Mark Weisbrot — Still Meddling in Venezuela

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has stepped up its efforts at “regime change” in Venezuela....

Gunboat diplomacy in new garb.

Why does the US care about Venezuela? Oil, what else?

Counterpunch
Still Meddling in Venezuela
Mark Weisbrot

And now it is official: the official non-Trumpist Republican line is now that all of that stuff about the tax "reform" bill delivering materially faster economic growth in exchange for widening inequality was just boob bait for the bubbas.

Marco Rubio has second thoughts. Watch GOP candidates up for reelection in 2018 backpedal.

Grasping Reality
And now it is official: the official non-Trumpist Republican line is now that all of that stuff about the tax "reform" bill delivering materially faster economic growth in exchange for widening inequality was just boob bait for the bubbas.
Brad DeLong | Professor of Economics, UCAL Berkeley

ProGrowthLiberal — Krugman v. Mankiw on Rubio’s Tax Cut – Show Me the Model

Greg Mankiw of Team Republican tries to counter an attack from Paul Krugman on Rubio’s tax cut for the rich, which may come as breathing spell from the flap over that “analysis” by Gerald Friedman (my two cents on that flap in a bit).…

Econospeak
Krugman v. Mankiw on Rubio’s Tax Cut – Show Me the Model

ProGrowthLiberal

Mark Thoma — Paul Krugman: Cranks on Top

Paul Krugman gets one right, although he doesn't completely know why, being out of paradigm. The the crazies are so far out of paradigm it's still possible to be vaguely right.

Economist’s View
Paul Krugman: Cranks on Top
Mark Thoma | Professor of Economics, University of Oregon

Marco Rubio — If You Like Bernie Sanders, ‘Move To A Socialist Country’

The growing popularity of Democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) proves that Democrats, not Republicans, have been “radicalized” over the course of the 2016 presidential election, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said on Wednesday.

Speaking in front of an audience in South Carolina, the Republican presidential candidate pushed back against claims that Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) have driven the Republican party toward the radical right. Those claims were sparked after Trump proposed policies like banning all Muslims from entering the United States and killing the families of terrorists, and Cruz proposed“carpet bombing” ISIS.But according to Rubio, it’s the Democrats who have gone too far.

“The Democratic Party has been taken over by radical left-wing elements,” Rubio said, adding he doesn’t understand why people have been calling out Republicans for moving right-ward during the election while Sanders — an avowed democratic socialist — won New Hampshire and is gaining in national polls. “The Democratic party has been radicalized,” he said.

Rubio also urged voters who supported Sanders’ agenda to move to another country.
“If you want to live in a socialist country, why not move to a socialist country?” He asked. “We want to be America.”…

On Wednesday, Rubio also said someone like Trump or Cruz would be a better choice for the presidency because “none of [them are] a socialist.”

Think Progress

Rubio: If You Like Bernie Sanders, ‘Move To A Socialist Country’
Emily Atkin

Rubio clarifies:

Marco Rubio says socialism is distinct from the communism his parents fled in Cuba and he doesn't fault Bernie Sanders for promoting it -- but that doesn't mean he agrees with his Senate colleague.…

"What I appreciate about Bernie is he's not trying to shirk from it," Rubio said. "It's what he believes in. He's honest about it."

He also noted that the viewpoint obviously resonates with plenty of people who support Sanders' presidential campaign and have re-elected him in Vermont.

"I don't think it works for America," Rubio said. "My argument is, you want to live in a country like that -- there's like dozens of countries around the world that are socialist -- move there. We should continue to be America."

But the beauty of democracy, Rubio added, is that the debate can happen.
"I don't personally have a problem with Bernie because he's being honest about what he believes in. I'd love to have that debate," Rubio said.

Rubio seems to have completely forgotten about FDR and the New Deal, which is more or less what Bernie is proposing as "the fair deal."

