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Trusting Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals to fix the hydro mess they've created is like trusting rabbits to guard the lettuce patch.

It requires an unshakeable belief, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, that the same people who caused today's runaway electricity prices know how to fix them.

And that the Liberals will keep their promise to lower hydro rates if they win next year's election, this being the same party that came to power under Dalton McGuinty in 2003 solemnly promising not to raise our taxes.

McGuinty even signed a pledge during that election not to do so. And we all know what happened next.

Based on their record, I wouldn't trust the Liberals as far as I could throw them to keep any promise they've made, or will make, on hydro rates prior to the June 2018 election, if they win it with a majority government.

To be fair to Wynne and McGuinty, they didn't start the financial mess we see in today's electricity sector, where hydro prices have doubled in a decade, despite a surplus of electricity -- the exact opposite of how the market should work.

They inherited an expensive and aging power and transmission grid from the previous Progressive Conservative government, which inherited it from the previous NDP government, which inherited it from the Liberal government before that.

Electricity prices were going to go up substantially no matter who won the election that brought the Liberals to power in 2003.

But where the Liberals were responsible for putting the problems they inherited on steroids was in their mad, reckless and irresponsible dash into green energy, without any understanding of what they were doing or its consequences.

What Ontarians got in return was unreliable and inefficient power that wasn't needed, given the province's energy surplus -- energy which had to be backed up by new natural gas plants anyway, two of which the Liberals then infamously cancelled at a public cost of up to $1.1 billion over 20 years. Because of the Liberals' 20-year contracts with wind and solar developers, many of them major contributors to the Liberal party, Ontario hydro consumers and taxpayers were forced into buying their expensive and unreliable power first.

Even when it wasn't needed and even if doing so made the entire electricity system operate less efficiently and thus more expensively.

In 2015, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk concluded the Liberals overpaid $9.2 billion for green energy that was never needed to replace coal-fired electricity.

McGuinty promised to eliminate coal in the 2003 election for health and environmental reasons, saying it would be completed by 2007. It fact it took the Liberals until 2014.

But the Liberals didn't replace coal, which provided 25 per cent of Ontario's electricity, with wind and solar power, which provided just four per cent and which, unlike coal, couldn't supply base load power to the grid on demand.

Instead, the Liberals replaced coal with nuclear power, which emits neither pollution nor greenhouse gases and natural gas, which burns at half the carbon intensity of coal.

Therein lies the ultimate Liberal blunder. They could have replaced coal power without spending a nickel on wind and solar, instead of creating the green energy mess they have.

Ontarians will be paying for that mistake for generations to come.

lgoldstein@postmedia.com

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Generations will pay for Liberal hydro blunders - Melfort Journal

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

As a black femme living under the United States first Orange administration, every piece of breaking news makes me feel like Im living in Groundhog Day. You know, that movie with Bill Murray?

Yeah, that one.

Not a day goes by when you wake up in the morning and dont hear that the Orange has done something despotic, or someone from his team has been caught in coitus with Russia (again). White liberals talk trash about resisting. They dont resist. They congratulate Trump for doing something normal.

Rinse, repeat.

This pattern was compounded Tuesday night when he gave his first address to a joint session of Congress. And because his speech was passable, certain mainstream (ahem, white) outlets called it a success. Others were pleasantly surprised by his pivot and by his acting presidential.

Of course, marginalized folks arent fooled. We know whats good, and as Maya Angelou once said, When someone shows you who they really are, believe them.

However, it seems that liberals still havent gotten the message, as they continue to work, knowingly or otherwise, to normalize the Orange. Here are some reasons why this is bad and could turn his already dangerous four-year tenure into an eight-year one:

I want to be very clear about this:

This is not going to happen. You will die waiting for this to happen. In fact, people who did not want or desire this administration will die if we wait for this to happen.

Im not sure how you could still believe that some unicorn of a good Republican will emerge to do the right thing and slay his or her new lord and savior La Naranja if youve been around to witness the current events of his administration. In fact, while the Unstable Orange has no idea what he is doing, he has still managed to make the Republican Party his bitch.

Whats more, he and his squad were exposed for talking to Russia before the 2016 presidential election. The attorney general of the United States was caught speaking to Russia in the middle of an investigation he was supposed to head. Hell, lets talk about him and Betsy DeVos getting confirmed to begin with. Where were these good Republicans to stop that, huh?

Even those who try to prop up John McCain and the like as such figures, forget that ol dude and them voted to confirm all these jokers.

Moral of the story? Dont hold your breath.

In the headline of this piece, I invoked Maxine Waters, Patron Saint of Truth, Shade and Justice, for a reason. While I love her determination and iron will, I am semiflabbergasted that she remains the premier congressperson who is willing to oppose the Orange at every turn.

Of course, if you know black women, this will make some sense. We get shit done. And we hope to save the world. Yet, even with our will, that was not enough to save the country from itself. Nope. Seventy percent of white folk still voted to send the free world to hell.

Long story short, white liberals can attempt to sit back and let marginalized folk save the day, but the reality is, they are the only ones who can fix this mess and are responsible for this mess.

And if they refuse to do the heavy lifting? Well, then, they can get ready for eight whopping years of terrible orange tans, neo-Nazi proliferation, and death-inducing health and economic policies.

The number of people who were impressed that O-roma managed to passably stumble his way through a speech on a teleprompter was Too. Damn. High.

I could have done the same back on my high school debate team, but even then, my coach still wouldve given me a solid D-minus and called me a shame to my craft. Yet Trump was called truly presidential and congratulated on pivoting to a more sensible version of himself.

Mind you, he announced plans to publish the crimes of immigrants around the U.S. in a public database. On the same day. How very nice and presidential of him.

Still, I cant say Im shocked at the sharp heel turn of so-called progressives this time around. But their new tunes do reinforce one thing, however:

White supremacyand fascism, in this caseis always more digestible to people if it is nicer. More palatable. Presentable.

Follow this link:
3 Reasons Trump'll Be President for 8 Years Unless White Liberals ... - The Root

UPDATED: SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 2017, 5:34 P.M.

HELENA Musician and political novice Rob Quist on Sunday captured the Democratic nomination for the May 25 special election to fill the states only congressional seat.

Quist prevailed over seven other candidates, including two experienced legislators who trailed the entertainer from the start of Sundays balloting in Helena.

Montana will be without a representative in the U.S. House until a successor is elected for Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, who resigned his seat last week after being confirmed to lead the U.S. Interior Department.

I come here not as a career politician rising through the ranks, said Quist told delegates during opening speeches. As a poet-musician, I ask you to look outside the bubble of Helena to a man who has represented Montana from behind a different kind of microphone.

Quist is making his first run for office in his partys bid to recapture a seat that a Democrat has not held in 20 years.

State Reps. Kelly McCarthy and Rep. Amanda Curtis were also vying for the partys nomination.

McCarthy of Billings pitched himself to fellow Democrats as an experienced campaigner who is well-versed in policy and national security matters.

Curtis, the only woman vying for her partys nomination, sought to persuade delegates that her gender wont be a barrier in winning the seat.

Curtis was seeking to be only the second woman elected to Congress from the Treasure State. In 1917, Montana Republican Jeannette Rankin became the first woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress.

Quist, a singer and guitarist for the Mission Mountain Wood Band, said he has traveled to more than 40 counties in recent weeks to meet Democratic central committee members, who make up the bulk of convention delegates.

Ive been trying to make a personal connection with everybody who has to make a decision in this, he said.

Republicans hold their nominating convention Monday and will choose from six candidates, including Greg Gianforte, who was the partys nominee for governor in November.

Democrats are already attacking Gianforte, who has asserted that he has the necessary delegates to clinch the GOP nomination.

Quist said he was proud to carry the banner for the Montanas Democratic Party.

Quist will have to quickly unify Democrats not only in getting votes out but in getting contributions for his campaign.

Read the rest here:
Montana Democrats pick Quist to run for congressional seat - The Spokesman-Review

New York Times

Democrats Bet GOP Will Regret Opposing Scrutiny of Trump New York Times Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, arriving for a news conference last month in Washington with members of the chamber's Financial Services Committee. She has vowed a weekly vote on the release of President ... Can Democrats Turn Activism Into Votes? Special Elections Might Be A ClueNPR Special elections spark Democratic hopesPolitico Kathleen Parker: Dispirited Democrats desperately seek revivialThe Spokesman-Review The Hill -Townhall -Sacramento Bee all 5,652 news articles »

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Democrats Bet GOP Will Regret Opposing Scrutiny of Trump - New York Times

Mayor Bill Peduto and Sheriff Bill Mullen won the Allegheny County Democratic Committee endorsement Sunday, after a gathering of party elders at the IBEW Local #5 hall on the South Side.

Mr. Peduto beat his sole rival for the endorsement, District 1 City Councilwoman Darlene Harris, by a 372-245 margin.

"We took 60 percent of the vote, which is a pretty decisive victory," said Matt Merriman-Preston, a spokesman for the Peduto campaign. "It really speaks to the breadth of the mayor's support. People know that the mayor is continuing to deal with the challenges the city is facing, and they're pleased with what he's done so far."

This weekend, Mr. Peduto also formally garnered the support of a long-time ally, the service employees union.

Although Mr. Peduto has run for mayor twice before, in 2005 and 2013, this was the first time he sought the party's backing. Voters in the Democratic primary can and sometimes do ignore the endorsement, though the committees approval confers bragging rights, and the chance to appear on slate cards handed out at polling places.

Ms. Harris has not formally announced a mayoral campaign, even as she has sought the partys endorsement. She said Sundays result will play "a big part" in her decision about whether to launch a full-throated bid for office. As to her next step, she said, "I'll be making a decision on Tuesday," when election petitions are due.

Asked whether she was disappointed by the outcome, she said, "Why would I be? I didn't even announce I was running."

Another mayoral candidate, the Rev. John Welch, was escorted out of the IBEW hall after a brief sojourn inside in the morning.

Rev. Welch, of Homewood, was not seeking the endorsement, and as such was not entitled to appear at the event. He withdrew to the sidewalk outside. "I figured there would be some hospitality, he said. I had a chance to greet some people, and then I was greeted."

Sheriff Mullen, the top vote-getter on Sunday, garnered 1,137 votes, beating the 442 racked up by Pittsburgh homicide detective George Satler.

Sheriff Mullen said it was "gratifying to get the most votes. I had a lot of people working very hard."

"I was hoping to do better," said Detective Satler. "But I don't want to disappoint the more than 440 people who supported me. I will continue to run."

Sheriff Mullen took nothing for granted. While candidates often make last-ditch appeals to committee members by offering freebies before voting, Sheriff Mullens campaign provided an unusual boon: a golf cart to ferry less able-bodied committee members to the hall from the parking lots cross the street.

In other races, Anthony Coghill easily won the endorsement in City Council District 4, beating Gary McBurney. (Another contender, Ashleigh Deemer, did not seek the endorsement.) Pittsburgh school board member Terry Kennedy, who represents the 5th district, besting challenger Ghadah Makoshi. In Common Pleas Court races, Patrick Connelly and David Spurgeon won endorsement for the two judicial seats available.

"I think the results were predictable," said county committee chair Nancy Patton Mills. She called the event "exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. We had no issues. Everyone was cordial, and we're very proud of all the candidates.

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Peduto, Mullen win endorsements from county Democrats - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette