The Angle

The Angle: Closing Time for Bernie Edition

Slate’s daily newsletter on the Brock Turner sexual assault case, Republican excuses for Trump’s racism, and Bernie Sanders’ prospects.

Bernie Sanders greets supporters on Tuesday in San Francisco.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

Time for Bernie to give up the ghost, writes Jim Newell. He once had a good argument for his own continued presence in the race, before Hillary Clinton had gathered a majority of pledged delegates, but “after Tuesday night’s primaries, that excuse will run out, and his arguments for holding out will be depleted,” Newell argues. “If the Sanders campaign chooses to follow an aggressive path after he loses the pledged-delegate race and continues fighting into the convention to sway superdelegates to his side, he won’t just come off as a heel. He will fail, spectacularly, endangering both his legacy and Clinton’s chances in November.”

“His racism isn’t fundamental.” “He just needs to modulate his tone.” “Who among us can judge his fellow man?” Will Saletan sees all the excuses GOP supporters are making for Trump’s racism, and he’s made a handy list.  

Some despairing of the light sentence given Brock Turner, found guilty of three counts of felony sexual assault, have consoled themselves with the fact that his name will be placed on the sex offender registry. But even that measure is inadequate, when it comes to building a society where fewer such crimes are committed, Christina Cauterucci points out. “Sex offender registries offer a strong-sounding gut response for many who are disgusted and frightened by the crimes our neighbors are capable of committing,” Cauterucci writes. “But all the lists and housing restrictions and enforced unemployment in the world won’t stop a person with a sense of entitlement and a screwed-up view of women from raping someone behind a dumpster.” 

Researchers analyzing Google’s issue guide, displayed when you type names of American presidential candidates into the search engine, find that Google’s methods of assembling this data are questionable. “Our analysis of data collected from the guide shows significant differences in the way candidates are portrayed,” write Daniel Trielli, Sean Mussenden, Jennifer Stark, and Nicholas Diakopoulos. “Among the issues: unequal space given to each candidate, the use of quotes that don’t really explain their stances, and overreliance on a limited set of news sources.”

Why does the prospect of young adults living with their parents make Americans so skittish? Rebecca Schuman asks. “For people with more or less functional family relationships, there should be no stigma attached to the boomerang,” Schuman argues. “In fact, why don’t we euthanize that obnoxious term altogether and replace it with something more accurate? How about normal life?”

For fun: Read best friends Lydia Millet and Jenny Offill in conversation with each other. A marvel!

Definitely envious,

Rebecca