Thursday: Hili dialogue

June 26, 2025 • 7:00 am

Today may be a truncated Hili dialogue as I’m leaving Brooklyn for Chicago. I will do what I can. Bear with me: I do my best.

Welcome to Thursday, June 26, 2025, and National Onion Day. Someone (perhaps it was Nora Ephron) once said that onions and Coca-Cola are similar in that they are really tasty and we’d pay any price to get them, but fortunately they are common and cheap.

Here’s how they grow the big onions they use in restaurants, including the famous “Blooming Onion” at Outback Steakhouse. I’ve never been there, but I would love such a battered and fried onion:

Here’s a blooming onion: Wikipedia has an article on it!

No machine-readable author provided. Waptaff assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

It’s also Forgiveness Day, National Chocolate Pudding Day, and National Coconut Day. (Don’t forget to put the lime in the coconut.)

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the June 20 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*After yesterday’s U.S. assessment that the strike on Fordo and other strikes didn’t set back Iran’s nuclear program by that much, the government has changed its tune. Damage was more severe than first thought.

Classified intelligence about the damage to Iran’s nuclear program from U.S. strikes was at the center of a political tempest on Wednesday as spy chiefs pushed out new assessments and President Trump continued to defend his assertion that Iran’s key facilities had been “obliterated.”

The C.I.A. director, John Ratcliffe, said the strikes had “severely damaged” Iran’s nuclear program, and the administration suggested that the initial report, by the Defense Intelligence Agency, was based on preliminary assessments and was already outdated.

The damage was also being assessed by other U.S. spy agencies. No information that has become public from those assessments has supported Mr. Trump’s description of the level of destruction from the U.S. attack, though they all confirmed that the damage had been substantial.

The D.I.A. report was based on information from little more than 24 hours after the American attacks on three of Iran’s nuclear sites.

It described the level of damage as ranging from moderate to severe, according to people briefed on or familiar with its contents.

The report said that if the D.I.A.’s assumption that Fordo, the deepest underground of the sites, sustained a moderate level of damage is correct, then the facility would be inoperable and Iran would not try to rebuild its enrichment capabilities there, one of those people said. If the assumption proved incorrect, the report said, Iran could build a quick version of a nuclear weapon in months.

. . .The National Security Agency, which focuses on intercepted phone and internet communications, has been examining what Iranians have been saying about the strikes and the fate of their uranium stockpiles. And officials said the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which studies satellite imagery, has been looking at movements around the nuclear sites in the days before the American strikes.

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, posted on social media about new intelligence that showed that it would take years if Iran chose to rebuild the three sites the American attack hit.

Officials said her comment was also based on new U.S. intelligence collected since the D.I.A. report was written Sunday. The new intelligence relates to the existing facilities hit by the U.S. strikes, not whether Iran could use other secret facilities to advance its work on nuclear weapon capability.

Gabbard, who didn’t want to attack Iran, appears to have changed her tune. Pressure from Trump?

Stay tuned; things will change again!

*From the Wall Street Journal on the same topic:

The head of the U.N. atomic energy agency said U.S. and Israeli strikes caused “enormous damage” to Iran’s nuclear sites and warned of a new crisis if Iran refused to allow his agency to inspect the facilities.

The extent of the damage done to Tehran’s nuclear capabilities has been at issue since the U.S. joined Israel in attacking them. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is due to hold a briefing at the Pentagon Thursday morning to address a U.S. intelligence report that said the strikes had merely delayed Iran’s nuclear efforts by a few months, President Trump said.

Trump said he doesn’t think a nuclear deal with Iran is necessary after the strikes and said he believed the cease-fire between Israel and Iran would hold. Of new nuclear talks, he said the U.S. would be asking the Iranians for the same thing before Israel launched its attack. “We want no nuclear,” the president said, adding: “We destroyed the nuclear.”

The president has pushed back on the leaked report on the extent of the damage, saying Iran’s nuclear sites were “obliterated.” Hegseth said Wednesday the FBI has started a probe into how the preliminary assessment became public.

What else to know:

The Defense Intelligence Agency, which produced the classified report, said it was “a preliminary, low-confidence assessment—not a final conclusion.”

. . . The U.S. is making a fresh push to negotiate an end to the fighting in Gaza, hoping to build on the momentum of a cease-fire between Israel and Iran.

“We want no nuclear. We destroyed the nuclear.” Oy! At least he didn’t say “Nuc-u-lar”!

