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“obama pardoned 9 people so far in his first 682 days”
Correct. 9 pardons and zero clemencies. There is a big difference.
FWIW, President Obama has not granted clemency to even a single person so far.
“I have not heard that before.
Tell us more about that.”
Parole in the federal prison system was abolished in the late 1980s. But because Pollard started serving time before that, he is grandfathered in and is one of the few inmates left who can actually apply for parole. He has been eligible to apply for 15 years but has never done so.
“Are there procedural problems with applying for parole that would hurt his other appeals?”
No. He doesn’t have any other appeals. His attorney neglected to file a Notice of Appeal in a timely manner so he lost the right to appeal his sentence — ever. That sounds unfair, but the current federal judiciary has been stacked with judges who are completely unfavorable to convicted felons.
” Do you need to admit guilt? What is the stated reason?”
I am not a parole attorney so I don’t know how much of a confession you have to make. Here is the link to the US Parole Commission:
Among the claims that have been made by Pollard’s defenders are
(1) If he is turned down for parole, he can’t apply again for 15 years. That is false. If he were to apply and get turned down, there is a MANDATORY rehearing 15 years later. The irony is that 15 years have passed since his first opportunity to apply. But he could have applied every 24 months since he was first eligible. (I have no idea who is passing on this false information.)
(2) He is certain to get turned down because of all the opposition. Given all the public officials who have called for his release, that certainly seems a pretty poor argument.
BTW he has a presumptive parole date of November 21, 2015, thirty years after his arrest. The rules say that he gets paroled then unless the government can convince the parole board that he is likely to commit further crimes, which is highly unlikely since he is never going to get anywhere near classified information in the future. Even after that release, he will be on parole for the rest of his life.
“It’s a recipe for children to get run over. “
As is the lack of sidewalks.
“I was unaware (until now) that it was in the state constitution.”
*Permission* to provide transportation for private school students is in the NY State Constitution. A *mandate* for such is in the Education Law, which could be repealed at any time.
“As such, they would just be fulfilling their mandate by selling the property in question at a low cost to the Yeshiva”
Actually, that is not true. The fiduciary responsibility of a school board is to the school system, not to the public as a whole. A school board that disposes of property at too low a price could be sued.
I predict that Pollard will be released on November 21, 2015, after 30 years. He could be released before then with no Presidential intervention but refuses to apply for parole.
“with glory “
I have no idea what that means.
“It would never help merging the districts. Not one of them has taxes any where in that realm.”
There are HUGE savings that can be gained from having larger schools in larger districts — less administrative overhead, larger class sizes, more efficient programs for special needs children, and many others.
Compare the large county suburban school districts in Maryland and Virginia to the craziness in New York and you will see what I mean.
” It is the unions that are keeping the expenses high.”
We have unionized schools in New York City, too.
In fact, the Catholic schools in the area are unionized! Teachers are paid a fair salary on time. When will the Jewish schools get the hint?
“would the city income tax be more than real estate taxes?”
No. The city income tax is pretty small. We did the comparison and concluded that we still save thousands every year by paying two city income taxes plus the city property tax than we would pay in just the property tax in the suburbs — and we both have good incomes.
“yeshiva students should not be eligible for busing because of sepration of Church and State”
The New York State Constitution provides that the ONLY aid that the government can give religious schools is transportation.
The Rabbi Jacob Joseph School was founded in 1901. Yeshiva University High School for Boys (YUHSB) was founded in 1916. And there were some earlier schools that have not survived. But that does not diminish the accomplishment of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath. Mazel tov on 92!
If you are using credit cards or other borrowed money for this shopping, there is something called Debtors Anonymous. I know many frum Jews who have found recovery there.
My property taxes in the Bronx are about $5,100 a year for a nice four bedroom house. If you would merge your school district with the rest of the school districts in Rockland County, and abolished all the independent village and town governments, you, too, could have low property taxes.
If you don’t like the property taxes, move to NYC!
“The state is cutting funding so the tax payers burden goes up.”
That is a good reason to vote for the local tax increase.
????? ????? ????? ?? ??? ??? ????? ???
This is in Rambam, Mishneh Torah Hilchot Tshuvah 3:5, based on Tosefta Sanhedrin 13:1 and BT Sanhedrin 105a.
The boy should take the school to beit din. He would win because the “yenta” is not a kosher witness in a beit din proceeding, because she is a she.
“Then I think that’s also considered “basar”, although it’s something I haven’t (yet) researched thoroughly. “
My rabbi says just that.
‘I thought vegetarians needed to have a “token” of something fleishig to be yotze ????? ???? ‘
In my experience it is quite rare for the seudah after a brit to be fleishig.
“Charlie, do you eat fish? “
Yes.
Dairy and Pareve. We are vegetarians.
Amtrak.
It is easy, but Korean is even easier.
12 step recovery.
“WHO grew all those crops?”
The way to fulfil the most mitzvot for which you are chayev is to be a farmer in Eretz Yisrael, NOT to learn Torah full time.
“make a living or go to kollel and rely on the one above”
Uh, we all have to rely on the One Above for our living.
“I can start with sources if anyone objects”
And anyone who objects can cite Rambam. (Hilchot Talmud Torah 3:10.)
“for once i actually agree with popa **gasp**”
Me, too! Mashiach is coming!!
At my wedding we had mixed seating but separate dancing — and a very high mechitzah so the women didn’t have to worry about male gawkers.
I don’t think anyone says that separate seating weddings are asur, but you might want to consider the feelings of your family, especially whether they will be upset and might have a bad time if they can’t sit together, especially since they know that mixed seating is common in Orthodox weddings. Kvod Av v’Em is an important mitzvah. What many do is to have tables with separate seating for those who prefer it, and tables with mixed seating for those who Do Not Understand our ways. This is worth a consultation with an understanding Rav. Another consideration that I’ve seen attributed to Rav Henkin is that mixed seating for singles increases the possibilities for shidduchim.
I wish you all the best on your wedding!
I’d also be interested in the recommendations.
” were able to practice their religion freely in Eretz Yisroel in many periods of history”
Not well known is that during the period 1915-1917, the Ottoman authorities under Djemal Pasha tried to forcibly expel all Jews from Eretz Yisrael. Had they won the war, they probably would have done to Jews what they had done to Armenians.
Just imagine Eretz Yisrael under Hamas rule. The only thing that really prevents that is the government of Medinat Yisarel.
‘they are against the “medina” which mocks chassidus and the chareidim’
Uh, two charedi parties are part of the government of the ‘medina’.
“Why is Israel against the Jews? “
Israel funds more Torah scholars than any country in history. And its IDF protects even the anti-Zionist Jews, even the ones who cavort with rashaim like Ahmadinejad. These facts alone should be sufficient for us to dump this anti-Israel rhetoric. You don’t have to be a Zionist to at least have some gratitude!
RSZA paskened that classical music is permitted during sefirat haomer; my rav agrees.
“The newspaper has every right to maintain their religious values”
Knowingly publishing deliberately doctored photographs is a religious value?
“that level drops once you reach actual achievement in the field. Those at the top of any scientific field are generally male.”
That is to be expected given that few women pursued advanced scientific training until recently. Re-analyze the data a few decades from now.
And there have indeed been some women at the top. Here is one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalyn_Sussman_Yalow
I belong to the (orthodox) synagogue in the Bronx where she was a long time member. The social hall has been named for her.
“or in the Antebellum South (before the war of Northern Aggression), you would have all dinim of Eved Canaanni. But your logic says throw the halacha out, we are too modern for such things.”
In fact, the first Reform synagogue in the US was in Charleston, SC, and many of the members were slaveowners.
The damage that can be caused by faked photographs is enormous. Back in 1950, a doctored photograph purported to show Sen. Millard Tydings meeting with the notorious US Communist leader Earl Browder. The idea was proposterous, as Tydings was a true believer right winger (he had opposed FDR’s New Deal), but as he had spoken out against Joe McCarthy’s motzi shem ra he became a target. Tydings lost his election campaign that fall. (Note — Tydings had been one of the first members of the US Congress to publicly condemn the Nazi regime, in January 1934.)
And just last week we had also been “treated” to a fake photograph what purported to be Osama bin Laden’s corpse, an image that isn’t going to help preserve the lives of Americans serving overseas.
Earlier, George Bush and Sarah Palin had been the victims of photofakery.
That allegedly frum Jews would participate in doctoring photographs is a shandah!
On this one, I agree with popa. The shuls I attend do have women speakers — I heard one give a shiur just this past Shabat. (The topic was mikvaot in America.) But if the school decides on a policy, it is their right to have that policy, and my right to send my daughter to a different school if I don’t like it. Everyone who sent their daughters to this school knew their hashkafah and I do not have any sympathy.
This is VERY different from the recent doctoring of a photograph to remove Sen. Clinton’s image; they could simply have not published any photograph at all but instead chose to mislead and published a photograph that implied that she was not present. I have no sympathy for the editors who published the doctored photograph.
Web site of the person who took the photograph:
Why hasn’t anyone bothered to ask him what he thought of the doctoring of the photograph. (Hint to YWN — this is an opportunity for a scoop if you can somehow manage an interview!)
“They apologized anyway so why all this ????????”
The problem is that the only true atonement would be to publish the original photograph, undoctored.
“Rav Nebenzhal of the Old City of Jerusalem holds that on an airplane one should daven in his seat instead of standing in the back of the isle as part of a minyan”
Every rabbi I’ve ever heard discuss this issue agrees. But for some reason we insist on violating air safety rules.
Can someone please explain why doctoring a photograph, with no statement that it was doctored, would not violate lifnei iver? It made it look like Sec. Clinton wasn’t there!
“it may permitted provided that you are doing so for enjoyment and you don’t get sweaty”
Getting sweaty is PERMITTED on Shabat. Otherwise we’d never be able to walk to shul on hot summer days.
“don’t worry about the next generation as a whole. “
Such is the attitude that gives us our huge government budget deficit.
“If the yeshivahs want frum people they have to value them which means decent ON TIME pay and benefits.”
Given that paying your workers on time is a mitzvah written explicitly in the Torah, one might have thought that we would be particularly makpid about keeping it. But no, we are just like the heterodox in that we pick and choose which mitzvot can be ignored. They say that keeping kosher is optional, we say that keeping financial halachah is optional.
“Which field did you choose?”
Biostatistics. Calculus was and is essential, and trigonometry is essential for calculus.
“The ralbag is discussing why the mitzva is only incumbent on men. “
That is not what you wrote. Did you misrepresent Ralbag?
“Take it up with him.”
No need; the halachah is that we follow doctors, not sages, in medical matters.
I you don’t like rules like this, don’t send your daughter there!
“That is why women have more health problems than men”
This is a highly dubious statement; in almost every country, women are longer-lived than men.
“He says that women don’t wear tzitzis because the inyan of tzitzis is very deep”
Halachically, women can wear tzitzit. Why women have taken on some mitzvot for which they are patur such as shofar, but not others such as tzitzit, requires further research.
“Men are definitely more intellectual than women – as a whole.”
That may no longer be the case; women now outnumber men in all levels of higher education enrollment.
“I once commented in real life that women shouldn’t be judges, because hormonal fluctuations can affect a person’s perception of the case.”
It doesn’t seem to have hurt Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, or Elana Kagan. They may all be postmenopausal, though. In any case, in a universally accepted tshuvah, Rav Uziel z’tz’l pointed out that a woman CAN be a Dayan on a beit din for a property dispute as long as both parties to the case accept here. That has not happened since no woman has earned yadin yadin semichah but it might at some point in the future.
“The Ralbag was not trying to degrade women, he was writing for men.”
All the rishonim were writing for men, as women didn’t have opportunity to learn Torah back then. Baruch HaShem that has changed! In any case, medieval Christian and Muslim attitudes towards women were far more negative.
INTP — from a real test, not an online one. The “N”, the “T”, and the “P” are really strong, the “I” much less so.
The original 1870 Mother’s Day Proclamation written by Julia War Howe:
Arise then…women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
“We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”
From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace…
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God –
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.
“this was a holiday invented by florists and the greeting card industry “
This is incorrect. The idea came from Ann Jarvis and Julia Ward Howe, I think independently, shortly after the Civil War. Howe is better known as the author of the lyrics of the famous Civil War song, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”. (Surprisingly given the Christological references in the lyrics, Howe was a Unitarian.) They were both social activists who hoped that a holiday would help improve the status of women.
Both Jarvis and Howe were deceased by the time the official Mother’s Day proclamation was issued by Woodrow Wilson, but Jarvis daughter Anna Jarvis, who had campaigned for the holiday, spent the rest of her life campaigning against the commercialization of the holiday by the greeting card industry.
“Women are not Jew-ish. We are Jew – Isha. “
ROTF!!! Love it!!!!!