Time to Think

Truth or Fiction                                  #288 By Hank Silverberg Commentary   Truth vs Fiction There is no doubt, as a journalist or as a news consumer it is getting harder and harder these days to separate truth from fiction, especially when dealing with a war zone.   (Courtesy Univ. of Texas) But sometimes you have to use common sense to figure things out.   For example: I am a bit perplexed by most of the media around the world continues to use the civilian casualty figures in the Gaza war. There is no question that thousands of civilians have been killed, and that is a tragedy. The Palestinian Health Ministry CLAIMED that number at 36,700 this week.  And most of the media will use that number. What irks me is that number is a "claim" by a terrorist group that cares little about the safety of its own people and puts out that number for propaganda purposes. ...

Answering The Phone!                                                                          #287 By Hank Silverberg  Commentary There has been a lot of discussion this week about the conviction of Donald Trump in the hush money case in New York. I will skip the analysis of the trial and Trump's  ranting about it being rigged. To my readers, I must write that this is the furthest I have ever gone in a partisan direction.    I would like the voters, who DO have a big decision to make in November, to just sit and think for a moment about the future, leaving party loyalty and ideological leanings behind.  Trump has gone beyond anything we have had as a major party nominee in the past.  Trump is now a convicted felon--something that would disqualify him to serve in the military,...

Memorial Day, Vacation and Ballots        #286 By Hank Silverberg I just hung my flag up on the pole in front of my home for Memorial Day. I only fly it on major holidays.  But these days, I hear flying an American flag has become political. Apparently, the right-wing is once again claiming that the Stars and Stripes belongs to them, and if you don't fly it you are the bad guys, the "radical liberal commies," or whatever their new made-up term is this month.  Well, we all know that is simply not the case. There are 50 stars on the flag representing all 50 states, not the red ones or the blue ones, but all 50. And there are 13 stripes, symbolic of the original 13 colonies that banded together in 1776 to fight a war of independence against imperial Great Britain.    ( My Dad's flag flies in front  of my house this week ) That flag flew over Iwo Jima in 1945, where my dad was wounded during World War Two.  The flag I am flying now was ...

Hidden Fees                                      #285 By Hank Silverberg We all know that inflation has crept into a lot of things we buy, from cars to grapes. But some things are just so annoying about increased prices that they can drive you crazy. I am going to ignore what causes inflation and how it really can't be blamed on one particular politician, or even the government as a whole. Economists can explain it better. What I can write about are the hidden fees that keep turning up on bills or receipts that may be the result of inflation, but are not disclosed by the store or vender.  Such was the case this weekend when my wife and I took our two grandsons to a family restaurant they had requested. I knew it was going to be expensive. The prices on the menu proved that. But when the bill came, it included about three bucks for an "administrative" fee because I was using a debit c...

I Protest                                          #284 By Hank Silverberg "Tin soldiers and Nixon coming  We're finally on our own This summer I hear a drumming Four dead in Ohio"  Neil Young's  lyric about the shooting of four students at Kent State by the National Guard during a protest on May 4, 1970 provided a greater intensity to the anti-war protests of the late sixties and early seventies. The incident itself was probably a turning point for the majority of citizens who were against the war but not openly protesting it.     The deadly protests after Kent State widened opposition to the war, made it cross-generational, and eventually effective enough to convince the Nixon Administration to get out of Vietnam as quickly as possible (it took too long). This week on the 54th anniversary of Kent State, I heard a lot of talk comparing the current round...