The Department of Interior Inspector General issued a report Wednesday exonerating Trump from "fake news" claims that he ordered "peaceful protesters" cleared from Lafayette Square last June so he could walk across the park for a "photo-op" (where, Joe Biden claimed, he held a Bible upside-down).
In a crowded field of contenders, this narrative was one of the worst examples of media malpractice in recent American history. It joins the Russia collusion hoax, the very fine people hoax, the "drinking bleach" hoax, and so many more debunked fake news stories foisted upon us by the left and the media. It was also used to emphasize Trump's supposed culpability in the Capitol riot.
The media ought to hold themselves accountable. They won't. But we won't forget.
It’s Purim time… time to get the sweet stuff baking.
This is for an apricot hamantaschen filling…
The Tanya is a mystical religious text written by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of the Lubavitch Chabad movement, in the late 18th century. It is studied by Chabad rabbis and congregants today; I read one chapter per day. (At that pace, coordinated with the Jewish calendar, one finishes in a year.)
Today's chapter seemed particularly poignant to me, given world events. It likened the spirit with which one should approach prayer to the sense of joy that a king would feel upon seeing his son released and returned from captivity:
"Now, all one’s intent in the surrender of his soul to G-d through Torah and prayer to elevate the spark of G-dliness therein—in the soul—back to its source, should be solely for the purpose of causing Him gratification, like the joy of a king when his only son returns to him after having been released from captivity or imprisonment, as has been explained earlier." (Chapter 41)
The theme of captivity recurs throughout Jewish texts. Evidently ...
This week, I'm back in sunny Los Angeles -- remember last week, when I was near the action on the Israel/Lebanon border? Crazy stuff -- and I'll be looking at what the recent congressional votes mean for our politics, going forward.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was elected after a revolt, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), against Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), ostensibly because McCarthy had become an emissary of the DC establishment, the "uniparty."
As I noted at the time, McCarthy had passed a continuing resolution to fund the government without including funding for Ukraine. This was something the rebels overlooked. (I said Johnson would end up funding Ukraine; I was right.)
Anyway -- on Friday, Johnson pushed through a vote to reauthorize the much-abused FISA; and then on Saturday, he pushed through a bill to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, while Democrats waved Ukrainian flags on the floor.
He had to do all of that with Democrat votes, as he did not have the majority of his caucus ...
