Politics Plus

I was out to a meeting at my church for a few hours late this afternoon.  I noticed just how fast the flowers and trees are coming alive, the fruit trees in particular.  At this rate, we'll have cherry and plum trees in blossom by the end of next week.  They are all gorgeous, but I am particularly fond of the deep pink blooms.  Tomorrow is an extra physio session for my foot and then off to teaching.  Lucia starts her new ESL class on Monday so I am going to accompany her so I can tailor our sessions to her class work.  There is always something to do!

Short Takes 

Raw Story — Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) broke ranks with his state’s conservative lawmakers on Thursday in speaking out against a proposed “religious freedom” bill,Towleroad reported.

“I think what the New Testament teaches us is that Jesus reached out to those who were considered the outcasts, the ones that did not conform to the religious societies’ view of the world and said to those of belief, ‘This is what I want you to do,'” Deal said after a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Atlanta. “We do not have a belief — in my way of looking at religion — that says we have to discriminate against anybody. If you were to apply those standards to the teaching of Jesus, I don’t think they fit.”

Click through for a video of Deal's remarks.  When I saw yesterday that Deal expected the bill on his desk today, he gave no indication if he was for or against it.  I am pleasantly surprised to hear his decision and his rationale.  Finally, a Republican with his head screwed on straight, well at least on this issue.  Let's hope that the State General Assembly does not have a veto proof bill.

CNN — Mitt Romney has instructed his closest advisers to explore the possibility of stopping Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, a source close to Romney's inner circle says.

The 2012 GOP nominee's advisers are examining what a fight at the convention might look like and what rules might need revising.

"It sounds like the plan is to lock the convention," said the source.

Romney is focused on suppressing Trump's delegate count to prevent him from accumulating the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the nomination.

If Rmoney jumps in to the Republican fray, I can see Trump jumping to a third party.  Trump has said he would take all "his people" and leave the Republicans with far fewer voters.  A split vote on the right could make a significant contribution to a Democratic win.  Why buy a ticket to a WWF match when you can sit at home and watch the Republicans on TV eviserating themselves!

Huffington Post — The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Obama administration on Thursday in rebuffing a bid by 20 states to halt an Environmental Protection Agency rule to curb emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants from power plants.

The action came about a month after the high court put on hold federal regulations to curb carbon dioxide emissions mainly from coal-fired power plants, the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's strategy to combat climate change.

Chief Justice John Roberts denied a petition made last week by the states, led by Michigan, to put the rule on hold after a federal appeals court decided in December to leave it intact while the EPA reassessed costs of implementing the regulation.

Could there be hope for a Scalia-less SCOTUS . . . hope that there will be some reasonable decisions without all the Republican drama?  Good move but the issue isn't over as the compliance costs have to be worked out by 15/04/2016.

Foreign Policy — On Thursday, March 3, a statement is being released by a number of Republican foreign-policy hands declaring why we can’t support Donald Trump as our party’s nominee for president. …

Now that Trump holds a strong lead in delegates, an internal debate is roiling the ranks of Republicans who have not supported him, but who recognize the growing likelihood (though not a certainty) that he will become our party’s nominee. …

But whether or not he believes his own words, merely uttering them renders him unfit to be commander in chief. Consider: If Trump does not believe what he says, he is a demagogue and a charlatan, who neither knows nor cares that his reckless rhetoric has already done serious damage to our nation’s international credibility and given succor to our authoritarian adversaries. Whereas if Trump does believe what he says — praising Chinese and Russian and North Korean tyranny, disparaging religious and racial groups, indulging the fever swamps of left-wing conspiracies — then he is not only unqualified to lead the world’s greatest democracy, he would place it in considerable peril.

"roiling the ranks of Republicans" is a rather tepid description of Trump's affect on the Republican Party right now. From Republican politicians like Lindsey Graham refusing to support Trump if he should be the party's nominee, to foreign policy advisers refusing to support him, Trump has put the Republican Party into convulsions from which it may not recover soon enough.

My Universe — 

I am the master of all I survey!

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!

Today was one of those days dealing with time consuming medical issues.  As  a result, the monthly report will be delayed one day.  Tomorrow I have physio and then it is report time.  On the home front, I have a lady bug invasion! This one bug keeps dive bombing my computer.  I have yet to be successful capturing the little beast and the furbabes so far have been totally disinterested in helping.

Short Takes

Common Dreams — A new study confirms what many activists have suspected for a long time: The private courts set up by international “trade” deals heavily favor billionaires and giant corporations, and they do so at the expense of governments and people. …

A large anti-TPP demonstration took place in New Zealand in February. (Photo: Dominic Hartnett/flickr/cc)

The “investor-state dispute settlement” process, or ISDS, is built into treaties like NAFTA and the upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). It allows foreign investors to sue participating governments if they do anything that harms their investment in that nation. Corporations can sue governments through this process, but governments can’t sue corporations.  …

But that doesn’t appear to be the case. Virtually all of the financial benefits of the ISDS have gone to the rich and powerful. Nearly 95 percent of all award money went to giant corporations or extremely wealthy individuals.

The ISDS industry scored big, too. The authors found that ISDS “lawyers, arbitrators, experts and other actors” had earned an estimated $1.7 billion from these hearings by the spring of 2015.

You can read a copy of the York University Osgoode Hall study.  If for some reason you have trouble with this link, please click on the link within the article.  Many of us have known that the ISDS was problematic, especially in non US countries with other agreements like NAFTA.  The TPP and similar agreements must be stopped.  In the US, the wealthy and large corporations already have so much influence in government with the large sums they can use to "buy" politicians and elections.  They don't need more.

Huffington Post — But Ryan said he had to speak out when he sees "something that runs counter to who we are as a party and as a country."

"If a person wants to be the nominee of the Republican Party, there can be no evasion and no games," he said. "They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry."

Ryan continued on to say that Republicans should not "prey on people's prejudices."

"We appeal to their highest ideals," he said. "This is the party of Lincoln. We believe all people are created equal in the eyes of God and our government."

Ryan said that point was fundamental. "And if someone wants to be our nominee, they must understand this," he said.

When I read this, I had to speak out!  First, I seem to recall that during the 2012 campaign, Paul Ryan was the Republican VP candidate for Romney and they courted the white supremacist vote.  The difference, they weren't as loud mouthed about it as Trump.  Second, there are a lot of Republican Congress critters who are openly bigots. Thirdly, the current Republican Party is the party of Lincoln in name only.  I am sure you can add to the points.

Common Dreams — Reigniting calls for Rick Snyder's resignation, emails released Friday reveal that advisers to the Michigan governor knew that Flint's water was toxic as far back as October 2014.

"My Mom is a City resident. Nice to know she's drinking water with elevated chlorine levels and fecal coliform," the governor's chief legal counsel said in an email sent just three weeks before the Republican governor's re-election, according to the Detroit Free Press.

After examining over 500 emails released by the governor's office, the Detroit Newsreported that "[t]wo top advisers to Gov. Rick Snyder urged switching Flint back to Detroit’s water system in October 2014, after General Motors Co. said the city’s heavily chlorinated river water was rusting engine parts."

"There's no reasonable person who can believe at this point that every top adviser to Rick Snyder knew that there was an issue, but Snyder knew nothing," said Lonnie Scott …

Rachel Maddow comments on the ongoing saga.  Nothing short of Snyder's successful prosecution will be acceptable.  Snyder truly is a Republican.

My Universe —