Peggy Garner had a deeper and different understanding of liberty than Patrick Henry he who famously shouted Give me liberty or give me death. Peggy Garner had no liberty. She was a slave.

Patrick Henry detested taxation without representation by a distant British Parliament. Peggy Garner paid no taxes and had no liberty. Imprisoned on a plantation and a black female, she had perhaps the least liberty of all.

But when Peggy Garner escaped across a frozen river to Ohio, with her four children, perhaps she faintly heard Patrick Henry when hunted down by slave catchers. Give me liberty or give me death? Peggy chose death, wanting to kill her children and herself rather than be returned to slavery. She had killed just one child, slitting her throat, before being restrained.

Opposites help define each other, much as the meaning of light resides in total darkness. Peggy Garners act of desperation tells us what liberty means in a deeper and different way than even Jeffersons majestic claim that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

We get a deeper sense of the gradual, grinding progression of actualizing Jeffersons bold claim for all Americans when two centuries elapsed between a colonial editors shutting down his paper rather than pay the Stamp Act tax of 1764 and Martin Luther King, Jr.s soaring words on the national mall in 1963. Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

And while black females were perhaps last in line for liberty, and white males particularly wealthy ones first in line, our liberty largely started with wealthy white males claiming those rights and then, with commoner whites and free blacks and some courageous women, fighting with guns, guts, and French help to secure freedom from British rule.

Two people illustrate the gradual trickle down progression of liberty over the next several centuries. David Acheson immigrated to America from northern Ireland in 1788 with the clothes on his back and a letter of introduction from his minister. Nine years later he was a successful banker, businessman, and politician who was invited to dine with President George Washington. The vast expanse of our new country soon from sea to shining sea opened up opportunities for those with ambition and talent to pursue their dreams, the American dream.

No one really wanted war. But Lincoln knew it was coming, perhaps unavoidable due to historical circumstance and economic pressures. Julia Ward Howe awakened around dawn at her Washington hotel and peered out the window. Having watched Union troops parade the day before, new words came to her for the rhythmic music of John Browns Body.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord, He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on.

David Achesons grandson of like name marched to those stirring words on his way to Gettysburg. He fell in battle a few hours later, giving his life that others might be free to live theirs more fully. His blood sacrifice and that of thousands more fulfilled the last verse of The Battle Hymn of the Republic As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.

Julia Ward Howe fought for womens rights and emancipation from a paternalistic culture, her own husband was something of a tyrant, for the next 50 years, being a fighting feminist before the phrase existed. Deep in her heart, she knew that one eternal truth that was marching on was that none of us are truly free until we all are free free to fully develop our God-given talents as both an act of self-fulfillment and a contribution to our national welfare.

For, as Peggy Garner, David Acheson, Julia Ward Howe, and many others knew, the freedom we celebrate on the Fourth of July must be for all people and for as long as we are willing to sacrifice blood and treasure to preserve it. God bless America and let us not let our liberty slip away. Many paid a high price for us to have it.

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Many paid a high price for us to have freedom - Edmond Sun

Repeated words, pronouns not clearly referring to one character or another, flabbily padded phrases, irritating tics of style (the use of the word all as in all longish hair), eruptions of verbosity (the indescribable sound that emanated from that swiftly engorging clot of people): there is so much distractingly bad writing in the first section of Neel Mukherjees new novel, its difficult to concentrate on what he is actually saying. As far as the plot goes, it seems to be something at once melodramatic and not all that surprising. An Indian father born in Calcutta but now working in the US takes his six-year-old son, who has been raised in America, to see the Taj Mahal and the nearby monuments at Fatehpur Sikri. Here, thanks to a bit offunny business with shadows and guides (Marabar Caves, anyone?), the son freaks out, and the father is forced to accept that he has become a tourist in his own country.

Its not a good start, from a writer who has already been shortlisted for the Booker and the Costa and won the Encore prize for his second novel, The Lives of Others. But anyone tempted to abandon the book at this point should persevere. Although later pages are still liable to congestion and carelessness, they are much better written. Theyre also ambitiously and intelligently engaged with important themes several of which are treated explicitly (deracination, the inequalities of Indian society), and one of which emerges more subtly, through clever and well-handled plotting.

At first glance the narratives of the five sections seem discrete, although all tending towards similar interests and conclusions. As scene follows scene, however, Mukherjee returns tocharacters and events that have previously appeared only in the background of each story, to flesh out their details. So, for instance, a horrible accident involving a construction worker who falls from the scaffolding of a new building, witnessed in passing by the father and son in the first section, links both to a later section in which we hear the story of the victims earlier life, and to the final section in which we read the unpunctuated monologue spoken immediately before his death. In the same way, a poverty-stricken man leading a dancing bear, who appears briefly beside the car window as the father and son return toDelhi, turns out to be the brother of the construction worker, and later gets most ofa whole section to himself. We hear about his family and their hardships, about the training of the bear, about their time on the road together, and about the ways in which their relationship allows and simultaneously denies a state of freedom.

This linked structure emphasises the value of life as life, regardless of wealth and status and circumstance. But it also conveys a sense of inter-relatedness that allows Mukherjee to say something about how families and communities work in general, and about how Indian society functions in particular. His sharpest focus is on the way life carries characters like dice on the slot of a roulette machine and delivers [them] to destinations that [are] endlessly repeatable, each ever so slightly different from the other, all more or less the same. In this respect A State of Freedom touches on distinctly English-Victorian themes. And like the intricately woven novels of say Dickens, it has its foundation in the denunciation of injustice, and the valuing of compassion.

In the second section, for instance, ason raised in India but now working in London stays with his parents in Mumbai, and becomes interested intheir cook, Renu, and another servant named Milly. As far as the parents are concerned, the significance of these two consists largely in how well or badly they do their work. But the son more liberal, more curious, and like several other characters in the book, very interested in food and its preparation inquires into their lives, and is eventually encouraged by Renu to visit her home village. When he does so, he receives a lesson in social awkwardness, and in the limits of his own capacity to imagine the lives of others, which picks up themes that are announced in Mukherjees opening pages.

The sound of grief is audible everywhere, but it never drowns out the voices insisting on their right to thrive

Much the same goes for the fourth section, in which were given the backstory of Milly, the other servant. Originally named Manglu and the daughter of a drunken father, she was raised in great poverty. She seeks to improve her lot by taking work as a servant away from her village: during her travels and travails, which Mukherjee describes with an impressive sense of actuality, she experiences various degrees of tolerance and intolerance, culminating in a life of more or less complete captivity from which she is eventually rescued.

Millys childhood friend Soni, meanwhile, stays behind in the village and joins the local Maoist guerrillas, living in the woods and enduring her own form of hardship. When Milly hears news of her, her response contains questions that unite the two strands of the narrative, and resonate throughout the novel. What are the costs of leaving and staying at home? What are the limits of human resilience? Or as Milly herself says: How can movement from one place to another break you? Are you a terracotta doll, easily broken in transit?

