Our Top 10 Neil Diamond Songs list looks at one of the most successful solo artists of the 1970s. You could not turn on your AM or FM radio in the 1970s without hearing a Neil Diamond song within the hour. With a string of nonstop hits for over a decade‚ Neil Diamond’s songs crossed many musical genres. His song “Sweet Caroline” has become ingrained in pop culture across many different generations. Not many people on this planet living in civilized societies have not heard of “Sweet Caroline.” Like Elton John‚ Billy Joel‚ The Beatles‚ and Elvis Presley‚ Neil Diamond’s The post Our 10 Favorite Neil Diamond Songs appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

Why Did it Take Five Days for Pentagon to Disclose that Defense Sec Lloyd Austin is Hospitalized? **UPDATE**

Seriously? Nikki Haley 'Might Consider' DeSantis as Her Running Mate

For years now‚ the potential benefits of psychoactive drugs have been slowly moving from “hippie nonsense” to “science-backed research.” From magic mushrooms to psychedelic toad milk‚ it seems ever clearer that tripping balls can actually be a pretty effective treatment for certain mental illnesses – including‚ suggests a small new study out of Stanford University‚ those that stem from traumatic brain injury (TBI).“No other drug has ever been able to alleviate the functional and neuropsychiatric symptoms of traumatic brain injury‚” said Nolan Williams‚ an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and co-author of the study‚ in a statement. “The results are dramatic‚ and we intend to study this compound further.”The drug in question is one you may not have heard of: ibogaine. It’s derived from the roots of the iboga shrub‚ which grows in central west Africa; indeed‚ it has a local history of ritual and religious use stretching back centuries.Slightly less well-established is the compound’s use in Western medicine – though even this goes back at least six decades‚ to when pharmacologist Howard Lotsof first realized the drug’s effectiveness at treating opioid addiction in 1962. But despite his being granted a patent for the therapy – and ibogaine’s widespread use in drug treatment clinics across the world – the substance remains illegal in the US‚ with possession of any amount being punishable by up to 20 years in prison.It’s legal in Mexico‚ however – which is where Williams and his colleagues found the volunteers for their trial: thirty special operations veterans‚ all suffering with disabilities stemming from TBI‚ and all of whom had independently checked themselves into a clinic in Mexico for treatment with magnesium and ibogaine.“These men were incredibly intelligent‚ high-performing individuals who experienced life-altering functional disability from TBI during their time in combat‚” Williams said. “They were all willing to try most anything that they thought might help them get their lives back.”Pre-trial assessments found that the average score on the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS-2) – a way of measuring disability and health across multiple facets – was more than 30‚ indicating mild-to-moderate disability. A few were much higher even than that. Many of the group also met the criteria for PTSD‚ anxiety disorders‚ suicidality‚ and alcohol use disorder – all conditions that are known to be comorbid with TBI.But upon treatment with ibogaine‚ the participants’ symptoms improved significantly – and fast. Immediately after the intervention‚ the average WHODAS-2.0 score had dropped below 20‚ indicating borderline-to-mild disability‚ and the vets’ executive function and cognitive processing speeds were showing significant improvement. And the results just kept improving: one month after the treatment‚ that WHODAS-2.0 score had dropped all the way down to 5.1‚ indicating no disability‚ and symptoms of PTSD‚ depression‚ and anxiety had reduced by more than 80 percent on average.“The drug seems to have a broad‚ dramatic and consistent effect‚” Williams told Nature. But here’s the question: was it actually the ibogaine that helped?See‚ while the results of the study are encouraging for many reasons‚ the researchers are not shy about its limitations. This was not a randomized controlled trial‚ and it centered entirely on a very small group of self-selected participants who were both not representative of the population at large and‚ let’s face it‚ sort of going on vacation for a bit while they underwent the treatment. “We cannot exclude the possibility that the therapeutic benefits were a result of expectancy rather than [ibogaine]‚ the authors admit in the study. “Similarly‚ the complementary therapeutic approaches available… during their stay in Mexico may have played a role in the therapeutic benefit that we observed.”Even if it was the ibogaine‚ we don’t have a good enough handle on the mechanism of the drug to figure out whether it was helping the vets’ TBI‚ or something else. “The improvement in the [cognitive disability] scores could be related to improvement in TBI‚ but it also could be related to improvement in PTSD and depression‚ both of which are associated with cognitive and functional impairment‚” John Krystal‚ chair of Yale University’s Department of Psychiatry in Connecticut and professor of psychiatry‚ neuroscience‚ and psychology‚ told Medical News Today. “Thus‚ although all of the patients had TBI‚ we cannot infer that ibogaine is an effective treatment for TBI from this study.”Still‚ the results are “very encouraging”‚ said Krystal‚ who was not involved in the study. “I believe [this] justifies further research on the safety and effectiveness of ibogaine as a treatment‚ but it does not yet support implementation of ibogaine in clinical practice.”The study is published in the journal Nature Medicine.

