Daily Archives: August 3, 2017

Police officers respond to a protest in Minnesota at which several student journalists were arrested, following the acquittal in June of former police officer Jeronimo Yanez in the shooting death of Philando Castile.

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

You likely remember that, in May, then congressional candidate Greg Gianforte body-slammed a reporter for The Guardian for asking too many questions. You may not have heard, though, that as part of Gianforte's ultimate settlement, Montana's newly elected representative made a $50,000 donation to the Committee to Protect Journalists. And now that money has been funneled directly into the US Press Freedom Tracker , a newly launched website that intends to document press freedom violations in a place that hasn't historically required it: the United States.

After finding out about Gianforte's unexpected donation, Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, called up the head of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Trevor Timm, to see if he'd be interested in using the money to underwrite the project. According to Simon , Timm "liked the irony" of using Gianforte's donation to help document violations like the one he'd just committed, and the US Press Freedom Tracker was born.

While Freedom of the Press Foundation takes care of the day-to-day operations of the site, 20 different press freedom groups help support its mission, including a steering committee headed up by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Groups like CPJ and Reporters Without Borders already work to catalog press freedom issues in other parts of the world , of course, but it usually takes a journalist being imprisoned or killed to register as a violation.

"That doesnt really work in the United States, where fortunately we have very few journalists who are actually imprisoned, and very few who are killed," says Peter Sterne, the site's senior reporter and managing editor. "What you do have in the US is a lot of journalists being arrested at protests . Increasingly you have journalists being stopped at the border. You have leak investigations into journalists sources, which really accelerated under the Obama administration and has continued under the Trump administration. You have seizures of journalists equipment and forced searches of their equipment. And increasingly you have physical attacks."

The site assembles these various press-freedom violations into neat categories that include "arrests of journalists," "equipment searches and seizures," "physical attacks on journalists," and "border stops of journalists." At the time of publication, the tracker has documented 19 arrests, 12 seizures, 11 attacks, and four border stops.

The broadness of the categories encompasses wide-ranging incidents. The physical attack category, for instance, includes items titled " Fox News host soaked with water at Brooklyn bar ," " Alaska state senator slaps journalist ," and " OC Weekly intern Frank Tristan attacked at pro-Trump rally ."

The US Press Freedom Tracker bases its numbers off of data collected from journalists' submissions, professional organizations, and other press-freedom groups. Those behind the project hope to use the information as a reference point in its work advocating for journalists' rights. But deciding what does and does not count as a violation isn't an exact science, and each category offers a detailed explanation of its methodology.

"There were a lot of questions that we had to consider. Like, if someone is detained but they are not actually charged, then is that considered an arrest? What if theyre kettled at a protest, does that count as a physical attack?" says Sterne, referring to the police practice of containing a crowd in a small area.

Sterne also emphasized that, while the group hopes the data will come in handy for legal briefs and other official uses, it serves an equally important role as public data that anyone can access. The groups paid special attention to ensuring that the site was easy to use and intuitive enough for the general public.

"I think is a great idea whose time, unfortunately, has come because of growing threats to press freedom in the United States,"says Leonard Downie, former executive editor of The Washington Post , who supervised the paper's Watergate coverage. "So it will certainly be useful to the news media as they share information about and combat these threats. What remains to be seen is whether it can also help educate the public."

While the United States is often held up as the epitome of the free press, Sterne emphasized that things here aren't ideal, and may even be getting worse. The problem, though, was that no one has had any of the data to back any of those conclusions up. Or, at least, they didn't until now.

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A Crucial New Site Tracks Attacks on Press in the US - WIRED

Forgiveness. Forgiveness. Even if, even if you dont love me anymore.

I am relieved and hopeful that the saga of the 2003 foul ball incident surrounding my family is finally over. Steve Bartman, Cubs fan, hated by every other Cubs fan, is going to receive a World Series ring. Full circle for Steve, who stole a foul ball from Moises Alou and had his life stolen that same night extended the Cubs curse another 13 years and felt the scorn of an entire city. Breathe Steve. Other fans now up for consideration are Jeffrey Maier and Spike Lee (what ring?).

Rocky Mountain low high for the Mets this afternoon. The Rockies German Marquez put the Nationals bats to sleep on Saturday. Pitched 5 / perfect innings en route to a seven inning gem. Registered 28 Ks over his past three starts. Trouble for the already troubled Amazins. 10 units on Colorado.

Os crowned the Royals 6-0. Jason Vargas was the victim of a three-run second inning and K.C.s bats never responded. Loss puts us at 1,019 buckners.

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Stitches: Let Freedom Ring - New York Post

The conservative House Freedom Caucus is focusing in on one key demand for the debt ceiling talks that are expected to develop over the next few weeks, one that focuses on restricting borrowing and spending as the government gets closer to the debt ceiling.

In July, the group of about 40 conservatives laid out three possible demands they could make in talks to raise the debt ceiling, which are expected to conclude in September because the government is already at its borrowing limit.

Those options were $250 billion in spending cuts, a bill to repeal Obamacare, and a third possibility that aims to change the way the government spends and borrows money as it approaches the debt ceiling.

A House aide told the Washington Examiner that there is now little expectation that the Freedom Caucus could realistically demand such a large spending cut and the idea of passing any kind of healthcare reform bill seems dead given the Senate's failure in July.

That leaves the third option as the "most realistic," and the aide said the group of conservatives are expected to insist on spending and borrowing management changes as a condition of getting their vote in September.

The aide said many in the caucus would still prefer cuts, but said the lesser demand of asking for improved money management on the part of the government is one they hope Republican leaders can accept.

By moving away from the demand for spending cuts, the Freedom Caucus has "made it pretty easy" for GOP leaders to negotiate a deal, the aide said.

The changes being sought by the House Freedom Caucus are reflected in a bill introduced by Rep. Dave Schweikert, R-Ariz., called the Debt Ceiling Alternative Act. Under that bill, the government would only be allowed to issue debt to pay off principal and interest on the debt.

It would also call on the government to rescind unobligated funds and sell off assets in order to stay under the debt ceiling.

Those are the sorts of management changes that appeal to conservatives, who have long sought ways to get the government to reduce spending and borrowing when it approaches its borrowing limit. Conservatives have complained that it's too easy for the government to simply raise the ceiling again and again and have sought to impose speed bumps that at least force a discussion about the growing national debt, which is now just short of $20 trillion.

But it's not clear if GOP leaders in the House or the Senate will accept that language. Leadership and committee aides had little to say this week about what sorts of ideas they might accept, and it's possible that they could decide to pursue a simple debt ceiling hike with no strings attached that would pass with support from Democrats.

The Trump administration has also made it clear it wants a "clean" debt ceiling increase. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has said that explicitly, a sign U.S. officials are not in the mood to negotiate spending and borrowing limits as part of the package.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. Mnuchin has said the debt ceiling needs to be resolved by September, when the House is in for just a few weeks to deal with legislation. Several aides indicated it's not clear at all what the plan is yet and said there's no sign of a bill at this point.

"I'd be shocked if we saw the text of anything until the second week in September," one House aide said.

This aide said there is some talk of attaching a debt ceiling bill to some other popular bill, such as one dealing with veterans, but the plan seemed to be unsettled when the House left for August recess last week.

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House Freedom Caucus narrows down debt ceiling demands - Washington Examiner

Last Wednesday evening, as the nation reeled from his shameful Twitter attack on transgender service members, President Donald Trump took his assault on equality one step further: He announced his nomination of Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback as ambassador at large for international religious freedom. The magnitude of the announcement fell largely under the nations radar. The exception was here in Brownbacks home state of Kansas, where his constituents have experienced firsthand the serious implications of such a nomination.

The American Civil Liberties Union takes no position either in support or opposition on presidential nominations of any kind, including this one. However, as someone who has had a front row seat for the war on equality that Brownback has tirelessly waged in Kansas throughout his entire political career, I feel compelled to shine a light on the destructive policies he has championed and likely plans to propagate on an international scale from his new platform.

Gov. Brownback proudly considers himself an expert on religious liberty issues. After his nomination was announced, he tweeted, Religious Freedom is the first freedom. The choice of what you do with your own soul. I am honored to serve such an important cause.

The problem? The governor has consistently and unapologetically misinterpreted the First Amendments guarantee of religious liberty. His religious freedom policies have not been about protecting an individuals right to decide when, where, how, and with whom to worship, as intended by the Constitution. Instead, they have been about giving people the ability to pick and choose whether they will respect the fundamental human rights of their fellow citizens, based on their own particular religious views. That approach is not only constitutionally and legally suspect, it also rejects our shared values of equality, freedom, and justice.

