Dream On
It would be wonderful if the following actions, quoted from Timothy Snyder’s column in last Tuesday’s Jackspotpourri, were carried out in full. Of course, we know that will not happen, and that Trump’s putting Tom Homan in charge of ‘immigration control and enforcement’ (ICE) activities doesn’t change the Administration’s mostly unconstitutional actions in regard to seeking out illegal immigrants, but Snyder’s dramatic words quoted below are at least the direction in which our government must proceed, IF we are to remain a democratic nation.
As a start, Congress must suspend all funding of the Department of Homeland Security, including its immigration control and enforcement function (ICE) which has morphed into an embryonic Gestapo, even if it means other government functions might be ‘paused’ or otherwise affected. And we must recognize that such a start might not be enough. Allowing unconstitutional practices to survive, even to a minimal extent, provides a wedge to eventually crack open our democracy, the unspoken aim of many appointed to high positions by the President.
Here are Snyder’s words from Tuesday's posting:
“The president should be impeached and convicted, as should everyone responsible for these outrages. ICE should be disbanded. So should the Department of Homeland Security. The other agencies within it should be redistributed across other departments. And the people who have killed should be investigated and brought before judges and juries.“
So long as Republicans support what ICE, an agency of our government, is doing in Minnesota and elsewhere, referring to Republicans as ‘un-American’ is not unreasonable; in fact it is accurate.
Some are getting the message. Even the President, in his more lucid moments, senses that something is wrong but he doesn’t have the slightest idea of what to do about it. Timothy Snyder does.
Others, like Attorney General Pam Bondi, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Vice President Vance, and most of all presidential advisor Stephen Miller, are not getting the message, and fail to understand what being a loyal American involves.
They need a lesson in American history starting with why the Declaration of Independence came to be, the injustices it addressed, and the Constitution (including its Amendments) that established our government fifteen years later when a sufficient number of States ratified it. That document would not have been ratified had it not included its first ten amendments, usually referred to as our Bill of Rights.
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| James Madison, who wrote the Bill of Rights |
Briefly (and this is an AI summary), ‘the Bill of Rights consists of the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791 to guarantee essential individual liberties and restrict federal government power. Drafted by James Madison to address concerns about government overreach, it protects fundamental freedoms like speech, religion, and the press, while ensuring due process and rights for those accused of crimes.’ So without further ado, here is ...
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The U.S. Bill of Rights
Note: The following text is a transcription of the first ten amendments to the Constitution in their original form. These amendments were ratified December 15, 1791, and form what is known as the "Bill of Rights." Since that time, there have been seventeen additional amendments added.
Amendment I - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II - A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment III - No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment IV - The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V - No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI - In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
Amendment VII - In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII - Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX - The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X - The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
JL
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An Editorial from a Local Paper
Though it might seem redundant for followers of Jackspotpourri, here is an editorial which takes two local politicians to task published in Saturday’s SunSentinel:
By Sun Sentinel Editorial Board – Published: January 29,
2026 at 9:13 AM EST, Updated: January 30, 2026 at 12:26 PM EST
"The murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, followed by the victim-blaming slanders from Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller, may finally have exhausted the public’s patience with the Trump administration. We can only hope.
It bears remembering that, aside from the agents themselves, the crimes of ICE are the responsibility of amoral politicians who have unmoored themselves from the Constitution and from any accountability to the people in order to sup at Trump’s table.
Trump has “made America un-American,” New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote. He couldn’t have done it alone. No despot does. This is about you, Pam Bondi. You, Marco Rubio. These Floridians are two top sellouts in Washington. Many others in the Cabinet, White House and Congress have joined the dark side, where conscience doesn’t follow.
The president himself seems to be aware, at long last, that it has gone too far. Getting Gregory Bovino out of Minneapolis was a start. Firing Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller should be next, although that’s probably too much good sense to expect. But it’s encouraging to see congressional Democrats talking about impeaching the puppy-killing Homeland Security secretary.
Bondi belongs on their list, too. No Mafia don phrased the business more succinctly than Bondi did when she told Minnesota that its troubles could just go away if the state turned over its sensitive personal information on voters. Trump’s failure to contradict Bondi speaks volumes.
The siege of Minneapolis has little to do with illegal immigration, a much bigger presence in the Republican states of Texas and Florida. It’s about terrorizing a Democratic city and probing to see what more the Trump regime might get away with if it decided, for example, to prevent an election.
