Her media pals have swooned over her, calling her the best press secretary ever. She was competent, I'll give her that -- but she was condescending, and lied a lot (though that may come with the territory), and did very little to raise the tone of debate in the country. I give her credit for holding regular briefings, but I have it on good authority that she and her underlings maneuvered to make sure that challenging questions were quashed, except from Peter Doocy, who works for Fox News, which is too big to ignore or wish away (Obama tried).
This was not a job she should have had. The job was earned by former Biden spokesperson Symone Sanders, who was somehow shunted to the VP's office and eventually left the administration. (Somehow in all the talk of systemic racism, we never heard the explanation as to why a black woman who did it all on the campaign trail was passed over in favor of a white woman who did not.)
There is a corruption issue here: Psaki is leaving to join MSNBC, if reports are to be believed, and there were several outlets courting her, so she was, as Byron York notes, briefing the same organizations who were trying to hire her (and whom she was trying to entice to hire her). There are stark conflicts of interest.
I think one can honestly say, though, that the administration will be served more poorly by anyone who replaces her, which is a form of praise, I guess.
This is the portion that all journalists should love: the Torah tells the story of the 12 spies, only two of whom tell the truth when the other ten shade it in a negative away (perhaps to suit a political agenda that is opposed to Moses).
It's not that the ten "lying" spies misconstrue the facts about the Land of Israel; rather, they interject their opinions that the land is impossible to conquer, which strikes unnecessary terror into the hearts of the people.
We have many examples of such fake news today -- from the Iranian propaganda outlets spreading false claims that they are winning the war, to California politicians spreading false horror stories about ICE raids in L.A.
The people realize, too late, that they have been fooled, and once they are condemned to die in the desert, they try to rush into Israel -- only to be defeated by the inhabitants, as the spies predicted that they would be.
But as consolation, God gives the people new commandments -- focused on things they must ...
This week's portion discusses the procedure for lighting the menorah, the holy seven-branched lamp, in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple). It also describes an episode where the people crave meat, and God punishes them by giving it to them in excess. We also read the story of Miriam, Moses's sister, who is punished with the spiritual skin blemish of tzara'at for speaking about her brother, thus violating the prohibition against lashon hara (evil tongue).
I heard a fantastic sermon this week about the lighting of the menorah: that while only the priests were qualified to clean and purify the menorah, anyone could light it. A reminder that each of us can inspire others along the way.
This week we study the vow of the Nazirite; a reminder that sometimes trying to be too holy is excessive, and the best we can do is to be the best that we are.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/aid/2495720/p/complete/jewish/Naso-Torah-Reading.htm
