This blogaround brought to you by pencils.
Recommended Reading:
Helena: A Big Win for Girls Worldwide
Prison Culture: [Content Note: Police brutality; misogynoir] #Justice4Rekia: Chicago Organizers Make #BlackWomensLivesMatter
Feminist Aspie: [CN: Disablism; self-harm; healthcare access] Fine, Let's Talk About the Autism Life Expectancy Study
Cat: [CN: Fat hatred] On the Legality of Weight Discrimination in New Zealand
Shay: [CN: Worker exploitation; class warfare; racism] Dead Dreams and False Hopes…Reflections on This Election Season
Jess: [CN: Rape culture] Update on Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape
Sameer: Leading Native Artists and Activists to Speak at 'Creating Nations' Symposium at Northwestern
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
The Monday Blogaround
"Why don't they like you?"
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
I've got a new piece up at Blue Nation Review, on the cavernous difference between the funhouse mirror version of Hillary Clinton we're presented by the media, in contravention of all the evidence about who she really is, and the double-standard applied to making Hillary hateable while making Donald Trump more likeable than he actually is: "Why Hillary Hate Hurts Us All."
She is routinely called a liar, despite analyses of candidates' honesty that find her to be the most trustworthy. She is routinely called entitled, despite having worked diligently as First Lady of Arkansas, First Lady of the nation, Senator, Secretary of State, and two-time presidential candidate to earn her spot. She is routinely called cold, despite plethoric accounts from both constituents, people she's met on the campaign trail, and people who have worked with and for her about what a warm and considerate person she is. She is repeatedly called undeserving, despite reports from every part of her career that she is diligent, dedicated, and extremely hardworking.Read the rest at BNR.
What I am saying is that the negative caricature of Hillary Clinton has no discernible basis in reality.
Certainly less than the positive caricature of her presumptive rival in the general election, Donald Trump—who is continually misrepresented as a successful businessman (in spite of numerous business failures and frauds), a guy who "tells it like it is" (in spite of his demonstrable dishonesty), a hilarious bit of entertainment (in spite of his dangerous, harmful rhetoric).
That Hillary, who has dedicated her life to public service with an insatiable intellectual curiosity and personal commitment which have engendered infamous loyalty, would be caricatured as a figure deserving of opprobrium, while Trump, who has dedicated his life to avarice, exploitation, and bigotry, would be caricatured as a swell guy, is intolerable.
Discussion Thread: Grocery/Meal Delivery Services
Grocery and meal delivery services have been around for a long time, some of them needs-based and some of them convenience-based, but there's been an explosion of new services over the past few years. Especially those that deliver to areas outside major metropolitan areas.
Peapod has been around for a long time now, and some grocery store chains have their own delivery services. Meal delivery services like Blue Apron, Plated, and others are becoming increasingly popular.
Much of the conversation around these services that I've seen centers on people debating whether they're a luxury, without a whole lot of regard for the incredible usefulness they have for people with physical disabilities and/or anxiety disorders, among others.
Or even, say, a single parent who's working long hours and doesn't have a lot of time to go grocery shopping, or for whom an $8 delivery fee is cheaper than finding a sitter and/or worth it to not have to bring young children shopping with them.
Some of the meal delivery services are also super useful for people who didn't come from a family where they learned how to cook, in that you learn the basics of preparation and how to put ingredients together (and in what quantities). And they're cheaper than lots of cooking classes.
The point is: I think just talking about these sorts of services strictly as a luxury misses a lot about why people use them. Which is not to judge people who simply like them for the convenience!
Anyway. Here's a thread to talk about whether you've used grocery/meal delivery services, whether you've found them helpful and valuable (or not), which ones you've liked or not liked, whether you have access to them where you live, etc.
Recently, Iain got a thing to try Blue Apron at a discount. We've been doing it for a couple of weeks, three meals a week, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it yet. The meals themselves are decent, some better than decent, and I like that we get portions just for two people.
For example, I love cabbage but rarely buy it, because we can't get through a whole head of cabbage quickly enough to not waste a lot of it.
But is it worth the full cost? The jury is still out at the moment. I need to do a couple of more weeks of looking at what we're spending on groceries with reduced purchasing and see how it works out.
Discuss!
Daily Dose of Cute
Zelly, conspiring to be THE CUTEST again.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Rape; war crimes] "The International Criminal Court broke new ground Monday by adding rape to a war crimes conviction, finding the former vice president of Congo guilty of abuses—including sexual crimes—in connection with a militia intervention in the neighboring Central African Republic. It was the first time the Netherlands-based court has convicted anyone of sexual violence since it was launched in 2002, raising the possibility of future prosecutions that include accusations of rape and related abuses as elements of war. 'The judgment sends a clear message that impunity for sexual violence as a tool of war will not be tolerated,' said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International deputy regional director for West and Central Africa." This is incredibly good and very important news.
[CN: War on agency] A must-read by Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo on "The Right's Ongoing Battle Against the Birth Control Benefit: The Supreme Court will hear arguments this week in the second direct challenge to the birth control benefit in the Affordable Care Act. It's a fight that's been years in the making."
[CN: Guns] Good grief: "Supreme Court justices are nominated by the president and appointed with the advice and consent of the National Rifle Association, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). McConnell offered this unusual view of the confirmation process during an interview with Fox News Sunday. In response to a question from host Chris Wallace, who asked if Senate Republicans would consider the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court after the election if Hillary Clinton prevails, McConnell responded that he 'can't imagine that a Republican majority in the United States Senate would want to confirm, in a lame duck session, a nominee opposed by the National Rifle Association [and] the National Federation of Independent Businesses.'"
LOL DAMN: Senator Elizabeth Warren lets loose on Donald Trump: "Let's be honest—Donald Trump is a loser. Count all his failed businesses. See how he kept his father's empire afloat by cheating people with scams like Trump University and by using strategic corporate bankruptcy (excuse me, bankruptcies) to skip out on debt. Listen to the experts who've concluded he's so bad at business that he might have more money today if he'd put his entire inheritance into an index fund and just left it alone. Trump seems to know he's a loser. His embarrassing insecurities are on parade: petty bullying, attacks on women, cheap racism, and flagrant narcissism. But just because Trump is a loser everywhere else doesn't mean he'll lose this election. People have been underestimating his campaign for nearly a year—and it's time to wake up."
[CN: Climate change] Welp: "New polls indicate that concern for environmental issues has risen ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Americans are taking global warming more seriously now than at any period in the last eight years, according to Gallup's annual environment survey. Sixty-four percent of Americans said that they are either worried a 'great deal' or 'fair amount' about global warming. At this time in 2015, only 55 percent of Americans said they felt this way." I can't believe it's still only 64%, but at least we're moving in the right direction.
[CN: Misogyny] In women's tennis: "Before Sunday's finals at the BNP Paribas Open, current tournament director Raymond Moore told reporters that the women 'ride on the coattails of the men.' He later issued a written apology." I'm sure he's real sorry. Naturally, the "controversy" (as rank misogyny in sports is always euphemized) did not end there: "World number one Novak Djokovic says male tennis players should earn more money than their female counterparts because more people watch them play." He seems neat.
Cool: "There's something truly unique happening in the space around our planet this week as a pair of comets, which may be 'twin' space rocks that broke apart at some point, make two of the closest passes by Earth in modern history. To add a little to the cosmic drama, the larger of the twins is coming in much brighter than expected. So bright, in fact, that it may be possible to see it with the naked eye. ...Earth won't quite be hosting a family reunion, but the two comets will be passing by in pretty quick succession, especially on the galactic scale. First up is 252P/LINEAR, approximately 750 feet (230 meters) in size, flying by us on Monday at a distance of about 3.3 million miles (5.2 million kilometers). Then on Tuesday, the newly discovered comet P/2016 BA14 will pass us at a distance of about 2.2 million miles (3.5 million kilometers). This will be the third-closest flyby of a comet in recorded history."
