Welcome to The Cruelest Day: Tuesday, February 4, 2025, and National Homemade Soup Day. It is not much of a food day, and I don’t know if any readers will make soup. If you do, weigh in below.
It’s also National Stuffed Mushroom Day, National Hemp Day, World Cancer Day, International Eggplant Day, Liberace Day (he died of AIDS-related pneumonia on this day in 1987), Rosa Parks Day (she was born on this day in 1913) and National Quacker Day. Though the latter celebrates a woman’s clothing line, I prefer to think of it as celebrating ducks. Below you can see my beloved Honey with her brood of 17 in the year that she ducknapped the brood of another hen in Botany Pond. And she brought them all up to fledging. Given the state of the pond this year, I don’t think we’ll have any ducks, and it breaks my heart.
My beloved hen and her purloined brood (well, half were her own ducklings):
Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the February 4 Wikipedia page.
Da Nooz:
*BREAKING NOOZ: The U.S. tariff with China went into effect, and China retaliated.
China struck back against U.S. tariffs with levies on certain American goods, an antitrust probe into Google and restrictions on Chinese exports of key minerals. The moves escalated a new trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Just after American tariffs of 10% on China went into effect early Tuesday morning, Beijing said it would retaliate. Its measures will go into effect on Feb. 10. The Trump administration struck deals Monday to delay imposing new tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
President Trump said the tariffs on China were just “an opening salvo.” He added: “If we can’t make a deal with China, then the tariffs would be very, very substantial.”
*I thought for sure that a multi-country trade war was already happening, but now Trump’s threats may have not only stopped the war, but led to improved cooperation on some issues. The WSJ reports:
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and U.S. President Trump said that they have agreed to put U.S. tariffs on Mexico on hold for a month after a telephone conversation in which both leaders agreed to take joint measures to fight fentanyl trafficking across the U.S. border.
“They are pausing tariffs for one month from now,” Sheinbaum wrote on X on Monday.
President Trump said on his Truth Social platform that his conversation with the Mexican president was a “very friendly conversation wherein she agreed to immediately supply 10,000 Mexican Soldiers on the Border separating Mexico and the United States.”
Trump added that his 25% tariffs on Mexico would be paused for a month, “during which we will have negotiations headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and high-level Representatives of Mexico. I look forward to participating in those negotiations, with President Sheinbaum, as we attempt to achieve a ‘deal’ between our two Countries.”
Sheinbaum said that Mexico agreed to immediately reinforce the U.S.-Mexico border with 10,000 members of the National Guard “to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the U.S., particularly fentanyl.”
The U.S. agreed to work to prevent the trafficking of high-caliber weapons to Mexico, she said.
The WaPo reports something that Sheinbaum agreed to:
President Claudia Sheinbaum said on X that in a “good conversation” with President Donald Trump, Mexico committed to rushing 10,000 national guard troops to its border to try to block the flow of drugs into the United States — especially fentanyl.
I’m hoping that the tariffs with China and Canada will also be suspended. The WSJ also notes that Trump is going to speak with PM Justin Trudeau:
President Trump wrote on social media that he spoke to Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, this morning and plans to talk to him again at 3 p.m.
“Canada doesn’t even allow U.S. Banks to open or do business there,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “What’s that all about? Many such things, but it’s also a DRUG WAR, and hundreds of thousands of people have died in the U.S. from drugs pouring through the Borders of Mexico and Canada.”
Trade wars are not good for anybody, much less for the American consumer, who would become more anti-Trump if faced with higher gas and food prices. I don’t know if Trump planned this as a mere threat, but fingers crossed that there are no tariffs and more positive cooperation between the U.S. on one hand and Mexico and China on the other (I think we already have a pretty good relationship with Canada, and I don’t want that spoiled).
Here’s Sheinbaum—who is Jewish, by the way, and America has had neither a woman nor a Jewish leader, much less both—announcing the pause and taking questions from reporters.
*A Palestinian terrorist who killed 16 is living freely in Jordan as a citizen. However, Jordan just informed Hamas that it will give that group one day to find a new home for this terrorist (a woman) or they’ll extradite her to America.
Jordan has reportedly informed the Hamas terror group that it plans to deport a woman convicted of planning a 2001 suicide bombing that killed 16 people at a Jerusalem pizza parlor, in a move that could bring a long-delayed measure of justice to families of victims.
