Time to Think

“The Chosen One” By Hank Silverberg “I am the chosen one!” Those words came from Donald J. Trump as he stood in the White House driveway with reporters this past week.   As he said the words, he looked to the sky. His comment was in reference to the trade war with China, and in context he meant that he was going to get a deal with China, something he claims other presidents didn’t do. For now, let’s place the whole trade war issue aside. This week’s blog is about word use and the President’s consistently bad choices.                                                                I began a new semester of teaching Public Speaking and Communications at Northern Virginia Community College this week. On the first day of class I emphasize to my students that the words they choose and the body language they use can...

Imagery By Hank Silverberg Greenland is anything but green. Eighty percent of the island is ice capped, and the 56 thousand or so people who reside there all live in small towns along the coast. The name “Greenland,” or “Groenland” in old Norse, was a marketing tool used by Eric the Red in the 10 th  Century to draw Viking settlers to the land. It didn’t work.  The island is now owned by Denmark, and about a third of its population, about 16 thousand people, live in the capital of Nuuk. (Homes in Nuuk,, Courtesy of Greenland.gov) Why is this relevant? Well, Donald Trump says he wants to buy Greenland. It’s not the first time an American has suggested this. The United States made inquiries as early as 1867 about buying the island. After all, “Seward’s Folly,” the other frozen tundra, Alaska, which the U.S. had bought from Russia the same year, looked very promising.   The United States sent troops to Greenland during World War Two f or strategic r...

While We Were All Diverted By Hank Silverberg                                I t has been a brutal week. The aftermath of the shootings in El Paso and Dayton were horrible to see. The subsequent renewed debate over gun control was predictable and vitriolic.    Then there was the raid on those five food processing facilities in Mississippi where more than 600 people were taken into custody as suspected illegal aliens. What we didn’t hear about, because it didn’t happen, was any indication that the companies involved in hiring the undocumented workers would be penalized in any way, since they broke the law by hiring those workers.     And then high-profile sex offender Jeffrey Epstein died in prison where he was awaiting trial. It was determined to be a suspected suicide. The internet and social media exploded with conspiracy theories, including one retweeted by Donal...