Daily Archives: May 24, 2021

Pandemic life has put an emphasis on freedom.

Whether it was in the form of disgruntled anti-maskers complaining about their right being violated, or it was the cautiously quarantined longing for a return to better times, the past year has laid bare our often divergent ideas of what it means to be free.

These disparities are at the core of Freedom, the new book from Sebastian Junger. While the book is, on its surface, an account of a nearly yearlong trek on foot across the northeastern United States, its essence is its exploration of humanitys conceptualizations of independence, liberty and self-determination. Mixing history, memoir and philosophy, Junger actually never intended to write about the 400-mile trip at all.

I was thinking to myself, how am I going to write a book about freedom without it being this unbearable philosophical tract, says Junger, who spent nearly a year walking from Washington, D.C., to western Pennsylvania almost a decade ago. So inevitably I thought, Whats the freest Ive ever been? Of course, it depends on how you define it, but by the definition I use in the book that for miles we were the only people who knew where we were every night thats not a bad definition of freedom.

At the time of the journey, Junger was already an accomplished author and journalist, having penned bestsellers such as The Perfect Storm and A Death in Belmont, as well as working as a war correspondent for Vanity Fair and ABC. The original concept of the trip came in the fall of 2008 when Junger was traveling by train with photojournalist Tim Hetherington. Junger recounts wondering what it would be like to live as a somewhat vagrant along the railroads that crisscross across the U.S. The two had spent plenty of time together walking for hours while working on Restrepo, their documentary about the Afghanistan war.

I mentioned to him at the time that theres a way to walk along this entire thing. Theres always a dirt bike trail or a cornfield or a maintenance road, whatever it is, you can stitch together a route through the entire thing, Junger says. And so I told him that maybe we should walk from D.C. to New York sometime when we were done with the movie.

Unfortunately, Hetherington was killed while covering the Libyan uprising in 2011. Junger still felt compelled to take the trip, however, and recruited a few friends to come along. He did no research on how to travel up to 30 miles a day on foot and says he simply loaded up a backpack and took the train to Union Station in Washington, D.C., and began walking. And while he says he constantly thought about giving up, he soon found something of a rhythm.

Theres no way to carry that much weight for that far and not wrestle with that inner voice saying, Come on, you dont need to do this. Just stop, Junger says. Its just part of doing something thats physically hard. You just figure out a way to negotiate with that voice or ignore it.

Freedom, by Sebastian Junger.

(Simon & Schuster)

Readers whove enjoyed classics such as Henry David Thoreaus Walden or Jack Kerouacs On the Road will certainly find something worthwhile within Jungers journey. And while Freedom has much more in common stylistically to modern classics such as Jon Krakauers Into the Wild or Bill Brysons A Walk in the Woods, those books often used the journeys encounters as a convenient jumping-off point for the author to contemplate their own existence. Conversely, Junger spends the majority of his time contemplating larger existential questions that not only affect him, but all of humanity.

When youre documenting human events, it often requires 300 pages or so to do it adequately. But my last two books, Tribe and this book, are about an idea. I dont have to cover a certain amount of human territory to get the story told, Junger says. The more succinct you can be, the better people can absorb that idea.

The book is split into three parts Run, Fight and Think that, for Junger, are the three concepts that are at the core of what it means to be free.

If someone is going to oppress you, you can run away from them. And if you cant run away from them, then you outfight them. And if you cant outfight them, then youll have to outthink them. And if you cant do that, youre not free. Game over, Junger explains.

Still, Junger weaves in broad and complicated topics into the narrative and does so in an accessible way. He doesnt get bogged down in the minutiae of the history of the region, nor does he meander or ramble when reflecting on his own existential dilemmas. He is concise and focused, but still manages to be both informative and vulnerable.

The poor have always walked and the desperate have always slept outside, Junger writes early in the book. We were neither, but we were still doing something that felt ancient and hard. Most Americans did not own a car until after World War Two, and traveling often meant walking out your front door.

I mostly thought that it was a way to encounter my country and encounter myself in the most raw, unfiltered fashion possible. Junger says. It wasnt therapy, it wasnt all the things you think it might be, it really was an attempt to understand something about myself and my country.

When taken together, Tribe and Freedom do seem to be thematic companions. Asked whether he sees the books as being related or even as part of a trilogy, Junger says he wants to continue exploring dense ideas. A recent health scare has him already thinking about another book, one where hed like to explore mortality itself.

So I think the last thing that is important to the human experience is life itself and how the dying process unfolds, Junger says. So Im going to write a book called Pulse about what keeps us alive and what happens when that stops.

Junger laughs and then adds, another short book on a broad topic.

When: 4 p.m. Thursday, May 27

Where: Ticketed virtual event through Warwicks

Tickets: $5-$33.50

Online: warwicks.com

Freedom by Sebastian Junger (Simon & Schuster; 2021; 160 pages)

Combs is a freelance writer.

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Walking the line: Sebastian Junger in search of 'Freedom' - The San Diego Union-Tribune

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Review: MISTER MIRACLE: THE SOURCE OF FREEDOM Tries To Escape From It's Own Mess - Monkeys Fighting Robots

The City of South Fultons Department of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs will observe Juneteenth with a series of events in a themed celebration entitled, Forward to Freedom.

The Forward to Freedom Juneteenth celebration runs from Tuesday, June 15 to Saturday, June 19. The events will include a Freedom Film Festival June 15, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.; United Tot Olympics June 16, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Old National Park; a quilt festival, Feeding Our City food distribution, a Community Giveback event held at various locations, throughout the city.

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was June 19 that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free.

This was two and a half years after President Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation which had become official Jan. 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Grangers regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.

The celebration of June 19 was coined "Juneteenth" and grew with more participation from descendants.

Juneteenth is a significant day in American history, Mayor William Bill Edwards said. This day deserves special recognition and South Fulton families will have an array of events to choose from to celebrate.

Patrons can enjoy the Freedom Film Festivals main feature film, "The Retrieval." Directed by Chris Eska, the film centers around Will, a Black youth during the American Civil War, and Nate a Black Union soldier who is the target of bounty hunters.

Juel D. Lanes The Maestro is a short film inspired by painter Ernie Barnes. Told through dance, it offers a positive depiction of a Black man taking charge of his own destiny. Kaleb Mitchell will present his work, An Open Letter to My Skin, a poetic film combining the art of spoken word and music to tell the story of the complexities of his complexion.

We are working overtime to make the Forward to Freedom Juneteenth celebration a special occasion for residents of all ages, parks, recreation and cultural affairs director Tony Philips said.

The celebration will culminate with a Freedom Finale Concert in partnership with St. James Live on Juneteenth, 7p.m. to 10 p.m. at Wilkerson Farris-Mill Park. PRCA will announce the artists scheduled to perform on the city website in June.

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Forward to Freedom: City of South Fulton celebrating Juneteenth with events - MDJOnline.com

Cisco Systems, a multinational technology company will give $150 million to the Student Freedom Initiative (SFI) to aid historically Black colleges and universities.

The Student Freedom Initiative is a nonprofit assisting students of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and HBCUs by providing income-contingent funding for students enrolled at HBCUs and MSIs.

The money will be split in two ways: $100 million will go to networking and security upgrades including ongoing technical support and advancements to HBCU information technology infrastructure provided by American Virtual Cloud (AVC).

The remaining $50 million will allow for the financing of the education of 500 HBCU students every year. The program, known as the Student Freedom Agreement will cover a students remaining costs after federal aid and could serve as an alternative to private student loans.

Robert Smith, who founded the SFI, said in a statement the collaboration and Ciscos financial commitment will free minority students from crushing student loan debt. Each student will receive up to $20,000 and there is no obligation for students to pay the funds back.

Their expertise and generosity will ensure that HBCUs are secure and robust institutions that empower Black students, Smith said in a statement. And Ciscos added financial commitment to students, making them the first anchor corporate partner of SFI, will help liberate students from crushing debt and allow them to make their own life choices.

Student Loan Debt ($1.57 trillion) is the fourth-highest debt Americans carry after personal debt, auto debt, and credit card debt. For Black Americans and minitories, taking out student loans to go to college can follow you for the rest of your life. A 2016 Brookings Institute study shows Black college graduates typically owe $7,400 more than white graduates upon finishing a bachelors program.

SFI will launch the programs this fall and Cisco COO Maria Martinez said the investment will ensure the success and financial freedom for HBCU and MSI students.

This partnership is an investment in our future workforce, empowering AA/Black STEM students and equipping them with the financial and technology tools to be resilient and successful long term, Martinez, said in a statement. We remain committed to this communityto be seen, heard, valued, and invested in.

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Cisco Will Donate $150 Million To The Robert F. Smith Student Freedom Initiative To Help HBCU Students - Black Enterprise

Last week,I was installed as the Anglican archbishop in Jerusalem. On my first day in this new job, I did not expect my main concern to be whether my family got home safely. My family had travelled from my hometown in Galilee to St. Georges Cathedral in Jerusalem for the service. As anyone who has opened a newspaper could have guessed, the backdrop for this celebration was the worst intercommunal violence in a generation.

In mixed cities all over the country, radicals took to the street in search of violence. People have been pulled from their cars and beaten, merely on the suspicion that they belonged to the wrong group or community. We are witnessing places of worship being attacked and torched. Everyone is frightened. To get home, my family had to navigate violent groups and a heavily armed police force. My mind would not rest until I heard that they had returned safely, and thank God, they did.

Some were surprised that the installation service went ahead, given the seriousness of the current situation. But the church was adamant that it should. This tells us something about the ministry of the churches in the Holy Land. We trace our roots to the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Like him, we are called to faithful presence in troubling times.

Christians have worshipped here since the time of the Romans. The centuries since have taught us that empires rise, and empires fall. Our land has been governed by leaders from all three of the Abrahamic faiths, and though it all, we have continued to walk the streets where Christ walked. It is unsurprising then, that the installment, and the surrounding celebrations, went ahead as planned. This is just the latest example of faithful presence in difficult days. Yet another attempt to shine a light into the darkness.

In these dark days, it is more important than ever that the church continues to thrive in the Holy Land. However, our presence should not be taken for granted. The Christian community is all too often forgotten in negotiations about the future of these lands. The political climate is increasingly hostile, and attacks on Christian places of worship and holy sites are sadly common. Influential radical groups see no place for Christians in the Holy Land and are explicit in their intention to drive us out. These same groups are behind the move to evict families from their homes just a stones throw from our cathedral, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem. Those actions did much to spark the terrible surge in violence that we now see nightly on TV screens around the world.

If these events teach us anything, its that religious freedom isnt just a right for the benefit and liberty of private individuals; it is a fundamental issue of international peace and security. When freedom of religion is repressed, when religious communities are not protected from radical groups, when churches are desecrated and freedom of worship restricted, it undermines not just the dignity of individuals but the very fabric of our societies.

Having studied in Washington, D.C., I have long appreciated the faithful presence of different U.S. administrations and organizations in the promotion of international religious freedoms. The International Religious Freedom Roundtable, which meets alternately in Congress and the State Department, has inspired the creation of similar forums all over the world. I look forward to coming to Washington as soon as circumstances allow to join these conversations and share our own lessons from here in the Holy Land.

Right now, the people of the Holy Land need the prayers and support of our international friends more than ever. The violence and manifestations of hatred that we have all witnessed in the last couple of weeks have deepened our desperation. We all fear for the future.

People are tired, frustrated, and increasingly hopeless. But I could not have taken this assignment without hope. Hope is our business. By maintaining a faithful presence in the Holy Land, we work to bring the reconciliation and healing that our communities crave. We cannot do this alone, and we certainly cannot do this if we are no longer present.

Hosam Naoum is the Anglican archbishop in Jerusalem.

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Religious freedom essential to achieving peace in the Holy Land | TheHill - The Hill

OAKLAND In a stunning turnaround, a Bay Area man who had been previously sentenced to life without the possibility of parole has been freed from jail and prosecutors dropped both murder charges against him.

At a Monday morning court hearing, the Alameda County District Attorneys office agreed to drop two murder charges against Patrick Willis, 57, attorneys on both sides of the aisle said. The move came three weeks after a jury hung 11-1 toward a not-guilty verdict at Willis second trial.

Im just happy to give him his freedom back, said Ernie Castillo, Willis attorney for the 2021 trial, giving credit to the tremendous effort by the attorney who worked on Willis six-year appeal.

Willis is now a free man for the first time since 2011, when a DNA hit linked him to the 1992 Oakland killings of Cheryl Walker, 31, and Marsha Gulley, 23, who were tortured and murdered in separate incidents. He was convicted and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in 2013, but six years later, an appeals court reversed the convictions, finding hed received an inadequate defense.

In his appeal, Willis cited the 20-year delay in prosecuting the case and the unavailability of two witnesses who were with one of the murder victims, Gulley, hours before her dead body was found in Oakland.

The testimony would have been exceptionally significant for the defense and its absence was undoubtedly prejudicial, the State Court of Appeals concluded in 2019. Although the man seen with Gulley was not considered a suspect, the fact that Gulley was seen alive within an hour of her death makes it less likely that defendant was the killer, the judges wrote, noting that presence of Willis DNA on the victim placed him with her as long as six hours before her death, or longer.

The court ordered a new trial for Willis, concluding his defense attorney was ineffective by not challenging the prosecutions move to exclude all testimony by police and witnesses concerning the statements of the unavailable witnesses.

During the 2021 trial, Castillo argued that both victims were sex workers who had been with other men that night, and that Willis was blamed because his DNA was the only sample police preserved. In an interview he said the real killers DNA had simply not been properly preserved and that he believes Willis is innocent.

In his 2013 trial, prosecutors pointed to witnesses who heard both women screaming combined with the DNA to argue that Willis was the only person who could have killed them during the narrow time frame. During his sentencing later that year, a despondent Willis shook his head throughout the hearing and at one point remarked, I dont even care, this newspaper reported at the time.

Staff writer David Debolt contributed reporting.

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Im just happy to give him his freedom back: Once imprisoned for life, Bay Area man freed, charges dropped in double murder case - The Mercury News

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TheCincinnati Museum Centerand the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center will host COVID-19 vaccine clinics courtesy of TriHealth.

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TheCincinnati Museum Centerand the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center will host COVID-19 vaccine clinics courtesy of TriHealth. As a bonus,every guest who receives their vaccine at one of the two clinics will get one ticket for free admission for that day.

Those who want a COVID-19 vaccine shot can receive a freeJohnson & Johnson vaccine betweennoon to 3 p.m. on May 22at the Freedom Center.

OnMay 29, vaccines are available at Cincinnati Museum Center from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine means guests need just a single shot to complete their vaccine journey.

Registrations can be made by calling (513) 873-7124. Walk-ins are also welcome.

Dr. Odell Owens will be at both vaccine clinics to answer anyquestions about the vaccineseffectiveness and to emphasizethe importance of ensuring everyone is vaccinated.

Guests will not be required to pay admission to the museums to receive their vaccine on those dates. As an added incentive, every guest who receives their vaccine at one of the two clinics will get one ticket for free admission for that day.

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CMC and Freedom Center partnering with TriHealth to offer COVID-19 vaccine shots - The Cincinnati Enquirer

It may sound strange for a booklover to say this, but I think its a good thing if were reading a little less these days.

Books helped many of us, of all ages, get through the limitations of the past year-plus. They still matter, and I still tuck one under my arm anyplace I go, in case there a few spare moments or Im detained between trips. However, its a really good thing that we are getting back to all the people, places and things weve missed. And our books will be there when we want or need them. Heres whats Ive been into over the last month or so

A Wanted Man by Lee Child (2012) Jack Reachers picked up hitch hiking with a broken nose and nothing but the shirt on his back. The two men and one woman in the car defy any logical explanation he can come up with. Hours turn into days, and Childs (usual) taut storyline doesnt disappoint. Love the character and the stories.

Dead Mans Folly by Agatha Christie (1956) The legendary detective, Hercule Poirot, is invited to play a small part at a murder mystery party at a country estate. A real murder interrupts the festivities, of course. In its time, it was one of Christies worst-reviewed novels. If youre a fan like I am, you wont enjoy it any less.

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner (2007) Deserving of every award it won, Weiners exhaustive history is also exhausting, and not a little discouraging. Theres been a lot of incompetence. Every president since Truman has both needed and hated his CIA. By the end of the book, you will have a whole new impression of whats possible, even if the agency is reformed. The author has done a lot of work here, and each new president and his team should have this book. A long, great read.

COVID-19 Lockdowns on Trial by Michael Betrus (2020) Much will be written about COVID-19, but this work should stand the test of time, Its narrow focus is on the costs and benefits of lockdowns. Conclusions are damning, but mostly left to the reader.

Colonel Butlers Wolf by Anthony Price (1972) Youll often find me reading dated, Cold War-era espionage novels. I dont miss the Cold War at all, but some of the best fictionalized spycraft came from it, like Prices Audley series. Each one is a gem. In this ingenious plot, foreign agents are radicalizing young men at university to prevent them from becoming future leaders of British politics, industry, military, etc. Whos doing it, and how to stop them? Post-Cold War spy novels almost always fall short.

Deception by Jonathan Kellerman (2010) Dr. Delaware and Det. Sturgis have a dead woman who taught at an elite private school (attended by the police chiefs son, no less). Oh, and she left behind a DVD with explosive accusations against her colleagues at the school. It would be easier NOT to find her killer, but thats not Alex and Milos way.

