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Many people are skeptical of the vaccine. This is a matter upon which reasonable people will disagree. Anyone claiming absolute knowledge of the matter is lying or a fool. The test of the vaccine showed that over 99% of those who received the placebo did not get sick, but of the tiny number who did get sick, the vaccine was much more effective (note that the definition of “getting Covid19” was changed for the test – unlike the figure normally used, only those who tested positive with symptoms were considered to have become ill). While allergic reactions are rare, the other sorts of side effects appear much worse than the flu shots. No one has tested whether the vaccine will stop various new strains that have been developing.
The power to pardon, for any reason, goes back to the very beginning of the country. Most people are outraged when their enemies are pardoned, and delighted with their friends are. Especially in systems where judges are unelected, it gives the people another avenue for input on the criminal justice system.
Sometimes it is hard for old people to admit that it is over, even when it is. Trump’s only real concern is that by making a fool of himself he will hurt the Republicans in the Georgia runoffs, and end up giving Biden a mandate to radically move the country to the left, and that most Republicans will blame Trump.
Alexander????
Everything he worked for collapsed. He was also a substance-abusing sexual pervert, who died an early death. He also was a tyrant.
Donald has his faults (much related to speaking/tweeting before thinking), but he is no way as bad as Alexander.
The only policy Trump had that was uniquely his involved Twittering and speaking without thinking, and it is unlikely future presidents or candidates will do the same. His “radical” policies were all very similar to previous presidents, including being anti-immigration, pro-business, etc.
NICE!!!
What fun would social media be without Lashon Hora??????
jackk:
Impeached, and AQUITTED (found NOT GUILTY).
Did a good job of standing up to China and Iran, unlike Obama/Clinton/Kerry.
Your “racist” charge is based on quotes taken out of context.Actually about 12 million Americans died under his watch (half the number who died under Obama). Are you suggesting that the American president controls life and death, health and disease. The Romans thought their Imperator was a diety, but we don’t. It turns out the main factor in determining death from Covid19 is age and birth rate (and with Trump having five kids, he’s done his part to lower the average age of Americans).
Given the tight margins and the very unconventional voting system used, it isn’t hard to understand why he felt cheated. The Democrats “blue wave” predicted by the media polls didn’t materialize.
He promised to oppose “free trade” and to lower taxes (which he did primarily for the those who don’t itemize, i.e., the less than affluent), and kept his promises. He promised to increase military spending, and he did. He promised to appoint originalists to judiciary, and he did (he probably regrets it, since conservatives would have been more open to hearing challenges to state election procedures).
He did have a propensity for thoughtless tweeting (so instead of cancelling Trump, ban Twitter)
1. Are we talking about simply cancelling the load (meaning the Federal Treasury pays it), or allowing the borrower to file for bankruptcy (reducing the Treasury’s liability)? If bankruptcy, would Chapter 13 be required, and if Chapter 7 is allowed, would people who used student loans to buy realty be required to give up their equity (in some states, equity in a home is exempt property). Will the amount of the “forgiveness” be taxable income (meaning rich people who get out of their student loans still get a massive tax bill).
2. Do we distinguish between those who used the student loans for living costs (to avoid having to “live like a student”), and those who paid tuition? Do we treat those who used loans to go for fancy school the same as those who were using the loans to attend less expensive schools.
3. Do we expect the real beneficiaries of the loans, the colleges that got the money, to pay some of the costs. It can be argued that the major impact of student loans was to allow colleges to overpay their professors and to created bloated and overpaid administrations.
1. Spending government money without regard to how it is financed (eventually this will trigger inflation, and lead to a return of Reagonomics and/or Tea Party finance).
2. Being hostile to China (if the Chinese stop acting as expansionist tyrants, our policy will change)
3. Not being hostile to Russia (if the Russians stop trying to take over their neighbors, out policy will change)
4. Opposing free trade (this was a Democrat idea he co-opted, it isn’t working all that well as many types of American exports are being cut back)
5. Opposing immigration (also a Democrat idea, that has great support in theory, but in practice most people are supportive of individual immigrants, and nervous only about the immigration ; given the low birthrate the only option to immigration is economic decline)
6. Twittering without checking facts first, not to mention without thinking first, and often insulting people in the process (this is the major contribution of Trump to politics, and most will see it has having led to his defeat).
