**Written by Doug Powers

Sunday open thread, March Madness edition, is hereby convened. While I spend the rest of the day picking up the pieces of my shattered brackets, a few passing observations to tip things off…

Any past claims that Donna Brazile has made regarding Russian interference in the U.S. election process can officially be stamped and filed under “Projection”:

Former interim Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile admitted Friday that she forwarded Democratic primary town hall questions to members of Hillary Clinton’s campaign – something she had previously denied.

In an essay for Time published Friday, called “Russian DNC Narrative Played Out Exactly As They Hoped,” the Democratic strategist said she had in fact passed on topics, despite saying she had not when her communications with the campaign were leaked by WikiLeaks in October.

“[I]n October, a subsequent release of emails revealed that among the many things I did in my role as a Democratic operative and D.N.C. Vice Chair prior to assuming the interim D.N.C. Chair position was to share potential town hall topics with the Clinton campaign,” she wrote.
[…]
In the essay, Brazile said she will “forever regret” the decision to leak the questions to the Clinton campaign.

“My job was to make all our Democratic candidates look good, and I worked closely with both campaigns to make that happen. But sending those emails was a mistake I will forever regret,” she wrote.

Naturally Brazile still blames Russia:

“By stealing all the DNC’s emails and then selectively releasing those few,” she explained, “the Russians made it look like I was in the tank for Secretary Clinton. Despite the strong, public support I received from top Sanders campaign aides in the wake of those leaks, the media narrative played out just as the Russians had hoped, leaving Sanders supporters understandably angry and sowing division in our ranks.”

The Russians then somehow got CNN to part ways with Brazile and made the DNC send Debbie Wasserman Schultz packing. Putin works in mysterious ways.

Last October, after a presidential debate, Brazile denied passing the questions along to the Clinton camp in an interview that’s now in the “Homina Homina Homina” Hall of Fame:

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Hillary Clinton, of “I’m proudest to have Republicans among my biggest enemies” and “basket of deplorables” infamy, took her message of inclusiveness and bipartisanship to Pennsylvania on St. Patrick’s Day where she announced that woodland creatures had voted her out of the forest:

Four months after a crushing loss to Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton says she’s ready.

“I am ready to come out of the woods and to help shine a light on what is already happening around kitchen tables, at dinners like this, to help draw strength that will enable everybody to keep going,” the former U.S. Democratic presidential candidate told the Society of Irish Women at a St. Patrick’s Day event on Friday in Scranton, Penn., her father’s hometown.

Clinton suggested that change likely won’t come from Washington. “What can we do to try to bring people together and to try to find that common ground, even higher ground, sister, so that we listen to each other again and we know that we can make a difference? I’m not sure it will come out of Washington yet, but I think it can come out of Scranton. Let’s find ways to do that.”

Hopefully she emerges from the woods in Wisconsin. Better late than never.

The St. Patrick’s Day appearance in Pennsylvania confirmed that Hillary’s just as genuine as ever:

By the way, if Clinton were a Republican she’d have been peppered with questions about Donna Brazile’s admitted thumb on the scale for Hillary over Bernie, but there’s little chance she’ll ever be asked about it by a mainstream media reporter.

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In other Clinton news, Chelsea has joined the board of directors at Expedia:

A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week shows the travel firm expanded the number of members on its board up from 13 to 14 members and voted for the former first daughter to take the new position.

As MarketWatch notes, Clinton’s compensation will be a “standard” $45,000 a year, plus stock grants valued at $250,000 in accordance to the company’s proxy statement for its 2016 annual meeting of stockholders.

With a chance that two Clintons could run for public office in the near future, the family might be angling to finally bring their Graftline.com idea to life — “name your own price for access.”

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There seem to be some major security issues at the White House that still need addressing.

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Howard Dean’s shocked — shocked — that Immigration & Customs Enforcement is enforcing immigration & customs laws:

ICE’s “agenda” is in the name of the agency, Howard — the “political” motivation is on the Dem side of the aisle.

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Among the concerns of climate change alarmists in regards to Lake Tahoe has been the water level:

Not surprisingly, California’s brutal drought conditions of recent years are also reflected in the lake’s water levels with precipitation less than two-thirds of average. The level of the lake is down by nine inches in 2015 and was below its natural rim all but one day during the year, allowing no water to flow into the Truckee River.

“Help” has arrived:

It’s almost as if those kinds of fluctuations occur naturally over time or something. If it overflows though, bet the ranch that “climate change” gets the blame.

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Speaking of climate change, Monty Python’s Eric Idle isn’t looking on the bright side of life:

I’m old enough to remember when those guys mercilessly made fun of institutions that colluded to silence those they considered to be heretics.

Have a good Sunday all!

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe