Time to Think

The Year From Hell #203

By Hank Silverberg

Flashback: "So, here we are in 2021! We get a fresh start? Not exactly. There wasn't much of a celebration on New Year's Eve. Somehow those TV live shots of an empty Times Square in NYC as they dropped the ball were a fitting end to 2020. But it was also a sad preview of the next 12 months."

That was the beginning of my blog a year ago as 2021 began. I hate to say "I told you so," but the predictions were close to what this past year was really like.

There will probably be thousands of people in Times Square for the annual ball drop this year. But there are tight restrictions, including proof of vaccination and a booster shot, along with predictions that the outside event could still become a super spreader for the latest Covid-19 variant--Omicron.

2021 started with a bang, literally, as police had to use deadly force to fight off an insurrection on Capitol Hill on January 6th. A year later, some people have been convicted and sent to prison for the actual breach of the building, but many others have not. The leaders and conspirators who set it all in motion, who may include members of Congress and former White House staffers, have not yet been punished. Frankly, that increases the threat of more violence in 2022.

The "big lie theory" has been used successfully and has convinced thousands of people that the election was rigged, even though there is NO evidence of any fraud at all. A year ago there were hundreds of court cases seeking recounts and other things trying to prove the nonexistent fraud. Today they have all been rejected by the courts.

The Republican party has deteriorated even further into chaos and deceit and is now trying to change state laws across the country to deny many people their right to vote. The GOP wants to enhance its power and retake Congress in 2022 and the White House in 2024, but not because they want to push a traditional conservative agenda like lower taxes and less spending. It's clear they now envision an autocratic one-party system where only certain types of people have wealth and power forever. No need to explain here who they want those people to be. We all know it already. They have been leaning that way for decades and now they often say it openly.

All this is playing out as we battle a relentless killer

(Get vaccinated!)

called Covid-19 that keeps outmaneuvering science to continue its assault on the population of the world. The death toll as 2021 closes is over 814,000 and rising in the United States alone. And those using the pandemic as a political weapon care only about themselves and not our freedom as a whole. Too many people have fallen for their campaign of disinformation. This week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has presidential ambitions, decided to pull ads that promoted the vaccines off the air in Florida, and instead replaced them with ads about vitamin consumption and exercise. The vaccine is never mentioned. The money that had been set aside for the vaccine ads has now been redirected to an anti-smoking campaign.

Florida scraps pro-vaccine ads in favour of ones that don’t mention Covid shot (msn.com)

Florida is experiencing a spike in Covid-19 cases like much of the country.

It's not all gloom and doom, of course. Thousands of lives have been saved by vaccines despite the unwarranted attack on science and scientists. We can all hope that more people will come to their senses and understand that vaccines and mask mandates are not an infringement of their personal rights, but an effort to keep all of us alive.

We did manage to get though the entire baseball season this past summer with fans in the stands and no interruptions. My Red Sox gave it a good run and the playoffs were entertaining. But that darn virus is raising havoc with the NHL, NFL, NBA and college sports again this winter.

Many of us went back to movie theatres in the past few months, masks on and socially distanced, and we did get to witness the spectacular demise of James Bond and a new controversial interpretation of "West Side Story."

The economy got better as the year went by with many people going back to work and kids going back to school, and despite the overall increase in inflation, gas prices appear to be leveling off again.

I have hope for 2022. But, well, I wrote the same thing a year ago.

Greenland

There is one major disaster that the politics of "no" has prevented us from dealing with. The impact of Climate Change becomes more evident as each week passes. Temperatures continue to rise in Greenland. The Danish Meteorological Institute reported this past week that temperatures hit 13 degrees Celsius (55 F) on December 20th, compared to an average of -5.3C this time of year in the past. That is in Nuuk, the Capital. In Qaamaaq on the northern part of the world's largest island, the average temperature hit 8.3C this year compared to a seasonal average of -20.1C. Over the summer the mercury rose 10 degrees higher than the seasonal average. All of this is having a big impact on the ice pack. On some days this summer about eight billion tones of ice melted, double the average for a usual summer day.

High temperatures hit Greenland (phys.org)

Greenland's ice sheet is melting six times faster than it was in the1980's.

Greenland surface melting in 2021 | Greenland Ice Sheet Today (nsidc.org)

If this continues, melting ice there could eventually raise sea levels worldwide, putting coastal cities underwater and wiping out sea level islands across the globe.

To Boldly Go Where No Telescope Has Gone Before.

The James Webb Telescope was launched into space on Christmas Day on a mission that could give us a hint if there is life on other planets. NASA launched the largest telescope ever sent into space from French Guiana in South America using a European Ariane Rocket. The price tag for the mission soared to $10 billion over the 15 years since the idea was conceived. The telescope will go 1 million miles away, four times beyond the moon to take a look at the far ends of the universe, seeking new planets and clues on the origin of the planets and stars. The telescope weighs seven tons and it could be months before we know if the automated deployment system with hundreds of release mechanisms work

(This was the telescope right before
it was placed in the rocket. NASA photo)

makes it fully operational. Unlike the troubled Hubble Telescope, this one is too far away for any repair work if anything fails.

pace telescope launched on daring quest to behold 1st stars (sfgate.com)

Scientists hope the mission will give them solid evidence on possible life on other planets, and perhaps find a few that fit the criteria for life as we know it.

Dumbest Quote Of The Week!

This week's dumbest quote comes once again from Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who holds the record for the most dumb comments of 2021.

She put out a Christmas message on twitter. Most of it was harmless, the usual "Joy to the World" kind of stuff. But then she talked about why she went to Congress in the first place.

"To work to see America restored to the Christian principles that have given rise to the greatest nation the world has ever known."

Well, guess what? Christianity is never mentioned in any of our founding documents. And favoring one religion over another is actually prohibited by the Bill of Rights (1st Amendment). So there are no exclusively "Christian principals" written or even implied in our founding documents. Greene is talking about something that doesn't exist.

Just to ram this home, here are some quotes from some other people you have probably heard of.

"Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law." --Thomas Jefferson

"The United States of America should have a foundation free from the influence of clergy. "--George Washington

"The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or a Mohammedan {Muslim} nation." --John Adams

Facts: 70.6% of the current United States population identify themselves as Christian. But there are hundreds of different Christian denominations all interpreting their "principals" a bit differently. So the term "Christian principals" itself is ambiguous. And many of those principals they claim are not exclusive to Christianity.

Our Founding Fathers knew what they were doing when they made it clear that our government would not recognize or favor any particular religion.

Did our Founding Fathers mention God? Yes, they did. But the principals of our Republic do not come from the Bible, the Koran, or the Torah. They come from the hearts and minds of often flawed men who had faith that the quest for freedom and equality would eventually prevail. We haven't gotten there yet, but we continue to try.

Congresswoman Green, as usual, is so totally wrong.

Great Quote:

I could not end my blog this week without mentioning the passing of South African human rights icon Desmond Tutu. The Archbishop Emeritus and Nobel Peace Prize winner died on Sunday at age 90. Tutu played a major role in eliminating the scourge of Apartheid from his home country. He consistently promoted passive resistance while encouraging reconciliation between Black and White South Africans.

Desmond Tutu, Anti-Apartheid Campaigner Who Tried to Heal the World, Dies at 90 (msn.com)

So I end this week with a quote from Bishop Tutu:

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. "

(Copies of my latest book "The Campaign" can be purchased at the links below. Or you can buy a copy by emailing me at:

HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a copy at a reduced price and with my signature.