When the history of this era is told, the January 6 committee and the two impeachments of the president will sit amongst the most egregious abuses of civil liberties in our times. In all of these cases, the common denominator is the attack on due process rights, which has been a feature of left-wing politics since the trial of George Zimmerman (the guy who shot and killed Trayvon Martin) in 2013. The left, for all its talk about criminal justice reform, demands mob justice and kangaroo courts for its presumed ideological opponents.
But of all of these, the January 6 committee is worst. At least the impeachments could be said (eventually) to be authorized by the House. The January 6 committee is in violation of its own resolution. And behind the execrable public faces of the charade -- Adam Schiff and Jamie Raskin among them -- are a platoon of lawyers whose participation in this Star Chamber is a further disgrace to an already dubious profession (of which I am a part).
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!
An interesting weekend -- one of the last of Daylight Savings Time -- in which there is much to celebrate, much to contemplate, and a bit to worry about.
The Gaza peace deal is shaky, but holding, after the living hostages returned; the shutdown is still going on, with no end in sight; the China trade war is heating up; and the confrontation with Venezuela continues to escalate.
The "No Kings" protest was a dud, despite the media's attempt to inflate it. What I find fascinating is that the Democrats have basically stolen the rhetoric and the imagery of the Tea Party protests, circa 2009. They claim they are defending the Constitution -- just like the Tea Party did.
On the one hand, this is good. How wonderful to have a political system in which both sides, bitterly opposed though they are, articulate differences through the Constitution -- and not, as in so many other countries, outside it.
On the other, this is sheer hypocrisy for the Democrats. Not only did they malign the Tea Party as ...
