Bungle in the Jungle 😱 ✡️🌻😱 💣🚀🚢

Jungle Run: Yesterday was primary day in California, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota.  California is a bit of an odd duck because rather than holding individual party primaries the state uses a “jungle” format meaning that its primaries are nonpartisan with the top two finishers, regardless of their party affiliation, advancing to November’s election day. In addition, the state’s votes take days sometimes weeks to count because every registered voter in the state is sent a mail-in ballot.  Ballots from those electing to vote by mail are valid as long as they’re postmarked by election day and arrive at county elections offices within seven days of the election. The first-place finisher in a California’s primary frequently doesn’t win in November because party affiliated voters who voted for a losing member of their preferred party in the primary tend to cast their vote in the November election for their party’s candidate even if that candidate wasn’t their first choice. As of this 6 AM, with only 57% of the votes counted, the Governor race is still too close to call.  Trump endorsed Republican Steve Hilton is currently leading with 27.8% of the vote ahead of Democrat Xavier Becerra who is in second place with 25.4%. Though their relative positions might change, once all the votes are counted it’s likely that both will make it to the November election. That makes Becerra the favorite to win in November since most of the voters who cast their votes for the other Democrats in the race, including the 19.6% who voted for the likely third place finisher billionaire Tom Steyer will probably cast their votes for Becerra in November. Further bolstering Becerra’s chances is that California has 5 million more Democratic voters than Republican ones. With 63% of the vote counted in the Los Angeles Mayor race, Democratic incumbent Karen Bass is leading with 34.8% of the vote, reality TV guy/Republican Spencer Pratt is in second with 30.4%, and Democratic challenger Nithya Raman is in third with 22.3%. Assuming those rankings hold, Bass and Pratt will proceed to the November election where most of Raman’s voters are likely to cast their ballots for Bass making it likely that she will win a second term. There were lots of other races in California, some impacted by the state’s recent redistricting and many still uncalled because that’s how California rolls.

Some Other Races:  In New Jersey Republican Representative Thomas Kean, who has been MIA for several months won his primary with a lift from Trump who endorsed him citing his tireless work 🤷‍♀️. Kean who keeps promising mostly through his surrogates to reappear soon is still missing despite concerted efforts by the press to track him down.  He’s not at his house, his vacation house, or even at his family’s protected private retreat.  That provides a boon to Democrat Rebecca Bennett who won the Democratic primary and will challenge him for his seat in his very swingy district. Also in NJ, the AOL/Bernie endorsed retired army doctor Adam Hamawy who used to hang with the infamous terrorist Blind Shiekh but also helped save Senator Tammy Duckworth’s life won his House primary.  In Iowa, Trump’s preferred Gubernatorial candidate Randy Feenstra lost to political operative/farmer Zach Lahn who Democrats think they could maybe beat in November with their candidate current State Auditor Rob Sand.  Democrats also think they maybe have a chance of winning the race for the Senate seat being vacated by Joni Ernst with their primary winning candidate Paralympian Josh Turek who will be running against Republican Representative Ashley Hinson. Blue hope springs eternal even in Iowa. In Montana Kurt Alme, Trump’s endorsed candidate easily won the Republican primary to replace retiring Senator Steve Daines who sneakily announced his decision not to run for reelection moments before the filing deadline for the race expired but after he’d given Alme a heads-up leaving Democrats in the lurch scurrying for a good candidate. Democrat Alani Bankhead won her party’s primary, but what makes very red Montana worth watching is that there is a third candidate, independent veteran/former University of Montana president Seth Bodnar running.  Bodnar is endorsed by former Democratic Senator Jon Tester.

More 💩:  The White House has walked back plans for its $1.776 billion slush fund with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who only lies on days of the week ending in “day” saying it’s definitely not going to happen.  Democrats and maybe even a very few Republicans want to add an amendment to the still not passed Homeland funding bill permanently banning the slush fund. Though Blanche says that the slush fund is dead, or at the very least almost dead, he stands by the plan to kill all of Trump’s tax audits, because at the end of the day getting excused from paying the $100 million plus interest he owes plus anything else we don’t even know about is what Trump cares about the most, well that, his East wing ballroom and drone pad, and staying president for the rest of his life.  Pete Hegseth continues to stand in the way of the promotions of those he finds too woke, Black or female but has no problem with convicted January 6 rioters one of whom he has appointedto a highly sensitive counterterrorism role. Trump has chosen Housing Administrator Bill Pulte to replace Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence because though Pulte has none of the relevant intelligence experience Congressionally required for the job he’s shown a willingness to go after Trump’s enemies and will probably be happy to help disrupt the midterms and any other elections that matter. The Supreme Court has signed off on Alabama ridding itself of its one Black district in the upcoming midterms because Jim Crow. Former FBI Director James Comey is still indicted but a federal judge in DC is okay with a progressive group continuing to display a flag including the numbers 86 47, concluding that it is "difficult to fathom ... that a reasonable observer would view the flag as a true threat."  Graham Platner is still likely to be the Democrat’s candidate for Maine Senator but while some of his most ardent supporters including Bernie and Elizabeth Warren remain enthusiastically in his camp, a few Democratic Senators who met with him yesterday are less than enthused with some fearing that another shoe may drop.  And after saying exactly what he thinks about CBS and 60 Minutes’ new management Scott Pelley was fired by that management last night for his “antipathy.”  Pelley’s response was to post a letter saying that new management had instructed him to “inject falsehoods and bias“ into his stories.  He went on to say that the new management’s “incompetence and unprofessionalism” have “wreaked havoc.”  A number of media reporters have reported that Joe Rogan is being asked to join the 60 Minutes team. RIP 60 Minutes as we knew it.   

Iran War:  More bombing last night. 96 Days and counting.