9/24/2026

 Thursday, September 24, 2026

1938 Adolf Hitler issued an ultimatum demanding Sudetenland be ceded to Germany

1950 Operation Magic Carpet concluded after having transported 45,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel

2015 Pope Francis became the 1st pope to address the US Congress, naming Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas Merton, and Dorothy Day as his American heroes.

2015 A stampede during the Hajj killed 717 people during the symbolic stoning of the devil

2024 Joe Biden addressed the UN for the last time, calling on Israel and Hamas to come to a ceasefire in Gaza, saying, "I truly believe we’re at another inflection point in world history."

In bed at 9:05, up at 4; 0420  115. 115/69/65. 132  203.4; 57/52/67/57 BEACH HAZARDS, 3-5' waves, dangerous currents, mostly cloudy day ahead.

Morning meds at 7 a.m.   Entresto at 6:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m.

Thoughts on Iran.  Trump has long been saying that the Iranians are begging to make a deal to end the war; the opposite is true.  Trump is begging to make a deal.  That has seemed clear to me for some time now, but the belief is reinforced by the story in this morning's NYTimes about the US, behind the scenes, trying to "jump-start" negotiations with Iran.  The war, with high gas and diesel prices and total wr costs, is killing Trump politically at home, not only with Dems and independents, but within his own base. It's his tar baby.  Second thought: Trump is accurate when he says the war will end after our November elections.  It will end with Trump fulfilling his TACO reputation.  He will cut a deal with the Iraqis that gives them control of the Strait of Hormuz, plus a bunch of money, either by way of reparations, unfreezing Iranian assets held overseas, or some combination of giveaways that will further hurt the U.S.  We'll know soon enough.

8 Sailor on USS Lincoln attempted suicide during last cruise.  This information was provided to Sen. Gillibrand by SecNav Cao.  Trump and Hegseth both have dismissed concerns about the mental health of sailors (and Marines) having spent more than 300 days at sea with no port calls.  They should try living on a Navy ship at sea, even outside a combat zone, to see what its impact on one's mental health is.

Can I write about anything other than gloom and doom?  I'll try by writing today about some favorite things, starting with movies.   I watched a YouTube video about Woody Allen's list of the 5 greatest movies, which makes the selection process easier.  His ## 3, 4, and 5 were movies that I also think are great (Wild Strawberries, Rashomon, and Bicycle Thieves),  For many years, I had his #5 as my personal #1.  I've watched it many times, which I can't say for Woody's ## 1 and 2, Citizen Kane and 8 and 1/2.

Bicycle Thieves is a Vittorio de Sica Italian neorealist film made in 1948.  It's a film about the human condition, set in post-war Italy.  It is a story of a poor father who relies on his bicycle to earn a living for himself, his wife, and his young son, Bruno.  When someone steals his bicycle, the father and son search for it through the streets of Rome.  He receives no help from the police.  At the end of the day of futile searching, he sees an unattended bicycle, tries to steal it, and is caught by the neighbors and the police.  His son sees his father arrested and publicly humiliated.  The owner of the bicycle declines to press charges; the father is released, and the film closes with the father and son, hand in hand, walking away from the camera toward home. This description doesn't nearly do justice to the emotional depth of this film, which is heartbreaking.  It deals with the effects of the recently ended war on the Italian people. It deals with the effects of poverty and joblessness on individuals and families.  It deals with the wide circle of victims of criminal acts.  It deals with the ineffectiveness of government in protecting us from many devastating harms.  It deals with sacrifice.  It deals with what children learn from watching their parents.  It is about Life writ large, especially among the powerless.  I feel the film pulling my heartstrings just from writing about it.  It's a profoundly powerful, moving film.  I was surprised to find it streaming on HBOMax and will watch it again, probably today.

As I recalled this great movie and started to write about it, I found myself wondering how it would have been received if, instead of featuring the poor Italian family in Rome at the end of WWII, it had featured a poor Black family in Milwaukee or East St. Louis.  I don't pursue this thought because I'm working on avoiding doom and gloom today, but I think too of how my childhood in a 3-room basement apartment on the South Side of Chicago with my war-impaired father after WWII affected me.  

I better stop with my canon of favorite flicks, at least for now, because, over several years, as an inveterate list-maker, I have compiled a list of favorite flicks.  It was one of the things I took up as I became more and more sedentary in my old age.  I stopped adding to it years ago, but it's nevertheless long:

Just looking at the list, I wonder why I hadn't added Bob Fosse's All That Jazz and Out of Africa.  Where is 2001?  The Godfather? Schindler's List?  What else am I missing with my weak memory???