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A sitting Penrith Councillor has quit the Liberal Party ahead of the September elections, declaring there is no place for party politics in local government.

Councillor Brian Cartwright, who was elected during the 2018 by-election, recently left the party blaming factional politics for his exit.

I dont believe there should be any party politics in local government, I dont think thats necessarily good for the community, he said.

But theres absolutely no place for factional politics at any time, and thats what were finding at the moment backroom deals, potential branch stacking, its not good for anybody and I just dont want to be a part of that.

While he was not naive to the world of politics, Cr Cartwright claimed factions within the party over the last few months, which saw him blindsided and dumped from Councillor Mark Davies ticket, had taken their toll.

Weve got Council, State, Federal elections all coming up in the next 12 to 18 months or so, so theyre playing the long game, theyre trying to position their pieces on the board so they can get control of the branches and the conferences so then they can determine who gets pre-selection, he said.

So if they can control pre-selection, then they can control who the candidates are going to be for all the upcoming elections.

They dont care if there are sitting Councillors or sitting State or Federal members, these people theyll burn the village just to achieve their own objectives regardless of the damage they cause along the way.

Cr Cartwright, who has also opted not to contest the September 4 election as an independent, suggested reforms were needed across the board.

However, when the Weekender approached the Office of Local Government for comment, it dodged the question, saying it was a matter entirely for the Liberal Party.

When asked if he denied any sort of drama behind the scenes, Cr Davies said: Theres always the rough and tumble of politics.

Thats just the nature of it, but when someone doesnt end up getting a guernsey on your ticket and they expected to, obviously hes not happy, I understand that, but thats politics, its not my decision on everything, he said.

Ive been on Council for 17 years so far, and I think Brians been on for two years, so I think Ive got a longer track record of getting along with my colleagues than what he does.

Cr Davies revealed he had withdrawn his nomination to challenge fellow Liberal Melissa McIntosh for the seat of Lindsay, and said his political aspirations were to get elected in September.

Labor veteran Councillor Greg Davies, who flagged earlier this year that he would not contest the elections on a Labor Party ticket, said that decision had nothing to do with his political allegiance but rather uncertainly about whether he would run at all.

Theres no dramas in the [Labor] Party, he said.

I hadnt made my mind up by pre-selections.

He disagreed with the notion of removing party politics from local government, suggesting it would create difficulties in decision making.

It is unclear who the Liberal Party will endorse to replace Cr Cartwrights position, with Cr Davies saying it was yet to be confirmed.

Cr Cartwright said he did not go public to lecture the Liberal Party on how to do its job, but said it was important the public was aware of the issues.

Its just to raise awareness within the community about whats happening in the upcoming elections, he said.

The Weekender understands the Liberal Party will finalise its candidates for the election in the coming weeks.

Alena Higgins is the Weekenders Senior News Reporter, primarily covering courts and Council issues.

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Councillor quits Liberals, says party politics rife ahead of Local Government Election in September The Western Weekender - The Western Weekender

Every time there are crowds of protestors in a foreign land, theres a rush of U.S. commentators hoping to spin your perceptions of the protests purpose and meaningnot so much for or against the protestorsasin favor of the U.S. commentators own political agendas.

Inlast weeks column, I mentioned the odd spectacle ofTheNew YorkTimescorrectly calling (some of)Cubas current wave of protests anti-government while Fox News (and libertarian Anthony Fisher) were uncharacteristically eager to tamp down the implications of the protests, their rough consensus being that the protestsmight be anti-communistbut were not per se anti-government, as if it makes much sense to split hairs about that in a place like communist-run Cuba.

The bland Biden administration initially appeared to endorse the view that the protests were narrow inscopeobjecting to COVID lockdowns, COVIDspread, and shortagesbut the administrationhassince, to its credit, clarified that (some of) the protests are both anti-government and anti-communism and that communismand socialism to bootare failing systems. Good for Biden.

But awave of lefty academics on Twitter was quick to assert that the real meaning of the protests (as supposedly attested by a few flags and placards in the crowds) ispro-communist(at least one big rally has been)and thatthe problem with the current Cuban regime is that it hasntheld true to the principles of the revolution. The tweeters can hope thats true, and you cant blame them for spotting the flags and slogans they prefer, but keep in mind that rebellious crowdsoften express their outrage in the language of the current regime, even ifthey dont particularly want that regimesticking around.It gives them a sort of common language and decreases their odds of getting shot.

