Monthly Archives: January 2021

29 January 2021: Today we are calling on all International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) TOP Sponsors to demand that the IOC and IPC respect athlete freedom of expression and rescind Olympic Charter Rule 50.2 and IPC Section 2.2. The suppression of athlete speech at the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the racist history of that suppression is antithetical to the values TOP Sponsors espouse. To protect their investments and uphold their social responsibilities, these companies must immediately call for the IOC and IPC to align with the United Nations Universal Human Rights.

TOP Sponsors have responded to the current moment by strongly condemning structural racism and committing to making their companies and the world more inclusive. Now is the time to act on those promises.

With an investment of USD 1.03 billion per quadrennial, TOP Sponsors have the power and the responsibility to shape global sport and ensure that universal human rights extend to every athlete from every sport and every corner of the globe: on the podium, on the field of play, and peacefully protesting at home.

For 53 years, Rule 50.2 has been used as a tool of racial oppression. It has violated athletes universal right to freedom of expression and has been used to silence athletes who raise their voices, or their fists, for justice. Without action, TOP Sponsors are complicit in this oppression.

It is time for change. Over the past two years we have seen corporations around the world, including many TOP Sponsors, recognize their social responsibility and broaden their purpose to serve all stakeholders. Marketing investments in the Olympic and Paralympic movements must be a part of this corporate realignment; continued support of the IOC and IPC must be contingent on the sport administrators upholding human rights for all athletes. After all, the value of the investment comes from athletes.

Silencing the athlete voice has led to oppression, silence has led to abuse, and silence has led to discrimination in sport. It is time for the underwriters of the Olympic and Paralympic movements to hold the IOC and IPC accountable. Athletes and human rights must come first.

Olympic & Paralympic TOP Sponsors include:

Airbnb*, Alibaba Group, Allianz, Atos, Bridgestone*, Coca Cola*, Dow*(only Olympic), General Electric*(only Olympic), Intel*, Omega, ottobock. (only Paralympic), Panasonic*, Procter & Gamble*, Samsung*, Toyota*, Visa*

*Denotes statements made to stand for social and racial injustice.

Comments on the IOCs Consultation on Athlete Demonstrations

The IOCs Consultation on Athlete Demonstrations is an inadequate response to the current movement. Global Athlete has worked with independent social science and marketing research experts to analyze recent surveys conducted by athlete groups, including the IOCs survey. The experts indicate that the survey methodologies and subsequent reporting are flawed and are not in line with research best practice. Consequently, the results may be unreliable or of little value in attempting to draw conclusions about athlete views on demonstrations at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Link to reviews

In addition, the IOCs Athlete365 website, on a page dedicated to Rule 50 information, includes a list of NOC Findings with correlating links. Conspicuously absent are the findings of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee who came out with a strong stance in support of athlete freedom of expression as a human right. Link to statement

The IOC and IPC do not compensate or employ athletes attending the Games. In fact, the IOC and IPC require athletes to sign away many rights. After devoting years of their lives to qualify for the Olympics/Paralympics, athletes have no choice but to sign these documents. Athletes do not voluntarily give up these rights; they are given the false choice between maintaining their rights and continuing their careers.

If athletes want to speak up in a way which respects the rights and freedoms of others as detailed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the sport community, and sponsors, should embrace their diverse opinions. Silencing athletes should never be tolerated and to threaten them with removal from the Olympic/Paralympic Games is another sign of the imbalance of power between sport leaders and athletes.As a service to our readers, Around the Rings will provide verbatim texts of selected press releases issued by Olympic-related organizations, federations, businesses and sponsors.

These press releases appear as sent to Around the Rings and are not edited for spelling, grammar or punctuation.

25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is http://www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only

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Olympic and Paralympic Sponsors Must Protect Athletes' Rights to Freedom of Expression - Around the Rings

(LWI) - The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark has raised concerns about proposed legislation that would require all religious sermons to be translated into Danish. In an open letter to government leaders, the Churchs Council on International Relations says the draft law will create suspicion and marginalization of minority groups and could pave the way for religious harassment.

In the letter, sent to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Church Affairs Minister Joy Morgensen, church leaders say the planned law marks the latest in a series of bills that [] send negative political signals about the role of religion in society, suggesting that religious practice is an obstacle to integration into an open and pluralistic society.

Warning that these developments undermine the freedoms on which our common society is based, the church leaders say the legislation would weaken the integration that the bill is supposed to strengthen. The Danish parliament is due to debate the proposed law in February. If passed, it would require all sermons and other speeches made in a liturgical context to be delivered in Danish or made available in translation.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge reiterated these concerns on 26 January, writing to Danish government leaders that: This proposed legislation is contrary to specific provisions of the freedom of religion or belief, enshrined in international human rights law.

In a letter to the prime minister, written on behalf of the LWFs global communion of 148 member churches, Junge notes that, while the intention of the bill may be to promote greater transparency and accountability from religious communities, the ultimate effect is likely to contradict these objectives.

Such a law, he says, would not only impose an extra financial and logistical burden on religious communities, but also risk enabling discrimination, prejudice and negative public sentiment against minority religions. Junge points to several cases in which Lutheran churches in minority situations have been victims of such legislation, highlighting concerns that the proposed bill will encourage and further escalate the adoption of similar restrictive measures globally.

In his letter, the LWF leader urges Denmark to set a good example for other countries, to reconsider the direction the proposed bill is taking and to discuss with a wide spectrum of religious communities in Denmark other appropriate approaches and solutions. Such action, he adds, would provide a unique opportunity to foster cohesion [] communication and cooperation among minority and majority religions.

The Lutheran leaders letter echoes the words of an appeal from Denmarks National Council of Churches which represents sixteen different Christian denominations. In a similar message to the prime minister, the Council says the proposed legislation is not only a violation of the Danish tradition of freedom and diversity, but also against the Lutheran tradition which always emphasizes the importance of the mother tongue.

The Council adds that under the proposed law, Christian denominations including the Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican churches, the German and French Reformed churches and also a wide range of free churches and migrant communities will be placed under suspicion. Over 74 percent of the population belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark.

The Commission of Bishops Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), representing Catholic Churches in the blocs 27 member countries, has also issued a statement calling for dialogue between Denmarks public authorities and the countrys churches and religious communities. When devising anti-radicalization and anti-terrorism policies, the statement says, EU member states should take into account that the EU Counter-terrorism agenda itself underlines that freedom of religion is among the foundations of the European Union.

LWF/P. Hitchen

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Denmark urged to respect religious freedom - The Lutheran World Federation

Initiation of the Phase 2b FREEDOM trial represents the next step in development of CLBS16 as a potential breakthrough treatment for the millions of sufferers of CMD in the U.S., most of whom are women

Patient enrollment underway atTheChrist Hospital Health Network in Cincinnati (OH) and Mayo Clinic in Rochester (MN) with additional sites across the United States targeted to open soon

Strong investigator and subject interest driven by the positive results of the Phase 2a ESCaPE-CMD trial reported in spring of 2020

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. (January 29, 2021) Caladrius Biosciences, Inc.,a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of cellular therapies designed to reverse disease, announced that it has treated the first patient in its Phase 2b FREEDOM trial of CLBS16 as a therapy for coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) at TheChrist Hospital Health Network in Cincinnati, Ohio. The 105-patient double-blind and placebo-controlled clinical trial is designed to further evaluate the efficacy and safety of intracoronary delivery of autologous CD34+ cells (CLBS16) in subjects with CMD and without obstructive coronary artery disease.

We are very excited about our CLBS16 program as it represents a potential breakthrough in the treatment of CMD, a condition which afflicts millions of patients in the US alone, many of whom are women. As a result, CMD is a womens health issue of emerging importance as currently there are no products with approved labeling for coronary microvascular dysfunction, said David J. Mazzo, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Caladrius. The treatment of the first patient in the FREEDOM trial is an important milestone for our Company and the program and we look forward to completing enrollment by the target of year-end 2021. It is especially noteworthy that even during the COVID-19 pandemic, physicians and patients are active in our trial, denoting the seriousness of the disease and underscoring the lack of available effective treatment for CMD.

Following the outstanding full data results from the ESCaPE-CMD study that I presented at SCAI 2020, we are very excited to participate in the FREEDOM trial, said Timothy D. Henry, M.D., Medical Director of the Carl and Edyth Lindner Center for Research at TheChrist Hospital Health Network. Caladrius CLBS16 program has demonstrated great promise and I am looking forward to seeing how this new therapeutic option can benefit patients with CMD.

For more information on this study, please visitclinicaltrials.gov(identifier: NCT04614467).

If you are a patient or a physician and have questions about eligibility for this study, please visitwww.freedom-trial.com.

About Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction

Coronary microvascular dysfunction is a type of non-obstructive coronary artery disease that causes decreased blood flow to the heart muscle that affects approximately 8.3 million people in the U.S.1,2With common symptoms that include recurring, debilitating chest pain, tiredness, and shortness of breath, many CMD patients are undiagnosed because of the absence of large vessel obstruction. Due to an under appreciation of the disease, patients, the majority of whom are women, often go years without proper treatment. When a diagnosis of CMD is missed, patients are untreated and remain at high risk of heart attack and/or cardiovascular-related death._______________________[1] Mittal, S.R.; Indian Heart Journal, Volume 66, 2014, Pages 678681[2] Cleveland Clinic/AHA (American Heart Association)

About Caladrius Biosciences

Caladrius Biosciences, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of cellular therapies designed to reverse disease. We are developing first-in-class cell therapy products based on the finely tuned mechanisms for self-repair that exist in the human body. Our technology leverages and enables these mechanisms in the form of specific cells, using formulations and modes of delivery unique to each medical indication.

The Companys current product candidates include: HONEDRA (formerly CLBS12), recipient of SAKIGAKE designation and eligible for early conditional approval in Japan for the treatment of critical limb ischemia (CLI) based on the results of an ongoing clinical trial; OLOGO (formerly CLBS14), a Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designated therapy for which the Company has finalized with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the FDA) a protocol for a Phase 3 confirmatory trial in subjects with no-option refractory disabling angina (NORDA); CLBS16, the subject of both a recently completed positive Phase 2a study and a newly initiated Phase 2b study in the U.S. for the treatment of coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD); CLBS119, an emergent CD34+ stem cell therapy responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and the potentially permanent damage the virus inflicts on the lungs of many patients; and CLBS201, designed to assess the safety and efficacy of CD34+ cell therapy as a treatment for chronic kidney disease (CKD). For more information on the company, please visitwww.caladrius.com.

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Caladrius Biosciences Treats First Patient in the Phase 2b FREEDOM Trial of CLBS16 for the Treatment of Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction - Cath Lab...

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) suggested that violence was a means for protecting freedom in a video interview shared days before the 2020 presidential election. If this generation doesnt stand up and defend freedom, its gone, Greene said in a live-stream interview on the Pennsylvania Firearms Associations Facebook page. And once its gone, freedom doesnt come back by itself. The only way you get your freedoms back is its earned with the price of blood. The video, uncovered by Mother Jones, was a 22-minute conversation between Greene and fringe gun activist Chris Dorr in which she said America would completely end... as we know it if Trump and Republicans didnt win.

In recent days, social media posts have emerged in which Greene, a staunch gun advocate, has endorsed the execution of Democrats and said school shootings were fake. She once liked a Facebook post saying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi deserved a bullet to the head.

Read more:

Marjorie Taylor Greene Warned That Freedom Comes With 'Price of Blood' in Pre-Election Vid - The Daily Beast

Jimmie Allen released his latest single, "Freedom Was a Highway," on Friday, Jan. 29, and the rising star is joined by Brad Paisley on the nostalgic track. Underscored by Paisley's signature guitar, "Freedom Was a Highway" was written by Allen, Ash Bowers and Matt Rogers and looks back on younger days when "That town was the whole world / Love was the girl next door / Soundtrack was a song in the dark."

"When I was writing this song with my co-writers, I imagined myself driving down my favorite roads in Delaware," Allen said in a statement. "This song takes me back to simpler moments such as an innocent, childhood crush on the next-door neighbor or feeling freedom in the wind as you drive with the windows down. Ive loved this song from the creation. Im a huge admirer of Brad Paisley. I love what he brings to music and I had to have him bring that same magic to this song. Im humbled to have him join me on this song he brought the Freedom to the Highway."

"Im a fan of Jimmie, not only as a musician but also as a person, and I was honored when he asked me to join him on the song," Paisley added. "Its a magical combination it doesnt sound like a typical record for me at all and when I come in, I try my best not to ruin Jimmies song. I use my guitar to make a record sort of sound like Im on it even before you hear me sing, and I love this guitar solo. Im really proud to be a part of 'Freedom Was A Highway and Im excited for people to hear it.'"

"Freedom Was a Highway" was originally featured on Allen's July 2020 EP Bettie James and the song will go to country radio on Feb. 1. Bettie James also features appearances by Charley Pride, Darius Rucker, Mickey Guyton, Nelly, Noah Cyrus, the Oak Ridge Boys, Rita Wilson, Tauren Wells and Tim McGraw, and the EP was a follow-up to Allen's 2018 debut album, Mercury Lane. Prior to their collaboration, Allen joined Paisley in the music video for Paisley's single "No I in Beer," participating in a Zoom call with Paisley, Rucker and McGraw.

