Category Archives: Liberal

New York Times

Alan Colmes, Sean Hannity's Liberal Partner on Fox News, Dies at 66 New York Times Alan Colmes, who for 12 years was a mild-mannered and moderately liberal sparring partner to the conservative firebrand Sean Hannity in Fox News Channel's most conspicuous effort to fulfill its fair and balanced credo, died on Thursday in Manhattan. Alan Colmes, Sean Hannity's Liberal Foil on Fox News, Dies at 66NBCNews.com Remembering Alan Colmes, a liberal who could laughFox News Alan Colmes, co-host of 'Hannity & Colmes' and liberal in 'lion's den' of Fox News, dies at 66Washington Post Daily Beast -Chicago Tribune -Slate Magazine (blog) -Fox News Insider all 149 news articles »

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Alan Colmes, Sean Hannity's Liberal Partner on Fox News, Dies at 66 - New York Times

NEW YORK (AP) - Alan Colmes, the radio and television host and commentator best known as the amiable liberal foil to the hard-right Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel, has died.

Fox spokeswoman Dana Klinghoffer confirmed his death Thursday. Fox also aired a tribute to Colmes, narrated by Hannity, and a statement from his family saying that he died Thursday morning after "a brief illness." Colmes was 66 and is survived by his wife, Jocelyn Elise Crowley, the sister of longtime Fox contributor Monica Crowley. In a statement issued through Fox, Hannity called Colmes "one of life's most decent, kind and wonderful people."

Colmes was a New York City native and Hofstra University graduate who worked for years in radio, notably on WABC and WNBC, and standup comedy before joining Fox in 1996. That same year he and the conservative Hannity began a 12-year run as co-hosts of the popular "Hannity & Colmes" program, which brought Colmes both fame and ridicule. Admittedly a minority voice on the conservative channel, Colmes was often mocked as too nice and easily overshadowed by the ever-aggressive Hannity. The liberal media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Media likened him to the hapless Washington Generals, the dependable losers to basketball's Harlem Globetrotters. Al Franken, in his best-selling "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them," imagined Colmes earning his salary by "adding toner to the copiers and printers, loofah-ing Roger Ailes in his personal steam room, and ordering Chinese food for editors working on misleading video packages."

Colmes was aware of the criticism, but said that getting mean was not his style.

"People say to me, 'Why don't you fight fire with fire?'" he told The Associated Press in 2003. "You fight fire with water, not fire."

Colmes continued to appear as a commentator on Fox after his show with Hannity ended. He also was an author, his books including "Thank the Liberals" and "Red, White & Liberal."

Published: February 24, 2017 7:51 AM EST

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Alan Colmes, liberal voice on Fox, dead at 66 - Philly.com

Tony Abbott, as a conservative, is the one figure who can shore up the party's base against the surge in support for Pauline Hanson's nativist One Nation Party, and the recent defection of South Australian Senator Cory Bernardi.

In Working Girl, a charming film made by Mike (The Graduate) Nicholls, a male character is caught by his girlfriend, played by Melanie Griffith, engaging in what H.G. Nelson calls "horizontal folk dancing" with another woman.

The male character, played by Alec (Saturday Night Live) Baldwin, blurts out: "This isn't what it seems."

Expressed in different ways, this has been pretty much the standard response of Liberal politicians to the all-but-declared warfare between former Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott, and the man who blasted him out of the job, current Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

But even this flimsy verbal charade collapsed on Friday in a welter of bitter recriminations against Abbott by Malcolm Turnbull and cabinet ministers such as Mathias Cormann and Christopher Pyne.

These followed Tony Abbott's attack on his successor at a book launch, followed by an interview on TV, in Sydney on Thursday night, including the incendiary: "The risk is we will drift to defeat if we don't lift our game."

In response, Turnbull said his nemesis "knows exactly what he's doing and so do his colleagues" and that Turnbull's government had achieved more in the last six months than had been achieved in the previous three years, when Abbott was PM.

Finance Minister Cormann, who backed Abbott during that fateful meeting of Liberal MP's on September 14, 2015, branded the former PM's intervention "deliberately destructive". Pyne, a senior moderate in the government and minister for defence industry, slammed Abbott's proposals, including sharp cuts in government spending and a slowdown in the immigration rate, as either "catastrophic" or ones that had failed when he was in office.

