RandySF
RandySF's JournalHillary Clinton’s path to victory
It’s a sign of how strongly tilted the Electoral College map is in Clinton’s favor, as she begins a general election campaign building upon the demographic and geographic coalition that President Barack Obama rode to two electoral landslides. Donald Trump, in contrast, must dramatically reimagine and redraw the political landscape to capture the presidency.
Rather than expand the 2012 map in any significant way, the Clinton campaign and its allies want to replicate it. They are obsessed with choking off Trump’s narrower path, hoping to strike a decisive victory in Florida (multiple Clinton officials declared there is nearly no path for Trump without it) while aggressively defending the Democratic-leaning states in the industrial Midwest that Trump has talked most about flipping — most importantly, Pennsylvania. Campaign officials say they think Clinton can turn out more female voters than Obama did. But they see one surrogate in particular as key to recreating the Obama coalition: Obama himself.
Clinton has a multitude of paths, as her allies and advisers see it. Trump has a single route: ginning up disaffected, non-college educated, working-class white voters — many whom may never have voted before — to sweep across the Rust Belt, in places like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio.
“I don’t think he has anything outside a Rust Belt theory,” said a Democratic strategist with close ties to the Clinton campaign. Clinton allies also note that Trump is an “organization-lite” candidate who is driven by message, but, they argue, that is a risky strategy for getting out people who typically don’t vote.
Clinton’s top campaign officials note there are 19 states that have voted Democratic in each of the past six presidential elections that account for a total of 242 electoral-college votes. Add New Mexico, whose population is 40 percent Latino and which has gone Democratic in five of the past six contests, and that is 247 of the 270 votes needed to get to the White House.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/hillary-clinton-path-victory-224228
Eastern Washington superdelegate throws her support behind Clinton
SPOKANE, Wash. - Now that Hillary Clinton is the presumptive Democratic nominee, Washington State superdelegates are beginning to throw their support behind her.
Eastern Washington's only superdelegate, Valerie Brady Rongey, announced Sunday she is endorsing Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
"Regardless of caucus or primary results, we know that Washington State will be well represented and well respected by a President Hillary Clinton," she said in a statement.
Rongey is the Vice Chair for the Spokane County DNC. She had refrained from making her endorsement until the State Party processes were completed.
"But I have been working passionately for the Hillary Clinton campaign at a very Grassroots level in Eastern Washington," Rongey said.
Rongey said she looks forward to working with the entire Washington State delegation in Philadelphia at the Democratic National Convention July 25-28.
http://www.kxly.com/news/spokane-news/eastern-washington-superdelegate-throws-her-support-behind-clinton/40127556
Clarence Thomas may be next to leave
Justice Clarence Thomas, a reliable conservative vote on the Supreme Court, is mulling retirement after the presidential election, according to court watchers.
Thomas, appointed by former President George H.W. Bush and approved by the Senate after a bitter confirmation, has been considering retirement for a while and never planned to stay until he died, they said. He likes to spend summers in his RV with his wife.
His retirement would have a substantial impact on control of the court. The next president is expected to immediately replace the seat opened by the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, providing a one-vote edge in the court that is currently divided 4-4.
Should Thomas leave, that slight majority would continue if Donald Trump becomes president. If it's Hillary Clinton, then she would get the chance to flip two Republican seats, giving the liberals a 6-3 majority.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/thomas-may-be-next-to-exit-supreme-court/article/2594317
NYC: Boy, 17, stabbed to death after giving homeless man $2
NOTE: This story is of interest to me because of the rash of stabbings by transients in San Francisco.
He was killed by his kindness.
A Bronx teen, after giving $2 to a homeless man, was stabbed to death by a second man — apparently because the cash donation wasn’t big enough, the victim’s mom said Saturday.
Carl Ducasse, an aspiring attorney set to graduate high school this month, was knifed multiple times in his chest late Friday by a killer who remained on the run, police said.
“The homeless guy wanted more,” said a weeping Angela Ducasse, the slain teen’s mother. “He died because of $2. I can’t believe he’s gone.”
The victim’s parents, surrounded by a dozen family members and friends, sat in their home about a block from the murder scene at E. 175th St. and Walton Ave. in Mount Hope.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/boy-17-stabbed-to-death-after-giving-homeless-man-dollar2/ar-AAhgQl7?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout
Americablog: Let’s treat men buying guns like women who get abortions
This is a wonderful meme going around, author unknown, about what it would be like for men buying guns if we treated guns like abortion:
What’s particularly brilliant about this is both guns and abortion are constitutional rights. So if you can limit abortion to this degree, why not limit guns to the same?
http://americablog.com/2016/06/if-abortion-were-a-gun.html
Latest Oakland police chief is out after two days
Yet another Oakland police chief is being replaced — the third in nine days — amid the fallout from a sex scandal that has descended on the Police Department.
Acting Police Chief Paul Figueroa is stepping down from the job for unspecified reasons, sources close to City Hall said Friday evening. Figueroa had taken the job just two days ago, after Mayor Libby Schaaf abruptly removed interim Police Chief Ben Fairow for reasons she declined to explain.
