Five years ago -- before Trump -- California began slapping travel bans on conservative states that passed conservative social legislation.
The Sacramento Bee noted Monday that with a new travel ban on Ohio, in response to a law allowing doctors to refuse to participate in treatments that violate their moral or religious conscience (think: abortion or gender reassignment surgery), California has now banned state-funded travel to one-third of the U.S. by population, and 72% of the states that voted for Trump.
There are all kinds of loopholes, but this really is a bizarre form of protest, one that severs official ties with much of America: just look at the Bee's map of the banned states. It is now impossible to drive cross-country from California without passing through a a banned state.
Notably, the bans have had little effect. One state, North Carolina, remains banned even though it repealed a controversial 2016 transgender bathroom law. Evidently, it is on the list simply for being North Carolina.
Not only is California showing -- again -- the intolerance of the left, but it is also contributing to the crackup of the American body politic. Being a citizen, being an adult, means learning to live with people even if you disagree with them. You don't have to accept everything they do, but the set of things that should prompt a severing of relations is really rather small.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article254625357.html
This week’s portion launches the great story of Abraham, who is told to leave everything of his life behind — except his immediate family — and to leave for “the Land that I shall show you.”
There’s something interesting in the fact that Abraham is told to leave his father’s house, as if breaking away from his father’s life — but his father, in fact, began the journey, moving from Ur to Haran (in last week’s portion). His father set a positive example — why should Abraham leave him?
Some obvious answers suggest themselves — adulthood, needing to make one’s own choices, his father not going far enough, etc.
But I think there is another answer. Abraham (known for the moment as Abram) needs to establish his own household. This is not just about making one’s own choice, but really about choosing one’s own starting point. It’s starting over.
Sometimes we start over in fundamental ways even if much that surrounds us remains the same. Sometimes the journey we have to ...
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
