Wednesday: Hili dialogue

June 20, 2018 • 6:45 am

Good morning on a temperate Wednesday, June 20, 2018: National Vanilla Milkshake Day (eccch!) as well as World Refugee Day. We’re in a for a coolish and rainy week in Chicago—good weather for ducks!

First, watch what the latest immigration news did to Rachel Maddow (h/t: Matthew):

Not a lot of things happened on this day in history; do events slow down in the Northern Hemisphere’s summer?  On this day in 1756, a group of British soldiers, Anglo-Indian soldiers, and Indian non-combatants was imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta. About 65 went in, and about 23 survived the one night in stifling, cramped, waterless quarters.  On this day in 1840, Samuel Morse was given a patent for his telegraph.  On June 20, 1944, the Nazi’s MW 18014 V-2 rocket attained an altitude of 176 km, technically becoming the first man-made object to reach outer space. Ironically, exactly one year later the U.S. State Department approved the transfer of Nazi rocket scientists, including Wernher von Braun, to the U.S.—to help us build rockets!  On June 20, 1972, the famous 18.5-minute gap appeared in White House tape recordings between President Nixon and his aides. The crooks were discussing Watergate, and the gap was fobbed off as a mistake of Nixon’s secretary Rose Mary Woods, who said she hit the “record” button while transcribing the tapes, accidentally erasing the segment.  Finally, on June 20, 1975—43 years ago—the movie “Jaws” was released in the U.S.; as Wikipedia claims, it became “the highest-grossing film of that time and start[ed] the trend of films known as ‘summer blockbusters’“.

Notables born on June 20 include Lillian Hellman (1905), Audie Murphy (1925), Eric Dolphy (1928), Brian Wilson (1942), Anne Murray (1945), Lionel Richie (1949), and Nicole Kidman (1967). I could find only one notable who died on this day: gangster Bugsy Siegel (1947, born 1906; murdered, of course).

A tweet for a musical genius who’s had a rough life:

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is playing Socrates:

Cyrus: Everything we know indicates that…
Hili: That we know too little.
In Polish:
Cyrus: Wszystko co wiemy wskazuje na to…
Hili: Że za mało wiemy.

Reader Paul sent a tweet showing a real Ceiling Cat:

Remember, he’s watching you and everything you do!

Tweets from Matthew: this first one shows a moving rainshower:

This cat wants only love (NOT!):

https://twitter.com/SimonNRicketts/status/1009023759095869441

From the writer and scientist Adam Rutherford (note to Adam: start wearing other colors? Are you a hipster?)

Au + Hg = ?

https://twitter.com/WorldAndScience/status/1008862080517246977

Another photo from Matthew when he was in Zermatt: sunrise on the Matterhorn:

This is real; click and read the article. You will lose what remaining faith you have in humanity.

From Grania:

A tweet from a First Lady retweeted by another First Lady. Mr. Trump, TEAR DOWN THAT POLICY!

And if you still have any faith in humanity left, have a gander at this.

. . . but you can still have faith in cats being cats!

The thread that follows this tweet is very good; have a look (the official pundit now is a deaf white cat named Achilles).

 

FFRF once again fights government over unconstitutional housing allowance for ministers

June 19, 2018 • 1:00 pm

For years the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) has been fighting a no-brainer legal battle against the U.S. government, which by law makes all ministers’ housing allowances completely tax-exempt. This means that if a minister is given, say, $10,000 per year by his church to subsidize housing, that money is completely tax free. It is, in effect, a gift.

This is unique for religious organizations and doesn’t apply to nonprofits like the FFRF or charitable organizations.  It’s also patently unconstitutional because it privileges religion over non-religion. The FFRF, or any nonprofit atheist organization, may give housing allowances to its employees or heads, but those are taxable. (According to FFRF lawyer Andrew Seidel’s description of the case on Patheos’s Freethought Now! website, the exemption is for “ministers of the gospel.” I suppose that means all pastors, rabbis, imams, and the like, but only Christians really preach the gospel!”) Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker, married co-Presidents of the FFRF, also get a housing allowance, but must pay taxes on it.

As the FFRF notes in an email bulletin, it’s not just the cost of housing (rent or mortgage) that is subsidized:

Clergy are permitted to use the housing allowance not just for rent or mortgage, but also for home improvements, including maintenance, home improvements and repairs, dishwashers, cable TV and phone fees, paint, towels, bedding, home décor, even personal computers and bank fees. They may be exempt from taxable income up to the fair market rental value of their home, particularly helping well-heeled pastors. The subsidy extends to churches, which can pay clergy less, as tax-free salaries go further.

This tax break given to ministers costs the government (i.e., the taxpayers) about $700 million per year! There is no rationale for keeping it unless similar exemptions are given to people, regardless of religion, in similar situations, i.e. nonprofit organizations. And the FFRF’s efforts to overturn a palpably illegal law have been stymied by the government over technicalities.

An original suit filed in 2011 was victorious; Judge Barbara Crabb for the Western District of Wisconsin ruled in 2013 (here) that the religious exemption violated the Establishment Clause (the First Amendment) by privileging religion. This was a major victory for the FFRF—and for secularism. It was also a shock to the government, and to the many churches and ministers who benefit from this illegal arrangement.

The government appealed. They won in 2014, but only on a technicality. The three judges on the Seventh Circuit court of appeals ruled (decision here) that the plaintiffs lacked the “standing” (legal requirement) to sue. That was because Gaylor and Barker had never asked the Internal Revenue Service for a refund of their taxes on the housing allowance. This was a way for the government to dismiss the case without having to face the First Amendment issues involved.

With standing, the plaintiffs went back to court. And they won in October of last year. And once again the government, determined to privilege religion, appealed to the Federal District Court of Appeals. Yesterday the FFRF filed yet another brief before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (Annie Laurie Gaylor et al. v. Stephen Mnuchin [Treasury Secretary] et al., pdf here). As an email I got from the FFRF noted:

The 7th Circuit threw FFRF’s original suit out on standing, arguing that Barker and Gaylor hadn’t gone through the motions of asking for a refund of their housing allowance from the IRS. Accordingly, they sought the refunds, and when denied refunds for the year 2012, went back to court.

Also named as a plaintiff is Ian Gaylor, representing the estate of FFRF President Emerita Anne Nicol Gaylor, who died in 2015 but whose retirement was paid in part as a housing allowance she was not allowed to claim in her lifetime.

As FFRF’s brief puts it, “Only ministers can exclude cash housing allowances, a result that is patently unfair.” Even the bible, the brief cryptically notes, commands citizens to “render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s.” The government “ignores basic principles of neutrality and fairness when it comes to clergy taxation,” charges FFRF.

The brief takes digs at the numerous friends of the court briefs filed against FFRF, representing outraged ministers and denominations as varied as Unitarian Universalists, Jewish, Muslim, mainstream Protestant and evangelical Christian groups, and some 8,000 individuals. “The silence of the amici is particularly noteworthy as none even suggests that expanding the cash housing allowance exemption to non-clergy might be fair. They confirm the value of the exemption, while seeking to confine it to themselves,” contends the brief.

As Andrew Seidel notes in his Patheos post, the government’s brief consists largely of a list of religious organizations favoring the exemption, so their argument is basically not a Constitutional one, but simply “a lot of us do it and want that tax break.” If the courts are really determined to keep the ministerial privilege, they’ll have to do some fast tap-dancing this time. And of course if the government loses, they can keep appealing—all the way up to the Supreme Court.  Yet the tax break is really so palpably unconstitutional that I can’t imagine what the courts could do to keep it, unless they give similar tax breaks to atheist nonprofit organizations or any comparable nonprofit.

If you want links to the judicial history of the case, here are some:

Appeal Documents

Dan and Annie Laurie (and the whole apparatus of the FFRF) are formidable and tenacious foes, and of course I hope they win. Here they are with their new brief:

I’m a member of the FFRF (it’s only $40 a year, and you get a cool and long monthly newspaper), and am also on the honorary board of directors. If you can spare $40, I’d urge you to throw it their way, as they use the money to actually get stuff done—and to keep this country secular, the way its Founders intended.

 

Readers’ wildlife photos

June 19, 2018 • 9:15 am

Young Jamie Blilie has sent the second installment of his most recent photos via his dad, James Blilie. The captions are indented. At bottom we have a Stephen Barnard photo of DUCKS!

A flock of Common Redpolls going after the thistle seed feeder (Acanthis flammea):

A Nashville Warbler (Oreothlypis ruficapilla):

A Magnolia Warbler (Setophaga magnolia):

A Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia):

A House Finch (?) on our thistle seed feeder (Haemorhous mexicanus).

An albino Eastern Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis).

And from Stephen Barnard in Idaho: “My mallard family” [Anas platyrhynchos].  Note that there are eight ducklings, the same number Honey has: [UPDATE: Stephen emailed me that there was a straggler, ergo 9 ducklings.]

Spot the paraglider!

June 19, 2018 • 8:00 am

Matthew originated the “Spot the. . . ” posts, and they’ve always been wildlife. But here’s one he took from his hotel balcony in Zermatt, and it’s SPOT THE PARAGLIDER.  Can you see it? Click photo to enlarge:

The answer is below the fold:

Continue reading “Spot the paraglider!” →

Tuesday: Hili dialogue

June 19, 2018 • 6:30 am

It’s June 19, 2018, and a cruel Tuesday. But palliate the cruelty with a drink, as it’s National Martini Day. And it’s also a day I didn’t know existed: World Sauntering Day, decreed to prompt us to slow down and smell the roses. Wikipedia defines what we’re supposed to do:

Sauntering is a verb describing a style of walking. It is simply to walk slowly, preferably with a joyful disposition. Sauntering has been spoken of most notably by many of the naturalist writers in history including Henry David Thoreau and John Burroughs. See saunter.

It’s also Juneteenth; see below.

Not much happened on this day in history. On June 19, 1269, Louis IX of France ordered all Jews to wear an identifying yellow badge in public or face a fine. Only a bit less than 700 years later, a similar order obtained in a neighboring country.  It’s also Juneteenth, a saddish holiday commemorating the day in 1865 on which slaves in Galveston Texas, fully two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, were finally informed that they were free. On June 19, 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, convicted of spying for the Soviet Union, were executed at Sing Sing prision in New York.  Also on this day, exactly 40 years ago, the comic strip Garfield made its debut; it now holds the Guinness World Record for the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world.

Here’s the first strip:

Finally, it was June 19 six years ago that Wikileaks boss Julian Assange asked for asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to the U.S. He remains in the embassy, as he’d be arrested for violating bail conditions were he to step outside.

Notables born on June 19 include Blaise Pascal (1623), Wallis Simpson (1896), Moe Howard of the Three Stooges (1897), Guy Lombardo (1902), Lou Gehrig (1903, died of ALS 1941), Lester Flatt (1914), Aung San Suu Kyi (1945), Salman Rushdie (1947), and Laura Ingraham (1963).  Those who expired on this day include J. M. Barrie (1937), Ethel and Julius Rosenberg (1953, see above), Slim Whitman (2013), and Otto Warmbier (last year after being transported to the U.S. from the DPRK).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili has a taste for mouse:

Hili: Time for hunting.
A: You’d better come home.
Hili: Too late. I’ve heard the call of Nature.
In Polish:
Hili: Czas na polowanie.
Ja: Chodźmy lepiej do domu.
Hili: Za późno, usłyszałam wołanie natury.

From Matthew, who calls this tweet, “DON’T DO IT, FLY!”:

Some kind of mutant or developmentally messed up tadpole. LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT THING!

More explanations:

Thanks to natural selection, even the tiniest creatures can be ridiculously complex. Look at this gastropod larva:

https://twitter.com/rmartinledo/status/1008565027585044480

Matthew has just returned from an academic sojourn to Switzerland, including a stay in Zermatt. Here’s a picture he tweeted from there:

Who could resist giving a magpie some money to watch it stick it in the bank?!

And a cat in some futuristic thing that I don’t understand because I don’t follow these things.

Finally, a tweet (modified) which Matthew says was modified from the Brazil/Switzerland World Cup game (a 1-1 tie).

https://twitter.com/Sennesation/status/1008472105342722053

Monday: Duck report

June 18, 2018 • 2:33 pm

All is well here at Botany Pond, though it’s bloody hot today: 93°F (34°C) at the moment. But the pond is shady and the ducks are paddling around in cool, fresh water.

Here are some scenes from yesterday. They all came streaming to my lunch whistle, and lined up facing me, waiting for their duckling pellets and mealworms. As always, Honey stands guard nearby. Frank and Hank haven’t put in an appearance for several days.

All order breaks down when the food is dispensed. The ducklings can now dabble for corn, though they’re not nearly as good as Honey at dabbling. I ensure that every duckling (and mom) gets a good ration.

Inevitably, they go to their “bathtub” for preening and bathing after meals. They also shake out their little wings. You can see how small they are. It will be at least a month before those wings are large enough to take the birds to the sky:

Honey stands guard at bathtime, too. Here another duck is flapping its wing-stubs.

. . .  while another, having immersed itself, reappears with a big splash:

After bathing, they then repair to the duck island for a preen and then a snooze in the heat:

Honey is ever watchful. To me she looks tired in this picture, as well she should be after shepherding a brood of unruly teenagers around in the heat. Or maybe she’s just wistful, thinking “Why on earth did I have so many kids?”

Since I don’t watch television, I learned from reader Tom that Tony Soprano of the eponymous crime series had a fondness for ducks, and fed a mom and her babies who took up residence in his swimming pool. Here’s one scene where he feeds them. Sadly, he should be giving them something other than bread!

Vote for the kakapo Lego set

June 18, 2018 • 1:30 pm

Kakapos (Strigops habroptila), as you should know by now, are the world’s only flightless parrot, and as such—and being residents of once-predator-free New Zealand—are highly endangered, and have been moved to predator-free islands to try to keep the species going. They are also adorable, as well as being horny. Here is perhaps the most popular video of any parrot: Sirocco, the “spokesparrot” for kakapos.

As Heather Hastie points out in her latest post, there’s a campaign afoot to have Lego create a Kakapo Kit, which will produce moveable bird replicas that look like this:

and this:

I’m pretty sure that if Lego builds this thing, part of the proceeds will be used to save this wonderful bird. They need 10,000 votes to get Lego to put it up for serious consideration, and they already have 2209 votes with 600 days to go (see the proposal here).

You can join and register to vote simply by giving your name and a password, which you can do here. Let’s put the kakapo set over the top!

Heather called this to my attention, and I’m on board with her campaign. Remember, our votes helped get the new Monopoly set to adopt a cat token, and I’m hoping we can get Lego to make a kakapo set. Think of how much it will teach kids about nature and conservation!