected while more healthy people are able to take informed risks. There are safety guidelines in place and we’ve been educated about protecting ourselves and those around us.
The medical community is sending up red flags as we enter the winter months. The coronavirus is going to merge with the traditional cold and flu season. Joe Biden is open to shutting the whole country down again and open to a national mask mandate, likely illegal. Dr. Fauci is cheering Joe Biden on with that. Fauci says we may not return to normalcy until 2022. He says that mitigation guidelines will need to stay in place throughout 2021, even with a vaccine becoming available.
“I can foresee that even with a really good vaccine, that mask wearing will continue well into the third or fourth quarter of 2021,” Fauci said in an interview with National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins. And only after that, “there will be a graded, gradual progression toward normalcy” in 2022, he said in the half-hour interview. “We’ve got a long road yet to go,” Collins agreed. Fauci laid out his most thorough timeline for recovery yet as the U.S. continues to see 70,000 new COVID-19 cases and some 800 deaths a day. The good news is that right now, more than 100,000 Americans are participating in six promising, final-stage vaccine trials, with Moderna and Pfizer closest to the finish line, Fauci said.
Other liberals in the medical community are sounding alarmed as coronavirus cases begin to rise in places where it looked like the spread of the virus was plateauing and declining. Death rates and hospitalization rates have declined in many hot spots. Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of Texas Children’s Hospitals Center for Vaccine Development, is a Trump critic who spoke about the rise in coronavirus cases in some areas in the United States as well as in Texas this week.
It’s really accelerating up in the northern Midwest — Wisconsin, especially, and the Dakotas — and also in western states like Wyoming and Utah. A lot of it is probably linked to colder weather. People are indoors, and the virus survives really well in that environment. It could be that not only are more people exposed to the virus indoors, but that they’re exposed to a larger inoculum of the virus as well. I think we’ll start seeing hospitalizations go up — not only the number of cases, but severity of cases as well. I was a bit surprised about El Paso and along the border with Mexico into New Mexico — Las Cruces, places like that. I’m not surprised that there’s a lot of COVID there. I’m just surprised that it’s happening now. I don’t know quite what’s happened there and what that means for the rest of Texas. In Houston, the numbers are going up but not dramatically, not nearly as badly as for the rest of the country. It may be because now the weather’s nice and people are outside. I know the numbers will increase in Texas. They’ll accelerate. My secret hope is that it’s not going to be as bad as the rest of the country, but I just don’t know that for certain.
He admits he just doesn’t have any concrete answers about what comes next. The truth is none of us do, and that includes President Trump and Joe Biden. Will the coronavirus die off eventually and become like a revved-up form of the flu? Will it be eviscerated by a vaccine? No one knows with complete certainty. This is why so many people are not comfortable when they hear political candidates point a finger at Trump and blame him for all the deaths of coronavirus patients. Some unhinged Democrats accuse him of being a murderer. Election season can bring out the worst in people.
Biden likes to say that Trump has waved the white flag and surrendered to his lack of control over the virus. Results show another story, though. The economy is coming back, thanks to his administration’s dedication and policies. Trump rallied the medical community with unprecedented speed as he freed them up to develop a vaccine and therapeutic drugs. He empowered manufacturing companies to produce medical equipment and supplies. He’s shown leadership when it was needed. He is criticized for not being diligent about wearing a mask. I get it. I mask-up when I’m in public. The debate about masks will continue. In the meantime, which candidate inspires voters? I’ll take a balanced, optimistic approach over doom and gloom.


hotair--2020-11-01--The obligatory "how 'bout that Iowa poll" post, plus a bunch of other polls

