Year: 2017

Dubious (Bogus?) Haredi Call for Killing Jewish Army Recruiters Goes Too Far

rafifarber Libertarian Halacha, The Jewish Libertarian Blog , ,

I’ve got a Jerusalem Post in front of me, an article written by Jeremy Sharon, actually an old acquaintance of mine. Apparently there are pashkavillim (flyers) going around urging people drafted into the army to kill soldiers with the M16’s they are given at basic training.

Before I go into the legalities of this from a libertarian perspective, I’ll just speculate that this is a scare tactic by young kana’im (zealots) probably teenagers who printed up a few posters that the media is blowing out of proportion. I do not believe that the actual power centers in the haredi community would post such papers, and Sharon’s article admits this possibility.

Some doubt has surfaced as to whether the flyers were part of the central anti-enlistment campaign because its wording is unlike that of standard pashkavillim, public notices commonly used in the haredi community. It was also not professionally printed, as are regular pashkavillim and anti-haredi military service materials.

It could be a false flag, planted by some state operator to cause outrage and deepen divisions, but probably not because they are not professionally printed. So most likely the rantings of an unstable zealous kid who is taking out some angst issues, seized on by the media to sell some newspapers. (I did not buy the Jerusalem Post. My parents are in town and they bought it.)

Be that as it may, the only situation I would say where it is permissible to kill a Jew, even a State agent Jew, is if your actual life is in immediate danger from the person. Otherwise, you can’t just go and kill a person for kidnapping you into the army. Active resistance is OK as long as you don’t kill anyone (though stupid and I recommend against it strongly), and passive resistance is the best option.

If it were a goy army then yes, it would be justified to kill a recruiter because goyim are much more dangerous. With a goy army, your life is in immediate danger the moment you are recruited, since you can be unwillingly recruited into combat. Whereas in the IDF, at worst you’ll be recruited into a useless unit, never by force into combat.

No state agent Jew is going to kill another Jew for not being willingly drafted. He’ll give you trouble, humiliate you, put you in prison, do other bad things, but he will not kill you. Thank God for at least that limit to State power. Cause him enough trouble and eventually he’ll let you go.

So no, whoever kanai printed these pashkvillim. You cannot go around killing Jews for arresting you. I’m speaking from a Jewish perspective here. From a secular libertarian perspective maybe you can (not sure), but Judaism overrides reshus in libertarian halacha. You have to suck it up and passively resist, unless your life is in obvious and immediate danger.

Jewish army recruiters do not pose an immediate threat to your life.

Joe Lieberman is a Hillul Hashem Rasha Merusha Embarrassment to Jews

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog ,

Looks like Joe “Marrying a goy isn’t assur but I’m an Orthodox Jew” Lieberman may be the new director of the American gestapo, the FBI. The head kappo.

A Jewish politician who claims to be an observant Jew saying that intermarriage is fine for observant Jews is, well, stupid, but intermarriage doesn’t really bother me all that much. It’s not my issue. It happens. The Jewish people won’t die because of it. Other people can try to stop it. I’ll spend my energy doing other things.

Lieberman is detestable not because of that, but because of his egging on mass murder and mass police state surveillance. I am confident that God will judge an intermarried peace-loving libertarian secular Jew better than a mass-murdering politician who happened to marry a Jewish person.

Here are some of his worst positions.

Lieberman was a supporter of the Iraq War and has urged action against Iran.

Lieberman has been a major opponent of WikiLeaks. His staff “made inquiries” of Amazon.com and other internet companies such as PayPal, Visa, and MasterCard which resulted in them suspending service to WikiLeaks.

Lieberman led the fight to create a new Department of Homeland Security.

Lieberman has favored greater use of surveillance cameras by the federal government. On June 19, 2010, Lieberman introduced a bill called “Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010”,[which he co-wrote with Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and Senator Thomas Carper (D-DE). If signed into law, thebill, dubbed the “Kill switch bill”, would grant the President emergency powers over the Internet.

Jared Kushner and Yael Trump and Janet Yellen are bad enough. I don’t want another Jew heading the FBI gestapo too.

 

Why Impeaching Donald Trump Would Save Lives, Impeach Trump!

rafifarber Humor, The Jewish Libertarian Blog ,

Because it would give all the kleptomaniacs on Kapitol Hill something relatively benign to focus on. When the State fights the State, we all benefit. So if Trump breathes the wrong way, impeach him. There will be less time for politicians to pass more regulations and taxes. And bomb people. Impeachment saves lives!

Impeach Trump! Let it be a long, long, drawn out process that takes years and years to untangle. Trump can’t start any wars while he’s being impeached I don’t think, not because it’s illegal, but because he won’t have the time.

How could Something Pence be any worse? I really don’t know the first name of that guy. I think that’s the first time I don’t know a vice president’s first name since I was old enough to know who the president was. Dan Quayle I think.

They should impeach Dan Quayle, too. Retroactively. That’ll take up even more time.

Why I Only Observe Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day) Privately, and Not Today

rafifarber The Jewish Libertarian Blog

Today is the Israeli government’s day to give lip service to all the people that were killed fighting in a government uniform. It’s a very conflicting day, and though I do commemorate soldiers who died defending Jews, and give tzedaka (charity) in their memory, I do not do it today, davka.

I don’t want anyone accusing me of spitting on the memory of dead soldiers. I do not. I mourn them in my own way, so get off my back please and follow my reasoning.

The sad fact is – and many people on the left and right will agree factually speaking – that ever since 1967, nearly all soldiers who have been killed fighting have been killed not for defending Jews, but for keeping the regime in power. The 1973 Yom Kippur War was the last defensive and legitimate war, but even so the deaths in that war were unnecessary since Golda Meir, AKA the self-hating misogynist, refused to take preemptive action for the sake of playing the victim and 2000 Jews were killed as a result.

The purpose of Yom HaZikaron nowadays is to cynically exploit the deaths of soldiers to strengthen the political power of those who have it, and to retroactively legitimize needless casualties by making their meaningless deaths seem meaningful for broken families.

Soldiers killed because the government gave weapons to Arabs for money, the government’s fault, and I can’t stand politicians mourning the deaths of soldiers that they had killed. Soldiers killed occupying Lebanon in 1983 when there was no plan on how to stop the bombing of Kiryat Shmonah. Either conquer and allow Jews to homestead the area or get out. But the politicians just had the soldiers stand there like sitting ducks in Lebanon for decades for no reason. And now they self-righteously mourn their deaths. Soldiers killed capturing murderers who are then released in “a good will gesture”. Soldiers killed fighting tunnels that were dug in the aftermath of the Gaza expulsion ordered by politicians. Who then commemorate their deaths in self-righteous unctuous ceremonies and speak about how great their “sacrifices were” when they were nothing but cannon fodder.

A poll is published that one government or another is losing support and all the sudden a war breaks out. And those dead are commemorated in ceremonies.

I mourn them, but not together with the people who sent them to be killed for no reason, who are now using their deaths to get a few extra votes by showing up at government ceremonies.

Those who died in actual defensive wars are heroes. (This includes those who died in defensive operations like Operation Entebbe, which includes Yoni Netanyahu, who was a hero.)

Most of those who died since are not heroes. They’re just collateral damage from political schemes to stay in power.

I mourn both the heroes and the collateral damage deaths on fast days and Yizkor Days, and I will continue to give charity in their memories.

But not today. Today I have work to do.

 

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.

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 $#!+.