Friday: Hili dialogue

October 11, 2024 • 6:45 am

Welcome to Friday, October 11, 2024, and National Sausage Pizza Day.  That’s a good pizza, but would be better if it had green peppers, garlic, and maybe mushrooms. Like this one from Italy:

Italian sausage pizza ShareAlike; CC by 2.0; Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/4602835809/

It’s also National Coming Out Day, World Dulce de Leche Day, Southern Food Heritage Day, World Egg Day, and World Biryani Day. 

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the October 11 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*The NYT has an unusual (for them) article called “In interviews, Kamala Harris continues to bob and weave” (archived here).  This, of course, has characterized her whole campaign, but so many people seem overcome with joy that perhaps they havent noticed it. However, despite offering a fair amount of implicit criticism, the article winds up praising her.

Running an abbreviated campaign in the final sprint before Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris blitzed the media this week in a series of interviews to speak to voters who say they still don’t know enough about her.

This week, Ms. Harris put her own stamp on the art of the dodge.

On “60 Minutes,” she declined to answer a question about whether she considered Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, to be a close ally. She also refused to detail how she would pay for a $3 trillion economic plan.

When asked on ABC’s popular daytime show “The View” about accusations from Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida that she had only offered to help with a hurricane as a presidential candidate, she swiftly implicated the criticism as proof of his own partisanship. When Howard Stern asked her on his SiriusXM program later that afternoon if she would select Liz Cheney, the Republican former congresswoman, for her cabinet, Ms. Harris refused to be buttonholed. “I gotta win, Howard,” she said with an air of first-things-first. “I gotta win. I gotta win.”

She seems to begin every answer by choosing a limited anecdote from her girlhood, which goes on and on until the reporter (if it’s one doing their job) re-asks the question. Then Harris dishes out a word salad that doesn’t answer the question.  But I digress:

Her media swing provided a glimpse into how she often responds to unpleasant questions without answering them, questions the very premise of questions she finds unfair and can take it upon herself to reword a query she considers unhelpful.

Ms. Harris, 59, can turn the typically defensive crouch of a non-answer into a bit of verbal jujitsu, as she did in declining the opportunity to identify Mr. Netanyahu as an ally. She can nimbly field a query and quickly lace her reply with trip wire for her opponent, as she did last month in her debate with former President Donald J. Trump.

A trained prosecutor, Ms. Harris is lawyerly, argumentative and fundamentally defensive. She often deflects or sidesteps. She can speak passionately about her values in a way that leaves listeners feeling as if the question had been acknowledged, even if the substance remained unaddressed. To avoid delineating her stance on some issues, she will instead focus on her dedication to progress and inclusion.

It goes on, but then the reporter pulls back realizing that he has to make Harris look good:

Mr. Whitaker made a third attempt. This time, he asked bluntly whether she considered Mr. Netanyahu to be “a real close ally.” Ms. Harris seized control of the questions.

“With all due respect,” she began, “the better question is, ‘Do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people?’ And the answer to that question is yes.”

It was a move that at first blush appeared to be an audacious display of chutzpah over what was or was not a “better question.” Instead, it may stand as a historic marker in U.S. foreign policy: The potential 47th president of the United States deliberately declined the opportunity to call the Israeli prime minister an ally. And did so with an artful dodge.

Well that’s an ambiguous ending, but what was clear was that Harris did NOT consider Netanyahu to be a “real close ally,” but didn’t want to say it. Such is politics. But this kind of verbosity that goes nowhere can’t help her, and perhaps she doesn’t want the voters to know her.  I kept an open mind about Harris, but I never felt any “joy.” All I know is that she’s a better choice than Trump.

*The WSJ, in a news piece, makes another criticism:

Vice President Kamala Harris frequently tries to distance herself from her unpopular boss with one clear sentence: “I am not Joe Biden.”

But when pressed for specifics on how she would be different as president, Harris has refrained from detailing a contrast with Biden, as she navigates the complexity of running as a change candidate—with the slogan “A New Way Forward”—while also serving as vice president.

Harris prioritized loyalty to Biden over the last 3½ years—at times over her own political capital. As a candidate to succeed him, she is wary of being critical of the president and an administration she is still a part of, Harris allies say. The Democratic presidential nominee has, however, embraced a handful of economic and border policy proposals her advisers have crafted with an eye toward making a break with Biden clearer to change-hungry voters.

Asked on ABC’s “The View” Tuesday if she would have done anything differently than Biden over the last four years, Harris at first responded: “There is not a thing that comes to mind,” before saying at the end of the interview that she would appoint a Republican to her cabinet.

This refusal to say she has any differences in policy with Biden cannot be helping her. After all, the electorate, as well as Democratic bigwigs, decided that Harris was not only not senile, but represented a “change” for the voters: a change in economic policy, a change in immigration policy, and so on. Well, her ethnicity and gender will appeal to those who care about such things—and I do think it’s time for a woman president—but we also want Harris to be more specific on policies. The fact that she refuses to do so portends trouble for me.  And if we need a woman President, why couldn’t Ceiling Cat have sent us Gretchen Whitmer?

*The Times of Israel has some skinny on Bob Woodward’s new book, War, which will surely be a good read. I don’t know how Woodward gets all these scoops, but must be very well connected. In this case he reveals the rancor of Joe Biden for Israel’s PM Netanyahu:

US President Joe Biden called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “fucking liar” after IDF troops went into Rafah, and yelled at the premier after an Israeli Air Force strike took out a top Hezbollah commander, according to an upcoming book by US journalist Bob Woodward.

The relationship between the two leaders grew increasingly tense during the spring of 2024, according to CNN, which snagged an advance copy of the book, entitled “War.”

According to the excerpts, during an April phone call, Biden asked Netanyahu: “What’s your strategy, man?”

US President Joe Biden called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “fucking liar” after IDF troops went into Rafah, and yelled at the premier after an Israeli Air Force strike took out a top Hezbollah commander, according to an upcoming book by US journalist Bob Woodward.

The relationship between the two leaders grew increasingly tense during the spring of 2024, according to CNN, which snagged an advance copy of the book, entitled “War.”

According to the excerpts, during an April phone call, Biden asked Netanyahu: “What’s your strategy, man?”

. . . .. . Netanyahu said Israel had to go into Rafah, the Gaza-Egypt border city that had become Hamas’s last stronghold in Gaza.

“Bibi, you’ve got no strategy,” responded Biden, according to Woodward.

In May, Israeli forces entered Rafah in a limited operation that went far more smoothly than the US had predicted.

Also in April, Israel allegedly assassinated two Revolutionary Guard generals in the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. After the US and other allies helped Israel intercept most of the missiles Iran fired in response, Biden urged Netanyahu to not respond and to “take the win.”

According to the book, Biden considered Israel’s limited response to the Iranian attack a success. “I know he’s going to do something but the way I limit it is tell him to ‘Do nothing,’” Biden told advisers.

After Israel entered Rafah, Biden said of Netanyahu: “He’s a fucking liar.”

“That son of a bitch, Bibi Netanyahu, he’s a bad guy,” said Biden privately, according to Woodward. “He’s a bad fucking guy!”

Of course Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas, is in Rafah, and Biden’s strategy (vocally echoed by VP Harris) was misguided.  In truth, Biden and Harris have tried to stop Israel from winning from day 1 after October 7, and are now trying to prevent Israel from attacking Iran’s nukes or its oilfields in reprisal for Iran’s huge (but failed) missile attack.  Yet if Canada or Mexico did to the U.S. what Iran tried to do to Israel, Biden would mount a big-time response. This is not about strategy, but about the Democrats trying to win the election by preventing Israel from winning a war. As for Netanyahu, I’m not a fan, but I have to say that the War Cabinet (he’s one of the members, and the leading one) has been doing a damn good job considering they’re fighting a war on seven fronts.  The book also reveals, as I believe I’ve mentioned, that Trump sent covid-testing machines to Vladimir Putin for his own personal use. 

*A rare but well-deserved loss for the pro-Palestinian activists (archived here) who took over the University of Michigan’s student government and proceed to withhold funds from all student activity groups. This odious punitive action was repudiated:

In a tense, simmering meeting, University of Michigan’s student government restored funding on Tuesday night for campus activities and clubs, which had been paused for months in protest of the war in Gaza.

Campus life was put on edge last spring after pro-Palestinian activists won student government elections to the presidency and vice presidency, and secured a near majority of seats in the assembly. Less than 20 percent of students had turned out to vote.

Fulfilling their campaign promise, the activists moved immediately to withhold around $1.3 million in annual funding for campus activities until the university committed to divest from companies aiding Israel’s war in Gaza.

Many student groups, including Ultimate Frisbee, ballroom dancing and the Black Undergraduate Kinesiology Association, were in limbo, unsure whether they could travel to games, rent rehearsal space or provide outreach to students.

But in a meeting packed with activists on Tuesday, the student assembly voted to support a petition that restored the budget. And it rejected an opposing petition that would have sent most of the student government’s money to another university’s initiative in Gaza.

The fallout was immediate. Pro-Palestinian activists accused the assembly members of complicity in genocide.

Genocide—because the students wanted to play Ultimate Frisbee and do ballroom dancing. These activists are deeply unhinged, not understanding the nature of college, which they see as an ideological level to pry Israel out of the Middle East. To do that, they’re willing to sacrifice the extracurricular pleasures of all the other students (there are nearly 34,000 undergraduates at the University of Michigan.

*Rafael Nadal has announced that he’s retiring from tennis next month. The 38-year-old Spanish tennis star is one of the greatest of all time in the sport. As Wikipedia notes,

He has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 209 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. Nadal has won 22 Grand Slam men’s singles titles, including a record 14 French Open titles. He has won 92 ATP-level singles titles, including 36 Masters titles and an Olympic gold medal, with 63 of these on clay courts. Nadal is one of three men to complete the Career Golden Slam in singles.[a] His 81 consecutive wins on clay constitute the longest single-surface win streak in the Open Era.

And from ESPN:

Tennis great Rafael Nadal will retire from the sport at the end of the year.

Nadal, 38, has enjoyed a career that has seen him win 22 Grand Slams, including 14 French Open titles. But he has been hampered by injuries in recent years, and he announced Thursday that this will be his final year playing the sport.

He will play for Spain against the Netherlands in the Davis Cup in Malaga from Nov. 19-21. That will be his final act on the tennis court, in a sport where he stood alongside Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray as four modern greats in the men’s game.

“I’m here to let you know that I am retiring from professional tennis,” Nadal said in a video statement posted to social media. “The reality is that it has been some difficult years, these two especially. I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations. It is obviously a difficult decision, one that takes me some time to make.

“But in this life, everything has a beginning and an end. And I think it’s an appropriate time to put an end to a career that has been long and much more successful than I could have ever imagined.

“I am very excited that my last tournament will be the final of the Davis Cup and representing my country. I think I’ve come full circle since one of my first great joys as a professional tennis player was the Davis Cup final in Sevilla in 2004. I feel super, super lucky for all the things I’ve been able to experience. I want to thank the entire tennis industry.”

Here’s a 12-minute compilation of some of his best shots. The man is amazing—the backwards shots are stunning. You’ll want to watch this even if you’re not a tennis fan.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is searching for a metaphor:

A: What are you looking at?
Hili: I’m observing signs of the times.
In Polish:
Ja: Na co patrzysz?
Hili: Przyglądam się znakom czasu.

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

From The Dodo Pet:

From Strange, Stupid, or Silly Signs:

From Strange, Stupid, or Silly Signs:

Down in Florida, Jango, staffed by Divy and Ivan managed to survive Hurricane Milton, but he looks a bit baffled (his house survived):

From Masih. This is Manoo Majidi, whose fate was detailed in an interview by Angelina Jolie in Time:

Roya Piraei, 25, was living with her parents in the city of Kermanshah, Iran, when protests began over the death in police custody of Mahsa (Jina) Amini, a young Iranian Kurdish woman charged with wearing her headscarf improperly. On Sept. 20, Roya’s mother, Minoo Majidi, was chanting slogans with other protestors when security forces on motorbikes shot her at close range. She died with 167 shotgun pellets in her back.

The Google translation:

John Pashu’s mother There was nothing, only 167 bullets. They say not to be sad anymore… #We hate you.

#Mino_Majidi
#freedom_life_woman

From Malgorzata; a good answer by a Canadian politician:

From Luana, a funny.  This may be an old joke rather than a “lived experience,” but it’s still funny:

From reader cesar, who says this is a worthwhile thread (it deals with the controversy about Ta-Nehisi Coates’s opprobrium towards Israel. I’ll just give the first two tweets:

From my feed. For some reason it gives me a lot of d*g posts, but this one’s a heartwarmer. I hope the canid got better:

From the Auschwitz Memorial, one that I posted:

Two tweets from Matthew. He’s submitted his Crick biography, which will be out next year!

This is the biggest arthropod we know of—larger than a king-size bed. The link is in the tweet:

16 thoughts on “Friday: Hili dialogue”

  1. Asked on ABC’s “The View” Tuesday if she would have done anything differently than Biden over the last four years, Harris at first responded: “There is not a thing that comes to mind,” . . . .

    This despite making numerous statements about things she would address on “day 1,” including immigration and inflation. It is clear that with Harris, as with Biden, “there is no there there.” The MSM are protecting her, although it looks like they are not as united as previously, and, if she is elected, we will one day discover we have another empty suit as President, and everyone will be “shocked.”

