Monthly Archives: March 2017

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Paul Ryan's Misguided Sense of Freedom New York Times He went on to argue that Obamacare abridges this freedom by telling you what to buy. But his first thought offers a meaningful and powerful definition of freedom. Conservatives are typically proponents of negative liberty: the freedom from constraints ... and more »

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Paul Ryan's Misguided Sense of Freedom - New York Times

A jubilant procession of a few dozen people marched through University Avenue and West Main Street on Friday evening to commemorate the moment when more than half of the populations of Charlottesville and Albemarle County were freed from slavery.

Carrying a large banner that said Let Freedom Ring and another reading Black Lives Matter, the procession sang freedom songs and lifted other political signs as they moved from the University of Virginia Chapel to the Jefferson School City Center as part of the citys first Liberation and Freedom Day celebration.

Last month, the City Council declared that March 3 would commemorate the historic moment in 1865 when Union military forces arrived in the city and liberated approximately 14,000 African-American slaves.

This is a commemoration of the most important day in Charlottesville history when 52 percent of the population was freed from slavery. said Claire Hitchens, a UVa graduate and singer-songwriter who volunteered to assist in organizing the procession Friday.

Also in attendance was Jane Clarke, the wife of a university professor emeritus, who felt motivated to participate in political rallies focused on social justice due to all the hate crimes and violence that is occurring against minorities.

As for the new holiday, she said: I think its great. We had never heard of this before. I know it was just recently created, but weve lived in Charlottesville for years and weve never heard of the liberation of the slaves.

Although the procession included only about 50 people, the first Liberation and Freedom Day celebration included well over 100 people, as the processional bridged an interfaith service at the UVa Chapel and a program at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center that lasted for more than an hour.

In addition to remarks from local community activists, city officials, historians, as well as musical performances, the event included the recognition of several community members, including Zyhana Bryant, the Charlottesville High School student who called for the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue last year.

Two other community members, Deidra Gilmore and Eddie Harris, also were awarded the inaugural Freedom Fighter award.

During the program, Councilor Wes Bellamy read a statement from Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who recognized the new holiday and offered his regards.

This commemoration reminds members of the Charlottesville community, and all Virginians, of our enduring fight for human rights, the statement said. We have come a long way, but there is still work to be done. I commend your persistent efforts to create a community of inclusion, dignity and equality.

UVa President Teresa A. Sullivan also spoke at the event, recognizing the universitys role in surrendering alongside city officials when the Union forces arrived.

As we look back on that day, Liberation and Freedom Day should be a day of reflection. But it should not be a day of somber reflection. It should be a day of victorious reflection because we are celebrating a moment in the history of our community, and of our nation, when freedom won the battle over bondage, she said.

Linda Perriello, mother of Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Charlottesville native Tom Perriello, also spoke to honor the new holiday and promote her sons campaign.

All of you who marched, all of you who are here, send a message loud and clear: no more. No more to racial injustice and its corollaries of economic injustice, criminal injustice and even environmental injustice, she said.

The idea for the new holiday came as a recommendation from the citys Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces, which was convened last year to address calls for the removal of the citys statue of Robert E. Lee.

Its just such an amazing journey that this city has been on, and I feel very proud, said Grace Aheron, a UVa graduate who also helped organize and lead the procession Friday.

It felt good today to celebrate rather than protest something, she said.

To see this day celebrated, not mourned it symbolically begins the retelling of the citys history, said John E. Mason, a UVa professor and member of the commission. Most people here celebrated the day and didnt see it as defeat, he added. That moment was the dawn of freedom.

Although a great deal of controversy has surrounded the commission and the City Councils decision to act on its recommendation to relocate the Lee statue, city officials and community members saw Fridays event as a moment to celebrate a new paradigm in how the city remembers the legacy of the Civil War.

Gary Gallagher, director of UVas John L. Nau III Civil War Center, said most communities throughout the South have only recognized the Confederacys memory of that period and that other strands of history have been glossed over.

