How White Victimhood Fuels Republican Politics

 https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-white-victimhood-fuels-republican-politics/

With President Biden having just passed one full year in office, public opinion research shows that white Americans — and especially Republicans — see whites as victims of discrimination more than, say, Hispanic or Black Americans. According to a 2021 survey by the Pew Research Center, for example, only 17 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning Americans said there is “a lot” of discrimination against Black people in today’s society. That number rose to 26 percent when Republicans were asked whether they believed white people faced “a lot” of discrimination. And intense white racial resentment remains present both among Trump’s base and in our politics today. Case in point: Trump, who’s a (very, very early) favorite to win the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is still hitting that same drum; during a recent political event, the former president went so far as to falsely claim that white people were currently being discriminated against and sent to the “back of the line” when it came to receiving COVID-19 vaccines and treatment.

Trump is not the first white person to feel like a victim of discrimination or to make claims in that spirit. This phenomenon started long before him. But in the U.S., if we look at things like the racial wealth gap, mortgage denial rates, COVID-19 vaccination and illness rates, police violence rates or myriad other data sets, we quickly see plenty of systemic biases against Black Americans and other minority groups (such as increasing hate crimes against Asian Americans). You can’t, however, find such widespread evidence for anti-white discrimination. So why have many white Americans started to see themselves as the victims of racial discrimination?

The dangerous Republican freakout about Trump’s indictment

 https://www.vox.com/2023/6/9/23755171/trump-indictment-republican-reaction-doj-documents-mar-a-lago

The entire Trump phenomenon was, from the very beginning, about conservative fear of losing America. Study after study after study has found that Trump voters in the GOP primary and electorate are motivated by a concern that the United States is becoming literally unrecognizable: populated by people who look different and think differently than they do.

Why there’s nothing hypocritical about the GOP’s defense of both Trump and ‘law and order’

 https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/trump-gop-law-and-order-18152219.php

There is 50 years of hard evidence to indicate the Republican evocation of “law and order” is selective and self-serving at best, and anti-Black and craven at worst. Those reporting on the GOP’s embrace of Trump’s criminality should say as much, rather than feigning confusion about a hypocrisy that doesn’t, and never has, existed. 

Why No Amount of Evidence Will Make Republicans Admit Trump’s Guilt

 https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/06/trump-indictment-why-republicans-will-never-admit-his-guilt.html

What is shocking, and carries the ominous reek of banana-republicanism, is the response by the opposition party to the news. Kevin McCarthy, the highest-ranking Republican leader, depicts the charges as a personal plot by Joe Biden — “It is unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him” — and a “grave injustice.” Trump’s leading Republican opponent denounces the charges as “political bias” and “the weaponization of federal law enforcement.”

What is distinctive about these remarks is how little fear these leaders have of embarrassment by the facts. They are dismissing out of hand an indictment they have not seen, the known contours of which suggest persistent criminal misconduct. Trump, according to news reports, repeatedly defied orders to return classified documents, repeatedly lied about what he held, and appears to have engaged in a cover-up, evidence of which may include surveillance-camera footage, potential testimony by his underlings, and a recording of Trump contradicting his best legal defense. Trump’s attorney confirmed he is facing seven criminal counts, including conspiracy.

Ingraham: Don’t Get Hung Up on Whether ‘Proof’ of Joe Biden Crime Exists

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/laura-ingraham-says-dont-get-hung-up-on-whether-proof-of-joe-biden-crimes-exists?ref=home

“Now, no one should really get hung up, as sometimes Republicans are want to do, on whether sufficient proof exists to convict Joe Biden of a financial crime. That’s irrelevant here,” she argued.

Memphis police shoot Jewish man who fired gun at Orthodox school, tried to break in

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/memphis-police-shoot-suspect-after-attempted-mass-shooting-at-jewish-school/

Police in Memphis, Tennessee, said Monday that officers shot a man after he fired a weapon outside a Jewish school and tried to break inside the building.

The suspect was Jewish and a former student at the school, said US Rep. Steve Cohen, whose district includes Memphis.

A Jewish security group also said the suspect was Jewish and that the incident appeared to be personal in nature. The Memphis Police Department would not confirm the claims, nor reports saying the man had been killed.

Messianic times

 Will all halachic questions be resolved in Messianic times and if so how? Sources?

Mishna Torah (Melachim 12) Our Sages taught: "There will be no difference between the current age and the Messianic era except the emancipation from our subjugation to the gentile kingdoms."...He will not come to declare the pure, impure, or to declare the impure, pure. He will not dispute the lineage of those presumed to be of proper pedigree, nor will he validate the pedigree of those whose lineage is presumed blemished. Rather, he will establish peace within the world as ibid. 3:24 continues: 'He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children."

In that era, there will be neither famine or war, envy or competition for good will flow in abundance and all the delights will be freely available as dust. The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know G-d.

Therefore, the Jews will be great sages and know the hidden matters, grasping the knowledge of their Creator according to the full extent of human potential, as Isaiah 11:9 states: 'The world will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the ocean bed."

DeSantis faces backlash from Black conservatives

 https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4125593-desantis-faces-backlash-from-black-conservatives/

DeSantis and his team have generally taken a pugilistic attitude with the media and GOP rivals. Asked about Scott’s remarks, he said the senator was “siding” with liberals.

“At the end of the day, you got to choose: Are you going to side with Kamala Harris and liberal media outlets or are you going to side with the state of Florida?” DeSantis told reporters. “I think it’s very clear that these guys did a good job on those standards. It wasn’t anything that was politically motivated.”

Avoda Zara has power to help?

 אמת ליעקב פרשת ואתחנן (04:19

ונראה שיש כאן מחלוקת עיקרית ביסוד ענין עבודה זרה, דשיטת הרמב"ם בכמה מקומות היא דהעבודה זרה אין בה ממש כל עיקר ואין לה כח כלל, וכל המתפלל אליה ועובדה לא רק שהוא עובר על האיסור אלא הוא גם מבזבז זמנו לריק ולשוא, אבל דעת הרמב"ן היא שהקב"ה הטביע בטבע העולם שכל אומה יש לה משפיע משלה בעולמות העליונים והוא יש לו כח מסויים שיכול להשפיע על אומתו כל זמן שאין הדבר נוגע לישראל [דהרי אין מזל לישראל], אלא איסור עבודה זרה שנצטוו בה האומות הוא שאסור להם להתפלל למשמש הזה כי הרי כל כוחו נובע ממה שהטביע בו הקדוש ברוך הוא, ולכן התפילה והעבודה צריכה להיות לאלקי האלקים, כלומר להאלו־ה שהוא ממעל כל האלהים, ולכן צריכים להתפלל להקב"ה עצמו ולא לעבד שלו, אבל ודאי אם עובדים את העבודה שלהם ומתפללים אליה זה משפיע עליו לעזור להם ויש ביכלתו לעשות כן, וזהו ביאור הפסוק אשר חלק ה' אלקיך לכל העמים תחת כל השמים, והיינו שה' חילק לכל אומה אומה את השר והמשפיע שלה. 

Listen to gedolim and tzadikkim - even against the Torah - but not to a prophet

 Devarim (04:02)You shall not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, but keep the commandments of your G-d that I enjoin upon you. 

Rashi (Devorim 04:02)YE SHALL NOT ADD — For instance, to place five chapters in the Tephillin, to employ five species of fruit and plants in the fulfilment of the command of Lulab And to place five fringes on one’s garment. Thus, too, must we explain the following words ולא תגרעו, Ye shall not diminish [from it]" (Sifrei Devarim 82:4).

Ramban (Devorim 04:02) However, the prohibition against adding [to the Torah] by word of a prophet we derive only from the verse stating, These are the commandments, which establishes, “From now on, no prophet is permitted to originate anything [in the Torah].” Whatever [laws] the Sages have established in the nature of “a fence [around the Torah],” such as the secondary degrees of forbidden marriages — that activity of [establishing fences] is itself a requirement of the Torah, provided only that one realizes that these [laws] are a result of a particular fence and that they are not [expressly] from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, in the Torah.

Vayikra (27:34)These are the commandments that G-d gave Moses for the Israelite people on Mount Sinai. 

Chizkuni (27:34)“these are the commandments;” no future prophet has the authority to either add to them or to cancel any of them. (Sifra)

Modern belief is that if a godol or tzadik tells you that something is halacha - it must be accepted even against a clear mesorah. This perhaps started with the belief that one can not disagree with the Chazon Ish.

Rav Moshe Feinstein: Can one disagree with the Chazon Ish & other gedolim

http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2010/12/rav-moshe-feinsteincan-one-disagree.html

This view is still clearly alive. My son went to a major posek in Bnei Brak for a haskoma to his sefer. which he got but it included the caution "I can not agree with his halachic conclusions that result from his analysis because in many issues they conflict with the rulings of the Chazon Ish"

Similarly I have been criticized for disagreeing with the halachic views attributed to Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky and Rav Nota Greenblatt

In other words the view of gedolim must always be accepted while that of a prophet is disregarded if it goes against the halacha. 

Author Who Debunked RFK Jr. A Decade Ago Thinks His Candidacy Is ‘Pretty Depressing’

 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/robert-f-kennedy-jr-seth-mnookin-panic-virus-deadly-immunity-interview_n_64c137b7e4b0ad7b75fadc32

Describing his views as ‘controversial,’ I think, is dishonest. They’re not controversial. They’re false. He’s not spreading controversial views, he’s spreading lies. And so the framing matters enormously, and that’s something that I foresee being a huge, huge issue in the 2024 campaign.

Trump Handed Another Loss as Judge Dismisses His ‘Big Lie’ CNN Lawsuit

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-big-lie-cnn-defamation-lawsuit-is-dismissed?ref=home?ref=home

Donald Trump’s already-shaky defamation lawsuit against CNN officially flopped Friday, with the federal judge he appointed dismissing the case despite his pleas the network had associated him with Adolf Hitler.

Do Florida school standards say ‘enslaved people benefited from slavery,’ as Kamala Harris said?

 https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2023/jul/24/kamala-harris/do-Florida-school-standards-say-enslaved-people/

The Florida Board of Education set new social studies standards for middle schoolers July 19.

In a section about the duties and trades performed by enslaved people, the state adopted a clarification that said "instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."

Experts on Black history said that such language is factually misleading and offensive.

'Sound of Freedom': Why is this surprise box-office hit causing controversy?

 https://www.today.com/popculture/movies/sound-of-freedom-movie-controversy-rcna95992

The film portrays children being snatched and kidnapped by strangers. While this can certainly happen, it’s a myth that most traffickers “target victims they don’t know,” according to Polaris, an organization that operates the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline. 

In fact, “many survivors have been trafficked by romantic partners, including spouses, and by family members, including parents,” Polaris notes.

In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Erin Albright, an attorney with extensive experience in the anti-trafficking field, called the movie’s portrayal of trafficking “sensational” and said it perpetuates unhelpful and even harmful myths.

Albright argued that when popular movies promote the narrative that trafficking involves forceful kidnapping and imprisonment, it makes it harder for people to grasp more complex trafficking cases, such as cases of coercive control or psychological manipulation.