Explosions in NJ & NYC combined with stabbing spree in Minnesota sure to get many extra focused on climate change (Sunday open thread)

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**Written by Doug Powers

There are 50 days until the election. Crunch time! Here’s a Sunday open thread for whatever’s on your mind…

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In Manhattan Thursday night, this happened:

A man wielding an 11-inch meat cleaver gashed an off-duty NYPD detective Thursday evening before he was shot by other officers following a foot chase through midtown Manhattan.

Incoming NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill told a press conference that two other officers were injured in the incident, but did not disclose how those injuries occurred. The detective was in serious condition after reciving a six-inch cut from his temple to his jaw. The suspect was in critical but stable condition at a local hospital.

The same guy came to the authorities’ attention a couple months ago. Here’s why:

Cops found two knives inside Joudeh’s car after answering the July report of an erratic man on Shore Parkway in Brooklyn shout “Allahu Akbar!” — or “God is great” in Arabic.

But the source said investigations by the NYPD and FBI showed Joudeh, 32, was emotionally disturbed and not a terrorist threat.

But I’m sure they’ll do a better job vetting tens of thousands of refugees.

Combine that with a pipe bomb going off on the planned route of a Marine Corps charity run (it could have been a bigger blast but the connected bombs didn’t go off), a stabbing spree at a St. Cloud, Minnesota mall by a man referencing Allah, and on the same day a pressure cooker exploded in a dumpster in New York City that injured dozens. Another device (pressure cooker with cell phone attached) found elsewhere undetonated, and it all adds up to one thing: Somebody’s about to redouble efforts to combat climate change. It’s certainly not as easy to blame the NRA for all this.

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Last month, Hillary Clinton’s campaign was bragging about a spike in small donations:

Naturally, there might be a very “Clinton-esque” explanation for all that:

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is stealing from her poorest supporters by purposefully and repeatedly overcharging them after they make what’s supposed to be a one-time small donation through her official campaign website, multiple sources tell the Observer.

The overcharges are occurring so often that the fraud department at one of the nation’s biggest banks receives up to 100 phone calls a day from Clinton’s small donors asking for refunds for unauthorized charges to their bankcards made by Clinton’s campaign. One elderly Clinton donor, who has been a victim of this fraud scheme, has filed a complaint with her state’s attorney general and a representative from the office told her that they had forwarded her case to the Federal Election Commission.

“We get up to a hundred calls a day from Hillary’s low-income supporters complaining about multiple unauthorized charges,” a source, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of job security, from the Wells Fargo fraud department told the Observer. The source claims that the Clinton campaign has been pulling this stunt since Spring of this year. The Hillary for America campaign will overcharge small donors by repeatedly charging small amounts such as $20 to the bankcards of donors who made a one-time donation.

Why not just “overcharge” by larger amounts? This might have something to do with it:

However, the Clinton campaign strategically doesn’t overcharge these donors $100 or more because the bank would then be obligated to investigate the fraud.

Even if it were to be investigated, the Clinton campaign would be completely exonerated because they’d claim they didn’t intend for this to happen.

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A Philadelphia police officer was ambushed Friday night and shot eight times. During the ensuing rampage, another officer was shot, one civilian was killed and others injured. Oh, and the gunman hated cops:

A “rambling” note expressing hatred for police was found after a man opened fire on a Philadelphia police officer then went on a shooting rampage, injuring a second officer, killing a woman and wounding three other people before he was shot and killed by police in an alley, authorities said Saturday.

Police Commissioner Richard Ross identified the gunman in the Friday overnight attack as 25-year-old Nicholas Glenn, who was “well-known” to police and has a criminal record.

If Colin Kaepernick is feeling remotely empathetic, maybe he should leave his “pig cop” socks at home for a while, but that’s not likely.

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Submitted without comment: A Hispanic activist who has slammed Donald Trump for saying Mexico is in part sending “rapists” to the U.S. has been arrested and charged with … rape.

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Have a good Sunday all!

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe