2025 Wish List #316
By Hank Silverberg
2024 has been a notable year. It may, in the long run, prove to be a pivotal year in American history.
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| (Courtesy Harryart) |
1) First and foremost, because of my background as a journalist, I would like to see a resurrection of real, hard-focused reporting.
Example: when Donald Trump makes ridiculous statements about buying Greenland, invading Panama, or making Canada the 51st state, reporters should not just pass it off as a joke. They should look closely at what Trump said and dig a bit into his motivation for making such bizarre statements. His comments created some tense reaction in three countries, two of which are NATO allies (Denmark and Canada).
Another example: Trump's promise to deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in this country. What's the cost? (I have heard estimates of $88 billion.) How practical is it? What does the law say about setting up camps to process the immigrants? What would it do to the workforce?
2) I would like to see some guts from a few of the Republican Senators who have not given into Trump's whims. They can start with good, probing hearings on his cabinet appointments. Many of the people Trump has selected are not qualified for the jobs to which they were appointed. That goes for ambassadors and other positions as well. Some of the appointments need to be rejected outright. We saw some of that with the Matt Gaetz nomination and we need more of it.
3) A complete failure of any effort to impose tariffs which will destroy the economic recovery we have had in the last two years. Tariffs will raise the price of EVERYTHING we import, and it's the American consumer who will have to pay for it. The money collected from the tariffs will not lower the federal deficit because Trump's proposed tax cuts for the rich will raise it, just like it did in his first term. When Trump took office in 2017, the debt ceiling was $20.2 trillion. When he left in 2021, it was $27.75 trillion. During Biden's four years it went up to $31.4 trillion. Any claim by Trump that he reduced it through his tax cuts and economic policy is nonsense.
4) School boards should return to sanity and stop banning books and legislating bathrooms while ignoring more important issues like educating our young people. Local governments should return to sanity and stop passing rules that restrict public speaking time and ordinances that restrict the homeless and start to seek solutions to the growing need for affordable housing (see below).
5) And lastly, this should really be number one. I would like to see my Boston Red Sox return to post- season play and win the World Series. That is a long shot, but notably, that is more likely than any of the things I mentioned above.
Happy New Year!
News You May Have Missed.
Homelessness Continues to Rise
The number of people in the United States without a permanent home continues to rise. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says more than 777,000 people were in shelters, temporary housing or on the street-- an 18% increase in 2024. HUD attributes the increase to the lack of affordable housing, natural
The most startling statistic in the report is a 40% rise in family homelessness which HUD attributes to migrants.
The numbers were compiled before Congressional Republicans blocked a bipartisan Senate bill to help reduce illegal migration, and even though border crossings dropped by more than 60% in the last year. HUD says the rise in overall homelessness is the result of a rising number of asylum seekers coming into communities and their need for temporary housing.
Other factors in the increase: the Maui fire which left 5,200 people without homes, and several other natural disasters.
There is some good news. Homelessness among veterans is at its lowest number on record with a nearly 8% decrease. That means 32,882 veterans are still without a permanent home.
HUD says rents across the country have now stabilized or have even gone down in some places since last January when these statistics were collected. In many places, rents had increased rapidly after the pandemic restrictions on increases was lifted.
Some communities have actually seen decreases in homelessness. Dallas is down 16%. Los Angeles, even with a high-cost rental market, has seen homelessness drop 5% since 2023, and in Chester County PA, near Philadelphia, homelessness has declined nearly 60% since 2019.
These numbers come as many communities are taking a harder line on the homeless, including bans on camping in public places.
https://www.hud.gov/press/press_releases_media_advisories/HUD_No_24_327
Are You Exhausted by Politics?
On occasion, I write this blog about something other than politics. And in the past, the number of people reading it would go down when I did that. But I may have to rethink it all and write about something other than politics.
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The poll conducted this month found Democrats and Republicans agree on this. Seven in ten Democrats are stepping back from political news while six in ten Republicans say the same thing.
But that isn't completely backed up in TV ratings. From election night through December 13th, prime time viewership on MSNBC is down 54%. CNN's viewership dropped by 45%.
But Fox News Channel, a favorite network for Trump fans, and the one which strays farthest from real journalism, increased its viewers by 13%. This is almost the direct opposite of what happened in 2020 after Joe Biden was elected president.
It will be interesting to see what changes after January 20th when Trump takes office.
Dumbest Quote of the Week!
This weeks dumb quote comes from Arizona Republican State Senator T.J. Shope. He attacked the African American holiday of Kwanzaa which runs from December 26th through January 1st. He called the holiday "fake anti-American, anti-Christian 'holiday' celebrated by our governor.
His comment, on X, included, a photo of the Kwanzaa display at the Arizona Capitol set up by the Governor.
Kwanzaa was invented in the 1960's and celebrates principals like creativity, faith, unity and self-reliance in the black community and it is celebrated by African Americans nationwide.
It is not anti-anything.
Not surprisingly, Shope represents Maricopa County which has the wackiest politics in the United States.
(You 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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