Tuesday: Hili dialogue

May 6, 2025 • 6:45 am

Welcome to the Cruelest Day: May 6, 3035, and National Crėpe Suzette Day, a name (“Suzette”) whose origins are lost in mystery. But they’re good:

Missvain, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It’s also National Beverage Day, National Teacher Day, International No Diet Day, and National Nurses Day.

There’s also a Google Doodle for Teacher Appreciation Day. Click to see where it goes:

Yesterday the department had a celebration of my giving a graduate scholarship for research, the Jerry Coyne and Honey the Duck Graduate Research Fund.  We had delicious Mexican food for Cinco de Mayo, and then a fantastic custom-made cake, which I’ve just had for breakfast. Isn’t that swell? (I asked for a carrot cake with cream-cheese frosting). The picture on top is of Honey with her brood some years ago:

After the party, I got to take home the leftovers. Here’s the inside, with layers of cream-cheese frosting. Great with coffee!

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the May 1 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*Here’s another crazy tariff levy contemplated by our “President”: this time it’s ONE HUNDRED PERCENT on films produced overseas! (Article is archived here.) And Hollywood is getting its knickers in a twist:

President Trump’s planned 100% tariff on films produced overseas weighed on entertainment company stocks early Monday, though details remain scant on how the administration intends to implement the policy.

Shares in Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount were down 2% or more in morning trading.

Trump said in a Truth Social post Sunday night that he had authorized the new tariff on films produced overseas. He called it a response to tax incentives that have lured a substantial number of Hollywood productions outside the U.S.

Films made by American studios are often shot in the United Kingdom and Canada, including this year’s highest-grossing film, “A Minecraft Movie.”

“​​The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” the president wrote. He called international filmmaking incentives “a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”

International filmmaking is a national security threat? Gazillions of movies (and note, these aren’t just those made in China). They apparently encompass every film produced outside the U.S! Now I’m not sure what this will do to the cost of moviegoing, but it’s sure going to reduce the quality of movies.

*Some years ago I visited Alcatraz, which is now a very interesting tourist spot (nobody’s ever known to have escaped alive). It’s grim, and I even saw Al Capone’s cell. It should remain as a national historical site, but I’ll be hornswaggled if the President wants it refurbished and turned back into a prison.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he has ordered several agencies to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz, an infamous federalpenitentiary that closed in the 1960s and has since become a popular tourist destination.

In a post on social media, Trump saidhe directedthe Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and others to work together to open a “substantially enlarged and rebuilt” Alcatraz that would house the country’s “most ruthless and violent” offenders.

Note: these are American offenders; the foreign ones go to El Salvador.  But don’t we have prisons already? The maximum capacity of Alcatraz was 336 prisoners, and I cannot imagine what advantages are to be gained by refurbishing a hitorical monument to hold a few prisoners. If they are the ruthless and violent prisoners, well, we already have places for them: the Supermax prisons.

But this may just be an idepassing through the convoluted adyts of Trump’s brain:

Speaking to reporters Sunday, Trump called the potential reopening “just an idea I’ve had,” and he repeated his previous criticism of judges he said were seeking trials for “every single person that’s in our country illegally.”

Details on the administration’s potential plans for Alcatraz remain unclear. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California), the former House speaker, dismissed the proposal Sunday as “not a serious one.”

*Netanyahu is getting restive about the presence of hostages still in Gaza and, of course, Hamas’s unwillingness to surrender, even though Palestinians are protesting Hamas more vigorously than ever: a good sign. Now he is bruiting the possibility of even more intensive fighting (article archived here). I suspect this is the drive that will end Hamas in Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel declared on Monday that his country is “on the eve of a forceful entry to Gaza” after his security cabinet approved a new plan for tens of thousands of additional soldiers to seize and hold territory in the embattled enclave and relocate Palestinians to the south.

