Author: condor

[U: TRO Extended.] USDC Judge Amy Berman Jackson Is Holding A Hearing — In DC, On Hampton Dellinger’s Purported Firing — I’m Listening In, Now. She’s Crushing The Tangerine 2.0 Positions.

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This is one of perhaps six hearings in the next forty-eight hours, that will set all this nonsense up, for the appeals from Tangerine 2.0’s losses. [This is a case that has been bounced out of the Supremes once already — against Trump’s pleadings.]

The hearing is now concluded. So — updating my score-card here: Team Tangerine 2.0 is now about two for 28. Hilarious. Here’s the full extended TRO as entered by Judge Berman-Jackson, and a bit:

…The Court is well aware that the case is in the very unusual posture of being the subject of an application before the Supreme Court before a final order has been issued and before the United States Court of Appeals for the District Columbia has had the opportunity to review that final order. It recognizes that the Supreme Court – with the understanding that the TRO expires at midnight tonight – is holding the application in abeyance until that time. So it is incumbent upon this Court to resolve this matter even more expeditiously than the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure would ordinarily permit; and the Court will do so.

Given the significance of the constitutional questions presented, though, it is also incumbent upon the Court to give full consideration to all of the arguments advanced during today’s hearing before it finalizes its opinion. It is also necessary to give close consideration to all of the pleadings submitted by the parties after the TRO issued, and to rule on questions raised after the defendants asked the Supreme Court to take the case. This includes defendants’ thirty page motion for summary judgment [Dkt. 22], filed on Friday, February 21, which advances arguments concerning the Court’s authority to impose equitable remedies for the first time before this Court; plaintiff’s forty-page opposition and cross motion for summary judgment, filed on Monday, February 24; defendants’ reply, filed on February 25; and plaintiff’s cross opposition, which is not due until tomorrow. This is particularly true now that the motion for a preliminary injunction has been consolidated with the merits, as defendants requested….

[Team Tangerine 2.0] counsel for the defendants indicated a lack of familiarity with the relevant legislative history and proposed to look into it as the subject of a supplemental filing, she voiced defendants’ objection to any extension of the TRO for the same reasons they opposed it in the first place….

The Tangerine 2.0 lawyer was largely ill-prepared (hadn’t read the legislative histories) related to this proposed extension of the TRO — preventing Trump from firing Hampton Dellinger, until at least Saturday, March 1, 2025. It would not surprise us, if the Tangerine 2.0 loons decide to go back to the Supremes yet tonight, since the Supremes punted only until end of day, today. Judge Jackson’s order is clear — she needs until Saturday to sort all the silly spaghetti Trump has thrown at the wall here. Let’s hope Justice Roberts is wise enough to let that happen. Onward.

नमस्ते

USDC Senior Judge Alsup, In SF, Is Right Now “Puzzling — Until His Puzzler Is… Sore” [With Apologies to Dr. Seuss]…

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When a very capable, very experienced USDC Judge takes it upon himself to pose questions, just two days in advance of an emergency hearing — and insist that the answers be in writing, and under oath, by 10 AM Pacific tomorrow, aimed at the feds and the OPM, only (which for the moment acts through the minions of Elon Musk, even more than Donald Trump)… the DOGE boys should buckle up — to get their back porch painted bright red.

This is an ominous sign for Elon — the TRO is certainly going to be granted, and the dot points are gone, and probationaries are going to be rehired, or at least their paychecks will not be interrupted nor decreased, while the litigation rolls on. Heck, they may not even have to go to work (so my guy can train strategically for Nationals — this Summer!), but they will… get pizzaid.

The below order all but makes this plain. And we all KNOW the would-be “feral” government (in the person of Musk’s OPM) has no sensible answer here, at all [and he’d be God’s own fool — to lie about it!]:

…In the opposition due WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2025, AT 10 AM, defendants shall please
address the following:

1. To what extent did OPM or individuals within OPM direct other agencies to terminate probationary employees based on performance or misconduct? If any such direction (or advice) is in writing, please provide the documents to the Court.

2. How can an agency lawfully terminate a probationary employee on the basis of “performance” if that employee’s performance was in fact satisfactory?

….IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: February 25, 2025….

Ka-boom! Thursday is shaping up to be a banger in San Fran! Onward, grinning.

नमस्ते

If John Thought His Lunatic Materials Were Truthful, And Academically Valuable, Why Would He Not Want Berkeley To House Them, Digitized And Searchable?!

