Category Archives: Freedom

For every baseball fan who has ever wanted to seeJose Bautista in a "Joey Bats" jersey, Major League Baseball's"Players Weekend" might be your chance.

Baseball will be a little bit more funduringthe weekend of Aug. 25-27. Players will be able to mixpersonality and style with nicknames on the backs of their jerseys, brightly colored cleats and personalized patches paying tribute to people who have played instrumental roles in their development.

MORE: MLB tried to auction Strickland jersey from brawl with Harper

If a "Joey Bats" jersey isn't at the top of your list, don't worry. There aresure tobe plenty of other entertaining uniforms in a sport full of athletes with unique characterand personality.

The weekend won't bea free-for-all, though.Inappropriate or offensive nicknames will still be banned. Players are also restricted from using white gloves, wristbands and sleeves or anything that could potentially interfere with the game or an umpire's ability to make a call.

Easing up on the rules for a weekend gives players a chance to get creative, and it gives MLB something else to sell. It will sell all the specialized jerseys worn during the weekend, with the proceeds going to the Youth Development Foundation, which MLB and the players association jointly support.

Having fun with uniforms also teststraditional baseball boundaries, which is something the Cubs are known for doing. The world champs, who are known to wear lighthearted, themed attire on road trips,made good use of their nicknames withpersonalized track suitsfor a trip last June.Let the name game begin.

It is unclear if every player onevery team will participate. The Yankees don't wear names on their jerseys of course so the "Players Weekend" will be an unfamiliarconcept to them.

MORE: Aaron Judge's hot start leads to spike in jersey sales

The NBA tested a similar ideaduring the 2013-14 season. It briefly allowed players to have nicknames on the backs of their jerseys; LeBron James was "King James" on the court.

Whether or not we'll see Madison Bumgarner as "Mad Bum," NoahSyndergaard in a "Thor" jersey or Kyle Hendricks sporting"The Professor," things are sure to get interesting on the diamond in late August.

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MLB will give players freedom of expression during 'Players Weekend' - Sporting News

With summer break in full swing, recruiting students to return to school for a project seems almost impossible.

But through team work, communication and a passion for the project at hand, Highland Park High School art teacher Amy Cline has recruited a handful of students to assist in the next stage of a semester-long art project.

In preparation for the Freedom Festival on Saturday, July 1, the Topeka Rotary partnered with Highland Park to discuss what freedom means to its students. Cline worked with high-schoolers and the schools English department during the spring to gather students poems and turn their words into chalk-paint murals decorating the windows of the former Ray Beers clothing store at 8th and S. Kansas Avenue.

With a healthy sheen of sweat covering their faces in the mid-day heat, Highland Park students Kathy, 16, and Quaysha, 15, worked diligently to perfect the G in their mural. Their piece, one of five, uses the Webster definition of freedom for their first installation. Poems describing the students definitions of freedom will appear beneath it.

The one-day, pop-up art experience invites people of all ages to explore what freedom and democracy mean on a personal level.

I put the topic out there with some general questions like what is freedom? And then we went on to the next step of the kids talking about what freedom looks like to them, Cline said. So we tried to peel away the layers and get them into some of these deeper topics.

Cline said discussions surrounded race, gender, age and where the kids live. Highland Park has a reputation for being perceived as dangerous, Cline said. She said her students have a different perspective on freedom than other students, with differences also appearing between freshmens and seniors views.

They suffer from a low self-perception also, and the rest of the city sees them that way as well, so how do you start correcting that? Carol Bradbury, CEO of Bloomerang Studios LLC and an organizer of the Freedom Festival mural project, said of the students. Value the experience of what theyre bringing to the table thats one way.

The students work impressed Cline.

We had some kids that were just really kind of blowing me away with some of the insightful thoughts that they were willing to share with their peers, she said.

Quaysha, a sophomore, was straightforward in her poetry, drawing parallels between the freedoms of a person in prison and one who is free.

Bradbury said she often works with the community for input on various art installations, and interacting with students tends to be a hopeful experience. Through this project, she hopes they will generate excitement and interest in a growing downtown through public engagement, increase community pride and a sense of ownership in Topeka, promote democratic values of diversity and freedom, and provide a creative, intergenerational experience.

Its kind of like a tapestry with all these different pieces that the kids have contributed that are going to show up, Cline said. What looks like a handful of kids and myself and FHLBank members applying paint to the windows, but really theres so much thats led up to this point, and thats really the coolest part.

Members of the community are invited to help paint the windows July 1 while enjoying the art and entertainment in downtown Topeka.

For more information, visit the Rotary Freedom Festival Facebook event page.

Contact reporter Savanna Maue at (785) 295-5621 or @SavannaMaue on Twitter.

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Topeka Rotary, Highland Park High School partner for Freedom Festival mural project - Topeka Capital Journal

It is not easy to maintain a society's commitment to freedom and limited government. The social consensus on which these values are based requires laverrue via Foter.com / CC BYconstant work. And many conservative intellectuals fear that large-scale immigration, especially from poor and unfree countries, makes this job much harder because immigrants bring with them the attitudes and beliefs of their home country that have an impact on their destination countries.

However, new research shows that the fear that immigration undermines economic freedom may be overblown.

Conservative pundit Victor Davis Hanson, expressing such anxieties, recently wrote that borders naturally arise to reflect common bonds of language, culture, habit, and tradition. And "when borders disappear" because there is no control over who comes in, these ties "become attenuated." Similarly, British scholar Paul Collier observers that "migrants are essentially escaping from countries with dysfunctional social models" that are the "primary cause of their poverty." Letting these migrants bring their culture and norms risks compromising their new countries' institutions.

Even the famed Austrian-school economist Ludwig von Mises, who viewed free migration as an essential component of the (classical) liberal program, feared that in any country where the state already intervenes in the economy, migrants might exploit opportunities to further erode the economic freedom of the native-born.

The main evidence for such fears has been offered by Harvard University's George Borjas. In a paper and a recent book he argues that estimates showing that opening up the borders would result in trillions of dollars in gains in global wealth assume that immigrants don't compromise the institutional environment of their destination that makes them prosperous. "What would happen to the institutions and social norms that govern economic exchanges in specific countries after the entry/exit of perhaps hundreds of millions of people?," he asks. He then proceeds to model the impact on national productivity given various levels of immigration and concludes that with enough immigration, productivity losses from negative "spill overs" become greater than economic gains. But he simply assumes the levels of negative spill overs that he models. He offers no evidence that such spill overs actually exist in the first place.

A new strain of research, which I have contributed to, has examined the relationship between increased immigration and changes in the destination countries' economic freedom. It finds the exact opposite of what these critics contend.

The first of these studies in 2015, which I co-authored, examined whether immigrants undermine economic institutions as measured by the Economic Freedom of the World Annual Report. This economic freedom index, which includes the size of government, the security of property rights, the integrity of the monetary system, the freedom to trade internationally, and the amount of government regulation, is a reasonable proxy for the type of institutions that conservatives worry immigration might destroy. Prior research has found a strong relationship between greater economic freedom and prosperity.

Our study compared 110 countries to examine how immigration impacted their economic freedom from 1990 to 2011. We examined how the economic freedom of countries with a greater initial percentage "stock" -- of immigrants in 1990 was impacted 20 years later. We also examined how economic freedom was impacted in countries that allowed a greater "flow" of immigrants between 1990 and 2011.

We found that rather than decreasing economic freedom, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between more immigration and more economic freedom. In the 32 reported regressions, some of which parsimoniously controlled for only immigration measures and initial levels of freedom, while others controlled for multiple other factors which might influence changes in economic freedom, we did not find a single instance of a statistically significant negative relationship between immigration and economic freedom.

A similar study by Metropolitan State University of Denver's Alexandre Padilla and Nicolas Cachanosky examined how immigration affected economic freedom at the state level using the Economic Freedom of North America Annual Report. This index measures state level government spending, taxation, and labor market regulation. The study looked at how the immigrant share of a state's population and the naturalized-citizen share of the voting population impacted economic freedom in the state over 10-year periods between 1980 and 2010.

The study was unable to find a statistically significant relationship between either the immigrant or naturalized-citizen share of the population and state-level economic freedom, despite the fact that the foreign population in the United States more than doubled while the native-born population increased less than 18 percent during the final 20 years of analysis. In other words, more immigrants did not have any impact on the economic freedom in a state.

