Category Archives: Freedom

Pandemic leadership needed

I am trying to make sense of Alan Levines incoherent interview about the federal COVID vaccine mandate in Saturdays (Nov. 12) Press.

Is he simply pandering to the right-wing, anti-vaccine crazies in our area? Does he not understand the science behind vaccines? Is he saying that rural health care workers are dumber than others and thus do not understand the need for vaccinations? Does he not understand that no one wants to receive health care from unvaccinated workers and possibly die from COVID-19?

For someone making almost $2 million per year perhaps some real leadership on this issue would be appropriate.

Tennessee continues to trail most of the nation in vaccination rates, our area trails even the rest of Tennessee and we are facing another infection wave this winter. I notice that most people in our area continue to refuse to wear masks in public. Our idiot legislature and governor are doing their best to undercut public health.

It seems Levines time would be better spent combating the misinformation being spread by local lawmakers and leading vaccination efforts instead of justifying our areas miserable vaccination performance.

URS GSTEIGER

Johnson City

Goodbye to a friend

This letter is to thank the VA Mountain Home Police, Rolling Thunder and VFW color guards for being very professional in their duties as honor guards for the burial of Police Dispatcher Chuck Goodman this past Friday at the National Cemetery.

I was expecting the VFW in their duties in conducting the 21-gun salute, but as a retired police dispatcher myself, it warmed my heart in seeing my former co-workers standing at attention for my friend Chuckules.

I also want to thank everyone for turning out to say goodbye to my friend.

TERRY BYRD

Johnson City

No dress code in church

I am writing in response to Danny Tyrees column in the Nov. 16 Johnson City Press.

I do agree that people should dress decent when going to church. This should be a natural thing to do. But it doesnt matter to the Lord. And this is because God doesnt care what you look like.

I didnt see this mentioned anywhere in Mr. Tyrees column but, in 1 Samuel, 16:7 it plainly says But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

I grew up believing exactly what this says: God looks upon the heart, not the outward appearance.

JOHN CLIFTON

Johnson City

Drinking at Freedom Hall

Grab a beer at Freedom Hall?

Sure, Ill drink to that ill-advised decision! Put revenues over public health and safety, I say.

Alcohol sales will increase attendance at Freedom Hall events. Also, itll increase the citys coffers. Maybe even increase funeral homes business coffin sales, buy one, get one free wrecker services, and auto body shops will benefit from grab a beer Freedom Hall drivers.

Hey, Jerry! Youre all wrong. Of course, alcohol consumption will be limited. It wont be a beer-fest, dummy. No sales to minors. All customers must show proof of age. No cheating will be allowed. No adult can buy a beer and take it back to a teen. Now that wouldnt happen, would it?

What about already-imbibed patrons arriving at Freedom Hall? Or those who are not legally drunk? One extra beer wont hurt me, officer.

JERRY L. NORRIS

Greeneville

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The rest is here:

Letters: Leadership in the pandemic, Beer at Freedom Hall and more - Johnson City Press (subscription)

In my experience, staff both people of faith and those who do not hold a religious belief compatible with the mission of a faith-based agency have always acted in the best interest of their clients, do not proselytise and act with integrity and honesty. They enrich service delivery and provide insights that may not otherwise have been addressed.

During my time as a senior executive of six large, community service agencies, religious leaders have always been fully supportive. The current option by some is in my view misplaced.Ray Cleary, Camberwell

An open letter from Victorian faith leaders published in The Age this week claimed parents send their children to religious schools because the teachers and staff represent the religious ethos in every respect. This will be news to many parents and teachers at prestigious Christian schools.These schools are essentially businesses providing a secular curriculum while enhancing the life chances (aka sense of entitlement) of their customers. Few of their staff or parents attend church, many are not married to their partners and some even run sport on Sundays.

The hounding from office of a fine headmaster at Trinity Grammar school (Anglican) saw my church missing in action amidst a failure to invoke St Pauls classic principles of dispute resolution. Sexist chants and foul language on public transport from Catholic boys schools are further examples of the thin veneer of religiosity in many of our allegedly religious schools.

Before elevating religious schools over the law of the land, our faith leaders would be better advised to establish the criteria for qualifying as a religious school and to also enumerate what are the core beliefs these schools, at taxpayer expense, are propagating.John Carmichael, lay member of the Anglican Synod, Hawthorn

Maybe private religious schools could show how seriously they are opposed to the equal opportunity bill by refusing to take taxpayers money.James Lane, Hampton East

David Crowes article (Opinion, 19/11) on the federal governments so-called religious freedom bill raises interesting points about rights for employers to discriminate on the basis of belief.

I am drawn to the idea that atheism is a belief and a very strong one if 2016 census data is accurate. Under the proposed legislation, can an atheistic employer deny employment to a religious applicant on the grounds that they are religious and do not share the employers belief that there is no god? I think, rightly, that this would be unacceptable (and farcical). But if this is unacceptable, surely the reverse is equally so.Donna Wyatt, Wyndham Vale

Scott Morrison is rightly wary of pursuing his religious freedom legislation because it has little to do with freedom of religion. It is about giving individuals and institutions more power to discriminate against others on the basis of religious beliefs or lack of. Australians already have all the freedom they need to follow their religious beliefs or, indeed, no religion, but they do not have the right to impose their beliefs upon others. This is as it should be, and it is the clear intent of section 116 of our constitution.Graeme Henchel, Yarra Glen

