Category Archives: Freedom

DETROIT, MI A U.S. federal law prohibiting female genital mutilation will be challenged for the first time in a case in Detroit, where lawyers plan to cite religious freedom as a defense of the practice.

In the case, two physicians and one of their wives are charged with subjecting young girls to genital cutting. The three adults are members of the Dawoodi Bohra, a small Indian-Muslim sect located in Farmington Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.

Female genital mutilation (FGM), or the cutting or removal of a females clitoris and labia, has officially been illegal in the United States since 1997, under the Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act.

Until modern times, the cutting or removal of female genitalia was considered a cure for various ills hysteria, excessive sexual desire, lesbianism, etc. and was covered by some insurance providers well into the 1970s.

Now, FGM is widely understood by the United Nations and numerous other international human rights groups as a harmful traditional practice. The procedure has no health benefits for women, multiple health risks, and is considered a human rights violation.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the defense maintains that the doctors werent engaged in any actual cutting just a scraping of the genitalia and that the three defendants are being persecuted for practicing their religion by a culture and society that doesnt understand their beliefs and is misinterpreting what they did.

Court documents state that the two Minnesota girls in the case had scarring and abnormalities on their clitorises and labia minora as a result of the procedure.

According to some members of the community who have spoken out against the practice, the purpose of this cutting is to suppress female sexuality in an attempt to reduce sexual pleasure and promiscuity, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent wrote in an April 20 court filing, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Although it is the first case specifically challenging the law on female genital mutilation, experts believe it is unlikely that the religious freedom defense will work in this case.

I dont think the religious freedom argument will work. Based on Jehovah Witness cases of denying blood transfusions to children, the court should decide this type of case on the basis of whats in the best interest of the child, Nina Shea, an international human-rights lawyer and director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, told CNA.

Religious freedom has failed as a defense in numerous cases where a child has either been abused or denied healthcare, because the government has an overriding compelling interest in what is best for the child, a basic standard in the family law codes or statutes of most Western nations.

A complicating factor in cases of FGM is that it is sometimes presented as the female equivalent of male circumcision.

However, FGM is very different in purpose in that it is to deprive the woman of sexual enjoyment throughout the rest of her life. Also unlike male circumcision, there are no health benefits, and there are health risks to FGM, Shea said.

Some of those health risks include severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths, according to the World Health Organization.

I cant imagine any court that would say that the parents right to practice their religion gives them the right to inflict this harm on their daughters, First Amendment expert and constitutional law scholar Erwin Chemerinsky told the Detroit Free Press.

Its going to come down to medicine, and if (the procedure) really inflicts great, lifelong harms on those who are subjected to it thats what is going to decide this case, he said.

Despite the risks, the practice remains deeply ingrained in some cultures and religions where it is seen as a sort of a rite of passage for young women, who often opt for the procedure themselves, rather than being forced into it by males in the community.

Anthropologists have found that even educating mothers about the health risks of FGM is not enough to deter the practice in some areas, where it is a matter of cultural pride and a way of ensuring a girls future and acceptance in a society where this has been a long-accepted practice.

What were coming to realize is that programs that target individual mothers (about the harms of FGM) are completely ineffective. Mothers are not solely in charge of the decisions for their daughters, Bettina Shell-Duncan, an anthropology professor at the University of Washington, told The Atlantic in 2015.

We need to be targeting people who are in the extended family, and we know that we need to figure out who are the figures of authority in these families, and who are the influences on them in the community. We need to do male elders, but also female elders.

Its about a conversation about, What is the best way to secure the future for your children? The future for their girls might not be best secured by being circumcised any longer, she added.

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Religious freedom cited in first US female genital mutilation case - Crux: Covering all things Catholic

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Mars, Jeannette, Freedom to make WPIAL baseball championship debut Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Jeannette and Freedom baseball will head to their first WPIAL championships in their respective classifications Tuesday and Wednesday at Wild Things Park. Jeannette defeated Union, 7-3, in the 1A semifinal, and will face Greensburg Central Catholic ...

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Mars, Jeannette, Freedom to make WPIAL baseball championship debut - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Vietnam War Traveling Wall reminds vets of the cost of freedom

PASCO, Wash. -- After nearly 500 motorcyclists escorted the American Veterans Traveling Tribute yesterday, the Traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall is now open to the public.

This afternoon, the city of Pasco introduced the wall with a flag raising ceremony in the City View Cemetery to honor those lost this Memorial Day weekend.

The traveling wall is an 80 percent scale replica of the Washington D.C. monument and visits sites across the country.

Many Vietnam veterans in our area who came out to see the wall say it was an emotional experience.

"The names on the wall represent the cost of freedom to us," explained Tom Vandenberg who served in Vietnam 1970-1971. "It's tough to come and see this and realize that your friends are on there, your family and people you didn't know, but they're still your brothers."

The wall will be open 24 hours a day until Tuesday at 3 p.m. and is etched with the names of the soldiers who died as a result of the war.

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Vietnam War Traveling Wall reminds vets of the cost of freedom - KEPR 19

Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) tore into President Trump's proposed budget in a hearing with the president's budget director Mick Mulvaney on May 24. (House Budget Committee)

President Trumps 2018 spending plan landed in front of the House Budget Committee on Wednesday, where Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney heard plenty of criticism of the blueprint mainly from Democrats, with one outspoken exception.

Republican Mark Sanford a fellow South Carolinian who belongs to the House Freedom Caucus, the hard-right group Mulvaney helped found used his five minutes of questioning at the hearing to sharply challenge the bedrock of the Trump budget: an economic growth assumption of 3 percent, one that is sharply more optimistic than those projected in recent Obama administration budgets and by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The difference between the 1.9 percent growth contemplated by those sources and the 3 percent growth contemplated by Trump and Mulvaney generates enough new revenue to allow the new presidential budget to balance within 10 years. But Sanford called it a lie.

I have looked every which way at how you might get there, and you cant get there, Sanford said after a short preamble in whichhe praised the administration for seeking to balance the budget and slash taxes and spending. I think it is just disastrously consequential to build a budget on 3 percent growth. The Bible says you cant build a house on a sandy foundation. What it does is it perpetuates a myth that we can go out there and balance a budget without touching entitlements. Its not only a myth, its frankly a lie, and if it gets started at the executive branch level it moves from there.

What this does is it [prevents] real debates from happening, Sanford continued. Legitimately, myself and Democratic colleagues can see things quite differently, but for us to have a real debate, we have to base it on real numbers. I would also say its important because Im a deficit hawk, as you well know, and if youre wrong on these numbers, it means all of a sudden weve created a $2-plus-trillion hole for our kids and grandkids here going forward.

From there, Sanford trotted out various data points to support his claim. He called the assumption at odds with the historical record pointing out that the current economic expansion of 94 months has already long outstripped the average American economic expansion: But what you presume in this budget is not only will we not have a recession though were in the third-longest economic expansion in history but its going to keep going for another 214 months. Its not only unprecedented; I would think that to be unreasonable. It assumes that the stars perfectly align with regard to economic drivers.

He moved on to the underlying fundamentals of economic growth: workforce, investment and productivity. To drive 3 percent growth, Sanford said, capital formation would have to rise to levels not seen in the United States since the mid-1970s, while baby-boomer retirements stand to exert a huge drag on savings. He said that labor participation growth would have to go to 1980s levels a time when many women were going to work for the first time and that even returning to a 90s level of labor participation would only nudge the overall economic growth needle.

It would require either radically opening immigration or a radical change to demographics as we are having 10,000 baby boomers retiring each day, Sanford said. If you look at productivity growth, it would require numbers, again, that we havent seen since the golden days of 1958 to 1967 in the final wave of electrification, consumer appliances and the completion of the highway system to achieve what were seeing. Even if we went to 1990 numbers, we would only see one-quarter of what is necessary to achieve 3 percent growth.

Mulvaney got barely a handful of words out in response before questioning moved on, but he defended the budgets growth assumptions in remarks to reporters Tuesday at the White House in a sort of prebuttal to Sanford.

We have been attacked, stunningly, by some folks on the left and even in the mainstream who say that thats an unreasonable assumption, Mulvaney said. We should stop and think how absurd that is to think that 3 percent growth in an American economy is to some people an absurd assumption. It used to be normal. Ten years ago it was normal. In fact, its been normal for the history of the country.

The 1.9 percent growth assumptions of the CBO and the Obama administration, he added, are something we simply reject.

That is a pessimistic look at what the potential for this country and for what this countrys people is, he continued. We reject that pessimism.

Mulvaney added: By the way, if you dont, the budget will never balance. If you assume 1.9 percent growth, my guess is youll never see a balanced budget again. So we refuse to accept that thats the new normal in this country. Three percent is the old normal. Three percent will be the new normal again under the Trump administration.

In an interview after Wednesdays hearing, Sanford said that he simply could not accept blind faith as a basis for the federal budget and suggested that he would not be inclined to support any budget that adopts a similarly rosy view of the United States economic future given its aging and slow-growing workforce and stagnant productivity gains.

Whatever your budget is, just base it on real numbers and then lets have a food fight, he said. But lets not base it on fooling the American public into believing that you can do all this because were going to have a Goldilocks economy that weve never seen before.

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A Freedom Caucus Republican says the foundation of the Trump budget is 'a lie' - Washington Post

DES MOINES, Iowa

In honor of Memorial Day, Ray Bubba Sorensen II has repainted a 12-foot-tall, 60-ton boulder along Highway 25 near Greenfield, paying tribute to Americas servicemen and women.

Sorensens Freedom Rock project has made headlines for years with his first painting of the Freedom Rock 18 years ago in his endeavor to honor veterans.

I always say I have three goals with The Freedom Rock Tour and that is to honor Americas Veterans, promote Iowa tourism and provide for my family, Sorensen said.

This years front side of the rock, which faces the highway, is in honor of Desmond Doss, whose story was brought to life in the movie, Hacksaw Ridge. Its about a Medal of Honor recipient who saved many men during the Battle of Okinawa.

The south side of the Freedom Rock features War Dogs, or Guardians of America. It honors dogs from World War I through the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, such as Sgt. Stubby, Smokey, Nemo and Lexi.

The east side will be the American flag flowing down into a piece honoring Master Sgt. Bob Ross, who is portrayed as painting a portrait of himself in the Air Force.

On the north side, Sorensen painted the Huey helicopter with green paint containing the ashes of fallen Vietnam Veterans. Above will be a piece honoring Lt. Col. Bruce Snakeshit Crandall and Ed W. Too Tall Freeman, who were Medal of Honor recipients.

Though it is Sorensens 19th year of painting the Freedom Rock, its his fifth year on the Freedom Rock Tour across Iowa. Its also the first year he began the 50 State Freedom Rock Tour, painting rocks in Missouri and Wisconsin.

Sorensen is not commissioned for his work on the original Freedom Rock in Menlo, but he works as an independent mural artist for the Iowa Freedom Rock Tour. Sorensen is only able to complete about 10 rocks a year due to scheduling and weather and is booked through to 2021.

The Freedom Rock Tour is sponsored by the Deb and Jeff Hansen Foundation, of Iowa Falls, and Aluma Trailers, of Bancroft.

For a list of complete counties booked for the Tour and locations of already existing Freedom Rocks, visit http://www.thefreedomrock.com.

Sorensen plans to be at The Freedom Rock over Memorial Day weekend, including Memorial Day to meet with visitors. Calendars as well as other merchandise are also available to help offset costs for the project.

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Freedom Rock pays tribute to veterans this Memorial Day - KCCI Des Moines

President Trump arrived in Sicily on Thursday night for a G7 summit on Friday in the coastal town of Taormina with the leaders of Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Britain, and Canada. He will start the day with a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the only leader who wasn't with Trump in Brussels for a NATO summit on Thursday. "The day will feature a welcoming ceremony and concert at the remains of an ancient Greek temple, as well as a relentless number of meetings, many of which White House aides are hoping to keep short in order to keep Trump's attention," The Associated Press reports.

The topics of discussion will veer from tackling terrorism, which has broad consensus, to climate change and trade, where Trump is essentially the odd leader out. Migration and North Korea will also be big topics. "It's time for him to have an intimate discussion and understand their issues but, more importantly, for them to understand our issues," economic adviser Gary Cohn told reporters late Thursday, en route to Sicily.

The NATO summit ended with Trump scolding his 27 fellow leaders for not spending enough on defense and falling short of voluntary benchmarks, and declining to explicitly endorse NATO's Article 5 pledge of mutual support. The G7 summit might be a little better suited to Trump's skills, G7 experts say. "It is a forum made for Donald Trump's particular style. It is highly informal, highly interactive, and they speak in very colloquial language to each other," said John Kirton, director of the University of Toronto's G7 Research Group. "It is the ultimate lonely hearts club. No one understands how tough it is to have the top job except the peers with the top job in other countries."

Breaking with longstanding tradition, Trump has not held a press conference all trip, and he isn't expected to hold one in Sicily, the last stop on his nine-day tour, either. Peter Weber

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Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows breaks down in tears after learning how much the GOP's health plan will ... - The Week Magazine

Intolerance, at times exploding into violence, is spreading throughout our society. And its coming from the political left.

Its happening on college campuses. Most recently, students walked out on Vice President Mike Pences commencement address at Notre Dame University.

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was interrupted by boos and jeers at her commencement address at historically black Bethune-Cookman University.

Conservative scholar Charles Murray was met with violent protests at Middlebury College. Another conservative scholar, Heather Mac Donald, was violently shut down in a presentation she was giving at Claremont McKenna College. These are just a couple examples.

Now its spreading off college campuses with reports of violence and threats toward Republican members of Congress and their families, as they hold town halls in their districts.

A column in The Hill newspaper bears the headline, Republicans fearing for their safety as anger, threats mount.

Whats happening?

A recent commentary in Forbes Magazine from a London School of Business professor calls this The Post-Truth World.

He describes a prevailing feeling of helplessness as individuals inhabit a world in which knowledge is, in general, exploding but each individual knows, relatively, less and less. And he points to a world in which business and politics are becoming increasingly interdependent.

New York University psychologist Jonathan Haidt attributes whats happening to a culture in which young people are not forced to deal with opposing viewpoints. This, says Haidt, is amplified by social media, which serves to reinforce existing biases.

But all this doesnt explain why the intolerance and violence is coming mainly from the political left.

A new survey from the Pew Research Center sheds light on this.

Sixty-six percent of Republicans compared to 29 percent of Democrats say that a person is rich because they worked harder than most people rather than because of having personal advantages in life. This 37 percent difference in attitudes of Republicans and Democrats about why some people are rich is 12 points larger today than where it stood just three years ago in 2014.

Seventy-one percent of Democrats compared to 32 percent of Republicans say someone is poor because of circumstances beyond a persons control, rather than because of lack of effort. This 37 percent difference between Republicans and Democrats in attitudes regarding why someone is poor is 19 points larger than where it stood three years ago in 2014.

The nation is becoming increasingly polarized on the very fundamental question regarding the extent to which individuals have control over their own life.

Across the nations whole population, 53 percent feel poverty is the result of circumstances beyond an individuals control compared to 34 percent who see poverty as the result of lack of effort.

What is the meaning of freedom in a country where more than half its citizens feel fate rather than choice governs their life?

Not surprisingly, for the first time in eight years, according to Pew, more Americans (48 percent) say they want bigger government than say they want smaller government (45 percent).

Conservatives are exposed to the same cultural and technological forces as liberals. But its not what comes from outside that determines human behavior. Its what comes from inside the individuals attitudes and approach to life.

Liberal mentality, increasingly dominated by moral relativism, produces a culture of victimhood. The victim sees life exclusively in political terms, seeing political power and government as the means to a better life, rather than freedom and personal responsibility.

With Republicans now in power, trying to restore economic vitality and fiscal balance by limiting government and expanding personal freedom, the left sees this as a threat, not an opportunity.

