Disqus - Latest Comments for Rosenberg

Re: The Netanyahu Show Is Finally Fizzling Out

Rosenberg — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 17:12:08 -0000

It was quite clear that the reason that Netanyahu addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress was a last ditch effort to kill the Iran nuclear deal (which was disastrous for Israel, the Arab Gulf states, Europe, the U.S. and the rest of the world), not for political gain anywhere.

Re: SXSW PanelPicker®

Rosenberg — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 16:28:47 -0000

There are a number of different voting systems. Most experts agree that the system we currently use (Plurality voting) is one of the worst. It is very important that we all understand how various voting systems work and the pros and cons of each. This will be a very important and valuable session to help people understand different systems, so that they can advocate for the system that will serve us best.

Re: WEBINAR: Reuben and Gad - The Jordanian Jewish Tribes | United with Israel

Rosenberg — Sun, 28 Jul 2019 17:46:04 -0000

Is there a website where all the "Learning Israel: The Weekly Torah Portion" webinars are available?

Re: The Best Cordless Phone | The Wirecutter

Rosenberg — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 19:53:26 -0000

An AT&T customer service agent told me that the AT&T TL96456 is a more modern version of the AT&T TL96273 that you recommended three years ago. The AT&T customer service agent said that the TL96456 has all the same features and the same range as the TL96273. Is that true? The Amazon price of the four-handset AT&T TL96456 is lower than the Amazon price of the two-handset AT&T TL96273. For a purchase made today, is there any reason to buy the AT&T TL96273 rather than the AT&T TL96456?

Two features that I need on a cordless phone are:

1. The ability to "Lock" the keypad so that when the cordless phone is in a pocket, accidental key presses (resulting from an object touching the pocket or the tightness of the pocket fabric) don't have any effect. (I've heard of devices where the lock/unlock functions are preformed by pressing a certain key or combination of keys either for a certain length of time or in a defined sequence or simultaneously.)

2. When initiating an intercom call from a handset, being able to ring all the other handsets, so that the intercom call can be answered from whichever handset someone is near.

Do you know of any cordless phones that have both of these features?

Re: Is It Time To Rethink Voting In Massachusetts?

Rosenberg — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 20:22:43 -0000

Yes, of course any voting system has to be explained in full and complete detail so that everybody understands the rules and they can't be changed (or reinterpreted) during the election season. For statewide elections, we need one system used everywhere in the state. For municipal elections, I'd prefer to allow municipalities to experiment with different election methods (again requiring that they be explained in full and complete detail prior to the election and not subject to any change during the election season). It would be a way to see the advantages and disadvantages of various election methods in operation.

Re: Is It Time To Rethink Voting In Massachusetts?

Rosenberg — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 19:50:18 -0000

Erin O'Brien was asked to explain Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). She correctly explained how a Ranked Choice Voting ballot is marked. But then she explained how a winner is determined with Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). Instant Runoff Voting is one way of determining the winner when RCV ballots are used for single winner races, but it is NOT only one way. Many voting experts have determined that Instant Runoff Voting is not the best way of determining the winner using RCV ballots. A lot of experts believe that Condorcet (with a completion method) is a much better way of determining the winner using RCV ballots.

The advocates of Instant Runoff Voting imply that IRV chooses a winner with majority support. That is not necessarily true. Clearly, if no one won in the first round using IRV, then the eventual IRV winner did NOT have majority support. If some voters ranked the eventual IRV winner as their second, third, fourth, etc. choice that indicates that those voters were willing to accept that candidate. However, IRV doesn't guarantee that the winner will have majority support even with a weak definition of support that includes "willing to accept" as support. In fact, Instant Runoff Voting can choose a winner when a majority of the voters prefer a different candidate over the IRV winner.

I would have appreciated a discussion of the pros and cons of various methods of determining the winner using RCV ballots.

I'm sorry that Score Voting (also called Range Voting) wasn't also discussed.

Voting is an interesting and important subject. Voting is a method of aggregating the voters' preferences. Among the key issues are:

1. What voting method should be used (e.g., Plurality voting, Approval voting, any of the several Ranked Choice voting methods, Score voting, etc.)

2. How honest elections can be conducted without having to depend on the honesty of election officials.

3. How to prove to each voter that his ballot was counted as he intended and simultaneously have a secret ballot were no voter can prove how he voted, even if he wants to.

Re: The Split Screen View in Jerusalem and Gaza

Rosenberg — Sun, 20 May 2018 16:17:32 -0000

The Gazans live very difficult lives (not the elite who live very well, but ordinary Gazans). This is entirely due to the Palestinian leadership (i.e., Hamas and the PLO). While Israel feels sorry for them and would like to help, Israel can't change the Palestinian leadership - the Palestinians have to do that themselves. Clearly, the Palestinians should have the right to resist their tyrannical leadership who takes the most generous humanitarian aid and instead of using it to build hospitals, schools, and houses, uses it to enrich themselves and build weapons and attack tunnels.

The march may have originally been intended as a peaceful protest, but that isn't what happened. Hamas turned it into a violent riot. Hamas used unarmed civilians (particularly women and children) as human shields to protect the armed terrorists embedded among them. (The "peaceful" riot included throwing rocks, throwing Molotov cocktails, burning tires to hide terrorists trying to break through the fence, flying kites with burning tails to catch Israel fields and forests on fire, shooting firearms at Israelis, using wirecutters to try to cut through the fence, trying to burn down the fence, etc.) Israel used all possible non-lethal means to disperse the crowd and repel the invasion. As a last resort, Israel had to use live fire to repel the invasion, thus protecting both innocent Israeli civilians and Palestinian civilians — many more of whom would have been killed if they had succeeded in breaching the fence. Hamas claimed 50 of the Palestinians who died on Monday were Hamas members, while Islamic Jihad officials confirmed that another three of the casualties were members of the group’s military faction.

Re: The Split Screen View in Jerusalem and Gaza

Rosenberg — Fri, 18 May 2018 15:44:52 -0000

Munir; Jordan illegally occupied the eastern part of Jerusalem and forcibly removed every single Jew (either by murder or by forced eviction). Israel maintained control over the western part of Jerusalem and Arabs continued to live there and still do today. Arabs who didn't attack Israel and didn't follow the instructions of the Arab High Committee to leave, were welcomed as Israeli citizens with full civil and religious rights.

There was ethnic cleansing. It was by the Arabs who removed all the Jews from the parts they controlled. Israel welcomed Arabs who stayed. It didn't ethnically cleanse them from the parts it controlled.

Egypt, Syria, and Jordan made war against Israel in 1967. Israel was forced to fight a defensive war to protect itself and its innocent civilians. In the course of that defensive war, Israel was able to liberate Gaza from Egypt's illegal occupation and to liberate Judea and Samaria (including the eastern part of Jerusalem) from Jordan's illegal occupation.

In 2005, when Israel evacuated all its civilians and all its soldiers from Gaza, Gazans had access to visit and work in Israel. Israel hoped that Gaza would be a peaceful neighbor. It was only when Gaza started attacking Israel, that Israel blockaded weapons (and materials that could be used to manufacture weapons) from entering Gaza. Since 2005, more than 10,000 rockets have been fired at innocent Israeli civilians from Gaza.

Israel doesn't object to peaceful protest. Unfortunately, what happened at the Gaza border wasn't a peaceful protest. Mixed in with unarmed civilians were armed terrorists who were throwing rocks, throwing Molotov cocktails, burning tires to hide terrorists trying to break through the fence, flying kites with burning tails to catch Israel fields and forests on fire, shooting firearms at Israelis, using wirecutters to try to cut through the fence, trying to burn down the fence, etc. Israel used all possible non-lethal means to disperse the crowd and repel the invasion. As a last resort, Israel had to use live fire to repel the invasion, thus protecting both innocent Israeli civilians and Palestinian civilians — many more of whom would have been killed if they had succeeded in breaching the fence. Hamas claimed 50 of the Palestinians who died were Hamas members, while Islamic Jihad officials confirmed that three of the casualties were members of the group’s military faction.

Israel uses the Kerem Shalom border crossing to send fuel and humanitarian supplies to Gaza. Palestinian rioters torched the Kerem Shalom border crossing — the third such incident over the past two weeks. The fuel depot was no longer operational, gas hookup stations were damaged and the gas main line was non-operational as well, the fueling complex was damaged by fire and the quarry materials conveyor was no longer operational after sustaining heavy damage. In addition, the electrical infrastructures of produce, food and animal conveyors was damaged and fences, lighting posts and cameras belonging to the crossing's security infrastructures were damaged.

I've read that the reasons Hamas encouraged this are:
1. The Palestinian Authority charges a tax for anything passing through the Kerem Shalom border crossing and Hamas wanted to deny the Palestinian Authority the tax revenue, and
2. If Hamas denies Gazans fuel and humanitarian supplies, they can show the world the horrible condition in which Gazans are forced to live and appeal to the world's pity.

Re: The Split Screen View in Jerusalem and Gaza

Rosenberg — Fri, 18 May 2018 15:42:10 -0000

This comment was intended as reply to Munir Jirmanus and has been moved.

Re: The Split Screen View in Jerusalem and Gaza

Rosenberg — Fri, 18 May 2018 15:03:32 -0000

Nancy: It is indeed terrible that the Hamas terrorist group that controls Gaza has taken the billions of dollars of aid and instead of using it to build houses, hospitals, and schools, has stolen a lot of it and used the rest to build weapons and attack tunnels. Gaza wasn't blockaded until it became a base for attacking Israel. Hamas leaders and elites are enjoying a good life. Many ordinary Gazans are suffering because Hamas uses them as pawns in an attempt to destroy Israel. It hard to imagine how things can get better until Gazans replace Hamas with a group that devotes more resources to bettering the lives of the Gazan people than to their attempts to destroy Israel and kill all Jews.

Re: The Split Screen View in Jerusalem and Gaza

Rosenberg — Thu, 17 May 2018 21:51:12 -0000

Gazans had been free to visit and work in Israel as friends. After Israel entirely evacuated all civilians and soldiers, Gazans destroyed the infrastructure that Israel left for them, and made it into a terror camp from which they fired more than 10,000 rockets at innocent Israeli civilians. The Gazans are suffering under the tyranny of Hamas. Israel treats Gazans much better than Hamas (or the Palestinian Authority) treats them.

Re: The Split Screen View in Jerusalem and Gaza

Rosenberg — Thu, 17 May 2018 21:41:44 -0000

Israel was extremely restrained in doing everything possible to minimize harm to Gazans while doing what it had to do to repel the invasion of the terrorists who were trying to breach the border and attack Israel.

The march may have initially been proposed by a Gazan civilian who wanted a non-violent protest, but Hamas didn't let that happen. Hamas infiltrated the "march" with terrorists and forced civilians (and families) to go to the fence as human shields and "protect" the terrorists.

Re: The Split Screen View in Jerusalem and Gaza

Rosenberg — Thu, 17 May 2018 21:28:19 -0000

The rioting Gazans at the fence were a mixture of civilians and armed terrorists. Hamas bribed families to bring children and women to the fence to act as human shields for the terrorists. The terrorists threw rocks and Molotov cocktails, shot firearms, flew flaming kites, and tried to break through into Israel with knives and guns to kill and kidnap innocent Israeli civilians.

Re: Why The 6th Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism Was a Huge Disappointment

Rosenberg — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 19:21:21 -0000

Was the conference conducted in English? Was there translation into multiple languages?

Re: Jose María Aznar & Stephen Harper: North America and Europe Must Join Israel in stopping Iran

Rosenberg — Mon, 05 Mar 2018 23:00:03 -0000

The Wall Street Journal article is behind a paywall. Instead, you can read it at
http://www.friendsofisraeli...

Re: Cry-bullies: Social Media in the Age of BS

Rosenberg — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 23:10:20 -0000

Ryan, A very good post! There were two minor typos. "whereas banned pro palestinians banned were actually openly antisemitic" - delete the second "banned". "I have done anything wrong" either change "have" to "haven't" or change "anything" to "nothing".

Re: Does Anyone Here Understand How Being A Superpower Works?

Rosenberg — Sun, 24 Dec 2017 20:12:35 -0000

The correct link to Brian's video is
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Re: Please Keep My Wife In Your Prayers

Rosenberg — Sun, 03 Dec 2017 22:19:02 -0000

My best wishes for a full and speedy recovery!

Re: Wait, Really? You STILL Want to Be A Peace Activist? Part 3

Rosenberg — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 12:55:25 -0000

Thank you.

Re: Wait, Really? You STILL Want to Be A Peace Activist? Part 3

Rosenberg — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 23:45:57 -0000

What does "PW" stand for?

Re: Tablet Mag Goes Full Antisemite

Rosenberg — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 12:06:53 -0000

The author of the Tablet article, Mark Oppenheimer, is described as "Tablet’s editor at large". I suppose that means he has some editorial control over the content of Tablet.

Re: Blogging To Be Light This Week

Rosenberg — Sun, 28 May 2017 00:45:10 -0000

Dave, I wish you and your wife the best possible outcome.

Re: The New York Times Wipes Blood Off The Hands Of Arch Terrorist Marwan Barghouti

Rosenberg — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 04:00:12 -0000

Just for your information: I am in the U.S. I tried to play the video and got the message "The uploader has not made this video available in your country."

Re: Udall Introduces Constitutional Amendment To Overturn Citizens United

Rosenberg — Sat, 25 Feb 2017 14:29:02 -0000

What is the bill number?

Re: US House Of Representatives’ Strong Show Of Support For Israel

Rosenberg — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 23:14:42 -0000

The Ed Royce video says that it has been removed by the user, You can try this URL instead
https://www.youtube.com/wat...