First, they rig the primary. Second, they act like this is ‘democracy.’ Daily Bullshit, May 19-20, 2016 (updated)

Updated for a Politico story analyzing recent poll data showing Donald Trump closing the gap between him and Hillary Clinton.[1]


There were a couple stories yesterday that didn’t quite make my cut for putting out one of these postings. They are included today.


The Horse Race

It’s really starting to feel like this is the end for Bernie Sanders’ campaign. The outrage I’m seeing on social media from his supporters resembles that of neoconservatives in denial that their party is about to nominate Donald Trump. Sanders’ supporters are furious, and I think they have cause to be. But it’s always the same thing: The Other Guy Is Worse. So many of them, probably more of them than there even are neoconservatives, will indeed vote for Hillary Clinton.

Will this be enough to ensure her victory come November? I’m not so sure. For one thing, we really still don’t know what the FBI is going to decide about Clinton’s email server. The investigation is probably more serious than Clinton’s campaign makes it out to be.[2] There will be controversy no matter which decision the Department of Justice makes on an indictment.[3] And some folks, myself included, just aren’t buying arguments that Clinton shouldn’t be charged.[4] These claims simply don’t pass the smell test. And if they do indict her, it’s unclear how Democrats find their way out of this mess, if they even can.[5]

Another thing is Donald Trump appears to be closing the gap between him and Clinton. Part of this is that Republicans are coalescing around him in opposition to Clinton. It remains to be seen if Clinton will benefit similarly when and if she finally defeats Sanders, but for now, “[t]he Gallup data show Clinton sliding among Democrats: She dropped four points in the week between Gallup’s two most recent surveys.”[6] This is the thing: Trump won’t become any more unpopular than he already is. I think Clinton still has a lot to lose.

The real problem is that all of the arguments I’ve previously offered suggesting she cannot win against Trump really still stand. She’s a terrible and highly unpopular candidate. Even her supporters recognize this.[7] She has looked strong at least in part because the Republicans had not coalesced around a single candidate.[8] And the one thing that’s clear is that even for many of those Sanders’ supporters who vote for Clinton out of disdain for Trump, she is a distant second choice.

Kevin Gosztola, “Establishment Collectively Stunned To See Citizens Reject Rigged Democratic Primary,” Common Dreams, May 20, 2016, http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/05/20/establishment-collectively-stunned-see-citizens-reject-rigged-democratic-primary

Steven Shepard, “Why Donald Trump’s poll numbers are surging,” Politico, May 20, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/donald-trump-poll-surge-223419


Melissa Click

The University of Missouri responded to the American Association of University Professors report on its firing of Melissa Click.[9] Some of their points are the same as what I posted in my blog entry. But not all of them.

Peter Schmidt, “AAUP Accuses U. of Missouri System of Violating Melissa Click’s Rights,” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 19, 2016, http://chronicle.com/article/AAUP-Accuses-U-of-Missouri/236527


Uber

Uber is testing a self-driving car in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where driving conditions are more difficult[10] than those where I am aware of Google conducting its testing. Google has been testing in suburban places like Mountain View, California, and Chandler, Arizona. Pittsburgh is an actual city.

Andrew J . Hawkins, “Meet Uber’s first self-driving car,” Verge, May 19, 2016, http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/19/11711890/uber-first-image-self-driving-car-pittsburgh-ford-fusion


