{"id":20215,"date":"2016-02-29T00:22:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T08:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=20215"},"modified":"2016-02-29T00:22:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-29T08:22:00","slug":"squatchs-open-thread-28022016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/29\/squatchs-open-thread-28022016\/","title":{"rendered":"Squatch’s Open Thread 28\/02\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Huffington Post<\/strong><\/span> — 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.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

"It is a sweeping victory for Tehran but for other cities it is not yet clear cut. It is beyond expectations," he added.<\/p>\n

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

Along with hope of a parliamentary clean up comes hope for better economic times.  As noted in a <\/span>Foreign Policy<\/strong><\/span><\/a> article,<\/span><\/p>\n

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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<\/strong>. Members of the business community, like him, believed Rouhani had the political grit necessary to fight corruption and bring economic change<\/strong>. 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.  …<\/p>\n

… 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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Right Wing Watch<\/strong><\/span><\/a> — After vowing to go after journalists who write critical stories about him<\/a> at a rally in Texas today<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

Trump even brought Robert Jeffress<\/a>, the conservative televangelist notorious for his anti-gay, anti-Catholic and anti-Mormon preaching<\/a>, 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.”<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

He said<\/a> he would restore Christianity to greatness by scrapping IRS regulations pertaining to church engagement in partisan political activity on behalf of candidates or campaigns.<\/p>\n