After leaking some aspects of Destiny 2: The Final Shape back in May and then leaking a new Helldivers 2 Stratagem in June, Sony is keeping the streak going with another apparent Helldivers 2 update leak. Oops!

The spoiler took multiple PS5 players by surprise: a PlayStation notification nominally about the Helldivers 2 Viper Commandos Warbond inadvertently informed them that an unreleased premium Warbond called Freedom's Flame will include "fiery weapons, life-saving armor, cool capes, fresh emotes, player cards, and patterns."The cape detail seems especially relevant given the last update on Helldivers 2's 'review bomb' cape, which is very real and waiting in the wings.

"Dial up the temperature to cremate our enemies of justice, Helldivers!" says the notification. "The Freedom's Flame Premium Warbond is deploying to your Destroyer's Acquisitions panel." Developer Arrowhead Game Studios has neither announced the Freedom's Flame Warbond nor publicly acknowledged the leak.

This leak seems to be older than Sony's blunder, anyway. In June, a data miner shared the contents of what appears to be the same Freedom's Flame Warbond, full of distinctively "fiery" file names like "Torcher," "Crisper," and "FLAM-66."Players seem eager to get their tan on, with many hoping for truly fire-resistant armor as well as more weapons weapons to sit alongside the flamethrower.

As recently as July 4, Arrowhead said there was "no new Warbond yet," reaffirming its commitment to slow the rewards down and focus on update quality over quantity. But if this leak is accurate, we may see this fiery Warbond relatively soon.

Sony, Helldivers 2's publisher and IP holder, has already made this summer difficult for Arrowhead. It went through a confusing mandate that forced players to link their PlayStation Network Accounts to PC before this was later reversed, which resulted in vicious review bombing on Steam.

There's more to come either way the Helldivers 2 CEO promises "our intent is to add more stuff for long term progression," and he's turning to the community for ideas.

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

Originally posted here:

Sony apparently cant stop leaking Helldivers 2 updates: new Warbond Freedom's Flame with "fiery weapons" and "cool capes" spotted...

For Immediate Release: Monday, July 15, 2024

Contact: [emailprotected]

Reproductive Freedom for All Responds to Trump Choosing Sen. J. D. Vance as Pick for Vice President

Washington, DC Today, Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, officially announced Republican Ohio Senator, J. D. Vance, as his running mate for his 2024 presidential run.

Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju released the following statement in response:

Donald Trump selecting J. D. Vance as his pick for vice president provides even more evidence that a Trump administration will stop at nothing to ban all abortion. Make no mistake, Trump picked him because of not in spite of his anti-abortion bonafides. A Trump-Vance administration will be the most dangerous administration for abortion and reproductive freedom in this countrys history. We must re-elect President Biden and Vice President Harris to not only restore our rights but to safeguard our democracy.

Vance has worked in lockstep with extremist Republicans in the Senate to undermine reproductive freedomrefusing to back down from the dangerous abortion bans and restrictions his party has engineered.

A second Trump presidency would give Donald Trump another opportunity to do untold damage to our fundamental rights. Anti-abortion groupswho teamed up with Trump during his last administration to lay the groundwork to overturn Roe and decimate reproductive freedomhave partnered with at least 140 former Trump administration officials to create a lengthy agenda that he could begin launching on Day One of his administration. Those plans offer Trump a laundry list of options to attack abortion rights and access, including reviving the domestic gag rule, deploying the Federal Trade Commission to penalize and prosecute virtual clinics that prescribe abortion pills to people in states with bans, attempting to wilfully misinterpret and misuse the antiquated Comstock Act to block access to both abortion pills and medical equipment used for abortion services, and rescinding all of the policies the Biden-Harris administration enacted that expanded abortion access.

###

For over 50 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levelsincluding access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leavefor everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.

Excerpt from:

Reproductive Freedom for All Responds to Trump Choosing Sen. J. D. Vance as Pick for Vice President - Reproductive Freedom for All

Jentezen Franklin (right) at the 2024 Republican National ConventionMother Jones illustration; Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty; Kiera Butler/Mother Jones

On the final day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, I arrived at the Pfister Hotel ballroom 10 minutes before the God and Country Prayer Breakfast was supposed to start. I arrived a bit early just in case I encountered any trouble, since a few hours before the Faith and Freedom Coalition, the influential Christian political group that was hosting the breakfast, had denied my request for a press credential. While I didnt have any trouble walking into the event, once I arrived, an organizer informed me that the hundreds of seats in the cavernous main breakfast room were already taken. She ushered me and a handful of others into an extremely air-conditioned overflow room, where, over chilly bacon and scrambled eggs, we watched a live stream of the proceedings on a big screen. My tablemate was an older gentleman who boasted that he had once hosted a Trump fundraiser at his car club and raised $2 million. We commiserated about being relegated to this outpost.

In the end, the surroundings hardly mattered as everyone could listen to stories of personal miracles that God had performed in the lives of one speaker after another. Trumps vice presidential pick, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, had asked Jesus to help him with a bout of insomnia the night before his prime-time RNC speechand it worked! House Speaker Mike Johnsons sons had been saved from a near-drowning experience by a passing paraglider who had been sent by God. Trumps former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson once performed a complex and risky surgery and was sure he had lost the patientbut the next morning, that patient was sitting up in bed and telling jokes.

But the speeches werent all personal testimony. Many were peppered with the language of Christian nationalism and the shadowy charismatic movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation. In personal testimonies chock full of miracles and Bible verses, speakers assured the crowd that God was guiding their presidential candidate, and would help them accomplish their political goalsespecially a complete end to abortion.

The first speaker of the morning was Paula White, who served as a spiritual adviser during Trumps first term. White, who warned followers in 2020 that Christians that dont support President Trump will have to answer to God, is closely associated with the New Apostolic Reformation, a charismatic evangelical Christian movement led by a loose network of self-appointed prophets and apostles. Many claim that God speaks directly to them, often in dreams, and believe that Christians are called to wage a spiritual battle for control of the United States. Though their beliefs in the more mystical and supernatural realms of Christianity are unconventional, adherents have made recent inroads into conservative politics, including, as I reported recently, the Supreme Court. In Saturdays assassination attempt, White said, We witnessed a miracle. Her speech included a prayer that Gods supernatural power would protect Trump in the months and years to come.

White wasnt the only speaker at the breakfast associated with the New Apostolic Reformation. There was also another former Trump spiritual adviser Jentezen Franklin, head pastor of the Free Church in Gainesville, Georgia, who has written a popular book about diet and spirituality, Fasting: Opening the door to a deeper, more intimate, more powerful relationship with God. At the breakfast, Franklin told a story from the Old Testament, in which Moses took blood from a ram and put some on Aarons right ear, right thumb, and right big toe. In doing so, Aaron would be able to listen, act, and walk in faith.

God had done exactly the same thing with Trump, Franklin said, at the assassination attempt last Saturday. After taking a bullet in the ear, Trump reached up with his hand and got blood on his thumb. Then, before he was ushered to safety, he asked for his shoesan echo, in Franklins mind, of the bloody toe in the Bible. God, Franklin said, had told Trump, Im going to step into your shoes. Im going to get in and work with your hands.' He added, I really believe that God has given Trump new ears. He led the audience in a prayer asking. Can we pray for the president to have new ears? I want him to have spiritual Mickey Mouse ears. Then he could hear if God would move him in the right direction to defend this nation.

What exactly was that right direction? Some of the speakers hinted that it might have to do with a particularly important goal for many conservative Christians: ending abortion. As my colleague Abby Vesoulis wrote, the topic of reproductive rights has been a third rail so far at the Republican National Conventionand thats because the cause of ending abortion, while its important to many of the partys Christian conservatives, is also deeply unpopular among voters and with Trump himself. Which is the likely reason abortion language isnt part of the official party platform. Abortion is also an issue on which former President Trump and his running mate disagree: While Trump has said that he supports a womans right to choose, Vance doesnt believe abortion should be performed under any circumstances.

Unsurprisingly, Vance didnt mention any disagreement with Trump on this subject during his convention speech on Wednesday evening, nor did he say the word abortion at the prayer breakfast. But after telling the story of how he rejected the arrogance of atheism and returned to Christianity in 2019, he pivoted to subtly assuring the crowd that he was working on abortion. There have been a lot of rumblings in the past few weeks that the Republican Party is not going to be open to social conservatives, he said. And really from the bottom of my heart, I will say that social conservatives have a seat at this table, and they always will. He added, We have to advance the ball one yard before we advance the ball 10 yards before we advance the ball 50 yards.

From the bottom of my heart, I will say that social conservatives have a seat at this table, and they always will.

Michael Whatley, the cochair of the Republican National Committee, was not so subtle. I am proud to be the most pro-life chair in the history of the Republican party, he said. I am here to tell you today that as long as I am the chair of the Republican National Committee, this party is going to be a pro-life, pro-family, pro-faith party.

Toward the end of the program, Kari Lake, the frontrunner in Arizonas Republican primary for the US Senate, described a moment during the pandemic that changed her life. She was reading the Bible and realized that the news I was reading was a lie. Lake, who had been working as a TV news anchor, began to question her whole career. Seeking guidance on whether to quit her job, she opened her Bible and without looking, put her finger down on a passage that read, If you bring nothing into this world, it is for certain that you take nothing out. For Lake, God was speaking directly to her, saying, Dont worry about that big paycheck, Ive got you covered. Ive got a bigger plan for you.

Just because culture pushed him out, hes not a smaller God, hes still the Almighty God that saved the president, she continued. Im looking forward to being Christian soldiers with you as we go into this next four years.

After breakfast, outside the hotel, some of those Christian soldiers used words like wonderful and humbling to describe the mornings program. Christina, an attendee who traveled from Dallas to the convention after having been invited by one of her states delegates, said she found Vances speech at the breakfast especially meaningful. It brings me back to my own life, she said. Its a comforting feeling. I asked her what role she thought faith should play in government. I think it should come back, she said.

The speakers at the convention appeared to be committed to doing just thateven if they werent talking about it during the main convention program. Whatley, the Republican National Committee co-chair, said that during a meeting about the official platform that took place the previous week, We put together a very strong pro-life platform that we moved on to the convention. Then, he said, I kicked all the staff out, and I kicked all the guests out, and I closed the doors. And I told everybody we are going to have an absolutely amazing convention.

See the original post here:

At the RNC Prayer Breakfast, Speakers Said the Quiet Part Out Loud - Mother Jones

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has reached a settlement on behalf of The Satanic Temple, in a federal lawsuit filed earlier this year against the Shelby County Board of Education in Memphis, Tenn., over serious First Amendment violations. FFRF represented the Temple in the suit and successfully ended the school systems constitutional violations.

The school district attempted to thwart at every turn The Satanic Temples efforts to begin an afterschool club at Chimneyrock Elementary School. Rather than allowing it to rent school facilities on the same terms as other nonprofit organizations, including the Good News Club, the Shelby County Board of Education, which operates the district, chose to defy the First Amendment. The district charged The Satanic Temple discriminatory rental and security fees, refused to adequately communicate, canceled the Temples club reservations, and generally treated members of the club as second-class citizens.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools cannot pick and choose how much it charges an organization renting its facilities based on how much it does or does not favor the organizations viewpoint, the content of its speech, or its religious beliefs, asserted FFRFs lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in March of this year.

Now, the Shelby County Board of Education has agreed to make amends in a number of ways.

The board will pay over $15,000 to resolve the suit. That includes $14,845 in attorneys fees and costs to FFRF and cooperating counsel. The board will also pay one dollar for nominal damages to The Satanic Temple and $196.71 for various fees previously paid by the Temple in connection with rental reservations that had not yet been refunded.

Further, the Shelby County Board of Education has agreed not to discriminate against the organization with regard to its requests to rent and use school board property at Chimneyrock Elementary School; the Temple will be subject to the same rules and requirements as other nonprofit organizations seeking to rent or use the schools facilities. In addition, the school boards administration has promised not to hold any press conference with regard to the Temples lawful rental or use of school property.

With the case settled, FFRF filed to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit on July 16.

The districts discriminatory behavior gained a national spotlight last December when the district held a press conference in which school board members, administrators, and other officials, surrounded by clergy members, expressed hostility toward The Satanic Temple and validated community members hostility toward the After School Satan Clubs then upcoming first meeting at Chimneyrock Elementary.

Shortly after the press conference, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national state/church watchdog with 40,000 members, sent the first of three complaint letters to the district in response to the deeply concerning and discriminatory remarks. FFRFs first letter urged the district to continue to abide by the First Amendment and allow The Satanic Temple to rent facilities in accordance with the districts own written policies.

Instead, the district notified the Temple in early January via a phone call that it had assessed a special security fee of over $2,000 against the group for additional security. The district also charged the Temple another fee of $250 for field lights, both fees that other organizations meeting regularly at the school (such as the Christian Good News Club) have never been charged. FFRF and The Satanic Temples requests to the district for a fee waiver were ignored, and so the Temple reluctantly paid the fees.

On Jan. 10, Memphis-Shelby County Schools finally allowed the Temple to hold the first meeting after-school at Chimneyrock Elementary. When club leaders arrived at the school, they discovered that various district administrators, school board members and members of the clergy were already at the entrance of the building. The district continued attempts to thwart The Satanic Temple and deter its club for students from meeting at Chimneyrock. It abruptly changed the meeting time, unceremoniously canceled rental applications, refused to communicate with the Temple regarding rental rates, and continued to treat the Temple unfavorably.

The districts discriminatory and illegal behavior left The Satanic Temple and FFRF with no choice but to sue.The lawsuit sought fair treatment. The Temple didnt want special privileges, just to be treated the same as all other organizations renting from the district. The lawsuit asked the court to order the district to approve The Satanic Temples reservation requests, treat the Temple fairly, and refund it the discriminatory fees the district forced it to pay.

The settlement, hopefully, resolves these issues, though this lawsuit could have been avoided entirely if the district had simply followed the law.

Were glad the district has mutually resolved this case and agreed to treat The Satanic Temples club fairly going forward, says Patrick Elliott, FFRFs legal director. This settlement should send a message to public schools that the First Amendment applies to all organizations, including minority groups.

A long and tedious battle for our First Amendment Right to equal access has finally come to an end with the Memphis-Shelby County School District, says June Everrett, campaign director for The Satanic Temples After School Satan Clubs. We are extremely grateful for the team at the Freedom From Religion Foundation for their work ensuring that public school districts cannot use viewpoint discrimination against minority religious groups. It is clear that the First Amendment is necessary to prevent the government from picking and choosing who has access to their facilities based on viewpoint. Our volunteers and families look forward to returning next school year with fair and equal treatment.

FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott and FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Sammi Lawrence prepared the complaint. This case was handled in conjunction with FFRFs local counsel, Attorney Scott Kramer and Attorney Matthew Kezhaya.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation serves as the nations largest association of freethinkers, with 40,000 members and several chapters across the country, including almost 500 members and a chapter in Tennessee, and works as a state/church watchdog to safeguard the constitutional principle of separation between state and church.

See the article here:

BREAKING: FFRF settles Satanic Temple discrimination lawsuit with Memphis-area school - Freedom From Religion Foundation

Video Gamer is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more

Sony accidentally revealed the upcoming Helldivers 2 Warbond in a notification to players that was supposed to contain information on the current Viper Commandos Warbond. Instead, the notification revealed that the next Warbond will be titled The Freedoms Flame and looks to be focused on fire.

Some players spotted the notification on their PS5 consoles which read,

Dial up the temperature to cremate our enemies of justice, Helldivers! The Freedoms Flame Premium Warbond is deploying to your Destroyers Acquisitions panel. Includes fiery weapons, life-saving armor, cool capes, fresh emotes, player cards, and patterns.

With Arrowhead Game Studios currently being on vacation and new content being scarce, coupled with the dwindling interest and player count, it feels like Freedoms Flame is a do-or-die moment for Helldivers 2 and its included items will determine whether the developers are listening to the community and are looking to bring the best game possible for the community or just aiming to satisfy Sonys unrealistic monetization expectations.

Some of the previous Warbonds, such as the Democratic Detonation and Polar Patriots Warbonds were seemingly themed, but the names had very little to do with the content. Despite the Polar Patriots naming, apart from some armor being white, there was very little to do with ice, snow, or cold temperatures. This was incredibly disappointing to many players, especially as it followed on from the Democratic Detonation Warbond, which seemed to be fire-themed. Still, again none of the content had anything to do with it.

This appears to have changed with the most recent Viper Commandos Warbond, a jungle-themed Battle Pass inspired by the 1985 movie Commando starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Warbond features camo armor and skins among other items typically seen in a Warbond. Arrowhead then released a jungle-themed biome for both the Automatons and Terminids, as well as the Commando Rocket Launcher. This is a step in the right direction, but can the developers stay on the same path for Freedoms Flame?

For many months, players have been wanting to see fire-resistant armor brought to Helldivers 2, especially due to planets such as Hellmire being home to fire tornados which can hinder the mission. So far, these requests have gone unanswered by the developer, and players are losing hope. But, with the new Warbond specifically using words such as fiery, hope has been renewed that the developers are listening to the community.

It will be interesting to see whether this Warbond finally brings fire-resistant armor to the game, but if does then expect to be liberating Hellmire in a future Major Order. While you process the thought of dealing with more fire tornados, the current Major Order calls for players to continue to liberate the Andromeda Sector and surrounding supply lines after successfully splitting the Automaton forces in two in the previous event. With the robot army decimated, this is perhaps the most progress weve seen in the Galactic War for some time. To ensure the Automatons dont regain a stronghold in the galaxy, we highly recommend checking out our Helldivers 2 best weapons guide and best armor guide so you can be suitably equipped to serve Liber-tea to the bots.

By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.

Read the original:

The future of Helldivers 2 rests on the Freedoms Flame Warbond - Video Gamer

MAE SOT, Thailand Since the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, pro-democracy militias and armed ethnic groups have been rebelling, taking control of different parts of the country. As fierce fighting between these groups and the Myanmar junta continues, thousands flee to surrounding borders including the border town of Mae Sot in Thailand.

A young wife and mother, Kyu Kyu Thin, shares how jet fighters firing at their village wounded her husband and forced the family to run for their lives. Fortunately, they escaped together to a civil defense camp in the jungle. She told CBN News their horrifying experience. "It was very scary especially for our little boy. Our village was being bombed every day, our houses burned and our neighbors were getting killed. We rode a bus and traveled 12 hours. Then we crossed to Mae Sot town, in Thailand to live in a refugee camp." Four months since their escape, Kyu Kyu, her husband, and their 2-year-old son remain at the Thai refugee camp.According to Pastor Moses Kyaw Htay, head of the Church of Christ, these refugees have now become church members.

In 2008, Pastor Moses, a Burmese native, married a Thai woman and moved to Mae Sot. Filled with compassion towards his own people, he started the Burmese church with the help of American missionaries.

"In Burma, they are homeless, hopeless. No education. No good for survival. We saw their problem. Somebody have no food. What we have in our house, we share. We show God's love. Then later, we share the gospel. They accept the Word of God. They believe Jesus as their Lord and Savior," Pastor Moses Kyaw Htay said.

Kyu Kyu shared how the church not only cared for them but also introduced them to Jesus. "It was the first time I heard about Jesus, in the refugee village. I believed right away because I felt the love of Jesus through the people from the church. I am six months pregnant and they bring me to the hospital for my free check-up." Raised as Buddhists, Kyu Kyu and her husband testified how they learned the difference between praying to Jesus rather than Buddha.

Soe Thu Aung, Kyu Kyu's husband, said, "The god of the Buddhist is only an idol. But God here, Jesus, died and rose again to save the people, to save me. He is alive because he can hear my prayer. I prayed for work and after a few days, I got a job."

Kyu Kyu also said, "I am a refugee but God saved me. I am thankful to God because now I know that our family has a good future."

While no one knows the future of Myanmar, one positive result from the war is how a growing number of refugees now know Jesus Christ and can enjoy true peace and freedom.

More:

'I Felt the Love of Jesus': Refugees Flee War in Myanmar, Find Peace and Freedom at Refugee Camp - CBN.com

Bernice Johnson Reagon, whose stirring gospel voice helped provide the soundtrack of the civil rights movement, then went on to become a cultural historian, a curator at the Smithsonian Institution and the founder of the womens a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock, died on Tuesday in Washington. She was 81.

Her death, in a hospital, was confirmed by her daughter, Toshi Reagon, who did not give a cause.

Bernice Reagon, the daughter of a Baptist preacher in Albany, Ga., grew up in a church without a piano, and the first music she absorbed, rooted in spirituals and hymns, was performed by human voices to the accompaniment of clapping and foot stomping.

She was an original member in 1962 of the Freedom Singers, a vocal quartet that provided anthems of defiance for civil rights protesters preparing to confront the police or as they were hauled away to jail. The Freedom Singers were associated with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which sent them across the South as well as to the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island in 1963.

Ms. Reagon once wrote, I sang and heard the freedom songs and saw them pull together sections of the Black community at times when other means of communication were ineffective.

She went on to earn a doctorate in American history from Howard University in 1975 and to direct the Black American Culture Program at the Smithsonian. There, she amassed a collection of blues, gospel and spiritual music and presented that heritage to the public.

During one gospel music presentation, in the 1980s, Ms. Reagon encouraged the audience to hum and sing along with the performers. And if you cant do that, grunt or sigh a little, she instructed.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit andlog intoyour Times account, orsubscribefor all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?Log in.

Want all of The Times?Subscribe.

Link:

Bernice Johnson Reagon, a Musical Voice for Civil Rights, Is Dead at 81 - The New York Times

(OLNEY) The Olney VFW will have its next Queen of Hearts drawing, all open to the public, at 4:00 this Sunday afternoon. The jackpot is now up to $6,451 if the winner is present and remember, the drawing is live-streamed on the VFW Post page on Facebook. Tickets are on sale right up until draw time at 4:00 Sunday, with the VFW Post doors opening at 1:00.

(OLNEY) The Calvary Baptist Church in Olney has a fundraising cookout tomorrow at the Rural King Store in Olney with serving from 10:00 to 2:00. Includes pork burgers and brats. The money raised with assist two young men attend Bible College this fall.

(OLNEY) If it runs, bring it out to tomorrow mornings Cruise In running from 7:00 to 12:00 noon at Eaglesons Automotive Center along South Whittle Avenue in Olney. The Olney Tiger Cheerleaders will have a bake sale. All are invited this Saturday morning.

(NEWTON) Its another Queen of Hearts drawing this Friday night at 6:30 at the American Legion Post 20 in Newton, with tickets on sale up until draw time, and a jackpot at $12,005. The Queens Menu includes all-you-can-eat hard and soft shell, beef or chicken tacos, for $10.00 per person, dine in only with serving at 5:00. All at 108 East Jourdan Street in Newton.

(OLNEY) A reminder that the Richland County Farmers Market will be set up today at the pavilion on the north side of the Olney City Park, due to the start of the Richland County Fair today, plus the Farmers Market will be on the north side of the City Park next week on Tuesday & Friday as well. Thats from 10:00 to 2:00 today with produce and more for sale.

Read the original here:

WHATS HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND - Freedom 92.9

Margate production team United Freedom Collective have shared their new Uhuru EP.

The studio triptych continually seek out new voices, with the core trio RobbieRedway,MathieuSeynaeveandWaiFungTsang inviting a plethora of talents into their Margate studio.

Out now, Uhuru the Swahili word for Freedom emphasises both their curatorial instincts, and their ability to shape-shift. The title song owes a debt to a session at SanturiStudiosin Nairobi with local rap artistClinchyRoyal; other guests include soulful singer Billy Blond, Manta, and the Institute Collective.

As a whole, the EP thrives on eclecticism, the dizzying array of ideas serving to reinforce United Freedom Collectives central ethos.

They all come from extremely different backgrounds, which makes for an eclectic and hopefully pleasing soup of sounds,declares Robbie.From a production angle, we were listening to a lot of Arthur Russell, Woo, Blake Mills, El Michels Affair and Young Fathers amongst others.

Tune in now.

Photo Credit:Samuel Glazebrook

Link:

United Freedom Collective Share New Uhuru EP - Clash Magazine

(OLNEY) The 167th annual Richland County Fair will start today in the Olney City Park and run through all of next week. The fairs junior & 4-H general projects will be submitted today and the Farm Bureau Young Leaders having their Pedal Tractor Pull this afternoon with registration at 2:00 and pedaling at 3:00. The first of eight grandstand events will be tonight with the Truck Pulls at 7:00. Then tomorrow morning its the Youth Tractor Driving Contest at 9:00 and the popular Tractor Pulls Saturday night at 7:00. The 4-H Horse Show is at 8:00 Sunday morning, the Family Fun Day with blowups and more is Sunday afternoon from 1:00 to 4:00, and Gospel Music at the Park Bandshell Sunday night at 7:00. The Ag Experience is next Monday from 4:00 to 7:00 and the Queen Pageant Monday night at 7:00 with reserved seating and all the other remaining grandstand event each night through next Saturday. All tickets for grandstand events at $15 for adults and $5 for children age 12 and under. The livestock & 4-H shows all next week with the 4-H Master Showmanship next Thursday morning at 8:00 and the 4-H Livestock Auction Thursday afternoon at 3:00, plus carnival rides next Tuesday through Friday and all the great fair concessions every day and night. Learn more on the richlandcountyfair.org website or check the page on Facebook.

Read the rest here:

RICHLAND COUNTY FAIR KICKS OFF THIS WEEKEND - Freedom 92.9

Notwithstanding the near-assassination of former President Trump, I could not help but find a bit of humor in the response of Republicans, Democrats, and mainstream-press commentators to the shooting the response that says that there is no room for political violence in American society.

Are they kidding? How can any reasonable person not guffaw at that statement? Ever since the U.S. government was converted into a national-security state form of government after World War II, perpetual political violence as well as the threat of political violence has formed the basis of Americas governmental system.

Its impossible to know exactly how many people that the U.S. government has killed in the last 75 years but it has to number in the millions. Thats nothing to scoff at. Thats a lot of dead people. When it comes to killing, there is no doubt that the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA have made America Number One.

Invasions, occupations, wars of aggression, undeclared wars, coups, state-sponsored assassinations, bombings, shootings, kidnappings, torture, indefinite detention, dark sites, Gitmo, inciting conflicts between other nations, alliances with and foreign aid to brutal regimes, the drug war, the war on immigrants, sanctions, embargoes, and more.

Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Iran, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Grenada, Congo, Chile, South America, the Cold War, Operation Condor, MKULTRA, Iraq 1, Afghanistan, Iraq 2, Syria, Yemen, Ukraine, and much more. Everywhere one looks, one sees death. If we go back to the immediate prelude to the national-security state, we see Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

And of course, its not just death. Its also injuries and maiming, oftentimes permanent. And then there is the massive destruction of peoples homes and businesses, along with the infrastructure of their countries.

