Daily Archives: July 22, 2017

US President Donald Trump has approved a plan to allow the US navy more freedom to carry out patrols in the South China Sea, in a move that could be seen as a challenge to Chinas maritime claims in the disputed waters, a far-right US news website reported.

US patrols challenging Beijing in South China Sea will continue, says US Navy commander

The plan, submitted to the White House in April by Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, outlines a full-year schedule of when US navy ships will sail through contested waters in the South China Sea, Breitbart News cited a US official as saying.

Under the plan, the White House will be aware of all planned freedom of navigation operations so it will not be a surprise when requests come up the chain of command, and they will be approved faster than before, the official said.

US Navy carrier group begins South China Sea patrols

The faster approval process means the operations can be conducted on a very routine, very regular basis, as part of a programme to keep the waters open, rather than as a one-off event, the person said.

It is not yet clear if the plan is part of a larger Asia-Pacific strategy or whether it is simply designed to make freedom of navigation operations more routine in the South China Sea.

China shows US its military muscle with patrol off Hong Kong waters amid rising maritime tensions

Under President Obamas administration, the Pentagon was required to send requests to conduct such operations to the National Security Council, where they would stall, the website report said.

There was a concern of doing anything that would cause anybody to get their feathers ruffled, the official was quoted as saying.

Chinas coastguard staking claim to contested reefs in South China Sea

Despite tough rhetoric during Trumps campaign trial, the US did not conduct any freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea until late May, when the USS Dewey sailed within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands.

Mischief Reef is controlled by mainland China, which has built airstrips in the region, but is also claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

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Trump signs off on plan to allow US navy more freedom to patrol in South China Sea - South China Morning Post

By Francis Ewherido

As parents gathered in the chapel of St. Gregorys College, Ikoyi, Lagos, for the Holy Mass to commence the graduation ceremonies of their children last Saturday, one feeling was mutual: joy. Beyond that, there were divergent feelings.

For some parents, St. Gregorys was a refuge for their children while away from home. Now they are moving to the university with cultism and other social vices and they are worried about how their children would cope. Some are worried about how their children will manage the new found freedom when they get to the university.

Those who will send their children to private universities or foreign universities were probably dealing with the arithmetic of the increased expenses. But while parents were struggling with their mixed emotions, the graduating students were chatting away in low tones, hugging and back-slapping themselves before the Mass started. They were certainly cherishing their impending freedom, away from the regimented life at St. Gregorys: low hair cut, waking up at a specific hour, food timetable, etc.

The homilist and St. Gregorys Assistant Administrator, the very cerebral Rev. Fr. John Njorteah, correctly gauged the feelings of the students. Seizing the opportunity of talking to them together for probably the last time, he told them some home truths about life out there. Parents kept nodding as Fr. John spoke. Please find below excerpts of the homily, a reference for every teenager and young adult.

My dear little ones, as you step out of this college today to go into the world, I humbly implore you to listen attentively to me as I share with you the word of God on this auspicious occasion. First, I would like you all (the graduands) to look around and see yourselves again. Today marks the end of your gathering together as a group.

Never shall you all be complete as a class. You have journeyed together as a group and today you are beginning another journey on your own. Yes, your individuality will be key in determining the extent you will go in life.

My dear friends, for some years now the college has taught and protected you, and now you are being unleashed into the world. This is the world that is full of evils and times have really changed. Insecurity is at its peak, kidnapping has become commonplace, economic hardship is killing our people, suicides and suicidal attempts are becoming rife among our people. Our cultural values are being eroded in the wake of imitating western trends and fashions, and there is less of everything in the world today.

Our phones have become wireless; cars, keyless; our dresses have become sleeveless, our youths, jobless; our leaders, shameless; our relationships, meaningless; our attitudes, careless; our feelings, heartless; our education, valueless and our children manner-less (ill-mannered).

Do not, therefore, fail to make recourse to the good training you had in the college. Indeed friends, you have been given the flesh of moral discipline and uprightness. Remain firm and sturdy in this path. Lies fill the length and breadth of the social media and move faster than the speed of light; thanks to the power of the internet.

Your academic foundation is one that is the envy of many who are not privileged and who might have desired to be beneficiaries. Let it not amount to naught. Your desire for freedom is realised. Know your freedom comes with responsibility. The era of pushing the blame to someone else gives way to the era of I did it. Put your future in good handsyour own.

Remember that we led you to God, allow Him to accompany you through your life. You were always instructed that there is a God who seeks the response of your love and wants you never to forget Him. Today, there is a neo-atheism.

Denial of spiritual realities and replacing God with money. We see the extent to which money has driven people to do the unimaginable in the country. Do not live above your means. Do not impress anyone. Practice your faith, live your faith and be glad to share it. Do not be ashamed to live for God.

Your time is limited, so dont waste it

living someone elses life. Dont let the noise of other peoples opinion drown your own inner voice. Be focused and firm on whatever path you want to tow in the university and with Gods help you will succeed. Remember that bad company corrupts good manners. Choose your friends and do not let your friends choose you, and ensure that you do not make friends with people of questionable character.

Today, you have a new mother in this institution, please do not put her to shame by your conduct and ways of life. Just as Jesus Christ enjoined his disciples in Mt. 28:19 to Go therefore make disciples of all nations, in the same way you are being charged to become ambassadors of this college, and see to it that you contribute your own quota to the growth and development of this institution.

Continue to rely on the promise of Christ to you in the gospel reading when he says, In the world you will suffer, take courage for I have overcome the world. You are being charged then to heal and not to contaminate the world, to build and not to destroy, to uplift and not to bring down, to support and not to oppose, to renew and not to ruin.

