Category Archives: Political Correctness

The News contact all the mayoral candidates and asked them all thesame question on housing - fifteen of the 20 came back, here are their answers:

QUESTION: What is your definition of affordable housing? How many homes do you pledge to build and how can this be achieved?

At the heart of my Affordable Homes Programme are three types of housing: homes for Social Rent; homes for London Living Rent set at one-third of local average incomes; and homes for shared ownership.

I grew up in a council home which is why, if re-elected, I am determined to build on my record delivery of council housing through the Building Council Homes for Londoners programme. I will also establish City Hall as a developer so that the GLA will become a direct home builder able to deliver significant numbers of genuinely affordable homes at pace.

NOTE: That in the printed version of the Southwark News on Thursday April 29th Sadiq Khan did not provide any answers to our questions in time so we based his responses on his manifesto.

Ill build 100,000 homes and sell them for 100,000 using the shared ownership model.

What this means is that rather than a 50,000 deposit, you need a 5,000 deposit.

Now we still need to build council homes, and we will, but 87% of Londoners want to own their own home. We dont need to create more landlords; we need to create new homeowners.

To achieve this we start Housing for London, consolidating all the powers of the mayor under one roof so that we are driving the housebuilding, not big developers.

I think Londoners are fed up with targets that are never met. What we need is a change of approach. Thats what Im offering.

Ill set up a London Housing Company, a City Hall backed developer to take direct control of building the homes we need, and take advantage of empty office space coming onto the market by converting them into quality, affordable homes.

We have left housing to the big developers for decades and the results are clear it hasnt worked, and in the last five years the gap between what London needs and what is being built has got wider.

I have won some changes, like ballots for residents on estates to help prevent us knocking down existing social homes, but we need Londoners to have the ability to develop new homes themselves.

I will set up a Peoples Land Commission to find land for the new homes we need, from the people. Not enough is being done to fix the housing crisis in the homes we already have.

In January I put forward a plan to use 400 million that the GLA has left over from current grant money, to buy back homes from the big developers for key workers to rent at rates they can afford. London needs more fresh thinking like this.

Too many luxury homes are being built in comparison to affordable and what the Tories and Labour call affordable is not.

They have both also failed to take seriously social housing needs.

I have been investigating between 100 and 200 derelict sites to build 100,000 starter homes at 150k, outright ownership.

Bailey talking about 100k homes is deceptive as this is fractional ownership, which is fraught with problems.

Ill build 50,000 affordable homes that means costing about 100,000 by Christmas, and 100,000 a year after that.

How? Well use modular housing, which is affordable, green and can be constructed in a very short time.

Well use unused TfL land within half a mile of transport hubs and well apply an infrastructure levy so that those who profit from the housing pay back into a pot to pay for community infrastructure, additional policing and a better transport system.

So, when affordable housing is built in Southwark, some of the proceeds flow directly back to improve Southwark and its infrastructure.

I will build 250,000 new homes for Londoners.

I will change the planning rules to allow offices and shops to be converted to residential use, and put aside political correctness to reconsider how we use the Green Belt, much of which is scrubland and semi-industrial.

We will not accept a definition of affordable housing that includes rent at 80% of market rates.

This puts housing out of reach for most people, and especially women who earn less than men on average.

That is why I am committed to creating a strong social rent policy in London with separate targets, and fighting tooth and nail for better housing allowance.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING is a misleading term used to justify developments providing housing UNAFFORDABLE for most.

I will have a MAJOR REVIEW of housing provision in London in which I will bring in new rules to stand-up to developer destruction of communities.

I will quickly convert empty commercial properties into high space standard council housing and (in conjunction with boroughs) take-over / get sold many empty speculators flats & blocks.

Total provision (which would also involve some new build) 400,000; 75% of which would be at council at cost rents.

The rest would be actually affordable (rent or buy) by average earners in London.

My record of fighting for housing rights speaks for itself.

Southwark people know the area far better than me or anyone living outside Southwark.

Citizens Assemblies will decide how many homes to build, where, and of what type. They often come up with innovative solutions.

Its possible they may decide to convert existing buildings.

Citizens Assemblies will also define what affordable housing is and set out how to achieve it.

London needs approximately 66,000 new houses per annum by the London Assemblys own figures, and in the next 3 years London can be served best by making those 100% affordable homes.

My personal definition of affordable is that people should spend no more than 25% of their disposable income on housing & related utility expenses.

Across London we will build 50,000 homes.

New homes will come with a contract where the tenant waives all rights to buy during the term of tenancy.

Paid for using TFL brownfield sites and partnering with local authority pension funds looking to buy long term yielding assets rather than negative yielding gilts.

Rents will be set at 2.5% of the capital value so that the system is self-financing, and rents are affordable for key workers and London essential workers.

I want to see more homeowners in London, frankly people are being priced out of London, as it is no longer affordable.

