Barnaby Joyce condemns WA Liberals’ preference deal with One Nation – Daily Advertiser

13 Feb 2017, 1:04 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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Calls for contributions to books and special issues of …

M@king It New In English Language Teaching A special issue of ELOPE Vol. 14, No. 1 (2017) Deadline for proposals: 10 January 2016

English Language Teaching is a dynamic, extensive and varied research discipline, underpinned by one fundamental question: how best to meet the needs of English learners, especially in our increasingly globalised and digitised world. This single question encompasses a host of related and inter-related issues. Please read the full cfp address here.

This special issue aims to bring together scholars, researchers and practitioners from all levels of the education system to report on and review the latest in English Language Teaching, as well as to explore potential future developments in the field.

Submissions are welcome from all subject areas of English Language Teaching, such as:

A selection of papers will be published in the spring 2017 (Vol. 14, No. 1) special issue of ELOPE: English Language Overseas Perspectives and Enquiries, a double-blind, peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes original research articles, studies and essays addressing issues of English language, literature, teaching and translation. The volume will be edited by guest editors Melita Kukovec, Kirsten Hempkin and Katja Teak.

Papers of between 5000 and 8000 words in English should be submitted through the ELOPE online paper submission system. To ensure a blind review, the submitted file should not contain the authors name or other personal data. For formatting and documentation, please see the sample paper in the attachment and Author Guidelines on the ELOPE website.

The submission deadline is 10 January 2017.

(posted 7 November 2016)

While science fiction and fantasy are inarguably international genres, they have not developed in a uniform manner across the globe. The literary output of any nation is always shaped by many factors, including the countrys history, politics, and culture. This is certainly true as far as Polish science fiction and fantasy literature are concerned, since their present conditionthough, undoubtedly, determined also by the achievements of foreign writers (but to what extent?)has been affected by the nations difficult yet rich past, which has been reflected in the writers attempts at re-creating the countrys history, in the multiple references to its socio-political reality, and in the return to Slavic mythology and traditions. However, beyond the borders of Poland few of the countrys science fiction and fantasy writers have gained literary and scholarly recognition (which is, of course, due to the number of available translations). While foreign readers might be acquainted with the works of Stanisaw Lem and Andrzej Sapkowski, they might know little about other noteworthy Polish writers. Which is not surprising, since not many critical publications on Polish sf and fantasy are available in English. Our work will, hopefully, satisfy that demand.

While papers dealing with the works of Lem and Sapkowski are welcome, we strongly encourage scholars to submit works related to any of the following topics:

Schedule

After the papers receive a positive review, we will proceed with editing, proofreading, and publishing. Please send your questions and submission to: crossroads.sfandfantasy@gmail.com

The theme issue will be guest-edited by Weronika aszkiewicz, Mariusz M. Le, and Sylwia Borowska-Szerszun who are part of the research team Wymiary Fantastyki established at the University of Biaystok. You can visit them at: http://fantastyka.uwb.edu.pl/

Crossroads. A Journal of English Studies is a peer-reviewed electronic quarterly published by the Department of English at the University of Biaystok. The journal welcomes contributions on all aspects of literary and cultural studies (including recent developments in cyberculture), linguistics (both theoretical and applied), and intercultural communication. The aim of the journal is to provide a forum for interdisciplinary research, inquiry and debate within the area of English studies through the exchange, crisscrossing and intersecting of opinions and diverse views. The electronic version of Crossroads. A Journal of English Studies is its primary (referential) version. The journal has received 6 points in the listing of scholarly journals issued by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education. For details about the journal visit: http://www.crossroads.uwb.edu.pl/

(posted 17 October 2016)

We are seeking contributions for The Routledge Companion to Women and the Ideology of Political Exclusion, edited by Tatiana Tsakiropoulou-Summers (The University of Alabama, USA) and Katerina Kitsi-Mitakou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece), to be published by Routledge in 2017-18.

The Companion aims to address the issue of womens political exclusion throughout the centuries and across cultures and societies from an inter- and multidisciplinary perspective. Taking as a point of reference the earliest configurations of democracy in classical Athens, in which women were not allowed to participate actively in its design and practices, and moving on to the modern times, the book will examine how exclusions of women are created within the very same discourses of inclusion, as well as how ancient biases are recycled, questioned, or cancelled in modern societies. Despite womens increasing participation in politics today and their open access to political life, there are still insurmountable barriers to gender equality and in many cases formal political equality veils continued exclusion or oppression. The essays will explore the idea of different types of womens political exclusion in a variety of contexts: in relation to civic rights, national belongings, identity politics, socio-economic human rights, etc., and will raise issues about the nature of democratic politics or the (in)stability of the term democracy. We are particularly interested in contributions that consider how gender exclusion intersects with a number of other parameters such as race, class, ethnicity, age, sexuality, disability, etc., which complicate womens assimilation to a state imperative.

We especially welcome proposals for essays that focus 1) on countries around the globe which constitute paradigmatic cases as far as women and civil/social rights are concerned (for ex. Scandinavia, Australia, etc.), 2) on comparing diverse models of exclusion/inclusion in different countries/societies/cultures, and 3) on the inherent contradictions and ambiguities of the latest debates about womens exclusion (such as, the clash between state policies of inclusion and socio-cultural and functional constraints that put limits on womens individual and collective agency [for ex. the case of burkini], the pressure put on women that belong to ethnic minorities, refugee or immigrant groups that have been affected by Exclusion Acts, the latest American elections, etc.).

Please send a 500-word proposal and a short biographical note by email attachment to both Katerina Kitsi-Mitakou (katkit@enl.auth.gr) and Tatiana Tsakiropoulou-Summers (tsummers@ua.edu) by January 15, 2017.

(posted 31 October 2016)

We are told that the humanities are suffering a downturn. Even as critical thinking, analysis, and compassionate assessmentthe backbones of the humanities educationare in high demand now more than ever, the world of the academy outside of science and technology continues to experience cuts, downsizing, and general devaluation. Digital Humanities has been one proposed remedy, yet their increasing popularity has paradoxical implications for the humanities at large: rather than challenging the scientistic epistemology, they perpetuate it by subjecting the arts to the empiricists analytical toolkit.

This critical collection is one move toward regeneration that does not attempt to redress the arts and humanities, but rather strives to revitalize them in their acute responsiveness to the social conditions that shape our lives. In particular, we are concerned with re-injecting subjective experience into academic and critical writing about the arts, since it is here that such writing has both its locus and its effect. Our gambit is that insisting that academic and critical writers inhabit, avow, and reveal their I will do far more to re-energize the humanities than further inhibiting the place of lived experience in critical writing.

We seek authors who will write both from within their particular area of specializationwhether in literature, philosophy, history, the arts, or other fields in the humanitiesand from within their own personal story. Most broadly, we are looking for the narratives that are both originary to, and that stem from, the critical experience: to bring together categories that tend to be held apart (the personal and the professional, the historical and the topical, the popular and the academic), to make manifest the stories that are so often repressed by academic and critical writing, and to reveal the urgency of our own personal investments in the humanities.

Possible forms of narrative might include:

Please send abstracts of approximately 250 words to Alison Annunziata (annunziata06@gmail.com) and Emma Lieber (elieber14@gmail.com) by January 15, 2017.

(posted 10 December 2016)

Submissions are sought from scholars, research aspirants and animal advocates

The rise and expansion of Animal Studies over the past decades can be seen in the explosion of various articles, journals, books, conferences, organizations, courses all over the academic world. With the publication of Peter Singers Animal Liberation in 1975 and Tom Regans The Case for Animal Rights in 1983, there has been a burgeoning interest in nonhuman animals among academics, animal advocates, and the general public. Interested scholars recognize the lack of scholarly attention given to nonhuman animals and to the relationships between human and nonhuman, especially in the light of the pervasiveness of animal representations, symbols, and stories, as well as the actual presence of animals in human societies and cultures.

Animals abound in literary and cultural texts, either they are animals-as-constructed or animals-as-such. However, we can approach any literary text from a theoretical lens where the representation of nonhuman animals are main operative analytic frame. In literature nonhuman animals are given titular role, they carry symbolic function, they speak human language and so on. But these create problematics and bear the politics of representation.

Proposals for articles on topics relevant to this collective volume may include, but are not limited to:

Contributors have liberty to choose literary texts for their case study, but the papers must theorize the major presence of nonhuman animals in the selected texts. Papers should be around 3000 words following the latest MLA style sheet and must have abstract of 250 words with keywords, relevant end notes, references and authors bio-note.

There is NO publication fee. Each contributor will be provided one complimentary copy in April, 2017.

Papers will be scrutinized thoroughly and checked for potential unethical practices. Selected papers will be collected in a book (with ISBN) to be published by a reputed publisher in India. Submission Deadline: 31st January, 2017. Submit to: studiesanimal@gmail.com

(posted 12 December 2016)

http://www.critical-stages.org International Association of Theatre Critics / Association internationale des critiques de thtre a/s Jean-Pierre Han, 27, rue Beaunier, 75014 Paris,France http://www.aict-iatc.org ISSN 2409-7411

Special Issue Editor: Johannes Birringer (DAP-Lab)

Overview

Inspired by recent productions in theatre and dance as well as by scholarly attention given to an acoustic/sonic turn in recent years that is closely linked to the growth in scenographic and design studies, this special issue of Critical Stages (number 16, December 2017) will focus on sonification/musicalization of the stage environment, generative sonic processes, theatre aurality, music theatre/opera, digital performance and sound design.

Looking at a widening arena of composed theatre as well as interactive and sonic installation art, we encourage vigorous debate on emerging concepts of rhythmic spaces, resonant dramaturgies, audiophonic scenographies, vibrational theatres, multisensory atmospheres in performance.

Many creative processes today (enhanced by diverse technologies and ever-changing techniques) gather momentum, in which audible, but also tactile, haptic and/or visible dynamics, actions, atmospheres and traces are recreated, without that theories of affect and perception have yet fully defined or explored the contours sound affords for the spectators/listeners, especially if interactions unfold within the area of the non-verbal and beyond alignment with signs, narrative threads.

We are also interested in hearing from practitioners who work in collaborative production on such contouring.

This issue invites a broad range of interdisciplinary perspectives drawn from compositional processes and production aesthetics as well as from investigations into the perception of the interplay of analogue/digital, instrumental/vocal, and musical or noise-sound, or various manifestations of sound design and sonic scenographies.

Key Themes:

The issue will approach the role of sound in performance/performance of sound with the following general headings in mind:

Length of papers: maximum 4000 words Proposals: 1 February 2017 First drafts: 1 August 2017 Publication date: December 2017 All proposals, submissions and enquiries should be sent to: Johannes.Birringer@brunel.ac.uk

(posted 22 November 2016)

Natalie Roxburgh, Jennifer Henke Contact email: natalie.roxburgh@uni-siegen.de, j.henke@uni-bremen.de

Psychopharmacology and British Literature, 1650 to 1900, an edited volume to be submitted for consideration in the series Palgrave Studies in Literature, Science, and Medicine, is now inviting submissions. This volumes aim is to bring together multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives on plant-based and/or chemical psychoactive substances that were new to contemporaries. Essays will investigate the time period of 1650 to 1900, the period in which psychoactive drug use, which had always been a part of cultural practice, became intensified partly because of colonial exploration and bio-prospecting but also because of the rise of pharmacological sciences and the advent of synthetic organic chemistry in the eighteenth century.

Rather than focusing on biographies of writers who used drugs as many scholarly inquiries already have done, papers in this volume will emphasize 1) the literary representations of drugs in British literature and 2) the contexts in which they were sold, used, and understood to work on the human brain and body. We welcome contributions on psychoactive substances ranging from, but not limited to: new types of alcohol, opium, morphine, cannabis, coca, laudanum, tobacco, coffee, tea, chocolate, and sugar.

Possible angles include:

Please submit a 500-word proposal to natalie.roxburgh@uni-siegen.de and j.henke@uni-bremen.de by 1 February 2017.

Acknowledgement of accepted proposals will be given by 1 March 2017. For those invited to contribute to the volume, completed essays of 5000-6000 words will be due by 1 September 2017. Please follow MLA style for in-text documentation and bibliography.

(posted 6 January 2017)

Editor: Dr Katarzyna Bronk, Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland contact email: kbronk@wa.amu.edu.pl

Samuel Johnson wrote in The Rambler: This one generation is always the scorn and wonder of the other, and the notions of the old and young are like liquor store of different gravity and texture which never can unite (in Ottaway 2016: 2.35). His comments, from 1750, were connected to the changing perception of ageing as well as the new dynamics and power play developing between members of the new and the old generations. This is in contrast to the ideal/idealised situation where intergenerational relations are best characterized as relationships of reciprocity, differently balanced on both sides at different stages of life according to need (Thane 2000: 12). Johnson was alluding to a crisis in intergenerational relationships, a concern that he was not alone in. Daniel Defoe likewise noticed that There is nothing on Earth more shocking, and withal more common, in but too many Famillies, than to see Age and Grey Hairs derided, and ill use (Protestant monastery). Both writers were openly hinting at intergenerational conflict and this is despite a more empathic attitude towards ones elders that is said to have developed in the eighteenth century. Naturally, intergenerational contention is not limited to the past as, even quite recently, Brexit revealed the deep-running Us versus Them divide, juxtaposing young(er) and the old(er) people, millennials and baby boomers, sons/daughters and the parents, and the newer and older immigrants (Brexit saw various forms of hierarchisation of immigrants), etc.

Literature has proved to be an effective medium for presenting, analysing and often offering ways of resolving real or fictional conflicts between age and youth, the old and the new. Drama, in its textual or performative form, proved even more forceful and imaginative, and theatre has additionally allowed for an almost three-dimensional exploration of various intergenerational dynamics, most often reified as crises and conflicts running additionally along intersectional lines of age, gender, race, class or religion. British drama has always been very sensitive to sociopolitical transformations, often allegorising public or national crises as private conflicts between family members. Thus, for example, youth conquers old(er) age in Renaissance family-themed plots; younger and more progressive characters triumph in Restoration political heroic tragedies or libertine comedies; the aged, more experienced heroes/heroines reclaim the virtue and dispense punishment in eighteenth-century sentimental and affective drama; the Angry Young (Wo)Men blame the earlier generations for ruining their chances for happiness; Oedipal (and Jocastian) crises tear families from the inside; cultural and sexual revolutions embold and enfranchise daughters and sons who question the rules of normativity of their parents generations; and, more recently, sons and daughters reject the cultural and religious values cherished by their parents and choose more traditional but also extremist ways of living

We wish to propose a book on these and various other ways and means of presenting, dramatising and staging (inter)generational crises, struggles and conflicts (and their possible solutions) in British theatre and drama across centuries. We invite abstracts (max 500 words) on various shades of staged and dramatised conflicts between the old and the young (age vs youth), the new and the old, etc. Interested authors are kindly asked to send their abstracts by 15th February 2017 to dr Katarzyna Bronk (kbronk@wa.amu.edu.pl and bbronkk@gmail.com). If accepted by the editors, selected abstracts will be collated into a thematic collection and proposed to a publisher. Upon acceptance by the publisher, the authors will be asked to write full versions of their papers. The books tentative title is: Dramatic Intergenerationality: Staging conflicts, crises and generational discord.

(posted 23 December 2016)

A volume edited by Leonor M. Martnez Serrano and Cristina M. Gmez-Fernndez Email addresses: l52masel@uco.es and cristina.gamez@uco.es

Deadline for abstract submissions: 1 March 2017. Notification of acceptance: 31 March 2017. Submission of full chapters: 1 October 2017.

Since the very cradle of civilization, Nature has been one of the secular concerns of poetry and philosophy. In a classic like Walden; or Life in the Woods (1854), Henry David Thoreau said: I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately. The woods would make him whole again; solitude and Nature would reactivate a claritas of mind in him that had apparently been overshadowed by human commerce. About a century later, Ezra Pound sang in The Cantos: Learn of the green world what can be thy place / In scaled invention or true artistry (81/541), aware as he was of the fact that the world is a subtle ecology of vast dimensions that needs our attention and respect. The green world was particularly pervasive in European Romantic poetry, which looked at Earth from a pristine standpoint, but its presence has continued unabated in 20th- and 21st-century literature, particularly in poetry and in prose writings concerned with understanding the natural world as opposed to the man-made world. At a time of worrying environmental degradation at a global scale, it is a matter of the utmost urgency to go back to poetry and philosophy to see how these most ancient modes of thinking (or instruments of mental production, as Northrop Frye puts it) are responding to one of the contemporary wicked problems that human societies are facing worldwide. Finding a solution to these global problems requires huge doses of creativity, cooperation and solidarity at a planetary level. Poetry and philosophy never give up on their call to shed some sort of temporary light on Nature and the human condition. In its forceful and disinterested search for truth, poetry remains intact and pure amid the dissonance of our ferociously post-capitalist world and/or denounces violence against it intensely through its verse, on occasions twisted and/or damaged too. Aware of how central Nature is to their epistemological enterprise, contemporary poets still feel there is something indecipherable at the core of the green world that must be tackled with intellectual and artistic alertness. Similarly, contemporary philosophers appear to address this century-old concern with how humans interact with the natural world, as well as the environmental crisis we are going through. Over 2500 years ago, the Pre-Socratic philosophers themselves were naturalists and ecologists avant la lettre, at a time when there was no point in drawing a clear-cut boundary between poetry, philosophy and ecology. The ultimate lesson is crystal clear: life is but an interdependent continuum of subtle modulations and so, by understanding Nature, humans will understand themselves, and by understanding themselves, they will understand their place within the larger scheme of things. In this sense, both poetry and philosophy represent powerful inquisitive tools to map the green world and render it comprehensible to the human mind.

We seek contributions that explore how contemporary poetry and philosophy address Nature and human beings relationship with the natural world. Both theoretical and practical approaches, as well as different critical stances are welcome. The following themes (or other pertinent topics related to the object under scrutiny) are of interest to the volume:

Prospective authors are invited to submit abstract proposals consisting of a title and a 500-word summary by 1 March 2017. Proposals should also include the following information: authors name, institutional affiliation, email address, and a 250-word CV. Authors will be notified of their paper proposal acceptance by 31 March 2017. Full chapters (5000-7000 words) will be expected by 1 October 2017. Both abstracts and full chapters must conform to the latest MLA style sheet guidelines and be sent as Word files to l52masel@uco.es and cristina.gamez@uco.es. Selected essays will be compiled in book format and the volume will be published by a prestigious international publisher still to determine in 2018.

(posted 20 December 2016)

The study of any national literary system cannot exclude a comparative approach and an investigation into the function of translations. Our aim in this monographic issue is to study works translated by leading writers in international literary cultures (not exclusively European), and then analyse the role of these translations in the formation of supranational literary canons. The leading writers of various literary traditions have in fact very often translated foreign works themselves by turning, on occasions, to translation as a fundamental practice for personal enrichment to creative and stylistic ends. However widespread this practice may be, it has nevertheless been underrated and, despite the importance given to this phenomenon by a variety of scholars, up to now only a few isolated studies have been carried out on the subject. Research has shown that there is a European (and not only) community of writers who, through the means of translation, now often share certain tones, structures, symbols and images. We will investigate how the practice of translation is echoed in the works of these writers, and we will try to define the network of interferences that have influenced their works and their national literary tradition. In this sense, authorial translations have also shown themselves to be a useful way of enriching the literary target language, as it often acts as a response to a need for renewal, and this particular confrontation with the foreigner represents a phenomenon of fundamental importance which has led to interaction between literary traditions. It is therefore our intention to analyse the practice of translation also as an essential step in the creative process. Why and when does a writer decide to translate? Which authors or works do they choose to translate and why? What are the dynamics that arise between the writer and the translator? And, above all, how much remains of the translation in the writers subsequent work? What are its effects on the canon, culture and receiving language? It is only by finding an answer to these questions that we will be able to explain the real connections between the individual national systems. The topics that may be presented will take into consideration:

Other proposals for study on the subject put forward by those intending to collaborate in the publication will be scrupulously examined by the Scientific Committee, in order to widen the field of exploration undertaken in this issue of the Journal. Proposals for contributions will be accepted in Italian, English and French. To this end, the Editorial Board propose the following deadlines, with an essential preliminary step being the sending, to redazione.polifemo@iulm.it of an abstract (min. 10/max. 20 lines) and a short curriculum vitae of the proposer, by and absolutely no later than 10th March 2017. Authors will receive confirmation from the Editorial Board of acceptance of their contributions by 20th March 2017. Contributions shall be delivered on 5th July 2017. All contributions will be subject to a double blind peer review. The issue, edited by Prof. Paolo Proietti and Dr. Francesco Laurenti, will be published in December 2017.

(posted 7 February 2017)

Editors: Professor Toby Miller (UC Riverside, USA), Dr. Anna Malinowska (University of Silesia, Poland)

The intervention of digitalism and the new media into a whole way of life (Williams 1960) has had a significant effect on human emotions and the ways we express and experience feelings in daily interaction . The focus of this special issue is the new media and emotion, analyzed in relation to changing life environments and human emotional interactions. We invite papers that will re-examine the relationship between new media forms, media-ridden realities, and emotional structures (interactions, reactions, affordances etc.) with respect to cultural processes examined from a myriad of scholarly perspectives and methodological approaches. Suggested topics include: Feelings and the (post)-Anthropocene: emotional interactions between human beings, the natural environment, and non-human technologies; Changes of emotional practice / perception: new sensory dimensions and bodily reactions (non-contact interactions etc. Emotions as objects expressed in new technologies. Affective experiences with the new media; Technologies of emotions / emotions in technologies; Emotional labor and the service industries, from goldmining on-line games to virtual sex work; The commodification and governance of feelings; The relationship between affect theory, phenomenology, and the psy-function (psychoanalysis, psychology, and psychopharmacology; How media-effects models construct the relationship between new media and emotions; The use of feelings discourse in journalism, political communication, and social conflicts

Proposals of 500 words followed by a short bio, listing qualifications and publications, should be submitted to izabella.penier@degruyteropen.com by 30 March 2017.

