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Caution! - (Repeated from earlier Jackspotpourri postings)
Make of this what you wish: In today's political climate, it might be personally dangerous to write specifically about certain topics, and all members of the staff (at present, just me) at Jackspotpourri are aware of that. No one wants the DOJ chasing after them, and lawyers are expensive. Sometimes leaving certain things 'unsaid' can be more effective than saying them. We must learn to 'read between the lines.'
Jackspotpourri rarely quotes the often hysterical Michael Moore and will not now, but his posting dated February 14 at michaelmoore@substack.com (‘Overwhelm, Overreach, Overthrown’) approaches the kind of thinking I feel must still be left ‘unsaid.’
* Abide!
JL
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Not being a Catholic, I apologize if I have missed some of the subtleties written about in the religious matters mentioned below.
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‘Ordo Amoris’ - the Order of Giving Love or Giving Charity
Without getting too far into theology, be aware that Vice-President Vance, who converted to Roman Catholicism in 2019, recently loosely quoted Saint Augustine’s philosophy included in his ‘City of God,’ that after loving God, one’s love and charity should then be primarily directed to those nearest to them, first to their family and then to neighbors, starting with the closest ones and then proceeding to ones at a greater distance.
Centuries later, another Catholic theologian, Saint Thomas Aquinas, in his ‘Summa Theologica,’ pursued this same idea further and went on to suggest that one’s love and charity might in some circumstances be directed toward others in need, even strangers, rather than being entirely based upon one’s relationship or proximity to them.
Although Vance, in an interview with Sean Hannity, mentioned St. Thomas Aquinas as his point of reference, his actions seem to more reflect that of St. Augustine.
From what I read in the news, Pope Francis is getting involved in this matter, with a letter to American bishops addressing the order, or priority, that acts of love or charity should take (in Latin, ‘Ordo Amoris’), criticizing the United States’ stated intention to deport great numbers of illegal immigrants.
(The full text of the Pope’s letter can be found at https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2025/documents/20250210-lettera-vescovi-usa.html . )
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Vice-President Vance and Pope Francis The Pope's letter to the U.S. bishops on Feb. 10, noted that 'the true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.' This would seem to take issue with the vice-president's comments that more narrowly defined intended recipients of one's love or charity. |
Vance used his view to frown on foreign aid, which the president and ElonMusk are trying to reduce by attacking the government’s Agency for International Development (USAID), and that criticism included religious organizations providing such aid.
I recognize that there may be some waste there, possibly unavoidable, involved in providing such aid throughout the ‘Third World.’ I feel, however, that does not warrant destroying that agency, which has done a lot of good in underdeveloped nations since its inception in 1961, when it combined several existing agencies trying to fill that need and prevent these countries from drifting into Russia’s orbit. The task at hand is to fix USAID and not to destroy it! Go tell that to Vance, Trump, and Musk!
An excellent article on the Pope’s clarification of ‘Ordo Amoris,’ from the Cincinnati Enquirer, carried in most Gannett newspapers, (printed locally in the Palm Beach Post) can be found by CLICKING HERE or copying and pasting https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2025/02/11/pope-francis-ordo-amoris-jd-vance/78413300007/ on your browser line.
Vance, whom I consider to be a fool, should keep his religious views to himself. Today, Russia and China stand ready to step in should we decide to limit our aid to nations benefitting from USAID, but this appears to be a bit beyond Vance’s grasp, who is ready to love or provide charity to his neighbor who lives across the street (and who votes) before sharing it with others in Africa, Asia, or wherever, who might have equal or even greater need for it.
It also puts Vance, along with Elon Musk, in the spotlight, enabling Donald Trump to say ‘Who, me? These guys say and do these things on their own; Don’t look at me.’
JL
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The Malodorous Smell of ‘Eau des Republicans’
This week, the incompetence of the stumblebums who are running the Republican administration in Washington is being highlighted in the Department of Justice by its being caught flatfooted trying to kill a federal grand jury’s corruption indictment against New York City’s mayor in exchange for his possibly being politically valuable in the future. That’s what you are smelling.
Thus far, six long-time, career federal prosecutors, (both in New York and in the DOJ’s Public Integrity Unit in Washington) along with the interim Federal Attorney for the Southern District of New York, temporarily appointed by Donald Trump, had voiced their intention to resign, refusing to go along with this scheme. They know that following the administration’s orders to kill the grand jury’s indictment make a mockery of the rule of law and might even get them disbarred.
The instructions to destroy any evidence of what occurred at the meeting where this was discussed adds to the stink surrounding this incident and itself warrants a grand jury investigation. Lawyers customarily take notes at meetings (that’s why those large lined yellow pads are called ‘legal’ pads) and being told to destroy any such notes alerted them to the evidence of illegal acts they might contain.
Trump’s new Attorney-General, Pam Bondi, doesn’t seem bothered by this, her Florida background having trained her well in circumventing the ‘rule of law,’ as an acolyte of Ron DeSantis. The directions at the meeting to drop the case reportedly came from Emil Bove, formerly Trump’s lawyer in his New York trial for falsifying business records and recently rewarded with his appointment as Deputy Attorney General. Please continue to hold your nose.
At the last minute, the DOJ finally got a prosecutor, one about to retire, to ask the court to drop the case. He agreed that it really should not be killed but acted only to protect the careers of his colleagues who were willing to tender their resignations. We have yet to know how the judge will act on his motion.
Meanwhile, a Stanley Steemer unit has been hired to get rid of the stink permeating the entire courthouse building where this took place.
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And the beat goes on .... In Jackspotpourri’s previous posting on Monday, it was pointed out that ‘there is a limit to the amount of the illegal and/or unconstitutional acts of the administration and the president that Americans can stomach’ and that ‘the courts are not ignoring them either!’ This rottenness in the DOJ only adds to the instances addressed in that posting.
Trump and the corrupt administration he brought with him, loaded with inexperienced, clumsy, and inept appointees, are blithely strolling down the road to self-destruction, as they cut jobs and services in order to reduce taxes for the very wealthy. Many of the misinformed who voted for him (farmers, small business owners, employers of immigrants, etc.) are coming to realize that his programs, such as tariff increases, will impact them negatively. It even may be that Red States will be taking it on the chin more so than Blue States! It may take time but ultimately it will reach that point. 2026 cannot come soon enough.
Heather Cox Richardson’s posting (Letters from an American) dated February 15 (CLICK HERE or find it at https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/) alerts Americans to the continuing dangers of Trump and those he appoints, who apparently still object to the Federal government’s gaining precedence over that of the States, as determined, but unfortunately not permanently, by the Civil War and the administrations of both Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt. Trump's ascendency is just another challenge faced by democracy, another battle to be fought in that war that the compromises built into the Constitution and its Amendments have not solved.
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Besides the Vice-President (who is busy alienating our European allies), the ever-present Rasputin-like Elon Musk, and the bumbling Secretary of Defense, it looks like we are now getting Cabinet-level appointees heading up Health & Human Services, the FBI, and our Intelligence services, all of whom are thoroughly unqualified for their positions, but who have pledged their loyalty to the president, and not necessarily to the Constitution. This will not end well, but fear not. The nation will survive if we just …. * Abide!
JL
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1938 and 2025
It’s a long piece but Yale Professor Timothy Snyder’s ‘Thinking About …’ dated February 14 provides a historic comparison of Czechoslovakia in 1938 and Ukraine today. Unfortunately, its academic approach makes it far too demanding to be understood by President Trump and most of his appointees, probably including the Secretary of State. But still, find the time to CLICK HERE to access it or copy and paste https://snyder.substack.com/ on your browser line.
JL
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Trivia
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JL
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* When I use the expression ‘abide,’ more fully explained in Jackspotpourri’s January 15, 2025 posting, I mean to ‘endure adversity, but not to yield to it.' (But even the limits of that are beginning to come into sight.)
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Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri
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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. Bear in mind that the population of Florida is constantly changing and many newcomers are not familiar with Jackspotpourri.
JL
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