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.
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 ...
