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A human rights group has launched a petition to remove former NBA star Dennis Rodman from the Basketball Hall of Fame after his most recent jaunt to North Korea.

The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a D.C.-based nonprofit, started the petition this week following the death of Otto Warmbier, an American student who was held by North Korea for 17 months before being released in a coma to the United States.

Mr. Rodman arrived in North Korea on June 13, the same day news broke that Warmbier had been released. U.S. officials have said theres no connection between his visit and the students release, CNN reported. Warmbier died Monday in Cincinnati.

Mr. Rodman, who has visited North Korea five times and befriended its brutal dictator, Kim Jong-un, says hes trying to bring basketball to the isolated country.

Everybodys going to be happy. It was a good day. It was a good trip. A really good trip, Mr. Rodman said in Beijing Saturday following his five-day trip, Reuters reported.

But the Victims of Communism group said Mr. Rodman has gone too far.

According to the Halls Board of Trustees, a candidate may be removed if he or she has damaged the integrity of the game of basketball, states the petition, which gathered more than 1,300 signatures as of Thursday afternoon. Clearly, Rodmans actions have tarnished the name and reputation of basketball and it is time that he is removed from the Hall of Fame. Doing so will send a message that all facets of American society, from sports to politics, will stand firm for our shared values and reject the shameless coddling of murderous dictatorial regimes.

Marion Smith, director of the rights group, said Warmbier was murdered by the North Korean regime.

The barbarous treatment received by this young American at the hands of his North Korean captors is sadly not a unique act, he told CNN. North Koreas government has a record of forcing innocent American tourists into decades of hard labor and of beating and torturing them to the point of death.

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Victims of Communism group wants Dennis Rodman booted from Hall of Fame - Washington Times

J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press

Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell leaves the chamber after announcing the release of the Republicans' healthcare bill which represents the party's long-awaited attempt to scuttle much of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 22, 2017.

In order to understand this issue, it is critical to understand the social and political forces that are in play and to know the facts surrounding the journey that began in 1965. We cannot simply ignore the reality of what has happened over the last half century and have any hope of finding a way back to a health care system that will work for everyone. Almost no one currently involved in this discussion remembers or, in many cases, was even alive when free-market health care actually existed and was operating smoothly at low cost in this country. We seem to have forgotten that the delivery of health care and the offering of health insurance to indemnify against the risk of incurring medical expenses are free enterprise, for-profit businesses, and not government agencies or charitable organizations.

There has been a gradual transformation from an attitude or philosophy of self-reliance and personal responsibility to one of entitlement and reliance on whatever government is willing to provide for political purposes. Another related discussion on what government is constitutionally authorized and economically capable of doing is for another day. We are constantly admonished about our collective need to have compassion and charity for the less fortunate among us. We are shamed into accepting government solutions to provide affordable, quality health care because, as a society, we are failing to make sure there are no poor among us.

This, of course, is nonsense. It is well documented the American people are the most charitable on earth. Websters New Collegiate Dictionary, 1951 edition, defines charity thus: 1. Divine love for man; Act of loving all men as brothers because they are sons of God. 2. Good will to the poor and the suffering; Almsgiving (anything given gratuitously to relieve the poor), etc. I used this dictionary because it pre-dates the plague of political correctness. Charity is an individual virtue, and I can find no example where government fits into any honest definition of charity. Government charity is more accurately described as coercing involuntary contributions from some to distribute to others. This is simply redistribution of wealth through taxation. The irony is that government has succeeded only in creating more poor among us.

Secondly, a truly free society involves risk and inevitably rewards for those who take personal responsibility to become educated and then use the opportunities and resources of a free enterprise system to improve their economic position. In so doing, they also create economic opportunity for others. The governments only responsibility is to ensure a level playing field and to protect against unfair and illegal business practices, not to guarantee success. Inevitably, there will be those who, for whatever personal or societal reasons, do not fare as well and suffer poor economic results. Freedom is hard work that offers unlimited rewards along with the risk of failure. Failure is simply one milestone on everyones road to success. Ask anyone who has succeeded at anything.

A look at socialism will explain why we are struggling with the current system. Socialism, as defined by that same dictionary: A political and economic theory of social organization based on collective or governmental ownership/control, and democratic management of the essential means for the production and distribution of goods. Socialism is a creeping cancer that incrementally contaminates the body of our free-market system, veiled in charity and directly conflicting with free enterprise. Ludwig von Mises, a world-renowned conservative economist, author of the Austrian System of Economics, and founder of the Ludwig von Mises Institute of Economics, said, There is no third system between a market economy and socialism. Mankind has to choose between those two systems unless chaos is considered an alternative.

This is the chaotic canvas that our current health care system is painted on.

Don Ruzicka has 43 years experience as an insurance agent/independent broker and is a pioneer in health insurance medical savings accounts and free-market health plan designs.

