* * *

Behind the Israeli-Hamas War

Only when Hamas stops firing missiles into Israeli communities will Israel stop bombing and shelling the sites from which such missiles are shot off, and which house other military installations, purposely embedded among civilian populations and gathering places, in an effort to demonize Israeli retaliation to their terrorism.

But Israeli attacks on other Hamas military installations, hopefully not in civilian locations, to pave the way for a possible invasion to destroy Hamas permanently, will continue, even then.  Remember that while Israel is a nation, Hamas is labeled as a terrorist group, in the category of Al Qaeda and ISIS, and deserving of such treatment, if only it can be separated from killing and making homeless the mostly innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip.  And that is proving difficult for Israel.

Original 1947 Two-State Solution.

                                                       Gaza is the yellow area between 

                                                       Israel and the sea adjacent to Egypt.

The Arabs living in Palestine, and surrounding Arab nations, refused to accept the United Nations’ partition of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment of the State of Israeli a year later.  At that time, both Israel and the Palestinian Arabs were envisioned as living side by side within a peaceable ‘two-state’ arrangement, but the Arab states supporting the Palestinian Arabs chose to go to war instead, and lost, as they’ve done on several occasions since then.

The Arabs who fled, expecting to soon return after their ‘victory,’ were left stranded and embittered in refugee camps, where their descendants remain today. 

The Gaza Strip was similarly populated by those who fled,  It was occupied by Israel until 2005 when its troops were withdrawn and the Israeli settlements there disbanded.  The aim of that disengagement was to yield a tentative peace and make Israel more secure.  That turned out to be a mistake because the following year, Hamas won legislative elections in the Gaza Strip, and after a military confrontation, ousted the Palestinian Authority (see the next paragraph) from any role in Gaza.  There have been no elections there since then.

Those who remained in the primarily Arab West Bank, although eventually occupied by Israel, are still governed to a limited extent by the Palestinian Authority, heir to the PLO, but a group willing to reach a fragile accommodation with Israel .

The Palestinians missed the opportunity to have a state of their own, something they had never had before, in the hope of acquiring all of Palestine.  (Abba Eban, the late Israeli diplomat, once commented that the Palestinians ‘never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.’)

Continued Palestinian efforts to rewrite history militarily have resulted in many Israelis no longer supporting a ‘two state’ solution.  They see it as a danger to Israel and treat what would have been the Palestinian state as ‘occupied territory’ available for Israeli settlements. 

Hamas, which rules Gaza, not accepting the Palestinian Authority, continues to see a ‘one-state’ solution as well, with Israel eliminated.  This is a mirror image of the ‘one-state’ solution, with all Arabs moved out, that some Israelis see.  And it is this latter group that Benjamin Netanyahu depends upon for the votes to keep him in office.

And here is the part that no one talks about, but which sooner or later will be part of negotiations.  Did the specifics of the 1947 partition of Palestine treat the Jewish population of Palestine more generously than it treated the Arab population of Palestine? 

I suspect that was the case, probably because of sympathy for the Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, seeking a place to go to.  But that has, except for Jews, receded into a cubbyhole of history, unknown to many born since those days.

Holocaust survivors were not welcomed in more than token amounts at that time by major Western nations who were quietly pleased that the creation of the State of Israel lessened the pressure on them to accept refugees.  

Similarly, Palestinian Arabs, once they had lost their portion of the land a ‘two-state’ solution would have provided, found that they were not being welcomed by neighboring Arab states whose military support of them had failed.  ‘You have no place to go to? That’s your problem.’  Some turned to violence, but the real answer to this problem is to restore the ‘two-state’ solution idea, but today, there are obstacles to that. Let’s look at them.

Partition of Palestine took place 75 years ago and a lot of history has taken place since then.  It is not too late to remedy problems that started then, but it cannot be done so long as Hamas and its Iranian supporters continue to demand the extermination of Israel, and while some in Israel want to continue to encourage settlements in areas it won in wars that Arab nations repeatedly lost, areas approaching Israel’s ancient biblical borders.

Once the weapons are silenced, these issues will become prominent. The chief obstacle right now to silencing them is that a ‘cease fire’ leaves Hamas’ terrorism unpunished and makes their attack seem worthwhile, something that is totally unacceptable to Israel. Remember that the United States as well as the European Union has declared Hamas to be a terrorist group.

It’s an awful question to ask, but how many of the Gaza Strip’s non-combatant civilian population, amidst whom Hamas’ military institutions are purposely located, have to die in bombings to satisfy Israel’s understandable need to avenge the 1,400 of its non-combatant civilians killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7, and the hostages Hamas kidnapped on that date, whose fate still remains uncertain?

Most recently, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said that two goals have been set for Israel’s war with Hamas: ‘To eliminate Hamas by destroying its military and governing abilities, and to do everything possible to bring our captives home.’

Within Israel’s military establishment, however, there is concern that Israel’s goals will be blurred if Mr. Netanyahu follows through on that promise to simultaneously seek to attain these two goals. 

