NWCorona
NWCorona's JournalHillary Clinton Won't Say Whether She Backs Death Penalty For Dylann Roof
"For nearly a week now, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has refused to answer a simple yes or no question: whether she favors the Department of Justice's decision to seek the death penalty for Dylann Roof, who is accused of killing nine people last year at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina.
The Huffington Post first posed the question to Clinton's campaign on May 25, one day after the Justice Department made its announcement. We followed up twice that day, and once the day after. We tried again this Sunday and Monday.
The campaign only responded to one of those emails, and did so off the record -- but needless to say, it didn't answer the question.
The Clinton campaign's reluctance to weigh in on the issue stands in contrast to her Democratic opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), whose campaign confirmed that he opposed the Justice Department's decision shortly after it was announced.
Sanders steadfastly opposes the death penalty on moral grounds and on the belief that it does not deter crime, as its proponents suggest. Clinton has said she does support the death penalty in "certain egregious cases."
The death penalty isn't generally a top concern for voters, but knowing candidates' stances on it does provide a sense of how they weigh politics and morality. Learning whether Roof qualifies as an "egregious case" in Clinton's mind would help voters figure out where she stands, but so far, her campaign refuses to provide any clues."
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/hillary-clinton-dylann-roof-death-penalty_us_574db120e4b055bb1172c1c0/amp
DID BERNIE SANDERS GIVE DONALD TRUMP A TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE WITH A NEW NICKNAME?
"Donald Trump has become known for crowning his opponents with brutal, simplistic nicknames, much in the way of a middle school playground bully. Trump’s method of sticking his primary opponents with nicknames and then relentlessly hammering them in was one of the reasons why Trump emerged at the head of the pack during the race for his party’s nomination. Defining his opponents and casting them in the most negative light possible has become a trademark, and one that he returns to time and again, as it has thus far proved to be a successful move. Low Energy Jeb. Little Marco Rubio. Lyin’ Ted. And now, as the Republican nomination is officially his, Trump has turned his penchant for nicknames to the other side.
Crooked Hillary. Goofy Elizabeth Warren. Crazy Bernie.
But it seems as though “Crazy Bernie” may be giving Donald Trump a taste of his own medicine by bestowing a rather cutting nickname on the candidate.
Mr. Macho.
Like Trump’s own nicknames for his opponents, it’s short and certainly not sweet, and, knowing Donald Trump’s penchant for vigorously defending his manhood — there was, after all, that time during a nationally televised debate that he felt compelled to assure his voters about the adequate size of a body part that had recently been slandered — “Mr. Macho” will cut to the quick."
http://www.inquisitr.com/3152735/did-bernie-sanders-give-donald-trump-a-taste-of-his-own-medicine-with-a-new-nickname/
Bernie Sanders Pulls Slam Dunk at NBA Game
"Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders scored a slam dunk Monday night by showing up at an NBA playoff game in Oakland.
The Associated Press
Prodded by Trump, Sanders Doesn’t Say Yes - or No - to Independent White House Run
With the crucial California presidential primary scheduled for next Tuesday, Sanders is scrambling for all the attention he can get, and he made a brilliant move by attending the Western Conference final game between host Golden State and Oklahoma City. Golden State won, 96-88, sending the California team to the pro basketball championship series against Cleveland.
The candidate arrived during halftime at Oakland's Oracle Arena with actor Danny Glover after a campaign rally nearby. They sat in Section 108, Row 15, behind a basket. The Vermont senator stood out in the crowd because he was wearing a blue shirt and was surrounded by fans in orange Golden State shirts.
The average price for a seat at the game was $960, according to ESPN, and it wasn't immediately known where Sanders got his ticket. He gleefully signed autographs and posed for pictures. Some spectators chanted, "Bernie! Bernie!" – generating big grins from the candidate.
The overwhelmingly favorable publicity could be valuable to Sanders as he competes with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's presidential primary. Clinton spent the holiday weekend in her home state of New York but is expected back in California Thursday for a five-day campaign swing.
After the game, Sanders tweeted, "Last week, Golden State was down three games to one. Tonight, they finished off a great comeback in California. I like comebacks.""
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-05-31/bernie-sanders-pulls-slam-dunk-at-nba-game
Let's hope that Bernie can pull off a similar upset! On a side note tho. An average price of $960? That's crazy!
Poll: 50% Say Clinton Should Keep Running Even If Indicted
"Most continue to believe likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is a lawbreaker, but half of all voters also say a felony indictment shouldn’t stop her campaign for the presidency.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 43% of Likely U.S. Voters think Clinton should immediately stop campaigning if she is charged with a felony in connection with her use of a private e-mail server while secretary of State. Fifty percent (50%), however, think she should continue running until a court determines her guilt or innocence. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Voters were evenly divided on this question in January, but at that time we didn’t include the name of any candidate.
Among Democratic voters, 71% believe Clinton should keep running, a view shared by only 30% of Republicans and 46% of voters not affiliated with either major party.
Forty percent (40%) of all voters say they are less likely to vote for Clinton because of the e-mail issue, while nearly half (48%) say it will have no impact on their vote. Just eight percent (8%) say the issue makes them more likely to vote for the former first lady.
Sixty-five percent (65%) consider it likely that Clinton broke the law by sending and receiving e-mails containing classified information through a private e-mail server while serving as secretary of State. This includes 47% who say it’s Very Likely. These findings are unchanged from January. Thirty percent (30%) still say Clinton is unlikely to have broken the law with the e-mail arrangement, with 16% who say it’s Not At All Likely."
http://m.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/may_2016/50_say_clinton_should_keep_running_even_if_indicted
This is an interesting poll and it's kinda what I expected.
