Category Archives: Liberal

Among party faithful, Mr James is described as a factional operator and culture warrior, tags and labels the 46-year-old vehemently rejects.

One Liberal Party source, not authorised to speak publicly, said, He is Liberal out of central casting. The party mainstream, people who show up and hand out, feel like no one listens to them. Who does? Tim James. He can work a room.

Ms Berejiklian this week endorsed Mr James as the candidate in a pre-recorded video that drew the ire of some senior party members who said it was akin to a hostage video, accusing Mr James of previously working against Ms Berejiklian.

People should just focus on the reality, Mr James told the Herald. I am so proud of Gladys. I have only supported her. She is a daughter of the Liberal Party and I am a son of the Liberal Party.

Another moderate Liberal Party source said the shift from Gladys, the poster child of post-war migration to a conservative, white Australian male should not be understated.

I think its highly unlikely Tim James and Gladys Berejiklian share some sort of parental patronage in the Liberal Party. If anything they are step cousins, three times removed.

It marks Mr James third attempt to land on Macquarie Street, after losing to Felicity Wilson for the seat of North Shore in 2018, before taking Supreme Court action to overturn the result. He was unsuccessful and the case was ultimately dismissed. But he said multiple bids hadnt fazed him.

I know it took [former prime minister] John Howard three attempts, [former NSW premier] Mike Baird three attempts. So this is obviously not at all unusual. Whats kept me going is obviously a passion for people and community.

His preselection prompted local lawyer and voluntary assisted dying campaigner Penny Hackett to also contest the byelection. Ms Hackett, the president of Dying With Dignity NSW, said she had been encouraged to run by voters disappointed with the Liberal replacement for Ms Berejiklian.

It was a big shock to a lot of people there is a palpable sense of rage, she said.

Loading

This is a seat which is really ripe for the right independent. I dont expect to win, but I would hope to take a bit of skin off for the point of proving that they cant just take a safe seat for granted.

Mr James said, No one was taking the seat for granted, adding that he had spent more years in the electorate than Ms Hackett.

My only ambition is to be the member for Willoughby, to listen and serve, he said.

Ms Hackett, a mother-of-two, will run as a candidate for the Reason NSW Party, after it merged with the Voluntary Euthanasia Party following the 2019 election.

Ive become more involved [in politics] as a result of the voluntary assisted dying campaign, which has given me a much greater insight into what actually goes on in Parliament and politics and the machinations, and Ive been pretty depressed about it all to be honest, she said.

Ms Hackett believes the Coalition governments recent handling of the Omicron outbreak could swing votes away from the Liberal Party in the lower north shore seat.

Also contesting the byelection are North Sydney Council deputy mayor William Bourke for the Sustainable Australia Party, and independent candidate Larissa Penn.

Ms Penn, a mother-of-three and Willoughby local, is also the convener of Stop the Tunnels, an organisation set up to rally against the slated Western Harbour and Beaches Link projects.

Willoughby is not simply a thoroughfare for commuters, a land bank for developers or a pollution trap for unfiltered toll road stacks, as it has been treated by the state government, she said.

The Liberals hold Willoughby with a margin of more than 20 per cent and a primary vote above 57 per cent. NSW Labor is not running a candidate.

Today a Mosman local, Mr James has lived in the Willoughby electorate for most of his life. High on his agenda are schools, investment in the Royal North Shore Hospital and green space. He will also consult the community to bring a fresh set of eyes to the divisive Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link projects.

Tim James and wife Nikki at their wedding in 2014.Credit:GM Photographics

He met his wife Nikki, a marketing executive, after the two featured separately in the same edition of the local newspaper in early 2012. At the time Mr James was chief-of-staff to Planning Minister Anthony Roberts, having already worked in the electorate offices of mentors Joe Hockey and John Howard.

He has also worked in the private sector, including a 14-month stint as the head of pharmaceutical lobby group Medicines Australia.

He has recently departed as a director of Life Education NSW, behind the Healthy Harold school program, and is a listed secretary of the Australian Nationhood Foundation.

The organisation publishes resources exploring the national identity, which it describes as encompassing Aboriginal people, the British settlers the British language and British culture, as well as migrants.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the days most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.

Read more from the original source:

Liberal out of central casting: The man who wants Gladys Berejiklians seat - Sydney Morning Herald

The political leadership race that time forgot is limping towards the finish line and it remains unclear how much of the public will pay attention to its eventual conclusion.

The BC Liberal Party is in the midst of a leadership race (you knew that, right?) to replace former leader Andrew Wilkinson, who stepped down after a historically disastrous election result on his watch last fall.

The next leader will be announced Feb. 5, and right now it looks like former BC Liberal cabinet minister Kevin Falcon is the candidate to beat.

It was hard to draw any other conclusion after watching the recent televised, virtual debate between Falcon and his six leadership rivals.

Story continues below advertisement

It is not exactly a field of experienced candidates and is a considerably weaker one that was in either of than the last two leadership contests the party held.

Falcons previous cabinet experience he held the major portfolios of finance, health and transportation during former-premier Gordon Campbells administration separates him from the rest of the field by a considerable distance.

He is up against three current caucus members, none of whom have any experience in provincial government. The three MLAs Ellis Ross, Michael Lee and Renee Merrifield have fairly low public profiles.

The three other candidates Val Litwin, Gavin Dew and Stan Sipos are complete newcomers when it comes to politics and all appear to have little chance of emerging the victor when the votes are counted.

So can Falcon, who lost a narrow leadership contest to Christy Clark in 2012, be stopped?

Trending Stories

Story continues below advertisement

There is one potential obstacle: the preferential ballot system that is being used to choose the leader. Under this system, voters rank the candidates in order of their support.

If Falcon cannot win a majority on the first count, he could stall on subsequent ballots if an anyone-but-Falcon mentality unites the supporters of the other candidates.

That could allow another candidate or two to leap frog him on subsequent ballots if he does not have strong second and third and even fourth-choice support (this is what happened to Dianne Watts, the former Surrey mayor, during the 2018 leadership vote).

I have to say Ross and Lee are likely the most probable to benefit from this kind of scenario.

In any event, whoever emerges victorious will inherit a badly-wounded political party that is having a hard time resonating with the voting public. A significant rise in support for the NDP has chased the BC Liberals out of Metro Vancouver when it comes to winning legislative seats.

All of the candidates have talked about the need to renew and diversify the party. That will be easier said than done when it does not have much support in the areas in which most of the population resides.

Story continues below advertisement

Falcon is a good communicator, but he certainly tilts considerably to the right wing side of the political spectrum. If he takes the party too far to the right, that may make it even more difficult for it to win back support in Metro Vancouver, which seems to be gravitating away from that side of political turf.

But no matter which candidate wins, the party will face a challenge that it has never really been able to consistently conquer during this pandemic: convincing the general public to even pay attention to what it is saying.

Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global BC.

2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

More:

COMMENTARY: BC Liberal leadership race nears the finish line, but is the public watching? - Global News

Liberal progressives and a focus on feelings

The letter to the editor, Supreme Court is wrong in COVID-19 decision (Jan, 20, 2022), shows why liberal progressives are a danger to this country. The author says the U.S. Supreme Court should have based its recent mask and vaccine mandate ruling on what he feels would be best for the health and safety of the general public.

His letter shows he does not understand or chooses to ignore the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in our democracy. SCOTUS is meant to be a strictly judicial body. It is not supposed to advocate for or against social policy like mandated mask wearing and vaccination. Its job is to dispassionately decide whether government and private sector actions are constitutional.

SCOTUS ruled that the Constitution does not give the Biden administration the authority to force businesses to require employees to be vaccinated.

Liberal progressives who are rapidly gaining influence in Rhode Island politics are dangerous because reality, facts and the U.S. Constitution mean little to them, as the Jan. 20 letter to the editor makes clear. They demand laws and government policies be based on their feelings. Emotion-driven policies dont make for good government.

Rational people gather facts and draw logical conclusions to make sound public policy. Liberal progressives dont so they should never be elected to public office.

Robert King,Middletown

View original post here:

OPINION/LETTER: Liberal progressives and a focus on feelings - newportri.com

Faculty: School of Liberal Arts

Position: Professor / Associate Professor / Assistant Professor / Lecturer

Description

The School of Liberal Arts (SLA) was established in 2020. The missions of SLA are to comprehensively cultivate business management talents with independent observation, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills; to promote cross-cultural exchanges and international cooperation; and to serve the local and regional diversified development.

To cope with our developmental plan, applications are invited from those with excellent academic achievements in the following areas:

Professional Areas

Commerce (accounting, finance, economics, etc.), management (marketing, human resources, decision science and big data analysis management, etc.), hotel /tourism, exhibition management, retail management, hotel management, education, and related fields.

Qualifications

Remuneration Package

Remuneration and appointment rank offered will be commensurate with the successful applicants academic qualification, professional experience and current position. Medical benefits, annual leave, provident fund, allowance and bonus, on job training program or overseas study opportunities will be provided by the University.

Application Procedure

Qualified candidates should apply the position online at the Universitys careers site (https://www.must.edu.mo/careers) and upload an up-to-date curriculum vitae with expected salary, copies of ID/passport, certified copies of academic certificates, transcripts, testimonial of professional experience, publications and academic research outline etc.

To browse for more information about MUST, please visit http://www.must.edu.mo.

Job Type: Full-time

See the rest here:

Professor/Associate Professor/Assistant Professor/Lecturer, School of Liberal Arts job with Macau University of Science and Technology | 279523 -...

Call for Expressions of interest for a professorship in the bachelor Degree Program - Liberal Arts and Sciences -as part of the Excellence Strategy - University of Excellence funding line at Universitt Hamburg

Institution:Faculty of HumanitiesSalary level:W3Commencement of duties:as soon as possibleApplication deadline:2022-02-24

Universitt Hamburg was successful in its application for the second funding line of the excellence competition. One of the Excellence Strategy's sub-strategies is to strengthen and expand innovative, research-oriented, and multiperspective teaching. As part of this, the University is introducing a Liberal Arts and Sciences bachelor's degree program. The transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary degree program integrates innovative study profiles that focus on the global challenges of the twenty-first century. The degree program aims to enable students to think in an integrated, solution-oriented manner and to train them to become outstanding generalists. For this purpose, a cooperation is planned with the Universitt Hamburg clusters of excellence and research institutes, other Hamburg universities, and international universities,particularly with Dutch liberal arts and sciences colleges. The Faculty of Humanities is spearheading the design and introduction of the degree program in cooperation with other Universitt Hamburg faculties.

Two new professorships will be established for the Liberal Arts and Sciences degree program and will be significantly involved in the further development, finalization, and image of the degree program. As part of a structured scouting process to fill one of the two professorships at the Faculty of Humanities, interested researchers are asked to provide expressions of interest in applying for this professorship.

We are seeking someone from the field of cultural studies, literary studies, or media studies, who can demonstrate relevant experience in interdisciplinary teaching and research, preferably with proven research activity at the interface with the natural sciences and/or medicine. Interested researchers must also have a strong interest in establishing interdisciplinary and international teaching and research cooperation as well as an openness to and enthusiasm for innovative university teaching concepts all of which are of central importance.

The professorship should be appointed as part of an extraordinary academic search procedure conducted in accordance with Section 14 subsection 6 number 4 of the Hamburg higher education act (Hamburgisches Hochschulgesetz, HmbHG). Extraordinary appointments may be made at the discretion of the Executive University Board, which acts as both selection and appointment committee.

In consultation with the dean of the Faculty of Humanities and the degree program's academic coordinator, the Executive University Board will identify and offer the professorship to an individual by way of extraordinary appointment. The successful applicant will be the individual deemed best suited to fulfilling the University's goals as part of the degree program's expansion. During this process, the Faculty of Humanities' subject to which the applicant is best suited will also be determined.

The Executive University Board will invite suitable applicants to an interview.

Requirements

Section 15 HmbHG applies.

Additional Criteria

Non-German-speaking post holders are expected to acquire the language skills necessary to teach in German (Level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) within two years of commencing employment.

Universitt Hamburg seeks to increase the proportion of women in teaching and research, and encourages women to submit their expressions of interest.

Tips on applying

Reference numberIBV-01-22

Application deadline2022-02-24

Interested candidates for this professorship should express their interest by sending their curriculum vitae, a personal statement of no more than 3 pages explaining why they believe they are qualified, a paper of no more than 10 pages outlining their research and teaching concept for the Liberal Arts degree program that is under development, and other standard documents.

Find further information about the planned degree program athttps://www.uni-hamburg.de/las-lp.

Send your notice of interest touniversitaetsstrategie.uhh@uni-hamburg.deby 24 February 2022.

See the original post:

Professorship in the bachelor Degree Program - Liberal Arts and Sciences job with UNIVERSITY OF HAMBURG | 279222 - Times Higher Education (THE)

Ash Barty has revealed the "hermit life" she endured thi summer to avoid her biggest Australian Open threat - COVID-19. Contracting the coronavirus during the Open, or in the week before the Melbourne Park grand slam, would have been catastrophic for Australia's big hope. Hence why, after compatriots Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic went down with the virus in the Open lead-up, Barty bunkered down in Melbourne with her golfer-fiance Garry Kissick and mother Josie. As she rolled through the draw without dropping a set, match after match all the way to the final, the world No.1 was ever aware that COVID could prematurely end her campaign. Frenchman Ugo Humbert and Belgian Alison Uytvanck both tested positive during the tournament and, in reality, the prospect of getting infected was more of a threat to Barty than any of her on-court rivals. "We were pretty careful. I was staying with Gary and my mum and we were pretty much in lockdown," Barty said as she wound down with a celebratory beer on Saturday night. "We didn't leave. We would just go in the morning and get a takeaway coffee. We didn't go to any restaurants, didn't go out anywhere. "So it has been two weeks of hermit life. I don't have a problem with it. It was a pretty quiet two weeks just to eliminate the risk." Asked how conscious she was of COVID-19 potentially cruelling her Open dream, Barty said: "We were just careful, didn't want to add any risk unnecessarily - it would have made the paper, I reckon (if I got it). "We were all very mindful from the start, even all of our extended team. "We just tried to do the right thing like we'd done the last 18 months, two years - just not be silly with it and just not add any extra unnecessary risk for a couple of weeks. "We can enjoy this and now we can do what we want." Barty's other big concern was ensuring her entire family and support network was at Melbourne Park - and in Rod Laver Arena - for her famous final triumph over American Danielle Collins. That wasn't possible when Barty won her first grand slam title at the 2019 French Open or her second last year at Wimbledon. "I was gutted when mum and dad and some of my team couldn't be there in Paris and in London," she said. "To be able to have almost everyone here was really, really special, and to do it at home and to be able to do it with them, experience it with them, was really special. "Yeah, mum was always going to be the first one that I gave a hug to." Then came her father Rob, who Barty had to plead with to make the trip from Queensland to be courtside for the final. "After the semi I called my dad and told him he was going to come down - he was a bit umming and ahhhing about it," Barty said. "But I said, 'Nah, you're going to come down'. It was the same for my sisters as mum was down here the whole time. "It would have killed me if they weren't here just because they were so close and I would never have forgiven myself if they weren't able to share it with us." Australian Associated Press

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/76bd7492-6f42-48a0-bd5b-d2b25d131b66.jpg/r0_74_800_526_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

Ash Barty has revealed the "hermit life" she endured thi summer to avoid her biggest Australian Open threat - COVID-19.

Contracting the coronavirus during the Open, or in the week before the Melbourne Park grand slam, would have been catastrophic for Australia's big hope.

Hence why, after compatriots Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic went down with the virus in the Open lead-up, Barty bunkered down in Melbourne with her golfer-fiance Garry Kissick and mother Josie.

As she rolled through the draw without dropping a set, match after match all the way to the final, the world No.1 was ever aware that COVID could prematurely end her campaign.

Frenchman Ugo Humbert and Belgian Alison Uytvanck both tested positive during the tournament and, in reality, the prospect of getting infected was more of a threat to Barty than any of her on-court rivals.

"We were pretty careful. I was staying with Gary and my mum and we were pretty much in lockdown," Barty said as she wound down with a celebratory beer on Saturday night.

"We didn't leave. We would just go in the morning and get a takeaway coffee. We didn't go to any restaurants, didn't go out anywhere.

"So it has been two weeks of hermit life. I don't have a problem with it. It was a pretty quiet two weeks just to eliminate the risk."

Asked how conscious she was of COVID-19 potentially cruelling her Open dream, Barty said: "We were just careful, didn't want to add any risk unnecessarily - it would have made the paper, I reckon (if I got it).

"We were all very mindful from the start, even all of our extended team.

"We just tried to do the right thing like we'd done the last 18 months, two years - just not be silly with it and just not add any extra unnecessary risk for a couple of weeks.

"We can enjoy this and now we can do what we want."

Barty's other big concern was ensuring her entire family and support network was at Melbourne Park - and in Rod Laver Arena - for her famous final triumph over American Danielle Collins.

That wasn't possible when Barty won her first grand slam title at the 2019 French Open or her second last year at Wimbledon.

"I was gutted when mum and dad and some of my team couldn't be there in Paris and in London," she said.

"To be able to have almost everyone here was really, really special, and to do it at home and to be able to do it with them, experience it with them, was really special.

"Yeah, mum was always going to be the first one that I gave a hug to."

Then came her father Rob, who Barty had to plead with to make the trip from Queensland to be courtside for the final.

"After the semi I called my dad and told him he was going to come down - he was a bit umming and ahhhing about it," Barty said.

"But I said, 'Nah, you're going to come down'. It was the same for my sisters as mum was down here the whole time.

"It would have killed me if they weren't here just because they were so close and I would never have forgiven myself if they weren't able to share it with us."

Australian Associated Press

Link:

How Barty avoided major Open threat - Daily Liberal

Enabled by Democratic senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, a united front of US Senate Republicans dealt American democracy a massive blow last week by blocking the Freedom to Vote: John R Lewis Act. The US Senate: a place where desperately needed federal voting rights legislation goes to die a spectacle unworthy of what Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin called the worlds greatest deliberative body.

Raskin was referring to the Senates reputation not necessarily in an affirmative, but in an aspirational way: he wanted to issue a challenge to the senators to live up to this glorious notion. Nevertheless, the mythical idea of the Senate as the worlds greatest deliberative body is widely held among the countrys political elite the kind of American exceptionalism that still very much warps the perspective on US history and politics.

What we really need to grapple with is the fact that the current situation is not just a disgraceful aberration from the Senates supposedly noble past and true character. In some fundamental ways, the Senate is working as intended. It has always been one of the most powerful undemocratic distortions in the political system and not by accident, but because thats what it was designed to be.

So far, much of the attention has focused on the filibuster as the most blatantly undemocratic tool of obstruction. It is true that the frequency of filibuster use has increased dramatically in recent years. Still, what Republicans did last week was well in line with the longer-term historical norm. The filibuster has consistently been an instrument of white Christian domination: during the 20th century, it was used predominantly to block civil rights legislation and measures such as anti-lynching bills.

Since the filibuster was not part of the Senates original design and only came to be by accident in the early 19th century, it is tempting to portray it as the real culprit a stain on an otherwise admirable institution. Lets remember, however, that just like the electoral college, the Senate was always intended to be a layer of insulation between those in power and the people which is why senators were initially appointed by state legislatures. The senate was supposed to help stave off what many of the founders saw as the threat of too much democracy. So, what we see today is not just an institution hijacked by a radicalized Republican party (although it is that too) but an institution badly in need of structural reform that should go well beyond getting rid of the filibuster.

In the current political situation, reforming the Senate, just like protecting voting rights, is considered a partisan idea and it is, but only because democracy itself has become a partisan issue. Of the two major parties, only the Democratic party is a democratic party.

Lets be specific about how undemocratic an institution this is something that is best captured in numbers: in the current 50:50 Senate, Democratic senators represent 40 million more voters; by about 2040, 70% of the country will be represented by just 30 senators, while less than one-third of the electorate will get to determine 70 out of 100 members of the Senate.

The issue of disproportionate representation is deeply intertwined with the problem of white Christian patriarchal rule. The Senate privileges conservative white voters who dominate in small, less populous states; it is biased towards white people, with or without the filibuster. Here are two more numbers everyone should know: out of about 2,000 US senators in the countrys history, 11 have been Black. More than 150 years since the civil war, more than half a century since the civil rights legislation of the 1960s 11 Black senators. And to date, 58 women have served in the Senate. More than a century since Congress passed the 19th amendment, finally granting women the right to vote 58 female senators. Whenever someone says the Senate is the worlds greatest deliberative body, remember that it is deliberately and inherently undemocratic an anti-democratic distortion that stands in the way of America finally realizing the promise of multiracial, pluralistic democracy.

The legislation Republicans are blocking in the Senate is the minimum needed to resist the state-level authoritarian onslaught on the system. But beyond such immediate measures, a more structural approach to democracy reform is required and Congresss upper chamber needs to be at the center of those debates. America can have the Senate in its present form or liberal democracy, but probably not both.

The good news is that serious reform is eminently possible. There certainly is no filibuster requirement in the US constitution, and there are ways to alleviate the Senates anti-democratic character by adding DC and Puerto Rico as states, for instance. The tension between white male elite rule and aspirations of true democracy has always shaped the American project it is inherent in the nations founding documents and its political system. The existing institutional order is in conflict with the promise that all people deserve to participate as equals in a democratic polity and that situation requires a decision.

The worlds greatest deliberative body? If it were true, it would be quite the indictment of the worlds other deliberative chambers. Lets abandon such vestiges of mythical exceptionalism that make it harder to acknowledge the anti-democratic threats and deficiencies in American politics and culture. The fact that a shrinking minority of white conservatives is consistently being enabled to hold on to power against the will of the majority of voters is destined to cause a massive legitimacy crisis. And unless the system is properly democratized, it is only going to get worse.

Continued here:

US Senate v liberal democracy: the battle in the heart of Washington DC - The Guardian

The Young Liberal Movement of Australia has unanimously adopted a motion at its National Convention recognising the 1915 Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides, as well as acknowledging the rights to self-determination of the indigenous Armenian people of the Republic of Artsakh, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).

The Young Liberal Movement is the youth wing of the Liberal Party of Australia, which is one of two major political parties in Australian politics and currently the party in Government federally, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

The adoption of the motion demonstrates the growing discourse in Australian society supporting national recognition of the 1915 Genocides, which contrasts with the policy of the Morrison Government,who have continued to placate the denialist Turkish Government with the use of euphemisms instead of the word genocidewhen referring to the Ottoman massacres against the Empires Christian minorities.

Significantly, the motion also ensures the Young Liberals support the rights to self-determination of the Republic of Artsakh, which is currently under occupation by Azerbaijan following their attacks on the independent Armenian-populated state in 2020 during the Nagorno Karabakh War.

The 2022 Young Liberal Federal Convention was held from January 21 23, 2022 at the Hobart Convention and Exhibition Centre at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, with 44 voting delegates participating from six states and the Australian Capital Territory.

The motion was moved by ACT Young Liberal President Connor Andreatidis and seconded by one of his colleagues from the ACT Young Liberal delegation.

Andreatidis motion not only recognised the 1915 crimes committed by the Ottoman Empire, but also called on the Federal Government to recognise and condemn the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides.

His motion also linked the Armenian Genocide to contemporary acts of aggression, notably Azerbaijani hostilities against the Armenian nation witnessed in September 2020 and the pan-Turkic attempts to ethnically cleanse the Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) region of Armenians.

Andreatidis motion called on the Federal Young Liberals to recognise the right to self-determination of the Armenians of the Republic of Artsakh, and that the recent and ongoing attacks against the Republic of Artsakh by Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, are part of an ongoing legacy of Genocide and genocide denial.

Prominent members of the Australian Liberal Party were also present at the Federal Convention and witnessed the unprecedented motion, including longtime friend and ally of the Armenian-Australian community Senator Eric Abetz, fellow Tasmanian Senators Claire Chandler and Senator Jonathon Duniam, and Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein.

ANC-AU Executive Director Haig Kayserian welcomed the support of the Australian Young Liberal Movement and thanked them for adopting the motion.

This motion saw future leaders of our nation call out their current leaders by taking a unanimous stand in solidarity with the Armenian-Australian, Assyrian-Australian and Greek-Australian communities by addressing past and current injustices that remain unpunished, Kayserian said.

Thanks to the leadership of Mr Connor Andreatidis, some of the most politically active youth from around the country and members of our Prime Ministers own party have sent a collective, clear and unequivocal message that we must face our future challenges by recognising and condemning past injustices wherever they may take place, Kayserian added.

We thank Mr Andreatidis and past and present Young Liberal members who have supported this and similar motions which continue to demonstrate their ongoing commitment to advancing issues important to our communities.

In August 2020, the ACT Young Liberals passed a similar resolution recognised and condemning the 1915 Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides and the right to self-determination of the Republic of Artsakh (seehere).

Read the original post:

Youth wing of Australia's Liberal Party recognising the Republic of Artsakh and the Armenian, Assyrian, Greek Genocides Public Radio of Armenia -...

Tommy McClure

The Angry Red wrestling traveled up north to Atwood Kansas to compete in the Buffalo Invitational with an almost complete varsity boys and girls team and a few JV. The Redskins came off a loss to Garden City in their first WAC dual of the season. The Redskins looked more motivated than down going into Atwood. Both Redskin squads would come home with 1st place teams in the boys and girls division with 6 champions and 16 other placers.

The Lady Redskins would only have one individual champion in Mana Chanthasone at 106, but with a large number of girls vs a tournament filled with smaller schools, the lady red would put a placer in every bracket. Chanthasone would dominate her best of three series against Colbys Volger. Isabella Gutierrez would pick up a couple of pins to place 2nd. Leilani Torres would pin 3 of her girls on her way to a second-place finish in the tournament. Other placers were Amelia Alarcon 3rd at 120, Luz Tercero Vargas 2nd at 132, Angelica Quezada 2nd at 143, Alexa Valenzuela 3rd at 143, Rosa Pablo 3rd at 155, Jasmine Rangel 3rd at 170.

The boys would ratchet it up a notch and look the part of a top team. The Redskins big 5 took care of business and all won their brackets with ease. Irving Mendez pinned all three of his foes in the first period all in the first minute. Tommy McClure would pin one and put his other two opponents in grueling matches. Jesus Torres would pin all three of his opponents with his championship being the best of the three, as he would pin Atwoods Withington, who had a record of 23 and 1 record and a number 3 ranking in 3A, in 1 minute 24 seconds. Trystan Juarez, like Mendez, would not let his opponents even get a minute of wrestling in pinning all three. Javon Allen would start off tech falling his first kid in the first period, then made it easier on himself pinning the last 4 opponents.

Liberals biggest surprise came in at their 106-pound bracket with freshman Julian Orrantia, who was Liberals JV and non-scorer. Orrantia, who is almost 20 pounds under weight, broke brackets. He would defeat the number one seed and make it into the championship match. He would fall in the second period but wrestled as a master technician all day. Liberals Big freshman, Hudson Rice, continued his good showing taking 3rd in a round-robin, only getting third because of criteria due to the fact Hudson would beat the one wrestler who had pinned all the other heavyweights, but his early loss to Atwoods Bearley. Other placers were Trey Dinkins 4th at 285, Mathew Trejo 2nd at 195, Yahir Gomez 3rd at 160, Aldo Hernandez 4th at 138, Edgar Landa 4th at 120,

I was very impressed with how both the boys and girls teams bounced back after hard fought losses to Garden City on the previous Thursday night. Our Angry Red girls and boys teams came together to form a unified Liberal Angry Red wrestling team. The girls team are well balanced and a solid team, and they proved it by starting and finishing strong. The boys also had a dominating day from start to finish of the tournament. The boys have built their success on a trio of wrestlers for the 1st half of the season and now have expanded that to the BIG 5. The Angry Red boys wrestling teams BIG 5 consists of: Irving Mendez, Tommy McClure, Jesus Torres, Trystian Juarez, and Javon Allen. We are now focusing on trying to expand the BIG 5 up to the BIG 6 and then the BIG 7, and so on, Coach Fowler.

Liberal will travel to Lamar Colorado for a dual on Wednesday then Varsity Boys and Some Varsity girls will Compete in one of the states toughest tournaments Rocky Welton Friday, while JV boys and other Varsity girls will travel to Larned on Saturday.

Mana Chanthasone (14-2) placed 1st and scored 14.0 team points.

Isabella Gutierrez (12-9) placed 2nd and scored 14.0 team points.

Gisel Tarango (1-8) placed 5th and scored 0.0 team points.

Amelia Alarcon (4-10) placed 3rd and scored 9.0 team points.

Luz Tercero Vargas (5-9) placed 2nd and scored 9.0 team points.

Alexa Valenzuela (8-10) placed 3rd.

Angelica Quezada (6-11) placed 2nd and scored 7.0 team points.

Rosa Pablo (1-5) placed 3rd and scored 4.0 team points.

Jasmine Rangel (0-4) placed 3rd and scored 4.0 team points.

Leilani Torres (9-5) placed 2nd and scored 16.0 team points.

Julian Orantia (8-7) placed 2nd.

Eloy Trujillo (1-11) place is unknown and scored 4.0 team points.

Amedeus Holler (1-2) place is unknown and scored 1.0 team points.

Edgar Landa (10-10) placed 4th and scored 11.0 team points.

Irving Mendez (20-2) placed 1st and scored 20.0 team points.

Aldo Hernandez (4-6) placed 4th and scored 15.0 team points.

Edgar Dominquez (6-7) place is unknown.

Tommy McClure (29-4) placed 1st and scored 25.0 team points.

Mason Bickerstaff (0-2) place is unknown.

Jesus Torres (20-5) placed 1st and scored 28.0 team points.

Julian Harvey (2-5) place is unknown.

Alex Schwindt (5-11) place is unknown and scored 8.0 team points.

Yahir Gomez (8-3) placed 3rd.

Trystian Juarez (23-2) placed 1st and scored 24.0 team points.

Max Arcos (9-10) place is unknown.

Javon Allen (18-5) placed 1st and scored 23.5 team points.

Mathew Trejo (9-3) placed 2nd and scored 14.0 team points.

Daniel Don Juan (5-13) placed 5th.

Hudson Rice (17-5) placed 3rd and scored 14.0 team points.

trey Dinkins (2-3) placed 4th.

Read the original here:

Liberal Boys and Girls Wrestling Teams Win at Atwood - KSCB News.net

B.C. Finance Minister Kevin Falcon, centre, in Vancouver, on Aug. 29, 2012.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press

A lot has changed in B.C. politics since Kevin Falcon was a heavy hitter in successive Liberal governments.

And if, as anticipated, he wins the leadership of the BC Liberals early next month, he is going to see just how different it is.

The party held its final leadership debate this week, and Mr. Falcon was the consensus winner. He showed the most confidence in his answers. His ideas seemed the most considered. But perhaps more than anything, his experience running some of the most high-profile ministries, including Health and Finance, was impossible to ignore.

Especially against a field of contenders mostly notable for its lack of anyone notable.

Mr. Falcon was a protg of long-time Liberal premier Gordon Campbell his Mini-Me. He was rewarded for his fealty with high-profile ministries, which allowed him to build a reputation both among the public and the party. It was assumed he would one day be Mr. Campbells successor until Christy Clark narrowly beat Mr. Falcon in the party leadership race in 2011.

He became finance minister under Ms. Clark and acquitted himself well in the job. He chose not to run in the 2013 general election.

During the current leadership race, his rivals have attempted to dismiss him as a relic of the past, someone whose time has come and gone. That tag has had a difficult time sticking. Mr. Falcon has an exceptionally strong campaign team behind him, one that plays with its elbows up.

His campaign has not been without controversy, however. Late last year, he had to part ways with a senior member of his team after a misogynistic verbal attack in a bar on a member of a rival campaign. Mr. Falcons handling of the episode was not stellar and left as many questions as it answered.

Nevertheless, the incident does not appear to have hurt him much.

Most Liberals likely see him as their best hope of rebuilding the party and getting it back into power. He has pledged to explore changing the partys name to something more anodyne. The BC Liberals have always been a coalition of centrist liberals and moderate conservatives the latter never warming to the name.

Changing it would seem to be the least of Mr. Falcons worries.

If he is victorious, the first thing he will discover is that the party now in government is not the old NDP he liked to kick around as a cabinet minister, smugly sitting on the front benches with his colleagues, never imagining a day when they werent running the show.

John Horgan is an exceedingly popular premier, an Irish politician of high skills who has blossomed in the job. His recent cancer diagnosis may have an impact on whether he runs in the next election. But the New Democrats would not find themselves short of credible alternatives among a caucus notable for its intellectual depth and cultural diversity.

Something the Liberals are sorely lacking.

The New Democrats have become B.C.s urban party; the Liberals, the one that speaks for rural areas. That is not a sustainable political formula in a province that gets more urban by the year. There is likely to be a seat redistribution before the next election as well. Rural B.C. could lose one or two, while a similar number could be added to Metro Vancouver. This would play right into the New Democrats hands.

Mr. Falcons time away from the political scene could be detected in the final debate, particularly in his bewildering attempt to characterize the governing New Democrats as a cast of career underachievers who now have the best job theyll ever have and will do anything to hold onto it.

It didnt take long for the NDP to respond in a news release, eviscerating the Liberal leadership hopeful for mocking NDP MLAs who came from backgrounds that included teaching, policing, firefighting and farming.

It made Mr. Falcon look arrogant and out of touch, characteristics that ultimately came to define the Liberals in government the principal reason for their defeat in 2017 after 16 years in power.

The Liberals will cast their ballots on Feb. 5, using a preferential voting system. Members can mark their first, second, third choice and so on. Strange things have been known to happen under this system. Support for front-runners can stall after the first ballot, as momentum builds around an anyone-but-the-front-runner compromise candidate the longer the voting goes on.

Even if Mr. Falcon does win, however, the prize may not be as great as he thinks it is.

We have a weekly Western Canada newsletter written by our B.C. and Alberta bureau chiefs, providing a comprehensive package of the news you need to know about the region and its place in the issues facing Canada. Sign up today.

Read the original post:

The BC Liberal Party leadership appears to be in Kevin Falcon's hands - The Globe and Mail