We all should be deeply troubled that, in the land of the free and home of the brave, some are turning to violence to battle the prospect of becoming freer.

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THE 'TOLERANT' LEFT - WND.com

CLINTONVILLE, Wis. (WBAY) - Both the Freedom boys and girls track and field teams finished in first place at the Division 2 Regional in Clintonville Monday night.

The Freedom boys team finished with 195 points, ahead of Seymour (115) for second and Little Chute (92) for third place.

The Freedom girls team finished with 157 points, ahead of second place Marinette (123) and third place Little Chute (114).

Meet Results

Girls 1. Freedom 157, 2. Marinette 123, 3. Little Chute 114, 4. Oconto Falls 78, 5. Seymour 65, 6. Bonduel 56, 7. Clintonville 53, 8. Peshtigo 31, 9. Oconto 14, 10. Menominee Indian 3.

Top finishers (Top 4 advance to Sectionals) 100: Aliya Brown, Marinette, 13.15; Ericka Havemier, Oconto Falls, 13.26; Kennedy Kratz, Oconto Falls; 13.73; Courtney Anderson, Marinette, 13.74.

200: Dora Gomm, Little Chute, 26.98;Olivia DeBruin, Seymour, 27.36; Ericka Havemier, Oconto Falls, 27.44; McKayla Russell, Oconto, 29.05.

400: Katelyn Kitzinger, Marinette, 1:01.07; Cassie Peters, Freedom, 1:03.04; Amber Tomazevic, Freedom, 1:05.51; Megan Mckenney, Marinette, 1:06.21.

800: Jaci Hinz, Freedom, 2:23.81; Kimberly Carviou, Marinette, 2:24.24; Katelyn Kitzinger, Marinette, 2:25.27; Elisha Wilson, Little Chute, 2:26.72.

1600:Kara Pyatskowit, Clintonville, 5:27.18; Kimberly Carviou, Marinette, 5:31.59; Lauren Vosters, Freedom, 5:43.74; Breanna Sadowski, Oconto Falls, 5:49.91.

100 hurdles: Allysin Booth, Clintonville, 15.37; Jordan Mashlan, Freedom, 15.92; Kacey Topp, Freedom, 16.02; Diane Moore, Oconto Falls, 16.39.

3200: Lindsey Grams, Little Chute, 11:38.76; Kara Pyatskowit, Clintonville, 11:46.46; Lauren Vosters, Freedom, 12:02.67; Jordan Tellock, Clintonville, 12:11.89.

300 hurdles: Diane Moore, Oconto Falls, 48.02; Allysin Booth, Clintonville, 49.93; Abby Senso, Freedom, 50.95; Kayla Mielke, Freedom, 50.95.

4x100: Little Chute, 50.98; Freedom, 51.42; Seymour 52.50; Marinette, 53.06.

4x200: Little Chute, 1:47.54; Bonduel, 1:48.03; Freedom, 1:48.79; Seymour, 1:50.81.

4x400: Marinette, 4:11.93; Freedom, 4:13.85; Bonduel, 4:17.07; Peshtigo, 4:26.40.

4:800: Little Chute, 10:12.19; Freedom, 10:16.48; Peshtigo, 10:28.62; Bonduel, 10:51.32.

High jump: Lauren Rottier, Seymour, 52; Allysin Booth, Clintonville, 52; Claire Neumann, Peshtigo, 5; Rickaela Ludwig, Oconto Falls, 411.

Triple jump: Diane Moore, Oconto Falls, 3409; Jada Helms, Freedom, 3404;Danae Prange, Marinette, 3311; Olivia Hermsen, Little Chute, 3211.5.

Pole vault: Kayla Mielke, Freedom, 906; Lauren Rottier, Seymour, 96; Amber Tomazevic, Freedom, 96; Leah Vosters, Freedom, 9.

Shot put: Tess Keyzers, Little Chute, 4500.5; Morgan Florek, Marinette, 4211.25; Rachel Hoppe, Marinette, 3402; Taylor Schmid, Seymour, 3400.5.

Long jump: Emily Sorenson, Bonduel, 1709.5; Olivia Hermsen, Little Chute, 1603; Diane Moore, Oconto Falls, 15;09; Peyton Hrabik, Bonduel, 1509.

Discus: Morgan Florek, Marinette, 13402; Tess Keyzers, Little Chute, 125; Rachel Hoppe, Marinette, 11602; Alyssa Atchison, Freedom, 11307.

Boys

Team scores: 1. Freedom 195, 2. Seymour 115, 3. Little Chute 92, 4. Marinette 84, 5. Oconto Falls 80, 6. Peshtigo 57, 7. Clintonville 27, 8. Bonduel 25, 9. Menominee Indian 10, 10. Oconto 9.

Top finishers (Top 4 advance to Sectionals) 100: Troy DeBruin, Little Chute, 11.13; Jerod Jandt, Peshtigo, 11.52; Mac Winkler, Oconto Falls, 11.78; Connor Nelson, Marinette, 11.81.

200: Caden Hofacker, Freedom, 22.57; Aaron Kurth, Oconto Falls, 23.45; Austin Nicklaus, Marinette, 23.57; Kolton Heenan, Freedom, 23.91.

400: Aaron Kurth, Oconto Falls, 51.50; Nik Yaeger, Seymour, 51.92; Nik Yaeger, Seymour, 51.92; Jarin Reiter, Menominee Indian, 52.48; Joshua Kutchenriter, Clintonville, 53.24.

800: Dyaln Deshler, Seymour, 2:05.82; Devin Baumgart, Freedom, 2:07.09; Reid Marquardt, Peshtigo, 2:07.35; Dwight Green, Freedom, 2:07.38.

1600: Tyler Finger, Clintonville, 4:40.72; Noah Ludemann, Oconto Falls, 4:41.18; Alex Klarner, Freedom, 4:47.07; Luke Vosters, Freedom, 4:53.05.

3200: Travis Reiter, Freedom, 10:14.23; Evan Konitzer, Oconto Falls, 10:25.62; Carson Polomis, Marinette, 10:27.06; Luke Vosters, Freedom, 10:28.43.

110 hurdles: Nathan Paris, Marinette, 15.56; Dalton Lehrer, Seymour, 15.83; Hunter Wiese, Freedom, 16.06; Brent Wolf, Oconto Falls, 16.41.

300 hurdles: Luke Pingel, Freedom, 41.22; Dalton Lehrer, Seymour, 41.70; Nathan Paris, Marinette, 42.28; Brent Wolf, Oconto Falls, 42.68.

4x100: Little Chute, 43.68; Freedom, 44.78; Marinette, 46.00; Oconto Falls, 46.23.

4x200: Freedom, 1:30.46; Little Chute, 1:31.78; Peshtigo, 1:33.90; Marinette, 1:36.05.

4x400: Freedom, 3:25.36; Peshtigo, 3:28.97; Seymour, 3:32.16; Oconto Falls, 3:38.17.

4x800: Peshtigo, 8:14.29; Freedom, 8:17.35; Little Chute, 8:45.71; Bonduel, 8:58.05.

High jump: Ty Brickner, Freedom, 61; Jordan Wendt, Marinette, 6; Hunter Wiese, Freedom, 6; Parker Van Handel, Freedom, 58.

Triple jump: Kyle Hietpas, Little Chute, 4205.5; Connor Nelson, Marinette, 3910; Alex Sheriff, Freedom, 3907.5; Cayden Waller, Seymour, 3811.

Long jump: Kyle Hietpas, Little Chute, 2100.25; Caden Hofacker, Freedom, 2002; Adam Hietpas, Little Chute, 19 11; Devin Plate, Little Chute, 1810.25.

Pole Vault: Nathen Gerndt, Freedom, 126; Miguel Hernandez, Seymour, 126; Max Rauch, Peshtigo, 12; Ivan Coenen, Freedom, 12.

Discus: Eric Herman, Seymour, 16401; Alex Girard, Seymour, 16207; Spencer Perry, Bonduel, 14903, Eddie Paulsen, Marinette, 14309.

