News of the day

So much is happening in the news -- here are a few things:

1.  Hillary Clinton has received a major endorsement by the important AFL-CIO labor union.  She also has been endorsed by former Republican National Security big-wig, Richard Armitage.

2.  Bernie Sanders did a live-stream address to his supporters last night.   He did not concede nor say he was ending his campaign.   But he emphasized that his campaign is about continuing the progressive movement to influence the platform and to change some of the rules about delegates selection.    He says he will be doing everything he can to help Clinton defeat Donald Trump and "defeat him badly."

3.  Donald Trump and the RNC continue to escalate their non-unity.   Trump is demonstrating that he wants total control, telling RNC leaders to get on board "or be quiet."    The prospects for defeating him, and defeating him badly, just get better every day.

4.  The DNC has appointed a new high-level person to be in charge of day-to-day operations of the DNC.   Not clear exactly what this means yet, but it definitely seems a reduction in the power of Debbi Wasserman-Schultz.   Bernie Sanders had asked that she be removed from office.   This may be a compromise that will quietly take away her power.   Stay tuned.   This is important.

5.  John McCain first said that Barack Obama is directly responsible for the shooting in Orlando -- because he pulled our troops out of Iraq, which then led to the rise of ISIS, which the shooter pledged his allegiance to.   McCain then walked back this absurd stretch, saying that he wasn't blaming Obama personally but his policies.   Still . . . it was George Bush's minions who set this in motion by disbanding the Iraq army after our invasion.  This left all those military officers without jobs.    They were a major force in forming ISIS.

6.  Is there any connection to #5 and the timing (less than 24 hours later) of the announcement that George W. Bush will be doing a fund-raising event for John McCain?   I gleefully note that McCain is in a pretty tight race for re-election.    With Donald Trump at the head of the ticket, might we hope that Arizona might be one of the senaate seats that goes Democratic?

7.   Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) actually accomplished something with his 15 hour filibuster on gun control.   He forced the Republican leadership to agree to hold a vote on two issues:  anyone on the terrorist, no-fly watch-list will not be allowed to buy a gun;   and universal background checks will be extended to include sales at gun shows and online.   This does not guarantee that Republicans will vote for these measures.   But until now, they have refused to even allow a vote.   This forces them either to vote for the measures or face voters in November having voted no -- when 80+% of voters support sensible restrictions.   Murphy emphasized that these are just the beginning, but they are steps that he believes have a chance of being adopted.
  
Ralph