Thursday: Hili dialogue

September 19, 2024 • 6:45 am

Welcome to Thursday September 19, 2024, and it’s National Pawpaw Day, celebrating a delicious fruit (Asimina triloba) native to the U.S. and southern Canada. It’s not grown commercially, but when I was a kid I knew of a pawpaw tree in the woods near my house in Virginia, and used to pick and scarf down the fruits when they were ripe. They are delicious!

From Wikipedia, and a photo:

As described by horticulturist Barbara Damrosch, the fruit of the pawpaw “looks a bit like mango, but with pale yellow, custardy, spoonable flesh and black, easy-to-remove seeds.” Wild-collected pawpaw fruits ripen in late August to mid-September through most of their range, but a month later near their northward limit. They have long been a favorite treat throughout the tree’s extensive native range in eastern North America, and on occasion are sold locally at farmers’ markets.

The inside. Wikipedia caption: “Common Paw Paw. Photo taken at Red Fern Farm in Wapello Iowa, 11 Sept. 2004”

It’s also International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and National Butterscotch Pudding Day (this always reminds me of Bill Cosby). 

There’s a Google Doodle today (click to go to its page), celebrating the life of Emerson Irving Romero (1900 – 1972), described by Wikipedia as “a Cuban-American silent film actor who worked under the screen name Tommy Albert. Romero developed the first technique to provide captions for sound films, making them accessible for the deaf and hard of hearing; his efforts inspired the invention of the captioning technique in use in films and movies today.”

What’s weird is that he was neither born nor died on this day. But it is Hispanic Heritage Month, and I think that’s the link. (BTW, why is there no Jewish Heritage Month?)

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the Sept 19 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

Well, we start with three pieces on Israel, and forgive the imbalance today.  There’s not much to say about politics, as the Presidential race is still a tie.

*First, more devices are exploding in Lebanon (blame Mossad), but still devices in the hands of Hezbollah.  But the explosions have gone beyond beepers into other electronic devices, like walkie talkies, all in the hands of Hezbollah member.. Of course people are chiding Israel for this, which seems to me ridiculous in view of Hezbollah’s daily launches of several rockets aimed at civilians in northern Israel. Hezbollah commits war crimes every day, and Israel only responds to them, never initiating a missile attack.  Now they’ve taken the offensive, though the explosions seem to have been premature given their intention:

Wireless devices held by members of Hezbollah exploded across Lebanon on Wednesday afternoon, local officials said, killing nine people and wounding 300 others. The apparently coordinated attack came as the country reeled from a similar operation the day before that blew up thousands of pagers belonging to the armed group’s members.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest attack. Lebanese, U.S. and other officials briefed on the matter say that Israel was responsible for the deadly pager blasts on Tuesday, which blew up the hand-held devices across Lebanon in their owners’ hands and pockets.

Two Lebanese security officials and a Hezbollah official said some of devices that exploded on Wednesday were hand-held radios belonging to Hezbollah members. One of the devices was a ICOM-branded walkie talkie, according to two officials with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. It is unclear from which company Hezbollah purchased the devices.

. . . . The attack on Tuesday pierced Hezbollah’s reputation as one of Israel’s most sophisticated foes and ratcheted up fears of a wider war between the two. Israeli officials have increasingly suggested that they favor intensifying military operations in Lebanon to fend off Hezbollah, which has fired thousands of missiles and drones at Israel since October in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza.

Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, said in a video statement that Israel was “at the outset of a new period in this war.” Without mentioning the explosions in Lebanon, he said the “center of gravity” of Israel’s military efforts was “moving north,” as the country diverted “forces, resources, and energy” toward the threat posed by Hezbollah.

The pager explosions on Tuesday killed at least 12 people and wounded over 2,700 others. Hezbollah claimed eight of the dead as members, but another two were children, including a 9-year-old girl from central Lebanon.

Once again the collateral damage (euphemism for “civilians or innocents killed”) is about as low as you can go with a tactic like this. It’s going to scare the bejeezus out of Hezbollah members, making them afraid to use any electronic devices.  As far as I can see from various reports, the injuries and deaths are confined almost exclusively to fighters for Hezbollah. (I shouldn’t have to add that the deaths of children and innocents is regrettable, but the ratio of fighters killed to civilians killed  is—and this is according to Hezbollah—four to one, the lowest in the history of combat.  This is truly a selective attack.

In this morning’s NYT I see that the devices were actually manufactured by Israel using a shell company (Nasrallah is the head of Hezbollah):

By all appearances, B.A.C. Consulting was a Hungary-based company that was under contract to produce the devices on behalf of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo. In fact, it was part of an Israeli front, according to three intelligence officers briefed on the operation. They said at least two other shell companies were created as well to mask the real identities of the people creating the pagers: Israeli intelligence officers.

B.A.C. did take on ordinary clients, for which it produced a range of ordinary pagers. But the only client that really mattered was Hezbollah, and its pagers were far from ordinary. Produced separately, they contained batteries laced with the explosive PETN, according to the three intelligence officers.

The pagers began shipping to Lebanon in the summer of 2022 in small numbers, but production was quickly ramped up after Mr. Nasrallah denounced cellphones.

*We again have a surprising article in the NYT, one called “How Hamas uses brutality to maintain power.” (Is that a surprise? h/t: Stephen). The article is archived here.

Early this summer, Amin Abed, a Palestinian activist who has spoken out publicly about Hamas, twice found bullets on his doorstep in northern Gaza.

Then in July, he said he was attacked by Hamas security operatives, who covered his head and dragged him away before repeatedly striking him with hammers and metal bars.

“At any moment, I can be killed by the Israeli occupation, but I can face the same fate at the hands of those who’ve been ruling us for 17 years,” he said in a phone interview from his hospital bed, referring to Hamas. “They almost killed me, those killers and criminals.”

Mr. Abed, who remains hospitalized, was rescued by bystanders who witnessed the attack, but what happened to him has happened to others throughout Gaza.

The bodies of six Israeli hostages recovered last month provided a visceral reminder of Hamas’s brutality. Each had been shot in the head. Some had other bullet wounds, suggesting they were shot while trying to escape, according to Israeli officials who reviewed the autopsy results.

But Hamas also uses violence to maintain its control over Gaza’s population.

. . . . This article is based on interviews with more than three dozen U.S. and Israeli officials, Hamas members and Palestinian residents of Gaza. Many of the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence assessments. Many of the Palestinians spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation.

Since the attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, which killed 1,200 people, Israel’s aim has been to “destroy Hamas.” In practice that means that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to end the group’s hold on power in Gaza. But after 11 months of war, U.S. officials say Hamas’s control has been loosened but not broken.

Palestinians are quick to excoriate Israel for the deaths and destruction in Gaza. But some Palestinians said in interviews that Hamas has put Gazans in Israel’s cross hairs by launching attacks from neighborhoods, running tunnels under apartment buildings and hiding hostages in city centers.

And Hamas is still able to inspire fear among the people it rules, despite the chaos that has taken hold across the territory.

The article goes into some of Hamas’s brutal tactics, tactics I’ve described here. These include putting civilians in the line of fire (deliberately), brutalizing or killing those who criticize Hamas, hiding hostages among civilians, which of course has dire results. Despite all this, Hamas still has a firm hold on Gaza’s civilian government, and that of course brings up the “what next” question that nobody is able to answer without invoking an IDF occupation of Gaza until a non-terrorist government can be put in place. Only Ceiling Cat knows when that will happen. But for the meantime, this article shows the depauperate moral status of those who idolize Hamas, like many of the pro-Palestinian protestors. Would they like to live in a government like Gaza has?

