Category Archives: Freedom

The first informal gathering of Marseilles residents who are forming a citizens committee to help plan the 2018 Freedom Fest celebration attracted about 10 people to City Hall on Monday.

The advisory committee was formed from a suggestion by Mayor Jim Trager as an autonomous organization, unaffiliated with the city. The group will help determine the community's acceptance of the Illinois Motorcycle Freedom Run and accompanying Freedom Fest. The annual event is designed to commemorate the city's Middle East Conflicts Wall Memorial and those who lost their lives in foreign wars.

Unlike in previous years, Trager canceled the festival months before the June 2017 Freedom Run ceremony, citing cost factors.

The citizen gathering was conducted immediately following the regular Middle East Tribute Committee meeting, in which tribute committee President Bobby Kaminski and Vice President Bob Dubree both volunteered to join the new organization. The tribute committee handles the physical maintenance of the memorial.

During the Freedom Fest meeting, a concerned citizen, who requested anonymity, said in the past, the city made all determinations regarding Freedom Fest with little input from the public. The resident said the Freedom Fest committee's first order of business should be to determine what is and what is not acceptable to the majority of residents and plan the celebration accordingly. The group plans to prepare a survey to ask Marseilles residents several questions, including if the festival should be discontinued, where it should be located and if it should be supported by public funds or private financial resources. By majority votes, Scott Buennemeyer was voted president; Joe Putnam vice president; and Michelle Rieuf Klock secretary. A treasurer will be named at a later date. Buennemeyer, a U.S. Air Force veteran and retired deputy sheriff, explained to the members that the grassroots organization should work with a logical framework. "We need to identify exactly what we need to do and organize logistical details in the next few months," Buennemeyer said. Trager, who was not at Monday's meeting, previously said any citizen committee should bring its ideas and issues before the Marseilles City Council for approval and possible support. The next meeting for the citizen organization is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug 16, at the Marseilles American Legion Hall. Buennemeyer said the public is welcome to attend.

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New citizen committee to plan 2018 Freedom Fest - MyWebTimes.com

Rebecca Susmarski The Register-Mail

GALESBURG Faced with the looming threat of closure, the Defenders of Freedom resale shop is seeking a variance from the city of Galesburg so the shop could continue to operate as a veterans education and resource center.

Bob Spears, executive director of Defenders of Freedom, said the shop is in danger of closing within a month if it cant find a permanent store. The shop was originally supposed to open in a building formerly used by Costa Catholic Academy at the corner of North Broad Street and Carl Sandburg Drive, after the shops location at Sandburg Mall shuttered.

Though the Defenders of Freedom storage has been moved to the Costa building, the store still does not have a permanent location there. Spears said the city required installation of a sprinkler system before the store could operate under mercantile usage, but that would cost between $70,000 to $80,000. The city also required a code study that would have cost between $3,000 and $5,000, Spears said.

Since the store does not have the money, Spears asked the Galesburg City Council during a meeting Monday night to create and approve a variance that would allow the store to host classes in the building, since the building was originally used for educational purposes. The store would still operate in the building, but it would be called the Defenders of Freedom Veterans Education and Resource Center.

"Were finding out theres a lot of people in this community who have been missing us, and its killing me every day when I dont have a place open where I can help veterans," Spears said.

Defenders of Freedom would not be an accredited school, but Spears said the store could partner with local entities to offer classes for veterans on finance, nutrition how to compose living wills and more. The shop would also use the location for hosting events, such as an annual veterans Christmas party.

Galesburg Fire Chief Tom Simkins said the Costa building currently has no sprinkler system, and the code on the furniture storage has changed over the years. He recommended that Defenders of Freedom find an alternate location that would include fewer hazards to public safety.

The city always wants to make sure all our people are safe and all the buildings are safe, especially veterans, Simkins said. You could have a perfectly fine brick building, but once you put furniture in the building, thats the problem.

During the council meeting, City Manager Todd Thompson said he would look into the matter and get some information out to the council on exactly what the process is for the proposed variance change.

Part of the thing is we need to know exactly how he intends to use the building and what the uses are, and as you heard tonight, its kind of changed a little bit, said Wayne Carl,director of planning and public works for the city. Last I understood is (Spears) was going to submit something in writing saying this is how he planned to use the building, and then they were going to take it from there to see if it is in fact a change of use. Typically they do a code study to see whats required in that regard, and so depending on the results of the code study, thats what you have to look at and what would have to be done to allow them to use the facility.

Spears said if the store doesnt find a permanent home, well probably have just one big sale and whatever we dont sell, well throw away.

Until a few weeks ago (for a yard sale), we had no income since Dec. 24, 2016, because of the lack of having a place to call home, Spears said during the meeting. Were trying to establish a place in Galesburg.

Also at the meeting, the six aldermen present Alderman Angela Bastian, Ward 1, was absent approveda 10-year loan worth $20,000 from the citys revolving loan fund for Koreana restaurant, and a transfer of $119,000 from the citys TIF II fund to its TIF IV fund to help cover upcoming renovations to Park Plaza and the adjacent Parking Lot E.

Rebecca Susmarski: (309) 343-7181, ext. 261; rsusmarski@register-mail.com; @RSusmarski

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Defenders of Freedom could close soon - Galesburg Register-Mail

Santana

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 9.

Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill,14900 Metropolitan Parkway, Sterling Heights.

Tickets are $79.50 and $45 pavilion, $30 lawn.

Call 586-268-9700 or visit palacenet.com.

Carlos Santana has never been at a loss for interesting musical things to do.

The veteran guitarist, whose namesake band was made famous at the original Woodstock festival in 1969, definitely plays nice with others, whether its the trio of albums that began with 1999s Grammy Award-winning Supernatural or last years reunion with members of the original Santana band line for the Santana IV album. This year its the recently released Power Of Peace, collaboration with the Isley Brothers that features thematic covers songs as well one original, I Remember, written by Santanas wife, percussionist Cindy Blackman Santana.

The guitarist has the Santana band back on the road this summer, and while the Isley Brothers arent alongside, hes still preaching the power of Peace, as well as enduring hits such as Smooth, Evil Ways, Maria Maria and more...

As its title indicated Power Of Peace has a thematic thread running through the album. The theme is spiritual divine medicine to counter the fever pitch fear thats permeating this planet right now, Santana, 70, explains by phone from Las Vegas. This CD has the frequency of inspiration. If they were playing this music on CNN there would be less suicide bombers and people with twisted and crooked minds, invested in believing that you have to kill someone in order to get to heaven. This CD is the opposite of that. This CD wakes you up beyond religion, beyond politics, beyond nations. Its our duty to do this.

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The inspiration to work with the Isley Brothers came after Ronald Isleys recording of Burt Bacharachs The Look Of Love was the first song Santana and his wife danced to at their wedding in 2010. He recruited Isley to sing a pair of songs on the Santana IV album with the full-length collaboration in mind. Something just grew in me to reach out to the universe, Santana says and before I know it we met in St. Louis because (Isleys) sister-in-law was singing with Rod Stewarts band and we went on tour with Rod Stewart. somebody found out that Cindy and I are totally Ronald Isley fans, so he came to visit us in St. Louis and whats where it started. I said, Look, I want to do a record with you, a CD with you, and thats how it started.

For Cindy Blackman Santana, the idea of writing an original song for the project -- and subsequently singing it -- was a heady experience. Ronnie loved the song but didnt think he could sing it right -- and then said I should sing it, Blackman Santana remembers. And of course I started sweating, because Ronald Isley, one of the greatest singers ever, is there. Carlos is there. The whole band is there. As it got more serious I said, Yeah, Id love to sing it, but Ronnie, you cant look at me. I dont want you looking at me when I do it, because singing in front of that guy is very intimidating. And it just kind of blossomed from there. Ronnie sang ad-libs around the melody and Carlos played some beautiful ad-libs around those ad-libs and it just came off.

While a full tour with the Isley Brothers is not in the offing they did join Santana in Las Vegas for some performances earlier this year, and Santana is hoping for more dates in the not-too-far future. Would like to play these (songs) at the United Nations, he says. I would like to play this around the world, hopefully, sometime, and in special places like the Opera House in Sydney (Australia). I constantly dream about being part of the emissaries for peace. I want to be part of a movement that brings Cindy and I and people from Wayne Shorter to Herbie (Hancock) to Pharaoh Sanders to Ronnie Isley, maybe Aretha (Franklin) and Patti Labelle -- even, hopefully with Metallica, because we honor and respect all of them.

Santana is also gearing up for a 50th anniversary Woodstock event, which he says will take place during 2019. We talked to (Woodstock co-producer Michael Lang last time we were in Madison Square Garden and he came over to visit. Its a positive thing. Im looking forward to getting together with Michael and sculpturing what kind of an event are we going to have? Im preparing myself, lord willing. to be at Woodstock with three or four bands -- this (Santana) band right now, and also part with the original (Santana) band, plus a band with Larry Graham and Greg Errico from the Sly Stone band.

