Thursday: Hili dialogue

Welcome to Thursday, June 25, 2026, and it’s Bourdain Day , celebrating the affable and engaging Anthony Bourdain , chef, writer, presenter, and foodie traveler, who was born on this day in 1956 (he committed suicide in 2018). Here he is visiting and reviewing the Waffle House: It’s also Color TV day , celebrating the first color television broadcast on this day in 1951, National Catfish Day , National Strawberry Parfait Day , and Global Beatles Day , explained this way: The day was founded in 2009 by Faith Cohen. It takes place on June 25th, because that marks the day that the first live satellite production was broadcasted globally. It was a British program titled Our World [1967], and it ended with the Beatles’ performance of “All You Need Is Love”. Artists from nineteen countries were included in the program, and it is estimated that at least 400 million people watched it, which was the largest television audience up until that time. Here’s the performance (stop it after you’ve heard enough or it will play continuously). Note George Martin in the control ro Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the June 25 Wikipedia page . Da Nooz: Footy News: Another first: South Africa beat Korea 1-0, advancing to the knockout stage for the first time : As South Africa’s football team danced the night away in Guadalupe’s Monterrey Stadium after making World Cup history, fans in Johannesburg were celebrating in the streets long before the sun came out and heralded what would become an unparalleled day in the nation’s football history. Two red cards, one loss, a draw and a win later, South Africa did it all in their group stage matches at the World Cup and advanced to the knockout round of the tournament for the first time. Thapelo Maseko fired into the net in the 63rd minute to give Bafana Bafana a stunning 1-0 win over South Korea , who now straddle the uncertain line between possible round of 32 qualification or elimination. Monterrey Stadium will long reverberate with the raw emotions of South Africa fans and players celebrating the win in a fairy-tale ending to their group stage run that began with a disastrous opening match loss for Hugo Broos’ side. While much of the nation had yet to wake up to the team’s historic achievement, die-hard football fanatics sacrificed sleep to watch the South Korea kickoff at 3am, oblivious to the quiet countdown of history about to be made. Below are the game’s highlights. The play that scored the one goal for South Africa begins at 6:13 on the video: *Is the “progressive” Left, or even their more radical allies, the Democratic Socialists, ready to take over the Democratic Party? That’s what the victory of three Mamdani-endorsed New York Democratic primary candidates suggests, with Mamdani, a man I detest, now described as a “kingmaker”. It’s a scenario that brings chills up my spine. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his allies swept a series of congressional primaries in New York City on Tuesday in a remarkable show of strength for the insurgent left that sent shock waves through the Democratic Party. Mr. Mamdani’s candidates toppled a pair of incumbents backed by the city’s political establishment, including major labor unions and the House Democratic leader. Another candidate backed by the mayor won an open House seat, and a handful of democratic socialist challengers he supported were winning down the ballot. For months, Mr. Mamdani threw himself and his energized political organization into the three marquee congressional contests, campaigning late into the night in the race’s final days and calling the election a referendum on the direction of the party. All the winning candidates share Mr. Mamdani’s progressive economic platform, and they each ran campaigns that focused intently on ending American support for Israel, a sign of how far public opinion has shifted on the issue, even in New York. Late Tuesday night, the mayor stood beaming at a victory party in Brooklyn, where supporters chanted “Free, free Palestine” and “D.S.A.” After embracing many of the same advisers who led his own successful campaign last year, he declared “a new chapter in our party’s history.” “A year ago, it was not the end of a political movement,” he said. “It was the beginning.” Mr. Mamdani’s deep involvement amounted to an audacious gamble for a brand-new mayor trying to lead an already fractious city. He alienated key allies along the way, but the payoffs were far-reaching. Indeed, and the thought crossed my mind “If I was much younger, I’d contemplate moving to Israel.” Or, as a friend of mine—a long time liberal Democrat but now an independent—emailed me mournfully, “We are homeless.” It’s not just the Jewish Democrats who are becoming homeless, but the centrist Democrats as well. The chant of “Free, free Palestine” at the victory party really means “Erase