46.02/ Attempting the "Not starting every email/tweet with the word 'so' challenge." This is comes after "Not starting every etc with 'well'"
I understand this is common for academics. In my observation: "well" is to state your hypothesis, "so" the next step in analysis.
46.03/ I just spent hours writing a thread and for some reason the screen skipped and I lost everything. It's hard to explain how destructive this is. First time it's happened and now I will know to continuously back up writing in a side document. But I'm mildly perturbed.
46.04/ This is a good example (see the linked thread as well) for why "we're all in this together" is my motto
46.05/ Not sure if I sent this out before, but I agree with the need to reassess many relationships that have been revealed to be passively threatening. I saw a house of a someone in my shul with an anti-mask sign. That person is dangerous to everyone.
46.07/ I'm not surprised by what this thread reports. NYT matches their credulous Tr*ump coverage with how they cover H*mas. And we're caught in the middle.
46.08/ Year anniversary of the Able Archer of the Trump (ym'sh) administration: the assault at #lafayettesquare when peaceful protesters were violently cleared for a militaristic photo-op.
IMO the most scared I got during the whole #TrumpCrisis.
46.12/ "Obscure" and "500 years old" here refers to the age of the physical book. Pirkei Avot is the cornerstone of Jewish ethics and has been included in prayer-books for over 1000 years.
46.13/ This is a good graphical layout of the "Sedition Caucus" (I don't know if there's alt-text, so I converted it to OCR and it can be downloaded here) drive.google.com/file/d/1MbbIN6…
46.16/ Didn't see this about the juiced baseballs but it explains a lot. It was basically my theory as to why Diaz, who came to the #Mets that year, had a terrible debut. DeGrom was the only guy who could handle the change.
46.17/ In the past I described this attitude as trying to create a society where some people have 100% freedom, which consequently (and purposefully) makes many people have 0% freedom.
46.18/ Thank you to @chick_in_kiev for teaching me that those insane "food on the counter" videos are a purposeful troll by, as she describes it, an "evil magician."
46.19/ This new finding supports what Homer Simpson learned about finding 20 bucks instead of a single peanut: money is useful because "money can be exchanged for goods and services"
46.21/ One step closer to getting rid of #Netanyahu! Here's Lapid & Bennett calling the Israeli president to say they have been able to form the weirdest coalition in modern politics.
Center: Yesh Atid (17 seats); Blue & White (8)
Right: Yisrael Beytenu (7); New Hope (6)
Far Right: Yamina (6 of its 7 MKs)
Left: Labor (7)
Far Left: Meretz (6)
Right Wing Arab: Ra’am (4).
46.23/ This is a very good piece in the WPost by Prof. @SarahEBond about the history of the anti-Jewish yellow star and it's current antisemitic (and morally horrible) misuse by the usual brutes.
46.24/ This is a heckuva quote by Obama:
"Trump is for a lot of white people what O. J.’s acquittal was to a lot of Black folks — you know it’s wrong, but it feels good."
46.25/ Follow-up to 46.10, alas the next #Israeli president will not be a woman; Herzog won 87-26 (egad). He was the son of a former president. I also was roommates with his first-cousin (who shared the same name).
46.26/ Important thread that gives heft and context about the #TulsaMassacre and other anti-Black pogroms in American history. See links to articles as well.
46.29/ Note to congressional Democrats: the hoaxed up Whitewater & Benghazi investigations were jarringly effective at defeating Ds in 2000 & 2016 by casting them as suspicious.
Right now the GOP has become full bore fascist. So it's both the right & smart thing to do.
46.30/ Sorry to see that @TunchIlkin is retiring due to his declining health. Like Myron Cope, Tunch is the voice in my head for #Steelers games. He was a great & coach and is a great broadcaster & humanitarian.
46.31/ Good thread with insight to the historic nature of the upcoming/possible/bli-ayin-hara coalition government in Israel. Even beyond the golem-mixture of Meretz & Yamina, the inclusion of an Arab party is a breakthrough for coexistence.
46.32/ I'm not going to link to the clickbait article, but "And we don't know why" is straight up gaslighting (i.e. using cultural or local power in an attempt to force a person to deny the reality of their experiences and/or senses).
Hey, Red-Brown Horseshoe, get your boy.
46.32b/ Follow-up to the "we don't know why" nonsense. This is a good point:
"It's not actually new. It's just being experienced by a wider swath of the Jewish community."
46.33/ B'ezrat Hashem. Bli ayin hara. And all that.
(Sorry, while this tweet is awesome, I'm just having the "my team collapsed late in the season/early in the playoffs" PTSD from the Rangers, Knicks and Steelers)
46.34/ It's becoming increasingly clear to me that much of anti-trans discourse comes from antagonists purposefully (or ignorantly) conflating trans-gender with trans-vestite.
Typical for #Literalists, it's "Rocky Horror" scaremongering b/c of flattened confusion over prefixes.
I'm avowedly pro-duck; they are my alter-animal. Why? Because they can do everything - fly, swim, walk - but not very well. Ducks of all trades, master of none.
46.42/ I've needed to drop many people I followed over the years during the #TrumpCrisis. No real RedHats; the biggest revelations were during the 2020 primaries & now in the surge of antisemitism. Masks were ripped off; people who postured as moral but were filled with hate.
46.43/ It's getting clearer to me that many of the RedRose people are motivated by gatekeeping. And that's a symptom of a lust for hierarchy.
Their politics is a gambit to establish themselves as the sole power. They just want to choose the oppressed.
46.44/ #ReshetKeshet My two least favorite parts of Shas on today's #Daf, Yoma 54: (1) #Literalist interpreting of Iyov to establish scientific facts & (2) shmutz.
#2 is fun for many, I know, but it's not tzanua, undermines kedusha & triggers my red flag creep-o-meter.
46.44b/ Good to know I'm not alone in my difficulty with this daf. Maimonides in the Guide (2:26) agrees: "[this literal explanation of Job 37:6 is] more extraordinary than I have ever seen in the utterances of any believer in the Law of Moses." sefaria.org/Guide_for_the_…
46.45/ First time I've heard this quote and it's amazing:
"If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it." - Zora Neale Hurston
46.46/ As this quote shows, Pinker is a rotten person and scholar. Moreover, elevating Ashkenazi Jews as some sort of super-race is part of the demonic narrative in antisemitism. Race is a nonsense construct; ranking people by 'race' is always racist.
46.47/ OK, I don't know why, but this feels like a schismatic joke: my browser thinks that when I surf over to Chovevei Torah @YCTorah I actually meant Yeshiva University @YUNews. Is this only me? It feels like an elaborate prank.
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.
224.02/ There's sticker shock and then there's "standing on the bathroom scale after 3 three-day yuntifs and 2 major fasts over 3 weeks" sticker shock.
224.03/ BTW, Trump (ym"sh) abd the MAGA-GOP going completely mask-off with racist nativism was very much on my BINGO card.
223.02/ Downside of "October is the Best Sports Month" - mixed blessing really - is that at 8pm tonight 3 of my teams will be on at the same time. NYMets facing elimination, #LIGHTITUPNYL in the last game of the finals, and the Steelers on SNF.
223.03/ #ChochmatNashim for #Vezot #SimchatTorah #SheminiAtzeret 2023-5784 (LAST YEAR). @ChochmatNashim
Downloadable PDF with working links with Divrei Torah by Orthodox women scholars on the topics of the week. 23 Pages drive.google.com/file/d/1pQso-a…
222.02/ #ChochmatNashim for #Sukkot 5784 2023 (LAST YEAR) @ChochmatNashim.
Downloadable PDF with Divrei Torah by Orthodox women scholars on the holiday & other weekly topics. 15 pages. drive.google.com/file/d/154AH4_…
222.03/ Another October sports is awesome moment: Mets playoffs, Yankees playoffs, Monday night football plus the #NYR at home. Pretty much all at the same time.