Meet the Nazi who just won the Illinois Republican primary.

BREAKING: American Nazi wins Republican primary in Illinois' Third Congressional District.

No, really. A real American right wing, white supremacist, white nationalist NAZI. #IL03 #IllinoisPrimary pic.twitter.com/qgdYn4JhlV

— Bryan Dawson (@BryanDawsonUSA) March 21, 2018

Finally a Republican who is being honest about what that party represents.

Just in case you think this could not possibly be happening, oh yes it is.

California Democratic party declines to endorse Senator Dianne Feinstein in her reelection bid.

Courtesy of Politico: 

In a sharp rebuke to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democratic Party has declined to endorse the state’s own senior senator in her bid for reelection. 

Riven by conflict between progressive and more moderate forces at the state party’s annual convention here, delegates favored Feinstein’s progressive rival, state Senate leader Kevin de León, over Feinstein by a vote of 54 percent to 37 percent, according to results announced Sunday. 

Neither candidate reached the 60 percent threshold required to receive the party endorsement for 2018. But the snubbing of Feinstein led de León to claim a victory for his struggling campaign. 

“The outcome of today’s endorsement vote is an astounding rejection of politics as usual, and it boosts our campaign’s momentum as we all stand shoulder-to-shoulder against a complacent status quo,” de León said in a prepared statement. “California Democrats are hungry for new leadership that will fight for California values from the front lines, not equivocate on the sidelines.”

I'm a little concerned about this.

Dianne Feinstein has been in the Senate since 1992.

Yes she is part of the "establishment" but she is also a known quantity with a lot of support in her state.That means if she were to run for reelection, especially while riding the "blue wave," there is an almost certain victory.

If this Kevin de Leon guy, who may be an excellent candidate, wins the primary there is an increased possibility that something heretofore unknown in his background may be discovered and then he could be vulnerable in the general.

The saying "As California goes, so goes America" could bite us in the ass if we start seeing other safe seats suddenly challenged by more ideologically "pure" liberals who cannot win the general election.

Remember that is what has been happening with the conservatives, and they are losing seats right and left.

Look I want strong progressives in as many seats as possible, but I am also a pragmatist, and I know that if we start applying these purity tests to our sitting members of Congress and the Senate, we might purify ourselves right back to an overwhelming Republican majority in both houses.

Senator Jeff Flake announces his retirement while taking the opportunity to eviscerate Donald Trump.

Courtesy of Politico:

Embattled Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) will retire after his current term expires, he announced on Tuesday in a decision that further roils a 2018 Senate landscape marked by multiple Republican retirements. 

Flake was one of the most vulnerable Republican senators up for reelection next year. A vocal critic of President Donald Trump throughout and since the 2016 campaign, Flake said it became clear that that opposition would make it impossible for him to get through a Republican primary. 

He took to the Senate floor to deliver a full-throated denunciation of Trump. 

"We must never adjust to the coarseness of our dialogue, with the tone set up at the top," Flake said. "We must never accept the deadly sundering of our country. The personal attacks, threats against principles and freedoms and institutions, and flagrant disregard for decency."

"Reckless, outrageous and undignified behavior has become excused as telling it like it is when it is actually just reckless, outrageous and undignified," Flake continued. "And when such behavior emanates from the top of our government, it is something else. It is dangerous to a democracy."

Flake was trailing in the polls against a primary challenger supported by Steve Bannon, so this is of course being seen as a victory by the Breitbart crowd.

However the Republicans also see this is as an opportunity to pick another establishment candidate without Flake's baggage (He was an early critic of Trump's.) that can compete aggressively in the primary.

As for Democrats, well this is a whole new ballgame and they are both energized and excited at the possibility of picking up a Senate seat in Arizona.

Personally I think this is yet another indication that the Republicans, who actually care about government, are simply finding it impossible to work in the toxic atmosphere created by the election of Donald Trump.  

Donald Trump called to offer his encouragement after Steve Bannon called for primary challenges to Republicans who do not support Trump's agenda.

Courtesy of The Hill:

President Trump reportedly reached out to Stephen Bannon to offer encouragement after the former White House chief strategist called for Republicans who don't support Trump's agenda to be ousted. 

Trump called to offer the encouragement after Bannon appeared on Fox News earlier this week saying he is seeking to line up challengers to GOP incumbents, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing two people familiar with the call. 

White House adviser Jared Kushner also reportedly texted Bannon his praise after the interview. Bannon then celebrated the interview with friends across the street from the Fox studio. 

"There's a coalition coming together that is going to challenge every Republican incumbent except for Ted Cruz," Bannon said during the Monday night interview on "Hannity."

So essentially the leader of the Republican party is supporting the destruction of the Republicans party.

Not sure if this actually calls for popcorn or a stiff drink.

Though I am sure for some of these Republican politicians the decision is simple. 

Nancy Pelosi endorses Hillary Clinton on day of California primaries.

WATCH: @NancyPelosi tells @GMA she voted for @HillaryClinton in the #CAPrimary and is "proud to endorse her" https://t.co/ETTi85qA8Z

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 7, 2016

Courtesy of ABC News: 

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi endorsed Hillary Clinton for president this morning on "Good Morning America" before her home state's primary today. 

"I'm a voter in California and I have voted for Hillary Clinton for president of the United States and proud to endorse her for that position," the Democratic superdelegate said, though adding "it's not over until it's over."

Pelosi went on to say nice things about Bernie Sanders and said that it is important to wait for Californians to cast their vote before declaring victory.

But of course it really isn't.

And finally even the Sanders supporters in California are beginning to see that.

Courtesy NPR:

Bernie Sanders continued to campaign in delegate-rich California on Monday, ahead of that state's Democratic presidential primary Tuesday, even after The Associated Press declared Hillary Clinton the presumptive Democratic nominee. 

And even though the candidate refused to acknowledge the news in a Monday night outdoor rally and concert with the Golden Gate Bridge as backdrop, the entire night, something was a little off. 

Walking up, you could hear people telling their friends, and themselves, that they knew Sanders was going to lose the nomination.

Gee, finally.

I was beginning to wonder if these Bernie Bros had any connection to reality whatsoever.

I have to say that personally I look forward to never writing about Bernie Sanders again. I am actually more tired of writing about him than I am of writing about Sarah Palin after over eight years of doing so.

Since it's the last primary day let's talk Hillary Clinton e-mails shall we?

This question of whether Hillary Clinton will or will not be indicted over her private server simply will not go away, despite a number of smart people weighing in and dismissing the possibility out of hand, including the Libertarian VP nominee, a University of Michigan Law Professor, and even one of Bernie Sanders own super delegates.

Sure there are still plenty of others, especially among the Right Wing and Sander's supporters, saying otherwise, but they clearly have an agenda.

So in an effort to put this whole thing behind us I decided to post a few factoids this morning.

First from Lanny Davis who is a Hillary supporter, and also a lawyer who provided legal council to Bill Clinton.

Courtesy of The Hill:

First, the former secretary of State did nothing illegal by having a private email system. The department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) pointed to “policies” that were violated but cited no laws that were violated and said these policies were inconsistently applied and need to be further clarified in the future. (This is a point I have made here before.)

Second, Clinton was not trying to hide her use of her own private email address. In fact, 90 percent of all the emails she sent went to State Department employees with a state.gov email address, which she thought, mistakenly, would be automatically preserved on the department’s email server. How could she be seeking to hide her use of a private email address if she sent her private email to so many people at State? (Not understanding how e-mail works is not an indictable crime.)

Third, no email received or sent by Clinton was labeled at any level of classification. Multiple references in the media and in the right-wing blogosphere to Clinton emails containing “classified” information all refer to post-facto opinions — what could be accurately called classification by hindsight. State Department experts disagreed with many of those opinions. (Lot's of differing opinions on this, but I tend to think that Davis is correct.)

Fourth, according to the OIG, there is no evidence that Clinton’s private server was ever successfully hacked. In other words, all the dire and dark warnings from partisan Republicans about the secretary of State risking the nation’s security by using a private server are, in fact, all speculation — based on no facts whatsoever. (Yes I know that this Guccifer fellow is bragging that he broke in, but so far there is no real evidence to back that up.)

 Fifth, as pointed out by the inspector general, there was ample precedent for the use of private emails for official and private business, from Colin Powell to senior aides for Condoleezza Rice. (True, though people for some reason want to differentiate between using a private e-mail address and having a private server.)

Okay so there are those who might dismiss this guy's take on the situation based on his relationship with the Clintons but he seems to have the main facts down.  (Yes I realize that dissenting opinions with links to back them up are being posted as we speak.)

Now I also happened to stumble across this post over at Crooks and Liars: 

First, many government officials have been using personal email for government business. I've been tracking several FOIA lawsuits for some time, and several have to do with government officials in various departments using personal email. 

The government doesn't encourage using personal email, and people can't access private email in secure areas, but for the most part, government officials have been allowed to use private email, as long as they make some effort to ensure the emails are FOIA searchable. In many cases, all the person would have to do is forward the email on to their government email address, or someone else's government email address. 

Now, as to the question of sending confidential email via private email address, the implications of doing so would be the same whether a person used a private email address, or a State email address. Email is inherently insecure. The general State email addresses are not secured to any degree beyond what most personal email addresses are secured. You can't use a personal email address to send confidential emails, but you can't use a State email address, either; not through the internet using a mobile device or home computer—not without very special precautions being taken. 

So, let's fixate a little less on the private versus State email address. The issue of using a private email address is solely about whether the email is transparent, not secure. 

The FBI doesn't care about transparency, only security. It only cares about whether the private email server Clinton used was hacked or not. We already know that the State Department's servers have been hacked.

Unless the Justice Department decides to indict several current and former employees of the State and other Departments—at least three Administrations back—and other assorted and sundry people, it's not going to indict Hillary Clinton.

Now this Crooks and Liars writer does not claim to have a law degree, but they seem to have a pretty good handle on the ins and outs of this "scandal."

However while this writer may not be a lawyer, Hillary Clinton IS a lawyer, as is her husband, and many of their close friends in the Clinton inner circle. Which means that if there were ANY possibility of an actual indictment, they would have already taken that into consideration.

Based on Hillary's attitude and overall mood on the campaign trail I tend to think she is not exactly losing any sleep over the possibility of being indicted.

And do you know who else has a law degree? President Obama, who said this about the e-mail server: 

“I continue to believe she has not jeopardized America’s national security,” the president said. “There’s a carelessness in terms of managing emails that she has owned and she recognizes. But I also think it is important to keep this in perspective.”

I will say once again that if the Democratic establishment REALLY thought there was a chance that Hillary would be indicted, they would have put the kibosh on her campaign a long time ago.

So no, Hillary Clinton is NOT going to be indicted over her e-mail server.

So the people voting in the primaries today can fill in the oval next to her name with complete confidence that the only obstacle between her and winning the White House is one Oompa Loompa colored egomaniac named Donald Trump.

And to be honest I really don't see him as that big of an obstacle.

Another primary day, so of course more allegations of fraud from the Bernie Sanders campaign.

Courtesy of The Hill:

Bernie Sanders’s campaign is accusing Puerto Rico’s Democratic Party officials of fraud in the territory’s presidential primary. 

The campaign’s head of Hispanic voter efforts, Betsy Franceschini, told Caribbean Business in an interview that Sanders officials were initially denied access to prisons to help inmates vote. 

“Our Bernie Sanders officials were never certified. We had 40 officials we submitted in time for the prisons. Not one of them was certified, while all of theirs [Hillary Clinton’s] went in. Attorney Manny Suárez had to go in order for us to be let in. This is a great fraud,” Franceschini said.

Every single time, just like clockwork.

Of course the Puerto Rican Democratic party disagrees with this allegation:   

The head of the Democratic Party of Puerto Rico slammed the Sanders campaign on Saturday for accusing it of unfairly denying poll workers access to prisons to help inmates vote. 

"I am appalled at the remarks from the spokesperson of the Bernie Sanders Campaign in Puerto Rico, Ms. Betsy Franceschini," local Democratic Party president Roberto Prats said in a statement.

"The claim that the Democratic Party is delaying the certification of the Sanders' poll workers is preposterous. The first complete set of pollworkers for tomorrow's primary we have certified were all from the Sander's Campaign."

If you guessed that Hillary Clinton is leading Puerto Rico, which holds its primary today, in the polls you would be correct.

It seems that when Sanders is leading in the polls, or wins the primary, everything is copacetic, however if that is not the case, well then clearly there was some type of fraud.

The Sanders campaign might be worried about California as well, since the allegations around that state's primary have already started.

@LAist This is why. The Greek is in @davideryu's district. Could've been another council member though. pic.twitter.com/yQhGYTiqXS

— Antonio Manriquez (@ajmanx) June 4, 2016

The councilman's spokesman responded with this:

Ryu spokesman Estevan Montemayor called those messages “an inaccurate depiction of the last 24 hours” — saying the councilman’s office had been trying to help the campaign stage a successful event. Sanders’ campaign did not have a ticketing system or a plan for addressing traffic congestion, which is required of every group that holds a rally or concert at the Greek, Montemayor said. 

“Any person or organization that chooses to have an event at the Greek Theatre needs to follow all the same guidelines," Montemayor said. “The Sanders campaign was asked to work with L.A. city staff on a traffic mitigation plan and a ticketing system, just as the Clinton campaign has done for their event on Monday evening. The Sanders campaign chose not to move forward, all while the city held resources for tomorrow’s event.” 

