Sunday: Hili dialogue

October 18, 2026 • 6:45 am

Welcome to Sunday, October 18, 2026, sabbath for goyische cats, and National Exascale Day, which celebrates this:

Founded by CRAY, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, National Exascale Day takes place on October 18—1018 (one followed by 18 zeros). This number, 1,000,000,000,000,000,000, is a billion billion, or a quintillion. This relates to exascale in that an exascale is a quintillion computations per second. A quintillion computations is also known as an exaFLOP. An exascale computer can do a quintillion computations in a second, and exascale computing is working with computers that can do at least one exaFLOP per second. Exascale computers are about a million times faster than a laptop from the 2020s. The benefit is that these quicker computers will lead to quicker discoveries and innovations, which may lead to more lives saved from disease and natural disasters, and more food provided to more people.

Wikipedia adds this:

In 2022, the world’s first public exascale computer, Frontier, was announced. As of June 2026, Shenzhen Cloud Computing Center Co., Ltd’s LineShine is the world’s fastest exascale supercomputer.

Here’s a photo of the Frontier computer:

OLCF at ORNL, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It’s also National Chocolate Cupcake Day, National No Beard Day, and World Menopause Day.

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the October 18 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*In his ongoing osculation of the autocrat Vladimir Putin (and the “President”‘s attempt to lower gas prices), Trump just suspended a number of financial sanctions that Congress had imposed on Russia.

President Trump signed an executive order on Friday night exempting Russia from a new sanctions measure that Congress passed last month, offering another economic lifeline to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin as the United States turns to Russia for help in lowering gas prices.

The sanctions were intended to target Russian officials, oligarchs and financial institutions, and were part of a law that was named after Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who died in July after spending more than a year building support for the measure.

The law, which is intended to squeeze the financial lifelines sustaining Russia’s war against Ukraine, also provided Mr. Trump with additional tariff authority that he could use to punish countries that continue to trade with Russia.

The White House has broad authority to issue sanctions exemptions or waivers, and the new law requires Mr. Trump to notify Congress only if he opts against imposing the economic restrictions on Russia. Two days before the law is set to take effect, Mr. Trump exercised that power.

“I am hereby waiving the application of such sanctions, restrictions and duties provided for in the Graham Act,” Mr. Trump said in the order. “I have submitted to the Congress a certification that the issuance of such a waiver at this time is in the national interests of the United States.”

The order does not explain why waiving the sanctions is in the interests of the United States or what rationale Mr. Trump is providing to Congress for the waivers.

The explanation of the “national interest”:

The decision comes as Mr. Trump has in recent weeks embraced Russia and expressed frustration that Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries were helping to push up gasoline and diesel prices around the world. The biggest factor limiting supplies, though, remains the war in Iran.

Is it in the national interest to cozy up to Russia and Putin? Remember, the added influx of gas and diesel from the osculation of Russia will have very little effect on the American economy, with nearly all diesel and most gas produced in the U.S. with a much smaller amount coming from abroad—mainly Canada. This is all about Trump’s image, not the national welfare, but isn’t that the usual situation.

*Israeli residents of the West Bank are going on a rampage, first attacking Palestinian residents as well as Western news reporters and photographers, and now diplomats from Poland, France, and Belgium.

Masked settlers attacked a group of European diplomats during a visit to the occupied West Bank on Saturday, Belgium’s foreign minister said, on a second straight day of high-profile assaults on Palestinians and others during the sensitive olive harvest.

At least four people have been killed and more than 100 injured since the harvest began earlier this month, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Activists say Israeli authorities do little to stop attacks that involve weapons ranging from slingshots to guns. An attack Friday seriously injured a Washington Post photographer and others.

In Saturday’s attack in the Christian village of Taybeh, settlers targeted Belgium’s consul general, French and Polish diplomats and Catholic representatives, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said.

“A French mayor was assaulted and a Belgian vehicle damaged. Our team is safe,” Prevot said. He linked the attack to what he called Israel’s “illegal settlement policy” and pledged to push for further European Union sanctions. “Impunity for violent settlers must end,” he added.

Video shared by an activist at the scene, Amit Orfali, shows the French mayor, wearing a tricolor sash, leaning against a vehicle while sitting on the dusty ground. Other clips showed young masked men knocking insistently on a driver’s side window and asking for IDs, while other masked men carrying sticks advanced in the distance.

Orfali said the masked men “threatened to kill us.”

. . . Israel’s military in a statement confirmed Saturday’s attack on the diplomats and called it a “severe act of violence,” but said the visit had not been coordinated with it and no soldiers were at the scene.

. . .Israeli police said they had opened an investigation and vowed to work “until everyone who took part in these cases is brought to justice.” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on X condemned the “severe acts of violence by Israeli rioters,” adding that his ministry was in contact with ambassadors from the countries concerned.

But Netanyahu’s office later issued a statement warning against “premature conclusions” in the incident and noted concerns about “a coordinated campaign to smear Israel.”

Well, no. NBC News showed Israelis attacking their reporter’s car, and breaking the window, for no reason, and also the Wahington Post photographer getting beat up. I don’t think conclusions are “premature.”  The whole mess is horrible, unconscionable, and Netanyahu needs to call it out for what it was and to provide more security from the IDF. Yes, Palestinians attack Israelis in the West Bank, too, but Israel has to have stringent control over its own citizens (Palestinians in Area C are not Israeli citizens). They can’t set an example of democracy and tolerance by allowing such violence (or not punishing it), and of course they surely realize that this kind of uncontrolled violence will further besmirch Israel’s already-rock-bottom reputation in the world.

*How many Press Secretaries has Trump had? At least six or seven, but I’m not going to look it up. The latest occupant of that woeful position, Katie Zacharia, lasted just five days after a pathetic first performance combined with her misrepresentations of her past.

The new White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, is out of her role just five days into the job, two White House officials said Friday — ending a brief tenure that began amid West Wing infighting and voter discontent with Republicans, with midterm elections just weeks away.

The departure Friday was confirmed minutes after President Donald Trump said publicly that she should think about leaving, voicing support for her as a person but skepticism that she was right for the role.

“Maybe it’s not for her,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.

Her departure markeda rare and speedy retreat from a presidential appointment after a rough start to one of the highest-profile roles in the White House. Many Trump allies were taken aback by her, at times, halting appearance during her first White House briefing on Tuesday and in a succession of friendly interviews since then.

Trump picked the press secretary after minimal vetting. Questions about her background rapidly overshadowed her.

. . . . In his comments to reporters, Trump complained about the news media’s treatment of Zacharia. She has been enmeshed in questions about representing herself as an attorney even though she failed to pass the bar examination in California and is not licensed in any other state.

Trump cited two appearances on Fox News — an outlet that the White House generally sees as favorable.

“She’s been treated, I would say, pretty nastily. And I said to Katie just two minutes ago, I said, ‘Katie, you know, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want,’” Trump said.

“I said to her, ‘Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider,” he said.

One Trump ally said the feeling at the White House was that Zacharia did not have the necessary skills, or the “it” factor to be the press secretary, and it was better for the administration to move quickly to resolve the situation than to let it drag out shortly before the midterm elections.

. . .Zacharia’s downfall unfolded quickly.

On Thursday night, she did an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity in which the anchor pressed her extensively on her qualifications and appeared skeptical she was up to the job. Hannity speaks frequently with Trump, and his treatment of Zacharia was an indicator of her tenuous position.

Then, Friday morning, a “Fox & Friends” host asked Zacharia whether she had told Trump about her legal background. Her response made clear how little vetting had been done before her landing the role.

“You never want to be the story,” Fox’s Lawrence Jones said. “Do you wish you had disclosed to the president about the bar and not passing the bar?”

“Those questions weren’t asked,” Zacharia said. “I’m being hired as White House press secretary and not White House counsel.” [JAC: She lied about this repeatedly before she became press secretary: you don’t call yourself an “attorney” unless you’ve passed the bar exam.]

Here is her cringeworthy performance. One of the first comments says, “I thought this was SNL.” She reads, haltingly, from a script, begins by touting Trump’s “accomplishments” at length.  She mixes up Trump and her husband, and then winds up the conference after only about three questions. She would have been a huge embarrassment in the job and it’s appropriate that they deep-sixed her.

*Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian authority is now in the TWENTY-SECOND YEAR OF A FOUR-YEAR TERM, with the PLO regularly extending his term or postpoining elections.  Palestinians (and the world) should be outraged by this, but nobody seems to care. It’s not because Abbas is a “moderate,” for the PA still supports terrorism. The WSJ highlights this in an editorial-board op-ed called “The Palestinians see through Emmanuel Macron.” What does Macron have to do with this? Because the promise of elections led France last autumn to recognize Palestine as a state. Read an excerpt:

It’s that time of year again. Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority (PA), has issued a decree to postpone Palestinian elections. In exchange for recognition of Palestinian statehood last year, Mr. Abbas had promised French President Emmanuel Macron that he would hold elections in 2026 at last. Sometimes leaders and nations want to be lied to.

