Category Archives: Freedom

MORRISTOWN, NEW YORK

A year ago this Sunday, I was making berry pies in the kitchen when I glanced outside: Dad had taken another face-plant in the grass.

Time to get a plastic chair, twist his limbs to a kneeling position and use his still-strong arms to get upright.

At 84, the former athlete-turned-dentist and father of four had been struggling with Parkinson's, the dementia that it often brings and the general indignities of old age. So the few choices he had left he cherished deeply, including being able to roam or nap or eat sweets whenever he wanted.

And roaming often involved, as care workers would say with a gasp, "A fall!"

Falls are the No. 1 cause of injury and deaths from injury for elderly people in the U.S, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Older Americans fell 29 million times in 2014, causing 7 million injuries and costing an estimated $31 billion in annual Medicare costs, the agency says, citing the latest statistics. Falls evict people from their homes, shorten their lives and destroy their quality of life.

But not to fall means not to roam, which was a no-go for us.

So when nursing home officials or physical therapists asked "Has he fallen at any time in the last six months?" we were savvy enough to sidestep possible elder abuse lawsuits.

"Why yes, he has," was a fine reply. "About three times a day" was not.

Sometimes Dad was so black-and-blue from his falls that he looked like a boxer's punching bag. He had contusions on his head, his arms, his legs. Despite being wrapped like a mummy in Band-Aids, he bled across the house like a hemophiliac.

But after drinking milk every day of his life, Dad never did dent a single bone, while mom, his 80-year-old caretaker, cracked a toe, a finger or a rib every other month.

This is the first Father's Day since he passed away, so of course it's a kick in the gut.

Dad, however, would not have cared one whit. He was old school, honor thy father every day of the year, don't get sucked into this commercial hoopla - unless, perhaps, it's a gift of sturdy overalls that will be worn for years in the garden.

Richard Joseph Norman, born May 18, 1932, in the hard-luck upstate New York town of Ogdensburg, was an only child and a scholarship boy. So for the rest of his life, he concentrated on two things: family and charity. And he created those families wherever he went.

Drafted into the army as a dentist, Dad was Alan Alda 15 years before "MASH" went on the air, a maverick who brought wit and kindness to an institution not known for either quality. His bosses did never understand why so many enlisted men with girlfriends in distant cities had frequent dental problems on Friday afternoons.

Charity to Dad was not writing a check or attending a banquet. Every Thursday on his day off, Dad would drive around Rochester to round up supplies for the local homeless shelter - sacks of potatoes, onions and carrots, industrial-sized cans of beans or tomato sauce. On Monday nights in the fall, he would hold a free dental clinic for migrant workers.

At his office, those who came to work for him stayed for life. And Dad knew everything about his patients, not just how their cracked molars were doing, for long before Rochester folk embraced psychologists, everyone talked to their dentist.

In hindsight, we had plenty of signals of the end. Dad whose license and keys had long been taken away snuck out and crashed a car while mom was taking a nap. He blithely walked into a frigid river in his underwear for a swim. Plagued by insomnia, he ventured out in the snow to visit neighbors' porches or parked cars at 4 a.m. thank God no one shot him.

Once as I was trying to get Dad back into bed at 3 a.m., he became stressed and stepped back with his right foot. I felt sick, knowing that was just what a former black belt would do before delivering a kick that could shatter my tibia. I let him eat the cookies.

Still, Dad became lucid as a fox the day we had to put him in a nursing home.

"I did not sign up for this, Sheila," he said, eyeing the meager twin bed and the room's barren industrial patina. The snores of his new roommate reverberated through a flimsy curtain.

Dad lasted just over a month in that restricted setting.

The first few days he walked around its circular hallway compulsively, carrying his walker like a knapsack, seeking the one unlocked door that would lead to freedom. Within a few days, the facility's rigid fears about falls meant he was effectively locked into a wheelchair. Soon afterward, he struggled to swallow and gave up on eating.

So this year my berry pies have no ardent admirer and Dad's 12 grandchildren have no one to tease them. Two family weddings have brought us together but we still crumble at the sound of "Taps," remembering the yellow birch leaves that fluttered down on his grave.

Dad's lessons on family and charity will live on, however. So on this Father's Day, I want to celebrate a full life well-lived, a spirit that roamed and gave laughter and kindness to friends and strangers alike. There is no better legacy.

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Pies and Freedom: A Father's Day Look at a Dad Who Roamed - Voice of America

When I think of freedom, I think of it in positive, aspirational terms:our First Amendment freedoms, for example, or FDRs Four freedoms or the uplifting songs of freedom sung by oppressed people around the globe.

But right-wing, corporate-funded ideologues have fabricated a new negative notion of freedoms derived from individual choice. Youre free to be poor, free to be politically powerless or free to be ill and uncared for; its all a matter of decisions you freely make in life, and our larger society has no business interfering with your free will.

This is what passes for a philosophical framework behind many of the policies of todays Republican congressional leaders. For example, they say their plan to eliminate health coverage for millions of Americans and do away with such essential health benefits as maternity care for millions more is just a matter of good oldfree-market consumerism. As explained by Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Tea Party Republican, Americans have choices. And so maybe, rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and they want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest in their own health care.

Lest you think that Chaffetzmust simply be an oddball jerk, heres a similar deep insight from the top House Republican, Speaker Paul Ryan: Freedom is the ability to buy what you want to fit what you need. Yes, apparently, you are as free as you can afford to be. As Vice President Mike Pence recently barked at us, Trumpcares youre-on-your-own philosophy is all about bringing freedom and individual responsibility back to American health care.

The GOPs austere view is that getting treatment for your spouses cancer should be like buying a new pair of shoes,, a free-market decision by customers who can choose their own price point from high-dollar Neiman Marcus to barging-basement Dollar General. And some go barefoot. But then thats their choice.

So thats what Republicans Trumpcare is offering us, this freedom from health care. Well, good news, people: At last, congressional Democrats have gotten a clue, grown some spine and are beginning to act like, well, like Democrats!

In particular, a majority of Dems in the U.S. House are responding to the rising public demand that decent health care be treated as a right for everyone, rather than being rationed by profiteering insurance conglomerates. Nearly 6 of 10 Democrats in the House have now signed on to Rep. John Conyers Medicare for All bill, which is being carried in the Senate by Bernie Sanders.

So, Hallelujah, progress!

Yes, but many speed bumps remain on the Democratic Partys entry ramps onto the moral high road of politics. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, for one. When the leader of House Democrats was asked if the party should make health care for all a major issue in Congress andfor the 2018 elections, she replied with a flat no. Basically, Pelosi is saying the American people arent ready for it, by which she really means that the narrow slice of the public that inhabits her world health industry executives, lobbyists and big campaign donors arent ready. Meanwhile, a good 60 percent of regular Americans are damned sure ready, telling pollsters flat out that our government has a responsibility to ensure that everyone gets the care they need.

Lets be blunt: When it comes to the fiery leadership that Americas grassroots people want and need, the Democratic Party establishment is weaker than Canadian hot sauce. When youve got 60 percent of your partys rank-and-file congressional members ready to go on such a basic issue, and 60 percent of the public is also ready to go, its time to go! The national partys leadership must get going on health care for all, or the leadership itself must go.

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The GOP's new brand of freedom: The privilege of being without health insurance - Salon

This article originally appeared on AlterNet.

One cost of freedom is steel. To remain independent, America must maintain its own vibrant steel industry.

Steel is essential to make munitions, armor plate, aircraft carriers, submarines and fighter jets, as well as the roads and bridges on which these armaments are transported, the electrical grid that powers the factories where they are produced, the municipal water systems that supply manufacturers, even the computers that aid industrial innovation.

If America imports that steel, it becomes a vassal to the producing countries. It would be victim to the whims of countries that certainly dont have Americas interests in mind when they act. In the case of China, the attempt to subjugate is deliberate. Beijing intentionally overproduces, repeatedly promises to cut back while it actually increases capacity, then exports its excess, state-subsidized steel at below-market costs. This slashes the international price, which, in turn, bankrupts steelmakers in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Spain and elsewhere. Then, China dominates.

