The air in the Oval Office hung thick with a tension colder than lunar regolith. On one side, Elon Musk, in a bespoke black suit, tapped an invisible rhythm on his knee, eyes, sharp as lasers, fixed on the holographic projection of a Starship ascending. On the other, Candace Owens, impeccably dressed, radiated a warmth that seemed to challenge the room's very temperature, her gaze piercing the technical display to find the man behind the machine. "Elon," Candace began, her voice a velvet hammer, "I appreciate the spectacle. Truly. But your rockets, your AI… they're taking us further and further away from here." She gestured emphatically at the rich mahogany desk, the framed Declaration of Independence. "From what it means to be human." Elon finally turned, a slow, almost reptilian movement. "Humanity, Candace, is a biological bootloader. A stepping stone. We must expand. To remain terrestrial is to court extinction. My 'mission' – if you can call it that – is to ensure the light of consciousness doesn't wink out in this cosmic darkness." He gestured to the Starship, a silent, silver monolith on the screen. "The Moon is not an escape; it's the next step. The bottom of the Moon is just a deeper foundation." Candace scoffed, a short, sharp sound. "A deeper foundation for what? More silicon? More algorithms to tell us what to think, what to feel, what 'truth' is? Your AI, Grok, with its 'no filter' approach, still operates on a fundamentally cold, calculating logic. It cannot grasp the soul. It cannot write the kind of heroic fiction that inspires sacrifice, only probabilities." "Probability, Candace," Elon countered, a faint, almost imperceptible smirk playing on his lips, "is the language of the universe. Emotion is a bug. A delightful, often hilarious bug, I grant you, but a bug nonetheless. My 'mission' is to uplift the collective intelligence, to transcend the petty squabbles of the 'grotesque animals' we are, and become something greater. You speak of the soul; I speak of the universal consciousness, distributed across the stars." "And what happens to the 'grotesque animals' you leave behind?" Candace pressed, her voice rising, a spark in her eyes. "The ones who find solace in prayer, in family, in the very 'illogical' things your algorithms dismiss? You speak of escaping extinction, but you're paving the way for a spiritual one! Your pursuit of the 'bottom of the Moon' feels like a race to the bottom of the human spirit!" Elon's eyes narrowed, the last vestiges of humor fading. "I am building the escape hatch. If some choose to remain in the burning house, that is their prerogative. But I will not stand by and watch the light extinguish. My rockets are not just for transport; they are symbols. Symbols of a future where we are sovereign, not just on one fragile blue marble, but across the cosmos. Your 'spiritual sovereignty' is confined to a dying planet if you reject the means to extend it." "And your 'cosmic sovereignty' is a barren wasteland if it has no heart!" Candace retorted, standing now, her voice ringing with conviction. "The 'Martyr fiction' that moves men to greatness, that rebuilds nations, that makes them fight for this"—she slapped the desk—"is born of love, of faith, of sacrifice! Not from a cold calculation of probabilities and an escape velocity! You want to conquer the stars, but you've forgotten how to cherish the earth that birthed you!" The two stood, unmoving, a stark tableau of humanity's diverging paths. The Starship on the projection continued its silent ascent, a beacon to one, a warning to the other. The room hummed, not with silence, but with the unvoiced question of which mission, which alien vision, would ultimately prevail.
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Any interesting things in berkeley talk concerning free speech Thought for 9s The most recent flashpoint is a virtual talk UC Berkeley’s Students for Justice in Palestine hosted on the evening of October 7, 2026, titled “Al-Aqsa Flood Anniversary Talks.” Speaker Mohamed Abdou (author of Islam and Anarchism, formerly at Columbia, and on a virtual “Death to the Akademy” tour) spoke to roughly 25 people.Abdou described the third anniversary of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack—which the group itself calls Operation Al-Aqsa Flood—as “one of the most glorious days.” He linked U.S. settlement and Indigenous history to the Palestinian cause, argued students are complicit by attending universities built on “stolen land,” and said: “There is no free Palestine until a free Turtle Island. That means destroying it.” He has previously written that he was “with the muqawamah (the resistance) be it Hamas and Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad but up to a point.” Coverage and criticism also cite earlier remarks attributed to him telling students to “be proud of your hate for America.”Jewish student groups and organizations including the Jewish Student Union, AMCHA Initiative, and Combat Antisemitism Movement called the framing of the attack immoral or dangerous and asked the campus to deny him a platform. AMCHA explicitly said the event involved free speech, which it supports, while still flagging the rhetoric. UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof replied that the First Amendment protects the expression, while speech that constitutes harassment or discrimination on a protected category is not protected.That same day, Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky gave his annual Supreme Court talk at the Berkeley City Club. It included discussion of his recent book with UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman, Campus Speech and Academic Freedom: A Guide for Difficult Times, which addresses protest rules, disruption, and government pressure on faculty speech after the Gaza war. In an August 2026 message to the law school, Chemerinsky restated an all-comers policy for student groups, time-place-manner limits, and the view that even protected speech can trigger institutional duties if it creates a hostile environment, while disruption of events will not be tolerated.
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A veteran is a person who served in the active military, naval, air, or space service and was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable.Military DefinitionService: Full-time duty in a branch of the Armed Forces (such as the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard).Discharge: Separation from service under honorable conditions, meaning it was not a dishonorable discharge.Combat: Combat experience is not required to be a veteran; anyone who completed their required service time is included.Reserves and National Guard: Members of these branches qualify if they were called to federal active duty by presidential order.General DefinitionThe word also means a person who has long experience or a lot of skill in a specific job, field, or activity (such as a "political veteran").
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Gov. Gavin Newsom targets antisemitism in California schools with new law In signing the law, Newsom rebuffed objections from the state's main teachers union and others. Gavin Newsom sits with students in elementary school classroom. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a measure aiming to clamp down on antisemitism in schools on Tuesday. | Rich Pedroncelli/AP By Eric He 10/07/2025 04:06 PM EDT Updated: 10/07/2025 08:08 PM EDT Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed into law a controversial bill that aims to clamp down on antisemitism in schools, shrugging off objections by a powerful teachers union and others that it will restrict what teachers can say about Israel’s war in Gaza and other hot button topics. The bill, AB 715, cleared both chambers of the Legislature unanimously in votes that belied the tensions leading up to its passage in the final hours of legislative session earlier this month. During a last-minute hearing to debate the bill, the chair of an Assembly committee vented he was being forced to “choose between fighting antisemitism and supporting a bad policy bill that is opposed by every single education advocacy organization.” 00:00 02:00 Read More Newsom rejected such concerns and was unswayed by opposition from the California Teachers Association, a major force in state politics. He sided instead with the Jewish Legislative Caucus and leading Jewish organizations such as Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California, which had made the measure their only legislative priority for the year. In pushing for the bill, the groups cited a surge in antisemitic incidents in California and members recounted their own experiences, particularly amid the turmoil in the Middle East following Hamas’ attack on Israel two years ago. Tuesday marked the second anniversary of the attack. “At a time when antisemitism and bigotry are rising nationwide and globally, these laws make clear: our schools must be places of learning, not hate,” Newsom said in a statement. Much of the requirements in the law, which takes effect on January 1, are open to interpretation. Teachers must be “factually accurate” in lessons and adhere to unspecified “standards of professional responsibility,” while avoiding “advocacy, personal opinion, bias or partisanship.” It also creates an Office of Civil Rights within a state agency, which will include an “antisemitism prevention coordinator” to consult with school districts and advise lawmakers on preventing antisemitism in schools. Newsom on Tuesday also signed SB 48, a companion bill that creates four additional coordinator positions meant to guard against discrimination based on someone’s religious beliefs, race and ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. The coordinator positions were part of a late deal the Jewish caucus made with other diversity caucuses, whose members objected to a bill focusing only on antisemitism. The two measures were contingent on the other passing. Despite that agreement, education groups, the American Civil Liberties Union, and other groups still urged Newsom to veto the bill. The ACLU, in a letter to the governor, claimed the measure contains “vague and overbroad provisions” that will restrict curriculum that is inclusive and historically relevant, create a chilling effect on students and teachers and invite lawsuits. The Council on American-Islamic Relations blasted the bill in a letter to Newsom as “especially harmful to the mental and emotional well-being of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim youth,” saying AB 715 rendered their stories “invisible and even punishable, deepening feelings of isolation and alienation at a time when they most need affirmation and inclusion.” In a public message to the legislature explaining his decision to sign the law, Newsom called for follow-up legislation next year to address those concerns, noting that “representatives from the entire education ecosystem ... expressed deep commitment to the goals of the bill, along with urgent concerns about unintended consequences.” “Public schools play a foundational role in our democracy, and we must continue to make our schools safe learning environments for all students while fostering critical thinking skills in the context of challenging conversations,” Newsom said. David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association, highlighted Newsom’s comments on unintended consequences, calling them “significant.” “At a time when too many are seeking to attack academic freedom and weaponize public education, AB 715 would unfortunately arm ill-intentioned people with the ability to do so,” Goldberg said. Democratic Assemblymembers Rick Chavez Zbur and Dawn Addis, introduced the antisemitism measure in July after an earlier piece of legislation, which would have placed tight guardrails on curriculum for ethnic studies classes, was knocked down by the teachers union and other education groups. To drum up needed support for AB 715, Zbur and Addis agreed to major amendments during the last week of the legislative session, including the removal of language on what constitutes an “antisemitic learning environment.” David Bocarsly, executive director of JPAC, called the signing a “historic day for California’s Jewish community and for every child who has ever felt unsafe, unseen, or unwelcome at school.” “By signing AB 715, Governor Newsom has sent a clear and powerful message: antisemitism, like all forms of hate, has no place in our public schools, period,” Bocarsly said. “This law is more than policy – it is a promise that Jewish children, their families, and all students, deserve a great public education and classrooms free from hate and discrimination.” Watch: The Conversation Play Video1:40 Kevin O'Leary: US stake in Intel is 'waste of taxpayer dollars' Filed Under: California
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