Posts

Showing posts from December, 2018
Image
We Need a Real Leader By Hank Silverberg 2018 is in the books. As I wrote last week, it was NOT a good year, though certainly not the worst either. Is there hope for 2019?  I’d  like to answer that with some humor, but I’m not Dave Barry and I lost my sense of humor about two hours into the Kavanaugh  confirmation hearings.          Many things went wrong this past year. Though the economy has been running at high speed with low unemployment, there’s a good chance it will run out of gas in 2019, or worse, crash into a tree because those driving it have been careless. Just this past month, the President created volatility in the Stock Market simply by attacking, in a TWEET, the Federal Reserve Board’s interest rate decisions. And for much of the year he wreaked havoc on the global economy by imposing tariffs on certain foreign goods, prompting retaliatory tariffs by both friend and foe. Those tariffs may spell real trouble for the world economy in 2019 if they continue.  
Image
2018, The Year That Wasn’t  By Hank Silverberg The year is rapidly coming to an end and it’s time to look back on 2018 with reflection. Really? Do we have to?  A s years go, 2018 was not a good one. It was not as bad as a hundred years ago in 1918, when a million men died in the last horrible months of World War One. It was not as bad as 50 years ago in 1968 when Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were assassinated. But 2018 was still not a good year.   It was the year in which Donald Trump continued to dismantle much of the progress of the last four decades and ignored most of the growing problems of the 21 st century. The best example is climate change, which is getting worse. Mr. Trump withdrew in 2017 from the Climate Change Accord signed by 174 countries and the European Union. He still calls it a hoax and belittles the science. But as I wrote last month, he continues to ignore the evidence as the impact gets worse.      https://hanksilverberg.blogspot.co
Image
Distraction Faction  By Hank Silverberg Is your head spinning as you try to keep up with all the accusations against Donald Trump? Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been investigating for over a year and has not yet issued his final report,  but 33 people and three companies have been indicted and/or convicted from the investigation. And a second investigation by the U.S. Attorney in New York has netted more, including Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen. Yet, "Individual #1,"  as Mr. Trump is referred to in some   court papers, has yet to be charged with anything. Constitutional scholars keep saying that a sitting president can’t be indicted, so we are told the only way to  remove Mr. Trump from office before the 2020 election would be Impeachment.  Impeachment proceedings have been used three times before in U.S. history. Andrew Johnson escaped removal in 1868 by Senators who were not happy with his Reconstruction programs and the fi
Image
The December Blues By Hank Silverberg It’s a cold winter Sunday in December. It’s the 8 th and final day of Chanukah. It’s snowing. A few miles from where I write this, thousands of people are crowded into the shopping malls. The music is festive, and with the economy in fair shape, if you believe the so-called experts, people are spending their hard- earned money on things they really don’t need. T he Sunday morning talking heads were all gabbing about the latest revelation in the Russia investigation which appears to be no revelation at all and @realDonaldTrump is tweeting nonsense again. We are in the middle of the “holiday season” that seems to start these days with Halloween and end on January 2 nd . For many people it is a joyous time of the year. They spend lots of time with family and friends, and worship in a variety of ways depending on their faith. But as we approach December 25 th , my blood pressure rises.  You see, I don’t care how many shopping da
Image
Patriotism and other things By Hank Silverberg Have you ever had your patriotism questioned?  It seems that is happening all over these days, and it is getting ridiculous.This meme has shown up on my Facebook news feed several times already and it makes me angry: _________________________________________________________________ “I’m proud to be an American” I bet no one passes this on because they are scared to be called a racist. _______________________________________ Here is an extensive answer to that post above, which I labeled "B-S."  I am proud to be an American and live in a country where racial and ethnic diversity is a cornerstone of our strength. It’s a country where we can learn from each other, worship as we please, and speak our minds when we want to. I am proud to be an American when racism is un-American. There is no connection between love of country and hate of other countryman or immigrants.  A proud American rejects that notio

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *