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Keep Your Eye on Elissa
On Tuesday evening, newly elected Senator Elissa Slotkin delivered the Democratic response to President Trump’s falsehood-filled speech, in which he risked dislocating his shoulder from continually trying to pat himself on the back.
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| Senator Slotkin (D) Michigan |
He spoke as if he were at a MAGA rally, not before both Houses of Congress, and incidentally, the American people. It was a disgrace. But when is anything the President does not a disgrace?
It is important to keep in mind that Slotkin won in a State that voted for Trump, quite an accomplishment. I am proud to say that I donated to her campaign, however minimally, even though I have never been in Michigan. Here is an excerpt from her remarks that those who oppose the wrecking crew in Washington should note:
‘First, don’t tune out. It’s easy to be exhausted, but America needs you now more than ever. If previous generations had not fought for democracy, where would we be today?
Second, hold your elected officials, including me, accountable. Watch how they’re voting. Go to town halls and demand they take action. That’s as American as apple pie.
Three, organize. Pick just one issue you’re passionate about — and engage. And doom scrolling doesn’t count. Join a group that cares about your issue, and act. And if you can’t find one, start one.
Some of the most important movements in our history have come from the bottom up.’
This more or less says what Jackspotpourri has been preaching over its past few postings.
JL
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Something Else to Keep Your Eye On
This week the Supreme Court put a halt to the President’s attempt to stifle foreign aid but also let his firing of the nation’s chief ‘whistleblower,’ Hampton Dellinger, head of the Office of Special Counsel, stand until further review by a lower court. That was to be expected but the switch of Justice Barrett on foreign aid was a surprise, at least to me. The majority backing continuance of foreign aid consisted of the SCOTUS’ four female justices plus Chief Justice Roberts; some fired ‘foreign aid’ employees are actually being returned to their jobs.
There is some ‘infighting’ going on in the SCOTUS’ deliberations but we are never made aware of it.
Eventually, the really big issue, the constitutionality of Trump’s shrinking of government, will reach the SCOTUS. Then we will see where they stand on the balancing of the Executive and Legislative branches of our government, the duties and limits of which are each precisely described in the Constitution’s Articles One and Two … and which make no mention of the powers of civilian advisors like Elon Musk.
Article 2, Sec. 3, of the Constitution specifically states that the President ‘shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.’ He seems to think that this extends to his having unlimited power to control the entities created by Congress, but many in Congress think otherwise, counting on the limits Congress built into those entities. A split is developing which might end up before the SCOTUS.
The Republicans in Congress will have to start putting country ahead of party, something the White House, totally under MAGA control, does not do, and that includes Elon Musk, responsible to no one and Russell Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget, his new job after heading the Heritage Foundation’s hatchet blueprint, Project 2025.
JL
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Not So Latent Antisemitism
Yale Professor Timothy Snyder, in his latest ‘…Thinking About’ posting considered Trump’s and Vance’s treatment of Ukraine president Zelenskyy to be an act of antisemitism. Read about it by CLICKING HERE or copying and pasting https://snyder.substack.com/ on your browser line. And pass it on.
JL
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‘Vote by Mail’ Requests Must Be Renewed!
Those who voted by mail in the past must again request that they be sent a ‘mail-in’ ballot in future elections, their earlier ‘vote by mail’ status having expired after the last General Election in 2024!
In Palm Beach County, do this by CLICKING HERE or copying and pasting https://www.votepalmbeach.gov/Voters/Vote-By-Mail on your browser line. Elsewhere, contact your local Supervisor of Elections.
JL
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Speak Up to Congress!
In Jackspotpourri’s prior posting, I suggested making phone calls to elected representatives in Congress. Usually, you will just be leaving a message, so prepare one to be ready to read on a pertinent issue that concerns you. The same goes for the content of Emails you might send. If you luck out and get a real person to talk to, be nice and tell them to pass on your message. Often, they ask you to leave your name and number for a return call. I recommend you ignore that. They still will ‘count’ your call if you left a meaningful message for them to hear.
Here is some contact information:
Senator Rick Scott (R) – 202-224-5274 – https://www.rick.scott.senate.gov
Senator Ashley Moody (R) Appointed to replace Marco Rubio - 202-224-3041 – https://www.moody.senate.gov
Representative Lois Frankel (D) – 202-225-9890
Representative Jared Moskowitz (D) - 202-225-3001
Representative Brian Mast (R) – 561- 530-7778 (Jupiter Office) His D.C. number is screwed up (as are his politics).
Email contact for House of Representatives members is available through their own websites, which you can get to via https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
I suggest you print this list out and keep it close to your phone or computer. Make those calls or send those Emails! And one time isn’t enough. Weekly is better.
My current message to these addressees involves the Constitutional duty of the President to execute the laws (Article 2, Sec. 3 of the Constitution). It’s up to you to compose your own messages!
Next week, I will switch over to a message to them about the dangers of Crypto currencies, about which economist Paul Krugman just wrote an interesting column that you can find by CLICKING HERE or by copying and pasting https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trump-is-planning-the-biggest-heist on your browser line.
JL
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Don’t be Crippled by Crypto … and a Frightening Thought
I don’t think that most of the small investors who have invested in crypto currencies fully (or even slightly) understand what they are all about. I freely admit that I do not. If you’re looking for an expert on them, look elsewhere, not to Jackspotpourri.
What I do know is that they are initially purchased with real money, like the dollar bills in your wallet backed by the United States government. Once you own them, their value can vary, depending on the demand for them, but without the regulatory safeguards that the real money that initially purchased them possessed. (Note that this is not the case with other ‘non-monetary’ investments traded on real money exchanges, like stock options, commodity futures, bonds, mutual funds, or shares of legitimate corporations, all of which are regulated by the government.)
Don’t expect to be able to pay your mortgage or credit card bills with ‘crypto currencies’ or to buy a car with them or even a cup of coffee, no matter how much they purportedly are worth. They are speculative investments, the nature of which might be no more than fictional. They are traded on ‘platforms’ created for that purpose and not in the established financial marketplaces.
It is wise to be careful about those transactions you are able to make with crypto currency rather than with real money. There has to be a reason and sometimes it might not be a good one.
There even are now ATMs dealing with crypto currencies. Users must remember that they too are totally unregulated. Have you ever tried to argue with a pinball machine.
When Donald Trump, outside of his role as president, issues worthless coins, as he has done with his face on them, supposedly as a crypto currency, they have no value other than what the purchaser paid Trump for them in real money and that, he keeps in his pocket. Conceivably, such coins might have some value, but only if they are sought by collectors or dedicated Trump fans. What a great way to hide a bribe or use in shady, under-the-counter trading in real financial marketplaces. Read Krugman’s article, linked to above. And don’t throw away your Monopoly set. Its money might be worth something someday.
If you choose to invest in crypto currencies, you should first seek expert advice but not from someone from whom you are purchasing that crypto currency with your real money. Remember that the only backing they have is faith in them by their owners. To use two words common in the financial world, they lack liquidity and are speculative.
Our government, with the President’s support, is actually establishing a crypto currency ‘reserve.’ It plans on buying ‘crypto currency’ with real money seized in the course of prosecuting and convicting criminals or from fines levied for illegal activities, so taxpayers would not be financing it. Supposedly, it would exist as a resource to protect holders of crypto currency which on its own, has no basis for existing other than the faith of its owners which like a balloon, can be easily punctured.
I am beginning to suspect that such a ‘reserve’ might even serve as a basis for a worthless replacement currency for the United States if the economic policies of the current administration debase and destroy our existing system of real money, a distinct possibility. That might even be the intention of some who would turn to it, but only after they have personally acquired, legally or otherwise, all the assets behind the real wealth of our present monetary system. That would be dreadful.
JL
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History Never Stops
Heather Cox Richardson’s ‘Letters from an American,' dated March 5, lays it all out, from the inception of the ‘Iron Curtain’ in Europe to our betrayal of Ukraine. Please read it and make up your mind. I believe that those who think Russia is our friend are out of their minds, including President Trump, whom I feel was elected back in November only because of the ‘Achilles Heel’ in our representative democracy that often permits misinformation to prevail over reality. (More about that further on.)
CLICK HERE or copy and paste https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/ on your browser line. Professor Richardson closes that March 5 posting with the following quote from a French politician: “We were at war with a dictator,” said French center-right politician Claude Malhuret of Europe’s stand against Putin. “Now we are at war with a dictator backed by a traitor.”
Putin is that dictator and in the eyes of many of our erstwhile allies, Donald John Trump is that traitor. That may be an exaggeration, but what his policies add up to amounts to the same thing.
Eventually Americans will realize that and treat him accordingly, and in the words of the Scottish poet, Sir Walter Scott, return him ‘to the vile dust from which he sprung, unknown, unhonored, and unsung.
JL
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Random Thoughts
Because of the inexperienced politicians who are running our government, it is becoming clear that that their simple Junior High School Student Council level solutions are inadequate to solve complicated problems, and that is all that Trump and his supporters can offer.
The billionaires who back them don’t care about what comes first, party or country, because they live in a monied world of their own, not really caring about party, country, or the American people. Regardless of what happens to the rest of us, they possess the resources to take care of themselves.
They are leading the country into an era of unemployment, chaos in the financial marketplace, and inflation, all caused by a politicized tariff policy and the firing of competent government personnel, as well as fractured international relations, and defiance of our laws, and even of our Constitution. The President, drowning narcissistically in his own ego, doesn’t recognize the problem, and as I pointed out above, his billionaire supporters just don’t care.
As I have often pointed out, the is the result of the ‘Achilles Heel’ of our democracy. Voters legitimately elected our present government in 2024, but only after their judgement was pierced by years of massive misinformation, made possible by our nation’s freedoms, just as Achilles’ heel, by which his mother grasped him while immersing the rest of his body (but not that heel!) into the waters that made him impregnable, was pierced by an arrow years later.
Their votes were swayed by misinformation about Haitian immigrants eating neighbors’ pets, what was hidden on Hunter Biden’s laptop, and what was being taught in schools about the reasons for the Civil War. This misinformation was a great part of what handed the 2024 election to the Republicans, and now we are in a pickle.
The challenge is whether the country can survive until the next presidential election in 2028. I have no doubt that the Republicans would be defeated nationwide in the 2026 mid-term elections, but only if those in power permit those elections to take place honestly in a fair environment, which seems questionable, considering the priority they continue to give to disseminating misinformation. The Republican Party has already advised House Representatives not to run ‘town halls,’ which can turn out to be counter-productive. Obviously, constituents can ask question there about their lies, and they don’t want that to happen.
The burden of solving this problem might rest with the remaining sane Republicans in Congressional offices. They could ignore the threats of having to run against a MAGA challenger in a primary election, a whip used to keep them in line, even if it meant consistently voting with the Democrats. If they fail to choose to put their country ahead of their party, there might not be a country much longer. The idea of impeachment, and the President’s illegal and unconstitutional behavior well might justify that, isn’t a valid alternative either since the two elected officials in line to succeed him, the Vice-President and the House Speaker, are no better than he is.
Come to think about it, the answer to this problem might rest with the millions of Americans who will be severely hurt by the practices of the current administration. Revolutions have been started because of far less meaningful reasons than unemployment, inflation, chaos in the financial marketplace, and fractured international relations that are the hallmarks of the 47th president and those who kneel to kiss his ring and do his bidding.
Are these things beginning to have an effect on the American people? Are they thinking about them and experiencing the early pangs of political ‘buyer’s remorse.’?
If they are, they might come around to agreeing with the two prior March, 2025 postings on Jackspotpourri which offer a plan of action: Standing Up for America, Speaking Out for Democracy, and Joining in a nationwide Chorus of Protest about the unemployment, inflation, chaos in the financial marketplace, and fractured international relations that those dedicated to wrecking our Federal government are bringing about. They didn’t vote for that.
More about fighting misinformation, the crux of the problem, will follow in succeeding postings of Jackspotpourri.
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.
Eliminating ‘Promotions’: Each morning when I check my Email, I first sweep out almost all the messages that end up asking for a donation. My Email ‘in basket’ enables me to do that, separating most of them out without my even clicking on them individually. That makes my life a little easier, and a lot of informative material still reaches me. If I want to donate to a particular cause or candidate, I can easily find a way to do so.
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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