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Category Archives: Freedom

Charlie Hebdo France marches: 3.7 million plus march for freedom, minus the US – Video

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Charlie Hebdo France marches: 3.7 million plus march for freedom, minus the US
After 17 people died during three days of deadly terrorist attacks in Paris last week, more than three million people took part in unity marches across France in support of freedom of expression....

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Charlie Hebdo France marches: 3.7 million plus march for freedom, minus the US - Video

Freedom, Terror, and Falsehoods: Lessons from the Twentieth Century – Video

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Freedom, Terror, and Falsehoods: Lessons from the Twentieth Century
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Freedom, Terror, and Falsehoods: Lessons from the Twentieth Century - Video

Freedom Riders highlight growing Youth Summit

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To those who lived through and took part in the civil rights movement, the phrase Freedom Riders conjures vivid memories of brutal attacks, bus bombings and unlawful arrests.

More than 50 years have passed since Freedom Riders took their stand in the South, and the preservation of their struggles and efforts is foremost in the mind of Dr. Barbara Bowie.

Bowie has expanded the scope of the third annual Youth Summit, which comes to Judson High School Thursday, Jan. 15. Freedom Riders MacArthur Cotton and Pat Dilworth will be part of a panel at Judson that will be linked via videoconference to a similar panel of historians in the Niagara Falls Independent School District in Niagara, New York.

Weve brought this program to Judson in the past, and theres just so much interest, said Bowie, who will be in Niagara Falls with Freedom Riders Fred Anderson, Hezekiah Watkins, and her brother, Jesse James Davis. The kids show so much attention to it, and they really have intelligent questions to ask of our panelists.

Thursdays teleconference is part of a busy pre-Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend in San Antonio. Events Friday at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio include a Freedom Riders panel, open-microphone testimonies, and a symbolic Passing of the Torch, where Freedom Riders will speak and hand a commemorative torch to Bexar County Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Calvert, Bexars first African-American county commissioner.

The idea is to establish a legacy for the Freedom Riders that can continue far beyond their lives, Bowie said.

I hope we will be ... doing some things that will benefit our youth, helping them grasp an understanding of their positions in life, she said, by knowing that they can make a difference, even as teenagers, as these Freedom Riders did in the 60s.

Marchers will assemble at 9 a.m. Saturday at Kirby Middle School, 5441 Old Seguin Road in Kirby, for a parade starting at 10 a.m. The procession will travel along Old Seguin Road, Ackerman Road and Binz-Engleman Road on a route to Kirby Friendship Park. The I Can Make A Difference Festival in the park will features speakers, foor and information booths, entertainment and various activities.

Events in Galveston will feature a similar Passing of the Torch and parade at Galveston City Park.

Voter registration cards will be available at all of the events.

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Freedom Riders highlight growing Youth Summit

Freedom of expression and respect are equally important

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Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE Sin Chew Daily

The acts of hugging and kissing tudung-clad female fans by South Korean K-pop band B1A4 at a recent concert have triggered an uproar, being interpreted by some local Muslim groups as molestation or sexual harassment. Lawyers for Liberty executive director Eric Paulsen received a few death threats and was arrested over his tweet which allegedly accused the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) of promoting extremism every Friday.

The two incidents took place in Malaysia in recent days are worthy of serious reflection, as the former highlighted the sensitive issue derived from cultural differences and religious taboos, while the latter triggered a debate on where is the bottom line of the freedom of expression.

It must be stressed that Paulsen's remarks cannot be compared with the incident of Charlie Hebdo in France, but they both have sparked a vexed issue, namely whether some have gone beyond the boundaries of freedom of expression?

After French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's tragedy, France and many European countries launched the "I Am Charlie" movement as an expression of support for press freedom and freedom of expression. However, if Charlie really appears everywhere in the world, what would happen? Therefore, there are also voices of "I Am Not Charlie" in France, to condemn the brutality of the gunmen, while expressing their disagreement with Charlie Hebdo's acts of insulting Islam and other religions. London-based editor and executive producer Salah-Aldeen Khadr also questioned whether the Charlie attack was really against the freedom of expression, and opined that it would be more appropriate to describe it as "a clash of extremist fringes".

It showed us a fact that we must take seriously, namely whether we are holding a double standard when facing equally fanatical behaviours, as well as whether we have on this hand condemned extreme and violent acts and on the other, condoned extreme acts and abuse of freedom.

We advocate the moderation movement and we condemn all extreme and violent acts. It is of course an uncompromisable principle, but we should also ask ourselves, when we accuse others of extremism, have we also fallen into the quagmire of extremism, intentionally or unintentionally tolerating some remarks discriminating against something, harming and offending others?

At this moment, we should see clearly that terrorism does not equal to Islam. A number of recent terrorist attacks are acts of a small number of Muslims or Islamic groups that have gone extreme, instead of the majority Muslims who are peace-loving and rational good people. We must never judge them with prejudice and label all Muslims as extremists.

Undeniably, the current world is losing law and order. Excessive emphasis on religion and the abuse of freedom of expression have become a two-edged sword, continuously hurting others, as well as ourselves. It is a huge crisis that the whole world is currently facing. For Malaysians, we need to defend democracy, freedom and human rights while opposing against extreme words and deeds in any forms. We should bear in mind that the freedom of expression and mutual respect are always equally important!

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Freedom of expression and respect are equally important

Too much freedom of speech?

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A woman shows a banner reading I am Charlie for the victims of the shooting at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

Martin Meissner, Associated Press

Freedom of speech has taken center-stage in the wake of last weeks shooting at the headquarters of Paris based satirical newspaper, Charlie Hebdo. The attack is assumed to be a response to Hebdo printing caricaturized images of Mohammad, according to the New York Times.

The hashtag #JeSuisCharlie, a movement aimed to show solidarity for the victims of the shooting and their families, the weekly, and the Parisian community and its right to freedom of expression, continues to trend on Twitter. The Daily Mail reported the hashtag was tweeted over 250,000 times within four hours of the incident.

Few issues have so successfully united both the left and the right in American politics, with almost universal outrage over what most commentators believe to be an attack on the basic human right of freedom of speech.

But freedom of speech, and blasphemy in particular, isnt universally protected around the world, even among many liberal democracies. According to a 2011 study published by the Pew Research Center, 47 percent of the worlds countries have laws against blasphemy, apostasy and/or defamation of religion, including religious hate speech.

These laws are not limited to the countries one might typically expect. European countries such as Ireland, Germany and Denmark, among others, currently have laws against blasphemy and defamation of religion.

Even America has shown discomfort with certain expressions of blasphemy.

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Too much freedom of speech?

Freedom of speech gives us freedom to not speak – and not publish offensive cartoons

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My immediate instinct last Wednesday on hearing about the Charlie Hebdo massacre was, Come on then, lets print Mohammed.

Lets print cartoons , images, etch-a-sketches, oil paintings, whatever, of the Prophet. Lets show the world that we, like the staff at the French magazine, will not be cowed by bullies wholl seek to determine what we can or cannot think with the help of a Kalashnikov.

Lets show them just how much freedom of speech means to us and how we will defend it.

Like millions around the world, I was mad angry. Furious. How could these killers, who have enjoyed so much that the West has to offer democracy, opportunity, and education shed such innocent blood in their pitiful attempt to drag their medieval beliefs into our modern world?

These are extremists who believe women should not have equality. Who believe people who lose their faith should be killed along with gay people and those who have affairs.

And here they are, a handful of easily-led oddballs, spreading their tentacles of terror across half the world.

Somehow these killings seemed even more shocking than those of 7/7. This time the murderers didnt just want to destroy lives, they wanted to destroy our values too.

And it is that cold realisation that led me to appreciate that, actually, it is part of our values to choose NOT to print pictures of Mohammed which so many TRUE Muslim believers would find offensive.

Because, yes, we have freedom of speech which means freedom to think. But equally importantly we have the freedom to choose not to speak and not to express if we think it would hurt or offend others.

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Freedom of speech gives us freedom to not speak - and not publish offensive cartoons

Freedom Driver allows man with artificial heart to await transplant at home

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Heart failure patients awaiting organ transplants normally find themselves anchored to the hospital bed by a washing machine-sized device that keeps blood pumping through their veins. But for Stan Larkin, a patient at the University of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Center, a new form of wearable technology is allowing him to keep on the move. The Freedom Driver is a compact, mobile version of the same machine that allows patients like Larkin to go about their normal lives while they wait for a matching donor heart to arrive.

On any given day there are around 3,000 people in the US on the waiting list for a heart transplant, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. This organ shortage means that sufferers of advanced heart failure are implanted with devices to aid in survival. In Larkin's case this involved the removal of his heart and replacing it with an artificial organ, a temporary solution that would keep him alive until another heart became available.

What drives power to Larkin's artificial heart, and others like it, is a machine that delivers compressed air into the ventricles via two tubes. At first, Larkin was hooked up to the larger, washing machine-sized device. Known as Big Blue, the machine weighs 418 lb (190 kg) and often sees patients remain in hospital for months or even years at a time.

But in June 2014, the Food and Drug Administration approved the aptly named Freedom Driver. Weighing 13 lb (5.9 kg) it performs the same task as Big Blue but is designed to be portable, fitting snugly inside a purpose-made backpack. Patients must meet a certain discharge criteria to make the switch from Big Blue to the Freedom Driver, but once they do they are free to leave the hospital and wait for their new heart at home.

Larkin's departure from hospital marks the first time that a patient has been switched over to the Freedom Driver at the University of Michigan hospital, and also the first of its patients to take it home in his backpack. He works with therapists to sustain his mobility with the Freedom Driver onboard, is on a number of blood-thinning medications and eats low sodium meals.

"Hes still listed for a heart transplant and we hope to transplant him as soon as an organ is available," says Jonathan Haft, a cardiac surgeon at the University of Michigan. "In the meantime he can be at home, he can be functional, and continue to rehabilitate himself so hes in the best possible shape when his opportunity comes.

You can hear from Larkin in the video below.

Source: University of Michigan

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Freedom Driver allows man with artificial heart to await transplant at home

David MORON Cameron pledges new ‘snoopers charter’ days after Freedom of speech BS in Paris ! – Video

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David MORON Cameron pledges new #39;snoopers charter #39; days after Freedom of speech BS in Paris !
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David MORON Cameron pledges new 'snoopers charter' days after Freedom of speech BS in Paris ! - Video

Fourth Freedom official released pending March trial

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The fourth former Freedom Industries official indicted in connection with last Januarys chemical leak on the Elk River appeared in court Monday afternoon and was released on bond pending trial.

Charles E. Herzing, 63, of McMurray, Pennsylvania, was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond after he was arraigned by U.S. Magistrate Judge Dwane Tinsley in Charleston.

Herzing faces three misdemeanor counts of criminal Clean Water Act violations related to Freedoms Jan. 9, 2014, spill of MCHM and other chemicals that contaminated the drinking water supply for hundreds of thousands of people in Charleston and surrounding communities. If convicted, he would face a maximum statutory sentence of three years in prison.

Not guilty, Herzing said during Mondays hearing when Tinsley asked for his plea on the charges against him.

Herzing was one of Freedoms owners prior to December 2013, and was the company vice president and a board member, according to court records.

Two other former Freedom officials -- Dennis Farrell and William Tis -- are also free on $10,000 unsecured bond. They face the same charges as Herzing.

Former Freedom Industries President Gary Southern is free on a $100,000 unsecured bond, He faces similar Clean Water Act charges, but also was indicted on 10 felony counts based on the allegation that Southern lied about his role at Freedom to protect his personal wealth from civil litigation and Freedoms bankruptcy proceeding. If convicted on all counts, Southern, 53, would face a statutory maximum of 68 years in prison.

The four Freedom officials were indicted last month by a federal grand jury following a lengthy investigation by U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwins office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Phil Wright had asked Tinsley last week to force Southern to post a secured bond to assure Southern doesnt flee prior to trial. Tinsley declined, ruling that Southern was not a flight risk.

During the time they were responsible corporate officers for Freedom, the officials allegedly approved funding only for projects that would result in increased business revenue for Freedom, or that were immediately necessary for required equipment maintenance, officials alleged. They allegedly failed to take action to fund other repair and upkeep projects for equipment and systems necessary for environmental compliance at Freedoms Elk River facility, including repairing a spill containment wall, addressing drainage problems in the containment area, and implementing proper water protection plans.

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Fourth Freedom official released pending March trial


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