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Sean Hannity

Fast Radio Bursts

January 17, 2020 by Peg Leave a Comment

Associate Professor Jean-Pierre Macquart of Curtin University in Bentley (Perth), Australia is the principal investigator of the CRAFT project that studies Fast Radio Bursts from throughout the universe. These phenomena became a subject of intense interest in 2007. The cause of these FRB’s is still being researched but in June, 2019 the source was determined to be a galaxy 3.4 billion light years from our own Milky Way Galaxy, practically next door.

The theories of the origins of FRB’s are many. However, my favorite guess is that they originate from a highly advanced civilization that is reaching out for contact with other similarly positioned beings. Of course, I still hold out some hope Santa Claus will bring me a pony.

Regardless, if there are intelligent creatures sending out probes it may be because they have been monitoring Earth’s progress for years and are wondering how we are currently doing. If these beings, I’ll just call them Busters for convenience, have been observing us for the last 200,000 years or so they were probably pretty bored until around 5,000 years ago when the “ancient” Chinese, Egyptians, Assyrians and Babylonians came up with writing and pyramids. The Busters may have followed the careers of Imhotep or Cheops as mankind leapt from hunter/gatherers to farming and architecture. Today the descendants of these great civilizations may get less interest from the Busters, especially as the societies began to engage in efforts to control their neighbors with clubs.

As humans migrated from Africa to the Mediterranean area our curious observers may have followed the writings of Socrates and the Greek culture until the Roman’s discovered the short sword. And while we do not know the length of the year the Busters live with, they probably have figured out ours and our time lines. Therefore, the Busters may have followed the rise and fall of Rome including the decline from such as Justinian to the likes of Mussolini. The Earth at war from 1914 to 2020 may have caused the Busters pause.

One curious aspect of the Fast Radio Bursts is how they were discovered by humans about 2007 and their volume has waxed and waned over the next 13 years. It is as if the Busters may be concerned or confused about recent events. Perhaps they are perplexed by our world’s own fast radio television bursts as current events may appear from outer space to be pure chaos.

For example, I can imagine a cable news Buster asking, “Where did Socrates go and what the devil is a Hannity?”

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Filed Under: Gavel Gamut Tagged With: Assyrians, Babylonians, Chinese, Egyptians, fast radio bursts, James M. Redwine, Jean-Pierre Macquart, Jim Redwine, Sean Hannity, Socrates

Some News Fit To Print

March 29, 2019 by Peg Leave a Comment

Adolf Ochs (1858-1935) pinned the motto of the New York Times newspaper: “All the News Fit to Print” in 1897. It remains on the paper’s front page today. Mottoes sometimes are more hope than substance.

In 1965, as the Viet Nam War was gearing up and 18 year old men could be drafted but could not vote, Barry McGuire (born 1935) sang ♫The Eve of Destruction♫. The lyrics included the following phrases:

“The eastern world, it is expoldin’
Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’
You’re old enough to kill but not for votin’
You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’?
….
The poundin’ of the drums, the pride and disgrace
You can bury your dead but don’t leave a trace
Hate your next door neighbor, but don’t forget to say grace.”

About twenty years later in 1983 Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) sang the song ♫A Little Good News Today♫ that included:

“I rolled out this morning
Kids had the morning news show on
…
Some senator was squawkin’ ‘bout the bad economy
It’s gonna get worse you see, we need a change in policy
…
Just once how I’d like to see the headline say
‘Not much to print today, can’t find nothing bad to say’
…
We sure could use a little good news today.”

So, Gentle Reader, I submit the following retreat from the edge of doom and a little good news for your April First consideration.

It was announced today that Sean Hannity has been hired to replace Wolf Blitzer at CNN and Joe Scarborough will be joining FOX News.

At his debut on CNN Sean Hannity reported that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump had met with Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi at Camp David where they decided to apply the national defense budget to universal health care and free college tuition for all.

The budgets for the CIA and FBI will be redirected to environmental concerns and repair of the nation’s infrastructure. McConnell was assured by Chuck Schumer there would be unanimous support for these proposals in the Senate. And in the House, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy heaped praise on both Pelosi and Clinton as he pledged his ardent support for both.

At a conference of media anchors held just outside the gates of Camp David it was announced by Washington Post’s editor Martin Baron that the national print and electronic media were impressed with the honesty, integrity and goodwill of the Executive and Legislative branches. Baron even mentioned the anticipated wisdom of the Supreme Court that is expected to refuse to grant any delays in the implementation of the stated goals of fair and equal treatment for all Americans.

Well, Gentle Reader, that’s about all the Good News I can report. It appears the country is just brimming with good works and goodwill.

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Filed Under: America, Gavel Gamut, News Media, Personal Fun Tagged With: A Little Good News Today, Adolf Ochs, All the News Fit to Print, Anne Murray, April First, April Fool’s Day, Barry McGuire, Camp David, Chuck Schumer, CIA, CNN, Donald Trump, drafted but not eligible to vote, Eve of Destruction, executive branch, FBI, Fox News, Gentle Reader, Hillary Clinton, James M. Redwine, Jim Redwine, Joe Scarborough, Kevin McCarthy, legislative branch, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, New York Times, Sean Hannity, Supreme Court, Viet Nam War, Wolf Blitzer

Fighting Words

September 8, 2017 by Peg Leave a Comment

IU Alumni Magazine Fall 2017 Edition

As lifetime members of the Indiana University Alumni Association Peg and I receive IU’s magazine which usually is devoid of substance and replete with solicitations for even more money. I normally toss it in the trash with a casual glance. However, this Fall 2017 edition contained an essay by C.J. Lotz titled “Fighting Words” which took up the issues surrounding the questions being asked by every Talking Head. Of course, no one really wants to know what anyone else thinks so right after the questions are raised the Talking Heads answer them for us as they wish. The main question is, “Are we becoming an ever more polarized society?” The question the Talking Heads deign to answer for us is, “Why?” It is simply assumed that we are.

Frequently someone opines that we are in the midst of the most fractured, volatile social and political environment America has ever experienced. Such a priori statements reek with irony. The people who boldly assert such an evaluation are themselves adding to the fracturing. Often there is neither citation of facts nor any attempt at logical analysis. The nearest thing to a thought process is an assessment of blame. Targets might include everything from a nasty election to Hurricane Harvey being the wrath of the gods for the outcome of the election.

While Hurricane Harvey has neither mind nor soul, it does remind one of the kind of natural disaster the gods of the Bible or those of Ancient Greece might use to send a message. Harvey’s destruction struck at the just and unjust without discrimination. Such an approach is similar to the types of statements you can hear every day in our national and interpersonal discourse. You will notice I did not say we were engaged in argument. Arguments entail clashing viewpoints. What we so often witness today are simple pronouncements as if from Olympus.

The past two years have witnessed the kind of hyperbole and vitriol one might expect from the buildup to a professional boxing or wrestling match. Take the recent bout between the boxer, Floyd Mayweather, and Mixed Martial Arts fighter, Conor McGregor. Mayweather made $300,000,000 and McGregor $100,000,000. With four letter words and gross threats of physical harm the pre-fight “conversation” sounded like two twelve year olds in a school yard. It reminded me of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and FOX’s Sean Hannity yelling out fake news. On the other hand the banal invective did help gin up lots of money from red meat loving fans, which of course, is the objective of the news media too.

Fighting words by groups and individuals are our society’s replacement for the kind of physical fighting that once was used to quell disagreements. Each side of a dispute would choose a champion, a mounted knight for example, then the two champions would fight to the death of one of them. The survivor won the argument. In other words, might did make right or as we might observe today, one side was right because it won, not won because it was right. There are often no nuances to our contemporary verbal clashes. It is all or nothing.

What is more concerning are the motives each side projects onto the other. It is simply assumed the opposition is lying and venal. The possibility of an honest mistake or another reasonable alternative is not considered.

Perhaps such a development in our national and personal discourse is itself subject to interpretation as suggested by the IU publication. So, if you have nothing of particular interest to do for awhile perhaps you might want to take an Odyssey with me for a week or so in search of constructive conversation.

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Filed Under: America, Gavel Gamut, Indiana University, Language, News Media Tagged With: "Fighting Words", assessment of blame, Bible, C.J. Lotz, Conor McGregor, Floyd Mayweather, Hurricane Harvey, Indiana University Alumni Association, James M. Redwine, Jim Redwine, nasty election, Odyssey, Olympus, polarized society, Sean Hannity, volatile social and political environment, Wolf Blitzer

When Do We Grow Up?

June 2, 2017 by Peg Leave a Comment

Our two most recent presidential candidates often provided mirrors for us to see ourselves as others see us. If you are like me the experience was not always positive.

My friends and family who supported Clinton often reacted with pity or chagrin when I questioned whether she had the character to lead. Those who supported Trump often reacted angrily if I wondered out loud if his campaign rhetoric disqualified him.

What I found most puzzling was the reaction from members of both camps if I voiced no opinion. Whether they were Clintonians or Trumpers they invariably assumed my reticence meant I was for the candidate they were against or, at least, was not for the candidate they supported. Such projection upon me of their insecurities made me wonder what they really thought about their candidate.

Were they afraid the opposition research or Fox News or CNN might have some actual validity when their candidate was exposed? Was that experience a little like an attendee at a church revival might feel when some modern day Elmer Gantry begins to cast out demons or a contemporary Cotton Mather hunts witches to burn?

Or, have Americans fallen so far under the spell of Wolf Blitzer and Sean Hannity we do not care what is true but only care that bad things be aired about those we despise? About thirty wasted seconds watching Jerry Springer should give us our answer.

Even after five hundred years of non-native influence we Americans still think of ourselves as a young country. Maybe that volksgeist is why we engage in childish diatribes instead of mature analysis. Now, I do not know if Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump are either, both or neither the Devil’s gifts to the national media. However, I do know that if we and our representatives continue to engage in this food fight we call debate, our plates will always be filled with garbage.

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Filed Under: America, Democracy, Gavel Gamut, News Media, Presidential Campaign Tagged With: Americans, church revival, CNN, Cotton Mather, Donald Trump, Elmer Gantry, Fox News, Hillary Clinton, James M. Redwine, Jerry Springer, Jim Redwine, presidential candidates, Sean Hannity, volksgeist, Wolf Blitzer

© 2022 James M. Redwine

 

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