Monday: Hili dialogue

July 8, 2024 • 6:45 am

Welcome back to work after a long holiday weekend in America; today is Monday, July 8, 2024, and National Raspberry Day. If you’re not American, you may not know that “raspberry” means, besides the fruit, this noise made by sticking out your tongue and vibrating it rapidly. It indicates disapproval, as when the umpire at a baseball game makes a call you don’t like. Listen:

 

It’s also National Blueberry Day, National Freezer Pop Day (a quiescently frozen confection that’s almost extinct), Islamic New Year, National Milk Chocolate with Almonds Day, and, in Ukraine, Air Force and Air Defense Forces Day.

Here’s a special lagniappe: a movie of Ozy’s subordinate pig, Nelson, chasing away other pigs and then a shot of Ozy resting.  Rosemary Alles, who took the video in South Africa, says this:

The mother and her babies are being chased by Nelson (the other alpha bull besides Ozy), Nelson is afraid of Ozy. You can see Ozy at the end of the video, just before he went to sleep in his nice nest that Jerry showed yesterday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGRDtt6F9QQ

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the July 8 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*The WSJ discusses Kamala Harris as a Biden replacement: “Is this Kamala Harris’s moment?” Apparently yes.

A document making the case for Harris, 59 years old, written anonymously by senior Democratic operatives who say they have no personal or professional ties to the vice president, has been circulating among Democrats. It argues that she is the “one realistic path out of this mess,” according to a copy viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

While other prominent Democrats might jockey for the nomination even if Biden steps aside and endorses Harris, some within the party are warning about the ramifications of bypassing the first female and first Black vice president, as well as the first of Indian descent.

“She has been a very visible and vocal advocate for this administration,” said civil-rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton, a Democrat. “She’s a loyal Democrat. I think the question is whether the Democratic Party will be loyal to women and loyal to Blacks, who have been loyal to them as symbolized by her.”

For Harris’s strongest backers, that it is even a question whether a sitting vice president should be her party’s last-minute replacement at the top of the ticket is the latest sign she has been disrespected in the role. Her detractors, meanwhile, say she hasn’t proved she is up to the task.

Here were her tasks:

Not long after taking office, Biden initially handed Harris a portfolio that centered on two of the most complex issues facing the administration: immigration and voting rights. Both have long been entrenched in partisan politics on Capitol Hill and famously difficult to overhaul through legislation.

You can argue about whether she did anything useful on these issues, and blame the failure on Congress, but what has she accomplished? If you say that the Veep isn’t meant to do anything, well, then, Whitmer is sitting in the statehouse doing something right now. And fie on you if you’re one of these:

Harris’s backers have long argued she has been subject to more criticism and scrutiny in her role in part because she is the first woman and first Black person to hold the job.

Nope; if she has been subject to more criticism and scrutiny, at least by Democrats, it’s because sometimes she sounds bonkers. To be sure, Harris is prone to her own gaffes and crazy talk, and sometimes seems more a figure of fun than any other VP since Dan Quayle. Potatoe!  But, increasingly Harris is looking like she might get Biden’s job by accident.  It’s a crime that Democrats aren’t willing to bypass Harris to go for someone like Whitmer; it’s almost as if they’d rather stick to a DEI mentality than to defeat Trump!

I have to admit that I don’t see loyalty and ethnicity as sufficient to vault someone into candidacy. What about Gretchen Whitmer, for crying out loud? If you want a minoritized person, isn’t a woman enough, or does she have to be a woman of color? In the end, now is not the time for “respect”; it’s time to WIN THE PRESIDENCY. Put me down for Whitmer.

*Is Biden ill with Parkinson’s? A Free Press article suggests that he has the disease. This summary is from the morning newsletter (the full article by Emile Yoffe is at the last link):

Has the reason for Joe Biden’s obvious physical and mental decline been hiding in plain sight? Two July 6 reports suggest the president has been seeing a movement disorder doctor for months.

On Saturday, the New York Post reported that a doctor at Walter Reed Medical Center with expertise in Parkinson’s visited the White House January 17, hosted by the president’s physician Kevin O’Connor. A second report, published by Alex Berenson on his Substack, Unreported Truths, revealed that the doctor visited the White House nine times between July 28, 2023, and March 28, 2024. (The logs run through March 31, 2024, and are available for anyone to access online.)

The doctor in question is Kevin R. Cannard, a neurologist and retired Army colonel. His physician profile page shows he is a neurologist and movement disorders specialist at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center who researches treatments for early phase Parkinson’s disease. Berenson notes that Walter Reed “provides medical care to senior federal officials.” Read on for Emily’s argument on why the American people deserve to know the truth about our president’s health. 

