TWH, Hump Day, 4/20. Need I say more?

So, yesterday Hillary Clinton notched a victory in Wall Street’s home state. She now has 1893 delegates to Bernie Sanders’ 1180. Ms. Clinton only needs 490 delegates out of the remaining 1704 delegates still available to clinch the Democratic nomination. If not for the wisdom of the upper echelons of the Democratic Party, it would be a much closer race: 1424 to 1149. But Democratic Superdelegates have thrown their weight behind Wall Street’s choice and they will not be dissuaded by popular opinion. That’s what makes them so “super”.

On the other side of the political spectrum, Trump trounced the opposition in New York. He walked away with 60% of the vote to Cruz’s 15%. The Republican delegate count now stands at Trump, 845; Cruz,559; and Kasich, 147. Trump needs 392 out of the 734 still available to have the nomination locked up. If he keeps picking up delegates at the rate he did in New York, Trump will walk in owning the Republican Convention.

Now, while you, gentle reader, are digesting the ramifications of the above, for something completely different:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/20/420-meaning-the-true-stor_n_543854.html

OPEN Thread

The Watering Hole, Tuesday March 15, 2016 – The Ides of March

Today is the Republican Party’s last grate (pun intended) day. Big state primaries with voters in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio casting votes. The strategy is to deny Trump the number of delegates needed by having Rubio and Kasich snag favorite son state’s delegates, thus blocking Trump. The pollsters are indicating otherwise, declaring Trump to be leading in all those states. After today you’ll likely see a coalescing around the presumptive nominee by the neo-fascists.

Hillary is also predicted to win all those states, but three are more like Michigan in their composition and Bernie surged from 20 some points behind there to upset all the pollsters including the rather accurate Nate Silver. So for this Ides of March, are there political assassins lurking in the halls?

Open Thread.

The Watering Hole; November 2015’s Friday the Thirteenth

“Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.”
(Friedrich Schiller)

Friday the Thirteenth is supposed to mean bad luck, something like that. So I’ve decided to lend a hand and offer huge piles of bad luck to a small handful of really DESERVING candidates. I won’t elaborate; as you will see, there is no need to do so when the candidates have already . . . ummm . . . elaborated?

Without further ado, first there’s Ted Cruz, presidential candidate, who will be doubling down on Saturday at a “Rally For Religious Freedom” in South Carolina. Recall that last weekend, Cruz spoke at a rally in Iowa held by the nutcase preacher who advocates execution of gays; this week, Cruz will speak at the rally where activists preach that gays are really Satanic manifestations. Ted will be accompanied by his daddy, Rafael Cruz, who has already blamed the SCOTUS gay marriage decision on (who else) The Devil!

Conclusion: Ted Cruz is (legitimately) nuts.

Next we learn that Duck Dynasty “stars” are rallying to support the Louisiana gubernatorial candidacy of Diaper Dave Vitter. As Dynasty’s Willie Robertson puts it, “I know he’s made some mistakes, but who hasn’t? The whole story of the Bible is about redemption, and I’m concerned about our state.”

Conclusion: Gays might be the work of the Devil, but US Senators who get caught hanging with hookers while wearing a diaper? No problem. No biggee. No Debbil. . Redeemable. Like a coupon.

Meanwhile, pHuckabee claims he’s innocent, that he had NO IDEA that (Reverend?) Kevin Swanson’s ‘religious freedom’ ideas included the execution of gay people. That — IN SPITE of the fact that the whole thing had been cussed and discussed for most of the week in advance of the event. I mean, even *I* knew about Swanson’s absurd thesis, and we don’t even have cable TV!

Conclusion: pHuckabee just might tell a lie, every now and then.

Summary:

“You see, if you’re very, very stupid, how can you possibly realize
that you’re very, very stupid? You’d have to be relatively intelligent
to realize how stupid you are.”
(John Cleese; January 2015)

OPEN THREAD