11/18/24

 Monday, November 18, 2024

D+13

1961 JFK sent 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam

1966 US Roman Catholic bishops ended the rule against eating meat on Fridays

1978 In Jonestown, Guyana, 918 members of the Peoples Temple were murdered or committed suicide under the leadership of cult leader Jim Jones

2019 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reversed US policy regarding Israeli West Bank settlements as illegal after 24 years

2021 US judge exonerated Muhammad Abdul Aziz and Khalil Islam for the killing of Malcolm X in 1965, saying they were "wrongly convicted", after 55 years 

In bed at 8:45, awake at 3:12, then half-awake, half-asleep till 4:10, with thoughts of men in my units in Danang and on Okinawa, Phil Swaim, John Kroll, Dick Brassington, Jack (?), memory fails me.  I find myself wishing I had kept note, a diary, a journal earlier in my life.  Ron Kendall: "You can fool the spectators, but you can't fool the players."  Lilly showed up at 7:10.

Prednisone, day 188, 7.5 mg., day 5.   Prednisone at 5:05.  Toasted Dave's Bread at 6:15.  Both shoulders are sore.  Morning meds at 9:15.

Next man up.  My best friends (other than Geri) have all died: Kitty, David Branch,  Tom St. John, Ed Felsenthal.  Only Ed was older than me, and only by less than three months, June 2/August 24.  Thankfully, I still have Larry Anderson, but 800 miles away.  How foolish I was in life to let good friendships get away from me: Ara Cherchian, Vicki Conte.  Mea culpa.  

Pope Francis, Gaza, mixed motives.  The pope has reportedly called for an investigation by someone of whether Israel's actions in Gaza constitute genocide. “According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” Francis said. “We should investigate carefully to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”  What a peculiar statement from the man considered by a billion people to be God's spokesman on Earth on matters of faith and morals: 'the techical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies"?  That sounds like something that would be argued by Israel's barrister in South Africa's case against Israel before the International Court of Justice, not the business of the Pope or the Vatican.

The photo of Pope Francis at his window reminds me of the two occasions when I saw Pope John Paul II at that window.  The first was on my weeklong visit to Rome with Mike Hogan, perhaps 30 years ago, when he and I were in St. Peter's Square for the pope's leading the noon Angelus.  We stood only a few feet from him as he arrived at the Vatican in his limousine from his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, a seerendipitous cheap thrll.  The second was with Geri on December 8th,  -----, the Freast of the Immaculate Conception and a national holiday in Italy, when we serendipitously happened upon the trditionall procession of Italians bearing Christmas gifts to the pope from their regions, villages, or guilds.   It was a memorable sight, hundreds of Italians clad in their traditional native dress, carrying or pushing or pulling their gifts for the pope, all lined up on the Via della Conciliazioni, waiting for the sunset, and then processing into the piazzaa where a HUGE bonfire blazed under the Pope's apartment.  When all the gift-bearers were finally gathered around the bonfire, the light went on in the pope's apartment, the shutters were pushed aside and the pope appeared to a rapturous chant from the crowd: Papa, Papa, Papa.  What a sight, what an experience!

Shadenfreude.  I'm not proud of it.  Acutally, I'm embarassed by it, but I can't help it: I take pleasure in the last two years of the Aaron Rodgers-New York Jets marriage.  The Jets aare 3 and 8 this year,  Last year, Rodgers' first year with the Jets, he played only 4 plays before tearing his hamstring and siting out the season.  He will be 41 years old in a couple of weeks, makes more than $1,000,000 a year, is worth an estimated $200,000,000, and "thinks who he is."  If there is an ounce of humility in his makeup, it's never shown itself.  A real jerk.  Conspiracy theorist. Single, never marrid, 'self-partnered.' Olivia Munn, Danica Patrick, Shailene Woodley, himself.

You gotta be a football hero, to get along with the beautiful girls.

You gotta be a touchdown getter, you bet, if you wanna get a baby to pet.

The fact that you are rich or handsome won't get you anything in curls.

You gotta be a football herp, to get along with the beautiful girls.