Monday, November 25, 2019

Connecticut: Where Ridicule is a Crime By Alan M. Dershowitz and Johnny Carson Jokes and The Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand - Performed Live On The Ed Sullivan Show 2/9/64

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Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor

Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works  with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money,  and spiritual engagement

Love Yehuda Lave

The sign of a great man is that the closer you get, the greater he seems.

Israel Meir Kagan

Therefore, it is forbidden to say anything to anyone that might cause animosity between any two people.

Israel Meir Kagan

The entire purpose of our existence is to overcome our negative habits.

Vilna Gaon

 

 

‌ Johnny Carson/Quotes

If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.

For three days after death hair and fingernails continue to grow but phone calls taper off.

Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them in time for Christmas.

My success just evolved from working hard at the business at hand each day.

Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then discover once a year is way too often.

If it weren't for Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television, we'd still be eating frozen radio dinners.

Anytime four New Yorkers get into a cab together without arguing, a bank robbery has just taken place.

The only thing money gives you is the freedom of not worrying about money.

People will pay more to be entertained than educated.
Talent alone won't make you a success. Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready. The most important question is: 'Are your ready?'

Israeli Air Force One takes off on 1st test flight | The Times of Israel

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-air-force-one-takes-off-on-1st-test-flight/

Israeli airline EL AL creates 'sky painting' of a Boeing south west of Cyprus - Cyprus Mai

https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/11/03/israeli-airline-el-al-creates-sky-painting-of-a-boeing-south-west-of-cyprus/

Nailed it: Rare 1,400-year-old iron hammer found by family at Sanhedrin site | The Times of Israe

https://www.timesofisrael.com/nailed-it-rare-1400-year-old-iron-hammer-found-by-family-at-sanhedrin-site/

Britain's first city discovered as archaeologists say it was home of people who built Stonehenge

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2019/11/02/britains-first-city-discovered-archaeologists-say-home-people/

The Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand - Performed Live On The Ed Sullivan Show 2/9/64

'I Want to Hold Your Hand' was the first Beatles' record to top both the UK and the US charts. It was also their first to be recorded on a 4-track, as opposed to the usual 2-track, tape machine. The Beatles had the song well rehearsed when they made the first of 17 takes on October 17th 1963. Following The Beatles' historic appearance on The Ed Sullivan show on February 9th, the single – already at No.1 in the charts – gained further momentum. They taped a performance of the song earlier in the day of their live appearance and it was shown on the Sullivan show of February 23rd, which helped maintain the song's popularity. This avalanche of publicity, engineered by Brian Epstein, helped the single to stay at the top for seven weeks, which made it the longest-running No.1 of their career to date (until 'Hey Jude').

American-Israeli astronaut photographs Israel from space

Jessica Meir, American Astronaut born to Israeli father, tweets pictures of Israel from International Space Station.

 

American-Israeli astronaut Jessica Meir last weekend released three images of the State of Israel and its surroundings taken by the International Space Station where she has been staying since September.

Meir is a daughter of a Jew who immigrated from Iraq to Israel in the 1940s, fought in the IDF during the War of Independence, and later emigrated to Sweden for medical studies.

In Sweden, the father met a Swedish Christian woman, married her, and the couple had five children, Jessica being the youngest. The family has since settled in the US and 41-year-old Jessica has become an astronaut over the years. The mission she now participates in is her first space mission.

Meir posted the images in a Twitter post, writing: "My father's globe spanning journey as a surgeon from the Middle East, to Europe, and eventually to the U.S. was an inspiration to many in my immediate and extended family."

President Rivlin re-tweeted Meir's tweet Sunday morning and wrote, "Dear Jessica, thank you for taking us with you on a space trip. We are proud of you and extend our warmest regards from our Israel."

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/270997

Connecticut: Where Ridicule is a Crime By Alan M. Dershowitz

Two students at the University of Connecticut have been charged with the crime of ridiculing African Americans by shouting the N-word as part of a childishly inappropriate game. A video of the incident went viral and generated protests on and off the campus.

Outrageous as shouting this racist epithet is, the First Amendment protects it from criminal prosecution or other governmental sanctions. The Connecticut General Statute under which the students were charged is just about as unconstitutional as any statute can be. It is not even a close case. Here is what the statute criminalizes:

Section 53-37 – Ridicule on account of creed, religion, color, denomination, nationality or race.

Any person who, by his advertisement, ridicules or holds up to contempt any person or class of persons, on account of the creed, religion, color, denomination, nationality or race of such person or class of persons, shall be guilty of a class D misdemeanor.

"Ridicules or holds up to contempt"! Among the most fundamental First Amendment rights is to ridicule — regardless of the reason. The same is true of holding people or groups up to contempt. Were this absurd statute to be upheld — which it will not be — it could be applied to comedians, op-ed writers, politicians, professors and other students.

Consider, for example, ridiculing people based on nationality. Sacha Baron Cohen, based on his films, would be guilty on multiple accounts. So would Mel Brooks. African American comedians often ridicule "whitey." Feminist stand-up comedians mock men mercilessly.

Or consider "holds up to contempt" — half the faculty of many universities, including some at University of Connecticut — would be guilty for holding up Israel to contempt. Or students who attack other students for "white privilege" or "male privilege" would be committing a crime. Or pro-choice students or faculty who mock Christian fundamentalists who oppose abortion or gay rights. Where would it stop?

And what about "creed"? Is being a conservative or a Trump supporter a creed that cannot be ridiculed?

Of course, none of these politically correct ridiculers would ever be prosecuted under this statute. And therein lies its greatest danger: selective prosecution based on current political correctness. Precisely the kind of unpopular speech which the First Amendment was designed to protect would be most at risk. Anti-Semitic, anti-Christian and anti-conservative views are freely expressed not only outside of classes but in some classes as well. Such hateful expressions are not only tolerated, they are often praised as "progressive" by some of the same students and faculty members who would censor politically incorrect hate speech. Under the First Amendment, such selective censorship is intolerable.

Because the University of Connecticut is a public institution for adults, it is fully bound by the First Amendment. Its students are free to express racist ridicule and contempt outside of the classroom (the rules governing classroom speech are more complex).

The proper response to the expression of such obnoxious views is to counter them with better views in the marketplace of ideas, not to censor them and not to call the police.
So let there be rallies demanding mandatory diversity classes. Let the university president "bravely" stand in solidarity with the understandably offended students. Let the perpetrators be condemned and ostracized. These actions too are protected by the first amendment. But do not censor or prosecute protected obnoxious speech. All who care about civil liberties, regardless of race, should now join with the racist students in opposing their criminal prosecution and demanding that the Connecticut statute be struck down as unconstitutional.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the president of the university should lead the campaign against criminalizing speech that ridicules. Now that would take courage in our age of political correctness and at a time when the hard left is demanding "free speech for me but not for thee." But this is not an age in which courage is widely practiced, especially on university campuses, and most especially by administrators.

So, do not count on others to defend the First Amendment rights of troublemakers who express racial ridicule or condemnation. The defense must come from grass roots civil libertarians who understand the need to protect speech we hate even more that speech we love. Where is Voltaire — to whom the quote "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" is often attributed — when we most need him?

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Love Yehuda Lave

Rabbi Yehuda Lave

PO Box 7335, Rehavia Jerusalem 9107202

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