Thursday: Hili dialogue Why Evolution Is True – Why Evolution Is True

Welcome to Thursday, November 16, 2023, and National Fast Food Day, which for some people is every day. I do get a hankering for a McDonalds cheeseburger and fries every once in a while, and I noticed in Paris that the McDonalds places were doing a brisk business with the French.

I will soon start putting up readers wildlife photos again, so send em if you got em!

Its also Beaujolais Nouveau Day (the vintage of this quaffable grape juice was released yesterday), World Philosophy Day, National Button Day, the UN commemoration of International Day for Tolerance , and, in Iceland, Icelandic Language DayorDagur slenskrar tungu.Heres a man speaking Icelandic for about 3 minutes. Read more about the language here.

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this by consulting the November 16 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*Several big pieces of news on the war: Israel is inside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, interviewing patients and staff, there is an ongoing process to trade the kidnapped hostages for jailed terrorists in Israel, and Biden, bless his ignorant heart, is pushing for a two-state solution. (I favor that, too, but at this point I think its futile, and will not stop terrorist attacks on Israel. From the NYT:

The hospital:

The Israeli military was solidifying itshold on the Gaza Strips largest hospitalon Wednesday, after storming the complex overnight. Soldiers were conducting searches and interrogations inside, and Israeli officers said they had found rifles, ammunition, body armor and other military equipment in a radiology building.

In a videofilmed at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, a military spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, showed about 10 guns, ammunition, protective vests and Hamas military uniforms, some of which he said were hidden behind M.R.I. machines, others in nearby storage units and some behind what he described as a blast-proof door. The assertions made in the video could not be independently verified.

Hamas, which has repeatedly denied using the hospital for military operations, issued a statement calling the Israeli claims a fabricated story that no one would believe. A Hamas official, Bassem Naim, speaking to Al Jazeera, dismissed the video as falsified theatrics.

. . . .In a news conference, the director of hospitals in Gaza, Muhammad Zaqout, said that Israeli forces entered the Al-Shifa medical complex around 2 a.m. on the northern side, specifically targeting the ground floor of the surgery building.

At around the same time last night, the Israeli military announced that it was carrying out a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area of the hospital.

No word on whether there are tunnels underneath Al-Shifa.

Heres that one-shot video:

The two-state solution:

President Biden said on Wednesday that the endpoint of the Israel-Hamas conflict has to be aPalestinianstate that is real, existing alongside an Israeli one.

He added that he and his aides have been negotiating with Arab nations on next steps, but did not give any details.

I can tell you, I dont think it ultimately ends until theres a two-state solution, Mr. Biden said at a news conference on an estate south of San Francisco after his summit with Xi Jinping, Chinas leader.

Mr. Biden and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken have been publicly emphasizing the need for a two-state solution in recent days. The establishment of a Palestinian state has long been a U.S. policy goal, but no recent administration has succeeded in making any substantial headway on the issue. The last major push along those lines came from John Kerry when he was secretary of state in the Obama administration.

Mr. Biden said he did not have a specific idea of when to tell Israel it should halt its war in Gaza. He said the fighting would end once Hamas could no longer do horrific things to Israelis. Hamas still has weapons and technology beneath hospitals in Gaza, he said.

Does Biden not know that unless every bit of Jew hatred and desire to eliminate Israel is effaces from the new Palestinian state, it will continue to terrorize Israel. I dont know what the solution is, but I dont think Biden does, either.

The hostages. This is very good news, especially because the hostage-and-prisoner trade, if it occurs, would be one to one, rather than demanding that Israel release all 4500 jailed Palestinians accused of terrorism; and the released prisoners would be women and children, not young male terrorists.

Israel believes that Wednesdays raid on Al-Shifa Hospital will put pressure on Hamas to finish a deal to trade dozens of Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners, according to two senior Israeli officials.

Negotiations for a deal are underway, with the various players working on a framework of an agreement, according to the two Israeli officials, who are involved in the Israeli effort to release the hostages through a deal, as well as a third with knowledge of the matter. Under the proposal, Hamas would release 50 women and children abducted during the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks for roughly the same number of Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons.

The three officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations as did two other Israeli officials who discussed the hostage negotiations.

The deal, being negotiated by Qatari, Egyptian and American officials, would also include the cessation of hostilities for several days, a so-called humanitarian pause, four of the officials said.

*This comes from yesterday afternoon. The Jewish News Syndicate also reports that the IDF finally entered the dangerous parts of Al-Shifa hospital, said by nearly everyone except the Gazans to harbor Hamas headquarters and built atop a network of terrorist tunnels. The evidence above shows that Hamas was there, but the tunnels, if they exist, havent yet been found.

The IDF forces include medical teams and Arabic-speaking soldiers who have undergone specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, with the intent that no harm is caused to the civilians being used by Hamas as human shields.

A tweet below showing some of the assault as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid. Translation (by Google):

scans for explosive devices and other terrorist infrastructures at the same time as humanitarian aid; The forces continue their targeted activity at Shifa Hospital: IDF forces continue to operate in a targeted manner in a part of the Shifa Hospital area where they are scanning for Hamas infrastructure and terrorist means. Also, the forces delivered humanitarian equipment and placed it at the entrance to the hospital

More from the paper:

The army announced on Wednesday morning thatincubators, baby food and medical supplies brought into Gaza by IDF tanks had reached Shifa, and that the medical teams and Arabic speakers were ensuring that the supplies reached those in need.

The IDF has publicized a safe evacuation route for civilians to leave Shifa and facilitated wide-scaleevacuationsahead of its operation against Hamas. It has also maintained a regular dialogue with hospital authorities.

In recent weeks, the IDF has publicly warned time and again that Hamas continued military use of the Shifa Hospital jeopardizes its protected status under international law, and enabled ample time to stop this unlawful abuse of the hospital, the IDF said on Wednesday. Yesterday, the IDF conveyed to the relevant authorities in Gaza once again that all military activities within the hospital must cease within 12 hours. Unfortunately, it did not, the statement continued.

Israel believes that some of the more than 240 hostages captured during Hamass Oct. 7 massacre may be held underneath Shifa. An initial search of the hospital on Wednesday showed no signs of hostages, but the IDF believes that the operation could yield intelligence leading to their whereabouts.

*The BBC, which along with the Guardian publishes the most slanted anti-Israel take on the Hamas/Israel war, has really stepped in it this time. The original Reuters report was on the IDF forces targeting Al Shifa hospital, and said this:

The Israeli military said its forces were carrying out an operation on Wednesday against Hamas within Gazas biggest hospital, Al Shifa.

In a statement, the military said: Based on intelligence information and an operational necessity, IDF forces are carrying out a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Shifa Hospital.

The military said: The IDF forces include medical teams and Arabic speakers, who have undergone specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, with the intent that no harm is caused to the civilians.

Heres how a BBC reporter mangled the Reuters article simply by changing a word:

Malgorzatas take:

But I dont think its incompetence. The journalist must have been so sure that Jews = bad that she didnt understand what she was reading in Reuters message. I dont suppose she lied. She just couldnt fathom that Israelis were capable of humane action so she assumed that they were shooting doctors and Arabic speakers, not supplying them.

Below is the BBCs inevitable apology, which I retweeted:

Malgorzatas take on the above: A very unconvincing apology. This woman [the reporter] should be fired immediately and a special course of history and journalistic ethics should be given to all working for the BBC.

*Theres the usual bilge at the NYT about renaming birds: an op-ed called North American birds will no longer be named for racistsor anybody else. (I swear, the paper is getting worse every day.)

On Nov. 1, the American Ornithological Society announced that it would be renaming all the birds under its purview that are currently named for human beings. The birds new names will reflect the species appearance or habitat some trait associated with the actual bird, in other words, and not with the colonial explorer who first identified it.

There is power in a name, and some English bird names have associations with the past that continue to be exclusionary and harmful today, said Colleen Handel, the president of the society,in a statement. We need a much more inclusive and engaging scientific process that focuses attention on the unique features and beauty of the birds themselves. The process of choosing new names will begin next year.

This change, which will affect some 150 North American birds, has beena long time coming. Ornithologists and amateur birders alike have long wrestled with the historical nature of bird names bestowed by early collectors. The norms of that era were themselves problematic, as explorers tromped across an already occupied landscape, killing, collecting and naming after themselves thousands of animals and plants that had already been given human names by people who lived more ecologically responsible lives.

Some of the birds not all, its important to note, but some were named for people who held views considered repugnant today. John James Audubon, the naturalist for whom the Audubons shearwater is named, wasan unrepentant slaveholder who opposed emancipation. Gen. Winfield Scott, for whom the Scotts oriole is named, led theforced eviction of the Cherokee along what is now known as the Trail of Tears.

The idea that some of the most beautiful birds in North America still carry those ugly names is objectionable to a lot of us, a scar from the past still enshrined in the present like a Confederate statue installed in a town square or a robber barons name gracing a university building. Such monuments represent history, its true, and history should not be forgotten. But neither should it be celebrated wholesale, especially when the bigotries and injustices of the past are too often on clear display in our own age.

I discussed this issue in detail just two weeks ago, Listing the pros and cons of renaming versus naming, I concluded that the downside slightly outweighs the upside, one reason being that the act will do nothing to increase the diversity of birders. As I said:

But I have never heard of a single person who has been harmed by a bird named after a racist, and I doubt that renaming ALL birds with eponyms would increase the diversity of birders. Changing such names makes you feel virtuous and look virtuous to others, but is purely for show.

Greg Mayer added this in the comments. By worldwide uniformity, he means uniformity of names among English speakers only, and even that has its problems:

The groups that care about official common names are very much set upon worldwide uniformity (which of course is the point of scientificnames theyre the same everywhere, subject only to taxonomic freedom of thought). The AOS is going to have to convince the BOU, BirdLife Australia, Lynx Edicions, etc. to adopt their principle of no patronyms.

And of course the non-Anglophone countries, which are far more populous than the anglophone ones, will keep their old names, many of which will be offensive under progressive criteria.

*The Graduate Students Union (GSU) at the University of Chicago, new this year, is already taking stands on political issues, and not very wise ones. This doesnt violate our Kalven Principle of institutional neutrality, I think, because the GSU is actually part of a non-University organization, the United Electrical Workers.

The Harvard Crimson reports that a similar union at Harvard, this time part of the United Auto Workers, made similar endorsements:

Harvards graduate student union voted on Friday to endorse national union statements supporting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel and calling for a ceasefire in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

In the largest non-contract vote in the unions history, more than 60 percent of roughly 600 votes from members of the Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Auto Workers were in favor of signing two statements.

Approximately 64 percent of the union voted to support a statement signed by UAW rank-and-file members endorsing BDS, a movement advocating for the economic and cultural boycott of companies, organizations, and institutions with ties to Israel. The statement, which calls for the end of occupation and colonization of all Arab lands, has not been adopted by the UAW.

As members of the labor movement, we call on U.S. labor unions to cut all ties with Israeli unions, the UAW rank-and-file statement reads.

Around 69 percent voted to support a second statement primarily signed by the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America calling for a ceasefire in the ongoing war in Gaza.

We commit ourselves to work in solidarity with the Palestinian and Israeli peoples to achieve peace and justice, it reads.

Now Im not sure what grad-student unions are even doing taking political positions that apparently represent the views of the union when only 60-70% of its members agree with those positions (and probably not many Jewish students!). It seems to me that unions, like universities, should be institutionally neutral, because not only can a union position chill speech, but it may misrepresent the feelings of a substantial proportion of its members. These stands probably accomplish little except signal the virtue of more than 50% of the members. (I dont know what the vote was for the University of Chicago statement, but the BDS movement is historically and implicitly antisemitic, and certainly wants to eliminate Israel.)

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili speaks the truth (so long as theres an observer!):

Hili: Qualia.

A: Where?

Hili: Everywhere

In Polish:

Hili: Qualia.

Ja: Gdzie?

Hili: Wszdzie.

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

From Stash Krod:

From Donna:

From somewhere on Facebook. As far as I know, all but one of these is true. No, the mountain goat isnt a goat (not in the genus Capra) and the King Cobra is not a true cobra (not in the genusNaja). But which one is wrong?

Masihs workout routine that, she says, keeps her sane. Theres also a paean to America if you read the whole text:

Sarah Haider had a child, but it seems to have affected her political judgement in a negative way. George Washington didnt have any kids, and heres an excerpt from a 2017 Washington Post article:

The leaders of the top industrialized nations are meeting in Sicily, Italy, for the annual Group of Seven summit, and this year, most of them are united by their lack of offspring. Five of the seven national leaders attending the G-7 summit have no biological children.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni have no children. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has two stepsons, and French President Emmanuel Macron has three stepchildren.

Akie Abe, Japans first lady, and Britains prime minister have spoken about how they struggled with infertility. Its been very sad. It just turned out not to be possible for us, saidMay to Leading Britains Conversation, a British radio program.

What if someone is infertile, as above? Would you be disinclined to vote for them? Of course Im childless, but it wouldnt affect my judgement one way or the other. I suppose Sarah is thinking that someone without kids couldnt be that concerned about the future of the planet.

This is hilarious. An elderly man is interviewed in a Gaza Hospital and tells it like it is. The reporter quickly ends the interview, and the old man kicks the reporter (second video). (h/t Jez). Now of course we cant be sure this is real, but it came from MEMRI, which has a good record of accuracy. This was on an Al-Jazeera live program, so they couldnt cut it out!

Speaking of funny interviews, heres a satire of an interview of a Hamas leader by a BBC correspondent, both played by Israelis, who know well how biased against them the BBC is. Be sure to wait for the moment in history at the end.

Look at all the subtle aerial adjustments. The second one is astounding.

The March, of course, was in favor of Israel (h/t Rosemary):

From the Auschwitz Memorial, a woman who died in Auschwitz at 43:

From Larry the Cat, the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, who lives at 10 Downing Street:

And a predatory worm from Dr. Cobb:

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Thursday: Hili dialogue Why Evolution Is True - Why Evolution Is True