Welcome to The Cruelest Day: Tuesday, July 28, 2026, and National Soccer Day. In honor of The Beautiful Game, here is a compendium of the best goals in modern World Cup soccer (if the video doesn’t display, just click “Watch on Youtube” or go here.  There are some beauts, so if you’re a soccer fan, watch these five minutes: It finishes with Maradona’s fabulous run and goal against England in 1986 (not the “hand of God” goal).

It’s also Buffalo Soldiers Day, National Hamburger Day, National Milk Chocolate Day, and World Nature Conservation Day.

“What are buffalo soldiers?”, you may ask. Wikipedia answers:

This Wikipedia photo is labeled “Buffalo Soldiers of the 25th Infantry Regiment in 1890.”

Buffalo Soldiers were United States Army regiments composed exclusively of Black American soldiers, formed during the 19th century to serve on the American frontier. On September 21, 1866, the 10th Cavalry Regiment was formed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. According to legend, during the exodus of the 1870s, more than 20,000 African Americans migrated to Kansas. They hoped their journey would take them far away from poverty from the South. Others escaped by being soldiers. They served in the segregated army units and fought in the Western Indian Wars from 1867 to 1896. According to legend, the men were called “buffalo soldiers” by the Apache and Cheyenne. The soldiers adopted the name as a sign of honor and respect. Units of Buffalo Soldiers answered the nation’s call to arms mainly in the West, however, also in Cuba, the Philippines, Hawaii, and Mexico. They had a huge impact on the Reconstruction era.

Although numerous Black Union Army regiments were raised during the Civil War (referred to collectively as the United States Colored Troops), “Buffalo Soldiers” were established by the U.S Congress as the first all-black Army regiments in peacetime.  The regiments were racially segregated, as the U.S. military would not desegregate until 1948. On November 15, 2024, Robert Dixon, the last surviving Buffalo Soldier, died aged 103.  The oldest Buffalo Soldier, Mark Matthews, died in 2005 at the age of 111 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the July 28 Wikipedia page.

I have visitors and Hili dialogues may be thin or even absent this week.

Da Nooz:

*According to the NYT, yesterday 350,000 immigrants lost their “temporary protected status” per decision of the Supreme Court. Quotes below are from the summary in the paper’s morning newsletter.

In 1990, during George H.W. Bush’s presidency, Congress established a humanitarian immigration program called Temporary Protected Status. It was designed to shield from deportation people whose home countries were unsafe to return to because of extraordinary circumstances: an armed conflict, for example, or a natural disaster.

Last month, though, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to end the program. And today that is happening for some 350,000 immigrants, mainly from Haiti. They are losing their work permits and face the prospect of deportation by the Department of Homeland Security, with T.P.S. holders from a batch of other countries soon to follow.

“D.H.S. is upholding the rule of law and getting back to common sense,” a spokesman said.

Why is TPS ending?

Critics say T.P.S. is a problem because it’s not really temporary. Look at the Salvadorans, they say. They first became eligible for T.P.S. in 1990 because of the violent civil war in their country. Another wave came after two devastating earthquakes in 2001. Decades on, there are about 190,000 of them here, living and working legally. (At least for now — their protected status is slated to end in September.)

The Trump administration calls T.P.S. a loophole, a kind of amnesty program. It says that many people now in the program came to the United States unlawfully, or came as students or on tourist visas and transitioned to T.P.S., then stayed for years as previous presidents extended the protections again and again.

A very big hit

Miriam Jordan and Madeleine Ngo cover immigration and have been reporting on the economic impact of the curtailing of T.P.S. They spoke to the director of a nonpartisan research organization who said that “for particular places and particular industries,” having “tens of thousands of workers no longer able to legally work is going to be a very big hit.”

Miriam also spoke with the chief executive of Hebrew SeniorLife, a nonprofit in the Boston area that has hired many T.P.S. recipients. Since the start of Trump’s second term, he said, other policy changes have already cost him 60 immigrant workers.

Now, the organization is preparing to lose 40 Haitians who have — had — T.P.S. protection. They are housekeepers, cooks, dishwashers and nurses who are among the legions of Haitians who have come into the program since an earthquake devastated their country in 2010.

. . .The Haitian T.P.S. beneficiaries who lose their work permits today now have to decide whether to stay or to leave the United States.

Staying would not be easy. The government knows where they live

There are of course mass protests about the ending of TPS, and those are mainly by the left, especially “progressives” who believe, in their heart of hearts, that anybody who sets foot in America should be allowed to stay forever.  The Democrats or their candidates need to propose sensible immigration laws, but of course any restrictions are seen as a sign of ideological impurity.  Were I a reporter in the upcoming midterms, I’d ask candidates, “What revision of America’s immigration laws do you favor?”  This puts them in a bind, because while the party, moving towards “progressivism”, has no position, but regular Americans want to see some restrictions.

*The Times of Israel explains how NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is repeatedly invoking “international law” to indict what he sees as war crimes. But he hasn’t been successful.

In late 2024, Zohran Mamdani, then a candidate for New York City mayor, pledged in an interview that, if he was elected, he would arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if the premier came to New York.

“As mayor, New York City would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu,” Mamdani told Zeteo. “This is a city that our values are in line with international law. It’s time that our actions are also.”

He dismissed the fact that the US is not a party to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which had issued the arrest warrant for Netanyahu.

“It’s time that we actually step up and make clear what we are willing to do to showcase the leadership that is sorely missing in the federal administration,” he said.

That pledge collapsed on Tuesday night, when Mamdani acknowledged that the city could not carry out an ICC arrest.

The statement marked an admission, more than a year and a half after his initial pledge to arrest Netanyahu, that Mamdani had been forced to reckon with the fact that international law does not have any bearing on the city government, despite Mamdani’s repeated description of New York as a “city of international law.”

. . . Legal scholars had said for more than a year, though, that a New York City mayor could not arrest a foreign head of state for a variety of reasons.

Neither the US nor Israel is party to the ICC, so the court does not have any jurisdiction in the US; foreign affairs are the exclusive purview of the federal government; federal law bars the imprisonment of a foreign head of state and bans any cooperation with the ICC; the NYPD cannot make illegal arrests or take acts that are prohibited by federal law; and New York City cannot extradite defendants to The Hague for trial.

. . .Mamdani’s Tuesday statement raised questions about what had taken so long to make the determination. Asked twice about the timing in a press conference on Wednesday, he declined to say when he knew that the city couldn’t make the arrest.

Netanyahu travels to New York for the UN General Assembly each September, so Mamdani needed to resolve the issue by then.

The ordeal highlighted how Mamdani has used “international law” as a cudgel against Israel.

Mamdani has almost exclusively deployed international legal arguments against Israel. He has said that he believes ICC warrants against other leaders, like Russian President Vladimir Putin, should also be honored, and has condemned Hamas for “war crimes,” but has only made those statements while talking about Israel.

. . .Mamdani has accused Israel of genocide more than three dozen times on X alone since the start of the Gaza war. He has also made the accusation in debates, TV interviews, radio appearances and during a meeting with Trump. The only time he invoked the accusation in another context appears to be a statement about Armenia.

In Wednesday’s press conference, he twice declined to say that Hamas had committed genocide, only stating that the October 7 attack was a “horrific war crime.”

Yes, ladies, and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, this is the bellwether of Democratic politics.  This performative behavior is embedded in the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America, of which Mamdani is a member. I’m no fan of Netanyahu, but have said that no prime minister of Israel could ever win approbation of “progressives.”  An Israeli leader is, by definition, a “Zionist.”  There will probably be something on Mamdani tomorrow, too, as I’m amazed that he got elected and that people don’t mind his turning NYC into Antizionist Central.

*From Eli Lake at the Free Press, “Mr. President, give up on a nuclear deal with Iran.” Lake explains why that won’t happen but suggests an alternative.

The problem is that Trump has been giving diplomacy a chance since April and he has little to show for it. That was when he first sent Vice President J.D. Vance to lead a U.S. delegation to Islamabad, Pakistan, to negotiate an end to the war. He made that decision 24 hours after threatening to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges.

Ever since the war started, two separate negotiations have been conflated in Trump’s strategy. There is one set of talks aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and then there are negotiations over the future of Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump has used the prospects of negotiating to open the strait as a way to tame oil markets. And to his credit, it has worked for now. But as Trump learned last month, the price for a temporary opening of the strait is too high. Trump would not only have to commit to reviving the economy of a regime that struggles to pay its soldiers, but also concede that Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, had a right to continue to hold that country hostage. The Hormuz negotiations were always destined to eventually fail. Perhaps Trump wanted them to fail slowly.

The other negotiation, though, to get the remaining hard-liners in Tehran to sign a nuclear pact, is folly. The main reason is that the nuclear program being negotiated has largely been destroyed. The only thing left to do is to secure what the president has called the “nuclear dust,” what remains of the highly enriched uranium buried deep beneath the remains of Iran’s underground facilities in Isfahan and Natanz.

. . .Now Trump risks looking like a paper tiger, a mad king lunging between war and capitulation. At this point, the Iranian regime has taken the measure of their adversary and called his bluff. They don’t care about the welfare of the Iranian people (the late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered a massacre of peaceful protesters in January). So Trump’s threats are not going to force his enemy to fold.

To be sure, securing the “nuclear dust” would be an ideal solution. But at this point it’s hardly necessary. Iran’s regime, for now and in the near to medium term, cannot get to that material either. And even if they could, they no longer have the centrifuge cascades or the workshops to turn that uranium into a nuclear weapon. Even still, if U.S. sensors and satellites detect an effort to secure that material, our military has the capability to end those efforts as they begin.

Lake’s suggestion (yes, every pundit has a suggestion):

The right strategy now is to play a longer game. Stop trying to get the Iranians to admit defeat and surrender the remains of their nuclear program. For now, just keep the military and the blockade in place as they are. This will disabuse Iran’s leaders of the hope that Trump is desperate to cut a deal that will revive its war machine and economy.

Over the coming weeks and months Trump can allow America and its allies to replenish its stock of interceptors and precision-guided munitions. Meanwhile, Trump can continue U.S. efforts to help plot alternatives to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, turning Iran’s blackmail leverage into a depreciating asset. Finally, Trump can authorize more cooperation between the CIA and Israel’s Mossad to assist Iran’s battered opposition to be prepared to take on the regime when the right moment comes.

When Trump threatens war only to back away at the last minute, he is fooling no one. He only makes the battered and impoverished regime in Iran look stronger than they really are.

Of course that strategy raises the price of gas, and Americans don’t like that at all.

*I wasn’t aware that Pete Buttigieg, my #1 choice for Democratic Presidential candidate, had been separated from his two-year-old twins, or even that he had twins.  But the separation (apparently lasting just one day) appears to come from a mentally unstable individual and there is no specific accusation. (Article is archived here.)

Officials who separated former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg from his young twins last month relied on a vague and unsubstantiated allegation from an accuser authorities later deemed possibly “mentally unstable,” according to previously unreported police records.

The records, obtained by The Washington Post, and an interview with the apparent complainant offer the most detailed account yet of how a false tip led investigators to the home of one of the country’s most prominent Democrats, drawing bipartisan outrage.

Child welfare experts who reviewed the documents at The Post’s request said they illuminate a flawed process that was made worse by poor judgment by agencies and a lack of communication among investigators from two states.

Michigan State Police reports detail the chain of events from the allegation to its eventual determination it was unfounded and potentially politically motivated. Indiana child welfare authorities who received a tip on a hotline with “very limited information” about Buttigieg did not pass along the caller’s name or contact information when notifying officials in Michigan, where Buttigieg now lives, which the Indiana child welfare agency says is their policy.

Michigan police waited six days after approaching Buttigieg to attempt to identify the caller.

By then, Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and 2020 presidential candidate, had gone public with the ordeal in a June Substack post, describing it as “the ugliest thing that has happened to me since my career in service began.”

Michigan authorities had told Buttigieg he could not be alone withhis 4-year-old children until they could be interviewed away from their parentsthe next day, Buttigieg recounted. The children stayed with their grandparents who lived nearby. Buttigieg, who is widely expected to run for presidentagain, called that 24-hour separation “among the darkest hours of my life.”

Buttigieg said the authorities initially would not tell him what he was accused of. Vivek Sankaran, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School and child advocacy law expert, said he was troubled that Michigan State Police went to Buttigieg’s door with such a vague allegation that didn’t present any indication that children were imminently at risk.

Believe me, this allegation, which isn’t really an allegation since there is no accusation of wrongdoing, will be brought up by Republicans if Mayor Pete secures the nomination. But I’m told that there’s only a slim chance of his nabbing that nomination, for he’s openly gay. I find it hard to believe in this day and age that someone’s sexual orientation should bar them from the Presidency unless it impairs their ability. (It clearly has not for Buttigieg.) But, at least according to this 2024 Gallup poll, Americans would rather vote for a woman or a black person than for a gay or lesbian candidate. As for atheists, fuggedaboutit:

*On December 30 of last year (my birthday!), a large group of humpback whales gathered in the sea near Capetown, South Africa, and the video has just been released (below):

A South African couple found themselves in a rare situation when they witnessed a humpback whale “supergroup” consisting of nearly 300 of the giant marine mammals gathering together.

It’s an indication, scientists say, of how some whale species numbers have strongly rebounded in the southern hemisphere oceans decades after an international whale hunting ban came into effect in 1986.

Chris and Monique Fallows said they were used to seeing bigger and bigger groups of humpback whales off the west coast of South Africa but weren’t prepared for what they saw one morning last December. Plumes of whale breath and spray burst into the air one after the other from blowholes, and the husband and wife found their boat in the midst of what’s known as a supergroup.

“It was extraordinary,” said Chris Fallows, a renowned fine art wildlife photographer who has documented marine animals for 35 years. “Quite quickly we realized that there must be several hundred whales coming together in one particular area.”

He said what they saw can best be described as a “Manhattan skyline” of whale breath plumes.

Chris and Monique documented 299 humpback whales in the group, they said. They count whales by taking a photograph of their tail, which is called a fluke, said Monique Fallows, an author and naturalist.

Each whale’s tail is different and it’s a common tactic used by scientists to identify individuals.

It appears to be the biggest group of humpback whales sighted, according to Alex Vogel, the Africa coordinator for Happywhale. That organization has a global database of whales built off photos and information sent in largely by what it calls “citizen scientists” — ordinary people who capture images of whales that are then verified.

But all is not perfect:

Vermeulen [“Els Vermeulen, the chief scientist at the University of Pretoria’s Whale Unit in South Africa”] also raised a new threat for whales around South Africa: the conflict in the Middle East.

She said a recent preliminary assessment she co-authored showed that shipping around the southern point of Africa had quadrupled since December 2023 — after the Israel-Hamas war broke out and Yemen’s Houthi rebels began attacking ships in the Red Sea.

That is being made worse by the Iran war and the security crisis over the Strait of Hormuz, diverting more ships around Africa.

Because most whales killed by ships sink in the ocean there are no detailed statistics. But Gregg Oelofse, the coastal and environmental manager for the city of Cape Town, said more whales and more shipping clearly increase the risk.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, things are complex:

Hili: I’ve been wondering about the problem of complexity.
Andrzej: It’s quite complicated. We’ll talk about it over lunch.

