Category Archives: Liberal

On Friday morning, President Trump partook in one of his favorite rituals this side of hitting the links or avoiding Tiffany: a bill signing. The commander-in-chief, surrounded by ornamental backers, inked the Veterans Affairs Reform Acta measure that will make it easier to terminate VA employeesbefore soaking up camera flashes and cabinet applause. Among the admiring spectators was Al Baldasaro, a military veteran and New Hampshire state representative. The presence of Baldasaro, who introduced candidate Trump at a number of campaign stops and served as his adviser on veterans issues, would be unremarkable were it not for the fact that he once called for Hillary Clinton to be killed.

This whole thing disgusts me. Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason, said Baldasaro. He was discussing Benghazi, a tragedy wherein the Republican House found no evidence of wrongdoing on Clintons behalf, during a July 2016 radio interview. The incendiary remarks triggered a secret service probe, but Baldasaro never received any significant repercussions. And Baldasaros cameo at Trumps recent bill signing received precious little coverage on cable news. You see, they were too busy upbraiding Johnny Depp.

Depp attracted the ire of the news media for disgusting comments he made about the President at Englands Glastonbury Festival Thursday evening. Can we bring Trump here? Depp asked the crowd. When was the last time an actor assassinated a president? The Pirates of the Caribbean star was, of course, referencing John Wilkes Booths assassination of President Lincoln. He added, I want to clarify: Im not an actor. I lie for a living. However, its been a while. And maybe its time.

The actors incredibly poorreprehensible, reallyattempt at humor received swift condemnation from the White House, which responded with the following statement: President Trump has condemned violence in all forms and its sad that others like Johnny Depp have not followed his lead. I hope that some of Mr. Depps colleagues will speak out against this type of rhetoric as strongly as they would if his comments were directed to a Democrat elected official. The Depp imbroglio also, as expected, sent right-wing media into a tizzy, with everyone from Fox News and Breitbart to Rush Limbaugh tying Depp to a Shakespeare in the Park production of Julius Caesar featuring a Trump-like protagonist; a photo of Kathy Griffin posing with a severed mannequin head of Trump; Madonnas idiotic womens march crack about how shes thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House; and lastly, the shooting of Republican Congressman Steve Scalise by an unhinged Bernie Sanders supporter.

There is causality, some on the right are arguing, between the antics of Depp, the Caesar play, Griffin, and Madonna and acts of violence perpetrated against those on the right, such as the recent shooting of Rep. Scalisea baseless claim, given that there is no evidence the shooter was influenced by any of these factors. There is also the idea that these celebrity outliers represent not only the views of Hollywood as a whole, but the base of the Democratic Party.

Now, lets give credit where its due: the right are very good at this. Every time a lefty celeb like, say, Lena Dunham opens their mouth and says something stupid, they will throw TV tantrums and sling fiery op-eds for an entire week, milking the outrage teat to the very last drop. Of course, those on the right, especially in the right-wing media, dont really care what Lena Dunham thinks. Their rationale behind this is simple: Hollywood celebrities are out of touch, therefore all of Hollywood is out of touch; and, since most of Hollywood is comprised of coastal liberal elites, then this one rogue celebritys views represent the whole. Its part of the ongoing culture war fomented by the right, pitting these coastal liberal elites against Middle Americas working classan opera that Trump, with his faux-disdain for Hollywood and faux-championing of blue-collar folks, is all too willing to conduct.

Forget the fact that Trump, who has spent his entire career exploiting the working class and cozying up to celebrities, is an outrageous hypocrite. His supporters dont care. Heck, they cheered when he trotted out a former Goldman Sachs executive at a rally this past week in Cedar Rapids. So, given the elements at play here, Hollywood celebrities like Depp, Griffin, and Madonna must stop feeding chum to the right-wing ragemonster. Theyve proven themselves to be far better than the left at exploiting this so-called cultural divide. For evidence, look no further than the race for Georgias sixth congressional district, where the opposition issued attack ads that tied Democrat Jon Ossoff to the Kathy Griffin stunt (because she had endorsed him two months earlier on Twitter). You wont see nearly the same kind of vitriol from the left over the Baldasaro appearance, or that time Trump invited rocker Ted Nugent, whos called for the deaths of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, over for an Oval Office visit. That unfortunate episode was treated as nothing more than a late-night punchline.

Lets talk Hollywood for a second. The notion that Johnny Depp, Kathy Griffin or Madonnaor really any celebrity with significant name recognitionsomehow speaks for the entire industry is absurd. According to the 2016 Otis Report on the Creative Economy of California, the entertainment industry there employs some 166,300 people. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistic reported that, as of May 2016, there are 48,620 actors employed nationwideincluding 14,840 in California. The vast majority of these actors are struggling, working multiple jobs to pay the bills. And a great many of them were not born in California to wealth, but migrated there from different parts of the country. Johnny Depp, for example, grew up poor in Owensboro, Kentucky. The average crew size for a Hollywood film production, meanwhile, comes out to around 600 people (Marvels The Avengers had 2,718), and most of these crew members have jobs like key grip, security, catering, low-level assistant, etc. Not exactly the elite.

All of this does not excuse what Depp, Griffin, and Madonna said or did. Those actions deserve widespread condemnation (Depp deserves far greater scorn for other reasons, although thats a different story). If these Hollywood liberals want to truly make a differencethat is, make any sort of dent in 2018then they need to realize theyre easy targets, knock off the outrageous antics, and stick to the issues. And if liberals in general want to start winning elections again, then they must start holding things like Trumps Baldasaro and Nugent visits to account. Otherwise the Democrats have about as much chance of succeeding as Johnny Depps next movie.

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How Hollywood Celebs Like Johnny Depp Are Hurting the Liberal Cause - Daily Beast

Support has beencoming in from high places: With uncharacterisically clear language, the federal government has defended the new, liberal Ibn Rushd-Goethe Mosque against criticism from the Islamic world . In Berlin, Germany's Foreign Ministry, as well as the Interior Ministry, has rejected criticism leveled by the Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate, Diyanet, pointing to protection of religious freedom.

German Interior Ministry spokesman, Tobias Plate, said the issues of religious freedom and the Berlin mosque will be raised with counterparts from Ankara at their next bilateral meeting. Diyanet, a religious authority in Turkey, operates under the aegis of the country's prime minister.

The German government's promise to address the issue brings the debate over the new mosque to the highest political level. One week ago, Berlin attorney and women's rights activist, Seyran Ates, opened the liberal mosque. Situated in Berlin's Moabit neighborhood, itis housed within a local Protestant church and is open to men and women of every sexual orientation.

Ates herself is an imam and chooses not to wear a headscarf while carrying out her duties. That has caused anger in the Islamic world. She said she has been overwhelmed by a flood of hate mail and has also received death threats. Authorities said it remains to be seen if the house of worship will require police protection.

Diyanet has claimedthe new mosque is connected to the Gulen Movement operated by exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the Turkish government claimed was behind last July's failed coup attempt.

Imam Seyran Ates prepares prayer rugs at the mosque

'A threat to social harmony'

Interior Ministry spokesman Plate called the Turkish criticism bewildering and "unacceptable."

"It cannot be ruled out that such statements have the potential to threaten social harmony within German society," he added.

According to media reports, Ankara has been aggressively pursuing and threatening alleged members of the Gulen movement, as well as institutions connected to it, such as schools- even in Germany.

The German Foreign and Interior ministeries emphasized that their own criticism was not only directed at Diyanet, but also at the supreme authority on fatwas in Egypt. That authority sharply criticized the Berlin mosque for violating Islamic religious responsibilities.

Peace activist, womens' rights activist and attorney, Seyran Ates, stands for Islamic reform

'The state has to protect religious freedom'

Martin Schfer, spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry, said such statements were, "clearly intended to deny people in Germany the right to exercise their religion and limit their right to freely express their opinion."

He went on to say that the German government summarily rejected any such attempts. "When, where and how people choose to express and live out their religious beliefs is not the government's business. Rather, the opposite is the case: It is our understanding that the state has no authority tointerpretreligious issues, but instead, has the responsibility toprotectfreedom of religion, just as it does freedom of speech and freedom of the press."

He went on to remind those present that Turkey is also a signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees religious liberty.

The liberal mosque's opening caused a great stir in Germany and has also received international attention. It is named after one of the most important figures of enlightened Islam, the Arab scholar, physician and philosopher Ibn Rushd (1126-1198), known as Averroes outside the Islamic world, as well asthe German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), whose "West-Eastern Divan" is one of the most important German-language books ever written on the exchange of ideas between the Occident and the Orient.

Men and women will pray side by side at the new mosque, and women allowed to preach. The Quran will be interpreted in a "historically critical manner," and organizers say they do not welcome fully veiled women. Seyran Ates started the mosque initiative because she is convinced that the interpretation of Islam must not be left to religious conservatives.

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Liberal mosque debate turns political in Germany - Deutsche Welle

Sundays New York Times contains a solicitous, attentive look at a backward, benighted place North Carolina, where one political party has deviously seized control of the state legislature. The Republicans of North Carolina, says the Times, have not only run quickly through the conservative policy checklist, they have gone so far as to skew the balance of power in the state in their favor.

Imagine a local political party so dominant that it can enact its agenda at will and even skew the balance of power in its favor. Actually, the Times neednt have ventured so far south to find such tyranny, as New York City itself is a virtual one-party state and will likely remain so for at least the near future.

For instance, the City Council has 48 Democrats and three Republicans, who mostly sit quietly and attend to their constituents non-ideological concerns: street repaving tends to top the New York City Republicans agenda. All three citywide elected officials Mayor de Blasio, Comptroller Scott Stringer and Public Advocate Letitia James are passionate progressive Democrats who continually try to top each others radical proposals. Public Advocate James wants the Department of Education to appoint a chief diversity officer? Well, Comptroller Stringer will launch a task force to funnel city money to companies with greater racial diversity on their boards so take that.

This is an election year in the city, but you are forgiven if you hadnt noticed. The citywide elected officials are each running for re-election and are virtually unopposed. Not that no one else is running: Mayor de Blasio has about a dozen primary challengers, but none is a serious candidate. Ditto for the comptroller, the public advocate, the borough presidents and the City Council. It is virtually a maxim in New York that incumbents get re-elected.