Anybody else noticing a pattern?

Popular California Governor Jerry Brown endorses Hillary Clinton days before primary.

Courtesy of Jerry Brown.org: 

On Tuesday, June 7, I have decided to cast my vote for Hillary Clinton because I believe this is the only path forward to win the presidency and stop the dangerous candidacy of Donald Trump. 

I have closely watched the primaries and am deeply impressed with how well Bernie Sanders has done. He has driven home the message that the top one percent has unfairly captured way too much of America’s wealth, leaving the majority of people far behind. In 1992, I attempted a similar campaign. 

For her part, Hillary Clinton has convincingly made the case that she knows how to get things done and has the tenacity and skill to advance the Democratic agenda. Voters have responded by giving her approximately 3 million more votes – and hundreds more delegates – than Sanders. If Clinton were to win only 10 percent of the remaining delegates – wildly improbable – she would still exceed the number needed for the nomination. In other words, Clinton’s lead is insurmountable and Democrats have shown – by millions of votes – that they want her as their nominee. 

But there is more at stake than mere numbers. The Republican nominee, Donald Trump, has called climate change a “hoax” and said he will tear up the Paris Climate Agreement. He has promised to deport millions of immigrants and ominously suggested that other countries may need the nuclear bomb. He has also pledged to pack the Supreme Court with only those who please the extreme right. 

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Our country faces an existential threat from climate change and the spread of nuclear weapons. A new cold war is on the horizon. This is no time for Democrats to keep fighting each other. The general election has already begun. Hillary Clinton, with her long experience, especially as Secretary of State, has a firm grasp of the issues and will be prepared to lead our country on day one. 

Next January, I want to be sure that it is Hillary Clinton who takes the oath of office, not Donald Trump. 

With respect, 

Jerry Brown

And that folks is the benefit of being an actual Democrat running in a Democratic primary.

Jerry Brown is a superstar on the political stage, and much beloved by California voters for all of the hard work he did to fix their state, so this is an endorsement with some real oomph behind it.

Bernie Sanders' campaign manger heaps praise on RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.

Courtesy of Politico:  

Noting a report that quoted a Clinton source remarking that DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz "poured gasoline on the fire" in the wake of the chaos of the Nevada Democratic Convention, Jeff Weaver told MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" that she "really escalated the situation."

Weaver dismissed the notion that there are back-channel conversations about replacing her as chairwoman but remarked that, "I think unity in the party is much easier to achieve if we have consensus and a chair who was committed to playing the traditional role that the chairs of parties play." 

What Wasserman Schultz did is "really not the role a party chair should traditionally play," he continued. "I mean, if you look at the Republican side, the party chair there has been working day and night to try and you know, keep everybody together and to try unify the party." 

I'm sorry what?

By just about every standard Reince Twice and Priebus has been an unmitigated disaster since the very beginning of his tenure.  And he lost control over his party the minute that Donald Trump started winning primaries.

Weaver's hatred of Debbie Wasserman Schultz has blinded him to the facts, and I have very little doubt that the same is true of his boss.

Speaking of blinded to the facts, the Sander's campaign recently demanded that Kentucky recanvass the primary results searching for some malfeasance, and guess what?

Fayette County election officials finished the recanvass in Lexington in 20 minutes and they didn't find anything wrong.

So yes Bernie Bros Hillary Clinton DID indeed win Kentucky.

And the lesson for today is that the system is not rigged just because you lose.

Though he is going to lose the Democratic nomination Bernie Sanders may have just arranged a debate with Donald Trump. WTF? Update!

Courtesy of CBS News: 

Kimmel asked Trump if he'd be willing to debate Sanders, given that Hillary Clinton had turned her primary opponent down for a California debate. Trump declared he would -- as long as the proceeds go to charity. 

As he accepted the hypothetical debate, Trump asked, perhaps jokingly, how much Sanders would be willing to pay him -- for charity -- then conceded that it would be fine if a network were willing to put up the money. Trump also said he has never met Sanders.

Sanders then responded with this:

Game on. I look forward to debating Donald Trump in California before the June 7 primary.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 26, 2016

So you saw in the interview that this was something that Sanders is asking for in an attempt to get momentum before the California primaries.

That is a dick move.

For one thing this is simply not something that a legitimate Democrat would do before a Democratic primary. And for another this is playing right into Trump's hands.

The entire debate will have NOTHING to do with policy, despite Sanders' attempts to make it about policy, and will instead simply be a Hillary Clinton bash-a-thon with Trump using Sanders' own words to inflict the most damage.

