Month: April 2016

Donald Trump

Jenna Johnson and Ed O’Keefe, “It’s on: Tensions between Trump and the GOP escalate in public fight,” Washington Post, April 15, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/its-on-tensions-between-trump-and-the-gop-escalate-in-public-fight/2016/04/15/2949b1c6-031b-11e6-9d36-33d198ea26c5_story.html

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Bernie Sanders

So, “Pope Francis said his brief encounter Saturday with U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was a sign of good manners, ‘nothing more,’ and hardly evidence of interfering in American politics,” but the encounter was pre-planned, with Sanders and his wife being notified the night before to be ready to meet the pope at 6:00 am, the encounter lasted five minutes, and “the chancellor for the pontifical academy, Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, said he invited Sanders [to a Vatican conference Friday on economic inequality and climate change] because he was the only U.S. presidential candidate who showed deep interest in the teachings of Francis.”^[1] Note to Holy Father: Five minutes is a very, very, very excrutiatingly long handshake.

Ken Thomas, “Pope: Sanders encounter sign of good manners, ‘nothing more,'” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, April 16, 2016, http://www.startribune.com/bernie-sanders-says-he-met-with-pope-francis/375934111/

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Footnotes

1. ^[1]Ken Thomas, “Pope: Sanders encounter sign of good manners, ‘nothing more,'” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, April 16, 2016, http://www.startribune.com/bernie-sanders-says-he-met-with-pope-francis/375934111/↩

Updated for more Bill Clinton stupidity. Also, Xavier Flory articulates and substantiates what I sensed about the New York Times coverage of the Democratic Party primary contest. And George Monbiot writes on the pervasiveness and persistence of neoliberal ideology

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Hillary Clinton

It’s pretty rare for me to agree with any conservatives on anything. On those very rare occasions, it’s more often traditionalist conservatives that I’ll find myself agreeing with than any others. Daniel Larison offers another example of why that’s the case.

As to Bill Clinton’s latest—Hillary really should just tell him to shut the fuck up—when he says “[t]he inequality problem is rooted in the shareholder-first mentality and the absence of training for the jobs of tomorrow,”^[1] what exactly does he mean by “jobs of tomorrow?” Does he mean, like he did when he was president, jobs that corporations haven’t figured out how to outsource yet and which will last only until they do?

Daniel Larison, “Clinton’s Reliably Bad Foreign Policy,” American Conservative, April 12, 2016, http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/clintons-reliably-bad-foreign-policy/

Xavier Flory, “Hillary Clinton’s Favorite Mouthpiece: The New York Times,” Truthout, April 15, 2016, http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35663-hillary-clinton-s-favorite-mouthpiece-the-new-york-timesf

Hanna Trudo, “Bill Clinton: Sanders backers would ‘shoot every third person on Wall Street,'” Politico, April 15, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/bill-clinton-sanders-backers-would-shoot-every-third-person-on-wall-street-222043

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The Horse Race

When anybody in the mainstream media admits that Bernie Sanders wins anything, he probably won.

Dylan Matthews, “2 winners and 3 losers of Thursday’s Democratic primary debate,” Vox, April 15, 2016, http://www.vox.com/2016/4/15/11436488/hillary-bernie-winners-losers-cnn

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Neoliberalism

George Monbiot criticizes the left for failing to suggest an economic alternative to be adopted in the wake of neoliberalism’s failure.^[2] The trouble with that suggestion is not that an alternative is not needed, but that the necessary alternative is not just economic—it goes to the heart of how we have structured our society, our power relations not only among ourselves as a species, but over other species and over the environment.^[3]

George Monbiot, “The Zombie Doctrine,” April 15, 2016, http://www.monbiot.com/2016/04/15/the-zombie-doctrine/

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Footnotes

1. ^[1]Hanna Trudo, “Bill Clinton: Sanders backers would ‘shoot every third person on Wall Street,'” Politico, April 15, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/bill-clinton-sanders-backers-would-shoot-every-third-person-on-wall-street-222043↩
2. ^[2]George Monbiot, “The Zombie Doctrine,” April 15, 2016, http://www.monbiot.com/2016/04/15/the-zombie-doctrine/↩
3. ^[3]David Benfell, “‘We have found the enemy, and he is us’ — and our system of social organization,” March 6, 2013, https://parts-unknown.org/drupal7/journal/2013/03/06/we-have-found-enemy-and-he-us-and-our-system-social-organization↩

Updated for a McClatchy article suggesting the Republicans should nominate John Kasich for the best chance of success in November.^[1] Whether Republicans would have the courage to defy their authoritarian populist and social conservative base remains to be seen.

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Steven Salaita

The Chronicle of Higher Education article seems a bit more clear about what’s hopefully going on: “[Fadlo R. Khuri, the university’s president] said he had met with Mr. Salaita to explain the flawed search and advised him to reapply for a permanent position at the university.”^[2] What remains to be explained is 1) how “a search for a director of the Center for American Studies and Research” came to be so flawed in the first place, and 2) who you get to sit on a search committee if, indeed, you exclude “lower-ranked faculty members voting for a higher-ranked [director] position.”^[3]

Scott Jaschik, “Another Lost Job for Salaita,” Inside Higher Ed, April 14, 2016, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/04/14/reports-circulate-american-beirut-has-blocked-permanent-appointment

Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz, “American U. of Beirut Denies That It Blocked Center’s Hiring of Salaita,” Chronicle of Higher Education, April 14, 2016, http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/american-u-of-beirut-denies-that-it-blocked-centers-hiring-of-salaita/110386

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The Horse Race

It is unclear here whether Nancy Pelosi really wants the Democratic nominee to run against Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, or if she’s (intentionally) oblivious to the manipulations of the Democratic Party establishment in her own party’s nomination process,^[4] or both. One thing she might be reacting to is a study suggesting that John Kasich would be the strongest candidate against Hillary Clinton.^[5]

David Lightman, “Analysis: Kasich would change election map, win White House,” McClatchy, April 13, 2016, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article71423157.html?rh=1

Lindsey McPherson, “Democrats Win If GOP Bucks Voters’ Choice, Pelosi Says,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, April 14, 2016, http://www.rollcall.com/news/democrats-win-gop-bucks-voters-choice-pelosi-says

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Hillary Clinton

This isn’t really further evidence of a rigged process, but it sounded like it. Hillary Clinton’s press secretary predicted that with superdelegates, she “will lock up the Democratic nomination ‘possibly by the end of May, if not after California.’” He later denied saying she would need the superdelegates to win, which is to say he thinks Clinton will ultimately have won enough pledged delegates to prevail at the convention (in July, if memory serves). Nonetheless, “[t]he Republican National Committee blasted out the comments, characterizing it as a concession on Fallon’s part that the campaign is relying on superdelegates to clinch the nomination.”^[6]

Nick Gass, “Clinton press secretary: Superdelegates can help Clinton clinch nomination by early June,” Politico, April 14, 2016, http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/04/hillary-clinton-needs-superdelegates-221943

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Footnotes

1. ^[1]David Lightman, “Analysis: Kasich would change election map, win White House,” McClatchy, April 13, 2016, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article71423157.html?rh=1↩
2. ^[2]Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz, “American U. of Beirut Denies That It Blocked Center’s Hiring of Salaita,” Chronicle of Higher Education, April 14, 2016, http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/american-u-of-beirut-denies-that-it-blocked-centers-hiring-of-salaita/110386↩
3. ^[3]Scott Jaschik, “Another Lost Job for Salaita,” Inside Higher Ed, April 14, 2016, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/04/14/reports-circulate-american-beirut-has-blocked-permanent-appointment↩
4. ^[4]Ryan Cooper, “Hillary Clinton and the awful risk of winning ugly,” Week, December 21, 2015, http://theweek.com/articles/595141/hillary-clinton-awful-risk-winning-ugly; Christian Drake, “New Information Shows DNC Violated Its Own Rules When It Shut Down Sanders Campaign Data Access,” Addicting Info, December 19, 2015, http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/12/19/new-information-shows-dnc-violated-its-own-rules-when-it-shut-down-sanders-campaign-data-access/; Jonathan Easley, “Dem rivalry takes nasty turn,” Hill, December 19, 2015, http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/263784-dem-rivalry-take-nasty-turn; Ben Kamisar, “Sanders sues Democratic Party,” Hill, December 18, 2015, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/263779-sanders-sues-democratic-party; Lauren McCauley, “Thumb on the Scale? DNC Backs Off Bernie But Questions of Neutrality Linger,” Common Dreams, December 19, 2015, http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/12/19/thumb-scale-dnc-backs-bernie-questions-neutrality-linger; Michael Sainato, “The Countless Failings of the DNC,” Observer, March 27, 2016, http://observer.com/2016/03/the-countless-failings-of-the-dnc/; Greg Sargent, “The DNC needs to restore Bernie Sanders’ access to voter data — fast,” Washington Post, December 18, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/12/18/the-dnc-needs-to-restore-bernie-sanders-access-to-voter-data-fast/; Wall Street Journal, “Bernie Sanders Gets No Respect,” March 27, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/bernie-sanders-gets-no-respect-1459117222; Megan R. Wilson, “DNC rolls back restrictions on lobbyist donations,” Hill, February 12, 2016, http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/269266-dnc-rolls-back-restrictions-on-lobbyist-donations; Caitlin Yilek, “Ex-Obama adviser: DNC ‘putting finger on scale’ for Hillary,” Hill, December 18, 2015, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/263792-ex-obama-adviser-on-sanders-scandal-dnc-putting-finger-o↩
5. ^[5]David Lightman, “Analysis: Kasich would change election map, win White House,” McClatchy, April 13, 2016, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article71423157.html?rh=1↩
6. ^[6]Nick Gass, “Clinton press secretary: Superdelegates can help Clinton clinch nomination by early June,” Politico, April 14, 2016, http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/04/hillary-clinton-needs-superdelegates-221943↩