To his credit, President Donald Trump has said America cant be great without the ability to make its own steel. He ordered the Commerce Department to investigate the extent to which steel imports threaten national security. Commerce officials are scheduled to brief Senate committees on the inquiry today. Thats because theyre being second guessed by a handful of federal officials, exporters and corporations whose only concern is profit, not patriotism. To protect national security, American steel and family-supporting jobs, the administration must stand strong against foreign unfair trade in steel that kills American jobs and creates American dependency.

Imports already take more than a quarter of the U.S. steel market. They rose in May by 2.6 percent, seizing a 27 percent market share. That is dangerous. America cant rely on unfairly traded foreign steel as it tries to expand manufacturing jobs or when it faces foreign threats. Defense needs are the basis of the administration inquiry, called a Section 232 investigation under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

National security relies on dependable, modern transportation and utility systems as well as armaments. To produce defense materials, factories need supplies to arrive routinely and electricity to flow consistently. Steel is just as crucial for roads, bridges, airports and utilities as it is for armor plate.

Some importers are pressuring Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross not to recommend imposing limits or tariffs on steel imports, asserting that the only consideration should be price. They contend that if China, South Korea, Japan and Turkey subsidize their steel production, which lowers the cost of exports, then American builders should benefit no matter how much that damages national security or destroys steelworkers family-supporting jobs. Their preoccupation with profit at their countrys expense should disqualify them from consideration.

To be clear, American steel companies and my union, the United Steelworkers, have tried repeatedly to resolve the problem of trade cheating through normal channels filing trade enforcement cases against the violators. But the United States has refused to take currency manipulation by countries like China into account. And every time an American company wins an enforcement case against a trade law violator and tariffs are imposed on a particular type of steel import, China and other cheaters begin subsidizing a different type of steel and exporting that.

American companies have won dozens of cases welded stainless steel pressure pipe, rebar, line pipe, oil country tubular goods, wire rod, corrosion-resistant steel, hot-rolled steel, cold-rolled steel, cut-to-length plate, grain-oriented electrical steel. But in every case, countries like China and South Korea find a way to circumvent the rulings by subsidizing some new steel product and exporting that or by trans-shipping sending the product to another country first to make it look like the steel originated there to evade the tariffs.

American steel producers and steelworkers can compete successfully against any counterpart in the world, but they cant win a contest against a country.

The USW and American producers are looking for a broader solution now, something that will prevent cheating and circumvention across-the-board. And they have good reason to believe they can count on Commerce Secretary Ross. This is a guy who knows the industry and has a track record of saving steel mills and jobs.

At the turn of the century, as recession and the Asian financial crisis pushed more than 30 U.S. steel companies into bankruptcy, Secretary Ross bought a half dozen failing steel firms and restored them to solvency.

Because of his experience, Secretary Ross can be trusted to know the difference between China and Canada. American steelworkers and steel producers arent looking for blatant protectionism. American firms and Canadian companies have relationships in which steel from Canton, Ohio, may travel to St. Catharines, Ontario, where it is converted into engine blocks that are then shipped back across the border to Detroit, Mich., for installation in cars. Canada doesnt illegally subsidize its steel industry or manipulate its currency. Only countries like China, Russia, South Korea and others that flagrantly violate international trade rules should be subject to the Section 232 sanctions.

Secretary Ross experienced the hell of 30 steel bankruptcies. He knows just how bad it can be for workers, companies and the country. With President Trump at his back, Secretary Ross now is key to ensuring American steel doesnt descend back into that hell and that America remains steel independent.

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Making our own steel is key to American freedom - Salon

The Joliet Slammers scored in four of the first five innings Friday night, as the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, dropped the opener of a three-game set at UC Health Stadium by a final score of 6-4.

The Slammers (13-18) led 1-0 entering the bottom of the first, after Juan Silva followed an Edwin Gomez double with a one-out single off Freedom (21-10) starter Jordan Kraus (5-2).The Freedom would answer in the bottom of the frame, however, when Daniel Fraga led off with a single against Slammers starter Skylar Janisse (2-0) before being balked to second to set up an Andre Mercurio RBI-single.

Tacking on two more runs in the top of the second, a Travis Bolin single followed by a Chaz Meadows ground rule double paved the way for a productive out as Steven Pollakov plated Bolin with a ground out to second. Josh Merrigan followed suit with a two out double to score Meadows pulling ahead 3-1.

Back and forth early, the Freedom answered in the home half of the third when Janisse surrendered back-to-back solo home runs by Jose Brizuela and Mercurio.

Answering the bell at every turn, the Slammers scattered three more runs over the next three innings, handing Kraus a season-high of six runs allowed (five earned) on the evening, halting the right-handers season-long string of quality starts.

Evan Bickett and Patrick McGrath both tossed scoreless frames in relief, but the Freedom, who compiled 10 hits off Janisse, only accounted for two hits and one run off three Slammers relievers. Joseph Ortiz and Jordan Wellender combined for two and a third innings of spotless relief before closer Confesor Lara allowed a Mercurio RBI-single in the ninth. Florence, however, would leave the tying run stranded on base, when Jordan Brower struck out to end the game.

Mercurio enjoyed a 3-for-5 night at the plate, driving in three of the Freedoms four runs and extending his hitting streak to 10 games, matching the longest by a Florence player this season.

The series continues Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. at UC Health Stadium. Left-hander Zach Wendorf (0-1) is scheduled to pitch for the Freedom against Joliet right-hander Shane Bryant (1-3).

The Florence Freedom are members of the independent Frontier League and play all home games at UC Health Stadium located at 7950 Freedom Way in Florence, KY.The Freedom can be found online at FlorenceFreedom.com, or by phone at 859-594-4487.

Florence Freedom

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Freedom fall to Slammers in opener of three-game weekend series at UC Health Stadium - User-generated content (press release) (registration)

PhotojogtomThe White House and several prominent Senate Republicans want to keep the scope of federal surveillance powers intact, but there's a rebellion afoot. The House Freedom Caucus has said it does not want to renew some federal snooping powers unless there's reform that better protects Americans from unwarranted data collection.

Earlier this month, such Republican senators as Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Marco Rubio of Florida, John McCain of Arizona, and Susan Collins of Maine, among others, announced they were introducing a bill to make permanent some temporary surveillance powers granted by amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The White House has formally declared its support for this bill.

The powers under dispute fall under Section 702 of FISA amendments. Section 702 is intended to allow the National Security Agency (NSA) to snoop on the communications of foreign targets. But this surveillance often ends up drawing in data and records and communications from United States citizens as well, all collected without a warrant.

While there's a "minimization" process intended to protect U.S. citizens' privacy and due process rights, there's also an "unmasking" procedure government officials have used to investigate domestic crimes beyond threats of terrorism and espionage. Such a process appears to run afoul of the Fourth Amendment's protections, and civil rights advocates across the political spectrum want to reform Section 702 to protect against these "backdoor" searches.

Section 702 wll expire at the end of the year if Congress does nothing (or is unable to get enough votes to pass something). So this short announcement from House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) is a warning to President Donald Trump, Sen. Cotton, and others that the party is not in total agreement:

Government surveillance activities under the FISA Amendments Act have violated Americans' constitutionally protected rights. We oppose any reauthorization of the FISA Amendments Act that does not include substantial reforms to the government's collection and use of Americans' data.

If this conflict within the party sounds familiar, it's because it played out after Edward Snowden's leaks too. At that time, several privacy-minded Republicans resisted efforts to renew a part of the Patriot Act that was being used to justify the mass collection of Americans' private phone call and online activity metadata.

The end result of that fight was that part of the Patriot Act was allowed to sunset and was replaced by the USA Freedom Act, which formalized but also put some restrictions on how the government was able to access that metadata.

I noted earlier in the week that the pro-surveillance senators who support the unchanged renewal of Section 702 were in a difficult situation because they did not have a lot of leverage: All opponents have to do to make them fail is nothing at all. This warning by the Freedom Caucus, which has about three dozen members, will let the Senate and the White House know that Republican control over Congress doesn't mean reauthorization is going to be easy. This may be the first step in a USA Freedom Actstyle compromise.

