June 20, 2025 - Juneteenth (yesterday), Jackspotpourri's Followers, Operation Monarch, Defining Dementia, and the Claremont Institute

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Juneteenth

Yesterday (6/19) was the celebration of Juneteenth, marking the true end of slavery in the United States. You can hear Professor Heather Cox Richardson narrate the history leading to June 19 becoming a holiday in many States and eventually, a national holiday, by CLICKING HERE or copying and pasting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7UaaAyPqPY on your device’s browser line. 

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Although this three and a half minute video does not go there, in addition to ending slavery, the Civil War was about the Constitutional power of States versus that of the Federal government. 

At that time, that conflict centered on a State’s right to secede from the Union but today, many view it as whether or not the Federal government’ has the right to take over a State’s policing powers under certain circumstances, as may be occurring in California, and elsewhere, right now! That conflict remains unresolved. 

(Quick Quiz: Who was the first president to ignore the Sixth Amendment, supposedly guaranteeing an accused certain rights, including writs of habeas corpus? Answer in the next posting)

JL 

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We’re Popular in Tehran 

An early check on the source of viewers of the preceding Jackspotpourri posting indicated that within the first 24 hours of its posting, it was accessed by 605 computers or other devices in the United States, and a surprising 599 in Iran, where I had been unaware that Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire has so many fans! Brazil was close behind. 

These numbers, by far the highest Jackspotpourri has attracted, are mostly the result, I assume, of readers passing Jackspotpourri on to others because it is sent initiallly to only about 90 recipients. A small number might just run across it in surfing the internet. In addition, some countries’ governments monitor the internet for possible ‘intelligence’ leaks (they probably have a full staff devoted to Peter Hegseth) and also who, in their country, is accessing them. People are hungry for any information they can find on the internet, despite possibly involving some risk in doing so. 

It is reported that the Iranian government has shut down foreign internet sites, but the 599 ‘hits’ mentioned above make we wonder how successful they have been in doing that. You might note that Google’s Blogspot platform enables Jackspotpourri to be translated into almost any language on the planet with a click of the finger. Persian (Farsi) is among those languages. فارسی یکی از آن زبان هاست 

JL 

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Operation Monarch 

It was only a few years ago that the beautiful orange and black Monarch butterflies were almost everywhere in the warm seasons (before they migrated southward), and in places like Florida, all year around. But increasing urbanization and use of sprays to get rid of undesirable weeds have decimated their population. 

Without milkweed plants, on which Monarchs lay their eggs, whose leaves nourish the caterpillars that hatch from them, and produce blooms to attract and feed a succeeding generation of butterflies once they burst forth from the cocoons into which the caterpillars molt, they cannot survive. And herbicides have been succeeding in their war on weeds, and that includes milkweed.

Hence, Jackspotpourri has embarked on ‘Operation Monarch.’ Initially, I tried seeding border areas with milkweed seeds that I had purchased. Unfortunately, the usual meticulous landscaping service in the community where I live made sure that they did not survive and shared the fate of crabgrass and such invasive weeds when they appeared. 

So I proceeded to ‘Operation Monarch’s Plan B.’ This involved planting the milkweed seeds in small pots filled with rich soil, but kept within my screened patio, out of the reach of landscapers and foraging insects. I water them daily if it doesn’t rain. Here is the way they looked a few days ago. 

A more expensive alternative to this would be purchasing mature milkweed plants at a garden center, but they are not always available, and the lifespan of the one or two in each such pot is limited, especially because the caterpillars’ basic food is their leaves, and once they are devoured, the plant dies. I have now moved two of these pots outside to an area not usual bothered by the landscapers, and hopefully protected by low fencing. I hope they will grow sufficiently there to restore the Monarch’s natural cycle: ‘seedling > plant > blossom > egg laying site > caterpillar > cocoon > butterfly > seeding’ we once enjoyed. If ‘Plan B’ doesn’t produce suficient seeds to accomplish that naturally, I still have the remaining pots on the patio with which I can experiment. Meanwhile, here’s the way the two ‘exploratory’ outside pots looked last week. 

They are now significantly bigger.. For those interested in doing this, the variety I have planted is White Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata). Supposedly this is an easy variety to grow, and one that is the most prolific when it comes to egg laying. Also popular is the more familiar orange Asclepias tuberosa, which is what you might see in garden centers. Both are shown below in their blossoming stage, one with a visiting Monarch.

Asclepias tuberosa, with a visiting Monarch

 Asclepias incarnata

Good Luck! 

JL 

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Dementia?

MSNBC’s Larry O’Donnell raised an interesting question the other evening before I shut down the TV for the night: ‘If Donald Trump contracted dementia, how would we know?’ Obviously, O’Donnell feels the President’s normal, day-to-day, comments and actions already manifest that disorder’s symptoms. As an example, he cited Trump’s suggesting that he might nominate himself to be head of the Federal Reserve Bank. 

This brings to mind his recent strange comment about turning Gaza into a seaside Riviera-type resort area. If he were serious, he’s delusional, and if he weren’t, Gaza is no joking matter. Only his devoted followers, the people at FoxNews, and the Fellows at the Claremont Instiute (see the following article) might disagree with O’Donnell. 

JL

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Not All Conservatives Run Around with MAGA Caps 

Some pose as legitimate political theorists, and of these, the cream of their crop are affiliated with the Claremont Institute, based in Upland, California.

Here is that organization’s ‘mission statement.’ 

‘The mission of the Claremont Institute is to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life. To return to limited government, conservatives must return to the principles of the American Founding. The Claremont Institute provides the missing argument in the battle to win public sentiment by teaching and promoting the philosophical reasoning that is the foundation of limited government, as well as the statesmanship required to bring that reasoning into practice. 

Who We Are - We are a think tank that teaches, writes, and litigates. Since our founding in 1979, our strategy has been to teach the principles of the American Founding to the future thinkers and statesmen of America. Those principles include the foundational doctrines of natural rights and natural law found in the Declaration of Independence; the ingenious political science of the Constitution; and the popular constitutionalism or reverence necessary for the maintenance of free government.’ These are nice words, but the key to their mission is stated in four words in the second paragraph: return to limited government.’ They look to achieve this through the ‘natural rights and natural law’ found in the Declaration of Independence and in the ‘ingenious political science of the Constitution.’ 

The key to this  'mission' is summed up with the five words in the first paragraph which I have underlined, 'to return to limited government.' If these folks had been delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1789, they probably would have not voted to ratify it, even with the Ten Amendments of the Bill of Rights added to it. To them, a federal government would have been an undesirable thing. They would have been happy with the weak Articles of Confederation that proved ‘limited government’ was a disaster for the thirteen former colonies. 

They seem to see ‘government’ as an infringement of ‘natural rights and natural law.’ This is the flaw of all ‘libertarian-type’ thinking, the freedoms of which lead to anarchy, something usually finally remedied by some kind of dictatorship. The only ‘Fellow’ (a title supposedly carrying with it a measure of academic status) at the Claremont Institute whose name I recognize is that of John C. Eastman, the lawyer who came up with the plan to contest the results of the 2020 presidential election, leading to his disbarment, and which brought about the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. His position at Claremont is as a Senior Fellow and founding Director of its Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence. 

Claremont has several publications, and I note one of their current issues features the 100th anniversary of the birth of William F. Buckley. That should give you an idea from where Claremont is coming. 

Internet sources, including Artificial Intelligence, report that Claremont Institute fellowships have also gone to prominent figures on the right such as Laura Ingraham, Ben Shapiro, Mark Levin, Mary Kissel, and Charles C. Johnson. The institute caused controversy by granting a fellowship in 2019 to the Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec. National Review columnist Mona Charen, no flaming liberal, wrote that ‘Claremont stands out for beclowning itself with this embrace of the smarmy underside of American politics.’ In 2020, Mark Joseph Stern of Slate magazine called the institute ‘a racist fever swamp with deep connections to the conspiratorial alt-right,’ citing Posobiec's fellowship and the publication of a 2020 essay by senior fellow John Eastman that questioned Kamala Harris's eligibility for the vice presidency. In 2022, The American Mind , a Claremont publication, published an editorial by Raw Egg Nationalist, an author affiliated with neo-Nazi publishing house Antelope Hill. 

There has always been a close relationship between the Claremont Institute (not to be confused with the seven highly respected colleges comprising the Claremont Colleges in California) and Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan, a conspicuously conservative institution. One of the Claremont Institute’s founders served as an early president of Hillsdale. That close association provides what appears to be an academic and legitimate conservative veneer, something better than just wearing a MAGA cap. 

As pseudo-academic institutions go, I place the Claremont Institute somewhere to the right, if that is possible, of the Heritage Foundation, the source of ‘Project 2025,’ much of which has been adopted by the Republican Party, although President Trump laughingly and dishonestly claimed he didn’t know about it during the 2024 campaign. 

