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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 1h

Her digital strategy has been non-existent, but she has been ALL over the state meeting with different groups that will be essential for GOTV.

I think her campaign is depending on maximizing their ground game in strong Dem areas, I just wish that they had also invested SOMETHING on new blocs.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 1h

He wasn't going to get anywhere in the Presidential regardless - his shtick just doesn't play well when ALL people know is the shtick.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 1h

We all know who he is. He's maybe vulnerable to a particularly strong primary challenger but otherwise he's pretty secure. Keep in mind that we're still a machine state and the machine LOVES Booker.

Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 1h

I predict that this will have a near zero effect on how Booker does against a potential primary challenger in the future.

He wasn't going to win the presidential nomination anyway, so it's irrelevant there.

I'll be interested to see whether he or his staff do anything at all.

Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 1h

Glad it's not a break, though soft tissue can take a long time to properly heal.

Hope you can take it easy for a day and just let things heal.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 1h

Since we're still something of a pay to play state, an ambassadorship - even for a terrible human being - is a small price to pay.

Will I vote against him should he draw a better primary opponent? Absolutely!

Am I calling for his head? No.

Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 1h

Booker has always been a conventional NJ machine Dem who is good at doing/saying inspirational things.

I also think that he's very comfortable with who he is and what type of politics he plays.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 2h

However, even limited to modern day, the US has often contributed to or exacerbated violence and oppression in the region, but we are far from the only source. I reject the idea that we are the ONLY ones with any culpability.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 2h

The OP was about the Middle East.

You didn't specify "modern" in your comment and I can't read your mind to understand that you meant "in the years since the World Wars".

I have no illusions about US history, especially in relation to chattel slavery, enslaved Africans, etc, including now.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 6h

You were commenting on someone saying "long history" when the US involvement there has been barely a drop in the bucket of history.

I also have trouble accepting arguments that give zero agency to the locals even if outside powers are involved.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 6h

Today, yes, but there was plenty of bloodshed way before Islam was even an idea.

Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 8h

Love that book.

When I was regularly doing storytelling I had my own oral version of "Hovering Over The Pit" in regular rotation.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 8h

My father used to teach this one, so if you'd like I can find out the name.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 8h

If you are interested there was a responsa that explored this question but from a different angle.

Is the child of Jews who was raised Catholic by Polish parents (due to the Shoah) considered to be halakhically Jewish?

The person in question was even a Cardinal.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 8h

I also disagree with you about the archaeological evidence about the sources of violence. The locals fought each other plenty in the Levant between (and even during) imperial rule.

Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 8h

My disagreement is your use of "Western culture". That concept doesn't even exist until after the middle ages.

Also:
While Greece and Rome came from west of the Middle East, just about every other empire that held sway there was either local (say, Turkey down to Egypt) or from the east.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 9h

You seem to be harboring a lot of hate - I'm sorry that your life experiences have pushed you in that direction.

I hope that whoever caused you pain faces justice at some point.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 9h

I am so sorry - refua shleima and I hope urgent care can figure things out.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 9h

In the world of the archaeological record and known history.

Verifiable facts exist and are easy to find.

Also - demons? In what way?

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 9h

Beer was invented in the region.

There were plenty of wars and bloodshed way before Judaism showed up, let alone Islam and Christianity.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 9h

The USA was barely a player there until we became a superpower post WWII.

The region has been the site of bloody wars between empires going back to before the Bronze Age.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 9h

There are entire civilizations from that area in the archaeological record that thrived for a time but ultimately ended in fire (as in, they find a layer of ash and then no more of that group).

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 9h

Without being a historian, just someone interested in history, I can rattle off 7 or 8 different empires off the top of my head that fought over that area at one point or another in the past 2500 years.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 9h

As for what you said about Western culture and the last 100 years, neither is really borne out by the history.

The Levant is an amazing area for both sea and land trade AND it's been a religious center since at least the Iron Age. Empires were constantly exerting power there in often bloody wars.

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Strong Jersey איתן @eitang.bsky.social · 9h

The area we call the Middle East was where the Western and Eastern empires met. North Africa and up the Mediterranean coast to Lebanon were the West while Turkey and areas inland from the Med coast were East.

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