All posts tagged: oppose

Why Jewish values oppose Israel’s unequal death penalty law

Why Jewish values oppose Israel’s unequal death penalty law

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Judaism is a religion that values all human life equally. The foundation is written in Genesis 1:27, which states that humans were all created in the image of God. And while all the religions that hold Genesis in their canon of sacred texts differ in interpretation, Judaism is clear that every human life is a world unto itself, a line well known from the Mishnah (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5) quoted in the movie “Schindler’s List.”  So how can it be that lawmakers in Israel — a country that purportedly bases itself on Jewish teachings and values — approved a death penalty law and tribunal that only apply to one class of people? As part of a congregation that lost 11 members in a violent antisemitic attack against our synagogue and two others in Pittsburgh in 2018, I know the pain of loss through terror. But perhaps the best rationale against the death penalty is that given by the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel in a speech at Wesleyan University …

Mark Ruffalo says Hollywood stars ‘afraid’ to oppose Paramount-Warner Bros deal

Mark Ruffalo says Hollywood stars ‘afraid’ to oppose Paramount-Warner Bros deal

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Emmy-winning actor Mark Ruffalo has claimed that Hollywood figures are “afraid” to oppose the proposed merger of studios Paramount and Warner Brothers. In April, shareholders at media conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery approved a $81bn merger with competitor Paramount – which would result in the latter company owning HBO Max, the Harry Potter franchise and news outlet CNN. The deal has been criticised by industry professionals and politicians, who fear cost-cutting measures being brought in and Trump-friendly editorial changes at CNN as a result. Mark Ruffalo, who has been an outspoken critic of the merger, has spoken out against the deal in a new opinion piece – revealing that fellow actors are too scared to sign an open letter protesting against the merger. Kristen Stewart, Yorgos Lanthimos, Ben Stiller and Joaquin Phoenix are among the stars who’ve signed the “Block the Merger” …

Parents, councillors and NSS oppose CofE school takeover

Parents, councillors and NSS oppose CofE school takeover

Published by Sam Flores

Parents, local politicians and the National Secular Society have set out their opposition to a proposed Church of England (CofE) school takeover in Guilford. The planned merger would amalgamate the larger Merrow Junior School – which is non-religious – and the smaller Merrow CofE Controlled Infant School. The resulting school would be a Christian faith school called Merrow CofE Primary School. As a ‘voluntary controlled’ faith school, Merrow CofE Primary could legally discriminate on the basis of religion in hiring, paying and promoting up to one fifth of staff. One quarter of its governors would be appointed by the Church. Its religious education (RE) would be inspected by a religious body, rather than Ofsted. A consultation on the merger run by Surrey County Council closed last week. The consultation only explored the possibility of the resulting school being a Church of England faith school. No option for a merged secular school with no religious character was included. The merger was proposed in response to falling pupil numbers at both schools. School should be “a welcoming …

Dozens of MPs oppose Streeting’s new power to say what NHS pays for drugs

Dozens of MPs oppose Streeting’s new power to say what NHS pays for drugs

Published by Sam Flores

Dozens of MPs are opposing Wes Streeting’s decision to award himself power to dictate what the NHS pays for drugs amid growing concern the move may be illegal. Thirty-one MPs have signed a House of Commons motion voicing their disapproval of the health secretary being handed the power to override the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (Nice) judgment on how much the NHS should spend on individual medicines. They fear that the change is a “power grab” that undermines the role Nice has played since its creation in 1999 as the arbiter of which medicines constitute value for money for the NHS to buy – and thus which patients can receive – in England and Wales. Nice is widely viewed internationally as a model of how to protect against drug companies charging excessive prices. Labour, Green, Liberal Democrat, Independent, Scottish Nationalist and Plaid Cymru MPs have backed a “prayer”, tabled by the Labour ex-shadow chancellor John McDonnell. MPs can use a “prayer” as a way of showing they disagree with a statutory instrument …

Publishers oppose Google using content for ‘fine-tuning’ AI models

Publishers oppose Google using content for ‘fine-tuning’ AI models

Published by Sam Flores

Google AI Overview answer to ‘what is fine-tuning in ai’ query News publishers have disputed a claim from Google that using their content to “fine-tune” its AI models contains “no realistic prospect of harm” to them. ‘Fine-tuning’ enables an AI model that has already been trained to add new data to respond to a specific prompt or task. Google told the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority that there is “no realistic prospect of harm to publishers in respect of training/fine-tuning of AI models for search and search generative AI features. “Fine-tuning helps the model learn how to process information rather than what current information to display; this internal processing does not create a substitute for publisher websites. A model relying solely on patterns learned during training would be static, often outdated, and prone to hallucinations.” The CMA has said it is not minded to provide separate controls for fine-tuning but publishers asked it to reconsider. The CMA has published responses from several major news organisations to its consultation relating to proposed conduct requirements to be …

