Category Archives: Liberal

Thomas Gallatin Jul. 3, 2017

What is a liberal? Or maybe a better question is, what does the term liberal refer to today? Well, according to Jacques Berlinerblau, a professor from Georgetown University who recently wrote an article for the Washington Post, there are liberals and then there are radical leftists. Berlinerblau admits that American academia is mostly comprised of liberal professors and that those professors who identify as politically conservative are utterly under-represented in Americas halls of higher learning, with humanities departments in particular being the least politically diverse. In other words, it is not wrong to suggest that leftist ideology is controlling most of the nations colleges and universities.

But while Berlinerblau rightly concludes that conservatives are not to blame for the recent havoc wreaked in places like Middlebury, UC Berkeley and Evergreen College, he also attempts to shift the blame away from liberals. According to Berlinerblau, three groups exist in academia: a small conservative minority, a sizable liberal contingent and the dominate radical left who he blames for the current campus intolerance. The question remains, what is the difference between a liberal and a leftist?

Berlinerblaus answer to that question ends up sounding more like a difference in the manner of application of ideology rather than an actual distinction in form. He cites as examples liberals reactions to certain events, such as liberals didnt exult over Irans 1979 Islamic revolution, or that liberals didnt refer to the victims of 9/11 as little Eichmanns. He also notes that liberals are generally made highly uncomfortable by censorship, speaker boycotts, trigger warnings, safe spaces and the like. Berlinerblaus argument sounds eerily similar to the one made by Muslims who may reject the methods of Islamic terrorists, yet refuse to disavow Islamists.

The truth is that modern liberalism stands in stark contrast to those classical liberal values expressed by our nations Founding Fathers. It is todays conservatives who hold most closely to those classical liberal principles. Todays radical leftist social justice warrior is merely the logical manifestation of modern liberal ideology a distinction without a difference. It is modern liberalism that can be credited with teaching the ideology of socialism that glories in the utopian ideals of Karl Marx. It is modern liberalism that sees little value in Christianity and has a long mocked Christians as backward fools. It is modern liberalism that has questioned the very nature of truth itself, opening a Pandoras box of relativism. No, Professor Berlinerblau, liberals may not like it, but the radical left is their creation; they are to be blamed.

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Liberal vs Left - Patriot Post

The Fourth of July used to be a happy occasion. It smelled like chlorine and tasted like rocket pops. For a time, it looked like Barack and Michelle, dancing together for the first time as president and first lady as Beyonc sang At Last by Etta James. When the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, it sounded like a roar of triumph that echoed from coast to coast. That year, the fireworks, and our future, never seemed so brilliant.

When Barack Obama was president, there was a growing sense among us young progressives that the arc of the moral universe was indeed starting to bend toward justice. It was slow and it was imperfect, but our fitful progress along it endowed many of us with a sense of pride. The flag looked a little different. It looked like something that could be ours.

This year, the holiday weekend finds many of us in a darker mood. It is our first Fourth of July with President Trump. The refugee ban is back on. And somewhere in America, Paul Ryan is cracking another cold one while 22 million Americans are at risk of losing their health insurance. The arc isnt bending as fast as we thought.

In light of so much injustice, how should we observe Independence Day? Should we dismiss the holiday all together roll up our flags and boycott the barbecues? Like Los Angeles considering scrapping Columbus Day for Indigenous Peoples Day, we could scrub the Fourth of July and give it a makeover. Instead of red, white and blue, we could don black.

Such a response would be in line with recent trends. Over the last year, patriotism has been dropping sharply among Democrats. According to a Gallup poll from March, 67% of Democrats said they are very proud to be an American, compared with 92% of Republicans.

While denouncing the Fourth may be emotionally satisfying, cognitive science suggests it would be politically unwise. As UC Berkeleys George Lakoff preaches, people are drawn to positive messages far more than negative ones, even when the negative ones are backed up with facts. According to Lakoff, this is why Trump won the election.

It is also why we cant afford to be downers on the Fourth.

If Lakoff is right, we should salute the flag instead of burning it. Instead of railing against Trump, we should talk about why we care so much about the Constitution. If our uncle shows up wearing a This is what a REAL patriot looks like! shirt, we should put one on, too. The point is not mimicry, but reframing.

