Politics

The government in Canada have announced a new scheme that will offer citizens unconditional free cash, regardless of their work status.  The trial will initially be conducted in Ontario, and is intended to mirror similar schemes in Finland and the Netherlands in which the government give citizens a regular monthly allowance. The “basic income” scheme is intended to help people cover living expenses such as food, transportation, clothing, and utilities regardless of their background or job status. Techinsider.io reports: It’s a radical idea, and one that has been around since the 1960s.

Journalists in Turkey clashed with authorities in protests against a government-orchestrated take-over of Turkish newspaper Zaman earlier this week, as a mass crackdown on independent media in Turkey has been implemented by Erdogan’s administration.  The Turkish government have said they will shutdown or take over any media that is critical of government policy. The Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Murat Emir has criticised the crackdown as illegally stifling free speech and independent media.

Submitted by Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org,

Narrow victories in the Kentucky caucuses and the Louisiana primary, the largest states decided on Saturday, have moved Donald Trump one step nearer to the nomination.

Primaries in Michigan, Mississippi and Idaho on March 8, and in Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina on March 15, may prove decisive. If Marco Rubio does not win his home state of Florida, he is cooked, as is Gov. John Kasich if he does not win Ohio.

Frontrunners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will both face fresh tests on Tuesday, in their respective quests for their party’s presidential nomination.

Trump put on a respectable, if less spectacular performance on Saturday, prevailing in Louisiana and Kentucky but falling to Ted Cruz in Kansas and Maine. As Bloomberg writes, “Trump’s victories also were narrower than polling had indicated, suggesting that attacks on his crude language and ill-defined policies from 2012 nominee Mitt Romney and others could be having an impact.”

Maybe.

Last Thursday, in a speech delivered at the University of Utah, Mitt Romney blindsided Donald Trump in what amounted to a scathing indictment of the billionaire’s ability to lead the country.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/video/players/offsite/index.html