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    Man Employs A.I. Avatar in Legal Appeal, and Judge Isn’t Amused

    The use of a video persona created with artificial intelligence software to help make an argument earns a stern rebuke.Jerome Dewald sat with his legs crossed and his hands folded in his lap in front of an appellate panel of New York State judges, ready to argue for a reversal of a lower court’s decision in his dispute with a former employer.The court had allowed Mr. Dewald, who is not a lawyer and was representing himself, to accompany his argument with a prerecorded video presentation.As the video began to play, it showed a man seemingly younger than Mr. Dewald’s 74 years wearing a blue collared shirt and a beige sweater and standing in front of what appeared to be a blurred virtual background.A few seconds into the video, one of the judges, confused by the image on the screen, asked Mr. Dewald if the man was his lawyer.“I generated that,” Mr. Dewald responded. “That is not a real person.”The judge, Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels of the Appellate Division’s First Judicial Department, paused for a moment. It was clear she was displeased with his answer.“It would have been nice to know that when you made your application,” she snapped at him.“I don’t appreciate being misled,” she added before yelling for someone to turn off the video.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    New York Warns Trump It Will Not Comply With Public School D.E.I. Order

    The New York State Education Department on Friday issued a defiant response to the Trump administration’s threats to pull federal funding from public schools over certain diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a remarkable departure from the conciliatory approach of other institutions in recent weeks.Daniel Morton-Bentley, the deputy commissioner for legal affairs at the state education agency in New York, wrote in a letter to federal education officials that “we understand that the current administration seeks to censor anything it deems ‘diversity, equity & inclusion.’”“But there are no federal or state laws prohibiting the principles of D.E.I.,” Mr. Morton-Bentley wrote, adding that the federal government has not defined what practices it believes violate civil rights protections.The stern letter was sent one day after the federal government issued a memo to education officials across the nation, asking them to confirm the elimination of all programs it argues unfairly promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Title I funding for schools with high percentages of low-income students was at risk pending compliance, federal officials said.New York’s stance differed from the muted and often deferential responses across academia and other major institutions to the Trump administration’s threats. Some universities have quietly scrubbed diversity websites and canceled events to comply with executive orders — and to avoid the ire of the White House.A divide emerged last spring as the presidents of several universities, including Harvard and Columbia, adopted cautious responses when confronted by House Republicans at congressional hearings regarding antisemitism. In contrast, K-12 leaders, including David C. Banks, chancellor of New York City’s public schools at the time, took a combative approach.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    These Are the 381 Books Removed From the Naval Academy Library

    The Navy released the titles of 381 books on Friday evening that were removed from the U.S. Naval Academy’s Nimitz Library on the Annapolis, Md., campus this week because their subject matter was seen as being related to so-called diversity, equity and inclusion topics.President Trump issued an executive order in January that banned D.E.I. materials in kindergarten through 12th grade education, but the office of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth informed the Naval Academy on March 28 that he intended the order to apply to the school as well, even though it is a college.Read the Navy’s list of removed booksRead Document 19 pagesFirst on the list is “How to Be Anti-Racist” by Ibram X. Kendi. Also listed are “The Making of Black Lives Matter,” by Christopher J. Lebron; “How Racism Takes Place,” by George Lipsitz; “The Fire This Time,” edited by Jesmyn Ward; “The Myth of Equality,” by Ken Wytsma; studies of the Ku Klux Klan, and the history of lynching in America.The list also includes books about gender and sexuality, like “Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex” by Elizabeth Reis, and “Between XX and XY: Intersexuality and the Myth of Two Sexes” by Gerald N. Callahan. President Trump issued a separate executive order in January proclaiming that there are only two sexes.The academy began pulling books from the shelves at Nimitz Library on Monday evening and largely completed the task before Mr. Hegseth visited midshipmen on campus Tuesday afternoon. More

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    Read the Naval Academy’s list of removed books

    Publication
    List of Removed Books from Nimitz Library
    Released: April 4, 2025
    Title
    350 Dazzling dialectics: Elizabeth Bishop’s resonating feminist reality /
    Sally Bishop Shigley.
    Date
    c1997.
    351 Deviant modernism: sexual and textual errancy in T.S. Eliot,
    James Joyce, and Marcel Proust / Colleen Lamos.
    1998.
    352 Faulkner’s sexualities: Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha, 2007 / edited
    by Annette Trefzer and Ann J. Abadie.
    c2010.
    353 Hemingway’s fetishism: psychoanalysis and the mirror of
    manhood/Carl P. Eby.
    c1999.
    354 Hemingway’s genders rereading the Hemingway text / Nancy R.
    Comley and Robert Scholes.
    1998.
    355 Anaïs Nin and the remaking of self: gender, modernism, and
    narrative identity / Diane Richard-Allerdyce.
    356 Richard Wright and racial discourse / Yoshinobu Hakutani.
    357 I know why the caged bird sings, by Maya Angelou / editor,
    Mildred R. Mickle.
    c1994.
    c1996.
    c2010.
    2021.
    2013.
    358 Good boy: my life in seven dogs / Jennifer Finney Boylan.
    359 Every day / David Levithan.
    360 Everybody’s America: Thomas Pynchon, race, and the cultures of
    postmodernism / David Witzling.
    2008.
    361 Anne Rice and sexual politics: the early novels / by James R.
    Keller; with conclusion by James R. Keller and Gwendolyn
    Morgan.
    c2000.
    362 A psalm for the wild-built / Becky Chambers.
    2021.
    363 Body language / by Kelly Magee.
    c2006.
    364 Summer fun / Jeanne Thornton.
    [2021]
    365 Brain storm: the flaws in the science of sex differences / Rebecca
    M. Jordan-Young.
    2010.
    366 Man & woman, boy & girl: gender identity from conception to
    maturity/John Money, Anke A. Ehrhardt.
    1996.
    367 The autobiography of a transgender scientist / Ben Barres ;
    foreword by Nancy Hopkins.
    2020.
    368 Designing and conducting gender, sex, & health research / editors,
    John L. Oliffe, Lorraine Greaves.
    c2012.
    369 Purity and pollution: gender, embodiment, and Victorian medicine
    / Alison Bashford.
    1998.
    370 Dying of whiteness: how the politics of racial resentment is killing
    America’s heartland / Jonathan M. Metzl.
    [2019]
    371 Dying of whiteness: how the politics of racial resentment is killing
    America’s heartland / Jonathan M. Metzl.
    [2019]
    Subjects
    Bishop, Elizabeth,–1911-1979–Political and social views.; Feminism and literature–United States–History–20th century.; Women and literature–United States–History–20th century.;
    Gender identity in literature.; Sex role in literature.; Lesbians in literature.
    Eliot, T. S.–(Thomas Stearns),–1888-1965–Criticism and interpretation.; Proust, Marcel,–1871-1922.–A la recherche du temps perdu.; Joyce, James,–1882-1941.–Ulysses.; Paraphilias in
    literature.; Gender identity in literature.; Masculinity in literature.; Modernism (Literature); Sex in literature.; Men in literature.
    Faulkner, William,–1897-1962–Criticism and interpretation–Congresses.; Faulkner, William,–1897-1962–Sexual behavior–Congresses.; Faulkner, William,–1897-1962–Aesthetics–
    Congresses.; Sex in literature–Congresses.; Sex (Psychology) in literature–Congresses.; Gender identity in literature–Congresses.
    Hemingway, Ernest,–1899-1961–Knowledge–Psychology.; Psychoanalysis and literature–United States–History–20th century.; Psychological fiction, American–History and criticism.;
    Authors, American–20th century–Psychology.; Hemingway, Ernest,–1899-1961–Psychology.; Gender identity in literature.; Masculinity in literature.; Fetishism in literature.; Men in
    literature.
    Hemingway, Ernest,–1899-1961–Criticism and interpretation.; Masculinity in literature.; Gender identity in literature.; Sex role in literature.
    Nin, Anaïs,–1903-1977–Criticism and interpretation.; Psychoanalysis and literature–United States–History–20th century.; Women and literature–United States–History–20th century.;
    Psychological fiction, American–History and criticism.; Modernism (Literature)–United States.; Sex (Psychology) in literature.; Gender identity in literature.; Narration (Rhetoric); Self in
    literature.; Fiction–Technique.; Lacan, Jacques.–1901-1981.
    Wright, Richard,–1908-1960–Criticism and interpretation.; Wright, Richard,–1908-1960–Political and social views.; Literature and society–United States–History–20th century.; African
    Americans in literature.; Race relations in literature.; Racism in literature.
    Angelou, Maya.–I know why the caged bird sings.; African Americans in literature.; Racism in literature.; Southern States–In literature.
    Boylan, Jennifer Finney,–1958-; Novelists, American–20th century–Biography.; Transgender people–United States–Biography.; Dog owners–United States–Biography.; Dogs–United
    States–Biography.; Human-animal relationships.
    Transmigration–Ffiction.; Interpersonal relations–Fiction.; Gender identity–Fiction.; Identity (Philosophical concept)–Fiction.; Romance fiction.
    Pynchon, Thomas–Criticism and interpretation.; Postmodernism (Literature)–United States.; Race in literature.; Racism in literature.; Race relations in literature.; Multiculturalism in
    literature.; African Americans in literature.; African Americans–Race identity.; Whites in literature.; Politics and literature–United States–History–20th century.
    Rice, Anne,–1941—Criticism and interpretation.; Gender identity in literature.; Sex in literature.
    Robots–Fiction.; Monks–Fiction.; Mythology–Fiction.; Self-consciousness (Awareness)–Fiction.; Gender-nonconforming people–Fiction.
    Gender identity–Fiction.; Lesbians–Fiction.; Southern States–Social life and customs–Fiction.
    Transgender women–Fiction.; Transgender people–Fiction.; Identity (Psychology)–Fiction.; Tourist camps, hostels, etc.–New Mexico–Fiction.; Popular music–Fiction.; Popular music fans–
    Fiction.; Musicians–Fiction.; Fans (Persons)–Fiction.; Fan mail–Fiction.; Letter writing–Fiction.; Truth or Consequences (N.M.)–Fiction.
    Brain–Sex differences.; Sex (Biology); Sex (Psychology); Brain–Physiology.; Gender identity.; Sex.
    Sex differentiation.; Sex differentiation disorders.; Sexual dimorphism (Animals); Psychosexual development.; Psychosexual disorders.; Gender identity.
    |Barres, Ben,–1954-2017.; Neurobiologists–United States–Biography.; Transgender people–United States–Biography.
    Medicine–Research.; Biology–Research.; Gender identity–Research.; Sexology–Research.
    Social medicine–History–19th century.; Human body–Social aspects–History–19th century.; Women in medicine–History–19th century.; Sex role–History–19th century.; Gender identity–
    History–19th century.; Feminist theory.
    Medical policy–United States.; Public health–United States.; United States–Race relations–Political aspects.; Racism–Political aspects–United States.; Whites–Health and hygiene–United
    |States.; Whites–United States–Social conditions–21st century.; Tennessee.; Missouri.; Kansas.
    Medical policy–United States.; Public health–United States.; United States–Race relations–Political aspects.; Racism–Political aspects–United States.; Whites–Health and hygiene–United
    |States.; Whites–United States–Social conditions–21st century.; Tennessee.; Missouri.; Kansas.
    Page 18 More

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    Russell Brand Is Charged With Rape and Sexual Assault in U.K.

    British prosecutors said that they had charged the comedian and actor with offenses between 1999 and 2005, involving four women.Prosecutors in Britain have charged Russell Brand, the comedian and actor, with multiple counts of sexual assault, including two counts of rape.The country’s Crown Prosecution Service announced the charges on Friday.Jaswant Narwal, a prosecutor, said in the statement that Mr. Brand, 50, would appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London for a first hearing on May 2.Ms. Narwal added that the charges “relate to reported non-recent offenses between 1999 and 2005, involving four women.”The British police began investigating Mr. Brand’s past behavior in September 2023, after The Sunday Times, The Times of London and the TV network Channel 4 published a joint investigation into allegations against him.Representatives for Mr. Brand did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday, but he has repeatedly denied ever having committed sexual assault.After the 2023 news investigation was published, Mr. Brand released a video on social media in which he said the British media was subjecting him to “a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks.” Mr. Brand said that he had once been sexually promiscuous but that his sexual encounters were “always consensual.”The Metropolitan Police in London outlined further details of the charges in a news release on Friday. Mr. Brand is accused of raping a woman in the Bournemouth area, in southern England, in 1999; of indecently assaulting a woman in London in 2001; of orally raping and sexually assaulting a woman in London in 2004; and, between 2004 and 2005, of sexually assaulting a fourth woman in London.The police statement added: “The Met’s investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police.”Under British law, it is an offense for news outlets to identify people who make sexual assault allegations unless they choose to waive their right to anonymity.Mr. Brand became a star in Britain in the 2000s thanks to acclaimed stand-up shows that often focused on drugs and sex, and that saw him selling out arena dates. He also became known as a TV and radio host for broadcasters including MTV and the BBC. He achieved fame in the United States after starring in movies such as “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek,” and through a brief marriage to the singer Katy Perry.More recently, Mr. Brand has become well known as a politically charged YouTuber. Over six million users subscribe to his channel where he posts videos that regularly include discussion of conspiracy theories and feature conservative figures like Tucker Carlson.On Thursday, Mr. Brand posted a clip about Donald Trump and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.In Britain, strict rules prevent the reporting of anything that could prejudice a jury at trial after charges have been filed. More

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    13 Off Broadway Shows to Tempt You in April

    New short plays by Caryl Churchill, a comedy with one erstwhile Derry Girl and a musical starring Anika Noni Rose — here’s what’s on New York stages this month.Theater in New York is nearing its seasonal crescendo, with stages Off Broadway and beyond teeming with activity. Of the many notable productions happening in April, here is a baker’s dozen to tantalize you.‘All the World’s a Stage’The composer-lyricist Adam Gwon, best known for the chamber musical “Ordinary Days” and more recently for the charming “Macbeth” riff “Scotland, PA,” sets his new musical in the 1990s in a conservative small town, where a gay high school teacher is helping a student to prepare for a statewide theater competition. With a cast of four that includes Elizabeth Stanley (“Jagged Little Pill”), Jonathan Silverstein directs for Keen Company — his swan-song production as artistic director of the theater, which commissioned this musical. (Through May 10, Theater Row)‘Danger and Opportunity’The Obie Award-winning director Jack Serio loves intimate, nontraditional venues — like the lofts where he staged his breakthrough production of “Uncle Vanya” — and he has one for this new play by Ken Urban (“Nibbler”). With the audience at close range, arrayed around a living-room-like space, Ryan Spahn and Juan Castano play a married couple enduring a sexual dry spell, and Julia Chan plays the long-lost high school girlfriend whose reappearance rattles their relationship. (Through April 20, East Village Basement)‘Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.’A major production of any Caryl Churchill play becomes a reason for pilgrimage by the faithful. Now here is a program of four brief works by the 86-year-old playwright, a master of shape-shifting and the short form; three are from 2019, one from 2021. Her longtime interpreter James Macdonald, who staged Churchill’s “Top Girls” on Broadway, directs a large cast that includes the Tony Award winner Deirdre O’Connell and John Ellison Conlee. (Through May 11, Public Theater)Bailey Williams, left, and Emma Horwitz in their production of “Two Sisters Find a Box of Lesbian Erotica in the Woods.”Lee Rayment‘Two Sisters Find a Box of Lesbian Erotica in the Woods’The cleverly inventive, very funny playwrights Emma Horwitz (“Mary Gets Hers”) and Bailey Williams (“Events,” “Coach Coach”) are also the performers of this comedy, which appeared in an earlier form at last year’s Exponential Festival of experimental work. A co-production of New Georges, which incubated the show, and Rattlestick Theater, it is directed by Tara Elliott. (Through April 26, Here Arts Center)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Mass Grave From Roman Empire Found Under Vienna Soccer Field

    Archaeologists found the remains of at least 129 people, many of them bearing the injuries of battle, dating to when Rome battled Germanic people nearly 2,000 years ago.Under a soccer field in a Vienna neighborhood along the Danube, archaeologists have found a mass grave dating to the era when the Roman Empire was battling Germanic tribes almost 2,000 years ago, experts announced this week.The grave was discovered in October by a construction company doing renovations for the field in Vienna’s Simmering district, a team of archaeologists and historians at the Vienna Museum said in announcing its findings. The extraordinary discovery was tied to what they called a “catastrophic” military event, possibly one where Roman troops were badly defeated and fled the site quickly.Radiocarbon dating traced the bones to approximately A.D. 80 to 234 — a period in which more than a dozen Roman emperors ruled, including Domitian and Trajan, who clashed with ancient Germanic people in the region. An analysis of other items found in the grave, including an iron dagger, lance points, scale armor and a cheek piece of a helmet, helped confirm the time period.Near the foot of one skeleton, the archaeologists also discovered shoe nails that came from distinctive Roman military shoes called caligae.The discovery of such skeletal remains is exceedingly rare, experts said, in part because ancient Romans almost exclusively practiced cremation until the third century A.D.“For all of middle Europe from the first century, we don’t have any unburned, uncremated human remains,” said Michaela Binder, the lead anthropologist on the project. “So aside from the military aspect, it is an absolute unique chance to study the life histories of people in the first century A.D.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Sam Keen, Philosopher of the Men’s Movement, Is Dead at 93

    “Only men,” he wrote, “understand the secret fears that go with the territory of masculinity.” His message resonated: His book “Fire in the Belly” was a best seller.Sam Keen, a pop psychologist and philosopher whose best-selling book “Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man” urged men to get in touch with their primal masculinity and became a touchstone of the so-called men’s movement of the 1990s, died on March 19 in Oahu, Hawaii. He was 93.His death, while on vacation, was confirmed by his wife, Patricia de Jong. The couple lived on a 60-acre ranch in Sonoma, Calif.Mr. Keen, who described himself as having been “overeducated at Harvard and Princeton,” fled academia in the 1960s for California, where he led self-help workshops and wrote more than a dozen books. He became a well-known figure in the human potential movement of that era.In the 1970s, he delivered lectures around the country with the mythology scholar Joseph Campbell. He also gave workshops at two of the wellsprings of the New Age: Esalen Institute in Big Sur, Calif., and Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, N.Y. Mr. Keen’s specialty was helping middle-class seekers slough off the expectations of family and society, and discover what he called their “personal mythology.”A long conversation that the ruggedly handsome Mr. Keen had with the journalist Bill Moyers, broadcast on PBS in 1991, brought him national exposure the month that “Fire in the Belly” was published. The book spent 29 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list.“Fire in the Belly” spent 29 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list.BantamWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More