Category Archives: Freedom

Members pay a $3,900-dollar one-time initiation fee, and then about $400 dollars a month for the luxury of using a boat when they want.

DEEP RIVER, Conn. "Think of it like Zip Cars.

That's according to Dick Cromwell, the owner of the Freedom Boat Club, a boat share business that, he says, has bloomed since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Cromwell runs the Freedom Boat Club out of seven marinas in Connecticut, giving members the chance to get out on the water without having to own a boat. You come down, take a boat and have fun, Cromwell said, then (when youre done) you hand us the keys and walk away.

Cromwell typically offers boats in the 22 to 24-foot range and members can take advantage of the service across the country. Cromwell added that due to the desire for so many to socially distance and find an escape, he has seen steady growth. We were one of the few things that people could do that was Covid safe, he said.

Members pay a $3,900-dollar one-time initiation fee, and then about $400 dollars a month for the luxury of using a boat when they want. Theres none of the headaches of maintenance plus its less money than owning a boat, said Cromwell.

Bart Crossman, the lead salesman for the Freedom Boat Club said, you can get out on the water its a whole different world. Cromwell, who runs the Freedom Boat Club franchise in both Connecticut and Rhode Island added, its going to be a very busy year out on the water but its going to be fun.

To find out more about the Freedom Boat Club click http://www.freedomboatclub.com

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For the Freedom Boat Club, more flow on the water in 2021 - FOX 61

Good morning! Im having a weird one as I write this, as the vaccine aftereffects are manifesting a little oddly. I almost fell asleep very early by my standards, and then when I went to brush my teeth, I managed to reinvigorate myself to some extent, which is why Im writing this last night rather than early this morning. Nothing severe, just a little strange, and Im glad to have my second shot in my arm.

Onto the soccer!

DC United step onto the scales as new era unfolds | USSoccerPlayers.comCharles Boehm gets us started with a look at some of what Hernn Losada talked about in his media availability, which is to say D.C. Uniteds collective fitness levels. Theres a note in here about United having some fancy equipment, and the focus on player weight and body fat percentages is a big demand (that Marcelo Bielsa fans will not be surprised to hear about).

Meanwhile, whenever we actually to the point where we can safely have a crowded stadium, we might see some fascinating new developments over by Gate A.

Moving along, the tomorrow in question below is in reference to today, which is now:

We got way into the weeds on DCUs outlook this year, so definitely give the show a listen.

And now, an appropriate transition between topics!

Id love to see more mutual support between United and the Washington Spirit, so this photo of Moses Nyeman in a Spirit shirt? Im on board.

Washington Spirit Sign Chinyelu Asher, Camryn Biegalski and Cali Farquharson | WashingtonSpirit.comWith five players away on international duty ahead of their Challenge Cup opener, the Spirit signed three national team replacement players. Theyre familiar names, too: Farquharson played for the Spirit for four years from 2016-2019. Asher, who is a Jamaican international, has trained with the club multiple times and hails from Silver Spring and played for the Spirit Reserves as well. Biegalski is new to the club, but played against the Spirit for the Chicago Red Stars last year.

Speaking of those internationals, Saori Takarada played 90 minutes in a 7-0 win over Paraguay (apparently at center back), while Mariana Speckmaier made her senior national team debut for Venezuela.

Theres even more Spirit info, as yesterday was the first pre-game media availability of 2021:

Thats where the short thread begins, but this also touches on what NC Courage coach Paul Riley thinks of the Spirit as well.

Crew dominate Real Esteli 4-0 in Champions League opener | Massive ReportThe Columbus Crew trounced Real Esteli in Nicaragua in CCL play yesterday. I know theres not much of a perception of Nicaraguan clubs being able to compete with MLS, but Esteli over the years has a ton of one-goal losses against MLS and Liga MX teams. 4-0 at their place is a seriously impressive result.

Olympique Lyonnais, Barcelona to join NWSL teams in summer tournament | Washington PostI dont get excited about these summer friendly tournaments theyre not incentivized with either money or meaning in a way that elevates them above friendlies but Im glad to see some attempt to get the worlds top clubs playing each other. Until FIFA gets on the ball and starts a womens Club World Cup (which, FIFA...we could do that this year, guys, lets get moving!), its better than nothing.

Alright, normally I go on longer, but yesterday I drove to Baltimore, got vaccinated, drove back and did three different media conference calls on multiple platforms, and chipped away at a DCU piece that hopefully I can get published today. This sounds like whining, but what I mean is that I didnt see very much else from the world of soccer today. Let me know in the comments what I missed!

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Friday Freedom Kicks: D.C. United focused on fitness, Washington Spirit vs. NC Courage, and more - Black And Red United

Connecticut is fighting for EV freedom, and dealerships are fighting against this just as intently. The EV Club of Connecticut recently launched a new website to help spread awareness and truth about the benefits of allowing people to buy electric vehicles directly from the consumer instead of having to go through an outdated dealership model that only makes the prices of EVs unnecessarily higher.

In the video above, the EV Club of Connecticut dispels several myths that the dealers often use to convince the legislature and normal people that buying an EV from the manufacturer is not good.

William Cross joined in the fight for EV Freedom and launched a Change.org petition where supporters can tell Connecticut legislators that opposing EV freedom hurts the planet and natural competition. If you care about the EV movement and growing adoption, help the citizens of Connecticut convince their policymakers not to listen to dealers no matter how much money they throw at them. You can sign the petition here.

Its now or never we need the votes. We need to combat the dealer disinformation. We are almost there, no message nor signature goes unrecognized, William Cross told me on Twitter.

In the video above, it was mentioned that the Connecticut General Assemblys Transportation Committee received hundred and hundreds of emails from dealerships who were opposing the bill and asking them not to vote for it.

The dealer model is highly outdated and should allow for new automakers and startups to create and sell vehicles in our states. Its not fair to call the playing field unfair when they are the ones setting the rules and bribing lawmakers.

Featured image by William Cross, used with permission.

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Connecticut Dealerships Are Trying To Block The New EV Freedom Bill Sign Petition For EV Freedom - CleanTechnica

Even the most fantastical creatures have some basis in scientific reality, so the natural world is a good place to look to better understand movie monsters. I study functional morphology how skeletal and tissue traits allow animals to move and evolution in extinct animals. I am also a huge fan of monster movies. Ultimately, this is a fight between a giant reptile and a giant primate, and there are relative biological advantages and disadvantages that each would have. The research I do on morphology and biomechanics can tell us a lot about this battle and might help you decide #TeamGodzilla or #TeamKong?

Larger than life

First it's important to acknowledge that both Kong and Godzilla are definitely far beyond the realms of biological possibility. This is due to sheer size and the laws of physics. Their hearts couldn't pump blood to their heads, they would have temperature regulation problems and it would take too long for nerve signals from the brain to reach distant parts of the body to name just a few issues.

However, let's assume that somehow Godzilla and Kong are able to overcome these size limitations perhaps because of their radiation exposure they have distinctive mutations and characteristics. Based on how they look on the big screen, let's explore the observable differences that might prove useful in a fight.

Kong: the best of ape and human

At first glance, Kong is a colossal primate - but he's not simply a giant gorilla.

Cliff/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

One of the most striking things about Kong is his upright, bipedal stance he mostly walks on two legs, unlike any other living nonhuman apes. This ability could suggest close evolutionary relationship to the only living upright ape, humans or his upright stance could be the result of convergent evolution. Either way, like us, Kong has thick muscular legs geared toward walking and running, and large free arms with grasping hands, enabling him to use tools.

Humanity's bipedal, upright posture is unique in the animal kingdom and provides a slew of biomechanical abilities that Kong might share. For example, human torsos are highly flexible and particularly good at rotation. This feature in addition to our loose shoulder girdle makes humans the best throwers in the animal kingdom. Throwing is helpful in a fight, and Kong could probably throw with the best of them.

Kong is also, of course, massive. He absolutely dwarfs the largest known primate, an extinct orangutan relative called Gigantopithecus that was a bit bigger than modern gorillas.

