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During the presidential campaign, many Hillary Clinton voters in Atlanta's suburbs thought they were alone. That was an easy conclusion to draw because few felt comfortable putting Clinton signs on their front lawns or expressing their political preference at parties. Their neighbors seemed overwhelmingly Republican.

It took the presidency of Donald Trump to shock them out of their quietude. They emerged from the bunkers, blinking and surprised to find they had so much company. Many are now harnessing their distress to their newly discovered numbers and going activist. They are thus giving a 30-year-old novice named Jon Ossoff a fighting chance to win the congressional seat recently vacated by Tom Price, Trump's secretary of health.

This wouldn't be happening without Trump. Today's scenes of environmental degradation and Russian infiltration -- under the tweeting fingers of a possibly mad emperor -- would wake the political dead. They have electrified a left prone to battling itself over deviations in liberal scripture but also a center wanting nothing more than a day of normal news.

In other times, #resistance might come off as a bit melodramatic. Trump world has made it feel downright mainstream.

Trump has thus transformed the liberal ranks from stray cats to packs of dogs. Dogs act bolder when traveling in numbers. Dogs want community.

Participants in the women's marches in January recall the events not so much for stoking anger but for providing comfort. The throngs of peaceful marchers overwhelmed the few radicals ready to rumble. Their sense of well-being came from communing with so many ordinary women -- and men -- who felt as they did.

Like the tea party right, liberals are flocking to their own media campfires for warmth, talking points and calls to action. On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow is now edging out the troubled king of right-wing palaver, Bill O'Reilly, intotalaudience. (She has long dominated him in the coveted 25- to 54-year-old demographic.)

On CBS, Stephen Colbert has become the go-to guy for smart and witty late-night commentary from a liberal perspective. As such, he is bringing younger audiences back to network TV.

And in a shoutout to "CBS Evening News," let us praise anchor Scott Pelley. His willingness to tell what's really happening with minimal dramatics and apparently little concern about being attacked by the right is refreshing.

The surprise hit podcast of 2017 -- "Pod Save America" -- stars three luminaries from the Obama administration. It offers lively and interesting political chat -- but nothing that would have seemed earth-shattering before Nov. 8. Now it's vacuuming up audiences and advertising.

Speaking of which, it was interesting to see how quickly major advertisers deserted O'Reilly's show after reports of the host's penchant for serial sexual harassment. In doing so, they must have considered the perils of displeasing his avid fan base. On the other hand, how many millions of women were marching?

The tea party's membership was never huge in numbers, but the movement knew how to turn communal passions into political clout. Members jeered politicians and joined enthusiastic protests. But their real power came from marching as a group to party primaries and other elections that less engaged voters ignored.

Democrats hope to use that strategy in the special election in Georgia's 6th Congressional District. Ossoff is currently running against several Republicans. Should he get more than 50 percent of the vote, he'd take a storied seat once inhabited by former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Political revolutions don't happen on Twitter. They happen when like-minded citizens join to vote.

As jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron famously vocalized, "The revolution will not be televised. ... The revolution will be live."

Go here to see the original:
Harrop: Liberals find community - Quad City Times

Bill Maher understoodwhy Republicans werehappy to see 59 cruise missiles streaking into the sky over Syria early Friday President Trump was asserting his authority as commander in chief against a dictator whod used chemical weapons on his own citizens.

But Maher said he was disgusted by the words of another group that seemed mesmerized by the missiles: TV journalists.

Even the liberals were all over this last night, he said during his opening monologue Friday night on Real Time with Bill Maher.

Everybody loves this f thing. Cable news loves it when they show footage of destroyers firing cruise missiles at night. Its Americas money shot.

Trump authorized the strike on a military airfield in retaliation for a chemical attack on civilians that killed at least 86people.

[Warplanes return to Syrian town devastated by chemical attack]

The attack ratchets up the intensity of a complicated regional conflict, according to The Washington Posts James Hohmann, and makes a conflict with Russia more likely.

News networks looped reel footage provided by the Pentagon of cruise missiles being launched from a ship and streaking into the night sky, complete with commentary.

The Department of Defense released video of the U.S. military launching cruise missiles in Syria after President Trump ordered the strike on April 6. (Department of Defense)

Reflecting on the strike, Fareed Zakaria opined on CNN: I think Donald Trump became president of the United States last night.

As The Posts Derek Hawkins reported, Brian Williams seemed so dazzled by the images that he described them as beautiful and quoted singer Leonard Cohen: I am guided by the beauty of our weapons.

[You know how Putin feels about failure: Bill Maher blasts Trumps health-care flop]

Maher wasnt the only one appalled by the journalists laudatory words.

Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan wrote that after the strikes, praise flowed like wedding champagne especially on cable news.

And in a Facebook Post, Dan Rather took fellow journalists to task:

The number of members of the press who have lauded the actions last night as presidential is concerning, he wrote. War must never be considered a public relations operation. It is not a way for an Administration to gain a narrative. It is a step into a dangerous unknown and its full impact is impossible to predict, especially in the immediate wake of the first strike.

Read more:

Bill Mahers interview with a Trump defender started out nice. Then Russia came up.

Morning Joe host says Kellyanne Conway was banned because everything she said was disproven

Colbert apologizes to ISIS, recently unseated by Trump as the enemy of the American People

Never fjorget: Colbert mocks Trumps Sweden flub, honors all the people who did not suffer

Stephen Colbert channels Keyser Sze to blast Trumps Russia ties

See the rest here:
'Even the liberals were all over this': Bill Maher disgusted by the cable news response to Syria - Washington Post

When the official election campaign kicks off Tuesday it will have been 5,810 days since the BC Liberals first took power in 2001.

Gordon Campbell's victory 16 years ago launchedthe current dynasty, one of the longest lasting political regimes in Canada, which makes the premise of the 2017 election campaign simple: Do you want change or are you fine with how things have been going?

"Inevitably we have a government that has been in power since 2001, it is almost cliche to say it's time for change," said University of Victoria political scientist Norman Ruff.

"Even a government thatis doing well, it's good to have a circulation of change. It's part of the general atmosphere that is surrounding the election and clearly the NDP will focus on 'things can be better.' "

B.C Premier Christy Clark speaks to a crowd at an anti-bullying event in Burnaby, B.C., on Wednesday, February 22, 2017. (The Canadian Press / Ben Nelms)

At the helm for the B.C. Liberals is one of the province's most familiar faces:party leader and B.C. Premier Christy Clark is looking for a second mandate.

The Liberals have had some high profile problems. The premier has been dogged by questions about 'cash-for-access' fundraisersin which donors who paid hundreds of dollars for tickets received face time with Clark.

There was also criticism that Clark received a $50,000 stipend as party leader, a practice she recently ended.The premier has also faced questions about why she falsely accusedNDP Leader JohnHorganof hacking theB.C Liberalwebsite.

And her government also came under fire for a practice of triple-deleting emails.

Finally, the government hasacknowledged that it will fall short on one of its key election promises from the 2013 provincial campaign to havethree Liquefied Natural Gas plants up and running by 2020.

Still, Clark is in a much different position than she was four years ago. The province boasts thecountry's strongest economy and is leading in job growth.

"I think the most important thing a government can do to help people is help create jobs," said Clark. "I really believe, a job changes lives."

John Horgan surrounded by members of the B.C. NDP caucus on the last day of the 2017 legislative session. (Mike McArthur/CBC News)

Horganis the third NDP leader that has tried to stop the Liberal run. LikeCaroleJames and Adrian Dix before him,Horganhas been a fixture in the party for a long time.

The three-term MLA was first elected in 2005 in the riding ofMalahat-JuandeFuca.Horganis working to define himself, while attacks come at him from both third-party groups and the B.C. Liberals.

The NDP leader has faced criticismfrom the B.C. Liberals that he'san angry person with a bad temper. Others have called himindecisive on issues likethe Site C Dam construction.

Through all this,Horganis trying to define himself.

"When people call me angry, I say I am passionate," saidHorgan. "Who wouldn't be angry with the highest child poverty rate in the country?Who wouldn't be angry at a government who takes bus passes away from people with disabilities?"

B.C. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver is looking to add to his caucus that currently only includes him. (Rafferty Baker/CBC)

Trying to break into the conversation is the BC GreensLeader Andrew Weaver, who is presenting a platform that hisparty believes offers far more than climate change policies.

"Look at the trends. Two parties are trending down, one party is trending up. We are leading according to polls on Vancouver Island," said Weaver.

"When you see the depth and rigour of our platform I think you are going to see heads turn."

Weaver may be counting on regional polling,but the 2013 election is proof of how badly the pollsters did. At this point four years ago, Clark was trailing by 20 points.

This time it is a much closerrace in the public's eyes and as the B.C. Liberals proved last time: once the campaign starts anything can happen.

Read the rest here:
NDP try to snap losing streak in bid to end BC Liberal political dynasty - CBC.ca

Anyonewho supportsthese missile strikes has to account for what comes next.

