It was bad enough that the only Capitol Police allowed to testify at this week's January 6 Commission hearing were disgruntled members of the force, one of whom has a long record of anti-Trump statements and support for Black Lives Matter riots. We have also learned that the Capitol Police are opening offices in Florida and California, the better to investigate potential threats against legislators, which is normally the job of the FBI.
Now Nancy Pelosi is ordering Capitol Police to arrest anyone in the complex who refuses to wear a mask -- a penalty more severe than any that is imposed anywhere in the nation on anybody.
Pelosi has long been a petty tyrant. She centralized power in her office during her first tenure as Speaker (2007-11), infamously passing Obamacare before anyone really knew what was in it. When she regained the Speaker's gavel, she insisted that she was co-equal to President Donald Trump, whom she also impeached, twice, on flimsy grounds. She used proxy voting -- not just to fend off the coronavirus, but to centralize power even further. Since President Joe Biden took office, she has lorded it over the opposition, despite losing seats in the last election. She has kicked Republicans off committees, undermining the legitimacy of the opposition, and now she wants to arrest people who dare not to wear masks, even though they may be vaccinated. If masks work so well, then someone else not wearing one is not really a major additional risk, is it?
I believe masks do work, but I would deliberately not wear one in Congress, if I were working there. Let them arrest me. Civil disobedience to this tyrant is absolutely necessary and long overdue.
But beyond the issue of masks, what we see happening is the deliberate politicization of the Capitol Police into a praetorian guard -- the one police force Democrats want to valorize, since it protects the elite politicians against the voting rabble. This damage will take a long time to undo.
I should have noted in my message about the weekly Torah portion that this week is Shabbat Chazon, the Sabbath of Vision. We are about to mourn -- but see through that pain to something better that lies beyond, on the other side.
Wishing you the best vision -- and an incredible reality to follow. It happens!
We begin the final speech of Moses to the people of Israel before they enter the Promised Land. He relates the ups and downs of the years of wandering in the desert, before, finally, the people have the merit to enter the land itself.
This Sabbath always precedes Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It is the anniversary of the destruction of both of the Holy Temples, and a catch-all for many calamities that befell the Jewish people.
A word on Tisha B'Av. This year I am leaving for an overseas trip during the afternoon of the holiday -- in the middle of a fast day. Not idea, but there was no other choice. But my flight is in the afternoon, which is significant.
We relax some of the harsh, mournful customs of the day in the afternoon. We start to pray normally; we sit on regular chairs; we start to have hope again in the redemption that will, one day, lead us all back from exile to our home.
I'll be taking a trip to a land where an important part of ...
President Trump is in Scotland, playing golf and making big trade deals -- a major deal with the EU, in fact. Meanwhile, there is a global outcry about humanitarian aid to Palestinians (not about the Israeli hostages, mind you).
On top of that, Democrats are at their lowest polling numbers ever -- so they are trying to win control of the House by redistricting in the middle of a 10-year Census cycle. Oh, economic optimism is up, so they have a tough road.
And Tulsi Gabbard's revelations about the Russia collusion investigation make it clear that Obama's lieutenants lied to Congress. How deeply was he himself involved? The media continue to ignore the evidence, but we certainly won't.
Special guests:
Nick Gilbertson - Breitbart News White House correspondent, on EU deal
Frances Martel - Breitbart News foreign editor, on Trump abroad and Russia
John Spencer - urban warfare expert, on humanitarian aid and war in Gaza
Bradley Jaye - Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on the ...
