This week, the world is consumed by the war in Ukraine. There's a lot of bad commentary out there, and a lot of advocacy journalism, making it harder to figure out what's going on, and what we should do about it. Clearly, Russia is the aggressor here, and while NATO has compromised its credibility on the question of invading foreign countries that didn't attack member states first (Serbia, Libya, etc.), there's nothing to justify the first major land war in Europe since 1945 and the attendant humanitarian cost. The simple explanation here is that Russian President Vladimir Putin, boosted by high oil prices and taking advantage of President Joe Biden's weak return to the Obama-Clinton "reset" posture, took the opportunity to seize what he thought he could get easily. It turned out to be not so easy, and while Ukrainians are fighting for their lives, the rest of the world wonders how close we are to a superpower confrontation.
There's more going on, of course. I just returned from a trip to South Africa, and I'll have something to say about that. I've seen a country beginning to wake up from the pandemic -- and dreading a European war that will make recovery that much more difficult by raising fuel prices and depressing global trade. I've also seen the dysfunction of South Africa's governing systems -- and how they portend future disasters in our own system if we don't fix things, and soon.
February's jobs numbers point to a strong economic recovery -- but inflation remains a major problem, and Biden is still looking for ways to spend money. He tried dumping "defund the police" and demanded that Congress "secure the border" in his State of the Union speech this week. Is he for real? Meanwhile, the administration is backing efforts to "codify" Roe v. Wade -- and the bill facing Congress is rather shocking in its brazen "woke" rhetoric about abortion.
All that and more across three hours on the last Sunday of Standard Time...
With special guests:
- NFL great Jack Brewer on America's comeback, at the end of the pandemic
- Melanie Israel on the "Women's Health Protection Act" and abortion
- Grover Norquist on Biden's economic policy and the prospects of inflation
Listen live: SiriusXM 125, 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-7 p.m. PT
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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!
