Saturday: Hili dialogue

Welcome to the weekend: it’s CaturSaturday, January 25, 2025, the Sabbath for all Jewish cats, and National Irish Coffee Day, a drink that shouldn’t be disdained, especially when made with good Irish whiskey, strong coffee, and real whipped cream. Proper preparation: running the cream into the drink over a spoon:

It’s also National Fish Taco Day (perhaps the most horrible item in Mexican cuisine), Fluoride Day (soon to disappear), and Burns Supper (honoring the birthday of Robert Burns in 1759, and the meal goes this way:

Supper begins with a soup course, which usually is a Scottish soup like potato soup, Scotch broth, Cullen skink, or cock-a-leekie. The main course is haggis, a traditional Scottish meat dish. Vegetarian haggis has become an option in recent years. Everyone stands as the haggis is brought in, usually by the cook, on a large dish. The bagpiper plays and the haggis is brought to the host’s table and set down. Address to a Haggis, written by Burns, is then recited. During the poem, a knife is usually sharpened and used to cut the haggis. At the poem’s end, a Scotch whisky toast is given for the haggis, and the guests are seated. The haggis is usually served with mashed potatoes (tatties) and mashed swede turnip (neeps).

I suppose it’s better than a fish taco, so long as the haggis is McSween’s haggis with meat rather than offal.

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

Da Nooz:

*Hamas has apparently reneged on the ceasefire blackmail deal that Israel agreed to by releasing four female soldiers tomorrow instead of four female civilians. (Note that the fmale hostages were captured in their pajamas, but were released in IDF uniforms, a clever piece of propaganda by Hamas.)  This could mean that there are only a handful remaining live female civilians, though one may be released next week by Palestinian Islamic jihad. This also means that Israel has to gin up extra Palestinian prisoners: instead of 30 per hostage, for soldiers it must produce 50 freed terrorists, each on imprisoned for murdering Israelis. This was a serious enough violation that Netanyahu had to huddle with his security officials before deciding what to do, but in the end accepted Hamas changes (the pressure from the U.S.—from the Trump administration—for Israel to adhere to Hamas’s blackmail was too great).

Israel has informed the mediators that the list of four female hostages Hamas published earlier this evening violates the terms of the agreement, which requires the terror group to release all living female civilians before releasing female soldiers, Channel 12 reports.

Hamas has informed the mediators that it remains committed to the deal and that there were simply technical complications that led to the violation. Arbel Yehud, one of the last female civilian hostages believed to still be alive, is being held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, not Hamas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held consultations with his security chiefs and ultimately decided to move forward with the list that Hamas has provided, despite the violation. Participants in the meeting determined that while Hamas violated the agreement, the violation was not serious enough to blow up the entire deal.

Israel has informed the mediators that the list of four female hostages Hamas published earlier this evening violates the terms of the agreement, which requires the terror group to release all living female civilians before releasing female soldiers, Channel 12 reports.

Hamas has informed the mediators that it remains committed to the deal and that there were simply technical complications that led to the violation. Arbel Yehud, one of the last female civilian hostages believed to still be alive, is being held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, not Hamas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held consultations with his security chiefs and ultimately decided to move forward with the list that Hamas has provided, despite the violation. Participants in the meeting determined that while Hamas violated the agreement, the violation was not serious enough to blow up the entire deal.

It is not yet clear, though, whether Israel will retaliate with steps of its own that violate the terms of the agreement. Israel is slated to begin allowing Palestinians to return to northern Gaza tomorrow. It is also required by the deal to release 50 Palestinian security prisoners for each female soldier freed.

The families of the four female hostages have not yet been formally notified by the government that their loved ones will be released tomorrow.

Those notifications are expected to take place shortly, Channel 12 says.

Later this evening, Israel is slated to publish the list of Palestinian security prisoners that it will release tomorrow.

From another article:

The list of the four soldiers is in apparent violation of the ceasefire agreement, which states that female civilians are to be released first, then female soldiers, followed by the elderly and then those who are deemed extremely ill. Israel however reportedly agreed to receive the hostages, deciding the breach was not grave enough to collapse the deal.

Outside of the five surveillance soldiers, there are two female civilian hostages from the original list of 33 slated to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire deal: Arbel Yehud, 29, and Shiri Silberman Bibas, 33. Israel had conveyed to Hamas that it expected Yehud — who is thought to be held by fellow terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad — to be released this weekend, however, she was not named by Hamas on Friday.

So far Israel has kept its part of the bargain, but Hamas is toying with the negotiations like a cat with a mouse. How long will it be before Hamas starts handing back coffins instead of living hostages? Believe me, they will be the last “hostages” released, and yet Israel has agreed to exchange 30-50 Palestinian prisoners for each body of a dead hostage. I predict that the turnover of dead hostages in coffins will not be filmed.

*No! The latest NYT headline as I write, at the top left, is “Trump leaves Democrats dazed and on the defensive” (archived here).  Who could have foreseen this six months ago?

As President Trump pushes aggressively to reshape the federal government, Democrats have retreated into a political crouch that reflects their powerlessness in Washington.

Far from rising up in outrage, the opposition party’s lawmakers have taken a muted wait-and-see approach as Mr. Trump tries to end birthright citizenship, halt diversity programs in the federal government, undo foreign policy alliances and seek retribution against his perceived political enemies.

In some cases, Democrats are even making a show of working with Republicans.

Scores of them voted for the Laken Riley Act, which allows the deportation of unauthorized migrants who are accused but not yet convicted of crimes. Others volunteered to work with Republicans on a border security bill. And while Democrats are fighting the nominations of Pete Hegseth as defense secretary and Tulsi Gabbard as national intelligence director, Mr. Trump’s other cabinet appointees appear on a glide path to confirmation without much vocal resistance.

It is telling that in the opening days of the new Trump administration, the loudest pushback to the president’s policies has come not from an elected Democrat but from the bishop at Washington National Cathedral, who asked Mr. Trump directly during a service to have mercy on immigrants and L.G.B.T.Q. children.

“We’re no longer trying to win a news cycle,” said Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii, a Democrat who has become an outspoken messenger for his party on social media. “We’re trying to win an argument, and that’s going to take time and patience and discipline.”

A group of 70 progressive House Democrats and six Senate Democrats gathered at the Capitol on Thursday to try to settle on a single message of opposition to Mr. Trump as he takes aim at myriad liberal constituencies and priorities. The assembled Democrats concluded that their best course of action was to focus on economic concerns, which they believe led to the party’s November defeats.

Well, yes, economic concerns was one issue, and Trump had better bring down inflation by the midterms, but there was more to the defeats than economics.  Immigration, to name one.  Perhaps Schatz could conceive of the strategy more as having to confect a program that Americans will vote for than to “win an argument”!

*It just gets worse. As you know, for no rational reason, Trump pardoned 1500 convicted insurrectionists, and doing that is similar (but not identical) to freeing Palestinian terrorists. For the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers aren’t going to sit around twiddling their thumbs; they’re going to cause trouble.

Enrique Tarrio thought he would be in prison until 2040. As he waited to board a plane to Miami, now a free man thanks to President Trump, the Proud Boys leader wasn’t certain what was next for him except for one thing: retaliation.

The 40-year-old Tarrio was among the roughly 1,500 individuals who received pardons for their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. “I was innocent of the charges,” he said in an interview before his flight, but alleged the legal system was “weaponized” against him and others. Now, he said, it’s time to turn the tables and prosecute the prosecutors, including former Attorney General Merrick Garland.

*As usual, I’ll steal three items from Nellie Bowles’s weekly news summary from the Free Press, called this week “TGIF: I solemnly swear“. Oh hell, I’ll add another, as Nellie’s collection this week is simply too good:

→ The Dem reformation is coming: First the bad news for Democrats, then the good news for me. Bad news: The Democrats have never been more unpopular. From CNN, which this week announced layoffs for about 200 staffers: “Overall, just 33% of all Americans express a favorable view of the Democratic Party, an all-time low in CNN’s polling dating back to 1992.” The good news: This is rock bottom. And now we can look around and think about what brought us here and why some of us made the choices we made. We can think about what we’ve done until we’re ready to come back to the table and act nicely. I’m still waiting for apologies from my old Hamasnik friends but I’m sure those are on the way, right? Hello? Stop throwing Vegenaise at me, I’m just here to gloat!

I used to think Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was the future of the party. She’s so pretty and put-together and has such a great origin story. But AOC has not evolved with the times. Her vibe has not shifted. Here she was this past Sunday, on her couch while delivering a straight-to-camera warning:​​

We are on the eve of an authoritarian administration. This is what twenty-first-century fascism is starting to look like. Republicans really model themselves after Orbán’s Hungary. And so you can look to see how Viktor Orbán runs Hungary to get a taste of how they will try to govern and control media, and companies in the United States. . . . As far as what we do, you know, this is a time of experimentation. A lot of people will still use platforms—can still use platforms—but I also look towards places where you have more ownership as well and develop your audiences there.

→ The long arm of the Kama-law: The Democrats’ official social media posted an image of Kamala Harris that is fully AI. How can you tell? Her arm has been stretched to strange, unnecessary proportions. The caption reads: “History made.”

Perhaps it was a heavy-handed metaphor: Kamala’s reach was so inspiring, so historical, that her arm had to be doctored to show it. Or maybe they’re saying she made history for having the longest arm ever. Were there no real-life pictures of Kamala Harris walking?

→ Hamas’s startling show of strength: As three young Israeli hostages were finally freed from captivity, Hamas militants used the moment to project some amount of strength. Gone was their ragtag civilian garb, the flip-flops; now they had clean, matching military uniforms and bulletproof vests. They stood on top of trucks jeering and waving guns, as if saying resolutely: “We’re still in charge of Gaza.” Which raises the question: How in the hell is Hamas still in charge of Gaza? How could Israel wipe out Hezbollah in what seemed like days but Hamas is still holding hostages, still marching, still waving guns from trucks? As the hostage girls were loaded into cars to go back to Israel, they were given special gift bags that included photos of them in captivity. Someone there has a sick sense of humor.

One clue to Hamas’s continued hold might be that the UN department in Gaza is quite literally an extension of Hamas: The hostages reported that they were held in a UNRWA refugee camp. I’m pretty dumb, but even I’m not dumb enough to believe that the folks running a UNRWA refugee camp would have no idea there were Israeli hostages there. Like, a camp with a bunch of refugees and then three Israeli girls with ropes around their hands and ankles. Just normal, everyday Gazans at the refugee camp, screaming in Hebrew, begging to go home?

→ Also, knives: Actually, there are two big English scandals, and the second one is knives. They’re too easy to buy! Knife-wielding terrorists don’t kill people, knives do.

After a young terrorist in Southport stabbed to death three young girls in a dance class, much was done to suppress that information. And to suppress the fact that the killer, Axel Rudakubana, was of Rwandan descent and an Islamist who wanted to kill the little girls because dance class is sinful. The police went so far as to say it absolutely wasn’t terrorism, and the media only described him as a “quiet choirboy” from Wales. Eventually, it all came out. The killer had an al-Qaeda training manual and ricin at home. Plus, people tried to report him to the police three times beforehand. Anyway, here is the British response:

Now to buy a knife, you’ll have to present ID and appear on live video. Axel killed three people that day in the dance studio and stabbed 10 more. And these were horrific slayings: He stabbed six-year-old Bebe 122 times; seven-year-old Elsie had 85 knife wounds—a teacher hiding in the closet thought everyone had escaped until she heard the girls asking him to stop. And the British response was to protect Axel, to hide his motives, to smear those who were upset over the killings, and now to make all British people do a video call before buying a kitchen knife, which is more likely to deter tech-illiterate Boomers who want to up their kitchen game than would-be terrorists. Modern England is the best argument against genetic determinism that I could imagine. Because the same set of genes that once conquered the world have now made for a small, poor little island, worried over seeming too harsh toward the teenager with the kitchen knife killing children—don’t offend him, Barnaby! It’s fascinating. Into the nature vs. nurture debate, we must add the case of the British people.

[JAC note]: the perp was 18, but I can’t find evidence of an Al-Qaeda training manual at Nellie’s link]

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is being intellectual:

Hili: Do you really believe in what is written in the newspapers?

Andrzej: No, but for a sociologist lies are important information about society.

Hili: Czy ty naprawdę wierzysz w to, co piszą gazety?

Ja: Nie, ale dla socjologa kłamstwa są ważną informacją o społeczeństwie.

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From Things With Faces:

From Cat Memes:

From The Cat House on the Kings:

From Masih; if you don’t think the Houthis are terrorists, when they fire on ships of several nations going through the canal, you’re blind (or have a weird definition of “terrorism”):

Yes, let’s call terrorists by their name: It’s time to END the era of appeasement.

President @realDonaldTrump’s decision to re-designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization is a bold and necessary move. For too long, the Houthis have acted like international pirates,… pic.twitter.com/g22OnDS7kj

— Masih Alinejad Read More