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Another Ivy League Says They're Suspending Pro-Hamas Students

 Columbia University threatened and has now gone through with suspending pro-Hamas student agitators setting up encampments on campus. A statement from Cornell University President Martha E. Pollack on Monday signaled that they too will go through with suspending students, as CNN highlighted as part of their live updates. 

The statement was merely titled "Update on campus events," and never goes into the specifics of what those "campus events" of pro-Hamas encampments entail. The Israel-Hamas conflict that began after Hamas perpetrated a terrorist attack against our ally in the Middle East is never mentioned at all. 

What the statement does mention is how those facing trouble did not have to let the trouble get this far:

It is important that everyone knows the details about what has been happening here at Cornell. Last Thursday, a group of individuals formed an encampment on the Arts Quad. A student group had previously requested permission for an art installation there, consistent with our policies; however, they were dishonest in their request, stating that there would not be tents and that the art installation would be removed by 8 p.m. on Thursday.

Upon learning of the encampment very early Thursday morning, my leadership team immediately offered an alternative location between Day Hall and Sage Chapel, which would have been significantly less disruptive. With an approved permit in hand, the protesters could have remained in the alternative location, per our policies, thereby avoiding disciplinary sanctions. The individuals requested and received multiple opportunities, over a five-hour span, to consider their options, but ultimately decided not to move. They were then reminded several additional times that afternoon and evening that if the tents were not taken down, they would be subject to disciplinary action for violating the university’s time, place, and manner rules. With full knowledge of the sanctions to come, they again refused to comply, and we moved forward with a first set of immediate temporary suspensions.

We met with a group of the student participants on Saturday and again on Sunday, discussing the encampment and again offering them the opportunity to move to the alternate location. They declined. Therefore, more temporary suspensions, along with HR referrals for employees engaged with the encampment, are forthcoming.

The terrorist sympathizers could have continued on with their pro-Hamas, anti-Israel demonstrations elsewhere on campus and were given multiple chances to do so. They refused, though. 

There was also a statement with such a warning issued on Saturday, from Joel M. Malina, the vice president for university relations, about an "Update on unauthorized encampment on the Arts Quad."

Such a statement began with a focus on free speech. "Free expression is a core value of our university, and the right to peacefully protest on our campus has a deep and respected history," read the first sentence. The statement did close, however, by addressing just what it is that these agitators support:

"We are also deeply distressed by chants made at some of the rallies near the encampment, particularly the phrase, “There is only one solution: Intifada Revolution.” The protesting group has repeatedly stated that their protest is political and not antisemitic, but these chants belie that claim. We implore all Cornellians to consider the impact of their words as well as their intentions as we navigate the immense pain and suffering that many are experiencing.

Local news outlet WENY reported that four students were suspended over the encampment on April 26, including PhD student Momodou Taal who has lamented that pro-Hamas agitators on campus have had their visa status threatened. "They have deliberately targeted students with precarious positions such as visa status," he whined, even though he notes he was given "a grace period."

His post also contained telling language about the university, such as how "It is clear that they are more concerned with appeasing their Zionist donors and keeping their hands drenched in blood than over the expressed refusal of their students and workers."

Cornell University has temporary suspended me alongside 3 other students/grad workers. They have deliberately targeted students with precarious positions such as visa status. They have given me a grace period but I am no longer permitted on campus. I know they have done this as a…

— Momodou ✊🏿 (@MomodouTaal) April 26, 2024

Cornell has recently made headlines in other ways over such concerning protests. Recall that Cornell Professor Russell Rickford shouted over a megaphone that he found the October 7 attack to be "exhilarating" and "energizing." This took place days after that attack resulted in 1,200 Israelis killed through unspeakable means, including babies and Holocaust survivors. Victims were also tortured, raped, and taken hostage, with many still in captivity. 

Rickford was placed on leave, but the New York Post reported on Monday that he was back on campus last Thursday to encourage the agitators. "The liberated territory is a concept. The liberated territory is in your head," he was quoted as saying at a rally by the Cornell Daily Sun. "Anytime you are ready, you can become a resident, an inhabitant, a member of the occupied territory, of the forces of liberation."

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"The university did not comment further on Rickford’s presence on campus or if it violated any rules," the report mentioned. 

Joe Biden’s Plot to Halt Innovation

 

America has long been known as the home of innovation. Many of the most successful companies the world has ever seen were born here. In the modern era, the seven largest technology companies in the world were all founded in America. America is a beacon of entrepreneurship – whether the desires of the hopeful entrepreneur are to establish and maintain a profitable small business, or to create a multinational juggernaut, all of this and more is possible in the United States – or at least it used to be. 

Joe Biden just declared war on our nation’s great entrepreneurial spirit. 

His 2025 budget calls for hiking the top capital gains rate from 28 percent to 44.6 percent. As Americans for Tax Reform laid out, "The proposed Biden top capital gains tax rate is more than twice as high as China’s rate. China’s capital gains tax rate is 20%.” Do we really want to be a nation with a higher capital gains tax rate than China?

Many were left scratching their heads after this proposal was revealed, especially given that research shows that increasing the capital gains tax destroys innovation and the reverse is also true. A 2019 study found that reducing the capital gains tax significantly increased "the amount of investment in start-up firms." Economist Allen Sinai found that "capital gains tax reduction increases savings, capital spending and capital formation, economic growth, jobs, productivity and potential output." If reductions in the capital gains tax rates have proven to increase the growth of the economy, why would Biden seek to do the opposite?

Our economy follows incentive structures. If you disincentivize growth, you can expect a slowdown. If you minimize the taxation penalties for those looking to invest in our economy, you can expect growth as a result. 

Capital gains taxes are a form of double taxation (and you could even argue they’re a form of triple taxation). You’ve already paid income tax before you’ve made your investment. Then there is a built-in inflation tax when you sell your investment off years down the road. Taxing the gains made on an investment creates yet another hurdle that investors have to put up with

Let’s say you invested $10,000 in company X in 1994 and you sell your shares for $30,000 today for a return of $20,000. Well, the dollar has sharply depreciated since 1994. In fact, the value of a dollar has halved in the past 30 years. 

So, your return is effectively only $10,000, and yet Joe Biden wants to take 44 percent of the $20,000 realized profit. Many are beginning to ask themselves, why should I take the risk to invest in that environment?

A higher capital gains tax will mean fewer investors. Fewer investors will mean less innovation and fewer great American companies.

Biden and his allies justify this tax increase as a way to reduce wealth inequality, but his own administration notes that there is actually a deeper racial motivation to the proposal. 

The Biden Treasury Department wrote that the current capital gains tax rate “disproportionately benefit[s] White taxpayers, who receive the overwhelming majority of the benefits of the reduced rates.”  

Racial resentment as a guiding principle for tax policy is not a recipe for success and utilizing the economy as a weapon to enforce your social goals is a dangerous game. 

Given Biden’s stated goal is to politicize the tax structure in order to punish those who he believes are a threat to his power, it should come as no surprise that there’s an even crazier tax proposal hidden in this budget plan. The Biden administration also wants to tax “unrealized gains.” Taxing unrealized capital gains means you penalize individuals for momentarily successful investments regardless of if they’d sold them or not. In other words, Americans would owe taxes on earnings they haven’t actually received yet as realized income. 

Biden will defend himself by noting that his proposed 25 percent tax on unrealized gains will only be imposed on individuals with more than $100 million in assets, but the problem is – with policies like these, why would anyone desire to accumulate that level of wealth any longer in this proposed environment? 

If Joe Biden’s policies are enacted, expect American billionaires to flee and our economy to suffer, as not only will we lose Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Larry Ellison, and many more, but importantly we’ll lose the great entrepreneurs of the future. 

Brave business owners risk everything with the hopes that they will be able to reap the rewards of their risk as they increasingly provide value to their customers. Joe Biden wants to eradicate the chances that they’ll ever be able to. 

As Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan noted in 1997 “while all taxes impede economic growth to one extent or another, the capital gains tax is at the far end of the scale.”

A serious nation would promote entrepreneurship, innovation, and growth at all costs. The Biden administration has made it abundantly clear he has no such desire. We as citizens of this great country can only hope that Biden is out of office so his goals are never realized.  

Iran’s Nightmares

 

Details of the recent limited Israeli retaliatory strike against Iranian anti-aircraft missile batteries at Isfahan are still sketchy. Nonetheless, we can draw some conclusions.

Israel’s small volley of missiles hit their intended targets, to the point of zeroing in on the very launchers designed to stop such incoming ordnance.

The target was near the Natanz enrichment facility. That proximity was by design. Israel showed Iran it could take out the very anti-missile battery designed to thwart an attack on its nearby nuclear facility.

The larger message sent to the world was that Israel could send a retaliatory barrage at Iranian nuclear sites with reasonable assurances that the incoming attacks could not be stopped. By comparison, Iran’s earlier attack on Israel was much greater and more indiscriminate. It was also a huge flop, with an estimated 99 percent of the more than 320 drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles failing to hit their planned targets.

Moreover, it was reported that more than 50% of Iran’s roughly 115-120 ballistic missiles failed at launch or malfunctioned in flight.

Collate these facts, and it presents a disturbing corrective to Iran’s non-stop boasts of soon possessing a nuclear arsenal that will obliterate the Jewish state.

Consider further the following nightmarish scenarios: Were Iranian nuclear-tipped missiles ever launched at Israel, they could pass over, in addition to Syria and Iraq, either Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza, or all four. In the cases of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, such trajectories would constitute an act of war, especially considering that some of Iran’s recent aerial barrages were intercepted and destroyed over Arab territory well before they reached Israel.

Iran’s strike prompted Arab nations, the U.S., the U.K., and France to work in concert to destroy almost all of Iran’s drones. For Iran, that is a premonition of the sort of sophisticated aerial opposition it might face if it ever decided to stage a nuclear version.

Even if half of Iran’s ballistic missiles did launch successfully, only a handful apparently neared their intended targets — in sharp contrast to Israel’s successful attack on Iranian missile batteries. Is it thus conceivable that any Iranian-nuclear-tipped missile launched toward Israel might pose as great a threat to Iran itself or its neighbors as to Israel?

And even if such missiles made it into the air and even if they successfully traversed Arab airspace, there is still an overwhelming chance they would be neutralized before detonating above Israel.

Any such launch would warrant an immediate Israeli response. And the incoming bombs and missiles would likely have a 100% certainty of evading Iran’s countermeasures and hitting their targets.

Now that the soil of both Iran and Israel is no longer sacred and immune from attack, the mystique of the Iranian nuclear threat has dissipated.

It should be harder for the theocracy to shake down Western governments for hostage bribes, sanctions relief, and Iran-deal giveaways on the implied threat of Iran successfully nuking the Jewish state.

The new reality is that Iran has goaded an Israel that has numerous nuclear weapons and dozens of nuclear-tipped missiles in hardened silos and on submarines. Tehran has zero ability to stop any of these missiles or sophisticated fifth-generation Israeli aircraft armed with nuclear bombs and missiles.

Iran must now fear that if it launched two or three nuclear missiles, there would be overwhelming odds that they would either fail at launch, go awry in the air, implode inside Iran, be taken down over Arab territory by Israel’s allies, or be knocked down by the tripartite Israel anti-missile defense system.

Add it all up, and the Iranian attack on Israel seems a historic blunder. It showed the world the impotence of an Iranian aerial assault at the very time it threatens to go nuclear. It revealed that an incompetent Iran may be as much a threat to itself as to its enemies. It opened up a new chapter in which its own soil, thanks to its attack on Israel, is no longer off limits to any Western power.

