Daily Archives: November 28, 2021

Enes Kanter plans to change his last name to Freedom after becoming a U.S. citizen on Monday.

BOSTON (AP) Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter is changing his name to Enes Kanter Freedom to celebrate becoming a United States citizen.

Kanters manager, Hank Fetic, told The Associated Press that Kanter is will have his citizenship oath ceremony on Monday afternoon and at the same time will complete his legal name change.

The news was first reported by the Athletic.

Kanter, 29, is a native of Turkey who has been an outspoken critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdoan and the Turkish government. Kanter has said his passport was revoked by his homeland in 2017.

The 2011 first-round draft pick has also taken to social media to support Tibetan independence and criticize Chinese treatment of the Uyghur people. During games, he has worn shoes decorated to say Free Tibet and argue for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

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Enes Kanter to change last name to Freedom after becoming U.S. citizen on Monday - NBA.com

On justice and freedom

Every time justice is denied, everyone loses a bit of freedom. In the case of Kyle Rittenhouse, failure to hold him accountable for three shootings, including two deaths, degrades freedom provided by the U.S. Constitutions First Amendment (First of the Bill of Rights), related to the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Some will argue that the assembly was less than peaceful, however, there was no justification to enter an unarmed demonstration with a weapon of war.The only expected outcome was to kill people.

Without justice, there is no freedom. Those who are free have an obligation and responsibility to protect freedom for all. Failure results in the loss of freedom for everyone.Will future protestors feel obligated to arm themselves?

For some in the extreme right, civil war is the object.Those in the extreme right are not conservatives by any definition with which I am familiar.Conservatives protect the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution.

Conservatives abhor the Jan. 6insurrection, defend those attacked for speaking the truth, and work to promote the general welfare (read the U.S. Constitution).

Walt Kangas, South Yarmouth

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Letter to the Editor: On justice and freedom - Cape Cod Times

More than 600 million years ago, some of what we now call Boston was part of a chain of volcanoes whose lava flows hardened into a rock called rhyolite. The volcano chain later fused with the North American continent, and the volcanoes eroded over time into more modest landscape features like the Blue Hills and Lynn uplands. Far more recently but still thousands of years ago Massachusett Tribe members in the region began to quarry what remained of that beautiful volcanic rock from an outcropping in present-day Mattapan, harvesting it by hand and carving it into spears and knife tips.

Now the descendants of those Massachusett people want to see the city designate the ancient Mattapan rhyolite quarry, a 2.5-acre parcel across from the Jubilee Christian Church also known as the Babson-Cookson tract, as a city landmark. Its a worthwhile endeavor that would recognize an unsung part of Bostons history, while giving the Massachusett Tribe the chance to share more of their ancestors story with the broader public.

Hundreds of stone tools and weapons found at archaeological sites across the Commonwealth, including nearly all the stone fragments found at a Massachusett site at First Church in Roxbury, have been traced to the quarry in Mattapan including some dating back as far as 7,500 years ago. Known to archaeologists as Mattapan banded rhyolite, the stone varies in color from deep maroon to white or pale green striped with pinks, depending on its stage of weathering. According to oral histories of the Massachusett, rhyolite was considered highly valuable, and its dispersal to many sites suggests it was traded for other goods.

This quarry was active before the construction of Stonehenge or the pyramids of Egypt, said Joseph Bagley, Bostons city archaeologist, in a Nov. 9 city Landmarks Commission hearing where he spoke as a designee of the Massachusett Tribe. If the city makes the landmark designation, the Massachusett descendants of the original quarry-harvesters would seek to help manage the site and to educate the public about its importance.

The city will soon commission a study of the historic significance of the site, after which public comments will open. The landmark designation would elevate the city-owned quarrys status to that of historic sites like Boston Common and the Old State House, which could create more public awareness of the role the Massachusett have played in Bostons history. It could also help Bostonians and tourists learn a little more about the science of the ground beneath their feet. Separately, the city will determine whether to protect the tract as an urban wild, which would prevent it from being developed.

Boston is obsessed with its colonial and revolutionary-era history. A new landmark that surfaces both the deep geological history and the Indigenous history that predates the nations birth gives the city a chance to embrace a wider and no less remarkable view of its past. Thats why the landmarks commission, City Council, and mayor should give this piece of ancient Boston history its due.

Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us on Twitter at @GlobeOpinion.

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Beyond the Freedom Trail, Boston history rocks - The Boston Globe

Jacoblund / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Men in skirts were once nothing special. Yet the toxic powers of the patriarchy tightened the grip on Western culture, and suddenly gender expressions like "guys in skirts" became a statement of protest and a dangerous line to cross. After I came out as bisexual, I had enough with this convention, and I crossed the line.

There's a moment after you finally come out to the people closest to you, where you feel invincible. It's brief, but beautiful. That pesky padlock holding your closet door shut breaks finally, and now you are free. You're free to move differently in spaces because you're no longer living for others' insecurities. The next step in my journey was my gender expression.

The binary constantly haunts me. The way I grew up, little boys should be wary of even wearing a shade of purple. I was taught boys like girls, girls wear dresses, and I should be interested in sports like football. It's dangerous to detour this ideology in a conservative city like my hometown of Bakersfield, California. None of this made sense to me since I found myself attracted to boys and girls at a very young age. I think nothing rests in the middle of any circumstance, including my sexuality. How I define my attraction and sexuality is my business. I feel the same about my gender expression. Kids shouldn't have to choose between monster trucks or baby dolls. Adults shouldn't have to decide to wear pleated pants or a pleated skirt. Besides, in what world is forcing your kid to play with muscle-bound G.I. Joes in tight uniforms going to make him straighter?

Bisexuality is the romantic or sexual attraction toward males, females, or more than one gender. It includes attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity. But, different people define it in many ways.

Gender expression is how someone expresses their gender identity through their attitude, appearance, or dress.

Story continues

Red Table Talk / Via media.giphy.com

If my bisexuality is fluid, what if I could wear what I wanted when I wanted, wherever I wanted? The conventional rules never made sense, so it was my chance to throw them out once and for all. I enjoyed every element of my being free from the confines of a binary. Men everywhere traditionally wear skirts like the Scottish kilt, the Japanese hakama, or the sarong of Asia and Africa. What could go wrong if I put on a dress?

So, I put on a skirt, and just like that, my brief moment of invincible peace was gone. Damn.

Remember that iconic moment in one of the worst years of millennial existence when Harry Styles became the first man to wear a dress on the cover of Vogue in 2020? I know he wasn't the first celebrity man to wear a dress. (The internet tried to cancel people over this fact.) Yet, it marked a pivotal moment in popular culture. Harry's magazine spread was a modern fashion statement and accepted. It was that punky Gucci jacket and the Little House on the Prairie blue dress combo that became the inspiration for my skirt debut, but not the moment that gave me courage.

To courage, I credit stage and television actor Billy Porter. I can pinpoint the day and time when I watched him walk down the red carpet in that billowing, black tuxedo dress, gliding across the red felt like rainbow royalty. Porter was a Broadway fixture quickly on the rise to become a television icon. He wasn't just a comedian looking for a laugh or a screaming rockstar searching for shock value. At this moment, it was more than just a protest or a punchline. That dress was for no one else but Billy Porter. As an American Black man in a dress, we face a different hostility based on our culture and upbringing. But, now I felt prepared for my big moment in a dress.

In the Spring of 2021, I attended my first gay wedding. No opportunity was more fitting than this to wear my brand new Hot Topic pleated, plaid skirt. I showed up in a velvet blazer, Linkin Park shirt, and my new favorite clothing item the plaid skirt. I was a man in a dress, celebrated for my unconventional choice. I wore the skirt, finally as free on the outside as I felt on the inside. Able to show off my Megan Thee Stallion knees at ease, I felt like toxic heteronormative standards didn't predetermine my image for the first time.

When midnight struck, my queer-filled Cinderella moment came to an end. I quickly remembered whatever inclusion happens at a gay wedding stays at a gay wedding. In a wedding full of gays, lesbians, and LGBTQ+ supportive family and friends, I was the belle of the nonconforming ball. I forgot what hate was waiting for me on the outside, and it nearly crushed me.

The veil of my masculine-dominant bisexuality faded like my follower count as family and friends one by one dropped me like an old, stale skittle falling from the sky in a '90s commercial. The skirt was too far. As a bisexual Black man, I walk a very fine of what's acceptable or what can change the narrative of my sexuality through expression. If I dress too masculine, I'm on the down-low. If I dress too feminine, I'm gay. We should be free to wear what we like without critical judgment. Instead, impossible standards force us to an unattainable image of the perfect man or woman. Bullying, harassment, and violence against people based on their gender expression are increasing problems now that cyberbullying has entered the chat in the last few decades. How you decide to express yourself has become a gateway to others to voice their fear and ridicule of what they don't understand. Even more so, predominant black culture in media is plagued by unnecessary rules rooted in homophobia.

If I'm going to cross the line and step into my freedom of expression, I will be met with opposition. I must make the choice to embrace my identity knowing the unattainable standards, emasculation conspiracies, and hate will be used against me. The choice to wear the skirt will be a protest.

In April 2021, Kid Cudi wore a floral dress designed by Off White's Virgil Abloh during his "Sad People" performance from his 2020 album Man on the Moon III: The Chosen. Inspired by Kurt Cobain, Kid Cudi stated that it was "rock and roll" to wear the dress and received backlash. Billy Porter and Harry Styles gave me courage, but moments like this gave me a new purpose. There was no escaping the hate. The price for living in my truth left me vulnerable. If I was going to survive this journey, I needed to channel this "rock and roll" energy.

