Daily Archives: July 18, 2017

Auditor-General won’t investigate Thiel citizenship – Otago Daily Times

Posted: July 18, 2017 at 4:03 am

The Auditor-General will not be conducting an inquiry into the decision to grant citizenship to San Francisco-based billionaire investor Peter Thiel, said deputy controller and Auditor-General Greg Schollum in response to a request from Green Party MP Denise Roche.

Ms Roche called on the Auditor-General to look into the decision after it came to light that in June 2011 then Minister of Internal Affairs Nathan Guy, approved Mr Thiel's application for citizenship under the "exceptional circumstances" provisions of the Citizenship Act.

According to Mr Schollum, the provisions allow the minister to grant citizenship to someone who may not satisfy the normal criteria for citizenship, but where granting citizenship "would be in the public interest because of exceptional circumstances of a humanitarian or other nature relating to the applicant".

He noted act gives the minister "broad discretion" and the section does not specify what these terms mean or how the minister's discretion should be exercised. "This means the legislation allows for considerable flexibility on a case-by-case basis," he said.

He said the issues largely come down to policy questions - for example, whether the legislation strikes the right balance for citizen decisions - or legal questions such as whether the provisions were applied correctly. "These are not questions that the Auditor-General generally has authority to answer," Mr Schollum said.

Mr Thiel is a member of US President Donald Trump's transition team, having donated to his campaign, and is a long-time libertarian who has in the past invested in the exploration of seasteading, the development of a floating city in international waters which could serve as a politically autonomous settlement.

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Natural therapy tackles stress and energetic blockages – Henley Standard

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KINESIOLOGY is a natural healing therapy that uses muscle testing to identify imbalances in the bodys structural, emotional and chemical energy and establish its healing priorities.

The most comprehensive of the modern natural therapies, an ICPKP kinesiology session is tailored to addressing your emotional/physical stress and energetic blockages, assisting you and your body to heal these through a range of manual and non-manual therapeutic techniques.

These stresses can include:

l chronic physical and emotional pain

l relationship and work stress

l food intolerances and digestive disorders

l learning difficulties

l mental illness and nervous disorders

l lack of motivation and inability to change old habits

l poor performance levels

Having trained under leading kinesiologist and master healer Edmund Faust in Australia, Lenore Smith works with a wide range of clients from babies, children, mothers and families to professional sports people, business professionals and retirees in her practices in Melbourne and Darwin.

She truly believes every person deserves the optimal physical and emotional balance and personal empowerment kinesiology can provide.

Joining the team at Back in Line, Lenore is delighted to bring the health and wellness benefits of kinesiology to the Henley community.

For more information and to book a session, call 07565 426066 or visit http://www.thebasic elementskinesiology.com.au

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Russia: Assault on Freedom of Expression – Human Rights Watch

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(Moscow) Russia has introduced significant restrictions to online speech and invasive surveillance of online activity and prosecutes critics under the guise of fighting extremism, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 83-page report, Online and On All Fronts: Russias Assault on Freedom of Expression, documents Russian authorities stepped-up measures aimed at bringing the internet under greater state control. Since 2012, Russian authorities have unjustifiably prosecuted dozens of people for criminal offenses on the basis of social media posts, online videos, media articles, and interviews, and shut down or blocked access to hundreds of websites and web pages. Russian authorities have also pushed through parliament a raft of repressive laws regulating internet content and infrastructure. These laws provide the Russian government with a broad range of tools to restrict access to information, carry out unchecked surveillance, and censor information the government designates as extremist, out of line with traditional values, or otherwise harmful to the public.

Russias authorities are leading an assault on free expression, said Yulia Gorbunova, Russia researcher at Human Rights Watch. These laws arent just about introducing tough policies, but also about blatant violation of human rights.

Russiahas introduced significant restrictions to online speech and invasive surveillance of online activity and prosecutes critics under the guise of fighting extremism.

