10/23/2026

 Friday, October 23, 2026

1943 First Jewish transport out of Rome reached Birkenau

1973  Nixon agreed to turn over White House tape recordings to Judge John Sirica

1983 Suicide terrorist truck bomb killed 243 US personnel in Beirut

1991 Clarence Thomas was sworn in as US Supreme Court Justice

2025 Donald Trump announced all trade negotiations with Canada were "terminated" following an advertisement featuring former president Ronald Reagan released by the government of Ontario

2025 The United States rules out Israel's plan to annex the West Bank following a Knesset vote, while several other countries oppose the plan, calling it a violation of international law.

2025 A review by National Public Radio revealed that there have been at least 20 deaths in ICE custody this year, making it the deadliest year since record-keeping began in 2004. 

In bed at 9, up at 6:10; 204.0 120/68/68 100; 52/66/51, DENSE FOG MORNING, mostly cloudy day.

Morning meds at 8 a.m.  Entresto at 6:50 a.m. and 6:45 p.m.

Reminiscing: The World Series starts tonight in Milwaukee.  It's a great thing for Milwaukee retail and service businesses. Each home game is expected to have an economic impact of $10-$15 million, so with at least 2 home games guaranteed, total impact = at least $20-$30 million.  A 7-game series would mean 4 home games, or $40-$60 million.  Beyond the economic impact, the Series is a shot in the arm for poor old Milwaukee.  On the national scene, we tend to be pretty much ignored, lying in the shadows of Chicago to the south and Minneapolis to the west, despite all the great things about the city that I've come to appreciate more the older I get and the longer I live here.

There was a time when Milwaukee was a great city in its own right.  Milwaukee's population peaked in 1960, at 741,324 residents. By the latest Census Bureau estimate, for July 2025, the city had fallen to 562,407 residents.  That represents a loss of 178,917 people, or 24.1%, over 65 years.   Unlike the city, though, the metropolitan area has experienced substantial long-term population growth, about 23%, not a substantial population loss.  One particularly revealing statistic: In 1960, the city of Milwaukee contained approximately 58% of the metropolitan area's population. In 2025, it contained only 36%.  The primary reasons have been increasing suburbanization after WWII,  decreasing manufacturing employment, and demographic changes in household size, birth rate, etc.  

As a near lifelong Leftie, I've long been blaming Bill Clinton and NAFTA for Milwaukee's demise, and NAFTA certainly hurt Milwaukee, but there were other causes too for decreased manufacturing jobs, including automation and corporate restructurings.  In any event, Milwaukee is a far different city today than what it was in 1959 when I moved here from Chicago as a freshman at Marquette, when the city was near its peak population.  The only figures I found compared manufacturing jobs from 1967, when I returned to the city from the Marines, to 2017.  In 1967, the figure was 118,600; in 2017, it was 27,126, a loss of 91,474 jobs, or 77% of its manufacturing employment.

When I first came to Milwaukee, Blatz Brewing, located in downtown Milwaukee, had just been acquired by Pabst Brewing, which moved all its brewing operations to the Pabst site, north of the courthouse.  Pabst was still going strong, as was Schlitz, both of which are now shut down, and Gettleman, ditto.  Now, in our city, which was once the Beer Capital of America, there is only Miller.

Also gone are A. O. Smith, which manufactured auto frames; American Motors, which manufactures auto bodies; Cutler-Hammer, electrical controls and equipment; and very recently, Master Lock, owned by the Soreff family, shut down its plants in the 31st Street industrial area.

When I was in law school between 1967 and 1970, our building was not air-conditioned.  On warm days, the windows were opened to ambient air.  If the winds were from the west, we smelled the Red Star Yeast Company on S. 27th Street;  if from the south, we smelled the Milwaukee Stockyards in the industrial Menomonee Valley; and if from the northeast, we smelled the Ambrosia Chocolate Company at 5th Street and Highland Avenue.  The Chocolate Company moved to what was Waukesha County in 1992.  The Stockyard moved to Reeseville, WI,  in 2004, and Red Star shut down its operations in 2005.  The law school itself moved into its modern new building next door to the old one in 2010, and of course, it is air-conditioned.

I confess to missing the "old Milwaukee" that I knew from 1959 on, but I don't mean to suggest the city and area have 'gone to hell in a handbasket.'  There seems to be constant building and growth in the parts of the metro area that I traverse.  One of the central teachings of the Buddha is that everything in life is subject to change; everything is impermanent.  So it is and so be it.  I sense it every day in my own body and life.  There will be great excitement throughout the World Series here and in Tampa Bay, and when it's over, it will be over, and we'll all move on.  I hope I enjoy it while it lasts, and that the Brewers win it.  If they do, great.  If they don't, still great, just not so great.  It's been great seeing so many Milwaukeeans so excited, so enthusiastic, about local happenings.  We live in a great and beautiful city with a long, proud history.  Go, Brewers!  Go, Milwaukee!!