Mediaboss Marketing

Monday's rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., overflowed the sidewalk and filled the street. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

Monday's rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., overflowed the sidewalk and filled the street.

When House and Senate Democrats held a rally Monday night to oppose President Trump's executive order on refugees and immigrants, the crowd wasn't all on their side.

Pockets of, "Do your job!" jeers broke out, as did chants of "Walk the walk."

A vocal wing of Democrats' progressive base is growing increasingly frustrated that the minority party can't seem to do much to stop Trump's agenda. In fact, several progressive activists view the bipartisan votes for Trump Cabinet picks, like Defense Secretary James Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, as signs that many Democrats are failing to put up a fight.

That's despite contentious confirmation hearings and the Trump White House complaining that it's not getting its nominees through faster. Democrats are hamstrung when it comes to stopping the Cabinet picks. Aside from procedural delays, the elimination of the filibuster (the 60-vote threshold to advance nominees) has meant Democrats are powerless to fully stop Trump's picks unless multiple Republicans oppose them, too.

No Democrat appears immune to the criticism

Even Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren found herself writing a defensive Facebook post after being criticized for voting for Ben Carson's Housing and Urban Development nomination in committee.

And despite taking the unprecedented step of testifying against the fellow senator's nomination in committee, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has found himself answering Twitter critics demanding to know whether he'll stand up to Sen. Jeff Sessions' nomination as attorney general.

Protesters disrupted an event organized by Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse this weekend, and on Tuesday night, a rally titled "What The F***, Chuck" was scheduled for outside Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's Brooklyn home.

A liberal Tea Party?

In nearly every Senate office, phones are ringing off the hook with pleas to vote no or do more to try to block Trump's picks.

Democrats argue that the bulk of Trump's Cabinet picks are being delayed, and that less controversial nominations, like Mattis', are being treated much differently than lightning-rod Trump picks, like Rep. Tom Price for Health and Human Services secretary or Steve Mnuchin for Treasury.

But that appears to be falling on deaf ears.

A lot of the outreach has been prompted by the Indivisible Guide, an organizing project launched by former Democratic congressional staffers that is aimed at mimicking the successful Tea Party movement, but on the Democratic side.

In the wake of Trump's executive action on immigration and refugees, Indivisible organizers put together a conference call, urging people to ask their senators to do everything they can to walk back Trump's order.

"One thing we want to make clear is, if you've got what you think is just a good, progressive senator, and they've made a nice statement saying they don't support the ban, that's not enough," Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin told the call. "And they can do much more. There are Senate procedural tools available to them that if they chose to implement them, they could slow down the Senate, or even stop all action in the Senate, which will go a long way to actually ending this ban."

Demonstrators protest outside the Supreme Court against President Trump and his administration's travel ban. Democrats addressed the crowd, but the protesters are putting pressure on them, too. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

Demonstrators protest outside the Supreme Court against President Trump and his administration's travel ban. Democrats addressed the crowd, but the protesters are putting pressure on them, too.

Feeling the pressure

The fact is, many Democrats are appalled at the idea of grinding the government to a halt. Talking about the party's tactics Tuesday, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown made sure to clarify that "there's not a plan to slow-walk or slow things down the way that Mitch McConnell did on darn-near everything" when McConnell was the Republican minority leader.

Still, as base pressure has ramped up, Senate Democrats appear to be changing their tactics. Schumer made waves in the decorum-soaked Senate on Tuesday by voting against Elaine Chao's nomination as transportation secretary. In addition to being a member of multiple previous Republican administrations, she's also married to McConnell.

And Tuesday morning, Brown and other Democrats on the Finance Committee boycotted a meeting, in order to deny a quorum call and block votes for Price and Mnuchin.

That's not a permanent fix for Democrats. The committee will eventually meet, and the two nominees will likely be confirmed.

But unlike Trump's Cabinet, Democrats still do have filibuster power when it comes to Neil Gorsuch, the president's pick for the Supreme Court.

"Make no mistake, Senate Democrats will not simply allow but require an exhaustive, robust, and comprehensive debate on Judge Gorsuch's fitness to be a Supreme Court Justice," Schumer said Tuesday night in a statement.

