Welcome to the first CaturSaturday in August: it’s Saturday, August, 2, 2025, shabbos for Jewish cats, and National Ice Cream Sandwich Day. Here’s a rating of ice cream sandwiches, including many new brands. If you want to skip the palaver, the winners comprise the fairly new ice cream sandwiches made by Pop-Tarts, known already for its toaster pasteries.
It’s also Dinosaurs Day, National Mustard Day, International Blues Music Day, Mead Day, and National Jamaican Patty Day.
Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the August 2 Wikipedia page.
Da Nooz:
*The Washington Post, a big booster of Kamala Harris in the last election, is now beefing that she’s making a return to the political spotlight. Apparently they realized too late that she was not someone who can help the Democrats, and want her to go away at all costs. (They go after Biden, too, but he’s no longer a force in elections.)
Democrats are eager to turn the page on their 2024 losses — but their central figures from the last election keep stepping back into the spotlight, complicating their efforts to forge a new identity. Many in the party are wary of elevating the people who led them to defeat in 2024 and exasperated to see the drama of that election repeatedly relitigated when they want to keep the focus on pushing back against Trump’s second-term agenda and identifying new leader=
. . . . “The shadow of 2024 is long, and I think all perspectives in the mix believe we need something fresh,” said longtime Democratic consultant Donna Bojarsky. Many Democrats do not blame Harris for what went wrong last cycle, she said, “But nobody’s saying, let’s go back to 2024.”
Plenty of other Democrats are building their profiles and making moves to lead the party forward. Governors such as Andy Beshear of Kentucky and JB Pritzker of Illinois and members of Congress such as Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona) are taking their pitches around the country in early jockeying for 2028. A little-known state lawmaker, Zohran Mamdani, has emerged as a prominent new voice for the left after winning an upset victory in the New York City mayoral primary.
She plans to dive into the 2026 midterm elections and travel the country to campaign on behalf of Democrats in tough races as she shapes a political organization of her own, according to aides and confidants familiar with her plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss projects that are still in formation. Though some Democratic strategists and candidates are eager for Harris to help them in midterms, there is more skepticism about her running for the White House again in 2028 — an option she has not ruled out.
“I think most Americans are grateful for the service and contributions of the last generation of officeholders,” said Cooper Teboe, a Silicon Valley-based Democratic strategist. “But the core reason the Democratic Party is in the position it is in today is because no new figures, no new ideas, have been allowed to rise up and take hold.”
That’s absolutely right. We need leaders, and we don’t need Harris. Remember when she was touted as a figure of JOY by Democrats in the last election, while I was beefing about her word salads and seeming inability to think straight about anything? And yes, I was told to shut up about her because I was enabling Trump. It was a sad time when Democrats should have been finding a figure that actually had more savvy and was able to beat Trump. Harris should stay as far away from the midterms and 2028 election as she can. But even if she throws her hat in the ring, it will be thrown right back out again.
*Thank goodness Nellie Bowles is back! Nobody can do the TGIFs at The Free Press nearly as well as she. Her column this week is called, “TGIF: My jeans are blue,” and I will steal the usual three items from it (indented):
→ Candace Owens has her Alex Jones moment: After spending more than a year trying to convince the world that Brigitte Macron is a man—which she’s now being sued for—Candace Owens is doubling down. “You were born a man and you will die a man,” she said, pointing to the camera. “That’s the point I’m making. . . . We are revolting against this. We’re revolting against the perverts that run the world, and I want to be very clear here, I count you among them. I think you’re sick. I think you’re disgusting. And I am fully prepared to take on this battle on behalf of the entire world. Okay? That’s what I’m gonna say. On behalf of the entire world, I will see you in court.” I mean, this is what I say every time I go to the doctor’s office and they tell me that I might benefit from less stress. Candace is lit up!
I’m always open-minded, so I studied the pictures. For hours. Zoomed in on places that I shouldn’t have. And I’m sorry, but Brigitte is obviously female. I know everyone thinks that trans tech has gotten so good, and it has, but… I don’t mean to be offensive, but it’s not that hard to determine these things. You can use your intuition. So after examining shoulders and posture, gait and facial expressions, mood swings and a hankering for cheese that tracked with world events, well, this broad? I can guarantee you for sure, Bob, this one’s a female woman.
