Author: condor

This New Guy At Powerline May Not Be Very Bright…

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Look — Hayward was/is a chucklehead. No doubt.

But tonight… the new guy wrote a very silly piece. Monumentally silly.

He faulted people for peacefully protesting at Tesla outlets nationwide. They do so because Musk has effectively bought all speaking rights out of Tangerine 2.0’s mouth.

This guy thinks it all profoundly unfair… but then he argues that new preznits “used to” get 100 days grace.

Huh.

I guess he missed January 6, 2021. That was still two weeks prior to Mr. Biden’s first day.

And it was a violent insurrection — dozens of police injured, and deaths.

Before our guy was able to take the oath.

So yeah — that’s… irony for ‘ya, indeed.

He’s gonna’ eclipse Hayward’s formidable zenith, on the “idiocracy” dimension, it seems.

Out.

So, Kids With Measles In West Texas Are Presenting With Vitamin A Toxicity — In Their Livers…?!

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This is… simply hard to fathom: in 2025, kids in dusty West Texas, already sick with measles (a vaccine-preventable affliction) are showing up at hospitals with… liver damage — due to Vitamin A toxicity (overdosing on Vitamin A) — all due to HHS Sec’y. RFK, Jr.’s wildly irresponsible and dangerous exhortations. Vitamin A will not cure or prevent measles. But too much of it will damage these kids’ livers — for life. Surreal.

Holy cow. Thank you Dr. Marks for speaking up. All real bioscience professionals must speak out against this lethal lunacy. Here’s all of that, via NBCNews.com — just deplorable:

…Dr. Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine regulator, has resigned, an official at the Department of Health and Human Services said Friday….

In a resignation letter to acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner, Dr. Marks wrote that undermining confidence in vaccines is “irresponsible, detrimental to public health, and a clear danger to our nation’s health, safety, and security….

It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies….”

Disgusting.

Still, onward resolutely, to “Death of A Unicorn” (with my girl, Jenna Ortega) — this afternoon, and NCAA tonight — I’m one game up on Mr. Obama in the men’s and we are tied in the women’s at the moment — but it will certainly be different, now — by Monday night.

नमस्ते

Well… 83-4, As Of Now. [Against Trump.] But Not Nearly What Hinderaker Claims.

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This case is limited to firing certain persons not specifically protected by a statute.

So it really isn’t the sweeping win Hinderaker pretends it is. It is merely an interim stay. Nothing more.

And we’ve yet to hear from the “new middle” majority at the Supremes, John.

That would be all Justices except Alito and Thomas, of course.

So stay tuned.

Onward.

End Of March Check In: On Amazon — And The Manifold Abuses — Of Its Laborers… An Ongoing Series.

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Not at all surprising, given what we already knew about the way Amazon monitors every motion; every moment and every footstep of its employees and drivers, both on and off- premises. . . 24/7/365. But it is still… deplorable.

This latest study, out of my own home-town university… makes plain why Bezos does it: because it is highly effective at breaking worker solidarity. And thus, effective at defeating union organizing campaigns. Here’s the latest, out of data from the Alabama union drives:

…A new paper on Amazon’s anti-union efforts at its Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse is the first academic study to examine the ways Amazon has leveraged algorithms to crush pro-union movements inside one of its sprawling warehouses. The study, published by researcher Teke Wiggin of Northwestern University, was compiled using dozens of worker interviews and FOIA requests to the National Labor Relations Board.

Ultimately, the 2021 union vote in Bessemer ended with workers voting against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) by a count of 1,798 to 738 out of 5,867 workers eligible to vote, proving that the sprawling surveillance and discipline system is highly effective.

Since the 2021 election, Amazon has been ordered to hold two more elections at the plant. However, the company has proved exceptionally deft at thrashing worker organizing with both old-school and cutting-edge technologies. The modern tactics detailed by Wiggin include leveraging algorithmic discipline on worker devices, algorithmic slack-cutting or “electronic whipping,” in which algorithms rapidly alter quotas and rules, mobile device spamming, and social media monitoring….

