Daily Progress sports section earns APSE ‘Grand Slam’ – The Daily Progress

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The Daily Progress won Grand Slam honors at the annual Associated Press Sports Editors national writing and sections contest, which concluded on Sunday.

The Daily Progress, competing in the under-15,000 circulation division, earned top-10 recognition for its daily, Sunday and special sections as well as its web site.

The Daily Progress was one of 13 media organizations to earn Grand Slam honors in this years contest. The others were the Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Washington Post, Indianapolis Star, Oklahoman, Omaha World-Herald, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tuscaloosa News, Opelika-Auburn News and Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

In the APSE writing competition, Daily Progress University of Virginia athletics writer Andrew Ramspacher received two top 10 honors. Ramspacher was recognized in the features category for his story on Virginia quarterback Matt Johns and his friendship with a young cancer patient, as well as in the beat writing category for his beat coverage of the Virginia football program.

The APSE awards, voted on by sports editors and journalists from across the nation during four days of judging in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, honor work published in 2016.

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Daily Progress sports section earns APSE 'Grand Slam' - The Daily Progress

The 2017 Academy Awards Refused to Be #OscarsSoWhite, and That’s Progress – Glamour

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February 27, 2017 2:56 pm

Like many other women in America, I settled in to watch the fashion and glamour of the 2017 Oscars with two bottles of wine, some popcorn, and plenty of chocolate. But this year the annual tradition felt different. After 2016's #OscarsSoWhite debacle, I wondered whether Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs' efforts to increase the diversity of award recipients would actually be fruitful. My nervous energy was reminiscent of the feelings I had while watching the election results come ina mix of anxiety and hopewith the implicit understanding that these results were going to reflect something either encouraging or disheartening about the world I live in. I know this sounds dramatic, but seriously: Try watching the Oscars with blind optimism every year, hoping against all evidence to the contrary that actors who look like you will be recognized for their stellar performances, only to be disappointed. It's hard not to become disenchanted with the entire institution. Because for me and many of the people Im rooting for, winning an Oscar is not just a gesture of appreciation; it's a symbol of social progress.

So I was pleasantly surprised when this year, the Academy refused to go down as racist. After two consecutive years of failing to even nominate any African Americans in the lead- and supporting-acting categories, the Academy switched it up and six people of color were nominated in every performer category. I guess after 88 years of overlooking actors of color, they could no longer call this obvious conspiracy a prolonged "coincidence." We werent having it.

Honestly, I was just elated to see the recognition. Denzel Washington was nominated for Best Actor; Ava Duvernay was nominated for her documentary 13th; Octavia Spencer, Viola Davis, Naomi Harris, and Ruth Negga were all nominated for their acting. Even better, many of them won. Last nights successes were a sign of hope. Mahershala Ali took home the golden statue for Best Supporting Actor, making him the first Muslim actor to receive an Oscar; the win for Best Supporting Actress (a category that was dominated by black women) went to Viola Davis; and even the epic failure of the night (that also proved to be amazing television) turned into a win for the top honor, Best Picture, to Moonlight. The stories of black, brown, and marginalized people were being recognized as important, and the dynamic performances of actors in these roles were finally being acknowledged. These successes are a by-product of diverse groups of writers and producers uniting their creative vision to provide new opportunities that didnt previously exist for actors of color.

Viola Davis said it best in her acceptance speech for the sixty-seventh Emmy Awards:

"'In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful white women with their arms stretched out to me, over that line. But I cant seem to get over that line.' That was Harriet Tubman in the 1800s. And let me tell you something: The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.

Shes right. But I would argue that what's great about films like Moonlight and Fencesand what makes last nights wins even more meaningfulis not only that they included people of color, but they also told their stories within the realm of the average Americans experience, including marital issues, coming to terms with sexuality, and family conflict. This allows audiences to take a peek into the lives of others and identify their shared humanity, which is arguably arts most important goal.

So, yes, movies like Hidden Figures, with its three quick-witted mathematicians helping NASA get to the moon while battling the injustice of the Jim Crow laws, or The Help, in which a group of steadfast nannies heroically demand fair wages and treatment from their white bosses in the dangerous, segregated South, are important. But its also important to place people of color in the here and now and give those actors the opportunity to demonstrate their versatility, expose their flaws and complexity, and ultimately transcend roles based on race. Lets stop casting Middle Eastern actors as terrorists, Indians as IT specialists, or black men as gangsters.

As the Academy continues to acknowledge these stories, from the epic to the more mundane, actors of color will gain more exposure and opportunities in film. Great strides are already being made in television. Casting decisions like Kerry Washington as the well-educated fixer for a Republican candidate in Scandal and Zoe Kravitz as a bohemian step-mother in a predominantly white neighborhood in Big Little Lies push the boundaries of peoples subconscious prejudices and transform the way we think about people of color. By continuing to celebrate talented writers and directors like Issa Rae, Melina Matsoukas, Donald Glover, and Aziz Ansari, organizations that give out the awards like the Emmys, Golden Globes, and Oscars are acknowledging and reinforcing the important work of creators of color.

I've always loved television and film. I devour all kinds of storiesfrom Homeland to Girls to Veep to This Is Usbut very few of these shows reflect my lived experience. Im looking forward to a more inclusive landscape in Hollywood, one that shares the powerful and enlightening stories of people like me and not like me. Art that illuminates and humanizes others' perspectives helps create a society of people who learn to empathize before we criticize. And now, more than ever, we could all use a little of that.

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The 2017 Academy Awards Refused to Be #OscarsSoWhite, and That's Progress - Glamour

Sterling Crispin: Begin at the End – ArtSlant

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This essay was first published in the ArtSlant Prize 2016 Catalogue, on the occasion of theArtSlant Prize Shortlist exhibitionat SPRING/BREAK Art Show, from February 28March 6, 2016.Sterling Crispin is the ArtSlant Prize 2016 Third Prize winner.Other ArtSlant Prize 2016 catalogue essays:Brigitta Varadi & Tiffany Smith

What does the end, The End, look like? Is it a transcendent experience like the religious and singularitarians believe? Will humans transform into iridescent angels of ethereal nature, timeless in their march towards oneness? Will the end look like an episode of The Walking Dead? Like an episode of Doomsday Preppers? Will the remnants of society scrabble together the few resources left to find baseline survival the underlying truth of excess? Does the end resemble a person sitting in a concrete box buried underground swallowing baked beans out of a can, or do we become waves of energy, identifiable not by our body but by a collection of experiences and tropes traveling from host to host, like a Westworld protagonist?

It is hard to conceive of a greater tension between these two visions and yet they exist, in tandem, in our collective imaginations. To imagine civilization dwindling down to a couple thousand people, the Earth in environmental hell, taking global collapse to its conclusionits unimaginably terrible, says artist Sterling Crispin. But, he continues, take techno-optimism to its extreme, with humans living for hundreds of thousands of years, and its also kind of unimaginable.

Sterling Crispin explores the end. From a fascination with Buddhist conceptions of oneness and propelled by the rapid technological pace in the era of Moores Law[1], Crispin takes as his subject the hurtling hulk of humanity as it flies towards some kind of imagined or real conclusion. Transhumanism is on my mind a lot, he says.

Crispins materials are birthed in todays technology. Aluminum server frames, Alexa towers, emergency water filtration systems, canned food, Bitcoin miners, extruded plastics and resinsthese are the vocabulary of an end-times practice.

The singularity as a concept comes from a 1993 paper[2]by mathematician Vernor Vinge in which he states: We are on the edge of change comparable to the rise of human life on Earth. The precise cause of this change is the imminent creation by technology of entities with greater-than-human intelligence. The basic principle of singularitarianism is that, at a certain point, advancement will be out of human hands. Technology will be free to replicate and improve on its own. Futurist Ray Kurzweilbelieves that at this point a massive rupture in human culture, philosophy, and civilization will occur, characterized by the end of death and anthropocentric evolution. Kurzweils end is an apocalypse of a different sort.[3] His is a moment of becoming and transcendence beyond the human.

Sterling Crispin, Self-Contained Investment Module and Contingency Package (Cloud-Enabled Modular Emergency-Enterprise Application Platform),2015. Courtesy of the artist

The globe just scored a hat trick of hottest years on record. The doomsday clock has begun ticking towards midnight again. Amidst the statistical evidence, markers of impending doom keep pinging us. The cries of apocryphal evangelists are beginning to ring true.

With each passing meteor, every seemingly-significant date on an ancient calendar that appears on our Julian calendar, throngs proclaim the end with rapturous fervency. But the end interrogated by Crispin is not fanciful. His work has a sincere immediacy: Trumps presidency and the collapse of civil society really gets you thinking about how fragile our whole global economy is and how loosely everything is held together. He goes on, Next month, some catastrophe could happen that could close down international shipping, close off the internet; millions of people could die because there wasnt enough food. Were just on the edge of this all of the time.

Never has the world been so interconnected. In 2015, $16 trillion (21% of GWP) in merchandise exchanged hands across the world. In 2013, one fifth of the average Americans diet was imported. This interdependence isnt trivial. As political forces around the world begin to pull back from the integrated system of globalized advanced capitalism, the connections holding it all together seem more tenuous than ever.

Crispins suite of four sculptures, N.A.N.O., B.I.O., I.N.F.O., C.O.G.N.O. (2015), serves as sentries. Each monolith is attached to an industry stock: N.A.N.O. comes with 100 shares of stock in a nanotechnology company, B.I.O., biotechnology, I.N.F.O., informatics, and C.O.G.N.O., cognitive research. If separated, these Gundam-like structures will track each other: a GPS display shows you where the other three horsemen are at all times. An emergency water purifier and food rations anchor the sculptures. N.A.N.O. et al. recall ancient statues guarding a crypt, protectors of humanity straight out of anime waiting for the right time to awaken and save the world. They reach towards the promises of advanced capital, zeroing in on the industries most likely to transform humanity via the singularity and save it from itself.

Sterling Crispin, N.A.N.O. , B.I.O. , I.N.F.O. , C.O.G.N.O., 2015. Courtesy of the artist

Of course, if that doesnt work out, theres always a jerrycan of clean water and some freeze-dried beef.[4]

Self-Contained Investment Module and Contingency Package (2015), like N.A.N.O., is practical and sculptural. Inside an aluminum frame sits an ASIC Bitcoin mining tube, a Lifesaver Systems 4000 ultra-filtration water bottle, an emergency radio, Mayday emergency food rations, a knife, heirloom seeds, etc. The connections are barely waiting to be pieced together by the viewer: theyre all there, visible in the cube. Crispins work makes hard connections, direct metaphors, in his search for the aesthetic of the end. The metaphors I use are heavy-handed but rounded in the utility of their function in reality, relays the artist.

This frankness fights the obfuscating nature of reality. Are things really as dire as they seem? It is readily accepted that things will be okay; we tell ourselves the same often enough. But why is it so difficult to accept that things might not be okay? Is it so difficult to imagine that, shit, were fucked?

In some remote corner of the universe, flickering in the light of the countless solar systems into which it had been poured, there was once a planet on which clever animals invented cognition. It was the most arrogant and most mendacious minute in the history of the world; but a minute was all it was. After nature had drawn just a few more breaths the planet froze and the clever animals had to die.[5]

There is something reflected in the gleaming aluminum, the candy-apple neon, and low hum of Self-Contained. An optimism, perhaps, that if we structure things just right, if we allow for recursive corrections, if we prepare and adjust, we wont be the ones responsible for bringing the short reign of humanity to an end. We might not be Nietzsches arrogant creatures doomed to death on a frozen, or in this case, scorched Earth. We may just be the ones that become whats next. Either way, be prepared.

Joel Kuennen

Joel Kuennenis the Chief Operations Officer and a Senior Editor at ArtSlant.

[1] Moores Law holds that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles every two years. This law has been extrapolated to include the exponential rate of computational and technological advancement more broadly.

[2] Vernor Vinge, The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era (paper presented at the VISION-21 Symposium sponsored by NASA Lewis Research Center and the Ohio Aerospace Institute, March 30-31, 1993).

[3] Kurzweil, it should be noted, is driven to defeat death so that he may resurrect his father who died early on in Kurzweils life. How human is that?!

[4] Its difficult to ignore humor when discussing the end. One cannot approach nothingness without being a bit glib.

[5] Friedrich Nietzsche, On Truth and Lies in a Non-Moral Sense, Trans. Ronald Spiers. 1873.

(Image at top: Sterling Crispin, Self-Contained Investment Module and Contingency Package (Cloud-Enabled Modular Emergency-Enterprise Application Platform) (detail), 2015. Courtesy of the artist)

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Sterling Crispin: Begin at the End - ArtSlant

Transtopianism | Futurist Transhuman News Blog …

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Transtopianism. A radical new way of thinking, and which seems to fit many of my own life principles quite nicely.

Intro.

Were at a crossroads. For thousands of years mankind has been the dominant species on earth, the pinnacle of evolution. Now, as we enter the 21st century, this is about to change. A new and radically diffferent chapter of evolution is about to begin, for, as Vernor Vinge put it at the 1993 NASA VISION-21 Symposium:

`Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.

This event, the relatively sudden emergence of superintelligence (SI), is often referred to as the Singularity in Transhuman circles. The longer definition is:

SINGULARITY: the postulated point or short period in our future when our self-guided evolutionary development accelerates enormously (powered by nanotech, neuroscience, AI, and perhaps uploading) so that nothing beyond that time can reliably be conceived. [Vernor Vinge, 1986] (Lextropicon).

Whether these new, Posthuman beings (aka SIs, Powers or PSEs Post-Singularity Entities) will be augmented humans, artificial intelligences (AIs) or some hybrid form, they will no doubt change life as we know it rapidly and profoundly. For better or for worse; what happens to those who are left behind in this burst of self-directed hyperevolution is by definition unknown, unknowable even, but extinction is definitely one of the more realistic options.

Here is the home page

http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/kuwait/557/index.html

Here are their stated principles

http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/kuwait/557/principles.html

And if you dont want to read all that, there is quite a bit, then here is my summary. Ive taken essentially the first paragraph from each of the principles; there is a lot more interesting detail on the site.

Rationalism. Rational thinking is practical; it is the most reliable way to find solutions to problems. Because we are such frail, imperfect creatures, we need science and technology, the fruits of reason, to conquer death, disease and other biological shortcomings, and thus achieve the most rational of goals: a pleasant, eternal existence.

Memetic Evolution. Transtopianism is a continuously evolving philosophy, a logical consequence of the search for perfection which lies at its core. We need to avoid stale, impractical dogmas while at the same time preserving those values that are clearly reasonable and helpful in improving our condition, or at least arent detrimental to this goal.

Intelligent Hedonism. Finding true happiness and fulfillment may not be as difficult as many seem to think; its all in the chemicals. Not very surprising really, we are merely biological machines, after all.

Transhumanism. The belief that we can, and should, try to overcome our biological limits by means of reason, science and technology. Transhumanists seek things like intelligence augmentation, increased strength and beauty, extreme life extension, sustainable mood enhancement and the capability to get offplanet and explore the universe.

Singularitarianism. Vernor Vinge defined the Singularity in 1986 as the postulated point or short period in our future when our self-guided evolutionary development accelerates enormously (powered by nanotech, neuroscience, AI, and perhaps uploading) so that nothing beyond that time can reliably be conceived. More specifically, it is the moment when superhuman intelligence emerges, either as a result of conscious AI, advanced computer/human interfaces, genetic engineering or mind uploading.

Atheism. Transtopianism rejects religious dogma and belief in the supernatural. The rational approach to these things is that they are mere figments of the imagination until proven otherwise. Or, as Occams Razor puts it: one should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything.

Egoism. There are two primary forms of Egoism, namely 1) Psychological Egoism, which is descriptive and claims that everyone acts in their own self-interest, i.e. everyone is an Egoist at heart, and 2) Ethical Egoism, which is normative and claims that everyone ought to act in their own self-interest.

There are all sorts of excellent arguments both for and against the psychological form, but the best model is probably that of man as an essentially self-serving (egoistic) creature that is hampered by short-sighted, potentially harmful/lethal hedonistic and altruistic urges, caused by a combination of nature and nurture, i.e. genes and environment. Obviously, there are rather significant variations among individuals; but the basic model is presumably the same for all normal human beings, and likely most animals as well.

Regardless of the accuracy of the above psychological model, there is no room for doubt regarding the validity of Ethical Egoism within the Transtopian philosophy; self-interest is the highest good, because pleasure and happiness are the least arbitrary meaning of life (see Intelligent Hedonism). Even if one doesnt believe this to be the case, one must at the very least be alive to seek the true meaning of life. Needless to say, this could very well be an open-ended search. In order to survive indefinitely, one must overcome hard-wired or learned (seriously) harmful behavior, especially altruism, idealism and guilt. Lets start with the latter:

Tough Liberalism (not to be confused with bleeding-heart or leftist Liberalism). Anything goes as long as it doesnt (seriously) harm the others within ones contract group (= a group which people voluntarily join/form to achieve common goals, like surviving the Singularity for example).

Mental, Physical & Financial Empowerment. To quote from Five Things You Can Do To Fight Entropy Now by Romana Machado: To be prepared for a future that may be full of difficult changes, and survive in an entropic world, take personal responsibility for your security. If you are good at self-defense, you need not regard yourself as a powerless victim. Self-defense encourages your sense of autonomy and personal power. Following a course of study in martial arts may help you to develop the proper attitude towards the use of force in self-defense. Learn the proper use of devices and techniques that can protect you from harm. Needless to say, a pacifistic or meek attitude is definitely not compatible with the Transtopian spirit.

No Procreation. Transtopians dont [plan to] have offspring. The (practical) reason is that, assuming that you want to be a good parent, children are a serious drain in terms of time and resources, increase stress, make you more vulnerable, more altruistic, less flexible, and generally more settled and conservative (bourgeois, if you will). When people become parents, they implicitly (and duly) accept that their fun days are over, and that its time to get responsible. Well, screw that! Only a fool would give up his life like that. Better to stay young at heart and unbound forever. The only real value of offspring in modern (Western) societies is enjoyment (hedonistic motive), but due to the significant drawbacks of parenthood it cant be considered intelligent hedonism, and should thus be avoided.

Dynamic Pessimism, aka Cynical Optimism. Though Transtopians have no doubts about mans enormous potential to overcome his biological and social limits, they are generally less optimistic than regular Transhumanists about the future. The chances that our advanced technologies will accidentally or intentionally cause unparalled destruction are, given our historical precedents, much too great to ignore.

Cryonics, aka applied immortalism. Cryonic suspension is an experimental procedure whereby patients who no longer can be kept alive with todays medical abilities are preserved at low temperature for treatment in the future.

