A month after its previous principal was removed amid a flap over rising for the national anthem, Liberty High learned Monday that its new leader is Brandon Levatino, the longtime principal of Northeast High School in Pride.

Levatinos selection as Liberty High principal was announced to the school Monday morning, and he is scheduled to take over the job Dec. 7. He was one of six finalists, said Taylor Gast, a spokeswoman for the East Baton Rouge Parish school system.

Shawona Ross, an assistant principal who has been serving this past month as Libertys acting principal, will replace Levatino at Northeast High, Gast said.

Barely two years after taking over a prominent Baton Rouge public high school, Liberty High Principal Rob Howle is being replaced and a search

Levatino also informed Northeast High faculty and staff of his move to Liberty on Monday morning. Later that day, he sent a letter parents and students.

"The last eight years have been some of the best years of my career," Levatino writes. "I can't begin to thank this community enough for trusting me to lead your school. While I may be leaving, a piece of my heart will always live in Viking Country."

Rob Howle was removed as Liberty Highs principal on Oct. 27, 12 days after he was placed on leave when a text message became public in which he suggested football players who don't stand for the national anthem shouldn't be on the team. The national anthem has been a flashpoint nationwide since football player Colin Kaepernick knelt during a 2016 playing of the anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice.

The text prompted an internal investigation. School officials have not shared the conclusions of that inquiry. Liberty High parent Corey Delahoussaye told The Advocate that he spoke with Interim Superintendent Adam Smith during the investigation. He said they spoke not just about the football incident, but also about what Delahoussaye views as Howle's autocratic management style and role in the departure ofdozens of staff members during Howles two-year tenure as principal of the prominent Baton Rouge magnet school.

Howle has been reassigned to the districts Transportation Department as a principal on assignment for the remainder of the school year.

From sports jerseys to signs to outdoor benches, renaming Lee High to Liberty High will take several months to complete, with the East Baton R

Liberty High was renamed from Lee High in July in the wake of protests across the country that targeted symbols of the Confederacy. Lee High opened in 1959 as Robert E. Lee High School, named after the Confederate general.

Levatino, a career educator with the school system, was a social studies teacher as well as athletic director at Lee High when it was still a neighborhood high school. During his time there, he helped to guide students who successfully lobbied the parish School Board in 2008 to rebuild the dilapidated school, which it did in 2016.

Liberty, home to nearly 1,200 students, has about three times as many students as Northeast. Northeast is also the only rural high school in an otherwise urban and suburban school district. In 2017, Levatino was named principal of the year for high schools in the parish.

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Northeast High Principal to take over Liberty High, month after its principal was removed - The Advocate

Walter E. Williams, who many consider one of the greatest modern economists, has passed away at age 84.

My connections with Walter go back to UCLA, where we both got our doctorates (though I was a bit later, and it was my misfortunate we did not overlap). Then I started writing popular articles in defense of Americans liberty not too long after he did, which made me very aware of his writing (in fact, I once jokingly told my wife that I didnt like him because his articles were often too good a substitute for mine). And I know lots of people with connections to George Mason University and stories about him.

Because many were closer to Walter than I, the large outpouring of appreciation and endorsements upon his passing is better done by others. But I believe that I have something worth adding for those who didnt know about him but whose interest in his work has been piqued by the powerful response to his passing.

In 2016, I published a book titled Lines of Liberty, in which I curated what I felt were the best quotes on liberty I could find, by those who had labored in the front lines to defend it. Walter was not included, like his best friend, Thomas Sowell. But that was only because I had restricted my attention to people who had died, so I could consider the entirety of their work. Now, while I have not yet had time to do more than scratch the surface of his work, offering an initial collection of some of his most important insights may be the best tribute I can offer.

I must say that after many years of thinking about liberty, I can get a thrill out of a well-made, ear-catching argument on its behalf. Reading Walters words gave me such a thrill. But it was quickly obvious that there was far too much inspiration and wisdom to fit in a compact space. So I limited my collection to very short statements on only a few of the core issues he dealt with.

Consider my top ten lists (so far) in three different areas Walter thought deeply about as just the beginning of wisdom that can be found in Walters work, and as an invitation to further consideration.

1. My definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree?...how much of what I earn belongs to you--and why?

2. If one person has a right to something he did not earn, of necessity it requires that another person not have a right to something that he did earn.

3. Nothing in our Constitution suggests that government is a grantor of rights. Instead, government is a protector of rights.

4. There is no moral argument that justifies using the coercive powers of government to force one person to bear the expense of taking care of another.

5. Government has no resources of its owngovernment spending is no less than the confiscation of one persons property to give it to another to whom it does not belong.

6. We dont have a natural right to take the property of one person to give to another; therefore, we cannot legitimately delegate such authority to government.

7. Exercise of a right by one person does not diminish those held by another.

8. No matter how worthy the cause, it is robbery, theft, and injustice to confiscate the property of one person and give it to another to whom it does not belong.

9. The better I serve my fellow manthe greater my claim on the goods my fellow man produces. Thats the morality of the market.

10. The act of reaching into ones own pockets to help a fellow man in need is praiseworthy and laudable. Reaching into someone elses pocket is despicable.

Most of the great problems we face are caused by politicians creating solutions to problems they created in the first place.

Walter Williams had a great deal of wisdom to offer, and he passed that wisdom on to many. But there are many more of us who could still benefit from it.

I hope the examples here touch a chord with readers and lead them to further consideration of what he understood.

Walter will be gone, and widely missed, but his insights are not.

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30 of Walter Williams's Best Quotes on Liberty, Rights, Property, and Coercion | Gary M. Galles - Foundation for Economic Education

photo by: John Young

In this file photo from Nov. 29, 2015, Lawrence resident Nilou Vakil puts the finishing touches on a tree for the annual Festival of Trees at Liberty Hall.

Over 30 trees and 25 wreaths will be on display in Liberty Hall this year as part of the annual Festival of Trees fundraiser.

The holiday decorations which include sugar plum, Candyland, and Grinch-themed trees will be on display Monday through Sunday both in-person and online. The Festival of Trees is a fundraiser for The Childrens Shelter, a nonprofit that provides temporary residential care, foster care placement and other services for at-risk children.

Maren Ludwig, the event organizer, said special care is being taken to ensure the safety of visitors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To view the trees and wreaths in-person at Liberty Hall, 644 Massachusetts St., people must sign up for a slot in advance at lawrencefot.givesmart.com. For those who would prefer to view the trees from home, Ludwig said a video showing all the homemade trees should be on that website Tuesday.

To see the trees in person or to view the video, there is a suggested donation of $5. Children under the age of 12 can view the trees for free. All the trees and wreaths are decorated and donated by locals, and Ludwig said there are more wreaths this year because some groups that previously made trees together opted to do individual wreaths instead.

This year, there is a cactus-themed tree, a Scandinavian-themed tree and a Victorian garden-fencing tree made by local artist Nick Schmiedeler, among others.

Instead of an in-person auction, The Childrens Shelter is running an online auction that is also available at lawrencefot.givesmart.com. Bidding will start Monday around noon and will continue until Friday at 8 p.m. The trees and wreaths will start to be delivered to the highest bidders after the viewing hours conclude on Sunday.

The Festival of Trees typically includes a cookies with Santa event. This year, Santa will be making an appearance on Monday and Tuesday nights, but from a distance. Santa will be waving down at children from the balcony of Liberty Hall from 5 to 7 p.m. both nights. Kids are encouraged to write a letter to Santa. To receive a letter back from Santa, a $5 donation is encouraged.

Heres a complete schedule of the viewing hours:

Monday through Thursday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Friday and Saturday: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sunday: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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Liberty Hall hosts Festival of Trees this week, but online viewing options also available - Lawrence Journal-World

Police were called to the home in the 3000 block of Northgate Drive about 10:41 p.m.

by: Patty Coller

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WKBN) A crisis response team was called to a residence in Liberty Township Thanksgiving Day after a woman reported being assaulted.

Police were called to the home in the 3000 block of Northgate Drive about 10:41 p.m.

When they arrived, a woman said that 32-year-old Spencer Borom assaulted her and that he was still in the house.

Police said the woman told them that Borom had made statements in the past about having a gun, so officers secured a perimeter around the house and attempted to get him to come out.

After multiple attempts, officers called in the Mahoning Valley Crisis Response Team and evacuated a nearby home for safety reasons.

The crisis team entered the home and found Borom barricaded inside a closet.

Officers found a .22 caliber magazine, ammunition, and a box for a pistol but did not locate a firearm, the report stated.

On the way to the jail, officers said Borom became agitated and hit his head several times against the Plexiglass divider in the cruiser and also fought with officers at the jail, according to a police report.

Borom was booked into the Trumbull County Jail on charges of domestic violence, inducing panic and obstructing official business.

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Crisis response team called to Liberty Twp. standoff - WKBN.com

Ive always loved Willie Green. I do not know why.

He wasnt a flashy player during his seven seasons with the Sixers from 2003 to 2010. His scoring average never reached 13 points per game, he didnt have some boisterous, brandable personality that hooked me he wasnt even a full-time starter in six of those seven seasons. But I loved him. Still do. My only theory as to why is that when I was a kid, green was my favorite color. Ipso facto, you see the correlation. I met him once at a Verizon store near a California Pizza Kitchen. I just remember being so happy to learn we were on the same wireless coverage plan.

My peers could never share in my appreciation or fascination of Green. Most of them actually very actively disliked him.

What Im now realizing is that the charm of Willie Green, for me, was that he was somewhat emblematic of the NBA everyman. He was far from a star honestly, he was often a pretty unhelpful basketball player. But he served as a placeholder for me for so many guys who played on the Sixers over the years who I found impossibly endearing.

Dave Rueter not only shares in this phenomenon, but he just wrote the book about it.

A Sixers Odyssey: Exploring The Forgotten Players of 76ers Yesteryear dives deep into the Sixers tenure of Green and 75 others. Each chapter features a different nondescript Sixer, and the book serves as a tribute to the forgotten players on our favorite, stupid team.

Dave or Where Is Ben Rivera, on Twitter is known by many fans for honing his literary voice right here at Liberty Ballers. While with the site, Dave and his colleagues took on the mammoth task of trying to make the Doug Collins-era Sixers interesting. We thank him for his service.

I recently had the chance to speak with Dave via email and ask him about his career at Liberty Ballers and the process that went into crafting his inventive new book. Enjoy.

As a Liberty Ballers alum, Id love to first hear about what your experience was like writing for the site. How did you get involved? Are there some fun pieces or breaking news stories from that time that stick out?

I loved my time with Liberty Ballers. There was a sense of community with LB that I always enjoyed the interaction between the writers and commentators, the inside jokes that organically developed on the site, etc, etc. Heck, when I was with LB gosh, probably almost ten years ago at this point we worshiped a Giant Tanking Octopus named Lucy to secure a top pick. Even writing that last sentence a decade later doesnt seem odd to me. Lucy will provide.

(The first-ever LB community meet-up saw a resounding victory over the Hawks. Al Horford struggled. The more things change, et al).

I was the fifth writer to join LB and rounded out the starting line-up. If the OG writing staff was Michigans Fab Five, I was certainly Ray Jackson the least-heralded of the bunch. We had Jordan Sams (the founder), Mike Levin (now hobnobbing in Hollywood), the movie critic and tag team specialist, Tanner Steidel, and Godner (Derek Bodner). Like many LB writers, I started writing Fan Posts. I previously had a blog that no longer exists on a platform that got swallowed up by the internet years ago. But I enjoyed writing and wanted to make people laugh. I just needed a new forum. Eventually, I was asked to join the staff. I knew my role. If you wanted to know the strengths and weaknesses of a prospect from the Missouri Valley Conference, ask Derek. Writing a few jokes about Kevin Ollie was more my speed.

I was around during the Doug Collins Years, so outside of an upset of the Bulls thanks to half the residents in Chicago tearing their ACLs, we didnt have that much excitement. We were right in the thick of the Andrew Bynum acquisition but all we got was this lousy Pressure Makes Diamonds T-shirt. Oh, and the writers also said a lot of mean things about Damien Wilkins. Nobody played better in March and April when his team was 20 games under .500.

A Sixers Odyssey is so unique in that its a book about an NBA teams least talked-about players. This isnt The Jordan Rules. At what age do you remember growing a particular affinity and fascination for these miscellaneous guys? Did it start with one Sixer in particular?

I mention this in the prologue of A Sixers Odyssey, but my best friend growing up had this coffee table book ranking the Top-100 basketball players of all-time. I mustve read it a hundred times. Even today, I can visualize the pages and the pictures. With each passing, my focus shifted to the players in the background of the photos. Like I know who Kevin McHale is. Whos the guy bodying him up? Couple that with my memories from watching the Sixers on Prism and SportsChannel, and my obsession with basketball cards (I have over a dozen Jim Lynam cards Im willing to barter), and I have this treasure trove of knowledge and memories of these random and forgotten players.

As for a particular player, it may have been Greg Grant, the 5-foot-7 guard from Division-III Trenton State. He was different, you know? He was an outlier. The Law of Averages says he shouldve been playing overseas somewhere, but he held his own. I dug him.

What do you think it was about these guys that hooked you? Do they all have something in particular in common?

That these players all have a story, yet their stories arent widely known. The Juice Man Michael Cage traveled with a 50-pound blender. Don MacLean, not Kareem or Bill Walton or Reggie Miller, is the leading scorer in UCLA history. Manute Bols passport said he was 5-foot-2, because the photo was taken while he was sitting down. Ron Anderson didnt even play high school basketball. The list goes on and on.

The majority of books about the Sixers focus on Iverson or Dr. J, or the 01 or 83 championship team. The books play the same hits, and I get the appeal. Im not nave. Iverson is my favorite Sixer ever. But I didnt have an interest in rehashing, say, the AI practice rant. I wanted to give the reader credit. There are stories in this book a Sixers fan may not know. There are others he or she havent relived in years. Either way, I wanted to tell them in a funny and entertaining way.

Did you set out to write a full-length book? Or did you start to jot stuff down and it sort of snowballed organically?

While writing my blog, someone asked me if I had a plan for these player essays and I joked, Yeah, Im gonna create a coffee table book. But the idea always stuck with me. Like, what if

That was over ten years ago. Charles Shackleford was the first essay I ever wrote, back sometime in 08 or 09. There are 76 chapters in the book. Each chapter is devoted to one former Sixer from the last 30 years.

Do you think that theres something specific about the players who have passed through this particular franchise that makes the Sixers especially rife with these types? Could A Mavericks Odyssey exist just the same?

Id love to read A Mavericks Odyssey! I hope he or she includes former Sixer legends Lucious Harris and Shawn Bradley. But to answer your question, I think a lot of bizarre things have happened to this franchise in the past 30 years. The Jeff Ruland Incident from 1992 is one of the most bonkers stories in NBA history, yet because it happened pre-social media, its barely a blip on the radar. Sixers coach John Lucas accused former lottery pick, Sharone Wright, of feigning injury to avoid playing against Shaq and David Robinson. Vernon Maxwell is Vernon Maxwell.

From a content perspective, Im fortunate to be a Sixers fan.

From what Ive read, you intersperse many chapters about different Sixers with anecdotes from your personal life. Was that something you learned to do while writing for LB, or did that evolve and develop as you were writing the book?

