Sunday, April 3rd open thread: ‘I Want You To’
Here is the open thread for Sunday, April 3rd. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
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Here is Weezer performing “I Want You To” live.
frui diem
While following this election cycle one thing has become perfectly clear: the establishment in both parties have more control in deciding who will win the nomination than we previously believed. I do not want to go into it again but you can read a more detailed account of the power both parties have in the primaries in this post which I wrote yesterday.
The latest example of this power might have been on display in Tennessee earlier today. Tennessee has what I would call a convoluted system for awarding delegates: according to this story there are apparently two tiers of proportionally awarded delegates based solely on the results of the vote, here is more:
Tennessee has a total of 58 delegates who will be attending the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio in July.
Fourteen of those delegates were elected proportionally statewide. Twenty-seven of those delegates were elected proportionally from the state’s nine Congressional Districts. Three of those delegates were automatically appointed under the party’s by laws: Party Chairman Ryan Haynes and the two members of the Republican National Committee from the State Executive Committee.
I think the one thing we have learned in this election cycle, or should I say; the one thing we have affirmed in this election cycle is the hold the establishment elitists in both parties have over the nominating process. Many of us have been saying for quite some time that we are only under the illusion of having a real choice in the election process, and that we only get to choose between candidates who have been selected for us. One of the ways the establishment has control is by using money to prop up the candidates they want to win. Take 2012 as an example: the Republican establishment threw money at Mitt Romney and actually convinced a majority of Republican voters that he was the only candidate who could beat Barack Obama. How did that work out…
But it has become clear this time around that the control the parties have over the nomination process goes much deeper than this. The Democratic party has basically rigged the system for its chosen candidate, Hillary Clinton, through the use of the superdelegates. Bernie Sanders simply does not have a legitimate chance to win and his supporters can thank the party elites. And it does not help Bernie Sanders’s cause that the media has changed the way it reports the superdelegate count in order to convince his supporters that he cannot win in an attempt to dissuade them from voting…
Donald Trump might lose all his South Carolina delegates
Donald Trump held a town hall event earlier this week on CNN and he apparently mused about not supporting the eventual GOP nominee if it is not he. With the way the Republican establishment is maneuvering to stop him from becoming the nominee (and putting aside my theory that Donald Trump is purposely trying to get Hillary Clinton elected President for the sake of this post) I would probably also be reluctant to support the eventual nominee if I were in his shoes.
However, it appears as if the billionaire businessman might have fallen into a carefully laid trap by CNN and the Republican establishment because it turns out that South Carolina requires all candidates to pledge allegiance to the eventual nominee as a condition to appear on the primary ballot in that state. As a result of his statement there is now a movement afoot to take away the 50 delegates he won in South Carolina.
Bernie Sanders is not on the Washington D.C. ballot
Isn’t this interesting: Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton both turned in the proper paperwork and fee required to appear on the Washington D.C. Democratic primary ballot before the deadline. But while the Washington D.C. Democratic party turned in Hillary Clinton’s paperwork on time they did not turn in Bernie Sanders’s paperwork until after the deadline had passed. As a result, and as of right now, Bernie Sanders will not appear on the ballot.
Here is more:
As a result of a registration error committed by the District of Columbia Democratic Party, Sen. Bernie Sanders won’t appear on the Washington D.C. ballot.
The Vermont senator’s name won’t appear on the ballot because the party submitted the requisite paperwork one day too late, according to NBC’s Washington affiliate, News4.
Both the Sanders’ campaign and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton’s campaign paid the $2,500 fee to appear on the June 14 Democratic primary ballot on time but the district’s Democratic Party failed to inform the Washington D.C. Board of Elections until March 17, one day after the deadline.
There is still a chance Bernie Sanders will be on the ballot and he expects that when all is said and done he will be on the ballot:
The latest Wisconsin poll has been released and it shows Ted Cruz leading Donald Trump by 10 points at 40%-30%. Here is more:
The latest poll, released on Wednesday, shows Ted Cruz with 40 percent support among likely Republican voters, followed by Donald Trump with 30 percent support. Ohio Governor John Kasich is a strong third, with 21 percent support. The poll, of 471 likely Republican voters, was conducted March 24-28.
The Republican poll was conducted before Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker formally endorsed Cruz for the GOP nomination.
This is a remarkable turn around in a relatively short period of time: in a poll conducted last month Donald Trump led Ted Cruz, who was in third place, by a margin of 11 points with 30% of the vote while Ted Cruz had the support of only 19% of the voters. Marco Rubio was in second just one point ahead of Ted Cruz.
Federal judge grants Judicial Watch ‘legal discovery’ in Hillary Clinton’s email scandal citing bad faith and potential wrongdoing
Judicial Watch has been seeking legal discovery in the case of Hillary Clinton’s email scandal because the group felt that the former Secretary of State has not fully complied with it FOIA request. According to this story a Federal judge has ruled in favor of Judicial Watch, which means the group may be allowed issue depositions to some of Hillary Clinton’s top aides.
Here is more:
Citing indications of wrongdoing and bad faith, a federal judge has overruled government objections by declaring that a conservative group is entitled to more details about how Hillary Clinton’s private email account was integrated into the State Department recordkeeping system and why it was not searched in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth entered an order Tuesday agreeing that Judicial Watch can pursue legal discovery — which often includes depositions of relevant individuals — as the group pursues legal claims that State did not respond completely to a FOIA request filed in May 2014 seeking records about talking points then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice used for TV appearances discussing the deadly attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi in September 2012.
This is the second judge to side with Judicial Watch over Hillary Clinton:
It would appear as if, according to this story, the FBI is getting closer to Hillary Clinton in its investigation into her decision to use a personal email server to conduct all of her State Department business. The FBI has informed the lawyers representing several of Hillary Clinton’s top aides that they will be seeking interviews with them.
There is no mention of which aides will be interviewed but I think it is a safe bet to assume Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills Will be on that list. Here is more:
Is the media using the superdelegates to make it appear as if Hillary Clinton has an insurmountable lead?
This is an interesting take on the superdelegates and the way the media is reporting them compared to the way they were reported in past elections. Here is where the two Democratic candidates stand when superdelegates are included in the total delegate count:
Currently, Hillary Clinton has just over 1,700 delegates in her quest for the Democrat nomination, while Bernie Sanders has just over 1,000. He will likely pick up additional delegates after Saturday’s final results are tabulated, but, on the surface, he still looks to be trailing Clinton by a wide margin.
But the race is much closer when the superdelegates are not counted:
Bernie Sanders wins the Hawaii caucuses in a landslide
Yesterday was an abysmal day for the former Secretary of State, who had hoped to put Bernie Sanders away in the campaign. Heading into the day Hillary Clinton was hoping to sweep the three caucus states and expand her almost insurmountable delegate lead into an it will take a miracle lead for Bernie Sanders to pull off the upset.
But it was not to be because Bernie Sanders destroyed Hillary Clinton in both Washington and Alaska. The Senator from Vermont’s victories were not even close as he won Washington with 73% of the vote and Alaska with a whopping 81%.
Hillary Clinton hoped to salvage the day with a victory in Hawaii but she was equally pulverized in that contest as well.
Sanders was declared the winner in Hawaii, leading Clinton 70.6 percent to 29.2 percent.
Hillary Clinton can take refuge in the fact that this was Bernie Sanders narrowest victory I suppose. It looks as if Bernie Sanders is going to pick up about 100 delegates with these victories and although Hillary Clinton still has a large delegate lead, and the support of the superdelegates, this could provide the Vermont Senator with a much needed lift and make the contest just a little more interesting heading into the next contests.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
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