Its failure to stop a much smaller Israel response, coupled with the overwhelming success of Israel and its allies in stopping a much larger Iranian attack, reminds the Iranian autocracy that its shrill rhetoric is designed to mask its impotence and to hide its own vulnerabilities from its enemies.

And the long-suffering Iranian people?

The truth will come out that its own theocracy hit the Israeli homeland with negligible results and earned a successful, though merely demonstrative, Israeli response in return.

So Iranians will learn their homeland is now vulnerable and, for the future, no longer off limits.

And they will conclude that Israel has more effective allies than Iran and that their own ballistic missiles may be more suicidal than homicidal.

As a result, they may conclude that the real enemies of the Iranian nation are not the Jewish people of Israel after all, but their own unhinged Islamist theocrats.

Why insanity system in Dungeons and Dragons sucks

 

If a character’s Sanity score drops to 0 or lower, she begins the quick slide into permanent insanity. Each round, the character loses another point of Sanity. Once a character’s Sanity score is reduced to a point below zero equal to her Wisdom score, she is hopelessly, incurably insane

Mechanics

Let’s talk about madness and insanity in role-playing games. This is a pretty controversial topic, and to make sure I get this right, I’ve been in touch with my friends in the Mental Health field as well as some close friends who live with their own mental health conditions.

Some systems give purely mechanical detriments to make characters “insane.” This is how the D&D 5e DMG does it on page 259-260. Congratulations, your character is now blind for 3 hours! However, the D&D system is built on powering up your character. This is epic fantasy. Some people like it when their characters suffer horrible mental trauma, and those people play Call of Cthulhu. So, my first problem with the way mental health conditions are included in the game is that it goes against the basic upwards flow of the system.

Additionally, the PHB and the DMG emphasize that people can play the game and role-play at whatever level they feel comfortable. Just want to hack some orcs? Good for you. Want to write a novella for your backstory? Go for it! But that leads us to another problem: in the DMG, the “indefinite madness” table manifests as a new flaw gained by your character. This means, if your character was just a simple hack-and-slasher, there’s no consequence to the roll. This works against the idea that a player should be free to role-play at any level with a given mechanic.

However, I think both of these points are missing a bigger issue.

The symptoms of actual mental health conditions are often portrayed as the problem, but often they are a coping mechanism for a larger problem. The best example is OCD: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. It’s not just “being a neat freak” or “liking things to be organized.” It’s because your brain is obsessing over something that makes you anxious and unable to focus on the rest of your life, and you begin to practice a repetitive activity (a compulsion) in order to calm down your brain.

Many mental health conditions are actually the brain doing its best to adapt to unusual situations. Hearing a voice that isn’t yours in your head is unusual. Talking to yourself in your own voice and convincing yourself not to listen is the brain’s way of adapting.

I do want to note that some people’s minds deal with trauma differently, and I think that’s beyond the scope of this post. I can’t claim that these ideas apply to people with chronic mental health conditions.

So, instead of taking the usual route of “here’s how your character is worse now that you’re insane”, I wanted to give the players an ability they’d want to use: a power of the mind, with a drawback.

Essentially, the character experienced something traumatic, unusual, horrifying, or mind-bending. But that doesn’t really change who they are. The brain just has to take the time to adapt back to an understanding of reality. So, each ability listed below has a drawback (how the brain is adapting) and a time limit (how long it takes to heal).

But if we just gave people a drawback and a time limit, that’s no different than what the DMG does. we want the player to accept the ability, because the character’s brain would want to heal. So every ability has a benefit as well.

As these are temporary benefits, they won’t affect the game too much, and the drawbacks are small enough that a character can continue their upwards growth while they work through the problems. This is also useful from a session planning perspective: if you’re in a dungeon and you expect to get through about 4-5 hours of in-game time, what about the character who just rolled a long-term madness and is unconscious for 7 hours?

With all of that in mind, here are some of the abilities I’ve devised for how a PC might adjust their mind after a traumatic event.

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Mental Reactions to Trauma

Circumspect:

• For the duration, you can never have disadvantage on an Intelligence-based ability check
• You cannot regain HP on a rest unless you spend at least an hour of the time away from your allies, talking through the events that lead to you gaining this ability. This becomes the only action you can take during a short rest if your are using hit dice to regain HP
• Ends after 30 days

Daydreamer:

• Once per day, you may automatically pass an Intelligence-based skill check
• Ends when you have used the ability 30 times
• For DM: roll 1d10 when the player uses this ability and modify the information they receive accordingly

d10 Roll	Information
1-4	False information, that the PC would have no way of knowing
5-7	False information
8-9	Truthful information, that the PC would have no way of knowing
10	Truthful information

Destructive:

• While not in combat, you regain 1 HP whenever you permanently and intentionally destroy an object that is small or larger
• Whenever you regain HP with this ability, all non-hostile creatures within 30 feet (including other members of your party) must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw of 8 + your character level or be frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat this saving throw at the end of their turn to end the effect.
• Ends when you have healed 300HP from this ability

Distracted:

• Whenever you are targeted by an attack roll, roll 1d8+12. Treat the number rolled as your AC against that attack
• Ends when you have been hit by 30 attack rolls

Facade:

• For the duration, you have advantage on Charisma ability checks and saving throws made to influence hostile creatures or avoid effects from hostile creatures.
• For the duration, you have disadvantage on Charisma ability checks and saving throws made to influence indifferent or friendly creatures or avoid effects from indifferent or friendly creatures.
• Ends after you have made 10 Charisma saving throws with disadvantage

Hampered:

• For the duration, whenever you take damage, that damage is reduced by half. Any damage prevented this way must be tracked on your character sheet as Delayed Damage.
• At the end of a long rest, you may choose to take all your Delayed Damage as hit point damage. This damage cannot be reduced in any way. If you elect to not take your Delayed Damage, you must instead add an amount of damage to your Delayed Damage equal to your character level.
• If, at any point, your Delayed Damage reaches an amount equal to 10 x your character level, you take the damage immediately. The rules for instant death due to massive damage (PHB pg. 197) do not apply to this damage, and if you are reduced to 0 hit points in this way, you are unconscious but stable.
• Ends when you have taken 200 Delayed Damage.

Heartbroken:

• Choose a PC or NPC related to how you gained this ability.
• Whenever the PC/NPC is within your line of sight, you have disadvantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma ability checks and saving throws.
• Whenever the PC/NPC is out of sight, you have advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma ability checks and saving throws.
• Ends when you have made 15 Wisdom saving throws with advantage (not necessarily due to this ability)

Hyper-Aware:

• Your passive perception score increases by 10
• Whenever you make an attack roll, whether ranged or melee, choose the target randomly among all available targets within the range of the attack
• Ends when you have made 50 attack rolls

Moody:

• Each day at dawn, roll 1d20:

d20 Roll	Outcome
1-10	You gain disadvantage on all rolls made for the next 24 hours
11-20	You gain advantage on all rolls made for the next 24 hours

• Ends when advantage rolls equal disadvantage rolls, with a minimum of 3 days

Nervous:

• At the beginning of combat, make a Wisdom Saving Throw of 15
• On a success, take 20 on initiative
• On a failure, you are surprised for the first round of combat
• Ends after 30 initiative rolls

Obsessive:

• For the duration, you can never have disadvantage on a wisdom-based ability check
• You cannot regain HP on a rest unless you spend at least an hour of the time in quiet, methodical contemplation. This becomes the only action you can take during a short rest if your are using hit dice to regain HP
• Ends after 30 days

Phobic:

• Choose a creature or creature type, preferably one related to how you gained this ability
• Whenever you kill a creature of that type, you may spend hit dice to regain HP as if you had finished a short rest
• You have vulnerability to all damage dealt by those creatures
• Ends when you reach 100 points by the following system:

Creature CR	Points Gained
2 or less	1 point per kill of that creature type
3-8	2 points per kill of that creature type
9-13	5 points per kill of that creature type
14-17	10 points per kill of that creature type
18-23	25 points per kill of that creature type
24+	50 points per kill of that creature type

Prescient:

• Once per day, you may receive a clue about a future event related to a person, location, or item
• Ends when you have used the ability 30 times
• For DM: roll 1d10 when the player uses this ability and modify the information they receive accordingly

d10 Roll	Information
1-4	False clue, the event is against the party’s goals
5-7	False clue, the event is beneficial to the party’s goals
8-9	Truthful clue, reveal an irrelevant future event about the target
10	Truthful clue about a relevant future event

Rapport:

• As an action while you have this ability, you may touch an ally and heal them for an amount of HP no greater than your maximum HP – 1. When you do so, you take damage equal to the amount healed
• When an ally within 5 feet of you takes damage, make a Wisdom saving throw of 15. On a failure, you take that amount of damage instead
• Ends when you have taken 150 damage due to failing the Wisdom saving throw of this ability

Repressed:

• During a short rest, you may permanently remove a skill, weapon, language, or tool proficiency in order to fully heal your HP.
• Ends when you have used the ability 5 times

Restless:

• Choose a creature or creature type, preferably one related to how you gained this ability
• You have advantage on attack rolls made against those creatures
• If you fight a creature of that type, you cannot gain the benefits of a long rest for 24 hours. If you stop to rest for the night, you will only gain the benefits of a short rest
• Ends when you have missed 15 long rests due to this ability

Rude:

• You have advantage on intimidation and deception checks, but disadvantage on all other charisma checks and saving throws
• Ends when you have made 15 Charisma saving throws

Temperamental:

• When you make a Charisma-based Ability Check or Saving Throw, roll 1d6. On an even roll, treat your Charisma modifier as if it were that number. On an odd roll, treat your Charisma modifier as if it were that number, but negative. Your Proficiency bonus still applies normally to the roll if applicable.
• Ends when you have been forced to make 10 Charisma saving throws

Unease:

• Choose an environment or room type (e.g. arctic, swamp, close quarters, open field, etc), preferably one related to how you gained this ability
• Whenever you finish a combat in that environment and have at least 1 HP remaining, you may spend hit dice to regain HP as if you had finished a short rest
• You have vulnerability to all damage dealt to you in that environment
• Ends when you finish 30 combats in that environment, whether or not you gain the benefit from this ability

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Modifying these abilities to fit your game might be necessary. For a game focused on dungeon crawling, 30 days or 15 long rests might be quite a while, whereas a wilderness travel game might find them too short.

I think the sweet spot is to let the player feel the effects of the ability for just a little longer than they might like. Reinforce the idea that this is something they are doing subconsciously, that it ends when it ends, not when they want it to.

I’m looking forward to trying these out in my sessions. Some of them are pretty cool mechanically, and I think my players will really take them to heart. That definitely wouldn’t be the case if I was just using the purely negative effects in the DMG.

The museum wants me to play Dungeons and Dragons after I asked staff what they do for hobbies. I said what’s better?….Nintendo or DnD or Magic the Gathering or pickups, or campers? Maybe they knew the insanity system in Dnd and commit me to the St. Peter state hospital. I collected the books. I find it weird that Dork Den never buys used DnD books and charges $50 new on all of them. Then the dork den managers cooks the books on Magic the Gathering packs. I saw a $39 MtG pack off amazon priced at $139 at Dork Den. Lots of magic the gathering packs are over $100 here. At least they play commander compatible with star city games.