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Freedom comes with concomitant responsibility - Vanguard

STERLING HEIGHTS -- Sterling Heights, eh? virtuosic bassist and enigmatic Primus front man Les Claypool asked the sold-out Freedom Hill crowd on Thursday night, July 20, as his band commenced its set. In case you stumbled into the wrong venue, we are not a Foreigner cover band.

It was an ironic witticism from a man who has made a career on incongruity. Perhaps best known as the textbook weirdo who wears a derby hat and penned the iconic South Park theme song, Claypool is thought of by throngs of his rabid fans as one of the most inventive bassist who ever drew breath, an acid-soaked cross between Larry Graham and Jaco Pastorius. Over the course of Primus 75-minute set, Claypool moved the needle on his legend.

Appearing after a raucously loud if straightforward performance by stoner metal outfit Clutch, Primus which formed in Northern California over 30 years ago -- took the stage to circus music, as is its wont. Signaled by drummer Tim Alexanders cymbal hits, Claypool and company immediately launched into the supremely weird Too Many Puppies. Alexanders polyrhythmic playing was MVP from the get-go, while Claypools emotional note choice was set off by the versatility of guitarist Larry LaLonde who, for the lions share of the night, oscillated between hardcore thrash metal licks and cleanly rendered psychedelic euphoria.

Save for a new song mid-set, which Claypool promised the crowd was going to bring goblin rock back into common parlance, the trio focused on exploring the outer limits of some of the most well-loved pieces in its catalog. Frizzle Fry was ramped up in the live set, breaking from the composition and entering a space somewhere between free jazz and metal. The improvised section stretched out in epic fashion, while freakish imagery of green neon eyes and dayglo American flags flashed upon three colossal LED screens.

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The centerpiece of the show was coiled around the dark psychedelia of Jillys On Smack, which saw Claypool performing on an upright bass and donning a pig mask while Alexander and LaLonde occupied the negative space with a sense of musical urgency. The song ultimately melded with the staccato rhythms of Mr. Krinkle with, as always, Claypools slap bass intensity taking the spotlight. The valorous musical forays resolved themselves into the beginnings of a straightforward and satisfying Jerry Was a Race Car Driver, the song that shot the band to momentary stardom during the early. Customary satirical chants of Primus Sucks! filled the shed, the official Primus fan seal of approval for a job well done at the nights end. And the adoration was reciprocated by the trio.

We liked you so much, Michigan, that we played right up against our curfew, Claypool said, suddenly realizing it was five minutes until 11 p.m. and the group was short on time after getting sidetracked by their fierce predilection for audacious improvisation and musicianship. Its hard to say that Primus stand alone, because it doesnt; the band is just one in a long tradition of quintessentially risky bands. But its only getting more compelling the higher its mystery rises.

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Review: Primus plays it weird in hot Freedom Hill show - The Oakland Press

One of the world's great champions of freedom has passed. Liu Xiaobo, 61, a literary critic, civil rights activist and 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner, died on July 13 after losing a battle against lung cancer.

Mr. Liu followed in his fathers footsteps and became an academic, a lecturer at Chinas Beijing Normal University in literature, with tenures at Columbia University, the University of Hawaii and the University of Oslo.

But what he became known for was something quite different than literary criticism.

Mr. Liu opposed his countrys Marxist philosophy, and supported the concept of freedom. He said in a Nov. 27, 1988 interview with Open Magazine, modernization means wholesale westernization, choosing a human life is choosing a Western way of life.

Chinas Communist regime was obviously not pleased with the expression of such views. The safest thing Mr. Liu could have done was to remain outside the countrys perimeters.That is not what heroes do, however.

In June 1989, Mr. Liu left Columbia and returned to China to help support students during the Tiananmen Square protests.He organized a three-day event later described as the Tiananmen Four Gentlemen Hunger Strike. He called for an end to class struggle, and helped in the negotiations between students and the army to help prevent further bloodshed.

For that, hewas arrestedand went to Qincheng Prison. The state-run media called him a mad dog and black hand." He lost his university position several months later.

He was imprisoned several more times in his life.

There was a six-month sentence in 1995, on the sixth anniversary of the Tiananmen uprising, and three years in a labor education camp from1996 to 1999. Finally, his 11-year sentence in 2008 for suspicion of inciting subversion of state power led to an extended stay at Jinzhou Prison and, as his health failed, a trip to Shenyangs First Hospital of China Medical University, where he passed away.

Mr. Lius participation in a 1993 documentary film enabled him to travel to Australia and the United States, and provided him with a rare chance to escape. But he returned to the country of his birth to defend freedom against tyranny.

Through it all, he continued to write about politics and human rights (although he was banned from publishingin mainland China). This includes his powerful 1992 memoir "The Monologues of a Doomsday's Survivor," his notable work of political criticism called "A Nation That Lies to Conscience," and other articles, poems and collections.

He was also involved with creating Charter 8, a 2008 manifesto signed by more than 300 Chinese citizens. It called for freedom of expression, religion and assembly, for privatizing state enterprises, and for eliminating one-party rule. More than 10,000 signatures have been added since.

China vigorously opposed his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, initiated by such important figures as Vaclav Havel, Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama. (His wife, Liu Xia, was even put under house arrest.) Yet, the committee didnt back down and bestowed him with the honor for his long and nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.

Liu Xiaobo stood up to the Chinese Communists, and defended Western values to his dying breath. In a world of timidity and compromise, he stood for the rights of every human being. In short, he led a heroic life.

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Editorial: Death of a brave freedom fighter - The Providence Journal