Saturday: Hili dialogue

September 5, 2020 • 6:30 am

According to Ceiling Cat, it’s the Sabbath for all Jewish Katz: Saturday, September 5, 2020, the first day of the three-day Labor Day weekend, and National Cheese Pizza Day. Have a New York slice! It’s also two other food holidays: International Bacon Day and World Samosa Day, as well as Kentucky Derby Day (the Derby will be run without spectators this year), National Hummingbird Day, International Vulture Awareness Day, World Beard Day (flaunt it if you have one), and International Day of Charity. 

News of the Day: Trump’s taking a lot of heat for calling American soldiers who died in combat “suckers” and “losers”, as alleged in an article in The Atlantic. He denies it, but it’s surely in keeping with his attitude towards those who served (unlike him).

And just in, a sort-of confirmation:

The greatest soccer play in history, Lionel Messi, has said he’ll finish his career playing with Barcelona after expressing a desire to leave. Messi is only 33, but that’s getting long in the tooth for soccer. Here—watch the greatest player ever.

Want to know how to get your hair cut safely during the pandemic? This article from the Washington Post gives some tips. I asked my doctor as well, and he said to ensure that the cutter wasn’t symptomatic (they should take temperatures daily), wore a mask, I wore a mask, and we both did it for the entire time. Also make sure the shop has social distancing of chairs and other sanitary precautions (disinfecting scissors and clippers between customers, etc.) I even had my hair washed while wearing a mask, and when they cut one side of your head you take off an ear loop but hold the mask secure over your face. I was wary of a haircut, but I followed the protocol and I survived. I also feel much better with shorter hair.

Finally, today’s reported Covid-19 death toll in the U.S. is 187,698, an increase of about 1,000 deaths over yesterday’s report. The world death toll now stands at 873,990, an increase of about 5,600 deaths from yesterday.

Stuff that happened on September 5 include:

  • 1666 – Great Fire of London ends: Ten thousand buildings, including Old St Paul’s Cathedral, are destroyed, but only six people are known to have died.
  • 1698 – In an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.
  • 1774 – First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia.
  • 1793 – French Revolution: The French National Convention initiates the Reign of Terror.
  • 1877 – American Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska.

Crazy Horse was only 36 when he died. This is said to be a picture of him:

  • 1945 – Cold War: Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet Union embassy clerk, defects to Canada, exposing Soviet espionage in North America, signalling the beginning of the Cold War.
  • 1945 – Iva Toguri D’Aquino, a Japanese American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist Tokyo Rose, is arrested in Yokohama.

D’Aquino was not “Tokyo Rose”, a generic term applied to women propaganda broadcasters, and was forced to broadcast as a prisoner of war. She never said anything anti-American or participated in newscasts, but was still convicted of treason and served six years in prison. She was later pardoned by Gerald Ford.  Here she is speaking on Radio Tokyo:

Mossad took care of some of the terrorist later, as well as other members of Black September.

Squeaky was finally paroled, and doesn’t seem very repentant. As Wikipedia notes,

She was released on parole from Federal Medical Center, Carswell on August 14, 2009,[23][24] and moved to Marcy, New York,  where she and her boyfriend Robert Valdner, who pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge in 1988, live in a house decorated with skulls. In a 2019 televised interview, Fromme said about Manson, “Was I in love with Charlie? Yeah, […] I still am.”

Here two members of the Manson family, including Squeaky, discuss their past; Squeaky says she still loves Charlie:

  • 1984 – Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment.

Notables born on this day include:

  • 1847 – Jesse James, American outlaw (d. 1882)
  • 1912 – John Cage, American composer and theorist (d. 1992)
  • 1929 – Bob Newhart, American comedian and actor
  • 1940 – Raquel Welch, American actress and singer
  • 1946 – Freddie Mercury, Tanzanian-English singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1991)
  • 1969 – Dweezil Zappa, American actor and musician

Here’s Mercury’s famous performance with Queen at Live Aid in 1985; this is the full set.

Those who were cut down by the Grim Reaper on September 5 include:

  • 1548 – Catherine Parr, Sixth and last Queen of Henry VIII of England (b. c. 1512)
  • 1877 – Crazy Horse, American tribal leader (b. 1849)
  • 1902 – Rudolf Virchow, German anthropologist, pathologist, and biologist (b. 1821)
  • 1906 – Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist and philosopher (b. 1844)
  • 1997 – Mother Teresa, Albanian-Indian nun, missionary, and saint, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
  • 2001 – Justin Wilson, American chef and author (b. 1914)
  • 2016 – Phyllis Schlafly, American lawyer, writer, and political activist (b. 1924)

When I was a kid I was fascinated with Justin Wilson’s cooking show, “The Cajun Chef.” His corny jokes and gussied-up Cajun accent were mesmerizing, at least to me. Here’s Justin showing us how to cook chicken gumbo. Good eating, I gare-un-tee!

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is feeling the wings of time, perhaps because she sees herself in little kitten Kulka:

Hili: Sometimes I feel regret.
A: What about?
Hili: That the years are passing so quickly.
In Polish:
Hili: Czasami mi żal.
Ja: Czego?
Hili: Że lata tak szybko mijają.

From Bad Cat Clothing:

From Gregory:

From Jesus of the Day:

From Titania.  I haven’t posted about this case, which is all over the news, because I don’t have much to say about it except Krug is toast. Titania does have something to say:

From reader Barry. Somehow I don’t think this is play:

Tweets from Matthew. The painting is sheer genius!

A cow with a pet chicken!

https://twitter.com/backt0nature/status/1301687925285904386?s=11

This person is not only a self-identified clock thief, but where did he get the pan?

I posted this before, but try it again. See if you get lucky.

A living reptile born before Darwin was in the Galápagos!

If they had done this research a decade ago, I wouldn’t have lost my pasty in St. Ives. I still regret that loss.

31 thoughts on “Saturday: Hili dialogue”

  2. Opinion of course, but Maradona was better than Messi. He took an average Argentina squad on his back in 86’, and did the same with Napoli in the late 80s, and of course did this in an era of very cynical and brutal defending. How the man lasted more than a few games, let alone 15+ seasons, is beyond me.

    So Maradona over Messi for me; same level of individual skill as Messi but in harder conditions to demonstrate that skill.

    Reply

    1. I love the way that Messi repeatedly watched Maradona’s “Goal of the Century” so many times when he was in hospital as a kid that he was able to recreate it when he found himself in the same circumstances in a match many years later.

      Reply

  3. I submit a new email specimen, likely from a certain campaign of a certain popular vote-losing resident of a certain house of a certain shade of white :

    BREAKING: JOE AND KAMALA RAISED $364 MILLION IN AUGUST

    I need your help right now [ email subscriber redacted ]

    LIBERAL MEGA DONORS MAXED OUT contributions to Sleepy Joe and Phony Kamala Harris last month. They brought in $364 MILLION in August alone.

    I’ll never be intimidated by these Radical Socialists and their dirty MEGA DONOR MONEY, but I can’t ignore that $364,000,000 in ONE MONTH is a massive amount of cash.

    The Liberals are funneling money to their candidates at an alarming rate to try and take us down. They think they can intimidate us with their MAXED-OUT contributions in the hope that they can buy their way into the White House. They couldn’t be more wrong.

    They may have Silicon Valley and HOLLYWOOD ELITES, but I’ve got something better. I have YOU.

    It’s the MOB, THE MEDIA, THE HOLLYWOOD ELITES, THE DEEP STATE and THE SWAMP vs. YOU. Let’s remind them that AMERICA IS NOT FOR SALE. This is YOUR COUNTRY NOT THEIRS.

    With your help, I want to have our BEST ONLINE FUNDRAISING DAY EVER. Your support is SO important that I’ve activated an UNPRECEDENTED 800%-MATCH on ALL contributions.

    [ end email excerpt]

    Reply

  4. Crazy Horse did not die immediately of his wounds received while incarcerated. He was treated by engineer/MD Valentine T McGillycuddy, who seems to have led an extraordinary life.

    And his prairie mansion in Rapid City SD is undergoing a remarkable resurrection at the hands of a group of the people there. (Originally two-story, it was converted into a vernacular one-story bungalow after a fire long ago, with mainly one window remaining from the original house. It’s now back to its original appearance.) Check it out if ever in Rapid City.

    Reply

    1. And, again (NB for next year), there are no pictures of Crazy Horse. Main note says “This is said to be a picture of him” Well, yes, there are many said-to-be’s out there in the interwebs. At least “teach the controversy”! Memorialize his death, but please spare us the pix. I think last year it was American Horse; this one I’ve seen referred to as Little Bat. McGillycuddy, noted by Hempenstein, along with others who knew him, said Crazy Horse never had his picture taken, nor would he.

      Reply

  5. Jessica Krug: I predict that within 10 years, “Transracialism” will be an accepted idea, and Krug and Rachel Dolezal will be seen as heroic pioneers.

    Race is more of a cultural construct than sex is. Is Barack Obama African-American? Not all African-Americans believe so. [“He doesn’t share our history of slavery and Jim Crow.”] Already some American Blacks [people descended from pre-Civil War slaves] are complaining about recent immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean or Europe coming here and taking advantage of programs [Affirmative Action, minority set-asides, college scholarships] that were intended to help African-Americans, saying “Just because you have a lot of melanin doesn’t make you African-American!” One comment on a website actually used the word “appropriation.” The article also quoted some immigrants who did not see themselves as belonging to the same group as American Blacks.

    There must be more Dolezals and Krugs [and Elizabeth Warrens] out there, and I think that as more of them are uncovered, they will stop apologizing and start demanding the right to identify with whatever race they choose. People who object will be denounced as Nazis [“Who are you to define someone else’s identity?”] If Blacks complain that these people are taking advantage of programs meant for cis-Blacks, they will be seen as bigots, just as cis-female athletes who complain about having to compete with trans-women are.

    It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen. After all, how many people predicted 10 years ago that elementary schools would have to accommodate transgender 8-year-olds?

    Reply

    1. Either it will be accepted because race has declined as a concept in American politics, or those people will be punished.

      Reply

      1. I think I was overstating it when I said that transracialism would be “accepted” that quickly. I do believe that it will be a civil rights issue, and that some people will be taking it seriously. Society is always evolving, and things that seem “obvious” to one generation will be questioned by the next. Race will not decline as a concept, but how people think about race, and who belongs to what group, will change. [Does “White” mean “Caucasian?” While people from India are Caucasians, they aren’t really considered “White;” they live in Asia, but they aren’t “Asians” in the same way that the Japanese and Chinese are. What “race” are they? Who decides?]

        It will not happen without a fight, but I believe it will happen.

        Reply

    2. Although race exists as a biological concept as Professor Coyne has pointed out on several occasions, society’s use of race to determine benefits, such as affirmative action can be justified, it is fraught with significant long-term dangers. As your comment implies there is growing controversy as to who can rightly claim to belong to a certain race. In other words, what criteria should be used to classify the race a person can legally claim to belong to? If we go down this rabbit hole, we may revert to the situation of the pre-Civil War South where free mulattos claimed to be actually white based on their appearance and thus should be free. In William L. Barney’s new book “Rebels in the Making: The Secession Crisis and the Birth of the Confederacy,” he discusses that in the South judicial trials were held to determine if such people should be classified as white (p.32). Is this the road we want to go down? Will courts, based on genetic testing, render ruling as to a person’s race? Will laws be passed to determine the criteria? Will the Nazi laws be a guide for us? This would be a frightening situation. So far, we have not reached this point, but we have steadily moving towards it. We have been operating on a more or less honor system whereby the race that the person claims to be identified with is accepted. But, those who have lied as to their race are excoriated. We must restore the concept of a colorblind society as the ultimate goal in race relations. The current trend is away from this. If it continues the results will be terrible and contribute to the downfall of the United States as a great nation.

      Reply

      1. If Nazi laws re racial classification would be a guide for us, recall that our laws about race (as with eugenics) were a guide for the Nazis. BTW, they didn’t quite know what to do with people of African descent under the Third Reich; they were ostracized, sent to work camps and worked to death but not many gassed.

        Reply

  6. I don’t really want to carry water for Trump, and, given his track record, it is easy to accept that he might say such things. However, that entire story in The Atlantic doesn’t name single source for any of his statements, and I’ve had it with anonymous sources after the last four years. The Fox piece (and any of the follow-on stories) doesn’t name sources.

    Whoever was on that trip is either still in the Trump camp, and unlikely to dish, or is out, and we know that there is little loyalty to the man afterwards. Against the article, Bolton’s memoir explains the cancellation of the trip being due to the fact that the Marine helicopter pilots didn’t want to fly the President below the low cloud cover (although on operations it was acceptable), and that the journey by car could have been ninety minutes each way. Bolton does not mention the comments.

    Do I believe Trump could have said it? Yes. Can I also believe that The Atlantic went with a badly researched, uncorroborated report two months before the election? Yes.

    Reply

    1. If you believe Trump could have said it, then that should be enough. These purported statements are certainly consistent with what Trump has said on camera many times so we think we understand the man and know what he really thinks about the military. Sure, it would be nice to have proof but do we really need it?

      Reply

    2. Hard to see what motive Jennifer Griffin, the Fox News national security correspondent, would have for lying about this — or why her regular sources would lie about it to her.

      Also, to the extent any of the sources are active military, I believe they are prohibited from expressing any type of public comment regarding a candidate for office or an upcoming election. And, if the sources are retired military, such officers generally regarding themselves as being bound by a devoir de réserve not to go on record as criticizing a superior officer, let alone the commander-in-chief (though it should come as no surprise why they might well consider Trump’s views on military service to be a matter of crucial national interest that should be disclosed to the American public).

      Plus, keep in mind, that Donald Trump is one vindictive son-of-a-bitch. Just ask Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the Purple-Heart winner who was essentially drummed out of the army for no reason other than testifying truthfully, during the House intelligence committee hearings, as to what he had seen and heard as the Ukraine expert on the National Security Advisor’s staff. (Or better yet, ask Lt. Col. Vindman’s twin brother, who met a similar fate merely by virtue of his sharing the same blood.)

      As for John Bolton, maybe he didn’t overhear Trump’s comments in France. Or maybe he did, and the ambitious bastard is embarrassed to admit he didn’t resign on the spot, as any patriotic American in that position should’ve done.

      Reply

      1. I laugh at how he often ends this kind of tweet complaining that the reporter didn’t even ask the White House for comments, like that’s the ultimate sin. I read it as “They didn’t even have the decency to let me lie about it.”

        Reply

  8. The haircutting safety measures are the same as the ones in Germany which have been in place and enforced by government regulation (along with contact tracing) since our lockdown ended in June.

    There was 1 death from covid yesterday, in a country of 80 million. Overall, if the US had had the same per capita death rate as Germany, the US would have had about 30,000 deaths.

    —

    –1972 – Munich massacre–

    The former leader of the the opposition in the UK and well known antisemite, Jeremy Corbyn laid a wreath at a monument in Tunisia in 2014, commemorating Salah Khalf, suspected to have organised the Munich massacre. At first he claimed to have been “present but not involved” in the ceremony, until photos emerged of him holding a wreath in front of the monument. (“Present but not involved” perfectly sums up his utterly useless term as party leader.)

    Reply

  9. Of all the places on the Internet, I never would have guessed I’d see a video of Justin Wilson on this one. What a character. The funniest moment on his syndicated show in the late 90s or early 2000s–and who knows how old he was at the time–was a practical joke at his expense when the behind-the-scenes crew hid some of his utensils from him, which had him flummoxed for a few seconds in the middle of preparing a dish before he realized he’d been had. No doubt he would have like to express his frustration in words, whether English or Cajun French, a little more forceful than the good-natured ones he chose.

    Reply

  10. Hili: Sometimes I feel regret.
    It’s a good thing cats don’t actually know they are doomed, as are we all. Their existential angst occurs because their ancestors participated as a component of a food chain. We will all come to the point where we have only another decade to live, matching the life of the average cat. On a more cheerful note…

    Reply

    1. You are probably right but I wonder. They might think their lives go on forever but, on the other hand, they experience fear and pain. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that they also know they can die.

      Even if they know they won’t live forever, it probably doesn’t bother them as much as it does us. As evidence, their suicide rate is pretty low, at least as far as we know. 😉

      Reply

  12. My favorite part of the Justin Wilson shows was at the end when he would sit down to eat his fish diner, and pour himself a glass of red wine: “I know, you are not supposed to drink red with fish. But fish be dead, he don’t care.”

    Reply

  15. The labels “white” and “black” doesn’t make sense to me.

    took care of some of the terrorist

    They murdered them.

    Reply

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