And finally! "A nocturnal 'cat burglar' has been stealing dozens of socks and men's underwear in New Zealand. In two months, six-year-old Tonkinese cat Brigit from Hamilton city brought back 11 pairs of underpants and more than 50 socks. Her owner, Sarah Nathan, has documented her feline's strange obsession on a widely shared Facebook post. ...Ms Nathan told the BBC that the trouble first began when she started discovering 'odd pieces' of underwear among her washing. 'They didn't belong to anyone in the house and one day Brigit walked into our lounge carrying a sock like a kitten,' she said, adding that Brigit's unlucky victims were probably a nearby flat 'full of blokes.' ...'Brigit doesn't hunt birds or wildlife so it seems unnecessary and our neighbours have been very good natured about it. But we are moving to the country soon so hopefully she will run out of opportunity!" LOL. Oh cats.
Prison Gerrymandering Ruled Unconstitutional
[Content Note: Carcerality; voting rights.]
This is big news:
The Federal District Court for Florida's Northern District ruled Monday that the prison gerrymandering in Florida's Jefferson County unconstitutionally dilutes the voting power of its residents. By packing inmates who can't vote into a district, but counting them when drawing electoral maps, District Judge Mark Walker said the county had violated the "one person, one vote" principle in the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment.This is a very important, and very good, decision by the district court. What will be even better is if and when the courts decide that incarceration is not a justifiable reason for disenfranchisement in the first fucking place.
The American Civil Liberties Union's attorney, Nancy Abudu, argued the case on behalf of Jefferson County residents who felt the prison gerrymandering watered down the strength of their political power by unfairly stacking the deck for residents who live in the same district as the non-voting prisoners.
"If I want to get a road fixed, if I want a law changed, if I want more impact on a school board member or county commissioner, I have more power because my representative has to deal with fewer people," she told ThinkProgress. "It's about access and the ability to influence, and making sure officials are responsive to their electorate."
Abudu emphasized that not only do the inmates in Jefferson County lack the right to vote, the vast majority are not residents of the county, but were arrested in other parts of the state and shipped hundreds of miles away to serve their sentence.
According to the ACLU, of the nearly 1,200 inmates in the correctional center, only nine were convicted in Jefferson County. Yet the inmates make up a whopping 43 percent of the voting age population in District 3. "It skews the numbers so dramatically in this instance," Abudu told ThinkProgress.
...Unless the county appeals, officials will have to redraw their voting maps before the qualifying election in June for commissioners and school board members.
President Obama Visits Cuba
[Content Note: Human rights violations.]
Yesterday, President Obama landed in Cuba—the first US president to visit Cuba in nearly a century.
As he arrived, Obama used a Cuban phrase meaning "what's up?" when he tweeted: "¿Que bolá Cuba? Just touched down here, looking forward to meeting and hearing directly from the Cuban people."[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Ahead of Obama's visit, "Cuban authorities arrested more than 50 dissidents who were marching to demand improved human rights."
"This is a historic visit," Obama said as he greeted US Embassy staff and their families at a Havana hotel. "It's an historic opportunity to engage with the Cuban people."
A giant American delegation, estimated at somewhere between 800 and 1,200, swept into Havana this weekend, intent on closing a final chapter in cold war history and sealing the diplomatic legacy of Obama's presidency.
Joined by first lady Michelle Obama and his two daughters, Obama toured Old Havana by foot, walking gingerly on the slippery wet stones in front of the Havana Cathedral. The downpour notwithstanding, a few hundred people gathered in the square erupted in applause and shouted Obama's name as the first family stepped forward.
Members of the group, known as the Ladies in White, are used to the routine. They march each Sunday after Mass at a church in a suburb of Havana called Miramar and usually get arrested and detained for hours or days.There are a lot of good faith arguments on both sides of the debate about President Obama going to Cuba, and with whom he meets there. It's important to note that the Cuban people themselves are not united in their feelings about his visit. Some of them are thrilled; some of them are unhappy about it; some of them have mixed feelings about it, wishing that he'd centered more attention on human rights violations before he arrived.
