Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Welcome to shabbos for Jewish cats: it’s Saturday, May 2, 2026 and National Truffle Day. They mean chocolate truffles, but let’s look at how they find the fungus-y ones. They are usually sniffed out by pigs or d*gs—the latter in this case.
Iran’s supreme leader issued a rare statement on Thursday saying that the United States had no place in the future of the Persian Gulf region and making clear that his country planned to manage the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway going forward.
In the defiant message, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei also vowed that Iran would retain its nuclear capabilities. The lengthy statement from the Iranian leader, who has not been seen in public since he was named to the top post nearly two months ago, was shared by his office.
It touched on two of the thorniest issues stalling talks on permanently ending the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which began in late February and paused when a cease-fire was reached this month. Those positions put Iran at odds with the United States, which has sought to curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions and insisted that it cannot restrict use of the Strait of Hormuz to vessels of its choosing.
“By the will and power of God, the bright future of the Persian Gulf region will be a future without America,” said the statement, which was released on Iran’s National Day of the Persian Gulf, an annual commemoration of a 1622 military victory over Portugal in the Strait of Hormuz.
Of the battle over the narrow waterway, one of the most important shipping routes for global oil supplies, the statement said: “Foreigners who come from thousands of kilometers away, acting maliciously out of greed, have no place there, except at the bottom of its waters.”
It went on to say that Iran would implement “new legal frameworks and management of the Strait of Hormuz,” suggesting that the country had no plans to relinquish control over the shipping route. Such a system, it added, would benefit its neighbors and prove economically fruitful.
. . . The war has devastated Iran’seconomy, with the Iranian rial currency sinking to new lows against the dollar this week.
Well, we’re at an impasse, then. The Iranian economy will get worse and worse, and the question is whether the people of Iran will rise up (or the regime dissolve) before pressure from the U.S. people and Congress forces Trump to quit.
For almost five decades, Iran’s Islamic government has survived financial pressure from the U.S. by selling oil to China. It confronted American military might with guerrilla tactics. But with the U.S. Navy’s blockade, that strategy might have met its match, analysts said.
Tehran thought it was gaining the upper hand after the war started in February as it attacked ships navigating the Strait of Hormuz, shutting down commercial traffic and blocking a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies. Six weeks into the conflict, the U.S. responded by blockading shipments from all Iranian ports.
That shut down Iran’s network of shadow ships, which for years defied U.S. sanctions on Iran’s substantial oil exports by going dark at sea before clandestinely transferring their cargoes to China. The tankers have been unable to breach a cordon of U.S. warships that have chased them all the way to the Indian Ocean.
In Hormuz, “Iran was able to create a crisis of market confidence. But disruption is not control,” said David Des Roches, a former director responsible for Persian Gulf policy at the Defense Department. “With the U.S. blockade, it’s facing a reckoning.”
Alternative trade routes won’t be sufficient. Iran has been working to send some of its oil by rail to China and to import foodstuff by road from the Caucasus and Pakistan. Only 40% of Iran’s trade can be redirected away from blockaded ports, the Iranian Shipping Association said Thursday via the Fars news agency, which is affiliated with Iran’s security services.
The risk of a spiraling crisis has split Iran’s political system between moderates such as President Masoud Pezeshkian and hard-liners including Saeed Jalili, a former presidential candidate who leads Iran’s most conservative faction.
The moderates believe in holding fire and negotiating a favorable deal with President Trump, whom they view as eager to get out of the messy war as soon as possible. They worry Iranians are growing tired of the conflict after an initial nationalist uptick.
“The regime has to do something to break this deadlock,” Saeid Golkar, who studies Iran at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. “Moderates want a deal because they think more destruction is political suicide,” he said.
A growing camp of hard-liners believe Iran has to take the military initiative and start a shooting war again to send oil prices soaring higher and increase the pressure on Trump. They argue that the blockade goes beyond the sanctions Iran has faced down in the past and amounts to an act of war that must have a military response.
Even a rule by moderates won’t stopo the oppression that has killed tens of thousands of protesting Iranians. My preference is for the U.S. to continue the blockade. Here’s a map from the article of the U.S.’s blockade line:
Source: Source: Department of Defense (blockade line)
→ Park Slope Food Co-Op: A meeting at Brooklyn’s Park Slope Food Co-op—which I’m pretty sure is just a factory that produces news to be turned into items for this column (I’ve never been to Brooklyn)—was more aggressive than usual this week as the discussion naturally turned to Israeli products. “Jewish supremacism is a problem in this country,” said one attendee, kind of giving away the game there. The darkest part: Some 50 people applauded the comment. The topic: banning Israeli goods. The jeerers, presumably: well-heeled Park Slope parents. There are about 10 Israeli items sold in the shop, and it has led to years of battles.
Meanwhile, the hottest new fashion accessory in New York is a Hamas headband, as sported in Manhattan’s Flatiron District neighborhood, where protesters harassed diners at a kosher-style (not even fully kosher!) restaurant. They surrounded the tables and called the diners “pedophiles” and the “Epstein class,” which is, of course, reasonable criticism of Israeli policies.
→ I guess I need to learn about this new fetish now: An Oxford biochemistry professor is now teaching while wearing enormous Z-cup prosthetic breasts and low-cut shirts to class. If you’re reading this over breakfast, maybe don’t because I am obligated to inform you that his long wispy beard grazes the tits. I will not include a picture [JAC: the picture’s at the next link.] As Jo Bartosch at Spiked put it, it’s “a giant rubber rack.” We’re talking Bryon Noem–sized knockers here. She concludes: “Regrettably, it seems Matt Rattley will be at liberty to display his plastic tits until university officials find their ovaries.”
And now I’ve had to learn that this is a kink, yet another thing about men I would rather not know. Because it’s indeed the same thing as that Canadian high school shop teacher, Kayla Lemieux, who went viral for wearing, yes, Z-cup prosthetic breasts in class. Hopefully these are just strange, unique episodes. But it is funny, isn’t it, that both of these men are in charge of kids. Not ha ha funny. But you get it. When I revive a lesbian separatist commune in Michigan, I want you to know that this new kink (bearded men, Z-cup tits, teaching kids, plus we’re supposed to applaud them) tipped me over the edge. Me, Pat, Jill, and our holistic herb healer Ingrid are going to be over here keeping chickens. Zero cleavage.
→ More defense of microlooting: In the pro-microlooting podcast episode of The Opinions from TheNew York Times last week, there was a little part about how stealing from the Louvre is cool. Jia Tolentino and Hasan Piker agreed it’s one of the “cool crimes” that there should be more of. I need you to see now how the American progressive intelligentsia explains this as backlash inevitably arrived. This is a major writer in the movement and genuinely one of its smarter representatives:
Of course, the real threat to American museums is Climate Action protesters armed with cans of soup, but the idea that you can just replace a precious, one-of-a-kind object with another one from the basement is insane. I love it.
I think Malcolm and his ilk are smarter than they’re letting on. I think the real argument is: Yes, take apart the Louvre. Take apart Western culture, since it’s an evil thing. But maybe not. Maybe he really does think there are a dozen Mona Lisas in CubeSmart storage so who cares.
A video has gone viral of a pair of tourists who filmed themselves hurling antisemitic and anti-Israel abuse at an Israeli couple dining in Vietnam, calling them “rats” and using white supremacist memes, until the Israelis get up and leave while other diners do nothing.
It was unclear when the video was made before it was apparently uploaded to social media by the British pair.
In the video, one of the abusing tourists asked the Israeli man and woman if they were “from Palestine” upon noticing an Israel-shaped tattoo on the woman’s arm.
The Israeli woman smiled and said, “It’s difficult.” The British women continue in the same line of questioning, asking the Israelis if they speak Arabic.
When the Israeli man said they speak Hebrew, the British women explode.
“Oh, right, you’re Israeli… Fake state of Israel,” said one.
