Category Archives: Liberal

It garnered just a fleeting mention in the early days of the Liberal election campaign a reference to public long-term care insurance that merited one line in a press release, and one sentence in the party's platform.

The Liberals have downplayed the significance of the reference, declining interview requests initially sent 10 days ago.

A campaign official did indicate that the system in Japan is what caught their attention here.

But given the fact it is in the party's platform, CBC News decided to have a deeper look at the idea,even though it is something that may just be explored at some point in the future, with no commitment to enact it.

In Japan, the institution of public long-term care insurance marked a sweeping change to how the nation takes care of its elderly.

Meanwhile, back in Canada, another province almost launched its own version of public long-term care insurance about eight years ago, but those efforts were scuttled when an election shifted the reins of power.

Even closer to home, the care of the elderly is a particularly urgent issue in Newfoundland and Labrador.

"One in every five Newfoundlanders and Labradorians is over the age of 65, and they are the people who have worked hard their whole lives to provide for and take care of us their families," Liberal Leader Andrew Furey said in a press release Jan. 18.

"Seniors deserve our utmost respect and attention. Our government will explore innovative approaches to long-term care, such as public long-term care insurance, to make sure all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have the necessary support no matter what."

The program in Japan, which launched in 2000, is "very generous" compared with other European jurisdictions with similar initiatives, like Germany, according to John Creighton Campbell, an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Michigan.

He has extensively studied social policy in Japan, and the country's long-term care insurance system.

Here are the broad strokes of how the system in Japan works.

First of all, there is a cost.

The program is funded half by taxes, and half by premiums paid by those aged 40 and above.

The benefits begin for everyone over the age of 65.

The process starts with a visit to an applicant's house for an assessment.

According to Campbell, about 95 per cent of applicants make it through this process, and are sorted into various categories of need.

"It's compulsory, so you have to pay the premiums," Campbell told CBC News in an interview from California, where he now lives.

"When people become eligible for the benefits it's been very popular. They've mostly applied, and gotten the benefits."

They are provided with institutional care or home- and community-based services.

Campbell said there are an array of benefits available, from help in the home and adult day care, to the rental of wheelchairs and home repairs, to respite care.

"Taking care of older people who need it is an expensive proposition. And so to really make a big difference, the way they did in Japan and Germany, you can't get away with just a small program," Campbell said.

"If you really want to deal with the problem, you're going to have to be prepared to spend money."

Quebec recently came close to enacting its own vision of public long-term care insurance.

Rjean Hbert was health minister in the province from 2012 to 2014, and introduced what was called "autonomy insurance."

But the Pauline Marois PQ government lost power before it came into effect, and the program was shelved.

"I almost succeeded," Hbert told CBC News in a recent interview.

"It would have taken six more months. But I think it's feasible to try to implement such a new funding mechanism."

Hbert has continued to promote the public long term care insurance idea.

He is currently a professor in the school of public health of the Universit de Montral, and has worked for decades on care for the elderly with functional decline. Hbert has also been the scientific director of the Institute of Aging of the Canadian Institute of Health Research.

Last year, he wrote in Policy Options, published byInstitute for Research on Public Policy, that "we must abandon the current institution-based funding model for long-term care" and governments should instead "put in place financing based on seniors' long-term care needs."

In an interview, Hbert said provinces should change the funding system for supporting home care, to allow people to stay at home as long as possible.

"Nobody wants to go to a nursing home if it's not absolutely necessary," he said.

Hbert called that particularly important in the time of COVID-19.

"Living in institutions and living in collective housing is not as safe as living in your own home," he said.

The Quebec program would have been funded by income tax revenues, and made economic sense, he noted.

"It needs an investment, but, you know, this investment is going to be much, much lower than the cost of the status quo," Hbert said.

Hbert said he is "very pleased" the idea has at least been raised in Newfoundland and Labrador.

He says any province considering this should look at the experience of continental Europe and in Japan and what was being considered in Quebec.

"I think it was a very good project based on the experience of other countries," he said.

"But my message is let's do it, because it's really important for improving the services and [making] it affordable for the next generations."