Kong does have many gorillalike attributes as well, including long muscular arms, a short snout with large canine teeth, and a tall sagittal crest a ridge of bone on his head that would be the anchor point for some exceptionally strong jaw muscles.

Strong, agile, comfortable on land and with the unparalleled ability to use tools and throw, Kong would be a brutal force in a fight.

Kenneth Carpenter/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Godzilla: An aquatic lizard to be reckoned with

Godzilla appears to be a giant, semiaquatic reptile. Like Kong, Godzilla has the traits of a few different species.

Recent Godzilla movies show him decently mobile on land, but seemingly much more comfortable in the water despite his lack of overt aquatic features. Interestingly, Godzilla is depicted with gills on his neck a trait that land vertebrates lost after they emerged from the sea about 370 million years ago. Given Godzilla's terrestrial features, it's likely that his species has land-dwelling reptile ancestors and reevolved a mostly aquatic lifestyle kind of like sea turtles or sea snakes, which can actually absorb oxygen through their skin in water. Godzilla may have uniquely reevolved gills.

Godzilla's tail is what really separates him from Kong. It is massive, and anchored and moved by huge muscles attached to his legs, hips and lower back. Dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex stood horizontally and used their tails for balance and to help them walk and run. Godzilla, in contrast, stands vertically and keeps his tail low to the ground, probably for a different type of balance. This vertical posture is unique for a two-legged reptile and more resembles a standing kangaroo. Godzilla stands on two muscular, pillarlike legs similar to those of a sauropod dinosaur. These would provide stability and help support his gargantuan mass but would also bolster the strength of his tail.

In addition to his powerful tail, Godzilla carries three rows of sharp spikes going down his back, thick scaly skin, a relatively small head full of carnivorous teeth and free arms with grasping hands, all built onto a muscular body. Taken together, Godzilla is a terrifying and intimidating adversary.

Tim Simpson/Flickr, CC BY-NC

Ready, fight!

So now that we've looked a little closer at how Godzilla and Kong are built, let's imagine who might emerge victorious in battle.

Though Kong is a little bit smaller than Godzilla, both are more or less comparably massive in size and neither has a clear advantage here. So what about their fighting abilities?

Godzilla would likely favor his robust tail for both offense and defense much like modern-day large lizards that use their strong tails as whips. Scale up that strength to Godzilla's size, and that tail becomes a lethal weapon which he has used before.

However, Kong is more comfortable on land, faster and more agile, can use his strong legs to jump, and possesses much stronger arms than Godzilla Kong probably packs a walloping punch. And as an ape, Kong would also likely use tools to some degree and might even capitalize on his throwing ability.

Both would have a gnarly bite, with Kong likely getting a slight advantage. However, Godzilla's bite is by no means weak, and all of his teeth are flesh-piercing, similar to crocodile and monitor lizard teeth.

On defense, Godzilla has the edge, with thick scaly skin and sharp spikes. He might even act like a porcupine, turning his back to a rapidly approaching threat. However, Kong's superior agility on land should be able to offer him some protection as well.

I will admit I am #TeamGodzilla, but it's very close. I may give a slight edge to Kong in broad terrestrial battle ability, but Godzilla's general mass, defense and tail would be hard to overpower. And lest we forget, the tipping point for Godzilla is that he has atomic breath! Until researchers find evidence of a dinosaur or animal with something like that, though, I will have to reserve my scientific judgment.

Regardless of who emerges victorious, this battle will be one for the ages, and I am excited as both a scientist and monster movie fan.

This article has been updated to use more inclusive language.

Kiersten Formoso, PhD Student in Vertebrate Paleontology, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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COVID vaccine: Where does freedom end and civic duty begin? - Big Think

One year after COVID shutdown orders radically changed the way we live our lives; Pennsylvania is slowly returning to some semblance of normalcy as the Wolf Administration begins to belatedly relax certain restrictions.

Pennsylvanians are eager to return to life and once again dine out at a restaurant, catch a movie at a theater, cheer on a team a sporting event, or attend a service at Church. These activities with our friends and family are a freedom many of us took for granted before they were taken away from us.

