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the-garbanzo-annex-jr · 6 months ago

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by Lincoln Brown

Beckett Law, a religious freedom advocacy group, has taken up the cause of three Jewish students at UCLA. The students claim that in the wake of the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, they faced mounting antisemitism, which included barring them from access to areas of the campus. The students are also represented by Clement & Murphy, PLLC.

In the lawsuit, Frankel v. The Regents of the University of California, the plaintiffs claim that pro-Hamas/anti-Israel protesters set up barricades on the Los Angeles campus, effectively creating a "Jewish Exclusion Zone." Beckett Law states that after creating the encampment, protesters not only constructed barriers but also linked arms to prevent Jewish students from accessing the most popular areas on campus. They also imposed an ideological test, and those whose views were deemed to be sufficiently anti-Israel were issued wristbands and allowed to pass unmolested through the "checkpoints."

By contrast, Beckett law says that Jewish students were harassed and even assaulted. Law student Yitzchok Frankel was forced to find other ways to reach his classes because his route was blocked by the exclusion zone. Sophomore Joshua Ghayoum could not attend classes or study sessions because of the zone and the antisemitic activities on campus. Additionally, he was forced to listen to chants of "death to the Jews" and "death to Israel." Eden Shemuelian had trouble getting to her final exams because of the zones and had to listen to the vitriol from the encampment as she tried to study. These, said Beckett Law, are just three examples of the problems faced by Jewish students at UCLA.

Mark Rienzi, president and CEO of Becket, stated:

If masked agitators had excluded any other marginalized group at UCLA, Governor Newsom rightly would have sent in the National Guard immediately. But UCLA instead caved to the anti-Semitic activists and allowed its Jewish students to be segregated from the heart of their own campus. That is a profound and illegal failure of leadership. This is America in 2024—not Germany in 1939. It is disgusting that an elite American university would let itself devolve into a hotbed of antisemitism. UCLA’s administration should have to answer for allowing the Jew Exclusion Zone and promise that Jews will never again be segregated on campus.

The suit notes:

Defendants have deprived Plaintiffs of the free exercise and enjoyment of religion without discrimination or preference, as secured by the California Constitution, through a policy and practice that treats Plaintiffs differently than similarly situated non-Jewish individuals because Plaintiffs are Jewish.

Defendants furthered no legitimate or compelling state interest by engaging in this conduct.

Defendants failed to tailor their actions narrowly to serve any such interest.

As a result of Defendants’ actions, Plaintiffs have been injured by losing access to educational opportunities, losing access to library and classroom facilities, losing in-person learning opportunities, losing the ability to prepare for exams, being denied equal participation in the life of the university, suffering emotional and physical stress that has diverted time, attention, and focus from study, and by other harms.

In addition to seeking compensation for damages, the primary goal of the lawsuit is to hold the leadership of the University of California accountable and ensure that such a situation never arises again.

As usual, "never again" is here and now. The fact that these "students" take a great deal of pride in slinging the term "Nazi" at anyone with which they disagree yet use tactics that echo those of the Third Reich is ironic and chilling. But their savage nature can be attributed, at least in part, to those who educated them.

Given that, one must ask if the regents of the University of California were merely caving to mob pressure. Did they turn a blind eye to the madness out of fear or because of the optics? Ideally, there should be nothing wrong with discussing the war and even debating whether or not Israel's response to the Hamas attack has been proportionate.

The regents, president, vice-president, and chancellors never stopped to think, "Gee, it seems to be getting awfully brownshirty around here." And if they did, they were too cowardly or indoctrinated to say a word.

#ucla #jewish students #lawsuit #antisemitism

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zzaunite · 1 year ago

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MENACE

natasha romanoff x reader ; you've never been more helpless. nat likes you best like that.

warnings: nsfw, explicit smut, cnc, unsafe bdsm practices, no aftercare, somnophilia, heavy choking, one single mention of medical kink

RATED E FOR EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT ; 18+

a/n: i think i remember how to do this. cheers.

Natasha Romanoff is grumpy when you meet her (and sporting a week’s worth of insomnia under her eyes and wearing a tee that’s a little too tight, too, but as appealing as both of those are neither endears you as much as her furrowed brow and little frown).

Two weeks later you’re on recon with her, some assignment dropped into your lap an hour before wheels were expected to be up.

“You’re going into the field, rookie,” Stark told you, and, “Romanoff will babysit you, but if you’re as good as your resume claims you shouldn’t need her.”

Recon only. No engagement unless necessary.

The two of you post up in a slimy cave high in the mountains, half a mile above the entrance to a long forgotten mine that may or may not be the newest hideout of one of Stark’s most-wanted. It’s a stupid assignment, Stark could have sent drones, but you reckon he just wants to see how well you do with bullshit assignments, last minute takeoffs, and taking orders.

“Could be fun,” Natasha says, dangling a flask in front of your face.

“Is this a test?”

She smiles.

An hour later you’re tipsy and breaking a protein bar in half to split for dinner.

“I know this is bullshit,” she says, and to her credit she does sound apologetic, “but Tony likes to test people. He wants to see you prove yourself, you know, make it known that you’re as competent as you are on paper.”

You can’t say that’s not fair. This is, after all, no nine-to-five, but, “How am I supposed to prove myself when there’s fuck-all to do?”

Natasha laughs.

An hour later Natasha’s her own stoic version of piss drunk, you’re far worse off, and you’re staring at each other with a vigor that would scare the hell out of you even if she weren’t your immediate supervisor.

But you’ve always liked fear.

You make the first move: you crawl onto her lap, sink down against toned thighs, and tuck in. Her lips are warm, softer than you’re used to, and she doesn’t protest. She licks into your mouth and clamps her hands around your thighs and though you’ve never crossed a boundary like this before, you can’t see yourself ever going back.

Natasha makes the first move next time.

When she asks you out for drinks the week after you return you assume the address she sends you will be a bar.

It’s her apartment.

Bold.

She answers the door in black fatigues and a tank top and takes you right to her bedroom, sinks down on the edge of the California king, and puts you on her lap. She likes you there, where she can reach all of you, where your chest presses up against hers, and your mouth is right there for the taking. She’s gentle until you push your hands through her hair and tell her, “You don’t have to be so nice, you know.”

She’s never gentle after that.

She likes throwing you around, and likes that you can take it, knows it makes your heart flutter and your cheeks flush when she reminds you time and again how much stronger than you she is. On your back is how she likes you best, with your legs spread open and your knees pushed back as close to your chest as they’ll go.

Sometimes she’ll clamp a hand around your throat and dig her nails into the soft skin beneath your jaw until you can’t breath and you’re clawing at her arm and your vision’s starting to go. Sometimes she won’t let go at all, not until you slip away and your body slackens and she’s left fucking a fake cock into your helpless cunt.

You don’t know what she does to you when you’re out cold until she starts to film it.

Filthy fucking videos, those are, full of her laughter and your inability to protest while she does things like stuff her fist into your sloppy hole or perform a full pelvic exam wherein she dons rubber gloves and leaves you gaping around a speculum far longer than any licensed practitioner ever would.

“Look at you,” she’ll say later after she slaps you back to consciousness and queues up her newest video, “you’re so easy to break.”

It’s easier when you come back to with your mouth empty; when she brings you back and you’ve still got your own panties stuffed into your mouth she never lets you pull them out to catch your breath until she’s had her fun holding you down while you struggle to regain your hold on the world.

Sometimes you wake back up on your own while she’s in the middle of things. You either love or hate those times the most, but you’re never sure which.

“...doesn’t matter if you don’t want it,” she’s saying this time, and she’s blurry above you (and there are three of her and three sets of nails carving jagged red lines down your torso, but you know there will only be one of each in a minute or two), “gonna fuck your whore pussy anyway and you’re going—to—take—it.”

“—Nat—”

“Look who’s awake.”

You can hear the smirk in her voice, can see the bright white glare of her cell camera, and you’re sure you look like hell and that she’s going to give you shit for that later, but that’s the least of your worries.

“Stark should fire you,” she says. “Maybe he will once he finds out you’ve been getting your stupid hole stuffed on camera for months. Or maybe he’d like your little videos. Maybe he’d even want a turn with you, huh? Would you like that?”

No, but only because by her rules you're not allowed to think about anyone else like that.

But you can't say that, not unless you want her to go and make it happen. You learned long ago that Natasha Romanoff is nothing if not genuine in her threats.

“Maybe I would,” you say, low and hoarse, and it almost sounds like a growl.

She finds a pressure point and digs in, and, “Don’t you dare fucking lie to me,” she says, and you’re out again.

The next morning you wake up to the sun cutting through the window and warming your bare back, waking with you the memories of the night before and bringing it all to a boil in your belly. You want to relive them. You want her to fuck you again, to stuff you full and flood you with desperation and desire.

She pulls the sheets from your body and flips you onto your back, coasting a hand up your shin as she settles at the foot of the bed.

“Show me your pussy,” she says, soft, mocking, like she’s requesting the easiest thing in the world from the dumbest little thing she’s ever met.

Your knees part, legs falling open without thought, and you can tell the slick between your thighs from the night before is still there.

She lifts her brows and looks.

“You look sloppy,” she says, pulling your lips apart and dragging a nail over your clit. “Let me make it worse.” She slaps you before you have time to think and though it hurts it’s the lingering sting that pulls a cry from your throat. It’s been a while since she’s hit you like this, between the thighs, where the shame hurts worse than anything else.

The next time you see it coming, but you don’t stop her. You don’t even bother to keep your legs from trying to clamp shut when she slaps your cunt for the second time, you just screw your eyes shut and force your legs open again because for that you know she won’t stop until you’re crying and begging her to do something—anything—to get you off.

It takes you a minute to focus up when she’s done, to familiarize yourself with the steady throb between your legs and the warm pressure of Natasha pushing something into you.

She’s kneeling between your legs, hands clamped around your thighs to keep them apart as she lazily fucks into you with a cock as thick as your forearm.

“Look at that,” she says with a little laugh. “Even when you’re looser than a ten-cent hooker I can still find something to stretch you out with.”

And you know she can feel you clenching as she tries to ease out, like you’re pulling her in, and if she were any man she’d be spent in sixty seconds or less, but her stamina knows no bounds and even as your hole gushes with relief she’s still driving into you, and you wouldn't have it any other way.

#natasha romanoff x reader #natasha x reader #natasha romanoff smut #natasha romanoff imagines #marvel imagines #rated: e #natasha #!fic #!darkfic

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genyawritesshizz · 5 months ago

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Roaring Muscles

Summary: Toshinori meets someone at the gym.

Takes place while he's studying abroad.

Silly little oneshot that I literally wrote in the span of a couple hours. No editing soooo yeah if you see grammatical errors my bad.

I've been wanting to write something for this OC I've had stuck in my head for ages sooo maybe I'll write more with her in it should this be received well and or I find time to do so. We'll see.

2500-word count

Due to the devastating loss of Nana, the looming threat of all for one resurfacing and the inexperience of wielding one for all Gran Torino had sent the freshly UA graduated Toshinori to America. Studying abroad would hopefully buy the aspiring symbol of peace enough time to become what he so desperately wanted to be.

So far, life in America had been every bit of excitement as Yagi had imagined, the initial first month had been the toughest. Adjusting to western culture, no matter how well versed he thought he was, still took getting used to. No western nor action thriller could have properly prepared him for the hustle and bustle of California, yet with his first semester of college on the horizon he pushed himself to do his best.

“Do you want to hit the gym with me?” Looking up from his textbook David, Yagi’s roommate, smiled but inevitably looked back at the words.

“Can’t, got an exam coming up.”

“Already? But the semester just started.”

“Ha, you’re telling me? Unfortunately, Finite Element Analysis waits for no one.” David gave a piteous chuckle and shook his head “Go on ahead without me”

Wishing his friend the best of luck with his studies, Toshinori grabbed his water bottle and headed out, jogging the short distance from his dorm to the gym. The first section of the gym had been dedicated to more normal, everyday gym equipment, for the average human. However, the back half had been optimized for students with stronger, strength-based quirks. Racks that could support thousands of pounds as opposed to hundreds, and plates stacked high into the tons. Toshinori’s bread and butter.

Approaching the open locker area he placed his keys inside, however the clinking of another locker opening beside him guided his gaze over. From the corners of his vision his heart leapt into the back of his throat.

A woman stood before him, depositing her purse into the locker. Her striking slitted amber eyes focused on the phone held within her hands. Thin eyebrows scrunching as nimble fingers tapped at the screen.

‘She’s bea-’

As the thought entered his mind the slamming of the locker derailed it. Walking away, the woman ventured out, lost to the field of equipment. Fixing his gaze back into the chipped gray paint of his own locker and taking a sip from his water bottle the now flustered hero snapped back to reality.

Entering his domain he took notice of the already hard at work patrons, eyes scanning for any available racks. Spotting a seemingly unoccupied station he set to work on loading the bar. Laying down on the cooled leather of the bench and adjusting his grip for proper form he began his first set. However, as he racked the weight for a brief rest between sets his eyes caught onto the person in front of him at the squat rack.

The same woman from the lockers loaded up her own rack. Yagis watched as she carried plate after plate to the lowered bar, eyes widening as he mentally tallied up the weight.

He had only been attending this gym for a few weeks and already he had seen his fair share of overzealous gym rats try their luck at pushing far too heavy of weights, normal civilians trying to show off and inevitably failing. Yagi feared if he had not been there to pick up the slack they would have sustained possible life threatening injuries. Crushed spines, skulls and knees were no laughing matter.

Sitting up from his bench, ready to launch himself over to assist with bated breath, he watched as the woman clipped the bar off and stood before the whopping two thousand pound load. Bending down, keeping her legs spread but firm for a solid base, and placing both hands firmly on the bar she lifted it with ease.

‘She's…she’s reaping it?!’

Slowly with arms straight and back flat she pulled the bar up eight times in a deadlift before letting the bar down with a solid thunk at the end of her first set.

Now in awe Yagi took a better look at the shocking woman before him. Though facing away he could still map out some distinguishing features.

First off, she was tall. Far taller than any woman he had seen to date. A ponytail of thick burnt orange curls clipped haphazardly over a long sleeved shirt that hung loosely off her frame. Yet what caught his attention was the tail that sprouted out from her baggy sweatpants. The fuzzy furred appendage swayed to and from, its distinctive black stripes clued the mesmerized man as to what her quirk would be.

“Hey man, are you done with this bench?”

His head whipped around, knocked from his daze, Yagi looked up. A man glared down at him; annoyance written within furrowed brows.

“Uh yeah let me just finish my set.” Laying back down he quickly reaped out the remaining sets, once again flustered by this mysteriously strong woman.

Moving onto his next exercise he grabbed two dumbbells, taking a seat that faced a mirrored wall and began shoulder pressing the weight.

However, once again curious eyes wondered, looking behind himself through the mirror he spied the woman again. Laying down onto the leg press, weight again loaded far higher than he anticipated she too began the exercise. Now with a clear view of her face he again took note. High cheekbones lined down to a strong jawline, and full expressive lips parted with deep breaths after each push.

‘She’s truly beautiful… and those ey-’

A solid ‘thunk’ against his head shot his attention back to his own work. He had accidentally brought the dumbbell down too close to his noggin, resulting in a now aching spot.

‘Focus’

Grinding out the remainder of his arm workout, sweat soaked and in need of water Yagi retreated back to his locker. The mysterious woman had vanished, the locker she once occupied left open and empty. A small pit of sadness wailed at the bottom of his stomach, he had hoped to at least say hello.

The jog back to his dorm filled with thoughts of the woman.

‘What type of animal has a tail like that? A lion? Panther? No, no, not those. Tiger? Yes! A tiger that's it. Tiger quirk. Hm, so she must have enhanced strength. What other abilities does she possess? Maybe she’d fast too?’ Even as he entered the shared space his mind still caught within its curiosity.

“How was the gym?�� David stood within the small kitchenette.

“Hm? oh, It was fine.”

Nodding and somewhat puzzled at his usually talkative roommate's sudden reluctance, David retreated back to his desk.

The following days every time Toshinori had returned to the gym he searched for her, never intending to be creepy, as in he never sought her out, though his eyes would always wander.

Walking toward the edges of the room in search of a cable attachment his eyebrows furrowed as the sounds of something being slammed filter into his ears.

Following the commotion to a closed off room labeled ‘Martial Arts’ he cracked the door open, peeking inside. The brutal slams ricocheted off the small rooms walls.

‘It’s her.’

Repeatedly, faster than Yagis curious eyes could keep up with skin met leather in brutal kicks.

Like a predator to its prey, her gaze held steadfast to the swinging bag. Uncaring to the blond protruding on her hunting grounds.

‘She seems busy. Maybe next time. Yes, next time I’ll talk to her’

Once again back at the dorm with his mind full David eyed him skeptically.

“What's with the face?”

“What face?” Finally looking at his roommate Yagi could feel the heat radiating off his cheeks, threatening to leak over to his ears. “That! You’ve got this flustered look on your face. Did something happen at the gym?”

“No! Nothing happened.” Squinting behind thick rimmed glasses the engineer peered up to bashful roommate. The wavering smile stretched across his chiseled features did little to back his dismissal.

“Did you meet someone?”

“I mean- No! No i didn’t”

“You’re a damn bad liar Toshi. Who was it?” Sighing with slumped shoulders he gave up his attempt to hide.

“Fine. Yes, I did see someone there, but I have no idea who they were.”

“You didn’t try to talk to them?”

“No I didn’t.” His bottom lip kicked out just a tad in defeat.

“I’m surprised, you don’t seem like the shy type.”

“I’m not! But, she looked focused and I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“Mhm sure.” Teasingly drawing out the last word a smirk spread across the side of David lips. “What did she look like?”

‘Beautiful.’

“Uh she has an animal quirk, a tiger I think and she was in the martial arts room today. Oh and she’s really tall and strong and…” Trailing off the blush finally creeped over at his blatant admiration.

“Oh! I wonder if it was Ellie.”

“You know her?” David could not help but laugh at his friend's excitement, Toshi’s vibrant cerulean eyes widening and beaming into him as if he had just spilled the nation's top secrets.

“She’s also in the hero course, though I think she’s in the other class. My friend Sarah was assigned to make her gear this semester. Like how I’ve been assigned to make yours. I’ve talked to her a bit.”

“I see…” Trailing off with a nod of his head Toshinori felt unsure as to what to say next. Would it have been impolite to ask David to introduce them? Was that the coward's way out? Yagi was no coward.

“Yeah, she seems pretty chill.”

“Chill?”

‘She’s cold? Is that from her quirk?’ American slang was still something he had to get accustomed to.

“Relaxed, easygoing. You should try talking to her next time.”

“I will!” Determined, his once wavering smile returned to its bold and boisterous shine. Yagi is no coward! He will talk to her!

“I'm going to the gym, do you want to go?”

“Nah, Sarah’s supposed to come over in a bit to study.”Nodding at his dismissal he grabbed his keys and water bottle, ready to head out however just as he turned to leave David yelled back to him.

“Don’t forget, talk to her!” Giving a seldom thumbs up he began his jog to the gym.

‘She might not even be there, but if she is…’

Entering the designated area he attempted to focus solely on his own leg workout.

‘If I see her I'll talk to her I-’ The words of encouragement came to a screeching halt as he racked the weight he was squatting and finally gazed out into the spacious gym.

Laying flat on the bench he had occupied days prior pressing weights there she was, tail flicking and back slightly arched.

Awaiting for her to finish, so as to not interrupt, he uneasily approached.

‘Just talk to her, afterall David said she was..cold? No that's not the word… Chill! She’s chill!’

“Hi, I-” Before the words could even leave his mouth she got up from the bench and walked away. Stunned at her disregard, yet catching her side profile he quickly zeroed in on the earbuds placed in her small cat-like ears.

‘She can’t hear me…Maybe I shou- NO! I’m going to talk to her!’

Throughout his remaining time at the gym Toshinori had tried to steel his nerves and face his hesitation head on just to simply introduce himself, yet each time he approached she always seemed to slip out of his grasp.

Defeated once again he settled for a short sprint of the treadmill as a cool down. As his thunderous footsteps pounded away and his thoughts reflected the whirling of the machine next to him shifted his focus.

There she was, pace increasing and vibrant curls bouncing with each step. She moved so agile, gliding into the movements, arms held by her sides moving in tandem.

‘She’s so-’

His stomach plummeted as his foot caught against the other, the world rapidly turning vertical. Pushing his arms out in an attempt to catch himself only resulted in the poor skin of his wrist to grind against the speeding belt. His hulking body was sent flying off in a colossal heap.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Regaining his senses his eyes opened, right before him she stood, hand outstretched, slitted eyes finally locked onto him.

The reality of the situation hit him like a ton of bricks, he just fell… in front of her. The first time she’s ever taken notice of him and it's of him embarrassing himself. Just as his mind began its nuclear meltdown the gleam of concern glinting into her eyes shook him away.

“Y-yes, yes, I’m alright.” However, as his own hand reached out to grasp hers a hiss slithered through his clenched teeth.

“Looks like you skinned your arm pretty bad, I’ve got some spray that’ll help with that in my purse, common.”

Before he could object she heaved Toshinori back to his feet with a single pull and ushered him over to the locker area.

Standing before the lockers she rummaged through her purse, before bringing out a small bottle wound wash.

“Why do you carry that in your purse?” laughing she bent her wrist to show her tattered knuckles, the skin red and purple.

“Martial arts.”

Silently nodding he watched as she removed the cap, retaking his hand into hers and angled the spray.

“This might sting a bit.”

Indeed it did, yet Yagi’s mind was simply too enraptured to care. Up close he could see the faint stripes racing up her arms, the streaks of auburn in her hair, the golden flakes in her slitted eyes. She was even more ethereal up close.

Unbeknownst to him, she had taken notice of his love drunken expression, not that it was hidden.

Truth be told she had noticed him here plenty of other times. It was pretty hard to miss someone who managed to be both taller and stronger than her. The way he carried himself screamed power and confidence, yet here within her touch he seemed no better than a pubescent school boy.

After a few spritz and fanning, she turned back to riffle through her purse once more.

“Wha-”

Cut off by the cool gel of ink gliding against the unmarred side of his arm, Toshinori gazed down at her penmanship.

He could not believe his eyes.

‘Ellie Brooks xxx-xxx-xxxx Call me.’

‘She... she gave me her number?’

Recapping the pen and depositing it back into her purse she slung the bag over her arm, heading towards the exit.

“YES!” The booming thunderous praise caused her to turn around, finding the man she had just given her number to shocked and reddened at his own outburst. She could not help but laugh.

‘He’s cute.’

#mha all might #all might #fanfic #boku no hero academia #all might fluff #all might x oc #my hero academia oc

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drdemonprince · 1 year ago

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Heyyyy. I just had an unsettling thought. So I’ve been learning about the oxygen of amplification and thinking about whether I’ve been giving “free food” to bigots by paying too much attention to the wrong things.

You’ve written about being “a vault” being a benefit especially when it comes to health care, and lying to employers, and, basically, intentionally using masking to get ahead.

Over the past five or so years, I have tended to go in a different direction - being more vocal about my disabilities and the disabilities of others, in the hope that I’m being an advocate for awareness and acceptance. I’ve had a lot of people tell me I’m “brave” for behaving that way and it always confuses me, because it’s easier for me to be honest than it is for me to lie or hide the truth.

But I am reminded of being on a conference call with the California board of law examiners (the people who make the bar exam for California) at the start of the pandemic. I spoke on the call about how law school makes people (if I remember correctly) as much as three times more likely to be depressed between the time they enter and the time they leave. There’s additional context here that I could add but I’m not sure if it’s necessary.

Anyway, while I was speaking, one of the people on the board (at least, my colleagues and I were pretty sure it was) very loudly yelled at me to “FUCK OFF.”

I wonder if disabilities are something, unlike other categories of oppressed people, where the more evidence you provide that we are human and deserving of accommodations, the more bigots get pissed off and want to deny us those accommodations. Because they think our disability inherently makes us undeserving.

I think, because I’m in a position of privilege economically (and my family culture isn’t particularly tumultuous), I get into this moral headspace where I think, okay, maybe others have to lie to get ahead. But if, because of my unique set of circumstances, I don’t have to lie to get head, isn’t it my duty not to?

I actually think I wrote a paper about that in law school. Maybe I’ll try to dig that up and we what I had to say.

But now I’m wondering if I’m just making things worse by being so vocally honest. Giving ammo to judgmental people who will hold what I say against people who are not as fortunate as I am.

You’ve also spoken about how you’ve become less of an advocate and I wonder if this sort of thing factors in to that decision.

Yeah for me, it's about developing a greater sense of tactics.

Most people are not persuaded by data or objective information. Most people do not have coherent or consistent political ideologies, either (see Phillip Converse's groundbreaking work on nonattitudes -- most people, when asked about a political topic, will just make up an opinion on the spot based on what they've heard most recently, and that opinion will not remain consistent). There's a robust research literature attesting to this. I abandoned the field of political psychology because the research on fostering attitude change and open-mindedness is so dismal.

Instead, what most people find the most compelling is a combination of emotional appeals, social pressure, and their own material, economic self-interest.

What this means is that a great many people will not be moved by additional information on a topic, until it becomes economically costly or socially perilous for them not to rethink it, and even then, they might just dig in their heels if they've already incurred losses in order to justify the pain they've been in. It also means that if someone has an ignorant perspective and no desire to change it, well, you talking more isn't going to change their perspective, but they will try to shut you up so that it doesn't change anybody else's.

The liberal perspective on change is a highly individualistic one. Disabled people are supposed to share our stories, victims of sexual assault are supposed to name our abusers, fat people are supposed to just feel more positively about themselves, Black and brown people are supposed to spell out to us white people exactly what we should do to guarantee their liberation, but only in a very gentle tone, and everybody, everywhere, is on the hook for fixing the injustice of their own social position.

This is a perspective on change that employers, governments, and institutions benefit from us believing in, because it keeps us busy showing off our vulnerabilities and behaving as individuals, rather than pooling our power and demanding something better for all of us collectively.

And this individualistic approach is of course is never how change actually happens. The federal government didn't suddenly start unrestricting access to AIDS meds because some individual gays came forward and told very persuasive stories about their battles with the disease. ACT UP activists crowded federal offices and covered politicians' homes in giant condoms and marched AIDS victims' corpses down the street.

Sickle cell anemia did not become a subject of medical research because Black patients individually shared their stories of the disease. The Black Panthers created their own health clinics to test for the disease and educate the public about it, and they also gave out free childcare and food, and the federal government found this so threatening they began taking sickle cell seriously themselves so that more people wouldn't go running to a communist, anti-racist group.

The ADA didn't pass because disabled people made ourselves vulnerable, it passed because we made ourselves strong, clawing our way together up the statehouse steps and blocking traffic with wheelchairs during rush hour.

We've been propagandized by capitalist individualism and representation politics to believe the most empowering thing a marginalized person can do is stand solidly as a single person. But it's not true. In fact, some of the steps we take to broadcast our marginal status and tell our stories makes us more vulnerable in the end.

Many companies now encourage their disabled employees to come out and be proud of their status, for instance. I've given workshops at companies like that. At every single one, I've later heard from Autistic and ADHDer employees that the second they actually identified themselves publicly, it became a target on their back. They were scrutinized, denied accommodations, pushed out of the office, threatened with their boss calling 911 on them, forced to quit.

The real way to make a change happen is through organized, collective power, not through personal vulnerability, individual pride or sharing every last drop of energy that we have educating people who have a vested interest in not understanding our concerns. Winning the hearts and minds of the ones in control is not the answer. We must organize to take control.

I've done all kinds of activism all my life since I was fourteen years old, from phone banking to voter registration drives to jail support to writing my congress people and more, and much of it was a waste of my time. It was designed to waste my time, to convince me that by being a good little boy and playing within the system I would be freed, when really I needed to be joining forces with other people to dismantle it. That's the way forward, that's truly what I believe now.

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 6 months ago

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By: Aaron Sibarium

Published: May 31, 2024

The ‘iDIVERSE’ program bars white and Asian researchers from applying.

The University of California, Los Angeles, medical school was hit last week with whistleblower allegations that its admissions office has for years discriminated on the basis of race, in violation of California law, by holding black and Latino applicants to lower standards than their white and Asian counterparts.

The allegations triggered an email message from the dean of the medical school, Steven Dubinett, who denied the claims and said that students and faculty "are held to the highest standards of academic excellence." He subsequently told an obscure Los Angeles Times opinion columnist that the allegations, published in the Washington Free Beacon, are "fact-free."

Hiring and admissions decisions, he wrote in his message last week, are "based on merit," not race, "in a process consistent with state and federal law."

But Dubinett himself directs a center within the medical school, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, that houses a race-based fellowship experts say is illegal.

Participants in the "iDIVERSE" program "must be" black, Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islander, LGBT, or a woman, according to screenshots of a now-deleted webpage obtained by the Free Beacon. Fellows research ways to increase diversity in clinical trials as part of a study funded by Pfizer, the American Heart Association, and Gates Ventures, the personal LLC of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

The website indicates that the deadline to apply to the program, which has existed for two years, was March 1.