Frankly, I prefer the loudmouth conservatives with their MAGA hats, so long as they do not commit acts of violence, rather than these people who mask their opposition to government, really any government whatsoever, and that includes the Constitution of the United States of America, with disproven intellectual arguments and phony appeals to ’natural rights and natural law.’

Note how they mince words (‘ingenious political science’) when they ambiguously refer to the Constitution in their ‘mission statement’ included above. 

If you check out where many of them earn their living, you will find them on the payroll of right-wing media or in jobs provided by the Trump administration. 

JL 

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Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri  

Your comments on this ‘blog’ would be appreciated. My Email address is jacklippman18@gmail.com. 

Sources of Information on Jackspotpourri: The sources of information used by Jackspotpourri include a delivered daily ‘paper’ newspaper (currently the Palm Beach Post, a Gannett publication) and what appears in my daily email. Be aware that when I open that email, I take these steps: 

1. I quickly scan the sources of the dozen or two emails I still get each day at my old email address to see from where they are being sent. Most are from vendors which I may have used years ago. Without reading 99% of them, I usually immediately delete them. 

2. I then go to the email arriving at jacklippman18@gmail.com. Gmail enables ‘Promotion’ emails to be so designated and separated out. I believe their criteria are whether or not they end up asking for donations or if they are no more than advertisements. I ignore most of these ‘Promotion’ emails without reading them, deleting them. A very few, perhaps one or two a day, get moved over to the two or three dozen other emails which I will actually open. 

3. Then I read my email. 

Besides email, my other source of information is the Google search engine where I can look up any subject I want. Lately, these search results have been headed by a very generalized summary clearly labeled as being developed by AI (Artificial Intelligence). I rarely use such summaries in preparing Jackspotpourri, but when I do, I let you know. Following such ‘AI’ search results, there follows the results of my initially having accessed Google (or any other search engine) for information. Contrary to  AI-generated summaries, the sources of these results are clearly indicated. I feel that It comes down to who YOU want to be in the driver’s seat in seeking information, yourself or something else (AI), the structure of which somewhere along the way had to have been created by others, with whose identity I am neither familiar nor comfortable. (In doing searches on Google, I have found that these AI summaries can sometimes … but not always … be avoided by saying so in your search. For example, instead of searching for ‘FDR’s New Deal,’ I might search for ‘FDR’s New Deal – No AI.’ This is a work in progress.) 

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. JL

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June 17, 2025 - Swing Time, No Kings, a Travel Alert, Article Five, Karma, and Trump at the G7

 

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‘Swing Time’ 

Although it originally was not a Broadway show, the 1936 movie ‘Swing Time’ has some really great songs in it, some of which have reappeared in subsequent musical productions.

Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire starred in 'Swing Time.'

Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire sang and danced their way through ‘Pick Yourself Up’ and ‘A Fine Romance,’ and Astaire crooned ‘The Way You Look Tonight.’ in the film. The music was by Jerome Kern and the absolutely brilliant lyrics were by Dorothy Fields, thirty years Kern’s junior. All three songs are now part of what some call ‘The Great American Songbook.’ 

The lyrics to ‘Pick Yourself Up’ were appropriate in 1936 as the nation recovered from the economic disaster brought about by the Republican excesses of the earlier decade, many of which today’s MAGA Republicans are right now trying to restore. I wonder if Democrats will be singing Fields’ lyrics to ‘Pick Yourself Up’ at the next Democratic National Convention.

  ‘Now nothing's impossible, I have found 

   For when my chin is on the ground

   I pick myself up, dust myself off, 

   And start all over again, 

   Don't lose your confidence if you slip, 

   Be grateful for a pleasant trip, 

   And pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start over again. 

   Work like a soul inspired, until the battle of the day is won, 

   You may be sick and tired, but you'll be a man, my son.

   Will you remember the famous men

   Who had to fall to rise again? 

   So take a deep breath, pick yourself up, 

   Dust yourself off, and start all over again.'

   

Yeah! 

JL 

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No Kings

Here are some pictures of Americans rallying in West Palm Beach on Saturday, June 14. The same kind of protests took place in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and elsewhere in the county … and across the nation. Millions of Americans participated from coast to coast. The pictures speak for themselves. Just CLICK HERE or copy and paste https://www.palmbeachpost.com/picture-gallery/news/trump/2025/06/14/no-kings-protest-west-palm-beach-florida-donald-trump-army-military-parade/84203425007/. on your browser line to see your fellow Americans speak their mind. 

