Paris Meeting
Paris meeting marks end to Obama’s failed Mideast diplomacy timesofisrael
At a time when President-elect Donald Trump’s administration is promising a fundamental shift toward Israel, the State Department said Kerry was only participating in the French-hosted event to ensure America’s interest in a two-state solution to the conflict is preserved. The blunt statement reinforced the dwindling hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough.
Politics
Welcome to Washington’s new normal: One Trump drama after another washingtonpost
Trump summoned two dozen television executives and news anchors to his offices Monday to berate them as dishonest and disobedient. He sought to strong-arm the British government to appoint his Brexit ally, Nigel Farage ukip.org, as ambassador to the United States. He dropped his threat to prosecute Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, disregarding his “lock her up” campaign chant and incurring the wrath of some reliable supporters.
Then there was Tuesday’s meeting with the New York Times, the newspaper Trump loves to mock as “failing.” It was scheduled, then canceled, then rescheduled. And once the president-elect settled in at the Grey Lady’s wikipedia.org boardroom, he softened his position on climate change, floated the idea that his son-in-law could broker peace in the Middle East, voiced new doubts about the effectiveness of torturing terrorism suspects, savaged Republicans who wavered on his candidacy and left unresolved concerns about how — or even whether — he would disassociate himself from his global business holdings to avoid conflicts of interest.
Society
Colorado Approves a ‘Right to Die’ for Terminally Ill Patients time
The state’s legislation is modeled after a similar law in Oregon, which became the first state to enact Death With Dignity legislation in 1997. Since then Washington, California and Vermont have passed similar laws while Montana’s courts have allowed the practice.
Also see Assisted suicide is now legal in Colorado theverge
Syria
Aleppo: Russia announces ‘humanitarian pause’ as residents fear devastating ‘final push’ from Putin and Assad independent.co.uk
The break in hostilities is planned for daylight hours on Friday, with two corridors opened for rebels, whom are allowed to take their arms, and six others for civilians and the wounded.
Also see Russia calls for 10-hour ‘humanitarian pause’ in Aleppo timesofisrael
Israel
PM: World silent as Palestinians seek ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Jews in West Bank timesofisrael v
Speaking in English in a video message posted on his Facebook page, Netanyahu asked whether people in other parts of the world would accept such demands in their own countries.
See also Netanyahu 'ethnic cleansing' comment against Palestinians draws U.S. rebuke reuters
Society
California Lawmaker Drops Controversial Proposal to Regulate Religious Colleges christianitytoday
Earlier versions of Senate Bill 1146 would have prevented colleges that received state funds from enforcing codes of student conduct reflecting a college’s religious beliefs about sexual identity, including teaching that marriage is between a man and woman and limiting bathrooms to biological gender. Traditionally, California’s religious schools have received a religious exemption from non-discrimination laws. This bill would have limited it to students who were preparing for a religious career, such as ministry.
also see State senator drops proposal that angered religious universities in California
Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) is removing a provision of his bill that sought to take away the exemption of religious schools to anti-discrimination laws. Instead, he will press forward with the amended bill that would still require such schools to disclose if they have an exemption and report to the state when students are expelled for violating morality codes.
Israel
Israel to UNESCO: ‘We’re not ISIS, don’t sever our ties to the Temple Mount’ jpost
UNESCO unesco.org called on Israel to halt all its archeological and restoration work in and around the Old City, as it submits its latest draft resolution on Jerusalem that ignores Jewish ties to the Temple Mount.
Society
ChristianMingle now allows gay dating, after a lawsuit washingtonpost
The lawsuit, according to Christianity Today, argued that ChristianMingle violated California’s non-discrimination law that prohibits for-profit companies, such as Spark Networks, which owns ChristianMingle, from discriminating against customers on the basis of sexual orientation, among other categories.
Based on their ads, I've never thought of ChristianMingle as anything more than a cultural Christianity thing - and the fact that only 1 board member stepped down as a result of the ruling is probably a good indication that that's about as deep as their theology goes. However, still an illustration of the overarching enforcing of state religion.
Israel
US accuses Israel of ‘systematically' seizing Palestinian land jpost
US State Department spokesman John Kirby further charged that such seizures plus “settlement expansions and legalization of outposts is fundamentally undermining the prospects for a two-state solution.”
Israel
Israel should stop settlements, denying Palestinian development: Quartet report reuters
The report by the Quartet entities sponsoring the stalled peace process - the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations - said the Israeli policy "is steadily eroding the viability of the two-state solution."