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

Well — “me thinks the lady doth protest too greatly.”

Hinderaker was apparently approached by Cal Berkeley, to digitize his archives at his think tank, and on Powerline, for a collection being assembled — at what will be called “The Center for Right Wing Studies.”

Of course, this might be a high honor, if — IF John actually believed in even say five percent of what he belches out.

But we detect a fairly vast under-current of shame here (hiding behind his false bravado).

John’s grand-children, and great-grandchildren (when born, and then of an age to go off to college!) would undoubtedly see them, some forty years from now — when he is molding in his grave… and realize that he was, in many ways, his day’s KKK Grand Dragon.

He doesn’t want that future world to know any of this, about him — that is clear.

But that is what Cal Berkeley inclusion would mean: the internet is… forever, as they say.

I find all of it… highly entertaining — and ironic. Just not in the way John posits.

Out.

More Diarrhea — From Hinderaker, On Ukraine.

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His belching is both predictable and tedious.

Like Paul Mirengoff, he is trying to find a way to justify Trump handing the Ukraine people to Putin on a platter as blood sacrifice. [This, despite his nearly 20 years of claiming that Russia was our sworn enemy, possibly even more so than China.]

But this passage, in particular, I need to call out specifically, for how heinously dishonest it is:

…If the United States had had a functioning president three years ago, the war would not have begun. If we had had a functioning president for the last two years, it would have been brought to an end before now…

This is part of his Orwellian mission — as assigned by Trump: rewrite the history (LIE!) about the bipartisan support for protecting Ukraine against Russian aggression, now that Trump has some personal stake in kowtowing to Putin.

The bitter old geezer forgets he has archives full of posts where he said the opposite in real time.

I’m sleepy, so I’ll stop there. I’ll go virtual dumpster diving, for all those 2021 through 2023 posts of his.

What a feckless putz.

At Another Property, Our Excellent Commenters Showed Us That Elizabeth Holmes (And Sunny Balwani) Have Lost Their Appeals.

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Y A W N.

Not even a tiny bit [or “drop“, if you prefer!]… surprising. Here’s the full opinion, and a bit:

…“[O]ne tiny drop changes everything.” That was the vision shared by Elizabeth Holmes and Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who set out in the mid-2000s to revolutionize medical laboratory testing through a biotechnology company called Theranos. In the early 2010s, Theranos claimed that it could run fast, accurate, and affordable tests with just a drop of blood drawn from the prick of a finger, in contrast to traditional testing methods that require large needles to draw blood from a vein.

Investors, health care professionals and companies, and Silicon Valley spectators were captivated by the potential of Theranos’s revolutionary technology. As a result, Holmes and Balwani were able to establish relationships with major companies, investors, and prominent figures, including high-ranking members of the United States military.

But the vision sold by Holmes and Balwani was nothing more than a mirage….

So… I think that means she’s got about nine more years to go, on the inside. And like 12, for Sunny. [I suspect they will both try a one-in-a-million shot at getting certorari (an exceptional, permissive appeal) from the Supremes… but that will never come to pass. Heh.]

That’s… justice.

Onward. Thanks, Billy! And g’night, to all of good will!

नमस्ते

USDC Judge Alsup Sets Thursday TRO Hearing On The “Dot Points” Memos, Among Other Matters. Speedy!

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When federal judges move swiftly to hold hearings, it usually means the issue is very important to the nation, and/or that lots of people’s rights are involved — and the case may be pretty clear. That, I would suggest is true here — on all three counts. [That refers to the dot points edict.]

As we said this lunchtime, though — the summary falsely-“performance” based firings, by email to thousands and thousands, by Musk — of probationary / contract workers is also set to be heard, on this docket — as an ultra-vires act, that may very well be enjoined by the able USDC Judge Alsup. That bit keenly interests me, as my adult son — a triathlete, with two Masters degrees, and top of his class… was one of those who got one of Elon’s nutty emails (but I will not disclose which federal agency, to protect his anonymity). So trust that I will keep you informed.

Here’s the full order, from late afternoon, out in San Francisco:

…On February 23, 2025, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint and ex parte motion for a temporary restraining order and order to show cause (Dkt. Nos. 17, 18).

The government shall file an opposition, if any, by WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2025, AT 10 AM. Plaintiffs shall file a reply, if any, by midnight that same day. The motion will be heard on THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2025, AT 1:30 PM. The hearing will be in person, in Courtroom 12.