National Review contributor and Manhattan Institute President Reihan Salam joined The Dispatch’s Jonah Goldberg on Saturday’s edition of The Chris Wallace Show to go head-to-head with New York Times podcaster Lulu Garcia-Navarro and fellow podcaster Kara Swisher on the Diversity‚ Equity‚ and Inclusion movement and former Harvard President Cluadine Gay in a segment that featured plenty of fireworks. Wallace asked Salam‚ “has in effect‚ the country moved on from the so-called racial reckoning we were all talking about after the murder of George Floyd?”   Our discussion of DEI on The Chris Wallace Show. pic.twitter.com/3OqZXs5Xr7 — Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) January 6‚ 2024   Salam replied that so-called “racial reckoning involved smuggling in certain really contentious‚ ideological ideas that weren't ultimately about diversity‚ but rather were about imposing ideological uniformity.” On the matter of DEI bureaucracies‚ Salam argued‚ “What is really obnoxious about them is that they actually don't respect all sorts of diversity‚ including viewpoint diversity‚ including the fact that‚ look‚ in some cases you have groups that are over-represented‚ and that can be okay. You know‚ the point that J.D. Vance was making about the Dallas Mavericks is that it can be good and healthy and reasonable in some domains to have—” At that point‚ Garcia-Navarro interrupted and‚ in Spanish‚ accused Salam of being “Ridiculo‚ ridiculo.” Swisher concurred‚ “What she said.” Undeterred‚ Salam continued‚ “You can say it's ridiculous‚ you can make that assertion‚ but fundamentally the fact that‚ you know‚ I am one second generation Asian-American on a panel of four‚ I am massively‚ massively over-represented‚ but I think it’s reasonable to say you’re going to judge people based on their merits and when you’re looking at organizations that count‚ that matter—” Interrupting again‚ Garcia Navarro angrily declared: But this‚ excuse me‚ excuse me‚ excuse me‚ excuse me‚ excuse me. This is the burden and I can't tell you how infuriating I find it. This is the burden that always comes with representation. The idea is that because you are a person of color‚ suddenly it is -- you are only there because it is some noblesse oblige‚ it is because some white guilt put you there‚ because there was some DEI initiative and you can't win either way you look at it. I mean‚ what infuriates me is you look at the whole Claudine Gay thing and everyone's talking about DEI. This woman cannot win or lose. Either-- if she is there –  As Salam claimed he was happy to talk about Gay‚ Garcia-Navarro demanded that he stop interrupting her while she was interrupting him‚ “Let me finish. If she’s there‚ it is because of DEI‚ they put her there because she is black. If she loses and they kick her out it’s because she was never good enough to be there in the beginning and she was-- you can't win in this situation.” Goldberg then chimed in to say that it was actually Garcia-Navarro and Gay’s supporters who were being the hypocrites‚ “You can't celebrate and tout that someone was hired and it’s a wonderful thing to expand diversity and Harvard went full tilt talking about how great it was to hire the first black woman and then say all of a sudden when she’s caught—” Garcia-Navarro interrupted yet again to add‚ “the first black person‚ it wasn’t even the first black woman‚ it was the first black person—” Goldberg claimed he didn’t care and kept going‚ “The point is‚ is that she got caught obviously plagiarizing and that is—those are the facts—” After Garcia-Navarro tried to dismiss the accusations as “ideological” and “very well-funded‚” Goldberg correctly noted‚ “The motives of the attack don't change the fact she plagiarized.” As the segment went on‚ Salam would ridicule the idea that Gay represents some sort of victim class and note Harvard’s free speech ratings tumbled to dead last under her watch. Meanwhile‚ Swisher lamented that incompetent men still have jobs and are unquestioned while Goldberg cited Gay’s Congressional testimony to add that inclusion apparently doesn’t Jews. Here is a transcript for the January 6 show: CNN The Chris Wallace Show 1/6/2023 10:29 AM ET CHRIS WALLACE:  Reihan‚ has in effect‚ the country moved on from the so-called racial reckoning we were all talking about after the murder of George Floyd?  REIHAN SALAM: I think there's a broad sense that that racial reckoning involved smuggling in certain really contentious‚ ideological ideas that weren't ultimately about diversity‚ but rather were about imposing ideological uniformity.  When you’re looking at DEI bureaucracies‚ what is really obnoxious about them is that they actually don't respect all sorts of diversity‚ including viewpoint diversity‚ including the fact that‚ look‚ in some cases you have groups that are over-represented‚ and that can be okay. You know‚ the point that J.D. Vance was making about the Dallas Mavericks is that it can be good and healthy and reasonable in some domains to have— [crosstalk] LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO: Ridiculo‚ ridiculo. KARA SWISHER: What she said.  SALAM: You can say it's ridiculous‚ you can make that assertion‚ but fundamentally the fact that‚ you know‚ I am one second generation Asian-American on a panel of four‚ I am massively‚ massively over-represented‚ but I think it’s reasonable to say you’re going to judge people based on their merits and when you’re looking at organizations that count‚ that matter— GARCIA-NAVARRO: But this‚ excuse me‚ excuse me  SALAM: --that high performance organizations— GARCIA-NAVARRO: Excuse me‚ excuse me. This is the burden and I can't tell you how infuriating I find it. This is the burden that always comes with representation. The idea is that because you are a person of color‚ suddenly it is -- you are only there because it is some noblesse oblige‚ it is because some white guilt put you there‚ because there was some DEI initiative and you can't win either way you look at it. I mean‚ what infuriates me is you look at the whole Claudine Gay thing and everyone's talking about DEI. This woman cannot win or lose. Either-- if she is there –  SALAM: I'm happy to talk about Claudine Gay‚ please. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Let me finish. If she’s there‚ it is because of DEI‚ they put her there because she is black. If she loses and they kick her out it’s because she was never good enough to be there in the beginning and she was-- you can't win in this situation.  JONAH GOLDBERG: Yeah‚ but –  GARCIA-NAVARRO: And it is infuriating as a person of color to constantly have this cudgel put on our heads.  GOLDBERG: I get the argument that you can't win but you also can't have it both ways. You can't celebrate and tout that someone was hired and it’s a wonderful thing to expand diversity and Harvard went full tilt talking about how great it was to hire the first black woman and then say all of a sudden when she’s caught— GARCIA-NAVARRO: The first black person‚ it wasn’t even the first black woman‚ it was the first black person— GOLDBERG: Okay‚ I don’t care. The point is‚ is that she got caught obviously plagiarizing and that is—those are the facts that—this massive-- GARCIA-NAVARRO: It was ideological‚ very well-funded –  GOLDBERG: The motives of the attack don't change the fact she plagiarized. 

Jump into the time capsule with me and return to 1991. The news of the moment: Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall‚ the first black Justice‚ announces his retirement. The call goes up in the media that this is the “black seat” on the Supreme Court. President George H.W. Bush obliges by nominating Appeals Court Judge Clarence Thomas‚ an African-American. And the liberal media not to mention liberal special interest groups went nuts. They made a point‚ for example‚ of giving ample coverage to one Florence Kennedy‚ the black head of the National Organization of Women who proclaimed this‚ with a reference to the several years earlier Reagan nomination of Judge Robert Bork‚ which became a television circus resulting in Bork’s Supreme Court nomination being defeated by liberal special interest groups in a well covered campaign . Said Kennedy of the African-American Judge Thomas: We’re going to Bork him. We’re going to kill him politically-this little creep. Where did he come from? In a blink the liberal media went after then-Judge Thomas. Former clerk Anita Hill‚ also black‚ was ballyhooed and given much TV time as she accused the Judge of sexual harassment. He was accused of being anti-Semitic‚ unethical‚ a draft dodger‚ keeping a Confederate flag in his office (it was not the Confederate flag‚ it was the official state flag of his home state of Georgia) and oh by the way he was accused of having smoked pot (a big no-no in the day). Thomas wound up being confirmed after this massive battle royal‚ sitting on the Court to this day as a conservative icon. But the Thomas episode taught many Americans a useful lesson that comes back into play with the recently announced resignation of Harvard’s president Claudine Gay‚ an African-American woman. Let’s suppose for a moment that to succeed Gay as Harvard’s president the Harvard Corporation picked another black woman - who happened to be a political conservative.  In fact‚ Megyn Kelly‚ host of “The Megyn Kelly Show” on SiriusXM has already thought about this. When the New York Post picked up on left-wing activist Marc Lamont Hill tweeting on X that “the next president of Harvard MUST be a black woman” the Post headlined:  Megyn Kelly jokes Candace Owens should be Harvard’s next president The Post story reported:  Megyn Kelly quipped that TV frenemy Candace Owens should be Harvard’s next president following calls for Harvard to replace ousted president Claudine Gay with another black woman. Gay‚ Harvard’s first black president‚ resigned Tuesday following months of pressure over her handling of antisemitism on the Ivy League campus following the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre in Israel and recent revelations that she plagiarized passages of her doctoral dissertation in 1997.  Her exit prompted charges from some quarters that racial animus was the motivating factor behind the movement to see her removed from her post. Marc Lamont Hill‚ a left-leaning author‚ wrote on X‚ 'the next president of Harvard University MUST be a Black woman.' Kelly‚ the host of ‘The Megyn Kelly Show’ on SiriusXM‚ jabbed back that Owens‚ a conservative black pundit who supported Donald Trump‚ ‘should be back from maternity leave in a couple months.’  Megyn Kelly joked that Candace Owens should be a candidate for Harvard University president. Bingo. Owens‚ of course‚ has made her career as a conservative activist and pundit and not as an academic‚ and scholar. So this would not happen. But just suppose for a moment that Owens had in fact spent a career as an Ivy League academic. Would she ever have been chosen to be President of Harvard? To say hell would freeze over would be to laughably understate the reaction a Professor/Dr. Owens nomination would receive. The real story here in the matter of the Claudine Gay resignation is exactly the same story Americans learned through the media with Judge Thomas in 1991. For the liberal media‚ to be “black” is to be synonymous with being “liberal.”  Clarence Thomas underlined exactly the point years later in a documentary film when he reflected this‚ as the Post headlined in a review of the film "Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words”  The headline:  Clarence Thomas in new documentary: I was 'the wrong black guy' and had 'to be destroyed’ Bingo. So as the Times and today’s liberal media moans and groans over the resignation of Harvard’s black female president‚ don’t believe a word of it. (And the Times brought Gay onto the Op-Ed page to opine on her situation‚ with Gay all too predictably blaming racism).  Yet if she were replaced tomorrow by a black‚ female academic who was a conservative they would waste no time trying to rip her to shreds just as they tried to do to Justice Thomas. The liberal media‚ not to mention the Left in general‚  really does believe that if you’re black - or Hispanic‚ a woman or‚ in this day and age‚ gay - you must - MUST - be a lefty. And if for some reason they discover you are not - they will target you. Indeed‚ in his recent take-down of his former paper‚ the Times one-time Executive Editor James Bennet - fired for having the audacity to run an Op-Ed by conservative GOP Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton - Bennet writes this of a conversation with Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger:  One day when I relayed a conservative’s concern about double standards to (Times publisher A.G.) Sulzberger‚ he lost his patience. He told me to inform the complaining conservative that that’s just how it was: there was a double standard and he should get used to it. Exactly. Its been 33 years since the resignation of Justice Thurgood Marshall and the media/political furor over the nomination of his African-American successor‚ Justice Thomas. But as the resignation of Harvard’s Claudine Gay reminds‚ you can be sure that the more things change the more they stay the same. Don’t expect to see a conservative - a conservative of any color or either gender appointed to take her place. “Diversity” only goes so far.  Particularly in the liberal media.

