My wife and I took the kids to our old neighborhood in Santa Monica this weekend and stayed overnight on Friday evening. A year ago, Santa Monica was devastated by the Black Lives Matter riots. On that fateful May 31, while a "peaceful protest" was happening on a beautiful Sunday afternoon on Ocean Boulevard, rioters and looters fanned out across the downtown area -- just one block inland -- and destroyed stores and vandalized just about everything. The city looked like a war zone for months. Many shops are still empty or boarded up. But with the slow reopening of California and Los Angeles County, life has returned to downtown Santa Monica. Outdoor dining in particular has brought the place back to life. Those restaurants that managed to survive are doing very well, and well-dressed people are enjoying the beach and the whole scene. There are lots of homeless people, far more than before, but Santa Monica manages to prevent them from setting up tents (unlike the city of Los Angeles, which has allowed homeless encampments to line the streets).
As happy as I was to see life returning, something was bothering me the entire day, which only became clear to me as I returned home this evening. When I look back at the past year, so much of what happened was unnecessary. Not just the COVID restrictions, which were way over-the-top, and largely political, but all the protesting and rioting and canceling -- everything.
We didn't just live through a pandemic; we lived through a violent revolution that we're not allowed to identify as such. When Joe Biden emerged -- almost by default -- as the Democratic Party nominee, the left, which hated him and did not believe he could win, decided that it would take matters into its own hands, and they launched violence across the country. The message -- alter echoed by Biden -- was clear: the violence will continue if Trump wins. The Democratic Party apparatchiks did their part by changing the voting rules and using Zuckerberg's money to push turnout and censoring social media and all of that. But the bigger picture was that the left used violence and censorship to take power. The sooner we are honest about this, the sooner we can start to push back against the ongoing efforts to take our freedoms away from us.
This week, we are tackling two major areas of contention between the Trump administration and Democrat governors: fighting crime, and redistricting. The president is sending the National Guard to blue cities -- and blue states are trying to stamp out Republican representation. Is this a civil war situation?
Special guests:
- Bradley Jaye -- Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on redistricting
- Tom Manza, California Business and Industrial Alliance, on Gavin Newsom
- Jon Fleischman, veteran California political expert, on the special election
- Dan Backer, veteran political lawyer and consultant, on corruption
- DJ Mark Anthony, on a recent visit to Rome and visiting Pope Leo XIV
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET / 4-7 p.m. PT
Call: 866-957-2874
This week's portion is the last of the month of Av -- also known as Menachem (Comforter) Av -- which begins in mourning and ends in celebration and anticipation of the New Year and the process of repentance and renewal.
In a similar vein, the portion features Moses offering the Israelites a choice between a blessing and a curse. They are masters of their own fates: if they obey God's commandments, they receive the blessings -- and vice versa.
The key commandment is to reject idol worship. There is said to be something magnetic about the practice of worshiping idols in the new land, such that it would be constant moral battle, both individually and collectively, in the land.
Nowadays, according to Jewish tradition, humanity has lost the urge for idol worship (and the antidote, which is divine prophecy) -- but there are several near substitutes, such as lust or excessive appetites for worldly pleasures.
We are wired for compulsive behaviors, bad habits, and even addictions. These ...
We have so much to talk about this week -- Trump's efforts to negotiate peace through negotiation, and Gavin Newsom's efforts to divide Americans through gerrymandering. We'll also talk about Playboy leaving LA and California.
Special guests:
Frances Martel - Breitbart News foreign editor, on Russia & Ukraine
Bradley Jaye - Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on Newsom
Harmeet Dhillon - DOJ Civil Rights Division chief, on the fight against DEI
Jessica Vaugn - Playboy model on political commentator, on California
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-7 PT
Call: 866-957-2874
