Good morning; it’s Wednesday, December 6, 2017. It’s also National Gazpacho Day, which is plain weird since gazpacho is a summer soup drunk in the northern hemisphere. It should be National Gazpacho Day in New Zealand!
And oy, my kishkes! Trump has unilaterally decided to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, breaking a precedent the U.S. has maintained since the state was founded. Expect violence (and perhaps another Intifada) not only in Israel, but against Americans everywhere in the world. Now our policy shouldn’t be guided by fears of Muslim reprisals, but there is no upside to this decision that we can see, and it further estranges us from our European allies, who begged us not to do this. Chalk another dunderheaded decision up to the Drumpenmeister (with the cooperation of Netanyahu). I’m hoping my prediction is wrong.
Down in Alabama, Roy Moore shows signs of being another Trump on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/MooreSenate/status/936315009424031746
It’s another lame day in history. On December 6, 1534, the city of Quito, Ecuador was founded by Spanish settlers headed by Sebastián de Belalcázar. On this day in 1768, the first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica was published, and in 1865 the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, banning slavery. On December 6, 1897, London became the first city in the world to have licensed taxicabs (we’re at the bottom of the barrel here), and in 1917 Finland declared independence from Russia. On December 6, 1933, U.S. federal judge John Woolsey ruled that James Joyce’s Ulysses was not obscene. But the battle remains, as we saw yesterday. Speaking of controversial novels, it was on this day in 1953 that Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita was finished (but not yet published). Finally, on this day nineteen years ago, Venezuela elected Hugo Chavez as President.
As it’s exactly 100 years since Finland became independent, here’s a shoutout to the land whose language nobody can understand. May I visit it some day!
Notables born on December 6 include Joyce Kilmer (1886), Ira Gerswin (1896), photographer Alfred Eissenstaedt (1898), Gunnar Myrdal (1898), Baby Face Nelson (1908; died in 1936 in a gun battle with the feds near Chicago), and Dave Brubeck (1920). Those who began pushing up daisies on this day include Anthony Trollope (1882), Jefferson Davis (1889), Harold Ross (1951), Honus Wagner (1955), B. R. Ambedkar (1956), and Roy Orbison (1988).
Eisenstaedt took many great pictures, the most famous being a sailor kissing a woman in Times Square on V-J Day, but I like this one of Katherine Hepburn on the set of The Philadelphia Story in 1939:
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is being sexually harassed by Cyrus (one of the readers of the Polish version in Listy commented “#HiliToo”!
Hili: Are you asleep?Cyrus: No, why do you ask?Hili: Because in case you are not asleep you could keep your paws to yourself.
Hili: Śpisz?
Cyrus: Nie, czemu pytasz?
Hili: Bo jak nie śpisz, to trzymaj łapy przy sobie.
Here are some nature tw**ts found by Matthew Cobb.
Look at these huddling birds!
12 long-tailed tits settling down for the night on their current favourite roost branch in a holly bush this evening Hembury Woods Devon pic.twitter.com/4Qqy15LPEG
— John Walters (@JWentomologist) December 4, 2017
I used to teach this example in my “mimicry” lecture in introductory evolutionary biology. The left end is NOT the head! Why do you suppose it has a false head on its butt?
https://twitter.com/Strange_Animals/status/938045482793881601
One of my favorite big cats, Panthera uncia:
https://twitter.com/welcomet0nature/status/937441323979886592
This is sort of satisfying, but not terribly so:
I dont know why, but this elephant squashing a *slightly* enormous pumpkin is weirdly satisfying to watch. (Video @OregonZoo) pic.twitter.com/t3HNmkSA9A
— Jan Freedman (@JanFreedman) December 4, 2017
And amazing frozen waves in Russia (turn on the audio for the weird sound):
https://twitter.com/iamsuev/status/810487482068373505
The British courts are lenient. . .
Wait for it. pic.twitter.com/3x5Gv6PKsf
— Luke Massey (@luke_mas) December 4, 2017
… … not so lame thus of today:
the 28th Anniversary for which my flag is
secured at its half – mast this morning:
the École Polytechnique massacre of
~20 minutes’ moments in history … …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre
Blue
Me too, in mourning today, in memory of this horrific incident in Montreal.
For a thoughtful comment on the Jerusalem affair, see Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian http://tinyurl.com/y8y7hd7z
Thanks for the link. The fool has no bounds.