Economist Paul Krugman put his statistics aside for the day and demonstrated in New York City. His more expansive June 16 commentary on the demonstrations and the President’s competing parade in Washington can be found by CLICKING HERE or copying and pasting https://paulkrugman.substack.com/ on your browser line. 

If you attended a rally, that’s great! If you didn’t, you can do so right now ‘by proxy’ by passing these pictures on to your friends, relatives, and neighbors. Just send them the links shown above, or this entire posting.  (Directions for forwarding are included at the end of this posting in the 'Housekeeping' section.) 

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Participating in spreading the truth about President Trump might seem difficult, inconvenient, and even dangerous, but not doing so is inexcusable in times of crisis. We are living in such challenging times of crisis today.

Thomas Paine, at the time of the American Revolution, wrote in his ‘American Crisis’ broadsides that ‘what we obtain too cheap(ly), we esteem too lightly,’ and that ‘it is dearness only that gives everything its value.’ Specifically, he was writing about ‘freedom,’ his words intended to inspire our outnumbered troops facing the British in the front lines. 

If Thomas Paine were alive today, he would be among those protesting in the cause of those same freedoms, on what has become our present crisis’ front line. 

This past weekend, those Americans you can see in those pictures linked to above, and many like them, were there on our front lines demonstrating to protect your freedoms. 

THE LEAST YOU CAN DO IS TO JOIN THEM BY PASSING THIS POSTING OF JACKSPOTPOURRI ON TO OTHERS. 

JL 

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Travel Advisory 

Here is some advice. Ignore it at your own risk. 

In flying to or from the New York metropolitan area, take flights that use JFK or LGA, but avoid flights scheduled to take off or land at EWR (Newark), where there are not enough air traffic controllers to do the job properly. Right now, EWR traffic is being managed from Philadelphia rather than from Westbury (Long Island) from where JFK and LGA air traffic is controlled, and from where EWR traffic once was controlled as well in days when they had an adequate number of controllers there!  

Also, try to avoid any aircraft whatsoever manufactured by Boeing. They have a reputation for cutting corners. Several major US airlines, notably JetBlue, Spirit Airlines, and Delta Air Lines, as well as some smaller regional airlines do not use Boeing aircraft. 

Although its manufacture ended a few years ago, Boeing’s 747s are still flying and are to be avoided if possible, including the palatial one being gifted to President Trump, if he should happen to invite you to join him on a flight. 

But whatever else you do, stay away from Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner (like the one that crashed the other day in India) at all costs. 

There’s a lot criticism of that specific aircraft on the internet. You can start by reading a frightening article on this subject. Copy and paste https://prospect.org/economy/2025-06-12-dreamliner-gave-boeing-manager-nightmares-just-crashed-air-india on your browser line or JUST CLICK HERE.

And if you have stock in Boeing, speak to your financial advisor as to what course to follow. 

JL 

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Is There a  Danger in Article Five of the Constitution?

Here is Article Five of the Constitution, dealing with Amendments to that basic document. Usually, we tend to oversimplfy it by saying it takes two/thirds of both Houses of Congress to propose an Amendment to the Constitution and subsequent passage by three/fouths of the State legislatures to make it effective. But there’s more to it than that! 

Take a good look at that Article’s language: 

Article V - ‘The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.’ 

Aha! So there’s an alternate route to amending the Constitution! While it uses the same percentages, it replaces the role of both Houses of Congress and the actual State legislatures themselves with ‘conventions’ established by State legislatures. No Amendment has ever been proposed, let alone ratified, by this ‘convention’ route, it is nevertheless sitting there, waiting to be used, or more likely, ‘misused.’ 

This permissive language, shown in red above, can move the Amendment process one giant step further from the voter by eliminating both elected Houses of Congress from the ‘proposal’ portion of the Amendment process, and utilizing such ‘conventions’ appointed by State legislatures rather than the legislatures themselves in ‘ratifying’ such an Amendment. 

These are regressive concepts, making the Amendment process less democratic and less connected to the will of the people as shown in their voting choices.  I suspect that it is there because of the same pressures in 1789 that resulted in the Constitution being silent in regard to slavery, and in giving each state two Senators, regardless of their population. 

It appears to me that this ‘convention’ method would be utilized only if the proponents of an Amendment fear that while it might lack sufficient support in Congress or State legislatures, they might be able to succeed in their efforts, by taking the route of more easily manipulated ‘conventions,’ appointed by State legislatures, rather than State legislatures themselves. 

It would seem to be a way of getting around opposition to such an Amendment and a lessening of democracy.  I have seen articles on 'opinion pages' by reactionaries recommending this 'convention' approach.

