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The riding of Lac-Saint-Jean is usually a lost cause for the Liberal Party of Canada, which has won only a single time in the heartland of Quebec nationalism since 1958.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his team are nonetheless working the area heavily ahead of a looming by-election, feeling an upset in the previously Conservative riding is within their grasp.

Mr. Trudeau spent two days in late July boosting support for his party in the region, including attending a large street festival in the city of Roberval where his personal popularity was on full display.

The Liberals are planning another show of strength in the riding, with their Quebec team gathering on Aug. 30 and 31 in the city of Alma for their traditional summer caucus meeting. Party officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed they deliberately picked the meeting spot as part of a charm offensive in the traditionally hostile territory.

While the Liberal nomination and the date of the by-election have yet to be announced, Mr. Trudeau is expected to move quickly to capitalize on his partys momentum in Quebec. A Liberal victory would be significant, as incumbents have won all previous by-elections in the current Parliament.

Pollster Jean-Marc Lger said the Liberals are up by more than 10 points in Quebec since the 2015 election, when they took a surprising haul of 40 out of 78 seats. In that context, he said they would be smart to strike as early as possible in Lac-Saint-Jean, even if the Liberal candidate finished well behind the Conservative Party and the NDP two years ago.

In a riding like Lac-Saint-Jean, things are becoming tight. There are few seats in Quebec that are not within the reach of the Liberal Party right now, Mr. Lger said. While Mr. Trudeaus popularity has gone down in the rest of Canada, it is still at its peak in Quebec.

Since a surprise Liberal victory in 1980, the riding currently known as Lac-Saint-Jean voted twice for Brian Mulroneys Progressive Conservatives, five times for the Bloc Qubcois and four times for Stephen Harpers Conservatives.

The Conservatives are bracing for a fight to hold on to the riding, which they took over from the Bloc Qubcois in 2007 when former Roberval mayor Denis Lebel made the jump into federal politics. Mr. Lebel, who became a cabinet minister and his partys Quebec lieutenant, won three more elections and proved to be a key player in the Harper government.

However, he announced in June that he was leaving politics and joining the Qubec Forest Industry Council. The vacancy will prove a key test for the major federal parties in Quebec.

This is a seat we absolutely want to keep, although we know it wont be easy, said Conservative MP Alain Rayes, who is Conservative Leader Andrew Scheers new Quebec lieutenant. This is a test as much for the Liberals as for us as Conservatives. This by-election will give us a sense of what will happen in the next election.

The Conservatives have yet to nominate a candidate, but they already know on which issues they plan to fight the Liberals: the ongoing softwood dispute with the United States, the recent influx of asylum seekers in Quebec, agricultural policy and the controversial decision to legalize marijuana by next July.

People are really concerned about the legislation [to legalize marijuana] that Mr. Trudeau is pushing through rapidly, said Mr. Rayes, who was in the riding with Mr. Scheer in late July. People here are not at ease with that policy.

According to Liberal officials and would-be Liberal candidates, two elements are playing in their favour at this point: Mr. Trudeaus personal appeal, and the desire of Lac-Saint-Jean voters to have an MP on the government benches.

I share many ideas with Mr. Trudeau, and there is now a good opportunity to serve the public on the side that is in power, said Richard Hbert, the mayor of Dolbeau-Mistassini who is already campaigning for the Liberal nomination. When a party is in power, it allows people to get their message across, and voters here see in me someone who would have a strong voice in Ottawa.

Mr. Trudeau spent two days in the riding last month where he met up with Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, who represents the area in the National Assembly. Mr. Trudeaus personal popularity was obvious as he walked through the crowd of thousands at an open-air supper, shaking hands and snapping selfies for nearly two hours.

The following day, Mr. Trudeau played host to a roundtable with businesspeople and union officials, looking for ways to boost the economy in a region that is dependent on natural resources.

We talked about the challenges facing Alma and the region, Mr. Trudeau told local reporters after the meeting. I learned many things.

The NDP finished in second place in the riding in the 2011 and 2015 general elections. However, the party in the middle of a leadership race, which stands to hurt it on voting day.