At a time when the manifold dramas of migration are centre stage, we often hear writers making the sound of lamentation. The sound of grief is audible everywhere in A Sense of Freedom, but itnever drowns out the voices insisting on their right to thrive. One of the most dynamic aspects of Mukherjees flawed but vital novel isthat even while facing up to unhappiness it continues toshow an affirming flame.

Andrew Motions Silver: Return to Treasure Island is published by Vintage. A State of Freedom is published by Chatto. To order a copy for 12.74 (RRP 16.99) go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over 10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of 1.99.

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A State of Freedom by Neel Mukherjee review vital meditations on migration - The Guardian

Four vintage WWII aircraft will fly into Missoula for a three-day visit next week as part of the Collings Foundations Wings of Freedom Tour.

The national tour pays tribute to those who flew, built, maintained and benefited from the aircraft during and after the war, and gives the public an opportunity to either tour the aircraft on the ground, or go for a ride over Missoula.

The Wings of Freedom Tour is a living history event that allows people to learn more about their heritage and history through direct participation, according to a news release.

The four aircraft visiting Missoula include a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber, a B-24 Liberator heavy bomber, a North American B-25 Mitchell, and a P-51 Mustang fighter. They will be on display at the Museum of Mountain Flying at Missoula International Airport.

According to Stan Cohen, co-founder of the Museum of Mountain Flying, the P-51 Mustang fighter has never been brought to Missoula before, and it is the gem of WWII airplanes.

Flights on the B-17 or the B-24 cost $450 per person, B-25 flights costs $400 per person, and P-51 flights cost $2,200 for a half-hour and $3,200 for a full hour. To explore the aircraft on the ground, adults pay $15 and children younger than 12 pay $5.

The Wings of Freedom Tour will be on display for ground tours from 2 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, July 5; from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 6; and 9 a.m. to noon on Friday, July 7. Thirty minute flights are usually scheduled before or after these times.

For reservations or information, contact the Collings Foundation at 800-568-8924.

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'Wings of Freedom Tour' to bring vintage aircraft to Missoula - The Missoulian

Gabe Adams was born in a Brazilian hospital more than 20 years ago without any limbs. Adam Paul Steed exposed inhumane treatment of political prisoners being held captive in Syria, saving hundreds of lives. Taj Khyber Rowland provides education and income opportunities in impoverished nations. And Raymond Beckham has chaired countless boards and projects to beautify and develop Utah Valley.

These four have done more than many may do in a lifetime. For their contribution to the liberty and well-being of others, they were honored Thursday night at the 32nd annual Freedom Awards Gala held at the Utah Valley Convention Center.

Freedoms messy. It is so messy, said Steed, one of the award recipients. Is it worth it? Yeah. Its always worth it.

The Freedom Awards are a part of the annual Americas Freedom Festival Provos city celebration that includes the Stadium of Fire, Balloon Fest and Grand Parade.

Past recipients of the award include Timothy Ballard, CEO of Operation Underground Railroad; Gail Halvorsen, the legendary Candy Bomber; and the late Boyd K. Packer, once president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Dancing usually involves a lot of footwork, some twirling and the occasional cha-cha-cha. But not so for Adams.

Adams was born in Brazil without limbs. But rather than lay around, mope and feel pitied, he worked hard and overcame his obstacles to be on his high school cheerleading team at Davis High School.

Adams has a unique zest for life and hopes to spread his cheerful disposition to others through motivational speaking.

Someone once said, Dont let what you cant do interfere with what you can, he said.

Adams has become independent in his own sense and enjoys personal freedom by overcoming what couldve been a negative aspect of his life.

I love the kind and generous people who I love and who have blessed my life in too many ways to count, more than I have on my fingers, he said jokingly.

Rowlands childhood was far from ordinary. When he was a boy, Rowland was born into poverty and struggled to keep himself and others of his family even alive.

I have early memories of scrounging through restaurant garbage for little bits of food, just trying to stay fed, Rowland said.

At a young age, Rowland was kidnapped and sold to a Christian orphanage in India. He was then adopted by Fred and Linda Rowland of Orem.

The Rowlands had no idea their new son wasnt an orphan. They worked tirelessly to find Rowlands childhood home, but to no avail.

For years, he searched for his forgotten home, remembering as many small facts of geography and unique landmarks as he could, going so far as to draw a map of what he could remember.

Years later, he and his wife, Priya, returned to India and he found the village of his childhood.

Rowland felt inspired from his reconnection with his biological family and after understanding more of the lives of impoverished communities, he and his wife founded Taprish, a nonprofit that provides educational and income opportunities to low-income communities across the world.

Freedom, to me, is probably the greatest gift Ive been given through adoption, he said. It allowed me to live a life that, otherwise, I would not have had.

If you take Beckham out of Provo, youre not left with really a lot.

Beckham has been on the boards of countless projects and councils for Utah Valley and particularly Provo. Beckham was directly involved in the building of LaVell Edwards Stadium, the Marriott Center, the BYU Museum of Art and the Provo Recreation Center, not to mention restorative projects in downtown Provo and the citys parks.

If you want to be happy, serve others, he said. I think all of us want to help the poor, to give comfort to those who are troubled. But its not enough to just want to. You have to do it.

Beckhams years of countless service and dedication to his community are an example of what he hopes to see in others.

May we always be searching for ways to serve others to take care of our communities and to volunteer, Beckham said.

Steed has provided the gift of freedom to the lives of hundreds by working hand in hand with Syrian refugees.

In September 2015, Steed, who was working at the time in Greece with Syrian refugees, learned of hundreds of political prisoners leading a revolt in a Syrian prison. He received video from the inside of the prison and published it through the European media. Steed said he knew that if Bashar al-Assad saw the unedited, raw videos, Assad would release the prisoners so as to not damage his public reputation.

This strange group of people came to them from the palace in Damascus and instead of killing these people, they came into them and were like, Hey, were your friends. Heres food and water, Steed said.

And just like that, hundreds of lives were saved from unknown fates.

But Steed isnt the only one who can save lives. He urged all in attendance to make a difference and fight for those who only want a piece of the freedoms enjoyed in America.

If I can say anything thats truly beyond measure, its that you can save these people, Steed said. You can do better than me, if that, and more.

Americas Freedom Festival continues through the weekend until July 4. A list of events can be found in our special section devoted to the festival.

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Freedom awards recognize community activists and leaders - Daily Herald

When: 5:30 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, July 4

Where: Santa Monica Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles

Admission: Free

Information: https://farhang.org.

While people gather at the inaugural L.A. Freedom Festival for a night of Persian pop, ethnic food, and Fourth of July fireworks, a new public artwork will be unveiled.

Dubbed The Freedom Sculpture, the stainless steel monument by internationally renowned Sri Lankan designer Cecil Balmond and modeled on the progressive Cyrus Cylinder of ancient Persia is a gift to the city. And like the original Cylinder, its a symbol of religious freedom, cultural diversity and inclusiveness.

Heres a message that has come down 2,500 years and landed itself on a busy thoroughfare in Los Angeles where people are going to pass it by the millions, says Balmond, speaking by phone from his home in London. Its like the message keeps on traveling.

That early declaration of human rights is represented in the large-scale contemporary artwork by a metallic gold cylinder within a silver cylinder and supported by two rings that ground it to the public transit median on historic Route 66, on Santa Monica Boulevard at Century Park East. It appears lacelike, echoing the original cuneiform script from a distance.

In the day, it shines silvery with glints of gold, and by night the golden inner cylinder is illuminated by LED lights.

To build form, you have to have a poetic sense of space, he says. I like to think that my work reflects that. Of course its subjective how you decide the visitor should see and engage with your work. If you see my artworks, go to my buildings or cross my bridges, youll see theyre never static.

The Freedom Sculpture began as an idea by the Farhang Foundation in late 2013. In 2014, it launched an art competition that attracted more than 300 submissions from around the world. The panel of jurors, which included curators from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, chose the winning design in late 2015.

Balmond is known for his large public displays.

They include the award-winning Snow Words, an abstract tower of light suspended between a skylight and a mirrored floor in the lobby of the Crime Detection Laboratory in Anchorage, Alaska, to commemorate fallen officers in 2012.

In the current divided political climate, the public artwork takes on greater meaning.

Angelenos, who comprise millions of people from different ethnicities, religions and lifestyles living together in peaceful harmony, are an embodiment of these noblest of American ideals, says Farhad Mohit, vice chairman of the Farhang Foundation, which commissioned Balmond to create the work as a gift to the city. For them, the Freedom Sculpture will become an iconic symbol of another of the unique attributes of this great city.

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LA Freedom Festival celebrates Fourth of July with symbolic new ... - LA Daily News

The Pottawattamie County Freedom Rock will be dedicated on the day that officially celebrates Americas freedoms.

The ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. Tuesday at Chautauqua Park in Oakland.

The rock is part of a statewide program to place a patriotic rock in each Iowa county. The program was started by artist Ray Bubba Sorensen II of Greenfield, and the original Freedom Rock was placed there. He has now completed 59 Freedom Rocks in Iowa, including those in Cass, Fremont, Mills, Page and Shelby counties, according to a press release from the Oakland Friday Coffee Ladies, who spearheaded efforts to have a Freedom Rock placed in Oakland.

The 82-ton rock was moved from Schildberg Rock Quarry near Macedonia to its new home in Oakland on April 13, 2015, by Scribs Moving and Heavy Hauling of David City, Nebraska. Because of Sorensens schedule, he wasnt able to start painting it until March 8, 2017. He finished painting in 10 days.

The rock which measures 13 feet long, 10 feet wide and 10 feet tall features a huge American flag on top with a bald eagle on one side, the press release stated. The other side features portraits of four deceased veterans with ties to Pottawattamie County:

Frank F. Everest, born in Council Bluffs, served as commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and commander of the Tactical Air Command. He attained the rank of general.

Arnold W. Jacobsen, born in Walnut, served as commanding officer of the Marine Corps Supply Depots during World War II. He attained the rank of major general.

John S. McCain Jr., born in Council Bluffs, served in conflicts from the 1940s through the 1970s, including as the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command. He achieved the rank of admiral in the Navy. McCain was the father of Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Brent Maher of Honey Creek served as a sergeant with the Iowa Army National Guard. He was deployed to Afghanistan on Aug. 1, 2010 and was killed by an improvised explosive device on April 11, 2011 in eastern Afghanistan.

Chautauqua Park is located at 308 U.S. Highway 6 in Oakland.

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Pott. County Freedom Rock dedication Tuesday - The Daily Nonpareil

Jose Brizuela belted a two-run homer in the eighth inning to propel the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, to their sixth series sweep of the season as they topped the River City Rascals, 5-3, on Thursdayat UC Health Stadium.

Following a dropped third strike that allowed Taylor Oldham to reach first base with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, River City (20-23) skipper Steve Brook made his second pitching change of the night, replacing reliever Jason Zgardowski (1-3) with southpaw Anthony Paesano to face Brizuela.Despite promptly falling behind 0-2, Brizuela fouled off six pitches and worked the count full before ending the twelve-pitch at-bat with a line-drive home run to right-center, putting Florence (30-12) in front by the eventual final score, 5-3.

A Jeff Kerrigan RBI-single off Freedom starter Zach Kirby in the second inning and a solo shot by Josh Silver put River City on top 2-0 entering the bottom of the fifth, where Rascals starter Tim Koons carried a perfect game. Leading off the home half of the fifth, however, Andre Mercurio broke up the perfect game with a single to right field and later came around to score on a bases-loaded walk by Ryan Rinsky, making the score 2-1.

The Freedom would tie it in the bottom of the sixth with Oldham launching his second home run of the series to knot the score at two.

In the bottom of the seventh, Florence took their first lead of the night by a score of 3-2, thanks to a go-ahead solo home run to left field by Collins Cuthrell. River City promptly tied it back up in the top of the eighth, however, when a Kerrigan single and stolen base led to an RBI-single by Josh Silver off Freedom reliever Keivan Berges (1-0).

Following the eighth-inning go-ahead blast by Brizuela, Enrique Zamora pitched a flawless ninth inning to end the night.

The Freedom will hit the road for a brief two-day road trip to Evansville, Indiana for a three-game series against the Evansville Otters. Tony Vocca (5-2) will start for Florence against Evansville right-hander Diego Ibarra (1-1), and first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Central Time at Bosse Field.

The Florence Freedom are members of the independent Frontier League and play all home games at UC Health Stadium located at 7950 Freedom Way in Florence, KY.The Freedom can be found online at FlorenceFreedom.com, or by phone at 859-594-4487.

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Freedom sweep the Rascals at UC Health Stadium; hit the road until after the All star break - User-generated content (press release) (registration)

Idaho Falls 0Updated at 10:21 am, June 29th, 2017 By: Nate Eaton, EastIdahoNews.com We Matched

The American Pyrotechnics Association named the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration as one of the top five must-see fireworks displays in the country. | File photo

IDAHO FALLS The American Pyrotechnics Association (APA) has named the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration as one of the top five must-see Independence Day fireworks displays in America.

The list, released Wednesday, includes recommendations for the most avid of fireworks fans to consider this 4th of July. The Melaleuca Freedom Celebration is the only display in the western United States to make the list.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LIST OF THE APA MUST-SEE INDEPENDENCE DAY FIREWORKS DISPLAYS

Every year were looking for something new and different that is spectacular and draws a large crowd of spectators, said Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. The size of the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration and the location really jumped out to us. Its one of those shows thats worth making the jaunt to see.

The APA estimates more than 16,000 fireworks displays will commemorate Americas 241st birthday nationwide next Tuesday. The Melaleuca Freedom Celebration, being held at Snake River Landing for the first time, is expected to draw more than 100,000 spectators from all over the world.

The fact that the show is going to be enhanced this year makes it extra special, Heckman said.