In June 2025 Mr. Abbas pledged that the PA was “committed to the organization of presidential and general elections within a year.” Weak at home, Mr. Macron touted this as a major breakthrough abroad. “In light of the commitments you have made,” he wrote, “France will proceed with the full recognition of Palestine.”

Australia and Canada joined the statehood parade while insisting that Hamas be excluded from the vote. Mr. Abbas has now postponed elections to September 2027 in consultation with the Hamas terrorists. Naturally the PA and Hamas blame Israel, whose fault it must be that they both run dictatorships, in the West Bank and Gaza, respectively.

By the new election date, Mr. Abbas will be 91, serving the 22nd year of what was a four-year term in office. There’s an excuse each year.

France, Canada, Australia and the U.K. published a statement Tuesday expressing “regret” over Mr. Abbas’s decision—but not their own. “Credible elections are an important element of the commitment that President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority made to reform,” they write. If they had really cared, they would have insisted that Mr. Abbas hold elections before they gave away recognition. But all they wanted from the PA was a fig leaf to cover their anti-Israel political pandering to Muslim and left-wing voters at home.

Mr. Abbas understood this only too well. Which is why the PA’s “pay-for-slay” program, which offers payments to terrorists who attack Jews, still persists under a new mechanism. Diplomatic recognition, which the West had long reserved for the day Palestinians made peace in negotiations with Israel, was surrendered for nothing. It won’t now be rescinded, at least not by these leaders.

Mr. Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and the rest have managed to prove how little influence they have—with both Israel and the so-called moderate PA.

In 2000, 2001 and 2008, the PA turned down Israeli offers of peace and Palestinian statehood. There is no sign that has changed, or that the PA is serious about reform, governance and democracy. There is no state-building going on in Ramallah—even Mr. Macron & Co. know that. Recognizing a State of Palestine was merely another way to bash Israel.

Yes, the WSJ op-ed section is said to be quite right-wing, but what I see in this column is not an ideological slant but the truth. Abbas keeps lying, he’s still enabling terrorism, and Western countries keep pandering to a man who enables terrorism.  Are we not supposed to recognize this?

Apropos, reader Bill sent me this cartoon. You probably know the background, which you can see in the background:

*Campaigning has become expensive, especially during the upcoming midterms where a number of races are tight. I learned of the price of the Senate campaign in Texas from Sam Sifton’s Oct. 15 NYT morning newsletter (article archived here). Texas is where, you may know, Democratic nominee James Talarico is running pretty even with his Republican opponent, state attorney General Ken Paxton. Look at the money these candidates are spending!

There are a number of tight races in the coming midterm elections, but there isn’t a more expensive one than the Senate showdown in Texas. It pits James Talarico, the Democratic nominee, against Ken Paxton, the state’s conservative attorney general. More than half a billion dollars has been spent on advertising already, and the race could become the most costly nonpresidential contest in U.S. history.

Democrats are hopeful, because Talarico has a tiny lead in the polls. But “such optimism stands in defiance of the political axiom that Texas is where idealistic Democrats go to be mugged by reality,” writes Robert Draper, a three-decade veteran of Texas political reporting. The party has not won a statewide race there for 32 years.

The race may turn on who each man says he — and his opponent — is.

Talarico has introduced himself to the state’s 32 million residents as a good Christian member of the Texas House, with a record of bipartisanship. At a town hall meeting last night, Talarico spoke about his faith and appealed to undecided voters. “I’m a proud Texas Democrat, but I already have a religion and I already have a sports team,” he said. “So, I have no problem sharing hard truths with my party if it’s what’s best for Texas.”

His appeal is meant to be broad, with proposals to cap credit card rates, cut middle-class taxes, lower prices and assist people with their first down payment on a home.

In return, Paxton and his supporters paint Talarico as a “weird” radical who believes that “God is nonbinary” and that there are more than two biological sexes. (Talarico did say those things but later renounced them.) Vice President JD Vance, stumping in Texas on Tuesday, mocked Talarico — whose girlfriend is a former aide — with a gay joke. “I love you too sir,” Vance told a man in the crowd. “In a totally platonic way, to be clear. I’m the vice president, not James Talarico.”

I’m glad I don’t live in Texas, as it would be hard to vote for Talarico with those ridiculous statements about sex and God, but harder to vote for Paxton. And I bet the total campaign expenses come near $750 million before election day.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili has apparently failed to seize the day that has just gone by:

Hili: And so another day goes by.
Andrzej: Carpe diem.

In Polish:

Hili: I znów mija kolejny dzień.
Ja: Carpe diem.

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From Stacy:

From Meow Incorporated:

From Cheryl’s Amazingly Positive, No Politics Allowed, Interesting People Group:

Here’s Masih speaking in Spain, which, being one of the most antisemitic countries in Europe, would not give visas to the blinded protestors she wanted to bring with her

I found this while looking at “X”. I think there are more than one bridge, but it’s not clear, and, at any rate, this is ludicrous.  See the WSJ article here.

From Luana. Yes, the man’s a hero for risking his own life to save children, but these situations wouldn’t occur nearly as often with strict gun control in the U.S.:

From Simon, who calls this “Another job for Marco.” I can’t figure out if it’s in bad taste but it’s funny:

One from my feed: an Irish joke:

One I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:

And two from Doctor Cobb, both in a thread about spider silk:

Slimmer than a human hair, spider silk is an engineering powerhouse. 🕸️🧪Quinten Geldhof, also known as Microhobbyist, shows how a single spider can produce up to seven different types of silk, each with its own job. #Science #Microscope #Spiderwebs #Microscopy #Biology

— Museum of Science (@museumofscience.bsky.social) 2026-10-15T18:48:10.985Z

Sturdy dragline silk builds the web’s frame, while sticky blobs of silk set the trap for prey. Pound for pound, it’s up to five times stronger than steel, and a strand long enough to circle the Earth would weigh just 4.4 pounds! What would you use spider silk for?

— Museum of Science (@museumofscience.bsky.social) 2026-10-15T18:48:18.819Z

And three–count them, three–great songs for today’s music.  Here is the song that made Peggy Lee (real name: Norma Egstrom) famous, “Why Dont You Do Right?” , recorded in 1943 with Benny Goodman and his orchestra.  It was a huge hit and a million-seller back in days when that was a LOT of sales. As Wikipedia says, it was originally called “Weed Smoker’s Dream”, a song about drugs:

“Why Don’t You Do Right?” (originally recorded as “Weed Smoker’s Dream” in 1936) is an American blues and jazz-influenced pop song usually credited to Kansas Joe McCoy. A minor key twelve-bar blues with a few chord substitutions, it is considered a classic “woman’s blues” song and has become a standard. Singer Lil Green recorded a popular rendition in 1941, which Peggy Lee recorded the next year – accompanied by Benny Goodman – and made one of her signature songs.

Goodman was born to Jewish parents in Chicago, one of 12 children, and became one of the first jazz leaders to use black players in his groups. In this song, the combination of Goodman’s solos on the licorice stick and Peggy Lee’s soft delivery is lovely:

Speaking of a swing clarinet player who led small groups, here’s one whose proficiency rivals Goodman’s: Artie Shaw. This beautiful song, “All the Things You Are” , was recorded in 1939 as well, with Helen Forrest on vocals. The song was written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein.

Shaw was married eight times; his wives included Ava Gardner and Lana Turner. Like Goodman, he was Jewish (so was Helen Forrest), and like Goodman, he was one of the first bandleaders to integrate his group, hiring Billie Holiday as a vocalist (she didn’t last long when the band toured the South).

If you want to hear Shaw at his best, listen to to “Frenesi” (like “All the Things You Are”, it has a great walking bass).

Wikipedia says this about the song above:

The chorus has become a favorite with many jazz musicians. The chorus is a 36-measure AA2BA3 form with two twists on the usual 32-bar AABA song-form: A2 transposes the initial A section down a fourth, while the final A3 section adds an extra four bars.

And when I heard Shaw and Forrest, I remembered that the same song was recorded, in several takes, by the immortal Charlie Parker. Here’s a 1945 recording with Dizzy Gillespie. It’s one of the first Parker songs I heard, and instantly fell in love with his music.

