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MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
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Never since the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 have so many U.S. nuclear bombers been engaged in “show-of-force” operations of this sort, writes Michael Klare.
Profile by Nick Paumgarten published Oct. 12 online for their Oct. 19 issue
By Lee Drutman @ FiveThirtyEight.com, Oct. 5
[...] It wasn’t always this bad, though. Forty years ago, when asked to rate how “favorable and warm” their opinion of each party was, the average Democrat and Republican said they felt OK-ish about the opposite party. But for four decades now, partisans have increasingly turned against each other in an escalating cycle of dislike and distrust — views of the other party are currently at an all-time low.
So how did we get to this point?
Broadly speaking, there are three trends that we can point to. The first is the steady nationalization of American politics. The second is the sorting of Democrats and Republicans along urban/rural and culturally liberal/culturally conservative lines, and the third is the increasingly narrow margins in national elections.
The combination of these three trends has turned Washington, D.C., into a high-stakes battle where cross-party compromise is difficult, and both sides are increasingly holding out for complete control.
Sixty years ago, state and local politics loomed larger than they do now [....]
Will this be a new trend as state and local budgets go in the red and income from things like property and sales tax fall?
President Donald Trump has demanded to know the results of the 2020 election on election night, even though some states warn that it will take days to count their votes. But if there is a winner declared on Nov. 3, it will almost certainly be bad news for the president.
While vote counting could be delayed in many states due to a glut of mail ballots, Biden is challenging Trump in several fast-counting, Republican-leaning swing states the president carried four years ago. Election administrators in those states, especially Florida and North Carolina, are confident they should have most of the vote counted on election night.
Meanwhile, the most important states that tipped the Electoral College to Trump in 2016 — Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — allow, at best, extremely limited pre-processing of mail ballots. That means it could take days to actually declare a winner in those states.
The result: Several narrow paths to a fast 270 electoral votes for Biden, and basically none for Trump — barring a major surprise in states he lost four years ago. The president likely cannot win another term in the White House without waiting days to find out, though Trump has hinted that he could try to claim he won on election night based on vote counts that won't yet include many mail ballots, which more Democrats are planning to use this year.
By Dana Kozlov @ chicago.cbslocal.com, Oct. 9
CHICAGO (CBS) — It has been one of the most violent months ever in one Northwest Side Chicago neighborhood. Now city departments are coming together to try to get it under control.
Chicago police say they are stepping up patrols in Albany Park. It’s one thing being done to try to reverse an alarming spike in shootings in the 17th Police District. Lawrence Avenue in particular has been a corridor and hotspot for that violence.
One police source told CBS 2’s Dana Kozlov it is the result of at least a half dozen gang wars in the area.
Graffiti blasters hit the Albany Park neighborhood hard Friday morning, getting rid of gang tags on garages and buildings. It is a small way to try to erase signs of what police believe has been fueling so much violence in the area over the past month. “This is a unique thing. We usually don’t come this far north,” said Chicago Police Department Public Engagement Director Glen Brooks. “In recent weeks we’ve experienced a spike in violence that we have not seen here in a while.”
The recent shootings and murders have rattled those who live in Albany Park and Ravenswood Manor. The most recent shooting death took place Monday. b“We’ve seen some recent crime in the 17th district, and it is just unacceptable,” said Ald. Sam Nugent “I know many of you that are here today live in this neighborhood, and you are feeling the feelings of how upsetting this is. And we need to deal with this.”
According to CPD data from Sept. 7 to Oct. 4, there have ben 52 shootings in the 17th Police District. There were 20 in the same time period last year. It is an increase of 160%. Murders have almost doubled in that same time period, too.
The spike is prompting some changes. For instance, a temporary shot spotter was place near Horner Park at Montrose and California.bBrooks said all city departments, not just police, are focused on making a difference in the area [....]
The amount is the highest quarterly fund-raising total for any Senate candidate in U.S. history and part of an extraordinary surge of money pouring into Democrats’ campaigns.
By Maggie Astor, Shane Goldmacher & Trip Gabriel @ NYTimes.com, Oct. 11
Jaime Harrison, the Democrat challenging Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, raised an astonishing $57 million from July through September, the highest quarterly fund-raising total for any Senate candidate in U.S. history and part of a flood of Democratic money remaking the battle for control of the Senate.
From South Carolina to Maine to Arizona, anger at President Trump and his Republican allies has fueled a steady flow of cash to Democratic challengers all year. But Senate Republicans’ pledge to quickly replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, despite their blockade of President Barack Obama’s nominee in 2016, has enraged the Democratic base, and donations have surged to extraordinary levels.
Mr. Harrison’s fund-raising haul heightens the stakes of the Supreme Court confirmation hearings that Mr. Graham will begin overseeing on Monday as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee [....]
Across the map, the Republican Party is mounting expensive defenses of seats it once thought were safe, stretching its resources to hold on to a Senate majority that it hopes will check the power of Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic presidential nominee, if he wins in November. Polls show Mr. Biden with a consistent lead, and Republicans are growing increasingly worried about the possibility of unified Democratic control of Washington in 2021 [....]
By Eileen AJ Connelly @ NYPost.com, Oct. 10
A West Virginia nurse who spoke at the Republican National Convention in August was arrested for shooting a woman in the gut after an argument, according to reports.
Amy Thorn, 39, gained attention after volunteering to work in New York in April, and later to San Antonio to treat COVID-19 patients. Also known as Amy Ford, the name she used when she spoke on the opening night of the RNC, Thorn became something of a local hero because of her efforts to fight the virus and was later honored at a White House ceremony [....]
The shooting took place late Thursday in the town of Williamson in southeastern West Virginia. Police said Thorn shot Jonda Whitt in the abdomen during an argument, WCHS reported.
Williamson Police Chief Grady Dotson said Thorn claimed she had become fearful for her safety and had told Whitt she had a gun. “She went to the car and got the gun out of the car,” Dotson said, local news outlet the Mingo Messenger reported.
Whitt was taken to a local hospital, then airlifted [....]