Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2020 September 19

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September 19

Senator voting on own confirmation to Scotus

RBG has passed and Sen. Ted Cruz has been mentioned as a possible replacement (or potentially some other Senator no matter who wins the upcoming POTUS election). Question: if a sitting Senator gets nominated for SCOTUS, do they get to vote on their own confirmation? This came up on Reddit and I have to wonder if such situations have happened before. Thanks. 2602:24A:DE47:BB20:50DE:F402:42A6:A17D (talk) 06:59, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

I'm reasonably sure a sitting senator who accepts a nomination has no constitutional impediment to voting on his own confirmation. See here for an article about Jeff Sessions confirmation to the Attorney General when he was a sitting senator: Senate democrats demanded he recuse himself from those votes, implying that there was no other impediment to him voting. 199.66.69.67 (talk) 07:26, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

Thanks, the Sessions example is good. The article mentions Sessions recused from voting on his own nomination because of possible issues with Senate rules rather than because of Constitutional obstacles. It's not clear from the article whether he voted on Tillerson's (or other) nominations, but that's a side issue. 2602:24A:DE47:BB20:50DE:F402:42A6:A17D (talk) 07:55, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

Punic Exonyms

What did the Carthaginians and Phoenicians call Rome, Egypt, the Greeks and the lands of western Africa where they explored on the Atlantic? KAVEBEAR (talk) 13:31, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

This seems more of a language question. No luck on Wiktionary; none of the Phoenician or Punic proper nouns listed there is a toponym for any of these.  --Lambiam 14:05, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

It seems very likely that the Phoenician word for "Egypt" would have been similar to the Hebrew word for "Egypt"... AnonMoos (talk) 14:57, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

"Phoenician is a Canaanite language closely related to Hebrew. Very little is known about the Canaanite language, except what can be gathered from the El-Amarna letters written by Canaanite kings to Pharaohs Amenhopis III (1402 - 1364 BCE) and Akhenaton (1364 - 1347 BCE)". The Phoenician Alphabet & Language

According to The El-Amarna Correspondence: Volume I (pp. 58-59), Mi-is-ri-i in Canaanite-Akkadian (the forebear of Phoenician) translates as "Egypt". For those of you who can't read the Hebrew link given by User:AnonMoos above, Mizraim is the Hebrew word for Egypt in Roman letters, that article also gives Miṣr as the Classical Arabic name. Alansplodge (talk) 15:41, 20 September 2020 (UTC)

Who would be responsible to remove an unwilling Trump? (2)

(For the first installment in this series, see Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2020 September 11#Who would be responsible to remove an unwilling Trump?)

In a recent interview with The New Statesman, Chomsky has said that the duty to perform this task is incumbent upon the military, and thet, specifically, the 82nd Airborne Division will have to remove the president by force if he refuses to leave office and resists using paramilitary force. What is this based upon – provisions in the US Constitution, law, or what else?  --Lambiam 13:49, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

The Constitution says the president's term expires on January 20. If he won't leave, then he's nothing more than a trespasser and could be removed by anyone authorized to remove trespassers at the White House. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:24, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

The key phrase in your fact pattern is “resists using paramilitary force”. That’s a coup, or a putsch, or something similar. As a matter of practical reality of course it falls to the military. It’s no different than any other insurrection. Chomsky is stating the obvious. Otherwise, as I said last thread (and as Bugs has reiterated) a Trump-occupied White House after his term has ended is no different than any other trespassing situation. 199.66.69.67 (talk) 15:37, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

But why, specifically, the 82nd Airborne Division? Also, whose responsibility is it to determine that the situation at hand constitutes a coup or putsch, and is there something in the Constitution or a legal provision that authorizes the military to intervene?  --Lambiam 20:34, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

That I really am not sure of. I suspect Chomsky is just pulling that division out because he heard it mentioned in connection with one of these wargames. It’s possible that there are practical or political reasons why an anti-coup targeting DC would involve that very specific division. It may also simply be the closest military force of its size to DC. But I am aware of no actual constitutional or legal reason why the 82nd Airborne specifically would put down an insurrection. 199.66.69.67 (talk) 20:50, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

Oh and answering the second part of your question, I would argue that the responsibility falls to the President, who under this fact pattern would presumably be Joe Biden. The fact that he’d have been inaugurated would make him President. If there were legitimacy questions about the election after that the solution would be impeachment and not insurrection (and to be clear, even if the election were in fact stolen, it’s my understanding that an inaugurated Biden would still be President). 199.66.69.67 (talk) 20:58, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

Why the 82nd? Battle of Bastogne and Synecdoche, or one of those rhetorical things, using an exemplar as a stand in. The language desk would probably know. fiveby(zero) 21:18, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

Looking at the full quote: There’s a transition integrity project...they’ve been running war games...every one of them leads to civil war, every scenario that they can think of except a Trump victory leads to civil war. If he's referring to Transition Integrity Project and if the war games section is correct, then this is based on Chomsky lying and the failure of people these days to to critically evaluate what they read and merely accept statements which match their political leanings. But given a civil war or insurrection, I'd assume the duty he is referring to is stated in the United States Armed Forces oath of enlistment and the United States Uniformed Services Oath of Office: "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;" fiveby(zero) 15:56, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

One of the members of the group, Rosa Brooks, told The Boston Globe, "All of our scenarios ended in both street-level violence and political impasse. The law is essentially ... it’s almost helpless against a president who’s willing to ignore it."^[1] This in response to the question, "What if President Trump refuses to concede a loss, [and] Democrats refuse to give in?" It sounds like Chomsky did not just make this up, although the street violence may not rise to the level of "civil war".  --Lambiam 20:34, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

Here's the report with scenarios in appendix. fiveby(zero) 21:36, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

If all else fails, Biden could shut off power and heat to the White House and set up shop somewhere else until the coast is clear. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:54, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

Like Pope Clement V in Avignon.  --Lambiam 17:25, 20 September 2020 (UTC)

Air Force One would be ideal :-} Alansplodge (talk) 18:10, 20 September 2020 (UTC)

It is missing a bowling alley.  --Lambiam 13:58, 21 September 2020 (UTC)

Hit him in the wallet. Start billing him rent for the White House and salaries for the staff. Clarityfiend (talk) 06:49, 22 September 2020 (UTC)

I wrote a long response to the initial question but ended up not posting most of it, still I'll post this now. As a final comment, I think the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak may have been possibly the longest stretch Trump was in the White House uninterrupted for just over a month [2] [3]. Point being, do we have any reason to think Trump would have a real desire to squat at the White House for months on end? And of course there's also the possible loss of food, power, staff (including the chef) and maybe even water to cope with. Nil Einne (talk) 08:35, 22 September 2020 (UTC)

Arthur Davis Memorial Lectures

I have a copy of Guedalla, Philip (1925). Napoleon and Palestine. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., with a foreword by Israel Zangwill and an afterword by David Lloyd George. According to the title page it is the Eighth "Arthur Davis Memorial Lecture" delivered before the Jewish Historical Society. I would be interested to know more about these lectures, including if possible a complete list. Arthur Davis was the father of Nina Salaman, the poet and activist. Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 22:59, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

1. Zangwill, Israel (1918). Chosen peoples : the Hebraic ideal versus the Teutonic.
2. Herford, R. Travers (1919). What the world owes to the Pharisees.
3. Abrahams, Israel (1920). Poetry and Religion.
4. Alexander, Samuel (1921). Spinoza and Time.
5. Petrie, William Matthew Flinders (1922). The status of the Jews in Egypt.
6. 1923
7. 1924
8. Radin, Paul (1925). Monotheism among Primitive Peoples.

Hmm, found one for 1950 so looking one at a time might not be practical. At least the early lectures were held in the Botanical Theatre of University College, and a listing of chairmen and council in "Preface". Transactions (Jewish Historical Society of England). 9: ix. JSTOR 29777693.. Report of the founding committee in "Appendice: Arthur Davis Memorial Lecture". Transactions (Jewish Historical Society of England). 197: ix. JSTOR 29777688. worldcat lists 35 in the series. fiveby(zero) 23:52, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

@Fiveby: - many thanks. I think Radin was 7 (Guedalla was 8), and number 6 was Salaman, Nina. Rahel Morpurgo.. DuncanHill (talk) 00:11, 20 September 2020 (UTC)

Lloyd George a chairman in 1947[4], a fifteen year hiatus resumed by Leo Baeck "Changes in Jewish Outlook" in 1946.[5]