Time to Think

The Civility War By Hank Silverberg        The United States fought the Civil War between 1861 and 1865. It came after decades of long standing divisions over slavery and attempts at compromise that failed. The United States began fighting the Civility War in 2015. It came after long standing divisions between rich, poor, black, white and brown. The melting pot that created the greatest country in human history began boiling over.                                                                                               It was like Americans had gathered for one big Thanksgiving dinner. The family didn’t always get along, but they tolerated their differences in wealth, religion and politics because that is what the family known as “Americans” do. This year though, the rich, pompous cousin no one really likes, and his kids, were invited for the first time in years and we didn’t know what to expect from them. Some of us said he would come in with some new ideas and bring a b

A History Lesson By Hank Silverberg     It is chilling, and one of the most disturbing, episodes in the whole illegal immigration crackdown that has been stepped up by the current administration.       More than two thousand children, who came into the country illegally with one or both parents between April and May, were separated from their parents. They have been placed in holding centers while the adults are placed in detention centers awaiting deportation proceedings. Most of those parents are seeking political asylum here because of unrest or gang violence in their home country.        Why is this shocking? Many of the parents were told as they were separated that the children were being taken so they could get a bath. No other explanation was provided.     For those who know history, particularly for Jews, that explanation has a chilling echo. It was standard procedure at Nazi concentration camps to tell those about to be murdered that they were going to take a “sh

Move along, there’s nothing to see here By Hank Silverberg                                      What was in the news this week?   Let’s see, President Trump ditched our long-standing allies like a hot potato at the G-7 Summit and went off to meet with North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un, that volcano is reshaping the coast line of Hawaii’s big island, and the Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup.       Certainly, those were all news stories. But we also heard a lot from Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and plenty of speculation about what Bob Mueller is doing or not doing in the Russia investigation. Much of that information was inside politics.       Here are some stories you may have missed. The ones that got lost in all the screaming, pontificating and speculation about the others. There was some reporting on them, but the current government would like you to ignore them while much of the media is distracted by the reality show at the White House.      Let’s start at

Words Matter By Hank Silverberg       Each semester in the first meeting with my Public Speaking class, I tell my students that the theme for the class is “Words Matter.” How they speak, the words they use and how they use them can make them effective public speakers, or someone who no one wants to listen to.                                               T his week I find myself wondering if that message needs to spread to newscasters, pundits, celebrities and politicians on a national level.                         Fi rst, there was Roseanne Barr. Her comments about Valarie Jarret were clearly racist.   Any other interpretation simply doesn’t hold up. You can argue whether the punishment, losing her ABC show, fits the offense, but you can’t argue what the words meant. Her follow-up about being on Ambien when she tweeted was as ill-mannered and as ignorant as the original tweet.