For too long, progressives have relinquished the word patriot to conservatives and freedom-fry hawkers. In doing so we concede defeat. If we say we arent proud of our country, then we are letting someone else define what our country is. America is far bigger than Donald Trump. In fact, it is 2.8 million voters bigger.

If the left can learn to make the stars and stripes its own, it will appeal to some Trump voters, too. As social psychologist Jonathan Haidt argues in his book The Righteous Mind, conservatives vote based on certain moral values that liberals do not typically articulate. Among these are loyalty, sanctity and authority all of which Trump played to with his Make America Great Again message. The standard liberal response America was never great was correct from a civil rights perspective, but also continued to portray liberals as fundamentally irreverent. If Democrats want to win another election, this is an image they must change.

This Fourth, lets show weve learned our lessons, and are ready for 2018. Fly the flag. Take back the power.

We, too, are America.

Cassady Rosenblum is an intern in The Times Opinion section.

cassady.rosenblum@latimes.com

@cassadyariel

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook

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How should an angry liberal celebrate the Fourth of July? Fly the flag even higher - Los Angeles Times

Paul Chabot is a native Californian who stood for Congress last year as a Republican, in a district near Los Angeles. After his defeat, he decided the only option was to move to Texas.

Californias become a lost cause, he said. I was born and raised there when it was a Republican state. Ronald Reagan was from there, Nixon was from there, we had great schools back in the 70s and 80s, low crime, great paying jobs. Now its a 180, its a complete opposite of that.

I lost to a very liberal Democrat that the people elected and I came to the conclusion that you cant help people who dont want to help themselves. That really was the end of it for us in California. We realised then that the majority of the people around us no longer shared the same values that my wife and I believe in.

Chabot, his wife Brenda and their four young children relocated to Collin County, which covers some of the most affluent and manicured suburbs of Dallas and where a four-bed home can be yours for under $350,000. And all 38 elected officials, from the sheriff to the district attorney to the tax assessor-collector, are Republicans.

In California we always jokingly said, If this state goes to hell well end up moving to Texas. And a lot of people say it and some people actually do it, Chabot said.

He is now a player in a long-running and freshly escalated ideological and economic battle between Americas most populous liberal and conservative states.

A new adoption law that critics describe as anti-LGBTQ has prompted California to ban state-funded trips to Texas. Chabots strategy is quite the opposite. In May he launched Conservative Move slogan: Helping Families Move Right a company to help fellow sufferers flee their liberal hellscapes and find asylum in the warm, red glow of suburban north Texas.

Its not the same state it was 30, 40, 50 years ago. So you have a base who are frustrated with California and want out

The 43-year-old said the response has been fast and furious: about a thousand expressions of interest, three-quarters of them from Californians.

The people who are contacting us are very upset with state politics, he said. They might have been a lifelong Californian like I was, but theyre saying the state doesnt represent me any more, its not the same state it was 30, 40, 50 years ago. So you have a base of people who are just frustrated with California and want out.

A couple of years ago, he said, he saw a news article that declared the fast-growing county seat of McKinney to be the finest place to live in the US.

As a Californian what I love here is that theres no state income tax, the politics here supports the second amendment, they dont support sanctuary cities or any of that stuff that weve dealt with in California and Texas is very tough on crime. They also have excellent schools where we are, Chabot said.

He is surrounded by Californian ex-pats, he said: My neighbour across the street, my mail man, the guy at Home Depot in the plumbing department, the police officer I met in a coffee shop.

According to a Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) analysis of American Community Survey data, 502,978 people older than 25 moved from California to Texas between 2005 and 2015. Some 290,214 people went the other way. Texas was the top destination for Californians, and vice-versa.

With 27 million Texas residents and 39 million in California, the figures suggest that roughly 1.1% of Texans over 25 moved to California and 1.3% of Californians moved to Texas over that decade. That hardly depicts a flood, or a clear winner in a rivalry that has come to symbolise the growing divide between right and left in the country as a whole. But it is a philosophical gulf that will become even more entrenched geographically if Chabots business flourishes.

There is scant evidence that politics is a main migration factor. Hans Johnson, of the PPIC, said the data indicates economic and family reasons are key drivers.

Housing prices in California have escalated quite rapidly over the last five years and that of course will push more people out of the state, he said.

As a Sacramento Bee headline put it in March: California exports its poor to Texas, other states, while wealthier people move in.

