Donald Trump’s children can’t vote for him in New York, though we're pretty sure the technical millennial term is "can't even." With New York the center of the political universe, Big Apple-based reporters are discovering strange places like “Staten Island,” “Syracuse" and “Rochester,” places which up until now they assumed were neighborhoods east of Ditmas Park. And a British PM was tossed from the House of Commons after calling David Cameron “dodgy,” which makes us wonder how the United Kingdom would handle Ted Cruz. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Monday, April 11th, 2016:
GOIN' TO THE CHAPEL AND WE'RE GONNA GET MARRIED AND WE'RE GOIN' TO *NOT VOTE FOR DONALD TRUMP* - Marriage problems for Trump not involving Michael Cohen or a prenup. Mark NIquette: "Donald Trump is viewed negatively by almost three-quarters of married women in a potential general election and trails Hillary Clinton by double digits among those voters, highlighting his weakness in a key segment of the Republican base. Seventy percent of married women who are likely general-election voters have an unfavorable opinion of the Republican front-runner, according to the Purple Slice online poll conducted by Purple Strategies for Bloomberg Politics. Almost 60 percent said the way Trump talks about women is offensive and embarrassing and makes him unacceptable as a presidential candidate, and more than half said the billionaire is setting a new low in negativity." [Bloomberg]
CRUZ FOCUSING ON CALIFORNIA - If there were ever a time for a tremendously awkward campaign rally with Ted Cruz and a lesser Baldwin brother, now is it. Rebecca Savransky: "Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz on Monday said California is going to be influential in choosing the Republican presidential nominee. 'I am going to say a sentence that has not been said in 50 years,' Cruz said during a rally in California. 'California is going to decide the Republican nomination for president.' Cruz urged California voters to unify behind his campaign, saying he is the candidate who can beat Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton in a general election...Trump is ahead of Cruz in California by 6.8 points, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls. He takes 38.3 percent, while Cruz takes 31.5 percent. The California Republican presidential primary will be held on June 7." [The Hill]
CANDIDATES LOOKING FOR VOTES IN UPSTATE NY - Parts of it are free of VRA preclearance, Hudson is lousy with hipsters and the part of New York you never think about is READY FOR ITS CLOSEUP. Trip Gabriel: "For Mr. Kasich, the Ohio governor, and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, that is how every day in the run-up to the New York primary on April 19 seems to be playing out -- with excruciating reminders that on Donald J. Trump’s home turf, they will forever grasp for an edge that appears to recede. Mr. Kasich spoke on Friday to about 1,000 people in Syracuse, one of the biggest crowds of his campaign. But, Mr. Trump drew far more to an airport hangar in Rochester on Sunday, where he ripped the rules of the Republican nominating race that might allow an opponent who has fewer delegates than he has to win the nomination at the national convention...Both culturally and economically, upstate New York has more in common with the Rust Belt, where deindustrialization has drained both jobs and people. It also includes dairy farms and university cities, and in nonpresidential elections it leans Republican: 43 of 51 upstate counties voted for the Republican challenger to Gov. Andrew Cuomo two years ago..." [NYT]
Area metropolitan area goes underreported: "The Washington Post has assigned more than two dozen reporters and researchers to work on a Donald Trump biography that the book’s publisher is calling the 'most thorough and wide-ranging examination' of the GOP hopeful’s public and private life. Washington Post investigative political reporter Michael Kranish and senior editor Marc Fisher will co-author Trump Revealed, which will be published by Scribner on Aug. 23. According to a release, the 'comprehensive' account will cover Trump’s early days in Queens, his 'turbulent careers in real estate and entertainment' and his 'astonishing rise' as the Republican front-runner." [HuffPost's Michael Calderone]
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BUREAUCRAT IS HERO - Despite the conception that bureaucrats are all doing Sudoku puzzles and leaving the office at 4:45, they actually do work hard. Ellen Mitchell: "Some of the nation’s leading defense companies are declaring war on a powerful enemy -- an obscure Pentagon official named Shay Assad who has helped cut more than $500 million from military contracts with his aggressive scrutiny of their costs. The industry’s tactics include blanketing congressional committees with proposals that would make it harder for Assad and his contracting officers to get detailed breakdowns of the companies' expenses, according to documents obtained by POLITICO. But Assad, the Pentagon's pricing director for the past five years, refuses to back down, saying: 'We are going to be relentless in pursuing getting the good deal for the taxpayers.' ... The result is an unlikely, all-out campaign pitting giants like Boeing and Honeywell against a Pentagon official so little-known that even some top defense lawmakers say they're unfamiliar with his jousting with the industry." [Politico]
