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Anti-Trump passion will tempt liberals to make excuses for radical craziness, just as many mainstream Republicans have tolerated Trumps lies, insults and attacks.

The Trumpist right, with its conspiracy theories, racist demagoguery and blatant lies, should embarrass honest conservatives and responsible Republicans. There also is a loony left, which though less pervasive and powerful, needs to be condemned by liberals.

Its theories excuse efforts to suppress speech by conservatives, especially on college campuses. Its attacks on Trump go well beyond acceptable criticism think of comedian Kathy Griffins video with a severed Trump head. Its activists, who include some elected officials, call for impeachment of the president before taking the trouble to build a constitutionally persuasive case.

Consider Tim Canova, a law professor at Nova University in Florida, who is waging a Democratic Party primary battle against Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz. He has suggested that a young Democratic staffer may have been murdered last year because the staffer, not Russian hackers, leaked the damaging information from the partys national committee that sabotaged Hillary Clintons presidential campaign. Hes downplayed the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the presidential election, and questions whether he is being hacked by political opponents.

Canova was embraced last year by Sen. Bernie Sanders out of resentment against Wasserman Schultz who, as Democratic chair in 2016, sought to tilt the party machinery in favor of Clinton. Canova ran a strong race, raising tons of money, but lost. Sanders seems to be staying away from the current challenge.

In the Atlantic last week, McKay Coppins reported on leftist conspiracy theorists like the Palmer Report, a blog that focuses on Russia. It reported in April that Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah was resigning because of Russian blackmail. The whole story was nonsense.

Sites like this, Coppins wrote, embrace a world where it is acceptable to allege that hundreds of American politicians, journalists and government official are actually secret Russian agents.

Someone check Sen. Joseph McCarthys gravesite.

The far left is divided on Russia and its thuggish leader Vladimir Putin. Many progressives are harshly critical, driven by their hostility to Trump and eager to believe that there are Trump ties to Putin.

But there is another element too. At the Moscow feast in December 2015, where Trumps foreign policy adviser Michael Flynn sat next to Putin, another Western politician at the head table was Jill Stein, the two-time Green Party presidential candidate. (She said she didnt even say hello to the Russian leader.)

Canovas most offensive gambit has been recycling a baseless right-wing conspiracy theory that a young Democratic staffer, Seth Rich, was murdered last year because he leaked the party emails in the presidential election. This was a charge leveled by Alex Jones, the conspiracy-minded talk-radio host, and picked up by former House Speaker and present Trump confidant Newt Gingrich. The police found that Rich was murdered after a botched robbery attempt. Fox News retracted its own twisted story on the Rich killing.

Not Canova. Asked by the Florida Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald whether Richs murder may have been related to the leaks, Canova replied: I have no idea. I wondered what the DNC under Wasserman Schultz was capable of, but I dont know.

Calls to the number listed on his campaign website and messages to the designated email site went unanswered.

If this were a unique case, it would be enough to criticize Canova and move on. But anti-Trump passion will tempt liberals to make excuses for radical craziness, just as many mainstream Republicans have tolerated Trumps lies, insults and attacks. To keep the high ground, liberals should resist the urge to whip up hostility and should condemn hatemongers of the left.

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Liberals shouldn't tolerate the loony left | The Seattle Times - The Seattle Times

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Arrested Protester: Liberals 'Are Going To Get Better Aim' - CNS News CNSNews.com A protester arrested outside the Tucson office of Sen. Jeff Flake's (R-Ariz.) Tucson office after threatening a Congressional staffer on Thursday reportedly warned ... and more »

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Arrested Protester: Liberals 'Are Going To Get Better Aim' - CNS News - CNSNews.com

Justice Neil Gorsuch's first months at the Supreme Court have rattled left-leaning legal experts enough that they have begun questioning the wisdom of blocking Judge Robert Bork's high court nomination 30 years ago.

After Justice Lewis Powell retired in June 1987, President Ronald Reagan tapped Bork from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals one month later to serve as Powell's replacement. Under heavy pressure from liberal groups and Democratic senators, Bork's nomination failed in the Senate.

Three decades later, Senate Republicans refused to hold a hearing or vote on former President Barack Obama's selection to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, Judge Merrick Garland. The move paid off, as the November 2016 electoral victories made it possible for President Trump to fill the vacant seat with Gorsuch.