The real test of whether Democrats are listening to these calls for more hard-line stances? Whether and when the caucus allows for an actual vote on the court nominee.

See more here:
Liberals To Senate Democrats: (Don't) Do Your Jobs - NPR

Barnaby Joyce says a preference deal between the Liberals and One Nation would lead to another blue in WA. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Barnaby Joyce has warned the Western Australian Liberals against giving preferences to One Nation in the upcoming state election because it would spark a political fight with the Nationals.

The warning is a major complication for Colin Barnetts re-election campaign, which would receive a substantial boost from a preference deal with One Nation but governs in Coalition with the Nationals.

On Monday the Herald Sun reported the Liberals Western Australian branch is expected to swap preferences with One Nation, abandoning the principle followed since John Howard established it in 2001 to put the party last.

Earlier on Wednesday, at the National Press Club, Malcolm Turnbull refused to weigh in on the question of a preference deal, saying he would travel to Western Australia to urge people to re-elect Barnett but preference deals were a matter for the state division.

On Wednesday evening, when asked about the potential deal, Joyce told the ABCs Radio National thatll be another blue in WA.

Whatever. Whatever blows your hair back, the deputy prime minister said with feigned disinterest.

In a warning to Barnett, he added: I think your Coalitions going to be a National party and a Liberal party coalition. If you want a coalition with other parties, then thats an interesting call of events.

The Liberals hold 30 seats in WAs 58-seat lower house, so they do not currently rely on the Nationals further seven seats for a majority. But, with large swings against the Barnett government, the Liberals may need both preferences from One Nation and the Coalition with the Nationals in order to survive the 11 March election.

At the press club, Turnbull was asked why the WA Liberal party appeared to be prepared to abandon the principle of putting One Nation last and where One Nation would appear on federal how-to-vote cards. Turnbull said the Liberals worked with all parties in the parliament, including One Nation.

Turnbull said he respected every member and senator. I am not a commentator on the political evolution of One Nation, he replied when asked about Pauline Hansons views.

In May, before the July election that elected Hanson and three other One Nation senators, Turnbull said Hanson was not a welcome presence on the Australian political scene.

On Wednesday reports revealed a WA One Nation candidate, David Archibald, had described single mothers as too lazy to attract and hold a mate in a Quadrant article in 2015.

Hanson has not disendorsed Archibald, despite swiftly dumping two Queensland candidates for statements or publications including that gay people should be treated as patients, that drowned Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi was alive and well and that the Port Arthur massacre was a fabricated incident.

Joyce told Radio National he didnt agree with the comments.

Excerpt from:
Joyce tells WA Liberals a One Nation preference deal risks feud with Nationals - The Guardian

Obama ex-aide: Why Liberals Should Back Gorsuch

Former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal says the nomination of Neil Gorsuch, an extraordinary judge and man, to the Supreme Court is the first thing President Trumps done right. Writing in The New York Times, the former Obama official says that if the Senate confirms anyone for the seat, Gorsuch should be at the top of the list. Though theyre on opposite political sides, Katyal says Gorsuch brings a sense of fairness and decency to the job, and a temperament that suits the nations highest court. Moreover, Gorsuch would help to restore confidence in the rule of law and not compromise principle to favor the president who appointed him.

Foreign desk: Dont Ignore New Fighting in Ukraine

The frozen conflict in East Ukraine is growing hot again, notes Noah Rothman at Commentary. Since Sunday, eight Ukrainian soldiers have been killed with another 26 wounded, plus unspecified civilian casualties, in fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russia-supported forces. Yet this has been met with stony silence from a distracted political class in the United States, which he calls a grave mistake because the fighting may be a prelude to something with more immediate repercussions for global peace and stability. Donald Trumps campaign statements may have given Vladimir Putin the idea that a Trump administration will provide him with new latitude and renewed freedom of action. So we ignore whats happening in Ukraine at our own peril.