Jersey Shore / MTV / Via media.giphy.com

There's something evolutionary about sitting at rock bottom. Between the moments of extreme pain, you have a sense of clarity where you look up and realize you know better, and getting back to that good place won't be as hard the second time around. Whether it's Billy Porter serving looks on the red carpet, Harry Styles setting trends on the cover of Vogue, or the revolutionary Tilda Swinton rocking a tuxedo better than any being on Earth, we must embrace our individuality and expression. I refuse to allow hatred to monitor the volume of my truth, and I'll wear a dress as loud and nonbinary as I want!

I put my shame on layaway, bought three more skirts, a few sets of knee-high socks (rainbow pair included), and never looked back at the haters. My gender expression extends who I am and doesn't change anything about who I am inside. Are a lot of closed-minded people going to have a problem with that? Maybe? Is it going to stop me? Nope. I had a taste of freedom, and I'm never going back!

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I Wore A Skirt And Found A New Sense of Freedom, But The Patriarchy Lost Its Mind - Yahoo Lifestyle

I think in fairness to people too, a lot of people might still just have an asymptomatic infection. And thats the worry if theyre potentially exposing other vulnerable members of their own family.

She said there was an increased risk of acquiring an infection at freedom protests given they bring large groups of people together who are more likely to be unvaccinated. The hospitalisation of one of the unvaccinated attendees highlighted the risk.

Outdoors is safer, but its not as safe as we like to think if youre all crowded, if its not a particularly breezy day, and youre not wearing masks.

It just shows that when you have a large number of cases, people that dont fit the profile that most people have in their head which is someone whos very elderly or someone whos got all these other you know comorbidities that it actually can impact anybody, she said.

While the protests have been held outside, the fact that most people dont wear masks and are closely packed together increases the risk of infection, Professor Bennett said.

If you cant keep your distance from people ... if youre mixing very closely with other people, particularly when youre crowding around listening to someone making a speech, if its not a very breezy day, if youre not wearing masks, all those things we know with Delta can lend themself to outdoor transmission, she said.

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And if people are calling out and cheering, you just add to that possibility ... They only have to stay there for a minute.

Police say 20,000 attended the most recent protest on Saturday, with the group marching through the CBD to condemn vaccine mandates, pandemic legislation and other health measures introduced by the Andrews government.

More protest action is planned for this week, with a march from Parliament to Flinders Street Station planned for Saturday, and a convoy from Melbourne to Ballarat, where a rally is planned for Sunday.

On Monday morning, people were camped outside Parliament House giving haircuts to people regardless of their vaccination status as part of a protest against the vaccinate mandate. Currently, Victorians must be fully vaccinated to attend a hairdresser or beauty service.

Victoria recorded 1007 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and three deaths, as health authorities investigated a suspected case of the Omicron strain of coronavirus.

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Melbourne freedom protesters test positive for COVID-19, one in hospital - The Age

Currently, no Catholic doctor can be compelled to perform gender transition surgery, and Catholic hospitals can refuse requests for gender reassignment from a transgender person. They are also not forced to perform abortions or hire abortion doctors. The Biden administration wants to change all that.

The attack is coming from the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) leading the charge.

A leaked OCR draft brief to the HHS indicates that the Biden administration plans to repeal the Trump administration's policies governing religious freedom, including conscience rights.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra wants to remove the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). In his capacity as attorney general of California, he had sued the Little Sisters of the Poor for resisting the Obama administration's HHS mandate, in an attempt to force nuns to include abortion-inducing drugs in their health plans.

The OCR argues that the Trump administration had taken an expansive view of the use of RFRA that has had negative effects on underserved communities. In other words, attempts by gay and transgender activists to impose their secular vision on institutions were blocked by the previous administration.

Senator James Lankford (R-OK) has challenged the Biden administration on this issue. But more news has just been released that shows how things have only gotten worse.

Becerra seeks to remove a wide range of religious freedom exemptions that lawmakers and courts have granted. Documents obtained by the Catholic Benefits Association show a true symbiosis between the HHS and left-wing activist organizations, the most important of which is the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

Their success depends on the destruction of religious freedom exemptions put in place by courts, legislators and administrative agencies. More than any other entity, it is the Catholic institutions which suffer the most severe attacks.

If they succeed, Catholic doctors and hospitals will lose their autonomy. They will either have to shut down or comply with the administrations anti-Catholic standards. For example, Catholic hospitals would be forced to perform abortions or hire abortionists on the grounds that denying a woman an abortion would amount to gender discrimination.

Faced with difficulty getting certain laws accepted - such as the Equality Act - due to a lack of public support, OCR and HHS have chosen to bypass Congress and seek court approval for their extremist and anti-natural policies.

The Leadership Conference, which is fueling this campaign, is made up of many well-known left-wing organizations. The ACLU, American Atheists, the Anti-Defamation League, the Human Rights Campaign, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Planned Parenthood, and the Center for American Progress.

Their hostility to religious freedom in general, and to the rights of Catholics in particular, is well known. What is not widely known is that the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons), which has 40 million members, is a member of this organization.

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Concerns About Religious Freedom in the United States - FSSPX.News