SchnitzelBigot

Supposedly certain zip codes have recently had their premiums increased because of the jump in car crashes due to new people moving in…

Benjamin of Tudela found barely 10 Jews in Antioch

It can be a number of things:

1. if you recently had your tax return filed, this can be a “plus up payment” of the third stimulus.
2. if you filed your tax return before congress passed arpa which exludes 10,200 of unemployment, then this can be a refund of that.

The reason why chassidim don’t wear masks is not because of stubbornness; it comes from embarrasment. Everyone is embarrassed of everyone else. People that wear masks in shul are openly mocked by others who would also wear a mask if they weren’t afraid of being mocked themselves. The solution, as always, is to start with yourself. You wear a mask and socially distance everywhere, and when a large enough number of people do so, then everyone will become comfortable with it, and you’ll see the percentage of people wearing masks skyrocket.

To answer the question, it depends on what kind of people are currently testing themselves. A New York Post article claims that per capita, white liberal areas in Manhattan test three times as much as white middle class areas in South Brooklyn, and they use anecdotal evidence to show that the Manhattanites are basically being frivolous about their testing while South Brooklynites only test themselves when they’re sick. If this is true about Boro Park and Midwood too, then it would make sense to test more nonsick people in our neighborhoods to reach the same ratio of well people frivolously testing to sick people testing that white liberals have.

If however, there is no deficit of regular well people in our community testing, then encouraging more testing just to artificially lower our rates can potentially be dangerous in many ways. On the other hand, this egregious lockdown on our neighborhoods, which is horrible on every level, makes me want to say that anything should be done to lower our numbers.

There is another concern that people might have, that if we all test, even if the positivity rate goes down, the number of positive people will inevitably go up, and the government/media will decide to drop the current metric and begin using number of positives as a new metric. I personally was nervous about this happening, but I’m beginning to think that De Blasio and Cuomo will have to explain to everyone in two weeks from now how their lockdowns are very successful yada yada yada, and how the positivity rates are down all because of their decisions yada yada yada so they’ll look for any number that’s good news.

Wouldn’t it be similar to a father who refuses to מל or פודה his son?

If this will help anybody, I heard there’s a yeshiva open in the Poconos with 200+ ey guys

This question comes up in regards to slavery. We all, no matter how much we would like to think otherwise, consider slavery abhorrent. The Torah does not. These questions began to rise with Moses Mendelssohn and German Jewry, so I think R Hirsch deals with this subject thoroughly.

How did the OP come to the conclusion that Socialism causes people to go otd. One can argue that capitalism made people OTD in the United States.

Yes!!! We can lower traffic deaths by transitioning to public transportation and/or driverless cars. Let’s start having this important discussion.

Anonynous Jew, you’re referring to the cause of secession. The top 5 reasons for the actual war was lincolns 1. Blood 2. Thirsty 3. War 4. Mongering 5. Decision to resupply fort sumter instead of abandoning it like he promised to the peace loving north.

Dmb, no one is ever offended by a statue. They are offended by what the statue represents. The statue on that bridge in Prague (thank you Ubiqituin for reminding me of it) is inherently offensive; besides that, I don’t think there is too much art which I’m offended by besides for some Modern anti moral art. If you choose to be offended by a statue of Robert Lee that’s your prerogative but I don’t think I would. That being said, I think we as a people don’t have such an inferiority complex so we cannot relate.

I personally don’t care how much the exexutives earn. I do appreciate tzedakos such as Kupath Ezra in Monsey which just gave out a 4 page mailer full of stats. It makes me more comfortable giving tzedakah to those kind of organizations. What does bother me however is that I perceive a lack of transparency or official system regarding who the recipients are. For example, are the tzedakos that help families of incarcerated individuals helping all people including the ones in jail for blue collar crimes (a specific example that happened comes to mind that cannot be mentioned on this site) or do they just help people that are in jail for defrauding the government or banks. Do chareidi tzedakos help MOs? Stats would be helpful for this.

@biden and @joseph, please don’t insult hardworking people who are careful with their money and who want to maximize the impact of their tzedakah by giving to the right organizations. The sole fact that a certain tzedakah is popular with the tzibbur won’t make me automatically give up any reservations I may have with it, especially when they don’t bother to share basic financial information.

@nomesorah

I’m assuming you’re referring to Jim Crow not Slavery. The only difference between the north and south is that the south made it very difficult for blacks to vote and weren’t allowed to use the same water fountain. Other than that, whites in both areas made it difficult for Blacks to be upwardly mobile, using redlining and, yes, also using segregation (there is a old achool building thats a National Landmark in Hillburn, NY near Monsey, because that district didn’t desegregate until 1943).

N0mesorah

It wasn’t just in the south. I think there’s a lot of truth behind what the Conservatives say, that what the North did with its “de facto” segregation and general oppression was just as bad as what the south did dejure.

Smerel

Really? Is there affirmative action in housing? In schools (not counting higher education)? In the vast majority of businesses? In corporate boards? You can be upset about affirmative action without needing to exaggerate it.

Joseph

I don’t think it’s correct to compare the Black experience with ours. Jews that immigrated up to the 20s had to sign affidavits that they have jobs waiting for them and that they also had communal social nets including people that would vouch for them when they arrived. The Hungarian Jews that arrived after the holocaust, in addition to the above, received reparations from the Germans, unlike Blacks who are still waiting for their 40 acres and a mule.

You know what, maybe I’m wrong. Is agudah asking for Jewish camps to open or all camps?

We defended a guy in Florida who murdered a cop so we do operate that way. I still think that Hall’s comment is irrelevant. Just because someone is highly emotional and biased against Law Enforcement in his particular community doesn’t mean that he cannot comprehend with an outsiders view how Law Enforcemebt interacts with other communities.

Chaim Schulem:

“which is a mess that continues to grow” – It’s dichotomous to say that a growing mess is caused by a decreasing racism.

It’s true that there are lingering effects of past discrimination and that vicious cycles of poverty exist. That being said, it’s very difficult to argue that it’s a primary factor in today’s racial disparities. From 1950 to today, America has become far less racist by banning segregation, redlining and workplace discrimination, yet Blacks are worse off today with both the wealth gap and the income gap widening. In addition, other ethinic groups have started off with no capital in their communities and still achieved equity.

I do agree with you if you’re talking about the sociological effects that past racism had on the hopelessness and inferiority complex within the Black community.

Not understanding what you mean by centralized

I think a disturbance just happened in the time-space continuum.