Monthly Archives: July 2017

Human Trafficking: Where’s the Progress and What Comes Next? – Skoll Foundation

Posted: July 31, 2017 at 10:07 am

Some 20 million people around the world are victims of human trafficking, and nearly 70 percent of those are trapped in forced labor.The International Labour Organization reports that this dark web of modern day slavery generates roughly $150 Billion in profits.Law enforcement agencies lack deep data about trafficking patterns, specific sub-types, and locations, and victims rarely have access to channels of communication for help. Less than one percent of victims are identified globally each year. Its hard to wrap your mind around the scale of the problem and the avenues for solutions.

How can the progress of an intervention be measured when the dynamics and drivers of the problem are so difficult to determine? Polaris has pioneered an effort to map out the landscape and break it up into discernible segments, ensuring that interventions can be tailored to the specific context. Using aggregated data, Polaris has been able to create atypology of human trafficking, a first step in creating concrete action steps for combating the scourge. Seeing the problem in higher resolution allowslaw enforcement, border officials, service providers, and governments to be better equipped to identify trafficking in its various forms and then to take targeted action to prevent it.

Polaris reviewed more than 32,000 cases of human trafficking documented between December 2007 and December 2016 through its operation of the National Human Trafficking Hotline and BeFree Textlinethe largest data set on human trafficking in the United States. They analyzed the data and developed a classification system that identifies 25 distinct types of human trafficking in the U.S. Each has its own business model, trafficker profiles, recruitment strategies, victim profiles, and methods of control. This detailed typology brings the problem of human trafficking out of the shadows and into sharper focus.

This is a huge step towards better understanding the unique facets of the larger problem. The critical next step is to get all actors, now armed with this data, to collaborate on solutions and to create shared methodologies to track the effectiveness of interventions informed by the typology. Just as Polaris marshaled a sea of data in the U.S., on the international scale, theInternational Labour Organization and the Walk Free Foundationare working in collaboration to determine a baseline by which to measure the magnitude of the problem globally and map progress against target 8.7 of the SDGs to end modern slavery.

To turn the tide on the problem, we need accurate and actionable data that informs cross-sector collaboration. Polaris is showing that its possible to employ rigorous data science to unpack the ecosystems of modern slavery, now its time to put that science to work.

See the rest here:

Human Trafficking: Where's the Progress and What Comes Next? - Skoll Foundation

Posted in Progress | Comments Off on Human Trafficking: Where’s the Progress and What Comes Next? – Skoll Foundation

‘Avatar’ Sequels Progress to Next Level as Weta Digital Begins Visual Effects Work – Variety

Posted: at 10:07 am

Visual effects studio Weta Digital has begun work on the four sequels to James Camerons Avatar, one of the highest-grossing films ever.

The Wellington, New Zealand-based shop was most recently in the limelight for its motion-capture work on War for the Planet of the Apes.

What Joe Letteri and Weta Digital bring to these stories is impossible to quantify, said Cameron, referring to Weta Digitals senior visual effects supervisor. Since we made Avatar, Weta continued to prove themselves as doing the best CG animation, the most human, the most alive, the most photo-realistic effects in the world.

He added, And of course, that now means I can push them to take it even further.

The depth of talent at Weta is impressive and the culture of excellence is one that matches how we do things at Lightstorm, said Jon Landau, producer on all the avatar movies. Lightstorm Entertainment is the production company behind Avatar and other Cameron-directed features, including Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Titanic.

Landau hinted at breakthroughs to come. We also know that these next films promise to be even more ambitious than the first film, he noted.

Avatar is the ideal type of film for us, said Letteri. Jims vision for the world of Pandora was always so much bigger than what we created for the first film. Helping him expand the language of cinema through new narratives set in such an expansive universe is the type of opportunity that rarely comes along twice. Projects like this allow everyone involved to push themselves to do their best work.

