Politics Plus

Today was a "me" day.  After physio, I went out for lunch and read my book as I noshed on a turkey sandwich and a green salad.  Then home to do the PP monthly report.  Unfortunately, I am having some technical difficulties which I will try to rectify tomorrow.  I ended up using a Lona cat nap which was refreshing.

Short Takes

Huffington Post — Retired neurosurgeon and bestselling author Ben Carson said in a statement Wednesday he does "not see a political path forward" for his campaign after his poor showing on Super Tuesday.

Carson announced he won't attend the Fox News GOP debate on Thursday in Detroit, and said he would further discuss his political plans at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, on Friday.

"not see a political path forward" sounds suspiciously like Carson is suspending his campaign, but when asked to clarify, he simply said "We'll see."  I guess we will, just like we will see tomorrow at 11:30 am EST when Mitt Romney is scheduled to give a major speech on the 2016 presidential race.  Will he enter the Republican fray?

Just in, the Associated Press obtained excerpts of Romney's speech.  Read the CBC report.

Alternet — Valentino’s Ghost lays bare the truths behind taboo subjects that are conspicuously avoided, or merely treated as sound bites by the mainstream American media: “Why do they hate us?” “Why do we hate them?” What were the events that led to the 9/11 attacks? What are the politics behind the U.S.-Israeli relationship?  Why is there a robust debate about these subjects in Europe, the Arab World and in Israel itself, but not in the United States? 

At the end of the article is the full 100 minute documentary "Valentino’s Ghost" which I encourage everyone to watch. The articles title tells us much "Valentino's Ghost: Powerful Documentary Explores How US Foreign Policy in the Middle East Drives Islamophobia at Home" as experts "explain how the U.S. media and govt are the source of fear and loathing of Arabs, Muslims and Islam."

Raw Story — Former ABC News anchor Ted Koppel said on Wednesday that his Fox News counterpart Bill O’Reilly has undermined journalists’ ability to interview Donald Trump.  …

You have changed the television landscape over the past 20 years — you took it from being objective and dull to subjective and entertaining. And in this current climate, it doesn’t matter what the interviewer asks him; Mr. Trump is gonna say whatever he wants to say, as outrageous as it may be.”

The real estate mogul’s audience, Koppel added, was not even a television audience, but one better suited for Twitter.

“They deal in messages of 140 characters or less, which keeps it nice and simple,” he explained.

Good on Ted Koppel for nailing O'Lielly!

Daily Beast — The intellectual leader of the tea party movement in the Senate is secretly holding up a bill to help the residents of Flint, Michigan, who have been poisoned by their own water supply.  … 

Lee [Republican, Utah] doesn’t like that the proposal is not being put through the ordinary and time-consuming gamut of Senate procedures known as ‘regular order’; has objections on how money from the stimulus is being repurposed for water infrastructure; and is concerned about the federal government getting involved in what he views as a local issue.

Lee, an intellectual?  So this is how Republicans look after American citizens in crisis through no fault of their own. What a putz!

My Universe — 

I'm in training!  I must improve my time before the Olympic trials!

Whoa! Aliens! I'm outa here!

Arrggghhh!!!!!  The foot is still swollen and the redness is turning to bruising.  I RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) it as much as possible and I use ultrasound on it while at physio.  But I still need to get around.  One thing is for certain, the manipulation that my physiotherapist has done really helps.Tomorrow is laundry day and I have a few loads to do.  I'll also be starting the monthly report tomorrow so I'll be busy.  To answer your question Lona about Lucia taking a class while her kids are not about, we did discuss it and I encouraged her to pursue it.  I want her to do the work so I encouraged her but she actually found a class that met her needs.

Short Takes

Huffington Post — John Oliver is finally taking on Donald Trump — and the “Last Week Tonight” host is not mincing words.

“At this point, Donald Trump is America’s back mole,” Oliver said on Sunday’s episode. “It may have seemed harmless a year ago, but now that it’s become frighteningly bigger, it’s no longer wise to ignore it.”

Oliver, who has largely avoided discussing Trump on his show, was unequivocal in his criticism of the Republican frontrunner.

I haven't laughed this hard and long in a long time!  John Oliver has out done himself!  I'll say nothing more except ENJOY!  

Robert Reich — An Open Letter to the Republican Establishment

You are the captains of American industry, the titans of Wall Street, and the billionaires who for decades have been the backbone of the Republican Party.

You’ve invested your millions in the GOP in order to get lower taxes, wider tax loopholes, bigger subsidies, more generous bailouts, less regulation, lengthier patents and copyrights and stronger market power allowing you to raise prices, weaker unions and bigger trade deals allowing you outsource abroad to reduce wages, easier bankruptcy for you but harder bankruptcy for homeowners and student debtors, and judges who will let you to engage in insider trading and who won’t prosecute you for white-collar crimes.  

All of which have made you enormously wealthy. Congratulations.