CNN host Fareed Zakaria speaks about President Donald Trumps missile strikes on Syria during an Anderson Cooper 360 segment. (Screengrab / CNN)

It shouldnt be surprising, but it is to me nonetheless: Plenty of liberals whove long criticized Donald Trump as unfit to be president are praising his strike on Syrian airfields.

On CNNs New Day Thursday, global analystFareed Zakariadeclared, I think Donald Trump became president of the United States last night. To his credit, Zakaria has previously called Trump a bullshit artist and said, He has gotten the presidency by bullshitting. But Zakaria apparently thinks firing missiles make one presidential. On MSNBC, Nicholas Kristof, an aggressive Trump critic, said he did the right thing by bombing Syria. Anchor Brian Williams, whose 11thHour has regularly been critical of Trump, repeatedly called the missiles beautiful, to a noisy backlash on Twitter.

While TheNew York Times posted several skeptical, even critical stories, it gave us this piece of propaganda: an article initially titled On Syria attack, Trumps heart came first, buying the presidents line that his opposition to anti-Assad military action was reversed by seeing the heartrending photos of children struggling to breathe after a chemical attack.

Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack, Trumpdeclared. No child of God should ever suffer such horror. (No word how he felt about ugly babies.) The piece also failed to even mention that Trump is keeping refugees from the Syrian war, even children, out of the United States. Victims of chemical weapons are beautiful babies; children trying to flee such violence require extreme vetting and an indefinite refugee ban. After a public outcry, the Times changed the headline.

Even some Obama administration veterans praised Trumps action. President Donald J. Trump was right to strike at the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for using a weapon of mass destruction, the nerve agent sarin, against its own people, Antony Blinken, a deputy secretary of state under Obama,wrote in The New York Times. Blinken went on to say, correctly in theory, that what must come next is smart diplomacy. But he knows that Trump has shown himself incapable of doing anything smart, especially diplomacy.

Remember just last week, phantom Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in Turkey: I think thelonger-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people. The Kremlin-funded Russia Today described that as a U-turn from Washingtons long-held policy that Assad must go. Six days later, Tillerson was telling reporters,There is no doubt in our minds, and the information we have supports, that the Syrian regime under the leadership of Bashar al-Assad are responsible for this attack. It is very important that the Russian government consider carefully their support for Bashar al-Assad,because steps are underway to muster international support for a strike. Russia Today seemed disappointed that the United States believes Assad is behind the gassing of his people, arguing that the source is the international rescue group White Helmets, which RT shockingly calls al-Qaida affiliated.

Any liberal who praises these missile strikes has to account for what comes next. Obviously, Trump cares little about diplomacy, leaving Tillerson out of key meetings and slashing the State Departments budget. On Wednesday night, the White House released a photo of his team receiving a briefing on the Syria attack. At the table were Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross; Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin; Goldman Sachs alum Dina Powell, deputy national-security adviser; along with Jared Kushner; Steve Bannon; and Bannons sidekick Steven Miller. Why are the Commerce and Treasury secretaries there? What explains why Tillerson, who was in Palm Beach with the president, was not?

The noisiest outrage against the Syrian attack isnt coming from the left, but the rightparticularly the alt-right. Trumps noninterventionism and his friendliness to Bashar Assad and Vladimir Putin were big selling points to white nationalists. Now that he seems to be challenging both men, his former acolytes are enraged. On Twitter, alt-right white supremacist Richard Spencer called it a total betrayal; the white nationalists at VDARE blamed it on the boomercucks in the administration. Ann Coulter went apoplectic:

It was disappointing to see Hillary Clinton say Wednesday afternoon that she thought air strikes on Syrian airfields were an appropriate response to the chemical-weapon attack. She was always more hawkish than I wished, and that shows it. But its wrong to insist shed have done the same thing as Trump. Clintons secretary of state wouldnt likely have told Assad we were no longer concerned about removing him; if she did fire missiles at Syrian airfields, she would have done so with a clearer notion of what comes next. Trump appears to be clueless.

THE STAKES ARE HIGHER NOW THAN EVER. GET THE NATION IN YOUR INBOX.

Senator Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, didnt quite oppose the Syrian strike, calling Assad a war criminal and lamenting his murder of civilians with chemical weapons. But noting that its that its easier to get into a war than get out of one, Sanders demanded that Trump must explain to the American people exactly what this military escalation in Syria is intended to achieve, and how it fits into the broader goal of a political solution, which is the only way Syrias devastating civil war ends.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand sounded closer to Sanders than Clinton on the airstrikes, decrying Trumps unilateral military action by the US in a Middle East conflict as well as the absence of any long-term plan or strategy to address any consequences from such unilateral action. Like Sanders, she demanded that Trump seek authorization of military force from Congress. By contrast, her New York colleague Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Trumps move the right thing to do. Schumer may find that many constituents think it was the wrong thing.

