Tuesday: Hili dialogue

August 26, 2025 • 6:45 am

Welcome to the Cruelest Day: Tuesday, August 26, 2025, and National Dg Day. Meet “Wild Thang” a Pekingese who won the title of “World’s Ugliest Dg” last year in a national contest. This was his fourth try and he finally copped the title, getting a $5,000 prize.

It’s also McChicken Day, National Cherry Popsicle Day, National Toilet Paper Day (30,000 trees are felled every day to make toilet paper), and Women’s Equality Day, celebrating the Nineteenth Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. It was added to the Constitution on this day in 1920.

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the August 26 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*This seems to be a first: a NYT article translated in the paper into Chinese as well. That’s because the title is “How China influences elections in America’s biggest city,” with the subtitle, “The Chinese consulate in Manhattan has mobilized community groups to defeat candidates who don’t fall in line with the authoritarian state.” (There’s another article accusing associates of Mayor Eric Adams slipping red envelopes full of cash to reporters from Chinese-language outlets.)

Here’s the article in Chinese, which, given the identity of authors, is probably a translation of the first one above (click to read):

An excerpt:

In New York City, social clubs backed by China undermined a congressional candidate who once challenged the regime on Chinese television.

They helped unseat a state senator for attending a banquet with the president of Taiwan.

And they condemned a City Council candidate on social media for supporting Hong Kong democracy.

In the past few years, these organizations have quietly foiled the careers of politicians who opposed China’s authoritarian government while backing others who supported policies of the country’s ruling Communist Party. The groups, many of them tax-exempt nonprofits, have allowed America’s most formidable adversary to influence elections in the country’s largest city, The New York Times found.

The groups are mostly “hometown associations” of people hailing from the same town or province in China. Some have been around for more than a century, while dozens of others have sprung up over the past decade. Like other heritage clubs in a city of immigrants, they welcome newcomers, organize parades and foster social connections.

But many hometown associations have become useful tools of China’s consulate in Midtown Manhattan, according to dozens of group members, politicians and former prosecutors. Some group leaders have family or business in China and fear the consequences of bucking its authority. Consulate officials have enlisted them to intimidate politicians who support Taiwan or cross Beijing’s other red lines. In one case, a Chinese intelligence agent and several hometown leaders targeted the same candidate.

. . .China’s influence machine is one of the world’s most expansive and effective. Over decades, it has harassed exiles in France, bribed academics in Britain and targeted politicians in Canada. It has even built clandestine police stations in dozens of countries to threaten dissidents. Its efforts have been especially potent in New York City, home to 600,000 ethnic Chinese people.

In 2023, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested leaders of one group, the America Changle Association, for operating a police station in its clubhouse. Last year, a federal indictment accused a former aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul of conspiring with the heads of two Chinese associations, saying their political activities “were supervised, directed, and controlled” by Chinese officials. And this summer, F.B.I. agents interviewed group leaders in Chinatown about consulate pressure, two leaders said.

. . . The Times uncovered new evidence of how the consulate wields its influence. Videos uploaded to YouTube show festive ceremonies where consulate officials led hometown groups in pledges to love the motherland and defend her interests. Sometimes they vowed to promote “reunification” with Taiwan, a self-governed island democracy that China aims to absorb into the mainland.

More than 50 organizations with ties to Beijing have mobilized members to fund-raise or endorse political candidates over the past five years, The Times found. Many were nonprofit charities, which are prohibited by law from electioneering.

It’s a long article with video evidence of influencing, as well as assertions that the Chinese government has targeted politicians it perceives as dissidents with violence . But this is at least a way of figuring out who not to vote for. If a DPRC group is plumping for a candidate, beware: that candidates is perceived as favoring

*As I’ve said, Trump wants the Nobel Peace Prize so badly that he can almost taste the medal.  Four U.S. Presidents have already gotten it, and the WaPo tells us how it’s awarded and gives its guess about whether Trump will get it. First they tell you how the nominations work:

The nomination, screening and selection process has eight steps and takes place over eight months. It begins with a nomination of a candidate by an eligible person — a member of a national government or parliament, a university director or professor, a prior nominee for the prize, or anyone else who meets the criteria on this list. Candidates can’t nominate themselves.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee narrows the valid nominations into a shortlist of the “most interesting and worthy candidates,” according to its website. The committee’s advisers and other external experts then spend about seven months researching those candidates while the committee deliberates and further narrows the list, voting on the laureates by the beginning of October each year.