The excitement at Weta around Avatar is obvious and the fact is that we have already been working on it for a number of years, said Weta Digital executive producer David Conley. During that period we have grown the company to a size and model that allows us to expand beyond any one project. This enables us to find a mix of other films that can help us grow along with Avatar, as is the case with Alita: Battle Angel, Avengers: Infinity War and Mortal Engines, to name a few of the other films we are currently working on.

Read more:

'Avatar' Sequels Progress to Next Level as Weta Digital Begins Visual Effects Work - Variety

Posted in Progress | Comments Off on ‘Avatar’ Sequels Progress to Next Level as Weta Digital Begins Visual Effects Work – Variety

The way we were: Process and progress at city plant – Jacksonville Journal Courier

Posted: at 10:07 am

An estimated 10,000 people, including Illinois Gov. William G. Stratton and Texas Attorney General John Ben Shepperd, attended the formal dedication of the Mrs. Tuckers Foods plant in Jacksonville in 1953.

The plant later became ACH Food Cos.

The 1953 celebration not only officially opened the new vegetable oil processing plant, but observed Mrs. Tuckers Foods Inc.s 40th anniversary. The Texas-based company was a pioneer in the manufacture of vegetable oil food products. In early 1952, Mrs. Tuckers Foods merged with Anderson, Clayton & Co., a worldwide cotton merchandiser.

Jacksonville civic leaders, politicians and plant officials went all out in dedicating the multimillion-dollar plant, which was one of the largest of its kind in the world in 1953.

The grand opening did not coincide with the actual startup of the plant, though, which occurred in February 1953 when the production of shortening began. And by the time of the plants dedication, 140 people were already working there, according to 1953 newspaper reports.

The Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce helped arrange the dedication festivities and provide the hospitality for its out-of-town guests. Signs saying Welcome Texans and showing a waving cowboy were attached to utility poles around the public square.

Local car dealerships brought in convertibles in which to carry dignitaries around Jacksonville. The honored guests were shown city landmarks during a motorcade around town on the morning of the grand opening.

That afternoon, several local, state and company officials gave speeches from a stage in front of the new plant.

Lamar Fleming Jr., president of Anderson, Clayton & Co., spoke of the founding of Mrs. Tuckers Foods in north Texas in 1913 and praised the people of Jacksonville. Mrs. Tuckers will give honest and efficient service to the public, Fleming said. There is no greater inspiration than the help and kindness your community has given us.

Stratton followed the Texas industrialist in welcoming the new industry and visitors.

It is heartening to see what can be accomplished by cooperation, Stratton said. Illinois has the finest skilled labor, the finest cooperation between management and labor. This plant stands as a tribute to industrial enterprise and civic cooperation.

Other speakers included Shepperd; Francis R. Rantz, president of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce; Jacksonville Mayor Ernest L. Hoagland; and a recorded greeting from Texas Gov. Allan Shivers, who was unable to attend.

Following the 40-minute formal dedication ceremony, the plant was opened for tours. Thousands of people walked through the plant to see the machines used to produce Mrs. Tuckers Meadolake Margarine, Shortening and Salad Oil.

Four thousand orchids, which were flown in from Hawaii, were distributed to women touring the plant. Adults also received packets containing a commemorative brass coin and certificates for shortening, while children got a packet of two balloons and two suckers.

The celebration culminated with a street dance on the east side of the Jacksonville public square. Jan Garbers Orchestra, a popular swing band of that era, furnished the music. Large crowds gathered on the square to dance and listen to the famous orchestra.

Mrs. Tuckers and Anderson, Clayton & Co. officials said they had never witnessed such a demonstration of cordiality at the opening of an industrial center as Jacksonville staged, wrote Jacksonville Courier editor Birch B. Ridgway.

This Way We Were story was first published Aug. 18, 2003.

http://www.myjournalcourier.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_waywewere0731.jpg

.

Read the rest here:

The way we were: Process and progress at city plant - Jacksonville Journal Courier

Posted in Progress | Comments Off on The way we were: Process and progress at city plant – Jacksonville Journal Courier

Selfies, the disappearance of the natural world and nihilism – Thought Leader

Posted: at 10:04 am

I dont like shopping malls; they remind me of the weakness of our species when it comes to commodities that they must have, according to the spurious ethos of the prevailing economic system. Hence, when the woman in my life asked me to accompany her to that monstrosity known as the Baywest mall, outside the city, yesterday, to fetch a DVD that was only available at a music and video shop there, I agreed reluctantly. I had never been there in the time it has existed, and was quite proud that I had avoided this monument to greed, which had been built on, of all places, a wetland, which has a very important function in ecosystems.

As it turned out, it proved to be a very creative morning for me. As we walked in my eye was caught by a huge, poster-sized advertisement for some or other smartphone, and I was struck by the exemplary manner in which it graphically encapsulates the passive nihilism of our capitalism-ridden era. I immediately sat down on a bench and wrote this piece, while my partner went her way.

I have written on the varieties of nihilism distinguished by Friedrich Nietzsche in the 19th century here before (see http://thoughtleader.co.za/bertolivier/2015/12/15/we-live-in-a-nihilistic-age/ ); suffice it to say, therefore, that passive nihilism is the awareness that nothing has intrinsic value (any longer), combined with the simultaneous inability, or refusal, to accept it, followed by turning to anaesthetising practices in order to forget the absence of values. In Nietzsches time passive nihilism assumed the shape of seeing the shocking abyss of non-value and non-meaning, and promptly running back into the arms of the priests in order to avoid this terrible truth. Today, people run into the arms of Mammon, the god of money. So what does this have to do with advertisement for a smartphone? The latter graphically embodies such contemporary passive nihilism, as I shall try and show.

The advertisement in question is a photograph showing a group of children on a beach, the sea behind them, with their backs turned to it, huddling together so that the one taking the selfie (with the smartphone being advertised) can capture them all with one shot, the oceans crashing waves behind them. Here, in one brand-advertising image-configuration, the essence of the passive nihilism suffusing our time is paradigmatically captured.

First, it is significant that the ocean is behind them, their backs turned to it both literally and figuratively it is, in other words, a scene emblematically representing the current alienation between humanity and nature. Second, the smartphone as mnemo-technical device (which might just as well have been a digital camera, tablet or IPad) concretises the kind of enjoyment at stake here: it is mediated enjoyment. What used to be the sensory enjoyment of the sand, sunshine and waves on the beach, has been reduced to that of images on a screen, which, for better or worse, are the product of technical artifice.

In itself this is neither good nor bad, axiologically speaking (i.e. relating to values); as Bernard Stiegler persuasively argues, we are technical beings (Homo and Gyna technologicus) through and through. The difference, condensed in the composite image under scrutiny, is that the latter is symptomatic of a reductive tendency, globally, to replace the variegated spectrum of human experience with only one kind of privileged experience that which is technically mediated, in the process denuding the experiential world of its intrinsic value.

In the present instance the experience of a visit to the beach has been reduced to a selfie, in its turn made possible by the smartphone which is touted as the indispensable condition of an enjoyable visit to the beach. Behind this reductive iconic metonymy of the mnemo-technical capture of social life the destruction of savoir-vivre (knowledge of how to live your life), precisely lurks the Midas-touch of capital, which strives to transmute everything into proverbial gold, but at the cost of life.

To possess such a smartphone, one has to have access to capital, and quite a lot of it, too. Which means that you have to enter the consumerist loop: you have to earn money by working in the capitalist economy, and gain acceptance, not only by the system, but also by your peers, by being a good consumer spending money on consumer goods like the latest smartphone, car, and clothes, having a bank account, and most important, proving your consumerist virtue by demonstrating your willingness and ability to service debt.

All these consumerist-capitalist implications of the selfie on the beach are not incidental, of course; they cut to the cold heart of the matter. The technical capture of peoples attention (here, childrens; catch them young!) serves the objective of keeping the wheels of the consumer economy turning. In the process the natural world always culturally mediated, to be sure becomes a technically mediated world, where the instrinsic value of a beach, the ocean, flowers, mountains, streams, wildlife, is replicated (and concomitantly obliterated) by its mediating substitute, which, in its turn, functions as a metonymy (part for whole) of capital. Needless to stress, the latter is ultimately monodimensional, all appearances to the contrary notwithstanding.