Nate Cohn of the Times calls last night ’ s bombshell from the Des Moines Register Trump ’ s single best poll of the entire campaign .
I agree .
If you ’ re starving for signs of a late break towards the incumbent , particularly in the midwest , you just got one .
And not just from any ol ’ pollster either .
This is Ann Selzer , the most respected electoral thermometer in Iowa .
A fun fact about her : Her last poll of the state in 2016 also had Trump up seven points .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
En route to winning the entire election , of course .
To make things extra zesty for the GOP , this same poll also finds Joni Ernst surging past Democrat Theresa Greenfield in Iowa ’ s Senate race to take a 46/42 lead .
Ernst trailed Greenfield in nearly every poll taken from mid-September to mid-October , but in the last two weeks there ’ s been a shift .
It looks like Iowans are coming home to her , which may just save the Senate for the GOP .
They ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The president now leads by 7 percentage points over Biden , 48 % to 41 % .
Three percent say they will vote for someone else , 2 % aren ’ t sure and 5 % don ’ t want to say for whom they will vote… In the Register ’ s September Iowa Poll , Biden led with independents 50 % to 38 % .
But today , Trump wins them back and leads 49 % to 35 % .
“ I think that the key to what ’ s happening with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with independents , ” Selzer said .
“ That is a group that in Iowa in our September poll looked like it was swinging to Joe Biden , and it ’ s come back to be a Trump asset.
” In addition to fading with independents , Biden has lost ground with women .
In September , he held a 20-point lead among women , which balanced out Trump ’ s 21-point lead among men .
But today , Biden ’ s lead with women has shrunk to 9 percentage points , 50 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by double digits with independents and especially women in the final days of the race would be … surprising given the national polling .
But Iowa was a very red state four years ago so it ’ s not hard to imagine women and indies there behaving a little differently from their counterparts in purpler places .
Here ’ s the trend in Iowa in RCP ’ s polling average over the last 30 days .
Looks to me like Iowans had a fling with Sleepy Joe after the double whammy of Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fiasco of the White House suffering a COVID outbreak that infected the president himself .
But the affair may now be over .
It ’ s hard to overstate the amount of panic that set in among anti-Trumpers last night on political Twitter when the Selzer poll dropped .
People are coping this morning by muttering nervously to themselves , “ W-w-w-we should trust the average , not any individual poll.
” But there are a few reasons to be skeptical of Selzer ’ s result , starting with the fact that her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her final poll in 2016 showing Trump up seven was not .
Other pollsters that year had him ahead by six or eight points in the final weeks ; this year she ’ s the only one to have him ahead by more than two ( ! )
.
Cohn added more perspective on Selzer ’ s data in his write-up this morning : We just had a similar case in the opposite direction : an ABC News/Washington Post poll earlier this week that showed Mr. Biden ahead by 17 points in Wisconsin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I noted that it should move your view of the race toward Mr. Biden , even though it was clearly an outlier .
The same is true of this survey : It should move your view of the race in Iowa toward Mr. Trump .
Indeed , he now leads in our Iowa average by two points… The Selzer poll has an exceptional track record , but any pollster with as many polls under her belt as Ms. Selzer will inevitably wind up with misses — even bad misses .
As I put @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2016 : “ Of course , even if Ms. Selzer ’ s methodology was perfect , there ’ s no reason to expect her results will be .
It ’ s the nature of the game ; even a perfectly conducted poll will occasionally yield imperfect results , and sometimes terrible ones.
” Her final poll , released that day , showed Mr. Trump leading by five points ; Ted Cruz would win by three .
Selzer ’ s numbers last night in one of Iowa ’ s congressional races were also far @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggests , to a seemingly unrealistic degree .
That ’ s probably just a function of using a small sample for the congressional polling , but for what it ’ s worth : The proper approach to Selzer ’ s poll isn ’ t to try to “ unskew ” the numbers by scrutinizing congressional data , it ’ s to look at all of the other polling that ’ s come out in the past 24 hours and ask the only important question : Is the rightward shift that she ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ battlegrounds ?
Neither candidate really needs to win Iowa , after all .
It ’ s six electoral votes , important only if the electoral college is shockingly close .
And because Trump won the state so easily in 2016 , by nearly 10 points , it ’ s assumed that IA will stay red this year by an unknown margin .
( Same goes for Ohio . )
What we all want to know about is Florida , Georgia , Arizona , and of course the Rust Belt .
Is the reddening @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Leading by two in Florida is great news for Trump but a seven-point deficit in Pennsylvania with Biden over 50 percent is daunting .
I ’ m tempted to say that Florida is overrated in this election cycle , frankly .
We pay it tons of attention because there are so many electoral votes at stake there and the state invariably is decided by one or two points , but here ’ s a thought to chew on : Biden could lose Florida and still end up with more electoral votes than Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the midwest , North Carolina , Georgia , and Arizona .
He has various paths to the presidency that don ’ t involve FL .
Trump doesn ’ t .
He needs Florida and Pennsylvania , and according to WaPo he ’ s only getting one of them .
The Times also has battleground polling out today : They have him losing the two big ones that he needs , with PA once again in the six- or seven-point range — not particularly close .
In fact , polling in Pennsylvania right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that are aligned with the GOP ( Trafalgar and Insider Advantage ) and everyone else .
The Republican pollsters have the race tied or Trump narrowly ahead .
Everyone else has Biden up five , six , or seven .
Note the Times ’ s gaudy number in Wisconsin too .
Literally no one has Trump ahead right now in WI , including Trafalgar ; they have him down a point to Biden while others see him trailing by eight or nine points in some surveys .
In fact , Biden ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sturdy right now that they ’ ve begun to slip out of the conversation among election-watchers , who are obsessing about Pennsylvania instead .
If those two states are in the bag then Trump is down to 280 electoral votes from his 2016 states with Pennsylvania , Florida , North Carolina , Georgia , Arizona , Ohio , and Iowa all in play .
He ’ d need to win virtually all of them to hold on , or else to flip a 2016 blue state like Minnesota .
And if Wisconsin and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re left to wonder how likely the odds of an upset in nearby Minnesota can really be .
One more poll .
This is NBC ’ s final national survey of the campaign : Think of everything this country ’ s gone through since August 2019 .
The race has changed by a single point since then .
If Biden ends up winning easily on Tuesday , it ’ ll be worth bearing that in mind afterward .
For all the hype about the pandemic having defeated Trump , the fact is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against him long ago .
At least when Joe Biden was offered as the alternative .
Remember too that the final national polls in 2016 were pretty accurate .
There were some big misses in state polling ( Wisconsin most of all ) but national polls on average had Clinton winning by around three points when in reality she won by two .
Trump can ’ t win the electoral college if Biden wins the national popular vote this time by , say , seven .
There ’ ll be too many votes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ another series of white-knuckle victories in every last one of the states he needs possible .
Both Cohn and Nate Silver made the same point this morning that I and many others have made this week — it ’ ll take a much bigger polling screw-up this time for Trump to win than it took in 2016 .
In fact , when Silver adjusted his site ’ s data to see how Trump would do on Tuesday if polls underestimated him by exactly the same amount as they did in 2016 , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ votes .
In some states , like Florida and Pennsylvania , Sleepy Joe ’ s victories would be *very* narrow , but Trump ’ s wins were very narrow in 2016 too .
One last point .
The most interesting revelation in all of the polling I ’ ve just listed is the Times ’ s finding that people who didn ’ t vote in 2016 but are voting this year lean heavily towards Biden .
In Florida they favor him by 17 points , and by 12 in Pennsylvania .
It ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blockbuster early turnout in places like Texas is being driven by anti-Trump sentiment , but if there ’ s a big surge of irregular voters coming off the sidelines this year to vote him out then he ’ ll need even steeper turnout on Tuesday from his base than he ’ s probably counting on .

Nate Cohn of the Times calls last night’s bombshell from the Des Moines Register Trump’s single best poll of the entire campaign. I agree. If you’re starving for signs of a late break towards the incumbent, particularly in the midwest, you just got one. And not just from any ol’ pollster either. This is Ann Selzer, the most respected electoral thermometer in Iowa.
A fun fact about her: Her last poll of the state in 2016 also had Trump up seven points. He went on to win by nearly 10. En route to winning the entire election, of course.
To make things extra zesty for the GOP, this same poll also finds Joni Ernst surging past Democrat Theresa Greenfield in Iowa’s Senate race to take a 46/42 lead. Ernst trailed Greenfield in nearly every poll taken from mid-September to mid-October, but in the last two weeks there’s been a shift. It looks like Iowans are coming home to her, which may just save the Senate for the GOP. They’re coming home to Trump too.
The president now leads by 7 percentage points over Biden, 48% to 41%. Three percent say they will vote for someone else, 2% aren’t sure and 5% don’t want to say for whom they will vote… In the Register’s September Iowa Poll, Biden led with independents 50% to 38%. But today, Trump wins them back and leads 49% to 35%. “I think that the key to what’s happening with President Trump is that he is leading with independents,” Selzer said. “That is a group that in Iowa in our September poll looked like it was swinging to Joe Biden, and it’s come back to be a Trump asset.” In addition to fading with independents, Biden has lost ground with women. In September, he held a 20-point lead among women, which balanced out Trump’s 21-point lead among men. But today, Biden’s lead with women has shrunk to 9 percentage points, 50% to 41%.
Biden slipping by double digits with independents and especially women in the final days of the race would be … surprising given the national polling. But Iowa was a very red state four years ago so it’s not hard to imagine women and indies there behaving a little differently from their counterparts in purpler places. Here’s the trend in Iowa in RCP’s polling average over the last 30 days. Looks to me like Iowans had a fling with Sleepy Joe after the double whammy of Trump’s terrible first debate and the fiasco of the White House suffering a COVID outbreak that infected the president himself. But the affair may now be over.
It’s hard to overstate the amount of panic that set in among anti-Trumpers last night on political Twitter when the Selzer poll dropped. People are coping this morning by muttering nervously to themselves, “W-w-w-we should trust the average, not any individual poll.” But there are a few reasons to be skeptical of Selzer’s result, starting with the fact that her result is an outlier this time whereas her final poll in 2016 showing Trump up seven was not. Other pollsters that year had him ahead by six or eight points in the final weeks; this year she’s the only one to have him ahead by more than two(!). Cohn added more perspective on Selzer’s data in his write-up this morning:
We just had a similar case in the opposite direction: an ABC News/Washington Post poll earlier this week that showed Mr. Biden ahead by 17 points in Wisconsin. When that poll came out, I noted that it should move your view of the race toward Mr. Biden, even though it was clearly an outlier. The same is true of this survey: It should move your view of the race in Iowa toward Mr. Trump. Indeed, he now leads in our Iowa average by two points… The Selzer poll has an exceptional track record, but any pollster with as many polls under her belt as Ms. Selzer will inevitably wind up with misses — even bad misses. As I put it ahead of the Iowa caucus in 2016: “Of course, even if Ms. Selzer’s methodology was perfect, there’s no reason to expect her results will be. It’s the nature of the game; even a perfectly conducted poll will occasionally yield imperfect results, and sometimes terrible ones.” Her final poll, released that day, showed Mr. Trump leading by five points; Ted Cruz would win by three.
Selzer’s numbers last night in one of Iowa’s congressional races were also far, far more Republican than other polling suggests, to a seemingly unrealistic degree. That’s probably just a function of using a small sample for the congressional polling, but for what it’s worth:
Selzer/DMR has #IA01 as R+15. Monmouth found it D+8 a week ago. Was Trump +3.5 in ‘16, Finkenauer +5.3 in ‘18. NRCC spending middling $$ and the GOP internal they put out to keep their fundraising alive a month ago had the race tied. It’s not an R+15 district… https://t.co/fY0BZ1vaWZ — Aaron Fritschner (@Fritschner) November 1, 2020
The proper approach to Selzer’s poll isn’t to try to “unskew” the numbers by scrutinizing congressional data, it’s to look at all of the other polling that’s come out in the past 24 hours and ask the only important question: Is the rightward shift that she’s seeing in Iowa happening in more important battlegrounds? Neither candidate really needs to win Iowa, after all. It’s six electoral votes, important only if the electoral college is shockingly close. And because Trump won the state so easily in 2016, by nearly 10 points, it’s assumed that IA will stay red this year by an unknown margin. (Same goes for Ohio.) What we all want to know about is Florida, Georgia, Arizona, and of course the Rust Belt. Is the reddening tint in Iowa showing up there?
New from WaPo:
Leading by two in Florida is great news for Trump but a seven-point deficit in Pennsylvania with Biden over 50 percent is daunting. I’m tempted to say that Florida is overrated in this election cycle, frankly. We pay it tons of attention because there are so many electoral votes at stake there and the state invariably is decided by one or two points, but here’s a thought to chew on: Biden could lose Florida and still end up with more electoral votes than Trump won in 2016 if he comes through in the midwest, North Carolina, Georgia, and Arizona. He has various paths to the presidency that don’t involve FL. Trump doesn’t. He needs Florida and Pennsylvania, and according to WaPo he’s only getting one of them.
The Times also has battleground polling out today:
They have him losing the two big ones that he needs, with PA once again in the six- or seven-point range — not particularly close. In fact, polling in Pennsylvania right now is a death match between pollsters that are aligned with the GOP (Trafalgar and Insider Advantage) and everyone else. The Republican pollsters have the race tied or Trump narrowly ahead. Everyone else has Biden up five, six, or seven.
Note the Times’s gaudy number in Wisconsin too. Literally no one has Trump ahead right now in WI, including Trafalgar; they have him down a point to Biden while others see him trailing by eight or nine points in some surveys. In fact, Biden’s leads in Wisconsin and Michigan look so sturdy right now that they’ve begun to slip out of the conversation among election-watchers, who are obsessing about Pennsylvania instead. If those two states are in the bag then Trump is down to 280 electoral votes from his 2016 states with Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Ohio, and Iowa all in play. He’d need to win virtually all of them to hold on, or else to flip a 2016 blue state like Minnesota. And if Wisconsin and Michigan are in the bag, we’re left to wonder how likely the odds of an upset in nearby Minnesota can really be.
One more poll. This is NBC’s final national survey of the campaign:
Think of everything this country’s gone through since August 2019. The race has changed by a single point since then. If Biden ends up winning easily on Tuesday, it’ll be worth bearing that in mind afterward. For all the hype about the pandemic having defeated Trump, the fact is that the electorate seems to have turned against him long ago. At least when Joe Biden was offered as the alternative.
Remember too that the final national polls in 2016 were pretty accurate. There were some big misses in state polling (Wisconsin most of all) but national polls on average had Clinton winning by around three points when in reality she won by two. Trump can’t win the electoral college if Biden wins the national popular vote this time by, say, seven. There’ll be too many votes against him banked in battlegrounds to make another series of white-knuckle victories in every last one of the states he needs possible. Both Cohn and Nate Silver made the same point this morning that I and many others have made this week — it’ll take a much bigger polling screw-up this time for Trump to win than it took in 2016. In fact, when Silver adjusted his site’s data to see how Trump would do on Tuesday if polls underestimated him by exactly the same amount as they did in 2016, he found that Biden still wins 335 electoral votes. In some states, like Florida and Pennsylvania, Sleepy Joe’s victories would be *very* narrow, but Trump’s wins were very narrow in 2016 too.
One last point. The most interesting revelation in all of the polling I’ve just listed is the Times’s finding that people who didn’t vote in 2016 but are voting this year lean heavily towards Biden. In Florida they favor him by 17 points, and by 12 in Pennsylvania. It’s impossible to know how much the blockbuster early turnout in places like Texas is being driven by anti-Trump sentiment, but if there’s a big surge of irregular voters coming off the sidelines this year to vote him out then he’ll need even steeper turnout on Tuesday from his base than he’s probably counting on.


