J. Davy Crockett III

The old Victory Hotel had seen better days. In fact, at that time, some 40 years ago, it was an abandoned building, shuttered and boarded up, though it was only a stone’s throw from the main railway station in the city. Passenger trains were no longer in vogue, and this area had become a pocket of decay in the city.

In the well-known biblical account of the prophet Jonah, God instructed His reluctant Israelite servant to deliver a warning to the city of Nineveh, an Assyrian stronghold. Assyria was traditionally a bitter enemy of Israel. Jonah unwisely attempted to shirk his duty and flee from his responsibility. To get away, he booked passage on a ship in Joppa (modern-day Jaffa) going to Tarshish, which some theories connect with an ancient port also called Tartessos in the region of what is now Spain, though other theories abound.

As members of Congress congratulate themselves over a compromise “stalemate” agreement to end a protracted budget crisis—an agreement that raises the federal debt ceiling and ends the so-called “shutdown” of the United States government—many citizens and pundits are wondering: What was really achieved?