Denmark and other Scandinavian countries are beating us hands down in prosperity levels (The Age, 18/11). These countries have very high taxation rates, very low levels of inequality and very low levels of population growth. Surely we can learn a few things from this and ensure that everyone is able to share our common wealth. Our race to get richer and consume our resources as fast as possible is just not sustainable and leaves us worse off in the short and long term.Jennie Epstein, Little River

Re Tim Paine quits after sexting scandal (The Age, 19/11). Via the process of elimination, and my personal decision to avoid social media, I may yet achieve my dream of captaining the Australian Test cricket team.Mick Stojcevski, Southbank

The reason the so-called protesters on the steps of State Parliament are called ugly extremists (Letters, 19/11) is because that is the behaviour being exhibited. If carrying gallows through the streets and calling for the death of the Premier does not constitute ugly extremism, I do not know what does. Have your opinions and beliefs by all means, but how about engaging in some kind of rational dialogue to calmly explain your position. Something I suspect many of this lot are not capable of.Ann Maginness, Beaumaris

The left in Australia has been out in the streets protesting about one thing or another for 50years. Many protests turned ugly and violent. Burning effigies, flags, etc has been common practice. At a Black Lives Matter demonstration, a speaker urged the crowd to burn Australia down.

All politicians might want to reflect on what it must have felt like for Pauline Hanson, who, along with elderly supporters, has been jostled and threatened many times. It would appear violence is only condemned when carried out by the other side. No one has a right to make threats, but everyone has a right to protest. The hand wringing and tut-tutting in The Ages letters pages is hypocritical to say the least.Graham Smillie, St Andrews Beach

Where were the protesters each time the federal government introduced more and more draconian security legislation? This legislation has reduced our freedoms, invaded our lives and increased surveillance of our day-to-day activity and yet seems to have passed without any issue.Anne Wood, Birregurra

With the latest developments regarding Victorias pandemic legislation, I believe the government has played a deceptive long game.

Due to the COVID-inspired restrictions on citizens lives, it realised any new legislation in any form would meet fierce resistance.

Therefore, by putting up a bill with such outrageous terms, it allowed itself room to manoeuvre to a form that it originally wanted. Why did Dan Andrews not present, upfront, legislation that he thought was best for Victoria and then debate it on its merits instead of putting in an ambit claim and hoping for the best?Patrick Hennessy, St Kilda

We seem to be getting ahead of the COVID-19 outbreak. Is it time for us to thank our leaders, both state and federal, for trying so hard to meet the threat?Graham Thomas, Parkville

It is great to see what Josh Frydenberg really values in those he promotes as future senators to represent Victorians (The Age, 19/11). In pushing for Simon Frost to fill a vacancy, he lauds his specialty skills in on the ground game campaigning to win more seats. I am not sure Victorians believe these are the qualities they seek in their elected representatives. I would have thought we wanted representatives whose focus was on the needs of the people and community they represent not on strategising the next election win to retain power.

I am heartily sick of politicians whose only qualification for office is their work in the party machine. Where are the representatives with broad, real-life experience and careers? We deserve better.Chris Burley, Balwyn North

Wilsons Promontory is Victorias premier hiking destination. For many wannabe overnight hikers, it is where they go for their first hike (as I did 35years ago).

For years I have walked past unopened rolls of chicken wire sitting alongside extremely slippery boardwalks waiting to be installed by Parks Victoria. In preparing for hikes, I have often toyed with the idea of taking my own hammer and a pack full of fencing nails. Then there is the overgrown track between the Lighthouse and Waterloo Bay.

Now, with the storm damage months ago, the most popular track from Telegraph Saddle to Sealers Cove is still closed, as is the track from Tidal River to Oberon Bay camp. It is November and we are approaching the peak hiking and holiday season at the Prom.

Is Parks Victoria underfunded? Is it poor management and prioritisation? Closed tracks and its clunky booking system? I am starting to believe that Parks Victoria does not want people in our parks.Jozica Kutin, Warrandyte

The Prime Minister thinks governments should not be telling Australians what to do. Perhaps he needs to reread the job description for parties in power. To govern is to control and direct the making of policy policies that are to be followed by the citizens of the country which is being governed.Anne Frazer, Warrnambool

I have decided to take advice from the Prime Minister and get the government out of my life. So I am going to drive on the right-hand side of the road, decide how much tax I will pay, stop paying the petrol excise, and invite my overseas friends to come and live here without needing a visa. I think my life will be simpler and easier.Marg DArcy, Rye

Of course, if the government does choose to follow the US on a warpath with China, at least it will not have to worry about meeting carbon emission targets at any subsequent time. I imagine the radioactive atmosphere will be a more pressing problem for humanityKeith Fletcher, Kennington

Another text message from serial pest Craig Kelly. I tried to respond and couldnt. I tried to block the number and couldnt. Is this legal?Claire Cooper, Maldon

Credit:Illustration: Matt Golding

Clearly Somyurek is observant of the adage that revenge is a dish best served cold.Greg Stark, Newtown

With his weasel comments about extremists, ScoMo has proved himself to be an (under)dog whistler.Kishor Dabke, Mount Waverley

Morrisons backhanded support of mob behaviour is very Trumpian. A worry.Henry Gaughan, Richmond

Morrison forgot to say we love you to the riotous protesters. Hes not keeping to his masters script.Ruben Buttigieg, Mount Martha

Both Morrison and Guy are having a bob each way.Joan Segrave, Healesville

Somyurek and Finn should form a new party. One thing is certain: it will be a no brainer.Andrew Blyth, Eaglemont