Critics could object that these studies were based on immigration samples taken in a world where migration flows have been tightly managed in terms of both the quantity and quality of migrants. Hence their findings can't be used to generalize to a world with little to no border controls. Perhaps these immigrants haven't reached the critical mass necessary to erode freedom. And perhaps there is a selection bias in the admission of immigrants that would not be present in a world of more open borders.

But another new study I coauthored with University of Tennessee's J.R. Clark and Cato Institute's Alex Nowrasteh, addresses these issues by examining a limited form of open borders in Israel. Israel restricts the immigration of non-Jews, but the "Law of Return" allows all Jews to emigrate to Israel regardless of their country of origin and gives them instant full citizenship, with the right to vote, upon arrival.

When the Soviet Union reduced its emigration restrictions and subsequently collapsed, migrants flowed en masse into Israel. The new Russian immigrants, who had a 70-year history of living under socialism with a lack of economic and political freedom, amounted to 20 percent of Israel's population by the end of the 1990s.

Yet the result was a dramatic increase in Israel's economic freedom. Israel catapulted from 15 percent below the global average in economic freedom to 12 percent above it, improving its ranking among countries by 47 places. With the exception of the size of government, all the major areas of economic freedom (such as the security of property rights, the freedom to trade internationally, freedom from regulation, and the soundness of their money), improved significantly. The size of government temporarily increased because, as citizens, the new immigrants were immediately eligible for government transfers. But even this measure eventually improved after the immigrants were economically integrated.

The gain in economic freedom occurred even though the new immigrants were politically active both in terms of influencing the two major parties and forming their own immigrant parties, which is unusual for immigrants. So if they were "importing" their attitudes to the new country, it would have showed. Yet far from bringing socialism's lack of economic freedom with them, they seem to have rebelled against economic control. In fact, in recognition of this, the left leaning labor party even stopped using the color red in their campaign materials out of fear that it would cost them immigrant votes.

An obvious objection to this study is that Israel is a special case because migrants who come there feel a deep affinity with it, which is not necessarily the case for more "opportunistic" immigrants. But surveys indicated that most Russian Jews would have preferred another destination had one been practical. Also, they were different from Israel's local population because nearly all spoke Russian and few spoke a Jewish language. And few of them were religious. (The Law of Return applies to descendants of Jews and their non-Jewish spouses.) The sociologists who have studied these migrants have classified them as 'normal' migrants who came because of "push motives" from their origin country, just like other migrants.

These empirical studies can't definitively say why immigrants don't negatively, and often positively, impact economic freedom. But I suspect that immigrants who leave a dysfunctional social system are not a random sample of a country's population and are unlikely to desire to recreate what they sought to escape in their new countries. Is there a more rabidly anti-socialist voting block in the United States than Cuban immigrants? They might be an extreme example, but there might be an element of them in other migrants from other unfree countries as well.

To be sure, these new studies are preliminary and don't decisively settle the issue. Much research remains to be done. However, they should make us more skeptical of those who fear that increased, or even unrestricted, migration would necessarily erode the economic freedom that makes destination countries prosperous.

Benjamin Powell is a senior fellow with the Independent Institute, Oakland, Calif., and director of the Free Market Institute and a professor of economics in the Rawls College of Business Administration at Texas Tech University. He's also the editor of the book, The Economics of Immigration.

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More Immigration Does Not Mean Less Economic Freedom - Reason

Mark Meadows said thats smaller than the $2.5 trillion he believes the White House wants. | AP Photo

Some House Freedom Caucus conservatives want to raise the debt ceiling by a smaller amount than the Trump administration would like just long enough to clear the 2018 mid-term elections, the groups leader said Tuesday.

The Freedom Caucus has not taken an official position on a specific number. But Chairman Mark Meadows emerged from a group meeting Tuesday night saying some of his conservative colleagues are looking at a $1.5 trillion lift in the nations borrowing cap.

Story Continued Below

The North Carolina Republican said thats smaller than the $2.5 trillion he believes the White House wants.

The White House wants $2.5 trillion, is what I heard. Were more in the $1.5 trillion range, Meadows said. Its not an official position, but some members of the Freedom Caucus have been discussing $1.5 trillion as a specific amount in a debt ceiling increase.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has asked Congress to raise the debt ceiling before the August recess, leaving Republicans just a few weeks to cobble together a plan. Freedom Caucus members want to address the matter before the recess, but theyre asking for spending reforms and debt-payment prioritization to accompany any lift in the nations borrowing limit.

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GOP leaders, however, have all but thrown out that idea and are signaling that theyre more likely to work with Democrats since the debt ceiling has to pass the Senate, meaning it will need eight Democratic votes.

While few have discussed numbers, let alone settled on a plan, Meadows suggested the $1.5 trillion would push the deadline for addressing the contentious issue again past the mid-term elections.

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Meadows: Freedom Caucus eyeing $1.5 trillion debt ceiling increase - Politico

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. Laquon Treadwell listened to the question and looked skyward.

Up there, the second-year receiver said in response to a question about his confidence level.

The sun began peeking through a blanket of clouds on a dripping muggy morning at Winter Park Tuesday when the Vikings opened their mandatory minicamp.

Treadwell had an impressive catch over the middle during the session, made several other plays and ran well. There was also a near miss on a nice deep route against Xavier Rhodes.

On his final day as a 21-year-old, the 2016 first-round pick described playing with a mental freedom that comes with being healthy and another year removed from a significant leg injury in 2014 as a sophomore at Mississippi.

This year, hes stayed healthy in the offseason program and has taken substantial reps with the first team when the Vikings use a three receiver set.

It helps you relax mentally when you know youre all the way healthy and able to take some of those hits on your legs, Treadwell said. That was a big thing for me even in college. I got hits on my legs and was able to bounce back. Its a mental freedom.

Its just playing ball now and making plays, Treadwell added.

Treadwells rookie season wasnt quite what he expected. He appeared in nine games and finished with one catch for 15 yards after catching two or more passes in every college game he played.

Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer said earlier this offseason that last seasons results didnt stem from a lack of work by Treadwell. Zimmer said maybe he works too hard.

Vikings.coms Eric Smith tracked the work that Treadwell was doing after training camp practices last season, counting 277 post-practice catches of passes launched at him by a machine.

Zimmer also said that Treadwell has looked much different than he did a year ago.

Yeah, I think he looks good, Zimmer said. Hes stopping and starting. Some of the routes that hes been running as far as when he has to plant and comeback, I thought hes done pretty well. Hes run some good routes to accelerate over the middle. So, I think he just feels so much more comfortable now.

Vikings Offensive Coordinator Pat Shurmur said hes seen progress in the receiver who led the SEC with 11 touchdown receptions and 1,153 yards in 2015.

He came back, and he was really on point with what hes supposed to be doing mentally, Shurmur said. Hes been out here competing and doing a nice job running routes and catching the ball. Understanding where he fits in the running game and who to block. To this point, weve been really pleased with his progress based on a year ago.

The Vikings have two more days of minicamp before wrapping their offseason program. The team will then break before reporting to training camp next month.

Its safe to say that Treadwell wont be looking too far ahead of the break.

Weve got to come out here and get to work, Treadwell said. Ive just got to continue to do it and find my role in this offense and help the team win some ball games.

Encouraged by Bridgewater

As mentioned, Treadwell suffered a fractured tibia and dislocated left ankle in a game on Nov. 1, 2014, so hes no stranger to bouncing back from a major injury.

The recovery efforts of another teammate, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, have impressed Treadwell and others.

Bridgewater suffered a dislocated knee during a practice last August and has been doing rehab work since. Part of Bridgewaters rehab work includes dropping back and throwing the football, but he has not been cleared to practice with the team.

He looks great, really great, like he was never hurt, Treadwell said. Thats God-given talent, and hes a worker. Hes a fighter. Hes shown us a lot off the small time that weve seen him, and for him to bounce back so fast, thats been a blessing.

With anybody who takes an injury like that, it will take a couple of hits to overcome it, Treadwell added. Hes strong-minded and hes just ready to overcome that obstacle.

Valuable time

Injuries ravaged the Vikings offensive line last season, causing Minnesota to use eight different combinations of starters and five different players at left tackle.

The Vikings brought in tackles Riley Reiff and Mike Remmers early in free agency. Reiff has been at left tackle since arriving, and Remmers has been the other bookend. In between, the brunt of first-team reps have gone to Alex Boone at left guard, Nick Easton at center and Joe Berger at right guard.

Remmers said the offensive linemen have appreciated the opportunity to work together and build cohesion during the offseason program so that they will be better prepared for camp and the preseason.

