Latest news with #liberty
Globe and Mail
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
Shane Krauser Directs Veritas Debate Academy Through Summer Bootcamps
Shane Krauser is the director of Veritas Debate Academy, an experienced trial attorney, and a nationally-renowned speaker. Veritas Debate Academy completed a round of Summer 2025 Leadership and Liberty Bootcamps. Shane Krauser, the director of the Academy, organized the intensive effort that included several dozen students throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area. Some students traveled from as far as Yuma (AZ), Holbrook (AZ), and Lehi (UT) to participate. Taking on the role of an Arizona state senator, the students adopted a bill, lobbied for the bill, moved the bill through the 'committee,' appeared in front of a mock media, and argued on the senate floor to pass the bill. Over the course of the three days, students learned lessons on how to lead, communicate, and build relationships, and they became fantastic, passionate advocates through the process. Shane Krauser, a former adjunct professor of constitutional law, said, 'These students were nothing short of exceptional, and I am honored that so many parents have entrusted me with a part of their child's education. The lessons the young people learn here are designed to set them up for long-term success.' Veritas Debate Academy is headquartered in Gilbert, AZ, was founded in 2024, and focuses primarily on the homeschool community, teaching courses that revolve around leadership, the U.S. Constitution, the foundations of America, along with speech and debate. The three-day bootcamp is a featured course that is primarily held during the Summer. During this three-day journey, the students absorbed, learned, engaged and debated numerous ideas around the proper role of government and the principles of freedom. The level of impassioned debate and focused leadership was a high point of the bootcamps. Students debated 21 different issues ranging from gambling to the appropriate driving age, seatbelt mandates to the legalization of cannabis. Each of the issues provided a chance for the students to take a position and then debate the pros and cons. Cheryl Todd of Litchfield Park, AZ attended with her granddaughter and said, 'I can't recommend this experience enough. My granddaughter absolutely loved every minute of this experience! The topics covered sparked so many meaningful conversations around the family dinner table—and honestly, I learned just as much as she did! She walked away with a renewed passion and a real hunger to learn more, and she's already asked me when she can do it again. Thank you, Veritas Debate Academy and Shane Krauser, for pouring into the next generation of liberty-minded leaders—this is exactly what our families and our nation need! ' The popularity of Veritas Debate Academy continues to grow, not just across Arizona but throughout the nation. Shane Krauser, a serial entrepreneur who is bringing Brooker's Founding Flavors Ice Cream to Arizona in late 2025, noted, 'We have found a niche within the homeschool world, and homeschooling families have embraced us as much as we have embraced them. I am so hopeful for our future.' To learn more about Veritas Debate Academy and the courses offered, go to For media or general inquiries, contact Janelle Krauser at 480.570.3698 or email Contact@ Learn more about Shane Krauser at: Website: Social Media: Media Contact Company Name: Veritas Debate Academy Contact Person: Janelle Krauser Email: Send Email Phone: +1 480.570.3698 City: Gilbert State: Arizona Country: United States Website:
Wall Street Journal
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Don't Wait for July 4, 2026
My social circle isn't waiting until next year to celebrate the landmark events of the Revolutionary War ('Countdown to America's 250th Birthday' by Paul Beston, op-ed, July 5). My wife and I hosted a dinner with friends on the anniversary of the battles at Lexington and Concord (April 19) and again for Bunker Hill (June 17). Such occasions are a great way to recall the bravery and sacrifices of those who fought to establish liberty and create the U.S. Our next dinner will commemorate the British evacuation of Boston (March 17), following Washington's siege and Henry Knox's heroic transport of cannon from Fort Ticonderoga to Dorchester Heights. Surrounded and at the mercy of rebel artillery, William Howe had no chance but to return Boston to its rightful residents. Such success demands celebration.
