Tuesday: Hili dialogue

June 10, 2025 • 6:45 am

Welcome to the Cruelest Day: Tuesday, June 10, 2025, and National Black Cow Day, celebrating the root beer float. In lieu of the drink, you can have this Steely Dan song. “It’s over now/Drink your big black cow/and get out of here.”

It’s also National Egg Roll Day, National Frosted Cookie Day, National Herb and Spice Day, and National Iced Tea Day, celebrating the “table wine of the South.”

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the June 10 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*Obituaries first: Sly Stone (not the actor but the musician) died yesterday at 82.  From the NYT:

As the colorful maestro and mastermind of a multiracial, mixed-gender band, Mr. Stone experimented with the R&B, soul and gospel music he was raised on in the San Francisco area, mixing classic ingredients of Black music with progressive funk and the burgeoning freedoms of psychedelic rock ’n’ roll.

The band’s most recognizable songs, many of which would be sampled by hip-hop artists, include “Everyday People,” “Dance to the Music,” “I Want to Take You Higher,” “Family Affair,” “Hot Fun in the Summertime” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).”

Here’s my favorite of their songs, “Hot Fun in the Summertime” from 1969 (it sounds a bit like the Fifth Dimension):

*Today on tap is another day of L.A. residents’ battle against the apprehension of immigrants thought to be in the U.S. illegally. This time, the National Guard is around, and, as of last night, they called out 700 Marines!

The city geared up for another day of protests Monday after anti-ICE demonstrations in downtown Los Angeles escalated over the weekend.

The California chapter of the Service Employees International Union planned for a rally before the arraignment of its president, David Huerta, who was arrested on Friday while protesting a raid by ICE agents in Los Angeles.

U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bilal “Bill” Essayli said that agents were executing a warrant at a work site in Los Angeles when Huerta “deliberately obstructed their access by blocking their vehicle.”

Videos captured people surrounding vans, shouting and chanting. As word spread, more people showed up, and the protests grew and lasted into the night.

President Trump deployed the National Guard on Saturday night over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, with the president saying that local leaders didn’t move quickly enough to address the clashes.

Newsom called on the Trump administration to rescind the deployment of the National Guard, saying the move was a breach of state sovereignty. In a social-media post Monday, Newsom threatened to sue Trump, saying the deployment was illegal and had inflamed tensions in the city.

Trump sent the troops “to manufacture chaos and violence,” the Democratic governor said earlier in a post on X. “Now things are destabilized and we need to send in more law enforcement just to clean up Trump’s mess.”

On Sunday, protesters gathered outside the detention facility where Huerta was detained and stood off against National Guard troops.

Newsom says that California will sue Trump over the deployment of the state National Guard.

Finally, there’s one long thread (31 tweets) in which “Wokal Distance” claims that the protests against the arrest of undocumented immigrants were highly organized by outside forces. For some reason I can’t embed the first tweet, but click on the screenshot to see the allegations:

*I’ve seen the anti-ICE (or whoever’s doing the arresting) protests characterized as “peaceful”, but that’s not the impression I get. Just a few quotes from the WaPo:

At least 27 people were arrested in Los Angeles Sunday on the third day of protests against immigration raids, according to the Los Angeles Police Department and California Highway Patrol. Authorities used tear gas and less lethal munitions to disperse protesters who gathered near an immigration detention center downtown. Police said people in the crowd threw objects and that other protesters set fire to vehicles.

. . .Waymo has cut off taxi service to parts of Los Angeles after five of its self-driving vehicles were torched during weekend protests about immigration raids.

Images Sunday of downtown show Waymo vehicles covered with graffiti. One photo shows protesters waving Mexican and Guatemalan flags while standing atop a Waymo vehicle, while another appears to show a protester hitting the vehicle with a skateboard. The Los Angeles Times reported that some Lime e-scooters also were tossed into the blaze. [The Waymo cars were set on fire.]

Protestors are also firing dangerous fireworks, like Roman candles and M-80s, at law enforcement. Cars are on fire and the protestors are wearing masks. Why would you wear masks if you are protesting peacefully? On the other hand, law enforcement is also wearing masks, and why are they doing that? This is what’s known as a “shitshow”, or, more accurately, a dumpster fire.

*The “Freedom Flotilla, otherwise known as the “selfie yacht” (see below), has met an ignominious end, captured without incident by the IDF. (See also NYT article here.)

Shayetet 13, the elite IDF naval unit, intercepted the Gaza Freedom Flotilla early on Monday morning at around 3 a.m., according to the ship’s operators and military officials. 

The IDF boarded the Madleen, and took the crew and the ship to the Port of Ashdod, where they would be sent back to their respective countries, with Defense Minister Israel Katz instructing that the passengers view footage from Hamas’s October 7 attacks.

The IDF had previously estimated that the flotilla would arrive in Israeli territory an hour earlier.

The Israeli Navy had also reportedly made contact with the Madleen prior to Israeli forces boarding, and had instructed it to change its course.

Katz had also instructed the IDF to show Thunberg and the rest of the Madleen passengers footage from Hamas’s October 7 attacks.
“It is appropriate that antisemitic Greta and her fellow Hamas supporters see exactly who this terrorist organization they came to support and whom they are working for is, what atrocities they committed against women, the elderly, and children, and against whom Israel is fighting to defend itself,” he said.

I love that they’re making them watch the October 7 attacks. But of course these are hard-core activists and that will have no effect on their thinking.

A statement from the Israeli foreign ministry:

With recent reports of a “celebrities yacht” heading to Gaza, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to clarify the following:

The maritime zone off the coast of Gaza is closed to unauthorized vessels under a legal naval blockade, consistent with international law.

The yacht is claiming that it is delivering humanitarian aid. In fact, it is a media gimmick for publicity (which includes less than a single truckload of aid) – a “selfie yacht”.

Humanitarian aid is delivered regularly and effectively via different channels and routes, and is transferred through established distribution mechanisms. Over the past two weeks, more than 1,200 aid trucks have entered Gaza from Israel. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed close to 11 million meals directly to civilians in Gaza.

The Gaza maritime zone remains an active conflict area, and Hamas has previously exploited sea routes for terrorist attacks, including the October 7th massacre.

Unauthorized attempts to breach the blockade are dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts.

We call on all actors to act responsibly and to channel humanitarian aid through legitimate, coordinated mechanisms, not through provocation.

. . . and two tweets from the Ministry:

And a (critical) video from Talk TV:

*New York is pondering passing an assisted-dying bill, and the Free Press has objections: “Will New York soon make it too easy to die?”

 [In New York] assisted dying is not yet legal. That’s why, for the past decade, Nancy has been part of a movement to change the law in her home state.

Now, they’re closer than they ever have been. In April, New York’s “Medical Aid in Dying Act” passed the state assembly by a vote of 81 to 67. It has until the end of the legislative session—June 12—to face a vote in the Senate. On Thursday, June 5, Senate majority leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said she believed there were enough votes for the legislation to pass and “it is likely that it will come to the floor.” Perhaps as soon as Monday, June 9.

If the legislation passes, New York would join the 11 other states that have legalized assisted dying in various forms. (It is also legal in the District of Columbia.) For those who have seen difficult deaths or are daunted by the prospect, the kind of death Nancy describes—peaceful and pain-free—is what they are hoping the law will all but guarantee.

But those opposed to assisted suicide—their preferred term—warn that such laws endanger the vulnerable by reshaping social norms so that, for some, the right to die becomes a duty to die. Moreover, New York’s legislation, they argue, is on the “outer edge” of liberalization, eliminating safeguards that exist in other states where medical aid in dying (MAID) is legal.

I spoke to people on both sides to better understand their concerns. To both proponents and opponents, New York’s assisted suicide bill is not only a matter of individual rights. To put it bluntly, the people who would be eligible to end their lives are already capable of doing so without help from doctors or lawmakers.  [JAC: What does that mean? That they can commit suicide on their own?] But this bill would signal medical and societal approval for that choice and, in doing so, have ethical implications that reach far beyond the patients it is designed for.

, , , Far from offering “peace and comfort,” said Michelle Uzeta, interim executive director of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, legalizing assisted suicide will only endanger “vulnerable communities—poor, disabled, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ folk” since these are the groups “most at risk of being denied or unable to access care, being steered toward death, and having their lives devalued.”

