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Health: Have you seriously considered taking your spiel on the road? After months of lock-down, there is a real pent up demand for comic relief. You may have to perform in outdoor parking lots for a while like the one Rudy Guiliani used yesterday in a Philadelphia industrial park for his circus show (aka “news conference”) to describe the vast left wing conspiracy among thousands of state government computer programmers, election officials, vote counters, post-office managers etc. Much hatzlacha in your new endeavors and please keep us updated on the new details of the Votingate Conspiracy.
The “Day One” executive orders contemplated by Biden are targeted policy changes focused on areas which were at the core of his campaign; reversing the most extreme immigration policy changes (e.g. maintaining the DACA program, rejoining the WHO, etc). I suspect there will be moderate Republican support for these efforts even though they can be undone w/o legislation, just as Trump did in implementing them). He is not going to immediately change the status quo on Iran or North Korea, tear down Trump’s wall, order the ATF to start confiscating weapons, releasing violent felons from federal prisons or shut down shuls and churches (all of which Trump has predicted in the past several weeks) No one is suggesting there won’t be immediate changes on some policies…there will be since as noted above, elections do have consequences.
A gutten voch and good night.Syag: First of all, your guy received 70,804,968 votes (as of 10 pm) not 60 million.
More importantly, I can’t speak for any of the others here in the CR who supported Biden but I suspect most would agree he is far from a perfect candidate and that there are legitimate concerns regarding his policies on EY and a bunch of other issues. I don’t think any of us are suffering from ” infantile smugness” regarding Biden or the Democratic party but we think he is a far better option for our country than another 4 years of the incumbent.Given the political distractions of the past several days, I neglected to mention that after my earlier post lamenting the loss of Guss’ pickles on Essex Street, I was informed that a member of the original Guss ownership family reopened the operation at a Bronx production kitchen and now sells the “original recipe” barrel cured pickles online. A bit pricey, $60/ gallon pail (which they say is about 30-35 pickles) but we’re talking about the Rolls Royce of the pickle world. Now that the weather has cooled a bit, I’m going to give them a try and will post my review after indulging. Perhaps a good nosh for an Inauguration Day Party (socially distanced on the patio).
Gadfly: Yes, i thought Biden’s speech was centrist and he did reach out to a large segment of the 70 million voters who supported Trump but are not the extreme of what was once the Republican party. If you have the technology on your cable setup, go back and listen to the comments of Karl Rove on Fox News right after the speech (about 8:40 PM ET). And yes, immediate action on Covid, global warming and the economic challenges of large segment of the American population who don’t define their economic success on the stock market, ARE the reasons 74 million Americans voted for him and expect him to prioritize (and where I suspect he will get some Republican support as well). The “systemic racism” stuff is probably going to be the subject of some cosmetic executive orders, commissions etc. but even his own party doesn’t share a common action plan so its more rhetoric than substance.
Yes. Elections will have consequences but I’m hopeful that the changes in direction for our country will be less “in your face” and more thoughtful than what we’ve seen over the past 4 years where the singular motivation was to “undo everything Obama”.“Any pretense of a serious discussion on this topic has been forsaken”
Until there is some consensus on the statement of the problem, there is unlikely to be a “serious” discussion of solutions.UJM: To you and your chevrah, GET OVER IT. The Republican legislative leadership of three of the states you mention have already rejected the notion of setting aside the electoral outcomes and I suspect the other will do so as well.
There will be a new President and this country will move on as it always has. There will be a real challenge for the incoming Administration to reach out to the 70 million Americans who voted for Trump but I truly believe they will make the effort. Their success will largely be a function of Biden’s ability to steer a centrist course and not yield to the far left of his party. In the interim, I suspect Biden will go slow and give Trump the time and space they need to accept the reality of the what has happened while at the same time moving forward on areas such as Covid and the economy where the nation desperately needs a new direction. Its a time for healing, not gloating.
Simple recipe for geshmack home-made sour pickles (makes 1 quart of jarred pickles so scale up ingredients for larger quantities).
4 cups water
2 tbs finely-ground artisian salt (not kosher salt)
1-1.5 pounds small to medium size pickling cucumbers
8 cloves garlic (FRESH, not powdered)
6 allspice “berries”
1 tsp coriander
1 teaspoon black mustard seed
1 or w dried red chili peppers
1/4 cup fresh dill
(horseradish to taste)Instructions
Bring water to near-boil until salt is fully dissolved and allow to cool. Cover cucumbers in a bowl with ice water to crisp and then put them in a quart-size jar with fermenting seal. Add in the garlic and other spices and cover the cucumbers to the top of the jar with the saltwater brine. Allow the pickles to ferment at room temperature until they turn from bright to dull green to a dull green (usually 3-4 weeks but longer if you like them really sour).B’taavon!!
Well, another good sign is the total absence of Mike Pence who has already decided NOT to tarnish his 2024 Presidential chances by repeating Trump’s crazy “stolen election” nareshkeit while being careful not to alienate the hard-core MAGA voters who believe this stuff. Pence thus joins AG Barr and FBI Director Wray in keeping their heads down and their legacies intact. Another indicator is the just announced employment counseling effort by a bunch of K Street lobbyists to create a job bank for WH staffers who are frantically trying to get their resumes out for new positions beginning in two months. Apparently, there won’t be a big demand for former Trump staffers in the new administration.
“Trump won those areas by 3,4,5 to 1…..You love to quote Chazal, how about this quote acharay rabim lhotos”
I presume you are referring tohe phrase אַחֲרֵי רַבִּים–לְהַטֹּת which is often simplistically translated as “follow the majority” and used as an early basis for democratic rule. There are others who bring down from chazal that it also can be read with the caveat admonishing us “to NOT follow the majority to do evil”.As Biden’s deputy campaign manager just tweeted in response to multiple “now what” and “what if” questions from the media regarding Trump’s implicit threats to ignore the election outcome:
“The Secret Service and and other federal agencies have long-standing plans and procedures for removing anyone found to be trespassing on the White House grounds”.
Interesting that AG Barr and FBI Director Wray have been deliberately invisible the past several days and have not been participants in the Trumpkopf’s media circus on election fraud and irregularities (leaving the circus ring to Crazy Rudy)
bored guy: Not sure what you mean “you shouldn’t vote to get things”. Most of us feel that you SHOULD vote to get candidates who support policies and programs that advance you own personal values and priorities. Sometimes those will match those of what the “leadership” of the tzibur are advocating, sometimes it won’t, especially when the leadership is narrowly focused on ONE issue. I cannot imagine that the residents of KY and Skver did their own analysis of the views of the competing candidates and ALL somehow came to the SAME conclusion (except for the 184
“political apikorsim” referenced above).“..there’s a lot of picky older girls out there,,,”
As there SHOULD be. You don’t get married for the sake of just being with someone by a certain age. If you decide to marry, it has to be with someone you love and respect and want to share your life with. If thats being “picky” than you are doing the RIGHT thing and you shouldn’t allow any edicts from a Rav, askan, poster on social media or family pressure to pressure you into a shidduch you don’t feel comfortable with.You mean w/o the Skver vote, Trump would have won the NYS vote in 2016?? I don’t think so
While the data vary slightly from year to year, there are approximately 105 male births for every 100 female births in the U.S. The ratio does not seem to vary much by geographic region or ethnicity. The male/female ratio is even higher (118/100) in China and some other Asian countries where gender-based abortions are reported to occur.
I’ve read through many of the shidduch crisis past threads here in the CR but I still am not convinced there is any “structural” issue that must be addressed. All these debates end up doing is increasing the level of stress on single young women and make them feel more like “damaged goods”.DovidBT:
We should daven that there are “raudulent votes” so as to give legitimacy to the Trumpkopf’s tweets??? Have you ever heard of a barahcha l’vatalah??
Silent Moishe makes an important point. If the Frum tzibur is increasingly viewed as a monolithic partisan voting block, there will be less effort by the other side to compete for their support and consider their perspective as they become viewed as “captive” to the other side.
Not to make light of the OP. The Corona Virus has only worsened an already challenging situation for social interactions within the frum tzibur. Some young men and women may be uncomfortable using Zoom or other online meeting apps in lieu of in-person dates. As the weather gets colder, it becomes more difficult to find safe outdoor locations for meeting. Its easy to joke about the shidduch crisis but everyone should think about safe ways to introduce young folks in their social orbits in a manner that will be comfortable within their hashkafah.
Yasher koach to the many independent minded voters in Skver and KY (all 184 of you). I assume the local Boards of Elections have contacted the gabboim of your respective shuls so you get a special kavod at davening this Shabbos.
” There are 100 Coffee Room threads about it!!!!!!”
Not true. If you scan the CR archives, the actual number is about 117. What we really need is a new and updated thread on techales.
Since we are putting corporate names and advertisements on everything from football stadiums to bus stops, perhaps someone will start putting photos and logos on trash bags, rather than the bland white/black colors that currently dominate the market. It would lend a bit of color and visual interest to our curbsides on trash pickup days and would allow citizens to express their first amendment rights year-around, and not just for a few weeks prior to election day (when lawns signs are legal).
1. I wish Joe Biden would have the unfettered ability to radically change American policies across the board you assume will be the case. The reality is that is WON’T happen either in foreign or domestic policy. The great Blue Wave that the fringe left of the Democratic Party was predicting never happened. There was sadly, no repudiation of Trump, either at a personal or policy level. We are a country divided virtually right down the middle. Mitch McConnell will still be managing the Senate and in a position to block both Biden appointees and priorities just as he did for 8 years with Obama. Further, there is a stronger segment of the Democratic moderates who will blame the left for the party’s failure to capture the Senate and send a message to the Trump wing of the party.
Bottom line: We are in for more gridlock and divided government and its unclear what it will take to achieve a working consensus in the middle with the toxic polarization made starkly clear by Tuesday’s election.Amil: He will drag it out well beyond the inauguration. He literally needs public adulation like you and I need oxygen so he will continue with the MAGA rallies and desperate efforts to keep himself in the public spotlight. I anticipate nonstop Tweets with “new” allegations about the crooked Bidens, perhaps new broyges with the Obamas and anything that might get him a few minutes on national TV. I could only wish he will disappear January 21, 2020 but it won’t happen.
Just to be clear. FOX News, not CNN or MSNBC, just called Michigan for Biden and has him at 264 of the required 270 electoral votes. Either Nevada or Arizona would put him over the top. The Republicans might have a better chance of gaining credibility if they didn’t just put up Crazy Rudy at a news conference to suggest they are considering a NATIONAL lawsuit to throw out ALL mail-in ballots as part of a national conspiracy orchestrated by the DNC. There are some serious GOP lawyers with legitimate election law credentials so I’m mystified why Crazy Rudy has become the face of the Trump kvetching about voter fraud.
So when ALL the votes are counted and if Biden is declared the winner, we MUST accept the results since as Sam Klein has reminded us 17 times in the past month “that Hashem runs the entire world…” and if that is the outcome, it is only because the Ebeshter made it happen.
” Dumping a container full of cumin into everything does not make it better”
Yserbius123: That may be true for cumin but dumping several pounds of sugar into Ungarishe gefilte fish is entirely a different issue.
What happened to Gus’ Pickles on Essex Street. Haven’t been back in decades. By far, the highlight of my troubled youth
“… and also a civil war may break out no matter who wins..”
I keep hearing this but don’t buy into the narrative. There will obviously be a period of weeks or months of periodic violence and protests from the losing side but stop with the “Civil War” hyperbole.There are lots of “kosher” sites on the internet to research what is making you “unwell”, learn about possible remedies and find good professional assistance. Good luck and a refuah shelamah for whatever ails you.
If these rabbonim were halfway serious, they wouldn’t have waited until October 29th to issue their endorsement…far too late to influence any absentee ballots sent from EY.
” I just spent $2,300 on a sheite…”
You could have instead purchased a $19 tichel for your wife and used the remaining $2,281 to purchase a lovely Calabrian Esrog for each of the next 2 or 3 years. Everything is relative when it comes to your hashkafah and perspective on hidur mitzvah.
Yaakov Doe: Are you referring to a bunch of rednecks in pickup trucks with a few misguided yidden in minivans flying Trump 2020 flags trying to block traffic on the Tappan Zee (aka Cuomo) Bridge and GS Pkway??? There were a few news stories tonight mocking these feeble attempts at Trump Rallies.
Always Ask: Note that I used the word “targeted” payments, NOT another multi-trillion dollar bailout for the world. Recent estimates indicate that up to 1/3 of the $3+ trillion bailouts went to individuals and corporations that didn’t need the money, didn’t really save jobs or to public entities for non-Covid related costs. Every sector of the economy has hired lobbyists claiming they are “essential” and want their share of the $$$. Even with zero interest rates, our country cannot afford to add trillions more to the national debt.
Charlie has been diverted to a top secret assignment to develop statistical efficacy criteria in preparation for the new public health policies that will be implemented on the afternoon of January 20th.
Ben Levi: Other than having reversed the “character traits” of the two candidates, I’d agree with you
Avi K: So we should vote for the Trumpkopf because he has not been found to have done any of the following:
Not to worship idols. (He clearly does, especially those of himself. Never have we had such self-idolatry and adulation).
Not to curse God. (He has been doing it routinely in private meetings and his obsceneities have even crept into his MAGA rallies)
To establish courts of justice. (Hundreds of former U.S. attorneys from BOTH parties have expressed disgust with Trump’s interference with DOJ for political purposes)
Not to commit murder (Well, here I’ll cut him some slack since he never really did stand on Fifth Avenue and shoot someone but if his Covid policies persist, thousands will die unnecessarily)
Not to commit adultery, bestiality, or sexual immorality (There is clear documentation as to the first and the third; unless the Russians have something on tape, I’ll give him a pass on the second)
Not to steal.(Well, some of us would consider having his mar aLago club in Florida charging the government employees who travel with $678/night for a room while he takes his weekend golf vacations mamash g’navah. Some might also question his paying $750/year in federal taxes as stealing from the rest of us who have to make up the difference, Justice Hand’s holding notwithstanding).
Not to eat flesh torn from a living animal (Clearly NOT Guilty on this count since the WH chef has made clear that his Big Macs must be cooked well, well, done).Just to be clear, I’m not suggesting that JB is one of the lamud vov tzadikim either but he pales in comparison to the incumbent.
Trump engages in boorish, vulgar, racist and misogynistic speech and behavior which sadly seems to energize a certain portion of the electorate,, many of whom see their own inner thoughts and feelings “legitimized” because they are coming from the President. The toxicity he has introduced into our political system will take a decade to revers
Why must it be a binary choice? Our political system should be able to put forward leaders who are both decent human beings with no more or less character flaws than “average” as well as having the policy smarts to keep us secure and improve the lives of ALL Americans.
Both parties know that targeted Covid relief is needed for at least another 6-9 months but neither side wants to let the other take credit prior to the election so the nation suffers. I’m not sure either losing side will be anxious to help the other AFTER the results are known so we may still be at an impasse until after the inauguration. Even then, a split congress will make it difficult to find consensus.
I doubt R’ Yosef has a financial interest in טיכל.com. If you were to do a survey in the varbeshe section of a Sephardeshe shul, you would find fewer sheitels than in a corresponding Litvish shul, but that has long been the case. The trend towards taking a second mortagge to purchase an expensive sheitel IS a relatively newer minhag but even then, I doubt R’Yosef was taking the economic issue into consideration.
UJM? Not going to get into a debate on end-of-life medical directives. For another time.
Several lines of Wrigley’s gum including Orbit, the 5 Series you reference and other Wrigley sugar free gum varieties have good hashgacha and are available online. My kids also have raved about bubble gum from Elite in EY (google it) but I’ve never tried it so cannot vouch for its taste or dental visit attributes.
Toi: I wouldn’t want your name on my amicus on a Roe case, whichever way you were to argue. Dems would like to consider Roe as “super-precedent”. Barrett and other conservatives (not sure about Roberts) will adhere to the litmus test Barrett offered and I noted above that a case cannot be “super-precedent” and thus immune from being overturned if there is still ongoing and widespread public debate over its legitimacy. I personally find ANY legislation mandating how we make our own medical decisions a violation of personal liberty while acknowledging that tethering Roe into a Constitutional right to “personal liberty” is likely to be back before the Court within the next year or two. Watch the Mississippi case where the AG is deliberately pushing a case that intentionally violates Roe as a test case for the new conservative court.
Eliezer. Interesting moshol on hakoras hatov. Some of us do fear Trump’s maniacal narcissism and how that night trigger some incredibly horrific consequences for yidden and our country overall. Most here in the CR don’t share those concerns and indeed, anticipate even worse consequences under Biden. While I strongly disagree with some of the anti-Israel policies under Obama (where Biden was there as VP) on an overall basis, I fear Trump considerably more than a Biden administration. If he is elected, I hope to be proven wrong.
Ted Cruz: You namesake has vilified Trump as a “pathological liar”, “sniveling coward”, “utterly lacking in morality”, and “dangerous” to our national security. While I’m not a big Ted cruz fan, hew was RIGHT but he too succumbed to self-interest and has jumped on the train because it serves his near-term political interests. Sorry, but I don’t buy the “hakaras hatov” argument in relation to Trump’s photo-op, self-serving “gifts” to yidden.