Ahlam Tamimi was convicted in an Israeli court of orchestrating the grisly August 9, 2001, attack that killed 16 people in a crowded Sbarro’s eatery in central Jerusalem, but was released in the 2011 deal for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit and quickly found safe harbor in Jordan.
In 2017, the US Justice Department announced it was seeking her extradition, a step that had been urged by the family of Israeli-American victim Malki Roth but which was rebuffed by Amman.
This is what happens when there’s a prisoner exchange. Murderers like Tamimi go scot-free, enabling them, if they wish, to continue more terrorism. I dougt that Tamimi has done any, but there’s a fundamental injustice in a murderer running around free after only 6 years in prison.
According to Qatari news outlet Al-Araby al-Jadeed, Jordanian intelligence authorities informed Hamas on Sunday that Tamimi would be extradited to the United States unless a third country willing to take her in could be found.
There was no confirmation of the report from any official source.
The report emerged just as the White House announced it would host Jordan’s King Abdullah II for talks with US President Donald Trump on February 11. Amman is thought to be seeking ways to remain in good standing with Trump despite, like Egypt, declining to fall in with his proposal to relocate Gazans there.
Tamimi, a Hamas activist who chose the target for the bombing and guided the bomber there, was sentenced in Israel in 2003 to 16 life sentences for the attack, which also injured 130 people.
Among the dead were Roth, an Australia-born 15-year-old who also held US citizenship, and Shoshana Yehudit Greenbaum, an American tourist who was expecting her first child.
I hope that she’ll be extradited, though I also think it likely that Hamas will find a place for her outside of Jordan or Palestine. I also think that the upcoming meeting with Trump, who would probably demand extradition on pain of punishment, might have spurred Jordan to take this move. Now remember that she was one of 1,027 Hamas and Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in return for a single Israeli soldier, and you’ll get an idea of the lengths to which Israel will go to get back a hostage.
*The NYT reports on a paper in Current Biology (pdf here) suggesting that members of Australopithecus afarensis, of which “Lucy” was a specimen, could not only walk erect, but run, though not very fast:
More than three million years after her death, the early human ancestor known as Lucy is still divulging her secrets.
In 2016, an autopsy indicated that the female Australopithecus afarensis, whose partial remains were found in Ethiopia in 1974 and is considered the most complete hominin fossil found to date, died from a fall out of a tree. Seven years later, a virtual reconstruction of her leg and pelvic muscles — which are not preserved in fossils — revealed that she stood about three and a half feet tall, weighed between 29 and 93 pounds, and was capable of standing and walking upright, similar to modern humans.
A new study published in the journal Current Biology proposes that Lucy was capable of running, too. But she would not have been much of a marathoner and might have struggled to keep up with a contemporary couch potato in a 100-yard dash. “She was not a natural runner,” said Karl Bates, an evolutionary biomechanics researcher at the University of Liverpool and lead author of the paper. “In all probability, she could run only through short bursts of energy rather than long-distance chases.”
The fossil, which dates to 3.2 million years ago and represents 40 percent of Lucy’s skeleton, is often described as having a mix of human and ape features. “Her overall body size was much smaller than ours and her upper body larger, with longer arms and shorter legs,” Dr. Bates said. “Even after correction for differences in body size, she would have been much slower than people.” His team’s conclusions bolster the hypothesis that the ability of humans to run long distances is an adaptation that gave them an advantage in acquiring prey.
. . . The estimate for Lucy’s top running speed — with humanlike muscle configurations — was a relatively modest 11 m.p.h. That is roughly what a domestic pig could achieve over a quarter-mile, but far slower than modern humans, whose sprinting speeds often exceed 18 m.p.h. and peak at more than 27 m.p.h. in elite athletes. Dr. Bates speculated that in a 100-meter race, Usain Bolt, the world-record holder at that distance, would have beaten Lucy by somewhere between 50 and 80 meters.
Well, Lucy was just a tad erect from being a knuckle-walker, and knuckle-walkers don’t run very fast. The musculature and body conformation producing greater running speed would require the evolution of a posture more erect than Lucy had:
Here’s a video from Tik Tok:
@newscientist How fast could this ancient human ancestor run? 🦴🏃🏾♂️ Karl Bates at the University of Liverpool in the UK and his colleagues have, for the first time, attempted to determine how fast Lucy’s species, Australopithecus afarensis, could run by creating a 3D digital robot of the ancient hominin. It turns out she would have been no match for modern humans in a running race… Tap the link in bio to learn more #humanevolution #ancienthumans #hominin #lucyhominin #ancienthumansrunning #3drobot
*I went through the Panama Canal on a cruise ship a while back (actually, we just cruised to the lake and back out, but I was delighted to do that as I always wanted to see how it worked. Our ship barely made the width, but of course there are now two canals. At any rate, I remember the captain telling us it cost a lot of money to go through the 50-mile journal. Now a NYT piece dealing with Trump’s unhinged efforts to take back the canal, tells us how much it costs, and also some political stuff.
The cost of using the Panama Canal has risen in recent years — excessively so, President Trump has asserted. The canal operator says droughts, investments in upgrades and sheer demand are among the reasons.
But if Mr. Trump wrests lower canal fees out of Panama, American consumers may not feel much difference, because canal costs make up only a small part of the retail cost of most goods. One analysis concludes that going through the canal adds 10 cents to the cost of a coffee maker.
Panama Canal shipping fees were not a big issue until Mr. Trump raised the matter last year.
As well as highlighting the costs of using the canal, American politicians have security concerns. They point out that China has made big investments in Panama’s infrastructure and that a Hong Kong company operates ports at both the Atlantic and Pacific ends of the canal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a visit to Panama on Sunday, appeared to escalate those security concerns with Panama’s leader.
Two things here. First, other countries operate ports as well. As far as I know, China is completely incapable of impeding shipping through the canal. Second, the reason ships use the canal is to save time and money from having to go around Cape Horn. Second, if going through the Canal saves money, how can it add ten cents to the cost of a coffee maker? Compared to what: going around South America. This is bad reporting. But onto the cost:
The canal authority did not respond to requests for a list of historical tolls and fees or other comment. But it annually discloses how much it collects from ships using the canal. That has surged in recent years by far more than the number of journeys through the waterway.
In the 12 months through September 2023, the latest figures available, tolls and service fees totaled $4.8 billion, 62 percent higher than five years earlier. Over that period, passages through the canal rose only 2 percent, to 14,080 from 13,795 in 2018.
As a result, in 2023, the canal on average collected $341,000 a vessel, compared with $215,000 in 2018 — a 59 percent jump.
$341,000 is a lot of dough. If a cruise ship has 241 passengers on it, each of them is costing the ship $1000 to go through (I was lecturing and didn’t pay for the trip.) But it must cost even more to go around Cape Horn. Or, if it doesn’t, there is the huge expenditure of time doing the South American route, and, for a ship, time is money.
*Finally, I’d love to write for the AP “Oddities” section, as there are plenty of oddities in this world but not that much turnover in the section. The latest is a deer-calling contest that takes place annually in Dortmund, Germany. Contestants have to do three different kinds of calls (see the bit I’ve bolded below):
German hunters tried to convince the jury at a national stag calling championship that they can imitate a bellowing red deer most realistically.
The unique tradition goes back hundreds of years and was initially aimed at feigning a stag’s rival during the rutting season so the deer comes out. The trick gave hunters a chance to better assess the stag before deciding whether to shoot it.
The competition took place Friday at the Jagd & Hund, or hunting and dog, trade fair in the western city of Dortmund. There were no animals, only bellowing men wearing traditional hunters’ garb including green hats with a tuft of chamois hair.
The hunters used specially made ox horns, triton snail shells, glass cylinders, the hollow stems of the giant hogweed, and a number of artificially produced instruments to amplify the sound and resonance.
A stag’s vocalizations are not only very diverse, but also vary according to age, state of mind and duration of the rut, during which they become increasingly hoarse, as well as the mood of the herd, according to the organizers.
In Dortmund, the hunters were asked to compete in three disciplines: the call of the old, searching stag, the call of the dominant male in a pack of does, and the calling duel between two equally strong stags at the height of the rut. The members of the jury listened with closed eyes to make sure nothing would distract them from the sound.
“The stag calling for me, it’s the fascinating thing to play with the stags,” said Fabian Wenzel, who won the championship. “And maybe shoot an old stag after calling him — that’s the biggest thing for every hunter.”
Wenzel, a hunter from the small village of Nüdlingen in Bavaria, won the title for the fifth time in a row and will participate in the European Stag Calling Championships, which will take place in Lithuania in October.
Here’s a Tik Tok video:
@metrouk Welcome to the ‘Stag Calling’ Championships… Where German hunters compete against each other to see, you guessed it, who can make the best ‘stag call’. #news #stagcall #deer #fyp #metro #metrouk
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is paranoid!
Hili: It’s not time to get out of the wardrobe.Andrzej: Why?Hili: There are plenty of enemies everywhere.
Hili: To nie jest czas na wychodzenie z szafy.
Ja: Dlaczego?
Hili: Wszędzie pełno wrogów.
*******************
From Things With Faces, a scary door:
From Jesus of the Day:
From Cat Memes:
From Luana; the Brits are quashing free speech again:
🚨 A man has been arrested in Manchester after a video appeared to show him burning pages of the Quran. He remains in custody, reportedly on suspicion of a “racially aggravated public order offence”.
England abolished its blasphemy laws in 2008 — yet this arrest raises serious… pic.twitter.com/wvHTdWRBAC
— The Free Speech Union (@SpeechUnion) February 3, 2025
From cesar: Democrats taking equity to its absurd limit:
I can’t believe what I just listened to. The DNC Leader interrupted the party election to tell members that not enough non-binary candidates have been elected, so they MUST now vote for one.
“With the results of the previous four elections, our elected officers are currently two… pic.twitter.com/8CelMVzyE6
— George (@BehizyTweets) February 1, 2025
From Simon, an accurate portrayal of tariffs:
Oh Canada!Cartoon by Bruce MacKinnon
— Larry the Cat (@number10cat.bsky.social) 2025-02-03T16:40:53.122Z
From Malcolm. Is this cat sulking or was it given a time out?
who hurt him?!?! pic.twitter.com/2bIEDunwKa
— Punch Cat (@PunchingCat) December 23, 2024
From my feed; a good-tempered kitty on a plane. I’d also pay more to set next to it!
I would pay more to sit beside this cat pic.twitter.com/w5apz7PTtd
— Posts Of Cats (@PostsOfCats) February 2, 2025
From the Auschwitz Memorial, one that I posted. Look up Mann on Wikipedia.
This story is most likely true, though there are some questions about it and Mann. Look her up on Wikipedia. At any rate, the Germans killed her.
— Jerry Coyne (@evolutionistrue.bsky.social) 2025-02-04T11:17:55.022Z
Two tweets from Dr. Cobb. First, nice insect photos (check the link):
Taking a break from doomscrolling by looking at these beautiful photos http://www.royensoc.co.uk/photography-…
— Gwen Pearson (@bug-gwen.bsky.social) 2025-02-01T21:36:46.427Z
Did you know that some corals can walk?
It’s not just sponges that move!
Trumps signing of the tariff EO against Canada didn’t get him much, he managed to create a new symbolic position “Border Czar” everything else was announced in December.
All of that chaos and destroying relations with a close ally over something he could have got if he bothered to pick up the phone.
Also, US banks are free to operate in Canada and many do, they just have to follow the same rules as domestic banks. The reason you don’t see US banks in the retail space is because they don’t want to. Canadian banks would rather not offer retail services, they aren’t as profitable, but, unlike US banks, the Canadian banks don’t have a choice.
And a commitment to deploy 10k troops to the border, no? Not to mention his fourth diplomatic victory.
Canada already has 8500 personel at the border, also Canada has not committed to 10000 troops, just border agents (which includes the existing 8500).
In the announcement in December the Canadians were open to discussions on how to improve the plan, if he wanted more border agents he could have just asked. Trump said, repeatedly, that there was nothing Canada could do to avoid tariffs, apparently, slightly tweaking an existing plan is all it took. This isn’t good negotiation. This isn’t a win. This is just chaos for the sake of chaos.
I generally think we shouldn’t try too hard to disabuse trump of the notion that he won something, let him have his win.
As for the fourth win, I am only commenting on the Canada side of this, because, as a Canadian, this is where I was most aware of the current state of things and where I see the most obvious failure of Trumps version of negotiation.
Threatening your closest ally with economic punishment for this tiny concession? Pathetic.
Canadian Plan from December:
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2024/12/government-of-canada-announces-its-plan-to-strengthen-border-security-and-our-immigration-system.html
Note that it includes the 24/7 eyes on the border, and proposes a joint task force.
The Canadian commentator Terry Glavin thinks the whole tariff thing had nothing to do with the border but it’s a way to raise money to pay for the tax cuts Trump has promised his billionaire buddies.