I brought that from my blogging days, but the LB editors always gave me the freedom to write outside the box. I never covered the team in a traditional sense. Ive never been in the locker room or in the press box. Im a fan, so why pigeonhole myself as something Im not?

(As an aside, writing game previews was my least favorite part of the LB gig. The game starts at 7. The thread will be up by 6:45. Sixers by a million. What else do you need to know?)

I have a chapter about Willie Burton and his 53-point outing from 1994. I read articles written from the night and included quotes from that game. But I also have this vivid memory of me, a 10-year-old kid, watching Willie Burton go ballistic on his former team. Why not include that? I think, or my hope anyway, is that those personal memories will resonate with the audience. That someone will read that chapter and say to themselves, Man, I remember watching that game with my mom, or I watched James Anderson drop 36 at Locust Rendezvous. What a crazy night. Something like that.

Would you mind spoiling a small excerpt of the book for our readers?

Sure. This is the opening to my chapter on Greg Buckner.

The Six Years

Name: Greg Buckner

Height: 64

College: Clemson

Sixers Tenure: 2002-2004

It appeared Buckner was the Sixers No. 1 priority this offseason as Brown and King wooed him from the beginning of free agency. (Moser 2002).

Greg Buckner is still on the books. There will come a point when Buckners deal transitions from albatross to trade chip, but were not there yet. Buckner was like a Blockbuster membership card. You havent rented a movie since 2004, but theyre still collecting late fees from your checking account. In a cabinet full of head-scratching and curious deals doled out by GM Billy King, Greg Buckners contract was perhaps the most puzzling. In July 2002, King and the Sixers inked Buckner to an astonishingly long six year (six!), $18 million dollar deal.

Giving Buckner six years? What was he, a senator? Buckner wasnt an unknown. He had been in the league for three seasons and thats what was so perplexing. If Buckner was a mystery, then the gamble may have been justified. If he was some guy tearing up the Serbian League, and the only grainy footage of him was locked in a safety deposit box owned by Fran Fraschilla, then ok. Lets roll the dice on upside. Lets get nuts. The Clemson product was fresh off a season where he averaged under six points per game. Certainly, theres value in a defensive wing, but for a half a dozen years, youd hope he comes with at least one made jumper a week. Six years was a long time to wait for a player to develop an offensive game. Six years was a long time by any measure.

Larry Browns fingerprints were all over the Buckner acquisition. Coach Brown ended up abandoning the Sixers for the Pistons job after Gregs first year with the team. Not to play conspiracy theorist, but have we considered this was all part of Larry Browns strategy? Hamstring the Sixers with all these bad contracts and mediocre players, and then jump ship to an Eastern Conference rival? This was an inside job. Im not accusing anyone of anything. Actually, I am accusing someone of something. Larry Brown enjoyed a cake walk to the Finals, while Sixers fans were stuck contributing to a GoFundMe to hire Buzz Braman to fix Buckners jump shot.

Early on, Buckner had an impressive five steal performance against the Cavs, which made fans briefly forget there were still five years and eleven months on his contract. He was ok in year one, but the limitations on the other end of the court were glaring. To justify playing a wing who brought so little offensively, they need to basically be Marty Brodeur on the other end. Buckner only shot 27% from behind the arc for the Sixers, so Im thinking that GoFundMe that I contributed to never got off the ground.

If you could share any meal with any three Sixers from your book, which meal and which Sixers would you choose? How would they get along?

Vernon Maxwell has the best Twitter feed in the game, so definitely him. Probably Todd MacCulloch because Im fascinated by the Professional Pinball Circuit. Then probably Tony Wroten. Maybe there are a few Team WHOP B-sides he could play for us between courses.

Wed get along great and eat scrapple and wuder ice until our hearts and bellies were content.

My immense thanks to Dave for taking the time to revisit his old stomping grounds, tell us about the book and even share with us an exclusive excerpt. His book is a must-have for anyone whos spent a lifetime being obsessed with the Sixers. Below are some links to buy.

Bookshop

Powells

Amazon

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Q&A with A Sixers Odyssey Author and Former Liberty Baller Dave Rueter - Liberty Ballers

When the Ace Hotel Pittsburgh landed in East Liberty in 2015, it was a seismic event for the city. The ultra-hip chain of hotels chooses its locations carefully so selecting Pittsburgh seemed to indicate that the city had arrived as a place to be.

Opening in a historic, 100-year-old converted YMCA, its gym became a venue for everything from music festivals, to DIY craft fairs, to dance parties, to dodgeball games. With a James Beard-award-nominated chef Bethany Zozula at the helm, its restaurant, Whitfield, became perhaps Pittsburghs premier brunch spot.

Then the pandemic hit.

Now when you visit their website, youre greeted with this message: Ace Hotel Pittsburgh has temporarily suspended operations. That appears to include its signature restaurant. Dont try calling; the phones currently dont work.

Its been rumored for a while that the hotel was in financial trouble, and there is a Facebook group called Ace Hotel Wedding Deposits comprised of couples who have been unable to get a refund for their canceled weddings.

Now it seems a sale may be imminent, according to a report in the Pittsburgh Business Times.

Were going to have to sell the property to try and satisfy the debt, said Nate Cunningham, one of the partners with the Y Hotel Group, the local owner of the property. Hopefully it will all work out.

The report says that sources familiar with the plan indicate Revolution Real Estate is in talks to buy the property, though they did not respond for comment.

Revolution, based in Washington D.C., is a real estate arm of Steve Case, who became an early tech billionaire by founding AOL (called Quantum Computer Services in 1985). Case is familiar with Pittsburgh he brought his Rise of the Rest tour to Pittsburgh in 2014, to highlight cities with growing tech startup scenes away from usual coastal hotspots.

Investing in Pittsburgh seems consistent to Cases commitment to cities with the potential for tech startup growth.

We look outside of Silicon Valley to find such opportunities, says the Revolution website. Nearly 75 percent of all venture capital investment goes to just three states: California, New York and Massachusetts. At Revolution, we focus on venture communities in high-potential geographies because we know from experience that while talent is well distributed, opportunity is not.

Pittsburghs positioned to be a leader in the next wave of technological innovation, said Steve Case in 2014, as he closed out his day-long Rise of the Rest tour. Now, we just have to get the word out, and let the rest of the world know how great Pittsburgh really is.

Ace Hotel PittsburghEast LibertyRevolution Real EstateSteve CaseWhitfield

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What's the future of Ace Hotel in East Liberty? Could be new owners - NEXTpittsburgh

BOSTON, Nov. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --The Board of Directors of Liberty All-Star Growth Fund, Inc. (NYSE: ASG) has declared a distribution totaling $0.26 per share payable on January 4, 2021 to shareholders of record on November 13, 2020 (ex-dividend date of November 12, 2020). This distribution consists of $0.14 per share in accordance with the Fund's current distribution policy of paying distributions on its shares totaling approximately 8 percent of its net asset value per year, payable in four quarterly installments of 2 percent and $0.12 per share so the Fund can meet its 2020 distribution requirement for federal excise tax purposes. A portion of the distribution may be treated as paid from sources other than net income, including but not limited to short-term capital gain, long-term capital gain and return of capital. The final determination of the source of all distributions in 2020 for tax reporting purposes, including the percentage of qualified dividend income, will be made after year-end.

The distribution will be paid in newly issued shares to all shareholders except those who are not participating in Liberty All-Star Growth Fund's Dividend Reinvestment Plan and who elect to receive the distribution in cash. Shares will be issued at the lower of the December 11, 2020 net asset value per share or market value per share (but not less than 95% of market value). The market value of the Fund's shares for this purpose will be the last sales price on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Fund does not continuously issue shares and trades in the secondary market, investors wishing to buy or sell shares need to place orders through an intermediary or broker. The share price of a closed-end fund is based on the market's value. The Fund's shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ASG. ALPS Advisors, Inc. is the investment advisor of the Fund, a multi-managed, closed-end investment company with more than $290 million in net assets as of October 30, 2020.

Past performance cannot predict future results.An investment in the Fund involves risk, including loss of principal.ALPS Portfolio Solutions Distributor, Inc. FINRA Member Firm

For Information Contact: Liberty All-Star Growth Fund, Inc. 1-800-241-1850 http://www.all-starfunds.com

SOURCE Liberty All-Star Growth Fund, Inc.

https://www.all-starfunds.com

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Liberty All-Star Growth Fund, Inc. Declares Regular Quarterly Distribution and Amount Required for Excise Tax Purposes - PRNewswire

A person checking on a deer lease discovered the badly-decomposed body of a person on Thursday around 3:30 p.m. at the Liberty Bell Ranch off of US 90 between Liberty and Dayton.

According to Lt. Chip Fairchild, it is uncertain if the body belonged to a man or woman. Based on his extensive knowledge in these types of cases, Fairchild estimates that the body has been there for at least a month.

The cause of death could not be determined at this time, Fairchild said in a written statement. Detectives with the Liberty Police [Department] do suspect foul play is involved.

Liberty Police Department is being assisted in the investigation by Texas Ranger Brandon Bess.

Pct. 1 Justice of the Peace Stephen Hebert conducted an inquest and has ordered an autopsy. The body was sent to the Jefferson County Medical Examiner where the cause of death will be determine and evidence will be collected.

Detectives collected evidence at the scene; however, they are asking for the publics help with any information. If anyone has information they believe might aid police in the investigation, please contact Liberty Police Department at 936-336-5666. You can remain anonymous.

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Body found in Trinity River bottom near Liberty - Bluebonnet News

The French were asking for it, werent they? All thatlacitis the political equivalent of a short skirt. What did Marianne think would happen if she went out like that?

The very act of being French,Politicotells us, incites Muslims to murderous rage. ANew YorkerwriterexplainsthatCharlie Hebdocartoons are effectively hate speech, which effectively implies that Samuel Paty, the teacher who showed the cartoons to his pupils in a class on free speech, got what he deserved. TheNew York Timestells us that there are fine people on both sides: the real victims of Islamist terrorism in France are French Muslims, who are left feeling uncomfortable.

Not as uncomfortable as Simone Baretto Silva as she was stabbed to death in a church by a migrant from Tunisia. Not as uncomfortable as Samuel Paty as his head was sawn off by an immigrant from Chechnya outside the school where he taught. But the deaths of these obscure foreigners must be minimized and the motives for their murder explained away.

We must avoid the worst discomforts of all: the creeping feeling that the world is not American. That the French, who are honorary Americans because of Lafayette and Julia Child, are in the kind of trouble that the French, being philosophical, call existential and that, just as the formation of modern European societies shaped the formation of the United States, so the fracturing of European societies foreshadows the unmaking of American society. Better to blame the victim whose murder carries the message we prefer to ignore.

Is France fueling Muslim terrorism by trying to prevent it? Vincent Geisser asksin theNew York Times. You must be a white supremacist if you dont already know the correct answer. It is an article of liberal faith that Muslims are uniquely prone to rage. They were incorrigibly incited by European colonialism in the past, and so bear only diminished responsibility for any acts of savagery they may feel incited to commit now and, we must presume, at any point in the future.

Mr Geisser is a political scientist, theTimes tells us. In other words, shut up and agree with the expert. Mr Geisser, it seems, is a useful expert, the credentialed counterpart to the useful idiots who run theTimes. In 2009, the French journalist Caroline Fourestcalledhim known for taking positions favoring radical Islam. He went to court where, ironically, he claimed his freedom of speech was being infringed. Off with his head.

We must never ask why, if postcolonial rage is the problem, that in Britain, with its substantial populations of postcolonial Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and African Christians, it is only Muslims who are incited to chop off strangers heads. We must never ask if Emmanuel Macron, a generally ludicrous figure, is saying nothing more than the obvious when he asserts that Islam is a faith in crisis all over the world, and that, much as he understands the offense caused by French habits like cartooning and topless sunbathing, forcibly imposing the gender norms of rural Tunisia and the apocalyptic visions of the internet imam are, as they say in thebanlieuesof Paris, just not cricket.

***Get a digital subscription toThe Spectator.Try a month free, then just $3.99 a month***

Such questions might lead to disconcerting conclusions about the ruling principles of public life in America: that race and gender matter above all else; that immigration, legal or not, is good for society; that the world divides into good guys and bad; that American civilization is historys last word, and that the other 7.5 billion people in world can think of nothing better than to become Americans, so that they too may demonize their neighbors and bankrupt themselves by sending their children to colleges that teach an arcane variety of racialized Marxism.

All these thoughts might lead to the even more disconcerting conclusions. That the liberal consensus in Americas institutions, the volunteers of the media included, pushes a view of the world that is as false asEmily in Paris. That this fictitious moralizing might at times be as mendacious, to pick an example from theTimess rich history of deliberately getting it wrong, as Walter Durantys false reports from the Soviet Union. That the liberal consensus imposes similar falsities at home, and that this substitution of dogma forhistorical reality is pushing American society and democracy down its own road to perdition.

Thehistoricalreality is that the older civilizations did not fossilize away as the Founders expected. The French remain certain of who they are: it is the Americans who are lost. TheCharlie Hebdocartoons are not effectively hate speech; the tradition of obscene political cartooning is effectively protected in French law.Lacit is not identical to American secularism: both are 19th-century terms reflecting different conceptions of the relationship between church and state. Shockingly, the French manage to run a liberal democratic state while rejecting the hyphenations of American identity politics. They call thatcommunautarismeand they see it, as Macron puts it, as separatism: just another path to bloodshed in the streets. They may have a point. But why think about Simone Baretto Silva in Nice when you can watchEmily in Paris?

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Life, liberty and the pursuit of lacit - The Spectator US

Liberty may not be playing this week, but that doesnt mean that LU fans should just turn off their TV sets this Saturday. There are a few key matchups happening this weekend that could end up affecting Liberty in a big way. If the following three steps go as planned, Liberty could very well get ranked on a weekend that they dont even play. Heres how it could happen.

Friday, at 9 pm EST, Tulsa plays ECU on ESPN2. Tulsa is currently ranked just behind the Flames in the AP poll at #28. Liberty needs ECU to pull off the upset (currently 17.5 point underdogs) to keep Tulsa from jumping the inactive Flames.

On the other side of the Flames, is Memphis at #26. Memphis plays #7 Cincinnati Saturday at 12 pm EST on ESPN. Liberty needs the Tigers (7 point underdogs) to pull an L in this one so LU can leapfrog the reigning Group of 5 New Years 6 representatives.

Oklahoma plays Texas Tech (14 point underdogs) at 8pm EST on Fox and has not looked strong this season with losses to previously unranked Kansas State and Iowa State. Boise State plays Air Force (14 point underdogs) at 6pm EST on CBSSN and just cracked the rankings last week after a solid win against Utah State, but Air Force has been a tricky matchup for the Broncos as the Falcons have claimed 3 of the last 7 in the blossoming rivalry. SMU looks the most vulnerable of the 3, with a blowout loss to Cincinnati last week and narrow victories on their season record against 1-6 Texas State and 2-4 Tulane. The Mustangs play Navy (13 point underdogs) at 7:30pm EST on ESPN2.

As far as the rest of the other Top 25 matchups go, they shouldnt have a significant impact on the Flames as the ranked team is too high in the rankings to fall out, the team playing them just doesnt have a good enough shot of beating them (for example Kansas vs #23 Iowa State) or the unranked team is not a significant challenger to leapfrog the Flames (there are a few examples where an unranked team could jump into the rankings but the team they beat would likely fall out so the end result would be null). One additional team to mention is Coastal Carolina, who plays Georgia State (2.5 point underdogs) at 12pm EST on ESPNU and is currently ranked #20. Although a loss to Georgia State would knock the Chanticleers out and open up a slot for the Flames, it would be better for Liberty if Coastal remained ranked until the matchup in December as the Flames saw their other two ranked opponents fall from grace this last weekend (VT and NC State) and Coastal Carolina looks like the last chance for the Flames to beat a top 25 team.

If all three of these steps happen, Liberty should be ranked come Sunday. Of course, if multiple teams of those listed in step 3 lose, then there is more room for error and Liberty could potentially still get in even if Tulsa or Memphis win their matchups. Another factor is that these rankings are not the Playoff Rankings (which first come out November 24th) and there is a high degree of bias and personal motivations factored into the rankings. Something that has seemed to be a trend in the past is a desire by the AP pollsters to create good matchups. A ranked Liberty coming into Blacksburg as underdogs makes very good television and there may be a push to rank the Flames if a spot opens up, even if my steps are not met. Either way, Liberty fans still have a lot to keep an eye on this weekend as something very historic for the Flames could be in the making.

Written By Mr. Exclamation Point

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A Possible Road to the Top 25 This Weekend for Liberty - A Sea of Red

The Old Colony History Museum is just trying to keep the spirit alive this year.

TAUNTON Since the pandemic hit, chances that the Liberty and Union Festival would happen the way it normally does on Oct. 16 and 17 were slim. Though it usually takes place outside, there are large crowds and presenters from all over and the Old Colony History Museum the main organizers of the decades-old festival decided such an event could not be made COVID-19 safe.

"It was really clear early on that it wasn't going to be able to happen because you want to encourage people to come, but it's the gathering of people that is dangerous at the moment," said Katie MacDonald, executive director of the museum.

But the museum was determined to do something to commemorate Oct. 21 a date that is especially important for the city of Taunton.

In 1774, in response to the Sons of Liberty meeting in Philadelphia, the Sons of Liberty in Taunton met on the Taunton Green. They sewed red cloth stitched with the words "liberty and union" in white around the Union Jack and raised it on a flagpole on the Green, creating the Liberty and Union flag we know today. They also signed a declaration in support of armed force against Great Britain.

"At the time, if you got caught, that would be treason," MacDonald said. "That is defying the king and defying the king's orders. So that was an early revolutionary spark."

It was such a notable event that it made it into the Boston newspapers, becoming the first act of rebellion recorded in the press. According to the museum, the flag is considered by many to be the first patriotic flag.

With such an important event to honor, the museum got creative.

MacDonald said the museum has been organizing more online activities in the past few months, doing virtual tours of the museum and Zoom lectures. So they decided to go digital, creating six activities and games online, as well as an informational page about why they celebrate the historic event with a festival.

"It's an iconic day in our calendar, and it was one of those things we just didn't want to give up on," MacDonald said.

The games and activities can be accessed on the museum's website under the "play" tab. There you will find instructions on how to make a tricorn hat, Liberty and Union coloring sheets, as well as several puzzles.

The museum is also partnering with Taunton Community Access and Media to put together a TV special which will show the museum's pictures of past Liberty and Union festivals, as well as photos sent in by community members. You can still submit photos by sending them to info@oldcolonyhistorymuseum.org. The special will premiere in late October.

Last but not least, with the help of the Taunton Cultural Council, the museum is partnering with local playwright and actor Stephen Sampson to create a production based on the life of Toby Gilmore a man born in Africa who was forced to work as a slave in Raynham, but fought in the American Revolution and was able to attain his freedom.

"This year is an interesting challenge, but hopefully it's in the spirit of what we try to do with the festival," MacDonald said. "...We'll have kept things going and bring it all back to life next year."

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Whats happening with Tauntons Liberty and Union Festival? Its moved to your screens - Taunton Daily Gazette

In the wake of his recovery from COVID-19, and with his reelection campaign foundering in the polls, President Trump made a fateful decision last week to return to holding mass rallies despite warnings from health officials about doing so during a pandemic.

Thousands of his supporters in Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona have since flocked to regional airports where the mostly outdoor rallies have been held, and cheered as Trump has bounded onto the stage while Lee Greenwoods God Bless the U.S.A. plays.

The chorus to that soaring, clich-riddled anthem, which has replaced The Star-Spangled Banner at Trump events, helps explain why the president has pressed forward with his insistence that America lift coronavirus restrictions: And Im proud to be an American, where at least I know Im free.

As Trump made clear to his campaign staffers on a Monday call, his notion of freedom means the right to ignore rules meant for the common good.

People are tired of COVID. I have these huge rallies. People are saying, Whatever. Just leave us alone. Theyre tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots,he said in reference to the nations leading expert on infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

At a mass rally in Nevada over the weekend, Trump, who since his release from Walter Reed medical center has stated his belief that he is immune from the disease that has been fatal to nearly 220,000 Americans, summed up the frustration felt not just by his supporters but by all Americans affected by the pandemic.

Normal life, thats all we want, we want normal life, he told the crowd. We want to be where we were seven months ago.

But by returning to mass rallies, Trump has gone beyond nostalgia. He is testing a theory propagated by many Republicans that experts are wrong about how easily the coronavirus spreads and whether the more than 8 million American cases of COVID-19 justify modifying our behavior and harming the economy.

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We gotta remember I said it right at the beginning. The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself. Cant. The cure cannot be worse, Trump said last Monday at a rally in Florida.

As the president himself noted, his skepticism of the advice by the experts on his coronavirus task force has long been apparent. Trump, after all, returned to holding large campaign rallies in August that disregarded admonitions from experts like Fauci to keep at least 6 feet apart from others and to wear face coverings to prevent spreading the virus.

By the time the president hosted a large White House gathering on Sept. 26 to announce the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, few in his inner circle seemed overly concerned about contracting COVID-19. The same could not be said of Fauci, who watched the Rose Garden party with a sense of horror.

I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask, Fauci said in an interview with 60 Minutes that aired Sunday. When I saw that on TV, I said, Oh, my goodness. Nothing good can come outta that, thats gotta be a problem. And then, sure enough, it turned out to be a superspreader event.

Fauci has been replaced as the public face of the coronavirus task force by Dr. Scott Atlas, a radiologist with no experience in epidemiology. On Saturday, Atlas made news by tweeting his own view about what works to stop COVID-19. Masks work? NO,he wrote in a message that Twitter, classifying it as misinformation, removed from the platform a move cheered by Dr. Deborah Birx, the task forces response coordinator, who has reportedly confronted Vice President Mike Pence over Atlass role.

While most attendees at a Trump rally or a crowded protest do not become infected with COVID-19, some do. In Minnesota, for instance, public health officials have traced 23 cases of the disease back to two rallies the president held in the swing state in September.

Citing the health risk of large gatherings, Joe Biden has largely eschewed crowded campaign rallies, instead holding drive-in events where people remain in cars and honk their support. At one such stop on Sunday in Durham, N.C., Biden said Trump was lying to the American people about the pandemic.

The other night, Trump said inone of his rallies, Weve turned the corner, Biden said. As my grandfather would say, this guys gone around the bend if he thinks weve turned the corner. Turn the corner? Things are getting worse. He continues to lie to us about the circumstances.

Though the attendees at Trumps rallies are offered face coverings, most except those selected to stand behind the presidents podium and in front of the television cameras dont wear them. When Greenwoods 1984 anthem begins playing, many in the crowd cheer in celebration of Trumps imminent arrival and their own freedom to attend the rally without wearing a mask.

Many Biden voters, however, see something different. For them, the spectacle of mass gatherings during a deadly pandemic is both pointless risk taking by the participants and a threat to public health.

In an interview with Military.com, Greenwood said he had written God Bless the U.S.A. as a proper salute to the military and its job out of a desire to make the country more cohesive.

As a paean to liberty, the song naturally lent itself to the campaign of a president who presents himself as a breaker of political norms and traditions. But during the pandemic, which Trump has often described as a war against an invisible enemy, the limits of personal freedom have been tested.

As Michael Tomasky wrote Sunday in the New York Times opinion section, the 19th century philosopher John Stuart Mill defined freedom as doing as we like, subject to such consequences as may follow, without impediment from our fellow creatures, as long as what we do does not harm them even though they should think our conduct foolish, perverse or wrong.

While voters are unlikely to read On Liberty before Nov. 3, how they take Mills point, or for that matter Greenwoods, may well factor into the results of the presidential election.

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Trump's rallies define his view of liberty: The right not to care about other people - Yahoo News

Velasquez has been held in the Butler County Jail since June in lieu of a $500,000 bond.

In June during arraignment, Velasquezs attorney, David Washington, said his client shot the shooter.

Washington had said if what investigators said happened that night is true that Moody fired the shot that killed Hill and Velasquez shot Moody then Velasquez probably stopped a bigger problem, more gun violence that night in the park.

Velasquez confessed he had a gun and made a choice to go to this zone of danger with that gun after a social media announcement about a big fight going down, according to Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said.

Moody remains housed in the Butler County Jail in lieu of a $1 million bond awaiting trial in December. He is charged with murder and two counts of felonious assault.

In addition to Hill and Moody, Zyshaun Johnson, 19, of Cincinnati, was also shot, but he recovered.

Hill, a Fairfield High School graduate, planned to play football at Independence Community College in Kansas.

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Teen sentenced to 24 months for involvement in Liberty Twp. park shootout - Hamilton Journal News

To the editor:

I believe that liberty is the God-given right to make personal choices that are intended to improve our lives and others lives without hurting us or others. Liberty is freedom to do good. The U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights were written to help preserve personal liberty.

I want a small government that protects everyones right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness without mandating anyones personal life choices. I desire a constitutional republican form of government that treats everyone equally under the law. Now, instead of having a small federal government that follows only the Constitution, we have government that is too big and corrupt (e.g, spying on President Trump and framing Gen. Flynn), too costly, and blatantly unconstitutional (e.g., health care control, wealth redistribution, etc.).

Over the last decades, our liberties continued to be eroded as the Republican and Democrat parties have both moved much farther left. Most Republicans now want large government but fortunately do still support freedom of speech and religion, gun ownership, law and order and are pro-life.

The Democrat Party now seems to be controlled by socialists who errantly think the purpose of our government is to redistribute wealth. Many Democrat-run cities and states have demonstrated their abuse of law-abiding citizens with their prolonged COVID-19 lockdowns while supporting rioting, looting, arson, sanctuary cities, and defunding the police. Some Democrat leaders have prevented their police from enforcing law and order. Supporting criminal behavior hurts the liberty of the law-abiding.

Sadly, we could lose our remaining liberty slowly by voting Republican or quickly by voting Democrat. Happily, the God who gives us liberty always loves us regardless of our choices, and He will save us for eternity from all our sinful choices if we confess our sin and confess only Him as our Lord.

DAVE TOMASZEWSKI

Midland

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Reader: Our liberty is threatened - Midland Daily News

With so many crises and news events swirling around us, its not easy to notice an underlying cultural shift that may threaten the very essence of America.

The COVID-19 pandemic, tribal political warfare, racial unrest, and upcoming elections are sucking up much of the media attention. But however epic these events may be, theyre not likely to fundamentally change the nature of our country. What is?

If you ask me, it is a rising culture of chronic victimhood.

If the coronavirus threatens our physical health and economy, the worship of victimhood threatens the aspirational promise of America. How? By replacing the resiliency and imagination of optimism with the fragile passivity of victimhood.

Victimhood means that anything bad that happens to you is someone elses fault. It is a liberating sentiment because you need not take responsibility for any misfortune. You are constantly off the hook, free from the oppressive pressure of self-blame.

A recent article in Scientific American, Unraveling the Mindset of Victimhood, notes another benefit of victimhood a sense of moral elitism. Those who score high on the victimhood scale perceive themselves as having an immaculate morality and view everyone else as being immoral. Moral elitism can be used to control others by accusing others of being immoral, unfair or selfish, while seeing oneself as supremely moral and ethical.

Embracing victimhood, in other words, doesnt just free you from responsibility, it also gives you a higher moral standing. That seductive combination may help explain the rise of the grievance industry.

Among the first to recognize this trend wereGreg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt in their 2018 book, The Coddling of the American Mind. The authors introduced and made prominent a new vocabulary of grievance prevalent on college campuses. Terms like microaggressions, safetyism, safe spaces, identity politics, and cancel culture have become ubiquitous.

They all revolve around one main idea: Nothing is ever my fault. If something goes wrong, if I feel offended or unsafe in any way, the solution is never within me it is always outside of me.

This sugar high of feeling like a victim, of course, comes with a serious downside. Any therapist will tell youthat chronic victimhood is not good for ones emotional or psychic health. The Scientific American article asserts thatfocusing on grievances can be debilitating. For instance, those with a high level of victimhood constantly ruminate and talk about their interpersonal offenses and their causes and consequences rather than think about or discuss possible solutions.

We also know from personal experience that blaming others for our woes is hardly the path to success, happiness and progress.

President John F. Kennedy knew this as well, which is why he uttered one of the great callings in American history: Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. His line was the antidote to victimhood.

And yet, six decades later, we have allowed a pervasive culture of victimhood to permeate our society.

One reason this trend has snuck up on us is that genuine grievances can generate enormous empathy. Who can argue with the grievances of racism, discrimination or social injustice? All too often, though, the anger triggered by these grievances nourish pervasive victimhood more than they nourish solutions.

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement is a good example. The slogan is certainly beautiful and moral, and excising racism is a supremely worthy goal. But awash in their victimhood, some BLM activists have lost sight of actual solutions and reforms. As Andrew Sullivan writes, BLMs critical race activists do not support reforming the police, they want to abolish them entirely. In fact, they demonize all cops as bastards, and they justify violence and exonerate crime as legitimate resistance to the far greater crime of white oppression.

And lets not be nave: the grievance industry is lucrative. Virtue-signaling corporations are eagerly donating to BLM-connected causes, while the cultural pillars of society, from the media to academia to Hollywood, have scrambled to catch up. Because victimhood is a source of power, it has become an end in itself.

The fallout from this thriving grievance/victimhood industry is that we are eroding two pillars of the American dream: Hope and optimism. Victimhood engenders the very opposite of the can-do spirit that built America through impossible challenges.

The fallout from this thriving grievance/victimhood industry is that we are eroding two pillars of the American dream: Hope and optimism.

If you believe, for example, that America is an irredeemably racist country, what is there to protect or defend? If you ignore the considerable progress America has made over its history, where do you find hope and optimism?

Theres a difference between fighting against injustice and fighting against a hopelessly racist country. In the first, which was the approach of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., you use the tools provided by our constitutional system of laws and rights to seek redress and progress. In the second, youre so angry at the system that youd rather overturn it than reform it. The first offers hope; the second reinforces victimhood.

Perhaps the epitome of the grievance industry is exemplified by The New York Times 1619 Project, which reframes the birth of America around slavery rather than its founding ideals. The project, which is being introduced in schools, has come under sharp criticism from historians, scholars, and, most recently, New York Times columnist Bret Stephens.

Perhaps the epitome of the grievance industry is exemplified by The New York Times 1619 Project, which reframes the birth of America around slavery rather than its founding ideals.

