Monday: Hili dialogue

August 11, 2025 • 6:45 am

Welcome to the beginning of a busy week (for me): it’s Monday, August 11, 2025 and National Ingersoll Day, celebrating the birth of “The Great Agnostic” on this day in 1833.(he was actually an atheist). The man was magnificent in writing or on the platform—the Hitchens of the 19th century. His speeches are all free online, and here’s a brief bio combined with a tour of his birthplace:

Despite his hundreds of speeches, this is the only known image of Ingersoll addressing an audience. Of course there were no microphones in those days, so I suspect he spoke loudly.

See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Thomas Edison made three short recordings of Ingersoll’s voice; you can find them here.

It’s also Annual Medical Checkup Day (I had mine before my trip to the Arctic; I’m fine), National Raspberry Tart Day, and National Panini Day.

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the August 11 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*Ukraine is getting really peeved about Trump’s single-handed attempts to broker an end to its war with Russia (article archived here).

For nearly three years of the war in Ukraine, Washington’s rallying cry in backing a fight against a Russian invasion was “no negotiations about Ukraine without Ukraine.”

But when President Trump meets President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Alaska on Friday, the Ukrainians will not be there, barring any last-minute invitation. And Kyiv’s swift rejection of Mr. Trump’s declaration that he is already negotiating with Russia over what he vaguely called “land swaps,” with no mention of security guarantees or arms for Ukraine, underscores the risks for the Ukrainians.

It also carries political perils for Mr. Trump.

Ukraine’s fear for these past six months has been that Mr. Trump’s image of a “peace accord” is a deal struck directly between him and Mr. Putin — much as Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill divided up Europe at the Yalta conference in 1945. That meeting has become synonymous with historical debates over what can go wrong when great powers carve up the world, smaller powers suffer the consequences and free people find themselves cast under authoritarian rule.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, himself invited such comparisons in a speech to his people hours after Mr. Trump raised the specter of deciding Ukraine’s fate in a one-on-one meeting in Alaska, territory that was once part of the Russian empire. (While Mr. Putin has made clear that he regards Ukraine as rightful Russian territory dating back to the days of Peter the Great, the Russian leader has not called for the reversal of the $7.2 million sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867, during a period of financial distress for the empire.)

“Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier,” Mr. Zelensky said, noting that the Ukrainian Constitution prohibits such a deal.

Then, in what sounded like a direct warning to Mr. Trump, he added: “Any solutions that are against us, any solutions that are without Ukraine, are simultaneously solutions against peace. They will not bring anything. These are dead solutions.”

Here’s what Russia wants:

Already the president has signaled that is where these talks are headed. Mr. Trump on Friday suggested that a peace deal between the two countries could include “some swapping of territories,” signaling that the United States may join Russia in trying to compel Ukraine to permanently cede some of its land — the suggestion flatly rejected by Mr. Zelensky.

“We’re going to get some back, and we’re going to get some switched,” said Mr. Trump, leaving unclear who the “we” in that statement was. “There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both, but we’ll be talking about that either later, or tomorrow.”

Russian officials have demanded that Ukraine cede the four regions that Moscow claimed to have “annexed” from Ukraine in late 2022, even as some of that land remains under Ukrainian control. And Russia is seeking a formal declaration that the Crimean peninsula is once again its territory. (Yalta, where the meeting of three great powers was held 80 years ago, is a resort city on the southern coast of Crimea.)

I don’t see any “switching” here. Ukraine is occupying a small amount of Russian territory, which they could return, but should do so only if Russia gets its butt out of Ukraine and throws in Crimea as part of the deal. I’m glad that Zelensky is standing firm on this one, especially after he took that public beating from both Trump and Vance at the White House, both of whom excoriated the Ukrainian President for not being properly grateful for U.S. help. Well, they’re not holding all the cards now.

*Apropos, the WSJ notes that several European countries are in agreement with Ukraine that Trump’s cease-fire is a no-go, and they have their own plan.

European powers and Ukraine responded to Vladimir Putin’s cease-fire plan with a counterproposal that they say must serve as a framework so that coming talks between President Trump and the Russian leader can gain traction, according to European officials familiar with the talks.

