1/4/25

Saturday, January 4, 2025

D+ 60

1965 LBJ's "Great Society" State of the Union Address

1974 Richard Nixon refused to hand over tapes subpoenaed by Watergate Committee

1975 Boston Bruins Dave Forbes became the 1st athlete indicted for criminal assault for excessive violence during play; stick butt-end the face of Minnesota North Star Henry Boucha caused permanent vision damage; court case ended in a hung jury, and a civil settlement was eventually reached

1995 Newt Gingrich became Speaker of the House of Representatives

2007 The 110th United States Congress elected Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House

2010 The Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building at 829.8 m (2,722 ft), officially opened in Dubai, with exterior lighting provided by Sarah Clausen et al.

In bed by 9, awake and up by 4:10 with a nasty dream of a school year starting and missing the first two classes of the semester, disorganized, out of touch.  By 6 a.m., I've emptied and refilled the dishwasher & gotten the kitchen shipshape.  It's 10° outside, wind chilll -7° .  By 7:30, it's down to 9° and a wind chill of -8°, and a cold week ahead.     

Prednisone, day 235, 7.5 mg., day 50.  Prednisone at 5 a.m.   I've been on this steroid for 8 months now and will see Dr. Ryzka on Monday.  Both shoulders have been sore for the last two months and my hips are stiff.  Is the PMR returning despite the prednisone?   

Obscenity in America.  de Tocqueville wrote Democracy in America; I wish he were around to write Obscenity in America.  Our daily newspapers and other media provide plenty of examples.  Here's one from this morning's NY Times:  "Trump Has Reeled in More Than $200 Million Since Election Day: The president-elect has boasted about the donations for his inauguration, library and political activities from those seeking favor or perhaps in some cases, atonement" by Kenneth P. Vogel, Maggie Haberman, and Theodore Schleifer.  "The total haul for the committee financing his inaugural festivities — at least $150 million raised, with more expected — will eclipse the record-setting $107 million raised for his 2017 inauguration . . . Inaugural committees can accept unlimited contributions from individuals and corporations, but not foreign nationals. . . Donations of at least $1 million grant access to the top package of perks related to several days of festivities in the run-up to the inauguration on Jan. 20, including what are touted as “intimate” dinners with Mr. Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, though often with many attendees, as well as black-tie balls after the swearing-in."

Nota bene.  Special Forces Master Sergeant Matthew Livelsberger, who shot himself as he blew up the Tesla cybertruck he was in in Las Vagas this week, wrote in a note "“Why did I personally do it now? I needed to cleanse my mind of the brothers I’ve lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took.”  How much attention will be devoted to his need to "relieve myself of the the burden of the lives I took"?  What lives did he take during his time in the Army?  On his three tours in Afghanistan?  Elsewhere?  How did he take them?  What were the circumstances?  We have to believe that information about his service, including combat deaths he was involved in, is available in his Army records or from interviews of fellow Special Forces soldiers he served with.  Will the Army look into this?  Will anyone in the Mainstream News Media?  Anyone?  

Alicia Arritt, a former Army nurse who dated Sergeant Livelsberger in 2018 and was a friend of his until he died, said that he had been a generous person who leaned conservative but was rarely overtly political.  After years of deployments, she said, he struggled with mental health issues that he tried to conceal so that he could continue to serve in the Special Forces.  “He needed help, and he was afraid to get it," she said, “which is very common for guys who do his job.”  Will the Army look into this?  Will anyone in the Mainstream News Media?  Anyone? 

My wife is a blessing in my life.  Her cousin Sue, who, God bless her, has purchased a ticket to fly up from North Carolina to help Geri during her first week after knee replacement surgery, called her this morning to schmooze.  Just listening to Geri on the phone with Sue, or with other good friends, reminds me of how alive she is, how much she lives in the moment and is engaged with day-to-day life, unlike me who spends so much time ruminating about the past or fretting about the future.  When I started keeping a list on my iPhone of what I love about her, the first item was her mellifluous laugh which I so often hear when she is on the phone with Sue or another friend.

18 Questions, 40 Israeli thinkers.  Yesterday and today I've listened to the interview of Haviv Rettig Gur, an Israeli journalist.  Like the others in the series, at least so far, he is very knowledgeable, intelligent, and articulate.   Today I started listening to Einat Wilf, an Israeli-born, IDF veteran, former Labor member of the Knesset, and writer.    She received a BA from Harvard, an MBA in France, and a Ph.D. at Cambridge University.  She is a 'hard-liner' about the War in Gaza, asserting that the Netanyahu government has made 4 mistakes.  First, accepting Biden's fiction that Hamas does not represent the Palestinians and "Palestinianism" the position that Jews have no right to a Jewish state in their ancestral homeland. Second,  we should not be resupplying our enemy until they surrender.,  Third, we should not have dealt with Qatar as some useful or benevolent element rather than realizing that they are an enemy. Fourth, Egypt's role vis-a-vis Gaza, with their common border.  She is brilliant.  I want to listen to this interview again.  I have had somewhat similar thoughts about other interviews I have listened to if for no other reason than because the thoughts, assertions of facts and opinions, and analyses are expressed so rapidly that it is hard for me to follow and assimilate them.  She has me rethinking the Gaza War issues.