REP. VAN DREW (R-NJ) ASSERTS MYSTERY DRONES COME FROM IRANIAN MOTHERSHIP.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-congressman-sources-claim-mystery-drones-over-new-jersey-come-from-mothership-sent-by-iran?
'He said: “From very high sources, very qualified sources, very responsible sources, I’m going to tell you the real deal: Iran launched a mothership, probably about a month ago, that contains these drones.”'
PENTAGON SPOX SABRINA SINGH: NO IRANIAN MOTHERSHIP.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/new-jersey-lawmaker-warns-drones-originate-iranian-mothership-shot-down
'"There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there's no so-called ‘mothership’ launching drones toward the United States," Singh said.'
HOMELAND SECURITY REVEALS DETAILS ... JUST KIDDING, THEY DON'T REVEAL ANYTHING.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/homeland-security-officials-meet-lawmakers-mysterious-drone-flights-116690379
'Republican Assemblyman Erik Peterson, whose district includes parts of the state where the drones have been reported, said he also attended Wednesday's meeting at a state police facility in West Trenton. The session lasted for about 90 minutes.
Peterson said DHS officials were generous with their time, but appeared dismissive of some concerns, saying not all the sightings reported have been confirmed to involve drones.
So who or what is behind the flying objects? Where are they coming from? What are they doing? “My understanding is they have no clue,” Peterson said. ...'
So, the Government doesn't know what they are, but they know what they're not. Have I got that right? The DHS was formed more than 20 years ago, in response to a foreign, unconventional aerial attack on the East Coast of the United States mainland by islamist jihadis. And now?
What is it that they do, exactly?
2024-12-11
East Coast drones, and drones in the Government.
2024-11-24
Genesis - Parashath Toledoth - Aliyoth 1 to 4.
ALIYAH 1 - REBECCA'S TWINS.
Isaac and Rebecca are childless, and pray for children. After 20 years of marriage, Rebecca conceives, and gives birth to twins. The first-born, hairy and ruddy, they name Esau; the second, born grasping his brother's heel, they name Jacob [ Ya'aqov | יַֽעֲקֹ֑ב ]. Esau is an outdoorsman, and Isaac favors him, while Rebecca is partial to the more indoorsy Jacob.
Esau, returning hungry from a hunt, prevails upon Jacob to give him some of the stew that Jacob is cooking - in return for which, Jacob extracts Esau's promised birthright.
A famine strikes the land of Canaan, but G-d instructs Isaac not to travel to Egypt as his father Abraham did, but to remain in the land.
ALIYAH 2 - ISAAC AND AVIMELEKH.
Isaac presents his wife Rebecca to the local people as his "sister", the third instance of such a ruse in Genesis. After time passes, he lets his guard down and is spotted behaving intimately with Rebecca. Avimelekh chastises him, and Isaac reaps "a hundredfold" as a blessing from G-d.
ALIYAH 3 - ISAAC DOES WELL.
Isaac prospers, and is asked by Avimelekh to leave the area. He resettles, first in Gerar (along the border between the Negev and the Israeli heartland, and just east of Gaza), then at Sitnah; after encountering trouble over wells with the locals at these locations, he finally settles in Rehovoth [רְחוֹבוֹת] in the Negev. (This is not the same as the modern city of the same name, which is about 20 km south of Tel Aviv.)
ALIYAH 4
Isaac travels to Be'er Sheva, where he receives a nighttime visit from G-d with the promise of safety and of many descendants. He is then visited by Avimelekh, who proposes improved relations and a pact of peace. [292]
2024-11-18
Genesis - Parashath Chayei Sarah.
GENESIS - PARASHATH CHAYEI SARAH.
ALIYAH 1 [23:1 - 16] - A RESTING PLACE FOR SARAH.
We are not told how much time elapsed between the binding of Isaac and the death of Sarah. Tradition holds that Sarah died immediately after. However, if Isaac was a young boy at the time of the binding, many years would have passed. (Adin Steinsaltz, p. 116.)
Sarah dies at the age of 127 years, and from the way the text expresses her age, tradition infers that she lived a full life and exhibited the same good qualities throughout. Abraham negotiates with Ephron and the Children of Heth, i.e. the Hittites (or a branch of the Hittites - Steinsaltz, p. 117, note on 23:3) and purchases a cave to bury Sarah. He pays Ephron 400 shekels, an extravagant price, without haggling.
The site is the Cave of Machpelah, today known as the Tomb of the Patriarchs, and also the location of the Ibrahimi Mosque. The tomb and mosque have been under Israeli control since 1967, although due to the location security is tight and a number of incidents of violence have occurred. I visited the site on a trip to Israel many years ago.
ALIYAH 2 [23:17 - 24:9] - A WIFE FOR ISAAC.
With Sarah laid to rest, Abraham turns to the matter of finding a wife for Isaac. He tasks his chief servant Eliezer with this mission, emphasizing that Eliezer must go "to the land of my birthplace" and bring back to Canaan a wife for Isaac; under no circumstances should Isaac travel back to Ur, nor should he take a wife from the Canaanite women.
ALIYAH 3 [24:10 - 26] - ELIEZER AND REBECCA.
Eliezer travels to the city of Aram-Naharaim, home of Abraham's brother Nahor [נָחֽוֹר]. Robert Alter (p. 78, note on 24:10) notes that the camels in this scene are an anachronism, as the camel was not domesticated in the Ancient Near East until centuries after the Patriarchal period. Nevertheless, camels play a key role in this narrative.
Eliezer, approaching the city, asks for a Divine sign to confirm his choice of a mate for Isaac, and resolves to select the girl who offers water not only to Eliezer himself but also to his camels. Rebecca appears and promptly fulfills this test. (Alter notes that ten thirsty camels would consume many gallons of water, so Rebecca "would have had to be a nonstop blur of motion"; p. 80, note on 24:20.) Eliezer learns that she is the daughter of Bethuel and the granddaughter of Nahor.
ALIYAH 4 [24:27 - 52] - ELIEZER MEETS LAVAN.
Eliezer is invited in to meet Lavan, and introduces himself and relates the events of his mission from Abraham. He asks Lavan for Rebecca as a bride for Isaac, and Lavan agrees, saying, "This has come from the L-rd, and we can say neither bad nor good about it." (His terse invitation to Eliezer to "take her and go" - just two words in Hebrew [ קַ֣ח וָלֵ֑ךְ | qach v'lekh ] - echoes Pharaoh's dismissal of Sarai in 12:19.)
ALIYAH 5 [24:53 - 67] - ELIEZER BRINGS REBECCA HOME TO ISAAC.
There are gifts given to Rebecca's family, and a celebratory feast, and Eliezer spends the night. In the morning, Rebecca's brother and mother ask for a delay before the marriage, but Eliezer urges, "Do not delay me." (Steinsaltz notes that Eliezer "can therefore justify his hurry to return, not only to bring the girl to Isaac, but also to report to an elderly Abraham that a wife has been found for his son." - p. 128, note on 24:56.) The matter is put to Rebecca, and she agrees to go right away. Isaac marries Rebecca and finds consolation over the loss of his mother.
ALIYAH 6 [25:1 - 11] - ABRAHAM'S FINAL YEARS.
Abraham remarries; the text reports that the woman's name is Keturah [קְטוּרָֽה]. Some commentators believe that Keturah is in fact another name for Hagar, while others take the straightforward reading that this is a new wife. (Steinsaltz, p. 131, note on 25:1.) She bears him many children, but Abraham sends them to lands far to the east, and gives all that he owns to Isaac. Abraham dies at the age of 175 and is buried next to Sarah and the Cave of Machpelah.
ALIYAH 7 [25:12 - 18] - SONS OF ISHMAEL.
As Ishmael "definitively leaves the scene of narration" (Alter, p. 85, note on Ch. 25), his descendants are listed, "twelve princes" (25:16) like the future sons of Jacob. Ishmael dies at the age of 137. [761]
2024-11-17
Genesis - Parashath Vayera.
GENESIS - PARASHATH VAYERA.
Abraham receives mysterious visitors, who bring good tidings and ill. The course of Lot's life is changed forever. Abraham's long-promised blessing finally appears, but family strife ensues, and Abraham's faith is tested.
ALIYAH 1 [18:1 - 14] - ABRAHAM'S THREE VISITORS.
Three angelic visitors appear to Abraham as he sits by his tent in the afternoon. While Sarah prepares refreshment, they deliver the news that in a year's time, Sarah will have a son - much to Sarah's incredulity.
ALIYAH 2 [18:15 - 33] - MISSION TO SODOM.
Abraham sees the men off; two continue toward their next destination, the evil city of Sodom. The text now reports the Creator first contemplating, and then speaking directly to Abraham: "The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is very great! Let Me go down and see ...". The idiom of G-d "going down" to a wicked city to appraise the behavior of its inhabitants recalls the story of Babel.
Abraham bargains with G-d, securing the Creator's agreement to spare the city if even ten righteous people can be found there. G-d departs from speaking with Abraham, and "Abraham returned to his place."
(If Abraham had instead continued to Sodom with the two angels, bringing his family with him, then - counting four humans of both sexes from each of Lot's and Abraham's families, plus the angels - there would have been exactly ten righteous people in Sodom.)
ALIYAH 3 [19:1 - 20] - LOT'S TWO VISITORS.
The angels find Lot sitting "in the gate" of Sodom; he's sitting literally inside the gate, because fortified cities had "a large chamber at the gateway" (Alter, p.60, note). This detail emphasizes the urban setting, in contrast to Abraham's vantage point by his tent in the wilderness. Lot invites them to his home for dinner, rest, and safety. When the men of Sodom learn of the visitors, they demand Lot give them over, and threaten to break down his door. The angels strike the attackers with blindness and urge Lot to flee with his family.
ALIYAH 4 [19:21 - 21:4] - DESTRUCTION OF SODOM; AVIMELEKH AND SARAH; BIRTH OF ISAAC.
Lot arrives at dawn at the small town of Tzo'ar [צֽוֹעַר], and Sodom meets its end in classic Biblical fashion, in a rain of fire and brimstone; Lot's wife, looking back, is turned into a pillar of salt. Lot then flees Tzo'ar for a deserted cave with his two daughters. They must have assumed that "[the destruction of Tzo'ar] had been merely delayed" (Steinsaltz, p. 100, note on 19:30). The daughters, assuming the destruction is worldwide, conceive a plan to propagate the human race.
Abraham journeys south, where he repeats the "wife / sister" deception upon Avimelekh, King of Gerar. Avimelekh, warned in a Divinely-inspired dream not to touch Sarah, rebukes Abraham. "Unlike Pharaoh in chapter 12, who bestows gifts on Abraham as a kind of bride-price, the noble Abimelech offers all this bounty after Sarah leaves his harem, as an act of restitution." (Alter, p. 67, note on 21:14.) At the beginning of Chapter 21, Sarah conceives and bears the long-awaited son.
ALIYAH 5 [21:5 - 21] - SARAH EXILES HAGAR; ISHMAEL AND THE ANGEL.
Sarah derives the name of Isaac [ יִצְחָק | yitzchaq] from the verb "to laugh", recalling her own amused reaction at first hearing the prophecy (18:12); the word can also mean "playing" and can sometimes have other connotations as well (as we'll see in 28:8). Isaac is circumcised and weaned, and Abraham gives a feast. Sarah notices Ishmael laughing (or joking, or playing, or doing something - it's that verb again) and becomes angry; she demands that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away, and G-d orders Abraham to obey.
Wandering in the desert with their water depleted and on the point of dying, Hagar and Ishmael are saved by an angel who directs them to a well of water. Ishmael survives and grows up to be a great hunter, and Hagar finds him an Egyptian wife.
ALIYAH 6 [21:22 - 34] - ABRAHAM AND AVIMELEKH.
Abraham and Avimelekh resove a dispute concerning a well, and seal a pact with the transfer of seven ewes in Be'ersheva [באר שבע]; the place name means "well of the oath" (or alternatively "well of the seven").
ALIYAH 7 [22:1 - 24] - THE BINDING OF ISAAC.
The passage relating Abraham's offering up of Isaac is one of the most challenging in the Torah, and many commentaries have been written on it. It's impossible for me to do it justice here. Clearly the endpoint is to emphasize G-d's unequivocal rejection of human sacrifice; but, like Abraham and Isaac's three-day journey, it's getting there that's the hard part. Yoram Hazony insists that "at no point does Abraham intend to murder Isaac" (Hazony, p. 119), but I think it's difficult to square this reading with 22:10.
For me, what's clear is that the Creator only commanded Abraham to offer Isaac (literally, "raise him up" [ וְהַֽעֲלֵ֤הוּ | ha'alehu ]) - not to kill him - as Rashi points out. In Rashi's reading, G-d laconically tells Abraham, "I told you to take him up, now bring him down." (Rashi on 10:2.)
Now, with Hagar and Ishmael gone and the urban center of Sodom in ruins, Abraham's future lies with his son Isaac. [874]
2024-11-15
Genesis - Parashath Lekh Lekha.
GENESIS - PARASHATH LEKH LEKHA
The third section in the traditional annual cycle of Torah readings begins here, with G-d's summons to Avram. The early history of mankind is behind us, and from this point on, the text focuses on the story of the tribe that will become the Hebrew, or Israelite, nation. I've noted earlier that the early history of mankind, as told in the Bible, is a series of displacements; that tradition will be continued by Avram / Abraham and his descendants, the famously wandering Jewish people.
ALIYAH 1 [12:1 - 13] - FROM UR TO CANAAN TO EGYPT.
The command "go forth" - [lekh lkeha], or literally "go for yourself" in Hebrew - will be given again to Abraham. Here, he is being told to leave his native land [eretz], his heritage [moledeth], and his family [beth av], for parts unknown - "the land that I will show you". He's not told where he's going, or how he's supposed to know when he gets there. It is a leap of faith. Avram is being called to re-create himself, as he leaves behind him the settled life of cosmopolitan Ur and embarks with his family on a pilgrimage into the unknown.
So Avram travels to Canaan, arrives at Shechem, and receives a promise from G-d that "to your seed I will give this land." Avram builds an altar and blesses G-d, travels to Bethel and Ai and to the south - and then encounters a famine and heads to Egypt. He tells his childless wife Sarai to present herself to the Egyptians as his sister. (Of the three times in Genesis where the "wife / sister" ruse appears (here, in Chapter 20, and in Chapter 26), only here is the future Exodus story strongly hinted at. See Alter, p.42.)
Finally, and perhaps most important, G-d's blessing here entails an element of responsibility on the part of Avram towards all of humankind: "and you shall be a blessing" (12:2) and "all the nations of the earth shall be blessed through you" (12:3).
ALIYAH 2 [12:14 - 13:4] - PHARAOH AND SARAI.
The Egyptians respond to Sarai as expected, and she is taken captive and presented to Pharaoh. A series of plagues on Pharaoh and his house (again foreshadowing Exodus) alert Pharaoh to Sarai's married status, and she is returned to Avram with the blunt instruction, "take her and go." Avram leaves Egypt wealthy, and returns to Canaan to encamp between Bethel and Ai.
ALIYAH 3 [13:5 - 18] - AVRAM AND LOT PART WAYS.
Avram and Lot ascend from Egypt, returning to the southern part of the Land of Israel, the Negev. Strife breaks out between their respective households, and Avram proposes that they separate. "The language in which he addresses Lot is clear, firm, and polite." (Alter)
Lot takes what he sees to be the better territory - "all the plain of the Jordan, a lush, fertile area large enough for his flocks and herds." (Steinsaltz on v. 11.) Following this, God promises the Land of Israel to Avram - and also promises progeny.
The text reports Lot's choice of land from Lot's own point of view. "And Lot raised his eyes and saw the whole plain of the Jordan, saw that it was well-watered, before the Lord's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, like the Garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt ...". (Alter's translation.) That's a striking, and very ambivalent, pair of similes there.
Lot sees the physical terrain, but not the moral terrain. Verse 13 tells us that "the people of Sodom were very evil offenders against the Lord." And this is a good place to point out the importance of sight and attention in the Bible.
In the very next verse, the Creator tells Avram, "Raise your eyes and look from the place where you are ... for all the land you see, to you I will give it and to your seed forever." Both men "raised their eyes", but only Avram did so under God's instruction. Where Lot looked, he saw abundance; where Avram looked, he saw potential, as revealed by the Divine voice. And along with the promise of the land comes God's other promise to Avram: that the land will be filled with his children's children.
ALIYAH 4 [14:1 - 20] - THE WAR OF THE FOUR AGAINST THE FIVE.
Avram may have left Babylonia behind, but Babylonia isn't finished with Avram. A coalition of rulers from powerful Babylonia move to put down a rebellion in Canaan, and Avram is caught up in the action when Lot is captured. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, fleeing, take refuge in a bitumen pit. Avram launches a mission to rescue Lot and the other captives and to recover the plundered wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Following the successful rescue, Avram is greeted and blessed by Melchizedek, King of Salem. The Bible doesn't tell us much about Melchizedek (a fact which aroused the curiosity of the poet Edwin Arlington Robinson), but tradition identifies him with Shem.
ALIYAH 5 [14:21 - 15:6] - THE STARS, IF YOU CAN COUNT THEM.
The King of Sodom offers to reward Avram with all the recovered spoils of his city, but Avram refuses. G-d promises to reward Avram, and Avram replies that any material reward will mean little to him if he does not have a family member to inherit it. G-d promises Avram that his offspring will one day be as numerous as the stars.
Here again we see the importance that the Hebrew Bible places on the survival of the family and of the nation. For all of Avram's wealth and influence, what he really cares about is having a family line to carry on after him.
ALIYAH 6 [15:7 - 17:6] - THE COVENANT BETWEEN THE PARTS.
As a sign that Avram will inherit the Land of Canaan, G-d's presence is revealed at the Covenant Between the Parts. The Israelite captivity in Egypt is foretold. Later, Avram, still impatient for the promised heir, agrees to Sarai's suggestion to take Hagar as a wife, and Ishmael is born. Trouble follows, and Hagar flees the household with Ishmael, only to be ordered by G-d to return, with the promise that Ishmael's descendants will be "multiplied beyond all counting."
ALIYAH 7 [17:7 - 27] - THE COVENANT OF CIRCUMCISION.
G-d clarifies that it is through Avram's wife Sarai that his promised progeny will come, and instructs the couple to change their names to Abraham (Avraham) and Sarah. The rite of circumcision is ordained for all males in Abraham's household.
Yoram Hazony enumerates five virtues that can be associated with Abraham: (1) his generosity with kinsmen and strangers; (2) his zeal to protect the innocent against injustice; (3) his insistence on taking only what belongs to him and paying for everything he takes; (4) his piety towards G-d; and (5) his devotion to the interests of his family. (Hazony, Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture, p.112.)
Regarding the passages in this Parashah, Hazony writes (p. 113) that Abraham's character includes "his most obvious moral failings - his decision to take his wife's servant to bed ... [and] his willingness, in the early parts of the story, to expose his wife to the predations of others in order to save his own skin".
But, continues Hazony, Abraham's "pronounced sense of his own interest ... is also the source of the very virtues for which we are supposed to admire him - all of which are tinged with this same concern for his own interest and that of the members of his family."
Abraham's great virtue, and the character trait that suits him for the job, is precisely his tough-mindedness. "God's concern here is not merely to find a just man, but to raise up an individual who can lay the foundations for a just society with the ability to survive in a sea of injustice. He must be the kind of man whose virtues come of strength and success." (Hazony, p.114)
What actually makes the world a better place is not selfless generosity (which is fickle), but a sustainable commitment to compassion grounded in justice. [1349]
Genesis - Parashath Noach.
PARASHATH NOACH
ALIYAH 1 [6:9 - 6:22] - MAN IS JUDGED.
The story is familiar to us in English as "Noah and the Flood". While the inundation of the earth is certainly the main feature of this cataclysm, the Hebrew word for "flood" occurs nowhere in this narrative; the event is instead called [ הַמַּבּ֥וּל | ha-mabul], meaning "destruction" or "confusion". It is an undoing of the work of the Creation.
There's a famous debate as to whether the phrase "righteous in his generations" (6:9) should be interpreted as enhancing Noah's status (because he resisted the evil influences of his time) or limiting it (because he only appeared "righteous" by a very low standard). However this may be, Noah, like every one of us, was born into a particular place and time; and like all of us, he was judged by G-d according to his actions in the world he lived in.
ALIYAH 2 [7:1 - 7:16] - NOAH IS COMMANDED TO PREPARE.
Tradition teaches that the men and the women entered separately (based on 7:7), and abstained from marital relations while in the Ark, because the world was in a state of distress. This would also ensure that no children would be conceived aboard the Ark. (But see 7:13.)
ALIYAH 3 [7:17 - 8:14] - THE FLOOD.
The Hebrew word used for the cataclysm of Noah's time does not actually mean "flood" but rather "confusion". In fact, the event is a systematic undoing of the original work of creation. Grumet on 7:23: "Notice what is being erased and the order in which it is happening: human, animal, crawling creatures, and birds."
It's also noteworthy that the text refers to the pairs of animals as [ish v'ishto] (7:3) - generally translated as "each with its mate", but it literally means "man and wife", echoing Adam and Eve. In no other place in the Bible is the phrase "ish v'ishto" used in reference to animals.
One thing that's striking about the Flood narrative is the amount of detail, in the measurements of the Ark and especially in the chronology of the Flood itself. Here we get the first usage of calendrical dates in the Bible (7:11, 8:4, 8:13-14). And in fact, this is the ONLY instance of calendar dates in the Book of Genesis: not in the journeys of the Patriarchs, not in the chronicle of Joseph's sojourn in Egypt, but here, in the story the Flood, where human history has come to a standstill and literally nothing happens.
"Ironically it is G-d, for Whom time is meaningless, Who keeps track of time in the absence of the functioning of the luminaries." (Grumet)
ALIYAH 4 [8:15 - 9:7] - LEAVING THE ARK.
Many elements of the Flood narrative echo the earlier Creation story; here Noah offers sacrifices to G-d (8:20), recalling the first appearance of sacrifices in the Cain and Abel story.
And, again harking back to the Creation, G-d blesses Noah and his sons with the same phrase: "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth" (9:1 - 4), but with some important differences. Man is not only given dominion over all living things, but now "there will be a fear and dread of you" [ וּמוֹרַֽאֲכֶ֤ם וְחִתְּכֶם֙ | u-morakhem v'chitkhem], perhaps as a safeguard against a second rebellion from a jealous animal kingdom as with the Serpent. "Every moving creature will be yours to eat," further clarifying that animals as well as plants are now permitted as food. However, man is not to consume the blood, a hint at the prohibition against cruelty to animals in the Seven Laws of Noah as understood by Jewish tradition.
G-d forbids the shedding of innocent human blood (9:5 - 6), pointedly referring to "the hand of a man who is his brother". The famous verse "who sheds the blood of man, by man's blood shall his blood be shed" explicitly calls for crime to be met with punishment - perhaps a response to the lawless violence that consumed the world in the generations following Cain. It appears that the Creator is determined not to repeat the experience of Cain, who was shielded from human retribution, and who in the end served to inspire later generations such as Lemekh to violence.
ALIYAH 5 [9:8 - 9:17] - THE PROMISE.
The Creator promises to Noah that He will never again destroy the world. All of the reported speech in this passage is G-d's, but as Robert Alter notes, "and G-d said ..." is repeated three times, as if to suggest a significant silence or absence of response, perhaps indicating doubt: "The flood-battered Noah evidently needs further assurance ..." (p. 33).
ALIYAH 6 [9:18 - 10:32] - NOAH'S DRUNKENNESS, HAM'S SIN.
In Eden, man sinned through the forbidden fruit; here, it is Noah's excessive indulgence in wine that leads to an indecent incident involving Ham. Again echoing the Creation, there are themes of appetite and shame. Noah curses Ham and his son Canaan and their descendants.
Here we see a common theme in the Hebrew Bible: the descendants may be punished for the sins of the fathers. What you do today affects those who will come after you tomorrow. Reward or punishment of future generations is the main incentive mechanism in Scripture. On a national level, this focus is what helped the Jewish people survive for generations in exile and oppression. On an individual level, this incentive works by appealing to man's highest motives: the search for meaning, and the drive to create something that will live on after one's own death.
In the tale of Noah, we have seen many parallels with Adam and Eve, but we also see some key differences. For Noah and the generations after him, death is an inexorable reality - and one that will grow closer as the extraordinary lifespans reported by the text continue to shrink towards the Divinely ordained limit of 120 years (see 6:3). Noah and his family witnessed the death of the old world; for them, and for the generations after them, the urgent question of mortal life is: What will live on after me, when I am gone? What will I leave behind?
ALIYAH 7 [11:1 - 11:32] - THE CITY OF BABEL.
So far, the story of mankind told in Genesis is a story of displacements: the exile from Eden, Cain's banishment, the Flood. Now - narrated in just nine verses - we find the dispersion of mankind from Babel.
We know the story as "the Tower of Babel" in English, just as we know the story of Noah as "the Flood" (even though the Hebrew word for "flood" never appears there). Here, as Grumet points out, the word "tower" occurs twice, but "city" appears three times, suggesting that "God's primary concern is about the city, and only secondarily about the tower". Prager (citing Gunther Plaut, among others) agrees.
Grumet elaborates: "The city is a means to concentrate people geographically, and the tower provides a vantage point for control of those people."
Hazony: "In these verses we get to see the biblical suspicion of the state in its distilled form."
Steinsaltz: "This generation expressed the very human desire to gather in large urban centers that hold all their power, control, and technology. Their unity enabled them to build these huge centers. Such centers however, are designed for preservation rather than progress. ... In a homogeneous technological society, nothing new will grow."
Prager goes on to observe: "City dwellers are far more capable of anonymity than people who live in small towns and rural areas. And when people are anonymous, they feel less moral obligation to their neighbors - who are also likely to be anonymous. When both the individual and his neighbors are anonymous, people inevitably feel much less connected to one another. And they often act worse ...".
From the foregoing, we may see two possible causes for concern in the growth of Babel: (1) the centralized mechanisms of control, represented by the tower; and (2) the erosion of personal identity in the face of the anonymous crowd, and with it the loss of a sense of personal responsibility. Taken together, these forces form the same destructive combination that we see in our world today: the weakening of family and of human society, which are then supplanted and displaced by the impersonal state.
And given this state of affairs, the Creator's recourse seems almost inevitable: to shatter the Leviathan-state of Babel, returning a sense of locality and community to the human population. This is reflected in the fragmentation of language, just as the fall of the Roman Empire brought with it the disappearance of Latin as a living language and the rise of its Romance descendants.
I want to come back to the theme of wandering and exploration. The text tells us that "The entire earth was of one language and one speech" and that "they traveled from the east." This seems to indicate that the entire human population migrated together (although Steinsaltz maintains that "they" refers only to "a large group of people" - which, in turn, would imply that some other portion remained unaffected by the Dispersion). "From the east" is ambiguous: it's [mi-qedem] in Hebrew, but the word could also mean "from ancient times" - and we've run into that word before, referring to the Garden of Eden (2:8).
They settled in a plain (Steinsaltz and Alter explain that [biq'a] means a plain, and not "valley" as in later Hebrew) in Shin'ar - that's the name Sumer in English, and Sinjar in Arabic. And it seems like they got tired of wandering.
Although the episode is just nine verses long, the text takes the time to point out that the people made bricks from clay (the first architectural detail in the Bible) "which were for them as stone" suggesting that they had improvised and adapted to their new envitonment. But, having grown comfortable there, they didn't want to leave.
"Lest we be scattered" - this is fascinating. What were they afraid of? Who or what did they think was going to scatter them? And yet, in the end, scattered they were, and scattered they must be.
Adam was exiled from Eden, to work the land from which he was taken. Cain was condemned to wander the earth, and so to give up his own settled lifestyle and re-create the nomadic existence of his murdered brother.
And the people of Babel were scattered "upon the face of all the earth". They were cast out from the stultifying order of the city-state to the terror of the wilderness.
In each case, it is not just a change of place, but a change of habits and lifestyle. It is the biblical "hero's journey". It is a summons to mend oneself, and to grow, by encountering the danger and the chaos of the unexplored world outside.
The early history of man closes with a list of the generations after Noah (or more precisely, the descendants of Shem) through the sons of Terach. The three sons of Terach are Avram (also spelled Abram), Nachor, and Haran. Like the three sons of Noah, they all appear to be born in the same year, when Terach is 70 years of age.
The chronology of the ten postdiluvian generations (11:10 - 26) resembles that of the sons of Seth (5:6 - 32) but with one noticeable difference: the checksums for the ages ("he lived X years, he begot ..., he lived Y more years, he begot sons and daughters, all his days were X+Y years, and he died") are missing here. I think it is because in the first series, an exception existed to the "... and he died" pattern (Enoch who "walked with God" in 5:24); whereas in the second series, all of the people died in the usual fashion, so it was not necessary for Scripture to tell you in each case that "he died".
Terach died in Charan, enroute with his family to Canaan - the land that the Hebrews would come to call Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. (The place name Charan is sometimes also spelled Haran in English translations, but it should not be confused with Abram's brother Haran.) The story of this journey is told in the next reading. [2041]
2024-11-10
Genesis - Parashath Bereshith - Fourth aliyah to end.
Genesis - Parashath Bereshith - Third aliyah.
Genesis - Parashath Bereshith - Second aliyah.
Genesis - Parashath Bereshith - First aliyah.
2024-10-01
Hassan Nasrallah gets his virgins.
2024-09-03
Israel: Bodies of six hostages located at Rafah.
'On Saturday night, the IDF and ISA located and recovered the bodies of the hostages Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Master Sergeant Ori Danino, from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area in the Gaza Strip and returned them to Israeli territory. The six were abducted on October 7th, 2023, and were murdered in the past two days by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. They were found 20 meters underground without previous intelligence. The bodies were recovered a kilometer away from the tunnel where the hostage Farhan al-Qadi was located and rescued last week.'That's in Rafah. You remember Rafah, the city that the Biden regime was so anxious to keep the Israelis out of? https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/387366
'US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on Monday in Washington with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement after the meeting that Blinken “reiterated the United States’ support for ensuring the defeat of Hamas, including in Rafah, while reiterating opposition to a major ground operation in Rafah that would further jeopardize the welfare of the more than 1.4 million Palestinian civilians sheltering there.” “The Secretary underscored that alternatives exist to a major ground invasion that would both better ensure Israel’s security and protect Palestinian civilians. Secretary Blinken also discussed the need to immediately surge and sustain additional humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza,” the statement added.'
2024-08-13
Morning Report: 2024-08-13
'A pub in Birmingham, England was attacked and terrorized by a mob of masked "Muslim patrol" militants after they marched around the city looking for accused white supremacist "Islamophobes" to beat.'Part II: A pub in Birmingham, England was attacked and terrorized by a mob of masked "Muslim patrol" militants after they marched around the city looking for accused white supremacist "Islamophobes" to beat.
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) August 11, 2024
The violence was then proceeded by days of leftist and Muslim direct… https://t.co/3tGU7XYKq3 pic.twitter.com/dF2JTeVssD
2024-08-09
US / Israel: Kirby and Smotrich have words.
“I even saw one claim today, again by Mr. Smotrich, suggesting that the mediators of this deal, which includes the United States, would impose, quote, ‘a surrender agreement on Israel.’ He's saying this as President Biden is actually directing the United States military to the Middle East to directly defend Israel against a potential attack from Iran or other Iranian backed terrorist groups,” said Kirby. He added that Biden “is fully prepared to defend Israel yet again, with the United States military, and again, this is the second time that he will have done this in four months. The idea that he would support a deal that leaves Israel's security at risk, It's outrageous. And anybody knows President Biden and how staunchly he's been a defender for Israel for the entire day of his public service, ought to be ashamed of thinking simply put the views being taken against this agreement ... ”"Look at all we've done for you!" Kirby is saying. He is explicitly telling the Israelis that Israel should become dependent on the United States for its defense, which of course would be contingent on Washington's good will. What's in the agreement that got Kirby so defensive? Well ...
"You have to read it to believe it, and above all to understand the distorted and dangerous starting point of those who are pressuring us to stop the war and surrender. The ‘mediators’ actually wrote in their announcement yesterday that ‘the time has come to conclude the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the release of the hostages and prisoners’ while creating a delusional symmetry between the Israeli hostages - men, women and children - who were kidnapped from their beds with terrible cruelty, and despicable terrorists who murdered Jews and are serving their sentences for it in prisons," said Smotrich.
Will Iran attack Israel?
“We are prepared both defensively and offensively,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated during a visit Wednesday to the IDF induction base at Tel Hashomer.
How to help?
2024-08-07
Lesbian veteran speaks out.
This is a woman who kows the difference between real discrimination, and a phony victim narrative that's being used to foster a sense of entitlement.You need to trust me and watch this entire clip.
— eve (@eveforamerica) July 31, 2024
This woman is “gay” and does NOT subscribe to the LGBTQ labeling.
She served in the military, and she is voting for President Trump.
She hits on many important issues.
God bless her for this emotional testimony. pic.twitter.com/gWdGZxR1NV
2024-08-02
Morning Report: 2024-08-02
GAZA: ISMAIL AL-GHOUL, WHO FILMED OCTOBER 7 ATROCITIES, GETS HIS VIRGINS.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/393980
The aptly-named Ismail al-Ghoul was eliminated in a joint IDF / Shin Bet operation.
ISW ON ISMAIL HANIYEH OPERATION.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-july-31-2024
'Israel killed Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 30. Israeli agents appeared to have launched an explosively laden drone or missile from inside Iran to target Haniyeh, who was visiting for the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Haniyeh was staying at a facility with the IRGC Quds Force in northern Tehran.[1] The killing of Haniyeh reflects the degree to which Israel has infiltrated the Iranian security sector and is able to strike high-value targets within Iran. Hamas responded to the killing by calling on Middle Eastern countries to “deter” and “rein in” Israel.[2] Hamas also threatened to expand the war against Israel to ”new dimensions.”[3]'
The ISW article refers to a "drone or missile" but other reports are suggesting the strike was done with a bomb planted in Haniyeh's quarters as much as two months in advance.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/nyt-haniyeh-was-killed-by-explosive-smuggled-into-tehran-guesthouse-two-months-ago/
LONG WAR JOURNAL ON ISMAIL HANIYEH OPERATION.
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2024/07/hamas-chief-political-leader-ismail-haniyeh-killed-in-tehran.php
'One of Hamas’ longest-serving and most influential leaders, Chairman of the Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh, was targeted and killed on Tuesday in Tehran while in town to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s new president. Hamas referred to Haniyeh as the “head of the movement,” the man who represented the Palestinian terrorist group as its public face in high-profile negotiations and gatherings around the world—including ongoing and stalled ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel.'
PENNSYLVANIA: STATE SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW SUICIDE RULING ON 2011 STABBING DEATH OF ELLEN GREENBERG.
https://thepostmillennial.com/penn-supreme-court-to-review-suicide-ruling-in-case-of-philly-woman-stabbed-20-times-in-2011-then-ag-josh-shapiro-backed-claim-wounds-were-self-inflicted
The 27-year-old woman was found with 20 stab and slash wounds, many in the back of her neck and head, but then-AG Josh Shapiro backed up the "suicide" ruling favored by the Philadelphia Police and DA Office.
