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Sen. Bernie Sanders. Win McNamee/Getty Images

Vermont resident Jon Svitavsky announcedon July 5 that he is challenging Sen.Bernie Sandersin his upcoming re-election in 2018. In his most recent race for re-election, Sanders wonover 71 percentof the vote and theDemocratic Partydidnt bother to run a candidate. In the 2016 presidential primaries,Sanders receivedover 86 percent of the votein Vermont. Among the small percentage of people who voted for Hillary Clinton in the state was Svitavsky, a homeless shelter director who is beginning to receive support from other disgruntledClintonsupporters across the country.

Though Sanders enjoys overwhelming support in his home state, his political opponents around the country have isolated and built up naysayers to diminish his popularity. In June 2016, NBC host Joy Reid did aprofilein the Daily Beast on Al Giordano,an anti-Sanders troll who gained a sizable following ofClintonsupporters on Twitter during the primaries. Giordano claimed he would run against Sanders in 2018 but has yet to file and currently resides in Mexico City. In February 2016, the Daily Beast ran ahit piecemeant to perpetuate the whitewashing of Sanders presidential campaign. It featured an interview with a black Vermont resident who claimed Sanders ignored the black community in the state. In October 2016, Politico ran anarticle featuring quotes from several VermontDemocratscomplaining that Sanders wasnt helping Democratsin Vermont, despite the fact thatSandersmade several appearances around the country to campaign on behalf of HillaryClinton. Now Svitavsky, aDemocratfrom Bridport, Vermont, is trying to make another case against Sanders.

Vermont Public Radioreported, Jon Svitavsky, 59, says he believes that Sanders divisive politics have fractured the Democratic Party nationally and paved the way for the rise of Republican President Donald Trump. On his Twitteraccounthe hassharedblog posts written by otherClintonsupporters attacking Sanders. According to Svitavsky, he was recruited by a group called Organizing forDemocrats-U.S.A to run against Sanders. The organization isnt filed with the FEC and has a small following on Facebook. On its Facebook page on June 15, the day after Sanders voted against the bill that included sanctions on Russia and Iran, the group posted, Today OFD represents theDemocratic Partycandidate for U.S. Senate in the State of Vermont.Thats the Sanders'(I) seat.And an actual liberal Democrat fromBurlington, Vermont is running.After Sanders voted to protect Mother Russia today, the decision was made to make this declaration. The day before, the organization published in another post that it is time forDemocratsto unite against the Bernie Bot elements.

Svitavsky told Vermonts NPR affiliate, I think Sanders has hurt our country very badly with what hes done. He added, So not only didBerniedivide theDemocratic Partyand what not, but he continues to bash them, even on the unity tour, saying thatDemocratsand Republicans are the same, and theyre not. ThoughBernie Sandersnever said that or bashed the party on theDNC Unity Tour, Svitavskys biases are shared by several avidClintonsupporters, and he isnt alone in trying to challenge Sanders.

Folasade Adeluola, a Clintonsupporter based in Indiana, also announced she is running to unseatSandersin 2018. Her campaignwebsitefeatures a selfie with her and HillaryClinton.She only has to be a legal resident of Vermont the day before the election to be eligible for the Senate seat, capitalizing on the opportunity to represent people of a state she doesnt live in.

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Bitter Clinton Supporters Try to Unseat Bernie Sanders in Senate Race - Observer

Casual astrology fans (i.e., most of us) probably only pick which horoscope to read based on their sun sign, or the sign thats determined by their date of birth. More gung-ho astrologers believe that in order to get a complete picture, you need to know not only your date of birth, but your time of birth and the coordinates of your birthplace. This purportedly determines your rising sign, or the zodiac sign that governs the face you present to the public.

In the astrological community, determining the full birth charts of various public figures has become somewhat of a high-stakes game. A fierce debate over Hillary Clintons rising signand whether it allegedly doomed her political fortunehas apparently had professional astrologers in thrall since the 90s.

As Broadly reports, there are conflicting accounts over whether HRC was born at 8AM or 8PM. If she was born at 8AM, as her mother is alleged to have stated in an unidentified news article, her stellar destiny would point towards her winning the presidency (which is about the same prognosis the polls made ahead of the election, according the article). If she was born at 8PM, however, as she herself reportedly told an astrologer, her political outlook is much more hazy, and consistent with the way history actually panned out.

One astrologer quoted by Broadly , Danny Larkin, explained that many people want the 8AM time to be true, despite there being little hard evidence. Danny, who is the vice president of the Association for Young Astrologers , believes that not only is the 8PM time the correct time, but that Hillarys chart would bode poorly for her political career no matter what. "There's something about her where she doesn't light up the room," Danny told Broadly . "There's something about her sun; it's not able to shine as brightly as it wants to shine."

Political astrologers are also abuzz with drama surrounding the solar eclipse on August 21st. This is because it falls right on Leo, which is Trumps rising sign. (If youre wondering, there is no debate about the accuracy of Trumps birth chart because he released his official birth certificate as part of his racist birther campaign against President Obama.) According to astrologer Susan Miller , eclipses bring on unexpected events, forcing change and reconciliation with harsh truths. According to Broadly , many astrologers feel that this eclipse signifies bad news for Trump. But, whether the stars align or not, everyone watching American politics can agree that there are a lot of truths in the White House that are just about ready to come out.

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Why Astrologers Think Hillary Clinton's Rising Sign Could Have Cost Her the Election - TeenVogue.com

For those about to troll, Hillary Clinton salutes you.

With policy.

Defending the GOP'splan to repeal and replacethe Affordable Care Act,the Republican National Committee sent several tweets Wednesday criticizing key senators plus the Clintons for their lack of support.

Our health care system is collapsing, but Democrats refuse to bring anything to the table. Wheres THEIR plan?@GOP posted Wednesday, showing clips from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.),Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.),Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)andformer president Bill Clintonacknowledging issues withthe health-care system.

The GOP then took a shot at Hillary Clinton, the vanquished 2016 presidential contender.

Hours later, Clinton fired back,tweeting a link to her campaign website, on which she outlined a plan toexpand the Affordable Care Act andreduce out-of-pocket health-care and prescription drug costs, among other things.

Feel free to run w/it, she offered.

If the GOP was simply trying to get Clinton to take the bait, it worked.

But the trolling seemed to backfire, based on the ratio with 4,600 comments, and far fewer likes and retweets.

The ratio on Clinton's response was far better, with more than 20 times as many likes as replies (and quite a few more shares) as the Internet scored the bout via memes and other responses.

I don't know who's in charge of the GOP Twitter account, but clearly they're no match for Hillary Clinton,one person wrote on Twitter.

Some commenters, however, criticized Clinton for her role in the 2012 Benghazi, Libya, attack, her email practices and other things.

Some even called her out on her health-care plan one person arguing on Twitter that it wasnothing more than that: a plan.

Where's draft legislation? We all have these same ideas and plans. They need to be reduced to actual draft legislation that can be scored, one personresponded. And I mean this of EVERYONE on the Left who is complaining about Trumpcare.

The Twitter spat came days after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tried to fast-track a vote on the Better Care Reconciliation Act ahead of the Fourth of July break, then delayed it when some lawmakers asked for more time to review it.

A final vote is not expected until later this month.

[More Democrats embrace universal coverage and the GOP goes on the attack]

As The Washington Post's Amy Goldstein reported in November:

Clintonstrongly favors the Affordable Care Act. She wants to build on it in several ways, however, extending tax credits, making more people eligible for exchanges and Medicare, and tackling prescription drug prices.

ThoughTrumphas broken with conservatives of his own party on many issues, his health-policy positions are largely in line with GOP orthodoxy. He wants to end the Affordable Care Act. He also wants to transform Medicaid into state block grants, create high-risk insurance pools for people who need a lot of medical care and permit insurance to be sold across state lines.

At think tanks and elsewhere, health policy experts have assessed theoverall impact of the Clinton and Trump plans on the number of Americans with insurance and on federal spending. While the numbers vary, all conclude that her proposal would increase coverage and his would diminish it. Analyses disagree, though, on the impact of their plans on the federal deficit.

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[From the archives: The future of health care, according to Clinton or Trump]

How the demise of her health-care plan led to the politician Clinton is today

From jokes about the election outcome and the inaugural crowd size to warnings about the Trump administration's growing Russia scandal, Hillary Clinton has turned her ire on President Trump. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

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The GOP tried to troll Hillary Clinton. It backfired spectacularly. - Washington Post

When former Attorney General Loretta Lynch testified last year about her decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information, she swore she never talked to anyone on the Clinton campaign. That categorical denial, though made in response to a series of questions about whether she spoke with Clintonworld about remaining attorney general if Hillary won the election, could come back to haunt her.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, which has launched a bipartisan investigation into Lynch for possible obstruction of justice, recently learned of the existence of a document indicating Lynch assured the political director of Clintons campaign she wouldnt let FBI agents go too far in probing the former secretary of state.

Lynchs lawyer says she is cooperating with committee investigators, who are seeking answers to several questions, as well as relevant documents. Among other things, they want to know if she or any of her Justice Department staff ever communicated with Amanda Renteria, who headed Clintons political operations during the campaign. Renteria, who has been identified in the document as the senior Clinton campaign aide with whom Lynch privately communicated, has also been asked to testify.

The committee also wants to know if Lynch or any of her aides were in contact with former DNC chief Debbie Wasserman Schultz regarding the Clinton e-mail investigation, according to a three-page list of questions that Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and ranking Democrat Dianne Feinstein recently sent to Lynch at her New York apartment.

Senate investigators have combed through a transcript of Lynchs testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in July 2016. In retrospect, several of her statements strain credulity. But one in particular stands out, and could present legal problems for Lynch.

During the House Judiciary hearing, Rep. David Trott (R-Mich.) slammed Lynch for failing to recuse herself from the Clinton investigation despite meeting privately with the targets husband, former President Bill Clinton, a week before the then-attorney general let Hillary skate. Then, referring to rumors of her possibly staying on in a hypothetical Hillary administration, he asked if Lynch had met with anyone on Hillarys staff during the yearlong investigation, to which she replied: I have not spoken to anyone on either the campaign or transition or any staff members affiliated with them.

The committee, however, now knows from a document obtained by the FBI reportedly showing a Democratic operatives claim that Lynch had privately assured Renteria that the Justice Department would not push too deeply into the investigation of Clintons private e-mail server, which contained top secret information from the State Department.

And it will press her to explain the discrepancy along with why she reportedly asked former FBI Director James Comey to leave her office when he confronted her with the document.

There are three explanations: Either Lynch lied under oath, or she never in fact talked to Renteria, or her categorical denial was meant to later claim she was merely discussing her role post-election.

The committee will also drill down on her explanation of her highly suspicious meeting with Bill Clinton during the investigation.

Lynch claimed the former president boarded her plane, which was parked on the tarmac at the Phoenix airport, simply because he wanted to say hello.

But the meeting lasted at least 30 minutes and had to be cleared by the Secret Service as well as FBI security details. It was also the first meeting of any kind on Lynchs plane.

And if the purpose was a greeting, why wouldnt a phone call do?

Lynch also got squirrelly when asked about reports that her FBI security detail had banned cameras, even phones, from her meeting with Clinton.

Since her lawyer is on record saying Lynch will fully cooperate in the Senate investigation, shell have a hard time pleading the fifth in hearings. But that doesnt mean she wont try to stonewall.

Dozens of times during the House hearing, Lynch claimed, I do not recall, when pressed for sensitive information about her role in the Hillary investigation. And the committee determined that she either refused to answer or give appropriate response no fewer than 74 times during the four-hour hearing.

Hopefully Grassley, who now has the backing of Feinstein, who said Lynchs actions made her feel queasy, will have better luck drawing the truth out of Lynch.

Paul Sperry is the author of Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington.

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New holes in Loretta Lynch's story on the Hillary probe - New York Post

Theres no denying the first half of 2017would have been very different had Hillary Clinton defeated Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. In her current St. Louis gallery exhibition, artistBunny Bursonremembers the future that very nearly was, creating an artwork using the iridescent confetti that was primed to go off on election night this past November 8, had the country elected its first woman president.

A longtime Clinton devotee, Burson was the executive director of thePresidents Committee on the Arts and the HumanitiesunderPresident Bill Clintons administration. In the aftermath of the 2016 election, she hopes her art will helpmotivate women to run for office in 2018.

Bunny Burson, And Still I Rise (2017) installation view at Bruno David Gallery, Clayton, Missouri. Courtesy of Bruno David Gallery, Clayton, Missouri.

I was among her supporters at the Javits Center waiting for the symbolic shattering of the glass ceiling and the shard like confetti to fall down on us. We left the Javits Center at 2 in the morning with profound emptiness, Burson told NBC. The unused confetti had to be removedfrom the air cannons and swept into empty boxes by workers.

I wanted to fill that emptiness with hope by giving voice to my feelings that even in defeat, Hillarys confetti could be used to inspire the next generations of little girls and young women to dream big and to act on their dreams, she added.

Tracking down the unused confetti was no easy task. Burson made calls to Arkansas, Boston, New York, Connecticut, Illinois, and Washington, DC. Though many warned her the confetti she sought had likely wound up in the trash, Bursons quest was ultimately successful.

After about two weeks of searching, she tracked downthe confetti in Chicago and was able to acquire several large boxes of it200 pounds, to be exactfor her work.

Bursons sculpture, titledAnd Still I Rise, takes its titlefrom the Maya Angelou book of poetry of the same name. Pieces of clear, shiny confetti swirl around inthe gallery window, which has essentially been transformed into a political snow globe. The works title is printed on the glass in white block letters. The colorless confetti was chosen for itsresemblance to shards of broken glass, to represent the breaking of the highest, hardest glass ceiling, as Clinton referred to a woman someday winning the presidency.

Bunny Burson, And Still I Rise (2017) installation view at Bruno David Gallery, Clayton, Missouri. Courtesy of Bruno David Gallery, Clayton, Missouri.

For Burson, the artwork is more than just a message of hope, but a call to action in the face of Trump administration policies. We need to think about all of these rights that we have sort of gotten used to, which we may not always havewomens rights, voting rights, shetoldSt. Louis Public Radio.Elections have consequences, serious consequences we need to stay engaged.

The piece is displayed 24 hours a day in the gallerys front window, overlooking Forsythe Boulevard.

Bunny Burson: And Still I Rise is on display through at Bruno David Gallery,7513 Forsythe Boulevard, Clayton, Missouri, May 4August 12, 2017.

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The Unused Confetti From Hillary Clinton's Election-Night Loss Is Now a Work of Art - artnet News