7. Supporting the current regime in Israel (as the interests of most Arab state are now aligned with Israel, due to fear of Iran, this will probably last).
And to expand beyond the quote from Yogi Berra, taking into account Chief Justice Roberts frequent metaphor of the Supreme Court as umpires, even when one side cheats (consider the Astros two seasons ago, not to mention the “Shot heard around the world” that traumatized Brooklyn 70 years ago), once the umpire calls it, its over.
P.S. The areas that explain how the Republicans had a good year nationally, while losing the presidency seem to point to a loss in suburban areas where the local election machinery is controlled by Republicans, suggest the problem was Trump alienating part of the Republican base.
So what, Reagan was senile and he may have been the most successful president of the 20th century (FDR won World War II, but in a way that resulted in a Cold War lasting almost 50 years).
And under the Constitution, policy making is done by the Congress, which is hopelessly divided, meaning they can do nothing (not such a bad thing) or learn to “play well with others” (also not so bad). The stock market seems favorably impressed with a government that will be unable to get into mischief, or even better, learn to cooperate rather than be fixated by ideological idiocy.
An innocuous, polite, harmless president. Hopefully ineffective. That’s the best we can hope for from a Democrat.
That is why the Republican won almost 2/3 of the Senate seats being contested in 2020, and almost tied the House, and won most of the contested state races. That is also why in referenda, California, the super-blue state, defeated proposals to ban the “gig” economy, and to mandate racial preference for politically favored groups (in particular to have a numerus clausus restricting Asians). And suddenly, even Biden is having second thoughts about cancelling Trump’s “make America great again” tariffs.
Whether he is really a boor, or was “acting in character” from his media image as portrayed in “The Apprentice”, many people disliked Trump, but otherwise indicated approval for his policies.
It is true that some aspects of Reagan area Republican doctrine may be out of permanently favor, such as the muscular foreign policy (beloved by neo-cons) or free trade, but it turns out that on both of those issues, it seems more a matter of public opinion having moved, as the Democrats don’t seem anxious to support them either.
There were many irregularities in the election, which is to be expect do the first time use of mail-in ballots with no advance procedures, but while Trump is annoyed the fact that the Republicans won overall suggests Trump wasn’t cheated, and he lost not due to fraud, but because many people supported the Republicans, but rejected Trump.
The most likely change is that in 2024 the Republicans will run a candidate with Trumpian (populist, rather than conservative) views, but with the pretense of derekh eretz that normally characterizes professional politicians. If you are a neo-con, you are homeless. If you are a free trader (and support liberal immigration of workers), consider supporting the Libertarians.
The climate has always been changing, and often not for the better (though in all fairness, warm periods appear to be better than cold ones). And if all the Yidden kept Shabbos, the climate would change only for the better (e.g. no rain on Shabbos or Yuntuf, Tishri would never be too warm or too cold, etc.).
Gibberish in gibberish for the sake of gibberish!
Don’t get sarcastic, it works well for lawyers and politicians
If so, it is the first time the Democrats stole an election for President, while splitting their ticket and giving the Republicans a solid win in almost everything else. The Republicans won 2/3 of Senate races, split the House almost even denying the Democrats a workable majority, the state elections went well for Democrats, and referenda went poorly for the “progressives” (as socialists prefer to be called).
Arguing that cheating Democrats elected Biden, while supporting Republicans for everything else is not a viable theory. Tammany and Boss Daley and the like, never split tickets.
A better explanation, is that Trump was unpopular with many Republicans. Remember that Republicans in modern times have been hawks on foreign policy, in favor of small government and against deficits, tax and tariffs, and in favor of immigration. The Reagan Republicans turned out to support the party and win referenda, but enough were mad at Trump to affect the outcome.
A 98% survival rate would mean a 2% mortality, e.g. in the United States about 7 million, or in Israel about 160,000. That would definitely requires special measures, especially if it impacted on all ages rather than the elderly. In the US, it appears that Covid19 results in about 1/10 of a percent mortality.
Note that for testing vaccines, they changed the definition of having Covid19 to require not only testing positive, but having symptoms, and the even the placebo was 99% effective (though vaccines seems to reduce the chance of serious symptoms by 90%).
1. YWN purchases most of its goysha news from the Associated Press, which is opened by the major newspapers, which means it is liberal. The less partisan news sources, such as the Wall Street Journal, are probably more expensive, and perhaps unwilling, to let YWN reprint their news sources.
2. YWN has much “sponsored content”. On Covid19, much of the “sponsored content” is from people who wish to promote panic in order to enhance fund raising. Ask yourself, if someone who is schnorring told you not to worry about something, will that make you more or less likely to give money to him to take care of what he just told you isn’t worrisome.
First, the real question is why much (if not most) of the frum community tends to be skeptical of masks. That warrants a serious answer.
1. For the same reason many goyim are skeptical. The announced that Covid19 would be something similar to Ebola, Smallpox, Bubonic Plague, or at least the (misnamed) “Spanish Flu” of 1918. In terms of key factors the distinguish a serious public health threat, from what is a normal fact of life, Covid19 was a flop. It has almost no impact on children (i.e. less threatening than the annual flu). Antibody tests proved that over 90% of the cases don’t result in serious illness. The death rate increased (in the USA) from 0.8% to 0.9% (well within a “normal” range, note that Israel is about 0.5%, and many European countries are around 1%). And by counting people who test positive but don’t get sick as being “Covid19 cases” it looks like they are fudging the statistics. But this applies to goyim as well as Yidden.
2. Frum Jews are quite young since we have large families, and unlike real epidemics (and similar to normal diseases), Covid19 tends to kill older people. Look at the typical goy as someone almost ready for “assisted living”, and the typical frum yid as being someone in heder – they are dropping dead, and we aren’t.
3. Most Covid19 mortality is of the generation that is older than boomers, but too young to be the “qreatest generation” (i.e. who were children during World War II). These would be roughly those born between 1930 and 1946. Among us, these were the children of the holocaust, too young to work or hide or fight, and consequently unlikely to have survived the war. Most frum Jews who “should” be dying of Covid19 based on their age, never survived childhood. Among Americans, no children died due to hostile actions during World War II (e.g. so people like Joe Biden lived to be old and needing to worry about Covid19, a Jew born in Europe during the war, probably died in childhood).
4. Jews, like Blacks, have has long, very negative history, with public health figures. In the 20th century, in both Europe and America, public health “experts” believed in the then respectable and accepted science of Eugenics, which was the intellectual basis for such things as the holocaust, “Jim Crow” (and earlier, for slavery), immigration restrictions, and coercive family planning policies. Now the same public health community that thought that restricting the number of Jews was a necessary public health measure, are claiming that Jews davening, learning and doing mitsvos is a public health menace. We’ve heard that before.
Cuomo can reenact the restrictions if he has one rule for all, rather than a liberal rule for what he likes, and a stricter rule for religious groups, and he has to enforce them equally instead of a policy the restrictions only apply to my enemies (i.e. us) and not my friends.
Kids sometimes do stupid things. Now that I’m an old person, I realize the being young often correlates with poor judgement. Its not a new problem. Imagine how bad Chava must have felt when Kayim smashed Hevel.
TheProphet: Our principle enemies in America are the secular Jews, and they are dying out. The have proven unable to reproduce, and are rapidly again out of existence (which may explain their concern with Covid19, a disease the generally kills old people). With them out of the picture, while overall anti-religious feelings might affect us, it won’t be directed against us and will not be a serious problem.
It is easy to be comfortable in a place where most anti-semitism comes from a political organization dominated by frei Jews, who themselves are very marginalized in the overall political system (e.g. Chuck Schumer and his party are only big in a few regions, but someone like him will never be have any real power).
It is easy to be comfortable in a country where religious toleration is deeply ingrained in the national psyche.
Should I mention that three groups have tried to destroy us in the last century (the Nazis, the Communists, and the radical Islamic movement), and it was the Americans, who themselves weren’t really threatened, and went out and defeated our enemies. When we see the history of America, we say proof of Ha-Shem manipulating history to save us.
Health: Trump packed the Supreme Court with originalists, not conservatives. Under the Constitution, as originally written, election law is totally in the hands of the states. If the state’s highest courts have not found the election to be fraudulent, it isn’t for a federal court to get involved.
So he moves to Florida and mopes. Considering the Republican party did well in the election (Trump trailed the ticket, and that suggests he hurt the Republicans more than he helped), he’ll probably retire. The Republicans will keep much of Trump’s populism, but will tweet lightly and in 2025 will have solid control of the federal government (Congress, Executive and Courts).
He moves back home to Florida. Only a fool would want to move to New York with its government run by a bunch of incompetent bigots.
The data seems realistic, since Trump did worse than the Republicans at large, and that the Republicans in other races while doing better than Trump, did worse then they had in previous years. The bottom line is that with Trump no longer on the ballot, the Democrats will have a serious problem, while the Republicans have to rally the Trump supporters to come out.
One should ask if the switch to “Distance education” by most colleges eliminates the “raison d’etre” for Touro’s undergraduate programs. Most of the objections to secular colleges pertain to having to mix with goyim, but in a world in which everything is virtual, that in some ways is less of a problem.
Many people prefer voting by mail or voting by internet. It could easily be made secure. It should be noted that for years politicians (especially big city Democrat machines) managed to make sure their deceased supporters were not denied the right to vote even in an era of in-person voting with no voter ID requirement.
By Biden is a dull party loyalist who will do what he asked to do. If the party members want to do something crazy, he’ll be inclined to do so. If the “deep state” professional want him to do something, he’ll probably listen. The drug companies are motivated by greed, which means they embrace the narrative that makes profit (e.g. Covid19 is the end of the world even though the placebo appeared to be 99% effective suggesting the disease is more hype than anything else), and will pursue the strategy that maximizes profit (a disease, probably want that in 99.99% effective). Regardless of who is president, the “invisible hand” will motivate the private section to come up with solution, unless the government tries to stop them.
Under the Constitution, state’s have sole responsibility for the selection of Electors. The only Federal issues would be if voting rights are being denied based on a poll tax, gender, race or ethnicity or age (for those over 18). States also wouldn’t be allowed to make the position hereditary (under the “republican” form of government clause. Indeed, a state theoretically could have the legislature elect the “electors”.
Trump created a strong “originalist” bias in the Supreme Court, which will serve to limit both him, Biden and subsequent presidents. This may end being the best thing Trump will be remembered for, though he wouldn’t think so (he really wanted “red meat” conservatives, but someone was talked into “originalists” instead).
The system relied on ability to same the population accurately, and on the almost one-to-one relationship of phones to households. The introduction of cell phones undermined that.
Also, in the past the mass media were politically neutral, but now almost none of them are. People tend to tell pollsters the “right answer” based on what the pollster is perceived as expecting to hear, so if the media trend to be left-wing, the polling results tend to favor left-wing candidates and positions. This has shown to be a factor in many countries, including Israel and Britain.
Propagandists need to avoid being swayed by their own propaganda. There never was a “blue wave”, no matter what the mainstream media claimed. Elections with secret ballot tend to be a check on what the media assert is common knowledege.
Trump is too old, and clearly dragged down the ticket, depriving Republicans of a secure majority in the Senate and control of the House. His ideology wasn’t the problem (note that even California voted against affirmative action, for the gig economy, against unions and against taxes). Trump was the problem. Pence, Haley or Cotton (among others) would have no trouble appealing to Trump’s base while not insulting the rest of the conservatives (and the moderates who are horrified at the direction the Democrats have taken). No one chose Trump because he insults and derides, many rejected him for a serious lack of mentschlikeit.
Amil Zola: 1) incompetence by hospitals; 2) people will colds and allergies having a panic attack after reading in the media that they are dying of Covid19; 3) how do you explain why all the people who come around collecting funds have such sad stories to tell – did you ever hear of a non-profit, charitable agency that was not being overwhelmed and in need of money; 4) If Covid19 is a devastating plague, why are wages rapidly rising (since so many workers are dying), and why aren’t rents and real estate prices collapsing (since so many home owners and renters are dying)? 5) Why aren’t schools closing due to the death of most of the students (as would occur for a serious epidemic, such as smallpox or bubonic plague). Media hype kills, whether from AP or YWN.
Given that 95% of Covid19 infections are harmless (you don’t get sick, and at worst think you have allergies or a cold), all that number reflects in testing. The more testing, the higher the number. This also mean that when testing a vaccine, 95% of people getting the placebo won’t get sick.
In terms of getting seriously ill, the major factor is age. Countries with lots of babies have a low average age, which is why Israel has the lowest rate of industrial countries, and Italy the highest (and why frum Jews, who tend to have a low average age, find the restrictions especially annoying). You will also note that the increase in deaths due to Covi19 is not substantial (in the US the death rate went from 8 per 1000, to 9 per 1000 – not a big deal), which is why the problems are not the illness but the media-induced panic and the politician-induced economic disruption.
Yeshiva autonomy is protected by the Constitution (under the Right to Privacy, giving parents the right to educate their children). If an originalist Supreme Court throws out the Right to Privacy, Congress would probably enact it as a statute, or propose a constitutional amendment.
Government funding from goyim is always dubious and any yeshiva that depends on goyim to stay solvent is taking a big risk. If the government were to tie funding for yeshivos to hiring unionized teachers for secular studies, most of the modern Orthodox would be very pleased.
Given the results of the Congressional elections, Biden is unlikely to do anything especially radical about any policy.
Charliehall: What’s wrong with political spending. Both parties have oodles of money. There is no close correlation between having lots of money and winning elections. While groups such as the Libertarians, the Greens, etc., do suffer for lack of money, if there ideas ever became mainstream they would have no trouble getting money.
Would really prefer a country where rich people spent their money on living well, rather than on being concerned enough with the welfare of all to get involved in politics? Better they spend money on politics that looking for for $1K bottles of wine, caviar, parties costing millions of dollars, etc. Give people like Soros and the Koch brothers credit – no one makes them spend money to discuss public matters, and it is good for society that they do so.
If you really don’t like campaign spending, I suggest you try North Korea. The Kim family has been winning elections, often with over 100% of the vote, for almost 75 years – and without wasting any money on campaign spending.
Biden is unlikely to be sympathetic to Turkey or Iran. With almost all the Arab countries have thrown the Palestinians under the bus, the change in regime in America won’t matter all that much. Most of the Arabs have decided that the Israelis are less of a problem than the imperialistic ambitions of Turkey (the former colonial power) and Iran.
The strongest evidence against fraud is the lack of a “Blue wave”. The Democrats did very poorly in the congressional elections, in state elections and in referenda. In the past, ballot stuffers never split their tickets. It defied belief to think the Democrats “stole” the presidential election, will giving away meaningful control of the Congress and state legislatures in order to cover their tracks.
This is a feature. It is good that people with money to spend, spend it on public affairs. If the rich weren’t interested in politics, and spent their money on “wine, women and song”, we would have a society that was less free and less vibrant.
Trump was rude and insulted many people. Based on the returns in congressional and state elections, and referenda (even California voted for conservative positions on affirmative action, labor laws and taxes), the Republicans would have won based on ideology. Trump’s thoughtless twittering and vulgarity was the difference.
The media relied in the past on sophisticated sampling techniques that started breaking down when cell phones started to replace landlines, and collapsed totally due to the high percentage of people using mail-in ballots (which in the past were largely limited to people who couldn’t get to the polling place on the election day).
The US is hardly along among federations of choosing a head of state in a system designed so one region can’t force its candidate on the country over the objection of other reasons. The Democrats are very popular in the urban areas along the coasts, and the Republicans are the leading party in the rest of the country.
Based on how the Republicans did in the Congressional races, Trump should have one easily, instead of winning or losing by fractions of a percent in a single state. Insulting part of the audience might work for some entertainers, but not for politicians. The lesson will be learned that politicians should not let their mouth (and twittering fingers) run independent of their brains – a skill that most politicians and persons in “corporate life” learned, but that Trump (who never had to deal with an independent board of directors or stockholders or anyone else he had to answer to) never learned.
The people who plan to riot would riot if Trump or Biden win, so unless you believe they are angry Libertarians or Greens, the “violence” the media is rooting for (violence earns clicks) is not related to the election.
Democracy is supposed to be noisy and argumentative. It’s a feature, not a bug. It’s just like the people. If the Americans were quiet and mild mannered (somewhat like sheep), you would have very dull elections. But Americans tend to take things seriously about the country they run. This is a good thing. Remember that except for the Blacks and the Indians, Americans (including Blacks and Indians who migrated here from other countries), left their previous residence because they weren’t content to be sheep, and were annoyed with the sheep dogs, and wanted to move somewhere where they could become wolves, so of course they do a lot howling.
If you want a place where elections are quiet and well mannered, and all the politicians say things that everyone says they agree with, try North Korea.
If he murders a civilian as part of a military sponsored program of ethnic cleansing (genocide), I would say yes.
If he kills an enemy soldier who is trying to kill him, and whose army is engaged in aggression, almost certainly not.
What about killing civilians as part of a program to destroy the enemy’s ability to fight (e.g. bombing enemy cities as was done in World War II)? What about killing an enemy soldier when the enemy country can rightly claim to be defending itself from a rodef (i.e. our soldier’s country)? What about a soldier ordered to destroy property as retaliation or engage in sexual attacks on enemy civilians?
The only issue of “tonsuring” would occur traditionally with Christian monks where the haircut was part of becoming a monk. There is no tradition of objecting to people selling their hair for money based on what they wanted to use the money for (whether it was to buy food, or give to the poor, or donate to an avodah zarah). If we object to someone doing something to earn money in order to donate the money to avodah zarah, it would be very difficult to ever hire or buy things from non-Jews, since by doing business with them, we would be indirectly supporting their avodah zarah (or other nefarious practices).
“Right” and “Left” refer to the sides of the French National Assembly during the latge 18th century. While there were plenty of Jews in France, they weren’t allowed to vote or hold public office until later.
This world’s politics can be entertaining, but this is only the “prozdor”, not the real thing. Blink your eyes, and it will go gone for good. Rooting for Trump or Biden is fun, just like hopeing for the Mets to play the Orioles in the World Series, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter.It is up to each state to decide. Under Federal law, the state legislature is free to appoint electors without regard to how people vote. It is merely a “minhag” to let votes choose the electors. If New Jersey votes choose the Republicans, it is perfectly legal for the state legislature to choose Democrats. And under the Constitution, Nancy Pelosi will be the one counting votes.
About the only thing the Constitution bans is a state can’t become a monarchy, and can’t limit the right to vote based on several factors – but there is no prohibition of election fraud, and in many blue states it is a well established minhag (Boss Daley, Tammany Hall, “Vote early and often”).
1. The only conservative in Chief Justice Roberts. There are five originalists, but that doesn’t guarantee a right wing decision, not would it necessarily be good for Jews. The anti-test act clause never was understood as requiring religious accommodation, and the first amendment was understood to protect belief not practice, and if the originalists take a look at the 14th amendment, they may object to it having been expanded beyond protecting the rights of ex-slaves and their descendants (bad for religious minorities). And the right to privacy, which is the basis of allowing “sexual freedom” is also the basis for laws allowing parents to control the religious upbringing of children – and that right isn’t written in the constitution.
2. It only takes a simple statute to turn a 6-3 majority into a 7-6 minority. Plus the Congress and the blue states can probably manipulate things to restrict the ability of the Supreme Court in ideological matters (e.g. making abortion a matter of state rights and prohibiting anyone from traveling to a blue state for an abortion).
The statistics for all the drugs so far suggest that many are effective in some situations, but none are a “cure” (i.e. nothing is to the virus, what antibiotics are for germs). If you are infected with Covid19, the best hope is to daven that you are in the 95% who either don’t notice, or can get by with non-prescription medicines and chicken soup. Remember that a coronavirus is more or less a “cold” (except one that are rare occasions makes you dangerously ill), and no one has ever “found a cure for the common cold”.