Monthly Archives: August 2017

Vikings 1st-Team Offense Makes Preseason Progress in Seattle – Vikings.com

Posted: August 20, 2017 at 6:08 pm

SEATTLE If the preseason is designed for teams to show progress from week to week, the Vikings offense certainly achieved its mission Friday night.

A week after Minnesotas first-team offense mustered just 34 yards on total offense in three series against the Bills, the Vikings gained 123 yards against Seattle in the same number of series.

Two key pieces of Minnesotas offense said the performance was a step in the right direction.

"We came out and executed. We came out and played better than we did last week, said Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs said. We played a lot longer than we played last week, too, so it's good to be out there for a while, get in a rhythm.

Added Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford: Obviously you want to go out there and you want to play great every time you step on the field. You know, I think from last week to this week we definitely made some progress, though, and I think we're going in the right direction.

Diggs and Bradford had a strong rapport all night as the wide receiver led the team with four catches for 65 yards. The biggest chunk of his production came on Minnesotas first series as Diggs and Bradford connected on a 39-yard gain down the left sideline.

"You know, honestly it was a play that we've probably had in for a while but haven't run it and decided to run it tonight, Bradford said. And it worked. Obviously Diggs did a really nice job of just kind of feeling the soft spot once he kind of got in there to that second level.

The protection was great, added Bradford, who went 7-of-11 for 95 yards. We were able to kind of create a big play right there."

The Vikings settled for a field goal on their opening drive but picked up 76 yards of offense against a Seattle defense that has been among the leagues best over the past few seasons. Minnesota had two penalties in the red zone before the field goal.

"Obviously it was nice to come out and move the ball on that first drive the way we did, Bradford said. Then the two negative plays kind of set us back, which was something that was a little disappointing, given the fact that it's been a point of emphasis of ours in the offseason.

I think there were some positives, Bradford added. We'll go back and look at the tape and see exactly what went on out there, but there's definitely some things that we can build on.

Vikings rookie running back Dalvin Cook also showcased his skills by gaining 50 yards on eight touches. The second-round pick had seven carries for 40 yards and a reception for 10 yards.

Cooks best sequence on the ground came when he tallied 33 yards on three straight carries during Minnesotas second drive.

We just have to keep attacking the defense, Cook said. Were getting more comfortable in what were doing.

It definitely felt good breaking a long run, Cook added about his 15-yard gain at the end of the first quarter. It gives the O-line some confidence and (helps us) establish ourselves early.

Added Bradford: "It was awesome [to see Dalvin]. We've seen it all camp, just what he's been able to do. I think we all know how talented he is, but for him to be able to do that tonight, he was close to breaking a few for some really long runs. Even what he was able to do tonight, it was great to see."

The Vikings will resume preseason play on Aug. 27 at U.S. Bank Stadium against the San Francisco 49ers.

Bradford said its a chance for his unit to keep making progress.

"Obviously the third preseason game is usually kind of the most real, or it's kind of your dress rehearsal before the regular season, Bradford said. I think to get out there next week and get some extended action, get into a rhythm, go out there and put a few things together.

I'm not sure what our week will be this week, but if we do have a game plan, it will be nice to kind of jump into a game plan and hit the film a little bit more over the week, he added. And then go out there and put it on the field.

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Why Some Christians Are Calling White Supremacy ‘Satanic’ – HuffPost

Posted: at 6:05 pm

Over the weekend, the streets of Charlottesville filled with white supremacists and members of the alt-right movement bent on preserving a white culture and the white identity they feel to be under attack.

Their Unite the Right rally quickly devolved into violence as white supremacists clashed with counter-protestors, culminating in an attack by James Alex Fields, Jr., a 20-year-old Nazi sympathizer. Fields drove a car through the crowds, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others.

What happened in Charlottesville, according to some Christians,is the fruit of a Satanic ideology that preaches racial segregation and white dominance. These Christians claim that Satan and not Christ, as some groups assert is behind the movement to preserve and protect white culture against the forces of liberalism, globalization and multiculturalism.

Franklin Graham, a preacher known for espousing bigoted views toward immigrants, Muslims and members of the LGBTQ community, was quick to say Satan was behind the events in Charlottesville, though he did not refer to white supremacists specifically. In a Facebook post Sunday evening, Graham defended President Donald Trumps handling of the violence, saying Satan alone is to blame.

Really, this boils down to evil in peoples hearts, the evangelist wrote. Satan is behind it all. He wants division, he wants unrest, he wants violence and hatred. Hes the enemy of peace and unity.

In an op-ed for The Washington Post on Monday, prominent evangelical theologian Russell Moore expressed a similar read on what happened in Charlottesville.

White supremacy is Satanism, Moore asserted.Even worse, white supremacy is a devil-worship that often pretends that it is speaking for God.

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The Christian gospelasserts thatall nations derive from the same divine origins and that Jesus envisioned his own church as a force that would unite the globe, Moore argued.

White supremacy, he said, is fundamentally opposed to these biblical principles. And that should disturb Christians.

Moore described the Charlottesville protesters chanting ofblood and soil, a phrase inspired by Nazi ideology, as idolatry of the flesh, the human being seeking to deify his own flesh and blood as God.

The Scripture defines this attempt at human self-exaltation with a number: 666, he continued. White supremacy does not merely attack our society (though it does) and the ideals of our nation (though it does); white supremacy attacks the image of Jesus Christ himself.

This was, after all, what the Nazis were after too.Adolf Hitler himself was antagonistic toward religion, noted J. Lee Grady, former editor of Christian magazine, Charisma.

A huge majority of Germans, under the spell of this spiritual deception, supported Nazi policies, wrote Grady in an article published Wednesday. It is no surprise that many Christians in the 1940s viewed Hitler as the Antichrist.

What should trouble Christians most right now, Moore argued, isnt just the racist underpinnings of the alt-right but the fact that many white supremacists seek to promote a separate, white existencein the name of Jesus Christ.

White supremacists and alt-right advocates tend to be united around a deep belief in white difference, if not superiority, and a desire for racial segregation. Most are also aligned in their abhorrence for Judaism. Membership in some of the groups, including Identity Evropa and the National Socialist Movement, is limited to individuals who are white and non-Semitic.

Though not categorically united around Christianity, many of the alt-right and white supremacist groups that gathered in Charlottesville weave Christian language into their statements of belief. Some, like the Ku Klux Klan, assert overt Christian allegiance. As one Klan member explained his interpretation of Christian scriptureto Ilia Caldern, a reporter who is black and an immigrant, the Bibles mandate to love thy neighbor applies only to thy people. In his case, he said, that means white people.

On its official website, the KKK draws a distinction between what it calls mainstream Christians and committed Christians. The former bow to liberal theology, which presents Jesus as a good man whosemost important message is that we are to love everybody. The latter, with whom the KKK identify, hold fast to the beliefthat homosexuality is a sin, race mixing is a sin, abortion is a sin and obedience to civil authority above that of Godly authority is idolatry.

Others groups, including the Nationalistic Front and the Traditionalist Workers Party, speak of unifying the traditional faiths of the European people. Under that umbrella fall most denominations of Christianity, as well as agnostics and folk religionists.

Some groups speak more generally about family values and a shared understanding of the centrality of faith.

In fact, its in these broader descriptions of the alt-right vision that influential Christian theologian Tim Keller sees the most pernicious threat of white supremacy.

In an op-ed published on The Gospel Coalition website Tuesday, Keller wrote: Twentieth-century fascist movements that made absolute values out of Blut und Boden (Blood and Soil) ... also claimed to champion traditional family values and moral virtues over against the decadence of relativistic modern culture.

These ideologiescould and can still appeal to people within American Christian circles today through online efforts toradicalize people who are disaffected by moral decline in society.

We need to make those in our circles impervious to this toxic teaching, Keller wrote, or, perhap in other words, protect them from Satan.

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Noticed the cameras around town? They’re for the upcoming movie about a drug-fuelled weekend in Dublin – thejournal.ie

Posted: at 6:04 pm

Source: TheJournal.ie/YouTube

WHEN DUBLIN OLDSCHOOL first hit theatres in 2014 it was met with widespread acclaim.

The play written by and starring Emmet Kirwan (Sarah and Steve; Heartbreak) follows would-be DJ Jason (Kirwan) through a drug-fuelled weekend odyssey along the streets of Dublin.

Jason works in a record shop in the city centre. He has plans to be a top DJ but loves going on the session at the weekends: taking drugs, going to clubs and raves and generally just overdoing it.

The play follows Jason along his path of hedonism and self-destruction as he navigates through the weekend. Along the way in between raves, drug busts and longing for his ex-girlfriend Jason meets and reconnects with his estranged older brother Daniel (played by Ian Lloyd Anderson), a homeless drug addict.

Kirwan (left) and Anderson (right) in the promo for the Dublin Oldschool play.

The play was notable in that Kirwan and Anderson were the only two actors occupying a completely bare stage. Dublin and an entire cast assorted, well-sketched characters is brought alive by Jasons quickfire narration and the words and actions.

Fast-paced, descriptive poetry carries the audience along for a wild ride that is both a celebration of youthful hedonistic drug culture and poignant tale about family breakdown the dangers and sadness of addiction.

Fast forward three years later to this week and Kirwan and a cast of youthful actors were wedged into Anseo bar on Camden Street, along with a full production team.

TheJournal.iegot a behind-the-scenes look as shooting has commenced on a movie version of Dublin Oldschool, which will film in locations across Dublin and Wicklow for four weeks.

From play to movie

Kirwan and Anderson reprise their roles as the two lost brothers, but alongside them now will be a full cast each playing one of the excellent side characters.

These are people like Dave The Rave a posh sounding Dublin drug dealer with a one track mind for getting out of his mind.

The side acts are all brought brilliantly to life by Anderson onstage, and aside from the strong emotional centre of the brothers relationship provide the play with its best moments.

Kirwan (left) and director Dave Tynan on set. Source: Allen Kiely

Sarah Greene (Penny Dreadful/Ransom), Sena Kerslake (A Date for Mad Mary/Cant Cope, Wont Cope), Mark OHalloran (Adam & Paul/Historys Future/The Virtues) and Stephen Jones (Red Rock/Love Hate) will all feature in the movie.

It will be interesting to see how the ensemble cast adapt and make each character their own.

The movie is directed by Dave Tynan (who co-wrote it), a longtime collaborator with Kirwan.

The mens partnership won much attention earlier this year for the short spoken word film Heartbreak which was written and performed by Kirwan and directed by Tynan.

The video tells the story Young One (played byJordanne Jones) a young teenager who becomes a mother and encounters hardship and hypocrisy as she raises her child.

Heartbreak went viral and won acclaim for both men, with Kirwans words To stand in awe of mn becoming a rally cry for the womens rights movement and the Repeal the Eighth campaign.

Tynan and Kirwan also collaborated on the excellent Just Saying spoken word video way back in 2012, when the recession still seemed like it was many years from ending.

Just Saying written and directed by Tynan and performed by Kirwan as he walks through Dublin at night may give a glimpse into what the pair are looking to accomplish with Dublin Oldschool.

Here we have the same themes of a lost youth culture, references to weekends of drink and drugs, and the whole thing underpinned as Dublin Oldschool is by a deep but conflicted love of Dublin city and all that goes with it.

With a budget this time of 1 million from the Irish Film Board and Windmill Lane Studios, the duo will have a bit more scope to expand on and convey their vision in the feature length film.

The movie is bound to differ in many ways from the play, and is Emmet Kirwans first feature length film. Speaking to the press outside Anseo this week, he was confident about pulling off the translation from stage to screen.

I dont want to give too much away but weve kind of distilled the essence of the play into the film script, he said.

You get to show all the things that youve only talked about.

The good stuff in the play will still be in the film especially the words.

Distribution and sales for Dublin Oldschool are handled by Element Pictures and the film is due for cinema release in 2018.

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Got past clearing? Now comes the gap year and it’s not just about fun – The Times

Posted: at 6:04 pm

Time off before university used to mean a non-stop party, but the jobs market demands more now

In years gone by, gap years meant 12 months of full-moon parties in Thailand and cannabis-infused lassi in India. But as students contemplate their future after last weeks A-level results, those considering travelling are taking their break more seriously: these days the gap year is all about your CV.

Its been a really noticeable change, says Tim Fryer of student travel specialist STA. Weve seen a shift away from a gap year centred around hedonism. Now those taking time out after A-levels, or after their degree, are choosing their trip with one eye on what theyre going to tell their future employers. Theyre looking for skills and qualities they can demonstrate. Its almost a stepping stone on your career.

Emma Beynon of the gap-year organiser

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Nothing is off-limits in the Party’s anti-graft efforts – Shanghai Daily (subscription)

Posted: at 6:04 pm

AS the 96-year-old Communist Party of China (CPC) prepares to hold its 19th national congress later this year, the world is watching how the long-ruling party will remain vigorous in the future.

In fact, the CPCs efforts in self-reform since its 18th national congress held five years ago have provided answers to that question.

Xi Jinping, who took office as general secretary of the CPC Central Committee in 2012, has led the efforts to fight corruption, calling on the whole Party to stay fully alert and describing corruption as a threat to the Partys very survival.

Nothing is off-limits in the anti-corruption efforts, and zero tolerance has been shown toward corruption, Xi said at the seventh plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) earlier this year.

On December 4, 2012, the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee convened a meeting to deliberate on the eight-point frugality code to address si feng, or four forms of decadence formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance.

According to the CCDI, as of the end of May, a total of 170,400 violations against the eight-point frugality code had been investigated across the country, with 231,100 people punished, including 20 ministerial-level Party officials.

Yang Xiaodu, deputy secretary of the CCDI, said, The tests we are facing now are no less challenging than those in war times, only in different forms. If our Party members cant resist the risks of corruption, they could end up using power for illegitimate purposes.

On April 19, 2013, the Politburo decided to launch education activities within the Party.

The three stricts and three earnests campaign, advanced by Xi in 2014, urges officials to be strict in morals, power and self-discipline, and to be honest in decisions, business and behavior.

The Party also advanced a campaign for members at all levels to study the theoretical and practical issues of Party building in an effort to strengthen ideology and Communist beliefs while serving the people.

The Party has shown hardened resolve in the fight against corruption when the Central Committee decided to investigate and punish senior officials for discipline violations, including Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, Guo Boxiong, Xu Caihou, Ling Jihua and Su Rong.

The Party not only exercises self-discipline within the country, but also reaches abroad to hunt down fugitives.

Yang Xiuzhu, who was once number one on the list of Chinas top 100 fugitives released in an Interpol red notice, turned herself in to the country in November 2016 after 13 years on the run.

So far, over 40 fugitives on the Interpol red list have either voluntarily returned or been extradited to China, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

In November 2013, the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee required innovation in the disciplinary inspection system, focusing on problems related to corruption, Party rules and regulations as well as the Partys leadership.

The CPC has carried out inspection work covering CPC organizations in provincial-level regions, central CPC and government organs and major state-owned enterprises, according to Li Xiaohong, an official with the central inspection group.

According to the CCDI, from 2012 to the end of 2016, 240 centrally administered officials were investigated, with 223 receiving punishments. A total of 57,000 Party members took the initiative to confess to their wrongdoings in 2016.

Meanwhile, the National Peoples Congress Standing Committee, the top legislature, approved a pilot reform program to establish an integrated supervision system that will see the establishment of local supervisory commissions at three levels province, city and county.

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Kerala Chief Minister presents MC joseph award to litterateur MK Sanu – The New Indian Express

Posted: at 6:04 pm

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan greets litterateur M K Sanu at the Yukthivadi M C Joseph Award presentation function in Kochi on Saturday | K Shijith

KOCHI:Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday said those who came to power after swearing allegiance to the Constitution are now propagating superstitions, ill-practices, myths and fabricated tales. He was speaking after presenting the Yukthivadi M C Joseph Award to litterateur M K Sanu here. Calling for a joint fight against the covert moves to revive casteism as part of the wider goal to establish a theocracy, the Chief Minister said the rationalists should join hands with socio-political movements to rid society of ill-practices and superstition.The rationalists cannot take people into confidence unless their initiative reflects on the socio-political sphere.

The role of rationalism should not be limited to discussions on the existence of God, Pinarayi said. What the Communist movement suggested is rationalism should not be merely an idea, but it should have a socio-political impact.What human beings need is not a foolproof theory to substantiate the non-existence of God, but his daily bread, he said.

Pinarayi said M C Joseph had the capability to provide logical answers and establish his point of view on questions related to rationalism. He was one of those who fearlessly fought superstitions and ill- practices of his time. Such bravado energises posterity also, the CM said.

Dr K S David presided over the function. K V Thomas MP, CPM district chief P Rajeev, GCDA chairman C N Mohanan, Sreeni Pattathanam, P Raghavan and Jacob Laser spoke.

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Review: In ‘Good Karma Hospital,’ Some Familiar TV Templates – New York Times

Posted: at 6:04 pm

Photo Amrita Acharia plays a doctor in The Good Karma Hospital, beginning Monday on AcornTV. Credit Chris Burgess/Acorn TV

No fancy tests are needed to map the pop-cultural DNA of The Good Karma Hospital, a British dramedy whose six-episode first season arrives Monday on AcornTV.

Its about 50 percent postcolonial escape fantasy, in which an uptight Briton moves to a tropical outpost of the former empire and learns to balance Western rationalism with Eastern superstition, emotion and ease. The markers include crazy drivers, brightly dressed crowds and nervousness about hygiene. Comparables are The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (note the similarity in the titles) and the Caribbean detective series Death in Paradise.

Its also about 50 percent medical melodrama, with a young doctor arriving at a new hospital and having to prove herself. Here the tropes include the grouchy chief, the conceited and sexist male surgeon, the sudden and difficult childbirth. And the precedents are Greys Anatomy and Northern Exposure. (Like the protagonist in Northern Exposure, the physician here is misinformed about where shell be working.)

Good Karma plays a small variation on these formulas by making its hero, Dr. Ruby Walker (Amrita Acharia), Anglo-Indian rather than white. After a bad breakup, she flees Britain for a struggling hospital in southern India shes both going somewhere exotic and coming home. She speaks the language (with an accent) but can still be surprised by the local dilemmas, such as the question of whether to let a female baby with a heart defect die.

There is no clash of cultures that cant be mitigated through pure sentimentality. If Good Karma Hospital is your kind of drug, youll want to mainline it. The coastal locations (filmed in Sri Lanka) are picturesque, the Bollywoodish music is catchy and the performers, including Amanda Redman of New Tricks as the hospitals overseer, are ingratiating.

As a bonus, two much-loved actors show up as the parents at a destination wedding and stick around for the season. The father is Philip Jackson, Inspector Japp in Agatha Christies Poirot, and the mother is Phyllis Logan, in her first role since Mrs. Hughes in Downton Abbey. The hospital may be in India, but if you look past the palm trees you could just as well be in the English countryside.

The Good Karma Hospital Beginning Monday on AcornTV

A version of this review appears in print on August 21, 2017, on Page C2 of the New York edition with the headline: A Doctor Proves Her Mettle.

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Empiricism as Foundational – Patheos (blog)

Posted: at 6:04 pm

I have talked before about the empiricism vs rationalism debate that has taken place historically and presently in philosophical circles. Today, I am going to explore this a little further.

As I said before

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophystatesthat rationalists adopt at least one of three statements:

The Intuition/Deduction Thesis: Some propositions in a particular subject area, S, are knowable by us by intuition alone; still others are knowable by being deduced from intuited propositions.

The Innate Knowledge Thesis: We have knowledge of some truths in a particular subject area, S, as part of our rational nature.

The Innate Concept Thesis: We have some of the concepts we employ in a particular subject area, S, as part of our rational nature.

We eitherknowthings to be true intuitively, or as part of being rational agents, or the empirical may trigger concepts already embedded within our nature. Of course, one weakness here is in establishing what intuitionactually is.

Whilst other ideas and theses are closely connected to rationalism, or are often associated with it, I will keep it simple by only involving the above three.

One question that is often touted about such rationalism is the epistemic warrant: if someone uses intuition about a certain proposition, then it can be seen as lacking reason, and is thus potentially less justifiable, lacking in being warranted. How does an intuitive claim become a warranted claim?

For the empiricist, the following must be true in some way:

The Empiricism Thesis: We have no source of knowledge in S or for the concepts we use in S other than sense experience.

The source of knowledge for us is claimed to bea posteriori(from the latter)in its entirety, at source. Things may become intuitive, and even lacking reason, but they are as a result of us using our senses over time to formulate our propositional knowledge, and our systems that we use to navigate through the world. As the SEP continues:

Empiricism about a particular subject rejects the corresponding version of the Intuition/Deduction thesis and Innate Knowledge thesis. Insofar as we have knowledge in the subject, our knowledge isa posteriori, dependent upon sense experience. Empiricists also deny the implication of the corresponding Innate Concept thesis that we have innate ideas in the subject area. Sense experience is our only source of ideas. They reject the corresponding version of the Superiority of Reason thesis. Since reason alone does not give us any knowledge, it certainly does not give us superior knowledge. Empiricists generally reject the Indispensability of Reason thesis, though they need not. The Empiricism thesis does not entail that we have empirical knowledge. It entails that knowledge can only be gained,if at all, by experience. Empiricists may assert, as some do for some subjects, that the rationalists are correct to claim that experience cannot give us knowledge. The conclusion they draw from this rationalist lesson is that we do not know at all.

The thing is, we can sit here and wax lyrical about how wonderful rationality is, and how great it is to use logic, but unless these things have a pragmatic use then they are kind of meaningless. The question that we really need to ask is, How doI measure how good or useful logic is? or How doI evaluate a rational argument?

The answer, it appears, alwaysdefers to some kind of empirical appeal.

Take this as an example.

Its me and you, reader, and were living together. I write something really nasty about you on a post-it note. We might say that this has some moral value. However, now imagine that I put that post-it in my pocket where it disappears. You never find out about it, and I instantly forget I wrote it, and no one else in the world is any the wiser. What this means is that that terribly nasty note has no impact, no empirical legacy, on the world. There are no consequences whatsoever to writing that. As a moral action, the writing of that note now becomes a-moral it has no moral value. It seems to me that something can only have moral value if it has some kind of effect on reality. The only way we can know the effect something has on reality is to experience it in some way, to empirically sense it.

The same can be said of logic. Why is it good that a proposition adheres to logical rules such that it is rational? Well, the goodness of logic s surely measured in how we can use it. If it has no application to reality then it is rather meaningless. Rationality is only reveredbecause of what it can achieve. If rationality had no effect on reality, then it could not be seen as good (in a sense that good means to work well or have use).

If things only have exist in abstraction without any ramification on the world in any way, then they become impotent or meaningless. At the very minimum, beliefs and propositions and rational arguments have n effect on the psychology of the thinker.

It appears to me that empiricism lies at the heart of the consideration and evaluation of all things.

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ACLU takes heat for its free-speech defense of white …

Posted: at 6:03 pm

The ACLU has been here before.

In a statement posted Tuesday night, ACLU executive director Anthony Romero insisted hateful, bigoted speech must be aired.

"Racism and bigotry will not be eradicated if we merely force them underground," Romero wrote. "Equality and justice will only be achieved if society looks such bigotry squarely in the eyes and renounces it."

Stacy Sullivan, ACLU associate director of strategic communications, said Wednesday that Romero was trying to answer outside critics as well as ACLU board members, donors and staff working for racial justice and concerned about the representation of white supremacists.

In his statement, Romero referred to the ACLU's history of representing Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and other detestable groups through the years and tacitly acknowledged the current dissent within ACLU ranks over its litigation ensuring that demonstrators could gather last Saturday in a downtown Charlottesville park.

"The violence of this weekend was not caused by our defense of the First Amendment," Romero wrote, countering critics who have argued that the ACLU's effort to prevent Charlottesville officials from moving the protest out of downtown contributed to the violent confrontations.

Romero's piece was posted Tuesday, soon after Trump had prompted public outrage with his remarks at Trump Tower in New York City about "blame on both sides." Trump's response to the rally of white supremacists and neo-Nazis has become arguably the most contentious of his turbulent seven-month presidency. He has been reluctant to denounce the white supremacists that started it all, instead saying there was blame all around.

The ACLU represented Jason Kessler, organizer of Unite the Right, as the group fought the city's attempt last week to revoke its permit to gather in a downtown Charlottesville park to protest removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The city had raised safety concerns about the number of demonstrators expected to attend.

US District Court Judge Glen Conrad, who rejected the revocation, noted that the city had left in place permits for counter-protesters near the downtown park and appeared to be targeting white nationalist Kessler for his views.

Some people, including Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, leveled blame at the ACLU for the resulting violence.

"The city of Charlottesville asked for that to be moved out of downtown Charlottesville to a park about a mile and a half away -- a lot of open fields," McAuliffe said on NPR Monday. "That was the place that it should've been. We were, unfortunately, sued by the ACLU. And the judge ruled against us."

McAuliffe contended the result in the middle of downtown was "a powder keg."

Virginia ACLU executive director Claire Gastanaga countered in a statement after McAuliffe's interview, "Our lawsuit challenging the city to act constitutionally did not cause violence nor did it in any way address the question whether demonstrators could carry sticks or other weapons at the events."

She said Charlottesville officials had failed to make the case ahead of time that danger at the downtown park was imminent.

Romero said he thought the Virginia chapter "made the right call here."

"Some have argued that we should not be putting resources toward anything that could benefit the voices of white supremacy," he said. "But we cannot stand by silently as the government repudiates the principles we have fought for -- and won -- in the courts when it violates clearly established First Amendment rights."

Romero referred to the ACLU's nearly century-long history of defending unpopular causes. One of the most prominent instances came in 1978 when the organization represented a neo-Nazi group that wanted to march in the Chicago suburb of Skokie, home to many Holocaust survivors.

As is happening today, some ACLU members said they would resign or stop donating. The ACLU's Sullivan acknowledged that some staffers were upset with the Virginia ACLU's legal work and that the organization was concerned about donors turning away but described the current criticism as "muted" compared to the ACLU's "Skokie moment."

By 6 p.m. Wednesday, 24 hours after Romero's post had gone up, it had generated 75 responses. Most were anonymous and no unanimity emerged among the views. Some commended the ACLU's unequivocal support for free speech. Some said the organization had wrongly ignored crucial safety concerns. Some were torn.

Some referenced the deaths of Heyer and two state troopers killed in a helicopter crash as they helped monitor the Charlottesville scene.

