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Category Archives: Freedom

Freedom, strength, and resilience on display at Juneteenth art auction – News Radio KMAN

Posted: June 18, 2022 at 1:50 am

Freedom, strength, and resilience were the themes set for this years Manhattan Juneteenth art auction, held Thursday at Manhattans Douglass Activity Center.

The second-annual event showcased works from artists across the community. These pieces were created by artists of all ages and skill levels.

Event organizer and artist Hilary Wahlen spoke with KMAN about the event, and she said that one change was made to the auction this year that benefited the event very well.

Wahlen

Wahlen had one piece up for auction at the event, which featured three generations of black women. She said that these women perfectly represented this years themes.

Wahlen

Another notable piece from the event was created by 15-year-old Kaylyn Parker. Parker was the second youngest artist whose work was part of the auction, yet her piece brought in the third highest amount of the night.

Parker

Overall, nearly $2,700 was raised at the auction. While the amount raised was a great benefit to the organization and the artists, Wahlen also said that the messages the art conveys are just as important.

Wahlen

Proceeds from Thursdays auction will be split between the artists and the Juneteenth Committee to help fund future Juneteenth events.

Downtown Manhattans website includes further details about this years art and artists as well as images of the pieces that were featured.

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Freedom, strength, and resilience on display at Juneteenth art auction - News Radio KMAN

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There Is Freedom in Not Having a Script: A Conversation with Uzma Aslam Khan – lareviewofbooks

Posted: at 1:50 am

UZMA ASLAM KHANS latest novel, The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali (published by Westland India in 2019 and now available in the US from Deep Vellum) is a fictional account of the Andaman Islands under British and Japanese occupation, before and during World War II. With piercingly lucid attention, Uzma has drawn an intricate spiders web that is both a record and a refuge. (Nestled in the book is the story of the spider who saved the lives of Muhammad and his loyal companion by spinning a web over the mouth of the cave in which they hid.) Uzmas novel is an attempt to record the catastrophic consequences of imperial regimes while also honoring collaboratively made moments of safety and sanctuary among the colonized, including banished and incarcerated people, children, and the more-than-human world. Perhaps such possibilities are refuges unto themselves simultaneously invisible and glinting in plain sight.

Born in Pakistan, Uzma is the author of five novels that have been translated worldwide to critical acclaim. These include Trespassing, recipient of a Commonwealth Prize nomination in 2003; The Geometry of God, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2009; Thinner Than Skin, nominated for the Man Asian Literary Prize and DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, and winner of the French Embassy Prize for Best Fiction at the Karachi Literature Festival 2014. The daughter of Partition refugees, Uzma has lived in the Philippines, Japan, and England. She currently lives in Western Massachusetts. Our conversation unfolded across a series of documents emailed between us as March turned into April.

ARACELIS GIRMAY: In the books acknowledgments, you write of chancing upon a quote by a British politician who described a group of islands to which Indian prisoners were banished as a paradise. What arose in you when you read that British politicians word?

UZMA ASLAM KHAN: My first thought: I know almost nothing about these islands. I was a graduate student in Arizona, looking for another book in the library. It bothered me that Id been taught little of my history at my convent school in Karachi, where history arrived in a syllabus from Cambridge University. All I knew was the Urdu/Hindi name for the islands, Kala Pani. It means Black Water, indicating a place of absolute exile. Thats where the British sent anticolonial revolutionaries, whom they called terrorists. But the actual name of the islands, Andaman, meant little to me. So, when I found that quote, I felt Id been banished to an island without memory.

I went looking for a globe and found a spattering of freckles in a corner of the Indian Ocean. I had to know what had happened there. There was a single library stamp on the last page. I had a soulmate. I didnt find the book I was looking for, but I found the one I had to write. It took a long time almost 27 years. It involved learning and especially unlearning. A question loomed very large: how do I write into a void? Perhaps that single library stamp allowed me to jump.

In this work, everyones desires, strategies, and needs are thoroughly entangled. Entanglement is axiomatic a fact of our existence in the worlds inside and outside of your books pages. I am also thinking about the prison as a process by which members of the imperial regime exacted an ongoing humiliation and trauma upon those who were incarcerated. Can you talk about your relationship to these conditions of entanglement and isolation in your book?

I appreciate how you connect entanglement and isolation. Its where my research led me, even if, along the way, I had to shed the research to arrive at the writing. Let me explain. After I found that quote about the island paradise, I looked for true histories of the penal colony, but found hardly any. What I did find, unsurprisingly, was told from a male gaze. Though women were also exiled, because their removal carried a particular social and sexual stigma, in these sources not a single woman prisoner was named.

