Millions were deeply moved when Erika Kirk forgave the assassin of her husband Charlie. Reflecting on the profound meanings of the Jewish Day of Atonement, Jeff Jacoby questions the phenomenon of instantly forgiving heinous crimes. While such acts appear selfless and healing, Jacoby notes in Jewish World Review, Jesus himself warned that “you have the right to pardon only the wrongs ‘your brother’ committed against you.” When the victim was someone else, forgiveness may not be yours to give.
Toppling a Communist Empire for $2.7 Million
Though widely thought of as focused on waterboarding terrorists or poisoning foreign potentates, it was by smuggling paper that the CIA achieved its most monumental triumph. R.M. Gerecht in a book review for The Washington Free Beacon charts how the late Cold War-era operation to flood Poland with Western books, magazines, printing supplies and audio recordings fatally weakened the country’s Communist dictatorship, setting the stage for the downfall of the entire Soviet empire. Total cost: US$2.7 million.
