Thursday, December 26, 2019

Current Events Discussion Topics

An on-line "Zoom" discussion is conducted every Monday morning at 9:30am Chicago time through the North Shore Senior Center hosted by Ron Mantegna. You can enroll in this discussion session at   https://www.nssc.org/

Ron conducts a Northbrook Library zoom discussion every 1st and 3rd and 5th Thursday, 10-11:30am. Open free to all who enroll.  Contact the Northbrook Library to connect with Ron Mantegna.                                                                                         

What’s the best approach to have an improved Health Care Plan? How would we get there?

 

Redistricting Battles: does any Party have the advantage? The Supreme Court OK’d Texas redistricting that may add 5 additional Republican House seats. Indiana said No to redistricting. Also, how much do recent elections suggest there could be tight races even in “safe” Republican Districts?

 

Should America consider this ban for our kids? Australian Children and teens have been forced off social media en masse. Shutting down than 1 million social media accounts held by users under 16 has inflamed a culture war and is being closely watched in the United States and elsewhere.

 

How important is attacking Venezuela? We seized their oil tanker. What are the ramifications if we send in ground troops without Congressional approval? Does America understand the objective?

 

How big an issue is Somalia stealing federal funds in Minnesota?  Federal authorities have uncovered massive, multi-million dollar fraud schemes in Minnesota involving individuals, mostly of Somali descent, who allegedly stole funds from state-administered public assistance programs.

 

Is Trump looking like a “Lame Duck”? MT Greene is resigning from Congress and speaking out against the President. Has jockeying started for new standard-bearer? Given Trump’s sinking Approvals, will Traditional Republicans begin to resonate more with Conservatives than MAGA?

 

Might China defeat the U.S. military in a war over Taiwan? According to a top-secret US government assessment, our reliance on costly, sophisticated weapons leaves it exposed to China’s ability to mass-produce cheaper systems in overwhelming numbers. A national security official under Joe Biden who reviewed the document is said to have turned pale on realizing Beijing had “redundancy after redundancy” for “every trick we had up our sleeve”.

 

Is it in America’s best interest to let Putin win his war with Ukraine and cut the cord with Europe? Trump is reviving the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which declared the Western Hemisphere to be Washington's zone of influence. Could that work and still be part of NATO?

 

Time magazine named "The Architects of A.I." as its 2025 Person of the Year. Your thoughts.

 

The Pope calls for a two-state solution. What is motivating him? How influential is the Pope?

 

Could that J6 pipe bomber receive a Pardon? Brian Cole Jr., arrested for planting two viable pipe bombs on the eve of J6, is a Trump  and conspiracy supporter. He believes the election was stolen. Some critics wonder whether Trump’s “blanket pardon” to all J6 “patriots” will eventually set Cole free.

 

How “illegal” are Biden’s autopen approvals? Trump is “cancelling” exec orders signed by Biden’s autopen. Many presidents, including Trump, use an autopen to sign some documents. Republicans say it was used by folks around Biden to circumvent “a mentally declining president”.

 

How confident are you with who is in charge of America’s Health? RFK jr. believes Tylenol causes Autism…and so does circumcision.  And now, the committee that advises on national vaccine policy overturned a decades-long recommendation that newborns be immunized for hepatitis B, a policy credited with nearly eliminating the highly contagious and dangerous virus in infants. Earlier, the CDC made a dramatic “flip” on the value of vax. They say a link between vax & autism cannot be ruled out, reversing the CDC's longstanding stance that high-quality research has proved there is no link. RFK Jr. has long promoted discredited claims of vax doing more harm than good.

How do you feel about this Entertainment Bombshell? Netflix struck an $83 billion deal for Warner Bros. and its sibling streaming service, HBO Max. Jane Fonda: “an alarming escalation in a consolidation crisis that threatens the entire entertainment industry, the public it serves and—potentially—the First Amendment itself.”

 

Rage Bait is Oxford’s “word of the year”. It’s defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media content.

 

How should NATO respond to hundreds of drone provocations over many nations, apparently instigated by Russia? Does Europe have the manpower and resources to push back against Putin? Do they have the will to do so without America taking the lead?

 

Will Epstein’s many victims ever see justice? Might we see names of significant wrong-doers? How likely is it that some victims will take the risk to name names if Justice doesn’t release them?

 

The Comey indictment was overturned. What does that tell us?

 

Things happen.” What does America gain by disregarding human rights sins of Saudi’s Crown Prince? Is “swinging a business deal” more important than standing up for values?

 

How does a 50-Year Mortgage help with Affordability?

 

Racist move? Or just treating Immigration more fairly? Biden limited refugees to 125,000. Trump cut limits to 7,500—with 7,000 being Afrikaners, a group not traditionally eligible for the program. The Administration says they have been “tyrannized by South Africa’s Black majority”. The other 500 will be chosen by their ability to speak English and views on “free speech,” upending a system that for decades took in people fleeing conflict and persecution anywhere regardless of race or language. Guardrails against racist, xenophobic or dehumanizing rhetoric have all but vanished on the American right. What was once disqualifying—or the exclusive domain of online trolls—is now a fixture of national political discourse.

 

Are national parks and museums wrong to cover how bad Slavery was? Does History need to be more positive? What’s more harmful: not covering full details, or covering it all?

 

For years, Trump has asked for $230M for being “wronged” by the Justice Department. How valid is his charge? Is it meant to be more of a distraction? Is it working?

 

Netanyahu is asking Israel for a pardon? Would it be in Israel’s best interest to grant it?

 

Does Cashless Bail put more peace-loving Folks at risk while setting Law Breakers free?

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Israeli History/Israeli Current Events


Upcoming Discussion

Mark Gelfeld leads a Zoom discussion at the Northbrook Library 10am to 11:30am every 2nd and 4th Thursday. Signup is free at this link. A library card is not needed. 
https://visit.northbrook.info/event/4628524

Israeli Current Events will be discussed for the first portion of our session.
Then...we'll continue reviewing events related to the First Lebanon War
Links below allow you to review slides we show and discuss at each session.

Zionism/Israeli History through 1967  

Below is a list of books mentioned during our sessions:

· "The Arab-Israeli Wars" by Chaim Herzog
· "Kissinger and the Yom Kippur War" by David Morse
· "The Making of Modern Israel 1948-1967" by Leslie Stein
· "Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict" by Charles D. Smith
· “The Iron Wall: Israel & The Arab World” by Avi Shlaim
· “Transformative Justice: Israeli Identity on Trial” by Leora Bilsky
· "Six Days of War : June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East" by Michael Oren
· “The Secret War Against The Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People” by John Loftus and Mark Aarons
· “A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel” by Allis Radosh and Ronald Rados
· "Truman" by David McCullough
· “Louis D. Brandeis: A Life” by Melvin Urofsky
· “The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership” by Yehuda Avner
· “George C. Marshall” by Forest Pogue (a 4 volume work- the most definitive biography)
· “1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War” by Benny Morris
· “Woodrow Wilson: A Biography” by John Milton Cooper, Jr
· “A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East” by David Fromkin
· "Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews": A History by James Carroll
· “In the Garden of the Beasts” by Erik Larson
· “My Promised Land - The Triumph & Tragedy of Israel” by Ari Shavit
· "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide" by Samantha Power
· "The Physician" by Noah Gordon
· "Start-up Nation: the Story of Israel's Economic Miracle" by Dan Senor and Saul Singer
· "Eichmann in Jerusalem: a Report on the Banality of Evil" by Hannah Arendt
· "The Eichmann Trial" by Deborah Lipstadt
· "The House on Garibaldi Street" by Isser Harrel
· "Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices" by Mosab Hassan Yousef
· “Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of A Mass Murder” by Bettina Stangneth
· "Jaffa Beach" by Fedora Horowitz
· "Operation Thunderbolt:  Flight 139 and the Raid on Entebbe Airport, the most Audacious Hostage Rescue in History", by Saul David
· "Abba Eban", A Biography by Asaf Siniver
· "Jerusalem: The Biography" by Simon Sebag Montefiore
· "The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine" by Ben Ehrenreich
· "Jabotinsky" by Hillel Halkin
· "Doomed to Succeed: The U.S. Israel Relationship from Truman to Obama" by Dennis Ross 
· "The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel" by Uri-Bar Joseph
· "FDR and the Jews" by Richard Breitman
· "No Ordinary Time" by Doris Kearns Goodwin
· "Remember the Liberty!:Almost Sunk by Treason on the High Seas" by Phillip F Nelson, Ronald G. Kukal, Ernest A. Gallo 
· "Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn" by Daniel Gordis
· "Every Spy a Prince" The Complete History of Israel's Intelligence Community by Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman
· "FDR and the Holocaust: A Breach of Faith" by Rafael Medoff
· "Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations" by Ronen Bergman
· "Then They Came for Me - Martin Niemoller, the Pastor Who Defied the Nazis" - Matthew Hockenos
· "We Stand Divided - The Rift Between American Jews and Israel" - Daniel Gordis
· "BiBi" - Anshel Pfeffer
· "Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the 40-year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East" - Kim Ghattas


















Thursday, March 6, 2014

WELCOME TO TODAY'S DISCUSSION



“Current Events” Code of Conduct

We respect each other and conduct our discussions with civility.

This includes:

      Never using loud, abusive, threatening or insulting language.
      Never offending, threatening, or insulting groups or individuals based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or any disability.
      Never being under the influence of anything but our best behavior.
      Never harming anyone, including fighting or challenging anyone to fight.
      Understanding every aspect of Sexual Harassment - This includes: • making inappropriate personal comments or sexual advances • using obscene or lewd language or gestures • staring at, or following anyone in a manner that reasonably can be expected to disturb him or her • exposing others to sexual Internet content.

Ron's Rules:

1. Civility means treating each other with respect. Hate the comment. Love the commenter. When you make it personal, I will stop you. Talk to the issue. Respond like this: “I disagree. Strawberry is not better than butter pecan. Here’s why. ….”  Responses like this are out of line: “You’re an F-ing idiot if you think strawberry is better than butter pecan!”   Our goal is to shed light more than heat.

2. If someone else makes your point, you don’t need to make it again.

3. I try to seek different views. In doing so, I will call on some folks more than others so there’s a chance to hear different sides. But I may not get to everyone for some topics.

4. If you’re seeking a “support group” to vent heart-felt rants, go elsewhere. Attend with an open mind. You don’t need to agree with what you hear—just do try to understand the other side. I’m preaching to myself here as well.

5. Finally, It’s perfectly OK to push back against my questions you feel are too slanted or flat out incorrect. That’s going to happen.  Just don’t be picky in the interest of time.