Caturday felid trifecta: Cat breeds that can’t be rehomed; cat taste testers; Pasadena’s CatCon; and lagniappe

October 17, 2026 • 11:00 am

We have three items today. The first, from AnimalsAroundTheGlobe, describes 19 cat breeds that, so the author claims, bond so much with their staff that they can’t subequently find new staff. Click to read:

An excerpt:

Most people think cats are aloof, coolly indifferent little roommates who “don’t really care who feeds them.” That myth falls apart completely with the breeds on this list. These cats don’t just prefer a favorite human – they fuse to one person so deeply that separation can look and feel like real grief, not simple adjustment.

Some of these cats will refuse food from anyone else. Some will pace by the door for hours, waiting for a specific set of footsteps. And at least one breed on this list has rescue workers describing them as “confused ex-partners” instead of surrendered pets. Keep scrolling, because the higher this list climbs, the harder these bonds are to break – and the final entry might change how you think about “just a cat” for good.

Here are two, and I’ll list the rest:

The Chartreux gets marketed as a “smiling, easygoing” French cat, but long-time fanciers will quietly warn you: once a Chartreux bonds, they are emotionally all-in. These cats rarely meow, yet they communicate volumes through eye contact, body language, and sheer physical closeness. They’re the type to park themselves on your laptop, not to be annoying, but to stay physically connected to you at all times.

Tonkinese cats sit genetically between Siamese and Burmese, and emotionally, they often feel like both breeds turned up to eleven. They’re social, extroverted, and crave near-constant interaction, but they usually choose one person as their emotional anchor and orbit them obsessively. That person gets the warmest greetings, the loudest purrs, and the most insistent lap invasions.

Tonks don’t do well in quiet, lonely homes. They want noise, activity, and – critically – their chosen human within easy reach. When separated, many turn vocal or destructive, not out of spite but sheer frustration. Rehoming a deeply bonded Tonkinese can feel like uprooting a tree with your bare hands; some never trust quite as fully again.

The others include Russian Blue, Korat, Burmese, Siamese, Ragdoll, Birman, Scottish Fold, Singapura, Oriental Shorthair, Turkish Van, Sphynx, Devon Rex, Cornish Rex, Abyssynian,  Maine Coon, Norwegian Forest Cat, and American Burmese.  Now you know some of these can be rehomed, but yes, I’ve heard that some of these breeds are “clingy.” If you have relevant experience with any, weigh in below.  One more excerpt:

The Bottom Line:

When people say “cats are independent,” they’re usually talking about the wrong cats – or no cats at all. The breeds on this list don’t just tolerate human company; they build an entire emotional universe around one specific person and defend that connection with startling intensity.

That devotion is what makes them magical in the right home and genuinely difficult to rehome once the bond is set. “Someone else will adopt them” isn’t a neutral fallback with these cats – for some, losing their one person is a real psychological wound, not a minor inconvenience.

A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.

Ernest Hemingway

If you change jobs often, move constantly, or treat pets as temporary houseguests, several of these breeds simply aren’t a fair match for your life. But if you’re ready for a ride-or-die relationship with fur, claws, and occasionally inconvenient devotion, these one-person cats offer a level of loyalty most dog owners insist doesn’t exist outside their own species. Which breed on this list do you think is the most impossible to rehome – and would you sign up for that kind of love anyway?

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This NYT article is really a 4-minute podcast segment about how cat food companies (and yes, there’s some about d*g food) tweak their products to deal with finicky cats whose preferences change over time.

And here’s a recent NYT article how animal food companies use captive moggies (and d*ggies) to decide what the market wants. Click to read if you subscribe:

An excerpt:

Imagine dozens of cats napping or milling around a space that looks a lot like a pet day care center.

Every day at 4 p.m., dinner is served. The cats step into cubbyholes, each with two trays of kibble atop scales. The cats choose which food they like better, and the scales measure how much they consume. Nutritionists at a Royal Canin pet center in southern France are watching: Which kibble do the animals prefer? How enthusiastically do they chow down? A team uses the data to adjust recipes and devise new ones.

Pet food makers like Royal Canin, owned by the global consumer conglomerate Mars, are pouring money into research to understand the palates of cats and dogs — and to cater to people who see their pets as family members. Even as the war in Iran has spurred inflation and wage growth has not kept up, the pet food market has kept growing.

And as pandemic pets, adopted in droves in 2020, enter middle age, pet food makers are zeroing in on foods aimed at aiding aching joints, strengthening tired muscles and protecting cognitive function.

“Aging is one of the biggest opportunities,” said Cécile Coutens, president of Royal Canin. The company’s senior cat food line includes extra-soft mousse for cats ages 11 and up and easy-to-eat kibble for cats 15 and up. Many companies sell supplements for cats with dementia and to support healthy brain aging.

. . . More than $17 billion was spent on cat food in the United States over the last year, up 14 percent from the same period two years ago, according to NielsenIQ, a consumer research firm. (Dog food sales were roughly even.) In contrast to previous generations, when parents took in pets at the request of their children, people today often have pets before they have children, if they have children, Ms. Coutens said.

Companies are investing in premium pet food lines that cater to wealthier people, as the K-shaped economy — shorthand for the widening gap between the rich and poor — persists.

While in some ways cats are lower maintenance than dogs, cats tend to require some human ingenuity when it comes to food.

. . . Like Nestlé, which has two centers where researchers study cat and dog behavior, Royal Canin has an extensive research program dedicated to dogs and cats. At Royal Canin’s pet center in Aimargues, only the most discerning eaters of the 377 dogs and cats that live on campus participate in taste tests. The company’s other pet center is in Ohio. As part of training, kittens are offered food of different textures and flavors to develop their senses. At 7 months, they are taught to eat from designated feeders.

. . .Taste is a big focus. Scott McGrane, a feline expert at Mars’s Waltham Petcare Science Institute in England, said his team was especially interested in understanding the senses and tastes of cats, including senior cats. Why didn’t they have a preference for sweet foods? Why do they love tuna so much? He said researchers determined that cats had the umami taste receptor, which enables them to taste and detect umami compounds. Tuna has a unique combination of compounds that is akin to “super umami” for cats, he said.

As cats age, some of their taste buds fade, but they retain their perception of bitterness, causing certain foods to become less appealing, Ms. Miret-Catalan said. Her team designs food for senior cats that masks bitterness and enhances attractive aromas to keep cats interested in their food as they age, she said.

Here’s an independent cat person discussing the Royal Canin cat food brand, which offer over 100 different type of cat foods (!), including foods for specific breeds, lifestyles, age, and so on. The review isn’t that glowing, criticizing the dry food for encouraging urinary problems. (It’s important to get your cat to drink.). She also says that for wet food, less expensive food may have a similarly balanced diet. A cat expert I talked to says that Royal Canin Food is okay, and so is Science Diet, and you may want to get your cat a mixture of wet and dry food, along with some NO SALT chicken broth to help them hydrate.  The Expert also said that you should take your cat to the vet once a year for a checkup, and get a blood panel to detect any problems (senior cats, over 6 or 7 years old, require additional blood tests).  Yes, it costs more, but cats are members of the family!

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Finally, a reader informed me that Pasadena, California has an annual Cat Convention that’s described in the article below (click to read for free):

At the Pasadena Convention Center on Saturday, a woman with bright green hair and enormous furry ears posed beside a man wearing matching ears and a mechanical-looking face mask. Nearby, a mannequin modeled a burgundy velvet robe embroidered with the words “Cat Lady.” Somewhere else, someone was in a booth for a video explaining how to pet a cat.

Welcome to CatCon 2026, where the cats are celebrities, the humans are devoted fans and nobody thinks twice about wearing whiskers in public.

Saturday’s festivities were sold out, according to floor manager Andru Cantu, who surveyed the bustling convention halls with satisfaction.

“We stopped selling tickets because we were sold out for Saturday,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of really good vendors giving away a lot of really cool treats and samples.”

And what a selection.

There were cat-themed stickers, plush toys, handmade blankets, elaborate costumes and enough feline merchandise to furnish a reasonably eccentric household. The Temptations booth featured a giant yellow “Cat Bodega,” while another vendor offered something called Rad Cat, complete with a retro beach-van illustration.

At “How to Pet Your Cat,” suggesting that even the most experienced cat owners might have something left to learn.

Presiding over the festivities was Stephen Ray Morris, CatCon’s emcee, a veteran convention moderator and former host of a cat-themed podcast called “The Pur Cast.”

For Morris, CatCon offers something beyond shopping and celebrity sightings. It provides a gathering place for people whose pets have no time for such silliness.

“Dog people [have] the dog park, whereas cat people have CatCon,” he explained.

Cantu suggested that the appeal goes even deeper.

“I think it helps the people who feel a little bit less included to feel included with fellow cat people,” he said.

Indeed, among the colorful costumes, elaborate displays and tables overflowing with feline paraphernalia, the convention seemed less like a trade show than an enormous gathering of people who understood one another perfectly.

After all, loving a creature that routinely ignores you requires a certain shared understanding.

