Today is a very special day for me: it's my younger daughter's second birthday. She is a blessing and a delight. It's also ... a busy news day. Trump won the straw poll at the Turning Point conference, and RFK Jr. is causing enough problems for Biden that he's being attacked.
On that attack: it's garbage. RFK Jr. is being accused of saying that COVID-19 was engineered to spare Jews, presumably because the Jews were in charge. He said nothing of the sort: he said we need to be concerned about bioweapons that target certain groups, and that the differential impact of COVID-19 (scientifically supported) showed that such weapons could, in fact, be produced and were dangerous.
The people who spread the smear did it for clicks and laughs; they also intended to hurt Kennedy and help Biden. Not to defend Jews.
In fact, the antisemitic conspiracy theory that had to be made up to fill in for RFK Jr's lack of actual antisemitism was the only actual bit of antisemitism in the whole episode. Mazel tov to Team Outrage: you spread misinformation and bigotry for political points and yuks.
We'll talk about "Sound of Freedom," the independent hit film that dramatizes the effort to rescue child victims of human trafficking. Should it matter that the original story is not exactly as told? And what about the Hollywood actors' strike -- should we care at all?
Next -- we'll look at the week ahead. Israel's ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, is going to speak to Congress and visit the White House. President Biden has yet to invite the country's elected leader, Benjamin Netanyahu. Is this just a ploy to divide and weaken Israel?
Democrats are seizing on the RFK Jr. moment: even though he's a fellow Democrat, he's a threat to Biden. But what about the bigots in their midst? Ilhan Omar is already boycotting Herzog -- who is a man of the left -- and Pramila Jayapal calls Israel a "racist" state.
All this plus the latest in the New York redistricting case, as Democrats try to use the courts -- which shut down their attempted gerrymander last year -- to win through the legislature what they could not win at the ballot box. And the latest from Wimbledon!
Special guests:
Patrick Courrielche -- co-founder of the Red Pilled America podcast
Jonathan S. Tobin -- editor-in-chief of Jewish News Syndicate
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) -- from New York's 24th district
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot, 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-7 p.m. PT
Call in: 866-957-2874
This week's show will be slightly different from the norm: we'll focus on clips and topics, rather than guests -- and that, hopefully, will mean more input from the callers (unless you are all watching football on opening weekend).
Topics:
- The state of the economy
- The fight against crime
- The midterm election fight
- The struggle for peace between Russia and Ukraine
- The airstrike on the Venezuelan drug cartel
- The attempt to sink Kennedy
- The war in Gaza
- The case against Harvard
- The Trump presidency
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET / 4-7 p.m. PT
Call: 866-957-2874
This week's Torah portion includes several laws about conduct in civic and personal life, the common theme of which is boundaries -- setting bounds to what one may do at home, at work, and even in the battlefield.
One noteworthy passage concerns Amalek, the evil nation that attacked the Children of Israel as they made their Exodus from slavery to freedom. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 commands Jews to obliterate Amalek's memory.
The South African government accused Israel of genocide on the basis of a story about Amalek in the Book of Samuel, in which King Saul was commanded to wipe out the entire evil Amalekite nation.
Because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quoted this week's portion -- "Remember what Amalek did to you" (25:17), the South African government claimed he was commanding soldiers to commit genocide.
It was an absurd and malevolent misreading of the Bible and of Jewish tradition. The commandment, as observed by Jews today, is to remember the evil of Amalek and fight ...