I will be introducing a new rent to buy scheme, where with a low deposit, homeowners can increase their equity in the property with each monthly rent paid.

There is no catch, a quite simple way to ensure affordable means affordable. These properties will only be available to residents in London.

I will work with each borough so we can realistically plan what is needed in each borough against demand.

The lack of actual affordable housing for Londoners is unsustainable.

There are too many empty buildings in this city but even worse is the amount of unused land owned by the government and local authorities.

We need to use this land and give London more eco-friendly, affordable homes! I will also offer bigger discounts for first time buyers.

We have 10,000 people homeless, 58,000 in temporary accommodation and 243,000 on council waiting lists. Until everyone is housed in safe, affordable and, crucially, sustainable accommodation the work of the London Mayor is not done.

But, hand in hand with an ambitious building programme, we must think creatively about making the best use of existing buildings we have office spaces and around 30,000 homes sitting empty.

Any definition of affordable must be based upon the planets remaining carbon budget and what those with the lowest income can afford.

_____________________________________________________________________________

On Thursday May 6 you will be voting for the next Mayor of London and an assembly member to represent you at a local level.

This election, which was postponed for a year because of the pandemic, has seen more mayoral candidates than ever before. Twenty have stood, including the current Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Voters will be given a pink ballot paper on May 6 with the option of selecting two of their preferred candidates.

Different to General Elections, the London Mayor election uses a proportional representation voting system called the supplementary vote. This involves putting an X in column A for your first choice and an X in column B for your second.

This does not reduce the chances of your first choice being successful, but rather ensures all votes matter as they are counted.

We posed the same five questions on housing, crime, environment, transport and the economy, to ensure that you can see in a balanced way where each candidate stands on these key issues.

Here are the answers on:

CRIME

ENVIRONMENT

THE ECONOMY

TRANSPORT

The five candidates who did not respond to our questions

View post:

What will the Mayoral candidates do to tackle the housing crisis? - Southwark News

Doughty is a part-time bartender at Realm of the 52 Remedies and a marketing manager at Preiss Imports and lives in North Park.

There is an old joke with bartenders, What is worse than having no one at your bar? Having one person at your bar.

Now that I havent bartended regularly in over a year, having only one person in the bar would be categorized as a type of unavoidable hell. There was no way anyone couldve seen their lives upended by a virus, nor the ineptitude of a government that led to the strangulation of the local bar and restaurant industry. It is strange to watch streams of cash flow to corporations and political parties that have had your best interests lost on politicians laundry list of personal vendettas and selfish motivations. Regardless of the lack of support from federal and state governments, our local bartenders have been sidelined and forced to recommit their lives to other industries or side hustles that previously served us as passions rather than lifelines. I can only imagine that many of my regulars at Hundred Proof (R.I.P.) and Realm of the 52 Remedies have coped similarly.

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The American bar has been an emotional safety net for its patrons and a financial boost to its employees throughout its existence. When I was laid off from my position as a human resources administrator in 2018, I thought my world had crashed around me. I made a decision to become a doorman at a bar in order to bring in any amount of cash ASAP. Until 2020, this industry gave me more than financial support: I gained friends and emotional connections with the regulars. I craved human connection after being labeled disposable. Bootlegger Tiki in Palm Springs adopted me and corrupted me into a pirate. The people there taught me how to make friends through hard work and growing a thick skin. That family gave me the confidence to move back to San Diego and work for Trust Restaurant Group and Tahona and now Realm of the 52 Remedies. I wouldve never come back to San Diego otherwise.

On the most basic, personal level, the a therapist without the degree colloquialism has been well earned from the moment the first bar was created. Bartenders at your neighborhood bar invest themselves in the lives of their patrons. Its an unavoidable part of the job. Compassion at the most basic levels draws a person into the successes and/or sorrows of most patrons nightly. At this point, I never thought I would miss calling out first dates with co-workers old fashioneds and mules every time the Toyota Camry of drink orders or stories about your kids basketball games, or serving as the intermediary for slobbery political spats. I took these moments or problems for granted.

The pandemic took that away. All of it. The connection to the community has been relegated to Facebook posts and cringey online happy hours. The creativity I felt I could exercise in drinks and conversations are filtered by horrific Instagram posts by bartenders and political correctness. The bar was a bastion of freedom regarding most subjects. A bartender traffics in the support of human existence every day, positive or negative. At some point in their careers, bartenders have cared for their customers on a personal level, for one-eighth the price of a professional therapist. Right now, many Americans have been spectators to closings of many of their hangouts, which served as a personal theater for personal connections.

Since the pandemic, I have picked up a marketing manager position with Preiss Imports in Ramona. The bars I worked at gave me the knowledge to convince a family to trust me enough to write freely about their products (and fully stocked my home bar). Who wouldve thought a bar setting could make you informed about spirits and their uses?

I have prevailed financially throughout this mess but have returned to work at Realm of the 52 Remedies. I miss the small pains of dirty glassware and cutting someone off too much. I miss the feelings of connection I made with the Taquinos at brunch at Hundred Proof or talking cocktails with Phil at Realm or Reginas and Denzels giant laughs. The regulars I had become accustomed to became ingrained in my social biome. They have served as my therapists too, I suppose.

With all this gloom, I still am positive about the future. Already people have shown support in their local watering holes. All we ask as bartenders is that you treat our bartop like your own home and give us consistency.

Read this article:

Opinion: Bartenders like me offer emotional support to so many. The pandemic took that away. - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Editors note: The Orlando Sentinel posted this column on Friday, which provoked quite a controversy, some praise and a lot of criticism, including this pointed tweet from Democratic state Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, who represents Orlando: So this adult man from Las Vegas is mad about Disney removing racist characters and animatronic rapists from their rides? Did I get that right? Here is the original column.

My family and I have been loyal Disney customers for decades. We vacation at Disney World every year. We take a Disney cruise every year or two. Consequently, we spend way too much money in Orlando.

Unfortunately, I am strongly rethinking our commitment to Disney and, thus, Orlando. The more Disney moves away from the values and vision of Walt Disney, the less Disney World means to me. Disney is forgetting that guest immersion is at the core of its business model. When I stand in Galaxys Edge or Fantasyland, I know I am in a theme park but through immersion and my willingness to set the real world aside, something magical happens.

That spell is broken when the immersive experience is shattered by the real world. And boy, has Disney been breaking the immersion.

Recently, Disney announced that cast members are now permitted to display tattoos, wear inclusive uniforms and display inclusive haircuts. Disney did all of this in the name of allowing cast members to express themselves.

The problem is, Im not traveling across the country and paying thousands of dollars to watch someone I do not know express themselves. I am there for the immersion and the fantasy, not the reality of a strangers self-expression. I do not begrudge these people their individuality and I wish them well in their personal lives, but I do not get to express my individuality at my place of business.

Whats next, is Disney going to end the rule barring on stage cellphone use by cast members as an infringement on self-expression?

More broadly, like many corporations, Disney has been politicizing its business. Full disclosure: I am a Christian and a conservative Republican, so the people who run Disney and I do not see eye to eye.

Regardless, corporations have always made politically motivated decisions. Usually, it is due to the desire to make a profit, but sometimes it is due to the values of the people in the corporation. Walt Disney used his corporation to express his patriotism during World War II and his pro-capitalism beliefs afterward. The difference today is that the people who run Disney use social media to scream to the whole world that a decision has been made for political reasons.

Disney is in the process of taking the woke scalpel to the Jungle Cruise. Trader Sam is out because he might offend certain people. Every grown-up in the room realizes that Trader Sam is not a representation of reality and is meant as a funny and silly caricature. It is no more based in racism than every Disney caricature of an out-of-touch white American dad.

The next time I ride Jungle Cruise I will not be thinking about the gloriously entertaining puns of the skippers, I will be thinking about Disneys political agenda. Thats a mood killer.

Disney proclaims that Splash Mountain must change because of its association with Song of the South. Disney owns Splash Mountain so it can do what it wants. But if Disney screams at the top of its corporate voice, which is pretty loud, that it is changing it to appease a certain political point of view, now every time I look at the ride I am thinking about politics.

The same with Pirates of the Caribbean. Disney has made significant changes to Pirates of the Caribbean over the years. Whether Disney caved to political pressure or really thought the alterations were necessary is irrelevant.

Pirates used to be one of my favorite attractions. My family would always ride it first on our first day at the Magic Kingdom. Now, we do not even ride it every trip. When my family rides Pirates now, each of the changed scenes takes us out of the illusion because they remind us of reality and the politics that forced the changes.

Disney World is going to lose us as customers if it continues down this path. I do not want to have Disney World taken away from us because Disney cares more about politics than happy guests.

This should matter to the people of Orlando because, if Disney drives away customers like me, Orlando loses money. I can take my tourist dollars elsewhere. I would rather keep spending them in Orlando but people like me feel more and more excluded by Disneys decisions.

The parks are less fun because immersion and thus the joy is taking a back seat to politics.

Disney, please return to the values and vision of Walt. The customer experience should be the core of your business model. Immersion should not be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness and appeasing the Twitter mob.

Jonathan VanBoskerck lives in North Las Vegas, Nevada. He wrote this for the Orlando Sentinel.

2021 Orlando Sentinel. Visit at orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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I love Disney World, but wokeness is ruining the experience | Column - Tampa Bay Times

All education is self education. If we examine the process of learning attentively, what other truly enduring education can there be?

As COVIDrestrictions loosen and more children return to school, now is the perfect time to ask ourselves, What is the legitimate purpose of formal schooling? To learn what?

