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Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Never Believed Trump Would Help

At Politico, "Johnstown Never Believed Trump Would Help. They Still Love Him Anyway":

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Pam Schilling is the reason Donald Trump is the president.

Schilling’s personal story is in poignant miniature the story of this area of western Pennsylvania as a whole—one of the long-forgotten, woebegone spots in the middle of the country that gave Trump his unexpected victory last fall. She grew up in nearby Nanty Glo, the daughter and granddaughter of coal miners. She once had a union job packing meat at a grocery store, and then had to settle for less money at Walmart. Now she’s 60 and retired, and last year, in April, as Trump’s shocking political ascent became impossible to ignore, Schilling’s 32-year-old son died of a heroin overdose. She found needles in the pockets of the clothes he wore to work in the mines before he got laid off.

Desperate for change, Schilling, like so many other once reliable Democrats in these parts, responded enthusiastically to what Trump was saying—building a wall on the Mexican border, repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, bringing back jobs in steel and coal. That’s what Trump told them. At a raucous rally in late October, right downtown in their minor-league hockey arena, he vowed to restore the mines and the mills that had been the lifeblood of the region until they started closing some 40 years ago, triggering the “American carnage” Trump would talk about in his inaugural address: massive population loss, shrinking tax rolls, communal hopelessness and ultimately a raging opioid epidemic. When Trump won, people here were ecstatic. But they’d heard generations of politicians make big promises before, and they were also impatient for him to deliver.

“Six months to a year,” catering company owner Joey Del Signore told me when we met days after the election. “A couple months,” retired nurse Maggie Frear said, before saying it might take a couple years. “He’s just got to follow through with what he said he was going to do,” Schilling said last November. Back then, there was an all-but-audible “or else.”

A year later, the local unemployment rate has ticked down, and activity in a few coal mines has ticked up. Beyond that, though, not much has changed—at least not for the better. Johnstown and the surrounding region are struggling in the same ways and for the same reasons. The drug problem is just as bad. “There’s nothing good in the area,” Schilling said the other day in her living room. “I don’t have anything good to say about anything in this area. It’s sad.” Even so, her backing for Trump is utterly undiminished: “I’m a supporter of him, 100 percent.”

What I heard from Schilling is overwhelmingly what I heard in my follow-up conversations with people here that I talked to last year as well. Over the course of three rainy, dreary days last week, I revisited and shook hands with the president’s base—that thirtysomething percent of the electorate who resolutely approve of the job he is doing, the segment of voters who share his view that the Russia investigation is a “witch hunt” that “has nothing to do with him,” and who applaud his judicial nominees and his determination to gut the federal regulatory apparatus. But what I wasn’t prepared for was how readily these same people had abandoned the contract he had made with them. Their satisfaction with Trump now seems untethered to the things they once said mattered to them the most.

“I don’t know that he has done a lot to help,” Frear told me. Last year, she said she wouldn’t vote for him again if he didn’t do what he said he was going to do. Last week, she matter-of-factly stated that she would. “Support Trump? Sure,” she said. “I like him.”

Keep reading.

Electoral Landscape Remains Forbidding for Democrats

Following-up from last night, "Democrats Sweep in Virginia, New Jersey, and the Left Coast."

At Politico, "Democrats euphoric after Tuesday election romp: Wins in Virginia and across the country buoy the party's hopes about the 2018 midterms":

Virginia is a blue state now for two reasons: 1.) mass immigration (legal & illegal) and 2.) massive, growing dependence on Big Gov't.

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) November 8, 2017

Jubilant Democrats struck a defiant tone after sweeping victories across the country on Tuesday night, led by Democrat Ralph Northam’s surprise pummeling of Republican Ed Gillespie in Virginia’s gubernatorial race.

Surveying their first electoral sweep in half a decade after a soul-crushing 2016 campaign and a desultory start to the Donald Trump era, Democratic leaders reset their expectations for the 2018 midterms. They're now expecting a fundraising and candidate recruitment surge, powered by grass-roots fury at the Trump administration.

While most Democrats stopped short of predicting the party will take the House next year, they noted in Gillespie the failure of a candidate who tried balancing between Trump-style populism and establishment Republicanism.

“We were all under a lot of pressure saying we need to win this thing, we need a boost. But we gave a rocket boost tonight,” said outgoing Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, celebrating at Northam’s election night party. The result in the race to replace him, he said, “is a rejection of Trump, of the hatred and bigoted fear that they always bring into these campaigns.”

“I certainly didn’t see this ass-kicking coming; this is pretty stunning,” added Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “Republicans have two problems: their president and their agenda. And I don’t think either of those liabilities are disappearing anytime soon.”

The shifted landscape remains forbidding for Democrats. They must flip 24 Republican-held seats to win the House, and are forced to defend 10 incumbent senators running for reelection in states that Trump won in 2016. They must also handle a range of painful internal tactical and policy divisions threatening to rupture their unity at any moment.

Plus, Tuesday's wide victories came in one solidly Democratic state and another that's been leaning that way, making it potentially perilous to read too much into their results.

But paired with Phil Murphy’s long-expected victory in New Jersey’s gubernatorial election, upsets in Virginia’s House of Delegates races, and wins in mayoral elections from New Hampshire to Florida, the evening presented Democrats with a night to celebrate for the first time since Trump’s shocking victory in November 2016. They have repeatedly fallen short in special elections in conservative areas so far this year, but Tuesday’s results wiped that slate nearly clean in the eyes of stunned party operatives and lawmakers...

Well, we'll know in one year. We'll know if the Democrats can surge back to power in the House.

More.

Democrats Sweep in Virginia, New Jersey, and the Left Coast

It's a big night for the Dems, and the battle for 2018 starts now. If Republicans lose the house that's big. Only a year away, amazing.

At the Hill, "Dems win from coast to coast, claim total control of 2 new states and find their mojo in age of Trump":

Democrats roared back on Tuesday a year after suffering perhaps the most demoralizing defeat in modern political history, claiming big victories in races up and down the ballot and across the country.

The breadth of the Democratic wins surprised even the most optimistic party stalwarts, who fretted over their own chances in key races Tuesday. But as the results rolled in, those Democrats said they had energized their core voters and capitalized on President Trump's unpopularity to reach swing voters.

"This is not a wave. This is a tsunami," Virginia Del. David Toscano, leader of the Democratic caucus, told The Hill in an interview Tuesday night. "This is a huge, huge sea change here in Virginia."

Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) won the Virginia governorship by a wider-than-expected margin, even with Democrats fretting about his late campaign strategy. Democrat Justin Fairfax won the lieutenant governor's office, becoming only the second African American to win a statewide post in Virginia since Reconstruction, while Attorney General Mark Herring (D) won re-election.

In New Jersey, former Goldman Sachs executive Phil Murphy (D) easily won the right to replace deeply unpopular Gov. Chris Christie (R), cementing Democratic control in the Garden State.

In Washington, Democrat Manka Dhingra (D) appeared headed for victory in a special election to fill an open state Senate seat. Dhingra's win, in a formerly Republican district, would give Democrats control of all levers of government in the Evergreen State.

Democrats won at least 14 seats in Virginia's House of Delegates, with another three likely headed to a recount. They picked up at least two seats in New Jersey's state Senate, with several Senate and Assembly districts yet to count ballots, and a seat in New Hampshire's state House.

Georgia Democrats celebrated winning two deep red districts in special state House elections. Two Democrats appear likely to face off in a runoff in a suburban Atlanta state Senate district formerly held by a Republican after finishing first and second in the all-party primary — a result that would break the GOP's supermajority.

Even local elections tipped left on Tuesday. In St. Petersburg, Fla., Mayor Rick Kriseman won re-election, after campaigning with former Vice President Joe Biden and other Democratic stalwarts, over former Mayor Rick Baker, an upset in a race in which early polls showed Baker leading.

In Manchester, Joyce Craig became the first woman to win the mayor's office, and the first Democrat to win the city since 2003, after she ousted four-term incumbent Ted Gatsas (R).

Senior Democratic strategists said their candidates had found a way to tie Republican candidates to the deeply unpopular president, not through his uncouth statements and behavior but through his unpopular policies...

Well, it does seem like a referendum, that's for sure.

More.

Also, at LAT, "Democrats seize Virginia and New Jersey governorships in elections seen as precursors of 2018 fights."

Tonight: Democrat had a better night that they even dreamed, while Republicans contemplate a complicated 2018 https://t.co/z1PmSPSU1I

— Cathleen Decker (@cathleendecker) November 8, 2017

Devin P. Kelley, Sutherland Shooting Suspect, Broke Infant Stepson's Skull and Assaulted Wife

Following-up from earlier, "Devin P. Kelley, Sutherland Shooting Suspect, Once Escaped From Mental Health Facility."

This was one very bad person. Extremely bad. Evil.

At the New York Times, "In 2012 Assault, Texas Gunman Broke Skull of Infant Stepson":

Before killing dozens of people in a Texas church, Devin Kelley was convicted of breaking his infant stepson’s skull https://t.co/F4Z3pveAI0

— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 7, 2017

NEW BRAUNFELS, Tex. — He beat his wife, cracked his toddler stepson’s skull and was kicked out of the military. He drove away friends, drew attention from the police and abused his dog. Before Devin P. Kelley entered a rural Texas church with a military-style rifle, killing at least 26 people on Sunday, he led a deeply troubled life in which few in his path escaped unscathed.

In 2012, while stationed at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, Mr. Kelley was charged with assault, according to Air Force records, which said he had repeatedly struck, kicked and choked his first wife beginning just months into their marriage, and hit his stepson’s head with what the Air Force described as “a force likely to produce death or grievous bodily harm.”

“He assaulted his stepson severely enough that he fractured his skull,” said Don Christensen, a retired colonel who was the chief prosecutor for the Air Force, adding, “He pled to intentionally doing it.”

Prosecutors withdrew several other charges as part of their plea agreement with Mr. Kelley, including allegations that he repeatedly pointed a loaded gun at his wife.

He was ultimately sentenced in November that year to 12 months’ confinement and reduction to the lowest possible rank. His final duty title was “prisoner.”

His first wife, Tessa Kelley, divorced him while he was confined and was awarded the couple’s only four household items of value: a television, an Xbox, a wedding ring and a revolver.

After his confinement, Mr. Kelley was forced out of the military with a bad conduct discharge. The Air Force said the conviction should have barred Mr. Kelley from owning any guns. Instead, law enforcement officials say, he bought several.

Friends from New Braunfels, Tex., where he went to high school, expressed shock in the aftermath of the shooting, remembering how Mr. Kelley was a friendly, if awkward, teenager who grew up active in his church. His senior yearbook photo shows him smiling, with untamed hair and a Hollister T-shirt. But in recent years, friends said, he grew so dark that many unfriended him on Facebook.

“I had always known there was something off about him. But he wasn’t always a ‘psychopath,’” a longtime friend, Courtney Kleiber, posted on Facebook on Sunday. “We had a lot of good times together. Over the years we all saw him change into something that he wasn’t. To be completely honest, I’m really not surprised this happened, and I don’t think anyone who knew him is very surprised either.”

Instead of straightening out after his bad conduct discharge, Mr. Kelley began a long downward slide that culminated in the shooting Sunday.

After getting out of confinement, Mr. Kelley moved into a barn at his parents’ house, which they had converted into an apartment, according to the local sheriff’s office records.

During the next two years, he was investigated twice for abusing women. The authorities in Comal County, which includes Mr. Kelley’s hometown New Braunfels, released records on Monday that showed he had been the subject of an investigation for sexual assault and rape in 2013.

The investigation ended without the filing of any charges — Mr. Kelley’s only skirmishes in the local courts were traffic violations...

More.

Yuri Slezkine, The House of Government

This looks fascinating.

At Amazon, Yuri Slezkine, The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution.

Katie Salmon on a Paddleboard

At Taxi Driver, "Katie Salmon Topless on a Paddleboard."

Devin P. Kelley, Sutherland Shooting Suspect, Once Escaped From Mental Health Facility

This is really major, a major nugget of information, especially considering the left's diabolical politicization of the attack within minutes of the first breaking news.

At the Other McCain, "Crazy People Are Dangerous":

Once upon a time in America, crazy people were locked up in lunatic asylums, but then liberals decided we needed “reform.” So they turned loose the lunatics and enacted laws to prevent us from “discriminating” against crazy people. (This was just about the time, coincidentally or not, that Democrat George McGovern picked that kook Thomas Eagleton as his running mate.) Deranged and demented people weren’t the problem, according to liberals. “Society” was the problem. All we had to do is to remove the “stigma” from mental illness, they told us, and these wackos and weirdos could live among us in peace and harmony.

And at the New York Times, "Texas Church Gunman Once Escaped From Mental Health Facility":

Wow. Texas church gunman escaped from a mental health facility & threatened his Air Force superiors https://t.co/yPj6Fr5W25

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) November 7, 2017

The gunman who killed 26 people in a rural Texas church on Sunday escaped from a psychiatric hospital while he was in the Air Force, after making death threats against his superiors and trying to smuggle weapons onto the base where he was stationed, a 2012 police report shows.

