9/27/24

 Friday, September 27, 2024

Katherine arrives this afternoon for a weekend visit

70 The walls of the upper city of Jerusalem were battered down by the Roman army

1066 William the Conqueror's troops set sail from Normandy to conquer England

1590 Pope Urban VII died 13 days after being chosen as Pope, making his reign the shortest papacy in history

2020 Details of President Donald Trump's tax returns were released by the New York Times showing he paid $750 in income tax (2016 & 2017) revealing "chronic losses and years of tax avoidance"

In bed at 9, awake at 3, up at 3:20.     

Prednisone, day 136, 7.5 mg., day 15/28.  Prednisone at 5:00 with 2 buttered slices of Dave's Bread and strawberry preserves.  Morning meds at 5:30.  Trulicity injection later in the morning.

Are Trump and the MAGA crowd capable of Nazilike atrocities?  There is an article in this morning's The Atlantic online titled "A SECRET DIARY OF MASS MURDER" by Chris Heath and bearing yesterday's date.  It recounts the story of a diary written by Kazimierz Sakowicz between July 11, 1941 and November 6, 1943.  From 1941 to 1944, at least 70,000 people, the overwhelming majority of them Jews, were taken by the Nazis into the forest of Ponar, a few miles from Vilnius, Lithuania, shot at close range, and buried in mass graves.  Sakowicz was able to see much of what was occurring from his attic window and recorded what he saw in his diary.  Three thoughts came to mind as I read the story.  First, why did he keep the diary (or journal or notebook)?  Second, why did the Nazis do what they did?  Third, could the more radical Trump supporters engage in a similar kind of campaign in America if he regains the White House on November 5?

The first question is like the one that I have asked myself so often: why keep this journal that no one will read?  Am I mostly just trying to keep tabs on my mental health and cognitive acuity?  Seeing whether I can still write coherent thoughts, still get my old fingers to hit the right keys on the keyboard, and still do some sort of rudimentary formatting?  Do I just want to leave some sort of record of having been alive on these days when nothing that I otherwise do, i.e., next to nothing, has any impact of the world outside our home?  Do I write in large measure because it is so hard for me to read anymore, with my lazy, bleary vision?  In any case, it clear that Sakowicz was not writing in his journal for my self-absorbed reasons, but why did he do it when discovery by the Nazis would probably have led to his death?  Who knows, but it's the second and third questions I'm wondering about this morning: why did the Nazis do what they did and could many Americans engage in similar acts?  By Nazis, BTW, I include all the Germans, Austrians, Poles, Russians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, and others who weren't members of the party but who cooperated with the Nazis' campaign of mass murder.

The second question is the hardest: why did the Nazis, broadly- conceived,, do what they did?  Many reasons come to mind including the defeat in WW I, the wounded pride, the devastating economic effects of the Versailles Treaty and reparations, hyperinflation, and the need to blame scapegoats, but no answer suffices and, knowing how widespread were those who cooperated with the Nazis throughout Europe, we are left with Solzhenitzyn's truth: "The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years."  There is a Nazi lurking in me as there was in Solzhenitsyn and in Sakowicz.  Given the appropriate circumstances, the Nazi will emerge.  The circumstances were right in Europe in the 1930s and 40s when millions of Nazis emerged and controlled the world for a time.  Are the circumstances right in America in the 2020s?

Trump has been promising revenge for months: "I am your voice, your warrior, your retribution."  Years ago when asked his favorite Bible passage he said: "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."  Who is on Trump's public revenge list?  Joe Biden and his family, Alvin Bragg, Letitia James, Jack Smith and his team, Judge Arthur Engoron, Judge Juan Merchan, Liz Cheney, members of the January 6th Committee,  General Mark Milley, the news media, staff at the National Archives, charities that aid immigrants, and even Mark Zuckerberg.  He has accused more people of "treason" than I can remember.  He has promised the mass deportation of literally millions of undocumented persons.  Who is on his secret 'enemies list."  We can assume that many of his followers are at least as rabid as he is and that many are worse.  The Supreme Court has already immunized Trump from prosecution for crimes committed in office, including using the Justice Department and the Department of Defense for illegal and unconstitutional purposes.  Once one normalizes the rounding up and incarcerating of millions of peaceful persons in 'detention camps' guarded by the American military, what governmental acts are not acceptable?

"The powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned."

Anniversaries.  The sack of Jerusalem.  Quaere: were the Jews really exiled or did they simply scatter on their own?

The battle of Hastings which led to the introduction of all those Latin-based words into the Anglo-Saxon vernacular.

Pope Urban VII ruled for only 13 days.  Where was the Holy Spirit during that conclave?  Ditto with the conclave that elected John Paul I.

Trump's nonpayment of federal income taxes despite a fortune in income came as no surprise.  Our tax code reflects our culture and the values embraced by our government.  The Golden Rule: he who has the gold makes the rules." USA, USA, USA!!!