Category Archives: Freedom

When I think of one of the most anarchic albums of all time, my mind strangely wanders to a goofy, tourist-filled sunflower field. In the throes of the pre-vaccine pandemic, all my wife, Brenna, and I could do was drive endlessly through the countryside (a time I detailed in my Talkhouse essay about Neil Youngs Silver and Gold). But a few months into the endless road trip, our conversations grew darker.

What we noticed was that the rah-rah Were all in this together messaging had given way to something uglier: information clampdown and a sea of shrieking, masked avatars. Somewhere between the edge-of-your-seat COVID death ticker, the Fiery but mostly peaceful chyron, and the spike in petty Twitter cancellations, the world felt smoothed over, like a ball bearing. Stick out and be ground down, culture seemed to communicate.

Thats why we wanted to throw our computers in the ocean and see some sunflowers on a glorious day but our hearts sank. What should have been a cost-free excursion was $15 a pop and a parking fiasco, flooded with yahoos taking influencer selfies. Given that everything felt like a tiresome lecture already, this gatekeeping of God-given beauty felt like rat poison to the soul. Not everything can be streamlined, I thought. Not everything can be monetized.

So we pulled a U-turn, kicked up dust, and cranked up an album that feels liable to shake apart at any moment: The Falls Hex Enduction Hour, which turns 40 this month. After maybe a hundred listens, weve declared it to be one of the greatest rock & roll albums of all time but it cuts even deeper than that. Hex as we call it in shorthand every time we need a dose fulfills the definition of the word. More than any other album in our lives, its become a spell against uptightness, self-consciousness, and whats become a mass, pathological need to constantly be upset and angry.

I first got into Hex back when we lived in Queens. During commutes to my old internship at Billboard, when I felt like my train was about to derail, I fell in love with Jawbone and the Air-Rifle. The surf-rocky main riff reminded me of 13th Floor Elevators Roller Coaster; it felt like an invitation to a knife fight. And when it lurched into the wonderfully nauseating half-time section with singer Mark E. Smith reporting his outlandish lyrics like a freight conductor it felt legitimately dangerous. This music made me feel alive.

When we moved out of the city in 2019, I kept that exhilarating feeling in my back pocket. And during a miserable period when 24-year-olds quote-tweeted the CDC and, overall, acted like insufferable church ladies, Hex worked like a charm. When the internet became an unbearably arid place to be, we simply put on opener The Classical, and within 20 seconds, all the elements were there. The double-drum-kit attack and the often unprintable, Nazi-skewering lyrics were a reliable balm for our agitated brains.

But the first two tracks aside seriously, has there ever been an opening salvo like The Classical and Jawbone? theres not a weak song on Hex, and so many outlandish artistic choices still make Brenna and I cackle with delight.

Why did they kill the hurtling momentum on track three with Hip Priest, a mishmash of mumbles and guitar meanderings seemingly stuck in first gear? How does the cowbell on Mere Pseud Mag. Ed. go so hard? Why are there gurgling orcs on Who Makes the Nazis? How did all this chaos produce a ballad as hypnotic and beautiful as Iceland, which features a recording Smith made of wind against his bedroom window? And so on and so forth.

Now, Ive grown to love lots of Fall records sometimes, Im more in the mood for Live at the Witch Trials or Perverted by Language or Imperial Wax Solvent. But as terrific and idiosyncratic as they are, none of them hold a candle to Hex Enduction Hour, in my opinion. Brenna and I have tried to figure out why this is. Maybe they just needed two drummers at all times for maximum impact. Or maybe it was just a case of right place, right time it hit us hard when it needed to

Whatever the case, Hex Enduction Hour is a zonked universe I keep returning to when I dont feel like being pushed around, or mentally policed, or shamed into subscribing to someone elses thinking. Its also infected my music-making: My default is melodic, folky power-pop songs, but lately, Im working on a rather demented project called Mouser, where Im trying to choose the ugliest chords, the most hypnotic rhythms, and the most smothering atmospheres.

Most of all, Hex just gives me a boost of creative affirmation the feeling that there are still dangerous and thrilling unknowns in the world, and that my generation isnt doomed to molder in bed, smoke weed, watch Netflix, and hate the president.

Everythings pretty much back to normal now, but Brenna and I still have our trusty playlist when were headed into some excruciatingly stifling social situation. First, we put on Captain Beefhearts Frownland, where Don Van Vliet explains that his heart and soul are limitless and that you cant wipe the grin off his face, no matter how dismal things get. And then, we put on you-know-what.