So this will mean that either Bernie Sanders will find himself forced to defend Hillary, or piling on with Trump.

If he chooses the latter he is going to further damage his standing with the Democratic party and I think remove any chance of having a lasting impact on the party moving forward.

At this point I cannot believe I was EVER supportive of Bernie Sanders being in this race.

Update: Sanders is now promoting this debate during his rally in California.

Clearly, unlike Trump, he does not consider this a joke. 

John Oliver reveals the deeply flawed primary system in America and then takes a moment to explain to Bernie Sanders supporters that their candidate has essentially lost.

My favorite line is when he says of Bernie supporters "I can hear you typing right now, that I look like an angry toucan funded by Shillary."

And lo and behold in the comments section I find this: fuck you john you look like an angry toucan and are probably funded by $hillary 

As well as this: The irony of John talking about Hillary having more votes so Bernie supports shouldn't be mad... Well yeah, because all of the media is extremely pro-Hillary, including this show.

This: See how Oliver never criticizes Clinton? His bosses at Time Warners wont let him.

And of course this: Its truly sad Bernie supporters get boiled down to such a stereotype.

Yes, that certainly is a shame. 

The Daily Beast accuses Bernie Sanders of pulling a "Sarah Palin" on Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

Bernie Sanders is trying to Sarah Palin the head of the Democratic Party—throwing his support behind the DNC chairwoman’s primary opponent in the latest escalation of the intraparty fracas gripping the left. 

“Well, clearly, I favor her opponent,” Sanders told CNN on Sunday. “His views are much closer to mine than as to Wasserman Schultz’s.” He added that if elected president he would not support Debbie Wasserman Schultz to keep her post as chair.

Of course we have already covered this yesterday, but what has not been discussed is just how dedicated the Sanders' campaign is to defeating Schultz in the primary:

In a fundraising appeal asking his “sisters and brothers” to split a donation between Bernie’s presidential campaign and the congressional campaign of Tim Canova, Wasserman Schultz’s Democratic primary challenger. “Splitting a $2.70 contribution between Bernie 2016 and Tim Canova for Congress will help elect progressives up and down the ballot while sending an UNMISTAKABLE message about our political revolution’s commitment to electing candidates who share our values,” the fundraising email read.

To put this into perspective, this is a potential presidential nominee (Well not really but for the sake of argument.) requesting donations to assist in the defeat of a sitting Congresswoman from the party he wishes to represent in the general election.

That is stunning.

I mean regardless of how you feel about the DNC Chairwoman, and there are plenty of reasons to criticize her, trying to defeat her in a primary right before she hosts you at a national convention, for a party that you just recently joined, is more than a little....did I already use the word "stunning"....because that's what it is....stunning.

But we have seen something a little similar before haven't we?

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen party on party attacks this cycle.

After Speaker Paul Ryan blindsided presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and his campaign by declining to endorse him following the exit of Sen. Ted Cruz from the race, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin hit the airwaves and called for conservatives to rally around his primary opponent.

Now in my defense this is not a comparison that I would have necessarily come up with, but now that it has been made......well it does kind of fit. 

In fact the similarities between the Sanders' "movement" and the Tea Party, which caused so much strife and divisiveness within the Republican party, are becoming more and more defined.

Bernie Sanders is not ending campaign, hopes to capitalize on any harm that Donald Trump can do to Hillary Clinton before California primary.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

Defiant and determined to transform the Democratic Party, Senator Bernie Sanders is opening a two-month phase of his presidential campaign aimed at inflicting a heavy blow on Hillary Clinton in California and amassing enough leverage to advance his agenda at the convention in July — or even wrest the nomination from her. 

Advisers to Mr. Sanders said on Wednesday that he was newly resolved to remain in the race, seeing an aggressive campaign as his only chance to pressure Democrats into making fundamental changes to how presidential primaries and debates are held in the future. They said he also held out hope of capitalizing on any late stumbles by Mrs. Clinton or any damage to her candidacy, whether by scandal or by the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump. 

After sounding subdued if not downbeat about the race for weeks, Mr. Sanders resumed a combative posture against Mrs. Clinton, demanding on Wednesday that she debate him before the June 7 primary in California and highlighting anew what he asserted were her weaknesses against Mr. Trump.

While Mr. Sanders says he does not want Mr. Trump to win in November, his advisers and allies say he is willing to do some harm to Mrs. Clinton in the shorter term if it means he can capture a majority of the 475 pledged delegates at stake in California and arrive at the Philadelphia convention with maximum political power. 

