May 28, 2026 - Don's Slush Fund, Advice for Dems, Endgame in Iran, and More

 

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The President’s ‘Slush’ Fund 

While the insurrectionists to which Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment refers were those who rebelled against the United States in the Civil War, its language is also applicable to any other insurrectionists, including those who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The President and his supporters cannot rewrite history, which always provides precedent, legal or otherwise; here are the words from that Amendment: “… neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States … but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.” 

Janurary 6 Insurrectionists in Action

On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump’s supporters violently invaded the Capitol in order to prevent the counting of electoral votes for president. Some Capitol and local police suffered physical injuries in defending the Capitol; several died as a result of this insurrection as did at least one insurrectionist. Anyone who claims that was not an act of rebellion nor insurrection is blinded by the President’s thoroughly disproven claims that the 2020 presidential election was ‘stolen,’ and is at best a misguided fool. 

Any attempts to compensate these convicted insurrectionists, even after the President pardoned them (pardons affect sentences, not convictions) are forbidden by the Fourteenth Amendment. Even a hard-headed Republican should understand that. 

JL 

                                                   * * * 

A Message to Democrats 

Democrats are struggling to identify the reasons they lost the presidency in 2024. I blame it on two things; First, President Biden (and his advisers) ignored his aging and his apparent knocking on the doorway to senility. But of course this was not true of observant Republicans and those Americans who were watching and listening and found it difficult to consider giving him four more years as president. His dropping out in favor of his vice-president came months, if not years, too late. That was his fault. Secondly, Kamala Harris quickly found the horse given her to ride to be a lame one, hobbled by ‘identity politics’ that brought with it not only well organized support, but well organized opposition as well, making the election into a choice between her supporters’ menu of positions and Donald Trump, who while probably not on top of the issues, at least had previously filled that position four years previously. 

Democrats failed to recognize that the country was looking to elect a president to be a leader and not to participate in referendums on gender identification, climate change, health care, abortion rights, gun violence, energy sources, immigration, and such issues, which while popular with significant groups of Democrats, also unified opposition to some of them. It only took opposition to one of such issues to lock in a voter for Donald Trump. His campaign was spearheaded by opposition to the Democrat’s infatuation with politics aimed at those identifying with such ‘identity’ groups.’ More cautious Republicans, meanwhile, only had to stress traditional G.O.P. patriotic and kitchen table values, and make promises, soon to be revealed as impossible lies once Trump was elected in 2024. 

Today, as we approach the mid-term elections, and look ahead to 2028, the Democrats must recognize three things: 

 1.The people want change and may be willing to accept seemingly radical solutions to bring it about. What we have now is not working well. Nobody is in love with the Electoral College; we should not fear change within the limits provided in our Constitution. 

 2. Democrats must be willing to espouse positions with which not all Democrats agree. There must be tolerance of disagreement within the Party. (example: a supporter of abortion rights might not be bothered by the use of fossil fuels.) 

 3. In approaching these two aims, there must be an overriding sense of unity among Democrats, recognizing that ‘change’ and ‘disagreement’ must be harnessed together to bring about benefits for the entire American population. 

Such unity is essential and must come first. This sense of unity readily manifested itself in the 1930s through President Franklin Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal,’ a life preserver thrown to a country then struggling through an economic disaster. Thirty-five years later, in better times, President Lyndon Johnson’s ‘Great Society’ followed that model, aiming to serve the needs of the people in a country with a thriving economy. Most of his efforts still survive, despite unending Republican attacks on them. That is why a sense of unity is so very important to Democrats. They must prioritize their efforts to attain that unity, and once that is accomplished, concentrate on change and tolerance for disagreement. Unity comes first, taking precedence over individual issues, ones that served as stumbling blocks in 2024. 

(The above comments were written before seeing UCSD Professor Barbara Walter’s May 27 ‘Here Be Dragons’ column on this subject which you can find at barbarafwalter@substack.com.  It is worth your attention. Also worth your time is Professor Heather Cox Richardson’s ‘May 27 ‘Letters from an American’ at https://substack.com/@heathercoxrichardson which sheds a historic light on today’s news.) 

JL 

                                                      

                                                             * * * 

Trump's Endgame in Iran IS Surrender 

Via Simon Rosenberg’s ‘Hopium Chronicles,’ here are two excerpts from Robert Kagan’s new Atlantic magazine article, ‘Trump’s Endgame is Surrender.’