The analogy by Peter Bears wife doing a ScoMo (18/11) was gold. Im going to use that one.Pepe Salvatore, Fitzroy North

The Coalition has been a dont-do government for eight years. Oh, other than filling the pork barrels.Anne Carroll Brighton East

Murdoch urges Trump to move on (19/11). Trump should return the favour.Michael Hassett, Blackburn

This government smacks of House Of Cards. Double speak here, manipulation there and a blind eye to anomalies right in front of you.Sharyn Bhalla, Ferntree Gully

Ask not what Donald Trump can do for his country. Ask what his country can do for Donalds ego.Kent Hansen, St Kilda

DA has gone too far in his quick crossword (19/11) and should be reprimanded.Geoff Carlson, Sandringham

The next pandemic driven by a virulent conspiravirus. Well need to go into a Facebook lockdown.Geoff Smith, Glen Iris

We who are vaccinated have done the pandemic heavy lifting. Why should those who refuse the vaccine get the benefits?Roger Goldsmith, Hawthorn

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Excerpt from:

Proclaiming love, justice, freedom and equality - The Age

Maria Camilla Vera Arias (left) and Aviva Palencia (right)

Translation is a gateway to countless experiences: artistic, educational, political, and more, says Aviva Palencia 22.

Palencia is pursuing a double major in Spanish and linguistics with a certificate in translation and interpreting studies. Last summer, she had a special opportunity to put her studies to work by translating into Spanish the materials for an exhibition,We Are For Freedoms, at theUniversity Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA).

The translation project, a first for the campus, was a collaboration between UMCA and theUMass Translation Center. The exhibition consists of a collection of posters from local and regional artists expressing their interpretations of freedom. Its part of a public program series in partnership withFor Freedoms, a national nonprofit arts organization that works to increase creative civic engagement, discourse, and action.

Amanda Herman, education coordinator at UMCA, says that the Spanish translation is an integral part of the museums goal of welcoming those who may have felt excluded from museums in the past. We Are For Freedoms centers on catalyzing conversations, increasing civic participation, and exploring the limits and possibilities of our freedomsso it is the perfect exhibition to start offering translated material, she says. And we're thrilled that the work was completed by two talented UMass students!

Palencia (above right) worked with Maria Camilla Vera Arias (above left), a PhD candidate in the Spanish and Portuguese program on the literature track focused on Translation Studies and Latin American literature. As an international student, it means a lot to me to see the museum and the university acknowledge that this is a diverse community where not everybody speaks the same language, says Vera Arias, who is a poet, journalist, and educator. Translating the contents of an art exhibition allows me to explore different realms of writing, creating, and working with languages. I just love the way I get to play with language when I translate.

Maria and Camilla were my dream team, says Regina Galasso, associate professor, Spanish and Portuguese studies, and director of the Translation Center. Theres a widespread misconception that all bilinguals can translate well. And for many, technology has made it seem that translation is fast, easy, and if not free, cheap. However, a quality translation requires creativity, experience, knowledge, a variety of skills, planning, and time. This collaboration is a great example of the incredible resources and people at UMass Amherst.

"Translating the contents of an art exhibition allows me to explore different realms of writing, creating, and working with languages. I just love the way I get to play with language when I translate."

Maria Camilla Vera Arias

As the translation team researched word choice, debated meaning, and iterated on their translations of the Spanish labels and interpretive text, Palencia was inspired by the powerful content of the art. While working on the project, she says, I was able to help amplify expressions of frustration, calls to action, and celebrations of the history of communities around me during a year of utter social isolation.

We Are For Freedoms will be exhibited at UMCA until the end of the fall semester. See samples of the artwork below, orview the exhibition website and the Spanish text.

Here is the original post:

Translation for Freedom | College of Humanities & Fine Arts - UMass News and Media Relations

HAVANA The line starts during the day and stretches into the night. In the dark before dawn, there are hundreds of people waiting. Four women sleep on cardboard boxes, sharing a thin blanket. Others chat to stay awake. A nurse arrives after a 24-hour shift and takes her place.

They each hold a ticket to enter a Cuban government supermarket, which is the only place to find basics like chicken, ground beef and toiletries. At 5:27 a.m. on Wednesday, a man in a fraying baseball cap hands out ticket number 302.

If you dont get in line, you dont buy anything, said a 35-year-old cook who arrived at 6 p.m. the previous day and who did not want her name published for fear of retribution.

Even in a country long accustomed to shortages of everything from food to freedom, it has been a remarkably bleak year in Cuba, with Covid-19 restrictions making life under tough new U.S. sanctions even harder.

Now a young generation of dissidents, many of them artists and intellectuals who rely on the internet to spread their ideas, are calling for a protest on Monday, a bold move with little precedent in Cuba. They hope to reignite the marches that filled the streets last summer to demand food, medicine and liberty and to take on a government that for the first time is not made up of the veterans of 1959s communist revolution.

Just days before the Civic March for Change was set to begin, the organizers appeared to be toning down the protests for fear of violence. Organizers have encouraged people to hang white sheets outside their homes, applaud at 3 p.m. and find other creative ways to demonstrate if they do not feel comfortable taking to the streets.

Despite Cubas one-step-forward-two steps-back dance toward openness, experts agree that Cuba is on the cusp of something important, even if the movement behind the protests is unlikely to bring down a Communist Party that has been in power for more than 60 years.

We are witnessing an unprecedented counterrevolutionary movement in Cuba, said Carlos Alzugaray, a former Cuban ambassador to the European Union and an academic who considers himself a critical supporter of the government.

It is a crucial moment for the Cuban government. A generation of young people who grew up under Fidel Castro and his brother Ral are now facing Miguel Daz-Canel, a longtime party stalwart who became president in 2018. At 61, he represents a younger generation of Cubas Communist Party, and the person tasked with seeing it into the future.

Mr. Daz-Canel blames Cubas economic ills on the longstanding U.S. embargo, which has been ramped up in recent years. The Trump administration restricted travel to the island, cut off remittances and further locked the island out of the international financial system, pummeling its foreign exchange inflows.

He has proved himself just as willing as his predecessors to crack down on dissent. When protesters took to the streets on July 11, Mr. Daz-Canel encouraged party members to rush after them. Government supporters pursued the demonstrators with batons.

Some 1,000 people were arrested and 659 remain jailed, according to a count by the civil rights group Cubalex.

After Mondays planned demonstration was announced, the Cuban government launched a massive media campaign against it, insisting that its leaders are pawns of the United States.

Yunior Garca, a playwright, has emerged as one of the movements leaders. He was among the founders of Archipilago, a Facebook group of about 35,000 members that promotes discussion and debate. The group is the main promoter of rallies scheduled to take place in cities around the country on Monday.

I believe that the role of art is to awaken, he said. We have to shake things up so that people with dignity that make up society decide to change things.

The Cuban government has publicly criticized Mr. Garca, saying that workshops he attended abroad, such as one that was about how dissidents could forge alliances with the Cuban military, amounted to planning a popular uprising. Mr. Garca said he was doing research for a script.

Mr. Garca acknowledges meeting with American officials in Havana, but said he went to record a podcast and discuss the effects of the trade embargo.

His internet and phone services are routinely cut, he said, and he recently found a decapitated chicken outside his front door, a religious hex, which he saw as a political threat. State security has even visited his mother-in-law three times at work, he added.

They have used every tool at their disposal to intimidate us, Mr. Garca said.

Mr. Garca said on Thursday that he would march alone, in silence, on Sunday. He also urged others to take whatever peaceful measures they could on Monday to avoid provoking a reaction from the police.

His announcement, posted on Facebook, left unclear whether the rallies would still take place. Ral Prado, a cinematographer and one of the platforms coordinators, said demonstrators would protest to the extent that the circumstances allow.

If no police car is parked outside his house preventing him from leaving on the 15th, he will march to insist on the liberation of political prisoners and to demand human rights, Mr. Prado said.

There is no other way to achieve change, Mr. Prado said. If its not us, then the responsibility will fall on our children.

At least two coordinators of Archipilago have been fired from their state jobs because of their involvement with the group, which Mr. Daz-Canel has denounced as a Trojan horse for U.S.-backed regime change.

Their embassy in Cuba has been taking an active role in efforts to subvert the internal order of our country, Mr. Daz-Canel said in a recent speech.

The U.S. government spends $20 million a year on projects designed to promote democracy in Cuba money the Cuban government sees as illegal attacks on its sovereignty.

But Archipilago members interviewed by the Times denied receiving any money from the U.S. government and emphasized that Cuban problems are for Cubans alone to solve.

Archipilago is not a movement, a political party, or an opposition group, Mr. Prado said. It does not have a particular political line.

The young and hip group of Cubans behind the Facebook group contrast with classic dissidents on the island, who were often older, unknown to most Cubans and deeply divided in factions.

The arrival of the internet, which came to Cuban telephones three years ago after diplomatic deals cut with the Obama administration, was a game-changer. With internet now widely available, ordinary citizens are abreast of anti-government activities and are quick to post their own complaints as well.

Hal Klepak, professor emeritus of history and strategy at the Royal Military College of Canada, said the scale of opposition the government had faced this year was unparalleled in Cubas history since the revolution.

No one had ever imagined tens of thousands of people in the streets, he said. It is visible, and by Cuban standards it is loud. Its something weve never seen before.

But the question remains whether ordinary Cubans will attend Mondays protest, considering the government declared it illegal, and its organizers have toned down their calls.

The protest was scheduled on the very day that quarantine rules are being lifted, tourists are being welcomed back and children are set to return to school. The wave of Covid-19 fatalities that helped fuel the July protest has largely subsided, and 70 percent of the nation is now fully vaccinated.

Abraham Alfonso Moreno, a gym teacher who at 5 a.m. held ticket number 215 outside the government store, said he did not protest in July and would not on Monday either. In the end, its not going to solve anything, he said.

He was more fixated on finding allergy pills.

Marta Mara Ramrez, a feminist, pro-democracy and gay rights activist in Havana, said the people who rushed to protest in July were more concerned about food than democracy, but that could be changing.

The first cries were not for freedom. The first cries were more urgent: food, medicine, electricity, she said. Freedom came afterward.

Frances Robles contributed reporting.

Read the original post:

Young Dissidents Call for a Day of Protest in Cuba - The New York Times

The US State Departments latest advisory for American citizens has, among other warnings, the point that rape is one of the fastest-growing crimes in India. This may send ultra-nationalist Indians into a lather, but its larger truth is undeniable. In 2018, there were almost 34,000 rapes reported, meaning that a woman reported rape every 15 minutes. Also note, the conviction rate for rape is usually less than 30%.

India has seen an 873% rise in crimes against women in the last five decades. Of course, the numbers might not be a direct reflection of violence, since it could just indicate that more women are willing to report sexual crime and that the police is more receptive to their testimony. On the other hand, these numbers are certainly underestimates, because the vast majority of rapists are known to their victims, who never seek legal redress.

Sexual violence is often an enactment of social power, or a punishment when women step out of line. Today, even as more young Indian women seek autonomy, they are being curbed by a safety discourse that places the burden on them, rather than on the men who commit sexual crimes. The US advisory only concerns its own citizens, but we should be more anguished about the lack of mobility and freedom for our own women citizens, who make up a full half of this nation.

This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.

END OF ARTICLE

See the rest here:

Advisory for us: Lets note what cramps womens freedom - The Times of India Blog

Klaus Voormann, born in 1938 in Berlin, first heard rock n roll being thrashed out in a club in Hamburg by a five-piece group of Liverpudlians known as the Beatles.

Voormann briefly played bass with the Fab Four while their original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe took a break, and went on to join John, Paul, George, and Ringo on a variety of post-Beatles projects including Lennons Plastic Ono Band and Harrisons All Things Must Pass albums, both recorded in 1970.

By then, Voormann had enjoyed a stint with Manfred Mann between 1966 and 69, and become a sought-after session bassist. His distinctive playing can also be heard on the intro of Carly Simons Youre So Vain (1971) and on Harry Nilssons definitive cover of Badfingers Without You (72). Notably, he appeared on Lou Reeds 1972 album Transformer, produced by DavidBowie and Mick Ronson.

Beyond the bass, Klaus has enjoyed aseparate career as an artist, designing album sleeves for acts as diverse as the Bee Gees, Wet Wet Wet, and the Scorpions. His best-known cover, the Beatles Revolver, earned him a Grammy award in 1966. Thats quite a resum, as we agreed when we met the 83-year-old recently.

What is your preferred recording setup,Klaus?

I used a Fender Precision and an Ampeg with a 15-inch speaker. I always played that bass with flatwound strings and they were old, Inever changed them. I didnt always use the amp I would plug straight into the board.

Tell us about your influences.

I was always listening to jazz, because I like the double bass. Its interesting my main influence was James Jamerson, who recorded a lot of Motown. He was a double bass player who got into electric playing.

He did the same thing that I did he held a sponge under the strings. I didnt know he did it, but it muffled the tone on the sound of those Motown records. It was magic to me, what he did.

Your relationship with the Beatles began inHamburg at the start of the '60s.

Yes, it started there. We sat there for awhile as spectators, listening, looking and having fun with adrink and dance. Bit by bit we all wanted to connect, and among our group, I was asked to go up and talk to them. I met John and he introduced me to Stuart Sutcliffe, and from then on it was like aworld on fire. It was about art, movies, and music.

They were so open and it was difficult for us, being German, to understand. They would easily talk about their inner feelings; they werent scared of opening up. When they did that, they opened us up and showed us how people can be.Germans in general are very scared to open up their inner life. We were taking purple hearts [amphetamines] and talking so much... Itwas unbelievable.

You are also one of the few people to have played with them live.

Yes. Stuart handed me his Hofner President bass, and went off for a cuddle with Astrid Kirchherr [photographer]. Iplayed it with my back to the audience. It was the early hours of the morning with a few couples dancing and one or two sleeping at the bar it was a real night atmosphere. It was the first time in my life I had a bass in my hand.

Youve worked with the Plastic Ono Band for many years, on and off. Is it true that the early-'70s sessions were difficult for Ringo Starr, because John Lennon had become a different person through primalscream therapy?

Yes, Ringo was a little upset at first. John and Yoko were so engaged with one another, that it wasnt the same type of work he did in the Beatles. It was just John and Yoko, and they were so together that Ringo was a little sad. Later, John said to him, Its not just me any more its Yoko and me. We are together, and its different.

Ringo hadnt known a relationship the way John and Yoko were: he would be more used to a more macho relationship [with Lennon]. When [Lennon] met Yoko, that was the real John. Back inHamburg, he was a cocky rocker. John was always frustrated until around Sgt Pepper, and after that, he met Yoko, and hewas departing.

The Plastic Ono Band albums of 1970 were recorded just months after the Beatles split was announced.

Yes, Paul made it public with the announcement but [the split] was clear long before this was not new to John. His frustration was over, he was relieved. He was free now. John still had some obligations, but he was completely free. He saw it as fact. Idont think he was angry about it.

How much freedom did you have when recording bass with John?

John gave me all the freedom in the world. He never told me what to play.

You continued to work with John throughout his solo career, as well as recording with George and Ringo.

It was like a snowball effect. Once I played for John, I was asked by George, and I couldnt have been happier. Then it was Carly Simon and Lou Reed it was such a nice selection of people that asked me to play. All the people Iplayed for I had fun with, and was happy about the fact they asked me.

How did your experience in the studio differ between each Beatle?

George would come into the studio with little joss sticks: he would light a candle and dim the lights it was like a little altar. He would take much more time to record. The Beatles were never mentioned: it was time to turn the page and move on.

Ringo would always need someone to help him play the chords. He would rely on friends. He was different in that I think he would have played with the Beatles until the end of his life.

John would rely on Yoko. She was a great catalyst for him most of the time: even with just a few words she said the right thing, and that wasnt easyto do.

Tell us about working on Transformer with Lou Reed, David Bowie and Mick Ronson.

Lou Reed was fantastic, and such a lovely person. He was great long before this album, he was underrated. This project with Bowie and Mick Ronson was a well-done record, and Lou had such great songs. Walk On The Wild Side is not me playing bass [it was Herbie Flowers Ed] but I loved it.

He and Bowie got on well: They were always laughing and having fun. It was a strange atmosphere in a great way, you know they were writing about pimps, transvestites"

You also recorded All Things Must Pass with George in 1970.

