Wordless

By Hank Silverberg

What am I going to write about this week? I usually ask myself that question on Wednesday or Thursday. This week I came up empty.

I could spend a few paragraphs talking about the Education Secretary Betsy Devos and her idiotic attempt to cut funding for the Special Olympics in the 2020 budget. But that was too much even for the cold-hearted man in the White House, who bowed to political pressure and public outrage, and over-ruled her. The fact missed by a lot of people is that the Trump administration had tried to sneak the same cuts through last year, and was stopped by its own party. 

I could also write this week about the whole Jussie Smollett case and how the media dropped the ball on that story.  Most journalists were not skeptical enough about it from the start by at least using the words “alleged” in their reporting. The end result is the media looked pretty bad when the crime turned out to be a hoax, and then the prosecutor decided not to go ahead with charges against Smollett.  Like the Kentucky students on the mall story from a few weeks ago, many news organizations were lazy and just took information given to them without checking it out.

I will mention that I received requests for money from several presidential candidates on my Facebook page this week. Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Amy Kobachar and Pete Buttigieg all want my dollars. It’s folks like me, they all say, who must contribute now to keep special interests out of the election.

Sorry candidates, you are not getting any of my money. I was a journalist for 40 years and never gave money to political candidates because it was a conflict of interest. Now I am freed from that restraint but I feel no draw to anyone who has announced so far. They have a long way to go before they get a nickel from me. That’s assuming I have a nickel to give, because the cost of healthcare is taking all my money.

Some other news of the week that I found both disturbing and laughable: Alex Jones, the bizarre Infowars host, being sued by the parents of the Sandy Hook victims for claiming the shooting was a hoax, gave a court deposition. In it he admitted for the first time that the shooting actually happened. He had said for years that the the incident was fake, and the parents of the victims were paid actors. Now he says his comments were due to a “form of psychosis.”  Do you believe that? I hope the Sandy Hook parents get every penny he has in their lawsuit and that he fades into oblivion. I’m surprised he didn’t say the devil made him do it.

As the week ended, we heard again from Donald J. Trump, right before he went off to play another round of golf at one of his company owned courses where the U.S. taxpayers will foot the bill and the money will go into the coffers of Trump Inc.  He announced plans to withhold more than $500 million in aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, which Trump claims are not doing enough to prevent illegal migration north to the United States. He then threatened to actually close the U.S. Border with Mexico.

  That completely confused the folks at Fox News (not unusual) who apparently can't report this story correctly because it doesn't include the words "build the wall." (look at the words below the anchors )

  

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/03/30/trump-cuts-funding-el-salvador-guatemala-honduras/

http://time.com/5561348/trump-close-mexican-border-caravan/

More than $1.7 billion in trade crosses that border every day and closing it could hurt both the U.S. and Mexican economy. It could kill as many as FIVE million U.S. Jobs.  If that doesn't bother you think of this. The U.S could run out of avocado in three weeks! Of course, no one can convince the President cutting the funds and closing the border will only exacerbate the economic crises in Latin America and increase the number of people in economic distress seeking entrance into the United States, both legally and illegally. He has no clue.   

Mr. Trump  apparently doesn’t play golf well, either. A new book out this week quotes numerous celebrities who have played with the President. They say he cheats on a regular basis. You can tell a lot about a person by how they play competitive sports. Enough said.

Also this week---there was Bagelgate. What? Yes, that's right. It seems the folks in the midwest have been SLICING a bagel like bread for decades, but the folks on the east and west coasts never had a clue. Then pictures like this began showing up on the internet from places like St. Louis, and middle America had some explaining to do. I'm not sure this is actually a bagel. I mean, where is the hole? If it's not round, with a hole and a smear of cream cheese in the middle, is it really a bagel? It might as well be white bread. Wait until the rest of the country finds out those same midwest folks toast their ravioli. 

Finally, the best news of the week was the opening of a new baseball season. Fans of 30 teams are all hoping this will be their year. I can’t speak for the folks in Kansas City or San Diego, but for a Red Sox fan like me, REPEAT is the WORD this year. Nine World Championships are not enough. 

We don’t believe all those claiming the team from the Bronx has the edge (Bronx fans said the same thing last year).  

So basically, I'm sorry to say I can't find anything to write about this week. Maybe there will be something inspiring in the coming days.

            (Your suggestions and comments are welcome)

                                              

(Copies of my book "The Campaign" can be purchased on Amazon.com, BN.Com or HankSilverbergbooks.com or you can get a signed copy at a reduced price by emailing me at hanksilverberg@gmail.com for instructions)