  2. I first heard of that joke when it was reportedly told by former president Bush Sr. according to Bush Jr.

    PCC – I’m confused because I think you’re being too hard on Harris. Haven’t we all held our noses and voted for the lesser of two evils? I think you’re expecting too much from a politician.

    1. No, I don’t think I’m being too hard on Harris. I’ve said a gazillion times that she’s tons better than Trump, but I have also said that I don’t think Harris is a particularly good candidate. She is a candidate who’s touted not for her accomplishments or smarts, but simply because she’s NOT TRUMP.

      Now that’s a sufficient reason to vote for her over Trump, but she’s not nearly, in my view, as good a Democratic candidate as Gretchen Whitmer (or Pete Buttigieg). I would not have to hold my nose when voting for either of those Democrats.

      So, to answer your question, I don’t think it’s too much to expect a Democratic Presidential candidate to be as good as Whitmer. And Harris simply isn’t. She didn’t earn the nomination because she was the best candidate; she inherited it because Biden bowed out late and there was no time to have a proper vetting of Democratic candidates.

      1. I concede she’s not as good as others and she inherited the role but she’s the best choice we have. The race is too close for people to vote third party.

        1. Since the USA uses the Electoral College, many people are in the position to vote for a third party candidate without any danger of accidentally letting Tr*mp in. I believe Jerry is in exactly this position IIRC.

    2. I think you’re expecting too much from a politician.

      Expecting too much from someone in the running for the world’s most important job? Really??

      She’s a mediocrity who only got the nomination by default, when people realised too late that Biden was too old, and then she was only ever VP because she was non-white and female.

      Her only qualification is that she’s not quite as bad as Trump, but then tens of millions of Americans would meet that standard.

    4. Oh, FFS.
      Harris is asked questions that Trump is not asked; Harris is expected to answer questions that no-one expects that Trump would answer – Trump doesn’t answer questions, he just whines about how hard done by he is and how the country is collapsing (along with interludes involving Hannibal Lecter, sharks and electric boats, his beauty and intelligence, and so on). Did you see Trump on “60 Minutes”? – no, and nor did I.
      And, as Biden would say, “Look, man” – if Harris wins (and I devoutly hope she does or this country will go to hell in a handbasket), she is unlikely to have both houses of Congress. So whatever she might personally wish is almost certainly going to be tempered by negotiation with a party whose sole wish – as so thoughtfully, but unsuccessfully, expressed by Mitch McConnell about Obama – is that she be a one-term president.
      Give the woman a chance.

  3. I’ve tried to keep an open mind about Harris. I have many friends and family members who will vote for her. My problem, after watching most of her interviews, is I have yet to learn who she is. To badly paraphrase a dead white guy, she is an enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in a mystery. I have yet to take the time to look, but if available, could someone please direct me to any evidence that she (and not a paid substitute) passed the LSAT test, passed the California Bar, and was the lead prosecutor on any cases in California? Video evidence of any available courtroom appearances as a prosecutor would be great.

  4. Pierre Poilievre, of the “gift to humanity” speech, is the leader of the Official Opposition and is almost certain to be the next Prime Minister of Canada. The current Prime Minister is deeply unpopular personally, although Canadians seem to be still largely on side with uber-woke Liberal progressivism generally and Muslims now out-number Jews here. Some antisemitism in Canada is cloaked in long-standing fashionable anti-Americanism on the Left. (It fills the role of “anti-racism” in the U.S.)

    An election could occur at any moment as the confidence and supply arrangement with one of the perpetual fringe socialist parties that allowed the minority Liberals to govern as if they had a majority has broken down. The safe thing politically would have been for Mr. Poilievre to say nothing about Israel’s war effort except thoughts and prayers. It did take courage for him to make that speech. Canada should resume sales to Israel of military equipment which we make but many Canadians want to look the other way and think he is going to start World War Three or something.

    1. I don’t watch Canadian politics closely but watch TheHub which is good.

      Do us proud on election day Leslie. If you vote for Pierre P., think of me. Makes me wish I were Canadian so I could vote for him myself and help save our friends to the north.

      Of course… I’m a dual national and despite all kinds of nonsense from the land of my birth, Australia, I’m yet to line up at the consulate and actually vote in an election there. So I’m all talk, but I am impressed by Poilievre.
      cheers,

      D.A.
      NYC

    2. I don’t think he’s going to start WW 3.

      I’ll certainly be voting for him. Trudeau has been there way too long.

      I do get that it’s not me that you’re thinking of, but the Muslim immigrants. Of whom there are too many.

  5. Here’s to Rafa my all time favorite tennis player. His matches with Novak were epic and he never let it go to his head. He maintained his grace and humility through it all. I will miss him!

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