(posted 20 January 2017)

FATHOM (French Association for Thomas Hardy Studies, http://fathomhardy.fr/) seeks essay submissions on Desire and the Expressive Eye in Thomas Hardy. The essays will be published in FATHOM, the electronic journal of the French association: http://fathom.revues.org/

Proposals of 300 words with a short bio are due by March 31 2017. Final papers are due by June 30 2017. The FATHOM stylesheet is available at : http://fathom.revues.org/482 Please send the submissions to: Isabelle Moragon Gadoin isabelle.moragon.gadoin@univ-poitiers.fr Annie Ramel annie.ramel@gmail.com

Thomas Hardy has inspired critics with an interest in the visual arts: many of his texts can be read as iconotexts, i.e. as texts with a powerful painting effect, even in the absence of any direct reference to painting (L. Louvel). His style, with its characteristic verbal-visual effects (J. B. Bullen), owes much to Ruskin and Turner. Desire is another theme which has found its way into major criticism of Hardys workthe first item in the series being J. Hillis Millers Distance and Desire.

This publication will explore the relation between desire and the gaze in Hardys work. In Under the Greenwood Tree for instance, desire is kindled by the sight of a woman, Miss Fancy Day, framed within the quadrangolo of her window: the window of fantasy (Lacan) opens onto a world of dreamings and yearnings. But the gaze in Hardys fiction can also have a lethal power. The evil eye looking at Mrs Yeobright through a window-pane in The Return of the Native causes her to meet her doom on the heath: she has been overlooked by her daughter-in-law, just as Gertrude is overlooked by Rhoda Brown in The Withered Arm. Is the eye, then, an expressive eye (J. B. Bullen), which makes manifest the positive, dynamic and productive dimension of desire (J. Thomas)? Or is it felt as a menace, like the oval pond in Far from the Madding Crowd, which glitters like a dead mans eye? Is it full of voracity, intent on devouring whoever comes under its spell?

We will welcome proposals opening new directions in Hardy criticism, linking the desiring subject and the power of the gaze. Studies can focus on the stories told by Hardy, but also on the writing process: on the power of the written word, which is to make you hear, to make you feel[] before all, to make you see! (Joseph Conrad, Preface to The Nigger of the Narcissus). And how does Hardy the writer manage to turn to good account the power of the gaze in his texts? We welcome essays on any of Hardys writings (novels, short-stories, poems, etc.).

BULLEN, J. B.. The Expressive Eye, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986. LACAN, Jacques. The Seminar, Book XI: The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis, translated by Alan Sheridan, Penguin Books, 1979. LOUVEL, Liliane. Poetics of the Iconotext, edited by Karen Jacobs, translated by Laurence Petit, Farnham: Ashgate 2011. MILLER, Joseph Hillis. Thomas Hardy: Distance and Desire, London: Oxford University Press, 1970. THOMAS, Jane. Thomas Hardy and Desire: Conceptions of the Self, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

(posted 6 January 2017)

Centuries ago, Aristotle fashioned a term that brought literature and psychology face to face: catharsis (psychological or mental purification of the feelings). From that time onwards, literature and human psyche have been correlated either by various writers, philosophers, critics, or by means of several techniques or movements. Not only was it tragedy that combined the elements of psychology with literary production, it was also novel, poetry, short story and even some psychoanalytical theories that brought psyche and literature together. There has always been a mutual partnership of the two: psychology of men and literature of men. It was Sigmund Freud, for instance, who introduced Oedipus complex from what Sophocles held as the plot of Oedipus the King. It was Samuel Richardson who carried the earlier features of sentimental novel and the early flashes of psychological novel through his Pamela. It was Henry James who borrowed the stream of consciousness technique from psychology and introduced it to be used in literature, and then was subtly employed by James Joyce in Ulysses and by Virginia Woolf in Mrs. Dalloway. Charles Dickens, with his famous industrial novel Great Expectations, reflected the well-established norms of psychological realism. George Bernard Shaws Pygmalion was named after the mythological figure of Greek Pygmalion, and the name was also adapted into the Pygmalion effect to emphasize the observable phenomena related to the psychology and performance of men. Similarly, Vladimir Nabokovs Lolita became a focal work that impacted the birth of Lolita complex. Friedrich Nietzsches ubermensch (just as it is employed by Bernard Shaw in Superman), MartinEsslins theatre of the absurd (employed by Samuel Beckett in Waiting for Godot), Antonin Artauds theatre of cruelty (employed by Edward Bond in Saved) and etc. all could be tackled in terms of interrelation of human psyche and literariness.

Psychology has also some observable impacts on the writers writing skill. Causing extreme changes in mood, bipolar disorder is addressed by many critics to be the central origin behind creativity. Such writers and critics as John Ruskin, Virginia Woolf, Edgar Allan Poe, Alan Garner, Hams Christian Anderson and Sherman Alexei among others are known to have bipolar disorder that impacted their literary creativity. Feminist urges also produced the female creativity within some genres of literature. It was Emily Dickenson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Virginia Woolf, George Eliot, and Bronte Sisters that embraced the psychology of the power of female creativity on the way to writing. For that reason, psychology and literature live in each others pockets.

This proposal suggests a forum of differing ideas on the link between literature and psychology, psychology of writing, traumatic literature, the construction of the Self within literature, the psychology of characterization, psychoanalytical approaches, and the psychology of literary creativity.

The topics of interest include but not limited to the following titles:

Submission ProcedureResearchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before March 31, 2017, a chapter proposal of 1,000 to 2,000 words clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors will be notified by April 30, 2017 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by October 30, 2017, and all interested authors must consult the guidelines for manuscript submissions at http://www.cambridgescholars.com/t/AuthorFormsGuidelines prior to submission. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project. Note: There are no submission or acceptance fees for manuscripts submitted to this book publication, Cambridge Scholars Publishing. All manuscripts are accepted based on a double-blind peer review editorial process.

Publisher: This book is scheduled to be published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit http://www.cambridgescholars.com/. This publication is anticipated to be released in 2018.

Important Dates

Inquiries Editors Name: nder akrta Editors Affiliation: PhD, Assistant Professor, Bingol University (Turkey), Department of English Language and Literature

Editors Contact Information Bingl niversitesi Fen Edebiyat Fakltesi Oda No:D2-8 12000 Bingl/TRKYE callforliteraturepapers@gmail.com cakirtasonder@gmail.com

(posted 7 February 2017)

http://shakespeare.edel.univ-poitiers.fr

This issue would like to explore the relationship between Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, that of Shakespeare but also his contemporaries, and the representation of Africa, or, from a contextual viewpoint, the perception of the African continent in early modern England. The issue will also discuss 19th-21st c. re-writings, appropriations and adaptations of Shakespeare by African and African-American writers, stage directors and film directors.

Proposals may discuss, among other issues:

Completed papers, in English or in French, should be sent by late April 2017 along with an abstract, a contributors bio and a list of keywords, to Yan Brailowsky and Pascale Drouet: yan.brailowsky@u-paris10.fr, pascale.drouet@univ-poitiers.fr

Selected References

(posted 1 August 2016)

For this special issue of Gramma/: Journal of Theory and Criticism (2018) we invite you to submit papers focusing on what Adrienne Rich termed the politics of location. Papers may examine theoretical, literary, and, more broadly, artistic explorations of various kinds of location (for example, in addition to location, allocation, dislocation, relocation). How do cultural, economic, historical, and political legacies, as well as materialconditions, inform or produce the movement of bodies across various spaces (for example, textual, media, geographical, temporal, embodied, relational)? How does such movement shape the definition, recognition, viability, and value of those bodies? How have changing conceptions of space produced and reshaped understandings of gender, sex, sexuality, ethnicity, race, disability, and class?Relatedly, in what ways does the body become the site where individual, local and global intersections take place?

Contributions may analyze works from any time period or engage with readings across times and cultures. Topics may include the following:

Proposals (500 words) and a short/abbreviated curriculum vitae should be sent toMargaret Breen (Margaret.Breen@uconn.edu) and Katerina Kitsi-Mitakou (katkit@enl.auth.gr) by March 15, 2017 (drafts will be due by August 1, 2017).

Gramma/: Journal of Theory and Criticism is an international journal, published in English and Greek once a year by the School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in collaboration with the Publications Department of the university. It welcomes articles and book reviews from a wide range of areas within the theory and criticism of literature and culture. Of particular interest to the journal are articles with an interdisciplinary approach. Each individual issue has guest editors and is devoted to a subject of recent cultural interest, with book reviews relevant to the topic. All manuscripts are subject to blind peer review and will be commented on by at least two independent experts.

For more information about the journal, visit http://www.enl.auth.gr/gramma/index.html .

(posted 3 September 2016)

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A preview of self-censorship in the new political landscape – Minnesota Public Radio News (blog)

Over the next few months, therell be plenty of debate about the role of the government in funding public broadcasting.

The Trump administration reportedly has the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and a host of other cultural and arts organizations targeted for elimination.

Theres certainly a debate to be had over whether the government should provide financial assistance to a segment of the media it regulates and restricts how it can raise revenue. Theres no indication the administration nor Congress is interested in taking those restrictions off, a clear sign that the ultimate goal of politicians is to kill it.

But the New York Times media critic, Jim Rutenberg, has a cautionary tale of what can happen with a government that wants to control a message holds the money self-censorship; newsrooms that pull their punches because of the fear the government will cut the revenue.

When a Texas congressman took to the House floor to complain about the way the media has covered President Trump, a commentator for a San Antonio public TV station took notice.

Rick Casey wrote his commentary. The stations Facebook page promoted it with a nod to the upcoming broadcast.

And the stations CEO spiked it just before it was to go on the air.

When I caught up with Mr. Emerson this week he acknowledged making a mistake that should not tarnish a career spent mostly in broadcast news, starting in a $1.25-an-hour job as a cameraman. I had to make a decision in what was about 20 minutes, he said.

He acknowledged that clearly we always worry about funding for public television, but said that wasnt the principal reason for his decision to hold back the commentary. We have to protect the neutrality of the station somebody could have looked at it as slander, he said. The commentary label, he said, would take care of it.

Mr. Casey is satisfied with the result. But he acknowledged that it was a close call and that he was uniquely qualified to push back in a way others might not be. Im lucky to be in the position of being 70 years old, and not in the position of being 45, he said, meaning that job security was not the same issue. Theres no level of heroism here.

If you look at what David Brooks has said on the PBS NewsHour in his commentary with Mark Shields, hes been very forceful in his opposition to Trump, Casey told the San Antonio Express-News. So thats part of our brand, but its also part of our values. As a practical reality, if the Corporation for Public Broadcasting does lose its funding, Im too humble to think its because of a piece that I did down in San Antonio.

But the enemy of the American people is censorship, regardless of where the intimidation of an independent media originates.

Bob Collins has been with Minnesota Public Radio since 1992, emigrating to Minnesota from Massachusetts. He was senior editor of news in the 90s, ran MPRs political unit, created the MPR News regional website, invented the popular Select A Candidate, started the two most popular blogs in the history of MPR and every day laments that his Minnesota Fantasy Legislature project never caught on.

NewsCut is a blog featuring observations about the news. It provides a forum for an online discussion and debate about events that might not typically make the front page. NewsCut posts are not news stories but reflections , observations, and debate.

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A preview of self-censorship in the new political landscape - Minnesota Public Radio News (blog)

What Facebook and Instagram’s censorship of my Tillmans post … – The Guardian

Wolfgang Tillmans at the Tate Modern exhibition. When did this assumption that everyone has a right to never be offended take such precedence? Photograph: Guy Bell/REX/Shutterstock

I was delighted to attend the private view of Wolfgang Tillmans mid-career show 2017 at Tate Modern this week. An exhibition on an epic scale, it covers 14 rooms and nearly 25 years of his work. The photographs on display include portraiture, landscape and intimate still lifes. (You can read more about it in the Guardians review.)

I photographed quite a few of Tillmans pieces on my phone, including a huge close-up photograph of his friends backside and testicles. I posted a picture of this, along with others, to my Instagram account, and also shared it from there to Facebook.

Facebook didnt even upload my post. Instead I got an instant message saying: We removed the content that was posted because it doesnt follow the Facebook community guidelines.

Instagram is apparently a little more relaxed, as my post happily stayed up there all day yesterday. It got quite a few likes from my followers, most of whom I know personally, and who, I genuinely believe, were reacting to this as a depiction of an artwork in the context of Tillmans well-known practice.

However, towards the end of the afternoon one of my followers, someone I do not know in the real world, decided to let me know how upset she was: Not really happy this came up on my feed. In fact I find it downright offensive. Im so sick and tired of being bombarded with sexual imagery when there is so much more out there that is aesthetically and visually pleasing. Im so sorry but this is not art. Signed sincerely annoyed!!

I replied saying she could please feel free to unfollow me. A few hours later the post was removed from my feed. I didnt really have any problem with her comment: while I obviously did not agree with it, she is entitled to her opinion although I do question why she did not just simply unfollow me, if she did not want to see the images I post.

Had I had the energy, I could have entered into a lively debate on the role of art in challenging societal values and affecting social change, pointing out that this was an artwork by someone known for very personal responses to cultural attitudes about gender and sexuality in his practice; or perhaps how this piece engaged me with what I perceived as a very moving vulnerability; or maybe even that I found her use of an artists palette emoji while trying to communicate that this was not art quite frankly offensive in itself.

However, I was more surprised that Instagram saw fit to remove an image that was clearly of a work of art, in-situ, in a gallery. It is pictured in a frame, on a wall, and there are even reflections from the gallery lights on the glass. This points to an increasingly popular culture of the fear of offence, not only by corporations, whose very popularity and success lie in the dissemination of the visual image in many forms, but by the audiences of these pictures too.

While she didnt particularly 'want to see a ball sack on a wet Wednesday, hey-ho, that is equality'

As one person commented, we are bombarded every day with images of womens boobs and bottoms, and these arent all removed from Instagram. And while she didnt particularly want to see a ball sack on a wet Wednesday, hey-ho, that is equality. Another pointed out that as around half the population have them, he didnt see the problem with seeing some testicles on his feed.

As Ricky Gervais said in a Twitter post last year: Everyone has the right to be offended. Everyone has the right to offend. But no one has the right to never be offended.

When did this assumption that everyone has a right to never be offended take precedence? If people are indeed offended, is this not in fact the start of a dialogue where interesting, enlightening and necessary conversation may take place? Why should disagreement be treated as an opportunity to shut down any debate from the off?

But then, are we surprised at this growing culture of outrage when almost two thirds (63%) of university students believe the NUS is right to have a no platforming policy, which includes individual unions and student groups having the right to decide whom they ban from speaking?

This idea that we have some intrinsic right to be comfortable at all times makes me highly uncomfortable. And I am heartened by the fact that I am not the only one. Many people have been in touch with me to say that they cannot believe Instagram has removed my picture.

Interestingly, I took a screenshot of the original, deleted Instagram post and put it up on Facebook instead, where it has yet to be taken down. Perhaps someone out there is not afraid of a little healthy debate after all.

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What Facebook and Instagram's censorship of my Tillmans post ... - The Guardian

The Supreme Court, Honor Code, and The Muppets: Reform for Free Speech and Expression – The Clerk

This article does not necessarily reflect the views of The Clerk as an institution.

Here at Haverford, our student-drafted and ratified Honor Code seeks to establish guidelines for our academic and social behavior, ideally culminating in a campus devoid of academic dishonesty and social iniquity. While the former aim rests on the objective truth that cheating is immoral, the latter goal, addressing our individual subjectivity, inherently evokes a central question to any communityto what extent is an individual personally responsible to our community? The reasonable answer is that we mediate between our personal desires and liberties and our commitment to our community; however, where this line should be drawn remains contentious. In my opinion, Section 3.04s Social category of the current Honor Code overreaches, allowing for viewpoint discrimination and the imposition of an ideological majoritys will. Although the statement may stem from good intentions, its lack of defined procedure provides for an environment in which minority opinions can be silenced under threat of official punishment by Honor Council. In determining the merit and efficacy of this clause, I recommend looking to Supreme Court precedent. One particular 1992 ruling, that of R.A.V. v. St. Paul, parallels a section of Haverfords Honor Code and, when compared to the proceedings of The Muppets, calls into question our treatment of free speech within the context of our responsibility to the community.

On the morning of June 21, 1990, the petitioner, R.A.V., allegedly burned a cross on a black familys front lawn, violating St. Paul, Minnesotas prohibitive statute against symbols which one knows or has reason to know arouses anger, alarm, or resentment in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, or gender.(1) With the ordinance upheld by the Supreme Court of Minnesota, the defendant appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, claiming violation of his First Amendment rights to freedom of expression. Although it recognized the defendants action as morally reprehensible, the Supreme Court sided with the defendant, unanimously declaring St. Pauls legislation unconstitutional for content discrimination and for de facto viewpoint discrimination.(2) By limiting its prohibition to specific topics, St. Pauls ordinance discriminated against certain subjects, while others, such as political affiliation, union membership, [and] homosexuality remained outside of its scope; essentially, the law unconstitutionally cherry-picked disfavored subjects for prosecution.(3)Further explicating the statutes unconstitutionality, the Supreme Court recognized that In its practical operation, moreover, the ordinance goes even beyond mere content discrimination to actual viewpoint discrimination.(4) In the context of the law, a statement condemning anti-Semitism would be permissible, whereas anti-Semite expression and speech would be considered illegal. Due to this potential imbalance in freedom of expression, the Court deemed the law unconstitutional censorship, declaring that the point of the First Amendment is that majority preferences must be expressed in some fashion other than silencing speech on the basis of its content.(5)

Under Section 3.04 of the Haverford Honor Code,

We recognize that acts of discrimination and harassment, including, but not limited to, acts of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, ableism, discrimination based on religion or political ideology, and discrimination based on national origin or English capabilityviolate this Code.(6)

While this long-winded statement avoids an unfairly limited scope by encompassing a plethora of potential topics and providing the clause but not limited to, the threat of viewpoint discrimination remains present in its current form. In fact, during my first semester at Haverford, especially within the context of the recent presidential election, I often heard expletive-ridden denunciations of islamophobes, racists, and sexists, which elicited support from other members of the community. However, if an individual condemned Muslims, a racial or ethnic minority, or any gender in a similar manner, they would receive an overwhelmingly negative response.

While we are undeniably entitled to express our distaste for such expressions, I do not believe that we should be able to impose public consequences through Honor Council upon those who espouse views different from our own. By allowing Honor Council, an institution provided for by the Honor Code, to pass formal punishments, euphemistically referred to as resolutions, against certain types of expression we allow for viewpoint discrimination against unpopular opinions on Haverfords campus. We may believe that Honor Council will protect not only the communal interest, but also individual liberties; however, the potential for abuse remains unquestionably high. In fact, even before the implementation of the aforementioned portion of the code in 2015, its underlying rationale served as the basis for de facto institutional censorship against two students in the infamous 2004 Honor Council trial The Muppets.

As many of us are already aware, the defendants in The Muppets, Bert and Ernie, wore blackface and attached black sexual prosthetics to themselves in their portrayal of Macy Gray and an unspecified blonde haired African American performer.(7) Comprising the confronting party, Grover, Elmo, and Zoe expressed feelings of alienation, pain, and anger at Bert and Ernie for their portrayal, pressing for resolutions that included a public bi-college publication and the exclusion of Bert and Ernie from graduation, claiming that these actions would set the tone that this type of action wont be tolerated. She said that they wanted women and Black students on campus to feel secure.(8) Acknowledging that it did not possess the authority to ban Bert and Ernie from graduation, Honor Council, in its statement of violation, put forth resolutions stating:

-1. Both parties must organize a panel discussion on race and/or gender. The confronting parties are invited to help organize the panel. 2. Each party must write a research paper concerning the White male in America. 3. Each party must write a letter to the community reflecting on how he and others were affected and how he has changed.(9)

By requiring Bert and Ernie to write a detailed, seven-page research paper on the White male in America, the Honor Council passed institutional punishment for their Halloween costumes, providing de jure punishment for their controversial portrayals.

While their actions were insensitive and lacked foresight, I do not believe that Bert and Ernie should have received formal punishment from Honor Council for their engagement in blackface because it presents viewpoint discrimination as outlined by the Supreme Court in R.A.V. v. St. Paul. Just because we do not communally approve of an act of verbal or physical expression does not mean we can subject the accused to institutional punishments by Honor Council. Although appeals to the perceived threat to the security and sense of acceptance of black and female students like Zoes are important in our self-consideration of our actions, I do not believe that these concerns are substantial grounds for subjecting fellow students with minority opinions to unequal standards within our Code. As stated in R.A.V. v. St. Paul, St. Pauls desire to communicate to minority groups that it does not condone the group hatred of bias-motivated speech does not justify selectively silencing speech on the basis of its content.(10)

Arguably, maliciously burning a cross in a black familys lawn constitutes a significantly greater transgression than a negligent costume choice, begging the question: why protect this type of expression? I posit that by protecting the right to this offensive and blatantly disrespectful behavior, regardless of intentionality, we protect Haverfords core dedication to multiculturalism and pluralism.

In rejecting Bert and Ernies joint appeal, the then-current President of Haverford College, Thomas R. Tritton responded, You argue that violating community standards and violating the Honor Code are two different things. I cannot agree.(11) I contest President Trittons claim; while our community standards influence our Honor Code, the two should remain disparate to prevent viewpoint discrimination and, therefore, ensure the safety of an unpopular opinion on campus. If we fail to differentiate the two, then we allow the moral and ethical judgments of the majority to become the formal standard upheld in formal Honor Council proceedings, which subjects those who engage in controversial behavior or harbor unpopular opinions to potential punishment for expression explicitly protected within the First Amendment.

In the defense of such behavior and speech, I implore us to reflect upon historical injustices committed against unpopular opinion and action in the name of public decency and perceived security. In my home state of Louisiana, the 1896 Supreme Court ruling Plessy v. Ferguson set a precedent for over half a century of legal Jim Crow segregation in the South in the name maintaining racial purity and ensuring security. This same ideological imposition and belief in community morality, or majority morality, as absolute morality also led to ethnic and religious cleansing in Germany, Turkey, Rwanda, Iran, and Iraq in the 20th century alone. In these cases, the opinion and bias of the majority defined institutional standards, suppressing individual liberties in the name of security and moral righteousness. Unfortunately for racial, ethnic, and religious minorities in these cases, subjectively benevolent intentions did not guarantee positive yield. To clarify, while these events themselves are not comparable to the situation at Haverford, the same foundational problem persists. As in these other historical examples, majoritarian morality is masquerading as an absolute one, threatening freedom of expression with official Honor Council sanction and, thereby, silencing dissent according to its subjective determinations of offensiveness.

Ultimately, the problem with this portion of the Code revolves around an inconsistency within the legitimacy of our desired outcome and the procedures we utilize to realize it. While expressing the incongruence of blackface with our community values is certainly legitimate, the lack of formal proceedings grants Honor Council an unreasonable amount of authority in distinguishing what constitutes a violation of the Code and its corresponding punishment. In its current state, the Social Responsibilities section of the Social Honor Code places communal values and pluralism in stark contrast with each other, demanding a commitment either to the protection of minority interests or to the fundamentals of free speech and expression, and therefore generates unnecessary internal conflict.

The solution to ameliorating such a dilemma entails thoughtful commitment to our values of pluralism and mutual respect. By divesting Honor Code of the ability to pass judgement on Social Code and establishing formal procedures to treat potential violations, we can afford increased protections to individuals irrespective of their opinions popularity. To create these procedural regulations, I recommend the formation of a Free Speech Committee, whose mission would be to align Haverfords Social Honor Code with existing Supreme Court precedent as closely as possible. To ensure that the interests of all minority groups on campus are represented, such a committee would entail proportionate representation on basis of race, gender, and ideology on campus. As members of a diverse community who seek mutual understanding by means of respectful communication and believe in resolving conflicts by engaging each other in dialogue, it suits our aims to edit establish such procedures and redouble our efforts to protect and promote free speech on Haverfords campus.(12) By protecting those we disagree with and the most unpopular opinions, we ensure that no injustice is committed in the name of subjective standards of public decency, morality, or security because, in the words of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.(13)

(1) https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/505/377

(2) Ibid

(3) Ibid

(4) Ibid

(5) Ibid

(6) http://honorcouncil.haverford.edu/the-code/

(7) http://honorcouncil.haverford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/themuppets.pdf

(8) Ibid

(9) Ibid

(10) https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/505/377

(11)http://honorcouncil.haverford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/themuppets.pdf

(12) http://honorcouncil.haverford.edu/the-code/

(13)https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

To write a response to this article, e-mail our Editor-in-Chief Maurice Rippel at mrippel@haverford.edu.

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The Supreme Court, Honor Code, and The Muppets: Reform for Free Speech and Expression - The Clerk

Varner: Free speech vs. equal opportunity – Bloomington Pantagraph

A universitys fundamental commitment is to the principle that debate or deliberation may not be because the ideas put forth are thought by some or even most members to be offensive, unwise or immoral or wrongheaded The quote is from the University of Chicagos Committee of Freedom of Expression, in response to campus groups demanding an apology from a speaker who used a term deemed offensive in reference to transgender people.

In another well-known episode, University of Oklahoma expelled students caught singing a patently racist fraternity song. In both cases, campus free speech was a central issue.

Notwithstanding commitments to free speech, universities have by both law and policy made strong commitments to equal opportunity. In addition to nondiscrimination in admissions and access to programs and facilities, universities are required to provide an atmosphere free of hostility and intimidation. Protected classes are a lengthy and growing list. Basic civil rights law covers race, religion, national origin, creed and sex. Additional categories include age, disability, Vietnam-era veteran status and members of the LGBT community.

Most universities are strongly committed to free speech, nondiscrimination and inclusivity. Yet the tension when the two clash is and should be a front-burner issue.

I began my 2015 classes by writing the words Je suis on the board. Students in all classes finished the sentence with Charlie. Few approve of the tasteless and offensive satire of Charlie Hebdo, but in the West there was an overwhelming feeling to defend to the death their right to say these things. Then by chance on Martin Luther King Day in America, authorities in Dresden, Germany, forbade a march against what the group called the Islamization of Europe. Freedom of speech is more limited in other countries. Dresden authorities acted within German law and Charlie Hebdo has been summoned into French courts for a number of works illegally offending religion in violation of French law. No country has stronger traditions of free speech than the United States.

All know that free speech law begins with Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech The First Amendment applies to Congress but the 14th Amendment extends this to the state action in addition to the federal government. The words are absolute but exceptions are recognized. Free speech is a freedom from government. It does not apply to actions by private organizations. In the university context, a private institution has substantial room to clamp down on speech deemed by authority to be offensive or out of place. Public institutions are an arm of the state so constitutional rules apply. Within this, though, universities have an educational mission and in that context some limitation for speech that is disruptive behavior.

Private universities, however, are subject to federal civil rights laws so rules and procedures implemented to comply with these laws bring these campuses under the umbrella of the First Amendment. We will examine the tension between free speech and equal opportunity and look at how our traditions of free speech come together with the desire and law to provide equal opportunity.

Coming out of this is a related issue of due process. Both civil rights laws and the recent Campus Sexual Avoidance Elimination Act of Congress seek to protect all from sexual violence. But what are the rights of the accused who face expulsion and a lifetime record as a sexual offender although they have not been convicted of any act in a court of law? Constitutional rights of those accused of crimes do not apply to campus judicial procedures but there must be due process.

Carson Varner is a professor of finance, insurance and law at Illinois State University.

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Varner: Free speech vs. equal opportunity - Bloomington Pantagraph

Letter To The Editor: Free Speech Is For Everyone – Los Alamos Daily Post

Freedom of speech in America is a wonderful thing, and has been a keystone to much of the progress this country has made. But while it is wonderful, it isn't necessarily comfortable. Freedom of speech does, for example, allow someone like Mr. Antos in his recent letter to spew insults, lies (Mr. Obama was neither a Muslim nor a communist), and veiled threats (be warned) without any consequence to himself.

The troubling thing is that his concept of freedom of speech seems pretty twisted. On the one hand he will die for your right to say whatever you like but on the other hand, if you say something he doesn't like, you should just suck it up and deal with the reality of the situation or leave the US. Freedom of speech applies to everyone, not just those saying things you want to hear.

I also have quite a different memory of the last eight years. Mr. Antos implies that conservatives just put up with the past administration, but my recollection is a constant barrage of criticism (OK), vitriol, slander, and lies (all not so OK) about Mr. Obama, not to mention Tea Party demonstrations and a do-nothing Congress whose only goal seemed to be opposition to anything the administration might suggest. And how about armed insurrection, in which self-styled conservatives occupied federal land in Oregon and faced off federal law enforcement officers in Nevada? So now the shoe is on the other foot, and the opposition is supposed to suck it up?

I believe that any American who is uncomfortable with the direction the country is taking has not only a right to speak out, but a responsibility to do so, whatever their political leanings. The hope is that we can do so in a rational, constructive way in the hope of improving our country, without insults and threats.

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Letter To The Editor: Free Speech Is For Everyone - Los Alamos Daily Post

‘Evilution:’ The Secret Luciferian, Spiritual Origin To One of The Biggest Hoaxes in History Evolution – The Christian Truther

Science and evolution, evilution, are continually carried as fact and theory in regards to how things got started around here. But in reality, its where those facts and theories got started that explains why Christian creationism should be the dominant teaching.

Since the beginning of time, a war has raged, and while the details have remained similar, the methodology has changed. The Bible dictates this war in perfect detail, and clearly states that God has won. It also clearly states that we as Christians are to be opposed to the ways of the world. The Bible, written over the course of creation and history, has dictated the events of today with such incredible accuracy, that it could not have been authored by man alone.

The purpose of this post is to further arm the Christian in dealing with the ways of this world.

Evolutionary theory is largely derived from Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallaces theories of evolution explained in detail in Darwins On the Origin of Species (1859) book. Although, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1 August 1744 18 December 1829) was the first to develop a coherent evolutionary theory. However, evolutionary thought can be traced back to the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Chinese as well as medieval Islamic science.

A significant portion of evolution was derived from Charles Darwin and his book Origin of Species. Darwin, himself was an agnostic influenced by spiritualists. However, the co-author of the book, Alfred Russel Wallace, was not agnostic at all; in fact, he was a was a devotee of spiritualism that included pantheism, paganism, occult ideas, and practices. Wallaces beliefs directly coincide with the New Age Movement, and within the New Age ideology lies an alarming coalition between spiritualism and science. Even further, there is an alarming correlation between Hindu occultism, the New Age movement, and evolution.

Within Darwin and Wallaces theory of evolution or natural selection is the belief in a tree of life or a universal tree of life. Although Darwin propagated the theory, it was also discovered in Jean-Baptiste Lamarcks writings as well, Lamarck produced the first branching tree of animals. The tree of life is often prescribed to New Age Philosophy, and can be traced back to the mysticism of the Kabbalah, as well as can be discovered in Hindu teachings, ancient Iranian teachings, and even in ancient Egyptian teachings.

There is significant evidence that evolution is based on occult mysticism rather than science, which can be further understood by William W. Wassynger, M.D., who authored a report for the New York Times on Nov. 27, 1989; in regards to the California Curriculum battle, William claimed

The process of general evolution could theoretically be reproduced through experimentation, but it never has been. Though speciation has been demonstrated in laboratories, no event beyond speciation has ever been demonstrated. Charles Darwin clearly delineated the differences between speciation and general evolution, and noted that the support for general evolution would have to come from the fossil record.

In The Origin of Species, Darwin noted that without the appropriate fossil evidence (which did not exist in his day) his general theory would hold no weight. He and others tenaciously clung to the hope that the unfolding of the fossil record would show all of the intermediate forms necessary to support his claims. Today, however, with more than 100,000 species represented in fossils, the lack of intermediate forms is even greater than it was in Darwins day.

Not only has the fossil record failed, but findings of modern scientists have made general evolutionary theory even less tenable. In Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, for example, Michael Denton methodically analyzes a wealth of evidence that challenges this theory. His subjects include the failure of homology (homologous structures not being represented by homologous genes nor embryonic development); the typological nature of microbiology, and problems associated with chance as a directive force, in addition to the lack of a supportive fossil record.

Contrary to popular belief, many people disagree with the theory of general evolution, and the idea that all opponents base their views on religious belief is groundless. Michael Denton is neither a creationist nor an evangelical Christian, and his book is one of several to challenge evolution in scientific terms. Moreover, having religious beliefs does not preclude the ability to reason scientifically. Many great scientists Isaac Newton, Carolus Linnaeus, Georges Cuvier and Louis Pasteur, to name a few -were devoutly religious.

Even in Darwins day, scientists who opposed evolution were charged with irrationality and religiosity. But they did not attack evolution on religious grounds; rather, they protested its lack of scientific proof and pointed to the evidence that supported a typological nature. The creationists were attacked as scientific heretics, while supporters of evolution refusing to admit the lack of evidence became the true heretics, replacing scientific foundations with metaphysics. See More

What William describes is that those who propagated evolution were in fact scientists fascinated with metaphysics rather than actual science. Interestingly enough, after one glance at who propagated evolution, it is no wonder it is so popular today. The infamous Huxley bloodline is in large part responsible for the distribution of evolution. The Huxley family was a large part of creating the league of nations, and who happened to also be eugenicists. Thomas Henry Huxley was the grandfather to Aldous Huxley, author of The Brave New World, Julian Huxley, evolutionist and first director of UNESCO, and Nobel laureate physiologist, Andrew Huxley.

Thomas Huxley was the first to apply the theory of natural selection to humanity to explain the course of human evolution. Before Darwin, even he was opposed to the earlier ideologies of evolution put forth by Lamarck and Robert Chambers, Huxley claimed that progressionist evolution was based in metaphysics rather than actual science. Although, Darwins bulldog, Huxley, altered his beliefs based on the book written by Darwin and Wallace, which is evident in the letter below;

I finished your book yesterday. . . Since I read Von Baers Essays nine years ago no work on Natural History Science I have met with has made so great an impression on me & I do most heartily thank you for the great store of new views you have given me. . . As for your doctrines, I am prepared to go to the Stake if requisite. . . I trust you will not allow yourself to be in any way disgusted or annoyed by the considerable abuse & misrepresentation which unless I greatly mistake is in store for you. . . And as to the curs which will bark and yelp you must recollect that some of your friends at any rate are endowed with an amount of combativeness which (though you have often & justly rebuked it) may stand you in good stead I am sharpening up my claws and beak in readiness Letter of T. H. Huxley to Charles Darwin, November 23, 1859, regarding the Origin of Species See More

Huxley again was one of the first adherents to Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection and did more than anyone else to advance its acceptance among scientists and the public alike. Thomass grandsons, Aldous and Julius, both saturated with the ideology of their grandfather on evolution, began their own studies which lead them to become proponent eugenists. Julius Huxley, however, was by far more influential than Aldous, being that he was the first director of UNESCO.

UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, is one of the largest organizations for education in the world, most of which was founded and directed by Eugenicists and Evolutionists. It is no wonder, that evolution is such a prominent theory today.

Darwins origin of species book also granted Karl Marx the enthusiasm he needed to create the Communist Manifesto. Karl Marx called the book; the book which contains the basis in natural history for our view. Meaning that Darwins ideology of evolution is the basis of Marxism and Communism. However, Karl Marx did not generate his ideology alone, in fact, Thomas Huxley greatly helped;

In 1862 Marx made a point of attending the public lectures on evolution given by Darwins supporter Thomas Huxley, and encouraged his political associates to join him. Wilhelm Liebknecht, a friend and comrade who often visited the Marx family in London, later recalled, when Darwin drew the conclusions from his research work and brought them to the knowledge of the public, we spoke of nothing else for months but Darwin and the enormous significance of his scientific discoveries. See More

It is incredibly evident that the theory of evolution was the basis for Marxism. In other words, Darwins theories have created the belief that humans are not a special species. Instead, it has created the belief that humans are merely animals, which gives rise to the idea that life is not sacred at all, but rather it is disposable. Below is video evidence of that narrative, and is a clip from the documentary film; Evolution vs. God.

Darwins theories on evolution and the origin of life, are mainly based on single cell ideology. According to the single cell theory, everything on earth, and,earth formed from a single cell some 3.5 to 4.1 Billion years ago. Interestingly enough the single cell ideology can also be traced to spiritualism and mystical occult teachings. In Hinduism, the second oldest religion, it is widely supported that everything formed from a golden womb or golden egg. Which has been poetically translated into the universal germ.

Hindu belief: literally the golden womb or golden egg, poetically translated as universal germ) is the source of the creation of universe or the manifested cosmos in Vedic philosophy, as well as an avatar of Vishnu in the Bhagavata Purana. [1] It finds mention in one hymn of the Rigveda (RV 10.121), known as the Hirayagarbha Skta, suggesting a single creator deity (verse 8: yo devev dhi dev eka st, Griffith: He is the God of gods, and none beside him.), identified in the hymn as Prajpati. The concept of the golden womb is again mentioned in the Vishvakarman Skta (RV 10.82). Wiki

The striking similarities between evolution and spiritualist ideologies, should raise stark questions about just why evolution came about, and who is exactly behind the push to prove evolution over creation from the Biblical narrative.

It can be easily summed up that proponents of the elitist occult societies of the world have pushed Darwins theories to the limelight and further fomented the ideology of evolution for one simple reason, control.

When humanity is not viewed in a sacred light, it becomes easier to mass murder individuals, Karl Marx proved that. When humanity is not viewed in a sacred light, humans become no more than animals, and it could easily be justified to enslave humanity. Understanding the motives behind evolution, and the modern metaphysical science, again brings into question the reality that yet again, the Bible spoke of these times, and they are called the End Times. In these days, according to scripture, science will increase. But wait, doesnt the Bible say knowledge, not science?

Science is derived from the word scientia, in Latin meaning knowledge; the Bible again describes that knowledge will increase in those days according to Daniel 12:4. Mans desire for knowledge is what began all of this, in the garden of Eden, according to Genesis 2:16-17 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Thou shalt eat freely of every tree of the garden, 17 But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death.

According to the Bible, deception comes from the serpent. According to Hinduism and the New Age Movement, knowledge is imparted to an individual after the awakening of the kundalini serpent spirit that lives at the base of the spine and expands to the top of the head. To learn more about the deception of Hinduism, how its woven into the New Age Movement, and how it is subverting the Church; see more here.

Works Cited

Peking University . Evolutionism Combined with Spiritualism: A. R. Wallaces Approach . Peking University . . (NA): . .

Dr. Jerry Bergman. The Darwinian Foundation of Communism. Answers in Genesis. . (2001): . .

WILLIAM W. WASSYNGER. Theory of Evolution Has Never Been Proved. NY Times. . (1989): . .

ISR. Marx and Engels...and Darwin? ISR. . (NA): . .

Berkely. Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895). Berkeley. . (NA): . .

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'Evilution:' The Secret Luciferian, Spiritual Origin To One of The Biggest Hoaxes in History Evolution - The Christian Truther

The Two Atheisms: How to Know Smart People Cannot Get Is From Ought – Patheos (blog)

When I was a boy, so long ago the New Atheists were young men, atheism was sold to us in many a science fiction book as freedom from the sexual repression that was killing us all. Someday, writers like Isaac Asimov promised, sex would be less of a mystery and a great deal more available. Meetings of atheists were proudly freewheeling.

They were governed by science and reason so they were going to get rid of archaic sex rules. At least in their conferences and sub-culture they did.

How did it go?

It did not go well. A new generation has arisen to suggest that the end result was using women like tissue paper. I know this is true, since my students had to deal with atheist big shots who seemed to think every female worker was a dating opportunity. A new generation of atheists rightly challenges the ugliness, but good luck prevailing.

The alpha males have no reason to do more than give lip service to any system you create. On the other hand, as they age, they might worry about an ethical system that might suggest they have a duty to die and stop using up resources. A Christian leader who has lived his life consistently with Christian values knows he can find a Christian place to let him die with dignity. An atheist leader has no such promise.

Our morality endures. Atheist morality keeps trying to say we ought when all they have is this is. Atheist morality changes all the time and yesterdays virtue (free love!), becomes todays vice. Sadly, there is no reasontothink that atheist leaders will listen to critics for now.

Is still does not give an ought and people with power in a system without transcendent morals will find reasons to ignore any barriers to their desires. Fighting the good fight is hard enough for those of us who believe in a real hell and moral absolutes. . . we have our own hypocrites, but at least they are hypocrites. Religion helps buttress morality.

Expose a pastor as a hypocrite and you harm his ministry. If you are creating your own meaning, you cannot be a hypocrite, just sly. You might be a cretin, and some of the leading atheists plainly are, but that judgment is based only on someone elses self-created meaning. When a traditional Christian sins, he might try to hide it, but he cannot claim it is virtue. The same thing has not been true with theStar Trek: the Original Series generation of atheist leaders.

They meant to set up a system where middle aged white men got power and women.

They are those who fame got them accessto the liquor cabinet as a localized celebrity and then they abused the liquor and the power. There is a reason that atheists lose more of their own children than any other group: the movement is ugly to the core. Findone atheist, secular, or non-religious web site that isnot dominated by being against everyone else and you have found the black swan. They exist, but they are rare.

When atheism is mostly white people angry with bad religious childhoods, there is not much future to the movement.Atheism is the only mostly white, mostly Western phenomenon in the world that gets good press as the cutting edge of history and that is not enough. Atheist kids get it and most leave as a result.They know the truth: the whiter the town, the more secular it is. The more diverse the town, the more religious it is.

Atheism cuts you off from African culture, Indian culture, and the parts of Chinese culture that are not running atheist motivated concentration camps. What do you have? The truncated bits of the West that does not include Shakespeare, Bach, Newton, Handel, or Michelangelo. You do get Isaac Asimov, the Amazing Randi, and Daniel Dennett.

It is all a bit sad.

If you inherited a Christian culture from your folks, you might leave, because you think you can keep the good and get rid of perceived evils. What do you inherit as an atheist? Read the Atheist Net. Eliminate rants against religion and you are left with almost nothing. . . except a population shrinking in every part of the world that is not mostly white. You are angry white males that hate Trump.

Thats not much on which to base a culture. Christians can be scientists, philosophers, and (mostly) ignore atheists. Periodically atheists get control of a country and start killing people, but fortunately, our American brand of atheists seem far from powerand more benign.

The second generation of atheists, the converts from some religion and the few kids who stayed, are busy trying to deeply reform the misogynistic, exploitative culture of the old atheist boysnetwork. I wish them luck. However, they should be warned: they too have a morality based on nothing other than what they prefer. They will be radically rebooted by the next generation, because all atheism has culturally been against something. When it is not us, they have to have the last generation of atheists.

They are a culture of repudiation and anger based on hurt. If religious people were not bad, there would soon be no atheists. For that reason, all of us who love God, Love Himself, cannot be triumphant in the rise of a second atheism. Mostly we look to our own problems. . . except when a cock a doodle doo from some new atheist reminds us that atheism has not been harmless. You can be moral without religion, though most agree religion helps, but there is vanishingly little evidence that an atheist can stay moral without religion.

Religious minorities all over the world have left and formed new cultures. Atheists stay and hope to hijack what is there. If not, they have never succeeded in making a culture.

It has been damnable, even by the standards of this generation of atheists. Because of reason and experience, I am a Christian. Maybe I am wrong and some other interpretation of reality is better, but this much is relatively sure: atheism is a dead end. They did not get ought from is in 1970 and my bet is they are doing no better now.

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The Two Atheisms: How to Know Smart People Cannot Get Is From Ought - Patheos (blog)

Coimbatore: PM Modi to unveil 112-feet tall face of Adiyogi on Feb … – India.com

Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) [India], Feb.18 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on February 24 unveil a 112-feet tall face of Adiyogi, the source of yoga, designed and consecrated by Sadhguru, founder of Isha Foundation on Mahashivaratri at the Isha Yoga Center.

This will be the largest face on the planet, recognizing the first yogis unparalleled contribution to humanity. The iconic face symbolizes liberation, representing the 112 ways in which one can attain to ones ultimate through the science of yoga.

As a tribute to Adiyogi, the Prime Minister will light the sacred fire to commence the Maha Yoga Yagna across the world.

Around one million people will take an oath to teach a simple form of yoga to at least 100 people each in the coming year, and touch at least 100 million people before the next Mahashivaratri.

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has included the consecration of this glorious face in its official Incredible India campaign as a destination.

The unveiling of Adiyogi is part of the largest Mahashivaratri celebrations in the country which will be telecast live, simultaneously in seven languages to over five crore people through over 23 satellite television channels and several online platforms.

At 11o latitude in India, because of the tilt and precision in the spin axis of the earth, the centrifugal force is nearly vertical, and Isha Yoga Center by virtue of being on this latitude becomes an ideal place to be on the night of Mahashivaratri.

The festivities of Mahashivaratri begin at 6 p.m. and conclude at 6 a.m., the next morning. The nightlong celebrations include the powerful midnight meditation and discourse by Sadhguru, cultural performances by Kailash Kher, Rajasthan Roots with Kutle Khan, Sounds of Isha (Ishas home grown, anomalous group of musicians) and dance troop Nritarutya. Maha Annadanam or the offering of food will be made for all.

Describing the significance of Adiyogi, Sadhguru said, It is essential that the next generations of people on this planet are seekers, not believers. As philosophies, ideology, belief systems that dont stand the test of logic and the scientific verification will naturally collapse in coming decades, you will see the longing for liberation will rise. When that longing rises, Adiyogi and the science of Yoga will become very important.

In Tamil Nadu, Amavasya is considered the most important day in the month. We will leave the first offering to Adiyogi to the local people as a way of honoring the common people of the land, as an expression of their love and devotion. -Sadhguru

Preceding Mahashivaratri is the three day Yaksha festival, aimed at preserving and promoting Indias classical music & dance forms by the most accomplished artistes of India. This years artists include Violin duet by Dr. Mysore Manjunath and Dr. Mysore Nagaraj, Bharatnatayam performance by Padma Shri Smt. Meenakshi Chitharanjan and Odyssey dance performance by Smt. Bijayini Satpathy and Smt. Surupa Sen on 21st, 22nd and 23rd February respectively.

On the occasion of Mahashivaratri at Isha Yoga Center, all are invited to witness the unveiling of this glorious face of Adiyogi.

For the first time in the history of humanity, Adiyogi introduced the idea that the simple laws of nature are not permanent restrictions. If one is willing to strive, one can go beyond all limitations and attain to liberation, moving humanity from assumed stagnation to conscious evolution, Sadhguru added. (ANI)

This is published unedited from the ANI feed.

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NATO, Syria & Ukraine in ‘post fake’ world: Munich Security Conference highlights & memorable quotes – RT

The future of NATO and its relations with Russia amid turbulent US foreign policy, as well as the Syrian and Ukrainian conflicts in an era of Cold War style media hysteria have dominated the three-day Munich Security Conference.

Russia is ready to work together with NATO, but its expansion has led to an unprecedented level of tension in Europe, the Russian FM Sergey Lavrov told the conference. Moscow is open for political dialogue and diplomacy but believes it does not make any sense without military cooperation. NATO, however, has not shown a readiness for such cooperation.

The US seemingly tried to reassure its allies, alarmed by Donald Trumps campaign statements on the alliance being obsolete. America strongly supports NATO and is fully committed to this transatlantic alliance, the US Vice President Pence said at the conference. As you keep faith with us, under President Trump we will always keep faith with you, he added, reiterating, the demand, however, that allies to pay their fair share of 2 percent of GDP to maintain NATO.

From predictable position of force? NATOs chief tells Russias FM theres room for dialogue

When even one ally fails to do their part, it undermines all of our ability to come to each others aid, Pence stated, clearly implying that failure to increase spending was not an option for NATO nations.

As long as the EU and NATO complement and not compete with each other, the future of the transatlantic bond is quite bright, NATOs SG Jens Stoltenberg said, since the EU and US desire to be strong does not mean they should be alone.

Germany and France however, did not seem to be entirely reassured by Pences speech. I dont know where Germany can find billions of euros to boost defense spending if politicians also want to lower taxes, Germanys FM Sigmar Gabriel said, while his French counterpart, posted quite a salty tweet that Pence didnt say a word on the EU.

High-ranking diplomats involved in efforts to end the Syrian conflict have acknowledged the crucial role of Russia. The Astana talks is an important milestone in the reconciliation process, as the Syrian government and rebels met for the very first time at a negotiating table instead of the battlefield. And while not being an alternative to the upcoming Geneva negotiations, it should be viewed as a valuable supplement, the UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura believes.

READ MORE: Russia & Turkey-brokered Syria ceasefire has more chances than any other UN Syria envoy

The UN representative also said the not-so-secret Russian-Turkish meetings helped avert the worst case scenario in the battle of Aleppo and saved tens of thousands of civilian lives.

The new ceasefire, brokered by Russia, Iran, and Turkey is holding better than the previous one [link to an article about US ceasefire fail] since these countries have actual influence on the ground in Syria.

Previous efforts, undertaken by Russia and the US, failed since Washington didnt have such influence, US special presidential envoy for the US-led coalition against IS, Brett McGurk, conceded, stating that we became a bit of a Ping-Pong ball to try and control the situation.

The modern world lives in a post-truth period which can only be overcome through an old-school justice and modesty approach, Russias FM Sergey Lavrov believes. Only honest work without lies and fake news is the way to resist hysterical information wars imposed on the international community."

READ MORE: Post-truth & post-fake crossroads: Russian FMs top quotes at Munich Security Conference

Not everyone, unfortunately, shares the approach of the Russian FM, since the narrative of a Russian threat, Russian hacks and other baseless allegations have repeatedly emerged during the Munich conference. US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), for example, has warned France and Germany to wake up referring to their upcoming elections, since the Russians were coming after you. The Senator then promised Lavrov some consequences and vowed to kick Russia in the ass in Congress.

READ MORE: Year of kicking Russia in the ass: US Senator Graham urges more Russia sanctions

Russian, French, Ukrainian and German diplomats have reached a new agreement on a ceasefire in Ukraine starting February 20.We have actively supported this decision and obviously expressed a conviction that this time, failure should not be allowed, the Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said afterward.

The diplomats reiterated the importance of the Normandy format and said there was no need to include new parties, referring to the US. The Minsk deal is perceived to be the only way to untangle the conflict, and Russians and Ukrainians have no other option but to respect it, the French FM Jean-Marc Ayrault said.

READ MORE: No need to include US in Ukraine peace talks, German FM says

Lavrov noted that the lack of progress in the reconciliation process should not be blamed solely on Russia, as the other parties are equally responsible too.

President Vladimir Putin's decree acknowledging passports and other documents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk Republics was announced during the conference out of humanitarian concerns, leading to a hysterical reaction from Ukrainian officials.

President Petro Poroshenko called it yet another proof of Russia's violation of international law and claimed the rogue republics to be an occupied territory. The decree, however, is motivated not by political, but humanitarian considerations and it would remain in place until the Minsk agreements are fulfilled.

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NATO, Syria & Ukraine in 'post fake' world: Munich Security Conference highlights & memorable quotes - RT

Nato and Russia: a real international conspiracy thriller – The Guardian

The popular myth of the Russian threat remains, writes Steve Edwards. Photograph: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty

Nato is the foundation of our security, is the current political cliche. The Guardian warmly agrees (Editorial, 16February), and joins in the demonisation of Russia to a degree which should gratify the most ardent hawk. The other side of the matter should be stated. It is not in doubt that the long-term cause of Russian misbehaviour is Nato expansion in the late 1990s, taking in the countries bordering Russia but excluding Russia itself. No serious reason was ever given for this action, and it was in the face of many expressed doubts and warnings by military and political figures at the time. It was followed by the surrounding of Russia with missile defence bases, initiated by the US but taken over by Nato. The effect on Russia was perfectly well understood, and cannot possibly have been unintentional.

Nato is like something from an international conspiracy thriller except that it is startlingly open about its objectives. It continually searches the world, literally looking for trouble everywhere, and presses at every opportunity to give Nato a role. It has succeeded in doing this in, among other places, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

It might be argued that however the problem was caused, and indeed despite aspects of their own behaviour, certain countries in eastern Europe and the Caucasus now have a genuine security concern which should be addressed. But is it a good idea to give the job to the organisation that deliberately started it in the first place, and has an open interest in encouraging conflict wherever it finds it? Roger Schafir London

Martin Kettle (Why Brexit Britains defence strategy is way off course, 17 February) is right to point out the hypocrisy of Theresa Mays contrasting stances on Brexit and Nato. However, from the Russian side, its assertiveness is a not unreasonable response to Nato almost immediately crowding its western borders after the collapse of the Soviet Union. History is of prime importance here. Russia has endured major invasions from western powers for centuries; in particular, Sweden, France and Germany as well as Britain (again with France) in the Crimea and of course Britain, America, France and others invading northern Russia via Murmansk and Archangel at the end of the first world war.

In contrast, Russia has never attempted to invade western Europe or come anywhere near attacking this country. However, the popular myth of the Russian threat remains. For in practice, whatever our rulers might say about the duty of government to protect the people, the truth in probably every civilised country which ever existed is that the prime function of government is to protect the rich and powerful from the governed. And as George Orwell so masterly described in Nineteen Eighty-Four, constantly stoking fear and enmity against an outside threat is a very effective way of achieving this end. Steve Edwards Haywards Heath, West Sussex

Join the debate email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

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Nato and Russia: a real international conspiracy thriller - The Guardian

Russia Stirs Friction in Balkans, as NATO Keeps an Uneasy Peace – New York Times


New York Times
Russia Stirs Friction in Balkans, as NATO Keeps an Uneasy Peace
New York Times
ZVECAN, Kosovo In the densely forested mountains along the contested frontier between Serbia and Kosovo, a patrol of American soldiers under NATO command trudged through snow and mud, keeping an eye out for smugglers or anyone else trying to ...

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Russia Stirs Friction in Balkans, as NATO Keeps an Uneasy Peace - New York Times

UK Officials: Russia Tried To Kill PM To Keep Country Out Of NATO – Daily Caller

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British officials believe Russian authorities planned to assassinate the prime minister of Montenegro to stop the country from joining NATO, the Sunday Telegraph reports, citing government sources.

Milivoje Katnic, Montenegros chief special prosecutor, claimed in November that nationalists from Russia organized a criminal group to disrupt the Montenegrin election Oct. 16. The plan was tobreak into the Montenegro Parliament, killPrime Minister Milo Djukanovic and put pro-Russian parties in power. (RELATED: Russians Allegedly Planned To Stop European Country From Joining NATO By Killing Its PM)

Twenty suspects of Serbian and Montenegrin origin were arrestedthe day of the election accused of plotting attacks against state institutions.

Russian authorities denied participation in the coup. Senior British officials believe the assassination attempt was planned to make it look like nationalists were behind it if it was ever uncovered.British and U.S. intelligence agencies have further gathered evidence of high-level Russian involvement, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

You are talking about a plot to disrupt or take over a government in some way, a source told the Sunday Telegraph. You cant imagine that there wasnt some kind of approval process.

Britains foreign ministry said Montenegrin authorities need to present a convincing case against the suspects to convince the international community of foul play.

Montenegro must itself deliver a competent, transparent judicial process and trial of the coup suspects, a British foreign ministry spokeswoman told Reuters. Success would be a major step in convincing the international community of real progress in Montenegrin rule of law reform and compatibility with NATO and EU standards.

Montenegro received the go-ahead from NATOin May to become a member in the near future. Djukanovic and his pro-Western government plans to distance the country from traditional allies Serbia and Russia and instead deepen ties with NATO.

The Kremlin would hence lose strategic access to the Adriatic Sea when Montenegro becomes a NATO member. Serbia willfurther be Russias only ally left in the Balkans.

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UK Officials: Russia Tried To Kill PM To Keep Country Out Of NATO - Daily Caller

Should NATO members pay their share? – Columbia Daily Tribune

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Should NATO members pay their share? - Columbia Daily Tribune

US troops deploy to Bulgaria as part of NATO operation to support Eastern European allies – CNN

The move is the latest in a series of multinational training and security cooperation activities along the alliance's eastern front. It comes at a tenuous time in the relationship between the Kremlin and the fledgling administration of President Donald Trump, who just last week voiced unusually strong support for NATO after repeatedly objecting to its relevancy and funding. One hundred twenty troops from the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, from Fort Carson, Colorado, arrived Wednesday at the Novo Selo training range in eastern Bulgaria, according to the Bulgarian statement. They're due to be joined by heavy military equipment and armored vehicles by the end of the week.

"This year joint exercises and training will be increased at the Novo Selo training grounds," said the ministry, adding that its goal is to develop and strengthen cooperation on a national and allied level.

Moscow has repeatedly criticized the deployments, calling them provocative and a threat to Russian security. Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated that position Thursday at the annual board meeting of the Federal Security Service, a Russian agency that oversees national security and counterterrorism.

"At the NATO summit last July in Warsaw, Russia was declared the main threat to the alliance for the first time since 1989, and NATO officially proclaimed containing Russia its new mission. It is with this aim that NATO continues its expansion," Putin said.

"They are provoking us constantly and are trying to draw us into confrontation," he said.

"We are not in a position right now to collaborate on the military level, but our political leaders will engage and try to find common ground," he said.

"As we search for new common ground, we expect Russia to honor its commitment to the Minsk Agreements and work to deescalate the violence in the Ukraine," Tillerson said.

Russia's annexation of Crimea and ongoing tensions between pro-Russian separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine have caused growing unease among NATO members in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, presenting one of the biggest challenges for the alliance in its nearly 70-year history.

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US troops deploy to Bulgaria as part of NATO operation to support Eastern European allies - CNN

NATO Defence Ministers take steps to strengthen the Alliance – NATO HQ (press release)

NATO Defence Ministers wrapped up two days of talks in Brussels on Thursday (16 February 2017), focused on the Alliances adaptation to a more demanding security environment.

On Wednesday, Ministers discussed NATOs role in the fight against terrorism and agreed to create a new regional Hub for the South, based at NATOs Joint Force Command in Naples. The Hub will assess and address threats from the Middle East and North Africa, engaging with partner nations and organisations.

Ministers also addressed NATOs Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance capability and agreed to develop a follow-on capability for NATO AWACS planes after they retire around the year 2035. This will help the Alliance tackle challenges from the South, and anticipate crises.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed that NATOs continuous adaptation requires fairer burden-sharing among Allies. He noted that, after many years of cuts, defence spending in 2016 increased in real terms by 3.8% among European Allies and Canada. It amounts to roughly 10 billion dollars more for our defence. This makes a difference, but it is absolutely vital that we keep up the momentum, he added.

On Thursday, Allies agreed on the next steps to modernise the NATO Command Structure and reviewed progress on the deployment of new deterrent forces in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The Secretary General stressed that these deployments are defensive and measured, saying our aim is to prevent conflict, not to provoke it. Allies also took steps to enhance NATOs presence in the region, with more maritime training, exercises and situational awareness.

In a ministerial meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission, Ministers praised Georgias defence reforms. Mr. Stoltenberg noted that Georgia is making good progress, and NATO will continue to help Georgia advance on its path towards membership.

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NATO Defence Ministers take steps to strengthen the Alliance - NATO HQ (press release)

Rubio and his Resurrection of The Second Amendment … – Bearing Arms

Senator Marco Rubios resurrectedSecond Amendment Enforcement Actwill ensure that law-abiding citizens in Washington, D.C. can exercise their Second Amendment right to carry a firearm, should it pass.

Emotionally charged anti-gunners are doing their best to keep the current stringent D.C. gun laws in place. Unfortunately, they dont understand that federal laws, already in place, are more than sufficient to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals.

It is essential for all to remember that criminals, by the very definition of the word, are law breakers. Boundaries are disregarded, and they act upon their own volition; without concern of consequence. Law-abiding citizens are consistently punished by having their rights infringed upon with layers and layers of laws that are in place to detour the criminal. The oxymoron here is that law-abiding citizens will obey the laws, and criminals wont.

How will enacting layers of laws over and above federal laws change the demeanor of someone who disregards the law, because they act with moral turpitude? Simply put, it wont.

Anti-gunners with their flair for the dramatic and with no foundationin fact spread misinformation. For those of us who know and understand the laws, it is nothing less than frustrating. For those of you who dont, become familiar with federal, state, and your local guns laws. Put them in context of criminal behavior.

Allowing D.C.s excessive gun laws to stand as is only benefits criminals. They already know that they likely wontface life threatening resistance when committing a crime.

The Second Amendment Enforcement Act will put guns in the hands of the good guys. So, when the criminals hear their targetsmay be armed in order to protect themselves, it could be the game-changer that helps to deter crime in D.C.

Author's Bio: Pamela Jablonski

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Rubio and his Resurrection of The Second Amendment ... - Bearing Arms

Space a champion on 2nd Amendment – New Jersey Herald

Posted: Feb. 20, 2017 12:01 am

Editor:

I read with some skepticism the Feb. 10 New Jersey Herald story about two young neophytes seeking to challenge incumbent Assemblyman Parker Space and his announced running mate Hal Wirths in the June Republican primary.

Of particular interest was the claim that Assemblyman Space is not fighting for Second Amendment rights an allegation I know first-hand to be incorrect.

As Executive Director of New Jersey's official state rifle and pistol association, I can state unequivocally that Assemblyman Space is one of the Garden State's true Second Amendment champions. Not only has he has consistently and reliably opposed every piece of gun control and anti-hunting legislation to cross his desk, but he has also sponsored major pro-gun initiatives including right-to-carry.

Anyone can pay lip service to the Second Amendment, but few can back that up with a proven record of action like Assemblyman Space.

To be sure, there are incumbents who should be challenged in the primaries on Second Amendment grounds, but Assemblyman Space is not one of them.

Scott L. Bach, Executive Director, Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs

Newfoundland

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Space a champion on 2nd Amendment - New Jersey Herald

Racially insensitive posts protected under First Amendment – Daily O’Collegian

Despite calls for expulsion or suspension, Oklahoma State University cant legally punish the students who posted offensive words and images on social media at the beginning of the semester, according to OSU officials.

African-American students and others who are outraged by (the incident) have every right to be outraged by this, but if youve turned the focus on punishing the speech, you dont solve the problems of the racism, said Joey Senat, who specializes in media and First Amendment law.

When you say that person should be expelled because I didnt like that persons speech, they dont understand the larger issues and what the First Amendment actually is intended to mean, he said.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a photo including four OSU students, two of whom were wearing a dark substance resembling blackface, wasposted on Instagram and caused uproar on social media.

About a week later another OSU studentposted a photo on Snapchat of herself wearing a mud mask with the caption, When he says he only likes black girls. The photo sparkedprotests on campus and led to a meeting between OSU President Burns Hargis and African-American Student Association members.

In both instances, Hargis issued a statementsupporting student protest anddiscouraging intolerance and discrimination at OSU.

But for some, the statements and apologies arent enough.In a recent Letter to the Editor, an individual called for the students involved to be expelled or, at least, suspended.

However, there is no justification for censoring the students speech because it did not present a true threat, Senat said. Its counterproductive, he said, to suggest students be disciplined by suspension or expulsion.

You cant stop these people from thinking what they think, he said. You can only drive them underground, but that doesnt get to the root problem of the racism. It doesnt get to the societal issues of racism. It doesnt allow for solutions and progress.

Students shouldnt rely on the university, a taxpayer-funded entity, to solve their problems, Senat said. Instead, he suggests offering counter speech to racism.

Students should be out there protesting, Senat said. Confront those ideas. Thats how you go about trying to change someones mind and show them the error of their ways. They should be out there making it known this is not acceptable in their community, but thats a far cry from government being involved.

Senat said students and others who want these individuals disciplined need to keep in mind that next time it could be their speech someone wants punished or censored because it was offensive.

We cant expect government to step in and punish everyone because were offended or we justifiably disagree with someone elses speech, Senat said.

Lee Bird, vice president for student affairs, said the university is working to provide educational opportunities for students and has started a dialogue with the students responsible for the social media posts.

Theres a legal, right way to approach (the incidents), Bird said. The institution just cant say, Well, you cant do a blackface again, or, You cant do this.

Bird, who co-wrote a handbook for universities regarding the First Amendment, said restricting what students can say on campus through speech codes violates the First Amendment. A speech code is a regulation that prohibits expression normally protected under the First Amendment, according to FIRE, a nonprofit organization concerned with free speech on university campuses.

People think, Lets just write a code and prohibit it, Bird said. Well, thats not how the First Amendment works.

Bird said she, along with other university officials, has spent several hours meeting with the students involved, encouraging them to educate themselves and looking ahead at how the institution can proceed.

The students involved were ignorant, she said, which is the bigger issue.

What we learned from this case is we have a lot of students that are completely uninformed, ignorant about many race issues, Bird said. I think we need to help encourage students to educate themselves and where the institution may have to realign diversity classes or those requirements to help make sure that our students really do understand more about diversity.

Laura Arata, an OSU professor who specializes in the history of race, said the recent incidents are reflective of what she sees in the classroom.

Each semester, Arata said she asks her Survey of American History students whether racism is still a problem today.

Responses always range from No, it's definitely not, to Yes, absolutely it is," Arata said in an email to the OColly. To me, this is the clearest indication possible that there are some very important, very complicated, very deep conversations most of us need to have, even if it makes us uncomfortable.

Arata advocates having conversations that go beyond defining right and wrong. She said this is an opportunity to talk about why the actions are hurtful.

We are a diverse country and, of course, we're going to experience different things in all kinds of different ways, but that doesn't mean we don't need to acknowledge them and consider different viewpoints, she said.

Bird said she acknowledges knowing the university cant legally take action might not be comforting for victims. She believes OSU students need to understand the effects their actions can have and should be more thoughtful of those in their community, she said.

People need to understand that all these behaviors have an impact on our community, affect institutional reputation, make it harder to recruit, and I think the Cowboy nation is better than that, she said. I would hope that students would not be bystanders to hate, but they would be personally involved. If it was (an) international student, a Muslim student, an African-American student, an LGBT student, it doesnt matter hate is hate.

When you see something, say something, deal with it, speak to it.

news@ocolly.com

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Racially insensitive posts protected under First Amendment - Daily O'Collegian