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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

You usually quote his words for searchability / so we don't have to listen to him...

jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

The bill calls for transparency reports from major online platforms for reporting on how antisemitic content is moderated. But... why limit it? Why not report on how *all hate speech* is moderated (or not) cc: @daniellecitron.bsky.social @arnorosenfeld.bsky.social @counterhate.com

"Direct large online platforms with at least 50 million monthly U.S. users to submit recurring transparency reports to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and publish those reports detailing how they identify, moderate, remove, demonetize, deprioritize, and limit the spread of antisemitic content on their platforms."

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Technically per the NYT terminology it's not an "editorial", it's a "guest column" (formerly Op-Ed)

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Put another way... what is the point of sweating out and pressing for the adoption of this definition when... it barely covers things like this which are summarily declared as anti-Semitic?

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

But... the act of placing a flyer advertising an Israel culture event in a urinal -- and a student celebrating such on social media, seems to elide the carefully wrought IHRA definition. FYI @schraubd.bsky.social

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

One whole verse? And with or without vowels and trope? This week is Achrei Mot and Kedoshim, he's got plenty of good verses to choose from! www.chabad.org/parshah/arti...

chabad.org

Acharei-Kedoshim in a Nutshell - Leviticus 16:1–20:27

On holiness, and love, and holiness in love, and holy love.

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

I have no particular allegiance to Tapper and Thompson, but I'm past being tired of all the bad takes throwing shade at them. Trump's team is on the crazy train, which in itself is a scandal -- But it won't be newsworthy until people start speaking up more from his camp.

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

This again. The book came *after* the election. And the book was only superficially about the state of Biden's mental health -- It was more about his inner circle's denying it. Mental decline in advanced age is inevitable... But cover ups by people who know better is not.

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

And yet, not all prediction marketa performed equally well, and moreover, That's not to say they'll perform as well in the future especially if they get more susceptible to corruption and insider trading. Seems to me, what makes a good reporter is being curious about leading indicators.

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Has anyone asked, or has the Dept of Warfighters explained, what targets are in fact remaining? Certainly it's a big country with a large military but have they put forth any more specifics?

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

I mean, anyone can do this at home, of course

prompt to Claude to come up with a strategy

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

There's no way to go but up in recovery, after all

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Gotta hand it to Hillsdale College for the impeccable timing of their February 2026 mailer @dandrezner.bsky.social @joshtpm.bsky.social @matthew.flux.community @lkrozen.bsky.social

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

And yet they seemed to have had no trouble with it. so confusing...

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

It never fails to amaze me that his public TV image from the Apprentice onwards was his steely ability to fire people decisively.

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

but what about this from... Last week was it?

"Hegseth declares Anthropic a supply chain risk, restricting military contractors from doing business with AI giant."

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Hey it's the reality of political punditry that we're stuck with these leaden metaphors ("kitchen table issues", anyone?). Sure we're all "workers" but "Working class" for a long time has implied physical labor -- which as it takes less schooling, often pays less than has less job security, natch.

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Absolutely, we would certainly love it if the average Trump voter would at least recognize the breadth of destruction that has been ongoing over the last year. I just don't think that's the banner that Haidt has picked up. As a coastal left-centrist, he's not the best messenger for that task.

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

conservatives *by necessity* have to understand liberals to navigate them. GRANTED -- the realization that conservatives *understand* liberals better does not necessarily lead them to support them any more!

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

the asymmetry between conservatives' understanding of liberals and visa versa. And he has found that conservatives understand liberals better than the other way. Its with MFT, in that conservatives tend to apply all the foundations; moreover there's the reality that most institutions lean left, so

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

I'm in agreement with your general thesis that there's moral and intellectual rot in the contemporary conservative movement. And yet -- I would not place Haidt squarely in the movement, and I don't think anyone would. To your point about heterodoxy and its applications, he has in fact researched...

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

This is a strange objection to Haidt (and stranger to label him as a conservative). In Moral Foundation Theory, valuing Authority is by definition honoring hierarchies. What's the difference?

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Not that this matters now, but it seems like at all those fancy salons someone should have advised that the only thing you tell arresting officers is "I say nothing without my lawyer."

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Umm, I don't see how one can conclude that from this. Was it "broken" under Obama? Sure, a multiparty parliamentary system could probably function better and repel authoritarians, but to call moderate Democrats as moderate authoritarians rings hollow.

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Reposted by @jonnygarf.bsky.social

Peter Chatzky for Congress @chatzkyforcongress.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

The ongoing occupation of Minneapolis is incomprehensible, dangerous, and totally illegal federal strong-arming. The federal government is inciting violence for political gain. Mike Lawler, your silence is an endorsement. When will you condemn this invasion of our Cities and our liberties?

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Hurrah to the @mta.info for getting this additional entrance to Grand Central -- the NE corner of 47th & Madison (under the new JPMC tower) completed over the holiday weeks. I saw no announcement of this anywhere. This will alleviate the jam across the street at the SE corner. Thanks!

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

Well, the analogy holds in that Miller presents himself as a skeptic of (contemporary) conservatism in the ways that Weiss presents herself as skeptic of (contemporary) liberalism (without the bona fides of having worked in Democratic campaigns, natch)

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

Yeah that happened, but then enough people called them on it and they said, oops we didn't know what we were doing there www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/n...

nytimes.com

Trump Administration Reverses $187 Million in N.Y. Counterterrorism Cuts

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

True. It might be a worthy joint exercise (and, if we can't manage to do to *that* jointly... what could we do?) Or otherwise approach it from basic principles: don't insult people not present as a form of signaling or group bonding.

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

I'm sure we know people in our extended families and friend networks who post things like "The Palestinian people are a myth" and think that this is a useful statement in 2025... which it obviously isn't. Thoughts? @abesilbe.bsky.social @schraubd.bsky.social @joelhs.bsky.social

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

I asked ChatGPT, which has been a dogged research companion, this question: Does the ADL or any other mainstream Jewish organization have a page about "How to argue for Israel without being discriminatory towards Arabs, Muslims, or Palestinians?" It came up empty. Didn't find anything.

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

I would swear that the ADL, not too long ago, had a web page devoted to Islamophobia. I can't find it now: www.adl.org/global-searc... anyone know where this might be?

adl.org

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

Thanks for this! Closely related to this is the practical imbalance between the time and energy that our community has devoted toward articulating a definition of anti-Semitism (two of them, in fact!) while comparatively zero effort towards defining what is anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, anti-Islamic.

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

but... how is this such a bombshell? In the sense that...if these emails were to Michael Wolff, who certainly had means & motive to hype Trump's Epstein entanglements, why wouldn't Wolff have already quoted these directly in his copious publications on this?

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

He's in a bind, and would face flak from either side based on how he answers. I haven't seen anyone ask that. Granted, the degree to which the NYPD works with Israel won't diminish my own Jewish practice and belief, but, as the saying goes, Mongo only pawn here...

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Has no one directly asked him about the NYPD Israel connections? That's more pertinent than his views on whether Hamas should disarm. NYPD is one of *many* police departments that train in Israel. NYPD has had an officer stationed in Tel Aviv since 9/11. Would Mamdani continue that?

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Thanks for responding. But, yes, he was roughly saying to his supporters: "You have to oppose Israel because they are working hand-in-glove (er, lace-in-boots) with the NYPD." Perhaps he didn't mean it to be classically conspiratorial, but it certainly feeds that. This does raise another point...

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

My own larger hope is that we can get to a place where critics of Israel can thoroughly purge themselves of antisemitism -- along with supporters of Israel recognizing that and moving past dismissing criticism of Israel as wholly antisemitic. But that might be a far-off dream. 8/end

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

I respect many liberal Jewish commentators who have previously shared defenses of Mamdani: @joshtpm.bsky.social @joelhs.bsky.social @dschraub.bsky.social @rabbijilljacobs.bsky.social @abesilbe.bsky.social @msifry.bsky.social and Mik Moore. I would like to here more from them. 7/n

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

So he certainly should be pressed to revisit that original question, explain his thinking at the time, clarify whether he's thinking differently now, and ultimately, convince skeptics that it's not mere expediency that's driving his evolution. 6/n

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

it's clear that Mamdani would like to extract NYC from being expected to have a foreign policy -- not so easy given the UN HQ here -- but, the very context of his NYPD-IDF linkage was an answer to a question from the DSA about localizing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 5/n

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Certainly, the campaign has been sandbagged by many lame gotcha questions (e.g., whether Hamas should disarm, which is obviously beyond the purview of the Mayor of New York). And it was fair for Bret Stephens to write last week: "nothing in the public record suggests Mamdani is antisemitic" 4/n

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Mamdani's *second* response to @cbsnews.com wasn't at all reassuring: "Zohran's position on the NYPD has evolved, he's looking forward to retaining Jessica Tisch as police commissioner, and delivering genuine public safety." 3/n

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jonnygarf.bsky.social @jonnygarf.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

One needn't consult one of the definitions of Antisemitism to see how it's problematic, but if you're scoring at home, there it is, A.2. in the jerusalemdeclaration.org and also in the IHRA as well holocaustremembrance.com/resources/wo... 2/n

jerusalemdeclaration.org

Jerusalem Declaration on AntisemitismThe Jerusalem Declaration On Antisemitism

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