And one of the objections:

, , , Richard Doerflinger is a bioethicist in Washington State who has been tracking assisted suicide laws for nearly 40 years. In his estimation, the New York bill may be the worst law of its kind in the United States.

“There is no waiting period in the New York bill. That’s the first time I’ve seen this,” he said, noting that most states with MAID laws have a minimum waiting period. In Oregon, it is 15 days, though a 2023 law allows this to be waived when the patient is expected to die before the waiting period ends.

“In New York, any patient could decide “in a moment of despair at first getting his or her diagnosis, ‘Oh my God, I just want to die,’ and sign off, and that’s the end of the process,” Doerflinger said. The patient could request the prescription, have it approved, and be dead within 24 hours.

And another:

“Why does it matter if depressed people inadvertently get assisted suicide?” Dugdale asks. “Well, as a society, we have always said that we treat depression and we prevent depressed people from killing themselves.” Some people fear that legalizing MAID will create a world in which suicide is seen as a treatment option even if a disease could be effectively managed.

. . . The assisted-suicide advocates I spoke with have many admirable qualities. Chief among them is their strong will and clear-mindedness. But they risk assuming that everyone facing a devastating diagnosis is of a similar disposition. What they might not appreciate is that in insisting on control at the end of life, they are chipping away at the agency of those who have so little to begin with and whose motivations may be compromised by depression, uncertainty, loneliness, ambivalence, grief, poverty, or despair.

Well, it’s advisable to have doctors and psychiatrists judge whether a disease can be “effectively managed” so that the patient doesn’t wish to end their life if there’s hope. In countries and states that have similar bills (with medical advice), I haven’t heard of widespread dissatisfaction with how they’re implemented.  And I think it’s a bit of an imposition for someone to tell a patient who wishes to die that they can’t—they have to live, even in unbearable circumstances. Well, do what you can to give them hope, but if that hope can’t be restored, I say that the state should allow them to die.

*The runaway zebra in Tennessee has been recovered and is back in his reserve again.

A runaway pet zebra that was on the loose for more than a week in Tennessee was captured on Sunday, his owners and authorities said.

Ed the zebra, who became an internet sensation, was captured safely after being located in a pasture near a subdivision in the Christiana community in central Tennessee, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.

“Ed was airlifted and flown by helicopter back to a waiting animal trailer,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Ed’s owner, Laura Ford, told CBS News that a team from Texas helped capture him and he is “safe and 100% healthy.”

“This has been a long, stressful week and I am so happy that it ended the way it did and no one got hurt,” she said.

Video posted by the sheriff’s office shows Ed wrapped in a net with his head sticking out as he is carried by the helicopter to the trailer.

Ed arrived in Christiana on May 30, the sheriff’s office said. His owner reported him missing the next day.

The zebra was spotted and filmed running along Interstate 24, forcing deputies to shut the roadway. But Ed escaped into a wooded area.

There were several sightings posted to social media. Ed was filmed trotting through a neighborhood.

The zebra quickly became the subject of internet memes. One fake posting showed Ed dining at a Waffle House, a southern staple. Others had him visiting other Tennessee cities or panhandling on the side of the road.

Here’s Ed being airlifted to a truck. Poor Zebra! Ed was just trying to find the grassy plains!

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is making Lamarckian jokes:

Hili: I ate a know-it-all mouse.
Andrzej: And?
Hili: I do not feel any wiser.

In Polish:
Hili: Zjadłam mysz, która zjadła wszystkie rozumy na świecie.
Ja: I co?
Hili: Nie czuję się mądrzejsza.

 

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

All kitty memes today. Here’s one from The Dodo Pet:

From CinEmma:

From Cats That Have Had Enough of Your Shit:

Masih is quiet again, but here’s JKR (and Martina) standing up for women:

Amnesty International, which has really gone down the drain, predictably defends Greta and her Gaza flotilla.  Malgorzata commented, “The text is predictably horrible. But I had a look at some comments. Quite a lot of them give hope that some humans are still thinking beings. Not all are indoctrinated drones like Amnesty.”  I put the first two comments below:

From Malcolm, a music-loving d*g:

From Barry. I wonder if this really is mimicking a mouth with teeth:

#PsakibriefingScience break.The Malaysian Dead Leaf Mantis mimicking a mouth with teeth to scare off predators.

