Fashion Notes, Shakespeare on Mueller, Strange Bedfellows, Brexit, Florida Amendment Four and finally, The Mueller Report - A Call to Action

Fashion Notes

As Spring spreads across the country, folks shed their Winter gear.  Will President Trump be willing to give up his big black (or is it blue) overcoat, which seems much too heavy even for late Winter or early Spring weather?  Note the lighter garb others are wearing as the President strides across a lawn or a tarmac in that overcoat, never buttoned.  Does he favor that coat because, hanging open, it hides his seemingly expanding girth?  What would he look like without it?  Here’s the President (6’3” – 243 lbs.) and next to his photograph, note our 27^th President, William Howard Taft, who tipped the scales at 340 lbs., making Donald look svelte.   JL

Taft

Measurements Around the Beltway

                                                 

                                                                         

      

A Shakespearean View of the Mueller Report

When I listen to all the commentary on the report of Special Counsel Mueller, as condensed into four pages by Attorney General Barr, I am impressed by the circuitous reasoning of the lawyers on TV, many of whom are former prosecutors themselves or professors in law schools.  Their arguments can make one’s head spin and leave listeners, thirty minutes later, exactly where they were when they tuned in.  We deserve better. 

Shakespeare felt the same way in his historical play Henry VI, Part 2.  Amongst a disgruntled group of ignorant working men, fantasizing about the day when one of them would be “king,” a violent voice arises (in Act 4, Scene 2) shouting, “The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.”  Sometimes I feel that way.

JL

The Big Story – The Mueller Report – And What to Do About It 

Aside from not coming up with enough evidence to indict the President for collusion with Russia in regard to the 2016 election, The Mueller Report also did not come to any firm conclusion on whether Trump’s interference with the investigation constituted obstruction of justice.  Instead, it left it for a conclusion to be drawn on this issue based on a "read" of the report.  Because Mueller's "chain of command" led upward through Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and Attorney General Barr, the task of drawing this conclusion was taken up by them. In view of Barr’s June letter, strongly antagonistic to the Mueller probe and strongly supporting the President, what more could be expected from Barr and Rosenstein? It’s hard to believe Mueller did not know what Barr would do.

Given that there was not enough evidence to justify collusion, and leaving us in a fuzzier position regarding the question of obstruction, the New Yorker magazine succinctly addressed that latter issue thusly: 

“Actually, on the subject of Robert Mueller’s probe into whether Donald Trump obstructed justice, Barr’s letter said this:   “The Special Counsel . . . did not draw a conclusion—one way or another—as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction.” The letter went on, “The Special Counsel states that, ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.’”

Barr’s letter, however, did contain a determination that Trump’s actions—which might include the firing of James Comey, the head of the F.B.I., and trying to fire Jeff Sessions, Barr’s predecessor—failed to rise to the level of obstruction of justice. But it was Barr and Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General, who made that determination. As it has done so often in the past, the White House was lying, when it said that Mueller exonerated Trump on the obstruction question.”

Hey guys, that’s the way the cookie crumbles.  When Trump ignores his own AG’s statement that Mueller’s report regarding obstruction of justice does not exonerate him, he just lies about it and says that it does.  So what’s new?  He lies.  They lie.  We all know that.  Stop crying about it.  Even if you’re right.  When has the world ever been fair?

When the voters elected Trump as President, and gave him Congressional majorities, which continue in the Senate, and resultingly, the opportunity to name conservative judges, including those on the Supreme Court, as well as choosing his awful revolving-door cabinet, the country voted in his whole package.  And that included the three Attorneys-General he has appointed. 

Don’t sit around hoping the litigation going on in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere will help.  It will go on for years and years.  Lawyers are experts on getting “postponements.”  Weaving threads of evidence into a cloak of guilt is time-consuming and difficult.  No, the Mueller Report, with its Barr-imposed warts was the ballgame.  And Trump and his Republicans won it.  Face it.  That’s why we ended up with a big disappointment. 

