Monthly Archives: June 2017

USA Today Network Kaila White, The Arizona Republic Published 7:33 p.m. ET June 1, 2017 | Updated 3 hours ago

Congress passed the Real ID Act in 2005. The law sets new validity requirements for state driver's licenses. Video provided by Newsy Newslook

Sean Corbett of Chandler took his official driver's license photo wearing a spaghetti strainer on his head.(Photo: Sean Corbett/Special for azcentral.com)

PHOENIX After years of trying and getting turned away, an Arizona man has finally received his officialstate driver's license bearing a photo of him wearing a spaghetti strainer on his head.

He appears to be the first Arizonan to successfully do so, though his victory is brief: State officials say they will void the license.

And while some may say it's a joke, he says it's an act of religious freedom.

Sean Corbett of Chandler has long believed in respecting and never judging others. Then, three years ago, he stumbled across the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, also known as Pastafarianism.

The church promotes a lighthearted view of religion. It was created in 2005 to criticize schools teaching intelligent design alongside evolution but has become a social movement for freedom of religion and expression.

Read more:

Trump's religious freedom order doesn't change law on political activity

Muhammad Alis son, ex-wife launch religious freedom campaign against Trump

"Some may view the religion as a satirical version of standard religion," Corbett said. "I think it really drives in the point that if youre going to include one, you have to include all. You have to respect everybodys beliefs if youre going to respect one."

Corbett, 36, said he first tried to take a license photo wearing a colander in 2014.

"I tried a couple different locations and was met with a lot of pushback and resistance, he said. I was scorned at every location I went to, and they put out a memo about me, so by the time I got to (the) fourth and fifth MVD, they stopped me at the door.

Sean Corbett after he was first denied taking his driver's license photo wearing a colander in 2014.(Photo: Sean Corbett/Special for The Republic)

"They got angry at me and treated me with such disrespect."

He recently tried again and, after talking with the location's manager, was able to take the photo. He received his official ID in the mailTuesday.

"I was really excited," Corbett said. "I felt, in that moment, that I won my battle. It was a huge victory for me."

"Initially it may have started off as, 'Hey, wouldnt it be cool if I could get a spaghetti strainer in my picture? That would be boss,' but if you look at whats going on in the world today, people being persecuted for religious beliefs, maybe its time to take a step back and say, 'You know what? You shouldnt be persecuted for your religion.' "

A spokesman for the Arizona Department of Transportation, which oversees the Motor Vehicle Division, released a statement on the matter.

"MVD license and ID photos are meant to show a persons typical daily appearance and allow for religious expression or medical needs. Photos are filtered through facial recognition technology and if an error occurs, the photo can be recalled," the statement said.

Spokesman Doug Nick later added that "we will go through the process to pull this credential."

"I'm going to fight it," Corbett said. "They have no valid reason to void it."

Corbett said he hopes he can help pave the way for people of other religions to wear what they want in their license photos a hijab or a turban, for example without the same resistance he faced.

"Its a terrible feeling. Its nothing anybody should have to experience," Corbett said. "They shouldnt be bullied because their beliefs are different from other people.

"For the government to step in and say, 'You have the right to religious freedom but we're not going to allow you to recognize this religion' is just preposterous."

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Arizona man wears colander in driver's license photo in name of religious freedom - USA TODAY

In a sane version of the United States, legislation allowing religious groups the freedom to opt out of laws that would require them to violate their beliefs would be a mostly non-controversial story.

But this is 2017, and propagandists infect both sides of every debate.

A Trump administration regulation currently under consideration would protect religious groups from having to participate in the Department of Health and Human Services mandate requiring that they cover services like the morning-after pill.

"[T]he new rule would leave in place the religious accommodation' created by the Obama administration, making that route available to groups that choose to continue using it," the pro-religious liberty group, the Becket Fund, explained this week, referring to the leaked proposal.

They added, "The new rule also makes it clear that insurers may issue separate policies to women whose employers are exempt from the mandate. The contraceptive mandate issue has been to the Supreme Court five times, and each time the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of broader protections for religious groups."

The Becket Fund has defended the Little Sisters of the Poor in their ongoing quest to be exempt from the HHS mandate.

