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David AxelrodDavid AxelrodWhat to know ahead of a verdict in Palin vs NYT case Tester knocks Democrats on rural outreach The Memo: No more 'the former guy' as Biden tackles Trump head-on MORE,formersenior adviser in the Obama administration, is stepping down as the director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago in 2023, the school and Axelrod announced Tuesday.

Theformer Obamastrategist in 2013helped launch the institute,which touts a mission of being committed to fostering in our students a passion for public service, meaningful dialogue and active engagement in our democracy, according tothe University of Chicago'sannouncement.

The school saidthatAxelrodwill step down from his role in January 2023 and becomea senior fellow at the institute and the chair of its advisory board.

It has been a joy to serve as the founding director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. Next year, our 10th, I'll be stepping back from that role, but not from @UChiPolitics.If you want hope, spend a few hours w/the young people I've encountered. What a gift!!tweetedAxelrod, who is also an alumnus of the school.

University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos said in a statement that Axelrod was the ideal person to launch the Institute.

Davids leadership of the IOP has driven its incredible growth and success over the past decade, and has been pivotal to cultivating interest in, and engagement with, local, national and global politics as a central tenet of student life at the University, particularly in the College, Alivisatos said.

The institute has provided thousands of paid internships to students interested in working in public service and politics, hosted speakers includingformer Presidents Obama and Carter and Canadian Prime Minister Justin TrudeauJustin Pierre James TrudeauTrudeau invokes emergency powers to end trucker protests Overnight Health Care DC ending mask, vaccine mandates Website that raised millions for 'Freedom Convoy' protests goes offline after possible hack MORE, and provideda variety ofprograms on campus, the universitys news release noted.

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Axelrod stepping down as director of politics institute at University of Chicago | TheHill - The Hill

With the row over hijab escalating in Karnataka, liberals are increasingly getting exposed for their moral cowardice and cringe-worthy treachery.

Moral cowardice, because they refuse to condemn something that is manifestly evilhijab. Intended to subjugate women, its biggest supporters are the most reactionary sections in the Muslim community. But our liberals dont feel any shame in getting bracketed with the misogynistic mullahs.

Liberals are also treacherous because they have turned their backs on individual liberty. For hijab and burqa (just like purdah among the Hindus) are the antithesis of liberty; they are some of the most repressive instruments devised to keep women as chattel and cattle.

The Basavaraj Bommai government, on the other hand, has shown remarkable courage against the fury of the liberals who are supporting Muslim fundamentalists and fueling the movement against hijab ban. The liberals are not just supporting the fanatical ulema but also deploying their considerable scholarship and articulation to present hijab as a matter of choice, even a symbol of protest. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, for instance, tweeted, Let the girls in. Let them study. Let THEM decide. As if Muslim girls and women take all their decisions!

It would be instructive here to know about the horrific impact that religious dogma and age-old customs have on women of all faiths. In a paper for the Indian Journal of Social work, Cromwell Crawford, Professor at the Department of Religion, University of Hawaii, described Raja Ram Mohun Roys heroic fight for the abolition of sati.

Crawford wrote, The Rajas anti-sati campaign began in 1811-12 while stationed in Rangpur. The fiery death of his sister-in-law (1812) forged in him a determination to save all the sisters of his land from this unworthy rite. Among his early efforts he used to frequent the cremation grounds in the Calcutta area in order to dissuade women who were about to sacrifice their lives. The Asiatic Journal reports that on one occasion he got the priests to light the fire prior to the woman ascending the pile, hoping that the flames would intimidate her. He insisted that this procedure was directed by the scriptures. Contrary to his expectations, one of the wives courageously walked into the flames and was followed by the second. As she stood before the flames, she addressed the bystanders with great animation: You have just seen my husbands first wife perform the duty incumbent on her, and will now see me follow her example. Henceforward, I pray, do not attempt to prevent Hindu women from burning, otherwise our curse will be upon you.

Even in Independent India, when social reform was resisted. Hindu Code Bills, for instance, were fiercely opposed by the champions of Hindus in politics. In fact, the Hindi satirist Hari Shankar Parsai noted with astonishment that even some women were against the Bills which were intended to, and did, emancipate women!

Thankfully, Tharoor was not Roys contemporary, otherwise he would have advised the great social reformer to let women do what they wanted to do. Let THEM decide.

Contrast this with the fight the women and men in Muslim countries are putting up to get rid of the chains like dress codes imposed by Islamic fundamentalists. When the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa authorities imposed abaya, a garment that covers a womans body from head to toe, on girl students to wear in the capital Peshawar and Haripur, another city in the province, it was widely opposed in the entire Pakistan.

Senator Sherry Rehman said, This is certainly not a promise that any progressive party makes. She told a German media outfit, It reminds us of the times of the Zia regime, when veiling in public offices, schools and television was made legal and the norm, which we see has been reversed.

Many leaders of the Prime Minister Imran Khans Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf (PTI) also publicly criticized this move. Ali Khan Tareen, a young PTI politician, while slamming the directive, asked girls to have pepper spray instead of chadors [a burqa-like garment].

This in a theocratic nation, in a country where armed jihadists slaughter at will and fundamentalists enjoy support in the armed forces. And here, in the worlds largest democracy, liberals are shamelessly trying to placate the most retrograde sections of the Muslim community.

Further, the liberals are also misleading the country and society. Tharoor says, Its been a strength of India that everyone is free to wear what they want. If the hijab is disallowed, what about the Sikh turban? The Hindus forehead mark?

Evidently, either the learned politician is not aware of the essential practices doctrine that the Supreme Court conceived and abides by or he tends to ignore this doctrine. The Sikh turban is an essential part of the faith; if a Sikh is disallowed to wear a turban, it would be an infringement of his religious rights; hence Sikh soldiers are allowed to wear them. The teeka, however, is not an essential part of Hinduism; no religious right is violated if a Hindu is stopped from having a teeka; therefore, no Hindu soldier applies teeka while on duty.

This doctrine informed the apex courts 2018 Sabarimala verdict which riled many a Hindu medievalist. Wisdom Foundation director-general Zeenat Shaukat Ali has alluded to hijab being non-essential part of Islam. She argued in The Times of India (February 10) that the Quran doesnt stipulate hijab for women: The words burqa, abaya, niqab, etc., are unfamiliar to the Quran.

Yet, liberals are trying to portray the girls donning hijab as rebels. In the liberals Orwellian universe, chains like hijab and burqa have become the symbols of liberty and submission to the medievalist mullah, rebellion. Slavery is freedom and freedom is slavery.

Views expressed above are the author's own.

END OF ARTICLE

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Hijab is symbol of liberals Orwellian universe - The Times of India Blog

Victorian opposition leader Matthew Guy and four of his colleagues have been fined for not wearing masks at an indoor event in the first week of parliament.

In photographs posted to social media, Mr Guy and other coalition MPs were pictured with former AFL coach Kevin Sheedy not wearing masks last Tuesday, the first sitting day of the year.

Hear more on the investigation in the video above

Mr Guy confirmed late on Monday that Victoria Police had issued fines to him and coalition MPs Peter Walsh, David Davis, Gary Blackwood and Melina Bath for failing to wear a face mask in an indoor setting.

On Tuesday, Victoria Police confirmed each fine issued was for $100.

Wearing a mask is required in all Victorian workplaces, including state parliament, unless rising to speak in either chamber or eating or drinking.

He claimed he had a coffee with him during the speech, as did several other MPs, while others took their mask off for the photos.

A Parliament of Victoria work health and safety memo sent on Tuesday reminded MPs and staff of the continuing requirement for masks to be worn in the workplace.

In a statement on Monday, Mr Guy said the Victorian Liberals and Nationals cooperated with Victoria Police in relation to this matter and accordingly the fines will be paid promptly.

The Victorian Liberals and Nationals will continue to advocate for the removal of face mask mandates in low-risk settings so we can begin to recover, rebuild and move forward, the statement said.

Premier Daniel Andrews, who was fined $400 in October last year after he was filmed arriving at parliament not wearing a mask on two occasions, denied the rules were confusing.

The premier also rejected the notion images of their unmasked political opponents were referred to Victoria Police by Labor after they were raised in the lower house during Tuesdays heated Question Time.

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Victorian opposition leader Matthew Guy, Liberal MPs fined over maskless meeting with AFL legend Kevin Sheedy - 7NEWS

Iran hands in its final package of proposals and says key decisions require political action from Western countries.

Tehran, Iran Iran has said any potential breakthrough in Vienna talks aimed at restoring its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers rests on political decisions by Western nations, after handing in its own final proposals.

Its better for Iran if theres an agreement in Vienna and sanctions are lifted today rather than tomorrow, said Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in a news conference with his Irish counterpart Simon Coveney in Tehran on Monday.

So we are in a hurry for a good agreement, but it must be within the framework of logical talks and to achieve the rights of the Iranian nation, he added.

The Iranian foreign minister also called on the United States and the European signatories of the nuclear deal to stop playing with text and time of an agreement and display their political will.

Earlier on Monday, Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council, said in a tweet that the talks in the Austrian capital have reached a stage where an outcome could be announced, depending on the US position.

Shamkhani also said he held a phone call with Irans chief negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, on Sunday which reinforced his view that the Iranian team faces a tough challenge in sticking to its agenda, and that Western parties continue to make a show of political will to evade their commitments.

This comes shortly after Wang Qun, Chinas top negotiator, confirmed that Iran has offered its final package of proposals in response to a previous Western package, in what he called the final stage of the talks that began in April 2021.

