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Category Archives: Freedom

Montclair middle schoolers take 'freedom walk' in honor of MLK, Black History Month

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STAFF PHOTOS BY ADAM ANIK

Student Kwesi Wilson, center, and teacher Richard Gazzillo are at the front of a pack of about 80 sixth-grade Renaissance at Rand School students taking part in a "freedom walk" on Friday, Feb. 27, accompanying a float representing a mountain. The walk was inspired by the late Martin Luther King's famous "I Have A Dream" speech.Sixth grade students from Renaissance at Rand School make their way down Park Street during their "freedom walk" on Friday, Feb. 27.

Sixth graders from Renaissance at Rand School went beyond what they learned in school about legendary civil rights leader Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech by living out, in their own small way, that 'dream' in public for Black History Month.

Over 80 students of various ethnic backgrounds, along with five teachers and the school's principal, went on a "freedom walk" last Friday, Feb. 27, which took them from the school at North Fullerton Avenue and Chestnut Street, going west to Midland Avenue, then to Watchung Avenue, then south to Park Street, and then going past Montclair High School on their way back to the school.

They held signs that read "Live The Dream" and "The Mountain Has Been Overcome," rang a cowbell, and chanted as they traversed the area near their school.

During the walk on a cold, sunny day, several male students were also pushing a wooden float mounted onto an orange Home Depot cart representing a mountain. At the top of the float, there was a sign reading, "Let Freedom Ring," and two dolls, one black and one white, which was about "symbolizing freedom ringing on a mountaintop," taking from lines in King's famous speech, according to the organizers of the walk.

Todd Smith, the sixth-grade science teacher who built the float, wrote about the influence of the speech in a statement to The Montclair Times: "52 years after Dr. Martin Luther King gave his 'I Have A Dream' speech, our country and world still struggles with issues of racism and equality. Our sixth-grade class imagined what it would be like if Dr. King's dream had come true. Today we celebrate for a moment the feeling as if we have reached the mountaintop where freedom rings. And maybe by living our dreams, they just may have come true."

Student Lucy Solomon talked about the significance of the walk, which she said was being considered for a few weeks but took less than a week to organize.

"If Martin [Luther King] was alive, what would he want?," she asked. "Not all the bad things that's happening, but what if it were all the good things?"

Karina Begazo was happy to be involved in the walk.

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Montclair middle schoolers take 'freedom walk' in honor of MLK, Black History Month

PRESS CONFERENCE: SB296, Antidiscrimination and Religious Freedom Amendments – Video

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PRESS CONFERENCE: SB296, Antidiscrimination and Religious Freedom Amendments
UTAH LEADERS TO UNVEIL NONDISCRIMINATION BILL What: An LGBT and Religious nondiscrimination bill will be introduced to the Utah State Legislature Who: Senator Urquhart, Senator Adams, ...

By: Utah Senate

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PRESS CONFERENCE: SB296, Antidiscrimination and Religious Freedom Amendments - Video

Blogging For Freedom TV, Episode 4: Interview with Avram Gonzales – Video

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Blogging For Freedom TV, Episode 4: Interview with Avram Gonzales
On this week #39;s episode of Blogging for Freedom TV, I #39;ll be joined by Avram Gonzales... Avram and his wife Nikki went from being broke life coaches to earning over $250000 in less than 2 years...

By: Blogging For Freedom TV

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Blogging For Freedom TV, Episode 4: Interview with Avram Gonzales - Video

Insurgent bloc of House conservatives proving to be a thorn in Boehners side

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The House Freedom Caucus doesnt have a Web site. Its not completely clear exactly who belongs to the group. But in the just-completed fight over Homeland Security funding, it was hard to miss the influence of the insurgent conservative bloc as it clashed with GOP leadership.

The small group of far-right renegades has emerged as the latest embodiment of the internal GOP resistance to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio); as a general rule, they are unpredictable, opaque and completely unwilling to back down from any fight against President Obama and his agenda.

As the unified Republican majority looks to the next big legislative battles over the debt ceiling, the federal budget and the Export-Import Bank, the Freedom Caucus may be the best illustration of how intra-party discord could dramatically slow the pace of business in this Congress and likely bring it to a complete halt.

In late January, nine House Republicans issued a joint news release announcing the formation of the Freedom Caucus. Among the group, three voted against Boehner for speaker in early January.

The chairman of the group is Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio), a square-jawed former college wrestling champion who voted for Boehner but also received two votes of his own for the speakers job. In a Wednesday interview, Jordan said the caucus has no interest in a new campaign to topple Boehner. He sounded populist notes in explaining the groups overarching goal.

Were here to stand up for those folks who we think get left out all too often, he said. Everyday folks. Working Americans.

Jordan said the group meets at least weekly, typically on the first night when lawmakers get back into town after the weekend. Asked how many members the group has, he estimated there were about 30 but declined to name all of them.

They can all speak for themselves, Jordan said. We just said we werent going to make the list public.

What was clearly on display during the DHS funding standoff was a conservative yearning to do battle with Obama over the presidents executive actions on immigration, particularly his decision to defer the deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants.

Boehner has tried to take up that fight alongside his conservative colleagues, passing a bill that would fund DHS and remove money for Obamas directives. But when it was clear that bill had hit an unbreachable roadblock in the Senate, Boehner retreated. With his back against the wall and facing a DHS shutdown, he tried to pass a three-week funding extension in the hopes of continuing to fight for the House bill.

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Insurgent bloc of House conservatives proving to be a thorn in Boehners side

EDITORIAL: California lags other states in freedom

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The John Locke Foundation has released a new study on the levels of freedom in the states, and as with similar indexes of freedom, business climate, tax burden or legal environment California ranks near the very bottom.

Californias overall freedom ranking was 48th, besting only New Jersey and New York. It placed 49th in fiscal freedom and dead last in regulatory freedom. A partial redemption came only in the states middling performance in educational freedom (30th) and health care freedom (24th).

The foundations First in Freedom Index provides yet more evidence for a link between freedom and economic prosperity. The 10 states with the highest FFI rankings have had a 2.3 percent annual average growth rate in inflation-adjusted gross domestic product since 2011, while the 10 states with the lowest FFI rankings have posted average annual GDP growth rates of 1.5 percent, the study reported.

Overall, there have been 37 studies of economic freedom and state economic growth published in scholarly journals since 1990 of which 29 found a positive, statistically significant relationship, and eight found no link. Not a single study found that ranking high in economic freedom was associated with lower economic performance.

Since the foundation is based in North Carolina, its recommendations were directed to that state, but they are applicable to all states: If policymakers want to maximize job creation, income growth and economic opportunity for its citizens over the coming years and decades, they should place a higher priority on reducing the size and scope of government, promoting choice and competition in services such as health care and education, and protecting personal freedom from encroachment. California policymakers would be wise to heed this advice, lest we see more entrepreneurs, job-seekers and other productive members of society depart in search of freedom and economic opportunity.

WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Letters to the Editor: E-mail to letters@pe.com. Please provide your name, city and telephone number (telephone numbers will not be published). Letters of about 200 words will be given preference. Letters will be edited for length, grammar and clarity.

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EDITORIAL: California lags other states in freedom

Potomac boys basketball tops Freedom-Woodbridge to snip region title off to-do list

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By Joey LoMonaco March 4 at 10:54 PM

A blue step ladder and shrink-wrapped replacement net loitered in obscurity near the threshold to Mount Vernons gym, marking the final two impediments in the face of Potomacs case for wholesale Virginia 5A boys basketball dominance.

As time ticked down in the fourth quarter of Wednesdays 5A North region final, and the Panthers built a double-digit lead against Conference 15 rival Freedom-Woodbridge, it became clear the Panthers would raise scissors to the far basket at Skinner Field House and shear an elusive regional championship off their bucket list.

Redemption, senior guard Jaren Johnson said, raising a pretend microphone to his mouth moments after the No. 12 Panthers 70-60 victory went final. Johnson was on the floor when the Panthers fell to Wakefield in last years final, marking the teams only loss that season.

Less than four miles of Jefferson Davis Highway separate Freedom and Potomac high schools in Woodbridge. Before Wednesdays region final in Alexandria, the teams had already squared off three times this season, with Potomac sweeping the previous matchups. And with that familiarity comes hostility.

Those tensions manifested themselves early. After Potomacs Armond Griebe threw down a one-handed slam midway through the first quarter, a shoving match ensued that resulted in double technical fouls on the Potomac big man and Freedoms Reginald Joiner.

A few minutes later, Potomacs Devante Bailey heaved a desperation three-point attempt that glanced gently off the top of the scoring box and fell for an improbable bank shot as the buzzer sounded to give the Panthers a 22-20 lead after one quarter. Potomac led 34-33 at halftime.

Senior Alex Ruffin led the Eagles (15-12) with 24 points and four rebounds, while sophomore James West IV, whose buzzer-beating three-pointer one night prior sealed Freedoms state tournament berth, had four threes.

Senior guard Keijon Honore led Potomac (23-3) with 18 points. His buzzer-beating floater in the lane gave the Panthers a double-digit lead to end the third quarter. After the celebratory scrum and trophy presentation, the four-year varsity player and three-year starter got the first turns with the scissors atop the ladder.

That was great, he said. That was the one thing I havent had in my career, this was one of our goals and we accomplished it as a team.

