Month: November 2023

As I Expected (With Aid Of A GOP Appointed West Texas Federal Judge), Texas Will Try To Keep A Temporary Halt On Destroying The Land Razor Wire Barrier In Place…

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I hate to say so, but it sure looks like the ancillary goal of all this, from Chief USDC Judge Moses, in West Texas, is to slow walk any removal of the land based razor wire barriers Gov. Abbott put in place last year — those barriers that are injuring federal agents, and hampering safe processing of asylum seekers near Eagle Pass, Texas. We expect (as we reported last week) some explicit confirmation of this theory later today, when the State of Texas moves to delay document production into mid December.

Yesterday afternoon in a USDC, WDTX filing, though, we saw the “we intend” warning — that a delay would be sought, thus:

…The Defendants intend to apprise the Court tomorrow of their capabilities to comply with the Court’s order for production of documents and plan to move to modify the scope of the order….

The prior order was pretty breathtakingly broad — and likely seeks materials exempt from being revealed in this litigation, as governmental “deliberative documents” — and likely on both sides.

This, in turn, sets up a potential side show piece of litigation — and gets Texas some additional delay, on the removal of the barriers. All of that is, unless… unless the Chief at right acts forcefully, very shortly, to enforce long-settled US federal law… on whose job border control really is (hint: it is NOT the State of Texas — it is the federal agencies). Now you know. Onward.

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John And Paul: Please Report On / Acknowledge This… Reality!

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Each of Hinderaker and Mirengoff have banged the drum incessantly — claiming the WaPo is posting pro-Hamas mis-information. And each claims the Jewish community is unified and resolute in not being concerned that a lack of cease fire — or even electric power restoration in Gaza hospitals… is causing the deaths of wholly innocent newborns.

Let’s see if either of them will EVER tell the complicated truth — as this afternoon, the Chicago Metra station was shut down by well-organized and large Jewish groups calling for an immediate cease fire in Gaza. [They had barricaded themselves at the doors of the Israeli consulate offices, in Chicago. Obviously, this was to suggest a chilling of relations / hospitality between the people of that nation, and Jews here in Chicago.]

Not quite the narrative these boys are pushing, eh?!

Nope. Not at all… time to ‘fess up, and admit there are wide divergences in the Jewish community about Israel’s prosecution of the current war.

Past time, even — guys. Guys?!

On Gaza, All Of Hinderaker’s Views Suffer From Myopia…

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Tonight, he thinks the playbook for Israel should be the one the US used against Japan at the end of WWII. That a crushing of the will of Hamas — regardless of human cost — is the only answer.

This is the worst sort of flawed analogy.

Japan and the US were not even remotely close neighbors, at war, and in open hostilities, for nearly 2,300 years. At some level (but again, an imperfect analogy), these hostilities are more like tribal battles in Africa, or the Soviets attempt to take Afganistan.

The Soviets tried for 25 years, with massive military might — and staggering casualties… but didn’t close it out. The Afghani people just retreated into desert caves — to wait the Soviets out. It worked.

Why?

Because the people of Afghanistan have essentially been at war for 2,000 years — it is deeply ingrained, as a way of life. Essentially forever.

So too — a smallish portion of the Palestinians — at least, those who now identify with Hamas.

John — wake up. This cannot be won — even with a nuke. There is no lasting peace solution that doesn’t involve a two state paradigm.

And all the while, newly born babies and innocent elderly… are dying in the hospital in Gaza — the central one, to which the IDF has intentionally cut power. While perhaps a handful of those in the hospital are Hamas aligned… the only thing the Israeli tactic of scorching civilian babies ensures… is that Palestinians “on the fence” will increasingly align with Hamas.

Indeed one of the central lessons taught by our loss in Vietnam… was that local on the ground “hearts and minds” matter… and matter immensely, in war.

In that respect, while Israel has put out video tonight, of IDF capturing Hamas’ parliament building — it is, minute by minute, losing “the independent hearts and minds” of those who’ve lived there — for going on 2,500 years — right next to the 1948-created state of Israel.

This is undoubtedly an awful situation, but even Hinderaker now admits… much of what we’ve done since 1948 has led to this moment.

So do grow up, John. It is a deeply complicated situation. Spare us the cliches. Out.

[U] The One Who’ll Be… Most Crimped, By This? Justice Thomas, Of Course!

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The Supremes just adopted a fairly watered down iteration of the model version federal judicial code of conduct.

Y A W N.

In prior ages, this would have been superfluous. But in this age… we’ve seen… Thomas, Alito and even Kavanaugh (the latter never having explained who exactly paid off his prior ~$260,000 in unsecured debts — he personally did not).

But it is Clarence Thomas whose lifestyle will be most crimped by the prohibition on perks without disclosures [at new Canon 4.D.(3)], now.

Long overdue — particularly for a guy driving a very high end mobile home, whenever he goes on vacation in the US — one financed by a billionaire with cases then pending before the highest court.

Damn. And a guy whose wife organized the transport buses for the 01.06.21 rioters.

Updated: While the lower courts’ codes set out explicit processes for enforcement in the case of alleged violations of the code — this one does not. That is in part due to the notion that this is the highest court. And generally speaking, even though I disagree with most of his views, I do trust this Chief Justice will discipline future repeat violators, like Clarence Thomas.

But some future Chief? Not so sure, about that. Thus, I called it “watered down”. But as a lawyer and citizen, I now know I have standing to bring any future violation by Thomas directly to the federal judicial ethics commission, since the Supremes have adopted that code, as applicable — should this, or a future Chief… fail to act.

Out.

[Additional Tangents] With Predictions Of Volcanic Eruptions In Iceland This Week — “Katla”: A Highly Rec’d Netflix Eight Part Series…

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First, the solid science: according to many respected seismologists, the volcanoes of Iceland are highly likely to erupt in the coming weeks, and maybe even before Thanksgiving weekend, here. So do watch the skies. Now the… sci fi:

All of this put me in mind of an excellent local Icelandic sci-fi thriller (featuring an in-country pop star ably acting the lead, no less)… one I binge watched during the COVID lockdowns. The idea of supernatural volcanic ash… is explored. Here’s a bit:

…The catastrophic eruption of subglacial volcano Katla turns a nearby community’s world upside down as mysteries begin to emerge from the ice….

One year later, the peace and tranquility in the small, isolated island town of Vik begins to unravel. As people evacuate the area, it seems the volcano has thawed elements frozen into a local glacier — from paleolithic times… with consequences no one could ever foresee….

Starring:Guðrún Eyfjörð, Íris Tanja Flygenring, Aliette Opheim

Creators:Baltasar Kormákur….

Do give it a go — if you want your mind… bent. It is slow starting, but by Episode 3… I was completely hooked. Do enjoy… grinning.

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Dartmouth: 1969 — My Understanding Is…

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John Hinderaker helped take over the President’s Office, the administration buildings, and the ROTC offices — in order to seek an end to the Vietnam War (among other matters).

My understanding is that when the lawless takeover of campus offices and property was over, he not only remained enrolled, but still had honors status, fraternity privileges — and finished with top of class honors.

So his whining about MIT policies… seems more than a little… ironic.

[My understanding is that while Mr. Mirengoff also was involved, and arrested, he was cleared to graduate with honors, also from Dartmouth.] Additionally, my understanding is that only violence led to arrests, that year.

So… ironic, indeed.

That’s all. Out.

More — As John Argues For The Repeal Of The First Amendment In The USA…

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So — John has more whining to do, about people offering their genuine — if boisterous — free expressions of dissatisfaction with Israel’s policy of no humanitarian aid — or even electricity, for hospitals — inside Gaza.

This, Hineraker feels… is a crime against him, personally. [Yet he claims to be for free expression. He never condemned the 01.06.21 mobsters that engineered several dozen injuries to law enforcement, and the shooting death of Ashli Babbitt.] Ironic, that.

…The protestor takes down the American flag and replaces it with the flag of jihad. (I think this one guy may have been arrested, but the likelihood of his being punished is nil.) The idea that [Ed. Note/ Revision — John Hinderaker and his fascist hard right fellow travelers] can co-exist with these people is a fantasy….

In fact, John long held to the odious mantra that the 01.06 mob was simply a tourism trip that kinda’ went sideways.

What a purely embittered, feckless, evil old goat he is.

Onward.

[U] Interesting, Isn’t It, John? Nearly A Million People In London Supported Palestine’s Right To Exist Today…

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By his own reckoning tonight, Hinderaker’s sources put the crowd at nearly a million people. Hinderaker calls it perhaps the largest single mass demonstration in London’s long history.

There were sporadic scuffles, true — but no serious injuries. This may be read as a million Londoners feel strongly that Palestinian babies now dying in Gaza hospitals should have a chance at… life. Because there is no power in any of the hospitals in Gaza… utterly innocent babies are dying.

And make no mistake: it is the refusal of IDF — and Israel, generally — to allow a cease fire to evacuate civilians… and a refusal to restore the power grid, even emergency power… that is the most direct cause of these innocents dying.

So… John, perhaps you might consider that about a million people feel Israel’s current response, to what was clearly abominable by Hamas — on October 7, has now shifted — as a pendulum swing, too far to the right. [Updated: I’ll leave your sophistry, in not being willing to call what happened on January 6, 2021 in DC… an insurrection or sedition, for another day. Yet no one died in London, yesterday, John — right? 20 times as many people, but no even remotely lethal violence. Sheesh.]

You must learn to accept that not even a tiny part of the world wants the insane Armageddon you seem to have a bloodlust for.

And the Israelis running things should take note — as funding will begin to… vanish, if they stay on this crimes against humanity course.

These are lessons that privileged whiny hard right latter era boomers like you either forgot from Vietnam — or never learned. I guess the Dartmouth of the late 60s taught you nearly nothing.

So it goes.

[U: Second Graphic] Long Ago, I Mentioned A Book About The Death Of A Young Rockefeller, In Papua New Guinea, in 1961… A Silly New Theory Has Emerged…

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Please understand — this is trivia, exclusively. I lend it zero credence. [And that linked story is a ham-handed poor retelling, to be sure — but it sets out some of the back story. For the more complete, but complicated truth, do read “Savage Harvest“.]

Almost a decade ago, this book (largely factual, but full of conjectures) was written — about his life, disappearance and likely death at the hands of cannibals around 1961.

The indigenous people of these islands back then still considered it a form of ancestor worship, an honor, to partake of the body and soul of someone of one’s own tribe. To be fair, there was (as late as the 1950s) also (in that part of the world) a history of keeping the skulls of enemies’ tribes as nightstands… but given Michael Rockefeller’s well-documented history of living harmoniously among them, for over two summers, it seems unlikely he was seen as an enemy.

Most likely (according to Mr. Hoffman’s exhaustive research — and on-the ground evidence location), young Rockefeller may have been severely injured in a boating accident, and — as a form of honor, after he died… he was likely consumed. [And his skull was likely found in a tree hollow — over two decades later — but left there, in situ, as would be the then local, and honorable custom.] But that’s not the most sordid part of this story.

Over five decades later, the son of Charleton Heston decided to make a movie (he styled it a doc, but it is far from that) — relying in part on footage of an unknown white man, with tribal peoples of an unknown / very imprecise location, with long canoes — and with spears. That white guy almost certainly cannot be Michael Rockefeller (he is far too young!), given the dating of the clips, and the established facts, from the US military led search party then Gov. Rockefeller sent to look for him in ’61.

So… all of this is to suggest that I suspect the recent outbreak of Instagram, Facebook and X-itter images (one screen cap of which appears at upper left in my graphic) is nothing more than an attempt to win a wider audience for the Heston non-doc.

Now you know. Mr. Rockefeller almost certainly died in Papua New Guinea in 1961 or ’62, latest. [It should also be noted, though — that his father’s museum still houses what are undoubtedly viewed by the peoples of that time… as their ancestors’ spirits. . . but stolen away, to mid-town Manhattan — and kept on display, as totem poles. This would have been seen as a grave offense against the ancestors, but it is nearly impossible that the peoples of that time knew Rockefeller’s family had stolen / grave robbed them, and put them on display in New York.] Onward. Make of all that… what you will. It is a belated Halloween story, I suppose. Smile.

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