Fairow returned to his former job at the BART Police Department, where he had been deputy chief until Schaaf picked him June 9 as the interim replacement for Chief Sean Whent. Schaaf said Whent was resigning for personal reasons, but sources said he had been forced out because of a scandal in which several Oakland police officers are suspected of being involved with a teenage sex worker.
BART Police Chief Kenton Rainey said Fairow had admitted to having an extramarital affair with a consenting adult more than a decade ago, when he worked at the Oakland Police Department.
There was no immediate word on who will replace Figueroa, but early indications are that the department will be overseen by City Administrator Sabrina Landreth. It’s believed Figueroa will stay with the Police Department, where he had been assistant chief.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Latest-Oakland-police-chief-is-out-after-two-days-8310286.php
Tester endorses Clinton for president
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., on Friday endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, calling for Democratic Party unity to get her elected in November and bringing comments from some supporters of her rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, that they were disappointed in his decision.
“Hillary is the most qualified person on the ballot to unite our nation at a time when dangerous rhetoric threatens to divide us,” said Tester, who is serving as a superdelegate at the Democratic National Convention in July. He said via email that he is looking forward to working with her to create jobs, strengthen the middle class, keep the country safe and invest in education and infrastructure to advance the country.
A spokesman for Gov. Steve Bullock said Friday the governor would support Clinton as well.
“He has said all along he'll be supporting the Democratic nominee,” Jason Pitt said. “Now that a candidate has secured the nomination, he will be supporting her.”
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/local/2016/06/17/tester-endorses-clinton-president/86030684/
GOP Makes 'Appalling' Pitch To LGBTs: Dems Are Choosing Muslims Over You
The same Republicans who have argued that gay couples should not be allowed to marry, that LGBT Americans don't need federal anti-discrimination protections and that trans people should not use the bathroom that matches their identity are now claiming that they -- not Democrats -- are the party on the LGBT community's side.
Their reasoning? That somehow, in the wake of the Orlando shooting at a gay night club that left 49 people dead, there's now a mutually exclusive choice between supporting Muslims and protecting gay people, and Democrats have chosen the former.
The unlovely premise of that rationale is that all Muslims are terrorists, as one Republican congressman has baldly stated.
"Democrats are in a perplexing position. On the one hand, they’re trying to appeal to the gay community, but, on the other hand, they’re trying to also appeal to the Muslim community, which, if it had its way, would kill every homosexual in the United States of America,” Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) said on a radio show Thursday.
The logic that Dems favor Muslims/terrorists over gays is coming down from the very top of the GOP 2016 ticket. Donald Trump, in his first major speech after the weekend's tragedy suggested that Hillary Clinton "can never claim to be a friend of the gay community."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/republicans-muslims-lgbt-orlando-attack
Elizabeth Warren visits Hillary Clinton’s Brooklyn headquarters
Sen. Elizabeth Warren made a visit to Hillary Clinton's Brooklyn headquarters on Friday, a stop that is bound to stoke further vice presidential speculation.
Warren greeted staffers, took photos and delivered a pep talk to mark the start of the general election, according to several people present at the visit.
According to one attendee, Warren thanked them for their hard work and urged them to keep it up through the general election.
"Don't screw this up," Warren told them, according to one attendee who posted about the visit on social media before deleting it.
She also talked to staff about the importance of the election, including when it comes to issues like filling vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court and preserving Democratic priorities like the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
The Massachusetts Democrat endorsed Clinton a week ago after remaining neutral during the Democratic primary. Warren's sway among progressives and her willingness to take on likely Republican nominee Donald Trump made her endorsement a coveted one.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/06/17/elizabeth-warren-visits-hillary-clintons-brooklyn-headquarters/
Bernie Sanders Goes AWOL on Guns Filibuster
In the wake of the Orlando massacre, a group of impassioned Senate Democrats launched a filibuster to pressure Congress on gun control. Led by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), the effort to force a vote on a measure that would ban suspected terrorists from purchasing guns and expand background checks lasted more than 14 hours.
In all, more than 40 Senators, including Republican Sens. Ben Sasse (R-NE) and Pat Toomey (R-PA), joined the fight. Starting shortly after 11 a.m. Wednesday morning and lasting beyond midnight, in the end, they successfully got a vote scheduled.
But, as progressives cheered, many noticed that Sen. Bernie Sanders was missing from the fray. Sanders, who recently signaled that he would abandon his bid for the Democratic nomination, was reportedly back home in Vermont. He took to social media to show his support.
For skeptics and disillusioned supporters, it wasn’t enough.
Sanders, they noted, is still a sitting U.S. Senator. His absence stirred up a mix of disappointment and outrage, leaving many to wonder openly if Sanders had not just abandoned his colleagues in the well, but also the movement his campaign ignited. It was not difficult to wonder about its future.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/16/telling-moment-as-sanders-goes-awol-on-guns-filibuster.html
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