. . .The European proposal includes demands that a cease-fire take place before any other steps are taken. It also says that territory can be exchanged only in a reciprocal manner—meaning that if Ukraine pulls out of some regions, Russia must withdraw from others.

Crucially, the European plan, which was presented to Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg and Witkoff, also stipulates that any territorial concession by Kyiv must be safeguarded by ironclad security guarantees—including potential NATO membership for Ukraine.

Finland’s President Alexander Stubb called Trump to present the European initiative on Saturday afternoon.

. . .“Europe stands united with Ukraine,” Stubb posted on social media. “We will continue to work closely with President Trump and the United States.”

The meeting was an important step forward, he added.

“A fragile cease-fire would only serve the Russians, cementing their conquests and curbing Ukraine’s chances to fight back,” European Union foreign-policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a message to European officials after the meeting.

The European plan was drafted and presented to the U.S. side by chief aides to European leaders. Vance was present at the meeting, while most other U.S. officials attended via a video link.

By a long shot this is a better plan than Putin’s. And I don’t think Zelensky should let any of the former Ukraine territories go into Russian hands. As for Crimea, it still should be Ukrainian but its accession by Russia appears to be a fait accompli. Also, Trump won’t like the European/Ukrainian plan simply because it is not his.

*Here’s a WaPo article with a clickbaity title, “Democrats with their eye on 2028 reject some parts of liberal orthodoxy.” Well, what’s going on?  What’s going on is that Democrats are rejecting the wokeness that contributed to their loss in the last election. Some examples:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom traveled to Tennessee to appear on a podcast hosted by Shawn Ryan, a conservative, tattooed former Navy SEAL, who opened the show by handing Newsom a Sig Sauer pistol that the Democratic governor proclaimed “too cool.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) joined a podcast a few days later hosted by Ted Nugent, the pro-Trump activist and onetime hard rocker, to discuss his support for allowing hunting in the Keystone State on Sundays.

Former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel appeared on the Megyn Kelly Show, hosted by a former Fox host, where he said that a man cannot become a woman — then joked that given the likely reaction of his fellow Democrats, that answer would require him “to go into a witness protection plan.”

As prominent Democrats begin testing the waters for potential 2028 presidential runs, some have been explicitly rejecting tenets of liberal orthodoxy in high-profile ways, often in venues that might attract independent or pro-Trump listeners.

The appearances come as many Democrats, especially centrists, are urging the party to embrace what they say is a key lesson from their 2024 loss to President Donald Trump: that Democrats must distance themselves from the most easily weaponized left-leaning positions, and that they must engage with podcasts, radio shows and other media that are outside the liberal sphere.

“There is no question the party is starting to get the message. I’m delighted to see other members of the party speaking out,” said Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Massachusetts), who faced a backlash from other Democrats when he complained after the election that the party was afraid to discuss issues like trans athletes. “There are a number of issues where we have lost the trust of American voters because we are not listening to the concerns of the majority of Americans.”

Some Democrats say Vice President Kamala Harris, the defeated 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, should have delivered a speech repudiating one or more progressive positions — on immigration or trans athletes or covid-related school closures — that allowed Republicans to portray her as an out-of-touch liberal.

Harris did not emphasize these issues, rarely talking about trans rights or immigration reform, for example. But she did not vocally reject them either.

Besides being neuronally deprived as well as rhetorically incompetent, Harris’s embrace of “progressivism” (if that’s what she was doing!) sure helped her lose.  If we’re going to win in 2028, we have to get more centrist. No AOCs or Bernie Sanderss, and no tacit embrace of open borders and men competing in women’s sports.  Now I’m starting to think that our own governor, J. B. Pritzker, might be a good candidate, but he’s still a bit too “progressive” for my taste. Still, we have a dearth of good candidates.  I just worry that he might blow an artery.

*Bad news from the Free Press: it looks as if the French wine industry is going down the drain. Good thing I won’t be around that much longer, as I need my French reds.