Partly this is because only Democrats win, so the real race is for the Democratic nomination, and Democratic primaries are heavily weighted in favor of the party favorites. Local county machines in Queens, The Bronx and Brooklyn still have the clout to steer would-be challengers into patronage positions as an inducement not to run and can coordinate campaign help from political staffers who volunteer time away from their government-paid jobs to assist needy candidates.

Sometimes you dont even have to run for the partys nomination to get it. In 2015 longtime Bronx DA Robert Johnson won his primary unopposed. He then decided he wanted to be a judge instead of district attorney. Since party-controlled county committees decide state Supreme Court judgeship nominations, it was a simple process for the well-connected Johnson (and his wife, actually, who also became a judge) to get the nod from the Bronx machine, which was controlled by then-Assemblyman, now-Speaker Carl Heastie.

This is an election year in the city, but you are forgiven if you hadnt noticed. The citywide elected officials are each running for re-election and are virtually unopposed.

Johnson then resigned from his post as Bronx DA and left his ballot line open. Ballot vacancies are filled by county party committees, so Bronx boss Heastie was able to insert his own favorite candidate, Judge Darcel Clark, onto the ballot. An annoying open primary was avoided, and Heasties machine retained control of the Bronx court system.

A similar machination took place in 1998, when longtime Queens Congressman Tom Manton won the Democratic nomination for his seat in a walkover and then put in his retirement papers. With the same laws on filling ballot vacancies in effect, Manton called his protg, Assemblyman Joe Crowley, to inform him he would be the Democratic nominee for Congress instead. Crowley is now the Queens County Democratic boss and occupies a top leadership role within the House Democrats. His control of County, as the Queens political machine is known, is tight and very profitable: Control of the Surrogates Court, which handles probated estates, brings in millions of dollars annually to the small circle of connected attorneys who are assigned the cases.

If you talk to any elected official in the city, they will all agree that council member is the best job to have. The term is four years, so you dont have to campaign very often; it is local, with no annoying trips to Albany; and best of all, the pay is great when reform was enacted, council members got a 35 percent raise to $148,500. Given that one-third of the council has no job experience aside from being a staffer for another elected official, thats not chump change.

A few council seats will be opening up this year due to term limits, and in one case, early retirement. About half of those seats will be filled by state legislators who can have them for the taking. One term-limited council member, Inez Dickens, even resigned her seat ahead of time so she could run for the Assembly seat left vacant by Keith Wright, who ran for Congress. Her council seat was then taken by state Senator Bill Perkins, who had held the seat before Dickens was first elected. These two-steps are not uncommon: Brooklyn husband-and-wife tag team Charles and Inez Barron swapped their council and Assembly seats when his term was up.

In the Bronx, state Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. will take over Annabel Palmas council seat; she wanted to replace him in the Senate but was informed by the party bosses that Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda is next in line. So Palma will have to take Sepulvedas Assembly seat instead.

New York City is politically a mess: If it werent for massive tax revenues from Wall Street, our elected officials wouldnt be able to pretend that spending other peoples money counts as leadership. When the Times claps its hand to its cheek in horror that the Republicans in North Carolina have seized control of the General Assembly for the first time in a century, we have to wonder if they are really that nave or just pointing south so they dont have to look at the disaster in our own back yard.

Seth Barron is associate editor of City Journal and project director of the NYC Initiative at the Manhattan Institute.

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This NY Times story exposes the paper's liberal hypocrisy - New York Post

Fifty-four years ago this month, former President John F. Kennedy delivered the Strategy of Peace, a powerful address that captured Americas indispensable leadership at the height of the Cold War. Kennedy knew that our country could not guard against the Soviet Union alone, for he believed that genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts.

Incredibly, the man who now leads the United States seems to find himself locked in an alarming and perilous embrace with the Russian government. These ties threaten to weaken a system of alliances that have held Russiaand countless other threats to the international communityat bay since the conclusion of the Second World War.

Watergate Lawyer: I Witnessed Nixon's Downfalland I've Got a Warning for Trump

In his Senate testimony two weeks ago, former FBI Director James Comey affirmed a disturbing suspicion: that Donald Trump first undermined Comey, by leaning on him to drop his investigation of former National Security-Adviser Michael Flynn, and then removed him from his post. Since then, events have escalated at a dizzying pace: Trump accused Comey of lying under oath about their interactions earlier this year, even as he cheered Comeys public assertion that the president wasnt under FBI investigation. Soon, reports emerged that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating obstruction-of-justice allegations against the presidentrevelations Trump was none too happy about. And all the while, rumors have continued to swirl that Trump may fire both Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whos overseeing the special counsel inquiry.

But Trumps reckless handling of these events should not distract from a startling reality: As the president faces accusations of colluding with the Russians during last years campaign, his policies in office have aligned almost perfectly with the Kremlins goals. If Moscow wanted its interference in Americas election to yield dividends, it could hardly have hoped for more.