The rest is here:

Transtopianism | Sciforums

Split long article

Might this longish entry be better presented as a series of pages? JasonS 03:34 Jan 13, 2003 (UTC)

Dnagod 20:56, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)

In the interest of ensuring transhuman is NPOV: Who decides what the definition of transhumanism is?

This element of humanism, is that from huxley or someone else?

Does the man who invented the word, Julian Huxley decide the definition of Transhumanism, does one in modern times who publically states the definition decide or does the World Transhumanism Association decide?

I would like clarity as to who ultimately determines what transhumanism means because the definition used by the WTA and other groups differs. More importantly, what gives one authority or the command to be able to define in an undisputed what transhumanism is, so that other POVs can be excluded?

For instance I have reviewed the entire transtopia.org, prometheism.net and cosmotheism.net site, and I cant seem to figure out how you could label it as disputed in the links section?

What is to say the world transhumanism association isnt disputed?

I can see how one might label cosmotheism as white racial separatist, but prometheism.net and transtopia.org I would like more discussion as to why it is disputed as a transhumanism group. And why is Cosmotheism a disputed offshoot? Cosmotheism was developed in the 1960s and 1970s which came before extropy and WTA, so why is it an offshoot? I thought offshoot meant, that something existed and a branch or seed came off that plant. Can you please define offshoot and explain who decides what is or is not transhumanism?

More on this humanism element of Transhumanism, is that from huxley or someone else? Thanks.

Why does the link to cosmotheism keep getting deleted? Just because that article had a banned user associated w it doesnt make it any less relevent. Sam [Spade] 20:56, 4 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Id like to incorporate a mention of the Human Cognome Project into this article, as it is relevent to human brain augmentation and AI research. Any suggestions? Dave User:Sydhart

Why is transtopia.org, prometheism.net and cosmotheism.net labelled pseudotranshuman organizations? To me that represents bias as to why those web sites would be labelled pseudo, what makes a web site pseudo?

On the front page of prometheism.net it states the following

(Prometheism is) The First Sovereign Transtopian & Neo-Eugenic Libertarian Religious-State.

In the principles sections of prometheism it states

Our Promethean Species embraces Conscious Evolution

Our immediate aim is to create a neo-eugenically enhanced race that will eventually become a new, superior species with whatever scientific means are available at the present time. In the short-term, this will be achieved via neo-eugenics, ie. voluntary positive eugenics, human cloning, germ-line engineering, gene therapy and genetic engineering.

In the long-term, when the science becomes available we intend to utilize transhuman technologies: nanotechnology, mind uploading, A/I and other variations of ultra exo-tech.

Our goal is to enable total and unlimited self-transformation, consciousness and expansion across the universe of our species.

It also states note the key words Transhuman Technologies and the embracing of transhumanism and extropy.

We Define neo-eugenics as conscious evolution (these words are interchangeable). Purposefully directed evolution via voluntary positive neo-eugenics (including voluntary selective breeding), cloning, genetic engineering and ultimately any and all transhuman technologies. Neo-Eugenics means harnessing all science, technology and knowledge available now or in the future, guiding it with spirituality, ethical considerations and higher consciousness, ultimately towards achieving total and unlimited self transformation. The term Neo-Eugenics embodies the sciences and philosophies involved in Biotechnology, Extropy and Transhumanism all merged in a philosophy of spiritual Conscious Evolution.

http://prometheism.net/principles.htm

I believe removing prometheism from this page, will be cause to bring this issue to arbitration to confirm that the individual who keeps removing it obviously is biased and lacks an understanding of what transhumanism. NPOV. thats your problem brian NPOV and blatant bias.

Dnagod 22:22, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Extropy and a lot of the other sites listed under manifestos are linked else where in the article, so I felt it important to also include these manifestos

Please do not revert to childish insults, and a biased personal agenda removing these links, they belong their and represent Principles which I dare say are some of the most interesting, fascinating and creative principles.

Dont abuse your privileges here and force your agenda on this topic of transhumanism, all perspectives are welcome here whether you like it or not.

Dnagod 17:26, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)

What makes you think transtopianism (transtopia.org) is not secular?

STOP removing these links, you are biased, emotional, unfair, unbalanced and lacking in neutrality.

These links are to stay, and you have no right to remove them. They are valid and legit links, Do not abuse your privileges on this project or you will be revoked.

Dnagod 02:55, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The man who invented the word Transhumanism (Huxley), was an open, avid and published advocate of state sponsored coercive eugenics, selective breeding, and elitist eugenic communities. Therefore you are wrong, and thus the specific issue of VOLUNTARY eugenics does NOT violate in anyway, shape or form, being part of transhumanism. You are wrong, biased, unfair, unbalanced, and lacking in neutrality. Transtopia.org and prometheism.net DO NOT SUPPORT COERCIVE EUGENICS in their PRINCIPLES, THEY SUPPORT VOLUNTARY EUGENICS READ VOLUNTARY. Forgive the capitalization, but I do that for emphasis, not to scream.

please stop removing these links, you are biased, emotional, unfair, unbalanced and lacking in neutrality. These are not personal attacks, these are stated facts that you have not read the prometheism.net web site.

These links are to stay, and you have no right to remove them. They are valid and legit links, Do not abuse your privileges on this project.

I ask you to bring arbitration and discussion on this fact. Your censorship, bias and personal agenda will not win. Go to prometheism.net right now and find one place on this site that says prometheism supports COERCIVE EUGENICS. you will not find it anywhere. Prometheism.net clearly states that it only supports voluntary eugenics. Read the sworn oath on prometheism.net

The Sworn Oath of Prometheism (front page of prometheism.net)

We Prometheans are voluntarily coming together to purposefully direct the creation of a new post-human species. A species with higher intellect, creativity, consciousness and love of ones people. A communion of intellect and beauty, for the simple reason that it can be done. This creation is what gives us purpose and meaning. No other justification is required for this program to advance our Promethean species.

Next I want you to read the Principles of prometheism http://www.prometheism.net/principles.htm

2. Our Promethean Species embraces Conscious Evolution

Our immediate aim is to create a neo-eugenically enhanced race that will eventually become a new, superior species with whatever scientific means are available at the present time. In the short-term, this will be achieved via neo-eugenics, ie. voluntary positive eugenics, human cloning, germ-line engineering, gene therapy and genetic engineering.

5. Total Freedom, Liberty and Self-Determination

Our Libertarian religious nation is founded on the principles of total freedom of speech (including offensive language and language which hurts peoples feelings), freedom of thought, the right to bear arms, liberty, progress, productivity and the pursuit of individual happiness.

nation is VOLUNTARY ONLY. We REJECT all totalitarianism and believe COERCIVE neo-eugenics is counter to the ideal of individual freedom. The promethean governments sole purpose is to protect the rights of the individual. We DO NOT wish to STERILIZE anyone or FORCE anyone to practice neo-eugenics.

DNA or genetic capital is the most valuable commodity in the universe. Our primary goal is to promote positive and voluntary neo-eugenics by channeling national resources to the best, brightest and most creative.

We Define neo-eugenics as conscious evolution (these words are interchangeable). Purposefully directed evolution via voluntary positive neo-eugenics (including voluntary selective breeding), cloning, genetic engineering and ultimately any and all transhuman technologies. Neo-Eugenics means harnessing all science, technology and knowledge available now or in the future, guiding it with spirituality, ethical considerations and higher consciousness, ultimately towards achieving total and unlimited self transformation. The term Neo-Eugenics embodies the sciences and philosophies involved in Biotechnology, Extropy and Transhumanism all merged in a philosophy of spiritual Conscious Evolution.

This is from the principles of prometheism.net Last Updated: 3/13/03 this means that prometheism is NOT FRINGE, it does not support the fringe philosophy of FORCED COERCIVE EUGENICS. Again the capitalization is not screaming, its meant to provide emphasis. Also my comments about you not being very knowledgeable about prometheism.net and transtopia.org are not meant as personal insults or personal attacks, but as an observation.

Dnagod 20:06, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Read more here:

Talk:Transhumanism/Archive 2 Wikipedia

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Transtopianism | Futurist Transhuman News Blog

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Witnessing the Ghosts Of the Past and the Struggles Of the Future in Kashmir – The Wire

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Books Witness/Kashmir 1986-2016, whichfeatures nine Kashmiri photographers from different eras, is about the personal as well as the collective memory of a people and their relation to their homeland.

After the fire, Frislan, 2012. Credit: Javed Dar

In a country in conflict, there are journalists who arrive with the rapacious speed of breaking news: they land, they grab what they need, they leave. There are also those who come and stay a little longer, who want to get the story straight and see it unfold. And then there are those who call that place home, those who are there to stay and are part of the story. The different temporality of these presences produces different narratives that have varying degrees of amplification. The voracious appetite for fresh news often turns the shouted headline into the whole story, leaving the whispered expressions of the local people on the ground almost unheard.

Sanjay Kak. Source: Author provided

On the fringe of this race, there are increasingly significant experiences of the autochthonous voices who reclaim the right to their own version of the story. The discourse around daily life in a country in conflict is, in fact, often tinged with a rhetoric of survivalism and resilience, hence placing the observers point of view within the framework of aid and development.

The locals are at the receiving end; they are the objects of attention and of charitable projects, hardly ever the narrators or the active subjects of their own story.