Sure, the Democratic-controlled House Committees (particularly Judiciary, Oversight and Intelligence) will make a big issue of getting the full Mueller Report, but enough will be redacted from it (either for secrecy classifications, grand jury testimony or to protect the unindicted) to make it no more potent than a soaking wet firecracker.

"Don't tell 'em that!" - "No, I'll only give them this much!"

A Republican President appointed a Republican Attorney General to do his dirty work and that’s the ball game.  Period.  End of story. That’s what happens when you lose an election, as the Democrats did in 2016.  To the victor go the spoils. That’s the way democracy works.  Blame democracy.  But most of all, blame the American voter.

Ultimately though, there’s a whole lot of shit (no other word fits) which must be undone by a unified Democratic Party when they regain power in both Houses of Congress and in the White House.  That is the only way it can be done.  It will take years, if not generations to complete the task.  For example, the Supreme Court cannot be changed overnight.  That alone will take thirty or forty years.  Progressive legislation regarding health insurance, drug prices, world trade, education, climate change, immigration, tax reform, the infrastructure, regulatory agencies, the socio-economic “safety net” and gun violence will come about sooner, but not fully for at least a decade or two, assuming the Democrats take and maintain control of the government.

Remember, it was the gullibility and *ignorance of the American public that caused the mess the country is now in, a mess which about 40% of the population refuses to recognize. Their mindset will have to change, and that won’t take place overnight either.  But it can!  Hopefully.

*(Calling people ignorant is not the same as calling them stupid!  The adjective “ignorant” describes someone who is merely lacking in knowledge or understanding of a subject. “Stupid” means lacking in mental capacity.  While an ignorant person can usually seek additional knowledge to become less ignorant, a stupid person lacks the mental ability to do that.  You can fix “ignorant.” “Stupid” you can’t fix.)

Maybe it will take rusty and polluted water coming out of their faucets to wake them up.  Working class Americans must get it through their heads that the Republican Party never was, is not now and will never be on their side!  It is both sad and safe to say that the harm done by giving stewardship of our government and the Presidency to backward-looking and sometimes malignant Republicans in 2016 will not be reversed in many of our lifetimes, certainly not within mine.

What to do?  *Find yourself a Democratic group in your local voting precinct or community.  Go to their meetings.  Volunteer to do stuff to elect Democrats to local, State and National office.  It all counts and adds up.  Even if your State is always “blue” (like New York or California), your State Legislature which apportions Congressional Districts and opts in or out of Federal programs, must be kept “blue” too … and that isn’t always the case, so your muscle is required.  There are more Democratic-leaning Americans in this country than Republicans but It will take your efforts, particularly through voter registration drives, starting NOW, to mobilize them.

 

Democratic Workers at a Phone Bank

If you don’t do that, and just remain on the sidelines complaining, it will accomplish nothing and amount to your accepting everything Donald Trump has done and give comfort to the hypocritical Republican legislators who support him because they need his loyal base to stay in office.  Get off your butt and get to work.

There is no other way.

*Here’s how to do it.  Right now, before you get up from your computer or put down your mobile phone, “Google” the name of the town or city where you live and the words “Democratic Party.”  Like this: “MyTown Democratic Party.”  Copy down the phone numbers you will see and call them, offering to volunteer.  Today!  Now!  This Minute!

Jack Lippman

Once Elected, Republicans are Not Nice People

Floriduh

Sixty-four percent of Florida’s voters approved a constitutional amendment back in November returning the right to vote to convicted felons, except for murderers and sexual offenders, after they completed their sentences, paid their fines and were no longer on parole or probation.   But leave it to the Republican legislature to throw up road blocks to this, negating the will of the people.  Legislation requiring payment of court costs which were not part of the original sentence, full reimbursement of victims (almost always impossible), and adding “attempted murder” to those crimes for which the return of voting rights was excluded is being proposed.  Republicans recognize that the voters which Amendment Four’s passage enfranchised would mostly vote Democratic and that’s why they are proposing such legislation.  When, oh when, will the working people of Florida, and the nation for that matter, learn that the Republican Party is not, never was and never will be on their side.