At a review of the Supreme Court's most recent term, New York University Law School's Thane Rosenbaum asked his panelists, who Rosenbaum characterized as leaning left, if Democrats ought to regret the Bork battle.

CNN legal analyst Joan Biskupic said she did not believe Democrats would regret denying Bork and deflected her answer to how Republicans have proceeded in recent Supreme Court fights.

NYU Law School professor Kenji Yoshino provided a much more forceful statement of support for rejecting Bork.

"I want to say progressives might regret [blocking Bork], but progressives would be wrong in regretting that," Yoshino said. "Because if you actually trace what happened because Bork went down, then [Judge] Douglas Ginsburg went down, then we got Justice Kennedy.

"We have the luxury as progressives of fighting over Kennedy's vote in all of these cases until now, until he's replaced, in a way that we would not have had the luxury of fighting over Bork's vote with regard to things like same-sex marriage or any number of other issues, abortion, what have you, affirmative action."

But by no means were the liberals onstage happy with the first few months of Gorsuch's jurisprudence or interaction with his colleagues.

"It is remarkable the number of times that this new justice has chosen to write technically unnecessary opinions and then in those opinions sometimes to say things that are remarkable," said Trevor Morrison, an NYU Law professor.

Morrison spoke about how he thought the boldness in Gorsuch's writing would carry more weight after he had more experience on the high court.

Biskupic noted that she also found Gorsuch's tenure at the Supreme Court surprising in some ways.

"I have never in my more than 25 years covering the court seen a justice come on this forcefully in a way that rattles his colleagues," Biskupic said. "If Neil Gorsuch continues to vote and write the way he has just in these short months, he might even be to the right of Antonin Scalia in a couple [of] things so that would obviously tip the balance over that way. And also he's giving kind of camaraderie to two justices who had seemed a little bit marginalized, Justices Alito and Thomas, and he's fortifying them and that's, I think, important, in terms of the balance of power on the court."

Dan Abrams, an MSNBC legal affairs analyst, noted that Gorsuch is doing what he was appointed to do and that the newest justice clearly had the confidence of his convictions. Abrams also said it appeared likely that Trump would be sending reinforcements to the high court before the next presidential election.

"Bottom line, most people think that there'll be, I think if you look at the numbers, that by 2020 President Trump will likely have had two more Supreme Court picks, and two picks that will fundamentally change the court this won't be a Scalia for Gorsuch," Abrams said. "That's pure guesswork, but if you were a gambling person, that's what you would bet. That's the odds-on bet, is that he'll get certainly one, and very likely two."

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Neil Gorsuch's Supreme Court rise makes liberals debate wisdom of ... - Washington Examiner

Toward the end of the 20th centurythe term liberal went from being a source of pride for mostDemocrats,whofondly recalledthe New Deal era and thepresidency of Franklin Roosevelt the most beloved president of the century to being a cause of embarrassment for many Democratic politicians, who were suddenly being beratedfor their liberalism.While the term liberal had been generally associated with FDR and his popular New Deal policies throughout the mid-20th century, it had come to mean something quite different as the century progressed.

This shift was partly due to the evolving social and moral values held by many Northern liberals and the subsequent cultural backlash that followed in much of the country. But liberal only turned into a snarl word after decades of right-wing rhetoric that painted Democratic politicians and liberal thinkers (i.e., college professors and journalists) as out-of-touch cultural elitists who knew nothing and cared little about real America.

Of course, the rights effort to turn liberal into a dirty word was aided by many of the so-called liberal politicians of the late 20th century, who, rather than pushing back against the rights rhetoric, hopelessly ran away from the label (just as one might expect of a spineless liberal elite).

And today, decades after becoming a pejorative that implies elitist snobbery, the term liberal is still used to great effect by the right. Indeed, Donald Trump seems to have perfected the liberal-bashing rhetoric that was introduced in the 1980s, and offensive portmanteaus like libtard have gained popularity in the Trump era. But its not only right-wingers who use liberal as a slur these days. In 2017, liberal is almost as much of an insult on the left as it is on the right a theme that was recently broached by writer Nikil Saval in anessayfor the the New York Times Magazine. Among leftists, Saval notes, the liberal is seen as a weak-minded, market-friendly centrist, wonky and technocratic and condescending to the working class pious about diversity but ready to abandon any belief at the slightest drop in poll numbers.