In 2008, I had the privilege of being a part of the initial steps of Metrography, the first independent Iraqi photo agency based in Kurdistan. The aim was to provide a platform to Iraqi photographers irrespective of religion, sect or ethnicity to respond to the omnipresent image of Iraq as a country on the brink.

Focussing on reportage rather than spot news, stories of ordinary life beyond ones of roadside bombs began to emerge. From pilgrimages and community celebrations to fashion trends, from street photography to the documentation of an incipient corporate life, Metrography managed to reveal the simple truth that in spite of war, life goes on.

Editedby SanjayKak Witness/Kashmir 1986-2016 Yarbal Press, 2017

Over the years I saw the same kind of yearning in Palestine and Afghanistan, where artists, photographers and writers have started building a solid and credible counterpoint to the standardised and stereotypical representations.

Witness/Kashmir 1986-2016: Nine Photographers embodies a similar desire emerging from Kashmir.Witness is a book edited and conceived by Sanjay Kak. It is a 30-year-long journey in the history of Kashmir through two hundred images taken by nine Kashmiri photographers Meraj Ud din, Javeed Shah, Dar Yasin, Javed Dar, Altaf Qadri, Sumit Dayal, Showkat Nanda, Syed Shahriyar and Azaan Shah.

The book is an immersive experience, one that takes days to fully savour and digest. It is comprehensive, yet not encyclopaedic. It gives no explanationbut makes a request to allow for time to look and listen, and thus it opens a window to the backstage of the complex reality of Kashmir. Witness is a project as intricate and elaborate as a piece of kashidakari, an elegant embroidery where each stitch is perfectly calibrated and contains several layers and messages within itself.

There is no single definition that can fully encompass the book: it is a photography book, a history book and a book of personal stories. In its assemblage, Kak produces multiple chronologies and orchestrates a variety of registers. The passing of time is marked by the generational history that organises the sequence of photographers: from the oldest, Meraj Ud Din, to the youngest, Azaan Shah, who is only 19 years old.

Another timeline comes at the end of the book, where the captioned photographs are ordered chronologically. The (political) history of the last 30 years in Kashmir is reconstructed visually, one painful step at a time: ordinary life is inextricably mixed with the struggle for azadi, the shadows of the passer-by mingle with the strive for self-determination. Interspersed among the captions is a glossary of the vernacular of war that characterises the daily life in the Valley counterinsurgency, massacre, militant, stone thrower words that have come to indicate the perpetual state of exception that has become ordinary in Kashmir.

Brothers, Boniyar, 2015. Credit: Showkat Nanda

In this endeavour to build what Kak calls an introduction to public memory, the individual life stories of the nine photographers emerge intimately, as unique and singular, but also as part of a collective and shared inheritance of customs, trauma, anger and defiance. With a subtle but incredibly powerful shift, Witness reveals itself as a book about Kashmiris as much as about Kashmir about the personal as much as about the collective memory of a people and their relation to their homeland. This is no little change in perspective, considering that the official rhetoric around Kashmir oscillates between a pristine paradise and a restive land a disputed territory where its people are either invisible or troublemakers to be tamed.

As it was withUntil My Freedom Has Come:The New Intifada in Kashmir (2011) the previous book edited by Kak Witness comes as a timely insiders reflection on a dramatic season of unrest.

Pellet-gun injuries, Srinagar, 2016. AP Images / Dar Yasin

In an ongoing conversation with Kashmiri poet and academic Ather Zia, we have come to refer to the 2016 upheaval as the summer of the eye. After the killing of the young rebel commander Burhan Wani in early July 2016, Kashmir erupted and its people took to the streets. This was by no means unannounced as rage had been simmering beneath the surface, but no one could predict that things would escalate to such a level. The Indian military and paramilitary responded to protests and kaeni jang(stone pelting) with an iron fist. Over the course of almost four months, at least 6,000 people were injured, more than 1,000 were hit in the eyes by the infamous pellet shotguns and over 100 of them were left totally or partially blind.

Beyond the metaphor, by hitting people in the eye, the security forces tried to kill the vision of a different future. They tried to remove the possibility to look beyond the present in a fashion that differs from what is envisaged by those in power. Witness is somehow an indirect response to this attempt. It brings to the table a corpus of visual evidence that tells the other side of the story, with its nuances of affection, commitment, mourning and resistance.

In the wealth of imagery that the book offers to the reader, two photographs have caught my attention. The first is a photo taken by Javed Dar in 2015 in a recently vacated paramilitary camp at Kawdor, in Srinagar. In the middle of the debris, children play with the remnants of military equipment; smiling to the camera, a young boy carries a cargo net knotted to a stick as a trailing flag. Three generations have grown up in Kashmir forced to come to terms with the normality of an extraordinary military presence in their daily life in their schools, on the streets, outside their homes, in their playgrounds.

The second photo, taken by Sumit Danyal in 2009, is a dreamlike black and white image of a tree. The tree is blurred and ungraspable and its branches seem to have captured a passing cloud. The caption reads: In the tales of ghosts who want to be set free, what often holds them back is memory.

Witness/Kashmir 1986-2016: Nine Photographers resides in that space of memory. Kak calls it a marker, a flag planted in contested ground. It is certainly a milestone in the journey towards a recognisable, autonomous Kashmiri voice. It is a testimony to the ghosts of the past and the struggles of the future, it is a testament to what Kashmir is and has been for those children who grew up playing in the leftovers of military camps.

Francesca Recchia is a researcher and writer based in Kabul. Her work focuses on intangible heritage and cultural practices in countries in conflict.

Categories: Books

Tagged as: Afghanistan, Ather Zia, Azaan Shah, Francesca Recchia, Kashmir, Kurdistan, Meraj Ud din, Metrography, military equipment, Palestine, Sanjay Kak, Witness/Kashmir 1986-2016

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Witnessing the Ghosts Of the Past and the Struggles Of the Future in Kashmir - The Wire

Reader E-Mailbag: Pussy Hats vs Asshats, How to Save Obamacare, Nihilism in the White House – TheStranger.com

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Pussy hats: To be used as headwear, only. Ramon Dompor

It's another compilation of letters to the editor! Here are some of our favorites from this week's e-mail bag:

Nihilism is a belief that conditions in social and political organizations are so bad that total destruction is desirable for its own sake. Period. Nothing is better than something, especially if the something is our democracy. It was also the specific program of a 19th century Russian party advocating revolutionary reform, terrorism and assassination.

America, my dear sweet and beloved country, meet Nihilism. It has arrived at your door. It is filling your halls of government and it has brought with it a sledge hammer.

As they settle in, our nihilists are not just moving the furniture around to get comfortable. Or repainting. No, they are going directly to destruction. Unbelievably, they are at work destroying our government. They are already busy ripping it apart and with such a frenzy and glee and all the while screaming at us to just shut up.

This is because nihilists dont much care what we think. They dont think about much except destroying things. Whether it is getting rid of clean air or a working state department or pesky regulations or accepting people who arent the same as they are.

If one is a nihilist and has the power, it is not hard to tear down a democracy, no matter how strong and stable, and this is because the functioning of a democracy depends upon trust and men of good will. The nihilists figured that out. Use the system against itself and what ever you do, do it fast. Keep people off balance, stunned.

I have a witness. Hannah Arendt, a German-Jewish philosopher forced out of Germany in 1933, came out of the horror of the destruction of her own country with a warning of how it began. She said many in Germany during the fall of the Weimar Republic were trapped by their own ideasthe new paradigm of authoritarianism that hit them was so fast and so disorienting that they simply could not see it for what it was, let along confront it.

That odd sense of disbelief and disorientation you are feeling now is what I am talking about. It creates anxiety and an inability to know what to do. And that is what our new administration is counting onthe shocked and fearful deference of all to a suddenly unrecognizable governmentone of lies, evasion and moral rot.

You feel this disorientation when Kellyanne makes up her new absurdity for the day and it becomes the truth. Bowling Green Massacre, anyone? Or when she describes the gaping wounds inflicted on her by media. Or when you uneasily notice how happy the autocrats around the world look. If Putins smile were any larger, it would split his face in two.

You feel this disbelief and disorientation when they dismissively drag people off planes for the crime of being Muslim, or for being from one of the seven banned nations, whose citizens collectively account for zero U.S. terrorist deaths in our country since 1975. You get tired of Spicer lying. Get over it, people, he says, our ban only affected 106 people. How about 60,000 to 100,000 instead? Buried in lies. Buried in lies.

Perhaps you felt it when you heard they replaced the non-partisan board in charge of Voice of America with two twentysomething boys, one a right wing blogger

Or when they give the career diplomats and management professionalsthose who do our passports, return abducted children, evacuate American citizens in emergencies, and who process Freedom of Information requeststhe non-choice of resigning effective the next day, or be relieved of duty. And when you see the undersecretary of state for international security, en route to Europe, told to turn around and resign.

They like to dismantle the structures and agreements of our government in ways that are cruel and dismissive, even inhumane, techniques used to make the recipient feel less than human, of not being worthy of being treated with dignity or compassion.

And if you point this out, they say dont be so dramatic. Youre being hysterical. They say you are not seeing what you see, and that words have different meanings than what you thought, and that the media should shut its mouth. And if that doesnt work, they have one more alternative fact for you. I am stronger than you are now, so what you think doesnt matter anymore.

Thats what dictatorships say. Not our country. Not until now.