I love All Things Must Pass. With the title track and Isnt It APity, there is a sense of looking into the past but also the future. A lot of people say its sad, but George believed that his body was not important; it was ashellfor the soul. Thats difficult for people to understand. It sounds very sad but its not really: he was very happy about his life.

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Klaus Voormann: John Lennon gave me all the freedom in the world... The Plastic Ono Band lineup of Ringo, John and me is my favorite of all time -...

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency delivers the 2021 Joseph Smith Lecture in the Dome Room of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia on Friday, Nov. 12, 2021.

| Nov. 18, 2021, 3:00 p.m.

| Updated: 7:48 p.m.

As someone who has had a long and successful career in politics and public policy largely built upon weaponizing every idea from values to ethics to morals to faith and beyond, I know the weaponization of an idea when I hear it.

My most recent example is the speech by Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Dallin H. Oaks, delivered recently at the University of Virginia on the occasion of the 2021 Joseph Smith Lecture. If you ever want to listen to a classic presentation on how to weaponize religious freedom, you should take a moment to review Oaks speech.

As I have written previously in these pages, traditional-minded conservatives lost the culture war by the late 1990s with the beginning of the end occurring in the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy with his undoing of liberty as the right to define ones own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life. If that statement is true, anything is true.

For 14 years at the helm of Sutherland Institute, I answered the call of my church to defend the faith, its Brethren and its more high-profile moral causes. I did that until it seems my church had me fired from that position just my theory exactly over the issues addressed by Oaks: religious freedom and nondiscrimination. I might be the only person who can authoritatively argue that his comments at the University of Virginia take irony to new levels.

The biggest irony he mentioned in his speech is the idea that the church campaign to pass a federal Fairness for All bill will lead to peace and harmony between the competing rights of homosexual behavior and religious expression (i.e., nondiscrimination laws and religious freedom, respectively). Has Congress ever been the arbiter of peace and harmony? As LDS Church President Russell M. Nelson urges his saints to avoid contention, his First Presidency colleague seeks to settle the scrum between gay rights and religious freedom through the unceasing chaos of congressional politics. The irony is staggering.

Right up there with the many ironies among ironies is Oaks claim that the Salt Lake City nondiscrimination ordinances (2010) and the Great Compromise statewide nondiscrimination law (2015) are stellar examples of how a federal Fairness for All law could be achieved. In reality, the claim is a smokescreen for what actually took place those laws were birthed by the LDS Church, nobody else. There were no compromises. In fact, the opposite was the case. In both instances, much to Oaks denial in his speech, those laws simply created legal discrimination against the LGBTQ community. Only Utah gays, obviously struggling with church-policy driven PTSD, believed a hug was an equal trade for legal discrimination.

I believe Oaks believes sincerely that religious freedom has nothing to do with discrimination. Why wouldnt he? He is not the one being discriminated against. Ask the LGBTQ community if a carve out in the law allowing 1) religions a position of separate but equal, 2) labeling homosexual behavior as immoral, sinful, and less than normal, and perhaps worse of all, 3) insisting that gay Latter-day Saints are born that way (i.e., the unscientific church invention of same-sex attraction) and yet, cruelly denying them the ability to fulfill the measure of their creation arent acts of blatant discrimination.

Imagine asking Martin Luther King, Jr. for a Great Compromise in which the Southern States, among all states, are allowed a carve out to discriminate against blacks. You cant. And this is why the idea of Fairness for All is an intellectual, legal and moral sham.

Honesty is the best policy. Religious freedom is prima facia discrimination in a world where it can be defined as anything from a simple prayerful expression to the Taliban and where its own strictures and rules naturally and entirely reasonably separate us from them. Honesty insists that Congress not settle such controversy. Honesty insists that constitutional matters are settled best by our judicial system. And honesty demands recognition that the LDS Church document, The Family A Proclamation to the World, does not include or even entertain in the slightest the ideas of sexual orientation and gender identity.

And finally, beyond the disturbing problem of weaponizing religious freedom, if my church can truly see around corners, it would see that religious freedom already is a lost cause (no temporary conservative court will save it) primarily because of the demands of the LGBTQ community which makes accommodation of that community not only ironic but nave.

Paul Mero now lives very happily in Las Vegas, continuing to focus his work on underserved populations in higher education.

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Paul Mero: The ironies of the LDS Church weaponizing religious freedom - Salt Lake Tribune

Remember this the next time the government makes a mockery of the Freedom of Information Act by covering documents in black ink before releasing them to the public. The government keeps its own backbenchers in the dark, too.

The bill is so secret that few can be sure how it will work if it is ever passed. The Attorney-General, Michaelia Cash, outlined drastic changes last week to scale back the plan drafted by her predecessor, Christian Porter, but she only gave the backbench committee a five-page outline.

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There were four main elements to the earlier draft: an Israel Folau clause to give people a right to offend others when claiming to speak up for their faith; a right for medical professionals to deny treatment on religious grounds; a right for religious institutions such as schools to consider someones faith when hiring staff; and a defence for statements of belief when people express their faith.

The bill has been cut in half. The first two elements are said to have been scrapped while the last two remain. But there are doubts about whether every element of the Folau clause is gone. The original plan was to prevent employers sacking people in the way Rugby Australia did when it terminated Folau for his public claim that homosexuals would go to hell.

And peak health groups are still worried that some parts of the law would still allow doctors to turn away patients seeking contraception, abortion or other treatments, even though this is already governed by professional standards as well as state and territory laws.

Too much of the bill remains unclear. It might override state laws that try to stop employers discriminating against people, for instance, but the key point is that the federal bill does this for religious institutions that want to hire people who share their faith. Could a religious school turn away a gay or lesbian teacher? If it tried, it would presumably have to claim it was rejecting the teacher because he or she did not believe in the schools creed.

The changes are an important victory for moderates in the Liberal Party who pushed to remove the Folau clause and the conscientious objection for medical practitioners. Liberals like Dave Sharma in Wentworth, Katie Allen in Higgins and Trent Zimmerman in North Sydney wanted these provisions gone.

The prospect of an election forced Morrison to see the risk of playing only to the base. Funny how that works. It was the second success for the moderates after they helped shift Morrison to endorse the climate change target of net zero emissions by 2050. Two wins in two months.

Yet the revision of the bill has not settled the Coalition rift. In fact, it is just as wide today as it was in the marriage equality debate. The conservatives believe Cash has caved to the left while the moderates worry about back doors in the bill that might allow people like Folau to make his claims while preventing others from taking any action.

What if Folau was a doctor who made his remark to a gay patient? The medical centre might be able to sack him, but could the state medical association sanction him? A section of the bill appears to limit what a professional body could do.

There is a reason Morrison has taken three years to get to this point: a happy compromise is impossible. In fact, it is so out of reach that one promise is not in the bill at all.

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The storm over the Ruddock review was so severe three years ago that Morrison had to rush out a pledge on gay and lesbian school students. Our government does not support expulsion of students from religious non-state schools on the basis of their sexuality, he said in October 2018. He promised a law as soon as practicable to make that clear.

Years later, Cash expects the Australian Law Reform Commission to take one year to work on this problem after the passage of the Religious Discrimination Bill a point that will not be reached in the Senate until early next year, if it ever comes. So the protection for gay and lesbian students is likely to remain in legal limbo until the first half of 2023.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese will not have to work hard to exploit this problem. It goes to the heart of the Labor claim that Morrison does not deliver on his promises.

Albanese has to be careful on religious freedom, however, because he has to appeal to people of faith. Religious schools want to be able to make their beliefs a factor when hiring teachers. This issue alone can give Christian voters, such as those who share Morrisons evangelical faith, a reason to hand out how-to-vote cards for a Liberal or Nationals candidate.

All sides have to tread warily on questions of faith, equality and freedom. Right now the argument is a knife fight in a darkroom. It will stay that way until Morrison listens to his own backbench and releases the draft.

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Morrisons secretive religious freedom bill: its certainly free of information - The Sydney Morning Herald

Jacksonville, Fla., Nov. 18, 2021 Freedom Boat Club Jacksonville and St. Augustine took home top honors at the company's annual franchise conference. Freedom Boat Club, a division of Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC), handed out awards to franchise owners from across the country at the three-day event where they also celebrated another year of record growth for the business.

Freedom Boat Club Owners Lisa Almeida and Kevin Seelig and Membership Director Bill Edinger were presented with the Sales Platinum Club Award and the Sales Gold Executives Award. This is the second year the local boat club has received these honors. In addition to the club awards, Edinger was also presented with the Membership Executive of the Year award.

"Congratulations to Bill for this amazing honor. Since joining our executive team in 2018, he has continually exceeded our expectations and we are so lucky to have him on board," said Almeida. "As we continue to grow, we continue to look for new ways to enhance our member experience which is our number one priority. This company event is always a great place to learn from other franchise owners and share our ideas as well to make Freedom Boat Club the very best boat club across the country and beyond."

The Freedom Boat Club Platinum Club Award is presented to clubs that sold more than 100 memberships over the last year. The Sales Gold Executive Award is given to the top 10 membership executives who sold the most memberships. Freedom Boat Club Jacksonville has three locations; Julington Creek Marina in Jacksonville, Beach Marine in Jacksonville Beach, and Camachee Cove Marina in St. Augustine.

The Freedom Boat Club annual conference was the first in-person gathering of the network over the past 24 months. Since becoming part of the Brunswick Corporation in 2019, Freedom Boat Club has experienced unprecedented expansion and now serves approximately 70,000 members across nearly 300 locations. The company added the largest boat club operator in Spain, Faunautic Club, in July of this year which includes 23 locations that are now a part of the boat club portfolio.

About Freedom Boat Club

Freedom Boat Club, owned by Brunswick, is the largest membership-based boating club in the world. It is an alternative to boat ownership delivering hassle-free boating since 1989. Freedom Boat Club provides unlimited access at three local locations, Julington Creek Marina in Jacksonville, Beach Marine in Jacksonville Beach, and Camachee Cove Marina in St. Augustine, as well as reciprocal access to nearly 300 locations across the U.S., Canada, France, and Spain. Members can enjoy the fun of boating without the stress through a variety of membership options. For more information, visit http://www.freedomboatclub.com.

This press release was produced by the JAX Chamber. The views expressed here are the author's own.

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JAX Chamber: Freedom Boat Club Jacksonville Receives Top Awards At The Company's Annual Conference - Patch.com

When the conspiracy theorist Cindy Ficklin applied to become a Colorado school superintendent six months ago, she had a photo of herself online holding a pistol.

It was either my Glock 42 or my Glock 43, she told The Daily Beast this week.

Ficklin had also posted a missive about a supposed global conspiracy among a super-rich elite led by billionaire George Soros.