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The Liberals will 'explore' public long-term care insurance. So what exactly is it? - CBC.ca

Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell says Scott Morrison always has an eye on who will be the best possible candidates to help him increase his slender majority at the next federal election and this is the case for the seat of Warringah.The Liberals hope to defeat Independent Zali Steggall, Mr Clennell said on Sunday. Recently, the PM invited former NSW premier Mike Baird and his family over to Kirribilli House as I understand it, with several Liberals looking to urge Baird to run. This is more a personal outing though, with the PM keen to thank Baird's elderly mother for help she gave him and his wife when he entered the parliament. Baird, in an interview with me in January, ruled Warringah out this time around".Mr Clennell also said another name that has been spoken about in terms of Warringah was the NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean. Apparently Kean would be willing to go for the seat if Morrison prevailed on him and Baird did not wish to run. Several Liberals have urged Kean to run," he said.Kean himself has been working on colleagues to attempt to lobby Baird into the race.

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Warringah in the Liberal Party's sights - Sky News Australia

Delhi Police has arrested 21-year old climate activist Disha Ravi from Bengaluru in connection with the Greta toolkit that exposed Khalistani hands behind the global campaign against India. Since then, she has been remanded to the custody of the Delhi Police for five days. The arrest of the activist has triggered a meltdown in the liberal sections of social media.

Numerous liberals have cited the young age of the activist in order to mock the decision of the police to arrest her. It is particularly amusing because she is 21 years old, so not exactly a child. At 21 years, people have a say in the manner in which the country should be run. One would believe it is self evident that therefore, they ought to be liable for consequences for activism as well.

It is symbolic of the world that liberals wish to create, where people ought to be free from the consequences of their actions if they happen their ideological ally. Greta Thunberg is not too young to bully world leaders into addressing her tantrums. Licypriya Kangujam is nine years old but even she should be taken seriously in matters of public policy.

But God forbid a 21 year old, a legal adult, has to pay for the consequences of her actions. And suddenly, they are too young to face penal action. Consider this, a country with a population of 130 crores should make its laws based on the tantrums of a child but at the same time, liberals believe a legal adult is too young for arrest.

It is also pertinent to note that liberals always have some excuse or the other for their ideological foot-soldiers, as has been pointed out by many already. For Safoora Zargar, accused in the Delhi Riots case, it was her pregnancy. For Vara Vara Rao, it was claimed that he is too old. And now, for Disha Ravi, its that she is too young.

It appears that the Police should first ensure that the profile of the accused fits liberal requirements before making any arrest. Going forward, the Police ought to make an announcement that only Upper caste, preferably Brahmin, males in their 30s from non-farming background would be preferred for making arrests in high-profile cases.

The male should not be pregnant either, as liberals now claim that men can be pregnant too. Actual guilt does not make it to the list of priorities. Probably only then, liberals will be satisfied with legal proceedings.

Usually in Democracies, people acquire the right to vote when they turn 18. Thus, when they turn 18, people actually have the power to decide how the country is governed and the trajectory of the entire country. Liberals in the West, especially in the United States of America, also demand that the the eligible age for voting be lowered to 16.

Yet, when a 21 year old is arrested for alleged involvement in a global campaign against India, liberals want her to be absolved of all guilt due to her age. Its utterly bizarre. Should the same courtesy be extended to other young adults of the same age or is it a privilege that ought to be preserved for liberal activists alone?

Do liberals actually want 21 year old adults to have the liberty to indulge in all sorts of nefarious activities without the potential for any adverse effects? Should adults receive the same privileges as those under 18? These are serious questions that liberals must answer.

Instead of beating around the bush, they should come forward and just admit that they want Dish Ravi to escape the legal consequences of her actions solely because of her politics. Because stripped of the veneer of fancy humanitarian concerns, that is what it essentially boils down to. And then we must ask, why should only liberal foot-soldiers have such privileges?

Needless to say, such courtesies will not be extended for Hindu activists of the same age. In their case, eminent intellectuals will cheer for further prosecution. They will demand it and then cry if they do not have their wishes fulfilled.

One gets tired of saying it at this point and fears coming across as too repetitive but liberals do not care about principles. They only care about power. They are out of power currently and therefore, they are making flimsy humanitarian appeals to excuse the conduct of their foot-soldiers. When they have the power to inflict damage, they will enthusiastically persecute 21 year old Hindu activists.

Coincidentally, two years ago, on this very day, twenty year old Adil Ahmad Dar had massacred scores of our security forces through a suicide bombing. Would liberals argue that the Pulwama Terrorist be let off due to his age as well?

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21 year old Disha Ravi too young to arrest? Liberals want to create a world where actions do not have consequences - OpIndia

Do you know what it means to be Cuomosexual? Before you go educate yourselves about this new form of gender identity for fear of being cancelled, let me tell you it isnt like that. But all the woke kids are doing it anyway.

Meet Trevor Noah, host of the Daily Show. The other day, he posted a witheringcritiqueof how India is handling the so-called farmer protests. The other thing, Trevor is a self-confessed Cuomosexual. No, this is not an attack on his gender identity. This is an attack on his intellectual dishonesty. And how Trevor and the rest of global liberal media chose partisan boot-licking over the lives of human beings.

I will explain. First, remember this screaming New York Timesheadlinefrom August last year?

Good job, New York Times. Good job rubbing it into the faces of the brown-skinned people of a formerly colonized country. Without your amazing journalism, how would we know how bad our lives are? We are poor, we have weak healthcare systems, rampant corruption and a Hindu nationalist government, the last one being the worst of all. Over there in China, your newspaper calls it patriotism. Over here in India, you call it nationalism. Because Americans love the word patriotism but think that nationalism is associated with Hitler. Make it easy for you to demonize us that way.

So tell us New York Times, around the same time last year, how were things going under your nose?

Andrew Cuomo is the liberal governor of the state of New York. And his top aide just admitted, on tape, on a conference call with fellow members of Cuomos Democratic party, that they covered upthousandsof Covid deaths of nursing home patients.

And I literally mean thousands. They admitted 8711 Covid deaths of nursing home patients, when the real number is at least 15049 that we (now) know of. That is not too far from at least half of all Covid deaths being covered up.

And what was the motivation for this cover up? Listen to the damningconfessionfrom the governors aide:

right around the same time, [then-President Donald Trump] turns this into a giant political football, according to an audio recording of the two-hour-plus meeting.

He starts tweeting that we killed everyone in nursing homes, DeRosa said. He starts going after [New Jersey Gov. Phil] Murphy, starts going after [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom, starts going after [Michigan Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer.

In addition to attacking Cuomos fellow Democratic governors, DeRosa said, Trump directs the Department of Justice to do an investigation into us.

And basically, we froze, she told the lawmakers on the call.

They were worried that the federal authorities under President Trump might start an investigation if they revealed the real numbers. They were worried that the real numbers would allow Trump to attack Cuomo and other liberal governors everywhere from New Jersey to Michigan to California. With the election in two months, this would be bad for their party. And so, like any good banana republic, the liberals in charge of New York decided to freeze the data.

Dear New York Times, this happened right under your nose. While you were busy mocking and kicking India for our plight.

Trump is no longer in office. Biden is from their own party. Now, there is nothing to fear from federal agencies under him. And so, the liberals come out with the facts. By the way, the liberals apologized, but not to the families of the thousands of victims whose deaths they covered up. They apologized to fellow liberal politicians in their own party for making them uncomfortable against opposition attacks.

Dear New York Times, how close are you to being the official mouthpiece of the liberals who run the worlds most powerful banana republic?

Remember how the BBC wanted to know if India is hiding Covid deaths?

Same month of August, by the way, when New York liberals were covering up dead bodies to win an election. I have drawn a simple schematic diagram to help the BBC understand its mistake.

So, whats Cuomosexual, by the way? Even as liberals were tearing India apart with their investigative journalism, their cheerleaders were egging on the good work of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Apparently, his daily briefings on the Coronavirus were so informative that a number of people in media and American liberal intelligentsia decided to label themselves Cuomosexuals. In other words, they were turned on by Cuomos press conferences. Watch Governor Cuomo soak in the adulation.

Indeed, the first question from the interviewerwas: Can I say that I am Cuomosexual? You can click thelinkand check it. I am not making this up.

Yes, folks, this is what hard-hitting journalism looks like when a white liberal comes face to face with a white liberal politician. Now imagine the kinds of questions that global liberals have for us brown-skinned Indians.

Do you know what else Cuomo did? Hesent9000 recovering Coronavirus patients into New York nursing homes. Not fully recovered patients who might have then infected the others in those nursing homes. You know, already sick people, elderly people, the ones most likely to die from Covid. Imagine the blatant disregard for human life.

And dont forget the smiles of American liberal media as they declare themselves Cuomosexual. Their fingers are all pointed at India. Why use water cannon? Getting water out of your clothes can be such a pain.

In fact, Cuomos press conferences became such a big hit that they gave him an Emmyaward! Again, Im not making this up. Look at thesmugnessas Andrew Cuomo touts his award winning leadership on CNN.

The anchor doing the interview? Thats CNNs top primetime host Chris Cuomo. Yes, same last name as NY Governor Andrew Cuomo. They are in fact, brothers. Same dad. Same mom. Thankfully, Chris did not tell brother Andrew whether he was feeling Cuomosexual. That would have been just plain weird.

Thats CNN if you are a rich, white privileged liberal. If you are an Indian Hindu, thats entirely different.

Bully the Indians. Grovel before the Chinese. And declare yourself Cuomosexual in front of white American liberals. Thats wokeness in a nutshell. The New York Times and all their friends were busy busting Indias handling of the Coronavirus, while their liberal gods back home were covering up dead bodies to win an election. Right under its nose, the New York Times could not see the suffering of their own people. The Cuomosexuals were far too turned on by their liberal governor and fantasies of poverty porn in India. Let that sink in.

You know who paid the price here? The common people of New York. The thousands of victims whose deaths were covered up. And their families. The thousands of recovering patients who were sent into nursing homes and the thousands more who contracted the virus from them. Yes, common people everywhere bear the brunt of wokeness and liberalism. Thats why nobody cares about the 28,000 political murders under Left rule in Bengal between 1977 and 1996. But ever since 2014,darr ka mahaul hai

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Global media mocked India even as Cuomosexual liberals undercounted thousands of Covid deaths under the nose of New York Times - OpIndia

HALIFAX -- The next premier of Nova Scotia has announced a six-person transition team led by former cabinet minister Diana Whalen as he prepares to navigate the challenges of governing in a pandemic.

Iain Rankin was chosen as the successor to Premier Stephen McNeil at a virtual Liberal party leadership convention Saturday night.

Whalen is a former Halifax-area member of the legislature and was deputy premier and minister of finance during McNeil's first majority government between 2013 and 2017.

She will chair a transition team that will work with civil service leaders in the period leading to the swearing-in of Rankin as premier and his new cabinet, with their first meeting scheduled for Tuesday.

David Johnson, a political science professor at Cape Breton University in Sydney, N.S., said in an interview Tuesday the leadership group faces the dual challenges of keeping a lid on the spread of COVID-19 and bringing in a budget that could be the last before the next provincial election.

The province had just nine active cases of the illness as of Tuesday.

Premier Stephen McNeil has formed a highly recognizable partnership with Dr. Robert Strang, the chief medical officer of health, in briefings through the past year, and Rankin will need to establish a similar comforting presence, Johnson said.

"It's like changing skippers in the middle of a storm. The previous skipper has proven quite good at keeping the ship steady and moving forward, and the new skipper has to take the wheel," he said.

He added it will be up to the new leader to maintain the plan to provide vaccines to the population through the summer.

The political scientist said the more difficult task will be to plan for a provincial budget in the fourth year of the Liberal government's mandate.

The pandemic ate away at what was a slim surplus, leaving the projected deficit at $778.8-million as of December. McNeil has said his successor would likely be dealing with a budget deficit of around $500-million by the end of the fiscal year.

Johnson said he expects that Rankin's team will have to develop a pre-election budget that takes this "budgetary hole" into account.

The 37-year-old premier-designate, who has billed himself as an agent of generational change, will face pressures ranging from calls for improvements in long-term care to cries from the hospitality and tourism industry for assistance.

"How much more money will be there for more public health measures? How much will be provided to hurting industries from tourism to ports?" asked Johnson.

"Meanwhile, what is the plan to paying down the deficit? Is it budget cuts or tax increases?"

McNeil told reporters on Tuesday that no date has been set for the swearing-in of the new premier and his cabinet.

"It usually takes two weeks, 10 to 14 days. Until that point, I'm still the premier and I'll be in my office making decisions on behalf of Nova Scotians. There's no lull going on here," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 9, 2021.

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N.S. Liberal Leader Iain Rankin names transition team led by former cabinet minister - CTV News Atlantic

The problem, he says, is that the plans total size reaches a scale that risks major future problems. In particular, the total money being proposed far exceeds most estimates of the output gap. (More on that below.) That implies that much of that spending will just slosh around the economy, causing prices to rise, potentially hindering the rest of Mr. Bidens agenda and risking a new recession.

