50 votes

A secret tunnel in a NYC synagogue leads to a brawl between police and worshippers

48 comments

  1. [30]
    Comment deleted by author
    Link
    1. [3]
      Sodliddesu
      Link Parent
      If you have an acre in the countryside and want to dig yourself a network of spider tunnels to cosplay the NVA, knock yourself out. If you're in a highly populated area with very large buildings...

      Personally, I support tunneling without a permit.

      If you have an acre in the countryside and want to dig yourself a network of spider tunnels to cosplay the NVA, knock yourself out.

      If you're in a highly populated area with very large buildings and lots of underground utility works, get a permit and dial before you dig so that no one gets hurt.

      I'm sure that a reasonably uneducated person could build a perfectly cromulent tunnel with a pick and shovel - but when educated people are building things to precise codes and calculations and expect there to not be a hodgepodge of makeshift tunnels under the ground, people get hurt.

      Again, they can go buy some land in rural PA if they want to dig like it's Minecraft but when you live in a highly populated area you have to consider everyone when you take actions.

      39 votes
      1. [2]
        steezyaspie
        Link Parent
        I'm reasonably confident that was a joke on /u/Gunbudder 's behalf...

        I'm reasonably confident that was a joke on /u/Gunbudder 's behalf...

        17 votes
        1. [2]
          Comment deleted by author
          Link Parent
          1. steezyaspie
            Link Parent
            Same where I live, for the most part. That's pretty different than digging an illegal and unsafe tunnel/building expansion under neighboring buildings in the middle of a city.

            Same where I live, for the most part.

            That's pretty different than digging an illegal and unsafe tunnel/building expansion under neighboring buildings in the middle of a city.

            2 votes
    2. first-must-burn
      Link Parent
      Sarcastic or not this gave me a laugh I needed. They say everyone on the Internet is a bot except for me. Today I learned that some of them are gophers with cell phones.

      Sarcastic or not this gave me a laugh I needed.

      They say everyone on the Internet is a bot except for me. Today I learned that some of them are gophers with cell phones.

      32 votes
    3. [17]
      SloMoMonday
      Link Parent
      First I'm hearing about the crazy engineer (software) lady digging under her house; then the guy who made an eel pit in his basement, the Hasidic tunnels of New York and last week some guy in my...

      First I'm hearing about the crazy engineer (software) lady digging under her house; then the guy who made an eel pit in his basement, the Hasidic tunnels of New York and last week some guy in my area spent the entire day drilling through his driveway because they are convinced we are on a gold deposit.

      It seems like everyone is rediscovering the joys of rejecting modernity and returning to tunnel. If we can't find the holes that were made for us, we must make them ourselves.

      17 votes
      1. [14]
        Mendanbar
        Link Parent
        I certainly hope I never find the hole made for me. 😬

        I certainly hope I never find the hole made for me. 😬

        6 votes
        1. [13]
          Gramage
          (edited )
          Link Parent
          The Enigma of Amigara Fault Remember to read the frames right to left as it's originally in Japanese! Edit: Apparently that link isn't working for others so here's a different one:...

          The Enigma of Amigara Fault

          Remember to read the frames right to left as it's originally in Japanese!

          Edit: Apparently that link isn't working for others so here's a different one: https://imgur.com/a/Wht7z

          3 votes
          1. [3]
            PuddleOfKittens
            Link Parent
            Warning: that thing is disturbing and I regret reading it (and I personally recommend you all skip it). Thankfully that was a couple of years ago and I've mostly forgotten it.

            Warning: that thing is disturbing and I regret reading it (and I personally recommend you all skip it). Thankfully that was a couple of years ago and I've mostly forgotten it.

            6 votes
            1. [2]
              cfabbro
              (edited )
              Link Parent
              It was definitely deeply disturbing, but I still really enjoyed reading it, since I love dark, psychological horror stories, and it was an exceptionally creative one, IMO. Your warning is still...

              It was definitely deeply disturbing, but I still really enjoyed reading it, since I love dark, psychological horror stories, and it was an exceptionally creative one, IMO. Your warning is still well worth voicing though, since I'm pretty sure it's an allegory for drug addiction and/or suicide, which might be triggering for some people.

              2 votes
              1. Gramage
                Link Parent
                Just seems like a really creepy fantasy horror thing to me, but yes it is pretty terrifying.

                Just seems like a really creepy fantasy horror thing to me, but yes it is pretty terrifying.

                1 vote
          2. [9]
            DeaconBlue
            Link Parent
            I don’t think you meant to link to laundry tips.

            I don’t think you meant to link to laundry tips.

            7 votes
            1. [8]
              Gramage
              Link Parent
              Laundry tips?

              Laundry tips?

              1. [7]
                MimicSquid
                Link Parent
                Check your link.

                Check your link.

                1. [6]
                  Gramage
                  Link Parent
                  Just did, it takes me to the manga I wanted to post. Is it overrun with ads or something? I'll update it with a better link lol. https://imgur.com/a/Wht7z

                  Just did, it takes me to the manga I wanted to post. Is it overrun with ads or something? I'll update it with a better link lol.

                  https://imgur.com/a/Wht7z

                  1 vote
                  1. [5]
                    MimicSquid
                    Link Parent
                    The URL I can see in your link is: https://www.greenhomestyle.com/statuses/10569.html I'm not sure why you're seeing something different.

                    The URL I can see in your link is: https://www.greenhomestyle.com/statuses/10569.html I'm not sure why you're seeing something different.

                    5 votes
                    1. [4]
                      Crespyl
                      Link Parent
                      Just as another data point, I also see the same behavior, the original link is to laundry tips. Weird.

                      Just as another data point, I also see the same behavior, the original link is to laundry tips.

                      Weird.

                      2 votes
                      1. [3]
                        Gramage
                        Link Parent
                        Well, that's really friggin weird. My original link still takes me to the comic. https://i.imgur.com/JZevkNh.png

                        Well, that's really friggin weird. My original link still takes me to the comic.

                        https://i.imgur.com/JZevkNh.png

                        1 vote
                        1. [2]
                          Crespyl
                          Link Parent
                          The URL bar in your screenshot still reads greenhomestyle.com, maybe you have an extension somewhere causing problems?

                          The URL bar in your screenshot still reads greenhomestyle.com, maybe you have an extension somewhere causing problems?

                          2 votes
                          1. Gramage
                            Link Parent
                            Super weird. Now it takes me to the laundry tips. Haven't added or removed or disabled any addons in the meantime.

                            Super weird. Now it takes me to the laundry tips. Haven't added or removed or disabled any addons in the meantime.

                            1 vote
      2. Fiachra
        Link Parent
        It's the year of the tunnel! Long may it continue

        It's the year of the tunnel! Long may it continue

        1 vote
    4. vektor
      Link Parent
      Digging a Tunnel by Every Bloke Ever More from the series of "Seemingly pointless activities that brought us civilization" by various authors: Nurturing random plants. IDK why, it seemed like a...

      Digging a Tunnel

      by Every Bloke Ever

      More from the series of "Seemingly pointless activities that brought us civilization" by various authors:

      • Nurturing random plants. IDK why, it seemed like a nice distraction
      • Capturing wild animals because why not
      • Making rocks really hot to see what will happen
      • Just talking at people until they figure out your words
      • Useful applications of Pyromania
      • Fucking around, generally

      I think all those urges/instincts are present in humanity because they helped us progress from monkey to civilization. You can't convince me otherwise.

      14 votes
    5. [2]
      leaK_u
      Link Parent
      Just for the record the Dick Stroker (Richard Strocher) guy is just a joke screenshot of a fake tweet. I'm only clarifying this because I've seen multiple videos of "tiktok influencers"...

      Just for the record the Dick Stroker (Richard Strocher) guy is just a joke screenshot of a fake tweet. I'm only clarifying this because I've seen multiple videos of "tiktok influencers" "apologising" to him and giving him legitimacy. Jokes can be funny when they are clearly meant to be jokes, but people are incredibly gullible.

      12 votes
      1. saturnV
        Link Parent
        Also a mega antisemitic far right troll btw, check his twitter bio

        Also a mega antisemitic far right troll btw, check his twitter bio

        7 votes
    6. Mendanbar
      Link Parent
      I've been stuck in the airport all day after a series of canceled flights and this post was just the pick me up I needed. I might just start a tunnel when I get home.

      I've been stuck in the airport all day after a series of canceled flights and this post was just the pick me up I needed. I might just start a tunnel when I get home.

      5 votes
    7. tanglisha
      Link Parent
      I wish I'd had a class like this in school. I've been looking into building a greenhouse with geothermal heating and am pretty sure I'd collapse my yard in the process.

      I wish I'd had a class like this in school. I've been looking into building a greenhouse with geothermal heating and am pretty sure I'd collapse my yard in the process.

      4 votes
  2. [6]
    horrible
    Link
    Calling it a "brawl" is, uh. Way overstating it. The bigger story is how this instantly became a wave of conspiracy blood libel that overwhelmed twitter, showing succinctly why no serious person...

    Calling it a "brawl" is, uh. Way overstating it.

    The bigger story is how this instantly became a wave of conspiracy blood libel that overwhelmed twitter, showing succinctly why no serious person should be using the site any more.

    39 votes
    1. [2]
      skybrian
      Link Parent
      People's reactions to a story are bigger news than the story? I suppose sometimes that's true, but if you're not reading certain parts of Twitter then you wouldn't know it. (No sign in my Twitter...

      People's reactions to a story are bigger news than the story? I suppose sometimes that's true, but if you're not reading certain parts of Twitter then you wouldn't know it. (No sign in my Twitter feed, which is carefully curated.)

      10 votes
      1. horrible
        Link Parent
        I mentioned twitter because that's generally the worst of it, but I've also seen it on insta and tumblr as well. The rapid spread of timeworn antisemitic conspiracies definitely feels like a more...

        I mentioned twitter because that's generally the worst of it, but I've also seen it on insta and tumblr as well.

        The rapid spread of timeworn antisemitic conspiracies definitely feels like a more significant story to me than the (admittedly humorous) illegal excavation that they latched onto.

        9 votes
    2. [2]
      LorenzoStomp
      Link Parent
      Yeah my 23 yr old coworker, who from the questions he asks on a daily basis I can only assume has led a very sheltered life, came up to me yesterday to ask me if I'd heard about the Jewish human...

      Yeah my 23 yr old coworker, who from the questions he asks on a daily basis I can only assume has led a very sheltered life, came up to me yesterday to ask me if I'd heard about the Jewish human trafficking tunnels riddling New York City. I was in the middle of handling several time-sensitive issues so I just gave him a bland "wow that's crazy" but I guess we're gonna have to have the whole check-your-sources talk. The other day he was going on about aliens at a mall in Miami so he obviously lacks the ability to smell test things he sees on social media.

      16 votes
      1. mild_takes
        Link Parent
        Did you hear or see the stuff about the Miami mall aliens? Its as BS as it gets.

        Did you hear or see the stuff about the Miami mall aliens? Its as BS as it gets.

  3. [2]
    saturnV
    Link
    A summary of what wikipedia says is that there are 2 groups in the synagogue fighting over ownership, and the ones who currently do not legally own it (the more extreme messianics) dug a tunnel to...

    A summary of what wikipedia says is that there are 2 groups in the synagogue fighting over ownership, and the ones who currently do not legally own it (the more extreme messianics) dug a tunnel to expand it. (They have been trying to expand for a while, see their dedicated website). However, the other sect who own the building were understandably pissed when they found out, especially as it was not particularly structurally sound, and so called in the city to fill it in, which is what caused all the police to come when the messianics tried to block them.

    17 votes
    1. Nsutdwa
      Link Parent
      Thanks for this very concise and all-too-believable run-down. With all the bizarre conspiracy theories swirling, this very prosaic reason rings true to me. It's just run-of-the-mill human greed,...

      Thanks for this very concise and all-too-believable run-down. With all the bizarre conspiracy theories swirling, this very prosaic reason rings true to me. It's just run-of-the-mill human greed, it seems.

      1 vote
  4. [11]
    MimicSquid
    Link
    I don't have enough context for what on earth this is really about, but this section really jumped out at me: Highlighting the threat from the onlookers, their disrespect. "appeared" to "deploy"...

    I don't have enough context for what on earth this is really about, but this section really jumped out at me:

    ... onlookers, mostly young men, jeering at the NYPD' community affairs officers. Some lifted wooden desks in the air, sending prayer books scattering.

    Highlighting the threat from the onlookers, their disrespect.

    In response, an officer appeared to deploy an irritating spray to disperse the group.

    "appeared" to "deploy" an "irritating spray". Minimizing the response from the officers, using the most vague and neutral language possible for using pepper spray on protestors.

    Practically, these young men were doing something dumb, and damaged what was their center of community life. Given that the people in charge of the building were ready to fill the passage back in it sounds like things had reached a stalemate, but it's awful that they couldn't resolve the issue without the cops getting involved.

    28 votes
    1. [10]
      skybrian
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      That language suggests to me that the reporter is being cautious about interpreting what they see in some photo or video. (It's not like you could see what kind of spray it is from a video.) Edit:...

      That language suggests to me that the reporter is being cautious about interpreting what they see in some photo or video. (It's not like you could see what kind of spray it is from a video.)

      Edit: from the previous sentence "footage posted to social media."

      27 votes
      1. [9]
        MimicSquid
        Link Parent
        Sure. But they could have used neutral wording for the protestors' actions and didn't. I was attempting to highlight the disparity in how they two groups' actions were described. Did I fail to do...

        Sure. But they could have used neutral wording for the protestors' actions and didn't. I was attempting to highlight the disparity in how they two groups' actions were described. Did I fail to do so in my previous comment?

        12 votes
        1. [6]
          skybrian
          Link Parent
          I don't see the bias you see in the quote about the protesters. It seems to me that it describes actions that one could easily see in a video. Maybe the reporter got it wrong and should have...

          I don't see the bias you see in the quote about the protesters. It seems to me that it describes actions that one could easily see in a video.

          Maybe the reporter got it wrong and should have described it differently, but the best way to tell would be to track down the video and watch it.

          14 votes
          1. [5]
            sparksbet
            Link Parent
            The behavior of the protesters was indeed described as one could easily see in a video... and then the cops' actions were not described that way. The difference is the issue here. Why isn't it...

            The behavior of the protesters was indeed described as one could easily see in a video... and then the cops' actions were not described that way. The difference is the issue here. Why isn't it "[young men] appeared to lift wooden desks in the air, sending what seemed to be prayer books flying"? You likely wouldn't be able to see whether the books were prayer books in a video either unless it were bizarrely high res.

            Probably because the author thought that sounded like bad writing and assumed you'd understand that reporting was based to some extent on their ability to interpret what they see. But the author doesn't take this same approach to the weak, wishy-washy language in their description of the police's actions. That choice is worth commenting on.

            I'm not a huge fan of illegal tunnels and I don't think the behavior there was justified. But news reporting SO often downplays cops' behavior to absolve them of any implication of doing anything even adjacent to wrongdoing, so I think it's very worth it to keep an eye out for and be critical of when reporting is asymmetrical like this. It's far from an isolated instance.

            5 votes
            1. [4]
              skybrian
              Link Parent
              Instead of “prayer books” they could just say “books.” But maybe someone who visited could see what their prayer books look like and if they match the video, even if we can’t really tell? If...

              Instead of “prayer books” they could just say “books.” But maybe someone who visited could see what their prayer books look like and if they match the video, even if we can’t really tell? If they’re the same color and that’s what’s normally there, good enough?

              Something similar could be done for the police - what do they normally carry? Is it “pepper spray” or something else?

              4 votes
              1. sparksbet
                Link Parent
                I mean, I think prayer books is a fine assumption to make -- it's that they're unwilling to do something similar with the police that's annoying. I think it would have been very easy for the...

                I mean, I think prayer books is a fine assumption to make -- it's that they're unwilling to do something similar with the police that's annoying. I think it would have been very easy for the author to do that.

                4 votes
              2. vektor
                Link Parent
                Also entirely plausible that the editorial staff is sensitized to the various irritants because the police "uhm ackshually"'d them before or something. I don't think they've been "well...

                Also entirely plausible that the editorial staff is sensitized to the various irritants because the police "uhm ackshually"'d them before or something. I don't think they've been "well ackshually"'d about jewish prayer books before.

                2 votes
              3. Interesting
                Link Parent
                To add on to you, Jewish religious books like volumes of the Talmud tend to be very visually distinct. Matching, oversized, leather-bound volumes in a Jewish context can be assumed to be religious...

                To add on to you, Jewish religious books like volumes of the Talmud tend to be very visually distinct. Matching, oversized, leather-bound volumes in a Jewish context can be assumed to be religious books.

                2 votes
        2. Tmbreen
          Link Parent
          I feel the need to back you up here. In the US we give the police forces too much leeway by watering down their responses, but not those of protestors. Did the cops use a riot agent? Was anyone...

          I feel the need to back you up here. In the US we give the police forces too much leeway by watering down their responses, but not those of protestors. Did the cops use a riot agent? Was anyone hurt? It doesn't seem like the protestors even came physically close to the cops, so why did they escalate with a irritating agent?

          8 votes
        3. NoblePath
          Link Parent
          I suspect you are reacting to the word “jeering,” which certainly lends a degree of judgment of action.

          I suspect you are reacting to the word “jeering,” which certainly lends a degree of judgment of action.

          3 votes