10/19/2026

 Friday, October 31, 2025

1517 Martin Luther sent his Ninety-five Theses to Albert of Brandenburg, Archbishop of Mainz, precipitating the Protestant Reformation

1992 The Catholic church apologized for its treatment of astronomer Galileo Galilei after 359 years

1999 Roman Catholic Church and Lutheran Church leaders signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, ending a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation

2000  John Paul II declared Thomas More as "the heavenly Patron of Statesmen and Politicians."

2019 House members voted to formalize impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump

2023 Kenyan President William Ruto held a state banquet for King Charles III in Nairobi, whose speech acknowledged that “the wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret” 

2025 Thousands of Haredi Jews gathered at the Israeli consulate in New York City to protest against the potential conscription of yeshiva students to the Israel Defence Forces, exempt since 1977.

In bed at 9, up with alarm clock at 5;  122/72/64 99 202.2; 44/36/64/44, sunny morning, cloudy later.

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

LTMW this morning,  I spotted Ghasson and Athena again, same route, same routine, including Athena's sitting down on the cold asphalt at the end of County Line Road, and staring wistfully back to where they had walked, to, Ghasson's patient waiting, and then the pat on the shoulder to signal, 'OK. Time to go home.'  I'm wondering whether Athena has a love interest down County Line Road.

A ride in the country.  I drove out to Holy Hill this morning, before Geri's expected return around noon.  County Line to River Road to Mequon Road to I_41/45 to Holy Hill Road to Holy Hill.  Then Holy Hill Road to Washington County K to Good Hope Road (its western terminus?) to Port Road and home.  Beautiful countryside, with the trees starting to turn colors the further I drove away from Lake Michigan's warming influence.  I had forgotten how very hilly Holy Hill Road is, approaching the shrine, and how very forested the approaches and Holy Hill itself is.  I drove past the side road that leads to the beautiful Fox and Hounds Restaurant where I dined only once, and enjoyed the charcroute garni á la Heiliger Huegel (Holy Hill).  Once at the shrine and friary, I drove in as far as I could, but opted not to climb the steps to go into the church.  I'm struck yet again by how beautiful Wisconsin's countryside is.  A million thoughts crossed my mind during the drive, including wishing my sister or my Dad could have been with me to see what I was seeing.  A little bit of old guy survivor blues.  I was also struck once more by what a very rich country we live in, how many very well-off people there are - not just the very wealthy, another topic, but what we call "middle class.  How many beautiful homes I see on my country rides!  How really poor we were all those years we lived in that 3-room, one-bedroom apartment at 7303 S. Emerald Avenue in Englewood.  Memories, memories, wonderment, wonderment. Some sadness and hurting compassion, but much gratitude..  

More evidence of US complicity in Israel's crimes and violations of human rights.

@realDonaldTrump.  To the Great People of Israel:

Bibi Netanyahu has been a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combatting the Islamic Republic of Iran, with its 51 year old chant, “Death to Israel, Death to America! We will destroy the Little Satan and the Big Satan.” What Country can survive when things such as this are allowed to be said, because eventually, they always end up being true? It would have been only a question of time until Iran would have put that ominous phrase into effect, but they have been systematically destroyed, both Militarily and Financially, and unless they change their ways, rapidly, we will soon finish the job. If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so. Bibi Netanyahu has been Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel, itself. Despite all of that, he has endured and, in fact, he has thrived! I have watched Bibi under the most trying of times. Normal men or women in such situations would have wilted under the pressure — But Bibi did not wilt, he actually got stronger, and maintains that same Strength today. This is the kind of Partner that the United States of America is demanding of Israel, a Country for which it has done so much. Please let this Letter serve to represent my Complete and Total Endorsement of Bibi Netanyahu in his upcoming Race for Re-Election as Prime Minister of Israel. BIBI NETANYAHU WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN! Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Our deep complicity in Israel's wrongdoing is why I focus on its wrongdoing, rather than the wrongdoing in so many places by so many actors other than Israel.  It's not anti-semitism; it's anti-Zionism.  I have struggled with the Zionism/anti-Zionism issue for a long time, certainly a lot since October 7, 2023, and Israel's response to Hamas's murderous outrage.  I started keeping this daily journal at the end of July in 2022, about 14 months before October 7th.  I wonder whether I wrote anything about Zionism or Israel between 2022 and October 7th.  If I did, I suspect it related to Israel's government and IDF's and settlers' treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank. (I don't think I have the energy to review all my journal entries over those 14 months, or the 3 years since, to analyze what I've written.). I have finally (?) come to the belief that Zionism was wrong-headed ab initio, from the beginning, at least Zionism as it came to be implemented in the 1920s and 1930s and as it came to fruition in the 1940s with the Nakba and the establishment of the Jewish State that exists today.  I have resisted this conclusion mainly because of I have so many Jewish friends, dear friends, who have visited Israel, admire and love it.  I fear losing near-lifelong friends, friends who are dear to me, important to me, if I speak honestly about my thinking about Israel, at least the Israel of Likud, of Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon, and Benjamin Netanyahu.  Fortunately, Israel has become, like abortion and religion, something that is almost never discussed by polite people.  In any event, I feel a bit like Luther at the Diet of Worms, and all I can say is:  “Here I stand. I can do no other. So help me God. Amen.”

Some things I hate in America.  (1) Political ads.  (2) Pharmaceutical ads.  Stay tuned.