400th anniversary of the Royal Charter for the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries…
http://www.apothecaries.org/
The greatest obstacle to peace between Israel and the Arab Word is widespread belief among most of Arabs that Israel is a transient entity and will disappear like the state of the Crusaders disappeared long ago. The attitude of the Christian world, from the UN resolution 181 and on, which wanted to make Jerusalem a corpus separatum (under pressures from Vatican, who couldn’t entertain the idea of a Jewish Jerusalem – it would go against the tenets of Christianity!), only strengthened this belief. Arabs lost three wars against Israel but never acknowledged this (with the exception of Anwar Sadat from Egypt) and behaved like victors who can enforce their demands. The day Arab side acknowledges that Israel is there to stay and that they didn’t manage and are not going to manage to get rid of Jews will be the day peace will be possible.
Jerusalem has never been a capital of any Muslim state. On the contrary, during all centuries of Muslim rule there it was a backwater nobody in Arab world paid much attention to. In its over 3,000 years long history it was divided for just 19 years of Jordanian occupation (and continued to be a backwater during these 19 years – no Palestinian state was created then). Until Jordan carried out ethnic cleansing of Jews from the part of Jerusalem they occupied (to the last Jew, and destroying over 50 synagogues there) Jews constituted majority of the population in Jerusalem.
Jews in Diaspora for millennia upheld the idea of Jerusalem as their capital and of their return to it. It is the capital of the State of Israel and President Trump will be only acknowledging the fact, while giving the message to the Arab world that a time has come for them to acknowledge facts as well.
So, you think that Trump doing this at this time is good? And you think the Arabs will then acknowledge the facts you state? And last, what advantage does the U.S. get by doing this?
Yes, I think it’s good. Just now Arab world (Sunnis) is changing it’s attitude toward Israel. Now they have a common enemy – Iran. The articles in the Arab press, statemensts by politicians and other leaders in TV, and contacts with Israel are unprecedented. There is a different attitude towards Palestinians as well from the Arab world. They are tired of Palestinians’ divisions (Fatah, Hamas), of ther intrasingence, cleptocracy, inabillity to manage their own affairs. The Arab world will not erupt against America for this decision (at least, it doesn’t look like it). Yes, I think large parts of the Arab world are ready to recognise facts and the Trump’s move may help them. What do U.S. gets out of it? Well, since decades every American president tried to bring peace to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I don’t know why they did it and what U.S. was supposed to get out of it. But obviously Trump is going in their footsteps. This move can be the first step on a road which leads to real peace.
I wish I could have your optimism on this. I think Trump, with no experience doing anything but making and losing money is doing this to make some big money folks happy, just like his big tax plan for the poor. And frankly Trump does not give two cents for anyone but himself. He will not be around very long and the damage he does will be for others to clean up. You are correct that most people in the U.S. are very tired of the religious war in the middle east but I see nothing here to end this.
I agree
I think to impute (is that the word?) reasoning to Trump’s signs of life – making sounds with his mouth, moving his limbs, transporting himself to different locations in the world – is like imputing meaning to a d*g moving chess pieces around a chess board….
In Darkest Idaho (?) the sounds of building a dog-size chess set echoes from a workshop.
I have to admit that I don’t care about what motivates Trump. What I’m interested in is what this move to recognise officialy the fact that Jerusalem IS Israel’s capital and has been so since the establishment of Israel in May 1948, will mean for the solution of this conflict. And I think that weakning Arab belief that Israel will disappear one day is a step in the right direction.
And talking about the damage an American president can do which other have to clean up: until today damage President Jimmy Carter did by supporting Ruhollah Khomeini is not “cleaned up” yet.
Maybe the damage done by those who brought in the Shaw of Iran before should be held accountable as well. Look, I do not desire a political argument here or the defense of anyone. The absolute best thing the U.S. could do in the middle east is to get out and leave it for others to figure out. War of any kind, especially a religious one is not worth one life. The people in the middle east will likely continue to kill each other for the next 3000 years and if that is what makes them happy…have at it. I do not have a dog of any kind in this hunt.
I agree with you that the best U.S., Europe, other Arab countries and the whole world could do is to leave Israelis and Palestinians to solve this conflict by themselves. What I do not agree is that in such a case it would take 3,000 years. I think that 3 years (three years) would be more than enough.
Do not trust Donald Trump to keep his word or to follow through on any promises. Ever.
Donald Trump is a greased pole that many people thought they could latch onto and climb to fame or fortune or success. But at the bottom of the pole is a pit riddled with the bones of “marks” who have trusted him — former business partners and employees, people who pre-bought at his proposed condo projects, graduates of Trump “University,” all of Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Anyone who thinks Trump will bring peace to the Middle East, or who trusts Trump to follow though on any promises regarding the region, risks joining the others in that ossuary.