When he was governor of Texas, as the oil and gas boom helped the state prosper despite the recession of the late 2000s, Rick Perry voiced radio advertisements seeking to woo Californian businesses an effort that the Democratic governor, Jerry Brown, termed barely a fart.

They can laugh at Californias travel ban to Texas but itll be more than a travel ban from one state

With a Republican in the White House, California now makes an appealing scapegoat for Texas politicians who fired up their base by disparaging Barack Obama.

Its funny how the very state that is so adamantly against keeping terrorists out of our country they oppose the presidents travel ban now wants to keep Californians out of Texas, a spokesman for Texas attorney general Ken Paxton told the Houston Chronicle. I guess thats California logic.

But an energy industry downturn has hurt Texas economy, and though Arizona and North Carolina endured boycotts in recent years for legislation perceived as discriminatory, Texas is likely to pass a bathroom bill this summer to limit restroom access for transgender people. In protest at a new immigration law, the American Immigration Lawyers Association has switched its 2018 conference from the Dallas area to San Francisco.

They can laugh at Californias travel ban to Texas but itll be more than a travel ban from one state, said Sylvia Garcia, a Democratic state senator from Houston. Itll be more states and it will be more companies who do not want to relocate here and it will be more conferences and more visitors who wont want to come here.

While Texas lawmakers fulminate against liberal values with the rallying cry, Dont California our Texas!, the states biggest cities have turned bluer, most obviously Austin, where Silicon Valley giants such as Google and Facebook have a significant presence. Last November, Hillary Clinton secured more than 54% of the vote in Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio, even though Donald Trump won Texas easily.

Tanya Santillan, a 30-year-old attorney originally from northern California, moved to Houston last year from Washington DC. Especially as a Mexican American in the current environment, she said, she is cautious about discussing politics in her adopted state, but Houston has been a pleasant surprise.

You always come in with a preconceived notion that its going to be super-conservative, maybe more racism, a lot more backward-thinking, more religious. You dont necessarily expect for there to be as much diversity as there is, and I think Houston, its a bubble inside of Texas, people are a lot more progressive. I think maybe if I lived in a smaller town than Houston my experience would be completely different.

When I first mentioned to some of my friends that I was moving to Houston, they just kind of asked, like, Why?'

Santillan has a pragmatic attitude. This is where you get the most for your money, she said, and the political climate is not enough to disincentivise you to move there.

Kyle Loftis has a similar view. The 34-year-old grew up in southern California and lived in San Francisco before moving to Houston four years ago. He works for a parking company and said the transition was smooth.

When I first mentioned to some of my friends that I was moving to Houston, they just kind of asked, like, Why? Why would you move to Texas? he said.

There were a few jokes about Texas being gun country and all that kind of stuff, but nothing too bad, really. I would say it was just more of a little bit of confusion, like, Why are you moving out there? You can get a job here.

But the Bay Area is notoriously expensive. My biggest thing was just the affordability. The cost of living is just far lower in Texas, Loftis said.

Another transplant from the Bay Area to Houston, Chris Pedersen, a 34-year-old who works in the oil and gas industry said the cost of living in California was getting ridiculous. Its become very problematic.

My grandma lives in a two-bedroom, two-bath townhouse [20 miles south of San Francisco] which just got appraised for a million dollars. Its crazy. We just closed on a house actually a week ago, were moving in as we speak, and its half of that, and its a great neighborhood, great house. Theres no way we would have been able to afford it in California.

Do I agree with all the Texas politics, no. But do I agree with all the Californian politics, not at all. Youll have your challenges wherever.

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Your place or mine? Texas liberals and California conservatives swap states - The Guardian

I hate to admit it, but the talks of a so-called truce, or a toning down of the political rhetoric, by our members of Congress was crap. We all knew it. Cmonyouve had to see this lie coming a mile away. We have two separate parties that have deep, systemic divisions on how government should be run and its associated issues, free speech, gun rights, health care etc., so a truce on the rhetoric was never going to happen. Just like it didnt happen after Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) was shot. Even as House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) fought for his life, liberals were more or less saying he deserved it because he had the voting record of a conservative Republican. Scores more were hoping that he died. Now, as the health care battle is upon us, Democrats are saying the GOP wants to kill people, and that the GOP health care agenda will lead to thousands of people dying. This truce was never going to last long because a) were on the verge of an election year; b) Democrats want to try and retake Congress; and c) this is politicswin at all costs. And health scare tactics work very, very well.

