The Left’s Incomplete Night

This Politico piece captured the night while the Michigan U.S. Senate race was still too close to call and progressives were realizing they hadn’t delivered the blowout many expected.

Yesterday’s Michigan primaries

Progressive Abdul El-Sayed narrowly beat moderate Rep. Haley Stevens in the Democratic Senate primary. The race was far closer than late polls predicted.

In Michigan’s 7th District, Sunrise Movement co-founder William Lawrence won the Democratic House primary after two moderates split the vote.

In the 13th District, democratic socialist Donavan McKinney narrowly unseated incumbent Rep. Shri Thanedar.

Cori Bush’s comeback bid

Former “Squad” member and democratic socialist Cori Bush tried to reclaim the St. Louis-area House seat she lost in 2024. She faced the same opponent who beat her then, incumbent Rep. Wesley Bell.

Bush ran again as a sharp critic of U.S. support for Israel and as a progressive standard-bearer. The race drew heavy outside spending, much of it from pro-Israel groups backing Bell. She lost decisively, roughly 59% to 37%.

It was one of the clearer setbacks for the progressive left on a night that otherwise produced mixed results for that faction.

h/t Newsalert

Let's revisit the McCloskey's in St. Louis

[VIDEO] I wanted to take this time out to re-examine the case of the [Mark & Patricia] McCloskey's in St. Louis, Missouri. They got attention for standing outside of their home with weapons - some would note that they did poorly as far as handling their weapons - against a mob of activists in their gated urban community. These individuals were trespassing onto this gated community and broke down a gate to enter. They were on their way to the Mayor of St. Louis home to protest.

All these individuals did was stand their ground outside of their home with the knowledge that the police weren't coming As most gun controllers expect they should sit in place and hope the police can come and disperse the crowd. Then again what if the police doesn't come, no gun control advocate can answer the question other than take for granted the police will come around when you call them.

In the above video Dana Loesch discusses the case and how authorities with the St. Louis Circuit Attorney office (St. Louis' District Attorney or their version of a State's Attorney as prosecutors would be known here in Cook County) took an inoperable gun restored it and used it as one more felony charge against the McCloskeys. Remember Mrs. Patricia McCloskey was wildly pointing her pistol at this mob and that gun was inoperable, no one was in danger. Then someone who knew how to restore that gun was able to and we got another charge.

I wanted to also share this story from the St. Louis area. St. Louis city has their own prosecutor, however, St. Louis County has their own prosecutor. Gateway Pundit hilariously referred the St. Louis prosecutor as illiterate (because he couldn't read his notes) as he announced charges against some police officers. One of those officers was already there to be booked and to pay bail and confronted prosecutor Wesley Bell. That took some major courage to disrupt that press conference.

Let me close with this. Right is right and wrong is wrong. A lot of this unrest is under the guise of wanting justice - racial justice. How can any of us standby and allow people to be unjustly subjected to the whims of overzealous prosecution? The McCloskey's didn't know what was going on in their neighborhood and while it's dangerous to do so attempted to take their own measures.

And as far as that cop, police has been taking a beating since the death of George Floyd on Memorial Day. What you hear the protestors mob talk about how bad the police are. It's too bad that they portray a whole profession or occupation with a broad brush. Yet I see stories about how even they take police protection for granted. They want to say police is so bad and racist and corrupt but when they do something illegal and someone does something about it, they're mad police won't arrest anyone. The world is upside down!

ABL: St. Louis Couple GUNS Taken! Activist Prosecutor Involved?

[VIDEO] If you haven't really been following what's been going on in St. Louis, Missouri. A couple was defending their home in a gated community which had been invaded by a group of "protestors". Even if many on the right agreed with this couple and their attempt to defend their home from any possible damage by anyone among the protestors, they may have discussed their lack of gun training.

As you see ABL discuss in the above video Mark and Patricia McCloskey came out of their home with their guns to defend their property on June 28, 2020 to quell any attempts on their property. And then the St. Louis Circuit Attorney (or their version of a District Attorney or State's Attorney) figures in her statement about this the same day and was alarmed by Mr. & Mrs. McCloskey's actions on June 28th. Recently a search warrant was executed by authorities and the weapons they used that day were to be turned over to authorities.

You might hear that the Circuit Attorney a woman by the name of Kim Gardner had 100% turnover in her office since she took office in 2017. She's said to be soft on crime in STL since she took over that office and she does have a primary coming up next month. Like Chicago, STL is a solidly Democrat city and I don't believe there is any GOP opposition. If Gardner isn't defeated in next month's primary her re-election is a done deal.

On the other hand its come out nationally that the McCloskeys have little issue suing neighbors. Afterall Mark McCloskey is an attorney himself.

Well hopefully we'll hear more about this case as it goes forward. I wouldn't be too surprised if the McCloskeys come out OK in this. Hell, there have been offers to the McCloskeys for a replacement of the AR-15 rifle that the police took with their search warrant.

Hmmm, this gives me an idea at least for a future project for this blog.

Virtual Railfan LaPlata 360

[VIDEO] If I believe the YouTube page this live cam became active April 25, 2019. You can also access this cam on my railcam page when you see the below image once you press play.

This had been alluded to in earlier videos on Virtual Railfan's YouTube channel where they had planned to place a 360 live video camera on a former railroad embankment east of the LaPlata, Missouri Amtrak station. Having seen the train come and go with the cams at the train station seeing the train from this embankment is a very interesting perspective. It's one I hope you would want to check out also.

Want to see more of LaPlata, Missouri?

[VIDEO] Here is footage from a drone over LaPlata, Missouri. LaPlata is the Amtrak stop if you're traveling aboard the Southwest Chief. That's the significance of the above footage.

