Ending the War in Iran
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| David E. Sanger whose New York Times column linked to below is a 'must' read. |
You won’t have time to eat or sleep today if you check out all of the news and opinion internet sites, and newspapers as well, dealing with the war in Iran. You have to be selective and pick and choose among them to be somewhat informed. If any of you can tell me what our objectives in attacking Iran are, please do. They seem to change daily.
MS NOW’s daily report dated March 21 suggests that Iran is now in a better position than they were before the United States attacked them! Strange but possibly true! Click here or copy and paste https://www.ms.now/ on your (https://www.ms.now/) on your browser line to get there.
It is clear why Israel attacked Iran and probably would have done so even without our involvement, and that includes decimating their leadership.
It is not so clear, however, that Iran was presenting an immediate a threat to the United States to the extent that it was necessary to attack them without even getting Congressional approval. The Constitution specifies that going to war is a Congressional decision, ultimately to be carried out by the President.
As of now, we can stop our attacks any time we choose, declaring a victory, but that would enable the Iranians to also claim a victory by being able to point out their surviving being attacked without real regime change nor destruction of their uranium stockpile being accomplished.
It takes two sides to end a conflict and while I suspect Trump is ready to do so, Iran seems to prefer to wait a while to see what damage to America’s alliances and domestic politics ensue. Ultimately, they will come around, recognizing that their economy depends on their being able to sell their oil to whomever they allow passage through the Strait of Hormuz, well knowing that the United States will not attack such non-Iranian-flagged tankers. Trump, unsuccessfully hoping war-induced patriotism would reverse his sagging poll numbers, even among Republicans, has put Iran in the driver’s seat as to when our involvement in this war ends. Whether or not he recognizes this is questionable.
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While there’s a limit to the number of opinions for which I am willing to purchase a subscription, this ‘teaser’ from the Atlantic magazine in trying to sell me one, is by itself informative concerning where we are in our war in Iran and how we got there. (I am not a subscriber to the Atlantic, despite their tempting ‘teaser’ which follows.) Here’s what they said about our president whose unbelievable stupidity got us to this point.:
‘Donald Trump does not think strategically. Nor does he think historically, geographically, or even rationally. He does not connect actions he takes on one day to events that occur weeks later. He does not think about how his behavior in one place will change the behavior of other people in other places.
He does not consider the wider implications of his decisions. He does not take responsibility when these decisions go wrong. Instead, he acts on whim and impulse and when he changes his mind - when he feels new whims and new impulses - he simply lies about whatever he said or did before.’
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Every time I read something like this, I become concerned by the number of Americans who were sufficiently gullible or ignorant enough to have voted for him, pointing out that to be the Achilles heel of our democracy.
At best, the presidencies of Donald Trump will serve as lessons to voters to be very, very careful of for whom they vote, scrutinizing every aspect of a candidate’s background before casting a ballot. At worst, they will have permanently poisoned our striving to maintain a representative democracy.
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Before leaving this subject, I suggest you check out Sunday’s New York Times ‘News Analysis’ piece by David Sanger concerning the war in Iran. To do so, click here or copy and paste https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/21/us/politics/trump-iran-offramp.html?unlocked_article_code=1.VFA.LyO3.aoq7KVSnfHxK&smid=url-share on your device’s browser line.
(David E. Sanger covers the Trump administration and a range of national security issues. He has been a Times journalist for more than four decades and has written four books on foreign policy and national security challenges.)
JL
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Three Professors in the Spotlight
Professor Timothy Snyder’s March 21 posting, addressing the need to protest, includes a request that it be shared with others (like you). Click here or copy and paste https://snyder.substack.com/p/no-kings-freedom on your browser line … read it, and pass it on as he requests. Please!
Then, checking out ‘Letters from an American,’ particularly Boston College Professor Heather Cox Richardson’s March 18 and 19 postings, and UCSD Professor Barbara Walter’s ‘Here Be Dragons,’ particularly its March 20 link to a New York Times Magazine article, ought to keep your political appetites satisfied, if the Iran situation isn’t enough to do that.
Click here or copy and paste https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/ to get to the free part of ‘Letters from an American,’ where the Administration’s efforts to hide significant new details of the Epstein scandal are coming to light. It is unclear whom they are trying to protect.
Click here to get to ‘Here be Dragons’ or copy and paste https://barbarafwalter.substack.com/ on your browser line to get to Professor Walter’s March 20 posting. It provides a link to the New York Times Magazine’s lengthy article which suggests that Israel’s response to Hamas’ October 2023 attack was unnecessarily prolonged by Netanyahu’s efforts to maintain the coalition with the far right ‘settler’ minority that keeps him in power.
JL
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Here Comes the Judge, Again – So What?
The Trump administration had limited the presence of journalists covering the White House, including their admission to supposed press conferences, only to those supposed journalists (like the ‘pillow guy’ and extremist Laura Loomer) fully acceptable to their Trumpian views. Even reporters from Fox weren’t automatically given clearance!
A Federal judge, in a suit brought by the New York Times, has just decided that’s illegal for several reasons, including violation of the First Amendment. Let’s see if Trump and his lackeys pay any attention to this ruling or choose to spend the remainder of his term in office appealing it. He has Attorney General Bondi and Judge Cannon up in Fort Pierce on his side.
JL
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Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri
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More on the Sources of Information in Jackspotpourri: The sources of information used by Jackspotpourri include a delivered local daily ‘printed’ newspaper (now the South Florida Sun Sentinel) and what appears in my daily email; that includes the views of many contributors, including the New York Times and other respected journals.
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.
Following 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.
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. Always!
JL
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