Notable Quotes

“Say What?!”

These toads have prominent parotoid glands that secrete a potent toxin. It can make you sick if you handle the frog or get the poison in your mouth. As we say with most things you come across in a national park, whether it be a banana slug, unfamiliar mushroom, or a large toad with glowing eyes in the dead of night, please refrain from licking.

- Facebook post by the National Park Service warning people to stop licking toads in the wild, due to their gland-secreted psychedelic substance that can create a hallucinogenic experience

When you’re as great at basketball as he is, people listen to you… It hurts me that we have to sit up here and talk about stuff that divides us. We have to sit up here and answer for what this idiot has done. I stand for equality of all people.

- Hall of Fame NBA player Shaquille O’Neal talking with Hall of Famer Charles Barkley about Nets player Tyree Irving’s antisemitic social media post

Be right back!

- The now-seemingly prophetic note that was left for Naftali Bennett on the Prime Minister’s desk one year ago when he ousted Benjamin Netanyahu

So, it’s interesting that Republicans are doing something they don’t normally do… What they’ve done is they’ve taught people the word inflation. Most people who would’ve never used that word ever in their lives are using it now because they’ve been taught it, including on TV, including in newspapers. They’ve been taught this word

.- MSNBC host Joy Reid

Yeah, well, I grew up in a family where, you know, if the gas price went up, the food budget went down. So by this time of the week, we’d be eating Chef Boyardee if that budget wasn’t gonna change. So that’s what families have to do.

- Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., in an interview when asked about inflation

No one is building new coal plants… We’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar power.

– President Joe Biden

Comments like these are the reason the American people are losing trust in President Biden and instead believes he does not understand the need to have an all-in energy policy that would keep our nation totally energy independent and secure.

– Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), in response

The President’s remarks yesterday have been twisted to suggest a meaning that was not intended; he regrets it if anyone hearing these remarks took offense.

- From a clarifying statement by the White House

Your feedback is appreciated. Now pay $8.

- Tweet by Twitter owner Elon Musk in response to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez complaining about the company’s new fee for verified users

I think he is the only Republican who could lose. If Trump runs and wins, and he’s in the general against Biden, it won’t make a difference it is Biden – it’s Trump versus Trump; it will be a referendum on Donald Trump.

- Mick Mulvaney, former-Chief of Staff to Pres. Trump, explaining on CNN why he would not support the former president next time around I would tell you things about him that won’t be very flattering—I know more about him than anybody — other than, perhaps, his wife.

- Former President Donald Trump in a Fox News interview warning Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) not to challenge him in the 2024 GOP presidential primaries

Dating Dialogue

What Would You Do If…

Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW of The Navidaters

Dear I am 21 years old and have been dating for a year and a half. Navidaters, Recently, I have found that I have been redt to a few boys as their “first girl.” I find those dates to be very hard because many times the boys are very nervous, and I feel like I have to either lead the conversation or help them feel comfortable in this new situation. Also, many times, even if I don’t think the boy is for me, I am gently “persuaded” by either the shadchan or my family to give it another chance because it was his first date and may not have shown his “real” personality. It’s also probably a bit hurtful if a boy gets a “no” on the first date he ever went on, and so I try to give them a second date.

Here is my question for the panel:

How do I tell shadchanim that I would prefer not to date boys as their first girls without seeming as if I’m being too picky or difficult?

Also, if I do end up going out with these boys, is there a way to make the date more “tachlis” and help move things along so I can see clearly whether or not it’s shayach?

Thank you,

Adina*

Disclaimer: This column is not intended to diagnose or otherwise conclude resolutions to any questions. Our intention is not to offer any definitive conclusions to any particular question, rather offer areas of exploration for the author and reader. Due to the nature of the column receiving only a short snapshot of an issue, without the benefit of an actual discussion, the panel’s role is to offer a range of possibilities. We hope to open up meaningful dialogue and individual exploration.