*Speaking of Tulsi, she was ignored again by the administration as it’s sending a delegation to Congress, with Trump concerned about the “leaks” in assessing the damage to Iran (my bolding):

The White House plans to limit classified intelligence sharing with Congress after leaks to the press of an early assessment undermined President Donald Trump’s claim that U.S. airstrikes obliterated Iranian nuclear facilities, a senior Trump administration official said, setting the stage for a contentious classified briefing before senators Thursday.

Amid a political battle over what the intelligence shows, the White House is expected to send four of its top national security officials to brief lawmakers: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, administration officials said.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who testified in March that U.S. intelligence agencies assessed that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon, will be notably absent.

“Ratcliffe will represent the intelligence community,” the senior Trump administration official said of Gabbard’s absence, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans not yet made public. “The media is turning this into something it’s not.”

Poor Tulsi. She’s the Director of National Intelligence but doesn’t even get to go to Congress! What’s worse is the administration’s decision to limit what it tells Congress about sensitive issues that are, after all, things that Congress has a right to know.

*This is a nice gesture, but I have no idea how it could be implemented. According to the Times of Israel, Israel has offered medical care to Iranians injured in the recent attacks on the country by Israel and the U.S. Note the sentence I’ve put in bold:

In a post on its Persian-language X account, Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency offers medical assistance to Iranian citizens hurt in the recent conflict, encouraging them to reach out via WhatsApp, Telegram, or Signal.

“The ceasefire has been implemented. Now, the extent of the damage is becoming apparent. At this moment, the regime is focused on its higher education, not on taking care of its citizens,” the post reads.

According to the statement, the Mossad is offering a range of services — from access to specialist doctors to basic first aid — aimed at helping those affected by the recent conflict. It is not clear how such services would be provided.

Here’s the post if you can read Farsi:

How in hell is Mossad going to give medical aid to Iranians? Is Mossad going to come to Israel? That won’t work. Nor can Iranians go to Israel for treatment? This seems like a performative offer on the part of Mossad.

*Invoking Title IX, the government says that California cannot allow trans-identified men to compete in women’s sports. But California is ignoring that, despite the governor’s agreement with the administration on this issue.

The Trump administration said Wednesday that California must change its policies allowing transgender girls to compete on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.

The U.S. Department of Education said it determined California’s education department and governing body for high school sports are violating Title IX, a federal law banning sex discrimination in education. The federal government said California must agree to change its policies in 10 days or “risk imminent enforcement action.” The administration could otherwise refer the state to the U.S. Justice Department, the Education Department said.

California, though, said it has no plans to change its policies.

“The California Department of Education believes all students should have the opportunity to learn and play at school, and we have consistently applied existing law in support of students’ rights to do so,” agency spokesperson Liz Sanders said in a statement.

. . . The announcement comes weeks after a trans student athlete garnered national attention over her participation in the California high school state track and field championship. The student, AB Hernandez, placed first in the girls high jump and triple jump, and second in the long jump. The California Interscholastic Federation, which ran the meet, awarded gold and silver medals to both Hernandez and other competitors who would have placed had she not participated. It was the first time the federation made such a rule change.

. . . U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon invoked Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s remarks on his podcast in March questioning the fairness of trans girls competing in girls sports.

In this case the government is right and California, supporting a policy unfair to women, is wrong.  Saying that does not make one either transphobic or pro-Trump.  But fairness is fairness.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili and Szaron pretend they are in in postwar Poland:

Andrzej: what are you waiting for here?
Hili: We are queuing for meat..
In Polish:

Ja: A wy na co tu czekacie?
Hili: Siedzimy w kolejce po mięso.

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

From Apollo Kitty Kat:

From Lynne:

From The Language Nerds:

From Masih; some Iranian propaganda:

From Luana; a message for “progressives” from Van Jones:

From Malcolm: a cat ready for holiday:

One I found.  Jew haters pretend that “Zionist” is not the same thing as Jew, but it has in effect become a euphemism for “Jew” This thread by a Canadian physician (i give only the first post) explains why:

Two from my feed. The first one is very sweet:

The Democrats refuse to call out some odious views of the new Democratic candidate for Mayor of NYC.  Dems are just so happy to win that they ignore his anti-Semitism:

One I retweeted from the Auschwitz Memorial:

A French Jewish girl was gassed to death upon arriving at Auschwitz. She was three years old. And she would be 85 today if they hadn't murdered her.

— Jerry Coyne (@evolutionistrue.bsky.social) 2025-06-26T11:49:30.842Z

One from Dr. Cobb:

Stahl died, but Meselson is still alive at 95. And their 1958 experiment showing how DNA replicates is indeed “the most beautiful experiment in biology,” as Horace Judson put it.

Just learned that Frank Stahl (of the Meselson and Stahl DNA replication experiment ("the most beautiful experiment in biology") died at the beginning of April, to no fanfare. Here's a lovely video of them reminiscing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-tn…

— Matthew Cobb (@matthewcobb.bsky.social) 2025-06-26T10:01:55.570Z

33 thoughts on “Thursday: Hili dialogue”

  1. National onion day is tomorrow. But since they are such a nice addition to our food, I say let’s celebrate it twice.

  2. And in California…

    “The vice mayor of a small city in California is under fire after a social media video emerged in which she appears to call on local street gangs to stand up to raids on undocumented migrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Defence

    In a clip posted to Instagram and then swiftly deleted by Cynthia Gonzalez, Vice Mayor of Cudahy – which lies just southeast of Los Angeles – the politician says: “I want to know where all the cholos are at in Los Angeles – 18th Street, Florencia Where’s the leadership at?

    “Because you guys are all about territory and, ‘This is 18th Street, this is Florencia.’ You guys tag everything up, claiming hood and now that your hood’s being invaded by the biggest gang there is, there ain’t a peep out of you.

    “It’s everyone else who’s not about the gang life that’s out there protesting and speaking up. We’re out there fighting our turf, protecting our turf, protecting our people, and, like, where you at?”

    https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/california-vice-mayor-calls-for-gangs-to-help-protect-communities-from-ice-raids/ar-AA1HnRdx

  3. Gabbard has insisted that CNN’s story about her is based on a mischaracterization of her remarks. See the story HERE. If it’s question of believing CNN or Gabbard, my money is on the later.

  4. No need for any apologies JAC; you write an incredible amount of “good stuff” for which we are all grateful.

  5. I met Jerry yesterday! Jim Batterson prodded me into action here so I ubered over to Brooklyn to see the talk.

    The panel was mid – it was about the philosophy of education and the place of the university, so not about my main interests and evolution, but pretty cool anyway.

    PCC(E) shared the stage with the excellent John McWhorter and some guy from Harvard (who was like a caricature of that place!) and a women financed by the Templeton Fund who sorta took on The Boss … and lost. 🙂
    She was pleasant but didn’t impress me much.

    (You’ll no doubt get to watch on youtube which is how we enjoy culture these days – a good thing I think).

    I introduced myself to PCC(E) who knew what a loudmouth I am and he was very friendly. Seems like a cool guy, I should check out his website some time…
    I took my very first fan selfie which I’ll frame.

    There were plenty of Heterodox celebs there like Rob Henderson and Lee Jussim from Rutgers whom I chatted with.

    I rarely go to Bkn these days but coming out of the hotel I remembered doin’ lawyer stuff at the Bk Supreme Court just across the road from the Marriot centuries ago. And the (air conditioned) subway back to Chelsea was nice. Pity PCC(E) is going back to Chicago as we have the Pride Parade on the weekend downstairs from my apartment here which is always a laugh and fun.

    D.A.
    NYC

    1. Glad you found the adventure rewarding, David. I miss seeing people in person, the details of their dress, affectations of speech, mannerisms….characteristics that do not come through in two dimensional video. I wondered about the Templeton lady when I read the panelists’ bios and look forward to a posted video of the panel session if there is one. Nice that the Brooklyn venue environs brought back some memories – a bonus for the trip. Enjoy the Pride show this weekend!

      1. HA. I just sent it to him, hopefully he will put it up.

        Jim B. is right about actually “doing things” – like, going out and seeing humans for a purpose (as opposed to shopping, walking the dog, etc).
        I realized despite living in a tall building in one of America’s busiest places my life is kind of screen based and sterile. It has been 2 years since I was even on the subway!

        Nevertheless Htdx usually youtube their events so we’ll all get to see the panel soonish.
        Cheers,
        D.A.
        NYC

    3. I would be glad to learn that the Hdx meeting is not entirely populated by what I will call moderates. There should be lefties, wokies, righties, and religious apologists among them. All having it out.

  6. If Iran’s hell bent wishes to pursue their bomb making would they rebuild in the same location? Would not that be abit dumb, perhaps it will prompt them to dig deeper with tunnels to other locations.
    This attack in regards to these bomb making facilties is only going to make the Iranians a little more slippery imo.

    1. That is the next question. Of course building the same sort of deep and hardened facility will be noticed right away. Why not disperse the heck out of it, running 1000 small facilities without infrastructure that is visible from orbit?

  7. I loved seeing Szaron and Hili together.

    The video of The Most Beautiful Experiment was fun to watch. The pair is funny and incredible in explaining the experiment. Even I was able to understand.

  8. Given that CNN’s initial report was obtained from seven people who had been briefed on the DIA assessment rather than from the assessment itself, I offer some thoughts on military intelligence and other highly classified matters:

    The first reports from the battlefield are almost always wrong. If you want something leaked to the press, brief staff or members on Capitol Hill. People overlook the distinctions between fact and speculation, and they quickly forget the confidence levels, nuances, and ranges of assessment in a report. Bottom line: people hear what they want to hear, remember what they want to remember, and share what they want to share. The reasons for leaking classified information are rarely about national security.

    Everybody should just chill out, starting with the president. These things take time. The assessments will change. It’s just the nature of the beast.

  9. I suspect the enriched uranium was removed, but the complex and delicate centrifuges were probably destroyed.

    So now there is a cache of enriched uranium somewhere in Iran that is probably within reach of Israeli bombers.

    I suspect Trump will offer to trade the lifting of sanctions for the uranium. These negotiations will be back channel so Iran can tell its people it won the war.

    1. I don’t know why the theocracy needs to agree to anything. They would like sanctions lifted, but does this bunch of insular sociopaths need them to be? They clearly don’t make choices based on the good of their people, and they’ve had exactly this opportunity for years and years and they have not budged.

  10. It will take some time to figure out the extent of the damage to Iran’s nuclear program. So far, little can be relied upon, as the sources of the reports all have motivations to spin the results their way. President Trump wants to present the operation as a complete success—total destruction. CNN and other anti-Trump news sources want to see Trump discredited—not much damage at all. Leaked reports by unnamed sources—which were the basis of many of the early reports and which were dutifully repeated across the news outlets—cannot be trusted all. “Unnamed sources” can be entirely fictional. Even if real, their veracity cannot be confirmed or denied. Israel, whose very existence is at stake, has the most compelling need to know the truth, so I would—at the moment—give the nod to Israel’s assessments of how much damage there actually was. Even they won’t know for sure until they reach the various sites and see the damage with their own eyes. And, even with that knowledge, they may still have reasons to shade the truth.

    1. Another great post. I’ve kept the link to the last one, which to me included a very good but sobering summary of what it takes to get an enemy to capitulate. Those points ring true from centuries of precedent.

  12. Israel’s offer of medical assistance to injured Iranians – for a variety of reasons – is strictly performative in this instance (I think)…
    )
    However…
    )
    It is built on an often missed truth. Until the 90s this kind of thing was common.

    For eg: There’s an eye hospital in Galilee where, until Hezb and the Pals entered the equation, 1/3rd of the patients were Lebanese treated (for free) in Israel. Like other Lebanese who crossed for work each day (The “Good Fences” era) in farms, there was a good relationship between the states.

    Ditto… it was routine for especially children with complicated situations from Syria and Jordan (and even Saudi Arabia on occasions) to get medical care in Israel. Mainly on the “down low” – no media.

    Pursuant to that…. until the mid 1980s one, anyone, could drive from Gaza to Jerusalem only stopping at traffic lights, the only hazard being crazy Israeli drivers.

    Hamas, Hezb and Islamism’s exploding young men stopped all that. And caused the wall at Judea/Samaria. Religion ruins everything, worse when combined with 3rd worldism. Modern campus radicals and pro-Pal fools don’t know history.

    D.A.
    NYC

  13. Ok, the lime is in the coconut. I drank em’ both up.

    What time should I call in the morning?

  14. I like blooming onions. I don’t like the ones served at (my local) Outback. My preferred sources are the itinerant vendors at our local county fairs (recognizing, of course, that “fair food” almost always tastes good…).

  15. On this side of the pond ‘blooming onions’ means you’re fed up with the things.

  16. Many, many thanks to Matthew Cobb and PCC(e) for the video clip of Matt Meselson and Frank Stahl reminiscing about the great, classic experiment. I didn’t know Frank had passed on just recently.

  17. It’s really weird – I can’t find any news reports of Franklin Stahl’s death. Wikipedia gives a date of April 2 2025 in the infobox but there’s no citation and it isn’t mentioned in the main article.

  18. So California is defying the federal government because it ”believes all students should have the opportunity to learn and play at school.” Cool, so if I suck at track and field and fall over my own feet, I’m entitled to be on the team anyway, I guess. And if I don’t follow the rules, show up on time, or practice, I’m on the team, too! Absolutely nothing is disqualifying.

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