Mediaboss Marketing

Warning: this article contains dance moveswhich may offend.

The WA Liberals held their campaign launch on Sunday, and with recent polling suggesting the party is back in the election race, it seemedthe candidates decided it was time to let their hair down... well, sort of.

Play Video Don't Play

Play Video Don't Play

Previous slide Next slide

It's been called the highlight of the WA state election, the WA Liberals dancing to Daft Punk's One More Time. Vision: Nine News Perth.

Play Video Don't Play

Parents have begun pulling their children out of a Perth primary school after discovering an 11-year-old male student raped an eight-year-old boy at knife-point at a local park. Audio: 6PR.

Play Video Don't Play

Anne Aly takes a swipe at WA Premier Colin Barnett by reading a childlike story to her facebook followers.

Play Video Don't Play

A Perth man's been targeted in a violent robbery at Beckenham train station after a thief reportedly attacked him with tools.

Play Video Don't Play

A 45-year-old male driver was filmed driving dangerously, before he deliberately swerved into oncoming traffic on the Bussell Highway on Sunday. Vision: Seven News/Sunrise

Play Video Don't Play

A Perth man has released CCTV footage he says shows a vandal defacing his car in a case of mistaken identity.

Play Video Don't Play

Boxer Danny Green talks with 6PR Afternoons about making it through his fight with Anthony Mundine.

It's been called the highlight of the WA state election, the WA Liberals dancing to Daft Punk's One More Time. Vision: Nine News Perth.

Aiming for a rare third term in government, the Liberals blasted none other than Daft Punk's One More Time through the speakers as its candidates stood together on stage.

What unfolded next has been described as the "worst and whitest moment in Australian political history".

Politicians began robotically clapping and awkwardly bobbing to the electro-classic.

Credit to some, there was the odd fist pump, and Deputy Premier Liza Harvey did her best to make the cringeworthy scene seem less rigid with a classic mum hip shimmy.

Transport minister Bill Marmion topped it off with an enthusiastic high-five to Simon O'Brien MLCbut that unfortunately was about as lively as it got.

Meanwhile Treasurer Mike Nahan fled from the front row of the party quicker than you could say "debt crisis", leaving Ms Harvey to lead the boogie solo.

Footage of the dancing caught the attention of many on social media.

"The WA Liberals clapping robotically to Daft Punk will give me nightmares for years," wrote one Twitter user.

"WA Libs dancing and clapping to Daft Punk is top shelf footage, especially when it goes into the breakdown and they confusedly keep clapping," wrote another.

"If all Perth nightclubs where like the WA LIBS dancing awkwardly to Daft Punk I would be totally picking up every single weekend#WAvotes," wrote another.

One can only imagine how wild the party will be if they actually win the election.

Elaine Benes, you've got some competition.

via GIPHY

Daft Punk wasn't the only music played during the campaign launches, with the Liberals and WA Labor both choosing to play AC/DC as their entrance songs.

Mark McGowan walked out to 1975 hit T.N.T, while Premier Colin Barnett strutted into the Liberal launch to Thunderstruck.

See the article here:
Music's got me feeling so free? Liberals butcher Daft Punk classic with awkward dance moves - WAtoday

Earlier this month, conservative elder statesmen issued a "Let's Make a Deal" on climate: Nix Obama-era regulations in return for a carbon tax and dividend.

So far, the idea has gained little traction from unretired Republicans who could actually make a deal. But if that changes, should Democrats and pro-environment independents accept it?

The proposal was issued with great fanfare by the newly formed Climate Leadership Council. Conservative economists Martin Feldstein and Gregory Mankiw and former secretaries of State George Shultz and James Baker III touted the plan in op-eds for the The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The council launched its effort at the National Press Club the same day.

A carbon tax appeals to free-market conservatives by empowering markets to find the cheapest ways to cut emissions. By returning the money through a dividend, the tax would not grow the size of government. The council estimates the dividend would start at $2,000 for a family of four, and rise with the carbon tax.

Obama pledged under the Paris climate agreement that the United States would aim for 28 percent emission reductions by 2025 from 2005 levels. As I wrote last year, the U.S. had already cut emissions 9 percent by 2014. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just announcedthat emissions fell another 2.2 percent in 2015.

The council estimates that continuation of Obama-era policies would leave the U.S. about 12 percentage points shy of its Paris pledge. That's why 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary ClintonHillary Rodham ClintonChelsea Clinton attends Muslim solidarity rally in NYC Congressional Black Caucus expected to meet with Trump soon Why liberals should accept a conservative carbon tax plan MORE had proposed an ambitious agenda for further progress.

With President Trump and congressional Republicans calling to reverse Obamas policies without replacement, we'd likely fall further behind.

To meet our Paris pledge, the council proposes a carbon tax starting at $40/ton and rising with time. Unlike weaker taxes discussed before, the new proposal would likely be more than sufficient for that goal. A recent Treasury Department analysis estimates that a $49/ton tax would far surpass the emission cuts needed for Paris.

Meanwhile, Resources for the Future modeled various sets of carbon taxes that could achieve the Paris pledge. As co-author Marc Hafstead explained via email, their modeling shows a tax rising to $38/ton (in year 2013 dollars) by 2025 would meet the target. The council's proposal would exceed that level with its annual increases, and yield further benefits for decades to come.

Interestingly, Hafstead noted that their calculation of a $38/ton threshold for Paris compliance assumes the U.S. abandons efforts to control more potent greenhouse gases like methane. That may be the case, as the House voted this month to overturn rules on methane emissions from oil and gas drilling.

But if we don't abandon progress on other pollutants, Hafstead estimates a tax of just $22/ton would be sufficient.

Ditching methane controls is a bad deal for many reasons. Methane is the leading source of ozone smog worldwide. That's why researchers such as Jason West of the University of North Carolina and Arlene Fiore of Columbia University have shown that methane reductions can save tens of thousands of lives.

Leaking methane also means wasting a valuable fuel. Since methane is short-lived, it actually causes more warming near-term than traditional 100-year outlooks would suggest. Controlling methane while keeping the council's $40-plus/ton tax proposal would accelerate U.S. progress toward its ultimate goal of 80 percent emission reductions by 2050.

Environmentalists have little to lose trading the Clean Power Plan for a carbon tax. As I wrote with Leah Parks last year, the U.S. is well ahead of schedule to meet the plan's targets. That's because cheaper natural gas and renewables are already displacing coal, even as the Clean Power Plan remains tied up in court.

The main importance of the Clean Power Plan is preventing a swing back to coal if natural gas prices rise. But a carbon tax averts that scenario. A $40/ton tax would add 4.2 cents per kilowatt hour to the cost of coal electricity, but just 1.6 cents for natural gas combined cycle plants. Solar and wind would pay nothing.

With many coal plants already losing money, coal would quickly give way to cheaper and cleaner forms of electricity. Meanwhile, the tax on natural gas is comparable in size to existing tax credits for wind and solar. Even without those tax credits, wind and solar are already as cheap as new natural gas plants. Taxing natural gas would help renewables extend their recent dominance of new generation capacity without the need for subsidies.

For transportation, the effects of a carbon tax would be far milder. A $40/ton tax would add just 36 cents to the cost of a gallon of gasoline. That's not going to convince many people to drive less or buy an electric car, especially since electricity prices would rise a bit too. However, with fuel economy standards set to tighten, electric car sales would continue to rise.

Looking beyond the 2025 Paris target, swapping regulations for a carbon tax becomes an even more attractive deal. The Clean Power Plan ends in 2030. However, a steadily rising carbon tax would continue to drive down emissions for decades to come.

Carbon taxes have traditionally been criticized as regressive, since the poor spend a greater share of their income on energy. However, by rebating the tax through a per-person dividend, the Climate Leadership Council's proposal would leave many low-income families better off.

So should Democrats and independents welcome this deal?

In a word, yes. Writers in The Nation, the The New York Timesand Mother Jones have reached similar conclusions. I'd bargain for tougher methane regulations, but could accept waiting to restore those later.

Trouble is, conservative economists and retired Republican statesmen are in no position to seal this deal. RepublicEn, Citizens Climate Lobbyand the Climate Solutions Caucus are trying to rally Republican and bipartisan support for a carbon tax in Congress.

For now, such efforts have fallen on deaf ears from politicians who hear no evil on climate. If that changes, liberals and moderates shouldn't shy away from nixing Obama-era policies to accept a market-based solution to climate change.

Dan Cohan is an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University.

The views of contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.

The rest is here:
Why liberals should accept a conservative carbon tax plan | TheHill - The Hill (blog)

During the early nineteenth century, when the French were unhappy with their governments, they went to the barricades. The Parisians would tear up their streets to use the cobblestones to construct barriers from which they could fight the authorities. These served as a defense while they sought to defeat the army or police.

Today it is the liberals who are at the barricades. They hate the Trump administration and hope to overthrow it. As a consequence, they are using every weapon in their arsenal to prevent him from implementing his policies.

This should not be too surprising. Although it is unprecedented in American history, it fits in with the socialist agenda. Lest we forget, liberals are socialists. As such, they are heirs to a tradition of revolution and unrest. They see nothing wrong with toppling regimes with which they disagree.

And make no mistake about it; liberals want to depose Trump. They boast about protesting, but that is not what they are doing. They are seeking to sabotage and intimidate. The goal is to wrest the government from Republican hands, so that it does their own bidding.

Liberals are not democrats. They do not respect traditions of compromise and moderation. For them, the laws and constitution are tools. If these enable them to get want they want, they are followed. If not, they are ignored.

Consider the many ways that liberals are attempting to impose their will. Because they regard themselves the best and the brightest, they have no scruples about dictating how others should behave. As they see it, if they must force foul tasting medicines down our throats, it is for our own good.

This includes ignoring the plain words of the constitution. One of Americas great strengths is that we are a nation of laws. We defer to these rather than the whims of arrogant authorities. Not so, for liberals. If they conclude that the law might thwart their desires, the law is set aside.

Unelected judges did exactly this when they put a halt to Trumps temporary pause on immigration from terrorist permeated states. These magistrates did not apply the law as written. They simply decided that they knew what was in the countrys interest and enforced it.

Democratic senators behaved in the same way. Despite a long tradition of allowing presidents to appoint cabinet officers who share their views, they slow-walked the confirmation process. Although they realized they would lose, they hoped to prevent a conservative administration from governing.

Washingtons entrenched bureaucracy followed suit. Functionaries with matching socialist leanings refused to obey lawful administrative directives. They even leaked sensitive information that might disrupt Trumps foreign policy. Anything that challenged their technocratic control was fair game.

Then there were the mobs. They were everywhere. They prevented speakers from appearing on college campuses. They interrupted the townhall meetings of legislators. They attempted to prevent a hated Secretary of Education from visiting a public school.

Next, there were the journalists who put a target on the back of Trump and anyone associated with him. Nothing the new government did met with their approval. As a consequence, they said whatever was required to make him and his people look bad. Truth and accuracy had little to do with their stories.

The central aim of socialists is to dominate the government. They believe in achieving this by any means necessary. It does not matter to them who won an election. They dont care whether this was by fair or foul means. All that matters is whether they get to pull the strings.

Thus, when the governor of the state of Washington did a gig about a court decision that stymied Trump, he was dancing on the grave of the constitution. Likewise, when Elizabeth Warren got bent out of shape when stopped from violating Senate rules, she was thumbing her nose at institutional integrity.

This is what socialists do. It is part of their revolutionary heritage. If you hate America and all it stands for, this makes them heroes. But if you love our nation and its history, it confirms that they are a threat to our values!

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D. is a professor of sociology

at Kennesaw State University.

See more here:
MELVYN FEIN: Liberals at the barricades - MDJOnline.com

New York Times

Are Liberals Helping Trump? New York Times Mr. Medford should be a natural ally for liberals trying to convince the country that Mr. Trump was a bad choice. But it is not working out that way. Every time Mr. Medford dips into the political debate either with strangers on Facebook or friends ...

The rest is here:
Are Liberals Helping Trump? - New York Times

5488106

Standing courageously against the orthodoxy of the lefts promoted stereotypes of Trump voters is Asra Nomani, a life-long liberal, female Muslim immigrant.

After explaining her vote for President Donald Trump, she endured a torrent of hate, vitriol and swift condemnation from the intolerant liberal left, many of her old friends and current colleagues. (RELATED: F**K YOU. GO TO HELL: Georgetown Prof Loses It On Muslim Trump Voter)

Nomani, raised in West Virginia, is a respected journalist and author, who has dedicated the last 15 years to reforming her Muslim religion since the murder of Daniel Pearl, her friend and colleague at the Wall Street Journal.

Nomani calls what Americans are facing since the election an insurgency or a civil war, as she watches Americas escalating violence, disruption and social chaos. In the distorted eyes of the left, Nomani can be called a fascist, racist or hater because by voting for Trump, she has left the tribe and needs to be ostracized or killed, she says with her fingers in quotes.

The resolute, soft-spoken Muslim, who does not wear a headscarf, has learned not be defined by other peoples idea of what it means to be honorable. In this interview, she spoke as a shameless person who voted for Trump, refusing to internalize the shaming by her old friends.

In this exclusive video interview for The Daily Caller News Foundation, Nomani worries that America is losing the ability to live peacefully with those who differ from each other. Its on us to be the civility we want to see in the world, although hate-filled message boards should be moderated by those who run them, she adds. (RELATED:Psycho Shrew: Georgetown Prof Doubles Down After Attacking Muslim Trump Voter)

Conservatives, who are attracting new allegiances, have an opportunity to expand their numbers since the national election, she says. The intolerance, anger and vulgarity surfacing by the radical left is now eroding their popular support, driving many away with their any means necessary tactics rare in America.

Hoping they will call out any intolerance in their ranks, Nomani calls on conservatives to expand their numbers by welcoming those being pushed out by the intolerant left.

Nomani wrote a revealing investigative pieceon the violent protests against Milo Yiannopoulos speaking at the University of California, Berkeley recently. Berkeley is known to her as a place housing the honor brigade, which has tried to silence the debate on Islamic extremism. In her piece, she tracked the hashtag, #ShutMiloDown, to an agitation website fomenting speech-stopping violence months before the Feb. 1 violence.

She is watching the far left working with the far right of her faith, including the Muslim Brotherhood, to create a powder keg environment. Her focus is encouraging greater awareness, exposure and then defeat of this dangerous network.

People in the media consider certain involved organizations as untouchable sacred cows, such as ACLU and Planned Parenthood, Nomani says.

Everybody is more than happy to follow the money when it comes to the Koch brothers, right?, she says. The journalist believes we have to equally follow the money on the left to see how these influencers are trying to affect our society and politics.

Nomani considered attending the so-called Womens March but then realized it was not for all women; it was for women who despised Donald Trump.

The last seven minutes of the video interview is a tribute to her murdered friend and colleague, Daniel Pearl,from the Washington bureau of the Wall Street Journal who was beheaded by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 15 years ago.

The terrorists used two weapons, she says, a knife to his neck and a camera for their propaganda to recruit and radicalize more Muslims. Her lifes mission is now irreparably altered because she was forced to confront the truth and the dangerous ideology she found herself facing in the murder of Danny Pearl. She views extreme Islam as the number one threat to America. Until stopped, Americans cant live with peace, safety, security and self-determination, she says.

For more on Nomani, read her booksor follow her on Twitter at @AsraNomani.

Videographer Sean Moody is credited with the video work for this piece.

Mrs. Thomas does not necessarily support or endorse the products, services or positions promoted in any advertisement contained herein, and does not have control over or receive compensation from any advertiser.

Read the original post:
Female Muslim Proudly Votes For Trump, Liberals Act As Expected [VIDEO] - Daily Caller