ABroward Countyman who admitted he fed more than $20 million toScott Rothstein'smassive Ponzi scheme had his prison term reduced last weekat the request of prosecutors.

Frank Prev, 73, of Coral Springs, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in 2014.

Senior U.S. District Judge James Cohn agreed on Friday to cut Prev's federal prison term from 3 1/2 years to two years and two months. Federal prosecutors recommended the sentence reduction because of information and help Prev provided in related prosecutions in Pennsylvania.

In a related matter, former Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm partner Stuart Rosenfeldt, 61, of Boca Raton, is serving the last few months of his federal prison sentence at a halfway house in South Florida, prison records show. He was moved from the federal prison camp at MaxwellAir Force Base in Alabamato South Florida to begin his transition back to freedom, prison officials said.

Rosenfeldt was a partner in the now-defunct Fort Lauderdale law firm, which was the center of operations for the $1.4 billion Ponzi scheme orchestrated byRothstein. Rothsteinis serving a 50-year prison sentence for his crimes.

Rosenfeldt, who pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiringto commit campaign finance fraud, to defraud the United States, to commit bank fraud and to deny civil rights, surrendered to prison in early 2015. He will be placed onprobation for two years after he is released from the halfway house.

Prev, who worked with a hedge fund group, fed more than $20 million from investors into the fraud in the four months before it collapsed in 2009.

Prev was initiallysentenced to 3 1/2 years in federal prison in February 2015 but was allowed to remain free on bond because of poor health and so he could testify in one of the related cases, according to court records.

Prosecutors said he didn't know it was a Ponzi scheme but failed to report obvious red flags to investors, including that Rothstein skipped making payments, paperwork was missing and the underlying deals couldn't be verified.

Prev was also credited with helping authorities to investigatethe Rothstein fraud.

Prev, who served in the military and worked in a CIA cryptology station in the 1960s, was once a successful bank president in South Florida. Prosecutors said he was paid about $4 million linked to the Rothstein fraud.

pmcmahon@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4533 or Twitter @SentinelPaula

The rest is here:

Rothstein ally gets punishment cut; ex-partner Rosenfeldt nears freedom - Sun Sentinel

New York Times

Rhiannon Giddens Celebrates 'Freedom Highway' in the Big House ... New York Times The folk singer accompanied the release of a new album with a workshop for convicts and a show at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, N.Y.. Rhiannon Giddens channels 'voices that need to be heard' on ...Los Angeles Times Rhiannon Giddens's Second Solo Album, "Freedom Highway," Out NowNonesuch Records Rhiannon Giddens: Freedom Highway review powerful and timelyThe Guardian Washington Post -The Times (subscription) -American Songwriter all 26 news articles »

Here is the original post:

Rhiannon Giddens Celebrates 'Freedom Highway' in the Big House ... - New York Times

NEW DELHI: Hours after Delhi University student and daughter of a martyr Gurmehar Kaur announced her withdrawal from the anti-ABVP campaign, minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said she was free to say and do what she wants and should be left alone as per her wish.

Rijiju also hit back at those criticising him for asking who was polluting Gurmehar's mind, saying that he stood by his tweet and was only speaking his mind. "(When I say) somebody (is polluting her mind), I mean the Leftists," he said.

"It were these Leftists who celebrated when Indian Army personnel were martyred in the 1962 (Indo-China) war and raised anti-national slogans. But now, whoever makes anti-national statements will be dealt firmly under the law. Everybody has freedom of expression but must act as per the laws of the country," he added.

Asked about Gurmehar's decision to step back from the anti-ABVP protest on DU campus, Rijiju said: "She has the freedom to speak her mind. She has all the right to do whatever she wants. So don't disturb her."

Read more:

Gurmehar has freedom to speak her mind: Kiren Rijiju - Times of India

Cambodias prime minister, Hun Sen, whose government is clamping down on critical media, citing Donald Trumps behaviour. Photograph: Samrang Pring/Reuters

And so it has happened. Less than 100 days into his presidency, Donald Trump is being cited by a corrupt and despotic regime to justify new restrictions on rights and freedoms. On Saturday, Cambodias council of ministers spokesman Phay Siphan vowed to crush media entities that endanger the peace and security of the kingdom, calling on all foreign agents to self-censor or be shut down. He justified this threat by citing Trumps recent expulsion of critical media outlets from a White House briefing (Report, 25 January).

Donald Trumps ban of international media giants sends a clear message that President Trump sees that news published by those media institutions does not reflect the real situation, the Phnom Penh Post quoted the spokesman as saying. Freedom of expression must be located within the domain of the law and take into consideration national interests and peace. The presidents decision has nothing to do with democracy or freedom of expression.

This comes in the wake of a new wave of human rights violations by Cambodia (including the murder of a prominent government critic, Kem Ley, and a new law designed to dismantle opposition parties) in the run-up to local and national elections.

Such comments demonstrate how President Trumps careless rhetoric and narcissistic acts can be used by despotic regimes across the globe to justify human rights violations. Alexandre Prezanti Global Diligence LLP

I read Carl Cederstrms piece (Its not just lies: Trump wills his truth into our reality, 27 February) with particular interest. I had only just watched David Hare and Mick Jacksons Denial, following Peter Bradshaws reputational rescue of the film in his review (G2, 27 January), as having overwhelming relevance. It seems particularly apt to Cederstrms point.