At first it may seem that conservatives and leftists are criticizing liberals for opposite reasons: Right-wingers think that liberals are far-left ideologues, while actual leftists think that liberals lack core beliefs and are practically conservative. But the two critiques arent completely divergent; as Saval explains:

When it comes to diagnosing liberalism, both left and right focus on this same set of debilitating traits: arrogance, hypocrisy, pusillanimity, the insulated superiority of what, in 1969, a New York mayoral candidate called the limousine liberal. In other words, the features they use to distinguish liberals arent policies so much as attitudes.

This isnt entirely fair to critics on the left, who tend to focus more on policy differences and believe that the Democratic Party is far too centrist and technocratic (or, as many leftists would put it, neoliberal). One of the greatest disputes, for example, has been over health care, where progressives advocate single-payer universal coverage while liberals offer a sheepish defense of the patchwork system enacted under Obamacare.

Still, Saval makes a valid point in that both leftists and right-wingers are highly critical of the condescending and superior tone that many liberals exude, and thus share some affinities in their critiques. This was evident during the 2016 election campaign, when leftists criticized liberals for what writer Emmet Rensin called the smug style in anessayfor Vox,which wonsome praise from conservatives.Since the election, leftists and conservatives have also seen eye to eye when it comes to denouncing liberals like Markos Moulitsas, the founder of liberal website Daily Kos, who gleefully cheeredwhen it was reported earlier this year that people in red states would be disproportionately hurt by Trumpcare.Be Happy for Coal Miners Losing Their Health Insurance, declared Moulitsas on his blog. Theyre Getting Exactly What They Voted For. In another instance, the liberal blogger earned bipartisan condemnation (so to speak) when hetweetedin response to the Trump administration denying North Carolina hurricane aid: Theres your reward for voting Republican, North Carolina.

Liberals like Moulitsas have almost become caricatures of the smug and unsympathetic liberal elite that right-wingers have long depicted; its as if liberals have gradually come to adopt the ridiculous qualities that Republicans have assigned to them over the years. Which brings us to an important point: Leftists havent suddenly jumped on the liberal-bashing bandwagon because its the hip thing to do in the age of Trump, but because many self-described liberals have become the obnoxious and out-of-touch liberal elite that conservatives have long claimed them to be, while simultaneously shifting toward the right on various economic issues. (To be fair, obviously the right doesnt see it this way.) Saval touches on this in his Times Magazine essay, observing that to call someone a liberal today is often to denounce him or her as having abandoned liberalism.

American liberalism was once associated with something far more robust, with immoderate presidents and spectacular waves of legislation, notes Saval. Todays liberals stand accused of forsaking the clarity and ambition of even that flawed legacy.

This is obviously where left- and right-wing critiques of liberalism part ways. Indeed, right-wingers tend to focus almost exclusively on cultural and social factors in their criticisms, for the very reason that their economic policies are even more favorable to the elite than the policies of the liberal elite they disparage, who at least pay lip service to addressing problems like inequality and inadequate health care.

Left-wingers, on the other hand, see the cultural elitism of liberals as themanifestationof a larger problem namely, the abandonment of class politics and radical thinking. To appreciate the difference between modern liberals and old-school liberals, one simply has to considerthe sharp contrast in tone. In hisfamousMadison Square Gardenspeech,for example, FDR boldly declared:

We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me and I welcome their hatred.

One would be hard-pressed to find any liberal today other than someone like Bernie Sanders, who isnteven considered a liberal in the contemporary sense gallantly welcoming the hatred of organized money (after all, most Democratic politicians depend on big donors from the financial sector to fund their campaigns).

In response to the left-wing calls for class politics, liberals have frequently argued that leftists have an unhealthy obsession with economic issues, and that they disregard social issues like LGBTQ rights or womens reproductive rights. Some liberals have even implied absurdly that left-wingers are closet cultural reactionaries. It was sometimes claimed during the 2016 primary campaign thatprogressives who favored Sanders didnt like Hillary Clinton because of her gender, rather than herpolitics. But this kind of deflection simply reinforces the leftist critique of liberals, who, as Saval puts it (in summarizing the lefts perspective), shroud an ambiguous, even reactionary agenda under a superficial commitment to social justice and moderate, incremental change.

At the end of the day, liberals and leftists agree on a lot more than they disagree, and thus one might look atthisinternalstrife as unhelpful and even destructive especially when Donald Trump is in the White House and Republicans control both houses of Congress. But left-wing critiques of liberalism have only grown more urgent and necessaryin the age ofTrump, as it is the failures of liberalism that led us here in the first place.