Russia should repeal the repressive legislation adopted in recent years, stop prosecuting critics under the guise of fighting extremism, and uphold its international obligations to safeguard free expression, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 50 lawyers, journalists, editors, political and human rights activists, experts, and bloggers and their family members, and analyzed laws and government regulations pertaining to internet content and freedom of expression, as well as indictments, court rulings, and other documents relevant to specific cases.

Some of the restrictive laws appear designed to shrink the space, including online, for public debate, especially on issues the authorities view as divisive or sensitive, such as the armed conflict in Ukraine, Russias role in the war in Syria, the rights of LGBT people, and public protests or other political and civic activism.

Curbing free speech serves to shut down public debate and denies a voice to anyone dissatisfied with the ongoing economic crisis or simply critical of Russias foreign policy, Human Rights Watch said.

We have dozens of cases where people were literally sent to jail, Andrei Soldatov, an investigative journalist and expert on internet freedom in Russia, told Human Rights Watch. That of course has its effect on the level and freedom for political and public debate in social media.

Other laws aim to undermine the privacy and security of internet users by regulating data storage, unjustifiably restricting users access to information, and ensuring that a wealth of data, including confidential user information and the content of communications, could be made available to authorities, often without any judicial oversight.

In 2016, parliament passed a set of counterterrorism amendments requiring telecommunications and internet companies to retain the contents of all communications for six months and the metadata for three years. The law makes it easier for the authorities to identify users and access personal information without judicial oversight, unjustifiably interfering with privacy and freedom of expression. A 2015 law that applies to email services, social media networks, and search engines prohibits storage of Russian citizens personal data on servers located outside Russia. A 2017 draft law aims to prohibit anonymity for users of online messaging applications, such as WhatsApp or Telegram.

The Russian government effectively controls most traditional media, but independent internet users have been openly challenging the governments actions, said Gorbunova. The authorities clearly view independent online users as a threat that needs to be disarmed.

Russian authorities have increasingly used vague and overly broad anti-extremism laws against people who express critical views of the government and, in some cases, have conflated criticism of the government with extremism. Laws adopted since 2012 in the name of countering extremism have served to increase the number of prosecutions for extremist offenses, especially online.

Based on the data provided by the SOVA Center, a prominent Russian think tank, the number of social media users convicted of extremism offenses in 2015 was 216, in comparison with 30 in 2010. Between 2014 and 2016, approximately 85 percent of convictions for extremist expression dealt with online expression, with punishments ranging from fines or community service to prison time. In the period between September 2015 and February 2017, the number of people who went to jail for extremist speech spiked from 54 to 94.

In the three years of Russias occupation of Crimea, authorities have silenced dissent on the peninsula. They have aggressively targeted critics through harassment, intimidation, and, in some cases, trumped-up extremism charges, including prosecution for separatist calls. Human Rights Watch found that most prosecutions of Crimean Tatar activists, their lawyers, and others were for peacefully criticizing the occupation.

Freedom of expression is one of the essential foundations of a democratic society and it extends not only to information and ideas that are received favorably but also to those that offend, shock, or disturb. The Russian government should respect and uphold the right of people in Russia to freely receive and disseminate all types of information protected under international human rights law, Human Rights Watch said.

Russias international partners should raise concerns at the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the Council of Europe about Moscows curbs on free expression, as well as in bilateral conversations with the Russian government.

Major internet companies operating in Russia, such as Twitter, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and VK should carefully assess Russias government demands to censor content or share user data and refrain from complying where the underlying law or specific request are inconsistent with international human rights standards. They should not put people at risk, Human Rights Watch said.

The Russian government has been casting criticism of it as extremist, instilling fear and encouraging self-censorship, Gorbunova said. Today people in Russia are increasingly unsure about the boundaries of acceptable speech.

