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Really sad news from the North East today. Chris Abbott, long-term Liberal Democrat Councillor from Redcar, has died suddenly.

The photo of him here is taken from his Twitter profile.

From Gazette Live:

A prominent figure in local Liberal Democrat politics for more than 40 years, he represented Newcomen ward, inRedcar, where he lived.

The 66-year-old lifelong Leeds fan and electrician was also chairman of Yorkshire Ridings Society.

Paying tribute, Josh Mason, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Liberal Democrat group, said: Chris was a bastion of local democracy and a lifelong liberal, whose knowledge, passion and dedicated community work, have been an inspiration to us all.

Redcar and Cleveland Council will be a lesser place without his principled values, commitment and tireless efforts for local people.

On behalf of Redcar Liberal Democrats, I offer sincere condolences to Chris family and to all who knew him, as we mourn together, the loss of a dear friend

Chris was one of the stalwarts of the early online Lib Dem Conferencing system, Cix and his blog was a brilliant mix of local news and commentary.

Its been ages since Ive done one of these and Ive decided to change it slightly so that I put in some of my favourite articles, videos and interviews from various media outlets, not just the Sunday papers.

First up this week exactly the sort of confident, bold setting out of the liberal values our society so desperately needs. Dutch liberal Marietje Schaake talks to CNNs Christine Amanpour about the benefits of liberalism:

Dutch liberals face a challenging election later this year with right wing populists headed by Geert Wilders in a strong position.

In the pages of the Express, you tend to find Liberal Democrats being lampooned. However, this is a quite charming article where Paddy Ashdown describes his favourite photograph his wedding photograph from 54 years ago. He talks about their first meeting at a Christmas ball:

Vince Cable is fundamentally wrong to suggest that there is no great argument of liberal principle for free movement and his case for ending free movement is weak. He ought to revise his views to be in more in keeping with liberal values which, in the face of rising and fierce anti-migrant rhetoric, are sorely needed.

His assertion that British opposition to immigration is mainly colour-blind is simply not true.

Fears and prejudices were purposefully stoked during the referendum with explicit scapegoating, disingenuous scaremongering about Turkish migrants and in particular Farages appalling blatantly non-colour-blind Breaking Point poster campaign.

Hate crime has soared since the referendum. The vast majority of the targets of xenophobic incidents and abuse have been EU migrants in particular citizens from Eastern European countries.

Islamophobia and associated crimes have also risen exponentially. Note the 25 serious incidents of anti-muslim hate crimes recorded in the three days after the Brexit vote. People are explicitly abusing muslims in the streets because we voted out, shouting shouldnt you be on a plane back to Pakistan? We voted you out!

The EU referendum vote has unleashed an ugly force of racism where those who hold prejudiced views feel emboldened to shout, abuse and attack people in the street, post excrement through peoples letter boxes and rip off peoples hijabs in public.

There are few things in life more irritating than the Daily Fail crowing. It is doing just that this morning after International Development Minister Priti Patel announced that funding for what the Fail called the Ethiopian equivalent of the Spice Girls was being cut from our international aid budget. In the same way as they pepper words like bogus around when talking about asylum seekers, or make it sound like every second person claiming benefits is doing so fraudulently (when the figure is less than 1%), they are trying to make it sound like all the money that we send overseas is being frittered away on frivolity.

What they dont tell you is that the group Yegna is a brilliant, innovative and creative way of getting an important message about womens and girls rights through to both men and women. It tells girls that they dont have to put up with being beaten by their parents. It changes minds. Just look at this poster from the Girl Effect, who manage this project.

Id particularly want to draw your attention to the changes in knowledge, attitudes and behaviours section. Almost all boys who were exposed to Yegnas work would be moved to report it if they were aware of a girl being forced into marriage compared with just over half who were not. 59% of girls beaten by their parents who had listened to Yegna would agree that it should be reported to the authorities compared with less than a third who had not. 25% more girls who had listened to Yegna realised that it was wrong for men to hit their wives.

I am frequently told that, as a Remoaner I must respect the result of the referendum. It seems to me that I am not being asked to respect it so much as to fetishise it.

Actually, I do respect it. I respect it for what it was an advisory vote won by a wafer thin majority based on a mountain of lies.

Then, because I say that, I am criticised (virulently quite often) for being undemocratic and for not respecting the will of the people. And many people who did not vote Leave, and do not want to leave, seem to have accepted the line that the vote has happened and they must respect it.

But democracy is so much more than a single vote.

Generally speaking electoral votes stand, even if the majority is unsatisfactory. But that is premised on two conditions. The first is that the voters get a chance regularly to change their minds. The second is that the voters were at least relatively well informed about the subject of their vote. All sides make their offers clear, and the media do a proper job of examining their claims.

It feels like 5 minutes since Nick Clegg and I were relative political youngsters in the East Midlands so it seems very strange indeed that all of a sudden he is celebrating his 50th birthday today.

When I was growing up, 50 seemed totally ancient. A hundred years ago, 50 was getting to the top range of life expectancy. But now it seems like its only barely into middle age. People start new careers in their 50s. Sadly, Barack Obama is going to be doing just that in a fortnight at the age of 55.

In the time Ive known him, Nick has gone from being enthusiastic candidate seeking selection to MEP to party leader to Deputy Prime Minister. It has been quite the roller-coaster ride.

Original post:
Liberal Democrat Voice

Anthony Bourdain, an outspoken critic of President-elect Donald Trump, has called out privileged Eastern liberals including himself for their utter contempt of working-class Americans that he says made Trumps presidency possible.

In an interview with Reason magazine, the celebrity chef and television host lamented the proliferating fear of the Other, which he believes has led to a rise in nationalism globally, citing examples in the Philippines, Russia and Italy, as well as the Brexit vote in June.

When people are afraid and feel that their government has failed them, they do things that seem completely mad and unreasonable to those of who are perhaps under less pressure, Bourdain said.

Still, Bourdain said hewas empathetic to the circumstances thatled to outcomes in those countries. And he faulted those same forces for Trumps win in November.

The utter contempt with which privileged Eastern liberals such as myself discuss red-state, gun-country, working-class America as ridiculous and morons and rubes is largely responsible for the upswell of rage and contempt and desire to pull down the temple that were seeing now, Bourdain told Reason.

Ive spent a lot of time in gun-country, God-fearing America, he added. There are a hell of a lot of nice people out there, who are doing what everyone else in this world is trying to do: the best they can to get by, and take care of themselves and the people they love. When we deny them their basic humanity and legitimacy of their views, however different they may be than ours, when we mock them at every turn, and treat them with contempt, we do no one any good.

[How Anthony Bourdain went from CNNs biggest risk to its most unexpected star]

Bourdain went on to criticize HBO political talk show host Bill Maher as the worst of the smug, self-congratulatory left after being asked about an appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher a few years ago.

Not a show I plan to do again. Hes a classic example of the smirking, contemptuous, privileged guy who lives in a bubble, Bourdain told the magazine. And he is in no way looking to reach outside, or even look outside, of that bubble, in an empathetic way.

Such preaching to the converted, Bourdain said, was no way to win the hearts and minds of Trump supporters.

It doesnt change anyones opinions. It only solidifies them, and makes things worse for all of us, Bourdain said. We should be breaking bread with each other, and finding common ground whenever possible. I fear that is not at all what weve done.

The prolific chef received some criticism online for his comments, but he has defended his working-class background on Twitter, saying he had spent three decades rising up through back-of-the-house restaurant jobs.

Bourdain did not specify in the interview whether he might be interested in breaking bread with Trump, a notion he shot down ina September conversation with the Wrap. At the time, Bourdainwas asked whether he might consider a private dining session with Trump if he should be elected president.

Absolutely fing not, Bourdain told the Wrap. We know him well here [in New York] I would give the same answer that I would have given 10 years ago, when he was just as loathsome.

[Anthony Bourdain on dining with the presidential candidates: Honestly, thats not the business Im in]

The interview with Reason was conducted Dec. 20, the day after the electoral college made Trumps win official.Bourdains comments were part of a wide-ranging conversationthat included talk of Sichuan peppers, sex, eating dogs and political correctness, according to the magazine.

To be fair, such an amalgam of topics along with his usual dissing of vegetarians can be expected from just about any recent Bourdain interview.Theglobe-trotting, often foul-mouthed personality is also a best-selling author and host of CNNs Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, now in its eighth season.

During his visit to Vietnam, President Obama grabbed a 6-dollar dinner with TV chef Anthony Bourdain for an episode of his show "Parts Unknown," which will air in September. (Reuters)

This seasons premiere aired on Sept. 25 with a guest appearance by none other than President Obama in Hanoi, where the two drank beer and ate bun cha a Vietnamese dish of grilled pork and rice vermicelli atop plastic stools at a casual family-run restaurant.

Bourdain has made, well, no reservations about his disdain for Trump or for those who choose to do business with him.

In a recent interview with Eater, Bourdain said he had utter and complete contempt for restaurateur Alessandro Borgognone, who announced in November he would open a sushi restaurant at Trumps hotel in Washington.

I will never eat in his restaurant, Bourdain declared in that interview.

He expressed similar feelings about chef David Burke, who said he would take over another space at the same hotel after Jos Andrs pulled out.

Burkes a steaming loaf of s, as far as Im concerned, and feel free to quote me, Bourdain told Eater.

Read more:

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Read the original:
Anthony Bourdain bashes fellow privileged Eastern liberals ...

Television and culinary personality Anthony Bourdain says in a new interview that fellow "privileged Eastern liberals" are the reason that Donald TrumpDonald TrumpTrump's 'delayed' intelligence meeting was always scheduled for Friday: report ExxonMobil, Tillerson reach agreement to sever all ties with company Schumer: Trump 'really dumb' for attacking intelligence agencies MORE was elected.

"The utter contempt with which privileged Eastern liberals such as myself discuss red-state, gun-country, working-class America as ridiculous and morons and rubes is largely responsible for the upswell of rage and contempt and desire to pull down the temple that were seeing now," Bourdain told Reason.

Bourdain attributed the large divide during this political season and Trump's win last month on a division between "Eastern liberals" and red-state Americans.

When people are afraid and feel that their government has failed them, they do things that seem completely mad and unreasonable to those of who are perhaps under less pressure, Bourdain said.

Ive spent a lot of time in gun-country, God-fearing America, he continued. There are a hell of a lot of nice people out there, who are doing what everyone else in this world is trying to do: the best they can to get by, and take care of themselves and the people they love."

"When we deny them their basic humanity and legitimacy of their views, however different they may be than ours, when we mock them at every turn, and treat them with contempt, we do no one any good.

Bourdain also criticized HBO political talk show host Bill Maher as "the worst of the smug, self-congratulatory left," hitting the show as a perfect example for why many Trump supporters were frustrated with liberals.

It doesnt change anyones opinions. It only solidifies them, and makes things worse for all of us, Bourdain said.

We should be breaking bread with each other, and finding common ground whenever possible. I fear that is not at all what weve done.

Link:
Anthony Bourdain on Trump win: People were sick of ...

People march in protest against president-elect Donald Trump in Seattle, Washington on November 14, 2016.

Jason Redmond/AFP/Getty Images

The sense of disillusionment white American liberals woke up with on Nov. 9 was powerful enough to taint the entire year with a sense of doom. So many illusions were shattered by the election of Donald Trump: about the media, polling, the Democrats vaunted ground game, the fundamental character of our fellow citizens, the viability of the American experiment. Even if the first 10 months and eight days of 2016 had been an era of unbounded inspiration and hope, the impact of Donald Trumps election would have outweighed them, reducing our optimism to a historical footnote.

Of course, the first 10 months and eight days of 2016 werent an era of unbounded inspiration and hope, even if the post-Nov. 8 world makes them look pretty good by comparison. Not even the most diehard, optimistic Hillary Clinton supporters could ignore the minor disillusionments that cropped up every few weeksevents that in hindsight seem like distant rumbles of thunder warning of the storm to come. Bernie Sanders supporters were disillusioned by the Democratic National Committees contempt for their chosen candidate. Moderate Republicans were disillusioned by Donald Trumps unforeseen takeover of their party. Queer people whod recently won the right to marry were disillusioned by the horrific massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Women who thought theyd seen overt misogyny disappear from polite society were disillusioned by the cavalier way Trump described grabbing women by the pussy.

To be disillusioned you have to have some faithin institutions, in progress, in human decencyto begin with. There are plenty of Americans who never had such faith, or who lost it at an early age. Black people who have seen members of their community shot by police and imprisoned under flimsy pretenses, undocumented immigrants who faced more deportations under President Obama than under any prior president, trans people who feared using public restrooms long before North Carolina sought to criminalize them for doing so, Muslims who experienced fingerprinting and surveillance after Sept. 11, 2001these are among the many groups who largely shrugged their shoulders at all the white liberal weeping and gnashing of teeth after the election and said, Well, what did you expect? This attitude doesnt minimize the very real threats these and other marginalized groups have faced since the election and will face when Trump takes office. But its possible to be frightened and angry without being disillusioned. The only people who experienced disillusionment in 2016 were people who had distanced themselves from the ugliness in American society enough that they could convince themselves that we were making meaningful progress.

After Trumps election, it is more or less impossible to believe that we are making meaningful progress. White liberals who woke up horrified on Nov. 9 werent horrified because the world had suddenly changedwe were horrified because the scales had finally fallen from our eyes, and we could at least see our unjust, racist, sexist country for what it is. The next president will not be a woman, the makeup of the Supreme Court will not shift toward progressivism, and we are not jolly passengers on a cruise ship sailing toward an era of tolerance, justice, and respect for the dignity and rights of all.

To look for an upside to all this would be ironic. And disillusionment in and of itself is not a virtue. (If anything, its a sign that someone has been estranged from reality for too long.) But if any good does come out of the political events of 2016, it will be when privileged liberals take their shattered sense of complacency and use it as fuel for all the work that needs to be done.

Read this article:
2016 was the year white liberals learned about disillusionment.

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Few people know better than Sessions how to purge the Department of leftist ideology, and how to cut off the large sums of money flowing to leftistnon-profiits. For leftists, ideology and money make up a potent combination, and they will do anything to try to preserve it.

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The Justice Department became the headquarters of Obamas campaign to transform America. The building on Constitution Avenue, complete with a blinded statue of lady justice at its front door and Equal Justice under Law inscribed on its faade, became the public-interest-law-firm, think tank, and money spigot for the ideological left.

The Justice Department is arguably the most powerful domestic branch of the federal government. Its arms reach into every facet of American life (and not a few places off shore as well), into every courtroom, into every state capitol, every police department, every business, every voting booth, even every Indian reservation, and much more. With some 100,000 employees and a budget of $27 billion, its power, particularly to those on its wrong side, is limitless.

Sessions, 69, who has served in the Senate since 1997, previously was an Assistant U.S. Attorney and then Ronald Reagans U.S. Attorney in Alabama (both Justice Department positions), and the states elected attorney general. In the Senate, he has served on the Judiciary Committee, which has oversight jurisdiction of the Justice Department. So he has seen firsthand what has gone on at the Obama Justice Department, and it is probably no understatement to say that there is a good deal of it that does not meet with his approval.

Last December, it was widely reported that over the past two years, the Department of Justice has overseen the transfer of over $500 million dollars to liberal activist groups from settlements with major banks in mortgage-lending lawsuits. Justice lawyers require that some of those penalties be paid, as donations, to liberal non-profit organizations, including groups such as La Raza, the National Urban League, National Community Reinvestment Coalition and NeighborWorks America, which in turn gives grants to leftwing community organizing groups and many others. In many cases the funds have gone to groups that Congress deliberately banned from getting government funds. Legislation is pending in Congress to ban the scheme, and members have also tried to ban the practice through the appropriations process.

Another pot of Justice money that funds the left is the Office of Justice Programs, a $2.4 billion agency that is supposed to assist federal, state and local criminal justice programs, juvenile justice and related projects with grants and other forms of assistance. It is impossible to know how much of that money goes to liberal institutions, but a great deal of it likely does. A Sessions Justice Department will change that, and put the squeeze on many leftwing causes and organizations as a result.

Much of the liberal activism emanating from Justice comes from the Civil Rights Division, dubbed the Departments crown jewel by Eric Holder, Obamas first Attorney General. Civil Rights has responsibility for enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin. As such it is involved, among many other areas, in such diverse areas as religious liberty, law enforcement, housing, voting rights, apartment rentals, prisons, hiring practices, abortion clinic protests, school discipline, and who goes into which bathroom. As the crown jewel it has been, over the past eight years, at the center of Obamas campaign to move the country as far to the left as possible. And not surprisingly, its hundreds of lawyers are a band of leftwing activists intent on doing Obamas bidding to the maximum extent possible.

According to Hans von Spakowsky and Christian Adams, two attorneys who previously worked in the Civil Rights Division who conducted a multi-year study on the backgrounds of Division lawyers, every single one of the hundreds of lawyers hired during the Obama Administrationevery single onewas a leftwing activist. The Obama Justice Department, they wrote, has assembled a law firm of hundreds of fringe leftists to enforce a brave new vision of civil rights law.

The Civil Rights Division also has jurisdiction over police use-of-force situations, such as those in Baltimore, Ferguson, and Staten Island. It has commenced inquiries in those cities, and others, second-guessing local prosecutor and grand jury vindications of the officers involved and instead charging the officer involved with civil rights violations or, if there is no such violation, as happened in both Ferguson and Baltimore, issue a report critical of the entire department and mandating that changes be made.

The Obama-Holder-Lynch Justice Department has been on the front lines of the lefts campaign to vilify law enforcement and to promote radical anti-police organizations such as Black Lives Matter and Al Sharptons National Action Network. Over the past eight years, the Department has initiated investigations into 23 local police departments for civil rights violations and other nebulous allegations, including hotspots such as Baltimore, Ferguson, Missouri, and Chicago. In such cases, wide-ranging complaints are filed against a department, negotiations undertaken and more often than not an consent decree entered, allowing the Justice Department to in essence direct the day to day activities of the police force, mandating the Obama leftwing social agenda on local jurisdictions.

Further, the Department has been in the forefront of the effort to reduce sentences for serious drug offenders and others, and to release thousands of prisoners from custody before their sentences run. It has also been a strong advocate for legislation to reform the criminal justice system, which would allow, among other things, reductions in sentencing for thousands more felons.

All of those are issues Sessions is intimately familiar with and on which he has taken strong, conservative and pro-law enforcement positions. That sort of knowledge, coupled with his ability to make major changes, terrifies liberals. It is no wonder they dont want him as Attorney General.

Read the rest here:
AG Sessions, Liberals Worst Nightmare - breitbart.com