Murdertown, USA

Murdertown, USA

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That's the title of Newsweek's article looking at the crime problem in Wilmington. I thought that this article mostly tried to leverage off of articles like this one, that rank the safety of small cities using FBI crime stats and articles from the News Journal also reporting on Wilmington's crime issues. The author mentions a "tale of two cities" quality to the city (that's true) but doesn't really do this theme justice, which might have told us more about the problem. And if you google "Murdertown", you see places like Flint, MI, Chicago, IL, various towns in Texas and Youngstown, OH, tagged with it, so the title to this article is even a little worn. Still:
This year, there have been 27 homicides in Wilmington, tying its record 27 murders in 2010, and 135 people have been shot. Twenty-two of them died. With a population of just over 71,000, Wilmington had a violent-crime rate of 1,625 per 100,000 people last year, according to the FBI’s 2013 Uniform Crime Report (that crime rate measures murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault). The national average was 368 per 100,000 people. Wilmington ranks third for violence among 450 cities of comparable size, behind the Michigan towns of Saginaw and Flint, according to a Wilmington News Journal report.
The stats are bad, but if the number of murders could be cut by one third or so, Wilmington would fall right off of those top 10 lists. The city would be a little safer for the folks who live in the neighborhoods where the guns seem drawn all of the time, but would the problem be resolved? Probably not, because:
When you ask people in Wilmington about the root causes of the city’s crime epidemic, their answers read like the devil’s Christmas list: poverty, racism, lack of economic opportunities, drug and alcohol abuse, gun violence, high dropout rates, teenage pregnancy, stressed families and more.

Wednesday Open Thread [12.10.14]

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Al Hunt notes that polling shows that “on two controversial issues, the budget deficit and deporting illegal immigrants, the public believes Obama’s critics — even though reality favors the president.” LOL. Reality favors facts. The President deals in facts. The News Media does not. Thus, a public reliant on the News Media will likewise not be informed as to facts.
“By 73 percent to 21 percent, the public says the federal budget deficit has gotten bigger during the Obama presidency. Here are the facts: In fiscal 2009, during the first year of Obama’s presidency, the deficit was $1.413 trillion. In the current fiscal year, the congressional budget office projects the deficit will be $469 billion, down from $483 billion in the budget year that ended Sept. 30. The deficit has been cut by two-thirds during Obama’s six years.” “By 53 percent to 29 percent, Americans believe that Obama has sent fewer undocumented immigrants home than were deported a decade earlier. That’s a constant refrain of Obama’s immigration critics. It also isn’t true. Immigration agents removed 315,943 people in the last fiscal year. That’s down from 438,421 the year before but up 31 percent from the 240,665 deported in fiscal 2004.”
Will Landrieu Reciprocate?

Will Landrieu Reciprocate?

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Tom Carper spent a lot of time campaigning form Mary Landrieu. Has his hard work purchased any goodwill? I doubt it. My bet is that Carper was duped, but that appears to be his thing.
“Senate Democrats plan to squeeze every last drop out of their majority, threatening to extend the lame duck to approve key nominees of President Barack Obama before turning over Senate control to Republicans in January. If they hold their caucus together, Democrats can unilaterally prevail and approve Vivek Murthy to be surgeon general, Sarah Saldana to lead Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and Carolyn Colvin to be Social Security administrator, as well as nine judicial nominees … Democrats may need all their members to stick around to win tough votes, including Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who lost her seat on Saturday and has missed all of this week’s votes so far.”
Keystone XL pipeline continues to cause Republicans to act crazy

Keystone XL pipeline continues to cause Republicans to act crazy

Because the Keystone XL pipeline failed to pass, and because contraception is now the same thing as abortion in the deranged minds of Republicans, House GOPers pushed to attach a provision to the government funding bill that would let some employers opt out of covering contraception for employees. Senator for Life, Tom Carper took this move as a positive step toward Republican "reciprocity" and a demonstration of the GOP's willingness to be bipartisan.