The Bloc is also struggling in public-opinion polls under the leadership of Martine Ouellet, a former Parti Qubcois leadership candidate who is currently sitting in Quebecs National Assembly as an independent.

For the Bloc and the NDP, their odds are not very good in the riding at this point, Mr. Lger said.

Follow Daniel Leblanc on Twitter: @danlebla

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Liberals laying groundwork for upset in looming Lac-Saint-Jean by-election - The Globe and Mail

Investigations into the fatal violence that erupted between white supremacists and counterprotesters in Charlottesville on August 12 are still underway, but a state representative in Idaho has seemingly voiced support for a theory about the event at large, reports theIdaho Statesman.

Bryan Zollinger, who serves the states 33rd District, took to Facebook over the weekend and shared an article that suggests a cabal of liberals may have staged the conflict to smear President Trump.

Published by the site the American Thinker, the pieceasserts, Charlottesville is beginning to feel like a set-up, perhaps weeks or months in the planning.

19 PHOTOS

White nationalist protesters lead 'Nazi-esque' rally in Charlottesville

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Riot police protect members of the Ku Klux Klan from counter-protesters as they arrive to rally in opposition to city proposals to remove or make changes to Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Members of the Ku Klux Klan rally in support of Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Protesters direct obscene gestures towards members of the Ku Klux Klan, who are rallying in support of Confederate monuments, in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst TEMPLATE OUT

Counter-protesters shout at members of the Ku Klux Klan, who are rallying in opposition to city proposals to remove or make changes to Confederate monuments, in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst TEMPLATE OUT

Members of the Ku Klux Klan face counter-protesters as they rally in support of Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Members of the Ku Klux Klan rally in opposition to city proposals to remove or make changes to Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

A counter-protester is detained as members of the Ku Klux Klan rally in opposition to city proposals to remove or make changes to Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Police detain a counter-protester during the aftermath of a rally by members of the Ku Klux Klan in support of Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Counter-protesters lock arms in the middle of a street as police try to disperse them, after members of the Ku Klux Klan rallied in support of Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Police, clergy and free speech observers protect a man wearing a Confederate flag as a cape after he was surrounded by counter-protesters prior to the arrival of members of the Ku Klux Klan to rally in opposition to city proposals to remove or make changes to Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Members of the Ku Klux Klan rally in opposition to city proposals to remove or make changes to Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Counter-protesters help a man affected by pepper gas as police try to disperse them, after members of the Ku Klux Klan rallied in support of Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Police, clergy and free speech observers protect a man wearing a Confederate flag as a cape after he was surrounded by counter-protesters prior to the arrival of members of the Ku Klux Klan to rally in opposition to city proposals to remove or make changes Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Riot police protect members of the Ku Klux Klan from counter-protesters as they arrive to rally in opposition to city proposals to remove or make changes to Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst TEMPLATE OUT

Counter-protesters lock arms in the middle of a street as police try to disperse them, after members of the Ku Klux Klan rallied in support of Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Members of the Ku Klux Klan rally in opposition to city proposals to remove or make changes to Confederate monuments, such as the statue of General Stonewall Jackson above them, in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Members of the Ku Klux Klan, standing near a tomato and and an orange that had been thrown at them by counter-protesters, hold a sign as they rally in support of Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

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The author writes, in part, What if [Charlottesville Mayor Michael] Signer and [Virginia Governor Terry] McAuliffe, in conjunction with Antifa and other Soros-funded groups like Black Lives Matter, planned and orchestrated what happened in Charlottesville and meant for events to unfold roughly as they did?

In a comment accompanying the link to the article, Zollinger notes that he does not fully back the theory, butsayshe finds it completely plausible.

He also applauds the writer for asking people to think for themselves and use some logic and reason

PBSnotes that the violence in Charlottesville resulted in numerous injuries and three deaths; two state troopers died in a nearby helicopter crash, and one woman was fatally injured when a car sped into a crowd of people.