*This NYT op-ed is an important article about science that nobody will pay attention to: “To save life on Earth, bring back taxonomy.”  (Taxonomy is the study of the genealogical relationship of organisms, most often the evolutionary history of species.) There is little evolutionary biology you can do unless you know where your species stands in the history of life, and how it’s related to other species you may be studying. Despite that, few people are being trained in taxonomy, and the fewer there are, the fewer that will be trained. There are only one or two Drosophila taxonomists around, and  yet this is one of the most intensively studied organisms for evolutionary genetics. Without knowing the taxonomy of the group, we are cut off from a lot of research. Anyway, a few excerpt from the piece byRobert Langellier, identified as “a writer and field botanist in Vermont.”

Taxonomy, the science of naming and classifying organisms, is the foundation for conserving disappearing plants and animals. Yet the field — often viewed as an archaic, dusty tradition that harks back to intrepid 19th-century botanists describing the plants of newly colonized lands — is dying. Several decades after the taxonomic frenzy of 1830 to 1920, when Western scientists went deep into far-flung regions of the world, molecular genetics revolutionized our ability to classify species, and began vacuuming up funding while the analog field of taxonomy was left to languish.

With genetic sequences, we can now identify the fundamental building blocks of life, but we need to be able to interpret genetic data in a way that humans can understand and use. That’s taxonomy’s job. And if we want to save what’s left of the vast diversity of life on Earth, we’ll have to reinvest in this science. How we delineate between species determines what we choose to save.

The dire state of taxonomy in the United States might be best illustrated by the Flora of North America, the definitive 30-volume attempt to name and describe every plant species here and in Canada. The project began in the 1980s, but it still hasn’t been completed because its contributors have struggled to secure consistent funding. By the time the last volume is completed in 2026, it will have to be revised immediately. For instance, its first volume, on ferns, released in 1993, is utterly out of date as new species have been discovered and nonnative species have moved in. Imagine trying to understand a 2024 Camry with a manual from 1993. That’s what botanists and conservationists trying to maintain biodiversity are working with.

I’m glad he added the last paragraph. Yes, taxonomy is important for conservation, but it’s important in all sorts of ways, and “knowing our world” pretty much covers it all.

*Reader Bill, who sent me this headline from KOCO in Oklahoma City, simply said, “Only in America. . .”. Indeed! Click to read:

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili has intimidated Baby Kulka

Hili: Kulka is under the stairs.
A: So what?
Hili: She is afraid of me.
In Polish:
Hili: Kulka jest pod schodami.
Ja: I co?
Hili: Boi się mnie.

And here is Baby Kulka:

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

From Malcolm:

From Cat Memes (if you do this to your cat, send in a photo):

From Jesus of the Day:  This is true only if the uranium is undergoing fission:

Masih retweeted this, and it shows Dr. Phil lecturing a Muslim about the butchery of October 7 was wrong! The Google translation is from his words:

“When someone jumps over a fence, enters a house and burns a baby in its crib, I don’t give a damn why they did it, it’s wrong.”

Two from Barry; this is the first in a whole thread of people’s favorite “Far Side” cartoons that were tweeted. I don’t usually post those cartoons myself as Gary Larson discourages it, but these are already up on X:

This insect obviously can spray something noxious:

From my feed. Pandas play just like human kids!

Also from my feed. Mama Cat doesn’t like that intrusive d*g:

From the Auschwitz Memorial; two small children gassed upon arrival:

Two tweets from Matthew. The first is one of a thread in which David Attenborough is dressed like an insect:

. . . and this is very clever:

40 thoughts on “Monday: Hili dialogue”

  1. I first thought of Parkinson’s disease with respect to Biden in 2020. I calmed myself by thinking it was just Botox that made his face immobile. But now, it looks pretty obvious. All the good diagnosticians I know agree (some docs are more observant than others, and will spot something across the room unasked, others have to be asked and do the checklist!) The fact is that PD is not just a movement disorder, and around a fifth of patients will have neuropsychiatric effects with it as it progresses, which some call ‘Parkinson’s Plus.’ Now while the motor symptoms are visible if you know what you are looking for, the concerning thing for the lay press is the speech and memory, which would suggest poor Joe is one of those 20%.
    And as for Harris vs Whitmer, I wish Gretchen were willing!

  4. Freeze pops are alive and well. Costco sells the original sugary ones as well as some from organic fruit juice. They remain a staple at pool snack bars (the best place for messy kids to eat them, just jump in the pool afterwards).

    I can’t believe I clicked on the raspberry audio…

    I would like to hear opinions about the appeal of Gretchen Whitmer. The only thing I’ve heard about her is the Covid lockdown she ran in Michigan. I also know there are predominantly Muslim cities in the state and wonder if she has had to deal with Islamists. I know I don’t have much of a picture so would appreciate being informed by those closer to the situation.

    1. “Hard” freeze pops are also available, for the type of Peter Pan adults that still need their vitamins to be in gummy bears.

  5. What does it feel like there, Rosemary? The air and the temperature? And how does it feel living there but identifying with a country far away?

    1. Yes, I thought the death of the freezer pop had been greatly exaggerated.

    1. I have heard that the term “raspberry” started as Cockney rhyming slang. The Cockneys will replace a word with a phrase that rhymes with it, then leave off the rhyme. For instance, they will say “I’ll have a butcher’s,” which is short for “butcher’s hook,” meaning “look.”

      Well, “raspberry” is short for “raspberry tart” which rhymes with . . .

      1. I once heard the mother of a friend say she had a “Michael in her Gregory”. Michael Caine = pain. Gregory Peck = neck.

      2. If you do a bad raspberry tart, you might well wind up on your Jack Jones.

  7. We have heard a lot of yammering about “democracy” in the past few years. Now, the same people are talking about replacing Biden with some sort of backroom deal.

    The irony is delicious.

    1. There is no irony here. Biden did not go through a competitive primary to ascend to being the Democrats’ candidate in the 2024 presidential election. Just as important: Pollster have asked samples of Americans whether they want Biden to be the Democrats’ candidate. Between 70 and 74% have said “No”. Even among voters who usually vote for the Democrats, a majority does not want Biden to be the candidate.

      1. What do you mean he didn’t go through a competitive primary? It was a primary process that was open to voters of all states in a democratic process. The fact that others didn’t run is not relevant to whether or not he was elected to be the candidate by the voters. Whatever polls say is irrelevant as well. The Democratic Party primary democratic process is such that he is the candidate. To subvert that is taking the voters’ voice away. This is not a case of the president suddenly being hit by a bus. This is a case of the party and the media suppressing information to ensure that Mr. Biden became the candidate in a real election process. Now we need to live with that outcome, in my opinion. I don’t like it, but I don’t see any way out of it that doesn’t negate the voice of the people, unless you redo the entire primary. Or you say “screw democracy” and throw the results away and do the back room deal.

        Even in Biden’s condition, it will be a close election. He could be totally incoherent, or even shoot a guy in NYC, and still most Democrats would vote for him.

      2. Ha ha, an ammo dispenser that has AI, multipoint facial recognition, used by TSA. All clever stuff but not clever enough to know which state it’s in in order to apply the correct age restriction!

    2. By way of ChatGPT:

      In the realm of thoughts where minds beguile,
      Live two tricksters, Projection and Denial.
      Projection shouts, “It’s you, not me!”
      While Denial whispers, “That I don’t see.”

      Projection blames, points fingers fast,
      Saying, “Your issues are unsurpassed.”
      Denial, serene, wears a calm disguise,
      Ignoring the truth right before its eyes.

      Together they dance, a psychological spree,
      Each one’s illusion, a mental decree.
      But in this comic mind’s grand aisle,
      We all know it’s just Projection and Denial.

  8. I stand at the ready to vote for Gretchen Whitmer. Kamala Harris I’m not so excited about for all the reasons that are bandied about. If she were not already the VP, I doubt very much if she would be a serious contender. But given that she is the sitting VP, bypassing her will be difficult, as doing so would be read as a slap in the face against her constituency of Black voters—an important constituency indeed. Also, if Harris gets the nod, much is simplified (if I understand correctly). Existing campaign funds would flow to her unimpeded and, since she would become the presumptive nominee as soon as Biden drops out, the Democrats would have more time to prosecute a unified campaign since they wouldn’t have to wait for the convention. We’ll see.

    On taxonomy… . Concern about the viability of taxonomy as a biological discipline goes back a long way. When I was a graduate student at Harvard between 1978 and 1983, a schism developed between two groups that (if memory serves) led to the establishment of two separate biology departments: “Organismic and Evolutionary Biology” and “Cellular and Developmental” biology. The former, housing “Taxonomy” (or “Biological Systematics”) was seen by some as going out of fashion. Fortunately, with the advent of Cladistics, taxonomy was undergoing a renaissance at the time allowing the discipline to live another day. I hope that Robert Langellier, author of the New York Times piece, is wrong and that taxonomy will survive. Understanding the tree of life is fundamental to evolutionary biology, and that’s what the practice of taxonomy is all about. Jerry may have a better memory of what went on at Harvard at that time than I do.