— Fire Captain 🔥 (@rescuecaptain.bsky.social) 2025-06-07T01:24:28.965Z

One from my feed; Mel Blanc, the man of a thousand voices:

 

One I reposted from the Auschwitz Memorial:

This Hungarian Jewish girl was gassed to death immediately upon arriving at Auschwitz. She was six years old.

— Jerry Coyne (@evolutionistrue.bsky.social) 2025-06-10T10:24:32.623Z

And one from Dr. Cobb. This woman has tamed a wild roadrunner:

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, stop for a moment and watch this little roadrunner utterly ecstatic to show his mama the treasure he found 🥹🥹🥹

— Claire Zagorski, MSc, EMT-P (@clairezagorski.bsky.social) 2025-06-08T18:17:20.296Z

43 thoughts on “Tuesday: Hili dialogue”

  1. As someone pointed out on X, isn’t it a little ironic that the undocumented protesters in LA are desperate to avoid being sent back to the very countries whose flags they are ardently waving around?

    1. Yes. I don’t think undocumented immigrants would want to be anywhere near these protests. And the riots have only brought in more people to arrest more immigrants.

      1. Yes again, Mark. Were I a slightly paranoid under-the-radar quiet illegal just wanting to be paid 10x what I’d be paid for back in Latinxia or Equatorial Macheteland… and was living quietly in the USA…. I probably wouldn’t be making splashy slashy gestures and poses that attract attention to myself… to make a lib political point.

        I have a feeling nearly none of these “protesters” are liable for deportation as they are all Americans.

        D.A.
        NYC

  2. But why did Hili think that mouse was a know-it-all?
    So many questions that keep a guy up at night.

  3. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
    A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep. -Saul Bellow, writer, Nobel laureate (10 Jun 1915-2005)

  4. The Federal agents are supposedly wearing masks to prevent doxing and threats to themselves and their families. In the normal course of things, I wouldn’t approve of that, but given that the villains are wearing masks, I’m not that bothered. There was a fellow doxing agents on twitter, but then he got doxed, so he deleted his account.

    On assisted suicide, I think it’s a very slippery slope, and should be restricted to those who cannot physically kill themselves. Remember that a lot of the people in view for assisted suicide could do it on their own, if they wanted it badly enough. If you can’t get over the idea of doing it yourself, then maybe that’s a sign that things aren’t that bad?

    1. I think that a good % of people who are physically suffering would still discover a strong barrier against doing the deed out of deep instinct. But having it done for you would make it easier, since your role is more about just talking and singing forms.
      There are also complications with suicide and the paying out of life insurance to next of kin. Perhaps having some laws that permit assisted suicide is a way to secure death benefits are paid out to the next of kin.

      1. With a DYI suicide you often don’t get the outcome you were trying for, and end up worse off than before. With medical aid in dying, you and your loved ones can be totally confident that it will be painless, quick, gentle, and final.

      2. Good point.

        If by assisted suicide you mean literally that the person takes lethal drugs prescribed by a physician, that is still suicide. Life insurance companies that exclude suicide will be watching their claims to be sure they are not being defrauded through assisted suicide being passed off as something else. They can always demand the medical file to verify that the death was due to a covered cause. It would be unethical for a doctor to collude in a scheme to defraud an insurance company.

        (I haven’t had life insurance in a long time but when I did, suicide was excluded only within two years of purchase of the policy or escalation of the death benefit. In that event the ins co would refund premiums. Any death that closely follows purchase of a term life insurance policy is going to raise red flags. Insurance companies know all about moral hazard.)

        The rule of thumb is that any parent or spouse who cares enough about his dependents to buy life insurance probably cares enough about them to be able to resist the urge to kill himself, at least initially. People do change as life’s successes and failures accumulate. That’s part of the bet the insurance company takes. They will of course decline to sell a policy to someone who already has a serious mental (or physical, for that matter) illness.

        I don’t know what the insurance companies think about medical euthanasia. When it started in Canada, most people getting killed were near death anyway. If they still had standard all-cause life insurance the company was going to pay out soon regardless, so disallowing euthanasia might have seemed unnecessarily cruel. However as euthanasia expands, some people are going to die long before the actuaries predicted. It is also possible to buy (cheaper) life insurance that covers only certain causes of death, such as cancer, or accidents. In these policies, the insurance company pays close attention to every death claim. If a patient with a cancer policy had euthanasia many years before her expected death from an indolent type of cancer, I can see the company refusing to pay.

