The November 5, 2016 Thread

The November 5, 2016 Thread

So, the Associated Press has verified that Melania Trump entered the country in 1996 on a visa that did not permit her to work, but she immediately went to work on modeling jobs from actual U.S. citizens and foreigners who had actual work visas. This is precisely what her husband has been railing against. I could give a shit about Melania's immigration status. But it proves that she and her husband and every single person who supports them are not only hypocrites, but flaming evil racists. Illegal immigration of white people from white Eastern Europe is ok, because they are white. Illegal immigration of brown people from the Middle East or Latin America is not ok because they are brown.
White Privilege And It’s Built-In “Lone Wolf” Excuse

White Privilege And It’s Built-In “Lone Wolf” Excuse

I'm exhausted. This election season, along with other events, has beaten me down. It's endless, and next Tuesday will not put an end to it. And now we have another lone wolf. Here's how the NYT described the "ambush shooter" who killed two police officers:
Investigators quickly identified a suspect in the slayings, who then surrendered — a local man described as a troubled loner who was familiar to the police in his suburban town, Urbandale. He had a string of arrests and confrontations with officers and others, but nothing in his record approached the scale of violence that erupted here. Sgt. Paul Parizek, a spokesman for the Des Moines Police Department, “We may never actually know what motivated this act.”
A troubled loner. Oh well then, let's move along. He couldn't possibly be part of a culture. Why? Because white men are viewed as individuals. I'm so tired of this. There is a problem here, and why we keep ignoring - and excusing - it escapes me. And the idea that "we may never actually know what motivated this act" strikes me as ridiculous.
The November 4, 2016 Thread

The November 4, 2016 Thread

At POLITICO, Steven Shepard brings us the campaign expert consensus that Hillary Clinton has the superior ground game:
The presidential race may be tightening, but Democrats are convinced they have an Election Day ace-in-the-hole: Hillary Clinton's ground game. They're confident it will withstand Donald Trump’s late surge in key battleground states. [...] Democratic insiders are most confident in Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin. They express more uncertainty in Florida and Iowa. [...] Insiders in both parties agree that Hillary Clinton has the advantage in Colorado, where every ballot with be cast by mail for the first time in a presidential election. “For the first time ever, Democrats are outpacing Republicans in ballot returns,” said a Colorado Democrat — who, like all insiders, completed the survey anonymously. “In the past, only on Election Day itself did more Democrats vote than Republicans. This year, there has been only one day when the Republicans outpaced the Democrats. Something special is happening here.”

The Daily Delawhere – November 4, 2016

Bayard Sharp Hall, at Main Street & Delaware Avenue in Newark. The University of Delaware building was originally St. Thomas Episcopal Church. The church was built in 1844. When the congregation moved to South College Avenue in 1956, the church became the town library, until a new library was built on Library Avenue in 1974. The university saved the structure from demolition, and turned it into a performing arts center in 1999.
The November 3, 2016 Thread

The November 3, 2016 Thread

Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “Hillary Clinton has picked an awful time to hit one of the rough patches that has plagued her throughout the campaign. Now with just days to go until Election Day, there’s added uncertainty about the outcome. But while she may not be on the brink of an Electoral College win the size of Barack Obama’s in 2008 or even 2012, her position as the clear frontrunner in this race endures.” Cook Political Report: “A tightening race nationally has also translated into tightening at the state level. States that were trending Trump’s way in September started to slip away from him in early October. Now, with the focus more on Clinton’s emails than on Trump’s debate performances or his Twitter spats, states like Iowa and Ohio are moving back in Trump’s direction… However, these are minor, not major adjustments to the overall Electoral College map with Clinton now at 278 (8 more votes than she needs to win) and Trump at 214 (56 short of 270).”

Where the money is coming from….

Chris Williams has set up a great resource called Delaware Elections 2016. There, you can track campaign donations by zip code with maps and everything. It even has our new favorite thing: heat maps. You can also get breakdowns by donation type, and given a politician (or committee), see what other committees donors are donating to. Check out John Carney's page and then Republican nominee Colin Bonini.
Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence’s Ranks your State Legislators

Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence’s Ranks your State Legislators

Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence (DCAGV) took a look at how our state senators and representatives voted on a few relevant pieces of legislation, which are:
HB 217: Mandates that law enforcement enter ballistic data relating to violent crime into a national database. HB 325: This bill closes a loophole to our gun background check laws. The current loophole allows for guns to be given to a potential purchaser if the background check is delayed for 3 days or more. In some cases a gun is given to a person who should not be in possession of a firearm. SB 83: Among other provisions, this Act provides that any person who is prohibited from purchasing, owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon because the person is subject to a Family Court protection from abuse order is so prohibited immediately upon the entry of the protection from abuse order from purchasing or otherwise obtaining, and within 24 hours of personal service of the order, from owning, possessing, or controlling any deadly weapon.
Here are the grades: