Politics Plus

OK, I finally finished the Monthly Report and TC reviewed it and posted it.  I did not get an Open Thread done yesterday, and I must say I am sick of seeing Drumpf in the headlines.  So today's offerings, or at least some of them, are a little more lighthearted.  How appropriate that this Tuesday, another primary voting day, is the Ides of March which Wikipedia says

"…became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. The death of Caesar made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history, as one of the events that marked the transition from the historical period known as the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire."

Short Takes

Think Progress — After the hottest winter on record, one Canadian territory raised the weight limit on an ice road crossing at the Arctic Circle from 10 metric tons to 40 metric tons. What could possibly go wrong?

Last Saturday, a fuel tanker broke through an ice road in northern Canada. Fortunately, no one was injured. Just four days prior to this accident, the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) provided this helpful tweet:

Great Bear Ice Crossing has been increased to 40,000 kgs. Drive safe!

2:43 PM – 2 Mar 2016

I wonder if the auto club was able to get the truck freed?  Somebody sure wasn't thinking when they put out that tweet which surprises me, because one error like that can cause death.  I imagine a head or two will roll.

Alternet — If the growing prospect of President Trump scares the shit out of you, Canada might be looking like a nice cozy bolthole right about now. But it’s not just a kinder, gentler U.S. with better hockey and beer.

Hey, it’s close, civilized, a quick flight from the Northeast. They speak English.

But it really is a foreign country.

A nation almost 100 years younger than the U.S., Confederation was in 1867, creating the first four provinces. For all its vaunted socially liberal policies, it’s also a country with its own history of submission and domination – English over French, the 150,000 First Nations, Metis and Inuit children forced for decades to attend brutal residential schools, the unresolved murders of 1,200 indigenous women, prompting the recent allocation of $100 million by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne to investigate and address the issue.

While Canada recently welcomed 25,000 Syrian refugees, don’t be too quick to assume there’s an equal welcome for thousands of panicked Americans eager to flee a political scene they find abhorrent.

We have heard many times in the news that many Americans have said they will move to Canada if Drumpf is elected president.  Do I think a lot of people will do so?  No.  I think it is a bit of whimsy on their part.  I had to laugh though as I read this somewhat tongue-in-cheek observation of what life might be like here.

Think Progress — The Republican Party has a demographics problem. A recent analysis found that while GOP frontrunner Donald Trump may be energizing a subset of white male voters who normally don’t participate in politics, he is driving away the very groups Republicans need to win the White House this fall: young people, women, naturalized immigrants, Latinos, and blue collar workers. Trump has done so much damage to the GOP’s brand with these groups that he would need to win more than 70 percent of all white men to make up for it, yet he is polling at just 57 percent when matched up with Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton and 55 percent when squared off against Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Republican Party leaders are openly wondering if Trump will “drive the party into a demographic abyss,” and if the hundreds of Florida voters who gathered outside last night’s GOP are any indication, the GOP has cause for concern.

On Thursday night, as the four remaining candidates debated, hundreds of people from across Florida took to the streets outside the University of Miami to protest the party’s rhetoric on immigration, women’s health, the Puerto Rican debt crisis, and the minimum wage.

The emphasis is mine.  I question whether it is Drumpf or the Party that is driving "the party into a demographic abyss", or perhaps both.  Let's face it, Republicans have been in ongoing wars with women, immigrants, the 99%, and since 2012, the 47%.  Where traditional Republicans are hoping no one is watching their little dance, Drumpf is being loud and brash.  No matter what type of spin they try to put on it, Republicans still attract the angry white males.

Common Dreams —There's a vacancy on the most important court in America, and the message from Senate Republicans is crystal clear: forget the Constitution. For Senate Republicans, it does not matter who President Obama nominates because they will allow no votes and will hold no hearings on that nominee. Their response to one of the most solemn and consequential tasks that our government performs is to pretend that the nominee—and President Obama himself—do not exist.

At the same time that they are blocking all possible Supreme Court nominees, Senate Republicans are in a panic because their party appears to be on a path to nominate one of two extremists for president—extremists who attack the legitimacy of their political opponents and demean millions of Americans. Senate Republicans worry that, if either candidate is selected to be the party's standard-bearer, the Republican party will lose in November.

Elizabeth Warren is so spot on in her assertions and Republicans are so wrong in theirs.  There have been a number of petitions urging action on the SCOTUS vacancy.  Here is one from Daily Kos: Tell Senator McConnell to allow a vote on Supreme Court nominees 

Huffington Post — MEMORANDUM

TO: All U. S. Presidential Candidates

FROM: God a.k.a. Jehovah, Allah, Supreme Being, The Big Guy Upstairs, et al.

When it comes to politics, ordinarily I don't like to get involved. After all, I've got a lot on my plate what with wars, famines and the widespread instability throughout the world. 

