Welcome to a Hump Day (“Letsatsi la Hump” in Sesotho), May 8, 2024, and and National Coconut Cream Pie Day, an estimable pie if made well. Here’s one from Wikipedia, titled “Photo of a slice of coconut cream pie. Taken at the Golden Nugget Restaurant, Chicago, Ill.” I haven’t been there!
It’s also Bike to School Day, Root Canal Appreciation Day (!), National Give Someone A Cupcake Day (I’m willing to take some), National Have a Coke Day, National Outdoor Intercourse Day (yes, you’re supposed to copulate al fresco), Truman Day in Missouri (Truman was born on this day in 1884), , Furry Dance in Helston, UK. and Victory in Europe Day (Germany surrendered on this day in 1945), and Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War, which continues to May 9.
Here’s a Furry Dance from Helston, in Cornwall:
Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the May 8 Wikipedia page.
Da Nooz:
*Stormy Daniels, the porn star given hush money by Trump and his minions, testified today in his trial for misreporting transactions.
Daniels testified that the two later had sex but she was in shock afterward, saying her hands shook nervously as she tried to buckle her high-heeled gold shoes. Before she left Trump told her he wanted to see her again, “Let’s keep in touch, honey bunch,” she recalled him saying.
The brief sexual encounter is at the heart of the trial, in which Manhattan prosecutors allege Trump falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election to buy her silence. Prosecutors said the payment came during a critical moment in his first presidential campaign. At the time, Trump was under scrutiny after an “Access Hollywood” tape surfaced of him describing how he groped women.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has denied the affair and any wrongdoing and has said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat whose office brought the case, charged him out of political spite.
For prosecutors, putting Daniels, 45 years old, on the stand was a gamble. Her testimony helped to bolster the account of her former lawyer, Keith Davidson, and gave jurors a firsthand look at her efforts to sell her story and negotiations around her silence. But throughout Tuesday morning, Trump’s lawyers raised objections over what she told the jury and by the afternoon they demanded a mistrial. They accused Daniels of changing her story and of providing details outside the scope of the trial.
Daniels said at one point that she blacked out during the encounter, but clarified she wasn’t drunk or drugged.
Todd Blanche, a Trump lawyer, said Daniels’ testimony was meant to inflame the jury and wrongfully raise questions about whether the sex was consensual.
“There is no way to unring the bell in our view,” Blanche said.
The judge denied the motion but acknowledged that some of Daniels’ testimony was “probably better left unsaid.” He also granted the defense’s request for a limiting instruction, curbing what Daniels could say going forward.
Daniels said that in October 2016 she learned that Trump and his then-personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, were willing to pay her to sign a nondisclosure agreement. She said she thought the agreement was the best scenario because she didn’t want her husband at the time to find out. She also said she wasn’t concerned about getting paid.
“It’s money but the number didn’t matter to me, and I didn’t pick the number,” she told jurors.
But how would her husband find out if she didn’t want him to? The only person who would “disclose” anything would be Daniels herself. I wonder if there’s any Republican, much less any American, who believes Trump’s denial that they had an affair.
*Surprisingly (at least to me), President Biden gave a speech in which he strongly decried antisemitism in America—without mentioning Islamophobia (perhaps that’s because he was speaking at the Holocaust Memorial Museum). The NYT reports:
President Biden declared on Tuesday that hatred of Jews “continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people,” saying there has been a “ferocious surge of antisemitism” in the United States following the attacks by Hamas that killed 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7.
Speaking at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Days of Remembrance, Mr. Biden demanded that Americans learn the lessons of what he called one of the “darkest chapters in human history” by opposing attacks on Jews.
“People are already forgetting, are already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror,” Mr. Biden said from Emancipation Hall on Capitol Hill. “It was Hamas that brutalized Israelis. It was Hamas that took and continues to hold hostages. I have not forgotten.”
Mr. Biden’s address came during weeks of protests on American college campuses against Israel’s war in Gaza, with students demanding that the Biden administration stop sending arms to Israel. In some cases, the demonstrations have included antisemitic rhetoric and harassment targeting Jewish students.
“I understand people have strong beliefs and deep convictions about the world and America,” the president said, referring to the protests. But he added “there is no place on any campus in America, any place in America, for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind.”
He said destroying property does not constitute a peaceful protest.
“It’s against the law,” he said. “We’re a civil society. We uphold the rule of law, and no one should have to hide or be brave just to be themselves.”
The president vowed that his commitment to the security of Israel “and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad. Even when we disagree,” a reference to the arguments his administration has had with Israel’s right-wing government about the death of tens of thousands of people in Gaza.
The Republican Speaker of the House issued similar sentiments:
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday compared the protests unfolding on American university campuses to what happened at institutions of higher learning in Germany during World War II.
It was the “same elite centers of learning” from which “Jewish faculty and students were suddenly expelled” in Germany, Mr. Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said in pointed remarks at a Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony at the Capitol. Today, he said, American universities have become “hostile places for Jewish students and faculty.”
*Israel has begun a serious assault on Hamas in Rafa, having taken control of the border crossing with Egypt. (Contrary to the NY Times’s claim, Egypt had already closed that crossing to humanitarian aid, so all the aid is coming through the Israel crossing to northern Rafa, a crossing that Israel repaired after it was destroyed by Hamas’s rockets. Here’s what the NYT says:
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it had sent tanks into Rafah and established control over the Gaza side of the border crossing with Egypt in what it called a limited operation. The move halted the flow of aid into the enclave, drawing immediate condemnation from international officials.
No, no, no. The flow of aid into southern Gaza was halted yesterday by Egypt. Aid is starting to flow it (at a higher rate than before the war) through Israel. Now, from the ToI:
Israeli tanks rolled into the southern Gaza Strip early Tuesday, capturing the Palestinian side of the Rafah Crossing on the Egypt border, in what the military called a “pinpoint operation” against the Hamas terror group.
The ground incursion in the eastern part of the city of Rafah came after Jerusalem said a truce offer from Hamas the previous day did not meet its demands, and announced that it had okayed moving ahead with the long-threatened offensive.
An Israeli official told The Times of Israel that it was a “limited operation” aimed at pressuring Hamas to accept a deal.
I’m not sure about that bit, as the “deal” would have to include the complete surrender of Hamas and release of all the hostages. Hamas still wants Israel to release 1000 terrorists in return for an unknown number of hostages (many are dead). But to continue:
Israeli tanks rolled into the southern Gaza Strip early Tuesday, capturing the Palestinian side of the Rafah Crossing on the Egypt border, in what the military called a “pinpoint operation” against the Hamas terror group.
The ground incursion in the eastern part of the city of Rafah came after Jerusalem said a truce offer from Hamas the previous day did not meet its demands, and announced that it had okayed moving ahead with the long-threatened offensive.
An Israeli official told The Times of Israel that it was a “limited operation” aimed at pressuring Hamas to accept a deal.
The Israel Defense Forces said its 401st Armored Brigade captured the Gazan side of Rafah Crossing on Tuesday morning, apparently with little resistance. Israeli flags were raised by troops at the border crossing, footage showed.
The crossing, located some 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the Israeli border, was captured amid a “pinpoint operation” against Hamas in “limited areas of eastern Rafah,” the IDF said. It is located along the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, separating Egypt and Gaza.
As of Tuesday morning, Israel controlled all of the known overground crossings with Gaza.
The new proposal put up by Hamas for consideration was apparently intended to keep the IDF out of Rafah, but it didn’t work. Hamas is, I suspect, getting desperate.
*Our encampment removal made the NYT (click headline to read original, or see it archived here):
The bit:
When pro-Palestinian protesters put up tents on a University of Chicago quad early last week, administrators initially took a permissive view.
But that changed on Friday when the university’s president, Paul Alivisatos, wrote a letter saying that demonstrators had violated policies and that the encampment “cannot continue.” Four days later, on Tuesday morning, the university police moved in before sunrise to forcibly disperse the camp.
“The university remains a place where dissenting voices have many avenues to express themselves, but we cannot enable an environment where the expression of some dominates and disrupts the healthy functioning of the community for the rest,” Dr. Alivisatos wrote on Tuesday.
The encampment at the University of Chicago, a highly selective private institution, was among dozens across the country that have tested campus leaders and posed thorny questions about the balance between free speech and safety. But the Chicago camp took on added significance because the university is the home of the Chicago statement, a set of free speech standards adopted in 2015 that has become a touchstone and guide for colleges across the country.
. . .After 4 a.m., Dr. Darrow said, she saw two vehicles with bright headlights pull onto the quad. Soon, she said, more vehicles arrived and University of Chicago police officers in riot gear exited and started tearing down barricades.
“They started very, very quickly ripping and throwing the barricades that were protecting the camp,” Dr. Darrow said. “They started destroying the tents and throwing them. They were both yelling over bull horns and also just yelling very loudly that everyone needed to get out.”
Protesters were told to leave immediately, Dr. Darrow said, and they complied. She said she did not witness any physical contact between protesters and officers while the camp was being cleared. A student protester, Kelly Hui, said she was pushed by a police officer and witnessed contact between other officers and protesters. Demonstrators have been asking the university to disclose its investments in weapons manufacturers and divest from companies involved in Israel’s war effort.
I’ll show one photo from the article because it’s so good; the photographer is Jamie Kelter Davis and the caption is “Police officers blocked protesters from returning to the University of Chicago’s quad, where an encampment created by pro-Palestinian protesters was dismantled on Tuesday morning,:
The protestors on the street were chanting away and asking the cops, “Why are you here?”, which bespeaks a remarkable display of ignorance since they’d been told several times what was going to happen to them and why.
In the end, despite the delays and the rumors that the administration was negotiating with the protestors (as happened at Northwestern), I think we came out looking pretty good on this one. I just hope the protestors don’t try to come back and en-tent themselves again, which seems to have happened at MIT. But I think the admin and cops know enough now to respond immediately when the first tent stake is driven into the ground.
Finally, in the AP’s ever-amusing “oddities” section, we discover that a Pennsylvania man has lost his emotional support alligator.
A Pennsylvania man who credits an alligator named Wally for helping relieve his depression for nearly a decade says he is searching for the reptile after it went missing during a vacation to the coast of Georgia.
Joie Henney has thousands of social media users following his pages devoted to Wally, the cold-blooded companion that he calls his emotional support alligator. He has posted photos and videos online of people petting the 5 1/2-foot (1.7 meter) alligator like a dog or hugging it like a teddy bear. Wally’s popularity soared to new heights last year when the gator was denied entry to a Philadelphia Phillies game.
Now Henney said he is distraught after Wally vanished while accompanying him on an April vacation in Brunswick, Georgia, a port city 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Savannah. He said he suspects someone stole Wally from the fenced, outdoor enclosure where Wally spent the night on April 21.
In social media posts, Henney said pranksters left Wally outside the home of someone who called authorities, resulting in his alligator being trapped and released into the wild.
“We need all the help we can get to bring my baby back,” Henney said in a tearful video posted on TikTok. “Please, we need your help.”
There’s a photo at the link: the gator isn’t big, but Henney will have a hard time hugging it when it gets big. I do hope he finds his lost reptile, as it’s not every alligator that can provide the requisite emotional support. Here’s a news story on the loss, and the video of Henney and Wally is adorable.
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Szaron takes down Hili’s puffery:
Hili: I have the nature of the lynx and the spirit of the lion.Szaron: And imagination like a lizard.
Hili: Mam naturę rysia i duszę lwa.Szaron: I wyobraźnię jaszczurki.
*******************
From Rosemary, who calls the encampers “gerbils.” She made this using AI and a U of Chicago background:
From America’s Cultural Decline Into Idiocy:
From Mark:
This tweet from Masih says that she not only had to sell her house, since Iran is trying to kill here, but also left the United States. I have no idea where she lives now.
I planted a cherry blossom tree in my Brooklyn garden in honor of my mother, whom I haven’t seen in 15 years.
Each spring, as it burst into bloom, I found comfort in embracing it. However, when an assassin, armed with an AK-47, targeted my Brooklyn home on behalf of the Islamic… pic.twitter.com/6cOcrzmaM4— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) May 6, 2024
x
Here’s a recording of the IDF warning inhabitants of Rafah to leave because of an imminent bombing—and the defiant response:
"We love death like you love life, so kill the children." pic.twitter.com/x4tG7Fy7bw
— Elder of Ziyon 🇮🇱 (@elderofziyon) May 7, 2024
From Simon, a tweet from the Republican but anti-Trump Lincoln Project:
Donald Trump arriving on the #MetGala red carpet. pic.twitter.com/sCBOVmytXo
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) May 6, 2024
From Barry: in the second tweet, a fish is an Uber for a frog (the loud frog tweet that’s first was posted yesterday)
Frog knows how to enjoy life! 😂 pic.twitter.com/4RGQqrP34J
— 💪🎭..Rai ji..💪🎭 (@Vinod_r108) May 5, 2024
From Susan: J. K. Rowling makes a snarky and hilarious reply:
Exactly what I thought. 'Who taught her to do winged eyeliner, the snake?'
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 6, 2024
From the Auschwitz Memorial, a post I retweeted:
Dutch girl, age one, was gassed on arrival along with her mom. https://t.co/rxFfmHgXGw
— Jerry Coyne (@Evolutionistrue) May 8, 2024
Two tweets from Doctor Cobb. First, he found out something new about the history of DNA:
I know *so* much about the double helix and the people involved, but I keep finding more. Here's a fabulous copper and cardboard model, made by Crick in early May 1953 and taken with him to Edinburgh for a talk (he left it there). Now in National Museum of Scotland. h/t @beckyfh pic.twitter.com/3CRjBAvj6e
— Matthew Cobb (@matthewcobb) May 7, 2024
And yes, this is a monster alligator:
Non an Alligator, it's a freaking Dinosaur🤯 pic.twitter.com/OSMNcNNcuQ
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) May 5, 2024
+1 to the story on the campus.
I would like to repeat : there was every opportunity to express all the ideas we all read and heard, by simply relocating to a less obstructive location.
But that did not happen.
That tells us everything (IMHO).
… that DNA model looks sorta sloppy but I guarantee it took skill and lots of work – beautiful.
There are multiple ways to maintain a protest without setting up tents. Setting up tents turns the protest from “Ceasefire Now!” (or whatever it is) into “Save the Encampment!”. The same thing happened with the anti-apartheid encampments.
Yes. They were not removed because of their message, but rather because of their actions. A hundred kids and faculty could still be standing on the grass this morning holding posters, signs, and flags with their message by simply staying within UChicago policy guidelines. The Chicago Principles still stand.
I’m not sure about that, Jim. At some point, the University should be able to declare that the continued presence of protestors quietly standing on the lawn and not impeding anyone was damaging the grass and other plantings. (It would also be denying the use of the lawn to others.). They would have to disperse so the university could fence off the area to allow the grass to regrow. Breaching the fence to protest, or even violating a “Keep Off the Grass” sign, would be grounds for academic discipline. Maybe you include this idea in your guidelines for protest but I think it has to be explicit that the property owner can say, “OK, we’ve heard you. We have decided to ignore your demands. Now you must get off the grass or be expelled.”
This leads to my larger point that protests are not effective as a form of persuasive speech. They “work” only through intimidation, which is why people resort to them when they can’t convince others that their cause is just. They dare the authorities (property owner or the State) to use force against them. And why would the authorities be tempted to use force? Because the protest damages the legitimate interests of the property owner, his customers, or members of the public. You can’t legally enshrine “speech” that does this.
The DNA model looks like a Mid-Century Modern bookcase or étagère.
[ looks up “étagère” ]
Ah! I see!
It could even be displayed on an étagère…
Jerry,
Some misplaced text in the third section of quoted text of the Israel/Rafah story.
Emotional Support Alligator is nice, but nothing will ever beat Heinrich the Solidarity Piglet that the Columbia protestors had (see item four here).
But it’s on your doorstep-darkening list? Yet?
Someone, somewhere, is studiously crossing breeds or jiggling petri-dishes to create a breed (species) of emotional support alligators that remain huggably supportive – at least until the supportee dies and leaves them a large enough estate to really expand with.
Well, it happens with dog- and cat-homes, so I assume there/s no impediment to it happening for ESAs too.
I think Jo Bartosch and J. K. Rowling missed the point of the joke photo about “Eve”. The “scientific reconstruction” is a AI-generated image of Taylor Swift. There are similar “reconstructions” of Adam.
I did think she looked REMARKABLY like Taylor Swift!
Me, too!
Thanks for the ID. My first thought was who would mistake such an obviously inappropriate image for a reconstruction of an early human by real scientists (ignoring the meaning of “Eve”). But i am still puzzled by the thinking of the multitudes who repost this – funny that scientists believe in a biblical Eve? amusing because it resembles a modern day white person? comforting for the same reason? interesting as genuine science?
Funny that a “reconstruction” of a mythical being would be considered “scientific”. Or funny that gullible people will believe anything.
And “the first human female created by god”? Gosh! And god made other human females after creating Taylor Swift!?! And has Princeton engaged in white supremacy now?
There is so much to pick up to infer it’s a joke that it’s hard to believe they took it seriously 😳
Last year in a community about 5 miles from mine a woman was killed by an alligator. She was walking her dog near a “lake” when the alligator attacked. According to a neighbor that saw the attack, the alligator went after the dog, which jumped out of the way. The women fell down in the confusion and the alligator grabbed her and immediately took her into the water.
I’ve had several personal encounters with alligators, very cool creatures, but never let your guard down around them. They are very strong and can be very fast, faster than you, over modest distances. And if they are big enough, you are on the menu.
The frog riding the Uber fish is likely a confused male in amplexus – the frog mating embrace. Some male frogs will grab anything remotely female sized. I’ve had them latch on to my hand, and also seen them amplex boots and a salamander. Love is blind, apparently.
“Love is blind, apparently” 😀
The Hili today was excellent.
May 8 is the day of the German unconditional surrender.
Unbedinungslose Kapitulation. The signing of the legal document was May 8, 1945. That day the Germans surrendered after signing the document. World War 11 was ended.
One of the two most important days of the 20th Century, from the point of view of the Western Enlightenment. Happy V-E Day.
What happened in the previous 8 World Wars?
Regarding the erroneous reporting that Israel closed off aid from southern Rafah when it was in fact Egypt that had done so, I have long attributed these sorts of “errors” as having their origin in bias—the media’s bias against Israel. While there is certainly a great deal of biased reporting, I’ve also been coming to conclude that some of the reporters are just not very good. They would do better if they took the time to read some of the English-language Israeli press outlets. There are several that are very good.
The scam “agreement” that Hamas claimed yesterday was quickly reported as such by the Israeli media. That “agreement” was to a deal that Hamas and its interlocutors made up on their own, trying to fool the world that it was the same deal that Israel had proposed last week. No, it wasn’t. It was a scam to manipulate public opinion to make Israel appear to be the recalcitrant party. The Israeli leadership wasn’t fooled.
As usual, Hamas is conducting war in the press.
Related re: Israel: Full episode is available as a PSA:
Sam Harris:
https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/366-urban-warfare-2-0
“MAY 7, 2024
Sam Harris speaks with John Spencer about the reality of urban warfare and Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza. They discuss the nature of the Hamas attacks on October 7th, what was most surprising about the Hamas videos, the difficulty in distinguishing Hamas from the rest of the population, combatants as a reflection of a society’s values, how many people have been killed in Gaza, the proportion of combatants and noncombatants, the double standards to which the IDF is held, the worst criticism that can be made of Israel and the IDF, intentions vs results, what is unique about the war in Gaza, Hamas’s use of human shields, what it would mean to defeat Hamas, what the IDF has accomplished so far, the destruction of the Gaza tunnel system, the details of underground warfare, the rescue of hostages, how noncombatants become combatants, how difficult it is to interpret videos of combat, what victory would look like, the likely aftermath of the war, war with Hezbollah, Iran’s attack on Israel, what to do about Iran, and other topics.
John Spencer is an award-winning scholar, professor, author, and combat veteran. He currently serves as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, Co-Director of the Urban Warfare Project, and host of the Urban Warfare Project podcast. He is also a founding member of the International Working Group on Subterranean Warfare. John served 25 years in the U.S. Army, having held ranks from Private to Sergeant First Class and Second Lieutenant to Major. He was an active duty Army officer during two combat tours in Iraq.
His research focuses on military operations in dense urban areas, megacities, and urban and subterranean warfare. Spencer holds a Master of Policy Management from Georgetown University, and his writings have appeared in the Time magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and many other publications. He is considered one of the world’s leading experts on urban warfare and has served as an advisor to everyone from top four-star generals to world leaders. He is the coauthor of Understanding Urban Warfare.”
Thank you for the reference Rosemary. Just a note to readers that as a full episode, non-paywalled PSA, it is a bit over 1.5 hours. After dinner listening.
+1
A fabulous discussion well worth 1.5 hrs.! Thank you!
Welcome.
“Man spots massive alligator while hiking” is just one of many reasons to stay away from Florida.
We look forward to the next stage of campus “liberated zones”:
new encampments to protest against the dispersal of the previous encamped protests. This will continue in infinite regress. By the third time around, the protesters will no longer remember the original issue (something about someplace with a river and a sea).
Consider Hamas’ latest “deal” – substituting dead bodies for the promise of live hostages.
Remember one of the Americans was returned MISSING AN ARM! (did it just drop off?)
THIS is the moral degeneracy of this “resistance” group.
It deranges us to take their moral claims seriously. For most of man’s history, an event like Oct. 7 would be have been replied to with utter annihilation. Now they bitch at Israel for not FEEDING their enemies well enough.
See what I mean about moral degeneracy?
And yes… when it comes to Gaza it IS all citizen soldiers (see elections or just listen to what they say repeatedly). There are no “two sides” here – https://democracychronicles.org/no-two-sides-in-gaza/ – if you can’t see the asymmetry…. I don’t know what to tell you.
For what is behind a Palestinian “resistance fighter”? Tariq? His cousin Mo?
What is behind an Israeli? An uzi, a Rafael jet, a nuclear bomb.
Israel will win. Onwards Israeli heroes.
D.A.
NYC
To be fair, David, amputation is often necessary under theatre conditions after compound fracture of the upper limb, as from gunshot. The surgeon who took the man’s arm off likely saved his life and probably had nothing to do personally with his wounding. And someone got him to the surgeon who had stood by his post and his Oath, instead of letting him die from gangrene. (That his post even still existed is testimony to Israeli restraint.)
No question about which side must win. But there can be humanity in a Hell even of one’s own making.
Crick’s copper & cardboard DNA model is great. It could easily be in an art museum, perhaps expressing some early sculptural idea of Alexander Calder.
There was a similar posting yesterday of a makeshift kinetic model of Uranus and its rotating magnetic field, illustrating data sent back by the Voyager-2 spacecraft in 1986.
https://x.com/astromarkmarley/status/1787970965462544874
Here is a short video of the model being rotated, showing the planet dragging its magnetic field.
https://x.com/astromarkmarley/status/1787976496138825958
I’m guessing the post about the 3D generated model of Eve is satire. I mean, she looks like Taylor Swift to me.
Hey, neat. I’ve read this blog on and off for several years, and here you are using my pie photo. Small world.
It looks good! I presume I credited it properly!
Yep, totally. Was happy to see it.