Some in the group thought Cuban authorities would back off this Sunday out of respect for Obama's visit. Berta Soler, one of the founding members who has been marching since 2003, said while walking to the church Sunday morning that maybe they would be allowed to protest without getting arrested.
"Everything looks good so far," she said.
Despite dozens of international reporters in town for Obama's trip, the group was quickly rounded up in buses and police cars.
"For us, it's very important that we do this so President Obama knows that there are women here fighting for the liberty of political prisoners," Soler said before being arrested. "And he needs to know that we are here being repressed simply for exercising our right to express ourselves and manifest in a non-violent way."
There are also concerns about what normalizing relations with Cuba, and opening up Cuba for US corporate investment, might mean—both good and bad—for vulnerable Cuban people. The potential for exploitation is evident and worrisome. The potential for economic growth and security for lots of people is also real.
At this point, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm hopeful. But I'm withholding judgment until I see how this trip goes, and how things start to take shape thereafter.
Of Course
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
Yesterday, Meet the Press had a segment in which a panel (of three men and two women) discussed whether the criticism of Hillary Clinton's voice, tone, appearance, etc. is misogynist. Here's how the segment was teased during the show:
Don't worry! It turns out there are studies showing that women and men are both criticized for their appearance, and it might even actually help women! Sounds legit.
For the record: Treating misogyny as though it's a matter of opinion is itself a sexist frame.
Today in Terrible Trumpery
[Content Note: Assault.]
Another weekend, another Trump rally, another round of violence.
Protesters in Tucson, Arizona, took a cue from their compatriots in Chicago and mounted a protest ahead of Trump's rally there on Saturday:
For hours, the protesters—about two dozen in total—parked their cars in the middle of the road, unfurling banners reading "Dump Trump" and "Must Stop Trump," and chanting "Trump is hate." Traffic was backed up for miles, with drivers honking in fury.Maricopa County Sheriff and nightmare human Joe Arpaio told the media that three people had been arrested: "Three of them are in jail. If they think they're going to intimidate the next president of the U.S., it's not going to happen." Swell.
Protesters were also chanting, "Donald Trump, shut it down, Phoenix is the people's town."
The road was eventually cleared and protesters marched down the highway to the rally site, weaving between Trump supporters who booed and jeered them.
"Learn to speak English," one Trump supporter shouted at the protesters.
Naturally, they had good reason to protest, since his rally again erupted into violence, with a protester being attacked by a man who turned out to be part of Trump's security team, and who was later charged with assault.
Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who last week was accused of physically assaulting a Breitbart reporter, also was seen grabbing a protester by the collar. The campaign denies it.
So Trump's campaign continues to be super terrific, basically.
And by "super terrific," I mean "a horrifying display of violent nationalistic rage."
[CN: Video may autoplay at link] In related news, Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus said yesterday on ABC News' This Week that "he no longer thinks a contested convention is an extreme hypothetical and party officials are trying to be transparent to 'take the mystery away from what an open convention looks like... I think it's possible and we're preparing for that possibility,' he said."
I mean, if there's one thing this Republican primary needs, it's more chaos.
Good grief.
Meanwhile, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is assuming the helm of Trump's reality show Celebrity Apprentice while Trump runs for president and tries to destroy the country, has endorsed Ohio Governor John Kasich and walked the fuck out of interview in which he was asked about Trump's campaign: "This is an interview that I only do about fitness and health, not about politics or my relationships." All right then!
And finally! While the Democrats are getting Ready for Hillary, Hillary is getting ready for Trump:
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and her allies have begun preparing a playbook to defeat Donald Trump in a general-election matchup that will attempt to do what his Republican opponents couldn't: show that his business dealings and impolitic statements make him unfit to be commander in chief.On Friday, Blue Nation Review put together an awesome video showing what a debate between Clinton and Trump might look like:
...They are now focused intently on researching the billionaire real estate mogul’s business record, dissecting his economic policies and compiling a long history of controversial pronouncements that have captivated and repelled the nation in this tumultuous election season.
