6/1/2026

 Monday, June 1, 2026

1916 US Senate confirmed Louis Brandeis for the Supreme Court of the United States by a vote of 47 to 22, over 4 months after his nomination

1962  Adolf Eichmann was executed in Israel for SS war crimes

1967 The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album was released

2020 President Trump threatened to employ the military to quell protests across the country over the death of George Floyd, then walked with staff to St. John’s Church

2025 At least 31 Palestinians were killed and 170 others were injured while thousands of people went to receive aid from an American-funded humanitarian aid distribution centre in Gaza City. Israel denied its responsibility and released drone footage showing armed, masked men firing at civilians attempting to collect humanitarian aid.

In bed by 9, awakened by the alarm at 5; 0515 143/79/33 124 202.0; 53/67/52 cloudy, partly cloudy.

Morning meds at 10:50 a.m.,  and half-dose of Bisoprolol at 5:50.

I've started The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout.  CBG mentioned yesterday that she had read and enjoyed it and I've been looking for my next read since finishing The Scarlet Letter.  What a difference in writing styles between Hawthorne's 1850 demanding prolixity and Strout's crisp, clear narration.  I'm only about 30 pages into the novel but I'm already captivated by it, probably because I see so many parallels between my own life and that of the protaganist, Artie Dam, a 57 year old high school history teacher, who is not without friends and his long-time wife, Evie, but is lonely, who has twice seriously contemplated suicide in his life and the means to do it while making the death appear accidental, and who seriously ponders whether and to what extent we really have "free will."  (Quite an example of a run-on sentence!😝)  He also grew up in a basement apartment, with with sister and his parents, one of whom was mentally troubled.  He also rues that his relationship with his son is much more distant than he would like.  "Every time Artie saw him, his heart broke a little more."  He also 'married up,' and felt some shame about his working class parents compared to his wife's parents.  Artie is a complex character, like the rest of us and this early in the book, he is still a mystery to me, but one I want to know more about.  This particular set of parallels seems kind of unlikely to me.  I have a hunch I may finish this book by tomorrow.

I met with my primary care provider, NP Kali Kisro, this morning at 8 a.m.  Nothing to report, except that I was touched when she told me at the end of our appointment that she's not a praying person, but that she does have some sort of belief in good wishes having some mysterious efficacy, and that she will be sending good wishes my way on the 15th.  

Some anniversary thoughts.  Louis Brandeis lives on in my thoughts for this: 

Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill it teaches the whole people by example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that in the administration of the criminal law the end justifies the means - to declare that the Government may commit crimes in order to secure the conviction of a private criminal - would bring terrible retributions.    Olmstead v. U.S., 277 U.S. 438 (1928) (dissenting)

Can we ever forget: Donald J. Trump, Defender of the Faith.

 

The mass shooting of Palestinians trying to obtain food from an American humanitarian group.  Was it the Israelis or Hamas who did it?  Hamas or the IDF?  The IDF or Shin Bet?  Or Mossad?  Or a Palestinian gang?  Or the Islamic State in Gaza?  Was the drone footage real or fake?  Real of AI?  What is anyone to do with "knowledge" or "news" like this anymore?