Democrat Doug Jones won a remarkable upset victory over controversial rival Roy Moore in the diehard Republican state of Alabama on Tuesday to win election to the US Senate.
By a margin of 49.5 to 48.9 with 91% of precincts reporting, Jones dealt a major blow to Donald Trump and his efforts to pass tax reform on Capitol Hill. Jones was able to become the first Democrat in a decade to win any statewide office in Alabama by beating Moore, who had faced multiple allegations of sexual assault during a campaign which exposed Republican party faultlines.
The Democratic victory will reduce the Republican majority in the Senate to 51-49 once Jones takes his seat on Capitol Hill. This significantly reduces the margin for error as Republicans attempt to push through a major corporate tax cut.
takyon: The final count is:
Doug Jones - 671,151 votes (49.9%)
Roy Moore - 650,436 votes (48.4%)
Write-ins (total) - 22,819 votes (1.7%)
The margin for an automatic recount in Alabama is 0.5%. Roy Moore has yet to concede.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 14 2017, @12:32AM (2 children)
I lived in Carrol Gardens for many years (mid 80s-mid 90s) and it was quite safe, likely because of all the mafiosi who lived there.
A (likely apocryphal) story that went around the neighborhood for years was that a young, black kid who snatched a woman's purse on Court street was found dead on the same spot where he snatched the purse not too long after.
I personally observed (the only time I saw this in the neighborhood in nearly ten years) a car with its window smashed (remember those days?) as I walked to the subway one morning. A uniformed police officer was in the process of writing a summons for the car (apparently its registration had expired -- it was a bad day for that car's owner!) and I somewhat snarkily asked the cop, "I thought that sort of thing didn't happen around here?" He replied, "That's only certain cars," with complete seriousness.
And while it's true that the neighborhood was very safe (and a very nice place to live in general), even regular residents were afraid of the mafiosi,. who did whatever the hell they wanted, whenever they wanted. And if you had a problem with that, you'd better keep your mouth shut or there might be some unfortunate consequences.
Regardless, I prefer it when murderous scum (like Gotti and some of the wiseguys I knew in Carrol Gardens) go to prison, even if it makes the neighborhood a bit less safe from your run-of-the-mill scumbags.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday December 14 2017, @02:16AM (1 child)
AKA Guinea Eggplant?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 14 2017, @09:05AM
Young, not old. New Guinea Eggplant.