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Weather warming up for weekend
Midwinter vacation weather Friday will be a high of 60 and rainy
- Neighbors retain attorney jan meyer to oppose lakewood kollel's plans for massive educational campus with 52 homes, 400 children child care center on white street in Lakewood more Faanews
-Trump declares the name DeSanctimonious is Officially Retired
- Ron DeSantis drops out of 2024 race
Endorses Donald Trump
- BDE: the Levaya of R' Yakov Yosef Shperber z”l, age 75, and his wife Mrs. Rachel Mintza a”h, age 75, will iy"h take place 5:00pm at Shomre Hadas. Watch livestream Here
- Tu Bshvat sticker hunt at Evergreen Lakewood this week
- The heimishe daily לוח הציבור newsletter and ads has now expanded with a Lakewood issue.It is placed in shuls and stores. You can subscribe via email to subscribe@lakewooddaily.con
The daily Vivaser in Lakewood warmly welcomed the lunch hatzibur and wished the owners with bracha vehatzlacha
- power restored
Power outages up to 1500 customers without power in the Pine St MLk rt 9 South area Est restoration by JCP&L is at 12:30pm
- Republican Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis pulled all events from his campaign website, unconfirmed reports that he’s expected to drop out of the 2024 race for President.
- Mortgage rates have fallen to levels not seen since last spring, according to Freddie Mac. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.6% last week. A year ago at this time, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.15%.
- A delegation of 22 people from New Jersey, including 3 Assemblymen, Mike Inganamort
(R-24th), Paul Kanitra (R-10th) and Greg Myhre (R-9th), and Middletown Mayor
Tony Perry will be traveling to Israel on Sunday where they will visit war-torn communities and families. (Onejersey)
A good history article on the importance of achdus in overcoming Klal Yisroel's enemies by the former rav of San Jose
ReplyDeletehttps://aish.com/the-damascus-affair/
👍
DeleteTy for posting this. May our achdus today bring Moshiach b'rachamim, fast!
DeleteSorry to disappoint this website, but after speculation from Trump online influencers ("unconfirmed reports"), DeSantis campaign confirms he is not pulling out.
ReplyDeleteHe just announced that he is pulling out.
DeleteThis didn't age well.
DeleteSo far, 2024 has been distinctly different from the end of 2023. November and December saw rates move lower at one of the fastest paces in decades. In contrast, January has delivered a fairly consistent uptrend with the average lender now at the highest levels in more than a month.
ReplyDeleteFrustratingly, widespread media coverage suggested rates fell to their lowest levels since May this week. Rest assured, this is NOT the case. It wasn't even the case last week, although that the claim would have been less frivolous last week.
The source of the confusion is Freddie Mac's weekly survey which is the longest-running and most widely cited mortgage rate index overall. While there are a few reasons that it doesn't always line up perfectly with reality, the biggest issue is really the lag effect resulting from the survey's timing and methodology.
Freddie takes an average of rate quotes on Thursday through Wednesday and reports that a day later. In other words, Thursday January 11th through Wednesday January 17th is this week's survey time frame. The 11th and 12th were the two best days of the past 2 weeks. They dragged the average down. Thursday and Friday of the current week have seen the highest rates in more than a month. They are NOT included in Freddie's survey
Wow, what ends will the media(who pretend to hate him) go to boost Donald J.
ReplyDeleteKol hakovad to vivaser.
ReplyDeleteDeSantis (or Haley) should.be VP choice. Especially considering Trump's age. As long as Yidden don't deify Trump, and know he's a shaliach Hashem, it will go well beH.
ReplyDeleteSo strange that we almost never hear frum people talking about Biden being a shliach of Hashem.
DeleteShlichus often could be La'rah
DeleteKim is also a shaliach
Particularly that Biden has stakes American prestige and his presidency on Israel. He is as supportive of Israel as Nixon was, if not more. Maybe he is a shli'ach? Such nonsense to use that as an argument. Trump is a shliach of upheaval. He ruined NJ when he want to all the law firms and disqualified them from representing his opponents in Atlantic City. The man ruins everything he does. Not to mention his career in television and contests. He does not respect America and its institutions.
DeleteHowever, the republic will endure. I think Trump has had more lawyers and court appearances than anyone in the 20th century and he never defied a court order. And he appointed the Court so he will not even be tempted. As long as the executive abides by the Court, the republic will endure. And the Court will always prioritize Congressional action because Congress makes the laws. Moreover, the will not win Congress and the army won't listen to him if he starts another insurrection attacking Congress, the sovereign branch of government. No sweat. Foreigner don't have to worry. Whatever he does to help Russia and undermine NATO, and confront China when China is not our enemy, Russia is, will be fixed with the next president. The damage will not be permanent.
The above was mostly my opinion as well before last presidential election.Thus my tilt towards Biden-albeit very unhappily.happens. & all the while the previous comment might still stand, my conclusion has been since that the damage from the Democrat/progressive side generally will BE permanent. Or worse the way the system operates.As inevitably happens.
DeleteThe real pela is that as a community we're head over heels for trump and desantis was meh. If we actually cared about policies, and not just the TV show/hero worship sheboi, we would be all over desantis in the primaries. Or chas v'shalom, Haley.
DeleteI have full confidence in both Trump & Biden that they will only make things worse. If the election is between them I'm leaning towards Trump as the lessor of the two evils. Horrible of a person as he may be he has no intrinsic interest in creating long lasting bad policies. That isn't true of his opponents. I hesitate about writing the above because some of Trump's opponents even in the frum world are so brainwashed that even a comment like this is enough to make their blood boil. I worry for their health.
DeleteIf Pence had "done the right thing" would the damage have been permanent?
DeleteWell put
Delete"Well put"that's for Biden being worse long term
Delete'If Pence had "done the right thing" would the damage have been permanent?'
What? Such as https://matzav.com/pence-abortion-more-important-than-politics ??
Roe was based on Grisswald which said that the Fourth Amendment emanated a penumbra of privacy. What an idiot. I think White wrote the opinion. The stupider opinion is Miranda, which is more psycho-babble than constitutional law.
DeleteTwo things. The federal government would be stretching its Commerce Power to an extreme to make a national law. Forget that.
Second, there are state that won't allow a man to get an abortion for his wife if she was m'anas. Also, the law always was "human being under the jurisdiction of the King.) "Being" means born. Some even want to call it murder from conception is mai d'alma. The whole thing is stupid because there many times, such as defects, in which people have gotten a heter.
Let the states decide and hold their politicians accountable. What if there be a Jewish state? How would we decide and treat everyone equally? On this issue, I think the Democrats might get both houses of Congress even if Trump wins. The Republicans in the House are pathetic.
She could get it for herself.
DeleteEvery state allows them to promptly go to the state next door.It's just a policy for the beleaguered.They will all make allowances if needed if somehow it ever comes to such an unlikely better situation.So snore on.
Duh,there are different obligations for Jews eg Jews are allowed to accept organ donor from others even though arguably they are forbidden to donate themselves
DeletePence was just doing a ministerial action. Any member of the Senate, and any Secretary of State of any state, could have filed for a writ of mandamus. It would not have been permanent. As for Biden, I cannot understand why he is so unpopular. He got it right with the Soviets and Israel. Afghanistan was a mess up. I think he will fix the border because the Republicans are conditioning aid to Ukraine on it and it will politically give him a boost. He has the nation poised to lead the world in the auto industry with all the tax breaks and infrastructure for EVs. The Republicans are so doctrinaire and not pragmatic that even though oil executives are telling Texas legislature that Houston will continue to lead in energy for another 100 years, and still they are opposing change. We have to stay ahead. China will catch up within 150 years or so. The Soviets will rebuild as soon as we take our eye off the ball. And China has to be carefully dealt with because they China historically has not been a threat. They are more interested in business (and getting Taiwan) than attacking Japan or the Philippines. China does not have a history of overseas expansion even though it is over 3,000 years old. And China has always been friends with America except during the Korean War when they swarmed across the Yalu River. We dropped the ball during Clinton and Bush when it came to Russia.
ReplyDeleteAnd all Americans, and especially if we never go to war of attrition with China, can thank Kissinger (we were all angry that he married out of the religion) and Nixon. (I don't think Kissinger got the kavod when he just died that he deserved; but neither does Columbus today, or Jackson, or Lee).Nelson Rockefeller told Kissinger (Kissinger was a Rockefeller man, Robert Moses was an Al Smith man, you learn from you the old men is a path to chachma) when Nixon called him in 1968 to serve. He asked Rockefeller and he answered, "Have you ever thought that he needs you more than you need him. When the President of the United States asks you to serve you have serve.
DeleteBTW The reason China will take so long to catch up because their economic problem is structural, not cyclical. China will suffer for two generations because of its one child policy and lag behind America significantly. There is a labor shortage that will not be overcome unless they build factories in other countries (wouldn't that be ironic) and I don't know if that would help. China is too big to be Japan. The have to have an economy like ours. That is part of the success, in part, of Nixon and Kissinger.
You're naive.
Delete
DeleteIs NY
falling apart?Simple answer.How come? Less simple. For folk like you!
Same with US
“I don’t know of any great power in history that lost its foothold or decayed because of external reasons; internal social dysfunction was to blame.
Adam Garfinkle, editor of The American Interest
To paraphrase Bill Clinton: family social values,stupid
How can it be?Too intangible & uncomplicated? That's just how it goes!Particularly a nation creed that was founded like the US
So cut your long-windedness!The masses-those have been here for a few generations- get it in their bones
DeleteChina has always been a threat since Mao.
What happened to those on top who presumed Armageddon back already during the Korean conflict? & after with Matsu & Quemoy? etc.
Goodness!The endlessly chattering ignorance.The gullibility of it all you keep foisting on others.Give it up.
Only people continuously saturated by Chinese propaganda combined with those self centered ongst us milking China-as long as it's allowed as useful to them-would pretend differently!How lovely of you.Continue to imbibe their nice charts.
& at the rate we're going China will surpass the US within a couple generations easy.
You are very rude.
DeleteStudy Kennan or other framers of foreign policy before calling people naive, especially those who have been taught by the best, like Robert Divine.
And then the "snore." You all lower the intellectual utility of a site like this. I will be long gone when Russia absorbs its former "republics" and starts chipping away on Warsaw Pact countries. It will be you who fight. As we are NOT going to full scale war over Taiwan. China has to be dealt with chachma, particularly on economic policy. Russia has to be dealt with by containing it. History repeats itself. Main thing is two points 1) the Consitution and American institutions MUST be preserved. We cannot have dictatorship of the majority, and 2) Russia will always somehow be our enemy
And as for moral decline, it is not America but the whole world. Everywhere is worse. You cannot go to putting people in jail for buying birth control (Griswold), for being Black (14th Amendment), for being the wrong religion in a neighborhood. Personally, I think America is better off when it has more freedom. Freedom in the late 19th century, according to the Court, meant freedom of contract, freedom of business without regulation. Freedom today, since Griswald means personal freedom to make your own choices. I don't think either are in the Constitution, but America is not the problem. England, France, Japan, everywhere deal with the same moral decay while at the same time, quality of life for the population at large has vastly improved and there is more institutional justice. There is more freedom of speech (it is robust under Robert Court, and remember, social media is owned privately, not subject to First Amendment), freedom of religion (look at Jackson) freedom for minorities to be employed, freedom against discrimination. People are not being executed on flimsy evidence anymore also. Courts are more likely to reopen cases when new evidence comes out. There is more widespread institutional justice than before in our history for all.
This is the world my generation, the one that put a man on the moon, the one that destroyed the evil Soviet Union, will leave to you. Whether you decide to go to war with China (all of history is dominated by the clash between East and West), will be for you to decide. America will remain the world leader for 100 years. And yes, it will be torn apart internally. That is how Russia will make its comeback. There is more opportunity with new technology today for Soviet meddling in our institutional. Russia sees a crack and they immediately try to pry it open. Tocqueville rightly predicted in 1836 that the world will be dominated by America and Russia. If we keep China on our side, we will be fine.
Carthage did sacrifice of children, the worse moral decay possible, but was defeated externally by Rome. There are many powers that ended externally. The Hittites. How about the Empire of Japan? What happened to the Scythians and other Asiatics? However, it is true that America is too strong for an enemy to defeat in war. It will decay internally and that is the strategy of our foreign enemies. That almost happened in 1861. You put China together with Russia in a war against America, maybe we might not win. Today, yes. But not decades from now. Why do you say I am naive?
DeleteMust we keep spinning while remaining in the same spot forever?Can't we move upwards rather than down backwards?We owe it to our forebears?
Delete"will be long gone when" & You're content for that? Wouldn't you desire for the world to fix itself-finally- within your lifespan?
Niall Ferguson has a copious selection on the topic : If what we are risking is not decline but downright collapse, then the time frame may be even tighter than one election cycle.
Who decided "sacrifice of children" is ipso "the worse moral decay possible"? Because that's PC.For nowadays! Perhaps it isn't.
DeleteSo therein is the underpinning of your emphatic voluble long-winded pontifications
"that ended externally" Superficially only."The Hittites" the collapse of 1177 bce(supposed) may possibly (still up in doubt)have been external,but which civilizations managed to survive the collapse was dependent on the internal.
DeleteHow about the Empire of Japan? That's a fair q.But still incorrect , as research in '50s with former Japanese staff officers themselves concluded that it was civilization racial deficiencies which helped bring defeat.
(continued)That was then.That superiority is less inherent than a construct.& may swiftly be nullified.We're already in the process.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what you want from Niall Ferguson. He predicts that Asia is on the ascent. We all know that. However, our problem with China will be the South China Sea but not any kinds of expansion as with the Soviets. As for child sacrifice to Moloch, the Carthaginians came from the Phoenicians. You know that archeologist found baby skeletons in jars there. I think we all can agree that human sacrifice (and Cannibalism) is the worst moral crime of any society. That is not political correctness. Political correctness respect other culture. I condemn it. Apply the categorical imperative. Why does anyone accuse a scholar who learned in school, not just read Gibbon and other authorities, which I have, as influenced by the media? I am more influence by my education. Reporters are just journalists. Like Ruch Limball is not going to tell me that Bill Clinton will be secretary general of the UN, but he did, when everyone know that you can't get that job if you come from the five world powers. (He also said, the exact opposite of my macroeconomics teacher, that debt owed to China is better than debt owed to Americans), He is just a regular broadcaster with a degree in broadcasting. Why would I form my opinions from him and others? Maybe Walter Lipman if he was still around. I, and I would guess you, are historians. We do not shape our political positions based on what radio entertainers or even journalist opine.
ReplyDeleteSpecifically your quoyte, " If what we are risking is not decline but downright collapse, then the time frame may be even tighter than one election cycle." Idid not see that but I am at least 99% that the history does not think America will collapse by 2024 or any time soon afterwards. What is debatable is this, my opinion, that America is not in decline and will not be for a while. Of course we will reach the height of power and decline, but we are not there yet. What we see now is good. We should not see the economic development of poor countries as a threat. It was not good for the world that have all the great powers except America trying to carve up China in the 1890s. China is the oldest country in the world and some of the most useful inventions came from there, spaghetti being foremost. They are in a way, an elder. And China recognizes our greatness and has great respect for America. We have to reciprocate. And that is the formula for peace. It will be who China sides with. Of course, we will still get our way even when they team up, but as time passes, we might get into the "might is right" stupidity that brought down Athens, and they start winning wars. I don't think they can take over America, just like the Asiatics could never take over Europe, and America is a whole magnitude stronger than Europe put together. So kol sh'kain China will not take over the US.
ReplyDeleteHow often you travel? Get around a little.America is in bad shape,except for the oligarchy content like the polish elite smug before the national disappearance in mid 18th century
ReplyDeleteRe :China
The ultimate impudence.
America saved China with the Open Door policy from being carved up (probably would have been better),& then again vs Japan
Where's has there been gratitude
Never travel. Never at all. Just stay in Lakewood. I know what people think. I saw it with Carter but in the end, Carter was right, we have to police and dominate the Persian Gulf. There are appearances and there is substance. Biden has restore international faith in America but Israel, because of his strong support, might bring him down. We are at an important but not yet irreversible juncture. America can continue to show leadership or it can become isolationist like EXACTLY 100 years earlier. I would not compare Senator Lodge to Trump but the effect is similar. Isolationism. America first, all that NONSENSE that has no place in the modern world. We became the world power in 1898 and we cannot run from it. As for domestic, that alway has brought down the foreign policy presidents. And look at how badly Cox was beat in 1920 when the League was the only way to go, and we failed. The Founders did not want the electorate to decide the most important matters, other than the preservation of the republic. Like Franklin said when asked amount what kind of government he made, "A republic, if you can keep it." Whatever you think of China, we cannot allow them to team up with the Soviets. This policy is very old and should not be abandoned.
ReplyDeleteAgree re:Cox [iirc women's capture of suffrage & prompt turn to isolationism brought him down] & the League
DeleteTake it from somebody who dwelled for a decade & a half beyond the borders -
Difference between then & now, is internationalism shouldn't be just a perpetual raison d'etre.For what ends are you slaying dragons? Promoting the Rainbow? Internationalism can plausibly be so captured for negative goals
it loses a constructive purpose.
Furthermore,America has been used by others(domestic & foreign) for their own ends-& then demeaned regularly by those same operatives- that a TEMPORARY retreat from Europe & Middle East would hopefully help it with a replenishment it badly needs.
Asia is different however.The US finds it's standing in the Pacific & redefine itself accordingly.
OK The slaying dragons is from John Quincy Adams, probably the greatest Secretary of State. "If we go overseas to slay mighty dragon, we will lose our souls and become masters of the world." I am fine with TEMPORARY as long as Russia does not absorb any of its former republics and satellites. As for Middle East, is Israel ready for the US to withdraw?
ReplyDelete