In video posted to social media as military reservists across Israel began receiving notices of their call-up, Mr. Netanyahu said that the country’s top military officials had recommended what he called an “intensive” escalation of the 18-month war.

“It’s time to launch the concluding moves,” Mr. Netanyahu said the military officials told him, adding that the new campaign would help bring home the hostages still being held in Gaza. The prime minister said he believes “we are not done. We are before the finish line.”

The escalation followed more than two months in which Israel continued to blockade and bombard the Gaza Strip as cease-fire talks to free the remaining hostages ground to a near standstill. Israel has barred any humanitarian aid to Gaza in an effort to press Hamas to surrender, leading aid groups to denounce mounting deprivation among Palestinians there.

Mr. Netanyahu’s opponents quickly criticized the expanded military campaign, saying it would endanger the remaining hostages’ lives and would not fundamentally change the dynamic that 18 months of war has wrought. The prime minister’s critics — both inside and outside the country — have urged him to bring to an end a conflict that began when Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and took some 250 hostage.

Israeli officials said the offensive would start slowly in anticipation of cease-fire negotiations that are ongoing ahead of President Trump’s trip next week to the region for meetings in several Arab capitals. But the officials said that if a deal is not reached soon, the expanded ground operation would commence in earnest.

I think no matter what happens, the hostages should be mentally written off for a variety of reasons, though of course I want them all home, and most of all I want Hamas to surrender unconditionally and release the ones that are still alive. (We don’t know how many are.) As for the food blockade, there is still plenty of food in Gaza but Hamas is taking nearly all of it, explaining some of the unrest. Since when is anyone supposed to supply food to its enemy. I don’t know what happens “the day after”, but it cannot be that Hamas continues to run Gaza. (If you want to read a short news piece on Alcatraz, go here.)

*The BBC reports that transgender women (I prefer to call them “trans-identified men”) have been banned from women’s football (aka “soccer”) in the UK. This is undoubtedly fallout from the UK’s Supreme Court decision defining “men” and women” (h/t Greg). Such banning is in the offing for other sports.

Transgender women will no longer be able to play in women’s football in England from 1 June, the Football Association has announced.

It amended its rules on 11 April, applying stricter eligibility criteria for transgender women to continue playing in women’s football at all levels.

However, following the UK Supreme Court’s ruling on 16 April that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex, the FA has scrapped that policy and says only those born biologically female will be permitted to play.

“This is a complex subject, and our position has always been that if there was a material change in law, science, or the operation of the policy in grassroots football then we would review it and change it if necessary,” the FA said.

The FA has offered those players banned from competing free therapy with Sporting Chance – a charity which provides sportspeople with mental health support.

“We understand that this will be difficult for people who simply want to play the game they love in the gender by which they identify, and we are contacting the registered transgender women currently playing to explain the changes and how they can continue to stay involved in the game.”

The FA said on Thursday that there were fewer than 30 transgender women registered among millions of amateur players.

There are no registered transgender women in the professional game across the Home Nations.

The Scottish FA on Thursday also announced it was banning transgender women from women’s football in Scotland.

Sources have told BBC Sport that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is also expected to ban transgender women from the women’s game.

The ECB has been taking legal advice on its transgender policy following the Supreme Court ruling and is expected to sanction changes to its transgender policy at a board meeting on Friday.

On Thursday England Netball also changed its guidelines by banning transgender women from its female category.

This is all fair given the superior athletic ability of males over females in sport if the males have transitioned either before or after puberty (nearly all after). The paucity of transgender participants doeesn’t matter, as it’s a moral issue and even a single violation  is prima facie a slippery slope. However, we haven’t yet solved the problem of how we should let trans-identified males compete in sport if they want to, and surely we should not stifle their ambitions to play somehow. For now, let them compete against biological men, though that might be dangerous (not so much so, though, as the strength they lose is much smaller than the advantage they gain when competing against women.

*And, just in passing, I note that Trump is offering $1000 plus travel costs to any undocumented immigrant who leaves the country voluntarily.