Because of previous, government-dictated isolation, everyone seems focused on socialization skills learned by interaction with youngsters in classrooms, extracurricular activities, and with adult teachers.

But what of formal education as authentic knowledge-skill learning?

The recent health hiatus provides a good time to do precisely that. The three Rs,Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic must be restored as the sturdy foundation. These three basic knowledge-skills in particular prepare students for later independent living away from home. English is (and should be) Americas common language, so the first two Rs cover that.

When 17th, 18th, 19-century immigrants came to our shores from Germany, France, Italy, Holland, etc. they all learned English, the language of the first settlers comprising a majority of inhabitants.

If they didnt, their children did. All countries today still have a national language, and in spite of PC advocates its English in America. Every child in America should learn English, and the subject also should include writing the English language properly.

There is such a thing as grammar, and grammar should be taught not only for skill but also for discipline. Grammar is structure, and learning structure teaches young minds to recognize and create structure in all skills, including the exercise of reason and logical non-contradictory thought. Math beyond any credibility is often racially politicized now but absolutely necessary for everything from cooking to paying bills; calculators do not suffice (and batteries required).

Correct not politically correct national/world history (including geography) comes next; without accurate knowledge of the past the future cannot be charted productively.

Unfortunately history is now massively distorted to address social-emotional sensitivities, turning teachers into amateur psychologists. Science: at least biology. Ethics: not according to any religion but according to facts of human nature.

Humans are not born with behavioral instincts like lower animals; humans must make choices and decide the best behavior to implement for optimum survival.

Physical wellness: sports and fitness but not sex and gender issues; personal subjects are the purview of parents not teachers.

Underestimated art skills round out the mandatory program: See The Fourth R in Education: Reading, WRiting, ARithmetic, and ARt for specific details.

Now is past time for responsible parents to vigorously participate with school boards and teachers as to what their children should be taught . . . or not. Way past time to stop teachers from pushing PC doctrine; current-day politics do not belong in classrooms children need to learn how to think not what to think. Time to foster curiosity and ambition.

Children are not minds to be molded, they are young human beings each one an individual Self who need to experience the efficacy of formulating and asking questions, the thrill of individual achievement, and the desire to learn . . . a desire that should remain energetic long after formal schooling is over.

Humans are self-created creatures who are never finished because there is always more to learn, new subjects to explore, different skills to be mastered. Its the yearn to learn that must be fostered in the young, not the need to conform and assimilate into group-think which stifles individualism completely. . . as is the plan of too many educators today.

The desire and ability to self educate as an independent adult should be the goal of formal education for the young. Adult self-inspired learning should be the result of a formal education that sets preliminary standards and skills to be improved and expanded after graduation. In the end, all learning is self taught.

Teachers and parents can lead the way, but children have free will, too, and should be encouraged to find pleasure in self-motivated learning on their own as adults.

Today, the teaching profession in America is destructive rather than instructive. Tenure keeps inferior, lazy, or blatantly proselytizing teachers in undeserved positions. Unions aggressively demand ever-increasing monetary profit and benefits for teachers rather than encouraging members to focus on profit and benefits of learning for students.

Political Correctness and Identity Politics concoct the poisonous brew that nurtures not independent thinking but kills independent thought.

The American educational system is a disaster. Parents of means can decide which private school is best for their children but, aside from homeschooling, parents whose children must attend public institutions should seek out (or endeavor to establish) charter schools.

These schools are government (tax-payer) funded but operate independently from a state system that forces conformity via government-dictated curricula; thus, they are far superior in providing genuine education. Religious schools, too, are usually educationally reliable, so even nonreligious but concerned parents can select that option.

Above all, sincere and dedicated teachers must stand up for rational standards and the good of students. Parents must stand up to teachers. Why? Because children are rapidly becoming the ever increasing collateral damage wrought by power lustful politicians and private-sector supporters who would tyrannize all Americans into obedience and annihilate the last of our heritage as a free people. To the advantage of these would-be dictators (many not even clandestine anymore) the COVIDpandemic laid fortuitous groundwork for docile submission and surrender of independence to become culturally endemic.

Fearlessness must now replace fear, or by destroying the minds of our youth the future America as an ideawill be swept into the dustbin of history.

Please see these related articles:

On parenting and dicipline.

Regarding the critical inportance of family life.

And, on art education in the digital world.

Alexandra York is an author and founding president of the American Renaissance for the Twenty-first Century (ART) a New-York-City-based nonprofit educational arts and culture foundation. She has written for many publications, including Readers Digest and The New York Times. Her latest book is The Innocent. For more on Alexandra York, Go Here Now.

2021 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

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Educating the Self in School - KMJ Now

The decision of the Asheville City Council to tear down the Vance Monument has left a bitter taste in certain mouths, some of which have gotten quite loud. Heres a thought experiment that might help put things in perspective:

Long ago, lets say 1897, the people of Buncombeville erected a 65-foot statue in the shape of a gigantic fish and dedicated it to Jesus Christ: Savior. Healer. Orator. Rebel. Winemaker.