Second Skin by Eric von Lustbader (1995) Set in Japan, and worldwide, the Nicholas Linnear novels were EVLs best-known books (and my favorites). Now, he probably better known for taking over and continuing the Jason Bourne stories. Get yourself to a library or used bookseller and read every Linnear-series thriller. In order if possible. Theres no better beach or airplane reading for you this summer. Im on my second re-read of them these days.

Proof by Dick Francis (1984) From one of my favorite mystery writers, this is one of my favorite Francis stories. As always the plot involves the British horse-racing world, but always in a different, non-formula way. His protagonist here, Tony Beach, is a wine store proprietor, and youll pull hard for him to survive the (very) bad guys.

The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777) by Rick Atkinson (2019) Atkinson wrote a Pulitzer-winning trilogy of WW2 that is among the greatest works of history Ive ever found. It was a no brainer for me to join him in his new Revolution Trilogy, of which this is the first volume. Just when you thought you could not possibly love this country more, you get lively portraits of events (Bunker Hill, Battle for New York) and people (Washington, Charles Lee, the Howe brothers). You see the revolution, your every sense is caught up. This is why we read history. In fact, this is why we read, period.

As always, please enjoy, and let me know if any of these recommendations please you. Always glad to hear from you at [emailprotected]

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Reading Out of the Pandemic And Into Freedom - 550 KTSA

Laws to protect public interest journalism should be beefed up and a culture of transparency promoted, a senate committee report on press freedom has recommended.

Media companies told the inquiry that press freedom and the protection of whistleblowers is essential to democracy and must be balanced with national security issues.

Tabled in parliament on Wednesday, the report has 17 recommendations, including improving the freedom of information laws which often produce documents so redacted they are useless and amending the criminal code to reverse the onus on journalists to prove their stories are in the public interest.

Chaired by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, the inquiry was sparked by the Australian federal police raid in 2019 of the home of a News Corp reporter seeking information about the publication of classified material, shortly followed by a raid on the ABC headquarters over reporting of alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

Last year the AFP ruled out pursuing charges against the journalist, Annika Smethurst, or anyone else for her story revealing plans to extend the Australian Signals Directorates spying powers.

Commonwealth prosecutors also declined to charge the ABC journalist, Dan Oakes, due to public interest considerations.

National and international outrage followed the raids, which were seen as an attack on press freedom, and resulted in assurances journalists will not be prosecuted without the attorney generals consent.

The 17 recommendations in this report show we do need to change some of our laws to make sure we protect Australians right to know, Hanson-Young said.

Covid-19 has shown access to accurate and comprehensive news has never been more important. Yet at the same time, we have also witnessed less information being available to the public under the guise of Covid and national security.

Whether its the government hiding behind national cabinet confidentiality and denying FOI requests, or refusing to answer questions about the vaccine rollout and hotel quarantine, the publics right to know is being thwarted.

The senate report follows the release in August of the report from another inquiry sparked by the raids: the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security (PJCIS).

The parliamentary joint committee said media companies should be left in the dark before warrants are executed, but a public interest advocate should make the case for press freedom in warrant hearings.

For offences where national security encroached on press freedom, warrants should be issued by a judge of a superior court of record, responding to concerns that the ABC warrant was issued by a registrar of a local court.

Constitutional law scholar Rebecca Ananian-Welsh, a senior lecturer at the University of Queensland, said the recommendations go further than the PJCIS did last year.

It says, in more powerful language, that press freedom and openness are really important; that government accountability and transparency are really important and we need to do more to promote those things, Ananian-Welsh told Guardian Australia.

And a lot of that is about boosting the things that weve already got like making sure the Freedom of Information Act works properly and there is a culture of transparency, which also acknowledges that there is a culture of secrecy in government, a problematic culture of secrecy.

In a dissenting report, government senators said they couldnt agree to all the committees recommendations because some overlapped with PJCISs, some were already in train and some were contradictory.

In a minority report the Greens called for a Media Freedom Act to enshrine protections for public interest journalism.

The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance said the recommendations would help to curb the growing culture of government secrecy, stop the persecution of whistleblowers and prevent journalists being prosecuted for simply doing their jobs.

Meaa media president Marcus Strom said the report went a long way to clawing back the overreach of national security laws.

After almost two decades of increased secrecy, culminating in prosecution of journalists for doing their jobs, these recommendations would restore confidence for journalists that they can report on national security issues without the threat of prosecution, Strom said.

Strom welcomed the recommendations to amend the Asio Act, the Criminal Code Act and the use of coercive powers to prosecute journalists under the Crimes Act.

The Human Rights Law Centres senior lawyer Kieran Pender said the public had the right to know what our government does in our name and protecting whistleblowers is vital to our democracy.

As recommended by the committee, the government should urgently reform whistleblowing law, overhaul draconian secrecy law and legislate better protections for journalists, Pender told Guardian Australia.

The commonwealth director of public prosecutions should also review the prosecution of Afghan files whistleblower David McBride, as well as the prosecutions of Bernard Collaery, Witness K and Richard Boyle. These prosecutions are not in the public interest and should be dropped.

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Australia needs to strengthen press freedom laws and promote transparency, inquiry finds - The Guardian

By PTI

NEW DELHI: After two police teams descended on Twitter's offices in Delhi and Gurgaon, the Congress on Monday alleged that the "cowardly raid" on the microblogging site's offices by the Delhi Police "exposes lameduck attempts" to hide a "fraudulent toolkit" by BJP leaders.

The Delhi Police's Special Cell on Monday sent a notice to Twitter India in connection with the probe into a complaint about an alleged 'COVID toolkit', asking it to share information based on which it had classified a related tweet by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra as "manipulated media", officials said.

Two police teams also descended on the microblogging site's offices in Lado Sarai in Delhi and in Gurgaon this evening.

Reacting to the development, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said on Twitter, "Cowardly raid on @Twitter unleashed by Delhi Police exposes lameduck attempts to hide the fraudulent toolkit by BJP leaders."

Such attempts to "murder" freedom of speech lay bare the BJP's guilt, he said and tagged his video statement on the issue.

In the video statement, Surjewala alleged that the "subjugation of free speech, the attempts to stifle every voice that is a dissenting voice against this government and the state-sponsored fraudulent means to propagate and to instill fear continue unabated in Modi government".

He alleged that the BJP forged documents to produce a "fake toolkit".

The Congress leader claimed that after the toolkit was "exposed", the BJP and the Modi government, being scared of it, was "raiding" Twitter offices both in Delhi and in Gurgaon.

"Why, the guilty people are sitting in BJP headquarters and in seat of power, but, you are raiding Twitter's office in Delhi and Gurgaon, what is the reason there of?" he said.

Surjewala alleged that the BJP is "running scared of its lies" and getting caught and being branded as manipulated and fraudulent by social media platforms.

The BJP had accused the Congress of creating a 'toolkit' that seeks to tarnish the image of the country and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the handling of the COVID pandemic.

However, the Congress denied the allegation and claimed that the BJP is propagating a fake 'toolkit' to defame it.

Last week, Twitter labelled as "manipulated media" a tweet by Patra on the alleged 'toolkit'.

Twitter says it "may label Tweets that include media (videos, audio, and images) that have been deceptively altered or fabricated".

In his statement, Surjewala said the intermediary rules, which give the power to the government to direct people to take off various posts, have not even come into play.

"They come into play only on 25th May, 2021 then why the action today? Under what provision of law notices are being issued?" he said.

Surjewala asked that when BJP leaders are being accused of fraud then why is the government standing in shelter thereof.

"None less than the IT Minister himself and half a dozen other ministers have also tweeted this manipulated and fraudulent media.

Now they are scared that their lies are going to get exposed and the oath of the constitution that they took will stand annihilated and violated and that's why social media platforms are being targeted," he alleged.

"Please remember Mr.Prime Minister that free speech and rights to express opinion is our fundamental right in this country," Surejwala said.

"You can't subjugate the constitution, you can't stifle free speech and you will not be able to suppress the voice of the young or voice of people of this country," he said.

The government had earlier asked Twitter to remove the 'manipulated media' tag as the matter is pending before a law enforcement agency, and made it clear that the social media platform cannot pass judgment when the issue is under investigation.

BJP leaders, including Patra, have posted numerous tweets to attack the Congress over the purported 'toolkit'.

On May 19, the Congress lodged a police complaint seeking registration of cases against BJP chief J P Nadda, Union minister Smriti Irani, BJP general secretary B L Santosh and Patra over the alleged forgery of documents.

The Chhattisgarh unit of the Congress' students wing NSUI also lodged a complaint against Patra and former chief minister Raman Singh for allegedly "forging" the letterhead of the AICC Research Department and printing "false and fabricated" content on it.

On the basis of the complaint, a case has been filed against Patra and Singh at the Civil Lines police station in Raipur.

The rest is here:

Congress slams 'raid' on Twitter offices, calls it attempt to 'murder' freedom of speech - The New Indian Express