Democratic Party legislators in Texas have decided to leave the state to deny the Republican majority a quorum necessary to pass new bills on voting.
How ironic: denying a legislative vote, ostensibly to defend the right to vote.
This behavior is fundamentally anti-democratic, and we have seen it before -- in Texas in 2003, in Wisconsin in 2011, and elsewhere. The Madison "fleebaggers" -- a play on the pejorative term used by Democrats (and CNN) to describe the Tea Party movement -- upped the ante by bringing masses of demonstrators to the state capitol for weeks. Some of the left-wing protesters occupied the building, and damaged it. It was the first "insurrection" of the type that would later be repeated by left-wing activists in other state capitols -- and eventually by the January 6 rioters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
If invading a legislative building to force (or prevent) a particular result is an insurrection, then leaving a legislative building for that same purpose is just as much an insurrection. Call it an "out-surrection." The movement is opposite, but the goal is the same: to use extra-legal means to exercise power.
This is my first broadcast from the new office and studio in Washington, DC, where I'll be for a couple of years my neighborhood back in L.A. cleans up -- and as we follow the Trump administration from a little closer up than usual.
Topics:
- The anniversary of the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump
- The escalating tariff battle with various different trading partners
- The future of the Middle East peace talks, and ongoing antisemitism
- The Jeffrey Epstein files and whether they mean anything at all
- The continued crisis of the Texas floods, and stories of heroism and survival
And more!
Special guests:
- James Rosen - Newsmax chief Washington correspondent
- Bob Price - Breitbart News Texas reporter, on the ongoing floods
- Robert Cahill - Trafalgar Polling, on a new alliance of reliable pollsters
- Rabbi Yaakov Menken - Coalition for Jewish Values - on Israel & antisemitism
Tune in: 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-7 p.m. PT
Call: 866-957-2874
This week’s portion tells the grand story of the prophet who tried to curse people of Israel and instead ended up blessing them.
I am reminded that these portions continue to be relevant anew, as this particular reading lent the title for Israel’s recent 12 Day War against Iran, “Operation Rising Lion.”
This week's portion includes the commandment of the red heifer -- one of the classic "irrational" commandments whose fulfillment is an expression of faith. It also includes the regrettable episode in which Moses strikes the rock.
I referred to this story in a wedding speech last night. Why was Moses punished for striking the rock in Numbers, when he struck the rock without incident in Exodus -- both for the purpose of providing water to the people?
The answer is that in the interim, the Jewish people had received the Torah, which is like the marriage contract between the people of Israel and God. In a marriage, you do not resolve things by breaking boundaries, but through love.
The additional reading, from Judges Chapter 11, is the story of Jephthah (Yiftach), a man whom the leaders spurn, but to whom they must turn to save the nation. The parallels to our present political circumstances are striking.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Fourth of July!
...