*Speaking of that, this is pretty funny: a US organization that has the dosh has offered a cool million bucks to any organization willing to hold an LGBTQ parade in Gaza (or Judea and Samaria)

The New Tolerance Campaign (NTC), a U.S.-based watchdog organization, announced on Monday a $1 million offer to “Queers for Palestine” or any U.S. LGBTQ advocacy organization to host a Gay Pride Parade in Gaza or Judea and Samaria.

“This isn’t a joke. It’s not a publicity stunt. Our offer is real,” NTC President Gregory T. Angelo, who is gay and the former president of Log Cabin Republicans, said in a statement on the organization’s website.

“For the past year we’ve seen so-called ‘Queers for Palestine’ and allied LGBTQ organizations insist that the Palestinian territories are ‘inclusive’ — well, here’s their chance to prove it. We’re willing to put our money where their mouths are to underwrite a Gay Pride Parade in Gaza or the West Bank.”

NTC has secured commitments for the $1,000,000 prize, which is being offered to potential parade organizers. The offer is good for the next six months, until March 16, 2025.

NTC said it had attempted to publicize the campaign with full-page ads in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today. All three newspapers declined, citing safety concerns.

Times Square in New York City also declined to run the ad, saying the buildings displaying it could become targets of violence.

Well, those last two paragraphs tell you something, don’t they?  I think the offer is more or less a joke, since within six months Gaza will almost certainly not be open to foreign civilians.  However, areas A and B of the West Bank are open to foreign civilians (so long as they don’t identify themselves as Jews), and it’s theoretically possible that a bunch of non-Israeli LGBTQ people could enter these areas and then hold a parade. The results, of course, would be predictable: violence and carnage.  That’s why Queers for Palestine would be way too cowardly to take the NTC up on this offer. But that failure does point out the arrant hypocrisy of these pro-Palestinian LGBTQ groups.

*Reader Paul sent me an announcement that Cal Poly University has imposed strict new rules on encampments and protests, and, trying to find the announcement on the web, I found an August 19 announcement from EdSource that Cal State (which includes Cal Poly) and the entire University of California System have similar regulations.

California State University and the University of California are welcoming student activists back to campus this fall with revamped protest rules that signal a harder line on encampments, barriers and, under certain circumstances, the wearing of face masks.

Cal State, the nation’s largest public university system, was first to issue its policy Thursday, a bundle of restrictions that govern public assemblies on university campuses. UC President Michael Drake followed Monday with a letter outlining his expectations for campus chancellors to impose restrictions on how students could engage in protests this fall.

The two systems join a wave of colleges that have revisited rules about how and where people can demonstrate on their campuses in the wake of pro-Palestinian protests last spring. Critics say some strengthened restrictions could limit free speech rights.

The Cal State policy bars tent encampments and overnight demonstrations, a signature of the spring’s protest movements both within CSU and across higher education institutions. Erecting unauthorized barricades, fencing and furniture is also prohibited.

“Encampments are prohibited by the policy, and those who attempt to start an encampment may be disciplined or sanctioned,” CSU spokesperson Hazel Kelly said in a written statement to EdSource. “Campus presidents and their designated officials will enforce this prohibition and take appropriate steps to stop encampments, including giving clear notice to those in violation that they must discontinue their encampment activities immediately.”

Kelly said the encampments “are disruptive and can cause a hostile environment for some community members. We have an obligation to ensure that all community members can access University Property and University programs.”

UC campuses similarly will ban encampments or other “unauthorized structures,” Drake said in a letter to campus chancellors Monday morning directing them to enforce those rules. He also said they must prohibit anything that restricts movement on campus, which could include protests that block walkways and roadways or deny access by anyone on campus to UC facilities.