Updated for a story on Bernie Sanders supporters’ frustration with the Democratic Party primary system.

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The Horse Race

For those who think Hillary Clinton is good enough (figure 1):

Simon Head, “Clinton and Goldman: Why It Matters,” New York Review of Books, April 12, 2016, http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/04/12/hillary-clinton-goldman-sachs-why-it-matters/

Niall Stanage and Amie Parnes, “Clinton’s dismal approval ratings prompt Dem fears,” Hill, April 13, 2016, http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/276078-clintons-dismal-approval-ratings-prompt-dem-fears

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Donald Trump

The New York Times weighs Donald Trump’s failure of organization in the delegate selection process heavily.^[1] But more than that, Trump sounds to me like a lousy loser when he blames anyone but himself for his increasingly likely failure to win enough delegates to win the Republican nomination on the first round of voting, when delegates are bound to the candidates they were elected to vote for.^[2] However, despite the winner/loser dichotomy that Trump uses to build his reputation, there is a mitigating aspect: “His effort to sow doubt about the system plays into the suspicions and anxieties that many of his most ardent backers have about a political process they believe has intentionally disenfranchised them.”^[3] The Times is not wrong here; these “suspicions and anxieties” are the culmination of functionalist conservative exploitation of authoritarian populist resentment, as described by Thomas Frank.^[4]

Jeremy W. Peters and Jonathan Martin, “Donald Trump, Losing Ground, Tries to Blame the System,” New York Times, April 12, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/us/politics/donald-trump-losing-ground-tries-to-blame-the-system.html

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Oil prices

Bill Spindle, “Weak Oil Prices Curbing Production,” Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/crude-rises-on-signs-of-output-cuts-1460505118

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Bernie Sanders

Daniel Strauss, “Bernie’s backers rage against Democratic machine,” Politico, April 13, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/bernie-sanders-supporters-democrats-221842

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Footnotes

1. ^[1]Jeremy W. Peters and Jonathan Martin, “Donald Trump, Losing Ground, Tries to Blame the System,” New York Times, April 12, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/us/politics/donald-trump-losing-ground-tries-to-blame-the-system.html↩
2. ^[2]Eli Stokols and Kyle Cheney, “Trump’s Saturday delegate disaster,” Politico, April 9, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/donald-trump-colorado-south-carolina-delegates-221762↩
3. ^[3]Jeremy W. Peters and Jonathan Martin, “Donald Trump, Losing Ground, Tries to Blame the System,” New York Times, April 12, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/us/politics/donald-trump-losing-ground-tries-to-blame-the-system.html↩
4. ^[4]Thomas Frank, What’s the Matter with Kansas? (New York: Henry Holt, 2005).↩

Hillary Clinton

We still do not know the outcome of the Clintons’ recent missteps on race, but lots of people should be wondering if the race isn’t shaping up to be between two racist misogynists.

I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky.
—Bill Clinton, January 26, 1998.^[1]

Here’s the joke:

Mrs. Clinton: Thanks for the endorsement, Bill. Took you long enough.

De Blasio: Sorry, Hillary. I was running on CP time.

Odom: That’s not—I don’t like jokes like that, Bill.

Mrs. Clinton: Cautious politician time. I’ve been there.

Oh, we probably should have warned you not to read that while drinking coffee. But if your keyboard is still dry, CNN has the explanation: “‘CP Time’—also known as ‘colored people’s time’—is a stereotype about African-Americans running late.” . . .

It all reminds us of John Kerry’s infamous “botched joke” from 2006—except that Kerry, as far as we know, was improvising and may or may not have been joking. By contrast, in the Inner Circle fiasco, somebody actually wrote a script for the dreadfully unfunny (not to mention racist) joke, and Mrs. Clinton performed it willingly. She must think all New York is “Saturday Night Live.”^[2]

James Taranto, “Hillary Aims for Hilarity,” Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-aims-for-hilarity-1460483375

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Footnotes

1. ^[1]Bill Clinton, quoted in Lily Rothman, “The Story Behind Bill Clinton’s Infamous Denial,” Time, January 26, 2015, http://time.com/3677042/clinton-lewinsky-response/↩
2. ^[2]James Taranto, “Hillary Aims for Hilarity,” Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-aims-for-hilarity-1460483375↩

Updated. It seems the Clintons just can’t keep their feet out of their mouths. Also, while Ted Cruz has a hill to climb with the delegate count arithmetic, the Wall Street Journal has an op-ed pointing to an older problem entirely of Cruz’s making.

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Hillary Clinton

Bill Clinton’s clash with Black Lives Matter is, I’m sorry to say, the kind of thing I don’t always recognize as important right away. This controversy just might gain legs. What seems oddly telling to me is that, at least in these reports, Bill Clinton recovered better,^[1] albeit still entirely inadequately,^[2] than his wife, the candidate.^[3] I comment on this story here.

After I wrote that blog post, stories started showing up about a skit Hillary Clinton performed in an appearance with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. I don’t know, but my expectation would be that more than a few Blacks who supported her will want their votes back and that his wife should petition for a divorce.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama reinforced suspicions that the investigation of Clinton’s email practices has been politicized by saying “there’s classified and then there’s classified.”^[4] One huge problem with this, missed in the article here and apparently as well in Obama’s remarks, is that some of the material found on her server was extremely sensitive and put lives at risk.^[5]

To advocates for government transparency, the remarks stunk of duplicity by suggesting that federal classification rules are arbitrary and don’t apply to the Democratic presidential front-runner. . . .

“For a lower rank-and-file person, that’s not a defense you can ever use,” said Bradley Moss, a lawyer who handles matters related to classified information.^[6]

Michelle Alexander, [Facebook post], Facebook, April 8, 2016, https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=984486031639354&id=168304409924191

Julian Hattem, “Obama’s ‘classified’ comments strike nerve,” Hill, April 11, 2016, http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/275887-obamas-classified-comments-strike-nerve

Allegra Kirkland, “Bill Clinton Expresses Regret Over Clash With Black Lives Matter Protesters,” Talking Points Memo, April 8, 2016, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bill-clinton-addresses-clash-blm-protesters

Sara Jerde, “Hillary Clinton Responds To Bill’s Clash With Black Lives Matter Protesters,” Talking Points Memo, April 10, 2016, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/hillary-responds-bill-black-lives-matter-protesters-exchange

Sarah K. Burris, “Hillary Clinton and Bill de Blasio set off cringing with painful joke about ‘colored people time,’” Raw Story, April 11, 2016, http://www.rawstory.com/2016/04/hillary-clinton-and-bill-de-blasio-set-off-cringing-with-painful-joke-about-colored-people-time/

Mary C. Curtis, “Even Hillary May Not Find Bill Clinton So Charming Anymore,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, April 11, 2016, http://www.rollcall.com/news/even-hillary-may-not-find-bill-clinton-charming-anymore

Matt Wilstein, “De Blasio Defends ‘Colored People Time’ Joke,” Daily Beast, April 11, 2016, http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/04/11/de-blasio-defends-colored-people-time-joke.html

Neetzan Zimmerman, “Hillary Clinton and Bill de Blasio ripped over racial skit,” Hill, April 11, 2016, http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/hillary-clinton-bill-de-blasio-colored-people-time-joke-skit-racial-racist

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Ted Cruz

Bill McGurn, “The Cruz Conundrum,” Wall Street Journal, April 10, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cruz-conundrum-1460322318