In Polish:

Hili: Zastanawia mnie problem złożoności.
Ja: To dość skomplikowane, porozmawiamy o tym przy obiedzie.

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

From Meow Incorporated:

From The Grammar Police; two errors here:

From Things with Faces:

Masih refers to the car killing at Berlin’s Gay Pride Parade. The suspect was killed by cops.

A car didn’t kill people.

An Islamist terrorist did.

He drove into an LGBTQ Pride event. He killed a person. He injured more than a dozen others. He targeted people for who they are and who they love.

Say it. Don’t look away. Stop being politically when it comes to Islamist… https://t.co/caaq29Z9nY

— Masih Alinejad (@AlinejadMasih) July 27, 2026

From Luana, sex-related laws in Belgium:

I’m a biology/biotechnology lecturer from Belgium. This is what Belgium is like today.

In Belgium, we have laws that allow self-identification of sex. In practice, this means that a man can go to the town hall, fill out an administrative form (with no other requirements), and…

— Suzy Eeckelaerts (@SEeckelaerts) July 27, 2026

An “electability” poll. This doesn’t mean much now, but it shows where the Demoratic candidates stand:

New – Electability Index – Democratic Primary

Odds of winning general election, if they win primary:

🔵 Jon Ossoff: 75%
🔵 Gavin Newsom: 65%
🔵 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: 59%
🔵 Pete Buttigieg: 54%
🔵 Josh Shapiro: 53%
🔵 Kamala Harris: 47%https://t.co/MV3he9jewr pic.twitter.com/uw9lcTnFJD

— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) July 26, 2026

Larry wins! Cat 1, D*g 0:

Damn straight. https://t.co/ZAyhc4g72A

— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) July 27, 2026

Two from my feed. First, a polite but hungry Indian elephant:

The baby elephant drops by the café… not to cause any trouble at all, but to order some milk!

So adorably polite, waits so patiently, and even knows how to bow its head in thanks~ melting my heart already 🥰 pic.twitter.com/7neh5pClJR

— Beauty of music and nature 🌺🌺 (@Axaxia88) July 26, 2026

Israel tracks down the October 7 killers (I believe the name is spelled “Shani Louk“):

The Hamas rapist-murderers of Shani Luke have all been eliminated by a team dedicated to tracking down and eliminating anyone who planned, executed or otherwise partook in the Oct 7 massacre. Every last one is not an empty slogan, it’s a promise pic.twitter.com/McFbLDwWKP

— Ari ארי آري 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 (@AriFromKfarSaba) July 26, 2026

And one I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:

This Dutch Jewish boy was gassed to death as soon as he arrived in Auschwitz. He was 3 years old, and would be 86 today had he lived. https://t.co/RpGuMhYbNv

— Jerry Coyne (@Evolutionistrue) July 28, 2026

One from Dr. Cobb, showing a calculation of selection against the black variant of the peppered moth after its previous rise during times of pollution. It’s strong selection, nearly 0.2, which means for every offspring left by a white individual, only 0.8 offspring are left by a black one.

I once calculated the selection pressure in the decline from linear regression of the logit phenotype frequency

— jim mallet (@wtf-r-species.bsky.social) 2026-07-17T18:32:47.852Z

Welcome to another damn week: it’s Monday, July 27, 2026, and National Scotch Day.  Although I’m not much of a Scotch drinker, when I do have one it’s the single-malt from Scotland highlighted below:

It’s also, appropriately, Bagpipe Appreciation Day, National Chicken Finger Day, and National Crème Brûlée Day.

Here again are my mother’s brothers Bernie and Mo, honoring Aunts and Uncles Day, which was yesterday. My sister sent me this and added, “As you can see, Morley’s zipper is down. In almost every picture of these two, one of them has an unzipped zipper. It was a family joke!” Moe is on the left (the unzipping in the photos was accidental):

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

Da Nooz:

*In a NYT article called “Trump seems trapped by Iran War, even though he wields the world’s biggest hammer” (archived here), we learn about Trump’s frustration at being in a war that he can neither escalate nor back out of.

President Trump often celebrates his unpredictability, declaring that it keeps allies and adversaries alike off balance.

By his telling, his willingness to bomb Iranian nuclear sites 13 months ago, and send Delta Force commandos in to snatch President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela from his bed in early January, reflected his determination to execute military operations that would have made his predecessors blanch. He told The New York Times he was limited only by “my own morality,” as he wielded the world’s biggest hammer.

But in recent weeks, he has seemed trapped, his presidency gradually consumed by a war he cannot find his way out of.

He has discovered limits on his power that he could have scarcely imagined as he began full combat operations on Feb. 28, when he set out goals for a swift end to Iran’s nuclear program and the overthrow of the country’s government.

Five months later, those goals remain almost entirely unaccomplished. And Mr. Trump, once confident that overwhelming force would enable him to pursue in Iran what he proudly called the “Venezuela model” — a change of government to one amenable to U.S. control — is now hesitant to plunge back into major combat operations that his intelligence agencies assess are unlikely to work as well in Tehran.

He has been unable to control surging oil prices, or their effects on the stock market. The shipping that crawled to a stop in the Strait of Hormuz, then was opened for a few short weeks, is back to a trickle, with a second choke point, between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, now threatened. And while the president has threatened to take Kharg Island, where Iran ships oil, or to seize its underground stores of enriched uranium, he has said publicly that he knows there is no appetite for sending in ground troops.

Those limits have left him deeply frustrated, his aides say, and have made him more erratic, even by Trumpian standards. Last week alone, Mr. Trump’s energy secretary signed a historic pact with Saudi Arabia to provide civil nuclear power to the kingdom, before the president undercut the deal less than 24 hours later, stunning the Saudis by declaring that the agreement, negotiated over 18 months, was dead unless the country joined the Abraham Accords and recognized Israel.

Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. diplomat with long experience in the Mideast, said that Mr. Trump again “alienated the Saudis, delighted Benjamin Netanyahu and gave Iran strong talking points as to why cutting deals with U.S. is a fool’s errand, bound to be betrayed.”

. . .Not all of Mr. Trump’s frustrations, people close to the president say, are driven by the war, now so unpopular that only 29 percent of Americans polled by The Washington Post and Ipsos approved of his handling of the conflict. But much of it is. And the angst is clear as he promises to stop Iran’s nuclear program at any cost, while his allies at home want out.

“We got to wrap it up,” Speaker Mike Johnson said last week, voicing a sentiment heard increasingly from Mr. Trump’s most enthusiastic supporters.

But the president does not have a clear way to accomplish that goal. Having entered the conflict with little strategy for victory, he now is struggling for a face-saving way to exit.

This is a “news analysis” piece, which is why it sounds like an op-ed, and it’s clearly designed to show Trump’s ineptness at handling the war. But it’s not far off, either. Winning the war definitively would seem to require boots on the ground, and the American people won’t tolerate that.  I have no solution as I’m no strategist or pundit, but I wonder how many of the 71% who don’t approve of his handling the war would suggest that he do.  Presumably many Democrats, “progressive” or otherwise, would tell him just to get the hell out of Iran, and stop bombing.  But then, when Iran controls access to the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, what would they suggest? (see the next item).

*The WSJ describes how the vast oil supplies of Saudi Arabia are beginning to depend on only a single exit route, through the Suez Canal. And the Canal itself is threatened by the Houthis, an arm of Iran.

Saudi Arabia’s vast oil exports increasingly depend on one last narrow exit.

Since the Iran war began, the kingdom has ramped up exports across the country to its Red Sea coast, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, and shipped them through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait to Asian customers. Now, threats from Houthi militants—and several attacks against Saudi vessels in recent days—risk choking off that workaround, forcing more Saudi barrels onto a longer, costlier and technically challenging journey through Egypt’s Suez Canal and around Africa.

This week, at least four tankers carrying Saudi crude abruptly reversed course before reaching Bab al-Mandeb at the southern end of the Red Sea to head north toward Suez, while Saudi Arabia has begun offering more crude cargoes for loading from Egypt’s Mediterranean ports, according to ship-tracking firm Vortexa. In the first three weeks of July, seaborne oil transit via the Suez Canal ran at its highest volume in 2½ years, while imports to the Sumed pipeline—which runs parallel to the canal—were up 50% from the previous month, Vortexa data showed.

The diversions mark the latest redrawing of global oil flows after months of war have forced producers, traders and shipowners to abandon familiar routes for ever costlier detours. Gulf producers from the United Arab Emirates to Kuwait have been racing to build routes bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. On Saturday, Iraq said it would sign an agreement with Syria to build a pipeline project to carry Iraqi oil to the Mediterranean Sea.

The stakes for the global economy are high: Persistent risks to regional shipping could push oil well above $100 a barrel, analysts say, stoking inflation and straining an already fragile global economy.

Here’s the current route, which still goes through the narrow 2-mile-wide shipping channel of Bab al-Mandeb.  If the Houthis close that one off, presumably under Iranian orders, the alternative pathway to China (or anywhere, really), shown in orange, is a LOT longer. If Iran tries to block off both straits, or impose tolls for transit, somebody has to stop it. (Photo credits at bottom.)

*Over at It’s Noon in Israel, Amit Segal explains that the narrative of “settler violence” in the West Bank can be exaggerated or even completely erroneous.

The “settler violence” narrative has a template. Settlers instigate, IDF forces arrive to back them, and trigger-happy Israelis, now with military cover, are unleashed on defenseless Palestinians. But consider what happened near Havat Gilad on Friday morning.

By the end, two Israelis were dead. Benayahu Melet, 32, a father of two from the outpost’s emergency squad, was murdered rushing to defend a group of hikers; Maj. Yuval Ezra, 27, an artillery battery commander, later succumbed to his wounds. The group—some 60 in all, a number of them minors accompanied by armed adults—had set out from Har Bracha before dawn on what was meant to be a hike. But they walked into Area B, where Israelis are not meant to enter without prior coordination. The army later confirmed the entry had not been cleared.

The first attack came around 7:05 a.m. as they passed the village: Palestinians throwing stones and swinging clubs, with one hiker struck in the face. Rather than escalate, the group fired warning shots in the air and withdrew toward Havat Gilad.

An hour later, dozens more surrounded them from three directions. Here the template says the soldiers arrive and the shooting starts. Instead, by the hikers’ account, armed civilians fired in self-defense while the first soldier on the scene refused to fire; when more troops arrived, they too “did nothing.” The video shows the IDF hesitant and trying to deescalate. Only when one of the attackers wrested a rifle from a civilian guard and opened fire—killing two Israelis—did the soldiers finally return fire.

The group should not have been in the area without IDF coordination. But the punishment for trespass is not death. Yet the international framing treats the mere existence of Jews beyond the Green Line as an implicit acceptance of that consequence—as if presence itself is provocation and violence its inevitable answer. This is not a story of settler violence. It’s an example of Palestinians treating the presence of Jews itself as an act of aggression—and answering that “aggression” with violence.

The question is how often the “international framing” episode takes place. I haven’t written much about the West Bank situation because I haven’t followed it nearly as closely as I’ve followed the conflict in Gaza, and the West Bank is a complicated issue. Undoubtedly the “settlers” have behaved badly with dire consequences for Palestinian residents. But as we see the opposite as well. In 2013 I was driven to the border of the West Bank, to an area which theoretically allows Jews and even Israeli Jews to enter, but I didn’t enter because this sign scared me. “Dangerous”!

*In an article called “Hoot and shoot,“The Washington Times reports that the mass slaughter of barred owls, in a misguided government attempt to save spotted owls, has begun,

It may be hard to imagine the federal government paying hunters to shoot and kill owls, but that is exactly what has begun in the Pacific Northwest and California, where the destruction of up to 450,000 barred owls is underway in a desperate bid to save spotted owls.

After years of planning and despite public backlash, objections from Congress and animal rights organizations, and an ongoing lawsuit, the shooting of thousands of barred owls has started.

The Yakama Nation Tribe in Washington, using grant money provided by the federal government, is hunting and killing up to 1,500 barred owls on reservation land. The Hoopa Valley Tribe in Northern California, operating off a $4.5 million federal grant, has started removing barred owls from area forests.

A team from the University of Wisconsin has been participating in the shotgun culling of barred owls for several years.

The UW team has helped destroy 3,373 barred owls in California — about a third of the state’s population — as part of a key study that researchers say shows that removing the brown-and-white raptors slowed the decline of the threatened California spotted owl.

“Removals stabilized spotted owl populations and halted the establishment of barred owls,” researchers wrote in Conservation Letters. “Our work provides direct support for the federal strategy to address this pressing issue and highlights general strategies to maximize conservation while minimizing invader killing.”

Opponents, including animal welfare groups, biologists and environmentalists, have tried to stop government-sanctioned massacres, arguing that the removal will not increase the spotted owl population and is inhumane and a waste of taxpayer dollars.

“We’re going to be picking winners and losers in nature,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action, which seeks to prevent animal cruelty and is suing to stop the plan. “Natural movements of animals are going to be judged as trespassing, and we are going to try to kill off these other animals to put our thumb on the scales for northern spotted owls. And it’s not going to work.”

Yes, the higher population of barred owls reflects a “natural” movement, as they weren’t imported to the area. It may be due to human effects, like global warming, though I don’t know. But I don’t think the solution is killing the barred owls to save the spotted ones. Whatever caused the incursion of barred owls will continue, and, like Pacelle says, I doubt that this mass slaughter will work. STOP KILLING THE OWLS!

*Martha Lillard, as this WaPo story describes, spent 73 years in an iron lung after contracting polio at age 5. What a horrible fate! When I was young polio, and the iron lung to which many victims were doomed, were much more common, and we all had to avoid swimming pools during epidemics. But soon thereafter there were vaccinations (the first ones when I was six), and polio is no longer much of an issue. But Ashely Alker, identified as “an emergency medicine physician and the author of 99 Ways to Die: And How to Avoid Them, tells us “What could die with the last person using an iron lung” (archived here).

In 1955, just two years after Lillard contracted the virus, the first polio vaccine became available, and by 1979, the disease was eliminated in the United States.

But when it comes to vaccine-preventable diseases in the U.S., society can be a victim of its own successes. As public health efforts such as vaccines eliminate the suffering caused by a disease, collective memory of the illness fades. Contemporary health information is often gathered from personal networks, the internet and the media, none of which is compelled to cover seemingly obsolete vaccine-preventable diseases, such as rubella, diphtheria and polio. The paucity of accurate information leaves a gap for profiteers, who may sensationalize vaccine skepticism in the hopes of going viral. This has proven especially concerning when supported by the leader of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Polio, or poliomyelitis, was once a feared childhood viral infection in the U.S., with 58,000 reported cases in 1952. Common symptoms include fever, sore throat, nausea and vomiting. The virus may spread through the bloodstream to the brain stem and spinal cord, where it attacks motor nerves, causing paralysis known as paralytic polio and often called infantile paralysis in children. Polio is still present outside of the U.S., with 52 cases confirmed last year, and most commonly affects children under age 5. Among those paralyzed, up to 10 percent will die once paralysis affects the breathing muscles. The disease is highly contagious: Patients can spread the virus for several weeks, which is how it killed or paralyzed over half a million people a year globally before the vaccine.

. . .Over the past 50 years, global immunizations have saved the equivalent of six lives a minute, an estimated 154 million lives — most of them infants. There is no effective cure for polio, or for most other vaccine-preventable diseases. Without adequate vaccine coverage in the population, outcomes may resemble those of the pre-vaccine era.

And vaccines do more than save lives; they protect economies and safeguard future generations — and ensure military readiness. In April, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth rescinded the U.S. military’s influenza vaccine mandate. Late last month, an influenza outbreak occurred at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, with initial reports of more than 280 ill, four hospitalized and one young man dead. Shortly after — by coincidence, said one Pentagon official — the Defense Department’s influenza vaccine mandate was partially reinstated.

Science may offer the most up-to-date information on vaccine-preventable disease, but history is an indispensable public health tool, too. On March 11, 1918, one of the first reported cases of the flu pandemic occurred at Fort Riley, Kansas, where overcrowding and poor sanitation led the virus to spread to more than 500 men within a week. This strain of influenza was more devastating than World War I, infecting one-third of the world and killing an estimated 50 million people. In 1945, when the influenza vaccine was licensed, it was immediately mandated by the Defense Department for active-duty service members, a decision that was informed by the memory of violent illness.

Likewise, Lillard’s story is an essential piece of American history. Understanding the risk posed by a vaccine-preventable disease is essential to the success of future public health initiatives. If Americans forget what vaccines fight against, then neither will they understand the importance of maintaining defenses.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili and Andrzej are discussing biology. I would have said “maybe ants,” but termites evolved well before ants did.

Hili: Who invented an artificial environment first?
Andrzej: I would guess termites, but I’m probably wrong.

In Polish:

Hili: Kto pierwszy wymyślił sztuczne środowisko?
Ja: Podejrzewam termity, ale prawdopodobnie jestem w błędzie.

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

From Cats Doing Cat Stuff:

From Bad Spelling or Grammar on Signs and Notices:

From The English Language Police:

From Masih, who goes off on Mamdani; English translation below:

Masih Alinejad, the Iranian human rights activist, in a live television program directly addressed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, saying, “I oppose your hypocrisy, Mr. Mayor.” She accused Mamdani of loudly taking stances on Netanyahu and Palestine, but remaining completely silent about the Islamic Republic’s crimes against the Iranian people—the same regime that executes protesters, tortures political prisoners, and exports terrorism across the region.

This is not just a political clash, but an exposure of a pattern among Western politicians who wear “human rights” like a theatrical costume, only when it suits their interests and never when they must confront Tehran head-on.

🔴#فوری | مسیح علینژاد خطاب به ممدانی، شهردار نیویورک

مسیح علینژاد، فعال حقوق بشر ایرانی، در یک برنامه زنده تلویزیونی مستقیم خطاب به شهردار نیویورک، زهران ممدانی، گفت «من مخالف ریاکاری تو هستم، آقای شهردار.» او ممدانی را متهم کرد که با صدای بلند درباره ی نتانیاهو و فلسطین…

— Nima Far (@nima__far) July 23, 2026

From Luana via Maarten Boudry, who notes that Cofnas is “problematic” because he’s considered a hereditarian (and has also behaved badly, which led to his demonization at Cambridge University).  But the story of this Cambridge professor, who appears to be both a fabulist and a plagiarist, is disturbing, for Cambridge seems to be covering up the facts (read the story here).

Every time you think academia has hit rock bottom, you read something like this, from the prestigious @Cambridge_Uni. If you’ll excuse me now, I need to go pick my jaw up off the floor.

(Please bracket whatever you think about @nathancofnas and his views on IQ & race, which are…

— Maarten Boudry (@mboudry) July 26, 2026

The Number Ten Cat makes a bad pun. In English: “An attack on you is an attack on all of us.”

Ein Angriff auf dich ist ein Angriff auf uns alle. pic.twitter.com/JlZG3VWpo3

— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) July 26, 2026

Ricky Gervais has a cartoon called “Alley Cats” coming up:

Nine Lives, Zero Fucks!
Alley Cats on Netflix August 7 pic.twitter.com/RVKGQS8ZC5

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) June 22, 2026

One from my feed; Larry apparently battled a fox!

🇬🇧 Larry the Cat just reminded a fox who actually runs these streets… Downing Street, that is.

Come to think of it, this may be why new PM Andy Burnham has decided on a “No. 10 North.”

Larry can be an intimidating presence 😂

Writers: Samuel, Michaelpic.twitter.com/Uvd7pgLQ1a

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) July 26, 2026

One I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:

This French Jewish girl was gassed to death as soon as she arrived in Auschwitz. She was seven years old. https://t.co/aa9fWXvCYi

— Jerry Coyne (@Evolutionistrue) July 27, 2026

And two from Dr. Cobb. First, an amazing pitch (behind the back!)

Kerry Wood, Behind-The-Back Eephus 😮

— Codify Baseball (@codifybaseball.bsky.social) 2026-07-26T01:00:43.876Z

I wouldn’t mind having this, but it’s a lot of dosh!

This pretty perspex model of the double helix, from 1953, was just sold for $614,400. It was made at the Cavendish by Tony Broad, the ace technician who also ran the X-ray crystallography set-up. I think they cost around £50 each at the time (a lot, back then!). Watson’s copy is in the CSHL archive.

— Matthew Cobb (@matthewcobb.bsky.social) 2026-07-25T19:05:19.179Z

Welcome to the Sabbath for goyische cats: Sunday, July 26, 2026, and National Bagelfest Day. Below I put, as always, a genuine bagel rather than the large, airy bread toruses that pass for bagels in America. This was in Montreal ten years ago. No commentary is needed:

One with a schmear. Notice that the bagel is small and dense.

It’s also Aunts and Uncles Day, National Coffee Milkshake Day, and World Tofu Day. In honor of the first holiday, here are my late uncles Bernie (left) and Mo (right)—my mother’s brothers. They’re all decked out for a round of golf, at the Jewish country club, of course (Jews weren’t allowed to join the regular country club):

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

I have visitors for much of this week, so posting will be light; perhaps even days without a Hili dialogue. Caturday posts are being eliminated because interest is low.

Da Nooz:

*Breaking news ripped from the headlines: The U.S., prompted by a lack of missiles and Trump’s equivocation, has not attacked Iran in two days.

The war between the United States and Iran remained on pause for a second straight day on Sunday, while the Iranian Foreign Ministry said that there had been some movement in talks between Tehran and mediators over the Strait of Hormuz.

No U.S. strikes on Iran have been reported since Friday, while Iran has similarly held off attacking American allies around the Middle East after about two weeks of skirmishes brought the two countries back to the brink of full-blown war.

President Trump decided last week to put off plans to escalate the U.S. assault on Iran, at least for now, according to U.S. officials. Mr. Trump and his aides were motivated in part by dwindling stockpiles of interceptors to shoot down Iranian missiles, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.

Mr. Trump has struggled to decisively end the war on Iran that the United States and Israel started jointly five months ago, even as the global economic toll and number of American casualties have mounted. A cease-fire signed last month effectively collapsed after Iran continued to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway for global oil and gas shipments.

Iran is and will continue to be the main exporter of terrorism in the Middle East—indeed, in the world.  If it’s allowed to retain the power it had to do that, America will have failed completely in our war aims.

*Trump is considering a big escalation in Iran (article archived here). Because of what I wrote about, this may be passé.

*A WSJ editorial-board op-ed, “Globalizing the intifada in Mamdani’s New York,” rebukes Hizzoner for his “anti-Zionism”:

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been running a campaign to demonize Israel and its supporters for committing “genocide.” He should reconsider after Thursday’s double-stabbing in New York, which included a kippah-wearing Jew attacked after exiting a synagogue.

Police arrested Raul Morales in connection with the stabbings. The mayor said victim and witness statements allege that Mr. Morales yelled “Allahu akbar” while attacking a Jew, Moshe Grunhaus and an Asian, Chok Sung. The NYPD is evaluating if this was a hate crime.

A friend who visited Mr. Grunhaus at the hospital tells us the victim was in the process of moving to Florida, in part due to concerns about crime, antisemitism and Mr. Mamdani. He returned to New York to tie up loose ends and attended synagogue during the fast of Tisha B’Av, when Jews mourn the destruction of the ancient temple in Jerusalem.

Earlier this week Mr. Mamdani taped a video accusing Israel of genocide and deliberate child murder. The next day he wished New York’s Jews a “peaceful” fast, in which “mourners will pause and reflect on the history and resiliency of the Jewish people.” That history is in Jerusalem and the land of Israel, but the mayor calls the Jewish state a “settler-colonial” project.

Thursday’s stabbing would fit comfortably with the Palestinian intifadas that Mr. Mamdani and his allies have been keen to “globalize.” Only after repeatedly excusing that phrase did he say that he would “discourage” it. He now sticks to “genocide,” “apartheid,” child-killing and other accusations to render Israel an enemy of mankind, along with the “Zionists” whose crime is to support its existence.

Before his mayoral run, Mr. Mamdani used “Zionist” as a casual slur. He also told comrades: “We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF,” Israel’s military.

Mr. Mamdani reacted to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Jews by bashing Israel, not Hamas, and mourning victims on both sides. His wife liked Instagram posts cheering on the Hamas attack. His party, NYC’s Democratic Socialists of America, endorsed a rally by pro-Hamas groups on Oct. 8 in “solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to resist,” as the DSA put it.

. . .Mr. Mamdani isn’t responsible for Thursday’s stabbing. But he is responsible for promoting a culture of denigration that is all too easy for a fevered mind to hear and conclude that violence against Jews is acceptable. The mayor and his ideological groupies are playing with antisemitic fire.

“When I was growing up,” Rabbi Yosie Levine said Friday, after the attack on a congregant, “the only time we saw security outside my synagogue or my Jewish day school was when the mayor came to speak. The police were there to protect him. Today, every time the mayor speaks, we need the police to protect us.”

What can I say? Mamdani seems far more concerned with denigrating Israel and accusing it of apartheid and genocide than running his city. And the MSM, save for the conservative Wall Street Journal, won’t mention it at all. (That’s of course because they agree with the Mayor.)

*I am opposed to government-run lotteries and to sports betting, which is rapidly taking over the U.S.  Lotteries are simply regressive taxes, and sports betting is a way to get people addicted to gambling, as well as for the government to collect taxes on a profitable enterprise (the government taxes the companies as well as the winnings of successful betters)—companies that are guaranteed to do better than the sports fans. In an essay in The Free Press, “The case against sports betting,” Coleman Hughes gives us his take.

Infamous as these offenses are, they became so because they were rare. For most of American history, it has been difficult and risky for a professional athlete to place a major bet on his own games.

But with the legalization of sports betting in most U.S. states—touched off by the Supreme Court’s overturning of a federal ban in 2018—we are now entering a darker era. With online betting legal and frictionless, athletes need only a few seconds on their smartphones in order to place a bet (or better yet, get a friend or family member to do the same). And they need not do anything as noticeable as throw a game. A professional basketball player, for instance, can simply bet on individual elements of their personal statistics line (called a “player prop” bet), and then subtly alter their play without drawing unwanted attention.

The scandals are now coming so frequently that it is hard to keep track of them. Just last Friday, the NFL suspended Arizona Cardinals executive Ryan Gold for allegedly betting on his team’s games. A few weeks prior, former NBA player Malik Beasley was indicted for allegedly manipulating his play in at least four 2024 NBA games in coordination with a group of bettors.

In the age of frictionless online betting on player props, all it really takes to cheat is to coordinate with one trusted friend or family member, tell them that you’re not feeling your best before a game, subtly underperform throughout the game, and then accept in-kind gifts from that person. Sure, the authorities will catch those who do this sloppily. But how exactly will they catch a duo who carries out such a scheme in an intelligent and patient manner?

But Hughes has an argument beyond the cheating argument given above—a view more similar to mine:

But the problem with sports betting is not just its effect on the integrity (both real and perceived) of sports. It’s also the unhealthy temptation it creates for sports fans. For psychologically well-adjusted bettors, it’s an innocent hobby. But for a significant minority, it’s a dangerous vice. One scholarly paper found that the introduction of online sports betting to a U.S. state caused a 12-point decline in average credit scores as well as an increase in “indicators of excessive debt, including bankruptcy filings, debt sent to collections, credit card delinquencies, and auto loan delinquencies.”

. . . And where is that money coming from? It’s what people would normally be saving in retirement accounts or for purchasing a home, worthwhile investments that can better their lives. A new study concludes that “risky bets crowd out positive expected value investments,” and instead drive up household debt, even as betting companies soak up billions in revenue.

What to do? As Hughes recognizes, once the government gets a taste of the money, and fans are used to betting, the cat is out of the bad for good. He proposes a more moderate solution:

So what should be done? Returning to something like the pre-2018 status quo—where sports betting was illegal in every U.S. state (except for Nevada, Oregon, Delaware, and Montana)—would be ideal. But it’s not going to happen. Now that states have a taste for the tax revenue that comes from the $167 billion industry, they are not going to bite the hand that feeds them. In principle Congress could ban it federally, but that is unlikely for much the same reason.

There are, however, more moderate alternatives. The SAFE Bet Act, introduced by Connecticut senator Richard Blumenthal and New York Rep. Paul Tonko, both Democrats, would keep sports betting legal while curbing its excesses. The bill would, among other things, ban in-game betting, advertising that targets minors, and player prop bets. Its main flaw is that it would require bettors to prove that they can afford bets before making them, which would require invasive financial disclosures. But on the whole, it is a decent first draft of the kind of legislation that we need.

I’d still favor a ban on betting, but it ain’t gonna happen.

*The FDA is considering whether to make peptides available to the public by allowing “compounding pharmacies” to make them. (A “compounding pharmacy” makes medicines on site.) The NYT tells us what peptides people want (archived here).  I was interested because I heard on the news yesterday that there’s a peptide for insomnia, but I lost interest after I read about it.

An advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration convened Thursday to evaluate whether compounding pharmacies should be allowed to produce seven peptides that were previously banned over safety concerns.

Despite being prohibited, some of these peptides have become increasingly popular among consumers who purchase them from longevity clinics, alternative health providers, biohacking influencers and even TikTok. The peptides may be produced in unregulated labs, often in China, and sold as “research grade” compounds.

The F.D.A. is evaluating the peptides for specific uses, like treating ulcerative colitis, insomnia and osteoporosis. But they are marketed and used for many other purposes, which could be permitted if the drugs were cleared.

F.D.A. staff scientists reviewed the research on the peptides and have recommended against clearing the peptides, citing a lack of safety and efficacy data in humans. Here’s what they found.

I’ll give just two:

BPC-157

BPC-157, sometimes referred to as Body Protection Compound or bepecin, is one of the most popular “gray market” peptides.

