California's high-speed rail project was always a loser. People already have so many affordable ways to get from San Francisco to L.A. and vice versa. The "bullet" train was never going to reach the advertised speeds, and was going to cross the most sparsely populated part of the state, for much more than the cost, per passenger, of an airplane ticket. So when Gov. Gavin Newsom canceled the project upon taking office in 2019, it was a rare moment of sanity.
But then Trump did the unthinkable: he demanded that federal taxpayers be given back some of the billions of dollars they had spent on the boondoggle. After all, in the world of real estate development, if you cancel a contract to build something, you don't get to keep the money.
Now Biden is giving California nearly $1 billion back -- even though the state is flush with cash, including over $75 billion in budget surplus funds and nearly $30 billion in "COVID relief" from the federal government. The high-speed rail, even with that money, is no longer going to connect major cities, but rural communities.
Yet another reason Californians, and Americans, should miss Donald Trump.
This is the portion that all journalists should love: the Torah tells the story of the 12 spies, only two of whom tell the truth when the other ten shade it in a negative away (perhaps to suit a political agenda that is opposed to Moses).
It's not that the ten "lying" spies misconstrue the facts about the Land of Israel; rather, they interject their opinions that the land is impossible to conquer, which strikes unnecessary terror into the hearts of the people.
We have many examples of such fake news today -- from the Iranian propaganda outlets spreading false claims that they are winning the war, to California politicians spreading false horror stories about ICE raids in L.A.
The people realize, too late, that they have been fooled, and once they are condemned to die in the desert, they try to rush into Israel -- only to be defeated by the inhabitants, as the spies predicted that they would be.
But as consolation, God gives the people new commandments -- focused on things they must ...
This week's portion discusses the procedure for lighting the menorah, the holy seven-branched lamp, in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple). It also describes an episode where the people crave meat, and God punishes them by giving it to them in excess. We also read the story of Miriam, Moses's sister, who is punished with the spiritual skin blemish of tzara'at for speaking about her brother, thus violating the prohibition against lashon hara (evil tongue).
I heard a fantastic sermon this week about the lighting of the menorah: that while only the priests were qualified to clean and purify the menorah, anyone could light it. A reminder that each of us can inspire others along the way.
This week we study the vow of the Nazirite; a reminder that sometimes trying to be too holy is excessive, and the best we can do is to be the best that we are.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/aid/2495720/p/complete/jewish/Naso-Torah-Reading.htm
