How the tax software industry lobbied against free, simple tax filing

The non-profit investigative journalism outfit ProPublica just received its third Pulitzer Prize in seven years since it started in 2008. The organization is one that I have been financially contributing to for some time. It was created at a time when newspapers were cutting back on investigative reporting because of the cost involved, though one could argue that it should be the heart of any news outlet.
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New York primary results

The result of the New York primary is not good news for the Bernie Sanders campaign. While he was expected to lose, the almost 16-point margin of defeat (57.9%-42.1%) is large enough that it has to be seen as a major setback and a downer after his recent string of successes, even though he still picked up 106 delegates to Hillary Clinton’s 139. He will have to do much better in the five primaries next Tuesday (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island).
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How do you feel when the audience ignores you?

I often feel sorry for music performers at restaurants, especially when it is a band and not (say) a solo pianist who knows that he or she is there to just provide background music. It must be galling when the people in the room completely ignore you and continue to talk and eat and I often wonder how they feel. Maybe Ted Cruz can tell us because he recently had that experience when he spoke at an event in New York City as part of his campaign in that state’s primary being held today.
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Hillary Clinton epitomizes how the Democrats have gone wrong

Today is the New York state primary that it looks like Bernie Sanders will lose, even though some national polls have recently shown a steady tightening of the race with just a two point gap between them, down from nine points just a month ago. The establishment media will seize on a Hillary Clinton win of any size to suggest that Sanders has lost and should leave the race. It is interesting to note that although both Trump and Clinton lead in the delegate counts of their respective parties by roughly the same amounts, Trump is always portrayed as if he is in a precarious situation while Clinton is seen as inevitable. Could this be because he is opposed by the establishment while she is favored by them?
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The re-evaluation of Bill Clinton and the 1994 crime bill

Thomas Frank takes apart recent efforts in the mainstream media to minimize Bill Clinton’s culpability in the massive incarceration of young black men. Recent news reports have emphasized that incarceration rates were rising well before the Clinton years. But Frank says that this has always been well known to anyone who has looked at the ‘War on Crime’ and so it is hardly news worthy now. But he says that the fact that it is being reported as news sheds an interesting light on its purpose.
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What’s the problem with Southwest Airlines?

I have become drearily familiar with stories of Muslims getting kicked off flights because other passengers were frightened by the way they dressed, spoke, looked, or otherwise acted in ways that Real Merkins don’t. These stories are becoming so common that I have not even bothered to comment on them. But one thing that struck me recently is how often Southwest Airlines is involved in these peremptory bootings of Muslims.
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