There remains the possibility that some of this is theater. It should be said: Some observers, besides RT, say its unproven that the chemical weapons attack came from Assad; rebels could be behind it. Theres also the possibility of a kabuki performance from Trump, Putin, and Assad. We already know the United States warned Putin of the coming missiles, and that Putin warned Assad, whose military moved airplanes and other military equipment away from the intended target. Trump, plummeting in the polls, his domestic health-care and tax plans on the rocks, the investigation into Russian election meddling closing in on his team, really needed a boost; maybe they gave it to him. Trumps sudden about-face on Syria makes it hard to judge.

However, according to Syrian state media, nine civilians, including four children, were killed in the air strikes. That is not kabuki. Trump has said nothing about those beautiful babies, nor will he. Liberals have to sober up and stop being besotted by beautiful missiles and presidential cruelty. Trump is the same Trump he was Tuesday, and that should scare all of us.

Read this article:
Too Many of Trump's Liberal Critics Are Praising His Strike on Syria - The Nation.

During the presidential campaign, many Hillary Clinton voters in Atlantas suburbs thought they were alone. That was an easy conclusion to draw because few felt comfortable putting Clinton signs on their front lawns or expressing their political preference at parties. Their neighbors seemed overwhelmingly Republican.

It took the presidency of Donald Trump to shock them out of their quietude. They emerged from the bunkers, blinking and surprised to find they had so much company. Many are now harnessing their distress to their newly discovered numbers and going activist. They are thus giving a 30-year-old novice named Jon Ossoff a fighting chance to win the congressional seat recently vacated by Tom Price, Trumps secretary of health.

This wouldnt be happening without Trump. Todays scenes of environmental degradation and Russian infiltration under the tweeting fingers of a possibly mad emperor would wake the political dead. They have electrified a left prone to battling itself over deviations in liberal scripture but also a center wanting nothing more than a day of normal news.

In other times, #resistance might come off as a bit melodramatic. Trump world has made it feel downright mainstream.

Trump has thus transformed the liberal ranks from stray cats to packs of dogs. Dogs act bolder when traveling in numbers. Dogs want community.

Participants in the womens marches in January recall the events not so much for stoking anger but for providing comfort. The throngs of peaceful marchers overwhelmed the few radicals ready to rumble. Their sense of well-being came from communing with so many ordinary women and men who felt as they did.

Like the tea party right, liberals are flocking to their own media campfires for warmth, talking points and calls to action. On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow is now edging out the troubled king of right-wing palaver, Bill OReilly, in total audience. (She has long dominated him in the coveted 25- to 54-year-old demographic.)

On CBS, Stephen Colbert has become the go-to guy for smart and witty late-night commentary from a liberal perspective. As such, he is bringing younger audiences back to network TV.

And in a shoutout to CBS Evening News, let us praise anchor Scott Pelley. His willingness to tell whats really happening with minimal dramatics and apparently little concern about being attacked by the right is refreshing.

The surprise hit podcast of 2017 Pod Save America stars three luminaries from the Obama administration. It offers lively and interesting political chat but nothing that would have seemed earth-shattering before Nov. 8. Now its vacuuming up audiences and advertising.

Speaking of which, it was interesting to see how quickly major advertisers deserted OReillys show after reports of the hosts penchant for serial sexual harassment. In doing so, they must have considered the perils of displeasing his avid fan base. On the other hand, how many millions of women were marching?

The tea partys membership was never huge in numbers, but the movement knew how to turn communal passions into political clout. Members jeered politicians and joined enthusiastic protests. But their real power came from marching as a group to party primaries and other elections that less engaged voters ignored.

Democrats hope to use that strategy in the special election in Georgias 6th Congressional District. Ossoff is running against several Republicans. Should he get more than 50 percent of the vote, hed take a storied seat once inhabited by former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Political revolutions dont happen on Twitter. They happen when like-minded citizens join to vote.

As jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron famously vocalized, The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will be live.

Froma Harrop is a columnist for Creators Syndicate.

Published April 8, 2017, midnight in: Bill O'Reilly, community, congressional seat, Donald Trump, Jon Ossoff, liberals. Georgia, Rachel Maddow

Continued here:
Froma Harrop: Trump shocks liberals into action | The Spokesman ... - The Spokesman-Review