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Historical Russian NovelsHistorians (and several of Jackspotpourri’s sources are historians) often intend their commentary for other historians, sometimes engaging in argumentative ‘polemics’ with them. But the waves their words create can spread more widely, reaching others. For example, writers of novels can turn out to be the most imaginative of historians. Russian novels are a good example. That’s why ‘War and Peace’ and ‘Anna Karenina’ are so long. History is complicated and takes a lot of words to explain within the context of a story.
JL
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Our Recognition-Seeking President Speaks the Truth
But getting back to historians, Professor Heather Cox Richardson, in her ‘Letters from an American’ dated Dec. 22, quotes a People magazine interview of the President by Fox mainstay Jesse Watters where Trump explained why he was building a big ballroom on the site of the demolished White House’s East Wing.
“Jesse,’ he said, ‘it’s a monument. I’m building a monument to myself because no one else will.” In this rare instance, Donald spoke the truth.
That also applies to the Kennedy Center name revision, the proposed new battleships, his crypto coins and other things to which he has attached his name as president, as well as his many pre-presidential business ventures such as his university, his casinos, his airline, his steaks, his golf courses, his resorts, his office buildings and the numerous apartment house structures, especially on Manhattan’s upper West Side, bearing his name.
Could it be that a lack of recognition in his childhood, little parental encouragement, no ‘pats on his back,’ climaxed by being sent away to a private military academy is why he puts his name on everything he touches, and even decorates their dedication in gold?
Would Donald Trump have turned out differently if he had attended local elementary schools and high schools in Queens, which were still pretty good in those days?
I doubt that he had any close friends in his relatively isolated growing-up years. According to an AI search, his clinical psychologist niece, Mary Trump, substantiates that in her books. That might be the reason why, many years later, he welcomed a friendship with Jeff Epstein, who had great use for friends.
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| Mount Rushmore |
Jackspotpourrii addressed this problem in the November 16 posting when we suggested that the commodes in the restrooms at the Mount Rushmore monument's park be dedicated to him, rather than add him to the presidents’ faces carved into that mountain, something one of his supporters had proposed.
JL
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Affordability is Real
I keep hearing about consumers complaining about higher prices. I keep my grocery shopping costs under control by purchasing most of my needs from a nearby ‘Farmers’ Market,’ filling in what they don’t carry with purchases from Publix, a chain I dislike because of their position on the open carrying of weapons in their stores and an ownership that is a big supporter of politicians for whom I would never vote. Nevertheless, their wide selection and ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ deals make Publix a reasonable choice for what the ‘Farmers’ Market’ doesn’t have at a competitive price. Yogurt is a good example.
This holiday season, though, has really opened my eyes to the problem of affordability. Northern visitors have made the parking lot of that ‘Farmers’ Market’ into an uncaged zoo, with cars cruising endlessly looking for a space, and once in there, the place is jammed and the checkout lines overly lengthy. So at least until the holiday season ends, I decided to look for alternatives.
That’s what opened my eyes! Initially I tried ‘Sprouts’ which pretends to be a farmers’ market but is not. Their high prices blew my mind. (A jar of Bonne Maman preserves was on sale there at $6.99, supposedly a two dollar savings from their supposed regular price of $8.99.
My usual ‘Farmers Market’ sells them for $4.99 and even Publix beats Sprouts’ sale price!. McArthur Milk, a longtime Florida standby, is about a buck more there for a quart than it is at Publix.)
(A footnote to this is that during World War Two, the manufacturers of Bonne Maman Preserves protected Jews in their locale from the Nazis, just as Oscar Schindler is acclaimed for doing.)
Goodbye, Sprouts! I won’t miss you when you’re gone, and you will be. And if one owns their stock, hovering near its lowest price over the past year, it is time to speak to an investment advisor. There’s a reason.
By the time the holiday season is over, I may have checked out other stores to see if they can fit into my shopping pattern. I just don’t buy enough to use Costco’s or BJ’s giant sizes, the Wynn-Dixie stores near me have closed, and I’ve never liked places like Target or Walmart, where groceries are just a part of the general merchandise they sell, but there are other alternative choices.
I can’t wait for the holiday visitors to leave so I can revert to or even revise my earlier shopping pattern, described in the first paragraph above. My eyes have been opened to what other stores offer.
But ‘Affordability’ is a real problem on a nationwide level and it will definitelyy have political repercussions in the 2026 elections. I encounter more and more shoppers with lists or phones in hand as they carefully compare prices. What they see will affect their votes.