Click through for the rest of this open letter.  There are some billionaires, like Nick Hanauer, who agree with Reich.  But they are precious few.  The rest are too myopic to see what is happening.  As usual, the Reich on the left is right.

Mother Jones — Earlier this month, Esther Calhoun stood before the US Commission on Civil Rights in Washington, DC, describing some of the unlikely ailments that have been plaguing her and her neighbors these past few years. "I am only 51 years old and I have neuropathy," she said. "The neurologist said that it may be caused by lead, and it is not going to get better."

This is not a story about contaminated water in Flint, Michigan. Calhoun, who lives in Uniontown, Alabama, was talking about coal ash—a toxic byproduct of burning coal that has quietly become one of America's worst environmental justice problems. The ashes are typically laden with arsenic, lead, mercury, and other toxins, and multiple studies have found that the waste tends to be stored in low-income, minority communities. In Uniontown, where 90 percent of residents are black and about half live below the poverty line, an uncovered coal ash landfill sits "directly across the street from peoples' homes, and from yards in which their kids play," says Marianne Engelman-Lado, an attorney with the environmental nonprofit Earthjustice.

Environmental justice indeed!  I would love to see the reactions of the wealthy who make their homes around golf courses, to the water hasards being coal ash slurry ponds.  The poisoning of the poor and working class people is inexcusable.  Spend the money to dispose of the ash properly.  Or better still, don't burn coal . . . leave it in the ground.

My Universe — 

I have stayed low for the weekend hoping my foot would do some healing.  And it has!  Tomorrow is physio and teaching.  My physiotherapist will be taking another shot at my foot.  Starting 07/03/2016 Lucia will be taking an ESL class with other students and she won't have her 2 youngest to worry about.  I am going to see if I can sit in on a class or two so that I can tailor our Friday 1-on-1 to her classroom needs.  I am really excited for her as she will have a much better time learning without her 2 youngest children interrupting.

Short Takes

Huffington Post — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani won a strong vote of confidence and reformist partners secured surprise gains in parliament in early results from elections that could speed up the Islamic Republic's emergence from years of isolation.

Foad Izadi, an assistant professor at the Faculty of World Studies in Tehran University said the reformists' strong showing was prompted by Rouhani's success in reaching a nuclear agreement between Iran and international powers, the removal of most of the sanctions that had strangled the country's economy over the past decade and restoration of relations with the West.

"It is a sweeping victory for Tehran but for other cities it is not yet clear cut. It is beyond expectations," he added.

Etemad, a reformist newspaper whose managing-editor Elias Hazrati won a seat in Tehran, chose the headline of "clean up in the parliament."

Along with hope of a parliamentary clean up comes hope for better economic times.  As noted in a Foreign Policy article,

Hassan Rouhani had been president for almost a year, and Iran and the group of six world powers — the United States, France, Britain, China, Russia, and Germany — had inked an interim nuclear agreement in Geneva. For the first time in years, Kaveh no longer felt hopeless about the future of his country. Members of the business community, like him, believed Rouhani had the political grit necessary to fight corruption and bring economic change. The prospects of a nuclear deal had them revitalized, he told me. Kaveh had become a senior executive at a private aviation firm and was especially excited because sanctions for aviation had been relaxed; his company had launched talks with a European firm to buy new airplanes. International delegations were trickling in for business talks, and there was even talk of trade with America, Kaveh said excitedly.  …

… in 2016, Kaveh’s attitude has again shifted. Although there are glimmers of hope on the horizon of the Iranian economy, he tells me true change will take longer than he once thought.

There is change, but it will take time to reconnect economically.  When there are 2 intractable players like the US and the Iranian hardliners, it will take that much longer to repair the economic damage.  Click through for the remainder of these two related articles.

Right Wing Watch — After vowing to go after journalists who write critical stories about him at a rally in Texas today, Donald Trump bragged about the support his presidential campaign has received from conservative evangelical voters, touting endorsements from televangelist Paula White, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr., and Sarah Palin.

Trump even brought Robert Jeffress, the conservative televangelist notorious for his anti-gay, anti-Catholic and anti-Mormon preaching, onto the stage to sing his praises. Jeffress called Trump a patriot “who is truly pro-life,” unlike Hillary Clinton, whom he warned would be “the most pro-abortion president in history.”

“God bless Donald Trump,” Jeffress declared. Trump had a much bleaker message: “Christianity is under siege. Every year it gets weaker and weaker and weaker.”

He said he would restore Christianity to greatness by scrapping IRS regulations pertaining to church engagement in partisan political activity on behalf of candidates or campaigns.

Listening to this ass is frightening.  He panders . . . panders to the evangelicals and the haters.  He panders to their fears without true regard to the consequences.  In an Alternet article, "…McConnell reportedly told colleagues that the party will drop Trump “like a hot rock” if he is the nominee."  I guess we wait a little longer.

Truthdig — “There is a clear contrast between our two candidates with regard to my strong belief that we must end the interventionist, regime change policies that have cost us so much,” she [U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii] wrote. “This is not just another ‘issue.’ This is THE issue, and it’s deeply personal to me. This is why I’ve decided to resign as Vice Chair of the DNC so that I can support Bernie Sanders in his efforts to earn the Democratic nomination in the 2016 presidential race.”

From the beginning, it seems that the deck has been stacked against Bernie.  Not only has the press virtually ignored him, but the DNC has as well.  I question whether the chairperson of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, has been equally concerned about neutrality since she was a Clinton 2008 national campaign co-chair.

My Universe —

I hate that animals are brutalised like Duffy was, but I love the transformations!

Now if people could only get the message that animals and people should not be brualised, not abused but LOVED!

I had my monthly ladies' lunch today and then hobbled home to put my foot up.  It is very painful but not as much as before my physio worked on it Wednesday.  I wish I knew what I did!  Another very pleasant day today getting up to 17 C (63 F), sunny and the birds were having a party!  I think there was some birdie nookie going on in the bushes.

Short Takes

YouTube — 

With so many anti abortion related laws, I thought John Oliver did an excellent job.  It should be, IMO, a woman's right to choose.  The anti abortion movement is nothing less than one group, often a religious group, ramming their views down everyone's throat, believer or not.

Politicus — As the Republican Party appears poised to nominate Trump and get thumped in November, Rush Limbaugh is already making excuses and blaming President Obama for the hatred and bigotry that is allowing Trump to flourish in the Republican primary.

BARF BAG ALERT!!!     BARF BAG ALERT!!!     BARF BAG ALERT!!!     BARF BAG ALERT!!!     

Limbarf is in his usual rut . . . blame Obama for everything!  More sponsors have pulled away so we can only hope that he will disappear soon.

Crooks and Liars — At one point in tonight's embarrassment of a debate, Trump really laid into Cruz for his smarmy, underhanded tactics in Iowa, which set Cruz off big time. 

Welcome to Republican debate, or was it a slugfest?.  I  didn't watch the debate but from what I've seen and read, 3 year olds would have done a better job AND paid attention to the rules.  In this last debate before super Tuesday, participants showed just how moronic they really are!  Anyone who votes for any of these clowns needs to have their sanity checked.

Politico — But the Senate’s war over the Supreme Court has pushed those concerns into the background and united the party faithful behind Senate Majority Leader McConnell and the New York senator, the Democratic leader-in-waiting. With the backing of their respective bases, both leaders have a stronger hand in a fight that will shape the highest court in the land — if not their status as party leaders and relationship with each other.

It’s a stunning and sudden turn for two men viewed with intense skepticism by their party’s activist wings. After 14 months of relentless criticism from Ted Cruz and Heritage Action, McConnell is giving them what they want: the hardest possible line of obstruction on a new Supreme Court nominee, meaning no hearings, no votes and no meetings to fill the vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death. And Schumer, who was hounded by the base for opposing President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, is winning praise for his confrontation with McConnell from groups that wanted to cut off his fundraising spigot last summer.

H/T Pat B who provided this link in her comments: Obama and the SCOTUS Nomination

And here is an e-mail from Sherrod Brown and petition that you have likely seen.  If not, the links are active so you can sign the petition.

"McConnell: Not a 'snowball's chance in hell' I'll relent on SCOTUS" — Politico, 2/23/2016

Republican Senators are refusing to even consider a replacement Supreme Court justice. They say we should wait. They say we have to wait for the people to choose a new president, and that thatpresident should pick a nominee.

They seem to be forgetting a very simple and obvious fact: Whether they like it or not, we have an elected president. In 2012, more than 65 million Americans cast their vote for President Barack Obama. He was elected twice.

President Obama will fulfill his constitutional duty to nominate a qualified individual to the Supreme Court. The Senate must do the same.

Join me and tell Senate Republicans to do their constitutionally mandated jobs. Sign our petition.

No Supreme Court nominee in the last 36 years has ever waited longer than 100 days for hearings and a vote. In that same period of time, there has never been a Supreme Court vacancy that spanned more than one presidential term. And there has never been a vacancy for more than four months while the Court is in session.

It’s clear: Republican extremists are once again trying to have their cake and eat it, too. They profess fealty to the Constitution, yet they choose to ignore the Constitution when it requires that they work with a Democratic president whom they don’t like. There is nothing principled about this — this is power politics with the goal of delegitimizing a twice-elected President.

The GOP needs to understand that the American people will not accept their blatantly unconstitutional attempts to keep conservative control over the Supreme Court. They need to hear from you that you are watching, and that you demand they do their jobs.

Thank you,

Sherrod

In an Alternet article by Jim Hightower, he asks the question that I am sure is on a lot of minds: Why Should You and I Have to Keep Paying Mitch McConnell's Salary?​  With all the shenanigans, the same question could be asked for all Republican senators.  If they don't want to do their jobs, then get out!

My Universe — I stumbled upon this and thought "Ain't nature magnificent!"