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Let’s start this final pre-Election Day posting on Jackspotpourri with a visit to columnist S.E. Cupp
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| Cupp |
Before you go to the polls (if you haven’t already voted in advance or by mail), check out these words from her October 24 column, written for the Tribune Content Agency. While intended for Republicans, which Cupp was for many years, it pertains to all voters. especially independents and ‘undecideds.’ Cupp, a lifelong conservative, has left the G.O.P. If you still have doubts, this might help you to make that same decision.
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Cupp points out that:
'Republicans have ignored his many broken promises and his failed policies.
‘Republicans, once the party of law and order, have nominated a convicted felon for president.
‘Republicans, once the party of patriotism, have nominated a guy who incited a violent insurrection at the Capitol.
‘Republicans, once a pro-military party, have nominated a draft-dodger who disparages our service members as weak and woke, suckers and losers.
‘Republicans, once a party of Christian values, have nominated a guy who admits to grabbing women by the genitalia, was found liable for rape, paid off a porn star he allegedly slept with four months after his wife gave birth, who mocks the disabled, denigrates immigrants, migrants and minorities, and takes money from his own supporters to pay his legal bills.
‘All of these things should have been a bridge too far for people with principles, but Republicans crossed the Rubicon a long time ago. ‘I hope my former party doesn’t follow him off this cliff, too. But nothing shocks me anymore.'
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And Ms. Cupp even leaves a lot out, including Republican opposition to abortion rights, and Donald Trump’s praise for foreign dictators, past and present, his disrespect for our Constitution, and the racist filth that sets the tone for his rallies! All of these are the reasons why many Republicans (and unaffiliated voters as well) will be voting for Kamala Harris on Tuesday or have already done so by mail-in ballots or early voting. Coming from an established conservative, Ms. Cupp's words have greater power than when they come from Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, or other Democratic voices.
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If by now you are confused by all the pre-election clamor, you can simplify things by voting for Democrats for all national offices being contested. I suspect that is what Ms. Cupp will be doing.
(S.E. Cupp is the host of “S.E. Cupp Unfiltered” on CNN. Cupp can be reached at CNN, the Chicago Sun-Times, or the Tribune Content Agency.)
JL
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Why Americans Should Vote for Kamala Harris
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| 'Never Go Back - When We Fight, We Win!' |
While the weaknesses of Donald Trump should be apparent to all, some voters still wonder what Kamala Harris stands for, and may prefer the known positions of Donald Trump, as dreadful as they may be.
That is their choice, although I feel it is a terrible one. All that they see are the very visible prices of groceries but close their eyes to the booming economy that keeps more of them employed at higher wages than ever before in peacetime. And the gasoline prices about which they were screaming months ago have dropped considerably.
Understand that right now, while Joe Biden is still president, his vice-president, Kamala Harris, must identify with his programs, actions which are continually being misrepresented by Republican lies, despite their documented successes. That is part of any vice-president’s role. Even Michael Pence did that until that day when Trump was silent while his MAGA thugs threatened Pence’s life.
Harris’ loyalty to President Biden in her present office as vice-president should not be held against her in her present role as a candidate for the presidency.
Heed the words of former president Trump’s former Chief of Staff, retired Marine Corps General John Kelly, who from daily contact with Donald Trump, learned that he ‘met the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator if allowed, and had no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of rule of law.’
Once Kamala Harris is elected to the presidency on her own, her actions may be different from Biden’s, but she will be a president who observes the rules of law as laid down in the Constitution of the United States. That is what she did that as a prosecutor, as California’s attorney-general, and as a United States senator, giving the interest of the public the highest priority, and when that interest changed, was willing to accept change.
Trump, if you listen to what he calls for at his rallies, promises the opposite. He is campaigning to shred the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and replace them with a government dominated by the very few, who consider themselves to be a superior class, better qualified to rule, and will stop at nothing to gain power, including the denigration of others who do not fit their mold.
To do this, Trump plays to voters’ prejudices and grievances with lies founded in bigotry and dishonesty, the more extreme of which he leaves to be mouthed by his radical supporters. These are the nuts and bolts of a fascist state, where the quest for power replaces the rule of law, and of which Trump is eager to be the strongman.
Americans must not allow the nation to slip backwards into autocracy. That is what Donald Trump stands for. Kamala Harris tells us to ‘never go back’ and looks to the future of a truly democratic nation, the government of which operates for the benefit of all its citizens, regardless of party and not just the few.
Jackspotpourri
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Semper Paratus
Tuesday is Election Day, when the disposition of your State’s electoral votes, and the presidency, will supposedly be decided. The greatest danger to democracy at that point will be what the losing Party will then do. It might be a time for all Americans to remember the Coast Guard’s motto, ‘Semper Paratus.’ But make sure that you vote.
JL
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Some Final Relief From the Election’s Clamor - Baseball
Recall that I had predicted that the New York Yankees would win the World Series, although I was rooting for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Well, last Wednesday evening, the Dodgers won (4 four games to 1) but the crucial period was the fifth inning of that fifth game, which would have brought the Series back to Los Angeles if the resurgent Yankees had won it. Instead, they blew it.
Going into that fifth inning leading 5 – 0 (Aaron Judge, Jazz Chisholm, and Giancarlo Stanton had hit home runs), they proceeded to play like amateurs. Judge dropped an easy fly ball. Anthony Volpe’s throw to third base went askew. Otherwise brilliant Yankee pitcher Gerrit Cole forgot to cover first base while the first baseman played a ball hit to him. And so the fifth inning ended in a five-all tie. The Dodgers finally won 7 to 6.
Baseball is more than getting big hits, and the Yankees proved it. Other skills count. Unflappable Dodger manager Dave Roberts used eight pitchers to outplay the Yankees. Perhaps the usually arrogant Yankee fans will now recognize that the Yankees are just another baseball team, nothing special, other than their historic refusal to have their players names on their jersey’s backs.
Their defeat also means that the best player in baseball today, Juan Soto, presently a Yankee, will be shopping around all winter for a new home, his ‘Washington – San Diego – New York’ ticket ready to be punched for its next stop.
And finally, the most confusing and unnecessary part of the World Series were the pre-game solo appearances of rapper Ice Cube (in LA before game 2) and of rapper 50 Cent (in NY before game 3), both of whom proceeded to insult the visiting team using their verbal talents. This was not in the tradition of what was once our ‘national pastime.’
JL
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Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri
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.
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.
Again, I urge you to forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it, particularly if they are a registered voter. Tuesday is Election Day. Spread the word.
JL
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