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Then at the Screen Actors Guild awards a succession of winners, including William H Macy and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, took turns to lay into Mr Trump.

Eyes will be on the award for best foreign language film after Asghar Farhadi, director of The Salesman, was caught by Mr Trumps travel ban.

Should he win, Mr Farhadi will not be present to receive his award. But his absence will not go unnoticed.

Its going to be the most political Oscars for a number of years. When people were talking about it a few months ago, they thought it would be a race issue, said one Hollywood insider.

Now agents are unleashing their stars to say what they will. They are telling their clients they are not going to lose anything.

Another Hollywood observer, Tim Gray, features awards editor of Variety, predicted an interesting night.

I dont think it will be three hours of Trump-bashing, he said.There are 24 awards recognising everyone such as visual effects people, I dont think they will use it as a political forum.

I do expect some vague homilies. But if there are three or four attacks, that will light up the internet.

La La Land, a wistful musical telling the story of an aspiring actress and a jobbing musician, is expected to scoop a raft of awards, having earned 14 nominations - an achievement matched only twice before.

Link:
Donald Trump supporters to boycott Oscars in protest against 'Limousine Liberals' - Telegraph.co.uk

Photo from Hans van Baalen Twitter

Key European Liberals on Saturday decried the arrest of Liberal Party (LP) Sen. Leila de Lima on what they said were politically motivated drug charges, vowing to rally European Union and global support for the release of the lawmaker, who described herself as the first political prisoner under President Duterte.

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats Europe (Alde) Party is deeply concerned about the arrest of the Liberal Party Sen. Leila de Lima in particular and the deteriorating human rights situation in general, said Hans van Baalen, Alde President and Liberal International president of honor.

The Philippines, under the leadership of President Duterte, is turning rapidly into an illiberal state, where there is no respect for the law whatsoever, Van said in a statement issued in London by Liberal International.

The LP is a member of Liberal International, the world federation of Liberal and progressive democratic political parties.

Van Baalen said he had written the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, in order to see what action the European Union can take to free De Lima.

Liberal Internationals human rights committee chair Markus Lning, formerly Germanys commissioner for human rights, promised to push for De Limas release and called on Mr. Duterte to respect the rule of law.

View original post here:
European Liberals slam De Lima's arrest - Inquirer.net

The WA Liberals have committed $500,000 for five floating fishing platforms in the Swan and Canning Rivers if re-elected, and have also promised a specialist primary school program for gifted students.

Premier Colin Barnett said the platforms, which would be funded through the Recreational Fishing Initiative Fund, would be popular among young families and people with disabilities.

"We will also invest in the re-stocking of recreational fishing species, such as river prawns and mulloway, in the Swan and Canning Rivers as part of a $1 million commitment to build stocks of key recreational fish species in our rivers and oceans," Mr Barnett said.

"Recreational crabbing in the Peel Harvey estuary will also receive a boost from a re-elected Liberal led government with a commitment to buy out up to half of the 10 commercial crabbing licences operating in this important waterway."

The Liberals have also promised to expand specialist programs in some high schools and create a $5.8 million Primary Scholars Program at four schools to encourage excellence in science, technology and maths.

Mr Barnett said academically gifted primary school students would have access to education ranging from learning coding skills and robotics to advanced engineering.

Read more:
WA Liberals make fishing, school pledges - NEWS.com.au

We are in the midst of another election season in India, and each time a poll rolls around, I get depressed at the thought that we are about to elect criminals, corrupt populists, and members of political dynasties rather than upright, independent, reform-minded liberals.

On this occasion, laffaire Sasikala and Donald Trumps shocking win in America also weigh on the mind. As a solution, I have earlier advocated setting up a classical liberal political party in India. A young, aspiring India in the 21st century deserves a secular party that trusts markets rather than officials for economic outcomes and focuses on the reform of governance institutions. It may not win votes quickly but it would bring governance reform to centrestage and gradually prove to voters that open markets and rule-based government are the only sensible way to lift living standards and achieve shared prosperity.

Based on this reasoning, Sanjeev Sabhlok formed Swarna Bharat, a genuine liberal political party in 2013. But it has not gained widespread support. I feel guilty that I have not done enough for it; nor have my liberal friends joined it. As I think about our failure, I have come to a startling conclusion. I have realized that a party based on classical liberal principles has almost no chance of winning at the polls unless it ties itself to an identity party.

Dancing heads: Both Thatcher and Reagan were free market proponents

A populist candidate who promises subsidised electricity and food will always defeat a liberal who advocates private initiative and competition. It is hard to sell the free market at the polls because the invisible hand of the market is not visible to the voter whereas the states visible hand is only too visible. A left liberal, however, is likely to be more successful as he advocates an extensive welfare state via state intervention.

For this reason, classical liberals everywhere have chosen to join parties with cultural or social identities. In America, they went on to become liberal Republicans or conservative Democrats. In both cases, they helped to change the economic agenda of their parties.

But as a price, they had to put up with the anti-abortion Christian agenda and the gun lobby of the Republicans and the rigid, inept unions of the Democratic Party. In the UK, Margaret Thatcher tolerated Torys social ideals of traditional Englishness as a price for converting her party (and the nation) in favour of the market.

Similarly, Tony Blair taught the Labour Party to trust market outcomes rather than state intervention. Adenauer and Erhard, both classical liberals in Germany, tolerated the Protestantism of the Christian Democrats while creating the great post-war economic miracle. In a recent volume of essays, Liberalism in India, Jaithirth Rao has argued that even the most successful liberal party in history, the Whigs, who were a force in British politics for over two centuries, had a Low Church identity in contrast to High Church Tories.

In India too, many liberals support Modis vikas agenda but do not subscribe to BJPs cultural baggage of Hindutva. Modis miraculous success at the polls in 2014 was the result of a liberal appeal of maximum governance, minimum government to the aspiring young. As a result, he created space in the BJP for market liberals, and the BJP has matured into a full-fledged right-of-centre party with a clear division between an economic and a cultural right. Modi, however, is not a classical liberal like Thatcher, with ideological commitment to economic and institutional reforms. He is closer to an East Asian moderniser and he reforms on a pragmatic basis. It is still early to say if Modi will deliver, but if he wants to retain his liberal supporters, he will have to keep the cultural wing of his party under tight control. As it is, the latter is unhappy with him for not pursuing Hindutva vigorously.

I feel sad that a liberal party does not have a future in India or elsewhere. Liberalism has driven political action in the world in the past three centuries. It has won much of the political argument in the 20th century, says Barun Mitra of the Liberty Institute. It won Indias fight for freedom from colonial rule; it was responsible for the collapse of communism; and it drove Indias economic reforms. But liberals did not take credit for these reforms and hence we continue to reform by stealth. Liberals are no saints but it is a shame that emotional appeals to race, religion and caste identities still matter more to voters than rational arguments for prosperity and governance.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

See the article here:
Why classic liberals don't win elections, and populists do - Times of India (blog)

AP

BY: Madeleine Weast February 24, 2017 2:56 pm

An alternative reality website, http://www.HillaryBeatTrump.org, has become a safe haven for liberals where they can pretend to read fake news in a world in which Hillary Clinton actually won the 2016 presidential election.

HillaryBeatTrump.org's website, along with its Twitter and Facebook accounts, promotes fake news stories, or fan fiction, that liberals wish were true.

The satirical website's banner reads, "President Hillary Rodham Clinton," with the slogan, "News from the real America, where the majority rules."

"In the midst of a Constitutional crisis, this is our response. Long live the true president, Hillary Rodham Clinton," the siteclaims in its "About Us" section.

The news categories on the website include domestic policy, celebrities, world affairs, Wall Street, and sports.

Here are five of the most ridiculous headlines from the site.

1. Rush Limbaugh impregnates Tomi Lahren, demands abortion

"Even more startling, sources close to Lahren told Page 6 that Limbaugh immediately demanded she undergo an abortion, saying it was his Constitutional right to subject her body to his every command according to the 14th amendment,'" the articlefrom Thursday read.

2. Trump says Anne Frank tragically never had the makings of a 10'

"On Wednesday, Donald Trump drew fire from American Jews after the former reality TV star assured the largely Jewish, affluent crowd that gathered at Manhattan's Central Synagogue they were lucky to be alive in America today,'" the articlefrom Wednesday said.

"Tragically, Anne Frank never had the makings of a 10,' he said."

3. Historians say Clinton's presidency is already in "all time top 5"

"In barely two months, Clinton has made headlines and warmed liberal hearts by appointing the most diverse cabinet in historyincluding the highest-ranking Muslim in government, increasing the minimum wage to $12 an hour,raising taxeson the ultra wealthy, shutting down the Dakota Access Pipeline,mandating parental leave, and welcoming Syrian immigrants," the Tuesday article read.

4. Rumor: Kellyanne Conway dating Brock Turner

"It's a man's world,' Conway reportedly whispered into Brock's left ear. I don't understand why women think they have any control over their bodies,'" the article published last weeksaid.

5. Georgia O'Keeffe to design new feminist monument for National Mall

"After rejecting 2,000 designs by leading, male-dominated architecture firms that were all oppressively phallic,' Jones said the Smithsonian finally selected an ingenious design by the late, great British feminist architect Zaha Hadid that she based on the paintings of Arizona artist Georgia O'Keeffe," the article from last week read.

Donald Trump won the 2016 election, defeating Hillary Clinton, and isthe 45th president of the United States.

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5 Headlines Liberals Wish Were True on Alternative Reality Website - Washington Free Beacon