hotair--2020-11-01--Politics isn't stopping the riots. How about an exorcism?

I realize the title of this article might lead you to believe that you ’ re preparing to read a satirical piece , but that ’ s not the case .
During the months-long spate of riots and unrest , we saw many statues and monuments toppled , including several religious icons .
This was all supposedly done in the name of canceling slave owners , white supremacists , colonial masters , the patriarchy , or whatever else .
The onset of colder weather as we approach winter has slowed down some of that activity , but it hasn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of locations , however , including Portland and San Francisco , some of the faithful are seeing signs of something more than just political unrest and activism .
They suspect that the hand of the devil may be behind some of it .
With that in mind , they ’ ve brought in some very specialized priests to perform exorcisms and rid the areas of demonic influences .
( Associated Press ) In popular culture , exorcism often serves as a plot device in chilling films about demonic possession .
This month , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ face of exorcism – performing the rite at well-attended outdoor ceremonies to drive out any evil spirits lingering after acrimonious protests .
The events ’ distinctive character gave a hint of how exorcism — with roots in ancient times — has evolved in some ways as it becomes more commonplace in many parts of the world .
In Portland , Oregon , Archbishop Alexander Sample led a procession of more than 200 people to a city park on Oct. 17 , offered a prayer , then conducted a Latin exorcism rite intended to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ event followed more than four months of racial justice protests in Portland , mostly peaceful but sometimes fueling violence and riots .
On the same day that the exorcism in Portland was taking place , a large crowd gathered in San Francisco at that site where rioters previously toppled the statue of Father Junipero Serra .
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone performed the rites of exorcism to banish evil from the community .
Has anyone informed the BLM and Antifa leaders of this news ?
How bad is your reputation in the eyes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they have to bring in an exorcist to clean up your mess and try to save your souls ?
Personally , when it comes to violent rioters defacing and tearing down public property , I ’ m more inclined to ascribe their actions to ignorance and personality disorders before I start invoking Satan .
But hey… your mileage may vary .
Anything that gives the communities of faith a chance to get together and do something positive can ’ t be entirely a bad thing .
And if you ’ re inclined to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It could work .
I can ’ t entirely discount the possibility that the Associated Press chose to run this story yesterday because it was Halloween .
There were mentions of cases of demonic possession and exorcism on several of the podcasts I usually listen to over the weekend .
Tis ’ the season , I suppose .
But as noted in the linked article , the practice of exorcism does seem to be on the rise again , though perhaps not as much in the traditional fashion of driving spirits out of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ note that in 2015 , some of the highest-ranking Catholic clergy in Mexico performed these rites in an attempt to drive out evil from the entire country .
They were seeking to expel the evils of gang violence , abortion , and the activities of the drug cartels .
It remains unclear what , if any effect that had on Mexico ’ s woes .
They also point out that Brazil has seen a significant resurgence in exorcisms in recent years .
The practice has become common enough that some of the churches @ @ @ @ @ @ @ almost weekly basis .
Similar trends are being observed in other parts of Latin America , Africa , and Asia , including the Philippines .
Europe seems to be more resistant to the idea .
That may be because of the exorcism of Anna Elisabeth Michel , who died after a lengthy series of rituals that stretched on for weeks .
Two priests were convicted of murder after it was over , though they didn ’ t wind up spending any serious time in prison .
So what do you think ?
Should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all of the riots and trying to exorcise Satan from the mobs ?
Hey… what do we have to lose , right ?