On the topic of wildlife, a friends tale of his experience during a visit to the Addo National Elephant Park near Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape is emblematic of what Stiegler has identified as the capture of peoples attention by means of the capital-serving mnemo-technical devices that function as a conduit for the reduction of the sensory diversity of the world to its ostensibly mediating counterpart (which turns out to be nothing more than a lure of capital).

The friend in question had taken visitors from the Netherlands to see elephant and other wild animals including rhinoceros, lion, kudu and buffalo while driving through the extensive area comprising the park. To his astonishment, when they encountered a sizeable herd of elephant, his visitors proved more interested in looking at the images of these majestic creatures on the viewing screens of their digital camera and video-camera than in the animals themselves, which were quite close to their vehicle. Even when he tried to draw their attention to a particularly striking bull among the rest of the herd, they merely looked up long enough to be able to locate the animal, and then proceeded to marvel at its image framed by the viewing screens of their cameras.

It is not the case that all photography has (and has always had) such a reductive effect regarding the experiential value of the visible world, of course. When photographs serve the purpose of directing ones attention back to the extant world natural or cultural, and whether in memory or in actuality the latter is left intact, instead of being replaced by its technically replicated counterpart. When we travel throughout South Africa or to other countries, often to climb foreign mountains, my partner takes photographs of beautiful landscapes, rivers, mountains and animals. These photographs are reminders, when we look at them afterwards, of the beauty and variegatedness of the world, instead of being fetishes that are increasingly replacing the world, to the point where they rekindle the desire in us to revisit these places.

Put differently, as long as photographs are a record, reminders and a celebration of the visible world, its indispensable axiological role in human life remains intact. But when techno-mediated images of the world become what Baudrillard calls hyper-reality, that takes the place of the visible world and makes it disappear, as it were, the very (malleable) foundation of value in human experience is eroded, and nihilism prevails.

Read more here:

Selfies, the disappearance of the natural world and nihilism - Thought Leader

Posted in Nihilism | Comments Off on Selfies, the disappearance of the natural world and nihilism – Thought Leader

Picture the song: Bring out the eyeshades for ‘Jawani Jaanemann’ from ‘Namak Halaal’ – Scroll.in

Posted: at 10:03 am

Shashi Kapoors character Rajkumar says it best at the end of Jawani Jaanemann from Namak Halaal (1982): Wah wah, wah wah, wah, splendid.

Bappi Lahiris irresistibly catchy tune, beautifully belted out by club song queen Asha Bhosle, is set in movie set heaven. For once, this trip into golden-hued intemperance actually has a context.

Rajkumar is the owner of a hotel that has previously seen performances by black-faced men, women in shiny colour-coordinated clothes and Arjun (Amitabh Bachchan) channeling Peter Sellers from The Party (1968). Rajkumar is unaware that a plot to kill him has been hatched by his manager (Ranjit). It involves a honey trap in the form of Nisha (Parveen Babi), a cabaret artist with dubious dancing skills but estimable seductive powers.

Nisha initially demurs when told that Rajkumar must be liberated from life. But she accepts the assignment and plays hard to get when she lands up at the hotel. When sent a bouquet through loyal waiter and Rajkumars eventual savior Arjun, Nisha spurns the flowers and sends her employer a cactus plant in return.

In the long tradition of men who are not used to being rebuffed, especially when they resemble Shashi Kapoor, Rajkumar is initially puzzled and, when he finally sets eyes on Nisha, gobsmacked.

Who wouldnt be? The dance floor is decorated with glistening golden-hued floral and cacti-inspired props. Nisha is resplendent in a shimmering lam gown and matching accessories, and she teases the drunk Rajkumar with loaded lyrics. The hunter is now the hunted, she informs him as her hands jerk out from her waist in robotic movements.

Parveen Babi wasnt the best dancer of the 1980s, but she was easily one of popular Hindi cinemas stunners. Terpsichorean excellence isnt the point in this unabashed tribute to hedonism in the decade that embraced it.

Babi is as ornamental as the cacti props in Prakash Mehras blockbuster, which is a multi-starrer in the tradition of 80s films but reserves its best lines and scenes for Bachchan. This is the movie with the monologue in which Arjun displays his English speaking skills. Its the one in which Shashi Kapoor stands by like a sport and Smita Patils character submits herself to an icky rain dance song.

Babi has another great moment of seduction in Raat Baaki, in which she is clad in a shiny black gown and sings of the unknown pleasures of the night. Its another smooth and catchy number, superbly rendered by Bhosle, but the bling and cacti are missing.

View post:

Picture the song: Bring out the eyeshades for 'Jawani Jaanemann' from 'Namak Halaal' - Scroll.in

Posted in Hedonism | Comments Off on Picture the song: Bring out the eyeshades for ‘Jawani Jaanemann’ from ‘Namak Halaal’ – Scroll.in

Why knowledge of the past is important – The Nation

Posted: at 10:03 am

Academic learning is theoretical with no practical or useful bearing. On the other hand, historical research enriches the intellect; it gives a guide to who we are, where we are and to where we are going.

Knowledge of the past is the root system of the tree of civilisation that offers the protection and allows the freedom we are fortunate to enjoy. Our treasured tree is Western civilisation embodying Christian values. To not make the effort to keep the roots alive is tantamount to killing the tree. Equally, to allow an alien ideology to sever or poison the roots will ensure its demise.

Barry Kenyon would be well-advised to study the decline and fall of the Roman empire as he may just begin to see the parallel with current reality. It depends whether he is able intellectually to regard it as historical research applicable to the present time or discards it as academic learning as he suggests.

The Roman empire rotted from within through hedonism and lack of discipline before the invasion by the Germanics from the North. Currently Western civilisation is rotting from within for the same reasons and suffering an Islamic invasion from the East.

Just a thought, perhaps academic learning causes Alzheimers because it serves no purpose, there is no end product to fulfil and satisfy the mind. With his attitude to historical research, Mr Kenyon may well be at risk.

JC Wilcox

Originally posted here:

Why knowledge of the past is important - The Nation

Posted in Hedonism | Comments Off on Why knowledge of the past is important – The Nation

China’s Xi: We Can’t Be ‘Blindly Optimistic’ On Corruption Inside The Communist Party – Newsweek

Posted: at 10:03 am

China's ruling Communist Party cannot rest on its laurels in the fight against corruption, President Xi Jinping said ahead of a key party congress later this year where he will cement his grip on power.

Since assuming power in late 2012, Xi has pursued a relentless campaign against corruption, warning that the problem could threaten the party's ability to retain power, though some analysts say he is also taking down political rivals.

The progress made in governing the party since the last party congress held nearly five years ago had been praised by the people, the official Xinhua news agency late on Thursday cited Xi as saying.

Daily Emails and Alerts - Get the best of Newsweek delivered to your inbox

"But we absolutely cannot be self-satisfied and blindly optimistic. Strictly governing the party is still a heavy burden," Xi told a meeting of provincial and ministerial government officials.

"We will forever be on the path of comprehensive, strict governance of the party. One political party, one political authority, it's prospects and fate rest on the support of the people," Xi said.

The comments come days after China's anti-corruption watchdog said the former party boss in the southwestern city of Chongqing, Sun Zhengcai, had been placed under investigation for "suspected serious violations of discipline", a term that can encompass everything from taking bribes to not toeing the party line.

Sun, the latest senior official implicated in the anti-corruption campaign, was once considered a contender for top leadership.

He had been party chief in Chongqing, one of China's most important cities, until an abrupt announcement this month that he had been replaced by Chen Miner, a rising political star close to Xi.

Chen is seen as a potential new member of the party's elite Standing Committee when it is unveiled after a reshuffle at the upcoming congress.

Xi's anti-corruption crackdown has punished more than a million party members, jailed top military figures and retired security tsar Zhou Yongkang, the most senior official toppled for corruption since 1949.

Separately, the official People's Daily warned in a commentary on Friday about corruption in the military, a central theme of Xi's ambitious military modernization program.

"In this era, there is corrosion from the worship of money and hedonism," it wrote, in a piece ahead of next week's 90th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army.

"This has dispirited some people's thinking, and depressed their will, drying up their spirits," the paper added.

A strong military needs to have a firm base in the rule of law, it said.

View original post here:

China's Xi: We Can't Be 'Blindly Optimistic' On Corruption Inside The Communist Party - Newsweek

Posted in Hedonism | Comments Off on China’s Xi: We Can’t Be ‘Blindly Optimistic’ On Corruption Inside The Communist Party – Newsweek

Adam Carolla Goes to Washington For Campus Free Speech: ‘We Are the Adults, We Need to Act Like It’ – Mediaite

Posted: at 10:01 am

When a Hollywood celebrity testifies before congress on their pet environmental or social justice issue its usually met with fawning press coverage and sanctimonious intonations from self-righteous politicians eager to share the limelight with an actor or singer or reality show regular.

So when actor, writer, producer, director, author, radio host, podcaster and, yes, reality show regular, Adam Carolla testified last week at a House Oversight hearing, youd think it would get a little more attention than it did.

Carolla, along with conservative pundit and author Ben Shapiro, at a hearing titled Challenges to Freedom of Speech on College Campuses and his testimony was bracing, smart and undeniably entertaining.

With one wickedly well-constructed line Carolla blew apart the coddling instinct so many take when trying to wear kid gloves while confronting the very real and dangerous, totalitarian climate on American campuses:

Were talking a lot about the kids and I think theyre just that, kids. We are the adults. And I dont think that were doing the children I mean, these are 18- and 19-year-old kids at these college campuses. They grew up dipped in Purell, playing soccer games where they never kept score and watching Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, and were asking them to be mature. We need the adults to start being the adults.

More

Children are the future, but we are the present, and we are the adults and we need to act like it. And I feel that whats going on on these campuses is we need law and order. We need to bring back law and order. But I think if we just had order we wouldnt need law. So, could we just bring back order, and could the faculty and administration on these campuses act like faculty and administration?

Carolla followed up his appearance before congress with an op-ed in The Hill:

Ive been doing talk radio for more than three decades and I host a daily podcast. This means I constantly have guests on who disagree with me on many subjects. Challenging their ideas and points of views while they do the same to me is an important part of the public discourse. One thing Ive learned about Americans from talking with them for more than 30 years is that we like to argue and debate, even among friends and were damn good at it.

The element of debate is a hallmark of our country, from the time of Sam Adams. By the way, he was not named after the beer, the beer was named after him. So, if you learn nothing else from today, hang on to that.

But seriously, America has been that safe space where truth can be spoken to power. Where We the People can challenge a king and a corrupt idea like a monarchy. This right has been reaffirmed through our history. Its been fought for, and people have died for it. We must understand that we have the right to free expression, not the right to not be offended. This fundamental difference is being lost on todays college campuses.

We should not be teaching students to retreat from debate, but to charge intellectually into it. This is one of the most valuable and profound gifts given to us in the founding of America.

Carolla is set to roll-out a documentary film on the campus speech issue which he created with fellow talk radio host Dennis Prager. The film, titled No Safe Spaces, was funded through an online effort and the fundraising trailer gives a good idea of the approach Carolla and Prager will take:

This is good stuff and the kind of argument against the rioting snowflakes that hardly get made or heard by someone from the corridors of influence in the entertainment industry. At the films website youll see a headline stating Hollywood Wont Make This Film, and sadly, that appears to be true.

Youd think those who make millions off the first amendment (and I dont begrudge them one cent) would be a little quicker to fret about the mob using violence to silence speech because they dont like the message being delivered. What were seeing at Berkley is a little more disconcerting than a radio station burning some Dixie Chicks CDs. (Remember that?)

The destruction of Dixie Chicks CDs was compared to Nazis burning books (because everything that happens during a Republican presidency is a baby step away from Nazism) and there were endless interviews and think pieces about the horrible ordeal Natalie Maines had to endure during the darkest time in American history up until November 8th 2016, of course.)

However, compared to that wartime controversy theres nary a peep today from the same artists who were horrified at those peaceful protests against the Dixie Chicks. Yet the violence on college campuses prohibiting speeches by Carolla, Shapiro, Ann Coulter, Milo Yiannoupolis, Charles Murray and others is far more dangerous, chilling and insidious. After all, UC Berkley is owned, operated and funded by the California state government. Maybe its me, but I find that a little more problematic than a publicity stunt byWDAF in Kansas City, MO.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

Original post:
Adam Carolla Goes to Washington For Campus Free Speech: 'We Are the Adults, We Need to Act Like It' - Mediaite

Posted in Free Speech | Comments Off on Adam Carolla Goes to Washington For Campus Free Speech: ‘We Are the Adults, We Need to Act Like It’ – Mediaite

Letter to the Editor: Johnson County Sheriff’s Office protects free speech – The Daily Iowan

Posted: at 10:00 am

An encounter at the Johnson County Fairgrounds with law enforcement made me thankful that the Sheriffs Office protects freedom of speech.

We often hear criticism about law enforcement, so I wanted people to hear my story.

I am a disabled Marine veteran. I was protesting with a friend last week at the Johnson County Fairgrounds; we opposed the childrens rodeo and were peacefully and legally expressing our views on public property near the entrance to the fair. We oppose the rodeo because concern about the treatment of the animals and because we believe that participating in these events teaches children to repress their natural sense of compassion and empathy for animals.

On the second day we were there, two teenage boys came out with a large 4H banner and began harassing me while standing directly in front of me. I am in a wheelchair and could not see over or around their banner, and the public could no longer see my sign. When I moved to a different position, the boys followed me and again blocked my view. This happened five or six times and was continuing, so I called the Sheriffs Office to request that a deputy come to clarify the legal bounds of our protest. Sgt. Brad Kunkel obtained a body camera and came over to talk to me as well as the boys and their friends who had gathered to support them.

Kunkel was very professional in explaining to them that I/we had a right to be there and that they needed to find a different place to stand.

Freedom of speech is a constitutional right that I defended as a Marine. I want to thank all of the staff from the Sheriffs Office who were present while we were at the fair, especially Kunkel. Its their continued service to our local communities that ensures our safety and constitutional freedoms in America.

Sincerely,

Lori Kendrick

Go here to see the original:
Letter to the Editor: Johnson County Sheriff's Office protects free speech - The Daily Iowan

Posted in Freedom of Speech | Comments Off on Letter to the Editor: Johnson County Sheriff’s Office protects free speech – The Daily Iowan

Hassan should support freedom of speech – Seacoastonline.com

Posted: at 10:00 am

July 28 To the Editor:

Sen. Maggie Hassan spoke at the 35th annual Martin Luther King Day Celebration in Manchester last Jan. 16. I heard her and was impressed by her firm commitment to civil rights and inclusion in our state and country.

So I am shocked that she has co-sponsored the Israel Anti Boycott Act (Senate Bill 720). This bill imposes fines and criminal penalties, up to 20 years in prison, on those supporting the movement to boycott Israeli goods and divest in Israeli investments. The purpose of the boycott is to pressure the Israeli government to change its settlement policy, which many believe is illegal and also immoral.

I oppose hate speech in any form: anti-Semitic as well as anti-Muslim speech. I condemn acts of hate directed at others. However, American citizens have a First Amendment right to speak and act in favor of boycott and divestment. Whether or not I agree with the point of view of the boycott is beside the point. I must support any American who chooses to exercise this right peacefully.

So, I believe, should Senator Hassan.

Sincerely,

David Blair

Harrisville

The rest is here:
Hassan should support freedom of speech - Seacoastonline.com

Posted in Freedom of Speech | Comments Off on Hassan should support freedom of speech – Seacoastonline.com