Thanks, Malgorzata. I’ll just add that Israel, I think, is the only true democracy in the Middle-East, with Palestinians serving in the Knesset.
There is a widespread idea that Tel Aviv is the capital of Israel, in spite of the fact that the Knesset is in Jerusalem. Now and then the BBC or a newspaper acknowledges its mistake when someone writes in to correct them. Imagine if the world assumed that New York was the capital of the US and had to keep being corrected!
Of course, it’s because they aren’t really making a mistake, but being deliberately dishonest.
In fact that was what I thought until this story came up. That puts a slightly different complexion on the story because ordinarily, you’d expect the foreign embassies to be in the capital near the seat of government.
However, special circumstances apply with respect to Israel.
Just so you know, when I said in my post above that “they” are being deliberately dishonest, I meant media like the BBC, not people who simply (and understandably) do’t know.
Yes I know.
I hate to agree with Trump, but Jerusalem IS the capital of Israel. Recognize it. As for timing, there will never be a “good” time, at least for the Palestinians. Not recognizing Jerusalem just feeds their delusion that Israel is going away.
Now would also be a good time for Israel to reaffirm its commitment to the two-state solution.
“I hate to agree with Trump”
This is what I mean – “agreeing” with Trump is like agreeing with a d*g that shoved a chess piece to a different location on a chess board that the d*g’s move was a good one one…
Good analogy.
The greatest obstacle to peace between Israel and the Arab Word is that everyone knows we should “expect violence”. You cannot make peace with people who reaction to everything is violence. Whenever a group of Arabs get power, they start fighting amongst themselves – Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, Yemen, Egypt, Afghanistan (not Arab but they share the same violent culture) …
According to Wikipedia “Palestinian groups that have been involved in politically motivated violence include the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC), the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Abu Nidal Organization, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hamas.” In the Lebanese civil war there were 22 militias fighting and there are probably the same amount in Syria today.
I disapprove of much of what Israel does and would cut US aid to them but there is no real hope of peace in any state governed by Palestinians.
Yes, but the Dome of the Rock has been there for over twelve centuries, which argues that Islam took Jerusalem seriously, or at least thought it important that a Muslim stamp be put upon the city.
How much of this, and the current fuss about East Jerusalem being the capital of the Palestinian state, is rooted in the idea that Islam supercedes Judaism?
In line with Koran and the promise that Islam will conquer the world Muslims took every place they conquered very seriously. Also, everywhere they build their mosques on top of any kind of local worship house or changed existing worship house into a mosque. You can see it everywhere: Turkey, Spain, Greece, Bulgaria, India etc. This doesn’t mean that these mosques had any special meaning for Muslims in other countries. Both Dome on Rocks and Al-Aqsa Mosque were quite neglected for centuries. There are pictures from 19th and beginning of 20th century showing the serious state of disrepair of both buildings and lack of people. Also during 19 years of Jordan occupation both these mosques were of no special significance. The legend about “the farther mosque” is quite new invention as an answer to returning Jews. So, yes, as long as Muslim ownership of the place was ensured, it was of no special significance. The possibility that Jews could take over was anathema – it was contrary to Allah promise in Koran that Islam conquered and supplanted Judaism. That’s why Jews are forbidden to pray on Temple Mount (as well as, for example, in Hagia Sophia).
+ 1. As for the stance of Europeans… unfortunately, they have never truly accepted the existence of Jews.
On behalf of all the Finns, I thank you. As a matter of fact, many of us are grateful to the United States for not acknowledging the independence until May 1919. By then the monarchistic fantasies of the right-wing government had evaporated.
Love the Finns!! My mother worked in a shoe factory owned by a Finnish family. She loved her job because of the owners.
A pretty good country, come to think of it:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/finland/articles/reasons-to-visit-finland/
You do not have to convince me. Norway, Sweden, Finland rule!
That’s a twist I hadn’t heard before.
Yeah…
After the Civil War in 1918 the Social Democratic half of the Parliament was in prison. The government actually appointed a German king for Finland. He was a nephew of the Kaiser.
When it finally dawned on the right-wingers that the age of empires was over, they relented and accepted the republican constitution.
The Parliament reassembled with the Social Democrats and the first presidential election was scheduled for July 1919.
That’s when the UK and the US recognised the new republic.
Not everything has been smooth sailing ever since, but I guess we’ve had it better than the Poles for instance.
And you forgot the Halifax explosion-exactly 100 years ago to day. A munitions ship exploded in the harbour. Most of the North end of the town was flattened. 2000 people died. And several more thousand injured.
The blast remains the largest (non-nuclear) man-made explosion in history. Oppenheimer used its parameters to model fireballs and shockwaves – the Halifax explosion had 1/3 the strength the first atomic bomb.
Remembering the event – exactly 100 years ago – is a big deal here in Canada. 2,000 dead. 9,000 seriously injured. Half a city reduced to rubble. And the ship that exploded was out in the middle of the harbour.
There were three larger non-nuclear test explosions: Two at the White Sands Missile Range, NM in the 1980s & the insane Heligoland “British Bang” test of 1947.
Yes and nothing says ignorance like an old man threatening a much younger one. What is Roy to do after the younger one wipes the floor with him? Maybe go find another 16 year old to date? Alabama has a chance in about a week to prove if my poor opinion of the place is correct.
Jimmy Kimmel had the perfect response to Roy Moore’s taunt.
That was an excellent response. I haven’t ever watch Kimmel’s show but I’ve seen him speak like this a few times, and he is good.
That Baikal ice is extraordinary. I’d say it’s so cold that the ice is extremely brittle and the broken ice has no cohesion (or ‘stickiness’). Which may explain the rustling sound of thousands of ice crystals bouncing off each other.
There are some remarkable photos here:
http://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/12/the-ice-of-lake-baikal.html
cr
Those are remarkable photos.
I was there once in spring, when such needle-like ice melted. The sound was similar.
So my theory about the brittleness and ‘dry’-ness of the ice could be wrong. 😉 Maybe the sound is just made up from thousands of tiny sounds all happening at once.
I’ve only seen Baikal for a couple of hours from the train (in June – no ice). I’d love to spend some time there.
cr
So humans are not the only animals to play with their food.
Bill Maher characterized Trump and his admin’s thought process concisely as follows: “what would a d__k do?”
I’m sure there are reasons or things to point at to rationalize the Jerusalem episode above, but I ask – did Clinton or Obama have anything to do with it?
Example : the recent Bears Ears monument shrinkage (and no reciprocal expansion anywhere else) – that monument was due to Clinton and Obama.
Enter Trump – he’s got to put on the show -he’s running out of material:
“hmmm, my fans would love it if I say F you to Obama and Clinton and their sissy fans.”
“Obama and Clinton set up these monuments, sir.”
“Well, it’s on the way, so we’ll stop by.”
… I muzzle myself now- I could go on…
A dick would make the capital of the one and only Jewish state the one and only capital that they refuse to recognize.
Finland: you may not like the climate, but the flag’s a big plus.
😀
🙂 🙂
NO!! The climate is one of the best parts.
Katherine Hepburn’s photo reminds me that for the decades of the 1930s through the 1960s cigarette smoking was considered a sign of sophistication and for women, independence as well. Hollywood actors and movies helped foster this belief. Unknowingly, Hollywood contributed to millions of premature deaths.
Apparently, however, smoking did not affect Hepburn. She lived to 96.
Trump’s “decision” to move the US embassy to Jerusalem has nothing to do with a commitment to Israel — Trump has no policy commitments, on Israel or anything else — and everything to do with his desire to distract public attention from his yooge domestic political problems (the same way the Donald might try to distract attention from the flagging ratings for The Apprentice by inviting Omarosa back for another season).
Don’t be surprised if Trump merely causes a hubbub by making his announcement, then fails to follow through by actually doing anything (shades of his Mexican border wall).
My thought on the mimicry is that it causes predators to expect the insect to move in the opposite direction when startled.
Don’t know how many times I’ve gone with that defense.
I find that video of the elephant squashing a very….big…pumpkin…very satisfying. Mmmm. Very, very satisfying. Yeeaaaahhh, you squash that pumpkin, mister elephant. Uh huh.
Don’t worry, I’m just messing around. Anyway, regarding the lawyer, um…what was he planning to do if he found a panda?
“Why do you suppose it has a false head on its butt?”
Since it’s not just a false head, but a false head of another animal, I’m assuming there’s something about the weevil that some or all of the planthopper’s natural predators don’t like.
See Rule 34.
I see Rule 34 everywhere I go. The pornovision is the retina of the mind’s eye.
By the way, I used the panda defense when Chinese authorities found me having sex with a parking meter in Shanghai. They gave me a medal for trying to propagate their favorite animal. The point is that its success depends on context.
Best of luck to you, the parking meter, and your Shanghai progeny!
Tell me you got my Videodrome reference. It was made just for you!
Meanwhile, there’s a disappointed panda out there, somewhere…
Yep, it got bamboozled.
What it deserves when it eats, shoots & leaves.
Waah! I never heard that phrase in a non-salacious context before.
(And having heard it, I can’t un-hear it 🙂
cr
That and
//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js are my favrite grammar jokes.
yeesh. Just click “this” to get the image. Damn embedding.
Roy Moore has linked to the Breitbart story on Kimmel. I wonder if he or Not-So-Bright-Bart have acknowledged the aftermath. Kimmel is a Christian who considers Moore to have grossly betrayed the religion.
Assuming Trump actually follows through – again the US government will be the pariah of the world. (Canada tried this – Jerusalem as the capital of Israel once, without the dismal reputation of the US government on this matter, and the backlash was enough to change their mind.)
Russia recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital six months ago. I can’t see that it became the pariah of the nations (even if it should be of other reasons); Philippines just announced that it intends to move its embassy to Jerusalem, as well as an unnamed East European country. So if Trumop really goes through with it U.S will not be alone. And a more general comment: Appeasment is a very bad religion – the results are always disastrous.
Is this explanation too simple?
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-sheldon-adelson-talked-las-vegas-shooting-policy-at-white-house-meeting-monday/article/2636405
“Adelson backed Trump during last year’s presidential campaign and made a $25 million gift to an anti-Hillary Clinton group weeks before the election.”
…
“The Adelsons have advocated for the U.S. embassy to be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Kushner has led efforts to create a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.”
I would answer that it’s too simple. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel since May 1948. Against recognition of this fact (remember that this is the only capital in the world which other contries refuse to recognize) first was Vatican with all its influence and then Arab countries with all its oil. 1951 State Department wrote that it would be the right thing to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital but it would make U.S look biased towards Israel in the eyes of the Arab world. As U.S. wants good relations with the Arab world it should NOT DO THE RIGHT THING and should refuse to recognize Jerusalem. Now Trump is (hopefully) doing the right thing which already 1951 was deemed the right thing to do by the U.S. State Department. I really don’t care why he is doing it.
I didn’t realise that we are talking about West Jerusalem.
NEWS: Trump states that the Earth is not the center of the universe. Catholics upset. Democrats rend clothing.
😀
Frozen waves in Baikal.
This also happens (ice heaves) in Minnesota.
Here are Youtube videos from CNN and ABC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV2pJVSTZ80
In all the hyperbole about Trump and Bannon, and allegations of white nationalism and German national socialism, the obvious has been missed:
The source of inspiration for both Trump and Bannon is the Israeli Likud Party. Israel has a wall, and Israel has immigration restrictions, and Likud takes a hard line on the Palestinian Question.
From what we can tell of Trump and Bannon, they want a wall like Israel, they want immigration restrictions like Israel, and they take a hard line on the Palestinian Question.
I’m not trying to defend Pro or Con this diplomatic decision (I don’t know enough and haven’t thought enough about it), just pointing out the family resemblance. [This is undoubtedly part of Mercer’s interest in Breitbart, Trump, and folks like Milo, and it makes perfect sense if you look at the Israeli politicians and movements Kushner keeps up with.]
In some sense, I suppose, Trump and Netanyahu recognise the existence of an independent Mexico. I wonder if they are willing to recognise an independent Palestine… or are both simply taking their cue from the Berlin Wall.
I just wonder: from Chinese wall untill today nations were building walls against their neighbors. Today, except for Israel, there are similar walls in Belfast, Homs, Sao Paulo, Cyprus, Brunei, Kazkhstan, India, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malysia, Morocco and many other places. Why single out just Israel when you know that behind Israeli wall are well paid murderers who would kill indiscriminately, given a chance?
“Why single out just Israel”
For the obvious reason that the Israeli wall is, by orders of magnitude, far the most intrusive, extensive and oppressive wall of modern times (since the Berlin wall went down). That’s why, and you know it.
cr
I think when your neighbors express the desire to exterminate you, a wall seems like the least you can do to protect your citizens. If the local Arab immigrants were peaceful, there’d be no need for a wall…and you know it.
There is a fundamental difference between Berlin wall and Israeli one:
The aim of Berlin wall was to keep it own population imprisoned.
The aim of Israeli wall is to kepp its own population alive.
Your comparison shows either your ignorance of facts (over 1,000 Israeli civilians were killed in buses, cinemas, pizzerias and shopping malls before the wall went up, and many more were maimed, some for life. After building of this security barrier such terrorist attacks went down well over 90%) or your total disregard to the life of Israeli men, women and children.