PierPressure party boat hits Milford’s high seas in June – CTPost

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The party boat that, according to owner Colin Caplan, could soon become Milfords most popular summer activity, will have its maiden voyage on June 1 after a ribbon-cutting event.

We are already booked for half of the season, said Caplan.

Caplan said the company, Pedal Cruise CT, has a four-to-five-month window to be on the water, starting in June. The ribbon-cutting is scheduled for 11:30 a.m., and the maiden voyage on the PierPressure is scheduled for 12:30.

The launch is our official way of saying that we are open, said Caplan. Weve geared the event to be a celebration of Milford.

A month before the official launch, the Pedal Cruise team is preparing to be ready by June.

Weve got captains and first mates being trained. We are taking care of all the little details that people dont see, said Caplan. We want to make sure we have the safest and most fun out on the water together.

Pedal Cruise is under the Taste of New Haven umbrella, which Caplan started 11 years ago doing walking tours, then transitioned to a party bike. When his team started to hear people wanted to be on the water, they decided to bring a party boat to the area.

We had our eyes set on different harbors, but the City of Milford, theyve really been supportive of all of our ventures over the years, he said. From the party bike to supporting anything local like charities, the library, and any event that is going on in Milford. They were excited to bring a party boat to Milford Harbor.

Caplan said they have put an immense effort into finding and putting a strong staff so people can enjoy themselves while on the boat.

They are going to be committed to the boat and this operation, but they are going to be really great on customer service, he said. Our main thing is safety. Having the ability to be safe is on the forefront of our planning. If we are safe, then the fun can happen.

Safety will dictate the planned route of the boat. When there is good weather, the plan is to get out to the Long Island Sound from Milford Harbor, see Silver Sands Beach and Charles island and come back to the harbor.

If there is a lot of wind, or its a wavy day, to make the experience comfortable for everyone else, we can easily shorten that route and stay within the safety of Milford Harbor, said Caplan. People will not lose the experience with the shorter route. Milford Harbor is extremely fun.

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PierPressure party boat hits Milford's high seas in June - CTPost

Cruise the Sea in These Luxury Five-Star Pods – The Market Herald

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These luxury hotel suites will be able to sail the seas at a speed of up to 5 knots | Source: Robb Report

Fancy Travel

Delivering luxury smooth sailing, these sea pods have just revolutionised the hospitality industry.

A bit different from your average Airbnb, the motorised hotel suites will allow you to cruise the high seas from the comfort of your own room.

Founder of Lazzarini Design Studio, Pierpaolo Lazzarini, has reimagined luxury stays in the form of an emissions-free floating pod.

Watch the high seas cascade around you as you relax inside deluxe interiors. Roughly seven metres in length and with an interior of 22-square metres, the Pearlsuite pods are generously proportioned and configured for a penthouse-worthy stay.

And dont fret about safety; the pods are to be fitted with electric motors, autopilot GPS positioning systems and a gyroscope stabiliser system. Whats more is that they are self-contained and fully autonomous, complete with solar panels to power air conditioning, lighting and electrical appliances.

Lazzarini Design Studios are famed for their radical innovations in the automotive and yachting world, delivering a range of projects spanning from aerospace technology through to cyborg cars.

Prices for the Pearlsuites will vary according to the specific pod, with the highest reaching A$400,000, complete with a fridge, TV, bed and private outdoor deck. There is also ample storage space in the pods hull for gear and equipment.

For those who have high standards of luxury living and also a love for the ocean, the Pearlsuite pods may be exactly what you are looking for in your next holiday.

If youre looking for more luxury stays, check out La Mamounia: Moroccos Finest Luxury Hotel or a new luxury hotel in Tasmania.

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On the high seas with Engineers Australia’s Young Engineering Associate of the Year – Create – create digital

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I chose a career in engineering because right from a young age, I would spend time with my dad working on our boat, installing and fixing both mechanical and electrical systems, Damien Richards told create.

Joining the Navy straight out of school at 17, he went through the trade route and undertook his training at HMAS Cerberus, located on Victorias Mornington Peninsula.

As a Marine Technician, we have three trade streams propulsion, hull and electrical with the opportunity to specialise within these streams he said.

Once you have chosen your trade, youre considered the subject matter expert in that particular stream and your career development is focussed on further developing these skills.

You will be posted into billets that focus on the utilisation and upskilling of your specialisation to maintain and operate that particular equipment, but theres always an expectation that you can and will be called upon to assist with any maintenance or defect rectification activity, he said.

Richards first posting after training was HMAS Cairns, before then serving a number of years on the landing craft heavy (LCH) HMAS Wewak.

I was promoted from Seamen, to Able Seaman and then Leading Seaman on the same vessel, which was quite fortunate for me, as I absolutely loved that posting, he said.

Richards did another three postings before being sent to his current role as Senior Instructor at HMAS Creswell in Jervis Bay, NSW, teaching at the School of Survivability and Ship Safety.

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‘Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War’ Ending Explained: Is Togusa compromised? – MEAWW

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If you've been waiting to see Major Kusanagi and Batou in action in Season 2 of 'Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045', you might have to hold out until the premiere of the season. However, to stay up to date about the events of Season 1, 'Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War' is here. In the movie, which is essentially a retelling of season 1, Major Motoko Kusanagi and Batou encounter the emergence of posthumans, a seemingly impossible threat to stop.

If you're looking for other anime series on Netflix, you might want to consider -- 'Record of Ragnorok', 'Yasuke', 'Seven Deadly Sins' and 'Eden'.

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As seen in the movie and in Season 1, posthumans are extremely intelligent and have extreme physical powers, making them impossible to stop. As Kusanagi goes back to Japan to deal with three posthumans, they also encounter a string of deaths taking place across the country. While these deaths seem random as first, they soon realize that it is all connected via Thinkpol, a programme that allows the public to act as judge and executioner -- where people are allowed to deliver punishment to those they believe are criminals or who deserve it.

They soon realise that the programme was developed by a posthuman named Takashi Shimura, a high school student. As with all posthumans so far, they seem to be determined to deliver their brand of absolute justice and will go to any means to achieve it. Determined to find out what led to Shimura becoming a posthuman, Batou and Togusa go to investigate his aunty and uncle's home in Kyoto which has long been abandoned.

It is here that Togusa alone is able to discover what shaped Shimura into the person he is -- the death of his cousin had a profound impact on him, along with George Orwell's book, 1984. Followed by the suicide of his classmate, Shimura was now ready for an ongoing war. While Togusa believes he's a spectator of the events of the past, Shimura acknowledges his presence and asks him to join him. With Togusa mysteriously gone, Batou and Kusanagi are yet to deal with the rise of the posthumans and the motives of Suzuka Mizukane, which is yet to be revealed.

'Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War' premieres on Netflix on May 9, 2022. The movie will be followed by the release of 'Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045' Season 2 on May 23.

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'Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War' Ending Explained: Is Togusa compromised? - MEAWW

Vaping advocacy group launches an art installation in Brussels to tell policymakers that flavours matter – Yahoo Finance

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Flavours Matter mural in Brussels

Members of World Vapers Alliance hold the missing puzzle piece on the mural that says Flavours help smokers quit (Les Saveurs Aident les Fumeurs Arrter)

MEP Pietro Fiocchi attending Flavours Matter demonstration in Brussels

Members of World Vapers Alliance together with MEP Pietro Fiocchi in front of the mural that says Flavours Matter

Brussels, Belgium, May 11, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A global alliance of vapers gathered in Brussels today to call on European policymakers to stand against possible bans on vape flavours. The World Vapers Alliance (WVA) displayed an art installation in front of the European Parliament with a simple message Flavours help smokers quit.

This marks the third event of WVAs Europe-wide campaign #FlavoursMatter. The campaign was launched with one aim: to show policymakers in Europe and across the world that vape flavours are instrumental for smoking cessation. The group hosted demonstrations in Stockholm, Sweden and the Hague, Netherlands in March 2022. Shortly after the demonstration, a postponement of the dutch vape flavour ban by six months was announced in the Netherlands.

Flavours play a crucial role in helping consumers quit smoking millions of Europeans have already stopped by switching to vaping. The variety of flavours is one of the most important reasons many people switch to e-cigarettes and never go back to smoking. We have already seen that vaping works! It helped millions of people change their lives and now, we need policies to catch up. Therefore, we are delighted that some MEPs are with us and help to defend vaping flavours, says Michael Landl, director of World Vapers' Alliance.

The installation was attended by Member of the European Parliament Pietro Fiocchi.

We all agree that not smoking is the best choice, but we also know very well that tax increases and limitations are not working solutions! I do strongly believe that alternative systems to traditional smoking are the biggest instrument to greatly reduce the percentage of lung diseases and cancer! Any ideological approach against such systems is negative and against any scientific data!, said Fiocchi.

Consumers from across Europe can join the campaign to make their voices heard and also contact their political representatives via WVAs action centers and share their vaping stories to convince policymakers to avoid flavour bans: https://worldvapersalliance.com/flavours-matter/

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We need to raise our voice and tell policymakers about all the positive effects flavours play in helping smokers quit. The data shows that adults who vape flavoured e-cigarettes are 230% more likely to quit smoking than those who use unflavoured e-cigarettes, and we have to make sure that this is taken into account when the next regulations are drafted. That is why we are here in Brussels with one simple message: flavours matter! added Landl.

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Vaping advocacy group launches an art installation in Brussels to tell policymakers that flavours matter - Yahoo Finance

Hawaii Bill to Ban Flavored Vapes Awaits Governor’s Signature – Filter

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On May 3, the Hawaii House of Representatives passed legislation that would ban the sale of flavored vaping products. Previously passed by the Senate, the bill now moves to the desk of Governor David Ige, a Democrat. If he signs it, Hawaii will become the fifth state to prohibit flavored e-cigarettes, joining Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts.

Described as surviving a rollercoaster legislative session by Honolulu Civil Beat, House Bill 1570 passed the House with the needed two-thirds majority36 state representatives voted in favor, 15 in oppositionand launched a debate that could pit the state against federal policy.

The lingering issue at hand concerns whether or not to retain the bills current PMTA exemptiona carveout, inserted by the Senate, to allow any flavored vaping products that might in future be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), through its premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) process. Amid widespread scapegoating of flavors for a supposed youth vaping crisis, the FDA has authorized no flavored products so far.

The industry and consumer advocates, of course, oppose the bill on the grounds that it will strip from the market the flavored products that adults prefer to help them switch from cigarettesdeterring the adoption of safer products and prompting current vapers to potentially return to smoking. According to the CDC, Hawaiis Hispanic and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander populations have historically had the states highest smoking rates, and young adults smoke more than older adults. Around 1,400 people in Hawaii die of smoking-related causes each year.

The most zealous political supporters of a total ban, he said, are going so far as to poison-pill this bill so that they can come back in January without an exemption.

The supporters of the flavor ban appear split over the PMTA exemption. While some accept it as a logical compromise, public health nonprofits and some governmental bodies, including Hawaiis Department of Health, have argued that the exemption would favor tobacco companies with the resources to get FDA authorization for their vaping products. They therefore think the current bill doesnt go far enough, and want instead to prepare legislation that permanently bans all flavors, regardless of what the FDA decides. With the PMTA carveout, if any flavored vaping products achieve FDA authorizationa feat that seems increasingly improbablethose could legally be sold in Hawaii.

What blows my mind is youre seeing the state [potentially] superseding the FDA on public health decisions, Scott Rasak, the chief operating officer of JOCOR Distro, which distributes vaping products throughout Hawaii, told Filter. The most zealous political supporters of a total ban, he said, are going so far as to poison-pill this bill so that they can come back in January without an exemption in there. Its baffling to me.

Its currently uncertain, as Rasak explained, which way Governor Ige will go.

We havent made any progress on this issue in six-plus years of trying, Representative Scot Matayoshi, a Democrat who introduced the original vaping bill in January 2021, told Filter. This is the only bill thats made it this far.

I lost a fierce ally in the SenateSenator Roz Bakerwho is not running for re-election, so I dont think wed make much progress next year if this were to die completely, he continued. This is probably our last shot in the foreseeable future of doing this.

Rep. Yamane is not alone in finding the bill legally questionable.

Hawaiis flavor-ban bill has been contentious from the start. It has received outsized attention in recent months after state Representative Ryan Yamane, a Democrat who has gotten funds from tobacco and vaping companies, suggested adding amendments like establishing a standardized and scientific testing process to determine whether flavors are actually present in products. Yamane argued that the amendments would have prevented potential lawsuits. But he didnt get his wish, and thats how Hawaii ended up with the current version of the bill: The Senate assured Rep. Matayoshi that Yamanes amendments would be removed, and the body kept its promise, returning the bill essentially to its original form for a final House vote.

But Yamane is not alone in finding the bill legally questionable. The state attorney generals office has warned that it might be flawed in another way. Because the bill is titled Relating to the Youth Vaping Epidemic but also bans all flavored tobacco products, like menthol cigarettes, it may leave itself open to a constitutional challenge, as the Constitution of the State of Hawaii mandates that [e]ach law shall embrace but one subject, which shall be expressed in its title. All tobacco products, in other words, goes beyond the scope of the title.

Public health activist groups, as well as the anti-harm-reduction bureaucrats at the Hawaii Department of Health, are up in arms about the exemption for PMTA products, Greg Conley, the president of the American Vaping Association (AVA), told Filter. Their reasons for opposing this billnot enough products are bannedare diametrically opposed to ours, but we now appear to be on the same side. Governor Ige should veto this bill.

Photograph by Edmund Garman via Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0

AVA has provided donations to The Influence Foundation, which operates Filter. Filters Editorial Independence Policy applies.

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Hawaii Bill to Ban Flavored Vapes Awaits Governor's Signature - Filter

How To Vape Responsibly At Concerts And Festivals – Metal Injection

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Its nearly concert and festival season! With the sun shining and COVID-19 no longer cancelling plans, many people are now preparing to brave the crowds and make up for lost time.

If youre planning to vape at an upcoming concert or festival, it helps to know the rules that surround certain venues and locations. For venues that do allow e-cigarettes, adhering to vaping etiquette is essential. In this guide, well be sharing all of the tips, tricks and extra info you need to know about vaping at concerts and festivals to help you have the best possible experience.

While e-cigarettes are evidenced to be 95% less harmful than cigarettes, not all public spaces allow vaping, so make sure to double-check that the event youre going to does beforehand.

However, most if not all events will have a designated smoking and vaping area which is usually separate from the venue. Some venues may request that you make your way towards this area or they may ask you to step outside the venue entirely.

As a rule of thumb, avoid vaping in queues and enclosed spaces where your vapour can blow directly into other peoples faces. More on this below!

As vaping has become more socially accepted within recent years, travelling abroad with e-cigarettes and to events has become a lot easier. By practicing vaping social etiquette, youre helping to continue this support that the vaping community needs! Heres our top tips on how to enjoy vaping at music events while respecting those around you.

When youre vaping around others, its important to remain spatially aware and be mindful that not everyone will appreciate vapour being blown into their face. You may also want to pay attention to the weather if its a particularly windy day, the people in front of you or behind you could be met with a face full of unwanted vapour.

Before exhaling, take a moment to quickly check around you, and try blowing in the opposite direction of people if you can. That way, you can reduce the chances of annoying your fellow concert-goers. If all else fails, exhale upwards!

One of the major benefits of switching from smoking to vaping is the endless e-liquid flavour choice. From candy and dessert flavours to fruit, drinks, and more, the vaping industry has gone above and beyond when it comes to creativity.

Equally, vape kits have become part of this vast customisability. Theres now thousands of models to choose from, all designed for different needs and experience levels.

While not mandatory, we highly recommend bringing discreet e-liquids and vape devices such as pod kits and disposables. Since these types of devices are much more lightweight, youll be doing both yourself and others a favour!

Unless you were previously a heavy smoker, most vapers do not need to use their device constantly. If youre someone who vapers very frequently, you could try setting yourself various intervals in which you can vape for a period of time before putting it away. For example, you could vape heavily over the space of a couple of minutes and repeat this process every hour.

Stealth vaping is all about staying low-key. Theres nothing wrong with being a loud and proud vaper, but when youre in a crowd, this wont always go down well. Before attending your event, try practising some stealth vaping techniques.

One discreet vaping method is to lower your vapes battery power. Most if not all vape kits now allow you to easily adjust your devices battery power, which in turn will scale down your vapour. This wont necessarily affect the intensity of your flavours, but rather the amount of clouds that you produce.

Another well-known stealth vaping trick is to inhale and hold before exhaling. The longer you hold, the less visible the vapour will be when you exhale. Many vapers also choose to exhale through their nose while around large crowds of people.

Depending on where you are, you can always try to exhale into your clothing or into a tissue. This may feel slightly odd to begin with, but its a trick that most vapers master quickly.

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Connecting The Community To Fight An Epidemic – liherald.com

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by Marcella Bianco

(NAPSI)According to recent research by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 2 million middle- and high-school students use e-cigarettes. With the study conducted fully during the COVID-19 pandemic, this places U.S. youth in a pandemic and an epidemic.

Nicotine hurts the developing brain and this addiction can lead to others. Whats more, vaping increases a persons chance of experiencing complications from upper respiratory illnesses, and some researchers believe a relationship exists between vaping and serious respiratory impacts, such as those from COVID-19. While a network of solutions is required to overcome this epidemic, there are actions people can each take today.

Families play a critical role in influencing a childs decision-making. Parents and guardians can help keep their kids healthy by having thoughtful, factual conversations about the dangers of vaping. For assistance getting started, parents and guardians can turn to no-cost digital tools from Be Vape Freea nationwide initiative, built around the evidence-based CATCH My Breath program, that provides standards-aligned e-cigarette prevention resources for educators teaching grades 5-12 and families. Be Vape Free was created in partnership with the CVS Health Foundation, CATCH Global Foundation, and Discovery Education.

The parent toolkit is designed to give parents, guardians, educators, and community members the opportunity to learn more about the vaping epidemic, gauge a childs risk of trying e-cigarettes and find the best strategy to talk to kids about the dangers of e-cigarettes. Chock-full of facts and research, these resources have just about everything families need to empower students to live a healthy life. With the toolkit, families can answer key questions related to vaping including:

What is vaping?

Why do teens vape?

What do vapes look like?

What are in vapes?

What are the effects of vaping?

What are signs of vaping?

With this informational foundation, parents and guardians can connect with their kids to initiate conversations about the dangers of e-cigarettes based on facts. Togetherone conversation, one day, and one student at a timewe can end the vaping epidemic by arming young people with the tools they need to make healthy, smart decisions, and impart lessons that last a lifetime.

Ms Bianco is the National Program Director for the CATCH My Breath youth e-cigarette prevention program. She has 18 years of experience working in tobacco prevention and control with government and non-profit organizations.

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Calgary convenience store faces dozens of charges related to sale of vaping products – Global News

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A northeast business has been charged with selling vaping products to minors.

The owner and manager of Gemini Convenience Store in the Pineridge community face 42 counts of violating the Tobacco, Smoking and Vaping Reduction Act. Charges include selling vaping products to minors and failing to request ID from customers under 25.

Business license inspectors and the Calgary Police Service were involved in the investigation after members of the public complained to 311.

I would like to thank those that reached out to us via 311 and would encourage others to do the same, if they learn of a business selling smoking and vaping products to minors, Michael Briegel, the citys chief business license inspector, said in a statement. It is important that we protect the health of young people age requirements are in place for these products for a reason.

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If convicted, Maple Gifts and Confectionary Enterprise Ltd., Nupar Vasistha and Sudhakar Tandon could face fines of up to $10,000 for the first offence and $100,000 for subsequent ones.

The city also said it will conduct a business license review of Gemini Convenience, given the seriousness of the charges.

2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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Calgary convenience store faces dozens of charges related to sale of vaping products - Global News

Over vaping devices, New Trier High School refers students to local police, who have issued dozens of tickets in last 3 years – The Record – The…

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New Trier High School is among numerous Illinois schools that refer students to local law enforcement following certain on-campus transgressions, as revealed on April 28 in a thorough investigation by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune.

The report explains how students in districts across the state face fines and court appearances for relatively minor in-school offenses, even though a state law prohibits schools from fining students as a form of discipline.

According to the reports findings, over the most recent three school years (2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21), Winnetka and Northfield police combined to issue 62 citations (Winnetka: 56; Northfield: 6) to New Trier students for violations occurring on school grounds.

School officials told The Record that a vast majority of the citations were part of an initiative to curb student use of vaping devices to consume nicotine and marijuana. Other districts in Illinois, according to the articles research, refer students to local law enforcement for violations such as truancy, littering and vulgar language, among other things.

A day after the investigation was published, Illinois State Board of Education Superintendent Dr. Carmen Ayala sent a letter to all Illinois school leaders, urging them to immediately stop enabling the fining of students.

Alaya wrote in the letter that fines can have a tangible impact on the safety, security, and wellbeing of an entire family and that multiple laws in Illinois intend to prohibit the ticketing of students as a form of discipline.

However, some schools have found loopholes between the Illinois School Code and the Municipal Code and abdicated their responsibility for student discipline to local law enforcement, she says.

New Trier Superintendent Dr. Paul Sally said the district will review its policies in response to Ayalas letter, but he does not believe referring offending students to police runs afoul of the state laws in all cases.

Sally added that he understands scrutiny for law-enforcement involvement in certain in-school offenses, such as truancy, but believes the districts policy to combat vaping devices aligns with the health and safety priorities of the community.

The shared interest for our community is keeping our adolescents healthy, Sally wrote in an email to The Record. The Village has a vested interest in partnering with us to put policies, procedures, and ordinances in place that promote and support the health and safety of our students. To that end, we follow local ordinances when it comes to engaging the police on violations such as nicotine and THC possession, and in the aim to help students learn and grow, the primary consequences the police use are community service and peer jury.

In 2018, Sally said, New Trier student usage of vaping devices more than doubled from 19 percent in both 2014 and 2016 to 42 percent leading to a new district strategy involving local law enforcement.

A district memo to the School Board in August 2018 mentions fines and court appearances as possible consequences for vape usage or possession.

To address this issue along with an increase in marijuana usage due to vaping, we made curricular and policy changes with the goal of educating students about the risks, helping them make informed choices, and when appropriate, providing a consequence, Sally wrote.

In the memo, Asst. Superintendent for Student Services Tim Hayes wrote that addressing the vaping concerns requires a community-wide approach and reported that beginning that school year the district would notify its school-resource officers who are employees of the local police departments when a student is found in possession of a vaping device or e-cigarette.

Our hope is that these citations will provide an additional incentive for students to cease using these devices, Hayes wrote.

Winnetka Police Chief Marc Hornstein said the school resource officers have discretion on whether to issue a citation, which may include a fine if the offending student is under the age of 18. A fine does not accompany a marijuana citation, he said, but $75 is the departments standard fine for underage tobacco use. Hornstein added, however, that in most cases fines are waived in favor of community service or peer jury deliberation. A court hearing fee of $40, though, may still apply.

Sally said that the strategy has reduced student vaping on school grounds.

Hornstein told The Record that the Winnetka Police Department does not typically work with Winnetka Public Schools District 36 to issue tickets to students. Neither does the Wilmette Police Department, according to Chief Kyle Murphy, who said most Wilmette schools handle disciplinary issues in-house and the goal of both the district and police department is to avoid citing students unless it is necessary to open the door for a specific course of action.

Officials from Glencoe D35 and Avoca D37 agreed and said they do not refer minor in-school violations to local police.

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Editorial: It’s already too easy to addict kids to vaping. SC bill would make it worse. – Charleston Post Courier

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Over the weekend, a coalition of public health groups ran full-page ads in The Post and Courier and other S.C. newspapers warning against an effort in the state Senate to strip cities and counties of their right to do a job the Legislature refuses to do: regulating tobacco company efforts to addict teens.

The American Cancer Society, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and American Lung and Heart associations worry that the Senate will use the confusion of the final few days of the legislative session to pass H.3681, which would prohibit local governments from regulating cigarette, vape or other tobacco flavors or ingredients, and block these governments from requiring local licenses to sell tobacco products.

On its face, the bill appears long dead. Although the House passed it in 2021 and the Senate pulled it out of committee without so much as a public hearing, its been stuck on the Senate contested calendar for more than a year. Thats normally a sure sign of a bill thats going nowhere absent a compromise that all sides buy into. Normally, but not always.

Public health officials are concerned that the bill will suddenly be resurrected and passed this week. That might sound paranoid, but its actually quite common for lawmakers to wait until the end of the session to try to sneak through legislation they know the public would oppose. Activists say theyre hearing too much buzz about H.3681 to ignore. (And yes, we realize that it's popular for special-interest groups to claim to be under attack when theyre really not in order to raise money, but the anti-tobacco advocates arent trying to raise money; theyve been at the Statehouse furiously working the Senate to prevent the legislation from being brought back to life.)

So while we hope any effort to sneak the legislation onto Gov. Henry McMasters desk will fizzle and that if it doesnt, hell veto it its worth taking the time to explain what H.3681 is all about.

Its supporters say they want to ensure that tobacco laws are uniform across the state, but in fact they have fought efforts to have a uniform statewide law that would help enforce the law that prohibits tobacco use by minors. H.3754 would treat tobacco sales more like alcohol sales, requiring businesses to get a license to sell the products and empowering the state to revoke those licenses if they dont guard against selling tobacco to minors. Thats important because, according to the American Heart Association, three-quarters of kids who try to buy tobacco products succeed.

Tobacco companies have kept the tobacco licensing bill locked in subcommittee for two years because uniform tobacco laws isnt their goal. Their goal is to ensure that nothing is done in South Carolina to reduce sales of tobacco products even products that are deliberately manipulated to entice children to use them.

South Carolina has one of the nation's highest rates of teen nicotine use, and vaping has powered an uptick in youth tobacco use nationally. The CDC says nearly all high school students who use tobacco products use flavored products, so that's why some local governments want to prohibit the sales of such products.

The vaping pre-emption bill also is the latest in a long string of bills to strip elected city and county council members of the right to govern their communities. Such bills start out with a leg up at the Statehouse regardless of the underlying topic because too many legislators believe they know more about what should happen in local communities than the people who are elected to govern those communities.

Either the assault on local governments or the assault on public health would be reason enough to let this legislation die when the Legislature adjourns Thursday. The combination of the two makes it nearly criminal that anyone would seriously consider pushing it into law.

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Britain May Officially License Vapes as Smoking Cessation Medical Products – Vaping Post

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The British Medical Association supports these developments and has suggested that e-cigarettes are licensed as medicine.

In my review I have considered a range of critical interventions that will make the most difference. For example, Ive looked at the promotion of vaping as a less harmful alternative; a greater role for the NHS in ending smoking and the need to tackle illicit tobacco sales, said Khan in response to his appointment.

Tobacco is the single largest cause of preventable illness and death, with a quarter of deaths from all cancers estimated to be from smoking in 2019. Despite national progress such as the ban on indoor smoking implemented in 2007, smoking remains very high in certain parts of the country particularly in poorer areas.

I have been tasked by the Health and Social Care Secretary to help the government achieve its ambition to be smokefree by 2030. The evidence is clear that taking action on smoking will be critical to dramatically improving the health and wealth of the nation.

The UK has long been a leader in endorsing the use of safer alternative nicotine products for smoking cessation, and as a result the nation has the lowest smoking rates ever recorded since cigarettes arrived on the scene decades ago.

Back in 2017 the UK governments document released last Summer, Towards a Smokefree Generation, A Tobacco Control Plan for England, encouraged different localities to develop their own tobacco control strategies, with a focus on e-cigarettes and other harm reduction or smoking cessation aides

The British Medical Association supports these developments and has suggested that e-cigarettes are licensed as medicine, allowing doctors to recommend them to smokers trying to quit.

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Britain May Officially License Vapes as Smoking Cessation Medical Products - Vaping Post

What labour and trade union agenda should the new Colombian government and Congress pursue? Here are some proposals – Equal Times

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In Colombia, we have recently seen alternative forces make significant headway in the configuration of the new Congress of the Republic and, according to the most recent polls, left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro could become the new president of Colombia.

Given this favourable political outlook, it is essential that we present the proposals advocated by the National Trade Union School (ENS) and the trade union movement for consideration by the new congress and potential new government with an anti-neoliberal perspective as part of their political and legislative agendas on labour and trade unions. If we manage to turn these proposals into public policy objectives of the new government and the recently elected Congress of the Republic, we will progressively be able to make the principles of ever more decent work a reality in our country.

The starting point for making decent work a reality in Colombia would be to ensure compliance with the law and those rulings of the Constitutional Court that prohibit all forms of labour intermediation through Associated Work Cooperatives, foundations and other unauthorised organisations, and to curb abusive labour intermediation practices by temporary service companies. The state, for its part, should set an example of respect for labour standards by avoiding subcontracting and prioritising the direct employment of the staff who carry out missions in the public sector.

An issue of great concern in Colombia is the commercialisation of social security. A new system needs to be designed that is not driven by the market, and that is public, universal, solidarity-based and preventive.

What are the building blocks of this new social security and protection model? First of all, we need to remove the false social protection floor introduced by the government of President Ivn Duque, which has made working conditions ever more precarious. We also need to establish a public, universal and solidarity-based health system with a preventive rather than reactive approach. Another building block is the pension system, which should be predominantly public and based on the average premium (intergenerational solidarity) approach, to guarantee real retirement pensions. As regards occupational health and safety, the system should restore its true purpose of promoting health and preventing illness and death at work. We also recommend studying the possibility of introducing a basic income, at least on an emergency basis, to urgently address the terrible hunger crisis affecting over 21 million people in Colombia.

With regard to the right to freedom of association one of the dimensions of decent work Colombia must honour the international commitments undertaken by its governments (Obama-Santos Labour Action Plan, Roadmap with the European Union, OECD commitments), and implement the recommendations of international organisations such as the ILO, the rulings of the Supreme Court and constitutional mandates. More specifically, multilevel and sectoral collective bargaining needs to be developed, as recommended by the OECD, and so-called collective pacts prohibited in companies where trade unions are present, as recommended by the ILO.

In addition, Article 56 of the constitution needs to be regulated to define what is meant by essential public services and to prevent the few strikes that take place in the country from being declared illegal on unreasonable grounds.

The resources that the state dedicates to the supervision of employers obligations to ensure labour justice are far below the standards set by the international organisations to which Colombia belongs. The number of labour inspectors is 55 per cent lower than that indicated by the International Labour Organization and the ratio of labour judges to population is 83 per cent lower than the average for OECD countries, for example. Between 1993 and 2019, the number of labour cases increased by 177 per cent, but the number of labour judges remained unchanged. To ensure greater effectiveness of the Ministry of Labours inspection and monitoring responsibilities, the number of inspectors needs to be increased in line with international standards, and both a preventive approach and a rights protection approach should be adopted. More labour judges need to be appointed, and efficient and expeditious mechanisms for access to labour justice should be established to ensure the defence and restitution of labour rights and freedoms that are violated.

A promise left unfulfilled for more than 30 years by the Congress of the Republic is to bring the labour legislation into line with a series of principles set out in Article 53 of the political constitution. One of the priorities the new Congress should set itself is to fulfil this constitutional mandate, which also states that duly ratified international labour conventions should form part of the national legislation.

Given the lack of progress in overcoming gender discrimination in the countrys labour practices, an employment policy with a differentiated approach is needed aimed at promoting and protecting womens employment. The coronavirus pandemic had a highly negative impact on female employment. Although women have been progressing in terms of their levels of participation in education and labour, when faced with social emergencies they return to the home to take care of the family, as indicated by macro employment data. In view of this, urgent action needs to be taken to develop a national policy on the care economy, so that care work is democratised and women do not continue to be the only solution to care needs.

It is also important to include, as part of a differentiated approach, the Ministry of Labours inspection and monitoring of employment in care-related activities, as these are the activities that employ women in the main. The vast majority of domestic work positions are for example occupied by women (94 per cent), and it is a line of work that presents many challenges in terms of the protection of decent work.

Likewise, when promoting the creation of new formal jobs in the country, a differentiated approach should be included in the supply generated, since not only is there a higher level of self-employment among women, but the implications are much more complex due to the structural conditions in which women find themselves in Colombia.

Another pending issue is the anti-union violence that still prevails in our country, targeting trade union activists and leaders.

Coordinated action is needed to change this reality and should aim at eradicating the anti-union culture that legitimises violence; fostering recognition that ending anti-union violence is essential to ensuring non-repetition of the conflict; ending the high levels of impunity that limit victims access to truth and justice; promoting collective and comprehensive reparation for the trade union movement and reflection on the need, legitimacy and importance of the free exercise of trade union activity as a fundamental prerequisite for strengthening democracy and building peace.

Finally, measures are required to address the issue of digital platform work, which takes place in the context of high levels of illegality, precariousness and labour flexibility. These digital and virtual forms of work present major challenges in terms of legal frameworks, as they are not regulated by labour law but by commercial law. Digital work is an unavoidable trend, but labour regulation needs to be the only regulation that applies to these new forms of work organisation. Moreover, not only should employment relations be regulated by labour law; they should also include social protection for all the workers.

A key task for the new government is to rethink the development model that has governed us for more than 30 years, with appalling results. Stable and well-paid employment is only possible if the state implements policies that promote the full development of the countrys productive forces, with emphasis on scientific and technological progress, economic diversification and social, economic and transport infrastructure.

The new development model must guarantee freedom of enterprise but with a leading role for the state in guaranteeing social security; in regulating finance, trade and markets; and in boosting the productive economy.

The state must guarantee access to sufficient credit for productive investment in agriculture, industry, responsible mining, energy, communications and transport, rather than continuing to base our economy on mining and energy extraction activities, the export of primary products and financial-speculative rationales that contribute very little to employment and account for the high levels of informal employment in street sales and the subsistence economy.

This article has been translated from Spanish.

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What labour and trade union agenda should the new Colombian government and Congress pursue? Here are some proposals - Equal Times

Freedom From Fear: Anxiety and Depression Resource Organization

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Freedom From Fear is a nationalnon-profit 501 (c) (3) mental health advocacy organization that was founded in 1984 by Mary Guardino on Staten Island at 308 Seaview Avenue, Staten Island New York, 10305. Freedom From Fear's mission is to positively impact the lives of all those affected by anxiety, depression, and related disorders through advocacy, education, research, and community support. On this website you will find comprehensive mental health information and resources.

For information regarding our affiliated treatment center, Clinical Management Consultants, please click the treatment tab. The treatment center specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders, major depression, and bipolar disorder, in children and adolescents as well. There areno treatment servicesfor substance abuse, schizophrenia or other serious mental illnesses, butwe can help an individual in finding a facility that can address these problems.

Spring 2020 NewsletterWinter 2019/2020 NewsletterFall 2019 Newsletter

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Real People. Real Treatments. Real Success Stories.

Freedom From Fear is a national not-for-profit mental health advocacy organization. Mary Guardino founded FFF in 1984as an outgrowth of her own personal experiences having suffered from anxiety and depressive illnesses for more than 25 years.

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Freedom From Fear: Anxiety and Depression Resource Organization

FREEDOM: Is it just another ‘F’ word now? – Millard County Chronicle Progress

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(Editors Note: The references to guns below is meant to illustrate a Constitutional right that could easily be stripped from citizens at the whimsy of the U.S. Supreme Court, depending upon its makeup. The hyperbole is meant to illustrate the deranged turn in our countrys politics and the threat of violence posed by it. The latest example being the likely decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and the near-certain conniption to follow.)

The Princess, er, publisher has made a decree: I shall not write an opinion piece regarding the recent leak from the Supreme Court of a draft opinion that, if made final, would overturn Roe v. Wade. Thats the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that first gave women the right to end a pregnancy without undo government interference. Overturning that decision will secure a long-sought victory for anti-abortion crusaders. But it would also strip away from millions of women a hard-fought, Constitutionally-protected right granted 50 years ago.

So, in lieu of that controversial subject, I will instead opine to you today aboutFREEDOM.

We Americans love our freedoms.

And it is true, compared to many nations, they are vast.

And they are palpable, substantial. You can hold them in your hands and in your hearts. Guns, for example. We love our guns, quite often more than life itself!

You want to hold your FREEDOM in your hand, really feel it? Press the cold, brushed steel of that pistol you own against your bare chest. Cock it. Aim it at the face in the mirror. So many people in lands faraway have never, and likely will never, feel such raw, visceral power in the palm of their hands.

Sexy, right?

Ok then. Caress that scoped rifle you used this winter to secure meat for your family. Thank it as you gaze longingly into the glass eyes of that horned head that once sat atop that God given natural bounty whose life you gloriously stole to fill your familys bellies. Not only did that little piece of American FREEDOM provide rustic decor for your living room, it also turned the rest of that carcass into rock hard steaks stacked neatly in your Second Amendment freezer.

Your freedom felled that beast as much as your selection of ammo and patient aim. And if the government wants to strip you of that right, theyll have to rip those guns from your cold, dead hands. Am I right? FREEDOM!

We have so much freedom in America, some of us dont even know what do with all of it.

Voting, for example.

Its election season. The right to vote is a big freedom. Its the freedom to select the candidate who you think will best serve your interests or your communitys interests in Washington, D.C., or in Salt Lake City or on the school board or the county commission.

The opposite is also true.

Your vote can signal your displeasure at an elected official, that they have disappointed you or failed to live up to their promise. You have the freedom to dispatch them with your ballot like an elk unlucky enough to stumble into your gun sights.

You can now proudly don that ubiquitous I Voted! sticker right on your bare chest, prance around, gun in hand, and gloat to any who will listen about how you helped send some dirty liberal hippie right into a private-sector lobbying gig thatll pay him or her six times what they earned as an elected official. Congratulations!

Of course, some choose to exercise this freedom in a very odd way, as an almost lazy protestation to NOT vote at all. Curious choice to be sure. But hey, thats American FREEDOM for you.

Better yet, given what we know about gerrymandering and the January 6 insurrection and the proliferation of 24/7 political propagandaright and left, but mostly rightyou have the freedom to support some candidate who is literally working to make sure your vote counts less and less and maybe even disappears altogether in the not too distant future.

Dont like Democracy? Want to overturn a free and fair election? Vote for Me, Im Mike Lee!

NOW THAT IS WHAT I CALL FREEDOM!!!

This paper you hold in your hands, this very opinion, which has you probably shaking your head right about now, is also the product of freedom. Better believe it!

The blood spilled to make it all possible has long since seeped into hallowed ground. But get it, freedom allows me to tell you how I feel, what I think, pick and choose which facts to lay out to you to support my case, maybe even flat out lie to you, just for fun and profit if I so choose.

And you have the freedom to disagree, call me an idiot or a liar, find your own facts to support your own opinion, write me an angry letter, or quietly inquire about my mental health in a discreet phone call to the Princess.

Now if that aint FREEDOM, I dont know what is.

But get this, too: FREEDOMS, once granted, are extremely difficult to take away.

You want to stifle my freedom to express myself, share my opinion, tell you or some loony anti-democratic senator what I really think of them? See the part above about guns, if thats your wish.

You want to water down my vote, or worse, start seriously threatening legitimate elections with nonsense about fraud and Chinese ballots and voting machines controlled by dead Venezuelans, huh? Well, then there might be a fight brewing. No, no, there IS a fight brewing.

And how about that forbidden subject mentioned at the beginning?

For 50 years American women have had a freedom. Love it or hate it, its theirs and theirs alone. They fought for it. A lot of them arguably died for it. And if you or your government representatives, or the judges who lied about it to win their lifetime seats, want to take it away, good luck with that. Youre gonna have one helluva fight on your hands.

Because thats how FREEDOM in America works.

See the part above about guns again if youre still confused about that.

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FREEDOM: Is it just another 'F' word now? - Millard County Chronicle Progress

Albuquerque Summerfest and Freedom 4th Headliners Announced – City of Albuquerque

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May 11, 2022 -The Department of Arts & Culture's Albuquerque Summerfest concert series and Freedom 4th will feature a variety of national touring groups and diverse local performers. The excitement kicks off with Heights Summerfest on Saturday, June 11 at North Domingo Baca Park with headliner Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

Other headliners include Las Cafeteras at Route 66 Summerfest on Saturday, July 23 and Yacht Rock Revue at Downtown Summerfest on Saturday, August 6. Westside Summerfest on Saturday, August 20 will be dedicated to promoting local talent and will feature Albuquerque bands on two stages. Each event will also feature local bands, local businesses with handcrafted products, food trucks, free activities for children, and libations created by breweries, wineries, and distilleries.

Shenandoah is set to headline Freedom 4th at Balloon Fiesta Park on Monday, July 4. Fueled by Marty Raybons distinctive vocals and the bands skilled musicianship, Shenandoah became well known for delivering such hits as Two Dozen Roses," Church on Cumberland Road, and Next to You, Next to Me. The band has left a potent legacy in country music with more than 300 million streams, over 8 million combined album sales, and 13 No. 1 radio singles over the course of more than three decades. Today that legacy continues as Shenandoah embarks on their 35th anniversary tour.

Freedom 4th will also feature the brightest fireworks show in the state, food, local beer, and free activities for kids.

Albuquerque Summerfest and Freedom 4th are free and open to the public. More details on each specific event can be found at http://www.cultureabq.com. Sponsors include iHeart Radio and Lucky Boyz Limousine.

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Albuquerque Summerfest and Freedom 4th Headliners Announced - City of Albuquerque

Russian Dissent Then and Now: ‘For Your Freedom and Ours’ – The Moscow Times

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In early April four Russian student editors of a university website called DOXA were put on trial in Moscow. The students at the Higher School of Economics had been under house arrest for a year for encouraging minors to engage in life-threatening activities expressing their views at a protest rally. All the same, the newspaper kept working. In the weeks immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the DOXA website was an important source of independent information about the war.

We have stopped taking responsibility for what is happening in our country, declared one of the DOXA editors, Volodya Metelkin, at the trial. One of his co-defendants, Alla Gutnikova, concluded her speech by describing freedom as a process through which people develop the habit of becoming resistent to enslavement.

Responsibility and freedom these words, important to these students, were also precious to the Soviet dissidents of the 1960s and 1970s. This was evident in the demonstration on Red Square in August 1968, following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. The protestors there were just eight of them included Larisa Bogoraz, an outspoken activist, Pavel Litvinov, a grandson of one of Stalins foreign ministers, and Natalya Gorbanevskaya, founder of the samizdat journal, The Chronicle of Current Events. Most of them, Bogoraz and Litvinov included, were arrested and subjected to a show trial. Gorbanevskaya was arrested at the end of 1969 and then incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital.

In her final statement at the trial, Bogoraz declared that if she had not participated in the demonstration, she would have considered herself responsible for the actions of the government just as everyone bore responsibility for the Stalin-Beria labour camps. Her decision to demonstrate, she explained, was a way of taking responsibility for what had happened, even though she knew that the protest would likely prove ineffective. I decided that it was not a matter of effectiveness in so far as I was concerned, but of my responsibility, she declared.

In his final plea, Litvinov stated that he had felt obliged to express his disagreement with the government, while noting that it was vital for the country that its citizens should be truly free. At the demonstration itself, Litvinov had unfurled a banner bearing the phrase For your freedom and ours a slogan used by Polish insurgents protesting Russian rule in the 19th century.The implication was that taking responsibility for the events in Czechoslovakia was important for the fate of the Soviet Union itself.

Of course, the demonstration did not have any immediate effect. But in a letter to Western newspapers written just after it had taken place, Gorbanevskaya indicated that the demonstrators had succeeded in a moral if not a political way: they had broken through the torrent of unbridled lies and cowardly silence to show that not all Soviet citizens agreed with the violence being perpetrated in their name.

There was often an existential element in the activity of dissidents in that they wanted to free themselves from a feeling of being gripped by fear or entangled in lies. In his memoirs, human rights activist Vladimir Bukovsky called on people to throw off the excuses with which they justified complicity in crime. A small core of freedom existed in every person, he declared; this was a consciousness of personal responsibility, which meant inner freedom. Bukovsky played a crucial role in exposing the Soviet abuse of psychiatry in the early 1970s.

Another critic of Soviet communism, Nadezhda Mandelstam from an earlier generation of thinkers also had things to say about responsibility. In her view, people came to abdicate a sense of responsibility for the country in the 1920s as the Bolshevik dictatorship established itself. Everyone of us had a share in what happened, and there is no point in trying to disclaim responsibility, she wrote in her memoirs. In her view, inner freedom and memory were needed for anyone wanting to bring positive change to the world. Even the most ordinary person had the power to influence the course of events, she thought.

The dissidents generally did not like the word dissident: its use by the Soviet regime implied that they were effectively traitors to the motherland or figures of marginal importance. Today the Russian foreign agents law is a similar attempt to imply that such people are unpatriotic.

But these dissidents of the late 1960s were raising questions of national importance. The Soviet Union was desperately in need of new ideas. The invasion of Czechoslovakia was effectively a way of avoiding the challenge posed by the Czech reformers: the task of recovering a humane vision of life in a society still suffering the effects of Leninism and Stalinism. After he retired, the long-serving Soviet ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Dobrynin, wrote that while the Czechoslovak crisis gradually lost its intensity after the invasion, the military intervention cost the U.S.S.R. dearly politically and morally.

In her speech in early April, Alla Gutnikova remarked that even before her arrest, through her studies, she had joined the school of being able to talk about truly important things. Perhaps developing this art individually and collectively is in itself an act of responsibility. It is not easy to practice and can be costly for the participants: at their trial, Gutnikova and her co-defendants were sentenced to two years of corrective labor.But the failure to develop this capability, or the loss of it, can have bitter consequences, as the war in Ukraine shows.

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Russian Dissent Then and Now: 'For Your Freedom and Ours' - The Moscow Times

The Freedom Foundation exists to tear down, not build up – Idaho EdNews

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It appears that the Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) does not care about children. This a harsh statement, but it is undeniable.

From the mouth of the IFF Executive Director, Idaho public schools are grotesque, and public schools are the most virulent forms of socialism in our society. In fact, the IFF calls for the entire dismantling of our cherished public education system enshrined in the Idaho Constitution.

Who are these people?

It is one thing to want your children to attend private or parochial schools, but to entirely deny that opportunity to hundreds of thousands of children statewide whose parents work outside the home or simply cannot afford expensive private schools is clearly meanspirited.

The IFFs answer to their desired breakup of public schools is to send kids home and teach them online. COVID very clearly taught us that online learning comes with significant and often insurmountable hardships for parents and children. Online schooling is often too difficult for small children, and what could possibly go wrong with an unsupervised 15 year old teenager with a laptop?

The IFF shamefully wants our children to be divided into two categories; those who have opportunities for learning (wealthy and urban) and those who do not (poor and rural).

They dont care about kids who through no fault of their own come from poverty, speak a different language, or live in rural areas without the access to amenities enjoyed by the IFF preferred privileged class. The IFF worked hard to block funding for early childhood education services. Lets not forget the vast majority of Idahoans want these services for their children.

The IFF would yank all fiscal and medical support away from children with special needs or disabling conditions. They would deny these children an opportunity to learn important skills and become productive, educated members of society.

The IFF also attacks young adults who want to attend college. Year after year the IFF demands from their sycophantic legislators massive reductions in financial support to our local universities even as these institutions consistently provide excellent higher educational services for thousands of students.

The IFF is apparently against K-12 and all higher education.

But that is not all. They also scorn our teachers, support staff and administrators. They disrespect our Governor, disparage the State Board of Education, and endlessly ridicule the State Department of Education.

For years, the IFF has pushed their obsequious lawmakers to deny educators and support staff access to salaries, and desperately needed health care. This legislative session, they wanted to imprison librarians.

The IFF says that they want less government, and more parental involvement, but then stridently demand massive punitive governmental intrusion into the private lives of parents and their children, inserting themselves into the most sensitive private medical decisions best made by medical professional and families.

They say they are opposed to socialism, but then want to take your hard-earned tax dollars and frivolously redistribute your money with zero accountability to unaccredited parochial schools or private systems.

The IFF does not have a working plan for Idaho or Idahoans, they can only peddle their misguided accusations and slander. They have no solutions. They exist to tear down, never to build up.

The IFF militate against children, college students, K-16 educators, K-16 support staff, librarians and virtually everyone that does not slavishly adhere to their radical ideology. Their disdain for anyone outside their circle is alarming.

Their actions should serve as a wakeup call for us to sideline these conflict entrepreneurs and the legislators who support them for good by ignoring them and consigning their efforts to the ash heap of history.

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The Freedom Foundation exists to tear down, not build up - Idaho EdNews

Freedom Historical Society to present ‘Mount Washington Carriage Road and The Glen House’ program – Conway Daily Sun

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IrelandUruguay, Eastern Republic ofUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofViet Nam, Socialist Republic ofWallis and Futuna IslandsWestern SaharaYemenZambia, Republic ofZimbabwe

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Freedom Historical Society to present 'Mount Washington Carriage Road and The Glen House' program - Conway Daily Sun

American Freedom Is Greater Than Slavery and Ends in Death – Tablet Magazine

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There are many ways of getting freedom wrong. For ways of getting it right, my best advice is to turn to the mainline of American authors from the cusp of the Civil War through the turn of the century. For them, freedom is not the survivalists barren fortress-building, the hedonists plot to escape the world and its obligations, or the gunmans drive to violate that world. Its not the power to accumulate cash or cultural capital. So how did they define this most American of words?

Walt Whitman saw freedom as release, the oneness of death that unites us all. Here was a riposte to easy patriotism, since death precedes all politics, and lies much deeper in us. For Frederick Douglass freedom was a concrete goal, the escape from slavery. Henry James described the freedom that comes with an educated awareness. Mark Twain carved his way through a frontier freedom that was spirited and raw. Edith Wharton outlined the shallow conventional life that can prevent you from being free, turning you into one of lifes victims.

At the start Henry James hated Walt Whitman. Mr. Whitman is very fond of blowing his own trumpet, James snickered in his review of Drum-Taps, Whitmans book of Civil War poetry. Whitman, James charged, was aggressively careless, inelegant, and ignorant, and constantly preoccupied with [him]self.

But James changed his mind about Whitman. Edith Wharton describes him later in life reciting Whitmans Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking, crooning it in a mood of subdued ecstasy till the fivefold invocation to Death tolled out like the knocks in the opening bars of the Fifth Symphony.Hard as it is to imagine Henry James on his bike careening through the English countryside (yet its truehe was a fanatical cyclist), it might be harder still to imagine him intoning the plaintive words of Whitmans he-bird yearning after its mate in Out of the Cradle:

Unembarrassed as always, Whitman poured his soul into the he-birds chant, and James, with Wharton at his side, abandoned his usual high-starched quizzical manner to join in the poets throbbing.

Whitman charms us with his huzzahs and his many oddnesses. Hankering, gross, mystical, nudeso runs the poets self-portrait in Song of Myself. How is it I extract strength from the beef I eat? he asks. Nutrition, like all else under the sun, and like Walt himself, is a mystery, worth puzzling over.

When Whitman is somber, he haunts us. He notices a child wondering what is the grass? and muses an answer that channels Isaiahs astounding metaphor, all flesh is grass: And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves. Song of Myself turns dim and reflective as Whitman speaks lines that could have come from his reluctant inheritor T.S. Eliot:

We live in a world of the dead, Whitman is saying. Through this gesture, he skews death toward life, making it the most capacious form of our existence, the beautiful secret word that releases us. The sea, he writes in Out of the Cradle (the climactic passage that Wharton refers to), lispd to me the low and delicious word death, / And again death, death, death, death, / Hissing melodious ... Since our being is not just ego and consciousness but something that thrums beneath us as a force of union, To die is, as Whitman wrote in Song of Myself, different from what any one supposed, and luckier.