Rosenberg wrote: ‘One of the ways things are going to get worse for Trump and the Republicans is is that soon it will become impossible to deny that Trump has lost in Iran, has committed arguably the biggest mistake by an American President in our history, and left America in a far, far weaker position in the world. That he is, simply, an historic failure.’ In the article, the outlines of President Trump’s endgame in the Iran war are now emerging. In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the other day, Trump reportedly explained that the United States was negotiating a “letter of intent” with Iran that would “formally end the war and launch a 30-day period of negotiations” on Iran’s nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The purpose and effect of such an agreement should be clear: The United States is walking away from the crisis. Trump may launch another limited strike to look tough and satisfy the demands of the war’s supporters, but it would be a performative gesture. ‘Endgame’ in this case is a euphemism for ‘Surrender.’ 

Here are two excerpts Rosenberg quotes.

 …….. ‘Trump no doubt hopes that he can slip away without Americans noticing the magnitude of this defeat. The financial markets may stabilize if it is clear that oil will eventually start flowing again through a reopened strait, even if under the new Iran-controlled system. A major strategic setback for the United States need not affect Wall Street. The president may also hope that he can change the subject by launching another military operation, this time against the government in Cuba. And the news media have indeed begun writing more about Cuba than about the unfolding disaster in Iran.’

 …….. ‘According to one U.S. official, Netanyahu’s “hair was on fire” after the call with Trump—for good reason. The Iran war may end up as the single most devastating blow to Israel’s security in its brief history. On the present trajectory, Iran will emerge from the conflict many times stronger and more influential than it was before the war. It will exercise leverage with dozens of the richest nations in the world, all of which will have an acute interest in keeping Iran happy. They will be unlikely to take Israel’s side in any conflict that it has with Tehran or with its proxies in Lebanon and Gaza, because Iran will have the means to punish them if they do. Israel will emerge more isolated than it has been at any time in its history—and not least from its only reliable protector, the United States. When Trump turns his back on Israel, as he must do to implement this policy, MAGA will gladly follow. The bipartisan anti-Israel consensus in the United States will grow and harden.’  

                                                             *   *

This is not news to those who have followed the actions of President Trump. Anything he does or says is for his personal benefit, directly or through his family. He views the presidency as just another business venture, like his bankrupt casinos, his phony university and airline, and his real estate ventures that have failed, all debacles from which he was able to escape relatively unscathed. Being found to be a felon on 34 counts concerning his businesses’ practices by a New York court is meaningless to him; he has even named his personal attorney in that case as our nation’s acting Attorney General. 

Trump has never been reluctant to turn on his supposed supporters when it serves to make him look good. The latest sucker to be in that position is Bibi Netanyahu, who joins Bondi, Noem, and innumerable Republicans tightrope walkers who thought their supporting him protected them from his selfish wrath. Texas Senator Cornyn fits that description too. Sitting ‘on the fence’ in a relationship with President Trump ignores the fact that the top of that fence may be filled with spikes that ultimately can impale a fence sitter where it hurts most. 

But conceivably, this time there just might be sufficent backlash to return Trump ‘to the vile dust from when he sprung, unknown, unhonored, and unsung’, as the poet Sir Walter Scott wrote. He is losing the support of some Republicans in Congress who at last are beginning to see him for the self-serving ‘nonentity’ that he is and always was, with just enough skill to successfully ingratiate him to a gullible American public that failed to pay attention! But in the 2026 and 2028 elections, surrendering to Iran, attacks on our Constitutional rights, and undisguised corruption might be too much, even for them to swallow, strengthening Democratic candidates. 

Let’s get something straight though. Donald Trump is NOT the problem. If it weren’t him, there would be someone else like him. He is what he is. To pin down the problem, look to those who voted for him and his supporters in Congress, who for a variety of reasons such as greed, desire to appeal to bigots, pseudo-patriotism, or plain old fashioned ignorance, fall for his carnival midway salesman’s pitch. They are the ones Democrats must somehow reach. 

JL 

                                                        * * * 

Republicans Made The Bed In Which We Lie 

Here’s an excerpt from an New York Times opinion column by David French that appeared online on May 27. 

 “Trump is a profoundly unpopular president who still enjoys the deep devotion of his base. This puts Hill Republicans in a terrible position — as we’ve just seen in Indiana, Kentucky and Louisiana. If they defy Trump, they lose their jobs. If they obey Trump, they defend the policies and practices that are hurting the country and courting electoral disaster for the G.O.P. 

But I have zero sympathy. If they’d done their duty in 2021 and convicted Trump in his impeachment trial, then Trump would be a private citizen. They made their bed, and must lie in it, but they made our bed also. We’re all paying the price for the decision they made. May history treat their failure with the contempt it deserves.” 

The lesson: Other than during the presidencies of Lincoln, Grant, and Theodore Roosevelt, Republicans have not been on the side of the people. Remember that when you vote.

JL 

                                                     * * * 

Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri 

Your comments on this ‘blog’ would be appreciated. My Email address is 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.