This new, open war phase means there will be intense focus on the result of a looming NSW Liberal Party ballot. At one level it is just a state parliamentary preselection, one that routinely creates little interest outside the relevant political party and political commentators.

But at another level the preselection result for Manly, a Sydney harbour-side seat held by NSW Premier Mike Baird until he suddenly resigned last month could affect the future course of the Abbott-Turnbull warfare, on the careers of both, and even the Turnbull government's survival.

Manly lies inside the federal seat of Warringah, which has been held by Abbott since he won a byelection in 1994. The current Liberal Party preselection for the seat is being contested by six candidates. These include Walter Villatora, who was campaign manager for Mike Baird when he first won the seat in 2007, and is President of the Liberal Party's Federal Electorate Conference (FEC) in Abbott's seat of Warringah.

The close ties Abbott has with Villatora showed up again last year when he backed him in his unsuccessful bid to win Liberal Party's preselection for the adjacent seat of Mackellar, which had been held by former Speaker Bronwyn Bishop since she, too, won a byelection in 1994. The final winner was Jason Falinski.

Complicating matters another strong possible Liberal candidate for Manly who is also on the right in a highly factionalised NSW Liberal Party is John Hart, the chief executive of Restaurant & Catering Australia. Hart lost his bid to succeed former federal treasurer Joe Hockey in the nearby federal seat of North Sydney in late 2015 to Trent Zimmerman.

He is well-liked in the Liberal Party, although he attracted some controversy as the head of Joe Hockey's now mothballed electorate fundraising arm, the North Sydney Forum.

But in what is shaping up as a close contest, both Villatora and Hart are facing a strong challenge from James Griffin, who, at 34, is already a director in the risk consulting practice of KPMG in Sydney.

In preselection manoeuvring, Griffin, a moderate, is being framed by the right as the candidate of the NSW Liberal Party's dominant moderate faction, but he is in fact non-aligned and has deep roots in the area as a former local councillor.

So far, Baird, who resigned as premier to spend more time with his family and sick parents, has studiously kept his distance from the preselection process. However, it would not surprise close observers of the Liberal Party if Baird swung his support behind Griffin, touted as a possible future minister, in the final stages of a preselection which is likely to occur in mid-March.

Whatever the outcome, attention will inevitably shift to Abbott's parliamentary future. His Liberal Party opponents will argue that Abbott cannot remain as an MP when he is openly undermining Malcolm Turnbull, and even publicly casting doubt on the ability of a Turnbull-led Liberal Party to win the next federal election.

But the Abbott argument for remaining as the Liberal member for Warringah assuming he wants to stay in that role was already being put by his close Liberal Party supporters in private conversations by the end of the week. The nub of it is that Tony Abbott, as a conservative, is the one figure who can shore up the party's base against the surge in support for Pauline Hanson's nativist One Nation Party, and the recent defection of South Australian Senator Cory Bernardi.

One of those who may be attracted to such an argument is Walter Villatora. As a seasoned Liberal Party figure, he also knows that even prior to last July's federal election, there were stirrings in Abbott's own electorate of Warringah.

At a tense four-hour meeting at the Warringah Golf Club last April, Abbott fought off an attempt to curb his control of the Warringah electorate by former Liberal Party Treasurer Philip Higginson, a one-time friend and now a fierce Liberal Party foe.

Higginson was defeated in his attempt to replace Villatora as President of the Liberal Party's Warringah Federal Electorate Conference, which selects the party's candidate for the seat. Villatora defeated Higginson 57-41.

The position of FEC President is honorary. It is also sensitive, and the tension at that closed meeting may be just a mild foretaste of what is to come.

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Woes of the Liberal party go all the way down to arcane NSW state politics - The Australian Financial Review

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Friday, February 24, 2017, 2:57 PM

The NRAs top gun revealed a paranoid vision of the world in a Friday speech that painted Democratic protesters as well-paid criminals bent on terrorizing the country.

National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre unloaded on the left, saying its demonstrators are paid $1,500 a week to wreak havoc.

Theyre angry. Theyre militant and theyre willing to engage in criminal violence to get what they want, LaPierre said at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland.

Many of these people literally hate everything America stands for.

Trump demands no more anonymous 'sources' after W.H. briefing

LaPierre described protesters in black ski masks who spit in the face of Gold Star families, tomahawk beer bottles and rocks at police, and smash business plate glass windows while customers cower inside.

And that was just on Inauguration Day, according to LaPierre.

The Lefts message is absolutely clear, LaPierre said. They want revenge. Youve gotta be punished. They say youre whats wrong with America, and now youve gotta be purged.

The NRA honcho also took aim at the media and lumped together reporters and protesters with drug lords and terrorists.

Steve Bannon says 'globalist media' will stay 'opposed' to Trump

If youre a member of the leftist media or a soldier for the violent left, a violent criminal, a drug-carteled gang member or a would-be terrorist, hear this, LaPierre said, youre not going to win and you will not defeat us. LaPierre cheered President Trump and chillingly exhorted the NRAs 5 million members to be prepared to fight back.

With all the threats facing America today, your right to protect yourself and your family may be more relevant and urgently needed than ever before, he said.

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NRA boss Wayne LaPierre lambasts 'militant, paid' liberal protesters who hate 'everything America stands for' - New York Daily News

Last Updated Feb 23, 2017 11:26 AM EST

NEW YORK -- Alan Colmes, the radio and television host and commentator best known as the amiable liberal foil to the hard-right Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel, has died. He was 66.

Fox spokeswoman Dana Klinghoffer confirmed his death Thursday. Fox also aired a tribute to Colmes, narrated by Hannity, and a statement from his family saying that he died Thursday morning after a brief illness.

Colmes is survived by his wife, Jocelyn Elise Crowley, the sister of longtime Fox contributor Monica Crowley.

He was a great guy, brilliant, hysterical, and moral, the family statement said. He was fiercely loyal, and the only thing he loved more than his work was his life with Jocelyn. He will be missed.

In a statement issued through Fox, Hannity called Colmes one of lifes most decent, kind and wonderful people.

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Fox News Correspondents Alan Colmes and Sean Hannity attend the Fox News Channels 10th anniversary celebration on Oct. 4, 2006, in New York City.

Peter Kramer/Getty Images

Colmes was a New York City native and Hofstra University graduate who worked for years in radio, notably on WABC and WNBC, and standup comedy before joining Fox in 1996.

That same year he and the conservative Hannity began a 12-year run as co-hosts of the popular Hannity & Colmes program, which brought Colmes both fame and ridicule.

Admittedly a minority voice on the conservative channel, Colmes was often mocked as too nice and easily overshadowed by the ever-aggressive Hannity. The liberal media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Media likened him to the hapless Washington Generals, the dependable losers to basketballs Harlem Globetrotters.

Al Franken, in his best-selling Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, imagined Colmes earning his salary by adding toner to the copiers and printers, loofah-ing Roger Ailes in his personal steam room, and ordering Chinese food for editors working on misleading video packages.

Colmes was aware of the criticism, but said that getting mean was not his style.

People say to me, Why dont you fight fire with fire? he told The Associated Press in 2003. You fight fire with water, not fire.

Colmes continued to appear as a commentator on Fox after his show with Hannity ended. He also was an author, his books including Thank the Liberals and Red, White & Liberal.

Former Fox anchor Megyn Kelly, conservative commentator Ann Coulter and Fox personalities were among those who took to social media following news of Colmes death.

2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Alan Colmes, liberal voice at Fox News, dead at 66 - CBS News

Oh, piss off Doris, cried the nation in unison this morning. No, it wasn't that everyone's local cantankerous old lady had thwacked our ankles with her stick. This is a different, more aggressive Doris. Less Werthers, more extreme weathers. Less bridge club, more bridge collapse.

This is Storm Doris.

A storm that has brought snow, rain, and furious winds up to 94mph to parts of the UK. There are severe weather warnings of wind, snow and ice across the entire country.

But the real question here is: why is it called that? And what impact does the new Met Office policy of naming storms have on us?

Storm Doris is the latest protagonist in the Met Offices decision to name storms, a pilot scheme introduced in winter 2015/16 now in its second year.

The scheme was introduced to draw attention to severe weather conditions in Britain, and raise awareness of how to prepare for them.

The Name our Storms initiative invites the public to suggest names for storms. You can do this by tweeting the @metoffice using the #nameourstorms hashtag and your suggestion, through its Facebook page, or by emailing them.

