First Amendment Rights, Some Fearsome Alternatives, Failure of a Life Insurance Company and the Two Minute Hagaddah

"Send me your tired, your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless,tempest-tossed to me ...  I lift my lamp beside the golden door."    Emma Lazarus' poetry, enscribed on the Statue of Liberty.

Protecting The First Amendment

When a government controlled by one party wants to suppress voters who for a variety of reasons, usually demographically determined, are likely to vote for the other party, legitimately sounding excuses must to be found. The most common one is “voter fraud.”  To prevent it from happening, and it rarely does from all available evidence, stricter identification and residence documentation might be required.  Also, to save money, registration and polling hours may be curtailed.  But these are merely subterfuges to suppress voters who might vote for the other party.

What we must watch out for today is a suppression of Americans’ right to assemble, speak and petition freely, as guaranteed by the First Amendment along with freedom of the press.  Of course, those who oppose such rights would never directly attack the First Amendment.  As with voter suppression, more legitimate sounding excuses must be found.  And you must keep your eyes and ears open for them.

They include rules against assembling on public thoroughfares which supposedly might endanger or impede traffic, limitations on noise levels, requiring demonstrators to be restricted to locations distant from the object of their message, the presence of a menacing law enforcement forces such as masked and shielded police along with military-type crowd control vehicles, restrictions as to the timing and format of petitions, fees and technical requirements involved in getting permits to assemble and a galaxy of excuses designed to eat into our First Amendment rights.  Keep your eyes open for them.  Such restrictions are being introduced in State Legislatures around the country by those who want to diminish your rights.  Be aware.  Resist.

Jack Lippman

                                              

How a Super-Salesman Destroyed a Company

All the politicians and pundits who can’t figure out what is going on in the White House are confused because they think the President is like any other head of state and is involved in leading and running the country.  

Perhaps they need to spend a few days at sales meetings of the sales people of any major business in the country, where the Director of Sales engages them with motivational and inspirational harangues about the merits of their products, the weaknesses of the competition’s products, and a plethora of vague and questionable facts which they are to use in somehow reaching their goals.  

Only then will they understand from where the President is coming.

But he seems to have surrounded himself with enough level-headed people who while listening to his sales pitches (and tweets) know what to take seriously and what to ignore.   Problems can arise if the President is convinced he knows better than those who really do know better than he does.

I’m reminded of the collapse of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company back in 1991.  Mutual Benefit, then the eighteenth largest life insurer in the country, was a “blue chip” firm, with the highest possible ratings.  Its downfall was attributed to its real estate and mortgage-based securities investment portfolio, which soured in an early version of what was to occur sixteen years later in the entire economy. 

To my way of thinking, and I was in the insurance industry at that time, the company’s collapse was due to its CEO who had previously been their dominant and highly successful sales Vice President.  Of course, Mutual Benefit had its investment professionals and cadres of actuaries, the ones who usually occupy the top posts in such companies, but the shots were being called by a sales-oriented CEO who fostered an aggressive investment policy which would enable their products to be highly competitive and in great demand.  Wiser heads did not prevail and the company folded.  There’s a lesson there somewhere.

JL

                                          

Two Dreadful Scenarios and Who Can Prevent Them

I have heard that the departure of Mike Flynn from the Administration will eventually be followed by the exiting, voluntarily or under duress, of Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon.  Some feel that neither can survive the kind of vetting to which White House advisors should be exposed.  And once that happens, the next one to go would be the unqualified man sitting in the Oval office.   I don’t totally agree that it will play out in this manner, but it is conceivable.

Another alternative course of events is even more frightening.  It is conceivable that the leaders of our intelligence community will determine that an extreme danger to the United States exists, and because of a lack of a coherent chain of command in a disorganized White House, steps to deal with the danger will not be taken.  Paired with this would be a recognition of this danger by our career military leaders including the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the retired General serving as Secretary of Defense.  These are the seeds from which can spring a military junta, combined with the intelligence services, to carry out a coup and taking over the government of the United States in order to properly defend and govern the nation.  This is the kind of thing which happens in Latin America and Third World countries.  Such a coup in Turkey failed last year.  I don’t believe such a event will occur, but given the President’s lack of qualifications to govern, it should not be ruled out.

I feel these ideas have entered the minds of those in power in both Houses of Congress.  As they recognize the possibility that such things are not unthinkable, I hope they will take legislative steps to make sure the chaos which governs the Executive Branch is well controlled.  I suspect that the Judicial Branch, including the Supreme Court, would go along with Congress in such a situation.

                                                         Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell

Bottom line:  it is up to the Republican majorities in both Houses of Congress to control the activities of the Executive Branch, including the President.

The Two Minute Hagaddah

It's about seven weeks until the Passover Holiday. Those who diligently observe it are already making preparations for their seders (the Passover meal).   For those who are not so observant, but would like to "do something," we offer an item I came across a few years back entitled "The Two Minute Haggadah."  Because doing something is better than doing nothing, here it is:

The Two Minute Hagaddah (the Hagaddah is the Passover Seder prayer book)

 Opening prayers:

   Thanks, God, for creating wine.  (Drink wine.)

   Thanks for creating produce.  (Eat parsley.)

Overview:
Once we were slaves in Egypt.  Now we're free.  That's why we're doing this.
Four questions to be asked by youngest at the table:
    1.  What's up with the matzoh?
    2.  What's the deal with horseradish?
    3.  What's with the dipping of the herbs?
    4.  What's this whole slouching at the table business?
Answers:
    1.  When we left Egypt, we were in a hurry. There was no time for making decent bread.
    2.  Life was bitter, like horseradish.
    3.  It's called symbolism.
    4.  Free people get to slouch.
A funny story:
    Once, these five rabbis talked all night, then it was morning.  (Heat soup now.)
The four kinds of children and how to deal with them:
    Wise child-explain Passover.
    Simple child-explain Passover slowly.
    Silent child-explain Passover loudly.
    Wicked child-brow beat in front of the relatives.
Speaking of children:  We hid some matzoh.  Whoever finds it gets five bucks.
 
The story of Passover:
It's a long time ago. We're slaves in Egypt. Pharaoh is a nightmare. We cry out for help. God brings plagues upon the Egyptians. We escape, bake some matzoh. God parts the Red Sea. We make it through. The Egyptians aren't so lucky. 

We wander 40 years in the desert, eat manna, get the Torah, wind up in Israel, get a new temple, enjoy several years without being persecuted again. (Let brisket cool now.)

The 10 Plagues:  Blood, Frogs, Lice-you name it.

The singing of "Dayenu":
If God had gotten us out of Egypt and not punished our enemies, it would've been enough. If He'd punished our enemies and not parted the Red Sea, it would've been enough. If He'd parted the Red Sea (remove gefilte fish from refrigerator now.) etc.
Eat matzoh.  Drink more wine.  Slouch.
Thanks again, God, for everything.

SERVE MEAL.

Say Grace. Drink more wine. Sing some more songs. Try to stay awake. 

Who knows one? Who knows two through thirteen?
Dad bought a goat for two zuzim. Everyone beats up every one until God steps in.
Go to sleep.

Do it again another night.

(Want to do more that this?  Passover Hagaddahs are probably available in your local supermarket or in that bottom drawer where you keep the skull caps [yamulkas or kippahs] you've collected from various weddings and bar and bat mitzvahs over the years.  And watch for forthcoming abbreviated services for other religions which we will try to include.  Your submissions are welcome.)

JL

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