 

 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

 More on the Sources of Information in Jackspotpourri: The sources of information used by Jackspotpourri include a delivered local daily ‘printed’ newspaper (now the South Florida Sun Sentinel) and what appears in my daily email; that includes the views of many contributors, including the New York Times and other respected journals. Be aware that when I open that email, I first quickly glance at and screen out those sent to my very old former email address and those considered ‘promotional’ by Gmail’s system as no more than advertisements or requests for donations. 

Besides these sources, I also utilize the Google search engine where I can look up any subject I want. Lately, these search results have been headed by a very generalized summary clearly labeled as being developed by AI (Artificial Intelligence). On occasion I might use such search results, but when I do, I will say that I am doing so. Generally, however, I try not to use such summaries in preparing Jackspotpourri. 

Following such ‘AI’ search results, there follows the other results of my search. Unlike the anonymous AI-generated summaries, the sources of these results are clearly indicated, giving them a greater credibility than any AI summary. It comes down to who YOU want to be in the driver’s seat in seeking information: yourself or something else (Artificial Intelligence), the structure of which somewhere along the way had to have been created by others, with whose identity I am neither familiar nor comfortable. At least when I read a column by Timothy Snyder, for example, I know from where it comes, and to some extent, what to expect. 

Caution should be exercised in using Artificial Intelligence. Always! 

JL 

                                                    * * * *

May 21, 2026 - Looting, Political Poetry and an Election Day Reminder

 

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The Looting of America 

Krugman

On May 19, Paul Krugman wrote about the ‘Looting of America.’  Departing from his usual area, economic theory, here’s what this Nobel prize winner had to say: 

 “So the Trump administration is creating a $1.776 billion slush fund — 1776, get it? — to pay off victims of “lawfare and weaponization.” Just to be clear, if you’re a U.S. taxpayer, this action means that almost $1.8 billion of your money will be handed out to whomever a panel appointed by Donald Trump decides to reward. The beneficiaries are likely to include January 6 insurrectionists, as well as Trump, his family, and his allies. Few things shock me these days, but this development — in which a Justice Department that works for Trump is paying a vast sum to “settle” a lawsuit brought by Trump himself — is a new nadir in self-dealing, further revealing Trump’s utter contempt for the American people. 

 Now, massive corruption on the part of Trump and his minions isn’t new. But the shamelessness of this latest episode of looting takes it to a new level. Until now, we’ve seen a combination of crony capitalism and insider trading. Plutocrats and corporations have been enriching Trump through back channels, especially crypto, in return for government contracts and policy favors, while Trump himself and people close to Trump have been making hugely profitable market bets thanks to advance knowledge of government policies. But now Trump has eliminated the middlemen, effectively telling his officials to pay money directly to him or anyone else he favors. 

 Granted, we already knew that Trump was, by orders of magnitude, the most corrupt president in U.S. history. But now Trump is the most explicitly corrupt leader in today’s world. After all, Vladimir Putin has obviously stolen billions, but never this brazenly. Even Third World dictators normally try to mask their corruption. 

 Don’t say that this taxpayer-financed slush fund won’t have political consequences.  On the contrary, the polling and focus-group analyses I’ve seen say that voters are very angry about corruption. Trump’s theft of taxpayer money, while people are losing healthcare coverage and food aid while suffering from Trump-induced higher prices, is perfect fodder for the Democrats in the upcoming elections. 

 So we should ask ourselves why the Trumpists have abandoned all restraint. There have been many corrupt politicians in U.S. history – although they were pikers in comparison to Trump. Yet they at least attempted to hide their corruption, or at least keep it discreet and deniable, in order to avoid a voter backlash. I would argue that the blatant nature of the new looting is a signpost of where America under Trumpism is heading in the months and years ahead. It’s true that Trump has a base that will support him no matter what, in many cases literally believing that he has been chosen by God. This puts a floor under this support. But his disastrous recent polling, as Nate Cohn writes in the Times, suggest that this floor may be lower than many thought. Now, we already know that Trump and his allies have no intention of facing free and fair elections. With the unstinting help of the Roberts Supreme Court, they have already rigged the midterms through redistricting. Trump minions are actively trying to depress Democratic-leaning voter turnout, by demanding from states the right to challenge their voting rolls. And it would be naïve to think that redistricting will be the end of the MAGA effort to undermine democracy. 

 Still, Trump is aware that, even with Republican gerrymandering, November may deliver a blue wave big enough to hand Democrats the House and, quite possibly the Senate. G. Elliott Morris estimates that Democrats will need a four point popular vote advantage to win the House, but the latest Times poll gives them an eleven point lead. Why, then, isn’t he trying to be at least slightly discreet in his corruption? 

 One answer is that even if MAGA loses big in November, Democrats can’t count on wave elections every cycle, and the field is now strongly tilted against them. As Morris writes: While the situation for Democrats is not necessarily dire for 2026, the situation for democracy in 2028 and beyond certainly is. So you can think of the $1.8 billion slush fund as a promise to MAGA-world that there is a payoff to be had if they just stick with him for the next two and a half years. Beyond that, we are, in effect, watching what happens when a quasi-authoritarian regime’s corruption and criminality pass the point of no return. 

 At this point Trump and his MAGA minions have stolen so much, committed so many crimes — not just theft but taking America to war illegally, abusing ICE detainees, and much more — that if and when they lose power many of them will face personal ruin at best, years of jail time at worst. This would happen even if they stopped committing more crimes. So there’s no incentive for them to end their criminality, or to end the attempts to bribe others to go along. 

 Either they succeed in destroying America as we know it, or they won’t. And until that’s resolved, they may as well engage in even more corruption and criminal acts. Think of it this way:  'The gravity of what the Trumpists have already done has created a sort of black hole at the center of American political life — and the Trumpists have already crossed the event horizon, the boundary beyond which there is no escape. So they will do ever more terrible things, because they have nothing more to lose.” 

JL

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Poetry Triumphs over Politics! 

If Paul Krugman’s column (and what has been all over the nation’s newspapers this week) hasn’t gotten you fired up, I strongly recommend that you take a minute to read the South Florida SunSentinel’s editorial published in its May 19 edition. Here it is:  

Editorial by Sun Sentinel Editorial Board 

'In September 1941, the death of a family member prompted President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to say how he should be remembered. One of America’s greatest presidents wanted only a plain block of stone, about the size of his desk, to be placed on the front lawn of the National Archives Building, with the words “In memory of … ” 

Friends — not the government — installed it, 20 years after he died. It’s still there, although a more elaborate memorial to one of our greatest presidents now stands beside the Tidal Basin. An elegant simplicity. 

Another great president, Thomas Jefferson, also insisted on simplicity. The epitaph on his gravestone would state only that he had written the Declaration of Independence and Virginia’s Statute for Religious Freedom and had founded the University of Virginia — not that he was elected president twice. 

The accidental president, Gerald Ford, pocket-vetoed a bill to name a Michigan post office for him, writing that it would be “improper for me as an incumbent president to approve legislation which places my name on a federal building. This is a precedent I do not wish to establish.” 

 Such modesty is lost on Donald Trump, who constantly memorializes himself with monuments to bad taste, from Washington to West Palm Beach. 

Artist renderings and diagrams for President Donald Trump’s new triumphal arch released by the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts that is planned to be built in Washington between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, are photographed Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

               

He slapped his name on the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; intends to build a vastly oversized ballroom in place of the White House East Wing he razed without Congress’ consent; proposes a triumphal arch larger than any that the ancient emperors built for themselves, which would crudely overshadow Arlington National Cemetery; and plans an enormous “Garden of Heroes” with 250 statutes of notable Americans among whom, one suspects, there will be yet another gilt image of Donald John Trump, fist raised. When asked by a CBS News reporter whom the arch would honor, Trump replied ‘Me’.” His name is on a State Department building. His image is on gold commemorative coins, passports and national park passes. His signature is going on paper currency. He wants a new class of white elephant battleships to be named for him.

 And the airport, of course - The licensing deal for Palm Beach International Airport to be named for him, as demanded by a law the state Legislature passed without local consent, requires a logo resembling the White House seal, in — you guessed it — gold with gold stars. The renaming and branding will cost taxpayers $5.5 million and Trump will control who will be allowed to operate concessions there. 

Trump’s personal edifice complex is unmoored to any qualifying achievements or to any corresponding esteem from any sector of the public, other than MAGA diehards. In a new Washington Post-Ipsos poll, Trump’s approval rating has sunk to 37% and his disapproval has climbed to 62%. His approval among Republicans was 85%, but among independents it’s 25%. Across the entire electorate, the public disapproves of how he’s handling every major issue, especially inflation, the cost of living, the overall economy and his illegal war. 

He argues heedlessly that he needs the colossal ballroom to protect him from potential assassins, with the recent attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner as the pretext. But that thought conflicts with his personality, because it presumes that he would hunker down in the White House, never leaving for MAGA rallies or rounds of golf. It would not be an acceptable venue for independent associations that need to keep a respectful distance from whoever is president. The East Room was adequate for John F. Kennedy’s state dinners and for the one to which Trump welcomed King Charles III last week. 

A poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ozymandias,” taught to generations of Florida high school students, is still listed in the state language arts curriculum. It behooves Trump to read it. It’s short enough that he could do so: 

                       ‘I met a traveller from an antique land,

                     Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

                     Stand in the desert … Near them, on the sand,

                     Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown

                     And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

                    Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

                    Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

                    The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:

                    And on the pedestal, these words appear:

                    My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

                    Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”

                    Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

                    Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

                   The lone and level sands stretch far away.’

