Monday: Hili dialogue

November 25, 2024 • 6:45 am

Welcome to a new “work week: it’s Monday, November 25, 2024, and National Parfait Day.  I also remind you that on Thanksgiving (Thursday), I’m heading to Poland until December 11. I’ll be in Dobrzyn with my human and felid friends, and then on to the Silesian Science Festival in Katowice, a five-hour train ride from Włocławek, the biggest town near Dobrzyn.

TUBS, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It’s also Blasé Day, National “Eat With a Friend” Day (the scare quotes imply that you’re only supposed to pretend to eat with a friend), and International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. 

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the November 25 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*Trump has sworn to begin mass deportations of undocumented immigrants on Day 1 of his Presidency. The NYT describes how American immigrants are preparing for this (article archived here).

President-elect Donald J. Trump has vowed to slash immigration — both legal and illegal — and ramp up deportations on Day 1.

Immigrants are racing to get ahead of the crackdown.

Foreign-born residents have been jamming the phone lines of immigration lawyers. They’re packing information meetings organized by nonprofits. And they’re taking whatever steps they can to inoculate themselves from the sweeping measures Mr. Trump has promised to undertake after he is inaugurated on Jan. 20.

“People that should be scared are coming in, and people that are fine with a green card are rushing in,” said Inna Simakovsky, an immigration lawyer in Columbus, Ohio, who added that her team has been overwhelmed with consultations. “Everyone is scared,” she said.

People with green cards want to become citizens as soon as possible. People who have a tenuous legal status or who entered the country illegally are scrambling to file for asylum, because even if the claim is thin, having a pending case would — under current protocols — protect them from deportation. People in relationships with U.S. citizens are fast-tracking marriage, which makes them eligible to apply for a green card.

In total there are about 13 million who have legal permanent residency. And there were an estimated 11.3 million undocumented people in 2022, the latest figure available.

That’s a lot of people who arrived here illegally or are awaiting adjudication of their claims, claims that must nearly always be based on fear of persecution in their home countries. It’s clear that most people of both parties want immigration curbed, and that is equivalent to deporting those who would have been barred previously from entering under federal law.  I may be a curmudgeon, but if people arrived here illegally, they can be removed legally. If you think that’s harsh, the article also adds this:

Deportations are not uncommon. Mr. Trump deported about 1.5 million people during his first term, according to analysis by the Migration Policy Institute. President Biden has removed about as many. President Obama removed 3 million in his first term.

The issue is the optics of mass deportation, which wouldn’t be so good.  One can also hope that Trump barked louder than he will bite. But I see no ethical reason why everybody who arrived here illegally or under fals pretenses should get to stay forever.

*Ukraine now has its hands on big American missiles that have been fired at Russian targets. So have cruise missiles donated by Britain. The WSJ describes the threat they post to Russia.

A half-dozen U.S. ballistic missiles, fired by Ukraine, slammed into an ammunition depot some 75 miles across the Russian border early Tuesday, setting off further detonations that turned the sky red.

The following morning, 10 British-provided cruise missiles pounded the vicinity of a Kremlin-run sanatorium that was apparently used as a military headquarters, smashing one after another in the town of Marino, located in Russia’s Kursk region about 20 miles from the front line there.

These two strikes, the first Kyiv launched with Western-supplied missiles after receiving authorization from the U.S. and allies, show the range of military targets now available to Kyiv.

The U.S. and its allies have permitted the use of the hard-hitting and difficult-to-intercept missiles at a critical time for Ukraine, which is struggling to hold back mounting Russian offensives along the 800-mile front line. Striking deeper in the rear will help Ukraine slow Russia’s war machine before it delivers more troops, supplies and bombs onto the front lines, where they are most dangerous.

How much of a difference the new capability will make on the battlefield depends on how many missiles Ukraine receives and how effectively it uses them.

The permission comes late for Kyiv, which made the first requests to strike inside Russia using U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow and U.S. Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, this spring. It already had permission to fire shorter-range artillery into Russia.

Here’s a WSJ picture, with attributions, of the US missiles:

. . . and the UK cryuse missiles, with attributions to the drawing:

The British missiles have a range of 155 miles; the US ones 186 miles. That won’t get them to Moscow, but plenty of military target and troops are in range. But don’t think the Russians (with their infusion of worm-ridden North Korean soldiers) won’t retaliate. I will be curious to see how Trump, according to his promise, will end the war on “Day 1” of his administration.

*There have been pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli riots in Montreal, for crying out loud. First three tweets and then a story:

And some antisemitism, masquerading as anti-Zionism, in Toronto.  The store’s site can be seen here.

From the Montreal Gazette, a description of the riots: (I didn’t realize the riots were also against NATO):

Three people were arrested after pro-Palestinian, anti-NATO protesters smashed windows, clashed with police officers, and set vehicles ablaze on Friday evening.

The protest coincided with the arrival of approximately 300 delegates from NATO member states and partner countries attending a high-level summit, running from Nov. 22 to 25 in Montreal, focused on Ukraine, climate change, and the alliance’s future. The protest also came as the second day of the wave of student-wide pro-Palestinian protests across Montreal.

An initial group of protesters gathered at Émilie-Gamelin Parc downtown at around 4:30 p.m. before marching toward the Quartier des Spectacles, according to Manuel Couture, a spokesperson for the Montreal police. By 5:30 p.m., another group had converged at Place des Arts, and the two demonstrations merged.

The protesters then marched down St-Urbain St. At 6:10 p.m., tensions escalated as demonstrators set an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on fire in the middle of the crowd. As the march continued, objects — including small explosive devices and metal items — were hurled into the street, targeting police officers. By 6:40 p.m., protesters had smashed shop windows near St-Urbain and René-Lévesque Blvd., and set two vehicles ablaze.

Couture said police deployed chemical irritants and conducted crowd-dispersal manoeuvres to regain control. Three protesters were arrested for allegedly assaulting police officers and obstructing police work.

Couture said that the protesters had dispersed by 7 p.m.

According to fliers posted on social media, Friday’s protest was organized by Divest for Palestine, an anti-capitalist group describing itself as a “collective of citizens, activists, and civil society groups involved in the Palestinian struggle.”

An Instagram post by the group said the protest was endorsed by dozens of organizations, including student groups such as Divest McGill and the Concordia Research and Education Workers Union, as well as other groups like Independent Jewish Voices Montreal and Montreal Antifa.

The protest came amid heightened tensions following Thursday’s pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Concordia University, where protesters flooded the Hall Building and clashed with pro-Israel counter-demonstrators outside.

It’s Canada, Jake, and this upsets me because Canadians are supposed to be nice. The protestors aren’t nice; they are hateful. Now I don’t know what happens when Justin Trudeau leaves office, but perhaps Canadian readers can prognosticate.

*Speaking of antisemitism, here’s a short (15-minute) talk by Bari Weiss called “The old world is not coming back”, about the reappearance of Jew hatred in a world where we thought it had vanished  (a transcript is here).  It begins slowly, with a recitation of the litany of recent antisemitic incidents that most of us know, but begins heating up at 10:30,

*The AP reports that a First Amendment controversy is brewing in Oklahoma. They want to put Bibles in public schools.

A group of Oklahoma parents of public school students, teachers and ministers filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to stop the state’s top education official from forcing schools to incorporate the Bible into lesson plans for students in grades 5 through 12.

The lawsuit filed with the Oklahoma Supreme Court also asks the court to stop Republican State Superintendent Ryan Walters from spending $3 million to purchase Bibles in support of his mandate.

The suit alleges that the mandate violates the Oklahoma Constitution because it involves spending public money to support religion and favors one religion over another by requiring the use of a Protestant version of the Bible. It also alleges that Walters and the state Board of Education don’t have the authority to require the use of instructional materials.

“As parents, my husband and I have sole responsibility to decide how and when our children learn about the Bible and religious teachings,” plaintiff Erika Wright, the founder of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition and parent of two school-aged children, said in a statement. “It is not the role of any politician or public school official to intervene in these personal matters.”

The plaintiffs are represented by several civil rights groups, including the Oklahoma chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law & Justice.

Now this is clearly not just against the Oklahoma Constitution, but against the First Amendment of the American Constitution. But I suppose they have to argue first on Oklahoma grounds.  On the Friday NBC evening news, the Oklahoma Attorney General said he was sure that the Bible-allowing provision would be upheld, but I’m not as sure as he. And I am sure that it will be appealed no matter what the Oklahoma court rules. It doesn’t matter whether ANY Bible is used, for forcing religious material like that into the public schools is simply illegal.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili continues to mourn the onset of winter:

Hili: Sunsets are coming earlier and earlier.
Andrzej: Yes, nights are longer and electricity bills are higher.
Hili: Zachody słońca są coraz wcześniejsze.
Ja: Tak, noce są coraz dłuższe, a rachunki za prąd coraz wyższe.

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

From Meow:

From Seth Andrews:

From Cat Memes. The naughty cat was very bad!

 

From Masih; another Iranian protestor facing execution:

From Barry, some fierce and scary predators:

David Attenborough [whispering]:“As the predators close in on their helpless prey, we can only watch in silent horror, for it is not man’s role to interfere in the hierarchy of nature.”

— Uncle Duke (@uncleduke1969.bsky.social) 2024-02-13T17:37:33.840Z

From Malgorzata. It’s been two weeks now and I haven’t seen any news, but then again I haven’t scrutinized the MSM:

From my feed; some clever people:

From Rowling via Luana.  I love JKR though tons of people hate her, and for no good reason:

From the Auschwitz Memorial, one I reposted:

A Dutch boy gassed to death with Zyklon B (cyanide) upon arriving at Auschwitz. He was three.

— Jerry Coyne (@evolutionistrue.bsky.social) 2024-11-25T11:50:12.401Z

Two tweets from Herr Doktor Professor Cobb; the first a Darwin embroidery:

Here's my embroidered version of this sketch:

— Mary Bates (@marybates.bsky.social) 2024-11-24T17:40:57.475Z

This is hilarious, and it shows how great the Savoir’s power is: he can convert water to both red and white wine!

Jesus was at Walgreen’s again.

— Captain Fanta (@sassy0210.bsky.social) 2024-11-23T17:15:06.092Z

17 thoughts on “Monday: Hili dialogue”

  2. 60 Minutes had an interesting piece on the brand new University of Austin, including interviews with students, faculty and founders. The prevailing value above all else is free speech, and rather than DEI, they value MEI (merit, excellence, intelligence). Did anyone else see it, and if yes do you have any thoughts / opinions?

  3. Bari’s talk is very unsettling and the litany of incidents that she recites is important evidence to set the scene IMHO. It shows an amplification of the analysis she carried out in her 2019 book, “How to Fight Anti-Semitism” written just after the attack on her old synagogue in Pittsburg. I also recommend a more global look at our current situation from Douglas Murray in his 2022 book, “The War On the West”. And I reiterate a recommendation to watch 46 minutes of Coleman Hughe on a Western Spirit podcast at url

    Malgorzata, as always, makes a good point; and even worse, wapo has been running full page with photos and sympathetic stories for Lebanese impacted by IDF attacks with nothing on the past year of Hezballah rocket attacks on northern Israel and the 100000 displaced Israelis. I can’t believe that I continue to subscribe to this rag.

  4. Thank you for the Bari Weiss link. Her speech is spot on. She dares to say what many fear to say. And she offers a call to action that is necessary in our time.

  5. Please convey greetings to A. and M. and the kitties from those of us who are Hili/Szaron/Kulka fans. I’ve wondered what the situation is with the house that was being rebuilt after it was moved from somewhere else in Poland–also how the cats (including Mietek) and staff connected with that house are doing. Would appreciate an update! Have a lovely time in Poland, away from the turmoil here.

  6. If the protesters were right-wing, we’d see editorials worried about how Trump’s election fueled hatred against Jews and anti-globalist fervor in normally-peaceful Canada, and non-stop coverage on the typical media sources. Instead, we get a few isolated articles. Police did disperse the protesters, but very few arrests were made (I think 3).

    For contrast, in the truckers’ protests a couple of years ago, hundreds of bank accounts were frozen, and millions of dollars in GoFundMe and GiveSendGo accounts were also frozen without a court order. Ottawa’s police chief, Steve Bell, said, “If you are involved in this protest, we will actively look to identify you and follow up with financial sanctions and criminal charges. This investigation will go on for months to come.” Deputy PM Cynthia Freedland said, “In invoking the Emergencies Act, we are … broadening the scope of Canada’s anti-​money laundering and terrorist financing rules … As of today, a bank or other financial service provider will be able to immediately freeze or suspend an account without a court order.”
    Those were disruptive protests, yes, but much more peaceful in terms of physical damage as well as targeting of any ethnic group, and truckers did not call for a Final Solution for Jews. Their big crime was expressing discontent for the vax policies of the government.

    The primary difference I can see is the difference in political leaning for the anti-NATO/anti-Jew protests vs. the trucker anti-lockdown protest. Yes, officials expressed condemnation for this week’s protests, but talk is cheap. Their actions tell the story.

    1. For additional contrast: Toronto police arrested a journalist, Ezra Levant, who was peacefully recording a pro-Hamas demonstration in a Jewish neighborhood. The charge was that he was not in the proper media area and thus was disrupting the peace. https://tnc.news/2024/11/24/ezra-levant-arrested-pro-hamas-protest/

      My takeway:
      Calling for a Final Solution for Jews and using Nazi salutes in Canada while marching through the streets lawlessly causing property damage: We will use very strong words.

      Protesting a government policy that affects livelihoods: We will invoke rules intended for terrorists, launch investigations into your lives to find out who you are and where you live, then freeze your bank accounts and all other sources of funding you may have, and basically turn your lives into financial hell, while deploying our mass media against you to dox you and call you fascists.
      And if you dare film protesters who favor terrorist groups that advocate for the death of Jews and destruction of Israel more closely than we allow, we’ll arrest you.

      1. It’s appalling. Trudeau doesn’t seem too concerned. He says he’d arrest Netanyahu.

        I can’t wait to vote against Trudeau.

  7. Wow. Don’t forget your sunscreen in Sth Poland in December. I can see you now by the ice pool, umbrella drink and your sunburned nose!
    hehehe
    Have a great time there and do give my best to our friend/s (and my Polish translator!) over there!

    D.A.
    NYC

  8. Regarding the Oklahoma directive to “teach the Bible.” I posted about this in June when the sensationalized headings first broke, and I repost below. Short version: let’s keep an eye on implementation before concluding it is a violation of Church and State. The academic standards, themselves, are fine—and are not forms of Sunday school in the classroom. The decision to purchase Bibles, if not accompanied by other materials noted below, could be a problem.

    The directive from the superintendent directs that the Bible be incorporated “as an instructional support into the curriculum across specified grade levels. This directive is in alignment with the educational standards approved on or about May 2019.”

    I searched those 2019 education standards for various terms: Bible, God, atheism, Christianity, theology, and religion. The first three terms do not appear. Here are the others:

    Beginning in grade 5, the students are asked to “analyze the religious, economic, and political motivations of immigrants and indentured servants who migrated to Plymouth.” This is contrasted with the economic and political motivations of those at Jamestown. 5th graders must also “analyze the forms of self-government in the three colonial regions including the role of religion in the establishment of some colonial governments, the Virginia House of Burgesses, and New England town hall meetings.” I see no need to “teach the Bible” to achieve these objectives at this grade, but if one uses the words of the colonists, themselves, then one will inevitably run into scripture and dogma. In 6th grade, the field broadens to the Western Hemisphere, about which students must “identify and describe cultural traits of language, ethnic heritage, religion, and traditions practiced among peoples.” In the following year, a comparable block for the Eastern Hemisphere is introduced.

    After grade 8, there are broad categories outlined, obviously for high school, but I couldn’t find grade distinctions. Religion appears in comparative focus in the Oklahoma history block, comparing the “cultural perspectives of American Indians and European Americans regarding land ownership, structure of self-government, religion, and trading practices.” In geography, it is part of the “regional variations of culture related to language, religion, ethnicity, and gender.” The world history block expands on instruction from the earlier grades. Regarding pre-1450 CE history, students must “evaluate the impact of geography and trade on the development of culture in Africa, Asia, and Europe including religion, philosophy, and political belief” and “describe the origins, major beliefs, spread and lasting impact of the world’s major religions and philosophies, including Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Confucianism, and Sikhism.” (Curiously, for such a conservative state, that CE usage versus AD is in the original.) Finally, instruction must “summarize the causes of and influence of the theological movements of the Reformation and how those movements subsequently transformed society.”

    I have no objection to any of these standards, and I welcome the use of primary texts as illustration. Whether this will amount to “teaching the Bible,” as the headlines blare, is not yet clear. Here is where implementation will, of course, matter. Is instruction limited to selected excerpts from the Bible or does it include the Quran, Vedas, Upanishads, and other sacred texts of the world religions?

  9. The demonstrations in Montreal are disgusting. The zombie nutcase talking about the Final Solution is particularly odious.

    Bari Weiss’s speech is spectacular. Her reprise of all the recent truisms just reinforces my position that Jews need to take stock of the company they keep. Most of the left-wing organizations that Jews support in the name of tikkun olam and social justice don’t want us there!

    Finally, the escalation in the Ukrainian war with Russia is very worrisome. With the election news and news surrounding Trump’s cabinet picks, we may not be paying as much attention to this as we should. The risk of spread to Poland (the U.S. military base there) and beyond is very real. We should be concerned that President Putin may actually mean what he is saying.

    1. I am all for escalation of the war effort against Russia. This is exactly what we need. Since late 2022, only Putin has been escalating, and Biden’s administration has been orchestrating a slow defeat for Ukraine. Had Biden given 2 years ago what he is giving now, we’d be living in a different, better world.

      Unless there is urgent escalation and military defeat of Russia, scared Europeans will vote for Putin’s puppets in elections throughout Europe (the process has already begun), he will occupy all Ukraine and start invading NATO countries.

      1. Totally agree. I still don’t understand why the US and other folks didn’t bomb the crap out of the Russian troops and war machines as soon as they crossed the border. It wasn’t as though it was a surprise attack.

  10. Doug, thank you for the analysis. Is there any mention as to whether the other mentioned religions’ texts will be purchased as well?

  11. I live in Vancouver, and oddly enough, there was little to no mention about the Montreal riots on the news. I wonder if this is to censor the idea that the protestors were violent, or to reduce the chance that protestors in other cities get the same idea?

  12. Meanwhile in Australia…

    “One of the report’s overarching recommendations is for the federal government to lead a national response to racism, beginning with truth-telling and self-determination for Indigenous people.

    This would include anti-racism lessons in schools and enshrining the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into Australian law.

    “The (framework) is an important and unprecedented milestone in our country’s history,” Ms Kiss said.

    “That we are at the point where we can name racism for what it is, locate it within the structures that surround us and develop a plan to transform those structures is worth celebrating, committing to, and fully realising.”

    In the health sector, the commissioner recommended mandatory cultural safety training for all workers, while media companies should be under stricter regulations on how they report on diverse communities.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/landmark-plan-to-address-systemic-structural-racism/ar-AA1uLsm8?ocid=winp1taskbar&rc=1

  13. “Palestinian terror enthusiasts in Montreal waived Russian flags…”

    Let me remind again that Oct. 7 is Putin’s birthday, and he likes receiving deadly presents (on Oct. 7, 2006 his prominent critic, journalist Anna Politkovskaya, was assassinated).

    There is a WW3 gathering steam, against us is a united Axis of Evil, and instead of standing united in resistance and counter-offensive, we cower out of fear of “escalation”, and our youth is poisoned by the enemy propaganda.

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