RELATED | MELALEUCA PROMISES BIGGEST FIREWORKS SHOW EVER: YOU HAVENT SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS

Twenty thousand firework shells totaling 17,000 pounds of explosives will be shot into the air during the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration, according to Melaleuca CEO Frank VanderSloot.

This year were more than doubling the size of the show, VanderSloot said. The fireworks used to be brought in on one 40-foot trailer. This year two 53-foot trucks are needed to bring them all in. Its an enormous amount of firepower.

WATCH: MELALEUCA CEO FRANK VANDERSLOOT DESCRIBES THE MASSIVE FIREWORKS DISPLAY

The 31 minute production is being produced by Western Display Fireworks. The same firing system used during the Winter Olympics will shoot off the explosives synchronized to 1/100th of a second to match patriotic music.

Were bringing in a special pyrotechnician from Frankfurt, Germany to shoot this off, VanderSloot said. He does fireworks competitions all over the world and is the best and the biggest.

The fireworks will be placed on a launchpad 40 times larger than previous years. The platform is one and a half times the length of a football field and the space will be utilized to accommodate the massive number of shells.

Its like going from a 10 inch screen to a 100 inch screen in your living room, VanderSloot said. Were going to paint the entire sky the lower section, the middle section and, for the first time, the higher section. Youre not going to want to miss this show.

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Melaleuca Freedom Celebration named one of the top must-see fireworks displays in America - East Idaho News

By Jim Campbell By Jim Campbell June 28 at 1:05 PM

Jim Campbell is senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Masterpiece Cakeshop in the Supreme Court case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

Should an artist who serves all people be able to decline to create art for an event that conflicts with his deepest convictions? That question much debated in recent years seemed destined to reach the Supreme Court. And on Monday, in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, it finally did.

The owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, Jack Phillips, is a cake artist who creates custom works of edible art for special occasions such as weddings and birthdays. He serves everyone, no matter their race, sex, religion or sexual orientation. But he cannot create art for events that conflict with his faith. For years, that practice caused no disturbances. But when a couple asked Phillips to create a cake for a same-sex wedding, things got dicey.

He told the requesting couple that he would gladly sell them anything in his store, but designing a custom cake to celebrate a same-sex marriage was not something he could do. Phillips was compelled to decline that request because of his religious conviction that marriage is a husband-wife union a belief that just two years ago the Supreme Court said is decent and honorable and held in good faith by reasonable and sincere people.

The Colorado Civil Rights Commission determined that Phillipss decision to live by his conscience was unlawful and ordered him to re-educate his staff on the states anti-discrimination law, meaning he must create wedding cakes for same-sex weddings if he creates wedding cakes at all. The commission did this while simultaneously concluding that three other bakers were within their rights when they declined to create cakes bearing biblical messages they found offensive. That anti-religious bias is reason enough for the Supreme Court to reverse the commissions decision to punish Phillips.

But there is far more on the line than one cake artists freedom. At stake is whether the government can conscript artists to ply their expressive talents for events or ideas that they do not support.

If Phillips loses, the rights of all artists will suffer. Under that scenario, the government could compel a lesbian artist to design fliers for a religious event opposing same-sex marriage or a black woodworker to craft a cross for a Ku Klux Klan rally. Almost no one wants to live in a world like that, and thanks to the First Amendment, we dont have to.

Those who oppose Phillips argue that the interests of same-sex couples seeking artists should outweigh his freedom. This argument, however, misperceives the competing interests.

On Phillipss side of the scale is the future of his wedding-cake business and his very livelihood. If Phillips cant create cakes to celebrate same-sex weddings, the government insists, he cant make wedding cakes at all. So a loss in his case means the loss of a fulfilling part of Phillipss work that accounts for roughly 40 percent of his income, a hit thatll risk sinking his business.

Of course, the same-sex couple has an interest in obtaining custom art from businesses. But there is no shortage of cake artists willing to help celebrate same-sex marriages in Denvers suburbs. That a same-sex couple must go to another shop cannot override Phillipss freedom.

Same-sex couples raise another interest: avoiding the frustration and dignity harm that they feel when an artist declines their request. But someones offense at anothers exercise of his artistic and religious freedom is not a reason to suppress it. On the contrary, as the Supreme Court has explained, the First Amendment exists to shield artistic, expressive and religious choices that in someones eyes are hurtful.

In addition, same-sex couples dont have the market cornered on dignity harms. If the law deems Phillipss beliefs odious and unfit for public life which is precisely what a ruling against him would do that would demean not only him but also millions of Catholics, Protestants, Mormons, Jews and Muslims who hold similar beliefs.

Some folks nevertheless insist that Phillips is like the racist business owners in the Jim Crow South and must suffer the same fate. This is simply not true. Jim Crow involved the systematic exclusion of black Americans from public life. Countless businesses flatly refused to serve a class of people. But that is not remotely true of Phillips or others like him. He will gladly serve people who identify as gay or lesbian; it is only custom orders for certain wedding cakes that he must decline. Phillips is not deserving of the social margins where racists now reside.

In this hotly contested struggle between artistic freedom and government coercion, it is impossible to predict the outcome. But because to paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr. the arc of the universe bends toward human freedom, Phillips should feel pretty good about his chances.

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The Supreme Court puts a baker's business and artistic freedom on the line - Washington Post

If the Trump administration and the Trumpist movement represent anything, it is the destruction of establishmentarian sacred cows. Already, the spirit of populist iconoclasm the President embodies has left globalist false idols scattered like tombstones up and down the Acela Corridor. Some of the casualties are obvious, such as the presumption that the administrative state is made up of disinterested experts, rather than ideologically motivated sleeper agents. Some of the losers from the Trumpist Zeitgeist are equally obvious: mainstream media outlets and the tech industry.

However, what seems to occur to few people is that the fall from grace that such ideas and institutions are suffering is not only of their own making, but all traceable back to the same cause. Namely, the shift of such institutions from attempting to promote freedom to attempting to constrict it. In other words, groups that were originally designed and trusted to make the world bigger have instead begun systematically trying to make it smaller. They have gone from battering rams to gatekeepers.

Take the mainstream media. While conservatives correctly bemoan the liberal bias that infects the landmark publications and TV networks, and has infected them all the way back to the Vietnam War, it is easy to forget a simple fact about that anti-Vietnam coverage: It was the first time the medias reporting was not subjected to official censure by the military. No doubt this led to anti-American bias that distorted the story, but for Americans watching, the idea of a media that was critical of the government line no doubt seemed like an advancement for freedom to access information and freedom to be skeptical of government policy.

Flash forward to today, though, and it is obvious that the media has gone from being uncensored truth-tellers to censors themselves. From the cyberbullying, SJW left morality policy approach of sites like the defunct Gawker and Vice, to the arrogant agonizing by media figures over their supposed ability to control what people think, to the overwhelming and unprecedented hostility toward the president that even the most seemingly respected media falls prey to, it is very clear that giving the public greater freedom to make informed decisions has ceased to be a media objective. Rather, out of fear that those informed decisions will not meet the partisan standards of the reporters themselves, they seek a full-on pre-Vietnam role reversal: now the political and military actions approved by the American people must pass muster with them to be legitimate. Americans, who have never much liked being told what they must believe or what they must do, have rightly rebelled.

