Wednesday: Hili dialogue

January 1, 2025 • 6:45 am

Welcome to a Hump Day (” ថ្ងៃ Hump” in Khmer), January 1, 2025. Yes, the new year begins on a hump! Besides New Year’s Day, it’s also National Bloody Mary Day.  Here’s a fancy one, though it needs a shrimp:

Good1228gmail, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

So, Happy New Year! This is from reader David:

Once again posting will be lighter today, but not absent. Happy New Year!

There’s a Google Doodle for the new year; click to see where it goes (the star glitters at that site):

It’s also Apple Gifting Day, Euro Day, Commitment Day, National Hangover Day, National Black-Eye Pea Day (they’re eating on this day in the American South), and World Day of Peace. 

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

Da Nooz:

*The KerFFRFle continues at The Spectator (click headlines if you subscribe; otherwise archived here). Note: it is a criticism of what the FFRF did, not of Richard. But it also touts our need for real religion instead of “gender religion”. Oy!

*This was sent in by reader Ginger K., and it is not a good start to the years news: Canada hemorrhaging Jewish doctors amid rampant antisemitism.x

Canada’s renowned healthcare system is hemorrhaging Jewish physicians as antisemitism spreads like a contagion through hospitals and medical schools.

According to a survey conducted by the Jewish Medical Association of Ontario (JMAO), 80% of Canadian Jewish medical professionals have faced antisemitism at work since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7,2023, with 31% now considering emigration from the country. Prior to Hamas’s massacre, only 1% of Jewish doctors experienced antisemitism in professional settings. Those numbers have since escalated dramatically, with 29% reporting antisemitism in community practices, 39% in hospitals, and 43% in academic environments.

Ontario’s medical community appears particularly affected, with 73% of Jewish medical professionals reporting antisemitism in academic institutions and 60% in hospitals. The impact on medical students has been severe, with incidents more than doubling from 25% to 63%.

The issue was addressed on Thursday at a conference in Toronto, where JMAO chairwoman Dr. Ayelet Kuper warned that discrimination is undermining the entire healthcare environment.

“It’s incredibly concerning to watch antisemitism creep into our medical institutions across the province,” Kuper said. “Discrimination doesn’t just impact doctors; it undermines the entire healthcare environment, compromising patient care and eroding workplace integrity. This is a crisis for all people in Ontario, not just Jewish doctors.”

*The NYT highlights new laws taking effect this year (archived here):

Gun Laws:

A law goes into effect on Jan. 1 in Minnesota that bans “binary triggers,” devices that allow firearms to fire one shot when the trigger is pulled and another when it is released. The law also bans forced reset triggers, which can make semiautomatic firearms shoot at nearly fully automatic speed. The law was passed after a man in Burnsville, Minn., killed a paramedic and two police officers in February; the man had recently acquired a weapon with a binary trigger, the authorities said.

A number of states already ban binary triggers and other conversion kits, like bump stocks, that allow firearms to fire at the rate of machine guns. It is unclear how effective a ban might be. Hobbyists frequently use the small but often expensive devices with AR-15-style rifles. Their small size and ease of installation make it difficult to ban the devices outright.

In many cases, those who are intent on installing conversion kits find workarounds or simply ignore the law. Still, such bans, while hard to enforce, can increase the severity of charges when a crime is committed.

In Delaware, a new law makes it a crime to possess weapons on the campuses of colleges and universities, adding them to the state’s school safe zones. Many states, including California and New York, already ban firearms on college campuses in most circumstances. Most states that do not have an explicit ban allow individual colleges to decide whether or not to allow guns on campus.

In New York, firearms retailers will have to post warnings at their stores, beginning later in January, stating that having guns increases “the risk of suicide, death during domestic disputes and/or unintentional death to children.” The warning is similar to one that is required at California gun stores.

Crime

A series of laws in California will increase penalties for people who are repeatedly convicted of shoplifting, breaking into cars or other robberies. One of those bills allows the authorities to add up the value of property stolen from multiple victims or across different counties. That makes it easier for prosecutors to charge someone with felony grand theft, which requires that $950 worth of goods be stolen.

Marijuana

In 2025, Nebraska will join 38 other states that have legal medical marijuana programs, following the approval of a ballot measure voters passed in November. The measure allows Nebraskans to acquire up to five ounces of cannabis if they get a written recommendation from a health care professional.

Education

In California, school districts will no longer be able to require teachers or staff to disclose a student’s gender identity or sexual orientation to the student’s parents. The new law is an effort to push back on school districts that had issued policies mandating employees to notify parents if a student began using different pronouns or identifying as a different gender.

Wages:

The minimum wage is rising in 21 states on Jan. 1, with an estimated 9.2 million workers getting a mandated raise, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning research group.

The average full-time workers in the states raising their minimum wage will make $420 more than they would have in 2024, the group said. Dozens of cities are also raising their own minimum wage, with Tukwila, Wash., a Seattle suburb, topping the list: The new minimum wage there will be $21.10 an hour, the highest in the

*From the WaPo (click to read, archived here); VERY bad behavior:

When a Texas teenager fed her show goat, Willie, at her high school’s barn one mid-October morning, he seemed fine.

But over the next day, Willie’s health dramatically worsened. He had started shaking, coughing and convulsing in his pen. When his owner went to the barn the following morning, she could hear Willie “bellowing in pain,” according to a recent court filing.

He died shortly after in her arms.

In the weeks after, Texas officials arrested and charged Aubrey Vanlandingham, a 17-year-old classmate of Willie’s owner, with cruelty to livestock animals. Vanlandingham later confessed to authorities that she had fed the goat pesticide because she believed the owner was a “cheater,” according to an affidavit filed in November. She was charged with cruelty to livestock animals, a felony in Texas, and is scheduled to next appear in court on Jan. 15.

An attorney representing Vanlandingham did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post on Tuesday. Attempts to reach the family that owns the goat were unsuccessful.

Vanlandingham and the student who owned the goat, who The Post is not naming because they are a juvenile and not accused of wrongdoing,both appear to have been a part of the Future Farmers of America program at Vista Ridge High School in Cedar Park, Texas.

How can people be so horrible?

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is trying to remain the Queen:

Hili: I’m trying to mobilize myself.
A: To do what?
Hili: To defend my dominant position.
In Polish:
Hili: Próbuję się zmobilizować.
Ja: Do czego?
Hili: Do obrony mojej dominującej pozycji.
And here is a very old picture of Hili as a kitten. Wasn’t she adorable?

 

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

From Cat Memes:

From Jesus of the Day:

From Science Humor (if only. . .):

 

From Michael Shermer via Luana:

From Jay:

From Larry the Cat via Simon (I put it up a bit late):

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Because I ate it this morning for breakfast.

— Larry the Cat (@number10cat.bsky.social) 2024-12-24T19:39:06.561Z

From Malcolm, and indeed a happy kitty!:

I heart CFI. From Pinkah:

From the Auschwitz Memorial, one that I posted:

1 January 1939 | A French Jewish boy, Leon Guterman, was born in Paris.He arrived at #Auschwitz on 20 August 1942 in a transport of 1,000 Jews deported from Drancy. After selection he was murdered in a gas chamber.

— Auschwitz Memorial (@auschwitzmemorial.bsky.social) 2025-01-01T06:00:01.281Z

Two tweets from Dr. Cobb: This shield is probably from 256 A.D., and you can read more about it here.

Definitely a highlight of 2024 – seeing the #Roman shield from Dura-Europos (Syria), the only example of its kind to survive from antiquity – just a stunning artefact! AncientBlueSky #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology

— Dr Jo Ball (@drjeball.bsky.social) 2024-12-29T20:50:14.966Z

And from the inimitable Dorothy Parker:

Happy New Year from Dorothy Parker (and me).

— Nadine Whitney (@nadinewhitney.bsky.social) 2024-12-31T14:57:38.327Z

40 thoughts on “Wednesday: Hili dialogue”

  2. RE: New laws/California/Education – not requiring teachers to notify parents about self identifying trans or gender questioning children is important. For years, VA has had a state law that in the event that a child has threatened suicide, the parent be informed EXCEPT in cases where the parent may be part of the problem. This year’s recently released CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey report ( https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/su/pdfs/su7304a6-H.pdf ) shows that a significant number of self identifying trans and gender questioning students live in unstable households meaning that the teacher cannot count on an engaged, caring adult at home and that harm may come to such students if a parent is made aware of their behavior. The world does not fully mimic the ideal 1950’s family unit assumed in the old “Leave It to Beaver” U.S. tv sitcom. There are cases where parental involvement can be dangerous for the child, yet it is important for children to feel safe speaking to a responsible, mature adult such as their teacher.

    1. The new law is complicated. It prevents school districts from requiring teachers to disclose a student’s change of name or gender or pronouns, but it does allow a teacher to use discretion about conveying information to parents. But the state laws also expressly permit disclosure of information from students’ records to protect health or safety of a student or others. There are ongoing lawsuits concerning these issues in California.

      1. There is a piece in the voiceofsandiego.org from Aug 2 2024 by Deborah Sullivan Brennan giving more detailed information about the new law and about the various legal challenges to the new law and other legal challenges. The legal landscape is in a state of flux with regard to parental rights to be informed and with regard to students’ rights.

    2. That summarizes my struggle with schools being required to ‘out’ children who are behaving as a non-binary. On the one hand, as a parent (kids now being legal adults now), I know I’d experience a rather ferocious demand to know what my kids were up to since its my #1 job to be the parent. The parents right to know seems sacrosanct. But otoh some kids do need a place to be themselves, and being found out can make things much worse them.

      1. One difference between a cult and a religion is this: with a religion the religion wants the believer/victim to engage and bring in their support network/ family / friends etc. to the religion. More souls right?
        A cult however, seeks to SEVER relations with their support network.

        Cutting the lines between “trans” kids and their parents (as many new laws do) is classic cult behavior. Witness Scientology telling new recruits their family are “suppressive people.”

        Trans – with its woke teachers – is a cult.

        D.A.
        NYC

    3. There is no easy answer but I question what is a more frequent danger to a child. Is it an abusive parent or is it a school culture that encourages transgender transitioning and questioning starting with social transition? If what I read is true that a good deal of this is a social contagion, then these secrecy laws institutionalize the first step of this contagion and further encourage a double life for the children and all involved: the child, the child’s friends, the teacher during parent/teacher night, the coaches, etc.

      The report states transgender and questioning students experienced a higher prevalence of violence, poor mental health, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and unstable housing, and a lower prevalence of school-connectedness than their cisgender peers. Under this law, the school cannot inform the parents of this higher prevalence of violence, poor mental health, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and a lower prevalence of school-connectedness because of the possibility of an unstable home life. It seems to me that this gets it backward.

      2. I think it says that teachers cannot be required to report. It gives teachers an option and thus time to try to encourage the kid to talk to parents or some other adult relative. It simply gives these kids an adult safety valve to speak with without fear.

        1. IMHO, it is intended to be more than simply an adult safety valve. In any case, here’s one example of what it looks like on the ground:

          “Ahead of the 2022-23 school year, a school counselor sent out a list of six seventh-graders who should be referred to by new gender pronouns and names, but with instructions to use their birth names and genders when talking to parents.”

          1. A list?! From a counselor no less? What kind of crap is that? Relationships and name usage should develop naturally between teacher and student, not by a counselor’s beauraeucratic edict. As a teacher, many years before trans, I kept nicknames parenthetically in my grade/attendance book. Depending on relationships, different teachers called the same student by different names such as their formal name in school records, their nickname, or even “mr” or “miss”. And the teachers should use their good judgementin speaking with parents.

    4. Unfortunately, experience shows that harm is quite likely to come to students who are allowed and encouraged to identify as trans. This behavior is destructive.

  4. I am totally with Kinsella. I support what he supports, and cannot stand Gefilte fish. My mom supposedly made great gefilte fish, but it always made me puke, so even she gave me a pass on it.

  5. “Binary triggers”:
    Everyone knows what a woman is, what a man is.
    The think system can’t be used to create a woman or a man.
    There are only two sexes.

    1. On a different topic: Could you please tell me how to change the icon on a post to a photo of your choice. I asked the Professor in a direct email and he said he did not know. Thanks.

      1. I also have a photo icon. The first time I used this site it was already there.

        I must have set it up earlier on another site that uses the same software.

        Unfortunately I don’t what that other site was or how I set it up.

        I can’t see anything on this site that would let you change it.

  7. Gefilte fish: OK, but not great. But no jelly, please. It’s the jelly that ruins it.

    1. … if I may add: She – or indeed he – expressly does not care about pronouns and states that “pronouns belong to the person using them” — a nice way of encapsulating the authoritarianism of circumscribing others’ speech that pronoun declarations can be seen as.

      1. The specifics may well be complicated and I’m not familiar with them. Perhaps the “Journey Back to Reality” of Debbie Hayton’s book title occurred in the 4 years between the article you showed and her book appearing.

        In any case, mild discomfort is to be expected in any field, and being able to have a reasonable debate surely is better than suppressing any unorthodox discourse.

  9. The report on antisemitism in the medical profession in Ontario reminds one of two related trends: the penetration of woke doctrines and gestures into the medical school establishment in the US (reviewed by Stanley Goldfarb); and the greater penetration of woke attitudes in Canada generally. The two trends apparently combine, as in positive wave interference. The DEI wave may have peaked in the US, but I wonder if its tide is still rising north of the border.

  10. I used to “heart” CFI too, until they lost their nerve when the AHA withdrew its Humanist of the Year Award from CFI board member Richard Dawkins, and the CFI refused to comment on the matter for over a year. When Ronald Lindsay published a blog piece about it on the the CFI website, the piece was taken down. Unfortunately cowardice in the face of the new Identitarian Dogma is not limited to the AHA and FFRF.

    1. I don’t understand how so many atheist/skeptic/humanist organisations are terrified of useless fash such as PZ Meyers, Doormat Dillahunty, Hemant “Nasty Atheist” Mehta, Rebecca “Nobody was raped on 10/7” Watson, etc.

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