21st Century Blues #247 By Hank Silverberg
I was born in the 1950's and got my college education in the 1970's. Yes, I am a Baby Boomer and proud of it.
But I must admit the deeper into the 21st Century we get, the more worried I become that somehow; I can't keep up. Little things that were simply facts of life in the past, like the failure of an electronic device, didn't bug me. That 45-rpm record jumped because the vinyl was scratched. Yet this weekend when one of the four different remotes I have to use on my TV got wet and fried out, I found myself feeling a bit put upon. (Yes, I know about universal remotes, but despite all the hype, the minute you buy one, they invent another device that it's not compatible with.)
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| (The new remote) |
I know my kids and grandkids would have just chalked that up, bought a new device and moved on. But it still bothered me.
There's more to this. My wife and I visited the grandkids at their house on Saturday. We had a great time at the pool, but my grandson turned down my offer to play catch (I had brought my trusty glove) and instead challenged me to his online video MLB game. I admit it was cool. I got the current up-to-date lineup of my Red Sox, and he chose the streaking Orioles. He then proceeded to clobber me.
Not because my Alex Verdugo didn't play well, but because my hand-eye coordination was simply not as fast as a 9-year-olds when it comes to video games. I couldn't get the digital Duggy to throw the ball as quickly as the real one.
My grandson's Orioles did exactly what the real ones did. My Red Sox just couldn't hit, throw or run and believe me, without going into sports analysis, that's not what the problem is on the real Red Sox.
It seems in the 21st Century nothing is immune to technology. When I canvassed voters for George McGovern back in 1972 as an eager college student, we had a list on a clipboard with "yes, no" or "undecided," and we simply used a pen to check off the right box next to a voter's name. These days the canvassers have a phone app, ironically called "Minivan" on which they have background on the voters as they approach their homes to talk about the candidates. The canvassers are then able to put the voters answers right into their database for future reference. It's simple. Even this Boomer can use it, but somehow, I missed the old clipboard.
There's more. In the last week, someone hacked both my email and my Facebook page, and it took me hours to find my way around it and fix it. I work with computers, but I don't really know how they work, and I suspect that is the case with many people.
Alright, now that all of you Millennials and Gen-Z readers out there have stopped laughing, beware this old Boomer is far from done. We still have voting power, political savvy, buying power and a long memory, and we will not go quietly into the night. I have a few more things to write before I reprogram that new remote.
Ghost Guns Busted?
What's a ghost gun? It's a real gun that can kill people. All you have to do to get one is to go online and buy a kit and assemble one. Some of them can actually be made with 3-D printers. And ghost guns are starting to show up more and more at crime scenes as a favorite for criminals because they have no serial numbers and cannot be traced.
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| (A ghost gun) |
The new ATF regulations were challenged in Texas, which got them blocked by a U.S. District Court.
But this past week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided 5-4 that the regulations can stay in place for now until the challenge to the regulations works its way back to them through the lower courts.
No reasoning was given by the high court, but it is interesting to note that Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined with the court's liberals in this decision.
That may, of course, change if and when the full case gets back to the Supreme Court.
The Biden Administration told the Supreme Court that law enforcement agencies across the country submitted 1,600 ghost guns to federal authorities to trace in 2017. By 2021 that number was up to 19,000.
The gun control group, Everytown, says 11 states have regulations on ghost guns in place in an attempt to curb their use.
You can read more here:
Supreme Court backs Biden's tougher federal rules on untraceable 'ghost guns' for now (msn.com)
The proliferation of guns in general in this country is a major problem, but the increase in ghost guns has the potential to create a greater catastrophe on our nation's streets.
The Battlefield in Europe!
The United States is not militarily involved in the latest European war, the one raging between an aggressive Russia and a struggling Ukraine. But we have sent billions of dollars in aid and equipment to Ukraine hoping the war will not spread into another world war.
So far, the conflict has been costly in lives for both sides just on the battlefield. The Russians won't admit it, but more than 30,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the fighting. The figure comes from researchers working with the BBC who have now identified all of those soldiers BY NAME.
The White House said in May as many as 100,000 have been killed or wounded. In a recent video address, General Mikhail Teplinsky, who commands Russians elite Airborne forces, admitted that 8,500 of his troops have been wounded, some of whom have refused to go back to the front.
In Ukraine, where there have been a high number of civilian deaths, as many as 17,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the war began, including at least 3 American volunteers. The U.N. says about 9,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since 2021 in areas targeted by Russian forces.
This war is thousands of miles away. But it's important to remember these are real people, not some video game. And they are dying on ground that has been ravaged by violent conflict many times before.
Americans should make note of that. We can't just put our heads in the sand and ignore it as some Republicans and others have suggested. The last time it happened was during World War Two, a war that cost 50 million lives from start to finish, including more than 418,500 Americans.
Also of note, there are some reports this week that the Wagner group, the mercenary army that Russia has been using to fight a good portion of the war, may be out of money. That could change the nature of the war as the Russians get more desperate to come out of their invasion with something they can call a victory.
Wagner Group runs out of money – Russian source dries up? (msn.com)
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
A repeat appearance for this week's dumbest quote:
It comes from Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, who is well known for saying some pretty dumb things.
Gaetz was on the campaign at the Iowa State Fair with the king of dumb statements, Donald J. Trump. Some of it seems to be rubbing off on more and more Republicans as the campaign goes on. Gaetz appeared with many other politicians on stage. And he noted that MAGA supporters were having a great time at the fair. Fair enough. But then he added:
..."we know that only through force do we make any change in a corrupt town like Washington, D.C."
Sounds a bit like encouraging insurrection to me. And while the words at the Fair do come under freedom of speech, Mr. Gaetz should be aware that Trump has already been indicted for such encouragement to his followers as they violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021.
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