Foundations
News releases, reports, statements and associated documents from U.S. foundations.
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Science History Institute: Institute's Rare Earth Elements Project Wins Royal Society of Chemistry Award
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, Dec. 1 (TNSres) -- The Science History Institute issued the following news release:
The Science History Institute's Rare Earth Elements Project has been awarded a 2023 Horizon Prize for Education from the U.K.'s Royal Society of Chemistry. This prestigious award recognizes individuals, collaborations, and teams for their exceptional achievements in advancing the chemical sciences. The Institute shares the prize with the former National Science Foundation Center for the Sustainable Separation of Metals.
Combining historical perspective with contemporary scientific research,
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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, Dec. 1 (TNSres) -- The Science History Institute issued the following news release:
The Science History Institute's Rare Earth Elements Project has been awarded a 2023 Horizon Prize for Education from the U.K.'s Royal Society of Chemistry. This prestigious award recognizes individuals, collaborations, and teams for their exceptional achievements in advancing the chemical sciences. The Institute shares the prize with the former National Science Foundation Center for the Sustainable Separation of Metals.
Combining historical perspective with contemporary scientific research,this interdisciplinary project brought together scientists, historians, and artists to engage and educate diverse audiences about the separation of critical metals and the impacts of current production methods.
Initiatives include a digital exhibition, a museum display, a role-playing game for students, podcast episodes, videos, magazine and news articles, a symposium, and a panel discussion that featured leading rare earth experts and researchers. In addition, new objects in our museum including an iPhone and a quadcopter drone with neodymium magnets help visitors connect the chemistry of rare earths to daily life.
"It was great to have an engineer and chemists able to explain the science in accessible ways, a cultural geographer with a keen sense of the spatial politics of rare earth production, and educators skilled in translating for students. And it was a treat to work with artists to communicate all this in really compelling ways," said Roger Turner, the Institute's curator of instruments and artifacts who serves as the project's lead.
Launched in 2018, the Rare Earth Elements Project continues to explore the evolving challenges posed by these 17 metals, which are key to electronics, clean energy, and electric vehicles. The project helps audiences understand that while alternative means for producing or recycling rare earths exist, current international trade regimes render these less-destructive means economically unviable. It also demonstrates how chemistry interacts with patterns of social organization such as law, trade, and government.
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About the Royal Society of Chemistry
Based in the United Kingdom, the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is the world's leading chemistry community whose mission is to advance excellence in the chemical sciences. With 49,000 members and a knowledge business that spans the globe, RSC is a not-for-profit organization with 175 years of history and an international vision for the future.
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Original text here: https://www.sciencehistory.org/about/news/institutes-rare-earth-elements-project-wins-royal-society-of-chemistry-award/
Pseudo-Copyright Rules That Block Fair Uses and Other Speech Violate the First Amendment, EFF Argues in Appellate Brief
WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 -- The Electronic Frontier Foundation issued the following news release on Nov. 29, 2023:
A 1998 federal law that criminalizes access to digital works for lawful purposes--chilling free expression and impeding scientific research--is unenforceable because it's too broad and violates the First Amendment, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and co-counsel Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati argued in an appeals court brief filed today.
The brief, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in the case of Green v. Department of Justice, argued Section
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 -- The Electronic Frontier Foundation issued the following news release on Nov. 29, 2023:
A 1998 federal law that criminalizes access to digital works for lawful purposes--chilling free expression and impeding scientific research--is unenforceable because it's too broad and violates the First Amendment, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and co-counsel Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati argued in an appeals court brief filed today.
The brief, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in the case of Green v. Department of Justice, argued Section1201(a) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is constitutionally invalid on its face. The case arises after 25 years of people having to petition the Copyright Office for permission to exercise their fair use and other rights in copyrighted works that have been put under digital locks.
"It has burdened Americans' First Amendment-protected right to access and learn from digital works, including works they already own or embedded in physical objects they own," the brief argued. "It has also burdened their rights to create their own protected expression, whether that expression includes fair-use copying of portions of others' works, or reflects the uncopyrightable facts and ideas in those works."
EFF and co-counsel filed this lawsuit in 2016 against the U.S. government on behalf of security researcher Matthew Green and technologist Andrew "bunnie" Huang, both of whom pursue projects that benefit the public and are perfectly lawful except for DMCA's anti-speech provisions, which block their ability to develop and publish their work based upon fair use and other copyright exemptions.
The appeals court issued a narrow ruling in December 2022 on whether the First Amendment protected the plaintiffs' rights to publish code that included instructions for circumventing encryption in order to read and build upon lawfully-acquired software and video. But no court has yet considered whether the law overall creates an unconstitutional speech-licensing regime, nor considered the 25 years of accumulated evidence that the law--passed in 1998 before the web became as ubiquitous as it is now--is overbroad because its impact falls predominantly on legitimate and important speech.
Section 1201's anti-circumvention and anti-trafficking provisions make it illegal for people to access even lawfully-purchased copyrighted material such as films, songs, and the computer code that controls vehicles, devices, and appliances, whenever such access requires bypassing encryption or another access-control technology. Enacted out of a belief that it was necessary to combat copyright infringement, this ban applies even where people want to make non-infringing fair uses of such materials or engage in speech that has nothing to do with copyright. Since infringers already face steep civil and criminal penalties, the primary impact of this law has been to stifle lawful speech.
Congress knew that the ban would impact legitimate speech, reaching far beyond copyright infringement. But instead of narrowing the provision, it created a process that required people wishing to exercise their rights to petition the Librarian of Congress for an exemption--a process accessible only once every three years. EFF argues that this provision is also unconstitutional, since it allows the Copyright Office to decide that some completely legal speech is still not allowed.
"This supposed 'safety valve' is not only onerous, slow, and biased, it is an unconstitutional speech-licensing regime," the brief argued. "And because it lacks clear, definite standards and the procedural safeguards required by the First Amendment, it has generated rules that improperly discriminate against certain types of expression and certain speakers."
Green, a professor of computer science and applied cryptography at the Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute, studies the security of computer systems and teaches others how to do the same; his work requires finding weaknesses in code, which requires that he read the code in question. Huang, a prominent computer scientist and inventor, and his company Alphamax LLC, are developing devices for editing and analyzing digital video streams that would let people make innovative, real-time uses of their paid video content, such as automatically identifying video subjects, improving accessibility, or captioning a presidential debate with a running comment field from social media--all of which are easy to do if you are able to read the video data into a computer but impossible to do at the same quality otherwise.
For the brief: https://www.eff.org/document/green-v-doj-opening-brief-11-29-2023
For more about this case: https://www.eff.org/cases/green-v-us-department-justice
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Original text here: https://www.eff.org/press/releases/licensing-scheme-fair-uses-and-other-speech-violates-first-amendment-eff-argues
Global Announces Authors for New Edition of 1st Evidence-Based GLOBAL Medical Care Guidelines or Adults With Down Syndrome
DENVER, Colorado, Dec. 1 -- The Global Down Syndrome Foundation issued the following news release on Nov. 30, 2023:
Today, Global Down Syndrome Foundation announced the roster of authors for the second edition of the first evidence-based GLOBAL Medical Care Guidelines for Adults with Down Syndrome ("GLOBAL Adult Guideline"). The first edition was published in JAMA, the Journal of American Medical Association, in October 2020, and is comprised of free checklists/toolkits, a family-friendly version, and translations into Spanish and Japanese. The fourteen authors include Down syndrome experts and
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DENVER, Colorado, Dec. 1 -- The Global Down Syndrome Foundation issued the following news release on Nov. 30, 2023:
Today, Global Down Syndrome Foundation announced the roster of authors for the second edition of the first evidence-based GLOBAL Medical Care Guidelines for Adults with Down Syndrome ("GLOBAL Adult Guideline"). The first edition was published in JAMA, the Journal of American Medical Association, in October 2020, and is comprised of free checklists/toolkits, a family-friendly version, and translations into Spanish and Japanese. The fourteen authors include Down syndrome experts andthe directors of the largest adult Down syndrome clinics in the U.S. Global Down Syndrome Foundation ("GLOBAL") has also recruited an additional twenty-one volunteer committee members representing additional Down syndrome medical expertise.
The GLOBAL Adult Guideline Second Edition will provide new and important clinician guidance in the areas of sleep apnea, eye/vision care, solid tumors, leukemia, and physical therapy and fitness. The nine medical topics covered in the first edition will also be updated: behavior, dementia, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, osteoporosis, atlantoaxial instability, thyroid disease, and celiac disease. GLOBAL, along with an impressive International Advisory Committee, is working to ensure that a family-friendly version, checklists/toolkits, and multiple language versions will be published shortly thereafter.
"We are so pleased to be able to expand this important resource for our adults with Down syndrome," says Bryn Gelaro, Senior Director of Research & Medical Care at GLOBAL. "The work can be very difficult given the lack of historical research but creating a 5-6 year cycle where we can dependably update new editions of this guideline is so rewarding. It is also an honor to be working with our brilliant authors and medical committee members."
The Authors in Alphabetical Order:
* Peter Bulova, MD - Professor of Medicine; Medical Director, University of Pittsburgh Adult Down Syndrome Center; Co-Director, Magee Center for Women with Disabilities, University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine, Pittsburg, PA
* George Capone, MD - Associate Professor of Pediatrics; Director, Down Syndrome Clinic and Research Center, Medical Director, Pediatric Feeding Disorders Program, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD
* Brian Chicoine, MD - Medical Director and Co-Founder, Advocate Medical Group Adult Down Syndrome Center, Park Ridge, IL
* Joaquin Espinosa, PhD - Executive Director, Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO
* Terry Harville, MD, PhD, D(ABMLI), D(ABHI) - Professor of Internal Medicine, in the Division of Hematology/Oncology; Medical Director, HLA and Histocompatibility Laboratory; Medical Director, Immunogenetics and Transplantation Laboratory, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR
* Christine Heubi, MD - Surgical Director, Complex Obstructive Sleep Apnea Center; Assistant Professor, UC Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
* Barry Martin, MD - Associate Professor of General Internal Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine; Medical Director, Adult Down Syndrome Clinic at Denver Health, Denver, CO
* Emily McCourt, MD - Chief of Pediatric Ophthalmology; Vice Chair of Pediatric Ophthalmology; The Ponzio Family Chair for Pediatric Ophthalmology, Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO
* Lina Patel, PsyD - Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry; Director of the Down Syndrome Behavioral Health Collaborative, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO
* Moya Peterson, PhD, ARNP - Clinical Professor, School of Nursing; Co-founder and Medical Director, Adults with Down Syndrome Specialty Clinic, University of Kansas Medical Center,
* Michael Puente Jr, MD - Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Director of Medical Student Education, Aurora, CO
* Mike Rafii, MD, PhD - Professor of Clinical Neurology; Medical Director of the Alzheimer's Therapeutic Research Institute; Alzheimer's Clinical Trials Consortium - Down Syndrome Principal Investigator, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
* Carl Tyler, MD - Professor of Family and Community Medicine at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine; Executive Board, American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry, Cleveland, OH
* Anna White, MD - Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics; Medical Director, Street Medicine Pitt, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburg, PA
GLOBAL has worked with Congress and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 2006 advocating for a trans-NIH Down syndrome research funding program and for increased funding. In December of 2010, GLOBAL and the NIH co-organized the first Down syndrome research conference with a focus on registries and biobanks. One important result was the establishment of DS-Connect(R): The Down Syndrome Registry at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
GLOBAL has published both an 80-page guideline for medical professionals and a family-friendly version in Spanish in collaboration with El Centro de la Universidad Catolica de Sindrome de Down in Chile and in Japanese in collaboration with the Japan Down Syndrome Association.
To learn more about the GLOBAL Adult Guideline and download your copy today, visit http://www.globaldownsyndrome.org/medical-care-guidelines-for-adults/
To learn more about Global Down Syndrome Foundation, visit http://www.globaldownsyndrome.org
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About Global Down Syndrome Foundation
The Global Down Syndrome Foundation (GLOBAL) is the largest non-profit in the U.S. working to save lives and dramatically improve health outcomes for people with Down syndrome. GLOBAL has donated more than $32 million to establish the first Down syndrome research institute supporting over 400 scientists and over 2,400 patients with Down syndrome from 33 states and 10 countries. Working closely with Congress and the National Institutes of Health, GLOBAL is the lead advocacy organization in the U.S. for Down syndrome research and care. GLOBAL has a membership of over 100 Down syndrome organizations worldwide, and is part of a network of Affiliates - the Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome, the Sie Center for Down Syndrome, and the University of Colorado Alzheimer's and Cognition Center - all on the Anschutz Medical Campus.