Just as importantly, while Trump has expressed concern over the cloud the Russia investigation generated, he has seemed indifferent overall to Russias direct attempts to interfere with the American democratic process. According to Comeys testimony, Trump never asked him about the meddling, or how to prevent similar interference in the future. Not once.

Trump himself has seemingly courted the favor of Russian President Vladimir Putin since the 2016 presidential campaign. Hes repeatedly praised Putins leadership, refused to condemn Russian efforts to disrupt the U.S. system of free elections, and openly encouraged Russian hacking of the Hillary Clinton campaign. Fridays explosive report from The Washington Post confirmed that Putin was deeply and directly involved in an operation to hurt Clintons candidacy and help elect Trump.

Whats more, in every way he can, Trump has deferred to Russia on matters of foreign policy. After Russian forces deployed their hacking tools during the recent French presidential election, Trump invited Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the White House and failed to repudiate the attack against a vital American ally. Instead, during his meeting with Lavrov, Trump divulged highly sensitive classified information provided by Israel, another crucial U.S. partner. (That May 10 meeting also came a day after Trump removed Comey, who was leading the inquiries into collusion; Trump told the Russians that the directors dismissal had alleviated great pressure on him.) Even more recently, the Trump administration has reportedly taken steps to return two diplomatic compounds that former President Barack Obama stripped from Russia following its actions during last years election.

To make matters worse, Trump has done far more than just extend open arms toward the Russian government. He wavered on the United States commitment to defend its fellow members of NATO; his aides have reportedly tried to undermine the European Union; and he himself has alienated key partners by lashing out at individual leaders and pulling out of the Paris Agreement.

When Americans step back and consider this stunning series of actions, they should be left with unsettling questions: What are Donald Trumps reasons for doing this? What exactly does he have to hide?

In the Strategy of Peace, Kennedy described his belief that peace must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. We must all, in our daily lives, live up to the age-old faith that peace and freedom walk together.

Today, it is the responsibility of this generation of Americans to help preserve international peace, to honor the allies who have stood by their side for decades, and to maintain the United States place as the leader of the free world.

The American system of checks and balances is only as strong as the leaders who have the character and courage to enforce them. Unless they denounce and punish any attempt to interfere with the special counsels investigation, demand accountability from the administration, and put their duty to their country over their duty to any political party, those checks and balances wont protect Americas democracy.

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Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and the Future of the Liberal World ... - The Atlantic

Outgoing Liberal party federal director Andrew Bragg (left) shakes hands with Andrew Hirst, the new party director in Sydney on Friday. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Australias Liberal party has launched a new website that it says will help seduce swing voters its way and challenge rival campaigning organisations such as Getup!.

The acting Liberal party director, Andrew Bragg, launched The Fair Go website on Saturday, which is operated by the party.

Bragg used his speech to the partys federal council as a call to arms to modernise or perish. He said the party had to deal with a cashed up cabal of opposition to its interests.

Senior members of government and Liberal figures have been taking aim at organisations such as Getup!, which have excelled at developing novel and effective digital campaigns at a time when the Liberal party has struggled to keep pace.

The Fair Go site appears to be, in part, a response to some of these new types of campaigning and, according to Bragg, will help bolster the partys efforts to seize the opportunities in the digital age.

The WordPress site includes posts with titles such as Women are just people, Whos your grand-daddy? and From laissez-faire to much, much fairer.

It also includes three words of the week that will change weekly. The inaugural locutions are needs based, union and slamming.

A review of the partys last election campaign by Andrew Robb set out a series of concerns with the Liberal partys election campaign efforts, and found they were being outgunned and outspent by Labor and progressive activist groups.

Bragg told the federal council: Publish or perish must be our credo.

He said the website will be a publication which reaches beyond the existing cohort of fellow travellers to speak to undecided and swing voters.

It is designed to support the Coalitions overarching narrative into social platforms and arm supporters with bottom up perspectives on public policy issues.

The website appears to feature a cast of characters mostly linked to the Liberal party.

Parnell McGuiness, a communications consultant who is the managing director of Thought Broker, is listed as the editor of the site. Penny Fischer, a Camden Liberal councillor and the daughter of Pru Goward, has also produced work for the site. Brigid Meney, a policy officer at Cornerstone Group Australia and former Liberal party political adviser, has contributed as well.

The sites privacy policy makes it clear that the Liberal party collects users personal information and may contact them if they sign up to the site.

It is Braggs final speech in his role as acting director of the party following Brian Loughnanes departure. Former Liberal party staffer Andrew Hirst has been named the new director.

It is not the first time major parties have attempted more aggressive communication strategies.

The Labor party launched the Labor Herald in 2015, which produced news and analysis for the party faithful.

It no longer publishes content, and the website now directs users to a page that says it is currently on hiatus.

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Liberals launch website to lure swing voters and take on activist groups - The Guardian

It was described as a "world event in the heart of Berlin." And judging by the overwhelming response both at home and abroad to the opening of the determinedly "liberal mosque" in a Protestantchurch in Berlin's Moabit district, this assessment is justified.

Media representatives from all over the world wanted to be present when Seyran Ates, a German-Turkish lawyer and women's rights activist, presented her reform project to the public: an integrative mosque for everyone. The Ibn Rushd-Goethe Mosque welcomes all Muslims, irrespective of denomination and sexual orientation.