This time of year is absolutely critical, Remmers said. Youre getting little things down, communication, technique, footwork and everything. This time is critical so when we go into August were all in a groove together and continue to grow from there.

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Notebook: Healthy Laquon Treadwell Practicing with 'A Mental Freedom' - Vikings.com

The Republican National Committee, in the person of Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel, informs me that I have been selected to represent the Commonwealth of Virginia as a member of The Presidents Club. I know that this is an important responsibility because it comes with a Priority Mail BRE and a request for $750. Theres a lot of boilerplate in the letter about fake news and the Democrats and their radical left-leaning allies. (Really, if theyre radical, surely theyre more than left-leaning. Why not just come out and say it theyre left-wingers!)

But Im particularly struck by this line:

I believe you share President Trumps objectives of smaller government, fiscal discipline, lower taxes, secure borders, conservative judges, a stronger military and unrestrained freedom.

Seriously President Trumps objective is unrestrained freedom?

Some of those objectives I can see. Fiscal discipline is a presumptuous claimwhen youve promised not to touch the biggest spending programs. Some of the administrations programs might make government smaller, but others clearly would not. But seriously, unrestrained freedom?

For nearly two years now Donald Trumps main policy themes have been to close our borders, to deport millions of our neighbors and co-workers, and to stop Americans from buying products made overseas. He has bullied, subsidized, and threatened businesses into making uneconomic decisions. He has also talked at length about his desire to limit freedom of speech, frustrated as he is thatour press is allowed to say whatever they want.While Republicans and Democrats in Congress and the states work on criminal justice reform Attorney General Jeff Sessionssteps up the drug war. Trumps acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention was described in Reason as easily the most overt display of authoritarian fear-mongering I can remember seeing in American politics.

The idea that President Trumps objectives include unrestrained freedom is ludicrous even in the context of political fundraising letters.

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Does President Trump Support Unrestrained Freedom? - Cato Institute (blog)

The government of Shinzo Abe has been vocal about unfair reporting. Photograph: Yoshitaka Sugawara/AP

The UNs special rapporteur on freedom of expression has accused Japan of eroding media freedoms and stifling public debate of issues such as the Fukushima nuclear meltdown and the countrys actions during the second world war.

In a report submitted to the UN human rights council, David Kaye said he had identified significant worrying signals about Japans record on freedom of expression.

His investigation the first into freedom of the press in Japan was prompted by concern over mounting government pressure on the countrys media.

Critics have cited the domestic medias delay in reporting that the March 2011 accident at Fukushima had caused a nuclear meltdown a decision believed to reflect official attempts to play down the severity of the disaster.

In 2014, the Asahi Shimbun, under pressure from the administration of the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, retracted an article claiming 650 workers had fled the Fukushima Daiichi plant soon after the disaster, defying an order by its then manager, Masao Yoshida, to stay and make a last-ditch effort to regain control of the reactors.

The paper later admitted its account, based on the newspapers interpretation of leaked testimony by Yoshida, was mistaken. Significantly, however, the reports retraction led to the breakup of an Asahi investigative team that had produced several scoops critical of the governments handling of the crisis.

While Kaye did not refer to specific reports on the Fukushima meltdown, he did voice concern over the removal from school textbooks of references to Japans wartime use of sex slaves.

Kaye noted the gradual disappearance of references to comfort women tens of thousands of women, mostly from the Korean peninsula, who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels before and during the war.

In 1997, all seven history textbooks approved for use in junior high schools addressed wartime sexual slavery, yet none referred to the issue between 2012-15, and only one mentioned it last year.

Kaye said the lack of public debate over Japans wartime role, restrictions on access to information, and government pressure that has led the media to practise self-censorship require attention lest they undermine Japans democratic foundations.

Japan responded angrily to claims that media freedoms were at risk under Abe.

Its ambassador to the UN, Junichi Ihara, accused Kaye of peddling inaccuracies about the governments commitment to a free press. In a statement to the UN human rights council on Monday, he said: It is regrettable that some parts of [Kayes] report are written without accurate understanding of the governments explanation and its positions.

Ihara rebutted Kayes claim that a law permitting the government to suspend broadcast licences for TV and radio networks for unfair reporting was being used to pressure senior editors into underplaying or ignoring sensitive political stories.

