http://www.foxnews.com/politic...r-trump-defense.html

Apparently Martha’s Vineyard is a safe space.

Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz said last week that his defense of President Donald Trump’s constitutional rights led to him being “shunned” by his own friends at a high-end seasonal destination.

The famed lawyer lamented the efforts to eject him from his social life at Martha’s Vineyard amid his outspoken criticism of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the alleged collusion with Russia.

In an op-ed for The Hill, Dershowitz, a frequent guest on Fox News, said that though he’s politically a liberal Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton in addition to contributing “handsomely” to her campaign, his defense of civil liberties that could benefit Trump is too much to swallow for his social circle.

“But that is not good enough for some of my old friends on Martha’s Vineyard. For them, it is enough that what I have said about the Constitution might help Trump. So they are shunning me and trying to ban me from their social life on Martha’s Vineyard."

“One of them, an academic at a distinguished university, has told people that he would not attend any dinner or party to which I was invited. He and others have demanded ‘trigger warnings’ so that they can be assured of having 'safe spaces' in which they will not encounter me or my ideas. Others have said they will discontinue contributions to organizations that sponsor my talks,” he added.

Dershowitz went on to compare his situation with McCarthyism in the 1950s, when many innocent people were perceived as being sympathetic to communist ideas and were subjected to job firings and blacklists.

“I never thought I would see McCarthyism come to Martha’s Vineyard, but I have. I wonder if the professor who refuses to listen to anything I have to say also treats his students similarly,” he continued. “Would he listen to a student who actively supported Trump? What about one who simply supported his civil liberties?”

Yet, Dershowitz remains defiant amid the efforts to ostracize him from public life. “I will not change my views as a result of these attempts to ostracize me, but there are some who may remain silent for fear of being shunned,” he wrote.

“Silence is not my style. Cowardice is not my philosophy. I intend to speak up when I disagree with Republicans, and I intend to speak up when I disagree with Democrats. Right now I am speaking up in disagreement with Maxine Waters. She — like those who shun me on Martha’s Vineyard — is part of the problem rather than the solution,” he added.

Liberals cannot handle intellectual honesty even from one their own. It's part of the reason why they are on the road to irrelevancy.

What is lost (cognitive dissonance) on Libs/Leftists is that Sen. Joseph McCarthy was proven to be CORRECT. Google Venona for some history. IMO when someone says that something smacks of McCarthyism, I smile.

MOST-HATED SENATOR WAS RIGHT

Scholars: Joseph McCarthy's charges 'now accepted as fact'

http://www.wnd.com/2000/02/4020/

I strongly disagree with almost all of Dershowitz's political opinions, but I do respect his intellectual honesty.

This story is a great illustration of how and why DC is the way it is. I get that this story is about Martha's Vineyard, but the DC cocktail circuit is the same. Politicians cannot stand the thought of being shunned by the cocktail circuit, so they toe the establishment line.

Trump has really upset their applecart.

My takeaway from this is that life is hard at Martha's Vineyard.

Shit like this is why Trump won.

What I don’t understand is why, if he’s intelligent enough to see what democrats are like, does he continue to seek their company?

^^^ For the same reason most liberals are liberal - self-image.

quote:

In an op-ed for The Hill, Dershowitz, a frequent guest on Fox News, said that though he’s politically a liberal Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton in addition to contributing “handsomely” to her campaign, his defense of civil liberties that could benefit Trump is too much to swallow for his social circle.

This is learning moment. He might vote for Trump next time.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
“One of them, an academic at a distinguished university, has told people that he would not attend any dinner or party to which I was invited. He and others have demanded ‘trigger warnings’ so that they can be assured of having 'safe spaces' in which they will not encounter me or my ideas.

What a bunch of whiny, fucked up children.

The only difference that separates these mental midgets from moronic college students is that they are older and make a lot of money. But that is all.

I've been to and spent a lot of time working on Martha's and its a great place

except for the people

I think this was somewhat covered in another thread, "A Leftist is..."

Whoops, I misquoted, fixed it.

quote:

Originally posted by Sailor1911:
I think this was somewhat covered in another thread, "A Liberal is..."

No, the thread is "A Leftist Is..."

It's surprising, to me, and more than a little disappointing that so many of you can't seem to get straight the fact they're not the same thing. Many others finally are.

Leftists are not liberal. They are, in fact, anti-liberal. When liberals point out to leftists they're acting like fascists, they get the kind of reaction Dershowitz is getting. It's liberals you see joining the #WalkAway movement. The Democratic Party used to be liberal. It was long-ago co-opted by radical leftists. It is those to which they now pander.

N.B.: I don't know whether Dershowitz is a liberal or a leftist. The fact that he's defending civil liberties for all would suggest the liberal. The fact he supported Clinton would suggest leftist, because Hillary Clinton is certainly no liberal.

They're like babies taken away from their mothers, in desperate need of human contact or they'll wither away and die. They need to be apart of something a circle of acquaintances, a cliche of scholars, a collection of titans, a bunch of assholes.

I wish we didn't call them "elites." No doubt, they think of themselves that way. And they have been to the Ivy League schools, and they earn a lot of money. But especially in the fields of politics, education, and journalism, they have been nothing but a drag on our country. Dig down into the barrel of corruption, and when you get to the bottom muck and slime-- there they are. Elites? Worms is more like it.

He can suck it. He has spent his life promoting these libs and their ideas and culture. This is what you fought for pal, now reap it.

I love when the libs get eaten by their own kind in the circle of PC that they have created.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Sailor1911:
I think this was somewhat covered in another thread, "A Liberal is..."

No, the thread is "A Leftist Is..."

It's surprising, to me, and more than a little disappointing that so many of you can't seem to get straight the fact they're not the same thing. Many others finally are.

Leftists are not liberal. They are, in fact, anti-liberal. When liberals point out to leftists they're acting like fascists, they get the kind of reaction Dershowitz is getting. It's liberals you see joining the #WalkAway movement. The Democratic Party used to be liberal. It was long-ago co-opted by radical leftists. It is those to which they now pander.

N.B.: I don't know whether Dershowitz is a liberal or a leftist. The fact that he's defending civil liberties for all would suggest the liberal. The fact he supported Clinton would suggest leftist, because Hillary Clinton is certainly no liberal.

Liberals are often confused with Progressives/ Leftists. As they share some commonality in their beliefs it's something I find myself confusing as well at times.

Conservative author and radio talk show host Dennis Prager is one who makes the distinction between a Liberal and a Progressive Leftist. I don't recall all the various acid tests he uses but one of them is that Liberals are Pro-Israel whereas Progressive Leftists are Anti- lsrael.

Prager interviews Dershowitz occasionally and has a sound bite from an interview in which Dersowitz states that the enemy of Liberals is NOT the Right, but Progressive Leftists.

While I disagree with their views, Professor Dershowitz and Lanny Davis fall into the endangered species category of reasonable, reasoning, principalled and civil Liberal Democrats and not the Progressive Left which have captured the Democrat Party.

quote:

Originally posted by Modern Day Savage:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Sailor1911:
I think this was somewhat covered in another thread, "A Liberal is..."

No, the thread is "A Leftist Is..."

It's surprising, to me, and more than a little disappointing that so many of you can't seem to get straight the fact they're not the same thing. Many others finally are.

Leftists are not liberal. They are, in fact, anti-liberal. When liberals point out to leftists they're acting like fascists, they get the kind of reaction Dershowitz is getting. It's liberals you see joining the #WalkAway movement. The Democratic Party used to be liberal. It was long-ago co-opted by radical leftists. It is those to which they now pander.

N.B.: I don't know whether Dershowitz is a liberal or a leftist. The fact that he's defending civil liberties for all would suggest the liberal. The fact he supported Clinton would suggest leftist, because Hillary Clinton is certainly no liberal.

Liberals are often confused with Progressives/ Leftists. As they share some commonality in their beliefs it's something I find myself confusing as well at times.

Conservative author and radio talk show host Dennis Prager is one who makes the distinction between a Liberal and a Progressive Leftist. I don't recall all the various acid tests he uses but one of them is that Liberals are Pro-Israel whereas Progressive Leftists are Anti- lsrael.

Prager interviews Dershowitz occasionally and has a sound bite from an interview in which Dersowitz states that the enemy of Liberals is NOT the Right, but Progressive Leftists.

While I disagree with their views, Professor Dershowitz and Lanny Davis fall into the endangered species category of reasonable, reasoning, principalled and civil Liberal Democrats and not the Progressive Left which have captured the Democrat Party.

And none of that is what it means to be a classic liberal, in the 19th century sense. "Liberal" has come to mean leftist/socialist/progressive which leaves us no good term for what the word liberal used to mean. I prefer to call them progressives or leftists - to me it is a more accurate descriptor.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by Modern Day Savage:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Sailor1911:
I think this was somewhat covered in another thread, "A Liberal is..."

No, the thread is "A Leftist Is..."

It's surprising, to me, and more than a little disappointing that so many of you can't seem to get straight the fact they're not the same thing. Many others finally are.

Leftists are not liberal. They are, in fact, anti-liberal. When liberals point out to leftists they're acting like fascists, they get the kind of reaction Dershowitz is getting. It's liberals you see joining the #WalkAway movement. The Democratic Party used to be liberal. It was long-ago co-opted by radical leftists. It is those to which they now pander.

N.B.: I don't know whether Dershowitz is a liberal or a leftist. The fact that he's defending civil liberties for all would suggest the liberal. The fact he supported Clinton would suggest leftist, because Hillary Clinton is certainly no liberal.

Liberals are often confused with Progressives/ Leftists. As they share some commonality in their beliefs it's something I find myself confusing as well at times.

And both share some commonality in their beliefs with libertarians. That certainly doesn't make even liberals, much less leftists, libertarians.

In short: Liberals may disagree with your beliefs, but they do not deny your right to hold and express them. Liberals will entertain, even welcome, debate and contrary views. The ACLU used to fall into that category. Leftists behave more like Believers in a One True Faith. Expressing anything contrary to that Faith is blasphemy. Blasphemy is not to be tolerated.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by Modern Day Savage:
Conservative author and radio talk show host Dennis Prager is one who makes the distinction between a Liberal and a Progressive Leftist. I don't recall all the various acid tests he uses but one of them is that Liberals are Pro-Israel whereas Progressive Leftists are Anti- lsrael.

Prager interviews Dershowitz occasionally and has a sound bite from an interview in which Dersowitz states that the enemy of Liberals is NOT the Right, but Progressive Leftists.

While I disagree with their views, Professor Dershowitz and Lanny Davis fall into the endangered species category of reasonable, reasoning, principalled and civil Liberal Democrats and not the Progressive Left which have captured the Democrat Party.

I prefer to call them progressives or leftists - to me it is a more accurate descriptor.

One presumes that, by "them," you refer to present-day leftists/socialists. (I refuse to refer to them as "progressive," as that, to me, is every bit as inaccurate, every bit as much a cover for what they really are, as is the word "liberal.")

I've said it here in the Lounge before: We have to stop giving these creatures the cover that masks what they truly are.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
And none of that is what it means to be a classic liberal, in the 19th century sense. "Liberal" has come to mean leftist/socialist/progressive which leaves us no good term for what the word liberal used to mean. I prefer to call them progressives or leftists - to me it is a more accurate descriptor.

Fair point...and you are correct that when the term Liberal is used today it isn't used in the classical liberatarian sense that it once was. I'm always resentful when the original meaning of words is co-opted to mean something else, as I believe that words have meaning and definitions should be clearly understood. I believe we've had previous discussions on this topic.

Just as there are wings on the Right, I believe it's reasonable to distinguish between the wings on the Left. Liberals are the less extreme, more practical, civil, and principalled group of the Left...again, not that I agree with their views, only that I appreciate their more measured approach.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

And both share some commonality in their beliefs with libertarians. That certainly doesn't make even liberals, much less leftists, libertarians.

In short: Liberals may disagree with your beliefs, but they do not deny your right to hold and express them. Liberals will entertain, even welcome, debate and contrary views. The ACLU used to fall into that category. Leftists behave more like Believers in a One True Faith. Expressing anything contrary to that Faith is blasphemy. Blasphemy is not to be tolerated.

Agreed. In fact, your point jarred something loose in my old MK I memory bank and I believe that is another one of Prager's acid tests in differentiating between a Liberal and a Leftist...tolerance for dissenting opinions, with Liberals embracing this.