Furthermore, this house of worship - the only one of its kind in Germany - has explicitly abolished the segregation of the sexes during prayer. Men and women can pray alongside one another. A man and a woman led the first Friday prayers together. And - an important point, given the heated Islam debates in this country - the "female imam" did not wear a headscarf!

Loay Mudhoon is editor in chief of Qantara.de

Liberal Islam for the non-Muslim majority?

The fact that reactions from predominantly Muslim countries to the opening of the Ibn Rushd Goethe Mosque have been both hostile and particularly forceful is not really any great surprise - not, at least, if one is aware of the repressive realities in these countries. This is true, too, of Egypt and Turkey, where protests against the Berlin mosque were particularly fierce. The religious authorities in both of these countries have been muzzled politically.

However, what's more interesting than the predictable reactions from Muslim countries abroad are the reactions in Germany itself. These were uniformly positive. Almost all the media celebrated the new institution as a place of open-minded, emancipated Islam. As expected, conservative circles as well as people and interest groups who are vocally critical of Islam see this kind of mosque as an alternative to the mosques of orthodox Islamic groups. In their view, "this Islam" is the only one that's suited to Germany.

This fervent enthusiasm in the media and political realm cannot, however, gloss over two fundamental problems.

First: So-called "liberal Islam" consists of individuals, public personalities; it has no structure to speak of. In Germany there are now a number of civil society initiatives by liberal Muslims, but their level of organization is still low, as is their ability to connect with the conservative Muslim mainstream.

Second: So far, those who represent liberal Islam are still very vague as far as content is concerned. They usually define themselves by their rejection of conservative Islam. And that's just too little substance to have a big impact.

Respecting the plurality of Muslims

No question about it: The opening of the Ibn Rushd-Goethe Mosque is a courageous and remarkable step. But outside Germany liberal mosques like these are not a new phenomenon. Similar mosque projects have already existed for a long time in Britain and the United States.

In addition, the heterogeneous supporters of liberal Islam should have explained - well before the mosque opened - on what Islamic principles their liberal understanding of the religion is based. They should, for example, have held a pertinent debate on the role of Sharia in a secular constitutional state. This would certainly have been helpful in terms of drawing a distinction between acceptable and unacceptable aspects of Sharia.

In other words: Just as Turkey's state authority for religious affairs, Diyanet, cites the "tenets of the Islamic faith" as its reference point, the liberal Muslims should also have justified their efforts with reference to genuine Islamic sources.

State-controlled Islam has no credibility

Neither the meager response to the Muslim peace and anti-terrorism demonstration in Cologne nor the hostile reactions to the opening of the mosque in Berlin can be taken as evidence that Islam is incapable of reform. We are, after all, seeing efforts by Muslim activists all around the world who are striving for reform. The battle over who has the prerogative of interpreting and defining "Islam" is being fought almost everywhere, with a vengeance.

In any case, politicians would be well advised not to privilege particular versions of Islam - neither liberal nor conservative. An Islam protected or even controlled by the state would have no credibility, and would be unworthy of a pluralist democracy.

For the ongoing development of Islam in Germany it would therefore be better, in the spirit of our liberal-democratic constitution, to respect the real-life plurality of Muslims and their different understandings of what Islam is, and continue to promote its institutional naturalization.

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Opinion: Liberal Islam is a chimera - Deutsche Welle

President Donald Trump listens to a demonstration during the "American Leadership in Emerging Technology" event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. on June 22, 2017.Jabin BotsfordThe Washington Post/Getty Images

In 1997, Fareed Zakaria wrote an important article for Foreign Affairs detailing the rise of illiberal democracy around the world. He contrasted the term with liberal democracy, which he described as marked not only by free and fair elections, but also by the rule of law, a separation of powers, and the protection of basic liberties of speech, assembly, religion, and property. In fact, this latter bundle of freedoms what might be termed constitutional liberalism is theoretically different and historically distinct from democracy. He then wrote a book on the subject.

Twenty years later, Council of Foreign Relations President Richard Haass tweeted out the following: years ago @FareedZakaria wrote the book re illiberal democracies. i never thought this would fit the US but we r getting too close 4 comfort. I am a big fan of Richard (and Fareed), but I disagree with Haass on this one. America remains a strong liberal democracy however messy and dysfunctional even in the age of Donald Trump. Heres why.

1. Free Press Endures

Since Donald Trump announced his candidacy, the press has been aggressive in fact-checking and challenging him at every turn. At times, a bit unfair; 80% of the coverage of Trumps first 100 days was negative, compared to just 41% for President Obama's. Many U.S. journalists have decided that professional responsibility demands a much more confrontational approach to this White House. The result has been coverage that is sometimes unfair and over-the-top. This drives Trump up the wall, because theres little he can do about it. In an illiberal democracy, the state uses all sorts of tools to dominate the press and shape public opinion. Trump has friendly news outlets that help maintain support from his base, but the rest of the media is in no danger of falling under Trumps sway.

