11/5/2026

 Thursday, November 5, 2026

921 The Sturmabteilung, or SA (the "Brown Shirts"), was formally established by Adolf Hitler

1968  Richard Nixon was elected President of the United States, defeating Democrat  Hubert Humphrey and Independent George Wallace

1996 Bill Clinton was re-elected President of the United States, defeating Republican candidate Bob Dole

2017 Paradise Papers were leaked; 13.4 million documents from offshore investment firm Appleby, mentioning Queen Elizabeth and Wilbur Ross, US Secretary of Commerce

2019 Actress Emma Watson interviewed in Vogue magazine said she was happy to be single: "I call it being self-partnered," launching a worldwide discussion on the term

2021 NFL Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers admitted in an interview he was unvaccinated and taking unapproved treatment after testing positive for COVID-19.

2024 Donald Trump was re-elected, defeating Kamala Harris, becoming  the oldest elected president

In bed at 8:30, up at 4:50; 0505 120/72/69 126 202.8; 49/44/53/41, cloudy, windy, maybe some rain this afternoon.

Morning meds at 7 a.m.   Entresto at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Vance's tweet & Trump's response.  Much has been made of J. D. Vance's tweet on X about the Iran war being the cause of the massive Republican losses on Tuesday.  It's said he was separating himself from Trump, even though Trump himself said he agreed with the tweet, though he had no choice, but rather 'had to" go to war to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.  There may or may not be some truth in what each of them said, but the political strategy behind their statements seems clear.  It's that Trump didn't lose in this historic anti-Trump landslide because he did anything wrong, but rather only because he was forced by his constitutional, presidential, patriotic duty to do what was right to protect the US and the world from those bad guys in Iran.   Losing political power in the homeland was the price he willingly paid to protect that very same homeland, and the world, from the Iranians.  He's not a bum or a loser (God forbid!), but a hero, a profile in courage!  That will become the party line.  Inflation and affordability were irrelevant.  Temporary discomforts.  ICE, detention centers and deportations to El Salvador and Ghana and the Central African Republic, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, Minneapolis?  Irrelevant.  Corruption, pardons, vindictive prosecutions, NATO, Canada?  All irrelevant.  He got blown away in the midterms simply because he did his duty to protect the country against Iran.  I suspect Trump and Vance are still joined at the hip.

LTMW this morning, I see we have our frequent morning visitors: a flock of 17 or 18 wild turkeys.  Some head straight to the ground under the feeders, while others spread out across the front yard, busy pecking for edibles.  I also see Ghasson and Athena on their regular passeggiata.  As usual, Athena stops and sits down on the pavement when they reach the corner of County Line and Wakefield, and Ghasson waits patiently for her to rest and to see whatever it is she's so interested in down County Line Road.  This morning, Athena, for some reason, is also stopping and staring up into Mequon at the second and third stop and stares.  Each time, Ghasson waits patiently, never pulling her on her leash, but only petting her gently and reminding her it's time to go home.  

The last few days have been November-y: cloudy, cold, windy, and rainy, reminding me of the opening paragraph of Melville's Moby Dick:

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago--never mind how long precisely--having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off--then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.

When I was a young professor teaching 1st-year law students in my Property classes, I used to bring my favorite copy of Moby Dick into the classroom on some November morning and read this paragraph to them.  It was a stressful time for them, a month before their first law school final exams, with most of the students having no idea whether they would do well or poorly.  In those days, we flunked out some students, perhaps about 8% of the typical class.  Those days ended when the school got into 'affirmative action' admissions.  In any case, I would read that opening passage from Moby Dick to my 1Ls and give them a 'pep talk' about not letting the stresses of law school get to them.  I forget now what I would say then, but many students told me years later that they remembered those classes in which I read 'Call me Ishmael' to them, and that they appreciated it.  I could use a pep talk myself this November.😝

Five decades and perhaps longer ago, I read Moby Dick in its entirety, and I must say that Ishmael's 'philosophical flourish' in the opening paragraph is the most memorable part of it.   The novel is full, indeed too full, of information about whales and whaling, and it got me terribly interested in whales for a number of years.  It turned me into an opponent of the whaling industry, especially as practiced by the Japanese.  Norway and Iceland also engage in commercial whaling, but Iceland appears to be about to cease it entirely, and Norway exports most of its whaling harvest to Japan, even though whale-meat-eating by Japanese has declined by more than 90% since its peak after WWII.

Mayor  I watched the documentary with this title on MUBI this afternoon, following the mayor of Ramallah, the administrative capital of the West Bank in Occupied Palestine, as he went about his business.  Ramallah is traditionally a Christian city, founded by Christians in the 16th century, and occupied by Christians until it gradually became the residence of mostly Muslims.  Now it's about an 80%/20% split, but strangely, under its governing documents, the city must have a Christian mayor, and 8 of the 15 seats on the city council are reserved for Christians.    Moreover, the city still maintains strong Christian traditions, including a big municipal Christmas tree in the Christmas season.  The film shows, without ever lecturing viewers about it, the great difficulties of living in and trying to govern/manage a modern city occupied by a hostile army, i.e., the Israel Defense Forces.  A worthwhile film, showing what the occupation is like from the Palestinian side, what Yeshayahu Leibowitz warned about in 1967.  The photo shows a Palestinian gathering for the lighting of Ramallah's Christmas tree.