Needless to say, most of the dead have been foreigners, whose lives are not considered to be as valuable as the lives of Americans. As long as American soldiers were not being sacrificed in large numbers, which tends to upset Americans, there has never been an upward limit on the number of foreigners who the Pentagon and the CIA could be permitted to kill, injure, maim, and destroy.

The idea the whole time has been that so long as the deaths are of people over there, the American people need not concern themselves or have to deal with their consciences here at home. Americans could continue living their normal lives, producing the wealth that could be taxed to continue funding the U.S. perpetual death machine over there.

But the notion was always flawed. When a nations government is engaged in perpetual killing, maiming, injuring, and destroying people and things over there, that was ultimately going to seep into the subconscious of people over here. The result is a massive dysfunctional society that is in large part infected by violence, not only by governmental officials but also by off-kilter Americans.

One might respond that the United States isnt killing any foreigners today. But of course it is. The Pentagon and the CIA are killing Russian soldiers en masse by using Ukrainian soldiers as their proxy. Sure, its not American soldiers who are dying but it is Ukrainian soldiers who are dying in what is clearly a Pentagon/CIA war against Russia. Massive death, suffering, and destruction in Ukraine and Russia at the hands of the U.S. death machine.

There are also the U.S. sanctions and embargoes that target innocent people with death, economic impoverishment, and starvation as a way to achieve political goals. North Korea, Russia, Iran, and Cuba come to mind.

Lets not forget that assassination is still a tool that the Pentagon and the CIA resort to when they consider it necessary. Its also worth recalling the recent ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court granting immunity to the president and implicitly the Pentagon and the CIA for state-sponsored assassinations of both Americans and foreigners.

Statists say that the problem is widespread gun ownership. Really? Then why arent there mass killings and assassinations in Switzerland, where gun ownership is widespread? Could the reason be that they dont live under a national-security state that has been wreaking death, maiming, injury, and destruction for 75 years?

If Americans want a normal society, there is a price to be paid for achieving it. That price includes the dismantling of the national-security state form of governmental structure and restoring the limited-government governmental structure on which our nation was founded. That necessarily would mean the dismantling of the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA the triune god that so many Americans have come to worship and idolize, convinced that they are necessary to our safety and well-being.

A restoration of normalcy also requires the restoration of Americas founding foreign policy of non-intervention, which would mean no more invasions, occupations, wars of aggression, assassinations, kidnappings, alliances (including with brutal regimes), foreign aid, trade wars, sanctions, embargoes, and all other forms of foreign interventionism.

If we do these two things restore a limited-government republic and a foreign policy of non-interventionism we would go a long way toward restoring a free, peaceful, harmonious, and prosperous society to our land.

See the original post:

Living with Perpetual Violence - The Future of Freedom Foundation

(OLNEY) The Richland County School Board of Education had its regular monthly meeting for July last night in Olney. The Board : approved the June financial report with the bill listing worth $1,660,216 : approved the Tax Abatement resolution with the Olney/Richland/ Newton/Jasper Enterprise Zone : approved a Student Cell Phone Policy for the High School & Middle School : approved two food service bids for the 2024-2025 school year to Prairie Farms for dairy products & to Wabash Food Service for bakery, food, & kitchen supplies : approved the Districts Educational Support Handbook for the new school year : heard an update on the Districts summer maintenance projects : reviewed the 21st CCLC Statewide Annual Evaluation for 2023-2024 : noted that student registration in the District continues through next Monday : and in personel accepted resignations from RCMS Special Ed Teacher Alicia Henning, from Bus Driver Zach Buchanan, and from RCES Custodian Becky Kocher employed Michelle Robinson & Dana Watson as RCES Custodians, Gavin Lathrop & Randall Thomas as RCHS Custodians, and Madilyn Brinkley as a Pre-K Teacher effective January 6th, 2025 and approved extra-curricular assignments for Tanner Piercefield as RCHS Girls Volleyball Freshman Coach and for Tristen Morris & Mike Gilreath as shared 50/50 RCHS Assistant Football Coaches : the Boards next regular meeting is August 15th.

See the rest here:

RICHLAND COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD JULY MEETING RECAP - Freedom 92.9

Santa Cruz native and local professional soccer star Walmer Martinez paid a special visit to Watsonville on Thursday morning to hang out with some potential talent of the future.

The Monterey Bay F.C. midfielder/forward spoke to a group of children who attended the annual Aztecas Youth Soccer Academy Program summer camp at Freedom Elementary School on July 18.

Its amazing to see the community out here, the resources and all the coaches that are providing the knowledge these kids need to be a good human being, Martinez said. These skills they are being provided, the technical training, physical training is amazing. I mean, Ive been here for 10 minutes and I can feel it its exciting.

Mateo Sepulveda, 8, said he just signed up for the camp this summer.

Im glad to be here, he said. There are good coaches here.

Martinez, 25, said these types of youth academies are what it takes to help children get to the next level, and move upwards into careers and education.

When I was growing up you would see good talented players once in a while, but now you see them everywhere, he said. There is so much talent in this area.

The former Soquel High, Cabrillo College and California State University Monterey Bay standout went on to tell the crowd how he grew up with a single mom and didnt know his father.

We were poor and there werent a lot of resourcesBut hard work really pays off, Martinez said. I worked hard and I got good grades, and you need discipline.

Also in attendance was Watsonville native Hugo Vargas-Rios, a Pajaro Valley High alum and Martinezs former teammate at CSUMB.

Ive known him since I was 12, Vargas-Rios said. We were in the same academy. Hes amazing and he cares about giving back and helping others.

According to a press release issued by the Aztecas, The camp is a great opportunity for youth between the ages of 6-14 to learn soccer skills and make new friends.

Soccer camp participants practice and play soccer under the guidance of Aztecas Camp college trainers who are top-level, competitive players and local high school all-stars. Campers are also taught about healthy lifestyles, sportsmanship, and teamwork during fun, intensive practices and games.

The camp is led by Santa Cruz County Probation Officer and Aptos High girls soccer head coach Gina Castaeda.

Aptos incoming senior Anahi Maciasa team captain on the Mariners girls soccer teamhas been a camp coach with the Aztecas for the past two years.

Its pretty cool that Walmer came out here today, Macias said. It definitely is a good way to motivate these people to work hard every day. These are crazy good athletes and all of us can learn something from them here today.

*additional reporting by sports editor Juan Reyes

Visit link:

Local soccer pro Walmer Martinez visits annual Aztecas summer camp | Youth soccer - The Pajaronian

There are moments in life when the convictions of the spirit and personal consciousness collide in opposition to the mainstream, popular outcries for the blood, life and the end of the future existence of another human being. I refuse to be a silent witness to another lynching in America. Thus, the following is what I have observed and witnessed firsthand over the past days to the lynch mob-like escalation of calls for President Joe Biden to step down from campaigning for reelection in 2024. I am not representing any organization or political party. On the 4th of July 2024, while sitting quietly in Raleigh, North Carolina, I jotted down my personal views.

Although I am a proud Democrat, I am so saddened by the backstabbing cowardice of those who dare to publicly call for President Biden to step down while having an utter contradictory refusal to utter publicly any call for former President Donald Trump to step down and to end his fascist-engaging campaign to retake the White House. The question is why? The attempted political lynching of President Joe Biden has more to do with disingenuous political infighting than difficulties at a nationally televised political debate. What are the real motives from all of those who are calling for President Biden to step down?

Some will say that my words and expressions here are too strong and controversial. That may be true because there should be strong words and expressions that always should call out and condemn any form of lynching. A political lynching is also a crime against the oneness of our humanity. Such is the situation today in America. It is the politics of division versus the politics of unifying all Americans for the best interests and future of the nation that is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot. Justice is on the ballot. Equality is on the ballot. Equity is on the ballot. Freedom is on the ballot.

The antidote to the current resurgence of ignorance, racism, cowardice, fascism and retrenchment from freedom, justice, equality and equity is to work hard daily and diligently to ensure the largest voter turnout this year in American history. Why do I claim responsibility for urgently making this statement on July 4, 2024? African Americans, like others who fought and died in the fields and streets in the 13 American colonies during the Revolutionary War against the British Empire 248 years ago, have a birthright to the Declaration of Independence signed on July 4, 1776, and later to the Constitution of the United States of America.

Although thousands of people of African descent, who were not enslaved, enlisted and fought for freedom and independence against the British, no people of African descent were invited or permitted to attend the formative meetings of the newly emerging nations democracy and Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1787. My great-great-great-great-grandfather, the Reverend John Chavis (1763-1838) fought as a young, enlisted soldier in the Revolutionary War against the British in our home state of North Carolina and in the state of Virginia. The Chavis family has lived in Granville County, N.C., for over 285 years. My father, Benjamin F. Chavis Sr. (1898-1965), enlisted and fought as a young sergeant major soldier in the United States Army in World War I.

The point here is that generations of African and African American soldiers have enlisted and fought and died to defend and protect the nation and democracy for the past 248 years. And we are not going to permit anyone or anything to deny our birthright to freedom and democracy. For us, the right to vote in America is blood-stained and sacred. We know from our lived experience the horror, pain, and suffering from centuries of physical lynchings in America to satisfy the sheer fear, hatred, white supremacy, and ignorance of racism. Today, we also know when mobs cry out for the downfall and political lynching of those who have been our allies in our long struggle for freedom, justice, voting rights, and equity, we cannot be silent.

It is ironic that also here in Raleigh, N.C., less than 24 hours after the questionable so-called debate in Atlanta, President Biden spoke eloquently and forcibly at the N.C. State Fairgrounds about a couple of miles away from the John Chavis Memorial Park in downtown Raleigh. President Biden stated, I know Im not a young man, to state the obvious, I dont walk as easy as I used to. I dont speak as smoothly as I used to. I dont debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know I know how to tell the truth.

The truth is therapeutic. Our nation needs more truth over the lies and prevalent fake news.

At the same time, as the calls for President Biden to step down, the United States Supreme Court has now ruled that future and past presidential official acts of violence, crime, repression, voter suppression, and insurrection are all immune from prosecution as long those acts are official acts within the core responsibilities of a President of the United States. This is dangerous and fundamentally against the meaning and principles of democracy. That is why now, more than ever before, we must raise our voices and mobilize our families and communities to go out and vote in record numbers in the Swing States and in every other state across the nation. We all have work to do. We said back in the 1960s civil rights movement, When things get tough in our struggle for freedom, we have to become tougher.

Join me and raise your voice with me. Lets vote in record numbers throughout America. Stop the lynching of President Joe Biden.

Chavis is president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).

Read more:

CHAVIS: Stop the Lynching of President Joe Biden - The Washington Informer

I was a few minutes into my talk at FreedomFest when former President Trump was almost assassinated. It was ironic because my talk was about the U.S. national-security establishments assassination of President Kennedy. While my talk specifically focused on the CIAs production of a fraudulent copy of the famous film of the assassination by Dallas businessman Abraham Zapruder (the subject of my book An Encounter with Evil), I ended it by emphasizing why the JFK assassination is so relevant today we still have the national-security state form of governmental structure that existed in November 1963, which succeeded in taking out Kennedy and replacing him with Lyndon Johnson. The national-security state is a great big problem that America still faces.

Its tempting for someone to think that if only Trump werent running for president again, everything would be fine. Of course, the same sentiment applies to President Biden. But even if Biden and Trump were to drop out of the race for illness or some other reason, it wouldnt solve anything. Thats because Americas problems are not rooted in the wrong people being in public office. Instead, Americas problems are systemic that is, they are rooted in the welfare-state, regulated-society, national-security-state system that Americans adopted in the 20th century and that todays Americans, unfortunately, choose to continue, hoping that they can just elect better people to public office to manage it.

Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Decade after decade, this statist way of life has gradually destroyed the liberty, privacy, and well-being of the American people. It is as though Americans are enveloped by a great big statist device that is incessantly being tightened by a gigantic screw. With each turn of the screw, Americans lose more of their liberty, privacy, and well-being.

Moreover, with each turn of the screw, America turns more dysfunctional, especially given that so many Americans are convinced that they live in a genuinely free society. Thank God Im an American because at least I know Im free is a common mindset among the American populace, a mindset that is ingrained in every child who is subjected to the states educational system. As any psychiatrist will tell you, denial of reality can produce very serious psychoses.

With each turn of the screw, aberrant things happen, especially among the off-kilter people in society. Most notable are the periodic mass killings. Somehow the tightening of the screw causes some people to go haywire and drives them to commit copycat killings that mirror mass killings committed against foreigners by the U.S. national-security state.

Assuming that the attempted assassination of Trump was not an effort by the deep state to get rid of him, as with JFK, and instead was the act of what will be called a lone nut, the lone nuts mindset is really no different from that of the average anti-Trump person that is, the need to prevent Trump from being reelected because he will be a grave danger to our nation.

But what these people fail to understand is that even if it isnt Trump who is president or even if it isnt Biden it will still be someone who will wield the omnipotent power to continue tightening the gigantic statist screw that destroys our liberty, privacy, and well-being.

A loosening of the screw would no doubt alleviate the problem but thats not the ultimate solution to Americas woes. The ultimate solution is a complete dismantling of the welfare-state, regulated-society, national-security-state system under which we live one that comes with that gigantic screw that produces highly aberrant and destructive behavior. The ultimate solution to our nations woes is the restoration of our founding system of a free-market, voluntary-charity, limited-government way of life, one in which there is no screw at all.

Follow this link:

Assassination Accomplishes Nothing - The Future of Freedom Foundation

Every year, Japans poor press freedom ranking triggers handwringing and defensiveness in equal measure. The countrys 2024 ranking of 70 out of 180 countries in the annual index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) should alarm Japanese citizens, said veteran politician Ichiro Ozawa, who noted that Japan has experienced incredible democratic backsliding.

Not so, countered the right wing news website Japan Forward. Despite being called an index, the RSF study has little to do with scientifically gathered intelligence. The critique questioned why the survey ranked Malta, which was deemed responsible for the 2017 murder of investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia, higher than famously safe Japan. Other RSF critics have also noted that there is no appreciable violence against journalists in Japan.

Japans highest RSF ranking of 11, scored in 2010, was an anomaly. For most of the previous two decades since the early 2000s, Japan hovered in the twenties to forties, falling to its lowest of 51 in 2008. The defeat of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 2009 created expectations that its more liberal rival, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) would challenge or scrap the press club system, which rewards establishment journalists with monopolistic access to sources and discourages and sometimes even punishes independent critical reporting.

The press club system survived and remains a key reason for Japans perennially low ranking. The DPJs handling of the Fukushima nuclear disaster further damaged public confidence in journalism. Much of the mainstream news parroted the official line that Japans leaking reactors were safe and journalists avoided the term meltdown for two months, insisting that partial fuel melt was suspected.

When the LDP retook power in December 2012, it turned its attention to the liberal media. Former prime minister Shinzo Abe installed four conservatives to the 12-member board of public service broadcaster NHK. The LDP also demanded political impartiality from television bosses in 2014. In 2016, then-communications minister Sanae Takaichi threatened to close television stations that flouted rules on impartiality amid a major political row about the near simultaneous departure of three liberal TV anchors.

The controversy over Abes arm-twisting of the media peaked in 2016 when UN Rapporteur David Kaye warned of serious threats to Japans media, highlighting self-censorship, declining media independence and a lack of professional solidarity among media organisations. After interviewing approximately 100 journalists and editors, Kaye found that a significant number of journalists feel intense pressure from the government to conform their reporting to official policy preferences. The official reaction to Kayes report was defensive. Koichi Hagiuda, then-deputy chief cabinet secretary, argued that Kayes findings were based on hearsay.

Yet both Kaye and the RSF have identified structural weaknesses in the Japanese media long bemoaned by domestic critics. One of the biggest news stories in Japan since 2023 has been the admission by the countrys most powerful talent agency that its founder and boss was a serial paedophile. A report published in August 2023 concluded that pop artist Svengali Johnny Kitagawa had repeatedly sexually assaulted young men for almost 50 years.

In the 1980s and 1990s, several of Kitagawas former trainees publicly accused him of sexual assault. In 1999, a weekly magazine published startling accusations by 12 of his former trainees which led to global media coverage and questioning in Japans parliament. But there was little follow up by Japans newspapers and television companies, which relied on the publicity generated by the actors, singers and dancers provided by Kitagawas agency, Johnny & Associates, even after Kitagawa sued and lost a court battle over the magazines claims.

The latest RSF report nods to the reason why Kitagawas actions were enabled by a lack of media accountability. While violence against journalists is almost unheard of in Japan and media freedom is generally respected, business interests often prevent journalists from fulfilling their role as watchdogs. A major disincentive to investigating Kitagawas misdeeds was the commercial interdependence of television with his agency.

The Kitagawa story was nudged into the mainstream by Shukan Bunshun, a weekly tabloid that was shut out of the establishment. But even after publishing multiple interviews with Kitagawas victims, Shukan Bunshun journalists knew there was little chance that the Japanese press would report the issue. A BBC documentary, which interviewed some of the same victims, further weakened the code of silence around Kitagawa. A probe by a team of independent investigators eventually concluded in August 2023 that the company had covered up decades of abuse, despite there being many opportunities to take action, according to the teams leader Makoto Hayashi.

Bunshuns work showed that the media in Japan can be diverse and lively. But self-censorship is rife and taboos linger over swathes of public life. Journalists are encouraged to collude with official sources and shun independent lines of enquiry, leaving many issues including the imperial family, war crimes and the death penalty poorly covered or out of bounds. Social media is used to bash critics, manipulate public opinion and amplify right wing topics. It seems likely that Japan will continue to score badly in media freedom rankings.

David McNeill is Professor of Communications and English at the University of the Sacred Heart, Tokyo, and co-chair of the Foreign Correspondents Club Japans Freedom of the Press Committee.

The rest is here:

Politics puppeteers Japans press freedom - East Asia Forum

Woodward claims that city council members violated her freedom of speech and, in doing so, interfered with the mayoral election.

SPOKANE, Wash. Former Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward filed a claim for damages with the City Attorney Thursday stating the majority of the city council violated her free speech and interfered with the election.

In the claim, obtained by KREM 2 News through a public records request, Woodward said, A four member majority of the Spokane City council, in violation of the state and federal constitutions, 'condemned' speech by Woodward which speech is protected by the state and federal constitutions. The City Council did so with the intent of interfering with the then-upcoming mayoral election and promoting the candidacy of Woodward's opponent.

Woodward names Betsy Wilkerson, Zack Zappone, Lori Kinnear and Karen Stratton as individuals involved in the incident.

Woodwards claim is looking for loss of mayoral salary, health and retirement benefits and pain and suffering from reputational harm.

When asked for who has more information on the claim, Woodward wrote, Entire City Attorneys Office and most citizens of Spokane.

The controversy stemmed from video of Woodward appearing at Let Us Worship, a prayer rally with Christian nationalism connotations, on Aug. 20, 2023. Woodward joined Matt Shea on stage for prayer. Shea is a former Washington state representative who was expelled from the State Republican Caucus after an independent investigation found he committed acts of domestic terrorism. Shea founded On Fire Ministries, a religious group criticized for extremism.

The council formally denounced Woodward in a meeting in September 2023.

See the article here:

Former Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward says city council violated her freedom of speech, interfered with mayoral election - KREM.com

In Spring 2024, a delegation from the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) conducted a press freedom fact-finding mission to Tbilisi, Georgia as part of a project funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Throughout the mission, ECPMF met with Georgian journalists and media workers, journalists working in exile in Tbilisi, NGOs, activists, political figures, the National Communications Commission, and the office of the Public Defender (Ombudsman) of Georgia.

Today, ECPMF publishes a report detailing the findings of the mission, which paint a picture of independent media in the midst of an existential crisis.

The mission delegation heard concerns about physical attacks, a lack of sustainable funding for independent media, government targeting of donor organisations, severely restricted access to public information, the use of vexatious lawsuits to target journalists, the exodus of educated media workers in search of a better standard of living, and numerous threats facing exiled journalists working in the country namely those from Russia and Belarus. These issues, coupled with the worrying reintroduction of the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence in April 2024 and a proposed series of bills outlawing LGTBQI propaganda, present a distinctly bleak image for media freedom in Georgia. Despite this, a sizeable group of committed, independent journalists often working for online media continue to withstand the pressure and provide vital information in order to hold power to account in Georgia and across the wider southern Caucasus region. Months of mass protests against the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence further illustrate a broad public rejection of government initiatives to undermine democracy and a free press, as well as a desire to bring Georgia towards European integration, despite waves of violence and intimidation against protestors.