If You Go:

Santana

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 9.

Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill,14900 Metropolitan Parkway, Sterling Heights.

Tickets are $79.50 and $45 pavilion, $30 lawn.

Call 586-268-9700 or visit palacenet.com.

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Santana at Freedom Hill, 5 Things To Know - The Oakland Press

BBC News

What can Poland teach us about freedom? BBC News Solidarity was the independent trade union formed by the workers, and its initial push for a wage raise evolved into wider demands for free trade unions, freedom of speech and the release of political prisoners. We had the tremendous luck to have ...

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What can Poland teach us about freedom? - BBC News

Naval the Jewel is a universal story about women seeking their freedom, their rights, actor Reem Kadem has said.

The actor along with the cast and crew of the film was taking part at a meet-the-press here on Saturday.

Ms. Kadem, who is a Hollywood actor with roots in Iraq, said what happened to Naval happened to women around the world.

Actor Adil Hussain was all praise for director Renjilal Damodaran, saying the latter knew exactly what he wanted from the actors.

It was an important story to be told in todays India, he said.

Mr. Damodaran said the film, set in Iran, was about a 23-year-old woman Naval, an Iranian with a Malayali mother. Naval, played by Reem, is the product of a Malabari wedding her elderly father from Iran had married her mother Asma Beevi (played by Swetha Menon) when she was only 13.

In Iran, she gives birth to a girl. The father dies four years later.

In the film, Naval is shown being denied justice. Naval goes to jail in connection with a murder, and the court sentences her to be hanged to death. Naval, however, does not protest against the verdict.

Anu Sithara plays a young Swetha Menon. The screenplay is by V.K. Ajithkumar and Mr. Damodaran. The producer is Cyriac Mathew Alancheril. Lyrics are by Rafeek Ahmed and 15-year-old Kavyamayee, and music by M. Jayachandran.

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Every woman's quest for rights, freedom - The Hindu

Craig Massey had three hits and four RBIs and Romeo Cortina and Nolan Earley each knocked in a pair of runs as the Southern Illinois Miners overcame an early 5-1 hole to out-slug the Freedom, 11-8, on Saturday in Florence, Kentucky.

Earley hit a sacrifice fly to score Craig Massey in the top of the first to put the Miners up, 1-0, but Florence countered with four runs in the bottom of the frame, and another unearned run in the second to up their lead to 5-1.

Earley homered in the third, and Massey and Cortina drove home runs in the fourth to cut the deficit to 5-4, but Florence tacked on two more in that inning and another in the bottom of the sixth to lead 7-4.

A bases-loaded walk in the seventh by the Miners' Anthony Critelli, followed by a single by Ryan Sluder set up Massey's bases-clearing double, giving Southern Illinois a lead they would not relinquish. Cortina added a sac fly to score Massey.

Brett Wiley added an insurance run for the Miners with a solo homer in the eighth inning. John Werner struck out the side in the ninth for the save.

The series is set to conclude with a 5:05 first pitch p.m. on Sunday.

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Miners out-slug Freedom for 11-8 victory - The Southern

FILE photo of a Portland Police officer in riot gear at a protest (KATU photo)

Several marches and rallies are planned for Sunday at the Portland Waterfront.

A 'Freedom March' hosted by the Patriot Prayer group is expected to gather at the Salmon Street Springs fountain around 2 PM. More than 400 people have said they're either going or interested in going on the event's Facebook page.

The Patriot Prayer group has been behind several other right-wing demonstrations in the Portland area, most notably, a large protest in downtown on June 4 in the wake of a fatal stabbing of two men who tried to stop another man's anti-Muslim tirade on a MAX train.

The man accused had attended a Patriot Prayer rally less than a month before the killings.

The group on June 4 was met by hundreds of counter-protesters organized by immigrant rights, religious and labor groups. Fourteen people were arrested.

RELATED: Portland free speech rally, counter protests draw thousands

"The more hatred we see the more we have to stand against it," reads the Freedom March Facebook page for Sunday's event. "The more threats that we get the more we have to come out to show no fear... We will continue to come into Portland with a simple message that is focused on truth, love, and freedom."