These names are collated along with suggestions from Met ireann and compiled into a list. These are whittled down into 21 names, according to which were most suggested in alphabetical order and alternating between male and female names. This is done according to the US National Hurricane Naming convention, which excludes the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z because there are thought to be too few common names beginning with these letters.

They have to be human names, which is why suggestions in this list revealed by Wired including Apocalypse, Gnasher, Megatron, In A Teacup (or Ena Tee Cup) were rejected. The Met Office received 10,000 submissions for the 2016/17 season. According to a spokesperson, a lot of people submit their own names.

Only storms that could have a medium or high wind impact in the UK and Ireland are named. If there are more than 21 storms in a year, then the naming system starts from Alpha and goes through the Greek alphabet.

The names for this year are: Angus (19-20 Nov 16), Barbara (23-24 Dec 2016), Conor (25-26 Dec 2016), Doris (now), Ewan, Fleur, Gabriel, Holly, Ivor, Jacqui, Kamil, Louise, Malcolm, Natalie, Oisn, Penelope, Robert, Susan, Thomas, Valerie and Wilbert.

Doris is an incongruous name for this storm, so why was it chosen? A Met Office spokesperson says they were just at that stage in their list of names, and theres no link between the nature of the storm and its name.

But do people send cosy names for violent weather conditions on purpose? Theres all sorts in there, a spokesperson tells me. People dont try and use cosy names as such.

We know that giving names to objects and animals immediately gives us a human connection with them. Thats why we name things we feel close to: a pet owner names their cat, a sailor names their boat, a bore names their car. We even name our virtual assistants from Microsofts Clippy to Amazons Alexa.

This gives us a connection beyond practicality with the thing weve named.

Remember the response of Walter Palmer, the guy who killed Cecil the Lion? If I had known this lion had a name and was important to the country or a study, obviously I wouldnt have taken it, he said. Nobody in our hunting party knew before or after the name of this lion.

So how does giving a storm a name change our attitude towards it?

Evidence suggests that we take it more seriously or at least pay closer attention. A YouGov survey following the first seven named storms in the Met Offices scheme shows that 55 per cent of the people polled took measures to prepare for wild weather after hearing that the oncoming storm had been named.

There was an immediate acceptance of the storm names through all media,said Gerald Fleming, Head of Forecasting at Met ireann, the Irish metereological service. The severe weather messages were more clearly communicated.

But personalising a stormcan backfire. A controversial US study in 2014 by PNAC (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) claimed that hurricanes with female names lead to higher death tolls the more feminine the name, like Belle or Cindy, the higher the death toll. This is not because female names are attached to more severe storms; it is reportedly because people take fewer steps to prepare for storms with names they perceive to be unintimidating or weak.

In judging the intensity of a storm, people appear to be applying their beliefs about how men and women behave, Sharon Shavitt, a co-author of the study, told the FT at the time. This makes a female-named hurricane . . . seem gentler and less violent.

Names have social connotations, and affect our subconscious. Naming a storm can raise awareness of it, but it can also affect our behaviour towards it.

We should also spare a thought for the impact sharing a name with a notorious weather event can have on a person. Katrina Nicholson, a nurse who lives in Glasgow, says it was horrible when the 2005 hurricane one of the fifth deadliest ever in the US was given her name.

It was horrible having something so destructive associated with my name. Homes being destroyed and lives being lost shouldnt be named after any person, she tells me over email. I actually remember at the time meeting an American tourist on a boat trip in Skye and when he heard my name he immediately linked it to the storm although he quickly felt guilty and then said it was a lovely name! I think to this day there will be many Americans who hate my name because of it.

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Emmanuel Macron: a populist eruption from the liberal centre - New Statesman

Vice President Pence says liberal activists are partly to blame for the wave of protests at GOP lawmakers recent town halls.

The nightmare of ObamaCare is about to end, he said Wednesdayin Fenton, Mo. "Despite the best efforts of liberal activists at town halls around the country, ObamaCare has failed, and it has got to go.

Pence added the Trump administration will work with Congress on creating more flexibility for healthcare, including allowing it to be sold across state lines like car insurance and life insurance.

Republican lawmakers are facing tough crowds during this weeks congressional recess, with attendees challenging them on issues ranging from healthcare reform to President Trumps agenda.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday the recurring incidents are a mixture of real frustration and professional agitation.

