'Flashing videos'
In the same week that some of Hillary Clinton's former staffers were raising the minute possibility that she could get into the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, the 2016 Democratic nominee put forth yet another reason she might have lost the previous election to President Donald Trump.
During a radio interview for Campaign HQ's podcast, she suggested "flashing videos" on the "dark web" were to blame. She further suggested the president would employ a similar strategy in an effort to win re-election next November.
"I think it's going to be the same as 2016," Clinton said. "I'm going to show you in these flashing videos that appear and then disappear and they're on the dark web and nobody can find them, but you're going to see them and you're going to see that person doing these horrible things."
Her odd and unexplained charge may have been overlooked because it came in the same interview in which she accused Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii of being "a favorite of the Russians."
Gabbard, perhaps as shocked at the rest of the country who heard her suggestion, retorted later by calling Clinton "the queen of warmongers" and citing her foreign policy failures.
You can't make up this stuff.
All with Bid ..., er Trump
The Biden for president campaign rolled out a Latino voter outreach program last week, Todos Con Biden (All With Biden), but it forgot a few details. So when interested voters go to www.todosconbiden.com, they see wording that says "Oops, Joe forgot about Latinos" in English and Spanish and links to President Trump's Latino outreach, Latinos for Trump.
What had happened was the Biden campaign had forgotten to buy the URL for its program, so the Trump campaign did at what was said to be a "minimal cost." And while the president's campaign was at it, it secured the @TodosConBiden Twitter account.
The actions might seem small-minded or petty, but it's the type of thing candidates for Democrats and Republican do in a tech savvy age.
"How the h-- are you Joe Biden's campaign and you don't lock up the URL before you announce stuff?" Mike Madrid, a veteran Republican consultant but a critic of the president's, said on ABC News.
"The Biden campaign continues to be inept with a deeply flawed candidate," Trump Deputy Communications Director Erin Perrine told ABC. "Latinos are thriving under President Trump and now thanks to the Biden camp, people can find out more about that success at www.todosconbiden.com."
Trump picked up 29% of the Latin vote in 2016, beating by 2% the 27% Mitt Romney pulled down in 2012.
Details make the difference
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, tweeted last week that President Trump caused the death of a 9-month-old Texas child because of cuts to Medicaid and CHIP.
"A nine month old died as a direct result of Trump's cut to Medicaid and CHIP," she wrote. "He is one of a million children to lose healthcare. Let that sink in."
Unfortunately, Omar was wrong in almost everything she wrote.
First, the hospital admitted the child and treated him for a respiratory virus before it ever learned he had been dropped from Medicaid coverage. Second, he wasn't covered because his mother didn't submit the proper paperwork, which asked for proof of income, within the 10-day period to provide it. Third, the child is now covered.
But, most importantly, the child did not die, and The New York Times story from which she took the information did not say he did.
So how did Omar make up for the egregious error? Two and a half hours later, she tweeted "almost died."
With that rhetorical flourish, we doubt she'll ever detail the rest of the mistakes in her tweet.
Make Oxford safe again
Applause is out at England's venerable Oxford University in order for the institute of higher learning to be a more safe space.
"Instead of putting hands together to celebrate something," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote, citing the UK Metro, "students are now being encouraged to pull them apart, throw them in the air and do what's called jazz hands when celebrants shake their hands in the air."
The Atlanta paper said the Oxford student union claimed "the change is to help calm those whose anxiety may be triggered by the loud noise of clapping. It also may cause an issue for those with sensory sensitivity and those with hearing aids."
It was reported the UK's University of Manchester had taken similar action last year and added the change to inclusion training for new students.
Could we get a hand for that? Oh, wait ...