Things are really getting bad when a bunch of politicians who make their livings by mincing and parsing words, mouthing platitudes, and working overtime endeavoring not to offend anyone by speaking plainly, begin to throw around the L word with impunity.  I am speaking of the Republican members of the House of Representatives who lately have distinguished themselves by bluntly separating Schiff from Shinola.  The L word they have been applying to Adam Schiff (for brains), of course, is “Liar.”  This is highly unusual, as Members of the House normally adhere to an artificial and obsequious code of phony civility when they address one another.  They’re always bowing and scraping, while while addressing “the gentleman from Here” and “the gentlewoman from There.”  They normally say nothing harsher than, “the gentleman will suspend,” when they’re really thinking, “Shut up you dirty SOB!”  There used to be consequences for what was called “unparliamentary language.”  The House has sanctioned members for such conduct.  In 1869, Edward D. Holbrook was censured for unparliamentary language for stating in debate that another Member made false assertions.  In 1890, John Y. Brown and William D. Bynum were censured for unparliamentary language for insulting a Member during debate.  And we all remember the reprimand of Joe Wilson in 2009, after he dared to yell “You lie!” at Il Duce Obama after the Duce said illegal immigrants (yes, even Democrats could use those words in 2009) would not get medical coverage under Obamacare.  I guess truth is not a defense.  There have been even more egregious breaches of the peace in the Congress.  In 1856, in the wake of perhaps the most well-known episode of congressional violence, the House censured Laurence Keitt for assisting fellow South Carolinian Preston Brooks as he beat Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts unconscious with a cane on the Senate Floor.  The assault was motivated by a disagreement over slavery.  A motion to expel the offender was defeated, and he was reelected.  The Civil War soon followed.  In 1997, the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania produced a study entitled, Civility in the House of Representatives. The study found that instances of unparliamentary language, more specifically, the application of the word “liar” to another House member were more prevalent in the aftermath of a change in leadership from one Party to the other, as happened this year.  The disgraceful Adam Schiff Show has removed all the phony civility filters normally employed when Republican members comment on another Member of the House.  Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said, “When it comes to Adam Schiff I have a lot of concerns.  He can’t remember whether he met with the whistleblower, who it was.  Adam Schiff has a long history with a problem of telling the truth. Adam Schiff also has a long history to do anything above and beyond and even lie if it takes to impeach the president.  We’re just finding another flag where Adam Schiff is doing it one more time.”  GOP lawmakers, Rep. Lee Zeldin and Rep. Jim Jordan then slammed Adam Schiff for lying to the American people, telling reporters, “Adam Schiff is misleading you and you’re playing along with it … The American public is then getting deceived.”  At one of the Intelligence Committee hearings, Jim Jordan was even more blunt, addressing Schiff (for brains), Jordan observed, “You say you don’t know who the whistleblower is, but nobody here believes that.”  Never before have I heard Members of the House of Representatives repeatedly apply the L word to a colleague.  It put me in mind of Charles Laughton’s cross-examination of Marlena Dietrich in Witness for the Prosecution, “Are you not in fact a chronic and habitual liar?”  The President was even more direct at a November 26th rally, calling the impeachment inquiry “really bullshit.”  Or perhaps he meant Bull Schiff.  The dropping of the pretense of civility really has more to do with the media than with Schiff (for brains).  House members are permitted to lie about others.  You and I are not, as we are mere mortals, and not Members.  Remember Candace Owens, testifying before the Judiciary Committee, and being admonished by Jerry Nadler that mere witnesses are not permitted to suggest that a member is not telling the truth?  So they can call us liars, and they’re protected by the Speech and Debate Clause, which gives them absolute immunity for any defamation they utter in their official capacities.  Sweet.  The Republicans resort to the L word when speaking of Schiff is motivated by the media’s bias.  The media will swear to any lie Schiff, Pelosi, Nadler, or any other Democrat tells.  Under these circumstances, it is difficult to conceive of any reason why a Democrat would ever tell the truth.  They know they can lie with impunity and never be contradicted by the Fourth Estate (or is it the Fifth Column?)  When they are called liars by Republicans, they know the Republicans will be denounced as extremists.  It’s tailor made.  The only problem is that so much Schiff is being peddled for truth that the Democrats and the media are doing lasting damage to the country.  There was a time when Walter Cronkite was the most trusted man in America.  Today, the media is considered to be only slightly more trustworthy then the lying politicians they protect.  That’s dangerous.  It’s doing irreparable harm to our nation.  They don’t seem to care.  The Trump haters are deranged.  Their derangement causes them to view any evidence, or a lack thereof, and come to but one conclusion.  Donald Trump is guilty.  Guilty of what?  It doesn’t matter.  This will not end well.