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VICII: Bitcoin and Why It Is the Best Currency Today 01/26/2022

From VICII:

"Aimee Stephenson describes what Bitcoin is and how it differs from other traditional currencies, cryptocurrencies, and most importantly, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). She discusses what Bitcoin means for the vast majority of the world's population (87%) who are unbanked and don't have access to sound currencies or who may even be cut off from USD due to sanctions. She discusses how Bitcoin is making a difference in the individual lives and creating freedom from the power of governments and central banks."

For more information: vicii.org

Nuclear Free Future: Interview with Kevin Kamps - Beyond Nuclear Radioactive Waste Specialist 01/20/2022

Video journalist Margaret Harrington hosts the 15th year of Nuclear Free Future Conversation at the Center for Media and Democracy. She interviews Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste specialist from Beyond Nuclear, about the transport of radioactive waste from the closed Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant to minority communities in western states.

VICII: The Real Deal with Fake News 01/18/2022

From VICII:

Join Vermont professor of communications and publisher Dr. Rob Willams, author of THE POST TRUTH WORLD, for an exploration of Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s “Propaganda Model of News.” We’ll explore the origins of their work in their book MANUFACTURING CONSENT, and update the Propaganda Model 2.0 for our Digital Age with five new filters based on years of research. Free E Book for all participants.

For more information: vicii.org

Ethan Allen Homestead Enrichment Program: Shays's Honorable Rebellion 01/16/2022

"An American Story by Daniel Bullen tells the history of the 1786 “Shays' Rebellion” from the protesters’ perspective, as thousands of farmers protested flagrant injustices in the state of Massachusetts’ economic policies by keeping courts from hearing foreclosures. Through five months of nonviolent demonstrations, they faced down threats from the government, till finally Governor James Bowdoin sent an army to arrest them. Even so, the people won reforms in an electoral landslide."

For more information: ethanallenhomestead.org

Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebrations: What Would Dr. King Say If He Was Alive Today? - Panel Discussion 01/16/2022

From the organizers:

Keynote Speaker: Tim Wise returns to Burlington for another Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration. Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and educators in the United States. He has spent the past 25 years speaking to audiences in all 50 states, on over 1,500 college and high school campuses, at hundreds of professional and academic conferences, and to community groups across the country.

Guests:

Tim Wise - Anti-Racist Activist, Author; TJ Donovan - Vermont Attorney General; Moise St. Louis - Director of Multicultural Affairs & Service, St Michael's College; Chol Dhoor - Founder and Executive Director of the Sudanese Foundation of Vermont; Bor Yang - Director of the Vermont Human Rights Commission; H. Sparks - Director of Equity Burlington School District

Association of Africans Living in Vermont, Champlain Housing Trust, City Market, First Unitarian Universalist Society, TD Bank, Howard Center, KeyBank, Mace Engravers, People’s United Bank, Spruce Mortgage, City of Burlington

Special thanks to St. Joseph’s Cathedral
 
For more information: gbmrc.org

Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebrations: Martin Luther King Jr. Remembrance Ceremony 2022 - Tim Wise 01/16/2022

From the organizers:

Keynote Speaker: Tim Wise returns to Burlington for another Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration. Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and educators in the United States. He has spent the past 25 years speaking to audiences in all 50 states, on over 1,500 college and high school campuses, at hundreds of professional and academic conferences, and to community groups across the country. 

Panel Guests:

Tim Wise - Anti-Racist Activist, Author; TJ Donovan - Vermont Attorney General; Moise St. Louis - Director of Multicultural Affairs & Service, St Michael's College; Chol Dhoor - Founder and Executive Director of the Sudanese Foundation of Vermont; Bor Yang - Director of the Vermont Human Rights Commission; H. Sparks - Director of Equity Burlington School District

Music is from the Montpelier Community Gospel Choir. Remarks are from U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, and young people read excerpts from King’s speeches. Special thanks to St. Joseph’s Cathedral.

For more information: gbmrc.org

VICII: Jacobson v. Massachusetts 1905, (197 US 11) - Mandated Vaccines Then and Now 01/12/2022

Sandy Baird and Nathan Virag lead a discussion about the history of mandated vaccines in America.

From VICII:

Our leader Nathan Virag, a graduate of the Univ. of Illinois Chicago Law School, immigrant rights specialist and a legal scholar will help us understand the debate between individual liberty and the collective good.
 