The second goal, concerning the hostages, requires negotiation and accommodation with Hamas’s leadership (even if through intermediaries), while the first goal requires the elimination of Hamas’ military and governing abilities — a difficult balance to strike, two senior Israeli military officials recently said.  The question seems to be how you go about negotiating with someone you are intent on destroying? 

That’s why Israeli military action on the ground penetrating into the Gaza Strip have been limited and tentative.

                                                      *  *

A sad and overwhelming view of the tragedy occurring in Israel and Gaza today will appear in the Nov. 6 issue of the New Yorker magazine.  It is not easy reading and New Yorker editor David Remnick does not offer solutions.  In fact, the first sentence of his lengthy article reads ‘The only way to tell this story is to try to tell it truthfully and to know that you will fail.’ 

You can read it at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/06/israel-gaza-war-hamas or by CLICKING HERE.

Finally, Israel should think about the quote often attributed to Casey Stengel, when he managed the NY Yankees:  ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, you may end up somewhere else.’  That seems to describe the political situation in Israel today.

JL

                                                  *   *   *

 

Antisemitism in the United States

One cannot get involved with the subject discussed above without relating it to antisemitism in the United States.  For a shocking overview of that, critical of both our political parties, read S.E. Cupp’s column from Saturday’s Palm Beach Post.  (Cupp is a life-long Republican.)  More than a decade ago, Ms. Cupp shared an afternoon news commentary roundtable on MSNBC that featured several unknown but up-and-coming young voices, including Ari Melber, now an MSNBC mainstay.

Here is what she wrote last week:

“The Far Left Has a Serious Antisemitism Problem”

S.E. Cupp

 

“The headlines paint a troubling picture: 

'Liberals Need a Reckoning With Antisemitism.'

'How the Democrats betrayed the Jews.'

'The Left Faces a Reckoning as Israel Divides Democrats.'

 

The conflict between Israel and Hamas, a terrorist group that barbarically murdered 1,400 innocent civilians in a coordinated attack on Israel, has unleashed a shocking and appalling level of antisemitism from the left.

 

From a disturbing indifference to Jewish suffering, to an inability to make obvious declarative statements about Hamas’ atrocities, to a repeated moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas — the latter of which explicitly wants to wipe Jews off the planet — to outright hostility toward Jews, the ugly invective is coming from some unexpected places.

 

Inside the Democratic Party, elected state officials and members of Congress have refused to condemn Hamas and many have called for an immediate Israeli ceasefire, essentially demanding the IDF leave Hamas alone.

 

Rep. Rashida Tlaib and others are offering conspiracy theories about the attacks akin to 9/11 trutherism. Tlaib, for example, does not believe U.S., Israeli and media reports that an Islamic Jihad rocket misfire — not Israel — caused an explosion at a Gaza hospital. Instead, she believes Hamas, the terrorists, and is demanding an independent investigation. 'Both the White House and the Israeli government have long, documented histories of misleading the public about war and war crimes,' she said.

On college campuses, many of which are now infamous for trigger warnings, banning offensive speech and creating 'safe spaces,' professors and students are trafficking in viciously antisemitic comments in support of Palestinians, with one national student group celebrating the massacre as a 'historic win for the Palestinian resistance.'

 

In left-wing and mainstream media, a slew of commentators, hosts and reporters have pushed Hamas propaganda and anti-Israel sentiment.

 

According to Gallup, Democratic voters are also now more sympathetic toward Palestinians than Israelis, for the first time since it began asking.

 

This has all led to some soul-searching and exasperation among American Jews who once counted Democrats as supporters. Rabbi Joel Simonds says, 'In these last few days, the silence is deafening and it is hurtful and a betrayal on so many levels. It’s not going to change the way we look at justice. It’s going to change the way we look at our allies.'

 

Playwright David Mamet wrote of 'the sick thrill of antisemitism' inside the Democratic Party, that they 'repeat and refuse to retract the libel that Israel bombed a hospital, in spite of absolute proof to the contrary, and will not call out the unutterable atrocities of Hamas. The writing is on the wall. In blood.'

 

Jewish celebrities including Amy Schumer, Josh Gad and Debra Messing have all addressed antisemitism they’ve encountered.

I know how disorienting, disappointing, and distressing this is for my Jewish friends, as many have shared with me how scared and unsafe they suddenly feel in a country they thought would 'Never Forget.'

 

Back in 2017 I was shocked when hundreds of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, racists and bigots marched at a Virginia rally — unmasked and unashamed — wielding tiki torches, and screaming racist slogans like, 'Our blood, our soil,' 'Jews will not replace us,' and 'White Lives Matter!'

 

In the wake of the Charlottesville violence, where one neo-Nazi rammed his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters, injuring dozens and killing one woman, the president told America that there were 'some very fine people on both sides.'

 

I had to reconcile with a fact that made me physically sick to my stomach: this naked and appalling bigotry and hate is coming from inside my own political party.

 

Racism, of course, wasn’t new. It’s always been here. But to watch this level of proud intolerance take hold of a wing of the Republican Party, metastasize over the ensuing years, infect Congress and the right-wing media, and receive comfort from the party’s biggest standard-bearer — the president — has been one of the hardest things to watch in my career in politics.

 

If you’d told me 25 years ago that the Republican Party of Lincoln would one day elect white nationalists to Congress, that a president would dine openly with neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers, that a presidential candidate would insist that slavery had its upside, I wouldn’t have believed you.

 

Similarly, if you’d told me that the Democratic Party of Harry Truman would struggle one day to defend massacred Jews against Islamic terrorists whose stated purpose is the destruction of Israel and the annihilation of the Jews, I wouldn’t have believed this either.

I know it’s a painful reality to confront. But just as Donald Trump exposed a dark and ugly underbelly of the far right, Hamas has exposed a dark and ugly underbelly of the far left.

 

S.E. Cupp is the host of 'S.E. Cupp Unfiltered' on CNN.

 

JL

                                                 *   *   *

Contrarian Opinions

For several ‘contrarian’ opinions on American foreign policy, specifically concerning Israel and Ukraine, check out several articles Bari Weiss included in her ‘Free Press’ blog the other day. (Weiss is a former NYTimes writer who left that publication because of conflicts between its editorial staff and herself and has since moved rightward politically.) 

Whether one agrees or disagrees with these viewpoints is not the question.  It is a matter of being exposed to ideas not commonly discussed elsewhere.  Check them out at https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/WhctKKZNzNSffHmSvlvmfGVdFwgvbktxNVjPbLSrQhbtfZzxcbjdcBTfQPgBlDgbqwzBskV  or just CLICK HERE.

JL

                                                  *   *   *

Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri

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

Forwarding Postings: Please forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it. Friends, relatives, enemies, etc.

If you want to send someone the blog, exactly as you are now seeing it, with all of its bells and whistles, you can just tell folks to check it out by visiting https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com or by providing a link to that address in your email to them.   I think this is the best method of forwarding Jackspotpourri.

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 comment from you.  Each will receive a link to the textual portion only of the blog that you are now reading, but without the illustrations, colors, variations in typography, or the 'sidebar' features such as access to the blog's archives.

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

Again, I urge you to forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it.

 

JL

                                                 *   *   *  

October 27, 2023 - Guns

 

                                                 * * * 

Here is the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Read it carefully.

‘A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.’

We have a problem with gun violence in this country as again demonstrated on Tuesday in Maine, a problem that halfway measures will not solve. It comes from the proliferation of dangerous weapons allowed by a gross misinterpretation of that Amendment by the Supreme Court.  

The original intent of the Second Amendment in 1789 was to gain support for the new Constitution by the slaveholding States.  It assured them that they would not remain unarmed if the new federal government’s army ever took action against their economic bedrock, slavery.

In D.C. vs Heller in 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that the final 14 words of the Amendment can stand alone and not be tied to its first 13 words, which originally enunciated the Amendment’s purpose. This, and subsequent SCOTUS decisions resulted in the proliferation of guns, including military style assault weapons, and thousands of deaths over the years since 2008 in this country. 

It is time to address this problem, and not in a half-way manner, such as blaming mental health issues or waiting periods on gun purchases.  The best solution would be a repeal of the Second Amendment and its replacement by one more realistically worded.  That, unfortunately, according to the Constitution’s provisions, would take broad congressional and State approval and take many decades to bring about. We do not have time for that.

The best answer rests with the Supreme Court.  Because its size is not mandated by the Constitution, the President, with the approval of the Senate, can appoint additional Justices.  Four more would effectively balance the SCOTUS, the majority of whose Justices either voted for the  misinterpretation back in 2008 or have been since appointed and have chosen not to challenge opinions based upon it.  Only then, with an expanded Supreme Court, can there be an attempt to eliminate gun violence in this country.

This would open the way to a SCOTUS decision (a) banning civilian possession of military assault weapons but still (b) allowing civilians to possess weapons for use in hunting, sports activities, and personal or business protection, all within careful federal, rather than State, guidelines.  State legislatures, hotbeds of political rivalries, cannot be trusted in regard to this subject. Maine, for example, had few if any gun control regulations.  This is too important to leave to the States.  Lives are at stake.

Four steps are necessary on your part to accomplish this:

1.  Writing to President Biden and your Senators demanding expansion of the Supreme Court by at least four new Justices.  Do it today.

2.  Donating to organizations presently working hard to curtail gun violence. Two of them are Giffords.org and Bradyunited.org, both named for public servants who were the victims of gun violence.  Do it today.

3.  And most important of all, your personal and continuing involvement is required.  (Step 4 will follow in a few paragraphs.)

That involvement would include talking to people about the necessity of gun control, as discussed above.  Talk about Parkland, Uvalde, Sandy Hook, Lewiston, Buffalo, El Paso, etc., massacres that might have involved them or their children or relatives if they had been on the scene.  All of the arguments are on your side, with only the misinterpretation of the Second Amendment on the side of those opposed to gun controls.  Be careful though.  Many who oppose gun controls also harbor anti-government sentiments, which they feel justifies their being armed.

