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One of the great gifts the British writer George Orwell gave us, in addition to his classics 1984 and Animal Farm, was a clear and uncompromising look at dangerous ideologies. In Orwell and the British Left, British writer Ian Williams recalls Orwells underlining of the old, true and unpalatable conclusion that a Communist and a Fascist are somewhat nearer to one another than either is to a democrat. Orwells well-observed conclusion nonetheless scandalized many on the left who rallied behind the Marxist phrase no enemies on the left.

Sadly, a quarter century after the fall of Communism, too many leftists are still ignoring Orwell and refusing to acknowledge the reality of left-wing brutality. In the wake of Charlottesville, eyewitnesses and reporters agreed that while the violence was instigated by neo-Nazis and white nationalists, it was countered with bloody counterattacks by left-wingers and black-shirted anarchists wearing masks. There was a clear asymmetric outcome to the violence: A white nationalist mowed down protestors with his car, killing a 32-year-old woman.

But that didnt mean there were no victims of left-wing violence. Antifa short for anti-fascist protestors came armed with pepper spray, bricks, and clubs. Antifa members believe that racist speech is violence and that they must counter it physically, not just oppose it with rhetoric or better ideas.

As the New York Daily News reported, among antifas victims were journalists:

Taylor Lorenz of The Hill was punched in the face by an antifa for recording a fight between the two groups; she tweeted that her assaulter told her not to snitch, media bitch. A videographer from Richmonds WTVR covering a counter-protest got a concussion from head blows with a stick.

In addition, Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times tweeted from Charlottesville:

The hard left seemed as hate-filled as alt-right. I saw club-wielding antifa beating white nationalists being led out of the park.

Nor is Charlottesville the only place that antifa activists have crossed the line. Peter Beinart has a piece in this months Atlantic magazine noting that rioting by antifa forces forced University of California at Berkeley officials to cancel speeches by Ann Coulter and Milo Yiannopolous earlier this year.

In April, threats by antifa supporters convinced the Portland, Ore., police department that they couldnt guarantee security for the annual Rose Festival parade. The parades sin? Allowing the local Republican party to have Trump supporters march under the GOP banner in the parade. The parade was canceled, to the delight of many in the hob-nailed boot Left that makes Portland, well, such a special place.

But most of this has been swiftly swept under the rug or underreported by liberals and much of the mainstream media. On Friday, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights held its monthly meeting in Washington. A liberal member introduced a stirring denunciation of the Nazi, KKK and white-nationalist participants in the Charlottesville rally.

But then Commission member Gail Heriot introduced an amendment that would have added the following:

Though we support peaceful protest and note that most of the counter-demonstrators were peaceful, we condemn violence by anyone, including violence by so-called antifa demonstrators.

Heriot, an independent, was supported in her amendment by Peter Kirsanow, a Republican appointee and African American from Cleveland. But they received no other support from the five commission members appointed by Democrats. Chairwoman Catherine Lhamon complained that Heriots amendment would water down the main resolution, when all it did was make clear that the commission wished to condemn violence of any kind.

Karen Narasaki, another commission member, scoffed at Heriots reading of Stolbergs New York Times observation about the antifa activists in Charlottesville. As she voted against Heriots amendment, she noted, You cant believe everything you read in the media. Apparently, the paper of record for so many liberals is to be considered bird-cage lining material if it contradicts the left-wing narrative. Heriots amendment was voted down 62. The original resolution was approved unanimously, as recorded in the Statement on Charlottesville, Virginia, that the commissioners did adopt.

Its pathetic that the dogma of no enemies on the left so clouds the judgment of the commission set up to protect civil rights.

Some clear-minded experts on extremist violence harbor no such ideological blinkers. Oren Segal, the director of the Anti-Defamation Leagues Center on Extremism, categorically told CNN last week:

There is violence on the left. The anti-fascists engage with those they oppose through physical confrontation. And that is a problem. That is an extremists tactic. There is also bigotry on the left.

I would only add that if George Orwell were with us today, he would probably say that there is willful blindness on the left.

John Fund is NROs national-affairs correspondent.

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The US Civil Rights Commission refuses to condemn antifa violence. - National Review

The MPP for Nipissing is questioning the Ontario Liberals math in their quarterly financial report. The report shows that during the first quarter, Ontarios real Gross Domestic Product grew one percent for this year, which is better than the rest of Canada and all the G-7 countries. However Vic Fedeli says something doesnt add up. Fedeli says the Conference Board of Canada says Ontario will see lower growth, the Financial Accountability Officer has concerns about the Liberals economic forecast and so does the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. The Tory finance critic says considering the Liberals have been wrong numerous times in the past, he says with this latest go round, hes ignoring their claims and going with the outside experts. In the report, the Liberals also play up the fact they have balanced the budget which translate into better health care. They say because the budget is balanced, the annual interest the province pays on its total debt remains at $11.6 billion. However Fedeli says the Liberals balanced the budget by using the proceeds from the sale of Hydro One. He adds after the Hydro One money is used up well be back in a deficit and he adds even the FAO has expressed a similar concern. The Liberals also maintain Ontarios real GDP will increase 2.7 percent this year which is higher than the 2.4 percent they forecast earlier.

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Fedeli on Ontario Liberals' finance report - My West Nipissing Now

Famed lawyer Alan Dershowitz said Sunday that liberals had a special obligation to condemn bigotry on the left side of the political spectrum, just as President Trump did for those on the right who claim to speak on his behalf.

"I don't want to make moral equivalence," Dershowitz told AM 970's John Catsimatidis, responding to a question about the Charlottesville violence and the ensuing national conversation around race relations and Confederate monuments. "But having said that, that doesn't give a pass to the people on the hard left, who are themselves engaged in violence and also some bigotry of their own."

He continued, saying Confederate statues needed to be put in context -- for example, in a museum -- rather than simply being destroyed.

Turning to the Russian probe, Dershowitz said that special counsel Robert Mueller was endangering democracy because the investigation could criminalize politics.

"The idea of trying to create crimes just because we disagree with (President Trump) politically and target him really endangers democracy," Dershowitz said. "We should only be using the criminal justice system against obvious crimes, crimes that are not stretched and manufactured to fit a particular person."

Congress ought to have appointed a special committee like it did in the aftermath of Sept. 11, Dershowitz said.

"To give it to a special counsel means it goes behind closed doors to a grand jury where people are not represented, where things happen in darkness and secrecy," he said. "We don't know what's going on. We get leaks, but the leaks are selective leaks. They shouldn't happen."

Dershowitz added that former FBI director James Comey was one of the worst leakers and slammed him for setting "a very bad" precedent for those working with classified information.

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Alan Dershowitz: Liberals have a special obligation to condemn bigotry of the Left - Washington Examiner

The Washington Post reported Sunday that President Donald Trump will move to disband a government committee that advises on climate change.

And liberals are not happy.

The panel, aptly named, Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment, is a 15-member panel comprised of people from different backgrounds whose purpose was to simplify the findings of the National Climate Assessment for people in and out of the government, according to The Hill.

Ben Friedman, acting administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, informed the committee on Friday that its charter would not be renewed, according to the Washington Post.

The National Climate Assessment was intended to be updated and released every four years, but only three reports have been released since 1990. The next report was due to be released next year.

Former President Barack Obama established the committee in 2015.

There was controversy surrounding the panel earlier this month after the New York Times reported that next years report had been leaked to them. However, the reported wasnt leaked and it had been publicly available for months.

The Times seized on the opportunity to posture the Trump administration in a negative light because the report concluded that human activities were causing a rise in global temperatures. The Times report quoted scientists who suggested the Trump administration was trying to suppress the report. However, that was proven false.

Liberals and progressives were quick to voice their outrage with Trump over his decision.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray told the Post that the move is an example of the president not leading, and the president stepping away from reality.

