Science on the brain with Mark Guttman: I don't want to take the simulation hypothesis into my thought process. It seems like a rabbit hole. Yet it is in agreement with what looks to be deep questions about free will. It's not clear that we have no free will, but how we do have any at all. The direction of the better world project seems unifying and a fact of human survival. That golden age is in our reach if we all work to get there.
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To those that think America wants to commit serious crimes, that are very wrong: By Ron Kampeas December 19, 2024 5:37 pm WASHINGTON — A report on campus antisemitism by the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives recommended cutting government funding to universities that boycott Israel. The report released Thursday detailed the findings of seven congressional committees and painted a dire picture of antisemitism in the United States while specifying that it concerned “antisemitism on college campuses and in government.” “Across the nation, Jewish Americans have been harassed, assaulted, intimidated, and subjected to hostile environments — violations that stand in stark contrast to America’s fundamental values, including a foundational commitment to religious freedom for all,” the report said. “The Committees’ findings are alarming,” it said. “For instance, some of our most prominent American universities refused to crack down on antisemitism.” The Education Committee, chaired by North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, has gained attention over the past year-plus for a series of hearings on campus antisemitism — one of which led to the resignation of the leaders of two Ivy League schools. The committee recommended that Congress pass a law to cut federal financial aid for students, under Title IV of the 1965 Higher Education Act, at universities that boycott Israel. “A significant amount of campus unrest resulted from anti-Israel radicals’ efforts to coerce institutions to divest from and boycott Israel,” said the report. “Congress can help stop this madness by passing legislation so any institution of higher education that contravenes U.S. foreign policy by boycotting or divesting from Israel will become ineligible for federal student aid under Title IV.” The report focused on a handful of universities where reports of pro-Palestinian protesters harassing and intimidating Jewish and Israeli students have been most prominent, among them Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of California, Los Angeles, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University and Columbia University. It said efforts by the administrators of those universities to address antisemitism on campus were inadequate or nonexistent. It singled out Northwestern and Columbia for not clearing out pro-Palestinian encampments last spring that, the report said, intimidated Jewish students. Northwestern’s Jewish president took flak this year for the agreement the school struck with encampment protesters, and defended the deal in a contentious congressional hearing. “These encampments frequently generated substantial harassment – and in some cases physical assaults – of Jewish students, created hostile environments, and disrupted campus operations,” the report said. “In a dereliction of their responsibilities, many school officials failed to clear these encampments in a timely manner, often negotiating with encampment participants, and in some cases appeasing them with appalling concessions.” The tax-writing Ways and Means Committee recommended removing the tax-exempt status of nonprofit groups that, it said, abet terrorism. The Commerce Committee, which oversees the Department of Health and Human Services, recommended that the department more closely scrutinize whether educational institutions receiving its National Institutes of Health research grants are protecting Jewish students. The report said that protections extended to Jewish students must apply when Zionists are named as the targets of exclusion or harassment. NYU changed its by-laws to outlaw discrimination against “Zionists” this summer. “Universities should make clear that discrimination against Zionists is an unacceptable violation of their conduct policies and must prevent hostile environments created by discrimination against ‘Zionists,'” it said. “Campus Jewish communities are often targeted through antisemitic discrimination and harassment on the purported basis of being ‘Zionists.’ While criticism of Israel is not inherently antisemitic, hatred against ‘Zionists’ is.” When House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, launched the multi-pronged investigation in April, he made clear that its sole focus would be universities and groups often identified with the left that have backed the pro-Palestinian protests. The report barely mentioned right-wing antisemitism, and comes amid reports that the incoming Trump administration plans on shutting down the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to track far-right extremists. The only allusion to right-wing antisemitism was when the report cited Claudine Gay, the former Harvard University president for “disparaging” New York Rep. Elise Stefanik as a a “purveyor of hate” and “supporter of proudboys.” Stefanik, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations, has echoed a version of “Replacement Theory,” a baseless claim whose original form says Jews are orchestrating the mass immigration of people of color to replace whites. Stefanik’s campaign said in 2021 that Democrats want to “overthrow our current electorate” via undocumented immigrantion to the United States. She has also used the term “hostages” to refer to people prosecuted for their involvement in the pro-Trump Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, which sought to overturn the 2020 election. A number of those defendants are members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group. Stefanik’s questioning of Gay in Congress, in which Gay equivocated about whether she would penalize calls for the genocide of Jews at Harvard, led to Gay’s stepping down. The Jewish Federations of North America welcomed the report. “We applaud House leadership for publishing this report, which sheds light on this critical issue,” said its vice president of government relations, Karen Paikin Barall. “To put a halt to this hatred, bipartisan collaboration along with public and private sector partners is essential. We look forward to working in the next Congress to confront this critical challenge.”
