8/17/2026

 Monday, August 17, 2026

1946 George Orwell published "Animal Farm" in the United Kingdom

1998 Bill Clinton admitted he had an "improper physical relationship" with Monica Lewinsky and that he "misled people" about the relationship

2005 The first forced evacuation of settlers from Gaza began as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan

2023 US 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose above 7% for the first time in 21 years

2025 A general strike and mass protests calling for a hostage deal and ceasefire to end the Gaza war occurred across Israel, involving approximately 2.5 million protesters across the country and 300,000 at the protest held in Hostages Square, Tel Aviv. At least 32 protesters were arrested.

In bed at 9, awake at 3:30, up at 4; 0420203.4  105/62/71  106; 66/79/66, sunny day ahead.

Morning meds at 1:30 p.m. Eliquis at 6:25 a.m. and p.m.

Russian asset or Russian agent?  I've wondered this often in these pages over the last four years.  That his political acts are profoundly beneficial to Russia (and to China), there can be little doubt.  Now I can add North Korea and Iran to that list of American enemies benefitted by President Donald J. Trump, like no former American president.  In the last day, he has threatened to "bomb the shit out of" Oman, the other nation bordering the Strait of Hormuz and has abruptly cancelled a joint military exercise between U. S. and South Korean militaries, to the undeniable benefit of both Iran and North Korean and of no benefit whatsoever to the United States.  I remember the words of wisdom of his second chief of staff, General John F. Kelly, USMC (Ret.): 

“He’s certainly the only president that has all but rejected what America is all about, and what makes America America, in terms of our Constitution, in terms of our values, the way we look at everything, to include family and government — he’s certainly the only president that I know of, certainly in my lifetime, that was like that.”

and, the best:

“The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it’s more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life,”  

Another trip to the VA for health concersn.  First, a visit with NP Kali Kisro about my intestinal challenges over the last couple (or few) weeks, which get worse  yesterday and persist today.  Then a visit with the urologist over my persistent bladder pain.  I suspect  I could also use another meatotomy, too, as recomended by the last urologist, but I'm taking a 'wait and see' approach to both the intestinal problem and the UT problem.  Lab tests tomorrow for my heart failure NP, my PHP, the urologist, and the cardiac arrythmia doc, who I also visit with tomorrow.  Wedensday, a phone conerence with NP Maggie Angeli re heart failure, electrolytes, and effect of Eliquis.

The Secret History.  I'm at page 230 of 560 of Donna Tartt's first novel, in the 5th, the longest, and last chapter of Part I, which I know will end up with the murder of "Bunny" Corcoran.  Part II deals with the aftermath of the murder.  I've been meaning to read one of Tartt's novels for a few years now because I developed a little crush on her, but  I've got mixed feelings about the book. It's a story about 6 students at a mythical elite Hampden College in northern Vermont, paralleling Tartt's alma mater, Bennington College.  The narrator comes from a middle class family in California and his parents, especially his father, don't like him very much; he returns the feeling.  The other students, like most students at Hampden come from well-off families, some very wealthy.  They're all wierd in their own ways and not all that likeable.  The least likeable is the victim, Bunny.  I generally don't enjoy reading or watching movies or TV shows about the "swells," like British royals, and rich capitalists, especially those living off inherited wealth.  So the elitism of most of the characters in the novel is a strike against against it.  On the other hand, I do enjoy murder mysteries and this is kind of an inverse murder mystery.  We know from the get-go who gets murdered and who did it, but we don't know why or with what consequences for the perpetrators; that's what the novel is about.  In any event, Tartt is an excellent writer and story teller and she has held my interest through Part I.  I'm not sure whether it will hold throughout Part II.  I'm not particularly interested in academic campus novels, despite my own background and the fact that I loved Lucky Jim, a hilarious novel by Kingsley Amis, set in a post-WWII English new college established to service returning veterans.  I recently read John Williams' Stoner, but didn't enjoy it very much,  I do tend to enjoy writing that pokes fun at the pretentiousness of academic life precisely becasue I spent much of my post-Marine Corps life on a univeristy faculty, though I was always something of a misfit.  The professor at the center of The Secret History, Julian Morrow, a scholar of Greek language, literatue, and culture, is full of himself, a know-it-all, a guy about whom Geri's mother would say, "He thinks who he is."  He and his 6 students (that's all he has) consdier themselves elites among the colleges hoi polloi, who themselves are elites compared to the rest of us plebs.  It's hard to identify with any the novel's characters except perhaps the narrator in his discomfort as a relatively poor kid among his much wealthier friends.

One of the many pretty little flowers Geri has on and around our patio.