BTW, if you follow the LaPlata live feed via Virtual Railfan - and you can watch both Amtrak and freight trains roll by daily on my railcam page - you get to see the station where the train stops. It seems like a small stop with a medium sized station but a small platform to board the trains.

To be honest on my two trips on the Chief I really don't remember this stop. So since discovering Virtual Railfan on YouTube increasingly I've been curious about this stop. Now I'm somewhat satisfied! 

Alright back to #Ferguson

Last night tempers flared again in Ferguson, Missouri. Over the past summer a teenager - Michael Brown - had been shot and killed by a police officer named Darren Wilson. While I don't know all the facts Brown was apparently unarmed and I saw pictures yesterday of Wilson's injuries that were afflicted by Brown.

I erred on the side of Michael Brown scuffled with Officer Wilson for certain and during the scuffle apparently Wilson felt the need to discharge his weapon. It definitely bothered me that Brown being unarmed was shot to death, however, it also made since that Wilson felt he was in danger and made his decision.

Well tempers flared during the last three months since Brown's shooting. Indeed I was already under the impression that there were already some rioting. Indeed larger than the basic race argument that's being made again here is that the nation opened their eyes to this idea of the militarization of the police in America.

I've been seeing the meme "black lives don't matter" or I've seen the meme comparing other white mass murderers who have been apprehended but lethal force or even over prosecution for those Blacks who have murdered no one. I recognize these for what they are soundbites and they make for great TV news coverage and certainly to stir up passions.

So far my choice is to stay impassioned because I recognize how easy talking about race in this situation is. My conclusion is that many people just stop at the fact that a white police officer killed a young Black male. We all know the history of interactions between police authorities and minorities in this country. It hasn't always been fair and peaceful, however, it seems to be a recurring theme even if the story is clear.

A grand jury last night chose not to indict Officer Wilson that's why not only rioting occured in Ferguson but demonstrations occurred around the nation. Even here in Chicago were there some demonstrations that shutdown Lake Shore Drive.

Right now passions about what happened in this Missouri city is back up. I hope things calm down in Ferguson - that is we put in jail those who were only out to cause trouble and not truly protest any injustice. And if necessary we can truly investigate the Brown shooting and hopefully more facts about what happened between police and Brown will come to light.

USA Today: Chaos, violence in #Ferguson; National Guard called in

I've been following this situation actually since I learned a St. Louis, Missouri Alderman had been arrested in some of the unrest. While there were some quiet in the unrest, now the state of Missouri is calling in the national guard:

Another night of chaos and violence gave way to an uneasy quiet Monday as residents cleaned up from looting and vandalism and awaited the arrival of the National Guard.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon ordered the Guard into Ferguson hours after police cited "pre-planned" acts of aggression by protesters. Sunday night and early Monday morning, protesters shot at police, threw Molotov cocktails at officers, looted businesses and carried out a "coordinated attempt" to block roads and overrun the police's command center, Nixon's office said in a statement.

The National Guard will "help restore peace and order and to protect the citizens of Ferguson," the statement said.

The predominantly black city of 21,000 on the outskirts of St. Louis has been under siege since Aug. 9, when white police officer Darren Wilson, 28, fatally shot unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. Protesters have been met with a heavy police presence, resulting in fierce nightly clashes.

There's a video with the report and it also stated autopsy report of Michael Brown who was unarmed and shot by police which sparked the unrest there.

On Sunday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder ordered a federal autopsy on Brown's body. Hours later, reports began surfacing that the private autopsy performed at the request of Brown's family determined he was shot at least six times, including twice in the head and four times in the right arm.

Benjamin Crump told USA TODAY the preliminary autopsy reports shows Brown was shot at least six times, including twice in the head but not in the back.

"It verifies the worst that the family thinks happened -- that he was executed," Crump said. "It confirms what the witnesses said, that this was an execution. That's what the witnesses said from day one."

I must find more on this autopsy to be fair...

The findings came Sunday after a preliminary private autopsy, the second performed on Brown, by Michael M. Baden, former chief medical officer for the state of New York, at the request of the Brown family. The first autopsy was performed by the St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s office.

“There were at least six entry wounds, there might have been seven, but we’ll have to correlate that with what was found in the first autopsy,” Baden, who retired from the New York state police in 2011, told the Wall Street Journal.

He cautioned against drawing conclusions from the autopsy. “Right now there is too little information to forensically reconstruct the shooting,” he told the Times, but added: “In my capacity as the forensic examiner for the New York State Police, I would say, ‘You’re not supposed to shoot so many times.’”

He also told the Times about Brown’s head wounds.

“This one here looks like his head was bent downward,” he said, indicating a wound at the top of Brown’s head. “It can be because he’s giving up, or because he’s charging forward at the officer.”

So now we know more about what happened to him and unfortunately things haven't calmed down in Ferguson. One issue that seems to keep coming up during the course of this unrest is the militarization of police. Some criticized the response of the police there which prompted the State of Missouri to send in their state police under the command of a Capt. Ron Johnson pictured below:

Why do you think this is organized? "Failure to disperse" - MHP Captain Ron Johnson pic.twitter.com/mTJYCidHZd
— FOX2now (@FOX2now) August 18, 2014

Now he's the one that has to preside over the unrest that was sparked again last night. It seems he helped to calm things down in Ferguson. And I still hopes things calm down there soon.

BTW, that St. Louis Ald. Antonio French remains in Ferguson to cover the story. This is an interesting update, not that I've seen much about the police chief there but I get the idea he was maintaining a hardline. Now it seems if you believe this post that this experience has changed him.

They also said the #Ferguson police chief apologized to them. Woman said she had been praying for God to change his heart. #PeaceInFerguson
— Antonio French (@AntonioFrench) August 18, 2014

May there be peace in Ferguson, Missouri.