Tad Devine, a senior adviser to Mr. Sanders, said the campaign did not think its attacks would help Mr. Trump in the long run, but added that the senator’s team was “not thinking about” the possibility that they could help derail Mrs. Clinton from becoming the first woman elected president.

There you go folks.

This is who people have been defending and arguing should stay in the race until the end. 

Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat.

Bernie Sanders does not care about helping the Democratic party, or changing it for the better.

Bernie Sanders just wants to win.

And failing that leave a path of destruction in his wake.

Democratic Primary Open Thread. Update!

So today there are two primaries for Democrats to use to pretend that the nomination is still in contention.

One is in Kentucky and their polls close in about an hour and half from when this gets posted.

The second is in Oregon and that sucker is still five hours and a half away.

There is by the way every possibility that Sanders will win both of these tonight, but of course it is unlikely that it will be a large enough win to gain him more than about half the delegates. And that is simply not going to help.

By the way there is the letter that Bernie Sanders wrote in response to what happened in Nevada this weekend.

Here it is in its entirety:

“It is imperative that the Democratic leadership, both nationally and in the states, understand that the political world is changing and that millions of Americans are outraged at establishment politics and establishment economics. The people of this country want a government which represents all of us, not just the 1 percent, super PACs and wealthy campaign contributors. 

“The Democratic Party has a choice. It can open its doors and welcome into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change – people who are willing to take on Wall Street, corporate greed and a fossil fuel industry which is destroying this planet. Or the party can choose to maintain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big-money campaign contributions and be a party with limited participation and limited energy. 

“Within the last few days there have been a number of criticisms made against my campaign organization. Party leaders in Nevada, for example, claim that the Sanders campaign has a ‘penchant for violence.’ That is nonsense. Our campaign has held giant rallies all across this country, including in high-crime areas, and there have been zero reports of violence. Our campaign of course believes in non-violent change and it goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals. But, when we speak of violence, I should add here that months ago, during the Nevada campaign, shots were fired into my campaign office in Nevada and apartment housing complex my campaign staff lived in was broken into and ransacked. 

“If the Democratic Party is to be successful in November, it is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned. I am happy to say that has been the case at state conventions in Maine, Alaska, Colorado and Hawaii where good discussions were held and democratic decisions were reached. Unfortunately, that was not the case at the Nevada convention. At that convention the Democratic leadership used its power to prevent a fair and transparent process from taking place. Among other things: 

The chair of the convention announced that the convention rules passed on voice vote, when the vote was a clear no-vote. At the very least, the Chair should have allowed for a headcount. 

The chair allowed its Credentials Committee to en mass rule that 64 delegates were ineligible without offering an opportunity for 58 of them to be heard. That decision enabled the Clinton campaign to end up with a 30-vote majority. 

The chair refused to acknowledge any motions made from the floor or allow votes on them. The chair refused to accept any petitions for amendments to the rules that were properly submitted. 

“These are on top of failures at the precinct and county conventions including trying to depose and then threaten with arrest the Clark County convention credentials chair because she was operating too fairly.”

So as you can see there was not an explicit call for non-violence though there was plenty of blame for any aggression aimed at the Democrats.

Actually it kind of reads like a list of demands by a hostage taker.

Update: Here are some of the threats sent to Nevada Democratic party chair Roberta Lange after the convention.

Nothing that was done, or could have been done, at the convention excuses this.

Update: Hillary Clinton wins!

Holy crap that took forever. Let's hope that Oregon is not quite such a nail biter.

Update 2: And now Sanders wins Oregon. 

It looks like in this case the delegates are pretty evenly split as well.

Donald Trump calls Sarah Palin a "free agent" essentially throws her to the wolves over comments about Paul Ryan being "Cantor'd."

Courtesy of the Washington Times:  

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump said Monday he doesn’t have anything to with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s stated support for a candidate challenging House Speaker Paul D. Ryan in a GOP primary, calling the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee a “free agent.” 

“I have nothing to do with that. Sarah is very much a free agent,” Mr. Trump said on CNN’s “New Day.” “She’s a terrific person, but she’s very much a free agent, and I didn’t know about this until yesterday.” 

“I guess she’s been fighting, or she’s endorsing somebody that’s running against Paul Ryan, and I didn’t know about it until yesterday when I read about it,” Mr. Trump said.

Ouch! Talk about being left out in the cold.

So it appears that Palin is kinda sorta in the loop with Trump, but when she goes off reservation she is just on her own.

By the way here is the dude that Sarah Palin is endorsing to take Ryan on in the primaries.

Oh yeah, he's a winner.

As for Ryan he has already stated that if Trump wants him to step down as the chairman of the Republican National Convention he is willing to do it. 