During a small pox outbreak in the early 20th century in the United States a Cambridge pastor, Henning Jacobsen sued the State of Massachusetts when that State mandated vaccines for all to protect public safety and health. Mr. Jacobson, an immigrant from Sweden asserted that he had experienced serious health consequences from past experience with vaccines. He argued further that the Constitution of the United States under the 14th Amendment which guarantees the equal protection of the law guaranteed his human right and liberty to decide what medical treatments were in his best interest and that the State should not have the police power to force injections on unwilling Americans.
 
In 1905 the Supreme Court of the United States held in Jacobson v. Massachusetts that State laws mandating vaccines were within the police powers of the State in order to further the public good. (Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 US 11(1905). Setting the precedent of the constitutionality of mandated vaccines the Jacobsen case is widely discussed today as Covid 19 surges through the United States and the world, and the President of the United States, as well as many Doctors, Scientists and concerned persons demand that governments use police power to mandate vaccines for all people to prevent the spread of a nasty sickness which threatens the public health and safety of the community.
 

Sandy Baird Commentary: The Kyle Rittenhouse Trial 01/11/2022

Sandy Baird talks about the Kyle Rittenhouse trial and what we can learn from it. 

White House Northeast Regional Press Call on LIHEAP Funding in the Northeast 01/07/2022

Members of Congress and White House officials highlight the state-by-state impact of the LIHEAP funding, which President Biden’s American Rescue Plan more than doubled nationally. These funds represent the largest appropriation in a single year since the program was established in 1981.

Participants include:

White House American Rescue Plan Coordinator Gene Sperling
Assistant Speaker of the US House of Representatives Katherine Clark (MA-05)
Congressman Peter Welch (VT)
Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01)

VICII: The Case of Julian Assange - Free Press or Treason 01/05/2022

Sandy Baird and Kurt Mehta lead a discussion about Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

From VICII:

Julian Assange, a journalist, editor, publisher and activist was born in Australia in 1971. In 2006, he founded Wikileaks, an international journal which publishes well-researched political information and commentary often involving confidential information from confidential sources.

In 2010 Mr. Assange and Wikileaks published leaks provided to them by Chelsea Manning, an intelligence analyst working in the US military. Those leaks revealed serious human rights and possible war crimes committed by the United States in its wars across the globe particularly in the Middle East. Assange also published confidential and embarrassing emails of the Democratic Party sent during the election in 2016 indicating that the Party preferred Clinton in the primary campaign over candidate Bernie Sanders.

Based on this release of classified documents, the United States sought the arrest of Julian Assange and his extradition to face charges of violations of the Espionage Act and possible Treason. Mr. Assange sought asylum in the Embassy of Ecuador in 2012 in London which was granted by the then left government of President Correa. With a new election and a new unsympathetic government in Quito, that asylum was withdrawn and Assange was expelled from the embassy. He was arrested in England where he has been held in Belmarsh Prison since 2019. Now, with declining physical and mental health, Assange is facing extradition to the United States which indicted him for publishing classified information which allegedly caused serious harm and death to American troops. For these charges Assange could face life imprisonment or worse in the United States.

The United States is now demanding the extradition of Mr. Assange from the United Kingdom. Mr. Assange and his supporters in response are demanding that Assange be released as he has committed no crime and that he has only done what the best of journalists have always done, that is to report the truth.

Mr. Assange and his supporters assert that all their journalistic activities are protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution which guarantees freedom of the press. Julian Assange and his supporters further demand his immediate release from his years of confinement to reunite with his friends and family and to continue the important role of upholding the best of tradition of a free press, to disseminate the truth to the citizens of the world.

For more information: vicii.org

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Applications Now Open for the Spring 2025 Cohort of the Neighborhood Community Media Internship Program

Town Meeting TV is excited to announce that applications are now open for the Spring 2025 cohort of the Neighborhood Community Media Internship program. Join up to 8 other youth to engage in interesting media making projects! This paid media internship opportunity is designed for youth aged 16-20 who are eager to gain professional experience in the audio-visual field and develop a deeper understanding of their local community. The group will meet under the leadership of Town Meeting TV's Travis Washington from the end of January 2025 to the beginning of June 2025, on a schedule agreed upon by the whole cohort. Click here to apply!

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