RatingStheRumpus

I envy Chabad’s burning impatience for moshiach! Though they really do need to be just a little more patient…

I’m impressed by the yeshivish world’s close adherence to every detail of halacha except yoshon and their passion for learning.

I admire Open Orthodoxy’s efforts to stay in touch with yiddishkeit even while their assimilated lives and krum worldview pull them away.

At 2:30 pm, after the rioters had breached the capitol, Trump tweeted “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to defend the country and the constitution.”

Trump surely knew that rioters had stormed the capitol, and that Mike Pence was in the building to convene the Senate.

What was his first instinct? Should he tweet “Get out of the Capitol my crazy supporters, you’re tarnishing my movement?” No, he used the moment to tweet his frustration at Mike Pence doing his constitutional duty.

He tried to get Pence killed. Indeed, the rioters in the capitol immediately took up chants like “Find Mike Pence!” and even “Hang Mike Pence!” Police shot one rioter rather than let her breach a particular corridor – I wonder who they were protecting down that corridor. It could have been Mike Pence.

“Being that the mainstream media likely controls the thought process of the majority of Americans…”

This is clearly not the case. In the November election, California voters rejected affirmative action by a 15-point margin. Despite universal support for affirmative action in the mainstream media, the most liberal electorate in the country voted it down in a landslide.

Reality is not what the Breitbart/Limbaugh alternative media would have you believe.

Hershh – yes, the voters hated Trump so much that they elected Biden even while splitting their ballots for GOP lawmakers and state politicians. He’s that odious.

It’s not true that voter fraud never gets investigated in the US. Both the Bush and Trump administrations investigated voter fraud. Both found near nothing.

There’s no limit to what Trump can get away with. He was caught using taxpayer dollars to incentivize a US ally in need to interfere in US politics, and his supporters think that’s a “hoax.” He’s the only president in my lifetime to have several former cabinet members beg the public not to reelect him. Doesn’t matter, they’re RHINOs now. He’s spreading conspiracy theories about an election he lost by the same margin in the swing states as his “landslide” 2016 win. Who cares.

His supporters wouldn’t mind if he shot someone on Fifth Ave. That’s how cults of personality work. Stalin and Mao preserved their cults after starving millions of citizens to death. Their supporters found a way to rationalize it. Trump too can do no wrong.

I’m a proud sufferer of Trump derangement syndrome. I’d have voted for Pence or most other Republicans over Biden or most Democrats, but I’d have voted for most Democrats (except AOC, Ohmar, Warren, that sort) over Trump.

Free college for all? No, this is a terrible idea. Increasing college education mainly just raises the cost in years and tuition and taxpayer subsidies for alumni to be considered “educated” and employable in many occupations. Moreover, free college is a handout to the educated class, who have much higher income than the so-called “uneducated.”

More taxes and regulations? I’d prefer decreasing both taxes and public expenditures. But given that American politicians of both parties hate decreasing expenditures, I’d prefer they finance government bloat with higher taxes than by growing the debt:GDP ratio as they do in status quo. As for regulations, it depends on the regulation. Many regulations are pointless and just create headaches and restrict economic adjustments. Many regulations are well advised. Overall, I’m sceptical of government’s ability and motivation to design regulations well, so broadly speaking I’d like deregulation.

Open borders? Our best evidence shows that near-future economic costs of low-skilled immigration aren’t as dire as many pretend, but they do exist. However there’s a powerful humanitarian case for allowing more immigration. And there’s a tradeoff between allowing greater immigration and the welfare state: you can have one but not both. I think humans come first, and Americans have no special claim on my empathy, so I’d favor massively reducing the welfare state and greatly increasing immigration.

everyone white automatically inherently racist? Given how the social justice crowd now defines racism, yes, everyone who doesn’t twist themselves into a pretzel to deny obvious stats is racist. But per the colloquial definition, no, very few Americans are racist.

All policemen bigoted? Controlling for exogeneity (outside factors like the rate of people committing crimes or attacking cops) there’s solid evidence that in aggregate cops stop and beat, but not kill, Black men disproportionately. Of course that doesn’t mean that all cops treat people differently by race, but the effect shows up in aggregate.

Pro abortion? I think abortion is sinful and tragic, as is the act that leads to it. But maybe it should still be legal because many mothers who wish to abort would otherwise turn to worse alternatives like underground abortion clinics or DIY solutions.

Anti 2a? I don’t know what the effects of different gun control regimes are on violent crime rates and countering government tyranny, so I’m somewhat neutral. I’m not convinced that civilian guns necessarily REDUCE rather than INCREASE government tyranny – the presence of guns in a region may make government agents much more tyrannical (eg Waco!). And if they increase crime rates, that may worsen political tensions which could also make government tyranny MORE likely.

Iran nuclear deal? If the alternative to the JCPOA were a better deal or the US or a coalition bombing their facilities, I’d oppose the JCPOA. But Trump’s scrapping the deal with no replacement nor bombings just leaves them more likely to develop nukes. The Iranians threw out the IAEA inspection regime and are now poised to just make a run for nuke capabilities.

Many Americans prefer almost any Republican to Trump because he is uniquely divisive and selfish. He stoked the partisan flames every chance he got. He empowered the far-left and the far-right. He threw US allies under the bus out of incompetence and political expedience. He forced decent Republicans to lie and smear honest federal officials who called out his nonsense. He rocked the canoe and splashed mud over the rowers and wouldn’t stop even after he lost in an election where his party did well.