The first character that I wrote in The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali was the woman prisoner. In my earliest drafts, she had a name. Later, I called her Prisoner 218 D. But her story was taking forever to complete. I couldnt find the material needed to incorporate factual truth with the truth of my imaginings. I had her essence. I didnt have her words. They didnt sound accurate or feel true. I was becoming entangled in her world and isolated from its language.

The language was failing me because the research was failing me. Because of the colonial project itself, the selective erasure that its built upon, the isolation and trauma that comes with this erasure all of which are of course also alive in me. I needed to see that much of what I know comes through sources that omit people like me brown, Muslim women from the Global South. Though I continued to collect every article and image I could find, ultimately not finding all the facts grew to excite me. It forced me to imagine from scratch. There is freedom in not having a script.

To me, the tenderness with which you write is a kind of intervention of knowing that is in opposition to the colonial one. For instance, the roles that surveillance and record-keeping play in the brutalities of the imperial project, versus the knowing of the Mayakangne, Kwalakangne, and Dare winds. There is the intimate knowing between Priya, the chicken, and Nomi, the human. The third-person omniscient narration suggests, again, a different kind of knowing. How do you think about the memories and interiors of others within this much larger context of layered surveillance?

I love what you say about interventions of knowing. It reminds me of Edward Said on knowledge: Facts get their importance from interpretation [which] depend[s] on who the interpreter is, who he or she is addressing, what his or her purpose is, at what historical moment. When historical data privileges its own systems of knowledge, its hard to trust the archives. It wasnt till about 15 years into the book that I began finding alternative sources, inspiring my own interventions. A way perhaps to make fiction and an alternative record that I could trust.

Ill give examples. The titular character, Nomi, is made up. Her brother Zee is based on a historical figure. The first shot fired on South Andaman Island during the war was by a boy trying to save a chicken from Japanese soldiers. This actual event frames the opening chapter. Zee is based on the boy, Priya on the chicken. I took the liberty of giving Zee and Priya a loving sister.

The jailer, Cillian, is also based on a historical figure. I found reference to him in male prisoner testimonials. He is particularly feared by Prisoner 218 D. After the surrender of the Japanese, when the British reoccupied the islands, part of their strategy involved enlisting the help of former jailers. Cillian returns, with all the horrors that he took part in buried, along with my prisoners name, beneath an official narrative of white savior.

Too, the knowledge that you speak of between human and nonhuman. Its essential in all my books. For me, the physical world tells the emotional truth. One thats displaced when human and nonhuman reciprocity is displaced. So, for instance, the cost of war on indigenous fishermen because of underwater mines that removed them from their oldest food source and ally, the sea.

I cant say how I accessed these interiors. Love. Listening. A willingness to stay a long time, for instance, with the knowing of the winds that you mention. Interventions of knowing require immersion, empathy these are acts of faith. Theres a scene in the book in which an old man bemoans that the British never took their shoes off before entering a temple. I took my shoes off many times, yet I wasnt given permission to truly enter till I found Nomi.

Beloved Nomi Ali. Can you say more about your relationship with her? How she first came to you or you to her? How you carry her now that the book is complete?

I mentioned earlier that the woman prisoner was the first character I wrote, and she took a long time. In contrast, Nomi appeared years after I began, and didnt take as long. With her, the book found its momentum. The prisoner started the journey. Nomi completed it.

Theres a scene early on in which Nomi recites the names of as many bodies of water as drops in the bowl that shes carrying, while catching raindrops from a leaky ceiling. It was an image that stayed with me as I wrote her. Nomi collecting the Arabian Sea, Andaman Sea, Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean. Nomi as the keeper of seas, pooling in a bowl. Later, shes also the soils keeper. I feel this has been my task, too, as a storyteller and collector of histories familial, regional, global. At some point in the book, I touch upon the Partition of India into India and Pakistan, when refugees come to the islands. Like the prisoners and their children, the refugees ask what is left of the living with the death of the past. I was turning the question inward.

My fathers family are Partition refugees. He never spoke of the violence, but my paternal grandmother told me of the killing of her parents during the Partition riots. When I wrote this novel, what happened to Nomis father, Haider Ali, turned into an inversion of sorts of my great-grandparents Partition story. And there are other unexpected intersections between Nomis life and mine, those that touch me more directly, that Im only just beginning to see which is funny, given how long Ive been with the book. I wont risk spoilers, so will share only that Im also the youngest of two children, in a nuclear family of four that was broken by the grief of losing one child. Grief can make those closest to you cruel. The survivor child never stops carrying the grief her own and her familys and can recognize this particular kind of carrying in others, who are then lifted and given a home, as I do for Nomi, and she even more for me.

Yes, the brevity with which you explicitly refer to the Partition is devastating for the enormity of what is marked but unsaid. I wanted to hear from you about the moment in your book when Prisoner 218 D is in conversation with a beloved anticolonial comrade of her youth. This friend, Kaajal, refuses Gandhis summation that the female sex is not the weaker sex but the nobler, for her suffering. Kaajal rejects silent suffering. She says: I like anger. [] It wakes me up as a friend should. I am thinking of Audre Lordes 1981 essay The Uses of Anger. What are some of the uses of anger in this book and in the writing of this book?

I love this question. Earlier in that scene, Kaajal recalls her father saying, Anger isnt ladylike. And she asks the prisoner, Like which lady? I dont know any ladies who arent angry. After I wrote it, I made a list of words for unladylike women (later used for the prisoner). Virago. Harridan. Banshee. Minx. Shrew. Crone. Termagant, from the French termagaunt, an imaginary and violent Muslim deity.

The words become more loaded when the woman is of color. Then shes the angry Black or brown woman, a trope that functions like a panoptic gaze. So, I loved writing that scene between Kaajal and the prisoner. Later in the book, I loved writing the prisoner in an even wider range of emotions, and through her discovering the uses of anger in the book: expression, action, wholeness, art, visibility, triumph, opposition, allyship. Im thankful that you mentioned Audre Lorde. Who has more brilliantly drawn our attention to intersectional struggle? That scene between Kaajal and the prisoner has for me possible layers of attraction, though no reader has mentioned it yet. Lastly, do you know that Lorde, like Toni Morrison, was born on 2/18? I discovered it only now. My prisoners sole identification, on the wooden tag around her neck, is 218 D and the letter stands for dangerous.

Theres a scene in the book when the Japanese dentist-spy is surveying the Andaman, and readers see it as a small island between two island giants, the Empire of Japan and the British Isles. Each character has their own relationship with the concept island as a site of imprisonment and colonial expansion, or of escape and personal growth. For instance, Shakuntala, the Indian woman who runs her own farm. Could you speak of your relationship to islands?

As a child, I lived in Japan and the British Isles. Like many South Asians, Japan for me was haute Asia art, ceramics, fine cuisine. And the story Id learned of Japans alliance with Indian freedom fighters during World War II was a heroic one, of Japan helping India to fight the British.

As an adult, I lived on Oahu, in Hawaii. Though I was far from Pearl Harbor, being there helped me to recall my time in Tokyo, where Id apparently spoken a little Japanese (since forgotten). I had happy memories of Tokyo and troubled ones of London, though it was in London where I first recorded history I loved dogs and kept a secret journal of all the ones I met. In Hawaii, some childhood experiences found new homes through writing. For instance, Nomis teacher has a King Charles Spaniel. The headmaster of my school did too. Like Nomi, I was considered too dirty to play with the dog. The Japanese dentist-spy, who came to me in a flash, riding a bicycle, was perhaps a reincarnation of the kind man who helped me to steal a rose for my mother from the school garden in Tokyo.

It was in Oahu that I first learned of atrocities committed by the Japanese on the Andaman. I knew then that the book Id been writing was about a dual occupation. Being on the island also shifted how I measure time, distance, and proximity. Some images came very close, not only of my early childhood but also of my family resettling in Pakistan after leaving Japan and England. This was during the Cold War when the US fought the Soviets in Afghanistan through Pakistan. The Karachi that I grew up in was a battlefield between empires, though at one time it had been a fishing village. And now, in Hawaii, I seemed to fly to an in-betweenness from another time, one where borders are mapped by water. Possibly, this allowed me to find a language for characters who exist between empires and seas.

Aracelis Girmay is the author of three books of poems, most recentlythe black maria(BOA Editions, 2016), for which she was a finalist for the Neustadt Prize. An essayist, picture book maker, and teacher, she is also the current editor-at-large for the Blessing the Boats Selections and is on the editorial board of the African Poetry Book Fund.

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There Is Freedom in Not Having a Script: A Conversation with Uzma Aslam Khan - lareviewofbooks

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Fort Monroes role as ‘Freedoms Fortress’ remembered ahead of Juneteenth – News 3 WTKR Norfolk

Posted: at 1:50 am

HAMPTON, Va. Americas grim chapter of slavery began in 1619 in Hampton, where more than 20 enslaved Africans were traded to settlers in exchange for supplies.

They were taken, kidnapped and stolen for profit, said Tesha Vincent, a visitor engagement manager at the Fort Monroe Visitor and Education Center. I can only imagine the fear that was going through their minds as they were being walked on to shore.

The same shore and surrounding land would become Fort Monroe, a military installation that remained under the Union armys control when Virginia seceded and joined the Confederacy in 1861. In the spring of that year, three enslaved men in Hampton Roads Frank Baker, James Townsend and Shephard Mallory escaped their slave owners control and made the dangerous journey to Fort Monroe for a chance at freedom.

You can imagine the trepidation that theyre feeling, Vincent said. [They must have thought] 'If I could just get to Fort Monroe, then I can have my freedom.'"

At the end of their perilous journey to Fort Monroe, they faced Union General Benjamin Butler, who allowed the men to stay as contraband of war.

While Butlers decision was a political move to cripple the Confederacy by not returning enslaved people, it signaled to others enduring slavery that Fort Monroe was Freedoms Fortress.

The idea of freedom, just the fact that they can get close enough that they can even attempt to touch it, was enough for them to make this journey, Vincent said.

Thousands of enslaved people faced peril for the possibility of freedom at Fort Monroe. They built contraband camps near its borders. By 1863, President Lincoln created the Bureau of Colored Troops, allowing contrabands of war to enlist in the Union army.

On June 19, 1865 or Juneteenth as it is known today enslaved people in Galveston, Texas were the last to learn of their freedom months after the end of the Civil War.

[Slavery] was a horrific, very bleak, dark chapter in history, Vincent said. But they survived.

Fort Monroe offers self-guided walking tours and an interactive account of the sites history at the Fort Monroe Visitor and Education Center.

To mark Juneteenth, the Fort Monroe Theater is hosting the Wave of Freedom with Juneteenth Jazz Concert on Saturday, June 18 at 6 p.m. Admission is free.

On Sunday, June 19, Fort Monroe will be part of a virtual program hosted by the 400 Year African American History Commission at 3 p.m.

You can find a list of more Juneteenth celebrations across Hampton Roads here.

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Fort Monroes role as 'Freedoms Fortress' remembered ahead of Juneteenth - News 3 WTKR Norfolk

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Howard County Government Closings for Juneteenth National Freedom Day on June 20th – Howard County Government

Posted: June 11, 2022 at 1:19 am

While county parks, Gary J. Arthur, North Laurel and Roger Carter Community Centers, and the Meadowbrook Athletic Complex will be open on the 20th, the Kiwanis-Wallas Hall, Belmont Manor and Historic Park, Ellicott City Colored School Restored, Baltimore & Ohio Ellicott City Station Museum, Robinson Nature Center, Firehouse Museum, Patapsco Female Institute, and county historic sites will be closed.

The Regional Transportation Agency (RTA) will operate on a regular weekday schedule; for more information on RTA, call 1-800-270-9553 or visit http://www.transitrta.com. All parking regulations and fees will be in effect on June 20th. The 9-1-1 Center, Police and Fire departments remain staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For emergencies, call 9-1-1; for non-emergencies, call 410-313-2200.

County operations will resume on Tuesday, June 21st, at regular business hours.

CLOSED on Monday, June 20th County Government Offices Courts Animal Shelter 50+ Centers Historic SitesEllicott City Colored School RestoredBelmont Manor & Historic Park Firehouse MuseumBaltimore & Ohio Ellicott City Station MuseumRobinson Nature Center Patapsco Female Institute Kiwanis-Wallis Hall

OPEN on Monday, June 20thAll trash, recycling, yard trim and food scrap servicesAlpha Ridge LandfillCounty ParksGary J. Arthur, North Laurel and Roger Carter Community CentersMeadowbrook Athletic ComplexRTA Regular Weekday Schedule All parking regulations and fees will be in effect.

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‘Life and Dignity for All’ is theme of USCCB’s Religious Freedom Week – Arlington Catholic Herald

Posted: at 1:19 am

WASHINGTON Life and Dignity for All is the theme of this years Religious Freedom Week of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The observance opens June 22, the feast day of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, both English martyrs who fought religious persecution. The week ends June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, and includes the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, which is June 24.

This year, as we approach the Supreme Courts decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, the USCCB is especially mindful of the debates around our country about abortion, said a news release about Religious Freedom Week. The Catholic Church plays a crucial role in bearing witness to the Gospel of life and serving all who will be affected by these discussions and their outcomes.

The Dobbs case involves a Mississippi law banning abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy. An initial draft of a Supreme Court opinion in the case that was leaked May 2 indicated the high court is set to overturn its Roe v. Wade decision, which 50 years ago legalized abortion nationwide.

The court also is expected to overturn its 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which affirmed Roe and prohibited regulations that created an undue burden on women seeking an abortion.

If the final ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization overturns Roe and Casey, the issue of abortion would be returned to the states.

Another major area of concern continues to be protecting the religious freedom of U.S. Catholic institutions, such as schools, hospitals and child welfare service providers, to carry out their missions with integrity and in accordance with their religious beliefs, the USCCB news release said.

In particular, protecting Catholic adoption and foster care will become even more vital, as we take new steps in building a culture of life and dignity for all in the United States, it said.

To build a culture of life and dignity for all, the Catholic Church must support women and children, the release added.

To that end, the USCCBs Committee on Pro-Life Activities in 2020 launched the Walking with Moms in Need nationwide initiative. Its aim is to engage every Catholic parish in providing a safety net to ensure that pregnant and parenting moms have the resources, love and support they need to nurture the lives of their children.

In starting the initiative, the U.S. bishops said they want to ensure our Catholic parishes are places of welcome for women facing challenging pregnancies or who find it difficult to care for their children after birth, so that any mother needing assistance will receive life-affirming support and be connected to appropriate programs and resources where she can get help.

Among its goals is to help Catholics recognize the needs of pregnant and parenting moms in their communities, enabling parishioners to know these mothers, to listen to them, and to help them obtain the necessities of life for themselves and their children.

Another focus of Religious Freedom Week is international, the USCCB release said. The USCCBs Committee for Religious Liberty has collaborated with the Office of International Justice and Peace to raise awareness about religious liberty in China and in solidarity with people throughout the world who suffer for their faith.

The USCCB provides Pray-Reflect-Act resources at http://www.usccb.org/ReligiousFreedomWeek. Each day focuses on different religious liberty topics and this years daily themes intersect with life issues.

Through prayer, education and public action during Religious Freedom Week, the USCCB continues to advocate for the essential right of religious freedom for Catholics and for those of all faiths, the release added.

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'Life and Dignity for All' is theme of USCCB's Religious Freedom Week - Arlington Catholic Herald

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A vision of freedom: Afrofuturism picked as theme for MSU Juneteenth celebration – MLive.com

Posted: at 1:19 am

EAST LANSING, MI - What is Afrofuturism? To Matt Dery, the author who coined the term in 1994, its speculative fiction that treats African-American themes, and addresses African-American concerns through the lens of science fiction, fantasy and technological themes.

To Julian Chambliss, a Michigan State University English professor, speculation is only a part of the definition.

I often define it as the intersection between speculation and liberation from an African-American or African-diasporic perspective, he said, referencing the migration of enslaved African people to the Americas. Its about thinking about freedom, thinking about liberation. Thinking about safety and equity.

Chambliss is the keynote speaker at MSUs Juneteenth celebration, which will explore Afrofuturism as its main theme.

The celebration starts at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, June 17, at the Breslin Student Events Center. It is the universitys second Juneteenth celebration,. Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021 to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans in the United States.

What were doing is acknowledging the history of enslaved Africans in this country, the oppression that took place during the period of slavery, but just this journey toward liberation in various ways since then, said Jabbar Bennett, MSUs chief diversity officer. Whether its social, educational, professional or cultural.

The Juneteenth celebration shows MSUs commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, said MSU President Samuel Stanley.

Afrofuturism helps people go beyond definitions of Black people typically imposed by our culture, Bennett said. That is why it was selected as this years Juneteenth theme, he added.

It pushes this internal or cultural sort of ideas and aspiration opposed to the framing or the parameters in which many people have placed over Black people over the years, he said. It breaks out of the box.

Chambliss explored Afrofuturism as a theme in his lecture Afrofantastic. It can be viewed here.

African expressions of liberation go back to the formation of the country, Chambliss said, citing Black people petitioning for freedom in state legislatures during the American Revolution. While Dery came up with the term Afrofuturism in the 1990s, Black art has demonstrated its tenets throughout American history, such as the Harlem Renaissance, jazz and more.

More recent examples include the Marvel Studios movie Black Panther, the HBO series Watchmen and the work of filmmaker Jordan Peele, Chambliss said. Each operate in the Afrofuturist sphere in different ways, he said.

Black Panther is basically a what if, he said. What if Africa had not been the victim of imperialist expansion and colonial exploitation?

Watchmen reclaimed the Black historical event of the Tulsa massacre on Black Wall Street in 1921, he added, while Peeles work explores Black identity in white power structures.

Speculating around liberation really calls attention to choices that are made that allow the system to function and also highlights that you can make a different choice, he said of the works.

The Juneteenth celebration will also feature art displays of the Harlem Renaissance, Black Wall Street exhibitions, a fashion gala, live music and refreshments, the release states.

By recognizing Juneteenth, MSU sends the message that we value the strength, perseverance and contributions of our African American community, Bennett said.

The turn toward Afrofuturism as a theme for the Juneteenth celebration is exciting, said Chambliss. It offers the opportunity for our community to recognize the enduring legacy of an African American vision of freedom.

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A vision of freedom: Afrofuturism picked as theme for MSU Juneteenth celebration - MLive.com

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Tether is an instrument of freedom and ‘Bitcoin onramp, says Tether CTO – Cointelegraph

Posted: at 1:19 am

On a sun-splashed day in the Swiss Alps, the chief technology officer of Bitfinex and Tether, Paolo Ardoino, shed light on the Plan B Lugano strategy, Tether as an onramp into Bitcoin (BTC) and crucially his favorite pizza toppings.

Fresh off the plane from Norway, where Ardoino attended an increasingly Bitcoiner-friendly event, the Oslo Freedom Forum, the Italian explained that, in contrast to the WEF,there was no shilling in Norway.

Tether was invited to speak at the Oslo Freedom Forum as the stablecoin is increasingly considered an instrument of freedom. Tether has been adopted by the Myanmar government while the Ukrainian government has accepted crypto donations, including Tether, since the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Ardoino cites Turkey and Argentina as examples. The Turkish lira has lost 50% of its purchasing power and crypto, often seen as a hedge against uncertain currencies, is experiencing a second wave of interest. Ardoino also conceded that:

Regarding the Plan B strategy in Lugano, where Bitcoin and Tether are de facto legal tender in the Swiss city, Ardoino shared that educational models in Switzerland are being shared across to El Salvador.

Related: Tether launches crypto and blockchain education program in Switzerland

Ardoino also critiqued Satoshi Nakamoto's choice of pizza toppings.Bitcoin Pizza Day occurred the day before the WEF, a day where Bitcoiners around the world eat and attempt to pay for pizza with Bitcoin.The creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, famously enjoyed pineapple and jalapeos on pizza, to whichArdoino commented, nobody is perfect.

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Tether is an instrument of freedom and 'Bitcoin onramp, says Tether CTO - Cointelegraph

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A symbol of freedom, unity and hope | The American Legion – The American Legion

Posted: at 1:19 am

Dear American Legion Family and Friends,

At 7 p.m. Eastern on June 14, Flag Day, Americans everywhere will stop what they are doing and stand together for the annual Pause for the Pledge. They will recite the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag and nation in unison.

Since 1777, when the first official flag of the United States was adopted, Old Glory has stood as a symbol of unity, democracy, freedom and hope for all of us.

We see Old Glory around us as it proudly flies from homes, businesses, government buildings and from the hands of young and the old during patriotic parades. It soars in the fields of battle, and it serves as a blanket of freedom draped over the casket of a fallen servicemembers, law enforcement officers and veterans. Our American flag is a reminder of sacrifice and service, and of strength.

The values embodied by our flag are mirrored by The American Legions commitment to promote peace and good will on earth, to safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom and democracy; to consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by our devotion to mutual helpfulness.

That commitment is visible on Flag Day when American Legion members conduct flag retirement ceremonies with youth to show future generations proper flag etiquette and respect. As Legionnaires who have proudly served under the flag, it is our responsibility to pass on its meaning and instill respect for Old Glory.

The American Legion is actively promoting patriotism and reinvigorating pride and respect for the American flag by building awareness about why the U.S. flag matters through our Rally Around the Flag campaign.To support the campaign, a series of U.S. Flag Code and Rally Around the Flag social media graphics are available for download that can be shared on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. These individual graphics break down the U.S. Flag Code, as well as feature historical notes, fun facts and voices from history about the American flag.

You can start sharing these social media graphics by visiting legion.org/flag/resources.

I also encourage you to share why the flag matters to you. You can share your story on Legiontown.org under the heading Rally Around the Flag.

As I walked the hallow grounds of Utah Beach during my recent visit to Europe, I saw a tiny American flag in the sand near the historic beach that helped free Europe from tyranny. It was a reminder no matter the size of the ultimate sacrifice paid under the Red, White and Blue, and of the freedom and unity that Old Glory means. Long may it wave, wherever it may stand.

Veterans Strengthening America

Paul E. Dillard

National Commander

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A symbol of freedom, unity and hope | The American Legion - The American Legion

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Rose Lavelle and the freedom to be herself – How her OL Reign and USWNT form has taken off – ESPN

Posted: at 1:19 am

At 24 years old, Rose Lavelle announced herself to the world with a stunning goal in the 2019 Women's World Cup final to help beat the Netherlands and seal another trophy for the U.S. women's national team. She lifted the Bronze Ball later that day, a nod to her superlative performances throughout the tournament, and in many ways, a star had arrived.