Personally I think that he, like many other Republicans, is just looking for an excuse to skip the convention.

Indiana Primary Open Thread. Update!

Courtesy of Slate: 

The Democrats 

There’s not much more to say at this point: Hillary Clinton is the prohibitive favorite to win her party’s nomination, and nothing that happens in Indiana—or anywhere else for that matter—is likely to change that. In fact, Clinton is a good bet to leave the Hoosier State in an even better position than when she arrived. Polling in Indiana has been a little hard to come by, but recent surveys show Hillary with a lead in the mid–single digits in the state, and Nate Silver and his FiveThirtyEight team peg her chances of winning Tuesday’s primary at 86 percent or better. 

Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, is already acting like a candidate who knows he won’t win the nomination, and a loss Tuesday—or even a narrow victory that nets him a handful of delegates—will make it that much more difficult for him to pretend otherwise. 

The Republicans 

Despite the sparse polling, nearly all of the data we do have points to a Donald Trump victory in the GOP primary, and potentially even a blowout. The celebrity billionaire is currently up by an average of more than 9 points in the RealClearPolitics rolling average and seems to be gaining steam. The two most recent major state surveys—taken after Ted Cruz and John Kasich announced their we-swear-it’s-not-an-alliance alliance in the state—found Trump up by 15 points or more. Based on the polls, Nate Silver and his FiveThirtyEight team peg Trump’s chances of winning Tuesday’s primary at 97 percent.

There are 83 delegates up for grabs on the Democrat's side, and 57 on the Republican side.

Of course I don't think the outcome will change much of anything as both Sanders and Cruz seem to have no real concept of reality.

Bernie is too damn stubborn to quit, and I don't think Ted knows what else to do with his time.

However after today I imagine that the pressure for them to get the hell out of the race will increase on both sides.

Which means that we actually are going to end up with a presidential contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Holy crap!

Update: As predicted Donald Trump has won Indiana.

However between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders it is being called too close to call, though currently Hillary is in the lead.

Update 2: The votes separating Sanders and Clinton right now are so very few that it really does not matter which one wins as they will likely split the delegates right down the middle.

If the Sanders campaign gets the victory, even such a slim one, they will use it to challenge the idea that they are finished, while if the Clinton campaign ekes this one out they will simply continue to make the case that the bloated corpse of the Sanders campaign is now starting to reek a little.

Update 3: Well I was wrong. Cruz just "suspended" his campaign.

Now it is all Trump all the time.

Lucky us.

Update 4: Bernie Sanders has won this particular primary, but only with a few percentage points over Hillary so the delegates will be evenly split, as I mentioned earlier. 

I actually think that the Sarah Palin victory lap the day after a Donald Trump blowout might be the worst part.

Interesting that she left off all of the SarahPAC logo except the bear.

She has one graphic posted for each of Trump's victories, and THEY have the complete SarahPAC logo.

But let's not kid ourselves I doubt very seriously she will raise any money by pimping for Trump right now. Even the few supporters she has left are not so ignorant as to believe that she had anything to do with his success.

I think right now it is more than obvious that the 2016 race will come down to Clinton vs Trump.

Which means when Hillary beats this orange tinted asshole it will be especially enjoyable to watch Palin lose her shit over it.

Actually I think that once that happens it will be essentially over for Palin in the political realm.

It is hard to imagine any politician, no matter how desperate, wanting Palin associated with their candidacy after watching her piss on every conservative talking point she every vomited forth and then throw her support behind a reality show star only to have him lose to the first female President.

THAT is the kind of loser stench that even tomato juice and hydrogen peroxide cannot wash off.

Okay kids you know what day it is right? Yep, it's PRIMARY day again! Update!

Okay so up for the taking today are Pennsylvania with 189 delegates, Maryland with 95, Connecticut with 55, Rhode Island with 24, and Delaware with 21.

Currently Hillary is leading Bernie by double digits in both Pennsylvania and Maryland, is slightly ahead of Sanders in Connecticut and Delaware, while Sanders is slightly ahead in Rhode Island.

Just a reminder that even if Hillary only gets half of the votes tonight it will put her over 2000, and she will only need a little over 300 to clinch the nomination.

On the GOP side it appears that Donald Trump is positioned to take every primary tonight, so really not a lot of drama there.

For that one idiot who claimed that Hillary Clinton is NOT making gun legislation a focus of her campaign.

If our leaders won't stand up to the gun lobby, we need to hold them accountable.https://t.co/M5ryVG4glD

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 26, 2016

Sucks to be wrong doesn't it?