"This rule, if made official in this form, is consistent with those Supreme Court rulings. If the rule goes into effect, further legal action will still be necessary to wrap up the challenges to the prior version of the mandate," said the Becket Fund.

Seems reasonable.

Let's head over now to Vox.comland and see how they handled the leaked rule story.

The original Vox.com headline in the matter read, "Trump's birth control crackdown is coming."

Oh, come on.

"Any day now, President Trump is expected to roll back Obamacare's contraceptive mandate," reporter Dylan Scott wrote this week for his healthcare newsletter. "The Trump administration had a few options for undercutting the health care law's requirement that all health plans cover contraceptives at no cost to the woman."

He continued, "It appears they'll take the religious freedom' route, making it easier for employers with religious objections to skirt the mandate."

Nice scare quotes.

You know, next time you hear national reporters kvetch about the Trump administration admitting right-wing flunkies to daily press briefings, remember that the Vox.com propagandists were a constant presence at the Obama White House.

Same trash, different teams.

Follow this link:

Shockingly, Vox.com is misleading people about Trump, religious freedom, and the contraceptive mandate - Washington Examiner

One recent Saturday morning Katie Kowalski was helping get people with disabilities back on bicycles. She had her hands midway up my right calf, working it into a black attachment that was half-bike, half-ankle foot orthotic. She tightened a gear with a blue-headed wrench, then secured velcro straps and double-checked my helmet. With her nod of approval, I hit the pedals hard and headed onto a path at Edgewood Park.

Low-hanging trees and frizz-topped grasses bent in the wind to say hello. A couple walking their dog pulled over to the side of the road, long enough for me to notice that they werent keeping leash laws. My cycling partner, bike advocate Paul Hammer, regaled me with the history of invasive species in the park. As we cruised toward the parks small lake, a gust of cool air pressed up against my face, delivering a burst of early summer smells. Everything felt green.

It was a normal bike ride, except the bike was a recumbent, and my feet were in all sorts of toe clips, and I was riding a bike for the first time in almost 20 years. In under 10 minutes, it reminded me why biking is magical and yet still an uphill pedal in this city, especially if you have any sort of barrier to moving.

In collaboration with Northeast Passage, Bike-On, Ti Trikes-CT Adaptive Cycling, and New Haven Parks, Gaylord Hospitals sports association moved its annual adaptive bike clinic to New Haven this year as part of New Haven Bike Month, Mays month-long cycling extravaganza. When I found out Gaylord was holding the clinic here instead of its Wallingford facility, I had that finger-tingling, cheek-warming, muscle-flexing good feeling. I had wanted to get back on a bike for years, and this finally seemed like the way to do it.

I havent always needed an adaptive bike. Until I was 8, I had the idyllic, easy relationship with cycling that you see on Modern Family or The Middle. My dad taught me to ride by running alongside me, holding the kid-sized handlebars, on a tree-lined block and then letting go of the bike, letting it roll down the sidewalk until I learned to brake at the end of the street. Then in September 1998, I was in a car accident on my way home from elementary school. Our babysitter had a stroke and drifted one lane over. The backseat became detached and flipped over with me and my brother in it. When I woke up, there was a ventilator down my throat and I couldnt move the right side of my body.

I understood, still, that I was coming to Gaylords bike clinic with a level of privilege. I wasnt just young, when the brain is most plastic, when the accident happened. I was young and white, in a city where the hospital has a strong pediatric intensive care unit. The car crashed in an affluent suburb where the EMT workers were there in minutes. My parents had health insurance through their employers. I had a team of physical therapists, orthoticists, and neurologists that was willing to follow me through college. My right ankle was, and continues to be, more putty than muscle but I relearned to walk, and can do so without complaint on six of seven days in any week. Standing on two feet is an extraordinary luxury that we dont think about until were made to.

Michael Mancini was in the passenger side of a car with which a drunk driver collided 10 years ago, leaving him in a wheelchair. A hockey player before his accident, he was checking out the adaptive selections that Gaylord offers, including wheelchair tennis and hockey. But he hesitated to talk about the accident. It was so long ago, he said when I first asked. Time kind of flies when youre keeping busy. The sentence hit me like a ton of bricks.

There were also participants like Pam Rickert, who suffered a stroke over seven years ago and was getting back on a bike while awaiting a stem cell trial in Boston next month. As she described the spasticity she gets in her arms and hands, I showed her my right hand, the fingers curled into the palm like a small shell. I had taken my anti-spasticity meds that morning too, I joked. They werent helping all that much.

