Daily Archives: April 30, 2017

The State Department should add Russia to its list of the worst violators of religious freedom, a U.S. commission declared in its annual report.

TheU.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, founded to advise the federal government on the issue, comes out with its own list of shame each year, citing the most abusive countries in a lineupconsistently longer than the State Departments.

This year, the USCIRF report includedadissenting report from its vice chair criticizing the commission for failing to investigate Israel.

On Wednesday (April 26), USCIRF recommended that the U.S. should designateRussia as a country of particular concern,forwielding an anti-extremist law to violate the religious freedom of Muslims and other minorities.

Stacks of booklets distributed by Jehovahs Witnesses are seen during the court session on Dec. 16, 2010, in the Siberian town of Gorno-Altaysk, Russia. (Credit: Photo courtesy of Reuters/Alexandr Tyryshkin.)

Most recently, Russia bannedJehovahs Witnesses, labeling them extremist and ordering the state to seize their properties.

Theyre treating these people like theyre terrorists, said Tom Reese, a Jesuit priest who chairs USCIRF, referring to Russias treatment of the Witnesses. Theyre pacifists, they dont want to be involved in politics and they just want to be left alone. The Supreme Court has basically said theyre illegal.

Globally, the commission has concluded that the state of affairs for international religious freedom is worsening in both the depth and breadth of violations, Reese said.

USCIRFs list this year differs from its2016 list with the addition of Russia, but also the dropping of Egypt and Iraq, a move that may surprise some given continuing deadly attacks on Christians in those countries.

But Reese said that while violence against Christians in those nationsremains a horrificproblem, the commission wanted to highlight the concrete steps that both the Egyptian and Iraqi governments have taken to protect religious minorities.

On Egypt, for example, according to the report:

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi consistently has made noteworthy public statements and gestures encouraging religious tolerance and moderation, has condemned sectarianattacks and assisted victims, and has urged reform of textbooks and religious discourse in society, an important shift in tone and rhetoric from his predecessors.

Still, Egypt and Iraq are on USCIRFs list of Tier 2 countries, which are consideredviolators of religious freedom, but not as problematic as the CPCs.

On the same day of the reports release,one commissioner, Arab-American and Democratic Party activist James Zogby, held a newsconference to discuss his dissent to the report, in which he criticizes the commissions refusal to investigate Israel.

Zogby, flanked by sympathetic Christians in a Lutheran church on Capitol Hill, said Israel discriminates against Muslims, Christians and non-Orthodox Jews but gets a free pass from the commission.

I did not look for this issue, it came to us, said Zogby, who cited a lengthy study from young lawyers in the West Bank occupied by Israel thatconcluded that Israel fails to meet international standards on religious freedom on which other nations are judged.

Other commissioners, Zogby said, were bullied to oppose an investigation. Thosepetitioning for an investigation were often dismissed as anti-Semites and some commissioners feared the commission would lose congressional support for investigating Israel, hesaid.

JoiningZogby Tuesday: the Rev. Aundreia Alexander, associategeneral secretary of the National Council of Churches; the Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary emeritus of the Reformed Church in America; and Fr. Drew Christiansen ofGeorgetown UniversitysBerkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs.

Reese saidmany groups and people, including Zogby, propose that USCIRF launch investigations, but without a majority vote of the commission, those investigations dont go forward.

Jim proposed it, but he didnt get a majority, said Reese, who added that USCIRF reports often include dissents.

The following 16countries are on USCIRFs 2017 list of CPCs: Burma, Central African Republic, China, Eritrea, Iran,Nigeria,North Korea,Pakistan,Russia,Saudi Arabia, Sudan,Syria,Tajikistan,Turkmenistan,Uzbekistan andVietnam.

The10 countries on the State Departments list of prime religious freedom offenders, designated in 2016, are: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

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US commission: Russia a major violator of religious freedom - Crux: Covering all things Catholic

Los Angeles Times

FCC Invokes Internet Freedom While Trying to Kill It New York Times Under the cynical guise of restoring internet freedom, the new F.C.C. chairman, Ajit Pai, wants to give big telecom companies carte blanche to treat the content of their subsidiaries and partners more favorably than information from other companies ... 2016 Broadband Capex Survey: Tracking Investment in the Title II Era | Hal Singer - WordPress.comHal Singer - WordPress.com In a speech - Federal Communications CommissionFederal Communications Commission FCC Chairman Pushes Sweeping Changes to Net Neutrality RulesNew York Times all 84 news articles »

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FCC Invokes Internet Freedom While Trying to Kill It - New York Times

The office for the College of Arts and Science at Illinois State University is in Stevenson Hall, named for Adlai E. Stevenson II who grew up in Bloomington-Normal and was the 31st governor of Illinois.

Although he may be best known as our governor, the United States ambassador to the United Nations during the Cuban missile crisis and for twice unsuccessfully running for president against Dwight D. Eisenhower, we also know him as a champion for higher education.

It is appropriate that the Stevenson Center, also here at ISU, bears his name as well because this organization is dedicated to his passions public service and global engagement.

The center does inspiring work in community and economic development at both the local and international levels.

While running for president in the early 1950s, Stevenson presented a campaign stump speech on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which gave him an opportunity to reflect on the role of higher education and its relationship to government.

A founding principle of the University of Wisconsin system is called the Wisconsin Idea, which serves as a model for many state university systems. According to Stevenson, the Wisconsin Idea is a faith in the application of intelligence and reason to the problems of society.

He goes on to note that the Wisconsin Idea brings with it a deep conviction that the role of government was not to stumble along like a drunkard in the dark, but to light its way by the best torches of knowledge.

The best torches are on U.S. college campuses where the work is done based upon peer review without government influence. Stevenson noted that if we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow wherever that search may lead us. The free mind is no barking dog, to be tethered on a ten-foot chain. It must be unrestricted in the play of its inquiry.

It is interesting that in 1952 he felt like this idea was under attack. Attack, in this case, by totalitarian regimes around the world squeezing out academic freedom and the freedom of the press, and at home, as part of over-zealous actions related to the anti-communism movement.

Again, in Stevensons words, the whole conception of the free intellectual community is menaced by those who fear freedom more than they love it. It is ironic that these long-forgotten words of a 65-year-old stump speech are relevant once again.

Legislation in Missouri (sponsored by Rep. Rick Brattin) and Iowa (sponsored by Sen. Brad Zaun) would get rid of tenure for faculty in the state university systems. Other states have hinted at similar restrictions. As we discussed in an earlier column, there is the incorrect notion that tenure protects faculty from termination for any cause.

What it protects is the termination of faculty for teaching or researching controversial or currently politically unpopular topics. One of the reasons that U.S. colleges and universities are the best in the world is because we are free to teach and research all topics without fear of retribution from the current government.

If Stevenson were alive today, he would no doubt remark that the representatives in Missouri and Iowa, who introduced legislation to remove tenure, fear freedom more than they love it.

We hope that these state legislatures will not pass the laws because, knowingly or unknowingly, this is the trademark of totalitarian regimes. Tenure and academic freedom, like freedom of the press, are fundamental components of a free and democratic society.

Progress in all fields of study cannot be made if there is not a safe space to challenge current thought and conventional wisdom. Far from being a threat to society, tenure and academic freedom strengthen it.

Tenure is, rightfully, difficult to attain. Those who are entrusted with the privilege by their senior colleagues and university have the freedom to explore, discover, and share their findings without restriction. Our freedom depends on it.

Special thanks to Emma Meyer and the McLean County Museum of History for providing access to the Adlai Stevenson speech.

Skibois distinguished professor and chair, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, at Illinois State University.

Simpson is dean, College of Arts and Sciences, at ISU.

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Guest commentary: Do we fear freedom more than we love it? - Bloomington Pantagraph (blog)

Texas House GOP Caucus Chairman Tan Parker talks with Matt Schaefer, who heads the fledgeling House Freedom Caucus.(Photo: John C. Moritz/USA Today Austin Bureau)

AUSTIN On any given day on the floor of the Texas House, one of a handful of the chambers most conservative members will step and ask plaintive questions of Speaker Joe Straus or the member he had designated to preside temporarily.

Invariably, the question from the conservative member at the microphone is brushed aside and the member walks off disappointed.

But those arch conservatives who make up theTexas House Freedom Caucuswon a decisive victory during Wednesday nights marathon debate on the so-called sanctuary cities bill that shifted the trajectory of the controversial legislation sharply to the right.

State Rep. Matt Schaefer, the third-term Tyler Republican who chairs the new organization, forced a vote that would empower local law enforcement officers to begin questioning a suspects immigration even before an arrest was made.

The bills House sponsor, Fort Worth Republican and top Straus lieutenant Charlie Geren, didnt like Schaefers amendment, and said so publicly. But the veteran lawmaker understood that most of the 95 GOP members had to vote for it or risk looking soft on illegal immigration heading into next years primaries.

When we see a bill to advance the cause of conservative policy and principles, we will move on it without fear or hesitation, Schaefer said after catching a few hours sleep following a bruising and emotional floor debate that did not end until around 3 a.m. Thursday.

With only 12 members in the 150-member House, Schaefers caucus is small but vocal. It was formed heading into the 2017 legislative session in part to push back against what its members saw as the Republican-dominated House moving in a moderate direction and away from the partys grassroots activists.

The Freedom Caucus agenda for the session comes straight from the Texas GOP Platform: The freedom to carry handguns without a license, abolishing abortion by all lawful, constitutional means, stopping illegal immigration and limiting taxes so that government only performs its core functions.