But while the mainstream medias behavior is egregious, it is also fair to say that they are rapidly becoming a marginal player in the information marketplace. More sinister and influential is the rapidly growing tech industry, and in particular the social media wing of that industry. But here, too, we are observing a corruption of organizations that previously offered freedom. In its early days, Google gave Americans the extraordinary power to find new information and new perspectives, YouTube provided a fertile and untamed Wild West-style playground for creative minds to make a living, and sites like Facebook and Twitter offered the ability to connect and speak to both friends and strangers from all around the world.

To say that this is not the case anymore is a gross understatement. Now, Google openly admits to viewing conservative viewpoints as contrary to science, and acts as if its blatantly partisan policy preferences are somehow apolitical good sense because they can find a few pet Republicans to agree to them. This is reflected in their search results, which now exclude disfavored viewpoints, and their stewardship of YouTube, which now strips money and possibly even subscribers from its users, sometimes for such minor crimes as simply telling off-color jokes that offend the humorless sensibilities of corporate HR departments. Facebook and Twitter, meanwhile, liberally (pun intended) shadowban or outright shut down the accounts of users who do nothing but express distasteful opinions, or call them out on censorship. Facebook has even arrogated to itself the right to decide what does and does not count as fake news using standards insourced from left-wing donors, despite having previously landed in hot water for acting too much like a newsroom and less like a neutral platform.

In short, Silicon Valley fears the freedom that it created and seeks to curtail it, despite the fact that the only thing that gave their business models life was the perception that they were building a world where both people and information could be free.

So far, an emerging rebellion from consumers, in tandem with tougher scrutiny of their practices, is not working out for the mainstream media, or the tech companies. The first is shedding trust and likely will shed viewers in the future. The second is facing an emboldened raft of competitors that actively market their political neutrality and commitment to freedom of speech and information. The gatekeepers have had their gates blasted off their hinges and now are watching their Towers of Babble being sacked.

Good riddance.

Mytheos Holt is the Senior Fellow in Freedom to Innovate at the Institute for Liberty, and a former speechwriter for US Senator John Barrasso (R-WY).

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The Media and Silicon Valley Fear the Freedom They Created - The American Conservative

Did you know that just telling union members about their rights under federal law can bring misery down on your head?

Just ask the Freedom Foundation, a state think tank based in Olympia, Wash., which has recently suffered outrageously aggressive legal harassment from the Service Employees International Union.

The SEIU has ginned up three separate lawsuits against the Freedom Foundation and also persuaded the state's attorney general to sue the think tank. At issue: the Freedom Foundation's effort to talk to more than 50,000 people dragooned into becoming SEIU members about their legal right to opt out.

These particular members ended up owing dues to the SEIU because of a dodgy scam the union pulled off with the help of friendly politicians to skim from the benefits paid out to indigent home care patients. The "members" in question didn't ask to join the SEIU; they're simply Washingtonians who receive state Medicaid payments to care for disabled loved ones an ailing parent, say, or a handicapped child, who would otherwise require more expensive institutional care.

As has happened in several other Democrat-controlled states, the union got the governor to invent a shell corporation that supposedly "employs" persons receiving such Medicaid payments. Then, the state had a mail-in "election" on unionization of these home care workers, in which very few benefit-recipients even realized what was happening.

Finally, even though very few people receiving mail-in ballots ever voted, the state declared that the union had won the election and made every payment-recipient an SEIU member. It also began automatically deducting union dues from their Medicaid benefits. Many unlucky "members" knew nothing about what was going on until they saw their payments shrink.

The Freedom Foundation estimates the state SEIU skims something like $25 million a year through this scheme. The same outrage occurs in other states, and the injustice led the U.S. Supreme Court (in its 2014 decision Harris v. Quinn) to hold that individual home care providers in this situation cannot be forced to join or pay a union. "The First Amendment," the court declared, "prohibits the collection of an agency fee from the plaintiffs in the case, home healthcare providers who do not wish to join or support a union."

Home care workers may have won in court, but not many of them were aware of their rights. So, the Freedom Foundation launched an outreach program that employed dozens of paid canvassers going door to door to inform Medicaid providers of their right to opt out of joining and paying the SEIU.

The SEIU hasn't taken kindly to this. Last September, the union and its affiliates filed three lawsuits against the Freedom Foundation. They even hired three separate law firms for the barrage of suits, inundating the foundation with intimidating subpoenas, depositions and discovery demands. The SEIU even convinced Washington State attorney general Bob Ferguson to file lawsuits against the Foundation.

In SEIU 775 v. Elbandagji, the union alleges the Freedom Foundation committed a "civil conspiracy" by inducing a former SEIU employee to give a partial list of SEIU-represented home healthcare workers to the Foundation.

The Freedom Foundation filed a counterclaim against the SEIU for "abuse of process" in the SEIU 775 v. Elbandagji case. A rare "special discovery master" has been appointed in the matter, which remains at a trial court in King County. As part of the discovery process, the Foundation requested documents showing how the SEIU handled information about its members, among other things.

The union refused, but on June 16, the discovery master retired state Judge George A. Finkle demanded that SEIU respond to the Foundation's requests by June 30.

In his order, Finkle declared, "I do not find that SEIU has demonstrated that the Freedom Foundation has wrongfully communicated with SEIU members or used SEIU's confidential information to harass SEIU members or employees. The Freedom Foundation is entitled to contact SEIU members, and prior restraint of its efforts to do so is impermissible." Finkle then cited the Supreme Court's Harris case.

Finkle's order is one small victory in the larger fight for workers' freedoms across America. But it's no small victory if you're one of the Washingtonians who provides in-home health care to a disabled loved one, and a union is trying to skim from that loved one's benefit payments without their permission or yours.

Finally, this decision just may yield some very interesting discoveries about how unions plot to deny their own members' rights.

If you would like to write an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, please read our guidelines on submissions.

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Workers' freedom scores a small victory in Washington state - Washington Examiner

Ai created his Lego portraits while under house arrest, so getting the materials he needed was tricky. A friend ended up making multiple trips from the U.S. with suitcases full of Legos. Beck Harlan/NPR hide caption

Ai created his Lego portraits while under house arrest, so getting the materials he needed was tricky. A friend ended up making multiple trips from the U.S. with suitcases full of Legos.

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has had several confrontations with Chinese authorities. (He was once beaten so badly by police that he had to have brain surgery.) Through it all, Ai continued to make art, and his art continued to travel the world, sometimes without him.

That's what happened with Trace, a series of Lego portraits Ai created while under house arrest. The artworks, which depict activists and political prisoners from around the world, were first shown at the former prison on San Francisco's Alcatraz Island in 2014, and nearly a million people saw them there. But at the time, Ai was still under house arrest and couldn't travel to the exhibition.

Now, the artist has his passport back, and he was able to attend a new show of those portraits which opens Wednesday at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. NPR was there for his first look at Trace in a gallery setting:

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'They Love Freedom': Ai Weiwei On His Lego Portraits Of Fellow ... - NPR

President Trump made good on a major campaign promise Tuesday, as the Environmental Protection Agency announced the beginning of a process that will roll back the Waters of the United States rule, a move that has champions of private-property rights cheering loudly.

On Tuesday, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt made the policy shift official.

We are taking significant action to return power to the states and provide regulatory certainty to our nations farmers and businesses, said Pruitt in a statement.

This is the first step in the two-step process to redefine waters of the U.S., and we are committed to moving through this re-evaluation to quickly provide regulatory certainty in a way that is thoughtful, transparent and collaborative with other agencies and the public, he added.

Its a big day for freedom, for property rights and the Constitution, said Robert J. Smith, a senior fellow in environmental policy at the National Center for Public Policy Research.

Smith said the Waters of the United States rule, or WOTUS, which was put forward during the Obama administration, was nothing more than gross distortion of what Congress intended for the EPA to regulate as part of the Clean Water Act.

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The act specifically allowed government to regulate navigable waterways, which Smith said was well understood to mean bodies of water on which commerce traveled through shipping. But he said the government, nevertheless, expanded itsauthority.

Navigable waters kept getting stretched by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers year after year, Smith explained. First, it would go to tributary streams. Then, it would go to smaller streams. Then, it would go to creeks, and it would go to irrigation ditches, things that nothing could navigate.

It didnt stop there.

Then it began to control the lands that were adjacent to navigable waters and lands that were adjacent to things that ran into navigable waters, he said.

By vastly expanding this, theyve reached a point now where something that was only supposed to protect major rivers to see that commerce could take place in America now controls whether a farmer can plow his own land, Smith said.

Listen to the WND/Radio America interview with Robert J. Smith:

And that creeping government control forces property owners to beg Uncle Sam to use their own property.

It takes an endless amount of time, years of time, money and still uncertainty to try to get a permit to use your own land. Anything that rain falls on now could technically be considered waters of the United States, said Smith, noting that building a home on seemingly dry land on onesown property could lead to millions of dollars in government fines.

The rescinding of WOTUS is not the end of the story. Pruitts announcement triggers a 30-day comment period, which will be considered in revising the existing rule.

EPA and the corps together will come up with a revised rule, hopefully a rule that protects property rights and puts the EPA and the corps back into the constitutional mode theyre supposed to be in, Smith said.

He also wants Congress to make sure the EPA can never stretch the definition of navigable waters ever again.

The United States Congress needs to go back and revisit the Clean Water Act of 1972 and amend it so that it unequivocally says that navigable means navigable and it means by commercial shipping, not by somebody in a motor boat, not by somebody in a canoe or a kayak or a rubber raft or even floating down a little tiny creek in a tube, he said.

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'Big day for freedom': Trump to trash Obama's outrageous water rule - WND.com

WASHINGTON As Senate GOP leadership tries to bring conservatives on board with their health care bill, House conservatives are working to reinforce the far rights negotiating position, signaling they wont support the Senate legislation without changes.

Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) told reporters Monday night and Tuesday morning that there would not be enough votes in either chamber to pass the Senate legislation without significant amendments.

This bill, in its current form, would lose significant conservative votes, which would make it almost impossible to pass, Meadows said late Monday.

By Tuesday morning, Meadows pointed to two amendments from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that if adopted, would go a long ways to make us get where we need to be in the House and the Senate.

The first amendment would allow insurers to offer plans that dont comply with Obamacare regulations like the mandate that plans include 10 essential health benefits, or that insurers not charge people with pre-existing conditions more as long as insurers offered at least one plan that did comply with the Affordable Care Act regulations.

The effect of that amendment would be healthier people signing up for those noncompliant plans, bringing down the cost for them (perhaps for skimpier coverage) but driving up the costs for sick people. In effect, an insurer could offer unreasonably priced plans for people with pre-existing conditions and then make their money by selling plans with limited coverage to healthier people. The amendment would also likely have the effect of bringing much higher prices to women seeking coverage with maternity care. The Congressional Budget Office projected in the House health care bill that maternity care would be sold as a rider policy and would cost women more than $1,000 a month, in addition to whatever other health care plan they selected.

The other amendment would expand Health Savings Accounts, which are tax-free accounts meant to help people pay high deductibles, expensive medical treatment and costs not covered by medical insurance, such as dental and vision care. The idea, popular among conservatives, is to introduce some market forces into health care and make people more cost-conscious.

NurPhoto via Getty Images

Meadows and other conservatives arent happy with the Senate bill. It undid some of the major changes they demanded, particularly allowing states to opt out of regulations that ensure that sick people are not charged more than healthy people.

Meadows had previously quietly signaled that he and most other conservatives in the Freedom Caucus would accept what came out of the Senate. They still might, should Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) miraculously be able to move the bill without changes. But Meadowsnew position reflects a reality that McConnell doesnt have the votes at the moment, and changes are expected.

Conservatives are angling to make sure that the changes McConnell makes appease them rather than moderates, and Meadows new posturing might just help conservatives make the case that their direction is ultimately the only one that works.

Meadows and other conservatives could set up an irreconcilable disagreement between the House and Senate, particularly if they insist on undermining those pre-existing conditions protections and McConnell insists on keeping them.

That all assumes McConnell can get the bill out of the Senateand doesnt make the changes that conservatives want. For now, conservatives in both chambers are watching to see what amendments McConnell makes to the bill.

McConnell met with Cruz on Tuesday morning, but both sides were cagey about what progress they had made. Prior to that meeting, McConnell and other Senate GOP leaders had avoided negotiating with conservatives like Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Meadows called that position troubling.

If there are no discussions going on now, that means there will be no amendments, he said. And if there are no amendments, that means there will not be the votes there to pass it in the Senate or the House.

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Freedom Caucus Chair: House Conservatives Would Reject Current Senate Health Care Bill - HuffPost

A civil rights historical marker remembers black teenager Emmett Till, who was kidnapped before being lynched in 1955. Allan Hammons, whose public relations firm made the marker, said Monday that someone scratched the marker with a blunt tool.Allan HammonsAP

A historical marker for Emmett Till on the Mississippi Freedom Trail has been vandalized.

The sign, located outside the grocery store where 14-year-old black teenager Till was accused of whistling at a white woman in 1955, is missing vinyl panels that contained photos and words about him. In May, someone scratched the marker with a blunt tool, according to Allan Hammons, whose public relations firm created the marker.

"Who knows what motivates people to do this?" Hammons told the Associated Press. "Vandals have been around since the beginning of time." Hammons said the marker on the Freedom Trail cost more than $8,000 and repairs will amount to about $500.

Till was kidnapped, tortured and killed by two white men after 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant said he whistled at her. His brutal murder, and the later acquittal of the defendants by an all-white jury, set the Civil Rights movement in motion.

The AP reports that a second marker for Till, near the area where his body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, was shot multiple times.

In January, Bryant, who remarried to become Carolyn Bryant Donham, told Vanity Fair that she had fabricated her testimony against Till.