Theres a hybrid there: I think some people are clearly upset, but there is a bit of professional protester, manufactured base in there, he said during his daily press briefing.

Pence's and Spicers remarks both echo Trumps, who tweeted Tuesday that the so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists.

Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) pushed back on the administrations claim Wednesday, noting his town hall in Mount Pleasant, S.C., last Saturday wasnt an artificial crowd."

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Pence slams 'liberal activists' at town halls - The Hill

McClatchy Washington Bureau

Liberal activists warn party's lawmakers: Primaries are coming McClatchy Washington Bureau Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, shown speaking on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017, is among the Democrats up for re-election in 2018. Liberals warn of primary challenges if Democrats don't do their best to take on President Donald ... Liberals copy Tea Party tactics to protest Trump at town hallsWashington Examiner all 63 news articles »

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Liberal activists warn party's lawmakers: Primaries are coming - McClatchy Washington Bureau

Alan Colmes, the radio and television host and commentator best known as the amiable liberal foil to the hard-right Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel, has died.

Fox spokeswoman Dana Klinghoffer confirmed his death Thursday. Fox also aired a tribute to Colmes, narrated by Hannity, and a statement from his family saying that he died Thursday morning after "a brief illness." Colmes was 66 and is survived by his wife, Jocelyn Elise Crowley, the sister of longtime Fox contributor Monica Crowley. In a statement issued through Fox, Hannity called Colmes "one of life's most decent, kind and wonderful people."

Colmes was a New York City native and Hofstra University graduate who worked for years in radio, notably on WABC and WNBC, and standup comedy before joining Fox in 1996. That same year he and the conservative Hannity began a 12-year run as co-hosts of the popular "Hannity & Colmes" program, which brought Colmes both fame and ridicule. Admittedly a minority voice on the conservative channel, Colmes was often mocked as too nice and easily overshadowed by the ever-aggressive Hannity. The liberal media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Media likened him to the hapless Washington Generals, the dependable losers to basketball's Harlem Globetrotters. Al Franken, in his best-selling "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them," imagined Colmes earning his salary by "adding toner to the copiers and printers, loofah-ing Roger Ailes in his personal steam room, and ordering Chinese food for editors working on misleading video packages."

Colmes was aware of the criticism, but said that getting mean was not his style.

"People say to me, 'Why don't you fight fire with fire?'" he told The Associated Press in 2003. "You fight fire with water, not fire."

Colmes continued to appear as a commentator on Fox after his show with Hannity ended. He also was an author, his books including "Thank the Liberals" and "Red, White & Liberal."

FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2016 file photo, singer Rihanna poses for photographers as she arrives to Christian Dior's Spring-Summer 2017 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented in Paris. Harvard University will present the singer with the Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017, during a ceremony on campus in Cambridge, Mass., (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

Singer Rihanna to receive Harvard humanitarian award

Grammy Award-winning singer Rihanna has been named the 2017 Harvard University Humanitarian of the Year.

She will receive the Harvard Foundation's Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award at a ceremony scheduled for Tuesday.

Rihanna is being honored for several philanthropic efforts. She built a state-of-the-art center for oncology and nuclear medicine to diagnose and treat breast cancer in her home nation of Barbados, and also created the Clara and Lionel Foundation Scholarship Program named for her grandparents for students attending college in the U.S. from Caribbean countries.

She also supports the Global Partnership for Education and Global Citizen Project to provide children with access to education in more than 60 developing countries.

Previous winners include actor James Earl Jones, gender rights advocate Malala Yousafzai, and four U.N. Secretaries General.

Nick Cannon welcomes baby boy

Nick Cannon has welcomed a new baby boy.

The "America's Got Talent" host posted a picture of himself Wednesday on Instagram holding son Golden "Sagon" Cannon. He writes in the caption, "No matter how hard the world may hit you, God always reminds us of our purpose!" He adds: "Welcome to Earth Son!"

The 36-year-old Cannon announced in November that he was expecting a baby with his ex-girlfriend, Brittany Bell, a former beauty queen.

The baby is Cannon's third child. He also has 5-year-old twins with ex-wife Mariah Carey.

Oprah Winfrey to speak at upstate NY college's commencement

Oprah Winfrey will be a speaker at the graduation ceremony for an upstate New York college attended by some of the graduates of her South African school.