I realize the title of this article might lead you to believe that you’re preparing to read a satirical piece, but that’s not the case. During the months-long spate of riots and unrest, we saw many statues and monuments toppled, including several religious icons. This was all supposedly done in the name of canceling slave owners, white supremacists, colonial masters, the patriarchy, or whatever else. The onset of colder weather as we approach winter has slowed down some of that activity, but it hasn’t ended entirely. In a couple of locations, however, including Portland and San Francisco, some of the faithful are seeing signs of something more than just political unrest and activism. They suspect that the hand of the devil may be behind some of it. With that in mind, they’ve brought in some very specialized priests to perform exorcisms and rid the areas of demonic influences. (Associated Press)
In popular culture, exorcism often serves as a plot device in chilling films about demonic possession. This month, two Roman Catholic archbishops showed a different face of exorcism – performing the rite at well-attended outdoor ceremonies to drive out any evil spirits lingering after acrimonious protests. The events’ distinctive character gave a hint of how exorcism — with roots in ancient times — has evolved in some ways as it becomes more commonplace in many parts of the world. In Portland, Oregon, Archbishop Alexander Sample led a procession of more than 200 people to a city park on Oct. 17, offered a prayer, then conducted a Latin exorcism rite intended to purge the community of evil. The event followed more than four months of racial justice protests in Portland, mostly peaceful but sometimes fueling violence and riots.
On the same day that the exorcism in Portland was taking place, a large crowd gathered in San Francisco at that site where rioters previously toppled the statue of Father Junipero Serra. San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone performed the rites of exorcism to banish evil from the community.
“We pray that God might purify this place of evil spirits, that he might purify the hearts of those who perpetrated this blasphemy,” Cordileone said.
Has anyone informed the BLM and Antifa leaders of this news? How bad is your reputation in the eyes of decent members of the public when they have to bring in an exorcist to clean up your mess and try to save your souls?
Personally, when it comes to violent rioters defacing and tearing down public property, I’m more inclined to ascribe their actions to ignorance and personality disorders before I start invoking Satan. But hey… your mileage may vary. Anything that gives the communities of faith a chance to get together and do something positive can’t be entirely a bad thing. And if you’re inclined to be a believer, who knows? It could work.
I can’t entirely discount the possibility that the Associated Press chose to run this story yesterday because it was Halloween. There were mentions of cases of demonic possession and exorcism on several of the podcasts I usually listen to over the weekend. Tis’ the season, I suppose.
But as noted in the linked article, the practice of exorcism does seem to be on the rise again, though perhaps not as much in the traditional fashion of driving spirits out of an individual who is possessed. They note that in 2015, some of the highest-ranking Catholic clergy in Mexico performed these rites in an attempt to drive out evil from the entire country. They were seeking to expel the evils of gang violence, abortion, and the activities of the drug cartels. It remains unclear what, if any effect that had on Mexico’s woes.
They also point out that Brazil has seen a significant resurgence in exorcisms in recent years. The practice has become common enough that some of the churches down there televise their exorcisms on an almost weekly basis. Similar trends are being observed in other parts of Latin America, Africa, and Asia, including the Philippines. Europe seems to be more resistant to the idea. That may be because of the exorcism of Anna Elisabeth Michel, who died after a lengthy series of rituals that stretched on for weeks. Two priests were convicted of murder after it was over, though they didn’t wind up spending any serious time in prison.
So what do you think? Should the church be sending delegations around to all of the riots and trying to exorcise Satan from the mobs? Hey… what do we have to lose, right?


hotair--2020-11-01--White robes in the time of great distress: Sunday reflection

When Jesus saw the crowds , he went up the mountain , and after he had sat down , his disciples came to him .
He began to teach them , saying : “ Blessed are the poor in spirit , for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven .
Blessed are they who mourn , for they will be comforted .
Blessed are the meek , for they will inherit the land .
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness , for they will be satisfied .
Blessed are the merciful , for they will be shown mercy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , for they will see God .
Blessed are the peacemakers , for they will be called children of God .
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness , for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven .
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me .
Rejoice and be glad , for your reward will be great in heaven.
” Do we live in the time of great distress ?
If you spend enough time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ viral videos , it can certainly seem that way .
We seem anxious to be anxious , and most vexed when we should not be vexed at all .
Humanity has never seen such prosperity and long lives , even if we are in the middle of a deadly pandemic for the first time in a century .
Pandemics used to be a way of life , but even before the 1918 influenza pandemic , ordinary illnesses could kill .
We only have reliable clean-water systems now ; a century ago , illnesses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wildfire and impact people from all classes .
Illnesses requiring surgery were often death sentences until the late 19th century .
Before modern agricultural science , food was often scarce and unreliable .
Wars raged between nations and within the smallest of communities .
We now not only live longer lives but healthier lives , and at a standard of living that a few centuries earlier would have only been afforded to nobility .
We certainly know all of the above on an intellectual basis , but the tension and strife of our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just in a different context .
Some people don ’ t share in the prosperity , while others live in what might have passed for war zones in another era .
Families turn on families ; friends turn into enemies .
In some areas of the globe , the standard of living has only marginally increased and all of the old dangers still remain .
Life is still fragile , nature can still hold its dangers , and tribalism takes many forms .
Thus , we still feel as though we live in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our first reading today in Revelation : This passage can be interpreted as a reference to Armageddon , or perhaps to the fall of the second temple in Jerusalem .
It can be attributed to a lot of the horrors over the last two millennia , perhaps especially to twentieth-century horrors in particular .
John ’ s use of the word the for time of great distress makes it sound like a particular event .
What if , however , John ’ s Revelation refers to something else entirely — something more universal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ each journey in a fallen world , then we calculate both our distress and our own part in it on the wrong principles .
These are the wages of living in a world that has fallen through original sin .
The distress originates in the insistence of men and women forming their hearts according to only their wills , and not to the Will of God , the sin committed by Adam and Eve in the beginning .
We wish to be our own gods unto ourselves in the one creation provided by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ help but cause “ great distress.
” What are we to do in such times ?
Christ ’ s Beatitudes lay out the path for rising above each person ’ s “ time of great distress.
” That begins in our reading today , in which Jesus lays out the proper way to align our will to the Lord ’ s in a fallen world .
Be poor of spirit , meaning that we must recognize the Lord ’ s authority over us .
Mourn our own sins and the damage they cause @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our eyes open to sin and its true malicious nature .
The meek do not seek to exploit their authority and resources but use them to help God ’ s children .
And so on , and so on .
The Beatitudes are filled with layers of meaning , but among those are Christ ’ s exhortation to find the path of salvation by emulating God ’ s own self-sacrificing love , and aligning our will to His for the benefit of all .
It ’ s a roadmap for the time of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ era and in what context that distress exists .
John ’ s epistle in today ’ s second reading makes that lesson explicit : We are not called to find ways to purify the Earth and all its people .
At best , we can only work to purify ourselves and evangelize the Gospels to spread the news of salvation to others , and then only through the Holy Spirit can we hope to succeed .
We can not make our robes clean in this world , but we can allow the Lord @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to His will and being His instrument of peace and love .
When we are called to His table , we may well be asked what we each did in our “ time of great distress ” before we enter His kingdom to live as the Lord intended .
Will our answers wash away the stains we have collected along the way ?
The front-page image is a detail from “ The Sermon on the Mount ” by Jan Brueghel the Elder , 1598 .
Currently on display at the Getty Center , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” is a regular feature , looking at the specific readings used in today ’ s Mass in Catholic parishes around the world .
The reflection represents only my own point of view , intended to help prepare myself for the Lord ’ s day and perhaps spark a meaningful discussion .
Previous Sunday Reflections from the main page can be found here .

