Trump gets 66% of Oregon votes in uncontested Republican primary

By Miriam Raftery

May 19, 2016 (San Diego) – Both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders will each pick up 27 delegates in the Kentucky primary where with 100% of precincts counted,  Clinton received 46.8% of the vote and Sanders 46.3%.

In Oregon, Sanders scored victory with 56% of the vote, while Clinton took 44%. Sanders will get 34 delegates and Clinton 25, as of the results with 96% of the count tallied, Associated Press reports.

By Miriam Raftery

April 20, 2016 (San Diego) – Frontrunners widened their leads in yesterday’s New York presidential primary, where three of the five contenders had strong New York ties.

New York’s former Senator Hillary Clinton won with 58% percent of the vote, picking up 139 delegates.  But Senator Bernie Sanders, who was raised in Brooklyn, got 42% and picked up 106 of the delegates.

On the Republican side, New York businessman Donald Trump scored a resounding victory with 60, winning 89 delegates. In second place, Ohio Governor John Kasich got 25% and earned 3 delegates.  Texas Senator Ted Cruz, with just 14.5%, was shut out of receiving any delegates.

By Meg Jensen

Photos:  New state laws ban abortions even for serious deformities that would result in a chlid doomed to pain, suffering, or death. Shown: Microcephalic fetus with brain deformity, conjoined twins,  infant with two faces.

April 4, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) – Media headlines have been filled the past few days with news about Donald Trump’s changing stance on abortion. The Washington Post reports Trump took five different stances in three days, after stating on MSNBC that he believed there should be “punishment” for women who have abortions (but not for the men who impregnate them).  

Though Trump later shifted his stance following stinging criticisms, the truth is that in many Republican-controlled states, women who seek abortions or obtain them are already been punished with laws that restrict access even in extreme cases such as to end a miscarriage in progress or help a mother prevent carrying to term a fetus so severely damaged that it could not survive, or would face a brief life filled with suffering.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Ron Logan (during Sanders' visit to San Diego)

March 26, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) -- Three states held Democratic presidential caucuses today—and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders soundly defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by hefty margins in all three western states.  (There were no Republican matches today.)

In Alaska, Sanders won a whopping 81.6% of the vote, while Clinton took just 18.4% with 100% of precincts reported. Washington state was won by Sanders with 72.7% of the vote to Clinton’s 27.2% with 99% of precincts reporting.In Hawaii, Sanders won with 70% of the delegates to Clinton's 30%. 

By Miriam Raftery

March 16, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) – The field has narrowed further after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and businessman/reality TV celebrity Donald Trump scored sweeping wins in the “Super Tuesday” primaries held yesterday in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina.

By Miriam Raftery

March 10, 2016 (San Diego) –Senator Bernie Sanders scored an upset victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Michigan primary, shocking pollsters who had predicted Clinton would win by as much as 20 points in the delegate-rich state. Clinton won in Missisippi, however, maintaining her edge overall, for now. 

A record turn-out of 2.5 million people in Michigan helped Donald Trump win big in the Republican primary; the billionaire businessman also won Mississippi and the Hawaiian Republican caucus.Senator  Ted Kruz placed second in all three states, strengthening his position as the only Republican likely to have any chance to top Trump before the Republican nominating convention.

By Miriam Raftery

March 3, 2016 (Washington D.C.)—Following her strong showing in the Super Tuesday primaries, Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner in the Democratic presidential primary.  But several revelations this week raise troubling questions for Clinton supporters regarding the integrity of Clinton and her campaign:

• The U.S. Justice Department has granted immunity to Brian Pagliano, the staffer who set up a private e-mail server in Clinton’s home, as the investigation into allegations over classified emails continues, the Washington Post reports.  What does the staffer know and could Clinton face indictment?

• The Clinton campaign and Super PACs supporting Clinton have paid pundits who have appeared on major  TV news shows. They were presented as neutral analysts , all touting Clinton’s candidacy and downplaying the electability of her opponent, Bernie Sanders.  TV networks failed to disclose financial ties, a clear violation of journalistic ethics, the Intercept  reveals in an investigative report.

• Former President Bill Clinton has drawn criticism for holding a rally for his wife outside a Massachusetts polling place, using a megaphone for amplification and even entering two other polling places on election day. Massachusetts law prohibits electioneering within 150 feet of polling places, the Boston Globe reports. No charges were filed despite videos of the activities, though the Secretary of State did sent the Clinton campaign a reminder of the state’s rules.
  