On hearing the word ‘convention’ mentioned in connection with any proposed Constitutional Amendment, one should also hear alarm bells ringing loudly as well, and call or write to their Senators and Representatives about this danger.  

JL 

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Good Karma 

One of my Fathers’ Day presents was a tee shirt emblazoned with the words ‘Good Karma.’ I am holding off wearing it in public because someone might ask me what ‘Karma’ is.  I’m not certain of its meaning although generally, dictionaries define it as a person’s actions determining what subsequently happens to them, good or bad, including what happens in an afterlife, as some Asian religions contend. 

I appreciate the tee shirt because I prefer to think of ‘Karma’ favorably as ‘Good’ which is what the shirt says. That means that the shirt’s wearer is satisfied that the good choices they make will follow them and ultimately reward them in some manner. But this ignores that there can be ‘Bad Karma’ as well, and sometimes it is unavoidable that bad choices are made, for which the rewards are not so nice. 

There’s a lot of wisdom available on tee-shirts dealing with Karma, much of which can be summed up by recognizing that ‘what goes around, comes around, so be careful what you do or say.’ Many politicians should heed this.

JL 

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Trump at the G7 Meeting

The other day, Canadian journalist Dean Blundell (originally a sports writer and now sort of a Canadian version of Howard Stern) reported that Washington insiders and observers from abroad had noticed how rarely Trump appears in public and how often he falls asleep when he does, prompting speculation that he is not physically able to do the work of the presidency.  I add 'Was he ever?'

Earlier at the G7 meeting held this past weekend in Canada, in mentioning a trade deal the United States had made with the United Kingdom, Trump erroneously referred to the UK as the European Union. Blundell suggested Trump’s team would look for a way to get the president out of the G7 early to avoid exposure. 

AND THAT IS PRECISELY WHAT THEY DID, having him leave the G7 meeting in the Canadian Rockies early supposedly because of the need for him back in Washington to work on the Israeli-Iranian hostilities, which in part were caused by his independent nuclear treaty negotiations, bypassing Israel, with an Iran that still preached the destruction of the State of Israel and advocated ‘Death to America.’ 

JL 

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Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri 

Your comments on this ‘blog’ would be appreciated. My Email address is jacklippman18@gmail.com. 

Sources of Information on Jackspotpourri: The sources of information used by Jackspotpourri include a delivered daily ‘paper’ newspaper (currently the Palm Beach Post, a Gannett publication) and what appears in my daily email. Be aware that when I open that email, I take these steps: 

1. I quickly scan the sources of the dozen or two emails I still get each day at my old email address to see from where they are being sent. Without reading 99% of them, I usually immediately delete them. 

2. I then go to the email arriving at jacklippman18@gmail.com. Gmail enables ‘Promotion’ emails to be so designated and separated out. I believe their criteria are whether or not they end up asking for donations or if they are no more than advertisements. I ignore most of these emails without reading them, deleting them. A very few, perhaps one or two a day, get moved over to the two or three dozen other emails which I will actually open. 

3. Then I read my email. 

Besides email, my other source of information is the Google search engine where I can look up any subject I want. Lately, these search results have been headed by a very generalized summary clearly labeled as being developed by AI (Artificial Intelligence). I do not use such summaries in preparing Jackspotpourri. Following such ‘AI’ search results, there follows the results of my initially having accessed Google (or any other search engine) for information. Contrary to the AI-generated summaries, the sources of these results are clearly indicated. I feel that It comes down to who YOU want to be in the driver’s seat in seeking information, yourself or something else (AI), the structure of which somewhere along the way had to have been created by others, with whose identity I am neither familiar nor comfortable. (In doing searches on Google, I have found that these AI summaries can sometimes … but not always … be avoided by saying so in your search. For example, instead of searching for ‘FDR’s New Deal,’ I might search for ‘FDR’s New Deal – No AI.’ This is a work in progress.) 

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. 

 JL

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June 13, 2025 - The Constitution's First Two Articles and a Column by Professor Timothy Snyder

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A Constitutional Matter

Founding Fathers at work in 1789

Although the format may be a bit different from the one paragraph into which the Founding Fathers squeezed these very same familiar words, here is the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America:

 "We the People of the United States, 

    • in Order to form a more perfect Union, 

    • establish Justice, 

    • insure domestic Tranquility, 

    • provide for the common defense, 

    • promote the general Welfare, 

    • and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, 

do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." 

