Category Archives: Liberal

Scott Jennings| Opinion Contributor

Despite being a very loyal Democrat in a very Republican state, political operatives in both parties acknowledge that Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear carries an above-water favorability rating as he plots his 2023 reelection campaign. A state that sends Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul to Washington D.C. seems, however implausibly, to like its left-of-center governor.

For Beshear, two terrible situations allowed him to present as a non-partisan manager the COVIDpandemic and the Western Kentucky tornados. Beshear made some controversial partisan decisions at the outset of the COVIDemergency, but he also appeared daily on television to somberly recite COVIDstatistics and health care instructions. He had something the states previous governor Matt Bevin did not a sympathetic bedside manner.

Like Governors Charlie Baker and Larry Hogan, two Republicans running the decidedly blue states of Massachusetts and Maryland, Beshear has kept his approval ratings up by not antagonizing his constituents with hyper-partisan rhetoric or actions too often.

Hes run into some managerial turbulence for sure (various scandals in the states unemployment benefits office are fertile ground for a future opponent), but he has been careful not to be perceived as a strident liberal culture warrior in the mold of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez or Elizabeth Warren.

Until now.

Last week, Beshear vetoed Senate Bill 83, legislation that would restrict girls high school and college sports to only those students whose birth certificate registered them as female.

Background: Here's what to know about the Kentucky legislature's passage of the transgender sports ban

In other words, transitioning biological males would be forbidden from competing against biological females, an issue that has separated fringe progressives from mainstream America since University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, formerly a male collegiate swimmer who is transitioning, began dominating female opponents in the pool.

With that veto, along with vetoes striking down bans on teaching critical race theory and abortions after 15-weeks, a governor who had previously kept his head down in our national culture wars jumped out of the left-wing foxhole with a fixed bayonet.

Beshears potential 2023 opponents took notice. Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles tweeted that Beshears veto disrupts athletic competition and opens the door for boys to play in girls sports. Decades of hard work to achieve equality in girls sports is now at risk due to Gov Beshears extreme view that erases all of the hard work female athletes have earned.

Kelly Craft, President Donald Trumps ambassador to the United Nations, said: We need a governor who realizes that its patently unfair to let biological males compete against Kentuckys next generation of female stars. Beshear is no different than Biden and the rest.

And Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who has often tangled with Beshear in court, tweeted: A few short weeks after celebrating International Womens Day, the governor says no to protecting womens sports. The legislature should override his veto of SB 83, and my office is ready to defend the law in court if its challenged.

The transgender bill had bipartisan support in the Kentucky legislature, easily surpassing the threshold needed to override Beshears veto. The governor mustve known this before he struck down the law, begging the question: why now?

One explanation is arrogance and ambition. Some political operatives think Beshear is so confident in his reelection that hes looking ahead to a larger stage in 2024, when the Democratic Party may be looking for fresh, non-Washington blood should President Joe Biden decide to retire.

As the theory goes, the national Democrats, enthralled with identity politics above all else, wont consider candidates for president or vice-president who fail to signal their virtues on issues like transgender athletes.

Knowing this, Beshear gave in and vetoed the bill despite the obvious negative political ramifications back home. But did he miscalculate, thereby putting his reelection in jeopardy?

A 2021 Gallup survey found that 62% of Americans believe trans athletes should only be allowed to play on sports teams that correspond with their birth sex, while 34% say they should be able to play on teams that match their gender identity. A more recent YouGov poll found 49% of Americans oppose allowing transgender athletes to compete based on their identity rather than their biological makeup, with just 29% supporting it.

Opposing view: How Kentucky bills are part of a Republican multi-state anti-trans campaign| Opinion

And remember, Kentuckys electorate is far more conservative than the sample in national surveys.

While Beshear has said transgender athletes arent a problem in Kentucky high schools, University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines was denied a fifth-place trophy at the NCAA womens championships when she tied with UPenns Thomas but found herself snubbed at the podium. Thomas was handed the trophy, and Gaines was told shed get hers in the mail.

I'm fortunate enough to where I have such an amazing support system at the University of Kentucky … I know I can't speak for everyone, but I am almost certain I'm speaking for a large majority of female athletes: This is not OK, and it's not fair, Gaines told Fox News.

Time will tell if Beshears turn toward liberal culture warrior will cost him in 2023. But theres no doubt that a governor who once said he was done with politics has forfeited the non-partisan label he once so carefully cultivated.

Scott Jennings is a Republican adviser, CNN political contributor and partner at RunSwitch Public Relations. He can be reached at Scott@RunSwitchPR.com or on Twitter @ScottJenningsKY.

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Scott Jennings: Is Andy Beshear becoming a liberal culture warrior taking on trans rights? - Courier Journal

In Canada, the Liberal government has tabled its 2022 budget, the second by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. Presented as a responsible, prudent plan, the budget does little to stray from market orthodoxy, offering policies focused on a handful of priorities including dental care, housing, climate, and military spending.

In her address to the House of Commons, Freeland cited a job boom, a drop in unemployment, and real GDP growth as evidence that Canada has come roaring back. In a remark reminiscent of Bill Clintons 1996 State of the Union pronouncement that the era of big government is over, Freeland noted, Our ability to spend is not infinite. The time for extraordinary COVID support is over.

Declaring her partys intention to return to business as usual, Freeland affirmed that we will review and reduce government spending, because that is the responsible thing to do. That means the Liberals are focused on a declining debt-to-GDP ratio and shrinking deficits, with an eye to paying down the debt. Understanding the budget as a faithful restoration of fiscal thrift provides a useful frame through which to unpack its details.

The budget contains a handful of progressive measures, including a signature policy for public dental care. The New Democratic Party, which has entered a supply-and-confidence arrangement with the government, fought for the program. It will do good for millions of Canadians despite its significant limitations, including a gradual phase-in for segments of the population, means-testing, and copays for those making over $70,000.

Even with dentalcare in the offing, the budget is fundamentally a conservative plan. Its rooted in the market orthodoxy of fiscal responsibility and corporate handouts. Its also committed to operating within the structural status quo of a market system struggling to meet major policy challenges across the country.

On housing, the budget promises to boost stock with a Rapid Housing Initiative and a Housing Accelerator Fund. It also promises to double the First-time Buyers Tax Credit as well as implement a tax-free First Home Savings Account a regressive tax-deductible (tax-free in, tax-free out) vehicle that will disproportionately help wealthy buyers. In a populist, scapegoating gesture, the Liberals will prohibit foreign commercial enterprises and people who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents from acquiring non-recreational, residential property in Canada for a period of two years. Of course, domestic speculative capital will no doubt scoop up any opportunities lost to foreign real estate investors.

The budget fails to touch the financialization of housing in any meaningful way even while it juices demand. It doesnt include an end to tax exemption on the sale of ones principal property or a plan to end speculation. It doesnt support the decommodification of housing or the mass building of public housing. It does promise a federal review of housing as an asset class, in order to better understand the role of large corporate players in the market and the impact on Canadian renters and homeowners. In other words, the Liberals are committed to kicking the can down the road.

However, there will be money provided to fund co-op housing and build six thousand units. Thats welcome, but its not nearly enough to move the dial appreciably on nonmarket housing. Meanwhile, housing prices across the continue to soar to an average of nearly $800,000 up 17 percent year-over-year in late 2021. The provision of six thousand units of co-op housing is thin gruel in a country where, in the last two decades, housing costs have risen by 375 percent.

Climate change remains an existential threat to humankind. The recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found countries lagging on their climate commitments, with the globe on track to blow past the 1.5 degree of warming target, speeding along toward a devastating, destabilizing 3 degrees. The budget is peppered with climate initiatives of various promise, but it remains firmly rooted in a capitalist, production-consumption cycle of extraction and waste.

The Liberals have promised to extend incentives for zero-emissions vehicles and to feed cash into the private sector to secure the supply of critical minerals for, among other things, the batteries needed to manufacture these vehicles. The plan is rooted in maintaining an unsustainable car culture, bound up with a mining industry that will contribute to more climate change.

The budget also pours money into dubious carbon-capture and sequestration schemes the missile-defense shield of climate technology. Its worth noting that the budget was delivered the day after the government approved the Bay du Nord deepwater oil project, which is expected to yield roughly 300 million barrels of oil while in operation.

The 2022 budget is firmly a status quo budget with a handful of welcome, insufficient offerings that fail to sufficiently grow public spending. Writing for the Broadbent Institute, senior policy adviser Andrew Jackson points out:

Federal program spending will be just above 15 percent of GDP after the special pandemic programs have expired and recovery takes hold. That compares to about 14 percent in the last year of the [Stephen] Harper government. Federal revenues have increased by just 0.5 percent of GDP over the same period.

The Liberals are fond of using the debt-to-GDP ratio as a fiscal anchor to justify spending. Thats perfectly fine. But it follows that using social program spending as a percentage of GDP is an equally reasonable way of assessing spending and, on that measure, the Liberals are little better than the Conservatives they replaced.

While social program spending is stagnant, military spending is up. The budget commits to $8 billion in new money for the armed forces. More military spending may be in the works, as the country trends toward the NATO benchmark of 2 percent of GDP. Currently, military spending sits at 1.4 percent of GDP, heading toward 1.5 percent.

Recent spending includes $19 billion for sixty-five new fighter jets. With Canadas focus on Arctic and cyber operations, the dislocations caused by Russias invasion of Ukraine, and rising securitization talk, this is unlikely to be the last increase the armed forces see in the years to come.

Canadas 2022 budget mobilizes familiar priority areas and familiar ways of navigating the policy challenges within them: the same mode of production, the same corporate handouts, the same modest social program spending. Deficit hawks may decry the bottom-line spending total tens of billions in new money but as a percentage of GDP, the budget plan is modest, its methods orthodox. Moreover, with a promise of restraint, prudence, and a focus on reining in the deficit and debt, the specter of retrenchment is never far off.

The budget is unlikely to solve any of the major policy challenges the country faces. Of course, few budgets can on their own. But this budget evinces no interest in putting the country on a course to upending the economic and social institutions that produce these challenges in the first place challenges that were brought into sharp focus by COVID. The lessons of the pandemic have apparently had no effect on Liberal policy. The party has tabled a status-quo budget despite the persistence of problems that beg for something new.

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Justin Trudeau's Liberals Are Returning to the Miserable Status Quo - Jacobin magazine

French President Emmanuel Macron's popularity among young people has suffered as many see him as a "president of the rich" and are angered over controversial reforms and increased living costs in recent years.

Emmanuel Dunand | Afp | Getty Images

While Emmanuel Macron might have breathed a sigh of relief that voting wasn't closer on Sunday night, digging deeper into the election data shows a worrying trend for the French president.

The outcome of the first round of France's presidential election Sunday was a stark awakening for the incumbent leader. Visibly shaken, the center-right former investment banker addressed supporters after coming out ahead of far-right opponent Marine Le Pen by five percentage points.

"Make no mistake, nothing is decided," Macron told the crowd at a rally Sunday night. "Let's be humble, determined I want to extend my hand to all those who want to work for France."

The result, which saw Macron take 28.3% and Le Pen take 23.3% of the vote and set a runoff election between the two on April 24, means much is at stake not just for France but Europe as a whole, for which the candidates have dramatically different visions.

This photograph taken in Toulouse, southwestern France on April 10, 2022 shows screens displaying TV shows showing the projected results after the close of polling stations in the first round of the French presidential election.

Lionel Bonaventure | Afp | Getty Images

In third place was far-left socialist candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon with 21% of the vote, followed by far-right newcomer Eric Zemmour with 7.2%, whose anti-immigrant comments have made Le Pen look moderate. Le Pen and Macron must now attempt to win over as many of those voters as they can before the final vote in two weeks' time.

Facing a war on Europe's eastern flank the scale of which has not been seen on the continent since World War II, and the highest inflation levels in decades, the stakes for France could hardly be higher.

And in a striking contrast from political trends in other parts of the Western world, older French voters, particularly those above 70, are more liberal while younger voters are increasingly attracted to the far left and right.

According to polling data from Ipsos, Macron only came out on top among voters over the age of 60 and Melenchon and Le Pen received a larger share of the vote from the 18-24 age group. While younger people in France tend to vote less, which may in this case bode well for Macron, he will still have to appeal to a more left-leaning audience in order to capture many of those votes for the runoff.

Data from polling group Harris Interactive showed the hard-left Melenchon won the biggest chunk of voters aged 18-24 with 34.8% of their votes, with Macron and Le Pen following with 24.3% and 18% of that vote, respectively. Le Pen took the largest proportion of voters aged 25-49 at 30%.

She also came ahead among 35-49 year olds with 28.8% of that vote. Macron only beat his rivals among the elderly, winning 37.5% of voters over the age of 65 and 28% among 50-64 year olds.

More so than reflecting a shift in social values, some analysts say that much of the younger electorate's lurch to the far right and far left reveals the appeal of economic populism espoused by Le Pen and Melenchon, and a rejection of the globalism of the status quo.

With Macron facing a nationwide cost of living crisis and a widespread belief in the country that he's a "president of the rich," his pitch to younger voters and those further out on the political spectrum is looking far more challenging than he may have previously expected.

The surge in popularity of candidates at the extreme ends of the spectrum "is a manifestation of anger towards the lost years of their life due to the Covid pandemic and government lockdowns; part of it is an anti-establishment positioning against the French government," Brussels-based international political affairs expert Julien Hoez told CNBC.

"On top of this, there's the generational, economic, employment and cultural stressors across French society which have been picked up and weaponized by parties such as the RN and LFI," Hoez said, referencing Le Pen's National Rally and Melenchon's La France Insoumise.

Le Pen, who has softened her image and that of her party, National Rally, in recent years, has shifted from a focus on immigration and national identity to bread-and-butter issues like the cost of living. And with inflation in the euro area at its highest ever, her message is resonating.

According to a poll by Ipsos published on April 10, purchasing power and the cost of living is the single most important issue for 58% of voters and a clear majority within every age group except for those 18 to 24, for whom the environment ranks first.

Le Pen has appealed to voters with proposals of tax cuts on energy, prices of which are at historic highs thanks to inflation and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Macron meanwhile has pledged some tax cuts but is also pushing for an increase in the retirement age and cut to public sector employment something that won't find much support among the left-wing voters whose support he now needs.

Macron wants to raise the retirement age from 62 to 65 and is the only candidate aiming to abolish the special pensions system in place for some state company employees, which includes major benefits and a lower retirement age. Zemmour wants to raise the retirement age to 64, and Le Pen plans to leave it unchanged, but bring it down to 60 for those who started working at the age of 20 or younger. Melenchon wanted to lower it to 60.

Zemmour, in a speech following Sunday's elections, urged his supporters to give their vote to Le Pen, while Melenchon beseeched his supporters to vote for anyone but her. Still, he did not go so far as to endorse Macron, something the sitting president would have appreciated.

Macron has been pushing for European unity at a crucial time when the EU faces an aggressive Russia. His focus on the war in Ukraine initially gave him a large advantage in polls, but just in the final fortnight before the first vote, the focus has shifted domestically to the cost of living crisis.

Le Pen has been able to exploit this, pushing her economic promises to the forefront as her anti-NATO and anti-EU stance and friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin have come under scrutiny.

But make no mistake, a shift in topic focus doesn't mean a move away from the issues that made Le Pen a controversial firebrand in the first place, said Mujtaba Rahman, head of the Europe desk at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

Le Pen "is no more moderate or reasonable today than she has been historically," he said in a note ahead of the vote. "She remains an extreme right force in French politics."

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France's liberal base is aging fast. Macron now needs to win over angry younger voters - CNBC

With course enrollments around the corner, Syracuse University students are no stranger to the universitys Liberal Arts Core curriculum. While many students see the requirement as unnecessary, they are overlooking the principles upon which liberal arts curriculums were established. Requiring a multidisciplinary and well-rounded education encourages students to open their minds to new ideas, engage in productive civil discourse and think deeply about the reality that we find ourselves in today.

In a column published by The Daily Orange on March 23, 2022, one columnist majoring in political science said that their natural science courses have no real value to (their) life or career outside of SU. But natural science courses are inherently valuable because they educate us on the physical realities of the world we live in. If the aforementioned columnist ever actually works in politics or government, a basic understanding of scientific principles is necessary to make educated decisions.

A background in both the sciences and humanities is needed to ensure that the next generation of leaders have the tools necessary to deal with the complex problems that are inherent in life.

As Harvard history professor Annette Gordon-Reed puts it, (the sciences and humanities) areas are critical to producing citizens who can participate effectively in our democratic society, become innovative leaders and benefit from the spiritual enrichment that the contemplation of ethics, morals, aesthetics and the great ideas over time can provide.

For example, engineers may benefit from previous coursework in philosophy to envision the ethical ramifications of artificial intelligence while a lawyer litigating a patent could gain from prior exposure to the sciences and engineering.

Additionally, the purpose of seeking further education should be motivated by a desire to learn, not just to receive a diploma or further ones career. A college education allows a person to become an educated and multifaceted member of society.

Many students who oppose the liberal arts curriculum do not appreciate disciplines other than what theyre studying. Such students fail to recognize how all areas of study are interconnected. Exposure to the grounding principles of all subjects allows students to use doctrines from all disciplines to further their understanding of their main field of study.

This past semester, I was reminded of the importance of a multidisciplinary education in my international trade theory and policy course. Professor Ryan Monarch exposed us to how Jan Tinbergen, an economist trained in physics, used an analogy with Newtons universal law of gravitation to describe the patterns of trade flows between two countries.

Luckily, I was previously exposed to classical mechanics throughout my high school education and freshman year of college, making it easy for me to understand Tingbergens thought process. However, students who did not receive training in the physical sciences in the past may not have drawn the connection Tinbergen was trying to make and might have found it more difficult to deeply understand his line of reasoning.

The flexibility that a background in multiple subjects provides allows students to make connections they otherwise would not see. Thus, the versatility that a strong liberal arts education provides benefits the student not only in their current studies but also as they continue to ponder critical questions and in whatever path they choose to pursue after graduating.

A liberal arts education is meant to train students to become critical thinkers and educated members of society. The Liberal Arts Core at SU fails to live up to this mission. At SU, students are able to fulfill the requirement with no education on the Newtonian physics that describe our physical world and without even reading some of the most influential texts known to humankind such as Platos Republic, or Homers The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Perhaps the only problem with the current liberal arts requirement is that it fails to challenge the students intellectually. After all, the previously mentioned columnist described students fulfilling the requirement as, bored, unmotivated and uninterested in the subject matter.

Therefore, in the interest of educating well-rounded and respected students, the administration should reform the current liberal arts curriculum by expanding it in breadth and depth, and ultimately making it more challenging and interesting to students.

Gil Markman is a sophomore economics major. His column appears biweekly. He can be reached at [emailprotected].

Published on April 13, 2022 at 6:50 pm

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The liberal arts core makes SU students multifaceted. It should be expanded. - The Daily Orange

We were right and Anthony Fauci was wrong. The person I never expected to hear say this, however, was Anthony Fauci.

Fauci finally admitted to the nation this weekend what has been obvious to everyone, except the most hysteria-prone slice of the population, since last summer: that the pandemic is now endemic. That means its here to stay, no matter what we do, so lets learn to live with it. There is no point to the insane restrictions people insist on like latter-day Puritans denouncing each other for failing to carry out the prescribed rites to ward off the Devil.

This is not going to be eradicated, and its not going to be eliminated, Fauci said on ABCs This Week. And whats going to happen is that were going to see that each individual is going to have to make their calculation of the amount of risk that they want to take.

Great! But what has changed? This is exactly the message Fauci needed to deliver to the people . . . approximately a year ago.

Lets talk next steps. Whats he going to do to make up for all of the needless misery he caused? Im not asking him to think like his fellow Italian Marc Antony and fall on his sword, so lets turn our minds to the moderate and reasonable options. How many days is Fauci volunteering to place himself in stocks set up on the National Mall so that we can all pelt him with rotten eggs? One day for every completely wrong thing he ever said would be fair, but then hed be there all summer. So lets be charitable and just make it a long holiday weekend.

The nations 4-year-olds should be allowed to get to the front of the line, if any of them can squeeze in some time between appointments with all of the speech pathologists and psychotherapists they need because of Faucis insane policies.

Were at that point where, in many respects, that were going to have to live with some degree of virus in the community, Fauci also said Sunday.

Now youre earning that $400,000 a year, Captain Obvious.

COVID doves such as Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at the University of San Francisco, saw all of this coming: wearing a rag over your face wasnt going to stop an incredibly transmissible virus.

Were going to get it, she predicted last September. Unless you just sit in your room, youre going to get it in your nose. But at least in this country, it will be manageable.

The emergency phase of the disease is over, Stanford professor and health economist Jay Bhattacharya said last summer. Now, we need to work very hard to undo the sense of emergency . . . panicking over case numbers is a recipe for continuing unwarranted panic, because the vaccines provide superb protection against death or hospitalization.

Yet as recently as November, Fauci said, preposterously, that he was going to put off calling the virus endemic until we got the thing cornered: We want control and I think the confusion is at what level of control are you going to accept it in its endemicity.

Huh? Asserting control has nothing to do with accepting its endemicity. When you do the latter, youre acknowledging the former isnt possible. COVID is not subtle: ever since we learned in the middle of last year that even vaccinated people can catch it and spread it, it has been flashing a message as unmissable as the American Eagle signage in Times Square: You cant control me, bro. Im coming for everybody. Get vaccinated and youll live.

You may have missed it, but Fauci said something even stupider than We gotta control this thing before we admit its endemic in the November interview: that we shouldnt get too excited about the distinction between such COVID outcomes as getting killed and missing a day of work.

Why did he say something so absurd? Because hes Larry Lockdown and loves to create confusion and panic. Like another blustering egomaniac, the guy he used to work for, he cant handle the idea of an America in which everyone isnt talking about him all the time. In post-COVID America, guess who doesnt get invited on Colbert and Kimmel and Meet the Press every week?

I think we better be careful to not make too sharp a distinction between protecting against infection thats symptomatic versus protection against hospitalization and deaths, Fauci said in November. I dont know of any other vaccine that we only worry about keeping people out of the hospital. I think an important thing is to prevent people from getting symptomatic disease.

By that reasoning, a head cold and stage-four lymphoma are the same thing. Ladies, and gentlemen, Americas doctor!

Fauci couldnt grasp that the virus is two different animals depending on whether youre vaccinated: A jab turns a venomous 100-foot dragon into an ill-tempered dog. For vaccinated and boosted Americans, you are at much higher risk of dying in a car accident than from the virus, yet people choose not to fear the Corolla the way they fear the Corona.

Get vaccinated, then get on with your life, should have been Faucis message from the start, except for small children, who were never at great risk in the first place and should therefore never have had to deal with idiotic restrictions such as mask mandates.

Vaccinated children are as well protected as vaccinated adults, and yet we continue to torture little kids by making them wear masks in day care, in schools, and on mass transit.

Economist Emily Oster wrote in the Atlantic, Based on the science, the kids-last approach makes no sense. Kids should face fewer restrictions than their parents, not more.

COVID apartheid has been bad policy for many months. Why segregate, shame and insult those nasty unvaccinated people and force masks onto wriggling toddlers if a) these folks posed very little risk to the vaxxed and b) the vaxxed were passing it among ourselves the whole time?

Weve seen a hilarious celebrity demonstration of the uselessness of non-pharmaceutical approaches to COVID in the past couple of weeks, when the Bubble Boys and Girls who did the most to try to seal themselves off from the virus the D.C. political establishment and the Broadway community all came down with it anyway.

D.C.s Gridiron Dinner turned out to be a superspreader event that has led to dozens of new infections, and Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff have all tested positive for the virus. Jen Psaki has had it twice. Eric Adams, a guy who sometimes wears a mask even outdoors, caught it.

Meanwhile, on Broadway, which is to masks what Linus is to his security blanket, and which requires virtually everyone in the building to show proof of vaccination before entering, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker and Daniel Craig all came down with COVID anyway. Their shows, and the musical Paradise Square, shut down. If Broadway COVID is as hot as tickets to The Music Man, thats a pretty strong indicator that you cant shut it out from even a sheltered sub-subculture.

Evidence suggests cloth masks do nothing to prevent the virus from spreading anyway. And we knew that before the even more transmissible Omicron and BA.2 variants emerged. Which is why Dr. Leana Wen, the CNN talking head who represents conventional Democratic Party medical thinking, famously let slip that cloth masks are little more than facial decorations last Christmas.

Her goal was to make people double (or triple, or quadruple) down on masks. No thanks, said most of us.

David Leonhardt, a progressive New York Times columnist who likes the idea of masking, noted with dismay last month, that, although masking, school closures and fear of gatherings are far more widespread in blue America, Nationwide, the number of official COVID cases has recently been somewhat higher in heavily Democratic areas than Republican areas.

Oh? Leonhardt insists such precautions work but concedes the lack of a clear pattern i.e., evidence.

Even if non-pharmaceutical interventions did work, wed still need to subject them to the same cost-benefit analysis as any other policy. Somehow, though, millions listened to whatever Saint Fauci said as though he had come down from Mount Bureaucrat with all of this ideas carved on stone tablets. Blue America resolved to do whatever he said, even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff, as Ned Flanders might put it.

States that went full Fauci imposed pointless suffering on their residents: kids missed school and fell prey to depression and crippling developmental problems, adults lost jobs and lives to suicide, alcohol and opioids.

A study published this week that attempted to measure the overall health of states found that the three worst-performing ones were New Jersey, Washington D.C. (which was treated as a state for the purposes of the study) and New York. The top performers Utah, Nebraska and Vermont were run by non-panicky Republicans. Florida was sixth best, and despite its having ditched most restrictions very early, the states age-adjusted death rate is tied with Connecticut at 21st best.

Dont expect to hear any apologies from anyone about anything, though. Hey, you guys have Zoom and Netflix, why complain about how the Faucians drove tens of thousands of people into deaths of despair and ruined a few million childhoods?

Sure, they may have destroyed people, but it was out of an abundance of caution.

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When will Fauci and liberal leaders apologize for the millions of lives damaged with pointless COVID restrictions? - New York Post

Theres been a void there. Theres been a big focus on the big end of town, she says.

Boothby stretches across 115 square kilometres of mainly middle-class southern Adelaide suburbs including Colonel Light Gardens, a smattering of more working-class suburbs such as St Marys and Marion, and pockets of wealthier beachside suburbs including Brighton and Glenelg. Extremely affluent suburbs near its eastern boundary include Kingswood, Springfield and Netherby.

Ecolaterals stores in Brighton and Blackwood are both in Boothby, and Stott says the environment and cost-of-living increases are front of mind among her customers.

Any time we talk about the environment, thats a political conversation, she says.

The environment and doing much more on climate change is a big issue. Housing affordability and cost of living pressures is another. Inflation is on the march among her suppliers, who have lifted their prices by 5 to 30 per cent in the past few months. Weve tried to absorb the last round of increases, Stott says. About 25 per cent of sales at Ecolateral come from online.

Boothbys sitting Liberal MP Nicolle Flint is retiring from politics after two terms. She used her final speech to call for more protection for women in federal parliament from offensive and intimidating behaviour, and was also a vocal critic of large social media platforms for not doing more to prevent online harassment and abuse.

With Flint bowing out, Boothbys Liberal candidate is medical researcher Dr Rachel Swift. She is a Rhodes Scholar who did a doctorate in clinical medicine at Oxford University.

Labors candidate is Louise Miller-Frost, who was the chief executive in SA of charity organisation St Vincent de Paul Society and had earlier in her career been the boss of Catherine House, an emergency accommodation and services provider for homeless women.

An independent candidate, Jo Dyer, the director of the Adelaide Writers Week component of the Adelaide Festival of Arts from 2019 to 2022, is also commanding some of the spotlight. Dyer has been a fierce public advocate of a deceased friend, Kate, who had accused former federal minister Christian Porter of rape in the late 1980s. Porter strenuously denies the allegations, and is himself retiring from politics.

Dyer is part of a group of independents running in various seats around Australia with a focus on climate change and establishing a federal integrity commission, backed by Voices Of campaign groups.

Election watchers such as Flinders University adjunct professor of politics Haydon Manning are closely scrutinising whether there will be any residual spillover from the thumping state election victory by Peter Malinauskas, who became Premier on March 19. He turfed Steven Marshall out as premier after just one term of a state Liberal government. SA Liberal Infrastructure Minister Corey Wingard lost his seat of Gibson in the SA election, and it is in Boothby heartland.

On balance, Labor is likely to finally break through in Boothby, Manning says.

But he believes Labor leader Anthony Albaneses blunder in being unable to state Australias unemployment rate might have a bigger influence than Labor hopes, because it is central to economic management.

Its just mind-boggling that he couldnt get that right, he says.

Manning believes strong grassroots campaigning and doorknocking could yet sway the swinging voters who shifted allegiances in the state election. He says some voters may have rid themselves of built-up anger and grumpiness over the COVID-19 pandemic at the state poll, with national issues now more at play.

Manning says four chaotic months when the omicron wave came through just as the state borders opened on November 23, along with the re-emergence of the state Liberal Partys factional problems in the last six months of a four-year term, were the two big factors behind Marshalls demise in the state election.

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Green groundswell in Boothby could end 70-year Liberal run - The Australian Financial Review

The Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) voted to approve Pike Liberal Arts Schools request to join the athletic association today.

After approval by the AHSAA, Pike Lib will officially join the athletic association on June 1 in time for the 2022-2023 school year. As of this time, the AHSAA has not confirmed what classification or area alignments Pike sports will be included in, but based on the size of the school the Patriots are expected to join Class 2A.

Were extremely excited, Pike Liberal Arts football coach, baseball coach and Athletic Director Rush Hixon said. Its been a long process but its one where the end goal was to be accepted and become a member of the AHSAA and weve reached that goal. Theres a lot of excitement about the future for us as a successful member of the AHSAA.

Pike has been a member of the Alabama Independent School Association (AISA) since 1970 and will be joining Tuscaloosa Academy as two AISA schools joining the AHSAA this fall.

While Pike will be joining in time for fall sports, the Pike softball and baseball teams will finish out their final seasons with AISA this spring. Because the AHSAA adjusted its class realignments this past fall, the Pike football team will play as an independent for its first two years before joining a region following the 2024 realignment. That means the Pike football team which has won back-to-back AISA State Championships will be unable to qualify for the playoffs for the next two seasons. While the Pike football team wont be able compete for a championship right off the bat, the schools other sports will be able to.

There will be some difficulties to it but the way were selling it and the reality of it is well be going out there with a chance to be a part of history as the first Pike Lib team to compete in the AHSAA, Hixon said of his football team being unable to compete for a championship to start off. Well also have a very challenging and unique schedule in those first two years. The end goal is obviously a championship but that isnt the only goals you have for a team.

There are a lot of other goals we can accomplish and I think this group has a unique opportunity that no other groups have had to be the first and make history.

Hixon said that Pike is working to complete its 2022 football schedule in the coming weeks, as well.

Pike Head of School Eric Burkett was also excited about the move to the AHSAA for the student-athletes more than anything.

This is exciting, not only for our athletic programs and the student athletes, but for Pike Liberal Arts School as a whole, Burkett said. This will change the way we have to travel, which will have a huge impact on being able to keep our students in class more.

It will also provide a new level of competition, which will have a positive impact on our student-athletes. We have been impressed with the AHSAA as an organization as a whole since the first day we started talking to them about making this move. We look forward to a great relationship with them in the future.

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Pike Liberal Arts School officially joins the AHSAA - The Troy Messenger - Troy Messenger

Otherwise their word on how theyll vote in parliament lacks any integrity, he said.

Liberal MPs Dave Sharma, Jason Falinski and Celia Hammond did not respond to a request for comment, as independent challengers warned concerns over the prime ministers refusal to commit to a federal corruption watchdog will drive voters away from the governments former strongholds.

Daniel said only climate change was more important to voters in Goldstein than integrity, and abandoning plans for a national corruption watchdog would spell bad news for the Coalition.

If theres one underlying theme when I talk to people, it is that they feel misled and disillusioned, and that promises are made and not delivered, she said. The prime minister is taking a great risk by not listening to those people.

Sophie Scamps, the independent challenging in the Sydney electorate of Mackellar, said voters had the same priorities in her electorate on the northern beaches of Sydney.

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People are just fed up, Scamps said. The issue of integrity, and climate change, is why there are so many independents standing up.

Morrison pledged ahead of the 2019 election to create a Commonwealth Integrity Commission and last year released a draft law for public comment. It was widely criticised for lacking teeth and being overly secretive and a bill was never tabled for a debate.

Steggall said Morrisons refusal would reinforce his very low popularity in Warringah, also on the northern beaches, because people wanted politicians to tackle issues beyond the short-term news cycle.

My surveys and polling have consistently shown over the last three years that the number one issue for Warringah is climate and environment, and then number two is integrity, and then only third comes economy, she said.

The Resolve Political Monitor, commissioned by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, in February showed 71 per cent of Coalition voters were in favour of a Commonwealth integrity commission.

Allegra Spender and Kylea Tink, the independent candidates for Wentworth and North Sydney respectively, said a federal integrity commission with teeth was one of their top priorities.

Jacqueline Maley cuts through the noise of the federal election campaign with news, views and expert analysis. Sign up to our Australia Votes 2022 newsletter here.

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Float it and see: Outgoing Liberal calls for imperfect federal integrity commission - Sydney Morning Herald

The NSW Liberal executive member who took the Prime Minister to court over preselection choices has been ordered to pay costs to four senior party members.

Matthew Camenzuli lost his case in the NSW Court of Appeal earlier this month when he unsuccessfully argued the Liberal federal executive had no power to intervene in candidate preselections for the upcoming federal election.

The dispute centered on a decision by the federal executive to appoint a committee, made up of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and former federal Liberal president Christine McDiven,to make candidate selections for 12 seats in NSW.

The selections followed months of bitter infighting about who should run, with some NSW Liberals accusing their federal counterpartsof trying to run the clock out so Mr Morrison could parachute in his preferred picks.

This goes against party rules which mean rank and file state members vote on preselections.

Last week, Mr Camenzuli took the matter to the High Court but ultimately lost when Chief Justice Susan Kiefel rejected his application for hearing.

Back in the Court of Appeal today, Justice John Basten ordered Mr Camenzuli pay the legal costs for four of the defendants Mr Morrison, Mr Perrottet, Ms McDiven and the current federal Liberal president, John Olsen.

However he doesn't have to pay costs for the three incumbent Liberalsnamed in the lawsuit, Farrer MP Sussan Ley, Mitchell MP Alex Hawke and North Sydney MP Trent Zimmerman, who were the first to be locked in by thePrime Minister's committee.

Mr Camenzuli also doesn't have to pay the costs of the president of the NSW Liberals, Philip Ruddock, who was listed as a defendant.

In their reasons, the three appeal court judges said costs only applied to the defendants who played an active role in the proceedings.

Today's judgment means the legal costs are stacking up for Mr Camenzuli, who was also ordered to pay costs for his attempted High Court appeal.

NSW Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells backed the action, accusing the federal executive of trampling on the rights of branch members to make "captain'spicks".

But the Court of Appeal concluded it could not decide whether the federal executive had overstepped as the matter was not "justiciable" and the court hadno place in adjudicating internal disputes in political parties.

The day after Mr Camenzuli lost the case, the NSW Liberals expelled him from the party.

The legal battle, which began in February, has been a thorn in the federal government's side as it meant important seats were without Liberalcandidates just weeks out from the election.

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Matthew Camenzuli ordered to pay costs in legal battle over NSW Liberal preselections - ABC News

The Liberal and Labor parties have come under fire for harvesting constituents data by mailing out postal voter registration forms.

In a move slammed by the cross bench, several incumbent MPs from both parties have sent real registration forms as part of their campaign materials and listed their electorate offices as the return addresses.

Theyre being very deceptive, independent South Australian Senator Rex Patrick toldThe New Daily.

They send this registration for a postal vote under the guise of being helpful, but in actual fact what they are doing is harvesting data.

In that sense, it is deceptive. It is deceptive to the very people they purport to serve.

This data is typically used by the parties as part of their mailing lists, or to get a sense of potential voters in the electorate.

Senator Patrick said that one of his constituents planned on filling out and returning the forms until he sounded the alarm on social media.

The Greens, who hope to hold the balance of power after the election, have never sent out these forms as part of their campaign material.

Australian voters can spot dodgy data harvesting dressed up as postal vote applications, and resent it almost as much as unsolicited spam texts, the partys democracy spokesperson Larissa Waters told TND.

The Queensland Senator said that when parties act as a go-between for postal applications, it only serves to delay the whole process for ordinary people.

Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie, meanwhile, took an unusual approach to the issue.

The outspoken has senator never sent out postal voter registration forms as part of her campaign material at previous elections, but decided to take on the major parties this time around by spoofing their tactics with a letter of her own.

You know the postal vote form a politician sent you in the mail?Dont trust it. Its BS, the letter opens.

It goes on to explain that the major parties are secretly adding voters personal information to their databases.

However, Senator Lambies campaign material also includes a postal voter registration form.

Im telling you straight up: If you use the reply-paid envelope weve included in this letter, youre sending it to the Jacqui Lambie Network, the letter reads.

Youll help us target our campaign.

For those who arent interested in sharing their info, there are also clear instructions on how to register as a postal voter directly with the AEC.

Senator Lambie added in the letter: We think youre adult enough to know the truth.

The Australian Electoral Commission said it is perfectly legal for parties to send legitimate postal vote registration forms with their campaign material.

In fact, about 28 per cent of all postal vote registrations are submitted by the parties on behalf of voters.

That being said, it is quicker and easier to apply for a postal vote through the AEC, and voters can do so by going to our website, an AEC spokesperson toldTND.

A government spokesperson defended the practice.

Under the Electoral Act, political parties can assist voters with postal vote applications. This election is no different, they told TND.

But Senator Patrick wants the practice outlawed entirely.

That sort of conduct, in the commercial world, would be considered false and misleading conduct, he said.

The ABC reported that, in addition to the flyers, both parties have registered generic-looking websites where people can register as postal voters.

The Liberal-run website http://www.postal.vote asks users for their name, date of birth, address, phone number and email address, as well as a security question, such as your first job or eldest childs middle name.

The website features a gold-and-black colour scheme and a single reference to the Liberal Party in small print.

A government spokesperson said the website is clearly identified as being both provided by the Liberal Party, and is fully authorised.

All applications are provided to the Australian Electoral Commission, the spokesperson added.

The Labor-run website http://www.howtovote.org.au also asks users for their name, date of birth, address, phone number and email address, before redirecting them to the AEC website, where they need to fill out this information again.

This website contains a reference to the Labor Party in small print and features a prominent red-and-white colour scheme.

The Greens say this is all the more reason to ditch the two major parties on May 21.

Political engagement and communication are critical for a healthy democracy, but opportunistic hustles like this are precisely why people are losing faith in politics and our institutions, and its why theyre abandoning Labor and the Liberals in droves, Senator Waters said.

If parties really want to hear from their constituents they should try getting out there and knocking on a few doors for a change.

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Opportunistic hustle: Liberals, Labor accused of data harvesting with mailed-out postal vote registration forms - The New Daily