The committee makes its final choice via a simple majority vote, so the decision is not always unanimous. For example, two committee members resigned in protest after Henry Kissinger, President Richard M. Nixon’s secretary of state, was awarded the prize for negotiating a shaky ceasefire in Vietnam in 1973. (His North Vietnamese counterpart, Le Duc Tho, declined to accept the jointly awarded prize.)

There were a lot of nominations: 338 this last year. Finally, they prognosticate on the odds that Trump will get one:

Trump has mentioned his desire for the prize in meetings with various world leaders. Several of those leaders have backed his push, including Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, who said in a Facebook post this month that he nominated Trump for what he said were his contributions to the ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand.

For his part, Trump claims to have “solved” numerous conflicts: By Friday, the number was 10 “if you think about pre-wars,” Trump said, although his role in some of them remains contested.

Buteven if Trump were to broker peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, his chances of getting this year’s prize are remote: The nomination deadline was Jan. 31. According to the Nobel Committee, nominations sent in after that date can be considered as part of deliberations for next year’s prize.

Still, Obama received the prize less than eight months after taking officefor his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy,” through accomplishments set in motion but not yet achieved, such as a campaign promise to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. That has been a point of contention for Trump, who once said: “They gave one to Obama immediately after his ascent to the presidency, and he had no idea why he got it.” (Obama conceded that it was not a “recognition of my own accomplishments,” but rather his inspirational rhetoric.)

A big obstacle for Trump may be the committee itself. Along with public criticism of the president from two other members, its chairman, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, called out Trump by name in December, decrying “the erosion of freedom of expression even in democratic nations.”

As they say in “Send in the Clowns”, “Well, maybe next year. . . . “.  But I hope not. On the other hand, I want peace in Ukraine and Gaza, but I want an honorable peace that promises comity and prosperity, not some cooked-up “two-state solution” that leaves Israel in peril, or some solution in which Ukraine loses half of its territory.

Oh, and the NBC News last night reported that MAGA-ites want Trump’s image added to Mount Rushmore! Thank Ceiling Cat that there’s no room to do it. Can you believe that?

*If you still have any doubts that biological sex is binary, read the new Skeptic article by Robert O. Deaner, “Is sex binary? Eight arguments and a leading nonbinary theory examined.”  (h/t Barry)  Here are two of the eight bits:

This framework [JAC: the gametic binary] builds on the gametes definition and is far more practical.

Because of the limitations of the gametes framework, I propose the following two “new definitions” of sex based on reproductive traits that are related to gametes.

In humans, a female should be defined as an individual who possesses, or is on a trajectory to possess, or previously possessed, the traits necessary for reproduction as an egg producer; these traits include ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, cervix, and vagina. These traits are often referred to as the primary sex characteristics.

In humans, a male should be defined as an individual who possesses, or is on a trajectory to possess, or previously possessed, the traits necessary for reproduction as a sperm producer; these traits include the testes, penis, and scrotum.

I put “new definitions” in quotes to make the point that, although I am arguing we should use this pair of definitions, it is more accurate to say that we should acknowledge our traditional use of them, rather than thinking of them as new. This is because people in all human societies distinguish between males and females, and, historically, they must have done this by observing a newborn’s external genitals. What other option could they have had?

Even in modern industrial societies, where blood and tissue tests are often available, genital inspection is still the main method of sex categorization, although that often now occurs by looking at ultrasound images months prior to birth.

Of course, outside of the birthing room, most of us rarely examine anyone’s genitals to learn their sex. Instead, we use various traits that typically, but not always, co-occur with the primary reproductive traits. These include secondary sex characteristics, which are physical traits that are not necessary for reproduction but that usually accompany the respective set of reproductive traits, particularly after puberty. In women, these include enlarged breasts and widened hips; in men, they include facial hair and Adam’s apples. There are other relevant traits, including men’s generally lower vocal pitch and their greater height and upper body musculature. Even facial shape is extremely helpful: adults can, with high accuracy, correctly determine another adult’s sex from pictures alone.

And about intersex (some people count these as members of “another sex”):

People in all societies define sex based on reproductive traits, another binary framework. 5. Intersex individuals challenge the binary, reproductive traits framework, but they don’t invalidate it because they do not reproduce in a third way. 

A more substantial challenge to the binary, reproductive traits framework comes from intersex individuals, who are sometimes described as having DSDs (Disorders or Differences of Sexual Development). These individuals are born with genetic, hormonal, or physical characteristics that are unusual for males or females. For example, a person might have male-typical chromosomes (e.g., XY) yet their phenotype or appearance may be female. A critical point is that, unlike most third gender individuals, intersex individuals typically do not possess a full set of traits necessary for reproduction, and often they are unable to reproduce. Frequently discussed intersex conditions include complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS), congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), 5-alpha reductase deficiency (5-ARD), and ovotesticular disorder (also called true hermaphroditism). In some communities, some intersex conditions occur fairly commonly (e.g., 5-ARD), and people with this condition may be described as embodying a third gender.

There is debate about the frequency of intersex conditions with some writers claiming that 1 in 60 live births is intersex and others suggesting the true frequency is roughly 1 in 5,000. The debate largely centers on what counts as a true intersex condition. Using a very broad definition, anyone who doesn’t fit their “exacting criteria” for being a typical male or female should be considered intersex, making the prevalence relatively high. In this perspective, a man with a short but functional penis could be called intersex, as could a boy with hypospadias (i.e., their urethra opens on the underside of their penis instead of at the tip) or a woman who bore three children but learned later in life that her androgenic hormones were unusually high.

Give this article to your gender-activist friends and see how they get around it (they will try!)

*Here’s a question that Peggy Mason found on LinkedIn of all places, as she follows Daniel Sanders. And it’s a good one:

Now we know that in some cases, photos of kids supposedly starved by Israel were cropped to cut out their adequately-fed parents or siblings, but I’ve racked my brain to try to think of a photo of an adult as skeletal as those children, an adult without some pre-existing condition that would make them susceptible to becoming very thin. I can’t think of any such photos. I can think of pictures of starved hostages, like those shown in the following video (trigger warning: Netanyahu). This is what makes me doubt that there is severe famine in Gaza. If that were the case, the area should be full of people who look like the hostages below, and Hamas should be broadcasting those pictures. I don’t doubt that people in Gaza are having problems getting food.

*The Taiwanese team (“Chinese Taipei”, who have always excelled in Little League baseball, won the Little League World Series yesterday, crushing the American winner (Summerlin South Little League) in a 7-0 shutout.  It was the 18th victory for Taiwan.

So many times in recent years, the Little League World Series has been defined by moments of agony for Chinese Taipei. The team struggled to get out of its own way and made a habit of falling heartbreakingly short, finishing third in 2021 and 2022, and second last year.

But on a sunny and at times overcast Sunday afternoon in South Williamsport, Tung-Yuan Little League had its full circle moment, thrashing Summerlin South Little League (Nevada) in a 7-0 shutout at Lamade Stadium.

On one hand, it was Chinese Taipei’s 18th Little League World Series title, the most of any team aside from the United States. But it was also its first since 1996, making it one that will stand out in their country and in World Series lore for years to come.

“After 29 years, we’re really happy to capture the championship,” Chinese Taipei manager Lai Min-Nan said through a translator. “For Taiwan, it’s been 29 years, but for Chinese Taipei, there has been 53 years of history.”

Chinese Taipei didn’t just want to win the Little League World Series. It came to the tournament with dreams of thriving on a big stage, having been in this moment before. A team that has been playing together and gelling over the last year delivered a massive all-around performance, first on the mound and then with its efficient bats, putting a bow on an epic 11-day tournament.

I watched most of the game, and here are 13 minutes of highlights.  These kids are really good. I was in Little League, but I was crappy and was never used. I wonder if any of these kids will continue on and eventually wind up in The Show.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili once more importunes for noma:

Andrzej: I don’t know how to get going.
Hili: It’s best to begin with some food.

In Polish:

Ja: Nie wiem jak się zmobilizować.
Hili: Najlepiej najpierw coś zjeść.

