Category Archives: Liberal

Aberdeenshire West Liberal Democrats have chosen Rosemary Bruce as their candidate for the Aberdeenshire West constituency in the Scottish Parliament election on May.

She is also the Scottish Liberal Democrat lead list candidate for the north-east of Scotland region having been announced for that role back in November.

Rosemary Bruce has been a member of the Liberal Democrats for more than thirty years and has served as the councillor for Banchory and Mid Deeside ward on Aberdeenshire council since May 2017, she is deputy leader of the Aberdeenshire Council Scottish Liberal Democrat group and vice-chair of the Education and Children's Services Committee.

She previously served as the councillor for Aboyne, Upper Deeside and Donside from 2009-2012 and has a long record of involvement in local community groups such as chairing her local community council andtoddler group, and actively campaigned for the retention of the local maternity services.

Commenting on her selection Rosemary said: I am delighted to have been selected for Aberdeenshire West - the area in which I and my family live and work.

I know that many people across the north-east of Scotland feel let down by successive nationalist governments and that the last thing that we need is another divisive referendum.

"What matters is getting on with their lives as we face the challenges of recovery from the pandemic and the difficulties emerging over Brexit.

If elected, my priority will be to put recovery first to rebuild our economy and health services - including mental health, invest in education and skills, ensure good connectivity across the country, decentralise control of services, take new steps to tackle injustice and meet our climate change targets.

I also want to ensure that resources and skills of the oil and gas sector can be re-directed, to make a major contribution to achieving net zero carbon and creating sustainable jobs for the future.

Outside of politics, Rosemary works part-time as a company registrar and has previously worked as an office manager, diary secretary and personal assistant in both the private and public sectors.

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Bruce to stand for Aberdeenshire West Liberal Democrats - Grampian Online

TORONTO - Ontario's Liberals say they have paid off their $10-million debt from the 2018 provincial election in which they suffered the worst defeat in the party's history.

Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca says the party was able to eliminate the debt by tightening internal spending and growing its membership and donor base.

Del Duca says that by eliminating membership fees the party has been able to grow its ranks to more than 75,000 members, which in turn has increased contributions.

The Liberals went into the last election holding a majority, but lost their official party status when they won only seven seats.

The devastating loss prompted the resignation of Kathleen Wynne as party leader.

Del Duca, who was elected leader last March, says eliminating the debt will allow the party to continue to prepare for the next election, which is scheduled for June 2022.

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Ontario Liberals say they've paid off $10-million debt from the 2018 election - CP24 Toronto's Breaking News

Canberras problem with women has been encouraged for decades by a boys club mentality that chases women out of politics and protects poor behaviour.

That is the message from former female members of parliament who are speaking out against the culture, and asking women still walking the halls of power to do the same, or risk losing this moment of change.

Long-serving former Liberal MP Sharman Stone told The New Daily that women would continue to quit politics if the culture isnt changed soon.

I dont think anyone can be shocked and dismayed by what has transpired recently, Dr Stone said.

She rattled off a long list of names including Nicolle Flint, Kate Ellis, Nicola Roxon, Julia Banks, Julie Bishop who had all decried the sexist culture in Canberra after leaving.

They cite how its not conducive to them having a work-life balance, or they talk about the toxic environment.

We want the parliament to be the most inclusive place, to properly represent the Australian population. But if this persists, who would want to put their hand up and run?

Dr Stone said that while Prime Minister Scott Morrison had done the right thing in admitting there was a problem,the LNP needed to do more to respect and promote the women within their ranks.

Women on the LNP side are hugely outnumbered, way below 30 per cent, she said.

As women in parliament, we are very conscious it is a man contest.

Dr Stone said a culture of secrecy, and who you know not what you know, leads to cliques forming, where parliamentarians and staffers are promoted based on who they are mates with, not on merit, which can be exclusive. And In this case, it excludes women.

Dr Stone said Liberal MPs and staffers considering coming forward with their experiences of sexism would be feeling the pinch to stay quiet so as not to risk making the party look bad.

Its all about maintaining power, control and government, she said.

They would be feeling the pinch not to come forward or do anything that might rock the boat, especially in the current environment because the seats are so evenly divided.

Although Dr Stone acknowledged the political culture silenced female MPs and staffers, she called on women across the political spectrum to stand up and publicly call out sexism, arguing that is the only way forward.

This cant just be another once over lightly, quick and dirty investigation where we dont see any real information. That will just be the same old same old. Something must be done, she said.

