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March 2016

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on March 14, 2016 9 Comments
While early reports of a potential Hillary VP pick centered on former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro, top Democrats in the (increasingly large) progressive wing of the party are reportedly rallying behind a relatively unknown, but reliably progressive, Tom Perez to run as Hillary's VP. Who is Tom Perez? Listen: Politico reports:
Aside from the wonkiest of Washington circles and the most progressive corners of the left, no one’s heard of Tom Perez. He isn’t young or handsome. He has zero foreign policy experience. The highest office he’s been elected to is a suburban county council. Yet the labor secretary has emerged as a sleeper pick for vice president, with chatter building among top Democrats — including Elizabeth Warren.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on March 14, 2016 15 Comments
It's Super Tuesday (again) Eve! Tomorrow, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio have will hold their primary elections. Florida and Ohio are winner-take-all states; no delegate splitting in either. Here's the latest from the wild world of campaigns:

Florida's Attorney General endorses Trump

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 14, 2016 37 Comments
I haven't covered this before, but there was a movement at Harvard Law School to remove three sheaths of wheat from its shield, because the sheaths of wheat represent the family crest of the slave-owning Royall Family. I've probably seen the shield a million times, and never once until this controversy associated it with the Royall Family, much less slavery. They were just sheaths of wheat. Background music at most. But nothing is non-political anymore. After research revealed the origins of the symbol, a movement arose calling itself Royall Must Fall. HLS Dean Martha Minow announced the decision in an email today (and an announcement), which reads in part:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 14, 2016 16 Comments
This is actually a big deal, if for real. The Russian air force and associated troops manning the airfield and anti-aircraft systems have been responsible for many of the recent gains by Syrian, Hezbollah, and Iranian-backed foreign militias fighting to keep Assad in power. Russia Today, generally perceived as pro-Putin, reports:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu to start the withdrawal of forces from Syria starting Tuesday. “I consider the objectives that have been set for the Defense Ministry to be generally accomplished. That is why I order to start withdrawal of the main part of our military group from the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic starting from tomorrow,” Putin said on Monday during a meeting with Shoigu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. To control the observation of ceasefire agreements in the region, Moscow will keep its Hmeymim airbase in Latakia province, Putin said.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on March 14, 2016 16 Comments
I knew that the 2016 election would be filled with black swans, events that deviate beyond what normally occurs during typical campaign seasons. However, the disruption of Donald Trump's rallies is not such a creature. Leftist operators have been a staple at conservative, grassroots events ever since I began organizing tea party rallies with our San Diego group in 2009. During the first year of the Tea Party, for which we obtained all the necessary permits and arranged for top-notch security, among our most consistent attendees were progressive counter-protesters who blasted bullhorns during speeches given by our guests. When Tea Party didn't disappear, anarchists in black coats began mingling with our crowds in search of opportunities to make trouble. Threats of harassment cast a shadow on these events. The direction of the threats were always one way: Toward us, as a group of average citizens who were over-taxed, over-burdened by regulations, and over-tired of being dismissed by the establishment.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on March 14, 2016 74 Comments
This story continues to get uglier. To catch up on the Michelle Fields/Trump Campaign/Breitbart News saga, see here, here, and here. Sunday night. Breitbart News' editor-at-large, Ben Shapiro, along with reporter, Michelle Fields, resigned. Breitbart's Spokesman resigned last week. Fields alleges that Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump's campaign manager, manhandled her after asking Trump a race-related question. Lewandowski and the Trump campaign deny it. Since the allegations were made public, Breitbart News has seen internal turmoil over whether to defend Fields, and if so, to what extent. Buzzfeed broke the story of the resignations Sunday night, including Shapiro's resignation statement, which reads in full:

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 14, 2016 16 Comments
Mitt Romney has entered the next phase of his stop Trump crusade and will campaign with Ohio governor John Kasich in the state Monday. NBC News reported:
Mitt Romney to Campaign with John Kasich in Ohio Mitt Romney will campaign with John Kasich Monday at two stops in Ohio, NBC News has learned from a source familiar with the plans. Romney is not expected to endorse the Ohio governor during the campaign swing, the source said, but it will be the first time Romney has campaigned on behalf of a Republican candidate this cycle.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 13, 2016 93 Comments
By now you undoubtedly have heard of the controversy over whether Donald Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski grabbed Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields with sufficient force to cause her bruising on her arm. And whether Breitbart News sacrificed her so as to maintain pro-Trump coverage and good relations with Trump's campaign. If you have not heard of it, welcome back from the rock under which you've been hiding the past few days. I'm not going to rehash the back and forth. Kemberlee has comprehensive coverage of the allegations and counter-allegations in Part 1 and Part 2 of her coverage. I'm going to focus on why it has been such a big deal. I see four main reasons: (1) good faith concern for Michelle Fields' well-being, (2) a desire to defend the freedom of the press, (3) trying to gain political advantage against Trump, and (4) a dislike of Breitbart News.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on March 13, 2016 20 Comments
Apparently, Bernie Sanders' supporters can't stop themselves from expressing their thoughts about how great socialism is. The former former Soviet chess champion has taken to Facebook to express his thoughts about being lectured by the uninformed about something he knows all too well. Garry Kasparov writes:
I'm enjoying the irony of American Sanders supporters lecturing me, a former Soviet citizen, on the glories of Socialism and what it really means! Socialism sounds great in speech soundbites and on Facebook, but please keep it there. In practice, it corrodes not only the economy but the human spirit itself, and the ambition and achievement that made modern capitalism possible and brought billions of people out of poverty. Talking about Socialism is a huge luxury, a luxury that was paid for by the successes of capitalism. Income inequality is a huge problem, absolutely. But the idea that the solution is more government, more regulation, more debt, and less risk is dangerously absurd.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on March 13, 2016 31 Comments
With recent polls showing Donald Trump and John Kasich tied in Ohio and reports that Marco Rubio is telling his OH supporters to vote for Kasich, Ohio has become quite the battleground in the 2016 Republican primaries. Entering the fray from his recent retirement is former House Speaker and long-time congressman from Ohio, John Boehner.  Boehner announced his endorsement of Kasich days before Ohio primary voters head to the polls. Cincinnati.com reports:
Republicans in Butler County honored former Speaker John Boehner three days before residents across Ohio's 8th District will vote on his replacement in Congress. But on Saturday, Boehner was more interested in talking about the presidential race. One day before Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is scheduled to speak in West Chester, Boehner endorsed Ohio Gov. John Kasich for president.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on March 13, 2016 62 Comments
Protesters have been interrupting quite a few Trump events of late, but none were as "successful" as the one in Chicago.  That multi-pronged, organized and coordinated protest, covered by Professor Jacobson, actually shut down the event.  The progressive left is hailing this as a victory, so we are sure to see more of the same at future Trump events, and because it's perceived as a "victory," at the events of other Republican candidates before too long.  Professor Jacobson also discusses this slippery slope in another post. One report from a Politico writer explains how the organizer and some of his classmates felt in the minutes before the event was cancelled and as the students prepared for their disruption. Politico reports:
Just 50 feet in front of the podium where Trump was scheduled to appear at any moment, Nathaniel Lewis, a 25-year-old African-American graduate student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, had established a beachhead of sorts: a pocket of about three dozen college students and activists. They were ready, too. What Lewis and dozens of his UIC classmates had planned was perhaps bigger—and better organized—than any protest Trump had faced to date. It had been a week in the making, and now everyone was in place: with roughly 2,500 on the street outside and hundreds more inside, including dozens working directly with Lewis. As they waited, the crowd growing loud around them, a few were starting to feel doubts about what they were hoping to do.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on March 13, 2016 7 Comments
As of our last report on the Zika virus, the number of confirmed cases of infection among those living in the United States was steadily rising and several woman had pregnancies that were likely impacted by the mosquito-borne pathogen. While President Obama says "not to panic", the normally glacially responsive Food and Drug Administration took the initial steps to pave the way for the use of genetically modified mosquitoes in the fight to eradicate the virus. The agency has just published a draft of its environmental impact study of OX513A, a male Aedes aegypti mosquito genetically modified to pass on a lethal gene to his offspring.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on March 13, 2016 34 Comments
While much of the attention focused on Europe's refugee crisis has been focused on Germany, Sweden is also experiencing quite serious problems associated with the influx of Middle Eastern, Asian, and North African immigrants and refugees. Not only have Swedish officials been accused of covering up the sexual assaults and rapes of recent immigrants and refugees, but now we are seeing the problems spread beyond the large cities and into small villages in Sweden, just as they have in Germany. The small and sleepy town of Östersund, Sweden, has been shaken by a series of eight sexual attacks by migrants against residents in only three weeks. The Daily Mail reports:

Posted by New Neo on March 13, 2016 49 Comments
I've been trying to design a good primary system. Or at least a better one. The more I think about it, though, the harder creating a good design seems to be. The Founders didn't offer much guidance, because they didn't envision the party system in its present form, and the nomination process slowly evolved to what it is today. These would be my suggestions for changes in the Republican primaries: (1) Only Republicans vote. A voter's party has to be declared some fixed amount of time before the primary in each state. Each state can set the amount of time, but there would be a minimum amount of time they could not shorten. I'm open to suggestions on what that amount of time would be.
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