(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.) 

                                      * * 

Once the Republicans who run Florida’s government have read this editorial and realize that the Shelley poem is in Florida’s high school language curriculum, they will probably take steps to remove it, since Shelley was clearly ‘woke’ according to the standards of his day and today as well. 

 JL 

                                        * * * 

A Reminder for November 3, Election Day

Buried in the numbers quoted above is the statistic reporting that 85% of Republicans still support President Trump. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE? 

Why do they close their minds to facts, such as those presented in this posting? It is tragic that their vision of the United States includes Donald J. Trump’s corruption as an acceptable part of government coupled with the unbridled narcissism of a wannabe tyrant. How and why do so many Americans buy into those ideas? Do they really endorse corruption? Do they really prefer being ruled by a tyrant? What is wrong with these people? 

There is a story or legend, probably untrue, about how Henri Christophe, KIng of Northern Haiti from 1811–1820, to demonstrate the discipline of his army to a visiting diplomat, ordered a group of his soldiers to march over a cliff to their deaths. They complied and all died. There are similar stories about Alexander the Great, also probably untrue, but they serve to make the same point about those who assume absolute power. 

But is this the kind of loyalty 85% of Republicans have to President Trump? It shows up in Republican primaries where those he endorses defeat incumbent Republicans whose only fault is that their loyalty to him is questionable. 

Years ago Trump said that he could shoot someone dead in the middle of Fifth Avenue and get away with it, echoing the absolutist boast of Haitian ‘King’ Henri Christophe. Does it describe the 85% of Republicans voters who support President Trump regardless of what he may say or do? Are they no more than any supposed onlookers to that hypothetical murder on Fifth Aveue? It is up to them to answer that question. Most lack the brains or guts to do so … at least until they also become victims of his wrath, a list of whom is slowly growing. 

                                                           * * 

 As we approach the November elections, which Trump and his supporters are trying to ‘rig’ through illegal gerrymandering, threatening to place ‘observers’ at polling places, seizing of voting records, and other trickery, keep the facts posted above by Paul Krugman and the SunSentinel editorial in mind. And please, pass them on to others, and ask them to do the same. 

There is a lot at stake. It will take massive Democratic victories throughout the nation to overcome that 85% of Republicans whose political involvement goes no further than blind adherence to whatever corrupt ‘King’ Donald says and does. You are in the front lines. You have your weapons at your fingertips. Use them to persuade others. 

JL 

                                                           * * * 

Ignoring the Intent of the Constitution 

The checks and balances built into the Constitution limit what the Executive Branch of our government can do by assigning the ‘power of the purse’ to Congress, the Legislative Branch. The President cannot purchase a pencil if Congress hasn’t authorized him to do so somewhere in the budget it approves. 

Of course, there are exceptions possible in ‘national emergencies,’ but determining if one exists is usually left to the president. A shortage of pencils in the White House is not such a national emergency, even if a president might decree it to be one. 

When the ‘power of the purse’ of the Legislative Branch is surrendered to the will of a president who uses his endorsement of Congressional candidates as a weapon, an intended Constitutional check on the Executive Branch is removed. This is unconstitutional. 

JL 

                                                          * * * 

Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri 

Your comments on this ‘blog’ would be appreciated. My Email address is 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. 

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

More on the Sources of Information in Jackspotpourri: The sources of information used by Jackspotpourri include a delivered local daily ‘printed’ newspaper (now the South Florida Sun Sentinel) and what appears in my daily email; that includes the views of many contributors, including the New York Times and other respected journals. 

Be aware that when I open that email, I first quickly glance at and screen out those sent to my very old former email address and those considered ‘promotional’ by Gmail’s system as no more than advertisements or requests for donations. 

Besides these sources, I also utilize the Google search engine where I can look up any subject I want. 

Lately, these search results have been headed by a very generalized summary clearly labeled as being developed by AI (Artificial Intelligence). On occasion I might use such search results, but when I do, I will say that I am doing so. Generally, however, I try not to use such summaries in preparing Jackspotpourri. 

Following such ‘AI’ search results, there follows the other results of my search. Unlike the anonymous AI-generated summaries, the sources of these results are clearly indicated, giving them a greater credibility than any AI summary. It comes down to who YOU want to be in the driver’s seat in seeking information: yourself or something else (Artificial Intelligence), the structure of which somewhere along the way had to have been created by others, with whose identity I am neither familiar nor comfortable. At least when I read a column by Timothy Snyder, for example, I know from where it comes, and to some extent, what to expect. 

Caution should be exercised in using Artificial Intelligence. Always! 