A Navy special ops Seal died the other day. Civilians, including children, died too because nihilists dont bother to pay that much attention. The nihilists went to dinner. And dinner was more important. Jared was there. For his military expertise? For the foie gras? You decide. Then they lied about their responsibility. Obama did it.

Notice how the original troika of Trump, Bannon and Flynn, the madman, the white supremacist, and the conspiracy blogger, worked together, as Bannon took a full seat on the National Security Council, setting himself above the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of National Intelligence. As they fired the Attorney General for refusing to back the immigration order, endangering the independence of the Department of Justice. Look at their anger and attacks against their own people, meaning us. Pay attention to their abrupt and sloppy implementation of their own flawed executive orders, their Gestapo type round-ups.

Watch their facades begin to slip as they struggle to destroy the separate powers protections of our government. Flynn is the first to leave. Kellyannes smile has definitely gone to fangs, and the Congressional leadership is looking more like the mindless zombies theyve become as they march lock step through our halls of government.

They are not your friends.

Nihilism does have a second act unless you throw it back into the pit it came from. That is the one in which the white supremacists, the neo-Nazis, the fascists, the Putin-type dictators, and the demagogues cobble together a gulag out of the rubble of our country when they are finished with their coup.

No, Im not being hysterical. Im really pretty calm. Considering they are destroying my country. We are the majority. And yes, I suggest we resist.

Rebecca Robins Sodikoff Bainbridge Island, WA

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Reader E-Mailbag: Pussy Hats vs Asshats, How to Save Obamacare, Nihilism in the White House - TheStranger.com

Editorial | By any means necessary including dancehall – Jamaica Gleaner

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In a 2016 National Public Radio (NPR) article on his book on how to teach in America's mainly black urban schools, Christopher Emdin gave an anecdote of his own experience as a student.

One day in the 10th grade, the classroom door slammed. Young Emdin dived under his desk. His maths teacher marched him off to the principal. The boy, he believed, was being a class clown.

Emdin, however, had perceived real danger. He thought he had heard a gunshot. Days earlier, a shooting had happened outside his apartment building.

The point of the anecdote was of teacher-student (mis)communication, which Emdin addressed in his book White Folk Who Teach in the Hood ... And the Rest of Y'All Too. The essence of his argument was that young people in America's urban environments often have different cultural and linguistic experiences than their white teachers, which affects how they are taught and learn. "People who perceive themselves to be colour blind oftentimes have biases hidden in their colour-blindness," Emdin said in that NRP interview.

There aren't many white folks teaching in Jamaica's schools. But the issues raised by Emdin are not so alien to Jamaica. They manifest themselves sometimes in a social gulf between teachers and their students in inner-city communities. But it is usually more apparent in the ongoing debate over the use/acceptance of Jamaican Patois as a distinct language that ought be taught and used in the island's schools and whether the majority of Jamaicans understand English, the language of pedagogy. The consensus to the latter, among linguists, seems to be no.

Which brings us to two issues: One is the project launched last week in Jamaica by Christopher Emdin and the Jamaica National Foundation; and, second, the use of Patois in schools. Emdin, 39, is now an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics, Sciences and Technology at America's Columbia University. His speciality is urban education, with a focus on maths and science.

He worked with the American rapper GZA to develop a hip hop competition in New York, centred on lyrics about maths and science. It has been immensely popular.

Emdin and the JN Foundation have now brought the concept to Jamaica, under a project called Science Genius Jamaica (SCG), utilising Jamaican dancehall music, which, like hip hop, is often grounded in misogyny and nihilism.

But there is no doubt that dancehall is immensely popular. "Almost as soon as you put on a dancehall song, and it's catchy and creative, the young people grasp it," conceded Floyd Green, Jamaica's junior education minister. Promoters of the project hope that will happen in the case of the songs to be composed by the grade nine students. Without the nihilism.

The language of dancehall is mostly Jamaican Patois. Mr Green's, and implicitly the Government's, embrace of this dancehall-meets-education project should be music to the ears of people like Professor Hubert Devonish, who heads the Jamaican Language Unit at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, and is often a lonely voice, except for Carolyn Cooper's, pressing for acceptance of Jamaican Patois, the mother tongue, and for bilingual education in the island.

Given global realities, this newspaper insists on all Jamaicans being literate and functional in English. The majority of Jamaicans start at a deficit in this regard. If the bilingual education approach suggested by Devonish et al is a means to this end, so be it!

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Editorial | By any means necessary including dancehall - Jamaica Gleaner

Meet the Group of Extreme Rationalists Bent on Cheating Death – Signature Reads

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In his latest bookTo Be a Machine, Mark OConnell probes the impulses, personalities, and technology of the people who believe the human body, particularly its stubborn insistence on dying and abdication of Moores law, is a system ripe for disruption. Meet the transhumanists.

OConnells book takes himdeep into the heartland of the professional disrupter class mostly the Bay Area and the cities, like Austin, eager to take in its spillover to meet with and discuss the ideas of everyone mostly men from billionaire tech CEOs and venture capitalists, to researchers at top-tier universities, to otherwise aimless loaners, apparently eager to extend their time in a world they scarcely seem to enjoy.

OConnell goes in as no diehard spokesman, and his report is not one of a jaunt through an imagined imminent utopia. Instead, its a journey that, like the books title, invites questionsWhat does it mean to be a machine? and speculative answers to them.

OConnell lives in Dublin. When I called him, we struggled at first to get a clear connection, an irony of relatively simple tech failure that was not lost. Once clearly connected, we discussed the possibility and consequences of a future where we are in some form machine and in some form potentially totally destroyed by machines.

SIGNATURE: You dont come out of the book as a devotee to transhumanism. When you started out, what were your thoughts on the movement?

MARK OCONNELL: My initial position was skeptical. At the same time, I never wanted to go in with a skeptical attitude and just come out with skepticism confirmed. I dont agree with the methods or ideology or the place where those transhumanist ideas come from, yet that almost childish horror that we get old and die, thats something I kind of share and I think a lot of people do as well. It is sort of basically unacceptable that we have this in our future. So there is something very compelling about the notion of people deludedly or otherwise thinking that this is a problem that can be solved.

SIG: A lot of it seems to be focused on this idea of not just overcoming death, but also overcoming general human inefficiency.

MO: When you talk to transhumanists most of them have a real, basic frustration with the human body and with the limitations of their sort of meat brains, thats the term you come across again and again. I suspect, it comes from an over-identification with computers. A lot of transhumanists are programmers and engineers and they spend a lot of time around computers, seeing systems, and thinking of efficiency and intelligence in a very machine-based way. Transhumanism makes perfect sense logically if you already think of yourself as a machine. It makes perfect sense to want to be a better machine, to want to be more efficient. It seems to me like being ultimately quite an insane way of thinking about human nature and thinking about what it means to be human. Thats really what interested me about transhumanism, is that it comes from this really strange notion of human existence that I think is kind of a confusion of the boundaries between the machines and the humans.

SIG: What do you see being lost in this view of man as machine?

MO: A sort of glib answer would be everything that doesnt involved a very narrow view of intelligence. Transhumanists have this battle cry that you hear over and over again that is optimized for intelligence and thats the bottom line for every metric of progress. Intelligence is the most important kind of value in the universe. I think thats a really narrow way of thinking about what it means to be human. It is also a very narrow view of what intelligence means, because when they talk about intelligence they tend to think about computational power. But I think being human is obviously a very messy, very inherently unquantifiable thing in terms of what makes it worthwhile. I suspect it has something to do with not being a machine and with not being ruthlessly efficient and productive and intelligent. But thats not a very good answer. As much time as I spent thinking about this stuff, and talking to these people, I never really came up with a satisfying answer to what it meant to be a human being.

SIG: One of the things that I was thinking about as I was reading the book, and you touch on it too, is that there is some similarity between transhumanism and millenerian thinking. The idea that since there is going to be this great reward at the end, that the contemporary world as it is now is kind of pointless. The problem of this, Ive always thought from the religious perspective, is that it deemphasizes solving the problems of today because its so focused on this thing that is going to come. I was wondering, did you find that transhumanists were very concerned about contemporary problems?

MO: The short answer is no. Because most of the time you are dealing with rationalists who are so extreme in their rationalism that it becomes insanity in a way. I wont say theyll dismiss things like climate change, but theyll say, oh yea climate change is a problem, but its fairly well served and there is a lot of people working on it and its not going to wipe out all of humanity, so lets not worry about it too much. They talk about it in terms of future lives. The lives of the people who are yet to be born are just as important or are given just as much weight in the moral calculus as people who already exists, which I guess as a utilitarian and sort of rigorously rationalist claim does make a kind of sense, but for most actually living human beings, it is kind of weird to think of things in that way, for me certainly. I find it hard to care about people who will be born in one-hundred years time as opposed to people who are alive now. Maybe thats wrong, maybe thats morally a bit dubious, but it seems to me strange to prioritize the lives of people who have yet to be born over those who are living and suffering now.

SIG: It seems like one obvious criticism of transhumanism is that if what they really want to do is extend human life, then they should be focusing on the things today that really shorten it like war and poverty and inadequate medical care.

MO: Yea. But to these folks like Aubrey de Grey, who I talked to for the book, you are just looking at it all wrong. To them, death is an ongoing holocaust that we deal with everyday and if we bring forward the cure of mortality by however many days, its thirty September 11ths a week that weve prevented. Its really hard to argue with that kind of extreme rationalism, I find, because youre kind of talking different languages altogether.

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Meet the Group of Extreme Rationalists Bent on Cheating Death - Signature Reads

Review: ‘Target in the Night’ is punchy, graceful, ambiguous – The Daily Herald

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By Heartwood, Everett Public Library staff

Target in the Night by feted, recently deceased, Argentinian author Ricardo Piglia is a beautifully constructed novel featuring a number of interrelated stories, distinctly individualized characters, and stylish storytelling.

On its surface we have the murder of Tony Durn who came from the U.S. to a provincial town outside of Buenos Aires with lots of cash and a connection to the twin Belladona sisters. Attempting to solve Durns murder is Croce, the quixotic, Holmesian detective who has a long history of butting heads with local prosecutor Cueto.

The murder involved a knifing and the apparent use of a defunct dumbwaiter to lower down cash from the victims hotel room. The latter may also have provided the means of escape for a small person. Indeed the chief suspect is a Japanese jockey by the name of Yoshio, and his alleged act is being called a crime of passion. Other suspects include various members of the Belladona family, and a different jockey, who may have been paid to make the hit as he was in need of cash to buy a beloved, injured horse.

Woven into the story are scenes at the racetrack, the Belladona brothers and their fortress-like factory for cutting-edge automotive prototypes on the outskirts of town, a reporter (Renzi) from the city who has come to report on the murder, and a slowly unfolding history of the town and life on the Argentinian pampas that brings to mind Garca Mrquezs mythical town of Macondo in One Hundred Years of Solitude.

The Belladona family are prominent citizens in the community but are described as being currently at war with each other. We learn of their family history in ways that are fascinating and add layers of intrigue. For example, Renzi has a long talk with the twin, Sophia (eventually leading to intimacy), which unfolds episodically throughout the novel. And Renzi discovers more details about the Belladonna family with the help of the towns efficient archivist, Rosa, revealing a family schism and the attempt to appropriate the Belladona factory and surrounding lands through a corporate takeover.

In addition to all this, Piglias various characters have peculiar interests that include a fascination with language and syntax, dreams and the work of Carl Jung, literature and philosophy, quasi-mysticism, rationalism, madness, perception and the ide fixe. Target in the Night is a wonderful amalgam of detective story and classical tragedy told in voices that vary from Chandler to Pynchon to Bolao. Readers in need of cleanly wrapped up narratives should probably look elsewhere, but for those who are open to ambiguity and enjoy finely realized characters, myriad subject matter, and punchy yet graceful writing definitely give this book a look.

Blanco nocturno (Target in the Night) was awarded the prestigious Rmulo Gallegos International Novel Prize in 2011. For more about the author see the Piglia Dossier in the first issue of the new journal, Latin American Literature Today.

Be sure to visit A Reading Life for more reviews and news of all things happening at the Everett Public Library.

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Review: 'Target in the Night' is punchy, graceful, ambiguous - The Daily Herald

Barnaby Joyce condemns WA Liberals’ preference deal with One Nation – Whyalla News

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13 Feb 2017, 12:34 p.m.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has condemned the Western Australian Liberal Party's unprecedented decision to preference One Nation ahead of the Nationals at the upcoming state election, a deal that has been defended by Mr Joyce's federal Liberal partners.

Prime Minister and Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull with Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop. Photo: Andrew Meares

Trade Minister Steven Ciobo has defended One Nation's record defending the government, while Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has warned the deal could cost the Liberal Party government in WA. Photo: Andrew Meares

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has condemned the Western Australian Liberal Party's unprecedented decision to preference One Nation ahead of the Nationals at the upcoming state election, a deal that is splitting opinion in the federal Coalition ranks.

Striking a different note to Liberal colleagues, former prime minister Tony Abbott agreed with the argument that One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was a "better person" today than when she was previously in Parliament but said the Nationals should be preferenced above all other parties.

While Mr Joyce described the deal as "disappointing", cabinet colleague and Trade Minister Steve Ciobosaidthe Liberal Party should put itself in the best position to govern and talked up Ms Hanson's right-wing populist party as displaying a "certain amount of economic rationalism" and support for government policy.

Mr Joyce said the conclusion "that the next best people to govern Western Australia after the Liberal Party are One Nation" needed to be reconsideredand the most successful governments in Australia were ones based on partnerships between the Liberals and Nationals.

"When you step away from that, there's one thing you can absolutely be assured of is that we are going to be in opposition," he told reporterson Monday morning.

"[WA Premier] Colin Barnett has been around thepoliticalgame a long while and he should seriously consider whether he thinks that this is a good idea or whether he's flirting with a concept that would put his own side and Liberal colleagues in opposition."

The deal will see Liberals preference One Nation above the Nationals in the upper house country regions in return for the party's support in all lower house seats at the March 11 election.

The alliance between the more independent WA branch of the Nationals and the Liberals is reportedly at breaking point over the deal, which could cost the smaller rural party a handful of seats.

"Pauline Hanson is a different and, I would say, better person today than she was 20 years ago. Certainly she's got a more, I think, nuanced approach to politics today," Mr Abbott told Sydney radio station 2GB.

"It's not up to me to decide where preference should go but, if it was, I'd certainly be putting One Nation ahead of Labor and I'd be putting the National Party ahead of everyone. Because the National Party are our Coalition partnersin Canberra and in most states and they are our alliance partners in Western Australia."

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declined to criticise the deal, stating that preference deals in the state election were a matter for the relevant division who "have got make their judgment based on their assessment of their electoral priorities".

Mr Ciobo joined the Prime Minister and other federal Liberal colleagues in defending the WA division's right to make its own decisions.

"What we've got to do is make decisions that put us in the best possible position to govern," he told ABC radio of the motivations of his own branch in Queensland.

After Industry Minister Arthur Sinodinos called the modern One Nation more "sophisticated" now, Mr Ciobo also praised the resurgent party.

"If you look at, for example, how Pauline Hanson's gone about putting her support in the Senate, you'll see that she's often voting in favour of government legislation.There's a certain amount of economic rationalism, a certain amount of approach that's reflective of what it is we are trying to do to govern Australia in a fiscally responsible way.One Nation has certainly signed up to that much more than Labor."

When in government, former Liberal prime minister John Howard declared that One Nation would always be put last on how-to-vote cards.

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The story Barnaby Joyce condemns WA Liberals' preference deal with One Nation first appeared on The Sydney Morning Herald.

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Barnaby Joyce condemns WA Liberals' preference deal with One Nation - Whyalla News

When a guitar and Sarangi took over Qalandar’s shrine – The Express Tribune

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Courtyard full of devotees didnt care that just over a week ago, a suicide blast killed 88 in that very place

SEHWAN SHARIF:In a world of logic and rationalism, there often occur moments which defy any explanation. Its the moment when a devotee glances at his place of worship, his spiritual guidefor the first time. Its the moment when a thing of beauty comes to life in front of your eyes like watching evolution give shape to the world, or looking into your firstborns eyes moments after birth. I had a similar experience on Saturday night when I visited the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan.

PHOTO:PUBLICITY

It involved neither God nor evolution, but rather something more powerful that abides within us: love and peace. I have lived over two decades with the mind of a cynic, questioning and making sense of the nonsense around me and it has only happened a few times that I stop and just feel things as they are, without any judgment. It happened when I was kayaking in a lake surrounded by mountains in Yeongwol, South Korea. It happened in the mountainous Buddhist temple of Naksan where Buddhas spirit lived in the winter fog and watched over his devotees. And it happened again in the ethereal presence of Qalandar.

Those fuelling anger over Sehwan tragedy accomplices of terrorists: Sindh CM

A courtyard full of devotees who did not care that just over a week ago, a suicide blast had killed 88 people in that very place. I was there, moving to the rhythm of Lal, whose four lamps never extinguish. I was there to light the fifth one.

PHOTO:PUBLICITY

Watching people go into a trance to the sound of dhamaal was a moving experience. What followed was a peace jam by Sounds of Kolachi and percussionist Abdul Aziz Qazi, marking the first time any band has performed inside the Qalandar shrine.

PHOTO:PUBLICITY

The heart-touching sound of Gul Muhammads sarangi combined with Ahsan Baris guitar, Qazis cajn, and Ahmeds vocals served as a call, an azaan of sorts. In no time, people gathered around to witness the manifestation of a peaceful gesture in the face of fear that had swallowed the world. In fact, it occurred to me that, apart from the tighter security at the entrance, the public did not even worry about the blast anymore. The power of peace had set into them so heavily that it wasnt going to stop them from visiting the pilgrimage site.

PHOTO:PUBLICITY

Each musical note and each expression of the people in witness exclaimed, No blasts or killings can conquer peace and love. The shrine was a canal, where musicians took inspiration from the people and gave them back through music an ecosystem, a cycle of peace. Its even more interesting that no person objected to it. Music was a whole another prayer, similar to what the regular devotees did at the shrine. To top it, two local musicians joined in with nagaras of their own like dervishes joining a group of dervishes in the dance of zikr.

In Memory Of Sehwan victims remembered

The performance, which lasted over 40 minutes, saw people even dancing to the rhythm in a trance-like state, as on the path to enlightenment. It reminded me of the Heart Sutra in Mahayana Buddhism, Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Swaha (Gone, gone, gone beyond altogether beyond, Awakening, fulfilled!).

PHOTO:PUBLICITY

It talks about love and mental peace where nothing, no worldly chatter and noise can touch you. One of the most important sutras in Buddhism, it talks of Bodhi, which is awakening. If the entire experience of Qalandars shrine can be summed up in one word, its awakening.

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When a guitar and Sarangi took over Qalandar's shrine - The Express Tribune

‘Moonlight,’ ‘La La Land’ and What an Epic Oscars Fail Really Says – New York Times

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New York Times
'Moonlight,' 'La La Land' and What an Epic Oscars Fail Really Says
New York Times
... only to be part of a rug-yanking ceremony. After Sunday night, the presidential election, the Super Bowl and, to a different but related extent, the Grammys, I've officially come down with outcome-oriented post-traumatic stress disorder Ooptsd ...

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'Moonlight,' 'La La Land' and What an Epic Oscars Fail Really Says - New York Times

Sophia Al Maria: EVERYTHING MUST GO at The Third Line – Arte Fuse

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The exhibition creates an immersive experience, capturing the chaotic, almost apocalyptic act of consuming. The viewer is invited to experience illusions of order in underlying confusion and pandemonium.

Black Friday(2016) shown here outside museum context for the first time, is a projected video featuring primarily empty malls in Doha (Qatar) and offers a moody, sinister take on shopping. Designed at seemingly impossible scale with incredible heights, the malls featured in the video appear as dizzying temples dedicated to artifice and capitalism, showing how scripted environment of the shopping mall is a form of default religious architecture in a culture of consumerism.

In her new series of works, EVERYTHING MUST GO, Sophia introduces a playful twist, juxtaposing emblems of consumerism with military jargon and captures the crux of the end of days where chaos and destruction are met by a violent military attempt to reinstate order. EVERYTHING MUST GO consists of a large series of stills taken from Black Fridays The Litany series an installation of numerous electronic devices displaying flickering, short and glitching loops of countless consumption references each printed with either a fake beauty product term or military idiom. When read together or even at random, the grouping of words result in absurd and obscene combinations.

Throughout her practice, Sophia has been finding ways to describe 21st century life in the Gulf through art, writing, and film-making. She has explored different complexities such as environmental damage, religious conservatism, and historical contradictions that the Gulf has encountered. Sophia is a young artist aware of the rapid changing times and capable of articulating the controversies that cause friction in contemporary Gulf cities.

Sophia Al Maria is an artist, writer and filmmaker. She studied comparative literature at the American University in Cairo, and aural and visual cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London. For the past few years, she has been carrying out research around the concept of Gulf Futurism. Her primary interests are around the isolation of individuals via technology and reactionary Islam, the corrosive elements of consumerism and industry, and the erasure of history and the blinding approach of a future no one is ready for. She explores these ideas with certain guidebooks and ideas including, but not limited to, Zizeks The Desert of the Unreal, As-Sufis Islamic Book of the Dead, as well as imagery from Islamic eschatology, post humanism and the global mythos of Science Fiction.

Her work has been exhibited in various institutional shows around the world, including Black Friday, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA (2016); Repetition, Villa Empain, Boghossian Foundation, Brussels, Belgium (2016); Imitation of Life at HOME, Manchester (2016); In Search of Lost Time, The Brunei Gallery, London (2016); 89plus: Filter Bubble, LUMA Westbau, Zurich, Switzerland (2015); 2015 Triennial: Surround Audience, New Museum, New York, NY, USA (2015); Common Grounds, Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany (2015); Extinctions Marathon: Visions of the Future, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK (2014); Virgin with a memory, Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK (2014); Do It, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK (2013); The 9th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2012); For your Eyes Only, St. Paul Street Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (2012); Dowse Museum, Wellington, New Zealand (2012); Genre Specific Xperience, New Museum, New York, NY, USA (2011); Bendari & the Bunduqia, Waqif Art Centre, Doha, Qatar (2007) and We Few: A Comic Palindrome, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt (2005). Her writing has appeared in Harpers Magazine, Five Dials, Triple Canopy, and Bidoun. In 2007, she published her first autobiographical novel, The Girl Who Fell to Earth (Harper Collins Perennial).

Sophia recently guest edited an issue of the experimental art-writing journal The Happy Hypocrite, entitled Fresh Hell.

She currently lives and works in London, UK.

Writing via press release provided by the gallery

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Critics accuse European Parliament of censorship over ‘kill switch’ to … – RT

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The European Parliament is introducing a new rule set to curb hate speech, cutting live debate feeds and removing video/audio traces of offensive remarks. A fierce backlash from press and MEPs has critics accusing the EU Parliament of censorship.

The new rule would let the chair of a debate cut a live feed from the parliament in the case of defamatory, racist or xenophobic language or behavior by a member, also imposing a $9,500 fine on the offender. Remarks deemed offensive could also be erased from the audiovisual record of proceedings.

The step apparently aims to tackle racist remarks by far-right members of the EU parliament. For instance last year, Eleftherios Synadinos, an MEP for Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party, was expelled from the parliament after calling Turks dirty and polluted and comparing them to wild dogs.

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Some MEPs agree that far-right rhetoric can go over the top at the parliament.

There have been a growing number of cases of politicians saying things that are beyond the pale of normal parliamentary discussion and debate, said Richard Corbett, a UK MEP who backed the new rule, according to AP.

What if this became not isolated incidents, but specific, where people could say: Hey, this is a fantastic platform. It's broad, it's live-streamed. It can be recorded and repeated. Let's use it for something more vociferous, more spectacular, he added.

The latest step wasnt made public and triggered a massive backlash by the press representatives and MEPs, with many of them questioning if the latest measure could amount to censorship.

This undermines the reliability of the Parliament's archives at a moment where the suspicion of fake news and manipulation threatens the credibility of the media and the politicians, Tom Weingaertner, president of the Brussels-based International Press Association, told AP.

Many journalists and MEPs took to Twitter to vent over the latest development.

It should be noted that the issue was on the table as early as last December. Back then Gerolf Annemans, an MEP from Vlaams Belang, Belgium's Flemish independence party, voiced his concern that the measure could be abused by those who have hysterical reactions to things that they qualify as racist, xenophobic, when people are just expressing politically incorrect views, as cited by AP.

Some of the MEPs voiced more balanced views, with German deputy Helmut Scholz saying that EU lawmakers are chosen to speak out on the state of Europe, adding that one can't limit or deny this right. At the same time, he said a tool was needed to tackle Nazi shouts and racists remarks.

We need an instrument against that, to take it out of the record, to stop distribution of such slogans, such ideas, Scholz argued.

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Remembering Ren Hang: A Subversive to China’s Censorship – The … – Daily Beast

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Ren Hang, the controversial Bejing photographer, has died at 29 of suicide.

Always provocative and often surreal, Hang featured his friends (and later his fans) nude. While his work was controversial in conservative China, it was revered worldwide. Like Ai Wei Wei, Ren Hang was on the front lines for expression in art in a China. The battle wasn't easy, and he was often censored and arrested for his explicit photographs.

Much of Hang's work is explicit (featuring erections, urine, and sexual acts), but on a broader spectrum he explored youth, sexuality, and nature in beautiful ways. Dwarfing nude human forms against monstrous Beijing architecture, or juxtaposing a sullen subject against milky waters, his work often feltethereal. While the focus of his critics was always been the explicit quality, he wasn't interested in discussing sex and gender. After being pressed on why he so heavily featured penises in a VICE interview, he responded: "Gender isnt important when Im taking pictures, it only matters to me when Im having sex.

Hang's perhaps most endearing quality was his humility and bluntness. He wasn't pretentious by any stretch of the imagination, casually shrugging off his controversies. I dont really view my work as taboo, because I dont think so much in cultural context, or political context." he said. "I dont intentionally push boundaries, I just do what I do."

In addition to being an acclaimed photographer, Ren Hang was also a poet. He documented his long-fought battle with depression on his website, sharing poems and stream-of-consciousness musings.

Ren Hang's arrests came from violating China's obscenity laws, shooting his subjects nude outside. He faced resistance throughout his career from arrests, his exhibitions in China getting cancelled, and his website being shut down twice.

His most recent collection spanning his entire, albeit brief, six year career was released just last month via Taschen. His long-time parter,Jiaqi, is featured on the cover.

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Film censorship is being used to quell discourse in Malaysia – Asian Correspondent

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Human rights activist, Lena Hendry, was charged under Section 6(1)(b) of the Film Censorship Act in what many feel is a blow to freedom of speech and expression in Malaysia. @Net2Ayurveda

AS a documentary filmmaker, I regularly screen my films and also give talks and workshops, both locally and internationally. When I am out of the country, I always get asked the question of how local filmmakers deal with the strict censorship laws in Malaysia.

My first response is always to correct their question. The question shouldnt be how we Malaysian filmmakers deal with strict censorship laws; it should be how we deal with vague, unclear and inconsistent censorship laws.

Take for example,Lena Hendry, who is a former employee of a Malaysian-based human rights non-governmental organisation called Pusat KOMAS. She was found guilty of screening the documentary No Fire Zone: The killing fields of Sri Lanka without censorship approval in 2013.

SEE ALSO:HRW calls on Malaysia to drop charges against activist for showing film

Hendry was convicted under Section 6(1)(b) of the Film Censorship Act, 2002 on Feb 21, 2017 and could now face up to three years jail or a fine not exceeding RM30,000 (US$6,750). Sentencing has been set for 22nd March.

Pusat KOMAS regularly screens films that have human rights themes. And this particular film has been screened numerous times before at a variety of different events. It was screened at the 2015 International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) and at a Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) event in 2013.

At both events, Malaysian government officials were in attendance. In fact, the IACC even claims that Prime Minister Najib Razak was there.

Here is a film that was openly screened during a government event, but wasnt allowed at a different event. So why the double standards?

Personally, I have experienced a similar incident, although mine wasnt to the extent of being arrested and charged. A documentary I produced about the conflict happening in Southern Thailand called The Life and Times of an Islamic Insurgency was banned.

SEE ALSO:Southeast Asian governments grapple with censoring Netflix

The documentary was not banned initially, and was even scheduled to be screened on national television. For anything to be broadcast on national television in Malaysia, it has to get through the censorship board, meaning my documentary was approved by the board.

However, two days before the scheduled broadcast, the television network gave me a call and informed me that the documentary was now banned and they were told to pull it from being on air. There was no reason given, I just had to be content with their lack of explanation.

Pusat KOMAS has now launched a campaign to fight for justice for Hendry. The campaign, #DefendLena, will run till the date of the sentencing and there will be events such as a public forum on censorship and screenings of the same documentary for various small groups.

The case involving Hendry is a blow to freedom of speech and expression. For a country that is a functioning democracy, it is important that diverse views and perspectives are made available so that dissent and discourse can happen.

The conviction has garnered opposition from many quarters including politicians, NGOs, human rights activists and even members of the public. Hendry, of course, is determined to appeal her conviction.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not reflect the views of Asian Correspondent

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UT forum discusses free speech on campus – Knoxville News Sentinel

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Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, talks about free speech as an issue on college campuses and in national politics on Monday, Feb. 27, 2017 at the University of Tennessee. Rachel Ohm/ News Sentinel.

Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, speaks at the "Understanding the First Amendment on Campus" event Monday, Feb. 27, 2017, at The Howard Baker Center for Public Policy on UT's campus.(Photo: BRIANNA PACIORKA/NEWS SENTINEL)Buy Photo

A free speech forum at the University of Tennessee on Monday touched on First Amendment issues as they have affected the university over the past year, including a controversial tweet made last fallby a professor of law.

"Free speech is one of the most important topics in America today," said Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center and the moderator of Monday's forum at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy. "On campus we're seeing dramatic debates about the boundaries between dignity and freeexpression online. We're seeing debates about whether presidents should be tweeting and whether members of Congress should respond. The boundaries of free speech have never been more contested."

The forum also comes as Tennessee lawmakers earlier this month proposed a bill to ensure free speech on Tennessee campuses after the controversial speeches of a former Breitbart News editor spurred protests at colleges around the country.

Two students, two faculty members and an administrator made up a panel that weighed in Monday on various issues related to free speech as they have appeared on the University of Tennessee campus.

Melissa Shivers, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the University of Tennessee, speaks during a panel discussion at the "Understanding the First Amendment on Campus" event Monday, Feb. 27, 2017, at The Howard Baker Center for Public Policy on UT's campus.(Photo: BRIANNA PACIORKA/NEWS SENTINEL)

The discussion mostly focused on a controversial tweet made last fall by Glenn Reynolds, a UT law professor andcontributing columnist for USA TODAY and the News Sentinel, whourged motorists to run over demonstrators blocking traffic in Charlotte, N.C.; and a letter to the editor that appeared in the student newspaper, The Daily Beacon, last spring that took issue with the idea of "safe spaces" on campus.

Barry Hawkins, a UT senior who penned the letter to the editor and a member of Monday's panel, said during the course of the discussion that he hasn't seen any recent barriers to free speech on campus, and faculty and administrators on the panel also said the issue is one that is taken seriously with an emphasis placed on the importance of free speech on campus.

One faculty member not on the panel, however, did express concerns Monday about a lecture scheduled to take place Tuesday at UT's Alumni Memorial Building entitled "How Killing Black Children is an American Tradition."

Mary McAlpin, a professor of French and member of the Faculty Affairs Committee in the Faculty Senate, said during a question-and-answer portion of Monday's forum that she was concerned that funding from three of the four departments sponsoring the lecture had been pulled because the title was "too provocative."

Amy Blakely, assistant director of media and internal relations for the University of Tennessee, said she "was not sure about the specifics of the funding" but that the lecture would still be held as planned Tuesday.

"The challenges are difficult; the lines are hard to draw," Rosen said during opening remarks Monday. "I know how this campus, like campuses around the country is struggling with these issues, but we can unite around them. We can be inspired and take solace in the beautiful tradition that speech is a natural right and our democracy is stronger if we have confidence that bad speech will be driven out by good speech."

Brittany Moore, president of UT Black Law Students Association, speaks during a panel discussion at the "Understanding the First Amendment on Campus" event Monday, Feb. 27, 2017, at The Howard Baker Center for Public Policy on UT's campus.(Photo: BRIANNA PACIORKA/NEWS SENTINEL)

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Gun rights activists win round in free-speech court case against state of California – Los Angeles Times

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Feb. 27, 2017, 4:35 p.m.

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Monday against the state for continuing to demand the removal of a blog post that listed the home addresses of legislators who voted for California's newest gun control measures.

The lawsuit is funded by the Firearms Policy Coalition on behalf of one of the groups members, who is listed in the lawsuit under the pseudonym Publius and writes a blog called The Real Write Winger.

Last year, the blog published the names, home addresses and homephone numbers of 40 legislators who voted for a package of gun control measures in June, saying the lawmakers decided to make you a criminal if you dont abide by their dictates. So below is the current tyrant registry.

The Web hosting company WordPresstook the post down after it received a letter from Deputy Legislative Counsel Kathryn Londenberg saying the information putelected officials at grave risk, and citing state law barring the release of such information.

Chief U.S.District Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill in Fresno issued an order Monday granting the plaintiffs motion for a preliminary injunction in the 1st Amendment civil rights lawsuit, saying the plaintiffs are likely to succeed ontheir claims that the state law violates the 1st Amendment.

We are delighted that Judge ONeill saw the statute and the States enforcement of it for exactly what it was: an unconstitutional restriction on free speech, said coalition president Brandon Combs.

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EDITORIAL: Clarify Free Speech Policy – Georgetown University The Hoya

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Georgetown University received a dubious distinction last Wednesday after landing on the Foundation for Individual Rights in Educations list of the 10 worst colleges for free speech.

For a university that has, in the past two years, hosted speakers of every ilk and creed, from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and feminism skeptic Christina Hoff Sommers to Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, this categorization seems hyperbolic. Georgetowns Speech and Expression Policy contains provisions that allow any student group to host an event or peacefully protest for demonstrators.

Regardless of if the university deserves the distinction of FIREs worst of the worst list for campus free speech policy, the report spotlights how the ambiguities in the Speech and Expression Policy are sometimes liable to misinterpretation and confusion by administrators and students alike.

According to the report, the ranking is largely predicated by an incident in September 2015, in which the Georgetown University Law Centers Office of Student Life prevented a group of law students from campaigning for Bernie Sanders presidential campaign on campus. The university claimed that its tax-exempt status as a nonprofit organization precluded the universitys engagement in partisan political activity, but later acknowledged in a February 2016 letter to a congressional subcommittee that the GULC had applied an overly cautious interpretation of the legal requirements governing the use of university resources.

Similarly, another incident cited by FIREs list also stemmed from a misunderstanding, after the Georgetown University Police Department removed condom envelopes from the doors of students volunteering for H*yas for Choice after reportedly mistaking them for vandalism.

These events in the past year do not represent insidious, systemic attempts by the university to muzzle free speech and expression on campus. Rather, the incidents cited by FIRE to justify its ranking all arise from the vague and obscure language of an otherwise permissive and accepting policy.

For instance, even after issuing a swift revision of its policy that clearly permits students to table for campaigns, GULC expressly prohibited the use of university-sponsored resources, including Georgetowns phone system, email lists, computer networks or servers, or postal service, for partisan political campaign activity. But as FIRE points out, other university resources including classrooms, bulletin boards and even campus Wi-Fi are absent from the policy, leaving it to the universitys discretion as to how to enforce expression policy.

These ambiguities persist on the main campus, where confusion abounds among students and administration about the regulation of free speech. In 2014, GUPD removed students tabling for H*yas for Choice in Healy Circle outside a Right to Life event because H*yas for Choice strayed outside the confines of Red Squares designated free speech zone, despite Vice President of Student Affairs Todd Olson reassuring the group in a Jan. 16, 2014 free speech forum that it was not confined to the area.

The conflicting reports from campus law enforcement, administration and students about free speech rights demonstrate that although the university remains committed to free expression and the exchange of ideas, the exact provisions of the policy remain subject to interpretation. This is easily remediable through the consolidation of a definitive Bill of Rights for student free speech, with specific language about space and resources that administrators can show to students who violate the terms, or, alternately, students can point to when disputing their right to expression.

Despite FIREs ranking, Georgetown will demonstrate its commitment to free speech this week by hosting two contentious speakers, Nonie Darwish and Asra Nomani, who proclaim inflammatory views about radical Islam. At the same time, Georgetowns Bridge Initiative will host a conversation on Islamophobia and anti-Semitism with Rabbi Rachel Gartner and Imam Yahya Hendi. This campus climate is a far cry from FIREs ranking Georgetown as a repressive university for free speech. But in order to assure this continued commitment, the university needs to clearly delineate its expectations regarding free speech for both students and campus officials.

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The threat to campus free speech comes from Republicans, too – NY … – New York Daily News

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The threat to campus free speech comes from Republicans, too - NY ... - New York Daily News