And at CatCon, there was plenty of that to go around. Meow.

A half-hour video documenting CatCon, which appears to be one of the biggest cat shows/conventions in the U.S.:

Here’s a news video documenting one feature of this year’s convention: hunky beefcake Aussie firefighters who love cats:

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Lagniappe: Two items today.  First, cats who make weird meows, including one who grunts like a pig and another who sounds like a typewriter:

And The Kiffness returns with a new song, “Hey Luga Luga”:

h/t: Robert, Divy

Saturday: Hili dialogue

October 17, 2026 • 6:45 am

Welcome to CaturSaturday, October 17, 2026, shabbos for Jewish cats, and International Raw Milk Cheese Appreciation Day. Here’s a selection of cheeses, some made with unpasteurized milk, photographed in Paris six years ago. I wish this store were close to me in Chicago; I’d go for the goat cheeses on the bottom shelf.

It’s also Black Poetry Day, Bridge Day, Forgive an Ex Day, Four Prunes Day (what you’re supposed to eat if your gut is clogged), International Sloth Day, National Pasta Day, National Fetch Day, and Sweetest Day, when you’re supposed to buy your sweetheart some chocolates.

Here’s a Jewish joke for Fetch Day:

A guy gets a new dog and he can’t wait to show him off to his neighbor, when the neighbor comes over, the guy calls the dog into the house, bragging about how smart the critter is.

The dog quickly comes running and stands looking up at his master, tail wagging furiously, mouth open in classic doggie-smile position, eyes bright with anticipation.

The guy points to the newspaper on the couch and commands, “Fetch!”

Immediately the dog sits down, the tail wagging stops, the doggie-smile disappears; he hangs his head, looks balefully up at his master and says in a whiney voice, “Oy! My tail hurts from wagging so much and that dog food you’re feeding me tastes absolutely terrible. Also I can’t remember the last time you took me out for a walk…”

The neighbor looks puzzled.

“Oh”, explains the dog owner, “he thought I said ‘Kvetch!”

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the October 17 Wikipedia page.

Oh, and here’s a clay doll a friend found in a thrift store in Asheville, North Carolina.  Look familiar? Pure coincidence! It’s made by an artist named Diana Manning, it’s clay, and my friend is going to get it for me!

There’s a Google Doodle today celebrating the WNBA playoffs. Click below to see where it goes:

Da Nooz:

*Another day, another school shooting: this time in Oregon, where a 16-year-old killed four people, including a teacher and three children, and critically wounded two more.

A 16-year-old blasted his way through locked doors into an Oregon elementary school on Thursday, killing three children and a teacher before an armed bystander pursued him inside and shot him dead, the police said.

The suspect, who has not been named, forced his way into Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore., around 1 p.m., officials said at a news conference on Thursday. Minutes later, officers responding to the scene found three children, aged 5, 8 and 11, and a teacher dead. A 7-year-old and another teacher were critically injured.

The spasm of violence is part of a long string of school shootings that have stricken the nation over the past three decades, leaving deep and lasting scars on communities, and in some cases on the entire country.

“Like so many in our community, I’m struggling to make sense of a loss that feels unimaginable,” Mayor Melanie Kebler of Bend said at the news conference.

The violence unfolded in minutes before the bystander put an end to it.

The police said they first received a call at 12:59 p.m. from a person in a car who said they had been shot at by someone with a long gun. In the moments that followed, dozens of 911 callers told the police a shooter was in the school.

By 1:02 p.m., the school was in lockdown, and police officers were on scene. There, they found the three children and the teacher dead, Chief Mike Krantz of the Bend Police Department said at the news conference.

The chief did not name the victims, the shooter or the bystander who killed him. Gov. Tina Kotek called the bystander a hero and addressed him directly.

If guns were banned, or restricted as severely as they are in Great Britain or Norway, this would happen less often (and we’d have fewer suicides, too). Yes, I know the arguments for guns, with the claim that America is special, and bad people would get guns anyway, but nobody’s tried the experiment.  And I bet that the gun that shooter used was obtained legally, like many of the parental guns that kids bring to school. All of this, of course, is in the Constitutionally mandated need for a “well regulated militia.”

*Over at It’s Noon in Israel, Amit Segal intimates that Trump is planning a huge strike on Iran before the midterm elections might, by changing Congress, take away his power to wage war. His piece is called “Something is coming for Tehran.”

It’s Friday, October 16, and on January 3, the members of the new US House of Representatives will walk into their offices. By all signs, several dozen Democrats will move into offices vacated by Republicans routed in the fall. The nearly certain loss of the House, alongside the fairly likely loss of the Senate, will make the president’s life hell. Not only his, perhaps.

U.S. law permits the president to launch military action, but after 60 days approval is required on Capitol Hill. The president, certainly the current one, can continue, but in that case he is exposed to legal risks and especially to budgetary ones. A hostile Congress can block budgets, and America, as is well known, does not fight with only its fingernails.

What can be done in two months that would change the picture? And if the goal is to get ahead of the hostile Congress, is it worth it for Trump, against all odds and analyses, to open a campaign even before then?

A growing buzz has surrounded Washington and Jerusalem in recent days. It is no longer false rumors and speculation. Something is happening. On its face, that runs counter to all logic. The Iranians don’t want to escalate before the elections in Israel, and Trump doesn’t want to escalate before the elections in America. But if you start a campaign at the end of October and then get approval from the still-Republican Congress at the end of December, perhaps that is the way to topple the regime? After all, the Iranians work for the long term, and two months to them is nothing.

Or perhaps the story is a limited, pinpoint event that won’t send fuel prices soaring but will bring a significant achievement that will, hopefully, end the debate over the war’s necessity and results. What could be short and elegant? How do you avoid getting entangled in a third round that ends with no clear decision, at a sensitive time for two politicians whom the polls predict a hard blow, on both sides of the ocean?

I haven’t heard anything elsewhere about this “growing buzz,” which I take to mean that the U.S. is going to take military action against Iran, or get permission from Congress to do so, before the New Year. He’d have to do that pretty soon, because if Congressional approval is needed to escalate or re-start attack on Iran, that will not be forthcoming from a Democratic Congress, which is a real possibility.

*As always on Saturday, I will steal a few items from Nellie Bowles’s news-and-snark column at the Free Press, called this week, “TGIF: The new school of American diplomacy.” Note that Greta has a brand new bag.

→ Greta pops up everywhere now: Greta Thunberg is now in France with the student protesters. I’m actually curious: Who pays for all this? On whose dime does Greta sail all around Europe? It’s an endless Euro Summer. Who is keeping her in keffiyehs? Who is she wearing? The protesters she was there to support, meanwhile, continue to just burn down Paris, including its oldest covered food market, a beautiful place called Marché des Enfants Rouges. (Okay it’s not confirmed who did, but I’m going out on a limb and assuming it’s the roving arsonists lighting their schools on fire.) But back to Greta. How does it work? She just sees stuff on TikTok and her mysterious benefactor is like, “I’m getting you on a sailboat there immediately!” Why? Why must we now listen to Greta explain school funding issues in France? The only thing that makes me believe in a globalist conspiracy is Greta and the fact that she rounds the corner anytime someone switches on a bullhorn. Why have I seen so many portraits of her in so many print magazines? Why was her face on a building in San Francisco looming over me and then she’s on the Gaza flotilla and now she’s in Paris. It actually sounds like a fun party circuit. Could she sell it as a cruise?

→ Churchill to be replaced by an animal, potentially a hedgehog: Following a public survey that drew more than 2.5 million selections, Winston Churchill, Jane Austen, J.M.W. Turner, and Alan Turing will be replaced on British banknotes by the puffin, barn owl, buff-tailed bumblebee, and hedgehog. The hedgehog proved the public’s favorite mammal, receiving 259,665 selections, so it is likely to be the one to dethrone Churchill. The Nazis couldn’t best this man in life, but a glorified porcupine is about to steal his money throne. They can’t pick any national heroes, so they just celebrate little animals. The great man who was Winston Churchill, ousted by a hedgehog. After surviving an armored train ambush, I doubt he expected his downfall to be a two-pound living pincushion.

And one about the odious Francesca Albanese, who won’t go away:

→ Where exactly are Israelis supposed to live? They can’t have vacation homes?: Here is the much-celebrated Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, commenting on a story about Israelis literally just buying vacation homes.

Hmm. So Jews are evil no matter where they go, is what you’re saying? An Israeli couple buying a bungalow in Serbia is globalizing apartheid. Got it. These folks want a genocide so bad—sorry, they want to “globalize the intifada”—and they’re getting worse at hiding it. (She deleted it.)