Fear of populists is pushing governments to oppose expanding the EU – POLITICO

Fear of populists is pushing governments to oppose expanding the EU – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

“Enlargement must remain demanding and merit-based to ensure its success and credibility,” France’s minister delegate for European affairs, Benjamin Haddad, told POLITICO. The biggest concern among governments is fear of political blowback against any leader who brings new EU members into a national debate, three of the diplomats and one senior EU official involved with the enlargement process said. Like others in this article, they were granted anonymity to discuss talks that are largely confidential. A repeat of the “Polish plumber” debate that gripped many EU countries before Warsaw’s admission in 2004, when some politicians argued that cheap Polish labor would replace highly paid jobs in Western Europe, is among the worries in capitals. “The same semi-populist, semi-xenophobic arguments we heard about the Poles, we are likely to hear with the Ukrainians and any other candidate,” said a diplomat from a mid-size EU country. “Who are these people? What are they going to be doing in our club? Will they be coming to take our jobs? No appetite This concern is particularly strong in France, …

We Must Be Clear-Eyed”: Harris Calls To Oppose New SCOTUS Nominees “Before They Happen

We Must Be Clear-Eyed”: Harris Calls To Oppose New SCOTUS Nominees “Before They Happen

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Jonathan Turley, Former Vice President Kamala Harris is rallying Democratic donors to oppose  “additional justices” that might be nominated by President Donald Trump “before they happen.” Harris is heralding the fundraising by Josh Orton, president of the dark-money group “Demand Justice” (made infamous for its campaign to get Justice Stephen Breyer to resign). Demand Justice has pushed a radical agenda, including court packing. In a post on X, Harris highlighted a New York Times article on the “liberal organization” “preparing a multimillion–dollar effort to oppose potential Trump Supreme Court appointees before they happen.” Orton announced that “the project would cost $3 million to start and $15 million more if vacancies occurred.” The group expressly cited the possibility of Justices Clarence Thomas (77) and Samuel Alito (76) retiring. Harris called upon people to contribute, posting that : “We must be clear eyed about what is at stake with the Supreme Court right now. We cannot allow Donald Trump to hand pick one, if not two, additional justices. The nation’s highest court must be stopped from becoming even more beholden to him.” …

Kalshi seeks preliminary injunction as tribes oppose Arizona betting crackdown

Kalshi seeks preliminary injunction as tribes oppose Arizona betting crackdown

Published by skeptic

Kalshi is asking a federal judge in Arizona to step in and halt state enforcement actions targeting its event-based trading platform. The move ramps up a growing legal fight over whether Kalshi’s contracts should be treated as legitimate financial products or illegal sports betting. The company’s request is based on a preliminary injunction that would block Arizona officials from continuing what Kalshi describes as a criminal case tied to its platform. In a reply brief filed Tuesday (March 31), the prediction market platform argues the state is crossing a line by trying to regulate activity it says falls squarely under federal commodities law. NEW: #Kalshi fights Arizona charges arguing for a preliminary injunction and that federal law gives CFTC exclusive control over event contracts, warning states risk fragmenting markets @RWW pic.twitter.com/4qJFqW8Ep9 — Suswati Basu (@suswatibasu) April 1, 2026 “Defendants have taken the extraordinary step of filing criminal charges against Kalshi in Arizona state court,” the company wrote, adding that the case “turn[s] on the theory that all of Kalshi’s event contracts are criminal gambling.” This …

On the eve of Passover, most US Jews oppose the war in Iran

On the eve of Passover, most US Jews oppose the war in Iran

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — On the eve of the holiday of Passover, a new poll shows a majority of American Jews oppose the joint U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, even as 90% of them say they oppose the Iranian regime. The poll, commissioned by J Street, the liberal Zionist advocacy and lobby group, found that 60% of U.S. Jews oppose the war and a staggering 77% do not believe “President Trump has a clear plan and mission for the war.” Another poll of U.S. Jews, by the Jewish Electorate Institute, also released on Monday, showed similar results, with 55% of American Jews opposing military action against Iran. The two polls show that Jewish attitudes against the war are comparable to the opposition among all Americans (58% opposition in the Fox News poll conducted March 20-23). The poll suggests a growing rift between U.S. Jews and Israeli Jews who have thus far supported the Iran war. “This data is a wake-up call for anyone claiming to speak for the American Jewish community while beating the drums of war,” J …