. . .Because there is an enormous oversupply of French wine, the government has been paying farmers who uproot their vineyards. Diane and Loïc de Roquefeuil have, in the last two years, destroyed 30 hectares of their family vineyard’s 36. The future of those fields are uncertain—maybe, de Roquefeuil said, he’ll plant sunflowers, wheat, or maize.

. . . . Worldwide, so many things seem to be conspiring against the French wine industry. There is climate change, and a drastic slide in wine consumption has sent the industry spinning into freefall. And most recently, there are the Trump administration’s tariffs, which will undoubtedly cut into French wine sales in the U.S.

In France, the beginnings of the crisis—the much-discussed crise viticole—led families like the Roquefeuils to close one in six vineyards between 2012 and 2022. Since then, things have only gotten worse.

. . .Half of French winemakers will retire in the next 10 years, and there are not enough young people willing to replace them. Across Bordeaux, France’s largest wine-growing region, thousands of small-scale chateaux are in “alarming, explosive” financial straits, per France’s Independent Winemakers’ Association. Big money players—hedge funds, sports stars, billionaires—are swooping in to buy out their struggling owners. Many of them will use the vineyards as a retreat or a second home rather than a place that produces wine. Others are also bringing about market consolidation, industrialization, and a cash infusion that Bordeaux’s wine industry needs to stay alive.

But its human cost is radical disruption to a region’s way of life. Winemakers are staring down the end of their centuries-old tradition.

I don’t care that much about Bordeaux and Burgundy, which are getting increasingly pricey, but they better leave the Rhone alone, as well as Sauternes.   It gets worse:

Then there’s the problem of wine consumption, which fell last year to its lowest worldwide level since 1961. That’s for two reasons. One: Older wine loyalists are pulling back on spending. “If you buy a 2023 vintage, and see that wine might outlive you,” said Crakes, “that’s not a feeling you want to bring home.”

And two: Young people drink less than any generation before them. When they do indulge, they prefer nearly anything—beer, hard seltzers, light and sparkling wines—over the powerful, tannic reds for which Bordeaux is known. Gen Zers and millennials have proven themselves less interested in exploring and learning how to pair wines than they are, say, in an Instagrammable label.

Wine is a great pleasure, and it’s a pity that young people are rejecting it.  Also, I AM one of those older wine loyalists: I no longer buy wine that will mature after more than a decade, as I think I’ll be dead at 85 (just guessing).

*Mexico is lashing out at Adidas for cultural appropriation, as the sneaker company is introducing sandals that resemble Mexican huaraches

Mexican authorities are accusing sportswear company Adidas of plagiarizing artisans in southern Mexico, alleging that a new sandal design is strikingly similar to the traditional Indigenous footwear known as huaraches.

The controversy has fueled accusations of cultural appropriation by the footwear brand, with authorities saying this is not the first time traditional Mexican handicrafts have been copied. Citing these concerns, local authorities have asked Adidas to withdraw the shoe model.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday that Adidas was already in talks with authorities in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca to provide “compensation for the people who were plagiarized,” and that her government was preparing legal reforms to prevent the copying of Mexican handicrafts.

The design at the center of the controversy is the “Oaxaca Slip-On,” a sandal created by U.S. designer Willy Chavarría for Adidas Originals. The sandals feature thin leather straps braided in a style that is unmistakably similar to the traditional Mexican huaraches. Instead of flat leather soles, the Adidas shoes tout a more chunky, sports shoe sole.

According to Mexican authorities, Adidas’ design contains elements that are part of the cultural heritage of the Zapotec Indigenous communities in Oaxaca, particularly in the town of Villa Hidalgo de Yalálag. Handicrafts are a crucial economic lifeline in Mexico, providing jobs for around half a million people across the country. The industry accounts for around 10% of the gross domestic product of states like Oaxaca, Jalisco, Michoacán and Guerrero.

Adidas is caving:

Adidas responded in a letter Friday afternoon, saying that the company “deeply values the cultural wealth of Mexico’s Indigenous people and recognizes the relevance” of the criticisms. It requested to sit down with local officials and to discuss how it can “repair the damage” to Indigenous populations.

Here are some huaraches, with their characteristic criss-cross design, on sale in Oaxaca:

From WIkipedia. Credit to Alejandro Linares Garcia, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I can’t put a photo of the Adidas slip-on here because there may be copyright beefing, but you can easily see it on Instagram here (see the second photo). It’s butt-ugly, what with a chunky sole (it will appeal to Crocs wearers). And yes, it does have a weave in the uppers, but it’s not really a copy of huaraches, though part of it is clearly inspired by them.

Given that the Adidas shoe will be very pricey, I doubt it will take business away from Mexican huarache makers. And if that’s the case then no apology is needed. Copying clothes and other aspects of culture has been going on forever, and it’s only reprehensible when the copying takes business away from people with less means. That’s not the situation here. Still, given the Zeitgeist, Adidas had to apologize.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili comments on all the visitors they’ve had:

Hili: This summer is strange.
Andrzej: In what sense?
Hili: We have a lot of guests.

In Polish:

Hili: Dziwne to lato.
Ja: W jakim sensie?
Hili: Mamy dużo gości.

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

From The Oxford Comma we learn that Rachel Ray eats d*gs:

From America’s Cultural Decline into Idiocy:

From Cats That Have Had Enough of Your Shit:

A retweet from Masih that I embedded because it was in Farsi. I had no idea this stuff was going on:

Emma Hilton fights for the truth, but she clearly wins. What blockheads these “four-sex” people are!

From Barry, who says, “I had no idea it was safe for cats to eat corn.” I guess so—in moderation.  But I don’t think all cats will like corn.

From Malcolm: kin selection:

One from my feed:

One that I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:

And the usual two posts from Dr. Cobb. Look at this cocoon!

And, as Matthew calls this, “more skullduggery” from Colossal Biosciences. I posted this yesterday, but here it is again in case you missed it:

A PR company working for Colossal Biosciences is sending AI generated pieces to respected science journalists & asking them to publish the articles under their own names. This is so dodgy & just goes to show our critical expert scientific commentary is working. Sci comm failure 101 for Colossal.

— Nic Rawlence (@nicrawlencenz.bsky.social) 2025-08-10T09:08:03.366Z

30 thoughts on “Monday: Hili dialogue”

  1. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
    Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. – Robert Ingersoll, Politician, orator and lecturer (11 August 1833-1899)

  2. I love the video of the cat eating corn. The cat that raised me LOVED her veggies, especially when she reached the age it was no longer safe for her to go outside to play and hunt. Being the cultured lady that she was, she would delicately nibble the kernels off one or two at a time. This one treated it as a post-hunt feast.

    1. One of the comments said: “Cats are obligate carnivores (they only eat meat). Do not feed them corn as they’ll receive almost no nutrition from it and it’ll cause digestive issues.” But everything in moderation. I doubt that a few kernels as a treat would hurt a corn-loving cat. My dog used to be passionate for mushrooms, which are supposed to be bad for dogs. But I found that she did fine if I gave her one or two button mushrooms, and it thrilled her to pieces.

      1. If I were to hazard a guess as to WHY cats enjoy corn, it may serve the same urge as eating grass to aid moving food through their system. Roughage, with texture and flavour, with the added bonus of being what the pet human eats. But, cats. Who really knows besides them?

        My current indoor boy LOVES cucumber. I’ll cut the end off without peeling it, and he will joyfully lick flesh out, seeds and all. Water? Yup. Fibre? Yup. Similar feeling to enjoying the meal when he was younger and still hunted rodents? Maybe?

          2. My cat would come running whenever she heard a banana being peeled – she loved bananas. And also Mexican refried beans! She had to have a bite of anything she saw me eating, which is how she developed some unusual tastes for a cat.

      2. An “obligate carnivore” is an animal that must include meat in its diet, not one that must eat only meat. Scientifically formulated dry cat foods (like Hills or Royal Canin) include substantial amounts of grain such as wheat and corn. According to our veterinarian, diets based on these products are healthier than all-meat diets because, for one thing, the grain reduces the relative amount of protein in the food, which is healthier for the cat’s kidneys. The belief that an all-meat diet is ideal for cats because it is their “natural” diet is a fallacy.

    2. One of our cats went crazy over asparagus. Go figure. Each has unique personalities and interests—except for ice cream, where all cats are monotypic.

    3. I assume that cats who like to eat corn-on-the-cob then enjoy taking a warm bath to clean off, after which their staff puts on their favorite cap and booties for the night.

      If you’re going to have idiosyncrasies, I say go all the way.

      1. My present kitteh LOVES corn. She likes to lick and play with corn silk (I don’t allow her to do this because choking hazard.) I give her a few plain cooked kernels are she gobbles them. She also enjoys plain popcorn. PetMD says that popcorn is not bad for cats in small amounts, but it is a choking hazard.

        In the past I’ve had kittehs who loved Lay’s original potato chips (ONLY these), cheese, chocolate (yes, I know it’s bad for kittehs), tomatoes, pizza sauce, pasta sauce, pasta, olive oil, watermelon, almond milk, tofu, Tofurky, mashed potatoes, Special K original flavor (ONLY this flavor), strawberries, various leafy greens, and french fries.

        Everybody has their idiosyncrasies, lol.

  3. I seem to remember huaraches back in the day with tire tread soles that would look similar to the fancy new Adidas.

  4. On the other hand, Beto O’Rourke (whom polls report has zero support among black voters) promised a universal amnesty for illegal aliens. They can try and adopt less woke positions, but I think it’s like the frog and the scorpion, and they won’t be able to keep it up.

  5. Any Ukrainian peace plan that includes NATO membership is a dead letter. In fact Putin will doubtless insist that Ukraine staying out of NATO is major point. That’s about the only bargaining chip Ukraine has.

  6. I care very much about Bordeaux and Burgundy, both because Bordeaux was my entry into the world of real wine (not Manischevitz!) in the 1970’s when a bottle of 66 Lafite was 15-25 bucks and thus holds a place in my heart, but also for the people of those areas who have worked the soil for years producing such wonderful wines. Chemistry seems to be the tide that has raised all wine boats be they France or California to an enjoyable level regardless of a year’s elements, but while enjoying some of Napa’s (overpriced) finest, I still find a French label to be somehow romantic.

    I think it a shame that the younguns’ have eschewed wine…maybe it is because they are often in a hurry and multi-tasking, while a good or even a just decent wine is meant to be leisurely enjoyed with accompanying food, an activity for which they seem to have no time.

    I expect a number of readers will not agree with me, but these are my thoughts and these wines are among my few pleasures these days.

    1. As a reader of roughly your vintage, Jim, I do agree with you. It’s true that some of the more serious wines are not enjoyed as much by younger drinkers as by the likes of us; but tastes change, and some alternatives are increasing in popularity. For instance, over the past few years Beaujolais has had a major makeover, with tired old vines being grubbed up and more attention paid to making wines worth drinking. The days of cherry-flavoured bubblegum are over, and the Gamay grape is being allowed to speak for itself!

      On a more anecdotal level, my son is head chef of a restaurant in Paris that caters mainly for a younger clientele, and he reports that organic, ‘natural’ wines are currently very popular. The quality can vary wildly, but some of them are very good.

      I’m hopeful that Bordeaux and Burgundy will go around and come around again one day, but maybe not in my lifetime!

      1. Thanks Steve for some ground truth reporting from your son….and yes we can hope!

    2. My first foray into real wine—not Manischewitz—was in graduate school. My graduate school office mate was much more worldly than I, and much more social. So, on Passover one year he organized a big Seder at his apartment. His special Passover treat? Kosher for Passover wines from around the world! Expensive ones. I had no idea there was such a thing, other than Manischewitz and, my parents’ favorite, Mother Goldstein.

      Wine is a great thing. I particularly like it without food, before dinner. My nominal limit is one glass per day, but I sometimes have about a half-glass more. (I’m talking 5 oz. glasses in an actual wine glass.)

      1. Yes Norman. Having only known Manischewitz as wine since childhood, I wondered why on Earth anyone would drink wine with dinner. Then, like you, I was introduced to such wines and a whole new world was opened up.

        My wife is a glass per dayer before dinner. I prefer to save up my chits for several glasses once or twice a week with a nice dinner. And as instructed by one of our food and wine purveyors years ago when planning our oldest daughter’s wedding: ok wine drunk from glass is far superior an experience to good wine drunk from plastic. Again, my own opinions.

  7. I think the “switching” mentioned in the piece about the Ukraine conflict refers to switching Ukrainian territory already occupied by the Russians for Ukrainian territory not (yet) occupied by Russia, but which Russian has claimed to have annexed.

  8. I looked it up last year: what looks like a little bit, a morsel on the map – the region of Sumi (sp) which Ukraine grabbed from Russia is the size of Ireland (Republic of).

    On the huge maps we see small slithers scale up in reality.

    Crimea will never be given back – the Russian people are clear on that and in the last decade Russia has filled it with several hundred thousand new “settlers” (like Turks in Nth Cyprus). Plus, it was part of Russia until the 1950s I believe (when transfer was no big deal), and the Russkis see it as part of Russia’s patrimony in a way the other 4 provinces aren’t. Pity, but one has to live in the real world.

    Onwards Ukrainian heroes!

    DavidAnderson_JD_NYC
    @DavidandersonJd

  9. According to Rep. Seth Moulton, “There are a number of issues where we have lost the trust of American voters because we are not listening to the concerns of the majority of Americans.”

    If only. The Democrats’ demise did not stem from a failure to listen. Rather, they listened—and then condemned a broad swath of their fellow citizens as racists, sexists, transphobes, Islamophobes, xenophobes, and ignorant, anti-Science bigots. Not content to call them names, they stood by as many were censored, canceled, and fired. How many of them spoke out against this? How many of them joined the mob? (Ask Rep. Moulton how many of his colleagues condemned him, distanced themselves from him, or refused to support him when he violated “progressive” orthodoxy on men in women’s sports.) Realizing that most of the unwashed masses can never be persuaded of their enlightened views even in the face of such social threats and professional retribution, they and their activist supporters sought easier targets, turning classrooms scattered across the country into indoctrination mills. None of them see it as indoctrination to, for instance, tell your elementary-age child that his sex was “assigned at birth,” perhaps mistakenly, and that the child is free to choose whether he is a boy or a girl. No. They are simply going forth into all the earth and spreading the Truth of the “progressive” Good News—expressed in this week’s approved terms, of course.

    I will neither trust nor vote for any politician like Newsom or Pritzker who were (and are) riding full speed on the “progressive” train simply because one of them might conveniently “test the waters” for what might advantage themselves. The Democrats will need to find leadership who was not part of the vilification of the last decade—whether they were active participants or silent observers—before I even consider giving them my vote again.

    3. +1

      The billionaire Pritzker family also heavily promotes and funds transgender extremism.

  10. Inflation in Russia is sky-high, their supply of tanks is empty and they’re only able to produce about one tank/day. And Ukraine recently took out 15% of their oil refining capacity. Then, just the other day, they took out a major gas pipeline feeding Central Asia. P*tin is desperate for a cease-fire but can’t act that way.

    BTW, there is an internal group of Russians in Russia called Freedom of Russia. I haven’t heard anything about them in a long time, but wonder if the actions vs. the fossil-fuel industry have been covertly assisted by them.

  12. Ingersoll: I am an agnostic. I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of.”

    In his day, the definition of “atheist” was usually the strong form. Even my 1990 Concise Oxford gives the strong form. When I have found dictionaries from the seventies, they give the strong definition.

    George Smith, in his “The Case Against God” advocated for the weak definition which has eventually gained accepted use.

    I like Bertrand Russell’s approach: philosophically agnostic, pragmatically atheist.

  13. Gen Xer here. Just by feels, though the data seems to agree – my generation is indeed less into wine than our elders, boomers. And I’ve noticed the kids (anybody younger than my 55 years) almost never drink wine.

    They like terrible “alcopops”, soda and alcohol when they drink at all.
    Proud to say my generation was peak degeneracy in most domains. My personal efforts weren’t wasted. 🙂

    D.A.
    NYC

    1. I once asked a bartender at the campus pub why students don’t drink like they used to (here in Oz the drinking age is 18). His response was “they’ve got much better drugs now”.

Comments are closed.