The ongoing murder spree in Chicago has raised the level of danger in the city above already-high levels. The latest victim is a 20-year-old student, Max Lewis, who was hit by a stray bullet while riding the train home from a summer internship.
I vaguely remember a time in the 1980s when people from the suburbs were afraid of going into the city because of the crime. That faded in the 1990s, with the revival of the city's economic fortunes, and improvements in law enforcement. I myself used to volunteer at a housing project in a black neighborhood on the city's west side.
In the last decade or so, gang violence in Chicago turned parts of the city into into "Chiraq." The crime began to reach beyond poor neighborhoods. On my recent visit to the Chicago suburbs, I found people reluctant to go into the city. There was a fear I had not sensed for decades.
The answer is to support law enforcement and bring economic growth back to these cities. That means breaking through the current left-wing obsessions that control the Democratic Party, or -- perhaps -- electing tough Republicans.
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 ...