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Don Ruzicka: Health care's journey from free market to socialism - Deseret News

CAPE TOWN Unless we change those at the helm of our country and tighten up our Constitution to increase accountability and dilute the incredible powers vested in the President and party leaders, the current policy direction is stubbornly and blindly headed in the direction of a now-desolate Venezuela. They have the same socialist ideology and have carried out the very same policies as our current government, to their ultimate conclusion; well almost. The results are graphically depicted below by two Institute of Race Relations experts, Sara Gon, a Fellow and its Chief Economist, Ian Cruickshanks. Forget about ideology for a moment. Just look at the facts. If youre a physician and have prescribed the same treatment to two similarly-ailing patients, just one a lot earlier than the other, what do you do when the first one is admitted to ICU? The difference here is that here we have two metaphorical physicians who think and act the same but are too stubborn or ideologically-blinkered to admit or correct their mistakes. Its a costly exercise; ask Thabo Mbeki about HIV/AIDS. Chris Bateman

By Sara Gon and Ian Cruickshanks*

This is the twelfth week of continuous protests. Sixty-seven people have been killed and thousands injured. The president intends to rewrite the constitution.

The chief prosecutor challenges the presidents right to do so, but the Supreme Court says on Twitter that it rejects the challenge as inadmissible because it is an inept accumulation of pretensions.

The inflation rate is estimated to be over 300%. Reliance on a single natural resource to support the economy has crashed with the fall in global prices for it. In January 2016, the scarcity rate of food was estimated at between 50% and 80%. Between 16 and 17 July, 2016, over 123,000 people crossed the border seeking food.

Many reports have appeared of desperate citizens rummaging through garbage for food. The movement of all food is controlled by the government. The military is hoarding food and then charging exorbitant prices for it. Currently, a basket of basic grocery items costs nearly four times the monthly minimum wage. Foreign debt is worth six years of exports.

Water and electricity is being rationed. The shortage of medical supplies is so high that the United Nations has been asked for assistance. Thirty percent of children are malnourished. In 2016, the average citizen lost nearly 9 kilograms in weight.

The country, according to some estimates, now has the highest murder rate in the world. Welcome to Venezuela.

The South African Communist Partyproclaims that socialism is the future, and the African National Congress is proclaiming that theSecond Stage of the National Democratic Revolutionis in progress towards a socialist state.

We can see the future, and it doesnt work it is Venezuela.

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Venezuela offers SA a dire lesson in socialism at all costs - BizNews

BUTTE, Mont. - Butte's Historical Clark Chateau Mansion will be hosting its annual fundraising tea party this Saturday.

The event is called "Drink of the Wise: A Midsummer Night's Tea Party."

A portion of funds raised will go to the Caring Aid Fund of the St Patrick and Immaculate Conception Parishes, a program funded by donations to help the needy in the community.

The evening's entertainment includes presentations about kintsugi and wabi-sabi, two Japanese art forms. They will be presented by the Chateau's interns.

Another group will present a talk on the connection between tea and feminism.

Callison Stratton, the program manager of the Chateau, says the event is reflective of Butte's historical and current diversity.

She says the event is all about bringing community members together.

"Preserving places like the Chateau here in Butte are so important to keeping the cultural heritage of this town going and giving people a sense of ownership of their history and a sense of community," Stratton said.

She estimates 125 guests will show up on Saturday. Tickets are $40 and are almost sold out. Any remaining tickets will be available at the front door of the Chateau Mansion at 321 W. Broadway St.

The event starts at 6 p.m., and doors will open at 5:30 p.m.

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Butte's Clark Chateau Mansion tea party helps the needy - NBC Montana

Carson Becker wasnt interested in the usual kind of tea party.

The Clark Chateau, which Becker has managed since 2015 with Callison Stratton, has seen its share of tea parties in its day, she said but she wanted to think bigger for the chateaus annual fundraiser, beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 24.

Instead of petit-fours and clotted cream, the historic mansion will play host to Drink of the Wise: A Midsummer Nights Tea Party, a tour across continents and centuries to uncover the cultural history of tea and its culinary possibilities.

Proceeds will benefit chateau programs and the Caring Aid Fund, which helps feed the hungry in Butte.

The evenings entertainment will include presentations about kintsugi the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with decorative lacquer and wabi-sabi, a Japanese aesthetic philosophy that embraces imperfection as a form of beauty. The chateaus teen interns will give those presentations.

Another group will present a talk on the connection between tea and feminism.

Tea houses were one of the only places where unchaperoned women could go and be safe and hang out and talk to each other, Becker said.

In a brief history of tea she wrote for Butte Arts Monthly, Becker described the gradual adoption of tea into the cultural norm in Europe as well as its tie to the suffragette movement in England, which appeared to fulfill early fears that drinking tea was tantamount to shirking household duties and becoming politically active.

The musical group Alas Harum, which plays the Balinese instrument gamelan, will come from Missoula to perform. (They are part of the larger ensemble Missoula Community Gamelan, Manik Harum.) The group includes Megan McNamer, the first participant in the Mining City Writing Project collaboration between the Chateau and The Montana Standard.

The groups director, Dorothy Morrison, said she is looking forward to meeting Saturdays audience.

It seems like the people of Butte have a very open mind to the things that arent mainstream, she said. And this is a music that isn't mainstream at all.

Manik Harums teacher, Made Lasmawan, will be in Butte later this summer with his group, the Balinese All Stars, for the Montana Folk Festival.

Lake Missoula Tea Company is providing tea for the fundraiser Saturday. Chef Daniel Hogan designed the accompanying menu, which will feature dishes to match regional teas from almost every continent, like flatbread with rose jam and pine nuts to match Lapsang Souchong from China. Tea-infused cocktails will be provided by Headframe Spirits.

Tickets are nearly sold out, according to Becker, but some may be available at the door of the Clark Chateau on Saturday.

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Clark Chateau's 'tea party' fundraiser unlike all others - Montana Standard