Citing the 240 African-Americans from the area whom the Nau center has identified as having fought for the Union, he said he thinks its just as appropriate to commemorate those people just like the community historically has recognized Confederate veterans and ancestors.

One part of the historical memory thats been left out is African American men from Albemarle County who put on blue uniforms. They were absolutely invisible, he said. I think itd be a mighty damn fine idea if we put a monument with their names on it.

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Charlottesville marks first Liberation and Freedom Day - The Daily Progress

California legislators have filed a Freedom of Information Act request to learn what federal immigration authorities are up to in their state.

The request was filed this week by California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Leon, both Democrats,for information about recent Department of Homeland Security policies and Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities.

Federal authorities appear to be cracking down on immigration with a recent surge in enforcement activities, the lawmakers said in a statement. But federal authorities have provided limited information, despite repeated requests, the statement continued.California is home to 5.4 million non-citizen immigrants, and almost half of all children in the state have at least one parent who is an immigrant.

When the safety of Californians is at stake, we must demand greater transparency, with the backing of federal courts if necessary, the lawmakers said.The lives and physical safety of many thousands of Californianscitizens and immigrants, documented and undocumented depend upon knowing this information.

Immigration authorities arrested hundreds of people in February in raids across the country. Dozens of those seized had no criminal record. An ICE official said the activity was routine.

Rendon and DeLeon seek details on recent federal enforcement in California, including the massing of immigration agents outside a Southern California church shelter in order to ambush, arrest and detain homeless individuals seeking warmth there. They also cite the case of an immigrant woman attempting to obtain an order of protection against her husband in a courthouse, where agents escorted her out and arrested her.

The lawmakers demand information on ICE and Department of Homeland Security enforcement in California near sensitive areas, such as at schools, hospitals and churches; detainees access to lawyers; and treatment of young people in the Dreamers program who were brought to the U.S.as children.

The request also seeks information about people detained and deported in an intensive five-day sweep in Los Angeles County last month that netted some 161 individuals.

An ICE spokeswoman provided a link to the agencys policies concerning sensitive locations, and cautioned that some information about detainees may not be available because of privacy concerns, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Santa Cruz police blasted federal officials last month for lying,using a crackdown on a local gang as an excuse to secretly round up undocumented immigrants.

Immigration enforcers said they felt constrained under former President Barack Obama. But now, after President Donald Trump campaigned on an anti-immigration platform, agents are feeling emboldened, according to unions representing Border Patrol agents and ICE officers.

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California Files Freedom Of Information Request To Learn What ICE Is Up To - Huffington Post

Ive been struggling while crafting this weeks column.

I know that no matter how precise I am with my wording, there may be some who will believe after reading this that Im doing a 180 on something I expressed on this page just a little over a month ago.

In a column I typed out shortly after the Womens March was held in downtown Vermillion, I wrote: Freedom of expression is one of the cherished things that distinguishes the United States from the rest of the world. We shouldnt be surprised when happenings in our nation or our community compel people to make their voices heard. Even when we dont agree with the message.

Recent happenings in Pierre, and further north in North Dakota, are requiring a bit of clarity be added to that statement. Ive always been a big believer that the most effective forms of expression are somewhat controlled, non-violent activities, with no looting, no property damage, nothing like that.

I know there are some that will disagree with my assessment. After Michael Brown was shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, that community erupted with outrage, compassion and street protests. The response from many corners of the news media included condemnations of bad elements" among the protesters who resorted to property destruction as their demonstration of resistance.

Count me among those who will never understand how wanton property destruction, or looting, or rioting can be justified to make a point. And yes, I realize the Boston Tea Party could be labeled as an early example of protest combined with property loss, but somehow the act of throwing a few crates of tea into a harbor seems pretty mild when compared to watching, for example, rioters slash and burn a business youve spent years building, or having a mob pull you from your truck and smash your head with concrete, as we all remember watching during the Rodney King riots.

