I had two excellent weeks in Chicago -- working and visiting old haunts while spending quality time with family. I'm grateful for the resilience of my wife and kids, who managed travel difficulties and other challenges that arose with great poise and patience.
This is always a weird transition -- that moment the Fourth of July period really ends. The anticipation of summer has reached its peak; the rest of that majestic season lies ahead, but it will be a year until the end of spring brings you back together again in the same place...
As a kid, I often visited my cousins in Ohio in June, then extended my visit into July. And when it was finally time to come home, I was often sad. How could it be that summer was still here, and yet I had to wait a whole year to go back to Ohio? Chicago seemed so plain...
I have to shift my focus to what lays ahead: creative goals, political writing, managing the kids, helping my wife succeed, preparing our toddler for preschool, paying the bills, staying in shape, having some fun -- all of it. Maybe after a couple nights' sleep, I'll manage to do it.
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 ...