Last year, the internal affairs minister, Sanae Takaichi, prompted an outcry after saying that broadcasters that repeatedly failed to show fairness in their political coverage, despite official warnings, could be taken off the air.

Soon after, three veteran news anchors all with a reputation for grilling government politicians left their jobs almost simultaneously, sparking allegations that they had been pressured to quit after Abe and his colleagues complained about them during private dinners with media executives.

Ihara noted that no minister had ever suspended a broadcasting licence, adding that the law does not give rise to any pressure on the media.

Kayes report was similarly critical of the 2014 state secrets law, under which journalists can be imprisoned for up to five years for reporting classified information passed on by whistleblowers. He said the law was overly broad and risked being applied arbitrarily, adding that the government should not be in the position of determining what is fair.

Ihara countered: Information designed as specially designated secrets is limited under strict conditions, adding that information-gathering activities performed by journalists are not punishable under the act.

The rift between Japan and the UN widened after Joseph Cannataci, special rapporteur on the right to privacy, said an anti-conspiracy bill being debated in parliament could lead to undue restrictions to the rights to privacy and to freedom of expression.

The government insists the new law is necessary for Japan to fulfil its international obligation to deter acts of terrorism. Abe denounced Cannatacis assessment as extremely unbalanced and said his conduct was hardly that of an objective expert.

Confrontations between Japanese and UN representatives have grown more heated in recent years. In 2015, Tokyo suspended payments to Unesco after it included disputed Chinese documents about the Nanjing massacre in its World Memory List.

Yoshihiko Noda, the secretary general of Japans biggest opposition party, accused Abes government of slamming the door in the faces of UN special rapporteurs, according to the Mainichi Shimbun.

Earlier this year, Reporters Without Borders ranked Japan 72nd in its global press freedom index the lowest among the G7. The country has slid down the rankings since 2010, when it was placed 11th.

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Japan accused of eroding press freedom by UN special rapporteur - The Guardian

DEERFIELD A record number 500 runners hit the streets of Deerfield on Memorial Day for the 4th Annual Essence of Freedom 5K/10K Run. The event is the largest fundraiser for Support Our Soldiers Freedom, Inc. (S.O.S. Freedom), a nonprofit that provides financial assistance to Illinois active duty military and veterans.

Thanks to the runners, sponsors and donors we raised over $15,000 for active duty and veterans who need financial support for with expenses that military benefits dont cover such as housing modifications and maintenance, household bills, mental health care, and transition to civilian life said Marilee Papale Shipman, race director and S.O.S. Freedom president.

While the majority of runners were from the Midwest, we had registrants from the Southeast, East Coast and even as far away as Ecuador, said Shipman. Runners ranged in age from seven to 84. Many became emotional and sentimental as they passed tribute signs that honored friends and loved ones.

Scott Friedlander, Deerfield, was the first 5K runner to cross the finish line with a time of 16 minutes and 59 seconds. Jeff Mousseau, Wheaton, won the overall 10K race with a time of 43 minutes and 42 seconds. Race results can be viewed at http://results.active.com/events/essence-of-freedom-run4.

Prior to the race start, Rep. Brad Schneider addressed the runners and spectators and incoming Stevenson High School freshman Emmie Ginsberg sang the National Anthem. We are grateful to everyone who supported this event and helped us honor the true meaning of Memorial Day, said Shipman. Sponsors included:

Submitted bySOS Freedom:https://sos-freedom.org.

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'Essence of Freedom Run' Breaks - Daily North Shore

The tiny Gulf country of Qatar is in crisis. Over the past few weeks, members of the Gulf Cooperation Council have systematically sought to isolate and suffocate the country, accusing Qatar of supporting extremism, severing diplomatic ties, and calling upon their allies to do the same.

It is not only a diplomatic crisis, but a crisis for free expression in an already restrictive region. As some analysts have pointed out, the singling out of Qatar has as much to do with the countrys alleged support of terrorism as it does with neighboring countries desire to shutter Al Jazeera, Qatars flagship media organization.

Al Jazeera, a comprehensive media outlet funded by the Qatari government with several international satellite television channels, websites, and online video operations, is not exactly a beacon of free expressionit rarely reports negatively on Qatar or other Gulf countries, for examplebut it has stood strong in its reporting on the Arab region and much of the world, covering topics that other outlets often ignore.