"Sunday's Freedom March is another attempt by Patriot Prayer to challenge the status quo in Portland," said Joey Gibson, a prominent member of the group who's organized and attended several Patriot Prayer Portland events in the past. "Communist, ANTIFA, liberals, socialists, conservatives, libertarians, Christians, and Aithiests will be marching together. Some groups will come to oppose Patriot Prayer, some groups will come to support but in the end we will all be together with an opportunity to talk, learn and grow."

A counter-protest titled, 'Rally for Freedom, Solidarity and Justice' is planned for 1:30 PM Sunday at Battleship Oregon Memorial Marine Park on the Waterfont.

The protest is hosted by the Portland Stands United Against Hate group, and more than 600 people have said they're going or interested in going on the event's Facebook page.

"On Sunday, August 6th, these same [Patriot Prayer] extremists are staging a 'Freedom March' on the waterfront... though they have softened their rhetoric, make no mistake, their plan is to instill fear and attack Portland's immigrant, Muslim, Jewish, Indigenous, Black and LGBTQ+ communities," reads the description on the Facebook page. "We are gathering in solidarity with communities who are under attack and calling on activists and concerned residents to join a peaceful mass mobilization on the Portland waterfront."

Another protest titled 'United against fascism-Enough is enough,' also plans to gather at Battleship Oregon Memorial Marine Park at noon, with nearly 150 people listed as 'interested' in going on the event's Facebook page.

"Wear black, cover your face, come with a friend," reads the description on the page. "Make nazis afraid again."

The Portland Police Bureau says it will have "adequate resources" for Sunday's events.

Sergeant Christopher Burley says he's not releasing the official police plan for Sunday.

Be prepared for possible traffic impacts in the area.

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Freedom march, counter-protests planned for Sunday at the Portland Waterfront - KATU

I hope to encourage them to take personal responsibility, said Judge Sam Benningfield, who approved the program.

In the two months since the policy went into effect, 32 women have received a birth control implant called Nexplannon, and 38 men are waiting to have a vasectomy.

Whether Benningfield knows it or not, the people he is sterilizing in the White County jail are merely the latest in a long line of incarcerated and low-income people to be sterilized under coercion or force by the criminal or social welfare systems in the United States.

In 1907, Indiana became the first state to pass a law allowing for compulsory sterilization of confirmed criminals and idiots. Thirty-one states soon followed suit.

In 1972, we sued on behalf of two young sisters who were sterilized in 1972 without their consent in Alabama. Sterilization laws began to be dismantled during that era, but eugenics practices have continued around the country. In California, for example, nearly 150 female prisoners underwent tubal ligations without their lawful consent between 2004 and 2013.

America is not the only country to forcibly sterilize its citizens in the 21st century. In Europe, if a transgender person wanted to change their name or gender on government-issued documents, nearly two dozen countries mandated their sterilization until April of this year, when the European Court of Human Rights ruled that requirement to be an institutionalized violation of human rights.

But that victory for transgender rights came only after a sustained campaign by the hate group Alliance Defending Freedom to try to keep the sterilization requirement.

Equal dignity does not mean that every sexual orientation warrants equal respect, wrote ADF International in an intervention brief.

Obviously, we disagree. But ADFs efforts to see a continued policy of mandated sterilization of transgender people are in keeping with its support of the fraudulent practice of gay-to-straight conversion therapy and the argument of its first president, Alan Sears, that pedophilia and homosexuality are "intrinsically linked" (a dangerous falsehood long propagated by anti-LGBT hate groups).

Such stances are why we named Alliance Defending Freedom a hate group and why, as David Perry writes of incarcerated people for The Marshall Project, No one should be compelled to trade their reproductive freedom for corporal freedom.

Well keep fighting for the rights of transgender and incarcerated people alike.

The Editors.

PS Here are some other pieces this week that we think are valuable:

SPLC's Weekend Reads are a weekly summary of the most important reporting and commentary from around the country on civil rights, economic and racial inequity, and hate and extremism. Sign up to receive Weekend Reads every Saturday morning.

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Weekend Read: Forced sterilization in exchange for freedom - Southern Poverty Law Center

(Editor's note: This is the last in a series on Norman Rockwells paintings known as the "Four Freedoms)

The fourth and final freedom in this series on Norman Rockwells well-loved paintings is Freedom from Fear.

Once again, considering the time in which Rockwells paintings were first published, as we fought a World War against the terror of Nazi Germany, the importance of this freedom was apparent.

