Sunday, September 15, 2024

Lost Millenial Rabbis

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/en/news/395942

The declining demand for rabbis leaves many highly gifted and qualified Modern Orthodox would-be-pulpit-rabbis seeking employment options that are non-rabbinic, or moving to Israel.

Saturday, September 14, 2024

Woman Behind Springfield Haitian Immigrants 'Eating Pets' Rumor Speaks Out

 https://www.newsweek.com/springfield-woman-erika-lee-haitians-eating-pets-rumor-speaks-out-1953851

According to NewsGuard, an organization dedicated to combating internet misinformation, Lee was one of the first to spread the baseless rumor on social media, the screenshots of which were widely shared. The neighbor, identified as Kimberly Newton, reportedly got the information about the alleged incident from a third party, as per NewsGuard's findings and reported by NBC News.

Top MAGA Republican Calls Laura Loomer ‘Disgusting Garbage’

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-maga-republican-thom-tillis-calls-laura-loomer-disgusting-garbage?ref=home

In a Friday post on X, Tillis shared a withering takedown, writing: “Laura Loomer is a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans. A DNC plant couldn’t do a better job than she is doing to hurt President Trump’s chances of winning re-election. Enough.”

New Sefer Igros Moshe on the Parsha

 I wa approaced this Shabbos and asked to produce a sefer that brings Igros Moshe that is connected with the Parsha. As I am almost finished with the sefer on Parnossa and Luck it looks like a useful challenge


Any material or issues you think should be included - please notify me by email

Donald Trump and Loomer Tunes

 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/donald-trump-laura-loomer-conspiracist-2024-campaign-54e13cf8?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

Donald Trump likes to call his political opponents nuts, as in “crazy Nancy Pelosi,” so then why is he hanging with the 9/11 conspiracist Laura Loomer? Is he trying to lose the election?

We can’t believe we have to write this about a presidential candidate, but then Mr. Trump seems to like the company of Ms. Loomer, the 31-year-old online provocateur. She was backstage with the Trump team during this week’s debate with Kamala Harris and was in the spin room with the former President afterward.

Trump Embrace of Laura Loomer Adds New Figure to Controversial Entourage

 https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/donald-trump-connections-republicans-election-2024-3f520567?mod=hp_lead_pos4

Donald Trump’s press conference Friday at his oceanfront golf club near Los Angeles was meant to highlight public-safety problems in California that he blamed in part on his election opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Instead, he spent much of the time fielding questions on his relationship with Laura Loomer, a right-wing conspiracy theorist who was part of his entourage this past week.

“I know she’s a big fan of the campaign,” Trump said, adding that with regard to some of her controversial and racist statements, “I don’t know what she said.”

Thursday, September 12, 2024

I asked criminologists about immigration and crime in the US. Their answers may surprise you

 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/15/us/border-migrants-crime-cec/index.html

Kubrin: Across a variety of studies that use different years of data that focus on different areas of the United States — with some exceptions, there’s some nuance there. I don’t want to deny the nuance — in general, on average, we do not find a connection between immigration and crime, as is so often claimed. The most common finding across all these different kinds of studies is that immigration to an area is either not associated with crime in that area, or is negatively associated with crime in that area. Meaning more immigration equals less crime. It’s rare to find studies that show crime following increases in immigration or with larger percentage of the population that are immigrants.

Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born Americans, studies find

 https://www.npr.org/2024/03/08/1237103158/immigrants-are-less-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-us-born-americans-studies-find

During the current presidential campaign, the vitriol has been intense. Just in the last few months, former President Donald Trump has spoken of immigrants as criminals and mentally ill people who are "poisoning the blood of our country." Florida Gov. (and former presidential candidate) Ron DeSantis said migrants suspected of carrying drugs across the border should be shot, without specifying how drug smugglers could be told apart from other migrants.

However, research indicates that immigrants commit less crimes than U.S.-born people.

Opposition to Tzadikim

 Lekutei Moharan (208:1) That the wicked afflict the righteous and pursue them is brought about by G-d in order that the tzadik should consider and examine his deeds. Thus it is that the wicked man is like a watchman, like the guard of the city, who is called a tzopheh. So too, the wicked man guards the tzadik from succumbing to physicality. Another explanation: Some of the opposition that tzaddikim face is for their benefit. This is because opposition is like a cover, keeping them from being discovered and becoming famous more than is necessary. This is the explanation of:…

Nobody Is Eating Our City’s Dogs Mr. Trump—I’d Know, I’m the Dog Warden

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/nobody-is-eating-our-citys-dogs-mr-trumpid-know-im-the-dog-warden?ref=home?ref=home

The Clark County dog warden has refuted viral pet-eating allegations in Springfield, Ohio, after Donald Trump regurgitated unfounded claims that the city’s pets were being poached by Haitian immigrants on Tuesday.

“Nobody has any proof of anything,” Sandi Click told the Daily Beast. “It’s all just a bunch of hearsay.”

Trump ally Laura Loomer swatted down after posting bigoted attack on Harris

 https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/11/laura-loomer-trump-mtg-00178815

Two loyal allies of Donald Trump are feuding over a bigoted post about Kamala Harris’ Indian heritage, the latest sign of discord among MAGA surrogates as the former president seeks to regain his lead in the presidential race.

Putin Pals Eat Crow as ‘Complete Fool’ Creams ‘Our Donald’

 https://disqus.com/profile/login/?next=/admin/moderate/pending

In the run-up to this presidential debate, Russian state TV propagandists constantly predicted that the “charismatic” Trump—previously described as “our Donald”—would resoundingly defeat his opponent. They’ve consistently described Harris as a stupid, inexperienced newcomer, who simply cannot function without a teleprompter, even citing ridiculous conspiracy theories from the likes of Alex Jones to assert that the Vice President has a severe “performance anxiety” and would show up to the debate high on drugs

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Doubts for Tzadikim?

 Lekutei Moharan (063:6) The ant that lies inside the serpent’s mouth is the aspect of the tzadik of the generation, who is upright and righteous and possesses good character traits. Because he is wise and involves himself in their scholarship and philosophical investigation, probing these wisdoms, this tzadik suffers greatly when these scholars begin to engage in their philosophical investigation. He wages a fierce battle with them—i.e., with the aforementioned aspect of the serpent—for he is greatly assailed by doubts, untrue assertions…

Huge majority of debate watchers say Harris took home the victory

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/huge-majority-debate-watchers-say-harris-took-home-victory-cnn-poll-finds

An overwhelming majority of debate watchers said they thought Vice President Kamala Harris outperformed former President Trump in Tuesday night's debate, according to a CNN poll.

The survey respondents went into Tuesday night's debate split, with 50% saying they expected Trump to win and 50% saying they expected a Harris victory. By the end of the night, however, 63% said Harris came out on top, compared to 37% for Trump.