GLOBAL's widely circulated medical publications include Global Medical Care Guidelines for Adults with Down Syndrome, Prenatal & Newborn Down Syndrome Information and the award-winning magazine Down Syndrome World TM . GLOBAL also organizes the Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show, the largest Down syndrome fundraiser in the world. Visit globaldownsyndrome.org and follow us on social media (Facebook & Twitter: @GDSFoundation, Instagram: @globaldownsyndrome).
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JOURNAL: JAMA https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2771907
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Original text here: https://www.globaldownsyndrome.org/global-announces-authors-for-new-edition-of-1st-evidence-based-global-medical-care-guidelines-or-adults-with-down-syndrome/
German Marshall Fund: Launch of Whistlestops for Ukraine 2023-24-Why a Free and Sovereign Ukraine Matters to America
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, Dec. 1 -- The German Marshall Fund of the United States issued the following news release on Nov. 30, 2023:
The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation (HGBF) today launched "Whistlestops for Ukraine", a multi-state public diplomacy initiative to support Ukraine's victory, recovery, and reconstruction. Since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, the United States and its allies have stood shoulder to shoulder with Ukrainians as they defend themselves and their country from an unjust war. As another tough winter and the
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MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, Dec. 1 -- The German Marshall Fund of the United States issued the following news release on Nov. 30, 2023:
The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation (HGBF) today launched "Whistlestops for Ukraine", a multi-state public diplomacy initiative to support Ukraine's victory, recovery, and reconstruction. Since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, the United States and its allies have stood shoulder to shoulder with Ukrainians as they defend themselves and their country from an unjust war. As another tough winter and thesecond anniversary of the full-scale invasion approaches, this whistlestop tour, headlined by GMF President Heather A. Conley and HGBF Chairman and CEO Howard G. Buffett, will work to foster conversations on why the outcome of the war matters to Americans and how the conflict affects local, national, and global communities.
At each stop of the tour through the U.S. heartland, representatives from local governments, civic and faith-based organizations, agricultural groups, local businesses, and Ukrainian-American communities will gather to discuss the importance of a free and sovereign Ukraine to the United States. Topics will include the devastating human cost of the war, the impact on global food security, American charitable efforts for Ukraine, democratic reforms in Ukraine, and the benefits that U.S. support provides to our own economy and national security.
At the first stop in Minnesota, agribusiness leaders and the local Ukrainian-American community will meet to discuss the impact of the war and U.S. support for Ukraine on Minnesotans. Governor Tim Walz and Buffett will speak with farmers, and Conley and Ukraine's Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova will visit the Minnesota-based Protez Foundation, which provides prosthetics manufactured in the state for Ukrainian children, civilians, and soldiers who have lost limbs in the conflict.
"Global challenges, such as the war in Ukraine, are also intensely local. What happens in Ukraine matters to American farmers and our country as a whole," noted GMF President Heather Conley. "More than seven decades ago, the United States saved Europe from fascism and Nazism in World War II and then, after the war, made the powerful choice of providing hope by helping to reconstruct Western Europe through the Marshall Plan. Today, the same choice confronts us. I'm heartened by what I see today in Minnesota, where local communities have come together to back Ukraine."
"Ukraine has done the unthinkable over the last two years by successfully defending itself from an unprovoked invasion by one of the world's most powerful armies," Howard G. Buffett added. "Every country that stands for freedom and sovereignty needs to do everything possible to help Ukraine decisively win this war. What happens in Ukraine will change the course of history, including here in Minnesota and in communities across the United States. The stakes could not be higher."
By bringing together community leaders for these critical conversations, GMF and its partners hope to educate the American people about why support for Ukraine is critical to American interests.
The whistlestop tour's other goals are to increase community dialogue and demonstrate how supporting Ukraine enhances U.S. security and prosperity, to showcase how American communities are already mobilizing to support Ukraine, to inform debate and discussion about Ukraine, and to foster champions for Ukraine among the American people.
The whistlestop tour will continue in 2024 in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
Learn more about the Whistlestops for Ukraine Initiative (https://www.gmfus.org/whistlestops).
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About the German Marshall Fund
The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, transatlantic organization headquartered in Washington, DC, with offices in Ankara, Belgrade, Berlin, Brussels, Bucharest, Paris, and Warsaw. GMF envisions a democratic, secure, and prosperous world in which freedom and individual dignity prevail. GMF strives to champion democratic values and the transatlantic alliance by strengthening civil society, forging bold and innovative policy ideas, and developing a new generation of leaders to tackle global challenges. GMF delivers hope by upholding the dignity of the individual and defending freedom in the spirit of the Marshall Plan.
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About The Howard G. Buffett Foundation
Established in 1999, The Howard G. Buffett Foundation's mission is to catalyze transformational change to improve the standard of living and quality of life, particularly for the world's most impoverished and marginalized populations. The foundation uses its resources to improve conditions and create change in the most difficult circumstances and geographies. It invests its funding in four main areas: food security, conflict mitigation, combatting human trafficking, and public safety.
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Original text here: https://www.gmfus.org/news/launch-whistlestops-ukraine-2023-24-why-free-and-sovereign-ukraine-matters-america
GMF Statement on the Passing of Henry Kissinger
WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 -- The German Marshall Fund of the United States issued the following agency statement on Nov. 30, 2023:
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The German Marshall Fund of the United States mourns the passing of Dr. Henry Kissinger, one of the most influential American statesmen of the 20th century. Print Article
Dr. Kissinger was a close friend of Guido Goldman, a GMF founder. Both men were German-Jewish refugees and emigrated to escape Nazism, building their lives in the United States. Dr. Kissinger acted as Goldman's mentor when both men were at Harvard University, and the two often discussed the importance
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 -- The German Marshall Fund of the United States issued the following agency statement on Nov. 30, 2023:
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The German Marshall Fund of the United States mourns the passing of Dr. Henry Kissinger, one of the most influential American statesmen of the 20th century. Print Article
Dr. Kissinger was a close friend of Guido Goldman, a GMF founder. Both men were German-Jewish refugees and emigrated to escape Nazism, building their lives in the United States. Dr. Kissinger acted as Goldman's mentor when both men were at Harvard University, and the two often discussed the importanceof German-American relations to the greater transatlantic alliance. Dr. Kissinger would often meet Goldman after his frequent trips to Germany for a debrief.
In 2017, Dr. Kissinger joined then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Goldman at GMF's 70th anniversary celebration in Berlin, where he spoke about the enduring need and value of close German-American relations.
Dr. Kissinger's long career and great influence on foreign policy shape international relations today. A long-time supporter of transatlantic relations, he recently called for bringing Ukraine into NATO, seeing the alliance's expansion as key to security in 21st-century Europe. Dr. Kissinger will be remembered for his lifelong commitment to fostering transatlantic relations, a prescient stance whose relevance is just as strong today as it was a half-century ago when GMF was founded and Dr. Kissinger directed US foreign policy.
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Original text here: https://www.gmfus.org/news/gmf-statement-passing-henry-kissinger
Freedom of the Press Foundation: Journalists Must Be Allowed to Cover Protests and Their Aftermath
SAN FRANCISCO, California, Dec. 1 (TNSres) -- The Freedom of the Press Foundation issued the following news:
By Seth Stern, Director of Advocacy
Protests are newsworthy. Police arresting and assaulting protesters is newsworthy. Journalists should be able to safely report on both protests and their aftermath.
None of that seems particularly controversial, especially when police departments nationwide are forced to pay large sums to settle claims arising from their illegal treatment of journalists covering protests after George Floyd's murder. You'd think cops would learn their lesson.
Yet, law
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SAN FRANCISCO, California, Dec. 1 (TNSres) -- The Freedom of the Press Foundation issued the following news:
By Seth Stern, Director of Advocacy
Protests are newsworthy. Police arresting and assaulting protesters is newsworthy. Journalists should be able to safely report on both protests and their aftermath.
None of that seems particularly controversial, especially when police departments nationwide are forced to pay large sums to settle claims arising from their illegal treatment of journalists covering protests after George Floyd's murder. You'd think cops would learn their lesson.
Yet, lawenforcement officials across the country continue to harass journalists as they attempt to document demonstrations, despite their posing no risk to police operations or public safety. Too often, authorities face no consequences for their actions.
The latest examples come from Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Georgia. Unfortunately, neither case is receiving the kind of national attention that is needed to foster accountability or dissuade similar conduct going forward.
Muzzled at the museum
Freelance journalist Will Allen-DuPraw was assigned to film protesters handing out flyers encouraging patrons at Washington's National Gallery of Art to call on President Joe Biden to declare a climate emergency. This wasn't some out-of-control riot -- there were two protesters. After one was arrested for refusing orders to leave the museum, Allen-DuPraw asked him for comment. Then a security guard blocked Allen-DuPraw's camera and handcuffed him as well.