In the film, at the end of the long trial, the judge pulls out the question and I paraphrase What if David Irving believed all these egregious untruths would he still be a mendacious liar? The precise reason why he was able to dismiss his own question was not quoted. But it is a matter of historical record that the judge found for the defendants and stated that for his own ideological reasons [the holocaust denier] persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence. Roger Macy London

Join the debate email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

Read more Guardian letters click here to visit gu.com/letters

Follow this link:

Donald Trump's media ban inspires Cambodian attack on press freedom - The Guardian

The Ghaziabad police arrested the second of the five accused named in the FIR lodged against officials of smartphone company Ringing Bells, on Monday night.

The accused has been identified as Sumit Kumar, who is said to be the general manager of Ringing Bells.

Police have already arrested former MD Mohit Goel, while a court sent him to 14 days of judicial custody to Dasna jail. He is lodged in barrack number 7 along with nearly 100 other inmates. The company had shot to limelight after it announced Freedom 251, touted as the worlds cheapest smartphone, at an unbelievable price of Rs 251 apiece.

Continuing investigations with the FIR lodged for cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, the accused Sumit Kumar was arrested along with nearly Rs 14.9 lakh cash and some documents. He will be produced before the court on Tuesday. So far, we have arrested two persons in connection with the FIR while a vigorous search is on for the other accused persons, said Manish Mishra, circle officer (city), who is leading case investigation.

Read more

Police said that the accused was arrested along with an alleged forged approval letter, dated November 22, 2014, of the Cellular Operators Association of India and a cheque book of the company. Sumit hails from Muzaffarpur in Bihar and presently staying at Mandawali in Delhi.

The FIR at Sihani Gate was lodged by Akshay Malhotra, one of the companys distributors based in Ghaziabad, who alleged that the company officials failed to pay back his balance amount of Rs 16 lakh. Malhotra lodged an FIR at the Sihani Gate police station on February 22.

Apart from Goel, the FIR names the present managing director and Mohits brother, Anmol Goel, Mohits wife Dharna Garg who resigned eight months back as CEO of Ringing Bells, company general manager Sumit Kumar, and Mohits partner Ashok Chaddha. The latter and Goel are now officials of a new firm.

After his arrest, Mohit was produced before a Ghaziabad court but the court slammed cops for not having evidence for sections of forgery and criminal conspiracy added to the FIR.

Later, during the second hearing, the court sent Mohit to 14 days of judicial custody only under sections of criminal breach of trust and cheating. The court, so far, has negated sections of forgery against Mohit as police could not provide enough evidence.

Mohits lawyers will be moving his bail application before a Ghaziabad court on Tuesday.

See the original post here:

Freedom 251: Ringing Bells general manager arrested by Ghaziabad police - Hindustan Times

Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who has served as domestic policy chair of President Donald Trumps transition team, told me in an interview on SiriusXM Progressthat the controversial religious freedom order that leaked to the press a few weeks ago is very much on the way,even though White House officials had played it down.

Earlier this month, The Nations Sarah Posner reported on the draft order, which would allow exemptions for those who oppose same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, and trans identity, among many other things:

The four-page draft order, a copy of which is currently circulating among federal staff and advocacy organizations, construes religious organizations so broadly that it covers any organization, including closely held for-profit corporations, and protects religious freedom in every walk of life: when providing social services, education, or healthcare; earning a living, seeking a job, or employing others; receiving government grants or contracts; or otherwise participating in the marketplace, the public square, or interfacing with Federal, State or local governments.

At the time, Trump administration officials claimed the draft was among hundreds of draft orders circulating within the administration. We do not have plans to sign anything at this time but will let you know when we have any updates, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a White House spokesperson, told ABC News at the time.

But Blackwell, a senior fellow at the Family Research Council (deemed an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Policy Law Center), said in our interview at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) over the weekend that the order is far from dead. He also confirmed that the former director of Family Research Councils Center for Religious Liberty, Ken Klukowski, had actually structured the draft order as a legal advisor to Trumps transition team. Klukowski, who is now a senior attorney at the Liberty First Institute and a Breitbart contributor, is one of the lawyers in the process of redrafting it, Blackwell said, hinting that the original order may have been perceived as being too vulnerable to a legal challenge.

In the final analysis, what we want is an executive order that will meet the scrutiny of the judicial process, he explained. If there is no executive order, that will disappoint [social conservatives]. But a good executive order will not. So were still in the process.

Blackwell envisions the anchor concept of the order as one that will allow people with devoutly religious beliefs to turn away LGBTQ people in the course of business.

I think small business owners who hold a religious belief that believes that traditional marriage is between one man and one woman should not have their religious liberty trampled upon, he explained. I would imagine that that will be, strongly and clearly, the anchor concept [of the order]. (In an interview with me at the Republican National Convention in 2008, Blackwell had explained that he doesnt view LGBTQ people as a class of people who are discriminated against, but rather sees homosexuality as a compulsion that can contained, repressed or changed.)

Asked for comment about Blackwells statements at CPAC, Klukowski said that because its been publicly disclosed by people on the transition team that I worked on the transition, he was not at liberty to speak about the order specifically.

More broadly and as a private citizen [however], Kuklowski added, on the president and religious liberty: The president said when he was a candidate that there is a war on Christianity in America. And as someone who is a religious liberty lawyer who frequently represents the evangelical and Catholic communities in this country, thats exactly the sort of language that most people in that situation use. There has been unprecedented hostility against people of devout faiths in recent years. So the problem is there. Its been clearly defined. The president is aware of it.

Kuklowski said there are several routes to securing religious liberty, including the single most important thing, which is putting constitutional originalists on the federal courts and on the Supreme Court. And he said that Trump, who promised hed put originalists like the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the high court, is keeping that promise with the nomination of Neil Gorsuch, who is also an originalist.

In terms of administrative actions such as an executive order, Kuklowski said there are various types of actions that Trump could take, and he referred to federal law and federal programs that the president could affect. (He acknowledged that state laws protecting LGBTQ people could only be overturned via the federal judiciary, again stressing the importance of putting originalists on the federal courts.)

And Im confident, he continued, that the president is showing much to the shock of many establishment people who said, Theres no way thisll happen that he keeps his promises, even when theyre things that an establishment player would never do. And Im confident that hes going to keep his promise when it comes to protection of religious liberty as well.

See the original post:

Trump Transition Official: 'Religious Freedom' Order Is Still Coming - Huffington Post

Forbes

Duterte's Philippines Climbs The Rankings In Economic Freedom Forbes Duterte's death squads have been killing democracy in Philippines, but not economic freedom. In fact, the country gained a couple of notches in the recently published 2017 Index of Economic Freedom ranking. That's badly needed good news for investors ... Philippines Improves in Economic Freedom rankingCFO innovation ASIA all 2 news articles »

Link:

Duterte's Philippines Climbs The Rankings In Economic Freedom - Forbes

Even after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, there have been efforts to pass a religious freedom bill. LGBTQ rights advocates believe lawmakers anticipate support from the Trump administration. Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption

Even after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, there have been efforts to pass a religious freedom bill. LGBTQ rights advocates believe lawmakers anticipate support from the Trump administration.

There are renewed efforts at the state level to pass so-called religious freedom bills. LGBTQ rights advocates believe that's because local lawmakers are anticipating support from the Trump administration.

In Alabama, there's a bill that allows adoption agencies that are religiously affiliated to hold true to their faith if they don't think same-sex couples should be parents. The psychiatric community has found no evidence that having same-sex parents harms children.

The bill is called the Child Placing Agency Inclusion Act. When it was first introduced two years ago, the bill didn't go very far. But since the election that has changed. For the first time the bill is listed on the Alabama State Senate GOP agenda.

"This bill has been fast-tracked through the House of Representatives with support from both Senate and House Republican leadership," says Eva Kendrick, the Alabama state manager for the Human Rights Campaign, an LGTBQ rights group.

With the choice of Jeff Sessions to be attorney general, the Trump administration has picked someone who is likely to be an ally on these state bills. Back when Attorney General Sessions was a U.S. congressman, he referred to separation of church and state as something that was "recent," "unhistorical" and "unconstitutional."

Sarah Warbelow, the legal director for the HRC, fears that the choice of Sessions as attorney general is a signal to local lawmakers.

"A number of states have introduced bills for many years that would allow child welfare agencies to discriminate on the basis of religious belief," Warbelow says. "But since this particular executive order draft leaked out, we've seen a number of states really begin the process of moving those bills."

In addition to the bill in Alabama, she says there are similar ones based on religious freedom that are moving more quickly in Texas, South Dakota and Oklahoma.

Even without the passage of the bill, April Aaron-Brush says she and her wife have run into problems trying to adopt. They already have a 10-year-old adopted daughter.

But for many years in Alabama, only Aaron-Brush could legally adopt her. Then the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, and now she and her wife are recognized as parents under the law. When they decided they wanted to adopt another child, they ran into problems.

"We've had several agencies that refused to call us back already because we were a same-sex couple although we've got marriage equality, and we're supposed to be equal" says Aaron-Brush. "But at this point in time, we're still having hurdles to jump over."

Aaron-Brush says the agencies didn't explicitly tell her they were turning them down because they are a lesbian couple. But all their forms asked about a mother and father and at least one of the agencies has a Christian affiliation.

Aaron-Brush has thought about investigating and perhaps taking legal action.

That's why religious agencies want protection, says Eric Johnston, an attorney who represents several adoption agencies in Alabama with a religious affiliation.

"They anticipated there could be problems and wanted to in advance think it through and do something that would be reasonable and to the benefit of everyone concerned on both sides of the issue," Johnston says.

The bill's sponsor in the Alabama House is Rep. Richard Wingo.

"The bill is saying that: Do not discriminate against these faith-based agencies and force them to place children foster or adoption into homes that go against their religious beliefs," Wingo says.

According to Wingo, in some states, religious agencies have closed rather than be forced to put children with same-sex couples. He believes keeping them open helps more children. And he says only 30 percent of the adoption agencies in Alabama have a religious affiliation.

So, he feels lesbians like Aaron-Brush have alternatives.

Wingo won't say how he feels about same-sex couples adopting.

"It doesn't matter what I think," he says. "If you are a follower of Christ then what matters is what does the word of God say. What does God say about it?"

Advocates for the LGBTQ community fear that this reasoning will soon make it harder for their community to adopt.

Originally posted here:

LGBTQ Advocates Fear 'Religious Freedom' Bills Moving Forward In States - NPR

Thats the question one Midwest museum is posing to visitors.

Along the banks of downtown Cincinnati sits the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center a facility that prides itself on being a museum of conscience, a convener of dialog and a center that educates.

This month, the museum opened the Open Your Mind: Understanding Implicit Bias learning lab, designed to assist the public in understanding and recognizing bias and other forms of discrimination. The lab is participatory, involving educational and entertaining hands-on exercises.

Partnering with the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University, the lab also explores recent debates on implicit bias, which are the attitudes or stereotypes that affect a persons understanding, actions and decisions in an unconscious manner.

In fact, research has show that all people harbor implicit bias even if they seem to hold no explicit prejudice, says Jamie Glavic, director of marketing and communications at the center.

While at the center visiting the lab, which is free with general admission, visitors will want to check out a number of other exhibits including Faith and Fashion: The Crowns of African American Women.

The exhibit, which runs through April 1, highlights the various self-expressions of women of all ages and celebrates African-American church culture.

Church services are a time of worship and praise, Glavic said. Oftentimes, in African-American churches, in addition to hearing songs and sermons, observers cannot help but look in amazement at the various hats of its female parishioners.

In addition to exploring the various colors of crowns, personal narratives will account for the historical celebration of how Black women broken away from their domestic uniforms for Sunday services.

With more than 100,000 visitors annually, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center serves to inspire modern abolition through connecting the lessons of the Underground Railroad with todays freedom fighters, Glavic said.

Our physical location in downtown Cincinnati is just a few steps from the banks of the Ohio River, the great natural barrier that separated the slave states of the South from the free states of the North, she said. Since opening in 2004, we have filled a substantial voice in our nations cultural heritage, providing a vivid account of the inspiring narrative of the antebellum Underground Railroad.

This distinct experience is the tie that connects Americans to the universal and ongoing struggle for freedom, Glavic said.

We believe in inclusive freedom all people enjoying rights and privileges of equal kind, equal number and equal quality, she said. We teach people to embrace their common humanity and to realize their power to advance freedom - the birthright of every human being.

Other exhibits currently at the museum include a virtual experience that commemorates Civil Rights icon Rosa Parks historic demonstration and From Slavery to Freedom, which portrays three centuries of slavery from its introduction into the Americas to its abolition at the end of the American Civil War.

Beginning March 24, a new exhibit, Mandela: The Journey to Ubuntu, which commemorates the life and legacy of former South African President Nelson Mandela through photographs.

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, go to freedomcenter.org.

WHILE YOURE IN THE AREA:

Harriet Beecher Stowe House

Details: This house is operated as a cultural site and focuses on the life of the author of Uncle Toms Cabin.

Details: Located in Ripley, Ohio, this house along the Underground Railroad is one of the states best documented stations.

View post:

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center offers hands-on learning - nwitimes.com

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A metro woman is sharing an important message that our differences make us beautiful. The London transplant is taking our imperfections and turning them into purse designs.

"I believe we all have scars and imperfections that give us character, tell our story, and make us who we are. So when I design and create, I'm in that space," said Freedom Shoe owner Pamela Williams.

In the fashion industry that is known for going after the perfect style, Pamela Williams said she gave up that vision to instead focus her designs on our imperfections.

Williams moved to Kansas City several years ago and created the business Freedom Shoe.

"I feel that we all as human beings want to be free, free to express ourselves, free to be who we want to be. That's how I kind of came up with that name," Williams recalled.

Proceeds from her purse sales go towards the anti-bullying organization, Stand for the Silent.

You can find those purses at The Space at 1412 in the West Bottoms, and check out Williams' Instagram for the latest designs.

Read more from the original source:

Freedom Shoe owner uses fashion to celebrate imperfections - fox4kc.com

Michelle Job. Photo: Private

The Local speaks to Michelle Job, a photographer and blogger from India who recently relocated to Stockholm.

"Sweden has given me so much freedom to be a photographer. I can pick any place, walk there, and I'm not bothered by anyone. It has really given me freedom."

Michelle Job speaks with genuine enthusiasm about her new adventure as a photographer in Sweden. The Indian mum of two moved to Stockholm last August with her family, and has found the possibilities afforded to her in the Nordic nation to be liberating.

"I had done a few shoots before I moved here. I feel it's much easier to photograph here. There arent many restrictions, unlike in India."

Job came to Stockholm from Hyderabad in the south of India, a city with a population of over 6.8 million people, dwarfing the Swedish capital. She had been working as the editor of a magazine there, a different path from the one many Indians are expected to follow.

"I was born in the outskirts of a quaint little town in southern India called Tiruchirappalli. On average, if you ask any family in India what they want their child to become, they'd say 'an engineer or a doctor'. Its a very driven, very ambitious culture," she relates.

"I was unaware that there were courses other than engineering or medicine," the Indian laughs. So study engineering she did despite never really feeling a connection with the discipline.

Going to university would ultimately have its benefits however, as it introduced her to the creative work she would fall in love with.

"At the college they had their own national magazine, and eventually I became its editor. A few years later I got married, moved to a different city, and became the editor of an Asia-Pacific magazine. I got to work with a lot of creative people such as writers, designers and photographers," she enthuses.

Job eventually stopped working as an editor when she had her children, opting to spend time at home with them instead. But that also gave her a chance to start properly pursuing another love.

"Photography has always been my passion because my mum used to take great pictures when we were kids. I quit my job when I was pregnant, and when the kids arrived, I started photographing and blogging about them."

She uploaded some of her pictures to social media, and friends were so impressed they encouraged her to pursue photography professionally. A few memorable early shoots in India soon followed.

When her husband then got offered a job in Sweden, the whole family opted to move, and the resulting period of free time gave her a chance to take her pictures and writing even further.

Michelle's kids in the Stockholm snow. Photo: Michelle Job

"We had a one-month break before our kids started school. So I said 'Ok, I should start exploring the city'. So when my husband would go to work, I would take the kids, and we would check out every park, every museum, every palace, everything I could possibly go to. I started exploring the city slowly on my own, and documenting my kids in pictures."

Taking pictures proved to be the perfect antidote to the loneliness the newcomer felt after first making the move to the Nordic nation a feeling many internationals will likely be familiar with.

"I came here with a lot of excitement. I spent months and weeks researching the place. All the excitement just crumbled within the first week," she recalls.

"All of a sudden you're left all alone in a place where you don't know the language. It's so difficult to meet people and build friendships. The first time I walked around my neighbourhood and saw everything was in Swedish I panicked. I don't know if it's because it's so silent here, there are not as many people as in India. I started feeling very alone."

Job managed to turn that initial feeling of alienation into something positive by taking pictures and writing whenever she explored something new. In turn, that led to work, with Facebook groups proving to be a useful way to make a breakthrough as an outsider in Sweden.

Michelle's husband and kids. Photo: Michelle Job

"I knew there were Facebook groups before, but I never knew the power of them until I came here. I wanted to get some second-hand stuff, strollers etc, and a few of my friends recommended some Indian groups," she explains.

"I thought it was just for buying stuff, but then I posted one of my pictures there and a lot of people showed interest and wanted me to take their pictures."

One person who contacted her was Renjith Ramachandran, founder of Indian expat network Search Indie, who The Local has previously interviewed.

He commissioned photographs of the Stockholm Sangeet Conference and an event put on by the Indian Embassy. Things soon picked up from there.

"I was contacted by the Indian Cultural Centre of Scandinavia to capture a couple of their events. I'm getting to meet more people and explore diverse opportunities."

An example of Michelle's work. Photo: Michelle Job

Along with Facebook groups, Job found reaching out and contacting other creatives to be a useful was of breaking into the Swedish photography world. In her experience, the stereotype of cold Swedes simply isn't accurate.

"I started following some prominent Swedish photographers on Instagram like Juliana Wiklund, a famous family/wedding photographer. She's amazing. I just followed her, left her a message asking about her workshops and if shes going to conduct any in English. She was so warm, she said 'let's meet up for lunch!' and we met."

"I also met a Jamaican-Scandinavian photographer, Andrea Davis Kronlund, who has her own online fashon website," she adds.

"The impression I got is that the Swedes are reserved, unapproachable. To my pleasant surprise when I introduced myself as a photographer and wanted to learn from them, they were extremely welcoming, friendly, and very approachable."

Along with the creative side of being a photographer there is also the business side to take care of, and thankfully that hasn't been too tricky either, according to Job's experience so far. Starting a company "sounds complex, but its actually very easy," she notes, adding that free seminars by Startup Stockholm are helpful.

Stockholm's Drottningholm in the summer. Photo: Michelle Job

Beyond getting her company up and running, one exciting goal she wants to tackle in the future is trying out birth photography.

"I've already got people interested so I can go into the labour ward and document births. I'm also looking forward to documenting engagements, small European weddings and, day-in-the-life family documentary sessions."

And a bigger target for the long term is to try her hand at a Stockholm equivalent of Humans of New York a world famous photoblog featuring portraits and interviews on the streets of New York City.

"I'd just like to document stories, go on to the streets, photograph individuals and showcase their stories. Something small, something big, something inspiring or moving. That's one of the things I really hope to capture," she reveals.

After half a year in Stockholm, the blogger has concluded that the key to succeeding in Sweden's creative world is to get out and connect with the people you admire.

"You just need to identify the people who inspire you here in Stockholm, connect with them, and learn from them," she suggests.

"Both of the renowned photographers I met had moved to Sweden from somewhere else. They were so generous in explaining how their journey has been. It's really inspiring and motivating."

Visit link:

'Sweden has given me so much freedom to be a photographer' - The Local Sweden

By Jim LittleThe Opelika-Auburn News

AUBURN, Ala. Bill Harbour and Charles Person were two of the young activists who sought to end segregation in the South by doing a simple thing taking a bus ride.

Those bus rides brought about bombings, beatings and imprisonment but also the eventual end of segregated transportation in the South.

Harbour and Person spoke at the Hotel at Auburn University on Wednesday night as part of a Black History Month program hosted by the Auburn Alumni Association.

Harbour and Person recounted their experiences during the 1961 Freedom Rides.

Person was the youngest of the 13 riders of the first Freedom Ride that left Washington D.C. to travel to New Orleans on May 4, 1961.

"All change begins with young people," Person said. "Young people want to see things happen. Older people, we rationalize things and make things seem OK."

Person described his arrival at the bus station in Anniston, learning that the other bus had been firebombed. Klansmen boarded and demanded they move to the back of the bus.

"Well being smart students, we said no, we weren't going to move," Person said. "So they began to punch us."

At that point, James Peck and Walter Bergman, two white Freedom Riders, tried to intervene.

"That really infuriated them to think that whites would come to aid black students," Person said.

The men beat Peck and Bergman and forced the rest of the group into the back of the bus, which continued on an alternate route to Birmingham bypassing the angry crowd that had burned the other bus.

When the bus arrived in Birmingham, Peck and Person went to test the desegregation at the bus station, but they were intercepted by another mob. Person suffered a severe injury to his head in the beating. A photographer snapped a photo and the crowd turned on him letting Person go.

The riders eventually boarded an airplane in Birmingham to reach their destination of New Orleans.

Person later went on to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam.

Harbour went on two Freedom Rides at the end of May 1961, including a bus ride from Nashville to Montgomery.

Harbour said the bus was met in Birmingham by the infamous Bull Conor, who put the group in jail "for their own protection."

After being driven out of town in cars, the group re-boarded a bus and made it through Birmingham with the protection of the state police.

"We pulled into Montgomery and everybody vanished," Harbour said. "No protection nowhere. Didn't see anybody. John Lewis said, 'Bill something's wrong.'"

Then an angry mob appeared in the station and attacked the Freedom Riders.

"It was rough," he said. "It was real real rough. I have scars now that happened at that bus station in Montgomery."

The group continued its ride after an intervention from the National Guard to Jackson, Mississippi where they were arrested.

"We went into the bus station and asked for a hamburger and Coke, and they put us straight in jail," Harbour said.

Students from across the country sought to take part in the Freedom Rides and 436 students were arrested, Harbour said.

"Fifty percent were black, and fifty percent were white," he said. "We're not sure how that happened, but it did."

Before the remarks from Person and Harbour, the Auburn University Moasic Theater company debuted a new work titled "There are no Free Rides," an interpretation of the history of the Freedom Rides.

"They were going to war armed only with their passion and freedom songs inherited from their ancestors," one actor said during the play.

Original post:

Freedom Riders recall 1961 bus rides - Gadsden Times

Welcome to Freedom Boat Club of Venice: Lush, friendly and Mediterranean.

The quaint, small-town feel of Venice lends to its reputation as a warm and friendly place to visit. A lovely boulevard of Mediterranean-style architecture provides a town center worthy of shopping or lunching under the shady live oaks.

When the surf is calm, divers like to anchor a couple of miles from the Venice Fishing Pier and search for ancient shark teeth brought in by the currents, as this is the sharks tooth capitol of the world.

Speaking of sea creatures...be sure to look for frolicking dolphin as you head out on the ICW. Have your camera ready they move fast!

Roberts Bay, just outside the channel, sports plenty of open water for water activities like skiing, tubing or knee boarding. And Midnight Pass Beach, very near and to the north, is a sunny, sandy spot with mild Gulf waters and plenty of shells. Plus, dogs are allowed on this beach.

Waterfront dining options are countless, but local favorites include the Casey Key Fish House and the Turtle Beach Pub.

Effective October 1, 2001, a person 21 years of age or younger may not operate a vessel powered by a motor of 10 horsepower or greater unless such person has in his or her possession aboard the vessel photographic identification and a boater safety identification.

Originally posted here:

Venice Florida Freedom Boat Club

New York Times

Immigration Agents Discover New Freedom to Deport Under Trump New York Times I.C.E. has more than 20,000 employees, spread across 400 offices in the United States and 46 countries, and the Trump administration has called for the hiring of 10,000 more. Credit Clockwise from top left: Ann Johansson for The New York Times; David ... and more »

Continue reading here:

Immigration Agents Discover New Freedom to Deport Under Trump - New York Times

New York Times

Harriet Tubman's Path to Freedom New York Times Tubman's freedom proved to be bittersweet, as she would recount in her biography. In Philadelphia, she was free, working odd jobs, but lonely. Tubman began plotting her return home to bring her kin back with her: I was free and dey should be free also. and more »

More:

Harriet Tubman's Path to Freedom - New York Times

But what would repealing Obamacare mean in practice?

It would mean allowing insurers to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions; taking away the tax credits and Medicaid expansions that enabled more than 20 million Americans to newly obtain insurance over the past six years; and, thanks to the elimination of the individual mandate, ultimately causing the exchanges to death-spiral and collapse.

So, in championing the "freedom" that would be unleashed by an Obamacare repeal, Ryan and Pence are really championing the "freedom" for Americans to lose access to any health-care plan.

You know what they say: Freedom's just another word for nothing left to choose.

At least one politician has explicitly rooted for a decline in the insured rate because, duh, freedom.

"If the numbers drop, I would say that's a good thing, because we've restored personal liberty in this country, and I'm always for that," Rep. Michael C. Burgess, R-Tex., said at CPAC.

Enshrining discrimination against gay and transgender people has likewise been sold as a way of promoting "religious freedom," at least for anyone who believes Jesus would be unhappy about compliance with public accommodation laws or, say, the Constitution.

Sometimes the freedoms nominally being safeguarded are not individual ones but those of the states. Or so White House press secretary Sean Spicer claimed when explaining why the Trump administration was rescinding Obama-era guidance for schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choosing.

Financial deregulation and the repeal of consumer protections have also been puzzlingly marketed as pro-"freedom."

"Just like Obamacare, Dodd-Frank has left us with fewer choices, higher costs and less freedom," quoth Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Tex., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. "It's evident that Dodd-Frank has made us less prosperous and less free."