2. Americans Love Going to Court

Americans go to court. A lot. And a lot of Americans become lawyers. As of 2009, for every 100,000 people, the U.S. has 380 lawyers. For comparison purposes, Japan has just 23 lawyers per 100,000 people; France has 70 (2010 and 2006 figures, respectively). More important than the number of lawyers is the continued faith Americans have in the legal system as of 2016, 61% of Americans say they have at least a fair amount of trust in the judicial branch of the federal government, as opposed to the 51% of people who are confident in the executive branch and 35% of people who trust the legislative branch. In a liberal democracy, individuals and organizations can slow and alter the crafting of law and regulations by tying things up in court. And Americans are game in the first two weeks of Trumps presidency, his Administration was sued 55 times (compared to five lawsuits over the same time against Obama and Clinton, and four against George W. Bush).

3. The Courts Remain Independent

And the courts continue to limit executive power. In an illiberal democracy (see Russia and Turkey) the fix is already in when the gavel falls. For example, to tighten his grip on power, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has purged the judicial system in Turkey after last summers failed coup attempt, banishing more than 4,000 judges and prosecutors (25% of the countrys total). Trump would probably settle for ditching the judges that have struck down his travel ban no fewer than eight times in various courts (and by both Democratic and Republican-appointed judges). Maybe add the federal judge that blocked the Administrations ability to withhold funds from sanctuary cities , jurisdictions which ban law enforcement agencies from investigating, interrogating, or arresting people for immigration enforcement.

4. There's No Deep State

To hear Trump and his surrogates tell it, any political defeat or unflattering news story about him should be attributed to a deep state hell-bent on trying to oust him. But there is no deep state in America, just a deep bureaucracy. Its made up of professional civil servants who have dedicated years of their lives (in 2015, a full-time permanent federal civilian employee had an average of 13.7 years of service ) to specific policy goals, whether from the left or right. Asking career officials at the Environmental Protection Agency to suddenly stop believing in climate change because the man elected in November doesnt much care for science was never going to get much traction. There are obviously people in the White House and throughout the executive branch that are sabotaging political and policy moves they believe harm the nations interests, as they define them. Vladimir Putin doesnt have this problem.

The bigger problem may be that the state isnt deep enough: As of this week, the Trump White House has only managed to confirm 44 of the 558 Senate-confirmable positions in the federal government. One hundred and five people have been formally nominated, five are awaiting nomination, and 404 jobs have no nominee whatsoever. Obama had confirmed at 170 by the same time into his own presidency; George W. Bush, 130.

5. Congress Has Its Own Agenda

Finally, Republicans in Congress have an agenda: Repeal Obamacare as they promised; roll back Obama-era regulations; and cut taxes. If Trump can help, great. If they can do it entirely without Trumps input, that might be even better. And if they start to believe that Trump will prevent them from passing their agenda and maybe cost them control of Congress? Theyll cross that bridge only if they feel they have to. But they are not a rubber stamp, as in an illiberal democracy. And the Senate voting 98-2 for more sanctions against Russia (and congressional oversight over them) last week against Trumps wishes offers more proof.

Any democracy can become illiberal. But its dangerous to argue that Trump has already created one. If illiberalism one day really does threaten Americas constitutional liberalism, it will be that much harder to raise the alarm if the charge has already been raised and dismissed.

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5 Reasons Why America Is Still a Strong (If Dysfunctional) Liberal Democracy - TIME

After James Hodgkinson shotRepublican congressmanSteve Scalise and four other people at the Republican congressional baseball team practice last week in Virginia,it did not take long for right-wingersto start blaming the left. Hodgkinson, who had an anger management problem and a history of violence yetno trouble getting his hands on an assault rifle andhandgunhad also been a supporter of Bernie Sanders2016 presidential campaign, which was more than enough for partisanson the right to denouncetheentire left for violence.

On Fox News, former House speaker Newt Gingrich called the shooting part of a pattern on the left, where there has beenan increasing intensity of hostility. Those on theleft,Gingrichfurtherclaimed,have sent certain signals that tell people that its OK to hate Trump, its OK to think of Trump in violent terms, its OK to consider assassinating Trump (Incidentally, Gingrich has yet to call outTrump for encouragingpoliticalviolence last year, nor has hediscussed themuch moreserious pattern ofviolence on the far right).

Outside the right-wing echo chamber the mainstream media did not go so far as to blame the left for the actions of one deranged individual, but they did attempt to highlight what New York Times reporter Yamiche Alcindor called the rage buried in some corners of the progressive left, noting that Sanders supportershad come to have a belligerent reputation. Alcindor also observed thatHodgkinsons own social media posts were not far from Mr. Sanderss own message.

In other words, the paper of record rehashed the Bernie Bro narrative from last years Democratic primary, which had been originally manufactured by Hillary Clintons campto undermine the Sanders campaign.Though the Times uncritically reported this narrative,it was largelydebunked during the election (one study, for instance,found that Clinton supporters were more aggressive than Sanders supporters online).

While most of the press similarly portrayed Hodgkinson as aBernie Bro leftist, it became increasingly clear as more information came out about the gunmanthat the he was not only a deeply unstable and abusiveman (described in court papers as an abusive alcoholic who hit his foster daughter repeatedly), but that he had been taken in by much of the Russia hysteriathat has engulfed a large part of the Democratic Party over the past six months.