"This is obviously illegal," said Adam Mortara, the lead trial lawyer for Students for Fair Admissions in its lawsuit against Harvard, which led to the Supreme Court decision last year that outlawed affirmative action. "Every time we sue a company or institution for doing this, they settle by ending the program."

Dubinett and UCLA medical school did not respond to requests for comment.

The program is an awkward albatross for a school that spent Memorial Day weekend doing damage control after a Free Beacon report showed that record numbers of UCLA medical students are failing basic tests of clinical knowledge—in part, admissions officers said, because standards have been lowered by affirmative action.

On Saturday, a fourth-year student posted data on X, formerly Twitter, that he claimed had been released internally to refute that report. Though the new data showed that students did better on a recent round of tests, known as shelf exams, than some other cohorts, UCLA has not addressed the rise in failure rates over time or the fact that nearly a quarter of students in the class of 2025 failed three or more shelf exams.

Nor has it explained how the percentage of Asian matriculants shrunk by almost 50 percent since 2018, with most of the drop occurring after a new dean of admissions, Jennifer Lucero was hired in 2020. That decline coincided with a sharp increase in the number of students who come from "medically under-served" areas or identify as "disadvantaged"—indicators that admissions officials say are being used as proxies for race.

Matriculants from under-served areas nearly doubled as a percentage of the incoming class after Lucero took the helm in 2020, rising steadily from 34 to 56 percent of first-year students over four years, per data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

The number of first-year students indicating disadvantage likewise rose by nearly 60 percent, from 42 percent in 2020 to 67 percent in 2023. No other elite medical school has come close to these numbers, according to a review of AAMC data for the top 20 schools on U.S News & World Report’s rankings for medical research.

While the trends don’t provide proof of discrimination, they are consistent with the accounts of racial gerrymandering from UCLA admissions officers. Lucero has allegedly told officials that the class should reflect the "diversity" of California, where racial preferences have been illegal since 1996, and has attacked those who raise concerns about minority candidates with low test scores. She even made the entire admissions committee sit through a two-hour presentation on Native American history after a Native American applicant was rejected, three sources said.

Together with the iDIVERSE fellowship, which launched in 2022 and involves partnerships with other institutions, the accounts paint a picture of a medical school suffused with racial preferences and determined to skirt civil rights law by any means necessary. They come as the medical school is reviewing its entire first-year curriculum in the wake of a separate Free Beacon report on a required course, "Structural Racism and Health Equity," in which students learn that weight loss is a "hopeless endeavor."

That course also hosted a guest speaker, Lisa Gray-Garcia, who has referred to the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks as "justice" and led students in chants of "free, free Palestine." Days later, two residents in the medical school’s psychiatry program delivered a talk that glorified self-immolation as a form of "resistance" in the context of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Both incidents were cited in a congressional probe of UCLA’s response to anti-Semitism—another ongoing controversy. At a hearing on Capitol Hill this month, UCLA chancellor Gene Block said the medical school was investigating Gray-Garcia’s talk but offered no further details on the review.

The whistleblower allegations are not the first admissions scandal to hit UCLA. In 2021, a former soccer coach was sentenced to eight months in prison after he helped two applicants pose as athletic recruits so they would be accepted to the university.

#Aaron Sibarium #University of California #UCLA #medical school #affirmative action #diversity equity and inclusion #equity #diversity #inclusion #DEI #DEI must die #academic corruption #corruption of education #racial discrimination #religion is a mental illness

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theleftpeople · 6 months ago

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May is Asian and Pacific American Heritage month so I wanted to make something about it since I haven’t seen many people posting about it.

Specifically I wanted to talk about my job and the significance of the place I work at.

I work for the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. We’re dedicated to helping preserve the memory and history of Angel Island.

If you aren’t from California you probably don’t know what or where Angel Island is. Angel Island is an island located in the San Francisco Bay. From 1910-1940 it served as the “Guardian of the Western Gate” working to exclude and deport Chinese immigrants but later expanding to practically anyone from Asia.

During its time of operation around 500,000 people from 80 countries were held here. They were subjected to invasive medical exams and intensive interviews to prove they were who they said they were.

(Note this image and all other images we have of the medical exams are staged. We know they're all staged because standard procedure was to have immigrants strip completely naked.)

The reason Angel Island exists was because of the 1882 Chinese exclusion act. Immigration officials needed a place to house immigrants who were potentially barred from entering the county.

The Chinese exclusion act barred those who were laborers or “likely public charges,” people who immigration officials assumed would be taking resources from the government.

If you were a student, a merchant, or were directly related to a citizen you could enter the country.

These exemptions lead to a number of Chinese immigrants selling their papers or buying identities. Becoming someone’s so called paper child. Most often it was sons but there are paper daughters and other paper relatives.

Becoming a paper child involves memorizing new names, birthdays, streets, villages and anything immigration officials could use to potentially deport someone.

Here’s a list of real questions immigrants were asked while being detained.

What direction did your doorway face?

How many steps are there to your front door

Who lived in the third house in the second row of houses in your village?

It wasn’t enough for just you to answer though. Your family or whoever was vouching for you to enter the country also had to answer the same questions. If either you or your witnesses answered in a way that was incorrect or simply rubbed officials the wrong way you could be subject for further questioning and deportation.

While immigrants were detained many of them graffitied the walls with their thoughts feelings and assertions. A physical form of their feelings and resistance to their imprisonment. Immigration officials obviously hated this and would paint over and fill in any graffiti they found but ironically because of their efforts to erase this part of the immigration experience it preserved it.

You can visit Angel Island today and still see the poetry that these people carved into the walls today. Here’s a photo I took of one of the easiest to see poems since it had the wood putty taken out of it.

This is the English translation.

Detained in this wooden house for several tens of days, It is all because of the Mexican exclusion law which implicates me. It’s a pity heroes have no way of exercising their prowess. I can only await the word so that I can snap Zu’s whip.

From now on, I am departing far from this building All of my fellow villagers are rejoicing with me. Don’t say that everything within is Western styled. Even if it is built of jade, it has turned into a cage.

I'd also like to highlight one of the many people who came through Angel Island.

This is Karl Yoneda. He was Kibei, an American citizen by Birth but educated in Japan. When he returned to the US he was detained on Angel Island. While he was detained he wrote a diary detailing his frustrations as well as his own poetry.

When he was finally released he moved to LA where he became involved in labor politics changing his name to Karl (he was inspired by Marx).

During WW2, Karl and his son were sent to the Manzanar concentration camp. His wife, Elaine, a white woman joined him out of solidarity refusing to be separated from her family.

Karl strongly opposed the Japanese Imperial Government and volunteered to join the US Military Intelligence Service.

After the war, Karl continued to organize and agitate. He helped organize the first pilgrimage to Manzanar as well as pushed for reparations to Japanese Americans who were imprisoned in the camps.

If you want to learn more about Karl or Angel Island in general, I suggest reading through our exhibit Angel Island Mosaic. It has a bunch of other people on there as well whose stories are just as interesting as Karl's.

#aapi heritage month #asian american history

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hoppytrailspod · 2 years ago

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Making Cider - Making Memories

I've been a homebrewer for well over a decade, and I've been a member/owner of California's first and only cooperatively owned brewery, Umunhum Brewing, for almost as long. In that time I've experimented with a pretty wide range of fermented beverages, including all styles of beers, wines (grape and farm), distilled beverages, and of course cider.

Cider is one beverage that I've gone back to again and again, and has become one of my favorite brews. I've made cider with store-bought juice, adding sugar to get the necessary abv, with juice fresh pressed from the orchard, and even by crushing and pressing the apples myself with my wife, brother and sister in law using apples from trees my sister in law's grandfather planted decades before. What I've found is that it's not so much the method you choose, as the adventure you have along the way, that determines how much you love the end result.

This story is about one such adventure back in 2016. My wife and I had been married for almost 6 years, and I had graduated from law school the year before. I had been unsuccessful at the bar exam like so many others, and I was having a very hard time finding work as a paralegal law school graduate in the Bay Area where we lived. On a whim I had looked in Monterey for work, and found a job at a law firm where I still work today. We moved to a farm town called Salinas that you've probably never heard of, but if you look closely is printed on the packaging of so much of your produce, especially cole crops and leafy greens. Salinas is an amazing but complicated city, with a rich history and an essential role in both California and the nation.

My wife was travelling back to the Bay Area 3 days a week to finish her Master's degree, and would return to our new home with a couple free days while I was at work. She got to work exploring our new area and finding fun activities for us to do. That's how she found Gizdich Ranch.

Gizdich Ranch is a place I hadn't heard of before, but the more I talk to people from all around the more I realize it's been a pillar of the Bay Area, the Central Coast, and more of California for longer than I've been alive. The land was first purchased in 1937 by Vincent John Gizdich with 5 acres dedicated to growing apples, and another 5 acres for the farm house, some livestock, and a family garden. Today it's approximately 50 acres of apples and berries, with a pie shop, gift shop, antiques shop, and more.

My wife had discovered that Gizdich had both a "you-pick" apple orchard that was in season, as well as fresh pressed apple juice that we could buy fresh off the press if we got there early. That's all I needed to hear, so we jumped in the car and drove out to Watsonville.

When we arrived the pressing shed was in full swing, with a large crusher dumping crushed apples onto an old style press. It was amazing to watch it in action. Workers would stack trays with sheets of burlap as the crushed apples poured onto each level below, creating a tower. Then the press would come down squeezing out a torrent of fresh juice before the spent pulp was carted off and the next tower begun anew. I was enthralled, I had to make cider from this juice.

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We went into the shop and saw the golden brown liquid for sale in gallon jugs, but I was stopped in my tracks by the price tag: nearly $10.00 per gallon! In my experience with purchasing juice I was used to paying four, maybe five dollars a gallon. I was not prepared to pay $50.00 plus cost of yeast for a five gallon batch of cider! Disheartened I told my wife that though interesting to see the process, the trip had ultimately been in vain. We prepared to head back to the car.