The F.D.A. is evaluating it to treat ulcerative colitis, and it is also marketed as helping to reduce gastrointestinal inflammation and prevent ulcers. Another common use is to support muscle and joint healing — it is sometimes referred to as the “Wolverine compound,” after the Marvel superhero, especially when taken in combination with another peptide, TB-500.

A few small studies in humans have suggested BPC-157 might have benefits for knee pain, bladder-related pain or ulcerative colitis symptoms. But these had notable limitations: Two lacked a placebo group, and another was not published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Emideltide

Emideltide, also known as the delta sleep-inducing peptide, is naturally produced in the brain. Levels fluctuate throughout the day, which suggests it is connected to circadian rhythms, and it has been shown to increase deep sleep in animals.

The F.D.A. is considering an emideltide injections for insomnia, narcolepsy and opioid withdrawal. (Scientists think it acts through the opioid system.) It’s also marketed for stress, pain, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

There are several human studies of emideltide, most from the 1980s involving intravenous infusions. The research has generally suggested that emideltide helps people with insomnia fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer compared with a placebo. But the studies were very small and had limitations and did not all show a clear benefit.

The human data was even more limited for narcolepsy — just a single case report in one patient.

There are others, but with just as pessimistic a take.  The upshot for all the peptides discussed is that the evidence is very thin, that there are some with side effects that may be serious, and tjat although some of these may eventually be useful, none are yet ready for prime time.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili and Andrzej have a high-level discussion:

Hili: How would you characterize the consciousness of artificial intelligence?
Andrzej: The determinism of algorithms. Though you shouldn’t take me seriously.

In Polish:

Hili: Jak byś określił świadomość sztucznej inteligencji?
Ja: Determinizm algorytmów. Ale nie traktuj mnie poważnie.

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

From Bad Spelling or Grammar on Signs and Notices:

From Stacy:

From Bored Panda, Larry with his mouse. He’s so proud!

From Masih; an Iranian rapper sentenced to death for what would be free speech in America:

Iran’s regime just sentenced a 22-year-old rapper to death.

Not for murder. Not for terrorism. For slogans, dissent, for refusing to shut up. Simply for demanding freedom and protesting against oppression.

His name is Mehnam Navab-Safavi. He was arrested, forced to confess,… pic.twitter.com/RtRnDAGL0E

— Masih Alinejad (@AlinejadMasih) July 24, 2026

From FIRE via Luana; this doesn’t seem to rise to the level of “fighting words,” though the speech was hateful and odious. Click to read full tweet and get link:

Good news! Larry won’t have to put up with a d*g!

Victory! https://t.co/p5pTeJhKH8

— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) July 25, 2026

From Jeff Maurer. Very clever prof!

This makes me sad because my dad was a college professor, and if he was still alive he really, really would have enjoyed fucking with his students like this. https://t.co/xmX5vx3YOK

— Jeff Maurer (@JeffMightBWrong) July 23, 2026

One from my feed, a lovely fawn. I’d like to see the adult:

On a farm in Michigan, a rare deer named “Dragon” was born with pure white fur and captivating blue eyes.
But because of his unusual color, his mother rejected him and abandoned him.
A kind family adopted him and cared for him until he grew up to become one of the most… pic.twitter.com/3QM8HAw4LY

— World’s Amazing Things (@Hana_b30) July 25, 2026

One I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:

26 July 1942 | A Hungarian Jewish girl, Anna Heksch was born in Budapest.

In 1944 she was deported to #Auschwitz and murdered in a gas chamber.
—

▶ Gas chambers and crematoria of the Auschwitz camp: https://t.co/Tx6rSvPyZL pic.twitter.com/Psj02bXHPF

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) July 26, 2026

Two from Dr. Cobb. The first one came with the email note “Truth”:

— hard-bo̾il̾e̾d̾Gardner (@kgardner.bsky.social) 2026-07-25T09:53:26.313Z

A hare—and one who takes off very fast when it sees the human:

I’ve been standing stock still in this wood for about 10 minutes while I mess about with a photo on my phone. I look up, notice the shape, and slowly crouch down to filmThis has made me so happy I feel I could cry. It’s as close to magic as I hope to get.

— Toby Miller (@tobytram.bsky.social) 2026-07-24T18:37:53.777Z

Welcome to shabbos for Jewish cats: it’s CaturSaturday, July 25, 2025, and also National Day of the Cowboy.  Here’s a photo I took on a fly-collecting trip to Death Valley:  a rare Jewish cowboy once on display at the Eastern California Museum in Independence, CA. The last time I went, the photo was gone and nobody knew about it or even remembered it. I’d kill to have it. He looks more like a yeshiva bochur than a cowboy.

And there’s a feature-length documentary on the subject, which I haven’t seen:

It’s also Culinarians Day, National Hot Fudge Sundae Day, and National Wine and Cheese Day.

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the July 25 Wikipedia page.

I will have visitors for much of next week so posting will be light. Bear with me; I do my best.

Da Nooz:

*Over at It’s Noon in Israel, Amit Segal describes “Three options for escalation” of the war with Iran. Segal thinks that the higher alert levels of the Israeli military, the new involvement of the Houthis, and Trump’s own words bespeak a coming escalation of the war.  Segal gives three possibilities for how the escalation will take place—three target strategies:

The first is Iran’s energy infrastructure—the operation that was on the table before Trump declared a ceasefire. Israel had begun pursuing it during Operation Roaring Lion until Trump reportedly pulled the brakes, under pressure from Gulf states with a well-founded fear for their own energy industries. The target set is narrow and thoroughly understood. Kharg Island handles the overwhelming majority of Iranian crude exports; a few missiles in the right place and Tehran has no way to sell its oil. Choose this option and the Iranians are left cash-strapped and reeling—and overwhelmingly likely to retaliate against regional energy infrastructure, and perhaps against the desalination plants the Gulf depends on for its water.

The second is direct action against the nuclear program itself. That could mean targeting senior figures, seizing the enriched uranium, or some other step aimed at the core of the program. Pickaxe Mountain would likely be the primary target. The site is buried deep enough that it is widely assessed to lie beyond the reach of bunker busters, which is why “seizing” rather than “destroying” keeps surfacing in the discussion. The Iranian response to an attack on their nuclear facilities would be severe as well, though significantly less severe than an oil crisis.

The third is the Strait of Hormuz: a major offensive against the Iranian capabilities surrounding it—anti-ship missile batteries, the IRGC Navy’s fast-attack craft and mine stocks, and coastal radar and drone sites. Throughout the war, it was barely on Israel’s radar. It is now perhaps the single most important question in the global economy. But even such an operation still won’t open the strait. All it takes is one IRGC operator left alive with a drone or two to send war-risk premiums through the roof and shipping companies in the opposite direction. Regardless, Trump may simply declare the strait open and call it a day, with the best-case scen

What’s interesting is that some of these operations don’t require Israel’s involvement at all. Trump said so explicitly: “We don’t need anybody.” He also teased the opposite possibility, saying Israel “would join in two minutes if I ask them to,” and that there would be consequences if it did. Could the conflict intensify dramatically elsewhere while Israel largely stays out of it? At first glance, that seems unlikely. Israel is, after all, only the Little Satan. But even the Little Satan is still Satan.

On the other hand, the past few weeks have produced some confusion among the Israeli population. There are missiles and drones flying across the region, and they aren’t the target? While Kuwaiti vacation plans have been entirely put on hold, Israelis are still flying back and forth on a daily basis. It defies the historical pattern entirely. Israel has become a place of quiet in the middle of a hurricane sweeping across the Middle East.

Still, whether it remains so depends entirely on Trump. He has a ticking clock in the form of the midterm elections. As this war continues to plunge in popularity, Trump appears desperate to wrap it up, though I would caution the president that the only thing less popular than continuing an unpopular war is losing an unpopular war.

I’m not sure that if Trump “loses” the war he’d get more unpopular, as much of the American populace just wants gas prices to go down. And if Iran and Yemen keep blocking transit of oil, that won’t happen. Based on Trump’s verbiate, the second option seems the most likely, followed by the third. Infrastructure destruction would be less popular because the American people don’t like it, and some of it is a war crime. I am not a pundit, but one thing seems likely to me: Trump will escalate the war before he ratchets back.

*I can’t help but think that this NYT article, called “‘We’re trapped in hell’: Iranians say that life is put on hold by months of war” (article archived here), is meant not just as news, but also as part of the NYT’s regular criticism of our war with Iran. (The subtitle is “Devastated by cycles of violence and economic crisis, many are giving up on work and their futures as the United States batters Iran again.”)

*Yesterday the Fields Medal—considered the “Nobel Prize” for mathematics, but given only every four years—was awarded to four people.

Two U.S.-based mathematicians from China have won the Fields Medal, considered math’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize, becoming the first Chinese nationals to earn the honor.

The International Mathematical Union awarded its Fields Medal on Thursday at a ceremony in Philadelphia to four people, including Yu Deng and Hong Wang, who both attended Peking University before earning doctorates in the U.S.

*As usual, I’ll steal a few items from Nellie Bowles’s news-and-snark column in The Free Press, called this week, “TGIF: Kids doing fireworks.”

→ Mao did nothing wrong: To deliver his special College Democrats of America 2026 Convention speech, progressive celebrity influencer Hasan Piker wore a frustratingly well-tailored Mao Zedong–style suit, buttoned to the top to show he means business

Soon after, a clip of Piker on Twitch praising Mao resurfaced. Referencing his trip to China in November 2025, Piker said, “I got stopped by a cop who thought I was, like, making fun of Mao Zedong, which I never would and never will. Mao Zedong is one of the great leaders of this world, okay? A man who changed the entire universe, the entire planet. Okay? For real, for real. . . . There was a lot of fucking excesses, let’s be real, but the People’s Republic of China would not exist without Mao Zedong.” Anyway, this week Piker called the Great Chinese Famine—which killed tens of millions of people—“a famine due to mismanagement.” Mao’s only crime was basically an accounting error.

The news broke this week about Democratic politicians—including California Rep. Ro Khanna, Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, former Missouri congresswoman and current candidate Cori Bush, and New York congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier—joining a livestream this past March where podcaster Kyle Kulinski compared the U.S. and Israeli governments to Hitler and Mussolini while defending Iran’s funding of groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis. I think at this point we gotta believe these people. When someone wears a Mao suit, you pay attention. On the topic of Mao suits:

→ DSA releases their new platform: The Democratic Socialists of America, fresh off several big wins, have released their platform. And it’s extremely reasonable, normal, and achievable. All it calls for is expanding the House, abolishing the Senate, and giving felons and noncitizens full voting rights. It paints a beautiful vision of the future: “Your retirement is publicly funded. Food, education, energy, medicine, and transportation aren’t for-profit businesses; they are common goods and utilities.” I’m gonna say it: The socialists have become full commies. All food, energy, medicine, and transportation is state-run, full communism.

The New York City DSA co-chair went on TV last week. When he was asked about bodega owners who might be upset over having to compete with new government grocery stores (which won’t have to pay property taxes or rent), here’s what he said: “Maybe they shouldn’t have been in that business in the first place.” Oh, baby, they are heating up! The ponytails are tight for these DSA leaders, and they will tell the bodega owner to consider an alternative career in union-building. Let me cut to the chase: All private industry is evil. All private property is evil. Your bodega? Evil. Personally, I would love to be a communist, but I have access to the internet and have read 30 seconds of Wikipedia about all past communist efforts, including literal lesbian communes. It don’t work, kids. It never does.

→ Everything is Israel vs. Palestine, apparently: “Was Spain vs. Argentina a proxy for Palestine vs. Israel?” asks the interview description for the World Cup postgame live chat between Mehdi Hasan and Javier Bardem on Hasan’s far-left news site Zeteo. You’ll be shocked to hear Mehdi’s position: It was indeed! Spain is Palestine, by the way. Spain, the most ruthless colonizing power. When you’re so obsessed with Jews that it becomes your entire animating life force, you can only see any conflict—even a soccer game—through the prism of who’s the Jew.

In other news: Sixty percent of registered voters aged 18–24 support Hamas over Israel, according to the July Harvard CAPS-Harris poll. Just 40 percent selected Israel. And just to document where we are, for posterity, here’s a new viral video: “How Israelis Are Colonizing the World,” about how Israelis are colonists no matter where they go, even if they’re traveling to leave Israel because they think it’s a bad, irredeemable place. Quotes: “Israelis aren’t just settlers in Israel. They’re moving and colonizing the world,” the narrator opens, attempting a dramatic Attenborough-inspired nature documentary voice. “From backpacking trails in South and Southeast Asia to quiet European mountain towns, you’ll find Israelis. We’ve mostly seen them take two forms: the war criminals fresh from service, and the liberals fleeing what they claim is a failing democracy.” You’ll find them and We’ve mostly seen them—this is literally how safari guides describe the habits of wild orangutans. “On the surface, they couldn’t seem more different. But watch how they move through the world, and you can see how Zionism produces a particular relationship to land and other people—one that is exploitative and violent and that is not limited to Palestine.” Watch how they move through the world? Are we analyzing their gait? Curiously, because Jews are now described as colonizers in Israel and colonizers if they leave Israel, there is only one correct thing for them to do in this logic. One solution, if you will.

*The Seattle Times reports a new bipartisan federal proposal to kill seals to save salmon (h/t Wayne). Yes, that’s right. Native Americans need their lox, so the seals have to go.

Federal lawmakers are considering whether to expand the government’s authority to kill more sea lions and seals to bolster salmon recovery efforts in the Pacific Northwest.

The region’s critical salmon runs are on life support: Fourteen species and populations of salmon and steelhead trout in Washington are deemed at risk of extinction under the Endangered Species Act. The hurdles to their livelihood are numerous, spanning a worsening climate crisis, habitat loss, pollution and — as Congress members debated this week — proliferating predators.

The House Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries on Tuesday probed bipartisan legislation co-sponsored by Reps. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, and Emily Randall, D-Bremerton, that would ease restrictions in the Marine Mammal Protection Act for killing sea lions and seals, renewing a decades-old conversation over whether humans should intervene to curb pinniped predation. It’s the second attempt this month by a Washington lawmaker to expand culling of the marine mammals.

The debate comes as marine wildlife officials investigate the shooting of a baby harbor seal found near Bellingham this month with a gunshot wound to its face. The pup, euthanized last week by medical professionals, is the third seal treated for a gunshot injury by SR3, a nonprofit sea life response, rehabilitation and research facility in Des Moines, in the past year, underscoring the tensions surrounding the animals even as Congress weighs broader lethal management.

Baumgartner in a statement before the hearing said his bill is a “common-sense” update that would allow Washington state and federally recognized tribes in Western Washington to explore new ways to responsibly manage booming pinniped populations. Randall told the committee that declining salmon runs also threaten tribal treaty-reserved fishing rights. “We have to find ecosystem balance,” she said. “Nonlethal methods of controlling the pinniped population haven’t worked for us.”

Both first-term members of Washington’s congressional delegation emphasized the bipartisan nature of the effort. Still, lawmakers representing the Pacific Northwest clashed on whether greater allowances to kill sea lions and seals is an effective — or prudent — solution.

Salmon recovery is widely viewed as vital to Washington state and the broader Pacific Northwest because salmon are a cornerstone of the region’s ecosystems and economy. They provide food for numerous species, including endangered southern resident orca whales, and are essential to sustaining Northwest commercial and recreational fisheries, as well as tribal treaty-protected fishing traditions.

Baumgartner and Randall’s Northwest Endangered Salmon Predation Prevention Act of 2026 would broaden where, and how, Washington state and Western Washington tribes with protected fishing rights can manage the growing sea lion and seal populations. In 2018, Congress authorized Washington state to expand a program to capture and euthanize sea lions in the Columbia River Basin due to concerns for salmon survival.

Their bill goes further, expanding the law from “sea lions” to all pinnipeds, including harbor seals, California sea lions and Steller’s sea lions. It would remove geographical restrictions limiting killings to portions of the Columbia River and eliminates the requirement that chemical euthanasia be the only approved killing method. It would take the effort beyond the Columbia River, too, establishing permits for tribes and state officials to kill pinnipeds in “each river and stream in the State of Washington that flows into the marine waters of the State.” The bill would also direct the development of nonlethal methods that prevent pinnipeds from traveling upstream into salmon habitats.

There are five species of pinnipeds that frequent Oregon and Washington (Pacific Harbor Seal, Northern Elephant Seal, California Sea Lion, Steller Sea Lion, and the Northern Fur Seal). As for regulating these populations, it seems that a major impetus is the need of indigenous people to harvest salmon.  Unless we are somehow responsible for the growing pinniped populations (and I haven’t seen any data supporting that), I’d like to know how this happened. You don’t go killing seals and sea lions so you can support a salmon-based economy.  It looks as if in fact humans are responsible for the decline of salmon, and we have no right to kill pinnipeds to rectify something that’s the fault of humanity. THERE WILL BE NO EUTHANIZING OF PINNIPEDS—not if I had any say in the matter.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili’s bossing Andrzej around:

Hili: It’s a good thing you swept the floor. It was getting pretty dirty.
Andrzej: Keep your comments to yourself.

In Polish:

Hili: Dobrze, że pozamiatałeś, bo było już bardzo brudno.
Ja: Zachowaj swoje uwagi dla siebie.

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

From Meow Incorporated:

From The Grammar Police (strictly speaking, this is not ungrammatical):

From Things with Faces, a happy loaf:

From Masih:

Since yesterday, people keep asking me the same question: How can someone be hanged for opening a door?

I want you to see the answer with your own eyes.

Two Iranian protesters. Both killed in front of cameras for showing compassion.

One opened a door when protesters came… pic.twitter.com/HEftBGJBDD

— Masih Alinejad (@AlinejadMasih) July 21, 2026

From Barry: Evolution wins!

A bio-inspired robot crosses paths with a real insect , 400 million years of evolution face to face with human engineering.

— Digital Brain (@yourdigitalbrain.bsky.social) 2026-07-18T16:11:42.000Z

Carole Hooven vs. Agustín “Spectrum” Fuentes (click to go to original tweets):

The Number Ten Cat is looking for an assistant, but not one to turn the spotlight away from the Boss:

Job opportunity: I’m looking for a Manchester based cat to join the Chief Mouser department. Must be good at catching mice but not good at getting attention on social media (that’s covered) https://t.co/xlaCV58cNM

— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) July 24, 2026

One from my feed; live and learn!

Today I learned rabbits can swim. Even better: their ears fold back into swim mode. I feel this information deserved to be shared pic.twitter.com/mmJdSoLNJO

— Nature Unedited (@NatureUnedited) July 23, 2026

And one I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:

This French Jewish girl was gassed to death as soon as she arrived in Auschwitz. She was 12 years old. https://t.co/BaBzd5DuVJ

— Jerry Coyne (@Evolutionistrue) July 25, 2026

And two from Matthew. He said the first one will leave you weeping (sound up):

From the brink of death,not a moment too soon.👍💙😍

— omgisme (@omgisme.bsky.social) 2026-07-23T18:59:35.494Z

And of this one he says “lovely molluscs!”. Yep, squid are molluscs:

👽🦑🛸👽🦑🛸 #squidsquad #caribbeanreefsquid #cephalopodsofcoralcity #squid #coralcitycamera

— Coral City Camera (@coralcitycamera.bsky.social) 2026-07-19T16:06:10.532Z

Welcome to the end of another week, for it’s Friday, July 24, 2026.  All four ducklings are still here and thriving. It is also National Amelia Earhart Day, her birthday. As Wikipedia notes:

Amelia Mary Earhart (/ˈɛərhɑːrt/ AIR-hart; born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviator and aviation pioneer who became one of the most celebrated figures of early flight.

In 1928, she was the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by airplane. In 1932, she became the first woman to make a nonstop solo transatlantic flight, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for her achievement.  She was one of the first aviators to promote commercial air travel, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences, and helped found the Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots.

On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. Since her disappearance, Earhart has become a global cultural figure and numerous films, documentaries, and books have recounted her life.

Here’s a short video biography of Earhart:

And here’s a photo of Earhart from Wikipedia with the caption, “Amelia Earhart standing in front of the Lockheed Electra in which she disappeared in July 1937.”

Every couple of years I hear news that Earhart’s plane or crash site has finally been found, but it always comes to nothing. I no longer pay attention to those stories. When they come up with the wreckage of her plane, I’ll pay attention.

It’s also National Tequila Day and National Tell an Old Joke Day. Here’s one from Rodney Dangerfield:

“My psychiatrist told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion. He said, “Okay, you’re ugly too’.”

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the July 24 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*Breaking news ripped from the headlines.  The U.S. struck Iran yet again this morning (Friday) as Iran rejected a cease-fire proposal. From the NYT:

The United States and Iran traded more attacks across the Middle East after Tehran was said to have rejected a U.S. cease-fire proposal delivered by the leader of Iraq.

American forces targeted Iranian military assets and facilities, including drone storage sites, to reduce the threat to commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command said. The attacks began at 2:15 a.m. local time and ended just over two hours later, according to the command, which oversees operations in the Middle East.

*The U.S. strike on Iran yesterday came after the Houthis in Yemen attacked Saudi tankers in the Red Sea (note: not the Strait of Hormuz):

The steady escalation of the conflict over the past two weeks provided the backdrop for a vote in the House of Representatives on Thursday that for a second time asked Mr. Trump to seek Congress’ authorization to keep U.S. troops engaged in the war. Mr. Trump effectively ignored a similar rebuke last month, and later on Thursday Republicans in the Senate blocked the measure from passing.

Neither the United States nor Iran has signaled much appetite for a return to negotiations. In recent days, Iranian and American officials have promised to respond to each other’s attacks with fresh ones of their own, with each trying to outlast the other.

U.S. Central Command, which coordinates military operations in the Middle East, said it had launched a wave of strikes overnight to degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping, targeting Iranian drone and missile storage sites and air defenses.

That language, which the U.S. military has employed on a daily basis, does not explicitly acknowledge U.S. strikes on infrastructure that can be used for civilian purposes, like roads and ports. Such attacks could be considered war crimes under international law.

Mr. Trump has threatened to attack a bridge or power plant “any time the Islamic republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said overnight that it had launched attacks on U.S. military targets in Jordan and Kuwait, including a communications tower, accusing U.S. forces of attacking equivalent infrastructure in Iran.

As for the Senate vote:

Senators voted against taking up another war powers resolution seeking to challenge the president’s authority to continue the conflict in Iran. Senators voted 49 to 47 to block the measure from coming to the floor for a final vote, with one Republican, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, voting in favor, and one Democrat, Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, voting against.

Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, who had supported past resolutions, changed his vote, saying he had received adequate information from senior administration officials to oppose the measure. Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, two Republicans who had backed similar efforts, did not vote.

Just for once I’d like to read a story in the MSM about the war that doesn’t begin by mentioning the price of oil (this one did, too, but I left that out). Yes, it is a consideration, but to many not the consideration. What about the 30,000+ people killed by the theocracy, its oppression of women, its never-ending attempt to make nuclear weapons, and its sponsorship of terrorism throughout the Middle East—and elsewhere (viz., Alinejad, Maish).

*Yesterday we learned that Trump decided to help Saudi Arabia get nuclear weapons, and Amit Segal opined that this was largely due to Trump’s trying to get business for American defense companies.  Well, that may be true (I was doubtful), but the Washington Post says there’s a big condition for that nuclear aid: the Saudis must join the 2020 Abraham Accords, designed to normalize relations between Israel and Arab countries.

The nuclear deal is “totally subject” to Saudi Arabia’s joining the Abraham Accords, Trump said in a social media post, referring to the effort from his first term to normalize relations between Israel and Muslim-majority countries from which it had long been estranged. The Saudis have thus far refused to join the accord.

The deal to allow the Saudis to build nuclear power plants using U.S. technology, creating a pathway to a Saudi nuclear enrichment program, has set off debate in Congress. Many lawmakers fear that allowing more countries to develop enrichment programs could eventually lead to more possessing nuclear weapons.

Israel hotly opposes Saudi Arabia’s developing a nuclear enrichment program, fearful it could lead to a regional arms race. Israeli leaders welcomed Trump’s new statement.

The Saudis have long sought to build nuclear power plants on their territory — and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the country, has declared that they would work to develop nuclear weapons if Iran develops its own.

The Biden administration also explored a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, but it ultimately foundered because normalizing relations with Israel was the main condition the United States placed on the agreement. The deal the Trump administration signed Wednesday would have imposed no such requirement.

Trump’s new condition on Thursday would appear to attach a major string to the deal. Saudi leaders were nearing a normalization agreement with Israel in 2023, just before the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7 of that year. Since then, however, talks have been paused. Saudi leaders have said they would want guarantees of an eventual Palestinian state, and Saudi public opinion has soured toward Israel because of its handling of Gaza. Any nuclear deal tied to Saudi-Israel diplomatic breakthroughs has seemed remote.

This is somewhat of a mess because Trump, trying to normalize relations between Israel and the Saudis, is asking for Israel to accept something they violently oppose: a nuclear-armed Saudi Arabia.  Saudi Arabia might accept it (that’s doubtful), but Israel never would. At least the motive for the nuke deal is better than simply enriching the American military-industrial complex.

*Douglas Murray has a new column in the Free Press, “Why Mamdani is targeting Netanyahu.”  The bolding is mine.

Sometimes you wonder why a person went into politics. Other times, you know exactly why they did. For Zohran Mamdani, yesterday was a case of the latter.

On Tuesday evening he released a two-minute video of himself, seated behind a desk, flanked by the flags of the United States and New York. He had arranged this posture—for posture it was—to announce a development in the case of Zohran Mamdani vs. Benjamin Netanyahu, otherwise known as Mamdani vs. the State of Israel. Attacks on Israel have been central to Mamdani’s political rise. He has spent his life marinating in postcolonial politics, Third Worldism, and anti-Zionism, and brings agitation, certainty, and ignorance to debates about the Middle East.

On the campaign trail, Mamdani repeatedly promised that if he were elected mayor, he would have Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if he ever set foot in the city.

Several things were obvious to any casual observer. The first is that the United Nations General Assembly occurs each September in New York. Therefore, there was always going to be an opportunity for a showdown. The second is that the mayor of New York does not have any right to run U.S. foreign policy out of Gracie Mansion.

The third obvious fact was that Mamdani was going to justify his call for the arrest of Netanyahu on the basis of the existing warrant against the Israeli leader from the International Criminal Court (ICC). Of course, the U.S. is not a signatory to the ICC, nor in any way bound to its decisions. In fact, consecutive Democratic and Republican administrations refused to sign the Rome Statute on which the ICC is based because it would give foreign powers a say over American law and let them stand in judgment over American soldiers and statesmen.

. . .Mamdani’s statement was a tightly packed set of casuistry and lies. He started by saying: “Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal. The architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people. He is responsible for the killing of more than 73,000 people. For the maiming of tens of thousands of children, as those who survive undergo amputation without anesthesia. For the targeting of neonatal hospitals and maternity care centers, denying newborns even the chance to live. For the countless people he starved as he blocked food and humanitarian aid from reaching them. For the gunning down of hundreds of aid workers and journalists.”

There are many things to note here. But the first is the opening line, that Netanyahu is a war criminal. Mamdani did not say that Netanyahu has been accused of war crimes. He did not say that a prosecutor at the ICC, Karim Khan, issued a hastily written arrest warrant for Netanyahu and others in November 2024, which was quite possibly meant to deflect from his own imminent exposure for his alleged sexual harassment of a colleague at the court. Rather, Mamdani said that Netanyahu is a war criminal. That does not make it sound as though the mayor is willing to let justice play its course.

Mamdani presents his claims as fact, which they are very far from being. He cites the famous number of 73,000 deaths in Gaza, which was produced by Hamas. Even if this figure is accurate, who are these casualties? Are any of them Hamas fighters? Did Israel manage to kill any Hamas soldiers during the conflict, or must every death be regarded as a civilian death?

. .Mamdani is very clearly unbothered by facts. What he wants is the ability to make an accusation. So it is with the accusation of “genocide.” There is nothing more preposterous than the idea that what the Israel Defense Forces have done since October 7 has been a “genocide” of the Palestinians. If Netanyahu had wanted to eradicate every Palestinian from Gaza he could have done so on October 8. But obviously he didn’t. If the IDF had sought to kill as many Palestinians as possible, they would have not gone to such extraordinary lengths—lengths I have seen with my own eyes—to separate civilians from combatants, even when the line between the two has been deliberately blurred by Hamas.

Mamdani knows what he is doing here. He is not a stupid man. He is not an ignorant man. He is simply a highly ideological man who is pursuing a political and sectarian campaign against the world’s only Jewish state. Aside from personal advancement it is obvious what his real motivation is. Like other democratic socialists, Mamdani would like to shift the Overton window on Israel policy and vet candidates for future primaries over whether or not they condemn the “genocide” in Gaza. By presenting as fact the farcical claim that there has been such a thing, Mamdani and co. can then make anyone who refuses to condemn it look like an utter monster. After all, who can’t bring himself to condemn a genocide?

The push to arrest Netanyahu in New York was always going to fail. Its only purpose was to be another stepping stone in Mamdani’s and his fellow travelers’ efforts to destroy the moral legitimacy of the world’s one Jewish state, in the hope of eventually destroying the ability of that state to exist. Why they wish so fervently to achieve this goal is, of course, impossible to comprehend.

I repeat that Mamdani’s election baffles me, particularly because many of those who voted for him were Jews.  Murray, who is not Jewish, sees what NYC’s Jews (or Democrats) don’t see, or do see and don’t want to admit: Mamdani is both an antisemite and a liar. Good luck, New York, New York!

*Portland’s Reed College, also known as Che Guevara University (no kidding: I have a Reed College tee-shirt with the college logo surrounded by the words “atheism,” “communism”, and “free love”), has settled a federal complaint about pervasive antisemitism on campus.  (You can read the formal agreement here.)

Reed College has agreed to a host of far-reaching institutional changes, including asserting that targeting Jewish Zionists will be considered discriminatory, in order to settle multiple US federal antisemitism investigations, parties to the complaint announced Wednesday.

The settlement was announced by the Anti-Defamation League and the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which jointly filed the complaint, under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination at any institution receiving federal funds. It comes as campuses across the country, facing threats of losing federal funding under the Trump administration, have demonstrated willingness to negotiate new antisemitism protections.

As part of the agreement, the private Portland, Oregon, liberal arts school says it will insert language into its discrimination policy asserting that “for many Jewish people, Zionism is integral to their religious, ancestral and/or ethnic Jewish identity,” and that “targeting Jews on the basis of their Zionist identity” will be considered discriminatory.

The school will also contract a third-party consultant to monitor and report on its effectiveness in adhering to antisemitism protections, role that is unusual in similar Title VI agreements. The agreement says Reed will “consider” the International Holocaust Remembrance Association’s working definition of antisemitism, which includes some criticisms of Israel, and implement antisemitism training for faculty and staff.

. . . The resolution stems from two anonymous Title VI antisemitism complaints from Jewish former Reed students, both filed in 2024 under the Biden administration. One of those cases related to a student whose dorm-room mezuzah was vandalized, and who herself was later pelted with rocks, during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in spring 2024. The student later left the school out of concern for her safety.

The Free Press has a little more information:

On November 9, 2023, protesters on the Reed campus marched behind a banner that said “INTIFADA EVERYWHERE” and chanted an anti-Israel slogan. The protest was led by Reed’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and occurred on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1938 pogrom against Jews by the Nazi regime. The SJP chapter claimed that it did not schedule the protest to coincide with the anniversary, according to The Reed College Quest, Reed’s student newspaper. Four students were arrested after the protest spread to downtown Portland.

Reed president Audrey Bilger and other senior administrators had vowed that the college would “not tolerate” antisemitism or anti-Muslim sentiment and would stay in close contact with law enforcement about potential threats. But the complaints accused Reed of failing to intervene after being notified about antisemitic incidents. The failure allegedly allowed the harassment to worsen.

For example, the Jewish student who was struck in the head in May 2024 said she was also the target of an attempted break-in at her dorm room less than 48 hours earlier. The incidents were part of a monthslong campaign of harassment tied to her Jewish identity, according to a complaint filed with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in September 2024. The day after the rock-throwing attack, Reed emailed the campus, thanking the pro-Palestinian student group for the “peaceful nature” of its protests that week, according to the complaint. The second complaint was filed in May 2024 by a graduate student who was pursuing a master of arts degree in liberal studies.

I don’t favor governmental threats to withhold grant money if schools don’t adhere to civil rights laws, but they can be punished if they fail to adhere. Given that Reed asserts that it doesn’t tolerate antisemitism, that’s a bit unbelievable given that they thanked the SJP for a peaceful demonstration after a student was attacked (perhaps they didn’t know, but no group I know of here has been thanked for being peaceful—it’s expected. Violence is contrary to any school’s rules.

*Finally, in conservation news, Japan has released eight individuals of a species previously extinct in that country and endangered everywhere, the crested ibis (Nipponia nippon; extinct countrywide since 2003). First, Wikipedia says this:

In the 1980s, the birds were decimated by overhunting, the use of pesticides, ongoing habitat loss, their already small population size, their limited range, winter starvation and persecution, which together brought the endangered species to the brink of extinction.  The crested ibis has been listed in Appendix I of the conservation treaty CITES.

Here’s a photo:

From the Associated Press:

Eight crested ibises were released into the wild in a north-central Japanese town, decades after the birds went extinct in the country.

The endangered birds took off from each of their wooden cages at a ceremony Sunday in Hakui city in the Noto region, where they were last seen in the wild.

Residents cheered when the birds soared into the sky the moment Crown Prince Akishino, his wife Kiko and other officials cut a ribbon around the cages.

The eight birds have been raised at a conservation center on Sado Island in the neighboring prefecture of Niigata following a successful captive-breeding program. Ten more birds are waiting to be released.

The white birds, called Toki in Japan, are native to East Asia and admired for their orange-pink hues under their wings and bright red marks around their eyes.

The birds went extinct on the Honshu main island in the 1970s, threatened by overhunting and environmental degradation. The last remaining Japanese native ibis died in 2003 on Sado Island.

But the birds came back to life thanks to China’s support for breeding. In 1999, artificial breeding by a pair donated from China successfully led to the first Japanese crested ibis chick born in captivity, according to the Environment Ministry.

The breeding and conservation efforts have since helped the recovery of the birds’ population. In 2008, 10 of the birds raised at the Sado conservation center were released into the wild on the island, where their population has increased to around 500, the ministry says.

Here’s a video of the release; this being Japan, it was ceremonial in nature.  I’m glad they celebrated what they were doing, though perhaps it would have been better to release them more gently, and in a more wild area.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Andrzej clarifies matters for Hili.

Hili: I read that God is mathematics.
Andrzej: It’s an elegant expression, but it doesn’t tell us anything.

In Polish:

Hili: Czytałam, że Bóg jest matematyką.
Ja: Zgrabne powiedzenie, z którego nic nie wynika.

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

From TherionArms:

From Kitty Litterposting; this is a real woman named Sara Jane Ibister, and, indeed, a petty criminal, but I don’t find the “crimes” below described in the Irish Sun article describing the “mugshot beauty”.

From Terrible Maps:

From Masih, making common cause for both Right and Left. English translation of tweet:

This is my response to Trump’s extremist fans.

Unfortunately, both Trump is a red line for some Iranians abroad, where he can never be criticized, and Mamdani, the mayor of New York!

The moment I make the slightest criticism—whether of Trump or Mamdani—I come under attack from extremist Iranians close to two completely opposing camps.

We are here to fight for the people of Iran, to negotiate and demand accountability, not to become cheerleaders and fans of right-wing and left-wing currents, especially in their most extreme forms.

این پاسخ من به طرفداران افراطی ترامپ
متاسفانه هم ترامپ خط قرمز برای برخی از ایرانیان خارج کشور محسوب می‌شود و هرگز نمی‌شود به او نقد کرد و هم ممدانی شهردار نیویورک!
به محض آنکه کوچکترین نقدی چه به ترامپ و چه به ممدانی می‌کنم از سوی ایرانیان افراطی نزدیک به دو طیف کاملا متضاد مورد… pic.twitter.com/nlsEPJwwOp

— Masih Alinejad (@AlinejadMasih) July 23, 2026

From Luana; a longish list of tweets giving examples of professors fired for having conservative views:

I was recently challenged to produce examples of profs who faced significant punishment for having views (or were perceived to have views) critics associated with conservatism. The implication was that these examples don’t exist.

I’ll give you an incomplete list in a sec, but…

— Jeffrey Sachs (@JeffreyASachs) July 22, 2026

From Jesse Singal via Jeff Maurer. It’s not even close to what you think:

know there’s a lot going on but this is an important short videohttps://t.co/91UI7zCBlq

— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) July 22, 2026

Two from my feed. First, a tool-using but polite elephant:

A female elephant in Thailand stole a rake to scratch herself

She skillfully grabbed the tool from a farmer, used it to scratch an itch, and then politely returned it to the worker.

The elephant’s name is Khamphong — she is a local star and often appears in videos because of… pic.twitter.com/DC8CInzBjb

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) July 22, 2026

Sound up for this one:

Close encounter with a snow leopard.

📽: Philippe Matteinipic.twitter.com/kto8tdlHWF

— Wonder of Science (@wonderofscience) July 23, 2026

One I retweeted from The Auschwitz Memorial

This Czech Jewish boy was gassed to death as soon as he arrived in Auschwitz. He was 12 years old. https://t.co/hV3TbyrQGi

— Jerry Coyne (@Evolutionistrue) July 24, 2026

And two from Doctor Cobb. First, moggies!

New neighbors#Cat #Caturday

— Free Cats 😻 (@seelyfree.bsky.social) 2026-07-22T17:17:24.186Z

Predation in the deep sea:

They were looking at a hole on the Schmidt dive and it reminded me of this moment from years ago during a #OkeanosExplorer dive when a fish ambushed prey from a hole in the seafloor youtu.be/faeLyGD7A2M?…

— Lisa (@tuexplorer1.bsky.social) 2026-07-21T05:51:38.126Z

Welcome to Thursday, July 23, 2026 and National Refreshment Day.  Honoring that, I give you below the best beer I ever had, procured by a friend in Amsterdam—with difficulty (see below). It’s a Belgian beer made by actual monks in an actual monastery (Westvleteren), and you have to go there in person to get your pre-reserved and limited supply.  Wikipedia says this about the brewery and the beer:

As with other Trappist breweries, beer is brewed and sold to financially support the monastery and other philanthropic causes. Whilst the brewery is a business by definition (its purpose is to make money), it does not exist for pure profit motives and they do not advertise. The monks have repeatedly stated enough beer is brewed to run the monastery, and production volumes will not be increased to meet market demand. During World War II, the brewery stopped supplying wholesalers, and since then they only sell to individual buyers at the brewery and visitors’ centre cafe. On the opening of the new brewery, the Father Abbott said “We are not brewers. We are monks. We brew beer to be able to afford being monks.”

There is no label; the cap tells you what it is:

I drank the beer in 2019, and oy, was it good! Thick, chewy, and somewhat sweet, as all these beers are. It is not a swilling beer, but a beer to enjoy at leisure with good conversation. It is more like a meal than a drink. From Wikipedia:

• Westvleteren 12 (yellow cap) (formerly Abt), a quadrupel, 10.2% ABV, introduced in 1940.  , , , , In June 2005, when Westvleteren 12 was ranked as “Best Beer in the World” on Ratebeer.com,  news organizations followed this up and articles appeared in the international press, highlighting the beer ranking and the unusual business policies. In 2014 it was again rated best beer in the world by Ratebeer.com for the fourth year in a row

• Buyers were originally limited to ten 24-bottle crates of the beer per car, but as the beer increased in popularity, this was first reduced to five, then to three and now to two or one crates. For the Westvleteren 12 in 2009, it was limited to one case. When making an order now, the type and quantity of beer available for sale are revealed. Sales are limited to one order every 30 days per person per license plate and phone number. The beer must be reserved online through the abbey’s website, with registration weeks before the planned pick up date. The online system has replaced the “beerphone” in 2019. The monks do not sell beer to individuals who drive up to the abbey hoping to purchase beer. The reason for this is to eliminate commercial reselling, and hence give all visitors a chance to purchase the product.

  The current production is 475 kilolitres (60,000 cases) per year, and has remained the same since 1946.

My tipple (through the tulips):

It’s also National Shiraz Day, National Vanilla Ice Cream Day, and Peanut Butter and Chocolate Day (viz. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups).

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the July 23 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*The war with Iran goes on; the latest word from Trump is that he’ll start bombing Iran’s infrastructure unless the theocracy stops monkeying with the Strait of Hormuz.

President Trump threatened on Wednesday to strike bridges and power plants in Iran if it targeted any more ships in the Strait of Hormuz, as the prospect of a prolonged conflict pushed the price of oil to its highest level in over a month.

“Any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship” in the strait, Mr. Trump said on social media, U.S. forces would hit the sites, including in or near the capital, Tehran. Deliberate strikes on civilian infrastructure could be considered a war crime under international law.

Mr. Trump has escalated his threats through weeks of rising bluster and deadly military exchanges, in which the United States has failed to either stop Iranian attacks or force the country’s hard-line leaders, who want to prolong the war, back to the negotiating table.

The threats also reflected how much the focus of the war has narrowed into a fight over the strait, a critical passage for global oil and gas, even as Mr. Trump maintains that his wider objective is preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon. The strait was open and free to transit before the war began, but Iran has proved it can effectively control traffic with threats of strikes and, in doing so, gained powerful leverage over global markets.

The latest escalation came as Iranian officials had already reported recent strikes on bridges, and as Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the United States would keep waging war as long as Iran tried to control the strait. Iran’s attacks on vessels there have brought ship traffic there to a near-total halt.

While Mr. Rubio left the door open for diplomacy after another night of U.S. and Iranian strikes across the Persian Gulf, he told reporters in Manila that Iran at this point was “not serious about talks,” arguing that Tehran had violated a preliminary agreement that says it should allow ships to transit the strait.

What strikes me about the article, besides the prospect of a longer war, is how much criticism there is of the U.S. conduct here. Each of the first four paragraphs contains a subtle critique. Well, that’s the NYT’s right, but let’s not pretend they are just reporting objectively.

*Over at It’s Noon in Israel, Amit Segal explains “Why Trump gave Saudi Arabia the nuke.” (The WSJ “exclusive” on this is here.)

It’s Wednesday, July 22, and rattled by Operation Rising Lion and Midnight Hammer last June, Saudi Arabia went looking for a deterrent. Pakistan, still bruised from its May 2025 confrontation with India, was looking for the same thing. The arrangement was mutually beneficial: Islamabad acquired a wealthy patron, Riyadh signaled it could diversify away from Washington, and Pakistan’s defense minister declared that his country’s nuclear program would be made available to the kingdom if needed.

Then came February 2026, and Iranian missiles and drones began landing throughout the kingdom. Riyadh invoked the pact. Islamabad sent a foreign minister to deliver a stern warning to Tehran and flew a squadron of fighters to a Saudi air base. The lesson was not subtle. Pakistan would not be the new guarantor, and a nuclear guarantee secured by diplomacy is a considerably weaker deterrent than one whose button sits under your own finger.

That is the context for today’s Wall Street Journal report that Trump has approved a 30-year agreement providing Saudi Arabia with a civilian nuclear program and potentially opening the door to uranium enrichment on Saudi soil.

. . .The obvious truth is that Saudi Arabia needs nuclear power like a drowning man needs water. But Mohammed bin Salman revealed the real game in 2018: If Tehran got a bomb, the kingdom would follow as soon as possible. Throughout its long campaign for nuclear power, Saudi Arabia conceded nothing to the industry’s “gold standard,” a binding commitment not to enrich uranium or reprocess spent nuclear fuel domestically.

The nuclear campaign is a symptom, not a cause. Riyadh concluded years ago that the American security guarantee is unreliable, regardless of who holds the White House. On September 14, 2019, cruise missiles and drones took roughly half of Saudi production offline in a single morning. Washington attributed the attack to Iran, moved some air defense assets into the kingdom, and did nothing further. Biden completed the lesson from the opposite direction. On February 4, 2021, in his first major foreign policy address, he ended American support for the coalition’s offensive operations in Yemen, including arms sales, and the following day the State Department moved to delist the Houthis.

. . . All that changed with Trump. He detached the nuclear file from normalization entirely, having already signed an executive order in May 2025 directing the State Department to promote nuclear exports. In November 2025, Washington and Riyadh signed a Joint Declaration on the Completion of Negotiations on Civil Nuclear Cooperation, alongside an F-35 package. Now they have an agreement for U.S. firms to construct a uranium enrichment facility in Saudi Arabia if a joint American-Saudi study concludes that such a project is justified.

. . .this deal may not represent [Trump’s] hedge on a nuclear Middle East. Trump is not reconciled to Iran getting the bomb. This is not the nuclear equivalent of his statements last month about it being “unfair” to deny Iran ballistic missiles if Saudi Arabia has them. He is simply doing a deal he thinks is good for the United States—American vendors, American reactors, Russian and Chinese competitors locked out of the market.

Nor is all hope lost for normalization. Israel still has much to offer Saudi Arabia, but taking one of the largest carrots off the table does make an agreement significantly more difficult. In the future, one would hope the dealmaker in chief remembers the value of leverage.

Yep, that big carrot just rolled off the table, and, according to Segal (I am not sure I agree), it’s to benefit the American military-industrial complex. Who can fathom Trump’s mind?

*Masih Alinejad’s brief is to keep calling attention to the Iranian theocracy’s detention and execution of protestors, and she does this in a new Free Press article, “Iran’s killing machine is operating in plain sight.”

Yesterday, I woke up to a message that broke my heart. Erfan Esfandiari had been hanged. He was 18 years old, and his parents’ only child. His crime, according to reports circulated by Iranian journalists and human rights activists, was opening a door. Specifically, he opened his door to let terrified protesters in as they ran from security forces during the January 2026 uprising against the Iranian regime.

That act of compassion was enough to send him to the gallows.

On that same Sunday morning, the regime hanged Gol-Mohammad Mohammadi, a 23-year-old Afghan refugee who had fled to Iran seeking safety. His crime, according to those same reports, was identical: He opened his door for protesters fleeing bullets. He was arrested, thrown into a show trial, and forced to endure three hearings, each lasting one hour. There was no independent lawyer.

Erfan and Gol-Mohammad were two of 59 men arrested together during the January uprising, in what has since become known as the Alikhani Square case. The two of them, alongside 10 others, were sentenced to death. Last week, all 12 were moved to quarantine. That is the signal: For the 10 still alive, execution is likely imminent.

. . .On Sunday, the chess champion Garry Kasparov posted a comment on X about the executions. “How tragic that these executions became the norm in Iran and accepted as such by the Free World,” he wrote.

He’s right. The world is not paying enough attention. While diplomats negotiate, bombs fall, and flimsy ceasefire agreements are signed, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been running a quiet, systematic execution campaign against the young people who dared to stand up for their freedom. And they are using the world’s distraction as cover.

During the war, President Donald Trump publicly urged the Islamic Republic’s leaders to stop executing protesters. He even said they promised they would. But we Iranians knew better. We knew that the regime was only buying time to turn mass arrests into mass executions. That is exactly what has happened.

I know that international pressure works. I have seen it. In April, Trump shared a photo of eight women who were about to be hanged, writing, “Please do them no harm!” The regime paused. On Monday, Trump shared my post about Esfandiari hanging on Truth Social, where it reached millions. But at that point, it was too late. And Esfandiari is not alone. Since the war began on February 28, according to CNN, at least 47 people have been put to death. Hundreds more remain under death sentences. We do not know the exact numbers, because the regime puts pressure on families to stay silent.

I certainly feel for Masih, and, after all, I’ve been putting up a tweet from her about civilian deaths every day for several years.  But to get the regime to stop oppressing the Iranian people, we have to effect regime change, for the theocracy stays in power by exerting power: power through terrorizing the people, who don’t want to be executed. (Even given that, many Iranians still went out in the streets.) And the regime is succeeding by having executed 30,000 or more protestors.  I don’t know if international pressure will do much to quash that mindset.

I don’t see how we can completely ignore this stuff when we’re at war with Iran. No, we’re not the world’s policemen, but we’re at war with Iran, Trump told the Iranian people to more or less take over their government, and this is, indeed, a laudable aim of the war.

*The antisemitic anti-Zionist mayor of NYC, the odious Zohran Mamdani, has asked the federal government to arrest Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu when he is expected to come to New York in September for a UN meeting. Unfortunately for hizzoner, that arrest isn’t possible.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday night challenged the federal government to execute an international arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, calling him a “war criminal” and “the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people” in a striking video statement.

The mayor said the city Law Department explored whether the New York Police Department could arrest the Israeli prime minister during his expected visit to the city in September but that the city did not have “independent legal authority” to do so.

The mayor’s announcement came days after he told Lulu Garcia-Navarro last week on “The Interview,” a New York Times show, that he had been in “active conversation” with the city’s lawyers about executing a warrant issued for Mr. Netanyahu in 2024 by the International Criminal Court.

On Tuesday, Mr. Mamdani said in the video that those conversations had led his administration to determine that it did “not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant.”

Seated between the flags of the United States and New York City, Mr. Mamdani looked directly into the camera and solemnly told New Yorkers that Israel’s prime minister had no place visiting New York.

“Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at large,” Mr. Mamdani said. “While we cannot end the genocide on our own, we can decide whether our silence will become another weapon, and we can examine every tool we have to defend the humanity and dignity of all people.”

There appears to be no chance of federal law enforcement arresting Mr. Netanyahu in the near future. President Trump said on Monday that the Israeli leader, whose country is a longtime American ally, would not be arrested in the United States “in any way, shape, or form.”

I’m not fan of Netanyahu, but I wouldn’t arrest him on the verdict of the International Criminal Court, which didn’t deem him a war criminal but found “reasonable grounds” to have a trial (the U.S. does not abide by the ICC’s decisions, and if Mamdani arrested him in NYC there would have to be a trial here. No chance of that!)  Are the people of NYC who voted for him stupid or what? And if they vote for him again, they’d be even stupider, for he’s shown his cards. Why would a mayor spend his time trying to arrest Netanyahu rather than running the city? You know the answer: he is doing performative actions to cater to his base, the “progressive” left, which is increasingly anti-Israel and antisemitic. He doesn’t want to piddle around running a city; he has his eye on the Big Stage. Thank Ceiling Cat that because he was born overseas of non-American parents, he could never be President.

Here’s Mamdani’s statement; a friend of mine commented that “Mamdani would expel the Jews from New York City if he could.” I think that’s true.

Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal. pic.twitter.com/YRezmW6YVx

— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) July 22, 2026

*The NYT has a summary article about a new PNAS paper examining geometric similarities as judged by humans and monkeys (rhesus macaques and olive baboons). It turns out that the primates are as good as human preschoolers at recognizing shapes in different orientations, while adults are the best. From the NYT:

Just like people, monkeys seem to grasp the abstract qualities of geometric shapes, such as whether they are symmetrical, have parallel sides or contain right angles, according to a new study published on Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This ability allows the monkeys — and us — to understand when two shapes are the same, even when they’ve been rotated or resized.

This finding challenges a long-held notion that humans’ geometric abilities are part of what makes our brains one of a kind. “Our hypothesis was that humans are not that unique,” in possessing this mathematical understanding, said Jialin Li, a cognitive neuroscientist at Carnegie Mellon University and the lead author of the study.

In their experiment, Ms. Li and her colleagues decided to give monkeys (a total of eight rhesus macaques and olive baboons), preschoolers and adult humans with different education levels the same geometric task. That way, if humans truly had an innate advantage, it would show up when comparing the young children and the monkeys. And if the advantage was learned, it might show up when comparing the humans who had different levels of schooling.

It was a challenge to find a task simple enough that even preschool-aged children and monkeys could reasonably complete it, but the team eventually decided to have all the study participants do a matching task. All were shown a shape with a specific size and geometric form on a screen. Then they were asked to pick that same shape out of a group of others.

“By manipulating the similarity of the shapes, we were able to look at what kinds of rules they’re using,” said Jessica Cantlon, a cognitive neuroscientist at Carnegie Mellon University whose lab conducted the study.

. . .The researchers then analyzed the results alongside those from another lab’s recent experiment, in which monkeys, young children and adults had to identify a geometrically dissimilar shape in a group.

Through this analysis, researchers realized that their participants were all capable of making connections between shapes and their angles, ratios and patterns — monkeys included.

This shared foundation suggests that our geometric intuition evolved long before humans did, which isn’t a surprise to many researchers who study animal cognition.

“These are hardly the only animals on Earth that have to deal with geometry,” said Ed Wasserman, an experimental psychologist at the University of Iowa, who was not involved in the new study.

Here are two types of tests that were done: a “which shape is the one above?” test and a “which shape is the odd one out” test. These figures are from the PNAS paper:

I’m not in the least surprised. Except for stuff like playing chess, most human abilities have their evolutionary roots in our ancestors, and those can also be seen in our relatives. Darwin was the first to realize this in The Descent of Man (1871), and looks for similar parallels in behavior, facial expression, etc.  Here’s a video about the shape experiment, its background, and its meaning:

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, the two enemy cats have an encounter:

Hili: Are you pretending you don’t see me?
Kulka: No, I’m thinking about social relationships.

In Polish:

Hili: Udajesz, że mnie nie widzisz?
Kulka: Nie, zastanawiam się nad relacjami społecznymi.

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

From Cheryl’s Amazingly Positive, No Politics Allowed, Interesting People Group; check it out:

From CinEmma:

from The English Language Police II. The contributor also notes that there should be a comma after “Iran.”

From Masih; a horrible incident in Iran, in which a guy hiding protestors himself gets killed for letting them into his house:

Since yesterday, people keep asking me the same question: How can someone be hanged for opening a door?

I want you to see the answer with your own eyes.

Two Iranian protesters. Both killed in front of cameras for showing compassion.

One opened a door when protesters came… pic.twitter.com/HEftBGJBDD

— Masih Alinejad (@AlinejadMasih) July 21, 2026

From Luana; the Canadian government and the indigenous people still haven’t dug up any bodies in the residential school grounds. Now the First Nations people don’t need no stinkin’ evidence because they can detect from the “power and energy” that there are dead bodies. It’s ridiculous. This joker says that it’s “disrespectful” to ask for evidence.

“I don’t think we should have to prove to anybody what happened to these [dead children at Kamloops] because they are there and they send us messages telling us they’re there…[@tkemlups] Chief Casimir and I went to visit the sacred site. You can tell they’re there, right?” pic.twitter.com/O7rZfoM84E

— Frances Widdowson (@FrancesWiddows1) July 18, 2026

In which Larry is held responsible for British politics:

This makes it sound like it’s me that’s making them quit… https://t.co/x7Oxos122T

— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) July 21, 2026

Two from my feed. Here is a town feeding a stork:

In Vinnytsia, Ukraine, a female stork was widowed when her mate died. She is incubating her eggs and is unable to feed herself.

Local residents have started feeding her. pic.twitter.com/bZ7lDaSioU

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) July 22, 2026

They’re also helping this newborn elephant get to its feet:

The moment an elephant gives birth, the entire herd gathers to welcome and protect the newborn 🥹🐘❤️ https://t.co/yZvAx31ihx

— Antidepressant Content (@depressionlesss) July 22, 2026

One I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:

This Norwegian Jewish woman was gassed as soon as she arrived in Auschwitz. She was 32 years old. https://t.co/3sFhORUFLi

— Jerry Coyne (@Evolutionistrue) July 23, 2026

Two from Matthew. First, a stalk-eyed fly; this is due to male-male competition in sexual selection (females’ eyes aren’t nearly that extreme):

It's true, what could be better than being a fly, though? I mean, look at them

— Ainsley S (@americanbeetles.bsky.social) 2026-07-21T20:53:26.183Z

Soccer superstar Wayne Rooney calls the World Cup Finals halftime show “crap”:

😭🫡

— Emily✨ (@emilyoram.bsky.social) 2026-07-19T20:22:00.348Z

Welcome to a Hump Day (“Ghjornu di a Gobba” in Corsican): Wednesday, July 22, 2026, and National Mango Day, celebrating my favorite fruit. I have visited India quite a few times, but my biggest regret is that I’ve never gone in the summer, which is mango season (the photo below shows a small selection of the varieities available). It’s bloody hot then, and I haven’t been willing to trade off eating mangos for being broiled.

It’s mango season in Pakistan, which is said to produce the world’s best mangos.  This man is trying the King of Mangos (note that they’re expensive!):

It’s also National BLT Sandwich Day, National Penuche Fudge Day, and Pi Approximation Day (The date written the European way is 22/7, which is an approximation of pi: 3.1428. . .)

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the July 22 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

Ripped from today’s headlines:

*The Trump administration is now going to allow Saudi Arabia to make nuclear weapons.

The Trump administration plans to announce Wednesday that it has reached a broad nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia that could lead to the country enriching its own fuel for nuclear reactors, U.S. officials said.

The accord is intended to further bind the United States with the Saudi government as the war with Iran strains the relationship. The Trump administration, according to officials, estimates it will provide billions of dollars for the U.S. nuclear industry — starting with Westinghouse, which designs many of the reactors sold abroad.

The Trump administration plans to formally sign and announce the agreement with the Saudis on Wednesday, said two U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy. It would announce the details to Congress soon afterward.

Although the agreement likely would have support among many Republicans, some U.S. lawmakers from both parties along with Israeli officials have expressed opposition to such a plan, fearing that the kingdom could use a civilian nuclear project to eventually develop nuclear weapons.

What’s the point? To keep Iran at bay? I don’t think so.

*And the Houthis are threatening to block the Red Sea passage.

If the Houthis make good on their threat to blockade ships traveling to and from Saudi Arabia via the Red Sea, it would yet again upend global oil markets by compromising a crucial fallback for the Strait of Hormuz.

Since the early weeks of the war with Iran, Saudi Arabia has been relying on a pipeline that bisects the country to reroute millions of barrels of oil from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea.

Most of that oil gets to market via the Bab al-Mandab strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, off the coast of Yemen and near territory controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia. A smaller portion goes north to the Mediterranean Sea, via a pipeline that crosses Egypt or, in the case of oil-derived fuel, via the Suez Canal.

Any disruption to those alternatives would further restrict the supply of oil and fuels to a market rattled by renewed attacks on vessels in the Persian Gulf. The threats already appear to be having an impact. Two oil tankers, the Rodos and the Xin Long Yang, that were headed toward the Bab al-Mandab made U-turns on Tuesday, according to the maritime data firm Kpler.

Here’s a map from Wikipedia showing the chokepoint. The article adds, “The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is 26 kilometres (14 nautical miles) wide at its narrowest point, limiting tanker traffic to two 2-mile-wide channels for inbound and outbound shipments.”

*The NYT has finally published an op-ed (by Omar Bartov) declaring the Israeli attack on Gaza a “genocide.”

In the earlier case of genocides that “succeeded” because of impunity at the time or the absence of subsequent accountability, the perpetrator state went on to benefit from its criminal actions. The invention and codification of the concept of genocide after World War II was meant to prevent the persistence of this dynamic of impunity and profit.

What we have seen unfold in Gaza, where Israel stands accused in the International Court of Justice of committing genocide in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, appears to portend a new future for the crime.

It is a future in which other nations or leaders may have an incentive to pursue genocidal policies knowing they will not only get away with murder but may even benefit from it. It is a future in which the countries and international organizations that had been committed to stopping and punishing genocide may give license to its recurrence.

Since the current cease-fire in Gaza went into effect on Oct. 10, and President Trump’s 20-point plan was endorsed by the Security Council on Nov. 17, more than 1,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli attacks. The military now controls nearly 70 percent of the Strip. Two million Palestinians, who had previously lived in one of the most densely populated areas in the world, are now confined to a third of it, trying to survive in devastated spaces lacking the most basic humanitarian infrastructure.

. . . Israel is unlikely to face a reckoning for its actions. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Mr. Netanyahu and his former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as for a Hamas official, who turned out to have been killed. The United States has tried to undermine the court, and Mr. Netanyahu has repeatedly visited the White House to, among other things, try to reportedly persuade Mr. Trump to launch his attack on Iran. Israel may eventually be found guilty of genocide by the International Court of Justice, where South Africa has lodged a separate case against Israel, but the implications of such a ruling are unclear as long as Israel retains U.S. support on the U.N. Security Council, which acts as the enforcement arm of the I.C.J.

. . . Some may argue that the case of Gaza is singular because Israel enjoys a unique international position thanks to its tight alliance with the United States and its reliance on the legacy of the Holocaust. Perhaps other states cannot expect to be rewarded and may even be punished for genocide. Yet what we are seeing today sets an extraordinary precedent, one that has the potential of undermining the entire premise of genocide as a crime punishable under post-World War II international law.

Two points here.  Bartov mentions Hamas only twice, one in the third sentence of this extract (and in the whole article). There is no criticism of Hamas, nor any recognition that its attack on October 7 was intended to begin a real genocide. The original Hamas Charter of 1988 explicitly calls for the killing of Jews, and while the later 2017 charter has effaced the antsemitism, it’s still antizionist, calls for a Palestinian state from the “river to the sea” and does not recognize the state of Israel. It now uses the words “Zionist” and “Zionism”, but nobody’s fooled by that. Palestinian children are still taught to kill Jews and become martyrs, and the PA still has its “Martyr’s Fund” to reward Palestinians jailed for killing or attacking Jews.  Does Bartov not recognize the explicit genocidal intent of Hamas?

Second, what did Bartov want Israel to do in the face of repeated terrorist attacks on Israel culimating on the October 7 massacre? Did he expect the Israeli army to go into Gaza, shoot a few bullets at Hamas without harming the populace in which they were embedded, and then withdraw? What would he have done to stop the terrorism?

*Over at It’s Noon in Israel, Amit Segal says that Iran’s nuclear program is “buried but not dead.”  And the WSJ has an exclusive called “Israel believes Iran moved nuclear centrifuges into PickAxe Mountain“.

t’s Tuesday, July 21, and buried at least 100 meters deep beneath a mountain near the city of Natanz lies a critical piece of Tehran’s nuclear program. But it isn’t enriched uranium that makes Pickaxe Mountain the stuff of Israeli nightmares.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Israeli intelligence has determined that Iran moved thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges into tunnels deep within the mountain last fall, following the 12-day war in June. If accurate, this represents a significant acceleration of Iran’s path to reviving its nuclear program—one that both the U.S. and Israel believed was effectively dead and buried.

Pickaxe Mountain has been under construction since the fall of 2020. At the time, Iran claimed the underground halls would replace the destroyed above-ground centrifuge assembly facility at Natanz’s main site, which was severely damaged in an explosion widely suspected to have been an act of sabotage. Iran describes the facility publicly as a centrifuge assembly plant. Israeli intelligence, however, indicates the purpose is far more ambitious: The site is believed capable of supporting not just assembly operations but limited uranium enrichment.

Over the past 15 months, satellite imagery has documented steady activity: truck traffic, tunnel reinforcements, and expanding security perimeters. The assumption had been that U.S. overflights and the implicit threat of precision strikes would deter Iran from restarting its nuclear program—but that calculation appears to have been wrong. The facility was not targeted during last year’s Israel-Iran war, nor has it been struck during the current round of U.S.-Iran fighting, either because operators assessed that bombs would have minimal effect or because the site remained under construction. But that calculus may now be shifting.

Last week, Donald Trump broke his public silence on Pickaxe Mountain. “Pickaxe is a possible target for a nice big fat shot right near the front door,” Trump said.

. . . and from the WSJ’s similar report:

Known as Mount Kolang in Iran, Pickaxe has been under surveillance by the U.S. and Israel for years, and what little is known about Iran’s activities at the site suggests it would present challenges to any airstrikes. Located near one of Iran’s main nuclear installations, Pickaxe was commissioned as an underground replacement for an Iranian centrifuge-assembly facility that was badly damaged after a 2020 explosion, which might have been an act of sabotage.

Activity has continued there steadily for the past 15 months, with truck traffic, tunnel reinforcements and a security perimeter springing up, said the Institute for Science and International Security, a think tank on nuclear and nonproliferation issues. There was also work around an older tunnel network that dates from 2007, which Iran has since sealed up.

“It is plausible that Iran moved centrifuges into the tunnels” in Pickaxe, said David Albright, the institute’s president.

Experts estimate that the subterranean complex reaches 300 to 450 feet deep beneath solid rock, with enough room to accommodate several nuclear-related facilities.

It still amazes me that any sentient being thinks that Iran will obey an agreement to not construct nuclear weapons. That is its overweening task, and if it agrees to abandon the drive for nukes, it is lying.  And, of all people, Trump seems to believe it, too. If he was serious in saying that no agreement to end hostilities can be made without Iran promising to never make nuclear weapons, he was deluded. Besides, we’ll have a new President in 2029, and all bets are off.

*Jake Altman tells all in the Free Press: “I was in the DSA. Here’s what they really believe.” (DSA is the party Democratic Socialists of America.) I’ll bite:

I was a member of the DSA from the 2010s until 2022. During that time, I witnessed a rise in extremism, ranging from an eagerness to collaborate with Leninist groups to a growing animosity toward the U.S. and the West. My final departure was prompted by a DSA statement that attributed Russia’s aggression against Ukraine to American “imperialist expansionism.”

So what does the DSA stand for? An answer to that question arrived last week in the form of a new platform. Among the DSA’s core aims are ending the presidency and Supreme Court. Abolishing prisons. Universal free housing. The elimination of all debt. Closing all U.S. military bases overseas. Lifting all sanctions from Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran. And so much more.

“Workers Deserve More!”—the title of the new platform—is meant to present a friendlier face to the world and overcome the radical reputation the organization has developed in many corners of the public. That makes it even more remarkable that the document is still so radical on its face. It advocates the elimination of capitalism, not a thick layer of redistribution on top of the current economy. It prompts readers to imagine a world where the profit motive has been squelched out of existence. “You have no debt. You don’t need health insurance. You don’t pay a mortgage or have a landlord, because comfortable housing is a human right. Your retirement is publicly funded.” It goes on to promise open borders, the abolition of the police, “free” everything, and guaranteed jobs, all with less effort from the individual. This is the stuff of fairy tales, but instead of a fairy godmother, the reader is greeted by an agent of the secret police.

. . .Crucially, DSA’s foreign policy positions ignore America’s enemies: While DSA targets U.S. and Israeli leadership for prosecution, the platform is silent on the actual atrocities committed by the Russian, Iranian, Venezuelan, and Chinese regimes. In early 2019, when I argued that the DSA should denounce the Nicolàs Maduro regime for mass persecution, abuse, torture, and murder, a local leader told me that to advocate against the Maduro administration would be to play into U.S. war propaganda.

It is always the U.S.—so-called American imperialism—that comes in for the harshest criticism while America’s authoritarian enemies get apologia. For the DSA, the world’s most authoritarian regimes deserve political cover. DSA blamed NATO and Western “imperialist expansionism” for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. October 7, 2023, the DSA first expressed its solidarity with Palestine and then laid the blame for Hamas’s terror attacks on Israel. After the Maduro regime brutalized and murdered its opponents, DSA members were happy to visit him and celebrate his regime. Meanwhile, the West is expected to dismantle its military capabilities.

Part of the DSA program is an attack on the forces of law and order. The DSA continues to push for police and ICE abolition while simultaneously establishing what sounds like a paramilitary wing. The DSA has formed a group called the Red Rabbits to prepare for a “national uprising against federal agents and police brutality.” So it’s a paramilitary force for the DSA, but no protection for the rest of us.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, and dare I say comrades?: this is what the mayor of NYC wants, along with AOC, Rashida Tlaib, and Bernie Sanders (the former two card-carrying DSA Congresswomen, and Bernie a running dog. Some day, when AOC tries to realize her ambition of becoming a Senator, or even President, this will come back to haunt her. Well, it should.

Read the platform for yourself (it’s short) and see if you want to live in an America like that.

*More ideological corruption in publishing: the Times of Israel reports that a U.S. publisher refused to publish a book, Cartoonists Against the Holocaust, containing 150 political cartoons published in the U.S. during the Nazi era, unless the author let the publisher add an anti-Israel statement. This is unbelievable.

A US publisher canceled a book about the Holocaust because the author refused to add text denouncing Israel to the book, the StandWithUS advocacy group said this week.

Dark Horse Comics was scheduled to publish the book, “Cartoonists Against the Holocaust,” by Dr. Rafael Medoff, this summer, but informed the author’s team last month that publication had been canceled.

The book uses 150 editorial cartoons that had been printed in US newspapers in the Nazi era, alongside commentary from Medoff, to show what Americans knew about the Holocaust at the time.

An editor at Dark Horse last year told Medoff that he would add a statement to the book accusing US President Donald Trump of “attempting to create concentration camp-style prisons,” among other offenses, according to correspondence shared by StandWithUs.

The proposed addition also included a paragraph condemning Israel.

Get a load of this “addition”:

“A country populated by a [sic.] ethnoreligious group who were immorally and horrifically tortured and killed in the Holocaust for their ethnicity is led by a Prime Minister that the world’s top war crimes court has issued warrants for his alleged acts of war crimes an [sic.] crimes against humanity,” the paragraph said.

In a response emailed to the editor, Medoff pushed back against “politicizing our book” and called the claims “factually inaccurate.”

The email also said that, during a phone conversation, the editor had demanded Medoff accuse Israel of genocide in the book’s introduction to prevent people from getting “mad.”

Medoff said the editor’s proposals amounted to minimizing the Nazi genocide and Holocaust inversion.

“What you are saying, in plain English, is that the Jews were victims of the Holocaust and now the Jews are committing another Holocaust,” Medoff wrote. “I understand it has become fashionable in certain circles today to accuse Israel of mass murder. But being fashionable is not the same as being right.”

More of the same—every damn day. Here the publisher wanted to establish purity by damning Israel, in a book that was about the Holocaust in WWII.  Relevant? No. Shameful? Certainly.

*On Saturday a Scottish runner, Josh Kerr, broke the men’s record for running the mile; the old record had stood for 27 years (the mile is not an international event, but is still an iconic distance).

Scottish middle-distance runner Josh Kerr became the fastest man in world history over four laps on Saturday, clocking 3:42.66 to break a world record set 27 years ago by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco.

The historic run at the London Diamond League fulfilled Kerr’s season-long Project 222 quest, so named for the number of seconds required to break 3:43.13, the standard set by El Guerrouj in 1999 at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, the site of his still-standing world record of 3:26.00 in the 1500 meters set a year prior. Prior to this race, Kerr was the sixth-fastest man in world history with a personal best of 3:45.34.

Kerr’s Brooks Beast teammate Brannon Kidder of the United States and Zan Rudolf of Slovenia paced the attempt with splits of 54.75 and 1:50.63. With a lap and a half to go, Rudolf stepped off the track and it was up to Kerr, who led American Yared Nuguse and Germany’s Robert Farken through 1200 meters in 2:46.39 with a quarter-mile split of 55.76. The final result was never in contest as the Brit powered home in a new world record. Nuguse finished a well-beaten second in 3:45.69, a season’s best.

. , ,Kerr has built a reputation as one of the most confident middle-distance runners in the world. On Saturday, he said he relied on the pacemakers to carry him through.

“The best analogy we worked with today was that my two pacemakers set the tone, the river,” Kerr said to FloTrack. “They set the stream and all I had to do sit in that water for as long as I could, follow it, and not fight it. I said I wasn’t on a chase today. I was flowing with the conditions that were set and I just needed to not slow down.”

It took year to shave off half a second from the previous record. Of course there is a physiological limit to how fast it can be run: humans cannot run a mile in ten seconds but they can in 3:43. And the time is reaching an asymptote, though we don’t know what it is. .

Here’s the record run:

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Szaron is lording it over Kulka (Hili hates Kulka but Szaron doesn’t mind her):

Szaron: Kulka is right below you.
Hili: Everyone ought to know their place.

In Polish:

Szaron: Pod tobą siedzi Kulka.
Hili: Każdy powinien znać swoje miejsce.

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

From Addicted to Ducks.  And this is true, too! In French, for example, duck noises are “kwan kwan” (IPA: /kwɛ̃/), with the vowel nasal.

From Beth:

From Bad Spelling or Grammar on Signs and Notices:

From the Free Press via Masih: two young Iranians just executed for sheltering protestors. The regime continues to kill left and right, but “regime change” is not on Trump’s agenda:

Two Iranian teenagers were just executed for opening their doors to fleeing protesters. They are only the latest victims of a regime that uses the world’s distractions to carry out mass killing, writes Masih Alinejad. https://t.co/2OabCNqUqL

— The Free Press (@TheFP) July 21, 2026

Larry caught a mouse! But after all, he is the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office. I think this is his second mouse ever.

No harm in showing the new boy that I’m an asset https://t.co/TynFehhv1E

— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) July 21, 2026

And Larry’s catch made big news!

Photo du Jour: Members of the press photograph a dead mouse caught by Larry the Downing St cat (left). By Stefan Rousseau/PA pic.twitter.com/2TrY1OFJh8

— Stefan Rousseau (@StefanRousseau) July 21, 2026

From Luana; disproportionality in a “studies” department:

Penn State has 42,000 undergrads. Exactly 10 graduated in women’s, gender & sexuality studies (WGSS) in 2023–24. The department lists 28 professors.

The “studies” department racket is real: every department combined—area, cultural, gender, black, Asian, Native American,…

— Brandon Fuller (@fuller_brandon) July 20, 2026

One from my feed; a lovely baby otter and its mom:

The embrace between Sea Otters and their babies is one of the most tender behaviours in the animal kingdom.

The mothers hug them against their bellies to keep them warm, groom them, and prevent the current from carrying them away.#WildlifePhotography #Otters 🦦

🎦 Credit:… pic.twitter.com/6ESIjciwf6

— PROTECT ALL WILDLIFE (@Protect_Wldlife) July 21, 2026

And one I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:

This Dutch Jewish girl was gassed as soon as she arrived in Auschwitz. She was eight years old. https://t.co/VTHrFrj4AK

— Jerry Coyne (@Evolutionistrue) July 22, 2026

Two from Doc Cobb. He posted this one about a man part of whose job is to remove knobs from the Tour de France course. He’s been doing it for 15 years!

The guy who artfully removes the knobs from the Tour de France roads so TV viewers will not be shocked by infantile graffiti.

— Matthew Cobb (@matthewcobb.bsky.social) 2026-07-21T11:39:44.961Z

And a “fossilized” keyboard. Proof that the Earth is less than 50 years old!

The famous fossilised keyboard in Norwich

— Matthew Cobb (@matthewcobb.bsky.social) 2026-07-21T08:08:55.375Z