| By Derek Caney (@stax920)
Donald Trump thrashed Ted Cruz in Indiana last night, chasing him from the campaign and clearing a path to the Republican presidential nomination. And the #NeverTrump movement? It was hobbled from the start by poor coordination, the lack of a single, influential public leader, and the absence of an agreed-upon alternative to Trump. Quote of the day:
"You have to have a plan of action to deal with him. And it appears no one really did." – Republican strategist Doug Heye Meanwhile, virtually under the cover of darkness, Bernie Sanders pulled out a win in the Democratic primary. On the surface, it looked like an upset on par with Michigan back in March. Granted, the polling data was nearly a week old, but every poll had Hillary Clinton out in front by an average of 6.8 percent. She lost by 5 points. (FiveThirtyEight.com's Harry Enten says, nope, it's nothing like Michigan). This will almost certainly revive the Sanders storyline for a little while at least. We should expect lots of "momentum" discussion from the campaign, especially with West Virginia coming up next Tuesday. Sanders is winning 45 percent to 37 percent in the latest poll, with 37 delegates at stake. Digits of the day: 65-75 percent But can Sanders really win this thing? Depending on which pundit you're reading, Sanders needs between 65 and 75 percent of the remaining delegates to pull this thing off. And he needs to do it without the benefit of any winner-take-all states. All Democratic primaries allocate their delegates proportionally, so Clinton is going to win delegates even in states she loses. The betting markets are unmoved. They're giving Clinton a 98 percent chance of capturing the Democratic nomination.
Around the world 
Wildfire is seen from MacDonald Island Park near Fort McMurray, Alberta May 3, 2016. Courtesy Kangen Lee
- The Canadian province of Alberta raced to evacuate the entire population of Fort McMurray where an uncontrolled wildfire was taking hold in the heart of the country's oil sands region. The region’s expecting dry winds that could further fuel the blaze.
- Dozens of people were killed in a day-long battle between Syrian rebels and government forces in western Aleppo. Meanwhile, fighters in Damascus marked the end of the "regime of calm" at midnight by bombing each other.
- The United States gathered defense ministers from 11 other countries for talks about ways to strengthen the campaign against Islamic State. The talks included ministers from France, Britain and Germany and were planned well in advance of the death of a Navy SEAL in northern Iraq, where Islamic State fighters blasted through Kurdish defenses and overran a town.
Around Wall Street - The rout in crude oil prices is snowballing into one of the biggest avalanches in the history of corporate America, with 59 oil and gas companies declaring bankruptcy. The number of U.S. energy bankruptcies is closing in on the staggering 68 filings seen during the depths of the telecom bust of 2002 and 2003. And the bloodletting may not even be halfway through.
- Some of the richest, smartest and most powerful humans have an important message for the rest of us: The robots are coming. And it's not just the low-wage, low-skill jobs they're after. They're taking over jobs previously done by PhD's and, gasp, bankers with MBAs! Is nobody safe?
- Seven of the world's biggest banks have agreed to pay $324 million to settle a private lawsuit accusing them of rigging an interest rate benchmark used in the $553 trillion derivatives market. The settlement resolves antitrust claims against Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and Royal Bank of Scotland.
Around the country - The Rhoden family buried six family members who were executed last month in a planned, "sophisticated operation" in rural Ohio's Appalachian foothills. Eight family members ranging from 16 to 44 were found shot to death at four separate homes on April 22.
- President Barack Obama is slated to visit Flint, Michigan, a city struggling with the effects of lead-poisoned drinking water, as questions linger over whether his environmental regulators could have acted more urgently to address the crisis.
- FBI requests for customer records under a secretive surveillance order increased by nearly 50 percent in 2015. That year, Internet and phone companies received 48,642 requests, up from 33,024 reported in 2014, for data via so-called National Security Letters (NSLs). The NSL is a tool used by the FBI to gather phone numbers, email and IP addresses, web browsing histories and other information. An NSL does not require a warrant and is usually accompanied by a gag order.
Today's reason to live:
Louis Armstrong - Indiana |
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