CNN Politics

Marco Rubio sticks up for Bernie Sanders
Tal Kopan



Raw Story
Professor Frances Fox Piven describes Sanders: You could call him a New Deal Democrat
Arturo Garcia

John Kiriakou — Trump’s Impeachable Offense

But torture isn’t just bad policy. It’s against the law.

First, the federal Torture Act stipulates that if an American soldier, CIA officer, or anybody else acting on behalf of the government waterboards a prisoner, he risks up to 20 years imprisonment. The McCain-Feinstein Amendment Congress passed last year reiterated the ban on torture, including waterboarding.

Second, our country is a signatory to the United Nations Convention Against Torture. Waterboarding a prisoner is against international law and could subject the torturer — or the person ordering or approving the torture — to international sanctions, including prosecution in international courts.

In the early part of the last decade, torture fans in the George W. Bush Justice Department — most infamously in a legal opinion by attorneys John Yoo and Jay Bybee — twisted the law itself into contortions to argue that certain forms of torture were permissible. Al-Qaeda, they said, was a “non-state actor,” not a country. As such, its members should receive none of the protections of international law.

That argument was specious on its face. Absolutely nothing in U.S. law says that there are two sets of rules — one for countries and one for terrorist groups. The law is the law, whether we like it or not — including international conventions adopted by the United States.

Trump is no the only candidate calling for "taking the gloves off." So have Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina.

John Kiriakou is the only person imprisoned by the US so far in the torture scandal — for blowing the whistle on torturers. 

This is a national disgrace that has cost the US dearly in credibility and soft power.

Truthdig
Trump’s Impeachable Offense
John Kiriakou

Sara Jerde — Rubio: 'God's Rules' Win Over Supreme Court Decisions

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said in a video posted Tuesday that he believes people of faith should ignore laws that violate their religion.Rubio told the Christian Broadcasting Network that no law is "settled," making reference to Supreme Court decisions that legalized same-sex marriage.

“In essence, if we are ever ordered by a government authority to personally violate and sin — violate God’s law and sin — if we’re ordered to stop preaching the Gospel, if we’re ordered to perform a same-sex marriage as someone presiding over it, we are called to ignore that," Rubio said. "We cannot to abide by that because government is compelling us to sin."

“So when those two come into conflict, God’s rules always win,” he added.

Oops. Rubio apparently doesn't realize that he is making an argument for the religious law of other faiths in the United States — like sharia for Muslims, which Islamic fundamentalists also claim on the same grounds.

Or does Rubio believe that Christianity is the state religion of the United States.

TPM
Rubio: 'God's Rules' Win Over Supreme Court Decisions

Sara Jerde

Marco Rubio gets backing from blood sucking financial predator Paul Singer

We know who Marco Rubio is going to be working for if he is elected president. You can forget about all his bullshit rhetoric about empowering people and helping them to succeed. This water sucking slick talker is going to be handing over even more to the billionaires and plutocrats that he so transparently adores.

Check out his newest financial backer: Paul Singer. Singer is nothing more than a disgusting billionaire hedge fund parasite. His claim to fame? Making terrible, losing investments in Argentinian bonds, then getting the U.S. courts (he's a lawyer) to grant him mafia-style kneecap-busting "collection" power, which Argentina has courageously resisted.

This scum is also going after Puerto Rico now, demanding that the Commonwealth close schools and hospitals to make good on its debt. (So he can get whole on another losing position.)

This guy, Singer, is a blood sucking poster boy for why we should euthanize the entire class of these financial predators. They are a cancer on society

Boehner, Rubio, cry as the Pope speaks. Do they cry for the hungry and homeless when they cut their financial aid?

What a bunch of sadistic phonies. Blubbering John Boehner, crying like a baby as he introduces the Pope. Then there's Marco Rubio, who was seen crying as the cameras flashed to him.

What are these assholes crying for?

Do they cry when they cut food stamps to kids and the hungry?
Do they cry when they cut Medicare to the elderly?
Do they cry for the students who are charged interest on their loans and whose lives are wrecked when they can't pay because there's no jobs?
Do they cry for the vets and the wounded who fought in the wars they authorize?