The discrimination that Gov. Brownback tolerates by cloaking it in the language of religious liberty discriminates against many groups, but LGBT Kansans have been the most consistently and systematically targeted group. Throughout his tenure as the nations most extreme anti-equality governor, Brownback has acted to strip LGBT Kansans of their rights and to protect no, encourage blatant discrimination against these individuals by businesses, universities, and government.

For years, Gov. Brownback and his administration fought to prevent same-sex marriage from being legally recognized in Kansas. Even after the ACLU of Kansas prevailed in litigation brought against the state to force it to recognize the freedom to marry, Brownback kept up his crusade against same-sex marriage. That does not distinguish him from many of the nations other governors. What does set him apart, though, is that he continued his opposition even after the U.S. Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states in June 2015. Gov. Brownbacks opposition was so extreme that a federal judge put the state on probation. Doubting that the state would treat same-sex couples fairly, a federal judge is monitoring every aspect of the states implementation of same-sex marriage for the next three years!

In February 2015, Gov. Brownback, without any warning, rescinded an executive order that had been enacted eight years earlier to protect state employees from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. In one fell swoop, he cruelly and recklessly ripped the security and safety of LGBT Kansans out from under their feet and dragged the entire state a major step backward on our path to achieving true equality under law. Thanks to the governor, in Kansas an LGBT state employee could be married over the weekend but fired on Monday for displaying a wedding photo at work.

Brownback struck again just a few months later, issuing a religious objection executive order allowing taxpayer-funded social service organizations to deny services to LGBT citizens. The implications of the order are jarring: A homeless shelter that receives a state contract or grant, for example, could refuse family housing to a gay couple with a child, or a foster care agency could refuse to place a child with a family member in a same-sex relationship. The governors enthusiastic support of a law designed to deprive certain segments of the population of services vital to survival is evidence of his misguided belief that religious liberty means the freedom to treat other people as second-class citizens.

But the governor could not, of course, rest after his attacks on Kansan adults and families. He next targeted LGBT college students with his Campus Religious Freedom Bill, which became law in March 2016. Under the law, public colleges and universities in Kansas are required to recognize and fund, with student fees and taxpayer dollars religious student associations, even those that discriminate in their membership. The law essentially creates a new right to public funding for religious student groups, including those that discriminate against LGBT people, women, African-Americans, students with disabilities, or anyone else. So long as the student groups discrimination is rooted in a religious belief, the law permits any form of discrimination at all and requires Kansas taxpayers to foot the bill!

Gov. Brownbacks record is clear. When he speaks about religious freedom, he is not using that phrase in the sense the Constitution intended. He does not mean the freedom to worship without the destructive intervention or interference of government. He does not actually mean the choice of what you do with your own soul. What he really means is that he believes you should have the right to discriminate against other people as long as there is a religious reason for doing so. What he really intends to do is to use the noble language of the Constitution, the deeply held value of religious freedom shared by Americans, and our strong conviction that government should never dictate what we think or believe in order to advance an extremist agenda that pits people against each other and devalues the basic human dignity of some Americans.

The irony of President Trumps nomination of one of the countrys leading proponents of intolerance to champion the cause of religious freedom is stark and unmistakable.

MICAH KUBIC is executive director of the ACLU of Kansas.

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Sam Brownback Is an Appalling Choice for Religious Freedom Ambassador - Advocate.com

The Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, won 4-3 in extra innings in the first game of Wednesdays doubleheader before dropping the nightcap, 5-1, against the River City Rascals at CarShield Field.

The Freedom (43-26) faced an early deficit in the first game, as Clint Freeman hit a RBI-double off Steve Hagen (5-4) in the second inning. But Florence tied the score in the third against Rascals (38-32) starter Dan Ludwig on a Taylor Oldham sacrifice fly that plated Austin Wobrock.

With the score tied at 1-1 in the top of the sixth inning, Andre Mercurio and Collins Cuthrell executed a double-steal, and catcher Mike Jurgellas throw to third was wild, allowing Mercurio to score the go-ahead run. Cuthrell scored on a Jordan Brower single.

Braxton Martinez homered in the bottom half to bring River City back within one run, and later, as the Freedom entered the bottom of the seventh three outs away from a win, Brandon Thomas led off with a game-tying home run over the tall right field wall. But in the eighth, consecutive doubles by Brower and Andrew Godbold put Florence back in the lead, 4-3, and Pete Perez overcame a pair of Rascals one-out singles to close out the win in the bottom of the inning.