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Freedom Caucus Conservatives Break from Trump, Want More Surveillance Reform - Reason (blog)

Freedom of the Press in India New York Times India has a robust and independent judiciary that strongly protects democratic freedom and that an aggrieved person can always approach. India does not require any lesson on freedom of the press from The Times. Our institutions and traditions are ...

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Freedom of the Press in India - New York Times

When Congress wants not to get something donelike, say, tackle hot button legislation that could prove awkward for certain members even to vote onits favorite trick is to run out the clock.

Shucks! We so desperately wanted to pass this high-profile tax reform/health care plan/appropriations bill/take your pick, but we simply ran out of time. How disappointing.

You know they do this. I know they do this. More to the point, so does every lawmaker who has been on the job more than a couple of weeks.

Virginia's Wake-up Call to the GOP Establishment

The House Freedom Caucus has had enough. Appalled at how absurdly little legislative progress has been made this yeardespite unified GOP control of the governmentthe ultra-conservative rowdies are pushing for the unthinkable: a cancellation of Congresss summer break.

On June 6, Freedom Caucusers called on leadership to keep Congress in session until at least a couple of key agenda items got passed. Since then, caucus chairman Mark Meadows has been banging the cancel-recess drum all over town.

There are so many things that are a priority legislatively for Congress to get done, whether true health care or tax reform or a number other things, like infrastructure or fixing the VA, he told me Tuesday. We took an official position primarily because the legislative calendar weve seen so far, as reflective of input from people we serve, has not been that robust. If thats a good way to put it.

An even better way to put it might be that the folks back home have made clear theyre fed up with Congresss breath-taking incompetence.

Confidence in Congress, whether it is a Democrat or Republican led Congress is at an all time low, said Meadows. People believe that it doesnt matter which party is in power. It doesnt matter who is in control. They dont expect a whole lot to get done.

Meadows is correct that voters dont have much faith in Congress regardless of which party holds the reins. But the more pressing question for lawmakers is who gets blamed for the freak show. Lets just say that, with the GOP controlling both chambers and the White House, its members are looking particularly twitchy these days.

You know who else is fed up with congressional failure? Donald Trump. Indeed, according to one Hill conservative who preferred to remain nameless, the president and his peeps are all for keeping lawmakers in town until they actually pass some major legislation. Or in official Congress-speak: Conversations with senior administration officials would indicate a very supportive position of staying and accomplishing the presidents agenda.

Trump may have been itching to waterboard Freedom Caucusers when they were screwing up his Obamacare plans back in March. But in this instance, he sees them as on the side of the angelsi.e., his side.

As much as it pains me, I have to agree with Trump on this one. With the congressional plate even fuller than usualand nothing moving fast, if at allwhy should lawmakers trundle off to the beach or the mountains or their cozy beds back home? Recess is for closers. Everybody else needs to suck it up and stay late until the work gets done.

And dont blather to me about how the time members spend back in the district talking with real constituents is even more important than time spent in the Washington cesspool. That may be true in general, but being a functioning grown-up means figuring out how to prioritize. And when confronting a crazy number of mind-numbingly difficult policy issues to address in a short amount of time, says Meadows, all of us [should] answer the question, Is the best use of our time going back to the district for the month of August?

For many Democrats, the answer might well be yes. But for the ruling party? Not so much.

Its incumbent upon us break the mold and start to rebuild trust, insisted Meadows. What better way to do it than to, say, break the norm of going home for five weeks in August and the first part of September and actually work into the wee hours of the morning until we get things done?

To this end, Meadows & Co. would like to see a very definitive statement that says were going to accomplish x, y, and z before we leave in July or before we leave period.

Is he optimistic this will happen? Of course not. The mans not delusional. I havent heard a whole lot of support coming from leadership, he acknowledged.

And if history is our judge, he added, theres no way it will happen. Meadows and his team have congressional researchers searching for past cases of recess being axed to allow more time for legislative business (as opposed to an emergency development). Thus far, theyve got nothing.

No matter. At the very least, the caucus hopes to crank up the heat on leadership to accomplish somethinganything!of substance between now and the end of July.

And these days you never know what will happen. Its a unique time, said Meadows, who has no intention of giving up. Im going to a meeting right now with the Speaker to push this very thing! he said hopefully.

Good luck with that.

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Vacation's All They Ever Wanted - The Atlantic

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) founder Alan Sears and his wife, Paula, have been chosen by Pope Francis for the highest possible honor the Catholic Church bestows on laypeople. The couple will be knighted into the Order of St. Gregory the Great.

ADF has been an extraordinary help to Catholic educators and The Cardinal Newman Society over the past decade, as Catholic schools and colleges faced serious threats to their mission and religious freedom, said Newman Society President Patrick Reilly. What the Sears have accomplished by their hard work, generosity and deep faith in Christ is a testament to Gods grace and mercy. The honor is much-deserved.

The pope is the only person who can bestow the honor upon those who have shown, by their sustained service, extraordinary love for Jesus Christ and His Church in their communities and countries.

Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix will formally convey the honor on behalf of Pope Francis at St. Bernadette Parish in Scottsdale, Az., on June 29.

The Cardinal Newman Society regularly consults ADF on legal issues regarding religious freedom. ADF was instrumental in helping the Newman Society oppose the U.S. Education Departments transgender bathroom mandate which was withdrawn earlier this year. Under the Obama administration, ADF and the Newman Society encouraged Catholic colleges to obtain advance religious exemption letters from the Education Department to ensure protection before legal disputes arose.

The Newman Society has also been a vocal supporter of ADFs case challenging a discriminatory Blaine Amendment in Missouris state constitution. The case will go before the U.S. Supreme Court this year to decide if the state can rely on the historically anti-Catholic constitutional provision in its denial of a grant to a Christian preschool. The case has great importance to Catholic schools and colleges across the country.

By investing Sears in the Order of St. Gregory the Great, Pope Francis highlights the importance of those who defend religious freedom.

Paula and I are more than humbled by this honor, Alan Sears said in a press release. Christians and people of goodwill everywhere should have the freedom to live what they believe and to follow their conscience.

We have counted it a privilege, with Gods grace, to do our part to protect these freedoms, Sears said. Pope Francis repeatedly has spoken strongly about religious liberty, marriage and family, and the sanctity of life, so it is a distinct honor to be recognized by him for our work in those areas.

Excerpt from:

Pope Honors Religious Freedom Champion - The Cardinal Newman Society

INDIANAPOLIS The U.S. bishops voted on Thursday to make their Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty a permanent committee of the national bishops conference.

The very idea of religious freedom and its root in human nature is challenged today, said Archbishop Lori, chair of the ad hoc committee, at a meeting of the U.S. bishops Thursday.

He added, how important it is that we remain in the public square through advocacy for the freedom of religious institutions to fight poverty, provide health care and education, serve immigrants, and protect human life.

In 2011, the ad hoc committee was formed for a period of three years, as the bishops were deeply concerned about a broad trend of threats to religious freedom on the local and national level, Lori noted, speaking at the annual spring general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Indianapolis.

Pope Benedict XVI, in his address to U.S. bishops in January of 2012 during their ad limina visit, warned of grave threats to the Churchs public moral witness presented by a radical secularism where there were certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion.

Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices, the pope said. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.

The U.S. bishops voted in 2014 to extend the committee for another three-year period. Then on Thursday, they voted to make the committee permanent by a vote of 132-53, with five bishops abstaining.

Most notably, the committee established the annual Fortnight for Freedom, a two-week campaign of prayer, penance, and advocacy for the Churchs continued freedom to serve in the public square, starting on June 21, the eve of the feasts of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, and ending on July 4, Independence Day.

One of the most notable threats the ad hoc committee warned of was the contraceptive mandate. The Department of Health and Human Services, interpreting the Affordable Care Act, had issued rules under the Obama administration that employer health plans had to cover sterilizations, contraceptives, and drugs that can cause abortions.

While churches and their immediate auxiliaries were exempt from the mandate, many religious institutions, including hospitals, universities, and charities, were not. Changes to the regulation offered by the Obama administration still violated the religious beliefs of the Catholic organizations, bishops and Church leaders contended.

In May, President Donald Trump promised regulatory relief from the mandate for religious non-profits like the Little Sisters of the Poor.

