July 6, 2024 - Political Thoughts

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The President Says He Will Remain the Democratic Candidate ... but For How Long?

In the preceding posting, Jackspotpourri suggested watching for an increase in the involvement of Vice President Kamala Harris in the ongoing dilemma of how to deal with President Biden's occasional incidents of physical or mental fragility.  I was correct and indeed, public attention is more and more being directed toward her, as I predicted.  The New York Times touched upon many aspects of  her potential candidacy today.  Check that out at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/05/us/politics/kamala-harris-biden.html?campaign_id=56&emc=edit_cn_20240706&instance_id=128093&nl=on-politics&regi_id=78918068&segment_id=171465&te=1&user_id=02fa158150d34dc186b01b1b8ec7a224  or CLICK RIGHT HERE.  

But as of now, the president remains adamant in his refusing to give up his candidacy, something some Democrats suggest, for the sake of their Party and the nation.  That decision is his, but for how long it will be solely his is questionable.  His vice president, chosen by him four years ago to replace him in the event of his death or his inability to carry out the duties of the presidency, naturally supports him.  That would be expected of her.  Nevertheless, as the Times article mentioned above, Kamala Harris is fast becoming her own person.

The possibility exists that sometime between now and the election, a variety of  changing circumstances might result in her becoming president.  If that occurs after the August Democratic convention (during which such a situation would have exacerbated existing conflicts within the Party) but still before Election Day, the problem would be further compounded.  In many jurisdictions, ballots may already have been printed and election software already programmed by then.  Conceivably the problem might even be faced after Election Day by a re-elected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris but before their inauguration. This calls for a 'plan B,' or maybe even 'plans C, D, and E.'

Somewhere in offices in Washington, long after regular working hours, nameless staffs of politicians are filling up yellow legal pads and screens filled with word documents containing their notes on how to handle this problem, surrounded by empty pizza boxes and Chinese food containers.  Your guess as to what will happen is as good as mine.

JL

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Republicans Swing Further Right

Although I read Professor Heather Cox Richardson’s free ‘Letters from and American’ each morning, I no longer pay to be able to make comments there and read what other comment makers write. Why? Mostly, they either agree fully with what she writes or in far fewer situations, blindly criticize her. I just don’t have time for that.  But here are my thoughts on her most recent postings. (Dated July 4 and July 5, for release on the next day … HCR writes in the late evening hours … ) :

‘Yesterday’s and today’s postings  warn us of the significant dangers facing democracy in this country and the world presented by the Heritage Foundation, no longer just an academic research group, and similar neo-fascist and ‘Christian Democratic’ organizations throughout the world. 

They are so radical that even Trump backs off from broadly endorsing ‘Project 2025,’ their ’Mein Kampf,’ in the same ambiguous manner in which he told the 'Proud Boys' insurgents to 'stand back and stand by' on January 6. Read her postings at https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/… or by CLICKING HERE.

And if you’re too busy to do that, here’s a frightening quote from HCR's July 5 posting: “The extremism of the MAGA Republicans was on display in another way today as well after The New Republic published a June 30 video of North Carolina lieutenant governor Mark Robinson, currently the Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina, saying to a church audience about their opponents—whom he identified in a scattershot speech as anything from communists to “wicked people” to those standing against “conservatives”—"Kill them! Some liberal somewhere is gonna say that sounds awful. Too bad!... Some folks need killing! It's time for somebody to say it.” 

And if a president were the one who 'officially' said it, he would be immune from prosecution, according to the latest treachery coming out of the Supreme Court.  

There comes a time when, unlike Hamlet, we must choose to ‘take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them.’ And the best way of doing that today is to shine a spotlight on the purveyors of such troubles, and to vote to defeat any candidate from whom emanates their foul fascist odor.  And to work to get as many others to vote that way too!   

That, my friends, is not too much to ask when compared with the risk the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the anniversary of which we just celebrated, took on when they pledged to each other their 'Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor.'  The Crown's punishment for that was death.

JL

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More Support for SCOTUS Expansion

And speaking of the SCOTUS, I am not the only one advocating its expansion by four additional justices if the Democrats end up with control of the presidency and both Houses of Congress in November. 

Martin "Marty" London is an American litigation attorney who is best known for representing former Vice President Spiro Agnew in the Nixon days, and was a partner at the major New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. 

Now in his early nineties, London is retired to a Caribbean island from which he occasionally posts on his blog, 'Marty's Blog.'  He too advocates an expansion of the Supreme Court, particularly in his postings there on July 9, 2023, January 17, and June 29, 2024.  Visit his blog at https://londonsbh.blogspot.com/ or by CLICKING HERE.  

JL

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The Party With Three Bases

Here's an interesting item from the Daily Kos: 

'The Democratic Party does not have as singular a “base” as Republicans do.  It has three bases, all of whom overlap to some degree. They are the Progressives, usually urban, suburban or 'academic,' Organized Labor, and African Americans. Their interplay and cohesion, or lack thereof, is what wins or loses elections.  Hence, the Democrats are a coalition party, not a base party, and they need coalition leadership. That’s what Biden, for all of his evident frailties, has provided. And one reason so many ardent Democrats are ready to repudiate him now is that they do not like coalition leadership.'  

Let me add that the leadership of each such base would prefer if their particular base were clearly dominant.  Sports fans know that on the baseball diamond, in any infield, the first, second, and third basemen must play as a unit (along with the shortstop) or else they will make a lot of errors.

Happens in politics too

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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