Hagen earned the win in his Freedom debut, striking out five and walking only one while allowing seven hits over seven innings.

In the second game, the Freedom took a 1-0 second-inning lead against Reese Gregory. Brower reached on a fielders choice and advanced to third on a Godbold ground-rule double. Wobrock then scored Brower on a groundout to the shortstop.

But the lead would not hold, as Clint Freeman put the Rascals on top with a two-run homer to right-center in the bottom of the inning. The Rascals would not look back, adding three more runs in the third on a Paul Kronenfeld sacrifice fly, a RBI-triple by Jason Merjano and a Wobrock throwing error.

Florence would put at least one runner on base in three of the final five innings, but Gregory held the Freedom scoreless through the sixth while Cody Mincey finished the game with a perfect seventh.

The Freedom will look to salvage a series split in Thursdays finale. Right-hander Sam Brunner (0-0) will make a spot start for Florence, while right-hander Tim Koons (4-3) will pitch for River City. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. at CarShield Field.

The Florence Freedom are members of the independent Frontier League and play all home games at UC Health Stadium located at 7950 Freedom Way in Florence, KY.The Freedom can be found online at FlorenceFreedom.com, or by phone at 859-594-4487.

Florence Freedom

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Freedom split doubleheader with Rascals, go for series split before returning home this weekend - User-generated content (press release)...

India's so-called 'Censor Board' is no stranger to controversy, more so in recent times. A combination of sanskaar and socio-politics has made sure that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is always in the news, for deciding what Indian citizens can and cannot see.

With the controversy over Kushan Nandy's Babumoshai Bandookbaaz being the latest to erupt and spark an outrage, the one perspective that usually seems lost in the debate around censorship, is that of the filmmaker(s) - the minds, bodies and souls that have gone into making the film and putting it out there.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Babumoshai Bandookbaaz.

Here's the thing: Most filmmakers, particularly those making films without the backing of major studios and stars, are resigned to the sheer scale of the battle it is, to first, get your film funded; second, make your film (because a production of any size is an inevitable nightmare); and third, get it out there, for the world to see.

A hold up at the Censors' is par for the course, with full knowledge that the rules that define the scope and reach of the CBFC's powers are, at best, arbitrarilyimplemented.

Then, there is the additional problem of getting an 'A' certificate and still being asked to make cuts. In the case of Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, we're talking about a whopping 48 cuts. (News about the alleged misogyny experienced by a female producer of the room, at the hands of the Censor Board, is another debate altogether a systemic flaw that also deserves sustained efforts to reform.)

There is no doubt that the liberal stance in the censorship debate would be to have no censorship at all, just a certification. However, the lack of strong liberal outrage over Madhur Bhandarkars Indu Sarkaar, for instance, means that the outrage ends up being politically-driven, almost always.

Indu Sarkar.

The Congress party's supposed 'spontaneous' protest to Indu Sarkaar is as detrimental to freedom of expression, as the Pahlaj Nihalani-led Censor Board's assault on content that doesn't suit the BJP-led establishment's idea of what sanskaars India should receive from its cinema.

And stuck between these two political ideologies, is every filmmaker who has a story to tell, and the audience, which has the full freedom to choose what it watches.

Back during the Congress-led UPA days, Vivek Agnihotri's Buddha in a Traffic Jam was another film that got unforgivably delayed due to political machinations.

As a free-thinking filmmaker, I believe Agnihotri's film is a half-baked attempt at making a political point. But also as a free-thinking filmmaker, I believe he has the full right to make the film he wants. As per the Constitution, the government can help decide what age group the film is suitable for, so that the film can release as is, with appropriate certification.

Agreed, at best that sounds idealistic, at worst, that sounds downright naive. But it is with this naive idealism that every filmmaker steps out to make a film, and stifling that voice is a thorough disservice to the art and craft of cinema, a powerful tool to expose the Indian audience to all kinds of stories, ideas and ideologies.

Opining, debating and criticising a film through all kinds of media must be encouraged, once the film releases, as long as there is no physical violence.

The point behind every outrage on the CBFCs over-reach is that we strive as close towards this kind of open, informed environment for cinema. This is yet another desperate call for reason, with a promise that every such incident will continue to find resistance from filmmakers and true fans of cinema.

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Babumoshai Bandookbaaz: Pahlaj Nihalani-led CBFC has put freedom of expression in a traffic jam - Firstpost