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CTL
Mea Culpa
I herby recognize you as a fellow indentured servant to the government.Lesschumras
Please explain to me how the second amendment is read to imply that the founding fathers wanted to protect the right to hunt
And since you obviously didn’t read all the other posts, please explain how banning the handle of a gun will make us safer.
Every “assault rifle” can be made legal by reshaping the handle
Don’t believe me? Google NY legal rak 47.
It’s an ak47 without the handle. Completely legal in NY even after the restrictive assault rifle ban
Do you feel safer?Ubiq
Don’t the jewish schools in Europe have armed guards despite the restrictive gun laws?Funny
I don’t know what CTL is going to say but he has already said that if you want good service you can pay for it. It’s called concierge practices. You won’t wait.
But
If you are looking to bargain a doctor down and not pay a fair wage, then you are part of the problem. You certainly don’t have a right to complain.
To an extent, everyone using any insurance plan is part of the problem(and yes I have insurance, but you don’t hear me complaining) this is bc the whole reason insurance exists is to remove dollars from doctors pockets and shift them elsewhere. With private insurance the money gets shifted to corporate America. Medicaid is a different animal, but in the end it creates the need for a high volume practice.
A colleague of mine who takes Medicaid has a wall in his waiting room that he calls the hall of shame . He tried to illustrate to patients the insanity of dealing with insurances. He posts reimbursement checks that he gets from insurance company’s that are less then a dollar. That means he lost money. Between the time paid to his biller and the postage it wasn’t worth the effort.
I’m not saying that the system isn’t broken in many ways
I’m saying that patients who use insurance and who come late , shouldn’t complain.
Instead . Try paying out of pocket for doctor visits and use a concierge practice. Only take out catastrophic medical insurance. After all , (acc to consumer reports) the whole point of insurance is to protect against catastrophic loss not day to day expenses.Though in an ideal world schools shouldn’t need security, doesn’t Health have a point?
After all in Liberal Europe with all their gun control laws, aren’t the Jewish schools protected by soldiers carrying assault rifles?
High value targets need to be protected.And AviK
I don’t know if gun ownership was more prevalent. We certainly have more guns on the street now. But you are correct. As I stated a while ago, mass shootings are on the increase since 2011. Thinking that tackling the issue of whether or not guns with pistol grips need to be banned as the sole cause is just foolish.
The answer to frum Jews is obvious, teach religious values, but that’s not going to happen.Rebyid
Thats just plain silly, and an example of the disingenuous side of the debate2qwerty
I actually agree to some extent. Keep in mind that even professionals (LEO) somehow manage to shoot themselves while cleaning their weapons, so ordinary owners should keep refreshed on safety . In lakewood, one of the ranges makes you watch a safety video every time you come.
BUT
It cant be managed by the government. It should be local ranges that certify. Otherwise it’s an obvious governmental precursor to confiscation.
It also still doesn’t address the issue of compliance if not accepted by the gun owning community.
After the NYS ban, I know several frum people who didn’t comply. I don’t want these people going to jailfunny
of course not
but if you actually read my posts, you would see the problem is more with patients then the doctors. Doctors need to overbook bc insurances (read:patients) don’t pay well and are lax about showing up on time
This may not be you, but it’s many of your fellow patientsjd
when Ben Shapiro talks about this he comments that for all intents and purposes doctors are indentured servants. What other field allows the government to insist on a person (doctor) to provide services and doesn’t allow the provider to set his own fees.
At fault is the system, a doctor would love to tell you a set fee and get paid for his time.
Medicaid is a huge part of the problem.
Why is this the doctors fault?Hashkafic question
We can point to a parallel between the rise of LGBT rights and the increase in mass shootings
They occupy roughly the same time frame. So is it possible to say that with throwing gili arayis out the window we have also thrown out shficas damim?Kudos AviK for the ohr hachaim reference. And bc i’m Intellectually honest I will mention that the ramban there seems to say the same . Though the current model of hashgacha pratis seems to side with the opponents.
So hashkafically gun control advocates have a leg to stand on.
That said.
No one has answered my points about implementation. What gives the right to turn millions of people into criminals?
Also. I get why you think getting rid of “Assault rifles” might help, after all they are disproportionately used in mass shootings so there must be a direct link. But for those of us that know guns, we know that any high powered semi automatic rifle can be used to the same effect. After all the military weapon known as the m16 replaced the m14 during the Vietnam war. The AR ban won’t include the m14 ( known as the ruger mini 14 currently sold and popular) bc These bans only reference the handle on the rifle and not the lethality of the weapon .
So why do you believe that mass shootings will stop.and even if you ban all semi autos why do you think pistols and shotguns won’t be used?
Remember you are guessing and since your guess isn’t logical and since it will make criminals out of millions why isn’t it tyranny?In the 90’s I saw an article written by a secular Jewish Hollywood exec. Needless to say he was liberal and anti gun. Until he and his wife were caught in the Rodney king riots. He came to the realization that the police can only help you when they are there.
All those who are completely anti gun , imagine a scenario where someone is threatening your family. Wouldn’t you want the ability to do something?The ultimate proof that the assault rifle term is a political term is the fact that it applies only to the cosmetics of the rifle not the lethality.
A .22 caliber bullet, which is the smallest bullet, used for plinking cans and killing squirrels, is part of the ban. If you have a .22 rifle with a pistol grip you can go to jail. This despite the fact that no military in the history of time has used this caliber as an assault rifle. No mass shooting has occurred with such a small bullet. Yet the bans are indiscriminate.
Again. I said this after Vegas. Compromise can happen. But it requires both sides. And the intellectual dishonesty is coming from the left.As a general theme throughout shas, gezeros were not passed that the chachamim saw the olam would not be able to keep
I have already pointed out a 95% non compliance rate with the recent NY Safe law registration requirements. I have logically assumed that a gun ban/confiscation would be met with worse results. To assume otherwise is a pipe dream, and to pass such a law would cause tremendous hardship on millions of currently law abiding citizens.
If that isn’t the definition of govt tyranny, I don’t know what is.
Now don’t get me wrong. I think it should be harder to get any gun. Age requirements background checks should be the norm.
But I am very liberal when it comes to our judiciary system I feel our country has committed tremendous crimes in constantly putting non violent offenders in jail with gangs and violent criminals. The “liberals” in this debate are promoting to cause a huge percentage of our population to be felons. I can’t abide such tyranny for politics.Midwest
I pointed to statistics of the most recent attempt to register guns and that was five percent compliance. Just to register people ignored the law and risk felony conviction.
That was just to register, you are talking confiscation which by all measure of logic should result in far worse reaction.
I think my citing recent case history is far more indicative of future events then your guess.
Which leads us to the question of why government should be allowed to turn law abiding citizens into felons on such a mass scale?
In addition you have already admitted that there is no such thing as an AW. The only reason people support AW band is because they have no clue that AW is a made up term that applies to some cosmetic features of semi automatic rifles.
There is no logic to an AW ban when there are numerous legal equivalents.
Hashkafically I’ve also pointed out (after the same discussion after Vegas) that as frum Jews we believe people die from G-D, if these 14 hadn’t been killed by a gun they would have died in a bus accident on a school trip. So for politics we should turn millions of citizens into felons?midwest
at least that was an honest answer
you are promoting confiscation of all semi automatic weapons
which brings on the next point
compliance and violation of civil liberties
after sandy hook, nys passed the safe act, the most sweeping anti AW ban in the country
part of that ban included the obligation to register existing AW
50K weapons were registered out of an estimated 1 milion (5% compliance rate, from a forbes article)
which means hundreds of thousands of previously law abiding NYers instantly became felonsnow you want a total semi auto ban. What do you think will happen if the govt suddenly tries to confiscate all those weapons. Worst case scenario civil war especially in places like Texas. Best case (assuming a low percentage of compliance) is half the US suddenly become felons. And do you think gun violence will end?
fact: the vast majority of gun deaths in the US are from handguns
So if you balance these factors which is the better of two evils?We may come to an enlightened time where we voluntarily give up our weapons. But govt confiscation will unleash heartache on millions of families and what gives us the right to cause that chaos? your assumption that death will stop knocking on peoples door when all guns are gone?
did you see the article in the times 3 days ago that dealt with the shayla of whether or not dressing up as black panther is considered cultural appropriation or blackface?
one psak was “it’s not quite the same as blackface”
oh, the dilemmas we face in this modern worldlaskern
1) the supreme court recently disagreed (Heller)
2) The second amendment was written by the founding fathers who used their guns to overthrow the govt and they wanted to insure we had the capabilities to do that (not a very jewish value but clearly their intent)
3) Police only protect you when they are there. Police presence is a weak argument. Every week people use their guns to protect themselves. In addition. during EVERY riot/demonstration in recent history, the police are busy protecting themselves. not youMidwest
what is the difference between an ar-15 and ruger mini 14 in terms of all your points.
1)They both shoot the same caliber bullet
2) those bullets will both punch through walls
3) they both fire at the same rate of speed
4) they both allow for high capacity magazines
Yet one is an “assault rifle” and the other a “semi automatic “ rifle and hence not affected by the assault ban lawsSecond question
Since all you need to do to turn an ar-15 into a regular non assault rifle is to cut the protruding part of the grip, isn’t the whole concept of an “assault “ rifle intellectually disengenuous?Just got the following off Wikipedia. Apparently the rate of mass killings has gone up tremendously since 2011. Which makes it hard to blame on either video games or number of guns bc those factors existed way bf 2011
There are several possible factors that work together to create a fertile environment for mass murder in the United States.[23] Factors commonly suggested by researchers include: failure of government background checks due to incomplete databases and staff shortages,[24][25] relatively high accessibility of guns,[23][26][27] acute copycat phenomenon,[26] desire for fame and notoriety,[23][26] widespread chronic gap between people’s expectations for themselves and their actual achievement,[23] and individualistic culture.[28] It is debated whether mental illness is a factor.[29][30][31] Many of the mass shooters in the U.S. suffered from mental illness, but the estimated number of mental illness cases has not increased as significantly as the number of mass shootings, which tripled from 2011 to 2014.[26]
Health
I would like you to write a halachic sefer on this halacha
some questions to be tackled
1)exactly how many calories may someone eat each day bf being over this “unhealthy lifestyle” halacha?
2) Is any candy/chocolate allowed?
3)what about Shabbos exemptions? chassuna exemptions? Kiddush exemptions?
4)which packaged products are we allowed to buy? how much processing in each product is mutar?
5)what percentage of bran is required in bread?
6)how to do tshuva for eating an extra pickle?(too much salt)
etc.
This will definitely outsell that tznius book we all love to hateBtw as a health care professional I often get requests from patients for alternative treatments. Usually the patient has specific requests and I weigh the request on its merits.
One recent conversation stands out in my mind.
The patient simply asked if there was an alternative medicine option without any specific knowledge. I pointed out how since she had no clue about anything on the subject I can simply make anything up and call it alternative and she would accept that. I suggested that an approach to medicine that simply accepts any non standard approach may not be the wisest approach to ones health. Considering she started the conversation by telling me her views on medicine including one gem where she told me she advised a relative who was about to start chemotherapy to forget it and just get vitamin c transfusions, I’m guessing she didn’t appreciate my logic. That could be why she didn’t come back for her traditional medicine appointment.I believe I was one of those referencing reiki in a previous thread . But I thought I made myself clear. I wasn’t giving my opinion rather I was quoting Rav Belsky.
An entire book was recently published with his opinion of various alternative medicines and his first hand accounts of their fraudulent providers.
It’s available in every bookstore and amazon
Google Rav belsky and alternative medicine
Feel free to purchase and read.
Incidentally, matt Walsh the famous conservative commentator, made the national news last week when he called yoga “idol worship”. He questioned whether good Christians can adopt a practice with unholy origins even with proven health benefits . If a Christian recognizes the inherent issue, don’t you think a frum yid will be asked (acher meah vesrim)how he can do something that even Christians realized was wrong?Rebyid
At what point is the line drawn between offensive and snowflake.
For example
When I was growing up , we called people oriental. Now you can only use asian. I looked it up a few years ago in the dictionary, and the dictionary had a large entry bemoaning the end of the term (which simply means eastern , the opposite of occidental which means westerners). The dictionary pointed out there is no negative connotations. Yet the word is dead?
In this age of PC there is a concept of “cultural approbation “ if a white celebrity styles their hair into dreadlocks they are somehow racist.
So where is the line drawn? Does a mentsch have to always risk every persons feelings no matter how sensitive?First You need to stop posting horribly written and grammatically atrocious posts under a different name.
I recently saw a 40 page document written by a charedi on a crusade to tear down the kabbalh . He has many valid comments, but time seems to decide these issues for us. The ARI is considered a Gadol. Shabtai Tzvi was quickly recognized and washed away.
Many think some tefillos we have started with shabtai tzvi, yet we still say them (Rabbbi Reisman has a shiur on this).
Many minhagim are of questionable origin . Yet we still do them long after the controversies die down.
Time will decide his also.
I remember after the Rebbe passed away, many predicted the imminent demise of lubavitch due to messianism. Instead they are growing by leaps and bounds. There should be no greater testament to their l’shem shamayim desires then Hashem’s granting them this success.
Of course we can ask on things that bother us. Many minhagim bother me about a lot of groups. But frankly since our religion essentially demands that we keep the minhagim of our fathers, all these things brought up will be established as minhag for lubavitch within a generation or two. Unless Rabbanim in Lubavitch stop what they feel is questionable practices. And if they don’t, these things essentially have the stamp of approval of their daas torah and how can we ask those who follow those rabbanim to stop following their daas torah?Reiki is an alternative healing method
There is a recent book published with All of Rav Belsky’s letters on reiki and other healing methods. Basically he says they all originate from a’z
Red strings tied around wrists is “darcei amory”(braisa in shabbos)
There are plenty of things done by non Lubavitch that either can be labeled am horatzis or shmeck of a’z.
Frankly in the eyes of all litvaks 200 yrs ago all chassidus shmeked of a’z.I was raised as a misnagid, and therefore I have been trained from birth to find fault in chassiduk thought In general and lubavitch in particular.
That said I want to express my hakoras hatov to lubavitch. I benefit on a consistent basis from their efforts. My office is not in a frum neighborhood and the closest shul is a lubavitch shteibel. Due to the tireless efforts of the rabbi , I am able to daven mincha. He draws in many quasi frum people who probably wouldn’t daven if not for his efforts. He patiently explains the tefillos and puts on tefillin.
I travel fairly frequently for work. As far as the Far East . I have been zocheh to experience amazing Shabbos seudos attended by an incredibly diverse crowd. The difference between Shabbos alone in a hotel room vs minyamin and kosher food is a true chesed to thousands of yidden worldwide every week (don’t worry litvaks, I always inquire about the kashrus from well informed people)
These shlichim dedicate their lives to helping yiden. So why the need for harassment instead of hakoras hatov?Joseph
I retract my previous post
That said
As I mentioned, my position was due to seeing a magid shiur in a large yeshiva do so.Joseph
Come to Flatbush Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim. If you hurry you can see hundreds of youngsters having a Avos Ubunim instead of watching the game. It’s a beautiful sight.Joseph
I dispute that
It’s a modern romanticized Zach
With no source in Halacha
Disprove thatJoseph
Yes
Just like my rebbe insisted his family do. Tircha d’tzibura trumps some made up minhagFunny
Like any other business a doctor office needs to generate a certain amount per hour to pay expenses and salaries. That’s the starting point in this equation. Of course doctors may be greedy and trying to milk every available dollar. But let’s assume a practice were the doctor is making an average salary for his field.
In order for things to run smoothly the following needs to happen
1) the doctor doesn’t overbook, rather he leaves enough time per patient . This is difficult to guess but doable.
2) every patient shows up on time (or early to fill out paperwork)
3) if a patient doesn’t show on time then the doctor needs to make a decision, reschedule the patient or allow the schedule to start to get backed up . Ideally the patient would be rescheduled but the patient would…
4) ability to charge patients for missed or late shows. With dedicated appointment slots comes the need for definite revenue . Otherwise several missed appointments and the dollar per hour is in the negative range.
It all comes down to insurance. Low reimbursement means a need for high volume in general. The worst Is a Medicaid practice, besides for low reimbursement,doctors can’t charge for missed appointments . And when patients have no skin in the game they have no incentive to not show so multiple cancellations is the norm and thus overbooking by doctors is the norm.
I’m not saying doctors can’t do a better job. I’ve left doctors for being bad about wait times. I’m saying that a lot of this rests on pt insurance and pt irresponsibility.
Like in all other areas of life , those that are on time end up having to wait for those that have no concept of time.Joseph
We took as many family photos as possible bf.
The chassan kallah took some private photos after. And we didn’t get every pic we wanted so some were taken after. But from end of chuppah till first dance was around 40 min.
I’ve been to two weddings this year were the first dance started 10:15. I usually leave weddings at that time so I made sure that didn’t happen.
I expected to get attitude from the chassan kallah, but they we’re surprisingly excited bc they wanted as many people as possible at the dancing so they wanted to keep the dancing as early as possible.
It’s amazing what becomes indoctrinated into our religion as “Halacha”. Not seeing the kallah isn’t Halacha.I made one chasuna recently, it ran on time. Mostly bc we took many chassun/kallah pics bf the wedding. Gasp! kefirah!
But to quote a Rebbe of mine who did the same; tircha d’tzibura is in the shulchan aruch , not seeing the kallah isn’t.DovidBT
ridiculous statement obviously made by someone who doesn’t run a business
All those conveniences cost
lets do math
whats a fair salary for a doctor?
I think $200K is low but lets go with it
how much does the doctor need to generate/bill to make that money? Besides for basic overhead, rent etc which is a large percentage of gross, there is the biggest fixed cost, payroll. Each staff member is costing 40-50 k per year minimum. So to make your experience at the doctor more convenient, you need more staff and less patients taking up your time. The price of employment is going up while the reimbursement is going down, how can a doctor who takes insurance afford to cut the amount of patients he sees?! just the opposite, he needs more volume
In your scenario, doctors will be out of business bc they need to have a salary that justifies being in school till they are 30+. Otherwise, no one is going to med school.CT
all very nice
but as i said in a business paradigm you cant have all three
we all assume the doctors to be skilled
that means that either you need to choose between price or service. Since you can afford it you chose service. the other 99% want healthcare for free AND concierge service. That’s not a fair expectation. But its what we healthcare providers hear all day long.
In your concierge service, if you didn’t show for an appointment you would be charged for it.
Yesterday, my colleague had a full day when she walked in to the office. By the end of the day she had 30% cancellations. Time is money, that cost her tons and if she dares charge for it people leave.
Im sorry but from my POV, patients are far more inconsiderate then the health care providers they complain about.CT
a beautiful system would allow dr’s to get paid by the hour. Imagine a world where I can charge my pt’s in six minute increments. Let’s say $35 every six minutes even when they are late. Then I could compensate those waiting in the waiting room . Sounds fair right ?
Instead I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of money I’d be worth . Because I don’t get paid for time. I can spend an hour with a patient taking a complex medical history, or giving treatment advice and answering unending questions from patients that come with long sheets of paper filled with imaginary concerns and symptoms. Or the patient who is depressed and just needs someone to listen for a few minutes. That’s my day, I help people. And I don’t get paid for a lot of itit. But that’s why I went into the medical field instead of becoming a lawyer.Frankly , in my office I try to run on time and am fairly good about it. Rarely more then five to 10 min late.
But those days when I’m backed up can almost always be blamed on patients .
Either patients coming late , or new patients not coming early to fill out paperwork and then the alloted appointment time passes while their info gets entered and now they are into someone else’s time.
As for emergencies, it’s nice to say to leave time in the schedule for them but by definition they are impossible to predict. Do I leave two slots a day? What about days with six emergencies? What about days with none? Whose paying for those empty slots ? What about all those annoyed patients who desperately wanted an appointment asap but I told them we were full when we really weren’t?
Get where I’m going with this?
Old business adage . You can’t have all three of the trinity of price, service and skill. But in healthcare everyone wants all three and hates on us providers when we don’t provide it.Josh
Another point
Let’s call it hashkafic
The overall fear is common of what I consider to be a secular attitude of a need to save the world . Nuclear war can wipe us out. Ebola can mutate and wipe us out. Sure bad things can happen but Hashem runs the world.
Clearly we can’t poison our water and expect it to magically be drinkable. But without implicit proof of harm, trying to feed the world is probably an endeavor that Hashem will guide in a beneficial manner.Josh
I don’t claim to be an expert in kashrut, but a couple of points
In general , halacha ignores the microscopic.
You can drink water bc the microorganisms aren’t hallachically significant. Blights on an estrog are evaluated at arms length.
Chassidush poskim tend to be more machmir on this in regards to IVF and it’s status as a mamzir. But gene splicing should be considered kosher
As to your case of hybrid kosher animals created from treif DNA, you run into a separate problem of animals needing mesorah to be considered kosher.I’m just curious, Why do you scorn people ?
Most people are not in the habit of sabotaging friendships (unless you are a teenager, then the question is moot)There is a large (120 page) article available on the cRc website about sherry casks and kashrus.
Bottom line, scotch has issues, switch to bourbon (better yet , use bottles that have hechsherim)
At the time when I read the article and became more machmir, I contacted the distillers to ask if they use sherry casks, some replied yes, even though sherry casks where not mentioned on the bottle.
At lakewood chassanas only bottles with hechsherim are allowed.
More and more brands are adopting hechsherim. If you are asking that means you care. Isn’t it better to be safe?Went to bais years ago. Can’t vouch for what it’s like now.
But it is originally a break off from To Mo . At the time it was similar to mercaz. Officially a black hat yeshiva with a very diverse group.
My friends from bais all ended up in ner Yisroel .
The rosh (rabbi lehrfeld) is a Talmud of Rav chaim Zimmerman. Hashkafah is yeshivish. The original mashgiach was a Talmud of Rav wolbe.Without getting into the specifics of the RCA prenup (I’ve written bf about its blatant one sidedness, and rabbis do a better job of discussing Halacha)
There is a very real issue of Jews using goyish courts. There is a famous Rashi in the beginning of mishpatim where Rashi (and others) point out that even if the goyish court has fair (similar) rules , the money awarded should be considered stolen.AviL
Just googled shwartzkopf
Germanic in origin dating back at least to 16 century Germans. Doesn’t seem to be derogatory or JewishJust want to point out that there is no chiyuv to lain.
It’s a nice minhag, but a very recent minhag. From what I can tell it’s not encouraged in Israel. Even in America I know of shuls that don’t allow it ( for various reasons . Including many are concerned that due to inexperience and stage fright the boy will lain from memory and not from the klaf)
So,
It certainly makes sense to spend more on laining then the gashmius . But if finances are a concern, then don’t do it.
I gave my kids the options. One chose not to do it another did part of it. Another did the whole thing.Made three BM in last few years
All different places
Never more than 8kLess
It is fairly routine in my office for women to come late and leave early for family related issues. Not a week goes by where such a request is not made of me.
Yesterday I stayed late bc a female colleague wanted to leave early for a family related issue.
As a frum understanding male I allow these requests bc I believe in putting family bf business (as long as the disruption is minimal of course)
But looked at from a capitalistic POV there is no comparison. Males are more dedicated (in general) and should be rewarded accordingly.Less chumros
The conservative point on this is that the discussion doesn’t take into account dedication. Men usually put work before family and this deserve better compensation.
But if you amend your statement to include a scenario where the woman has the same experience and dedication, then of course she should get the same pay.Joseph
Part of the flavor of lakewood for me used to be the yeshivish cars. I loved that they seemed untouched by gashmius.
But then came the leases . and then the fancy houses and then the fancy clothing stores. It’s a shame.