Secretary of State Tony Blinken dodged questions Tuesday about why Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline but is allowing Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline. (So much for all that garbage about being tough on Russia.) Blinken said that he could not comment on "domestic policy or politics." But the Keystone XL pipeline involves Canada, and in April the good Secretary gave a whole big speech about domestic energy policy, even mentioning "systemic racism." He also dodged questions about Iran's funding for terror groups like Hamas, making the nonsensical and irrelevant claim that Iran would be more responsible inside a nuclear deal than outside of it.
But as bad as Blinken was, the Republican questions were just as disappointing. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) did a good job by asking about Keystone -- but he seemed only too willing to accept Blinken's answers about Nord Stream 2. Other Republicans also let Blinken off the hook on Keystone XL, when they really could have pinned him on his lame excuse about "domestic" policy.
I don't think fireworks are always helpful or effective, but Blinken spews such unbelievable nonsense that Republicans really ought to use these opportunities to point out the folly of his administration's self-destructive foreign policy.
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
An interesting weekend -- one of the last of Daylight Savings Time -- in which there is much to celebrate, much to contemplate, and a bit to worry about.
The Gaza peace deal is shaky, but holding, after the living hostages returned; the shutdown is still going on, with no end in sight; the China trade war is heating up; and the confrontation with Venezuela continues to escalate.
The "No Kings" protest was a dud, despite the media's attempt to inflate it. What I find fascinating is that the Democrats have basically stolen the rhetoric and the imagery of the Tea Party protests, circa 2009. They claim they are defending the Constitution -- just like the Tea Party did.
On the one hand, this is good. How wonderful to have a political system in which both sides, bitterly opposed though they are, articulate differences through the Constitution -- and not, as in so many other countries, outside it.
On the other, this is sheer hypocrisy for the Democrats. Not only did they malign the Tea Party as ...