To clean up the culture in Canberra the government needs to set up an independent body to deal with claims of sexism and harassment and have more transparency over the hiring and firing of staff, Dr Stone said.

Its not rocket science, she said.

Dr Stone is not the only one with concerns about the culture in Australias halls of power.

Former Labor Senator Trish Crossin, who became the first Northern Territory woman voted into Parliament in 1998 and stayed for 15 years, said Canberra has always been a boys club.

She said the toxic culture was turning off talented women.

I think the more women look inside, the more it deters them to stand. Or if they are currently politicians, they get out and dont seek pre-selection, Ms Crossin said.

Ms Crossin is now working with Gender Equity Victoria to develop a plan to safeguard women in politics, including an annual survey where women can anonymously report their views and experiences.

Theres no gender-equity audit. Theres no assessment of how safe the workplace is for people, she said.

In some ways, this is an opportunity to make long term sustainable change that protects not just women in that workplace, but every worker.

The list of female MPs who have decried the sexist culture after walking out the door has been getting longer for years.

Upon leaving politics Julie Bishop famously opened up about how lonely it can be for women, and called out her colleagues appalling behaviour.

It is evident that there is an acceptance of a level of behaviour in Canberra that would not be tolerated in any other workplace across Australia, Ms Bishop told the audience at a Womens Weekly awards event in Sydney in 2018.

I have seen and witnessed and experienced some appalling behaviour in parliament, the kind of behaviour that 20 years ago, when I was managing partner of a law firm of 200 employees, I would never have accepted. Yet in Parliament, its the norm.

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Something must be done: Former Liberal MP slams culture that excludes women - The New Daily

As we head into the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, it appears the relationship between the BC NDP government and the BC Liberals is returning to its traditional cantankerous level.

The days of the two parties working together in non-partisan ways went goodbye when the provincial election was held last fall.

However, the opening week of the B.C. legislature session revealed a BC Liberal opposition that is more aggressive in its attacks and more questioning of public health policy. Whether this is a good move on their part remains to be seen.

Question period last week occasionally sounded like the ones we experienced before the pandemic shut down so much political debate and theatre.

At one point, every BC Liberal MLA who stood up to ask questions ensured they slipped the word incompetent at least once into every question, attaching it to the governments performance in general and to whichever cabinet minister was being asked something.

Speaker Raj Chouhan took the opposition to task after question period, voicing his displeasure at these vocal orchestrations. We shall see whether his pleas for calmer and nicer discourse will be heeded.

But considering the heckling that went on when the tables were reversed and the NDP was on the attacking opposition side, I dont expect things to cool down much.

And the BC Liberals seemed to score some points by attacking the NDP governments lack of response when it comes out to helping such public institutions as the PNE and various markets, fairs and rodeos.

The BC Liberals are navigating some trickier terrain in their increasing attacks or criticism of various public health measures.

Under former party leader Andrew Wilkinson, the BC Liberals worked closely with the government and health officials during the pandemic and rarely voiced any criticism of health protocols.

Recently, though, the BC Liberals have criticized the low rapid-testing numbers for COVID-19, the safe school re-start plan, the time it is taking to determine who is designated an essential service worker in order to get an earlier vaccine, as well as the communications associated with moving the second vaccine dose to four months after the first.

None of these measures was dreamt up by the NDP government. Instead, all are policies devised by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and her team. It is not as if Health Minister Adrian Dix or his cabinet colleagues are setting the public health rules.

As the vaccination plan begins to roll out, it will be interesting to see how often the BC Liberals pounce on the inevitable mistakes, hiccups and genuine screw-ups that will surely occur as we try to jab needles in the arms of more than four million British Columbians in a little more than four months.

Henry and her team or public health officials anywhere are certainly not immune from criticism on some issues. However, political parties walk a narrow tightrope when it comes to critiquing policies based on science and the experts in a medical specialty such as public health.

We shall see whether the BC Liberals continue to walk that tightrope and, if so, whether they can keep walking it without falling off.

Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global BC.

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BC Liberals step up criticism of BC NDP over COVID-19 - Powell River Peak

In the fourth paragraph of his excellent March 1 Open Forum This Isnt My Republican Party, Mr. James Sherry lays out his conservative principles.

And as an unabashed liberal, I agree wholeheartedly with every one of them.

1) Limited government: I agree. The question is, How limited? Surely, government must play some role. I suspect that Mr. Sherry and I would debate how much government is too much, but we agree on the limited government premise.