The above schedule is conditioned on plaintiffs serving a copy of this order on the government attorneys previously served (Dkt. No. 20) by midnight tonight.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: February 24, 2025….

We will post anything of interest this week, on this one. Trust that. But I think the plaintiffs have a very solidly-argued, and grounded TRO coming, in their collective favors. Onward.

नमस्ते

[U: Mirengoff Weighs In: Bad Trump Polls!] Hinderaker Thinks It A “Win” That Rasmussen Shows Trump Just Under 50% Approval.

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Just updated — late tonight: Indeed, largely as a direct rebuke to Hinderaker, Mirengoff offers a candid — and largely bleak — assessment, as to whether Trump can dig himself out of this increasingly deep unpopularity hole he’s shoved himself into (while offering a more realistic run through just how bad Tangerine is doing):

…[Most] Trump decisions fared worse in the polls. Pardoning people convicted of violent crimes related to the January 6, 2001 riot polled terribly (14 percent approved, 83 percent did not). Laying off large numbers of federal workers polled badly (39 percent approval, 58 percent disapproval). So did shutting down US AID (33-56, on average) …

Banning transgender people from the military polled below 50 percent. Tariffs on steel and aluminum were a poll loser (34-49). Giving Elon Musk a major role in the administration was viewed negatively by a nearly 2-1 ratio. Giving Musk access to large amounts of data about Americans is viewed as a concern by 63 percent of poll respondents, compared to 37 percent who aren’t concerned. The Post-Ipsos polls says that Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy by 53-45 percent. Not surprisingly, given the primacy of the economy in voters’ minds, this split closely tracks Trump’s overall approval number. The Reuters poll says that only 39 percent approve of Trump on the economy. That’s lower than Trump’s approval in this realm ever was during his first administration…

That’s correct. And ominous, even as Hinderaker whistles past this graveyard. End update.

Hinderaker’s is… precious (I refuse to link it, because of how shoddy the statistical “science” methods are, in it). Meanwhile, out here in the real world… i.e., in the not-oversampled GOP household polls…

The American Research Group — polling 1,001 equally weighted GOP and Democratic registered voters nationwide this past week found that:

…A total of 43% of Americans say they approve of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president and 51% say they disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job according to the latest survey from the American Research Group.

In February 2017, after Trump’s first month as president, 43% approved of the way Trump was handling his job as president and 51% disapproved.

When it comes to Trump’s handling of the economy, 38% of Americans approve and 56% disapprove.

In February 2017, 43% approved of the way Trump was handling the economy and 50% disapproved….

Unprompted, voters disapproving of Trump’s handling of the economy complain that Trump has not reduced grocery, gasoline, and/or energy prices as he promised during the campaign….

John better hope that Trump can do something about consumer prices, as he promised. That is what is driving anger right now — he endlessly promised to fix all the inflation, in his first week.

In fact, eggs are now about $12 for one dozen — that’s a buck an egg. Just this past summer, they were under $5 a dozen — here in the urban midwest.

That’s what real voters, most of whom live pay check to pay check — care about.

Not some billionaire dressed in all black, walking around with a cartoon chainsaw, like government is a WWF smack-down event.

And Musk’s kid (broadcast worldwide! — but I don’t fault little X, he’s just being… a kid!) picking his nose, and then wiping it on the Resolute Desk, doesn’t help either.

Word is that Tangerine 2.0 has had the Resolute Desk moved to storage/for cleaning and dis-infecting (he’s an irrational germaphobe) — because… of course he did.

Come get your boys, Hidneraker — they are flaming out.

As We Said — Musk/Tangerine 2.0 Failed — Utterly Failed! — To Comply With The Admin. Proc. Act (5 USC § 553, et seq.) By Trying The “Dot Points” Report Gambit.

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It is simply amazing — how inept this band of hangers-on is. It is a great benefit, to those lawyers among us who understand how “out of their depth” both Musk and Trump now are. Here is that amended federal suit, in the Northern District of California, filed overnight — which is in front of the able USDC Senior Judge William H. Alsup, in San Francisco.

See particularly, pages 22 and onward of this filing. These guys are… just stupidly… toast. Just as we said:

…On February 22, 2025, OPM began to implement a new mandatory reporting program for all federal employees throughout the federal government. OPM has ordered all federal employees to submit e-mail reports justifying their work.

Prior to February 22, 2025, federal employees were not required to submit any reports regarding their work to OPM. On information and belief, no OPM rule, regulation, policy, or program has ever, in United States history, purported to require all federal workers to submit reports to OPM.

On February 22, 2025, employees throughout the federal government, employed at many different agencies, received the same email, from the address: hr@opm.gov. Prior to January 20, 2025, no such email address existed for use by OPM or within the federal government. On information and belief, this e-mail is being sent under the purported authority of OPM.

On information and belief, this e-mail was sent to over 2 million federal employees. The message was sent with “High Importance.” The message was not signed by any government official….

The title of the email was: “What did you do last week?” The body of the email stated: Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager. Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments. Deadline is this Monday at 11:59 EST….

Notwithstanding the OPM Director’s express obligations pursuant to 5 U.S.C. §§ 1103 and 1105 to comply with notice and comment rule-making pursuant to the APA, neither OPM nor its Acting Director complied with the rule-making provisions set forth in 5 U.S.C. § 553 before issuing the OPM order….

Under the APA, a court shall “hold unlawful and set aside agency action… found to be… without observance of procedure required by law.” 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(D). The OPM’s new program for federal employee reporting is a “rule” for purposes of the APA. 5 U.S.C. § 551(4). Notwithstanding the OPM Director’s express obligations pursuant to 5 U.S.C. §§ 1103 and 1105 to comply with notice and comment rule-making pursuant to the APA, neither OPM nor its Acting Director complied with the rule-making provisions set forth in 5 U.S.C. § 553 before commencing OPM’s new program for federal employee reporting government-wide. OPM’s new program for federal employee reporting therefore violates 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(D) by failing to observe procedures required by law….

Given that several pro-Trump political appointees at FBI and DoD and HHS are telling people not to comply, it strikes me that the honeymoon with one Elon Musk… is now in its death throes — just as we predicted in November. Musk is too naive in thinking he can run ram-rod through “for cause only” federal employees.

These are not his abused, put-upon, low education factory workers. And tons of the nearly two million are union members, here — unlike at Musk’s old California Tesla plants. So… Kash Patel will grind him to dust for it, in front of Tangerine 2.0’s high court of hangers-on.

So, overall — things are starting to look up! Smile.

Out.

नमस्ते

Just For A Complete Record: Fitton’s Lame-Brained Response In The Evanston Reparations Matter, In Federal Court In Chicago…

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I won’t quote it — but just drop a link here — as no part of it makes any sense, in any rational interpretation of the Hierholzer case, discussed out of the Fourth Circuit. To offer a more rational, sensible analysis of the applicable law, here is the city’s original three page citation to Hierholzer, and here is the city’s motion to dismiss, in full. [And, just one of my earlier backgrounders, on it all.]

The able USDC Judge Kness will now shortly schedule a hearing — on the city’s pending motion to dismiss Fitton’s recruited plaintiffs, for a complete lack of standing.

And that cannot come swiftly enough, in my opinion.

These are simply a bunch of metaphorical Molotov Cocktail throwers — ones who wish to stir up racial animus — and reopen the old wounds that they cannot deny exist.

To be certain, Tom Fitton himself (not even a lawyer) has a long track record of attention-seeking but meritless strike lawsuit filings. This is just another one of those. Pretty pathetic, actually. The people of Evanston overwhelmingly are in favor of this program. They voted for it. So he ought to peddle his bitter root-berry juice… elsewhere.

Onward.

नमस्ते

Mirengoff… Also Refuses To State The Obvious: He Elected A Deranged Sociopath.

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And now — we see Mirengoff, trying to guild the lilly, about Trump‘s knife in the back, against Mr. Zelenskyy.

He cannot bring himself to just flat out say Trump is a deranged sociopath, clearly looking to make some personal gain of a financial sort from playing Ukraine off against Vladimir Putin.

Mirengoff gives us six varying explanations for why Trump might do that, but ignores what is absolutely most likely one… one is borne out by six decades of watching Trump in action.

Every time.

For Trump, everything is transactional, and his question is always “how can I personally make money off of this?”

Any sane person would know that that is exactly what’s happening here. Just as in Gaza.

But Mirengoff twists himself up in pretzel fashion — trying to make up slightly less unlawful, nearly treasonous and/or less-disgusting motivations.

It’s time for all of these jokers to admit that they have elected… “The Joker”.

Out.