However, on our way towards the door there was a small table set up with small dixie cups. As we approached I saw that these were free samples of the fresh pressed juice waiting for us to taste. No, I didn't grab five gallons worth of free samples and run for the car, though the thought did cross my mind. But I did grab a sample cup thinking I might as well at least know what I was leaving behind. I'm glad to this day that I did.

The apple juice I tasted that morning has remained the best tasting apple juice I've ever had. It's not just that it was the sweetest apple juice I've ever tasted, and it certainly still is to this day, but it was more than that. There was a complex flavor to it that could not be pinned to any one apple variety that I knew of then or know of today. Then there was the aroma, the sweet and thick character that hit me well before the liquid hit my lips. It was like a landing party clearing the way for the invasion that was to come.

I can absolutely say they know what they're doing putting out samples, because I immediately bought 15 gallons of juice and drove home to clean out a second and a third 5-gallon fermenter. I was eager to get this juice into buckets and let it start bubbling away!

Now when I make cider, I rarely use a hydrometer to determine the original and final gravity (fancy way of saying sugar content at the start and end of the ferment, used to determine alcohol content), and so I usually don't know what the final ABV of my cider is. I'm not that way with any other fermented or distilled beverages, it's just how I treat my ciders. I will usually taste the juice that goes into the fermenters, add sugar if needed, and then add the yeast so they can work their magic. I don't particularly like the taste of fermented white sugar, so when sugar is added I'll usually use a light brown sugar, which adds a bit of fermented molasses flavor that really complements a hard cider in my opinion.

As I mentioned, this juice was off the press the sweetest I've ever had. There was absolutely no need to add any additional sugar content to the ferment, or to add anything else for that matter besides yeast. I tossed in a packet of champagne yeast into each fermenter, stuck the airlock in the lid, and left the buckets alone for two weeks. I came back to rack into fresh buckets to clarify for another 2 weeks, then I bottled everything up into 16 floz flip top bottles.

Most of the bottles I stashed away to age for a few months, but I kept a couple bottles for tasting early. Even green (unaged) this was the best cider I've ever made. The cider had fermented completely dry, as I like my ciders, but it still somehow created the idea of sweetness. It's very hard to explain, but I could tell the apples still wanted me to know how sweet they had been going into the process despite the fact that all the sugar had been converted to alcohol. That pervasive flavor and aroma of apples was still there, having seemingly lost nothing of the aroma out the airlock. Each swallow brought on a strong aftertaste that was reminiscent of biting into a ripe apple. Needless to say the aged bottles only improved with time.

I've gone back for juice many times since then, as well as for pies and to spend the morning picking apples just for fun and relaxation. Meandering down the rows of apple trees in the sunlight, stopping here and there to pick a perfect apple to toss into your basket, then meandering on again. There's no better way to start a day on the Central Coast.

It was picking apples that I realized there was more to this amazing juice than I had originally realized.

You see, Gizdich Ranch has a huge variety of apples. They have many more varieties than I had ever heard of, all separated by rows, with only a small number of varieties ready to pick at any given time. The wide variety of apples ensures a very long and gradual picking season, but makes for some very different apple combinations and characteristics at any point throughout the season. How then were they able to recreate a juice with seemingly the same characteristics throughout the season, and throughout the year?

One morning when I was waiting to fill my cleaned and sanitized fermenters with freshly pressed juice, I was able to ask that very question. If the varieties and characteristics of the apples are changing month to month, and even week to week, how is it possible to make a consistent juice?

To answer my question, an old and worn notebook was presented filled front to back with handwritten notes, formulas and ratios. This notebook was the key to consistency. Over 4 generations Gizdich Ranch had perfected the exact rations and blends of any of their apple varieties that happen to be ready for juicing at any time. All one has to do is find the proper page with the combination of apple varieties you have ready for pressing, and then blend the apples going into the crusher with the corresponding ratios and you will produce this perfect and consistent juice every time.

It has now been over 6 years since that first batch of cider. I still go to Gizdich Ranch when I want to make something special. No juice that I've used before or since has ever come close either going in to the fermenter or coming out. If you're interested in making cider and you're able to make the trip, I highly recommend bringing your own container to save a couple of bucks and trying it out yourself. Grab one of their famous pies and some jam while you're there, bring the family for you-pick apples and berries if they're in season, and grab a sandwich for lunch from the deli. I can't wait to bring my daughter there for her first time next season, and I hope Gizdich Ranch is as special and memorable in her life as it has been in mine.

-Travis

#craftbrew; cider; family; history; hoppytrailspod #Youtube

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sa7abnews · 3 months ago

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Morning Glory: Kamala Harris is not ready to be president

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/16/morning-glory-kamala-harris-is-not-ready-to-be-president/

Morning Glory: Kamala Harris is not ready to be president

Former President Trump has a record of doing the many jobs involved in being president. COVID obscured his many achievements, especially with an inflation-free period of economic growth, but his record is still there. We know how he will govern and we know he now has experience with selecting senior officials. While he is never predictable in persona or postings, his legislative agenda will be a continuation of his first term: renewal of his tax cuts, a defense build-up to deter our enemies abroad, support for our allies especially Israel, a huge push for energy production and deregulation and, hopefully, massive downsizing of the size and reach of the federal government. By contrast, Vice President Harris does not possess the minimum skills set necessary to be president. To borrow from the jargon of baseball, which highly prizes “a five tool player” or even a “five tool prospect,” the vice president unfortunately lacks any of the tools needed to be even a minimally qualified president. She’s a “zero tools” political player. The 5 “tools” in baseball are (1) hitting for power; (2) hitting for average 3) fielding ability 4) throwing ability and 5) running speed. A list of presidential tools is considerably longer but would include (1) great ability to absorb complex data sets and intelligence information and make hard decisions on difficult issues; (2) deep experience in national security issues; (3) deep experience in the federal administrative state (not familiarity with the mission of all 2.8 million non-military employees of the federal government, of course, but facility in the discussion and assessment of the hundreds of agencies in the executive branch which all answer to the president and which are guided by his or her appointees); (4) the ability to communicate with the American people via a variety of means, but especially the set-piece big speech designed to convey important decisions or choices and regular interviews and press availabilities and (5) the political skills of negotiation and compromise, both within a president’s own party but also across the aisle and with the governors of states and territories and of course other nations, both friends and enemies. Harris is eligible for the office of President to be sure. She is old enough and born in the U.S. We also know she has passed the California Bar Exam after graduating from Hastings Law School following her undergraduate education at Howard University. Harris failed the first time she sat for the Bar but that does not signify much. It is not typical of talented lawyers that they fail their first Bar, but it’s also not unheard of. In a New York Times 2016 profile Harris had recently consoled a young law student who also failed the test, telling her: “It’s not a measure of your capacity.” Actually it is evidence sufficient to lose some young would-be lawyers their jobs which are often given on the condition of taking and passing a state’s Bar Exam, but it’s not dispositive on the question of legal ability. You can retake the Bar as Harris did and she passed on the second go around.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONHarris’s career as an assistant district attorney in San Francisco is already a talking point in her stump speech, as was her time as the Attorney General of California and brief stay in the United States Senate. There are hundreds of thousands of current and former assistant district attorneys in the United States and some are brilliant and others are dumb as rocks. There are scores and scores of former and current state AGs and United States Senators. Those titles don’t tell us much. What has she done? What did she accomplish? What does she think needs to be done by the Congress? What is her agenda?She has been a loyal if bumbling number two to an increasingly frail president whose capacity to do the job is a question on the mind of everyone paying attention. It should also be on every voter’s mind: Is Harris up to this job? KAMALA’S GLOWING TIME COVER DRAGGED BY CRITICSIn answering that, we have zero interviews of Harris since Biden withdrew more than three weeks ago. We only have hours of cringe-inducing tape from decades in the public eye. It is her tenure as Vice President that should matter the most to voters, and neither she nor the president she served has accomplished anything of lasting positive significance. They spent a vast amount of money the country didn’t have on projects that have not come to fruition. That spending unleashed ruinous inflation. They failed to secure our southern border and more than 10 million migrants have crossed it without invitation since Biden and Harris assumed office. Their record on national security is awful and the support originally offered to Israel after the massacre of 10/7 waxed and since last year has steadily waned. The influence of America on the world has never been this low. The resume of actual accomplishments by Harris isn’t there and the record that is there is terrible. If the country chose its chief executive randomly out of one of many “hats” marked only by vocation, I would pick from the hat labeled “president of local or regional bank” or “successful principal of a large high school” and—crucially—”successful real estate developer” over the bag marked “local prosecutor” any day. I would especially do so if informed that the “local assistant DA” bag only included folks who had flunked their first Bar. Nor does election to any local or statewide office in California signify much beyond the backing of large public employee unions, for those unions in fact run the politics of the state now and have for more than a dozen years. Harris won the election to be San Francisco’s District Attorney in 2004. She then ran for and won the California Attorney General job in 2010 and again in 2014, and won a United States Senate race in 2016. Of course she was on the ticket with President Biden in 2020. She’s a standard-issue left-wing pol from the most left-wing city in America. All we have to judge Vice President Harris’s ability to be president by are her hundreds of votes, interviews and statements over an electoral career now approaching two decades. She hasn’t won a single presidential primary or caucus—ever. If you lived in California you already knew that Harris was never going to impress with eloquence or ability. Harris is the product of the San Francisco Democratic machine which competes, usually successfully, with the Los Angeles Democratic machine. Harris paid her dues in San Francisco and she rose in predictable fashion. When President Joe Biden picked Harris as his running mate in 2020 he did so because he had promised to name a black woman as his running mate. Biden, whose judgment is no longer even debated, chose badly and we have Harris’s record as “border tsar” as the single point of assessment, the single certain role she has held under President Biden. Of course she failed there —which is why we have the elaborate ruse of a border bill talking point. To cover up her actual record as President Biden’s lead on all border issues. She has had no other high-profile designated role. Kamala Harris would be the least credentialed, least impressive and least prepared presidential candidate elected in the modern era. It’s impossible to imagine the damage her policies and personnel would do because they would be so far to the left of anything the country has ever experienced. Her campaign of invisibility is brilliant, but if it succeeds, the country is in for a terrible four years until she can be replaced. The legacy media has gone along with 23 days of silence. How long will it remain complicit?Hugh Hewitt is host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” heard weekday mornings 6am to 9am ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM HUGH HEWITT

#a0e5e1d8-7782-5e26-8909-978a8486fa25

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biblenewsprophecy · 4 months ago

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Trump vs Harris vs Scripture

Are Donald Trump and Kamala Harris qualified to be President of the United States according to its Constitution? Does the adulterer Donald Trump's record as a businessman who declared bankruptcy multiple times and who was once President of the USA make him the best choice? Does Kamala Harris' political positions, one or more were related to adultery, and then later being Vice-President make her the best choice? What about their positions on adultery and LGBTQ matters? Do either of them meet the biblical requirements to be leaders? Could they both be evil? Should Christians put their faith in leaders or in Jesus and His Kingdom? Dr. Thiel and Steve Dupuie go over these points.

A written article of related interest is available titled 'Donald Trump and Kamala Harris: Biblically disqualified?’

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Youtube video link: Trump vs Harris vs Scripture

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris: Biblically disqualified?

COGwriter

Roughly one third of the USA is happy that Donald Trump has the Republican party nomination to become President of the United States.

Roughly one third of the USA is happy that Kamala Harris has the Democratic party nomination to become President of the United States.

So, let’s look at both of their Constitutional qualifications.

Both were natural born citizens in the United States

Both have been residents of the United States for 14 years

Both are over 35 years of age.

Yes, both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris meet the stated requirements to become President according to the Constitution of the United States.

Thus, whichever one (or perhaps someone else) wins the sufficient number of electoral votes will have met the Constitutional qualifications.

Supporters of Donald Trump point to his record of being a successful businessman as well as his record as being President of the United States to demonstrate he is the best qualified person for that job.

Yet, Donald Trump not only was not always successful, he filed for bankruptcy multiple times, when he could have paid back his creditors.

The Bible teaches:

21 The wicked borrows and does not repay, But the righteous shows mercy and gives. (Psalm 37:21)

Here is also something from my book Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse:

Donald Trump is an admitted adulterer who said he has never repented before God and he approves of various behaviors that the Bible condemns. He despises many. He promotes nationalistic covetousness.

Supporters of Kamala Harris point to her political career as California Attorney General, then a US Senator, and then Vice President of the United States to demonstrate she is the best qualified person for that job.

As far as some steps that seemed to get her there, here are some reports and references in my 2021 book, Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction:

Although 50% of people who take the California Bar exam pass on their first attempt, Kamala Harris did not. [i]

After she finally passed, Harris began her career as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County.

She later connected with a very powerful California politician named Willie Brown:

In 1994, Harris began dating Willie Brown, a powerhouse in California politics who was then the speaker of the state assembly and was 30 years older than Harris. From his perch in the assembly, Brown appointed Harris to the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the Medical Assistance Commission—positions that together paid her around $80,000 a year on top of her prosecutor’s salary.[ii]

Willie Brown, … 60 year old and “his 29 year old mistress, Kamala.” … Brown was legally married at the time. [iii]

It appears obvious that her adulterous affair with a legally married and influential man assisted her career advancement. The view of comedienne Roseann Barr was that Kamala Harris “slept her way to the bottom” to get her political career going. [iv]

Later, as attorney general Kamala Harris ��made waves for her refusal to defend Proposition 8, a 2008 California ballot measure” that defined marriage as between a male and female. [v] Of course, that is also how Jesus defined marriage (cf. Matthew 19:4-5). …

Kamala Harris is an admitted adulterer. She and Joe Biden claim Christianity but certainly do not promote all aspects of biblical morality.

[i] Caldera C. Fact check: True claim about Harris failing bar exam on first try and Barrett’s law school rank. USA Today, October 18, 2020

[ii] Kim C, Stanton Z. 55 Things You Need to Know About Kamala Harris. Politico, August 11, 2020

[iii] Fact check: Kamala Harris and Willie Brown had a relationship over a decade after he separated from wife. Reuters, October 13, 2020

[iv] Costly D. Roseanne Barr says Kamala Harris ‘slept her way to the bottom’. SF Gate, March 3, 2019

[v] Kamala Harris Biography. Biography.com, accessed 12/16/20

As Vice President, the role that the main media seems to believe she was best at, she was promoting abortion.

7 Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths. 8 The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace. (Isaiah 59:7-8)

Abortion is the shedding of innocent blood–and Kamala Harris has made haste to travel across the country in order promote it. She also tends to advocate a type of class-envy covetousness when she discusses raising taxes to give “benefits” to various ones.

That said, as long time readers of this COGwriter Church of God News page are aware, as posted here many times before, I consider that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are evil.

Without going into unique specifics, let’s consider how they are similar:

They do not live like a member of their professed faiths is supposed to try to live.

They support LGBTQ matters.

They have not called for national repentance.

They have not sought first the Kingdom of God.

One is an adulterer and the other an adulteress.

They have all been involved in Administrations that greatly increased USA debt.

They have all been involved in Administrations that have upset the Europeans.

They have all been accused of hypocrisy.

They both have made a lot of public lies.

None have the real solutions for what the USA needs.

Now, I am not trying to say that there are no differences. Yes, I know they have differing economic and climate policies as well as different views on abortion and racial matters.

Notice that simply approving the LGBT agenda is condemned by the Bible:

26 … For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:26-32)

Yes, the USA election is a choice between evil ones. But do not place your hope in any human political leader.

Now, let’s look at some of what the scriptures teach are to be traits of godly leaders starting with something God had Moses write:

19 Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God. 20 And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do. 21 Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. (Exodus 18:19-21)

Neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump are leaders who could be called “men of truth,” nor do they truly endorse God’s laws and statutes nor do they hate covetousness.

Notice something else from the Bible:

2 “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, And His word was on my tongue. 3 The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: ‘He who rules over men must be just, Ruling in the fear of God. (2 Samuel 23:2-3)

Neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump are just nor do they intend to rule in the fear of the true God.

Hence, they are not people that Christians should endorse.

Voting for Kamala Harris or voting for Donald Trump will not save the US.

The Psalmist wrote:

3 Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. (Psalm 146:3)

Furthermore, the Bible warns:

20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil (Isaiah 5:20).

2 You shall not follow a crowd to do evil (Exodus 23:2)

The “lesser of two evils” is still evil.

The Bible warns:

16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err, And those who are led by them are destroyed (Isaiah 9:16).

That applies to both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

UPDATE 08/11/24: We just uploaded the following related video:

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Trump vs Harris vs Scripture

Are Donald Trump and Kamala Harris qualified to be President of the United States according to its Constitution? Does the adulterer Donald Trump’s record as a businessman who declared bankruptcy multiple times and who was once President of the USA make him the best choice? Does Kamala Harris’ political positions, one or more were related to adultery, and then later being Vice-President make her the best choice? What about their positions on adultery and LGBTQ matters? Do either of them meet the biblical requirements to be leaders? Could they both be evil? Should Christians put their faith in leaders or in Jesus and His Kingdom? Dr. Thiel and Steve Dupuie go over these points.

Here is a link to our video: Trump vs Harris vs Scripture.

Put your faith in Jesus and the coming Kingdom of God, not in US elections.

Biblical prophecies will be fulfilled and we are seeing the stage is being set for many to be fulfilled fairly soon.

LATEST NEWS REPORTS

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themfp1 · 4 months ago

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Stop Freaking Out And Focus On Winning

By: Kurt Schlicter (Town Hall) Could you doomsayers please give us a break? Can you stop panicking like little girls and male-identifying Democrats when they see a spider? Yes, Kamala Harris has capitalized on the relief of the Democrats over trading in that shambling, perverted, zombie-like husk for someone who is merely an idiot who was too dumb to pass the California Bar Exam. That’s…

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#2024 ELECTION

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bllsbailey · 4 months ago

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Stop Freaking Out And Focus On Winning

Could you doomsayers please give us a break? Can you stop panicking like little girls and male-identifying Democrats when they see a spider? Yes, Kamala Harris has capitalized on the relief of the Democrats over trading in that shambling, perverted, zombie-like husk for someone who is merely an idiot who was too dumb to pass the California Bar Exam. That’s progress, well, at least a kind of progress, but it’s enough for their voters to come back in off the sidelines. There were a lot of Biden supporters out there, people who were never going to vote for Trump but who just couldn’t vote for someone who was manifestly senile. Well, Kamala is not manifestly senile; she’s just dumb. But that’s an improvement over Joe Biden, and that’s enough for them. Now they’re back in the game and the head-to-head poll numbers have improved for the Democrats. But Trump hasn’t fallen behind. He’s probably still slightly ahead. So, could you please stop whining about how we Republicans are doomed?

Probably not. Oh no, JD Vance is a disaster! If only we had picked somebody squishier, the Democrats would’ve been nice to him. Oh, Kamala Harris is so exciting and popular! She’s so brat! We can’t ever compete against that! Oh, they’re just going to steal the election anyway! Boo-hoo.

Geez, could you sissies shut up for a minute and stop embarrassing yourselves? We are in a better position than we’ve been in a presidential race in 20 years, and all some people can do is find that cloud behind the silver lining.