2) Free-trade capitalism: I agree with the premise. Im all for capitalism, but with limited, common sense and necessary restrictions, which we can debate.

3) Reducing the national debt and working toward a balanced budget: Agreed. But how much debt is too much? Lets discuss.

4) Second Amendment rights, freedom of speech, freedom of (and from) religion: Agreed. But with sensible limits.

5) Equality of opportunity: Yes, for everyone. But equality is an aspiration that has not yet been realized in America. Shouldnt a government that promises equality work to achieve it?

6) Individual responsibility: Im all for being responsible and facing consequences applied equitably to rich and poor, male and female, straight and gay, black and white, the powerful and the weak.

7) The rights of unborn human beings: Agreed. I dont like abortion, either. But very often after the unborn become the born they also become the unhealthy and the unaffordable. So when parents cant afford pre-natal care, hospital care, well-baby care, childcare; when they cant afford health insurance; when they cant take their kid to the doctor or dentist, what role should government have?

8) Family as the bedrock of decency: Agreed. I like family and I like decency. But as Mrs. Doubtfire said, There are all sorts of different families. Single parent families, blended families, mixed race families, families with two dads or two moms. Theyre all families, and they can be as bedrock decent as any traditional mom and dad family.

9) Education as the key to individual success: Agreed. And individual success enriches society as a whole. Should government subsidize its citizens education as a wise investment in the nations future?

10) Sane and charitable immigration policy: Yes, sane because our nation needs immigrants for its economic well-being. And charitable, because immigrants are Gods children, too, and theyre here for the same reasons our own immigrant forefathers came here.

11) Voting as a civic duty: Agreed. And government has a responsibility to make legal voting as easy and accessible as possible for all citizens.

12) Color-blind justice: Agreed. Another as yet unrealized promise, and its governments duty to fulfill it.

13) Rejection of hatred as a basis of policy: Agreed. And its fair to demand our government to examine its policies and root out bias.

Maybe Mr. Sherry, the conservative, is actually a liberal. Or maybe I, the liberal, am actually a conservative. Label us as you please, but were typical Americans who agree on the fundamentals. We just need to have a civil conversation about the details.

Roger Kalin is a resident of Winchester.

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Open Forum: Conservative or liberal? Liberal or conservative? | Winchester Star | winchesterstar.com - The Winchester Star

Shes convinced that there remains a large constituency for a two-state solution, at least in principle. Of course there is a huge majority that does not believe it is achievable, she said.

Thats true not only in Israel, and not only on the right. The inexorable growth of Israels occupation, and the increasing power of those in Israel calling for outright annexation of Palestinian lands, can make it hard to believe that a two-state solution is still viable. If it isnt, neither is Israeli democracy, unless and until the country is prepared to give equal rights to the Palestinians it rules. For years, its been a truism to say that Israel is approaching the point where it can be Jewish or democratic, but not both. Its possible that, as much as liberal Zionists dont want to admit it, that point has been crossed.

So I asked Michaeli why American Jews committed to liberal democracy should still feel connected to Israel. She grew vehement, saying that the experience of living under Donald Trump should redouble our empathy for Israels embattled progressives.

Michaelis first four years in the Knesset coincided with Barack Obamas second term. I spent those four years being attacked by liberal American Jews for failing to replace Netanyahu, failing to be an effective opposition, she said. She grew deeply frustrated trying to explain the near impossibility of constraining a demagogue.

And then when Donald Trump was elected, I was devastated, but at the same time, I said to my friends, Welcome to our lives, she said. Now you will understand us better, because you felt the same its the way your life changes. All of the sudden your president becomes your life, and your jaw drops 10 times a day, and you experience how a scandal happens every 10 minutes and everybody becomes numb, and you run out of words to express how horrible things are. With Trump, she said, I thought that my American liberal friends will at last understand what we have been up against all this time.

Instead, Michaeli feels that some liberal American Jews are giving up on their Israeli peers. Dont you get that we need you and you need us? she asked. You need us, because as long as Israel, which used to be a true democracy, and is half of the Jewish people, is under such threat, you need us to get over this as much as we need you to be able to strengthen your democracy.

She insists, however hard it is to imagine now, that a two-state solution is still within reach. It has to happen, said Michaeli. Im convinced that it will, eventually.

Really? I asked.