And my desire for non-involvement goes double when it comes to American presidential politics. When you insist on running campaigns that last longer than the Great Flood, honestly I'd like to steer clear of the whole mess.

Sadly, you folks have made that impossible. Recent events dictate that I must temporarily set aside some of my divine duties and sort things out.

First of all, stop invoking my name to get votes. I've never heard so many candidates claim that they have a personal relationship with me. If you really did, I would expect you to keep it to yourself and not blab it to every Tom, Dick and Harry.

Click through for a tongue-in-cheek yet I think valid look at the presidential race.

My Universe — 

I was out most of yesterday.  When I went to drop a storage box off at Lucia's, the house was in an uproar.  Lucia was at her new English class and Jonathan was chasing after Loliyo.  Arimina, the oldest girl, was minding the kids but things were really out of hand.  I stepped in, had the kids do their homework and ended up staying until Lucia arrived home.  The two youngest were in tears because of all the screaming.  I really need to find a strong male role model for Jonathan.  He's been on the Big Brothers waiting list for almost 2 years.  Tomorrow is physio and I hope a quiet afternoon.

NY Times — He has been depicted as a snarling demagogue in France, equated with Donald Duck in Spain, and described as worse than Lord Voldemort in Britain.

In Europe, the birthplace of the Enlightenment, Donald Trump has been treated variously as a disturbing curiosity or an entertaining political show barker. His nearly every move and pronouncement has been reported from Paris to Berlin to Helsinki, even as commentators on both left and right have dismissed the notion of President Donald J. Trump as the stuff of fantasy, or, at worst, a momentary lapse of reason.

That is changing. With a series of wins in key Republican primary states, and with the billionaire’s expected strong showing when 12 states hold primaries or caucuses on Tuesday, the European media, like its American counterpart, is adjusting to the prospect of a seemingly unstoppable Trump juggernaut. The reaction is a mix of befuddlement, outrage and panic, along with admiration in some unlikely quarters.

And satire. The Spanish newspaper El País recently published an imaginary letter from the grave in which Philip II, a 16th-century Spanish king who ruled a vast empire, offers advice to Mr. Trump. Noting that his nation had also suffered from roguish subjects demanding free handouts, and Muslim terrorists masquerading as peaceful citizens, the king advises Mr. Trump to “consider bringing back the Inquisition.”

I chose Hillary, but it was close. The truth is that from a pure ideological standpoint, I’m closer to Bernie but from a pragmatic standpoint, I’m closer to Hillary. That by the way is why I wanted Liz to run so badly as I believed her to be the perfect hybrid of the two.

Good approach in my view.  He's not looking short term, but also long term.

Global Research — H/T Joanne D — Honduran environmental activist Berta Cáceres was shot and killed in her home in La Esperanza, Intibuca, Wednesday. While the killers’ ID remains unknown, activists, media observers and the Cáceres family pointed to the increasingly reactionary and violent Honduran government, which has frequently clashed with Cáceres over her high-profile activism against land dispossession and mining, and her defense of indigenous rights.

There was widespread outcry and grief over her death, and the story was covered by major media in the United States. But there was a glaring problem with the coverage: Almost none of it mentioned that the brutal regime that likely killed Cáceres came to power in a 2009 coup d’etat supported by the United States, under President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Almost nothing is mentioned in the MSM about the 2009 coup d'état which has implications in the assassination of Berta Cáceres.  Here is how the Huffington Post reported her assassination:

But we need to call out the actors who share a moral responsibility for the murder of our friend and partner:

• the Honduran government, which leads the country with the world's worst track record of environmental killings, and which did not protect Berta Cáceres even though it had been ordered to do so by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights; 

• the dam builder, Desarrollos Energéticos S. A (DESA), which has close contacts with the country's security forces and has orchestrated an intimidation campaign against Berta Cáceres in recent months;

• and finally, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), FMO, Finnfund and Voith-Siemens, the funders and corporations which underwrite the Agua Zarca Project with their loans and equipment contracts.

In terms of the current campaigning, how much of this revelation will come up and make a differtence?  Clinton is more hawkish than Bernie, and is that what the US wants and needs?

Mother Jones — Last week, Mitt Romney, the twice-failed GOP presidential candidate, delivered aspeech that blasted Donald Trump, the current Republican front-runner, calling the tycoon "a phony, a fraud" and citing Trump's "dishonesty" and his "bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third-grade theatrics." It was a clear move on Romney's part to rally the GOP establishment against the celebrity real estate mogul whose endorsement he warmly embraced during the 2012 campaign. Naturally, Trump responded in kind. Within hours, at a campaign rally in Portland, Maine, he lashed out at Romney.

Trump noted that Romney had "failed horribly" four years ago. He claimed that Romney had begged Trump to endorse him in that race: "I could have said, 'Mitt, drop to your knees.' He would have dropped to his knees." His audience roared with laughter. …

The three faces of Trump?   Andrew Harnik/AP

His comment, not surprisingly, didn't cause a stir. He's been spraying a fire hose of outrageous remarks since he entered the presidential race, and this one got lost in the wash. It's also a statement fully in sync with his arrogant schtick that divides the world into winners and losers. Though he's now blasting Romney for the original 47 percent insult to Americans, Trump, too, apparently views many Americans as parasites. The only difference is that his estimate is higher.

It is amusing to see Romney criticising Trump for the same things for which he was criticised.  To me, it appears during these primaries that the Republicans are eating their own.

My Universe — 

 Getting some Zs!!!

A good book and thou!

A head massage! So relaxing!

Well today turned out to be one of those days!  Everything was going well . . . physio was good and teaching went well.  Then all hell broke loose.  Loliyo, Lucia's 9 year old daughter had a bedroom door slammed on her thumb.  There was great howling understandably and a fair amount of blood.  We took her to the hospital where they gave her tylenol and x-rayed the thumb.  Fortunately, her thumb was not broken and the doctor didn't think stitches were required.  She has a big blood blister but she is not likely to lose her thumb nail.  After a couple of hours in emergency and making sure Loliyo was OK, I was beat.  A cat nap cut short my online time so there was no Open Thread yesterday.  I am still working on the Monthly Report.

Short Takes

Huffington Post — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was honoured by a southern Alberta First Nation in a ceremony full of colour and history Friday, but aboriginal leaders also challenged him to deliver on his promises to Indigenous Peoples.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau poses after receiving a ceremonial headdress while visiting the Tsuut'ina First Nation near Calgary, Alta., Friday, March 4, 2016. (Photo: Jeff McIntosh/CP)

Trudeau shared the stage on the Tsuu T'ina reserve with chiefs in full feather headdresses, elders in vests or beaded jackets and the First Nation's rodeo stars.

High-pitched chanting and the rhythmic pounding of drums were all part of an elaborate ceremony in which the prime minister was presented with his own headdress and blessed with the aboriginal name "Gumistiyi," which means "The One Who Keeps Trying."

The headdress presented to Trudeau symbolizes accomplishment, respect, bravery and peace-building. The Tsuu T'ina Nation on the outskirts of Calgary said it has not seen fit to bestow one on a prime minister since John Diefenbaker [13th Prime Minister 1957 – 1963].

Here is a 2 minute video of the ceremony and Trudeau's remarks.  The enquiry into the fates of murdered and missing Aboriginal women and girls is in its infancy and encountering some differences of opinion on how it should proceed.  It will get done.  Harper refused to deal with the issue.  It should also be noted that the Tsuu T'ina Nation is close to Harper's riding.

Alternet — In the oral arguments for Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt — the case before the Supreme Court concerning Texas' anti-choice law, HB 2 — Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller relied on a common right-wing media myth to justify medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion. In his argument, Keller made the long-debunked claim — pushed for years by right-wing media — that HB 2 was passed to prevent another "Kermit Gosnell scandal," in which illegal operations led to multiple deaths at a Philadelphia clinic.

Supreme Court Heard Challenge To Texas Law Restricting Abortion Access

"Landmark" Abortion Case "Could Shape Abortion Rules For Years To Come." The Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt on March 2. The case involves a Texas abortion law that "requires abortion doctors to be affiliated with nearby hospitals and also limits abortion to ambulatory surgical centers," according to The New York Times. Pro-choice advocates and "major medical groups say [the law] will not enhance patient safety and will only reduce women's access to abortion."

Click through to see how the arguments went.  It is always a good day when the "notorious" RBG, Sotomayor, Kagan and Breyer pin back the ears of someone like Keller.

Raw Story — Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson officially ended his bid for the White House on Friday after failing to win any of the early states in the race for the November election.

And then there were four!  It is now official . . . Carson is out!

Truthout — TransCanada's claim that the southern route of the Keystone XL Pipeline is the safest pipeline ever built in the United States is challenged by the release of new documentation confirming multiple code violations.  …

After mandatory safety tests revealed potential problems with the integrity of the southern pipeline, TransCanada dug up 130 sites and made repairs before the pipeline was permitted to start up.  …

A repaired pipeline segment on the Keystone Gulf Coast pipeline. (Source: PHMSA FOIA 2016-0041_000077)

They requested PHMSA require TransCanada do a new pressure test on the pipeline to test the integrity of the repairs. But PHMSA turned them down at a private meeting held shortly before TransCanada started up the pipeline. 
 
PHSMA explained that it had faith the repairs were done correctly …

So, when there is a catastrophic incident, who pays for cleanup, lost wages, medical bills etc?  Will the BP Gulf spill be a measuring stick for reparations?

My Universe — 

The reason I don't have flowers or plants in my house!