Dick Hubert’s Worldview: A collection of unwanted news bulletins

Do you wake up each morning and check whatever device you have for the overnight news to see how drastically your world has changed?

Do you brace yourself for unwanted bulletins during your waking hours?

I decided this week to make a list of stunning developments since last we met on these pages.

*I’m still getting adjusted to the choice of Trump/Vance or Harris/Walz. Then again, so is the rest of the world.

*That the Ukrainians would decide to invade Russia before the end of the Biden administration and while the $60 billion in U.S. military and financial aid is still flowing seems logical if you sit in President Zelenskyy’s chair and wonder what you’d be faced with in a Trump Presidency. Is this a prelude to a negotiated settlement on terms more favorable to Ukraine, or, miracles of miracles, a Russian defeat?        

*Most Israelis want to get rid of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (as does the Biden administration). Netanyahu is doing everything he can to keep himself in power. Is raising tensions to a boiling point on his “must-do-to-survive” list? With the assassination of a top Hamas official in Tehran, the Israelis are now waiting (at this writing) for a feared Iranian retaliation. How much worse will the mess get in the Middle East? Is this how Netanyahu stays in power? By taunting Tehran and bombing Gaza regardless of who is being hit by the bombs?

*When I found out that reporter Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal was part of a major “prisoner exchange” between the West and Putin’s Russia, I was overjoyed.  Putin, however, seemed delighted to get his spies and KGB assassin back.  Dare any American go to Russia now without fear of arrest (for a future prisoner exchange)? In how many other countries can Americans see themselves as potential prisoners?

*Add Taylor Swift concerts to the list of potential targets for terrorists. And sympathy for all those who journeyed to Vienna for one of the three Eras tour events only to find that the concerts were canceled due to the machinations of ISIS sympathizers, fortunately caught in the nick of time by Austrian police (with an American intelligence assist). Is Ms. Americana now a huge target for America’s enemies?

*Russian, Iranian, Chinese, and/or North Korean interference is growing in our hemisphere, especially in Venezuela. I was not shocked, but dispirited, when the results of the Venezuelan election showed Maduro being swept out of power—only for Maduro to declare himself the winner and start arresting every opposition voter in sight. Short of loud international protests, what, if anything, can be done to stop him?

*Not on my Bingo card—stranding U.S. astronauts in the International Space Station because their Boeing Starliner capsule is judged too dangerous to return them to earth. They might get back sometime next year on a SpaceX capsule? How comfortable are you being this dependent on Elon Musk? And how many blows to its reputation can Boeing withstand?

*I had no idea how much I’d find NBC’s coverage of the Paris Olympics a welcome respite from the rest of the world’s news.  How many highlights? Too many to note here. But a mighty cheer for: Celine Dion’s channeling of Edith Piaf at the closing of the opening ceremonies; being overwhelmed by the talent of Simone Biles; thrilling to the gold victories of the men’s and women’s basketball and women’s soccer teams; ALL the phenomenal American women Olympians! And feeling the pride of our County neighbors in Mt. Vernon watching Rai Benjamin take the gold in the 400-meter hurdles and Pelham’s Kate Douglas’s gold in the 200-meter breaststroke. A loud and heartfelt WOW!

*Georgia will be on all of our minds during the November general election. A huge hope that former President Jimmy Carter will make it to his 100^th birthday and be alive to cast a vote for the Harris-Walz ticket.

*The poor financial health of the American media world continues to stun. The write-down in the value of Warner Bros-Discovery and CBS-Paramount Global stocks for starters. We are witnessing the steady demise of over-the-air television and cable and a burgeoning world of streaming choices.

*What’s happening with the economy, or as James Carville says about all political campaigns, “it’s the economy, stupid.” The Wall Street Journal news columns proclaim: “As America teeters between a soft landing and recession, uncertainty is weighing on consumers and businesses.”  And how will that “teetering” play out in the 2024 vote count?

*I am not alone in noting the obvious deterioration in the mental health of former President Trump. His Mar-a-Lago press conference of Aug. 8 was a series of lies and confusion. One of the better descriptions of the event came from Tom Nichols in The Atlantic: “Reporters might listen to Trump and then understandably be reluctant to start typing stories that must feel like spec scripts for The West Wing pieced together by a creative-writing circle:

The former president, lying about abortion laws, said women murder their own babies in the delivery room. He megalomaniacally claimed that he gets bigger crowds than anyone in history, and compared himself to Martin Luther King Jr. He descended into fantasy by telling a story about surviving a helicopter emergency that never happened with a man who wasn’t there.”

If you think I’m exaggerating, here’s a link to the entire conference. Watch it and be afraid, very afraid.

Politico reported that the man in the near Trump helicopter crash was a then Los Angeles councilman, Nate Holden. As they reported:

“The man who almost crashed in a helicopter with Donald Trump told POLITICO Trump confused him with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown — despite the former president’s repeated insistence it was Brown.

It was Nate Holden, a former city councilmember and state senator from Los Angeles, who said in an exclusive interview late Friday that he remembers the near-death experience well. He and others believe it happened sometime in 1990.”

Trump’s mind is…fading.

*And finally, I’ve been checking the weather report with near regularity. Locally, we have escaped bullets—tornadoes, tropical storms, flash floods—so far. But we’re still in the middle of hurricane season. So, ignore the ugly news if you can, but pay attention to weather reports. We have flood prone areas in Rye Brook and Port Chester, and when the rains really come and the winds blow, watch out.

Have a great rest of the summer.

Dick Hubert, a retired television news producer-writer-reporter living in Rye Brook, has been honored with the Peabody Award, the DuPont Columbia Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Journalism Award.

Editor’s Note: This column, written by Dick Hubert, represents his opinion and not that of this newspaper.