October 16, 2024 - Candidate Audiences, Two Great Resources, Polls, the Electoral College, Hurricane Milton, and More

 

Candidates Seeking an Audience

A problem for political candidates is getting their messages through to where the voters they are trying to reach are. Years ago, newspapers filled this function, eventually supplemented by radio. Candidates made speeches and they were reported and that was it. Sometimes, newspapers endorsed candidates. Now, with television and the internet supplanting these earlier media choices, candidates are not as certain as they once were as to where to direct their remarks. 

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris (and their VP running mates) usually speak before audiences of their supporters, primed to wave signs and applaud and cheer. But Trump does this to firm up the loyalty of those already for him while Harris seeks a wider audience and utilizes a greater source of speaking opportunities. 

Both strategies carry risks with them. Trump uses his resources only to strengthen those already solidly for him and those sufficiently feeble-minded or bigoted to swallow his lies but does not stress expanding that base. 

Harris perhaps risks antagonizing some who would normally support her in the hope of gaining other supporters. It’s a balancing act to get their messages out to where the people they want to reach are. Age, gender, economic level, race, and educational level must all be considered, and as the King in ‘the King and I’ said, ‘is a puzzlement.’ 

                                                              * * 

Newspapers’ One Big Advantage: 

And speaking of newspapers, they still have the wonderful advantage of enabling their readers to totally ignore the advertisements they carry. Those who follow the candidates on TV or online do not offer that opportunity. The viewer is stuck with their ads. I occasionally flip back and forth between several news channels (MSNBC or CNN or even the NBC, CBS, or ABC local outlets) to avoid four or five minutes of annoying commercials. But this alone will not enable the printed newspaper to survive very much longer. But I still get one delivered to my doorstep daily, as long as it is being printed.

                                                             * * 

The Dripping Pita: 

And speaking of TV commercials, I get a laugh from one I frequently see from Taco Bell.  A couple seated on a sofa are eating one of their meaty, cheesy, creations (a ‘Chalupa’ maybe) and the viewer can see the filling drip down toward the guy’s clothing and probably the sofa as well. I’ve seen it often enough to know that they must be aware of this, but they don’t fix it. Could it be intentional? Warning, if you try one: Put a large dinner napkin on your lap!

JL 

             

                                                           * * * 

Two Valuable Resources 

If you were enrolled at Boston College, you probably would be on a wait list to enroll in one of Professor Heather Cox Richardson’s classes. If you were enrolled at Yale University, the same would be the case with Professor Timothy Snyder’s classes. But you are fortunate to have access to their wisdom each date on their websites, without even paying tuition (unless you want an upgraded version allowing you to make comments and read the comments of others). 

Make it a point to check out their websites daily. Snyder’s can be reached at https://snyder.substack.com/about or by CLICKING HERE. Richardson’s can be reached at https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/ or by CLICKING HERE. Make them a daily habit. 

Richardson’s posting dated October 15 well documents Donald Trump’s deteriorating mental state. Check it out. 

JL 

                                                      * * * 

Attention: Mail-in Voters

If you are voting by mail, don’t sit on your ballot, probably received by now.  If you haven’t gotten it yet, or lost it, contact the County Supervisor of Elections, in Palm Beach County at (561) 656-6208. Once you send it in, you can track its progress through their ‘system’ online. Mail-in ballots must be received by them by November 4. If you have one sitting there, complete it and send it back by mail today! Not tomorrow, TODAY! (no postage stamp is required!)  

You can call that number for all election information or visit the website at VotePalmBeach.gov or by CLICKING HERE. (That's where you can track your mail in ballot.)

JL 

                                                   * * * 

Bumper Stickers

I believe that bumper stickers on cars are valuable campaigning tools. They enable you to proudly state your election preference and encourage others to vote for your choices. But I seem to see them less frequently than in prior years. 

I have a ‘Harris/Walz’ sticker (the easily removable kind) on my rear bumper and a homemade one in my rear window reading ‘Flip Florida’ (in blue of course). ‘Yes’ votes for Amendments 3 (legal marijuana) and 4 (abortion rights) may be the locomotives that pull the entire Democratic ticket to victories in Florida. 

Search for stickers by visiting https://officialharriswalzcampaign.com/collections/sticker or by CLICKING HERE. Some are available from private vendors and some from the candidates’ campaigns. 

Since we are getting close to Election Day, be certain whatever you might order assures a prompt delivery.