Those riots stemmed from the acquittal of four white Los Angeles Police Department officers in the beating of King in 1991. They lasted over five days in the spring of 1992, and left more than 50 people dead and more than 2,000 injured.

I know it sounds like Im saying that "good" protesters march, carry signs and make their voices heard, but anyone who smashes, burns or vandalizes contaminates the otherwise defensible show of democratic expression. I also know that someone may just as easily point out that property destruction as a tactic of resistance has a long history and is frequently effective.

Theres another type of protest-related property damage that we need to talk about: the unintentional damage that can have far-reaching, detrimental effects.

This is what I fear has just occurred at Standing Rock in North Dakota. The nearly year-long Standing Rock protest, which gained steam in the final months of 2016, as thousands of protesters traveled to the site from across the country, achieved its ends for a brief time when the Army Corps of Engineers denied Energy Transfer Products (ETP) a permit to build a portion of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The Standing Rock Sioux allegedly feared the pipeline had the potential to contaminate the Missouri River, the source of the tribe's drinking water. Now they fear a new problem. The garbage left behind by the activists.

Standing Rock protestors, who gathered by the thousands to voice their concerns about an oil pipeline they claimed would contaminate the Missouri River, have left a garbage wasteland behind, which, if not cleaned up in time, will contaminate the Cannonball River and Lake Oahe.

Thousands of protesters moved in and out of the Dakota Access site over the past few months. According to numerous news reports, theyve left behind an estimated 200-plus large truckloads of garbage, an enormous amount of human waste, and dozens of abandoned cars, buses, trucks and other vehicles that had either broken down or run out of gas.

According to recent piece in the Washington Times, the Standing Rock Sioux, private sanitation companies and other volunteers involved in the cleanup estimate that it could take weeks to clear all the abandoned tents, camping gear, supplies and trash now littering the camp.

The looming winter thaw threatens to make the area even more of ecological mess. Without proper remediation, debris, trash, and untreated waste will wash into the Cannonball River and Lake Oahe, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a statement.

Standing Rock protestors may have been successful in drawing public attention to their cause, but they were not able to stop the pipeline. Earlier this month, Energy Transfer Partners announced that Dakota Access, LLC (Dakota Access) has received an easement from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct the pipeline across land owned by the Army Corps on both sides of Lake Oahe in North Dakota.

The release of this easement by the Army Corps follows a directive from President Donald Trump to the Department of the Army and the Army Corps to take all necessary and appropriate steps that would permit construction and operation of the Dakota Access pipeline, including easements to cross federal lands.

With this action, Dakota Access now has received all federal authorizations necessary to proceed expeditiously to complete construction of the pipeline. A federal judge was scheduled to hear arguments this week about whether to stop the final bit of construction on the pipeline.

The Standing Rock protest also gained the attention of lawmakers in Pierre. Gov. Dennis Daugaard won approval from state senators last week for sweeping additional powers to respond to public protests such as North Dakota has faced over an oil pipeline. The concern is that TransCanada will face protests in South Dakota when the company builds the Keystone XL oil pipeline through the states western half from Montana to Nebraska.

The legislation, SB 176, now goes to the House of Representatives. If it becomes law, it would allow South Dakotas governor to declare public safety zones where entry and exit would be controlled and trespassers would face one year in jail for the first offense and one year in prison for the second and subsequent offenses.

The proposal also would make standing outside a stopped vehicle on a highway an act of crime if it happened in an off-limits area.

Whether or not you agreed with the message that activists at Standing Rock were trying to send, their actions have had substantial consequences. They have caused millions of dollars in property damage, they have threatened the environment of the Missouri River waterway which flows our way, and they are potentially changing the rules to be followed in should similar types of protests ever be planned in South Dakota.

Maybe part of the problem is assuming protest can always be a neat, tidy thing. It clearly cannot, and it clearly, at times, can be messy.

All I can do is once again repeat a snippet from my earlier column: Want to accomplish something? Reach out to those you disagree with. Talk with them. The worst thing we can do is simply dismiss people who think differently as being racist, sexist, privileged, out of touch, ignorant, and so on. Change comes from building relationships, not with people you agree with, but with those whose views are different.

Our best hope is that Standing Rock, despite its unintended consequences, will spark this kind of conversation. Hopefully, the discussions will continue. Hopefully, they will be fruitful, and they wont be destructive.

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Between the Lines: Freedom And Its Messy Consequences - Vermillion Plain Talk

George W. Bush speaks out about...

Former President George W. Bush has stayed rather quite since leaving the oval office, but Wednesday night he spoke to a sold out crowd and answered several questions about the current political climate.

Mister Bush was at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley to promote his new book, Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chiefs Tribute To Americas Warriors. During the sit down discussion he answered several questions about his book as well as chimed in on some current political hot topics.

One of the first political topics that came up was his stance on freedom of press.

I absolute believe in a free press as should every other American believe in free press because the press holds people to account. Power is very addictive and its corrosive therefore there needs to be an independent group of people that hold you to account, said Mister Bush.

Bush said that when he made those same remarks to another media outlet this week, his statement was taken out of context.

So I answered that question and of course the headlines were Bush criticizes Trump. So of course, I needed to say there should be a free and independent press but it got to be accurate, said Mister Bush.

The Nations 43rd President also went on to say he has no intention to criticize his successors.

Its a hard job, and I think if a former president is out there second guessing it is going to make it harder and I want anybody who is president to succeed we are all in this together, said Bush. People say why. First of all the office of the president is more important than the occupant, and I believe it undermines the office of the presidency. Secondly I understand there is a lot of critiques and I dont want to make the presidents job worse.

The primarily republican audience applauded what mister bush had to say.

It was wonderful to hear the humor in the president and the mission of his heart and why he put it to paper and how he feels about the veterans. I am a big supporter of military as well, said Marissa Couhlan of Malibu.

I think it really was a conversation with the president. Just the tone he was using the verbiage that he chose and it really made everything relatable and I just like the way he connected back with the youth and how there is hope for the country, said Joanne Prociuk of Santa Clarita.

What you got to understand is that our nation goes through divisive and tough times, but there is something unique about us, there is a spirit you cant extinguish and that is why I am so optimistic about the spirit of the country, said Bush.

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Former President George W. Bush speaks out about freedom of press - KEYT

My follow-up post gushed all over Gjelten's piece on the religious freedom debate:

So why do a third post? Because of the excellent discussion generated by a reader's question about Gjelten's story.

The question came from Anton Karidian:

I replied:

And GetReligion editor Terry Mattingly chimed in:

Finally, Gjelten took the time to respond:

Obviously, the conservative vs. liberal terminology did not stand out to me when I read the story originally. Perhaps I am just accustomed to seeing the sides characterized that way. As a reminder, this was the opening on Gjelten's piece:

As I read it,Karidian's criticism is that a label ("conservatives") is applied to one side of the debate but not the other. Gjelten, meanwhile, defends his description of religious conservatives but fails to explain, unless I'm missing it,why he doesn't label LGBT advocates as "liberals."

What might be a possible solution, if one sees a problem? One might be to change "conservatives" to "people of faith" in that second paragraph. Elsewhere in the story, perhaps a more specific identifier such as "evangelicals" might be applied to those pushing religious freedom legislation. Of course, the term "evangelicals" brings its own set of complexities as far as defining exactly who falls under that umbrella.

What do you think, dear reader? Was the original language fair and accurate? Do you see a need for any tweaking in how such labels are applied? Might one's response be tied, to some degree, on whether that person sees "conservatives" or "liberals" or both as dirty words?

By all means, please join the conversation by commenting below or tweeting us at @GetReligion.

Image via Pixabay.com

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Dirty words? Conservatives, liberals and accurate descriptions when reporting on religious freedom - GetReligion (blog)