Chit Chat

By Ted Belman

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Comments that don’t relate to the post must go here.

Any person who contravenes this demand will be put on moderation. Also their offending comment will be trashed.

The reason for this demand is so that people who want to read comments which pertain to the post, don’t have to wade through the chatter.

Everyone will be happier.

April 16, 2020 | 8,875 Comments »

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50 Comments / 8875 Comments

  4. Fellows first “Bear” is the correct spelling not “Ber”

    I got you guys only believe the Russian line and not even conservative media. Fair enough you can not argue the facts because it is clear Russian kidnapped Ukrainian children and they will never confirm how many they kidnapped, so you will not believe it because RT or the Kremlim not confirm it.

  5. @Ber
    From the article you cited below:

    Ukrainian officials say…

    as is indicated here, the MSM is taking their marching orders from their favorite news source, the Ukrainian propaganda machine. You seem very sure of your sources, particularly as this is the same group which had the Ukrainian devotees swooning over the Ghost of Kiev as he leapt onto Snake Island…

    Very much as I initially noted below.

  10. Peloni, you wrote

    @Laura

    Everything about what you write demonstrates a deep obsession with Russia.

    The only one here with an obvious “deep obsession” — with Russia, in fact, is you! You are projecting your own problems on Laura, who, as far as I can see, has two “deep obsessions”, namely, the Jewish people and the US of A.

    Nachon?

    Are you an American, Peloni? I think I asked you before, but I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten the answer. You’re Jewish, of course, first and foremost; that’s a given. But why do you continually dump on Laura’s and my country — and at that, all the while praising the people who hate America, AND Israel AND the Jews! Something is deeply disturbing here.

  11. @Ted, also check FT and numerous other sources. Russians kidnapped Ukrainian children.

    Hit piece by Washington Examiner not all just one of many reporting on this subject.

    I guess kidnapping children and then selling them via adoption sites is okay with you. Not me!!

  12. @Laura

    Everything about what you write demonstrates a deep obsession with Russia.

    Apparently however you accept Russian “reporting” at face value.

    I don’t read Russian reporting, though it could hardly prove less viable than the vaccine advocate, tyranny abiding, election-fraud supporting, Pal championing fake news which passes for news in the West.

    I despise Russians and muslims, the worst peoples on earth.

    I see these two peoples as very different from eachother.

    I’m certain that the putin regime sent those terrorist muslim Russian nationals over here. It’s no coincidence that happened a day before Russian warships made themselves visible off the coast of Cuba.

    Yet you dispute the American coup which was confirmed by those in the US govt who planned it? Well, I would argue that you have a specifically selective spidey sense.

    I would argue that your confessed dislike of Russians has led you to invite them into every topic at hand. Perhaps you or Bear should explain why I should believe the likely propaganda reports of Russian human trafficking is more serious than all the years of Ukrainian trafficking of the past, which we are to believe has been ended with the beginning of the war?

    Nota bene: I find the ‘American reports’ not credible, and likely Ukrainian propaganda, but in any event, where was your sensibilities about the human trafficking before it benefited your hatred of Russia? No, I am not swayed by claims of atrocities by either side. Such things take place in most wars, as war is the purposeful breakdown of society. This is why it should be avoided at every possible cost which is practicable, and why a negotiated settlement should have been struck before hostilities began or soon thereafter. Also, I am not so trapped as others in the memory wars over this border dispute in Eastern Europe, even as it is in fact simply a ruse for the Neocon (failing) attempt to regime change Russia.

  13. @Ber
    Regarding your comment about 380 children. I am having trouble with it because you are quoting a hit piece. I read the Washingon Examiner article you gave in support. it is a total hit piece and not fair reporting. Propaganda in other words.

    The Washigton Examiner, quotes no credible source. For instance, were the alleged 380 children from territory Russian has now claimed as its own.

    This is what Russia has admitted,

    “From April to October 2022, Russian foster families in 19 regions of the country adopted 380 orphaned children and children left without parents’ care,”

    What’s wrong with that?

    This is what you claimed.

    “380 Ukrainian childredn have been verified kidnapped by Russia and put up for Adoption in Russia”

    Rujssia did not admit to kidnapping so your comment is very misleading and not true

  14. @Bear

    Do you hate the Ukrainians and/or American’s so much

    So, hate is not a word which I would use to describe either the Ukrainians nor the Americans.

    There is a great distinction between the Ukrainians and the Americans. In fact, IMO, the Ukrainians as Europeans, specifically eastern Europeans, are given to accepting their plight and managing as best they might while in the grip of tyranny, til a point beyond which they will crack and revolt. Notably, the eastern Ukrainians have not hit this mark as of yet, even as it is clear that they have wanted to undo the trauma which was begun with the 2014 coup, as is made evident by their overwhelming choice of choosing two peace makers in two elections, even as they both turned out to unfortunately be war mongers.

    Meanwhile, Americans are a distilled fraction of Europeans, a group which is known for its pluck, its spirit, and its sense of fairness and its demand of liberty. They have no tolerance for the tyranny which has overtaken them, and I credit their resistance to the tyrants which have oppressed them, while I scorn the eastern Ukrainians’ pathetic acquiescence to accepting the American overlordship which has overlorded over them for the past decade now. Yet, I am most impressed with the ethnic Russians, as they refused to accept the American plot which was leveraged against their nation, and their willingness to demand their rights which were struck from them during the 2014 coup.

    Additionally, while you ignore the role of Ukraine as a well documented human trafficking state, you raise the question about Russia in the same role. This is because it suits your preferred narrative, but I would argue that Ukraine has been too clever by half in plying its fake news as certain fact. Indeed, should we believe the story of trafficking crimes with regards to Russia, crimes which Ukraine has been too well known to have committed in years past, to raise our judgement that Russia is the greater culprit? Is that really the point you are trying to make?

    As I noted before, truth is hard to come by in any war, but in this war it is specifically a rarity. So I will stick with what I wrote in my previous comment on this topic.

  17. Apparently however you accept Russian “reporting” at face value. I despise Russians and muslims, the worst peoples on earth. I’m certain that the putin regime sent those terrorist muslim Russian nationals over here. It’s no coincidence that happened a day before Russian warships made themselves visible off the coast of Cuba.

    There is such irony in the fact that you lost me when using the words “United States” and “credible reports” in the same sentence.

  18. @Peloni nothing justifies kidnapping Ukrainian children and putting them up for sale by the Russians, no matter how much one dislikes Ukrainian’s nor USA.

    FT – Did an investigation and has verified that Ukranian children kidnapped by Russians in 2022 were put up for adoption.

    Do you hate the Ukrainians and/or American’s so much (except for Trump) that you are looking sideways, excusing, dismissing or forgiving the kidnapping of Ukrainian children by Russia in 2022.

  19. Bear

    The United States is aware of what it said were credible reports

    There is such irony in the fact that you lost me when using the words “United States” and “credible reports” in the same sentence.

    Do you know what country was the number one nation of human trafficking in the world before 2022? It was Ukraine. The Trump administration pressed Zel’s govt to crack down on the trafficking rings which were tied across Europe, but with little gain to show for their efforts.

    Of course, this was before the current war between the US proxy force in Ukraine and Russia, in which the worst casualty is the truth. So, perhaps the story below is just another Ghost of Kiev fairy tale, and perhaps it is true. But what ever happened to the crackdown on and concerns about Ukrainian human trafficking which failed to be reformed before the war began?

  21. New information about my mother’s grandfather, the one in the story, who she grew up with in a two family house in Crown Heights. His book is now available online. A commentator from last year – another great grand child apparently – posted the link. Never knew he once lived in Brownsville or that he was a rabbi much less a rav sent to America by the Netziv to regulate Kashrut. I knew that he was a Shochet and that he had been ordained in Volozhin, as well as that he had founded and led the Kosher slaughterers Union and wrote this book in 1948 in Hebrew which is an authoritative history of Kashrut in America still used as a reference in scholarly articles. He was already retired when my Mom was a kid. She told me what she knew. She passed away on the last day of Shavuot – May 28 (her heart actually stopped on May 27th but they brought her heartbeat back, though unconscious, and tried to revive her until the wee hours of the next morning) – last year, 2 months before her 99th birthday. Seems to run in the family. Her great grandfather was 98, I think her brother, who was a famous sociologist, was, too. Nope, 95.
    “All theories have been exploded” – “NIght Song” (1947) dir. John Cromwell, Dana Andrews, Merle Oberon, Hoagie Carmichel, Ethel Barrymore, Arthur Rubinstein, Eugene Ormandy, NY Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall. Now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. My Mom was a pianist too, with a Bachelor of Music in Piano from Bennington, class of 1945, though she had also done voluntary agricultural work for the War effort, as well, on the side, as well as working part time, first as a waitress and then as a pianist and singer of French songs in Cabarets. She would later win an opera Fulbright to Italy and was on Broadway.

    https://kevarim.com/rabbi-avraham-yaakov-koplowitz/

    1

  22. re rock guitarists and lead sheets, not to memntion sleeping under all those
    rocks which reminds me of a couple of ideas for tee shirts I came up with which could be adapted for the IDF, and indeed for all Israelis, for all Jews, for matter for all civilized human beings who understand that Israeli Jews are the proverbial canaries in the
    coal mine, on the off chance the war is to be concluded without victory. Again.

    https://pinchinat.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/a-tale-of-two-tee-shirts/

  23. Michael,

    Re: Yes, very nice.

    My late mother related this story from her childhood to me when I was a boy.

    Now, her father, like his father, was a devoutly literal-minded man like his father who, also like his father, liked to say, “I always say what I mean and I always mean what I say” but with a deadpan sense of humor.

    One evening – this would have been in the ’30s of the last century – my grandmother – the worrying type, she was a Virgo – asked him, “How’s the soup, dear?”

    To which he replied solemnly

    – it had always been his ambition to be a judge, he was a lawyer, though he had worked first as an English teacher and then a high school principle in the New York Public School system after graduating from Columbia College in 1910 and then Columbia law school class of 1913 – he had been born in Vilna in 1887 but came here when he was a year old and grew up in different parts of New York – he lived on a farm across the street from Columbia University when he was 13 in 1900! – but he believed that never had happened or would happen because he was too honest – this was after the Seabury trials –

    “Not bad.”

    “What do you mean? What’s wrong with it?” she anxiously queried.

    “Why nothing, dear.” He said slowly and deliberately with a deadpan expression but a twinkle in his eye.

    “I said it was ” Not/Bad.”

    😀

    —

    Incidentally, re “the lead tablets…” I don’t recall the documentary – I’ve seen others on this subject, as well – saying the tablets were made of lead. Might explain why Moses was so grouchy hauling them around not to mention rock guitarists playing from and doubtless sleeping under lead sheets.

    You know this scene also marked the birth of modern medicine when God said to Moses, “Take two tablets and call on me in the morning.”

    —

    I had a girlfriend who hated the word, “nice.”
    Needless to say, she wasn’t very nice. 😀

  24. Laura

    Kremlin-induced spin

    Loved that turn of phrase so I was inspired to google: Russian dreidel. And some stunning images showed up.
    Be sure and click on “more images” for expanded view.
    https://www.google.com/search?q=russian+dreidel&rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS790US791&oq=russian+dreidel&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTINCAEQABiGAxiABBiKBTINCAIQABiGAxiABBiKBTIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRigATIHCAUQIRigATIHCAYQIRigATIHCAcQIRigATIHCAgQIRifBTIHCAkQIRifBdIBCDc2MDZqMGo3qAIKsAIB&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

  26. Napoleon was attacked (and defeated) by a horde of rabbits.

    Not a joke.

    https://historyfacts.com/famous-figures/fact/napoleon-was-attacked-and-defeated-by-a-horde-of-rabbits/

    Joke

    https://www.google.com/search?q=monty+python+killer+rabbits&rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS790US791&oq=monty+python+killer+rabbits&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCggAEAAY4wIYgAQyCggAEAAY4wIYgAQyBwgBEC4YgAQyCAgCEAAYFhgeMggIAxAAGBYYHjIICAQQABgWGB4yCAgFEAAYFhgeMggIBhAAGBYYHjIICAcQABgWGB4yCAgIEAAYFhgeMggICRAAGBYYHtIBCTEwMDY5ajBqNKgCCbACAQ&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#wptab=si:ACC90nxAHrInVEcjasiFOJd3T0BSx1l8-3GnIvMMlxgboSkRXYUj_xmmcF96IMM2KBR6tgXBT_cpQ8DjcRWMNM3DnG7FvVX5d94Xucv-0rPgnmla6mzB8KH7gaE5dqcQ0JiyoSqetI8pb

    Even more interesting

    “What is the Rabbit of Caerbannog a reference to?
    The idea of the rabbit in the Monty Python movie was inspired by the façade of Notre Dame de Paris, which depicts the weakness of cowardice with a knight fleeing from a rabbit.
    https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › R…
    Rabbit of Caerbannog – Wikipedia”

  28. Hi, Sebastien.

    re “Yes, very nice”, I got a little time to look closely at the lead tablets. The discoverer and publisher gives further elucidation of them, from one year later. I had trouble making out the writing earlier, and for good reason: It was written in a PROTO-alphabetic script from approx. 1400 BCE. What’s more, the tablets were written on the inside and outside, and scanned with tomagraphy. The most important elements were:

    1. the word “YHV” (Roman transliteration), which indicates that the scribes were Hebrews,
    2. the various evidences that the date of writing was circa 1400-1200 BCE,
    3. finding the tablets in the siftings taken from the altar, a plaister-on-rough stone altar, as described in the Bible, where
    4. only bones of kosher animals were found.

    Also mentioned in this video, were two small silver tablets retrieved from an intact grave in the Valley of Hinnom. They were of the Aaronic blessing (Deut. 6), and found in the oldest section of the family tomb, and dated from the First Temple period.

    These and other very recent archaeological finds all add proof of Jewish Hebrew occupation of Jerusalem and Samaria, centuries before the Muslim occupation.

    https://youtu.be/_15tYO4hqJA

    1

  29. @EvRe1 Wow!

    People also ask
    Are there places without internet?
    There are a few places left where cable, wireless or satellite signals do not reach. Deep caves like Georgia’s Krubera Cave, which reaches 5,610 feet (1,710m) underground, for one, would likely be devoid of service – it’s the deepest cave on Earth.Feb 13, 2014
    https://www.bbc.com › article › 20…
    The last places on Earth without the internet – BBC

  30. Complete non sequitur but a German composer I know reposted the on FB and I was touched so I decided to share it.

    In 1892 at Stanford University, an 18-year-old student was struggling to pay his fees. Being an orphan and unsure of where to turn for money, he came up with a bright idea. He and a friend decided to host a musical concert on campus to raise money for their education. They reached out to the renowned pianist Ignacy J. Paderewski. His manager demanded a guaranteed fee of $2000 for the recital. A deal was made, and the boys began working hard to make the concert a success.

    The big day arrived, but unfortunately, they hadn’t sold enough tickets. The total collection was only $1600. Disappointed, they went to Paderewski and explained their situation. They gave him the entire $1600, along with a check for the remaining $400, promising to honor the check as soon as possible.

    “No,” said Paderewski. “This is not acceptable.” He tore up the check, returned the $1600, and told the two boys, “Here’s the $1600. Please deduct your expenses. Keep the money you need for your fees, and just give me whatever is left.” The boys were astonished and thanked him profusely. It was a small act of kindness, but it clearly marked Paderewski as a great human being.

    Why did he help two strangers? We all face similar situations in life, and most of us think, “If I help them, what will happen to me?” Truly great people think, “If I don’t help them, what will happen to them?” They help not expecting anything in return but because they feel it’s the right thing to do.

    Paderewski later became the Prime Minister of Poland. He was a great leader, but during World War I, Poland was devastated, with over 1.5 million people starving and no funds to feed them. Desperate, Paderewski turned to the US Food and Relief Administration for help. He reached out to Herbert Hoover, who later became the US President. Hoover agreed to help and quickly shipped tons of food to feed the starving Polish people. The calamity was averted.

    Paderewski, relieved, decided to meet Hoover personally to thank him. When he began to express his gratitude, Hoover interjected, “You shouldn’t be thanking me, Mr. Prime Minister. You may not remember, but years ago, you helped two young students through college. I was one of them.”

  31. US going to separately negotiate with Hamas for the five hostages that also have American citizenship.

    What type of horrible things will the US demand of Israel to give Hamas for the release?

  34. Sebastien, have you seen this?

    https://youtu.be/wWlKg9g1IXs

    It is an interview between an American and an Israeli tour guide, about the recent history of excavations on Mt. Ebal — including Joshua’s altar, and the inscribed lead tablets found in the siftings (saud ti cintain the wiord “YHV” in Old Hebrew characters.

    During the last century, before any of these new finds were discovered, I read the translations of the Tel-el-Amarna ostracons, which mentioned an “Apiru” (Hebrew) leader in Sch’chem named “Labayu” (Levi). This seemed to me, to recall a pre-Egyptian connection between the tribe of Levi and Sch’chem.

  35. Steve Bannon is a great friend of Israel. More info in article.

    Steve Bannon Wanted to Move U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem on Trump’s Inauguration Day
    By Rabbi Elie Mischel – 1 Sivan 5784 – June 7, 2024

    https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/steve-bannon-wanted-to-move-u-s-embassy-to-jerusalem-on-trumps-inauguration-day/2024/06/07/

    Steve Bannon Sentenced to 4 Months in Prison for Contempt of Congress

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/steve-bannon-sentenced-to-four-months-in-prison-for-contempt-of-congress-4811779

  36. @Sebastien

    It was reported the U.S. requested Ganz stay.

    Yes, it was, but Gantz was supposedly disregarding the American request that he stay and was scheduled to leave this evening after a televised address which he unfortunately cancelled. Personally, I don’t believe that Gantz would have bolted from the govt without gaining the support from the Americans that he do so. The report of the US requesting him to do otherwise doesn’t pass the laugh test, IMO. The purpose of him remaining in the govt was to advance unity, but instead of this he has played the ever-present role of a fifth column within the govt, making every attempt to destabilize the govt and most recently derail the war. This is not unity, but divisiveness. His exit will stabilize the govt and empower the Right, even as he will openly join the Kaplan forces in the streets and the US regime change effort in full.

    Hopefully he will reschedule his departing blow for tomorrow or sooner.

  42. @Bear

    That would be Russia and not the USA.

    Actually, it was the USA which placed the most severe sanctions in history on Russia with a carve out which exempted Russian-Iranian trade related to the Iranian nuclear program, which I have noted to you multiple times.

  44. @Laura

    The current WH is evil, but this is NOT an evil country.

    And yet the US govt has supported the evil Mullahs for forty years. From destabilizing the Shah, to suppying them with weapons, to supplying them with cash, to suppying them cover for their nuclear program, to supporting them in their development of the crescent of evil all across the ME. So it isn’t just this current WH which is evil is it?

    1

  45. @Laura I concur with you. Reminds of in the 1930s there were some Americans who identified with the original NAZI’s. It is appears some who post here identify with the Russians and Putin.

  47. The current WH is evil, but this is NOT an evil country. Russians however are evil and would support the destruction of Israel and Jewish genocide.

    Raphael
    JUNE 5, 2024 AT 10:05 AM
    I read several articles in today’s Israpundit, which left me aghast. The length, breadth, and depth of the evil in this country is astonishing. You encounter it no matter where you look. We as a nation must fall, but what will happen to the good people, and their families? The future of civilization is in mortal peril.

  48. Yet more anti-Americanism. You too are a disgrace Raphael. No wonder I stayed away from israpundit for quite a while. I come back and the anti-Americanism hasn’t abated. Yet this is the only country in the world that is pro-Israel. I’m not talking about the government or WH. I’m talking about average citizens and their representatives, at least the GOP ones. There is not a more pro-Israel nation than the USA and you people want to throw that away and for antisemitic Russia which has zero pro-Israel constituency. Be careful what you wish for, fools.

    Raphael
    JUNE 5, 2024 AT 10:05 AM
    I read several articles in today’s Israpundit, which left me aghast. The length, breadth, and depth of the evil in this country is astonishing. You encounter it no matter where you look. We as a nation must fall, but what will happen to the good people, and their families? The future of civilization is in mortal peril.