JL 

                                                         * * * 

Time to Ignore Polling … and the Electoral College Problem 

At this point in time, it’s best to ignore whatever polls suggest is happening. I guarantee you that there will be States than polls predict will be in one candidate’s camp which will end up in the other candidate's pocket.  It will be a very close election.

All you can do at this point is to seriously work hard to see that your candidate wins, in your State, and in other States than might count more than yours does because of the crazy Electoral College with which we are stuck.

Someday we may get rid of the Electoral College (maybe in twenty or thirty years) by Constitutional amendment or by a sufficient number of State legislative actions to enable all of that State’s electoral vote to go to a candidate who won the election’s nationwide popular vote. Two hundred and seventy electoral votes, secured in that manner, would result in what amounts to the popular election of our president! 

But the composition of State legislatures can change and be fickle so a Constitutional amendment would be preferable. 

JL 

                                                    * * * 

Hurricane Milton and Tornadoes 

It has been a few days since Hurricane Milton.  It’s time to get one thing straight.  Hurricane Milton itself didn’t directly cause the deaths nor do the damage Palm Beach and neighboring counties on Florida’s southeast coast experienced.  Milton’s damage occurred on the Gulf Coast and along the I-4 corridor.  Tornadoes, spawned by Milton on its peripheral fringes, were the cause of deaths and damage elsewhere in Florida. But that was apart from the damage Milton directly did. 

These tornadoes were of the severity usually associated with those that plague the plains States, and not like the much milder incidental ones that occasionally strike elsewhere, including Palm Beach County.  (One such tornado struck the Kings Point community a few years ago, damaging roofs but not causing deaths) there. Preparing for a hurricane is not the same as preparing for a tornado, a near-impossible task.

Once a tornado warning is issued, there is no real way to prepare for such events in homes without basements in which to shelter, which few residences in our area include. We’re told to stay in rooms without windows. There are few such rooms in Florida homes. None of the damage done by these hurricanes could have been prevented, and specific warnings, if any, came only minutes before they struck. (The Weather Channel, on TV, broadcast general tornado warnings every two minutes for many hours on the day they struck, but there’s a limit as to how long residents can huddle in an interior windowless bathroom, one of the recommended actions.) 

Of prime concern is determining what caused tornadoes of great severity to accompany Milton on its fringes, something not usually present in Florida’s long hurricane history.   Mild, brief tornadoes … yes, but severe ones as struck on October 9, … never, at least in my recollection.  

I think the answer to that question lies in recognizing the human causes of climate change, something which has elevated water temperatures and relocated the spawning ground of North Atlantic storm centers and hurricanes. The shifting of Saharan sands, possibly connected with agriculture or deforestation there, or even elsewhere on the planet, might be involved. All that is what real scientists are studying. 

But dealing with climate change is difficult in a State where it is illegal to use the words ‘climate change’ in any legislation or regulations. Florida’s governor’s positive reaction to the damage done by Helene and Milton is to be commended, but he still ignores what might be their cause: climate change. He is a fool for doing so. 

JL 

                                                       * * * 

Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri 

Forwarding Postings: Please forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it (Friends, relatives, enemies, etc.) If you want to send someone the blog, you can just tell them to check it out by visiting https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com or you can provide a link to that address in your email to them. 

There’s another, perhaps easier, method of forwarding it though! Google Blogspot, the platform on which Jackspotpourri is prepared, makes that possible. If you click on the tiny envelope with the arrow at the bottom of every posting, you will have the opportunity to list up to ten email addresses to which that blog posting will be forwarded, along with a brief comment from you. Each will receive a link to click on that will directly connect them to the blog. Either way will work, sending them the link to https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com, or clicking on the envelope at the bottom of this posting. 

Email Alerts: If you are NOT receiving emails from me alerting you each time there is a new posting on Jackspotpourri, just send me your email address and we’ll see that you do. And if you are forwarding a posting to someone, you might suggest that they do the same, so they will be similarly alerted. You can pass those email addresses to me by email at jacklippman18@gmail.com. 

Again, I urge you to forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it, particularly if they are a registered voter. There’s less than three weeks remaining until Election Day. Spread the word. 

JL 

                                                           * * *

October 10, 2024 - Retaining Control of the Senate, Hurricanes, Lies, and More

 

Hurricane Milton 

Those of us in Palm Beach County, and southward, lucked out. 

Hurricane Milton wreaked havoc elsewhere in Florida, mostly on the Gulf Coast and along the I-4 corridor, and from unexpectedly vicious tornadoes on its fringes, which caused deaths not too far north of us in St. Lucie County. 

