Archive for the ‘Liberals’ Category

Tim Allen destroys Hollywood liberals over their intolerant elitism: ‘It’s like 1930’s Germany’ – TheBlaze.com

Actor Tim Allen bashed Hollywood liberals and their intolerant elitism during an appearance Jimmy Kimmel Live Thursday night.

Allen, who stars on the hit ABC sitcom Last Man Standing as a conservative dad, is a conservative off the set, too. He discussed with Kimmel what its like to be an outspoken conservative in the sea of liberalism that is Hollywood during a conservation about attending President Donald Trumps inauguration in January.

Youve gotta be real careful around here. You get beat up if you dont believe what everybody believes, Allen said about living in Hollywood.

This is like 30s Germany. I dont know what happened, he explained. If youre not part of the group, you know what we believe is right, I go, Well, I might have a problem with that.'

Speaking of Trumps inauguration, Allen went on to say:

This government does stuff big. Ive never been to anything like that. Just so many people, and when they show up, you know, the ex-president gets in a helicopter and theres jets and Marines taking him this way and theres parades, but it looks like a Cadillac parade, everything was just rows of Cadillacs. My kids were going, Is this the parade? Its like black Cadillac after black Cadillac and then a tractor.

During the rest of his interview, Allen lamented about the sharp political divide between Democrats and Republicans in America while also discussing with Kimmel what its like to live in the age of surveillance.

Not only is Allen one of the few Hollywood superstars to be outspoken about his conservative political views, Allen is one of the few actors to have positive things to say about Trump during last years campaign.

He also bashed Hollywood actors as hypocrites during the election season. With the exception of just a few, Hollywood overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton.

Watch Allens comments below:

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Tim Allen destroys Hollywood liberals over their intolerant elitism: 'It's like 1930's Germany' - TheBlaze.com

Facts can still defeat populist ignorance liberals should not give up on them – The Independent

This is, as has been widely noted, a bleak time for enlightenment values. In the face of a populist tide, a feeling of pessimism has gripped many liberals about the ability of logic, reason and evidence to influence the wider public.

Discussion often turns to psychological research showing that when ordinary people are presented with facts in the context of a political debate it has little impact. Theres growing chatter about a backfire effect, where rebutting misconceptions actually serves to entrench falsehoods, perhapsby making the myths more salient. Thus, fact-checking exercises by the media become, at best, as a waste of time (left-liberal comfort food in the words of Rob Ford of Manchester University). At worst, theyre counterproductive.

Technology doesnt seem to be helping. Social media helps people to herd themselves into informational silos, where they only hear what they want to hear, and inflates ideological bubbles. Traditional sources of authority are no longer respected. Were warned that elites telling people they are wrong is patronising. Some argue that describing overtly racist opinions and policies as racist only serves to drive the alienatedmassesfurther into the populist corral.

So whats to be done? How can progressive politicians and experts get across the facts behind politicised subjects, whether it is the economic impact of immigration, the circumstances of welfare recipients, the science behind climate change, the safety of vaccines or the overall benefits of free trade? How can we ensure that political decisions are taken and votes cast not on the basis of prejudice and myth, but with at least some regard to evidence and serious analysis?

Perhaps liberals should forget facts and instead to go with the populist flow. In this view of the world the best hope for progressives lies in pandering to popular feelings but trying to steer the ship of policy in a vaguely progressive direction.

But this prescription is dangerous. When gross fallacies in public debate go unchallenged the fallacies dont die out, they spread. The cancer metastasises. A culture of anti-intellectualism is liable to be abreeding ground for bigotry and intolerance. And in any case the populist wolves are likely to prove rather better at this game than the progressive sheep in wolves clothing. Moreover, theres a better way. There are other academic studies that point to ways that liberals can try to turn the tide.

Christina Boswell and James Hampshire have highlighted how the public discourse on immigration in Germany was transformed between 2000 and 2008. Social Democratic politicians used familiar arguments about the economic benefits of immigration. But they did this alongside a campaign to promote positive narratives about immigration and its place in the countrys history to counter entrenched perceptions of Germany being kein Einwanderunglsand (not a country of immigration). This twin approach largely succeeded in changing attitudes, flowering in the generous position taken by Angela Merkels Christian Democrat government towards Syrian refugees in the summer of 2015.

Rutte welcomes blow against 'wrong kind of populism' in Dutch election

By contrast in the UK, at the same time, Labour began to talk up British jobs for British workers and never seriously rebutted the dominant and dismal narrative of the tabloid press about immigration being an economic burden and culturally corrosive, arguably helping to set the scene for the current bout of self-harming Brexit-related xenophobia.

Eric Kaufmann of Birkbeck College London points out that the strength of far-right parties in Europe is roughly correlated with the size of a nation's Muslim community. But polling shows that Europeans are often wildly misinformed about the rate of Muslim immigration and fertility.

Public information campaigns might well help. Research by Alexis Grigorieff, Christopher Roth and Diego Ubfal showed that when a large sample of people in the US and Europe were told the actual share of immigrants in the country rather than relying on their own often grossly exaggerated estimates they became less likely to argue that there were too many incomers. The facts do, it seems, get traction.