    1. Just finished reading Jason Roberts’ “Every Living Thing”- the great and deadly race to know all life. Well, I don’t know how deadly it has been other than the several-year 18th century sailing expeditions to collect specimens from around the world…yes a dangerous time to be a grad student…scarier than having the midnight duty to fill LN2 dewars! And of course getting beheaded because you were on the wrong side of church creation doctrine or the wrong side of the French Revolution. But it details Linnaeus and de Buffon and their work, friends, and politics throughout the 18 th century. After their deaths, Roberts spends a hundred pages or so tracing evolution of both men’s theses to today. Though not exactly a thrilling page-turner for me, I did enjoy it and in particular seeing some Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson stories regarding France mentioned in a French context. I expect that biologists (and he discusses the origins of biology thinking from the separate lines of botany and zoology) will have an even richer time than I, a physicist/engineer, but a faithful reader of WEIT.

  9. Many of the AI robots at the China exhibition were superior in movement compared to President Biden!

  10. And if they have not told him the truth on this, what else are they afraid to tell him?

    Once again, though, WHO is making these decisions!? Who has been running the country?

    My bet is that Biden’s fate is determined this week.

    1. “Who has been running the country?”

      This formulation surprises me when coming from you, Dr B! The president is the manager of the executive branch. He does not, and should not, run the country, let alone the world!

      1. You got me, although that is a common idiom for the President’s role. I guess the right question is, Who is running Biden?

        1. I’m teasing, of course, but I do wonder how many young people are losing a sense of the idiom as they increasingly look to the Exalted One to forgive them their debts, to protect them from respiratory distress, and to silence the Wicked Ones who would corrupt and mislead them.

        2. What are you implying? That Biden is a puppet for someone else? Who do you think is controlling him? He’s the leader of a team that has brought back our country from the brink of recession caused largely by Trump’s mishandling of the covid pandemic. Our economy is in better shape than any other country in the world thanks to Biden and his team. The only one who’s a puppet around here is the rapist Trump. Or don’t you recall “Russia, if you’re listening…”? Not to mention all the people who were in his campaign who had direct contact with Russia. All the ones who were found guilty that he pardoned. Remember them? And not just Russia. Trump and his family brought in millions from foreign sources like China and the Saudis the entire the was in office. He’s for sale to the highest bidder. I’d take Biden as a brain in a jar before I’d ever accept Trump and his fascist supporters.

          1. Biden isn’t the leader of a team, he’s a meat puppet, dangling on the strings of a hidden controller. Jill? Sounds like Hunter’s now involved too!

            Trump has never been prosecuted or even lost a civil suit for rape. Calling him a rapist is at best inaccurate.

            The FBI spent two years proving Trump was not colluding with Russia. Evidence since shows that the whole Russian collusion story was fabricated to boost Clinton’s campaign.

            If Trump was on sale, why is he the only president for a century to leave office less wealthy than he entered?

            Biden’s brain in a jar would please many Trump supporters but please, don’t do that.

      2. I have another question- If the space force or whoever detects a missile launch from North Korea that might possibly reach California, who is going to decide our response?
        That is a key presidential function, and something people should consider when they vote.

        I don’t seriously think anyone can claim with a straight face that Biden is going to wake up, orient himself to the situation, and make a reasoned decision in the time frame necessary.

        Does Jill get to decide? Does the Major on duty at NORAD decide on his own?

        What would our world look like if Kennedy was being rolled around like Captain Pike during the Cuban Missile Crisis? I worry about what McNamara might have decided, let alone Curtis LeMay.

        1. Max, I suspect you know the answer to that.

          Certain functions within the nuclear command and control system MUST be performed by–and verified to have been performed by–the President. They cannot be delegated to Jack or Jill, or Joe Schmuck staffer, or General UmptyFrunk.

          I roll me eyes every time I hear someone say that “Biden will be fine; he has good staff around to step in for him.” It reminds me of 2016 and the evangelicals saying, “You know, Donald Trump isn’t as immoral as I thought. Look at Ivanka; she has her act together. He must be a good father.” Rationalizations all.

          Unclassified overview below:
          https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ReferenceSheet_NuclearCommandAndControl.pdf

  11. The moggie is investigating a leaf-footed bug, family Coreidae. Like many other true bugs (Hemiptera) they produce a variety of pungent and irritating chemicals from pores in the abdomen including n-hexyl acetate and acetic acid. They smell like stink bugs. The smell is bad and the effect on eyes and mucous membranes can be painful. I sympathize with the cat.

  12. Perhaps the Democrats have already concluded the election is lost and are now looking around for a fall-guy (or -gal) to blame it on, as Canadian political parties do when they see historic defeat staring them in the face. They’re not really worried about a second Trump presidency. It’s only politics. They’re worried about 2028 and onward. Assuming they can get rid of Joe Biden at all, (now that he’s a liability), nominating Kamala Harris for 2024 serves three purposes for them.

    1) It avoids alienating black voters who, when it comes time to express grievance, will regard Ms Harris as one of them even though she really isn’t “Black”. If they punish the Democratic Party for throwing KH to the curb, they might undo LBJ’s smug prediction with the passage of his Great Society legislation, “We’ll have their votes for 200 years.” Make it 56.

    2) It strengthens the hand of any moderates who are trying to undo the fixation of Party elites on luxury racial identitarianism. If Ms Harris goes down to McGovernonian defeat it will be a “See, I told you so!” moment allowing the Party quietly to ease the anti-racists to the sidelines without publicly rubbing their noses in it. “You got your way. You made us nominate an unelectable candidate just because she was black (sort of.). Now let’s figure out how to win. The Great Replacement isn’t paying the dividends we thought it would. Maybe we need a Southern Strategy.” (/kidding.)

    3) It protects white and male candidates from having to declare (as racists and misogynists) against Ms Harris and leaves their skirts clean for 2028. All they have to do is shut up.

    1. …as Canadian political parties do when they see historic defeat staring them in the face.

      Poor Kim Campbell!

  13. For years the media, the Democrats and the intelligentsia have screamed Trump is a threat to democracy. Meanwhile, it is Biden, his handlers and the media who subverted democracy these past three years. By hiding his condition we had no Democratic primary, no open debate about policy options and are left with the choice of Trump or Biden.

    And if it a replacement is named it will be done in the smoky backrooms just like in the era of Daley’s Chicago. That is not democracy!

    Andrew Sullivan was correct when he wrote, “The mainstream media also bears responsibility for once again being an arm of the DNC establishment, running countless stories about Biden’s acuity and sharpness from inside sources, while attacking the few journalists who actually dared write the most obvious truth about this election.”

    If the Biden Administration had not for the past ~18 months stonewalled* media outlets critical of Biden and if the liberal press and Democratic elite had not been complicit in hiding Biden’s mental decline, the public would have understood 6 months, 12 months before that debate that he is incapable of performing the job and a true primary election by the people would have taken place. 

    And it isn’t like we and the MSM didn’t know.  The WSJ reported it.**  And, Hur told us Biden could potentially defend himself in court, if charges were recommended, by appealing to jurors as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

    But WaPo and NYT called Hur’s report a hit job while the White House refuses to release the audio tapes calling it Executive Privilege!***  Executive Privilege my a&%, the transcript is already in the public domain!****  I don’t see how anyone could claim this is not a crime against democracy which is built on transparency.

    * https://www.nytco.com/press/a-statement-from-the-new-york-times-on-presidential-news-coverage/
    ** https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/joe-biden-age-election-2024-8ee15246?mod=article_inline
    *** https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/16/biden-moves-to-block-house-from-getting-his-classified-docs-interview-tapes-00158323
    **** https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=5273

  14. Is it time for Jews to leave France?

    Prominent French Jews on Sunday lamented the electoral success of a political bloc that features a far-left party widely regarded as antisemitic in the country’s parliamentary elections.

    This reaction came in response to news that the New Popular Front, which includes the Socialist Party and the France Unbowed far-left party, or LFI, was predicted to have garnered the highest share of the vote in today’s final round, with 175 to 205 seats according to a preliminary count, followed by the French President Emmanuel Macron’s Together bloc (150 to 175) and then the far-right National Rally (115-150).

    Moshe Sebbag, a rabbi for the Synagogue de la Victoire, told The Times of Israel that “it seems France has no future for Jews,” and said he advises young French Jews to leave for Israel.

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/prominent-french-jews-decry-far-lefts-gains-in-vote-amid-fears-of-new-antisemitism/#:~:text=Moshe%20Sebbag%2C%20a%20rabbi%20for,Jews%20to%20leave%20for%20Israel.

    1. It’s unfortunate that the antisemitism used to be more of a right wing thing but is increasingly showing up on the left.

  17. Ah to be a kid again and run across the yard and jump into a big cushy pile of leaves again and again, to roll around in them and throw armloads into the air and then finally when the adults had finished raking them up and moved them into the street, to have a brief bonfire.

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