In late March, for example, Hodgkinson signed and shared a Change.com petition calling for the removal of the President & Vice President, et al for misprision of treason, and posted on Facebook: Trump is a traitor. Trump has destroyed our democracy. Its time to destroy Trump & Co. The petition itself claimsthat members of the Trump administration, along with certain donors and Republican members of Congress, had knowledgeof Trumps relationship with numerous Russian oligarchs and one Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, yet did not find patriotic merit in informing any US authorities of the clear and present US national security threat danger posed by Trumps presidential campaign.

So that the nightmare of having traitors to ournation,in charge of our nations affairs and our nuclear deterrent forces,might be swiftly rectified, the petition continues, Clinton and Tim Kaine should be simply declared the overall victors of the 2016 popular count election and installed immediately.

Considering that the progressive left has been highly critical of this Trump-Russiacollusion narrative, which has generated a great deal of fake news and conspiracy theory, it looks like the gunman was more a product of partisan hackery than left-wing politics. After all, ithasntbeen left-wingpublications that have been freelytossingaround the T-word and peddlingRussia conspiracies, butpartisan groups like ShareBlue (headed by Clinton loyalist David Brock)and fake news websites like The Palmer Report.

Just because there has been a lot of fake newsdoesnt mean that theres noRussia scandal,or that the president hasnt been compromised in some way and all reasonable people should support the investigations that are currently underway. As of this writing, however, there is still noevidencethat the president of the United States has committed any act that would qualify him as a traitor.There is plenty of evidencethat Trump is ademagogue, an ignorant bigot and acon man without an ethical bone in his body.But a traitor? That isnt a charge that should be thrown aroundlightly.

There is a reason why many on the left have been critical of this kind of language andthe Russia narrative in general. While partisan hacks have been quick to jump on the Trump is a treasonous Russian operative bandwagon, mostleftistshave cringed at what feels like a 21st-century liberal version of McCarthyism. Left-wingersknow a thing or two about being called traitors without any basis, and the paranoidrhetoric that has grown around the Russia scandalhas come to sound increasinglylike the paranoidjingoism thatwe witnessedat Tea Party rallies years ago. A tweetfrom MSNBC host Joy Reid last September before the Russia hysteria became all-consuming perfectly capturedthisneo-McCarthyism that has made some left-wingers wince:

I imagine the old time American Communist Party is spinning in its collective grave with envy at what Trump is accomplishing That said, for most Americans its shocking to see an American presidential candidate openly touting authoritarian, communist Russia.

Reidseems to beunawareof the fact that Russia ceasedto be communist more than 25 years ago, and appears to thinkthat Joseph McCarthyhad the right idea when he led witch hunts to crack down on the Communist Party USAand expose communist infiltrators in the U.S. government. What is truly revelatory, however, is Reidsapparent ignorance of 20th-century communismsinternationalist nature,as opposed tothe ferventnationalism of Russia under the Putin regime. In other words, she seems to think that the CPUSA and similar groups around the world aligned withthe Soviet Unionbecause it was Russia, not because it representedthe supposed ideals of global communism.

This bringsus back to why the politicalleft which is also internationalist in nature has rejectedthe jingoism andneo-McCarthyismthat has come todominate in some liberal circles, whereRussian apologistsand traitors are seen at every turn.

There isanother important reason why the left hasbeen critical of the Russia narrative, of course: It has been used by many partisan Democrats and Clinton loyalists includingHillary Clinton herself to avoid any significant self-reflection about last yearsdisastrouselection results. Rather than looking in the mirrorand tryingmake sense of 2016, they have blamed all their woes on Russia (and on James Comey). This is not only irrational but self-destructive. If Democrats do not adopt a more compellingmessageand populist tone in the years ahead,then 2018 and 2020 may not be the big electoral comebacks some are anticipating.

Political discourse has become increasingly toxic and tribalistic in America over the past few decades, and James Hodgkinson though clearly an unstable and isolated lunatic wasa product of this tribalism. While Republicans have played the biggest role in creating todays hyper-partisan atmosphere many Republicans (including the current president) were accusing Obama of being a Kenyan-born jihadi-sympathizerlong before liberals started calling Trump a traitor many Democrats have recently embraced this same partisan tribalism. One expects mindless jingoism and conspiracy-peddling from the party of Donald Trump, but even in this age of intense division and mutual incomprehension, liberals and progressives should know better.

Link:

Can we lose the liberal jingoism? Loose talk about treason is only harming the resistance - Salon

Photo: Bob Owen /San Antonio Express-News

A birds-eye view on why Liberal Ron didnt fly

Two grackles, last seen perched on a wire over lower Broadway back in January, returned for an agonizing reassessment of the way things went.

Ron Nirenberg appeared to be flying against the wind and won. How is it, one of the birds mused in a voice dripping with sarcasm, that http://www.liberalron.com maneuver didnt work to derail this guy?

The other bird, his shiny wings slightly ruffled, let out a heavy sigh.

No, really! the first bird said, with a giggle, his tongue firmly in the side of his beak. Is it that San Antonio voters were just tired of that kind of campaigning? Liberal Ron wasnt anywhere near as pointed as Lying Ted and Crooked Hillary, but it was thrown out there in the same spirit.

Well, the second bird said as he claimed more comfortable footing on the nearby utility pole, political campaigns get ugly from time to time. And pointing out the liberal leanings of a liberal politician is about as hostile as someone calling us birds of a feather.

Oh, clearly were very different, the first bird said, still giggling. But Ill tell you why it didnt work. The campaign tactic fell flat because voters have had enough of name-calling. Theyre sick of the angry campaigns. Theyve had it, and theyre sending a message.

Maybe. Maybe that kind of campaigning doesnt strike the same chord in this city. Maybe the president ruined it for everybody, and now the rest of us cant amuse ourselves by crafting creative names for those who oppose us.

Or maybe, the first bird, smirking, said, it was because a male candidate could come up with nasty names and win but a female candidate cant?

He noticed that a group of smaller birds gathered on a nearby branch were now hanging on to every word. Taking this cue, he puffed his feathers and continued.

Maybe, he conceded. But the Liberal Ron thing wasnt an off-the-cuff remark the former mayor came up with on a lark. A web presence was established, for crying out loud! Someone came up with this idea, someone pushed it out of the nest a couple of times before it was ready, and someone gave the go ahead to let it fly and judging by the image she projected to the public during her time in office it probably wasnt all her.

A half-dozen more grackles and few doves gathered next to them. The first bird, empowered by the growing audience, turned up the volume.

Well, the term liberal shouldnt be a dig, the first bird said, It has become a dig. Its now a polarizing label. Its uttered with scorn. That label was meant to cast him in a certain light. It was bad play. It was a bad move.

Maybe. Then again it might make a good quip on the campaign trail, but labels arent just for soup cans, the second bird huffed as more tiny warblers landed on the wire, chirping asides and tweeting dissenting jabs at the grackles. They are indicators of how an elected official will lead. And isnt that vital in determining which way to vote at the mayoral level, even if the city manager does a great deal of the heavy lifting?

The first bird stopped giggling as a few of the smaller birds sitting next to him flitted closer to the utility pole. By now the lines above Broadway looked as if Tippi Hedren were about to drive past.

No matter, the second bird continued, The system labels and all works. And maybe the time seems to be right for someone who can rock the liberal label. Nirenberg didnt set up a site calling anybody anything, but he won the votes because he is representative of what the voters wanted. Thats the point.

Thirteen percent of them, anyway, said a small bird who was sitting nearby. And if you ask me and I know you arent thats probably a good thing. Too many are influenced by a clever one-liner, an argument that sounds as if its based on facts but isnt, or all manner of nasty campaign maneuvers. And believe me, the noisy, the birdbrained and the easily swayed do flock together.

Luckily, he was able to zip away before anybody figured out who chimed in.

mariaanglin@yahoo.com

Continued here:

A bird's-eye view on why 'Liberal Ron' didn't fly - mySanAntonio.com

Johnny Depp is an unpatriotic loser who apparently has no respect for human life, public safety or even our democracy.

He should also be arrested for inciting violence against our president.

He made headlines on Thursday at a festival in the U.K. telling the 1,500-strong audience in Glastonbury, I think he (Trump) needs help and there are a lot of wonderful dark, dark places he could go. ... When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?

He then added, I want to clarify, Im not an actor. I lie for a living. However, its been a while, and maybe its time.

Time for what Mr. Depp? To toy with the idea of assassinating the president of the United States? Are you channeling the ghost of John Wilkes Booth the actor who killed President Lincoln just for a sick joke?

Its a criminal concept only a madman or jihadist would approve.

Depps reckless comments have no place in a civilized society. Especially in todays extremely volatile political climate where just last week a Bernie Sanders supporter showed up at a GOP charity baseball practice in Alexandria, Va., and shot Majority Whip Steve Scalise who in case Johnny Depp has callously forgotten is still recovering in the hospital.

If it werent for the fact that Scalise had armed security in tow, many more GOP lawmakers could have been cut down that day, including Texas Rep. Joe Bartons 10-year-old son in attendance that morning.

Depp who offered up a meek apology yesterday should face legal consequences. Free speech doesnt allow us to scream fire in a crowded movie theater as a joke. Nor is it a laughing matter to talk about assassinating anybody.

Its no secret Hollywood is filled with liberal loons. But whats troubling is to see political extremism take over La La Land.

Kathy Griffins career is in the toilet after she posed holding a bloody mask of Trumps decapitated head. But thats just an extreme example. Depp is more mainstream with his hate and thats scary.

What Depp forgets is we have elections where voters choose the winners. If he doesnt like the outcome, try running for office.

Extremists dont deserve our money or accolades. What they do deserve is a jail cell to contemplate their reckless rhetoric that undoubtedly could instigate more blood on our streets and baseball fields.

Not a scenario anyone should ever support I dont care how you vote.

Adriana Cohen is host of the Adriana Cohen Show airing Wednesdays at noon. Follow her on Twitter @Adriana Cohen16.

Originally posted here:

Adriana Cohen: Liberal loon Johnny Depp went too far - Boston Herald