Race is the beginning of the divide of one species into two

I see race as pretty important from a evolutionary point of view. That is straight Charles Darwin. Race is the beginning of the divide of one species into two. To try and stop this -to fight nature-is doomed to failure. Another reason race is important is it is in fact how people react to others. A third reason is that there are characteristics unique to different races.





I should expand on each point. The first is straightforward. One species in two places adapts and changes. The beginning of the change is often color as we see with birds. After some time the separation becomes permanent and you have two completely different species.
This happens often in other species. No reason to think humans are any different. Darwin noted this in finches.

The other element of this is Sephardim often react to Ashkenzim as "the other," which makes getting to Israel very difficult. An Ashkenzic Jew often finds in Israel that his neighbor is a Sephardi and then the Sephardi spends all his time and money and efforts to get rid of the Ashkenazi. This happens so much that you could say the main reason Ashkenazim do not make aliya is not the Arabs, but the Sephardim.

Authentic Torah as opposed to religious con men

Religious teachers are the last people to decide what Torah is. .


When talking about Judaism, they are in fact talking about Jewish culture, not about Torah the Oral and Written Law. To conflate or mix up the two is stupid.

Woe to the innocent fools that go to religious teachers for advice..

To religious teachers  religion is about ritualistic behavior and Jewish culture. This appeals to people that are slightly schizo-typal personalities. To others it is all about culture.

To me Torah is about Torah--the oral and written law. Period.

Too many religious teachers are con men that are talented at getting people to believe there is some good deed involved in giving them money. It is because largely they are born into this scam. Their fathers made money by means of using the Torah, so they have to continue in this fraud.

This is very different from those people who in fact learn and teach Torah for its own sake as you find in Lithuanian kinds of yeshivas. But how to tell the difference I am not sure. Or how to give an accurate sign? I experienced the real thing, authentic Torah-in my first two yeshivas Shar Yashuv and the Mir in NY. So I should have been able to tell the difference between the real thing and the frauds and scam artists. But I was not. I am overly naive. Here is a good link to an essay on cults
[These are important ideas that were around in the 1960's but that did not stop problems. Warnings that people did not heed.]

Communism.

There is a lot to discuss in terms of Communism. My basic point of view comes from learning Torah. One of the most fundamental aspects of Torah learning in yeshiva is the "three Bava's" which are about civil law. The main idea that you get there is people have a right to their own property.That idea is already in the Ten Commandments but it gets emphasized in the three bava's. Still to defend capitalism is possible from a purely secular point of view. See Michael Huemer's critique of Marxism. As far as it goes in practical terms there is a lot to discuss. I have seen a lot of good that the Soviets did for their own people and a good deal of the problems that came with the system. And the same for the USA. So to argue from empirical evidence or experience or philosophy is possible but to me it is simpler to go by the Ten Commandments "Thou shalt not steal." That is people have  a right to their own property. 

capable women

I have a lot of respect for capable women. I had a girl friend for a brief time in high school, Wendy Wilson who was amazingly smart. I think she got 1198 out of 1200 on her SAT. There have been other girls I have known like that. I have to say that to me a lot depends on the person and their character. And I have known women that were good at being wives and mothers. My Mom for example. She was probably the  best example of what I have ever seen or heard of in terms of being a good mother and wife. But she was not the only one. I remember the wife of Shmuel Berenbaum at the Mir in NY. It was not just that she was supportive of her husband and children but it was almost as if she was carrying the whole yeshiva on her shoulders. This is hard to explain or put into words. My impression is that attitude and intention is everything. A wife and mother who intends to be a good wife and mother can do so in the most amazing fashion. The trouble with feminism is it took away the desire of women to be good mothers and wives.

Medieval Ethics [Musar

Learning Medieval Ethics [Musar] is what Israel Salanter thought would improve people's character. But clearly he was not thinking it is automatic. His goal was for people to come to fear of God and good character traits. He would have been the last person to claim that these result automatically from learning Musar. To me it seems it depends on intention. Why is one learning Musar. The motivation will determine the results. What works best is to learn Musar in the context of a Litvak yeshiva. This is the kind of group activity which brings it into one's self in a permanent way

Black Violence

Alton Sterling

From Unz :

 He was on his back and his right arm was free and had started to move down toward his right pocket.

“Pinned,” in any event, is hardly dispositive [relating to or bringing about the settlement of an issue or the disposition of property]. Not when you are wrestling with a 6’4″, 300 man who is still struggling against you and has a gun in his pocket.

Police either will not be indicted or will be found not guilty if they are.

The author of that comment is anonymous but he clearly has a background in law because of his use of "dispositive." [Maybe the fellow is a lawyer in the US]

Alton Sterling was a trouble maker. He has been arrested many times. The cops know him and now they get radio traffic that he has pulled a gun on someone. The arrive at the scene and talk to "al" and he will not give up his gun. He will not let them pat him down. He begins to struggle and get loud (usual negro behavior). A wrestling match ensues and they try to Taser him but for some reason that does not work. They pull him to the ground to try to restrain him. He begins writhing and fighting and his hand seems to be around the pocket with the gun. One officer yells "GUN" and they fear he is getting a hand on it. The other cop shoots Alton. He should have been shot. It was a 'good' shooting. You cannot let this angry black get to his gun and shoot you. Blacks get shot because they do not follow orders. They do not have any common sense. They think laws are not for them. They are always angry or sullen at the police and start fighting for nothing. Suddenly,...they are shot and the rest of them go ape. They never learn.


Update:

A second video of the incident has been uncovered, and journalist Phillippe Berry has uncovered a version of this film in 720 that strongly suggests that Alton Sterling’s right hand was not tied up in any way at all.

This unsecured right arm, potentially able to reach the weapon in his right front pocket, dramatically raises the threat to officers. This is looking more and more like a clean “good shoot” as more details emerge.

Gwoobus Harmon said...

So many things to say about this incident. I will start with a funny sidebar first.

I had to drive from New Orleans to the northern part of the state on Tuesday. I took a shortcut off of the interstate and hit a U.S. highway to skip the Lafayette leg of the trip and shave off about 45 minutes. While passing through the tiny town of West Baton Rouge on this stretch of highway, I came upon an intersection for local traffic. There was a negro hanging out on the side of the highway and I was stopped at the red light. I witnessed through my rear view mirror him attempt to carjack a vehicle three cars behind me. The snap of the door handle was loud enough that I could hear it even from that distance and with my windows up. The car quickly cut through the center lane and sped away. He then turned and jogged to the vehicles closer to the light, one of which was mine. I went for my weapon just in case. Then the light turned green before he could attempt to enter the other vehicles and everyone exited the intersection. This was around 3 in the afternoon!

It is a special breed down here! 

I do not think there is any such thing as a person being male becoming female or visa versa. The reason is that the sex is written in every DNA molecule in the body.

I do not think there is any such thing as a person being male becoming female or visa versa. The reason is that the sex  is written in every DNA molecule in the body.

In any case this is in the Mishna. One that has intercourse with a person born with both organs is a ספק חטאת. A case of a doubtful sin offering.