Politics Plus

Yesterday I said "I shant be lingering to do extra tutoring or Costco runs."  OK, I admit it, I lied. . . sort of.  We did our English lesson and then the kids started arriving home from school.  I ended up checking some math homework for Jonathan, filling out some school related forms for 2 of the kids, and snuggling Regina who got hit by a flying truck thrown by Simon (the baby) and was in tears.  When I scolded Simon, he went into tears and lay claim to the other knee and arm!  JD, I guess God is splitting a gut laughing!

Tomorrow is less busy, or should I say, less stressful.

Short Takes

Huffington Post — This is an interactive automaticupdateat the site where you can see in which precints a candidate leads or trails.

Iowa Democratic Caucus

Bernie Sanders was nearly tied with Hillary Clinton in the Democratic race, while O’Malley suspended his campaign before all results were counted.

Des MoinesCedar RapidsDavenportDes MoinesCedar RapidsDavenport

Candidate	SDEs∗	Delegates
Clinton	667	28                   ​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•
Sanders	664	21                   ​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•
O'Malley	8	0

∗ The Iowa Democratic Party doesn't report vote counts. It reports State Delegate Equivalents (SDEs), predictions of who will attend the state-wide party convention.

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3 of 52 delegates in play in Iowa.

HuffPost counts unpledged delegates who have publicly stated their intent to vote for a candidate.

1,604 of 1,681 precincts reporting

Last updated: 9:15 p.m.

Martin O'Malley has announced that he is suspending his campaign.  That leaves Hillary and Bernie to duke it out through to the Democratic National Convention.

Iowa Republican Caucus

Republican voters in Iowa turned out in record numbers for the GOP caucus, showing strong support for Ted Cruz. Marco Rubio finished a close third despite lagging well behind Donald Trump in the polls. Other candidates, like Jeb Bush, failed to gain traction with voters.

Des MoinesCedar RapidsDavenportDes MoinesCedar RapidsDavenport

Candidate	Votes	Delegates
Cruz ✓	51,047	8                   ​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•
Trump	44,837	7                   ​•​•​•​•​•​•​•
Rubio	42,577	6                   ​•​•​•​•​•​•
Carson	17,173	2                   ​•​•
Paul	8,361	1                   ​•
Bush	5,165	0
Fiorina	3,442	0
Kasich	3,441	0
Huckabee	3,305	0
Christie	3,247	0
Santorum	1,768	0
Gilmore	12	0

​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•​•

6 of 30 delegates in play in Iowa.

HuffPost counts unpledged delegates who have publicly stated their intent to vote for a candidate.

1,655 of 1,681 precincts reporting

Last updated: 8:47 p.m.

Mike Huckabee annouced that he has suspended his campaign.  With Upchuck Huck out of the race, it remains to be seen who else will bow out, if any, before the next round of primaries.  If you ask me, Gilmore, Santorum, and Fiorina should be bowing out next.

I won't go into an analysis as I am sure that TC will have the final results and his expert indepth analysis tomorrow.

BTW, a pollster here in Canada was asking people today about what they thought of Trump in the White House. Nationally, 65% of Canadians fear that, while 80% of British Columbians don't want Trump in the White House.  He sure isn't making many friends north of the 49th!

CBC — The protection of B.C.'s Great Bear Rainforest is now assured, after a decade of complex negotiations between the province, First Nations and industry. 

Under terms of the agreement announced Monday morning by Premier Christy Clark, 85 per cent (3.1 million hectares) of the forested area of the northern wilderness will be completely — and permanently — protected from industrial logging.  …

Spirit bears are the best known part of the unique flora and fauna of the Great Bear Rainforest that will be protected under an agreement finalized in B.C. Monday. Spirit bears, also known as Kermode bears, are black bears with a unique genetic variation that gives them their cream-coloured fur. (Ian McAllister)

The Great Bear Rainforest stretches from B.C.'s Discovery Islands, north to Alaska's Tongass Rainforest. Along with Haida Gwaii, parts of which are protected under other agreements, it represents the largest tracts of intact temperate rainforest on Earth. It is home to numerous species of plant and animals, including old growth trees, orcas, grizzlies and spirit bears.

Moss-covered trees stand the test of time. (Photo: National Geographic)

From Common Dreams:

It is "one of the most visionary forest conservation plans on Earth," said Valerie Langer, solutions director at ForestEthics, one of the groups that signed on to the deal. "It is a principled approach that sets a new legal and science-based standard for sustaining healthy forests and maintains intact, old-growth that will keep millions of tonnes of carbon out of the atmosphere."

As old growth tropical rainforests in the Philipines and Indonesia have been decimated to provided space for palm plantations, so has the old growth temperate rainforest in Canada been decimated for its lumber.  These are not replacable.  I am very happy with this agreement and the process of inclusion that struck the agreement.

