Tuesday, December 31, 2024
D+56
1930 Pius XI's encyclical Casti connubii against mixed marriages and artificial birth control and abortion, predecessor of Paul VI's Humanae Vitae
1946 US President Harry Truman officially proclaimed the end of WW II
1965 There were 39,092 III MAF Marines in South Vietnam, of a total US deployment of 181,000. Since March 8, 1965, 342 Marines have died in action, 2,047 have been wounded, and 18 are missing. They claim to have killed 2,627 enemy. Only God knows how many Vietnamese had been killed, wounded, bombed, burned, poisoned, or otherwise harmed.
1970 President Allende nationalized the Chilean coal mines
1999 Boris Yeltsin resigned as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as acting President
2015 US law enforcement killed 1,134 in 2015, young black men 9x more likely to be victims
In bed at 9:15, after sleeping on the recliner for an hour or so, awake at 4:10, and up at 4:30
Prednisone, day 231, 7.5 mg., day 46. Prednisone at 5, other meds around 10.
Happy New Year? What got better in 2024? What got worse? In some measure or in large measure because of Joe Biden's arrogance and hubris, the American electorate put Donald Trump back in power, this time with Neo-Nazi-supporting Elon Musk. With their combined political and financial power, they can to cow every single Republican legislator and probably many Democratic ones as well. Elon Musk is virtually lining at a $2,000 per night cottage at Mar-a-Lago while homelessness in America set a new record. We became more vulnerable to a world controlled by Wall Street, Silicon Valley, algorithms and Artificial intelligence, "Open the door, Hal." We saw a year of humans slaughtering humans in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan. Putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons as his 'special military operation' against Ukraine nears its third year. Original MAGAs who want the government to expel immigrants and elevate white evangelical Christian men are facing off against the new DOGE MAGAs who disdain original MAGA culture and want the government to turn the tech billionaires loose from regulations and taxes to create their own global oligarchy. America's national debt has grown to $36 trillion, the annual budget deficit is more than $2 trillion, The debt to GDP ratio was 35% in 1960, 55% in 1980, and is 123% now, and Trump and the Republicans will cut taxes and increase these numbers. The DOGE twins, if they have their way, will cut food stamps, aid to education, veterans benefits, medical research, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security and increase Defense/War spending. In the November election, 89% of American counties shifted rightward. Non-White voters shifted more than a dozen points in favor of Trump.
What got better? What is getting better? . . . The popularity of women's sports soared, thanks largely but not solely to Caitlin Clark. Notre Dame was repaired, restored, and reopened. Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria fell. Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran were weakened. AI is helping in health care. Some states banned or restricted legacy admissions. Joe Biden acknowledged and issued an official apology for the government’s role in Indian boarding schools. Israel's war on Gaza has brought fresh attention to its apartheid policies and practices in the West Bank. Trump lost his appeal in the $5 million E. Jean Carroll case. I became aware of beautful clouds and the daily sky.
Resolutions? 1. Make a new friend or revive an old one. Why? Reduce loneliness, improve outlook on life, mental health, mood. 2. Try chair yoga again. Why? Improve mobility, flexibility, agility, mood. 3. Work on living, not dying before I die. Why? Why not? "I'm gonna live till I die! I'm gonna laugh 'stead of cry. Before my number's up, I'm gonna fill my cup. I'm gonna live, live, live, until I die!" Mickey the Mope. 4. Work on kindness and forgiveness, including for myself. Why? Kindness and forgiveness make life better, easier, brighter, more tolerable even on hard days. I can't undo my sins and failures but I can try to atone.
Distrust/skepticism/cynicism. I grew up in the Irish American Catholic Church. I grew up in Chicago. I served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam. I lived through 'light at the end of the tunnel' and Watergate and "weapons of mass destruction" and the Wall Street bailout. Why would I accept "on faith" or "on authority" anything the faithful or authorities say? If I can't believe 'my' clerics or 'my' government, why would I believe those of any other religion or any other government, including any plausibly accused of genocide?
A passing New Year's Eve thought. When most of your life is behind you and you get feebler and less able each day, the coming of another year isn't entirely a thing to celebrate. Will this be the year that I die? Will this be a year when I take another fall? Is it even conceivable that I won't take another fall? Will the next one result in a trip to the emergency room? to a broken hip or shoulder? hospitalization? When the New Year initiates 4 years of power plays by a wicked, selfish, malignantly narcissistic hegemon, one wishes for the Old Year, bad as that was. How much human misery will he cause in his first year back in power, this time surrounded by his people, not traitors like Jim Mattis, Mark Milley, and John Kelly. What havoc will be wrought by Stephen Miller, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Pete Hegseth?
Alice Munro. I am listenting to this story in the current New Yorker about Alice Munro,and her daughter Andrea who was sexually abused by Alice's boyfriend. Alice knew of the abuse and continued to live with the man. Very creepy.
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