By Miriam Raftery

Photo, left: Bernie Sanders, by Troy Page; Photo, right: Donald Trump, by Gage Skidmore

February 10, 2016 (San Diego) – Last night’s presidential primary in New Hampshire proved historic on several fronts.  By huge landslides, voters in both Democratic and Republican parties cast their ballots for candidates running outside the mainstream political framework: mavericks Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.  Sanders is also the first Jewish candidate ever to win a presidential primary. 

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders pulled in 60% of the vote to win the Democratic primary, trouncing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who got 38%. Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, is running on a platform of closing the wealth gap by reining in Wall Street, taxing the rich and providing free healthcare for all. 

On the Republican side, billionaire businessman and former reality TV show host Donald Trump won with 35% of the vote. Ohio Governor John Kasich took second at 16% in an upset over the Iowa caucus winner, Senator Ted Cruz, who got 12%, narrowly edging out Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who had 11% and 10% respectively. Other candidates placed in single digits, with 100% of precincts now reported.

Crippled America: How To Make America Great Again, by Donald J. Trump (Threshold Editions, An Imprint 0f Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, NY, 2015, 193 pages).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

January 2, 2016 (San Diego's East County) - Donald J. Trump, the very definition of the American success story, has now delved into politics with his candidacy for the White House, and explains why in his very provocative book; Crippled America: How To Make America Great Again. Trump, a graduate of the Wharton School of Finance, an accomplished author and having written more than fifteen bestsellers, with his first book, The Art of the Deal, being considered a business classic and one of the most successful business books of all time. There is no question that trump has been a very successful entrepreneur and businessman – but does that necessarily translate into his being a great politician or President of the United States?

By Miriam Raftery

October 15, 2015 (San Diego) – After the CNN-hosted Democratic presidential candidate debate Wednesday,  all major polls--including CNN’s own poll--showed Bernie Sanders the winner by wide margins.  Yet post-debate coverage by CNN and other major media almost unanimously declared Hillary Clinton the winner. 

No matter what your party or political preference, this sort of blatant media manipulation should disturb you. Equally disturbing to advocates of a free press, many pro-Sanders comments or those questioning the network’s impartiality were repeatedly removed off CNN’s website stories on the debate.  How come?

The fact that CNN’s owner, Time-Warner, is one of Clinton’s largest campaign donors appears to have influenced the news organization to skew its coverage to favor  its corporate parent’s preferred candidate.  Other media that has given large sums to Clinton's campaign or to the Clinton Foundation similarly ignored polls and declared her the winner.

By Buck Shott

August 19, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)—As the presidential candidates court voters in America’s heartland in Iowa this week, it almost seems as if the current crop of presidential wannabes are competing to see who can be the most outrageous, extreme, or scandal-prone.

Originally Published on the ECOreport

By Roy L Hales

July 30, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - With Hillary Clinton leading the pack of Presidential hopefuls, America could increase its solar capacity by 700% by 2020. The latest CNN poll shows 44% of the voters respondents favourable to her. This is quite a lead over the two next most favoured candidates, Republicans Jeb Bush and Donald Trump (who both had 34%). Her Democratic challenger, Bernie Sanders, may be “moving up” but has a long way to go with only 24%. Clinton wants to see half a billion US solar panels on rooftops by the end of her first term.

By Juwan Armstrong and Miriam Raftery

July 18, 2015 (El Cajon) --Representatives from Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign spoke at the East County Democratic Club last Thursday at MJ’s Family Restaurant in El Cajon, seeking to fire up local support.

 A former Secretary of State, First Lady and Senator, Clinton is focusing her campaign vision on four goals: building an economy for tomorrow, strengthening America’s families, defending America and our core values, and revitalizing our democracy.

Patrick Alexander, JD, added that one of the most important issues in the campaign will be the appointment of up to four Supreme Court Justices that the next president could make – appointments that could shape the high court for the next half century and impact rulings significant for women's rights, voting rights, minority rights, labor, the environment, the enviroment and more. 

By Miriam Raftery

November 22, 2014 (Washington D.C.)—A two-year investigation by the Republican-controlled House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has resulted in publication of a report   on November 21^st. That report concludes that accusations made by Republican leaders over terrorist attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya are untrue.  The committee found no wrongdoing by any administration officials, and it concluded  that the CIA  and U.S. military acted appropriately before, during and after the Benghazi attacks that killed four Americans.

The following bullet points are direct quotes from the committee’s conclusions: