Balak, the king of Moab, summons the prophet Balaam to curse the people of Israel. On the way, Balaam is berated by his donkey, who sees, before Balaam does, the angel that G‑d sends to block their way. Three times, from three different vantage points, Balaam attempts to pronounce his curses; each time, blessings issue forth instead. Balaam also prophesies on the end of the days and the coming of Moshiach.
The people fall prey to the charms of the daughters of Moab, and are enticed to worship the idol Peor. When a high-ranking Israelite official publicly takes a Midianite princess into a tent, Pinchas kills them both, stopping the plague raging among the people.
* Num. 22:3: “Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites. 4 The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.””
Numbers matter. Demographics matter. Fearing a powerful neighbor is normal.
* Balaam has supernatural gifts. I am open to people having such gifts. Perhaps God reaches out to those who reach out to him.
* How much do you care about other people blessing or cursing you?
* When Pinchas kills the fornicators, that’s an intense solution to an intense problem — the public desecration of Judaism’s laws. It is one thing to sin privately, that can be ignored, but if you sin publicly, you’re asking for a response. The more intense the public sin, the more intense the response. What was the proper response to the decadence of Weimar Germany? What is the proper response to the decadence of Weimarica?
* Most men will give up everything for the opportunity to have sex with a hot chick. I see no reason to waste time denying or bemoaning this reality. Instead, we should accept it and design policy around it.
Women are not superior creatures because they have a lower sex drive (when did you last see a female leader fired for her bad sexual choices?). They are superior in the narrow sense that nature enables them to make less impetuous sexual choices just as nature has endowed men with greater strength and intelligence and courage to make sounder choices in other areas of life.
* Richard Spencer talks about the lawfare against him and the Alt Right. He discusses how almost every fundraising platform he’s joined, has then banned him. Well, when your stated platform is to overthrow the existing order, you have to expect this level of opposition.
* CNN reports:
HHS official listed work for anti-Islam show, conspiracy website on resume
(CNN)A far-right political pundit who was appointed to a post at the Department of Health and Human Services listed on her resume her past work on a conspiracy website and YouTube show where she made anti-Muslim comments, according to documents obtained by CNN’s KFile.
Ximena Barreto was placed on leave at the department in April following reports from CNN and Media Matters that she spread conspiracies and made anti-Muslim comments. She returned to work after issuing a public apology but was moved from her job as a deputy director of communications.
“Comments I made as I private citizen before I was hired at HHS were brought to light by concerned members of the press,” Barreto said in her apology at the time. “In the heated and hyper-passionate political campaign environment, I made generalized comments regarding race relations and radical Islam. I fully understand that these emotionally-charged comments were hurtful, and I deeply apologize to members of both communities.”
A copy of Barreto’s resume, obtained by CNN on Thursday through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows she listed her previous conspiratorial work on her resume as a qualification for the communication position.
The resume noted her work from June 2017 through the present on “The Right View” and on the Halsey News Network — YouTube shows she co-hosted where she said Islam was “a cult” and said the Republican Party shouldn’t allow a Muslim to run for Congress.