At the time, most people thought the structure was an eye-pleasing reflection of community values. The theme was subtle, but everyone knew there was an important symbolic connection between religion and fish. But that, they said, wasnt the main point. They just thought the sculpture looked cool, and they liked the guy in whose honor it was built. Pretty much everybody did, unless they belonged to a religious minority.

Some people thought the thing was kitsch, despite having been designed by a famous architect, and objected that the shape was so vague it was practically abstract art.

A few grumblers complained that religion should be a private matter, but, as one would expect, they kept that theory to themselves.

Decades later, the Supreme Court declared that the establishment clause applied to municipal governments under the 14th Amendment. Although people resented the idea of outsiders meddling in local affairs, and although they bristled at the implication that they had been doing something wrong all this time, and although they insisted that, in this modern era, folks had gotten so fed up with religious abuses that they no longer cared much about the sacred significance of the sculpture, and although they were deeply suspicious of political correctness in any form, a consensus eventually arose that something must be done about the Christ Monument.

Six members of the City Council wanted to tear down the fish and haul it away. They felt that the establishment of religion no longer represented the best values of the community, if it ever did, and it was time to make a clean break with the past.

One member proposed to deep-six the inscription but keep the stone structure standing and rename it The Scales of Justice. This approach, she said, would give the statue a secular purpose, free up the demolition money for more tangible needs and keep religious fanatics from taking revenge on the minority in the community who supported the Constitution.

Thats the end of the fable. Now its time for the moral, which you must work out for yourself.

Does the dissenting City Council member, well-meaning as she may be, go far enough in her efforts to cleanse an unacceptable religious taint from the public square? Does merely removing the reference to Jesus Christ really obliterate the association with the sacred that Buncombevilles landmark has always had? Isnt it worth spending a few bucks to make sure the job gets done right, once and for all?

And on whose counsel, moreover, should we rely for an answer? Shouldnt we give some deference to the collective judgment of the elected representatives? After all, they must face the voters if they get the balance of interests wrong.

Why should we pay any attention to a handful of fishy enthusiasts on social media who have done an about-face, seemingly out of nowhere, and decided that the association of the statue with religion was always repugnant to them, but nonrepresentational art for arts sake is still the bomb? I almost get the feeling that some of these converts secretly harbor sympathies for the old superstitions. What do you think?

Please keep your answers short and, if possible, respectful.

Peter RobbinsMarshall

Go here to see the original:

Letter: Putting the Vance Monument in perspective - Mountain Xpress

OPINION One of my favorite conservative publications, National Review, has devoted nearly its entire April 19, 2021 issue to an exodus from California. People may be leaving California, but data for all states from reliable sources on the Internet are difficult to find for 2020.

Two states in particular are boasting significant population growth Idaho and Arizona. South Dakota, according World Population Review, shows a growth rate of 1.17%, ranking us 11th in the country. South Dakotas population is estimated at 896,581, they say.

US News says the Census Bureau estimates California, Connecticut and Hawaii are among 16 states that lost population in 2020. New York is estimated to have lost the most population at 0.65% with Illinois close behind.

Of course, South Dakota and all the states in flyover country would love to see people from California come to our part of the world. By all means, hit Interstate 90 and check out the fine restaurants and beautiful scenery in and around Spearfish. Deadwood is a fun place where you can experience Vegas-like gaming and entertainment.

Rapid City has plenty to do. Of course, there are the Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse mountain carvings. Blue Ribbon trout streams wind their way through the entire Black Hills. Take I-90 east to Wall and get a donut and ice water. Continue east to the spectacular Missouri River for world-class guided walleye fishing and waterfowl hunting.

The beginning of August offers up a Corvette Rally, Mustang Rally, and of course you can join the hundreds of thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts who come annually for the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, where folks park their American-made V-Twin bikes on Main Street Sturgis and spend hours walking, talking and gawking. Sturgis Rally evenings are filled with nightly concerts from world-class artists.

Along the way, take a day to take in the Badlands and learn about Native American culture at Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian Reservations. Later in the year, you can take in some famous guided pheasant hunts from Winner to Mitchell. Buy your first firearm at Cabelas in Rapid City or Mitchell.

Everything about South Dakota should be refreshing to anyone from one of the big cities from which Californians wish to escape. The states budget is balanced. We do not have unfunded government retirement programs. Our state government is even more lop-sided to the right than yours is to the left. Because we have far fewer people in our state than you have in several single municipalities, we dont have many politicians to deal with.

We have areas of actual, clean wide-open spaces. We have several wineries, a couple distilleries and numerous craft breweries. Weve got golf courses galore. If youre sports fan, you can take in great games at any local high school or American Legion post baseball field. Our State A and B High School Basketball Tournaments are as exciting as most college games by any reasonable persons standards and admission to those games is far more reasonable than anything the NBA or NFL might have to offer.