Yeah, of course, she said. Listen, I brought Labor back almost from the dead.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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Opinion | The Israeli Feminist Trying to Save Liberal Zionism - The New York Times

GCHS Athletics| Garden City Telegram

Sub-State loss ends Pfeifers best season

The Wednesday Class 6A sub-state semifinal basketball game at Liberals Big House was eerily reminiscent of the final regular season contest between the Garden CityBuffaloes and the host Liberal Redskins.

The result was also the same, this time Garden falling 56-38 in the postseason playoff game to see their best season in several years end with an 11-6 record. It had been a 53-40 setback to end the regular season.

With Liberal holding a slender halftime lead this time, 22-18, as opposed to a 28-14 intermission advantage 8 days earlier, the Buffs drew within a basket at 24-22 just two minutes into the third quarter. The regular season battle had watched the Buffs trim that double-digit deficit to a single basket with 6 minutes remaining in the game.

Wednesday nights near duplicate scenario saw the Buffs go nearly three minutes without scoring while Liberal enjoyed a 9-2 run to put them up 33-24. By the end of the third quarter, the No. 2-seeded Liberal squad was up by 11, 38-27.

Any hopes of a Buffs rally ended quickly in the fourth quarter when Liberal scored the first 8 points to extend their lead to 46-27 with just more than 5 minutes left. Turnovers proved costly to the Lady Buffs in the final 16 minutes.

The Buffaloes struggled scoring from the field, finishing with just 9 baskets, four of those coming from 3-point range. They did hit 16-of-22 free throws.

Senior Julie Calzonetti took scoring honors for the Buffs with 11 points while sophomore Aileen Becerril added 10. Liberal got double-figure scoring from its trio of standouts Ashley Carrillo getting game high honors with 17 points, followed by Bree Horyna with 16 and Audrey Warden with 10.

The 11-6 mark is the best for the Buffs since the 2012-13 season when they went 17-4 under previous head coach David Upton. Pfeifers 2018-2019 team posted a 12-10 record.

Liberal will now face No. 1-seeded Dodge City on Saturday in Dodge City after the Red Demons dispatched No. 4 seed Hutchinson, 52-29, also on Wednesday night. Dodge City is 19-1. The winner advances to the 6A state quarterfinals which begin next Tuesday.

In a format change due to COVID-19, state quarterfinal games will be played between winners of specific sub-states and be played at the team with the higher seed (record). Either Dodge City or Liberal would be the higher-seeded team and host a quarterfinal game on Tuesday against the winner of the Derby (16-4) vs. Wichita Southeast (15-5) sub-state. The four winners advance to the state semifinals on Friday, March 12, and will be seeded by their season record, with 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3. Championship games are slated for Saturday, March 13 at Wichita State Universitys Koch Arena. There are no third place games this year.

GARDEN CITY (38) Calzonetti 3 4-8 11, Becerril 3 2-2 10, Flores 1 3-4 5, Simmons 1 3-4 5, Turner 1 4-4 7. Totals 9 16-22 38.

LIBERAL (56) Carrillo 4 7-9 17, Hay 2 0-0 6, Payton 1 0-0 2, Hallman 2 1-4 5, Horyna 7 2-2 16, Warden 3 4-5 10. Totals 19 14-20 56.

Garden City (11-6) 9; 9; 9; 11; -38

Liberal (17-4) 7; 15; 16; 18; -56

3-point goals: Garden City 4 (Calzonetti 1, Becerril 1, Turner 1), Liberal 4 (Carrillo 2, Hay 2). Fouls: Garden City 16, Liberal 14. Fouled out: Liberal (Carrillo).

Originally posted here:

Short-handed Buffaloes fall to Liberal, 56-38 - The Garden City Telegram

Its been a busy week for cancel culture.

Republican representative Jim Jordan called on the GOP to hold a committee hearing into the dangerous phenomenon that was a serious threat to fundamental free speech rights; Nobel Prize winning author Kazuo Ishiguro warned that it created a climate of fear amongst writers; and some childrens books got removed for depictions of racist imagery.

Author Theodor Geisels more famous works, like Green Eggs and Ham, which sold more than 338,000 copies in the US last year, and Oh, The Places youll Go!, which sold 513,000, remain untouched.

But it also seems to have replaced fake news in the Conservative lexicon when it comes to stirring up hatred of the media and faux hysteria over the demise of traditional values, religious beliefs and freedom of speech.

In other words, their appearance at America Uncancelled had been cancelled.

This latest diversion tactic, also known as the dead cat strategy, is a weapon of mass distraction.

Public shaming, or mob justice, is not a new concept. The earliest recorded use in English of a pillory, or stock, in which disgraced citizens would have their hands and head locked in public spaces, was 1274. Even the Romans used crucifixion to add a layer of public and psychological humiliation to the death penalty.

Despite legal, public embarrassment being phased out around 1837 in the UK and 1839 in the US, there are multiple judges still practising it today.

Like Ohio Municipal Court Judge Pinkey Carr, who in 2012 reportedly ordered Shena Hardin, who was caught on camera driving on a pavement to avoid a school bus, to stand at a cross-road and wear a sign that read: Only an idiot would drive on the sidewalk to avoid a school bus.

Etymologically the word cancelled can be traced back to the Latin carcer, meaning prison.

Its modern use may have first popped up in mainstream, popular culture in the 1991 cult movie, New Jack City, starring Wesley Snipes as crime boss Nino Brown, as spotted by Vox in 2019.

When his girlfriend complains about the murders he has carried out, Brown slams her onto the table, drips Champagne on her, and says: Cancel that b***h. Ill buy another one. It was a line later referenced in lyrics by rappers like 50 Cent.

But, unlike phrases like MeToo, cancel culture cant be traced to a single individual, but has evolved over time on social media from colloquial use by African Americans, to a symbol of the 21st century phenomenon of online bashing, to a rallying cry by conservative politicians.

In 2014, when TV critic and assistant professor at Old Dominion University, Miles McNutt, became one of the first people to use the phrase cancel culture on Twitter, he was actually referring to TV shows and the metrics by which a TV series success is measured and the speculation over which shows will survive.

So, the cancellation of actual culture, not a culture of cancellations.

He told The Independent via email that he was absolutely baffled (and remain baffled) by any association with the phrase as it is used now.

It began to grow in popularity from around 2016, notably with Black Twitter users, when it started to become identified with boycotts, before exploding into mainstream use around 2019, according to Google Trends.

Shanita Hubbard, journalism professor and author of Miseducation: A Womans Guide to Hip-Hop, published in 2022 by Hachette, said that cancel culture is a weapon used by the powerful against the marginalised

(Shanita Hubbard)

In 2017, Shanita Hubbard, journalism professor and author of the upcoming book, Miseducation: A Womans Guide to Hip-Hop, published by Hachette in 2022, used the phrase on Twitter to discuss criticism of the African American Olympic gymnast, Gabby Douglas, who had apologised for comments she made in the wake of her industrys sexual abuse scandal.

Hubbard wrote: Lets talk cancel culture. Personally, I am willing to give a lot of grace to young Black girls simply because the world doesnt. I wasnt born reading bell hooks. I had to grow. So does Gabby Douglas. And so do some of you.

She added: Giving room to grow, change and improve is not a pass.

Ms Hubbard told The Independent that she believed the architects behind the current use of cancel culture in the political sphere are powerful, white conservatives who were using it as a distraction technique.

The writer said: Its almost exhausting to have this conversation about this mythical cancel culture. Its a very fictitious thing. Its a weapon that a lot of powerful, privileged people use as a shield to avoid accountability.

The dead cat strategy was popularised under that name by the famed Australian strategist Lynton Crosby (once called the manipulator with the Midas touch and the Wizard of Oz, quietly working behind the curtain whilst your eyes are fixed elsewhere) who delivered now prime minister Boris Johnsons mayoral wins in London in 2008 and 2012, as well as the UKs surprise 2015 win for the Conservatives, setting up the Brexit showdown a year later.

The premise is simple: If you dont like the narrative or are losing an argument, throw a dead cat, or otherwise shocking statement or bit of news, on the table, and all talk on the former topic will end.

Australian political strategist Lynton Crosby, pictured in 2015 during the annual Conservative party conference after helping to master-mind their election success, popularised the term dead cat as a political distraction tactic

(AFP via Getty Images)

Revealing Mr Crosbys tactics that he would later use during the ill-fated EU Referendum campaign and his somewhat disastrous premiership in the UK during the pandemic, Mr Johnson wrote in 2013: Everyone will shout Jeez, mate, theres a dead cat on the table!; in other words they will be talking about the dead cat, the thing you want them to talk about, and they will not be talking about the issue that has been causing you so much grief.

Its a technique used to great effect by former president, Donald Trump, and other conservatives, from Hilarys emails in 2016, to fake news, to the stolen election in 2020.

Ms Hubbard told The Independent that it works well for powerful, mostly white, conservatives as a left-wing bogeyman they can rail against publicly, while knowing that they themselves cannot be cancelled.

Like spreading fear about a virus to which you know you are immune.

The truth of the matter is [cancelling] usually only harms marginalised, ordinary people, a lot of black people. she said.

Its deeply painful to see time and time again people who look like you never getting allowed to grow or make mistakes, and others, very powerful, privileged people, never being held accountable. That is how you know cancel culture is invented. We live in a twilight zone where people are yelling cancel culture ruined my life. When in reality there is nothing that powerful politicians and police officers can do to get cancelled.

A mural of former NFL player Colin Kaepernick in Tampas, Florida, earlier this month. Kaepernick was cancelled in 2016 for protesting against police brutality by kneeling during the US National Anthem.

(Getty Images)

One of the earliest examples of that would be Colin Kaepernick, the NFL player who started to take a knee during the National Anthem in 2016 to protest racism and police brutality. The practise is now wide-spread, especially following the global rise of the Black Lives Matter movement last year, but he still cannot find a job, five years later.

And in contrast, in the year since the killing of black medical worker, Breonna Taylor, 26, who was shot while in bed during a botched police raid on her home, no police officer has been charged in connection with her death.

Or the cancellation of the career of the Grammy award-winning, black gospel singer Chrisette Michelle for singing at Mr Trumps inauguration in 2017.

Compared to the election of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court despite multiple sexual assault allegations in 2018.

Ms Hubbard makes a distinction between internet pushbacks or accountability exacerbated in intensity by access to social media for millions of people at a time, and a mythical, out-of-control lynch mob that is coming for you and will destabilise western democracy.

The question is: are you a victim of cancel culture or are you being held accountable for your behaviour?, she said.

When you shoot out a tweet you are showing your unedited self. And a lot of these politicians and conservative figures who usually sit in a TV studio and dont hear from the general public are not used to immediate feedback. Its shocking them. People hold no bars on social media.

Its not all negative though.

She notes that some pushbacks last year, like the controversy over white people posting black squares on social media to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement, yielded positive results, because it focused on practical feedback for a mass group, rather than hammering an individual.

It was a really meaningless gesture and people were told, if you want to actually show support and allyship you can donate to groups, attend a protest. People with large social media followings, like [actor] Leslie Jordan, offered up their platform to black activists. I saw people start to pivot. I thought that was fantastic.

The phrase cancel culture isnt going away any time soon, nor is the vogue for public shaming, or the weaponizing of perceived threats.

Republican representative Josh Hawley pictured at the Conservative Political Action Conference last week where he mocked cancel culture, despite decrying it online

(REUTERS)

The 41-year-old lost his publishing contract for a new book, angrily decrying the move as Orwellian and vowing to fight this cancel culture with everything I have.

And yet Mr Hawley took to the stand at CPAC last week to declare to a jubilant crowd: Didnt anybody tell you? Youre supposed to be cancelled!

As The Washington Post warned back in 2017: We gape at dead cats, but the wolf is at the door.

There will always be another Dr Seuss.

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Dr Seuss and the tale of cancel culture: How a liberal Twitter term became weaponised by the right - The Independent

Still, the most interesting aspect of the drama at Smith has less to do with the details and more to do with the location. To wit, why is it that racial tensions keep boiling over at some of the nations most emphatically progressive-minded institutions, whether its at Smith, Yale, Northwestern, Bryn Mawr or the Dalton School? Why does the embrace of social justice pedagogies seem to have gone hand in hand with deteriorating race relations on campus?

One answer is that if many students are enjoying a diet of courses on critical race theory, and employees are trained on the fine points of microaggressions, they might take to heart what they are taught and notice what they have been trained to see.

Another answer is that if those who report being offended gain sympathy, attention and even celebrity, more accusations may be reported.

The deeper answer, I suspect, is that the Woke left has the liberal lefts number. Its called guilt.

The telling line in Powells story comes from a letter the Black Student Association wrote to McCartney, Smiths (white) president, saying its members do not feel heard or understood. We feel betrayed and tokenized. Tokenized, most certainly: Behind every affirmative action program at every liberal institution is a yearning for moral redemption admission to its present ranks is granted in exchange for absolution for past sins and acceptance of its ideological assumptions.

The Woke left doesnt want to be a party to this bargain. Absolution is off the table. And the liberal ideals themselves are up for renegotiation.

In place of former notions of fairness toward individuals regardless of race, the Woke left has new ideas of restorative justice for racial groups. In place of traditional commitments to free speech, it has new proscriptions on hate speech. In place of the liberal lefts past devotion to facts, it demands new respect for feelings.