There are other sources of hope. In a recent essay Tim Harford of the Financial Times has highlighted research which suggests that a way to open peoples minds to evidence and bypass politically-motivated reasoning is to appeal to their sense of non-political scientific curiosity. Its not simple, but it can be done.

All of this suggests that a counsel of despair about the persuasive potential of facts and evidence is unwarranted; people can still be amenable to reason. Progressive politicians, researchers and liberal activists should not be laying down their enlightenment weapons in the face of angry and destructive populism, but rather wielding them more effectively.

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Facts can still defeat populist ignorance liberals should not give up on them - The Independent

WA election: Mike Nahan says he is leader Liberals need after ‘gut wrenching’ defeat – ABC Online

Updated March 19, 2017 17:34:42

Western Australia's next Liberal leader Mike Nahan has rejected suggestions he will be an "interim leader" and will not be around to contest the 2021 state election.

The former treasurer has spoken for the first time since the Barnett Government's dramatic election loss, in which seven ministers lost their seats.

He described the result as "catastrophic" and "gut wrenching" and pointed the finger of blame at former premier Colin Barnett, telling another media organisation he was "tired" and "not up to" the campaign.

Despite being 13 days older than Mr Barnett, Dr Nahan, aged 66, insisted he was not too old to lead the Liberals.

He will be elected unopposed when the party's MPs meet to determine the leadership on Tuesday. Liza Harvey will remain deputy leader.

"Look around the world, I think Donald Trump is over 70, Hillary Clinton was older than I and she was going for the toughest job in the world and I'm very fit and able," Dr Nahan said.

"It requires energy, which I have, experience, which I have, but also a bit of maturity.

"I will be a leader of a team, not a boss, and that's what we need now.

"There is not any issue of policy that I haven't over the last 30 years come across."

Dr Nahan insisted there was no "Kirribilli agreement" to hand over the leadership to Ms Harvey mid-term.

Meanwhile, the former treasurer said there were a number of reasons why the Barnett government was "hammered", including the One Nation preference deal and a perception it was of touch with voter concerns.

"It's our fault. We failed to address the concerns of the public," he said.

Dr Nahan said the proposal to sell 51 per cent of Western Power to raise up to $11 billion was absolutely right and the Liberal Party would most likely stick with the policy.

"It was the right thing to do, it got rejected," he said.

"Labor will rue the day they allowed the unions to fund their campaign in the millions of millions of dollars because that asset will require major investment and will be depreciating in value."

"The sale of Western Power was poorly carried by us ... the public didn't understand it, they didn't understand what Western Power was or the benefits of selling it, or the risk of holding it in terms of depreciating value that's our fault."

Dr Nahan said he had not spoken to Mr Barnett since the election and did not know whether he planned to retire or stay on as a backbencher.

"He's been a contributor to Western Australian politics for many decades but I would expect him to move on from Cottesloe and vacate the seat sooner rather than later," he said.

But he insisted the Liberals would bounce back.

"I've been playing a lot of sports, some seasons you have a bad one but you can come back and the best thing is a bit of offence and we will come back aggressively," he said.

"Labor has a lot of weaknesses."

Topics: elections, state-parliament, wa, perth-6000

First posted March 19, 2017 16:44:03

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WA election: Mike Nahan says he is leader Liberals need after 'gut wrenching' defeat - ABC Online

Liberals’ ‘self-congratulatory’ hydro ads ripped – Shoreline Beacon

TORONTO-

The Liberal governments new ads on hydro rate cuts dont pass muster with Ontarios Auditor General.

However, Bonnie Lysyk says her office had no choice but to approve a slew of new taxpayer-funded radio spots from the Liberal government about its plan to slash hydro rates.

Under the old rules, she could have spiked anything she deemed partisan. But since the Liberals changed the regulations in 2015, her office has little choice but to rubber-stamp back-slapping radio and TV spots.

Our office approved the Hydro-related ads under the current version of the Government Advertising Act, Lysyk said in a statement to the Toronto Sun. However, they would not have passed under the previous legislation because we feel that these ads have the objective of fostering a positive impression of the government.

The ads, which began running on radio stations across the province this week, tell listeners that the Liberals made important investments in clean and green energy. That has come at a cost and the rate cut is about addressing the impact on hydro bills.

Weve heard you, a narrator says in one of the spots. Hydro needs to be fair for everyone across the province and weve made fundamental changes to ensure this in the long-term.

Colin Nekolaichuk, spokesman for Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault, defended the ads saying its the governments responsibility to communicate information about the program to Ontarians. He also stressed that the governments changes to advertising rules provided a clearer definition of partisan advertising.

Both opposition parties slammed the ads, calling on the Liberals to release the cost to taxpayers. Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown is also demanding Ontarios Liberals pull the plug on self-congratulatory spots.

Your government has no authority to be spending hard-earned taxpayer dollars on partisan radio and social media ads to promote a plan that has not yet been tabled, debated and voted on in the Legislature, Brown said in a letter to Treasury Board President Liz Sandals.