There was a horrible kinship there: we were a bunch of Harry Potters, sitting in a circle talking about how we defied the odds and earned our weirdly shaped scars. We were a group whose members had forgotten, almost everyone remarked, what it felt like to be on a bike, city streets opening up before us.

Until the bike clinic. As participants arrived a little past 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, Gaylord Sports Program Manager Katie Joly and representatives from Bike Month and adaptive cycling institutions unloaded dozens of adaptive bikes from three large trailers, setting them on the flat parking lot beside Coogan Pavillon. Some recumbents laid far back, a move designed for people who need to lean back as they pedal. Others focused on hand pedals, which direct bikes with upper body power. In a corner of the lot, volunteers unpacked a cabinet of orthotic curiosities: wide, walled-in pedals for added foot support, four or five kinds of toe clips and foot ties.

As I surveyed rows of recumbent tricycles that Gaylord, Northeast Passage, Bike On, and Ti Trikes-CT Adaptive Cycling had rolled out for the event, Stone was already testing out models that fit his lifestyle, which includes weekly games of wheelchair rugby with the Connecticut Jammers. (It is the only Paralympic sport that allows full contact; watching the documentary Murderball in the hospital had initially inspired Stone to take up the sport). Transitioning from a heavy, low-sitting recumbent with partial hand control to an off-road, thick-tired hand cycle, Stone let escape a few woo hoos.

Then I was off, riding toward one of the parks little lakes with Hammer by my side. Ill fish you out if you go into the river, he said as I tried (unsuccessfully) to pull up the Independents live Facebook feature, pedal forward, steer and take notes. Only after my phone was perched between my teeth did I realize it probably wasnt going to work.

Bikes dont just open up public spaces they feel urgent, and necessary, and yet maddeningly out of reach. As a carless reporter, I rely on my feet and the public bus to get me to assignments on time. Biking is only faster than one of those. But it comes, it seems, with an added side of freedom.

One of our missions is to get more people out riding, and that means everybody said Hammer of the Bike Month effort. Hammer has himself suffered a traumatic brain injury. There are still so many barriers to riding, and we want to find ways around those barriers.

If youre able to afford and store an adaptive bike they generally go for between $3,000 and $4,000 where are you supposed to ride it? Theres the states sleek new five-mile cycle track, a possible spot for recreational riding that is greatexcept when youre a reporter trying to get somewhere.

The Gaylord Sports Association offers a free monthly adaptive cycle ride on the Farmington Canal Rail Trail, starting at Lock 12 of the trail in Cheshire. Thats great, if you can get to Cheshire. Of the participants I talked to at the clinic, very few had driven themselves. Because adaptive driving, too, is a world full of red tape, expensive equipment and time-consuming lessons.

Between Jan. 1, 2016 and Jan. 1 of this year, there were 7,821 auto accidents in New Haven, according to the University of Connecticuts Crash Data Repository. These accidents involved 15,531 vehicles and 20,075 people, with 43 fatalities and 353 suspected serious injuries. Of those, 34 involved collisions with cyclists. Two have been close friends of mine. It makes you think twice.

The data in the repository havent been vetted or cleaned, said city transit chief Doug Hausladen in an email exchange about auto-bike collisions, though they do provide a glimpse into traffic conditions for cyclists. And there are other ways to have a bike accident: a pothole your tires arent ready for, sharply sloping curve, problem braking.

So these streets? Itll still be a while. Maybe someday, Ill see you there.

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Many A Mile To Freedom - New Haven Independent

New York Times

At the Movies, the Beach Is the Ultimate Freedom. And in Life? New York Times It's summer, even if it doesn't feel like it yet in New York. To get ourselves in the warm-weather spirit, we went to see Baywatch, the new big-screen reboot of the 1990s TV series, starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron as crime-solving lifeguards.

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At the Movies, the Beach Is the Ultimate Freedom. And in Life? - New York Times

"Since I arrived in South Sudan, January 2016, there has been a change in media censorship. Earlier, journalists were tortured and media houses physically closed, but now there is more self-censorship. The press are being threated. Journalists and media owners are being told to watch what they publish or broadcast," Ndinoshiho says.

