Welcome to Friday, December 27, 2024. It’s the third day of Coynezaa, and National Fruitcake Day. You know the old joke about there being only a single fruitcake in America, one that is passed along from person to person. That’s because most of them are dire, but I have had some good ones. Malgorzata made a nice one when I was in Poland, and here’s a German Früchtebrot from Wikipedia, which looks edible:
It’s also Visit the Zoo Day.
Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the December 27 Wikipedia page.
Da Nooz:
*The other day an Azerbaijan Airlines plane en route from Baku to Grozny went off course because of fog, did a figure eight, and then had a fiery crash, killing at least 38 people, including both pilots. The cause was only speculative, but now it’s thought that the plane was accidentally brought down by Russian antiaircraft fire. (NBC News showed what looked like shrapnel marks on the fuselage of the downed plane.)
The Azerbaijan Airlines plane was flying from Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny in Russia and diverted course over an area where Moscow’s air defenses have battled Ukrainian drones in recent weeks. The flight—carrying 62 passengers and five crew members—crashed near Aktau in western Kazakhstan after turning around and flying east over the Caspian Sea. As many as 29 passengers survived.
Citing assessments of footage of the crash, the damage to the aircraft, and recent military activity, aviation-security firm, Osprey Flight Solutions, said in an alert to airlines that the flight “was likely shot down by a Russian military air-defense system.”
“Video of the wreckage and the circumstances around the airspace security environment in southwest Russia indicates the possibility the aircraft was hit by some form of antiaircraft fire,” said Matt Borie, chief intelligence officer at Osprey said in an interview.
A Ukrainian national security official, Andriy Kovalenko, said in an X post that the plane “was shot down by a Russian air-defense system,” citing visible damage to the plane.
“Russia should have closed the airspace over Grozny but failed to do so,” Kovalenko said. “The plane was damaged by the Russians and was sent to Kazakhstan instead of being urgently landed in Grozny to save lives.”
. . .Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 passenger jet may have collided with a flock of birds. Azerbaijan’s president said that he was told the plane had been diverted due to poor weather conditions. He said an investigation into the incident was ongoing. Officials said the aircraft’s black box was recovered.
Twenty-five minutes before the plane was scheduled to land in Grozny, its crew alerted air-traffic controllers at Aktau airport that they needed to make an emergency landing there, the ministry said.
Half an hour later, shortly before noon local time, the plane crashed in a field about 2 miles from Aktau airport. Flight-tracking service Flightradar24 said heavy GPS spoofing in the area, which tampers with signals so a plane’s position can’t be tracked, could have complicated any diversion.
One surviving passenger who walked away (lucky guy!) said he heard a loud bang during the flight, and that suggests that the flock-of-birds explanation isn’t correct. I wonder whether, if it turns out to be a Russian shoot-down, the government will admit it. I suppose we’ll never know.
*Now here is a good topic, and one after my own heart, which craves good prose: NYT columnis Frank Bruni giving his take on “The best sentences of 2024“.) There are many, so see them archived here. A few of my faves:
In his newsletter, Sam Harris marveled, back in early July, at the reluctance of President Biden and his closest advisers to end his re-election campaign: “They are not merely courting disaster now — they are having tantric sex with it.”
. . . In The New Yorker, Anthony Lane studied Donald Trump’s bearing and mien as he listened to tributes at the Republican National Convention: “Occasionally, he stood to applaud, but most of the time he was pleased to wear an expression of froggy beatitude — a soft wide grin, ascending far above smugness to achieve a kind of gratified peace. Thus would a medieval liege lord have accepted obeisance from his vassals; all that was missing was the flicker of torchlight and the haunch of venison turning on its spit.”
. . . . In The News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C., Bill Church took friendly issue with another journalist’s characterization of a meaty local fast-food chain that Biden visited on a trip to North Carolina: “A pool reporter described Cook Out as ‘a small eatery known for its shakes.’ That’s like describing the U.N.C.-Duke basketball rivalry as a ’boutique indoor activity matching friendly neighbors in a vigorous board game involving crafts such as hoops and nets.’”
. . . in The New Yorker, Bruce Handy detailed the stylist Michelle Côté’s ministrations to give Sebastian Stan, the star of the movie “The Apprentice,” the Trump coiffure: “Stan’s real hair was covered in part by a fake scalp, which was covered in turn by a wig — a tonsorial turducken.”
. . . In The Wall Street Journal, Dan Neil bemoaned the mismatch of his aged endoskeleton and his assignment to review a low-lying, physically inaccessible car by alluding to the god of Graceland: “After a lifetime of swiveling and gyrating, my pelvis has left the building.”
. . . . In The Washington Post, Alex Falcone identified the online review sweet spot: “We all know that one- and five-star reviews are useless; those are just crackpots and bots. Three stars are for cowards, obviously; if you can’t be bothered to have a courageous opinion, I can’t be bothered to read it. And four stars are for liberal arts majors who had a three-star experience but grew up with grade inflation. But a two-star review, that’s a thing of beauty. Somebody who goes through the trouble of logging into an app and typing full sentences on a keyboard to give a place exactly two stars has a story to tell.”
They ain’t the last several pages of The Dead, but they’re a far sight better than you usually see.
*An organization has raised $100,000 to have a Gay Pride Parade in either Gaza or the West Bank!:
The New Tolerance Campaign has secured $1,000,000 to underwrite expenses for an LGBTQ Pride Parade in Gaza or the West Bank!
For nearly a year, “Queers for Palestine” and allied groups have insisted that Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) are “inclusive” — here’s their chance to prove it.
We started this campaign to contrast the lives of LGBTQ individuals in the Palestinian territories and Israel. It has evolved into a realization that achieving Palestinian recognition for LGBTQ rights could lead to true liberalization of the Arab world — and thus, eventually, peace.
Right now, there is a clash of values between Israel and most of the Arab world. In Israel, gay people can live their lives openly, while the Arab world views them with disdain. Homosexuality is illegal in many Arab countries. The NTC $1,000,000 Gay Pride Parade Challenge holds the potential to awaken acceptance and greater tolerance in the Arab world.
Starting Monday, September 16, mobile billboards will be circulating around Columbia University (116th Street and Broadway) in New York City, the headquarters of the Human Rights Campaign (1640 Rhode Island Ave NW) in Washington, DC, and UCLA (405 Hilgard Avenue) in Los Angeles advertising our offer and encouraging Queers for Palestine (or any LGBTQ organization) to accept our challenge.
An LGBTQ Pride Parade in Gaza or the West Bank would empower grassroots LGBTQ movements within Arab countries and work toward improving human rights for all. Please join us in urging LGBTQ advocacy organizations in the United States to take up our Challenge, make an unforgettable statement, and advance the human rights they purport to uphold.
The New Tolerance Campaign seems to be run by conservatives, but not rabid ones, and some might even be heterodox, but in reality it’s a provocative, Onion-y sort-of joke, and I doubt that it will ever take place. Who would protect the protestors, who would have to be brave as hell to even participate. But it does have a salient political point, which is, as far as LGBTQ+ people are concerned, it is the Muslim theocracies like Palestine that are the apartheid states, not Israel.
*Regarding Trump’s upcoming plans to deport immigrants as soon as he warms his seat in the Oval Office, he (or rather his “border czar”) has new plans about families. (article archived here):
“Here’s the issue,” Homan said in a wide-ranging interview that included some of his most extensive comments to date on Trump’s plans for mass deportations. “You knew you were in the country illegally and chose to have a child. So you put your family in that position.”
President Joe Biden ended family detention in 2021, closing three facilities ICE called “residential centers” that offered about 3,000 beds. The facilities had a dorm-like design with recreational and educational programming. They were criticized by immigration advocates and pediatricians who said detention was harmful for children.The federal judge who oversees immigration detention programs involving minors has set 20 days as the maximum amount of time children can be held at the family facilities. The deportation process often requires more time, so ICE has generally preferred to prioritize easier-to-remove adults. But Homan said that may change once Trump takes office.
As acting director of ICE during Trump’s first term, Homan drovethe “zero tolerance” policy that separated more than 4,000 children from their parents soon after they crossed the border into the United States. He said Trump’s new enforcement campaign will seek to deport families together. But he acknowledged the government cannot remove children who are U.S. citizens, leaving it to parents to decide whether they would split up the family.
To me this leaves the question about whether they can adjudicate claims of asylum within 20 days so that families can either be allowed to stay or deported within three weeks. To me this seems impossible given that it’s taking years to adjudicate such claims even for people without kids. So how are they going to deal with families who need to go to immigration court? They’d need to have on-the-spot courts to quickly vet claims, and I can’t see that happening.
*Ever since the war began in Gaza over a year ago, people have been warning of “imminent famine” in the territory. But soon after the war began Israel and other countries began supplying food aid. (Who does to for their enemies save Israel? We sure didn’t send food to Germany during WWII!) If you know the data, now, if anybody is going hungry in Gaza it’s because of Hamas, who loves to steal humanitarian aid; and, in fact, food and other supplies sent to Gaza are rotting in big lots. There is no imminent famine that I know of. The surprise is that the U.S. convinced and independent organization of this!
A lead organization monitoring for food crises around the world withdrew a new report this week warning of imminent famine in north Gaza under what it called Israel’s “near-total blockade,” after the U.S. asked for its retraction, U.S. officials told the Associated Press. The move follows public criticism of the report from the U.S. ambassador to Israel.
The rare public dispute drew accusations from prominent aid and human-rights figures that the work of the U.S.-funded Famine Early Warning System Network, meant to reflect the opinion of unbiased international experts, has been tainted by politics. A declaration of famine would be a great embarrassment for Israel, which has insisted that its 15-month war in Gaza is aimed against the Hamas militant group and not against its civilian population.
U.S. ambassador to Israel Jacob Lew earlier this week called the warning by the internationally recognized group inaccurate and “irresponsible.” Lew and the U.S. Agency for International Development, which funds the monitoring group, both said the findings failed to properly account for rapidly changing circumstances in north Gaza.
Humanitarian and human rights officials expressed fear of U.S. political interference in the world’s monitoring system for famines. The U.S. Embassy in Israel and the State Department declined comment. FEWS officials did not respond to questions.
“We work day and night with the U.N. and our Israeli partners to meet humanitarian needs — which are great — and relying on inaccurate data is irresponsible,” Lew said Tuesday.
USAID confirmed to the AP that it had asked the famine-monitoring organization to withdraw its stepped-up warning issued in a report dated Monday. The report did not appear among the top updates on the group’s website Thursday, but the link to it remained active.
The dispute points in part to the difficulty of assessing the extent of starvation in largely isolated northern Gaza. Thousands in recent weeks have fled an intensified Israeli military crackdown that aid groups say has allowed delivery of only a dozen trucks of food and water since roughly October.
The claim that so few trucks of food and water have entered Gaza is an arrant lie. Further, the FEWSN also grossly overestimated the population of Gaza, perhaps by tenfold. At least they owned up to their mistake, but of course they’re an American organization, not run by the UN or Hamas.
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili wants the TRUTH, and wants it NOW!:
Hili: Tell me the whole truth.A: I can’t.Hili: Why?A: Because I don’t know it.
Hili: Powiedz mi całą prawdę.Ja: Nie mogę.Hili: Dlaczego?Ja: Bo jej nie znam.
*******************
From Jesus of the Day:
From Strange, Stupid, or Silly Signs:
From Cat Memes:
Masih is still on vaction. I’m starting to get worried, as she rarely stops kicking the butt of the Iranian theocracy.
Today is J. K. Rowling’s 23rd anniversary, and here’s a “present” she got:
I just read this to Neil and he said something that made me laugh so hard I nearly coughed up a kidney 🤣😆🤣😆 pic.twitter.com/Emmueo78gU
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 26, 2024
A good cat meme from Simon:
🎶Sleep Like An Egyptian🎶
— Paul Bronks (@slendersherbet.bsky.social) 2024-12-26T11:17:37.749Z
From Malcolm: a cat gets grabbed. Watch until the end:
The cat’s reaction.. 😂 pic.twitter.com/nDRMmfyJKq
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) November 6, 2024
From my feed. I’m a firm believer in global warming and the need to ameliorate it, but this kind of stuff doesn’t help:
Anyone else sick of the climate cult? pic.twitter.com/8VAMiyzAct
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 26, 2024
This is a typical example from my Bluesky feed, which is anodyne except when it shows hatred emanating from “progressives”. I predict that it is going to lose a lot of subscribers.
— Valley of the Ghosts (@silveryslocan.bsky.social) 2024-12-26T12:31:35.621Z
From the Auschwitz Memorial, one that I reposted:
This Polish man, with a haunted expression (and facial bruises), lived but four days after arriving at Auschwitz.
— Jerry Coyne (@evolutionistrue.bsky.social) 2024-12-27T11:41:02.438Z
Two tweets from Dr. Cobb. First, a lovely series of geology pictures.
The wind-blown sands of the Navajo Sandstone look great at all scales
— Zoltán Sylvester (@zzsylvester.bsky.social) 2024-12-26T04:14:35.633Z
And Matthew calls this “grim”. A butterfly never metamorphosed the head it had as a caterpillar:
This is what can happen when metamorphosis goes terribly, horribly wrong!Female Cofaqui Giant-Skipper that never shed her larval head… 😳
— Andrew Warren (@andybugguy.bsky.social) 2024-11-30T15:16:42.346Z
Spraying the Christmas tree bit: What is these assholes’ point other than exhibiting uncivil vandalism?
Almost immediately after reading today’s Hili, I encountered a delicious sentence that I just have to share. It’s from the reviews for a movie I’m considering watching – The Fault in our Stars – which is a notorious tearjerker about young people dying of cancer.
There’s a typo: is it 1,000,000 or just 100,000?
If the proposed LGBTQ Pride Parade actually takes place in Gaza or the West Bank and the merrymakers are attacked by terrorists—or by ordinary Palestinians—the Israelis will be blamed.
And those climate activists beautifying that Christmas tree. Don’t they realize that the were spraying “forever chemicals” everywhere?! Such hypocrites.
Finally, the Navajo Sandstone is all that and more. It crops out prominently all over Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona—essentially the entire Colorado Plateau.
Many of Bruni’s political selections are terrific, but all of them were inconsequential in the face of these three sentences:
Joe Biden during his debate with Trump:
… making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person er, er, eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the er er COVID – excuse me, with um dealing with everything we have to do with uh uh Look if we finally beat Medicare.
Kamala Harris interview on “The View” when asked if she could think of anything she’d have done differently than Biden during the last four years:
“There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of – and I’ve been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact, the work that we have done,
Trump ad:
Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you.