Welcome to the Sabbath for goyische cats: Sunday, February 16, 2025, and National Almond Day. Here is a three-minute video with Fun Facts About Almonds:
It’s also a thin day for ccelebrating, only National Syrah Day. But it is an excellent wine, known as “Shiraz” in the Antipodes.
Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the February 16 Wikipedia page.
Da Nooz:
*The NYT has two stories (here and here) about how Manhattan prosecutors resigned rather than drop the corruption case against NYC mayor Eric Adams.
About two dozen lawyers in the Justice Department’s public integrity section conferred on Friday morning to wrestle with a demand from a Trump political appointee that many of them viewed as improper: One of them needed to sign the official request to dismiss corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams.
The acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove III, told the shellshocked staff of the section responsible for prosecuting public corruption cases that he needed a signature on court motions. The lawyers knew that those who had already refused had resigned, and they could also be forced out.
By Friday afternoon, a veteran prosecutor in the section, Ed Sullivan, agreed to submit the request in Manhattan federal court to shield his colleagues from being fired, or resigning en masse, according to three people briefed on the interaction, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
The filing landed in the court docket Friday evening, bearing the name of Mr. Sullivan and that of a criminal division supervisor as well as the signature of Mr. Bove.
On Thursday, six lawyers — the Trump-appointed acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and five prosecutors in Washington — resigned rather than accede to Mr. Bove’s demands. On Friday, a seventh stepped down, writing in his resignation letter that only a “fool” or a “coward” would sign off on the dismissal.
But those close to the public integrity section prosecutors described Mr. Sullivan’s decision to put his name on the document as heroic. The reason for someone to sign it is to protect others, said one of the people with knowledge of Friday’s call.
Before being summoned for the tense meeting, lawyers in the section debated their bad options, but came to increasingly believe that someone should step forward to save the jobs of the others, people familiar with the discussions said.
Mr. Bove, speaking on a video call, demanded that the court motions be signed within an hour, according to people later briefed on the conversation, leaving participants with the impression that they might face disciplinary action if no one complied.
Lawyers in the section understand that the outcome is in many ways already determined: Judges have little discretion but to ultimately accept such a motion. Nevertheless, it appears increasingly likely that the trial judge may hold a hearing to question department officials about the decision. Such a hearing could be difficult and embarrassing for the department’s new leaders.
If there was a “tit for tat” deal, with Adams agreeing to enforce Trumpian policy for stuff like immigration in return for a judge dropping the charges against him, that would be disastrous for both Adams and Bove. My prediction: given the kerfuffle and increasing outcry, Adams will resign with a few weeks.
The paper gives a diagram of part of what happened:
*Hamas released three Israeli hostages yesterday after Trump threatened Big Time Misery if they didn’t, and Hamas backed off.
Freed hostages Sagui Dekel-Chen, Sasha Troufanov and Iair Horn crossed back into Israel on Saturday morning after being paraded on a stage in southern Gaza in a propaganda-filled release ceremony by the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups that held them captive for 498 days.
Troufanov, who had been held by Islamic Jihad, was the first to emerge from a vehicle and be led onto the stage. Dekel-Chen and Horn, who had been held by Hamas, were then brought up, with both of them clad in black and cream sweatsuits, a shift from the previous hostage release where the men were dressed as prisoners or soldiers.
Dekel-Chen and Horn both looked thin and pale, and Horn appeared to be limping. But the three appeared to be in a better physical condition than the three severely emaciated hostages who were released last week in images that shocked Israel and sparked an outpouring of anger.
On stage all three men were made to give short speeches in Hebrew, urging the Israeli government to continue with the next phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal and to bring all the hostages home.
They were then handed over to members of the Red Cross, who transported them to IDF soldiers at a second location within the Gaza Strip. From there, they were transported to Israel for initial medical checks and to reunite with their families.
And Hamas got lots of terrorists released: 369 Palestinian prisoners, among whom were 36 serving life sentences for terrorism. Here’s who remains to be released in the first phase:
With six rounds of hostage-prisoner releases completed in the ongoing Gaza ceasefire deal as of Saturday, there are 14 Israeli hostages still supposed to be set free in the first phase.
Days into the truce, which began in January, family members of several hostages slated to be released from Gaza in the coming weeks expressed dread over their loved ones’ fates after Hamas conveyed information saying that eight of the 33 hostages on the original list are dead.
Following the release of the information, those families were informed by the military that Hamas’s information aligned with previous assessments and there were dire concerns about their fates.
Of the 33 hostages agreed to be released in phase 1 of the cease-fire, 14 remain. But Hamas has said (and the IDF agrees) that eight of the 14 are dead. Here are those that remain, and eight people in the photos below are dead. I’m betting that they include Shari Bibas (lower left) and her two children.
With six rounds of hostage-prisoner releases completed in the ongoing Gaza ceasefire deal as of Saturday, there are 14 Israeli hostages still supposed to be set free in the first phase.
Days into the truce, which began in January, family members of several hostages slated to be released from Gaza in the coming weeks expressed dread over their loved ones’ fates after Hamas conveyed information saying that eight of the 33 hostages on the original list are dead.
Following the release of the information, those families were informed by the military that Hamas’s information aligned with previous assessments and there were dire concerns about their fates.
*In his latest column, “Shock and Awe Month,” Andrew Sullivan assesses Trump’s first 30 days in office, and doesn’t like what he sees.
And front and center: a drug-fueled, sleep-addled billionaire, commandeering the Oval Office, offering half-baked political theories, threatening judges with impeachment, tweeting at the pace of an adderall-addicted gamer, and holding press conferences with a toddler on his shoulders, where he tells the world he cannot be trusted to tell the truth. I guess there are some people who find all this deeply impressive. I’m sorry to say that, despite agreeing with some of Trump’s policy planks, I don’t.
Which brings me back to “shock and awe.” You may recall those words were also once used by a previous administration, huffing its own fumes, bent on breaking norms and boldly declaring a new era. We know now, of course, how the Iraq War ended. And it’s beginning to look as if Trump 2.0 will have something like the same result.
Take DOGE. First off: is this what Trump really ran on? Slashing government spending is a Ryan/Romney type of Republicanism, not Trumpism. Trump, like Karl Rove, has never cared about deficits. “I’m the King of Debt,” he once bragged in a rare lapse into honesty. In his first term, Trump ran up the deficit with glee; and in the first 30 days of this term, his spending per day is $4 billion higher than Biden’s was a year ago. Go read Riedl for how Trump is set to bankrupt the US still further.
Speaking of which: next up are massive tax cuts for the wealthy — paid for by huge cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. Just what Trump’s new multiracial working-class coalition wants! In a Fox News poll, only 1 percent of Americans favored “tax reform” as a Trump priority. I doubt “tax cuts” would get even that.
More to the point, Musk is doing nothing serious to actually cut the deficit. Of course he isn’t: 90 percent of government spending is outside his remit. And where does this guy cut? A program, PEPFAR, that is a rare example of a hugely successful, cost-efficient program; and an entity, the CFPB, which was the only thing that empowered the little guy against big financial corporations after 2008. Populism reborn! Please.
Worse, Musk has cut and fired first, often illegally, and asked questions after — which leaves everything vulnerable to being reversed as soon as the courts weigh in. Has he uncovered rampant fraud, as he and Trump insist? None they’ve shown us. Is the goal to get a case to SCOTUS to affirm the executive’s control of the purse? Maybe. But meantime, many of the EOs are simply and easily being reversed by the courts.
. . . . Imagine what they might have done. Trump could have announced that Musk and his minions were going in to audit the federal government. Within a few months, they’d bring a report, outlining every insane piece of waste or DEI excess or fraud they could find. Trump would then urge Congress to vote on these reforms. Win, win, win. It’s a great idea to shake up the joint with an outsider! But nah. They are busy ensuring that any cuts they make are brutal, dumb, and destined to expire.
Immigration? As of now, we’ve seen no major change since Biden’s executive order restoring control. The border is extremely quiet. Deportations? The pace of arrests is up but still only around a third of the levels Trump promised. Give him time, of course, but so far: underwhelming. Foreign policy? A man who pledged to keep the US from getting into quagmires abroad now wants the US to take over — checks notes — Gaza, ethnically cleanse its inhabitants, and give it all to Jared and his friends to make money. He also wants to invade and occupy … Greenland! In talking to Russia, he has begun by blessing Putin’s conquered territories in Eastern Ukraine in advance — for nothing in return. What a negotiator!
He gives Trump low marks for inflation (it’s up) and higher marks for DEI (it’s down). Nor is he a fan of RFK. Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard. His assessment of the first month: “It’s pathetic.” I pretty much agree with him.
*An individual from one of the few indigenous tribes in the world having no contact with the outside world actually made contact with some Brazilians, but only briefly. He then voluntarily returned home.
A young man from an isolated Indigenous tribe who approached a riverine community in Brazil’s Amazon returned voluntarily to his people less than 24 hours later, Brazilian authorities said.
The encounter occurred around 7 p.m. local time Wednesday in Bela Rosa, a community along the Purus River in the southwestern Amazon. Footage obtained by The Associated Press shows him barefoot and wearing a small loincloth, seemingly calm and in good health as he carried two logs.
Locals believe the man was asking for fire. Smartphone video of the encounter showed one resident trying unsuccessfully to show the man how to use a lighter. Officials from Brazil’s Indigenous affairs agency, Funai, arrived soon after and took him to a nearby facility.
Funai said in a statement Friday that the young man returned to the forest on Thursday afternoon. It added that a team of health professionals was sent to assess if the young man had been exposed to any disease to which isolated Indigenous tribes have no immunity. They also said surveillance has been established to prevent people from reaching the isolated tribe’s location.
As a policy, Brazil does not actively seek contact with these groups but instead establishes protected and monitored areas, such as Mamoriá Grande, near where the encounter occurred.
It’s a pity that anthropologists can’t study such people; who knows what sociological wonders they’d find? But I agree that they need to be left alone, for they want to be left alone. Very few such people remain, and it’s a bit frustrating to know that they harbor a world of phenomena that we may never know about. So it goes.
*Lettie Teague, the WSJ’s wine columnist, tells us “This wine is a good aperitif.” Which wine? The wrong one!
When I describe a bottle as a good aperitif wine, I mean that it delivers on a specific set of criteria. For starters, it whets the appetite for whatever might follow. (The word aperitif derives from the Latin “to open,” after all.) For me, an aperitif wine isn’t styled to fully satisfy—and that’s no shortcoming. A wine of this kind is more like the trailer to the movie than the full film, compelling, even tantalizing, yet ultimately incomplete.
A great aperitif wine should be lively and fairly light-bodied with a brisk, refreshing acidity. Champagne typically fits this description; indeed, it’s the first wine that comes to my mind, most of the time, to open a meal. A Blanc de Blancs Champagne—a wine made entirely from white grapes—would be particularly good. Second place would be just about any other dry sparkling wine: a Crémant (the name for Champagne-method sparklers made in French wine regions that aren’t Champagne), or a good Cava from Spain.
Other wines on my aperitif shortlist include the kind that sommeliers frequently feature in the front pages of their wine lists: high-acid white wines like Sancerre, Chablis, Etna Bianco or Grüner Veltliner; even a very dry Riesling. I would shy away from a white wine with oak aging or one with flamboyant aromas, such as Gewürztraminer or dry Muscat. I’d also eschew a wine that’s high in alcohol, and I’ll even put a number on that: An aperitif wine should not exceed 13% ABV.
While I’d never say no to a rosé Champagne, I’m largely indifferent to the idea of opening with a pink wine. And I can’t think of many red wines I’d choose as an aperitif. It’s a matter of texture and flavor and, as often as not, the already cited, problematic oak. For me, red wines have too much muchness—though I have friends who drink red wines as aperitifs all the time, and some wine professionals I contacted told me they suggest red wines as aperitifs, too.
Wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong. Anybody with a sentient palate knows that the very best aperitif wine is a very dry sherry: a fino or a manzanilla. Even the cheaper ones, like La Ina or Tio Pepe are good, but for a treat try a good fino from Lustau—still not expensive. It really gets the saliva flowing before a good meal. Now some people consider the taste of a fino “medicinal” (they have to be drunk within a day after opening), and I feel sorry for such people. Nevertheless, if you’re in the market for sherry, whether it be dry, medium or sweet, Lustau is a name you can trust absolutely. Sherry remains one of the world’s great bargains in wine (yes, it’s a fortified wine, with fermentation stopped by adding alcohol).
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Andrzej is a bit worried:
Hili: What is lying here?A: Papers to burn.Hili: So why aren’t you burning them?A: Because there may be something important.
Hili: Co tu leży?Ja: Papiery do spalenia.Hili: To czemu ich nie spalisz?Ja: Bo tam może być coś ważnego.
*******************
From Things with Faces; look for the d*g:
From a set of memes on plastic straws:
From somewhere on the Internet. Trigger warning: men as pigs. But look carefully.
From Masih; Nahid Shirpisheh watched her son killed for protesting the Iranian theocracy. Then, apparently simply because relatives those murdered for political reasons pose a danger to the regime, they threw her in prison, too. She’s meeing a grim fate:
The Islamic Republic Killed Her Son, Now It’s Killing Her Too!
Nahid Shirpisheh, the mother of Pouya Bakhtiari, has attempted suicide in prison. For three weeks, her family was kept in the dark, only to learn that she attempted to take her own life last Tuesday and was then… pic.twitter.com/I1IH2zdDjE
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) February 15, 2025
Rowling hits back again, and she always wins:
It’s only February, but this will take some beating at the 2025 Batshit Take of the Year Awards.
“It’s women’s fault if trans-identified men commit sexual assault in previously women-only spaces, because by saying that’s a thing that happens, women put the idea in men’s heads.” pic.twitter.com/MEoDAmzBZX
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) February 15, 2025
From Williams; skiing near Mt. Etna as it erupts!
🚨 What’s happening in Sicily – Italy 🇮🇹 is absolutely extraordinary
Mount Etna is erupting with its summit covered in snow
Here are some explorers skiing between snow and fire!
Unprecedented pic.twitter.com/l83jsBzLul
— Mambo Italiano (@mamboitaliano__) February 13, 2025
From Barry, another hissing booth:
— _just chantel (@chantel7.bsky.social) 2025-02-14T15:32:01.692Z
From my thread, two performances from the 1985 Live Aid concert:
7. Layla – Eric Clapton pic.twitter.com/9BXyvmtfre
— 🎸 Rock History 🎸 (@historyrock_) February 15, 2025
From the Auschwitz Memorial, one that I posted:
Margot, like her sister Anne, died a miserable death in the camp, probably from typhus.
— Jerry Coyne (@evolutionistrue.bsky.social) 2025-02-16T11:00:49.357Z
Two posts from Matthew. A good way to investigate fraud, though if they find the “mystic’s” DNA in the blood, her lawyers are ready with an excuse:
Cardia’s lawyer, Solange Marchignoli, suggested that the presence of Cardia’s DNA did not rule out a supernatural phenomena.
“The DNA stain warrants further investigation,” Marchignoli told Corriere. “We are waiting to find out whether it’s a mixed or single profile.” She argued that while it was obvious there would be traces of Cardia’s DNA because she had “kissed and handled the statue”, it could have been mixed up with others, possibly even that of the Virgin Mary. “Who can say? Do you know the Madonna’s DNA?”
Italian ‘mystic’ may face trial after DNA match with bleeding Virgin Mary statue
Matthew avers that both of these Darwin quotes are genuine:
Charles Darwin the barnacle taxonomist, a story in two parts
— Zach likes bees (@zachportman.bsky.social) 2025-02-13T04:58:34.888Z
For anyone who is interested in first contact videos, I found this one fascinating.
Among other weirdness RFK Jr. is apparently not convinced of the germ theory of disease. Just what we need to make America healthy again. And it is recent RFK Jr., In his book about Fauci.
Debunk the Funk had a video about it:
Indeed! See also: (free to read)
https://pauloffit.substack.com/p/understanding-rfk-jr
We’ll see what happens in the case of New York City Mayor Eric Adams. He may end up resigning. Of course, this reminds me of President Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre.” But it also reminds me of the quid pro quo that Trump tried to forge with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, for which Trump was eventually impeached. Adam’s goes free in exchange for his cooperation in deporting illegal aliens.
And yes, the world hates Israel. When the hostages start coming back in coffins or body bags—we don’t know whether Hamas will treat the bodies with dignity or will defile them—the press will report the events in the same muted fashion that they have employed with the living hostages. The reports will say something like: “Israel releases [three digit number] prisoners in exchange for bodies of [two-digit number] hostages.” That’s about it.
I guessed that Hamas would back down. If Iran is scared of Trump (true), you can be sure that Hamas is very scared of him.
The charges against Eric Adams are weak. See “The DOJ Was Right to Dismiss the Case Against Eric Adams” in City Journal.
I disagree with Andrew Sullivan (and others). Who other than Trump would shutdown DEI? Who other than Trump would effectively oppose gender ideology? Who other than Trump would enforce our border? Let’s not pretend that any of Biden’s actions were taken for any reason other than fear of Trump. As for the Democrats, at this point, they are a lost cause. Don’t believe me? Watch “Carville: It’s Like There’s A Plant In Progressive America To See How Many Jackass, Stupid Things Democrats Can Embrace” in Real Clear Politics.
Copying JKR tweets?+1 (in my opinion).
Agree here. Biden did some very stupid things: the open border, rewriting Title IX to be based on gender identity (opening the way for men to compete in women’s sports) and of course he supported DEI. None of these had broad popular support.
(And his late term change on the border was a panic reaction to Trump’s popularity.)
Yesterday Nate Silver speculated that the Obama/Biden Democrats had misread the public mood by spending so much time on pre-Musk Twitter, which was very left wing.
Pre-Musk Twitter worshiped Gender Ideology. Dissent was not allowed. Of course, death threats were encouraged (as long as they were PC). See “JK Rowling death threat outrage: Fury as Twitter says trans activist’s sinister video ‘hoping to see author in a hearse’ has NOT breached its safety guidelines” in the Daily Mail. It gets worse. #HitlerWasRight was trending on Twitter.
Wow! Found the Daily Mail article. Trans activists are crazy!
On from yesterday’s gender discussion. Did anybody note how in the last few years “disorders” of sexual development became “different” sexual development?
This is a WPATH maneuver that seems to have taken deep root.
Quite the sleight of hand.
If you are unlucky and rare enough to have one of the few dozen DSDs (See Colin W.’s Reality’s Last Stand) you will absolutely feel the disorder in your life and medicine. It isn’t just a “difference” people can choose like putting on makeup or a dress.
D.A.
NYC
I actually had a DSD that required surgery to fix. DSDs are not a joke and should not be called “Differences in Sexual Development”.
Thanks for being so candid. There’s nothing like the voice of first-person experience. And glad it was fixable!
Almost all my adult life I’ve lived in Manhattan, before that Tokyo and Australia.
Given the quality of mayors we have had I’m willing to look the other way on Adam’s low level airline based corruption. Honestly, I’ll give him a pass especially considering he’s working against a Marxist city hall and an invasion of foreigners. Many are actual communists – you wouldn’t believe it unless you followed City Hall (I try not to).
We’ve always had a lot of foreigners – myself included – but there’s a pace and tempo we in NYC can naturally handle and recent years have pushed that badly. Too much to swallow at once.
Further… considering nearly three decades of terrible mayors Eric is doing a good job. The context: idiot Giuliani, bonkers de Blazio, fool Dinkins, etc. Only Mike Bloomberg was good. And with the trolley crazy leftists in the wings to take over from Adams, I’ll take Adams any day.
D.A.
NYC
Blasphemy! Sherry is for AFTER dinner.