The eighth round of the talks, which appears likely to be the last, is expected to yield results in the next few weeks as Western parties maintain very limited time is left to save the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Washington unilaterally abandoned the accord in 2018 and imposed harsh sanctions on Iran that remain in place. In response, Iran advanced its nuclear programme and is now using improved centrifuges to enrich uranium up to 60 percent. It has consistently maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful.

All sides have concurred the talks have progressed in recent weeks. Mikhail Ulyanov, Russias chief negotiator, said in a tweet on Sunday that all assessments were positive following a meeting with US, European, and Chinese representatives without Iran.

Iran still refuses to negotiate directly with the US as long as Washington remains outside the JCPOA.

After a meeting with Amirabdollahian, the Irish foreign minister also met President Ebrahim Raisi.

Coveney was quoted by the Iranian presidents website as saying he understands Irans distrust of the US.

Ireland believes that necessary guarantees need to be given to Iran as part of the current talks so the deal can be restored, he said, in reference to Irans demands for guarantees the US will not renege on the accord again, and a period to verify the lifting of sanctions.

What we emphasise on in these talks is that sanctions need to be lifted in reality and the rights of the Iranian nation must be respected, Raisi told him.

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Iran says outcome of Vienna talks hinges on Western decisions - Al Jazeera English

Marathon talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal have hit a new roadblock, with Iran accusing the US of refusing to make the necessary political decisions to entrench the agreement in international law or to broaden the scope of economic sanctions that would be lifted.

The issue has dogged the talks in Vienna between the west, Russia, Iran and China which have been under way since February from the outset. There is no sign that the eighth round of negotiations, once intended to be the final round, has reached the breakthrough some had been expecting.

Ali Shamkhani, the hardline secretary of Irans national security council, in a tweet issued in multiple languages, declared after speaking to his governments negotiators that progress was becoming more and more difficult.

Expressing his frustration at the delays, he said: The Vienna negotiations had reached a point where the outcome could be described definitively without the need for guesswork.

A US political decision to accept the deal or refrain from accepting the requirements of a credible and lasting agreement based on the principles accepted in the nuclear agreement can replace speculation.

The US, he said, kept proposing new initiatives essentially designed to evade their commitments.

The foreign ministry spokesperson, Saeed Khatibzadeh, at his weekly press conference tried to calm the atmosphere by saying he had spoken to Irans chief negotiator in Vienna, Ali Bagheri, and that he had been assured the position was neither one of flowers and nightingales, nor one of rocks and thorns. But, he added, the onus lay on the US to accept Irans terms.

Asked what guarantees Iran was seeking, Khatibzadeh said: The United States is not trustworthy and therefore objective guarantees must be obtained so that international law and relations are not again mocked by the US government.

He added that all sanctions should be lifted at the UN security council. It does not matter what the title of the sanctions is since they were applied with a false label, Khatibzadeh said.

He stressed that any agreement on the release of political prisoners, including US dual-nationals held in Iranian jails, was discussed only in parallel with the nuclear talks.

Prof Mohammad Marandi, an Iranian analyst in Vienna thought to be close to the government, also claimed the tensions centred on the range of sanctions that would be lifted as part of the deal. Iran is pushing for all sanctions to be lifted, but the US says some sanctions are linked to human rights and terrorists abuses, and are not linked to the nuclear deal.

Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian ambassador at the talks, adopted a less pessimistic tone. He said the discussions were at a final stage and that significant progress had been made. But he has tended to adopt a more positive outlook, adopting a near role of mediator between the US and Iran, one he has maintained despite tensions over Ukraine. Wang Qun, Chinas ambassador to the UN in Vienna, also broke silence at the weekend to say the talks were at a concluding stage.

The 20-page draft agreement with annexes is largely written, but the outstanding issues show an absolute determination by the Iranian regime to ensure that it appears to emerge from the talks victoriously, having withstood the might of US sanctions.

Joe Biden, distracted by the Ukraine crisis, is already facing mounting political resistance from US Republican senators who insist that the president cannot evade Congress by refusing to put any new agreement to a vote. Democrats have said that if the deal was put to the Senate for approval, they did not think the necessary 60 senators would vote to reject it. The Senate is split 50:50, with vice-president Kamala Harris having the casting vote.

But the Iranian armys recent display of new long-range solid-fuel missiles with a range of 900 miles (1,450km) will hardly make it easier for the US administration to sell the deal.

Iran has also claimed that the US negotiating team with which it does not meet directly is divided on how far to compromise.

The agreement is designed to bring the US, and subsequently Iran, back into the original nuclear deal signed in 2015 from which the US withdrew in 2018.

The talks have been held against a backdrop of repeated warnings from the west stretching back months that the talks can continue only for a few more weeks because Iran is coming ever closer to obtaining irreversibly the material and knowledge required to make a nuclear weapon.

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Iran nuclear deal talks stall as Tehran urges US to accept terms - The Guardian