There is something within the emotional makeup of Republicans that makes them always assume that disaster lurks right around the corner. Maybe it’s conservatism’s realistic view of the fallen nature of man, as opposed to the Democrats’ bizarre notion of human perfectibility through the power of Marxism, that leads us to dwell in the Eyorean swamps of depression. But this is self-inflicted emotional gaslighting. It has nothing to do with the facts. The key fact is that Trump is doing better now than Trump did in either of his previous campaigns. And while we don’t have the advantage of a regime media actually doing its job – which it did for about 15 minutes when it became undeniable that Joe Biden was demented and it became necessary to crowbar him out of the Oval Office – the fundamentals are still in our favor. We are still in the lead or tied in the battleground states, the economy is tanking, and let’s face it – Kamala Harris is a moron.

Yeah, they’re going to try to bury her in the basement for the next three months. The regime media is obediently ignoring the fact that she refuses to come out and give extemporaneous remarks or answer hard questions, though they’ll never ask any. But normal people see it. Normal people see a lot about her. There are her myriad policy problems. She’s a communist. Until it was disappeared by the Orwellians of the Internet, she had been listed as the most liberal member of the Senate. There are all sorts of devastating video clips of Kamala out there, wanting to take your AR15s by force, border czaring anywhere but at the border, wanting to take your health insurance and for you into socialize medicine with a bunch of illegal aliens, as well as damming us for daring to wish each other Merry Christmas. There’s a lot of great stuff out there, and you can tell the Democrats don’t like it because any time we mention any of it, they call us racist harder than usual.

Apparently, talking about anything she does or believes is racist. That includes her racial identity du jour, which she seems unable to settle on. Nervous conservative commentators are very upset that Donald Trump pointed out, accurately, that she sometimes presents herself as Indian and sometimes presents herself as black and that she denies that she’s a DEI hire even though she asserts DEI is awesome. Trump, of course, saw how this demonstrates her inauthenticity and drove right in. When he highlights what the Democrats try to hand wave away as “code switching” normal people read it as her being a shameless chameleon, appearing as whatever she needs to appear as for the audience in front of her. This includes adopting a comedy gold southern/black accent that rivals Hillary’s ridiculous “I don’t feel no ways tired” thing.

Some of my conservative friends wish Donald Trump wouldn’t point this out, preferring to focus solely on policy. I guess if we were having a reasoned debate at a debating society – before debating societies got swallowed up by wokeness – that would make sense. But this is an election. It’s not just about facts – which are certainly in our favor – but about emotions. Facts are only part of persuasion and often not the most important part – but hey, what would a trial lawyer know about that?

To win voters, we need to persuade them not merely objectively but subjectively as well. We need to define her so that the voters feel repelled whenever they see her cackling visage appear on their screens. Democrats and the regime media minions are portraying Kamala as exciting, vibrant, and cool, and we have to present the truth that she is not exciting, vibrant, or cool. And you don’t undermine somebody’s image as the hot new thing solely by droning on about tax policy. You slam them for being terrible, and pointing out their terrible policies support that effort. Objective policy arguments are not a substitute for subjectively defining her as a dangerous pinko clown.

And that’s what Trump is doing – defining her as a shifty half-wit commie. That kind of definition is what Trump does. And Kamala knows she’s vulnerable, which is why she’s hiding. She’s a terrible person. She’s an idiot – I want to emphasize that she failed the California Bar Exam, another thing I’m not supposed to talk about because it has nothing to do with policy. But I’m going to because it shows she’s dumb. And her racial shenanigans show that she’s inauthentic. You know, Trump does not need to talk about her inability to be authentic all the time, but after eight years, perhaps we ought to credit Donald Trump with knowing a little something about how to communicate a message. While it may scandalize the National Review crew that Donald Trump is making fun of her inability to be honest about her ethnicity, normal people see what she’s doing, and they find her repellent and manipulative. It’s not because she’s biracial. It’s because she’s a phony.

Regardless, we need to accept the fact that we are not losing, though we can lose. The fact is this was always going to be a hard fight. America is a 50-50 country, and unfortunately, 50% of Americans are freaking idiots. And the freaking idiots have chosen one of their own – without voting on it, but that’s the Democrats’ problem – as their standard bearer. This race is going to be a matter of points regardless. Victory is not assured – it never was. If you get your name on the ballot for one of the two major parties, you have a chance to win. Donald Trump was supposed to lose in 2016 something like nine times out of ten. But you know what happens one time out of ten? The underdog wins. Kamala Harris can certainly win this election, and she absolutely will win this election if we sit around demoralizing ourselves because it’s going to be hard. Yeah, it’s going to be hard. Do you know what other things are hard? All the things worth doing are hard. If they were not hard, everyone would do them all the time.

No one will just give us this election. We have to go take it. Trump’s 2024 campaign has been the most professional and effective of his three. Its advertising attacking her border failures has been deadly, and they have a lot more policy ammunition to expand. They managed to gather enough money to do it, even though the Democrats thought we were going to be impoverished. Yes, Donald Trump is not exercising what some would call “message discipline” and focusing solely on policy. But you know what? Donald Trump doesn’t have “message discipline.” Donald Trump has gut instincts. And most of the time, his instincts are right.

We are more likely than not going to win this, but we will lose this by being depressed. We will lose this by being black-pilled. We will lose this by failing to work. If you’re not writing checks, dialing the phone, or being out there urging people to vote, you are helping us lose; get it together to bring it in for the Big Win. Stop with the pessimism. I don’t want to hear a damn thing about “Oh well, they’re just going to steal it anyway.” They’re not going to just steal it anyway; you’re going to let them steal it by sitting this election out. We need to work hard and win beyond the margin of fraud. So, stop moaning and start campaigning.

Follow Kurt on Twitter @KurtSchlichter. Get the newest volume in the Kelly Turnbull People’s Republic series of conservative action novels set in America after a notional national divorce, the bestselling Amazon #1 Military Thriller, Overlord! And get his new novel about terrorism in America, The Attack!

Look, you need to keep up the fight by joining Townhall VIP right now. You get access to a bunch of great stuff, not the least of which is my extra Wednesday column, my weekly Stream of Kurtiousness videos every Friday, and the Unredacted podcast every Monday! Plus, some stuff from Larry O’Connor – and a bunch of other stuff.

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contractorsischoolca · 6 months ago

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How To Obtain Your C8 Concrete Contractors License In California

Are you ready to take the next step in your concrete construction career? Look no further! In this informative video, you'll learn how to obtain your C8 Concrete Contractors License in California. Our expert instructors will walk you through the information, procedures, and requirements needed to get your Concrete Contractors License C8 in California. With over 4 years of experience in the trade, you can fast-track your license in as little as two months through our Contractors Intelligence School.

At Contractors Intelligence School, we guide you through the entire process, from submitting your license application to preparing for and passing the Law & Business and license-specific trade exams. Our success rate speaks for itself, with thousands of students choosing us each year to obtain their California Contractors License.

To get started, choose from our complete comprehensive online courses, home-study, or in-class preparation, and take the first step towards securing your future in the construction industry.

A concrete contractor license allows a contractor to form, pour, place, finish, and install specified mass, pavement, flat, and other concrete work and place and set screeds for pavements or flatwork.

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lindsaywesker · 11 months ago

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Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day.

Welcome to Too Much Information Tuesday.

Russia’s second most popular flavour of crisps is crab.

About a third of British adults still sleep with a cuddly toy.

In 2006, a robot taste-taster confirmed humans taste like bacon.

In 1992, there was a bank robbery every 45 minutes in Los Angeles.

Studies have found that being a ‘bad boy’ is no longer perceived as ‘cool’.

The nickname for Crystal Palace and QPR footballer Fitz Hall was ‘One Size’.

Three-quarters of the murders in Chicago are caused by arguments gone too far.

There is a plan to heat 1600 Dutch homes with the heat emanating from sewers.

“Science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” (Isaac Asimov)

MTV's show ‘16 And Pregnant’ caused a 4.3% reduction in teen births in the US.

There is a library in San Diego, California where you can borrow taxidermied animals.

J. R. R. Tolkien started writing ‘The Hobbit’ on a student’s exam paper he was marking.

The area of the Pacific where great white sharks hang out is known as the White Shark Cafe.

A city council candidate in Washington lost his election by one vote. He didn’t vote for himself.

There are 93 penises on The Bayeux Tapestry. Five of those belong to men and the other 88 to horses.

People think about you more than you think they do but they also like you more than you think they do.

New research shows that placebos are effective in reducing feelings of guilt, but they work less well on shame.

Some corrupt Mexican police are now using card terminals to make collecting bribes at traffic stops more convenient.

The Pogues were originally called ‘Pogue Mahone’, which was from the Gaelic phrase ‘póg mo thóin’ meaning ‘kiss my arse’.

Scientists in Singapore have developed a tiny flexible battery, powered by the salt in human tears, designed for smart contact lenses.

The British royal family has an estimated net worth of $88 billion. Saudi Arabia's royal family has an estimated net worth of $1.4 trillion.

In 1991, Swedish firm locum sent out Christmas cards to customers but substituted the ‘o’ in their name with a heart symbol. (Think about it.)

Earlier this month in Halifax, Canada, a 220-tonne house built in 1826 was moved over 9 metres from its site using a steel frame and 700 bars of soap.

In 1921, Wisconsin became the first state in the USA to officially give women equal rights with men, including the right ‘to wear trousers and chew tobacco’.

Apple have been granted a new patent for a smart ring that can be worn on a user's "wrist, arm, leg, ankle, neck, head, and/or other body parts."

The Great Male Renunciation is the term historians use to refer to the period at the end of the 18th century when men stopped wearing bright colours.

In the latest Ridley Scott film, Napoleon is played by Joaquin Phoenix who is a vegan. Because of that, all the Napoleon’s hats shown in the film are plant-based, made from tree bark.

The record for the most Big Macs consumed in a lifetime is held by Donald A. Gorske, who ate his 27,000th Big Mac in 2019. He has been documenting his Big Mac consumption since 1972.