Meanwhile, take a look at the new medieval antisemitism that’s so hot for Halloween. That’s right, it’s witches with Stars of David on them! It’s Dr. Evil, but his ring is now a Jewish star! He wants 100 million shekels! How clever. Modern! I think I’ll go as the Jewish lady who pretended to be Palestinian.

*I’ve read about five reviews of the new movie about grifter Elizabeth Holmes, “You Can See Everything,” and they’re pretty similar.  All of them discuss the unresolved mystery of whether Holmes believes what she’s saying, and mention the aggressive, unempathic nature of filmmaker Nathan Fielder. The L.A. Times‘s review is typical, and is called, “A prank comic faces down a fraudster in the fab doc ‘You Can See Everything.’ Who blinks first?”

. . . .Co-directed by Fielder and Lance Oppenheim (“Primetime”), “You Can See Everything” is the closest Fielder has come to making a traditional documentary. A thrillingly cringe-tastic interviewer, he blurts out blunt questions like a bungee jumper leaping off a bridge, including asking Holmes’ romantic and business partner Billy Evans, the heir to a San Diego boutique hotel chain, whether it’s possible a woman convicted of fraud might be with him for his money.

At nearly three hours long, “You Can See Everything” won’t bore you for a minute. The hook is right there in the title, Fielder’s challenge to the audience: Here’s how Holmes held up to his scrutiny — do we think she’s telling the truth? But be alert. Fielder remains a trickster. One shot in particular proves you can see everything while being blind to what you’re actually watching.

In the first half of the movie, Holmes and Evans, the father of her two young children, give the small crew complete access to their lives during her last weeks of freedom, including inviting Fielder to sleep in their guest bedroom. It’s an act of “radical transparency,” Evans says. As evidence, there’s a fully nude shot of Evans in the shower, testifying to the intimacy the subjects claim they’re granting the team and the confidence they have that the documentary will make them look great. (Evans also boasts that he’s “excellent” in the sack.)

Holmes maintains both her innocence and her eerie smile, a rictus of empathy. She constantly nods, subliminally snake-charming the listener into a sense of agreement. That assessment might be fair or it might be her reputation making you over-analyze her tics. Doubling down, she even insists she’s never told a lie in her life — a claim that momentarily leaves Fielder at a loss for words.

Yet at times, Holmes really does appear to be sincere. Once she surrenders herself to the Bryan Federal Prison Camp in Texas (where, in an unmentioned coincidence, Epstein collaborator Ghislane Maxwell is also incarcerated), the tone shifts into film noir as Fielder struggles to reconcile Elizabeth Holmes’ dual identities. Is she the sweet-natured scientist, the only version of her he’s ever met, or a femme fatale who may still be running a scam?

. . .But thinking differently is Fielder’s awkward superpower. Sooner or later, all of his projects circle around to his concern that he’s simply wired to be unpleasant. His interactions with Holmes are pure cringe comedy, like when she starts to cry perhaps a bit on cue and he stiffly sputters, “Do you want, like, a tissue?” For the record, he brings her one.

. . . Ultimately, suspicion reigns. “You Can See Everything” is an absorbing study of public presentation and private doubts, a documentary that asks more questions than it answers. I hope Fielder will smile and nod approvingly at me if I say I left the film distrusting him, too, especially Seyfried’s re-staging of a long monologue Holmes delivered in prison where recording devices aren’t allowed. [JAC: Amanda Seyfried played Holmes in a biographical movie.] Can we believe that Holmes really did say, “I’m tired of having other people speak for me,” or was that laugh line written by the master manipulator himself? I’m now as paranoid as he is — and what a pleasure.

Yes, I will be seeing this movie. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a nearly perfect rating from a large sample of both critics and moviegoers (click to go to page):

*The NYT has an article on how Americans feel about socialism. Some of the polling results are interesting, even if as a whole they’re hard to interpret. Here are a few.

First, overall figures:

Americans are becoming more open to socialism, but they have not broadly embraced it. In August, positive impressions of socialism topped 40 percent for the first time since Gallup began tracking that figure in 2010. In contrast, negative views of capitalism have sharply increased.

This leads one to wonder, “What do Americans think that those systems mean?”  See second figure below:

In 1948, when Gallup asked Americans to describe their understanding of socialism in their own words, about one-third defined it as government ownership or control; by 2018, just 17 percent defined it that way.

In practice, Americans have varying ideas about what constitutes socialism. Most Americans agree that free health care for all is socialism; more say public schools and libraries, both of which are taxpayer-funded services provided through the government, are not socialism than say that they are.

So how do you explain the changes in definition over time? I’d attribute the increase in “equality” to the Left, which is more socialistic but also more adherent to the concept of equality (or equity).  The article says this later on:

A softening view of socialism has gained ground as voters have expressed increasing disenchantment with the political and economic system. About two-thirds of voters in a Times/Siena poll from May said that the system needed major changes or to be torn down entirely, up from 59 percent in October 2024.

And in a reversal from 2024, Democrats are now more likely than Republicans to say they want the system torn down entirely.

Those deeply disillusioned voters were more likely to view socialism positively than voters who said the system just needed to be changed, suggesting that Americans’ deep and growing frustration may be driving some voters to consider socialism.

Fine; let’s see how governance by the Democratic Socialists works out. Do voters know it goes with antisemitism?

Finally,

Not all of the politicians who are described as socialists are affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America, and some of them do not even identify as socialists.

In fact, some of the most well-known democratic socialists are not always thought of that way. Less than two-thirds of Americans identified Senator Bernie Sanders, who ran as a democratic socialist in the 2016 presidential election, as a socialist. Only a small majority used that label for Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, both of whom are members of the D.S.A.

The question is whether an association with the word “socialism” — whatever it might mean — matters at the ballot box.

When asked if a candidate’s D.S.A. affiliation mattered, just under half of voters in the Times/Siena poll from September said it did not matter either way. Still, voters were about twice as likely to say that they would not vote for a democratic socialist (29 percent) than that they would (14 percent).

Democrats are more likely than independents or Republicans to say they would support a democratic socialist candidate or that it does not matter. But even among Democrats, socialism is at the root of a persistent and heated debate about the future of that party.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is making threats:

Andrzej: Hili, don’t disturb me right now.
Hili: Well, if I’m disturbing you, I can move out.
In Polish:
Ja: Hili, nie przeszkadzaj mi teraz.
Hili: Jeśli ja ci przeszkadzam, to mogę się wyprowadzić.

********************

From Give Me a Sign:

From The English Language Police. Find the mistake.

From Terrible Maps:

From Masih; a final letter from an imprisoned protestor in Iran written shortly before his execution. It is indeed heartbreaking.

From Luana; there’s an independent investigation of Jason Arday after Cambridge decided not to go too deeply into the affair:

The Number Ten Cat has it right:

John Oliver makes a very weak argument for allowing trans-identified males to compete in women’s sports. J. K. Rowling replies, but with mixed feelings because Oliver had previously helped her with one of her charities.

One from my feed, and it’s some essay!

One I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:

And two from Doctor Cobb. Apparently the 30th anniversary edition also had DNA of the wrong chirality (I’m seeing Dawkins speak in Chicago’s Symphony Hall on Sunday). The topic is “Genes and the Meaning of Life.”

Look at this from the link!

Tips to Prepare for Richard Dawkins Events

Attending a Richard Dawkins event is an exciting experience, but it’s important to be prepared. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your Richard Dawkins concert:

  1. Arrive early: To ensure you get a good spot, it’s best to arrive at the venue early. This will give you time to find your seat or secure a prime spot on the floor.

  2. Dress comfortably: Richard Dawkins concerts are known for their high-energy performances, so it’s important to dress comfortably. Opt for clothes and shoes that you can move and dance in.

  3. Stay hydrated: With all the excitement and dancing, it’s easy to forget to stay hydrated. Make sure to bring a water bottle with you to the concert and drink plenty of water throughout the night.

  4. Follow the rules: Each venue may have different rules and restrictions, so it’s important to familiarize yourself with them before attending the concert. This can include restrictions on cameras, bags, or outside food and drinks.

  5. Bring earplugs: While Richard Dawkins concerts are known for their loud music, it’s important to protect your hearing. Consider bringing earplugs to help reduce the risk of hearing damage.

You know a gene is selfish when its DNA twists the wrong way, as demonstrated by the left-handed double-helix proudly adorning the 50th Anniversary Edition of the multimillion copy bestseller on this topic.

— Simon Fisher (@profsimonfisher.bsky.social) 2026-10-16T09:24:49.326Z

It’s a worm below. English translation: “I absolutely love creatures like this that seem to exist beyond human comprehension.”

こういう人智の外側にいるような生物だいすき

— でんか (@k-hermit.com) 2026-10-16T12:00:31.619Z

Readers’ wildlife video

October 16, 2026 • 8:15 am

If you have good photos or videos with a wildlive/biology theme, send them in.