Candace Owens is the most entertaining spectacle right now: She’s hot, she’s bonkers, she hates me specifically, and she’s about to go through massive litigation. Will there be discovery? Please, oh please, oh please. The French seem to think they can face down a true American loon. But they can’t handle our loons. The craziest person a French government official knows is the local drunk, or maybe an immigrant who did a one-off honor killing (which isn’t really insanity so much as just different cultural norms). Our loons, sober and confident, will break them. Our loons have never met a camera that they didn’t want to point their finger right at. They have never known doubt. They know their angles. The Bulwark says Candace is in real trouble, but I don’t know.
→ Professor, is that you? I love professors on social media, because they really make you understand why we need to burn down higher education (including my wife’s “university” that doesn’t even pay us anything, which shows lack of scamming skill on her part). This week we have a University of Toronto professor of religion telling writer and friend of The Free Press Jesse Singal that he should kill himself. Before you defend him, you should know that Jesse Singal sometimes writes moderate takes about issues like pediatric gender transition. But he’s not a radical, I guess? Here’s the professor, apparently explaining why Jesse’s death would be a good thing: “Hey Jesse, it’s likely because you’re a piece of stinking hot trash and your loss would be a major W for humanity. Maybe stop being a fucking human stain, and see what happens. Fucking clown.” This is a niche and sort of random item, except that all the cool leftists this week are celebrating the murder of a Blackstone executive. It’s odd how normal this all has become. In debating whether to cut this item, our copy editor said: “Jesse gets comments like that 20 times a day, really.” And that’s true. But the glee over the slaughter of the Blackstone exec makes me realize: These people actually, honest-to-god want guillotines. It’s not a figure of speech. Be careful out there, Jesse! The religion professor is going to claw your eyes out, literally!
→ City-funded nonprofit grocery store update: Amid New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s calls for government-run grocery stores, reporters have been exploring a nonprofit-operated, government-supported grocery store in Kansas City, Missouri. The reporters found what you might expect if you’ve ever imagined a communist grocery store: The shelves are almost completely bare; what food remains is rotten, and there was rampant theft. “A rotten smell comes through the door, and anywhere you turn, you’ll see products that need to be restocked. No hot food or deli.” I’ve said it before, but we at TGIF cannot wait for Mamdani grocery. In this house we eat rotten acorn squash.
There is a photo, but I cannot vouch that it’s the Kansas City store:
*Here’s a good idea. South Africa is starting to inject rhino horns with radioactive material to stop the killing of rhinos for their supposedly medically-valuable horns. From the BBC:
South African scientists have launched an anti-poaching campaign in which rhino’s horns will be injected with a radioactive material.
The group, from the University of the Witwatersrand, said the process is harmless to rhinos but will allow customs officers to detect smuggled horns as they’re transported across the world.
South Africa has the largest rhino population in the world, and hundreds of the animals are poached there every year.
The university’s venture, called the Rhisotope Project, cost around £220,000 ($290,000) and involved six years of research and testing.
“At least one animal a day is still being poached,” James Larkin, a Wits University professor involved in the project, told the BBC.
“I think the figures are only going to go one way if we don’t watch out…. this is a significant tool to help reduce the numbers of poaching, because we’re proactive rather than being reactive.”
Prof Larkin added that the pilot study, which involved 20 rhinos, confirmed that the radioactive material was “completely safe” for the animals.
The Wits University researchers, who collaborated with the International Atomic Energy Agency, found that horns could even be detected inside full 40-foot (six-metre) shipping containers.
Jamie Joseph, a prominent South African rhino campaigner, said the Rhisotope Project was “innovative and much needed”.
“It’s not the endgame – only better legislation and political will can bring an end to the rhino crisis. But it will certainly help disrupt the flow of horns leaving the country and help experts better map out the illegal channels by providing reliable data,” Ms Joseph, director of the Saving the Wild charity, told the BBC.
Note that this is supposed to work not by stopping the rhinos from being killed directly, but indirectly—by taking away the profitability associated with killing and smuggling. And the efficacy of that, of course, depends on whether the majority of smuggled horns can be detected. I hope so!
