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| Nixon |
In her July 16 ‘Letters from an American,’ Boston College history professor
Heather Cox Richardson describes how the Watergate burglary, of which June 17 was
the fifty-second anniversary, ultimately ended Nixon’s presidency.
Republicans have
learned from that and continue to defy the ‘rule of law’ in far more sophisticated ways, actually convincing
millions of Americans through a galaxy of lies fed to them through a corrupted
media, led by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, to willingly treat their un-American, anti-democratic, and
often illegal, subversive activities as a normal part of everyday poiitics.
Read all about what happened in 1972 at https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/ OR CLICK RIGHT HERE.
History may not precisely repeat itself, but as is attributed to Mark Twain, it often rhymes with itself.
JL
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Can They Be Trusted At All?
I’m including the following item from the always liberal Daily KOS’ daily round up of ‘punditry’ that they published recently (6/17/24), titling it ‘The Motivated Ignorance of Trump Supporters.’ (I don't know who they were quoting.) Indeed, there comes a time when we all might consider whether the behavior of the supporters of the convicted felon who the Republicans will nominate as their presidential candidate goes beyond their politics and reveals a much more basic flaw in their character, leading one to feel that no one who supports Trump, or even votes for Republicans who do, can be trusted at all about anything. Anything at all! Check it out:
"Trump supporters can't claim they didn't know. ... But something has changed for me in the Trump era. I struggle more than I once did to wall off
a person’s character from their politics when their politics is binding them to an unusually - and I would say undeniably - destructive person. The lies that MAGA world parrots are so manifestly untrue, and the the Trump ethic is so manifestly cruel, that they are difficult to set aside.
If
a person insists, despite the overwhelming evidence, that Trump was the target
of an assassination plot hatched by Biden and carried out by the FBI, this is
more than an intellectual failure; it is a moral failure, and a serious one at that. It’s only reasonable
to conclude that such Trump supporters have not made a good-faith effort to
understand what is really and truly happening. They are choosing to ‘live within the lie,’ to invoke the words of
the former Czech dissident and playwright Vaclav Havel.
One
of the criteria that need to be taken into account in assessing the moral
culpability of people is how absurd the lies are that they are espousing; a
second is how intentionally they are avoiding evidence that exposes the lies
because they are deeply invested in the lie; and a third is is how
consequential the lie is."
JL
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Juneteenth
Today is 'Juneteenth,' commemorating the earler Emancipation of Slaves in the Confederacy in 1863 by President Lincoln. The enslaved black population in Texas, and in much of the Confederacy, had not been aware of their freedom until the Union Army general who captured Galveston told them about it on June 19, 1865. To many, Juneteenth is celebrated as a second Declaration of Independence, which had inaccurately proclaimed that all men were created equal. Juneteenth marks the correction of that error.
JL
The Numbers are Down - I Wonder Why
I keep count on the number of views Jackspotpourri gets from legitimate followers in the United
States. Each Jackspotpourri posting is
preceded by an alert announcing it to about 75 email addresses, and suggesting
that they pass it on. Over the past few
years, I’ve been able to determine that no more than half of that number (in
the United States), including any to whom they might have forwarded it, are taking
the time to look at any single Jackspotpourri posting. I can
live with that number, but what is worrisome is that that number has been steadily
going down over the past few weeks.
I hope this is not due to an attitude on the part of people that ‘Que Sera, Sera,’ (‘What will be, will be’) as Connie Francis sang and that it’s not necessary to get involved politically.
Political involvement is always necessary, especially on the local
level, from which it spreads upward to national contests. Presently, the nation’s conservatives are
well aware of this but other concentrations of voters may not be.
Reduced political involvement of those with whom they disagree is
precisely the aim of those who want to replace our representative democracy
with a more easily managed autocracy.
That is what Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters who have corrupted the
Republican Party want. All I can do is to keep plugging on and repeatedly urge
those who still follow this blog to remember that . . .
(If you want a copy of this on a flyer to mount on a piece of sturdy
cardboard and display in you car’s rear window, as I do in mine, just ask me
for one by emailing me at jacklippman18@gmail.com)
* *
There are many reasons for some people lessening their getting involved politically. They include wide disagreements as to how to approach challenges such as Russian aggression in Ukraine, Chinese economic growth, continued support of Israel, immigration on our Southern border, the inequities built into the way we elect our presidents, gerrymandering, availability of healthcare, climate change, the limits of First Amendment rights, and regulation of the financial marketplace. Rather than deal with such problems, too many feel overwhelmed and are willing to just sit back and wait to see what happens.
That is not good because others, not committed to preserving our democracy, are NOT similarly willing to just sit back. In fact, it is dangerous.
JL
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What's Wrong With The Miami Marlins
The Miami Marlins, even if they lose the remainder of the games on their
schedule, will not surpass the modern ‘most games lost’ record, 120 losses,
held by the 1962 New York Mets. They
can’t even win that distinction. I
predict that the Marlins will end up losing about 110 games this season while
winning about 52.
The pitiful aspect of this is that ownership of the team, since 2017,
has been led by Bruce Sherman, who has been very successful in the financial
world, particularly in the area of wealth management. He knows how to invest for the greatest
returns. Prior owners have also come with records of considerable successes in
various aspects of the business world.
I am certain that if these owners had practiced the level of skill they have brought to the Marlins organization in their activities in the business world, they would be sleeping in their cars or in a temporary shelter for the homeless, and applying for food stamps.
The Miami Marlins once had outfielders Giancarlo Stanton, Mike Yelich,
and Marcell Ozuna under contract. All were
mostly traded away for players who were supposed to be the wave of the future
for the Marlins but never were. Star pitcher
Pedro Lopez was traded for batting champion Luis Arraez, which looked like a
good deal until Arraez, only this year, was traded for minor leaguers who might,
but might not, be the wave of the future.
The starting pitchers and the bullpen relievers of today’s Marlins team
are not bad. Unfortunately, they have
to be almost perfect when the average number of runs the Marlins manage to
score is far under three per nine-inning game.
 |
| Jazz Chisholm - The Marlins' Only 'Star' |
It should be drilled into the dense heads of Marlins ownership and management that any trades they make should be for consistent hitters who would regularly score enough runs to make the near impossible job of Marlins pitchers easier, and not next year or tomorrow, but today! Except for Jazz Chisholm, the Marlins dependence on professional baseball ‘journeymen’ who sometimes blow hot, but mostly cold at the plate, cannot accomplish that. As a result, the performance of the entire team, intentionally or subconsciously, deteriorates. That is what is happening right now. Acquiring and keeping such consistent hitters to play every day should have priority over future hopes when they make a trade, at least until a few years of offensive success are accomplished, and under the team’s belt.
Right now, the Marlins rank third among the thirty MLB teams in runners
left on base at the end of an inning, behind the hard-hitting Cleveland
Guardians and the Cincinnati Reds, but both of these teams put far more runners
on the bases to start with than the weak-hitting Marlins, so they really lead in
that category. This is not a statistic
of which to be proud.
The 2023 season was supposed to be a start to such a process, but the Marlins
ownership’ scuttled that idea, preferring to operate out of a mindset trained
in hedge fund investing where losing investments are balanced with successful
ones to achieve a favorable long-term result. But perpetually seeking long-term results for
the Marlins ignores the fact that its opposition in the National League’s East
division during each 162 game season are four other well-stocked baseball teams and not a
team of IRS auditors. This total concentration
upon a ‘success down the road’ philosophy, I understand, is one of the reasons
for the departure of last year’s Marlins General Manager, Kim Ng, who at least
steered the team into a 2023 playoff berth.
Few teams have ever tumbled so far, so rapidly.
Bruce Sherman and his wealth management cronies should recognize that ownership of a baseball team is different from other investments. It should take into consideration the players on the team, the team’s fans, and the historical background that comes with ownership of that baseball team. When the day comes when the Marlins are again sold, with the team probably being moved to Nashville, Charlotte, or even Mexico City, to establish a new fan base, the new owners should recognize this. Otherwise, they should stick to Wall Street.
But here's what I think they should do right now!
When this season’s ‘trading deadline’ approaches at the end of July, the Marlins should not put Josh Bell on the market, as it is predicted they will be doing. Rather, they should trade starting pitchers Luzardo, Weathers, Garrett, and Rogers, and closer Tanner Scott, for more players like Bell! And those they put on the market might even include Sandy Alcantara, out this year for Tommy John surgery, too! Prematurely moving unready pitchers up from the minor leagues as starters and to serve as relievers is unlikely to produce a worse record than their present pitchers are accomplishing without meaningful help from their hitters, and these ‘rookies’ would have support at the plate, acquired by trading away most of the existing pitching staff to get it. The Marlins’ problems are all in the batters’ box and in the owner's suite.
"The Post's treating the Miami Marlins as if they didn't exist, and its minimalist reporting of Major League Baseball in general, reached its pinnacle with the June 9 sports section's page 1 headline featuring cricket, and the Local section devoted more space to a dispute over diamond use by two conflicting teenage baseball 'travel teams.' Any mention of MLB was limited to its inclusion on the small-font 'Scoreboard' page. I know the Post's sports coverage is allocated by the size of a sport's fan base, but cricket? C'mon.
I might add that there was a lot about baseball in today's Palm Beach Post, but I suspect that was motivated by today, as pointed out above, being celebrated as Juneteenth, and not the sport itself.
JL
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Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri
Strange “Hits’! The large number of those accessing Jackspotpouri from Singapore has suddenly ceased. In their place, however, there have appeared large numbers of ‘hits’ on each posting in the hundreds, and as was the case with those from Singapore, but this time from Hong Kong! I suspect that the Chinese are playing around with internet transmissions, possibly to try to identify who is reading them.
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, you can just tell them to check it out by visiting https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com or you can provide a link to that address in your email to them.
There’s another, perhaps easier, method of forwarding it though! Google Blogspot, the platform on which Jackspotpourri is prepared, makes that possible. If you click on the tiny envelope with the arrow at the bottom of every posting, you will have the opportunity to list up to ten email addresses to which that blog posting will be forwarded, along with a brief comment from you. Each will receive a link to click on that will directly connect them to the blog.
Either way will work, sending them the link to https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com, or clicking on the envelope at the bottom of this posting.
Again, I urge you to forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it, particularly if they are a registered voter. This is an election year. Spread the word.
JL
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