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Liu Xiaobo: A Voice of Freedom – Cato Institute (blog)

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The death of Liu Xiaobo from liver cancer on July 13, under guard at a hospital in Shenyang, marks the passing of a great defender of freedoma man who was willing to speak truth to power. As the lead signatory to Charter 08, which called for the rule of law and constitutional government, Liu was sentenced to 11 years in prison for inciting the subversion of state power. Before his sentencing in 2009, Liu stood before the court and declared, To block freedom of speech is to trample on human rights, to strangle humanity, and to suppress the truth. With proper treatment and freedom, Liu would have lived on to voice his support for a free society.

While Lius advocacy of limited government, democracy, and a free market for ideas won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, Chinas leadership viewed him as a criminal and refused to allow him to travel to Oslo to receive the award. Instead, the prize was placed on an empty chair at the ceremony, a lasting symbol of Lius courage in the face of state suppression. Beijing also prevented liberal Mao Yushi, cofounder of the Unirule Institute, from attending the ceremony to honor Liu.

IdealMentre

The mistreatment of Liu, and other human rights proponents, is a stark reminder that while the Middle Kingdom has made significant progress in liberalizing its economy, it has yet to liberate the minds of the Chinese people or its own political institutions.

The tension between freedom and state power threatens Chinas future. As former premier Wen Jiabao warned in a speech in August 2010, Without the safeguard of political reform, the fruits of economic reform would be lost. Later, in an interview with CNN in October, he held that freedom of speech is indispensable for any country.

Article 33, Section 3, of the PRCs Constitution holds that the State respects and protects human rights. Such language, added by the National Peoples Congress in 2004, encouraged liberals to test the waters, only to find that the reality did not match the rhetoric.

The Chinese Communist Party pays lip service to a free market in ideas, noting: There can never be an end to the need for the emancipation of individual thought (China Daily, November 16, 2013). However, Party doctrine strictly regulates that market. Consequently, under market socialism with Chinese characteristics, there is bound to be an ever-present tension between the individual and the state.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal (September 22, 2015), President Xi argued that freedom is the purpose of order, and order the guarantee of freedom. The real meaning of that statement is that Chinas ruling elite will not tolerate dissent: individuals will be free to communicate ideas, but only those consistent with the states current interpretation of socialist principles.

This socialist vision contrasts sharply with that of market liberalism, which holds that freedom is not the purpose of order; it is the essential means to an emergent or spontaneous order. In the terms of traditional Chinese Taoism, freedom is the source of order. Simply put, voluntary exchange based on the principle of freedom or nonintervention, which Lao Tzu called wu wei, expands the range of choices open to individuals.

Denying Chinas 1.4 billion people a free market in ideas has led to one of the lowest rankings in the World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters without Borders. In the 2016 report, China ranked 176 out of 180 countries, only a few notches above North Koreaand the situation appears to be getting worse. Under President Xi Jinpings consolidation of power in preparation for this years Party Congress, the websites of liberal think tanks, such as the Unirule Institute, have been shut down, and virtual private networks (VPNs) are being closed, preventing internet users from circumventing the Great Firewall.

Lius death is a tragic reminder that China is still an authoritarian regime whose leaders seek to hold onto power at the cost of the lives of those like Liu who seek only peace and harmony through limiting the power of government and safeguarding individual rights.

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John McClaughry: Freedom and community revisited – vtdigger.org

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Editors note: This commentary is by John McClaughry, who is vice president of the Ethan Allen Institute http://www.ethanallen.org.

Last years debate on school centralization and this years battle over growth control have brought to center stage the question: What kind of future can we expect for Vermont? Two very different pictures have emerged. One is Vermont as Land of Freedom. The other is Vermont as Land of Community. These twin themes, freedom and community, have swirled back and forth throughout Vermont history, and indeed, through American history.