The Skidmore College website says the author, actress and former talk show host will be a speaker at the May 20 commencement at Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

Winfrey will receive an honorary Doctorate of Letters in the Arts from the private liberal arts college located in Saratoga Springs, 165 miles north of New York City.

The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, a boarding school for underprivileged South African girls, opened outside Johannesburg in 2007. Several graduates of the school have attended Skidmore.

Winfrey was at Skidmore in October 2013 to visit two of her South African school's graduates.

This panel of black and white self-made photographs provided by Karl Baden shows Baden over the last three decades beginning Feb. 23, 1987, top left, through Feb. 21, 2017, lower right. The Boston College professor's "Every Day" project has chronicled his visage in nearly 11,000 photos in various locations with the same lighting and background each day for thirty years. He intends to do it the rest of his life. (Karl Baden via AP)

Professor takes 'selfie' every day for last 30 years

Long before they were called selfies, Karl Baden snapped a simple black and white photo of himself. Then he repeated it, every day, for the next three decades.

Baden's "Every Day" project officially turns 30 on Thursday and he says he has no intention of stopping. The stark contemplation on mortality and aging has prompted some to dub the Boston College professor the unwitting "father of the selfie."

The 64-year-old Cambridge resident grumbles at comparisons to the pouty face, self-congratulatory portraits that fill Instagram and Facebook. But he recognizes the ubiquity of the "selfie" a word that didn't become widespread until this decade has helped raise the profile of the project, which has been exhibited in art galleries in Boston, New York City and elsewhere over the years.

Robert Mann, a New York City gallery owner that exhibited Baden's work on its 10th anniversary, says he's impressed with how Baden has stuck to his process. "Watching Karl age (gracefully) in front of the camera has been an honor," he said.

And there's been just one day over the past 30 years where Baden admits he neglected to take a photo: Oct. 15, 1991. "It was a dumb moment of forgetfulness," he said.

FILE - In this Jan. 20, 2017, file photo, Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump listen to the singing of the national anthem by Jackie Evancho during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Evancho asked Trump in a tweet on Feb. 22, 2017, to meet with her and her transgender sister on transgender rights. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Jackie Evancho wants to meet Trump on transgender rights

More than a month after performing at President Donald Trump's inauguration, singer Jackie Evancho says she and her transgender sister want to meet with him about transgender rights.

The 16-year-old made the request in a tweet Wednesday night . Evancho appeared alongside her sister, Juliet, on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday . Juliet Evancho says they hope to "enlighten" the president.

The tweet followed the Trump administration's move Wednesday to end federal protection for transgender students that allowed them to use public school bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identities.

The former "America's Got Talent" contestant sang the national anthem at Trump's Jan. 20 inaugural and tells 'GMA' that she would do so again. She says she sang not because of politics, but for "the honor and privilege" of performing for her country.

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Alan Colmes, liberal voice on Fox, dead at 66, and more in entertainment news - Press of Atlantic City

Liberal timelines have been clogged with wish fulfillment from these rogue accounts.

Photo illustration by Slate. Images via Twitter.

In a media climate shot through with both angst and alternative facts, a few pranksters have inevitably combined the two. Fake rogue government Twitter accounts! Welcome to the latest exercise in liberal self-soothing.

Katy Waldman is a Slate staff writer.

Last week, someone posing as disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn fooled thousands of readers (and Nancy Pelosi). While I accept full responsibility for my actions, faux Flynn wrote, I feel it is unfair that I have been made the sole scapegoat for what happened. But if a scapegoat is whats needed for this Administration to continue to take this great nation forward, I am proud to do my duty. Meanwhile, a counterfeit Stephen Miller favorited a tweet from David Duke, earning notice from at least one liberal magazine editor.

The tweets hit the masochistic lefts erogenous zones, flooding us with pleasure and pain. Of course Miller was a shameless racist. And Flynns posts confirmed what everyone already suspected: The adviser hadnt courted Moscow alone; his overtures manifested a deeper White House rot. To the Democratic lawmakers who immediately called for a public hearing on Team Trumps ties to Russia, Flynns tweets told a damning story about a ruthless and dishonest administration that thought little of sacrificing its loyal foot soldiers. (And just look at that lackey persisting in his mindless obedience! I am proud to do my duty ghastly.) Amid the torture of Trumps presidency, the posts meant that the opposition might finally succeed in nailing some hides to the wall. Whats more, their rancidness provided a faint, secondary consolation: We were right.

