It seems that I need to be clearer.
I am not referring to any evidence of fraud. I am only saying that there is strong evidence of potential for fraud, such as not allowing poll watchers to observe the counting closely enough to be able to detect fraud. The court case won by the republicans to allow closer inspections is strongly indicative that these claims are well founded.
Yet democrats are not concerned by that, or other serious security breaches allowing potential for fraud, clinging to the hope that no strong evidence of actual fraud will be discovered. I do not know why you are all so sure that no evidence will turn up. Again, evidence that can change the results is not the point I am making.
To be clear, I find it worrying that no one is bothered by the fact that fraud could easily have occurred without being caught, since the usual security measures considered critical in all free democracies were not consistently enforced during the counting.
At risk of sounding repetitive – how can such elections be respected if fraud could so easily have occurred even if nothing can be proven?

The following is from a CNN “fact check”:

Poll Watchers
Giuliani claimed that more than 600,000 ballots in Pennsylvania “weren’t inspected which renders them ballots that are null and void.”
Facts First: This is false. Nothing is illegitimate about those ballots.
A Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice decided that the Philadelphia County board of elections complied with the law in how it allowed observers access to the canvassing process.
The law allows the observers to be present, the judge wrote, but they do not have the right to inspect or look over the shoulders of the workers counting the ballots. The judge ruled canvas watchers in Philadelphia cannot challenge ballots and don’t need to inspect each individual signature.

This all may be factual, and technically legal, but the fact remains that the inspectors claim not to be able to witness the counting like in any free elections around the world. Correct me if I am wrong, but I am not aware of such instances occurring in the past. The opportunity for fraud this time really seems unprecedented. Again, even if there is no evidence that fraud occurred, elections cannot be trusted if there is unreliable supervision.

The mraglim were “ma’asu b’eretz chemdah”. They were disgusted with the delightful land that Hashem gave them as a gift. They admitted the benefits of the land, but still, did not love the gift of Hashem enough to overcome their fears.
To give an example, many people are afraid of marriage. There are many potential conflicts, so many risks involved. But sometimes, when we meet the right one, the love is so intense and so deep, that we feel that nothing, not even death itself, can stand in the way of our love.
That was the sin of the M’raglim. Of course there were risks. The Cna’anim were strong. The spys reported that the people were mysteriously dying, according to Chazal. But, as with any strong relationship, even faults are seen as cute. The Jewish nation did not yet have that deep trust in Hashem to ignore all of their fears and fall into the embrace of Hashem in His own palace.
“Yerushalayim is surrounded by mountains, and Hashem surrounds His people.”
If you stand in Ir David, on the spot of the one who said these words, you can see two mountains coming round as if in an embrace of Yerushalayim and the Jewish people.
There is no place like home.
Sometimes, you feel that love, so you move to the Holy Land, but sometimes you must first move to feel the love.
It may not be easy, and there may be many seemingly valid reasons. Efes ki az ha’am hayoshev ba’aretz! The people are strong! It’s dangerous!
But there are many reasons not to marry your bashert.
No rabbi will force you to marry.
It must come from the heart.

The English word special has similar usage. ‘Special education’ is not the same use of the word as ‘there is something special about a shul’!

Kedusha is often misunderstood by many, in my opinion. It means something special and unique that requires appropriate respect. It may involve separation from the physical, but to define it as separation would be very inaccurate. It is easy to make that mistake as Rashi does quote a midrash that says that “kedoshim tihyu” here is referring to separation from unacceptable relationships and sin in general. The Ramban goes further and includes distasteful behaviour such as vulgar language and overeating, which are not explicitly prohibited by the Torah. It might sound like this means avoiding physical pleasure as much as possible. But with a little examination of the context of the use of the word “Kadosh” in general, it would seem like the a better approximate translation would be special, noble or dignified. Occasionally avoiding some pleasures are incidental to acting as a member of the elite group designated by Hashem Himself as those who must be an example to the world and demonstrate how to be His faithful servant and partner in creating a perfect world, a utopian society, where there is no evil to fear and all men seek only the best for his fellow man. Peace and love, laughter and joy, will replace the tears of today. We have already succeeded to a large degree in influencing the world to be so much kinder and more compassionate than even a century ago. There is much more to be done, but we are far away from the cruelty that was once the norm. War is slowly going out of fashion. Such a nation as ours must certainly act in a way that befits such a princely mission.
To describe that as separation from bodily pleasure is simply a misrepresentation. It is like describing the actions of someone who wants to be healthy strong, and live long (a very important goal mentioned in the Torah many times and should be common sense,) as avoiding physical pleasure. This could not be further from the truth! He may avoid many foods and overeating, keep a strict routine and engage in sometimes painful exercises, but he is doing all this in order to enjoy life more!
Similarly, a prince may deprive himself from many common indulgences in order to enjoy his position properly with the respect and dignity it deserves. Self sacrifice is sometimes the opposite of what is expected of him as a member of the royal family. Often he is required to indulge when it is inappropriate not to, such as regards to appealing clothing, appearance and general conduct such as how and what he eats.
To conclude, misunderstanding the meaning of Kedusha could very well lead to the opposite of Kedusha, not to mention unnecessary suffering to others.

There is an important aspect of the problem some have with non Jewish music that many people don’t seem to realise. Ultra orthodox Judaism is based largely on the idea that in order to prevent Jews becoming irreligious, it is necessary to preserve the culture as much as possible. This includes a dress code, various traditional ideas such as anti Zionism and the great stress on the importance of spending time in Yeshivah regardless of actual success, depending on the community and the level of barriers erected to prevent Jews from leaving the community.
The same idea applies to music. This is why many will find no problem with Jewish singers, but non Jewish singers with the same song or even classical music will be considered as wrong and somehow inappropriate. Some will even justify this with kabbalistic concepts of of somehow purifying the “soul” of the song through the holiness of the Jewish singers who may need to be a great rabbi, depending on your beliefs. You may believe that, and there is no way to disprove it, since holiness is such an elusive concept.

Censorship has a habit of backfiring and causing unintended consequences.

The way many people learn mussar, I imagine it would make very little change to their character. Simply reviewing the importance of being kind, even for a healthy person, may make a lot less real change to your habits than you might expect. It may inspire you, but without a careful, calculated approach to mussar, you will probably be disappointed and surprised most of the time that mussar is not helping much. This, I believe, is the true reason why studying mussar is not popular. It does not work. Some may comfort themselves and say that it must be helping somehow and that it’s a long road, it’s not your job to finish, just to do the best you can etc. But anyone who seriously studies the messilat yesharim will see that it requires serious thought, keeping a journal, the basis of the cheshbon hanefesh, deciding which actions are helpful, setting goals, writing them down and developing strategies to improve. Anyone who thinks about themselves will begin to see how he works and realise some obvious changes to make, often very simple. The mussar movement was very different and much more intellectual than the current approach to mussar. However a psychopath may actually be very successful with mussar, since they may be low on emotional empathy, but can often be high on cognitive empathy. A psychopath has the ability to control their actions and can actually have a lot of insights into themselves due to their intellectual ability. Maybe start a new thread on mussar, how to study and different approaches.

I am quite surprised that none of the posters here has mentioned the most relevant research on this subject (as far as I can see.) Comparing countries with gun laws to those without are not accurate at all since there are many many factors which influence murder rates, such as culture or police corruption. And if you do check all the world statistics, you can see that there is in fact no correlation between gun laws and murder rates. However if you compare homicide rates before and after gun regulations in the same country, then you will find consistently that homicide rates go up after the ban. They may go down again years later due to other factors such as putting more police on the street.
Just Google “Murder and homicide rates before and after gun bans. ”
But this clearly shows that gun laws are dangerous and we should fight them with the same intensity that those who are trying to remove our defense from violence, however well intentioned they may be.

I think the OP is not trying to state the obvious but to hear different sides of the subject. Without yet checking what the Rebbe says (although I intend to,) I think the proper approach is to realise that every negative prophecy may happen, but can change for the positive if we do Teshuvah.
Yirmiyahu 18, 7: One instant I may speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to uproot and to demolish and to destroy. 8. And when that nation repents of its evil for which I spoke concerning it, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to it.

Simple. What Jews have always done until the self-hating Jew Marx created his system. Every Jew gives charity. Do you give? Does the government force you to give? There’s your answer. Pure free market capitalism means you give charity and get schar. Socialism means you give way more than a fifth that is usually assur to give it is spent terribly inefficiently you get no (or little) schar because you gave it as tax. Besides for the terrible injustices when businesses are forced to close due to regulation.

Reb Yidd
the flies were there before you, they are just freedom fighters to get back their territory. It is just evil human racist colonialism that makes you think you have a right to kill the poor innocent creatures. You are as bad as the Nazis committing fugicide (noun, the deliberate and systematic extermination of a winged species.) We will boycott you by not replying to any of your posts however funny or useful they may be.

This is a false argument. Either there is a danger to yeshivot or there is not. Either we can rely on chareidi parties or we cannot. Even if the organizers are hypocrites and reshaim or contrary to an undefined da’as torah or whatever you think, their arguments should be considered on their own merits.
But I think both sides are really arguing about a hypothetical situation. If every extra soldier contributes to and is essential for our security this may be a real question – is it right to have many in yeshiva who are not truly learning all day and protecting us with their torah, (and may even be deteriorating spiritually for that reason), when they could be providing more protection in a hesder or other setting. But study after study show this is not the case and there are many secular and dati Israelis advocating to transition to a professional army for better security.
Chareidim should be making this point and receive broader support and legitimacy. Instead they sound like “we need a draft but not us”, which is outrageous.
Dati leumi should take note that Moshe Feiglin, a symbol of religious right wing activism since Oslo, has been saying for years that although he encourages chareidi participation it should not be enforced for the above reason. You may not agree but at least give a reason why not. Mostly those against do not understand the issues or just have a traditional approach, “thats how its always been” or “its a mitzvah so we must force you”. If people would understand the concept of individual liberty we would have a lot less division.

The current situation actualy leads to weaker security and potentialy more fatalities since soldiers are much less experienced (many deaths in wars were due to inexperienced or unproffesional fighters) and a huge amount of money is wasted on superfluous jobnikim instead of on better technology and paying a decent salary to those who protect us and deserve it. The economy loses as a result of three years of wasted potential – a high tech worker is making coffees. The army loses quality services a private company could provide. An army marches on it’s stomach and our boys deserve the best. The list of problems goes on. I strongly encourage anyone concerned about Israels security and prosperity to research this subject.

Seriously I think no one can answer if they don’t know both of you.

Because every post must say the same thing. If it doesn’t the mods will delete it for being inappropriate.

Love comes from seeing the positive or yourself in another. Sometimes I find it very useful to imagine aanother jew I have trouble loving as if he is my brother or father. This immediately changes the way I think about him allowing me to judge much more favorably and if the imagery is sustained, even love like a brother. Giving is usually a result of that perspective not a cause. In fact ahavah, love and achvah, brotherlinness probably have more etymological connection than the Aramaic hav, to give, as Rabbi Dessler suggests. However there may be an indirect connection through ta’ava desire and avah, longing, passion, or avah with a Beth meaning will. This may become a willingness to give or give in. Abba, father may also be connected to love. (Some of these ideas come from ‘the origin of speeches’ by Isaac Mozeson.)

What do your yummy friends and neighbors taste like? Otherwise a rather cheerful and nostalgic if slightly morbid poem!

Charlie Hall, R’ Sherira gaon permitted sunglasses? Please explain.

Acceptable music styles probably fall into the category of derech eretz similar to behavior how to walk and dress etc. Maybe according to rambam vhalachta bdrachav, adapting our mindset mood and behaviour to the way we see Him act in this world, the famous middle path. If music encourages a mood of silliness its probably not ideal – unless you’re too serious and need to relax ( although classicAl music usually does that much more effectively if you can develop a taste for it. Sometimes music with a heavy beat makes you more angry or sad and cynical.) These are qualities all of humanity should aim for, to be a mensch. This is not Jewish behavior just acting like a true gentleman. If you can imagine the queen of England listening to it its probably OK. Although it would be very comical to imagine her listening and dancing to some of the music we listen to! But if someone is wearing a misshapen, stained sloppy black hat because its Jewish and listens to ‘jewish’ music is missing the point, better wear no hat and listen to Mozart.

R Avigdor Miller was asked (in Q + A book) why psychologists say kavod does not include love. He answers it does proving it from the Chazall that we love our mother more than our father so I would think we should honor her more thats why father is mentioned first. Besides if its put right next to respect of hashem it obviously means in the heart just like our relationship with hashem is not just outward. And anyway there is usually a mitzvah of v’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha which is certainly in the heart. Of course you don’t need to feel guilty because this is one of the hardest mitzvos. LG I’m sorry if I was insensitive I should have been more careful.

” giving birth to me wasn’t too hard or unpleasant for him.”

It wasnt too hard or unpleasant for hashem either yet thats the primary reason to thank Him and love him. Besides He loves us and gave us His “personality” tzelem elokim and sustains us and so did our parents. The way you relate to your parents is the way you relate to yourself. A ptur from kibud is like cutting off your arm. Perhaps necessary in extreme cases but should be taken with caution. Wheres the mkor that kovod does not include love?