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PD Editorial: First, define sanctuary citys scope

Sundays Letters to the Editor

Gullixson: Waging war against Muslims, the media and Agnes Grill

Close to Home: Deportation plan has destructive local impact

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Close to Home: Threaten Iran? Here we go again

DONNA BRASSET- SHEARER

DONNA BRASSET-SHEARER IS A CULTURAL-ANTHROPOLOGIST WITH A BACKGROUND IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. | February 5, 2017, 12:05AM

| Updated 3 hours ago.

National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has the idea that Irans recent missile test warrants a strong notice to Iran to be very careful about provoking the ire of the Trump administration. The critics of Flynns warning to Iran arent against the idea that the United States has a right to defend itself against an enemy provocation. On the contrary, they are concerned that Flynns hard-line rhetoric against Iran can inadvertently invite a counterproductive escalation of the already frayed tensions between the two countries.

It took years of a hard-won struggle with European allies to negotiate the 2015 Iran deal, which secured an arrangement by which Iran agreed to cease all efforts to advance any nuclear weapons work for 10 years in exchange for much- needed sanctions relief. As a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran was compelled largely against the wishes of its own hard-line factions to comply with the terms of the agreement, even when it meant unrelenting, intensely intrusive inspections of its military arsenals over an entire decade. Countries that have not signed the non-proliferation treaty Israel, North Korea and Pakistan are not under the same obligation or scrutiny to reassure the world that they will not build or use nuclear weapons in a hypothetical war with a rival state.

If there is any doubt that Flynns warning to Iran is not ideologically based, consider his comments in his recent book Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and its Allies, co-authored by his colleague Michael Ledeen. The U.S. is confronted with an international alliance of evil countries and movements that is working to destroy us, they wrote.

In her New York Review of Books appraisal of Field of Flight, national security expert Jessica Matthews notes that Flynn and Ladeen have singled out Iran, North Korea, China, Russia, Syria, Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua as emblematic of the evil countries the U.S. should take to task, lest they eventually succeed in defeating, dominating and destroying the U.S. Both Flynn and Ledeen have been advocating for some time that the nuclear issue aside the goal of U.S. policy toward Iran should be regime change, an idea that has had Iranian hardliners on defensive alert ever since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. In a now infamous quote, Ledeen caught the attention of Irans defense ministry a few years back for its rarely articulated arrogance: Every 10 years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business.

These are the kinds of sentiments evoked by the new administrations Make American great again trope, even as it reveals a remarkably ahistorical perspective on world affairs. One wonders where the learning curve is regarding the utility of throwing a weaker country Vietnam? Iraq? against the wall, or where the rationality lies in listing China or Russia among the evil countries that Flynn believes require every dimension of American national power in a cohesive synchronized manner similar to the effort during World War II to fight an impending war that would be international in scale.

If, in his new role as national security adviser, Flynn continues to hold or worse, to act upon the near apocalyptic worldview expressed in his book, the world is in for some dark times.

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As Mathews concludes in her review, Clearly this is a time for rethinking many long-established claims and convictions, and for new foreign policies As threatening as the external environment is, it could easily become much worse.

If there is a silver lining in this daunting narrative, it surely rests with the worlds citizenries. There may be no better time than the present to forge the international alliances necessary to check the political power of the worlds hard-line military ideologues.

Donna Brasset-Shearer of Petaluma is a cultural-anthropologist with a background in international relations.

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Close to Home: Threaten Iran? Here we go again - Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Rep. Brad Sherman compared President Trump to the Islamic State terrorist group during his remarks on the House floor Friday morning.

Mr. Sherman gave a one-minute speech rebuking the presidents recent executive order that temporarily restricts immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries that have a history of terrorism.

The California Democrat called the order a Muslim ban that repudiates our values and violates our Constitution, The Daily Caller first reported.

After 20 years on the Foreign Affairs Committee, I think its important to come to this floor and explain how that executive order is harmful to our national security, Mr. Sherman said. Trumps executive order plays right into the ISIS narrative. It says that theres a clash of civilizations and that all Islam is our enemy.

ISIS, which has, perhaps, a few hundred thousand followers, dreams of convincing all of Islam dreams of convincing one and a half billion Muslims that they are at war with America and the West, he continued, using an acronym for the Islamic State.

We do not have a clash of civilizations. We have a clash between civilization and the forces of darkness bent on destroying civilization whether they reside in Raqqa or at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, he concluded.

Mr. Sherman, who represents the San Fernando Valley, has been critical of the president in the past. During a CNN interview earlier this month, he facetiously claimed that the Electoral College votes are controlled in Moscow.

He also said last month that he attended Mr. Trumps Jan. 20 inauguration with a heavy heart in order to show respect for the process, despite many of his colleagues decision to boycott.

Read more from the original source:
Rep. Brad Sherman compares Trump to ISIS - Washington Times

Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)

A Democrat is making waves in Tom Price's conservative turf Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) Price won a commanding victory for another two-year term in November with about 62 percent of the vote. But Hillary Clinton came within a whisker of winning the district, and Democrats hope they can consolidate behind a single candidate to land a spot ...

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A Democrat is making waves in Tom Price's conservative turf - Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)

Photo: Scott Benjamin /The News-Times

Roxbury Democrat Greg Cava, a Region 12 Board of Education member, is running for the 32nd District state Senate seat recently vacated by Republican Sen. Rob Kane.

Roxbury Democrat Greg Cava, a Region 12 Board of Education member, is running for the 32nd District state Senate seat recently vacated by Republican Sen. Rob Kane.

Roxbury Democrat Greg Cava, a Region 12 Board of Education member, is running for the 32nd District state Senate seat recently vacated by Republican Sen. Rob Kane.

Roxbury Democrat Greg Cava, a Region 12 Board of Education member, is running for the 32nd District state Senate seat recently vacated by Republican Sen. Rob Kane.

Roxbury Democrat Greg Cava, a Region 12 Board of Education member, is running for the 32nd District state Senate seat recently vacated by Republican Sen. Rob Kane.

Roxbury Democrat Greg Cava, a Region 12 Board of Education member, is running for the 32nd District state Senate seat recently vacated by Republican Sen. Rob Kane.

Democrat Greg Cava tries again in race for open 32nd state Senate seat

ROXBURY - Greg Cava says the best way to find out what the voters of the 32nd state Senate District are thinking is to get out of your bubble of friends and meet them door to door.

He visited countless homes in the 10 classic New England villages last fall, and now in chilly winter hes doing it again.

Cava, a Democrat from Roxbury who serves on the Region 12 Board of Education, lost to incumbent Sen. Rob Kane (R-Watertown) by a more than two-to-one margin last November in the Republican-leaning district, which stretches from Bethlehem to Oxford and includes such metro Danbury towns as Southbury, Washington, Roxbury and Bridgewater. Kane resigned last month and was approved by the General Assembly recently to become one of the two state auditors of public accounts.

Much is at stake in the special election. The state Senate is deadlocked with an even number of Republicans and Democrats, and a Cava victory would tip it back into Democratic control.

Cava, an attorney specializing in land development, last month defeated Robert Van Egghen at the Democratic convention in Woodbury. He now faces Republican state Rep. Eric Berthel of Watertown and petitioning candidate Dan Lynch of Southbury in the Feb. 28 special election.

Cava said he has raised enough money to qualify for a $72,000 grant from the Citizens Election Program. Berthel also recently qualified.

Republicans reportedly have held the seat for more than 100 years, even though such notable Democrats as Bethlehems Ken Curran, who managed three campaigns for U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, and Woodburys John McCarthy, a former ambassador, ran against Kane, who served for nine years.

Cava said he agrees with Murphy that if you dont tour neighborhoods you get a skewed perception of the electorate.

He said the prime topic has been better-paying jobs in a mostly suburban state that lacks a brain hub such as the Route 128 corridor near Boston which has attracted a large number of millennials who are less inclined to being tied down to buying a home in the suburbs.

Connecticut has a lot of small municipalities and people in most municipalities in the state want a lot of control over what happens in their town, Cava said. They want them to stay the same. We have some regional planning, but each town decides what it will accept. Its not a planning agency that decides where the airport or the waste facilities will be. To some extent it stymies the growth of large industry.

With economic development, we need to think long term, he said.

Cava said Gov. Dannel Malloys First Five/Next Five program is a step in the right direction, since it has provided financial incentives to such corporate giants as ESPN, Bridgewater Associates and Cigna in Connecticut for a commitment to add jobs over the coming years.

But what happens when those incentives end? Cava said.

He said the state needs to develop small business incubators, leverage its premier fiber-optic network and establish more private/public partnerships.

Cava said in the district some of the 1,400 acres at the state-operated Southbury Training School, which is expected to close most of its operations and be ceded to the town, might be ideal for a partnership between a research and development firm and the University of Connecticut.

He said he wants the roughly 100 residents at the facility to be able to continue living there for the rest of their lives.

Cava said he is not thrilled with Malloys performance, but I realize it was a difficult climb entering office six years ago, facing a $3.7 billion budget deficit over a two-year cycle. He spread the pain around and in the process a lot of people have become unhappy.

UConn economist Fred Carstensen recently told CT Mirror that in the face of a projected $1.5 billion deficit for the next fiscal year and pension obligations that are only 35.5 percent funded, taxes will have to be increased.

I dont want to have to raise the income tax, Cava said. But were going to have to look at it being more graduated so that we increase it gradually over a series of years so that we dont have this repeat cycle of deficits. We have to find a balance.

On another topic, he said he supports a Democratic plan to gradually raise the states minimum wage from the current $10.10 to $15 an hour over the next five years.

$15 an hour is barely at a level to sustain people, Cava said.

He said he also supports legislation to make incentives for municipalities to establish tax deferral for elderly residents, which make up a considerable segment of the population in the district.

Under the proposal, Cava said they could keep their taxes level for years and then pay the balance when they sell their homes.

He said, Towns have the ability to do it, but not every town does it.

Original post:
Democrat Greg Cava tries again in race for open 32nd state Senate seat - Danbury News Times

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison(Photo: Charles V. Tines / The Detroit News)Buy Photo

Ten candidates vying to lead the Democratic National Committee into the future will gather Saturday in Detroit, where theyll outline their plans to reshape the party following a string of crushing electoral losses.

It was supposed to be 11 candidates. Vincent Tolliver, a former congressional candidate from Arkansas, was booted from the DNC Future Forum this week after he reportedly criticized the Muslim faith of a competitor, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, a Detroit native who now represents Minneapolis and parts of its suburbs in Minnesota.

The Democratic Party welcomes all Americans from all backgrounds. What we do not welcome is people discriminating against others based on who they are or how they worship, interim chair Donna Brazile said in a statement provided to The Detroit News.

Tolliver reportedly told The Hill newspaper that DNC voters should not back Ellison because Muslims discriminate against gays. Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, has described himself as a tireless advocate for equality and campaigned against a proposed Minnesota gay marriage ban in 2012.

Saturdays forum, scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Wayne State University Community Arts Theater, is a chance for party loyalists and activists to hear directly from candidates seeking to fill the positions of chair, vice chairs and other offices of the Democratic National Committee. The event will also be streamed online at Democrats.org.

Ellison is a top contender for the chair post, along with former U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez of Maryland.

Other candidates include New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley, South Carolina Chair Jaime Harrison, Idaho state party executive director Sally Boynton and Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

Former Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned from the post in late July after WikiLeaks published a series of emails suggesting DNC staffers had inappropriately aided eventual presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in her primary battle against U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Clinton lost the general election to President Donald Trump, who scored a narrow and surprising victory in Michigan en route to his Electoral College victory. Trump was the first Republican to win Michigan since 1988.

The forum lets Democrats hear what candidates have to say about rebuilding the party and winning back power in both Washington and state capitols across the country, said Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Brandon Dillon.

I think theres an emerging consensus that weve got to get back to basics, a kind of grassroots block-to-block organizing, not just during a campaign seasons, but during the off years to start reconnecting with voters.

Dillon, who has endorsed Ellison in the race, is expected to offer introductory remarks during an afternoon session that will include forums with candidates for chair and other party positions.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is also expected to speak during a morning session, along with Kansas City Mayor Sly James, Ohio Rep. Alicia Reece and United Steelworkers Local 1999 President Chuck Jones.

The Detroit candidate forum is the third of four similar events planned by the DNC. A final forum is scheduled for Feb. 10 and 11 in Baltimore.

joosting@detroitnews.com

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Democrat booted from 'future' forum in Detroit - The Detroit News