The Land of Freedom is the land of individual rights. It is the land of private property ownership, a competitive economic system, and the opportunity to grow and become. In the Land of Freedom, independent citizens, their property and their rights secured by a limited government, will be happy, productive, and compassionate toward the less fortunate. They will come together, not as subjects, but as free and independent citizens, to meet great crises and govern themselves.

The Land of Community is the land of working together, of shared values, of cooperation. It is the land of we, as in We dont want Vermont to turn into New Jersey. In the Land of Community citizens are expected to yield to the will of the majority rather than pursue their personal interests and private rights.

The Land of Freedom can be any scale, but the Land of Community has definite limits. For some purposes all of Vermont is a community. We were a community when as one we spoke out for halting the spread of slavery and sent our soldiers to save the Union. We were a community with all Americans when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

The freedom advocates are today on the defensive, as the centralizers and standardizers and controllers have the upper hand in our state government.

But in most things we do, Vermont is not a true statewide community, a fact long recognized in the old Mountain Rule, which alternated the governorship between the east and west sides of the Green Mountains. Bennington and Newport have very little in common, in any practical sense. The real battle for the soul of Vermont is over the extent to which the people in control of state government will force their idea of community on people who rarely have much in common.

The backers of the Land of Community idea seem always eager to homogenize our society. They want to equalize, standardize, and unify what they conceive to be the various diverse parts of a statewide community. In doing so they give short shrift to the advocates of freedom, for they see freedom and individual rights as bothersome obstructions to their goal of creating a Land of Community in all things, regulated and enforced by the central power in Montpelier.

It is the Land of Community people who think up school regionalization schemes, so that all communities will be efficiently managed from Montpelier to produce the same thing for all of our children. It is the Land of Community people who want growth managed from the center, for the benefit of everybody. It is the Land of Community people who deplore the private ownership of property, for they are convinced that with freedom and property, individuals will undermine their vision of the common good.

To the Land of Freedom people, individual liberty comes first. They believe that only independent men and women can govern themselves in a republic, and they believe that centralized control over the things that are locally different signals the beginning of a tyranny which aims to strip them of their rights. Thus they want to keep control of their childrens schools, and they oppose every attempt to strip them of their rights in land and, for that matter, their right to own guns.

The freedom advocates are today on the defensive, as the centralizers and standardizers and controllers have the upper hand in our state government. But the time may come when the pendulum swings back and I for one hope it does.

My signoff for that 1988 commentary was: This will be my last broadcast with you, for today I am becoming a candidate for the state Senate. Ive enjoyed doing these shows, and I hope you have enjoyed listening or if you have hated every minute of them, I hope Ive at least made you think.

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Freedom Caucus won’t support House budget resolution – The Hill

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The conservative House Freedom Caucus is unwilling to vote for the House budget resolution thats scheduled to be considered in committeeon Wednesday, a source told The Hill on Monday.

They dont want to vote for a vehicle to a tax package theyve not seen, the GOP source with knowledge of the conservative blocs thinking said.

Additionally, they have issues with the budget levels and would support something closer in line to the presidents budget, the source added.

The source added that Freedom Caucus has yet to issue a formal position for or against the budget, but notedthatspending and tax reform details are the primary concerns. An official position could be released later in the week.

Those cuts would come primarily from anti-poverty programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families welfare support, in part through introducing more work requirements to qualify for such aid.

The 31-member-strong caucus could sink a budget resolution on the House floor. With 218 votes needed to pass the resolution, the 240-member Republican caucus cannot afford to lose more than 22 votes. No Democrats are expected to vote for the resolution.

The Freedom Caucusis looking for a resolution to move forward, the source said.

Freedom Caucus member Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), who sits on the Budget Committee, told The Hill he's currently undecided on the GOP budget, predicting the vote will be close.

"In light of the healthcare cluster in the Senate," Brat said, "I need to see our tax plan [without] [the border-adjustment tax] as well as the welfare to work language in the budget instructions before I can vote yes."

Three Freedom Caucusmembers are on the Budget Committee, which would be able to pass the resolution out of committee without their support.