*A new paper in Cell, summarized by the NYT, reveals through genetic analysis that modern potatoes appear to result from hybridizatopn 8-9 million years ago between wild potatoes that lack tubers and tomatoes. Actually, tomatoes and potatoes are not that distantly related:
According to a study published on Thursday, potatoes may have arisen nine million years ago through the combining of genetic material from Etuberosum, a group of potato-like plants from South America, and wild tomato plants. According to the study, this hybridization event led to the origin of the potato plant’s distinctive feature, the tuber, an underground structure that stores nutrients and, as humans eventually discovered, is edible.
“A potato is the child of tomato and Etuberosum,” said Zhiyang Zhang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the lead author of the study, which was published in the journal Cell. “We did this analysis and we found, ‘Oh, he’s a child of two plants.’”
Scientists have long noted that, aboveground, modern potato plants closely resemble the subgroup of South American species called Etuberosum. But Etuberosum plants do not bear tubers. And genetically, potatoes appear to be more closely related to tomatoes; both fall under the shared genus Solanum. This was confounding: Why did potatoes resemble one plant but share kinship with another?
To solve this enigma, a team of international scientists analyzed 128 genomes from the three sister lineages (tomatoes, Etuberosum, and potato plants and their wild relatives), plus three eggplant species as an outside group. The researchers found that the modern spud had a mixed ancestry, which arose from a hybrid tomato and Etuberosum lineages eight million to nine million years ago and led to the origin of tubers. This hybridization may have enabled subsequent potato species — there are more than 100 today — to diversify and expand their range across the high Andes, where colder climates prevailed.
“It was a very well-done study,” said Esther van der Knaap, a plant geneticist at University of Georgia who was not involved in the research. “It provides a model of how this could happen in many other cases.”
At first, the combination of two different plants may not have yielded anything noteworthy. “There’s some ancient mixing of genomes, and there’s some miserable plants coming out of that,” Dr. van der Knaap said. But over time — tens of thousands to perhaps millions of years — natural selection led to “a whole new species complex,” she said.
Now this hybridization was clearly not done by humans, as we hadn’t even diverged from the lineage leading to chimpanzees and bonobos that long ago. But the hybridization event and attendant tubers are said by the authors to have allowed the proliferation of the petota group of plants, which includes the potato. (In the parlance, the evolution of tubers opened “a new adaptive zone”.) Ergo, nascent spuds were already around when humans came on the scene.
*The Washington Post describes how humanitarian aid sent by the UN to Gaza was overwhelmed by the chaos of people demanding food, looting (it’s not clear by whom) and, implying Israel was responsible, IDF firing over the heads of the chaotic scene:
Soon, the U.N. convoy was overrun. Within three hours, all 47 trucks were ransacked. The convoy had barely traveled several hundred meters.
Israeli military officials confirmed troops fired warning shots to keep the crowd away and said they were not immediately aware of any casualties; a U.N. official and the security report said more than 50 people were killed and more than 600 people were injured during the mission.
The chaotic scenes on al-Rashid Street on Wednesday exemplified the desperation inside the besieged enclave and the challenges facing relief efforts. Even though Israel — under mounting international pressure — on Saturday announced looser restrictions on food entering Gaza, looting, shootings and bureaucratic impediments continue to plague aid delivery efforts almost daily. And despite Israeli promises that it would create secure corridors for aid deliveries this week, U.N. officials say the operational realities on the ground remain unchanged.
The result, according to humanitarian officials, is that conditions for vulnerable residents who live inside Gaza remain dire — with little of the aid being sent in ever reaching those who need it most, while injuries and deaths are rising during attempts by the United Nations to distribute food — because Israeli troops open fire to keep swelling crowds away from the convoys and from Israeli checkpoints.
Now I don’t believe the Gaza Health Ministry’s estimate of deaths in these scenes, but it’s clear that these chaotic scenes are taking place, but also that the IDF is not shooting to kill civilians. Rather, the IDF is trying, fruitlessly, to instill order.
What is the solution? I don’t know, but I suggest that they take the IDF out of the mixture. The UN has its own army (UN soldiers are supposed to be keeping order in Lebanon), so why doesn’t Israel hand the whole food-distribution issue over to the UN, with UN soldiers instead of the IDF trying to keep order? Since the UN hates the IDF, and this chaos is always blamed on Israel, let the UN sort out how to do it. There has to be a way, though I can’t think of one now, especially if Hamas is stealing some of the food. And yes, Israel should keep giving humanitarian aid, but funnel it through the UN.
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili again gives a long report on the doings of The Administrator:
Hili: I need to settle on a style for this month. John Stuart Mill is too serious, Alan Sokal too sneaky. Erasmus? In Praise of Folly? Looks like I don’t need to search any further. “People drug and delude themselves with many things in order to feel happy, such as alcohol and religion. People who brag about their wisdom and titles are stupid because it is silly to enjoy self-praise. It’s also a bad idea to brag about where you were born, who you’re related to, or your ethnicity. To be wise, one must examine the underlying realities, and those who boast about their knowledge are fools.”
That’s Erasmus. He showed that sometimes fools are wise, and the wise are fools.
We cats know how to combine modesty with genius – and that’s what I have to stick to.
In Polish:
Hili: Muszę sobie wypracować jakiś styl na ten miesiąc. John Stuart Mill zbyt poważny, Alan Sokal zbyt podstępny, Erazm? Pochwała głupoty? Chyba nie muszę dłużej szukać.
„Ludzie odurzają się i łudzą różnymi rzeczami, by poczuć się szczęśliwymi – takimi jak alkohol czy religia.
Ci, którzy przechwalają się swoją mądrością i tytułami, są głupi, bo czerpanie radości z samouwielbienia jest śmieszne.
Równie niedorzeczne jest przechwalanie się miejscem urodzenia, pochodzeniem czy przynależnością etniczną.
Aby być mądrym, trzeba przyglądać się temu, co kryje się pod powierzchnią, a ci, którzy chełpią się swoją wiedzą, są głupcami.”
To Erazm. On pokazywał, że czasem głupi są mądrzy, a mądrzy są głupi. My, koty, umiemy łączyć skromność z geniuszem i tego muszę się trzymać.
*******************
From Masih, with the English translation being this:
In the hellish torture chamber of #QezelHesar, under fists, torture, and threats, the hands and feet of innocent prisoners have been bound, their heads covered with sacks, and their wounds have been attacked; the prisoners have reached out for help to the people. Let us not allow their breath to be buried forever within the walls of QezelHesar… #SpeakOfQezelHesar
Ghezael Hesar is Iran’s largest prison, and Wikipedia says this:
The Ghezel Hesar prison is infamous for its conditions. In March 2011, it made headlines when, according to official reports, 14 people were killed and 33 wounded during a prison revolt. The actual number of victims may have been higher. Former prisoners report torture and physical abuse by the staff, catastrophic hygiene conditions, and a lack of medical care. There are reports that clashes inside Karaj Ghezel Hesar Prison began when some prisoners protested against the execution of dozens of other prisoners. One hundred fifty people are said to have suffered serious injuries, and several dozens to have been killed. Sources close to the government have announced that 47 people have been killed or injured in this incident, yet this number differs dramatically from similar reports from independent sources.
May 2015 has seen mass executions of prisoners: between May 6 and June 10, 2015, at least 77 inmates, all charged with drug offenses, were executed in Ghezelhesar prison. The execution wave started after prisoners had gathered in the prison’s yard to ask Ali Khamenei for forgiveness.
در شکنجه گاه جهنمی #قزلحصار ،زیر مشت و شکنجه و تهدید، دست و پای زندانیان بیگناهی را بسته اند و سرشان کیسه کشیده اند و بر زخم هایشان تاخته اند؛ زندانیان دست یاری به سوی مردم دراز کرده اند. نگذاریم نفسشان را در دیوارهای قزلحصار برای همیشه دفن کنند…..#از_قزلحصار_بگو pic.twitter.com/y4jsUabaZN
— Kosar Eftekhari (@kosareftekharii) August 1, 2025
From Luana. The solution is not to abolish the bar exam, but have preparations in case someone has a heart attack during the exam (read the whole tweet). The tweeter is called “Ms. Free Palestine” because that’s how she identifies herself on her site.
I think anytime any person suffers a heart attack during any activity that activity should be abolished because, as Ms. Free Palestine here reminds us, such activities are “cruel”.
This would abolish all sports, all occupations, sex, and, well, I guess, pretty much everything. https://t.co/vrQOTqGBBO
— i/o (@avidseries) August 1, 2025
Rowling smokes cigars! (This is the second time she’s mentioned celebrating by smoking one!). Lovely! She turned 60 yesterday.
Thank you very, very much for all the birthday wishes ❤️ Having a wonderful day, although I was in a shop earlier and learned that the title of my memoir* is already taken. Might have a cigar later and see if I can annoy some more people 😉 #60Today
*There is no memoir pic.twitter.com/kRmyr8maQE
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 1, 2025
From Malcolm, who says “beautiful”. I agree. This song is associated with Andrea Bocelli, but I love hearing a soprano hit the high notes. The singer is Ellen Williams, and you can hear the full YouTube version here.
So good! pic.twitter.com/0FWHaqnBTV
— The Best (@Thebestfigen) July 22, 2025
From my feed. LOOK AT THIS CHONK!
The Real Size of Animals. ~A Thread🧵
1. That is one massive seal🤯pic.twitter.com/ZaZFLYPpTY
— Vertigo_Warrior (@VertigoWarrior) August 1, 2025
One I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:
4300 Roma were gassed in just two days: men, women, and children. https://t.co/ZhN887OApD
— Jerry Coyne (@Evolutionistrue) August 2, 2025
Two posts from Dr. Cobb. Unity Mitford was a British aristocrat who moved to Germany and turned Nazi. When she heard that the UK had declared war on Germany, she shot herself in the head. She died from that, but nine years later.
Unity Mitford – not only a horrible Nazi but also a terrifying example of nominative and locative determinism (again from @nybooks.com)
— Matthew Cobb (@matthewcobb.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T08:56:58.417Z
Two posts from mammoth expert Tori Herridge, who, along with Matthew and I, think that Colossal Bioscience’s “de-extinction” scheme is a crock:
Are we settled on No-a for the neo-Moa?
— Tori Herridge (@toriherridge.bsky.social) 2025-07-09T21:19:43.029Z
🐺 and I submit Tire wolf, because it’s all just exhausting really
— Tori Herridge (@toriherridge.bsky.social) 2025-07-09T21:43:37.028Z
Bonus: I reposted this one from Matthew helping him defend the critics of “de-extinction”:
Cui bono indeed. These critics happen to have the truth on their side; "de-extinction" is completely misleading, as there is no technology to bring back an extinct animal (much less several of them) with all their original genes.The proposed "wooly mammoth", says Tori, is an elephant in a fur coat."
— Jerry Coyne (@evolutionistrue.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T11:54:41.413Z
I’m unsure of how the rhino horns are located with the radioactive element in them. Surely customs ports don’t screen for that kind of thing, considering the size of global trade?
“Traditional Chinese Medicine” (eg “indigenous science”) is the mechanism of destruction for endangered wildlife. I wrote about this in (one of many) pro-Taiwan articles a few years ago. Witnesseth:
https://democracychronicles.org/traditional-chinese-medicine/
OK damnit, I’ll bite:
Gaza (or as pronounced on Hamas run PBS — GHaazah! – complete with hard “G” in Arabic Andrea Navas recently learned and enjoys showing off)……
Do you recall the “FAMINE!!” warnings since a few days after Oct 7th? There have been nearly a dozen famine warnings since then. Cry wolf enough and nobody will believe you.
Start wars of annihilation and mass Jew kill programs enough and…. well FAFO.
There are no “civilians” in Gaza – the destruction of Israel is the load bearing architecture of their entire culture, since birth. See (mine again) https://themoderatevoice.com/kindergarten-jihad-who-plays-the-beheaded/
Pardon me for not being a PBS or female British “journalist” crying at the death of terrorists who given half a chance would slit my throat and YOURS, gleefully yelling Allah Akbar.
D.A.
DavidAnderson_JD_NYC
@DavidandersonJd
Hmm. Maybe Tori Herridge could call Colossal BS’s phoney de-extinct canid a “Crier (of) Wolf”.
I misread that as “people who brag about their wisdom and titties,” which is also good advice but I was shocked for a minute that Erasmus worked say that.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. -James Baldwin, writer (2 Aug 1924-1987)
I hope the rhino horn idea works, and the Gaza situation is bad. On a lighter note…. I enjoyed the Andrea Bocelli performance on YouTube. As a shameless plug to my favorite singer, you might check out Morgan James in “The Rock Tenor” and “Time to Say Goodbye”, also on YouTube.
I wonder why there aren’t more classical cross-overs – either the songs or the singers or both. My favorite baritone would have been a knock-out as the front man on a rock band.
PS I googled Morgan James, the rock tenor, expecting a man for obvious reasons. So I was awfully confused about why a female back-up singer seemed to be dominating the videos until it dawned on me that she was Morgan James him-, or rather, herself.
Thanks for that! I wasn’t familiar with him, but his rendition of that Lied was impressive.
Several others by the same pair came up on my YT feed, including the beautiful Standchen.
“But the core reason the Democratic Party is in the position it is in today is because no new figures, no new ideas, have been allowed to rise up and take hold.”
I disagree. The 1996 Democratic party platform began with an expression of hope for the future:
“In 1996, America will choose the President who will lead us from the millennium which saw the birth of our nation, and into a future that has all the potential to be even greater than our magnificent past. Today’s Democratic Party is ready for that future. Our vision is simple. We want an America that gives all Americans the chance to live out their dreams and achieve their God-given potential. We want an America that is still the world’s strongest force for peace and freedom. And we want an America that is coming together around our enduring values, instead of drifting apart.”
The 2020 and 2024 platforms began with land acknowledgements. You don’t have to go past the first paragraph of the platforms to understand what has gone wrong and why I’m no longer a member of the Democratic party. It is precisely these “new ideas” that have alienated so many people. The party needs to get back to being progressive in its expectations of what American can be and abandon the new ideas of constant grievances over our imperfect history.
Completely agree. And this holds for left leaning parties in other countries, too.
I enjoyed the Ellen Williams clip. The seal is good to see.
The holocaust Memorial posts always get to me, deep sadness and some anger, and the grim prison news drives it a bit deeper. I’m not surprised that critics of “de-extinction are being smeared.
After initial discomfort, I drank deeply from the K. Harris kool-aid. In that regard, our host was right at the time, as he expressed deep reservations. (I recall my response, the under a ‘nym.) In the summer of 2024 I wrote to my state’s senators and my congressional representative suggesting that Biden step aside and there be an open convention. But K. Harris had a good speech or two, and — what do they call it….hopium(?) — not a term I like, a possible deluding force. So now I’m looking at DIAG, though it feels a bit like Republicans against Trump — a small sane group in the face of cultural meltdown. I’d like to see a reality-oriented centrist lead the Democratic Party.
I think that Sarah Brightman is much less screechy than Ellen Williams.
We’ll see if the atomic rhinos improve the situation. Rather than make it easier to trace poached horns—already too late—it might be better to spread the rumor that the type of radioactivity injected into rhino horns is harmless to rhinos but lethal to people. Getting the word out might be more effective.
I agree. Hand the aid program over to the U.N. Israel should deposit the food in Gaza and then blame the U.N. when things go south. Hamas has only two points of leverage left, the hostages and public opinion. Israel is criticized for not providing aid and it is criticized when it provides aid. It’s always the Jews, of course.
This just in: https://www.algemeiner.com/2025/08/02/hamas-says-it-wont-disarm-unless-independent-palestinian-state-established/
I blame this new demand on France, Great Britain, and Canada, who are planning to recognize a Palestinian “state” as a reward to Hamas.
Me too.
I don’t blame them at all for Hamas’ “new” demand (despite despising the feckless performance art). The Two State Delusion was always a non-starter; “Palestine be judenrein!”.
Or that rhino horn causes erectile dysfunction. I know the skeptics might scoff, but lots of things that were once believed to be good for you, like margarine and diet soda, are now considered bad. Why couldn’t traditional Chinese medicines join that club?
Here’s a good rejoinder Leslie. The PRC commie pukes actively push “Traditional Chinese Medicine” to the world, partly via the UN, particularly the Third World, for revenue and soft power. (Soft power erectile dysfunction jokes are there for the taking!).
Taiwan, however, a capitalist democracy is actively trying to stamp out this unscientific woo woo nonsense. (Maybe they need Maori MM science?) hehehe
If you ever wonder where the rhinos, elephants and pangolins went…. wonder no more.
D.A.
NYC
Why just rely on bogus rumours? Including some strong alpha emitter in the radioactive rhino tags would damage only the [disparagement deleted] people who actually swallow the “medicinal” powder (or maybe snort it if that’s their thing). This actual damage would surely reduce the demand for that particular quack nostrum. And really, there are several “Western” medicines for their ED that actually work.
Of course there would be a few ethical problems with this.
So last week we had a deranged shooter in Midtown near where I used to work and live. Right on Park Ave, four killed. I worked on 54th and lived on 57th years ago. (I live in Chelsea, south Manhattan now, nicer neighborhood, more dogs 🙂
PBS decided the “FAMINE!” (the same one since Oct 7 crying “FAMINE” every week and crying “WOLF!!”) in “Ghaaza” was more important news.
Now…. to be fair, PBS’s Andrea Navas (Palestine/Public BS) has worked studiously on her (hard “G”غ) غزة Gaza pronunciation. She spent Summer Abroad in BarTHEloona, Espana, y’know. She’s working on “Falesteen”فلسطين. Go Andrea! We totally trust you!
What clowns these people are. The “correct pronunciation” crowd in any language pisses me off and I say that as a language student with a decent grip of Japanese, Russian and bad Arabic.
How do they sleep at night simping for a such murderous ideology – which murders its own people – and celebrates it – and would slit all our throats. Which cuts the clits off women, throws gays off buildings and destroys human flourishing even better than communism (a rare feat!). These horrors are the BASIS of the Islamic ideology, not Amish-like or Hassid-like fringe sects.
PBS ladies and gentlemen. Our tax dollars.
D.A.
DavidAnderson_JD_NYC
@DavidandersonJd
The United Nations has no army of its own, no troops it can order around such as to keep order among food mobs. All soldiers deployed on a mission under UN auspices are provided by UN member countries from their own militaries (and sometimes from gendarmerie police forces — the RCMP has participated in UN missions) and remain under the control of their own governments, who reserve the right to withdraw them at any time if they decide the benefit to world peace isn’t worth the risk of casualties. Modern UN “peacekeeping” troops are contributed by poor countries as mercenaries with rudimentary training to earn hard currency from the UN budget. Peacekeeping troops have arms for self-defence only, and pens and clipboards to document cease-fire violations — not since Korea have they been an offensive combined-arms combatant force able to take and hold territory. Even professional military under peacekeeping rules of engagement are easily overwhelmed if a mob gets ugly or if one side in a conflict is determined to violate a cease-fire. If the surrounded peacekeepers shoot into a crowd or at armed fighters they will be quickly massacred in the resulting frenzy. They’ll need to beg the IDF to come rescue the survivors.
It would be heartlessly cruel and the height of hubris for the UN to arbitrarily add food convoy duty to the deliverables of whatever mission the troops (ineffectually) patrolling the Green Line in Lebanon have. The home governments of those troops would surely refuse the request as there would be real danger to them: they would be put into a situation where they could not simply run away, which is the deal in Lebanon.
It may well be there is nothing that can be done to get food welfare into Gaza and make it go to whom it’s intended for. The ransacking of aid trucks by the sharp-elbowed as soon as soldiers withdraw was described by a U.S. Marine major as “AWA. Africa wins again,” when he witnessed it in Somalia. It’s a “last mile” problem as the logisticians put it, the equivalent of porch pirates to Amazon. In Somalia, nobody cared which warlord got the food this time. In Gaza, it matters to Israel because food that gets to Hamas prolongs the conflict and so endangers Israeli lives. Choking it off altogether might be the only solution, but it will take too long — Israel doesn’t have that long — to reduce Hamas that way, as any food that does get in will go directly to them. I’m sure Israelis are deeply conflicted about this. But Hamas started this war and dragged the people of their proto-state into it. If those civilians all starve to death as a consequence, that is on them, not on Israel.
Why can’t Gaza feed itself? Will the people who live there have to be welfared with free foreign food forever? Has inbreeding made them too mentally slow to plan for the future, or is that just what permanent inherited refugee status does to you?
It’s not inbreeding, which would take too many generations to produce such significant impairment. But enforced refugee status over a few generations, laced with a delusional “right of return”, could readily do the job.
Re UN troops, maybe have the Palestinians’ Arab Brethren take on the job, and see how it goes. They should easily get some enthusiastic Shi’ite volunteers, and maybe Druze….
Why do they need (and have always needed) ANY aid? Other countries survive with less. They lately started a suicidal war of annihilation, but for the last 18 years…. what have they been doing as Dubai and other places have flourished?
Further… Gaza has been Judenfrei since 2005, they have another frontier, and billions of foreign aid (Qatar has paid their gov’t, and all teachers for 20 years), Israel, USA and EU the rest. They are “dole bludgers”, welfare cheats on a galactic scale. With all that Money of yours and mine they built tunnels for insane wars where their own people are the hostages they’re more than happy to dispatch. A greater moral depravity would need powerful AI to construct or imagine. Utter evil – supported by nearly all Gaza “civilians”. Voted for, defended, encouraged.
The UN’s peacekeeping missions (with the obvious exception of anywhere to do with Israel, particularly Sth Lebanon) are generally a good thing. Their vaccination worldwide is excellent. But it needs a big refresh. Or we will leave. We can, Trump can.
The UN is/has become a club for Islamists to gang up on Israel (none of them democracies), and Third World dictatorships to fleece the white devils out of more cash to the benefit of Swiss bankers. B/c of slavey or some other imagined grievance hundreds of years old.
All in a cloak of “kindness”. That is the most irritating part – their moral posturing.
Gotta go, time to vomit my contempt.
D.A.
NYC
Why can’t Gaza feed itself?
The area of Gaza is 141 square miles, roughly twice that of the District of Columbia; the population is around 2.1 million, roughly three times that of DC.
There isn’t enough land in Gaza to produce food for 2.1 million people, and Israel prevents fishing.
If your allow your population to exceed the carrying capacity of your land, then you must produce wealth from other activity that allows you to trade for food. Without tradable wealth you will starve, as Singapore and Manhattan (and D.C.) would, or throw yourself on the mercy of benefactors. All the more reason to avoid or at least curtail foolish wars and ideologies that disrupt wealth production and trade, not to mention the tolerance of benefactors, even if they don’t lay waste to agriculture.
It didn’t help matters, either, that the Pals in Gaza smashed the “Jewish” greenhouses and other agricultural infrastructure, when they took over the place in 2005.
But the Joos (via the perfidious English) started the whole thing, right?
It also doesn’t help that the average woman in Gaza has five children. That small area has one of the highest birthrates in the world. And that explains why there are children suffering there – most of the population are children.
Unfortunately perhaps, evolution “selects” for Palestinians (and Yeminis!).
D.A.
NYC
THAAANK you Leslie and Barbara! A basic understanding of economics is beyond so many people, regrettably.
D.A.
NYC
You are correct Derek, on the dimensions of Gaza – I calculated them myself awhile ago. I was writing an article about this constant nonsense of “THE MOST CROWDED PLACE ON EARTH” which is, as you say, about twice as densely populated than the District of Columbia (where I used to live!).
Any… in fact nearly all Sth Asian or Middle East cities are WAAAY more crowded than Gaza. That’s before I touched on the fake “open air prison” bs narrative.
Derek I think you are lacking a bit in your understanding of economics.
respectfully,
D.A.
NYC
All criticism of phony “de-extinction” is deserved and commendable
For a quite different picture of Israel’s current aid distribution efforts in Gaza, and I think a more objective one than WaPo paints, I recommend this thread on X by Andrew Fox, including the video clip in the initial post.
I also am an avid North Korean watcher, for decades. I’ve written book reviews and other stuff but you might be interested in an article I wrote for Forbes about the ETHICS of visiting NK.
Not only is it bad form but you won’t see anything thousands of tourists and youtubers haven’t reported already. Each trip is identical to the last, all in a potemkin bubble curated by the Dear Leader and assigns. It is the ultimate fake show.
And behind the curtain… utter horror.
There’s an ethical value or calculation for travel to lots of places but nowhere is it clearer than in North Korea. Don’t go.
See my –
https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2017/03/06/useful-idiots-tourism-in-north-korea/#49fda0527dcd
D.A.
NYC
About the origin of potato , is that why french fries and ketchup go so well together?