Personally, ever since the tragic shootings at nearby Marjorie Douglas High School in Parkland in 2018, I have been doing two things.

First, I still have a tee shirt from a demonstration I attended at the time, reading ‘Grandparents Against Assault Weapons.’  I wear it on days like yesterday, when there is a shooting in the news, as took place in Lewiston, Maine. People see it and raise a fist in agreement.  They should do more.  They don’t.

Also for the past five years, since Parkland, I have had a sign in my car’s rear window reading ‘Want an Assault Rifle?  Join the Army.’  I believe it is the only such sign in Palm Beach and Broward Counties, where people just don’t seem to care.  Some have given me dirty looks but there has not been any tire slashing nor ‘keying.’  Here’s what it looks like:

                    

Make a copy.  (Copy and paste the words above as a document, save it, print it out and then) mount it on a piece of cardboard and put where it can be seen through your car’s rear window.

The Fourth Step:  Please pass this message on to about a dozen friends, neighbors, or relatives, people to whom you do not usually forward messages.  It is that important that the word be spread.  And do that today.

 

JL

                                                 *   *   *

Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri

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

Forwarding Postings: Please forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it. Friends, relatives, enemies, etc.

If you want to send someone the blog, exactly as you are now seeing it, with all of its bells and whistles, you can just tell folks to check it out by visiting https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com or by providing a link to that address in your email to them.   I think this is the best method of forwarding Jackspotpourri.

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 comment from you.  Each will receive a link to the textual portion only of the blog that you are now reading, but without the illustrations, colors, variations in typography, or the 'sidebar' features such as access to the blog's archives.

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

Again, I urge you to forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it.

 

JL

                                                 *   *   *  

October 25, 2023 - Delays in Israel Retailiation, a Book Review, 'Passing,' and Some Florida History including a 'Sing-a-long'

                              *   *   *

Four Reasons for the Delay in the Israeli Military Reaction to the Hamas Attack

(from a New York Times report on Monday, October 22.)

Hostages: The U.S. wants more time for hostage negotiations. On Friday, the U.S. secured the release of two American hostages, with Qatar’s help. Israel believes Hamas may release about 50 hostages who are citizens of another country as well as Israel, but a ground invasion could make hostage releases less likely.

Defense: Biden is worried about a wider regional conflict, potentially including Iran. American officials want more time to prepare for attacks from Iran-backed groups, which they believe will intensify after the invasion. The State Department has ordered some government employees and family members to leave the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and the Pentagon is sending more missile defense systems to the region.

 

 

Aid: U.S. officials have stressed the importance of getting more food, water and medicine to Palestinian civilians in southern Gaza. Over the weekend, two aid convoys passed into the territory. On a call yesterday, Biden and Netanyahu agreed that “there will now be continued flow” of humanitarian aid into Gaza, according to the White House. Strategy: Biden has advised Israel to avoid the mistakes that the U.S. made after 9/11 — when, enraged after an attack, American officials pursued a war in Afghanistan (and later one in Iraq) with flawed strategies. And urban warfare in Gaza’s streets is notoriously difficult. U.S. officials hope Israel first takes the time to weaken Hamas through airstrikes and plan a successful campaign that minimizes civilian casualties, as our colleague Steven Erlanger said.” That about sums it up.  The freeing of a few more hostages doesn’t really change things from what was reported on Monday. Hostage Released to Egyptian medics blamed Israel for lack of security in their village adjacent to Gaza Strip. Her husband is still being held as a hostage.

JL 

 

                                                        *   *   *

 

A Book Review

Andy Borowitz is known for his political satire, seen in the New Yorker magazine and elsewhere.  But in his 2022 book, ‘Profiles in Ignorance – How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber’ (Avid Reader Press), he is serious.  Primarily, he points his acidic finger at Republicans, but Democrats are not immune from criticism. 

Borowitz makes his case by describing the ‘three stages of ignorance.’  First is ridicule where evidence of the politician’s stupidity is ridiculed by those close to him who recognize it, but keep it hidden by using the politician’s performing talent or by his enablers' skills in order to elect him to office.  ‘Presidential-looking’ candidates like Ronald Reagan and Dan Quayle are the best examples of this, despite their total lack of fitness for the job.  When Ronald Reagan was asked by a reporter what kind of president he would be, he replied that he was unsure, since he ‘had never played a president in a movie.’ 

The next state of ignorance is its acceptance, where being stupid is just fine, because that’s a quality many voters also share, making it easy for them to relate to the candidate and vote for him or her, George W. Bush being a great example.  Being someone with whom you might share a beer became a greater virtue than anything approaching intellectual excellence.  Some, like Bill Clinton, faked stupidity, played the saxophone, and came across like Elvis Presley, in order to win votes. 

The third stage is where stupidity is no longer something to ridicule, and is not only accepted but is nationally celebrated as an admirable trait, Donald Trump being the prime example, although Sara Palin pioneered this attitude on the public’s part in her vice-presidential run with John McCain, who certainly knew better.  Crazy as it seems, the flaws in their characters are what appealed to voters about Palin, and of course, Trump.  

None of these politicians had read any books or knew how to spell or were familiar with basic grammatic rules, or had given any thought, if that were possible, to how our government works.  They all shared very questionable educational credentials.  But they looked and sounded good, especially if you paid no attention to what they were saying.  Of necessity, they all managed to appoint someone with a ‘brain’ to guide their daily public activities, as brief as they were, for the sake of appearances, even though they still were the decision makers.  And those decisions certainly got the nation into trouble, domestically and internationally. 

The book is filled with examples, many of which will make you laugh until you realize they were uttered by the head of State of the most powerful nation in the world.  

If you are old enough, and a couple of the followers of this blog might be, they might remember a radio program in the 1940s entitled 'It Pays to be Ignorant.'  While intended to be a funny comedy, spoofing real 'quiz shows,' prevalent in those days, today it would come off as deadly serious. 

Borowitz offers a solution.  To find it, read the book, or just ask me.

JL 

 

                                                        *   *   *

 

 

Is ‘Passing’ the Same as ‘Passing Away’? When the death of someone is reported in the media, or sometimes mentioned in conversation, the usual language used is that ‘So and So’ has ‘passed away.’  More and more, I seem to see the word ‘away’ dropped and the report of a death shortened to “So and So has passed.’  There is a difference.  ‘Passing away’ conjures up the simple image of the deceased having left the world of the living for parts unknown, the definition of ‘away’ being left to the listener, who can place it anywhere their imagination takes them, such as heaven, hell, a puff of smoke, in a grave or mausoleum, as simply ‘expiring,’ or even ‘nowhere in particular.’ One thing is certain. Someone who ‘passes away’ is no longer here. Saying ‘passed’ without the word ‘away,’ however, is different.  It implies that our existence is a journey, along which one proceeds, and that being alive is just a lengthy stop during that journey which has concluded and from which the deceased has now ‘passed’ and is leaving behind.  I’m reminded of the legendary ‘Johnny Appleseed’ who passed throughout the country planting apple trees wherever he went until he died, or a train paused for a while in a station before it goes on to its next stop.  Similarly, it must be assumed that any deceased who ‘passes’ in that manner continues their travels on to somewhere else.  Religions invariably attempt to define that next place and take it away from the from the imagination of the listener.  Some religions, separating the body from the soul, may consider that the deceased might still exist, in the form of their soul, even though their physical body has stopped functioning.  Frankly, despite such religious considerations, I prefer ‘passed away’ to ‘passed.’  A law school graduate getting their favorable bar exam results, a tournament bridge player with very few points in their hand, or a football quarterback, all might be accurately described as having ‘passed’ while still remaining alive, living and breathing.  I don’t think this bit of confusion exists in other languages, but it does in English. JL                                                            *   *   *

 Floridians:  Betcha Didn’t Know This 

In the 1890s, Henry Flagler’s East Coast Railway drew, among others, three land speculators from Michigan to Florida.  One was a retired Army major, another was a Congressman, and a third just came along to see if he could make a buck (which he did). 

They bought a lot of land and today, that is the heart of the southern part of Florida’s Palm Beach County.  The major’s last name was Boynton and the area where he bought land is now a city named after him.  The Congressman, whose last name was Linton, bought a big chunk of land to the south of Boynton’s that now comprises Delray Beach and Boca Raton. A major east-west boulevard is named after him. 

The third Michigander, Swinton, bought and resold land in what became Delray Beach, settling there with many others and in fact, named a local lake after his wife, Ida.  A major avenue, near where he lived, also carries his name.  

Eventually, in the 1920s, Architect Addison Mizner designed a new ‘resort’ city called Boca Raton, and which initially attracted, in addition to many others, Japanese settlers who were concentrated in the area around Yamato (an ancient name for Japan) Road. 

But it all started with those three visitors from Michigan.

At this point, all of you who live in the places named above are required to rise and sing the University of Michigan fight song, ‘The Victors,’ even if you will be rooting for Ohio State on November 25. 

Here are the words of the chorus: “Hail! to the victors valiant, Hail! to the conquering heroes, Hail, Hail, to Michigan, the champions of the West.”  (And the founders of much of southern Palm Beach County.)  If you don’t know the tune, just CLICK HERE. 

(If that doesn't work, the link to the tune can be found at https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=7de983eb77e7fc94&sxsrf=AM9HkKnhZudXDyaiAVBkaiVDP6LGKoji4A:1698165865748&q=The+victors+fight+song+youtube&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi3-cnpkI-CAxVmmIQIHTg_D8gQ1QJ6BAhmEAE&biw=1920&bih=902&dpr=1#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:1815a011,vid:em3r5z5qlsA,st:0)

JL 

                                                        *   *   *

                                       

Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri

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

Forwarding Postings: Please forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it. Friends, relatives, enemies, etc.

If you want to send someone the blog, exactly as you are now seeing it, with all of its bells and whistles, you can just tell folks to check it out by visiting https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com or by providing a link to that address in your email to them.   I think this is the best method of forwarding Jackspotpourri.

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 comment from you.  Each will receive a link to the textual portion only of the blog that you are now reading, but without the illustrations, colors, variations in typography, or the 'sidebar' features such as access to the blog's archives.

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

Again, I urge you to forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it.

 

JL

                                                 *   *   *  

October 22, 2023 - More on the Israele-Hamas War, a Time Warp Revisited, and Saving Baseball.

 

Thoughts on the Israeli-Hamas War

Yes, the President was right in making his remarks Thursday evening.  We must continue to support the State of Israel in its struggle against Hamas and we must  continue to support Ukraine in  its struggle to remain separate from Russia.  The ideals upon which both of these struggles are based are traditional American values, well protected in this country by the rule of law as documented in our Constitution, but less well protected elsewhere, where intentional brutality against civilians sometimes accompanies warfare, as has taken place in the Hamas attack on Israel and by the Russians in Ukraine. 

What the President did not discuss are the specific chips that probably are on the bargaining table in the negotiations that are taking place somewhere between our diplomats, and perhaps those of the parties involved in these struggles and other intermediaries as well.  

That’s what the presence of President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken in the area were all about.  That’s what got a few hostages freed and seems to be delaying forward movement by the Israeli troops massed on the border of the Gaza Strip.  

'So, this is the deal, Bibi'

It appears to me that President Biden laid it on the line to Netanyahu that so long as the United States was standing behind Israel, they had to hold off on moving its massed troops into the Gaza Strip.  That might disturb the delicate negotiations that are going on.  That seems to be the case as negotiations proceed.

Let’s take a look at the bargaining chips in those negotiations.  We’ll look at the Israel-Hamas War first.      

    ·        Israel can claim that It was attacked by Hamas militants on October 7, an attack that violated the rules of war civilized nations follow. With no specific military objective, Hamas militants murdered and kidnapped innocent civilians, including infants, in Israeli communities near the Gaza border.  Israel cannot be blamed for the recent confrontation.                  

 ·        Israel can claim that while it initially worked to bring about a ‘twostate solution,’ as envisioned by the United Nations resolutions bringing about partition of Palestine in 1948 and the establishment of the State of Israel, it was the failure of Arab groups to act on this ‘two state solution,’ and to militarily oppose it without success for more than half a century that brought nationalist politicians to power in Israel who are no longer supportive of such a ‘two-state solution.’  Because Israel is a democracy though, many Israelis favor such a solution and the present government’s position clearly is reversible.

 ·      Israel has clear military superiority over its Arab opponents in Palestine, who are impotent without the backing of Iran.

 ·        Israel will argue that it has always attempted to avoid involving civilian deaths in their efforts to defend Israel from Hamas attacks. Air and artillery bombardments were always preceded by warnings to civilians. Even now, Israel has delayed invading northern Gaza, until civilians there follow their warnings and move southward.  Hamas has always placed its military installations such as missile launching sites in civilian locations, so that Israel might be hesitant to attack them.  Israel can argue that the day those Hamas rocket attacks stop will be the day Israel’s defensive response stops, enabling both civilian populations to sleep better.       Israel will argue that it wants to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, whose supply of food, water, and power they control, but these efforts have been obstructed by Hamas.  They don’t want distribution of such aid to be in the questionable hands of Hamas.

 ·        Israel will claim the economic, diplomatic, and military backing of the United States, which cannot be ignored.

 ·        Israel will point out that historically, Jews have lived on the area known as Palestine for many centuries and have as much right to be there as do Arabs.

 ·        Israel will argue that Palestinians living in territories occupied by Israel, outside of its borders, living under the Palestinian Authority, reluctantly working with the Israeli government, ‘have it much better’ than do those in Gaza where is Hamas government is only interested in the destruction of Israel.  

                                                        *   *

 Those supporting the Palestinian side of this struggle have the following ‘chips’ with which to bargain.

 ·        Numero Uno: Iran!  The Hamas military effort in Gaza, as well as that of Hezbollah, on Israel’s northern border, are supported by Iran, who denies that, but remains an important factor in any negotiations. (I find it hard to believe that in some way, they are not already involved in negotiations, that probably go beyond the Israeli-Hamas conflict.)

 ·        They will argue that the State of Israel displaced Arabs living in Palestine for many years, taking land that never belonged to them, and which they believe the United Nations had no right to give to the State of Israel in 1948.  

 ·     Hamas holds almost 200 hostages.

 ·        They will argue that the UN’s 1948 Palestine partition agreement was more favorable to Palestine’s Jews than to its Arabs.

 ·        They will argue that the State of Israel allows and encouraged Israeli settlements to be established in areas of Palestine that were intended to be a Palestinian state, existing side-by-side with Israel, making a ‘two-state’ solution impossible. 

 ·        They will argue that Palestinians who were unjustly forced out of Palestine by the State of Israel in 1948, live in squalor in refugee camps, which their descendants still inhabit. This applies to Gaza as well. And that Israel is to blame for these camps.

 ·        They will argue that Israeli attacks on Gaza are not directed at military targets, but at defenseless civilians and their descendants there, who were chased out of Israel in 1948.  

 

                                    *   *                                   

 

And now, let’s look at the situation in Ukraine. 

Historically, many think of Ukraine as a part of Russia.  Until the Soviet Union broke up in 1990, Ukraine belonged to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly known as the USSR.  A year later it declared its full independence although in 1945, it was, as one of the USSR’s republics, a founding member of the United Nations.  

But starting in 1991, it assumed its full separate identity.  Back when the Tsars ruled Russia until after the First World War, Ukraine was considered part of Russia.   But even before that rule by the Tsars, the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the basis of today’s Russia, had its ancient beginnings with migrants from the area known as Ukraine.  But Ukraine was always different in that Ukrainians spoke a different language and had a functioning economy different from that of the rest of Russia.  But that didn’t stop it from inspiring the provincial locale of some Russian plays (Chekov?) or some Russian music (Mussorgsky?).

Ukraine’s chips on the table there include (1) Ukraine’s valuable location on the Black Sea, centering on the Crimean peninsula.  That provides ready access to the world’s oceans.  (2) Ukraine also produces sufficient grain to be among the world’s prime exporters.  (3) The government of Ukraine has the support of the United States, which is supplying it with military equipment.  (4) Ukraine seeks the return of Ukrainian orphans taken to Russia for adoption and ‘Russification.’ Consider these to be among Ukraine’s bargaining chips.  

In Russia’s hands are the chips representing the fact that (1) many Ukrainians, particularly in its two eastern provinces, Donetsk and Luhansk, (oblasts they call them) primarily speak Russian as their primary language and consider themselves Russians first.  Another chip is that during the Second World War, (2) many Ukrainians stood with Russia while other Ukrainians manifested their long-standing animosity toward Russia by being sympathetic toward the German invaders of the USSR.  Although rarely spoken about except by Russian politicians, this is not forgotten, and this attitude is still present among some of Ukrainians fighting against Russia today and is not to their credit.  

                                                       *   *

The United States may be willing to continue to provide both humanitarian aid and military hardware to Israel, where Hamas has committed appalling acts of brutality against civilians, as well as to Ukraine, where Russia has committed appalling acts of brutality against civilians, but it will be connected in both situations to bargaining dealing with the issues mentioned above, where I have loosely attempted to describe some of the arguments of both sides.

Israel has been urged by President Biden, who made it clear that the United States stands strongly behind Israel, to exercise restraint in responding to Hamas’ attack on civilians.  That may be a hard pill for some Israelis to swallow, but in fact, Israeli troops have not yet moved into Gaza, although bombing does continue so long as Hamas shoots off missiles.

Looking ahead, if the ongoing negotiations succeed in ending the present hostilities, the question of Israeli settlements in territory intended to be part of a Palestinian state in a 'two-state solution' must be addressed, and that will be an ever more difficult pill for Israel to swallow, requiring at least a change in Israel's present Knesset make-up. one hard nut to crack.

Also, our Congress is crippled by the Republican-caused chaos in the House of Representatives where  the inability to pass legislation may delay or otherwise affect our helping Ukraine and Israel.

There also is the growth of antisemitism in the United States, where there is extensive well-financed and organized publicity and misinformation concerning the suffering of Palestinians, especially in academic circles and among college students, and resulting acts of violence toward Jews.  And on the other side, the descriptions and illustrations of the bloody acts by Hamas committed on innocent civilians has already resulted in criminal acts of violence against Palestinians in this country.  Neither are justified except in the eyes of extremists who are up to no good.

Keep reading reliable newspapers to be aware of the latest developments in these very fluid situations.

 

JL 

  

                                                        *   *   *

 

Here’s a piece from Jackpotpourri’s archives, originally appearing in December of 2017.  It still rings true.

 Living in a Time Warp

We live in the Twenty-first century.  At least that’s what a glance at the calendar indicates.  In “senior” or “over-55” communities, many of which we have down here in Florida, most folks are still living in the Twentieth century!  Take a look at the entertainment provided in their “clubhouses,” the music they listen to and even the kind of restaurants in which they eat.

Too-Jays, a delicatessen chain, has 27 restaurants in South Florida.  There are numerous other purveyors of pastrami, corned beef, chopped liver and other delicacies, loaded in great quantities between two slices of crisp-crusted yet soft rye bread served with a side of cole slaw or half sour pickles here in the Sunshine State.  But clearly, this is a Twentieth century thing for the Twentieth century people inhabiting much of Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties.  T'ain't so elsewhere.

The last time I was up in New York, it was difficult to find such delicatessens in the “hipper” regions of lower Manhattan.  There remained a few on the lower East Side and on the upper West Side, but they are far outnumbered by Twenty-first century eateries specializing in Japanese, Indian or Thai cuisine or a mélange known as Asian Fusion.  Strictly Chinese restaurants have become rarities in the Twenty-first century except in South Florida, and even there, they are gradually disappearing.  Long time favorites such as the Carnegie Deli and the Stage Deli are history in the Big Apple, but there is an acceptable delicatessen called the Stage Deli in Naples, on Florida’s Gulf Coast, where there also are many retirees living in the last century.

Rodgers with either Hart or Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, the Gershwin Brothers, Irving Berlin and all the other stalwarts of the Broadway Musical scene in the Twentieth century survive in Florida on innumerable stages, far more than on the Great White Way.  Retirees flock to hear singers who offer “tribute” performances dedicated to, or are attempted imitations of, Sinatra, Streisand, the Beatles, the Four Seasons, the Beach Boys and others who hearken back to the days when Rhythm and Blues gave birth to Rock ‘n Roll.  

Hip-hop, even the intellectualized version presented in Lin Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton,” have yet to penetrate South Florida’s retirees, who still flock to revivals of “Fiddler on the Roof.” 

"If I were a rich man," sang Tevya

The appeal of such nostalgia seems to be useful to seniors in postponing the prospect of growing older, which would come with accepting the fact that the Twentieth century is history.

Armed with Twenty-first century technology, many retirees with Twentieth century habits still limit using their costly “smartphones” to just making telephone calls, and many still have the simpler clam shell type phones which can’t do much more than that.   And if they need a ride somewhere, they are often more likely to call a cab, or try to hail one if they are in a big northern city, rather than order a ride via Uber or Lyft which Twenty-first century people do.

Yes, this even extends to the way they dress.  In the Twentieth century world of South Florida, many men still wear white sneakers (usually New Balance) whereas those elsewhere, living in the Twenty-first century, wear sneakers featuring all of the colors of the rainbow.

Yes, we are living in a time warp down here in Florida, where the Twenty-first century is on the other side of the horizon for many of us, even though the calendar says that right now, it is almost 2018.

JL  

                                                        *   *   *

 A Radical Idea to Save Baseball

It’s official. A national survey of Americans’ sports watching preferences, in person and on TV, put baseball in third place, way behind football and basketball. As a fan of baseball, a sport with more demands than just pushing a ball over a line or through a hoop, I am disappointed. But constructively, let’s take a look at what’s wrong with baseball.

Despite recent changes (designated hitter, pitching clock, larger bases, infielder positioning limits, minimum batters relievers face), more must be done.  Right now, the clear superiority of pitching over hitting is the core of the problem.  Pitchers have developed a great variety of deliveries (curve balls, sliders, sinkers, cutters, change-ups, fast balls … both 2 and 4 seam, knuckle balls, etc.)  that put batters, however talented, at a great disadvantage, at least while the pitcher’s arm remains strong.  And most of the time, that is about five innings, longer for the true aces. 

Most major league teams have at least one or two or even more pitchers who can fool batters for that length of time.  Sometimes they give up a first-inning run or two, before getting into their rhythm.  But the first five innings of most ball games see far less hitting than the rest of the game. Go look at some box scores and you will see it. A good number of games reach that point with zero-to-zero scores.  The real action starts when the relief pitchers and closers take to the mound.  I usually ignore baseball games on TV until the fifth inning, when the real game starts.

To remedy this, how about limiting all pitchers to three innings on the mound. After that, goodbye!  Take a shower, even if you have a no-hitter working.  Who wants to watch that during the early innings of a game anyway? 

And as for relief pitchers coming out of the bullpen, many are as tricky as many starters. Therefore, I suggest that it be permitted to bring in a relief pitcher only after a run is scored or if there are two men on base, or if the pitcher being relieved has pitched their proposed maximum of three innings.  Why add to the advantages pitchers already have in their bag of tricks … and that, in my opinion, is what is ruining the game.

The present rule (a relief pitcher must pitch to three batters before being replaced, unless he just comes in to pitch to one batter to end an inning) should be replaced since it gives an advantage, even with that three-batter minimum, to a well-stocked bullpen.

Bringing in a relief pitcher for just one inning or a closer for a game’s final three outs to lock in a victory should not be allowed.  Whoever is pitching, unless they have been scored upon or put two men on base, would have to stay on to finish their three inning stint, even if it is in the apparent last inning of a game.

This is the way to make baseball more exciting.  It should be tried in a minor league setting first, but only a major league setting can prove whether it is or is not a good idea.  Meanwhile, save some time by skipping viewing the first four innings of most baseball games.  The excellence of too many starting pitchers has made it that way.  It's time to give the game back to those swinging bats and running bases.

JL 

 

                                                 *   *   *  

 Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri

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

Forwarding Postings: Please forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it. Friends, relatives, enemies, etc.

If you want to send someone the blog, exactly as you are now seeing it, with all of its bells and whistles, you can just tell folks to check it out by visiting https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com or by providing a link to that address in your email to them.   I think this is the best method of forwarding Jackspotpourri.

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 comment from you.  Each will receive a link to the textual portion only of the blog that you are now reading, but without the illustrations, colors, variations in typography, or the 'sidebar' features such as access to the blog's archives. 

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

Again, I urge you to forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it.

 

JL

                                                 *   *   *