On the issue of Second Amendment rights, what better characters to fan the flames of nonsense than the Hollywood Left, like actor Michael Ian Black, who thinks the NRA might be a terrorist organization. He even looked up terrorism in a dictionary. The FBIs definition is probably the one you should cite in a debate: There is no single, universally accepted, definition of terrorism. Terrorism is defined in the Code of Federal Regulations as the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

This is all because NRA spokeswoman Dana Loeschreleased an awesome videoshowing that conservatives will fight liberals on the battlefield of ideals with the clenched fist of truth, right? A video where she condemned violence used in the context of a political debate by anyone or any side. Right now, its the Left who are engaging in politically motivated violence, rioting, burning stuff, vandalizing college campuses, attacking pro-Trump demonstrators, and taking shots at GOP lawmakers as they practice for a charity baseball event. Yet, its the NRA, the oldest civil rights organization in the country, thats the real problem because they want to protect something thats enshrined and codified in our Constitution. Second, there was no call for violence in Loeschs video. If you think words that denounce violence is itself a call for violence, I dont know what to say other than see a doctor and ask if Xanax is right for you. Its that or youre just fragile. Too fragile and must need a safe space in case a triggering occurs. These people have the right to say what they want; it provides for hilarious entertainment. But we dont have to take them seriously.

When James Hodgkinson, an avowed leftist, tried to execute a mass assassination on Republican lawmakers, that probably could be construed as an act of terrorism. We may never know for sure because the FBI decided to screw up the endgame by saying this was a totally random act, or something. Right, and the list of names that were found on him was just a constituent call list, right?

Weve got to the point, where advocating for issues that liberals dont like makes you a possible terror suspect. Thats insane.

Yeah, this is just patently false. There are scores of stories where a good guy with a gun saved lives (here, here, here, and here). Second, the two cops who saved Rep. Scalise and other GOP members of Congress are another example of guns saving people. Keep in mind, the Capitol Police charged Hodgkinson, who was armed with an SKS rifle (7.62mx39), with their service handguns. They were outgunned. Side note: concealed carry holder are not only better trained than police; theyre also some of the most law-abiding in the country, but keep denigrating people who dont live in Los Angeles, or any big city, by suggesting they might be terrorists because theyre not liberals.

Correction: Itll be the next seven years if you guys keep this up.

Fake News: Website Says Dana Loesch NRA Ad Said 'Americans Need Guns To Shoot The Resistance'

South Korea Military: North Korea Launches Ballistic Missile

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Hollywood Liberal: NRA Might Be A Terrorist Organization - Townhall

I have an Independence Day tradition: I like to listen to songs about America. My favorites tend to be critical of this country in some way, such as Woody Guthries This Land Is Your Land or Bruce Springsteens Born in the USA. These arent the flag-waving anthems their titles suggest; theyre searing indictments of a nation that failed its citizens by leaving them poor, stuck and feeling as Springsteen sings like a dog thats been beat too much. On our day of national pride, when celebratory words such as freedom and liberty are hurled about like Roman candles, it feels important to remain clear-eyed about our faults.

But at some point in the day, perhaps after taking in a greed-bashing punk tune or Nina Simones burning civil rights lament Mississippi Goddam, I have a secret favorite: Lee Greenwoods God Bless the USA. Its a song my fellow liberals love to hate. I love it.

Yes, it is overwrought and jingoistic. It glorifies war. It trumpets self-righteousness. Theres a reason Greenwood was invited to perform the song at the inaugurations of the last four Republican presidents, including Donald America First Trump.

Im proud to be an American, where at least I know Im free, the song famously declares. Its exactly the kind of vapid Independence Day rhetoric I cant stand. Not everything about our country is rainbows and unicorns. What about government surveillance? Institutionalized racism? Children whose futures are determined by the ZIP codes where theyre born?

And yet I still find myself moved by this song. Maybe its because I grew up surrounded by soldiers in Camp Zama, a U.S. Army base in Japan. I remember visiting home from college and seeing a soldier I knew sing the song one night at the local VFW, where my friend was a bartender. The soldiers voice, unexpectedly beautiful, gave me chills.