In short, if you decide to leave California and come to South Dakota, you are welcome to come here and spend your money, enjoy our hospitality, and see how the gun-toting conservative other half lives here in the middle of nowhere.

Maybe you can move your business here, and maybe you can hire some of our people and learn about the highly regarded high plains work ethic. If you would like to bring your condescending ultra-left political correctness and tax-and-spend policies, we will be happy to direct you south to Interstate 80, which you can swiftly take straight west all the way back to Sacramento.

Michael Sanborn writes from Rapid City.

To read all of today's stories, Click here or call 642-2761 to subscribe to our e-edition or home delivery.

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Leaving California in the rear-view mirror | Opinion | bhpioneer.com - Black Hills Pioneer

This weeks Newspoll, conducted April 21-24 from a sample of 1,510, gave Labor a 51-49 lead, a one-point gain for the Coalition since the previous Newspoll, four weeks ago. Primary votes were 41% Coalition (up one), 38% Labor (steady), 10% Greens (down one) and 3% One Nation (up one). Figures are from The Poll Bludger.

59% (up four) were satisfied with Scott Morrisons performance, and 37% (down three) were dissatisfied, for a net approval of +22, up seven points. Anthony Albaneses net approval fell five points to -3. Morrison led as better PM by 56-30 (52-32 four weeks ago).

In my article last fortnight, I suggested a backlash against political correctness was making sexual misbehaviour more acceptable. The Coalition and Morrisons recovery in this poll appears to validate that argument.

Read more: Has a backlash against political correctness made sexual misbehaviour more acceptable?

The adverse publicity regarding vaccination problems may have been expected to damage the government. But as long as there are very few local COVID cases, it appears the general public will forgive the rollout issues.

There is likely to be a strong economic recovery from COVID, and this is a problem for Labor. The new Resolve poll had the Coalition and Morrison ahead of Labor and Albanese by over 20 points on both the economy and COVID. In March, the unemployment rate was 5.6%, well down from the peak of 7.5% last July.

Many on the left want Albanese to resign in favour of a more left-wing candidate like Tanya Plibersek. But the polling indicates Labors leadership is not the problem, Morrisons popularity is. In fact, given Morrisons ratings, the Coalition would normally be expected to lead by a substantial margin.

Outside election campaigns, most voters pay little attention to the opposition. So its what the government does that drives voting intentions and the PMs popularity.

The Resolve Strategic poll will be conducted monthly for Nine newspapers from a normal sample of 1,600 interviewed by online methods. The first sample included an additional 400 live phone interviews. Fieldwork will be conducted during the month.

Every two months, state polls of Victoria and NSW will be released. Since Newspoll stopped doing regular state polling in 2015, there have been virtually no polls of either state outside election periods.

No two party vote is given, but primary votes in the first Resolve poll, with fieldwork up to April 16, were 38% Coalition, 33% Labor, 12% Greens and 6% One Nation.

One Nations vote is far higher than in Newspoll, but analyst Kevin Bonham says Newspoll is only asking for One Nation in seats they contested at the last election. Bonham estimates the two party vote from these primaries as a 50-50 tie.

Respondents were asked to rate the party leaders performance in recent weeks. Morrison had a 50% good, 38% poor rating (net +12), while Albanese was at 35% good, 41% poor (net -6). Morrison led Albanese as preferred PM by 47-25.

Voters were asked which party and leader would be better at various issues. However, offering someone else as an option disadvantages Labor, particularly on environmental issues where the Greens do best. The Coalition and Morrison led Labor and Albanese by 43-21 on economic management and by 42-20 on handling COVID.

In last fortnights Essential poll, Morrison had a 54-37 approval rating; his +17 net approval dropped five points from the late March poll.

The large gender gap in Morrisons ratings that I discussed last fortnight remained: his approval with men was 61%, but 46% with women. This gap was 16 points in late March.

Albaneses net approval was down four points from mid-March to +5, and Morrison led as better PM by 47-28 (52-26 in mid-March).

The federal government had a 62-17 good rating on its response to COVID (70-12 in mid-March). This reverts to about where its COVID response was before a spike in November. State governments also saw falls in their COVID ratings. If Labor had been in power federally, by 44-37 voters were confident that they would have dealt well with COVID.

While Essential continues to give the federal government strong COVID ratings, a Morgan SMS poll, conducted April 9-10 after Morrison announced the AstraZeneca vaccine would not be recommended for those under 50 had voters disapproving of Morrisons handling of COVID by 51-49.

The Tasmanian election will be held on Saturday. A uComms poll for the left-wing Australia Institute, conducted April 21 from a sample of 1,023, gave the Liberals 41.4%, Labor 32.1%, the Greens 12.4%, Independents 11.0% and Others 3.1%.