Security expert: Spare Us Irans Pieties on Immigration

Even as America launches into a robust debate on immigration policy, the last thing we need is the voice of Tehrans terror-sponsoring regime insinuating itself, says Claudia Rosett at PJ Media. But thats exactly what Irans foreign minister, Javad Zarif, [is] trying to do by calling Trumps executive order a great gift to extremists. Says Rosett: Lets be clear on whats really going on here. Zarif, while presenting himself as an enemy of extremists, is a prominent official voice of an Iranian regime that has ranked for years as the Middle Easts biggest Old Boys Club of extremism. Indeed, Irans Islamic Republic, from the year of its inception right up to the present, has made a practice of seizing and holding Americans as de facto hostages, for which the Obama administration paid $1.7 billion ransom.

From the right: Trumps Wrong, But Libs Are Hypocrites

President Trumps executive order on immigration is both ham-handed and under-inclusive, not to mention terrible public relations for America, says Dan McLaughlin at National Review, but it is also not the dangerous and radical departure from US policy that his liberal critics make it out to be. Fact is, the United States in general, and the Obama administration in particular, never had an open-borders policy for all refugees from everywhere, so overwrought rhetoric about Trump ripping down Lady Libertys promise means comparing him to an ideal state that never existed. Moreover, liberals were silent when then-President Obama effectively discriminated against persecuted religious-minority Christians from Syria (even while explicitly admitting that ISIS was pursuing a policy of genocide against Syrian Christians).

Sports watch: Longer NFL Season Would Be Safer

The National Football League has announced a $100 million initiative to study and combat Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. Thats commendable, but the sad reality is that it is not nearly enough to combat a player safety problem that threatens the very existence of the league, contend Ike Brannon and Travis Reuther at The Weekly Standard. They suggest lengthening the NFL season without more games by simply adding three additional bye weeks. That would improve player health to some extent, since the downtime would give players a chance to better recover between games. Another upside: Increased TV rights would bring in an added $1.3 billion in revenue.

Compiled by Eric Fettmann

Read more here:
Liberals should back Gorsuch, beware new Ukraine fighting and other notable comments - New York Post

|

Posted: Feb 01, 2017 12:01 AM

One of the nastiest more recent liberal events was the Occupy movement around the nation. During Occupy protests, there were rapes, assaults, robberies and holdups. These people publicly defecated and urinated on police cars. The mess they left after their demonstrations can be described as no more than a pigsty. Does anybody recall any Democratic official, from the president on down, admonishing them to behave? Contrast their behavior with that of tea party protesters. Tea partyers didn't set fires, stone police or engage in the other kinds of despicable behavior the liberal Democrats did. On top of that, they left the areas where they protested clean.

Ask yourself whether you have ever seen Republicans/conservatives rioting, turning over police cars, looting, setting places of business on fire and shouting obscenities while marching. Have you ever seen conservatives marching with chants calling for the murder of police officers? You may have heard liberals yelling, "What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want it? Now!" In fact, virtually all of the violence against police -- whether it's throwing stones, ambushing or murdering -- is committed by liberals or people who'd identify as Democrats. The fact of the matter is that if we were to examine criminality in America -- whether talking about murderers, muggers or prisoners -- it would be dominated by people who would be described as liberals, Democrats and Hillary Clinton supporters.

Democrats and liberals accuse Republicans of conducting a war on women. Assault, rape and murder are the worst things that can be done to a woman. I would bet a lot of money that most of the assaults, rapes and murders of women are done by people who identify as liberals, and if they voted or had a party affiliation, it would be Democratic.

One of the most glaring examples of how liberals are held to lower standards comes when we look at what they control. The nation's most dangerous big cities in 2012 were Detroit, Oakland, St. Louis, Memphis, Stockton, Birmingham, Baltimore, Cleveland, Atlanta and Milwaukee. The most common characteristic of these cities is that for decades, all of them have been run by Democratic and presumably liberal administrations. Some cities -- such as Detroit, Buffalo, Newark and Philadelphia -- haven't elected a Republican mayor for more than a half-century. It's not just personal safety. These Democratic-controlled cities have the poorest-quality public education despite the fact that they have large and growing school budgets. Most of these dangerous cities have suffered massive decreases in population. Some observers have suggested that racism has caused white flight to the suburbs. But these observers ignore the fact that black flight has become increasingly significant. It turns out that black people do not like to be mugged and live in unsafe neighborhoods any more than white people.

Republicans and conservatives, including President Trump, should not gripe or whine about different treatment by the liberal media. Magnanimity commands that we have compassion and try to understand our fallen brethren. We should make every effort to sell them on the moral superiority of personal liberty and its main ingredient -- limited government.

Latest: President Trump Makes Surprise Trip to Receive Navy SEAL Killed in Yemen

WATCH: After Left-Wing Opponent Insults Trump, Conservative British PM Tears Him Apart

See the original post here:
Lower Conduct Standards for Liberals - Townhall

OTTAWA The Liberal government is breaking its promise to change Canadas voting system, though just yesterday it was stringing along opposition parties with hopes for collaboration.

New Democrat Nathan Cullen met with new minister Karina Gould Tuesday, and told the National Post she seemed keen and open to collaboration with all parties. She told him, he said, that she was considering his idea for parties to co-draft electoral reform legislation.

At the time, he said it might be a good sign that Gould seemed so curious about other parties positions.

Less than a day later, Cullen was standing outside the House of Commons calling her boss Justin Trudeau an outright liar.

Without warning Wednesday, Liberals dropped the bomb, in Goulds ministerial mandate letter, that they wont change how Canadians vote despite a black-and-white election promise and months of studies and consultations.

What Mr. Trudeau proved himself today was to be a liar, Cullen said, accusing the prime minister of a lack of courage for not making the announcement himself. It puts into question any commitment, any promise Mr. Trudeau makes or has made in the past.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Gould, who recently replaced predecessor Maryam Monsef, sidestepped questions about why the governments online survey (MyDemocracy.ca) didnt specifically ask Canadians about whether they want reform, or what type of voting system they prefer.

Our view has always been clear. Major reforms to the electoral system, major changes of this magnitude, should not be made if they lack the broad support of Canadians, she said.

But as Green Party leader Elizabeth May pointed out in question period, the need for broad support did not enter into the Liberals public statements until well after they were elected. Why was that never mentioned in any promise or mandate? she asked.

May and Cullen were on a special parliamentary committee that studied electoral reform last summer and fall. It found about 90 per cent of the experts it heard from, and almost 90 per cent of people who attended town halls, supported proportional systems.

For the Liberals to say thats not enough of a consensus clearly shows the stupidity and the arrogance and the entitlement, in fact, that somehow because theyre Liberals they can get away with making that kind of argument, Cullen said.

Those numbers only reflect the views of people who were plugged-in enough to the conversation that they showed up to town halls or sought out consultations. But random polling also suggests support for reform.

An EKOS Politics poll of 1,622 Canadians in October found 51 per cent of Canadians felt the electoral system should be changed, and 59 per cent felt electoral reform is something the Liberal Party campaigned on, so they should deliver on this promise though 57 per cent agreed its too important to be rushed.

In a second phase of that research, with 688 respondents drawn from the original sample, pollsters found 62 per cent of people would move ahead with replacing first-past-the-post, and 63 per cent would prefer proportional representation over a preferential, or ranked, ballot.

An Angus Reid Institute poll of 1,516 Canadians found two types of proportional systems, including mixed-member proportional one that includes local representation would be competitive versus first-past-the-post. The poll, released at the end of November, also found 75 per cent of people would want a referendum on any major changes the desire for which was a sticking point with Conservatives throughout the debate over reform.

Liberals said repeatedly during the election campaign, in their platform and in their first throne speech that the 2015 election would be the last using first-past-the-post.

I have long preferred a preferential ballot, the members opposite wanted proportional representation, the official opposition wanted a referendum. There is no consensus. There is no clear path forward, Trudeau said. I am not going to do something that is wrong for Canadians just to tick a box on an electoral platform.

In Cullens view, it seemed like the strategy became that once Mr. Trudeau wasnt going to get his way, his exact system, well then clearly they had to kill the whole process dead.

Email: mdsmith@postmedia.com | Twitter: mariedanielles

View post:
Liberals break electoral reform promise less than a day after signalling collaboration with opposition - National Post