What Happened? #278
By Hank Silverberg
I have thought once or twice about ending this blog. My goal in starting it more than five years ago was to provide my readers with some interesting information. With a little bit of my
Today I find myself preaching mostly to the choir--in other words, people who agree with me or have the same focus in life, family, fun and good practical productive political decisions that will help those in need, and not damage those who aren't.
Somehow it hasn't gone that way. Our country is now polarized the way it was right before the Civil War in 1860. No one today even knows the meaning of compromise.
Philosophers have written for centuries that the human struggle has always been between those who have "it", and those who don't. "It" has different manifestations that add in race, gender, national origin, and sometimes just luck.
Nation states rose or fell based on decisions made by a select few with much of the world's population intertwined in war or peace by a selected few. That selected few often included religious leaders who saw their function as spreading their particular religion to be the overseer of everyone.
Democracy was a promise to change all that. We the people were supposed to get our share of the power and use that share for the common good.
So far we haven't gotten there.
Today, politics is all twisted even more so than when nations were ruled by the divine rights of kings or petty militaristic autocrats.
It's a multi-faceted battle between the people who have and don't care about the rest of us, the people who have a little and are afraid to lose it, the people who have nothing and blame everyone else for that, and the people who started with nothing and have given up hope of ever getting anything.
I know, it sounds depressing. But listen to the news or read it on line for one day and that's what you will see and hear.
Basically it's gotten this way because we have NO LEADERS. There is no one out there who can motivate people to give something of themselves to others without an immediate reward.
We see this in politics and business offices every day.
We have no leaders who can direct a nation to help a struggling nation or political group simply because it's the right thing to do.
That leadership will not come from one individual. It must come from a large group of people who care enough to sacrifice something of themselves for the benefit of others without expecting something in return.
I'm not sure that type of human being exists anymore, or ever did, but I will keep writing this blog hoping I move one or two people to do the right thing, not just for themselves but for all mankind.
If you have any solutions for all this that don't involve finding God (see below), please pass them along.
A Change of Tone: Total Eclipse Coming
Get ready for something very rare next month. Millions of Americans will get a chance to see a total solar eclipse -- and it won't happen again for two decades. The skies will briefly turn dark during daylight hours on April 8th as the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, blocking out the sunlight.
Total eclipses happen every year around the world at different points, but they are not an everyday occurrence. This may be your once-n-a-lifetime chance to see one where you live.
The eclipse will start showing up about 1:30 p.m. Central Time in Texas with visibility then moving northeast though Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and finally to Maine at about 3:30 p.m. eastern time. Small parts of Tennessee and Michigan might also be able to see it in total. It will only last in totality for a few minutes.
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| (Solar Eclipse route, courtesy of NASA) |
Warning! You do not want to look at a solar eclipse with your naked eyes. That can cause eye damage. You want to use safe solar viewing glasses or view it indirectly thorough a pinhole projector.
Housing Crunch!
Anyone who has tried to rent a house or an apartment in the last year knows how hard it can be. But it's not just because of a shortage in new construction.
An analysis by the non-profit Accountable.US, which has just been released, shows that Invitation Homes and AMH, two of the largest single family rental companies in the country made huge profits in 2023. It was a combined $953.1 million. That's up 36% since 2022. In addition, Equity Residential, the third largest publicly traded apartment owner increased profits while raising rents and spending millions to acquire new property.
Housing costs were the biggest driver of inflation in February. The Labor Department says rent and gasoline accounted for over 60% of the monthly increases on all personal spending.
The companies made these huge profits at the same time they were under investigation in several areas that included abusive tactics to remove tenants during the Covid-19 pandemic, shoddy repairs and maintenance, price gouging and allegedly participating in a scheme to raise rents illegally through a third party rental company (you can see more specifics at the link below).
When the big companies drive up rents by gouging or other means, it also leads to rental increases by all landlords in a particular area who do it because they can get away with it.
Many communities have been making more efforts to encourage construction, of what's known as "workforce" housing, but that often lags years behind the demand, keeping rents high.
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
A repeat appearance this week for perhaps the dumbest member of the U.S. Senate. Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville may have been good with circles and arrows on an Auburn football blackboard, but he doesn't know America very well.
Campaigning in Utah for Republican Senate candidate Trent Staggs, Tuberville said this:
"I've traveled all over the country, all 50 states. I've been in good places and bad places. The one thing I saw, we are losing our kids to a satanic cult."
Here's more of the speech:
"We have lost our moral values across the country. We've got to get back to the Bible. We've got to get God back in our country...There's not one Democrat that can tell you they stand with God."
Tuberville may be a little confused about the role of religion in American politics. There's great irony here. As he delivered the speech he held a book-formatted copy of the U.S. Constitution in his right hand. He was holding it upside down!
(Your suggestions and comments are welcome)
My recent 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)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084Q7K6M5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-campaign-hank-silverberg/1126429796
My NEWEST book is now available. It is designed for use in Public Speaking and entry level communications classes.
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