CBS News
06-07-2025
- General
- CBS News
How Lady Liberty became a beacon for immigrants
At the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., stands a 46-inch-tall model of an American icon – the Statue of Liberty – whose origin story may surprise you. "When this idea began, it was really about liberty; it wasn't about immigration," said Lonnie Bunch, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, That's right: Lady Liberty had nothing to do with immigration when she was first proposed in 1865. "The United States had ended slavery," said Bunch. "That's why, if you look, she's standing on the chains and shackles." A model of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi's statue "Liberty," at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Lucia RM Martino/Smithsonian American Art Museum But it would take more than two decades for the idea to be realized. While the statue itself would be paid for by the people of France, the Americans would be responsible for its prodigious base. "Almost anything you do involving culture or art, you gotta raise money for," said Bunch. And so, this model came to our shores in 1883, three years before her full-sized sister, to drum up support. She stood in the Capitol Rotunda, to no avail. Congress declined to foot the bill. "Many people in the United States thought, you know, what is this? Is this a New York City thing? And why should we care about it if it's just New York City?" said Bunch. One supporter, 34-year-old poet Emma Lazarus, concerned about the plight of Russian Jews seeking asylum in America, penned a sonnet called "The New Colossus" for a fundraising auction. In it, she imagined Lady Liberty as a "mother of exiles" welcoming the "huddled masses" through the "golden door" to America. "That's a great poem," said Bunch. "It's important, but it really became, more than anything else, the best way to understand the possibilities of immigration in America." At the time, the poem got little notice. At the statue's dedication in 1886, not a single speaker mentioned immigration. A parade of ships marks the inauguration of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, Oct. 28, 1886. Library of Congress But Lazarus' poem turned out to be a prophecy. In 1892, within sight of the statue, America's first-ever immigration facility opened at Ellis Island. By the 1920s, more than 12 million immigrants from Europe had come through Ellis Island. "There are stories of people pulling into this harbor, seeing that symbol, and just dropping to their knees and weeping," said author and journalist Jia Lynn Yang. And very few people were turned away, even if they lacked documents. "If you can get to the border, you're in," said Yang. But, she notes, not all Americans were prepared to welcome them: "You have to remember, the country is still relatively small at this time. So, it's pretty shocking to the American people to have millions of people showing up from Italy, Eastern Europe, different religions, they're Catholic, they're Jewish, different foods, different languages." And while it might strain credulity today to imagine people back then thinking that Italians couldn't assimilate, Yang said, "People were writing columns and long essays saying these people don't belong here." And so, in 1924 President Calvin Coolidge signed the Johnson-Reed Act, which created a system of ethnic quotas that essentially banned immigration from countries outside of Western and Northern Europe. It was the first major immigration restriction since 1882's Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred the entry of Chinese laborers. But the 1924 law didn't apply to countries on this side of the Atlantic. Yang said, "The thinking was, these are our neighbors. We need to make it feel like they're welcome to come and go." So while there were no "illegal" immigrants from Mexico during this period, for more than 40 years – through a global depression, a world war, and the Holocaust – the door was virtually shut to everyone else. By the 1950s, the number of immigrants was getting smaller and smaller. "Talk to somebody in, like, 1955, they're like, Yeah, immigrants, that's old news," said Yang. And that would've been the case forever and ever, except that for 40 years, a group of lawmakers and activists felt that the law was discriminatory, and they wanted to change it. Among them: Brooklyn Congressman Manny Celler. He voted against the 1924 quotas as a first-year representative, and for decades fought to make America more welcoming to immigrants. Then, in 1958, a Massachusetts senator with his sights on the White House published a pamphlet calling for a change to the nation's laws. John F. Kennedy's "A Nation of Immigrants" would introduce the now-ubiquitous phrase. Yang said, "The book is trying to establish almost a new American history that says these people who came, you know, decades ago, you may have forgotten them; this is what makes America American. It's the fact that we are a nation of immigrants" – a sentiment new to a lot of Americans' ears. After Kennedy's assassination, at the height of the civil rights movement, the reformers (including Manny Celler, who was still serving in Congress) seized the moment, and on October 3, 1965, at (where else?) the Statue of Liberty, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act, which ended the ethnic quota system. "Those who do come will come because of what they are, and not because of the land from which they sprung," he said. But even the law's most ardent backers didn't anticipate just how many people would end up coming from all over the world. Since 1965, when that law went into effect, the share of foreign-born people living in America has slowly crept up to about 14 percent of the U.S. population – roughly the same as it was back in 1924 when the ethnic quotas were imposed. Yang says that today, if you meet someone and their family is from Africa, the Middle East or Asia, it's likely because of the paper that Johnson signed in 1965. "This