Monthly Archives: May 2017

TEHRAN --Iran voted for a new president on Friday, with results yet to come in. The campaign had a familiar theme: The populist facing the incumbent.

This race came down to a clear choice between the current moderate President Hassan Rouhani, whose promises for liberal reforms appeal to young people, and the hardliner Ebrahim Raisi, a populist who has promised his working-class base cash handouts and millions of jobs.

One key thing Iranians are voting on is how their country will relate to the U.S. and the rest of the world, with openess and cooperation led by Rouhani, the reformist, or with suspicion and hostility under the conservative Raisi.

Crowds in Iran supporting presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi.

CBS News

Thirty-eight years ago, revolutionary Iranian students held 52 Americans hostage in the U.S. embassy. Their spokeswoman was Masoumeh Ebtekar.

Today, she's one of Iran's vice presidents. She's done something of a 180 over the years and now hopes for better relations with the U.S.

Are they likely to come under President Trump, who is on the record as saying that Iran is a hostile presence, a problem?

"He's also changing a lot of his positions as well," Ebtekar says. "He's also making a lot of U-turns."

Masoumeh Ebtekar, the spokeswoman for the students who held 52 Americans hostage at the Iranian embassy, is now one of Iran's vice-presidents.

CBS News

Ebtekar says she hopes Mr. Trump will adjust to the realities when it comes to positions on Iran.

Realities like the nuclear deal, which was backed by millions of voters in Iran who hope it was the first step toward even stronger ties with the U.S.

But another reality is that -- at the moment -- there's absolutely no sign the Trump White House is sharing the love.

In fact, the U.S. added some fresh sanctions against Iran this week, so the signs are that things are about to get decidedly frosty.

2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Iranian presidential election pits liberal reformer against hardliner - CBS News

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Posted: May 20, 2017 12:01 AM

If self-delusion were magic, average liberals would be David Blaine, David Copperfield and Houdini all rolled up into one. Most of what they say has no relation to what theyre doing, the policies they push rarely work and logic might as well be a strange, alien language to them. Since thats the case, explaining all the things liberals get wrong about themselves could easily be the topic of my second book (Heres a link to my first one), but since we only have so much space to work with in a column, here are the top five.

1) Liberals Are Better Than Everyone Else: If theres one thing that liberals are sure of beyond all others, its that they are better, smarter and more capable than everyone else by virtue of being liberals. As the great Thomas Sowell has noted:

The presumed irrationality of the public is a pattern running through many, if not most or all, of the great crusades of (liberals) in the twentieth centuryregardless of the subject matter of the crusade or the field in which it arises. Whether the issue has been overpopulation, Keynesian economics, criminal justice, or natural resource exhaustion, a key assumption has been that the public is so irrational that the superior wisdom of (liberals) must be imposed, in order to avert disaster. The (liberals) do not simply happen to have a disdain for the public. Such disdain is an integral part of their vision, for the central feature of that vision is preemption of the decisions of others.

No matter who you are or what you do, there are always tens of millions of liberals who believe they have a better idea of what you should be thinking, feeling and spending your money on. Of course, that sense of smug superiority coupled with the disastrous results of liberal policies would almost be comical, except for the destruction in real peoples lives that is left in the wake of liberal policies.

2) Liberals Are Victims: Wrong. Liberals are bullies. In fact, theyre the worst kind of bullies -- bullies who believe that theyre the victims. Those are the worst kind of bullies because they believe theyve already been wronged and therefore almost anything they do in retaliation is justified. Of course, being wronged may mean someone disagreed with them, voted for a candidate they dont like or simply didnt want to give up more of his income for a liberal program. Liberals are the epitome of the Stop Bullying Song from South Park -- aggrieved bullies looking for a victim they can claim wronged someone so they can try to destroy him in the name of tolerance.

Bullying isn't cool. Bullying is lame.

Bullying is ugly and has a stupid name.

For a healthy world, bullying's unfit.

And I think I know what we should do to i-it.

Do do do do do to i-it.

Let's all get together and make bullying kill itself.

Bullying's an ugly thing

Lets shove its face in the dirt and make bullying kill itself.

3) Liberals Are Rebellious: If some nerd standing in the middle of a Star Trek convention shouted, Star Wars is inferior to Star Trek and then wanted everyone to pat him on the back and tell him how courageous he was for doing it, people would laugh. Yet liberals surround themselves almost entirely with other liberals, get liberalism served up to them at school, watch liberalism on TV at home, hear liberal messages from their favorite celebrities and musicians, get their news from MSNBC and the Daily Show and then want all the other libs doing the same thing to laud them for their courage because they say, I dont like Donald Trump or Good for Colin Kaepernick for protesting during the national anthem! Look at how Im fighting the power by saying the same thing as the New York Times, Washington Post and Lady Gaga! As Greg Gutfeld said, Liberalism is the one-way ticket to backslapping approval among the cool kids, which makes it about as rebellious as a divorced dad getting an earring from the local malls Piercing Pagoda.