The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989in China were a jumble of pro-democracy denunciations of the Communist Party and almost-Maoist-sounding accusations that the Party had betrayed the core precepts of Marxism and thus fallen into corruption. Accusations of hypocrisy are powerful stuff for protest purposes, even when the protestorswouldnt necessarily like consistent adherence to the principles being violated. The Tiananmen protestors abutted thoroughly Chinese calls for social democracy to the occasionalU.S.-friendlyStatue of Liberty symbol, and(to the bafflement of some leftists) there have been American flags amidst the Cuban protestors, too.

Confusion on the leftshouldntbe taken as a sweeping endorsement of the U.S. governments policies toward Cuba,either,which at the moment include a wrongheaded triple-whammy of economic blockade, patrol boats preventing refugee emigration, and the occasional very-quiet murmur in favor of military intervention (which coincidentally or not might be made easier by the toppling of the nearbygovernment of Haiti bywhat appear to be fighters trained in Colombia with U.S. aidpartlyduring Haiti-molesting Bill Clintons presidency).None of those policies are libertarian or market-friendly.

If journalism is, as they say, the first draft of history, that first draft is a mess compared to what tends to solidify in the history books years later,isnt it?For now, you can choose among major media telling you the Cuba protests are anti-government, pro-government, anti-communist, pro-communist, anti-U.S.-blockade, or a purely internal matter depending on your political preferences, especially if you steer clear of uncertainty and nuance.

Is the mainstream consensuscoincidentally or not the sort of consensus the moderatesat the U.S. intelligence agencies tend to likethat we want gentle pressure on the Cuban government, not sudden violentupheaval, and forgoodnesssake not so much upheaval that the masses everywherein the worldmight start getting revolutionary ideas?

There have been trickier analytical morasses across the world in the past decade or so,though,including theories galore about what the Arab Spring meant for the future of freedom in that region, whether the Obama administration dropped the ball by not supporting massive Iranian anti-government protests on its watch (Biden and his colleagues being eager at the time towork out an expensive arms control bribe/agreement with the regime), and whether various subsets of the broader Chinese population from Tibet to Taiwan have any hope of making common cause against Beijing. (Given how reluctant people are to make sweeping,abstract anti-Communist arguments today, we may have to make do with little empirical tidbits of what the future could hold such asthe new documentary about unrest in Hong Kong that was unexpectedly unveiled at Cannes.)

The global struggle against communismleaves us with countless tricky strategic, pragmatic questions, from whether the Color Revolutionsof Eastern Europe were authentic (and how much that matters) to whether William Shatners new talkshow on RT (formerly Russia Today),calledI Dont Understand, will make him an unwitting tool of Russian propaganda. Im inclined to think he shouldnt do the showon that channel, butthen, I think PBS should cease to exist, as a matter of anti-governmentprinciple.

The world makes so much more sense if you drop the right/left tribalism and the nationalist tribalism and adopt consistent anti-government principles:End the blockadeof Cuba. End communism. End government of all stripes, everywhere, including here, even if means saying no to some charming,flag-waving social democrat protestors.Stick to property rights, a functioning price system, and no or, if you insist, very littlegovernment.

Along the way, watch for new protest-and-rebellion opportunities. A study suggests two-thirds of Southern Republicans would like to secede from the U.S. Let them go, and encourage others from all factions to follow. Surely,weariness with lockdowns is also turning into a political-spectrum-spanning educational opportunity about the limits of the publics patience with regulation. Does anyone (who is not a pro-government fanatic) relish the thought of an immense government crackdown on, say,bootleg liquor orhomes with peeling paint on their exteriors after all that government has already put us through in the past year and a half?Itshould leave us alone now.

New talk of the U.S. requiring women to register for the draft could somehow turninto just another right vs.left moment, but it wouldmake a lot more senseif it became amoment that united the left (out of anti-militarism), the right (out of anti-feminism), the far right (out of anti-imperialism), libertarians (out of opposition to all coercion), and conventional civil libertarians against government (and particularly against the military-industrial complex).I look forward to all the usual bland intellectuals and media outlets trying to spin that one if it gets out of control, struggling to book the two sides of the issue on the usual TV shows.

Itsenough to make you hope Selective Service triesand if the surprise result is the whole world united against establishment-liberal feminists-for-the-military(Hillary hawks,if you will), so be it. The hippies of old wouldve understood. Even me admitting that and seeing those hippiesas natural allies means a wall of some kind is crumbling.Be rebel girls, notanyonesestablishment weapons.

Todd Seavey is the author ofLibertarianism for Beginnersand is on Twitter at@ToddSeavey.

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Protest and Contest - Splice Today

TORONTO -- Speculation about a federal election is growing as Canada's federal party leaders hold campaign-style events across the country. On this weeks episode of Trend Line, Nanos Research's Nik Nanos breaks down where the opposition leaders stand in popular support.

Erin O'Toole

According to Nanos, the Conservative leader's path to power runs directly through Ontario. If O'Toole can't win the battleground ridings in Canada's most populous province, it is "hard to see a scenario" where he will be able to defeat Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"They have to really wage war on the ground in Ontario in order to pick up support," said Nanos.

Jagmeet Singh

Canadians generally have a positive view of the NDP leader, but that didn't translate to additional support in the 2019 federal election. So what does Jagmeet Singh have to change to mount a serious challenge in the next campaign?

Nanos says Singh needs to recapture some "old-style NDP magic from Jack Layton" because the party may benefit from strategic voting, but warned the New Democrats will still face significant challenges in Quebec.

Annamie Paul

Canada's Green Party has been in the news for all the wrong reasons over the past month, and Nanos warns that Annamie Paul needs to quell infighting in the party, which has eroded public goodwill from her leadership campaign.

Nanos says that voting Green was a choice "three out of every 10 Canadians would consider," but the current infighting has "diminished the enthusiasm."

Yves-Francois Blanchet

The Bloc Quebecois made strong gains in the last federal election, and that support came primarily at the expense of the NDP. The challenge for Yves-Francois Blanchet in the next election will be to keep the Liberals at bay, with Nanos warning Trudeau's party could be extremely competitive in a number of races in Quebec.

"The Liberals have been eating the Bloc's lunch," warned Nanos. "They've been basically stealing a lot of the planks that naturally would be strengths for the Bloc."

Listen to the full episode of Trend Line with CTVNews.ca's Michael Stittle and Nanos Research's Nik Nanos wherever you get your podcasts or by clicking on the video at the top of this article.

Read more:
If the Liberals are weighing an election, how does the opposition stack up? - CTV News

More than 100,000 people rallied across France on Saturday to protest President Emmanuel Macrons plans torequire a Covid-19 health pass to access public places such as cafs and cinemas starting next week. In addition to traditional concerns about curtailed civil liberties, conspiracy theories have fuelled the opposition to making proof of vaccination obligatory.

Starting July 21, a health pass (pass sanitaire) will be needed to access any of Frances leisure and cultural venues serving more than 50 people, including cinemas and museums. From the beginning of August, the pass will be required on any long-distance public transport, in shopping centres or at cafs and restaurants including on Frances famed outdoor terraces.

The pass must either include the QR code that proves someone has been fully vaccinated in France or results from a negative PCR or antigen test taken in the previous 48 hours.

Frances Covid-19 infection rate has reboundedalarmingly as the more contagious Delta variant has spread, with the average number of new cases confirmed per day soaring to nearly 11,000 from fewer than 2,000 in late June. The uptick prompted Macron to announce the health pass restrictions on July 12.

Too far

Butthe movehas provoked furious opposition among manyin France: some137 rallies took place across the country on Saturday, gathering nearly 114,000 demonstrators(including 18,000 in Paris), according to the interior ministry.

Many appeared to have taken to the streets out of alibertarianbelief that obliging people to be vaccinated if they want to accesspublic venues and activitiesis aninfringementon their basic rights.In no way does a president have the right to decide on my individual health, one Paris protester, who gave her name as Chrystelle, told Reuters.

Lucien, a young shop manager demonstrating in Paris, told AP he was by no means ananti-vaxxerbut that the state should not effectively coerce people to getinoculated.The government is going toofar, he said.

Some mainstream politicians have echoedthese arguments. Franois-Xavier Bellamy, a prominent young MEP for the conservativeLes Rpublicainsparty, and Loc Herv, vice-president of the SenatesCentristesbloc, penned a joint opinion piece in Le Figaro this week in which they laid out their reasons for opposing the measure.

Opposing the health pass does not make someone an anti-vaxxer, they wrote. The essential problem with the pass is that, for the first time in our history, people will have to present a document in order to do the most simple, ordinary things.

Extremes on both sides

But most of the political opposition to the health pass has come from extremes on both sides of the political spectrum. Macrons plans mark a backward step for personal freedoms,said leader of the far-rightNational Rally (Rassemblement Nationalor RN) party,Marine Le Pen,earlier this week. The health pass is an abuse of power,thunderedJean-Luc-Mlenchon, leader of the extreme-leftFrance Unbowed (La France Insoumiseor LFI).

LFI firebrand Franois Ruffin went further on Friday as he urged people to rally, characterisingthe health pass as a means of humiliation coming from an absolute monarchy in the form of Macrons government. Florian Philippot, Le Pens former right-hand man and leader of the right-wing populistLes Patriotesparty,declaredahead of Saturdays protests that they woulddemonstrate the power of the people in the face of a disgrace.

Various populistshave argued against the health pass on civil libertarian grounds, avoiding anti-vax statements. But many of Saturdays protesters thought differently.

Tellingly, when Philippot was addressing the Paris rally and introduced a man called Benjamin onto the stage, saying, Hegot vaccinated, but that was hischoice,there was an awkward moment of hesitation in the crowd,Le Figaro reported. It then erupted into cheers when Philippotsaid, But hes against the health pass! asBenjamin ripped up his vaccination certificate.

Embedded in the crowd, LeFigarosreporterrepeatedly overheardconspiracytheories such as that the pandemic wasorchestrated in advance and its all to make money for the laboratories. When Richard Boutry a former France Tlvisionsjournalist who now tours the country propagatingconspiracy and anti-vax ideas arrived on the scene, many demonstratorschantedhis nickname: Ricardo! Ricardo!

Were members of the Resistance; youve only just go to look at what happened under Vichy one minute different people have different rights, the next a demonstrator told Le Figaros reporter one of several comparisons he heard to the Nazi Occupation.

On Friday night, a vaccination centre in rural southeastern France was broken into and vandalised with the Cross of Lorraine (a symbol of the French Resistance) and graffiti saying Vaccination = genocide and 1940,presumably a reference to the year theVichy regime was founded.

I feel there were likely fewer avowed and strident civilian libertarians than there were conspiracists at these demonstrations, said Andrew Smith, a professor of French politics at the University of Chichester.

French anti-vaxxers likening themselves to the Resistanceconstitutes a worrying manipulation of history,he continued.

It also shows something very specifically French about the anti-vax movement in the country.That language aboutdefeat, collaboration and Nazism its a big difference from what you see in Anglo world, where Nazis are, of course, often the bad guys many people evoke but its much more abstract.

Rise of QAnon

Polling data shows thatFrench anti-vax sentimenthaswanedas thevaccinationrollout proceeded in the first half of the year. Nevertheless, anOpinionWaysurvey published in May found that 20 percent of French adults would turn down a jabwhile13 percent are undecided.

The French Academy of Medicine has said the country needs 90 percent of its adult population to be fully vaccinated toreceive herd immunity and defeatCovid-19.

The popularity ofFrenchpseudo-documentaryHold-Upshows that Covid disinformation has a big audience inthis country.Endorsing anarrayof debunked claims, the online film got more than 2.5 million views after its release in November, with several famous faces including iconic actress Sophie Marceau sharing the video.

It is in this context that the QAnon conspiracist phenomenon which weaves falsehoods about the coronavirus into a broader tapestryof fantasy, including warning of a worldwide cannibalistic cabal of paedophiles hasgrownin France over the past year, boosted byFrench-languagemisinformation websites such as DQodeurs and FranceSoir (a renowned broadsheet in the years after theWorld War II,which closed in 2012 before re-emerging two years ago as a conspiracist Internet publication).

READ MORE:'Stakes are high as QAnon conspiracy phenomenon emerges in France

A boon for Macron?