This isnt a conventional argument between doctrinaire deficit hawks and doves, but something more subtle. In the past, Mr. Summers in particular has repeatedly called for larger budget deficits to help combat secular stagnation, in which major world economies are mired in slow growth, and he has supported large pandemic aid packages.

But Mr. Summers says any new spending package should pay out gradually over time and be devoted more substantially to long-term investments.

There is nothing wrong with targeting $1.9 trillion, and I could support a much larger figure in total stimulus, he wrote in a follow-up article. But a substantial part of the program should be directed at promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth for the remainder of the decade and beyond, not simply supporting incomes this year and next.

Imagine a world in which the American economy is cranking at its full potential. Pretty much everyone who wants to work is able to find a job. Every factory is at its complete capacity. The output gap is, simply, how far away the economy is from that ideal state.

A traditional approach to fiscal stimulus has been to estimate the size of that gap, apply some adjustments to account for the way federal spending circulates through the economy, and use that arithmetic to decide how big a stimulus action ought to be.

In theory, if the government pumps too much money into the economy, it is trying to generate activity over and above potential output, which is impossible to sustain for long. Workers might put in overtime, and a factory might run extra hours for a while, but eventually the workers want a breather, and the machines need to shut down for maintenance. If there is more money floating around in the economy than there is supply of goods and services, the result wont be increased prosperity, but rather higher prices as people bid up the things they want to buy.

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The Clash of Liberal Wonks That Could Shape the Economy, Explained - The New York Times

The two most basic things that distinguish conservatives is, first, a devotion to constitutional government and, secondly, an equal devotion to the free market.

On the one hand, conservative politicians frequently point to the Constitution as the lodestar of their political thought and often call themselves constitutionalists. On the other hand, they profess proud support for economic freedom.

But when it comes to the issue of casino gambling, many politicians who claim to be conservatives all of a sudden come down with an identity crisis.

This Thursday, lawmakers in a Kentucky State Senate committee will consider a bill that will legalize so-called historical horse racing. The bill is designed as a response to a unanimous 7-0 decision by the Kentucky Supreme Court finding that historical horse racing slot machines were not legal on the grounds that they are were not parimutuel wagering on horse races as the horse tracks operating them had claimed.

But the self-professed conservatives pushing this legislation dont even try to hide the fact that it is unconstitutional. Kentuckys Constitution prohibits any gambling outside of pari-mutuel horse racing, charitable gaming and the Kentucky Lottery. Those pushing the bill not only ignore the states Constitution, but the recent courts decision.

The court laid down the five criteria for wagering to be considered pari-mutuel and found that historical racing slot machines fail the test:

Wagering at horse tracks abide by all five, but these machines do not, which make them more like slot machines than horse races.

The bill simply and clumsily defines non-parimutuel wagering as parimutuel wagering, using a definition that is in conflict with virtually every other definition of parimutuel in the country.

And not only does the bill thumb its nose at the court and the Constitution, it goes against every principle of free market economics ever conceived by continuing to give the exclusive right to operate the machines to a few wealthy horse tracks. The biggest recipient of this legislative largess is Churchill Downs, a publicly traded corporation.

The state has received relatively little revenue from the machines. Most of the money has made its way either to Churchill Downs out-of-state investors or into the pockets of wealthy race track owners.

Its something average Kentuckians should remember while theyre waiting for the next federal stimulus check.

Martin Cothran is senior policy analyst of The Family Foundation. He can be reached at 859-329-1919. To learn more about the organization, go to http://www.Kentuckyfamily.org.

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Conservatives in Frankfort are taking liberal positions - The Record

WESTLAKE, Ohio -- Cuyahoga Community College has earned a LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the new Liberal Arts and Technology building at the Westshore Campus in Westlake.

LEED certification is a nationally recognized benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. This is Tri-Cs seventh building to receive a LEED designation.

Westshores Health Careers and Sciences building earned a LEED Gold designation after it opened a decade ago. Development of the campus along Clemens Road in Westlake coincided with Tri-Cs creation of a sustainability plan.

The notion of building green has guided Westshore Campus since Day One, said David November, the colleges sustainability manager. In many ways, this campus represents the robust sustainability standards that Tri-C now brings to every project.

The Liberal Arts and Technology building opened in September 2019. The new building added more than 90,000 square feet of academic space to campus, including 30 classrooms and labs and numerous student support services.

Sustainability highlights of the new building include:

A more than 36 percent reduction in typical energy use due to LED lighting and efficient heating and cooling systems, bringing an estimated annual savings of $30,000

Equipment and plumbing fixtures designed to save more than 650,000 gallons of water per year -- the equivalent of 16,000 filled bathtubs

A stormwater plan that reduces the quantity and improves the quality of runoff

An emphasis on using local and recycled materials during construction

Establishment of a green cleaning policy and program

Tri-C also diverted 89 percent of construction waste from landfills through sorting and recycling during the 18-month project. Tri-C collaborated with Moody Nolan architects and Donleys construction on the building.

The new building at Westshore joins a growing list of Tri-C sites awarded LEED certification. Green buildings and grounds serve as key components of the colleges efforts to reduce its environmental impact.

The Bay Village Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library is among the libraries offering patrons the use of a Zoom Room for hosting virtual events. (Carol Kovach/special to cleveland.com)

Zoom Rooms: The Bay Village Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library is among the branches offering customers access to a Zoom Room that they can book for meetings, webinars and conferences.

The Zoom Rooms can accommodate up to 300 participants and can be reserved for up to two hours at a time. Zoom Rooms are available during regular hours of operation.

For assistance using the Zoom Rooms, call your local branch. After successfully booking a Zoom Room, library patrons will receive a confirmation email, along with a dedicated link for the meeting to share with participants.

Preventing crime: Westlake Porter Public Library and the Westlake Police Department are partnering to offer a program called Neighborhood Crime Prevention at 7 p.m. Feb. 16 via Zoom. Registration is required and participants will receive Zoom log-in information by email after registering.

In response to the recent string of home burglaries in Westlake, Lt. Jason Dancy of the WPD will offer information on ways to safeguard your home and property, as well as tips on spotting and helping to reduce crime in your neighborhood.

Visit westlakelibrary.org/events to register.

Black History Month Challenge: Citizens is partnering with EVERFI, a leading social impact education innovator, to present the EVERFI Black History Month Challenge during February. Its the first-of-its-kind national competition to help high school students across the country understand the Black American experience through historical perspectives.

The monthlong challenge, created by EVERFI and supported by companies nationwide, features four digital lessons and a capstone essay contest in which students share a plan for maintaining conversations about Black history year-round within their community.

Three winners will receive college scholarships totaling $20,000.

The Black History Month Challenge is designed to inspire students by telling stories about the Black experience in America, empower students through the counter-storytelling of Black perspectives across generations, elevate history as a lens to understand current events and transform students perception of the world around them.

Students will explore topics and events including Juneteenth, Affirmative Action and the protests and marches for civil rights and equality.

In the Black Business Titans lesson, students explore the history behind the racial wealth gap and how Black entrepreneurs and businesspeople are overcoming challenges every day.

In the lesson on Black Contributions to Medicine, students explore the roots of systemic racism in medical care and celebrate Black medical trailblazers historically and today.

In addition to supporting the Black History Month Challenge, Citizens works with EVERFI to provide College Bound Citizens, a digital education program for high school juniors and seniors that aims to help empower students to make wise financial decisions when planning for post-secondary education.

Visit citizens.everfi-next.net/welcome/bhm to learn more about the EVERFI Black History Month Challenge.

At the library: Westlake Porter Public Library has numerous programs planned for the coming week, all of which are subject to change. Check westlakelibrary.org or follow the library on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates.

All ages can participate in a live program, Foodies @ 11 Part Deux, live at 11 a.m. Feb. 17 on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube to test popular kitchen hacks.

Creative Writing for Adults meets at 7 p.m. Feb. 17 on Zoom. No experience is necessary, but participants must register to receive the link. A working camera and microphone are recommended.

Visit westlakelibrary.org/events for information on all programs and to register.

Information, please: Readers are invited to share information about themselves, their families and friends, organizations, church events, etc. from Bay Village, Rocky River and Westlake for the West Shore Chatter column, which I write on a freelance basis. Awards, honors, milestone birthdays or anniversaries and other items are welcome. Submit information at least 10 days before the requested publication date to carolkovach@hotmail.com.

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Liberal Arts and Technology building at Tri-C Westshore Campus honored for sustainability: West Shore Chatter - cleveland.com

A number of diverse and engaging lecture series in the College of Liberal Arts are underway this spring. Everything from history and art, to politics and social movements will be covered virtually for the University of Nevada, Reno campus and community. Many of the departments and programs are bringing in renowned guest speakers and performing artists to engage with the public, free of charge. Schedules vary from weekly, to biweekly and monthly. Review the liberal arts lecture series calendar for more information and to find a lecture that meets any interest.

I am very excited that so many of our departments and programs in the College of Liberal Arts have developed a series of lectures, events or programs providing year-long opportunities for our campus and local communities, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts Debra Moddelmog said. The variation of events give online audiences a chance to learn more about subjects of critical importance to our time, such as health in the time of a pandemic, activism and social justice, the Jewish experience in America, building legacies of equity and more.

Whether the series is in the form of a lecture, a panel discussion or a musical performance (e.g., the brilliant a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock), we are clearly dedicated as a college to improving understanding and opening up dialogue about our complex world.

New this year, the MFA program within the Department of Art presents the "Artist Lecture Series." Six guest artists have been invited to speak to virtual audiences throughout the spring 2021 semester. The series kicks off on Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. with Siobhan Arnold a mixed media artist from San Diego, California, who works with photography, textiles, sculpture and installation. Her work addresses the intersections of history/memory, gender and representation. Her most current work explores cross-cultural mythologies, archetypes, fairy tales and folklore from a contemporary perspective.

The Core Humanities program at the University is in its third season of "Thought on Tap" a public engagement series that brings together diverse faculty, staff, students and community members for important conversations around timely topics.

Each year is based on a different theme. The theme for 2021 is "Building legacies of " The series kicks off this spring on Feb. 11 at 5:30 p.m., with Building Legacies of Equity in Education.

In addition, the Core Humanities program also started a brand new Core Humanities Lecture Series which brings together scholars from across the country to share their research and expertise with students as well as members of the broader community. Each event focuses on a single theme, which connects to a specific Core Humanities course. In Spring 2021, there will be four events, which cover topics ranging from the role of women in the Middle Ages to laughter in contemporary films. The second event will be held Feb. 25 at 5:30 p.m., titled Medieval America: Feudalism and Liberalism in Nineteenth-Century U.S. Culture.

History in the Present is a monthly webinar series hosted by the Department of History that historicizes current events, shares cutting-edge research and aims to promote dialogue on issues of interest between the University and the broader community.

These are going to be really cool, Hugh Shapiro, associate professor of history, said. As historians, we work across disciplines and collaborate with a broad range of people outside of the University.

In addition to history faculty, museum curators, NGO leaders and experts on the environment and human rights will also be presenting in this webinar series. The second event will be held March 3 at noon, titled The Ongoing Ethical Debate on Looted Nazi and Holocaust-Era Books in the United States.

Second Tuesdays with Political Science, is gearing up for another lively semester of lectures. The series features guest panelists each month who will provide perspective on the momentous political and social events of the current environment. The first event this spring will be Feb. 9 at 4 p.m., titled Criminal Governance in the COVID-19 Era.

The School of the Arts is celebrating 60 years of the Performing Arts Series. Three exceptionally talented performing artists will join audiences live, virtually for one-of-a-kind, made just for the audience, performances. Each performance is ticketed and will allow for unlimited on-demand viewing for 14 days after the shows debut. Tickets are $15 for individual performances or $40 for a three-pack to attend all three of this springs events. Student tickets are free.The spring season kicks off with Goitse an award-winning, roof-raising Irish ensemble on Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. A cappella ensemble, Sweet Honey in the Rock , rooted in African American history and culture, will perform live on March 25 at 6 p.m. The season will finish with jazz singer Michael Mayo on April 22 at 6 p.m. For more information, visit the Performing Arts Series.Finally, the Department of Sociology is hosting a weekly series geared towards students. Socializing with Sociologists features a new host each week to discuss current events, help students tackle tough applications, work on mental health and sometimes just to have fun playing games. The series takes place every Monday at 5:30 p.m., which kicked off on Feb. 1 and will go through May 3.

The College of Liberal Arts lecture series calendar lists dates and times of scheduled events. All events are virtual and presented in Pacific Time. Many events are free and open to the public and some require advanced registration. Be sure to register for event links ahead of the scheduled event or lecture.

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The interrogation of Zara Mohammed on BBCs Womans Hour demonstrates the persistence of low media literacy regarding Islam and Muslim women at best, and an incitement of Islamophobia at worst.

BBC Radio 4s Womans Hour is immediately recognisable as one of the most forthrightly feminist programmes on air. Its why you would expect, as the youngest person and first ever woman to be elected head of the Muslim Council of Britain, Zara Mohammed would have been a natural and welcomed guest.

And maybe, for the most part, she was. That is until, their Twitter account uploaded a clip showing Emma Barnett persistently questioning an incredulous Zara on the number of female imams in Britain.

Not content with the answers given, the host embarked on an antagonistic tirade about how Islam was lagging behind in womens leadership. There are women priests and rabbis, she claimed, surely there must be female imams?

Youd be forgiven for thinking this was a deeply held conviction for Barnett, such was the strength of feeling behind the line of questioning. Youd also be forgiven for not realising this was in fact the same presenter who was described as a feminist who believes in equality for women, but, as an orthodox Jew, shes uncomfortable with female rabbis.

She went on, belittling previous Muslim Council leaders for daring to request that faith be recorded on the national census. If Muslims could be part of a focused campaign to get faith recognised in a once-a-decade questionnaire, why couldnt they keep meticulous records on the thousands of mosques and their imams, mainly volunteers, up and down the UK?

Cue a collective sigh. Even when a woman is leading the largest cross-section of British Muslim society, representing hundreds of mosques, we cant escape the allegation that were not doing enough to promote the leadership of women. You may well be the most accomplished, scholarly and talented Muslim woman in Britain, but if theres a scarf on your head youre probably still oppressed.

It seems to be white liberal feminisms unending quest to prove once and for all that Islam is an inferior and oppressive religion. The formula for enacting the trope is simple. First, you view Islam through a lens of your own choosing in this case, you dont know exactly what an imam is or how Muslim prayer works, but it cant be too different from Christianity and Judaism, and there arent any female imams so it must be a problem. Youve added 2 to 2, and made 500. Second, you belligerently demand unsuspecting followers to churn out explanation upon justification after apology for what youve decided to believe about them.

The worst part? Some dont even realise theyre doing it.

The issue remains that there isnt a like-for-like comparison that you can use for clerical or religious figures in Islam, Christianity and Judaism. An imam doesnt hold the religious authority that priests or rabbis do. In this decentralised system, imams will normally be people who can recite and lead prayer. Where there are positions of knowledge and scholarship in Islam, they are equally accessible to both Muslim men and women.

Indeed, Sheikh Akram Nadwi is a scholar who has compiled volume upon volume of examples of where Muslim women acquired knowledge and transmitted it, to say nothing about their contributions in fields like recitation, translation and the creation of legal rulings.

Many women and religious minorities whose contributions arent well known or given space have sought to reclaim that space within mosques and reassert these rich traditions of female scholarship. What a shame then, that it is these women who are questioned and treated as collaborators in their own oppression.

In this environment, leading questions wont be taken in good faith. Its this that has incensed Muslim women in particular, who refuse to complete the mental gymnastics it takes to accept lines of questioning (designed to trip us up) with simpering generosity.

No matter how many articles, research papers or headlines are written about Islam, media literacy on the faith remains despondently low and presenters understand very little. Its one of the reasons why the Muslim Council of Britain set up theCentre for Media Monitoring.

Had Barnett attempted even the slightest bit of research or been minded to give Zara a fair hearing on the issue of womens leadership, she would have found out that the majority of MCBs projects have, in the last four years, been led by women.

Perhaps she would have been surprised to note that aconference of entirely women speakers was hosted forInternational Womens Day two years ago, or that it was followed by anationwide survey onwomens access to mosques.

Maybe, in her zeal to admonish a Muslim woman about the lack of female leadership in mosques, she might have forgotten that MCBs continually successfulWomen in Mosques Development Programme has promoted exactly that since 2018. But how would she remember, when programmes like Womans Hour wont give the representatives of these projects the time of day to begin with?

So, no, there may not be female imams in mainstream mosques, but theres nothing to stop you going into one and finding a woman leading other women in prayer, holding Quran classes or teaching a new generation of scholars. You could definitely argue that there isnt enough being done to accommodate women, but this is a challenge that many Muslim women have taken head on.

Frankly, the last thing we need is people who dont understand our situation to bulldoze over all the hard work being done to focus on a non-existent problem like female imams.

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of TRT World.

We welcome all pitches and submissions to TRT World Opinion please send them via email, to opinion.editorial@trtworld.com

Source: TRT World

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