According to the International Federation of Journalists, South Sudanese journalists are frequently harassed, intimidated, beaten or abducted, and sometimes killed. The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks South Sudan as the fifth worst country in the world when it comes to holding the killers of journalists accountable for their crimes.

"The country is not safe, so journalists are not safe", says Ndinoshiho.

For the past year, Mwatile Ndinoshiho has been deployed to UNESCO in South Sudan, as a Communication and Information Specialist. Much of her work is concentrated around the UN Plan of Action on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity.

South Sudan has legal protection for the freedom of expression and the media, and the constitution guarantees media freedom. However, defamation is seen as a criminal offense and within the legal framework there are limits to press freedom and freedom of expression.

Although restrictions decreased after the establishment of the South Sudan Media Authority in September 2016, there is still some control of media activity, both for national and international journalists.

The country's economy is failing, and combined with the current conflict and dire humanitarian conditions, the government is not be able to fund the Media Authority or other similar institutions that help the public access information, participate in governance and demand accountability.

"Citizens, including journalists, need to understand that they have a right to information and how they can apply it. There is also a need for media donors and development partners to support institutions such as the Media Authority that deal with complaints, hearings and other media-related incidents, "Ndinoshiho says.

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Press freedom in a conflict-ridden country - Norwegian Refugee Council

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Xinjiang is home to most of the nations Muslim Uighur minority and borders both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Authorities in Beijing have expressed concern that Muslim separatist groups in the region are feeding the population of Islamic State jihadists in the groups Middle Eastern strongholds in Syria and Iraq.The Islamic State recently released a videofeaturing Uighur terrorists who vowed to return home to conduct terrorist attacks there.

Chinas state-run, English-language media ran the full report from the State Council Information Office on Thursday, which applauds the Chinese government for taking effective measures to develop the economy, improve peoples living standards, enhance the well-being of the public, promote ethnic unity and progress, and safeguard the basic rights of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang.

Normal religious needs of local people have been satisfied, ChinasGlobal Times asserts, citing the report. The text of the report asserts that the people of all Xinjiangs ethnic groups enjoy the same status and the same rights, and must fulfill the same obligations in accordance with the law. Their political rights as citizens are fully protected.

The five-part report spends much of its energy on environmental rights, health care, and economic equality. On health care, for example, the report condemns the free government preceding the communist Peoples Republic of China, claiming Xinjiangs population suffered a shortage of doctors and medicines, and epidemics of diseases, such as the plague, smallpox, and cholera.

It then goes on to claim that the Chinese government has successfully curbed radical Islamic terror in Xinjiang:

Since the 1990s, violent terrorists, nationalist separatists, and religious extremists have plotted and committed a series of violent terrorist crimes, causing loss of life to and damaging the property of people of all ethnic groups

The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has taken a series of measures designed to strike against violent terrorist crimes, strengthen social protection and control, modernize the governance system and capacity, and safeguard the lives and property of all the people of Xinjiang, whatever their ethnic group. These measures include the promulgation and implementation of the Measures of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Enforcement of the Anti-Terrorism Law of the Peoples Republic of China.

The report then asserts that China has protected freedom of religion in Xinjiang by expanding the governments power to control religious practices by implementing Regulations on Anti-extremism of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and working to strengthen management of religious affairs in accordance with the law.

The claims in the report echo those of a similar publication released almost exactly one year ago, titled Freedom of Religious Belief in Xinjiang, which asserted that Normal religious activities in Xinjiang are protected by law, and religious organizations are responsible for coordinating internal religious affairs and the government should not interfere. This year, the Chinese government white paper did not claim that the government had minimized its interference in religion, insteadclaiming its interference aided the normal practice of religion.

The new report also emphasizes the governments push to replace the Uighur language with Putonghua, or common tongue (Mandarin). The Constitution stipulates that the state promotes the nationwide use of Putonghua in accordance with the law, the report notesbut asserts that the common use of Uighur in public is a sign the government protects the Uighur language. In reality, the Chinese government announced a nationwide campaign to eradicate non-Mandarin languages in January, which corresponded with the development of a plan to promote intermarriage between Uighurs and the Han minority and the imposition of a variety of ordinances that prohibit overly Islamic activity in public.

Among the activities prohibited in public in Xinjiang is the wearing of burqas in the capital city ofUrumqi, theuse of public transportation while wearing any Islamic garb,and the observance of the Ramadan fast by Communist Party officials.If we think that someone may be fasting, we will invite them to the village office to drink tea with us to see if they are fasting or not, Alim Abdurahman, a Xinjiang official, toldRadio Free Asialast year.

The Chinese government also forces Muslim shops to carrya variety of alcohol and cigarettebrands to encourage the violation of Quranic laws against the consumption of these products.

Beijing has also banned Muslim parents in Xinjiang from giving their children overly religious names like Islam, Jihad, or Muhammad.

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China Observes Ramadan by Praising Itself for 'Religious Freedom' in Muslim Xinjiang - Breitbart News

Star Parker 11:17 a.m. CT June 1, 2017

Star Parker(Photo: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO FROM CREATORS)

Intolerance, at times exploding into violence, is spreading throughout our society. And its coming from the political Left.

Its happening on college campuses. Most recently, students walked out on Vice President Mike Pences commencement address at Notre Dame University.

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was interrupted by boos and jeers at her commencement address at historically black Bethune-Cookman University.

Conservative scholar Charles Murray was met with violent protests at Middlebury College. Another conservative scholar, Heather Mac Donald, was violently shut down in a presentation she was giving at Claremont McKenna College. These are just a couple examples.

Notre Dame graduates walk out of Notre Dame Stadium in protest as Vice President Mike Pence speaks during the 2017 commencement ceremony, Sunday, May 21, 2017, in South Bend, Ind. (Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP) ORG XMIT: INSBE703(Photo: Robert Franklin, AP)

Now its spreading off college campuses with reports of violence and threats toward Republican members of Congress, and their families, as they hold town halls in their districts.

A column in The Hill newspaper bears the headline, Republicans fearing for their safety as anger, threats mount.

Whats happening?

A recent commentary in Forbes Magazine from a London School of Business professor calls this The Post-Truth World.

He describes a prevailing feeling of helplessness as individuals inhabit a world in which knowledge is, in general, exploding but each individual knows, relatively, less and less. And he points to a world in which business and politics are becoming increasingly interdependent.

New York University psychologist Jonathan Haidt attributes whats happening to a culture in which young people are not forced to deal with opposing viewpoints. This, says Haidt, is amplified by social media, which serves to reinforce existing biases.

But all this doesnt explain why the intolerance and violence is coming mainly from the political Left.

A new survey from the Pew Research Center sheds light on this.

Sixty-six percent of Republicans compared to 29 percent of Democrats say that a person is rich because they worked harder than most people rather than because of having personal advantages in life. This 37 percent difference in attitudes of Republicans and Democrats about why some people are rich is 12 points larger today than where it stood just three years ago in 2014.

Seventy-one percent of Democrats compared to 32 percent of Republicans say someone is poor because of circumstances beyond a persons control, rather than because of lack of effort. This 37 percent difference between Republicans and Democrats in attitudes regarding why someone is poor is 19 points larger than where it stood three years ago in 2014.

The nation is becoming increasingly polarized on the very fundamental question regarding the extent to which individuals have control over their own life.

Across the nations whole population, 53 percent feel poverty is the result of circumstances beyond an individuals control compared to 34 percent who see poverty as the result of lack of effort.

What is the meaning of freedom in a country where more than half its citizens feel fate rather than choice governs their life?

Not surprisingly, for the first time in 8 years, according to Pew, more Americans (48 percent) say they want bigger government than say they want smaller government (45 percent).

Conservatives are exposed to the same cultural and technological forces as liberals. But its not what comes from outside that determines human behavior. Its what comes from inside the individuals attitudes and approach to life.

Liberal mentality, increasingly dominated by moral relativism, produces a culture of victimhood. The victim sees life exclusively in political terms, seeing political power and government as the means to a better life, rather than freedom and personal responsibility.

With Republicans now in power, trying to restore economic vitality and fiscal balance by limiting government and expanding personal freedom, the Left sees this as a threat, not an opportunity.

We all should be deeply troubled that, in the land of the free and home of the brave, some are turning to violence to battle the prospect of becoming freer.

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Liberal fight against freedom turns violent - The Daily Advertiser