The Trial, The Space Force and Chocolate
By Hank
Silverberg
How much of
the Trial of Donald J. Trump did you watch on TV? I spent a few hours on it. I had
watched some of the House hearings. Much
of what we heard during the prosecution’s opening just recapped the evidence in
the case.
I was most interested in how the White House
was going to defend Mr. Trump. I am waiting for witnesses, people who were
close to the President and were involved in the decisions to testify, and say,
“No, that’s not what happened.”
But guess
what? We are not likely to hear from those witnesses. The Republicans on the
jury (53 United States Senators) apparently don’t want to hear what the principal
players would say if they were to testify. They apparently will
settle for a couple of not so smooth-talking lawyers to just repeat the
President’s claim that he is perfect and did nothing wrong.
That premise
is ridiculous. Donald Trump did plenty wrong.
I am not a Constitutional expert and I don’t know if that wrongdoing is enough to remove
him from office. But common sense says threatening a foreign leader with the
loss of vital military aid unless he starts an investigation into your
political rival is DEFINITELY WRONG.
I am not a Constitutional expert, but I know withholding documents after a subpoena from Congress is DEFINITELY WRONG.
I am not a Constitutional expert, but I know making up things and accusing a foreign
country (Ukraine) of interfering in your election where there is no evidence of
that is DEFINITELY WRONG.
I am not a Constitutional expert, but I know repeating such propaganda being spread by an adversary (Russia) which is
contradicted by your own intelligence agencies is DEFINITELY WRONG.
I AM an American citizen who votes, though, and I
am embarrassed to no end by those with an R next to their name who can not see
the truth right in front of them.
Donald J.
Trump may not have committed high crimes and misdemeanors by definition. But
what he HAS done is against the interest of the people of the United States, and
it was done for his own political gain. Anyone who continues to defend him is
an accomplice to a cover-up. (Except
his lawyers. Even the worst criminals are entitled to legal representation.)
The good news
here is we have nine months until a national election where we can kick this bum
out of office. And we can send off a few
of his cronies with him. Please note this that if you vote in Kentucky (Mitch McConnell) and South Carolina (Lindsey
Graham). So, over the
next week as Senate Republican jurors vote for no witnesses and then vote to
acquit the President and keep him in office, remember what he has done may not
be enough for them to remove him from office, but that does not make him right.
Morality and
ethics matter. The voters
will remove Donald J. Trump with the
ballot box, ballot boxes that cannot be hacked by Russian operatives, we hope.
It is also
clear in the last week that those who have been struggling to defend Mr. Trump's actions are getting testy and trying to use his tactics to intimidate the press or witnesses.
First there
was Arizona Senator Marsha Blackburn’s low blow attack on Lt. Colonel Alexander
Vindman, who was one of the witnesses who came forward to testify during the
Impeachment hearings in the House.
It wasn’t a
dispute or criticism of what Vindman said in his testimony, but instead an
attack on his patriotism. Yes, an attack on a 20-year combat veteran who shed
blood for this country and continues to serve. Frankly, and I will not limit my
disgust, it was despicable and unworthy of anyone serving in the U.S. Senate.
But she was just echoing her mentor, Donald J. Trump. So add voters in Arizona to the list of
folks who need to take a close look at all this.
Later in the
week, the nation’s so-called top diplomat, Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State,
was anything but diplomatic.
He had
agreed to an interview with NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly about Iran, and his
staff agreed she could ask some questions about Ukraine.
At first it
went just fine, but as Kelly pushed for firm answers and then switched the
subject to Ukraine, Pompeo apparently went ballistic. After the broadcast he called her into his inner office where Kelly
says she was lambasted and sworn at. Pompeo
apparently said that Americans don’t care about anything in Ukraine and he then
challenged Kelly to find Ukraine on a map with no writing on it. She easily did
that, apparently getting him even more upset. Now Pompeo is lashing out even
more, because he says Kelly had promised the
inner office discussion would be off the record. Sorry, Mr. Secretary, insults,
obscenity and personal attacks on a reporter go beyond “off the record “ rules.
 |
| (Ukraine is the country with the two blue dots on this unmarked map of Europe) |
I would
suggest Secretary Pompeo, that you may think many of Mr. Trump’s supporters
don’t know where Ukraine is, but the rest know exactly where it is—right
between Poland and Russia—a key strategic spot in Eastern Europe.
News Briefs:
There was a
new poll out this week which might surprise you, but it did not surprise me.
The Pew Research Center, which has a stellar reputation on such polls, asked
13,000 Americans how many Jews were killed during the Holocaust and how Adolf
Hitler and his Nazi party came to power before World War Two. The results were published a week ahead of the
75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz,
Only
45% correctly cited that as many as six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, but
29% did not know that number, 14%
underestimated the number, and the rest overestimated.
(An
estimated 50 million people, including approximately 20 million Russians, died
from war and mass murder worldwide between 1933 and 1945. That includes
combat, bombing, starvation, Nazi mass
murder in the camps and elsewhere, and Stalin’s purges.)
On the other big question: How did
Hitler come to power? Twenty-five percent believed the Nazis had violently
overthrown the German government, 28% said they were not sure, while 43% correctly said that the Nazis were voted into power. Last
November, the FBI reported a 60% increase in hate crimes in America targeting Jews during
2018.
The history of the Holocaust is slowly fading
away as survivors die off, and that could lead to another disaster in our
future. This compels me to repeat my favorite quote about the need to teach and
learn about history:
“Those who forget the past are condemned to
relive it.”
--American philosopher George
Santayana
Elsewhere:
While we
were all watching the impeachment trial, the Trump Administration was busy
rolling back a series of regulations that protected small rivers and streams
from pollution. https://www.npr.org/2020/01/23/798809951/trump-administration-is-rolling-back-obama-era-protections-for-smaller-waterways?utm_term=nprnews&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=twitter.com\
The revised
rules involve bodies of water that form only after rainfall, or that flow only
part of the year. Also now excluded from federal regulation are waste treatment
systems, groundwater, converted cropland and farm water ponds. These are all
places where pollutants can seep into our water sources. Many states already have
strong regulations on dumping in such areas, but the Obama era rules had made
the federal mandates easier to understand. They are now gone.
And then there
was this:
Have you
seen the logo for the new “Space Force,” which the Pentagon created under orders
from Donald Trump?
It looks a
bit familiar, doesn’t it? It boldly goes where no copyright infringement has
gone before. It looks much like the United Federation of Planets logo from “Star
Trek.” Makes me wonder if Paramount, which owns the “Star Trek” franchise of TV
shows and movies, might have a copyright infringement lawsuit waiting. I am not the
only one who thinks so. George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu on the original series, who is also a sharp critic of President Trump, tweeted out that he was expecting "royalties" for the logo.
My daughter,
who often looks at things more positively than I do, says she hopes it means the
new Space Force will take on some of the characteristics of Star Fleet—"to
explore strange new worlds and seek out new civilizations," and the like. But I
know it won’t happen in my lifetime. It took more than 40 years for inventors to give
us a flip phone that looked like one of Captain Kirk’s communicators.
And
finally, some really good news for us chocoholics:
According to
“Taste of Home” magazine, dark chocolate, with at least 70 percent cocoa, is
one of the most anti-inflammatory and antioxidant foods ever. It can help keep your heart healthy because
of flavonols in the tasty product. It
apparently also boosts the blood flow in your brain and can help boost memory,
reaction times and attention span.
The magazine
even cites research which says such chocolate can help guard against harmful UV
rays from the sun and fight wrinkles. I’m
rarely sold on claims like this, but it does give me another reason to eat one
of my favorite foods.
(Your
comments and suggestions are welcome)
Copies of
my book “The Campaign” are available on Amazon.com, BN.com or by sending an
email to me at hanksilverberg@gmail.com to find out where you can get a
signed copy at a reduced price.
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