Trump’s threat of a third-party run is undercut by ‘sore loser’ laws
Former President Donald Trump hates losing so much that he has suggested he will mount a third-party campaign if he doesn’t win the Republican presidential nomination.
But he can’t win that way either, thanks to “sore loser” laws in six states he would need to return to the White House.
Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas, as well as Arkansas and Alabama, have laws that bar a candidate defeated in a major-party primary from running as an independent or on a third-party ticket in the general election. That would put Trump at the general-election starting gate with a deficit of 91 electoral votes of the 270 required to capture the White House.
Trump has flirted since 2016 with running for president on a third-party ticket or as an independent if he loses the GOP nomination. Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said she hopes to require candidates to sign a pledge to support the GOP nominee as a requirement to participate in primary debates, a similar tactic the RNC used to try to box in Trump in 2016.
—Bloomberg News
Disneyland quietly removes controversial lyric from new parade soundtrack
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Disneyland has removed a controversial lyric from a new parade in the latest symbolic step to distance the Anaheim theme park from the 1940s Disney film “Song of the South” that has been criticized for perpetuating racist stereotypes.
Disneyland has quietly cut a reference to the “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” song from the soundtrack of the Magic Happens parade that returned in late February after a three-year hiatus.
The returning parade — which ran for only a couple weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered Disneyland — includes floats featuring characters from “Moana,” “Coco,” “Frozen,” “Cinderella,” “Sword in the Stone,” “The Princess and the Frog” and “Sleeping Beauty” all led by Mickey Mouse.
The “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” line near the finale of the parade was replaced with “Think of the happiest things” from the song “You Can Fly” in the 1953 Disney animated film “Peter Pan.”
—The Orange County Register
'Borg' drinking blamed as 28 ambulances are called to Massachusetts campus party
BOSTON — Twenty-eight ambulances were called to the University of Massachusetts campus in Amherst amid reports of excessive drinking at an early St. Patrick’s Day party Saturday.
The Amherst Fire Department and UMass officials said “many students were observed carrying plastic gallon containers, believed to be ‘borgs,’” said a statement from chief university spokesman Ed Blaguszewski.
A borg — or “blackout rage gallon” — is a mixture of vodka, water and sports drink powder or caffeinated flavor drops that has become popular recently on campuses, having been touted on TikTok as a “hangover-proof” binge drinking method.
The students were participating in the Blarney Blowout, an annual pre-St. Patrick’s event that’s not sanctioned by the university. The university had not previously seen such a “notable use of borgs,” according to Blaguszewski’s statement, and announced it will “consider steps to improve alcohol education and intervention.”
—Boston Herald
Iran's supreme leader denounces suspected poisonings of schoolgirls
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's supreme leader has condemned a wave of suspected poison attacks that have affected girls in dozens of schools as an "unforgiveable crime."
"The perpetrators of this crime must be severely punished. There will be no amnesty for such people," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Monday, according to state media. This was the first time that Khamenei, who has the final say in all major state matters, has commented on the poisonings that have worried parents across the country.
The first cases of mysterious illnesses were reported in November; since then hundreds of schoolgirls have been treated in hospitals across the country. Schools for girls have been almost exclusively affected. Parents and relatives are outraged and angry, especially as there is still no official explanation.
An evaluation of reports up to early March reveals that Iranian media have reported more than 2,400 cases of poisoning at schools since November. There are no official figures on the poisoning cases. According to the media reports, more than 100 schools have been affected, although observers believe the actual number could be higher.
—dpa