        So I can see the life insurance companies excluding medical euthanasia in new term policies, which are bought mostly by young people, particularly if euthanasia is committed for a non-terminal diagnosis soon after buying a policy. The public policy value of life insurance is that young people with dependents but few assets can provide for them in the unlikely but devastating event they die still young. Premiums must be as low as actuarially possible in order to encourage them to buy lots of it. Moral hazard and adverse selection have to be purged.

        1. There are suicide “outs” for insurance companies in paying death benefits but there’s a rub, Leslie:

          Apparently (this from law school memory)… if a company denies a death claim for suicide, the come-back (sometimes successful) is that the suicide is proof mental incapacitation… so the company still has to pay. I think this was a minority position but the issue it brings up is interesting… if not vital to the whole discussion.

          I fall back on my position that we should all have jurisdiction over our bodies, our sex and our life itself. Insurance is very much a non-motivating factor and not all that relevant.

          And like illegal drugs or prostitution the only thing worse than a regulated system – however imperfect – is a deregulated free for all. Witness the failed drug war, backyard abortions, back alley hookers vs OnlyFans and Dutch style regulated sex.

          Stay non-chilly my Kanuk friend!

          D.A.
          NYC

          1. It’s rare that I disagree with you, but I feel not everyone should have complete control over their own bodies: those who are not post-adolescent should not be allowed to undergo cosmetic hormone treatments or plastic surgery, because they lack the mental capacity and/or maturity to make such a decision. Similarly, I do not think the mentally ill or the depressed should be allowed to seek assisted suicide, because they lack the mental and/or emotional capacity to make such a decision.

        2. I don’t know how the various U.S. state laws may differ on this, but under model medical aid in dying legislation the terminal illness is registered as the official cause of death, and the prescribed medication which lead to the end of life is considered a palliative treatment.

          Even without aid in dying, the life insurance would have to be paid soon, so the insurance companies really have nothing to complain about.

          1. Not in Ontario. Euthanasia must be included in the chain of causation of death on death certificates. The coroner’s office reviews them. If euthanasia were just noted in the chart and not on the death certificate, the chief coroner would have no way to flag areas of concern. (The New York bill has been so criticized.) Palliative care doctors recoil from the notion that euthanasia is part of the palliative relief of symptoms in the dying and need not be recorded as such.

            The worry for life insurance companies is not that someone with a rapidly fatal disease and a life insurance policy might be killed a few weeks-months sooner than he would have died. (Many, but not all, people in this situation are old, and let their term policies lapse many years earlier in any case.). Their worry is that someone who still has life insurance receives an unpleasant but not fatal diagnosis while young and wants to be killed immediately, instead of living out her natural life as the actuaries assume she will. During that time she would have been paying premiums which escalate with age. (Those premiums go to the family of the young breadwinner who died at 30.) Eventually she will let the insurance lapse as it gets prohibitively expensive, and die without insurance in force. If the doctor kills her now, she will get a payout that she wouldn’t have gotten if euthanasia for the non-terminal diagnosis was still a crime…and of course she stops paying premiums. This moral hazard risk is particularly strong if euthanasia for mental illness is permitted as it will be in Canada in 2027. Suicide prevention will lapse into suicide enablement. Depending on numbers, life insurance companies will either eat the difference, raise premiums for everyone, or revisit suicide/euthanasia rules.

            Life insurance is not a big deal in the euthanasia debate but euthanasia, like anything that increases the death rate among the insured lives, is potentially a big deal to the insurance industry.

    2. No, I think there are many reasons, including pain, mess, and so on, to have a doctor help you. Are you saying that someone with a diagnosis of ALS who is not yet fully paralyzed should just be allowed to degenerate unto death because he could always cut his throat or jump off a building?

    3. Doxing changes the strategic landscape Dr. B, correct.
      Previously government officials pursuing their legal duties didn’t have the danger of their private lives, homes and families being endangered. Tech has allowed this so their masking is 100% legit given the circumstances.

      NOT the protesters however – who are breaking the law. In NY we’re starting to come down hard on “freelance terrorist maskers” thank goodness.

      Hijabs next? Class discuss….

      D.A.
      NYC

      1. Re Danny’s above comment.
        Totally Danny. I should have been more specific and said “ADULTS” should have jurisdiction over their bodies. We make many exceptions regarding the freedoms of those under age (depending on locale).
        Goodness – given my opinions as a youngster I’m pretty happy I wasn’t allowed to follow my dream in those days!

        Talking trans particularly here. I argued about this with a neurologist friend. He said 25 is the age at which people should be allowed to “trans”. I see his point, the brain’s PFC maturity and all. I’ll compromise at 18 or preferably 21 for trans but we certainly don’t want young people making irreversible or even rash choices.
        We were all young once – happily boomers and GenXers are allowed to forget!

        D.A.
        NYC

  5. As I lifelong NYer of indifferent and at times precarious health I am totally behind anything we can do to assist assisted dying here. I can afford to go to Switzerland (like Danny Kahneman lately) or another state but it’d be good here.

    A few years ago when I started reading twitter Pinker pointed to Richard Haniana’s essay on Canadian MAID. It argues (better than I can) this side:
    https://www.richardhanania.com/p/canadian-euthanasia-as-moral-progress

    Our bodies and lives are our own jurisdiction: for sex, reproductive choices, recreational drugs and at the end.. for our end.

    D.A.
    NYC

    2. He actually goes, “M(b)EEP! M(b)EEP!” and Mr. Blanc does it exactly so in the clip.

  7. It probably came in after press time here (~4:00pm Eastern) that Junior Kennedy fired all 17 members of the Vaccine Advisory Board. This is the group that weights the evidence and passes judgement on potential new vaccines, annual revisions, and such.

      1. “They sure did – they believed that vaccines actually prevented illness or eased its symptoms. If that’s not a conflict of interest, I don’t know what it is” says no-one reasonable, which is why Junior is the person saying it.
        Fortunately, states regulate medicine, including the vaccine schedules they require; so even Junior’s new clown-car ACIP can’t alter that.
        Unfortunately, health insurance companies may not want to cover vaccines that aren’t on the CDC list – but they may be self-interested enough to realize that vaccinating against disease is cheaper than treating it (COVID being the latest and best example of that) and continue to pay.
        We’ll see.

    2. I recall some loudmouth git on WEIT telling us all shouting that RFK was “the most dangerous cabinet member in living memory” some time ago.

      Oh wait. That was me. 🙂

      D.A.
      NYC

    1. As somebody recently said to me, “I don’t know if you’re a father, but that was a dad joke”.

    2. I felt bad for Ed getting scooped up out of his pasture. When the zebra’s in the zone, leave him alone!

  9. Sly Stone was among the most innovative music producers ever. His music would be relevant today and doesn’t fit into any category. Too bad he was such a screw up once he became rich and famous.

    1. Several years ago, Sylvester Stallone was on the Oprah Winfrey show. When she came back from a commercial, she said “Our guest today is Sly Stone.” And she kept doing it! Stallone laughed about it and finally said something like “Aaay, ya want me to be Sly Stone, I’ll be Sly Stone.” I was hoping he’d say “I wanna thank you for lettin’ me be myself,” but he didn’t.

  10. Latest details behind the L.A. operation I’ve read is this :

    “Meet two of the prime suspects for organizing and funding the LA riots , two RADICAL COMMUNISTS, Leah Greenburg and Ezra Levin, both atheist COMMUNISTS, these two pathetic creatures are co-founders of the radical foundation “Indivisible” They are also behind the radical Anti American organization ” Nokings.org ” […]”

    https://x.com/jnottah/status/1932159370520838413?s=46

    … ‘

    1. And then a correction from a different user (bold added):

      “For the hundredth time, it’s important to understand that the LA riots and the upcoming No Kings protests have DIFFERENT backers and ideologies.

      LA Riots was funded by Neville Singham – a CCP activist who is vehemently anti-Western. True Marxists.

      No Kings is funded by pro-Western influences which include Soros. Left-wing globalists.”

      https://x.com/datarepublican/status/1932464495651443135?s=46

      Looks like it is more accurate – as there is evidence the Party for Socialism and Liberation (SPL) has been active in this.

    2. I’m not familiar with those individuals but the organizations are simply protesting Trump. Trust me, plenty of people don’t like Trump. There’s far too many of them for them to all be radical Communists.

  11. That Malaysian Dead Leaf Mantis is startling! That’s the point, of course.

  12. Every mentally capable adult already has a right to die whenever he chooses, and so do many minors. You (or your proxy on your behalf if you are no longer capable) can absolutely refuse all medical treatment, even food and water. So euthanasia and assisted-suicide laws don’t confer any new rights there. What they confer is a right to be killed.

    If there is a right to be killed (not just to die), that creates a reciprocal obligation in someone else to be a killer. A right you can’t exercise because no one will give you what you want isn’t much of a right, is it. If there are killers lining up voluntarily to perform the service, no problem (I guess). But what if no one who is legally permitted to kill is willing to? What does the state, the arbiter and enforcer of all rights, do then? Whom does it conscript to the task? Can the state really compel an unwilling practitioner to kill someone? It can revoke a refusing doctor’s licence, sure, but that doesn’t get the customer killed unless another doctor with med school debt and a family to feed steps up.

    Doctors need to be aware, whether or not you personally support euthanasia laws, that if push comes to shove, you will be compelled to kill your patient if you can’t find anyone else to do it on referral and she won’t take No for an answer. To refuse will be civil disobedience (and professional misconduct), not conscientious objection. That’s how it works in Canada. Our medical licensing regulators and the Supreme Court say so.

    1. Well Leslie doctors here can opt out of doing abortions. Can’t they do that in Canada?
      Surely….

      D.A.
      NYC

      1. No. As with abortion, we must make an “effective referral.” (The phone number of a clinic in Switzerland doesn’t count.) If there is no euthanologist locally, we’ll have to do it ourself, or refuse politely and empathetically while promising alternatives and suffer the consequences.

        Perhaps euthanasia will become so mainstream that few will flinch from doing it on request. Meantime I know ordinary doctors are glad there is a little band of euthanologists around to take the angst off.

        1. Wow Leslie. You kanuks often amaze me – that puts clinicians there in a pretty tight corner doesn’t it?

          Sometimes the “be kind” mantra up there is startling (I’m thinking of that recent wild case of the guy who wanted to keep his penis and just add a vag whom the state – you – paid to go to Texas to get it done…) (Genspec and Mia Hughes covered this disaster).

          Goodness – I’m extremely pro euthanasia but there’s got to be a lot of consent all the way around – patients and clinicians. Surely you can’t force the hand of doctors…..

          We have to ask though – maybe if euthanasia does become mainstream – and some people are wrongfully “put down” – how does that balance with the current system of many people dying in agony with little way out beyond a shotgun or… as somebody here mentioned …. botched home jobs leaving only regretful vegetables surviving? There are tricky moral culdesacs for sure.
          best,
          D.A.
          NYC

    2. I agree that this is concerning, and not just for Canadian physicians – but here’s the issue for the rest of us.
      The medical profession has unique knowledge of how to end a life peacefully, painlessly, and quickly.
      Non-physicians do not have access to the medications that will enable that, because these medications are “prescription-only”.
      Unless non-physicians are to be given access to such medications, then I think physician involvement is part of the process: the question is not “do I have a right to die?” (that’s the case pretty much everywhere), but “do I have a right to die peacefully, painlessly, and quickly?” (as opposed to jumping off a bridge, lying down on the train tracks, etc.). I think the answer to that second question is fairly “yes”, or my right to suicide is unduly limited, and I see that as putting the onus on physicians to assist even if only by prescribing lethal medications.
      NOTE: All of this assumes competence to make the decision, I’m not addressing that issue.

  13. Professor Kathleen Stock, vilified for her stance on transgenderism, is currently working on a book exploring the problems and perils hidden within Assisted Dying. Should be worth reading.

    There was a famous case in Canada where a former paralympian, who’d been trying unsuccessfully for 5 years to get a wheelchair ramp, was apparently offered Assisted Dying as a possible substitute. On X, I keep running into similar complaints – it’s being employed way past its original purpose. Anorexics are choosing it.

  14. When my wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she considered assisted dying. But she chose home hospice and palliative care, which was really better. She spent more time with her family.

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