The State of Missouri Just Can't Wait to Kill

I had previously mentioned the case of Herbert Smulls, a man executed by the State of Missouri before the United States Supreme Court had even finished deciding on his petition for a stay of execution.

CBS and The Atlantic's Andrew Cohen (a must-follow for anyone interested in the U.S. criminal justice system) has written a follow-up piece on Smulls, and it appears that the behaviour of Missouri officials has not gone unnoticed by either the 8th Circuit or the Supreme Court.

Why Virginia could spell trouble for Hillary and the Dems

On the face of it, close confidant of the Clintons and Democratic candidate for Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe's likely victory in tomorrow's election should be good news for his former bosses and the party he represents.  But a big McAuliffe win could well prove to be a double-edged sword, particularly for Hillary Clinton's presidential ambitions.

Both of the Clintons have campaigned for the old friend in the Dominion, with Hillary making her first political appearance and speech since her retirement as Secretary of State at a McAuliffe event.  But McAuliffe winning comfortably against Republican candidate and arch-conservative Ken Cuccinelli could paradoxically spell bad news for Hillary.

Hillary is "minded" to run

Liberal Democrat Voice (UK version, sorry American friends!) quotes a story from The Herald that at a recent dinner in St. Andrew's, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that she was "minded" to run for President in 2016.  This is probably the closest she has come to making a public statement of her intentions, and appears to have been missed by most of the US Press.  To my mind it is an odds-on certainty that she will throw her hat in the ring, and will win the Democratic nomination should she do so.

By keeping her name in the fray, she has effectively turned the tap off donations to any potential other contenders for the nomination such as Vice President Joe Biden, Maryland governor Martin O'Malley and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.  Democratic donors don't want to throw money away by giving money to a campaign that will be likely be crushed by the Hillary bandwagon.  This helps to make it a self-fulfilling prophesy.