On Wednesday, May 4, 2016, Maine Public Broadcasting reported that when Democrats in Maine gather in Portland on Friday and Saturday for the state convention, they will not only elect delegates to represent Maine at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia but will further vote on a change to the state’s superdelegate system.

Superdelegates are Democratic politicians who can vote for any candidate they wish during the Democratic primaries and caucuses — they do not have to vote for the candidate that gets the majority of votes from the people. Maine has 5 superdelegates. Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton 64% to 35% in Maine, but Bernie Sanders only got 1 superdelegate. This has been extremely controversial across the country, as superdelegate totals help a candidate clinch the party nomination for president.

The amendment to fix this in Maine would require superdelegates be awarded to each candidate based on how the public voted.

“We have a system of government where you have one person, one vote, by and large,” said state representative Diane Russell, a Bernie Sanders supporter who is leading the effort. “The primary system is not when that happens. And I think that we need to start moving toward a system that’s more fair, that’s more democratic and more reflective of the popular vote.”

Russell claims the measure has widespread support and is confident it will pass.

The superdelegate change would be put in place for 2020, but the amendment also includes a non-binding suggestion that superdelegates from the 2016 contest also be redistributed, awarding Bernie Sanders superdelegate support equal to his victory in the state. DNC rules, however, may inhibit this.

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On Tuesday, May 10, 2016, an NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll showed in a potential matchup between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, Sanders would win 53% to 40%. A Hillary Clinton v. Donald Trump contest would result in a Clinton victory by a 5-point margin, 49% to 44%. The margin of error for the poll was plus or minus 1.3%.

These results are consistent will prior surveys.

While reporting on this poll, Common Dreams noted:

The latest Quinnipiac University survey released Tuesday shows Clinton beating Trump by just one point—43 to 42 percent—in both Florida and Pennsylvania. In Ohio, the real estate mogul holds a four-point lead over Clinton, with 43 to 39 percent.

Echoing the NBC News findings, Sanders bests Trump in all three of those states’ hypothetical match-ups. The Vermont senator leads by two percentage points in both Florida and Ohio (44-42 percent and 43-41 percent, respectively) while beating Trump 47 to 41 percent in Pennsylvania.

The Quinnipiac survey notes that “since 1960 no candidate has won the presidential race without taking at least two of these three states.”

Bernie Sanders faces a steep climb to overtake Hillary Clinton in the delegate count, which currently stands at Clinton 1,705 and Sanders 1,415.

West Virginia votes tonight, and Sanders is expected to win, but the state only carries 37 delegates — divided up according to vote totals. Winning Kentucky, Oregon, and Puerto Rico could help Sanders a bit, as they have between 60-75 delegates, but the big prizes remaining are New Jersey (142 delegates) and California (546 delegates). Sanders needs to win by large margins to overcome his delegate deficit.

Trump and Hillary, confident Sanders cannot make a comeback, have focused attention on attacking each other and gathering voters left over from the nomination season. Trump has taken a turn to the left in an attempt to reach liberals who dislike Clinton (even talking about raising the minimum wage and taxes on the wealthy), while Clinton has taken a turn to the right to appeal to conservatives who dislike Trump. Both strategies come with risk, as Trump may alienate conservative voters who suspect he is more liberal than he pretends and Clinton may only confirm to Bernie Sanders supporters and other leftists that she is, as she recently claimed, “a moderate and center” politician whose record leans unacceptably to the right.

It remains to be seen if these shifts in rhetoric will help, hurt, or not effect Sanders’ upset efforts.

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A group of atheists, the Tri-State Freethinkers, are calling Ken Ham’s “Ark Encounter” amusement park in Williamstown, Kentucky, the “Genocide and Incest Park.” The atheists hail from Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana.

The park features a massive ark (currently under construction) that the creators say is accurate according to measurement descriptions in the Christian bible. The company responsible is Answers in Genesis, helmed by Ken Ham.

The Freethinkers are attempting to purchase billboard space for an image of humans drowning outside the Ark, below the words, “Genocide and Incest Park: Celebrating 2,000 Years of Myths.” In the bible, the Judeo-Christian God causes a flood that wipes out all of sinful humanity and the world’s other lifeforms, minus Noah and his family, who build an ark large enough to save themselves and pairs of land-dwelling creatures (according to the Ark Encounter website, Noah cared for 7,000 animals). When the flood is over, Noah’s family repopulates the earth, presumably through in-family sex.

To Christians, this was part of God’s plan and therefore tolerable, similar to other divine actions in the bible non-Christians find horrific. The atheist group believes all this to be pure myth, but are having a difficult time finding billboard owners receptive to their rebranding of the theme park.