This morning’s Gospel reading is Matthew 5:1–12a:
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”
Do we live in the time of great distress? If you spend enough time on social media and watching too many viral videos, it can certainly seem that way. We seem anxious to be anxious, and most vexed when we should not be vexed at all. Humanity has never seen such prosperity and long lives, even if we are in the middle of a deadly pandemic for the first time in a century.
Pandemics used to be a way of life, but even before the 1918 influenza pandemic, ordinary illnesses could kill. We only have reliable clean-water systems now; a century ago, illnesses like typhoid and cholera would spread like wildfire and impact people from all classes. Illnesses requiring surgery were often death sentences until the late 19th century. Before modern agricultural science, food was often scarce and unreliable. Wars raged between nations and within the smallest of communities. We now not only live longer lives but healthier lives, and at a standard of living that a few centuries earlier would have only been afforded to nobility.
We certainly know all of the above on an intellectual basis, but the tension and strife of our lives today is real, too — just in a different context. Some people don’t share in the prosperity, while others live in what might have passed for war zones in another era. Families turn on families; friends turn into enemies. In some areas of the globe, the standard of living has only marginally increased and all of the old dangers still remain. Life is still fragile, nature can still hold its dangers, and tribalism takes many forms.
Thus, we still feel as though we live in times of great distress, as in our first reading today in Revelation:
Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.” He said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
This passage can be interpreted as a reference to Armageddon, or perhaps to the fall of the second temple in Jerusalem. It can be attributed to a lot of the horrors over the last two millennia, perhaps especially to twentieth-century horrors in particular. John’s use of the word the for time of great distress makes it sound like a particular event.
What if, however, John’s Revelation refers to something else entirely — something more universal? If this is meant to describe each journey in a fallen world, then we calculate both our distress and our own part in it on the wrong principles.
These are the wages of living in a world that has fallen through original sin. The distress originates in the insistence of men and women forming their hearts according to only their wills, and not to the Will of God, the sin committed by Adam and Eve in the beginning. We wish to be our own gods unto ourselves in the one creation provided by the Lord, and that cannot help but cause “great distress.”
What are we to do in such times? Christ’s Beatitudes lay out the path for rising above each person’s “time of great distress.” That begins in our reading today, in which Jesus lays out the proper way to align our will to the Lord’s in a fallen world. Be poor of spirit, meaning that we must recognize the Lord’s authority over us. Mourn our own sins and the damage they cause others, a process that will keep our eyes open to sin and its true malicious nature. The meek do not seek to exploit their authority and resources but use them to help God’s children.
And so on, and so on. The Beatitudes are filled with layers of meaning, but among those are Christ’s exhortation to find the path of salvation by emulating God’s own self-sacrificing love, and aligning our will to His for the benefit of all. It’s a roadmap for the time of great distress, no matter in what era and in what context that distress exists.
John’s epistle in today’s second reading makes that lesson explicit:
The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.
We are not called to find ways to purify the Earth and all its people. At best, we can only work to purify ourselves and evangelize the Gospels to spread the news of salvation to others, and then only through the Holy Spirit can we hope to succeed. We cannot make our robes clean in this world, but we can allow the Lord to work through us by aligning ourselves to His will and being His instrument of peace and love.
When we are called to His table, we may well be asked what we each did in our “time of great distress” before we enter His kingdom to live as the Lord intended. Will our answers wash away the stains we have collected along the way?
The front-page image is a detail from “The Sermon on the Mount” by Jan Brueghel the Elder, 1598. Currently on display at the Getty Center, via Wikimedia Commons.
“Sunday Reflection” is a regular feature, looking at the specific readings used in today’s Mass in Catholic parishes around the world. The reflection represents only my own point of view, intended to help prepare myself for the Lord’s day and perhaps spark a meaningful discussion. Previous Sunday Reflections from the main page can be found here.