All of this has left many of the traditional gatekeepers of liberal institutions uncertain, timid and, in many cases, quietly outraged. This is not the deal they thought they struck. But its the deal theyre going to get until they recover the courage of their liberal convictions.

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Opinion | Smith College and the Failing Liberal Bargain - The New York Times

Liberals are a fearful group. The list of things American liberals are afraid of can fill an entire shelf of volumes. It would make an amusing reference set: The Encyclopedia of Liberal Neuroses Unabridged.

Absolutely everything upsets liberals, agitates them, and inflames their allergies. Nature itself is a terrifying experience for liberals because they can't control it. It has all these sex differences and climate fluctuations. They'll pass you on their bicycle,sporting their little paper obedience masks, struggling to breathe from oxygen deprivation, yet feeling virtuous and protected. And, of course, judging you for not wearing the uniform.

There's nothing rational about that behavior, but you shouldn't be surprised by it. Modern liberalism is not a coherent worldview, it'sa deeply unhappy, high-strungpersonality type. Wokeness is what you get when people are miserable inside.

When you're a liberal, the world is a very scary place, but there is one fear that rises above all other fears in the liberal mind: The fear of "the other."Like all primitive cultures, modern liberalism is tribal. Liberals understand most of the American continentas a mysterious dark space, like a medieval map populated by drooling Trump voters and violent illiterates with extra chromosomes.

CAPITOL POLICE REQUEST NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS STAY ANOTHER TWO MONTHS

Liberals despise people like this, of course, and on some level, they know they're hated right back. They worry that someday there will be a backlash against the people in charge, which, of course, is them. That's their biggest fear, a peasant revolt.

A lot of liberals were certain that March 4was the day the right-wing revolution would finally begin. March 4, they believed, with something called "QAnon Inauguration Day."What is QAnon Inauguration Day? We have no idea, and we don't know anyone who does. We'd bet money that not one Trump voter in a million had heard of it until this week, when the hysteria merchants on the other channels started yapping about it on television.

They'd heard about it from Nancy Pelosi, who told her bodyguards to write up a report on the threat of QAnon Inauguration Day. So that's what they did. We never really learned any details, but members of Congress were not taking chances. Many of them fled the Capitol Thursday. House leaders rescheduled votes so that the rank-and-file legislators could escape with their lives, if not with their dignity.

This was not simply partisan hysteria. Democrats and Republicans seemed united in their shared terror.

CAPITOL SECURITY THREAT FIZZLES AFTER HOUSE ADJOURNS SESSION OUT OF FEAR OF ATTACK

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL, R-TEXAS: This threat is credible and it's real. It's a right-wing militia group that believes that because the original inaugural date was March 4th until the 20th Amendment passed, they think this is thetrue Inauguration Day and that President Trump should be inaugurated.

So what happened? We didn't see a single person insurrecting at the Capitol or anywhere else in the United States.

It was all just another lie, not sodifferent from when they told us we would need troops to protect Joe Biden's inauguration. Then, they said we would need soldiers to keep QAnon away from the impeachment trial. Then, there was today's hysteria. Next, there will be something else. Capitol Police are now saying they will need soldiers in Washington for at least two more months.

The troops will never leave. As you probably figured out by now, the troops are in the Capitol for political reasons. They're there to prop up the regime. If this were happening in Cameroon, our State Department would complain about it, call it "an offense against democracy." But because it's happening here in America, we have been slow to catch on.

CAPITOL RIOT TASK FORCE RECOMMENDING 24/7 'QUICK REACTION FORCE'

Thursday, they said it out loud. FoxNews has learned that retired Gen.Russel Honor has completed his"security review"of the January 6 riot at the Capitol. Honor is an unhinged partisan extremist, nuttier than anyone affiliated with QAnon. He was chosen by Nancy Pelosi precisely because of this. She knew that Honor would justify a military takeover of Washington, and she was right.

In his memorandum to House leaders, which Foxhas obtained, Honor calls for a"QRF [quick reaction force] that permanently resides within the DC [National] Guard by reestablishing a military police battalion and staffing it with Active Guard Reserve troops who live in or near the city year round, perpetually on active duty."

This is very strange behavior for a democracy. In a democracy, leaders are supposed to rule with the consent of the governed. You would think that might have occurred to some people on Capitol Hill.If we're this afraid of American voters, maybe something's wrong. Maybe we're not doing a very good job. Maybe we ought to shut up for a second and listen to the complaints of the people whose lives we control. Maybe then we wouldn't need razor wire around the Capitol.

Apparently, no one in Washington has thought of this. Instead, they've convinced themselves that the only Americans who have a problem with the way things are currently going must have been brainwashed by QAnon.

'QANON SHAMAN' CLAIMS IN NEW INTERVIEW THAT OFFICERS 'WAVED' HIM INTO CAPITOL ON JAN. 6

The other day, "60 Minutes" decided to take a deeper look into this dangerous cult that's saying unapproved things about our leaders. Intrepid CBS correspondents sat down withQAnon's spiritual leader, not in a cave in Kandahar, but over Zoom from a conference room in the jail where he's now being held without bail.

You may recognize him from the videos as Chewbacca Guy. He was asked if he understood that his "actions on January 6 were an attack on this country,"

JAKE ANGELI: Ma'am, my actions were not an attack on this country. That is incorrect. That is inaccurate, entirely ... I sang a song, and that's a part of shamanism. It's about creating positive vibrations in a sacred chamber. I also stopped people from stealing and vandalizing that sacred space,the Senate. I actually stopped somebody from stealing muffins out of the break room. I also said a prayer in that sacred chamber because it was my intention to bring divinity and to bring God back into the Senate.

The CBS correspondent then reminded him that, legally, he was "not allowed to be in what [hes] calling the sacred chamber," and asked if he considered himself a patriot.

CAPITOL RIOT SUSPECT HELD TOP-SECRET CLEARANCE SINCE 1979, ATTORNEY SAYS

ANGELI: That is the one very serious regret that I have, was believing that when we were waved in by police officers, that it was acceptable ... I consider myself a lover of my country. I consider myself a believer in the Constitution. I consider myself a believer in truth and our founding principles. I consider myself a believer in God.

So, Chewbacca Guy sang a song, then he spread some good vibes, then he waved at the officers in the Capitol and they waved back. That is the kind of thing that can happen in a country where QAnon shamans are allowed to roam the streets.

It's not just Chewbacca guy who threatens this democracy. In February, the feds indicted several members of a group called the Oath Keepers. Those indicted included a 60-year-old woman and her 70-year-old husband. They're terrorists, too. Geriatric, but deadly.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas,understands all this, of course. She sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, so she knows a thing or two about law enforcement and keeping this nation safe from threats, foreign and domestic.

In order to live without fear in America, Sheila Jackson Lee has announced, we're going to need to arrest a lot of people. As she put it on Twitter two days ago:

"In Washington, DC [sic]on January 6th, where it is alleged that 40,000 protesters were in DC [sic]with the mindset to overturn a legitimate election and to kill the Speaker, the Vice President and Members of Congress, in that instance, only 300 persons have now been arrested and are being prosecuted. What kind of justice is that?"

So, if you went to a Trump rally in January, you need to be in federal custody. Gen.Honor has plans for you.

On MSNBC Wednesday,Joe Scarborough said, "We will get further and further away from this event, but it will never change the fact that Josh Hawley was responsible for these deaths that occurred on Capitol Hill, for this act of insurrection, the worst insurrection by domestic terrorists in U.S. history into our government."

What did Josh Hawley do? Well, he voted, as senators sometimes do.It was amusing that this came from, of all people, Joe Scarborough. But it's an age of irony. We're used to it by now.

For all the concern over the safety of our elected leaders, there doesn't seem to be any concern for the safety of the people who elected them. Capitol Hill looks like the Green Zone in Baghdad, butthe rest of the city looks like the area outside the Green Zone.. Residential neighborhoods in Washington and in cities around the country haven't been this dangerous in years. Americans are dying in huge numbers from street crime, but no one in Congress cares. They're too busy spending tax dollars to shield themselves from the QAnon Shaman and his 70-year-old accomplices.

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According to an analysis by The Intercept, last year, the year of BLM,saw the largest recorded one-year rise in murders in American history. Fifteenpeople were murdered in Oakland, California, just in January. Nine people have been murdered in Toledo so far this year,double the number from last year.

But the residents of Toledo aren't getting a quick reaction force from Nancy Pelosi or her bodyguard, Gen.Honor. Maybe if they claim that QAnon is doing the killing, they will.

This article is adapted from Tucker Carlson's opening commentary on the March 4, 2021 edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

Originally posted here:

Tucker Carlson: The occupation of Washington and liberals' deepest fear - Fox News