Footnotes

  1. [1]Steven Shepard, “Why Donald Trump’s poll numbers are surging,” Politico, May 20, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/donald-trump-poll-surge-223419
  2. [2]Jonathan Turley, “‘We Do Investigations Here At The FBI’: FBI Director Reportedly Contradicts Clinton On Email Investigation,” May 11, 2016, https://jonathanturley.org/2016/05/11/we-do-investigations-here-at-the-fbi-fbi-director-reportedly-contradicts-clinton-on-email-investigation/
  3. [3]Julian Hattem, “Justice’s reputation hangs in balance of Clinton probe,” Hill, May 11, 2016, http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/279455-justices-reputation-hangs-in-balance-of-clinton-probe
  4. [4]Ruth Marcus, “Why a no-indictment for Hillary Clinton would still be a problem for America,” Washington Post, March 29, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-if-clinton-isnt-indicted/2016/03/29/81a1033e-f5d7-11e5-8b23-538270a1ca31_story.html
  5. [5]Ben Kamisar, “The chaos scenario for Democrats,” Hill, March 19, 2016, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/273626-the-chaos-scenario-for-democrats
  6. [6]Steven Shepard, “Why Donald Trump’s poll numbers are surging,” Politico, May 20, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/donald-trump-poll-surge-223419
  7. [7]Jeff Greenfield, “What’s Wrong With Hillary?” Politico, March 14, 2016, http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/03/hillary-clinton-2016-whats-wrong-with-hillary-213722; Charles M. Blow, “Hillary Has ‘Half a Dream,’” New York Times, February 8, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/08/opinion/hillary-has-half-a-dream.html; Dana Bolger, “Dear New York Times: The Real Reason Young Feminists Reject Hillary,” Feministing, December 17, 2015, http://feministing.com/2015/12/17/dear-new-york-times-the-real-reason-young-feminists-reject-hillary/; Robert Borosage, “As Panic Grips Clinton Campaign, The Real Question: What’s Wrong with Hillary?” Common Dreams, January 21, 2016, http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/01/21/panic-grips-clinton-campaign-real-question-whats-wrong-hillary; Philip Bump, “Hillary Clinton’s national lead is slipping faster in 2016 than it did in 2008,” Washington Post, January 14, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/14/hillary-clintons-national-lead-is-slipping-faster-in-2016-than-it-did-in-2008/; Amy Chozick, “’90s Scandals Threaten to Erode Hillary Clinton’s Strength With Women,” New York Times, January 20, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/21/us/politics/90s-scandals-threaten-to-erode-hillary-clintons-strength-with-women.html; chrisgeary2016 [pseud.], “bell hooks, black feminist, can no longer be a Hillary supporter,” Daily Kos, March 12, 2016, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/12/1500212/-bell-hooks-black-feminist-can-no-longer-be-a-Hillary-supporter; Chris Cillizza, “It’s too late for Democrats to start rethinking Clinton’s 2016 viability,” Washington Post, August 16, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/its-too-late-for-democrats-to-start-rethinking-clintons-2016-viability/2015/08/16/aea13116-441f-11e5-8ab4-c73967a143d3_story.html; Chris Cillizza, “It might be time for Hillary Clinton to start panicking,” Washington Post, September 10, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/10/it-might-be-time-for-hillary-clinton-to-start-panicking/; Chris Cillizza, “Hillary Clinton’s e-mail issues have become a massive political problem,” Washington Post, September 14, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/14/hillary-clintons-e-mail-issues-have-grown-into-a-massive-political-problem/; Gabriel Debenedetti, “Democrats to Clinton: Fix your messaging,” Politico, February 10, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/democrats-to-clinton-fix-your-messaging-219115; Tim Devaney, “Labor unions hold back on endorsements for Hillary,” Hill, September 7, 2015, http://thehill.com/regulation/labor/252823-labor-unions-hold-back-on-endorsements-for-hillary; Louis Doré, “Why Hillary Clinton should be extremely worried about the latest polls,” Independent, September 15, 2015, http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/why-hillary-clinton-should-be-extremely-worried-about-the-latest-polls–byTrMSwmIg; James Downie, “Hillary Clinton’s unbelievable defense of Wall Street contributions,” Washington Post, November 15, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/11/15/hillary-clintons-unbelievable-defense-of-wall-st-contributions/; Nick Gass, “Democratic rep: Clinton email flap ‘could upend her campaign’,” Politico, August 20, 2015, http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/john-yarmuth-hillary-clinton-email-2016-campaign-121555.html; Anne Gearan, Karen Tumulty, and Dan Balz, “Backers fear old weaknesses stalk Clinton campaign,” Washington Post, August 15, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/new-campaign-same-old-problems-clinton-hurt-by-familiar-shortcomings/2015/08/15/ce80e2d8-42ad-11e5-8ab4-c73967a143d3_story.html; Jeff Greenfield, “What’s Wrong With Hillary?” Politico, March 14, 2016, http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/03/hillary-clinton-2016-whats-wrong-with-hillary-213722; Evan Halper, “Some teachers resisting union endorsement of Hillary Rodham Clinton for president,” Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2015, http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/la-na-clinton-teachers-20151001-story.html; Evan Halper, “Why young feminists are choosing Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton,” Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2016, http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-clinton-millennial-women-20160203-story.html; Melinda Henneberger, “Clinton Vulnerable to Attack Ads Among Millennials,” Roll Call, January 12, 2016, http://blogs.rollcall.com/news/clinton-vulnerable-to-attack-ads-among-millennials/; Mark Hensch, “Poll: Majority believe Clinton lied about emails,” Hill, August 14, 2015, http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/251192-poll-most-think-clinton-knowingly-lied-about-emails; Husna