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Why we need the left-wing critique of liberalism: Because liberals got us where we are today - Salon

As the afterglow of forming a new government in British Columbia begins to wear off, the provincial NDP still has a problem on its hands: who will be in the Speaker's chair the next time the legislature meets?

It's a dilemma, but not an insoluble one. All three parties have an interest right now infinding a solution short of an election; B.C. voters have made it clear in polls that they have no appetite for another election immediately. If an early election comes, the party deemed responsible may well suffer a penalty at the ballot box, much as we saw in the recent U.K. general election. The Liberals should do their part to avoid an immediate election by offering up one of their own for the job of Speaker.

Arguably, the Liberals have a greater need to appear co-operative now given the way the party lost power. Premier Christy Clark went against both precedent and her own previously stated intentions when she asked Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon to dissolve the legislature. Had Clark's request been granted, the province would be gearing up for an unwelcome summer election right now.

The other two parties might try to exploit the resulting vulnerability. Suppose no NDP or Green MLA stands for Speaker, perhaps citing deference to the convention of Speaker impartiality in doing so. Should no Liberal volunteer to stand for the job either, the party risks appearing serially uncooperative and election-seeking, more interested in the pursuit of power for its own sake than in the good governance of the province.

Beyond such tactical considerations, the Liberals have more fundamental problems. Most notably, they are in an ideological no-man's land right now. Having campaigned on its centre-right platform, the party not so much pivoted as cartwheeled to an entirely different agenda in their recentthrone speech.

If there's one thing that can derail a party for a couple election cycles, it's throwing into question its fundamental identity. Not knowing what the party truly stands for, many voters will be unwilling to trust any promises it makes. Even some core supporters may decide to sit out an election or two if they come to feel sufficiently alienated.

NDP takes power in British Columbia1:42

Accordingly, the party could use some time to get its house back in order. The clearest way to turn the page would be to find a new leader.Questions about Clark's have been swirling since her party's defeat in the legislature. No definitive answers have yet emerged, though some party supporters have expressed frustrations with the way in which the post-electoral situation played out.

That leads us back to the Speaker question. So long as the party remains on a war footing, it will be effectively impossible to carry out a leadership or thorough policy review, let alone a new leadership campaign.

If some faction of the Liberal party concludes that such reviews are in order, it could buy time to carry them out by putting forward a nominee for Speaker. There are other ways to accomplish the same effect negotiating Liberal support for certain bills and motions on anad hocbasis for instance but none with the same simplicity, freedom and predictability for the Liberals in opposition.

Certainly, there is ample precedent for an opposition member serving as Speaker when the situation calls for it. Long-time Liberal MP Peter Milliken served as Speaker for two successive federal Conservative governments, from 2006 until his retirement in 2011. He received widespread acclaim for his role in steering the Commons through a number of difficult situations.

Some Liberals will resist the idea of giving an inch to the new Green-supported NDP government, preferring instead to oppose everything right up to the point of election. Such obstruction comes with costs, however.

First, the Liberals will lose the chance to appear conciliatory in the eyes of the electorate, potentially undermining the party's pledge in the throne speech and elsewhere to cooperate in light of the close election. Such opposition would require them to somewhat awkwardly vote against other ideas they just proposed in their throne speech as well, deepening their ideological quandary as a result.

Perhaps most importantly, so long as the situation remains uncertain in Victoria, the Liberals must remain disciplined and loyal to their leader. They will lose the chance to engage in either a frank discussion of policy or a leadership review.

Simply put, the Liberals face a choice: obstruct or reorganize. They cannot do both simultaneously.

If a Liberal did stand for Speaker, the party would gain a measure of leverage over the government with the ever-present threat of withdrawal. Solve the NDP's problem in the present, and gain the ability to create a new headache for them down the road one that could well trigger an election at a more convenient time for the Liberals, or force the NDP down the contentious and potentially costly road of Speaker partisanization.

Call it a win-win-win. Everyone stands to benefit in the short term from the stability provided by a Liberal Speaker including the Liberals themselves.

This column is part ofCBC'sOpinion section.For more information about this section, please read thiseditor'sblogandourFAQ.

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The BC Liberals should offer up one of their own for the job of Speaker - CBC.ca