The police took the man, Devin P. Kelley, into custody at a bus station in downtown El Paso, where he apparently planned to flee on a bus after escaping from Peak Behavioral Health Services, a hospital a few miles away in Santa Teresa, N.M. He was sent there after being charged in a military court with assaulting his wife and baby stepson, charges he later pleaded guilty to.

The report filed by the El Paso officers says that the person who reported Mr. Kelley missing from the hospital advised them that he “suffered from mental disorders,” and that he “was attempting to carry out death threats” against “his military chain of command.” The man “was a danger to himself and others as he had already been caught sneaking firearms onto Holloman Air Force Base,” it added. The police report was published on Tuesday by KPRC, a Houston television station.

Later that year, Mr. Kelley pleaded guilty in a military court to repeated assaults on his wife and her son, a toddler, including one that left the boy with a fractured skull. He was sentenced to a year in a Navy prison.

At a news conference Tuesday, investigators said they had hit a roadblock as they tried to fathom what motivated Mr. Kelley’s rampage at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs: they have not been able to unlock his cellphone, reviving an issue that received national attention after another mass shooting almost two years ago.

Law enforcement officers recovered the phone carried by Mr. Kelley and sent it to the F.B.I. laboratory in Quantico, Va., for examination.

Scott Adams, Win Bigly

At Amazon, Scott Adams, Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter.

A.C. Grayling, Democracy and Its Crisis

All these learned progressives trying to figure out what went wrong, lol.

They might read Laura Ingraham, for a start.

In any case, at Amazon, A.C. Grayling, Democracy and Its Crisis.

Shop Deals

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BONUS: Harvey Klehr and John Earl Haynes, The Soviet World of American Communism.

Twenty-Six Murdered in Texas Church Shooting (VIDEO)

I had to go off Twitter last night, the leftist ghouls were so bad. Some were even cheering the slaughter, saying it was all Texans anyway, and it made him happy. (That guy deleted his tweets later.)

The suspects was dishonorably discharged and court-marshalled, and was this prohibited from possessing. No gun control would have prevented this massacre, since he didn't abide by the law.

More later.

Meanwhile, at Dallas Morning News, "Sutherland Springs church massacre wasn't random, Abbott suggests."

And at CBS News This Morning:

Chloe Goodman

A fine young thing, at Taxi Driver, "Chloe Goodman Forgot Her Bra on Her Night Out."

President Trump Bringing Most Conservative Agenda in a Generation

Even more conservative than President Ronald Reagan, argues Steven Hayward, at LAT, via Instapundit, "WEIRD HOW BILL KRISTOL STILL SEEMS SO CHAFED: Despite the chaos, Trump has managed to push the most conservative agenda in a generation.

“This hitherto ideologically unmoored man has set in motion an administration arguably more conservative than Ronald Reagan’s. While the Congress controlled by his adopted party remains gridlocked, Trump is rolling back regulations and a number of the Obama administration’s most controversial achievements, including the internal structure of Obamacare and the Clean Power Plan. His foreign policy resets look increasingly sure-footed. His judicial nominees are uniformly conservative. It is inconceivable that any of the other leading Republican candidates from the 2016 cycle would have governed as boldly as Trump has.”

LOLZ: Woman Gets Fired for Giving President Trump's Motorcade the Bird

You gotta love it, at HuffPost, "Woman Fired for Flipping Off Donald Trump's Motorcade."

Damn. @jbendery tracked down the woman pictured flipping off Trump’s motorcade who was… subsequently… fired https://t.co/detJtMEHtE

— Sam Stein (@samstein) November 6, 2017

Armando Lucas Correa, The German Girl

At Amazon, Armando Lucas Correa, The German Girl: A Novel.

Emily Ratajkowski Topless Dance Moves (VIDEO)

At the link, via Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, "Emily Ratajkowski Dances, Nina Agdal Goes Bare & More Viral Moments."

Mark Sullivan, Beneath a Scarlet Sky

At Amazon, Mark Sullivan, Beneath a Scarlet Sky: A Novel.

George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo

*BUMPED.*

Saunders just won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction for 2017 (an award for the best work of fiction published in the U.K.).

At Amazon, George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo.

Paradise Papers

The world's elite shelter their assets. Well, that's not going to fuel the fires of populist revolt, or anything.

At the Guardian U.K., "Paradise Papers leak reveals secrets of the world elite's hidden wealth: Files from offshore law firm show financial dealings of the Queen, big multinationals and members of Donald Trump’s cabinet."

Huge leak reveals secrets of world elite's hidden wealth #paradisepapers https://t.co/KhkIQyz3qs

— The Guardian (@guardian) November 5, 2017