hotair--2020-11-01--Trump rally turns violent in... Beverly Hills

Who had Beverly Hills , California as a political protest hot spot for Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter on their bingo card ?
Saturday the Beverly Hills police had to break up the crowd when BLM protesters confronted Trump supporters as they rallied .
The protest was declared an unlawful assembly as the situation developed .
The counter-protesters gathered at Roxbury Park , about 40 Black Lives Matter supporters .
Police report that the counter-protesters marched to the USA Freedom Rally .
After they arrived , the atmosphere turned volatile .
Tempers flared and the Trump supporters were taunted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the BLM supporters .
The usual screaming at each other devolved into physical violence .
Streets were closed in the area and a SWAT team was on the scene for additional police support .
Police asked the public to stay away .
There were dueling rallies between Trump supporters and counter-demonstrators .
“ The protester from Roxbury Park got into a violent fight with a pro-Trump protester .
It was at the point that an unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander and the Roxbury Park protesters did leave and march back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
There were no arrests , according to police .
The election security plan is set to run through at least Wednesday in preparation for potential unrest , but Beverly Hills police are ready to expand that if the outcome has not been decided and there ’ s a thought the force needs to stay on the street .
Trump supporters have been organizing in the area for several months .
Weekly rallies occur and the Beverly Hills police have provided a presence for crowd control .
This week there were reports that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so police were ready with riot gear .
As the rally turned violent , the police broke it up and the counter-protesters marched back to Roxbury Park .
The Beverly Hills Trump rallies have grown in attendance in the lead up to the election .
Saturday ’ s crowd is estimated to be about 3,000 people , despite Trump being so unpopular in Los Angeles .
Los Angeles ’ affluent Westside has been the location of many anti-Trump protests .
Biden is going to carry California by a historic level of support if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rallies in Beverly Hills , however , continue to grow .
Nearly four months ago , Beverly Hills resident Shiva Bagheri began organizing the rallies in part to dispel what she called misrepresentations of Trump supporters in the media .
“ They think that we ’ re all white supremacists .
And that ’ s just ridiculous , ” said Bagheri , a single mother who was born in Iran and works as a dance instructor .
At last Saturday ’ s rally , the crowd numbered between 2,500 and 3,000 , according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Signs and shirts announced a kaleidoscope of identities in support of Trump , including members of the Latino , Jewish , Vietnamese and LGBTQ communities .
Some traveled from out of the state or out of the country to attend .
Trump won ’ t win California but he may receive more support than recent Republican presidential candidates have received .
I ’ ve written about the Beverly Hills response to protests , including those of BLM marches .
The Beverly Hills city council has passed resolutions to try to quell the spread @ @ @ @ @ @ @ commercial areas .
The police have already announced that Rodeo Drive will be closed off on Election Day and on November 4 , perhaps longer if election results are not known for days after the election , as part of their plan to keep the area secure .
Cities across the country are preparing for violence and looting as election results come in .
Election Day is just two days away .

Who had Beverly Hills, California as a political protest hot spot for Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter on their bingo card? Saturday the Beverly Hills police had to break up the crowd when BLM protesters confronted Trump supporters as they rallied. The protest was declared an unlawful assembly as the situation developed.
The counter-protesters gathered at Roxbury Park, about 40 Black Lives Matter supporters. Police report that the counter-protesters marched to the USA Freedom Rally. After they arrived, the atmosphere turned volatile. Tempers flared and the Trump supporters were taunted, called Nazis, and confronted by the BLM supporters. The usual screaming at each other devolved into physical violence. Streets were closed in the area and a SWAT team was on the scene for additional police support. Police asked the public to stay away.
ADVISORY: Unlawful assembly has been declared near the Beverly Hills Sign. Avoid the area. https://t.co/k1o5cQ54ch — Beverly Hills Police (@BeverlyHillsPD) October 31, 2020
There were dueling rallies between Trump supporters and counter-demonstrators. “The protester from Roxbury Park got into a violent fight with a pro-Trump protester. It was at the point that an unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander and the Roxbury Park protesters did leave and march back to Roxbury Park,” Subin said. There were no arrests, according to police. The election security plan is set to run through at least Wednesday in preparation for potential unrest, but Beverly Hills police are ready to expand that if the outcome has not been decided and there’s a thought the force needs to stay on the street.
Trump supporters have been organizing in the area for several months. Weekly rallies occur and the Beverly Hills police have provided a presence for crowd control. This week there were reports that counter-protesters planned to be at the rally so police were ready with riot gear. As the rally turned violent, the police broke it up and the counter-protesters marched back to Roxbury Park.
The Beverly Hills Trump rallies have grown in attendance in the lead up to the election. Saturday’s crowd is estimated to be about 3,000 people, despite Trump being so unpopular in Los Angeles. Los Angeles’ affluent Westside has been the location of many anti-Trump protests. Biden is going to carry California by a historic level of support if the polls are correct. The Trump rallies in Beverly Hills, however, continue to grow.
Nearly four months ago, Beverly Hills resident Shiva Bagheri began organizing the rallies in part to dispel what she called misrepresentations of Trump supporters in the media. “They think that we’re all white supremacists. And that’s just ridiculous,” said Bagheri, a single mother who was born in Iran and works as a dance instructor. At last Saturday’s rally, the crowd numbered between 2,500 and 3,000, according to a Beverly Hills city spokesman. Signs and shirts announced a kaleidoscope of identities in support of Trump, including members of the Latino, Jewish, Vietnamese and LGBTQ communities. Some traveled from out of the state or out of the country to attend.
Trump won’t win California but he may receive more support than recent Republican presidential candidates have received.
I’ve written about the Beverly Hills response to protests, including those of BLM marches. The Beverly Hills city council has passed resolutions to try to quell the spread of protests into residential areas away from commercial areas. The police have already announced that Rodeo Drive will be closed off on Election Day and on November 4, perhaps longer if election results are not known for days after the election, as part of their plan to keep the area secure. Cities across the country are preparing for violence and looting as election results come in.
Election Day is just two days away.


