44.02/ So many people I assumed were motivated by greed (for money, abstract resources) and/or power are actually driven by ego. This discovery required a major retooling of my understanding of moral philosophy
e.g. during the #TrumpCrisis people risked their lives just for ego
44.08/ It's exhausting to see a question about whether you should exist debated in public. Not only because (a) there's a vast number of people who would be happy if you *didn't* exist, but (b) even more "reasonable" - even liberal! - folk who think the debate is acceptable.
44.09/ Like clockwork: Israel in the news -> open antisemitic attacks.
Most likely these are N*zis using PAL flags as a cover, yet I beg my fellow liberals to see this and take more care to avoid slurs that add hate & impugn blood libel. Words can kill!
44.15a/ Dr. Blackstock's point is good & this is yet another case where technical solutions are well known & the problem is persuading and/or changing the power structure to implement the policies they claim to uphold.
44.15b/ Basically, while it's fashionable to emphasize STEM training, time and again I see that technical knowledge is inert without the people skills taught in "soft" fields.
44.20/ This is a heckuva thread by the estimable @JewishWonk, providing a view of how the luster of Medinat Yisrael is perceived through a Jewish Russian-American's eyes.
44.21/ Jacob #DeGrom, the Mets ace, was doing a rehab stint this week and faced a low-A baseball team and the results were like Bambi vs. Godzilla. But they were good sports about it.
44.24/ Yeah, "pro-life" is a filthy euphemism for those who can't control their desire to dominate others: for women, it's forced-birth, for prisoners, it's torture & death
44.25/ Sadly I've seen this dynamic in people in many disempowered groups (including the ones I'm in). It's often very clear to me who will become a tyrant if they were on top of the pyramid (see: T*RFs, the dirtb*g Left)
44.28/ Indeed. In fact Jewish history is often a long series of stories of my people being much more afraid of our neighbors than from the top of the pyramid (which may explain a communal impulse to support whoever is in charge of the polity)
44.29/ It's been a weird week (Shavuot made this feel like three weeks in one, or Beha'alotekha). But we have a cease fire, thank God. #ShabbatShalom y'all.
230.02/ The Assad regime collapsing over Shabbas #Vayetze seems especially appropriate. I had long compared Lavan to Assad, the urbane facade hiding real cruelty and depravity. I celebrate the toppling of a murderous regime and the liberation of Saydnaya prison.
230.03/ Mets Twitter is having a party right now. This is fun. #LGM
229.03/ #ChochmatNashim for #Vayetze #Vayetzei #Vayeitzei 5784 2023 (LAST YEAR). @ChochmatNashim.
Downloadable PDF with working links to Divrei Torah from Orthodox women scholars on the parsha and other topics of the week. 20 pages. drive.google.com/file/d/1JqU6Lt…
228.02/ Fundamentally, a plurality want a minority to do all the work but get no reward while they do very little work & get all the reward. The only system that will get close to that - liberal Democracy - gives too much to people the plurality hates, so they vote for fantasies.
228.03/ #ChochmatNashim for #Toldot #Toledot 5784 2023 (LAST YEAR). @ChochmatNashim.
Downloadable PDF with working links to Divrei Torah by Orthodox women scholars on the parsha and other topics of the week. 20 Pages. drive.google.com/file/d/1dpJe7R…
227.02/ #ChochmatNashim for #ChayeiSara 5784 2023 (LAST YEAR) @ChochmatNashim.
Downloadable PDF with working links to Divrei Torah by Orthodox women scholars. 19 pages. #ChayaSara #ChayeiSarah
227.03/ The first time through the cruel & stupid Trump (ym'sh) circus I read the news with trepidation because I didn't know what terrible thing he'd do next. This time, I read the news with contempt & anger because the MSM helped elect him and wants him to succeed.
225.02/ Finally dropped off our ballots this morning & took a selfie. A fun thing then happened: a young dad carrying a baby arrived after us & he said that it was his first time voting after becoming a citizen! So I insisted on taking a photo of him (with his camera). USA! USA!
225.03/ Yes, I'm the one who waited all Shabbas for the poll, taught my kids how polls work (social science PhD, baby) & what I hoped would happen (GOP leading by only 5). And they got to see my stunned elation in real time when I read the news.