This poll is in marked contrast to the last publicly available Tasmanian poll: an EMRS poll in February that gave the Liberals 52%, Labor 27%, Greens 14% and 7% for all Others. I will have more details of the Tasmanian election in a post on Wednesday.

At the March 13 Western Australian election, Labor won 22 of the 36 upper house seats (up eight since 2017), the Liberals seven (down two), the Nationals three (down one), Legalise Cannabis two (up two), the Greens one (down three) and Daylight Saving one (up one). One Nation (three seats in 2017), the Shooters (one) and the Liberal Democrats (one) all failed to return to parliament.

This is the first time Labor has won a majority of seats in the WA upper house. They won 60.3% of the vote in the upper house, slightly higher than their 59.9% in the lower house. Labor won 21 of their 22 seats on raw quotas, and needed very slight help for their fourth seat in Mining and Pastoral region.

Read more: Labor obliterates Liberals in historic WA election; will win control of upper house for first time

Labor lost two seats they should have won to Legalise Cannabis under the Group Ticket Voting (GTV) system. That gave Legalise Cannabis double the seats of the Greens despite less than one-third of the Greens statewide vote (2.0% vs 6.4%).

The most ridiculous result occurred in the Mining and Pastoral region, where Daylight Saving were able to win a seat on just 98 first preference votes and 0.2% of the statewide vote. This occurred owing to both GTV and malapportionment. Every one of WAs six regions elects six members, even though the Agricultural region has just 6% of enrolled voters and the Mining and Pastoral region 4%.

ABC election analyst Antony Greens final lower house two party estimate is that Labor won by an Australian record for any state or territory of 69.7% to 30.3%, a 14.1% swing to Labor from what was already a thumping 2017 victory.

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Coalition and Morrison gain in Newspoll, and the new Resolve poll - The Conversation AU

Charita Goshay| Bluffton Today

This is the time of year when were reminded that no matter what else is happening in the country, we always have baseball. The sight of green fields and the crack of a bat always fills us anew with optimism.

Theres been criticism over Major League Baseballs plans to relocate the All-Star Game out of Georgia in response to a controversial voting-rights bill.

Viewed by some as a check-swing that went too far, the announcement was met with howls of threats to boycott the league for caving to political correctness and liberalism run amok.

Its resulted in lamentations about how even Americas quintessential game has been poisoned by politics.

You have to wonder where such people have been living.

The intrusion of politics into sports wasnt invented by Colin Kaepernick. Look no further than baseballs first commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who upheld collusion among team owners to keep Black players out of the game.

It meant that most fans never got the chance to see James Cool Papa Bell outrun light itself, or cheer as Josh Gibson crushed one of the hundreds of home runs that never reached the MLB record books until 2020 when the league added statistics from the Negro Leagues.

It took Ohios Branch Rickey, a team owner compelled by his faith, to dismantle the impasse by signing Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers. In his Major League debut against the Boston Braves on April 14, 1947, Robinson scored a run but got no hits in three at-bats.

It didnt matter because, at that moment, Americans found themselves witnesses to change and history.

Landis, who was hired to mitigate the leagues 1919 Black Sox gambling scandal, has a plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame for, we must suppose, saving the game, but frankly, he shouldnt.

He willfully helped to impede progress in a league that could have led the country toward inclusion decades before it actually did.

Baseball has always been Americas mirror, for better or worse.

Even after the league was integrated, Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax were threatened for refusing to play during the Jewish High Holy Days.

In recent years, various players have refused to visit the White House, depending on whos president.

Prior toits home opener, Clevelands front office announced that no baseball fans would be permitted to wear war paint or feather headdresses.

After years of being begged, petitioned and even picketed by Native Americans, Cleveland finally made the change because the country has changed and because as Maya Angelou so brilliantly put it, When you know better, you do better.

If management doesnt stop clipping coupons, the only thing fans will want to wear is a paper bag.

Yet, when in your life did you ever imagine that a Black basketball player from Akron, Ohio,would own a piece of the Boston Red Sox, the last MLB team to integrate?

Its a story that can happen only in America.

While America appears to be in the throes of the terribletwos, as someone recently noted, change is a constant factor of life and an endemic part of a healthy democracy. Baseball is the one thing we think never changes but in reality has led it.

Charita Goshay is a columnist for Gannett. She can be reached atcharita.goshay@cantonrep.com.

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Goshay: Baseball often reflects where we are - Bluffton Today

Disney has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and integral to that experience while growing up are the things that I was taught as a kid through Disney and its movies. I learned all about kindness, patience, humility, and most importantly, I was taught empathy. And when I went to Disney World for the first time, I went with that message in my heart.

Thats why Im not bothered by the changes being enacted in Disney World that conservatives are calling wokeness or political correctness. Because theyre just bitter that their immersive experience of the good ol USA, racism and sexism included, is being threatened by Disneys continued efforts to have empathy for the experience of their guests as a whole.