Milton blew the roof off of the Tropicana Stadium in
St. Petersburg, home field of the Tampa Bay Rays

Adding to the damage still being dealt with from the earlier storm, Hurricane Helene, Florida has quite a recovery job on its hands. The full extent of the damage done is yet to be assessed, on this ‘morning after.’  

The long-term implications of these storms, along with the question of the involvement of’ ‘climate change’ in their genesis (officially two ‘verboten’ words according to Florida’s governor and legislature) must be addressed. Jackspotpourri will not ignore this. 

JL 

                                                               * * *

More About Lies

The preceding posting on Jackspotpourri dealt with lies.  Please re-read it!  They are the chief weapon of what is left of the Republican Party, in its efforts to replace our democracy with an autocratic form of government.  Massive lying is their ‘weapon of  mass destruction’ aimed at our government. 

Professor Heather Cox Richardson’s posting on her daily ‘Letters from an American’ goes into this subject in great detail in her postings dated October 6 and October 8, 2024.  Please check them out by copying and pasting https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/ on your browser line or by CLICKING HERE .  It is more than frightening.  Read them both!

*  *

The violent weather we’ve been experiencing has not been ignored by Republican liars, either.

Two weeks ago, when Hurricane Helene tore through the Southeast, leaving over 200 dead and thousands missing across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee, Trump, JD Vance, and right-wing media politicized the crisis, spreading conspiracy theories that undermined rescue efforts.  I would hope they don’t do the same regarding Hurricane Milton.

At first glance, these lies may seem too absurd to take seriously. Claims that Democrats are using ‘weather manipulation’ (remember Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ‘Jewish space lasers’) or deliberately withholding aid from Republican districts might sound ridiculous, but they’re already having a dangerous impact. The head of FEMA even warned that this misinformation is “truly dangerous.”

Trump and his MAGA allies lie to make the Biden-Harris rescue responses seem ineffective and partisan, falsely claiming that the government is withholding aid from Republican voters, limiting support for Hurricane Helene victims to $750, and allocating emergency funds to migrants instead of disaster response. That’s a lie.  The $750 is an emergency, no-questions-asked, stopgap payment for those with no remaining financial resources; greater, meaningful, benefits are available through FEMA. 

And there’s even more. Trump backer Elon Musk took these lies further by spreading completely fabricated claims on ‘X’ (which he owns) that North Carolina government officials were arresting FEMA officers as claimed by JD Vance in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, quickly debunked by the public statements of Republican governors in Tennessee and Georgia who praised the Biden-Harris response.  According to a media report, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper called Vance’s op-ed ‘appalling.’ More Lies!

Now, as recovery efforts from Hurricane Milton join the Hurricane Helene efforts, FEMA officials are concerned that people might be reluctant to seek help because they believe these lies. (See the article further along in this posting about ‘low-information voters.’)

JL

                                                       *   *   *

                                           

Conditioning the Public to Believe Lies                                           

And while we’re on the subject of lying, let’s not excuse the dishonest commercial advertising based on ambiguities and half-truths, on TV and elsewhere, that condition Americans to buy into real, totally fabricated, Republican lies! 

I could spend an entire posting on Jackspotpourri to describe them, but you know what they are. A typical one, for example, is boasting of savings ‘up to’ a specific amount, which of course can describe a penny of savings or even no savings whatsoever. (‘Buy now and save up to thousands of dollars.’)

These half-truths, I repeat, condition Americans to fall for the far bigger lies told by politicians, lies that threaten our democracy.

JL

                                       *   *   *

Low-Information Voters

I am no great fan of columnist Jonah Goldberg, but here’s an excerpt from his recent column entitled ‘The Strategy Lying Behind Trump’s Dark Speeches' (as it appeared in the Palm Beach Post).’

‘I don’t have a lot of respect or admiration for the sort of low-information voters who have to be duped with apocalyptic and demonizing bilge.  But I have greater contempt for the voters and especially the leaders who condone the strategy even though they know better… ‘

This fits in nicely with the Republicans’ heavy dependence upon lies in their campaigning.  Democrats must remember that a vote from one of those ‘low-information’ voters counts just as much as a vote from a well-informed, thinking, voter.  And there are many such ‘low-information’ voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, and of course in Florida, where they form a solid majority.  Democrats must find a way of reaching them.

JL

                                       *   *   *

 

Retaining Control of the Senate is Vitally Important

Regardless of who wins the presidency and control of the House of Representatives, it is most crucial that Democrats remain in control of the Senate.  That is where Supreme Court nominees are confirmed and impeachments by the House are voted upon.  While financial legislation originates in the House, it must pass in the Senate as well.

Here are eleven seats that Democrats must win.  You can make that happen!

In Florida, Debbie Muscarsel-Powell is attempting to unseat Rick Scott, the wealthiest Senator of all 100, who is no friend of Social Security, Medicare, and most other programs designed to benefit ordinary people.  If you are a Florida voter, please work for her election and donate to her campaign at https://www.debbieforflorida.com/ or by simply CLICKING HERE.

Also running to capture the seats of incumbent Republican Senators are Colin Allred (Texas) and Gloria Johnson (Tennessee). 

Running to defend Senate seats presently held by Democrats are Lisa Blunt Rochester (Delaware), Ruben Gallego (Arizona), and Angela Alsobrooks (Maryland). 

Finally, these Democratic Senators are running to retain their seats: Jon Tester (Montana), Jacky Rosen (Nevada), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Bob Casey (Pennsylvania) and Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin).

If you have friends or relatives in these States, give them a call!  And your donations to help the campaigns of ALL Democrats running for Senate seats will be welcomed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign at https://www.dscc.org.  You can CLICK HERE to reach their site.

JL

                                       *   *   *

New York’s Mayor in the Spotlight

I am sickened by the corruption with which New York’s mayor is being charged.  From the news accounts I have read, he was not reluctant to appoint relatives and friends to various city posts, and they seem to have shared in the actions of his lawbreaking administration.  These are not situations where resignations will suffice.  If the charges result in indictments by grand juries, there should be trials for all involved, to make sure justice is served in the interest of the people.

And watch for the vicious undercurrent which Mayor Adams’ activities have stirred up, concerning a dark period of American history. 

After the Civil War, white Southerners feared that giving the vote to former slaves would result in unqualified black dominated governments that would pilfer State treasuries for their own personal benefit.  It took Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 civil rights legislation to start to reverse State racist laws these Southern bigots had successfully put into place to lessen the influence of the freed slaves and their descendants.

Today’s Republican Party includes many who fear that the presence of many persons of color among the Democratic Party’s leadership will have the same result nationally as Southerners feared in 1865.  New York’s Mayor Adams makes it easy for that bigoted element of the G.O.P. to seek support for unspoken racists such as Trump and Vance. 

Therefore, Democrats must conspicuously lead the way in investigating Adams’ corruption and that of his hangers-on and offer them no shelter nor salvation. Not doing that will aid the Trump campaign, where some post-Civil War racist thinking persists.  Things like this influence voters, including those silent ones who only reveal their racism when they vote.

JL

                                       *   *   *

                                             

Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri 

Forwarding Postings: Please forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it (Friends, relatives, enemies, etc.) If you want to send someone the blog, you can just tell them to check it out by visiting https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com or you can provide a link to that address in your email to them. There’s another, perhaps easier, method of forwarding it though!  

Google Blogspot, the platform on which Jackspotpourri is prepared, makes that possible. If you click on the tiny envelope with the arrow at the bottom of every posting, you will have the opportunity to list up to ten email addresses to which that blog posting will be forwarded, along with a brief comment from you. Each will receive a link to click on that will directly connect them to the blog. 

Either way will work, sending them the link to https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com, or clicking on the envelope at the bottom of this posting. 

Email Alerts: If you are NOT receiving emails from me alerting you each time there is a new posting on Jackspotpourri, just send me your email address and we’ll see that you do. And if you are forwarding a posting to someone, you might suggest that they do the same, so they will be similarly alerted. You can pass those email addresses to me by email at jacklippman18@gmail.com. 

Again, I urge you to forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it, particularly if they are a registered voter. There’s less than a month remaining until Election Day. Spread the word. 

 

JL 

 

                                                 * * *

October 5, 2024 - Mostly About Lies

                                                                    *   *   *

Do Not Believe Lies! 

Donald Trump and JD Vance are proven liars. (Trump actually won the 2020 election, Haitians are eating their Ohio neighbors’ pets, etc.)  Even the ‘devout’ House Speaker talks about voting irregularities of which he has no evidence, but 'intuitively' believes occurred. Get used to the fact that Republicans routinely make up stories. They lie.

JD, the vice-Liar candidate

This election is about more than candidates.  It is about the willingness of millions of voters to be taken in by lies, repeatedly uttered by liars, until the point is reached where they achieve a level of false legitimacy.  When enough Americans accept lies, then democracy dies!  Do not believe lies!

                                                         *   *

In her Oct. 4 posting, Heather Cox Richardson summed it up by saying that ‘the firehose of lies is designed to make it impossible for voters to figure out the truth. The technique is designed so that eventually voters give up trying to engage, conclude everyone is lying, throw up their hands, and stop voting.’ She went on to point out that ‘holding on to facts combats the effects of the storm of lies.’                                                

                                                         *   *

Economist Paul Krugman has noted: ‘We’ve all become desensitized, but it’s amazing how at this point the Trump campaign rests entirely on denouncing things that aren’t happening: an imaginary bad economy, imaginary runaway crime and now an imaginary failure of Biden and Harris to respond to natural disaster.’

                                                         *   *

Trump criticized the president for not immediately authorizing FEMA assistance for Tennessee.  Well, it seems that just when other similarly affected States were requesting such aid in regard to damage inflicted by Hurricane Helene, a legal pre-requisite for obtaining it, Tennessee’s governor was instead introducing legislation for a day of prayer and fasting as a way of dealing with the storm’s damage.  How dumb are voters in Tennessee? 

But people in solid Republican areas believe these lies and will vote accordingly.  It’s a disease that infects their minds.

JL                                             

                                                  *   *   *

Did You Check Out Timothy Snyder's Column?    

Jackspotpourri’s posting just prior to this one included a piece by Timothy Snyder entitled ‘Trump’s Hitlerian Month.’  Please go back and read it again.  Please.  It may, for many of you, automatically follow this posting. Otherwise, it can be found by  CLICKING HERE or copying  https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/WhctKLbMwJvtVHwSqpGHmPzqNrtxCppMTqjDBWNgXbSVzcdCnwnBqRFsLkbwgsGlNSDqTZg and pasting it on your browser line.

Don't miss this column!

JL

                                                  *   *   *

Time to Endorse Truth

The other day Liz Chaney personally endorsed Kamala Harris, adding to the other Republicans who have recognized the danger of a second Trump term. 

In the New Yorker magazine’s endorsement of Harris, they point out that ‘Trump is a menacing presence in American life, and most of his former associates know it. Of his forty-two former Cabinet secretaries, only half have endorsed him. More than two hundred staffers for four previous Republican Presidents and Presidential candidates have endorsed the Democratic ticket. High-ranking officials who once surrounded Trump—including former Vice-President Mike Pence, former Defense Secretaries Jim Mattis and Mark Esper, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former chief of staff John Kelly, the former national-security advisers John Bolton and H. R. McMaster, and the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley—regard him as unfit, a threat to national security.'

(The full New Yorker endorsement, which is a worthwhile but lengthy read, can be found by visiting https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/10/07/kamala-harris-for-president-endorsement or BY CLICKING HERE.)

JL

                                                        *   *   *

Baseball Confusion

Apologies are in order regarding the National League playoffs, the description of which in the preceding Jackspotpourri was inaccurate.  The Arizona Diamondbacks, finished the season with exactly the same record as did the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets, both of whom made it to the playoffs, but they were left out in the cold.

This mess was the result of an incomplete game between the Mets and the Braves that was finished after their double header’s first game, the result of that first game determining their seeding in the playoffs. (The Mets won the doubleheader’s first game. The Braves won the second game, the completion of the earlier unfinished game.)  Afterwards, all three teams had identical 89 win and 73 loss records.  The ‘tiebreaking’ rules in such situations call for referral to the teams’ record between them during the regular season.  The Diamondbacks came up short against the Braves and the Mets over the entire season, so the result of the unfinished game did not really matter. 

But what, Diamondback fans argue, would have been the case if the Mets had also won the uncompleted game? Then play-off bound Atlanta would have had a worse record than the Diamondbacks!

To avoid this mess on the last day of the regular season, the National League should have seen that the incomplete game was finished earlier.  A rule requiring that all incompleted games that might affect the league’s final standing be completed at least one week before the end of the regular season should be considered.  And if that doesn’t solve the problem, it would be no sin to postpone the playoffs, and the World Series, until they were resolved. I suspect that rainstorms have caused postponements in the past.

Repeating my World Series prediction:  Yankees over the Phillies in seven games.

JL

                                                  *   *   *

Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri 

Forwarding Postings: Please forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it (Friends, relatives, enemies, etc.) If you want to send someone the blog, you can just tell them to check it out by visiting https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com or you can provide a link to that address in your email to them. There’s another, perhaps easier, method of forwarding it though!  

Google Blogspot, the platform on which Jackspotpourri is prepared, makes that possible. If you click on the tiny envelope with the arrow at the bottom of every posting, you will have the opportunity to list up to ten email addresses to which that blog posting will be forwarded, along with a brief comment from you. Each will receive a link to click on that will directly connect them to the blog. 

Either way will work, sending them the link to https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com, or clicking on the envelope at the bottom of this posting. 

Email Alerts: If you are NOT receiving emails from me alerting you each time there is a new posting on Jackspotpourri, just send me your email address and we’ll see that you do. And if you are forwarding a posting to someone, you might suggest that they do the same, so they will be similarly alerted. You can pass those email addresses to me by email at jacklippman18@gmail.com. 

Again, I urge you to forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it, particularly if they are a registered voter. There is just a month remaining until Election Day. Spread the word. 

JL  

                                                 * * *

September 30, 2024 - Non-Registered Voters, Tim Snyder on the G.O.P. Ticket, Granola, Baseball, Football, and a Word from Jefferson

                                                          *   *   *

Believe It or Not, There are Many Out There Who are Not Registered to Vote

If you are not a registered voter, Monday, October 7, is the last day that you can register (at least in Palm Beach County).  Remind your friends!  Tell them to contact the Supervisor of Elections at https://www.votepalmbeach.gov/Voters/Register-to-Vote.  It can be done online!

JL

                                              *   *   *

Yale University’s Timothy Snyder Speaks Out on Trump’s ‘Hitlerian Month’

More than one critic has pointed out the similarity between the actions and words of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s and those of the two candidates heading the 2024 Republican presidential ticket, Donald Trump and JD Vance.  Their supporters have defended the two of them and attacked those bringing up that the Republican candidates often take such seemingly ‘Hitlerian’ positions.  

While not formally Nazis, Trump and Vance seem to
 think in the same direction as Germany's dictator did.

Snyder points out that indeed, Trump and Vance are echoing Nazi ideas, especially antisemitism, and using the tactic of turning the tables by condemning one’s critics for criticizing them. Of late, Trump has been suggesting that Jews might be blamed should he lose in November, and Vance has found another minority, Haitians, to scapegoat.

Take the time to visit  https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/WhctKLbMwJvtVHwSqpGHmPzqNrtxCppMTqjDBWNgXbSVzcdCnwnBqRFsLkbwgsGlNSDqTZg  to read the article or read it by CLICKING HERE.  It is not a ‘happy’ read, but it is an essential one.

JL

                                              *   *   *

The Words of Thomas Jefferson Still Resonate

Many politicians fail to recognize that a public office is a public trust. 

Thomas Jefferson wrote that ‘When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property, and justly liable to the inspection and vigilance of public opinion; and the more sensibly he is made to feel his dependence, the less danger will there be of his abuse of power, that rock on which good governments, and the people’s rights, have been so often wrecked.’

New York City’s Mayor should take note of this.  Once in office, elected officeholders must recognize that their current and past actions will be under a spotlight and monitored.  This ought to prevent the possibility of their abusing their power.  But it doesn’t!

Many, most recently including former Congressman George Santos, former New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, and even the forty-fifth president of the United States to varying degrees have stumbled on ‘that rock’ which Jefferson mentions and suffer the consequences.

Democracy is weakened when those who fail to recognize this are elected to office by a gullible and easily fooled electorate. 

JL

                                              *   *   *

 

Granola Label Questioned

It amazed me to see a label on a 17 oz. package of Nature Valley Granola declaring that it contained ‘50% More Granola than our 11 oz. package.’ Of course it does.  Why?  it’s a larger package!  

Only an idiot need be told that if you increase a package size by 50%, it will be able to contain 50% more of whatever its content is.  I suppose General Mills, whose product this is, believes that its granola consumers lack the arithmetic skills of an elementary school student. Maybe it’s something they put in the granola.

JL

                                              *   *   *

Sports Section

Baseball - Several months ago, I predicted that the Miami Marlins would lose 107 games this year.   Surprisingly, they finished the season with only 100 losses while winning 62 games, better than two other major league teams, the Chicago White Sox and the Colorado Rockies! 

Now we can concentrate on the baseball playoffs where the Detroit Tigers, the Houston Astros, the Kansas City Royals, and the Baltimore Orioles battle to see who challenges the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians for the American League’s World Series slot. 

After today we’ll know for sure if it will be the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves who join the Milwaukee Brewers and the San Diego Padres in the National League playoffs.  They play a doubleheader today and if one of them sweeps it, eliminating the other, the door still might be open for the Arizona Diamondbacks to see who challenges the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers to represent the National League in the World Series, where I predict the Yankees will defeat the Phillies in seven games.

Football - As for NFL football, the local Miami Dolphins as well as the New England Patriots, the New York Jets, and the New York Giants for which some local fans, originally from up north, still root, are going nowhere this season.  If you want to follow a team, consider the Baltimore Ravens whose stellar quarterback, Lamar Jackson, is a product of Boynton Beach High School.

JL

                                              *   *   *

Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri 

Forwarding Postings: Please forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it (Friends, relatives, enemies, etc.) If you want to send someone the blog, you can just tell them to check it out by visiting https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com or you can provide a link to that address in your email to them. There’s another, perhaps easier, method of forwarding it though!  

Google Blogspot, the platform on which Jackspotpourri is prepared, makes that possible. If you click on the tiny envelope with the arrow at the bottom of every posting, you will have the opportunity to list up to ten email addresses to which that blog posting will be forwarded, along with a brief comment from you. Each will receive a link to click on that will directly connect them to the blog. 

Either way will work, sending them the link to https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com, or clicking on the envelope at the bottom of this posting. 

Email Alerts: If you are NOT receiving emails from me alerting you each time there is a new posting on Jackspotpourri, just send me your email address and we’ll see that you do. And if you are forwarding a posting to someone, you might suggest that they do the same, so they will be similarly alerted. You can pass those email addresses to me by email at jacklippman18@gmail.com. 

Again, I urge you to forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it, particularly if they are a registered voter. There are just about just five weeks remaining until Election Day. Spread the word. 

 

JL 

 

                                                 * * *

September 25, 2024 - Protection Old Style, TV Political Ads, a Tim Snyder Quote, and More

 

                            * * *

The ‘Protection’ Racket 

Donald Trump, in one of his more outrageous comments, declared the other day that he saw himself as a ‘protector’ of women and claimed that American women won’t be ‘thinking about abortion’ if he’s elected. (His actual position concerning women’s abortion rights appears to be that it should be left to our fifty individual states, where he incorrectly believes that’s what all women want. His party’s position, dominant in many of those states, is closer to favoring a national ban, which leaves Trump’s position unclear at best.) 

What struck me as unusual was his use of the word ‘protector,’ in making this comment. That brings to mind Oliver Cromwell, who ruled England for five years in the mid-seventeenth Century, taking the title of ‘Lord High Protector’ to make his dictatorship, which sanctioned the beheading of King Charles l, as something benevolent, dedicated to ‘protecting’ the people. 

Oliver Cromwell, a 17th Century 'Protector'

Far from it. Cromwell was a dictator who came to power, and maintained it, in a period of political and religious ferment by the use of military force. Even today though, some see him as a hero of liberty, agreeing with Parliament’s initially doing away with the monarchy.  After his death in 1658, his son unsuccessfully tried to succeed him, but the English had enough of a ‘Lord High Protector’s’ dictatorial ‘protection’ and they reinstated the monarchy. ‘Protector’ Cromwell’s body was then disinterred from his grave and publicly mutilated. 

But Donald Trump knows nothing about Oliver Cromwell and what became of him. Any person or thing that he claims to want to ‘protect,’ should run quickly in the opposite direction. In fact, many Englishmen did exactly that in those days, fleeing to the colonies then being developed on the other side of the Atlantic, just to get away from being ‘protected’ by their “Lord High Protector.’ 

JL

                                                      * * *

Anti-Debbie TV Ads

I’ve seen the TV ads Florida’s troglodyte Senator Rick Scott is running against Debbie Muscarsel-Powell, pointing out her earlier campaigns for public office, some successful, some not, but all of which were aimed at serving the people, at the same time that Scott’s former hospital company (he was its CEO) was being convicted of Medicare fraud, fleecing the people and the government. 

The TV ad ends showing a fictitious license plate for Debbie with one word on it: ‘Socialist,’ as if anything starting with the first six letters of that word, s-o-c-i-a-l, were automatically evil.  I suppose that coincides with Scott’s idea of putting Social Security (and Medicare) up for renewal every five years.  Any senior who votes for Scott should have their head examined.

Looks like Scott’s ad agency is so taken in by MAGA malarky that they think it resonates with everyone.  They are wrong.  It's up to Florida voters to prove that!

The time to replace Rick Scott with Debbie Muscarsel-Powell has arrived.  His candidacy should be buried along with that of Trump as Florida goes blue at last in November.

JL

                                              *   *   *

To Be or Not to Be

In his September 24 posting, with the Shakespearian quote as its heading, Yale professor Timothy Snyder wrote, in referring to ending Ukraine’s war with Russia, that ‘one cannot simply choose to negotiate with a power that openly seeks to bring about the end of your nation and state,’ it being a question of choosing between ‘being’ or ‘not being’ an independent nation.

