Saturday: Hili dialogue

March 8, 2025 • 6:45 am

Welcome to cat shabbos; it’s CaturSaturday, March 8, 2025. All good moggies are reading the Talmud or Torah, and it’s National Peanut Cluster Day, a treat that can be kosher.

It’s also Genealogy Day, National Peanut Cluster Day, and International Women’s Day. Here’s one woman I admire: Iranian-American Masih Alinejad.  She’s had numerous death threats and two planned attempts on her life by Iran, but she keeps on keeping on, fighting the good fight against theocracy and the oppression of women by Islamism.

And Google has a Doodle for International Women’s Day, highlighting women in STEM. Click below to see where it goes:

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the March 8 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:  The Nooz may a bit thin today because yesterday (when most of this is written) I was not feeling well. We shall see.

*Trump may be busy osculating Putin’s rump to try to become the Great Ukraine/Russia peacemaker, but now our mercurial and unstable President is threatening Russia, of all things!

President Trump said he is “strongly considering” imposing far-reaching sanctions and tariffs on Russia until a peace agreement is reached in the war in Ukraine.

“Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED,” Trump wrote on social media on Friday.

He added that both Russia and Ukraine needed to get to the negotiating table “before it is too late.” The Kremlin didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia launched its latest aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities early Friday with 67 missiles and 194 attack drones, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. The majority were intercepted, the air force said, but officials reported damage to power and gas facilities. Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s electricity grid, often forcing blackouts in cities across the country.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration said it had ordered a pause to intelligence sharing with Ukraine, a move that deprives Kyiv of a key tool in fighting Russian forces. The U.S. has also suspended weapons shipments to Ukraine.

Asked if he thought Russian President Vladimir Putin was striking Ukraine in an effort to take advantage of the intelligence-sharing pause, Trump said: “I actually think he’s doing what anybody else would do. I think he wants to get it stopped and settled.”

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump added of Putin: “I think he’s hitting them harder than he’s been hitting them. And I think probably anybody in that position would be doing that right now.”

Trump said he believed Putin wanted to end the war. “I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine, and they don’t have the cards.”

I wish he’d shut his pie-hole about Ukraine not having the cards. Yes, they’re in a bad spot, and yes, they’re gonna lose territory, but at least Trump can treat people with a modicum of dignity, and by “people” I mean Zelensky.  Trump is hell-bent on leaving behind a legacy as “The Great Peacemaker,” but I somehow think he’s not going about it the right way.  At the very least, he’s alienated America from many of its most valuable allies (that includes Canada if you take tariffs into account).

*Although I don’t in general favor drastic Trumpian cuts to universities , I can’t say that I’m weeping crocodile tears after hearing that Columbia University, the epicenter of academic anti-Semitism and a school that has done almost nothing about the Jew-hating atmosphere, has just lost $400 million in federal grants and contracts:

The Trump administration announced on Friday that it had canceled $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University because of what it described as the school’s failure to protect Jewish students from harassment.

On Monday, Linda McMahon, the secretary of education, had warned that Columbia would face the loss of federal funding if it did not take additional action to combat antisemitism on campus.

A statement issued by four federal agencies on Friday announcing the funding cuts referred to ongoing protests and antisemitic harassment on campus, though to what extent pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus can be considered antisemitic remains in dispute.

The Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services and Education, along with the General Services Administration, issued the statement. It was not immediately clear what contracts or grants would be cut.

The statement said that the cancellations represented the first round of action and additional cancellations were expected to follow. Columbia University currently holds more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments, the statement said.

“Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding,” Ms. McMahon said. “For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus. Today, we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer.”

That should make them sit up and take notice. While I am an advocate of free speech, things at Columbia had reached the point of a constant Title VI violation, and, as they say on television, “Money talks.”

*The WaPo reports a catastrophic drop in butterfly populations in North America.

Butterflies are rapidly fluttering out of existence from coast to coast, according to a new assessment published Thursday, at a rate that scientists worry could upend ecosystems and undercut pollination that sustains America’s crops

The total number of butterflies in the contiguous United States has declined 22 percent over a 20-year period, according to a study in the journal Science, as shrinking habitat, rising temperatures and a toxic array of pesticides kill off the delicate insects.

The study, published Thursday in the journal Science, is the most comprehensive tally of U.S. butterfly populations to date.

Nick Haddad, a Michigan State University ecologist who co-wrote the study, said he once had a hard time believing his neighbors when they told him they see fewer butterflies than in the past.

“In my mind, I was nodding, thinking, ‘Oh, they just went out on a bad day,’” he said. But now, the data has him convinced.

“Butterflies are vanishing from the face of the earth,” he added.

The crisis for butterflies is part of a troubling downturn in the number of bumblebees, fireflies and other insects that has been observed in Europe, the Caribbean and other places worldwide. It could signal a potential “bugpocalypse” that scientists are fiercely debating — a shift that may spell trouble for both nature and society.

The loss of insects — “the little things that run the world,” as naturalist E.O. Wilson once put it — has dire implications for ecosystems in which birds and mammals rely on them for food and plants depend on them for pollination. Farmers and gardeners, meanwhile, may be losing allies that act as pollinators and natural pest control.

David Wagner, a University of Connecticut entomologist not involved in the study, said butterflies act as a “yardstick for measuring what is happening” among insects broadly. He called the new findings “catastrophic and saddening.”

“The study is a much-needed, Herculean assessment,” he wrote in an email. “The tree of life is being denuded at unprecedented rates. I find it deeply disheartening. We can and must do better.”

I worry that we’ll see a time when the sight of a butterfly will be a delightful rarity.

*Literal trigger warning: account of execution by firing squad.   Reporter Jeffrey Collins, who has watched men die via lethal injection and the electric chair was on hand as a witness yesterday when Brad Sigmon, executed for killing his girlfriend’s parents in 2001 with a baseball bat, was taken out by a firing squad of three riflemen in South Carolina.

The firing squad is certainly faster — and more violent — than lethal injection. It’s a lot more tense, too. My heart started pounding a little after Sigmon’s lawyer read his final statement. The hood was put over Sigmon’s head, and an employee opened the black pull shade that shielded where the three prison system volunteer shooters were.

About two minutes later, they fired. There was no warning or countdown. The abrupt crack of the rifles startled me. And the white target with the red bullseye that had been on his chest, standing out against his black prison jumpsuit, disappeared instantly as Sigmon’s whole body flinched.

It reminded me of what happened to the prisoner 21 years ago when electricity jolted his body.

I tried to keep track, all at once, of the digital clock on the wall to my right, Sigmon to my left, the small, rectangular window with the shooters and the witnesses in front of me.

A jagged red spot about the size of a small fist appeared where Sigmon was shot. His chest moved two or three times. Outside of the rifle crack, there was no sound.

A doctor came out in less than a minute, and his examination took about a minute more. Sigmon was declared dead at 6:08 p.m.

Then we left through the same door we came in.

Another AP report says this:

The armed prison employees stood 15 feet (4.6 meters) from where he sat in the state’s death chamber — the same distance as the backboard is from the free-throw line on a basketball court. Visible in the same small room was the state’s unused electric chair. The gurney used to carry out lethal injections had been rolled away.

The volunteers all fired at the same time through openings in a wall. They were not visible to about a dozen witnesses in a room separated from the chamber by bullet-resistant glass. Sigmon made several heavy breaths during the two minutes that elapsed from when the hood was placed to the shots being fired.

The shots, which sounded like they were fired at the same time, made a loud, jarring bang that caused witnesses to flinch. His arms briefly tensed when he was shot, and the target was blasted off his chest. He appeared to give another breath or two with a red stain on his chest, and small amounts of tissue could be seen from the wound during those breaths.

A doctor came out about a minute later and examined Sigmon for 90 seconds before declaring him dead.

. . . .Sigmon’s lawyer read a closing statement that he said was “one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty.”

Prison spokeswoman Chrysti Shain said Sigmon’s last meal was four pieces of fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, biscuits, cheesecake and sweet tea.

This is the method of execution I’d choose if I had a choice, as it seems very quick and the pain can’t last for long.  South Carolina had paused its executions because lethal injection didn’t work well, but it’s resuming them, and with more than a dozen men on death row, I suspect that those who hear how quick this execution was may choose a firing squard.

Of course I don’t believe that anybody should be subject to a death sentence, but I won’t go into my reasons here.

*And from the AP’s reliable “oddities” section, a Cheeto was auctioned off for a huge sum. Why?

A Cheeto shaped like the beloved Pokémon Charizard has sold at auction for a total cost of $87,840.

The Goldin auction house listed the snack as sold on Sunday.

“Presented is a 3-inch long Flamin’ Hot Cheeto in the shape of the Pokémon Charizard, affixed to a customized Pokémon card and encapsulated in a clear card storage box,” the auction’s description states. “It was initially discovered and preserved sometime between 2018-2022 by 1st & Goal Collectibles. The Cheeto surged in popularity on social media platforms in late 2024.”

There were 60 bids on the uniquely shaped snack, according to the listing. The winning bid was $72,000 plus a buyer’s premium.

Here’s a video showing the flaming hot Cheeto lizard; and below that, since I know bupkes about Pokemon, a picture of the Charizard:

A Charizard from Wikipedia for illustrative purposes, Charizard artwork by Ken Sugimori, apparently qualifies for fair use. I’m not sure how good the resemblance is, but someone dropped $88K for it!

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is dissatisfied with her environment (a niche used to store firewood)

Hili: I’ve told you so many times.
A: What?
Hili: This space should be cleaned, painted and never again used for storing wood.
In Polish:
Hili: Tyle razy mówiłam.
Ja: O czym?
Hili: Tę wnękę trzeba oczyścić, odmalować i nigdy nie wkładać tu drewna.

And in Berlin, Stupsi finds Spring:  Stupsi sagt: „Es ist Frühling. Schau mal, die Krokusse blühen!“ (Translation:  Stupsi says, “It’s Spring. Look—the crocuses are bloooming!”

x

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

From  Strange, Stupid, or Silly Signs:

From Things With Faces:

From Cat Memes:

From Masih. Trump has made the EXTREMELY UNWISE decision to try negotiating with Iran, trying to curb its nuclear ambitions. What an idiot! It didn’t work before with any President, and it won’t work now.

From Luana (read the whole thing), who found this very sad but wanted to make the point that puberty blockers can cause permanent loss of sexual attraction, arousal, and orgasm.

From my BlueHair feed. Remember that in seahorses the males carry the fertilized eggs until “birth”. From the post:

Females, until you can become pregnant yourselves, kindly keep your opinions out of my brood pouch.

If Females Could Get Pregnant, There’d Be An Abortion Clinic On Every Coraltheonion.com/if-females-c…

— The Onion (@theonion.com) 2025-03-07T19:06:34.394Z

And from my Twitter feed, which has much more good stuff like this!

. . . and Noa Tishby, introducing a Druze restaurant in NYT. If you live there you should try it:

From the Auschwitz Memorial, a man who lasted about six weeks in the camp after arrival.

8 March 1920 | Polish Jewish man, Abram Dawidowicz, was born in Tomaszów Mazowiecki. A weaver.In #Auschwitz from 6 June 1942.No. 38120He perished in the camp on 26 July 1942

— Auschwitz Memorial (@auschwitzmemorial.bsky.social) 2025-03-08T06:00:08.910Z

Two from Dr. Cobb, both byproducts of his upcoming Crick biography. HOWEVER, note that Crick was not an experimental biologist!

Reassuring news for PhD students everywhere. Extracts from Crick’s lab-book 1949-50:

— Matthew Cobb (@matthewcobb.bsky.social) 2025-03-07T08:32:47.892Z

I was sad to hear this. Fortey was a nice guy and an excellent popularizer of science (and scientist):

 

 

44 thoughts on “Saturday: Hili dialogue”

  1. There is a nice long-form interview on the russia-ukraine situation including historical background in an discussion with Fiona Hill, former senior advisor to the president, from a few days ago. You may remember her from her testimony at the first trump impeachment hearing. The one-hour with q&a youtube video should be at url https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyCS1GSLqzk
    I found it to be informative.

    1. Thankd, Jim! I look forward to watching this. I’ve always been very impressed with Fiona Hill.

    2. She is sharp. Thank you. I’ve queued it up for when I go to the gym today.

      1. I enjoyed Fiona Hill’s autobiography, “There Is Nothing for You Here” much as I enjoyed Tara Westover’s “Educated”- stories of young girls working their way out of the station they were born into through education.

  2. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY
    Men are not against you; they are merely for themselves. -Gene Fowler, journalist and author (8 Mar 1890-1960)

    1. Important thought – because the objective of dialectical political warfare is to elicit the friend/enemy distinction. This is an going project.

      This means me – you – everyone – we are regularly being pushed to become enemies, through a technology-bred propaganda-rich environment (see Jacques Ellul). I try to correct for this.

  3. “…Now our mercurial and unstable President is threatening Russia, of all things!”

    Look at what he does, not what he says. This “threat” is just PR designed to make Trump seem reasonable and fair in the eyes of the public. Just words, spoken by a pathological liar. I’ll eat my hat if he does anything serious against Russia.

    Notice that even during this “criticism”. he couldn’t resist making very strong anti-Ukrainian comments which showed is real intentions.

  5. Seahorse abortion: now that’s something I’d pay to see. How do they even….?
    .
    Boomer hippies get all bent out of shape about the death penalty even though it has been part of humanity forever and it is still acceptable in deeply ethical countries like Japan and Israel.
    .
    I’m not pro-death penalty if I had to vote – and I’m a former defense attorney here in Manhattan and Queens – but there are bigger injustices we should look at. In getting our panties all in a twist about the death penalty we neglect years of solitary confinement punishment etc. Which are far worse.

    If I were facing the Big One for any of my accumulated crimes (let’s see….)… hehehe…. I’d go for firing squad myself. Mainly b/c I don’t trust prison guards to get chemicals and medical protocols right whereas prison guards CAN shoot. And it is quick and hell… why not go out with a bang?

    So endeth the lesson. Have an excellent weekend WEIT friends!

    D.A.
    NYC

    1. A quick correction: there is no death penalty in Israel. In fact, there was a lot of public discussion about this when Eichmann was executed in the early 60’s (the only case of death penalty in Israel’s history). Nowadays there’s a lot of discussion about this again due to the upcoming trials of Oct. 7 terrorists.

      1. You’re correct Ms. Spring. Israelis kvetch a lot about the issue and with each Islamic outrage they worry more. Eichmann was the most recent – so they’re pretty decided on it in practice and to not use it.

        I included Israel as like Japan and Korea they are examples of civilized, compassionate democratic states who are pretty mixed on the issue (though in Japan it is broadly popular).

        I didn’t want my moral allies here in the debate to be Iran and PR China. hehehe Who does?

        best,

        D.A
        NYC

    1. Seconded. He was a great populariser of science, and I think I’ve read almost all his books as well. Apart from his excellent science books. I particularly enjoyed Dry Store Room No 1, the delightful memoir of his time at the Natural History Museum. RIP.

    2. Agreed. I enjoyed all of his books (that I’ve read – just turned up Dry Storeroom No. 1 while clearing off a table and am looking forward to reading it).

  7. From a piece by Victor David Hanson, entitled “Five Ukrainian Fables”:

    Fable one: Trump is appeasing Russia?

    Who wiped out the Wagner group in Syria? Who sold offensive weapons to Ukraine first? Who warned Germany not to become dependent on the Russian Nord Stream II deal?

    Who withdrew from an unfair missile deal with the Russians? Who cajoled and berated NATO members to meet their military investment promises made following the 2014 invasion of Ukraine?

    In contrast, who originally conceived a Russian “reset” in 2009? Who publicly virtue-signaled pushing the red “reset” button in Geneva with the current Russian Minister Sergey Lavrov?

    Which ex-European leader got a million euros a year working for Russian energy companies?

    Of the last four presidents, under whose watch did Putin not invade another country?

    Which American president, in hot-mic style, offered to (and did) dismantle U.S.-Eastern Europe missile defense plans in exchange for temporary Putin quietude (“space”) to aid his 2012 reelection?

    2. Claude responds.

      The Hollow Echo

      In the arena of ideas, where minds should clash,
      Some choose to shatter the mirror, not the reflection it cast.
      “Your voice holds no weight,” they cry with disdain,
      While the substance of thought lies untouched in the rain.

      Ad hominem arrows miss wisdom’s true mark,
      Targeting the speaker while truth stands in the dark.
      “Consider your source,” they smugly decree,
      As if origin alone determines what’s true and what’s free.

      Logic weeps silently when character, not concept, is tried,
      When “who you are” drowns out “what you provide.”
      For even a flawed vessel may carry water that’s pure,
      And truth isn’t tarnished by whose lips it endured.

      The weakest position reveals itself plain
      When attacks turn personal, bitter, and vain.
      For in targeting the messenger and not the message they bear,
      You’ve admitted, without speaking, you’ve no counterpoint to share.

      The path to wisdom demands more of our minds—
      To separate speaker from substance, the core from the rinds.
      For reason’s true power lies not in who speaks,
      But in whether the argument stands or grows weak.

  8. If they want a really humane way of executing prisoners I suggest the hypobaric (high altitude) chamber.

    1. Yes Ruth but try lugging one into a prison. Wouldn’t fit in the door. But nitrogen hoods would work — and many other techno-optimist alternatives.

      But why overthink it?

      Again… Let’s say I’m facing that oblivion for muh crimz and I can choose. I’ll trust a good cop with a good aim any day of the week and make my departure in style.
      But that’s just me….
      🙂
      D.A.
      NYC

  9. That tweet by Diana Alastair is full of misinformation about puberty blockers.

    Puberty blockers, by themselves, do not permanently sterilize pre-pubertal males and females, nor do they render them permanently asexual. Rather, the claim that puberty blockers are fully reversible is absolutely true. I.e., when a child who has been on puberty blockers for any amount of time then ceases to take them, the child will enter into the puberty that is appropriate for his or her biological sex and ultimately develop normal fertility and sexual capacity (assuming nothing else is amiss).

    The fact that puberty blockers do not cause any long-term harm is attested to by the fact that many thousands of children have taken them for precocious puberty since they were invented in the 1980s. The overwhelming majority of these children have been shown to go on to develop normal fertility and sexuality after ceasing the blockers.

    What causes trans children to lose fertility and sexual capacity is therefore not the blockers. Rather, ** it is the cross-sex hormones that many or most of them begin taking immediately after ceasing the blockers. ** In people who have never experienced puberty, the administration of cross-sex hormones will permanently destroy their ability to ever reproduce or experience adult sexuality. (And, of course, trans people often also have gonadectomies.)

      1. Brooke is right and wrong. The point she might be unaware of is that almost all gender-dysphoric kids who go on puberty blockers, then go on cross-sex hormones. So puberty blockers are/seem to be a one-way street to cross sex hormones, which then make you sterile and anorgasmic.

        The theory of the gender doctors was that puberty blockers give the gender-dysphoric child “time to think.” That’s why it was okay to give these powerful drugs to healthy kids at ages 10, 11, 12 – because their effects were believed to be reversible. But this theory is not born out by the few studies we have on this: almost all kids who go on puberty blockers then continue with cross-sex hormones. This strongly suggest that blockers prevent the natural resolution of gender dysphoria. If blockers just gave these kids time to think, then how come all those kids on blockers keep thinking the same thing? (“I’m in the wrong body.”)

    2. Children who receive puberty blockers for precocious puberty are not the same group as those who take them for gender dysphoria, and the timing and dosages may differ. The risks here are therefore unknown, but there’s evidence they interfere with bone density, cognitive formation, and other factors that are not reversible. They also, as you note, seem to have an iatrogenesis effect.

      The part of Diana Alistair’s tweet that I particularly disagreed with was her insistence that Avery’s parents (and his doctors) “belong in prison.” I think she underestimates how powerful the savior narrative surrounding “Trans Kids” is, and how easily the good intentioned can get swept up in it when the culture is positively saturated with messages about true identity and civil rights. Transition was considered the standard of care by most major medical centers.

      Under the circumstances, the idea that they “should have known” the dangers is in my opinion unwarranted. And as for going public, doing so would have been included in the altruistic value of helping others. I think it’s unlikely that anyone will — or should — get jail time just for buying into a widespread cultural phenomenon.

      1. I agree with Sastra on the prison thing. I believe that most parents who transed their kids wanted the best for them. The problem is that they trusted the wrong doctors. (Some parents did not want gay kids. For example, if your boy is same sex-attracted, then by transing him, he becomes “heterosexual.”)

        Parents caught up in this mass delusion are/were in a terrible spot:
        – If you trust the “experts,” your kid gets screwed (by going on blockers, cross-sex hormones, possibly having surgery).
        – If you don’t then, chances are, you will have to fight your gender-dysphoric kid, who will, naturally, soak up all the pro-trans messages online and from the wider culture: transition will solve all your problems, and anyone, including your own parents, who stand in the way of transition is evil. For parents, this literally is a nightmare.

        1. Agree. Lots of people are positively vicious towards parents of trans children.

          In general this is misguided as you and Sastra have noted.

    3. Brooke – I’m not an expert but I’m waaay down the rabbit hole on this – it combines two lifelong fascinations of mine – social panics/contagions and medicine. I have a (family) dog in the fight, time on my hands, analytic skills from my career and education, and I’ve done an large-load of reading and listening to this topic since 2019 reading Lisa Litman’s paper.

      Problem is the “pause” of GNRH (hormone) blockers almost always turns into cross-sex hormones. E for boyz, T for girlz… The whole thing is very gamified so you don’t start on Level One (blockers), and “socially transition” (pronouns for autists) so ALL YOUR FRIENDS AT SCHOOL AND TEACHERS are forced to LIE to you and each other about your sex…. and then just walk away. Loser!! You’re committed and all your tranz unicorn friends on insta’ cheer your stunning and brave journey to the next level.

      Any doctors, scientists, evolutionary biologists or Australian-NYC attorneys who read a lot about medicine…. and object… they’re just Chriiiistian bigots, right? Gay-haters and twans genociders. B/c the game is, interestingly, deeply totalitarian. Many moral contagions are. To wit:
      Notice “Trans kids” don’t just get a bike they get a “Trans Bike” , nor a “broken arm” but “a trans broken arm” – it is all encompassing – a kid’s entire identity. This is great for anxious autists of course. 
      That’s why Level Two is cross-sex hormones and 98% of “trans kids”… “graduate” to them.

      Of course you win the game if you get your breasts or testicles chopped off.
      So there’s that.

      How is this not the most insane thing we have seen in a century? A game using emotional blackmail (and wildly fraudulent suicide threats) to enforce its insanity where the pot of gold is lifetime medicalization, sterilization, anorgasmia (“No orgasms for YOU! Ever!), a zero dating pool and a eunuch life. Plus bone density and cancer expected (not possible, but expected) side effects. Thaaaat’s stunning and brave today. That’s the prize.

      D.A.
      NYC

    4. The claim that GNRHa’s are reversible when used to block normally timed puberty is simply unevidenced. In gender dysphoria they are started at the time they would usually be stopped in precocious puberty, a therefore non-overlapping patient population. No one has studied the tiny cohort (~5%) of adolescents who, having used their time to think, stop puberty blockade without starting opposite sex hormones and/or androgen blockade. No one knows if the brain, now left to it’s own devices, will wake up at that late date and get on with the business of puberty. No matter the shortcomings of the tweet, it is inappropriate to call puberty blockade reversible in adolescents.

      https://justdad7180.substack.com/p/reversibility-of-puberty-blockers

  10. The hood was put over Sigmon’s head, and an employee opened the black pull shade that shielded where the three prison system volunteer shooters were.

    About two minutes later, they fired.

    Wait — two minutes? TWO MINUTES??

    The guy had to stand there waiting in the dark for two whole minutes, no doubt thinking happy and elevating thoughts about his imminent violent death, while the sharpshooters did what, exactly? Decided where to shoot? Got around to loading their guns? Held a quick prayer circle or discussed which bar to meet at afterwards?

    Sorry, no. Hood goes down, shots go out before the prisoner quite realizes the light is gone. Much more humane.

    1. Contrast that with the relatively humane way Anne Boleyn was killed. I think she had a hood put on, but she was also distracted by a sound so she didn’t realize the sword blade was about to slice through her neck.

    2. Maybe it took them two minutes to decide if they were really going to be able to go through with it, giving one another a last chance to bow out. I’d kind of hate to learn that they were rarin’ to go.

      When the Utah State Troopers executed Gary Gilmore, the first shot came during the oral countdown, with the others immediately joining in. People didn’t like that alacrity. Can’t win.

  11. About that truck that missed the tunnel. My guess would be that it was traveling downhill towards the tunnel, and the brakes went out. So rather than enter the tunnel at a high rate of speed, and unable to stop, the driver of the truck drove it up the steep embankment, which of course stopped it immediately.

  12. On Trump’s threat to Russia. I kinda see what he’s trying to do—bully everyone to the table. But he’s so erratic and unpredictable that he’s liable to start WWIII. I hope that the other parties—Russia and Ukraine and, now, Europe—aren’t torqued around into a reaction that could make things worse. With Trump you have to wait for his dust to settle before you really know what he’s up to. It’s scary.

    Columbia University: Title VI. They deserve the trouble that is heading their way.

    I’ve known about the loss of insect life for a few years now. (Read about it somewhere.) When I was a kid, and my father and I went fishing on a warm summer evening, our car windshield was always covered by dead insects—splat—by the time we got home. Today there are no insects. (Sadly, my father is gone, too.) It’s very noticeable. We worry about the extinction of species, as we should, but we also need to consider the dramatic decline in numbers of individual insects. It’s the individual insects that do all the work.

    1. Most anybody who is in their ’40s or more should notice the drastic decline in insects. I sure do! And yet in a couple chat groups I encounter cranky people who just deny deny deny.

      1. One thing I’ve noticed; when I was young the front grill of everyone’s car often had many insects plugged into the radiator baffles and embedded in headlight trim. Motorcyclists had to choose between full face helmets or arriving at their destinations looking like they just competed in some kind of hideous insect-pie eating contest.

        Now? Now so much. Very few embedded bugs in the grill and mostly just a tooth-pick and some mouthwash is all a motorcyclist needs.

        Insects are the plankton of the land; if we lose them, we’ll lose many others.

    2. I’ve been witnessing this with dread for years. In the part of town I’ve been living for the last 3 years, armies of “landscapers” drive around in trucks armed with electric trimmers and green dyed pre emergent. It’s obscene. They want nothing growing. The trees look like cocktail umbrellas. It’s hideous.
      No blooming, blossoming, the water table being poisoned, no insects and fewer and fewer reptiles. Fewer bird species every season, also. It breaks my heart. It’s all very ominous.

  14. Of course P*tin now wants it settled. Most recently the Russian front in Pokrovsk fell. Russians were down to getting around on horses and camels, their armored vehicle fleet is so depleted. Then they wound up being stranded. Ukrainians sent in drones with speakers, offering surrender to the Russians, who then followed the drone to be picked up. There was no info on what happened to the horses and camels.

    Otherwise, this was all over the Internet late last night. D*GE et ux were in such haste to erase all DEI-related photo files on Gov’t servers that images of the Enola Gay were slated to be scrubbed. No word that I’ve seen since then on whether they were.

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