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An Emmett Till Marker on the Mississippi Freedom Trail Was Vandalized - TIME

Mary Hansen Staff Writer @maryfhansen

Right of conscience could be one topic at a rally focusing on religious freedoms that's planned for noon Wednesday in the Capitol rotunda.

It's being organized by the Catholic Diocese of Springfield, and Bishop Thomas John Paprocki is planning to attend.

Some Catholics are concerned about their right of conscience, particularly for physicians and other medical professionals who object to abortions, said Donna Moore, the diocese's director for pro-life activities and special ministries.

"We just want to bring it to people's attention that religious liberties are being attacked and that we need to speak out and make sure our religious liberties are kept intact," Moore said.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of a baker who is challenging a Colorado law that says he was wrong to have turned away a same-sex couple who wanted a cake to celebrate their 2012 wedding.Twenty-two states, including Illinois, include sexual orientation in laws that bar discrimination in public accommodations.

Hillary Byrnes, an attorney with the United State Conference of Catholic Bishops, will speak at Wednesday's "Rock the Rotunda" event, along with Paprocki, who has recently been criticized for a decree he issued this month that denies gays and lesbians in same-sex marriages from receiving communion or a church burial.

Effingham-based musician Michael James Mette will perform.

The rally is part of the nationwide "Fortnight for Freedom" that Paprocki and the local diocese were involved in establishing.

The annual rally has been held in front of the Statehouse, but organizers opted to move it inside this year to protect people from the heat. The rally drew about 100 people last year, according to Moore.

-- Contact Mary Hansen: 788-1528, mary.hansen@sj-r.com, twitter.com/maryfhansen.

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Rally planned at Capitol to defend religious freedom - The State Journal-Register

The first-place Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, return home to UC Health Stadium this Tuesday through Thursday for the final home games before the mid-July All-Star break.

The Freedom sit at 27-12 overall after finishing a 5-1 road trip, including a sweep of the Gateway Grizzlies in the teams most recent series. The Freedom sit up top of the Frontier League West Division by 5.5 games over the Evansville Otters.

This week, the River City Rascals (19-20) come to town on Tuesday before the team heads on the road from June 30 July 9.

Games this week are all 7:05 p.m. starts. Tuesday and Wednesday nights games will highlight youth baseball in the area with the NKB players being recognized on the field. Thirsty Thursday also returns this week, with $1 12-ounce cans of beer and $4 20-ounce crafts.

Check out a Florence Freedom game this weekend by visiting FlorenceFreedom.com. Freedom games are fun for the whole family and offer up-close seating, free parking and affordable concessions.

The Florence Freedom are members of the independent Frontier League and play all home games at UC Health Stadium located at 7950 Freedom Way in Florence, KY.The Freedom can be found online at FlorenceFreedom.com, or by phone at 859-594-4487.

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Freedom return to UC Health Stadium for three-game series tonight; last home games before All Star break - User-generated content (press release)...

Earlier this year, student journalists at a Kansas high school decided to write a profile about their newly hired principal. As they researched the principals background, they began unearthing questions about her credentials. They found that she had received masters and doctoral degrees from a school, Corllins University, that was not currently accredited and that had been portrayed in articles as a diploma mill. Four days after article ran in The Booster Redux, the principal resigned.

That story earned the students widespread praise and national news coverage. But it probably would never have seen the light of day if Kansas hadnt had a student press-freedom law, said Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center in Washington, D.C. They had the courage to go forward because the law protected their backs, he said.

This spring Vermont and Nevada became the 11th and 12th states to pass a student press-freedom law. And now, as the General Assembly nears the end of this years legislative session, Rhode Island has the chance to become the 13th.

From this section: Colchester man facing DUI, drug charges after Stonington bucket truck crash

State Sen. Gayle L. Goldin, D-Providence, said the Booster Redux scoop bolsters the case for her bill, the Student Journalists Freedom of Expression Act (SB 0600). What it shows you is the value of having the freedom for students to do that kind of investigative journalism, she said. They were able to bring accountability to their school and to the whole school system, and on top of that, it was an incredible educational experience for them.

State Rep. Jeremiah T. OGrady, D-Lincoln, has introduced a similar bill (HBill 5550), which extends protection to college journalists as well as the high school journalists protected by Goldins bill.

Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, said, Student journalism is perhaps the greatest civics lesson we can teach in our schools. By allowing students to write about whats important to them, we are sending the message that what they say matters and needs to be heard. This is empowering not just for them but for the entire community that needs to know what happening in our schools and to have the opportunity to do something about it. These student journalists arent just our future watchdogs. They are our eyes and ears right now.

LoMonte had a simple message for Rhode Island officials: I would tell them that journalism is not a problem for schools, its a solution.

With the advent of social media, it is futile for schools to try to stop students from learning about and having conversations about controversial topics, LoMonte said. You cant hold back the flood of information, he said. Its much better to manage it in a journalistically responsible way.

LoMonte said he has heard of no organized opposition to the legislation in Rhode Island. The only thing is hallway chatter that high school students are too young to be trusted with press freedom, he said. My answer to that is: Read the bill. Its filled with safeguards.

The legislation would not authorize or protect expression by a student that is libelous or slanderous or that incites students as to create a clear and present danger of the commission of an unlawful act or the violation of school district policy.

But the legislation would protect student journalists, and their advisers, from retaliation and censorship.

Mike Donoghue, executive director of the Vermont Press Association, said Vermont legislators heard from student journalists about pushback they received from school officials when writing about controversies such as an impasse in teacher negotiations, sexting, and a school bond. Students should be free to report on them, he said.

In its 1988 Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of a public high school in St. Louis, Mo., to censor student newspaper stories about teen pregnancy and the effects of divorce on children. States such as Massachusetts reacted to the Hazelwood ruling by passing press-freedom acts. Rhode Island should join this effort by providing student journalists with protection.

Edward Fitzpatrick, director of media and public relations at Roger Williams University, is a former Providence Journal columnist.

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Editorial: Rhode Island should enact law to protect student press ... - The Westerly Sun

While there are many threats to religious liberty, few are more consequential over the long term than the states ever-expanding role in private life. If the government is able to vacuum up tax dollars, create programs large and small for public benefit, and then exclude religious individuals or institutions from those programs, it has functionally created two tiers of citizenship. Secular individuals and institutions enjoy full access to the government they fund, while religious individuals and institutions find themselves funding a government that overtly discriminates against them.

Thats the issue the Supreme Court addressed today in Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer. By a 72 margin, the Court held that when a state creates a neutral program for public benefit in this case a program that uses scrap tires to provide rubberized safety flooring for playgrounds it cant exclude a church from that program, even if that means state benefits flow directly to a house of worship. Justice Roberts, writing for the majority, was emphatic:

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has not subjected anyone to chains or torture on account of religion. And the result of the States policy is nothing so dramatic as the denial of political office. The consequence is, in all likelihood, a few extra scraped knees. But the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same, and cannot stand.