Or maybe its because even though my mother is from the Philippines and my father is from India, I have always identified first as American. Or maybe its simply the line, so magnificent in its crescendo: Cause there aint no doubt, I love this land.

Because despite the nations flaws, I do love this land. I am proud to be an American. And God Bless the USA, despite its flaws, beautifully captures that sentiment. The melody is an earworm, the swells are triumphant and the emotion though a bit syrupy is authentic. I am impressed by its rawness, its conviction that we are one people and that we should be free. I admire its unabashed enthusiasm, its soft solemnity.

Im reminded of a story about another Independence Day standard: America the Beautiful. Ray Charless enduring version appears on the album A Message From the People, released in 1972, not long after the height of the civil rights movement.

Charles revised the songs lyrics, leaving out phrases such as pilgrim feet and alabaster cities undimmed by human tears. He later explained: Some of the verses were just too white for me, so I cut them out and sang the verses about the beauty of the country and the bravery of the soldiers. Then I put a little country church back beat on it and turned it my way.

When a black magazine criticized Charles for selling out by singing the song, he said his attitude toward America was like that of a mother chastising a child: You may be a pain in the ass, you may be bad, but child, you belong to me.

I know that feeling. It is a sense of immense love, even if that love is sometimes tinged by disappointment. When Greenwood sings in God Bless the USA that hed gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today, its easy to understand where that sentiment comes from. You fight for what you love.

I adore God Bless the USA, but, like Charles, I want to offer my own variation of the song to turn it my way. Its clearly a tribute to the armed forces, and I dont deny the honor in that. But when I listen this Independence Day, Ill also be thinking of the men and women who defended this country and its values in other ways: people like Edward R. Murrow, the broadcaster who risked his career to confront the demagogic Sen. Joe McCarthy; Harvey Milk, who helped pass gay rights legislation in San Francisco before he was assassinated; and Rosa Parks, whose courageous defiance was a spark for the civil rights movement, in which many were killed.

I think, too, of James Baldwin, who wrote in Notes of a Native Son that I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.

For that, as the man says, Ill gladly stand up.

Avi Temkar is a writer and editor in San Francisco.

Published July 4, 2017, midnight in: God Bless the USA, Lee Greenwood, liberals, Patriotism

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Avi Temkar: This liberal loves Greenwood's tune - The Spokesman-Review

Toronto Sun

Doctors quit 'toxic' OMA, tired of being Liberal tools Toronto Sun It is accountable to no one and is a tool for the Ontario Liberal government, which ensures the organization's survival through mandatory, legislated membership dues of nearly $70 million annually. In recent months, the OMA was essentially passive in ... and more »

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Doctors quit 'toxic' OMA, tired of being Liberal tools - Toronto Sun

Look, its Sabo, the conservative guerrilla artist of Los Angeles. A rare sighting. Sort of.

Hewas spotted this weeksmotheringrent-a-bike baskets withMake America Great Again stickers in one of the most liberal cities in the country. On a wall between two movie ads, heslapped upposters of President Trump in the lotus position, serenely raising two middle fingers to whomever.

And stuckto a sidewalk bench, before Sabodisappeared back into semi-anonymity: REPUBLICANS ARE THE NEW PUNK.

The news profiles saySabo, 49,works under darkness adorninga city that overwhelmingly wantedHillary Clinton forpresidentwith posters of her wearingan ill-fitting thong, tattoos and nothing elsebefore the election; andportraying the transgender icon Caitlyn Jenner as a monster clownfrom the movie Itearlier this year.

But Mondays spottingtook place in broad daylight, so afilm crew couldfollow Saboaround.

Peopleused to doubt Sabo even existed, so novel wasstreet art with conservativepolitics,David Weigel wrotefor The Washington Post in 2015.

He rosefrom obscurity on the streets ofLos Angeles to become a minor starin 2015 by encouraging Sen. Ted Cruz to run for president.

The artist had portrayedCruz asa muscled rebel against conventional politics, covered in prison tattoos.

The Texas Republican did run for president, and Sabo a retired Marine who named himself after a round of ammunition lent the candidate his urbanstreet cred, absorbing fame in exchange.

Sabowas then all over Fox News and CNN, and ever since has stoked his celebrity with artwork perfectly synced to the spasms of national politics.