But imagine that you and your family are planning to attend a ball game. The usher at the entrance takes your ticket and then asks to see a Passport App on your smartphone. The app reveals you have yet to receive a COVID vaccination. The usher is forced to deny entry to you and your family in the name of public safety.

Sadly, this scenario is not a fantasy or a conspiracy theory. It is a very real situation that could be coming to Pennsylvania and the rest of America later this year.

Look no further than our neighboring state to the north.

Earlier this week, New York partnered with big tech firm IBM to release its Excelsior Pass passport app. The state is using $2.5 million in taxpayer funds for the app to provide it to businesses and individuals. While businesses are not required to use the pass for entry yet, there is already talk of establishments in New York being rewarded for mandating the app by being allowed to relax certain social distance mandates by the state government. A mandatory passport requirement from the state for most businesses is likely not far away.

During a press appearance last week, Gov. Tom Wolf indicated that he supports the idea of a vaccine passport. Much like every other major decision during the pandemic, Wolf is once again looking to the failed policies of New York.

PAs Acting Secretary of Health also delivered troubling remarks last week during a press conference. While providing an update on vaccination efforts in the state, the Secretary said: How do we collectively partner on making sure folks understand that the facts and science are there, that the health and safety of our communities is reliant upon us getting vaccinated? And that the freedom that so many folks want will be facilitated best when we have the most folks vaccinated in the community.

With all due respect to the acting secretary, freedom to live life is not something that the government can hold hostage to force a population to comply with an order. Freedom is not something the government gives; we receive it as an American birthright from the Bill of Rights.

There are a number of reasons why someone might be reluctant to receive a vaccination. An individual may not feel comfortable due to medical reasons, religious beliefs, or moral convictions.

Additionally, some are wary of taking a vaccine that is still brand new and has had some documented negative effects. According to CDC Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) data as of March 26, over 2,200 individuals have died shortly following a COVID shot. Over that same period, there were over 50,000 cases of adverse effects reported.

These concerns arent just limited to COVID vaccines. In 2020, there were over 48,000 reported cases of adverse effects from all vaccinations and 343 deaths. 130 of these adverse effects were life-threatening, required hospitalization, or a trip to the ER.

Regardless of whether we agree with an individuals decision to receive a vaccine or not, it is not our place to make that decision for them.

The Pennsylvania Legislature must take action to affirm that individuals have the basic human right to decide what goes into their bodies. All vaccination decisions should be between a patient and their physician, including the right to informed consent, or informed refusal. With this in mind, I have introduced The Medical Freedom Act in the Pennsylvania Senate.

One central provision of my bill will mandate that an individual cannot be denied entry or service for refusal to provide proof of vaccination. Businesses that ignore this new law will not be eligible for state-funded grants or contracts.

The Medical Freedom Act is not anti-vax. If you want a vaccine, you should be able to get one. In fact, the General Assembly has acted this year to pass bills to supplement and improve Governor Wolf's lackluster COVID vaccine distribution strategy. But it is important that the liberties of those who choose not to be vaccinated are protected.

The bottom line is that you and you alone should have sovereignty over what goes into your body. The paradox is that the left mindlessly chants "my body, my choice" when it comes to abortion but forgets this creed when it is really about your body.

Oh, the irony and hypocrisy. Should we really trust the most personal medical decisions to science-denying bureaucrats who thought it was a good idea to reject 150 years of germ/bacteria study to send Covid-positive patients back into nursing homes to our most vulnerable population? This irrational decision by our Secretary of Health led to the deaths of nearly 13,000 of our dearly loved elderly. Should such a person dictate what goes into your body?

No, these unelected bureaucrats should never be able to coerce anyone in our commonwealth to make such personal medical decisions. There is simply no justification for this overreach. You and you alone should decide.

State Sen. Doug Mastriano is a Republican who represents Pennsylvania's 33rd Senatorial District in parts of Adams, Cumberland, Franklin and York counties.

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Sen. Mastriano: Vaccine passports do not belong in the birthplace of freedom - The Mercury

The importance of a free press to a thriving democracy is well-known. But what is its importance to a thriving economy?

We have found evidence attacks on press freedom such as jailing journalists, raiding their homes, shutting down printing presses, and using libel laws to thwart reporters have measurable effects on economic growth.

Our research team spanning economics, journalism and media used rankings on press freedom from the US-based Freedom House and data on economic growth to examine 97 countries from 1972 to 2014.

We found countries that recorded a decrease in press freedom also experienced a 1%-2% drop in real gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

Our findings affirm other economic studies showing the institutions that uphold a rule of law are strongly associated with stronger economic performance. Our work took into account education, labour force and physical capital.

Perhaps our most significant and unexpected finding is the long-term economic impost of undermining a free press.

Freedom Houses own research suggests press freedom can rebound from even lengthy stints of repression when given the opportunity:

The basic desire for democratic liberties, including access to honest and fact-based journalism, can never be extinguished.

But this rebound does not translate to the economy. In nations where freedoms were removed, and then restored, economic growth did not fully recover.

Thats a significant point at a time when economic frustration is contributing to waning enthusiasm for democracy, increasing distrust of legacy media, and the rise of populist and authoritarian governments taking action to control the news media.

Throughout Asia there has been a tightening of press freedoms.

In Hong Kong, new security laws threaten to snuff out independent media. In Myanmar, publications have been silenced and journalists arrested. In Malaysia, journalists have been harassed and jailed for criticising the government. In the Philippines, respected investigative journalist Maria Ressa has been detained ten times in two years and convicted of cyberlibel under controversial laws. In India, the worlds largest democracy, the Modi government has curbed press freedoms.

Read more: Press freedom under attack: why Filipino journalist Maria Ressa's arrest should matter to all of us

These arent just issues for other countries.

Australia might look relatively free, particularly compared with near neighbours. But recent years has seen Australian Federal Police raids on journalists homes and the new restrictive national security laws. The journalists union, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, has called the federal governments actions a war on journalism.

We acknowledge our work is a macro-level study, examining broad statistical associations, finding many relationships that are notable at the 1% level of significance. These cannot, and should not, be a replacement for nuanced analyses of specific contexts, cultures and media models.

We also acknowledge that Freedom House is just one of a number of international bodies that keeps track of peoples access to political rights and civil liberties. The organisation uses a specific US-centred view to look at individual freedoms including the right to vote, freedom of expression, equality before the law that can be affected by state or nonstate actors.

But it does factor in the ability of journalists to report freely on matters of public interest, and show the connection with economic prosperity:

A free press can inform citizens of their leaders successes or failures, convey the peoples needs and desires to government bodies, and provide a platform for the open exchange of information and ideas. When media freedom is restricted, these vital functions break down, leading to poor decision-making and harmful outcomes for leaders and citizens alike.

Read more: Journalists and security agencies don't need to be friends. But can they at least talk to each other?

There is more statistical work to be done, but our analysis shows strong evidence press freedom, along with better education, is a key to improving economic performance.

Perhaps this might be motivation enough for the government in Australia and other countries to reconsider their approach to press freedom, and provide more financial support for public-service journalism, such as that offered by the ABC and SBS.

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Curbs on press freedom come with a cost, new research reveals - The Conversation AU

IDAHO FALLS The Melaleuca Freedom Celebration, which is the largest Independence Day fireworks show west of the Mississippi River, will return with a bang in 2021 at Snake River Landing after it was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Melaleuca CEO Frank VanderSloot promises that the 28thAnnual Melaleuca Freedom Celebration will be bigger and better than ever with more firepower than has ever been seen before in the state of Idaho. This dazzling display will be held Saturday, July 3, at 10:03 p.m. at Snake River Landing in Idaho Falls.

Its time for our community to come back to life, so were not only planning to celebrate our nations independence but also our American way of life in spite of a virus that has dramatically changed the world, VanderSloot said. Once again, the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration will pay tribute to over one million American heroes who gave their lives over the last two and a half centuries to attain and protect our independence from any other nation and the many freedoms that we sometimes take for granted.

VanderSloot says he cannot predict the future, but he is confident that with vaccines now available throughout the country, Idaho Falls can hold this event in a safe and responsible manner. After all, its an outside event, he pointed out.

This free production, whichhonors the sacrifice of our nations founding fathers, veterans and soldiers,lasts for 31 adrenaline-filled minutes. The soundtrack inspires patriotism and appreciation for the freedoms we enjoy in America. The program is broadcast live onKLCE Classy 97.3 FMand is synchronized note-for-note and shell-for-shell with the fireworks.

Ball Ventures is hosting this years celebration once again at Snake River Landing, which features a 110-acre outdoor amphitheater that was created and designed exclusively for this show.The site provides an opportunity for people to spread out, allowing families plenty of space to social distance.

Idaho Falls is the only city in America with an amphitheater designed specifically for the Independence Day fireworks show.

To ensure the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration remains the largest Independence Day fireworks show west of the Mississippi, Melaleuca monitors other events throughout the country and traditionally increases the shows budget each year. As a result, the American Pyrotechnics Association recognized the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration as a must-see Independence Day firework display in 2017 and 2018, and USA Today, Travel + Leisuremagazine, and Yahoo! have featured it as one of the best fireworks displays in America.

When we canceled the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration last year, I promised that we would return with an even bigger fireworks display than ever before, VanderSloot said. I havent forgotten that commitment, and I can assure you that this will be an experience that youll never forget.

More information about the 2021 Melaleuca Freedom Celebration will be coming in the next few weeks atFreedomcelebration.com.

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2021 Melaleuca Freedom Celebration to Light Up the Sky with Largest Independence Day Fireworks Show West of the Mississippi River - Idaho Falls...

A few days ago, Ray Dalio, founder of the worlds largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, said there is a good probability that countries could outlaw bitcoin. Every country treasures its monopoly on controlling the supply and demand, he explained, alluding to the deeply revolutionary aspect of the cryptocurrency, which is not tied to any country or territory.

Around here, Dalios comments might as well be confined to the financial pages, as if they refer to some dull, gray business taking place in some faraway realm, while what really matters, supposedly, are the coalition negotiations that are being stymied by the impotence of people who are unable to budge in the slightest from their personal fantasies, their profound cowardice and their superficial and automatic responses to put together a coalition even when its lying right there at their feet.

But the comments by Dalio, one of the most important business thinkers today, whose tremendous success derives largely from his understanding of our reality and the directions its heading (without going into his own interests and the side that he chooses in this battle), are the real news. They are the really big story.

The questions provoked by the technological advancements that essentially undercut all our fundamental societal concepts sovereignty, popular rule, privacy, monetary policy, art, banking, manufacturing, etc. are the things we should be pondering. This is what a society that desires independence must keep talking about.

This understanding (of which we have written here numerous times) that the technology revolution essentially undermines states and their monopolies on our lives is the basic key for those who want not only to talk about change but to understand how to make it happen. The question of where freedom is to be found at present, who has an interest in promoting it and who has an interest in undermining it is, therefore, the biggest question from which everything else follows.

The recognition that human existence changes at a dizzying pace and with it, many of the tenets of reality, obliges anyone who believes in freedom, who does not fear it which most people do to ask this question with open eyes. Dalios statement underscores the obvious: What was once the agent of freedom the progress and development of the last century is, with good probability, becoming the agent of stagnation. Humanitys greatest struggles have always occurred when an old order sought to preserve its power at the expense of new and relevant forces that arose out of reality, out of life and life and advancements.

One can talk about a civil war that derives from ideology or ethnic polarization, and even craft an excellent comedy sketch out of it, but in truth its been quite a while since the citizenry was truly stirred to action by our current politics. No civil war or widespread violence is going to erupt in wake of the last election, from any side. Anyone who wishes to ratchet up this anxiety is making common cause with all those who draw on the old sentiment in order to stifle the new freedom. See: Joe Bidens inauguration.

As in the rest of the Western world, the only civil war that could erupt here would be between those who will seek to preserve the old order of monopolistic nation-states, even at the cost of severely weakening the deep democratization ushered in by the technology revolution despite its known drawbacks and those who will understand that the only real war worth fighting today is the war for freedom, that the alternative is China and that no one will be protected. See: the state of Chinese corporations and what happened to Jack Ma.

Freedom is a byproduct of an understanding of time, the recognition of its value and the courage to listen to it. Which is why the Passover Haggadah repeatedly highlights the importance of time. There can be no freedom without a connection to the spirit of the time. This is what the Arab public really grasped in the most recent election. It is the reason why it spat in the face of the Joint List.

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The only real war worth fighting today is the war for freedom - Haaretz

Sam (Yahya Mahayni) agrees to have his back tattooed with the Schengen Visa, the document that allows free movement between European countries, in The Man Who Sold His Skin. Samuel Goldwyn/Bac Films hide caption

Sam (Yahya Mahayni) agrees to have his back tattooed with the Schengen Visa, the document that allows free movement between European countries, in The Man Who Sold His Skin.

If any story has been inescapable this century, it's surely immigration. The subject has spawned so many newscasts, books, movies and TV shows that it takes real imagination to find an invigorating angle on such a well-worn and difficult theme.

That's why I was surprised and delighted by The Man Who Sold His Skin, a funny, touching and pointed film that's been nominated for the Oscar for Best International Feature. Made by the Tunisian writer-director Kaouther Ben Hania, it weaves together satire and humane political awareness to create an original fable about art, privilege, freedom and identity.

The winning newcomer Yahya Mahayni stars as Sam Ali, a handsome young Syrian madly in love with his girlfriend, Abeer (Dea Liane). But when Sam's thrown into prison by the Assad regime for a trifle, he's forced to escape to Lebanon. He's burning to get to Belgium where Abeer has moved with the Syrian diplomat she's been married off to, but he can't get a visa.

Sam's situation seems hopeless until he sneaks into an opening at a Beirut gallery hoping to sponge free food. Once there, he's caught by a glamorous art-dealer who introduces him to Jeffrey Godefroi, an internationally renowned artist played by Belgian star Koen De Bouw. Jeffrey specializes in glib work that sells for millions and seems to embody Oscar Wilde's definition of a cynic as one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Over drinks, Jeffrey proposes a deal that will let Sam get to Abeer. Using Sam's back as his canvas, Jeffrey creates a large tattoo depicting the Schengen Visa, the document that allows free movement between European countries. In exchange, he gives Sam a cut of the profits and because Sam is now a pricey work of art gets him into Belgium. There Sam spends his time being displayed in a museum and looking for Abeer. He finally appears to be free.

Of course, when someone says he's the devil and offers you a contract, the word "Faustian" does come to mind. Even as Jeffrey delivers everything he promised, Sam's supposed freedom finds him being pinballed in crazy directions. Among the forces pulling him are Abeer's belligerent husband, bossy museum directors, vulgarian art collectors, internet trolls, Syrian refugee groups who want to use him as a symbol, and his mother back in the war-ravaged city of Raqqa, whose travails will leave him gutted and ashamed.

While The Man Who Sold His Skin is a good film, it's not flawless: The motivating love story is a bit conventional, the plotting a shade too pat. Yet the movie is admirable in its slyness and tact. Ben Hania has a light touch. She leaves us to notice the visual similarities that link Sam's time in prison and the gallery world. Neatly evading the commonplaces about mistreated immigrants, she wittily gives us a refugee who feels himself trapped in his life of 5-star hotels and room service caviar.

Now, in real life, the Belgian artist Wim Delvoye actually did tattoo a man named Tim Steiner, turning him into a work of art. In Ben Hania's hands, that gimmicky conceptual idea takes on a richer meaning. It's not simply that Sam becomes a commodity, but that by becoming a commodity, he has more rights. As an asylum seeker, he can't get into Europe, but as a piece of artistic merchandise he can. He has more value in the prosperous West as an object than as a man. As such, Sam becomes a metaphor for how immigrants become objects defined by the meanings we impose upon them rather than by the ones they would make for themselves.

In the end, The Man Who Sold His Skin is all about Sam attempting to stop being an object and start being a man who writes his own story rather than having it told for him by a tattoo on his back.

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'The Man Who Sold His Skin' Review: A Sly Film About Art And Immigration - NPR

The Elmhurst ThreeGary Johnson,Rohan Bolt, and George Belloffer statements during the hearing to vacate their case, March 5, 2021. (Youtube screenshot via Anna Schwarz)

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One day in 2012, a year into my first real job, at the Innocence Project, my phone rang. It wasnt uncommon for intake calls to accidentally find their way to my line. For desperate family members advocating for a loved one in prison, it didnt always matter whom they spoke tothey just needed someone to hear them. On this day, it was a far more unlikely caller: a retired New York Police Department detective from Long Island named Pete Fiorillo.

Fiorillo told me at length about a case in Queens that he was certain had resulted in a wrongful convictionand not just of one man but of three: George Bell, Gary Johnson, and Rohan Bolt. All three were Black; all three had been convicted of a botched robbery and murder at a check-cashing facility in Queens. The year was 1996, at the height of New Yorks anti-crime crusades. The victims were the owner of the check-cashing facility and the off-duty NYPD officer providing security.

Fiorillos story struck me as persuasive, but since there was no testable DNA evidence, there wasnt much the Innocence Project could do to help. Still, Fiorillo was undeterred, insisting that a good article about the case was needed. I decided to start investigating.

A year and a half later, in October 2014, The Nation published the results of that investigation in an article titled These 3 Men Have Been Locked Up for Almost 20 Years. Are They Innocent? In 3,100 words, I traced the ample evidence that Bell, Johnson, and Bolt were not responsible for the crime, as well as the multiple failures of justice along the way. The case had every hallmark of a wrongful conviction: the rushed, sloppy investigation to avenge the death of a police officer; a bombastic politician (then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani) promising the cases swift resolution; the immediate focus on three Black men, two of them still essentially children; coerced confessions, which contained notably wrong facts about the crime; the absence of evidence tying any of the defendants to the crime; the use of an unreliable witness; the use of a jailhouse informant, who could only regurgitate the inaccurate coverage hed read in the papers; and, as time would reveal, prosecutorial misconduct.

The case, as Fiorillo summarized in the article, represents a total breakdown of the criminal justice system from the bottom to the top: the police that investigated this case; the DA that prosecuted the case; the judge that tried all three cases. They just didnt have the courage to do the right thing.

That courage, as I noted at the time, was still missing from the people with the power to overturn the convictions. While conviction integrity units had begun popping up in prosecutors offices across the country to review claims of innocence, the borough of Queens, with its 2.2 million people, still lacked such a unit. For Bell, Bolt and Johnson, I lamented, this means their claims of innocence will likely continue to fall on deaf ears.

For the next five years, thats pretty much what happened. But then, in January 2020, a change: Melinda Katz, the newly seated Queens district attorney, launched a conviction integrity unit, which began to investigate the case. It discovered, among other things, evidence showing that a member of a gang known as Speedstick confessed to his role in the robbery and murders, as well as mental health records indicating that a key witness had been experiencing hallucinations at the time of his testimony.Current Issue

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Attorneys for all three men had asked multiple times for the evidence that has now come to light. The Queens district attorneys office had responded, repeatedly, that no such evidence existed. In fact, the DAs office was fully aware of this information before the three convictions, but it tried the cases anyway, seeking the death penalty against Bell and ultimately, stealing 24 years of his, Johnsons, and Bolts lives.

On the basis of this long-hidden evidence, the Queens DA and defense lawyers for the three men filed a joint motion asking the court to vacate all three convictions and set the men free. On March 5, a judge did just that, declaring, It astounds me and shocks my conscience thatconstitutional violations of this magnitude can happen in any prosecution, much less the prosecution in a capital case in which the former district attorney was seeking the death penalty [for] a 19-year-old man.

That same day, almost a quarter century after they entered the prison, Bell, Johnson, and Bolt walked out, fists raised triumphantly in the air. Though the fight for a full exoneration continues, the three men are finally where they belong: free and surrounded by the people they love.

For the past 24 years, I rose each day to the view of prison cell bars, and would say to myself, Today is the day I will find the key, Bell told the court the day of his release. Today is the day I am going home!

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How the Elmhurst Three Finally Won Their Freedom - The Nation