Thursday, September 18, 2025
D+317/242/-1222
1850 US Congress passed Fugitive Slave Law as part of the Compromise of 1850
1943 Adolf Hitler ordered the deportation of Danish Jews (unsuccessfully)
1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres - Christian militia massacred at least 700 Palestinians
1987 US & USSR signed an accord to remove mid-range missiles
1997 Voters in Wales voted yes (50.3%) in a referendum on Welsh autonomy
2014 Scotland voted to stay in the United Kingdom in an independence referendum
2023 For the first time, one in ten Japanese people is now over the age of 80, with 29.1% over 65
In bed at 9:40, and up at 3. 62°, high of 76°, mostly sunny day.
Meds, etc. Morning meds at 6:30 a.m.
How did the Third Reich handle its critics? Surveillance, intimidation, imprisonment and, for some, execution. The Reich had laws against “malicious gossip” (Heimtückegesetz) or “undermining military morale” (Wehrkraftzersetzung). The Heimtückegesetz was the "Law against Treacherous Attacks on the State and Party and for the Protection of Party Uniforms" It restricted the right to freedom of speech, and criminalized all remarks causing putative severe damage to the welfare of the Third Reich or the prestige of the Nazi government or the Nazi Party. Wehrkraftzersetzung was enacted in 1938 by decree as Germany moved closer to World War II to suppress criticism of the Nazi Party and Wehrmacht leadership in the military, and in 1939, a second decree was issued extending the law by defining all German people as civilians subject to service discipline. The Trumpian version of surveillance and intimidation is investigations by Pam Bondi's Justice Department and Kash Patel's FBI. Intimidation also includes audits and adverse decisions by the Internal Revenue Service, investigations and proceedings before the Securities and Exchange Commissiion, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and on and on. It includes multi-million dollar lawsuits against media companies. including television networks and national newspapers. What is most distressing but in no way surprising is how the company bigwigs, the guys in the "C" suites, bend over for Trump who, as he would put it, has almost all the cards, i.e., control of the huge federal government apparatus, and they have so few. In American corporate law, corporate directors have one preeminent duty: to make profits for its shareholders. If the federal government, with all its resources, comes after your company with a vengeance directed by the president, it will cost the company money, lots of money. The costs may be enought to put weak companies out of business. Directors have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to avoid such a result, and so they settle, they take a knee, they bend over. Corporate managers have no duty to defend free speech. They have no duty to defend 'the public interest.' They have no duty to resist government oppression or persecution. Thei legal duty is to make money for their shareholders.
Text exchange with ASC last night:
Anne Clausen:
I don’t know if Andy told you but my brother Tom died last week. Rose’s son emailed Andy Sunday at his Hinshaw address. He said that both Tom and Rose had severe dementia and were in a memory care facility. Tom died of cardiac arrest. There will not be a funeral because it would be confusing and troublesome for Rose. So I am the only surviving member of my dad’s part of the Smith family. I feel rather orphanish. Be well. A
Charles Clausen:
I’m sorry that Andy didn’t tell me, but I don’t hear much from him though I know he is very busy with lawyering work and with his family. I’m sorry to hear about Tom but don’t know quite what to say about the death of those with severe dementia. My own hope is to die before I ever reach that stage of life or anything close to it. I feel the same about severe physical disability. I truly sympathize with your feeling orphanish; I’ve felt the same since Kitty died. With my mother dying so young, and Kitty dying 7 years younger than I am now, I’ve had a bit of ‘survivor’s guilt’, wondering why I’m still around. I’m still grieving Ed Felsenthal’s death. In any case, from one orphan to another, I’m sorry for your loss and if there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know. I very much appreciate your letting me know this sad news.
Five of my former and present brothers-in-law have died: Dick, Paul, and Tom Smith, Robert Aquavia, and Jim Reck. Only Jim Aquavia survives, at age 91, demented and almost certainly unhappy in a high quality, high cost, memory care facility. This morning I will attend the 4th session of the VA's "Aging from the inside out" discussion, designed to help old veterans deal with being old and growing older, more decrepit. A big part of the challenge of old age is losing friends and family members, outliving contempoyraries and even many who are/were younger than you. Tom Smith's death reminds me of that. The psychologist who moderates the sessions is well-meaning and experienced, the themes she semi-raises (character strengths, empathy, optimism, gratitude, etc.) are worthwhile, but it is mostly just the 4 to 6 old vets schmoozing together that gives the program its value. I wonder who will show up this morning. I wonder if I'll be a zombie by 11 when it convenes. . . . I was a zombie, with little to say, but I enjoyed lisening to the others: Marvin, AJ, Rickie, George, Jay, and Lee. It's a diverse group, 4 Blacks, 1 puerto Rican, I White guy from Alabama, and 1 from Chicago/Milwaukee George, Lee, and I are natives of Chicago. Marvin was acting mayor of Milwaukee for awhile, ran for the office and lost the election. I met him when I worked at the House of Peace, a very likable man.
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