Category Archives: Freedom

Im testifying today to opposeSB 207,SB 210, andSB 213, and Ill get into the details in just a bit.

But before I do that, I want to take just a minute to discuss the context in which these bills, and a raft of others, are circulating.

Let me be blunt: There is an effort under way, here in Wisconsin and around the country, to continue to cast doubt on the validity of the Nov. 3 election, the legitimacy of the Biden presidency, and the integrity of our elections.

In part, this is an effort to retroactively substantiate the bogus claims, repeated ad nauseam, by Donald Trump.

In part, it is an effort to feed the Republican base red meat, and on Jan. 6, we saw how a segment of that base reacts when fed that unhealthy diet.

And in part, it is an effort to erect barriers that interfere with the freedom to vote in an attempt to gain partisan advantage.

That is why we are seeing, in 43 states including Wisconsin, bills introduced that would interfere with the freedom to vote, the most basic freedom in our democracy.

This effort is toxic to our democracy.

Now, let me briefly discuss the particular problems we have withSB 207,SB 210, andSB 213.

SB 207would impair the ability of clerks to find sufficient poll workers to conduct a smooth election. The bill prohibits an employee of an issue advocacy group from acting as poll worker, and it doesnt define the term, issue advocacy group, either. Does this mean that no one who works for the League of Women Voters or the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign or the ACLU can act as a poll worker? As it is now, clerks have a hard enough time finding enough poll workers. This prohibition would make matters worse.

SB 210requires election administrators to allow observers to be no more than three feet away from where voters are registering or voting. This may present logistical problems for clerks, may jeopardize poll worker safety, and may increase the possibility of voter intimidation.

SB 213invites endless harassment of our election officials and endless litigation, and it would allow venue shopping in the courts to seek a favorable outcome. If any citizen can file a claim against any election official, youre going to gum up our elections as never before, entangling them in legal thickets. And by allowing venue shopping, you would risk raising the suspicion that the fix was in. One additional consequence would be that you would be making it more difficult than ever to find people willing to be an election official.

For these reasons, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign opposes SB 207, SB 210, and SB 213.

Wisconsin Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news outlets supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Wisconsin Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Ruth Conniff for questions: info@wisconsinexaminer.com. Follow Wisconsin Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.

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Don't interfere with the freedom to vote - Wisconsin Examiner

The best brief definition of the limits of American freedom is a very old line that's often misattributed to Abraham Lincoln: "My freedom to swing my fists ends where your nose begins."

In other words, you can do what you want in America as long as you're not hurting anyone. So far as rules of thumb go, it's an elegant one.

And it also serves as a simple illustration of a difficult truth that isn't often acknowledged in American politics: Freedom is never a zero-sum game.

Since Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency, for example, we've established a minimum wage that (most) employers have had to pay. For workers, the minimum wage is an essential freedom to be protected, because it ensures that if they work a full week, they can afford the basic necessities. But for certain vulture capitalists, the minimum wage is a freedom-killing constraint to be derided and overturned. From their perspective, the minimum wage is impeding on their freedom to fatten profit margins by paying starvation wages.

Freedom isn't handed down in pure form by some omniscient higher power. It's determined by legislators, enforced by courts, and influenced by popular opinion. Like most human institutions, the decision of who enjoys more freedom is often rigged toward the most powerful. The last 40 years of outsized corporate influence has marched to the drumbeat of anti-worker laws that restrict the rights of workers to unionize and to keep their home life private. In general, the more freedoms your employers enjoy, the fewer freedoms you enjoy in your workplace.

This week's episode of "Pitchfork Economics" features an interview with Mike Konczal, the director of progressive thought at the Roosevelt Institute. Konczal's new book, "Freedom from the Market: America's Fight to Liberate Itself from the Grip of the Invisible Hand," is about the junction between economics and freedom, and how to reclaim some of the freedoms that American workers briefly captured in the middle of the 20th century.

Konczal says the concept of trickle-down economics that ruled over American politics since the 1980s has been informed by the concept of prioritizing negative freedoms over positive freedoms. "Negative freedom is the idea of freedom from the government, and the idea that the government can't stop you from doing the things you want," he explained, whereas "positive freedom is associated with a freedom to a freedom to be able to get health care, or get a good education."

For too long, leaders on the left and right have bought into the libertarian concept that a government's primary role in protecting freedoms should be to limit government's power wherever possible. This anti-government stance is the reason why, for instance, the "pro-freedom" argument over the 2nd Amendment has long been to argue for the freedom of those who own the guns, when gun safety advocates could just as logically argue that the freedom of the individual to go to school or participate in public events without fear of being killed in a mass shooting should take precedence.

The popular discourse has for decades been so absorbed with negative freedoms that benefit corporations, Konczal says, that we've forgotten to prioritize our individual positive freedoms.

"Is the government making us more or less free with the way the economy is structured?" he said. "I think it's increasingly less free in the past decades."

Konczal says the recent debate over secure scheduling laws, which require employers to post employee schedules in advance and pay workers extra for shifts added or canceled at the last minute, are a good example of a positive freedom. Some workers, he said, "don't start their weeks knowing the hours they're going to work over the next week."

If employers aren't required to tell workers when they will and won't be working, Konczal asked, "how do you build a robust social life with that kind of stress?" Without the freedom to plan even one day ahead, "it's tough to start and maintain a family, or to volunteer, or join a bowling league all the things that we think of as having a rich social life," he explained.

Once you understand that worker freedoms have been trampled over the last 40 years, you start to see examples everywhere. Consider the Jimmy John workers who were forced to sign agreements that said they couldn't go to work for another fast food restaurant if they quit, or the janitors who unwittingly signed noncompete clauses. Think of how many people feel trapped in their jobs because they can't afford to give up the health insurance their employers provide. Can anyone really make the argument that these workers are anywhere near as free as their counterparts in nations with single-payer health care and stronger worker protections?

In order to reestablish freedoms that benefit the individual, Konczal argued that "we need to decommodify spheres of our lives." A public health care system and free public college would establish a baseline in which everyone has the freedom to pursue the life that they want, and worker protections would allow people to live balanced lives.

And lastly, "we need to do something about the real disparities of wealth and income in this country through very aggressive progressive taxation," Konczal said.

Freedom can't exist in a country with the kind of economic power imbalance that exists in America today. Your freedom to swing big bags of money around ends when your fortune risks crushing the livelihoods of millions of working Americans.

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How wealthy Americans and corporations have used 'negative freedom' to strip rights away from workers - Business Insider

Now that the UKs vaccination programme is beginning to offer an escape route out of lockdown restrictions, despite some hitches, attention is focusing on so-called domestic vaccine passports. Important details remain uncertain but the idea has already been criticised as potentially divisive and discriminatory, as well as going against British instinct presumably because Covid passports are reminiscent of compulsory ID cards, the absence of which many regard as a hallmark of British liberty. The desire for freedom is, of course, pretty universal but there are many, and incompatible, ideas of freedom.

The British philosopher Isaiah Berlin famously distinguished two from more than 200 senses of the word he claimed had been recorded by historians of ideas: negative liberty, or freedom from interference; and positive liberty, or freedom understood as self-mastery and self-determination. The former ensures that others dont hinder your choices, while the latter aims to create conditions that give you options and make your choices truly yours and genuinely free.

Although they may seem like two sides of a coin, Berlin was suspicious of the idea of positive liberty, especially as a social or political aim. He argued that, historically, it had tended to spawn oppressive institutions and regimes: through twisted reasoning, these regimes ended up justifying not merely the suppression of most negative liberties but even arbitrary incarceration, killings and torture as lesser evils needed to bring about true individual or collective liberation.

Berlin was right about the dangers of distorted ideas of positive liberty. But it would be a mistake to conclude, as some libertarians do, that we could or should think about political freedom without it. The value of negative liberty, of freedom from interference is, at least partly, that it allows me to choose for myself the projects, relationships and pursuits that will shape my life. But if lack of access to education, healthcare and so on means that I dont really have any worthwhile alternatives to pursue, negative liberty alone surely isnt worth having.

Negative liberty is freedom from the kinds of interference that by whatever means prevent or compel action. Having it doesnt mean that you are free to do whatever you want, however unimpeachable. Your lack of talent may prevent you from becoming a great singer. But when others coerce you to do things or not to do things, then they curtail your negative liberty. And that is precisely what governments everywhere, and in many cases to an extraordinary degree, have done during the current pandemic.

Often using emergency legislation, they have imposed curfews and lockdowns of varying stringency that interfere with freedom of movement and of association in every aspect of life: from family and friendship to work and religious practices. They have impeded or restricted access to trade and commerce, as well as entertainment, culture and sports. They have mandated the use of face coverings. Lockdown and related measures havent taken away our ability to do all the things that constitute ordinary life but have deprived us of the opportunities to do them, whether by the threat of sanctions or by active prevention. Some people have questioned whether this massive curtailment of negative liberty is justified.

More than 160 years ago John Stuart Mill argued that in a civilised community, the only justification for government coercion is the prevention of harm to others. In the UK, and many other countries, long before Covid, coercive state measures, from taxes to car seatbelts, were pervasive and accepted on grounds that go beyond Mills justification, or at least involve a very broad interpretation of his harm principle. The extensions include harm to oneself, justified possibly on the grounds that where there is a welfare state, certain harms to yourself indirectly harm others and the idea that harm can be caused by omission as well as by commission. And freedom from interference is often sacrificed for the sake of other values, such as equality, prosperity, fairness and security which may in turn enhance positive liberty. But coercive lockdown and related Covid measures can be justified on Mills terms the prevention of harm to others without much stretching. Of course, in some countries, the situation has been opportunistically exploited to concentrate unchecked power in the government, and for the long term. But in most, including the UK, measures are confined to reducing the spread of the virus, thus preventing many more deaths and acute cases, and the ensuing collapse of health services.

Some have questioned whether the restrictions have been proportionate, given the demographic of actual and potential deaths, the long-term costs to the economy, which will affect the young disproportionately, and to the physical and mental health of the whole population to say nothing of future burdens building up for health services. Those are important considerations but it matters that the Covid threat is, by the consensus of experts, grave, credible and imminent.

No doubt there have been mistakes, inconsistencies and exaggerations in the details in different places, some due to unavoidable ignorance or uncertainty, others to ineptitude, political expedience and opportunism. The proper assessment of these will take time, and the assembly and analysis of much complex information. It is currently far from clear how Covid domestic passports could help achieve significant protective aims. If it turns out that they can, measures to mitigate risks of unfairness or invasions of privacy will be needed. Are they, in themselves, a threat to freedom? It is hard to see why but perhaps it depends on which of those 200 concepts one has in mind.

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Are Covid passports a threat to liberty? It depends on how you define freedom - The Guardian

By Saumya RastogiBoston University News Service

The Information Technology Rules, 2021, which regulate social media and OTT (over-the-top) platforms, were notified by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on Feb. 25. On paper, these rules seek compliance of the law and grievance redressal of social media users and digital news publishers. In reality, it is monitoring anti-national content on these platforms.

This process started in 2018 when the Supreme Court of India told the center to form guidelines to eliminate child pornography, rape and gangrape videos online.

In 2020, this process continued. An ad-hoc committee of the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) publicized its report after studying the alarming rise of pornography on social media. It recommended identifying the first originator of such content.

What it also did was bring video streaming OTT platforms under the ambit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. OTT platforms, like Netflix and Amazon Prime, distribute streaming media over the internet.

The noose has tightened further in 2021.

According to the government, users of social media and OTT platforms did not have a strong complaint mechanism to register and address their issues within a defined timeframe.

In a Press Information Bureau (PIB) release, Indias government said it promotes social media companies to earn profits in India. Still, they have to abide by the constitutional laws of India. The release said that the center acknowledges and respects the right of every Indian to criticize as an essential ingredient of democracy. However, the government added that the increase of social media enables the citizens but also raises some serious concerns which have grown in recent times.

The rules are not protective of every individual. The central government can ask social media intermediaries to disclose the first originator of information. The intermediary is not obligated to share any information with the first originator about the misuse of social media. The originators rights are not protected.

Before these rules came into place, supporters of the center filed complaints against journalists and activists claiming they invoked sedition. The supporters have been registering First Information Reports (FIR).

The perception of what threatens the countrys security or what is construed as an offense against public peace has changed significantly. Any form of dissent against the government is considered to be a threat.

Recently, the farmers protest tweeted about the protests. Twitter suspended their accounts. ANI later revealed that this was done under the Union home ministers instructions, Amit Shah, according to unnamed sources. Farmers protests began in Sept. 2020 in response to the three acts passed by Parliament.

In addition to the acts passed by Parliament, the government is attempting to gain more control over digital news and OTT platforms.

Since these platforms did not self-regulate, as I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar said during a media briefing on Feb. 25, the government felt compelled to step in.

When Capitol Hill is attacked, social media supports police action, Javadekar said. But when there is an aggressive attack on the Red Fort a symbol of Indias freedom and where the PM unfurls the national flag there shouldnt be any double standards.

Recently, Amazon Prime was under pressure when its show, Tandav, was accused of hurting the religious sentiments of the audience.

The show reportedly showed a controversial scene featuring Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, dressed as Lord Shiva, speaking about Azadi (freedom). After numerous complaints, the makers released a statement apologizing for unintentionally hurting peoples sentiments and agreed to snip problematic sequences.

Amazons apology was not enough for many. People demanded the arrest of Tandav members.

Moreover, the Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij released a previous statement saying that the I&B ministry should prevent web series from being released before passing the censor boards screen test.

The series should be immediately removed from the Amazon platform because it attacks our system, politics, social fabric, the young generation and the Prime Ministers office, Vij said.

This is not the only show being criticized on an OTT platform.

Bombay Begums, a Netflix show, went through a similar crisis when the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) asked the platform to cancel the show.

The commission added that content like Bombay Begums could pollute young minds and result in childrens abuse and exploitation.

The show had reportedly depicted a 13-year-old snorting cocaine and a young girl sending inappropriate selfies showing her breasts to a boy. The committee took issue with this and filed complaints.

The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) became aware of these issues and initiated guidelines and recommendations to the government regarding these new rules.

First, IFF said that the new rules curb the freedom of expression and invade the privacy of social media users. Second, IFF stated that on requests, social media takes down posts and tweets, which has a chilling effect on speech. Lastly, to implement the first originator rule, the platforms will have to fingerprint each message. This may defeat end-to-end encryption. Consequently, every users privacy will be compromised to investigate crimes committed by a minuscule.

IFF added that these rules be put through the public consultation process in line with the Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy adopted on Feb. 5, 2014.

It further added that any definitional vagueness is removed and there should be provisional safeguards to takedown requests.

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How the New Information Technology Rules, 2021 curb freedom of expression in India - BU News Service

Clockwise from top left: Neil Thrasher, Bart Herbison and Wendell Mobley discuss songwriting(Photo: Submitted)

Believe it or not, "Fast Cars and Freedom" didn't come about quickly.

At first, all Wendell Mobley and Neil Thrasher had was a guitar lick one that was a clear winner, but kept being put on the backburner as they worked on other tunes.

But after they reteamed with Rascal Flatts frontman Gary LeVox, the song sped to life. "You don't look a day over fast cars and freedom," LeVox sang on the 2005 hit. "That sunset river bank, first time feeling."

Thrasher and Mobley told the Story Behind the Song to Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International.

Bart Herbison: Fast CarsAndFreedom is in my top favorite songs of all time, all eras, all genres. You wrote it with GaryLevox, and Rascal Flatts recorded this. Take us back to that time. How did this song come about?

Neil Thrasher: (To Wendell)You called me up and you were playing that lick. Thats how it all started.

BH: That lick, man. And for country music, I putit up there with Steely Dans Reelin Inthe Years. Everybody was talking about that lick, complimentary, but also jealous as hell.

NT: Well, Wendell is one of the best guitar players in town, and nobody ever talks about that much, but its true and that was indicative of how creative he is. When he played me that lick over the phone, I go, Man that sounds like something Keith Urban would do.

WM: And by the time you brought that up, Neil was singing Staring at you, takinoff. andthatsall! I mean like for two or three writes.That'sall we would have, then wed go write another song. And it finally came to that one.

NT: Me, him and Gary (LeVox) write the whole - we write the whole song without a title.

WM: No title.

NT: We let Gary decide what they wanted to call it and that was it.

NT: Joe Don (Rooney, Flatts guitarist)had to check in with Wendell and ask, How exactly are you playing that lick?

WM: He definitely made it his own thing.

BH: So I have a final question for this song. Theres a site I look at sometimes that fascinates me called SongFacts."

One person posts, and theyre writing about the song, Its about the love of his life, as they get older in life, he is still in love and she thinks maybe she is not as good looking (anymore). The other point of view, second post, Okay. This song is not about his wife and girlfriend, but the one girl he missed out on - the one that got away.

NT: Its always been about my wife, I mean, in my mind if I had to say what that song entails, it entails how I feel about her and what I think about her.

WM: And growing old together.

NT: Thats right.

WM: But it's also whatever they want it to be.

In partnership with Nashville Songwriters Association International, the "Story Behind the Song" video interview series features Nashville-connected songwriters discussing one of their compositions. For full video interviews with all of our subjects, visitwww.tennessean.com/music.

Read or Share this story: https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/story-behind-the-song/2021/04/09/story-behind-song-rascal-flatts-fast-cars-and-freedom/7113516002/

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Story Behind the Song: Rascal Flatts' 'Fast Cars and Freedom' - The Tennessean

Earlier this week, former Vice President Mike Pence (R) announced his Advancing American Freedom group that will focus on traditional religious right issues along with economic and foreign policy. Abortion and religious freedom advocacy against LGBTQ rights will be a large aspect of the groups planned attacks on President Joe Bidens progressive agenda.

Former Trump aide Kellyanne Conway and other Trump administration officials like Pences former Chief of Staff, Marc Short, were already announced as members of the groups advisory board. Now, Pence has reportedly, and quietly, added one other name: Michael Farris, the president and CEO of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), an anti-LGBTQ hate group.

Related: Anti-LGBTQ activists are now funding voter suppression & anti-vaccine conspiracies

The ADF, which was first designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in 2016, had a storied relationship with Pence and others throughout the Trump administration.

ADF is an SPLC designated hate group that is involved in a number of cases opposing LGBTQ equality. The group has fought in the past for the criminalization of homosexuality, with attorneys associated with the organization saying that same-sex sodomy is a distinct public health problem and calling LGBTQ activism the new promotion of pedophilia.

Today, the ADF says that theyre not a hate group and that their limited engagement in [LGBTQ issues] was based on our belief that marriage between one man and one woman is the best institution for human flourishing.

Yet, anti-LGBTQ advocates such as Pence and Amy Coney Barrett who has received at least five checks from the ADF since 2011 continue to have deep ties to the group. Farris was one of the guests at the COVID-19 superspreader Rose Garden event where Trump announced Barrett as his nominee to the Supreme Court.

ADF has recently been involved inlitigation to ban transgender girlsfrom competing in high school sports, keepconversion therapy legal, and to createexpansive religious exceptions to anti-discrimination laws.

Theyre also one of the groups that is helping organize the wave of anti-transgender legislation across the country, and offered the litigation services to protect the laws.

Pences new group reportedly has former President Donald Trumps blessing despite their falling out after the MAGA riot at the Capitol building.Pence was mocked for his blind obedience to Trump, but he said that the group will tout his ties to the Trump administration as part of his effort to woo supporters to his camp.

It was the most successful first term in American history, Trump said in a statement sent to theWashington Examiner. Nice to see Mike highlighting some of our many achievements!

Farris became the groups president and CEO in 2017, long after it made its name pushing an anti-LGBTQ agenda. Farris has complained about being referred to as a hate group leader, although the ADF remains active in opposing LGBTQ rights.

Groups like Citizens for Transparency and the SPLC gloss over the obvious differences between disagreement and discrimination. Rather than seek to understand the other side of a conversation, the SPLC vilifies any person or group with whom it disagrees, he claimed in 2018, after a billboard highlighting the groups anti-LGBTQ work was put up in New York Citys Times Square.

Similarly, Pence also disliked being criticized for his anti-LGBTQ stances. He even spoke to a hate group during his Vice Presidency about it which was the ADF.

Sitting across from Farris in 2019, he whined that he didnt see coming the backlash his wife would get for working at a school where LGBTQ students, staff, or faculty are banned. He said that it is important to forgive people for the sin of caring about equality and social justice.

He then stressed the importance of prayer: Number 1 is, spend more time on your knees than on the internet.

Nick Surgey ofThe Interceptfirst broke the news that Farris was joining Pences organization.

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Mike Pence's traditional organization for freedom will have a hate group leader advising - LGBTQ Nation

Written by Krishn Kaushik, Edited by Explained Desk | New Delhi | Updated: April 10, 2021 8:10:01 am

The US Navy announced on April 7 that the USS John Paul Jones from its 7th Fleet had asserted navigational rights and freedoms approximately 130 nautical miles west of Lakshadweep Islands, inside Indias exclusive economic zone, without requesting Indias prior consent, consistent with international law. It said India requires prior consent for military exercises or maneuvers in its exclusive economic zone or continental shelf, a claim inconsistent with international law, and the freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging Indias excessive maritime claims.

The Ministry of External Affairs responded that the governments stated position on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is that the Convention does not authorise other States to carry out in the Exclusive Economic Zone and on the continental shelf, military exercises or manoeuvres, in particular those involving the use of weapons or explosives, without the consent of the coastal state.

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FONOP: Simply put, the Freedom of Navigation Operations involves passages conducted by the US Navy through waters claimed by coastal nations as their exclusive territory. According to the US Department of Defense (DoD), the FON Program has existed for 40 years, and continuously reaffirmed the United States policy of exercising and asserting its navigation and overflight rights and freedoms around the world. The DoD says these assertions communicate that the United States does not acquiesce to the excessive maritime claims of other nations, and thus prevents those claims from becoming accepted in international law.

While this is not the first time something like this has happened, this is the first time the US Navy has issued a public statement giving details of the operation. Usually, in the past, the DoD has mentioned all FONOP challenges and assertions in its annual report to Congress.

7TH FLEET: It is the largest of the US Navys forward deployed fleets. According to its website, at any given time there are roughly 50-70 ships and submarines, 150 aircraft, and approximately 20,000 Sailors in Seventh Fleet, which is commanded by a 3-star Navy officer.

India had a close encounter with the 7th fleet during the 1971 war with Pakistan. According to military historian Srinath Raghavan, US President Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger believed that there was an outside chance for a ceasefire before the Pakistan army caved in on the eastern front. Nixon instructed his Chief of Navy to assemble an impressive naval task force and move it off the coast of South Vietnam, into the Malacca Straits, and onward to the Bay of Bengal. Task Group 74 included the largest aircraft carrier in the US navy, the USS Enterprise. (1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh)

EEZ: According to UNCLOS, the EEZ is an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea, subject to the specific legal regime under which the rights and jurisdiction of the coastal State and the rights and freedoms of other States are governed by the relevant provisions of this Convention.

As per Indias Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and Other Maritime Zones Act, 1976, the EEZ of India is an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial waters, and the limit of such zone is two hundred nautical miles from the baseline. Indias limit of the territorial waters is the line every point of which is at a distance of twelve nautical miles from the nearest point of the appropriate baseline. Under the 1976 law, all foreign ships (other than warships including sub-marines and other underwater vehicles) shall enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial waters, innocent passage being one that is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of India.

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Explained: Freedom of Navigation Operations, USs 7th Fleet and Indias EEZ - The Indian Express

In 2003, under Narendra Modi, Gujarat passed a law that essentially removed all freedom of religion for Gujaratis. It requires individuals changing their faith to take the permission of the government. They had to fill out a form explaining to the District Magistrate the reasons they were choosing to convert; their occupation and monthly income; how long they had been in the religion they were converting out of; to reveal whether they were Dalit or Adivasi; the date and time of their conversion; the names, addresses and ages of themselves and all in their family; the names and addresses of all guests attending the ceremony. If they did not do so within ten days of their conversion, they faced one year in jail.

The person who is converting them has to fill out another form with all of the details referred to above and must submit one month before the conversion, an application to the District Magistrate seeking permission. The bureaucrat has one month in which to approve or deny permission. This denial of propagation obviously also affects the right of the person who wants to change their faith. One had to remain in the faith they were born in unless the government approved.

The District Magistrate must also maintain a register that has the number of applications received, approved, denied or pending which he must report every quarter. The coercion can be imagined.

Gujarats Assembly was told in January 2020 that in the previous five years a total of 1,895 applications for conversion had been filed in the state. Gujarat had denied permission to convert to 889 individuals.

The government gave permission to 1,006 applicants, almost all of whom were Dalits in Surat converting to Buddhism. The number of Dalit applicants to convert to Buddhism had swelled because in 2014, they had been denied permission to convert in a mass ceremony.

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Totally false to say Indians have freedom of religion: not free to choose their faith - National Herald

Along with Apple officially opening up its Find My app to third parties yesterday, Belkin started pre-orders for its new Soundform Freedom wireless earbuds. In addition to the Find My integration, the new earbuds have some impressive features like 36-hour battery life, in-ear design, Qi wireless charging, and more at just $99. Lets dive in and look at the Belkin Soundform Freedom vs AirPods and AirPods Pro.

Apples AirPods have been a massive success with the totally wireless earbuds dominating the market. A major part of the appeal is the tight integration the AirPods lineup has with Apple devices. Now with the Find My app opening up, third-party products can become a bit more native to the experience than before.

While the new Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds cant offer all of the same benefits of AirPods like one-tap instant setup and Hey Siri support, the new earbuds offer a compelling overall package when considering battery life, design, price, and more.

Belkins new earbuds feature a design that sits between AirPods and AirPods Pro. The stem of the Soundform Freedom buds looks to be about the length of AirPods but with the in-ear fit of AirPods Pro.

One of the appealing aspects here is the Soundform Freedom coming in black as well as white. While the charging case looks a bit bulkier than AirPods, youre getting the benefit of longer battery life.

Belkin is the winner here with the Soundform Freedom offering significantly longer battery life for both the earbuds themselves and the battery case. As mentioned above, one trade-off is a chunkier charging case, but that may be worth it for many.

Taking a look at the overall specs and features, you get a better sense of how Belkins new earbuds stack up against AirPods. They match AirPods/Pro with support for ear-detection, sweat/water resistance, and tracking with Find My notably Belkin says even the charging case is trackable which isnt the case for AirPods.

But youre not getting active noise cancelation (ANC), transparency mode, the H1 chip, and Hey Siri support. However, its possible Belkin could have a touch control to enable Siri control.

Belkin has a real leg up with the Soundform Freedoms $99 price tag. Apples official price for AirPods is $159 with the basic charging case and $199 with the wireless charging case. And the MSRP for AirPods Pro is $249.

You can often find all three AirPods models below those prices on Amazon and other retailers, but even so, $99 is a great price for everything Belkin looks to offer with the Soundform Freedom.

With Belkin Soundform Freedom pre-orders shipping out come June the verdict is still out on how sound quality will compare to AirPods and AirPods Pro. But heres how Belkin is describing the audio quality:

Rich, radiant sound meets exceptional battery life in the SOUNDFORM Freedom True Wireless Earbuds. Custom drivers activate deep bass while maintaining clear mids and highs. Our advanced clear-call technology and dual microphones ensure remarkable call quality.

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Heres how Belkins $99 Find My-enabled Soundform Freedom earbuds compare to AirPods - 9to5Mac

I can breathe again

(TNS) With a mix of relief and caution, older adults fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are moving out into the world and resuming activities put on hold during the pandemic.

Many are making plans to see adult children and hug grandchildren they havent visited for months or longer. Others are getting together with friends indoors, for the first time in a long time.

People are scheduling medical appointments that had been delayed and putting trips to destinations near and far on calendars. Simple things that felt unsafe pre-vaccination now feel possible: petting a neighbors dog, going for a walk in the park, stopping at a local hangout for a cup of coffee.

I feel I can breathe again, said Barry Dym, 78, of Lexington, Mass., expressing a widely shared sense of freedom.

The rapid rollout of COVID vaccines to people 65 and older makes this possible. As of last week, nearly 49% of seniors in the U.S. had been fully vaccinated, while nearly 73% had received one dose of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. (A third vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson, became available recently and requires just one dose.)

Recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognizes the protection that vaccines offer. According to the CDC, people who are fully vaccinated can meet indoors without masks, without incurring significant risk. Also, they can visit relatively safely with people who havent been vaccinated, so long as those individuals are healthy and gatherings remain small.

Still, with coronavirus variants circulating and 55,000 new infections reported daily, the CDC continues to recommend precautions elsewhere, such as wearing masks, staying physically distant in public and refraining from air travel.

How are older adults whove been fully vaccinated a privileged group, to be sure, given the millions of seniors whove yet to get shots balancing a desire to shed isolation with a need to stay safe amid a pandemic thats not yet over? I asked several people Ive spoken with previously about their plans and their reflections on the difficult year weve been through.

Mardell Reed, 80, of Pasadena, Calif., told me she wasnt sure shed get the vaccine originally, because I was concerned about the process going so fast and drug companies maybe producing something that wasnt up to par. But she changed her mind once we all started hearing from actual scientists rather than politicians.

Now, Reed tries to educate people she knows who remain reluctant to get the shots. One of them is her 83-year-old stepsister. No one had explained anything about the vaccines to her, Reed told me. I talked about all the things that would be possible seeing her daughter, who lives up north, seeing more of her grandkids, and I think that convinced her.