Nevertheless, conspiracy theories remain a marginal force in French society. Most people in France see that hard work and sensible policies are the route out of the pandemic, not conspiracies, Andrew Smith said.

It seems most Frenchcitizenssee Macrons plan as one such sensible policy: An Ipsos-Storia Sterna poll published on Friday showed that 60 percent of French people favour the health pass and the accompanying plan to oblige all health workersto be vaccinated.

And the pass may well prove to have beena politically expedient move for Macron ahead of the presidentialelectionnext April. When Macron made his announcement on Monday, plenty of people saw it as partly a public health measure but also a campaign message for the presidential elections, observed Paul Smith, a professor of French politics at Nottingham University.

Macrons health passcould beespecially effective at winning over moderate voters who see him charting France a path out of the Covid nightmare and see themselvesas part ofa silent majoritystanding against both the far left and the far right, said Andrew Smith:This policy changes the terrain of the battleground. The traditional right- and left-wing partiesLes Rpublicainsand theParti Socialistewill not and cannot challenge Macron on taking a measured, sensible approach to the pandemic.

You dont win the presidency through 117,000 people spread across the streets of France, Andrew Smith observed.You win through sensible, evidence-based policy to end the pandemic and restart the economy.

Original post:
Conspiracy theories fuel French opposition to Covid-19 health pass - FRANCE 24 English

The computer and the Internet are perhaps the most powerful technical duo we have today. The access to the information we have thanks to the network of networks, combined with the increased capabilities of todays home computers, we can be in a world that years ago was just science fiction.

It is clear that man, who is a playful being, uses, for example, the capabilities of current computers to create all kinds of games, but when the Internet came into our lives, things became more changeable and more powerful. For example, with the pandemic, the sites where video games are played have grown exponentially. Incarceration has accomplished what no promotion or advertising could, which is why it is now so common to know many places where all kinds of video games are played.

It is clear that chess cannot ignore this, and although there are already specialized sites for playing online chess, many of them have become very popular. Today we are going to talk about three of the best places to play chess, which can be used 24 hours a day and that allow you to study, play and practice the great game of science. Two of these sites are commercial and the other one is free, so well see if there are any major differences between them.

Were talking about Chess.com, Chess24.com and LiChess.org. They all allow chess players to sign up for free, a matter that only takes a few minutes. Once someone gets to these sites, there is a list of activities where you can play against a computer at different levels, study tactical situations, enter the part where we can challenge and play with other people who may be in any part of the world. In addition, we can play an incredible number of rhythms, from the slowest (not very popular), to those in which we have a meditation time of no more than one minute in the whole game (bullet rhythm, very popular, to all this).

Tournaments can also be organized on these sites and the system keeps track of who is playing against, the results achieved in the games played and the list of results. The wiggle room for these programs is really amazing because the organizers leave the program practically to solve everything. Come on, there is an anti-cheat system that analyzes the games played by humans and notes how close the players movements are to a powerful chess program. If there are a lot of matches, the system will likely identify those who appear to be using outside help and even exclude them from the tournament being played.

On commercial sites, those who pay their monthly fee, which is about $8 per month, have access to more chapters and information than those with a free account. However, none of the three sites we reviewed are limited to players in their chess games. In fact, it must be said, on these sites, the system keeps an account of the games played by each member, their scores, as well as memorizing the full games, making this a library that we can refer to for our progress

LiChess.org is free and does not charge anyone any fees. Everyone who signs up has all the features of the system and it is good to start on this site if you do not want to shell out any amount of money. On the other hand, Chess.com and Chess24.com have premium (paid) accounts, and provide more information for those who register and pay. There are video classes for paid subscribers, tournaments, access to occasionally play with big masters, etc.

In the opinion of the writer, there are no significant differences between these sites, especially when it comes to online gaming. For classes, videos and more specialized information, paid sites are great for the quality of the material they offer but nevertheless LiChess.org has endless alternatives that dont make it bad, on the contrary, it is probably the best platform to get started in the chess world Online.

But I will give the reader, or reader, a recommendation: sign up for these sites and see which one works for you, which one seems easier to use. Play constantly and you will soon see that it becomes addictive (healthy).

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Where do you play chess online? - thedailyguardian.net - thedailyguardian.net