Israel has recently released footage of children navigating the underground tunnel system in Gaza‚ which were used by Hamas to carry out its military operations. The Jewish state claimed that the terrorist group was using young children to "deliver ammunition‚" according to the Telegraph. In the video footage‚ a group of boys can be seen navigating the underground tunnel system. The boys in the video seem to be headed toward an armed Hamas terrorist‚ according to the IDF. The footage was apparently captured in the southern city of Khan Younis‚ where Israeli fighters have been fighting in recent weeks. The video footage was only part of a vast amount of documents‚ photographs‚ and footage released by the IDF‚ hoping to sculp an accurate depiction of the nature of Hamas' dealings in Gaza. The Jewish state has described the footage as evidence that Hamas has been actively recruiting children and using them to wage "terror" against its political enemies.The Times of Israel reported that the Israeli military has accused Hamas of recruiting children to deliver explosives and to "assess the damage" on the battlefield‚ thus putting them in extreme danger. Israel has long accused Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields in its fight against the Jewish state.Hamas' alleged involvement of children in their military operations is just the latest in a slew of accusations made against the group‚ including evidence that members of the terrorist group raped and sexually assaulted Israeli women during its attack on October 7. Blaze News recently reported on the accusations‚ noting that the New York Times had published a comprehensive report of the sexual crimes committed. The investigation into the alleged abuse took two months to complete.The report included interviews from more than 150 witnesses‚ first responders‚ medical personnel‚ rape counselors‚ soldiers‚ and government officials. The report also leveraged video footage‚ GPS data‚ and photographs to bolster the report.The Times' report begins with a heart-wrenching image: "In a grainy video‚ you can see her‚ lying on her back‚ dress torn‚ legs spread‚ vagina exposed. Her face is burned beyond recognition and her right hand covers her eyes."The woman in question was initially identified as "the woman in the black dress." But she was later identified as Gal Abdush‚ a 34-year-old mother of two from Israel. She had attended the Supernova festival with her husband‚ Nagi Abdush‚ when Hamas terrorists ambushed the event. The authorities believe Gal was brutally raped before she was eventually murdered and set on fire. Nagi's body was only discovered days later‚ and it was burned so severely than the authorities had to carry out a DNA test to identify who it was.Many more women were victims in the rape and sexual assault.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Seven months before the Woodstock festival‚ future classic rock hits from CCR and the Doors were side-by-side with songs by the Bee Gees‚ Sammy and Sly The post Radio Hits in January 1969: Don’t Break My Heart appeared first on Best Classic Bands.

Jeff Gillooly plotted the 1994 attack against figure skater Nancy Kerrigan so his ex-wife Tonya Harding would have a better shot at the Olympics. The post How Jeff Gillooly Masterminded The Infamous Attack On Nancy Kerrigan appeared first on All That's Interesting.

'Day Late and a Dollar Short': NO ONE Is Happy With OH Gov. DeWine's New EO on 'Gender-Affirming Care'