Said one anonymous ACLU member, "I fully support the ACLU's defense of free speech rights, including groups such as the KKK, neo Nazis and other hate groups. However, I am deeply disturbed by the ACLU's decision to oppose local officials in Virginia who sought not to prevent the recent Charlottesville rally but to locate it in a place that would make it easier to keep all in attendance safe. ... (T)hree people are now dead and I cannot escape the thought that my donations may have contributed indirectly to their deaths."

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Boston "free speech" rally ends after counter-protesters take …

Posted: at 6:03 pm

BOSTON --Thousands of demonstrators chanting anti-Nazi slogans converged Saturday on downtown Boston, dwarfing a small group of conservatives who cut short a "free speech rally" in a boisterous repudiation of white nationalism, just a week after racially tinged bloodshed in Virginia.

Police confined a small group of "free speech" protesters to the Parkman Bandstand on historic Boston Common as they blocked off the massive counter-protests, CBS Boston reports. The permit issued for the rally came with severe restrictions, including a ban on backpacks, sticks and anything that could be used as a weapon.

Boston's police commissioner, William B. Evans, said an estimated 40,000 people attended the counter-protests and there was very little property damage.

The Boston police department tweeted there were 33 arrests.

A large crowd of people march towards the Boston Commons to protest the Boston Free Speech Rally in Boston, MA, U.S., August 19, 2017.

STEPHANIE KEITH / REUTERS

The Boston Police Department announced at 1:30 p.m. that the "free speech" rally had ended. Police vans escorted conservatives out of the area, and angry counter-protesters scuffled with armed officers trying to maintain order.

Police in riot gear struggled to push the large crowd of counter-protesters away from the area, pushing them back in the area of Boylston and Tremont Streets.

On Twitter, the police department asked "individuals" in the area to refrain from throwing urine, bottles and other "harmful projectiles" at officers. They later confirmed that rocks were thrown at officers.

Several images on social media showed at least one counter-protester burning a Confederate flag.

A protester burns the Confederate flag in Boston on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2017.

Jordan Presley/Twitter

President Trump tweeted on Saturday,applauding the police presence and their responsein Boston. "Looks like many anti-police agitators in Boston. Police are looking tough and smart! Thank you," he wrote.

In a separate tweet, Mr. Trump said, "Great job by all law enforcement officers and Boston Mayor [Marty Walsh]."

He also applauded protesters who were "speaking out against bigotry and hate," saying the country would "soon come together as one!"

Organizers of the "free speech" event had publicly distanced themselves from the neo-Nazis, white supremacists and others who fomented violence in Charlottesville on Aug. 12. A woman was killed at that Unite the Right rally, and scores of others were injured, when a car plowed into counter-demonstrators.

Aerial footage shows where police confined a small group of "free speech" protesters as they blocked off massive counter-demonstrations in Boston.

CBS Boston

John Medlar of the Boston Free Speech Coalition, which organized the event, is a 23-year-old student at Fitchburg State College. He told CBS News correspondent DeMarco Morgan that his group would not tolerate hate speech.

"Reasonable people on both sides who are tolerant enough to not resort to violence when they hear something they disagree with, reasonable people who are actually willing to listen to each other, need to come together and start promoting that instead of letting all of these fringe groups on the left and the right determine what we can and cannot say," Medlar said.

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Police officers in riot gear clashed with protesters following a planned "free speech" rally in Boston on Saturday.Thousands of counter-protester...

Some counter-protesters dressed entirely in black and wore bandannas over their faces. They chanted anti-Nazi and anti-fascism slogans, and waved signs that said: "Love your neighbor," ''Resist fascism" and "Hate never made U.S. great." Others carried banners that read: "Smash white supremacy."

TV cameras showed a group of boisterous counter-protesters on the Common chasing a man with a Trump campaign banner and cap, shouting and swearing at him. But other counter-protesters intervened and helped the man safely over a fence into the area where the conservative rally was to be staged. Black-clad counter-protesters also grabbed an American flag out of an elderly woman's hands, and she stumbled and fell to the ground.

Police Commissioner William Evans said Friday that 500 officers would be deployed to separate the two groups.

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