Allen-DuPraw was later released without charges, but he should've never been detained in the first place, especially at a museum run by the federal government. Says who? Says the federal government. A recent Department of Justice report on the Minneapolis Police Department's response to Black Lives Matter protests says the following:
"The First Amendment requires that any restrictions on when, where, and how reporters gather information 'leave open ample alternative channels' for gathering the news. Blanket enforcement of dispersal orders and curfews against press violates this principle because they foreclose the press from reporting about what happens after the dispersal or curfew is issued, including how police enforce those orders."
Federal appellate courts have said the same, although, prior to the Minneapolis report, the DOJ disagreed.
Allen-Dupraw wasn't even ordered to disperse -- nor could he have (lawfully) been, given that he was causing no disturbance whatsoever. But the detainment unlawfully prevented him from exercising his constitutional right to report on the protesters' arrests. He can sue to vindicate his own rights, and safeguard those of future journalists, if he chooses. But the public can never get back the news it missed out on.
It's great that the DOJ has reversed its prior position and acknowledged the First Amendment freedoms of journalists covering protests. But if it only says so on page 52 of a report, unlikely to be read by people without a specific interest in the Minneapolis Police Department, what does that accomplish?
The DOJ needs to make clear to federal agencies and officials, including those working security at federal buildings, that the First Amendment requires them to allow journalists to report on protests and their fallout, and that the DOJ will not defend their actions if they don't.
Cop City 'crime scene' con
At the same time, the protests against the Atlanta police training facility commonly known as "Cop City" continue to prompt outrageous First Amendment violations.
While the unprecedented anti-racketeering case against activists and protesters has rightfully received the lion's share of attention lately, the press certainly has not been spared from authorities' unconstitutional crackdown on dissent.
When police tear-gassed a protest against "Cop City" earlier this month, journalists and others on the scene said cops appeared to deliberately target the press with the first canister. If that's correct it's reprehensible and the journalists who were targeted absolutely should sue.
But police didn't stop there. When reporters attempted to reenter the area where the protest occurred, gas-masked officers told them they couldn't, and ordered them to disperse or be arrested because the area was a "crime scene."
To the best of our knowledge, police were not attempting to, for example, preserve evidence as part of an investigation into any particular crime. They just called the entire area a crime scene, presumably based on claims that protesters had trespassed or gotten out of hand.
Even before the DOJ opined that dispersing journalists along with protesters is unconstitutional, authorities were required by the First Amendment to exclude journalists from public spaces only pursuant to reasonable "time, place, and manner" restrictions.
That means exclusions must be necessary, as narrow as possible, and leave journalists viable options to observe and report from elsewhere.
Cops can't use "crime scene" as magic words to get around those well-established constitutional principles and evade media scrutiny. And when they try that or other illegal ploys to circumvent the Constitution, journalists and everyone who values the First Amendment should loudly and publicly call them out.
Update: Responding to harassment of journalists at protests can sometimes feel like a game of whack-a-mole. Immediately after publishing this article we learned that sheriffs in Arizona this morning arrested NPR reporter Alisa Reznick as she walked back to her car from covering a protest against the Israel-Gaza war. They said she didn't leave quickly enough but the First Amendment says she shouldn't have to leave at all.
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Author:
Seth Stern is the director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation. He oversees FPF's efforts to defend press freedoms and stand up for journalists and whistleblowers who have been denied their rights. Prior to joining FPF, Seth practiced media and First Amendment law in Chicago for over a decade. Before that, he worked as a reporter and editor in the Chicago and Atlanta areas. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.
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REPORT: https://www.justice.gov/d9/press-releases/attachments/2023/06/16/minneapolis_findings_report_2023.06.15_0.pdf
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Original text here: https://freedom.press/news/journalists-must-be-allowed-to-cover-protests-and-their-aftermath/
Foundation for Economic Education: This TikTok Video Shows How the Right is Scaring Young People Away From Capitalism
DETROIT, Michigan, Dec. 1 -- The Foundation for Economic Education issued the following news:
Recently, a TikTok video of a zoomer in tears about her nine-to-five job went viral. In the video, she complains that she has to take a long commute to work since she can't afford to live in the city. With an early rise and a late return, she explains that she doesn't have time to do anything else.