New Democrat energy critic Peter Tabuns said that party will file Freedom of Information requests to unearth the cost of the ads. He accused the Liberals of using taxpayer money to buy support ahead of the 2018 election.

Not one dime has come off peoples sky-rocketing hydro bills and Wynne hasnt tabled legislation, or even a credible plan to save us money, Tabuns said in a statement. Yet, shes spending more of peoples hard-earned dollars on ads claiming the problem is solved.

Premier Kathleen Wynne rolled out her plan to slash hydro rates by 17% two weeks ago. When combined with an 8% HST rebate, the savings total 25%.

That plan, which is supposed to take effect this summer, will cost taxpayers an estimated $25 billion in interest payments as the government re-amortizes electricity deals over 30 years to achieve the short-term savings.

sjeffords@postmedia.com

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Liberals' 'self-congratulatory' hydro ads ripped - Shoreline Beacon

Sorry, Liberals, There Are No Oppressed Americans – Townhall

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Posted: Mar 18, 2017 12:01 AM

Its sad to see so many Americans turn into losers, pathetically demanding to be treated as victims, all so the emotional vampires on the Left can feel better about themselves for helping such pathetic sad sacks.

Liberals LOVE for people to think of themselves as victims. They love for people to go through life furious, upset over things most people wouldnt even notice. They need you alienated and angry so they can control you and turn you out at the polls, so they can get their sick little self-esteem boost for helping a poor little mediocrity like you.

If youre black or Hispanic and think white people hate you, if youre gay and think the Christians want to wipe you out, or if youre a woman who believes the patriarchy is keeping you down, youre going to have an unhappy life. It doesnt matter if things are going well or you have success; youre going to be angry. Youre going to feel mistreated. Youre going to walk around chalking up every normal event in the world to bias that primarily exists in your head. Youre going to nurse grievances. Youre going to be unhappy.

As consolation, you can half-ass your way through life and chalk up your failures to white racism, those hypocritical Christians, or the patriarchy. You can live with the illusion that, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, youre fighting for womens rights, or, like Martin Luther King, youre trying to reform a society teeming with racism -- but that only makes you sound like a joke. Stanton was fighting for womens right to vote. Today, feminists whine about having to pay for their birth control. Martin Luther King was fighting for equal rights, and today liberal black leaders spend their time bitching about whether hoop earrings are cultural appropriation. There are legions of liberal Don Quixotes jousting with windmills and pretending that the trivia they obsess over gives meaning to their victimhood-centered lives.

As an extra added bonus, you get to be the person who stops all the fun when you walk in the room. You get to be the one always accusing random white people of using white privilege or explaining that eating Chinese food is cultural appropriation. You get to be the one throwing out fake statistics (Theres a huge spike in wife beating on Super Bowl Sunday.) and constantly playing the Im more sensitive than you game. People have to hold back jokes and to walk on eggshells around you because they dont want to listen to your tedious lectures about how theyre not woke.

There are whole communities that have been governed by black liberals for decades that blame all their problems on white Republicans -- all because people grow to love that victimhood. They love that ready-made excuse for every problem in their lives. It isnt because they didnt go to college and they talk like theyre ignorant that they cant get a job; its racism. Black Americans arent going to jail in higher numbers because theyre committing more crimes percentage-wise; its racism! Americans are sick of Barack Obama? Must be racism. They can sniff out hidden racism like a drug-sniffing dog on a pack of cocaine, but they cant ever admit that 95% of their problems are self-created, just the same as they are with every white American.

Nobody of any race makes you choose to have unprotected sex and get pregnant at 16. Nobody makes you choose to have three kids by three different baby daddies. Nobody makes you flunk out of school. Nobody makes you spend money on partying instead of your rent. Nobody makes you assault a police officer. Nobody makes you rob a house and get a criminal record. Its not oppression. Its a sub-culture that says you can make every mistake in the world, but your screwed-up life is still someone elses fault.

There are women, gays, and minorities around the world dying to get into the United States. The ones that get the opportunity to do so legally spend thousands of dollars and put up with years of paperwork to come here. You think thats because its such a racist, sexist, oppressive country? Its ridiculous. Its silly.

Its not a white thing or a black thing, a male thing or a female thing, a conservative or liberal thing. If youre a conservative white male who blames all the problems in your life on black people, youre a loser. If youre a liberal black woman who blames all the problems in your life on white people, youre a loser. If youre a woman who blames all the difficulties in your life on the patriarchy, you are a loser. In life, if youre going to be not just successful, but happy, you hold yourself responsible and take care of your own issues. If you dont like how something in the world is, you try to change it, but you dont whine and cry and talk about how terrible life is for you because you were born the wrong race or sex. Hold yourself to a higher standard than that. Look for the opportunities that often get missed because they require some work. Be a better person and stop lying to yourself about oppression in the least racist, most welcoming country in the history of humankind.

Person in Custody after Driving Up toWhite House Checkpoint Claiming to Have a Bomb

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Sorry, Liberals, There Are No Oppressed Americans - Townhall