Now you know. Onward — but it cannot break my positive ju-ju mood, as I’m out for a ride to/by the lake, and fresh hot fish tacos from a sublime local truck / vendor! Smile.

Be excellent to one another and root for Michigan tonight to pull an upset, so I might best Mr. Obama… we are essentially tied at the moment in the men’s, but he is up two games on me, in the women’s brackets. Much more once Sweet 16 weekend is in the books! Yup.

नमस्ते

Fascinating. The Powerline Boys Make Zero Mention Of What LEGITIMATE Claim The US Might Make — To Greenland.

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But that is of course classically on-brand, for Tangerine: make a preposterously outlandish claim, and try to ultimately settle for half of the fraudulently asserted claim.

It won’t work this time though — as the Danish King is an ally since long before WWII, and has the backing of the EU and NATO… and… the US has no legitimate rationale to have anything more than the small base it now occupies on the island.

The whole thing is a completely stupid exercise in d!ck wagging, by Trump and Vance.

And Bill Glahn — the newest “boy”, at Powerline — flat out admits it, in his concluding paragraph. [Just as Russia has no legitimate claim to the ocean floor under the North Pole. Damn son — we don’t want to emulate Vlad. Not at all.]

Charming.

Now The Weekly Status Reports Begin — To Stop Musk/Trump Foot-Draggin’ — On USAID Payment Streams, During The Litigation…

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As previously ordered here, the reports on restarted payments are now appearing in the DC courtroom of the able USDC Judge Amir Ali.

Here’s the latest — but I expect this will be “not enough” for Judge Ali. We shall see:

…As of yesterday, the total number of such payments by Defendants to Plaintiffs processed since March 18, 2025 was 161, and the total number of such payments by Defendants to non-Plaintiffs processed since March 18, 2025 was 5,690. In sum, [Trumpian] Defendants have therefore processed 5,851 payments between March 18 and March 26, which amounts to approximately 975 payments per business day….

Defendants’ intention has been to prioritize payments to Plaintiffs. The remaining payments to Plaintiffs have presented particular challenges [Editor’s note: this is likely BS] precluding faster processing: More time has been necessary to process the remaining payments to Plaintiffs than Defendants estimated in the March 19, 2025 status report because agency personnel are working with funding recipients to address transaction-specific details (such as duplicate invoice submissions, billing errors, and the need to confirm that goods or services were delivered or rendered).

Accordingly, Defendants’ proposed timeline for processing the remaining payments is as follows: Defendants expect to process the remaining payments to Plaintiffs by April 10, 2025, and the remaining payments by the last week of April 2025….

The last two paragraphs above are at best… gilding the lily. Hopefully Judge Amir will order that the remaining overdue amounts are cleared before April 15, and all ongoing payment streams are back to normal before April 20. We shall see.

नमस्ते

And Once Again, Trump Thinks He Can Jack Up Auto-Parts Tariffs Anew, Then “Order” US Automakers To NOT Raise Prices?!

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You might think it an Onion headline — but no, it is the capitalists’ paper of record.

The WSJ. And the NYT. Crazy.

Both are reporting that Trump is this morning threatening US automakers, immediately after he personally raised their cost of goods sold by an additional 25%… to NOT pass along the cost increases.

Someone should tell him how Nixon’s wage and price controls worked out. [They didn’t.]

And here’s a novel concept: if as preznit, you don’t want base-model US pickup trucks to cost north of $110,000, at the dealership… ROLL BACK YOUR STUPID A$$ TARIFFS on parts coming across the border from Mexico and Canada.

Damn.

This is simply… a clown show now. And to be clear, the preszit (after Reagan era legislation) is largely forbidden from setting prices (or wages) in any retail US market.

So the US automakers ought to give him exactly what his Nineteenth Century bass-ackwards tariff policies contemplate: ~$110,000 per base model US pickup truck — at the dealership, to Joe Sixpack.

It would be hilarious… if it wasn’t so tragically… sad. He’s a loon.

नमस्ते

In Which Tangerine 2.0 Argues There Can Be “No Consequences” For Filing Knowingly False Sworn Pleadings — By Agency Heads Like Ezell…?!

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Perhaps recognizing that a deposition in the case before USDC Judge Alsup in SF… will lead inexorably to perjury charges — or at least, civil contempt citations in federal court, overnight Team Tangerine asserted the astonishing position that Trump’s agency heads are too busy and too important to be bothered with having to tell the truth in court. Damn.

You will recall that the able USDC Judge Alsup called Charles Ezell out personally in a hearing last month, for making false statements under oath in a sworn affidavit the government filed. Once caught, the lawyers for Tangerine simply withdrew his sworn statement, and refused to make him available to the Judge — to explain why he swore to matters that he had to know were false — including claiming he was on a call he never attended — and he knew when he signed the affidavit that what was purportedly said on that supposed call… was a lie.

Quite rightly, we the people expect of our federal law administering employees (since we pay their salaries, afterall) that they will tell the truth in court. That is how we come to trust that our government works for us, not against us. The idea that Trump/Musk can just wave its hands and say “never mind” — ask this other guy instead of Ezell and all is healed… is frankly… preposterous.

But that is what they said in SF overnight. I will only quote the smallest bit of it, to give you a flavor. These jamokes are absolutely… shameless:

…Defendants have now withdrawn that TRO-opposition declaration and will not otherwise rely on Acting Director Ezell’s testimony in this litigation, given the Court’s concerns with allowing a party to submit declaration testimony that is not subject to cross-examination.

In sum, Mr. Ezell’s deposition should be precluded because he is a high-level official whose testimony would detract from the performance of his official duties and because there are no extraordinary circumstances present warranting his deposition.

If the Court denies a protective order, the government will consider filing a petition for a writ of mandamus in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Defendants respectfully request that, if the Court denies a protective order, the Court order the deposition delayed at least two weeks to give the government time to consider whether to seek such relief. Furthermore, if the government were to file a mandamus petition, the deposition should be stayed until the court of appeals rules on that petition….

Sheesh! Now you know. Onward, smiling just the same — with a bike ride to get hot fish tacos tonight — by the lake, as it warms up here, with my baby girl!

नमस्ते

Hinderaker Is Admitting That Trump Has Blown The Ukraine Negotiation. Huh.

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Hinderaker must know that things are going to blow apart in Trump’s face — in Ukraine.

When, three months ago, Hinderaker said “Nobel Peace Prize”… that was silly.

Trump has never had it in him to deliver offers with the humility to achieve a lasting peace.

And now we see… he lacks the acumen to efficiently prosecute a covert military operation.

So Hinderaker wants to save his own a$$ first, as always.

Hilarious.

Out.

Isar’s Spectrum Rocket May Now Launch From Norway, Saturday Morning Eastern Time…

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Hopefully the winds will stay calm through early Saturday morning in the northern latitudes around Andøya, Norway.

We shall see, but here is the newly revised time-line/launch window from the privately-funded rocketeer:

…Isar Aerospace, based near Munich, Germany, is scheduled to make the first-ever launch attempt of its Spectrum two-stage rocket no earlier than Saturday, March 29, at 11:30 UTC from the Orbital Launch Pad at the Andøya Space Center in Norway. An earlier attempt on Monday, March 24 was scrubbed due to high winds.

Isar is targeting the beginning of a three-hour window that ends at 14:30 UTC….

The Spectrum rocket will be flying on a northwest trajectory over the Norwegian Sea, which would take any payload into a retrograde orbit, although no customer payloads are on board this flight. Andøya, at 69 degrees North latitude and above the Arctic Circle, is one of the most northerly rocket launch sites in the world and can support orbital inclinations between 90 and 110.6 degrees. Andøya is planned to support up to 30 orbital launches per year….

Now you know. Smiling, onward.

नमस्ते