Author: condor

[U] With Duke’s Loss, Both 44 And I Are Done Scoring. I Win 118 to 107.

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Update: I’ve won the women’s bracket too, as UConn takes down the favored Gamecocks. Woot! End, update.

So… I get one. Finally. But in the women’s brackets, Mr. Obama bests me if South Carolina wins it all.

In any other women’s outcome… I beat him, even though my ultimate pick for the national champion, UCLA, is already out.

In truth, am pretty far ahead now, but I’d say the Gamecocks… are likely to be the women’s champ — giving BHO44 that crown. We shall see.

G’night, one and all — I am hearing there were probably 200,000 people marching in the Chi today — and maybe nearly a million, nationwide. Excellent.

नमस्ते

USW Local 10-86 President: Merck Offering “Worst Set of Proposals Ever” During Collective Bargaining…

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It is a highly uncertain time, for unionized labor, in general — with attacks from Trumpians, on all sides. This is then a “knock-on effect” story, as big businesses are no longer sure of their profit margins, under this insanely chaotic tax/tariff regime. So they “pull back” — in labor cost projections.

And so too, it seems, are large pharma concerns (and their CEOs) — via tough bargaining stances, with union workforces. In this case, at WestPoint, PA. Here’s the latest, locally:

…More than 200 members of the United Steelworkers Union Local 10-86 at Merck & Co. rallied outside Building 53 near Gate 1 at the Upper Gwynedd pharmaceutical giant Wednesday afternoon in support of its collective bargaining team, who are in middle of negotiations with the company on a five-year contract, which, according to the union president, has been “one of the worst set of proposals ever put across the table….”

“In light of the company’s insulting, one-sided proposals, it’s time we made our position loud and clear,” said the flyer. “We’re calling on every union member to stand together and show our strength.”

Local 10-86 President Kevin McCafferty said the rally is part of the action items the union does with every contract to show support…

“We’re at a midway point, with little to no movement on either side,” McCafferty said. “I’m in my fifth contract negotiation, and this is the worst set of proposals ever put across the table….

[T]he announcement of the impending closure of the Cherokee plant in Danville, PA, which will affect 163 employees starting next month, is on the minds of Local 10-86 as well. McCafferty said the Upper Gwynedd location continues to expand and build more facilities.

“The Cherokee plant in Danville was sold and bought back and closed,” he said. “A lot of the same proposals we are getting now, they were given as well….”

Now you know — back from a protest at Daley Plaza here, at noon — marched south. Onward, resolutely.

नमस्ते

[U: Hinderaker, Too] Meanwhile, The Otis/Mirengoff’s “Penguin Update” — For What Is Only “Tariff Day Two”, Here On Friday…

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Updated: Hinderaker revels in having intentionally voted for a man bereft of even a fifth grader’s understanding of economics. Classy. End update.

This is so far beyond maddening… I don’t even know what to say. “These f-in’ goise….”

D A M N.

Again, we must point out that with each passing post, Mirengoff, Otis, Johnson and Hinderaker are openly bleating to the world that they CHOSE to elect a moron — a guy who can’t read above a fifth grade level — and who would have failed out of Wharton’s Macro-Econ. 101 if his sister hadn’t ghost written all his exams.

They think we should feel sorry for THEM?! Because these A-holes intentionally elected a reprobate?! Nope and nope.

That said — they are finally being honest here, that Trump will kill the shining Camelot that Kennedy largely created by himself, in 1962. As Otis’s buddies (unnamed) put it:

…Trump’s action can be looked upon as one more component of his forfeiture of American leadership in world. Discounting or leaving NATO? Letting Putin have his way with Ukraine (and then what else)? Making the complaint that America has been “taken advantage of”? That might well be true, but is that what a leader says? To lead is, in a sense, by nature to be “taken advantage of”: You have to be strong while others, weaker or poorer or merely less courageous, get the advantage of your being in front — in front where it’s at a minimum costly, often dangerous, and sometimes mortally dangerous….