A video has gone viral of a pair of tourists who filmed themselves hurling antisemitic and anti-Israel abuse at an Israeli couple dining in Vietnam, calling them “rats” and using white supremacist memes, until the Israelis get up and leave while other diners do nothing.
It was unclear when the video was made before it was apparently uploaded to social media by the British pair.
In the video, one of the abusing tourists asked the Israeli man and woman if they were “from Palestine” upon noticing an Israel-shaped tattoo on the woman’s arm.
The Israeli woman smiled and said, “It’s difficult.” The British women continue in the same line of questioning, asking the Israelis if they speak Arabic.
When the Israeli man said they speak Hebrew, the British women explode.
“Oh, right, you’re Israeli… Fake state of Israel,” said one.
“Were you part of the IDF, IOF… Did you kill innocent civilians?” asked the other. The abbreviation for “Israeli Occupation Forces” is frequently used on pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel social media to refer to the Israeli military.
The Israeli man appeared about to respond, but his partner signaled to him not to take the bait, before she herself said: “Everyone is part of the army.”
“So then you’re a murderer,” said one of the British tourists. “You can refuse to be in the IDF.”
“I want to eat my lunch in quiet,” the Israeli woman said, and continued eating.
“Well, we want to save humanity,” answered the British tourist from her own table.
“Now they’re going to cry, I didn’t have my lunch in peace,” said the second UK tourist.
. . .“Look at them, the rats running away,” said one woman as the Israeli couple moves. “Go on, rats. Murderers, savages.”
Rats have long been deployed as an antisemitic trope to depict Jews.
Israelis abroad have faced mounting harassment, sometimes descending into physical violence, since the war in Gaza was sparked by the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023. A poll last year found that a majority of Israelis fear they will be unable to travel abroad due to mounting global criticism of Israel.
Here’s a tweet with the video. The degree of hate is horrific and persistent, too. We Jews can’t catch a break:
Watch British tourists harass an Israeli couple in Vietnam. They sing “Boom boom Tel Aviv” and call them “rats”. They even invoke the Nazi trope of Jews being kicked out of “110 countries”. These pro-Pals are indistinguishable from Nazis now. I’m ashamed of them. pic.twitter.com/kod7h0su9k
It would be lovely if someone could identify these moronic antisemites so they could face public opprobrium. It’s antisemitism, not anti-Netanyahuism or anti-Zionism—unless the chowderheaded critics think that a tattoo of Israel makes you a Zionist. (While we’re at it, let’s just eliminate the word “Zionist” and use “Jew”. Nearly all Jews are Zionists since they favor the right of Israel to exist as a sovereign Jewish state).
A Japanese sushi chain has bought the world’s most expensive tuna at auction.
Sushizanmai, part of Kiyomura Corporation owned by “Tuna King” Kiyoshi Kimura, bought a bluefin tuna for JP￥510,300,000 ($3,254,277) at the annual first fish auction of the year in Koto, Tokyo — officially breaking the Guinness World Record for the most expensive tuna fish to be sold at auction.
Following the Jan. 5 sale, Kiyomura was presented its official Guinness certificate during a ceremony at the chain’s main Tsukiji location on April 20, per Malay Mail.
“We will continue to offer high-quality tuna next year and beyond,” said Kimura, president of Kiyomura Corporation, during the ceremony.
The tuna, sold at Toyosu Market, weighed a whopping 243 kg (535 lbs 11.52 oz) and was caught in Oma in Japan’s northern prefecture of Aomori. The fish was then cut at the Tsukiji location of Sushizanmai and distributed across the company’s numerous shops across Japan.
“Although the tuna was crowned the most expensive tuna fish, the tuna sushi served post-auction was sold at the regular price range,” Guinness World Records noted in its announcement.
Kimura is no stranger to a massive fish sale. In 2020, he paid $1.8 million for another huge bluefin tuna — weighing a whopping 608 pounds — at the same annual first fish auction of the year at Toyosu Market. The fish was also caught in Aomori.
Following the remarkable sale, Kimura expressed his joy and excitement at securing the large fish for his corporation’s consumers.
“This is the best,” Kimura said, Agence France-Presse reported at the time. “Yes, this is expensive, isn’t it? I want our customers to eat very tasty ones this year, too.”
I would have liked to try some of that sushi! Here’s the hapless tuna with the Tuna King carving it up. はい!!!
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili’s still neurotic about the garden:
Hili: Dandelion!
Andrzej: We lost the fight against dandelions many years ago. Now we have decided to like them.
In Polish:
Hili: Mlecz!
Ja: Walkę z mleczami przegraliśmy wiele lat temu. Teraz postanowiliśmy je lubić.
From Masih. Iran killed this protestor on Thursday; I was hoping they would let him go. No chance.
They hanged him💔
The regim Executes 21-Year-Old karate athlete at dawn Thursday in Prison after Iran’s Supreme Court upheld a death sentence on charges of “enmity against God.”
His crime?
Joining nationwide protests in January 2026.
History of the USA:
– King of England imposes taxes
– America declares independence
– Things go well for nearly 250 years
– America elects a moron
– Moron imposes taxes
– King of England gets taxes removed pic.twitter.com/IU3HlAPFa3
From “Captain Ella” (now Colonel Ella), the Muslim, Arab-speaking spokesperson for the IDF. I love her. English translation:
Hezbollah threatened to occupy the Galilee, but it only occupied the homes of the Lebanese. Thousands of combat means were seized in Lebanon. What’s left? The weapons – we seized them The tunnels – we destroyed them The elements – we lined them up Their threats went down the drain.
حزب الله هدّد باحتلال الجليل، لكنه لم يحتل سوى بيوت اللبنانيين.
تم ضبط الالف من الوسائل القتالية في لبنان.
ما تبقّى؟
الأسلحة – ضبطناها
الأنفاق – دمرناها
العناصر – صفيناهم
ذهبت تهديداتهم أدراج الرياح. pic.twitter.com/T5PyiXuMTJ
— Lieutenant Colonel Ella Waweya | إيلا واوية (@CaptainElla1) May 1, 2026
Two from my feed. First, a cat gets a Hero D*g award:
I just found out that in 2015, the Los Angeles SPCA gave their annual National Hero Dog award to a tabby cat named Tara. Yes, you read that right, a cat was given a dog award.
It remains the first and only time a feline has ever won the title. A year earlier in Bakersfield, USA,… pic.twitter.com/wArmAQzenU
— Out of Context Human Race (@NoContextHumans) April 30, 2026
One I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:
This Yugoslavian Jewish girl was gassed to death as soon as she got to Auschwitz. She was 3 years old. Had she lived, she’d be 85 today. https://t.co/jiK9Zfw2LN
And one from Herr Doktor Professor Cobb. He went home from Chile via Amsterdam, and here is the clock he photograph at Schiphol airport. Yes, the minute hand gets “repainted” every minute, and the hour hand every hour.
I used to be a pacifist, but have changed over the years. It would be hard for me resist breaking my chair over the heads of those aggressive protesters at either restaurant.
That same wonderful clock trick was done as a countdown at the latest Peter Gabriel concert tour.
The tuna auction at Toyoso market is an annual thing in spring, every year since at least the 1990s that I’ve noticed, and a bit of a PR con.
Like an expensive art auction that’s more for the publicity. Winner gets bragging rights, lots of press.
I saw the Vietnam antisemitism incident a few weeks ago and…somehow it doesn’t pass the “smell test” of being genuine to me. Not that it COULDN”T happen, the Fetal Alcohol Syndromes that simp for terrorists can surely turn up in Vietnam, but the entirety of the story – film work included – doesn’t click with me this time.
Hmm…it didn’t occur to me that the Vietnam incident could be fake. As in, you think it may be AI? Well, I hope it is AI, because I found it incredibly painful to watch. But then, if it is fake, what kind of a sick mind would think to make it? Especially at the end, calling them “rats”. My god.
It’s real. They’re very famous Jew hating activists who do this publicly constantly. They’ve been arrested and are currently waiting on serious charges.
I stand corrected. They’d have to be practiced activists – part of my suspicion was in their better than stupid, shouting delivery I usually witness at protests.
Thanks,
It’s all reminiscent of the decades of fraught decision making by women in academia who (like my wife) agonized over what to wear to work while their male colleagues (or their husbands) wore whatever they liked and hardly gave a thought to anyone’s opinion about their clothing choices. Dude is just dialing it up to 11.
Trump says: “No more Mr. Nice Guy.” But is he still being too nice, asking for Iran to get itself together and find a leader who has the authority to negotiate? Could be. Since the leadership is in chaos, why not create more chaos by attacking today’s leadership and forcing even less qualified leaders to take charge? And, if we know that Iran is using this “extra” time to disinter and reconstitute its ballistic missiles—unmasking where they are located—why not bomb them now? These are basic capabilities—short of boots on the ground—that we could be using. Will the U.S. resume its destabilization campaign when the ceasefire ends? Why aren’t we doing these things now? Is Trump being too nice?
Finally, someone has broken the Guinness World Record for the most expensive tuna. Is that really something to be proud of? Paying so much for a dead fish seems to me to be, well, kinda’ stupid.
Re fake and plausibly dead Supreme Leader of a desperate chaotic regime —
My partner inferred that Iran does not have any sleeper cells in the US, since they would surely have been activated by now given their desperate circumstances. I’m not so sure, since a Terror Attack on the Homeland would make it politically impossible for the US not to inflict massive revenge on Iran. It would be Iran’s metaphorical nuclear option, assured destruction included. So far Iran seems to have been getting advantages from negotiating / stalling for time. I expect they have not yet resigned themselves to a final Hail Mary move,
On Jew/Zionist: Note that in Arabic you almost never, except in limited political situations, hear the word “Zionist”.
Its all “Jew”. Interestingly, the entire mainstream media NEVER translate this accurately. “We want to kill the Jews”, a common phrase in the Islamosphere, is mistranslated as “Zionists”, making a religious beef political.
So dishonest.
Consider the larger lie we’re sold by the MSM that the Israel/Palestine dispute is about land. It is most assuredly not about land from the Arab side.
The two morons were identified. They’re infamous Pakistani (of course) – British trolls and sociopaths from Leeds who already have serious charges against them. In the comments on the posts, they’ve been identified. They’ve done this before, posted the videos of themselves doing it before, and it’s clearly Jews they hate – not Israelis. They seem to make no distinction and their rhetoric gives it way.
The tuna, sold at Toyosu Market, weighed a whopping 243 kg (535 lbs 11.52 oz)
Someone should not be allowed to own a calculator until he or she is numerate. Converting from kg to the second decimal place in ounces??
Good … catch 🙂. School maths should teach more about precision and accuracy. I can guess your height accurate to 3 decimal places: .001 mile, or .000 AU, or….)
Great posts today, thanks!
I used to be a pacifist, but have changed over the years. It would be hard for me resist breaking my chair over the heads of those aggressive protesters at either restaurant.
That same wonderful clock trick was done as a countdown at the latest Peter Gabriel concert tour.
I will admit it. I was fooled into thinking these things were real! Very clever digital trick. 😆
If Iran is shipping oil out by rail, we should be bombing the rail lines and bridges.
Does the tabby identify as a dog?
Maybe it is “Species Fluid”. Sometimes it thinks it is a dog, other times it thinks it is a cat.
The tuna auction at Toyoso market is an annual thing in spring, every year since at least the 1990s that I’ve noticed, and a bit of a PR con.
Like an expensive art auction that’s more for the publicity. Winner gets bragging rights, lots of press.
I saw the Vietnam antisemitism incident a few weeks ago and…somehow it doesn’t pass the “smell test” of being genuine to me. Not that it COULDN”T happen, the Fetal Alcohol Syndromes that simp for terrorists can surely turn up in Vietnam, but the entirety of the story – film work included – doesn’t click with me this time.
D.A.
NYC 🗽
Hmm…it didn’t occur to me that the Vietnam incident could be fake. As in, you think it may be AI? Well, I hope it is AI, because I found it incredibly painful to watch. But then, if it is fake, what kind of a sick mind would think to make it? Especially at the end, calling them “rats”. My god.
It’s real. They’re very famous Jew hating activists who do this publicly constantly. They’ve been arrested and are currently waiting on serious charges.
I stand corrected. They’d have to be practiced activists – part of my suspicion was in their better than stupid, shouting delivery I usually witness at protests.
Thanks,
D.A.
NYC
Maybe they went to Vietnam to view the anti aircraft gun that Jane Fonda sat on.
At this point I might start a subscription to Sci Am just to cancel it.
Shouldn’t there be a dress code for University instructors regarding the amounts of cleavage or “cleavage”?
It’s all reminiscent of the decades of fraught decision making by women in academia who (like my wife) agonized over what to wear to work while their male colleagues (or their husbands) wore whatever they liked and hardly gave a thought to anyone’s opinion about their clothing choices. Dude is just dialing it up to 11.
Could the Supreme Leader of Iran be dead? His picture seems to be at least partially faked: https://nypost.com/2026/03/12/us-news/iran-used-ai-on-newly-released-photo-of-irans-no-show-supreme-leader-khamenei/. No beard is that perfect.
Trump says: “No more Mr. Nice Guy.” But is he still being too nice, asking for Iran to get itself together and find a leader who has the authority to negotiate? Could be. Since the leadership is in chaos, why not create more chaos by attacking today’s leadership and forcing even less qualified leaders to take charge? And, if we know that Iran is using this “extra” time to disinter and reconstitute its ballistic missiles—unmasking where they are located—why not bomb them now? These are basic capabilities—short of boots on the ground—that we could be using. Will the U.S. resume its destabilization campaign when the ceasefire ends? Why aren’t we doing these things now? Is Trump being too nice?
Finally, someone has broken the Guinness World Record for the most expensive tuna. Is that really something to be proud of? Paying so much for a dead fish seems to me to be, well, kinda’ stupid.
Re fake and plausibly dead Supreme Leader of a desperate chaotic regime —
My partner inferred that Iran does not have any sleeper cells in the US, since they would surely have been activated by now given their desperate circumstances. I’m not so sure, since a Terror Attack on the Homeland would make it politically impossible for the US not to inflict massive revenge on Iran. It would be Iran’s metaphorical nuclear option, assured destruction included. So far Iran seems to have been getting advantages from negotiating / stalling for time. I expect they have not yet resigned themselves to a final Hail Mary move,
On Jew/Zionist: Note that in Arabic you almost never, except in limited political situations, hear the word “Zionist”.
Its all “Jew”. Interestingly, the entire mainstream media NEVER translate this accurately. “We want to kill the Jews”, a common phrase in the Islamosphere, is mistranslated as “Zionists”, making a religious beef political.
So dishonest.
Consider the larger lie we’re sold by the MSM that the Israel/Palestine dispute is about land. It is most assuredly not about land from the Arab side.
D.A.
NYC 🗽
The two morons were identified. They’re infamous Pakistani (of course) – British trolls and sociopaths from Leeds who already have serious charges against them. In the comments on the posts, they’ve been identified. They’ve done this before, posted the videos of themselves doing it before, and it’s clearly Jews they hate – not Israelis. They seem to make no distinction and their rhetoric gives it way.
It’s about them being Jews.
It’s horrifying.
It’s not fair that British people are getting a reputation for being anti-semitic because some recent additions to the population are.
The tuna, sold at Toyosu Market, weighed a whopping 243 kg (535 lbs 11.52 oz)
Someone should not be allowed to own a calculator until he or she is numerate. Converting from kg to the second decimal place in ounces??
Good … catch 🙂. School maths should teach more about precision and accuracy. I can guess your height accurate to 3 decimal places: .001 mile, or .000 AU, or….)
It’s not fair that British people are getting a reputation for being anti-semitic because some recent additions to the population are.