[How Ted Cruzs street artist gets it done]

Sabo hasmanaged this evenafter some of hisracial-slur-filled tweets made newsin early 2016, promptingCruz to stopselling his works.

But the artist would go on to find other muses.

Saboslatest round of attention a short documentary withRuptly and a profile in the Guardianlast month follows him as he plasters Los Angeles in pro-Trump art, his latest guerrilla campaign.

At the beginning of his fame,heopenly despised Trump.

Hes a circus clown, the artist told the Daily Beastin early 2016, when he began selling posters ofTrump as Il Douchin military garb The Reich Choice.

Despite his early disdain for the man who is now president I just didnt think we had the luxury of taking a chance of electing a reality star, he told The Post Sabo used the Republicanslikeness to poster-bomb an L.A. art showsupporting Democratic candidate Bernie Sandersin January of that year.

In Sabos imagination and the walls around the gallery Trump was depicted asa human finger, rising from the center of a disembodied fist.

Trump-as-middle-finger was not an ambiguous statement, Sabo told The Post. It was asymbol of contemptfor the art world.

More than any ephemeral political fury, Sabo is fueled by disdain for his fellow artists. Hesettled in Californiaafter a stint in the Marines in the 1980s, he told The Post, and studied art in Pasadena before moving to Los Angeles, where the liberal culture scene turned his stomach.

For eight years, Obama was dropping missiles on wedding parties, he said. A lot of these artists in L.A. were doing pretty pictures. They werent doing anything.

Prime example: Shepard Fairey, whose art essentially became Obamas campaign poster. AndSabo is more often compared to Banksy a conservative inversion of that world-famous street artist and his progressive causes.

[Banksys striking new mural imagines Steve Jobs as a Syrian refugee]

But Banksy works in true anonymity; the world has never seen his face.

Sabos face wasfully visible graying beard and calm smile in a photo that ran above aCNN story on Election Day, when the artistdeclared he would be voting for theman he once calledIl Douch.

One thing Trump consistently did was attack the media and attack liberals, Sabo explained toThe Post. I fell in love with the guy the minute I realized.

His conversiondidnt seem to hurt his credibility. Sabo appeared on Fox News with Tucker Carlson in February, after plastering Hollywood with posters attacking the Oscar lineup as unwatchable movies from unreadable books.

Carlson called it a pretty coherent critique of Hollywood.

But two months later, Sabo would be poster-bombing the same Fox News host asCarlson prepared to interview Caitlyn Jenner about transgender rights under President Trump.

Sabo put upfake movie posters around the studio:Tonight on Tucker Carlson. IT.

And so it goes: a cycle of bombastic street art, offensive tweets and surprisingly polite interviews with the same media that Sabo says he loves Trump for attacking.

Heis no longer the only conservative street artist in Los Angeles,the Guardian noted when it profiledhim last week,and some on the right consider Sabo a showboater.

For his part, he portrayed himself to the magazine as more introspective than his art suggests.

The blacks, the Jews, the underdogs no one has a bigger heart for them than me, Sabo told the Guardian.

On the phone with The Post, Sabo said he told the same Guardian reporter that he would happily kill liberals along with militant Muslims when the great culture war came.

That line wasnt inthe profile.

Anyway, Sabo is pushing up on 50 now, a little tired of the media rounds, he says, and he no longer stalks the streets of Los Angeles every single night.

Hes thinking of taking a few months off to study up on the latestPhotoshop techniques, he said.

The artistsanonymity has withered a bit under all the media attention, too. His neighborsall pretty much know who he is, he said.

The girls upstairs are probably social justice warriors, Sabosaid. A Mexican-Mexican Latina chick, and a blue-haired writer, both super liberal. They both tolerate me. We just wont talk politics that much.

And looking back onall his artwork, he is not without second thoughts about some pieces.

The posters depicting Jenneras a monster, for instance.

I thought it was a funny idea, but I knew it was hurtful, he said.I dont care if youre gay. I dont look down upon you or anything like that.

Sabohas since designeda sequel to that series. Restroom woman symbols, he explained, with male genitals coming out of the figures dress.

IT, the stickersread.

Sabohasnt put them on display yet; heisnt sure he has the heart. A tweet from last week suggests otherwise. And anyway,youcanbuy them on his Web store.

More reading:

Banksy takes on Brexit in new mural

Fearless Girl ignites debate about art, Wall Street and the lack of female executives

10 years after his graffiti campaign, the artist known as Borf paints a new life

How Yayoi Kusama, the Infinity Mirrors visionary, channels mental illness into art

Originally posted here:

Meet the guerrilla artist plastering a liberal metropolis with pro-Trump posters - Washington Post

Trumps Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity has asked the states to hand over data from their voter rolls. According to Axios, that includes voter information regardingfelony convictions, military status, and voter history. They have set a deadline for the middle of July.

However, the outlet reports that the commission is getting pushback from mainly liberal states such as California, Virginia, Connecticut, and Vermont with some refusing to comply altogether and others handing over what is publicly available. However, some red states, such as Oklahoma and Kentucky (which is headed by a Democratic governor), have also pushed back againstthe effort.

Trump has frequently highlighted alleged cases of voter fraud and has even claimed that he would have won the popular vote in the 2016 election if the number of illegally cast votes wasdiscounted. In May he signed an executive order setting up the commission to investigate those reports.

However, the states objecting have said they wont comply if they believe the effort is more likely to produce voter suppression rather than the stated goal of election integrity.

Californias Secretary of State, Alex Padilla, objected in part to anti-immigration hardliner and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobachs appointment as vice chair of the commission.

His role as vice chair is proof that the ultimate goal of this commission is to enact policies that will result in the disenfranchisement of American citizens, he said.

This entire commission is based on the specious and false notion that there was widespread voter fraud last November, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a close Clinton ally, said in a statement. At best this commission was set up as a pretext to validate Donald Trumps alternative election facts, and at worst is a tool to commit large-scale voter suppression.

It is not clear how such a commission could be used to commit voter suppression. States such as Alabama, Missouri, and Kansas have said they would provide the information, Axios reported.

Groups that highlight alleged cases of voter fraud referred to McAuliffes statement as posturing.

McAuliffes posturing should surprise no one. Every time someone takes a good look at Virginias voter roll, they find evidence of election crimes that his policies inspired, Logan Churchwell, spokesman for the Public Interest Legal Foundation, an election integrity group, told The Washington Free Beacon.

Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY

P.S. DO YOU WANT MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE DELIVERED RIGHT TO YOUR INBOX?SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY BREITBART NEWSLETTER.

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Liberal States Get Jittery as Trump Looks to Clamp Down on Voter Fraud - Breitbart News

Pope Francis shook-up the Vatican's administration Saturday by replacing the church's top theologian with whom he often clashed.

Pope Francis chose not to renew the five-year term of 69-year-old German Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mller, who headed the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, which is responsible for defending Catholic doctrine.

Instead, the pope has turned to the department's deputy, Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer. Like Francis, Ladaria is a Jesuit with a more liberal view of theology.

The pope has upset conservatives by suggesting that a ban on remarried divorcees taking Holy Communion could, in carefully scrutinized circumstances, be overcome without the traditional annulment. Mller, one of the pontiff's chief critics, said such an approach undermined Catholic dogma on the permanent natureof marriage.

In 2015 Mller was among 13 cardinals who signed a secret letter to the pontiff complaining that a meeting of bishops discussing family issues was stacked in favor of liberals. The letter was leaked to the media, embarrassing the signatories.

Pope,cardinal spar

German theologian Wolfgang Beinert said Mller and Francis never got along.

"They are chemistry-wise two different people who are incompatible by nature," he said. Beinert described the pope's decision to cut ties with Mller as a "punishment."

A priest, who works at the Vatican, and knows both Mller and his replacement, Ladaria, said the latter will get along with Pope Francis much better.

"They speak the same language and Ladaria is someone who is meek. He does not agitate the pope and does not threaten him," said the priest, who didn't want to be identified.

Since becoming pope in 2013, Francis has given hope to more progressive voices inside the church who want him to push ahead with his vision for a more tolerant church that focuses more on mercy than on a strict enforcement of rigid rules, which they see as outdated.

Mller's ouster was the second major shakeup at the Vatican this week. On Thursday, Francis granted Vatican hardliner Cardinal George Pella leave of absence to return to his native Australiato face trial on sexual assault charges.

