Politics

The State of Louisiana is in an unprecedented fiscal crisis. Unprecedented, as in, it’s never been this bad before. Clancy DuBos, a New Orleans journalist, brings even worse news:

A common refrain among some lawmakers in Baton Rouge these days is that we should “look forward” and stop blaming former Gov. Bobby Jindal for Louisiana’s unprecedented fiscal crisis. If those lawmakers were to read the latest annual report by the Legislative Auditor, they’d change their tune.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erodgan has said that Turkey has the right to invade Syria in order protect the Turkish state against terrorism. Speaking with the Hurriyet newspaper the Turkish leader said that he won’t rule out the possibility of invading other countries in the Middle East that harbour terrorists. RT.com reports: “Turkey has every right to conduct operations in Syria and the places where terror organizations are nested with regards to the struggle against the threats that Turkey faces,” Erdogan was cited as saying by the Hurriyet newspaper.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent his Defence Minister Sergei Shogu to make an unannounced visit to Iran in order to deliver a very “special message” to President Hassan Rouhani.  The details of the message are confidential, but the ongoing Syrian conflict is likely to feature as part of their conversation. Ibtimes.co.uk reports: Shoigu landed in Tehran on 21 February and met his counterpart Hossein Dehghan separately. Only days ago the Iranian defence minister visited Russia, where the two countries agreed to step up their military cooperation.

What I find fascinating about the punditocracy’s constant commentary on the Trump Phenomenon is this: Nothing about that phenomenon is difficult to understand. In fact, it seems to me that thoughtful commenters have reached a remarkable level of consensus about Trumpery.

With nine days until the Massachusetts Primary on March 1st (Super Tuesday), the first polls show Donald Trump with an enormous lead over his rivals for the GOP nomination (with Ted Cruz suffering the biggest setback). So much for all those Jeb supporters 'swinging' away from Trump.

According to The Emerson College Polling Society...

New #Massachusetts Poll#GOP@realDonaldTrump- 50%@marcorubio- 16%@JohnKasich- 13%@tedcruz- 10%@RealBenCarson- 2%