If you dont know who George Soros is...youre not alone - (hes one of the monsters in the shadows), she wrote. Soros seems to control even the Rothchilds (who control all the banks in the world). Bill Gates is a Rothchid, btw. (I included his family tree as evidence.) And [Anthony] Faucio sits on the Board of Directors of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. And Fauici is head of NIH (National Institutes of Health)...which controls the use of Hydroxychloroquine and EVERYTHING we are being fed about this virus. ...INCLUDING THE MASK MANDATE - (which strips us of our identities and turns us into sheep.

Soros does not control the Rothschilds and Gates is not a member of that fabled family. Fauci is not on the Gates foundation board and the NIH does not oversee the use of hydroxychloroquine. And what masks do is save lives. This nonsense came from someone seeking to run the Mesa County Valley School District 51 and its 22,000 kids taught by 1,300 teachers.

Nobody who read Ficklins interlocking misapprehensions or saw the gun picture could be much surprised that the 47-year-old principal turned realtor did not get the job. She also failed in a bid to replace the five-member school boards lone conservative, an even-tempered math teacher and football coach named Paul Pitton.

But she was successful in leading an effort to install a new wave of conservative thinking individuals on the county school board. And, perhaps more alarming, she has now set her sights on the state legislature.

The triggering event for Ficklin was the Aug. 13 school board meeting that led to Pittons decision to resign. The meeting turned so tumultuous that he and his colleagues were accorded a protective police escort from the building. Anti-mandate folks using the guise of parents rights had become incensed when the board reduced the time for public comment.

People are just getting too crazy, Pitton told The Daily Beast. I think ever since COVID came out it kind of brought out the worst in people.

Ficklin attended the meeting as a high school parent as well as a self-described freedom activist. She said people were already angry about the mandates and talk of gender fluidity and the supposed teaching of critical race theory.

It woke us up, she said. Isnt that an ironic term?

She says that those who had planned to speak had become outraged when the board cut the total time allocated for public comment from 45 minutes to 35 minutes.

It was just a loud group standing up, saying, Thats not OK, Ficklin insisted.

The board members had finished their executive session virtually. One of them was heard to say the folks who disrupted the meeting and necessitated the evacuation were insurrectionists.

A bad idea, Ficklin told The Daily Beast.

Ficklin says the remark had an incendiary effect. Attendance grew from 25 to 600 at the weekly Stand for the Constitution meetings of local conservatives at Appleton Church that Ficklin had helped organize. She was a leader in an effort to unseat the three school board members who were up for re-election and install candidates to their liking.

We decided we really needed to have conservative thinking individuals, she said. We organized and mobilized. We knocked on thousands of doors. It was fully grassroots.

The election was so close that the outcome was not certain until 4 a.m. the following day.

We got all three, Ficklin said. That gives us the majority.

Seven other Colorado county school boards also flipped to conservative and anti-mandate even as a mystery COVID-19 surge was filling the states hospitals near to the breaking point. An indication of where the new majority will take Mesa was expected to come Saturday at the second School Board Coffee held since they were suspended by the pandemic. Ficklin announced on Friday that she would be giving what she termed a speech to the outgoing board members.

Back when I was a school principal, if my teaching staff came to me with a problem I told them to always come with at least one viable solution, Ficklins prepared remarks began. We have lots of problems in the school district. And thank God we flipped our school board so that we can actually work toward ameliorating those problems.

Parents on both sides of the great divide would agree with her call for better pay for teachers and better treatment for subs. She also cites the need for better food service and she is organizing for parents to pitch in. Such efforts can bring people together.

But her top priority, her first suggestion under SOLUTIONS!!!, was divisively political.

Start with letting go the HEFTILY PAID Executive Director of Equity and Inclusion, she said.

Ficklin also said, FIRE teachers who sexualize our childrenFIRE teachers who make the kids feel badly about themselves.

Those would apparently include teachers who delve into such matters as race and gender identity.

Her remarks as prepared did not touch on masks or vaccine. But she has declared her opposition to mandates of any kind. Never mind if they save lives.

I want to fight for freedom and liberty, she said.

And Ficklin is sure to talk about that as she begins to campaign for House District 55 in the state legislature, a move she framed as a sort of revenge for the school board rejecting her and her views.

Alright. Fine. You know what? I just went ahead and I filed my paperwork today and I am now announcing for House District 55 state representative, she said in a video posted on Facebook. Were going to make sure that this never happens again because this was wrong on every single level, and its not OK that the school board can go and do that to a community. We are going to make sure that we take this state back and this country back and this school district back.

She later appeared to admit that she did not quite know how to behave as a political candidate.

I am struggling making the transition from freedom-activist to candidate, she said in an online post. So Ive decided just to be myself in all of it.

Hey, if Mesa County can join in sending Lauren Boebert to Washington as the U.S. representative from Colorados 3rd Congressional District, why not send a gun-toting conspiracy theorist to the statehouse as well?

In the meantime, Ficklin says she had no idea that some people might take her remarks concerning Soros and his supposed cabal as antisemitic.

I was super upset for about five days that anybody talking about wealthy elite families taking over the world is antisemitic, she said. I support Israel.

She also denied allegations online that she is a Q-Anon follower.

Im put in that category because I had attended different meetings where Q-Anon conspirators were also in attendance, she said. But, I am not a Q-Anon conspirator.

She is, however, a purveyor of falsehoods in a growing grass roots movement rife with them that threatens what our kids learn in what should be sanctuaries of truth.

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Cindy Ficklin, the Gun-Toting 'Freedom Activist' Fighting to Spread Lies in Colorado Schools - The Daily Beast