...Given Trump's willingness to attack his opponents — and his pivot to going after Clinton in recent days — one clear presumption has emerged about the fall contest: It will be ugly.
That's one reason the former secretary of state plans to counter Trump with high-road substance, policy and issues, according to one senior campaign aide. The idea is to showcase what Clinton's backers see as her readiness for the job without lowering her to what they describe as Trump's gutter.
Video Description: Set to some funky music, the video intersperses clips of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump at debates, town halls, or campaign events.LOVE.
Text Onscreen: Are you ready for a Trump v. Clinton showdown?
Trump: I would build a great wall. And nobody builds walls better than me, believe me.
Clinton: I'm going to keep talking about tearing down all the barriers.
Trump: We're gonna make America great again.
Clinton: We don't need to make America great again; America has never stopped being great!
Text Onscreen: Let's start with foreign policy...
MSNBC Anchor Mika Brzezinski, to Trump: Who are you talking to consistently, since we have some dire foreign policy issues?
Trump: I'm speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain.
Clinton: I listen to a wide variety of voices. [edit to new clip] This job requires you to be ready on all aspects of it on the first day. It's North Korea with those missile tests; it's Russia; it's enforcing the Iran agreement—you have to do it all at once.
Text Onscreen: A woman's right to choose...
Trump: And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. I hate the concept of abortion.
Clinton: Under Roe v. Wade, which is rooted in the Constitution, women have this right to make this highly personal decision. [edit to new clip] We've gotta continue to stand up for a woman's right.
Text Onscreen: Speaking of women...
Fox News Anchor Megyn Kelly: You've called women you don't like "fat pigs," "dogs," "slobs," and "disgusting animals." Your Twitter account—
Trump: Only Rosie O'Donnell.
Kelly: No it wasn't.
Clinton: When I was Secretary of State, I put women's rights at the center of our foreign policy. I looked across the table at dictators and authoritarians and chauvinists and sexists and misogynists...! [deep breath and a smile] Yeah, I did.
Text Onscreen: Torture...
Trump: Now we're talking about waterboarding. I said it's fine—and if we wanna go stronger, I'd go stronger, too—because, frankly, that's the way I feel.
Clinton: He embraces torture! That doesn't make him strong; it makes him wrong!
Text Onscreen: Stay tuned for Part 2...
I'm not looking forward to the prospect of Donald Trump getting one step closer to the presidency, but I am definitely looking forward to seeing (presumably) Hillary Clinton stop him in his despicable tracks.
[Note: As you've certainly noticed, I've been doing some writing for Blue Nation Review lately. To be abundantly clear: I am not required to promote any other content produced in that space, so if I share something here or on Twitter from BNR, it's because I think it's GREAT, not because I'm obliged to promote it.]
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
I have to wrap up a little early this afternoon, because I've got an appointment. Hope everyone has a nice weekend, and I will see you back here Monday morning!
Daily Dose of Cute
Giant Dog and Tiny Cat.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Militarism] Shit: "North Korea has test-fired two ballistic missiles, the latest in a series of rocket launches. US officials said the medium-range missiles, launched off the east coast, flew about 800km (500 miles) before falling into the water. Afterwards, the US called for Pyongyang to refrain from raising tensions. It comes a day after US President Barack Obama imposed new sanctions, following North Korea's 'illicit' nuclear test and satellite launch. ...The 6 January nuclear test and 7 February satellite launch were violations of existing UN sanctions, as are ballistic missile tests."
[CN: Privilege] Here's an interesting juxtaposition of articles: Rollcall's "Clinton Owes Her Commanding Lead to African-American Women." (No kidding!) And the NYT's "As Hillary Clinton Sweeps States, One Group Resists: White Men." It's pretty cool (ahem) how all the stories about Clinton not winning among white men are framed as though that's a problem with her and not the white men who are aggrieved that she pays too much attention to people who aren't white men.
