January 1, Jacob Blake Shooting: Knife Found, Officer Identified

This Day in History | 2007

NFL Quarterback Michael Vick pleads guilty in Richmond, Virginia to one federal felony charge related to running a dogfighting ring. Vick, who was once the highest-paid player in professional football was later sentenced to 23 months in federal prison.

Good Morning Middle Americans, 

What a terribly sad week it has been for the city of Kenosha Wisconsin. Last night we finally saw some peace (relatively speaking), but that was only after President Trump dispatched more National Guard troops to the beleaguered city. And after prosecutors charged a 17 year old vigilante with murder. Businesses that have existed in Kenosha for generations now sit in ashes. And who’s to blame? Well, the rioters, looters – the mob first and foremost, of course. We call them a mob because they are masked, faceless cowards unwilling to accept responsibility for what they’ve wrought in Kenosha, Seattle, Portland, New York, and Washington D.C. maybe you’re town next. They fly flags that honor BLM and ANTIFA, but burn ours. But why are they tolerated? We can certainly find plenty of people unwilling but based on what we know now, about Blake’s criminal history and the events leading up to the shooting, there is no one more responsible for this than the elected officials of Kenosha and the state of Wisconsin. They sat on information that may have prevented Kenosha’s destruction. Instead they stoked the embers of racial discord.  

Read all about it

-Fraser Dixon

Wisconsin DOJ IDs Officer in Jacob Blake Shooting

Knife Recovered from Blake’s Car

(Fox 6 Milwaukee) – Officials with the Wisconsin Department of Justice released the name of the officer who shot Jacob Blake on Aug. 23rd. He is Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey, a seven-year veteran of the department. Wisconsin DOJ officials said Blake “admitted that he had a knife in his possession” Sunday evening.

Officials also confirmed that Kenosha police were dispatched to a residence near 28th Street and 40th Avenue after a female caller reported that her boyfriend was present and was not supposed to be on the premises.

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17 Year old Charged with Murder afrer Kenosha Shooting

(The Guardian) – Kyle Rittenhouse, who is suspected of involvement in fatally shooting two people and wounding another during the Kenosha, Wisconsin, protests on Tuesday night, appears to have long been interested in law enforcement – and considered himself a militia member working to protect property, social media posts and reports indicate.

Rittenhouse, 17, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with first degree intentional homicide for his alleged role in the shootings. He is presently jailed in nearby Lake county, according to law enforcement documents.

A Facebook account under Rittenhouse’s name, which can no longer be accessed, contained photos of him posing with an apparent assault-style rifle. Text surrounding the photo includes the pro-police phrase “blue lives matter”. Several other photos on this profile page feature that wording, as well as images showing local law enforcement agencies’ logos.

Learn more about the shooting here

NBA Players May Quit Season to protest Jacob Blake Shooting

(LA Times) – In their two months in the NBA’s bubble, the Lakers expressed determination about accomplishing two things: speaking out about racism and police brutality, and winning an NBA championship.

In the aftermath of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., their coach reminded them during a team meeting that the further they got in the playoffs the bigger their platform would be to talk about injustice.

The plan was to keep playing while processing their pain, keep winning so they could share their heartbreak and fears.

Until Wednesday, when everything changed, and games that counted were postponed in protest for the first time in league history. By the end of the day, the Lakers and Clippers had both decided as teams that they did not want to play any more games.

Find out more here

Trump’s Convention Has Become a Crucial Play for the Suburbs

(NY Times) – It is one of President Trump’s clearest paths to re-election: winning back the suburbs in a handful of swing states that drifted from the Republican Party in the 2018 midterms. And that imperative has been vividly apparent each night of the party’s national convention, with speakers and videos that are trying to recast Mr. Trump’s divisive record, which had hurt the G.O.P. two years ago.

There have been glowing personal tributes from women, scenes of friendly banter between Mr. Trump and immigrants and a Black family, and stories from people he reached out to in times of despair. If all political conventions cast their candidates in the best possible light, the Republican National Convention has been going all-out for bright and sunny.

But it was also an acknowledgment by the president’s campaign that appealing to his right-wing base will not be enough to win re-election, and that voters who have soured on him after three and a half years are not responding to a strategy that leans heavily into attacking his opponent, Joseph R. Biden Jr., and other Democrats as radicals and extremists.

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Kamala Harris to Counter to Trump’s Convention Speech

(The Hill) – Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) will deliver a speech Thursday to counter President Trump’s remarks at the Republican National Convention formally accepting the GOP presidential nomination. 

Harris, the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee, will speak in Washington, D.C., “on President Trump’s failures to contain COVID-19 and protect working families from the economic fallout” and the “Biden-Harris plan to contain COVID-19 and build a different path forward in America,” former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign said in a press release.

Trump is planning to give his speech Thursday from the White House lawn, and Harris’s remarks will serve as the Democratic Party’s main counter to his appearance. 

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Trump Demands Drug Tests Before Debate with Biden

(The Independent) – Donald Trump, offering no medical evidence, has suggested Joe Biden was drugged when he debated Bernie Sanders and said he wants the former vice president drug-tested before they go toe-to-toe.

The president made his latest bold declaration ahead of night No 3 of the Republican National Convention, and threatened to distract from the biggest speech of vice president Mike Pence’s political career as the GOP ticket trails Mr Biden and running mate Kamala Harris in national polls and ones taken in most key battleground states.

Mr Trump told the Washington Examiner during an Oval Office interview published on Wednesday that he thought Mr Biden was incoherent during debates with almost a dozen other Democratic candidates. But, suddenly, when the field was down to just himself and Mr Sanders, the president claims he saw a different former VP on the debate stage.

“Nobody thought that he was even going to win,” Mr Trump said. “Because his debate performances were so bad. Frankly, his best performance was against Bernie.”

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