There’s a village in Montenegro that holds both the World Championships Of Laziness (lying on a mattress for the longest time) and a slow bicycle race where the winner is the last to finish.

In the 1980s, the transit agency in the San Francisco Bay Area awarded a contract to repair vandalised seats to one company. That company then started paying people to vandalise more seats.

40% of people shown a photoshopped image of themselves riding in a Viking ship as a child claimed to remember the (fictional) incident. This replicates a similar experiment from 2002 involving a fictional balloon ride.

In a 1960 Danish football game, the ref was about to blow the whistle when his teeth fell out. While looking for them, the trailing team equalised. Once he found his teeth, he cancelled the goal and blew for full time.

When Lawrence Sperry crashed his plane in 1916, he was found naked by duck hunters alongside an also nude Mrs. Polk. They claimed that the force of the crash had stripped them of their clothes. (Really, mate?)

The UK government recently changed the law to ban company names containing computer code, after Michael Tandy of Hatfield registered a company called “; DROP TABLE “COMPANIES”; — LTD,” which could theoretically erase the Companies House database.

Okay, that’s enough information for one day. Have a tremendous and tumultuous Tuesday! I love you all.

#mixcloud #mi soul #dj #music #new blog #lockdown #coronavirus #books #weekend #democracy

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 6 months ago

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https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/stanford-require-standardized-tests-admission-19503338.php

Stanford will once again require standardized tests for undergraduate admission

By: Nanette Asimov

Published: Jun 8, 2024

In a turnabout, Stanford University announced Friday that it will again require undergraduate applicants to submit an admissions exam — either the SAT or the ACT — beginning with students entering in fall 2026.

Stanford stopped requiring the exam in 2020, as did hundreds of colleges across the country as the escalating pandemic made it difficult for applicants to take the test. Many campuses, including Stanford, said they would reevaluate the new SAT-free system at some point.

Other highly competitive schools have already begun bringing back the admissions requirements, including Harvard and the California Institute of Technology, which announced the change this year.

Yale is also bringing back the admissions exams, but it will allow students to submit advanced placement tests or International Baccalaureate exam results in lieu of the SAT or ACT.

Stanford officials said Friday that they decided to back the tests after a faculty committee studied the numbers and found that the scores were “an important predictor of academic performance at Stanford.”

Yet scores are just one part of a “holistic review” used in admissions decisions, the university said in a statement.

Stanford’s pause of the admissions tests also coincided with a national backlash against the tests that had already begun, including at the University of California, where low-income students of color won a lawsuit against UC in 2020 that outlawed the tests as biased in favor of wealthier students in a variety of ways. The judge in that case also barred UC from making the tests optional.

That ruling holds, four years later.

UC “has ended use of standardized tests in freshman admissions for the foreseeable future,” Ryan King, a university spokesperson, told the Chronicle Friday, noting that the public university’s situation is different from that of elite, private universities.

Many of those schools, including Stanford, made the admissions tests optional, which allowed them to compare outcomes between students who provided scores and those who didn’t, King said.

When Yale announced in February that it would resume requiring the SAT and other admissions exams, it argued not only that the diversity of its student body had grown in the years before the pandemic despite its testing requirement, but that eliminating the test could actually hurt minorities from underrepresented groups.

“Inviting students to apply without any test scores can, inadvertently, disadvantage students from low-income, first-generation, and rural backgrounds,” the school said in a statement at the time.

It was the opposite argument made by the students who had successfully sued UC — and opposite from the concept that had persuaded California State University to voluntarily drop the admissions exams in 2022.

“CSU has no plans to reinstate ACT or SAT testing as part of first-year student admission at this time,” said university spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith.

High school students, meanwhile, are caught in the middle of these competing ideas about the value of the tests.

“It feels like, since COVID, the test has sort of, like, snuck back in and become more and more important again,” said Curtis Ault, who is going into his senior year at Lowell High School in San Francisco and was among 1,400 students who were forced to sit for 3.5 hours in a Marriott Hotel in Oakland on Saturday waiting to take the SAT that was, ultimately, canceled due to technical problems.

The test went online only this year, and there suddenly aren’t enough places that administer the SAT, compared with the number of students who want to take it.

Although Ault — and everyone else trying to take the SAT in Oakland on Saturday — felt frustrated and more than a little irritated by the long and fruitless wait, he said he sees the value of reinstating the test.

“I don’t think it’s a fully accurate representation of intelligence, but it’s an important skill,” he said, “We’ll run into things like that in the real world beyond high school — like the LSAT if you want to become a lawyer. It’s good prep for any field.”

Many universities clearly agree.

While some, such as Yale, are requiring the admissions exams as soon as next year, Stanford is delaying the requirement an extra year. Students applying in 2025 for entrance in fall 2026 will be the first to have to meet the requirement.

Stanford is “reinstating the test requirement in a manner that will allow all students enough lead time to plan and prepare for testing,” the university said in its statement.

#Eli Steele #Free Black Thought #Nanette Asimov #standardized testing #SATs #higher education #bigotry of low expectations #racial reckoning #antiracism #neoracism #antiracism as religion #Stanford University #University of California #Yale University #college admissions #university admissions #religion is a mental illness

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michiganprelawland · 1 year ago

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University of Michigan Among the First to Ban ChatGPT Usage in the Law School Admissions Process: What This Means for Other Schools

By Taylor Trenta, Calvin University Class of 2025

August 9, 2023

As one of the first law schools to officially implement this policy, the University of Michigan has banned the usage of any form of artificial intelligence tools during the law school application process. Not only is it forbidden, but applicants are to prove that they have not utilized these tools in the drafting process. [1] This new policy demonstrates the continuous changes in the application process due to AI.

Senior Assistant Dean Sarah Zearfoss said that this “seemed like the right approach.” The school looks to be upfront with their expectations, as well as for the applicants to honor their policy. [1] However, there is no easy way to detect that the technology has been used, especially in the drafting process. [1] Despite the struggle, she said: “Will I be able to enforce it? No... But in general, I’m relying on the honor of the people who apply in a million different ways, so this is no different.” [1] While this ban relies heavily on the integrity of applicants, this decision is a first for a law school in this new application environment.

Prior to this ban, policies had already been implemented in numerous school districts—not just universities— across the country. In early 2023, the New York City Public Schools and Los Angeles Unified School Districts restricted the use of ChatGPT in the classroom; a NYCPS spokespersons said: “While the tool may be able to provide quick and easy answers to questions, it does not build critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, which are essential for academic and lifelong success." [2] However, this was quickly rescinded in New York City. New York City’s Department of Education explained the uses and reasoning of the technology in schools. New York City Public Schools chancellor, David Banks said “the knee-jerk fear and risk overlooked the potential of generative AI to support students and teachers, as well as the reality that our students are participating in and will work in a world where understanding generative AI is crucial.” [3] While cases like this exemplify the variety of views on AI tools, applications on a collegiate level are even more tumultuous.

Even beyond admissions, ChatGPT has been found to succeed at law school exams—and even the bar exam. [4] Using the July 2022 exam, GPT-4 managed to approach the 90th percentile of all test-takers. Researchers Daniel Martin Katz and Michael James Bommarito, professors at the Illinois Institute of Technology and Michigan State University respectively, stated in their paper: “Our analysis highlights that GPT-4 has indeed passed the bar and has done so by a significant margin.” [4]

Despite the University of Michigan’s decision for law school applicants, this will not be the case for all universities. For example, the University of California, Berkeley School of Law has not decided to ban ChatGPT and other AI tools. [5] Kristin Theis-Alvarez, their assistant Dean of Admissions stated that their existing policy already requires applicants to certify their documents, which in theory covers the possible use of ChatGPT. [5]

In the future, most law schools are expected to develop a policy for applicants. Mike Spivey, a law school admissions consultant expects that nearly half of law schools will develop a policy within this school year, whole nearly all will by next year. [1] Some, however, may only ask for applicants to disclose their use of the technology. [1] Regardless, this conflict extends beyond the admissions process. Many professors have struggled to find the necessary balance of having AI in the classroom. [6] U.K. professor, Mike Sharples, experimented with AI in response to his own prompts; he concluded that it “could become a gift for student cheats, or a powerful teaching assistant, or a tool for creativity.” [6] Whether it is a tool for cheating or assistance, ChatGPT has already had a tremendous impact on the college and law school application process.

______________________________________________________________

Taylor Trenta is a pre-law student at Calvin University, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is currently studying history and economics as an Honors Scholars student.

______________________________________________________________

[1] Sloan, Karen. (July 20, 2023). “Use of ChatGPT prohibited on Michigan Law School applications.” Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/use-chatgpt-prohibited-michigan-law-school-applications-2023-07-20/#:~:text=Michigan%20Law%20has%20explicitly%20banned,apparent%20first%20among%20law%20schools.

[2] Castillo, Evan. (March 27, 2023). “These Schools and Colleges Have Banned Chat GPT and Similar AI Tools.” Best Colleges. https://www.bestcolleges.com/news/schools-colleges-banned-chat-gpt-similar-ai-tools/.

[3] Rosenblatt, Kalhan. (May 18, 2023). “New York City public schools remove ChatGPT ban.” NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/chatgpt-ban-dropped-new-york-city-public-schools-rcna85089.

[4] Weiss, Debra Cassens. (March 16, 2023). “Latest version of ChatGPT aces bar exam with score nearing 90th percentile.” ABA Journal.

https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/latest-version-of-chatgpt-aces-the-bar-exam-with-score-in-90th-percentile.

[5] Perkowski, Roman. (July 20, 2023). “University of Michigan Law School Bans AI Use in Applications.” TS2. https://ts2.space/en/university-of-michigan-law-school-bans-ai-use-in-applications/.

[6] Marche, Stephen. (December 6, 2022). “The College Essay Is Dead.” The Atlantic

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