We look forward to Goldman touting their work on housing security issues in TV ads: "The New York State Attorney General’s office announced Monday it has reached a$5 billion settlement with Goldman Sachs over the bank’s deceptive lending practices leading up to the financial crisis in 2008. Of the $5 billion, the settlement earmarks $480 million to be allocated for consumer relief and mortgage assistance in New York, including $50 million for the creation and preservation of affordable rental housing, $220 million for debt restructuring, $30 million for land banks and land trusts, $30 million for code enforcement, and $150 million in principal reduction for distressed borrowers. In addition to the $480 million, the state will receive $190 million in cash." [HuffPost's Ryan Grenoble]
POSSIBLY SCANDALOUS THING MERELY INTERESTING RIGHT NOW - Asawin Suebsaeng: "On Monday, the former lawyer of the late Deborah Jeane Palfrey—known as the 'D.C. Madam'—released some names of the government agencies, companies, and groups that purportedly called Palfrey’s escort service between 2000 and 2006. In the court filing, lawyer Montgomery Blair Sibley listed 174 entities that had dialed the service, Pamela Martin & Associates. The roster includes the FBI, State Department, Department of Commerce, Department of Health and Human Services, IRS, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, and U.S. Coast Guard. So far, no names of specific individuals from this list of 174 have been released. (Since February, Sibley has been trying to void a 2007 restraining order, which reportedly bars him from releasing records Palfrey gave him prior to her death.) 'I am not releasing any individual names … yet,' Sibley assured reporters in an email. When asked by The Daily Beast when such names would be released and what his next steps are, Sibley simply replied, 'Not sure on all questions.'" [Daily Beast]
The House of Commons is so much more polite than Congress.
CREW DECLINING IN STATURE - The rise of the squad has been hard on them. Bill Allison: "For more than a decade, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, has scrutinized and assailed federal agencies and politicians from both parties to root out unethical behavior in government...Now, CREW shares office space, a board member and fundraising executive with the groups under [David] Brock's purview, and as a result is intertwined with the kinds of organizations it investigates. Some former staffers say that Brock, who has moved into the vice chairman role, has pulled the watchdog into a partisan agenda and, in doing so, weakened its impact...By 2013, CREW was filing an average of eight federal lawsuits each year, with a peak of 15 in 2007, public records show. In the nearly two years since Brock arrived in August 2014, the group has filed a total of four. Meanwhile, CREW also mothballed a number of projects related to government transparency, congressional corruption, and so-called Astroturf lobbying campaigns that purport to represent grassroots movements but are primarily the product of a few wealthy donors, a Bloomberg analysis of CREW’s work showed." [Bloomberg]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a claymation remake of a classic viral video.
CLASSIC SCHUMER: CHUCK ON THE SIDE OF LUKE BRYAN FANS - Also, who is Luke Bryan? Mike McAndrew: "Scalpers used computer bots to buy thousands of tickets for Saturday night's Luke Bryan concert at the Carrier Dome before the public could and resold them for outrageous prices, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said Monday. Standing outside the Carrier Dome box office on Syracuse University's campus, the senator said he will introduce legislation to make it illegal for scalpers to use computer bots to grab tickets and resell them for a profit to music fans. Schumer said scalpers using computer bots bought thousands of Luke Bryan tickets and were reselling them for up to $750, ten times the face value." [Syracuse.com]
TRUMP HOTEL FOOD WILL BE THE BEST, CLASSIEST FOOD - Jessica Sidman: "The executive chef for Donald Trump's forthcoming D.C. hotel is already embracing the Republican presidential candidate's penchant for superlatives. 'I'm going to have a killer crab cake, and it will be the best crab cake in the city,' says chef Oliver Beckert, who will oversee the luxury hotel's 24-hour room service plus banquets and catering. "Our pizza will be one of the best in the city,' he adds. And also: 'The chicken is probably going to be the best chicken you're going to taste.' ... In a counter-suit against the Trump hotel, Andrés contended that Trump's comments would make it difficult to hire Hispanic staff. But Beckert, who was born and raised in Germany, says he's not worried about that. 'I have worked with very diverse teams,' Beckert says. He's already started interviewing some job candidates, 'and I can tell you they are very international... I've worked with many great Mexicans, and I think some of them might join me again.'" [City Paper]
COMFORT FOOD
- Crushing a jawbreaker with a hydraulic press.
- A remake of "Koyaanisqatsi" with stock footage.
- How to make Wendy's at home.
TWITTERAMA
@MEPFuller: In fairness, if I were one of Trump's kids, I would "forget to register" too.
@ProfJeffJarvis: Was Shakespeare the first BuzzFeed staffer?
@ryanbeckwith: my biggest concern about time travel is that i'll accidentally call it "World War I" and people will freak out
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