law really transformed the whole country," she said. In a twist, the 1965 law limited immigration from Mexico and the rest of the Americas, setting the stage for the illegal immigration crisis at the Southern border. But it also allowed Jia-Lynn Yang's own parents to come to the U.S. after escaping the civil war in China, a fact she hadn't realized until writing a book about this chapter of the immigration story. She said, "When I looked into this history, I really understood how contingent my family's presence is here. I took it completely for granted, right? I grew up steeped in Statue of Liberty, Emma Lazarus poem, nation of immigrants – of course we were allowed to come here. It's a nation of immigrants." Yang said her parents felt deeply lucky to have come to America. "And I have two children now," she said. "Our family's entire story changed because we were allowed to come here. And now everything after me in the family tree is an American story." Surmising the posture and demeanor of Lady Liberty, Secretary Bunch said, "She's not a warrior. But she is powerful." And that power remains undiminished, says Bunch, who believes it is the immigrants themselves who gave the Statue of Liberty its meaning. "They imbued it with this notion that this is a symbol of the possibility of America," he said. "That's why I call it a statue of promise." FROM THE ARCHIVES: Charles Kuralt on the Statue of Liberty (Video) The reopening of Ellis Island to the public during America's bicentennial year prompted CBS News' Charles Kuralt to offer his thoughts on the sight of Lady Liberty as viewed by generations of immigrants, and on the diversity of a nation that welcomed those from every land seeking a safe haven and opportunity. For these new Americans, Kuralt said, "They carried our greatness in their baggage." (Originally broadcast May 28, 1976.) For more info: Story produced by Mark Hudspeth. Editor: Ed Givnish. See also:
The Independent
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Musical 'Hamilton' and historian Ron Chernow to receive Liberty Medal awards
The Broadway musical 'Hamilton' and the historian whose book inspired it will collect the National Constitution Center's Liberty Medal this fall, an award for efforts to spread liberty around the world. Ron Chernow and ' Hamilton ' will collect the medal and its $100,000 cash prize at an event in October on Philadelphia 's Independence Mall. Award organizers credited the book and musical for having a 'singular impact' by bringing to life and spreading the story of the U.S. Constitution and Alexander Hamilton, a pivotal figure in drafting and promoting the governing document. He was also the first U.S. treasury secretary. 'Hamilton,' which debuted on Broadway a decade ago, has become a cultural touchstone, winning the Pulitzer Prize, a Grammy and 11 Tony awards. Lin-Manuel Miranda, who created the musical, called the award a deep honor. 'The Constitution is not just a historical artifact — it's a challenge. A call to participate. To speak up, to imagine better, and to work, every day, toward that more perfect union,' he said in a statement released before the formal announcement. Chernow's many books have included biographies of former presidents George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant and, more recently, of writer and humoristMark Twain. 'In writing about Hamilton, Washington, and Grant, I've come to see that liberty is not a gift passed down through generations — it's a responsibility,' Chernow said in a statement. 'One that demands courage, compromise, and commitment. These men were imperfect, but they dared to envision something greater than themselves.' The Liberty Medal was established in 1988 to honor the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution's 1787 signing. Recent winners have included the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and PBS documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.
Associated Press
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Musical 'Hamilton' and historian Ron Chernow to receive Liberty Medal awards
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Broadway musical 'Hamilton' and the historian whose book inspired it will collect the National Constitution Center's Liberty Medal this fall, an award for efforts to spread liberty around the world. Ron Chernow and ' Hamilton ' will collect the medal and its $100,000 cash prize at an event in October on Philadelphia's Independence Mall. Award organizers credited the book and musical for having a 'singular impact' by bringing to life and spreading the story of the U.S. Constitution and Alexander Hamilton, a pivotal figure in drafting and promoting the governing document. He was also the first U.S. treasury secretary. 'Hamilton,' which debuted on Broadway a decade ago, has become a cultural touchstone, winning the Pulitzer Prize, a Grammy and 11 Tony awards. Lin-Manuel Miranda, who created the musical, called the award a deep honor. 'The Constitution is not just a historical artifact — it's a challenge. A call to participate. To speak up, to imagine better, and to work, every day, toward that more perfect union,' he said in a statement released before the formal announcement. Chernow's many books have included biographies of former presidents George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant and, more recently, of writer and humoristMark Twain. 'In writing about Hamilton, Washington, and Grant, I've come to see that liberty is not a gift passed down through generations — it's a responsibility,' Chernow said in a statement. 'One that demands courage, compromise, and commitment. These men were imperfect, but they dared to envision something greater than themselves.' The Liberty Medal was established in 1988 to honor the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution's 1787 signing. Recent winners have included the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and PBS documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.
