Wednesday: Hili dialogoue

February 26, 2025 • 6:45 am

Welcome to a Hump Day (“Yim Humpbe” in Kanuri) : it’s Wednesday, February 26, 2025, and National Pistachio Day.  I have a nice bag that was a Coynezaa gift from a reader, and, unusually all the nuts in the bag are open. But I’ve had more depressing experiences, when a fair number of nuts in the bag aren’t open and you have to either discard them or smash them (cracking with the teeth is a bad idea!)  This was Brit Kate Quilton‘s problem, and so she headed to California to understand the unopened nuts. Note the shaking machine that can harvest 10,000 nuts by shaking a tree for just three seconds.

It’s also a thin day for holidays: just Thermos Bottle Day and Levi Strauss Day (he was born on this day in 1829).

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the February 26 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

Breaking Nooz: The House passed a GOP budget plan last night.

The House on Tuesday narrowly passed a Republican budget resolution that calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and a $2 trillion reduction in federal spending over a decade, clearing the way for major elements of President Trump’s domestic agenda.

The nearly party-line vote of 217 to 215 teed up a bitter fight within the G.O.P. over which federal programs to slash to partially finance a huge tax cut that would provide its biggest benefits to rich Americans.

It came after a head-spinning hour in which Republican leaders tried to put down a revolt among conservatives who wanted deeper spending cuts, failed to do so, canceled the budget vote and then reversed course minutes later and summoned lawmakers to call the roll.

*Trump is not having a good week as his popularity ratings are tanking, judges are blocking some of his orders (undocumented immigrants can no longer be plucked from Quaker churches), Republicans are squabbling over the budget, and there are big protests from American Republicans over the dismantling of government.  There are many articles, but here’s one about federal employees quitting rather than engage in the DOGE mishigass:

A group of 21 civil servants with technology expertise resigned on Tuesday rather than help implement an array of changes to the federal government being pushed by the billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.

The government employees had worked for the U.S. Digital Service, a technology-focused unit housed in the executive branch, that had been rebranded by Mr. Musk and President Trump as the United States DOGE Service. The resignations pared the unit, which had already been reduced by layoffs, by roughly a third.

“We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services,” the resigning group wrote in a letter addressed to Susie Wiles, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff. “We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE’s actions.”

The resignations, which were reported earlier by The Associated Press, come as Mr. Musk and his allies have begun to radically reshape the size and scope of the federal government, engaging in layoffs, ending contracts and attempting to shutter entire agencies. Most recently, Mr. Musk created confusion for millions of federal employees by issuing a directive ordering them to detail what they had worked on during the previous week as a condition of keeping their jobs. Several Trump appointees ordered employees at their agencies to ignore Mr. Musk’s directive, even as workers received contradictory information about whether they need to comply with it.

The mass resignation at the technology unit is the latest action being taken by federal workers to resist President Trump and Mr. Musk’s extreme overhaul of government. Other civil servants have engaged in public protests, filed lawsuits and even filmed staff members working for Mr. Musk’s team in an attempt to identify them.

Maybe Carville is right (see next piece); he recommends that Democrats stand aside and let Trump ruin the government before stepping up to take over.

*My favorite Democratic curmudgeon, James Carville, has a NYT op-ed called “The best thing Democrats can do in this moment.” First, the irascible Carville characterizes Republicsns:

The Republican Party is all too often effective at campaigning and winning elections, but there’s another fact about it that a lot of Americans forget: The Republican Party flat out sucks at governing. Even Tucker Carlson agrees with this. For all the huffing and puffing on the campaign trail in 2016, the first Trump administration largely amounted to tax cuts for the wealthy, 500 miles of a border wall and a destructive pandemic gone viral. George W. Bush got us into a harebrained war in Iraq and then tried to privatize Social Security while letting our financial system drive smack into the Great Recession. And George H.W. Bush governed his way into a one-term presidency because of the economy.

For round two in office, instead of prioritizing the problems he campaigned on — public safety, immigration and the border, and most of all the economy — President Trump is hellbent on dismantling the federal government. . . .

He then notes that, given the power balance, there’s nothing we Democrats can do to stop this. So Carville proffers a novel solution:

. . . . With no clear leader to voice our opposition and no control in any branch of government, it’s time for Democrats to embark on the most daring political maneuver in the history of our party: roll over and play dead. Allow the Republicans to crumble beneath their own weight, and make the American people miss us. Only until the Trump administration has spiraled into the low 40s or high 30s in public approval polling percentages should we make like a pack of hyenas and go for the jugular. Until then, I’m calling for a strategic political retreat.

The first test will come, says the Louisiana curmudgeon, when the GOP tries to pass a budget that raises the debt ceiling. What do we do? (See above; the budget passed and I haven’t heard Democratic reaction):

Already, many Democrats across the party are itching at their seams for a showdown. Instead of gearing up to fight them — as we love to do — the most radical thing we can do is nothing at all. Let the Republicans disagree with themselves publicly. Do not offer a single vote. Do not insert yourself into the discourse, do not throw a monkey wrench into the equation. Simply step away and let ‘em flirt with a default. Just when they’ve pushed themselves to the brink, and it appears they could collapse the global economy — come in and save the day. Be the competent party and not the chaos party. House Democrats know this; it’s time for everyone in our party — including the darlings who want to run in 2028 — to understand this as well. You won’t win or achieve anything meaningful going toe to toe with the Trump Administration right now.

. . . . This equation must be applied for the remainder of this year. Let the Republicans push for their tax cuts, their Medicaid cuts, their food stamp cuts. Give them all the rope they need. Then let dysfunction paralyze their House caucus and rupture their tiny majority. Let them reveal themselves as incapable of governing, and at the right moment, start making a coordinated, consistent argument about the need to protect Medicare, Medicaid, worker benefits and middle class pocketbooks. Let the Republicans crumble, let the American people see it, and wait until they need us to offer our support.

It’s a wiser approach than we pursued in the first Trump Administration, when Democrats tried and failed at the art of resistance politics.

It won’t take long: public support for this administration will fall through the floorboard. It’s already happening: Just over a month in, the president’s approval has already sunk underwater in two new polls. The people did not vote for the Department of Education to be obliterated — they voted for lower prices for eggs and milk. Democrats, let the Republicans’ own undertow drag them away.

The tide will turn, Carville says, in the November 2025 Virginia governor’s race.  Given that many fired federal workers live in that state, Carville says, “It looks set to be a resounding Republican defeat. This will be the first moment where we can take the offensive back and begin our crusade again.”  Well, perhaps.  I tend to like Carville, but remember that, while properly calling out the Democrats (his party) for wokeness, he also predicted that Kamala Harris would win.  I do agree that the best things that the Democrats can do is to play possum right now. This is good advice, but I think that many Democratic Congresspeople, seething with anger over the GOP victory, might not be able to effect this “strategic retreat.”

*This is pretty scandalous, but of course it’s the antisemitic BBC. The Free Press reports on a now-pulled documentary: “A BBC Documentary, Brought to You By Hamas.” (The subtitle is “How the British broadcaster made the terror group its silent partner in Gaza.”)

Abdullah Al-Yazouri, a 13-year-old boy living in the Gaza Strip, is a natural in front of the camera. In the BBC documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, which first aired February 17, he and other youngsters guide viewers through wrecked buildings, rubble-strewn streets, and bloody, overflowing hospitals.

The film, which the network’s website proudly billed as a report on “four young people trying to survive the Israel-Hamas war as they hope for a ceasefire,” offers “a vivid and unflinching view of life in a warzone.” There are moments of levity, befitting a doc narrated by kids: We meet Renad, 10, who runs an online cooking channel on TikTok, conjuring up delicious dishes from whatever she and her sister can gather. Elsewhere, Rana, a young woman, has given birth prematurely to a baby girl.

For the most part, though, the film is grim—and some of the footage is disturbing. A surgeon tries to save the injured arm of a child on the operating table. Soon after, he passes the bloody, amputated limb to a colleague.

The message could not be clearer: Such is the horror inflicted by the Yehud—the Arabic word for Jew, which is spoken by Palestinians in the film, but sanitized in the BBC’s translation as Israeli, per the network’s long-standing practice.

Yet now it is the BBC that’s under fire over the documentary’s fishy sources and methods. It turns out that Al-Yazouri was anything but a random child-journalist. He is the son of Dr. Ayman Alyazouri, a deputy minister in the Hamas government. It took an investigation by David Collier, a British media researcher and activist who describes himself as “100 percent Zionist,” to bring this fact to light. Though obviously pertinent information, it was not disclosed to viewers.