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

From Cat Memes:

From The Language Nerds:

From Jesus of the Day:

Masih pinned an old tweets from 2023, but it’s worthwhile to see and realize that this stuff is still going on:

I guess Khelif is giving up boxing until they allow men to box women again:

Alex Byrne points out a number of misleading statements in the dreadful New York magazine article by Sarah Jones. It’s a thread:

From Malcolm, amazing crystals in a cave:

One from my feed; compassionate kitten:

One I reposted from the Auschwitz Memorial:

A German Jewish woman was taken from the Netherlands to Auschwitz. She died there after 3-4 months.

— Jerry Coyne (@evolutionistrue.bsky.social) 2025-08-26T10:26:25.406Z

Two posts from Dr. Cobb. First, mollusk on mollusk.  Matthew calls this “brutal”:

MOON SNAIL ON COCKLE ATTACK! #molluscmonday #shapeoflife youtu.be/jMF5HeuQuTs?…

— Chris Mah (@echinoblog.bsky.social) 2025-08-25T16:38:00.288Z

Matthew took and posted this wonky house while on hols:

Very wonky house in Canterbury.

— Matthew Cobb (@matthewcobb.bsky.social) 2025-08-22T19:29:46.600Z

29 thoughts on “Tuesday: Hili dialogue”

  1. Trump has pretty-much zero chance of getting any prize decided on by Europeans.

    Having said that, it’s refreshing to have a president who wants to be remembered for ending wars, in contrast to leaders (Bush, Blair, Obama, etc) best remembered for starting wars that all turned out pretty disasterously.

    And, isn’t it obvious that Obama’s Nobel was effectively awarded to the American people for electing a black president? He was just the figurehead.

    2. ” in contrast to leaders (Bush, Blair, Obama, etc) best remembered for starting wars that all turned out pretty disasterously”

      Can you tell me which war Obama started? He did a lot of drone strikes, bombed Libya (but there was no additonal fighting) and continued a war begun by Bush, but, honestly, I don’t recall anything else. I could google it, I suppose…..

        1. A year or so after jointly getting the prize the dictators of Ethiopia and Eritrea (Afwerki) started a war – 2021-ish which killed nearly as many people as Russia–Ukraine. So there’s that.

          THAT many dead by the way in Ethiopia/Eritrea… and Sudan separately… and yet the pro-Pal crowd go to town on a few thousand deaths, prob 20K, mainly of terrorists.

          D.A.
          NYC

  2. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
    No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots. -Barbara Ehrenreich, journalist and author (26 Aug 1941-2022)

  3. Re. ” … ovotesticular disorder (also called true hermaphroditism)”

    If I am not mistaken, this disorder is no longer called “true hermaphroditism,” because true hermaphroditism, i.e. organisms which produce both sperm and ova, does not occur in humans. Ovotesticular disorder refers to individuals who are born with (some amount of) both testicular and ovarian tissue.

  4. The house in Canterbury looks like a cat doing it’s leaning look around an obstruction.

  6. Thanks for the Little League game highlights. Jeebus! Just watching the action, I could mistake it for Major League Baseball the way these kids move, catch and throw. Things have changed since you and I participated in the 50’s and 60’s. Then, making a little league team was a big deal and validation that you had skills above the sandlot. But in those days, the big yichas was for the all-around athlete who in high school might letter in baseball, basketball, and football. In watching my grandson’s little league even fifteen years ago, numerous kids were already being developed by parents and coaches into baseball specialists with a second season of “Fall Ball”, travel teams, and even moms or dads keeping their son’s pitch count on an ipad in the stands. Today, Performance trumps robustness it seems…and shows in the video….amazing!

  7. Sometimes I’ve noticed in the int’l section on articles about China the New Woke Times translates into Chinese.

    I note they use the PRC commie characters, not the traditional ones used in Taiwan, HK, Macau, and Chinese communities everywhere except the PRC. Says something I think, considering that newspaper is a communist terrorist one.

    Onwards Taiwanese heroes.*

    D.A.
    NYC
    *After Israel I’ve written more (all pro) articles on Taiwan than anywhere.

    1. IMO the absorption of Taiwan by PRC is a matter of when, not if. PRC can be deterred for a while; but realistically, I very much doubt that Taiwan’s friends will be willing to spill blood and treasure to defend it.

  8. I don’t “do” X* , so may I ask someone here who does to post Alex Byrnes’ response as noted above; ” Let’s look at the one by me and Moti Gorin 1/”?

    I just finished The War On Science (recommended!) and I’d like to see Byrne’s take on Jones’ hit piece. I am not at all sure she even read the book, the review is that bad!. So if someone could paste that response, and if it’s ok with our host , I’d appreciate it.

    Thanks

    *No reason except that I’m olde and a refugee from the analog world; I wasn’t a tweeter either.

    1. Regarding
      @LisaLittman1
      ‘s 2018 paper, Jones quotes Moti and me as saying that it “immediately ignited an explosion of activist-driven controversy.” Well, that’s true! Apparently our mistake was not to tell “the full story.” According to Jones, we omitted to mention that “Littman’s methodology was so badly flawed that she had to republish the paper with a correction that undermined her original conclusion.” Yes, we omitted to mention that because it is plainly false.

      Littman: “Other than the addition of a few missing values in Table 13, the Results section is unchanged in the updated version of the article.”

      There’s more, but that’s what he wrote related to his own chapter

  9. Re this quote from Robert O. Deaner’s article:

    A more substantial challenge to the binary, reproductive traits framework comes from intersex individuals, who are sometimes described as having DSDs (Disorders or Differences of Sexual Development). These individuals are born with genetic, hormonal, or physical characteristics that are unusual for males or females.

    In my view, DSDs are not a challenge to the binary at all. That’s not only because they don’t result in a third sex – it is also because DSDs are inherently binary, themselves. By that I mean that just as there are two sexes, so are there are two types of DSDs – one type being disorders of male sexual development and the other type being disorders of female sexual development.

    Disorders of Sex Development (DSDs) are classified into three main groups: 46,XY DSDs (disorders of testicular development, androgen synthesis, or action), 46,XX DSDs (disorders of ovarian development or androgen excess), and Sex Chromosome DSDs (such as Turner Syndrome or Klinefelter Syndrome), which involve atypical sex chromosome arrangements.

    The first two groups above are obviously two distinct sets of disorders that depend on an individual’s underlying biological sex, as determined by their chromosomes.

    The third group can also be differentiated into DSDs of either male or female sex development. That’s because, even when individuals have atypical sex hormones, they can still be unambiguously classified as either biological males or females. From that it follows that the DSDs that result from abnormal sex chromosomes can also be classified as disorders of one sex or the other. For example, since Kleinfelters’ syndrome is caused by XXY chromosomes, and since all XXY individuals are biological males, KS is exclusively a disorder of male sexual development. Likewise, since all X0 individuals are biological females, Turners’ syndrome is exclusively a disorder of female sexual development.

  10. The attacks on the sex binary aren’t really about the sex binary, gametes, DSDs, or biological classification.

    “I really really feel that I’m a woman so I demand the right to use the woman’s bathroom.”

    “Bathroom facilities are single-sex and separated according to male or female.”

    “SEX ISN’T EVEN A THING!”

  11. I suspect the compassionate kitten clip is AI, as it has the look of one. But it’s a pretty well done.

  12. Years ago, I would accompany a colleague who would take his zoology class down into Mexico so that they could experience abundant marine life. Among the many things that I found of interest were the moon snails, and the many empty clam and snail shells with their tell-tale holes drilled into them. As an experiment, I placed a moon snail into a large tray of seawater with a few clams.
    The moment the moon snails’ foot even grazed one of the clams, the clam would immediately launch itself into the water, swimming away quite effectively by thrashing its airfoil shaped foot back and forth.

  14. MAGA-ites want Trump’s image added to Mount Rushmore!

    Surely there is room enough on Mount Rushmore for something Trumpian. It need not be very bigly.

    1. That would be like leaving a 25¢ tip — an insult. The only acceptable solution for the most bestest ever would be to blast out one of the current faces and rework it to be him. ‘Bye, Teddy.

    2. How about carving a giant Trump visage on El Capitan’s granite walls. I’m sure he could get permission from the national park. And there already is a natural feature called “the Nose” that could be incorporated.

  15. I won’t name the novel, because then this would be a spoiler, but the climax to one of Dickens’ novels is the collapse of a house. Apparently, it was not all that uncommon in Victorian England. However, I’m happy to report that the house in Canterbury was reinforced with steel in 1988 and will probably outlast you and me.

    1. I believe Poe has literary precedence over Dickens for that particular dramatic climax 🙂. Safe as houses, eh?

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