Elsewhere in Shangri-La, progressives thrilled to a fake feed that sprouted after Sally Yates got fired for refusing to enforce the Muslim ban. You know you have made the right decision when there is peace in your heart, @SaIIyYates tweeted on Feb. 2. The subsequent missives seemed as relatably banal as our own bursts of online anti-Trumpism. Yates must feel impotent too, we observed, our empathy streaked with delicious self-pity. Still, it was comforting to think that the venerated legal figure had not lost her iron spine. Tender uplift (and questionable grammar) was also available from a bogus Bollywood starturnedYates impersonator, who claimed: I took and uphold oath to defend the constitution not to someones personal likings. (Meanwhile, the former deputy AGs actual account has been deactivated.)

One month into re-greatened America, liberal timelines are clogged with wish fulfillment. Its not only hoaxers targeting any Trump staffer (or ex-staffer) with an L in his name that can easily be replaced in a Twitter handle with an uppercase I. Theres also a crop of alternative government agencies@AltStateDpt, @Alt_DeptofEd, @Alt_CDCconjuring a shadow bureaucracy of men and women who share progressive values and want to fight. A Rogue POTUS Staff account (845K followers) proclaims itself the unofficial resistance team inside the White House. In language reminiscent of the jacket copy on a Le Carr novel, it continues: We pull back the curtain to expose the real workings inside this disastrous, frightening Administration. Typical tweets describe Trump as a tyrant, mock his statements to the press, and attempt to organize rallies. The other dark agencies post fact checks and strategy reads for the #resistance.

Like Josiah Bartlet, this person is probably a fabrication.

Then there is @AngryWHStaffer, whose bio flatly declares, I work at the White House. This is a disaster. This fantasy employee whispers blandishments like Its like rats off a sinking ship here. Full on crisis mode. Our inside guy promises: Give what Im seeing here, Im left with one option to save this nation. Im going to start leaking EVERYTHING.

True or not, the narcotizing vision of a White House riven by infighting and ineptitude is Chicken Soup for the Leftie Soul. Meanwhile, the accounts tone, neither inflammatory nor trolly, is a perfect counterweight to that unruly picture: It suggests an everyman driven to desperation by the chaos and malice around him. This is crazy, the staffer will say. Please dont let this happen. Our spy speaks for the silent, sane majority that imagines it would heroically leak some intelligence if given the chance; the beleaguered citizens who come home from work, rub their temples, and fire up The West Wing on Netflix. Like Josiah Bartlet, this person is probably a fabrication. But so what? The notion that decent, well-meaning folks are keeping vigil on Trump from inside the palace walls is a form of escapism, like alcohol or James Bond movies. Properly understood, its not fake news; its fiction as self-care.

To that end, many of the rogue accounts take pains to distance themselves from the official federal government. Yet they remain wildly popular: @AltStateDpt, for instance, has 153K followers despite a bio larded with disclaimers. The Alt U.S. National Park Servicethe first sham feed of them all, established when Trump silenced the real NPS after a feud about inaugural crowd sizesannounces that it is explicitly against political untruths, which is either encouraging or ironic depending on your perspective. Its bio: The #Resistance team against #AltFacts #FauxNews #FauxScience. #Science #Climate #Facts Run by non-gov individuals.

Top Comment

Oh I thought this was an article about people retweeting accounts they knew were fake because they were posting funny things. Yeah, please stop retweeting things you think are real unless they've been confirmed. More...

Its unclear how many people seek out these handles because they want information about the government and how many are chasing a psychic pick-me-up. For the first group, the persuasive value of a given post often lies in the retweet, which lifts the momentarily convincing message out of its questionable context.

For savvier consumers, though, the accounts may more resemble the Chrome extensions that convert Trumps tweets into crayon scribbles or swap his face for cat photos, literally altering reality to make it go down easier. Here is where the line between fiction as self-care and willful ignorance grows blurry. Of course we all need a break sometimes. And surely a few well-chosen parody accounts do not a filter bubble make. But as more and more imaginary good guys give us permission to turn inward, its worth asking whether the solace of a slightly rosier worldview comes at too steep a cost if it means disengaging from the truth.

See the article here:

Rogue Twitter Feeds as Liberal Self-Care - Slate Magazine