Kirsten Powers’ new book,The Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech provides a thorough account of the hypocrisy, intolerance, and just plain nastiness of what she terms the “illiberal left.” It is indeed refreshing to read a self-proclaimed “lifelong liberal” call out the abuses of her co-progressives, even if she breaks no new ground in doing so: informed conservatives are already well aware of what regularly goes on in academia, Hollywood, traditional media, and other environments dominated by the left. In her introductory chapter Powers admits that the systemic phenomenon she reports is only found on the left, though she spends no time there -- or anywhere else in the book -- seriously discussing why that may be so. The ensuing chapters take on the various offenses against speech, logic, honesty, and common decency regularly committed in our universities, media, and public punditry. Powers focuses particular scorn upon hard-core...(Read Full Article)