This week, while at a game reserve, my family and I were treated to some of the classic South African tunes from the 1990s -- a time of hope and miracles, when popular culture reflected the great enthusiasm for the country's changes.
One song, by Vicky Sampson, "My African Dream," remains beautiful and haunting. Curiously, the man who wrote it, Alan Lazar, now lives in L.A., like me. I don't know much about him, but that seemed rather ironic to me.
The present wave of blackouts, DA political legend Helen Zille recently noted, has shown South Africa that the ANC is a failure. She added that South Africa could now, perhaps, move toward true multiparty democracy and rescue itself.
I do wonder if that wonderfully romantic political time, and all of its art, were something of a burden. They enabled the ruling party to behave corruptly and to dismiss criticism. A more "normal" country would not have tolerated it.
I think it is good that South Africa feels more "normal." With the benefit of distance, I am no longer judging it through an apartheid lens, where race and remedies for the past seem to be the most important priorities for the place.
Romance is a luxury you can enjoy when you have the basics covered, and when you are prosperous. South Africans neglected the basis for their prosperity. It has lost a tremendous amount of capital, both financial and human.
But perhaps it still has the social capital to recover. It needs a common identity -- something that can substitute for the volk that united Afrikaners behind a common nation-building purpose. Perhaps the nostalgia can be put to good use.
I should have noted in my message about the weekly Torah portion that this week is Shabbat Chazon, the Sabbath of Vision. We are about to mourn -- but see through that pain to something better that lies beyond, on the other side.
Wishing you the best vision -- and an incredible reality to follow. It happens!
We begin the final speech of Moses to the people of Israel before they enter the Promised Land. He relates the ups and downs of the years of wandering in the desert, before, finally, the people have the merit to enter the land itself.
This Sabbath always precedes Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It is the anniversary of the destruction of both of the Holy Temples, and a catch-all for many calamities that befell the Jewish people.
A word on Tisha B'Av. This year I am leaving for an overseas trip during the afternoon of the holiday -- in the middle of a fast day. Not idea, but there was no other choice. But my flight is in the afternoon, which is significant.
We relax some of the harsh, mournful customs of the day in the afternoon. We start to pray normally; we sit on regular chairs; we start to have hope again in the redemption that will, one day, lead us all back from exile to our home.
I'll be taking a trip to a land where an important part of ...
President Trump is in Scotland, playing golf and making big trade deals -- a major deal with the EU, in fact. Meanwhile, there is a global outcry about humanitarian aid to Palestinians (not about the Israeli hostages, mind you).
On top of that, Democrats are at their lowest polling numbers ever -- so they are trying to win control of the House by redistricting in the middle of a 10-year Census cycle. Oh, economic optimism is up, so they have a tough road.
And Tulsi Gabbard's revelations about the Russia collusion investigation make it clear that Obama's lieutenants lied to Congress. How deeply was he himself involved? The media continue to ignore the evidence, but we certainly won't.
Special guests:
Nick Gilbertson - Breitbart News White House correspondent, on EU deal
Frances Martel - Breitbart News foreign editor, on Trump abroad and Russia
John Spencer - urban warfare expert, on humanitarian aid and war in Gaza
Bradley Jaye - Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on the ...