Yes, that’s why Trump wants the tariffs. He thinks they’ll pay for everything: tax cuts, federal income tax, universal childcare, trade deficits. The fact that he changed the reason to stopping fentanyl is simply a cop-out. But we’ll see what he does in 30 days. Musk et al. is busy dismantling the federal government and its work force while Trump is creating his shiny objects to distract.
Maybe true. Mr. Glavin also says that you can’t have [tariff-]free trade with a slave state, either.
https://therealstory.substack.com/p/living-to-fight-another-day-f9a
Since this is on the other side of his paywall I’ll quote briefly:
Cardinal rule: You can’t have free trade with slave states. Break that rule and the next thing you know you’re [sic] industrial heartlands are blighted hellscapes populated by fentanyl zombies and oxycontin addicts, in a dirty long-term degeneration stickhandled by giant tyranny-serving consulting firms like Liberal insider Dominic Barton’s Mckinsey & Company.
(This is a vintage Glavin sentence. Ouch.)
If tariffs were effective in re-shoring manufacturing, they would generate no revenue at all as customers could avoid the tariffs entirely by buying only from domestic suppliers everything they needed. A resourceful economy like the United States could probably do without imports at all, given time to adjust supply chains. Actors would not do that absent the tariffs because imports are often cheaper — that’s why we import things — but if the United States was determined not to import and imposed high tariffs to do so, people would not go without. Look how successful many countries much poorer than the United States are at coping with economic sanctions, which work much like tariffs.
Imports of raw materials that aren’t found inside America’s borders can’t be avoided. But the cost of bulk potash, nickel ore, logs of spruce, and even pitchblende constitute such a small part of the total retail cost of stuff made (or generated) from them that tariffs on them don’t affect consumer prices very much. And if you don’t want foreign uranium, there’s always domestic coal.
Tariffs are like carbon taxes. If a carbon tax is fully successful in achieving zero emissions — its stated goal — then it will likewise generate no revenue. That’s why governments either rebate the take from carbon taxes as redistribution or spend it on non-essential frills. The revenue can’t be counted on for essentials like health care: the more consumers respond in the incented direction, the less tax comes in. So you can’t use carbon taxes for the obvious purpose to subsidize windmills. As soon as the carbon tax take falls (if it works) the subsidy for the windmills dries up and they go bust.
Governments don’t like taxes that can be legally avoided, by not buying imported goods and not burning fossil fuel. Better are taxes that go up with income or consumption (or both!)
Yes lots of good points.
The Islamicisation of Britain is slowly and gradually progressing. There’s no way the police are nowadays going to allow the burning of a Koran, or anything that offends Muslims. And here’s The Critic magazine saying that Political Islam is already in Britain.
Our elected leaders all seem to think that this is a good thing, or at least something that we can’t or shouldn’t oppose. “Diversity is our strength” we’re told (just like it is in Northern Ireland).
The really important thing, according to the Labour government, is not to support free speech, but to clamp down on “Islamophobia”. And they’ve just relaxed controls on immigration; all while the government’s own figures show that non-Western immigrants are a net fiscal negative, even during their working age.
Labour have a net approval rating of minus 40. And the upstart “Reform” party, the only one opposed to population replacement at a rate of 2% a year (yes, it really has been that high) are now ahead in the polls.
And unlike in the US, white British people are the indigenous people of the UK. So it’s not like the Arab Muslims have some moral claim to that land.
No one has a claim to land other than one he can enforce with (threat of) violence. But as Douglas Murray says, if Britons ever decide they want to decolonize, “Welcome to Hell.”
Yes, Britain is very different to the USA. From about the end of the viking invasions, for about 1000 years until after WW2, the population was very settled.
In that entire thousand-year period until ~ 1960 there were only about 20,000 immigrants total. 99.9% of British people’s grandparents and great-grandparents had all lived here.
Over the last few years, that many have been arriving, not every 1000 years, but every week.
So no Normans or Saxons, to name two?
Saxons were before the Vikings (about AD400 to AD600). The Norman invasion in 1066 is reckoned to be the last of the Viking invasions (Normans were Vikings who had settled in Northern France). The number of people who came with the Norman invasion and then settled was low, only about 1000. They replaced the nobility but had little effect on the overall population. The main Viking invasions were up to about AD 930, and after that the population of the British Isles didn’t change much for the next 1000 years.
Expanding on cesar/george xtweet on dnc s**t show please check article in this morning’s TFP at https://www.thefp.com/p/trump-20-a-survival-guide-for-democrats?utm_source=substack&utm
Good quote from barney frank in there. This is pitiful.
From The Free Press:
Ruy Teixeira: Trump 2.0: A Survival Guide for Democrats. February 4, 2025
https://archive.ph/OsOhK
For paragraph 1 of this article (partially eclipsed in the archived version):
https://www.thefp.com/p/trump-20-a-survival-guide-for-democrats
The Dems don’t get it (neither does the left in Canada).
From another site I follow, the writer describes how her female Representative insists on voting AGAINST Trump’s new regulation to stop biological males competing in women’s sports.
“Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 28, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025. I appreciate hearing from you.
“H.R. 28 would open the door to invasive surveillance and physical inspections of young women and girls as a condition of their participation in sports.”
https://www.thefemalecategory.com/p/betty-mccollum-democrat-lies-to-people
Have you watched the linked video? There is nothing in there about needing a non-binary candidate to be elected. The author of this X-creation pulls his interpretation out of his posterior nether region.
To add the the issue of police arresting the man for burning a Koran, I believe they also released his name and address.
The practical issue here is this: is allowing Koran burning in secular democratic countries like the UK, Denmark, Sweden, etc., worth the reaction in some Muslim countries. These reactions include having one’s embassy attacked in a Muslim country, etc.
See here:
Not much of a strategy, whatever the burner was trying to accomplish. Point taken.
Edit: It’s going to be one of those days. Can’t spell my own name.
Isn’t attacking an embassy (or allowing it to be attacked) a strong violation of international treaties? How badly does Denmark need to suck up to “some Muslim countries”? Is deadly force by embassy guards allowed under the treaties?
Just as well PZ Meyers didn’t do his Koran vandalization stunt in the UK, 15 years ago, or whenever it was.
And they weirdly also released his date of birth.
Strange how accused rapists and other vile criminals never get all those details released to the media upon bail.
It really is a blasphemy law by stealth that is being enacted.
Will the British people protest or accept the new Islamification of their country?
RE George and the DNC, if one listens to the clip it is clear that no one is claiming that a non-binary person needs to be elected. I think George missed the IF statement.
Even worse, the “any gender” isn’t nonbinary but includes male and female. The rules only state, that out of the three positions one needs to be male and one needs to be female.
We need more parties in this country. Republicans are going totalitarian and the Democrats are committed to the religion of Wokeism. I can’t support either one in good conscience.
I did not vote for either and so far I think that was the best decision to make. Unfortunately.
And to those who say not voting was a vote for Trump I say he has nothing to worry about until the Dems make common sense changes.
Actually the thing that would likely remove him from power would be his own actions. But the left will likely come to his rescue.
For readers who still have interest in space as the place, Space.com points out this morning that five space launches are scheduled in this 24-hour period including a Bezos Blue Origin New Shepard uncrewed currently scheduled for 1100 EST. Article at https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/new-record-coming-5-rockets-scheduled-to-launch-in-next-24-hours
Thanks! Is five in 24 hrs a record?
oh wait. says so right in the headline
Just watched live. Sub-orbital flight. Booster set down successfully and vertical on a pad two miles from launch site…not a spacex chopsticks catch but booster appears healthy and ready to refurbish for reuse. Capsule landed in desert also but under parachutes.
A few years ago I saw that Sbarro bombing female boasting on Arabic TV in Amman.
Stunning. Can’t wait to see her in irons on a plane: Welcome to America, you’ll be here for a looong time.
Trump’s tariffs are stupid but a LOT of the other stuff that is happening pleases me.
A lot of it is vibe shift and nudging people to start solving collective action problems.
(DEI and even the trans cult are a lot like that – there’s moral permission to oppose them now. Or as Pinker notes the emperor has no clothes.
D.A.
NYC
The British Isles have been invaded numerous times over the centuries: Romans; Angles, Saxons, and Jutes; Vikings; and Normans. These invasions involved violent confrontations. Britain is again being invaded but, in this instance, the invaders are being allowed in without a fight.
I am not opposed to diversity, and while it may sometimes be a strength, I believe that, generally speaking, it is a weakness. People tend to work better with those like them than with those who are not.
It makes no sense for European countries to allow their own principles to be used against them; furthermore, it makes no sense for them to welcome others, but to not protect their own cultures – others do this, and, in my opinion, rightfully so. Try moving to an Islamic country, disrespect their culture, and see what happens. Immigrants must be willing to conform to their host country. If Sharia Law is the way to go, let its adherents practice that in their own backyards. Unfortunately, those groups who try to protect British culture (e.g., BNP; Britain First) are branded as racists and xenophobes.
I am hopeful that some day, the veil will be removed from the eyes of blind, and they will see the light – before it is too late.
Robert Putnam’s research, though he tried to downplay it and even suppressed it for a while, found that diversity is more harmful than good.
Tough guy Trump needs to get tougher and jail illegal drug users. Sure, give them treatment, but do so behind bars. The same medical community that believes a man can become a woman also tells us addiction is a disease. BS. In most cases, it’s a choice. Trump doesn’t drink alcohol. Trump doesn’t take drugs. Neither do I, so in most cases, it can be done.
I appreciate the pledge of increased National Guard troops at the border from president Sheinbaum and the pledged increase anti-drug actions from prime minister Trudeau.
Canada and Mexico are working to reduce the supply side of the illegal drug problem. Trump, start working the demand side.
Good point. Disease or no disease, the drug addicted in my city are doing far more harm to business owners and everyday citizens in the way of theft, vandalism, squatting (and all it entails) than the illegal immigrants. I also want business owners sited and fined for hiring people who have no legal right to work here. We used to check for such documentation and upon every hire were required to file paperwork proving we’d done so. I don’t know what became of that requirement.
How do illegal aliens get social-security numbers so that employers can remit payroll and income taxes to the IRS which they deducted from the workers’ paycheques?
I don’t know, Leslie. I was taught how to detect fake SS cards when I hired people and, obviously, not grant employment to those with counterfeit cards, but I honestly don’t know where people obtain fake documentation.
People hawk them on the street where I live (Los Angeles.)
I just remembered something that’s commonly done here in Tucson (it was done to me, in fact)… People will work under other people’s SS#. It’s a form of identity theft. One year when I went to file taxes I discovered that someone had been working at various restaurants and plant nurseries using my SS#. It caused me a world of trouble. From where did they obtain my #? Did they possess a counterfeit card with my # on it? These are things I never found out. This happened to me in 2005. I forgot about it.
I wrote my law school thesis on Uses and Abuses of the Social Security Number (and its history at law).
Short version: Do all you can, all the time, to keep yours as private as you can. Some places use it as a default number (some stores, some DMVs).
Deny. Cause a fuss. Be difficult. Flex your inner Karen!
Beyond tax preparers never give it to a private party or person.
You HAVE to give it when you get a passport however.
D.A.
NYC
Only 1% of fentanyl comes from Canada, so nothing Trudeau does will really matter. 10,000 troops at the southern border won’t do anything either as the vast majority of fentanyl is smuggled via Americans through American check-points and they’re not subject to the Mexican army. Mexico sends thousands of troops to the border all the time, this 10,000 is nothing new. I think they sent 15,000 in 2019 for ostensibly the same reason; that didn’t decrease the fentanyl since again, the Mexican National Guard doesn’t check Americans at American checkpoints. This is all just show to make Trump feel tough and that he won something. It’s just performative and Sheinbaum and Trudeau know how to play Trump (as do most world leaders).
And besides, Trump said he wanted these tariffs to make Americans a whole bunch of money. No more Income Tax! They will balance our trade deficits! They’ll pay for universal child care (remember that “town hall” promise?). He never said the tariffs were to start a negotiation to limit fentanyl. What gives? Where’s this vaunted Golden Age the tariffs are supposed to usher in? If he believes in the tariffs like he said, he should never have lifted them.
“addiction is a disease. BS. In most cases, it’s a choice.”
Sorry, but if you know nothing of their history you nothing about their “choices”
…. of severely abused young children in adulthood or a Viet Nam vet (any war vet) with PTSD left to fend for themselves, trauma affected road accident victims that don’t get the appropriate support, depression.
I agree. Not a choice. Addiction medicine is a complicated area and most people only see the “public” side.
D.A.
NYC
Katie Herzog has a new book in pre-sales about her struggle with alcohol addiction and the medical treatment with naltrexone that helped her. The BARpod episode where she told her story was riveting.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reflector/id1743666262
I don’t think that poor kitty is sulking, I think he’s seriously ill. When cats press their heads against walls or the ground, they should be brought to a vet. Head pressing can be caused by seizures, tumors or infections like meningitis. He is likely in pain, confused, or dazed. Poor thing.
I found the paper on Lucy fascinating. Her whole musculature not streamlined for long distance running. Especially with the short achilles and low stance.
As far as Trump, I agree with some of the things he has done, others I find absolutely abhorrent such as the firing of DOJ people that were involved in January 6th just doing their job or letting the demonstrators out of jail. Violent people most.
It is the way he bullies and can change on a dime if he gets a benefit out of it I find deeply troubling.
He is not stable and not a genius.
From the paragraph above about Lucy
Between 29 and 93 pounds????? That appeared to me as a very unscientifc way of presenting a mass in a scientific paper, and seemed too broad to be of any use in concluding definitive aspects about Lucy’s capabilities.
I downloaded the pdf mentioned and searched for “pounds”. Nothing. A search for “kg” turned up the following
It appears that the NYT, in converting those difficult to understand kilograms to pounds, used an abacus with flat batteries.
Love the bug pics you linked at
https://www.royensoc.co.uk/photography-competition-2024/
D.A.
NYC
My wife made curried cauliflower, potato, and kale soup last night (ingredients combined), which was amazing, and we’re having a fennel broccoli soup later in the week. Her soups are all 100% homemade, except for adding some chicken broth. They are so amazing that they might just change your mind regarding broccoli and kale!
I very much hope that Ahlam Tamimi is extradited to the U.S. We’ve been waiting for her for a long time. Of course the types of exchanges that led to her release into Jordan are reprehensible. Israelis place high value on the lives of their citizens. Maybe President Trump can convince (strong-arm) King Abdullah II to extradite Tamimi when they meet.
And the DNC Leader (the above video) is doing an excellent job sabotaging the Democratic Party’s chances in 2026 and 2028.
My wife and I both enjoy home-made soups. Hers are chunkier than mine; she does a great Tuscan bean soup, and recently came up with a chickpea soup with kale (yes, it changed my mind about the latter!) and a chorizo garnish.
I tend to make smoother soups, eg borscht, butternut squash and ginger, or Jerusalem artichoke. The flavour of that one is heavenly, although Jerusalems can cause severe intestinal wind in susceptible folks. Best to avoid if you expect to be sharing a small space with other people in the near future.
OMG. Sounds good! My wife also makes wonderful borscht, butternut squash soup, and garbanzo bean soup. We’re big soup fans. One can make a big pot of the stuff and it can last for several days, getting tastier and tastier as the flavors marinate.
I’d love your wife’s soups since I, too, am a fan of the brassica veggies. I’m usually less creative with my own cooking, however, and usually resort to nothing fancier than a broccoli soup with grated cheddar on top.
If anyone is looking to expand their soup horizons, I would suggest Asparagus soup with lavender. I’ve never made it myself, but it is one of the soups de jour (probably terrible French on my part) at a lovely little French restaurant in my town that is owned by a woman from Alsace. Until I had her soup, I didn’t even know that lavender is edible, but I can report that it’s wonderful.
Another pastime of Mrs P is growing lavender. So thanks for the tip!
You have to use the right lavender other wise it will taste yucky and may cause a tummy upset.
I think it’s English lavender that is acceptable.
I do a roast chicken and lavender meal. Can thoroughly recommend it as herb for flavour.
Soup not so often but still good to keep stocks handy – good to add then reduce down on e.g. some BBQ style green beans – other things…
Pasta and beans more often (“pasta fazool”).
I have a pork tamale recipe which has a sort of soup as a broth for the tamale dough – wicked good.
Combining Tr*mp, hunting and ducks mentioned separately above, it seems that Junior Don shot a pile of ducks in Venice, incl a protected Ruddy Duck.
When my kids were growing up, we called Sbarro Pizza, “Terrorist Pizza”. A black joke to be sure. The real story of the Sbarro bombing is actually worse. Hamas built a shrine celebrating the Sbarro bombing in Nablus. Arafat ordered that the shrine be taken down. See “The grotesque shrine “celebrating” the Sbarro massacre at An-Najah University” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyZH8zkjwEg). As for “Ahlam Tamimi”, she is just evil. Quote about her (from Wikipedia) “Reportedly, when she first learned from a journalist who was interviewing her in prison that she had murdered eight children, not just three as she had initially believed, she just smiled broadly and continued with the interview.”
I hadn’t even considered that Lucy might be unable to run. In her world, this was a vital skill.