Weather:49° Partly cloudy this morning, then becoming cloudy during the afternoon.
Storm watch Monday night Tuesday Watching a potential winter storm. a mixture of rain and snow in the morning.
-Defense Secretary Austin was moved to the intensive care unit at Walter Reed.
- BDE: Petirah of Rebbetzin Esther Mann A"H from Cleveland, at age 102 wife of Rav Meir Zelig Mann ZTL levaya in Cleveland tomorrow afternoon 2:30 pm at Yavneh stone high school followed by Kevurah at Mt. Olive cemetery.
-B"H: Israel announces rescue of two hostages from Hamas captivity in Gaza both are in good health The two, Fernando Simon Marman (60) and Norberto Louis Har (70) were extracted in a joint operation by the IDF, Shin Bet and Israel Police in Rafah. They were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on October 7.
- Today as a zechus for klal yisrael: One Siyum is a collaborative effort to learn Kol Hatorah, as a zechus for all the Yidden in Eretz Yisroel. Participants select one limud from Shas, Mishna, Chumash, Navi, or Kesuvim. The siyum will be celebrated on Sunday, February 11th in Eretz Yisroel.Endorsed by Gedolei Yisroel and Rabbanim from America and Eretz Yisroel. sign up HERE
- LPD traffic enforcement around town.
- Following the Shloshim of the mashgiach zatzal the Lakewood Roshei Yeshiva have updated the takanos hayeshiva regarding smartphones. No smartphone even those that look like a kosherphone may be brought to the premises of the Yeshiva including the hallways or even in the cars and parking lots. One who violates the takana can not be part of yeshiva neither can they receive a kollel check or have a zchus to eat in the dining hall. Same applies to bochurim as they may not even own a smartphone device at all and any violation, they forfeit all zechusim of talmidei hayeshiva.
- A Hachtara took place appointing Rav Eliezer Cohn shlita who accepted the rabbanus At K’hal Vineyards Of Jackson. The Lakewood roshei yeshiva and other rabbonim were on hand.
- Appliance sale event at Bingo
- AI Stone Suit sale on Vasser Avenue
- An NBC News national survey released Friday found that 40% of respondents said Trump’s presidency was “better” than they thought it would be. Another 29% said it was “worse,” and 31% said it was “about as expected.” Only 14% said Biden’s presidency was “better than expected” — and 42% said it was “worse.” Another 44% said it was “about as expected,”
- Lakewood residents will be close to 300 million in debt after the township committee will vote on over 100 million in infrastructure improvements including giving7 million to Blueclaws stadium. Most of the money will be bonded and future generations will have to pay it back. The town is already in debt by 200 million from the BOE loans
If they would just tax what the properties they gave property tax abatements to they will cover any deficit they have. Fascinating that we get to vote on every new fire truck which cost about 80K and don't Get any say on tax abatements worth millions over the long run....
ReplyDeletei can appreciate enforcement and in general am supportive of our p.d
ReplyDeletebut to go around shabbos and ticketing cars while lpd is aware cant move on shabbos is unfair and a "low move" on the part of lpd
How did it get there the first place?
DeleteNo they are Law “ENFORCEMENT” don’t park were it’s illegal park most places have a do not park sign and the ones that don’t you read the laws when taking a permit test years ago stop blaming LPD for doing a job that they are literally hired for
DeleteWhat phones is the yeshiva assuring? Are the fig flips allowed?
ReplyDeleteCAT and Qin
DeleteWhen is BMG appointing a new mashgiach?
ReplyDeleteAs soon as you're ra'ui l'kach.
DeleteTonight is the litvishe nital, they will all be busy watching the Superbowl instead of learning!
ReplyDeletePeople, we are at a inflection point in history.
ReplyDeleteBritain and France already have nuclear arsenals to deter a Russian invasion. Germany is going to have to build a nuclear force if we weaken NATO. So will Finland. In fact, I can see every European nation with nukes. And then, with the rise of authoritarinism, someone will pull the trigger.
The Germans are already starting to plan for a century of confrontation with Russia. Trump's statement, that if a NATO country does not pay, he will invite the Russians to invade is reckless. What is his purpose other than to bolster Russia?
I am not sure why the economy, inflation or even the border is worth Germany becoming a power again, perhaps a superpower being so close to Russia. They still can make cars, airplanes, and it would not be hard to turn their sophisticated industrial base into a war footing just as we have done in America after WWII. BTW Same with Japan. They do pretty good at making cars, computers or whatever. They will make the WWII Japanese look pre-industrial if they lost confidence in America defending them.
The whole international order that has kept the peace for 80 years is threatened today more than when the Soviets invaded Hungary or Czechoslovakia, or the Berlin airlift. Is your embarrassment of Biden being too old worth a large number of posterity dying to save Europe in a third word war, that will become more likely if we pull out of NATO and leave the Europeans to their own defense?
We should learn from history. Even the Seven Years War, which some say was the real first world war, involved America in the form of the French and Indian War.
Like it or not, a war among the major powers, Britain, France, Germany and Russia will surely draw us in. I see 1920 repeating itself. Wilson though he can bring the fate of an international alliance to voters. Our system of elections is meant as a check upon those who govern, but is poorly suited to make decisions over war and peace, alliances, and most particularly when the war might be decades from now.
I am now convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Trump must be either stopped, or he must recant his position on our alliances. His rhetoric is too absurd to ignore. I really don't care if we have a recession, or whatever hardships, if it will keep Germany disarmed and Russia at bay.
We cannot dispose our institutions and we cannot forsake our alliances. And when will the quasi-alliance with Israel go the way of NATO. Should we leave Israel's fate in the hand of a new European superpower? Europe can and will build itself up to counter Russia. When will we learn that the fate of the world cannot be left in the hands of the Europeans? America is exceptional. America has and must maintain its leadership in Europe.
On the other hand, maybe it will go some good to kill off a couple billion people, perhaps a quarter of our population in another world war. I am almost sure this won't happen if the man is elected, but when words are spoken, then we have to take them at face value.
Please do not reply with the stupid progressive, democrat, name called, casting fingers or whatever. Stick to the issue.
Should the international order be taken down? Should we withdraw from NATO? Should we allow Russia to keeps its gains in Ukraine?
Is Trump a threat to the international order? Will Trump withdraw America from NATO? Will the election of Trump help enable Russia to reconstitute the Soviet Union?
Explain your position respectfully, please.
The answer to your question is that none of us give a flip about what happens in Europe. We only care about what happens in the US and Israel. And for both countries, Trump is better.
DeleteOK So your position is like the position of Senator Borah and the Irreconsilables in 1919. Of course, one reason besides America's isolationism that lead to war was the reparations. So we messed up the world by allowing them and did not defend the Europeans from their own folly, ultimately got stuck in their war, and for good cause, perhaps the highest cause in recorded history. Still how similar are we our choices in America to our great-fathers in the 1920s?
DeleteActually, since the treaty power rests with the Senate, I am not sure that Trump can take us out of NATO. I cannot imagine the Republicans getting 60 seats in the Senate, or holding either house of Congress for that matter. Trump will make trouble, but Congress is ultimately where power resides.
ReplyDeleteTrump will just have to make sure his demand that the Europeans pay up does not lead them to rearm.
I think he is a sucker to the Russians like every president suckered by Putin except Biden.
Biden strongly advocated the war we have now when he was vice-president in 2014 but Obama overruled him. Biden was right and Obama was wrong. Blinkin and Jack Sullivan worked for the VP and together with him were all pushing then to do what we are doing now.
We have to remember that the goal of Russia and China is a change in the world order.
ReplyDeleteAs it has been for millennia, it is East against West. West is the liberal republic (a term of art) and East is communism, sultans, emperors, warlords, kamikazes, Mongols, polytheists.
I think America will be able to handle both China and Russia for at least a century. Of course our allies should pay up, but it has to be the American president, of course in consultation with our allies, that makes the decision for any ally to go to war with China or with Russia.
So you Dems are trying to be your old antagonist MacArthur
ReplyDeleteAs Omar Bradley put it in rejoinder:"The wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy"
A more complete passage of Bradley's testimony:
I am under no illusion that our present strategy of using means short of total war to achieve our ends and oppose communism is a guarantee that a world war will not be thrust upon us. But a policy of patience and determination without provoking a world war, while we improve our military power, is one which we believe we must continue to follow….
Under present circumstances, we have recommended against enlarging the war from Korea to also include Red China. The course of action often described as a limited war with Red China would increase the risk we are taking by engaging too much of our power in an area that is not the critical strategic prize.
-Now go update that back around to the present situation with Russia.
He likely can't remove us from NATO fortunately.He can force NATO to shape up, also fortunately.Spare the long narrative in response about containment et al.
ReplyDeleteWhy is the Democratic party are so belligerent when it comes Russia & so mild vs China? It never was about containment,whatever they claim.Answer:it's ideological
The Republicans are saying not to listen and it is a bluff to get the allies to pay. Let's hope so. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/12/us/politics/trump-nato-republicans.html?unlocked_article_code=1.U00.HZpt.97BZ4LMx_JYK&smid=url-share
ReplyDeleteIf Trump is not bluffing, or if he does not play his cards right, we will be set on a course of not three superpowers, but many others, an arms race, and we will not be boss.
ReplyDeleteDon't criticize the messenger. These are quotes.
"Germany’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, has begun talking about how Germany must prepare for the possibility of decades of confrontation with Russia. The departing secretary general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, said last week that the alliance had to prepare for a “decades-long confrontation” with Russia."
"During the last Cold War, that discussion was quite open, in ways that can seem shocking today. Konrad Adenauer, the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, declared in 1957 that tactical nuclear weapons — the kind Russia has threatened to use in Ukraine — were “no more than the further development of the artillery.” He added, “We cannot, of course, do without them.” In a 1962 meeting he added that the defense of Berlin “must be fought from the very beginning with nuclear weapons.”
"For six decades the United States helped tamp down such sentiments by basing American nuclear weapons across Europe. They remain there to this day. But the value of that deterrent came under question as Mr. Trump — publicly and privately — pressed his aides to withdraw from NATO in 2018."
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/11/world/europe/trump-nato-analysis.html?unlocked_article_code=1.U00.kEj1.7AHYR1BybBQQ&smid=url-share
OK. The first response was that we only care about America and Israel. Apparently, his position is we should wait until the Europeans go on their own, and then blast whoever messes with us or Israel. The problem with that there is a good chance the Germany or Japan will provoke war with Russia or China.
ReplyDeleteAs for the other comment. First, I asked to keep labeling out. Second, MacArthur was careless by thinking the Chinese would not attack. They swarmed across the river. As for Bradley, thank you for his wise words. He criticized Truman's policy and perhaps rightfully so. I take that your position is to keep NATO but to back off from the brink. Let Russia sweat a little but basically stay away from its former republics like Ukraine. I also thought it was a mistake to take the Warsaw Pact into NATO. But what do we do now? Should be our polity short of withdrawing from NATO? I think all would agree that we should not revert to isolationism like we did in the 1920s. We should not allow Europe as a whole or one European country to become more powerful than the others. England sought a balance in Europe for centuries. Will Germany, or a united Europe, or perhaps new Warsaw Pact along with Russia build up? Will we have any say in who goes to war with Russia or China? Will we be dragged in, as we usually are (even the Napoleon Wars dragged us into an undeclared war with France during Adams and a real war with England during Madison)?
You don't change US strategic policy by going to the voters. Nixon did not do that. Nor did Truman. And the 1968 election is different because the American people were well enough informed by that time. When Wilson went to the people, it was a disaster than cost tens of millions of lives. Foreign policy is made by experts. Just the idea of bringing up NATO withdrawal is concerning, but like I said, Congress will not let him pull us out of NATO. It will take a sweeping Republican victory as in 1920 and in 1920 it was a question of forming a NATO (the mutual defense treaty with France was rejected by the Senate) and League, not pulling out. The status quo is to maintain the world order.
ReplyDeleteTo some general extent. Nonetheless so-called supposed experts of recent vintage selected from the echo chamber virtue signal adulating safe space cribs, positing all sorts of class/race prejudices, that a steadfast citizen might be led to wonder how accurate that really is:
Delete“What is pretty much the least chaotic path through our culture? The academic path. Do what your teachers tell you. Get good grades. Go to graduate school and do it some more. Get tenure. It's extremely competitive, but the path is orderly and laid out clearly in advance. Each thing flows neatly from the next.”
-Eric Schwitzgebel
While spoiled with a golden spoon, are they necessarily better than the adroit laymen(fed along by the same civil servants)?
Delete"The worst difficulties from which we suffer do not come from without. They come from within. They do not come from the cottages of the wage-earners. They come from a peculiar type of brainy people always found in our country, who, if they add something to its culture, take much from its strength.. But what have they to offer but a vague internationalism, a squalid materialism, and the promise of impossible Utopias?
A graver elevated concern is that the Republican party are cutting away their pristine umbilical catechism of establishing "a shining city upon a hill"
ReplyDeleteRabbi Y Cohen gets an "A" but not sure the other two commentators get more than "C." They did not say if we should stay in NATO or if they though Trump will try or be able to take us out.
ReplyDeleteOf course foreign policy is made by people who studied it. Kissinger wrote his PhD. on Metternich. The Metternich system was like a Pax Europeana (now it's "Pax Americana"). That is how Kissinger learned to deal with Russia and China.
Kennan got his PhD. on Russia, spoke Russian, lived in Russia, all to further his career in the state department. His achievement was writing, "The Long Telegram," and "Article X," in Foreign Affairs magazine in 1948. He had a huge influence, perhaps more than Kissinger, in the world order since WWII.
I don't think we are going to go down the same road as we went in 1920 since many Republicans are still hawks and together with the Democrats we will maintain the Churchill, Kennan, Kissinger order. I am confident that Congress will not cave in to MAGA isolationists on NATO. They will just let Trump try to bluff the allies, after all, making deals is the business of Trump, into accepting some reforms but the legislators and is White House will quickly backtrack when Trump says the assenine kind of things he recently said.
However, the lack of trust in the professional class and the democratization of foreign policy in our election in 2024 is an error that we already saw in 1920.
How about this? I admit I never read Marx, I am American. I also did not read Hegal but I read greater secular thinkers.
ReplyDeleteHere is the answer to Marx proletariat and bourgeois. Hegel's theory and Marx's foundation is the clash of the classes. Why in the world did Marx not grasp America's answer would be the Professional class? He lived in England. How could he make such a dumb error.
The professional class is the "experts," not proletariat and bourgeois.
Gee, I hope MAGA is not stirring up a Marxist revolution!
The shining city on the hill is part of American Exceptionalism. Gosh, we live in such a stuck up country. I no other country would anyone make the mistake of thinking that everyone in the world wants to be like them. But there is some truth to it in AMERICA and it can lead us astray. We have to learn from Athens's downfall, that might does not make right.
ReplyDeleteBut jokes on all of you! Biden is tougher than Reagan. How stupid for something to think he is with Obama. Clinton, the genius that he is got it right away that Putin was another czar. Bush got it a year after he fell for Putin's fake out acting like he was a religious man, and the man does not have a soul if there is such a thing. "I looked into his eyes and saw his soul." Putin, typical for a Asian barbarian, thought Obama was just a dumb black man, so he did not even bother duping him. He did not need to. When Biden told Obama to go to war, Obama chickened out. And the icing on the cake was Trump. Putin has his tentacles spread thorough the world, especially in America with all the Russian that came in, and the Russian mafia and business interest. Trump totally fell for him and hopefully by today learned his lesson like Bush did. If he did not, and his stupid comments make it seem that way, he should not be reelected. The only person to never play chump to Putin was Joe Biden. That is why Joe Biden, as elderly as he is, has to win.
ReplyDelete"Tougher"? Anybody can score a few once the game is pretty much over & already lost
ReplyDeleteIt is not lost. America will prevail. We will not have a WWIII if we can maintain our leadership in the world. We have the military might, the media influence, the power of the internet, the industrial base, the cutting edge of technology, and not to mention, our enemies are an ocean away. We cannot allow that last advantage to again compel us to complacency.
DeleteAre you saying we already lost to China when our navy is three times more advanced and sophisticated, and we still are the dominant Pacific power?
I am not sure who we lost to?
Fleeing Afghanistan in the night
DeleteYes. And Putin was watching.
DeleteTold you the Republicans in the Senate will defy Trump's isolationism. Free article:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/12/us/politics/republican-defectors-ukraine-aid.html?unlocked_article_code=1.VE0.WUe2.4JPTbqiKKlka&smid=url-share