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    Speak Your Vues

    SPEAK YOUR VUES WITH THE VUES MASTER

    Please note that the author of Speak Your Vues is in no way affiliated with the publisher of this paper. The author of this column is an independent third party contributor. The views and opinions expressed by this author may not reflect the views and opinions of the publishers. If one has any issues with any of the views, please write a letter to the Vues Master.

     

    COMMON SENSE

    Dear Vues Master:

    Why was it breaking news this week that The partisan political hack
    group, aka the CDC, advised that anyone fully vaccinated can gather
    unmasked indoors in small groups, as reported on NBC. Where have
    people’s minds gone. Why do we need Dr. Grouchy to tell us what common
    sense tells us.

    DB

    Vues Master’s  Note: Proof that common sense is not common and that
    Covid 19 fears made people crazy!

    GUNS

    Dear Vues Master:

    Pro or anti guns. Democrats must not realize that the right to bear
    arms is protected under the second amendment. It’s a right that is
    enshrined in the constitution. House Majority Whip James Clyburn
    introduced a bill to give federal investigators up to 10 days to
    perform background checks on gun purchases. They’re just chipping away
    at our rights, one bill at a time.HJ

    Vues Master’s  Note: True! But they can make it so difficult to get
    arms legally by indefinitely procrastinating background checks. We are
    living under the Democrats Communist rule. They want to raise taxes
    and allow illegal immigrants and expand welfare until we will follow
    communist Russia and disintegrate!

    BIDEN’S EMPTY PROMISES

    Dear Vues Master:

    President Biden announced that the country will have enough vaccines
    for every American by the end of May-two months earlier than expected.
    Hmmm sounds like a political game to me.

    FG

    Vues Master’s  Note: At that point sleepy Joe will be in one of
    Cuomo’s nursing homes!

    ISRAEL GOVT.

    Dear Vues Master:

    Just another example that the Israeli government is nowhere near a
    Democratic one. The cabinet approved a nighttime curfew over Purim. It
    was in effect on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, 8:30PM to 5AM.
    Who gave them this unending power? Who entrusted them with the
    people’s liberties and rights?

    KD

    Vues Master’s  Note: This is despite the fact that most adults in
    Israel are vaccinated. Another example of over reach by Govt.

    NEW VP RUNNING MATE

    Dear Vues Master:

    According to reports, former President Trump is weighing a 2024
    White House run without Mike Pence as his VP. Good for him! Pence
    showed his disloyalty by abandoning ship when the going got tough.
    Him, Nicky Haley and the others are all-talk politicians and part of
    the swamp that Trump came to drain. Get rid of ’em all and get the job
    done next time.

    GE

    Vues Master’s  Note: I believe Trump debunked this rumor. Mazel Tov to
    VP Pence on his new einikel!

    RESIGN?

    Dear Vues Master:

    Can someone explain to me what Governor Cuomo meant when he says “I
    will not resign, I’m going to do the job the people of the state
    elected me to do.” Does he honestly believe that people elected him to
    kill old people in nursing homes and act inappropriately?

    LL

    Vues Master’s  Note: In his eyes. Look how Biden came to his defense
    to wait for the investigations as we know Biden has plenty of
    inappropriate skeletons in his closet and he knows he could be next!

    RELAXING COVID RESTRICTIONS

    Dear Vues Master:

    If anyone cares about the senile old meshugeneh in the White House.
    President Biden thinks that States that are relaxing coronavirus
    restrictions are making “a big mistake”. Sorry, your opinion is
    worthless to me.

    PL

    Vues Master’s  Note: What can you expect from someone who can’t even
    face the press! He knows that if you relax the restrictions he won’t
    have any excuses and need to face the Press!

    WITCH HUNT

    Dear Vues Master:

    Has America turned into communist Russia where political losers are
    jailed, impeached and whatnot? A House committee reissued a subpoena
    for Trump’s tax records, after the Supreme Court allowed the Manhattan
    DA to get his financial records. C’mon grow up and move on.

    GD

    Vues Master’s  Note: They are so scared of Trump winning again they
    will do anything to keep him out of office!

    SUNNY SIDE

    Dear Vues Master:

    I’m neither pro nor anti the sun, but I would like to point out that
    for all that it’s supposed to be life-giving, it sure seems to cause a
    lot of skin cancer. And 92 million miles away, it is certainly a
    foreigner. Can we trust its motives? Too much sun exposure has been
    known to cause premature aging, like cigarettes. And in some cases,
    people have used the sun to bake cookies. If the sun’s heat can
    denature the proteins in the cookies, imagine what it does to your
    body! Again, I’m neither pro nor anti the sun, and I fully support
    anyone who still believes that it is on our side.