hotair--2020-11-01--NYC boards up businesses ahead of election

In what has become a rather sad sign of the times , hardware stores in New York City have been doing a booming business this weekend .
The items flying off the shelves are large sheets of plywood , hammers and nails .
But this isn ’ t signaling some sort of resurgence in the housing market or other construction activities .
Business owners are boarding up their storefronts all across the five boroughs on the advice of the NYPD .
Why ?
Because they ’ re anticipating more riots and looting on election day .
And the police appear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t be able to keep it under control .
( NY Post ) Manhattan business owners including Chanel and Levi ’ s boarded up their storefronts with plywood on Friday afternoon — as the NYPD warned of potential unrest as the presidential election draws near .
Workers at retail shops in Soho , which were targeted by looters during unrest this summer , as well as shopkeepers near Washington Square Park were nailing up the wooden panels Friday afternoon .
Police had warned shopkeepers in neighborhoods that are usual protest hotspots to take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police official said .
The areas being “ fortified ” ( as the manager of Chanel described it ) are spread out over most of the usual protest and looting targets .
These include Times Square , Washington Square , Union Square , Central Park , and the areas surrounding City Hall and most of the police precinct headquarters .
One of the most widely boarded up areas is the high-end shopping district in SoHo .
As we discussed here previously , that ’ s where some of the most expensive stores in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , have been routinely looted all summer , with store security personnel being told not to interfere with the looters for fear of being targeted on social media as being a “ racist brand.
” It ’ s not just Manhattan where this is taking place .
We already learned that the equally pricey Rodeo Drive district in Beverly Hills is similarly “ fortifying ” all of its storefronts .
Other major cities are making their own preparations along the same lines .
I used the phrase “ usual targets ” above , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just how sad this situation has become .
The idea that on election day , a time when more than half of the country will be engaged in the ultimate show of democracy , we find it not only possible but almost inevitable that violence and criminality will flood our streets is obscene .
This is neither “ normal ” nor acceptable .
The anticipated violence and theft have nothing to do with the election .
Nor do they reflect any form of free speech or righteous indignation over supposed aggressive policing in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ opportunistic thievery .
Everyone seems to want to make each and every election into a “ referendum ” on one issue or another .
But if we were seriously addressing the biggest challenge our country is facing today we wouldn ’ t be talking about the pandemic , climate change , or the President ’ s Twitter feed .
Tuesday should ultimately be a referendum on law and order and the utter failure of too many states and large cities to maintain a safe environment for their citizens and businesses .
Instead of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ return to “ normal ” in terms of preventing the spread of a virus , we should be questioning when Americans will be able to freely go about their business without fear of being assaulted ( or worse ) by angry mobs who have little or no fear of any repercussions from law enforcement .
If that were the focus of the debate this week we would be less worried about who wins the presidential contest and more concerned with every race for Governor , for the Mayorship of our larger cities , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The federal government has traditionally not been directly involved with securing law and order in the streets beyond occasionally authorizing the summoning of National Guardsmen .
That job falls to the state and municipal governments of the affected areas .
And in far too many cases they are failing in that responsibility in a staggering fashion , resulting in the loss of lives and untold economic damage .
On Tuesday , I would hope that people aren ’ t voting “ like their lives depend on it ” so much as they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life depends on it .
This situation can ’ t simply be accepted as “ the new normal ” and those responsible should be held accountable at the ballot box .

In what has become a rather sad sign of the times, hardware stores in New York City have been doing a booming business this weekend. The items flying off the shelves are large sheets of plywood, hammers and nails. But this isn’t signaling some sort of resurgence in the housing market or other construction activities. Business owners are boarding up their storefronts all across the five boroughs on the advice of the NYPD. Why? Because they’re anticipating more riots and looting on election day. And the police appear to be acknowledging that they won’t be able to keep it under control. (NY Post)
Manhattan business owners including Chanel and Levi’s boarded up their storefronts with plywood on Friday afternoon — as the NYPD warned of potential unrest as the presidential election draws near. Workers at retail shops in Soho, which were targeted by looters during unrest this summer, as well as shopkeepers near Washington Square Park were nailing up the wooden panels Friday afternoon. Police had warned shopkeepers in neighborhoods that are usual protest hotspots to take extra precautions before the election, a police official said.
The areas being “fortified” (as the manager of Chanel described it) are spread out over most of the usual protest and looting targets. These include Times Square, Washington Square, Union Square, Central Park, and the areas surrounding City Hall and most of the police precinct headquarters. One of the most widely boarded up areas is the high-end shopping district in SoHo. As we discussed here previously, that’s where some of the most expensive stores in the city, if not the world, have been routinely looted all summer, with store security personnel being told not to interfere with the looters for fear of being targeted on social media as being a “racist brand.”
It’s not just Manhattan where this is taking place. We already learned that the equally pricey Rodeo Drive district in Beverly Hills is similarly “fortifying” all of its storefronts. Other major cities are making their own preparations along the same lines.
I used the phrase “usual targets” above, and that’s a sign of just how sad this situation has become. The idea that on election day, a time when more than half of the country will be engaged in the ultimate show of democracy, we find it not only possible but almost inevitable that violence and criminality will flood our streets is obscene. This is neither “normal” nor acceptable. The anticipated violence and theft have nothing to do with the election. Nor do they reflect any form of free speech or righteous indignation over supposed aggressive policing in our country. This is anarchy and opportunistic thievery.
Everyone seems to want to make each and every election into a “referendum” on one issue or another. But if we were seriously addressing the biggest challenge our country is facing today we wouldn’t be talking about the pandemic, climate change, or the President’s Twitter feed. Tuesday should ultimately be a referendum on law and order and the utter failure of too many states and large cities to maintain a safe environment for their citizens and businesses. Instead of asking when we’re going to return to “normal” in terms of preventing the spread of a virus, we should be questioning when Americans will be able to freely go about their business without fear of being assaulted (or worse) by angry mobs who have little or no fear of any repercussions from law enforcement.
If that were the focus of the debate this week we would be less worried about who wins the presidential contest and more concerned with every race for Governor, for the Mayorship of our larger cities, and the seats on those City Councils. The federal government has traditionally not been directly involved with securing law and order in the streets beyond occasionally authorizing the summoning of National Guardsmen. That job falls to the state and municipal governments of the affected areas. And in far too many cases they are failing in that responsibility in a staggering fashion, resulting in the loss of lives and untold economic damage.
On Tuesday, I would hope that people aren’t voting “like their lives depend on it” so much as they are voting as if their way of life depends on it. This situation can’t simply be accepted as “the new normal” and those responsible should be held accountable at the ballot box.