Polls close in all five states in about a half an hour so let the games begin.

Update: Donald Trump is projected to win Maryland, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, while Hillary is projected to win Maryland.

Update 2: Trump is now projected to win Rhode Island.

Update 3: Delaware was just announced for Clinton and for Trump.

Update 4: Now Hillary is projected to win Pennsylvania.  That was of course predicted, however it is always the biggest prize of the night.

Update 5: Bernie Sanders just put one on the board with a projected win in Rhode Island. 

Update 6: And finally Hillary wins her fourth primary tonight with Connecticut now added to her total.

Hillary Clinton releases new ad in preparation for today's primary.

Courtesy of CBS News: 

In her closing ad before Tuesday's East Coast primaries in five states, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton is looking past the primaries with a message of unity. 

Her new ad, "Love and Kindness," presents a positive message of coming together and protecting each other--a sign she is beginning to move toward unifying Democrats behind her candidacy for the general election. 

"Let's break down barriers so we can all rise together," the ad says, in text running across the screen over footage of Clinton speaking and meeting supporters. "Do all the good we can in all the ways we can for all the people we can."

You probably saw Gabby Giffords in the advertisement, and this is what she is saying about Hillary and why she supporters her on mailers going out in Connecticut:   

“Time and time again, Hillary Clinton has done and said what is right, not what is politically expedient,” Giffords says on the mailers. “She is the only candidate I trust to stand up to the corporate gun lobby’s intimidation and bullying.” 

 Of course Connecticut, where that terrible Sandy Hook massacre took place, is one of the states holding primaries today. So clearly this message is tailored to them specifically.

However I think that the message of improving gun control laws, and working to keep military style weapons out of the hands of dangerous individuals, is one that resonates with ALL progressives.

I have mentioned in the past that I am not particularly inspired by Hillary Clinton as a rule, but her  courage in putting gun control front and center in her campaign is something that certainly gets my attention.

President Obama has said that one of his biggest frustrations as President was his failure to pass "common sense gun safety laws."

Will Hillary Clinton be any more successful?

Who knows, but at least she is willing to make it a priority. And that is certainly more than any other candidate has been willing to do.

Sarah Palin throws a Facebook tantrum over misreporting by the media. But was it misreporting?

Courtesy of the Mat-Su Megala-dummy's Facebook page:  

Wow. Media Really Sux (You would think a "Journalism Major" would know how to spell this word.)

Twice in one day the lamestream media needs me to spank them ... makes you wonder - is the media 

a) bored, 
b) totally incompetent, 
c) allergic to facts, 
d) just digging their attempts to get away with zero accountability, 
e) all of the above and then some. 

No, despite reports, I didn't "drop out" of anything in Wyoming's GOP Primary today. I wasn't scheduled to be there, which can be verified by the Trump Campaign and our email exchanges from EIGHT DAYS AGO where it was agreed a trip to Wyoming wouldn't fit in with my prior obligations to work in DC and Nevada this weekend. 

Too bad reporters don't bother to seek facts before spewing their bull. (Here's to you even, Fox News.) I've never had a PR team to correct the record for me, so within reason I try to keep up with constant misreporting... but it's impossible to do when I "have a life" and don't waste precious time perusing press clippings. So please, just continue to doubt anything and everything the media reports. They've created dangerous times for this nation when they're impossible to trust. 

Today's media deserves the historically low scores it receives from Americans; it is a shame, but we can never consider them trustworthy.

Well somebody's crusty panties are certainly in a twist.

But here's the thing the reports of her dropping out were not the invention of the "bored, totally incompetent, allergic to facts" media. They directly came from the Wyoming Republican party:

According to a release on the Republican Party of Wyoming’s website, the Trump campaign said she would not be attending. It provided no explanation for the last-minute cancellation. 

“The Donald Trump campaign has informed the Wyoming Republican Party that Sarah Palin, the scheduled surrogate speaker for the presidential candidate, will not be attending the State GOP Convention,” the release says. “Former Governor Palin was scheduled to speak to the convention delegates Saturday morning between 10-11am along with presidential candidate Ted Cruz and John Kasich surrogate Governor Butch Otter of Idaho.” 

“The Trump campaign has not indicated whether another one of Trump’s surrogates will be in Casper this Saturday morning,” it continues. 

Okay so if this was reported on the GOP website in Wyoming how does that make it the fault of the media for reporting about it?

It would seem to me that either the Republican party in Wyoming is bored, the Trump campaign is incompetent, or Sarah Palin herself is allergic to facts.

By the way this news broke two days ago, what took her so long to respond if in fact it was false?