Visit link:

Georgia: A crisis point for press freedom - European Centre for Press and Media Freedom

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. warned on Saturday that freedom of speech was under threat at universities and that freedom of religion was in peril in society at large.

Troubled waters are slamming against some of our most fundamental principles, he said.

He made his remarks at a commencement ceremony at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, a Catholic institution.

Support for freedom of speech is declining dangerously, especially where it should find deepest acceptance, he said.

A university, he said, should be a place for reasoned debate. But he added that today, very few colleges live up to that ideal.

The same is true, he said, for tolerance of religious views in society generally.

Freedom of religion is also imperiled, he said. When you venture out into the world, you may well find yourself in a job or a community or a social setting when you will be pressured to endorse ideas you dont believe or to abandon core beliefs. It will be up to you to stand firm.

In other settings, Justice Alito has given a specific example, complaining that people opposed to same-sex marriage on religious grounds are sometimes treated as bigots.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit andlog intoyour Times account, orsubscribefor all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?Log in.

Want all of The Times?Subscribe.

Original post:

Justice Alito Warns of Threats to Freedom of Speech and Religion - The New York Times

Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

Since its United Nations declaration in 1993, every May 3, World Press Freedom Day, "acts as a reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom." Unfortunately, many of those same governments are restricting, not respecting, the right to a free press.

In fact, according to Reporters Without Borders, which the same day issued its annual World Press Freedom Index, "Press freedom around the world is being threatened by the very people who should be its guarantors political authorities." As evidence, it reported that of the five indicators it uses to compile its ranking, the political indicator had fallen the most.

"States and other political forces are playing a decreasing role in protecting press freedom," Anne Bocand, the organization's editorial director, stated in the report. "This disempowerment sometimes goes hand in hand with more hostile actions that undermine the role of journalists, or even instrumentalize the media through campaigns of harassment or disinformation."

The report is replete with examples from multiple regions, all of which have resonance anytime, but particularly in an election year or, more precisely, this year of elections, when a record number of people worldwide will vote. And if 2023s plebiscites presage this year, there's trouble ahead: Several elections in Latin America, according to the report, "were won by self-proclaimed predators of press freedom and media plurality, like Javier Milei in Argentina, who shut down the country's biggest news agency in a worrisome symbolic act." Accordingly, Argentina tumbled 26 places to 66th out of 180 nations ranked.

Elections in several African countries were "often accompanied by violence against journalists" in places like Nigeria (112th) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (123rd). In the increasing number of countries governed by military juntas like Niger (down 19 to 80th), Burkina Faso (down 28 to 86th) and Mali (down one to 114th), authorities "continue to tighten their grip on the media and obstruct journalists' work."

It's not just the Global South going south on press freedom. The scourge is seen in places like China (172nd), which along with others "have stepped up their control over social media and the internet, restricting access, blocking accounts, and suppressing messages carrying news and information." China, the world's worst jailer of journalists, "continues to exercise strict control over information channels, implementing censorship and surveillance policies to regulate online content and restrict the spread of information deemed to be sensitive or contrary to the party line."

And it goes beyond Beijing: Moscow, Tehran, Pyongyang and other Orwellian, authoritarian capitals cap most press freedoms as well. Worse yet, many repressive regimes are learning from one another, as revealed in "Annals of Autocracy," an extraordinary Washington Post package that won a well-deserved Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing on Monday for "a compelling and well-researched series on new technologies and the tactics authoritarian regimes use to repress dissent in the digital age, and how they can be fought."

Another Post opinion contributor, Vladimir Kara-Murza, knows the personal cost of resisting repression: The Russian opposition leader has been poisoned, allegedly by the Kremlin, and more recently sentenced to 25 years for speaking out against the war in Ukraine. His mind isn't imprisoned, however, as evidenced by his winning the Pulitzer in the commentary category "for passionate columns written under great personal risk from his prison cell, warning of the consequences of dissent in Vladimir Putin's Russia and insisting on a democratic future for his country."

International issues increasingly determining domestic politics in America were reflected in rewards for other news organizations, including the New York Times in the investigative reporting category "for a deeply reported series of stories revealing the stunning reach of migrant child labor across the United States and the corporate and governmental failures that perpetuate it." The Times also won in international reporting "for its wide-ranging and revelatory coverage of Hamas' lethal attack in southern Israel on October 7, Israel's intelligence failures and the Israeli military's sweeping, deadly response in Gaza."

That war was also the subject of the Breaking News Photography prize, awarded to Reuters, and a special citation was given to journalists and media workers covering the war. According to Reporters Without Borders, "More than 100 Palestinian reporters have been killed by the Israel Defense Forces, including at least 22 in their line of work."

The World Press Freedom Index warns that "in the absence of regulation, the use of generative AI in the arsenal of disinformation for political purposes is a concern." Even without such high-tech tools, disinformation operations were key to discredit Kyiv and Washington in Russians' eyes, as the Post's "Annals of Autocracy" series showed. Yet Moscow isn't the only offender: In 138 nations, the index indicated, "political actors in their countries were often involved in propaganda or disinformation campaigns."

Ominously, the U.S. isn't immune from these political actors, according to Barbara McQuade, author of "Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America."

McQuade's comments came on Wednesday at an evening event titled "Countering Chaos: Navigating Election Disinformation" organized by the Minnesota Peace Initiative and the Committee on Foreign Relations Minnesota. It was held at Norway House, which was fitting, since Norway was once again the top-ranked country in the World Press Freedom Index, followed by neighboring nations Denmark and Sweden.

A former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and current University of Michigan professor of law who teaches a course in national security, McQuade authoritatively said that "during the years I've been involved in national security, I've seen the greatest threats to our national security evolve, from first Al-Qaeda, and then it was ISIS, and then it was China and Russia and cyber intrusions. And now I think the greatest threat to our national security is disinformation but coming from within our own country."

A "confluence of two events" are "really elevating the problem," McQuade said, naming social media and "our incredibly polarized electorate."

The consequence of this confluence is the "idea that people care more of [their] tribe than they care about the truth I think that is very dangerous to democracy," McQuade said, later adding: "Since World War II, it's been the foreign policy of the United States to lift up democracies around the world because we believe that democracies around the world make us safer. When other countries have democratic forms of government there are fewer wars, there are fewer refugee crises, and we have more and better trade partners. And so, when democracies are failing and backsliding, as we are seeing around the world, that is a threat to our own national security."

A "reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom" the United Nations' stated purpose of World Press Freedom Day is designed to bolster democracies, which in turn should deliver the benefits McQuade describes. But as Reporters Without Borders documents, states are failing. So the Fourth Estate must not.

Read more:

Many governments worldwide failing to protect press freedom - Star Tribune