JL

Brexit

The same dissatisfaction with economic prospects, fear of immigrants and nostalgia for a past which really cannot be recaptured which fueled Donald Trump’s success in 2016, and still today maintains the loyalty of his base of supporters, brought about the United Kingdom’s “Brexit” vote to leave the European Economic Community and “go it alone.”  Well, it turns out that is easier said than done and probably will bring down the government of P.M. Theresa May.  Ultimately there will be another vote, I predict, and the failed “Brexit” attempt will become just a sad page in the UK’s history, as will the Presidency of Donald Trump in the United States.

JL 

 

Strange Bedfellows

Both Fox pundit Tucker Carlson and Presidential-hopeful Elizabeth Warren agree that social media outlets like Facebook and Google function as public utilities and should be treated as such.  This is probably going to be a major national topic of debate over the next decade.

There are arguments for doing it and equally, for not doing it.  Would doing so violate the First Amendment?  But If the FCC doesn’t allow terrorists to incite violence on radio and TV, why are they allowed to do on social media?  Many "progressives" believe they should be regulated.  Many conservatives feel social media is biased against them.   Here’s a brief Forbes article from June 2018 on the subject.   CLICK HERE TO READ IT. 

JL

HOW TO BE ALERTED TO FUTURE BLOG POSTINGS.

Many readers of this blog are alerted by Email every time a new posting appears.  If you wish to be added to that Email list, just let me know by sending me an email at Riart1@aol.com.

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Contact me by email at Riart1@aol.com.   YOU ALSO CAN SEND ME YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO BE PUBLISHED IN THIS BLOG AS WELL AS YOUR COMMENTS AT THAT ADDRESS.  (Comments can also be made by clicking on the "Post a Comment" link at the blog's end, though few followers of the blog have done that lately.)

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To view older postings on this blog, just click on the appropriate date in the “Blog Archive” midway down the column off to the right or scroll down until you see the “Older Posts” notation at the very bottom of this posting.  The “Search Box” in the right side of the posting also may be helpful in locating a posting topic for which you are looking. THESE FEATURES, ALONG WITH OTHER VALUABLE “SIDEBAR” ITEMS, INCLUDING ADVERTISEMENTS, MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE ON ALL MOBILE DEVICES.  CHECK THEM OUT ON YOUR DESKTOP OR LAPTOP COMPUTERS.

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Jack Lippman 

The Mueller Report, a Dismembered Body, When Trump Loses in 2020 and a Letter to the Post

The Mueller Report

Barr

Attorney General Barr today released a four page report saying the after 22 months of work,  Robert Mueller's investigation was

Mueller

unable to find that the President or his colleagues did or did not collude with Russia or Russians in their well-documented and proven efforts to affect our 2016 Presidential election.  Similarly, they could not find that the President tried to obstruct the investigation.   The report was prepared, not by Special Counsel Mueller who provided a much more comprehensive report to Barr, but by Barr's staff and that of Deputy Attorney General Ron Rosenstein.  

When the FBI back in 2016 could not find any basis for indicting Hillary Clinton,

Clinton

they announced that fact, which in itself was damaging to the extent that it clearly implied that the Bureau did have something on her, but not enough to indict.  Doing this  ignored Department of Justice procedures then, and this time, they went out of their way to avoid any negative aspersions on people they investigated but did not indict.   Please refer to my comments in the preceding blog posting where I stated that the President’s imprecision with the English language “keeps him from being ‘on the hook’ for what he says.  He’s like a fish that breaks from the line just as you are about to pull him in.” 

Damn, Lost Him Again

In any event, Attorney General Barr said that on further review, additional information from the Special’s Counsel’s investigation may be released.  It is up to the legislative branch, specifically the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, to insist on this information using whatever tools they have, including the power of subpoena. 

