We're back this week, after airing a special Fourth of July edition last week.
The week ahead should be interesting. The Senate (not the House) is back in session, and the big issue remains Biden's infrastructure plan. It's not clear what the future of that plan will be, since the bipartisan deal struck last month was undermined by Biden's insistence on passing a separate bill, the so-called "American Families Plan," which includes all of the things Democrats could not force into the deal -- and which they will bypass the filibuster to pass, using the "reconciliation" process (which will produce the opposite of reconciliation).
We have growing fears of a resurgence of the coronavirus, with the Delta variant becoming the dominant strain in many states. Already, public health experts are calling for (looking forward to?) more restrictions, and as the Biden administration defends its policy of going door-to-door to encourage vaccination, some "experts" are even suggesting making the unvaccinated suffer for their decision not to take the shot. If conservatives are supposedly the most reluctant to be vaccinated, will that kind of pressure work? Probably not.
Then there is the issue of the January 6 commission, to which House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) may nominate five Republicans. I'm not sure that's a good idea, given that the Democrats include some of the most divisive and untrustworthy people in Congress -- such as Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who led the first and second impeachment teams, respectively. But we'll take on the view of Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), who says that Republicans should play nice with the commission and dump Trump.
We'll welcome the following guests:
Desmond Lachman of AEI -- on Biden's spending plans, and inflation
Lt. Col. Dakota Wood of Heritage -- on Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan
Anthony Ruggiero of FDD - on Biden's attempt to revive the Iran deal
Kenny Xu, author of 'An Inconvenient Minority' -- on discrimination against Asian Americans
Jeff Brain of CloutHub -- to discuss Trump's lawsuit against Big Tech
This week’s portion launches the great story of Abraham, who is told to leave everything of his life behind — except his immediate family — and to leave for “the Land that I shall show you.”
There’s something interesting in the fact that Abraham is told to leave his father’s house, as if breaking away from his father’s life — but his father, in fact, began the journey, moving from Ur to Haran (in last week’s portion). His father set a positive example — why should Abraham leave him?
Some obvious answers suggest themselves — adulthood, needing to make one’s own choices, his father not going far enough, etc.
But I think there is another answer. Abraham (known for the moment as Abram) needs to establish his own household. This is not just about making one’s own choice, but really about choosing one’s own starting point. It’s starting over.
Sometimes we start over in fundamental ways even if much that surrounds us remains the same. Sometimes the journey we have to ...
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!