Whitman was a healer during the war, and he lovingly tended to wounded young soldiers as poignantly described by Mark Edmundson in his recent book on Whitman, Song of Ourselves. The poet was marked forever by his experience of the camps of the wounded, these butchers shambles, as he described them:

Whitman remembered too the darkest hour of the Union, the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. Whitman was among the crowds in the streets of Washington, many despondent but others taking satisfaction in the Confederate victory. Half our lookers-on secesh of the most venomous kindthey say nothing; but the devil snickers in their faces, Whitman wrote, and he added:

Whitman saw in Lincoln the indispensable man, unswervingly dedicated to union, the foundation and tie of all, as Whitman called it. But for the ex-slave Frederick Douglass, who tried to sway Lincoln toward a more anti-slavery posture, the president was a less essential and prepossessing figure. In his address at the unveiling of the Freedmens Memorial in 1876, which depicts Lincoln freeing a slave, the lion-maned Douglass bluntly proclaimed,

Douglass in his speech then depicts Lincoln as a Moses who was slow coming down from Sinai, bound as he was by the iron laws of politics:

To Douglass, Lincoln was not a sacred symbol or a saint but a flawed if necessary leader. Instead of waiting for Lincoln to emancipate him, Douglass achieved his own freedom, not just by escaping to the North but by expunging all traces of the slave in his psyche. Each memory of slaverys scars was painful to him. In his 1845 autobiography Douglass, who was soon to become the most celebrated orator in America, recalls the singing of slaves making their way to the Great House Farm, their masters home plantation. While on their way, Douglass writes, they would make the dense old woods, for miles around, reverberate with their wild songs, revealing at once the highest joy and the deepest sadness ... These songs show the horrible character of slavery as nothing else can, Douglass sayspresumably including gory scenes at the whipping postbecause the slaves cannot completely reject the masters values. They too are proud of the Great House Farm.

If Douglass were to keep listening to the slaves music, his soul would be tarnished, his will made weak. His idea of freedom, wedded to a blunt Christian honesty, is not musical but moral. Here, Douglass turns his back on the blues, which comes out of the field songs he portrays. With hard-earned irony, the blues makes terms with misery and even finds exultation in pain. We admire Douglass heroic conceptionbut sometimes we still want to hear the blues.

William Dean Howells once asked Mark Twain, Why [do] we hate the past so? Twain responded, Its so humiliating. Twains Huckleberry Finn magically turns every humiliation into a game, from the threats Huck endures at the hands of his drunken murderous Pap to the ritual demeaning of Jim by Huck and Tom Sawyer at the books end, when they fool Jim into thinking he is not yet freehijinks that sour the conclusion for some readers.

Many of Huck Finns glories are hard-edged, like the feud between the Shepherdsons and the Grangerfords, a frightening piece of satire from Twain showcasing the brutal consequences of gentlemanly honor. And theres the cold-blooded killing of a reckless blowhard named Boggs, celebrated by townsfolk in the old-fashioned equivalent of a Twitter frenzy. Twain loves to dissect con men, like the Duke and the Dauphin, but their antics turn pathetic quickly. Stand up for the stupid and crazy, Whitman said, presaging the Beats, but in Twains work, the stupid and crazy tend to be scoundrels. The best part of Huck Finn is what everyone says it is, the scenes of Huck and Jim lying on their raft:

Its likely that soon Huck Finn, felled by the ideology of anti-freedom, which presents itself as a shield against harm, will no longer be taught in our schools. Yet it will always find readers, because of passages like the one Ive just quoted.

Henry James was Twains opposite number. Where Twain pretends to be rude and untamed, James is judicious and evasive in his manner. Both were great experimenters, forecasting the modernist adventures of the 1920s that I will talk about in my next article in this series.

James is our great novelist of renunciation, which is not usually considered an American virtue. In his most accessible masterpiece, A Portrait of a Lady, which, like Huck Finn, was first published in the 1880s, James seduces the reader into thinking that this will be a story about imagination and freedom, not renunciation, but in the end his heroine, the inimitable Isabel Archer, gives up romantic love.

All James novels feature an electric-wire sensibility. His characters are constantly alert, and at times quivering with alarm. James portrays an exhilarated awareness piqued by danger, whether the danger is the specter of social ruin, being tricked into or out of love, or being shown up in front of the internal jury that rules on the legitimacy of ones self-image. This darting psychomachia is a heightened form of life, a virtual reality. No one misses a move.

James knowing style, with its precision which may occasionally seem preening or archly tut-tutting, is easily parodied. But it allowed James to let loose his energies and be superbly creative. This style, oblique and cutting, was his invented personal signature, and astoundingly enough, it was the way James spoke, too.

The young lady of the Portrait, Isabel Archer, is drawn so that every reader will fall in love with her. She is quick, alive, and open, and above all free, with an Americans hunger for new experiences. The leisurely opening of James novel acquaints us with Isabels capacious and acute way of looking at the world. She had an immense curiosity about life and was constantly staring and wondering, James writes. Her deepest enjoyment was to feel the continuity between the movements of her own soul and the agitations of the world. Still more charmingly, Isabel, James remarks, had an unquenchable desire to think well of herself. She had a theory that it was only under this provision that life was worth living.

Isabel gives herself proper credit, the first prerequisite of freedom. But she steps into a trap. James, as usual, has something up his sleevea nightmare marriage.

The Portrait of a Lady contains a puzzle to thwart readers: Why does Isabel choose to marry the serpentlike connoisseur Gilbert Osmond, a louche American expat, instead of the most wholehearted and simpatico of her suitors, Caspar Goodwood? (A solid name, that, made for gripping firmly in hand.)

Goodwood is simply too plain, too much there, unlike the chiaroscuro Osmondhe gives Isabel nothing to figure out, no material to work on. As the critic Robert Pippin remarks, when Goodwood makes his final try for Isabel, after her marriage to Osmond has collapsed, he is the same earnest boy he always was, only more assertive. Pippin notes, There is something pathetic and paradigmatically American in Goodwoods claim: Why shouldnt we be happywhen its here before us. When its so easy?

When they embrace, Isabel senses Goodwoods hard manhood like a flash of lightning (James added this sensational phrase when he revised the novel for the New York edition of his works). Yet she rejects a relationship with him. She didnt and doesnt love Goodwood, but is merely excited by him, and excitement is not enough.

At the end of the Portrait Isabel narrows the circle of her interest, which has earlier been so ample and free-swinging. By facing her fate, instead of fleeing it with Goodwood, Isabel survives. She returns to Rome, the site of her marriage to Osmond, perhaps to confront him or to rescue Osmonds daughter Pansyonly the all-seeing author Henry James knows for sure, and hes not telling us.

James Isabel has her dark double in Edith Whartons Lily Bart from The House of Mirth. Where Isabel wants to see and experience beauty, Lily aspires to be a beautiful object, admired like a jewel in its setting. She could not figure herself as anywhere but in a drawing-room, diffusing elegance as a flower sheds perfume, Wharton writes. Yet despite the shallowness of her dream Lily does not seem at all trivial to usa miraculous achievement on Whartons part.

Lack of money haunts Lily and finally does her in, with a directness matched only in Dreiser. Her grand desperation and tragic death are set off against the fine sensitivity of Laurence Selden, the man who should have married her but who instead remains a mere observer of her career. Selden is kind to her, as is, surprisingly, the Jewish social climber Rosedale. Wharton began writing Rosedale as an antisemitic caricature, but then turned him into a mensch. But kindness is not enough. Lily is simply unequipped for life, shortsighted and full of wrong instincts. She had never learned to live with her own thoughts, Wharton notes piercingly about Lily.

James advised Wharton to do New Yorkand she did. Her unsparing account of the citys ruthless upper classes in The House of Mirth and an even more brutal novel, The Custom of the Country, shows how money, personal appearance, and sexual availability imprison young women. For Lily there is no way outbut Selden the aesthete memorializes her from the sidelines. In the end, disquietingly, Selden congratulates himself for having loved Lily, almost as if savoring the fact of her ruin.

For James Isabel, freedom meant conceiving the world so that doing what you like and doing what you ought become one and the same. Its the noblest combination imaginable, but there is something childlike about it. Lily Bart in The House of Mirth represents the crashing of such dreams into the hard reality of the American drive for success. Freedom is a way of shaping the self, which Isabel can achieve and Lily cannot.

See the article here:

American Freedom Is Greater Than Slavery and Ends in Death - Tablet Magazine