Contrary to what the 1619 Project claims, Stephens writes, 1776 isnt just our nations official founding. It is our symbolic one, too. The metaphor of 1776 is more powerful than that of 1619 because what makes America most itself isnt four centuries of racist subjugation. Its 244 years of effort by Americans sometimes halting, but often heroic to live up to our greatest ideal.

Thats a struggle that has been waged by people of every race and creed. And its an ideal that continues to inspire millions of people at home and abroad.

In a conversation with Bill Kristol on July 22, 2020, Princeton Professor Sean Wilentz challenged the idea that the arrival of slaves in 1619 defines America.

The United States didnt even exist in 1619, he said. By the time you get to the American Revolution, and by the time you get to the Constitution The American colonies had given birth to the anti-slavery movement in the Atlantic world. They had begun with the Quakers very early on in 1688 or so but, actually, in the 1760s and 1770s there were plenty of Northerners who were railing against slavery, saying in fact that how can we call ourselves lovers of liberty if we have these slaveholders among us?

And, in fact, the Northerners were starting the very first successful emancipation projects, again, in Atlantic history. The very first national emancipation law was passed in Pennsylvania in 1780. The first Constitution actually that banned adult slavery was enacted in Vermont in 1777. The first anti-slavery society in the history of the world was established in Philadelphia in 1775, about five days before Lexington and Concord.

So, this is America, and its not that America is anti-slavery. Its a fight; its an argument from the very beginning. There is no one thing about America and slavery. To say that racism and slavery are foundational to America obliterates the fact that when the United States was being formed there is anti-slavery out there as well, not only coming from the enslaved.

When Wilenz says that its a fight, its an argument from the very beginning, he is expressing one of the founding ideas of America a struggle to create a more perfect union.

In his last speech as president, Barack Obama spoke of this struggle as the great gift that our Founders gave to us: The freedom to chase our individual dreams through our sweat and toil and imagination, and the imperative to strive together, as well, to achieve a common good, a greater good.

Regardless of which political side youre on, if you dont believe in that America, then you dont believe in hope.

The horrible pandemic of 2020 has made it hard to believe in hope, creating millions of real victims who have every right to feel victimized. But rather than politicize the reactions to COVID-19, we ought to struggle and strive together, as Obama said, to achieve a common good, a greater good.

In that spirit, we have a choice: Do we want America to be defined by irredeemable sins or by a relentless drive to perfect itself? If we pick the former, we will nurture a generation of resentful victims who will always be angry at America, regardless of circumstances. If we pick the latter, we will nurture a generation of can-do Americans who will renew the promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of what we can do for our country.

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Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Victimhood - Jewish Journal

NORTH LIBERTY In a normal year, this would have been the day that the overall Mississippi Valley Conference volleyball champion was determined.

Turned out, it was anyway. Just without the medals and postmatch photos. And it took one match, not an eight-hour, 16-team tournament.

So go ahead, crown the Liberty Lightning. In the last three days, theyve proven MVC supremacy. Without dispute, and without debate.

Playing its 20th match in the last 22 days, Class 5A sixth-ranked Iowa City Liberty earned a couple of days off, sweeping 4A No. 1 Cedar Rapids Xavier, 25-22, 25-21, 25-18, in a match between MVC divisional champs Saturday afternoon at Liberty High School.

Were exhausted, Liberty Coach Randy Dolson said. We need a couple of days off to regroup, then well have a couple of good practices Tuesday and Wednesday.

Exhausted? Liberty (20-2) has won 12 straight matches and is 19-1 in its three-week frenzy.

Im really proud of the way weve been playing, Liberty setter Haley Hested said. Weve been going, going, going. Practice, play, practice, play. Its good to know weve been working hard for a reason.

The Lightning captured the MVC Mississippi Division title Thursday with a four-set win at Cedar Falls. In a normal year, the conference tournament would have been Saturday. But as we know, theres been nothing normal about 2020. So Liberty and Xavier scheduled this dandy, and the Lightning went out and won it.

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Liberty led throughout the opener, building a 21-12 advantage and holding on after Xavier (21-6) pulled within 22-21 and 23-22.

Lauren Romans free-ball kill got the Lightning to set point, then Shelby Kimms block won the set.

Kimm finished with six blocks to go with seven kills.

Weve been working on our block, Kimm said. We try to get together and press really hard. Coach tells up to get there fast, be on time.

With Liberty down 19-17 in the second set, Kimm had a kill and a block and Olivia Davenport served two serves in a four-point surge to put the Lightning in front. Then, in Game 3, the Lightning scored six straight to erase an early 6-3 deficit, and played from ahead the rest of the way.

Cassidy Hartman posted a match-high 13 kills to stake the Lightning to a 39-24 advantage in that category. Hested dished out 21 assists.

Maya Karl and Bella Musick led Xavier with six kills each. Jazmine Yamilkoski had 18 assists.

Both teams open the postseason with regional semifinals Thursday.

IOWA CITY LIBERTY 3, CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER 0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-18)

At North Liberty

Serving: Xavier 58-62 (.935), Liberty 64-73 (.877)

Aces: Xavier 3 (Elsie Ridder 2), Liberty 7 (Olivia Davenport 3)

Kills: Xavier 24 (Maya Karl, Bella Musick 6), Liberty 39 (Cassidy Hartman 13)

Assists: Xavier 23 (Jazmine Yamilkoski 18), Liberty 35 (Haley Hested 21)

Blocks: Xavier 7 (Elyse Winter 3), Liberty 10 (Shelby Kimm 6)

Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com

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No debate: Iowa City Liberty is the cream of the MVC volleyball crop - The Gazette

Following the programs first ever win over an ACC opponent this past Saturday as the Flames defeated Syracuse, 38-21, Liberty (5-0) continues to receive votes in the national top 25 polls. This is the third consecutive week the Flames have received votes in the Coaches Poll.

In the Associated Press Top 25 poll, the Flames received 37 votes, effectively ranking No. 33.

Liberty received 57 votes, effectively ranking 31st, up from last weeks eight votes and 45th ranking. The Flames have won seven straight dating back to last season, the fourth longest win streak in the country.

The Flames are scheduled to face Southern Miss in Lynchburg, Virginia at Williams Stadium this coming Saturday with kickoff at 1 pm on ESPN3.

Clemson remains No. 1 in the poll, followed by Alabama, Notre Dame, Georgia, and Ohio State to round out the top 5.

Virginia Tech (3-1) is ranked No. 20 following their win over Boston College on Saturday. The Flames are scheduled to face the Hokies in Blacksburg on Nov. 7 in a potential top 25 in-state clash. Virginia Tech is ranked No. 19 in the AP poll.

NC State (4-1) joins the rankings this week at No. 22 after defeating Duke this weekend. The Flames and Wolfpack are scheduled to meet in Raleigh, North Carolina on Nov. 21. NC State is ranked No. 23 in the AP poll.

Coastal Carolina (4-0) also joins the rankings at No. 24 following their win over previously ranked Louisiana. The Flames and Chanticleers are scheduled to square off on Dec. 5 in Conway, South Carolina. Coastal checks in at No. 25 in the AP poll.

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Liberty surges in others receiving votes of Top 25 polls - A Sea of Red

In the pandemics early days, the American judiciary largely gave governors wide leeway in issuing unprecedented business-closure and stay-at-home orders in order to dampen the spread of the disease. More recently, some judges, concerned by the scope and duration of those orders, have taken steps to enforce constitutional limits on executive power.

Last May, in response to the several dozen lawsuits that had been filed at that time demanding justification for drastic quarantine measures, a colleague at Pacific Legal Foundation wrote, the longer the lockdowns go on and the less necessary that they seem, the more scrutiny we can expect courts to apply. Now, the number of lawsuits filed has mounted into the hundreds, and several recent opinionsfrom a state Supreme Court, a federal district court, and among dissenting justices at the U.S. Supreme Courthave begun to engage a more serious discussion about the limits of those emergency powers.

The most recent of these decisions (issued earlier this month), Midwest Institute of Health, PLLC v. Whitmer, overturned some of Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmers emergency orders on the grounds of the separation of powers. The case was originally brought in federal court by a group of non-essential health-care workers prevented from offering services under one of Whitmers executive orders and by a patient prevented from receiving knee surgery during this period. The federal court referred the case to the state Supreme Court to opine on the limits of the governors authority under the state constitution.

The Michigan Supreme Court first found that emergency-management law requires the governor to secure the approval of the state legislature in order to continue exercising emergency power. Second, the court found that even if the legislature had given Whitmer continuing authority to issue orders responding to Covid-19, this open-ended grant of power would represent an unconstitutional delegation of law-making authority. Even if the governors orders were constitutional as temporary emergency measures, the state Supreme Court determined that they had gone on for too long.

In Butler v. Wolf, a group of Pennsylvania counties, public officials, and business owners brought a constitutional challenge in a federal trial court against orders issued by Governor Tom Wolf. They complained that numeric limitations on gatherings violated their First Amendment rights to free speech and free assembly and that orders shutting down private businesses and stay-at-home orders violated Fourteenth Amendment rights to liberty and equal protection of the laws.

Ruling for the plaintiffs, Judge William Stickman wrote that good intentions toward a laudable end are not alone enough to uphold government action against a constitutional challenge, and he affirmed the judiciarys unique role in checking the emergency powers of other government actors, especially when the purported emergency has lasted for over six months. While courts should be willing to give temporary deference to temporary measures aimed at remedying a fleeting crisis, there was a big difference between measures taken to flatten the curve and ongoing restrictions that can be rescinded, modified, or reinstated at will.

In Calvary Chapel v. Sisolak, a Nevada church petitioned the Supreme Court for relief from Nevada governor Steve Sisolaks order limiting in-person religious services to 50 or fewer people. The church argued that Nevada was unfairly discriminating against religious organizations, in violation of the free exercise of religion clause of the First Amendment, since other businesses in Nevada, including large casinos, could operate at 50 percent capacity. The Court denied the application.

Justice Samuel Alito, writing in dissent, and joined by Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas, said that the Court should have accepted the case. States and their subdivisions have responded to the pandemic by imposing unprecedented restrictions on personal liberty, he wrote. While the initial response by officials may have been justified, given the uncertainty surrounding an emergency situation, Alito argued that the emergency does not give Governors and other public officials carte blanche to disregard the Constitution for as long as the medical problem persists.

These cases are likely to guide other judges and lawmakers in assessing future emergency actions by state officials. With emergency declarations still in place and no end to the pandemic in sight, it is essential that our federal and state judicial branches constrain the authority of state officials within constitutional limits.

As Judge Stickman notes in the Wolf case, [t]he liberties protected by the Constitution are not fair-weather freedomsin place when times are good but able to be case aside in times of trouble.

This op-ed was originally published byCity Journal on October 15, 2020.

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City Journal: Liberty, in Sickness and in Health - Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF)

Liberty High, fresh off controversy after changing its name so its no longer associated with a Confederate general, has a new controversy with racial overtones and its principal is now on paid leave as a result.

School leaders are investigating whether Principal Rob Howle violated school policy by sending a text message to a fellow school employee that suggested potential repercussions for football players who fail to stand for the national anthem. The national anthem has been a flashpoint nationwide since football player Colin Kaepernick kneeled during a 2016 playing of the anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice.

Football is returning to Lee Magnet High School. Lee Principal Rob Howle made the announcement Friday before an energetic student body and sev

Howle is starting his third year as principal of Liberty High, formerly Lee High. Soon after taking over in 2018, Howle relaunched football, which the school had last played a decade earlier.

An image of Howles text message, dated Oct. 1, was posted on social media and came to the attention of the East Baton Rouge Parish school system on Thursday.

Taylor Gast, a spokeswoman for the school system, said the message appears to be real and that the recipient also works for the school system, but she would not identify that person.

The text, first reported by WBRZ-TV and which includes no names, is a short rant from Howle about football players who apparently failed to stand during a recent playing of the national anthem.

That was embarrassing, he wrote. Playing football is a privilege not a right.

The text goes to suggest the recipient of the email might want to make it mandatory to stand during the anthem or this team will never get any more support from the administration.

If they dont want to stand they can turn in their equipment and we will refund their money.

Howle did not return a message from The Advocate seeking comment. The district issued a statement Thursday saying it launched an investigation and that, " as a result, an administrator has been placed on administrative leave." Gast identified the administrator as Howle.

Also, the district said Thursday the school system respects students' rights to freedom of speech and expression and promotes responsible citizenship. In the statement, Gast points to a policy in the Student Handbook that allows for silent meditation during the Pledge of Allegiance, but also touches on the national anthem.

Every assembly or meeting in each school should begin with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and with the playing or the singing of the National Anthem, and all students shall be encouraged to learn the words of the National Anthem, according to the policy. Throughout the playing (singing) of the National Anthem and/or the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, students shall be encouraged to exhibit respectful behavior.

From sports jerseys to signs to outdoor benches, renaming Lee High to Liberty High will take several months to complete, with the East Baton R

Liberty High was renamed from Lee High in July in the wake of protests across the country that targeted symbols of the Confederacy. Lee High opened in 1959 as Robert E. Lee High School, named after the Confederate general.

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Liberty High principal on leave after threat to make football players stand for national anthem - The Advocate

Meghan McCain just shared the first picture of her daughter Liberty Sage! On Wednesday, The View host gave a rare look at her little one, whom she and husband Ben Domenech welcomed in late September.

In the Instagram post, McCain is rocking a fresh-faced look as she holds her baby in an Ollie swaddle. The new mom captioned the post, "Bliss. ," and you can totally feel this from her beaming smile.

Fans could not get over how sweet baby Liberty is, taking to the comments section to share their thoughts. "Meghan you look radiantly beautiful with baby Liberty! ," one fan wrote, while another person said, "New mom glow ."

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McCain announced the birth of her daughter Liberty on the official View Twitter on September 28. "We are excited to share the happy news that our @MeghanMcCain and her husband Ben Domenech have welcomed their first child, daughter Liberty Sage McCain Domenech," the tweet said.

In March 2020, The View host revealed she was pregnant, one year after suffering a "horrendous miscarriage" in 2019. McCain also shared in May that she would be keeping her pregnancy super private, after the negativity she experienced following her dad John McCain's death in 2018.

"People keep asking and requesting I show pics and details of my pregnancy," she wrote on Instagram. "Given that people write on photos I put up of my family they are glad my Dad got cancer and hes in hell, I thought I would leave my unborn child out of the social media cesspool as much as is possible."

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While McCain is continuing that privacy in the weeks since Liberty's birth, The View host let People know that Liberty is "happy and healthy" days after her birth. She also offered a small glimpse into how the postpartum life is treating her in a tweet from early October.

"I know there is a LOT going on in the world that is much more important but I'm in the throes of newborn land.... but I just wanted to know if your nipples can actually fall off from breastfeeding?" she jokingly asked her followers.

McCain also shared a GIF of Modern Family star Eric Stonestreet crying on a bed to indicate how she's been feeling about breastfeeding thus far.

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Despite the tough job that is breastfeeding, it's clear McCain is enjoying so many special firsts with Liberty Sage. I mean, have you ever seen such a breathtaking new mom glow?!

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Fans Are Going Wild Over Meghan McCains First Picture with Daughter Liberty Sage - Prevention.com