Today we have a short but lovely video from reader Mark in Australia.  His notes are these:

The birds in the video are Little Corellas (Cacatua sanguinea), an Australian cockatoo, filmed at Winchelsea, in the state of Victoria. My drone was hovering  when the flock came from nearby to inspect the strange object in their airspace. 

When my daughter was quite young I asked her if she had noticed the large flock of corellas that had moved into the area. She asked “Are they the birds that sound like ghosts?” I had to say yes. Their call is not harsh like  a sulphur-crested cockatoo, but high pitched and sort of spooky.

If you want to hear their spooky calls, go to this video.

Friday: Hili dialogue

October 16, 2026 • 6:45 am

Welcome to Friday, October 16, 2026 and it’s Global Cat Day! Here is a celebratory drawing, courtesy of ChatGPT, and below it a photo of the Queen of all Cats, Hili:

See the Hili dialogue below for more celebration of Cat Day:

It’s also National Learn a Word Day (here’s one “jocund”), National Liqueur Day (I’ll take green Chartreuse), World Bread Day, and World Food Day.

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the October 16 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*Trump has canceled the planned publicly livestreamed firing-squad execution for Nidal Hasan; the execution with guns will still take place and be livestreamed, but only the family will be able to watch.

President Trump on Thursday canceled the Pentagon’s planned livestream of the execution of the Army officer who was convicted in the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting.

Pentagon officials said last week that the execution of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people and wounded 32 others at Fort Hood, Texas, would be broadcast via livestream. But Mr. Trump said Thursday that only immediate families of Mr. Hasan’s victims would be able to watch the execution in person.

“Many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device,” he wrote on social media. “He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed.”

Democrats and Republicans in Congress panned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plan to livestream the shooting, and even Vice President JD Vance expressed doubt about the plan.

“I’m not going to be watching it,” he said. He added: “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen.”

The plan to broadcast Mr. Hasan’s execution, which the Pentagon said is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Dec. 3 at the same Army post where the massacre took place, had also drawn widespread condemnation from retired military officials, religious leaders and even some of the wounded soldiers who survived.

On Wednesday, dozens of retired admirals, generals and other officers published an open letter opposing the plan.

“Livestreaming this execution would clearly violate the basic human dignity of the condemned prisoner,” they wrote. “It turns what should be the solemn and grave punishment of a member of our society for committing the most serious crimes into a carnival for the enjoyment of voyeurs and spectators.”

. . . In an interview with Real America’s Voice, Mr. Hegseth said he supported the public execution of Mr. Hasan “because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.”

Mr. Trump, in his post on social media, contended that streaming the execution “might have been a strong deterrent” to show how “America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan,” but he said it would not go forward.

If it’s to be a deterrent, then why not let everybody watch? What better way to let people know the “serious consequences” for mass murder? (Don’t we already know that?) The real reason is that it’s a barbaric spectacle that appeals to the worst of human nature, and Trump knows it. And I still predict that the execution will not take place.

*There’s been another sexual assault at a fraternity party, this time at the University of Chicago.  Neither the accused assailant nor the reported victim went to school here, but we do have fraternities and one of them is where it is said to have occurred.  From the NYT:

A 21-year-old woman reported that she was sexually assaulted last weekend at a fraternity house near the University of Chicago, the city police said, putting another campus on edge over accusations of misconduct tied to Greek life organizations.

The woman said the assault occurred in the early hours of Sunday during a party at the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, the police said, though neither the victim nor the suspect were students at the school. One witness said in an interview that she had interrupted an attack. That prompted the suspect to flee the house, according to the university, which called the episode “deeply concerning.”

The Chicago city police are investigating and did not provide further details, nor say whether there had been an arrest. On Tuesday, the school said it had identified a “person of interest” in the assault, adding that the person has been barred from campus.

Accusations of sexual misconduct are grimly plentiful on American campuses, and the report at the University of Chicago, a campus of Gothic architecture and intellectual rigor, came after a reported gang rape at Cornell University in New York propelled the issue back into the national debate.

The Chicago episode took place at a Saturday night fraternity party boisterous enough to be heard blocks away. Klara Grant, an 18-year-old chemistry student, said there was a D.J., dance floors on two levels of the house and a bar.

Mia Lara, a 21-year-old student at a nearby university, said she had seen the event advertised on the fraternity’s Instagram account. She and the woman who reported the attack, along with a third friend, decided to go.

It was the first time any of them had been to a fraternity party, Ms. Lara said. At the door, they were asked for identification, but not whether they attended the University of Chicago.

The trio danced in the basement. Ms. Lara’s friend and a man began kissing and Ms. Lara lost track of them. She searched the house, eventually finding a small group of men cheering outside a locked bathroom door in the basement, she said.

“They were saying things like, ‘When’s it my turn?’ and, ‘I want to go in there,’” Ms. Lara said.

Ms. Lara jimmied the lock and forced her way inside. She found her friend sitting on the floor, slumped against the wall with her clothes and undergarments pulled down. The man whom her friend had been kissing had his hands on her wrists, Ms. Lara said.

.. .Her friend began saying, “Make it stop” and “Get me out of here,” Ms. Lara said. Ms. Lara began screaming and the man left. She and her friend carried the woman out of the bathroom.

Outside the fraternity house, Ms. Lara chased the man, a scene captured in a social media video. In the clip, Ms. Lara yells at the man, accusing him of assaulting her friend.

“She wanted to,” the man replies. Ms. Lara swats the man with her hands, and he runs.

According to the Chicago Maroon (the student newspaper), a suspect has been identified:

Multiple people confirmed to the Maroon that Raihaan Khaja, a first-year student at Purdue University, was the individual in a TikTok video that purported to show the perpetrator of a sexual assault early Sunday morning.

The people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern that they would be associated with the incident, attended the party at the Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) fraternity house where the assault occurred or were otherwise familiar with Khaja.

The attendees independently corroborated some details released yesterday by the Chicago Sun-Times and provided additional insight into Khaja’s activities at the party and immediately afterward. Their accounts also align with a Monday statement by AEPi saying that no members of the fraternity were involved in the assault.

Khaja, who was on fall break at the time, came to the party with a group of friends from his hometown in the northern suburbs of Chicago.

The University declined to name the accused assailant, but at least they banned him from campus. I would hope so!

*There’s an unresolved central question in “You Can See Everything”, Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder’s new documentary about grifter Elizabeth Holmes: was she really a grifter, or a huge case of self-delusion. A review in the WaPo describes the film, in which the filmmakers moved in with Holmes and her husband for several weeks before she went off to jail. (Why would she do that if she was obviously a grifter?). From the review by Will Leitch:

Like many Americans, I’ve read and watched so much about disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes by now that I feel like I can recite her Wikipedia page by heart.

But there’s one thing I’ve never quite understood: How could a woman who dropped out of Stanford at 19 and claimed, with no actual scientific training, to have invented a device that would revolutionize health care manage to persuade so many otherwise intelligent and prudent people — from Gen. Jim Mattis to former secretary of state George Shultz to billionaire investors — to give her boatloads of money? What could she possibly have said to them? Why would anyone believe her?

One of the surprises of Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s breathtaking new (pseudo?) documentary “You Can See Everything,” which opens nationwide this Friday, is that you come away understanding how Holmes was able to draw people in. In fact, you might even get drawn in yourself.

The film chronicles (among many, many other things) the final weeks in 2023 before Holmes reports to federal prison (where she remains today) for defrauding investors. Fielder and Oppenheim had extraordinary access to their subject. Fielder not only moves in with Holmes and her partner, Billy Evans, he’s also the last person to see her before she’s put in the car to be whisked away. And as we see Holmes up close, it becomes clear that there is something unique about her — a wide-eyed guilelessness that marks her, as Fielder notes in the film, as either the most sincere person on the planet or the most sociopathically manipulative one. The filmmakers embed with her for weeks, at the most trying time of her life, and can’t seem to figure out which it is. What hope did Mattis and the rest of them have?

The film, to be clear, is not a relitigation of the Theranos case; it does not pretend that Holmes was framed or railroaded. But what it does do, in a downright existential way, is examine what truth in fact is: how much of it is subjective, how much is mediated by personal experience and — most vividly — how much a person is or is not lying if they truly, profoundly believe what they are saying.

After Holmes says outrageous and untrue things, but seems to really believe them, Leitch says this:

Holmes — along with [her husband] Evans, who becomes in many ways the central, increasingly ominous figure in the film — proves an ideal subject for this sort of exploration: There is something so alien, yet so utterly assured, about her that you can get lost looking at and listening to her. Fielder certainly does: Some of the film’s best scenes feature him just staring at her, slack-jawed, as he seems to question the fabric of reality itself.

The movie takes a wild turn halfway through that I wouldn’t dare spoil here, other than to say that it turns the whole film inside out and leaves the viewer even more adrift than they were before … yet it does so in a way that, like a magic trick, proves invigorating rather than distressing. It’s a film that chases truth but, paradoxically, discovers that sometimes the deepest truth really is to be found inside yourself. This is a mind-bender of a movie in every possible way.

I’ll see this movie for sure. Here’s the trailer, which gives you an idea of how bloody weird this movie is.

Holmes is scheduled to be moved to a halfway house in Texas in August of next year, with her full release from federal custody scheduled for 2030.  The film opens today.

*Luckily, Pope Leo’s lung cancer was caught early, and there’s a good chance of a cure. (In case you wondered, he never smoked cigarettes.)

Pope Leo XIV had the lower section of his right lung removed after doctors diagnosed him with the most common form of lung cancer. While lung cancer is a leading killer, survival rates can be high if it’s caught early, as the pope’s tumor appears to have been. Here are some things to know.

The Vatican announced the pope’s diagnosis as lung adenocarcinoma, which is one of many forms of lung cancer.

There are two main groups, small cell and non-small cell lung cancers. The non-small cell kind make up the vast majority of the world’s cases and adenocarcinoma is its most common subtype. Even it comes in varieties that can grow faster or slower.

“While it’s still very dangerous, it has slightly higher cure rates than other types of lung cancer,” said Dr. John Heymach of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer. But as many as 1 in 5 lung cancers occur in people who have never smoked and it’s not clear why, maybe in some cases just random chance, Heymach said.

Other risks include exposure to radon gas, asbestos, radiation, secondhand smoke and air pollution, according to the American Cancer Society.

Surgery is a mainstay when lung cancer is detected early, and increasingly is used even in more advanced stages. The pope had the lower section, or lobe, of his right lung removed to try to ensure that all of the cancer was removed.

The right lung has three sections or lobes while the left has two. Each lobe has its own airway branch and dedicated blood vessels and when one is removed, “the other lobes actually pick up some of the work,” said Dr. Ben Zhang, a thoracic surgeon at Allina Health in Minneapolis.

The lungs gradually compensate over several months until most people, especially those who already were physically active, notice little to no difference with exertion, he said.

The pope is known to engage in weekly tennis games and swimming.

In the U.S., the average hospital stay after lung cancer surgery is two nights, Zhang said. It depends in part on how quickly the patient can get up and walk around, as well as pain and how long a tube that can drain air and fluid from the chest is needed.

The pope was walking the next day, which Heymach called “typically a harbinger of a quicker recovery.”

Whether additional treatment is needed depends on the tumor’s stage, based on factors such as its size and whether it shows signs of spreading via the lymph nodes, and if markers on its cells suggest it may be aggressive. Additional treatment can be chemotherapy, used before surgery to shrink a tumor or afterward to attack any lingering cells. Other options include radiation, immunotherapy or what are called targeted drugs aimed at specific molecular drivers of a tumor.

None of the details have been announced, and I’m not sure they will be. Given the Pope’s position, it seems okay to disclose what’s been revealed so far. But more details about treatment don’t seem necessary.  I’m wondering, though, how pious Catholics rationalize how the Pope, who is at times infallible, could be struck down with potentially deadly disease.

*The WSJ has more information on the government’s investigation of Ilhan Omar, which is beginning to look a lot like a tempest in a teapot.

The Trump administration’s investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) is aimed at building a case to strip her of her U.S. citizenship and ultimately deport her, according to U.S. officials and other people familiar with the probe.

The multipronged effort is focused at least in part on how Omar obtained her citizenship after she arrived in the U.S. from Somalia decades ago. Investigators are focused both on the congresswoman and actions of her deceased father, some of the people familiar with the probe said. Nur Omar Mohamed brought his daughter and other family members to the U.S. from a refugee camp in Kenya in 1995.

. . .At the center of the immigration investigation is whether Omar or her father changed her age on her citizenship application to show she was 17 years old rather than 18, according to people familiar with the probe. If Omar was 17 at the time her father applied for citizenship, she would have qualified automatically rather than needing to pursue her own immigration process. She became a citizen in 2000.

Officials at Homeland Security Investigations looked into a similar tip under the Biden administration, according to people familiar with those efforts, but they decided not to move forward because they lacked evidence of fraud.

The government can’t simply strip a person of their U.S. citizenship. The Justice Department must file a lawsuit in federal court and prove that the person lied in a material way to gain their citizenship. Most of the cases the Justice Department has filed this term haven’t yet been decided.

Leon Fresco, a top immigration official in the Justice Department during the Obama administration, said the Trump administration’s case would hinge on finding material evidence that Omar lied about her own age, rather than her father lying on her behalf.

“That would make the case significantly easier to prosecute,” he said. “But either way, they are not traveling a well-paved road here.”

Oy vey! It’s the matter of one year, and how are they going to prove that Omar lied about her own age instead of her father doing it? And even if they can, it smacks of Trumpian vengeance to prosecute her with the intention of deporting her, an effor that will, in the end, fail.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is celebrating her day (which is every day):

Andrzej: Today is Global Cat Day.
Hili: As far as this household is concerned, every day is Cat Day.

In Polish:

Ja: Dziś Światowy Dzień Kota
Hili: W tym domu każdy dzień jest Dniem Kota.

 

*******************

From Terrible Maps:

From CinEmma:

From Give Me a Sign:

From Masih: recordings of two women awaiting their execution in Iran:

From Luana. Khadija Khan clarifies what “Islamophobia” is about.

Three from my feed (readers are welcome to submit tweets). I reposted the first one. The movie is terrific:

Bill Maher should get a bodyguard after this:

It’s pretty clear what he did:

One I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:

And two from Doctor Cobb.  First, another attempt to solve the mystery of how Amelia Earhart vanished. Click to go to the original:

Note the two-part call:

Kookaburra Call

— San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (@sandiegozoo.bsky.social) 2026-10-08T16:53:04.618Z

The Russian genocide against Ukraine

October 15, 2026 • 9:50 am

Here I contend that although there is no “genocide” being committed by Israel against Gaza or Palestinians as a whole, Russia is committing genocide of the Ukrainians. That the former is loudly touted but false, but the latter is not that newsworthy but is arguably true, shows that the world holds a double standard with regard to “genocide”.

Here I want to concentrate not on Israel’s war with Hamas, which I’ve discussed many times, but on Ukraine, which is being largely ignored by the U.S. (and by Western protestors), and is being mistreated. Indeed, the U.S., with its lifting sanctions on Russian diesel and its threats to withhold intelligence from Ukraine, is beginning to help Russia with this “genocide.”

The UN’s 1948 Genocide Convention defines genocide this way (Article II):

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

The definition requires not only intent to destroy a group, but examples of acts undertaken to fulfill that intent.  The arguments against an Israeli “genocide” of Palestinians is not met by either the intent or the actions.  Although there are isolated statements by Israeli officials that could be interpreted as intent, the actions of the IDF have been directed at killing the enemy (Hamas) and avoiding wiping out Palestinians as a while. You’ve heard the counterarguments to this: the warning of Gazan civilians by the IDF before strikes, the designation of “safe zones”, the vaccination of 1.1 Gazan children by the WHO and Israel, and so on.

What is Russia doing to Ukraine? Let me count the ways:

The transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia. According to the UN itself,  Russia is deporting Ukrainian children on a large scale, amounting to crimes against humanity:

Russian authorities committed the crimes against humanity of deportation and forcible transfer of children, and of their enforced disappearance, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said in its latest report to the Human Rights Council, which is complemented by a conference room paper.

Thousands of children have been deported to the Russian Federation or transferred to occupied areas in Ukraine by Russian authorities, according to the Commission. It has so far verified the deportation or transfer of over 1,200 children from five regions in Ukraine.

Shortly before the full-scale invasion, the Russian authorities undertook large-scale relocations, which they justified as “evacuations” due to the risks of the armed conflict. But the Commission found that four years later, 80 per cent of the children from the documented cases have not been returned. This contravenes international humanitarian law, under which evacuations can only be temporary for compelling reasons of health, medical treatment or safety.

Mass murder of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war. One example is the Bucha massacre enacted by Russia soon after it invaded Ukraine in 2022.  Over 400 people were executed, and this was documented by the UN Commissioner for Human Rights.

The denial of Ukrainian statehood.  This could also be seen as “rhetoric,” but it was not an offhand statement, but a formal speech by Russia’s President Putin in February, 2022.  It includes these statements:

“Modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia, more precisely, Bolshevik, communist Russia. This process began immediately after the revolution of 1917…

“Ukraine never had a tradition of genuine statehood.”

Grok adds this, which speaks to an intent to destroy a “national group”:

Officials and state-aligned figures (including Dmitry Medvedev) have repeatedly denied Ukrainian statehood or identity, with statements calling for the elimination of Ukrainian political independence, language/education in Ukrainian, or the state itself so that “not even ashes remain” or that hostile Ukraine “does not exist anymore.” State media and ideologues have used language of “de-Ukrainization,” “denazification” as erasure of Ukrainian distinctiveness, and eliminationist framing. In occupied territories, authorities have systematically replaced Ukrainian curricula and language instruction with Russian ones, suppressed Ukrainian books/culture, renamed places, imposed Russian citizenship and passports, and promoted Russian patriotic/military education. Human Rights Watch and others have documented forced Russification of education, threats to parents for Ukrainian-language remote learning, and erasure of Ukrainian identity markers. Proponents argue this pattern shows intent to destroy the Ukrainian national group “as such” by eliminating its independent existence and identity, not merely to win a war or change a government.

Widespread and continuous targeting of civilians.  Wikipedia has a long article on “Russian attacks on civilians in the Russo-Ukrainian War (2022-present” (see also the article on “War crimes in the Russo-Ukrainian War (2022-present“). I quote from the first article (the site documents the statements):

During the Russo-Ukrainian War (2022–present), the Russian military has continuously carried out deliberate attacks against civilian targets[1][2][3] and indiscriminate attacks in densely populated areas.[4] The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine says the Russian military exposed the civilian population to unnecessary and disproportionate harm by using cluster bombs[5][6][7][8] and by firing other weapons with wide-area effects into civilian areas, such as missiles, heavy artillery shells, and multiple launch rockets.[7] As of 2026, the attacks had resulted in between the UN-documented 16,000[9] and an estimated 40,000 dead civilians.[10] On 22 April 2022, the UN reported that of the 2,343 civilian casualties it had been able to document, it could confirm 92.3% of these deaths were as a result of the actions of the Russian armed forces.[11]

On 5 July 2022, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Michelle Bachelet, reported that most civilian casualties documented by her office had been caused by the Russian army’s use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas, calling it “indisputable.”[12] By 30 June 2023, OHCHR assessed that 90.5% of all civilian deaths were caused by such indiscriminate attacks and that 84.2% of them were recorded in Ukrainian-held territory.[l

. . .The deadliest Russian attacks on civilians during the war have been the Mariupol theatre airstrike and the Bucha massacre, which are estimated to have killed hundreds. Other strikes on civilians with high casualties include the April 2022 Kramatorsk railway station attack (which killed 63); 3 March 2022 Chernihiv bombing (which killed 47); the July 2022 Chasiv Yar missile strike (which killed 46), the Zaporizhzhia civilian convoy attack (which killed 32), the 2023 Dnipro residential building airstrike (which killed 46), the 2023 Hroza missile attack (which killed 59), and the 2025 Sumy airstrike (which killed 35 people).[18]

In total, Russia has attacked more than 3000 health care targets,[19] more than 4000 schools and universities,[20] more than 2.5 million housing units,[21] more than 700 churches,[22] and killed more than 15,000 civilians as of February 2026.[23]

There is no similar article on “Ukrainian attacks on civilians in the Russo-Ukrainian war”, but an Al-Jazeera article reports a few:

The war, which began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has seen both sides increasingly targeting civilian infrastructure.

According to an analysis by Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), Russian forces carried out 29,792 attacks on Ukraine in 2022. Of these, 1,635, more than 5 percent, hit civilian infrastructure, including residential, energy, healthcare and education facilities.

By August 2026, the number of Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine had risen to 7,170, representing more than 13 percent of all Russian attacks on the country.

The same ACLED analysis recorded 245 Ukrainian attacks in Russia in 2022, with 24 of those – about 10 percent – targeting civilian infrastructure. By August 2026, that figure had risen to 3,560 attacks, or 27 percent of all Ukrainian attacks in Russia.

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Although a larger share of Ukrainian attacks targeted civilian infrastructure, Russia carried out far more attacks overall.

Indeed: 24 Ukrainian attacks targeted Russian civilian infrastructure as opposed to 1,635 attacks in the opposite direction: a 65-fold difference.  And Russia seems to be stepping up its attacks right now, as I hear of missiles targeting apartment buildings in Ukraine on almost a daily basis. I don’t know anything about accusation that Russia or Ukraine embeds its military among civilians to deliberately jack up the toll of civilians (this is what Hamas does), so I can’t speak to it with regard to this conflict.

The “war crimes” article in Wikipedia starts this way:

During the Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present) starting with the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian military and authorities have committed war crimes, such as deliberate attacks against civilian targets, including on hospitals, medical facilities and on the energy grid;[1][2][3] indiscriminate attacks on densely populated areas; the abduction, torture and murder of civilians; forced deportations; sexual violence; destruction of cultural heritage; and the killing and torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war.[4][5][6][7]

What happened is clear: Russia believes Ukraine should be a part of Russia, and they invaded to effect that—for at least part of Ukraine. Without that invasion, there would be no war (sound familiar?).  Russia continues to attack civilian facilities in Ukraine and Ukraine is defending itself with counterattacks, with the bulk of them targeting Ukrainian military facilities or infrastructure that helps the military.  If Russia withdrew, the war would end.

To me, all of this adds up to a Russian genocide, one at least determined to wipe out the “Ukrainian” part of Ukraine. You can argue about whether that is targeting a national group, but clearly some war crimes and crimes against humanity are going on.

My purpose is not to dispel the “genocide” libel against Israel, which is ridiculous, but to show that that label applies far more clearly to Russia in its dealings with Ukraine. I find it disturbing that people in the West, especially the young people who holler about Israel, aren’t at least as concerned with the Russo-Ukraine war.  Hamas said it would keep trying to get rid of Israel, which is its primary aim, but Russia is, right now, trying to destroy Ukraine.

Why the relative silence?  Well, we know that if Jews are involved they take most of the heat, but the Russia situation is that of an unprovoked invasion that could blossom into further Russian attempts to take over other countries, like the Baltic states. The obligation of the West to defend Ukraine is not diplomatic but moral. It’s not only the right thing to do—defending a democracy besieged by an autocracy—but could nip further Russian ambitions in the bud.

Readers’ wildlife photos

October 15, 2026 • 8:15 am

Another batch of photos arrived this morning, this time from reader Andrew in Oz.  Andrew’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.

Yarra Bend, Melbourne, Australia

These photos were all taken in an hour or so, in a bit of bushland three miles (5 km) from downtown in a city of 3ish million people.

The Birrarung River (also, more commonly, known as the Yarra river). Melbourne’s main river. Often very brown – locally known as the river that flows upside down:

Pacific black duck (Anas superciliosa):

Dusky moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa):

European honey bee (Apis mellifera). We sometimes call this the feral bee. In, I think, a River Red Gum, (Eucalyptus camaldulensis):

Black-faced cuckooshrike (Coracina novaehollandiae). A cute common name is the Shufflewing – when they settle after flight, they shuffle their wings alternately:

Spotted pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus) – female. Tiny bright little bird – common but hard to see and identify. Today I was lucky:

Spotted pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus) male:

 Red-rumped parrot (Psephotus haematonotus). More usually seen on the ground in small flocks. Surprisingly well camouflaged in the grass – quite easy to almost step on:

Pied currawong (Strepera graculina). Common, beautiful loud meodious song:

Rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus). One of the most common birds in eastern Australia. Incredibly bright and beautiful – and loud:

Noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala). Another very common bird. A few lines from a review (by noted biologist/author Tim Flannery) of the book “Where Song Began” by Tim Low:

The title of Australia’s most aggressive bird … must go to a rather drab gray member of the honeyeater family known as the noisy miner.

Accused in a scientific paper of “despotic aggressiveness,” the species has been recorded driving off fifty-seven rival types of bird. Indeed the noisy miner’s aggression has led to it becoming “one of the most important mechanisms through which habitat fragmentation and degradation threaten populations of eastern Australian woodland birds.” “They will turn on almost anything,” Low says: “koalas, cows, bats, pigs, snakes, lizards, people,” as well as other birds. And worse, they recruit allies in their bullying, including the aptly named butcher bird—a sharp-beaked, shrike-like predator that the noisy miners leave alone—provided they refrain from taking their eggs and young.

Noisy miners will even recruit humans as allies. Some years ago, a great fracas emanating from a mob of noisy miners outside my house in Sydney induced me to leave my work and investigate. As I stepped outside, the birds fell into silent expectation. Looking down, I saw a python. I got the distinct feeling that the noisy miners expected me to deal with it. But I like pythons, so I left it and returned inside. The howl of disappointed rage emerging simultaneously from dozens of beaks had to be heard to be believed. To get any peace, I was forced to move the snake.