Month: April 2017

Remembering Saul’s First Act as King of Israel – Threatening Livestock

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog , , , ,

I’m reading Shmuel (Samuel) with my kids before bedtime these days. I did the weekly Torah portion with them until we got to Trumah, and then I switched to Shmuel. It is the most explicitly anti government book in the Bible. I didn’t even remember how anti government it was until I started rereading it. The last time I read the book in full I was 22.

Israel didn’t have a government at all until King Saul, and Samuel was quite strongly against establishing a government. Interestingly, most people forget what Saul’s first act as king was. He chopped up cattle and sent the pieces throughout Israel, threatening to kill the animals of anyone who wouldn’t go to fight with him.

Here’s the verse (1 Samuel 11:7):

And he took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout the entire border of Israel in the hand of the messengers, saying, “Whosoever does not go forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall be done to his oxen,” and a fear from the Lord fell upon the people, and they went forth as one man.

You know…he could have asked nicely. He could have said something like, “Look, Israel, your brothers are in trouble. Some guy named Nahash is threatning to cut their eyes out. Please help me fight them and God will reward you.”

But no. He goes straight for the explicit threat of violence. That’s government for you.

It reminded me of the nearly the exact opposite verse about Moshe Rabeinu in Bamidbar (Numbers 16:15):

Moses was exceedingly distressed, and he said to the Lord, “Do not accept their offering. I have not taken a donkey from a single one of them, and I have not harmed a single one of them.”

The context here is that Moshe’s authority was being challenged by Korach and his gang, basically Moshe’s cousins. His leadership under attack, Moshe still did not resort to violence. All he asked was that God not accept their offering. He specifically did not harm their animals, levy any taxes, or take anything from anyone. Moshe’s national budget was zero. Everything given was voluntary.

So yes, the first act of any Jewish government in Jewish history, was the needless killing of oxen and an explicit threat against the property of innocent people.

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Archaeology Hell – Another Way The Israeli State Rapes Us

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog ,

Picture Marlon Brando as the Godfather, Don Vito Corleone. He’s in your backyard threatening you with that calm voice of his. He’s making you an offer you can’t refuse. He’s making you dig your own grave, literally, with a shovel.

Suddenly, you come upon a rare archaeological find as you’re digging. It’s huge. It must be worth a fortune. Well, now you can sell it, pay back your debt to the Godfather, and you’re fine, right?

No, because Vito sees the find and says to you in that same calm voice, “Hey, that’s mine. Now pay me money to dig it out of the ground.”

Now you’re even more in debt and deader than before.

That’s exactly what the State does to people trying to build a house. If they happen to be building on top of an archaeological find, then they by law they have to pay for it to be excavated and handed over to the Israel Antiquities Authority. Or Marlon Brando. What’s the difference.

Normally, an archaeological find belongs to the person who finds it, and that person can sell it and make money. But in Israel if you find one and you’re building a house, you’re totally screwed.

The politicians use the “logic” that if they don’t monopolize antiques then people will just throw them out or use an old mikveh as a Port-A-Potty.

But why not, instead of forcing the person who finds it to pay for the excavation without being able to own any of the capital value, why not just mandate the State, since it has a monopoly on antiques, to buy the site at a value agreed upon by a private appraisal?

Because it’s not about saving archaeological finds. Its about power, greed, injustice.

Only in a Jewish State could finding a priceless Jewish artifact cause the bankruptcy of the Jew who is unlucky enough to find it on his property.

Kim Jong Un for President

rafifarber Foreign Policy, The Jewish Libertarian Blog , ,

Donald Trump or Kim Jong Un, they are both whackjobs with nuclear arsenals. Here’s a novel idea for peace. Trump should fly to North Korea, prostrate himself to Kim Jong Un, and offer him the Presidency. Sure, that’s not constitutional, but neither is anything else Trump has done as Overlord.

Kim Jong Un would be appeased, become president, and nobody in the US would listen to a word he said.

It’s similar to taking the fears of the lefties and righties in Israel to the ultimate extreme. Annex everything and watch the Arabs outvote the Jews and 61 out of 120 MK’s are Arabs and vote to “drive the Jews into the sea”.

So what? Will the Jews say “Well, they have 61 votes, and according to our constitution which doesn’t exist, that means we have to follow everything they say because the State is Holy and We Are All Religious Zionists Now.”

No. Because as much as people believe that nonsense, when it comes to their actual lives, they will throw it out because it is, all, nonsense in the end.

What would really end up happening is that nobody would listen to the Knesset, finally, that would be that.

So Kim Jong Un for president. It would solve all the war tensions and solve a lot of problems with all the Trumpheads following his every command. Nobody would listen to him. He’d be a figurehead and we’d all ignore him.

Disclaimer: I am not a supporter of Kim Jong Un.

 

One Lesson Even I Learned From the Trump Administration About Politicians

rafifarber Foreign Policy, The Jewish Libertarian Blog , , ,

Trump’s latest move in Syria, which was basically to attack Assad who is attacking ISIS, and therefore to support ISIS, taught me one thing about politicians I did not even realize.

The one good thing about Trump, at least what I thought was the one good thing, was that he would not start a war with Russia. But apparently, starting a war with Russia is the first major foreign policy move of the Trump administration.

Well, at least I own lots of gold and silver, and some bitcoin. Here’s Dmitri Medvedev, clearly pissed out of his mind.

That’s it. The last remaining election fog has lifted. Instead of an overworked statement about a joint fight against the biggest enemy, ISIS (the Islamic State), the Trump administration proved that it will fiercely fight the legitimate Syrian government, in a tough contradiction with international law and without UN approval, in violation of its own procedures stipulating that the Congress must first be notified of any military operation unrelated to aggression against the US. On the verge of a military clash with Russia.

Nobody is overestimating the value of pre-election promises but there must be limits of decency.

Beyond that is absolute mistrust. Which is really sad for our now completely ruined relations. And which is good news for terrorists.

One more thing. This military action is a clear indication of the US President’s extreme dependency on the opinion of the Washington establishment, the one that the new president strongly criticised in his inauguration speech. Soon after his victory, I noted that everything would depend on how soon Trump’s election promises would be broken by the existing power machine. It took only two and a half months.

Lesson being, even with aspects about a politician in terms of his moves that you may really believe, and have evidence for believing, he’ll always end up doing the wrong thing in the end. I should not have believed that Trump would not start a war with Russia. I was wrong.

Well, the debt clock time bomb on US Treasuries just starting ticking faster. Who knows if we’ll even last the rest of the year.

Chag Sameach!

Why The Neil Gorsuch Nuclear Option Blather Is So Astronomically Important

rafifarber Humor, The Jewish Libertarian Blog , , ,

Here’s your answer in one line.

It’s not important at all, this nuclear option nonsense. It’s all a smokescreen to distract you from upcoming wars Trump will start in Syria following some nonsense story about chemical weapons, and Trump playing chicken with Kim Jong Un.

All hail glorious leader.

I’m talking about Trump of course 😉

Maybe that was two lines. Point is, if you care about the Gorsuch nonsense and you feel any sort of conviction either way, then you have been officially hoodwinked by warmongers who want to drop bombs just a few miles north of me, and rattle the cages of a nuclear-armed North Korea.

But yeah. Gorsuch. Nuclear option. Filibusters. This is all crucial stuff.

Technically, according to the “International Community” whoever the heck they are, I live in southern Syria, so Trump is, politically speaking, about to bomb “my country”. And Kim Jong Un might actually use a nuclear option for real. 

Meanwhile, there’s Gorsuch. And the wussy “nuclear option” of a bunch of whiny cry babies in suits that their guy doesn’t have enough yes votes.

Gorsuch. Nuclear option. Filibusters. That is really important $#!+.