The Courts holding secured by my friends and former colleagues at the Alliance Defending Freedom is significant for two reasons. First, it places another brick in a wall of precedent that stands for the proposition that once the state creates a neutral program one designed neither to advance nor to inhibit religious practice it cant exclude citizens or institutions from that program merely because theyre religious. Under these precedents, churches are able to worship in government buildings, religious student groups may access student activity fees to fund their campus outreach, parents may send their children to religious schools with publicly funded vouchers, and hosts of religious organizations may participate in public/private partnerships to serve our nations poorest and most vulnerable citizens. So entrenched is this precedent that it would have been a legal earthquake had the Court ruled against the church.

Second, seven of the nine justices concurred in the result of the case. This means that the principle of religious nondiscrimination in public programs has broad judicial support. Indeed, in recent years the Court has decided a number of significant religious-freedom cases unanimously or with overwhelming majorities. Yes, the Hobby Lobby case was a classically contentious 54 ruling, but other significant cases (such as Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC which kept the government out of significant church-hiring decisions and Little Sisters of the Poor) achieved consensus.

Constitutional doctrine is usually created not by a judicial grand slam but rather through a long series of singles, stolen bases, and walks. Even the biggest cases rarely come out of nowhere but are rather forecast through other, smaller decisions. This case represents judicial progress a sharp single into center field and is well worth celebrating.

There are, however, storm clouds on the horizon. Justice Sotomayor wrote a sharply worded dissent (Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined) claiming that the Courts decision profoundly changes the relationship between church and state by holding, for the first time, that the Constitution requires the government to provide public funds directly to a church. But this is overwrought. Again, given existing precedent, the profound change would have been a ruling against the church. The Court would have sanctioned outright anti-religious discrimination in areas as benign as tire-recycling and playground-resurfacing. That would have pushed Establishment Clause jurisprudence back from its trending neutrality to the outright anti-religious hostility of the most far-left judicial activists.

Moreover, the case created consensus in part because it didnt touch on the hot-button cultural conflict between religious freedom and the sexual revolution. Just before the Supreme Court announced its ruling in Trinity Lutheran, it also announced that it would hear a Christian bakers appeal in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, a case that could determine whether the state can compel citizens to lend their artistic talents to celebrate events they consider to be immoral. In this case, the question is whether a Christian baker can be required to help celebrate a gay wedding. It would be surprising indeed to see anything other than a 54 decision in that case, with Justice Kennedy likely providing the swing vote.

But thats tomorrow concern. Today was a good day for religious liberty. Seven of nine justices took a hard look at a government program that explicitly discriminated on the basis of religion and rejected it out of hand. Todays message was clear. People of faith arent second-class citizens, and their churches are entitled to equal treatment under the law.

READ MORE: In Trinity Lutheran, One Question Exposed Missouris Historical Hostility to Religion Do Safer Playgrounds Advance Religion? Editorial: TrumpsHalf Measure on Religious Liberty

David French is a senior writer for National Review, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, and an attorney.

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The Supreme Court's Religious-Freedom Message: There Are No Second-Class Citizens - National Review

By Foo Yun Chee and Ben Hirschler | BRUSSELS/LONDON

BRUSSELS/LONDON The first ever EU antitrust probe into excessive drug pricing is taking the European pharmaceuticals industry into uncharted territory, unnerving some companies and lawyers worried about the reach of market intervention.

It comes as drugmakers face global pressure over the high cost of prescription medicines, with particular anger focused on makers of older generic products who exploit limited competition to force through big price rises.

The European Commission's move last month to investigate if Aspen Pharmacare made "unjustified" hikes of up to several hundred percent in the cost of five old cancer drugs puts the EU executive in the vanguard of such enforcement.

In the past, the Commission has acted on specific market abuses, such as agreements between manufacturers of branded drugs and generics firms to delay the entry of cheaper copies.

The latest broad charge of excessive pricing, also described by Brussels as "price gouging", potentially sets a precedent for more direct action, especially if officials rely on a formula for what is a reasonable or justified profit margin.

"It's a huge threat to the industry and companies should be watching this closely," said Gianni De Stefano at law firm Hogan Lovells.

"Normally, in Europe, drug companies just have to negotiate with a national regulator on pricing. Now there is the prospect of additional European-level oversight and that is scary for the industry."

South Africa-based Aspen, which says it is committed to fair and open competition, could be fined up to 10 percent of its global turnover, or some $290 million, if found guilty by EU antitrust regulators.

Adrian van den Hoven, director general of the Medicines for Europe industry group representing generic drugmakers, is worried about the implications of the EU probe, while stressing he in no way condones any anti-competitive behavior.

"The investigation may be needed to stop bad behavior," he told Reuters. "However, this should not lead to a set of fixed principles that are not adapted to different situations, which then creates additional risks and which could increase the pressure on companies to withdraw important older medicines that patients need."

"UNFAIR" PRICES

EU law bans "unfair" prices, and the Aspen case follows controversy over U.S. market price hikes by the likes of Valeant and Turing Pharmaceuticals, previously headed by Martin Shkreli.

Shkreli, now on trial for fraud, was pilloried in 2015 for increasing the cost of an anti-parasitic medicine by more than 5,000 percent.

Maarten Meulenbelt, partner at law firm Sidley Austin, said the European Commission might be trying to fire a warning shot to make drug firms more cautious, rather than wanting to extend its remit into price regulation.

There certainly appear to be grounds for concern. A study by British academics in January found European prices for several off-patent cancer drugs had risen by more than 100 percent in the past five years.

National authorities have also been taking a more aggressive stance, with Italy's competition authorities fining Aspen $5.5 million last year over its cancer drugs and British regulators imposing a record fine of $107 million on Pfizer for steep price increases for an old epilepsy medicine.

But Miguel de la Mano, a former European Commission competition economist who now works at consultancy Compass Lexecon, said price increases even of several multiples were not necessarily evidence of market abuse.

"The Commission should proceed with extreme caution," he said.

The focus on excessive pricing comes at a time when there are also concerns about occasional shortages of some hospital drugs, due to production problems, unexpected spikes in demand and a limited number of suppliers.

The Aspen case centers on five drugs used in hospitals that are no longer protected by patents, which the firm originally acquired from GlaxoSmithKline.

Some lawyers believe the same principles could in future be applied to patented drugs, although Fiona Carlin, partner at Baker McKenzie, doubts the Aspen probe signals more intervention on innovative medicines, since officials will not want to take action that could undermine innovation incentives.

Any move to analyze a medicine's price based on cost plus a margin would go against the grain of the industry's drive to tie drug prices to clinical value - a key message for companies in the face of public disquiet about their marketing strategies.

(Editing by Adrian Croft)

CHICAGO A study testing the value of DNA sequencing as part of routine medical care showed that roughly one in five people carried a mutation linked with rare disease, but few actually benefited from that information, researchers reported on Monday.

WASHINGTON Twenty-two million Americans would lose their health insurance coverage over the next decade under draft legislation unveiled by Senate Republicans last week, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said on Monday.

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EU tests limits of drug pricing freedom in landmark probe - Reuters