Lamar, a national billboard name, rejected the advertisement, the local office head calling it “not appropriate” and “inflammatory.” Two years ago, Lamar advertised for the Ark Encounter, with one billboard reading: “To all of our intolerant liberal friends: Thank God you can’t sink this ship.”

Another billboard company rejected the atheists’ ad as well.

Beyond their criticism of genocide and incest inherent in the bible story and the theme park, the Freethinkers further condemned the $18 million in state tax credits granted to the project, calling it a violation of church-state separation, and the park policy of only hiring born-again Christians, pointing out this violates equal opportunity in employment laws.

Regarding the billboards, Ken Ham declared of the atheists, “They don’t want people to be exposed to the truth of God’s Word.”

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The Republican state convention in Texas, taking place the second week of May 2016, will have more on its plate than selecting delegates to represent Texas voters at the national convention later this summer. The G.O.P. will also vote on a resolution that would put the issue of Texas secession before the people in a state-wide vote.

This will be the first time in state history that the possibility of a state-wide vote will be decided. The secessionist movement has long been led by the Texas Nationalist Movement, which states on its website that

The reasons for Texas independence are clear and simple. The people of Texas believe that Texans are best governed by Texans. We are no longer willing to be subjected to policies that we don’t want by people that we don’t elect.

They call for “an end to the failed Federal policy of unrestricted spending and limitless debt” and “a secure border and a sane immigration policy,” among other things. The TNM website has a petition for independence that some 259,000 people have signed (the Texas population is nearly 27 million) and some 22 local GOP chapters will be going to the state convention supporting independence (there are 270 chapters).

Texas was its own nation from 1836 to 1845, rebelling against Mexico in part to protect the right to own black slaves.

In 2009, a poll showed one-third of Texans believed Texas had the right to seceded, but 75% said they would vote against it. The Supreme Court ruled after the Civil War that states could not secede.

The measure is not expected to pass at the state convention.

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George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch coordinator who shot and killed unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012, is having a difficult time auctioning off the gun he used that night. After Zimmerman started the bid at $5,000, Internet trolls like “Racist McShootface” upped the bid to some $60 million. Other trolls named themselves “Tamir Rice” and “Donald Trump” and likewise raised the price.

Zimmerman’s auction announcement sparked a firestorm of controversy. Martin was a young black male temporarily living in the Sanford, Florida, neighborhood Zimmerman helped watch. Zimmerman, suspicious of Martin, followed him, and during a confrontation shot and killed the teenager. Zimmerman claimed Martin attacked him and that he only used his gun in self-defense. Zimmerman was acquitted of murder in 2013.

Critics were quick to declare the auction insensitive and an ugly way of profiting off a tragedy.

Shawn Leigh Alexander called it

…another link in the long chain of America’s historical obsession with selling and owning memorabilia connected with the murder of African Americans.

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries spectators used to hoard pieces of rope, body parts, embers and charred remains of lynching victims.  During the twentieth century pictures of the horrific murders were sold on the streets and some individuals would send the images as postcards to friends and loved ones proudly proclaiming participation, spectatorship or just some fiendish connection with the event… The selling of a gun used to kill an unarmed African American as a trophy, or “an opportunity to own a piece of American history” is unacceptable.  As a nation we should demand more.

Zimmerman, on the online auction site, wrote:

I am honored and humbled to announce the sale of an American Firearm Icon.

The firearm for sale is the firearm that was used to defend my life and end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin on 2/26/2012… Many have expressed interest in owning and displaying the firearm including The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. This is a piece of American History. It has been featured in several publications and in current University text books. Offers to purchase the Firearm have been received; however, the offers were to use the gun in a fashion I did not feel comfortable with. The firearm is fully functional as the attempts by the Department of Justice on behalf of B. Hussein Obama to render the firearm inoperable were thwarted by my phenomenal Defense Attorney…

…I am proud to announce that a portion of the proceeds will be used to: fight BLM violence against Law Enforcement officers, ensure the demise of Angela Correy’s persecution career and Hillary Clinton’s anti-firearm rhetoric. Now is your opportunity to own a piece of American History.

The Smithsonian promptly said, “The Smithsonian has never expressed an interest in collecting this firearm and has no intention of collecting or displaying this firearm.”

Zimmerman has also been condemned by many for posting a photo of Martin’s body on social media, and engaging in further domestic violence and revenge porn.

The first online auction site Zimmerman used deleted the sale post, saying, “We want no part in the listing on our web site.”

The current auction site is deleting Racist McShootface and other troll names, but that apparently doesn’t undo the bids. The current bid is still over $65 million.

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