4) Liberals Are Tolerant: The LEAST TOLERANT people in America outside of maybe the God Hates F*gs wackos are liberals. Dont believe that? Try being a conservative whos invited to speak on a college campus, a black man who likes Donald Trump or a gay American who opposes gay marriage and see how that goes for you when you interact with liberals. Think about the fact that there are college professors, actors and reporters who have to hide their ideologies because it would hurt their careers to have their liberal colleagues know they dont agree with everything Michael Moore has to say. The most abusive people in America when it comes to women? Theyre liberal men talking to conservative women. Incidentally, the second most abusive group are liberal feminists who claim to represent all women. Liberals are habitually nasty, dishonest and vindictive toward people for no other reason than because theyre incapable of tolerating even a politely offered dissenting viewpoint.

5) Liberals Are In Favor Of Progress: Liberals are so sure that theyre in favor of progress that they call themselves progressives. Meanwhile, theyve been pushing variations on the same economic agenda for 80 years even after socialism became so discredited that even the red Chinese started moving toward capitalism. Their ideas on free speech at college campuses? They believe in shutting down the speech of people that disagree with them, with violence if necessary, just like Mussolini. By the way, did you know Mussolini was widely acknowledged as a lefty even by other liberals until WWII kicked off? Liberal Democrats finally reached the same place on race in the 1960s as conservative Republicans were during the Civil War, then pretended they were the good guys all along. Once you get beyond that, what do you have? A reflexive hostility toward morals and Christianity that has been around for decades and a bunch of libs who arent sure what gender they are trying to come up with creative new things to be offended about.

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The 5 Biggest Things Liberals Get Wrong About Themselves - Townhall

CNSNews.com

Poll: Americans Liberal on Many Moral Issues, But Not Abortion, Porn, Adultery CNSNews.com (CNSNews.com) -- In its latest annual Values and Beliefs poll, Gallup found that strong majorites of Americans are very liberal on certain moral issues, such as birth control, divorce, sex outside of marriage, homosexual relations, and having children ...

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Poll: Americans Liberal on Many Moral Issues, But Not Abortion, Porn, Adultery - CNSNews.com

BBC News

Election 2017: Will the Liberal Democrats win over young voters? BBC News The Liberal Democrats have launched a manifesto aimed at younger voters - but will this entice them back after the party's controversial coalition with the Conservatives and U-turn on tuition fees? "I think the problem the Liberal Democrats have to ... and more »

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Election 2017: Will the Liberal Democrats win over young voters? - BBC News

Cam Fortems Kamloops This Week

No matter how the numbers play out in the coming weeks, re-elected incumbent Todd Stone is confident hell be part of the government.

Were moving forward, he toldKTWshortly after the provincial election. The people of B.C. have re-elected a B.C. Liberal government its a question of majority or minority.

While under the provincial ballot the Liberals are in a minority situation, Stone said theres a strong possibility his party will win in Courtenay-Comox, where incumbent New Democrat Ronna-Rae Leonard defeated Liberal Jim Benninger by nine votes.

Still uncounted are absentee ballots for the riding with a military base.

Our understanding is we have hundreds, if not thousands, in that riding alone The vast majority tend to vote for us, Stone said.

A flip in Courtenay-Comox would give the B.C. Liberals a majority margin of one, but Stone acknowledged it would still require support at times from another party in the legislature.

Its a wait-and-see, he said.

Newly elected in Kamloops-North Thompson, Peter Milobar called it a weird feeling knowing his personal future, but not knowing how B.C.s next government will work.Milobar said he will move into retiring MLA Terry Lakes Tranquille Road office.

Theres not many spaces [on Tranquille] to slot in, he said. It makes an easy transition.

Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Cathy McLeod watched results late into the evening Ottawa time. She said its become apparent there is a serious urban-rural divide in B.C. that needs to come together.

Neither the NDP nor Greens won a significant number of ridings outside the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.

My sense is communities in rural areas, to them pipelines are important and natural resource projects are important, she said. Vancouver has perhaps a different perspective.

As for the possibility of a minority government, of which McLeod was a part under the Harper government from 2008 to 2011, she said it will restrict options.

If you have something in your running your son is graduating theres no flexibility, she said. You have to be very watchful.

McLeod added minority governments are not able to deliver on some of their promises if they cannot find support outside.

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Liberal MLAs make plans - Clearwater Times

A new Forum Research poll shows the Ontario Liberals have crept up in popularity. They are now just ahead of the NDP. Both are still far behind the Tories. Queen's Park analyst Robert Fisher talks about what might be behind the latest jump in pubic support for Kathleen Wynne's Ontario Liberal party.

Fisher spoke with theCBC'sConradCollacoabout the new poll and the decision by Ontario NDP Deputy Leader Jagmeet Singh to run for the leadership of the federal party to replace Tom Mulcair.Listen to the full interview by clicking the image at the top of the page, or read an edited and abridged transcript below.

