Nuremberg

08:42 Thursday, 15 January 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 21.09°F Pressure: 998hPa Humidity: 88% Wind: 15.84mph
Words: 435

I rented Nuremberg last weekend. Not a bad movie to rent, I'm not convinced I'd be inclined to watch it again, though I probably will if it comes up on a streaming service I subscribe to.

Russell Crowe's portrayal of Goering was convincing, though Goering lost a lot of weight while in detention, which wasn't portrayed in the movie.

The movie takes a lot of license, but isn't utterly misleading. Gilbert and Kelley never had a physical altercation. I think the real value of the movie was that it prompted me to buy The Nazi and the Psychiatrist. Kelley is a fascinating figure in his own right.

I'd say Judgment at Nuremberg is probably a better movie about the Nuremberg trials. I'm actually not aware of any others, which is surprising I think. May just be my ignorance.

One comment I read at the Holocaust Museum's web site (Currently down for maintenance until the 19th, because of course.) was that the interest people had in the psychological makeup of the Nazis was based on a desire for some meaningful distance between the Nazis as people and the allies. That distance doesn't exist. There was nothing different about the Nazis, they were just human beings at their worst.

My daughter texted me asking me to recommend a book "to make me smarter." I told her to read Erik Larson's In the Garden of Beasts.

Therein is a quote reportedly from Rudolf Diels, first head of the Gestapo.

In a conversation with a British embassy official that occurred at about this time, quoted in a memorandum later filed with the foreign office in London, Diels delivered a monologue on his own moral unease: "The infliction of physical punishment is not every man's job, and naturally we were only too glad to recruit men who were prepared to show no squeamishness at their task. Unfortunately, we knew nothing about the freudian side of the business, and it was only after a number of instances of unnecessary flogging and meaningless cruelty that I tumbled to the fact that my organization had been attracting all the sadists in Germany and Austria without my knowledge for some time past. It had also been attracting unconscious sadists, i.e. men who did not know themselves that they had sadist leanings until they took part in a flogging. And finally it had been actually creating sadists. For it seems that corporal chastisement ultimately arouses sadistic leanings in apparently normal men and women. Freud might explain it."

Nazis walk among us every day. And ICE is creating sadists to walk among us every day.

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Deliver Me From Nowhere

08:33 Thursday, 15 January 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 21.31°F Pressure: 996hPa Humidity: 86% Wind: 12.33mph
Words: 104

I purchased Deliver Me From Nowhere (Whatever "purchased" means today. I guess I bought a limited, revocable license that might be withdrawn at any time because reasons.) and we watched it last night. It's not a Springsteen biopic per se, as it only covers the months of his life around the creation of Nebraska.

I thought it was very well done, and I enjoyed it a great deal. It left me wanting more, but I'm a fan so I guess that's to be expected. Great performances all around.

I feel as though I ought to undertake a round of intensive Springsteen therapy.

Maybe later.

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Mom and I

08:04 Thursday, 15 January 2026

Current Wx: Temp: 21.72°F Pressure: 994hPa Humidity: 87% Wind: 12.33mph
Words: 410

A pleasant visit, if somewhat sad. Each time I see her, she's just a bit more diminished. Her mind is still sharp, and I'm grateful for that, but her mobility is very limited.

We took her to dinner in her wheelchair at her community dining room. I learned that my brother comes every night to wheel her to dinner and back to her apartment. We met her friends, Lee, Shirley and Marilyn, all in their 90s, Shirley at 98. They all seemed to love Mom and it was nice getting to know them. Mitzi is just a wonderful communicator.

After dinner we watched Airport, which Mom didn't recall seeing before. We had just seen it recently, but I love the movie and I enjoyed seeing it again with Mom.

I got to see two of my sisters. Beth is a nurse and she was there when we arrived. It was fun catching up with her. She has chickens and Mitzi brought a bunch of cardboard egg cartons, which Beth really appreciated. She lives about 45 minutes away from Mom and comes once a week to help out and check on Mom's health.

Diane was there yesterday morning when we got back from breakfast. She's there I think four times a week to help Mom out of bed in the morning and take care of the housework.

I'm grateful for my siblings who have stepped in so selflessly to be there for Mom. There's a wound care nurse who comes once a week to look at her feet, and we thought we had arranged for a palliative care nurse service, but Beth says it seems to have fallen through the cracks, and she's reaching out to another provider.

Mom remains cheerful and upbeat, saying, "What other way is there to be?" She's looking forward to going to Buffalo in July for her granddaughter's wedding. She'll be 93 in September, and that's another goal she's set for herself.

I'm glad we went. The drive out was pleasant, sunny most of the way, and dry. It was raining lightly most of the way home, but temps remained above 40°F the whole way. It's 18°F outside now, and it snowed briefly last night. A nice dusting to make everything pretty again, but no significant accumulation.

Some "work" today on the marmot and a project for the Tinderbox community.

Anything to distract me from the darkness descending on America.

The beat goes on...

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