Although the country restricts access to some websites and outlaws criticism of its rulers, it has nevertheless set itself apart as a regional media leader. Al Araby Al Jadeed (The New Arab) and Huffington Post Arabi are just two of the online media outlets to emerge from the country in recent years.

Its Gulf neighborsnamely Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)offer a much more restrictive online environment, with each blocking numerous websites, including international media. Now, as they seek to isolate Qatar, theyre homing in on its media and using the internet as a means to an end.

It all began just a few days after President Trumps May 22 meeting with Gulf leaders in Saudi Arabia, when Qatar News Agency (QNA) published comments critical of the United States attributed to the countrys ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Al Jazeera claimed QNA's site had been hacked, but satellite channels from the UAE and Saudi Arabia reported the comments as legitimate and subsequently blocked Al Jazeeras main website on May 24.

From there, things escalated quickly: on May 25, Egypt blocked access to Al Jazeera and other Qatari-funded news sites, and took the opportunity to also block local independent site Mada Masr. Saudi Arabia and Jordanfollowed suit by revoking Al Jazeeras license and closing its offices.

And now, under the pretext of cybercrime (a favored means of repression in the region), Qatars neighbors are seeking to prosecute anyone who speaks favorably about the country. The UAE has threatened up to 15 years in prison or debilitating fines for anyone who shows sympathy to embattled Qatar, while Bahrains Ministry of Interior announced penalties of up to five years imprisonment on their website. SaudiNews tweeted that the government of Saudi Arabia would impose up to five years imprisonment for pro-Qatar speech as well, on the grounds of the countrys 2007 cybercrime law, which bans material impinging on public order. The kingdom took their restrictions a step further, banning satellite TV from hotels to prevent visitors from watching Al Jazeera. Finally, on June 8, Al Jazeera suffered a massive cyberattack.

These restrictions, as well as restrictions on travel to and from Qatar, are pushing the embattled country into isolation and threatening the economy and livelihood of Qatars residents and citizens. But they also set a dangerous precedent in an already extremely restrictive environment for freedom of expression: the use of economic and travel sanctions to shut down a powerful media outlet and further, punish anyone who speaks out against that act.

As a media leader in the region, Qatar has an important role of providing news coverage to citizens in the Gulf and beyond. And while press freedom still has a long way to go in Qatar, further suppression of human rights by members of the GCC is not the answer. EFF condemns the Council's attempts to sever diplomatic ties with the country and silence Qatari media outlets, like Al Jazeera, under the guise of combating terrorism. Supporting Qatar's media environment, and helping it become more free, is an imperative.

Originally posted here:

Qatar's Crisis is About Freedom of Expression - EFF

VP Leni Robredo leads the flag raising ceremony and wreath laying during the 119th Independence day celebration held at Rizal Park in Manila. also in photo from left: Rene Escalante NHCP, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, Executive Sec Salvador Medialdea and DFA Sec Rene Cayetano Jr. INQUIRER PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

Tired and not feeling well, President Duterte skipped his first Independence Day rites at Rizal Park in Manila on Monday.

In his stead, Vice President Leni Robredo led the flag-raising and wreath-laying at the monument of national hero Jose Rizal.

Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said the President was not feeling well after visiting on Sunday afternoon soldiers wounded in the fighting in Marawi City and then condoling later in the evening with the families of the slain Marines.

You know that the President has been working 24/7meeting the troops, meeting the commandersand then late last night visiting the wounded and those who died, Cayetano told reporters at Rizal Park. Its nothing to worry about its just that hes not feeling well, tired and lacking in sleep.

I dont have the full details but I received the call around 5:30 this morning and I talked to his people and inquired and was told that theres no problem. Hes OK but tired and doesnt feel that well. Its better to rest, he said.

Mr. Duterte went to Villamor Air Base after arriving in Manila from Mindanao to condole with the families of eight of the 13 Marines who were slain in Marawi on Friday. He then went to the Philippine Marines headquarters in Fort Bonifacio to visit the wake of two other Marines killed in Marawi.

Palace event canceled

Last week, Malacaang canceled the traditional Independence Day vin dhonneur reception at the Palace so that Mr. Duterte could attend to pressing matters in Mindanao.

He doesnt feel giving a toast while soldiers are dying and evacuees are in provinces surrounding Marawi, Cayetano said.

As you know, the target was to liberate Marawi today, June 12, but as you can see yourselves the problem is complex and there are so many developments but we hope to resolve this once and for all, he added.

The heroism of government troops who died battling terrorists in Marawi was extolled in separate celebrations in Kawit, Cavite province, where the nations independence from Spain was proclaimed 119 years ago, and at Barasoain Church in Malolos, Bulacan province, which hosted the assembly that established the first Philippine Republic in 1899.

Modern Katipuneros

Many lives have been lost in the fighting, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said at the Aguinaldo Shrine in Kawit. I would like to honor our countrys modern-day Katipuneros: the soldiers and policemen, who day and night offer their lives in the name of public service to protect peace and our safety against criminality and other plagues of the society.

Lacson said that fighting for the country did not end when President Emilio Aguinaldo declared independence in 1898. He said freedom should not be a mere chapter of history but something that had to be protected for the sake of generations to come.

He told reporters he would also support a move by Cavite representatives to declare March 22, the birth date of Aguinaldo, a national holiday.

On the Barasoain Church grounds in the City of Malolos in Bulacan province, Sen. Loren Legarda led a moment of silence as a wreath was offered for the soldiers, policemen and civilians killed in the fighting with Islamist terrorists in Marawi.

Legarda said it was fitting to dedicate the Independence Day celebration to those who have invested their lives for freedom.

In his speech at Pinaglabanan Shrine in San Juan City, Sen. Sonny Angara called for unity in the face of the Marawi conflict.

Theres a mix of sadness in todays celebration of our Independence Day upon hearing the 11 p.m. news that 58 soldiers and policemen have died due to the clashes in Marawi City, he said, adding he hoped that the conflict in Mindanao would soon be resolved.

Seeds of revolution

The Battle of Pinaglabanan in August 1896 resulted in the great losses to Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan but it lit the fire and planted the seeds of revolution that eventually resulted in the proclamation of independence in 1898.

In the morning, the Philippine flag was raised simultaneously in San Juan City and other historical parts of the country.

Let us unite so that our prayers would reach the citizens, that amid the violence and turmoil, they will be safe and that our police and soldiers would gain the strength and courage to keep fighting for our flag, Angara said.

In Angeles City in Pampanga province, Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan urged Filipinos to pray for peace in Marawi and for the eternal repose of the fallen troops.

During a dramatization of the countrys revolutionary struggles for freedom, local artists performed a skit about the clashes between government troops and terrorists in Marawi.

In her Independence Day message, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno urged the Filipino people to remember those who have fought for and continue to fight for our countrys freedom and sovereignty.

Sereno skipped the flag-raising ceremony and Independence Day rites at the Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan City as she attended the preliminary conference of the oral arguments on the three petitions challenging President Dutertes martial law proclamation in Mindanao, according to Theodore Te, the Supreme Court spokesperson.

The judiciary pays homage to all Filipino heroes, draws inspiration from them, reflects with sorrow on the fallen in Marawi and renews its commitment to the people to defend their freedoms, Sereno said.

We celebrate the valor of our fallen heroes present and past, all of who sacrificed lives and wealth, safety and comfort, she added.

Just and humane

In his first Independence Day message as foreign secretary, Cayetano said the Philippines remained in good standing in the international community as the country faced threats of terrorism and crimes.

He insisted that the country would pursue an independent foreign policy while the Duterte administration continued the fight for freedom from poverty, crime, illegal drugs and corruption.

He also hailed the more than 10 million Filipino workers who labored overseas to provide for their families at home.

As a nation, we Filipinos on bended knees implore the aid of Almighty God to guide us to maintain a just and humane society, especially amid the threats of international terrorism and international crimes, Cayetano said, without mentioning the militarys campaign to dislodge terrorists entrenched in Marawi.

At the same time, we stand tall as Filipinos as the Philippines is a responsible and respected member of the community of nations, he said.

Last week, 32 countries from Europe expressed deep concern over extrajudicial killings related to the antidrug campaign and urged the government to allow the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, to investigate without preconditions or limitations. WITH REPORTS FROM MARICAR CINCO, MARLON RAMOS, DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN, JODEE A. AGONCILLO, CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE, VILLAMOR VISAYA JR. AND TONETTE OREJAS

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VP leads Freedom Day rites - Inquirer.net