Breakout major tournaments have a way of presenting players' journeys as linear paths made of singular moments, when they are really one step in an arduous trek that requires great timing. Lavelle was exceptional in that final -- no surprise to anyone who had tracked her ascent -- but she was also still a young player striving for more consistency.

Now, with the World Cup next year, and before that this summer's qualification tournament, the CONCACAF W Championship, Lavelle is truly in her prime and playing better than ever. Much of that has to do with a return to the National Women's Soccer League, where she is a focal point as the No. 10 for OL Reign.

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"Rose is obviously a super dynamic player, so we want to give her that freedom to do that," OL Reign and U.S. teammate Megan Rapinoe said. "She kind of has to be a reins-off kind of player."

Away from the spotlight in France in 2019, Lavelle played only six games for her then-club, the Washington Spirit, because of a combination of injuries and availability issues as the NWSL played through most of the World Cup. Manchester City soon swooped in for the U.S. star after her breakout summer, but Lavelle's time in England was largely marked by injuries and head coach Gareth Taylor's curious propensity to play her out of her best position, in dedicated wide areas, when she was healthy.

Lavelle left England after one season to come back to the NWSL and join the Reign, who traded a first-round draft pick and $200,000 to acquire her NWSL rights in anticipation of her eventual return to the league. Her midsummer arrival coincided with the return of Laura Harvey as Reign head coach, along with loans for Lyon stars Dzsenifer Marozsan and Eugenie Le Sommer -- but the Reign were upset by the eventual champions, the Washington Spirit, in the semifinals.

The Reign are among the favorites again this season, Lavelle's first full season with the club. Since her arrival, she is playing the most confident and consistent version of Rose Lavelle to date, both for club and country.

"Freedom" is the operative word for unlocking the best of Lavelle. At her best, she is a human highlight reel, a player who boasts the kind of creativity and vision on the ball that's historically rare among American players. That special quality has been clear since her senior international debut in 2017 on a frigid March day in New Jersey, when she was named player of the match against England. Lavelle is different from her USWNT peers in the best way, and to reach her potential, she requires an artistic license that allows her to try unconventional ideas.

Harvey's plan so far in the 2022 season affords Lavelle the ability to drift out of the traditionally central areas of the No. 10 role and find the game, which includes floating into wider, higher positions. While roaming the final third, Lavelle can then better combine with the Reign's front line thanks to overlapping support from fullback Sofia Huerta. The result is Lavelle not only generating opportunities in higher areas, but finishing them, too.

She increasingly does this for the U.S. national team, too, where head coach Vlatko Andonovski's system encourages Lavelle to exchange places with the No. 9. (Lavelle and Catarina Macario forged a seamless partnership in those roles earlier this year, but Macario tore her ACL last week and will be out for the foreseeable future.)

Lavelle ranks in the top 10 in the NWSL this year (regular season and Challenge Cup combined) for chances created, while her pass percentage in the attacking third is top-three in the league among players with three or more goals, per ESPN Stats & Information. All of that is to be expected from a world-class No. 10, which Lavelle is, and much of it was on display under the blazing summer sun in France three years ago.

Now, at 27 years old, Lavelle is a more complete player in ways both obvious and more discreet. Take her goal on May 29 against San Diego Wave FC as a prominent example. With Huerta standing over a free kick near the corner, Lavelle made a darting, diagonal run toward the near post after losing her marker and buried a diving header for the game's only goal.

"I don't think I'll ever score a goal like that ever again," Lavelle said through her signature laugh. She was being humble, of course: After all, she nearly scored on a great header 10 seconds into the prior match, against the Kansas City Current.

With all the attention paid to her attacking prowess, the most overlooked thing about Lavelle is her defensive ability. Among players with at least three goals, she has the most ball recoveries (94) while her 42 tackles are surpassed by only two players in the league, per ESPN Stats & Information.

She does all of this defensive work in high areas, quickly converting them into opportunities for her team. Even as a No. 10 whose primary role is to create chances and break down defenses, Lavelle carries a significant defensive burden for both the Reign and the USWNT in their three-player midfield formations.

"Rose Lavelle is the best at defending in transition in the world," Andonovski said in September. "There's not a player that transitions as well as she does."

It was an eye-popping statement from the U.S. coach given the number of great, two-way midfielders in the world, from mainstays like France captain Amandine Henry to U.S. teammate Samantha Mewis. It was also an acknowledgment of the progress made by Lavelle in the time since the world first took notice of her.

In this form, she is primed to be a greater force for the U.S. at next summer's World Cup and a focal point in the Americans' quest to three-peat as champions. She also might be piece the Reign need to finally win an elusive NWSL Championship.