Haq, “Are white women abandoning Hillary Clinton?” Christian Science Monitor, August 4, 2015, http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2015/0804/Are-white-women-abandoning-Hillary-Clinton; Patrick Healy, “Wall St. Ties Linger as Image Issue for Hillary Clinton,” New York Times, November 21, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/us/politics/wall-st-ties-linger-as-image-issue-for-hillary-clinton.html; Kristina Keneally, “I can’t get excited about Hillary Clinton’s campaign – it lacks a raison d’être,” Guardian, February 2, 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/03/i-cant-get-excited-about-hillary-clintons-campaign-it-lacks-a-raison-detre; Francine Kiefer, “Why West Virginia is making Democrats nervous,” Christian Science Monitor, May 11, 2016, http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016/0511/Why-West-Virginia-is-making-Democrats-nervous-video; Dara Lind, “Why aren’t young Latinos ready for Hillary? Because they’re still wounded by Obama,” Vox, February 19, 2016, http://www.vox.com/2016/2/19/11059990/latino-vote-millennials; New York Times, “Hillary Clinton Botches Wall Street Questions,” November 15, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/16/opinion/hillary-clinton-botches-wall-street-questions.html; Amie Parnes, “Hillary Clinton’s likability problem,” Hill, December 2, 2015, http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/261741-hillary-clintons-likability-problem; Eliza Webb, “Hillary Clinton has a race problem — and it’s resurfacing at a dangerous time,” Salon, February 26, 2016, http://www.salon.com/2016/02/26/hillary_clinton_has_a_race_problem_and_its_resurfacing_at_a_dangerous_time/; Bradford Richardson, “Poll: Clinton drops 10 points in 5 days,” Hill, October 10, 2015, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/256586-poll-clinton-drops-10-points-in-5-days; Janell Ross, “Hillary Clinton invoked 9/11 to defend her ties to Wall Street. What?” Washington Post, November 15, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/15/hillary-clinton-invoked-911-to-defend-her-ties-to-wall-street-what; Jennifer Rubin, “Democrats’ dilemma: Can’t live without Hillary Clinton, can’t win with her,” Washington Post, September 2, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2015/09/02/democrats-dilemma-cant-live-without-hillary-clinton-cant-win-with-her/; Greg Sargent, “How much will Hillary’s low ‘honest and trustworthy’ numbers matter?” Washington Post, August 27, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/08/27/how-much-will-hillarys-low-honest-and-trustworthy-numbers-matter/; Greg Sargent, “What Hillary’s sinking poll numbers really mean, in one chart,” Washington Post, September 2, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/09/02/what-hillarys-sinking-poll-numbers-really-mean-in-one-chart/; Douglas E. Schoen, “Hillary the Shaky Favorite,” Wall Street Journal, March 16, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-the-shaky-favorite-1458169079; Gail Sheehy, “The Women Who Should Love Hillary Clinton,” New York Times, January 29, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/opinion/campaign-stops/why-dont-boomer-women-like-hillary-clinton.html; Nate Silver, “Hillary Clinton Is Stuck In A Poll-Deflating Feedback Loop,” 538, September 16, 2015, http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/hillary-clinton-is-in-a-self-reinforcing-funk/; Niall Stanage, “Clinton comes under friendly fire,” Hill, August 19, 2015, http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/251420-clinton-comes-under-friendly-fire; Niall Stanage and Kevin Cirilli, “Dems near Clinton panic mode,” Hill, August 13, 2015, http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/251008-dems-near-clinton-panic-mode; Niall Stanage and Amie Parnes, “Clinton searches for theme,” Hill, October 6, 2015, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/256010-clinton-searches-for-theme; 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; Scott Timberg, “If you want me to vote for Hillary, ‘she needs to come left to get it’: Not the traditionally ‘undecided,’ these potential voters are frustrated — and may stay home,” Salon, March 18, 2016, http://www.salon.com/2016/03/18/earn_my_vote_or_lose_it_not_the_traditionally_undecided_these_potential_voters_are_frustrated_and_may_stay_home/; Karen Tumulty, “Poll: Sharp erosion in Clinton support among Democratic women,” Washington Post, September 14, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/poll-sharp-erosion-in-clinton-support-among-democratic-women/2015/09/14/6406e2a0-58c3-11e5-b8c9-944725fcd3b9_story.html; Eliza Webb, “Hillary Clinton has a race problem — and it’s resurfacing at a dangerous time,” Salon, February 26, 2016, http://www.salon.com/2016/02/26/hillary_clinton_has_a_race_problem_and_its_resurfacing_at_a_dangerous_time/; Benjamin Wallace-Wells, “The Clintons Have Lost the Working Class,” New Yorker, February 10, 2016, http://www.newyorker.com/news/benjamin-wallace-wells/the-clintons-lose-the-working-class; Neetzan Zimmerman, “Poll: Clinton’s favorability takes a major hit,” Hill, August 3, 2015, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/250148-poll-clintons-favorability-takes-a-major-hit; Aaron Zitner, “Hillary Clinton’s White-Voter Problem May Change Election Math,” Wall Street Journal, October 22, 2015, http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/10/22/can-hillary-clinton-underperform-barack-obama-with-white-voters-and-win/
  8. [8]Albert R. Hunt, “Clinton’s Weaknesses Are Hidden by Republican Disarray,” Bloomberg, November 22, 2015, http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-11-22/clinton-s-weaknesses-are-hidden-by-republican-disarray
  9. [9]Peter Schmidt, “AAUP Accuses U. of Missouri System of Violating Melissa Click’s Rights,” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 19, 2016, http://chronicle.com/article/AAUP-Accuses-U-of-Missouri/236527
  10. [10]Andrew J . Hawkins, “Meet Uber’s first self-driving car,” Verge, May 19, 2016, http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/19/11711890/uber-first-image-self-driving-car-pittsburgh-ford-fusion