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Muhammad Ali Called it ‘Rope-a-Dope’It occurs to me that the Trump administration’s massive efforts to corral supposed illegal residents for deportation, and the reaction of Americans throughout the country who recognize its illegality, is a feint to get opponents of the Administration to figuratively drop their guard and divert their attention from the Administration’s real aims.
That’s how Mohammad Ali defeated George Foreman in the famous ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ in 1974!
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| Ali knocked out Foreman in the eighth round |
In that contest, Mohammad Ali dodged most of of George Foreman’s blows by backing into the ropes. This so exhausted Foreman that when Ali finally came off of the ropes, he quickly kayoed Foreman.
Motivating the public to oppose the actions of ICE, and to oppose the activation of the National Guard, which seems to have happened in Los Angeles, diverts some of the energies which should be devoted to opposing the Administration’s real goals, the reduction of spending not only on Medicaid (as provided in their ‘big beautiful budget bill’) but eventually on Medicare and Social Security itself as well. This is where the really big savings will be, enabling the government to survive while making enormous tax cuts for the very wealthy.
Oppose ICE’s illegal acts if you wish, but don’t take your eye off MAGA’s real goals, cutting benefits that serve the people.
Watch every measure these scoundrels introduce in Congress! And that includes riders quietly slipped into otherwise innocuous legislation, like George Foreman’s blows against a resilient Muhammad Ali.
Don’t be ‘Rope-a-Doped.’
JL
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Both Trump and Phelan Flunk History, Plus a Bit of HMS Pinafore
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In her posting of June 7, Heather Cox Richardson provided a link to a series of ten brief (all less than two minutes in length) videos about the steps that led to our declaring the nation’s independence on July 4, 1776. Entitled “Journey to American Democracy –‘Ten Steps to Revolution,” It can be accessed by CLICKING HERE or copying and pasting https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2dS6uX1RkUyIQKUhI72xmstYGNpN_k1B on the browser line of your device..” Check it out, if not today, certainly by Independence Day, July 4.
I draw this to your attention in view of the profound ignorance of the contents of the Declaration of Independence shown by the current President of the United States, DOCUMENTED WITH HIS OWN WORDS in Professor Richardson’s June 7 posting of 'Letters from an American.' (Check it out at https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/ or by CLICKING HERE.
Also in that posting, learn that Trump’s Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan, a wealthy donor with no military or naval experience whatsoever, posted a tribute to those killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, misstating the date of that event. It took place on December 7, 1941, a date that an earlier President of the United States had once declared ‘would live in infamy.’
Well, we’ve reached another variety of ‘infamy,’ delivered at your doorstep by President Trump, his appointees, his supporters, and misled American voters; I leave it to you to draw your own concusions.
The Secretary of the Navy’s heart was in the right place, despite his abysmal ignorance of simple historical facts, but don’t forget that’s a hallmark of those Trump appoints to key positions.
I am reminded of the final verse of Gilbert & Sullivan’s ‘When I was a Lad I Served a Term’ from their satirical 1878 operetta, HMS Pinafore, regarding a similar appointee to a similar position in the Royal Navy. I apologize for the underlined alteration I’ve made to Gilbert’s lyrics in the next to last line:
‘Now landsmen all, whoever you may be,
If you want to rise to the top of the tree,
If your soul isn't fettered to an office stool,
Be careful to be guided by this golden rule.
(Chorus: Be careful to be guided by this golden rule,)
Stick close to your desks and never go to sea,
And you all may be rulers of the Queen's Navee,
(Chorus: Stick close to your desks and show your loyalty,)
And you all may be rulers of the Queen's Navee!’
JL
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Why I Don’t Trust Artificial Intelligence
In the ‘Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri’ section that closes each posting of Jackspotpourri, I mention the unreliability of results of internet searches labelled as developed through AI (Artificial Intelligence). Please read it; do not skip it.
Here is an example of why I am very leery of AI. Before including mention of Navy Secretary Phelan’s comment in the above piece, I double checked it with a Google search using his name and the words ‘Pearl Harbor attack.’ The AI result reported what he had said but did not mention his dating the event incorrectly. On the other hand, the ‘non-AI’ results, from several sources, also addressed the fact that the date of the Pearl Harbor attack was misstated in his remarks, for which a Navy spokesperson, according the the Huffington Post’s site, eventually took the blame.
It is easy to see how this happened. Back on June 7, last week, when preparing Secretary Phelan’s June remarks, the staffer in his office probably didn’t change the month when she referred to the events of December 7, 1941, or perhaps it ‘self-corrected.’ There is a process known as ‘proofreading’ which obviously was not followed in that office.
But come on, that happened in the office of a very high Administration offficial, not in preparing some high school student’s term paper. It wouldn’t have happened on Jackspotpourri.
Be careful of Artificial Intelligence, especially what its products might omit.
JL
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Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri
Your comments on this ‘blog’ would be appreciated. My Email address is jacklippman18@gmail.com.
I would be particularly interested in hearing from anyone in any of the following categories who support President Trump and those in Congress who vote to bring his ideas to fruition, and who would like their views included on Jackspotpourri:
• Senior Citizens
• Others on Medicare or Medicaid
• Veterans
• Persons of Color
• Latinos
• College Students
• Those Considered to be part of an LGBTQ community
• Members of Particular Religious Faiths.
I would appreciate those responding including their primary sources of news (Newspapers, TV Channels, Internet sites, etc.).
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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