Raw Story — The New York Daily News wasted no time ripping Donald Trump’s surprise loss in Monday’s Iowa Republican caucus.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this is a full political science essay from the New York Daily News!  Do you think that the paper is not sold on Trump?

The New Yorker — … Democrats have some messy internal business to deal with: Bernie Sanders, promoting an American version of People Power, has confirmed his capture of the Party’s under-forty wing, which means trouble for Hillary Clinton.  …

Speaking on CNN as it got late, David Axelrod, President Obama’s former campaign manager, made an acute point. One of Hillary’s problems is that her campaign is largely about herself—her experience, her electability, and her toughness. “I will keep doing what I have done my entire life,” she said in her non-victory speech. “I will keep standing up for you. I will keep fighting for you.” Sanders, on the other hand, rarely mentions himself in his speeches. His campaign is all about his message of taking American back from the billionaires. And as Axelrod pointed out, it is often easier to inspire people, particularly young people, with an uplifting theme than with a resumé.

Bernie might be older than Clinton, but he is younger!

My Universe —

Celebrate the Great Bear Rainforest agreement!

A very light day today, thankfully, but the week ahead is busy.  I spoke with my brother in Toronto this morning.  He and his wife are taking an Alaska cruise leaving from Vancouver in July so they will spend a few days visiting with me and seeing my mother.  This will be good as they haven't seen her for almost 3 years, or is it 4 years.  Tomorrow is physio and teaching but I shant be lingering to do extra tutoring or Costco runs.

Short Takes

Alternet — Oklahoma legislators are trying to pass an expressively cruel bill that would bar depressed LGBT youngsters from seeking gay-affirming counseling at school, Slate reports.

The state House bill, proposed by Republican Sally Kern, is part of a slew of anti-gay legislation she wants to pass, which would sanction discredited gay “conversion” therapy and prevent HIV-positive people from getting married.

I was absolutely sickened by this legislation.  The party of hate strikes yet again, and this time takes aim at children, children with severe mental health issues such as depression.  If this legislation is passed, I hope the courts will deem it unconstitutional!

Huffington Post — Republicans have spent nearly six years promising to repeal Obamacare and, for most of that time, they have refused to acknowledge what that would mean for the millions who would lose their health insurance.

On Saturday afternoon in Iowa, for at least a few minutes, one Republican couldn't get away with it.

It happened at a Ted Cruz campaign event in Hubbard, a small town smack in the middle of the state. According to reports in The New York Times, The Washington Post and Politico, Cruz fielded a question from Mike Valde, a Democratic voter who had come to the event with a story to tell and a simple question to ask.

The story was about his brother-in-law, a barber named Mark. As Valde told it, Mark was a small business owner who worked so hard that he didn’t even take paid days off. But Mark was unable to afford health insurance until the Affordable Care Act became law. When it did, Mark bought insurance and then, when he started feeling ill, saw a physician — who promptly diagnosed him with cancer with no hope for recovery. He died last year.

Good on Valde to confront Cruz and persist in getting an answer.  I think Cruz was flumoxed by Valde, such that he tried not to answer. Obamacare is not perfect but it is a step in the correct direction.  There are still people not covered because many red states have refused Medicaid expansion.  Others because they make too much for Medicaid coverage but still can't afford the premiums.  Republicans only have the Republicare death benefit — die fast, as Rep Alan Grayson coined.  Cruz was caught between a rock and a hard place and had nowhere to go.

CBC — Two parents watching over an awkward child with weight issues that's still living with them isn't really news. Unless the child in question is a king penguin. 

Nero is, well, different than the adult penguins in his life. While mom, dad and the rest of the colony are decked out in their finest black and whites, the only child is big, fluffy and brown.

Did we mention big?

Nero, the first king penguin chick born at the Calgary Zoo, stands out with his fluffy appearance. (Ayesha Clough/CBC)

"He's five months, a little over five months, and he weighs around 15 and a half kilos, which means he is the heaviest bird in our colony," said Malu Celli, a curator at the Calgary Zoo. "He's heavier than his mom, who's quite a big, chunky penguin too, and he still has some growing to do."

OK, this is cuteness overload time!  Nero is 5 months old and only one half kilo bigger than my 8 year old cat!  I love watching penguins play, although I don't particularly like seeing them in an artificial environment such as a zoo.  Play away Nero and happy puberty!

Common Dreams — "Corporate criminals routinely escape meaningful prosecution for their misconduct."

This is the damning verdict of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) report released Friday,Rigged Justice: How Weak Enforcement Lets Corporate Offenders Off Easy (pdf). 

Described as "the first in an annual series on enforcement," the 12-page booklet "highlights 20 of the most egregious civil and criminal cases during the past year in which federal settlements failed to require meaningful accountability to deter future wrongdoing and to protect taxpayers and families," according to a press statement from Warren's office.  …

"Justice cannot mean a prison sentence for a teenager who steals a car, but nothing more than a sideways glance at a C.E.O. who quietly engineers the theft of billions of dollars," Warren said in the op-ed.

This from the report, Rigged Justice: How Weak Enforcement Lets Corporate Offenders Off Easy, prepared by Elizabth Warren's office.  Cllick through for more details.

The failure to punish big corporations or their executives when they break the law undermines the foundations of this great country: If justice means a prison sentence for a teenager who steals a car, but it means nothing more than a sideways glance at a CEO who quietly engineers the theft of billions of dollars, then the promise of equal justice under the law has turned into a lie. The failure to prosecute big, visible crimes has a corrosive effect on the fabric of democracy and our shared belief that we are all equal in the eyes of the law. 

Corporate criminals like Jamie Dimon and Don Blankenship need to be held criminally  accountable for the actions of their corporations.  Federal agencies need to conduct robust investigations and see that all charges and penalties are pursued.  Further, corporations should not be able to write-off penalties from a tax perspective.  That is just plain wrong.

My Universe — 

Dance til you drop!

I completed the Open Thread and went to save it only to get a message of an error, and the content went into cyber purgatory never to be seen again.  I wonder if it was something I said?  Yesterday was busy with teaching.  After finishing an ESL lesson, I tutoured grade 7 math and grade 3 English spelling.  By the time I arrived home at 20:30, the furbabies were ready to lynch me and I was too tired so no Open Thread yesterday.  Today has been much calmer, that is until I lost my thread.

Short Takes

Huffington Post — The poisoning of the majority-black population of the city is a product of a system failing the people of Flint on many levels over a long period of time. To really start unpacking the historical roots of the crisis, you have to go back to slavery itself, which debased the humanity and devalued the lives of black people from well before our nation's founding; followed by the Jim Crow era of legal segregation, discrimination, and violence against black Americans, which resulted in early 20th century migrations of black people from the segregated south to urban manufacturing centers of the northern United States. When they got there, they found cities without legal segregation, yet with de facto segregation and discrimination alive and well in both white attitudes and systems. The arrival and growth of black populations in northern cities was followed shortly thereafter by white flight to the suburbs, aided by discriminatory housing policies that effectively prevented the vast majority of black people from joining them and blocked the financing of black homes even in the cities.

I came across this piece and thought to share it and the following 28 minute video "America's Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America".  Wallis talks of racism and white privilege as moral issues that are "…in the air that we breathe and the water we drink." At Politics Plus, we often talk about pseudo Christianity and authentic Christianity, especially as it relates to the political scene.  We talk also about white privilege and the political effects.  As Wallis says "So let's change the water — and the air."

Think Progress — The Ku Klux Klan has gotten a bad rap, according to one Georgia lawmaker. He says the terror group “was not so much a racist thing but a vigilante thing to keep law and order” that “made a lot of people straighten up.”

That leader is now hellbent on stopping the “cultural cleansing” of the South’s heritage. So far this year, State Rep. Tommy Benton (R) has co-sponsored two bills to preserve the Confederate’s legacy.

Another Republican nutter.

Mother Jones — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's presidential campaign never really caught steam. In Iowa, he's barely registering in the polls, and in New Hampshire (seemingly friendlier territory) he's generally in sixth place. So with the first votes fast approaching, he's settled on a strategy of attacking the non-Trump frontrunners, particularly Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, as dishonest politicians who are lying to voters.

This from Pignocchio whose nose is so long that he would be unable to do a field sobriety test of touching his finger to the end of his nose!  That's rich!

Alternet — “It’s really frightening,” survivor Al Munzer told the newspaper. “When you see these mass rallies that Trump is able to attract, you really wonder: How are they buying into this message of hate?”

The most direct answer to Munzer’s question can be found in the words of Trump’s followers themselves, who aren’t so much buying into hate as they are enthusiastically supporting the guy boosting the hate and racism they already feel. For all his self-aggrandizement, even Donald Trump wouldn’t likely claim to have hypnotized his supporters. He’s merely speaking directly to a huge demographic of overwhelmingly white voters who want blacks, Mexicans, Muslims and others out of the country they believe belongs to them. This is what they mean by "making America great again."

We hear a lot of references to Adolf Hitler when talking about Trump and his racist, xenophobic ideas.  I am not enamoured of such talk, but some survivors of Hitler's final solution see distinct similarities.

Huffington Post — A veteran MP losing his voice to the ravages of Lou Gehrig's disease found an innovative way to make himself heard in the House of Commons Wednesday.

And Mauril Belanger made history in the process.

This is a story of perseverence and courage.  Mauril Bélanger, MP has represented Ottawa-Vanier for 20 years. Immediately following the Canadian federal election of 19/10/2015, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrigs disease.  Some thought he would step down, but that is not his style.  His voice is greatly affected so he has come up with an idea to allow him to continue.

My Universe —