Time to Think

Freedom of The Press?                                #324 By Hank Silverberg  It was bound to happen. Donald Trump has kicked the Associated Press out of the White House press room and attacked both CNN and reporter Kaitlan Collins repeatedly because he does not like their coverage of his administration. The AP will also not be allowed to travel with the White House press pool on Air Force One.  With Collins, he has attacked her numerous times  simply because she asks tough questions he does not want to answer, and because he does not like CNN. But with the Associated Press, America's premier wire service, the cause was trivial and the impact substantial. The wire service decided to keep the Gulf of Mexico name on what Trump now calls the "Gulf of America."   Trump has changed the name on all official documents, but the Gulf of Mexico, an international body of water, has had its name...

Government? What government?           #322 By Hank Silverberg  "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice , insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." The words above are the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. When James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay crafted the document in 1787, they believed it was the responsibility of the FEDERAL government to provide for the common defense--which is the basis of the U.S. military. They also believed it was the federal government's job to " promote the general Welfare"  of the nation's citizens.   That is why the Congress, over the last 250 years, has created agencies like the FDA, which protects our food supply and makes sure the medicines we take are...

Information Control                                #321 By Hank Silverberg I am not one of those people who has panicked over the first two weeks of the Trump administration. He has been doing exactly what he said he would do, so as annoying as it is, no one should be surprised.  But there are a few things that are making me very nervous. At the top of the list, something many Americans may have missed, is the administration's efforts to control ALL news and information coming out of Washington, not just from the White House, but from the entire federal government.    For example: since 1996, the Centers for Disease Control has been publishing the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). It keeps the state health departments, doctors, and the public up to date with  things like flu outbreaks, Measles, West Nile Virus, Covid-19, and other respiratory viruses and illnesses. It allows ...

A First Report Card                                    #320 By Hank Silverberg  I started teaching a new semester the day after Donald J Trump became president again. I don't have any graded assignments for my students for the first two weeks so they can get accustomed to my class. So I needed someone to evaluate.  The new President seemed ripe for that. Donald J   Trump gets an F for his first week in the big oval office.  A list of his subjects: International Relations: F He has alienated our allies in Europe by withdrawing from the Paris Climate Change treaty (again). and basically saying climate change is not important to the planet.  He tried to intimidate the Prime Minister of Denmark into selling Greenland to the United States in what has been described as a fiery 45 minute phone call. The Premier, Mette Frederiksen, perhaps conjuring up his Viking ancestors, ...