Of Belgium, Ballots and Baseball

Official logo of Brussels (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In most of the world, Tuesday, March 22, 2016 was the third day of Spring, a day that already promised to be historic.  A new era of diplomatic and cultural breakthroughs were about to happen in Cuba, despite the continued presence of the leaders that made the United States turn its back on the island nation for nearly sixty years.  In Arizona, Utah and Idaho, voters and caucus-goers made their choices on who they want to see running the country for the next four years.

But before all that happened, this did:

An airport and train station in Brussels, Belgium were hit by explosions that CNN says left 31 dead and 270 injured.  This came a few days after police there arrested a suspect in the November terrorist attack on Paris.  The Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for both incidents.

Brussels is the home of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).  Yet like most European countries, the Belgians haven't figured out how to separate the terrorists from the migrants who have fled from war-torn regions.  How they and other countries respond to this attack has yet to be determined.

Meanwhile, back in the States, the presidential campaign rolls on in the wake of the Brussels attack.  Republican voters in Utah and Arizona had a choice between Donald Trump, who has said NATO has outlived its usefulness and that he would temporarily stop Muslims from coming into the country, and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who advocates increased police surveillance of Muslim neighborhoods.  If you're a Democrat, you could choose Hillary Clinton, who has far more foreign policy experience as President Barack Obama's former Secretary of State than either Trump or Clinton, yet doubts remain about her trustworthiness.

Trump and Clinton won their respective primaries in delegate-rich Arizona.  Both of them may be inching closer to their parties' nominations, but their rivals are still doing their best to make it interesting.  Democrat Bernie Sanders won in Utah and Idaho, while Cruz benefited from an anti-Trump backlash in Utah to win there.

Obama was in Cuba, the first President to set foot in that country since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.  He didn't let the Belgian attacks get in the way of his previously announced schedule, but did make a brief mention of it during his address to the Cuban people.  Then he took in a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and a team of Cuban all-stars before departing for Argentina.

There's a small but vocal minority in South Florida and elsewhere who have built their lives in this country after fleeing the Castro regime wondering if they're being betrayed because, even if Obama succeeds in making Cuba safe for Americans again, the Castros still remain in place. We ask that small but vocal minority:  If the Castros were gone tomorrow, would you stay in this country or move back to Cuba?

What happened in Belgium on March 22, 2016 had a ripple effect on everything else going on that day.  But while people in Brussels and elsewhere were in shock and mourning, elections were held, diplomacy was conducted and ball games were played.  Life goes on.  The world doesn't stop for terrorism.

Merrick Garland: Supreme Political Pawn

United States Supreme Court building. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are currently marching on toward their inevitable November showdown, making news every day with violent rallies, raucous (and sometimes raunchy) debates and new allegations based on old ones.  President Barack Obama has been making news of his own in his final year, occasionally stealing the spotlight from the candidates who want his job.

This is one of those times.  The President has nominated Merrick Garland, an appeals court judge in the District of Columbia, to be the next U.S. Supreme Court justice.  He would replace Antonin Scalia, who died a few weeks ago.

Even though, for all we know, Garland is a centrist (not to be confused with liberal) judge with an impressive record in his decisions and in his dealings with others--and a great guy besides, he's going to have a rough time getting confirmed in the toxic political dump that Washington has become.  With Republicans in control of the Senate and still in shock over conservative icon Scalia's passing, they have vowed that there's no way in hell Garland would get a hearing, much less get confirmed.  Even if he is a nice guy.

This comes as no surprise, given the level of animosity GOP leaders have had toward Obama since before Day One of his presidency.  But do they really want to wait until after the election to add a ninth member to the Supreme Court, whether it's Garland or not?  What if the next President is Trump or Clinton--neither of whom Republicans are big fans of?

For the next few months, we're going to hear lots of political this-and-that over Garland's nomination spilling into the campaign?  We'll be hearing scintillating questions such as:  Does Garland have any skeletons in his closet?  How would he vote on Roe v. Wade, Citizens United and other hot-button cases?  What did he really think of replacing Scalia?  Is he just a pawn of the Democrats?

Obviously, if you want to be a Supreme Court justice, you have to have a thick skin.  If and when the Senate gets around to having hearings and then voting to confirm, Garland should be ready to show what he's got.  If he's rejected or decides this circus isn't worth his time, then Senate Republicans will have won themselves a hollow victory, and the Court will have to muddle along with eight justices for well into the next term.  You think the country deserves better than this?

Politics '16: (Delegate) Size Matters

Truman was so widely expected to lose the 1948 election that the Chicago Tribune ran this incorrect headline. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

First, the results from what was billed "Super Tuesday 2":  Both Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump are well on their way to the number of delegates needed to win their respective parties' presidential nominations, based on victories in the primaries and caucuses.  Clinton won Mississippi as well as Trump, who also took Michigan and Hawaii.  Idaho chose Texas senator Ted Cruz in its GOP primary.  Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Governor John Kasich of Ohio?  Let's just say they need a miracle.

But the big news came from the Democratic primary in Michigan, where Clinton lost to Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.  While this was the worst look the various polling organizations (who thought Clinton would win) have had since "Dewey Defeats Truman" in 1948, it also points up a couple of things the former Secretary of State needs to fix if she is to make it to Election Day:  Clinton is saying most of the right things she needs to get elected, but faces credibility problems when it comes to her e-mails or her dealings with big business.  Also, how come she's losing states like Minnesota and Michigan as well as young voters to Sanders.  For this reason, she needs to win in Ohio and Illinois next week.

As for Sanders, the more he talks, the more unrealistic he sounds.  Free college for all?  Sounds great, but who's going to pay for it?  White people have never known poverty?  If the Great Recession had taught us one thing, it's that you don't need to live in certain areas to be down and out if your house was foreclosed and your job disappeared.  It can be anyone and anywhere at any time, no matter who you are.  Who knows?  They might be Donald Trump's biggest supporters.

Speaking of Trump, the New York billionaire reached new lows in the past week.  First, during the GOP debate in Detroit (telecast live from the Fox Theater on Fox News Channel), he not only referred to Rubio as "Little Marco", but also made comments as to the size of Trump's penis.  Then, at a news conference following his Super Tuesday 2 victories, Trump took the opportunity to pitch products with his name on it.  Classy.

Trump has also scared off another potential competitor in Michael Bloomberg, who was considering a third-party run.  The billionaire media mogul and former mayor of New York City figured out what no one else has ever considered:  A vote for Bloomberg is really a vote for either Trump or Cruz, and he didn't want to subject the country to either of those guys.  If that's true, then it's the most patriotic thing Bloomberg has done yet.  Or the dumbest.

Rubio and Kasich have been hanging around this long, and need to win in their respective states of Florida and Ohio for their campaigns to remain relevant.  If that doesn't happen, they can take a seat next to Dr. Ben Carson, who dropped out last week.

It's getting late to slow down the inevitable march of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton toward their November showdown.  The other candidates are learning, with every remaining primary or caucus, that the size of how many delegates you need to overcome the leaders really does matter.

Nancy Reagan (1921-2016): The Power Behind The Throne

Official White House photograph of Nancy Reagan, wife to then-President of the United States Ronald Reagan. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ronald and Nancy Reagan were a team, as most marriages and partnerships tend to be.  For 52 years, they shared houses, children, defended each other and grew old together.  Unlike most marriages and partnerships, this one was played out before the whole world.

Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis met as actors before tying the knot, even appearing in one movie together ("Hellcats of the Navy" in 1957).  She was at his side during the transition into politics when he was elected Governor of California in 1966, and then President of the United States in 1980.

As First Lady, Nancy Reagan brought Hollywood-style elegance into the White House, with all the lavish parties and designer dresses she wore.  She was also instrumental in starting the "Just Say No!" campaign, which was intended to get kids to reject drugs and alcohol.  Naive as it sounded even then, the program was a resounding success despite its critics.  And because of it, the President was able to expand the War on Drugs to the level we see today.

There were indications that Reagan was not merely the President's wife, but also the power behind the throne.  She took charge after an assassination attempt on her husband two months into his term, restricting access to him and constantly defending him through illness, scandal and dealings with the Soviet Union on nuclear treaties.  It was reported that the Reagans used astrology (Ronald was an Aquarius, Nancy a Cancer) to guide them through policy decisions.  Because of the President's advancing age (he was 78 at the time he left office) and the lingering effects of the assassination attempt, the First Lady took more matters into her own hands than anyone in his administration felt comfortable with.

A few years after the Reagans left the White House and moved to California, the former President was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease.  After he died in 2004, Nancy Reagan became an advocate for embryonic stem cell research as a potential treatment for Alzheimers and other age-related diseases.  This came as somewhat of a betrayal to her husband's conservative loyalists, who linked embryonic stem cell research to the abortion issue because of the use of fetuses.

Nancy Reagan died Sunday of congestive heart failure at age 94.  Presumably, she and Ronald are together again working as a team.

Super Night for Clinton and Trump

Donald Trump enters the Oscar De LA Renta Fashion Show, New York. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In several states and territories, March 1 was Super Tuesday, a chance for the remaining 2016 presidential candidates to rack up delegates by winning as many primaries and caucuses as they could to qualify for their party's nomination.  It also was the last realistic chance to slow down the campaign juggernauts of Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Turns out, there was something for everybody.  For the GOP, Senator Ted Cruz won his home state of Texas and Oklahoma to the north, while Florida's Senator Marco Rubio got his first win in Minnesota.  For the Democrats, Senator Bernie Sanders did better.  He won his home state of Vermont plus Oklahoma, Minnesota and Colorado.

But Trump and Clinton each won seven states Tuesday, most of them in the South, giving them substantial leads in the delegate counts.  That's going to make it real difficult for their opponents to be anything other than spoilers.

According to ABC News.com, Trump currently has 319 delegates (he needs 1237 to clinch the GOP nomination), Cruz has 226 and Rubio 110.  Among Democrats, Clinton has a 581-338 lead over Sanders (including superdelegates).  She needs 2383 to win.

What does Super Tuesday tell us?  For former Secretary of State Clinton, it means that Democrats seem to prefer a candidate with experience who will continue President Barack Obama's policies, and not the rabble-rousing alternative of Sanders' policies.

Trump?  It's past time to take this guy seriously.  The New York billionaire has tapped into the fear and loathing of those who think they're being left behind, and appreciate his big talk about making America great again.  Minorities, women and certain religions "losers"?  Build a wall on the border with Mexico and making them pay for it?  Tacit approval of the KKK?  No matter how ugly Trump's rhetoric gets, his approval rating keeps going up "tremendously".

If Trump should become the Republican presidential nominee, the party will have no one to blame but themselves.  The GOP, more than anyone else, have brought the country to a standstill with their endless shenanigans in Washington that's been going on since Obama first took the oath of office.  They're even willing to wait a whole year before filling the vacancy in the Supreme Court, which was created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, preferably with a Republican president making the pick.  They're the ones who fell asleep at the switch when Trump was rising, and are now scrambling to find a way to bring him down before it's too late.

We will soon be left with Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton (and maybe a third-party candidate?) on the next Super Tuesday.  That's Election Day in November.  As Trump would say, this one's gonna be "yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge".