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Category Archives: Freedom

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – Rushing the Train – The Weinstein Company – Video

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Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom - Rushing the Train - The Weinstein Company
https://www.facebook.com/MandelaLongWalktoFreedom http://www.twitter.com/WeinsteinFilms In select theaters November 29, 2013 MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM is based ...

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Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom - Rushing the Train - The Weinstein Company - Video

The slow pace of transformation within the media topped the agenda of Media Freedom Day – Video

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The slow pace of transformation within the media topped the agenda of Media Freedom Day
Several role-players, among them the SABC, Government Communications and Information Services and the Media Development and Diversity Agency partnered to com...

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The slow pace of transformation within the media topped the agenda of Media Freedom Day - Video

SCF applauds Freedom Village scholarships

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MANATEE -- Lauren Martinez, a State College of Florida student and Freedom Village employee of six years, said she never expected to receive her first scholarship from the senior living community.

"I am following my mother's footsteps," Martinez said.

Martinez and her mother, Wilma Negron, are both recipients of Freedom Village scholarships.

Freedom Village residents have been raising money for employees to pursue higher education since 1995. The Freedom Village Scholarship Foundation has contributed more than $300,000 for more than 250 scholarships for State College of Florida students alone.

Glenn Vergason, scholarship fund chairman, said more funds have gone to support scholarship recipients at other schools.

"We are trying to assist

young people to get an education," Vergason said.

The State College of Florida held a thank-you reception Wednesday at Freedom Villages to show appreciation to the scholarship foundation for students who were able to attend the school through the scholarships.

Martinez was recently accepted into the honors society at the State College of Florida and is working toward a psychology degree with her scholarship. Negron, her mother, finished the school's LPN program and is working on a bachelor's degree in nursing.

Maria Sarver, assistant executive director at Freedom Village, said residents contribute in several ways to the scholarships. Residents can donate to the scholarship program through monthly service fees, remember the scholarship program in their wills or ask loved ones to give memorial donations in lieu of flowers at funeral services.

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SCF applauds Freedom Village scholarships

Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area presents first awards

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NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY FREEDOM'S FRONTIER NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA

Heritage Area honors founders and award-winners

Freedoms Frontier National Heritage Area celebrated the presentation of the first Tacha Freedom Award and Billings MVP Awards on Thursday, October 10, 2013, with a luncheon at the Liberty Theatre in Fort Scott, Kansas. Deanell Tacha and Judy Billings were in attendance at the lunch to assist with the presentation of the awards that are named for them. Both women played essential roles in the founding of Freedoms Frontier.

The Tacha Freedom award was named for Deanell Reece Tacha, Retired Judge with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. She served as the founding Chair of the Freedoms Frontier Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2010. To honor her work, the Freedoms Frontier board of trustees established an award that will engage students in grades 9-11. The Award is intended to be a way to help students learn about the issues, ideas, people and events that contribute to Freedoms Frontier themes.

This years award included a cash prize of $250. The Tacha Freedom award was presented to Jayhawk-Linn High School freshman Quentin Umphenour, Mound City, Kansas. Umphenour was nominated for the award for his portrayal of Col. James M. Williams, who led the African Americans of the first Kansas Colored Volunteer infantry. Umphenour was nominated for this award by the Lowell Milken Center in Fort Scott, Kansas.

The Tacha Freedom Award is given to high school students residing in or attending school in Freedoms Frontier, based upon a winning scholarly/creative work that relates to the history of the area and the themes of Freedoms Frontier: the shaping of the frontier, the Missouri-Kansas Border War, and the enduring struggle for freedom. This award may be presented annually to students on both sides of the Missouri/Kansas border.

The Billings MVP, or Most Valuable Partner Award is also an annual award. Judy Billings, Retired President and CEO of Destination Management, Inc., served as the founding Executive Director of Freedoms Frontier from 2006-2012 and was instrumental advocating for national heritage area designation.

To honor her work, the Freedoms Frontier board established an award to recognize individual heritage area partners (current or retired) for contributions to the heritage area. The Billings MVP award honors outstanding commitment to the advancement of the Freedoms Frontier goals and adherence to Freedoms Frontier guiding principles over an extended period of time.

The 2013 Billings MVP Award was presented to two heritage area partners: Carol Bohl, Harrisonville, MO; and Eileen Robertson, Humboldt, KS. Both are long-term advocates and supporters of Freedoms Frontier.

In 2005, Carol Bohl, then Executive Director of the Cass County Historical Society (she retired in 2011), also served as president of the Missouri/Kansas Border War Network. Bohl used this forum for open, honest discussion. The experiences that came from it helped her begin to build a group of people within Freedoms Frontier who wanted to understand both sides of the regions history.

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Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area presents first awards

Freedom Bank Announces Strong Loan Growth Generates Increased Profits

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FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Freedom Bank of Virginia (Bank) (Bulletin Board:FDVA.OB) earned a net profit before taxes of $1,230,094 for the first nine months of 2013 compared to a net profit before taxes for the first nine months of 2012 of $1,013,472 and $1,192,253 earned for all of 2012.

Financial Highlights

According to CEO Craig S. Underhill, The Bank is realizing a return on the investment in additional lenders. The Bank has reduced investments in securities to fund our substantial growth over the past twelve months in higher yielding loans. The combination of strong loan growth and improving asset quality is increasing the profitability of the Bank.

About Freedom Bank

Freedom Bank is a community-oriented, locally-owned bank with locations in Fairfax and Vienna, Virginia. For information about Freedom Banks deposit and loan services, visit the Banks website at http://www.freedombankva.com.

This release contains forward-looking statements, including our expectations with respect to future events that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's projections, forecasts, estimates and expectations include: fluctuation in market rates of interest and loan and deposit pricing, adverse changes in the overall national economy as well as adverse economic conditions in our specific market areas, maintenance and development of well-established and valued client relationships and referral source relationships, and acquisition or loss of key production personnel. Other risks that can affect the Bank are detailed from time to time in our quarterly and annual reports filed with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. We caution readers that the list of factors above is not exclusive. The forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release, and we may not undertake steps to update the forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of any circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statements are made. In addition, our past results of operations are not necessarily indicative of future performance.

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Freedom Bank Announces Strong Loan Growth Generates Increased Profits

Freedom High School needs your vote for $100,000 grant

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Freedom High School is hoping to again win a $100,000 State Farm Insurance grant, but the Bethlehem Township, Pa., school needs your votes.

Last year, Freedom was the regional winner in the inaugural "Celebrate My Drive" contest thanks to a coordinated social media campaign.

But the grand prize of a free Kelly Clarkson concert for a small and a large school has heated up the competition this year. Freedom has already netted more votes than last year but, as of this afternoon, the school is fighting to stay in the top 50 of the large school competition.

Not far behind are Parkland High School at 59 and Pen Argyl Area High School at 60. Voting started Friday and remains open until Saturday.

While the grand prize is a Kelly Clarkson concert, Freedom students are more interested in the grants, said Jennifer Wescoe, school adviser to the Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) chapter vying for the grant.

State Farm is dishing out 10 $100,000 grants and 90 $25,000 grants to schools that win the competition. The competition launched in 2012 as a means of celebrating the teenage rite of passage of that first driver's license while promoting safe driving, said Dave Phillips, with State Farm media relations in Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Car crashes remain the No. 1 killer of teens in North America, but research has shown that positive messages about safe driving stick with teens longer than negative ones, such as mock car crashes, Phillips said.

"The first year behind the wheel on the road is the most dangerous," he said.

Freedom students have joined State Farm at events through the year, using students as spokespeople and using a YouTube video students made, Phillips said.

Freedom students crafted an ambitious list of projects to pursue if they won the 2012 grant and they followed through on every one of them, said Wescoe, who is also the school's theater director. The money was shared with the entire district through various events.

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Freedom High School needs your vote for $100,000 grant

Chordashian – Skyscraper Souls Ft. Freedom Fry (Free Download Here!) – Video

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Chordashian - Skyscraper Souls Ft. Freedom Fry (Free Download Here!)
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Chordashian - Skyscraper Souls Ft. Freedom Fry (Free Download Here!) - Video

Freedom Fund Awards Banquet draws enthusiatic crowd

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St. Louis -- It was the 59th annual Freedom Fund Awards Banquet and a crowd of NAACP members and friends came together at the Renaissance Grand Hotel in St. Louis to be a part of the event.

Several East St. Louis firefighters who make up the Color Guard presented the colors as the event got under way.

This year's theme was "Game Changer."

East St. Louis Mayor Alvin L. Parks Jr. asked the question "Where are we going with changing the game? I am glad the NAACP is leading the way.

"We must carry on and continue to stand for something. We are all leaders." Parks said.

U.S. Rep. Bill Enyart, D-Belleville, briefly touched on the financial mess that's going on in Washington, D.C., saying he was in the east wing of the White House last Thursday with President Barack Obama as multiple members put their heads together to get out of the financial mess that the nation has gotten itself into.

"Our future is very bright, but not without peril. There are assaults upon our rights -- the voting rights act. The Supreme Court has stripped part of that down. We must work to continue to preserve those voting rights," Enyart told the crowd. "Programs that help Americans in need are being cut. There are cuts to the work force. We must work together. We must continue the great work of the NAACP to turn back the forces that would be regressive. We can't afford to regress," Enyart said, firing up the crowd.

The audience was filled with a host of city leaders from East St. Louis and St. Clair County. Besides Parks, there were Centreville Mayor Marius Jackson, St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern whose wife, Erin Kern, is chairman of the NAACP scholarship committee. Also attending were retired St. Clair County Judge Milton S. Wharton, former Superintendent of School District 189 Katie Wright, St. Clair County Sheriff Richard Watson, East St. Louis City Manager Deletra Hudson, East St. Louis Police Chief Michael Floore and many more.

St. Clair County Judge Heinz Rudolf was in the audience. When he was asked what Game Changers means to him, he said "forever vigilant now and in the future."

Watson, who has attended the NAACP banquet for the last 10 years, said Game Changers means "Promoting the health and well-being of everyone."

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Freedom Fund Awards Banquet draws enthusiatic crowd

Limits of speech freedom

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Hong Kong people treasure freedom of speech and press freedom for a good reason. They think that it is human nature to want to speak one's mind, and to hate to say things against one's true beliefs. Hong Kong people also think that press freedom is essential to knowing what really goes on. In the absence of press freedom, it is possible that the media might present a biased picture of the reality, and that some officials may get away with power abuses, favoritism, and other wrongdoings.

Sadly, however, some people seem to be abusing this precious freedom. It is heart-breaking to see some netizens pour abusive words on another human being who has done absolutely nothing wrong. Stephanie Liu Han, a top student from Yunnan, who graduated from the University of Hong Kong two years ago having earned a full scholarship on outstanding academic merits, and who worked in the city's financial industry, was killed in a traffic accident. Instead of expressing sympathy as a normal human being would, some netizens made outrageous and disturbing remarks.

While she was in intensive care, one netizen remarked: "Quickly take her back to Zhina (a derogative name for China). Otherwise we would be losing medical fees on her behalf."

"Having grabbed a place in the university at the expense of HK people, she now occupies a hospital bed. Soon she may be pre-empting a place in the columbarium. The Chinese really are overbearing!"

"Punishment from heaven!"

There is nothing we can do if people choose to say these things privately. But these words are posted on the Internet. A good question is whether abusive language that hurt people should be banned from publication: on the Internet, in newspapers, or on TV. Will this compromise press freedom?

Perhaps there should be limits to freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Language that hurts other people is really not much different from physical assault that hurts other people. In both cases there is an actor, an act, and a victim. There should be no presumption that physical injury necessarily hurts more than "mental injury". In principle, people should not be allowed to arbitrarily hurt others.

But who is to determine if someone has been hurt? Unlike physical injury which can be objectively assessed, it is not easy to demonstrate that someone has been hurt by language, and to what extent. If a government department is to take up this role, people will worry about arbitrary censorship. The alternative is to set up an independent commission or committee, one that has credibility for its professionalism and independence, and to have it determine if the bounds of reason and common sense consideration have been violated.

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Limits of speech freedom

Freedom of the Press Offers SecureDrop, a Tribute to the Legacy of Aaron Swartz

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Before his suicide in January 2013, Aaron Swartz had worked together with the hacker and Wired editor Kevin Poulson on a platform for whistleblowers called Dead Drop. The software allows the transmission of messages and documents between whistleblowers and journalists. The sources of the data are protected by the fact that even the news organization contacted may not even know who has transmitted the messages. The aim of the tool is to protect information from anonymous sources on the internet.

Aaron Swartz did not have it done to complete his big project and now Freedoom of the Press Foundation has done this for him as well as taken charge of the DeadDrop project. In coming months, the Foundation will also provide on-site installation and technical support to news organizations that wish to run the system, which has been renamed SecureDrop.

The Open Source SecureDrop

SecureDrop is a safe, secure, virtual system where journalists can exchange information with hackers. The WikiLeaks media, it has been called, was Swartzs vision, who has become a symbol of freedom of information and of that part of the digital world.

The system assigns a unique code for each source and thus an anonymous entity can establish a relationship with the media without the need to give a name or face. The New Yorker, was one of the first institutions to adopt SecureDrop under the name StrongBox.

In August, the University of Washington safety experts and security expert Bruce Schneier had raised concerns about the safety of Dead Drop. The Freedom of the Press Foundation had therefore entrusted the security professional James Dolan with the revision of the software. Even now, with the main problems resolved, further improvements has been promised. Dolan had already helped the New Yorkerbuild and secure their own Dead Drop Strongbox implementation.

Any organization can install SecureDrop for free and can make modifications because the project is open-source. The foundation has written detailed installation instructions, which can be found on GitHub.

Although its creators do not guarantee 100% security, they do say that this tool has been tested in several studies to prove its high levels of security, but there are always risks. SecureDrop runs a public servant who serves in the face for the project, another server that archives the messages and documents and another that monitors the safety of the first two. SecureDrop still relies on donations to stay alive, but also accepts comments from developers interested in discussing the topic.

WikiLeaks, PRISM, and SecureDrop

With all the hype of WikiLeaks, PRISM, Edward Snowden and NSA that shock the world, a system in which people can share their knowledge in a completely anonymous way seems no longer a luxury in this period.

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Freedom of the Press Offers SecureDrop, a Tribute to the Legacy of Aaron Swartz


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