Well, well, well. So another "left-liberal" journalism hero, Chris Hedges, is a plagiarizer. That's the verdict from the "left-liberal" New Republic, whose gumshoe uncovered the literary theft. If what the writer says is true, Hedges' career is over.

Yet Christopher Ketcham nearly commits a crime of his own in the first paragraph of his piece — misleading readers with "left-liberal" adjectives —  which opens with an anecdote about Hedges' plagiarizing a piece about poverty in Camden, N.J. that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Hedges was writing his piece for Harper's.

Wrote Ketcham, "In the piece, Hedges had turned his eye to Camden, New Jersey, one of the most downtrodden cities in the nation."[ The Troubling Case of Chris Hedges Pulitzer winner. Lefty hero. Plagiarist. ,  June 12, 2014]

Downtrodden? My dictionary says "downtrodden" means "abused" or "oppressed," which means there is an abuser or oppressor somewhere. The downtrodden are "without hope because of being treated badly by powerful people, governments, etc." Who might these "oppressors" and "powerful people" be?

Camden is more than 85 percent black and Hispanic.That might explain why the city is broke. Being "downtrodden" — i.e., abused by whitey — might have nothing to do with it.

When you see "downtrodden" in "left-liberal" publications, however, you know what to expect, even though all "oppressors" aren't white. Indeed, in major cities, most of them aren't. Thus, with Camden's voting demographic, we know whites aren't running the city. Looking at the complexion of the mayor and city council, maybe downtrodden is the right word. They got theirs, now they're screwing the rest of the city's residents, who truly are "without hope because of being treated badly by powerful people, governments, etc."

Those "powerful people" are blacks and Hispanics. One wonders whether Hedges noted these facts in his plagiarized piece.

And by the way, what the heck is a "left-liberal"? A handier term is "socialist." That's how Hedges describes himself.