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Brad Paisley Joins Jimmie Allen on New Single 'Freedom Was a Highway' - PopCulture.com

I never thought my moms Christmas present could be so useful. Obamas Autobiography has been a genuine inspiration and my companion for many hours of reading. The nearly 800 pages of the book proved insufficient for my desire to read it and for the time available. Sometimes I catch myself saving the book by saying to myself: dont read so much that it has to last until the end of my quarantine.

During this time, the days passed and there I managed to convince myself to take care of the physical. I started to think about a training program adapted to a room of a little more than 20m2. I opted for a simple circuit, reminiscent of the few weeks I spent in the military: push-ups, alternating with sit-ups, squats and short runs. It was possible to sweat and justify a good hot bath.

During the day I like to read, write or watch Netflix series. The nights are more intense and longer. Its already daylight in Portugal and as such I end up spending many hours on consecutive video calls dealing with work issues or enjoying family and friends.

The topic of food was one of the most controversial in our early 40s in Australia. The vast majority of players expressed their dislike for the organization. In the early days, I thought it was unnecessary. There were much more serious problems to be solved, both for the organization and for ourselves. However, with the situation stabilizing and the quarantine routine tightening, this topic started to make more sense to me. It is getting harder and harder to eat most of the meals that take me to my room. Despite the concern to send us healthy foods, it begins to tighten (and a lot!) The desire to eat things that make me happy. I find myself dreaming of things as simple as toast with butter, good cheese or hot soup. Or, quite simply, a good burger with fries and cola. Here, this last option is remote from an order at Uber Eats and sometimes it becomes irresistible!

My last days were also very sad news for me. My maternal grandmother passed away overnight. Despite being 94 years old, its still hard to lose someone who is so close to us. And my grandmother Odete was very close, in addition to having played a very important role for me, especially in my childhood and my adolescence. Even more difficult is being away from her and my family at this time. The pandemic has been tough on all of us, but the atrocity it has inflicted on the elderly is insane. It is astounding to endow people of this age with almost complete isolation. She too ended up being a victim of the consequences of the pandemic, even though she had never been infected or appeared in DGS statistics.

We still adhere to the meeting with Tennis Australia with the hope of receiving good news regarding the lock-up, hoping that they anticipate our departure. We had no luck. Although the Doha flight was positive, the truth is that no one else on our flight has ever tested positive. After 10 days of our arrival, the likelihood of someone coming in for a positive test was almost zero. This argument served to offer Tennis Australia a bubble within the bubble with the players who were on the Doha flight. They accepted and were sensitive to our situation, but never succeeded in convincing the health authorities.

Thus, our departure was scheduled for this Saturday and we expected to leave at the end of the 14 days, which would allow us to be free exactly at the time of our arrival at the hotel, that is to say around 9 am. According to our calculations, we would have 3 days of training (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) until the first round of the Melbourne ATP 250 match. However, two days before the end of our quarantine, another bad news: the Australian health entity does not We were allowed to leave the room only on Saturday night! This news was very badly received by all players and coaches, as expected. In addition to having no scientific basis (all players and coaches were confined and with negative tests for 13 consecutive days !!) it compromised the preparation already difficult of the players. If preparing for a tournament in three days after a quarantine of two weeks was difficult, doing it in just two made things even more complicated.

However, we are delighted to come to the end of this unexpected experience and have already started to prepare for our return to training.

Our biggest concern during these two weeks has been trying to minimize the risk of injury when returning to competition and trying to maintain the physical cues. We are very satisfied and confident with the work done during these weeks. Now its about trying to have as much feeling on the pitch in the few hours of training that we have left and taking advantage of the opportunity to compete again.

In the next few days, we have training with the American Maxime Cressy, the Bolivian Hugo Dellien and the Russian Roman Safiullin. We have 4 training sessions left until Tuesdays game with Czech Jiri Vesely, currently 68 ATP.

This situation is new for everyone and, as such, there is great uncertainty about what we will be able to do this first week in terms of competitiveness. For obvious reasons, expectations are not high, but Fredericos motivation, determination and competitiveness can work wonders.

See you later!

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routine and a return to freedom! (by Pedro Felner) - haveeruonline