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Idaho state rep finds it 'plausible' that liberals staged Charlottesville violence - AOL

8 hours ago art By Troy Sherman | 8 hours ago

If nothing else, the never-ending tenseness of the mainstream news cycle since Trumps inauguration has shown that Americans of most political dispositions are welcoming of breaks in the barrage for levity, rarely though theyve come. The covfefe foible, more so than anything else, was proof of this: if Americas right and left didnt exactly find humor in Trumps goof for the same reasons, they were at least, however briefly, laughing about it together. Its been a similar story for the most recent marquee protest of the president, a 30-foot-tall inflatable chicken coiffed and gesticulating just like the commander in chief which was inflated behind the White House on August 9. Already and with bemusement from both sides, its been given a name, a hashtag, a Halloween costume, dozens of news articles and (of course) hundreds of memes.

But its sheer ridiculousness has, in large part, clouded what might be the most important thing its been given: a political stance. Its a visual protest, according to its creator, Taran Singh Brar, one that plays specifically on Trumps own narcissism. The president himself is so visually obsessed, said Brar in an interview with NPR, that I know that something like this has potency.

If potency is measured by brashness and visibility, then one would be at a loss to disagree with the artist there. The balloon is massive, ostentatious; in fact, it first came to the national consciousness when it baffled a pair of on-air reporters for Fox News, over whose shoulders it could be seen from several blocks away, looming behind the White House. In the wake of this unveiling, the piece was met with a reception congruous with those of other famous examples of Donald Trump Protest Art (which has become a veritable genre to itself over the course of the past year or so). That is, it was shared, lauded, laughed about, laughed at and (pretty soon will be) forgotten.

But the most crucial trait it shares with many (though not all) of its Trump-busting artistic companions is quite a bit more insidious than merely its lifecycle: Don the Chicken, progressive though its intentions may be, attacks Trump on his very own terms; terms that we see almost daily to be growing in their vileness and hostility.

According to Brar himself, the Trump Chicken was meant to convey the message that the presidents too afraid to take action. Hes a weak and insecure leader and playing a great game of chicken with North Korea. Even setting aside this statements obvious and unsettling bellicosity (Was the chicken really meant to goad a warmonger? Is it supposed to be critiquing the presidents restraint?), what Brar says and how hes saying it belies an even deeper-set issue of alignment not only with his blow-up installation, but endemic to a vast swath of existent Trump art in general.

For its part, the message which the Trump Chicken was inflated to convey is so simple, so without nuance that its almost too obvious to have to write: Trump is a chicken, plain and simple, weak, stupid, flighty, ugly, and, most obviously, a wimp; America instead needs a powerful, audacious, experienced leader, a politician to put his foot down and lead the people, for the people. Any qualities in the realm of weakness, vulnerability, uncertainty or insecurity are so clearly useless and unpresidential that any artistic discourse critiquing our leader would be wise to cast them aside and presuppose brawniness, fortitude, strength and virility unabashed masculinity, in a word as the traits of a desirable American ruler. Thus, Don the Chicken is a brazen visual ad hominem which operates in much the same way as the dweeb whose retort to the schoolyard bully goes, Yea? Well youre even more of a pussy than me! Sure, its a jab thrown in the right direction, but its punch is packed with all the same systemic garbage that ultimately churns out the demagogue its trying to fight against. Maybe thats why the alt-right has had such an easy time coopting Brars attack.

Unfortunately, Don the Chicken isnt caught in this cycle alone. From Ilma Gores storied painting of Trump with a micropenis, to murals of Trump locked in a slightly-more-intimate-than-diplomatic embrace with other world leaders, to urinals decorated so that you can pee straight into your presidents mouth, the supposition is rampant that the best way to critique Trumps masculinity is to assert our own. And all this doesnt serve to take Trump down a peg it just reifies the very thing that makes him so dangerous. For a poorly-endowed portrait to carry any weight, you have to presume that bigger means manlier and manly means better. An image of Trump and Putin swapping spit is only worth its weight in pigment if gayness is weakness on the global front. What better way to emasculate the demagogue you hate than by a micturition straight through his lips?