[CN: Misogyny] Hahaha! "Sen. Elizabeth Warren has a message for the GOP lawmaker who compared her to Star Wars villain Darth Vader: The force is not strong with you. Rep. Blaine Leutkemeyer (R-MO) reportedly told an audience at the American Bankers Association on Wednesday that they should 'find a way to neuter' the Massachusetts senator and referred to her as the 'Darth Vader of the financial services world.' On Thursday, Warren, who is widely known for her commitment to curbing corruption on Wall Street, struck back via a fundraising email in which declared she has always seen herself as 'Princess Leia-type (a senator and Resistance general who, unlike the guys, is never even remotely tempted by the dark side).'"
[CN: Rape culture] It continues to be a real mystery while Republicans aren't connecting with a majority of female voters: "A Georgia Republican state senator is blocking a measure intended to speed up the handling of sexual crime evidence, accusing the bill's Democratic sponsor of playing politics. The bill, HB 827, requires hospitals and clinics to turn over physical evidence of a sexual crime—commonly called a rape kit—within 96 hours and for law enforcement agencies to deliver the evidence to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation within 30 days. The bill's sponsor, state Rep. Scott Holcomb (D-Atlanta), said the measure institutes a process to tackle a backlog of hundreds of rape kits discovered in recent investigations. ...But state Sen. Renee Unterman (R-Buford), chair of the state's Senate Health and Human Services Committee, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she won't allow the legislation, which won unanimous approval in the state's GOP-controlled house, to advance to the state senate floor for a vote. ...'If there was a problem, I would be Johnny on the spot and I would have written the legislation,' Unterman told WSB-TV. 'I think [Holcomb] really overly politicized it in an election year and I've got a problem with that.'" GOOD FUCKING GRIEF.
[CN: Water contamination; class warfare] "Rick Snyder Testified Before Congress on the Flint Crisis. It Didn't Go So Well." Whoooooooooops! "Democrats repeatedly berated Snyder about what he did or did not know during the time of the crisis. 'I'm not buying you didn't know about this until October 2015,' Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) said. 'You were not in a medically induced coma.' They also repeatedly called for him to resign."
[CN: Body/appearance/choice policing] What the absolute fuck: "A Des Moines waitress was stiffed Tuesday night at Zombie Burger when a customer wrote, 'Tips are only for normal looking people,' on the receipt's tip line instead of leaving a gratuity. The server, Taelor May Beeck, whose Facebook photo shows her with pink hair and a nose piercing, posted a photo of the receipt to her profile and wrote: Shout out 'to this girl for stiffing me cuz I look like a weirdo~hope she feels better about herself.'" I'm pretty sure anyone who behaves like that feels pretty terrible about themselves, so I hope someday that assholes really does feel better about herself, so she can start treating other people with respect and kindness.
[CN: Violence; guns] Well, this is one way to try to ingratiate yourself with a judge: "Convicted felon sings Adele-inspired 'sorry' to judge at sentencing."
Neat! "Some of the biggest and brightest stars in the universe are packed within a single cluster, a new study reveals. Researchers used the Hubble Space Telescope to image the young star cluster R136 in ultraviolet (UV) light for the first time. The cluster is located in the Tarantula Nebula of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy, about 170,000 light-years away from Earth."
[CN: Breed prejudice] And finally! A happy win over terrible breed-specific laws: Scrappy can stay with his family.
...In Donald Trump's General Direction
(Description: a yard with a sign proclaiming it to be a FART ZONE. Beneath, a Trump sign.)
Feel free to leave your caption in the comments below.
Shaker Gourmet
Whatcha been cooking up in your kitchen lately, Shakers?
Share your favorite recipes, solicit good recipes, share recipes you've recently tried, want to try, are trying to perfect, whatever! Whether they're your own creation, or something you found elsewhere, share away.
Also welcome: Recipes you've seen recently that you'd love to try, but haven't yet!
Primarily Speaking
[Content Note: Racism.]
