Time to Think

  Commentary vs News                        #295 By Hank Silverberg  Over the past few weeks I have noticed a drop off in the number of people reading this blog. I'm not sure why. Perhaps since I am now reporting again for a local newspaper (Fredericksburg Advance) and have put my "objective" hat back on in everything I write, this blog has lost some of its bite. But in the three years I have been writing "Time to Think," anything I opined on was always based in fact, even if my often sarcastic opinion creeped in. The last few weeks I have correctly labeled my opening story "Commentary" to distinguish it from "News," and maybe that has softened the points I was trying to make. I would like to hear more from some of my loyal readers about what's on your minds and what you think. There is a place on the blog's main page to send me email or to comment.  It doesn't have to be on politics.  You comments and ideas...

It's A Whole New World                       #294             By Hank Silverberg    Commentary It's been a remarkable week in the political world. The decision by Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race and the ascendency of his Vice President, Kamala Harris, to the top of the ticket is historical.  But as usual, the Republicans have no clue on how to handle it. Harris has some differences from President Biden, but they have similar stances on most issues, and you would think the GOP would jump on those.  Instead, they attacked Harris for her race and gender. Somehow this woman who served as a District Attorney in San Francisco, Attorney General in California, a U.S. Senator, and then as Vice President became a "DEI hire". DEI is NOT Affirmative Action, which some have criticized for giving minorities unfair priority over other students or employees. The concept of...

Exhaustion                                            #293 By Hank Silverberg              Are you exhausted? Watching, reading or listening to the news these days can leave you angry, depressed, annoyed, or just plain exhausted. Not a day goes by that there is not some new revelation about the presidential campaign. First it was all Trump all the time, then it was all Biden all the time, and then Trump all the time again and so on.  Now, with Biden out of the race are we going to have to start all over again?   There's very little detailed discussion of any issue of this election campaign. We have heard a great deal about illegal immigration. It's filled with rhetoric, but very little about solutions from either side.  There's horrible news almost every day from the Israel-Gaza war, but it tends to focus on protests and uns...

Damaging Speculation                                   #292 By Hank Silverberg Commentary Political violence is rare in the United States, but not unheard of.  In our history three presidents have been assassinated, (Lincoln-1865, McKinley-1901, John Kennedy-1963), and attempts have been made on the lives of three others (Jackson-1835, Ford-1975 and Reagan-1981). Two people running for president have been shot before. Robert Kennedy was killed (1968), George Wallace was shot and paralyzed for life (1972). Only one of those, Lincoln, involved a conspiracy. The rest were lone gunmen with some warped concepts that sometimes weren't even political.  But we have seen a great deal of speculation and punditry on just what happened in Pennsylvania on Saturday.  The responsible media that I watched (CBS, NBC, CNN) were careful not to rush to judgement on the who and why, instead sticking to t...

A Nation Divided                                                                                #291            By Hank Silverberg                                                                                                                                                                Commentary   Much has been made over the past year or so about the gro...

  How To Earn Two Bucks The Easy Way       #290 By Hank Silverberg Commentary  Don't worry. I am not going to write about the debate, or even politics this week. I am going to start by telling you a somewhat funny story.  On Thursday of this past week, there was an interesting piece of mail that I thought was just the usual junk. But a closer look showed the official logo of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the upper right hand corner. So I opened it. It was the usual type of form letter asking me to fill out the inserted survey and to please return it to them. The Gallup polling organization was doing the survey, and that encouraged further review by me.   I almost threw it away, but then at the end of the pitch to fill out the form they said they were enclosing "a small gift" as a thank you for my participation.  There were two crisp $1.00 bills in the envelope.   ( The $2 I earned)  Well, darn. No...