The struggle against the HHS mandate is not over, Lori warned on Thursday. Victory is not assured.

The promised relief could change with another presidential administration who could again enforce the mandate against religious groups, the archbishop said.

And other threats to religious freedom persist, he said, like the legalization of same-sex marriage, which could pose problems for religious institutions that uphold the Churchs teaching on marriage.

The archbishop cited then-Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, who admitted during oral arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states, that there could be an issue with the tax-exempt status of religious universities teaching that marriage is between one man and one woman, if same-sex marriage were the law of the land.

Some bishops voiced their strong support for the committee on Thursday, including Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who chaired the USCCB when the committee was formed, and Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C. The most recent president of the USCCB, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, also supported making the committee permanent.

The bishops of the world look to us, Dolan told his fellow bishops, to be the real quarterbacks in defense of religious freedom.

A few bishops voiced objections to making the committee permanent in the discussions before the vote on Thursday.

Several were concerned about how it would appear to make the religious liberty committee permanent at the same time that the bishops working group on immigration, begun in November, finished its formal work.

However, Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, vice president of the conference, clarified later on Thursday at an afternoon press conference that the working group will continue, although Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston-Galveston, president of the conference who had begun the working group last November, had not specified a timeline for how long it would continue.

Furthermore, Lori stressed, the conference already has a standing Committee on Migration. The important thing is that as the sun sets, theres a permanent committee in place, because we understand the questions of migration are permanent, he said.

Bishop Christopher Coyne of Burlington, Vermont also voiced concerns that funding for the religious freedom committee could eventually dry up, while Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark said that domestic religious freedom concerns can be handled by the domestic policy committee, referring to the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

I am not convinced that there is a need at this time for it, he said of the religious freedom committee.

Bishop Francis Kalabat of the Chaldean Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle in Detroit strongly supported extending the committee, however.

There are currently 60 million refugees in the world, he said. What percentage of them came as a result of a lack of religious freedom?

Who you back up, or who backs you up, is who gives you the strength in the Middle East, he said, noting that if the U.S. shows strong support for religious freedom, it also shows support for persecuted Christians elsewhere.

Religious freedom, Lori stressed, covers a wide spectrum of ministries, a wide spectrum of advocacy, and there is need for some consistency for a clearing house and a clear voice.

Religious liberty is a concept that really relates to ones fundamental stance towards God, he said, that first and primal relationship towards God. As Dignitatis Humanae states, he noted, religious freedom is rooted in human nature and granted by God as a fundamental human endowment.

On Thursday, the bishops also voted to approve new guidelines for the celebration of the sacraments of persons with disabilities.

The new guidelines were said to pay deeper attention to allergy problems, for example the gluten intolerance or alcohol intolerance of a communicant. They encouraged parishes to be more aware and accommodating of persons with disabilities in the distribution of the sacraments.

Kurtz tweeted on Thursday that the National Catholic Partners on Disability were excited about the revised guidelines.

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US bishops vote to make religious freedom committee permanent - Crux: Covering all things Catholic

Newly released images show former North Korea detainee Otto Warmbier smiling with his tour group and throwing snowballs, before he was taken prisoner by the hermit nation.

A short video clip, released Thursday by Warmbiers brother, shows the 22-year-old University of Virginia student playing in the snow with friends in North Korea sometime in January 2016.

I wanted to share one final thing today before we take time to be alone as a family. This is the last video we have of Otto enjoying life before his imprisonment.

It was taken in North Korea with members of his tour group, Warmbiers younger brother Austin said as he released the video, according to The Daily Mail.

This is the Otto I know and love. This is my brother.

The video is believed to be the last clip of the Wyoming native before he was jailed for removing a propaganda poster from a hotel in 2016 and left comatose after 18 months in a North Korean prison.

Warmbier was released from the rogue country on Tuesday.

His father, Fred Warmbier, said his son had been brutalized and terrorized by Kim Jong Uns regime.

Doctors at a Cincinnati hospital where Warmbier is being treated said the young man is suffering from severe brain injuries.

He is in a state of unresponsive wakefulness, his doctors said.

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The North Korea detainee's final moments of freedom - New York Post