A line must be drawn. Senate Democrats should continue to block Homeland Security funding until the goons are gone from Minnesota and Noem is gone from Washington.
As for Trump’s enablers, they should worry how history will treat them.
Power and glory are fleeting. Reputation is eternal. Trump’s regime will
end Jan. 20, 2029. Those who helped him make America un-American must answer
for themselves.
Trump’s command of Congress owes to the incapability of many politicians to see beyond the next election. Republicans know it: To disobey Trump once is to provoke him into calling on party voters to purge them. That’s why he’s targeting Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Susan Collins of Maine. Thom Tillis of North Carolina is retiring in the face of Trump’s wrath, which may well result in poetic justice — a Democrat succeeding him. Cassidy, Collins and Tillis helped put lethal vaccine denier Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in charge of the nation’s health. They confirmed Bondi as Trump’s consiglieri at Justice. Cassidy and Tillis were critical to making the woefully unfit Pete Hegseth secretary of Defense. They all need to go.
Trump’s most prominent political victim is former Rep. Liz Cheney, a conservative Republican from Wyoming, who lost her seat in Congress for co-chairing the House Select Committee investigation of Trump’s conspiracy to overthrow the 2020 election. But when the future histories of the Trump years are written, it’s Cheney whom they will honor, not Trump or his enablers.
Rubio is an especially sad example. His Senate colleagues confirmed him unanimously because of his expertise in Latin America and what seemed to be a fervent commitment to democracy everywhere. So much for that.
The Ukraine chapter in a future American history could be illustrated with the photos of Rubio cringing on the couch as Trump bullied and berated President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. After he devoted his political career to extolling democracy for Cubans and Venezuelans, Rubio is AWOL as Trump and Noem send them back to the dictatorships they fled. His own parents, who escaped pre-Castro tyranny in Cuba, wouldn’t pass Trump’s immigration muster.
Come home, Marco, and salvage your reputation. A self-respecting secretary of State would resign rather than help Trump cozy up to the Venezuelan regime in return for its oil.
Rubio has been carrying out dictatorial measures at home. Documents
unsealed in a federal court showed that he personally approved the deportation of
foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations or wrote in
opposition to Israeli policy. The judge, a Ronald Reagan appointee, blocked
their removal. “These cabinet
secretaries,” wrote District Judge William Young, citing Rubio and Homeland
Security Secretary Noem, “have failed in their sworn duty to uphold the
Constitution.”
That goes for a majority of Congress, too."
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.
JL
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What Do You Do When Your Plate is Too Full
When I look at the news and see what is going on in Washington, in Minnesota, in Atlanta, and elsewhere, and what Constitutional rights and court orders are being ignored, I am overwhelmed.
Things are happening every day involving Venezuela, the Middle East, Ukraine, Russia, Minneapolis, the economy, the Federal Reserve, tariffs, vaccinations, voting rights, our European allies, the Epstein scandal, and even Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS, any one of which ought to demand one’s full attention. The list is almost endless.
But no one, at least me, has the time to adequately address each of these issues to the extent they deserve. Media fails to do so because its capacity, in print or electronically, has physical limitations, as does the attention span of those seeking information from such media. One cannot read or watch everything being published.
Though grossly inadequate, what attention media still manages to provide regarding these kinds of things takes the spotlight away from the more dangerous challenge posed by the ongoing attack on our democracy by those who would prefer an autocratic government controlled by those with unbelievable wealth. That is obscured and goes unmentioned. Obvious physical actions like the destruction of the East Wing of the White House and the renaming and renovation of the Kennedy Center may be mentioned once or twice and then float out of the public’s consciousness.
The President does a good job hiding *his real intentions under this onslaught of other issues, so too many Americans remain befuddled and turn their thoughts elsewhere. They escape to things like music, fashion, celebrities (even Melania Trump made a movie), supposed ‘influencers,’ and sports.
The American people, because their attention is spread too thinly, and in the wrong directions, are risking the loss of some of their hard-won rights because preserving them is a very demanding, time-consuming task made even more difficult when their plate is overflowing with challenges.
But we all must do what we can. Awareness
of the problems we face is a necessary starting point.
*(His real intentions are to enrich himself and his family to the level that heads of state in Russia and Saudi Arabia have reached.)
JL
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