Random Politics & Religion #00

you've got a lot of work to do if you're to fill those shoes, bubba.

I'm just waiting for you to die

Started taking a superficial look at some candidates that are less talked about over here. I'm coming to the conclusion that Cruz might be the biggest nutjob of the lot, even worse than Trump lol.

Deez Nuts '16!

Restaurants could get new filing requirements

How are we to identify the potential discrepancies that do exist if employers aren't asked to report this information?

Collecting more data is a way to reduce the influence of confounding factors (the things you listed last page). If some kind of discrimination exists, then knowing the payroll information breakdown would be essential. I'm not sure why that reporting would be considered irrelevant.

Bush never needed a teleprompter to speak....

It's the strong 3rd that is surprising. He almost got as many votes as Trump. Also noting that the Repubs are showing how many people voted while the Dems are only showing percentages.

President Rubio. Get used to saying that.

High turnout at a Des Moines college leads to a ‘ridiculously crowded’ and ‘crazy’ caucus.
Sanders has emerged as Clinton’s top rival, after climbing in the polls. Heading into caucus day, he was within striking distance of Clinton.

Officials announced that, after the initial alignment, Sanders was in the lead, with 248 supporters. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley was in second place, with 108 supporters, and Clinton in third with 107.

As soon as the meetings open, attendees must declare a preference for a candidate.

Typically, backers of each presidential hopeful physically stake out positions around the room. People who still can't make up their mind join a group known as "uncommitted."

This is where it gets complicated. In order to be considered "viable," a group must clear a certain threshold -- usually around 15% of the entire caucus turnout in each precinct.

Once first-round votes are tallied, anyone stuck in a group that is not "viable" has the chance to align with a candidate who has passed the threshold.

But it's one of the cruel realities of the caucuses that if the O'Malley pack is too small, all the determination in the world won't be enough, and his supporters will have to decide whether to join backers of either former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during a second count -- known as a "re-alignment period."

Sometimes, Iowa Democrats award caucus delegates with a coin flip
Here’s what happened, according to David Schweingruber, an associate professor of sociology at Iowa State University (and Sanders supporter) who participated in the caucus:

A total of 484 eligible caucus attendees were initially recorded at the site. But when each candidate’s preference group was counted, Clinton had 240 supporters, Sanders had 179 and Martin O’Malley had five (causing him to be declared non-viable).

Those figures add up to just 424 participants, leaving 60 apparently missing. When those numbers were plugged into the formula that determines delegate allocations, Clinton received four delegates and Sanders received three — leaving one delegate unassigned.

Unable to account for that numerical discrepancy and the orphan delegate it produced, the Sanders campaign challenged the results and precinct leaders called a Democratic Party hot line set up to advise on such situations.

Party officials recommended they settle the dispute with a coin toss.

A Clinton supporter correctly called “heads” on a quarter flipped in the air, and Clinton received a fifth delegate.

Similar situations were reported elsewhere, including at a precinct in Des Moines, at another precinct in Des Moines, in Newton, in West Branch and in Davenport. In all five situations, Clinton won the toss.

DES MOINES, Iowa — The room at Bernie Sanders' rally here turned ice cold when Hillary Clinton's speech took over the televisions here.
The crowd booed loudly at first, then cheered when the sound cut out. The sound soon returned and Clinton was drowned out by further boos when she said "I'm a progressive who gets things done."
It escalated from there: Chants of "She's a liar!" took over the room before the campaign just entirely shut off the stream, cutting away from MSNBC entirely.

Surprised Rubio is doing so well. The only half sane democrat is getting 1%.. Hilarious!

She won five coin tosses in a row? I mean sure, that's possible, but at a 3.125% chance....