Shot put: William Rydzewski, Seymour, 5302.25; Eric Herman, Seymour, 4909.25; Matt Killian, Freedom, 4601; Alex Girard, Seymour, 4506.

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Freedom boys, girls dominate Division 2 Regional at Clintonville - WBAY

The Texas Freedom Caucus is leading a Texas-sized version of the ObamaCare standoff with demonstrably successful results, according to ranking state representatives who spoke with The Daily Caller (TheDC).

Over Mothers Day weekend, a voting bloc of Texas state representatives calling itself the Texas Freedom Caucus killed over 100 bills, effectively shutting down the states government. The unprecedented action was quickly designated the Mothers Day massacre by various media outlets in the Lone Star state.

Though we are not affiliated with the group in Congress, we have a lot of the same interests in common, including passing conservative legislation even when leadership stands opposed to it, Texas state Rep. Rinaldi said in an interview with TheDC.

Speaker of the State House of Representatives Joe Straus announced Wednesday, May 17, that he would surrender to the demands of the Caucus, possibly ending decades of procedural hegemony by Straus.

51% of the laws sent to the governors desk from the House were Democrat-written or co-written. This means the MINORITY party in the House, outnumbered by nearly 2-1, was the MAJORITY when it came to laws passed. How can this be? There is one probable answer: Speaker of the House Joe Straus, according to a report by Hardhatters.

Straus is criticized by many on the political right for frequently siding with the Democrats on a number of key legislative issues important to the Republican majority, especially where pro-life bills are concerned. His wife was on the board of Planned Parenthood.

They refused to recognize us for routine motions and disabled us from representing our districts and the things we stand for, remarked Republican state Rep. Briscoe Cain, a central part of the Mothers Day massacre.

I have been there two sessions and I havent had a single bill come to the floor with me as primary author, and that is simply because of my conservative voting record. Meanwhile, Democrats have gotten six, seven bills to the floor, even those who have beat Republican incumbents in the off year, Rinaldi explained.

They went so far as to require people who want their bills to be voted on to remove a Freedom Caucus members name if they were a joint author, Cain added.

The Mothers Day massacre does an end-run around business as usual with Straus. Unlike the national Congressional Freedom Caucus, which stalled passage of House Speaker Paul Ryans National Health Care Act only to have it replaced with a largely identical piece of legislation, the Texas Freedom Caucus chose an option play.

We had been notifying leadership for several weeks. They knew about it. We were open about it. They called our bluff, and thats exactly what we did. We held a press conference and said, if you kill our bills, we will kill your bills, Rinaldi remarked.

The night that happened, an unrelated event occurred where leadership had placed on the house calendar a sunset safety net bill, very far down the calendar. And thats basically our continuation of government bill, a must pass bill to avoid a special session, continued Rinaldi.

We huddled up and said, If we can kill this bill and not get to it, we can put a lot of leverage in Dan Patricks hands to pass conservative legislation. Patrick picked up what we gave him, and thats great news for conservatives, Rinaldi concluded.

The ball is now in the hands of tea party favorite, Republican Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, who conditioned his cooperation on passage by Straus of three key bills in a press conference Wednesday, May 17.

Heres the bottom lineI want to avoid a special session, but I am prepared for one if the House does not pass the Senate version of SB 2 and if the House does not pass SB 6 or amend another bill with language on the Texas Privacy Act, said Patrick. I need the House to commit to do both and move quickly in good faith.

SB 2 allows voters to have an automatic election on any tax increase of five percent or more. The Texas Privacy Act prohibits transgender persons from entering restrooms not corresponding to their biological sex.

Straus acknowledges that the Caucus approach was forcing him to permit passage of majority-favored bills.

I think it was unfortunate that they blocked our getting to the sunset bill, which did give the lieutenant governor the ability to make a threat and demand, Straus said. I think that was unfortunate. Im not sure it gave anyone positive momentum.

His comments about positive momentum notwithstanding, Straus did as Patrick requested, moving a sweeping pro-life dismemberment abortion ban (including a provision prohibiting the sale of umbilical cords and placentas within Texas) to a floor vote Friday, May 19.

