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Four Reasons for the Delay in the Israeli Military Reaction to the Hamas AttackHostages: 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.
|
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
* * *
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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
* * * |
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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
JL
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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
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