With millions of views, the video received a mixed bag of responses. On TikTok, the video received a mostly positive reception. Some commenters said they could relate, others blamed capitalism for having their
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DETROIT, Michigan, Dec. 1 -- The Foundation for Economic Education issued the following news:
Recently, a TikTok video of a zoomer in tears about her nine-to-five job went viral. In the video, she complains that she has to take a long commute to work since she can't afford to live in the city. With an early rise and a late return, she explains that she doesn't have time to do anything else.
With millions of views, the video received a mixed bag of responses. On TikTok, the video received a mostly positive reception. Some commenters said they could relate, others blamed capitalism for having theirown annoying nine-to-five job. Meanwhile on Twitter, right-wing pundits took it as an opportunity to make a dig at young people being sensitive and spoiled.
It is sadly common that when any young person complains about an inconvenience, they tend to be mocked by others online, especially boomers. People in older generations are quick to bring out well-worn talking points, like "maybe if you stop buying so many Starbucks coffees, you'd be better off!" They might also try to compete by saying that in their day they had it worse. Too often, young people are seen as "lazy" or "snowflakes."
But do young people really have it better?
In some cases, yes. Our parents didn't have the same technology or access to entertainment that we take for granted every day. It was only a few decades ago that you would have to go to Blockbuster to rent a movie. Now, not only do we have access to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu at a relatively cheap price, we also have endless free video entertainment on YouTube.
But that's not the full story.
The Kids Aren't Alright
As with all generations, zoomers face disadvantages. One of the biggest challenges young people face today is finding an affordable place to live. It's hard enough for many young people to afford rent, let alone save up for a mortgage. As the Tiktoker describes in the video, she's unable to afford to live close to her workplace.
The housing crisis has a big role to play in this. Due to red tape and planning regulations, the supply of housing is severely limited. This is especially true in cities, where the demand greatly outweighs the supply.
It might seem as though there is an easy solution: just build more housing. But expanding housing in cities is unpopular. As Patrick Carroll has explained:
* With respect to supply, there are basically two ways to expand: up and out. On the one hand, cities can build taller, higher-density residences. On the other hand, they can build on new land at the outskirts of the city.
* The problem is that both of these options are seriously unpopular. With respect to building up, many people are fiercely opposed to high-density developments in their local communities, and as a result, most municipalities have strict zoning laws that prevent or at least limit these kinds of initiatives.
* If you suggest building out, however, you quickly encounter the wrath of environmentalists who are on a mission to mitigate urban sprawl, and the environmentalists have passed many land-use regulations, too. The Greenbelt in Ontario, for instance, is a 2,000,000 acre swath of land surrounding Toronto that is permanently protected from development because of environmental considerations.
On top of this, young people also face other financial challenges that boomers did not at their age. When it comes to saving up for rent or a mortgage, the government's policies, including inflation and taxation, are eating into our incomes more than in the past. In addition, young people have fallen into the trap of predatory student loans--a trap which has been getting worse in recent decades--which means that graduates have less money in their pocket at the end of the month.
The Zoomer to Socialist Pipeline
Young people clearly face issues. Yet boomers turn a blind eye and scoff at the luxuries of Netflix and Starbucks that zoomers and millennials take for granted.
As a result of feeling unheard and patronized by the older generations who refuse to acknowledge their problems, many young people turn towards socialism, which recognizes their issues and diagnoses them as the fault of capitalism. The majority of young people in the United Kingdom prefer socialism over capitalism, and they blame issues like the housing crisis on the free market. But this just exacerbates the problem. When they cheer for government intervention, young people are advocating for more of what is causing their issues in the first place!
If we want to stop young people from being disillusioned with capitalism, we need to honestly acknowledge the problems they're facing instead of dismissing them. The reason why the TikToker can't afford the same standard of living that her parents probably did isn't the fault of capitalism. It's the fault of the government. If we address these issues with the consideration they deserve, we can stop young people from digging their own grave.
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Jess Gill is the Communications and Social Manager for Ladies of Liberty Alliance (LOLA) and a Hazlitt Fellow with the Foundation for Economic Education.
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Original text here: https://fee.org/articles/this-tiktok-video-shows-how-the-right-is-scaring-young-people-away-from-capitalism/