Also Quartet report cites violence, settlements and Gaza as barriers to Middle East peace – UN envoy from the UN and The Quartet Report pdf
Israel
Backing French peace push, EU ministers add carrots to sweeten deal timesofisrael
“The EU is determined, alongside other international and regional partners, to bring a concrete and substantial contribution to a global set of incentives for the parties to make peace with a view to an international conference planned to be held before the end of the year,” the foreign ministers said in a statement.
Fraud
The Unbelievable Tale of Jesus’s Wife theatlantic v
The American Association of Museums’ Guide to Provenance Research warns that an investigation of an object’s origins “is not unlike detective work”: “One may spend hours, days, or weeks following a trail that leads nowhere.” When I started to dig, however, I uncovered more than I’d ever expected—a warren of secrets and lies that spanned from the industrial districts of Berlin to the swingers scene of southwest Florida, and from the halls of Harvard and the Vatican to the headquarters of the East German Stasi.
This is a fascinating long-form article by a reporter who set out to find the origins of a (supposed) 1,300 yr-old papyrus about Jesus' wife, and the ensuing series of lies, historical invention, and deceit of the man behind it. It's a long read, but worth it - particularly for those who've heard the Biblically unsupported "Jesus had a wife" argument. Warning: some aspects of the primary figure's personal life uncovered during the investigation are sexually graphic in nature (the article doesn't dwell TOO MUCH on them).
Israel
Controversial religious activist enters Israel’s parliament washingtonpost
For years, Yehuda Glick has pushed for greater Jewish access to Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site — promoting an ideology that has unnerved Palestinians and made him the target of an assassination attempt. Now, as a new member of Israel’s parliament, Glick is vowing to use his office to press his cause, bringing his explosive campaign to the nation’s corridors of power.
“Twenty years ago, Temple Mount activists were considered totally delusional, extreme, marginal. Today, half of the Knesset’s members agree with the basis of what I express,” Glick, 51, told The Associated Press in an interview.
Peace
France felt 'compelled to act' on Middle East peace talks theguardian
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, and UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, attended, along with representatives from the Arab League, the European Union and key Arab states. Israeli and Palestinian representatives were absent.
Also Middle East peace talks open without Israeli, Palestinian representatives and Israel can sigh relief at parve Paris communique
Peace
Israel-Palestinian peace initiatives are suddenly popping up everywhere washingtonpost
Until a week ago, it seemed the Israeli-Palestinian peace process was a flat-liner. President Obama thought so. In March, he said he wouldn’t seek to jump-start talks — the two sides were too far apart; it was not in the cards.
AI
Computers could develop consciousness and may need 'human' rights, says Oxford professor telegraph.co.uk w!
Marcus du Sautoy, who took over from Richard Dawkins as Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University in 2008 said it was now possible to measure consciousness and, in the future, technology could be deemed to be ‘alive.’
Israel
Israeli Ex-Officers Issue Peace Plan, Condemn Gov't Inaction abcnews.go
It calls for a freeze on settlement building, the acceptance in principle of the Arab Peace Initiative and the recognition that east Jerusalem should be part of a future Palestinian state "when established as part of a future agreement." The Israeli opposition and much of the international community have long argued for these proposals.
This is an interesting, developing story that has been brewing (at least publicly) the last week or so with evidences of a split occurring between Israel's military and politicians on a 2-state solution. Only time will tell how deep this will go, but it's something to keep an eye on, particularly in light of France's 2-state solution peace talks coming up next month. It seems to be promoting much of what the “world” wants for a 2-state solution. Here's the proposed plan: PDF
Society
Eleven states sue Obama administration over bathroom guidance for transgender students washingtonpost v
The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, states that the guidance “has no basis in law” and could cause “seismic changes in the operations of the nation’s school districts.”
Robotics
Robots Learn How to Make Friends and Influence People technologyreview
...researchers have developed an algorithm that could give robots the ability to deftly maneuver through spaces packed with unpredictable humans.
Drones
The Hover Camera will follow you around and record your entire life mashable v
The Hover Camera is also unlike drones in that it truly hovers after powering it on. You simply let go of it and it'll hover in the air at the altitude (up to 164 feet high) which you let it go at
Personal, small flying drones that can pick indivduals out of a crowd, follow them, and record what they are doing. What could go wrong? For a fuller story on the company, itself, see Zero Zero's Camera Drone Could Be a Robot Command Center in the Future v