After Hillary Clinton swept Tuesday's primary, and President Obama reportedly told Democratic donors that it was time for the party to rally behind Clinton, Bernie Sanders says it's "absurd" to suggest he drop out of the race at this point:
"The bottom line is that when only half of the American people have participated in the political process…I think it is absurd for anybody to suggest that those people not have a right to cast a vote," Sanders told MSNBC in an interview.I don't know that it's an "absurd" suggestion, as Sanders' path to victory would require him to "win 66 percent of the remaining delegates through June...requiring landslide victories in big states." And that's on top of converting the superdelegates.
..."To suggest we don't fight this out to the end would be, I think, a very bad mistake. People want to become engaged in the political process by having vigorous primary and caucus process. I think we open up the possibility of having a large voter turnout in November. That is exactly what we need," Sanders said.
But I do agree that there's no need to push Sanders out of the race. I was annoyed when people tried to push Clinton out of the race in '08 while she still had a chance to win, and I feel no differently now.
That said, I do think that at this point Sanders needs to modify his message. Engaging in personal attacks against Clinton is clearly not helping him win, anyway.
Additionally, he needs to knock it off with crap like this:
"I don't believe they have an insurmountable lead," Sanders said in a phone interview with The Associated Press from Arizona, where he was campaigning. "Secretary Clinton has done phenomenally well in the Deep South and in Florida. That's where she has gotten the lion's share of votes. And I congratulate her for that. But we're out of the Deep South now."I don't have anything to say about that dogwhistle that I haven't already said. Black votes matter.
Anyway.
Hillary Clinton has a terrific new campaign advert, in which clips of her speaking about Donald Trump are juxtaposed against clips of Trump being a dirtbag. The tagline at the end is "Love trumps hate." I see what you did there, Hillary Clinton! AND I LIKE IT.
That is just so, so clever. "Love trumps hate" is so perfect. If she is indeed obliged to run against Donald Trump in the general, that line could win her the election. A+
Meanwhile, here's a quick update on what's happening with the Republican primary:
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker everestmckinley: "Have you ever had a rewarding experience as a volunteer? What was it, and what made it so great?"
Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that Iain and I were volunteering to walk the dogs at the shelter when we met Zelda. That ended up being pretty rewarding! Still is, every day.
Yeah, But...
[Content Note: Violence; bigotry.]
Senator Lindsey Graham (hey, remember when he was running for president?) says he's now backing Senator Ted Cruz, even though he pretty famously hates Cruz's stinking guts:
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham has thrown his support to Ted Cruz, calling him "the best alternative" to Donald Trump.Okay. Sure. Except that Cruz is just as bad as Trump: Trump says he would kill terrorists' families (war crime); Cruz says he would carpet bomb IS territory (war crime). Trump says he would deport millions of undocumented immigrants; Cruz says he would deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Trump doesn't want Syrian refugees; Cruz doesn't want Syrian refugees. Etc.
According to an invitation obtained by POLITICO, Graham will headline a fundraiser for Cruz on Monday.
This marks the second senator to publicly support Cruz, and is a significant development: Graham, a more centrist South Carolina senator, until recently openly detested his colleague from Texas. But in recent weeks he has suggested that Cruz stands the best chance of beating Donald Trump.
Both of them are anti-choice and anti-universal healthcare, and, incredibly, Trump is actually better on these issues than Cruz: Trump at least supports funding Planned Parenthood's non-abortion healthcare services and argues to keep the Affordable Care Act's preexisting condition provision. Cruz doesn't, on either count.
How, exactly, is Ted Cruz "the best alternative," or even any alternative at all, to Donald Trump? I mean, yeah, he doesn't talk about his dick during debates, but he's still a xenophobic, queerphobic, misogynistic warmonger who would use the nation's social safety net as toilet paper given half a chance.
Again, I'll note that the objection from "centrist" Republicans isn't to Trump's positions. They object to the fact that he refuses to pretend those positions are anything but the rank bigotry and violence that they are.
Graham is supporting Cruz not because he's less heinous, but because he's more circumspect about it; because he's "civil" about the profoundly indecent Republican platform.