Because, believe it or not, its not all about you, random Conservatives who feel hurt that racist caricatures like Trader Sam are gone from Jungle Cruise at Disney World. To you, it might be a joke and something to laugh about. But to others, someone like Trader Sam is an insulting and stereotypical remnant of the past that has absolutely no place in 2021.

The same thing goes for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World that sold captive and tied up women as brides. Disney World getting rid of that part of the ride isnt the company caving to political pressure. Its them realizing that they were promoting human trafficking and bondage in one of their most popular rides.

If youre hurt that your immersive experience was shattered by the nixing of sex crimes or racist statues, then you need to take a good hard look at yourself and why youre upset about this. This isnt about political correctness, but it is about necessary changes for a better experience for all. This is about a changing world and Disney parks finally catching up to what its movies have been teaching us all along.

And thinking that your immersive experience is being shattered is just proof that in your world, white supremacy is being threatened by inclusion and representation, when in reality, its all about leveling the playing field and making those that have been discriminated against and disenfranchised feel like they are welcomed by Disney World and all its parks.

The matter of fact is that diversity and inclusion only make the Disney World experience better. Because thats the reality of our world and our country. We are not all white and we are not all straight. And being inclusive, or allowing cast members to wear inclusive uniforms and have inclusive haircuts, makes for a more dynamic experience that welcomes all.

So, take your faux anger out of here and just admit that youre not ready for a Disney World that embraces values of inclusivity and empathy. Youre here to have a good ol time on the backs of those who have been laughed at or been disenfranchised because youre afraid of change. Sorry, not sorry but change is already here and you already have been left behind.

(image: Walt Disney World Resorts/Getty)

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I Love Disney World and That Conservatives Are Crying "Wokeness" at Change - The Mary Sue

After suffering a head injury at the hands of a slave owner, Araminta Harriet Ross, commonly known as Harriet Tubman, began to suffer from epilepsy and incredibly painful headaches. Consequently, she started having visions, which she believed were direct messages from God, telling her that it was her duty to resist the bonds of slavery and to free not only herself but her people.

After a 80 year life span devoted to freeing enslaved African Americans, Tubmans name was again introduced to the American consciousness. In 2015, the advocacy group Women on 20s began conducting a grassroots campaign in order to promote the replacement of Andrew Jackson on the twenty dollar bill with Tubman. The campaign brought attention to the proposal, and in 2016, the Obama administration announced their inclination to proceed with the action. During the Trump administration, however, Trump stated that to replace the seventh president of the United States would be pure political correctness, and dragged his feet in the process. During Bidens presidency, its important that action is taken to make Tubman the new face of the twenty dollar bill in order to honor her heroism.

The president Tubman would be replacing, Andrew Jackson, has been the subject of contentious scrutiny not only for his strong support of slavery, but his heavy impact on the westward expansion into Native American territory. Jackson relied heavily on enslaved people in order to achieve wealth and help him run the country. He was brutal, and often physically abused his slaves in the White House. By the time of his death, Jackson owned about 150 slaves. Jackson also was an outspoken advocate of the removal of indigenous peoples. In 1830, he signed the Indian Removal Act, forcing Native Americans to flee from the land on which they had lived for generations. It was one of the leaders of the Choctaw who stated to the press that his people were walking a trail of tears and death. Jackson illegally demanded a forceful removal at the expense of thousands of lives.

Tubman, in contrast, spent her life helping those who suffered at the hands of racism and injustice. In 1849, she escaped the bonds of slavery through the Underground Railroad, a network of secret paths and safehouses dispersed throughout the US and used by enslaved African Americans to escape slavery. Those who were lucky enough to attain freedom would begin new lives. Many enlisted in the Union Army to partake in the Civil War. Tubman, however, knew that she could never be truly free unless her loved ones were too. She first returned to save her brothers and nieces family. When they were free, she returned for her husband, whom she had married five years prior, only to find that he remarried and refused to go. Instead of saving her husband, she saved more enslaved people.

Over the span of ten years, Tubman freed around 70 enslaved people, according to historical estimates. Her actions earned her the nickname Moses, after the Biblical character who freed his people. She made her final trip in 1860 to save her sister, but after learning she had died, she instead saved one more family before making her final departure. During the Civil War, she aided several generals, helping to plan battle strategies. She spent the rest of her life fighting for womens rights until she died in 1913 from pneumonia.

The Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal. Jacksons beliefs towards slavery and the westward expansion did not align with these foundational American values. While he was a president, many of his morals were corrupted by prioritizing his own greed over the people. Tubman, in comparison, demonstrated her passion for American values and strong sense of patriotism by helping those in need throughout her entire life. Our currency should reflect our countrys rich and diverse history. Tubmans selfless, unprompted acts of intrepidity must be honored.

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Column: Harriet Tubman on the Twenty Dollar Bill Represents a Better America - berkeleyhighjacket.com