The Republican Party and Donald Trump

Donald Trump's remarks about immigrants from Mexico has upset the republican party and its other Presidential candidates.  Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham's latest remarks on the subject matter said Trump's position does not represent the republican's position on immigration and that Trump could cause a voter backlash from the Latino community and hurt the party's chances at the polls in the 2016 election.

Graham of course should understand that his party is responsible for setting the table for Trumps remarks.  The party has failed to take up the immigration issue in the congress they control and have no plans to deal with the issue before the 2016 election. (unless Trump's remarks force them to do so)  Both Trump and the republican's are playing to the party's base.  They want the court to handle the issue like they tried to do with the Affordable Care Act.  The democratic controlled Senate passed immigration reform over two years ago but the republican controlled House has never even taken it up to be debated and or voted on.

Trump is not a conservative and that also riles his republican rivals who are running for the party's nomination.  But once again, Trump's idea of government is the same as his party.  He is part of corporate America who believes in lobbying congress for a lot of tax breaks and loopholes and uses his wealth to help politicians fund their campaigns.  When Trump says the country is going to Hell he fails to mention that corporate America is doing just fine but their employees not so well.

Trump is the only candidate among his republican rivals generating any excitement.  It wont stand up when the real questions will be asked about his positions, but what all this points out is a republican party who still lacks any coherent policy or message concerning the many important issues facing the country.  

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

The BP Settlement For The Gulf Rig Explosion

The U.S. Supreme Court denied BP's request for a new hearing concerning the federal trial and its judgement against BP for the macondo well and the oil spill that resulted.  The courts actions ended BP's options and now BP is talking settlement numbers with Louisiana and other gulf states that were harmed.  The exact numbers are not in yet but BP will pay billions to Louisiana and other states.

The Obama administration and the federal government's rules and regulations carried the day and enforced the law by holding BP responsible and accountable for its negligent acts of damaging the environment.  The federal government stood tall under the President's leadership despite the noise from those Louisiana elected officials who opposed the moratorium which was necessary until what went wrong could be sorted out.

Too bad Louisiana's elected officials have failed to hold the oil industry accountable for the environmental damage caused by their operations for the past 40 plus years.  They have even opposed the Levee Board's law suit against those companies to bring justice to Louisiana.  The people of Louisiana should be glad the Obama administration and the federal government was looking after the state's interest and had the fore sight to pass federal regulations that would hold the industry accountable for their offshore operations.

The federal government does a lot of things right under democratic administrations.  When policy is void of ideology, decisions are made that benefit the people and the country.  It is really a fore gone conclusion.  It is what precedent is all about.  The next step for Louisiana is for the people to elect a democratic governor this fall to replace the disaster called Bobby Jindal.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio