Wish List #268
By Hank Silverberg
(Note to readers: this blog is a mixture of news and fact-based commentary. You will see my opinion on some news stories, but it is based on facts.)
It's time for each of us to seriously think about what direction we want the United States to go.
We are now in an election year. The Iowa caucuses are on January 15. The New Hampshire primary is ten days later on January 23. The general election for president is just nine months away.
You, of course, must make your own decision, but as you do so, here are some things to think about.
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1) Do you want the United States to go backwards, to crawl into a nationalist shell and avoid the perils of the world? Or do you want us to remain the leader of the free world that other countries respect and will deal with honestly?
2) Do you want us to take care of our population, to make sure that all of our children are fed, and all of our population has a decent place to live? Or is it okay for some children to starve and some people go be homeless?
3) Do you want leaders who take the high moral ground and then live by those ideals? Or do you want leaders who mandate their version of morality and then don't live by those standards themselves?
4) Do you want an economic system that is fair to everyone regardless of the color of their skin, their religion, their gender or place of birth? And one that allows everyone to make a good living, and maybe even get rich if they work hard and play by the rules? Or do you want a society where it's everyone for themselves and the rest be damned?
5) Do you want an economic system that allows companies to make a good profit yet prohibits them from exploiting their workers or their customers? Or do you want a system where corporations make their own rules that allow them to pollute the world while raping our planet of its' vital resources?
6) Do you want a government that rules by the will of the people or a government that is run by a small group of people out to help their friends and family and who care little about the rest of the population?
You can see where I am going with this.
The stakes have never been higher for our country than they are in 2024. It is the greatest threat to the whole concept of The United States of America since 1861. Expanding on that, it may be the greatest threat to the planet since World War Two.
Some of you are probably thinking, "oh, come on, it's not that bad. We've been through things like this before and survived." Yes, we have. But that's because good people came to their senses, woke up and took action. That's what I am asking you to do, starting with the ballot box. You can no longer sit by the sidelines or bury your face in cat videos and ignore your surroundings.
I don't have to tell you who the threats are. You know who they are. Hopefully, the good people in Iowa will start rolling forward this month.
AntiSemitism Gets Worse!
I read this week that George Mason University, where I taught journalism as an Adjunct last Spring, has now been added to a growing list of colleges under investigation for not doing enough to deal with antisemitism on campus. That comes after posters of some of the Jewish hostages who were taken by Hamas to Gaza in the barbaric attack on Israel, were ripped off polls on campus and the University was slow to respond.
I can say in the short time I was at GMU I detected no outburst of antisemitism. However since I have been teaching on the college level, there and elsewhere, I have noticed one thing that may explain some of the recent upsurge in antisemitism.
A large number of students, mostly Gen Z, do not
Just one example: The Palestinians often call Israelis "Colonialists" implying that they invaded from Europe and physically took over land belonging to Arabs. They have no knowledge of Jewish presence on the land in what is now Israel for more than three thousand years. They also do not know that many Jews ended up there because they were kicked out of Arab countries after the U.N. partitioned the land in 1948 or that no Arab was ever forced to leave as a result of the partition. Many of young people think there was once an independent Palestine that was stolen away, which of course is not true.
But they do believe what they hear on line from the haters, or from the Arab media.
It is important that educators, the main stream media, and everyone possible present them with real facts and not propaganda.
Why do I think this is important?
A recent Economist/YouGov poll indicates a significant number of people under 30 (20%) believe the Holocaust is a myth. A startling 27% of those under 30 agree with the phrase "Israel is deliberately trying to wipe out the Palestinian population" and 28% of that same group agree with the phrase "Jews have too much power in America"
But at the same time, 65% all Americans believe hate crimes against Jews are a very serious or somewhat serious problem-- a substantial jump since a similar poll in 2019 (see full poll at the link)
Not only should colleges react strongly to ANY type of hate, but they should be doing everything they can to teach students the facts and eliminate falsehood. Otherwise they have failed as educators.
Calling in Sick
If you can't make it to work because of a medical issue, you call in sick, right? The boss gets the word
But what if you don't show up for work and no one knows why?
And what if you are the Secretary of Defense?
It seems the DOD Secretary Lloyd Austin had been hospitalized since January 1st, but the Pentagon did not tell the President or National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan for days.
The nature of Austin's illness has not been made public, though it apparently comes from complications following a minor medical procedure.
The White House and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were notified only after Politico reported Austin's hospitalization last Thursday.
All of this is very unusual and raises questions about Pentagon transparency. Presidents are usually notified if a Cabinet member is seriously ill or unavailable. The AP reports that many of Austin's own staff thought he was on vacation.
The AP also reports the President did talk to Austin on Saturday and expressed confidence in him.
So who was running the show at Defense? The Pentagon says Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks took over routine duties, even though she was away in Puerto Rico. The Military Times reports those duties included a January 4th airstrike in Iraq on a militia group tied to recent attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.
It's not clear when Lloyd, who is 70, will be back at work. Since this is a national security issue, it would be nice if they made that public.
To Boldly Go Where No Controversy Has Gone Before
This story may look like a script for a new Star Trek movie or TV episode.
There's a mission to the Moon set for Monday. It's the first launch of the Vulcan Centaur Rocket, and a debut of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services. But it has run into some opposition from the Navajo Nation.
Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic and it's Peregrine Mission One, is set to take a lunar lander and other equipment to the Moon surface after years of setbacks and delays. It's all part of a long-term mission to land men back on the Moon and then use it as a base for a mission to Mars by 2030.
A second mission is set for mid-February by a competing Houston company, which will use a Space-X rocket.
Both companies received $80 million from NASA to develop these services needed for the Mars mission.
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| (Lunar lander before loading on to the rocket NASA-Isaac Watson) |
The additional cargo is DNA from 330 deceased people who had paid for a spot on the mission. That includes several of the original Star Trek cast members, James Doohan, (Scotty), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), and DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy), along with the series creator Gene Roddenberry, his wife Magel Barrett (Nurse Chappel), and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.
Strands of hair from three U.S. presidents, George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy will also be on board.
Sixty-two of the small titanium capsules will be dropped on the Moon with the lander as a "permanent memorial" while the rest, including the will be sent 183 million miles into deep space.
The Navajo have asked NASA to hold off on the mission because it violates a previous agreement. The Navajo and other Indigenous Tribes consider the Moon a sacred place. They had been promised they would be consulted before such human remains were left on the Moon. They say human remains should be laid to rest where the person was born.
Joel Kerns, a NASA Deputy Administrator acknowledged the Navajo concern. But the DNA cargo is being sent in the Vulcan Centaur by private companies and is not part of the NASA payload; therefore, the agency has no control over it.
That did not stop the controversy. At a news conference on Friday after a meeting at the White House, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said:
"As stewards of our culture and traditions, it is our responsibility to voice our grievances when actions are taken that could desecrate sacred spaces and disregard deeply held cultural beliefs."
The launch at Cape Canaveral is set for 2:18 eastern time on January 8th.
'A profound desecration': Navajo Nation asks NASA to delay moon mission with human remains (msn.com)
This will be the first American spacecraft to land on the Moon since Apollo 17 in December of 1972. That mission included a three-man crew and a two who walked on the lunar surface.
Three other countries, Russia, China and India have put unmanned landers on the lunar surface. Japan could become the fifth to do so, with a launch scheduled two weeks from now.
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
This week's dumbest quote belongs to a repeat offender, Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz. He was at the southern border at one of those rhetorical news conferences where the GOP blames the entire immigration crise on the Biden Administration.
A reporter, doing his job, asked Cruz what Republicans have done to prevent illegal immigration. It was a solid question and one many reporters would ask in a similar setting (I certainly would).
The reporter asked Cruz what he had done to help Joe Biden mitigate the problem. Cruz responded:
"That's a ridiculous and silly question."
When the reporter followed up and asked what he had done on immigration in his 11 years as senator, he said:
"You don't get to argue with me."
Then Cruz pointed to the low illegal immigration figures from the last year of the Trump presidency, without of course, mentioning that was the height of the pandemic when everything, including border crossings, slowed down.
The Republican mantra that things were better under Republicans is just not that simple. There has been no significant immigration reform in the last 30 years, even when the Republicans controlled Congress and the White House. Illegal crossings have gone up or down based mainly on economic conditions or political unrest in Central or South America.
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)
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https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084Q7K6M5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
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