Editor of the Reformer,

The vision painted by Democracy Builders Fund (DBF) CEO Seth Andrew for Degrees of Freedom College is inspiring ("Marlboro College campus sold," July 24). However, the disparities between the vision painted and past experiences shared by the Black N Brown at DP collective are striking and deeply concerning.

After carefully reading posts from Seth Andrew and Black N Brown at DP, meeting with Seth and members of his team, as well as with J. LeShae (a representative for Black N Brown at DP), and listening to the recordings of the June 25 and July 9 Marlboro town meetings, I came to believe that a different owner should be found for the Marlboro College campus. When it became clear that was not possible, I resigned from the Marlboro College Board of Trustees.

Opportunity remains to realize the vision for a creative, safe and stable place for future learners on Potash Hill. The difficult conversation at the Marlboro town forum on July 20 is a start. Continued open conversation and honest engagement are needed to create alignment and collaboration between DBF, the town of Marlboro and the state of Vermont. The experiences from the past need to inform the work of the present.

Seth Andrew has spoken of the need for innovation in higher education. Innovation flourishes in open, transparent and collaborative environments. Mistakes will happen: transparency and collaboration are key to ensuring that mistakes can be corrected. I believe the Degrees of Freedom design team will benefit from a deep collaboration with members of the Vermont community, particularly those who are currently engaged in the kind of work Degrees of Freedom intends to champion. I ask the Degrees of Freedom design team commit to the following:

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- Appoint DBF board members from the town of Marlboro and one or more members of the Coalition for Black and Brown Students in Marlboro, the Vermont Coalition for Ethnic and Social Equity in Schools, and the Rights and Democracy movement.

- Publish the design principles for Degrees of Freedom with an opportunity for public comment.

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- Publish the bylaws for the Democracy Builders Fund corporation and Degrees of Freedom corporation (if they are separate).

- Public notice of DBF and/or Degrees of Freedom board meetings with the public invited.

- Publication of Degrees of Freedom handbooks for students, faculty and staff.

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Such commitments align well with the Vermont tradition of direct democracy and with the stated vision for Degrees of Freedom.

With hope for the future,

Kirsten A. Newcomer

Marlboro College, class of 1982

Bedford, Mass.

If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.

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Letter: Marlboro's Degrees of Freedom can thrive - with innovation, collaboration - Brattleboro Reformer

TWIN FALLS Speakers covered a variety of issues at a Saturday rally, but their messages centered on a general idea: mainstream media and government are conspiring to take away individual freedoms and undermine the founding principles of the United States.

About a hundred people gathered in Twin Falls City Park for the Freedom is the Cure rally. The moniker comes from the John Birch Society and has been used as the title of other rallies in the Northwest, though organizers said the event was hosted independently.

Some of Idahos most conservative state lawmakers, candidates and organization leaders spoke at the event. They rallied support around defending liberty and the Constitution and said their movement is threatened by traditional Republicans and the media.

Hello, Christian patriots, John Birch Society coordinator Caleb Collier greeted the crowd. Are you motivated? Are you organized?

Collier said conservatives need to unify and warned the left is well aligned. He said Democrats want to implement a Luciferian globalist agenda through groups like Black Lives Matter and antifa.

These are all organizations that are dedicated to overthrowing the United States, he said

Collier said complicit with leftist ideas are Republicans in name only, or RINOs a pejorative term for Republican lawmakers who do not uphold what some say are sufficiently conservative values.

We will not let you be the designated defeat mechanism for our enemy, Collier said of moderate Republicans. We the people are tired of you, and were taking this country back.

Former representative Ron Nate agreed. Nate is attempting to return to the Legislature and is part of a rightward shift in the House after defeating Rep. Britt Raybould, R-Rexburg, in the 2020 Republican primary. He runs unopposed in November.

Nate called moderate Republicans sellouts. He said Democrats push an evil, Marxist agenda, but they are not the true enemies of Idaho.

(RINOs) may advertise the right positions, but they lack the necessary convictions, he said. The fiercest and most important battles are between true conservatives and establishment Republicans.

Real Three Percenters leader Eric Parker said residents need to be prepared to defend their constitutional rights and the rights of others. He noted the presidential election is 94 days away.

Its coming win or lose, Parker said of the election. The history of a peaceful transition of power in America is slowly going down the drain. If youre not prepared for that, youre behind the curve.

Some speakers weighed-in on public education.

Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin recounted a recent legislative work group meeting where lawmakers recommended calling a special session to consider a bill that could protect schools from COVID-related lawsuits.

How did we get to this place where we sue our neighbors for a disease? she asked.

McGeachin suggested parents should sign a liability release form before sending their child to school.

For those parents who are afraid that their kids might become infected at school, how about this: have the school district offer the parents a liability release form, she said. After all it is a privilege to attend public school in America.

And for those parents who still do not feel comfortable with this form of education, she continued, why dont we take some of that money we spend $8,000 per student why dont we take that $8,000 per student, give it to the parent to pool that money and hire a teacher. If 10 parents did that, theyd have hired a school teacher, paid him or her $80,000, and have 10 students in the classroom.

Idaho Freedom Foundation President Wayne Hoffman took a different approach.

Theres a question of whether schools should open this fall, he said. My answer is eh, I dont really care.

He said parents should be the ones to decide if their child goes back to school, but ultimately government should not be in the business of educating our kids. He said public schools are indoctrinating children to hate capitalism and teaching them to prefer communism from a young age.

Theyre learning how to hate all the things that make our country great, he said.

Its not enough to talk about policy, people need to actively seek change from their lawmakers, he said.

We have got to apply pressure on the politicians such that they are afraid to leave their houses because somebody is going to say to them What are you doing to get my kids out of the American education system.

Hoffman called on the crowd to continue advocating for the movement after the rally finished.

You have got to be the army, the force, the revolutionary warriors that weve been waiting for, he continued. We will only win if we all get together and say, Lets go and apply the remedy, the cure, freedom where it is needed most.

Gary Horn wears his patriotic shirt as he holds an American flag Saturday during the Freedom is the Cure rally at Twin Falls City Park in Twin Falls. 'I'm here to support our country, to stand for our rights,' he says.

Few if any masks were worn at the event. Several speakers criticized government attempts to require masks or implement other public safety measures in response to COVID-19.

The government is not going to save us, the masks are not going to save us, the CDC is certainly not going to save us, said Sarah Clendenon of Health Freedom Idaho, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We need to remember the right to liberty is the only thing that can save us.

Just because the mob wants to wear masks, it doesnt matter, she continued. I have the right to enjoy and defend my liberty.

Miste Karlfeldt, also of Health Freedom Idaho, suggested the media is often incorrect about the pandemic.

Theyre poisoning our brains, she said.

Many other speakers also condemned coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Retired physician and Madison Liberty Institute fellow Jud Miller said the only people who fear the virus are those who follow it in the mainstream news.

Why are they trying to scare us? he said of the media. It seems the cure is becoming worse than the disease.

Miller also said conservative voices and efforts tend to be marginalized.

Sometimes its a little frustrating to be a minority, he said. We definitely are a minority.

John Birch Society coordinator and master of ceremonies John Munds dismissed reporters covering the event as fake news. He said media members are planning on overthrowing the American republic.

Rep. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, said mainstream news is especially slanted against conservative voices.

The media is not our friend, she said. They are out there spewing information that is not correct.

Gary Horn wears his patriotic shirt as he holds an American flag Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, during the Freedom is the Cure rally at Twin Falls City Park in Twin Falls. 'I'm here to support our country, to stand for our rights,' he says.

A woman sits next to her 'Recall Gov. Little' sign Saturday during the Freedom is the Cure rally at Twin Falls City Park in Twin Falls.

Community members gather to talk about mask mandates, abortion laws, the public education system and other freedom related issues Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, during the Freedom is the Cure rally at Twin Falls City Park in Twin Falls.

Community members gather to talk about mask mandates, abortion laws, repealing governor Little and other freedom related issues Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, during the Freedom is the Cure rally at Twin Falls City Park in Twin Falls.

Community members gather to talk about mask mandates, abortion laws, the public education system and other freedom related issues Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, during the Freedom is the Cure rally at Twin Falls City Park in Twin Falls.

Community members gather to talk about mask mandates, abortion laws, the public education system and other freedom related issues Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, during the Freedom is the Cure rally at Twin Falls City Park in Twin Falls.

Gary Horn wears his patriotic shirt as he holds an American flag Saturday during the Freedom is the Cure rally at Twin Falls City Park in Twin Falls. 'I'm here to support our country, to stand for our rights,' he says.

Community members gather to talk about mask mandates, abortion laws, the public education system and other issues Saturday during the Freedom is the Cure rally at Twin Falls City Park in Twin Falls.

Pastor Paul Thompson leads the opening prayer Saturday during the Freedom is the Cure rally at Twin Falls City Park in Twin Falls.

Community members gather to talk about mask mandates, abortion laws, the public education system and other freedom related issues Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, during the Freedom is the Cure rally at Twin Falls City Park in Twin Falls.

John Birch Society coordinator and master of ceremonies Tom Munds introduces the first of more than a dozen speakers Saturday during the Freedom is the Cure rally at Twin Falls City Park in Twin Falls.

Community members gather to talk about mask mandates, abortion laws, repealing governor Little and other freedom related issues Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, during the Freedom is the Cure rally at Twin Falls City Park in Twin Falls.

Community members gather to talk about mask mandates, abortion laws, the public education system and other freedom related issues Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, during the Freedom is the Cure rally at Twin Falls City Park in Twin Falls.

Shari Martinez sings the National Anthem on Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, during the Freedom is the Cure rally at Twin Falls City Park in Twin Falls.

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'Freedom' rally in Twin Falls decries moderate Republicans, public education, masks and the media - bigcountrynewsconnection.com

By Marc Levy Sunday, August 2, 2020A spread from the magazine Freedom School with art by Latisha Wade and PD Klein.

Heres a gift for a time cultural opportunities feel exhausted and the latest Netflix offering feels meaningless: A free, 100-page, sumptuously produced magazine full of voices and images most of us have never encountered or considered, with (as editors and graduate students Najha Zigbi-Johnson and Lesedi Graveline say in a foreword) poems, essays and short stories, photos, paintings and other visuals grounded in themes of afro-futurism, ecology, community, lineage and ancestors, abolition, embodiment and pleasure, art and movement.

The magazine, an often surreal and playful piece of art called Freedom School, became available online July 17 at freedomschool-litmag.com.

Thumb through its pages the format allows the reader to mimic actual page turning for a richer experience than a traditional website for a melding of words and images from people who are under-heard, and in many cases previously never heard. Thats on purpose: The editors goal is to be democratizing in a way that makes the magazines birthplace at the Harvard Divinity School even more surprising.

So Los Angeles-based filmmaker, architect and artist Kordae Jatafa Henry is interviewed in Freedom School (talking about how he connects his work to traditional African dance and ritual, as well as about how George Floyd and Breonna Taylor makes him think about the future). But theres also work by Aliyah Blackmore, whose mix of poetry, art and essay on themes of ancestry and queer black identity called Why Do You Wake Before the Sun? appears because Graveline knows them Graveline went to school with them.

Harvard produces publications that dont usually reflect the work of community advocates and leaders of people who dont go to places like Harvard. It was really important for us that we pulled from communities beyond Harvard and reflect an array of identities and experiences, Zigbi-Johnson said last week, as the editors sat for an interview by phone. (Some comments have been edited and condensed.) For us this publication is very much its own commentary on the limitations of academic scholarship.

Surprise again, then, to hear how Freedom School came about from within Americas most hallowed ivory towers: A class itself called Freedom School: A Seminar on Theory and Practice for Black Studies in the United States that Zigbi-Johnson created, pitched and got funded with doctoral student and Black Lives Matter leader Karlene Griffiths Sekou. It was a wholly student-led class focused on black thought and imagination that was made open to people from outside Harvard. (Assistant professor of African American religions Todne Thomas midwifed the idea.) This course came to be because of the lack of resources for particularly black students at Harvard who wanted to apply their studies in practical ways, Zigbi-Johnson said. One of the projects the class decided to do was the magazine.

With designers Giovanna Araujo and Chindo Nkenke-Smith, the editors began thinking last fall about Freedom School as a publication, though work began in earnest in March, after coronavirus arrived and was essentially done entirely via Zoom video conference.

There was a learning curve, Graveline said, but the reception to the final product has been encouraging from the halls of Harvard to among hometown audiences. I really didnt think that members of my community in little Auburn, Massachusetts, which is a very small, Central Massachusetts town, would necessarily want to read something like this theyre not even close to being proximate to black radical scholarship or thought, Graveline said. The fact that they could engage with this was really moving for me, because that was our goal.

To have my neighbors read it and say, I love that poem by Arianna Monet, the way shes talking about black women is so beautiful I love that, Graveline said.

People also want printed editions of the magazine, but those mass copies dont exist. Part of what we wanted for this magazine is that it would be free for everyone, and that there would be no limit to accessing it. Thats largely why its online right now, Graveline said, describing also the pleasure of watching word spread through social media in communities representing an eclectic list of contributors.

Another democratizing element of the publication is the several love letters Graveline delights in seeing scattered through Freedom School, which address their authors origins. (For Graveline, a grandmother and great-grandmother in Botswana, who I dont think would be mentioned in a Harvard publication for any reason its just so beautiful to see where people come from.)

Its important to highlight that we didnt do all this by ourselves. We are a part of a collective, Graveline said. We would not be here without our communities, without our ancestors. And we are doing this for those who will come after us.

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Editors opened the doors to Freedom School, then even wider as magazine of black thought - Cambridge Day

The coronavirus pandemic has canceled a lot of things, but your summer vacation doesn't have to be one of them. USA TODAY

Across the world, freedom of the press is entering a critical era. Several crises, from the coronavirus pandemic to a polarized public have serious consequences for journalism and global press freedom.

Prosperous nations, which include some of the largest and oldest elected democracies in the world, tend to have greater press freedom than poorer countries. But this trend is far from consistent. The 50 richest countries in the world based on GDP per capita rank anywhere from best in the world, to among the worst 10 countries for freedom of the press.

To compare press freedom in the worlds richest countries, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed 2020 World Press Freedom Index scores in the 50 countries with the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. In its annual press freedom index, the non-profit organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) measures freedom of information throughout the world by combining survey-responses of media experts, as well as counts of acts of violence against journalists.

Elected leaders in many democracies, which are known for having free and independent media, have tried to silence critical outlets and promote those that offer favorable coverage. Even the president of the United States, one of the oldest democracies and a country famous for its fierce defense of its First Amendment that guarantees freedom of the press, has frequently demonized the news media as the enemy of the people. His rhetoric has given succor to political leaders in other countries who have passed bills making fake news illegal, and have framed articles they dont like as bogus news.

When it comes to press freedom, one region stands out. Scandinavian countries continue to lead the world, and western Europe media remains mostly free despite a few wobbles. These two regions lead the way in another important areathese are countries that have come closest to true gender equality.

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Oman.(Photo: Source: Kerrick / E+ via Getty Images)

50. Oman

Population: 4,974,986

GDP per capita: $29,052

Freedom of the press score in 2020: 43.4 135th out of 180 ("difficult")

Freedom of the press score in 2019: 43.4 132nd out of 180 ("difficult")

Worst area of press freedom: Media independence

Best area of press freedom: Infrastructure

Oman, a small nation on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, is classified as "not free" by Freedom House, a U.S.-based watchdog for democracy, political freedom, and human rights. The government has broad powers to shut down news outlets and websites and revoke licenses. Journalists are frequently harassed in the sultanate of 4 million people, and they can be arrested and detained incommunicado for charges such as insulting government authorities or trying to disrupt civil order. In 2016, two independent newspapers were shuttered or had operations suspended by the government.

49. Russia

Population: 144,373,535

GDP per capita: $29,181

Freedom of the press score in 2020: 48.9 149th out of 180 ("difficult")

Freedom of the press score in 2019: 50.3 149th out of 180 ("difficult")

Worst area of press freedom: Media independence

Best area of press freedom: Legislative framework

Russia has one of the worst free press ratings in the world. Since anti-government protests in 2011 and 2012, free press has been stifled by website blocking and selectively applied laws that have landed journalists in prison. Meanwhile, television in the country pushes propaganda and is hostile towards members of the press trying to do their job fairly. Major TV networks in Russia are either state-run or managed by companies with close government ties.

48. Malaysia

Population: 31,949,777

GDP per capita: $29,526

Freedom of the press score in 2020: 33.1 101st out of 180 ("problematic")

Freedom of the press score in 2019: 36.7 123rd out of 180 ("difficult")

Worst area of press freedom: Media independence

Best area of press freedom: Infrastructure

Press freedom began to improve in Malaysia in 2018 after the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional was defeated after governing the Asian nation since 1957. The new government began easing laws and regulations that restricted the press, and the media are now offering more diverse coverage. The government is taking steps to end the Anti-Fake News Act, which the former government had adopted in April 2018. Even so, legislation such as the Sedition Act, the Official Secrets Act, and the Communications and Multimedia Act that have been used to suppress the press and regulate publication licenses, remains on the books.

47. Croatia

Population: 4,067,500

GDP per capita: $29,973

Freedom of the press score in 2020: 28.5 59th out of 180 ("problematic")

Freedom of the press score in 2019: 29.0 64th out of 180 ("problematic")

Worst area of press freedom: Media independence

Best area of press freedom: Pluralism

Although Croatia's score and ranking in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index has improved slightly since last year, the country's situation for journalists remains "problematic," according to RSF. The media enjoy a relatively high degree of independence, but investigative journalists, especially those looking into corruption, organized crime, or war crimes, are often targeted. It's illegal to publish "humiliating" content, as well as to insult the republic, flag, or national anthem.

Croatian radio-TV, HRT, owned by the state, is financed by advertising and a license fee. However, officials often meddle in how it's run. Journalists who voice their objections are often sued.

46. Seychelles

Population: 97,625

GDP per capita: $30,260

Freedom of the press score in 2020: 28.7 63rd out of 180 ("problematic")

Freedom of the press score in 2019: 29.4 69th out of 180 ("problematic")

Worst area of press freedom: Media independence

Best area of press freedom: Infrastructure

Media independence on the island nation in the Indian Ocean has been hampered by the country's legacy of decades-long communist party rule. The government exercises considerable influence over communications in the Seychelles the government owns the island's only television station as well as two radio stations. However, a greater diversity of media choices are emerging, though independently owned media tends to be politically slanted. The press exercises self-censorship in regard to controversial national issues in deference to its tourism industry, which is important to the national economy.

45. Greece

Population: 10,716,322

GDP per capita: $31,399

Freedom of the press score in 2020: 28.8 65th out of 180 ("problematic")

Freedom of the press score in 2019: 29.1 65th out of 180 ("problematic")

Worst area of press freedom: Media independence

Best area of press freedom: Legislative framework

Freedom of the press has improved slightly in Greece since last year, although the country still has one of the worst environments for censorship of the media among wealthy nations. Recently, journalists have been attacked and detained by police, and the headquarters of a weekly newspaper was raided by an anarchist group. Additionally, one broadcasting firm and the state news agency were both placed under the supervision of the country's prime minister. Greater media independence and transparency would go a long way to improve press freedom in Greece.

44. Latvia

Population: 1,912,789

GDP per capita: $32,204

Freedom of the press score in 2020: 18.6 22nd out of 180 ("satisfactory")

Freedom of the press score in 2019: 19.5 24th out of 180 ("satisfactory")

Worst area of press freedom: Media independence

Best area of press freedom: Legislative framework

Media outlets in Latvia are allowed to operate freely, face relatively few legal restrictions, and represent a wide range of political views. While Latvia ranks better than most wealthy countries for press freedom, the country is not without some troubling issues. Politicians regularly verbally attack media outlets and the country's public media is woefully underfunded. Latvia's media landscape is also growing less diverse as the country's oldest TV channel was shut down in 2019 and its newsroom merged with another existing channel.

43. Romania

Population: 19,356,544

GDP per capita: $32,297

Freedom of the press score in 2020: 25.9 48th out of 180 ("problematic")

Freedom of the press score in 2019: 25.7 47th out of 180 ("problematic")

Worst area of press freedom: Media independence

Best area of press freedom: Legislative framework

Out of the 180 nations reviewed by Reporters Without Borders, Romania ranks 48th for press freedom. Unlike many wealthy countries that rank higher, Romania's political and ruling class encourages censorship by pressuring journalists to reveal sources and minimize criticism of leadership. Corruption in the media undercuts journalistic integrity and news outlets often act as a medium for political propaganda.

Although Romania's press is considered to be more free than the press in most of the rest of the world, it lags behind most of the 50 wealthy countries on this list.

42. Panama

Population: 4,246,439

GDP per capita: $32,762

Freedom of the press score in 2020: 29.8 76th out of 180 ("problematic")

Freedom of the press score in 2019: 29.8 79th out of 180 ("problematic")

Worst area of press freedom: Media independence

Best area of press freedom: Legislative framework

Of all wealthy countries in both North and South America, Panama ranks as having the worst free press. Though most media outlets in the country are privately owned, the government still controls access to information and pressures media companies through allocation of state advertising revenue. Journalists in the country are often fined through defamation cases when they are critical of government policy or cover corruption.

Despite these and other problems, press freedom is far better in Panama than it is in many of its poorer regional neighbors.

41. Hungary

Population: 9,769,949

GDP per capita: $33,979

Freedom of the press score in 2020: 30.8 89th out of 180 ("problematic")

Freedom of the press score in 2019: 30.4 87th out of 180 ("problematic")

Worst area of press freedom: Media independence

Best area of press freedom: Pluralism

Hungary's ruling party has tight control over the country's media landscape which is dominated by a pro-government foundation. Independent journalists in the country are banned from certain events and from asking questions to members of parliament. Generally, politicians who hold power do not give interviews to outlets that are critical of the government. Investigative reporting on government corruption is generally published through online outlets.

Greater media independence and transparency would greatly improve press freedom in Hungary.

Slovakia(Photo: Source: TomasSereda / Getty Images)

40. Slovakia

Population: 5,454,073

GDP per capita: $34,178

Freedom of the press score in 2020: 22.7 33rd out of 180 ("satisfactory")

Freedom of the press score in 2019: 23.6 35th out of 180 ("satisfactory")

Worst area of press freedom: Media independence

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When it comes to freedom of the press, it is 'problematic' in many of the richest countries across the world - USA TODAY

NORTH OGDEN The symbolism of Saturdays somber ceremony certainly wasnt lost on anyone here.

At a time when some in this country have called for the removal of certain monuments or have taken matters into their own hands by defacing or destroying them a group of grieving-yet-grateful Americans gathered to celebrate the creation of a brand new monument.

On Saturday morning, the Gold Star Families Memorial Monument was unveiled and dedicated in a ceremony at the North Ogden City Hall Plaza, 505 E. 2600 North. Community members, local dignitaries, and families whove lost loved ones in military service watched as the monument, shrouded in black, was officially unveiled to the public.

The monument is dedicated to Gold Star Families, those whose own flesh and blood paid the ultimate price in defense of their country.

The monument contains four black, polished slabs of stone of varying sizes. On the north-facing side, the monument feature a large gold star and the words Gold Star Families Memorial Monument: A tribute to Gold Star Families and Relatives who sacrificed a Loved One for our Freedom.

On the south side, each of the four panels is dedicated to a different concept: Homeland, Family, Patriot, and Sacrifice. The monument includes various images of flags, along with a Ronald Reagan quote. The two largest sections of the monument have been cut out so that the missing space creates the outline of a saluting service member.

Organizers of both the monument and the ceremony point out that no public funds were used in creating the roughly $120,000 monument. It was all paid for by private donations.

The only thing the city did was allow the monument to sit on city property, said North Ogden Mayor Neal Berube.

Berube, who conducted Saturdays ceremony, called his city one of the most patriotic communities in the state. And he says it became even more so after the town lost its mayor in Afghanistan.

After the ceremony, Berube praised the way in which people came together to make the monument a reality.

Like I said, when a community rallies together, nothing is impossible, he said. The impossible just takes a little longer.

After the monument was unveiled, one-by-one the Gold Star Families of Utahns who died in the service of their country stepped up to the microphone, identified their family member, and then laid yellow roses at the base of the monument.

James Laselute, of Layton, was there representing his stepson, Lance Cpl. Quinn Keith, who was killed by a car bomb in September 2004 in Iraqs Anbar Province. Laselute said he was grateful for this new monument in the heart of the city.

For our family, things like this help us through the grieving process and remind ourselves that our loved ones legacy endures, he said. Monuments like this are what keeps their name alive.

Keiths mother and Laselutes wife, Leslie, was in Southern Utah on Saturday and unable to attend the ceremony.

But Ill bring her back tomorrow so she can see this, he said.

Another Gold Star Family in attendance was that of 1st Lt. Kenneth Kage Allen, an Air Force pilot from Perry who was killed June 15 when his F-15C Eagle crashed in the North Sea during training in England.

Allens mother, Debbie, said the importance of military service had been instilled in her at an early age. She grew up in a military family, and indeed, at one point her own fathers duty was to notify family members when a loved one was killed.

Now its been my turn to experience that, she said.

Allen said the monument is deeply meaningful to her, her husband and their children.

Were a patriotic family, she said. God, family, country. Thats everything to us.

Terry Schow, of South Ogden, is on the American Legions National Executive Committee Utah. Hes got a soft spot in his heart for these Gold Star Families and what theyre going through.

You think about these family members, who will have to live the rest of their life without their loved one, he said.

Schow said these Gold Star Families are one of the reasons old guys like him get upset when someone burns or otherwise disrespects the American flag.

That flag is the last thing these families will see of their loved ones, he said.

Kirk Chugg, leader of Follow the Flag North Ogden, was among the speakers at the ceremony. He was a co-chairman of the committee to build Utahs first Gold Star Families Memorial Monument. There are currently 61 similar monuments installed throughout the country, although this is the first in Utah. The monument was built with the support of the Hershel Woody Williams Medal of Honor Foundation.

Chugg said he hopes Gold Star Families will take the opportunity to visit the monument regularly, and when they do he believes theyll feel the love of those around them not just those living in the city, but around the country.

The design of the monument, with the outline of the warrior incorporated into it, is deeply symbolic, according to Chugg.

I watched a young child stand in the cutout of the soldier that represents his father, he said, his voice choked with emotion.

A number of dignitaries attended Saturdays ceremony, including Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, Attorney General Sean Reyes, Congressman Rob Bishop, and other government and military leaders.

For Weber County Commissioner Jim Harvey, the ceremony and monument stirred deep emotions.

I have a great respect for this, a tremendous respect for this, Harvey said. Everyone in my family served, and they came back home. But today, we heard from a great number of families who had a variety of different ways they were notified their loved ones had paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Standing at the ceremony in near-record-breaking heat, wearing a suit, Harvey said its the least he could do for these families.

They told me I didnt have to wear a suit to this, that it would be, like, 140 degrees, Harvey said. But for all that these families have done for us and our country? I can wear a suit. Wearing a suit is nothing compared to what these families have gone through.

Rep. Rob Bishop also found Saturdays event to be an emotional one.

It was hard to go the entire program without crying, Bishop said. As the relatives of those whove given their lives, what they sacrificed adds so much to the beauty of this memorial.

Like many others, Bishop also saw the poignancy of dedicating a monument when others are being removed.

Not every memorial deserves to stand, but we need to be circumspect about it, Bishop said. If were so cavalier about removing everything, that debases us.

Yes, but decades from now there couldnt possibly be anyone who would object to a Gold Star Families Memorial Monument, right?

You never know, Bishop said. Forty years from now, who knows?

Jennie Taylor is co-chairwoman of the committee to build the monument and the widow of Maj. Brent Taylor, the former North Ogden mayor who was killed in Afghanistan in November 2018. She said it took the group about a year to plan and execute the monuments creation, but she calls the finished product breathtaking.

And Taylor says every detail on the monument is very intentional. Particularly the cutout of the missing warrior.

When I see that, I think, Its missing. Hes missing, Taylor said. But whats not missing on this monument is the foundation, and I think thats what the families represent the foundation.

While she would never have wished herself to be a part of this fraternity of service members lost, Taylor is nevertheless grateful for all shes been through.

Im heartbroken to be a gold star wife, but Im very proud of my husband, she said. My husband died so that I can get up every morning of my life in freedom. If that doesnt motivate you, I dont know what will.

Taylor says she hopes the monument will serve to unite people in this age of increasing divisiveness. She called it significant that her husbands final message was, Theres more that unites us than divides us. Taylor looks at the monument, and what it represents, and asks: We fight about everything else, but can we all just agree on this?

We need to turn to each other, she said. But right now, we are turning on each other.

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Memorial honors families that have paid the ultimate price for America's freedom - Standard-Examiner

Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), comprised of press freedom groups, publishes report charting worrying decline of media freedom in Europe. Key factors in the decline were COVID-19, police violence and online harassment.

This statement was originally published on europeanjournalists.org on 30 July 2020.

The year 2020 seems to add another sad chapter on the decline of media freedom in Europe. Main reasons were the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, police violence and online harassment. Find all details in first MFRR-report.

Themonitoring reportcompiled by European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and International Press Institute (IPI), with support from ECPMF, gives unprecedented insight into the threats to media freedom in EU member states and Candidate Countries. Within the monitored period from March to June a total of 120 alerts were registered on the mappingmediafreedom.org platform from two-thirds of the countries covered by the MFRR. This data is the basis for the present report. EFJ, IPI and ECPMF are part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response consortium.

One key trend observed is the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on media freedom. Some governments used the pandemic as a pretext to restrict democratic discourse or reinforce authoritarian tendencies. In Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orbn pursued tighter information control and intensified its now decade-long campaign to discredit and undermine critical journalism. Meanwhile, new criminal legislation against the spreading of false or distorted information, passed during the state of emergency, caused uncertainty and self-censorship among media outlets and actors. Hungary must be regarded as an outstanding example, but restrictions of media freedom due to COVID-19 were also seen in other European countries mappingmediafreedom.org registered 37 alerts related to the pandemic.

Another trend are the dangers to journalists and media workers when covering protests and demonstrations. The beginning of 2020 has seen unprecedented public protest across Europe, protesting on a range of issues including opposition to governments responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, calls for addressing systematic racism, as well as right wing opposition to these movements. At a number of protests in countries such as Germany, France, UK and Italy, journalists and media workers were verbally harassed and threatened, while in a majority of alerts (17) they were attacked, leaving some in need of medical treatment. The report highlights that in total, 45 journalists and media workers were attacked between March and June during demonstrations and protests according to 28 alerts from EU Member States and Candidate Countries.

Demonstrators are not the only risk to media professionals. As the report shows, violence and threats from police officers and security services is second only to attacks from private individuals. The responsibility of the police to protect journalists against threats and attacks has been neglected; in some countries security forces actively tried to hinder media workers from doing their jobs. In 2019 ECPMFs launched theMedia Freedom Police Codexto address this problem.

In general the range of different types of threats faced by media workers is broad. According to the MFRR analysis, the most common type of threat is Intimidation/Threatening (59), followed by Insult/Abuse (26). These threats can have a devastating effect on a journalists ability to do their job. In Italy at least 20 journalists and TV presenters live under 24-hour police guard, many due to threats made against them both online and off. Gender-based abuse against women in journalism, oftentimes shared online, often includes threats of sexual violence and represents a significant threat that needs immediate and robust attention.

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) was launched in March 2020 to support at-risk journalists and media workers across the EU Member States and Candidate Countries. Mapping Media Freedom is a platform that enables anyone to upload details of an attack, threat or media freedom violation and help to visualise and collect information about media freedom across Europe. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Press Institute (IPI), with support from the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) form the expert network that verifies, analyses and publishes all alerts on the platform. These alerts form the basis of the Mapping Media Freedom Monitoring Report.

Download the full report.

This statement is part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR),a Europe-wide mechanism, which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries. This project, co-funded by the European Commission, provides legal and practical support, public advocacy and information to protect journalists and media workers.

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120 alerts in 4 months: Severe threats to press freedom across Europe - IFEX

Photos are in every newspaper: Peaceful protesters exercising their First Amendment rights (freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition) being pummeled by federal troops in American cities. Isnt this the scenario for which the National Rifle Association of America and its supporters have been waiting decades? Isnt this how U.S. citizens validate their collections of military-grade assault weapons? Isnt defending states rights what tea party members advocate?

Our federal government has employed old-school military tactics on its citizens the past couple of years: amaze, dazzle and stun the population with an outrageously audacious action and just as a citizen may shake her head clear of what cannot possibly be, jump out of the melee and into the moral right, denying anything occurred. Should one fight? Nah, illegal and only causes great bodily pain. Flee? This choice causes problems for those family and loved ones left behind. OK then, freeze? This seems the go-to response of our citizenry and by the time we shake our head of the shock of what we see our federal government doing, the perpetrators bounce away from the scene, only to later pop-up elsewhere in the country in another guerrilla warfare tactic against its citizens.

But to the question of where our defenders of assault weapons and state rights are during this time of peaceful protest and vicious federal response: what say you? The lack of response in any manner suggests you to be all mouth and no heart. Or, perhaps you have followed into the fourth category of human response to adversity assimilation by the entity trying to cause you harm.

Milan Simonich cant seem to get over the grievous personal injury he suffered at the hands of City Clerk Yolanda Vigil, who failed to give him the results of our last election at the demands of his personal deadline ("Mayor reinvents the wheel, spins it as ingenuity," Ringside Seat, July 24).

A couple of years ago Vigil was walking through her office and noticed that I was struggling to stay awake at the microfilm reader after an hours searching for the minutes of a City Council meeting that took place in 1997. She stopped and asked me about my search, then invited me to sit near her desk, found the minutes in record time, printed them out for me, and sent me on my way. Her behavior that day was typical of the clerk and her staff, who are consistently cheerful and helpful when the public comes in with a request or a problem.

Did it occur to Simonich that on the evening of an unprecedented election Vigil might be kind of exhausted after what must have been weeks if not months of overtime? Did he recall Vigils warning that preparing for ranked-choice voting would present her with huge problems? Did he notice that in fact she did bring off the election without a hitch? That Vigil had made a huge and successful effort to explain how ranked choice works and how to understand the ballot? Did it occur to Simonich that the failure here might have been with his sympathetic imagination?

Instead he continues to criticize a city employee who, in my experience, is outstanding and who exhibits behavior that should be a model for all of her colleagues in City Hall.

Under coercion from the U.S. Supreme Court, President Richard Nixon released subpoenaed White House recordings suspected to prove his guilt in the Watergate scandal to special prosecutor Leon Jaworski. The same day, the House Judiciary Committee voted a third article of impeachment against the president: contempt of Congress in hindering the impeachment process. The previous two impeachment articles voted against Nixon by the committee were obstruction of justice and abuse of presidential powers.

I suspect that, like Jim Jones' death cult, President Donald Trump will offer us a fake vaccine in late October that comes in any flavor that Kool-Aid markets because, without an election, he will cease to be president at noon Jan. 20. That would create a most opportune moment to execute a plebiscite in the many states which care to have one to secede to a new republic whose Constitution actually guarantees life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, ends slavery (a property right), and provides for one person, one vote.

In Nueces County, Texas, where Corpus Christi is, 85 infants under the age of 1 have tested positive for the coronavirus. It is clear that children can get this disease. The disease has little-known effects as well. It is been found to cause brain damage and we dont need our children to get a disease with no symptoms that may affect future brain function. We require children to have vaccinations before going to school. I believe it is essential that we require all school students and all school faculty and staff to be tested for coronavirus before going back to school. There is no reason that any children who might have coronavirus, but no symptoms, should go to school and possibly infect someone else. This should apply to all public and charter schools and all universities as well.

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As feds attacks freedom, where's the right wing? - Santa Fe New Mexican

People gather in protest in front of the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday.Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The First Amendment prevents the government from doing a whole lot of things. We tend to focus on the freedom of speech, but the First Amendment also protects other, equally important freedoms, among them, the right of the people peaceably to assemble. The right to assemble, protest, and gather is the neglected younger sister to the free speech clause. As the Supreme Court lavishes attention on commercial speech and money as speech and religious signage and union dues and cake baking as speech, the freedom to gather and protest is often forgotten.

But this spring and summer, as protests broke out across the country initially in response to the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, and increasingly in response to government crackdowns on protest itself, we are left with the grim prospect of protesters without much legal protection, despite the First Amendment. This much was plain to see in two congressional hearings on Tuesday, in which thousands of peaceful demonstrators were dismissed as anarchists and mobs, both by Republicans in Congress and by Attorney General William Barr.

The first hearing, before the House Committee on Natural Resources, was about what transpired on June 1, when government officials assaulted protesters in Washingtons Lafayette Square. Adam DeMarco, a major in the D.C.National Guard, testified that he saw what he deemed excessive force used to clear peaceableprotestersoutside the White House immediately before President Donald Trumps photo opportunity atSt. Johns Church. DeMarco testified that inaudible warnings to clear the park were issued at 6:20 p.m. and that even though a curfew was set for 7 p.m., at 6:30 he witnessed a clearing operation that included explosions and smoke he was told was stage smoke, which he recognized from his own military experience as tear gas. He said he later found spent tear gas cannisters on the street nearby. DeMarco described the people targeted as demonstratorsour fellow American citizensengaged in the peaceful expression of their First Amendment rights.

Testifying immediately before DeMarco, though, acting U.S. Park Police Chief Gregory Monahan insisted thatwhat he had seen in the same park was some of the mostviolent protests that Ive been a part of my 23 years of the United States Park Police, and that the police were responding to severe violence from a large group of bad actors including arson, vandalism, and injuries sustained by more than 50 officers.He insisted that the surge of official violence to clear the park that happened at 6:30 p.m. needed to occur in a crowded park with almost no warning because protective fencing had to be installed around the perimeter and that the presidents walk to the church at that hour was pure coincidence. In response to multiple videos of police in riot gear assaulting unarmed protesters with bats and shields, and footage of an Australian TV crew punched and assaulted, Monahan insisted that the footage represented merely a moment in time, and that violent protesters had bats, boards, water bottles, and bricks that they were using against law enforcement. Monahan concluded that the Park Police had exercised tremendous restraint in clearing the protesters, although he conceded there were no incidents involving attacks on officers that day, save a single assault after the violent clearing began.

Neither Barr nor Monahan could explain when and how one protester hellbent on violence turns an entire peaceful protest into an angry mob, or why a thrown water bottle should be met with pepperspray.

In a separate hearing held the same day, Attorney General William Barr was testifying before the House Judiciary Committee for the first time in more than a year. He had said he was the one who gave the order to clear the park in June, and during the hearing, he characterized the scene at Lafayette Square as unprecedented rioting around the White House. He also urged that the timing connected to Trumps photo shoot was a coincidence. Barr described what is widely acknowledged as weeks of peaceful racial justice protests in Portland, Oregon, as a moblike siege by violent rioters and anarchists against a courthouse, which includes the use of lasers, pellet guns, and slingshots against federal officers. (The New York Times could not confirm the use of those weapons.) Barr declared that what unfolds nightly around the [Portland] courthouse cannot reasonably be called a protest; it is, by any objective measure, an assault on the government of the United States, although he could not explain why protests in Michigan by armed white men that included overt threats of lynching the governor were not a mob. (Barr claimed he did not even know of the Michigan protests.) Chillingly, he insisted that while tear gas and violence were not appropriate responses to peaceful protesters, the problem when these things sometimes occur is, its hard to separate people. Barr claimed that unmarked vans were used on protesters so that they could pick them up where there was less of a risk to this mob response. He further claimed there could be probable cause for law enforcement officers to arrest and detain innocent protesters simply because they had been standing next to someone else suspected of using a laser against law enforcement, or because it could mean the person ditched the laser. A peaceful protest thus reverts to a violent mob if one person throws a water bottle or if unarmed protesters fail to clear the perimeter when told to disperse. It is appropriate to use tear gas when its indicatedto disperse an unlawful assembly, the attorney general of the United States said.

In other words, in Barrs hands, the freedom of assembly is transformed to mass guilt by association. Neither he nor Monahan could explain when and how one protester hellbent on violence turns an entire peaceful protest into an angry mob, or why a thrown water bottle should be met with pepper spray. And never you mind that Barr is virtually alone in his view of what happened at Lafayette Square. Trumps own former Defense Secretary James Mattishas blastedthe administration for its treatment of the D.C. protesters, calling the June 1 eventa bizarre photo op. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley later saidit wasa mistake for him to participate in the walk to the church. Former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge has decried the use of federal law enforcement authorities in Portland as pouring gasoline on a fire and emphasized that preserving the right to dissent is something very important, and that you cant justify the violence that has accompanied those protests. Michael Chertoff, who served as secretary of homeland security under President George W. Bush, has written that what DHS is doing in Portland is wildly inappropriate:

Videos reveal agents operating in camouflage uniforms with no clear identifying insignia. That may be appropriate combating transnational drug gangs in a border environment, but not in American cities. Other videos and reports make clear that even peaceful demonstratorssuch as individuals identifying asmilitary veteranswere struck with nonlethal projectiles and strong tear gas. And there was no respect for, or coordination with, the wishes of local authorities.

Perhaps in response to the widespread horror from virtually everyone who is not currently serving in the Trump administration, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Wednesday that federal forces would be withdrawn from the city of Portland.

But even if Barr stands alone, with only the president and DHS officials sharing his views of what the right to protest actually means, the retreat from Portland isnt without consequences. In perhaps the most alarming development on Tuesday, Dara Lind at ProPublica reported that federal authorities in Portland have been arresting protesters for offenses as minor as failing to obey an order to get off a sidewalk on federal property then advising them that they are specifically barred from attending protests or demonstrations as they await trials on federal misdemeanor charges. While one of Linds experts describes these orders as sort of hilariously unconstitutional, its manifestly clear that Barrs claim that the mere act of standing next to someone holding a weapon, or failing to obey an order to disperse, means you are part of an unlawful assembly has now been used by federal prosecutors to prosecute participants and also to explicitly chill any future protest. That renders the peaceable assembly clause of the First Amendment a shell of a freedom, an alarming new phase in its overlooked status.

It hasnt always been this way. As Drexel University professor Tabatha Abu El-Haj explained in her 2009 article The Neglected Right of Assembly, the existence of a right of peaceable assembly was not controversial at the founding because it was a traditional right of English freemen. Despite crowded cities and worked-up mobs, until the late 19th century, it was widely understood that street politics demanded the right to protest, gather, assemble, and shout on busy streets and parks. As Abu El-Haj explains it, that included bonfires and toasting and rowdiness and feasting, and all of that street gathering was deemed a central, and essential, feature of civic political life. And as she notes, so widely accepted was the fundamental right to gather and protest that it was included virtually without comment in the First Amendment. Moreover, in the first United States Congress a discussion of the proposed Bill of Rights amendment [regarding assembly] was declared beneath the dignity of the members.

There was very little case law, or even academic writing, about the right to assemble, and it was also widely understood that while the state could prosecute those who behaved criminally at public rallies, rallies themselves were integral to democratic freedom and the free exchange of ideas. This all changed, Abu El-Haj explains, only in the late 19th century, when courts began to permit all sorts of licensing requirements on public assemblies. Today, its simply understood and accepted that demonstrations require paperwork and permits and state discretion as to time, place, and manner constraints, and as she notes, in this century, maintaining order, preventing traffic jams, and ensuring security are all considered significant governmental interests. We have, in short, acceded to a regulatory regime that forces protesters to both seek government permission to assemble, and then to be at the mercy of state claims about potential lawlessness, rioting, inconvenience, or traffic, when the government seeks to quell protest. As Abu El-Haj points out, we have replaced the notion that the state can only interfere with gatherings when they disturb the peace, with a legal regime in which the state is permitted to regulate in advance (by confining to certain spaces or times) assemblages that are both peaceful and not inconvenient. Garrett Epps explains here that red states have been expansively regulating protest and protesters for years now, culminating, as he writes, inagrotesque opinionout of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year, approving the principle that anyone who organizes a protest can be suedand thus possibly bankruptedif someone else present commits an illegal act. That is why this summer we have seen enforcement officers justifying the use of tear gas on peaceful protesters on the grounds that they dont want to wait around to see if violence will ensure. That is essentially Barrs claim as well. And the larger the protest, the greater the chance for individual bad actors to act out, the less likely warnings to disperse will be heard, and the more likely arrests, and federal bans on future protest, will occur. In other words, as protests grow and spread, regardless of conduct, the more certain Barrs vision of all protests as inherently dangerous mobs of anarchists will become.

What the centurieslong failure to protect a robust right to assemble and demonstrate means is that we now gather to protest at the sufferance of local authorities. And the testimony of the attorney general on Wednesday signals that federal authorities will not wait to be invited to crack down on protest either. Arrests of protesters on pretext that lead to agreements not to protest in the future are perhaps the best signal that the First Amendment right to assemble is not nearly as robust as we might have believed.

Readers like you make our work possible. Help us continue to provide the reporting, commentary, and criticism you wont find anywhere else.

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Weve Neglected the Freedom of Assembly for Years Before Portland - Slate

On Jan. 21, 2020, Bustatroll.org published an article positing that in 2007, former U.S. President Barack Obama had awarded the Medal of Freedom to convicted sex offender and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, a financier who authorities say took his life while awaiting trial in 2019:

On This Day In 2007, Obama Awarded Jeff Epstein The Medal of Freedom

What the Democrats and the mainstream media no longer want you to know is that, back in 2007, immediately after his inauguration, Obama held a Medal of Satiiri Freedom Awards Ceremony. Nothing fantastic about that overall the distinctive award is given to many people frequently and fictively but there is one award recipient that stands out from the rest the now deceased, prolific abuser, Jeffrey Epstein.

But this item was not a factual recounting of real-life events. The article originated with a website that describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature, as follows:

Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this sites pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if youre still having an issue with that satire thing.

In addition to the disclaimer, the text of the Bustatroll article contains several clues about its fictitious nature. For instance, the award is referred to as the Medal of Satiiri Freedom which is frequently andfictivelyhanded out.

While Bustatroll.org carries a disclaimer labeling its content as fiction, the articles included image (shown at the top of this page) was circulated on social media removed from its fictional context. This is not a genuine photograph of Obama (who didnt take office until January 2009) awarding the Medal of Freedom to Jeffrey Epstein. This is a doctored image that was created from a photograph of Obama awarding the Medal of Freedom to President Bill Clinton in 2013:

The genuine image of Obama and Clinton is available via Getty Images with the following caption:

WASHINGTON, DC NOVEMBER 20: U.S. President Barack Obama awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former U.S. President Bill Clinton in the East Room at the White House on November 20, 2013 in Washington, DC. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nations highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

This is not the first time that a false rumor has circulated about a persona non grata receiving the medal of freedom from Obama. In 2017, a false rumor circulated that Obama had given the prestigious award to movie mogul and convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein, former politician and convicted sex offender Anthony Weiner, and Bill Cosby, a comedian who was convicted of sexual assault.

You can see a list of all of the people who were actually awarded the Medal of Freedom by Obama here.

For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.

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Did President Obama Award Jeffrey Epstein the Medal of Freedom? - Snopes.com

If you love The Daily Beasts royal coverage, then we hope youll enjoy The Royalist, a members-only series for Beast Inside.Become a memberto get it in your inbox on Sunday.

For mischiefs sake, lets imagine that the queen and Princess Anne clinked glasses when they triumphantly interrupted Prince Harry and Meghan Markles week of grandstanding woe. The oldies can still steal the show when you least expect it.

In a week otherwise marked by the heady fumes arising from a new book, Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Familywhich can be summarized as The royals suck, heres why, and were a lot cooler than those saddosthe queen and Princess Anne showed that sometimes the best royal PR is the silliest.

A clip from a forthcoming documentary about Anne to mark her 70th birthday on Aug. 15 shows the queens daughter showing her mother how Zoom works. It was brilliant and charmingand gives royal fans looking for brief respite from all the malign whispering what they really want, which is to spend hours looking at how the royal family decorates their living quarters.

At least in what we see, this typically proves to be charmingly prosaic: sofas that have seen better days, weird little figurines of animals, and jugs of flowers on their fourth day in some water. Yet again, Princess Anne emerges as the Firms brisk, quiet star.

As The Daily Beast has noted before, her reputation for rudenessNaff off being her most oft-quoted wordshas mellowed to a kind of twinkling truculence, especially when she seemed to diss Donald Trump on his London visit.

This brief spot of levity interrupted a royal week otherwise dedicated to a groaning table of dishes in Harry and Meghan's extravagant anti-royal buffet.

Most naysayers said that Harry and Meghan failed to inflict heavy damage on the family, but thats missing the point. The depth of evident bad feeling, especially between the two young royal couplesWilliam and Kate and Harry and Meghanmay prove ultimately more corrosive.

The extracts from the book unspooled in The Times of London and U.K. Sunday Times. Meghan claimed to have given up her entire life for the royal family. The extracts sketched how the couple felt unheard and roughly treated when they proposed a half-in half-out way of being royal.

Impractical as that might have been, Harry and Meghan saw the palace leaking against them, and the negotiations of their exit as brutal. They also resented no-one acknowledging their global fame, and seeing it is an asset. In their mind the royals were both jealous and unable to deal with what they represented. The negotiations around their departure from the royal family were, for Harry, like facing a firing squad.

Harry and Meghan released a statement saying they had not co-operated with the book, and one of its co-authors, Omid Scobie, told The Times they had given no interviews on or off the record.

The oft-repeated statement from Team Sussex this week has been: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were not interviewed and did not contribute to Finding Freedom. This book is based on the authors own experiences as members of the royal press corps and their own independent reporting.

If this is true, the level of precise detail, and precisely recalled quotes at moments of high emotion, suggest that Scobie and his co-author, Carolyn Durand, gathered information from particularly well-informed lint on Harry and Meghans clothing.

The real hounds of hell were unleashed on William and Kate. The root of the resentment seems to be that William cautioned Harry to take things easily with this girl, which Harry saw as snobbish and condescending as opposed to caring and clumsily put.

From there, the brothers relationship has spiraled, and while the book is careful not to sketch Meghan and Kate in the old sexist trope as rivalrous women-in-mortal combat, Meghan makes clear that she would have liked Kate to have reached out more and been more welcoming.

When Kate sent Meghan a bunch of flowers as a peace offering, it was deemed not enough by Meghan, according to Vanity Fair.

After days of being painted as the hostile couple, William and Kate struck back last weekend to claim that Kate had been welcoming and had even cooked Megan vegan food. Meghan also claimed her father had been fully corrupted by the media when he had ended up in league with a paparazzi photographer to stage pictures of himself, prior to her wedding.

The book included word-perfect texts and words said on the phone allegedly from daughter to father, as Meghan desperately tried to get him to the U.K. for her wedding. Then came the revelation of a senior royal calling Meghan a showgirl,and another one opining that she came with a lot of baggage.

Then came Harrys incandescent rage over the racism Meghan allegedly faced, how the couple became almost obsessed with each other, and the existence of his private Instagram account. The book places Meghan as a victim of relentless prejudice and snobbery, with Harry furiously trying to protect her and challenge the institution he was born into.

But it all got too much. In the end, inevitably, the queen swiftly took actionejecting her grandson, while making it clear she loved him over Sunday lunch, and that he and Meghan could come back to the royal fold any time. Clearly, HM is a mafioso in bright florals.

Further extracts in People showed the animosity spilled overinevitablyinto what Meghan wore, with a contretemps over a gold chain with the initials H and M on it. Meghan wore it at the beginning of their relationship, and it so upset the palace she was advised that wearing such a necklace only served to encourage the photographers to keep pursuing such imagesand new headlines, the book reported.

Meghan was left feeling frustrated and emotional by this, a source revealed: 'While she knew the aide had good intentions, the surreal experience of having someone from her boyfriends office tell her what kind of jewelry to wear or not to smile at a photographer was too much.

I cant win. They make out like Im to blame for these pictures, that it looks like Im encouraging them, that me even acknowledging the cameras may not be sending the right message. I dont know what to say.

Meghan Markle

A distraught Meghan then called a friend complaining, I cant win. They make out like Im to blame for these pictures, that it looks like Im encouraging them, that me even acknowledging the cameras may not be sending the right message. I dont know what to say. It was only yesterday that people online were saying I look miserable in pictures, because I was trying to just ignore the [photographer]. Meghan felt damned if she did and damned if she didn't.

The saga of Meghans wedding tiaraa diamond center-stone adorned filigree tiara, borrowed from the queen and originally made for Queen Mary, the Princess of Teck)was also re-run, to underline that Meghan and the queen didnt have a beef with each other over the headpiece. This again emphasized the book working to a very strict correct-the-tabloid scorecard.

It was, the book claims, the queens dressmaker Angela Kelly who dragged her feet over getting things ready in advance of a pre-wedding hair trial. (There was a hair-specific wedding day dry run? Amazing.) The saga did not end there, with the Mail reporting the Queen had denied Meghan her choice of tiara.

Meghan and Harrys critics have gathered, in the days since the book's release, to accuse them of the usual: disrespect, self-centeredness, whininess, and selfishness, particularly in light of where the world finds itself right now.

Certainly, the book is a biting, score-settling exercise, seemingly executed if not by Meghan and Harry, then by people or pieces of lint very close to them, who have been seething over a press cuttings file they violently disagree with. But it is also a manifesto of woe of a young couple determined to change something, even if they are not sure what and how.

Vanity Fair quoted a family source: The Palace are worried about the book because they know what really happened behind the scenes. Frankly they should be breathing a sigh of relief. It could have been a lot worse. Its going to open old wounds at a time when everyone wanted to move on. I think the person who will be most upset about it all is the queen.

A lot of damage has been done, Scobie told People.

You can see why. Finding Freedom is not a biography; it is soapy revenge in book formintended to pay back perceived enemies in both the palace and the media.

The latter is the principal object of Harry and Meghans ire. It is telling the book is published not just as they fight multiple legal actions against the fourth estate, but also in the week that Meghan agreed to pay 67,000 ($88,000), having lost the first round of her battle with Associated Newspapers, proprietors of the Mail on Sunday.

That legal battleMeghan claims an invasion of privacy over published extracts of correspondence sent to her fatheris an encapsulation of the central mystery of the book, which is less about who said what at the palace and, if Harry and Meghan are not speaking for Harry and Meghan, who keeps speaking very intimately and knowledgeably on their behalf?

Meghan does not want the identities of friends who spoke to People magazine in her defense after the Mail article came out to be named, arguing this week that each of these women is a private citizen, young mother, and each has a basic right to privacy. (Why should ones age and parental status be relevant here?) For Meghan, naming the women would be an unacceptable price to pay for the right to pursue her claim for invasion of privacy.

Both book and court case highlight Harry and Meghans determination to swim in some intriguing counter-currents. They want to be spoken about, they want a high profilebut apparently the coverage must be glowing, or cue storm clouds; the words must be sympathetic, or by and from them, or they are to be doubted.

Harry and Meghan are not alone in this desire: famous or not, people want to be thought of in the best way in the public square.

Is this what Meghan and Harrys public life will becomeinspirational speeches, modish empowerment, contrasted with court appearances and passive aggressive exchanges with family members via trusted journalists?

But being in that public square comes with operational risk, and brickbats as well as bouquets. Harry and Meghan do not always get bad press; indeed, they are lionized for some of their work and activism. Yet these two young, rich, beautiful, charismatic people appear furious. They say they want to be for the people and advocate for social change, yet have intense status anxiety. They want to lecture the world, yet recoil from others advice.

Is this what Meghan and Harrys public life will becomeinspirational speeches, social activism, empowering speeches (great), contrasted with court appearances and sour, passive-aggressive exchanges with family members via trusted journalists?

If so, Finding Freedom seems an inaccurate title for a book that is squarely focused not on liberation but the complex dynamics, grievances, and punishments of a gilded cageand one that far from having escaped by decamping to Los Angeles, Meghan and Harry still seem determined to inhabit. The real question the book extracts beg is: What might Harry and Meghans real freedom look like?

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Are Doing the Opposite of 'Finding Freedom' - The Daily Beast

The NAACP Boston branch will host Freedom Weekend this Friday and Saturday to kick off the 111th National NAACP Convention, which was supposed to take place in Boston in late July but instead will proceed in a virtual format from August 2-15.

The weekend will begin with a Drive-In Soul Music Concert to be held on Friday, July 31 from 6-9 p.m. at the UMass Boston Bayside Lot. Space is very limited due to COVID-19 precautions, so those interested are encouraged to register early and arrive early. The event will also be livestreamed. You can register your vehicle for the concert here.

Freedom Weekend will continue on Saturday, August 1 with a "Day of Action and Service" from 1-4 p.m., during which virtual and in-person volunteer opportunities will be available. Virtual opportunities will include Census and Voting Awareness phone banking, while in-person opportunities--which will take place at locations in Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, Jamaica Plain, and Hyde Park--include neighborhood beautification, Boston Public Schools support, food banking, and voter education. You can register as a volunteer here.

Freedom Weekend will be followed by Freedom Week, which will include a series of virtual round tables with Boston area perspectives on national issues. To learn more, register, or view a full schedule events, visit naacpboston.com.

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Virtual NAACP Convention to kick off locally with "Freedom Weekend" - Dorchester Reporter