The reason that so many of these critiques start to crumble when held up to any serious ideological scrutiny is because theyre all just that: ideological to the core. That is, so much of the Trump Protest Art which weve gotten has been devoutly, proudly and unfortunately liberal and Don the Chicken could well serve as the movements poster-child. It diametrically opposes itself to something that, as we look past its riled-up veneer, its clearly not all that far removed from; it invents a chasm of ideological distance where, in reality, theres only a creek. At best, then, the lions share of Trump Protest Art has been innocuous in its liberalism, the visual equivalent of a peaceful protest. At worst (and in a similarly liberal vein), those creations which seem to be posing the tough questions just end up reinscribing the venom they think theyre critiquing.

All this isnt to say, though, that there has been no good anti-Trump art. A handful of performances which have focused on giving visual representation to the importance of solidarity at the current moment have been particularly striking, and abject art has been given a powerful new platform in (literally) shitting on the president. But of these, even the best has seemed lacking, somehow incomplete. In an aesthetic age which privileges the many, the multiple, the system, the nonspecific and its form, Trumps unavoidable and abrasive singularity seems to force artists to go to bat on the level of content, defying, at least for now, the possibility of any truly progressive critique.

Troy Sherman is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at tsherman@cornellsun.com

We are an independent, student newspaper. Help keep us reporting with a tax-deductible donation to the Cornell Sun Alumni Association, a non-profit dedicated to aiding The Sun.

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SHERMAN | Trump Protest Art Doesn't Work, and Liberals Should Understand Why - Cornell University The Cornell Daily Sun

Statues and monuments have become the new target of liberals, spurred on by the violence over the removal of a monument to Robert E. Lee on Aug. 12 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Liberals from around the country are making lists of historical monuments they want destroyed because they might offend someone. Here are 10 statues or kinds of statues that liberals want taken down.

1. Confederate statues in U.S. Capitol House House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi last week called for the removal of Confederate statues in the Capitol while U.S. Sen. Cory Booker last Wednesday promised legislation that would get rid of them, Politico said.

2. Mount Rushmore Vice News' Wilbert Cooper called for the removal of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, which features the likenesses of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt. He said such monuments could be "incredibly dangerous for democracy, especially when the same ascendant movement that deifies one set of (white) leaders sees people of color as sub-human."

3. Stone Mountain in Georgia Last week, in a series of Twitter posts, Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Adams called for the destruction of the Confederate Monument Carving at Stone Mountain. The carving depicts Confederate president Jefferson Davis and generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson.

4. Jefferson Memorial Al Sharpton, host of the MSNBC show "PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton," told talk show host Charlie Rose last week that the government should end funding for the memorial honoring Thomas Jefferson because he owned and allegedly had sex with slaves, The Daily Caller said.

5. Albert Pike Statue in Washington, D.C. Protestors marched on the Albert Pike Memorial across from Judiciary Square last week. Pike, a Confederate general, received a pardon from then President Andrew Johnson and was a leader of the Freemasonry, The Washington Post said.

6. Confederate Statues throughout Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McMcAuliffe issued a statement last week calling on the state legislature to "take down these monuments and relocate them to museums or more appropriate settings." He called the statues a "barrier to progress, inclusion and equality in Virginia "

7. Confederate Soldiers Monument Activists in Durham, North Carolina took it upon themselves to destroy the statue in front of the Durham County Courthouse last week, leading to the arrest of eight for various charges, two of them felonies. Rallies called for officials to drop the charges against them, Mother Jones magazine said.

8. Civil War Officer John B. Castleman More than 150 gathered at the statue in Louisville, Kentucky last Monday calling for the bronze statue of Castleman, which was erected more than 100 years ago in 1913, to be removed, USA Today said.

9. Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument In Birmingham, Alabama, Mayor William Bell last week ordered that the monument in Linn Park be covered up. City officials started two years ago trying to remove the statue, but the State of Alabama got involved with a lawsuit, CityLab.com said.

10. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that he was removing the statues at City University of New York in a Twitter post, saying "New York stands against racism."

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10 Statues Liberals Want to Destroy - Newsmax

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