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Woke trampling ON JEWS to end: Politics exclusive Alan Dershowitz, ex-RHONY star among contenders for Trump’s antisemitism envoy By Jon Levine Published Dec. 21, 2024, 12:25 p.m. ET Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz is under consideration to serve as President Trump’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, people with familiar with matter told The Post. The position, an ambassador-level gig requiring Senate confirmation, is currently held by historian Deborah Lipstadt. “Dershowitz is being considered. . . . People who care about this are pushing it,” said one person close to Trump. Alan Dershowitz, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard, speaking at the Jerusalem Post Annual Conference in New York City. 3 Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz has emerged as a contender to be Trump’s President Trump’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, LightRocket via Getty Images “He’s a brilliant defender of the Jewish people, a fighter, and has enough intellectual integrity to oppose all the lawfare against Trump, even [when he was] a Democrat.” Continue watching This Day in History after the ad Dershowitz, 86, was spotted walking around Mar-a-Lago last week, chitchatting with club members. The longtime lawyer served on Trump’s defense team during his 2020 impeachment trial and regularly defends the president on Fox News. He’s advocacy has even gotten him cancelled in Martha’s Vineyard, where he has a home. Explore More NYPD's top cop abruptly resigns after allegedly demanding underling perform sexual favors Coast Guardsman says White House is 'making sh-t up' after his vessel was tailed by fleet of drones US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, both wearing black masks, attending the dignified transfer of a fallen service member's remains at Dover Air Force Base. Tired Biden forced grieving military families to wait hours — while he napped on Air Force One Dersh, however, could be facing competition from glamorous social media influencer Lizzy Savetsky. Savetsky, 39, has been an outspoken defender of Jewish people online, and was faced with a torrent of online abuse for her pro-Israel stance after she was announced as a star of Real Housewives of New York in 2022, prompting her to ultimately step away from the show. Savetsky was recognized for her work fighting antisemitism by Mayor Adams earlier this week. Savetsky is married to plastic surgeon Ira Savetsky who made headlines (and earned death threats) for offering free plastic surgery to victim’s of Hamas’ Oct 7 attack. Her cause is being championed on the inside by Trump fundraiser Blair Brandt. Grand Marshall Lizzy Savetsky wearing sunglasses and a sash, waving at the 2023 Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City 3 Among other aspirants for the job is former Real Housewives star Lizzy Savetsky. Getty Images Other insiders note that being a beautiful social media star isn’t hurting her chances with Trump. Others in the mix reportedly include career State Department official Ellie Cohanim, who served as the deputy special envoy during the first Trump administration and Brooke Goldstein, founder of the nonprofit Lawfare Project, which specializes in using litigation to fight antisemitism. “[Goldstein] wants it badly. She’s running around telling everybody she was born for this job,” an insider said. Dershowitz, Savetsky and Cohanim declined to comment. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump pointing while delivering remarks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida on December 16, 2024 3 Dershowitz served on Trump’s defense team during his 2020 impeachment trial and frequently defends him publicly. REUTERS Goldstein told The Post she would be “honored” to receive the appointment and would happily accept the job if offered. The special envoy position was first created in 2004 after Congress passed the Global Antisemitism Review Act. The office “advances U.S. foreign policy on antisemitism” and has an annual budget of $1.75 million. In his first term Trump left the office vacant for two years, before finally naming attorney Elan Carr to the post in 2019. The role will likely be more high profile this time around. Trump made fighting antisemitism a cornerstone of his 2024 presidential campaign, with bold promises to bring peace back to the Middle East and crackdown on antisemitism at home.
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States and Countries I would bet on for having a good future: States: Iowa, Maine, South Carolina, Idaho, Tennesee, Texas, South Dakota, Washington, Georgia, Utah. Countries: Asian Islands, South East Asia, Singapore, Poland, Finland, Baltic Countries, Spain, Portugal, Urugauy, Columbia, Argentina, South Africa, Israel, Saudi Arabia, India, Nepal, New Zealand.
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