Reed used to walk in her neighborhood regularly before the pandemic but stopped when she became afraid of being around other people. Reviving that habit is a goal.

Among Reeds other priorities in the months ahead: visiting with her daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and seeing her primary care physician, a dentist, a neurologist whos treating nerve damage and an eye doctor. I didnt want to go to places where people might be sick this last year; now, its time for me to catch up on all that, she said.

Harry Hutson, 73, and his wife, Mikey, 70, invited two couples to their house in Baltimore, on separate nights, after getting their second Moderna shots in February and waiting two weeks. Were going right into having safe dinners with people whove been vaccinated, Hutson told me.

He feels a touch of lingering uncertainty, however. While were 95% sure this is the right thing to do, were a little tentative. For a whole year, weve had COVID is death engrained in us. After that, you cant just go back to normal, just like that, he said.

Hutson has continued working as an executive coach during the pandemic and has recently been giving talks on hope to business groups, nonprofit organizations and churches. What I tell people is Youll help yourself by helping others. Were all emerging from trauma and healing has to be a collective, not an individual, endeavor.

On a personal note, Hutson is going through an attic full of yearbooks, letters and photos, curating my familys history. He hopes to make an across-the-country road trip with his wife later this year visiting his sons family in Madison, Wisconsin, his daughters family in Portland, Oregon, and his brother in Eugene, Oregon, as well as several friends.

Marian Hollingsworth, 67, of La Mesa, Calif., spent last spring and summer sequestered at home with her husband, Ed, 72, who had stomach cancer, focused on keeping Ed safe from the coronavirus. But his illness progressed and, in early October, Ed died at home, where the couples four adult children had gathered to say goodbye.

Since then, Hollingsworths son Morgan, 27, who lives in New York City, has stayed with his mom, keeping her company. But grief struck hard: Hollingsworth lost weight and couldnt sleep at night despite profound fatigue. It was like getting hit by the biggest Mack truck you could find, she told me.

The pandemics resurgence in the fall and winter made adjusting to Eds loss even more of a challenge, Hollingsworth said, since she couldnt get together with friends or get hugs a form of contact she longed for. To this day, his clothes hang in the closet because the places shed like to send them arent accepting donations.

When Hollingsworth became fully vaccinated in early March, she said, she felt for the first time that my head was coming up above water. Although shes not sure, yet, how much she wants to go out and see people, shes looking forward to simple pleasures: petting the neighbors dog and going on distanced walks with a few friends. Im going to be cautious until theres more clarity about whats really safe, she told me.

Wilma Jenkins, 82, who lives in South Fulton, Ga., has struggled with depression off and on for years a challenge shes spoken about publicly in talks to older adults. This fall and winter, isolated at home, its been rough for me its just been so sad, she admitted.

Even though Jenkins describes herself as an introvert, she made sure she had regular social contact before the pandemic. Most days, shed take herself out to lunch at local restaurants, chatting with the wait staff and other regular customers.

One of Jenkins great loves is music the blues and jazz. A few days after we spoke, she was planning to return to her favorite nightclub, St. James Live in Atlanta, to catch a show her first such outing since becoming fully vaccinated in mid-February.

Im not afraid to move back into the world, but I will continue to be masked and socially distanced and wash my hands, she told me.

Jenkins plans to start walking outside again; go to restaurants, so long as theyre not too crowded; and resume visits with her two daughters, both physicians, who live in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. Her most ambitious goal: flying out to San Diego in late July for a celebration marking her grandson Jamals retirement from the Navy.

Barry Dym is haunted by an image thats recurred often during the past year: Hes on a moving sidewalk, unable to get off, being hurried to a destination he doesnt want to reach: old age. The image is associated with the pandemic and knee pain that has worsened, painfully, over the past six months, making walking harder.

This past year was a time of adjustment for Dym, who retired four years ago from his work as a consultant to nonprofit organizations. One of the lessons of COVID for me was I still need to feel useful and I love helping people. I realized maybe Id pulled back too far.

So, Dym expanded his coaching and mentoring practice an activity he plans to continue. Whatever I can do to help make this world better, Im not going to stop trying, he said.

Outside of travel plans with his wife, Franny to the Florida Keys this spring, to the Berkshires in western Massachusetts in the summer, and perhaps to Israel in the fall Dym said he finds himself more curious than anything about what lies ahead. I really dont know what my life will be like. Ill have to find out.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

2021 Kaiser Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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