Franklin Roosevelt once declared that the "four essential human freedoms" were freedom of speech and expression, freedom to worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. The "freedom to get scammed by debt collectors" must have slipped his mind.

Given the quantity of American heartstrings pulled by the words "free" and "freedom," declaring one's commitment to "free markets" has also provided cover for all sorts of non-free-market nonsense. A sitting president ordering private companies where to locate, for instance.

"I'm a big free-trader," President Trump has said, while promoting all manner of protectionist measures. "I love the First Amendment; nobody loves it better than me," he said at CPAC, minutes after again calling the media the enemy of the people.

See the rest here:

Catherine Rampell: Republicans take freedom away, in the name of freedom - Salt Lake Tribune

President Donald Trump took his rancorousfeudwith the press to afrightening new level last week when he posted an inflammatory tweet that echoed tyrantsof the past,callingthe all-caps FAKE NEWS media the enemy of the American People.

As many were quick to point out, the phrase enemy of the people has adisturbing and violent history, and has long been used by totalitarian dictatorsto foster resentment and hatred of certain groups, and eventually to crush dissent and opposition. The infamous French revolutionary and Reign of Terror apologistRobespierre declared that the revolutionary government owed nothing to the enemies of the people but death,while the term was widelyused in Stalinist Russia to single outdissidents,who wereeither imprisoned, executed or sent to the Gulag (in the end, almost all of the original Bolsheviks became enemies of the people during the great purge which in reality meant enemies of Joseph Stalin).

Needless to say, the fact that President Trump thought it was appropriate to usethis incendiarylanguage onthe free press long considered thebulwark of liberty is dangerous and alarming, and just the latest manifestation ofthe Trump administrations authoritarian tendencies. Just one month into his term, the president has spent mostof his time in publicscapegoating and demonizing the free press,blatantly lying and espousingconspiracy theories that undermine faith in the electoral system and displaying his contempt for the ideaof separation of powers and judicial review (once again attacking a sitting federal judge).

None of this behavior is particularly surprising fora man who has spent that past two years shattering democratic norms e.g., threatening to jail his political opponent, encouraging violence against peaceful protesters, publiclysympathizing with oppressive dictators, advocatingwar crimesand so on.

Itis tempting to write this all off as Donald being Donald an impulsive, thin-skinned little man-child who cant take any criticismbut that would be a mistake. Trump has surrounded himself with sycophantic enablers and right-wing extremists who appear eager to advance his authoritarian agenda. One of these individuals is the presidents31-year-old senior adviser, Stephen Miller, a weaselly young man who would be perfectly cast as a Star Wars villain. Last week, Miller madethe almost cartoonish assertion that our opponents, the media and the whole world will soon see as we begin to take further actions, thatthe powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned.

Like the phrase enemy of the people, this is the kind of language used by party hacks in a totalitarian state, not a free anddemocratic society.

Not long ago this kind of rhetoric would have provoked outrage from both sides of the aisle and widespread disapproval from the populace. But today, in our hyper-partisan political landscape, many Americans have instead cheered Trump and his administrations increasingly dictatorial and undemocratic behavior. This invites the question of whether the American people will stand up to autocracy if and when it comes, and how much of the populace is actually prepared to give up its freedom and submit to a strongman.

Shortly after the election, Yale historian Timothy Snyder, who recently said that we have at most a year to defend the Republic, wrote a chilling articlein Slate narrating Adolf Hitlers unexpected rise to power without once sayinghis name to draw parallels with our current historical situation, and to highlight how the German people quickly fell in line once Hitler had consolidated power and established his totalitarian regime.

One of the many brilliant Jewishintellectuals to fleefrom Germany after Hitlers rise, philosopher and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm attemptedto explain the shocking spread of totalitarianism in his lifetime with his influential and urgent 1941 book, Escape from Freedom. This classic investigation into the psychology of authoritarianism can help elucidate some of what is happening today. In the first half of the book, Fromm surveysthe profound cultural, economic and political changesthat had occurred since the Middle Ageswith the Protestant Reformation and the emergence of industrial capitalism, and explores how these shifts impacted the human psycheand the individuals interaction with the external world.

Fromm posits that industrialization and the rise of liberalismresulted in the complete emergence of the individual (i.e., individuation), along with newfound freedom, but also upended primary ties that hadonce provided men and women with security and a feeling of belonging and of being rooted somewhere. In other words, modernization freed man from traditionalauthorities that had greatly limited him, but also provided him withsecurity and meaning in life. Growing individuation, writes Fromm, means growing isolation, insecurity, and thereby growing doubt concerning ones role in the universe, the meaning of ones life, and with all that a growing feeling of ones own powerlessness and insignificance as an individual.

That brings us to Fromms powerful thesis:

If the economic, social and political conditions on which the whole process of human individuation depends, do not offer a basis for the realization of individuality while at the same time people have lost those ties which gave them security, this lag makes freedom an unbearable burden. It becomes identical with doubt, with a kind of life which lacks meaning and direction. Powerful tendencies arise to escape from this kind of freedom into submission or some kind of relationship to man and the world which promises relief from uncertainty, even if it deprives the individual of his freedom.

The crucialpoint Fromm was trying to get acrossis that personal freedom may not be enjoyable or even desirable to the individual if it also leaves him or her feeling isolated and powerless, or without any kind of meaning or purpose in life. Like Karl Marx, Fromm believed that capitalism had turned human beings into cogs in a machine, sapping them of their individuality and creativity, and leaving them alienated and susceptible to authoritarian forces.

Fromm distinguished between negative freedom, or the freedom from traditional authorities and cultural/social restraints, and the positive freedom to live authentically and realize ones true individual self. If one is granted negative freedom without positive freedom, and thus left uncertain, alone and powerless, he or she may be inclined to escape from freedom and submit to a higher authority. An analogy would be the urge that many adults have feltat least oncein their lifeto return to their mothers womb, where one is deprived of freedom, but safe from the dangerous and chaotic outside world.

It is not hard to see this psychology at work in modern America, where economic inequality has grown rapidly over the past several decades, where livelihoods have been outsourced or automated and where communities have collapseddue to the forces of globalization and the technological revolution, leaving millions of people desperate and isolated. When these economic factorsare combined withotherfactors, includingthe perceived dangers facing America(i.e., Islamic terrorism) which are greatly inflated by the mass media and politiciansand cultural/social shifts over the past few decades, the victory of an authoritarian demagogue like Trump becomes less surprising (as doesthe factthat Trump supporters are more likely to display authoritarian personality traits).

The danger of the increasingly authoritarian Trump administration is heightenedby the growing number of Americans who are nowpreparedto support a strongman if it means restoring, as it were,primary ties that once provided security and a feeling of belonging and of being rooted somewhere.

Seventy-five years agoFromm arguedthat to counteract thisdangerous drive toward authoritarianism,it was necessary to expand the principle of government of the people, by the people, for the people, from the formal political to the economic sphere. Democracy, he continued, will triumph over the forces of nihilism only if it can imbue people with a faith in life and in truth, and in freedom as the active and spontaneous realization of the individual self.

Like Bernie Sanders today, Frommadvocated democratic socialism and believed that only a trulydemocratic society politically and economically could stopthe dark clouds of despotism. Today, as President Trump rehashes the language of past tyrants, one can only hope that the desire for freedom will triumph over the urge to submit.

See more here:

Will Americans submit to despotism in an urge to escape from freedom? Erich Fromm saw it coming - Salon

NEWSLETTERS Receive the latest local updates in your inbox

On the same day that the White House barred reporters from CNN, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and Politico from a press briefing, a simple, stark message appeared in the sand at Coronado Beach.

A miniature White House was erected at the beach with a message from our third president: Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.

Displays at Coronado Beach that reflect current events have become commonplace. In the past, theyve mainly showed solidarity following tragic events.

After the Paris terrorist attacks and the Orlando nightclub shootings, for instance, sand castles emerged to show sympathy for the victims.

Bill Pavlacka, dubbed the Sandcastle Man, has been the artist behind those sand creations.

Pavlacka told NBC 7, he created the White House sandcastle and added the message for press freedom because of his concern over "the way that press has been painted recently."

"I thought that the Jefferson quote was powerful given that President Donald Trump attempted to use another Jefferson quote to discredit the news media. I think that people need to be reminded of the importance of the media, and with the blocking of certain major news outlets today, I think the message has become even more important."

Published at 5:43 PM PST on Feb 24, 2017 | Updated 6 hours ago

See the rest here:

Coronado Sandcastle Pays Homage to Freedom of Press | NBC 7 ... - NBC 7 San Diego

Virginian-Pilot

Live: Faith, Freedom and Justice march at Virginia Beach Oceanfront Virginian-Pilot The march begins at Rudee Loop and will cover 40 blocks of Atlantic Ave. The Pilot's Alissa Skelton is reporting live from the event. A Twitter List by SeanDKennedy. Alissa Skelton, 757-222-5155, alissa.skelton@pilotonline.com. More information. +6 ... and more »

See the article here:

Live: Faith, Freedom and Justice march at Virginia Beach Oceanfront - Virginian-Pilot

Fromits founding, the United States has been about one thing: freedom.But what is freedom, exactly? Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and many others jabbered on about itwithout defining what they were talking about. But finally a great American politician has explained exactly what freedom is:

So withPaul Ryans help, we now can go back and reread great American political rhetoric and at last understand what it means.

The First Amendment to the Constitution, 1789:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment ofreligion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the ability to buy what you want to fit what you need of speech.

Thomas Jefferson on the founding of the University of Virginia, 1820:

This institution will be based on the illimitable ability to buy what you want to fit what you need of the human mind.

Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, 1863:

From these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which theygave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that these deadshall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth ofthe ability to buy what you want to fit what you need.

Franklin D. Roosevelt in his Four Freedoms address to Congress, 1941:

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a worldfounded upon four essential human abilities to buy what you want to fit what you need.

Ronald Reagan, Message on the Observance of Afghanistan Day, 1983:

To watch the courageous Afghan ability-to-buy-what-you-want-to-fit-what-you-need-fighters battle modern arsenals with simplehandheld weapons is an inspiration to those who lovethe ability to buy what you want to fit what you need.Their courage teachesus a great lesson that there are things in this world worth defending.

Top photo from left to right: Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt,Paul Ryan,Ronald Reagan, andThomas Jefferson.

Originally posted here:

America's Greatest Political Rhetoric Rewritten Using Paul Ryan's Definition of Freedom - The Intercept