“Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it.”

– Laurence J. Peter

http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/443155/some-melania-trump-speech-lines-mirror-michelle-obama-speech.html

Health!:

Why do some people vote DemonCrat, no matter what?!?

For the same reason that some people vote Republican, no matter what. Namely, because it’s far easier to be a partisan hack, yelling, screaming, and calling people names, than to calmly and rationally think through actual issues.

Mod-29:

And your source for the pre-shooting conversation is the woman who posted the video?

Mostly it’s from the officer saying on video “I told him not move!” But yeah, some of it is from her (like that there were four shots fired). Not that I’m taking this as Torah MiSinai, just that this is how the story is currently being told – it may very well change.

Health!:

You jumped the gun because you’re obviously a liberal that’s trying very hard to be PC!

I’m disappointed – your opening salvo of insults is usually better than that. But I guess you were spent from the effort of painting Trump as a loving unifier 😉

But anyway, nothing in any of your rants explains how this incident shows why it wasn’t a good idea to have an African American President! Which, I will repeat, has clear racist undertones; I’m somewhat disappointed that the mods haven’t deleted that comment.

Sam2:

Funny, I thought the exact opposite. In Louisiana, two officers were in middle of a struggle with a black man that somebody had reported was brandishing a gun; it is somewhat understandable why the officers would feel threatened.

But in Minnesota, the preliminary reports seem to show a different picture. This guy was sitting in his car after being pulled over for a busted taillight, and the officer asked him for his license and registration. While reaching for his license, as the officer had told him to, he mentioned that he had a firearm. (Which was probably not the best timing for that statement.) The officer responded by firing four shots while screaming “Don’t move!” Now, the devil here is in the details about whether the officer yelled “Don’t move!” first or shot first. But either way, I don’t think the officer should have felt a need fire in this case, certainly seeing as he had just instructed this man to take out his license.

Now, I don’t think that there is any evidence that racism played a role here; but it does seem that these cops were a little too trigger-happy on what should have been a routine traffic stop.

Joseph:

My primary point is to push back against the immediate blame-the-police mentality of these protesters.

Perhaps you should focus less on “pushing back against” mindsets you disagree with and focus more on the facts. There is no evidence that the man shot was a criminal, and certainly no evidence that he was currently engaged in any criminal activity, forget about criminal activity that would warrant being shot to death.

Trump’s Saddam praise earns bipartisan scorn

By Nick Gass

Donald Trump has been lamenting the death of Saddam Hussein for months. On Tuesday, in yet another sign that the general election is less hospitable territory than the Republican primary, his repeated praise of the late Iraqi dictator finally caught up with him.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign tore into his latest comments, portraying them as only the latest instance of the Manhattan businessman cozying up to tyrants.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who spent part of his morning condemning the Trump campaign’s handling of a social media post he denounced as anti-Semitic, was unequivocal in denouncing the Saddam remarks as well.

Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.

-Elie Wiesel

Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser to two Republican U.S. presidents, on Wednesday endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton for president over Donald Trump, in a snub of the Republican Party’s likely nominee by a prominent member of its security wing.

He joined a number of well-known Republicans defecting due to the prospect of a Trump presidency, including Richard Armitage, deputy secretary of state under President George W. Bush.

Armitage gave Clinton, 68, who was secretary of state under Democratic President Barack Obama, his backing last week. Trump “doesn’t appear to be a Republican, he doesn’t appear to want to learn about issues. So, I’m going to vote for Mrs. Clinton,” Armitage told Politico at the time.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Scowcroft’s endorsement of Clinton.

Trump, 70, who has never held elected office, often boasts on the campaign trail his relative newness to politics, appealing to voters disillusioned by the current political climate.

Despite that facet of his appeal – which helped Trump beat 16 rivals in the campaign’s primary phase to become his party’s presumptive nominee – establishment Republicans worry that his inexperience and brash style will alienate foreign allies and other international partners.

“Secretary Clinton shares my belief that America must remain the world’s indispensable leader,” Scowcroft said. “She understands that our leadership and engagement beyond our borders makes the world, and therefore the United States, more secure and prosperous.”

The Thesaurus Problem

I used to think that Hitlerism and Fascism could never find a home in America because, unlike Germany, America does not have a history of aggression and militarism. But with the dehumanizing elements of society now crawling out from under the rocks and being legitimized, one can no longer be sanguine. Ten million people have voted for him in the primaries. Not all of them are noxious, but millions clearly are.

Sam2:

The rule of Lo BaShamayim Hi still applies. Eliyahu HaNavi can’t answer those questions.

Part of the inspiration for this thread was that I recently saw a great piece from R’ Gershon Zaks (grandson of the Chofetz Chaim and talmid of the Brisker Rov) on Eliyahu HaNavi that dealt with that very issue.

R’ Gershon Zaks brought down a maamar Chazal that says Eliyahu HaNavi will come primarily to end all machlokesim, and explains that Eliyahu HaNavi is uniquely suited to accomplish this task because he has two different methods at his disposal. Since he is a Navi, he can ascertain the metziyus through nevauh (such as who an avaidah belongs to); and since he was one of the links of the transmission of the Torah (listed in the Rambam’s famous shalsheles hamesorah), he can explain Torah She’Baal Peh as it was originally given and understood.

Also, I would add that since Eliyahu HaNavi is still alive, he can come to us before techiyas ha’maysim.

I also always thought that Teiku standing for “Tishbi Yavo” is a cute mnemonic, but R’ Gershon Zaks brought down a legitimate source for this idea. I forgot who it was from, but DY seems to have found other legitimate sources as well…

by age 18

Whatever makes you think that anybody should be going to the army at age 18?

????? ?, ?: ??? ????? ??? ????? ?? ???? ??? ??????

??”?: ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ??? ?????

So ban the internet. Should be easier than rounding up all the Muslims.

Avi K/DY:

See Igros Moshe YD 4:36:4 that says that the Rambam would allow taking money for Torah today:

http://beta.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=922&st=&pgnum=268

Also, it should be noted that the Rambam was never against being supported by an individual, only the general public. The Rambam himself was supported for many years by his brother, who was a successful merchant, until his brother was lost at sea.

Avi K:

The Rambam clearly writes in his introduction to the Sefer HaMitzvos that no korbanos, misas beis din, or wars are to be carried out without the Beis HaMikdosh. And that’s even if you’re not gores the line ?? ????? ???? ?? ????? ????. I’m not sure how you think this can be circumvented…

Also, can you quote the loshon of the Ramban, Ran, and Netziv? I don’t currently have any access to them.

Asfor Rav Moshe’s teshuva, with all due respect he is a daat yachid.

Who exactly are this majority of Poskim that R’ Moshe is supposedly arguing with?

(Again, just because somebody mentions that participating in the wars of the State of Israel is a mitzva does not mean that the war itself has the status of Milchemes Mitzva.)

It is also very puzzling as Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues supported Bar Kochba.

Supporting a war is not the same thing as holding that that particular war has the halachic status of a Milchemes Mitzva. According to you, R’ Akiva should have instructed his talmidim to go fight under Bar Kochva.

But all this about whether or not there is a Milchemes Mitzva today is very much a side point. The gist of the issue, which you have not addressed, is:

So tell me, are there any Poskim that we would normally consider to be a Bar Plugta of the likes of R’ Kook, R’ Tzvi Pesach Frank, R’ Moshe, and the Tzitz Eliezer, that actully pasken that yeshiva bochrim should be drafted?