The Trump administration says it is going to pay immigrants in the United States illegally $1,000 plus travel costs if they leave voluntarily as it accelerates its mass deportation agenda.

The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that people who use the CBP Home app to announce their “self-deportations” would get the money and be “deprioritized” for detention and removal.

I can imagine that there will not be many takers, except perhaps those who fear for good reason that they may be deported to El Salvador.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili shows her atheism:

Hili: There are plenty of leprechauns in heaven.
A: Do you mean angels?
Hili: No, angels are pure fantasy.
In Polish:
Hili: W niebie jest mnóstwo krasnoludków.
Ja: Masz na myśli anioły?
Hili: Nie, anioły to czysty wymysł.

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

From America’s cultural decline into Idiocy

From Meow:

From Things With Faces, a happy walnut.

Masih has pinned this three-year old video against Iran’s compulsory hijab law (the video is eight minutes long):

Anna and Jay point out how steeply the AAUP has gone downhill in the last few years:

From Malcom; an asymptotic approach to π:

From Luana, who agrees with me that this cancellation is a bad move; it violates freedom of speech (to both speak and hear), and is hypocritical of those on the Left who want Israelis canceled.

One from my feed:

From the Auschwitz Memorial, one that I reposted:

This Hungarian Jewish girl was gassed upon arrival at Auschwitz. She was ten.

— Jerry Coyne (@evolutionistrue.bsky.social) 2025-05-06T10:18:02.354Z

Two from Professor Cobb. First, an anecdotal thread showing the power of science:

On Friday, my son stayed home from school because he had a sore throat and wasn’t feeling well. He went with my husband to his office for the morning while I handled our daughter. When he came back at lunch, he was not interested in eating, saying his throat hurt too much. 1/n

— Stacey D. Smith (@iochromaland.bsky.social) 2025-05-05T07:11:37.567Z

Of this one Matthew says

Forget Roomba, I want this little dude to vacuum my living room! Gastropod veliger larva from January. #plankton 🦑

— Elizabeth Beston (@elizabethbeston.bsky.social) 2025-04-25T07:24:45.033Z

 

29 thoughts on “Tuesday: Hili dialogue”

  1. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
    What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books. -Sigmund Freud, neurologist, founder of psychoanalysis (6 May 1856-1939)

    1. Interesting and clever, but methinks he spoke this too soon. It did get worse.

  2. A lovely recognition for you and your dear Honey by your department yesterday. Thank you for setting this excellent example and the Department for giving it visibility.

    1. Yes!!! Kudos on your gift, its recognition, and its future impacts.

      May it assist many talented grad students in getting their Ducktorates! 🙂

  3. pressure from BDS led to the cancelation of the concerts of Radiohead member, Johny Greenwood, and collaborator, Israeli musician Dudu Tassa. They remarked that those who support freedom of speech are trying to prevent it from others.

    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/may/06/jonny-greenwood-and-israeli-musician-dudu-tassa-condemn-silencing-after-uk-concerts-pulled#:~:text=After%20the%20cancellation%20of%20two,its%20celebration%20by%20some%20progressives%E2%80%9D.

  5. I don’t see why it’s on us to find a special venue for trans-identified men to compete. They can compete with other men, if they are good enough and strong enough. If they can beat elite women, they are way better than I ever was at anything, and you don’t hear me complaining that my athletic interests were stifled because I couldn’t find a field of, I dunno, seven-year-olds that I could beat when I was thirteen. Like the vast majority of schoolboys I was never good enough to make a “rep” team in anything, nor, crucially, was I willing to devote the time to practice and skill development to get better. Athletics for me was purely participatory, recreational, unskilled and, today, health-preserving I hope. Join the club, trans-boys.

    Has anyone invited trans-identified men to form their own league, the way women have formed and developed their leagues over the decades? It could start as a side-show event during Pride Month, then see if it takes off. The cynic in me says this won’t fly, and not just because the field will be too thin to provide interesting competition, or indeed any at all. No, the reason is that in a field of six trans-identified men, only one will win. If they compete against women, all six will win their six events. That, and being told to compete with men amounts to erasure through misgendering. No concern of ours but it is their hill they have to die on or it’s letting Toto tear the curtain away. That’s why it’s such a “complex” subject. 😉

    1. Has anyone invited trans-identified men to form their own league, the way women have formed and developed their leagues over the decades?

      Yes, many times. The usual response is that “there aren’t enough of us,” (though apparently there is an all-trans football [soccer to us USAians] team in Spain.)

      I don’t see why it’s on us to find a special venue for trans-identified men to compete. They can compete with other men, if they are good enough and strong enough….

      I agree. There are also mixed teams.

  6. I strongly disagree with the canceling of the concert. Let idiots proclaim their idiocy loudly so that we can properly judge them.

    However, it needs to go both ways, and without incident.

  7. There is no right to coerce religious practice on anyone – one is free to participate or not.

    Gnostic and Hermetic cult religious practice is no exception, which characterizes precisely the nature of the alchemy in the transformation of sexes – both chemically and in thought-reform.

    Nothing is preventing this parasitic cult religion from starting its own competitive athletics program or any other program it wants – or indeed simply playing by the rules, which is the true target of its destructive transgression (“man is born free but everywhere is in chains”, The Social Contract, Rousseau – also consider Foucault, Butler).

    PS chemical transformation or excision of childrens’ healthy organs and tissue is child abuse.

    Gender in Mystical and Occult Thought – Behmenism and its Development in England
    B. J. Gibbons
    Cambridge U. Press
    1996

  9. On throwing stones in glasshouses…

    The photo adduced in support of idiocy (America’s cultural decline into Idiocy) actually shows proper plumbing practice. The water to the outdoor faucets originates from the house supply. The faucet on the left is for a hose and has an anti-siphon valve attached to it. The anti-siphon valve prevents contaminated water from the hose from following into the house supply. The faucet on the right does not have an anti-siphon valve attached to it. The water it provides is suitable for drinking.

    1. +1

      Anti-siphon to block hose water regurgitation, and no anti-siphon on drinking sillcock because a hose will never be attached to it, and the sillcock is one-way – out. No hold up in a hose to go in reverse….

      I suppose anti-siphon on both wouldn’t hurt, though….

    2. Thank you for that. We have those valves on our outdoor faucets because they allow rapid connect-disconnect depending on what needs to be watered. I just figured the left sign was advising someone not to drink out of a male end that had been contaminated by having been pressed into a female hose fitting recently lying on the ground pooped on by birds and other vermin. I didn’t know about the anti-siphon feature.

    3. Fresh drinking-water, though, will flow from either tap/faucet if operated.

  10. I scanned the AAUP photo and noticed that the crowd was almost all White. I spotted only four POC, all men. Where is the diversity?

    I mention this because the DEI supporters would have if it weren’t a left-wing group.

  11. As of today:

    What is left of Sana’ Airport, Yemen. (Yemen’s Houthi section is a one airport zone).
    Spectacular FAFO:
    https://x.com/Osint613/status/1919812170361057311

    Yemenia Airlines is an embattled airline. A few years ago their one (presidential) 747 was similarly burn in one of their many wars.

    D.A.
    NYC

    1. Impressive. For those who viewed it but skipped over the last third (with impassioned Arabic), I suggest clicking the gear icon (⚙), selecting Playback Speed 2.0, and watching the speakers. The speeded-up speech and gestures seem chillingly appropriate.

  12. Congratulations of being recognized for your scholarship!

    And, of course, the media can’t write headlines fast enough regarding the war in Gaza. A good example is the headline at UPI: “Israel begins massing soldiers on the Gaza border” as if it’s on a par with Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine.

  13. The Houthis have supposedly “capitulated” and Trump has said bombing of Yemen will stop, at least temporarily, dependent on Houthi promises and behavior. We should start a pool on when the next Houthi missile is launched.

    I watched an interesting YouTube interview with Frank Gaffney with whom I have only vague impressions. He was talking about the huge explosion that took place in the Iran port of Shahid Rajaee. Evidently, the port was devastated, presumably due to an accident involving rocket fuel. Evidently, that port handled 80% of Iranian shipping. Its destruction will have enormous consequences for the Iranian regime, already in pretty dire straights due to economic sanctions.

    Gaffney said that the port explosion was the third “accident” of recent note crippling Iran, and speculated that Israel was likely behind all three. I have no idea, but Netanyahu has been saying for weeks that “something big” was going to happen in Iran.

    Gaffney is an interesting character who has been excoriated by a pretty broad spectrum of detractors. He started a think tank way back in 1988 that Wikipedia describes as:

    “the Center for Security Policy (CSP), a Washington, D.C.-based national security think tank that has been widely described as engaging in conspiracy theorizing by a range of individuals, media outlets and organizations. Its activities are focused on exposing and researching perceived jihadist threats to the United States. The Center has been described as “not very highly respected” by BBC News and “disreputable” by Salon. ”

    The Southern Policy Law Center has this to say about Gaffney:

    “Gripped by paranoid fantasies about Muslims destroying the West from within, Gaffney claims that “creeping Sharia,” or Islamic religious law, is a dire threat to American democracy. ”

    Seems to me like the past few years has vindicated Gaffney.

  14. Re iDJiT’s threatened (not “planned” in any sense) 100% tariff on films produced overseas — A serious question is how could that possibly work? No “goods” need to be cleared through customs for digital masters, and even for actual film reels the importer’s direct cost for those tangible items would be the merest fraction of the production costs, since essentially all the ultimate dollar value of a film is harvested later, via contractual terms with financiers, product-placement advertisers, merch merchants, distributers, theatres, etc.

    IANAL or accountant, but the big money at stake should buy more than enough creativity to get around any attempts to tariff the intangible intellectual property involved.

  15. Re iDJiT’s Alcatraz, it actually makes some sense from his point of view.
    • It’s the tough announcement that matters, not any actual construction or results — the sizzle not the steak. SOP.
    • Torture-prison envy.
    • Insulting the American Indians.
    • Pwning the Libs, especially the looney commie San Francisco ones.

  16. But this may just be an idea passing(idepassing correction) through the convoluted adyts of Trump’s brain:

    “adyts” – “The innermost sanctum of a temple, in which oracles are announced.”

    There is a new word for me. I was quite befoozled until I looked up its meaning. The closest ‘regular’ word I know that resembles adyt is adit, which is a horizontal entry to a mine, as distinct from a shaft.

  17. President Donald Trump said Sunday that he has ordered several
    agencies to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz, an infamous federalpenitentiary that closed in the 1960s and has since become a popular tourist destination.

    Be careful what you wish for.

    1. My thought exactly. But maybe he wants to serve his sentence in a mostly-Ok climate (YMMV), with Ghirardelli chocolate fumes wafting through.

    2. It’s just another shiny object.

      Alcatraz has no potable water or working sewer system. Lack of water is one of the reasons it was abandoned in the 60’s- crazy expensive. It’s funny (in a scary way) listening to the loons like Miller justifying reopening it for their agenda of cruelty…as if Supermax prisons aren’t cruel enough…I guess they don’t have the entertainment value of Alcatraz.

      I heard that Trump recently watched Clint Eastwood’s “Escape from Alcatraz” which inspired the idea. Who knows if that’s true, but sounds about right. Everything comes down to appearances and not reality. Being POTUS is Trump’s reality TV show.

  18. Regarding the tariffs on foreign-made films, could this be the work of George Clooney? I don’t know how he’d benefit from this, but he’s already ousted one president. 😉

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