But that is the America that saved the world. It saved it first by beating the Nazis and then the Soviets…. And we didn’t ask how much.

Did the country really elect Trump to so casually say goodbye to that America?….

Apparently the feckless rich whyte boys who write blogs… did.

Out.

Ms. Chung Is About To Show The World That Kristi Noem Had No Plausible Basis To Grab Her Off The Streets Of Manhattan…

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We’ve all seen it, on video, via TikTok and YouTube and the legacy TV-news stations — a broad daylight snatch and grab — by ICE and DHS. Yunseo Chung’s a lawful resident student at Columbia, for chrissakes. Tonight, her lawyers have filed to get a look at the (largely bogus) documents ICE says it was relying on, for a warrant to detain her, and search her residence.

This should concern every person in America who believes we all have the right to peaceably oppose the policies of our government. Here’s that filing, and a bit:

…[We] respectfully request that the Court: (1) unseal the rider, supporting affidavit, application, and any other materials underlying the warrant issued on March 13, 2025, authorizing federal law enforcement to search for and seize documents from Ms. Chung’s Columbia University-owned residence (“the Warrant”); (2) provide those materials to the parties for 24 hours so that the parties may propose limited redactions; and (3) after reviewing and deciding any request for limited redactions, order the release of the materials to the public….

[The Warrant was executed] at Ms. Chung’s Columbia-owned residence, ostensibly seeking documents including any occupancy or lease agreements, travel records, and immigration records. The Warrant cited only one law that had supposedly been violated, 8 U.S.C. § 1324. This provision, known as the “harboring” statute, criminalizes the harboring of persons unlawfully present in the country.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche then publicly stated that Columbia University is under investigation for “harboring and concealing illegal aliens on its campus.” The Warrant would only have been properly supported factually if the materials submitted to the issuing Magistrate Judge, including under oath, stated that Ms. Chung was unlawfully present in the United States. But Ms. Chung is a lawful permanent resident, see Compl. ¶ 23, and Secretary Rubio does not have the unilateral authority to revoke her status, see id. ¶¶ 91-92, 153-75. Ms. Chung remains a lawful permanent resident unless an immigration judge rules otherwise, and a final order of removal ensues.

Until then, Ms. Chung, a lawful permanent resident, cannot be “harbored,” and the statute in question could not have been properly cited to support a warrant to search her residence.

Therefore, it is difficult to imagine how a warrant could have been lawfully obtained to authorize the search of Ms. Chung’s residence in connection with an ostensible investigation into Columbia’s supposed violation of the harboring statute.

The materials underlying the Warrant will supply much needed clarity to Ms. Chung and the public….

Democracy… dies… in darkness. Let us see them. These are our courts, and our streets, afterall. Onward.

नमस्ते

[U: Hinderaker Thinks Due Process Is Only For X-tian Whyte Guys] The Maryland Dad, Grabbed For Having A Bulls Jersey On… Has Been Ordered Flown Home From The Salvadoran Prison Just Now. Stick It, Kristi!

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Updated @ 5 PM EDT: Now Hinderaker has joined JD Vance in trashing this man. This man below, who is lawfully here, working as a welder — and no doubt paying his taxes — while raising his family, in suburban Maryland — all for the offense of… wait for it! — for traffic tickets.

R-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ght.

I am pretty sure Johnnie’s racked up his share of them, too over 65 years. But his good femme buddy, ex-Gov. Kristi Noem… did NOT come grab him under the cover of night — even if he had a Michael Jordan 23 jersey over his otherwise dapper, crisply Whyte… polo.

Nope. John thinks due process is only for him — and fellow X-tian Whyte Guys, here in ‘Murica. A$$hat. End updated portion.

“This case is certainly important to Abrego Garcia and his family,” the judge said. “In recognition of that, I feel like I can’t wait on giving my order….”

Here’s the latest, from The Guardian (UK):

“…To all the wives, mothers, children who also face this cruel separation, I stand with you in this bond of pain,” she said during the rally at a community center in Hyattsville, Maryland. “It’s a journey that no one ever should ever have to suffer, a nightmare that feels endless….”

Abrego Garcia’s mistaken deportation, described by the White House as an “administrative error”, has outraged many and raised concerns about expelling noncitizens who were granted permission to be in the US.

Abrego Garcia had a permit from the Department of Homeland Security to legally work in the US, his attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said. He served as a sheet metal apprentice and was pursuing his journeyman license….

We are better than this, America. You KNOW we are.

[Second graphic here is from five years ago, when then MAGA SD Gov. Kristi Noem tried to arrest indigenous tribal leaders for refusing the feds passage across their tribal lands and roads, to reach Rushmore. It was Tangerine they were not granting permission to, so she threatened to arrest them (claiming they were “illegals”) on their own private property. Damn.]

नमस्ते

As Of 3 PM Eastern On Friday… Mr. Khalil Must Wait Until Next Week, For An Order Of Release…

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Updated — the able USDC Judge in Newark has ruled that Mr. Khalil’s orders are immediately appealable. That mightily speeds the case along, but thus far, he has not ordered Mr. Khalil’s return to Newark, from Jena, Louisiana — in a private prison. His habeas petition though, may be properly heard in Newark, starting next week. End, update.

That’s all for now. But it is all rather hard to understand — since Mr. Khalil is charged with NO CRIME — how his detention remains… appropriate. We are coming up on three weeks without any offer for bond — on a non-violent civil matter. That’s unusual (at least in the prior four years — and the eight before the four of Tangerine) in immigration matters.

He has a green card — and that status cannot be revoked without due process of law (no matter what Kristi Noem bleats on and on about).

Onward.

नमस्ते

Our 14th Amendment / “Birthright Citizenship” — At The Supremes, This Morning…

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Here is the very capable brief arguing this morning that Tangerine’s Black Sharpie cannot strip the Constitution.

It will win the day.

…Being directed to follow the law as it has been universally understood for over 125 years is not an emergency warranting the extraordinary remedy of a stay. This Court should deny the federal government’s request.

Many aspects of constitutional interpretation are hotly debated, but not the merits question in this case. For over a century, it has been the settled view of this Court, Congress, the Executive Branch, and legal scholars that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause guarantees citizenship to babies born in the United States regardless of their parents’ citizenship, “allegiance,” “domicile,” immigration status, or nationality.

President Trump, however, seeks to unilaterally upend this longstanding consensus by executive order. Unsurprisingly, every court to evaluate the Citizenship Stripping Order has found it unconstitutional….

Now you know. Smiling… ever, smiling.

नमस्ते

China “Returns The Favor” — With 34% Taxes/Tariffs; Begins Anti-Dumping Probe Of Medical CT X-Ray Tubes

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Well… this was utterly foreseeable.

Mr. Xi has hit all US goods with an across the board 34 per cent matching tariff.

And of perhaps greater impact (to lithium supplies needed, for car batteries and computer parts) he’s imposed export controls on Chinese rare earth minerals. And hit out at medical suppliers as well. Here’s the rough impact of rare earth exports to the US from China last year:

…China’s exports of rare earth minerals rose 6% in 2024, customs data showed on Monday, as sputtering economic growth limited domestic demand.

The world’s largest producer of rare earths last year shipped 55,431 metric tons of 17 minerals used in the making of products ranging from electric vehicles to consumer electronics, General Administration of Customs data showed.

That was the highest volume since Reuters’ records back to 2014, but the total value of the exports slumped 36% to $488.8 million, the data showed, reflecting falling prices last year amid ample supply….

The penguins? They simply… “smiled, and waved boys”. Out.

नमस्ते

And A THIRD Big One, For Tomorrow: Mr. Khalil’s Habeas, In New Jersey…

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Yes — much is likely to transpire in real time in the federal courts, tomorrow.

This one will be heard in Newark. But I cannot find a live link for the audio. We will see if someone is live-blogging from inside the courtroom tomorrow. Here is the bit of the excellent letter for Mr. Khalil, who is still being held in a private prison in rural Jena, Louisiana at the moment:

…As the Court explained, the gaping hole in [Tangerine 2.0’s / Noem’s] Respondents’ position is that it “does not reckon” at all with the clear text of a controlling federal statute. Op. 25. On appeal, Respondents would have no argument against the Court’s invocation of section 1631’s mandate to treat the petition “as if it had been filed in… the court to which it [wa]s transferred.” Op. 26. Given that statutory command, they would have no argument against the Court’s straightforward application of the Endo Rule. Op. 36–46. And they can no longer argue that the petition did not name Petitioner’s immediate custodian. Op. 56 n.32; see Second Am. Pet. (ECF forthcoming); see also Op. 46–63….

[Trump and Noem] Respondents claim that the Court’s opinion decided an issue of “tremendous and recurring importance.” ECF 157. But a 1292(b) motion is not a petition for certiorari. And besides, the order is most important to one person in unique circumstances. The Court’s decision does not “affect[] every habeas matter brought.” Gustafson v. Williams, 2010 WL 4316750, at *4 (D. Nev. Oct. 25, 2010). It disturbs no federal policy. It does not bind the government in other cases anywhere, including in this courthouse. It does not put “issues of national security… at stake.” Padilla ex rel. Newman v. Rumsfeld, 256 F. Supp. 2d 218, 222 (S.D.N.Y. 2003).

It will not subject the government to discovery into war efforts, nor arguably affect military detention policy, after a court’s application of a brand-new Supreme Court constitutional test to a far-away theater of war. Al Maqaleh v. Gates, 620 F. Supp. 2d 51, 56 (D.D.C. 2009). True, the Court’s ruling might subject Respondents to litigation that it has a long shot of wiping out. But litigants raise jurisdictional objections and lose them all the time….

These Noem people are… utterly shameless. And Un-American in their attempts to circumvent the rights we all possess — to access the federal courts of this land. Onward.

नमस्ते

[U: Bonding out, next week!] And Another Big [Potential] Release Hearing, Tomorrow At 11 AM In Manhattan — Mr. Panton.

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The Judge is going to rule that he may be detained, for now. Counsel for Panton will move for release/bail/bond. Hearing is adjourned. If more than a few weeks elapse, she will revisit this decision.

“As a human being, not a judge“, she encouraged the Noem-ites to allow for release/bond by mid-next week — so that his health care needs may be addressed. End update.

This is another case we’ve not mentioned before, but it seems likely Mr. Panton may win his release as soon as tomorrow at 11 am, Eastern.

The Kristi Noem-ites are trying to deport him to Jamaica, I think. And I think they will fail. The able USDC Judge has indicated (as you can see below) that she is likely to rule from the bench tomorrow. Here’s the audio link / detail, for tomorrow’s hearing:

…Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge Katherine Polk Failla: Show Cause Hearing held on 4/3/2025:

Petitioner present with attorneys Charles Roth, Ruben Loyo, Sarah Telo Gillman, and Olivia Abrecht. AUSA Anthony Jan-Huan Sun representing Respondents present.

The Court anticipates issuing its ruling tomorrow, 4/4/2025, at 11:00 a.m., via video conference (using the same link as today’s conference). The conference will be accessible to the public via an audio-only line at (855) 244-8681, access code 2315 780 7370.

The recording and/or rebroadcasting of the conference is prohibited. (Video Conference set for 4/4/2025 at 11:00 AM in telephone or video conference before Judge Katherine Polk Failla)….

Do stay tuned — tomorrow will be full of all kinds of news, again. Onward.

नमस्ते