To do all of the things enumerated in the Preamble to the Constitution, the first thing that had to be done was the passage of laws. That is why Article One of the Constitution first establishes the Legislative branch, preceding Article Two.  To create the laws.

Once the laws were passed, they had to be executed and enforced. To accomplish that, Article Two of the Constitution, establishes the Executive branch. 

Without Article One preceding it in place, Article Two’s Executive branch would have nothing to do and, in effect, be meaningless. It is the old question of which comes first, the chicken or the egg. While ‘One’ clearly comes before ‘Two,’ it is between Articles One and Article Two that conflict can occur between legislative and executive powers. 

After that, Article Three establishes a Judiciary to resolve conflicts involving the government’s branches, and State laws related to them. There are four additional Articles, well described by CLICKING HERE or copying and pasting https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/articles on your browser line. Of particular interest is Article Five, describing the procedures for amending the Constitution. 

Voters should not be expected nor required to understand the details of such workings of our Federal government. Insisting that they do so would be undemocratic and contradict the broader purposes stated in the Constitution’s Preamble. 

But those who choose to run for the legislative or executive offices established by Articles One and Two should be required to know the parameters and limits of the positions to which they aspire. And this includes 100 Senators, the entire House of Representatives and of course, the President of the United States. 

That our Houses of Congress (our Legislative branch) and our Executive branch might be of the same political party does not make it acceptable for either to serve as a rubber stamp for the other, giving up their role as an independent check or balance on the other. 

Ideally, a candidate for a seat in either House of Congress, or the presidency for that matter, who does not make it clear that he or she understands the parameters and limits of the positions to which they aspire should not be permitted to run for office. But we know that will never happen. 

Nevertheless, the voters should ask any candidate seeking such a position if they understand that, and if they do not, they will not be doing their job, which includes putting ‘country before party.’ 

Is that asking too much? 

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And for those interested in the parameters and limits of the Constitution’s Articles One and Two (and the rest of the Constitution’s seven Articles), here’s another chance to CLICK HERE or copy and paste https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/articles on your device’s browser line. Those running for office should familiarize themselves with the Constitution they take an oath to preserve. 

JL 

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Trump's Civil War - Our New Birth of Freedom

Here’s Professor Timothy Snyder’s June 12 ‘Thinking About …’ column in its entirely. No link or clicking required. It’s all here. Please read it. 

But first, let me add that the nation must rid itself of Donald Trump as soon as possible if it cares about its survival. This must be done legally through Constitutional means including impeachment or disability. 

It is up to the Republicans to lead the way in doing this, right now. (See Jackspotpourri dated April 17, 2025.)  It cannot wait until 2028, or even 2026. It is their Party that Donald Trump has contaminated. It may be too late to save the Republican Party, but it is not too late to save the nation. Tomorrow might be too late. 

As sort of a preview, here is the final paragraph of Professor Snyder’s article: 'Thousands of Americans across the land, many veterans among them, have worked hard to organize protests this Saturday — against tyranny, for freedom, for government of the people, by the people, for the people. Join them if you can. No Kings Day is June 14th.' 

To understand it, please read the entire piece, all the way up to that final paragraph again. Please! 

Trump's civil war and our new birth of freedom - June 12 - Timothy Snyder

Professor Timothy Snyder, who has left
Yale and relocated in Canada

Earlier this week Donald Trump called for a second civil war at a US military base. This scenario can be resisted and prevented, if we have the courage to listen, interpret, and act. And this Saturday we will have the occasion to act. The listening is important. The speech was given at the base now known again as Ft. Bragg. 

The fort was named for a confederate general. It was renamed Ft. Liberty. Under this administration, it was renamed Fort Bragg, now ostensibly to honor another American serviceman, not the confederate general. It is a dishonest pretense that dishonors everyone. The fort is now named again after a confederate general, as Trump made clear. The tradition that is now in fact being honored, that of oathbreakers and traitors. 

In Trump's speech, the existence of the United States is placed in doubt. We are not a country but a divided society in which some of us deserve punishment by others. He made no mention of the world today, nor of any common American interest that might necessitate national defense. There was no concern about threats from China or Russia. Middle Eastern dictatorships, the only countries that Trump singled out, garnered great praise because their leaders gave Trump money. There was no mention of any wars that are actually underway, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Trump invoked of battlefields across the decades to create a sense of individual heroism, in which of course the history the the US Army is very rich. But that individual heroism is usually cited by commanders in chief as evidence of a nation that is worthy of defense. No such America figured in Trump's speech. America did not exist Trump's speech, except as a cult to him personally. 

In the actual history of the United States, one war is central: the Civil War. Trump, who has never seen the point of the Union Army defending the republic, now seems now to have moved on to the position that the Confederacy should have won. 

He promised to rename Fort Gregg-Adams, the first base named for African-Americans, to Fort Robert E. Lee. The base in question hasn't been known by the full name of the confederate commander since 1950. Lee was a traitor, an oathbreaker, a defender of slavery and the commander of a force whose mission was to break up the United States of America. 

In his speech, Trump claimed that seizing undocumented migrants in 2025 shows the same courage as fighting in the Revolutionary War, or the First World War, or the Second World War, or Korea or Vietnam. It would have been news to the soldiers at the time that charging a trench or jumping from a plane is no different than ganging up on a graduate student or bullying a middle-aged seamstress. But here we see the magic of Trump's rhetoric: he seeks to transform the courage of the past into the cowardice of the future.

He is preparing American soldiers to see themselves as heroes when they undertake operations inside the United States against unarmed people, including their fellow citizens. All of this, of course, trivializes actual US military achievements. The actual battles of our history just become a "show," to use one of Trump's keywords. They are deeds performed for the pleasure of a Leader who then invokes them to justify his own permanent power. Denuded of all context, military glory becomes a spectacle into which any meaning can be injected. 

And he who injects the meaning is he who rules. That is the fascist principle that Trump understands. There is no politics except struggle, and he who can define the enemy in the struggle can stay in power. But whereas historical fascists had an enemy without and an enemy within, Trump only has an enemy within. The world is too much for him. The army is just for dominating Americans. 

In his speech, Trump was trying to transform a legacy of battlefield victory around the world into a future willingness to take illegal orders regarding his own policy on the territory of the United States. The defiance of the law was clear. Trump cannot, for example, legally just rename those bases. The forts were named by an act of Congress. And he cannot legally deploy the Marines to Los Angeles. He has no authority to do so. The president is expressly forbidden by law from using the armed forces to implement domestic policies. 

Trump defined himself not as a president but as a permanent Leader. In repeatedly mocking his predecessor, he was summoning soldiers to defy the fundamental idea that their service is to the Constitution and not to a given person. “You think this crowd would have showed up for Biden?” Whether or not it is unprecedented, as I believe it is, such mockery certainly dangerous. 

It suggests that something besides an election, something like individual charisma, some personal right to rule, is what matters. That soldiers should follow Trump because he is Trump, and not for any other reason. In general, we imagine that the US Army is here to defend us, not to attack us. But summoning soldiers to heckle their fellow Americans is a sign of something quite different. 

Trump seized the occasion to summon soldiers to join him in mocking the press. Reporters, of course, as the Founders understood, are a critical check on tyranny. They, like protestors, are protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. Trump was teaching soldiers that society does not matter, and that law does not matter. He "loves" soldiers. He is personally responsible for the pay raises: "I gave you so much money for four years it was crazy." "We're giving you an across-the-board raise" This is the way a dictator speaks to a palace guard, or a fascist to a paramilitary. 

Trump is putting himself above the army and the army above the country: "we only have a country because we first had an army, the army was first." That's ridiculous: the Continental Army was formed in 1775 from the people, for the very specific and time-limited purpose of ending colonial oppression. Trump wants the armed force to be the end in itself, and freedom to be its enemy.

Generally, presidents who speak to soldiers of military glory have had in mind the defense of American freedoms, such as the freedom of expression, including the freedom of the press and the freedom to assemble. Trump said nothing about freedom, except as a "flame" or a "shield." He said nothing about rights. There was not a word about democracy. 

We are witnessing an attempt at regime change, rife in perversities. It has a historical component: we are to celebrate the oathbreakers and the traitors. It has a fascist component: we are to embrace the present moment as an exception, in which all things are permitted to the Leader. And of course it has an institutional component: soldiers are meant to be the avant-garde of the end of democracy. Instead of treating the army as defenders or freedom, Trump presented soldiers as his personal armed servants, whose job it was to oppress his chosen enemies -- inside the United States. Trump was trying to instruct soldiers that their mission was to crush fellow Americans who dared to exercise their rights, such as the right to protest. 

Referring to migration as an "invasion," as Trump did during the speech, is meant to blur the distinction between his immigration policy and a foreign war. But it is also meant to transform the mission of the US Army. The meaningful border here is that between reality and fantasy. If soldiers and others are willing to accept that migration is an "invasion," then they enter into an alternative reality. Inside that alternative reality, they will see those who do not accept the invasion fantasy as enemies. And this is exactly what Trump called for when he portrayed elected officials in California as collaborators in "an occupation of the city by criminal invaders." 

The US Army, like other American institutions, includes people of various backgrounds. It depends heavily on African-Americans and non-citizens. One can try to transform the army into a cult of the Confederacy and a tool to persecute migrants, but this will cause, at a minimum, great friction. Beyond this, using the Army to enforce domestic policy risks ruining its reputation. Deploying the armed forces in cities risks US soldiers killing US civilians. It also risks that provocateurs, including foreign ones, including allies of Trump, will try to kill an American soldier to provoke a disaster. (Trump’s birthday parade seems practically designed for such an incident, by the way.)

Trump will welcome and exploit such situations, of course. He doesn’t have the courage to say things clearly or start conflict directly, but instead sets up others for situations in which they suffer and he profits. The question is whether civil war is the future Army officers and soldiers want. When Trump promises to celebrate Robert E. Lee, he is telling the Army that oath-breakers and traitors will be celebrated in the future. This is not in his gift. Officers who bring the US armed forces to battle American civilians will be remembered by the heirs of a broken republic and as the people who started a second American civil war. 

It is clear what Trump is trying to do. He wants to turn everything around. He wants an army that is not a legal institution but a personal paramilitary. He wants it not to defend Americans but to oppress them. He wishes the shame of our national history to become our pride. He wants to transform a republic into a fascist regime by transforming a history of courage into a future of cowardice. 

This can only succeed if it goes unchallenged. All of us can think about his words and their implications. Officers and soldiers can remember that not all orders are legal orders. Those in the media can interpret Trump's speeches clearly rather than just repeating them or seeing them as one side in a partisan dispute. Our courts can name the limits of his authority. And even a Republican Congress can recognize when its powers are being usurped in a way that risks the end of our country. 

Though he did not mention the Civil War, Trump did refer to "the sacred soil of Gettysburg." It is worth recalling Lincoln's very different sense of the sacrifice of American soldiers in his Gettysburg Address: 'The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.' 

In the end, and in the beginning, and at all moments of strife, a government of the people, by the people, for the people depends upon the awareness and the actions of all of us. A democracy only exists if a people exist, and a people only exists in individuals' awareness of one another of itself and of their need to act together. 

This weekend Trump plans a celebration of American military power as a celebration of himself on his birthday -- military dictatorship nonsense. This is a further step towards a different kind of regime. It can be called out, and it can be overwhelmed. Thousands of Americans across the land, many veterans among them, have worked hard to organize protests this Saturday — against tyranny, for freedom, for government of the people, by the people, for the people. Join them if you can. No Kings Day is June 14th. 

JL

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Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri 

Your comments on this ‘blog’ would be appreciated. My Email address is jacklippman18@gmail.com.  

Sources of Information on Jackspotpourri: The sources of information used by Jackspotpourri include a delivered daily ‘paper’ newspaper (currently the Palm Beach Post, a Gannett publication) and what appears in my daily email. Be aware that when I open that email, I take these steps: 1. I quickly scan the sources of the dozen or two emails I still get each day at my old email address to see from where they are being sent. Without reading 99% of them, I usually immediately delete them. 2. I then go to the email arriving at jacklippman18@gmail.com. Gmail enables ‘Promotion’ emails to be so designated and separated out. I believe their criteria are whether or not they end up asking for donations or if they are no more than advertisements. I ignore most of these emails without reading them, deleting them. A very few, perhaps one or two a day, get moved over to the two or three dozen other emails which I will actually open. 3. Then I read my email. 

Besides email, my other source of information is the Google search engine where I can look up any subject I want. Lately, these search results have been headed by a very generalized summary clearly labeled as being developed by AI (Artificial Intelligence). I do not use such summaries in preparing Jackspotpourri. Following such ‘AI’ search results, there follows the results of my initially having accessed Google (or any other search engine) for information. Contrary to the AI-generated summaries, the sources of these results are clearly indicated. I feel that It comes down to who YOU want to be in the driver’s seat in seeking information, yourself or something else (AI), the structure of which somewhere along the way had to have been created by others, with whose identity I am neither familiar nor comfortable. (In doing searches on Google, I have found that these AI summaries can sometimes … but not always … be avoided by saying so in your search. For example, instead of searching for ‘FDR’s New Deal,’ I might search for ‘FDR’s New Deal – No AI.’ This is a work in progress.) 

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.

 JL 

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