Here’s what Cal Poly (a part of Cal State) announced yesterday:

  • Encampments and camping. No person shall camp, occupy camping facilities, use camping paraphernalia, or store personal property for camping, whether indoors or outdoors. No one may erect a tent or other temporary housing or occupy any tent or temporary housing structure. No person shall set up a campsite, or bring, leave or maintain furniture or other large household or camping items.
  • Unauthorized structures and barriers. No person shall build, construct, erect, place, set up, move, deliver or maintain any temporary or permanent tent, platform, bench, building, building materials, wall, barrier, barricade, fencing, structure, sculpture, bicycle rack or furniture.
  • Restricting free movement.  No person shall restrict the movement of another person or persons by any means, including blocking or obstructing their ingress or egress, or otherwise deny a person access to normally unrestricted areas.
  • Masking to conceal identity with intent to violate laws or policies.  No person shall wear a mask or personal disguise for the purpose of concealing their identity with the intent of intimidating any person or group, or for the purpose of evading or escaping discovery, recognition, or identification in the commission of violations of the law or policy.
  • Occupation of buildings and facilities. No person shall occupy buildings and facilities or engage in trespass or any other violation of applicable law.
  • Vandalism and other damage. No person shall vandalize, damage or destroy university property.

Well, this all sounds good, but let’s see if the rules are enforced.  I don’t think any of these violate the First Amendment (both sets of schools are public and must thus adhere to Constitutional free speech), but perhaps the masking policy could be construed that way. I doubt it, though, for wearing a mask isn’t really “speech”.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili’s worried about the American election. When I asked Malgorzata who Hili favored for President, she replied ” Neither. She bemoans that Americans couldn’t find better candidates and she submits herself as a much better proposition.”  I agree: write in Hili!

Hili: I’m afraid.
A: Of what?
Hili: Of what Americans are going to elect for all of us.
In Polish:
Hili: Obawiam się.
Ja: Czego?
Hili: Tego co Amerykanie nam wszystkim wybiorą.

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

From Cat Memes:

From the Dodo via Nikita Simpson:

From America’s Cultural Decline into Idiocy. Actually, the guy is clever, albeit sneaky:

 

From Masih. Iran has not forgotten Mahsa Amini.  Sound up (and remember that women dancing in public is forbidden in Iran):

From Barry:

Don’t forget the upcoming “week of rage” (five days!) declared by Students for Justice in Palestine.  Expect trouble if you’re on campus:

This showed up on my feed. I know everyone hates Elon Musk but I don’t, and at any rate this, if true, is amazing:

Rowling is a hoot (she’s also widely hated, but not by me):

From the Auschwitz Memorial, which I retweeted:

Two tweets from the now-retired Dr. Cobb. This first predation even is much faster than I would imagine:

Go to the link to see the photos:

23 thoughts on “Thursday: Hili dialogue”

  1. “Why is there no Jewish Heritage Month?” I had a thought that it is because growing up we Jewish boys were taught that Judaism is a private thing for home and shul; we aimed to assimilate into the prevailing, often goyische, culture and not make a scene. BUT, lo and behold, a quick check of Wikipedia, regardless of yesterday’s post, shows that May is Jewish American Heritage Month! There are several write-ups including a .gov one at https://www.jewishheritagemonth.gov/

    1. Ten to one that Google will do NO Doodle in honor of Jewish Heritage month in May. Nor will our local bookstore, which always celebrates these things, have a window of Jewish-themed books. We are, after all, reprehensible, genocidal, and “white adjacent”!

  2. My concern with electronic devices is that they will create many copycats or new kind of warfare. With Wi-Fi available everywhere, they can be activated at any time like on bus or plane or watching TV in your living room. Security will now need to be tighter to inspect these devices. Electronic devices will also need to be thoroughly checked when manufactured in other countries, which will likely increase prices and impact the supply chain. In the long run, it may not have been worth it. It may make the world more unstable and less safe.

    2. Sure, for bomb makers who want to employ hundreds of people, millions of dollars etc. to establish front companies conversant w/ consumer electronics and explosives. Cheaper to just get somebody whacked the old fashioned way.
      Send them to Bronx!
      🙂
      D.A.
      NYC

      1. I like the way you deal with the worry-warts, David. Bless their hearts for worrying about the rest of us, but still…

  3. Even as targetted as these attacks are, my hardcopy of wapo this morning has a front page article headlined “Lebanon reels as more are killed in explosions”, not “Hezbollah reels…”, just as it has always referred to an “Israel-Gaza War” rather than Israel-Hamas War. Subtle but consistent.

  4. Following a survey of its membership that showed almost 60% support for Trump (and only 34% for Harris), the Teamsters Union has decided it will not endorse a candidate this election.

  5. Regarding campus restrictions on protest, ever since the pro-Palestinian demonstrations began, I worried that “time place and manner” restrictions would be an avenue for administrators to impose stifling restrictions on free expression. I am sorry to say that this is exactly what happened at the University of South Florida, my employer for 26 years and an institution I dearly love. I know that articles in The Chronicle of Higher Education are paywalled, but if you can get around it, it’s definitely worth a read. For those who can’t, the policy goes so far as to ban the sale of home-prepared food. Goodbye, bake sales.

    https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-university-proposed-banning-bake-sales-and-weekend-protests-heres-how-people-reacted

  7. Hili: “Of what Americans are going to elect for all of us”.
    That one hit home for me, realizing how important the American president is to the free world.

  8. Hamas may brutalize some Gazans.

    But it is very difficult for me to believe that they do not have the support of the vast majority of people who live there, since the IDF reports that virtually every other domicile contains a cache of weapons. Surely, they could use those weapons to overthrow Hamas if they wanted.

      1. Both Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon began, ostensibly, as Muslim charities. Both organizations are wickedly and ingeniously entwined through every service of their respective societies. This was obviously by design. They came bearing gifts. It’s dangerous, difficult and almost impossible to leave such a syndicate or gang. Iran ain’t no dummy when it comes to evil.

      2. I don’t think Gazans want to overthrow Hamas either.

        In 2007, according to the Wikipedia page on the elections which Hamas won, at least 95% of Gazans who voted, voted for parties devoted to jihadi terror against Israelis.

        Since that time, a quarter of a million Gazans have emigrated from Gaza. This more than represents the <5% of Gazans who may have wanted peaceable relations with Israel.

        The children of Gaza have been subjected to unremitting inculcation in jihadi martyrdom, Jew hatred, and the malignant notion that all of so-called Palestine belongs to Arabs.

        I believe that support of Hamas by Gazans (and also most Palestinians in Judea and Samaria) is, unfortunately, an inescapable conclusion.

        1. Oh they TOTALLY support Hamas. Those who don’t support Islamic Jihad – who are even crazier. It is their founding ideology – not “our own state” but death to Israel. Westerners can’t get their head around the ethos.

          There’s no “Peace movement” in Palestine.
          Or have I missed it these past 50 years?

          D.A.
          NYC
          column: https://democracychronicles.org/author/david-anderson/

  9. I was not surprised to see that the study alleging that black babies get worse care from white physicians than they do from black physicians was debunked. Impugning the care we give to patients, MLK style rather than Kendi style, is always offensive.

    I predict there will be further debunkings of questionable studies. Another slew that offends me are the studies that point out more morbidity and mortality for black women given birth in the U.S. The assumption is always that racism is behind these differences, and I predict we will find that such is not the case.

  10. Hamas, harming its own citizens? Who’d have thunk it? I’m so glad that the NYT has published this expose (cited above) regarding the brutality of which Hamas is capable. Maybe this new understanding will change the conditions on the ground.

  12. Israel’s latest show in Lebanon is one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen.

    Arab leaders… paying compliments to the Pals they don’t mean to keep their Jew hating proles/rabble happy… will look at all this and think: “Damn. Which side do we REALLY want to be on in future? A bunch of loser fanatic terrorists who can only harm us and their Iranian friends or… these people? Let’s talk to Israel, even on the QT.”

    This moves the needle. And I almost never say that.
    🙂

    D.A.
    NYC

  13. I’m extremely skeptical of the Neurolink claim of achieving even low-resolution vision via direct wiring of the visual cortex.
    Extremely.

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