And nothing makes my heart sing than three words, spat at everything and everyone: Hey there, fuckface!!! Hey there, fuckface!!! In those moments, in a torrent of noise, with the world on its knees, Ive never felt better in my life.

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In An Era Of Smothering Control, The Fall Gave Me Freedom - Talkhouse

Good morning! Tomorrow D.C. United plays a day game in Toronto, your NWSL champions the Washington Spirit are in Orlando for their Challenge Cup opener, and Loudoun United have a bizarre 1pm kickoff up in New Jersey. Were in the deep end at B&RU! Hope you like to read articles online about soccer.

Speaking of...

D.C. United strikes deal to acquire Taxiarchis Fountas earlier than expected | Washington PostSteven Goff is reporting that United has agreed to a deal with Rapid Wien to bring Taxi Fountas to the District sooner than originally planned, with roughly $400,000 going to the Austrian side to buy out the remaining few months of Fountas contract. Its no secret that United has been pushing for this, and reports in Austria have pointed towards Fountas wanting to make the move happen ASAP as well, so if it costs a little money...I think the Black-and-Red will be able to live with it.

Fountas will need time to get his visa, so dont expect him to make a dramatic, WWE baw gawd thats Taxis music!!! entrance tomorrow at BMO Field, but itll still be a boon to a team that needs sharper movement and more creativity in the attack.

Speaking of Uniteds attack, Michael Estrada has been officially called up by Ecuador:

We already heard that Estrada is out for this weekend for family reasons and would stay in Ecuador to join up with the national team, so this is just crossing a T and dotting an I.

Spirit Coach Kris Ward Uses a Player-First Philosophy In Search of a Second NWSL Title | Washington City PaperNot only is this a good read about Kris Ward and his path to becoming the Spirits head coach, but it contains some news about the teams acting GM (its a familiar name!) and that the club will soon hire Angela Salem who retired after an NWSL Best XI season in 2021, and who played for the Spirit in 2015 as an assistant coach.

Ward spoke to media yesterday, breaking some news, praising Ashley Sanchezs growth (if you like Sanchez, we have more about her coming up in an hour, or in the past if you didnt read this post right when it went live), and alluding to adjustments in style of play. Heres the thread of press conference quotes:

Washington Spirit Sign Defender Amber Brooks | WashingtonSpirit.comWashington also added NWSL veteran Amber Brooks to its squad yesterday, a move that seemed expected once her preseason trial carried on through the Florida leg of training camp. Brooks will battle against Karina Rodrguez and Alia Martin for the job of being the go-do center back option when Emily Sonnett and/or Sam Staab are unavailable, but with international call-ups, Brooks and Martin will both get chances to play alongside Staab (unless Vlatko calls Staab up too, which...look Im just a blogger but I feel like that should have happened months ago).

What Im saying is that the Spirit are deep.

Interview with Andi Sullivan | RFK RefugeesAndi Sullivan stopped by RFK Refugees to talk about whats to come for the Spirit, her USWNT play, and of course the mystery of the cherry blossom kits.

Ill throw in that there is a new Plex Weather coming out in literally hours.

NWSL Challenge Cup: Taking stock of every team as the games begin | Just Womens SportsWant to know whats going on with the rest of the league? Claire Watkins has a preview covering the basics for all 12 NWSL teams, including a note that the Spirit are right up there among the favorites.

USMNT roster named for March World Cup qualifying window | Stars and Stripes FCGregg Berhalter announced his 27-man USMNT squad, but it sounds like theyre probably going to have to make a quick change based on what happened just a couple of hours before the announcement:

Not ideal!

Its like trying to hold water in your fist: Searching for the truth behind the Quertaro stadium violence | The AthleticThis is a long read, but some tremendous on-the-ground reporting from Pablo Maurer and Felipe Cardenas on how things are in Quertaro in the aftermath of the horrible fighting seen at a match between los Gallos Blancos and Atlas.

Alright, thats it for me for now, but theres plenty more to come today and tomorrow. Enjoy your Friday, and go Terps!

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Friday Freedom Kicks: Taxiarchis Fountas to D.C. United, USMNT roster for March qualifiers, and more - Black And Red United

The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle thanks all those who submitted poems to its third poetry contest. Once again, our judge was Yehoshua November.Yehoshua November is the author of two poetry collections, Gods Optimism (a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize) and Two Worlds Exist (a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award and the Paterson Poetry Prize). His work has been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, The Sun, Virginia Quarterly Review, and on National Public Radio and On Beings Poetry Unbound podcast program. Here is a link to one of his poems analyzed on a recent episode of On Being.

Three winners were selected: Freedom by Cathleen Cohen; Immigrant by Daniel Shapiro; and The only word you need by a.e. dickter.Poets were asked to write on the theme of freedom. In addition to their poems being published below, each winning poet will receive a $54 gift card to Pinskers Judaica, courtesy of an anonymous donor for whose generosity we are grateful.

FreedomBy Cathleen Cohen

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This year we lost an oakto illness that withered the grasses,leeched sap from trunks in amber dropsuntil the yard was bleached of green,deep sienna and crimson

like lifeblood. Lantern flies feast,wilt the willow our neighbors plantedwhen their daughter was born.And weve had storms,dark, out of season, changing

how we watch the skyfor signs. All this freedomwas given, choicesin how to live.Is landscape enacting

old stories, old lessonsthat weve forgotten plagues, storming waters,viruses, wars, emerald borersin the ash trees?

Our neighbors wrap willow brancheswith nets and tapeto trap swarming nymphs.So fragile.We rush to help them.ImmigrantBy Daniel Shapiro

When Mae thinks of her homelandit is in the shape of a scarfwrapped around her head. Onceshe believed there was morethan one way to give feet to freedomand hands to dreams. The Old Countryand the Singer sewing machinemade her life tight.Both gone, she wears scarves like dust.

Sam, part-time machinistnever took rail-way passes;A waste no time for pleasure, she saidand walked beside himback into the beet fields.Carving horses for the childrenhe promised more than liceon a fine-tooth comb, the raw earth.

The only child born herebreathed blood. Maewent back to the fieldsburied the child in a black scarf;the milk in her breasts, the unused dreams.Now she nurses the night. Survivorwith shrinking scarves pulled tightunder her chin.

The only word you needBy a.e. dickter

I know one word in Ukrainian

Taught to me by my friends aged motherone eveningwhen I asked her toplease teach me some Ukrainian words,such as please and thank you or hello and good-bye becauseI remembered her homemade pickles and borscht andpierogis and stuffed cabbage andthe black bread spread out in a feast and theywere as good as my Jewish grandmothers

As she waited for placement in a home whereno one knewmy language and no one knewmy religion and she could no longer get tomy church and where she would have ample time toremember the destruction of her villagewhen borders changed and the years as a slavelaborer in Nazi Germany and thedeath of a beloved baby from lack of medicine andthe family left behind and still in Ukraine and thetrip to a new land and learning yet another language andstarting all over again and the factory work and .

she answered with a single word:

/ Svoboda / Freedom

It should have been her birthright

May her memory be for a blessing and maythe word ring out, loudly and speedily, in our day PJC

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Freedom: Winners of the Chronicle's poetry contest | The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle - thejewishchronicle.net

Vladimir Putins infliction on the Russian people of a second Iron Curtain has demonstrated more effectively than any number of seminars and lectures possibly could the critical importance of freedom of the press to governmental accountability.

Putins nationwide censorship of any news or reports that contradict his characterization of the lie that he is de-nazifying Ukraine, enforced by a brutal 15-year prison sentence for violators, has plunged most Russians into a state of darkness and ignorance. Most know very little about the horrific, unprovoked war that Putin has launched against Ukraine and the atrocities against civilians that constitute war crimes, by any measure.

Such is life in a totalitarian nation in which freedom of the press does not exist. Some Russians, through access to private internet networks, are aware of Putins horrors and are demonstrating against the dictator in Moscow and elsewhere. Some 8,000 courageous protesters have been jailed, leaving them to face a very uncertain future.

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Suppose circumstances were otherwise. Suppose an iron curtain had not descended across the country and Russians were, in fact, informed by professionally trained journalists who report from the front lines about the conduct of the war -- its costs, casualties and tragedies. Armed with knowledge about the war, the Russian people might rise in opposition and bring it to an end.

Putins censorship, however, chokes the pipeline of information and knowledge and, with it, the emergence of dissenters capable of ending the catastrophe. His totalitarianism, including his war on the press, represents a stark lesson for Americans who take freedom of the press for granted.

Freedom of the press, we should recall, serves several vital functions in a democracy. It certainly promotes individual fulfillment, knowledge and understanding of the issues of the day. It is critically linked to self-government, social change and the exchange of ideas. A free press, in its historic role as the fourth estate, performs the crucial function of checking government and holding it accountable to both the law and the American people. In addition, a free press is capable of confronting powerful institutions and organizations and other centers of authority.

The founders of the First Amendment, Justice Hugo Black wrote in his powerful opinion in The Pentagon Papers Case, had these critical functions, among others, in mind when they drafted the Free Press Clause: In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Governments power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.

Freedom of the press, alone, cannot prevent governmental errors of policy, laws and programs, any more than it can guarantee that an informed citizenry will act wisely and exhibit good judgment. Nor does freedom of the press guarantee that newspapers will be free of errors, but what profession is always right?

What freedom of the press does do, more than anything else, is that it gives democracy an opportunity to succeed. No country aspiring to become a democracy, and no democracy aspiring to success, can accomplish such an end without freedom of the press because, without it, the citizenry will live in ignorance and darkness. Governmental accountability will forever lie beyond the reach of the people without freedom of the press.

For all those in recent years who have railed against the press as the enemy of people and delighted in despoiling the Fourth Estate and destroying its reputation because it represents a hindrance to their own autocratic aims, it is important to understand that those attacks are cut from the same cloth as Putins attacks on independent news in Russia.

The line between democracy and authoritarianism is thin when the institutions created to defend the rule of law, liberty and justice are brought low. The line, we might say, begins and ends with an informed citizenry determined to defend democratic values, principles and freedoms. Justice George Sutherland, one of the most conservative justices in the history of the Supreme Court, wrote in 1936, in Grosjean v. American Press Co., that the people are entitled to full information in respect of the doings or misdoings of their government; informed public opinion is the most potent of all restraints upon misgovernment.

David Adler is president of The Alturas Institute.This "We the People" series is provided by the North Dakota Newspaper Association and Humanities North Dakota.

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David Adler: Life behind an Iron Curtain without freedom of the press - Bismarck Tribune

The Irish Voice Editorial ponders on the privilege of freedom that President Zelenskyy and his people fight for.

"From every mountainside let freedom ring were famous words uttered by Martin Luther King in his I Have a Dream speech of 1963.

We in America have been given the wonderful gift of freedom. It is not something we think often about, but every now and then the incredible importance of the gift becomes clear.

George Washington tasted it, as did his army and the people after the British left America on Evacuation Day in 1783. Abraham Lincoln knew what it meant for those enslaved in 1865.

Now we are learning it from a little-known country far away.

Just three weeks ago, Ukraine was a place many Americans would not find on a map. Now the country is on everyones mind in one way or another.

We watch daily as the noble people of Ukraine fight, sometimes with their bare hands for the freedom, we take so much for granted. This generation of world citizens are seeing in real-time what freedom means to an innocent country attacked needlessly by a savage tyrant, and we are getting an education on an incredibly brave resistance.

In President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine has found its George Washington, a brave leader who has inspired not just a nation but most of the world. Fearless and tireless, he makes clear there will be no surrender in the evilest war since World War II.

Like that war, there is no equivocation over who the monsters are. Russia is trying to crush the freedom that Ukraine currently is fighting for. Zelenskyy is just the latest in an honor roll of worldwide leaders who sacrificed all for freedom.

This St. Patricks Day, as we march joyously, we remember those from Ireland through the centuries who gave their lives so we and they could be free.

But we must also salute the men and women of Ukraine outmanned, outgunned, outnumbered and still holding off what was once considered one of the two most advanced armies in the world

Resisting the occupier is part of Irelands fundamental history. From the men and women of Easter 1916 to the United Irishmen and women, to the Famine immigrants who risked everything on a coffin ship to attain freedom from the tyrannical landlords, we Irish know what freedom means and what it was to die for.

The Ukrainians are fighting and dying for their right to elect their own government, to salute the blue and yellow flag, to laugh, live and love in their own cities and towns, and rural areas, to have lively discussion, political argument, intense feelings. But always such differences stem from the bedrock principle that you are free to say what you like.

Instead, for wanting such freedoms they are being attacked with live fire by a Russian leader who is matching Hitler and Stalin for sheer viciousness. Nuclear reactor? Attack it with live fire and seek to terrify the watching world. Nuclear bombs? Threaten to use against anyone who will oppose them.

Maternity hospital? Bomb it. Refugees fleeing? Fire military ordinance at them. There is no end to the war crimes that have been committed against ordinary, decent Ukrainians.

Someday we can hope that like Hitlers lieutenants, Vladimir Putins mobsters will be brought to justice before the International Criminal Court and that, unlike Hitler, Putin will be put on trial. Let him face the loved ones of those he disposed of or killed.

Let him hear the heartbreaking stories of the refugees, but most of all, take freedom away from this sick little man. The Ukrainians deserve to see that day.

*This editorial first appeared in the March 16 edition of the weekly Irish Voice newspaper, sister publication to IrishCentral.

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Ukraines fight for freedom and what it teaches us - IrishCentral

Tommy Thompson celebrating "70 for 70" campaign in video

MADISON (WKOW) -- As he wraps up his term as president of the University of Wisconsin System, Tommy Thompson told reporters Thursday he wants to better gauge perceptions students' freedom of expression on the state's campuses.

Thompson, whose final day as system president is Friday, said he wanted buy-in from campus leaders on a survey of all students and faculty across the system's 13 campuses.

Republicans in the legislature have moved to address what they believe is a climate at universities that is hostile to conservative thought. They passed a bill making it easier to sue university professors over alleged violations of a student's freedom of expression.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers will likely veto the bill, which was passed in a package of education bills that allowed parents to opt their kids out of mask orders and restrict the way universities and technical colleges can teach about race.

Thompson said he believe the bill removing qualified immunity from professors was premature and based on incomplete evidence.

"Let's not pass legislation before we know a problem exists," Thompson said. "If there's a problem, and let's not base it on anecdotal evidence, let's base it on real facts, a real questionnaire."

To that end, Thompson said he wanted to issue a system-wide survey to both students and faculty asking about their level of comfort in voicing beliefs they feel may be unpopular. Thompson added he would need buy-in from the campus leaders but was "holding out hope" they would move forward with the surveys after his term.

"We're gonna send out an exhaustive survey to all the students and the faculty in our universities and let's hear directly from them," Thompson said. "Let's have the empirical data compiled as to whether or not there's a problem.'

Thompson, 80, has not ruled out running for a fifth-term as governor. He previously served as a Republican before joining the George W. Bush administration as secretary of Health and Human Services.

When asked whether he's decided on whether he'll run for office again, and what his thoughts are on the current state of the Republican Party, Thompson said he would not address "partisan" issues or his future until April at the earliest.

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Thompson calls for UW surveys on campus freedom of expression - WKOW

Nazanin-Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual British-Iranian national, has been released from custody in Iran, and is making her way home to the UK. Detained by the Iranian government over five years ago under allegations she was plotting to overthrow it, her case became even more high profile when Boris Johnson, as Foreign Secretary, misleadingly commented that she had been teaching people journalism in the country. Since then, her husband Richard, assisted both in and out of government by Johnsons successor Jeremy Hunt, has been zealously pursuing her release.

Speaking yesterday morning, the Liz Truss said securing Zaghari-Ratcliffes freedom had been an absolute priority. But that the crucial breakthrough has come at our particular moment of geopolitical tension is not wholly surprising

One of the reasons used to justify Zaghari-Ratcliffes detention has been a 400 million debt owed by the British government dating back to the 1970s. We had sold the Shah 1500 tanks. Before the order had been fully delivered, the Iranian revolution brought the Shah down, and replaced him with the theocracy that has continued to blight that historic and beautiful country until the present day. Unsurprisingly, Margaret Thatcher was hardly keen to hand over weaponry or cash to a regime that considers Britain the Little Satan. The debt has been a point of tension ever since.

Hunt has been calling for the government to pay up for Zaghari-Ratcliffes freedom since last year. A debt, whilst naturally undesirable, sounds better than a ransom, as Henry Hill pointed out on this site last year. When asked about the it yesterday, the Foreign Secretary commented that we were looking for ways to pay it and that the debt was legitimate.

That the Government has decided to take this view now is likely driven not only by a desire to finally wipe out a black mark in the Prime Ministers ledger. With energy prices surging and weaning Europe off Russian oil a priority, getting Irans stocks back onto the world market would be as helpful as a positive outcome to Johnsons current visit to Saudi Arabia. Moreover, any effort to split the Iranians off from their old ally Russia would be a geopolitical boon.

Nonetheless, this move also stems from the primary objective of post-war British foreign policy: keeping in with the Americans. Since Donald Trump removed the US from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) the Iran nuclear deal, as everyone calls it and revived sanctions against the state, the foreign policy bigwigs on both sides of the Atlantic have wanted to undo his actions.

Consequently, paying up to Iran would remove one obstacle in the way of clinching for Joe Biden the same prize that the last Democratic occupant of the White House so coveted. But as Stephen Pollard pointed out for Cap X yesterday, the inconvenient truth for Western policymakers was that sanctions had been effective in 2018 and 2019, Irans economy shrunk by 14.3 per cent. That was less cash to spend in its continuing efforts to de-stabilise the Middle East.

If the oil is to flow again (and a cool 400 million is to appear in the Mullahs bank accounts) then that economic pain wont be for much longer. Though the Prime Ministers conscience may be a little clearer this morning, it would be a shame if it has come at the cost of paying up to a vile and repressive regime especially just at the time he has been doing such a good job at standing up to Russias. At least, for all that, today a little girl has been reunited with her mother, and a husband with his wife. But the Ayatollah and his regime have never been known for their sentimentality.

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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Was the cost of her freedom too high? - ConservativeHome

Critics have credited Freedom Mobile with driving competition in the wireless industry, and have argued that allowing Rogers to acquire the unit would lead to higher cellphone bills.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail

Anthony Lacaveras Globalive Capital Inc. has made a bid to buy Shaw Communications Inc.s SJR-A-X Freedom Mobile for $3.75-billion as Rogers looks to gain regulatory approval for its takeover of Calgary-based Shaw.

The financing would be provided by a group of investors led by Twin Point Capital, a U.S. principal investment firm founded by Lawrence Guffey and Jonathan Friesel, and Baupost Group, a Boston-based investment manager, according to a source. The Globe is not identifying the individual because the discussions are confidential.

The all-cash offer to acquire Freedom Mobiles wireless licenses, customer accounts, cellphone towers and stores was presented to Rogers last week, the person said.

When reached by The Globe, Mr. Lacavera said he has previously expressed his interest in the assets publicly and has no further comment. Representatives of Twin Point Capital and Baupost did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Rogers declined to comment.

Mr. Lacavera founded wireless upstart Wind Mobile in 2008. In 2016, it was sold for $1.6-billion to Shaw, which renamed it Freedom Mobile. Today, Freedom has about two million wireless subscribers in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario, making it the countrys fourth-largest wireless carrier.

Critics have credited Freedom with driving competition in the wireless industry, and have argued that allowing Rogers to acquire the unit would lead to higher cellphone bills.

Ottawa sending mixed messages about wireless competition as it mulls Rogers-Shaw deal

Shaws Freedom Mobile faces tough national competition if sold in Rogers deal, BCE executive says

The Globe previously reported that Rogers Communications Inc. RCI-B-T has initiated talks with prospective buyers for Freedom Mobile, and that Quebecor Inc., which has publicly expressed interest in the assets, is absent from those talks.

Rogers $26-billion takeover of Shaw is under review by three regulators: the Competition Bureau, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. Both companies have said they expect the deal to close by the end of June.

Earlier this month, Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Franois-Philippe Champagne said he would not allow Rogers to acquire all of Shaws wireless licences, as doing so would be incompatible with Ottawas desire for competition in the sector.

Tony Staffieri, president and chief executive officer of Rogers, has said he will work with regulators to find a solution that achieves their objective of having a fourth wireless player.

This was, from the very outset, a cable acquisition for us, Mr. Staffieri said during a telecom, media and technology conference held by Bank of Nova Scotia last week. So thats 90 per cent of the transaction for us and thats what were focused on, he added.

In a previous interview with The Globe, Mr. Lacavera said his track record of competing against the Big Three wireless carriers (Rogers, BCE Inc.s Bell Canada and Telus Corp.) when he ran Wind Mobile makes him an attractive bidder from Ottawas perspective. He has also said he has a long-term investment horizon and would consider expanding Freedom beyond its current markets.

Desjardins analyst Jrome Dubreuil said in a research note that the offer is generally aligned with the markets expected value for the assets.

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Globalive offers $3.75-billion to buy Freedom Mobile - The Globe and Mail

Christian Right legislation that has often seemed to be aimed at undermining or rolling back LGBTQ rights in the name of religious freedom, has also often been about much more. This has become particularly clear in state legislation affecting adoption and foster care. The very meaning of religious freedom is at stake and the definitional battle lines become clearer with every passing controversy.

The most recent dispute is the result of legislation signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee in 2020. The law allows state-funded child-placement agencies to decline to facilitate cases that would violate the agencys written religious or moral convictions or policies.

It took only two years for a Jewish couple to be denied adoption services by a state-funded Christian child-placement agency that resulted in a lawsuit.

The complaint, filed by Americans United for Church and State on behalf of Elizabeth and Gabriel Rutan-Ram, says that state funding of child-placement agencies that discriminate against prospective or current foster parents based on the religious beliefs of the parents violates the Tennessee Constitution.

The slippery slope

The legislation is a slippery slopeand the slope extends far beyond matters of LGBTQ equality that have received the most attention. While the courts have yet to settle the matter of where religious freedom ends and discrimination begins, Tennessee was not the first such instance of religious discrimination by a child-placement agency.

In 2019, USA Today reported on Aimee Maddonna a Catholic woman who was denied the opportunity to volunteer at a state-funded evangelical agency in South Carolina. She had hoped to use the experience to learn what it would take to become an adoptive parent. But that was not to be.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State now represents four families who were turned away by taxpayer-funded foster care agencies because they didnt share the agencies religious beliefs. In addition to the above cases, Church & State magazine reports that AU has also taken on the cases of Kelly Easter in Tennessee and Fatma Marouf and Bryn Esplin in Texas [who each] wanted to provide foster homes for refugee children, but they were refused service by taxpayer-funded agencies working under federal contracts because the women are LGBTQ.

All of the cases involve the use of state or federal funds. When the Tennessee bill was introduced, Pam Kelner, the executive director of Jewish Family Services told The Tennessean, If youre raising your funds privately you have the right to decide who youre going to serve and not going to serve. When it gets to programs that are publicly fundedthat oversteps the separation of church and state.

Her words proved to be prophetic.

Its infuriating to learn our tax dollars are funding discrimination against us, Gabriel Rutan-Ram said. If an agency is getting tax money to provide a service, then everyone should be servedit shouldnt matter whether youre Jewish, Catholic or an atheist. Were all citizens of Tennessee, regardless of our religion.

Defenders of the bill deny that its discrimination to deny anyone service who doesnt conform to their doctrines. Bradley Williams, president of the formerly Methodist-affiliated, Holston United Methodist Home for Children said in a statement quoted in The New York Times, that the agency is committed to Christian biblical principles and places children with families that agree with our statement of faith.

We view the caregivers we partner with as extensions of our ministry team serving children, Williams continued. So from the very beginning, we seek to find alignment with them, and if we cannot do so, we try to help them find an agency that may be a better fit.

Project Blitz: The marketing agency

The Tennessee bill happens to closely resemble a model bill, called the Child Protection Act, which has been distributed by Project Blitz, a Christian Right state legislative campaign first reported on here at RD. (Project Blitz has lowered its profile, but remains active and is monitored by Blitz Watch.)

The sponsor of the bill denied to The Tennessean that it was based on the Project Blitz model, claiming instead that it was based on Virginia legislation from 2012. In fact, parts of the Virginia bill and the Tennessee bills are identical while the Project Blitz models language is somewhat different but the same in intent. The Project Blitz playbook includes, however, links to the extant state legislation on which they based their model billincluding Virginias. So its possible that Tennessee got the Virginia language via Project Blitz. There may be similar stories elsewhere too, since Project Blitz has functioned as a legislative marketing mechanism on this and a host of Dominionist-driven Christian nationalist legislation in recent years.

Project Blitz has always sought to craft their model bills from the most successful versions of Christian Right legislationproposed as well as passed. The Project Blitz playbooks specifically cite acts already on the books from which they drew to craft their models. The 2017-18 manual states, regarding the model Child Protection Act:

The model act borrows from several acts designed to strengthen and protect child placement options.

The manual lists state laws from Alabama, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and of course, Virginia. The most recent available Project Blitz manual (exposed by RD in 2021) adds Kansas and Oklahoma to the list of states that have adopted similar legislation.

The title of the Project Blitz model bill has since been changed to the Child Welfare Maximization Act, perhaps in an effort to underscore that adoptive and foster care children are in need of maximum protection from LGBTQ people, Catholics, and Jews.

One of the political talking points intended for legislators, that accompanies the model bill in the playbook, claims, This act is designed to strengthen child placement options in a pluralistic culture. Theres certainly nothing pluralist about excluding people of other faiths. But just as with religious freedom, that may be a matter of who gets to define it.

Whats wrong with this picture?

The growing departure from historical, common sense understandings of the meaning of religious freedom is on vivid display in the Tennessee case. Outside of the legislature and the courtroom, the contour of the public debate is more like this:

One side is epitomized in an op-ed by Todd E. Brady, vice president for university ministries at the Southern Baptist-affiliated Union University, which appeared in the local Jackson Sun.

I realize that there are some who say that religious liberty (protecting a person or organizations freedom to operate according to their convictions) is merely a guise for discrimination. This kind of thinking, though, is misguided. Proponents of religious liberty do not want to treat others badly. They simply want the freedom to act in accordance with their conviction. A personal conviction is not the same thing as an attack of discrimination.

Personal conviction, as Brady would have it, of course, doesnt give us the right to exempt ourselves from the laws protecting the rights of all. Or at least it shouldnt.

But the Tennessee legislation allows state funds to go to institutions that refuse to provide state-funded services to people whose sexual orientation and/or religion they disapprove of. That means that all taxpayers, of all religious traditions and none, are required to underwrite the personal conviction of those who refuse to conform to the letter and spirit of the state and federal constitution.

A traditional and common sense meaning of religious freedom is epitomized by an op-ed in The Tennessean by three gutsy Methodist high school students, Emma Anne Stephens, Tate Keuler, and Natalia Del Pino. They write about adoption discrimination at the Holston United Methodist Home for Children. The students invoked historical Methodist views on religious freedom and antisemitism against the Methodist Homes action.

Quoting from the Methodist Book of Discipline they write:

We condemn all overt and covert forms of religious intolerance, being especially sensitive to their expression in media stereotyping. We assert the right of all religions and their adherents to freedom from legal, economic, and social discrimination.

The good news for proponents of authentic religious freedom for all is that theres a throughline from Thomas Jefferson and James Madisons core idea of religious freedom to the values of Emma Anne Stephens, Tate Keuler, and Natalia Del Pino and the United Methodist Churchs Book of Discipline.

The Founders believed that ones religious identity should neither advantage or disadvantage citizens under the law. And so do young Methodists in the 21st century.

Read the original post:

The Right Wing Slant on Religious Freedom is a Slippery Slope - Religion Dispatches

With just two months to go before a federal election is due, we are being bombarded by broadcast ads and yellow billboards around Australia. Funded by Clive Palmer and endorsing his United Australia Party (UAP), they carry a simple message: FREEDOM FREEDOM FREEDOM.

Commentators have talked about the potential demographic these ads are designed to attract, and the relationship of the messaging and Palmer to the anti-vax movement, freedom rallies and convoys.

Then there is the extraordinary amount of money spent on the ads: Palmer has spent more than $31 million since August 2021 on political attack advertising for the UAP. His spending dwarfs the outlay of the major parties by a hundred-fold. He has promised to run the most expensive election campaign in the nations history, based on freedom.

Read more: Is it curtains for Clive? What COVID means for populism in Australia

We should not underestimate the power of freedom messaging. As a society, we have experienced unprecedented constraints on normal freedoms over the past two years. Regardless of any justification for relevant restrictions, a visceral backlash from a significant number of people should not be surprising.

In late July 2021, we conducted a human rights survey of 1,000 people in Queensland. The following question, which was not mandatory, garnered about 800 valid responses: What are the human rights that are most important to you?

While issues relating to equality and discrimination attracted the most responses, the combined total for freedom of speech and freedom generally was 28.7%. If we add freedom from vaccines, that goes up to 29.9%.

While many have dismissed the freedom protests across Australia as fringe movements, this survey indicates that nearly 30% of those who responded to this question felt freedom of some sort to be the most important human right. And this was in Queensland, which did not have the same experience of lockdowns as Victoria and New South Wales.

Freedom tends to denote a preference for government non-interference. But the responses regarding vulnerability and safety (which a combined 12.3% listed as their top priority human rights issues, and, arguably, economic social and cultural rights and equality/discrimination, for a combined 31.97%), tend to favour greater government intervention and action.

There were divergent views on this question among different demographics. For example, men were significantly more concerned than women about freedom of speech (19.6% compared to 13.7%) and civil and political rights (20% compared to 12.2%).

The oldest respondents were those most likely to choose freedom, and especially freedom of speech. First Nations respondents were much more likely to choose economic social and cultural rights (19% compared to 12.6%), and less than one-third as likely to choose civil and political rights (4.8% compared to 15.6%).

We found the higher the respondents level of education, the less concerned they were with equality and discrimination, while concern with civil and political rights increased. As a final example, concerns about freedom of speech and freedom were much higher among lower-to-middle-income groups compared to wealthier respondents.

The demographic differences are not easy to interpret. The results might indicate the groups that are traditionally more vulnerable to rights abuses (for example, women, First Nations people, the less educated) are more likely to prioritise rights that seem to require proactive government.

However, the results are not entirely in keeping with this observation. Concerns over freedom were more apparent among lower-income groups compared to higher-income groups, and among older Queenslanders.

What it clearly tells us, though, is that it is vitally important to reclaim the word freedom as a human rights concept. The political conversation this year needs to remind people that freedom is important, but other concepts also inform human rights. These are, notably, equality, fraternity and dignity: freedom is not absolute.

Freedom to and freedom from are rights that must be balanced against one another: for example, the right to make religious statements and the rights of trans children to an education.

Read more: The debate about religious discrimination is back, so why do we keep hearing about religious 'freedom'?

Government non-interference might, for example, seem desirable to many when it comes to personal choices. But it is certainly undesirable when, for example, people need help recovering from floods or in gaining access to medical treatment.

Opponents of the UAP should avoid anti-freedom messaging. They should focus instead on reclaiming the word freedom as an emancipatory ideal that is a core component of human rights, but not the only one.

Read more from the original source:

Why 'freedom' is not the only thing worth fighting for - The Conversation Indonesia