Dreaming of life without the GOP? Welcome to California where things are far from perfect

Partisans cherish a persistent illusion: Everything would be fantastic if it wasn't for those dopes in the other party. Yet, as one side gains power, its ability to pass the buck invariably wanes.

In Washington, where Republicans now control the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives, there is no one else to blame if the healthcare system, the tax code and the economy do not improve, or if the environment deteriorates and our foreign enemies assert themselves. For the next two years, the GOP owns every federal policy success and failure.

Many Californians fear the worst from the GOP’s virtual monopoly. President Trump is unpopular here. So are the Republicans. In fact, Golden State officials have positioned themselves as a bulwark of "resistance" to significant parts of their agenda.

Gov. Jerry Brown is defiant on environmental policy. Sheila Kuehl of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has encouraged people "to engage in any way they can to slow down anything that might come from the federal departments and Congress,” declaring that "you can’t just be dormant when fascism is growing.”

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-friedersdorf-democrats-own-california-20170303-story.html

The latest poll numbers in Ecuador are a bad sign for Julian Assange

Ecuador will elect a new president April 2, and poll results are not looking good for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

According to a Feb. 23-24 survey of 2,834 Ecuadorans by the Cedatos polling agency, right-wing challenger Guillermo Lasso is leading the ruling party candidate, Lenin Moreno, by a margin of 52 to 48 percent.

Lasso has pledged to evict Assange from Ecuador’s embassy in London within 30 days if he is elected.

Assange has lived at the embassy since 2012 under the protection of Ecuador’s leftist President Rafael Correa, but Correa is ineligible to run for a third term. The WikiLeaks founder has lived in a small converted office at the embassy during that time, and if he is forced to leave, he would be subject to arrest as soon as he steps on the sidewalk.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/02/27/the-latest-poll-numbers-in-ecuador-are-a-bad-sign-for-julian-assange

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