But the centristTuesdayGroup may also oppose the measure when it reaches the floor.

At the end of June, 20TuesdayGroup members signed a letter objecting to using the budget resolution to carry out large mandatory spending cuts, and demanding a bipartisan approach to the budget.

Absent such a bipartisan, bicameral agreement, we are reticent to support any budget resolution on the House floor, the letter said.

If the group were to sway just three more House Republicans to oppose the budget resolution, it could prevent the measure from moving forward.

Budget Committee Chairwoman Diane BlackDiane BlackConservative caucus withholding support from Republican budget Overnight Finance: Poll finds declining faith in Trump on economy | House panel to mark up budget | Freedom Caucus not on board | Trade officials outline NAFTA priorities Freedom Caucus won't support House budget resolution MORE (R-Tenn.) and House Speaker Paul RyanPaul RyanConservative caucus withholding support from Republican budget Steel industry urges House panel to adopt 'Buy America' rules GOP chairman gets hundreds of thousands of comments on tax reform MORE (R-Wis.) had been working to ensure that the budget offered in committee would be able to pass on the floor.

If they fail, however, they could still pass a shell budget resolution before striking a spending deal with Democrats that would serve only to pave the way forward for tax reform. The bill would include instructions that would allow tax code changesto pass through reconciliation, a workaround to the Senate filibuster.

Scott Wong contributed to this report

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Faithful reminded freedom, prayer go together – The Catholic Sun

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Even with some relief at the federal level regarding religious freedom, Americans, Catholics especially, must continue to pray and be vigilant to protect these liberties at the state and local level, said Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares at the annual Fourth of July Mass.

The liturgy at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral closed Phoenixs observance of the nationwide Fortnight for Freedom. The faithful remained after Mass to offer a Rosary for the United States of America.

Thanks be to God, much of the affront to religious freedom that the Obama administration was continuing to provide against the Church has now been suspended by President Trump, Bishop Nevares said, noting the power of prayer. Prayer is all important in this battle that we are in defending all our religious freedoms and religious liberty.

However, he said, the affront to our religious liberty and religious expression is not over. It might be paused from the federal government, but now it is being carried at the state and the city, county and local levels.

The bishop recalled a presentation from Alliance Defending Freedom founder Alan Sears, who along with his wife Paula was recently invested into the papal Order of St. Gregory the Great, that provided a list of several of these cases of peoples religious liberty being attacked:

The Huguenins are now compelled by law to compromise the very religious beliefs that inspired their lives. Why? Because it is a price of citizenship to go against your own conscience, Bishop Nevares said. Breanna and Joanna could face a $2,500 fine and six months in jail for every day they decline to produce and sell such art to the same-sex couple, he added.

Bishop Nevares also noted how gender dysphoria is being promoted among the youth, referencing a childrens book targeted to kindergarteners and drugs that postpone puberty so youth can decide their sex.

So, something that is normal, something that contributes to the dignity of the human person, something that is the design of Almighty God, is now being withheld from our young people, their gender, so that they can decide what gender they want to be, he said.

St. John Paul II said when he came to America in 1987, You are in a culture war, he said. My brothers and sisters, the war is just beginning and its not going to go away. We need to be strong and we need to be convinced of our Catholic principles and our Catholic faith. We need to be men and women willing to sacrifice for these great rights.

The bishop asked how the faithful should respond to attacks on religious liberty. If Jesus says prayer can move mountains, it can surely move the hearts of the secular society today in which we live, said Bishop Nevares. In particular, he added, is the importance of prayer in the home, that we pray with our children, and pray with our spouses for our children.

Secondly, he said, we need to be active participants in the voting process. Most of us vote in presidential elections, he added, but give little thought to lesser government officials such as school board members and legislators, yet they also have influence upon our culture and our Christian values and principles.