He points out that negotiations will only be possible when Russia abandons its idea of ending Ukraine’s nationhood, and Snyder goes on to point out the necessity of American support in accomplishing that.

The same logic can be applied to Israel’s reluctance to commit to full negotiations with parties that are sworn to end its nationhood.  Israel is doing a dance, using military and less conspicuous means, with or without America’s support, to convince their antagonists and their Iranian puppeteers, to abandon that position.  Only then can real, meaningful, negotiations take place.

JL

                                              *   *   *

The Success of President Biden’s Economic Plans

When President Biden recently spoke to a group of economists, he based the extraordinary economic successes of the past three and a half years upon the American Rescue Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Science and CHIPS Act. He told the audience: “American business, our economic dynamism can’t succeed…without a stability and security that makes us the envy of the world.” 

These pieces of legislation, passed without Republican help, are what make this possible.  They are the direct results of Democratic victories in the 2020 election.

This blows into smithereens the traditional Republican theory of an economy where the profits of businesses and the wealthy ‘trickle down’ to working families and fails to directly address the economic wellbeing of most of the nation’s working population.  Just remember that voting for Republicans in any election, national or local, is like sleeping outdoors in a bed of poison ivy and is to be avoided.

JL

                                              *   *   *

Gasoline Prices

Those who criticize President Biden (transferring their opinion to Kamala Harris' campaign) often cite high gas prices as an example of inflation. 

No longer so!  Gasoline prices bounce around depending on the available supply and vary daily and are far lower than they were a year ago.  On Monday I filled  my tank at a ‘no-name-brand’ station with regular gas at $2.97 per gallon!  Name brands were about a dime more a gallon, but within a day, even ‘regular’ at the ‘no-name’ station was up about twenty cents.  But that is not the fictitious $4 a gallon price right-wingers claim exists.  That’s just misinformation.

JL

                                              *   *   *

 

Drafting Players in the Schoolyard

Years ago, before playing a game of ‘touch’ football in the schoolyard, I recall the kids present ‘choosing up sides.’  As a result, the better athletes were not always on the same teams.  (Usually, the two best athletes were ‘captains’ of the two teams doing the choosing.)

That’s similar to what the ‘transfer’ portal has done to college athletics, particularly football and basketball.  It is almost like what in major league baseball is called ‘free agency.’  It may sound trite, but it's a new ball game on college gridirons and basketball courts.

The teams of lesser institutions that used to engage in money-making games against big time schools that were looking for what amounted to early season scrimmages, now actually have a chance of defeating them, (Example: Northern Illinois’ recent victory over Notre Dame) and even more often, providing at least very creditable competition, based on transfer students. 

If an athlete feels he (or she) is talented enough to ‘make it’ at a higher level of competition, or available compensation through use of their name, image, or likeness (N.I.L.) seems greater at another school, they can opt to transfer to that school by following the procedures of the ‘transfer portal.’

In the minds of many college athletes is the maximization of their chances of being selected by a professional team, where the really big money begins to flow, and the ‘transfer portal’ is there for them to seek greater exposure that might lead there.

Sometimes a coach in need of greater athletic talent than his school’s enrollment or recruiting has provided will search those coming through that ‘portal’ to see if there are players there who meet his school’s needs.

But is this good for the sport or the schools involved?

JL

                                              *   *   *

 

Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri 

Email Alerts: If you are NOT receiving emails from me alerting you each time there is a new posting on Jackspotpourri, just send me your email address and we’ll see that you do. And if you are forwarding a posting to someone, you might suggest that they do the same, so they will be similarly alerted. You can pass those email addresses to me by email at jacklippman18@gmail.com. 

Forwarding Postings: Please forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it (Friends, relatives, enemies, etc.) If you want to send someone the blog, you can just tell them to check it out by visiting https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com or you can provide a link to that address in your email to them. There’s another, perhaps easier, method of forwarding it though!  

Google Blogspot, the platform on which Jackspotpourri is prepared, makes that possible. If you click on the tiny envelope with the arrow at the bottom of every posting, you will have the opportunity to list up to ten email addresses to which that blog posting will be forwarded, along with a brief comment from you. Each will receive a link to click on that will directly connect them to the blog. 

Either way will work, sending them the link to https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com, or clicking on the envelope at the bottom of this posting. 

Again, I urge you to forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it, particularly if they are a registered voter.  Election Day draws near. Spread the word. 

 

JL 

                                                        * * *