With this in mind, let me describe a court decision which came down last week in Palm Beach County.  A man, heavily under the influence of drugs, claimed that he found his father, also a user, dead on the floor surrounded by drugs and drug paraphernalia.  Not knowing what to do, not thinking clearly and in a drug induced state of panic, he feared being accused of murdering his father. 

To avoid this eventuality, he dismembered the body and over the next few days, cleaning up carefully behind him, buried the body parts on an abandoned golf course.  He was charged with murder and dismemberment of the body.  A jury found him innocent of murder because of lack of evidence, but did find him guilty of dismembering the body, for which he awaits sentencing.  

In the minds of many, including the family and the prosecution, the son was clearly guilty of murder, but as in the case of the Mueller report, where the evidence was insufficient to come to a conclusion regarding collusion and obstruction, the Palm Beach County jury found that the evidence was insufficient to convict the son of murder.  That’s the way our system works, despite the obvious conclusions others may make.

Bear in mind that the Attorney General indicated that further review of the Special Counsel’s investigation would occur in regard to releasing information in addition to the four page report issued today, that Congressional Committees will continue their investigations and that litigation continues in the Southern District of New York Federal Court, in other Federal Court jurisdictions and in New York State Courts where evidence which was insufficient for Mueller’s team might prove quite adequate for indictment.

One question:  If there were no collusion nor obstruction of justice, why all the lies about these activities?

Jack Lippman

The President's Hair Color and Two Columns

My March 9 blog posting concluded with this sentence: “If you start to see the President's hair coloring fail to hide its probable whiteness, you can be sure something's amiss.”

Well, that’s exactly what is happening.  But he’s not graying in the distinguished way his two predecessors did during their terms in office.  His hair was most likely gray or white to start with, but lately the orange dye job he obviously undergoes periodically isn’t working very well.  I suspect he has to undergo frequent, if not daily, touch-ups.  More and more of the white is showing through.  Watch for it.

If you don’t know the reason for the color change, you’ve been spending too much time watching Fox and for the wrong reasons.  (The only valid reason to watch Fox News is to get a fix on the lies, misrepresentation and misdirection the President and his supporters are involved in daily.)

Pitts

That March 9 posting also included a column by Leonard Pitts which raised the question of what the President might do if the 2020 elections turns him out of office … and/or … produces a hostile Democratic majority in both Houses of Congress.  Read it by CLICKING HERE.  

Gerson

Another column this past week in the Washington Post by Michael Gerson talked of those who approach politics with a religiously based fervor and devotion.  Gerson got near to but didn’t quite ask the question as to how such zealotry would manifest itself in the face of a Trump defeat. Read it by CLICKING HERE.

If this eventuality has occurred to Pitts and Gerson, I wonder how many others fear a coup d’etat by Trump supporters, many of whom might feel justified in rebelling against the Federal government should Trump lose.  Would they claim the election was stolen by a “dark state” conspiracy and support the President’s declaring a national emergency and his refusing to leave office?  Trump supporters have already at times characterized the investigations into his administration that are being carried out by Congress and the Department of Justice as being extra-legal and in fact, actually attempted coups.  They might say the same about an election which Trump loses.

I hope this is only idle speculation on my part.
JL

The Boys on the Bridge

Here’s a letter I was about to send in to the Palm Beach Post until I realized that they would not consider it because they had printed a letter from me within the past 30 days.  I will wait until mid-week to submit it, when 30 days will have passed.   But here it is for your benefit.  (Note the fishing rods leaning against the bridge railing.  Florida law does not allow such weapon displays unless in connection with fishing or hunting.)

‘Sunday’s Post carried a story about pro-gun activists demonstrating in favor of the President, one of whom questioned the ability of our armed forces to respond to an invasion and who was quoted as saying that “civilians like us have the ability with these military weapons to combat the first initial invasion if it were to happen.”  The Second  Amendment clearly limits such activity to “a well-regulated militia” of which those on the Royal Park bridge on Saturday certainly were not a part.  Thinly using the excuse that they were “fishing” to justify their display of assault weapons was a laughable, if not prosecutable, misuse of the law.  What is needed is repeal of the Second Amendment and its replacement with one that allows the possession of weapons for hunting, agricultural purposes, target shooting and clearly defined self-defense.  Meanwhile, the demonstrators on the bridge should join the Florida National Guard.’ 
JL

HOW TO BE ALERTED TO FUTURE BLOG POSTINGS.

Many readers of this blog are alerted by Email every time a new posting appears.  If you wish to be added to that Email list, just let me know by sending me an email at Riart1@aol.com.

HOW TO CONTACT ME or CONTRIBUTE MATERIAL TO JACKSPOTPOURRI.com 

Contact me by email at Riart1@aol.com.   YOU ALSO CAN SEND ME YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO BE PUBLISHED IN THIS BLOG AS WELL AS YOUR COMMENTS AT THAT ADDRESS.  (Comments can also be made by clicking on the "Post a Comment" link at the blog's end, though few followers of the blog have done that lately.)

MOBILE DEVICE ACCESS.

DID YOU KNOW THAT www.jackspotpourri.com IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICES IN A MODIFIED, EASY-TO-READ, FORMAT?   

HOW TO VIEW OLDER POSTINGS.                                                

To view older postings on this blog, just click on the appropriate date in the “Blog Archive” midway down the column off to the right or scroll down until you see the “Older Posts” notation at the very bottom of this posting.  The “Search Box” in the right side of the posting also may be helpful in locating a posting topic for which you are looking. THESE FEATURES, ALONG WITH OTHER VALUABLE “SIDEBAR” ITEMS, INCLUDING ADVERTISEMENTS, MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE ON ALL MOBILE DEVICES.  CHECK THEM OUT ON YOUR DESKTOP OR LAPTOP COMPUTERS.

HOW TO FORWARD POSTINGS.

To send this posting to a friend, or enemy for that matter, whom you think might be interested in it, just click on the envelope with the arrow on the "Comments" line directly below, enabling you to send them an Email providing a link directly to this posting.  You might also want to let me know their Email address so that they may be alerted to future postings.

Jack Lippman 

Lies, Why Lies are Tolerated, Words, I.C.E., Technology Unleashed and My Safe

Lies, Lies, Lies … Sort of

We all know that Donald Trump lies.  Some media outlets keep a running count of them.  We also know that he is clever enough to avoid having his lies being specific enough to justify his being called a criminal.  For years, as is the case with many in his field, real estate development, he has had lawyers protecting him on that flank.  

Charitably, let's assume he had some loose M&Ms in his back pocket

Personally, his strange use of the English language as President (example: “people tell me that … “) filled with imprecision, keeps him from being “on the hook” for what he says.  He’s like a fish that breaks from the line just as you are about to pull him in. 

He jumps between “wall,” “barrier” or “fence” depending on his audience and its length varies from “where necessary” to “from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific.” That’s why the Mueller investigation, I feel, will not directly implicate the President, while it will (and already has) catch many around him, possibly including family members.  But their stink will rub off onto him. 

The President will continue to cloud the picture with vague misrepresentation just as Paul Manafort’s lawyer, after both recent sentencings, lied on the courthouse steps about both judges’ “clearing the President of collusion” when both quite specifically stated that the question of collusion was not dealt with in their courtrooms.   Not addressing the question is not the same as saying the court’s not doing so amounts to “clearing the President of charges of collusion.”  Manafort’s lawyer should be disbarred.  Period.  His behavior is why many humorists refer to lawyers as “liars.” Defending a client with outrageous arguments, as defense lawyers sometimes properly do, is not the same as stating outrageous lies for purely political purposes.  But he will not be disbarred any more than the President will be impeached.

Jack Lippman

The Real Problem Behind Trump – Why the Lies are Tolerated

The nation’s problem, as I have oft stated, is not with the President.  It is with (1) the people who elected him and (2) the Republicans in Congress who, while knowing better, recognize that those people are the ones that put them, and can keep them, in office. 

 McConnell - Chief Enabler

  If I were to write a book (I won’t), this is the direction the book would take in trying to explain why these voters are that way.  (As you will shortly see, someone has just done that.)

I have used words like “gullibility” and “ignorance” in this blog to explain their behavior, but it is deeper than that.  It involves:

(1) bigotry,

(2) the disappearance of old-style employment and its replacement by new kinds of jobs,

(3) the absence of unions,

(4) the presence of immigrants in our country,

(5) the deterioration of public education,

(6) the great disparity in wealth among Americans,

(7) the necessity of our having a government-run economic “safety net,”

(8) the confused shifting of the control of health care from the private sector to both the insurance industry and the government and

(9) the actual geographic separation of supporters with differing political agendas.  

A recent book, by Ben Bradlee (son of the late editor of the Washington Post who led the exposure of the Watergate scandal and who himself led the Boston Globe’s exposure of certain misbehaving priests in the Catholic Church) attempts to analyze this problem by dissecting it in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in his book “The Forgotten.”  It is on my already cluttered reading list. 

JL 

Words Matter

Evildoers throughout the world usually hide under rocks until they receive some signal that it is alright for them to crawl out and perform evil deeds.  Today, such signals are given through the language and words Donald Trump uses to maintain the loyalty of his base, specifically those expressions directed toward the fear of immigrants coming to take what these misguided people believe is historically and exclusively theirs through some kind of birthright.   

It signals to these evil people that it’s okay to perpetrate murders such as those carried out this week in Christchurch, New Zealand and recently in Pittsburgh.  It is not unlike those atrocities carried out by ISIS in the Middle East by those who believed the misguided Muslim clerics who provided pseudo-religious justification for their evil acts.   

The harm done by statements like Trump’s saying (in regard to Charlottesville) that “there are good people on both sides” and his constant mischaracterization of those unfortunates seeking asylum in the United States is no longer immeasurable.  It can be calculated by counting up the bodies of those murdered by those whom such statements encourage. Trump’s guilt must be shared by those Republicans, mentioned in the first paragraph of the preceding article, who continue to support him. Their complicity is beyond shame.  It is inexcusable. 

 JL

 

Defining I.C.E. 

A frequent mantra of this blog has been “I.C.E.” referring to the Impeachment, Conviction and Exile of the President.  The time has come to be more specific.  The impeachment proceedings, or the resignation which their imminence might bring about, should take place only when there is strong support for it among the American people and both Houses of Congress.  House Speaker Pelosi is aware of this and is acting accordingly.  An impeachment effort, impeded by the Republicans in the Senate and Trump’s ever-loyal base, would do more harm than good.   

Once he is out of office, steps to indict and eventually convict the former President of criminal activity through our court system should take place, and if he is found guilty, the humanitarian thing to do would be to offer him exile in lieu of incarceration.   I have suggested Russia, Saudi Arabia or the island of St. Helena as possible places where he might go.  

Another possibility is the attractive beach area at the far eastern tip of the island of Cuba, a spot which the United States controls.

 JL

The March of Technology

The two tragic plane crashes involving Boeing 737 Max8 aircraft, from what I have been reading, very well may be the results of actions taken by the plane’s systems automatically, without specific direction by the pilots, or possibly action on the part of the pilots which conflicted with that automatic action, the pilots being unaware of what the systems were trying to do automatically.  We will eventually find out if that is the case. 

Which brings me to the new automobile I leased a few months ago.  I was surprised to find out that if were driving down a dark road at night, the lights automatically switched to “high” beams and resumed a normal setting when I turned onto a better lighted thoroughfare.  Now, I have always been smart enough to do that kind of thing myself, but I appreciate it having been built into my new car. 

Today, I received an Email from the dealership reminding me of the check-up which they say will be due at the 5,000 mile or six-month mark, whichever came sooner.  What really astounded me though was that the Email included the exact mileage I had put on the car as of the date of the Email and also commented that the installation of the floor mat on the driver’s side had to be checked!  Apparently, they knew I had removed and replaced it when I last vacuumed the floor of the car.  How closely are they watching me?  Apparently, they have the ability to keep track of me.  Do they know the addresses I’ve programmed into the navigation system as well?  Maybe I don’t want anyone to know where I go. That’s my business!   

Perhaps just as the pilots of those two planes that crashed might not have been, I am not fully unaware of where technology has taken charge of my life, taking decisions I am accustomed to making out of my hands.   And for those addresses programmed into the navigation system, I hope the fine print on the paperwork I signed when I leased the car didn’t take away any right to privacy.   
 JL

How My Safe Made My Day

Years ago, we installed a safe in a closet in my home.  It can be opened digitally by pushing a combination of numbers.  At one time, we kept some jewelry and papers in the safe but no longer do.  In fact, it is empty, but removing it would be a much bigger task than it is worth because of the way it is bolted to the floor.  Anyhow, the other day, I checked out the safe and it would not open.  A red light flashed indicating the old batteries operating the locking mechanism needed replacement.   Aware that there was a “secret” place on the safe where it could be opened with a key even after the batteries had died, I opened it in order to install new batteries in the battery chamber behind the safe’s door.  In doing so, unfortunately, one of the two springs which were supposed to hold the batteries in place snapped, a victim of old age.  After unsuccessfully seeking a replacement spring on the internet and checking in a couple of local hardware stores, I ended up calling the safe’s manufacturer. After waiting twenty minutes on hold on their customer service line I hung up and sent them an Email, explaining my problem.  After doing that, I noticed a metal paper clip on the floor.  Hmm, I thought.  Picking it up and returning to the safe, I bent it until it was small enough to be squeezed in where the spring had come out, creating a makeshift spring.  Voila!  Contact made!  It worked!  Problem solved!  But more importantly, this whole episode left me with a feeling of real accomplishment.  It made my day!  It was almost like winning the Lottery (which I have never done). That’s why I’m including this on this posting.

 JL

HOW TO BE ALERTED TO FUTURE BLOG POSTINGS.

Many readers of this blog are alerted by Email every time a new posting appears.  If you wish to be added to that Email list, just let me know by sending me an email at Riart1@aol.com.

HOW TO CONTACT ME or CONTRIBUTE MATERIAL TO JACKSPOTPOURRI.com 

Contact me by email at Riart1@aol.com.   YOU ALSO CAN SEND ME YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO BE PUBLISHED IN THIS BLOG AS WELL AS YOUR COMMENTS AT THAT ADDRESS.  (Comments can also be made by clicking on the "Post a Comment" link at the blog's end, though few followers of the blog have done that lately.)

MOBILE DEVICE ACCESS.

DID YOU KNOW THAT www.jackspotpourri.com IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICES IN A MODIFIED, EASY-TO-READ, FORMAT?   

HOW TO VIEW OLDER POSTINGS.                                                

To view older postings on this blog, just click on the appropriate date in the “Blog Archive” midway down the column off to the right or scroll down until you see the “Older Posts” notation at the very bottom of this posting.  The “Search Box” in the right side of the posting also may be helpful in locating a posting topic for which you are looking. THESE FEATURES, ALONG WITH OTHER VALUABLE “SIDEBAR” ITEMS, INCLUDING ADVERTISEMENTS, MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE ON ALL MOBILE DEVICES.  CHECK THEM OUT ON YOUR DESKTOP OR LAPTOP COMPUTERS.

HOW TO FORWARD POSTINGS.

To send this posting to a friend, or enemy for that matter, whom you think might be interested in it, just click on the envelope with the arrow on the "Comments" line directly below, enabling you to send them an Email providing a link directly to this posting.  You might also want to let me know their Email address so that they may be alerted to future postings.

Jack Lippman