Time to Think

  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  analysis or opinion mixed in, that might inform or entertain them. I was ready to write about anything. I can't even tell you what my first blog was about because I have changed the way I file them, and it's lost.  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...

Time Passes Quickly                        #277 By Hank Silverberg              We are at spring break for my college classes this week, and I need the rest. This past week I had to listen to about 35 speeches from two classes. For the most part, the students are catching on and doing their work. But sometimes one of them does something unintentionally that really irks me. And ironically it ties into all the fuss over the age of the two major party presidential candidates.  This particular student did an Informative Speech on the value and function of Electric Vehicles in comparison to the traditional internal combustion engine.  He made a few mistakes, but that's okay. You learn that way. However, I called him out for one line.  In reviewing the history of electric vehicles, he said, "and in your time, Professor..." Well dawg, gone that got me angry. First, he's talking to the ...

Dodos                                                #276 By Hank Silverberg  The Dodo bird was first noted by Dutch sailors on the island of Madagascar in the late 16th Century. But because of  hunting and exposure to predators (humans) by mid-17th century, the Dodo and some of its fowl cousins were extinct.  The Republican party was first noted by abolitionists in 1856. They took it to the White House in 1860 and the party had a successful run through much of the 20th century. But now, as the 21st century matures, The Grand Old Party that we knew may also be extinct?     The announcement by Senate Minority L eader Mitch McConnell that he will leave that job after the November election may be further evidence that the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower and Reagan is finally dead. I disagree with McConnell on just about every issue he has ever d...

The Voter Fraud Myth                                  #275 By Hank Silverberg "If you tell a big lie enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."  The "big lie" theory, stated clearly in Hitler's Mein Kampf  and practiced for almost ten brutal years in the last century by Joseph Goebbels and his Nazi collaborators unfortunately works.  And I am sorry to say, we see it invading the truth again today here in the United States, with the continuing promotion of the election fraud myth by Donald Trump and his MAGA minions.  It's evident in exit polls from the primaries held so far this election cycle.  This week in South Carolina, where Donald Trump handily beat Nikki Haley, six out of ten of the people asked as they left their polling place said that there was fraud in the 2020 election and that Joe Biden was not legally elected president. That's 60%. G...

Borders                                            #274 By Hank Silverberg  Ukraine has withdrawn from the key eastern city of Avdiivka under heavy pressure from Russian troops in a major setback for the beleaguered Ukrainians. Part of the reason is the lack  of ammunition for their artillery. The Ukrainians will now form a better defensive line as they continue to hold off against superior Russian forces. At the same time, the U.S. Congress continues to hold off on any more aide for those forces.  A bill that would provide $95 billion in aide to both Ukraine and Israel continues to languish in the House because of the long-running debate over whether to include money for security on our own southern border as part of the deal.  There is a lot of presidential politics in play over this debate (Trump is against the bill), but our congressional leaders may be m...