(what a surprise NOT)

By Chris McGreal in Porltand, OR for TheGuardian.com, July 29

Oregon’s governor says local police will guard the courthouse as the president says the pullout will not begin until the city is secure

Stella Immanuel, a Houston pediatrician and spiritual leader of Fire Power Ministries ... believes dangerous gynecological conditions are the residue of sexual intercourse with demons...She maintains that alien DNA is a component of some therapeutic drugs and that government scientists are developing a vaccine to prevent religious faith.

You can find these and other teachings of hers on YouTube.- you can find Immanuel on President Trump’s Twitter feed, where she testifies to the power of hydroxychloroquine...

Trump turns the Winnebago around to go back to North Carolina. Hard to say what will be there when he arrives.

Not much surprises me anymore but this glimpse of a way of life in Hong Kong shocked me to tears. Hong Kong is a very rich place. There's no excuse ....

No drama. There's a pandemic going on and some countries take that seriously, imagine that. Organisers had pressed ahead with the gathering despite the courts upholding the police ban

By Steve Freiss @ Newsweek.com, July 27

Squad member Rashida Tlaib is in the midst of a tough primary race to retain her House seat in Michigan 13th congressional district, running against Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones, a long-time fixture on the local Democratic Party scene. Voting on August 4 in the heavily Democratic area all but ensures the primary winner will represent the district on Capitol Hill next year.

Sporadic polling on the race has been dizzying, with Tlaib first sharply up, then Jones zeroing in, and most recently, with the incumbent comfortably in the lead again. But with a large percentage of undecideds, an expected surge in absentee voting (which went poorly for Tlaib in 2018) and uncertainty about the impact of COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement in a district that is 55 percent Black, the outcome is still too close to call, political observers say.

Shifting focus from the campaign, Tlaib took time to talk with Newsweek contributor Steve Friess about a few different topics, including the prospects for other progressive candidates, what it's like to be a member of Congress's most famous foursome and why, despite her very vocal opposition to Donald Trump, she refuses to endorse Joe Biden for president [....]

To ..fascism..??  "Walmart said it has banned a couple from its stores after they were seen on video wearing face coverings with swastikas as they shopped at one of its Minnesota locations.

Saturday, the same day Minnesota started requiring its citizens to wear masks in all indoir businesses, a Walmart customer captured video footage of a man and woman wearing face coverings emblazoned with the Nazi symbol at a store in Marshall, southwest of Minneapolis."

• Party says killing of Bernell Trammell may have been political
• 60-year-old supported Trump and Black Lives Matter, locals say

By Oliver Milman @ TheGuardian.com, July 25

The Wisconsin Republican party has called for a federal investigation of a fatal shooting, to ascertain whether it was motivated by animosity towards Donald Trump. Bernell Trammell, a 60-year-old African American man who was a well-known figure in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood, was shot and killed at around 12.30pm on Thursday. Police did not immediately provide any details on possible suspects or motives.

However, the Republican party of Wisconsin said the “senseless” murder may have been politically motivated and called upon federal investigators to become involved.

Trammell, who ran a business called eXpressions Journal in Riverwest, regularly displayed signs on political and religious matters, including support for Trump as well as the Black Lives Matter movement, according to those who knew him.

Trammell was pictured holding a sign calling for a Trump victory in the November election. But community members have said he supported politicians from both sides of the divide, including Lena Taylor, a Democrat who ran for mayor of Milwaukee this year [....]