Bet your bottom dollar that Donald Trump and many in Washington who strongly support him have never set foot in a supermarket.
JL
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A Cranky Old Man’s Homeowners Insurance Story … And a Missing Paper Trail
In Florida, homeowners insurance is very important. Nowhere else does it make the front page of newspapers.
It didn’t bother me that my homeowners insurance over the past decade was with a company that had a website that was difficult to navigate because there was a person at the local agency through which I had purchased the insurance who was always available to me on the phone and knew what she was doing, and provide me with real answers to whatever question I might have.
I paid a big chunk of the policy’s October, 2025 to October, 2026 annual premium back at the end of August when I elected to pay the remainder in three upcoming installments. But recently, it was beginning to bother me that since their cashing my check, I hadn’t heard from them so I called the agency. To make a long story short, ‘Mary’ had retired and it appeared the agency had closed its doors and been replaced by an entity that handled the premiums of the business from that agency and half a dozen similar ones that were no longer active. It would have been nice of them to let me know that this was happening, but after all, this is Florida.
The person I got to talk to at that new entity was of little immediate help but promised to get back to me, which she ultimately did.
Well, while waiting for that to happen, I took a chance and dove into that entity’s website myself, and after spending too much time proving I was who I said I was, tried to find out when my next payment was due and its amount all by myself. That took another quarter of an hour and contact with three different people before I finally reached someone with access to information regarding my policy.
Only then was I advised that a payment was due in less than two weeks (during which both the Christmas and New Years holiday mail delays occur) and that a billing notice had been mailed to me two days previously. As I write this, over a week later, that notice has not been received but I was able to pay the premium by telephone through the ‘entity’ which had inherited the policy, and been able to print out the email receipt they sent me, although for other questions, I would have to be referred to the insurance company’s less than ideal website. Again I ask whether it would have been nice of them to let me know what was going on. After all, it’s my money.
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All my fault?
The person from whom I finally got this information sounded surprised that I was still expecting a ‘paper’ bill. That is my decision. I don’t go ‘paperless’ with banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions where payments are involved, and recommend that others do the same, no matter how many trickily-worded, self-serving requests, requiring one’s ‘opting out’ of receiving only electronic billing statements and other communications that they send. This, supposedly, is to make things easier for me by okaying their switching me exclusively to electronic communications, but actually is an attempt on their part to reduce their cost of their mailing them.
Electronic communications are fine, and desirable, and I want them to continue. But there still should be paper ones coming to my curbside mailbox, even if their receipt is not alsways timely.
Establishing a ‘paper trail,’ if ever necessary for legal reasons, is difficult when there is no longer any paper to track down! Example: If a mailed statement doesn’t reach me, the postal service returns it to the sender, so they know I never received it and hopefully can take other steps to contact me. If an email to me isn’t opened, however, they are not aware of it. I get almost a hundred emails each day, most of which eventually end up being deleted. I don’t want any bills inadvertantly slipping in there.
Somehow, I am uncomfortable with the less personal aspects of the new arrangement. Or am I just becoming a cranky old man. But at least the insurance company itself remains solvent and its rates are fair, which in Florida amount to more or less blessings.
JL
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Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri
Your comments on this ‘blog’ would be appreciated. My Email address is jacklippman18@gmail.com.
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More on the Sources of Information on Jackspotpourri: The sources of information used by Jackspotpourri include a delivered local daily ‘paper’ newspaper (now becoming the South Florida Sun Sentinel) and what appears in my daily email; that includes the views of many contributors. Be aware that when I open that email, I first quickly glance at and screen out those sent to my very old former email address and those considered ‘promotional’ by Gmail’s system as no more than advertisements or requests for donations.
Besides these sources, I also utilize 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). On occasion I might use such search results, but when I do, I will say that I am doing so. Generally, however, I try not to use such summaries in preparing Jackspotpourri.
After such ‘AI’ search results, there follows the other results of my search.
Unlike the anonymous AI-generated summaries, the sources of these results are clearly indicated, giving them a greater credibility than any AI summary.
I feel that It comes down to who YOU want to be in the driver’s seat in seeking information: yourself or something else (Artificial Intelligence), the structure of which somewhere along the way had to have been created by others, with whose identity I am neither familiar nor comfortable. At least when I read a column by Timothy Snyder, for example, I know from where it comes, and to some extent, what to expect.
Caution should be exercised in using Artificial Intelligence.
JL
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