Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Kosher phone dispute grips ultra-Orthodox Tel Aviv suburb
Three weeks are period of danger from demons
Eichah Rabbah (01:29). Within the days of distress from the seventeenth of Tammuz to the ninth of Ab, during which Keteb meriri is prevalent The demon Keteb stalks through the greater part of the midday period, from the beginning of the sixth hour until the end of the ninth. R. Levi said: It spoils the course of the day from the end of the fourth hour until the beginning of the ninth; and it does not walk in the sun or shade but in the shadow near the sun. R. Johanan said: It is all over full of eyes, scales, and hair. R. Simeon b. Lakish said: It has one eye set over its heart and whoever looks at it falls down dead. Once a pious man looked at it and fell dead upon his face, and some say that it was R. Judah b. Rabbi. Samuel saw it but did not fall; for he said, ‘It is the snake of the house.’
Pesachim (111b) Seeing a Keteb Meriri approaching him
on the left, he transferred R. Papa to his left and R. Huna son of R. Joshua to
his right. Said R. Papa to him: ‘Wherein am I different that you were not
afraid on my behalf?’ ‘The time is in your favour,’ replied he. From, the first of Tammuz until the
sixteenth they are certainly to be found; henceforth it is doubtful whether
they are about or not, and they are found in the shadow of hazabe which have
not grown a cubit, and in the morning and evening shadows when these are less
than a cubit [in length], but mainly in the shadow of a privy.
Pesachim (111b) Keteb Meriri: there are two Ketebs, one before noon and one after noon; the one before noon is called Ketheb Meriri, and looks like a ladle turning in the jug of kamka. That of the afternoon is called Keteb Yashud Zaharaim [Destruction that wasteth at noonday]; it looks like a goat's horn, and wings compass it about.
Bamidbar Rabbah (12:03) Our Rabbis explain that
‘keteb’ is a demon. And why was he called keteb’?’ R. Abba son of Kahana said:
Because he breaks into the daily studies from the beginning of four hours of
the day to the end of nine. Levi said: Because he robs pupils of their noonday
lessons from the end of four hours to the beginning of nine hours. He holds
sway neither in the shade nor in the sun but between the shade and the sun. His
head is like that of a calf and a horn grows out from the center of his
forehead, and he rolls like a pitcher. R. Huna, in the name of R. Joseph, said:
‘Keteb meriri’ is in form covered with scales, hairy all over, and full of
eyes. And, said R. Simeon b. Lakish, he has one eye set in his heart, and
anyone who sees him can never survive, whether it be man or beast. Anyone who
sees him drops down dead.
The Secret Service's actions on text messages don't pass the smell test
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/19/opinions/secret-service-texts-raise-questions-wierson/index.html
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Why Democrats are begging Trump to start 2024 right now
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/15/dems-dreaming-of-trump-pre-midterm-announcement-00045969
Interior Ministry: US rabbi convicted of sexual assault won’t receive citizenship
The Interior Ministry has denied the immigration request of an American Orthodox rabbi convicted of sexually assaulting his pupils, the ministry said Tuesday.
However, the disgraced rabbi, Baruch Lanner, will be able to remain in Israel for nearly a full year with the temporary residency status he was granted a few weeks ago, a spokesperson for the ministry’s Immigration and Population Authority told The Times of Israel.
The Civics Project: A constitutional ban on bullets would be a difficult target
"Thanks to failed Dem policies, beer is 9.1% more expensive."
Like many other products, the price of beer has steeply increased since 2020, rising just under 10% since April 2020.
Experts say there are a host of reasons that prices have risen, including the Russia invasion of Ukraine, supply chain issues and the resonating impacts of the pandemic.
In other words, it can’t be solely attributed to the policies and spending under Democrats, such as the American Rescue Plan.
Monday, July 18, 2022
The Tyranny of Time
http://www.ced.org.in/docs/ced/publications/DD/DD3/The-Tyranny-of-Time.pdf
But Historian Stephen Kern, a professor at Northern Illinois University whose book The Culture of Time and Space chronicled the soaring velocity of life between 1880 and World War I, pointed out that "new speeds have always brought out alarmists." In the 1830s, he noted, it was feared that train passengers would suffer crushed bones from travelling at speeds as high as 35 miles an hour. Kern considers the current concern about the effects of our speeded-up lives a similar form of hysteria. "Technologies that promote speed are essentially good," he said, adding that, "the historical record is that humans have never opted for slowness."
How to escape the tyranny of the clock
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200306-how-to-live-without-time
Countering the tyranny of the clock
https://www.economist.com/business/2020/10/17/countering-the-tyranny-of-the-clock
The tyranny of time
It is interesting to note as we have a strong movement against smartphones and internet - because they are supposedly taking over our existence. There was a similar reaction to the introduction into the world of clocks and time
IS THE UNITED STATES A DEMOCRACY OR A REPUBLIC?
https://act.represent.us/sign/democracy-republic
We often hear a question debated in person and online by Americans who care deeply about making sure our government works for the people: is the United States a democracy or a republic?
Here’s the answer: The United States is both a democracy and a republic.
We promise we’re not dodging the question. It would be much easier if one word was absolutely correct and the other was not, but the terms are not mutually exclusive. The United States can be accurately defined as both a democracy and a republic.