So, let us be active contributing Catholics and active contributing voters on each and every election that comes up so that we may once again be one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

After Mass, the bishop joined the faithful in praying the Rosary for the United States of America. They offered the intentions for each decade for the three branches of the federal government, state and local governments and the military services. Representatives from the Knights of Columbus, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Cursillo movement, the retired police officers community and the veterans community took turns leading each decade. The faithful prayed for every U.S. state as they fingered each red, white or blue bead.

Manny Yrique, who came up with the Rosary and organized the event, said he was pleased with the participation and said that every individual is called to make a difference.

A woman from Indiana came and I gave her a rosary and told her to take it back to her parish, he said. We can change the world, but we have to do it one person at a time.

Brandon Trichel from All Saints Parish in Mesa brought his family to the Mass because, he said, theres no better way to celebrate freedom than to celebrate Christ.

Christ is truth. There is no truth without Him and no freedom without truth, he said. Its so sad in todays society, people think theyre free, free to express themselves, but theyre in bondage.

Josine Olakkengil, a parishioner at the cathedral, brought her family to the Mass because she said it is important to celebrate with other Christians. An immigrant from India, she said shes especially thankful for the freedoms her family enjoys in this country.

That community is important. In India, many of the people we lived around were Hindus, Olakkengil said. Theres a lot of persecution of Catholics and Christians, so compared to that, we have a lot of religious freedom here. But I heard of the infringements of these rights in the bishops homily and we need to pray that these rights are preserved.

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Americans support freedom-loving Iranians – Washington Times

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The American people love and support the freedom-loving people of Iran.

I would like to ask you today, are you ready to hold the mullahs accountable? Are you ready to hold Khamenei accountable? Are you ready for regime change? Are you ready to get rid of the greatest sponsor of terrorism in the world? Are you ready to restore freedom to Iran? Are you ready for honest elections? Are you ready for a democracy in Iran? Are you ready for equality in Iran? Are you ready for human rights in Iran? Are you ready for religious freedom in Iran?

Now is the time. When our forefathers met 241 years ago this time, they pledged their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor, for a Declaration of Independence for a new America. Yes, from that we found life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And thats what we want for Iran today.

Republican Rep. Robert Pittenger represents the 9th Congressional District in North Carolina and serves on the House Financial Services Committee. This excerpt is from his remarks to the July 1 rally in Paris.

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Freedom football registration begins – The Union-Recorder

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Freedom Church is in its fifth year of offering a tackle football alternative to families in the Milledgeville and Baldwin County area.

Registration is now open for kids ages 5 to 11 with three different league options dependent upon the player's age. Families may register online at http://www.freedomchurch.net or in person at the church leading right up to player evaluations that begin Thursday, Aug. 3. The fee per player is $95 but increases to $105 if families register past Aug. 13.

"Our evaluation dates [and times] are on the website and a lot of times people just come in and register when we do evaluations," said Patrick Rainey, member of the Freedom pastoral staff and football league coordinator.

The church provides helmets, shoulder pads and a jersey to each player while parents are responsible for cleats, mouthpiece and white pants with pads.

Rainey said the league has four fundamentals it wants to keep to in order to provide a good experience to the players including providing a safe environment, make playing fun for the kids, making games competitive, and maintaining a Christian atmosphere.

"During halftime we share a devotion and we also encourage our coaches to build up our players," he said. "It is still a football program and they do things that football teams do, but we encourage the coaches to encourage the players to pray with them, and build them up because a lot of these kids that come here don't have the best home life. Here we want to provide a good environment for them."

Coaches do not need to be certified in order to lead a team, but the league coordinator said he does hold a meeting prior to each season in which he lays out what is expected of them. Last year's league produced seven teams and Rainey said he figures to be in that same neighborhood this season.

"The last three or four years we've had right around 115 to 120 players. I don't know if that will increase or if it's just going to kind of stay where it's at. We're hoping for it to continue to grow. That's our prayer, but I'm expecting the same or more. I don't think it'll be any less."