Cain isnt too happy with the pro-life bills coming out of the House, even though his amendment was included on the most recent version of the dismemberment bill.

Theyre pushing phony pro-life bills, bills that appear to be de facto pro-life legislation and are hoodwinking voters, Cain said.

The House passed a version of SB 2, property tax reform, Saturday, May 20 further indicating a course correction by Straus.

And finally, the Texas House passed legislation (albeit, more narrowly construed) restricting school bathroom use by transgender students to the bathroom matching their anatomy satisfying Patricks demands.

We are having an effect, but we are doing so outside the normal process, because leadership has forced us to, Rinaldi told TheDC.

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Texas Freedom Caucus Shows DC How It's Done - The Daily Caller

Among the many sickening aspects of the bombing that killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, Monday night is the sense of a pattern. Ever since the November 2015 Paris attacks that claimed lives at a rock concert and soccer match, violent Islamic extremists have continued making mass entertainment events one of their primary targets. There was the Pulse massacre in Orlando and the street-festival truck attack in Nice, but also killings at nightclubs in Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, and Tel Aviv.

Theres no doubt a logistical rationale to assaulting these soft targetsthey may be vulnerable, and bloodshed at them can inspire a particular kind of fear among civilians. But it stands to reason theres an ideological motive too: A culture is embodied in its gatherings and in its entertainments. The particular implications of targeting musical events, which are almost inevitably bound up with arts larger humanitarian project, have been widely noted.

The Horror of an Attack Targeting Young Women

Attacking Grandes concert has a few other implications, regardless of the extent to which those implications were clear to the attacker, about whom little is yet known other than that ISIS has claimed responsibility. Theres really no exaggeration in saying Grande stands for freedomfemale freedom, and also the general freedoms of expression the liberal West aspires to embody.

Grandes fan base skews female and young, and my colleague Sophie Gilbert writes that the bombing reminds girls and young women that there will always be people who hate them simply because they were born female. Compounding that is how the concert itself celebrated female liberation. Grande sings frankly about enjoying independence and sex, and has a reputation for tussling with commenters who call her whore or define her by her relationships with famous men. Her most recent album is titled Dangerous Woman. A tweet from December 2016: expressing sexuality in art is not an invitation for disrespect !!! just like wearing a short skirt is not asking for assault.

More broadly, Grandes narrative in general is one of self-determination and savvy capitalist striving. A former child actor, she grew up in the public eye while showing a remarkable amount of poise, using her remarkable vocal talents and breezy charm to maintain a unique persona while also ladling in ever-greater expressions of maturity. The pop music she makes is, for people who love pop, some of the best of recent years because of the way that it transcends anonymity on its way to fun. Religion-wise, shes chosen her own path: Grande was raised Catholic but says she left the church after realizing it would not accept her brother Frankie, who is gay. In 2014, she began practicing Kabbalah, a mystical Jewish tradition. Politically, she has been outspoken as well, supporting Hillary Clinton for president and attending the Womens March.

Such a career, especially for a woman, is obviously predicated on the values and openness that ISIS opposes. Yet following this attack, some American voices have made an issue of Grandes persona as well. The talk-radio host and 2008 Libertarian vice presidential nominee Wayne Allyn Root sent out his condolences with the addition BUT she is typical Hollywood lib. Still hate America? Mike Cernovich, the prominent alt-right pundit, tweeted and then deleted an image quoting Grande saying I hate America, I hate Americans.

These are references to the one moment in Grandes rise that approached the level of political scandal: When she was caught on camera in a donut shop licking one of the treats and then jokingly saying I hate America, I hate Americans to a friend. Her public apology later insisted that she actually loved the U.S., but didnt love its childhood-obesity crisis or how we as Americans eat and consume things without giving any thought to the consequences.

It was a silly momentone that showed not actual hatred of America but rather a young womans comfort within the country as she privately took advantage of freedom of speech. The grim irony is now were reminded that people who actually do hate America and the West see the likes of Grande, and those who look up to her, as exactly their enemy.

Originally posted here:

The Ideology of an Ariana Grande Concert - The Atlantic