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Dear Torahvaluesoverparty,
What people focus on, becomes their reality, or sub reality. Either way, control your own consciousness.
Nothing will be fixed. Whatever happened last time, will happen next time.
Rigging an election is not an insurrection. Even running for office while the incumbent runs his campaign into the ground, and his political career into jail, is also not an insurrection.
Dear Ben,
Ha, I liked it! But the fact is that fertility as in the ability for humans to reproduce, is way down. This is a serious problem that might be solved with major interventions in the here and now. Therefore, expect your government – conservative or liberal, to completely ignore it.
Dear Health,
Trump raised hundreds of millions of dollars after the elections for political purposes. If he was convinced that he got more votes than Biden, he would have used that money on recounts and audits. Instead, it is going to his next and current campaign.
Dear Torahvaluesoverparty,
Your reaction should be how can the Republicans do this even better in ’24. Think forward to the future. Not backward to closed chapters.
Dear Dov Rosenbaum,
Translations are beneficial when the problem is the language barrier. When the main impediment is finding the proper context – like the Ketzos – following the authors style takes precedence over literal meanings. And when a sefer is cryptic by design – Birchas Shmuel -the translator runs into constant distortions. But for a magnum opus that was honed over decades to carefully avoid old debates with subtle innuendo – while simultaneously introducing a new far reaching style with thousands of cryptic sources, who in the world would have the the audacity to try translating that [Reb Chaim] for the masses?
Dear Curiosity,
Your various law sites, misconstrued a lot. Nobody applied the law like that in my experience.
Dear Ujm,
They definitely do have influence. But on the whole, it could be an equal factor both ways. It is all guesswork. Until someone does some real research. But real research has been done on fertility and infertility. Which is somewhat immune to cultural factors.
Dear Akuperma,
Fertility and growth rates are really dealing. Civilization needs many young people to thrive. The world is facing a depopulation crisis. But the experts are still howling about overcrowding and emissions.
Dear Ujm,
Factually speaking, I have seen no evidence that it is a result of social influences. But if you say so.
What is Ben Shapiro’s ‘field of expertise’?
I’m not sure if familiar with his take on what he does, but he loathes calling it a science.
And, any classical Jewish leader is lifetimes ahead of Ben Shapiro on good advice in these areas.
But for sure we should only follow Rabbanim that discount anything public health experts say during a pandemic.
The wisdom of the parable that did not really retain to vaccines, was considerably longer.
Dear Dov Rosenbaum,
The Artscroll shas quelled that debate through brute force. He we want to extend the debate, the Artscroll Shas makes a Stroh argument against more advanced translations.
Dear Always,
Speaking just for today, we probably would be better off.
Dear Health,
You raise many excellent points.. Allow me to respond.
1) Since you did not mention any fraud, I will wait until you do to make some sense of it.
2) I will watch Lindel’s documentary once I get acquainted with his past opinions on close elections. It will help me to put his take in context. Please point me in the direction of his opinions on the ’00 and ’04 elections. At the very least enlighten me to his expert analysis of the fairness of the ’16 elections.
3) Media has very little influence on my beliefs. I am willing to hear about the fraud. In fact, this back and forth started because I noticed that you only speak of possible fraud. Not actual fraud.
4) Now for my real question. Why did Trump need all that money?
” ……..what can be done……?”
A good start would be by looking at the hard facts and cold science, before getting into hard to define cultural issues.
Dear Rational,
You are a full generation behind. That outlook is no longer pervasive. The simple truth is that young boys in the yeshiva world are exposed to fundraising more than anything else. Try naming a yeshivish gadol that has no ties to any public fundraising. There are plenty outside of Israel and the East coast. They become forgotten because they are not found in charity ads or flyers.
Artscroll is totally not set up to translate the Ketzos. I’ll give just one example. How would they handle the hundred thousand or so cross references?
It seems like you misunderstand how big Artscroll’s market is. Maybe a fifth of their audience knows the name of Reb Baruch Ber’s sefer. Even a Hebrew age for that sefer would be a doomed project.
Dear Health,
I am discussing the prompts that you post. That is my role interest. You are not alleging any actual fraud. Just the availability of it.
“He did everything right”
He set a path and relied on others to do it right. Some did.
“Phase 3 results….. Number of cases was achieved.”
That answers itself. They are two different things. And it takes a significant amount of time.
The overall point is that America had institutions that were built over the decades to take all that happened in 2020 in stride. Trump was clueless to it and got in the way. He fought what he considered the swamp. Without realizing that the whole swamp comes to life in times of crises. Biden got out of the way. Like anybody who knows Washington would. And he looks good for doing nothing. Biden is back in Washington for four months. He has more political capitol than anyone. Except maybe Pelosi and Sanders. And they never spend their capitol on policy. The republicans are in a real tough spot. Similar to the democrats toes Reagan.
Dear Always,
I think that speech indicates the reverse. Communism among the people was really overrated among the people in the first half of the last century. Mostly because they had no idea what it was. Once America became ore educated and had the counter cultures of the 60s and 70s, public discourse started for real on communism. In the USA, communism is not even a half viable option. But I’m South America it caught on. And all the major economies were communist leaning by the end of the century.
Dear Coffee,
You are correct. This is the standard way common and I ascertain my credentials. It is the coffee room grail.
Since this thread was created NBA players started carrying their sneakers in the tunnel.
Maybe this thread should reach a thousand posts.
Dear Health,
If fraud is a given, then yes. Just a little niggling point. When did it become a fact that there was any fraud? All your posts – to many to count – point out how there could have should have must have been fraud. Nothing to say that the fraud actually occurred. Or how it influenced the results. But I really do not care about that. Just explain why Trump raised all that money and did not use it on overturning the elections.
I read through a bunch of his old posts including his first one, and I did not find that Made Aliyah ever made a specific case against wearing or legislating the need for masks. So he just does not have to like them. There is nothing to argue over. Except all the tangents that are being brought in to defend the lines in the sand.
Dear Always,
You posted that Trump set up the economy that weathered the pandemic. And asked of Biden to offer policies that would strengthen the country.
I am not convinced that the economy was strong heading into the pandemic. I suspect that Biden is allowing the economy to move slower, as he knows he will not be graded on the economy for at least another year.
What I do know is that Trump could have set up a home front to combat the effects of the pandemic. This would mean a surge in American manufacturing. Bring jobs back to small town America. Increasing exports. Restoring America to the top of the world. And so on. In short, his entire 2016 campaign was gifted to him. What had been practically impossible, became basic necessity.
And he totally flubbed it. He never opened any factories. The CEOs waited to assess the markets and then opened on their own. He did not act on agriculture. Whole crops were destroyed. He did not prop up hospitals. Many came close to breaking. Some did. He did not react to America’s image by implementing triage on our borders. Instead, he went on Twitter and got involved so that a pet dog from Africa could bypass health protocols. He fought with his own health experts. He never even asked China for better data.
And he have out millions of dollars to companies to produce a vaccine. Some of it was never used for that purpose. But the companies were allowed free reign until it came to FDA approval. That is the vaccine saga in a nutshell. Trump gets credit for starting the ball rolling right away. And for clearing away the bureaucratic obstacles. After that, he let things play out. Always claiming that vaccines would be ready, before they actually were.
Trump had a golden opportunity. He so badly blundered, that one wonders if even today he realizes what could have been. I wonder how much Biden realized how much Trump was shooting himself in the foot. But he at least realized that all the people who Trump failed, would come to his side. And that was about the only thing he said for five months.
Pence seemed to have realized that the Republicans squandered the best chance they would ever have of turning back the clock for the American heartland. He looked like he was in a horror movie for those five months.
Dear Always,
America of the eighties gets no credit for the fall of communism. South America took a sharp left turn as the USSR crumbled. But Biden is in a similar fortuitous position. We’ll see how the decade plays out.
The Reagan years were so successful for two reasons. 1 The reversal of the down years that came before it. Reagan let things slide and focused on getting the most out of the upswing. 2 Allowing business to be done in completely new and untested ways. Both these factors play heavily into Biden’s economic plan. He has every corrupt politician drooling.
Biden has been around a long time. And if has barely been in the private sector. One thing he knows very well. How political legacies are built and collapse.
Vaccines are still in demand. And they are free. And other countries would say for our extra vaccines. But whatever.
Dear Common,
No. I was never around any President.
Our entire social system, revolves around fundraising. Acquiring the skill of giving without taking, is the chief moral calling of our day.
I know it is a big statement. But think a bit. How much are our leaders maligned, because of silly claims that ‘they are making money for having that position’?
Dear Health,
I’m not so sure about this. But I think that in most states it depends how close it is. Trump asked for a recount in every state that would say for it. As I recall, his campaign had to pay a fraction of the cost of the recount in Wisconsin. And they called off the objection before it was finished. But they still took it to court. It was a puzzling sequence for people like me who really did not care much.
Independent groups pay for audits and recounts all the time. Some supposedly independent group conducted their own audit on the 2000 election in Florida. Then some other groups joined in. It took two years until they reached a consensus. And I do not think anybody besides those groups really cared about the results. (They found that Bush won the state by getting out the vote.)
Trump raised enough money in November and December to recount every state. His next Monte was to get a bunch of lawyers to put together flimsy cases in various courts. And almost all those lawyers were working for free. Hmmmm. I wonder what those millions were for?
Dear Health,
They found the deleted files. Turns out these cyber experts copied the file onto the wrong format. Haste makes waste. And blokes make hoax.
Just a thought. While there behaviors are not new, there was not much going on in the first month of the shutdowns. So these things were all magnified. And while during a different time we could debate all the politics and unseen motives, this time we had a much clearer view of how certain public figures think.
Last year I insisted that there is nothing to gain by being critical of either party. And I am still sticking by that. What happened later in the summer is a different story.
Dear Torahvaluesoverparty,
Biden may be following Reagan’s example in a number of ways. First, he moves very fast on policy changes. Second, he lets regulation and the lack of it fall whereever it may. It does not become the focus of his policy. Third, he makes messes that he intends on never cleaning up. Fourth, letting the economic outlook slide when he knows that it will be blamed primarily on events that predate him. Fifth, he avoids getting his portrayal into the narrative. Sixth, he approaches foreign affairs as a possibility. Not a policy.
To be clear, I think Reagan was a complete disaster. That left America longing to return to an era that never was. The main legacy of Reagan is that the next five presidents to occupy the oval office, left it by denying their major legacy pledge.
Dear Always,
Nice post! I’m not sure why it is so hard to get.
Dear Dbrim,
Your historical narrative is false. German Jews started leaving well before the thirties. Those that stayed thought it would not be so bad, or that it would pass quickly. Germany was only hospitable to Jews for one generation. Out of more than a thousand years of hosting them.
The entire fifteenth century was one long horror story for The Spanish Jews. Things changed quickly for them once the Moslems lost control of the peninsula.
I wonder how you noticed the democrats on this thread, without noticing the republicans.
How is Iran any more aggressive today than twenty years ago? The big question out of Iran, is how much longer can they prevent themselves from crumbling from within?
Dear Always,
The USA is just now getting the pandemic under control. We should have been at this point a year ago. Battling back a plague has been successfully for centuries. That the most advanced and wealthiest country had to wait for a vaccine, is ludicrous. I doubt Trump as well as a lot of this countries leaders, still have any idea that happened.
Total numbers on this virus will always look similar due to the large scale. Look at the number of failing hospitals for a better feel of the true effects of various policies.
Dear Coffee,
One chooses to believe whatever. It does not prevent them from reading fiction and understanding it as fiction. If you understand fiction as non-fiction and non-fiction as fiction, than your belief systems are not working properly. Media should be read as media. Ideally, one with a strong foundation of truth is able to read all lines of media and get the same picture. It is not hard to pick out the narrative from any attempts at controlling said narrative. If someone only reads one type of media, it points to their inability to pick the details from the ideas. And that person is likely being played by the very standard s/he claims to oppose.
Science is the same thing. If one can only agree with the few scientists on a given topic, That most likely points to a deficiency in knowing how to read the sciences. For example, the difference between the subjects and the systems. Science always shakes up our beliefs of scientific concepts. It never touches our sense of purpose etc.
Your statement that the media gets paid to report or not report a certain way, is completely absurd. The marketing aspect of media is around since before you were born. And independent journalism was never threatened by it until the modern day. You could thank your super media conglomerates for changing that. You live in a bizarre world, if nation altering realities are being held from the public on the basis of a few Benjamins. And facts today are easily verifiable without the mainstream media.
Publishing is for the masses. A publisher has to sell a lot of copies to make the profit worthwhile. Even seforim that eventually sell, are pushed away in favor of best sellers.
edited
Dear Square,
The idea is to get your mind used to understanding the context off of the actual words and letters. Usually we think of understanding in terms of sentences and paragraphs. Once your mind is looking out for the words to deliver meaning, it becomes easier to retain them. Reviewing many times before thinking everything through, is a mechanical way of reaching the same mindset.
In your opinion, what is the better option?
Dear RBZS,
I apologize for not replying sooner. Your posts do not show right away. [I don’t know if it is the site. Or my use of it. Either way it is weird.] I say your last post before yom tov. But I only say the other two today.
The Chassam Sofer is taking about a tzaddik that the people rely on. It specifically refers to a known leader that people are welcomed to partake of the tzadik’s assistance. See there for a discussion about Nadav and Avihu’s lack of involvement with the common people. There is no mention of the term korbonos. And it has no bearing on the passing of young people who were anonymous to us.
Your newer source is interesting, thanks for sharing it. Note how it compares the passing of the tzadik to yom kippur, not korbonos. I would like to read the whole piece, as it leaves me very puzzled. What lis lifting the Jews up to that level?
Still waiting on my question:
If Trump is so convinced he won, why won’t he pay for any recounts or audits?Dear Always,
Still no shaychus. He the Trump Administration would have been up front and honest about the virus, they could have gotten to work and controlled it to a great extent. Instead, they avoided taking responsibility, reassured nobody, got no real information, and give billions to corporate interests. Brad Parscale tried to explain it to the President that the election will depend on the pandemic, not the stock market. Trump could not believe him. And so he is unemployed again.
Yeah. Possible. Agreed. I thought this topic is about blaming gas supply on the President.
Dear Reb Eliezer,
That is not correct. The Ramban is saying something else. That a real tzaddik does not get ‘sick’. So if s/he is not sick, why is the doctor there? Meaning, That if a doctor is recommended, than the patient is not a complete tzaddik.
Dear Sam,
It does not matter one bit what the doctor thinks. Let the patient who is sick think about their predicament. And let the doctor focus on healing.
Dear Lost,
I would learn Torah with Chomsky if he was interested. Are you insinuating that Torah is less than Jewish patriotism?
Dear Always,
Assimilation was almost nil in the Arab lands, middle ages Ashkenaz, Czarist Russia, and other places for the same reason. There was nothing to gain. Not marriage, income, status, or meaning of life.
The Zionists were split in three groups. One was dedicated to the land – namely agriculture. They would have to meet like minded Arabs. Not likely. Two: were just looking for a better life. He they were not very opposed to assimilation they would have went to America. Three: were deeply attached to Jewish ideas. That would have needed to come upon an official platform as to why intermarriage is beneficial to Jews. As was widely done in industrialized Europe.
When I think about it, touched by modernity is relative. The people who were not, would have thought themselves as modern as they needed to be.