Tuesday: Hili dialogue

October 8, 2024 • 6:45 am

Welcome to Tuesday, October 8, 2024, and National Pierogi Day, celebrating the toothsome Polish dumpling that, thanks to Chicago’s big Polish population, you can find in my own town. But here is a plate of pierogi and trimmings I was served during a seminar visit to Poznań , Poland on August 16, 2016:

A musical concert put on last night by Hillel in memory of October 7. A lot of people showed up. The venue was the Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago, and the players shown below are Kobie Malkin on violin and Shai Wosner on piano, one of five musical groups that performed.  Malkin is playing a “rare 1701 Pietro Guarneri violin.”  The music was somber and beautiful, and included Ravel’s musical version of “”Kaddisch,” a Jewish prayer often said as a memorial for the dead (it was composed for voice and piano, but the voice was replaced by violin).

Here is “Kaddisch” with Jacques Israelievitch on violin and John Greer on piano:

It’s also Ada Lovelace Day, World Octopus Day, Alvin C. York Day, International Lesbian Day, National Salmon Day, and National Fluffernutter Day (a vile mixture of peanut butter and marshmallow spread). 

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

Da Nooz:

*The NYT has a moving series of photos from the Gaza war, mostly depressing but some heartening.  Both sides are depicted, and the images are amazing. You can see the pictures at the NYT site (I can’t reproduce them), which is also archived here.

*And over at the NYT as well, Tom “I’m an Idiot” Friedman is still peddling the two-state solution, even on the anniversary of the October 7 massacres. He blames Netanyahu for not saying that two states are in order:

So what am I thinking about on this first anniversary of the Hamas-Hezbollah-Iran-Israel war? Something my strategy teacher, Prof. John Arquilla of the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, taught me: All wars come down to two basic questions: Who wins the battle on the ground? And who wins the battle of the story? And what I am thinking about today is how, even after a year of warfare, in which Hamas and Hezbollah and Israel have inflicted terrible pain on one another’s forces and civilians, no one has decisively won the battle on the ground or the battle for the story. Indeed, one year after Oct. 7, this is still the first Arab-Israeli war without a name and without a clear victor — because neither side has a clear win or a clean story.

We can and should sympathize with Palestinian statelessness and Arabs in the West Bank living under the duress of Israeli settlements and restrictions, but to my mind, there is nothing that can justify what Hamas attackers did on Oct. 7 — murdering, maiming, kidnapping and sexually abusing any Israeli they could get their hands on, without any goal, any story, other than to destroy the Jewish state. If you believe, as I do, that the only solution is two states for two indigenous peoples between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, the Hamas rampage set that back immeasurably.

And what story is Iran telling? That it has some right under the U.N. Charter to help create failed states in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq so it can cultivate proxies inside them for the purpose of destroying Israel? And by what right has Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into a war with Israel that the Lebanese people and government had no say in and are now paying a huge price for?

But this Israeli government does not have a clean story in Gaza, either. This was always going to be the ugliest of Israeli-Palestinian wars since 1947, because Hamas had embedded itself in tunnels underneath Gazan homes, schools, mosques and hospitals. It could not be targeted without significant civilian casualties. Therefore, as I argued from the start, it was doubly incumbent on Israel to make clear that this was not just a war to defend itself but also to destroy Hamas in order to birth something better: the only just and stable solution possible, two states for two people.

The Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu steadfastly has refused to do that, so much so that a year later, it still has not told its people, its army or its U.S. arms supplier what it wants to build in Gaza in place of Hamas other than “total victory.”

So although the civilian casualty figures in Gaza are not “clean” (presumably Friedman would like them to be zero; I wonder if he’d deign to tell the IDF how to destroy Hamas), Israel has to assert that it was going to produce a two-state solution. When is this dumb tuchas Friedman going to realize that this will not be a viable solution for a long time, if ever, for many Palestinians are bent on getting rid of Israel? They don’t want two states, but one: a Judenrein Palestinian state with no Israel nearby. If you don’t believe me, here are some text and figures from the latest Palestinian Media Watch newsletter:

Every poll of Palestinians since October 7, 2023, by both AWRAD – Arab World for Research and Development, and PSR – Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, shows that an overwhelming majority of Palestinians supported and continue to support the rapes, torture, beheadings, and murder of more than 1,100 people in southern Israel led by Hamas, and their kidnapping of 250 hostages.

Significantly, the polls found that the support in the West Bank was higher than the that the Gaza Strip. Asked if they supported the attack on Oct 7, the first poll in November 2023 found West Bank support at 83%. Half a year later, in June 2024, after the destruction in Gaza, 73% still said that the decision to attack Israel was correct. In the Gaza Strip, two months into the war support had already dropped to 63% and continued to fall to only 31% in March 2024, saying it was correct to attack. Astonishingly, the joy over the rape, torture, beheadings, and murder of Israelis was so great that even after much of Gaza was in rubble following Israel’s counter attack, for West Bank Arabs that one day of horror inflicted on Israelis, made the destruction of Gaza an acceptable price to pay.

There are lots of graphs showing that Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank support the terror attacks; here’s one from the West Bank, not the site of the war!:

Now, Mr. Friedman, do you think these people should have their own state right next to Israel?

*The Jerusalem Post reports some blackmail that the U.S. has offered to Israel. This may be “fake news” but it’s unsavory:

The US has reportedly offered Israel a “compensation package” if it refrains from attacking certain targets in Iran, according to a report in Kan11 on Sunday.

Amichai Stein told them that he had received reports from US officials that the US had offered Israel a “compensation package” if it refrained from hitting specific targets in Iran.

This package was offered during negotiations between officials of the two countries on the type of response to the attack from Iran.

The package would include a total guarantee of comprehensive diplomatic protection as well as a weapons package and was offered directly in return for holding off on striking certain targets in Iran.

Stein summed it up, saying, “An American official said, ‘If you don’t hit targets A, B, C, we will provide you with diplomatic protection and an arms package.'”

“Israeli officials responded saying, ‘We consider the United States and listen to them. But we will do anything and everything we can to protect the citizens and the security of the State of Israel.'”

The IDF has been in ongoing discussions with the United States over its response. Currently, US CENTCOM Chief General Michael Kurilla is in Israel as part of the discussion.

Israel has vowed a response to the attack, which saw over 180 missiles fired at Israel, killing a single Palestinian in the West Bank.

This is crazy.  I’m sure that “targets A, B, and C” include “nuclear weapons facilities” and “gas and oil fields”.  Perhaps the U.S. is trying to avoid a wider war, but the best way to guarantee a wider war in the long run is to allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. And the best way, I think, to stop Iran from future attacks is to stop its nuclear program and cut off its main source of income. For reasons known best to itself, the Biden administration is preventing Israel from defending itself as best it can. Remember, Iran fired 200 ballistic missiles at Israel! That is not a trivial skirmish, and would have been devastating had Israel not had a ballistic missile “dome” system.

*The Democratic Party, including Kamala Harris, is making a big push to get rid of the filibuster rule in the Senate. With a divided Senate, and 60 votes required to get legislation passed, it’s no wonder that even if Harris wins, her legislative effort will likely be stymied by the Senate.

It wasn’t a topic Senate Democrats were expecting musician John Legend to ask them about.

But during a 2019 donor event held at Legend’s California home, the pop star pressed lawmakers on how they would actually pass the policies they were proposing—given the hurdle of the Senate filibuster. That rule requires 60 votes for most bills to advance, rather than a simple majority, and Legend wanted Democrats to end it.

“That was the first time I heard that raised at a fundraiser,” recalled Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.), who was at the event. “Now it’s commonplace.”

After years of rising complaints from activists and donors, Senate Democrats say they are still working to find a way around that rule—if they can manage to win both the White House and Senate in November. Senate Republicans say they are fiercely opposed to any changes, while former President Donald Trump remains a wild card.

The filibuster effectively gives the minority party veto power and has frustrated Democrats’ efforts on issues including voting rights and abortion. In 2022, Democrats made a run at carving out an exception to the rule for a voting-rights bill. The effort failed, with two members of the Democratic caucus refusing to go along.

But the coming retirements of those lawmakers—Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona—as well as recent comments from Vice President Kamala Harris reiterating support for weakening the filibuster to pass abortion protections, are rekindling Democrats’ interest. Any rule change would only require a majority vote.

. . . Changing the Senate’s rules could have broad implications. While various proposals have been floated, any weakening of the filibuster could make it easier for Democrats to codify abortion rights as well as overhaul election laws or raise the minimum wage. GOP critics warn Democrats could entertain more contentious ideas, such as single-payer health coverage, tighter environmental laws or the addition of justices to the Supreme Court. Some business groups have also decried getting rid of the filibuster.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said the rule is something Democrats would discuss next year, while candidates on the campaign trail have thrown their support behind changing it.

But, as the WSJ adds, “Some priorities for the party—such as cutting taxes—can be accomplished through a separate budget-related process called reconciliation that requires only 51 votes.”  And if the filibuster rule is eliminated and the Senate goes Republican, well, watch out!

*Reuters reports some dumb conspiracy theories about Hurricane Helene.  You already know about Trump’s false claims that FEMA money was stolen from hurricane relief to help illegal immigrants (those are separate funds). But it gets worse!

In the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Helene in the United States this week, a new storm emerged on social media – false rumors about how disaster funds have been used, and even claims that officials control the weather.

Local and national government officials say they are trying to combat the rumors, including one spread by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

One of the more far-fetched rumors is that Helene was an engineered storm to allow corporations to mine regional lithium deposits. Others accuse the administration of President Joe Biden of using federal disaster funds to help migrants in the country illegally, or suggest officials are deliberately abandoning bodies in the cleanup.

And is there a Congresswoman dumber than this? (What about Lauren Boebert?):

Republican Congress member Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X Thursday night: “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”

The conspiracy theories come at a pivotal time for rescue and recovery efforts following the storm, one of the deadliest U.S. hurricanes this century. And the presidential election between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris is just over a month away.

Republicans and Democrats alike say the rumors are causing problems.

“I just talked to one Senator that has had 15 calls TODAY about why we don’t stop …….. ‘fill in the blank,'” said Kevin Corbin, a Republican in the North Carolina Senate – a state that is one of the hardest hit by Helene. “98% chance it’s not true and if it is a problem, somebody is aware and on it,” he wrote on Facebook.

“I’m growing a bit weary of intentional distractions,” he added.

“Disinformation of this kind can discourage people from seeking critical assistance when they need it most,” a White House memo said. “It is paramount that every leader, whatever their political beliefs, stops spreading this poison.”

The memo highlighted a claim by Trump during a rally this week that Biden and Harris had used federal emergency funds “on people that should not be in our country.””This is FALSE,” the memo said. “No disaster relief funding at all was used to support migrants housing and services. None. At. All.”

In response to a request for comment for this article, the Trump campaign repeated accusations that FEMA funds had been spent on housing migrants in the country illegally.

Well, the powerful can control a lot of things, but they can’t created a damn hurricane!

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili and Szaron share a good plate of cat food:

Hili: New feed, very good.
Szaron, Yes, we have to get the name of the producer.
In Polish:
Hili: Nowa karma, bardzo dobra.
Szaron: Tak, musimy się dowiedzieć z jakiej firmy.

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

From Jesus of the Day, an unbreakable rule.

From Allison:

From The Dodo Pet:

From Masih, highlighting a new article in Reuters detailing Iran’s plans to kill or kidnap people in America and Europe:

From Aya: a Queen Song cancelled for “weightism” (see the Torygraph article archived here):

From Malcolm, a skateboarding kitty:

From Luana, who says “Kamala is confusing poverty with color – as if hurricanes were racist… 

From my feed (Matthew should have sent it!):

From the Auschwitz Memorial, one that I posted:

Two tweets from Dr. Cobb. First, politics:

And then space. This is a lovely video:

33 thoughts on “Tuesday: Hili dialogue”

  1. the concert looks wonderful – a rare experience – glad to see that. Must have sounded great.

    Cheers

    1. Beautiful music. I listened to several similar pieces through the day, with the strains of kol nidre that I remember from driving home from work with fighter jets from our local air force base overhead during the Yom Kippur War in the background of my mind. Glad you could have it without disruption. The chapel is lovely.

  2. We’ve previously discussed the increasing bias on Wikpedia. A page that used to be titled: “Muslim grooming gangs in the United Kingdom” has just been re-named to: “Grooming gang moral panic in the United Kingdom”.

    Read all about it on that article’s Talk page.

  3. I don’t understand the purpose of the filibuster. It disenfranchises the vote of the people. If it’s such a great idea, why isn’t there a demand for it to be in the House…or at the school board?

    Anyone?

    1. They can stay where they are if they think they can feed themselves from their own resources and productivity. No other country will accept them so they are stuck there in any case. They will have to be properly policed and surveilled to keep them docile and militarily harmless in their stateless state. Maybe they will undergo an attitude adjustment through the combination of time and futility: Israel isn’t going anywhere and the Palestinians can’t eradicate Israel as a state or Jews as a people. The Palestinians will have to choose what they want as a polity. That is the first organic, endogenous step to statehood. Educating their children differently would be a start.

      1. Correct David, Palestinians, unlike most Israelis, can’t go anywhere.
        And Leslie, I know you feel very strongly about this, but Palestinians would likely have a much better chance of feeding themselves
        a) without blockades of commerce/imports/exports,
        b) without restrictions on the use of natural resources (even the most basic one: water; https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/11/the-occupation-of-water/),
        and c) with similar economic aid from other countries as Israel gets (just the US, has provided economic aid to the tune of more than $80B over the last 80 years to Israel, and that is not counting the military aid which far surpasses the economic aid; https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts).
        Now, I am not equating Palestine to Israel, but the idea that they cannot feed themselves is just a simplistic idea because yes, they cannot feed themselves if things stay the way they are now or have been for the past 70 plus years, but they might if things were to change.
        Remember that Peace in Europe after World War II was achieved in no small part with economic aid from countries that were on opposite sides of the trenches during the war and with the creation of an economic union (now, much more than economic) between countries that had done the best they could to destroy each other. No, peace in the region will not be easy, but it will be impossible if the mindset on both sides does not change.

        1. Actually, peace can be possible if whoever is running Gaza these days announces its surrender to Israel and can demonstrate enough control of the death cult that its fighters will lay down their arms unconditionally and present themselves to Israeli military authorities as PoWs. (This is what both Germany and Japan did in 1945, which earned them our magnanimous response.) If Israel can trust them — despite previous experience to the contrary — then we can look at a Middle East Marshall Plan. Israel is not going to keep killing Muslims just for the hell of it. The Palestinians say they are going to keep killing Jews for the Heaven of it. Whose mindset needs to change?

          Douglas Murray talks about the West being “drunk on peace.” (Israel should do whatever makes peace possible, we say. It can defend itself, by all means short of war.) But war is sometimes better than peace, which is of course why countries wage war in the first place. The reason peace is so difficult is that no nation with the means to war can give up something existential just to get it, especially if the enemy shows he can’t be trusted while being allowed to keep arms.

  5. “Fat Bottomed Girls” is a paean to women with fuller figures. I really don’t see how it can be described as “weightism”.

    In fact, having read the article, I don’t see any reference to weightism in it. The article states:

    However, a new compilation of Queen hits released by Universal Music for a younger market does not feature the Fat Bottom Girls and its lyrics celebrating the beauty of a “heap big woman”.

    The new greatest hits album has been made available on Yoto, an audio platform specifically aimed at children.

    I think the track has been dropped because it contains adult themes the publisher considers unsuitable for children.

    1. I made that up as a joke, and “weightism” refers to “weight in general” so bias against thin people is also “weightism”. There are, BTW, plenty of tunes far more “offensive” than this one that are not only out there, but popular.

      Freddy Mercury is dead, so he didn’t make this decision.

    1. There’s a general feeling that not much help has been offered the storm victims. At the same time, people see stories of illegals being put up in hotels, etc.

      It’s not a case of the FEMA budget but overall taxpayer funds.

      I’m not there, just going by comments I’ve seen on social media.

    2. I have read conflicting reports about whether the refugee resettlement funds impact FEMA’s budget.
      On the other hand, if FEMA is administering that program, then it seems logical that many of their staff are focused on that issue instead of doing things more in line with their traditional mission.

      According to their website, FEMA’s primary goal is “Equity as a foundation of emergency management”.
      Their pre-2022 goals were first, build a culture of preparedness, and second, to ready the nation for catastrophic disaster.

      I do think that if DHS wanted us to have faith in their ability to handle disaster relief in the near future, the secretary should not have stated that “We are expecting another hurricane hitting. We do not have the funds. FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season and what is imminent.”

      Sitting here in Western NC surrounded by ruin and devastation, it does not seem to me that our priority as a nation should be making sure that inadmissible aliens have daily maid service in their free hotel rooms. No matter where the funds come from.

  7. Yes, the phrase “those are separate funds” is equivalent to “the check’s in the mail” and “of course, I’ll love you in the morning.” When will we learn that we are living in a Pathocracy controlled by plutocrats and their political minions?

  8. Many thanks for reminding me that it’s Fluffernutter Day–I need to get me some Marshmallow fluff stat! Yum!

  10. I’m confused why there is a tweet from the “end wokeness” twitter account on this site. That account is owned by Jack Posobiec. He is an alt-right conspiracy theorist who promoted the Pizzagate conspiracy. He is also a white supremacist, neo-facist, liar and known anti-semite. He also has links to a Russian intelligence backed website called “Southfront”.

    1. Are you implying she didn’t say what the clip shows her saying?

      I suppose the test will be if the candidate denies she said it: “AI fake!!!” or, alternatively, doubles down: “Of course we need to give flooded communities of color more money than flooded white communities in the name of equity! Who wouldn’t be in favor of that?”

      2. Having watched the clip, the worst she says is that they should distribute resources based on equity. Hardly the smoking gun that was in quotation marks in the tweet text.

        1. “Do the work” are code words for the ideological framework rooted in the belief in identity politics and systemic oppression. White males, cisgender people, thin people, blacks of false consciousness, colonists and all privileged groups must “do the work” to recognize and acknowledge their role in upholding the invisible systems of oppression.

          May I suggest “Cynical Theories” by Helen Pluckrose for further explanation.

    2. All I can find are people guessing about who owns the account. Perhaps you have a source I can’t find?

    3. Don’t care. Don’t care if it were in Hamas Daily or the Daily Worker from Pyongyang or a KKK circular.

      DID SHE SAY IT?
      Because if she did – we got a problem.

      D.A.
      NYC

      1. The clip is from C-SPAN, but she doesn’t say that people of color would get more, nor was she talking specifically about the hurricane relief. The worst thing she says is that they would distribute the resources [from the Inflation reduction act] based on equity.

        1. Some states and municipalities distributed Covid vaccines and masks based on “equity.” That meant POC between the ages of ~20-50 received those scarce resources before non-POC ages 60-80.

  11. Hurricane Milton –

    Pardon me Florida…
    “The Sulphurous Hail
    Shot after us in storm, oreblown hath laid
    The fiery Surge, that from the Precipice
    Of Heav’n receiv’d us falling, & the Thunder,
    Wing’d with red Lightning & impetuous rage,
    Perhaps hath spent his shafts, & ceases now
    To bellow through the vast & boundless Deep”

  12. As to FEMA and Helene, well, of course, that’s what Reuters would say. They are entirely untrustworthy when it comes to criticism of Biden/Harris on any subject. It’s clear that over the course of the current administration the FEMA has used emergency funds for supporting illegal immigrants. Whatever they think they are doing, it’s clearly not having an effect on the ground. Right now they need to support their illegal immigrant voters.

  14. Ordered my early ballot in NYC today.
    I’m not voting for Trump.
    But I might not vote at all. They’re killin’ me here – making it so damn hard to tick Kamala/Walsh on that ballot.
    I have a few weeks to decide.
    Ugh.
    D.A.
    NYC

Comments are closed.