Others shared their disdain on social media:

Either way, it appears Trump is making good on his promise to downsize the scope of the federal government. Well, at least a little.

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Trump disbands beloved progressive government committee liberals everywhere are triggered - TheBlaze.com

The B.C. NDP outpaced the B.C. Liberals in campaign donations leading up to the 2017 election, according to new reports from Elections BC. For some, the data signals a needto push political finance reform forward.

The Liberals have long brought in the most donations in B.C.politics, but thegap between the NDP and the Liberals began tonarrow in the 2013provincial election,when most pollsters suggested a win for the NDP.

Although polls were generally more cautious about predicting an NDP government this time around, the donationtrend favouring the NDP appears to have continued.

The reports show that the NDP brought in a total of $9,442,746, and the Liberals $7,934,581. The B.C. Green Party, which refused to accept corporate and union donations during its campaign, brought in $869,308.

According to the Elections BC report, about 40 percentof the NDP'sdonations came from unions duringthis most recent election,with individual donations a close second.

Almost 60 per cent of the donations for the Liberals came from corporations.

The numbers have been released amid ongoing pressure to reform the province's political donation system dubbed the "wild west" of political finance.

Attorney General David Eby says putting forward a bill with "very strict limits" on political donations will be his first priority as soon as the legislature sits in early September.

Dermod Travis, executive director of non-partisan group Integrity B.C., noted that some corporations, traditional Liberal supporters,appear to have switched their allegiance this year.

Notably, mining giant Teck and developer Aquilini Investments both donated to the NDP. The latter was the party's biggest corporate donor with a $100,000 donation in 2017.

"A lot of traditional donors to the B.C. Liberal party don't appear in the 2017 list,or if they appear it is a dramatically different size donation than before," Travis said.

Aquilini wasn't the only developer to donate to the NDP. Travis thinks that some in the industry may have switched loyalty because of policy shifts last year, in particular a 15 per taximposed onforeign homebuyers.

"I suspect they were not happy with the foreign tax and other measurements that the government had moved on under Christy Clark, and they took it out on the government through their bank account," Travissaid.

Christopher Cotton, a political economist at Queen's University whose work focuses on political finance reform, says it's not unusual for companies to support the party they think is best placed to win an election.

Cotton acknowledges that many believe thatdonations are made to curry specific political favours, but he says there is little evidence to support that this is widespread.

Instead, Cotton says there is more evidence to support the notionthat donations are madeto gain access to the party donatedto, in order to ensure a more favourable regulatory environment.

"You might want to have your foot in the door no matter which party it is," he said.

Despite the NDP's fundraising advantage this past election, Cotton thinks finance reform will still benefit the party in the long term.

"I don't see anything in the data to suggest that the NDP now has a permanent fundraising advantage over the Liberals," he said.

"The Liberalsalmost certainly continue to have more corporate support and are able to raise higher total donation over an entire election cycle than the NDP."

Whatever the reason for the donations to the NDP or the Liberals, both Cotton and Travis agree reform is necessary in B.C.

"B.C.is really behind the trend across Canada, across Western democracies, in terms of eliminating corporate and union money from politics," Cotton said.

"If nothing else this is creating the impression of corruption."

Political donation rules in Canada2:28

Until the reform bill is put forward and passes, the NDP continues to accept corporate, union and unlimited individual donations. Eby says that's because the Liberals are still amassing a "war chest" that could be used for years to come.

Part of the new bill, he says, will apply retroactively to donations received after the election.

"We want to make sure that the last election was the last big money election in B.C. and we will do that," Eby said.

The party is still deciding where to set limits for personal limits for donations. He says they currently range from $100 to about $3,000 across the country.

See the complete results of the CBC's analysis and download the raw datahere

With files fromCBCdata journalist TaraCarman

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BC NDP outpace Liberals in donations leading up to 2017 elections - CBC.ca