2024-07-30
Ismail Haniyeh gets his virgins.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/en/news/393879
'The Hamas terrorist organization announced on Wednesday morning that the organization's leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was eliminated in the Iranian capital of Tehran.
Earlier, media outlets in Iran, citing the Revolutionary Guards, reported that Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed in an attack on the home in which they were staying in Tehran.
Saudi media reported that Haniyeh was killed in his bedroom by a precision-guided missile that was launched towards him at 2:00 a.m. Tehran time.
Haniyeh was visiting Tehran in order to take part in the swearing-in ceremony of the new Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian, which took place on Tuesday.'
https://www.enlacejudio.com/2024/07/30/ismail-haniyeh-lider-de-hamas-fue-eliminado-en-iran/
'El líder del buró político de Hamás, Ismail Haniyeh, fue asesinado este martes en Teherán, la capital de Irán, confirmó el grupo terrorista palestino.'
https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-top-hamas-leader-ismail-haniyeh-killed-inside-iran
'While it’s not immediately clear who killed Haniyeh, it was publicly known that Israel was hunting down all Hamas officials, including its top leaders who live on foreign soil, following the October 7 massacre.
The head of the Israel Security Agency, commonly referred to as “Shin Bet,” said in a recording that was leaked to Israeli media back in December that the attack was “our Munich” — a reference to when Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 members of Israel’s Olympic team in the 1972 Summer Games in Munich. Israel responded to the murders by hunting down and killing every person that was involved, either directly or indirectly, with the attacks.'
2024-07-25
Morning Report: 2024-07-25
ISRAEL / USA: NETANYAHU ADDRESSES CONGRESS.
https://www.fox5dc.com/news/benjamin-netanyahu-address-congress-hundreds-protest-dc
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the US Congress for the first time since the October 7 massacres. "Our world is in upheaval.... This is not a clash of civilizations. It's a clash between barbarism and civilization. It's a clash between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life. For the forces of civilization to triumph, America and Israel must stand together," said Netanyahu.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/393564
"Mr. Speaker I want to thank you for the honor of addressing this great citadel of Democracy for the fourth time. We meet today at a crossroads of history, our world is in upheaval. In the Middle East, Iran's axis of terror confronts America, Israel, and our Arab friends. This is not a clash of civilizations, it's a clash between barbarism and civilization. It's a clash between those who glorify death against those who sanctify life. For the forces of civilization to triumph, America and Israel must stand together!" Netanyahu opened.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/393580
About half of Congressional Democrats were absent. Also absent was Kamala Harris, currently Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate. Meanwhile Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), attended the address wearing kaffiyeh and held up a sign reading "War criminal" and "guilty of genocide."
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/393585
Anti-Israel protesters burned American flags and an effigy of Netanyahu.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/393576
Anti-Israel gangs released maggots and pulled fire alarms at the Watergate Hotel, where the Israeli delegation - including Netanyahu and hostage families - are staying.
2024-07-24
Morning Report: 2024-07-24
SARAH HOYT: STARING INTO THE DUMPSTER FIRE.
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2024/07/22/getting-it-out-of-the-way/
<i>'Not that this is all that weird, except for the fact that it has all the appearance of a palace coup. As in, one does wonder if Biden knows he dropped out of his campaign. One does wonder, at that, if Biden is alive, or sufficiently compus mentis to know that he has dropped out. And that’s if he knew he was running in the first place, which one very much doubts.
Some people on Twitter are horrified that someone other than Joe Biden is obviously acting as president. I want to scream, vomit, laugh and hit my head on the wall. First of all, if they don’t think that’s been happening since 2020 they are such wishful thinkers they’re not even in this reality. Second, apparently they’re horrified because the people running the country “weren’t elected” which implies they think Joe Biden WAS elected. Despite the campaign run from the basement, which no one would do unless they were SURE they could win, and the only way to be sure was to have it fraud-locked in place; despite the obviously and clearly hackable voting machines; despite the kicked out poll observers, despite the glaring mathematical impossibility of the vote count; despite the way the democrats acted immediately after, like they were afraid the American people would catch on and tear them limb from limb. Despite all this, these people believed. Because they wanted to believe. ...'</i>
USA: BIDEN APPEARS.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/07/24/reports-biden-determined-to-defy-lame-duck-status-with-oval-office-address/
<i>'President Joe Biden is not yesterday’s man, or even the day-before-yesterday’s man. That will be the core message when he addresses the nation on Wednesday night barely three days after he exited the 2024 race for the White House and allowed Vice President Kamala Harris to be anointed as the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee.
It is only the fourth Oval Office of his presidency overall – and could well be his last – as he seeks to retain any symbol of relevancy possible in his last months of office.'</i>
COMMENTARY. The next six months are going to be interesting, that's for sure. The elites, the technocrats, the governing class are losing control of the narrative. They want us all to believe their opposition is few in number and isolated, but we know that's not true. They will continue using the magic tricks of the media to sustain this illusion, but the small, puny man behind the curtain has already been exposed. The 2020 "election"? Go ahead and believe Joe Biden won a free and fair election if it makes you happy; you can believe in Santa Claus for all I care. But I know what I know.
2024-07-12
Morning Report: 2024-07-12
ISRAEL: OCTOBER 7 - KIBBUTZ BE'ERI IDF INQUIRY.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/392902
It took seven long hours - from the start of the attack at 06:30 until 13:30 - for the IDF to mount a meaningful counterattack against the organized barbarity of Hamas. The IDF's operational inquiry into the failures of that day was released today.
The inquiry team determined that the IDF failed in its mission to protect the residents of Kibbutz Be'eri. However, the bravery of the Be'eri residents and the members of the kibbutz's civilian rapid response team is commendable and was crucial in stabilizing the defensive line during the first hours of combat, preventing the attack from spreading to other parts of the kibbutz.
In the attack on the kibbutz, 101 civilians were killed, and 30 hostages from Kibbutz Be’eri and two additional hostages were abducted and taken into Gaza, 11 of whom are still being held in Gaza. The security forces who fought in the area operated with great bravery and heroism. During the battle, 31 security personnel fell, including 23 IDF soldiers and members of the civilian rapid response team and eight officers of the Israel Police. Many soldiers and civilians were also injured.
Go to the link for a summary of the timeline and of the report's findings.
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2024/07/idf-releases-its-first-probe-into-october-7-failures-as-the-shejaiya-raid-ends.php
The IDF’s inquiry into the failure to protect this kibbutz was presented to surviving community members and then released to the public on July 11. During the battle to re-take Beeri from approximately 340 terrorists who had infiltrated, the IDF concluded that 31 security personnel were killed, including 23 IDF soldiers and members of the civilian rapid response team, and eight officers of the Israel Police.
The IDF inquiry concluded that Israeli forces were “not prepared for the extensive infiltration scenario that occurred on October 7th, involving multiple infiltration points by thousands of terrorists attacking dozens of locations simultaneously.”
No reserve forces were available for many hours as the Kibbutz was attacked. This meant the kibbutz was primarily defended by its local, lightly armed civilian volunteer security team from 6:30 in the morning until roughly 1:30 pm. Not until the afternoon did enough IDF reinforcements arrive to finally outnumber the terrorists who had infiltrated the community.
Go to Seth Frantzman's article for more details, and for the situation today.
2024-07-10
Morning Report: 2024-07-10
USA: BIDEN TO BLOCK SAVE ACT THAT WOULD REQUIRE PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP TO VOTE.
https://www.breitbart.com/2024-election/2024/07/09/joe-biden-vows-block-bill-requiring-proof-us-citizenship-vote-calls-noncitizens-voting-extraordinarily-rare/
The SAVE Act, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), would require state election officials to mandate voter registration applicants provide proof of American citizenship before they are added to the nation’s voter rolls. The White House released a statement saying the Administration "strongly opposes" H.R. 8281, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act.
FLORIDA: PRO-ABORTION ANTIFA THUGS PLEAD GUILTY TO ATTACKING PREGNANCY CENTER.
https://thepostmillennial.com/antifa-linked-abortion-activists-reach-settlement-with-miami-pregnancy-center-after-attacking-it
Vandals
connected to Antifa and Jane's Revenge pleaded guilty to attacking a
Florida pregnancy center and then reached a settlement with the pro-life
organization that runs the facility. Heartbeat of Miami is “a
faith-based ministry that provides life-affirming services and support
to women and couples" and was vandalized by Caleb Freestone and Amber
Smith-Stewart in July 2022.
Freestone and Smith-Stewart pleaded
guilty to charges of "conspiring to injure, oppress, threaten or
intimidate employees of pregnancy resource centers in the free exercise
of the right to provide and seek to provide reproductive health
service," per a press release from the US Department of Justice. Both
had vandalized pro-life pregnancy centers in Florida and are reportedly
connected to Antifa and Jane's Revenge, per Live Action.
ISRAEL / HEZBOLLAH: IAF STRIKES SITE OF LAUNCH THAT KILLED COUPLE IN GOLAN.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/392807
The IAF on Tuesday evening struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the area of Qabrikha from which the projectiles were launched toward the area of the Golan Heights earlier in the day, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.
UPDATE: The couple have been identified as Noa and Nir Barnes. They left three children.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/392834
MELANIE PHILLIPS: ABANDONING ISRAEL AND THE JEWS.
https://melaniephillips.substack.com/p/abandoning-israel-and-the-jews
'The new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, is said to have purged his party of antisemitism and has persuaded many British Jews that he has made Labour safe again for Jewish voters. On Sunday morning, he told the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas — antisemite, Holocaust denier and fan of Hitler’s wartime ally in the Middle East — that an independent state was the “undeniable right” of the Palestinian people and that “financial support for the Palestinian Authority” was one of his “immediate priorities”. ...'
That's just the beginning. The new Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, is contemplating halting arms sales to Israel; he is also sympathetic to ICC plans to order the arrest of Israeli officials. Then there's Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, Shabina Mahmood, a supporter of anti-Israel economic sanctions; and the new Attorney-General, Richard Hermer KC. Hermer. Read it all at the link.
2024-07-09
Morning Report: 2024-07-09
ISRAEL / HAMAS: ISRAELI FORCES ENTER GAZA CITY NEIGHBORHOODS.
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2024/07/israeli-forces-enter-gaza-city-neighborhoods-to-target-terrorist-infrastructure.php
'The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a new operation in portions of Gaza City on July 8. A raid by troops from the IDF’s 99th Division targeted several neighborhoods that fan out from Gaza’s old city and center toward the west and south. Hamas has returned to many communities in northern Gaza around Gaza City, and the IDF carried out similar raids in Jabaliya in May and Shejaiya in late June. ...
Palestinian media reported that the raid began in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood west of Gaza City. The IDF called on residents to leave the area and head south toward the Mawasi humanitarian zone in southern Gaza. Tel al-Hawa is near the IDF-controlled Netzarim Corridor that stretches across Gaza. It is not far from the Mediterranean coastline and borders another neighborhood called Zaytun, where the IDF has carried out several operations since February to clear the area of terrorists.'
ISRAEL / HEZBOLLAH / IRAN: IRAN EXPANDS DRONE, MISSILE CAPABILITIES, ENABLING FURTHER SUPPORT TO RUSSIA AND ALLIES.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-july-8-2024
'Iran is expanding its domestic drone and missile production capacities, which would enable further Iranian military support to Russia and the Axis of Resistance. Reuters, citing commercially available satellite imagery, reported on July 7 that Iran has expanded two defense industrial sites outside Tehran City in recent months.[1] The satellite imagery indicated that Iran has built over 30 new buildings at the two sites, which are meant to support the manufacturing of ballistic missiles and drones. A Western analyst that Reuters cited assessed that the expansion began at one site—the Khojir missile production complex—in August 2023 and at the other site—the Shahid Modarres base—in October 2023. The buildings are apparently still under construction. Anonymous Iranian officials speaking to Reuters claimed that Iran would transfer the drones and missiles produced at these facilities to Russia, the Houthis, and Lebanese Hezbollah. The satellite imagery of the Iranian sites also showed dirt berms surrounding many of the new structures, indicating the nearby presence of highly combustible materials.[2] The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) oversees both sites undergoing construction.'
HEZBOLLAH PUBLISHES AERIAL VIEWS OF ISRAELI SITES.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/392789
'The Hezbollah terror organization on Tuesday afternoon published aerial footage of sites in the Golan Heights. According to Hezbollah, the video clip was filmed by a UAV which crossed into Israel and returned to Lebanon. The nine-minute-long video clip, which was approved for publication by the censors, appears to show a list of military bases and security facilities in the region.'
2024-07-08
Against Oregon HB 2004 - Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV)
https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2004/Enrolled
An election is by nature competitive: the citizen is called to choose one candidate while rejecting others. Casting one's vote is a clarifying process.
HB 2004 seeks to replace transparency with opacity. Under this bill, the voter considering a list of candidates would be called on to rank ALL of the candidates on the list, in order of preference. Thus, for a slate of three, four, five, or six candidates, there would be 6, 24, 120, or 720 possible rankings, exponentially increasing the time and mental effort involved in filling out a ballot. This is a deterrent to voting.
Under this vote-counting system, "votes that had been counted for the defeated candidate are transferred to each ballot's next highest-ranked candidate". This process makes vote-counting exponentially more complex and time consuming, and renders hand-counting impracticable. This is a blow to transparency.
The creation of a system where votes are routinely "transferred" from one candidate to another invites abuse and manipulation by shadowy groups intent on thwarting the will of the people. It is not hard to foresee that a group of candidates, each unable to gain significant support from the public, could run as ostensible "opponents" to one another while in fact colluding. This is an invitation to rule by cartels.
The existing electoral process already provides ample opportunities for Oregon voters to winnow the field of candidates to those few they deem most desirable. Tampering with that process is courting disaster.
2024-07-07
Morning Report: 2024-07-07
UK ELECTIONS: GAINS FOR LABOUR, SETBACKS FOR TORIES, WHILE REFORM GROWS.
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/07/04/exit-poll-says-leftist-sir-keir-starmer-will-be-britains-new-prime-minister/
'Sir Keir Starmer, a top lawyer who once served as the United Kingdom’s Director of Public Prosecutions and supposedly former hardline leftist radical, who claims to have changed his mind and reformed the Labour party he now leads into a mature and capable governing force, is going to be the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The Ipsos exit poll claims 410 seats for Labour — the second largest Labour majority ever, if it proves to be correct — and a crushing defeat to the Conservatives, collapsing from 365 seats won in 2019 to an estimated 131 today.
The Liberal Democrats are polled to have enjoyed strong growth to 61 seats. Nigel Farage’s Reform, if this exit poll is correct, have well and truly gained the beachhead they said they wanted with an estimated 13 seats — he will be very happy with this.'
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/07/05/rishi-sunak-resigns-announces-he-will-quit-as-tory-leader/
'The defeated leader of the Conservative Party, which suffered its worst election result in well over a century overnight, has said he is stepping down from power and will also give up control of what remains of his political faction.'
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/07/07/farage-party-would-have-won-94-seats-under-proportional-voting-system/
'The British general election result has been described as the most disproportionate in history. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK won over four million votes but only secured five seats in the House of Commons, sparking calls for a change to the electoral system.'
MELANIE PHILLIPS: 'NO LESS SEISMIC FOR BEING PREDICTED'.
https://melaniephillips.substack.com/p/all-change
The Reform party led by Nigel Farage achieved extraordinary success from a standing start. Despite the high bar against third parties set by the British electoral system — and despite some deeply questionable candidates, the result of a campaign thrown together at a moment’s notice with next to no organisation or party discipline — Reform won four seats, putting Farage himself into parliament for the first time.
'The significance of this achievement, however, goes much deeper than the number of seats the party actually won. Reform did enormous damage to the Conservatives (and more than a little to Labour too) by the high numbers voting for it, costing the Tories no fewer than 180 seats. Reform is now a serious insurgency on the pattern of “populist” insurgencies against a monolithic political establishment that we have seen developing in Europe.
A deeply ominous development is the
emergence of an Islamic sectarian vote, with four previously Labour-held
seats lost to independent candidates whose pitch — in a British general
election concerning British national interests — was about Gaza and
“Palestine”. '
SAM ASHWORTH-HAYES: BRITAIN AND THE NEW SECTARIANISM.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/05/britain-can-no-longer-ignore-the-new-sectarianism/
'The unexamined assumption that underlay Britain’s immigration system was a grand-scale version of the Wykehamist fallacy: people look different, but act the same. They vary on things that don’t matter very much – clothes, food, quaint traditions – but in their core, everyone is a good liberal waiting to discover that fact.
This, it turns out, may be entirely the wrong way to conceive of culture and identity. People can vary significantly in what they believe is moral and right, how they should act, and how society should be ordered, and they sometimes retain and transmit these differences across borders and down generations. '
COMMENTARY. While much of Europe trends rightward, Britain has seemingly taken a turn in the opposite direction. Britons will now have the opportunity to experience the effects of leftist policies full-on, as Americans have under four years of the Biden regime.
2024-07-04
Morning Report: 2024-07-04
CALIFORNIA: PROP 47 ADVANCES, GOV NEWSOM WITHDRAWS COMPETING ANTI-CRIME BILL.
https://thepostmillennial.com/gavin-newsom-cancels-alternative-anti-crime-ballot-measure-as-tough-on-crime-republicans-make-strides-in-california
'California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom canceled his anti-crime ballot measure meant to compete against Republicans' Prop. 47 reform initiative that would significantly increase penalties for drug dealers and repeat offenders. The Republican-backed initiative garnered enough support from California residents in April to appear on the ballot for a vote in November, despite Democratic lawmakers working to prevent it from passing.'
TECHNOLOGY: PROTON TO LAUNCH DOCS APP AS GOOGLE COMPETITOR.
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2024/07/04/proton-launches-google-docs-rival-with-enhanced-privacy-features/
'Privacy-focused email and VPN company Proton has unveiled Proton Docs, a privacy-focused document editor that aims to provide users with a secure alternative to Google Docs.'
HISTORY: PRAGER U LAUNCHES AMERICAN FOUNDERS COURSE.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/07/04/prageru-launches-video-series-e-book-on-founding-fathers-providing-information-that-people-didnt-learn-in-school/
'PragerU has released a video series and an e-book on the Founding Fathers of the United States, in which subscribers can “learn the true stories of the men who built America and risked everything to create the greatest nation the world has ever known.”'
ANTI-SEMITISM IN AMERICA: RABBI MOSHE HAUER.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/392556
'The past year has been disorienting for American Jews. The country we knew, founded on the values of liberty and fairness and characterized by its kindness and caring, welcomed us here and encouraged us to live and to thrive as Jews. Does that America still exist, and if so, for how much longer? Are the horrific scenes on the streets of New York and Los Angeles and on innumerable university campuses the new American normal?
The
vast majority of Americans, its leaders and its citizens, refuse to
accept that. They share our horror at what has taken hold in pockets of
this country amongst those who are ashamed of and angry with America. ...'
2024-07-03
Morning Report: 2024-07-03
ISRAEL: CDR SALAMANDER, CAROLINE GLICK, AND THE IDF'S FAILED DOCTRINES.
https://cdrsalamander.substack.com/p/caroline-glicks-failed-doctrines
The title of CDR Salamander's blog post is a little confusing; the article is an endorsement of Caroline Glick, sharing her critiques of the "failed doctrines" of the IDF. [EDIT: CDR Salamander has fixed the title.] Quoting from Glick:
Two underlying assumptions guided Israel’s security establishment for the past generation. The first asserted that with the end of the Cold War, the era of conventional wars had ended. In the present age, brains, rather than brawn, would rule the roost.
…the second underlying assumption that guided Israel’s security establishment for the past generation. This assumption, also championed by Barak, asserted that Israel’s most important strategic asset was the United States.
Salamander adds:
The Smartest People in the Room™ assured them all was well.
When this war ends - or at least this stage of a “war” that may never really end - this reality will have to be addressed, and probably looks like it already is.
The failure of the second assumption should ring loudly in Europe as well. The Russians have made this apparent.
Glick's original article - titled 'Rising from the Ruins of a Generation of Failed Doctrines' - is here:
https://carolineglick.com/rising-from-the-ruins-of-a-generation-of-failed-doctrines/
Glick notes that the IDF is already starting to learn some hard lessons, and moving back towards domestically-produced weapons and munitions in a program called the "Independence Project".
COMMENTARY. I have little to add to the knowledgeable analyses of Caroline Glick and CDR Salamander, but I do want to point out one thing. The IDF was not wrong in its estimation of the American people's support for the Jewish state, but it made the mistake of confusing the American people with the American government.
Every American patriot understands that while our own Nation's security is entrusted to our government and our armed forces, ultimately it is the American citizenry - We The People - who are responsible for our Nation's safety and our own. Our Bill of Rights enshrines the individual citizen's right to keep and bear the tools of his or her own defense, and of the Nation's. This is every American's last line of defense against enemies foreign and domestic, and it is our protection in the event of an ineffectual or hostile government regime.
The defense of Israel is Israel's responsibility. The Israeli people have paid a terrible price for their government's over-reliance on technology, intellect, and a friendly regime in Washington. As Americans prepare to celebrate our Independence Day, Israelis are looking for a way forward in the wake of last October's bloodshed. May they do so in a renewed spirit of independence.