The absence of Mller and Pell, the two most powerful cardinals in the Vatican, after the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, will likely create a power vacuum for the conservative wing in the Holy See hierarchy.

Mller was also allegedly lax in addressing sexual abuse cases that have come before the Vatican. During his tenure victims from Latin America, Europe and beyond came forward to press their cases.

Last year the pope confirmed there was a 2,000-case backlog, and he set about naming new officials in the congregation's discipline section to process the overload.

bik/jm (Reuters, AP, dpa)

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Pope Francis drops conservative German Cardinal Mller for more liberal option - Deutsche Welle

Friday's parliamentary vote in Berlin to recognize the right of same-sex couples to wed was a long-awaited victory for German liberals.Butthe vote was a defeat for the womanwhoseemed to haveemerged as one of the country's most popular icons of liberalism: German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

She welcomed over 1 million refugees, abandoned nuclear energy over safety fears and has urged President Trump to respect human rights.

On Friday, however, Merkelvoted against same-sex marriage, despite having paved the way to its recognition only days earlier.

Theanti-marriage-equality party line of Merkel'sChristian Democratic Union (CDU) had long prevented the law from being passed. But on Monday, the German chancellorclearedthe way for the issue to win approval in the German Parliament by allowing lawmakers to choose according to their personal convictions after being pressured into a vote by the Social Democratic Party. I would like to steer the discussion more toward the situation that it will be a question of conscience instead of me forcing something through by means of a majority vote, Merkel said earlier this week.

German lawmakers vote by a wide margin to legalize gay marriage, although German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she had voted against it. (Reuters)

What she did not say at the time was that shewouldoppose the law.Merkel'sFriday voteagainst marriage equality may have come as a surprise to international observers who consider her an increasingly influential liberal icon or evenleader of thefree world.At home in Germany, not everyone was equally surprised.

[Decades of yearly portraits show how power has transformed Angela Merkel]

Herseemingly inconsequentialvote encapsulates some of the opposing forces tugging at Merkel, said Robert Beachy, the author of Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity. She is at once an exponent of a liberal Western vision and the leader of a country, and party, tied to more conservative values.

It occurs to me that Merkel is feeling increasingly exposed because she certainly wants to align herself with a progressive E.U. culture and tradition, and shes in some ways the leader of that now, Beachysaid. It made the absence of same-sex marriage in Germany that much more glaring.

Thedaughter of a Protestant pastor, Merkel has long sided with the right ofher party on the issue. In 2015, the chancellor said: For me, personally, marriage is a man and a woman living together. She repeated those comments almost word for word Friday. What has since changed, however, is Merkel's stance on the right of same-sex couples to adopt children, which she now appears to be in favor of.

Her ambiguity on the issue fits a common pattern that has shaped much of her 12 years as German chancellor: Merkel hardly defines her role in an ideological sense. As chancellor, Merkel has repeatedly turned her back on herself and her own party when she deemed it necessary to adjust to the political winds.

[Angela Merkel predicts showdown with U.S. over climate at G-20]

On other subjects, her party and supportershave willingly followed suit. In contrast, same-sex marriage has proved to be a more difficult challenge for the chancellor, as many members of her party remain staunchly opposed to it even as most Germanssupportmarriage equality.

Since 2001, Germanyhas allowed same-sex couples to registercivilpartnerships, which afford some but not all of the benefits accruing to married couples. Unlike in other Western European nations, such as France or Spain, same-sex marriage remained a red line for many Christian conservatives.

That red line would have been challenged sooner rather than later.All major parties Merkel's CDU could form a coalition with after the general elections in September arein favor of same-sex marriage. From a tactical perspective, there was no way around marriage equality.

By allowing the law to pass beforethe elections despiteopposing it, Merkel appealedto the majority of voters but might have avoided the angerof much of her party following Merkel's long-standing rationale of trying to make the least enemies whenever possible.I hope that with todays vote not only that mutual respect is there between the individual positions, but also that a piece of social peace and togetherness could be created, Merkel said after the Friday vote.

She likely knew that her personal opposition would matter to her party but not make a difference overall, given that the German parliament voted393-226 in favor of modifying the countrys civil code.

Isaac Stanley-Becker contributed from Berlin.

Read more:

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The state of gay rights around the world

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Why Angela Merkel, known for embracing liberal values, voted against same-sex marriage - Washington Post