Good morning, everyone. In case you’ve missed it, the Donald Trump campaign is still living in a fantasy world in which black voters will actually decide the Republican nominee is their guy. Let’s jump right in:
1. Trump continues to sell the “African-Americans love me” schtick, despite poll numbers that suggest he’s lost his mind.
Monday, he gave the Twitterverse this gem:
They do? Wait a second. Let’s take a look at the Aug. 29 numbers from the Monmouth University Poll.
So that’s 14 percent of people who are NOT white and non-Hispanic, meaning these numbers include the few Hispanics crazy enough to support a guy who wants to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. So 14 percent is WAY generous. I guess these poll numbers are rigged, too … right Donald? I mean, we all know what your buddy Pat McCrory thinks of the Monmouth poll.
Remember his response a few days ago when polls showed him trailing Roy Cooper by nine points?
Let’s assume, for kicks, that we are living in bizarro world and the Monmouth poll is a sham. There’s also this, from Morning Consult:
Trump’s outreach to African American voters appears to be falling flat among that demographic, with only 5 percent of black voters saying they will vote for Trump; 79 percent of African American respondents say they will vote for Clinton, with 16 percent undecided.
2. When you’re trying to relate to black voters, maybe a surrogate shouldn’t depict your opponent in blackface?
Sticking with Trump’s desire to paint (no pun intended) himself as a champion of minorities, you have to wonder what he thinks about South Carolina pastor Mark Burns, a surrogate who spoke at the Republican National Convention, tweeting this:
Burns later deleted the tweet and apologized for being “offensive.”
With that, let’s get to some local stuff.
3. Raleigh police officer wounded, 24-year-old black man shot dead. Questions remain.
Here’s what we know:
A Raleigh police officer was involved in a shooting that left him wounded and another man dead. The RPD’s Internal Affairs Unit and the State Bureau of Investigation are looking into what happened. The incident occurred near the entrance of Raleigh Country Club. Beyond that, at this point, everything is conjecture.
From the N&O:
The shooting took place outside a house at 311 Donald Ross Drive after police responded to a 911 call made from a block away about a man with a gun who was reportedly trespassing. An officer located the man in the street and gave chase on foot before he was joined by a second officer, according to police.
The Raleigh Police Department identified the man who was killed as Jaqwan Julius Terry, 24, of Raleigh, and the officers involved as B.S. Beausoleil and B.F. Burleson. The wounded officer, Burleson, was taken to WakeMed hospital for treatment of what was reported to be a nonlife-threatening leg wound.
Raleigh police says they reported the “officer-involved shooting” to the State Bureau of Investigation, which will investigate and submit its findings to the Wake County District Attorney.
4. Air Force pilots pull a “Top Gun.”
Remember when Maverick and Goose performed an unauthorized flyover and made the guy in the air traffic control tower spill coffee all over himself? That was funny because it was a movie. This … yeah, somebody’s going to have a bad day.
Apparently, some Air Force pilots wanted a closer look at the Carolina Panthers.
From the N&O:
Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration officials are looking into a low-altitude flight by four military jets over Bank of America Stadium Monday morning that startled residents and office workers.
The pilots of the A-10 “Warthogs” were participating in routine navigation training from Charlotte to Moody Air Force Base near Valdosta, Ga., the base said in a statement Monday. The jets were not participating in an official Air Force stadium flyover, as Charlotte Douglas International Airport officials originally said.
A Charlotte Douglas spokeswoman said the airport was advised by the “air traffic control tower that there are military jets practicing their stadium run” over the Carolina Panthers’ home field. The errant report, the FAA said later, resulted from one of its employees incorrectly telling a Charlotte Douglas official that the flight was “a practice flyover for a football game.”
The planes “weren’t practicing for anything.”
Panthers spokesman Steven Drummond said no stadium flyovers are currently planned for this season, although the team is trying to set one up for the home season opener against the San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 18. In any case, the planes would not be A-10s, he said.
“We didn’t know about it,” he said of Monday’s flyover.
The flyover occurred during a Panthers practice session. Coach Ron Rivera told reporters that he was surprised by the planes.
5. Teenager talks about spending six months as a detainee.
After finally, thanks to a community effort to raise the $10,000 in bail needed to get him out of a federal immigration detention center in Georgia, being set free, Wildin Acosta unloaded on the government for conditions inside the facility.
From the N&O
Acosta, 19, spoke for more than an hour Monday and outlined the events that prompted his parents to bring him to Durham, where they had settled.
He also talked about the racism, mistreatment and uncertainty that roiled his emotions while in a place he described as the “ICE box,” a play on U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement, the federal agency that enforces immigration laws. But he also used the term to describe the frigid temperatures in several of the places where he was held after arriving in the United States.
ICE agents arrested Acosta on Jan. 28 as he left his Durham home for Riverside High School, where he was a senior. Since then, immigration activists, teachers, fellow students, Durham city officials and U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield have called for his release and for a new hearing to consider his request for asylum.
6. RIP Gene Wilder
The comic actor, perhaps best known for his portrayal of “Willy Wonka,” died Monday.
If that doesn’t make you want to go out and live the dream, nothing will.
That’s all for today.