84.02/ #MotzeiShabbatMovieNight put off a night because of social obligations. Monday is a legal holiday so we will hopefully have movie night tomorrow night.
84.03/ Couldn't be happier, or prouder, as a #Steelers fan to see they hired Brian Flores to be a senior coach. The team gets top notch talent and they take an anti-racist stand. And, as seen below, it earns respect from players:
84.04/ The way we can end the pandemic in this country is by vaccinating everyone eligible. Many will need to be coerced, which is why I'm hoping this is a sign airlines are contributing.
84.05/ #MotzeiShabbatMovieNight (Observed) tonight. Because of scheduling, my older two have other plans, so I get to choose especially for my youngest from my Special Vintage Films: "Army of Darkness (1992)" I do love it so. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of_D…
84.06/ This thread is pretty amazing. My favorite may be Van Gogh.
84.07/ At 2:22pm and 22 seconds on Twos-Day Feb 22, 2022 I have a feeling that the fabled Universe Man's watch "happy land" effect from the song "Particle Man" will happen. Just speculatin'
84.08/ I've thought about this and the answer for me is a resounding yes. Moreover, I'm so glad when someone takes an idea in my head and develops & publishes it. It's happened. My attitude is "Great, someone took care of it (for me), now onwards."
84.09/ My "deodorant" litmus test: I have travelled extensively, in the USA & the world, and I know that wearing a yamulka on the street in Europe is very dangerous. Not so in America (even now, years into the #TrumpCrisis).
84.10/ Can we call them Soviets now? Because I really want to call them Soviets.
84.11/ Hey @acypess, this sounds like a made-up journal. There's a "New" England now? What's next, some random city named after York? I mean, I liked the old Hampshire, why make another one? Sigh.
84.12/ I'm a sports fan yet I don't watch the Olympics. Why? (1) The incompetent production & presentation of the events (how bad do you have to be to ruin sports?) (2) International competition is so rife with corruption that I don't trust the outcomes. nytimes.com/2022/02/21/bus…
84.13/ A resume is not a biography. The map is not the territory.
84.14/ The reason I describe the current GOP as fascist is because fascism is an ideology of pure power. Think of it as a secular religion worshiping abuse, because abuse MEANS power for its own sake. This is what @david_j_roth is describing.
84.15/ Those who like this tweet are in a very small sliver of a Venn diagram I've lived in for decades; the circles of Knowing Halakic Terms & Online & Pun Appreciator.
84.18/ Yes. A core idea of the bad guys is biological determinism. That behavior reflects physical-corporeal essence. Racism, bigotry, collective punishment etc. are at their core the belief that a person can be reduced to an object.
84.20/ I made a claim to my family that given how a leap year will have nearly no double parshiyot that we should look at a leap year as the standard/default, despite it's relative infrequency.
[This message brought to you by the Leap Year Fan Club, president: me]
84.21/ It is indeed a day to celebrate. In fact there's a parenting sweet spot when the kids are self-sufficient enough to do almost any standard action but are still young enough to want to learn from you (and not assume everything you say is wrong, heh)
84.23/ This is the kind of case that we philosopher-halakhists invent in the classroom - and/or in the Talmud - so it's bonkers to see it in the wild. (h.t. @dzkalman). Print this out and use for Masekhet Yevamot. today.com/parents/babies…
84.24/ A yes, the old "take the first half of the first sentence of a whole paragraph that leads to a diametrically opposed misrepresentation" trick. From a bank, yet.
84.34/ For every bad person in the entertainment business, it's good to know that there's an occasional good guy. Colm Meaney and Dylan Moran. "What’s wrong with being decent to people?” indeed
84.40/ I swear, the GOP looks at Faust like it's a how-to manual and not a cautionary tale
84.41/ This is really correct, for the Ukraine crisis, the #TrumpCrisis and beyond. We're seeing the horseshoe in action, the Far Left and Far Right de facto supporting RUS's imperialism because those ends worship power.
84.42/ Supporting Ukraine when its fighting for its life against imperialist Russia is as easy a moral question you will ever get. It's Ethics 101. Failing this question by saying "I'm against war" is denying self-defense & favoring abuse. #SupportUkraine.
84.43/ Amen.
[As a kid, I knew America had no real church-state separation when the libraries/Post Office were closed on Sundays and every single event was on Saturday.]
84.44/ 100%! The yetzer-hara (evil inclination) in educated people who self-identify as moral will rationalize being callous. "UKR was bad in the past so they deserve it now" is collective punishment, a thoroughly evil mentality.
(Real talk: It was nice living for a while in the shadow of the New Deal and Great Society when people remembered & reacted to historical depravity with an attempted Golden Age)
84.47/ My brother @acypess' latest publication on Brown Adipose Tissue (Brown Fat, BAT) is well timed to coincide with the release of the major motion picture #Batman
I don't know how he makes fat so exciting, but good for him.
84.50/ This is totally correct! If you think telling oppressed people to move is a solution, then it's just as "easy" for you to move to their state and help them out.
(Note, neither are real solutions. That's the point)
84.51/ @gwensnyderPHL is as bona-fide Far Left I can image (IIRC she's an anarcho-syndicalist) & she easily passes the Ethics 101 test. Putin is an indefensible abuser & must be resisted. I learn that the horseshoe isn't inevitable; it's usu. bad faith.
We GenXers are banding together with our parents, The Forgotten Generation, to try to fix things even while the Boomers are actively trying to uproot the saplings. [Gen Z are Gleek, I guess]
84.54/ Some more things I identify with:
My mentality during the past years of crisis:
84.55/ Just in case it was hitherto unclear why the GOP - and Tucker is head of the party even more than Trump (ym'sh) right now - supports Putin. And why what's happening in TX is part of the same global war against diversity & freedom:
84.58/ Just as I've described the #TrumpCrisis as a "Cold Civil War" I think it's accurate to say that the #UkraineCrisis is the latest front in a Global Civil War (hot & cold). The fight is b/w forces of authoritarianism vs. freedom inside many nations.
84.59/ I make this point to my kids every time the Robin Hood story comes up. There's a whole canon of stories made up of "oppressor tales" where their hero is an utter villain to my people, and others
84.62/ I think I will end now for Shabbos. It's been a bad week for humanity - Ukraine & TX - and I'm praying for peace, safety and justice. #ShabbatShalom everyone. Stay safe.
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.