What a bunch of phony hypocrites. They should rot in Hell.

Larry C. Johnson — Carly Fiorina, Republican Warmonger

If you tuned into the Republican slugfest last night you did have the opportunity to hear most of the candidates weigh in on foreign policy and national security. The message that most conveyed was frightening and demonstrated gross ignorance. The worst offenders in this area were Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio. Tough talking, saber rattling and dead-ass wrong in their proposed prescriptions. I am particularly shocked by what Carly Fiorina said. I had already sent her some money and considered her a legitimate contender. After her performance last night, I would not let her run a high school car wash.…

Marco Rubio was not much better. Here is his proposal for starting a new Cold War….

We need some wisdom informed by history and culture. Judging from the public reaction to last night’s debate, Americans have no interest in wisdom and are enamored of those proposing policies that will lead to war.

No Quarter
Carly Fiorina, Republican Warmonger
Larry C. Johnson

Larry C. Johnson is a former analyst at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, who moved subsequently in 1989 to the U.S. Department of State, where he served four years as the deputy director for transportation security, antiterrorism assistance training, and special operations in the State Department's Office of Counterterrorism. He left government service in October 1993 and set up a consulting business. He currently is the co-owner and CEO of BERG Associates, LLC (Business Exposure Reduction Group) and is an expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, and crisis and risk management, and money laundering investigations. Johnson is the founder and main author of No Quarter, a weblog that addresses issues of terrorism and intelligence and politics. NoQuarterUSA was nominated as Best Political Blog of 2008.

telesur — Rubio Launches US President Bid with Attacks on Latin America

United States Senator Marco Rubio launched his presidential campaign Monday, with a fierce speech promising to renew U.S. leadership around the world. “We must no longer be passive in the face of Chinese and Russian aggression … especially Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua … by ending the near total disregard for the erosion of democracy and human rights around the world then our nation will be safer,” said Rubio, making his disapproval of these governments explicit. The statement contradicts a previous intervention by Rubio with the Brookings Institution in 2012, where he acknowledged that the governments of Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Bolivia were democratically elected. The Republican candidate promised he will usher in a “new American Century,” highlighting his belief that the U.S. has weakened, adding that the 2016 elections would decide what kind of country the U.S. would be in the future.…

More gunboat diplomacy.

Curiously enough, the US has two offspring of Cuban emigrés running for president. For their background as Cuban-Americans who are strong anti-Castro/Cuban revolution, see Fulgencio Batista for the history.

telesur
Rubio Launches US President Bid with Attacks on Latin America

Dean Baker — David Brooks Is Making History

Read David Brooks is rewriting history, or David Brooks doesn't know what he is talking about.

Actually, it is pretty funny pitting Rubio against Summers. Summers would chew him up in a debate, along with David Brooks for good measure. Not that I think Summers is that great, but at least he is "smart."

CEPR
David Brooks Is Making History
Dean Baker

Laura Clawson — Cruz Caucus plots next Republican hostage taking ... of its own party

More on the GOP civil war from the trenches. High stakes game played by newbies to Congress and the political process. They think they are smashing success so far, and apparently so does their constituency. How this will play outside the base remains to be seen. Previously, candidates would through red meat to the base well in advance of the election and then with a wink-wink, run to the center. Seem that is ruled out by these purists. Previously, this would get you smacked down by the leadership. But these are different times.

Daily Kos
Cruz Caucus plots next Republican hostage taking ... of its own party
Laura Clawson

David Edwards — Rubio: House Republicans ‘deserve’ to dictate immigration reform after government shutdown (via Raw Story )

Rubio: House Republicans ‘deserve’ to dictate immigration reform after government shutdown (via Raw Story )

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) on Sunday said that President Barack Obama must cave to House Republicans’ demands on immigration reform because he had “undermined” the effort by refusing to defund his signature health care reform law. During an interview…

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