Is There Hope? #261
By Hank Silverberg
The scenes out of Turkey and Syria following that massive earthquake and aftershocks are horrific. The death toll has topped 25,000 and may keep going up for days as they continue to dig out the rubble. Unlike war or famine, there really is nothing that can be done to prevent earthquakes, though there is already some indication that buildings in the earthquake-prone areas of the region were not constructed strongly enough to withstand even a modest quake (this one was big at 7.8).
What is encouraging though, is the international response to the quake. Thirty-eight countries have joined the International Red Cross/Red Crescent, the U-N, and NATO in supplying either big monetary donations or rescue teams to both Turkey and Syria.
You are not going to find the Iranian team and the Israeli team working side-by-side, but they are both there. China will not be coordinating its effort with Taiwan, but they are both there. Greece, a regional rival for Turkey and an historical enemy, also sent help, as did Ukraine, which is fighting a gruesome, deadly war with Russia. The Russians sent teams to Turkey and Syria also, as did Lebanon and Jordan and Mexico.
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| (Earthquake area highlight, courtesy CDC) |
The United States provided NASA satellite images to help with the rescue logistics and sent two rescue teams and equipment, as it often does in these types of tragedies. They might very well run into some crews from Iran, Russia and China, countries that are not our friends. The E-U has rescuers there from most European countries, and even poor countries like Moldova and Serbia.
Several nations from very far away also sent help, like Japan and South Korea. Others like New Zealand are sending money to finance the recovery.
Why are they all doing this? A cynic would say they all want to make some political in-roads with a strategic country like Turkey in a sensitive area of the world. Or maybe those nations just seek some good public relations. And to some extent that is true. But mostly it's being done because it is the right thing to do.
Seeing this kind of effort makes you wonder why all these countries can't get along on other less disastrous things like national borders, water rights or immigration and refugees.
But this type of international effort also brings out the worst in some. I saw some posts on-line saying that Israel was sending help to divert critics away from its treatment of Palestinians. But no one is accusing the Palestinians or the Russians of ulterior motives for sending financial and logistical assistance, which they are doing.
The Israelis, like the U.S. and other countries, have done this in disasters all over the world for decades with little recognition (nor did they ask for recognition).
Disasters can bring out the best in people, but also the worst. Of note, Turkey is a member of NATO and is in a very strategic position in the Middle East. The current government was already facing opposition, and should it become unstable because of a poor response to the quake, then the whole world could feel the aftershock. The aide to Turkey is certainly a humanitarian mission, but also a very practical, geo-political one for us all.
A Growing Threat To Our Freedom!
While on the subject of humanitarian efforts after earthquakes, I would be amiss if I did not mention a controversy in Florida about a book focusing on the life of baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente. The Pittsburg Pirates star died much too young on New Year's Eve in 1972 in the crash of a plane that was bringing humanitarian aid to quake victims in Nicaragua. He is a hero to many people in Pittsburgh, Puerto Rico and to many of us baseball fans who grew up in the 1960's and 70's.
Clemente, who was Latino and Black, grew up in poverty in Puerto Rico, and faced racism mostly from sportswriters in the early part of his 18 years playing Major League Baseball. Much of the book is about his baseball career and charity work with just a few pages about the prejudice he faced. But
This occurred in Duval County, which includes Jacksonville, and is listed as the 20th largest school district in the country. It also happened in nearby Manatee County as well.
Florida has a new law that removes titles that deal with gender, sexuality and racism from both school libraries and bookshelves in individual classrooms. It's the result of what's called the "Stop Woke Act," which outlaws teaching that someone "must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress because of their race or sex."
The school districts say these three books are not actually banned but were taken off the shelves so the context can be reviewed. How long will that take? No one knows.
This is perhaps the most despicable and most threatening move by any of the right-wing fanatics plaguing the country right now.
Basically, they are trying to control how we and our children think and act according to their own perception of right and wrong. They continue to rewrite or whitewash history as they then attack others on the left who they accuse of doing the same (the debate over Civil War statues, for example).
This type of action is spreading. You might want to check to see if the school board in your community has become infected with this censorship disease.
Under The Gun!
Stolen guns and ghost guns which are untraceable,
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| (A ghost gun) |
In the first such study in 20 years, the ATF says local police reported a shrinking turnaround time for a legally stolen firearm to be used in a crime and a huge spike in ghost guns, those that do not include a serial number and are usually homemade.
The statistics were gathered between 2017 and 2021 as a guide for policymakers like Congress who have been grappling with ways to reduce gun violence.
Here are some of the facts in the report:
* 54% of traced crime guns were recovered more than three years after their purchase. These are legally purchased guns that were later used in crimes.
*The ATF report said: "Crime guns may change hands a number of times after that first retail sale, and some of those transactions may be a theft or violate one or more regulations on firearm commerce."
*There were a record number of guns sold in the United States in 2020-2021, during the pandemic.
*More than a million guns were stolen from private citizens between 2017 and 2021 even though federal law does not require individual gun owners to report the loss or theft of their firearm to police. So that number is just for guns that were reported.
*Roughly 4.6 million children live in a home with loaded and unlocked guns. firearms https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2789269
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/10/1153977949/major-takeaways-from-the-atf-gun-violence-report
In 2018, the Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based organization said there were 393.3 million guns in the United States, which has a population of over 332 million. That's about120 firearms for every 100 resident-- much higher than any other place on Earth.
Somehow, I just don't think this is what our Founding Fathers intended when they talked about a "well-regulated militia" in the Second Amendment.
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
This week's dumb quote comes from actor/comedian Ben Stein, who has dabbled in politics most of his career. He was a speech writer for Richard Nixon, among other things. His comment appeared on Truth Social, Donald Trump's new social media outlet. I don't subscribe to it and have no intention in doing so, but Stein's comment was so stupid it crossed into other media.
He said this in a video he posted:
"It occurs to me, and it’s kind of a scary thought, we’re getting into a racial dictatorship here where you simply cannot speak your mind.”
The actor, who supports Trump, claimed people can't speak about the differences among the races without:
"losing your job, your friends, your house. That’s a racial dictatorship. We’ve never had that here before.”
Mr. Stein seems to be losing the dry wit that made him famous. He should probably teach in Florida.
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