We take the platform that was adopted by grassroots Republicans very seriously, Schaefer said. Too often the issues brought forward by the platform are ignored. But these issues are of great interest to our grassroots, the people to become engaged in the process and take the time to go to the conventions.

The caucus is styled after, but not affiliated with, the congressional Freedom Caucus in Washington, D.C., that was credited with forcing then-House Speaker John Boehner from office in part because they found his brand of leadership as straying from conservative principles.

Its not a coincidence that we chose the name we did, Schaefer said.

Perhaps the most vocal member of the Texas group is Jonathan Stickland, a three-term Republican from the Fort Worth suburbs whose political rise was fueled by Tea party activism and the desire to expand gun rights.

Stickland, who made clear that he wasnt speaking for the Freedom Caucus, said he wants one day to be a major force in the House, but that he is not willing to pay the political price to ingratiate himself with Straus leadership team.

My goal is to be a key player in the next regime change, Stickland said. When the time comes, were going to be the kingmakers.

Straus, whose office declined a request for comment, came to power in the House in 2009 when a block of Republicans formed an alliance with some House Democrats to topple then-Speaker Tom Craddick. Straus has not definitively said whether hell seek a record sixth term at the helm of the House.

State Rep. Tan Parker, also a suburban North Texas Republican, leads the House Republican Caucus and was named by Straus to chair the House Investment and Financial Services Committee. He said he works with the Freedom Caucus on a number of fronts, but that his job is to uniteall 95 members whenever possible.

I want all of the members in the (GOP) caucus to be free to represent their constituents as best they see fit, said Parker, a House member since 2006. Matt and I have a good working relationship.

Former Republican state Rep. Warren Chisum, who served in the House from 1989 until 2013, said its healthy for a faction to be something of a pain in the neck to chambers leadership. In the 1990s when Democrats controlled the House, Republicans who wanted influence had to form an alliance with the party in power.

Chisum, an outspoken opponent of same-sex relationships, abortion and hate crimes legislation, formed the Conservative Coalition to push for legislation that Democrats and House Republicans in the leadership circle had pushed to the backburner.

We used the House rules to gain influence to push our issues and our principles, said Chisum, almost echoing the tactics pursued by the Freedom Caucus. Theres nothing wrong with that.

Once the Republicans gain control of the House in 2003, Chisum found himself moving from the back bench to the leadership.

Schaefer, whose political life started as a grassroots organizer for former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, said history often repeats itself.

When youre right on policy, he said, the politics will work itself out.

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Arch-conservative Freedom Caucus pushing to gain clout - ReporterNews.com

CAIRO Pope Francis opened a two-day visit to Egypt on Friday with a forceful denunciation of religiously inspired violence and a call for religious freedom, three weeks after Islamic State terrorists killed more than 40 people in bombings at two of the countrys Christian churches.

Also see: Pope Francis preaches message of faith and forgiveness during Mass with Egypts Coptic Christians

The pope used the first speech of the trip to issue one of his most extended condemnations yet of Islamist violence. His remarks, addressed to an audience that included the leader of the most authoritative institution in the Sunni Muslim world, were at once a defense of the Middle Easts besieged Christian population and a challenge to Muslims to repudiate religious justifications for violence.

Peace alone is holy, and no act of violence can be perpetrated in the name of religion or in the name of God, the pope told an international peace conference at Al-Azhar University. Together let us affirm the incompatibility of violence and faith, belief and hatred.

The pontiff balanced the speech with a strong warning against anti-Muslim sentiment in the developed world, suggesting it would only encourage terrorism.

An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com.

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Pope calls for religious freedom and condemns use of religion to justify violence during visit to Egypt - MarketWatch

Future tech could jeopardise 'freedom of mind': experts The Hindu Future 'mind reading' technology could allow hackers to steal or even delete data from our brains, unless new human rights laws are prepared to protect against exploitation and loss of privacy, researchers have warned. New advances in neurotechnology ... and more »

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Future tech could jeopardise 'freedom of mind': experts - The Hindu

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said the Trump administration has "looked at" changes to libel laws that would curtail press freedoms, but said "whether that goes anywhere is a different story."

President Trump frequently slams the press for its coverage of him and in March suggested changing libel laws.

Libel is when defamatory statements about someone are published. But the American press enjoys some protection from lawsuits claiming libel because of the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech rights.

When Priebus was asked by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl if the president would really want to pursue a change in libel laws, the White House chief of staff said its been considered.

"I think it's something that we've looked at," Priebus told Karl in an exclusive interview on "This Week" Sunday. "How that gets executed or whether that goes anywhere is a different story."

Priebus said the media needs "to be more responsible with how they report the news."

He also addressed another First Amendment issue on flag burning. Priebus hinted that the Trump administration may look at punishing flag burners, as Trump suggested in a tweet during the transition.

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White House official says 'we've looked at' changes to libel laws that would restrict press freedom - ABC News