Rainey added that the football league has done more than just provide a fun, competitive, and Christian atmosphere for the kids, but has also allowed Freedom to reach out to more people in the community.

"As far as the church we have benefited from it," he said. "We've had people to join our church because of the football ministry. Through the football ministry they have come to know the pastors and have really built a relationship so with that they have joined the church"

For more information on Freedom football visit the church's website http://www.freedomchurch.net.

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Technology Can Be A Tool, A Teacher, A Trickster – NPR

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Those of my generation have seen enormous advances in speech recognition systems.

In the early days, the user had to train herself to the system, exaggerating phonemes, speaking in slow staccato bursts. These days, it's the system that trains itself to the user. The results aren't perfect, but they're pretty darn good.

The development of speech recognition illustrates one facet of the relationship between people and technology. Sometimes, we have to change ourselves to meet the technology where it is. But the goal is often the other way around: to improve the technology to fit us as we are.

That's why it's interesting to reflect on some exceptions to the rule cases where technology isn't just a tool, but also a teacher. Good teachers meet their students where they are, and they adapt their methods accordingly. But the ultimate goal isn't to accommodate the student as he is, it's to change the student by changing the way he thinks and acts. When technology is a teacher, it isn't enough for the technology to adapt; we need to change ourselves, too. This turns out to have some interesting implications.

Consider some examples. Tutoring systems, language learning apps, and educational games are all designed to change our mental abilities. Weight loss apps, posture sensors, and exercise monitors are designed to change the way we behave. The ultimate aim is for YOU to learn Mandarin or achieve some target weight, not to have a device that translates your English into Mandarin for you, or creates the illusion of lower mass.

It's when we consider what it takes to change mental abilities or behaviors that things start to get interesting. Take the case of learning a language. The best teacher isn't necessarily the nicest teacher, or the easiest teacher, or the most flexible teacher. The best teacher (qua teacher) is the one who does the best job getting you to learn the language. In fact, we know from research in psychology and education that the best way to learn is unlikely to be the easiest, or the one that gives you the most immediate sense of mastery. There's value in desirable difficulties features of a task that increase effort, but support better long-term performance. There are also plenty of examples of learning interventions that increase immediate learning, or just the sense of having learned, but that are ultimately less effective than more effortful alternatives.

This means that shaping technology to the aim we care about in these cases some form of learning could depart pretty radically from the more familiar aim of shaping technology to the way we are now: making it comfortable, easy, convenient, and so on. Just as it might be a mistake to evaluate teachers based (only) on student evaluations, it might be a mistake to evaluate these technologies (only) on familiar metrics, such as user ratings and our own impressions from immediate use. We really want them vetted by our future selves; it's their reviews we should be reading.

These issues also apply to technology designed to change behavior, but often there's an additional twist. We typically resort to technology for behavior change when our own good intentions prove insufficient. For all my sincere efforts not to slouch at the keyboard or have a second cookie, I'm guilty of both on a regular basis.

Technological tools for behavior change are a way to nudge ourselves into better behavior. We intervene on our environment to shape ourselves, because we can't simply will ourselves into the target behavior directly. As a result, these technological tools aren't just teachers in the business of sharing information and rational persuasion; they're tricksters in the business of manipulating us albeit at our bidding.

Of course, the relationship between people and technology is more complex (as Alva No has written about here at 13.7). It isn't just that people adapt to technology, and that technology adapts to people. The relationship is dynamic and bidirectional; we are, to use Alva's phrase, "the tool-using species." But our tools aren't merely implements; they are also teachers and tricksters, balancing the values of our current and future selves.

Tania Lombrozo is a psychology professor at the University of California, Berkeley. She writes about psychology, cognitive science and philosophy, with occasional forays into parenting and veganism. You can keep up with more of what she is thinking on Twitter: @TaniaLombrozo

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