Veteran political analyst Robert Fisher delivers his insights into Ontario politics every two weeks. (CBC)

AForum Research poll done May 9thfound the Conservatives in the lead with 41 percent support, followed by the Liberals at 28 and the NDP at 23.It was a change from a March poll that showed the Liberalsin third place.Why do you think the Liberals have rebounded?

It's a snapshot in time. If they were to take a poll today who knows what the numbers might be. Considering the timing of the poll, taken right after the budget, you must say the numbers must in some way reflect the budget. The poll found that there was "major support" for the Liberal pharmacare plan and for the expansion of rent control. These numbers are a long way away from the numbers in the Forum March poll. The question now is can the government continue what appears to be upward movement. Even senior Liberals will acknowledge privately that there is a long, hard road back to the top for Kathleen Wynne.

This week at Queen's Park news came of a leaked report saying rates will skyrocket in 2022.The Liberals say it's an old document.NDP Leader AndreaHorwathcalled for the legislature to sit for an extra week to address the issue. Why are we still waiting for the Liberals to pass the cut in hydro rates they've been promising for months?

If you have a majority government you can do what you want. Earlier in the week the budget was passed. The government used its majority. They could do the same with hydro. There will be more public hearings next week on hydro and maybe the whole plan is not yet put together. The opposition asked and asked and asked all weekfor cost numbers on the hydro plan but they were never delivered while the governmentdenied the numbers in the leaked report.

At some point the hydro plan is going to be in place because the government is absolutely committed to having a 24 percent rate cut in place by thesummer. If you're Kathleen Wynne and have a 15 percent approval rating it's a promise you'd better keep.

If this legislation doesn't get passed before the summer breakwill the Liberals pay for that delay?

Yes and no. At some point the government will pass it. Andrea Horwath tried and failed to get the legislature to sit an extra week. It's not that the opposition is against cutting rates. The opposition has long called for rate cuts. They are concernedthat if we have a cut now what will happen after the next election, say four years from now after the next election.The public hearings will answer some questions and the government will provide more details at some point but ultimately the plan will go ahead.

How are the party leaders doing in the polls?

For the Liberalsthe long road back to the top includes dealing with Kathleen Wynne'spopularity. At 15 percent approval that's a problem when we are about a year from an election. The disapproval of Kathleen Wynneis at 70 percent, sort of historic highs. Patrick Brown and Andrea Horwath have more positives than negatives. They are pretty close together in the category of who would make the best premier.The poll also indicates that both are still, for many people in Ontario, largely unknown. They have some work to do.

In partial defence of the two opposition leaders historically Ontarians don't pay a lot of attention to provincial politics between elections. While Ms. Horwath has been around for a long time it would be a concern to both parties thatthere is a lack of identifiability particularly for Patrick Brown. Lots of work for them to do between now and June 2018.

One other change at Queen's Park this week was the announcement by now former NDP deputy leader Jagmeet Singh that he's running for the federal NDP leadership.How do you see that affecting the provincial NDP?

I don't see this as Mr. Singh abandoning Andrea Horwath in her hour of need. He had flirted with the federal party before. In 2015 there was a lot of talk he would be a candidate. Instead he stayed at Queen's Park and was offered and accepted a role as deputy leader.He's going to keep his seat as an MPP for Bramalea-Gore-Maltonand should he fail I've been told he'll run provincially. If Ms. Horwath fails to bring her party at least to official opposition in the next election she is probably going to be history. Guess who will be there to seek the provincial party leadership. None other than JagmeetSingh. He's collected many IOU's, politically speaking, in Ontario and other provinces as well. He thinks long range and maybe he's got his eyes on the first prize in Ottawa and prize 1A at Queen's Park.

He has already affected the federal race in that he is a candidate who is very different from the others who are there including wearing the turban, the custom-made suits, the appearance in Gentleman's Quarterly Magazine not too many New Democrat candidates appear in Gentleman's Quarterly Magazine.

Mr Singh is very interesting guy. He is fluently bilingual. My Francophone friends tell me his French is more than passable. He campaigned for the NDP in Alberta and in the last B.C. election. He's well known in Ontario in his role as deputy leader. He's going to make a difference in the campaign. He might not win but he'll raise his profile.

Another interesting note on his resume He's a trained mixed-marital arts fighter in Brazilian jiu-jitsuas well...

Yes. He'dbe up against the boxer in Justin Trudeau. Boxing over jiu-jitsu or jiu-jitsu over boxing? Nevertheless, he's all of that and more. That makes him an interesting and unique candidate in any race he's in.

Jagmeet Singh is a lawyer and deputy leader of the Ontario NDP. He speaks French and Punjabi and has represented a Brampton riding in the provincial legislature since 2011. (Mike Crawley/CBC)

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Guess who's back Liberals rise in latest Ontario politics poll: Fisher - CBC.ca