The ensuing uproar extended across Britain’s political spectrum and forced the BBC first to issue a correction and then to remove the film from broadcast “for further due diligence.” Lisa Nandy, the Labour government’s culture secretary, has said she will demand answers about the film from BBC bosses. Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative opposition, has written a letter to Tim Davie, the beleaguered BBC director general, demanding “a full independent enquiry” into both the Gaza film and “wider allegations of systemic BBC bias against Israel.”

. . . Much of the problem, said Cohen, stems from the BBC’s Arabic language service, some of whose reporters are especially biased against Israel. Those attitudes then percolate into the main newsroom and influence coverage by the English services, he argues. In the five months following the October 7 attacks, the BBC Arabic Service made 80 corrections of its coverage, an average of one every other day. Thirty corrections were due to reports that described towns and communities inside Israel’s pre-1967 borders as “settlements.” On three occasions BBC Arabic described Hamas and Hezbollah—both designated terror groups under British law—as “the resistance,” according to a report by CAMERA, the pro-Israel media monitoring group. “BBC bosses absolutely know that there is a systemic problem of bias at BBC Arabic,” said Cohen, “but the fact that they have not admitted it is just pure gaslighting of the Jewish community.”

As the article points out, the Beeb has “Verify, a 60-journalist unit devoted to countering ‘disinformation’.” It flopped, and big time! As Malgorzata told me, she thinks the only Western MSM more antisemitic than the BBC is the Guardian.

*Another underwater cable serving Taiwan has been cut, and it isn’t the first one. It’s almost certain that this is a tactic that China is using to terrorize the island nation before they try to take it over (the target date, it’s rumored, is 2027). This time, though, the Taiwanese have detained the crew of a Chinese ship:

Taiwan detained a cargo ship and its eight Chinese crew members after an undersea fiber-optic cable was severed, in a stepped-up effort to police such incidents, which are often seen as part of China’s pressure campaign targeting the self-ruled island.

Taiwan’s coast guard said the incident was being handled as a national security matter and that deliberate sabotage hadn’t been ruled out. A string of such episodes has called attention to Taiwan’s vulnerability as it works to ensure that it has secure internet services to keep the island online in the event of an invasion or blockade by China.

Similar incidents elsewhere, including the cutting of data cables beneath the Baltic Sea, have brought global attention to security concerns surrounding the critical infrastructure.

Taiwan’s coast guard said it spotted the Togo-flagged cargo vessel in the area on Saturday evening. When it dropped anchor around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the coast guard directed the ship to move away.

Within less than an hour, telecommunications provider Chunghwa Telecom reported that one of the undersea communications cables connecting Taiwan to its outlying islands and to nearby countries appeared to have been damaged by external forces. Internet services were largely unaffected, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said.

The coast guard escorted the vessel, identified as the Hong Tai, to a Taiwanese port for investigation.

China is engaged in a long-running campaign to pressure the people and leadership of Taiwan to give up their commitment to self-rule of the island, which is claimed by Beijing as its territory.

. . . Taiwan’s coast guard said that the ship was provisionally registered, crewed by Chinese nationals and backed by Chinese capital. “The possibility of China conducting gray zone harassment can’t be ruled out,” the coast guard said. In the past China has used tactics ranging from military drills that simulate a blockade of the island to cyberattacks and social-media campaigns, Taiwan authorities say.

Make no mistake about it: Beijing wants Taiwan, which it claims is part of the People’s Republic of China. And the Taiwanese won’t have any part of it.  There may be a war as China, heartened by Russia’s success in Ukraine, and noting Trump’s support of Russia, invades Taiwan.  That is going to be a bloody battle, but of course the Taiwanese will lose. The interesting thing will be to see whether the U.S. will help Taiwan in such a conflict.

*Bill Maher’s short (2 min) monologue this week is called “Hulk Smash”, about the dismantling of the government:

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is hunting indoors:

Hili: Theoretically there should be something interesting hidden here.
Andrzaj: It’s just a theory.
In Polish:
Hili: Teoretycznie tu powinno ukrywać się coś ciekawego.
Ja: To tylko teoria.

And a photo of the loving Szaron. It’s blurry but he is meowing:

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

From Now That’s Wild:

From Things With Faces, a ghoul at the bottom of your ice cream:

From Divy:

From Masih: a brave Iranian woman got arrested for removing not just her hijab, but also some of her clothes. World Hijab Day was on Feb. 1 and is best forgotten.

Yes, “progressivism” can make people sound stupid, if not actually become stupid. Here’s one:

From Bryan. This is amazing, and I’m assuming it’s real.  What a skill!

From Malgorzata, some non-humanitarian “humanitarian aid”, undoubtedly for Hamas:

From Malcolm, an adventurous kitten:

From my feed, “the cat came back” (sound up).

From the Auschwitz Memorial, one that I reposted:

A Czech Jewish boy was imprisoned in the family camp at Birkenau, but did not survive. Nor did the Germans want him to. He was eleven.

— Jerry Coyne (@evolutionistrue.bsky.social) 2025-02-26T11:21:01.875Z

Two tweets from Matthew. First, his favorite planet, Mars, probably taken from the rover:

Saturday afternoon in Jezero Crater, Mars.

— Paul Byrne (@theplanetaryguy.bsky.social) 2025-02-09T17:37:36.110Z

Matthew calls this one “more beautiful grimness”:

Whip spider (Paraphrynus laevifrons) covered with chloropid fly puparia. The parasitoid fly attacks the eggs carried by the female. When done, the maggots climb on the "childless" mom's back and pupate. She protects them during this period thanks to her motherly instincts.

— Gil Wizen (@wizentrop.bsky.social) 2025-02-06T17:13:24.292Z

28 thoughts on “Wednesday: Hili dialogoue”

  1. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
    Men hate those to whom they have to lie. -Victor Hugo, poet, novelist, and dramatist (26 Feb 1802-1885)

    1. I enjoy these – keep going!

      Lemmee do one :

      “I was an ordinary person who studied hard. There are no miracle people.”

      -Richard P. Feynman
      From
      The Pleasure of Finding Things Out
      BBC, 1981
      (Verified with Grok)

      …

      I checked the Hugo quote, it says it is in Chapter 19 of James Stephens’ 1912 novel The Charwoman’s Daughter (also published as Mary, Mary) :

      “Men hate those to whom they have to lie, and there are few men who do not prefer to keep their veracity as a pleasant accompaniment for the imagination of their friends.”

      … go figure.

      1. Am reminded of, IIRC, the response of Alexander the Great’s tutor (Aristotle?) to Alexander’s apparently inclination to cut corners studying math: “Sire, there is no royal road to geometry.”

  2. BBC Documentary: it seems that all reporting out of Gaza is controlled by Hamas and thus Hamas propaganda.

  3. Ignore that dingbat who says bizarre things about sex. Progressives (no scare quotes needed) also say or desire a lot of smart things and ideas: instituting single payer health insurance (or “Medicare for all”), dramatically ramping up green energy projects, and instituting WAY higher taxes on the rich. Right? Right. I’m assuming everyone here who is reading this is a progressive—in these particular regards. And how about legalizing cocaine and heroin (and not just cannabis)? Or maybe that idea is too much for some people, but it isn’t for me!

    1. I disagree with all of those policy proposals, or would if I lived in the U.S. I don’t need to start an argument about them. I’m only mentioning it because you seemed to be issuing an ideological litmus test of beliefs and I wondered if you were being satirical somehow.

      One of the nice things about being here in Jerry’s living room is that ideological conformity is not required and only rarely does disharmony lead to acrimony.

    2. I disagree with green energy as government-imposed mandates but am OK with ramping up alternative energy solutions if driven by market forces (if customers want EVs, I have zero issue with automakers building more of them, but don’t want the government forcing the market direction), and I’m also in favor of much more nuclear power plants being built.

      Not in favor of the other items as you stated them. I used to be a “legalize all the drugs” progressive libertarian, but after seeing the result of cannabis legalization in my state, I’m reversing that position.

      Just curious, what’s your idea about the progressive viewpoint on Israel vs. Hamas? The educated progressive position seems to include a lot of people who see the Hamas war as a fight against colonization, but I do see a lot of opinion against that view on this site.

      I’d be careful about generalizing people’s views who read this site – there’s a pretty broad range, with much discussion about pros and cons of both sides, and the occasional changing of minds due to better arguments being posed than one originally had (personal experience talking here).

      1. Yes I have noticed that many if not most on the left appear to favour Hamas.

        It just reinforces my feeling that I don’t fit into either side neatly.

        Still, Trump had pushed me farther left. Canadians who support Trump are bizarre IMHO.

      2. Just curious; do you consider government incentives, say… a tax rebate, to buy EVs “forcing the market direction”?

      3. “I used to be a “legalize all the drugs” progressive libertarian, but after seeing the result of cannabis legalization in my state, I’m reversing that position.”

        What happened?

    3. Barry,
      Bulldozing fragile Appalachian Ridge and Valley ridge tops into low productivity industrial windfarms, alway the dream of mid-Atlantic renewable energy enthusiasts, would for many reasons be an Appalachian environmental disaster.

  5. Birkenau was the death camp for Jews not a family camp. Also it was much bigger than Auschwitz camp which was for political prisoners. The barracks at Birkenau were much larger, much dirtier, and fouler than at Auschwitz. Fortunately my parents survived Birkenau, but more than a million Jews were gassed there.

  6. There are a bunch of usual suspects (such as Owen Jones) wailing, mewling and angrily banging their fists on the table, because the BBC took down the documentary. They appear to be in denial about Hamas’ role in the production.

    Speaking of which, did anybody else see a ridiculous post on “resistance” by PZ Myers the other day, in which he said “we will never rest again until every Nazi dies.” Which is odd, because he and his horde have spent the last year demanding Israel stop killing Hamas Nazis. Never mind resisting Nazis, PZ and his horde like to vilify the people who are good at killing Nazis.

    1. Owen Jones reaches Jackson Hinkle level of hilarity.
      What malignant traitors they are. Aided by the utterly beclowned BBC (once great now wretched)

      D.A.
      NYC

  7. Carville refers to the Virginia governor race as if it’s a done deal for dems. Well it should be with the very strong dem Abigail Spanberger, a recent congresswoman elected from a purple district touching on DC suburbs running. However, as one might expect, a self-centered, self-important dem busybody state senator, Louise Lucas, has announced that Spanberger was not sensitive enough to black community needs and suggested that Congressman Bobby Scott, more to her liking and black, primary Spanberger. Scott has over thirty years seniority in the House which VA would give up and I am not sure that he could win a statewide race. I really like him as he had been my representative in the VA statehouse before going to congress in 1993, but his statewide election possibilities are nowhere near as strong as Spanberger’s IMHO. so that could happen. Plus by doing nothing, dems leave a big media vacuum into which the republicans would clearly move to convince the nation that any negative results of republican actions are the dems’ fault. Please see unpopulist podcast on the right using social media as propaganda machine with renee diresta (but read the transcript rather than listen as it is faster and avoids some annoying giggle like tics of diresta). Should be at url https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/how-the-right-uses-social-media-to

  8. World Hijabi Day. Excellent. Let’s have world FGM/clitoradectomy Day followed by World Executing Gays Day! Peace be upon them on their way to jinnah.

    Actually friend of the protestors the Houthis hanged 14 men in one day for homosexuality a few months ago. Common in Gaza and on the books in a dozen countries.

    Much to celebrate in the Ummah.

    D.A.
    NYC

  10. BBC issued retractions. So what.
    The initial statements get read, the retractions do not.
    Their bias is even more evident by taking this stance – if they truly cared not to publish biased lies, then they would have corrected the original item before publishing.

  11. Is the boomerang animal a cat? It seems to have a long snout, and moves more like a mustelid. Not my field of expertise.

  12. A story you missed today, Jerry, and one you may be interested in:

    https://oklahomavoice.com/2025/02/25/u-s-supreme-court-tosses-conviction-of-oklahoma-death-row-inmate-richard-glossip/

    The man ate his last meal 3 times. Court found he did not receive a fair trial. And Justice Thomas sided with the death penalty, of course, because the victim’s family deserved justice. He seems to think we need to kill someone just to make someone happy. What a despicable attitude.

  13. Re the DOGE mishegoss, I propose pronouncing the acronym as “dodge” or “doggy”. For example, re the IRS, Musk will DOGE taxes; re not being upfront about some activity, they’re using DOGE style. Comments?

      1. I lack sufficient expertise to answer that. Maybe do your own research….

        (BTW, to PCC(E) re the website, I find that Reply-ing to a final comment, as I did just now, consistently treats it as a new numbered Comment not a Reply. My ugly solution is to Edit the misplaced reply, Delete it, and then repost it, at which point it works.)

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