The Nazis and their partner in crime, the imperial forces of Japan, had initiated a campaign against humanity that even today shocks the conscience. In Europe, the Nazis and their collaborators sought to systematically annihilate an entire race and creed through the Holocaust. Meanwhile in the Pacific, the Japanese engaged in acts of torture and oppression, from the Bataan Death March to their systematic attempted destruction of whole cities.

Though by early 1943 when Rockwells paintings were widely published, the tide was turning against these forces of evil, the fear of their threat was very much alive in the minds of most Americans.

Franklin Roosevelts speech inspiring Rockwells Four Freedom paintings, rang loud and clear in identifying the importance of a Freedom from Fear.

Some would today reasonably argue that fear can be a good thing. Parents teach their children to be fearful of strangers who may be up to no good. Fear of inherently dangerous activities, like jumping off a bridge or swimming in treacherous waters, likewise makes sense.

But fear also can paralyze us from needed action or result in dangerous overreaction, as when we feel trapped or threatened and thus lash out at whatever is nearest to us.

Fear was no stranger to FDR. In 1921 at age 39, he contracted polio which left him largely paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. Crippled, as some people viewed him, and sidelined from a promising political career, Roosevelt could have given in to the fear of disappointment or rejection. Instead, he resolutely fought back against his illness and, in overcoming his fear, helped the nation to overcome its own fears by leading us out of the Great Depression and towards winning World War II.

It is no coincidence that in FDRs first inaugural address, perhaps the best remembered phrase is, We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.

Today, fear again abounds. Of terrorism from radical so-called Islamic or Christian groups. Of rapid change that threatens values weve long known and embraced. Of new ideas that seem strange, or old ideas that somehow seem hostile now.

But Roosevelt and Rockwell remind us that, as in their times, we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Fighting fear with strength and understanding attacks the very root of fear and replaces it with confidence and hope. It likewise conquers the despair that accompanies fear with a generous and resurgent optimism that represents the best of what unites us as Americans.

The Four Freedoms Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear: these represent the greatest aspiration of our American experience. And they provide a living challenge for our own time to live up to the legacy our forebears left us, in leaving a better land and world behind for those who follow.

Mark W. Schwiebert, an attorney, served as mayor of Rock Island for 20 years.

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Freedom from Fear essential in US today - Quad-Cities Online

Santhanams offence would have attracted only the minimum sentence had the case come up for trial in court. However, the 27-year-old remand prisoner has been languishing in Central Prison, Puzhal, for three years without any relief.

Santhanam was lodged in prison on October 27, 2014 after being remanded by a magistrate court following his arrest on charges of committing a theft in Nungambakkam. Neither his family members nor any of relatives came forward to execute sureties for his release.

A prison official said Raja was granted bail by the court thanks to counsel provided by the Legal Services authority, but he was unable to execute the sureties as per the direction of the court. He had no option but to remain in prison. His case was then referred to a Prison Adalat. Santhanam gave a petition admitting his guilt to the magistrate. The police filed a charge sheet and the magistrate read out the sentence on the spot. Calculating the period of prison term he had already undergone, the magistrate ordered his release. He is a much relieved man now, thanks to the Mega Lok Adalat programme in prison conducted by the State Legal Services Authority.

Like Santhanam, Mohan*, 62, was freed after languishing in prison for more than three years. He was arrested in connection with forgery in April 2014. None of his family members came forward to execute a surety all these years.

The Mega Lok Adalat programme has benefited over 700 undertrial/ remand prisoner and enabled the release of 570 inmates from nine Central Prisons and five Special Prisons for Women, which has nearly 15,000 inmates.

A. Ramesh, Officer on Special Duty, State Legal Services Authority, told The Hindu, For the first time, we conducted this Mega Lok Adalat to reduce the pendency of cases and also bring down the number of prison inmates. More than 50% of inmates in jails in Tamil Nadu are undertrials. As many as 1,155 cases were referred to the Lok Adalat proceedings, which were conducted by 32 magistrates. We have disposed of 812 cases and 570 persons were released. It is a record.

Grievance meetings

A. Murugesan, Jail Superintendent, Central Prison-II, said, We conduct grievance meeting every week, where the undertrial prisoners ventilated so many grievances. Most of their cases are that none from their family members visited them to bail them out. Such prisoners were in depression. We conduct regular Lok Adalat every week. In this Mega Lok Adalat, over 142 cases were referred and 89 inmates released.

(*Names have been changed to protect identity of the persons)

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Freedom at last for 570 prisoners - The Hindu