'Can we just ask Elie if Trump will go to jail?' asked Joy Behar as she looked at Honig in the audience

Norway’s central bank accelerated interest-rate increases and pledged more aggressive tightening, intensifying its response to stubborn inflation and

Former President Donald Trump hosted a $100,000-a-plate fundraiser for disgraced former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club Thursday night as Giuliani struggles to pay his mounting legal bills

A top Oklahoma education official prompted swift criticism on Thursday by falsely claiming the 1921 Tulsa race massacre wasn’t about race. Ryan Walters, who took office as superintendent of public instruction, mades the comments during a forum at the Norman Public Library on Thursday, after he was asked how accurately teaching about the infamous white supremacist massacre which killed as many as 300 Black people wouldn’t violate a state ban on teaching critical race theory. “I would never tell a kid that because of your race, because of the color of your skin, or your gender or anything like that, you are less of a person or are inherently racist,” Mr Walters said in response. “That doesn’t mean you don’t judge the actions of individuals. Oh, you can. Absolutely, historically, you should. ‘This was right. This was wrong. They did this for this reason.’ But to say it was inherent in that because of their skin is where I say that is critical race theory. You’re saying that race defines a person.” “Let’s not tie it to the skin colour and say the skin colour determined it,” he added. The Tulsa race massacre is considered one of the worst acts of white supremacist terror in US history. During the 1921 massacre, rumours about a young Black man’s encounter with a white woman prompted a mob of white vigilantes, in some cases armed and deputised by Tulsa officials, to raze the thriving Greenwood district, a bustling centre of Black business in the city. The violence killed as many as 300 Black people, injured more than 800, and left tens of thousands of people homeless, according to the Tulsa historical society. After the massacre concluded, nearly all residents of Greenwood were arrested en masse, and could only be released on the application of a white person. No one was ever prosecuted for the violence. The state official’s coments attracted swift condemnation. “No matter what anyone says or does, Tulsa will continue teaching a full, honest, and complete history of our city, state, country, and world,” Tulsa superintendent Deborah Gist wrote on Twitter. “After 100 years we have an Oklahoma elected official still fighting the Tulsa Race Massacre,” Oklahoma congressional candidate and former FBI agent Dennis Baker added on Twitter. “MAGA State Superintendent Ryan Walters believes the Tulsa Race Massacre wasn’t about race. The Klan hide behind a white robe – Walters proudly displays his red cap.” Many were incredulous that Mr Walters didn’t see the role of race in the mob violence. “I’m sure in his opinion, the Civil War and the Holocaust had nothing to do with race either,” state representative Monroe Nichols tweeted. “[Ryan Walters] is a notorious sympathizer of the darkest moments of history and all those who perpetuated them.” The Independent has contacted Mr Walters for comment. The Tulsa controversy isn’t the first time the education official has provoked controversy. Last month, he called on Oklahoma schools to promote Christianity and display the Ten Commandments to encourage “Western heritage.” Read More Tulsa race massacre survivors are fighting for justice 102 years after catastrophic attack Scientist: Progress in identifying Tulsa massacre victims Indiana school board candidate under fire for saying “all nazis weren’t bad” Kansas attorney general sues to prevent transgender people from changing driver's licenses Toby Keith's shows at his Oklahoma music venue mark return to stage after revealing cancer diagnosis Viola Ford Fletcher, oldest living Tulsa Race Massacre victim, publishes memoir

Human beings are fascinating creatures and one of the oldest philosophical debates is over whether people truly have free will or not. For millennia, scientists have debated over whether free will is simply an illusion of the mind and is a concept that doesn’t even exist, or, if our species naturally possess it. Some experts, such as the philosopher Bernardo Kastrup, argue that we do have free will. He defined it as existing “if our choices are determined by that which we experientially identify with”. Kastrup claimed that his “tastes and preferences” are “consciously felt by” him, thus the choices he makes are “determined by these felt tastes and preferences”. Essentially, Kastrup argues, we are able to choose what action to perform and this gives humans a level of free will. On the other hand, neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky from Stanford University believes humans don’t have any free will, after studying the subject for “decades”. In his book Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, Sapolsky argues that almost all of our behaviour as humans is beyond our own conscious control. He argued: “The world is really screwed up and made much, much more unfair by the fact that we reward people and punish people for things they have no control over. “We’ve got no free will. Stop attributing stuff to us that isn’t there.” Sapolsky believes that behaviour that we believe originates from free will is actually related to your environment, body, upbringing and genes. Speaking on the CultureLab podcast by New Scientist, Sapolsky explained: “In terms of my orientation, my basic approach is you look at a behaviour and someone has just done something that’s wonderful or awful or ambiguously in-between or in the eyes of the beholder, but some behaviour has happened, and you ask, 'Why did that occur?' and you’re asking a whole hierarchy of questions.” He continued explaining that the prompts to our behaviour could include, “which neurons did what, 10 milliseconds before” and may even originate from “this morning’s hormone levels” and the impact this has on your sensitivity levels in the brain. Additionally, behaviour, he argues can determined by prior trauma and even go back to the “childhood and foetal environment” and our individual genes. To summarise, he argued: “If you’re talking about genes, by definition, genes and behaviour, by definition, you’re talking about evolution and you’re talking about neurobiology and genetic variance and neuronal function. “If you’re talking about, you know, early trauma in life, you’re talking about epigenetics and you’re talking about adult propensity. “So, they’re all one continuous seam of influences, and when you look at it that way, there’s not a damn crack anywhere in there to shoehorn in a notion of free will.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

xQc hosted an IRL livestream with popular GTA RP streamers Lucas and Omie

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