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Rose Lavelle and the freedom to be herself - How her OL Reign and USWNT form has taken off - ESPN

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‘The Fight for Freedom and Peace’ – The Milwaukee Community Journal

Posted: at 1:19 am

Legendary promoter Don King stands between heavyweight boxing titans Trevor Bryan and Daniel Dubois in Miami at the Embassy Suites during the final press conference for The Fight for Freedom and Peace on June 11, 2022 at the Miami Casino. (Don King Productions Photo)

By Kenneth Miller, Publisher Inglewood Today

MIAMI-FL WBA Heavyweight Champion Trevor The Dream Bryan (22-0,15 KOs) was the last to arrive at the final press conference for Don Kings The Fight for Freedom and Peace at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Miami on Wednesday June 8th, but he hopes to be the last man standing when he takes on mandatory British challenger Daniel Dubois (17-1, 16 KOs) on Saturday June 11 at Miami Casino and streaming around the world on DONKING.com, FITE, ITube 24/7 and 11eleven.tv for $29.99.

The Fight for Freedom and Peace is dedicated to brave and courageous members of the Ukraine, people of the Ukraine that Russia has decided to invade and declare war because of a bruised ego. Because this really isnt a war this is a family feud that has turned into a tragedy with homicidal effect, opined promoter Don King. Genocide and killing people every day, I just got a call from them last night and they said they again bombed Kyiv because the Klitschko brothers are there and were going to be here to gain further support for their cause for fighting for freedom, independence, peace, sovereignty and prosperity.

King argued that Dubois and his team have already counted out the American Bryan as odds at major betting sites have opened with the challenger installed as a prohibitive 7-1 favorite to capture the WBA title.

Hes already counted Trevor out, so we dont have to worry about that part we can just pass him the belt and we dont have to go through rigmarole. I dont know if you are familiar with this Dubois, but Cornwallis was the general (British Gen. Charles Cornwallis) and he was really attacking and knowing down trees and stuff and jumping on George Washington, but when Washington got through Cornwallis surrendered, said King giving the young fighter a brief history lesson. They have absolutely counted America out, my country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty.

Dubois introduced himself to America declaring; Im ready to rumble, I am out here to make myself, my family and my country proud. This is what I been waiting for and I cant wait. I know I have to go through Trevor and I take that belt back home on the plane, so lets go.

All throughout the world and nobody knows Trevor and Dubois says Im destroying Trevor because he did everything thats anti Dubois and I dont like it and I am going to demonstrate that to him when I see him, King quipped before introducing his champion.

On this side over here is The Dream, the man has a dream and thats what Americas all about is a dream. This young man is undefeated and his dream has been to be the world champion, but he was never considered like the guys such as Anthony Joshua, with Tyson Fury and Wilder all the guys that when the big payday would come didnt consider him, but after this fight you didnt know who he was before the fight but you damn sure will know who he is after, boasted King.

Bryant pounced to the podium at the 40-minute confab, oozing confidence and looking as fit as hes ever been.

Let me just say a couple of quick things. This is Trevor Bryan, you guys dont know who Trevor Bryan is? Who I am is WBA heavyweight champion and Im here to stay. Hello, hello everybody and listen this who I am. You see this face right here, Im the WBA champion and I am going to be here for a long time emphatically stated Bryan, lifting his sun glasses from his face, Again, this fight is called Freedom and Peace, before you have Freedom and Peace you gotta have war and thats what we gonna have, the guy think that Im nobody and Im here for nothing. Im just 22-0 and Im nobody and you are going to walk through me right? Nots not whats gonna happen, Im telling you that right now. I hope that you are ready because Im telling you its going to be a hard night for you. Im Trevor Bryan, The Dream and I am going to be this guy nightmare June 11.

There will be eight scheduled fights on the card including six title fights; the co-feature is DaCarree Scott (7-0, 6KOs) defending his NABA Gold Heavyweight championship against Jonathan Guidry; JOHNNIE LANGSTON (10-3, 4 KOs) defending his NABA Cruiserweight title against ISAIAH THOMPSON (6-1-1, 5KOs); NABA Welterweight Champion TRESEAN WIGGINS (13-5-3,7 KOs) vs TRAVIS CASTELLON (17-4-1, 12 KOs); NABA LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE BOUT

AHMED ELBIALI (21-1, 18 KOs) vs DERVIN COLINA (16-1, 14 KOs);WBA CONTINENTAL AMERICAS MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE BOUT featuring ANTHONY LENK(17-8, 7KOs) vs IAN GREEN (15-2, 11 KOs); SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT ATTRACTION featuring RAYNEL MEDEROS (6-0, 1KO) vs RYAN WILSON (1-0).

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