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Potomac boys basketball tops Freedom-Woodbridge to snip region title off to-do list

Republicans Internet Freedom Act would wipe out net neutrality

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US Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).

US Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) this weekfiled legislationshe calls the "Internet Freedom Act" to overturn the Federal Communications Commission's new network neutrality rules.

The FCC's neutrality rules prohibit Internet service providers from blocking or throttling Internet traffic, prohibit prioritization of traffic in exchange for payment, and require the ISPs to disclose network management practices.

These rules "shall have no force or effect, and the Commission may not reissue such rule in substantially the same form, or issue a new rule that is substantially the same as such rule, unless the reissued or new rule is specifically authorized by a law enacted after the date of the enactment of this Act," the Internet Freedom Act states.

The legislation has 31 Republican cosponsors.

Once the federal government establishes a foothold into managing how Internet service providers run their networks they will essentially be deciding which content goes first, second, third, or not at all," Blackburn said in an announcement yesterday. "My legislation will put the brakes on this FCC overreach and protect our innovators from these job-killing regulations.

In the latest election cycle, Blackburn received $25,000 from an AT&T political action committee (PAC), $20,000 from a Comcast PAC, $20,000 from a cable industry association PAC, and $15,000 from a Verizon PAC, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Blackburn'slegislation would also wipe out the FCC's decision to reclassify broadband as a common carrier service subject to some of the Title II obligations imposed on wireline telephone and mobile voice. But while Internet providers and some Republicans have claimed to support net neutrality rules while opposing Title II reclassification, this bill would not leave any network neutrality rules in place. That's not surprising, given that Blackburn has been trying to get rid of net neutrality rules for years.

Over the past year, Internet providers and Republicans have claimed that they are willing to accept the FCC enforcingnet neutrality rules without a Title II classification, even though the FCCdid just that in 2010 and still faced a lawsuit from Verizon. (Verizon won that lawsuit a year ago, forcing the FCC to reconsider how its net neutrality rules should be justified legally.) One Republican effortannounced in January would enforce a version of net neutralitywhile gutting the FCC's authority under Title II and Section 706, the latter of which was used by the FCC to preempt state laws that restrict municipal broadband projects. (Blackburn also filed legislationlast weekto overturn the municipal broadband decision.)

Blackburn's Internet Freedom Act wouldn't even enforce a weaker version of net neutrality, consistent with her past proposals. In 2011, she filed an"Internet Freedom Act" that would have struck down the FCC's original net neutrality rules that were enforced without a Title II reclassification.

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Republicans Internet Freedom Act would wipe out net neutrality

Freedom Investing Success

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The link between economic freedom and prosperity is a well-documented reality. This means that, when diversifying your portfolio with foreign holdings, you should look to the worlds freest economies.

Here is a simple thought experiment. Would you rather invest in South Korea, a world leader in electronics, telecommunications, automobile production, and shipbuilding, or in North Korea, where corruption is endemic at every level of the state and economy?

The Heritage Foundation, which ranks countries by economic freedom for the past 20 years, constantly shows that free markets produce better economies. They allocate resources more efficiently. A centralized planner cannot know and respond to all of the signals as quickly as the free markets.

For over a decade, we have advocated freedom investing, the idea that investing in countries rated high in economic freedom should produce better returns than in those with more controlled or repressed economies.

This investment strategy has proved to be successful. The freest six countries we call them the free six were Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Canada. The return of each of the free six indexes beat the return of the foreign developed markets index, MSCI EAFE.

You cant invest directly in an index, but you can invest in a product that attempts to track an index. In 2014, the average net return of iShares MSCI funds that track the free six indexes (EWH, EWS, EWA, ENZL, EWL, EWC) was 2.88%, outperforming the EAFE fund (EFA), which was in the red, by 7.92 percentage points.

Net returns reflect what remains after the deduction of tax withholding at that countrys maximum appropriate rate. In some countries, such as New Zealand, companies pay their non-domestic shareholders a bonus to compensate for the tax credit that domestic shareholders can claim.

Additionally, the returns are translated into U.S. dollars. This year that conversion hurt foreign stocks as the U.S. dollar appreciated against most currencies. If everything is measured in local currencies, the average return of the free six was much higher, 10.44%.

One more reason that makes the free six great investments is these currencies hold their value better when the dollar strengthens. Over 2014, the dollar strengthened an average of 12.79%, according to the U.S. Dollar Index, but only an average of 6.52% against the currency of the free six.

The United States used to be economically free, but fell one tier to mostly free in 2010. Still, it is the 12th freest country in the world. Also, because currency exchange is not an issue, domestic investments remain a large share of our asset allocation. For the portion of foreign stocks, we weight those countries ranked free over those with lower scores.

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Freedom Investing Success


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