    AD

    Vues Master’s  Note: What about mars and or the moon?

    DRASHA

    Dear Vues Master:

    What do a good דרשה and baking matzah have in common?  They both
    should last less than 18 minutes.

    HU

    Vues Master’s  Note: No That took too long to say!

    ARRESTED

    Dear Vues Master:

    BREAKING NEWS:
    A FRUM FLATBUSH DENTIST WAS ARRESTED FOR SELLING DRUGS! I WAS SHOCKED!
    I’VE BEEN USING HIM FOR TEN YEARS AND NEVER KNEW HE WAS A DENTIST!!!

    CY

    Vues Master’s  Note: Why would he be arrested for selling drugs is it
    not becoming legal?

    PLEASE DON’T CANCEL THIS LETTER

    Dear Vues Master:

    Recently, cancel culture has been spreading across our nation. From
    Aunt Jemima to Dr. Seuss, the slippery slope continues. Our nation has
    many issues to deal with, especially now, but cancel culture is a real
    issue waiting to explode. The idea of canceling a person/brand/idea in
    the mainstream world on a purely legal level is legal, but beyond
    that, it is dangerous. How have we reached a point where we get so
    easily offended that we cancel Aunt Jemima off a syrup bottle?!

    One of Aunt Jemima’s relatives recently slammed the move for erasing
    her image. She said, “This is an injustice for me and my family. This
    is part of my history, sir,” Larnell Evans Sr., a great-grandson of
    Harrington, told Patch.com. “The racism they talk about, using images
    from slavery, that comes from the other side — white people. This
    company profits off images of our slavery. And their answer is to
    erase my great-grandmother’s history. A black female. … It hurts.” The
    intent of canceling Aunt Jemima to be “racially sensitive” backfired
    because Aunt Jemima’s presence on a bottle wasn’t as a racial
    stereotype rather it was a celebration of her legacy and black women
    who did fight injustice during slavery. Canceling Aunt Jemima was just
    one example of cancel culture, many others have since taken place.

    Canceling makes people more interested in the person/brand/item. It
    isn’t truly canceling when people that never would have thought of
    researching a person or buying a certain item, are now doing such.
    Cancel culture is simply virtue signaling. If these companies cared
    about the issues they claim they so dearly care about, then maybe they
    would do some research and donate and volunteer for such causes.
    Instead, though, they put on their moral virtue hats. In the United
    States and the world, many real issues must be dealt with, but to push
    off cancel culture as if it is some fib, is a real mistake because
    before you know it, they’ll be canceling you!

    Sincerely,

    D S G

    Vues Master’s  Note: Cancel culture will hurt even more if we don’t
    learn from the past mistakes it will happen again!

    SCIENCE?

    Dear Vues Master:

    In the 3.3-9.21 edition of the paper, a writer named FG wrote a
    statement that it has not been proven that plants do not feel pain. I
    feel this is erroneous. The book, The Secret Life of Plants, describes
    the Bakster effect that polygraph operator Leon Bakster discovered in
    1966: Plants not only feel another living person’s presence, but also
    when that person is at a distance. Plants responded to other plants
    that were damaged as well as to different types of music! Plants grew
    in the direction of the music speaker when they were near Classical
    music and grew away from the music speaker when rock music was played.

    HM

    Vues Master’s  Note: How does that prove feelings of pain could be? It
    likes one music over the other and it’s instinct tells it to grow one
    way over the other!

    SHOLOM BAYIS

    Dear Vues Master:

    I would like to know what everyone shalom bayis problems are or were,
    and how you worked to overcome them.

    So I’ll be upfront and honest with you even though it may be
    embarrassing. My own personal shalom bayis problems started around 6
    weeks into my marriage. It was our first Friday night home together
    and it was time for dessert. My wife brought out the strawberry sorbet
    in little plastic bowls. “Genendy” I said “you know I only like mango
    sorbet. And also my family serves dessert on china. It is the proper
    way to honor Shabbos”. That sparked a major argument. We only were
    able to deal with it by coming to a compromise; mango sorbet in hard
    fancy plastic bowls. And that has been the yesod of our marriage ever
    since. Mango sorbet in fancy plastic bowls. It works for everything.

    For years we could not see eye to eye about grilled chicken versus
    schnitzel. After extensive (and expensive) therapy, we worked out a
    supper schedule in which we compromised. On alternate weeks, we have
    the schnitzel my wife prefers with the side of my choice, or my
    grilled chicken with the side of her choice.

    This worked reasonably well for years, but then one week we had a Bar
    Mitzvah on a grilled chicken night, which upset the balance. We are
    currently in late stage negotiations about how to recalibrate.

    HJ

    Vues Master’s  Note: The most important lesson can be learned when
    entering the house. There is an argument between Rashi and Tosfas
    whether to place the mezuzah horizontally or vertically, so we place
    it slanted teaching us to be importance of compromise. Most shalom
    bayis problems can be solved by following it.!

    WHO IS THE REAL PRESIDENT

    Dear Vues Master:

    Biden doesn’t remember the names of high ranking members of his
    administration. He can’t do any public appearance without forgetting
    things. He can’t ad lib any speech. His brain is obviously not working
    properly. Who’s running the white house?

    MK

    Vues Master’s  Note: I am not sure who the President is right now, but
    the next President will be serving his second term anyway.

    LAKEWOOD HOUSING CRISIS

    Dear Vues Master:

    This was a letter published on Matzav

    A number of years ago, there was a joke going around about a man who
    built a house on top of Lake Carasaljo in Lakewood, NJ. He was then
    looking to buy a submarine, so that he could rent out his basement.

    With today’s market, it’s not such a joke.

    There is a severe apartment shortage in Lakewood partially due to the
    natural growth of the community and also because of the impact of
    Covid and the fact that many couples who would have gone to Eretz
    Yisroel have stayed local. The shortage is an unprecedented one – and
    so are the rental prices.

    For many years, the Masa Umatan rental listings comprised many pages.
    Apartments in West Gate fetched $6-700 a month. An expensive apartment
    in the hot areas went for $1,100. Today, smaller apartments in less
    desirable areas are garnering $1,200 or more a month.

    “We have never seen anything like this,” a realtor who has been doing
    business for 20 years told Matzav.com. “And it’s not like people who
    can’t find apartments can just go out and buy a home, because, while
    interest rates are low, housing prices have shot through the roof.”

    Indeed, the shortage has driven people to buy further and further out
    into Jackson, even purchasing in Manchester and beyond.

    “Where this will end we don’t know,” said one real estate developer.
    “But the Covid restrictions don’t seem to be ending any time soon, so
    the influx of couples who would go to Israel is only going to grow.
    And even once they go to Israel, the growth of the community will
    require more apartments. We’re in big trouble.”

    A homeowner who has a 2-bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment told Matzav.com
    that previously he was overjoyed to get $900 a month in rent. Today,
    if his apartment would go on to the market, he’d get $1,100 in no
    time.

    Larger, 3-bedroom, 2-bedroom basement apartments, which were
    previously renting for $1,250-1300 depending on their condition are
    now being rented for $1,500 or more.

    “This type of market is good for no one, not even the landlords,” said
    one askan, “because what goes around comes around. When their own
    children get married and have to rent apartments, they’ll be paying
    these absurd prices.”

    It’s hard to believe that just 3 years ago, the Lakewood area had many
    vacancies. In fact, some of the most popular areas of Lakewood were
    not attracting renters. At the time, in 2017, Matzav.com did a survey
    and found that there were over 40 available spaces for rent in the
    general yeshivah area (Forest Avenue, Clifton Avenue, Lexington
    Avenue, etc.) and about 15 available spaces for rent in the 14th
    Street/Hope Chapel area. Coventry had 10 available homes, and there
    were over 90 in the Squankum, Ridge, East County Line, Somerset, and
    Rt. 88 areas. There were 15 vacancies in the Brook Hill/Joe Parker/
    Raintree area, and over 50 in the New Central, Central, and West Gate
    area. As Lakewood further developed, and residents began seeking more
    affordable housing options beyond its borders in Jackson, Toms River
    and Brick, a seller’s market transformed into a buyer’s market. These
    factors – the affordability of homes, the availability of homes, and
    over-development – in part led to hundreds of empty apartments and
    homes for rent.

    That was just 3 years ago.

    Today, it’s a different world.

    Now, in January 2021, it’s a whole different story. One is
    hard-pressed to find an apartment in any desirable area, and
    apartments are usually taken before they even hit the rental market,
    as word of mouth brings the renters straight to the landlords’ doors.

    When asked to predict what the future holds, all of the experts
    Matzav.com spoke to were in agreement that there are too many factors
    that determine real estate markets to be able to have a worthwhile
    opinion. But they were all quite concerned, stating that there is
    reason to be alarmed.

    So, will apartments in Central Jersey become more or less affordable?
    Only time will tell.

    Vues Master’s  Note: Time to move back to Brooklyn