What are the odds of a Dept head keeping their job in the wake of an OIG audit like Hillary's?
I couldn't see Kerry surviving a scandal like this and not being asked to step down by Obama. We need to remember that this isn't the first scathing audit by OIG.
Sanders says Clinton’s email situation has changed
"Months after telling Hillary Clinton that Americans were “sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails,” Bernie Sanders may be changing his mind.
Interviewed Friday on “Real Time with Bill Maher” on HBO, Sanders was asked if the furor over Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state had become large enough for the Vermont senator to reconsider his refusal to engage Clinton on the issue.
“It has,” he said. “But this is what I also think: There is an enormous frustration on the part of the American people.”
The State Department’s inspector general found in a report released this past week that the email setup violated department rules, that Clinton never sought permission for it, and that the proposal would have been rejected if she had. The report handed Clinton’s Republican opponents a fresh line of attack — and Sanders, too, if he chose to take it. Clinton’s competitor for the Democratic presidential nomination won praise at a candidates’ debate on October when he said, “Enough of the emails. Let’s talk about the real issues facing America.” At the time, his campaign used the comments in a fund-raising email.
Seven months later, the delegates to be chosen June 7 in California and five other state nominating contests represent a last-ditch effort to close the gap with Clinton before the Democratic convention in July. Clinton holds a nearly insurmountable lead in pledged delegates, and is far ahead in popular votes. But a strong performance in California could boost Sanders’ case that superdelegates — party leaders and elected officials not bound to any candidate — should switch their allegiance to him on the basis of perceived electability against Republican Donald Trump."
http://www.columbian.com/news/2016/may/28/sanders-says-clintons-email-situation-has-changed/
That OIG audit changed everything and officially validated Hillary failures at the State Dept.
Poor polls, scandal, a cussed rival … how it’s all going wrong for Hillary Clinton
"The week that Donald Trump finally sealed the Republican presidential nomination ought to have been a triumphant one for Hillary Clinton. With a final few delegates nudging him past the official finishing line on Thursday, here at last was the candidate that Democrats always dreamed of running against: unpopular, undisciplined and ostensibly unelectable in November’s general election.
Yet in the Alice in Wonderland world of American politics in 2016, nothing is what it seems. Clinton supporters would instead have to stomach six impossible things before the week was out.
The first was the sight of the former secretary of state falling behind her Republican opponent in an average of national opinion polls. Though by a wafer-thin – and probably temporary – margin, the breaching of this symbolic threshold could yet become self-fulfilling if it normalises the once unthinkable prospect of a Trump-themed White House
Then came a damning report by an independent inspector at the Department of State, who contradicted her claims that she had been allowed to use a private email server for official business while serving as the nation’s chief diplomat. Once again, things were not quite as simple as they appeared, and Clinton allies argue that the report also shows other former secretaries of state up to the same tricks. But only one of them is running for president. With the FBI still investigating whether she broke federal law, this is an old wound that could reopen again before the contest is over.
Some Democrats, such as progressive champion Elizabeth Warren, show signs of trying to rally around their beleaguered team captain, yet the ongoing FBI investigation also complicates the ability of the party’s most influential cheerleader to come to the rescue. At a press conference in Japan, the normally loquacious Barack Obama flat out refused to take a question from a journalist asking whether the email scandal undermined Clinton’s “trustworthiness”."
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/28/hillary-clinton-us-presidential-electiond-democrats
Hillary Clinton just had the Worst Week in Washington
"By now, Hillary Clinton almost certainly expected that she would be well into a general election fight against Donald Trump — punching down at the target-rich real estate developer amid polls showing her sweeping into the White House.
Not so much.
Instead, Clinton spent the week in California, fighting for votes in advance of the Golden State's June 7 primary against the still-lingering challenge of Bernie Sanders.
But that was a cakewalk compared with what came out of Washington on Tuesday. The State Department's inspector general released an 83-page report detailing a series of missteps made by Clinton when she decided to exclusively use a private email server and address for all of her electronic correspondence as the nation's top diplomat.
Here's the key snippet, as reported by WaPo's Rosalind Helderman and Tom Hamburger:
The inspector general, in a long-awaited review obtained Wednesday by The Washington Post in advance of its publication, found that Clinton’s use of private email for public business was “not an appropriate method” of preserving documents and that her practices failed to comply with department policies meant to ensure that federal record laws are followed.
The report says Clinton, who is the Democratic presidential front-runner, should have printed and saved her emails during her four years in office or surrendered her work-related correspondence immediately upon stepping down in February 2013. Instead, Clinton provided those records in December 2014, nearly two years after leaving office.
Clinton initially sought to downplay the report as old news. "It’s the same story," she told Univision anchor Maria Elena Salinas. "Just like previous secretaries of state, I used a personal email. Many people did. It was not at all unprecedented."
Except that it was. While other secretaries of state had used personal email addresses, none of them had exclusively done so. And as Helderman and Hamburger noted, the State Department IG report scolded Clinton not only for using the email address exclusively but also for slow-walking the release of those emails to the State Department.
For Clinton, who has struggled for more than a year with how to best respond to the email problem — and to the broader honesty and trustworthiness questions it raises — it was exactly what she didn't need as she seeks to finally close out Sanders and unite the party in the face of a surprisingly strong showing by Trump in early general election polls.
By Thursday night, Clinton was calling in to cable shows to revise and extend her initial dismissiveness about the IG report. Too late. Damage done."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/the-fix/wp/2016/05/28/hillary-clinton-just-had-the-worst-week-in-washington/
Damage done. Worst week indeed!
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