JL

                                                         * * * *

May 18, 2026 - Lawbreaking, the Callais Decision, SCOTUS Reform, and Krugman's Thoughts

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SCOTUS Reform Needed – and Callais Decision is All About ‘Intent’

It looks to me that the Supreme Court In their Louisiana vs Callais decision last month ruled that Congressional redistricting had to be intentionally based on race to be considered a violation of the Voting Rights Act. 

Without such intent, disputing such redistricting would not be possible, even to secure representation for large portions of a States’ population that would otherwise be unrepresented in Congress. Here is a summary of this decision, based on the Court's action favoring Justice Alito’s opinion: 

On April 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court in Louisiana v. Callais significantly narrowed the circumstances under which a racial vote dilution challenge to a redistricting map can be made under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended (VRA). In Callais, the Court held that the State of Louisiana engaged in an "unconstitutional racial gerrymander" when it created a second majority-minority district in its congressional redistricting map to comply with Section 2. Applying standards revised in Callais, the Court determined that because Section 2 did not require the creation of the second majority-minority district, there was no compelling governmental interest that justified the state's use of racial considerations in creating the map. In so ruling, the Court held that Section 2 is violated "only when the evidence supports a strong inference that the State intentionally drew its districts to afford minority voters less opportunity because of their race." 

Justice Elena Kagan

A dissenting opinion by Justice Kagan pointed out that: ‘The majority (6-3) essentially rewrote Section 2, requiring plaintiffs to prove intentional, race-based discrimination by the State in order to challenge redistricting. She noted that this decision made success in vote-dilution lawsuits "nearly impossible."

                                                               * * 

I find it hard to believe, as Justice Alito who wrote the majority opinion appears to believe, that Louisiana had not intentionally drawn its Congressional districts to lessen voting opportunities for minority voters for racial reasons, managing to come up with other reasons to do so. 

This decision might very well backfire, resulting in a massive turnout of Black voters for Democratic candidates throughout the nation, so large that it would render the Callais decision meaningless, even in traditionally Republican-dominated Congressional districts. But don’t count too heavily on that happening. 

Some Southerners still have not recognized that they lost the Civil War, which was about abolishing slavery, despite politicians of both major parties behaving otherwise starting just a few years later and in many instances, continuing today. 

The Constitution, in giving Supreme Court Justices lifetime terms, did not anticipate the increasing lifespan that has occurred over the years. An Amendment is needed, including both term and age limits. Justice Thomas has already served 35 years and Justice Alito has served 30 years and neither any longer reflect the nation’s ideals as inspired by the Declaration of Independence and made into law by the Constitution. The Louisiana vs Callais decision is an example. 

Despite that decision though, Congress and State legislators still can control elections. Article I, Section 4, of the Constitution remains the primary source of constitutional authority to regulate elections for the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. It directs and empowers States to determine the “Times, Places, and Manner” of congressional elections, subject to Congress’s authority to “make or alter” state regulations.’ 

So despite the Louisiana vs Callais’ decision, the battle still goes on, shifting from Federal courtrooms to the floors of Congress and State legislatures where voters can elect candidates who want to encourage, and not restrict, voting. 

While the American people’s elected representatives have over the years sought to do that, addressing centuries of racial discrimination by passing voting rights legislation, the SCOTUS has been steered for nearly half a century by Chief Justices and a politically based majority that appears intent on undoing as much of that progress as possible. Undeniably, bigotry still influences many American voters who think encouraging and enabling more people to vote is not a good idea. 

Course correction starts with reform via an Amendment concerning Justices’ age and term limits, along with continued voter pressure on State legislators and Congressional Representatives to clarify regulations concerning Congressional elections. That is up to the nation’s voters. You! 

JL

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The Lawbreaker-in-Chief 

If you have any doubt about President Trump’s unbelievable breaking of laws and disregard for the Constitution, read the overwhelming evidence documented in Professor Heather Cox Richardson’s May 14 ‘Letters from an American’ posting, just click here or copy and paste https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/ on your device’s browser line.

And while you’re there, check out the May 17 posting in which Professor Richardson addressed the Sunday prayer meeting the President set up to help lock in Evangelical Christian voters. Having one Orthodox rabbi present there did not alter that purpose, clearly counter to the intent of the United States Senate in 1796 and the words of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison both of whom she also included in that posting: 

“But the United States of America was not founded as a Christian nation. The Founders were quite clear about that. In the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli, ratified unanimously by the Senate just a decade after the Constitution went into effect, U.S. leaders said “the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion” and has “no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of” Muslims. They went on to say that “no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between” the U.S. and Tripoli. 

Thomas Jefferson, the key author of the Declaration of Independence, and James Madison of Virginia, the key thinker behind the Constitution, both wrote explicitly about the importance of keeping the government separate from religion. Jefferson wrote that “religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship.” “[T]he legitimate powers of government reach actions only,” he wrote, “[and] not [religious] opinions.” In 1785, Madison explained that what was at stake in keeping the state and religion separated was not just religion, but also representative government itself. The establishment of one religion over others attacked a fundamental human right—an unalienable right—of conscience. If lawmakers could destroy the right of freedom of conscience, they could destroy all other unalienable rights, including those enumerated in the Declaration of Independence and codified in the Constitution. Those in charge of government could throw representative government out the window and make themselves tyrants.” 

                                                             *   *

But Americans still managed to elect Donald Trump, poorly educated and blissfully ignorant of all of this, to the presidency in 2016 and 2024. Even now, he is still supported by Republicans who chose primary candidates he had backed in Louisiana and Indiana rather than more enlightened Republicans who had recognized his massive shortcomings. 

Those who voted for him, and who vote as he recommends, must share the criticism he deserves. As I have often said, this is the Achilles Heel of American representative democracy. 

It is now about five and a half months until the mid-term General elections, at which time a Democratic House and possibly a Democratic Senate can be elected with your votes. 

JL 

   

‘A Failing, Flailing President Supplicates Xi’ 

Copy and paste https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/why-did-trump-take-elon-musk-to-china on your device's browser line or just click here to read Paul Krugman’s May 14 column, titled above, explaining why President Trump’s visit to China was a failure, regardless of what he says. 

 JL 

                                                             * * * 

Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri 

Your comments on this ‘blog’ would be appreciated. My Email address is 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. 

 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

 More on the Sources of Information in Jackspotpourri: The sources of information used by Jackspotpourri include a delivered local daily ‘printed’ newspaper (now the South Florida Sun Sentinel) and what appears in my daily email; that includes the views of many contributors, including the New York Times and other respected journals. 

Be aware that when I open that email, I first quickly glance at and screen out those sent to my very old former email address and those considered ‘promotional’ by Gmail’s system as no more than advertisements or requests for donations. Besides these sources, I also utilize the Google search engine where I can look up any subject I want. 

Lately, these search results have been headed by a very generalized summary clearly labeled as being developed by AI (Artificial Intelligence). On occasion I might use such search results, but when I do, I will say that I am doing so. Generally, however, I try not to use such summaries in preparing Jackspotpourri. 

Following such ‘AI’ search results, there follows the other results of my search. Unlike the anonymous AI-generated summaries, the sources of these results are clearly indicated, giving them a greater credibility than any AI summary. It comes down to who YOU want to be in the driver’s seat in seeking information: yourself or something else (Artificial Intelligence), the structure of which somewhere along the way had to have been created by others, with whose identity I am neither familiar nor comfortable. At least when I read a column by Timothy Snyder, for example, I know from where it comes, and to some extent, what to expect. 

Caution should be exercised in using Artificial Intelligence. Always! 

JL

                                                     * * * *

May 9, 2026 - Marching Orders for Americans, More TACO, Private Healthcare, Superpower Suicide, No Credit - Worry Not, Corruption, and Congressional Redistricting

                                                                  *   *   *

'Here Be Dragons' Quoted

Tuesday’s Jackspotpourri pointed out that the Administration’s efforts to keep a watchful eye on the President’s critics would be a big job because most Americans, from what all of the polls show, are included among the President’s many, many millions of critics. 

The ‘Here Be Dragons’ posting on May 6 reiterated this point when UCSD Professor Walter wrote that 

‘Trump may have ICE. He may have detention centers. He may have the legal framework to call you a terrorist for disagreeing with him. But Americans have the numbers. And if they choose to use them - peacefully, persistently, and in overwhelming force - no executive order can make that disappear. Orbán learned it the hard way. So will Trump, if Americans decide to show up.’ 

Read her full warning-laden May 6 posting by clicking here or copying and pasting https://barbarafwalter.substack.com/ on your devices browser line. 

JL 

                                                       * * * 

Call It What You May – I Call it TACO 

According to the Administration, the ‘war’ with Iran is over, and whatever hostilities remain are separate, defensive actions. The New York Times headlined this on May 6 thusly: ‘White House Insists Iran War Is Over, Even While Missiles Fly.’ I just see it as another example of the President’s repeated TACO (Trump Again Chickens Out) strategy. 

Professor Heather Cox Richardson’s May 5 ‘Letters from an American’ quotes the President’s announcing on social media that: 

“Based on the request of Pakistan and other Countries, the tremendous Military Success that we have had during the Campaign against the Country of Iran and, additionally, the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran, we have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed.”   

Vance, Rubio, and Hegseth standing behind the Liar-in-Chief

Just more TACO, TACO, TACO … hiding self-contradictory gibberish! (Incidentally, the above direct social media quote from Trump contains about fifteen words starting with capital letters instead of lower-case letters, something our poorly educated President seems to think makes his lies more palatable. Whatever tuition Trump’s parents paid to send him to a private military academy was a waste of money.) 

JL 

                                                          * * * 

Your Healthcare in the Spotlight 

Krugman

Paul Krugman’s very detailed postings (free on weekdays, mostly requiring a subscription on weekends … although sometimes available a few days later for free) is embarking on a series pointing out that our nation’s healthcare should not be left to the private economy.

Check him out by clicking here or copying and pasting https://paulkrugman.substack.com/ on your device's browser line to get a Nobel prize winner’s views on this subject that concerns YOU. 

JL 

                                                          * * *

Superpower Suicide 

Snyder

Professor Timothy Snyder explains what it takes to be a ‘superpower’ and suggests that our failure to measure up to such standards is why we are losing the war with Iran, and are otherwise a nation engaged in committing suicide, at least as a ‘superpower.’  (This is not a quick read, but give it a try.)  

Copy and paste https://snyder.substack.com/ on your browser line to read his May 9 posting or just click here. 

JL 

                                                   * * * 

Maxing Out Your Credit Cards - No Problem

Some folks aren’t bothered by their ‘maxing out’ the funds available to them from their credit cards, nor the unpaid interest piling up on them. They just apply for another credit card or two and start the process over again. 

That is until that day when they find that real banks will no longer want them as customers and that no new credit cards are available to them. Then, they no longer are particular as to the sources of their money, calling them either creditors or more politely, investors.  And even better, they start positioning their money not in traditional currencies, like dollars, but in barely understood ‘crypto currencies.’ 

Shortly before his re-election in 2024, President Donald Trump, then a civilian while Joe Biden was still president, founded a crypto currency trading firm, World Liberty Financial, along with members of his family and some others including Steve Witkoff, one of his present ‘negotiators’ with Iran. This better hides the amount and sources of his money, something hidden in the crypto world. 

That’s good for him, but not for American taxpayers whose payments in real dollars to the IRS go toward reducing taxes on the very wealthy and corporations favored by the President. 

JL 

                                                             * * * 

Corruption Running Amok 

And those unaware of the corruption within the Trump administration had better check out this item from the Bulwark’s May 9 posting. Click here or copy and paste

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/corruption-is-the-iceberg-that-will

on your device’s browser line. It will lead you, even if you are a Republican, to make some decisions about the sordid presidency of Donad Trump. 

JL 

                                                       * * * 

Redistricting Congressional Districts 

When Republican strategists realized that the 2026 mid-term elections were likely to give the Democrats a majority in the House of Representatives and also cause a change in the projected 2028 presidential Electoral College, they set to work to remedy this by instituting illegal redistricting of Congressional districts. 

They started in Texas only to have the Democrats retaliate in California. Litigation concerning new districts has been piling up in several States, and a recent summary of these extra-legal redistricting efforts can be found by clicking here or copying and pasting https://ballotpedia.org/Redistricting_ahead_of_the_2026_elections on your device’s browser line. The numbers seem to change on a daily basis. 

Most recently, a Virginia court ruled against a redistricting map that favored Democrats that had been narrowly approved in a referendum. The battle goes on, with the Constitution being ignored. Check it out as your right to vote is being diluted by politicians who have no respect for laws. 

JL

                                                          * * * 

Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri 

Your comments on this ‘blog’ would be appreciated. My Email address is 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. 

 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

 More on the Sources of Information in Jackspotpourri: The sources of information used by Jackspotpourri include a delivered local daily ‘printed’ newspaper (now the South Florida Sun Sentinel) and what appears in my daily email; that includes the views of many contributors, including the New York Times and other respected journals. 

Be aware that when I open that email, I first quickly glance at and screen out those sent to my very old former email address and those considered ‘promotional’ by Gmail’s system as no more than advertisements or requests for donations. Besides these sources, I also utilize the Google search engine where I can look up any subject I want. 

Lately, these search results have been headed by a very generalized summary clearly labeled as being developed by AI (Artificial Intelligence). On occasion I might use such search results, but when I do, I will say that I am doing so. Generally, however, I try not to use such summaries in preparing Jackspotpourri. 

Following such ‘AI’ search results, there follows the other results of my search. Unlike the anonymous AI-generated summaries, the sources of these results are clearly indicated, giving them a greater credibility than any AI summary. It comes down to who YOU want to be in the driver’s seat in seeking information: yourself or something else (Artificial Intelligence), the structure of which somewhere along the way had to have been created by others, with whose identity I am neither familiar nor comfortable. At least when I read a column by Timothy Snyder, for example, I know from where it comes, and to some extent, what to expect. 

Caution should be exercised in using Artificial Intelligence. Always! 

JL 

                                                                   * * * *