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Footnotes

1. ^[1]Allegra Kirkland, “Bill Clinton Expresses Regret Over Clash With Black Lives Matter Protesters,” Talking Points Memo, April 8, 2016, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bill-clinton-addresses-clash-blm-protesters↩
2. ^[2]Michelle Alexander, [Facebook post], Facebook, April 8, 2016, https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=984486031639354&id=168304409924191↩
3. ^[3]Sara Jerde, “Hillary Clinton Responds To Bill’s Clash With Black Lives Matter Protesters,” Talking Points Memo, April 10, 2016, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/hillary-responds-bill-black-lives-matter-protesters-exchange↩
4. ^[4]Julian Hattem, “Obama’s ‘classified’ comments strike nerve,” Hill, April 11, 2016, http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/275887-obamas-classified-comments-strike-nerve↩
5. ^[5]Rachael Bade and Josh Gerstein, “Watchdog: Clinton’s server had classified material beyond ‘top secret,'” Politico, January 19, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/hillary-clinton-email-server-top-secret-217985; Bradley Klapper, “AP: Gov’t Declares 22 Clinton Emails ‘Top Secret,'” Talking Points Memo, January 29, 2016, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/hillary-clinton-emails-top-secret; Jonathan Turley, “Inspector General: Clinton Emails Contain Special Access Material Above The Top Secret Level,” January 20, 2016, http://jonathanturley.org/2016/01/20/inspector-general-clinton-emails-contain-special-access-material-above-the-top-secret-level/; Jonathan Turley, “Report: Clinton Emails Contained Human Intelligence Classified At Highest Levels,” January 23, 2016, http://jonathanturley.org/2016/01/23/report-clinton-emails-contained-human-intelligence-classified-at-highest-levels/; Jonathan Turley, “State Department: 22 Emails Will Not Be Released As ‘Top Secret,'” January 29, 2016, http://jonathanturley.org/2016/01/29/state-department-22-emails-will-not-be-released-as-top-secret/; Jonathan Turley, “Report: Clinton Emails Contained ‘Operational’ Information and Put Lives At Risk,” February 1, 2016, https://jonathanturley.org/2016/02/01/report-clinton-emails-contained-operational-information-and-put-lives-at-risk/↩
6. ^[6]Julian Hattem, “Obama’s ‘classified’ comments strike nerve,” Hill, April 11, 2016, http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/275887-obamas-classified-comments-strike-nerve↩

Universities

It’s not that I really disagree with Jonathan Cole. But there has to be more to the story than claiming that “Americans say they strongly believe in exceptional educational systems; they want their kids to attend excellent and selective colleges and to get good, well-paying, prestigious jobs.” It’s not enough, as Cole does, to blame completely opposite policies on politicians.^[1] At some point, the people themselves must accept responsibility for what they have acquiesced to, for all their anti-intellectual rhetoric, and their choice to lump intellectuals in with politicians and corporate leaders as “elites.” Politicians may have enacted policy. But the people have enabled that policy and until they stop enabling that policy, it will continue.

Jonathan R. Cole, “The Pillaging of America’s State Universities,” Atlantic, April 10, 2016, http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/the-pillaging-of-americas-state-universities/477594/

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Footnotes

1. ^[1]Jonathan R. Cole, “The Pillaging of America’s State Universities,” Atlantic, April 10, 2016, http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/the-pillaging-of-americas-state-universities/477594/↩

Updated for a story on the potential for a crash in the human population as we exhaust earth’s resources.

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Donald Trump

We’ve reached a threshold now where I no longer believe that Donald Trump is the most likely next president. I now think what I was reluctant to conclude before, that Trump has done himself enough damage and perhaps has attracted enough of the wrong kind of attention that he has let the nomination slip away.

[Crushing primary losses in Colorado and South Carolina are] an extension of a losing streak for Trump that threatens the mogul’s odds of winning the Republican nomination at what is increasingly likely to be a contested convention in July. Trump is close to falling short of enough support in the state-level primaries and caucuses to clinch the nomination outright, meaning his fate would be determined by delegates in Cleveland.^[1]

Trump simply looks more and more like a loser and in my mind this makes it increasingly likely that Ted Cruz will be the Republican nominee even if, as a Boston Globe editorial warns, in a Politico paraphrase, “that Sen. Ted Cruz . . . could be even more dangerous.”^[2] I continue to believe that Hillary Clinton is an appallingly weak candidate and so it follows that I now think Cruz seems most likely to be the next president. But barely so.

To be honest, right now, I feel a lot less certain of the outcome because just as Democrats will suffer a loss of enthusiasm if they do indeed crown Clinton, Republicans may lose some authoritarian populist support in subverting their will. A lot depends on whether recent missteps are indeed, as the decided non-authoritarian populist National Review’s Jim Geraghty believes, enough to cause Trump’s supporters to reconsider.^[3] Take the (probably mostly neoconservative) National Review with a grain of salt: This is the publication that launched the first major counterattack against Trump^[4] and it’s entirely possible their declarations of victory will prove premature. But the deflation of Trump’s balloon now seems palpable.

Hadas Gold, “Boston Globe to publish fake front page on Trump presidency,” Politico, April 9, 2016, http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/04/boston-globe-trump-front-page-221761

Eli Stokols and Kyle Cheney, “Trump’s Saturday delegate disaster,” Politico, April 9, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/donald-trump-colorado-south-carolina-delegates-221762

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Human extinction or, at least, a population crash

Rob Jordan and Amy Goldberg, “Populations of early human settlers grew like an ‘invasive species,’ Stanford researchers find,” Stanford University, April 5, 2016, http://news.stanford.edu/news/2016/april/south-america-earlyhumans-040516.html< Nika Knight, "Humans an Invasive Species Heading for a 'Crash,' Study Says," Common Dreams, April 8, 2016, http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/04/08/humans-invasive-species-heading-crash-study-says

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Footnotes

1. ^[1]Eli Stokols and Kyle Cheney, “Trump’s Saturday delegate disaster,” Politico, April 9, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/donald-trump-colorado-south-carolina-delegates-221762↩
2. ^[2]Hadas Gold, “Boston Globe to publish fake front page on Trump presidency,” Politico, April 9, 2016, http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/04/boston-globe-trump-front-page-221761↩
3. ^[3]Jim Geraghty, “‘Mental.’ ‘Utterly Stupid.’ ‘Trump Only Cares About Trump,’” National Review, March 30, 2016, http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/433432/mental-utterly-stupid-trump-only-cares-about-trump↩
4. ^[4]Conor Friedersdorf, “Standing Athwart History Yelling, ‘Stop Donald Trump!'” Atlantic, January 22, 2016, http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/01/standing-athwart-history-yelling-stop-donald-trump/426504/; National Review, “Against Trump,” January 21, 2016, http://www.nationalreview.com/article/430137/donald-trump-conservative-movement-menace↩

The contest for the Democratic presidential nomination seems to me to have descended into hyperbole, which I’m increasingly bored by. I see two things that might change my loss of interest. First, I’m interested to see how Hillary Clinton’s email scandal plays out. This includes the defense of any failure to indict her. Second, I would be interested if Bernie Sanders manages to win big enough victories in big enough states (New York and California come to mind) to appreciably change the trajectory of the race.

The Republican race, by contrast, seems to have descended into pure speculation, which really boils down to one question: Can Donald Trump amass enough delegates to avoid a contested or at least a seriously contested convention? I’m losing interest in this race as well, at least until we see more clarity on that question.

Oh, and by the way, those who complain about Sanders not dropping out of the race already should remember that this very same Clinton hung on against Barack Obama long beyond plausibility in 2008.

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Human sacrifice

Sarah Kaplan, “The ‘darker link’ between ancient human sacrifice and our modern world,” Washington Post, April 5, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/04/05/the-darker-link-between-ancient-human-sacrifice-and-our-modern-world/

Updated for another story on the prime minister resigning in Iceland. This adds that early elections will be held this autumn.^[1]

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Panama Papers

British Broadcasting Corporation, “Panama Papers: Uefa offices searched by Swiss police,” April 6, 2016, http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/35981302

Jon Henley, “Iceland PM steps aside after protests over Panama Papers revelations,” Guardian, April 6, 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/05/iceland-prime-minister-resigns-over-panama-papers-revelations

Reuters, “Panama Papers: Icelandic government names new prime minister, calls elections,” Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, April 6, 2016, http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/iceland-new-prime-minister-elections-panama-papers-1.3524165

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Footnotes

1. ^[1]Reuters, “Panama Papers: Icelandic government names new prime minister, calls elections,” Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, April 6, 2016, http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/iceland-new-prime-minister-elections-panama-papers-1.3524165↩