Author: condor

Tangent: This ByBit Heist Now Eclipses Saddam Hussein’s (2003 Bank of Iraq / $1B) — By 5X?!

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

That’s… rather impressive, in a perverse way, actually.

These North Korean state-affiliated actors are “worse” than old man Saddam. [He stole a billion in 2003 from Bank of Iraq — as the US closed in.]

Y I K E S.

But the fact that ByBit still (48 hours later!) can’t figure out how about $5.3 billion in value was stolen from it… is just silly. Per CoinDesk:

…The total assets tracked on wallets associated with the exchange plunged from around $16.9 billion to $11.2 billion at the time of writing, according to data from DeFiLlama. The exchange is now looking to understand exactly what happened…

“What happened…”?!?

It would be fair to surmise than over 90% of all crypto-affiliated tech folks… just pretend to understand the software they install.

OTOH, Real Banks all know how to lock the physical vault at night. [And we can all accept the small risk of a dynamite forced entry.]

These ones and zeroes pirates… clearly do not.

Stay away — or lose it all, eventually.

That’s the moral of this story.

[And to be clear — of course, the theft of forced labor, over centuries (from enslaved peoples, the world over), has wildly eclipsed them all — but as a single event, discrete in time, and organized by a small group of individuals… this may be the largest single heist in human history.]

Out.

This Past Week, Merck, Lilly And Purdue Announced The Young Institute — To Advance… “Pharma 4.0” Discovery & Manufacturing

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No figures have been disclosed by either company, or the Young family estate and trust, or Purdue itself. That should be at least one good indication that this is largely a show pony. [And the appearance of Merck’s name here on the midwestern plains… likely flows from Merck’s current CEO’s (Mr. Davis’) time — nearly two decades ago, as a mid-level tax lawyer — at Lilly.]

To be sure, it is a very timely one (for appearances) — given that Tangerine 2.0 is at least blustering — that he may start removing tax breaks for US pharma concerns that do almost all their manufacturing outside the US. Obviously that is a patently stupid way to achieve a policy goal, but this initiative addresses the issue — since everything is appearance over substance, for him anyway. Here’s the university’s presser, and a bit:

…Purdue University, in collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company and Merck & Co. Inc., announced… the funding and launch of the Young Institute Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Consortium, a collaborative effort to pioneer advances in making medicines….

“We’re on the frontier of Pharma 4.0 — autonomous experimentation, advanced robotics, big data, smart factories, AI and machine learning,” said Karen Plaut, Purdue’s executive vice president for research. “Through this partnership, we will have a global impact in solving complex problems in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing ecosystem.”

The consortium will elevate and enhance pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical advanced manufacturing by developing disruptive innovative technologies, autonomous systems, and smart AI and digital technology, together with industrially relevant education and training for the next generation of scientific leaders and researchers. The collaboration also underscores a commitment to onshoring pharmaceutical manufacturing while bolstering domestic production….

Yes. Yes — of course. I’ve lived long enough (since 2016, anyway) to know that almost nothing Tangerine burps about — related to pharma… ever becomes binding law or even semi official regulatory policy. So we will just… nod and salute, smartly — as this particular parade rolls through town. It too — will pass. Onward.

नमस्ते

Excellent Sleuthing, By Our Own “Rigby Maguire”! Check Out John’s Views — On BHO 44 “Executive Orders” Circa 2014!

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Rigby acerbically writes in comments overnight thus, after some “archive / dumpster diving” — clearly (and thanks, man — that is a “hold your nose” kinda’ job!):

…By the way, I wish somebody would ask John about this post from 2014.

It sure is rich reading in 2025. Very rich indeed….

That is spot on.

These days, Trump purports to eviscerate the First Amendment, and the Fourteenth, and Hinderaker sees it as well-within “the muscular power”- of the Executive.

Mr. Obama tried to make sure that spending on health care would reach Americans in the deepest need of it, as plainly authorized by the Congress under the ACA of 2010 (or Obamacare, if you prefer)… and Hinderaker said it was the “gravest possible abuse” of his office. [Genuine Questions Dept.: is it party affiliation, or skin color, driving this flip-flop — or… both? You, gentle reader — may decide.]

It is fascinating that Mr. Obama won the first time (2008) with a landslide, in the popular vote, unseen in three decades. While this time (depending on whose figures one accepts, Trump won by a razor thin margin on the popular vote — or didn’t win at all. And we know he lost the popular vote in 2016 and 2020, according to John, himself). But Hinderaker sees Tangerine 2.0 as the purest embodiment of the democracy — but after 2012, once the GOP controlled Congress, Hinderaker barked on and on that we are a “republic” — and as such, we act only through our LEGISLATIVE representatives, not through the POTUS we elect. The POTUS he said then, was a mere care-taker of the laws the Congress had already passed. Fascinating, indeed.

And to be clear, Mr. Obama followed the process — complying with the APA at every step.

Trump? Not even a whiff of understanding that there are laws about administrative procedures, ones that must be completed, before taking away people’s benefits, or prior rights, at federal law. [And Trump is trying to abolish agencies created by Congress as independent of his branch (like the SEC, and Dept. of Education) — well beyond his reach. John thinks he can LAWFULLY do it — Putz.]

So yes — Rigby is right: Hinderaker is a malignant hypocrite. And probably worse — it likely had to do with the fact that Mr. Obama is his better (in every way — outscoring him soundly, while at Harvard Law), and is a man… of color.

Hilarious.

As We’ve Long Said, 95% Of Tangerine 2.0’s “Orders” Are Fatally-Flawed. His “No DEI” Effort Is Now… D.O.A. YAWN.

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Ruling that a preliminary injunction was warranted here, the able USDC Judge Abelson, sitting in Baltimore, Maryland said at a minimum — Trump’s order attempts to infringe free speech, based on content — without imminent lawlessness afoot. People are allowed to advocate for, and openly discuss inclusion, without any order restricting it. On that grounds alone… the at right is and was a dead letter.

But he went on to hold much more: primarily that Trump’s Black Sharpie lacks the authority to do it, without the Congress. As is true of just about every one of them he’s signed so far. Here’s the full 63 page overnight opinion, and a bit from NPR, this morning:

…In addition to the mayor and the Baltimore City Council, the plaintiffs include the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, the American Association of University Professors and the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, which represents restaurant workers across the country.

Their attorneys claim the groups are already suffering the effects of the executive orders as Trump encroaches on the powers of Congress and seeks to suppress views he doesn’t agree with.

“But the President simply does not wield that power,” they wrote in the complaint. “And contrary to his suggestions otherwise, his power is not limitless….”

To be clear, this is a nationwide but temporary order — but the plaintiffs have made a compelling showing that Trump’s “theories” of the law surrounding executive orders (if they may even be called that) are… BUNK.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker: Wussie.

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

So… Let me get this straight: Tangerine 2.0 needs his US Justice Department to send threatening letters — to members of Congress, who speak in strident terms about him.

These boys are… wussies, of the first order.

Trump did not just threaten violence — he created it, personally — on J6, leading to the injury of dozens of police officers, and the death of Ashlie Babbitt…

But when he said disparaging (and more than occasionally violent) things about HRC, and Joe Biden, and Barack Obama… no one sent him a sternly worded letter from the US Justice Department.

That is so, because any competent POTUS, or POTUS-candidate, knows that the Justice Department serves the public — not the preznut.

But this joker thinks he controls… everything.

He does not.

Mr. Dellinger Keeps His Position For Now — Supremes Punt On Dissolving The DC District Court TRO Here…

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Rather than create some stilted paragraphs — from whole cloth here (on this five page opinion entered tonight by the Supremes), please just trust the expert analysis of one Amy Howe, at SCOTUS Blog (I always do):

…The Supreme Court on Friday left in place for now an order by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that instructed President Donald Trump to temporarily reinstate the head of an independent federal agency tasked with protecting whistleblowers from retaliation. The justices did not act on a request from the Trump administration to block the order by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, which had restored Hampton Dellinger as head of the Office of Special Counsel for 14 days, beginning on Feb. 12. Instead, the justices explained in a brief order, they put the government’s request on hold until Jackson’s order expires on Feb. 26.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, dissented from the court’s decision not to act on the Trump administration’s request.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson indicated, without explanation, that they would have denied the government’s request….

The explanation is that… temporary orders are not “final, appealable” orders. Res Ipsa Loquitur. Sheesh.

नमस्ते

But The Trump Appointed USDC Judge Nichols… Sees A Factual Dispute That Requires Evidence-Gathering, So He Dissolves USAID TRO… Sigh.

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We had warned you that he might look for a way to favor Tangerine 2.0 (even by manipulating the procedural rules) — and tonight, he did. Despite clear contrary black letter law, he has largely “invented” several factual disputes, which in his opinion require a full blown evidentiary hearing, and because he then resolved one factual dispute in favor of Trump [the claim that “some” (but by no means not many, even in Trump’s telling) USAID employees are “defying orders“], he says Trump may begin the “pencils down” pause (to enable an audit) while evidence is being collected. He punishes all — for the acts of a very few — if they even be that.

And all of this sort of misses the point: Trump has no authority to stop payments mandated by the US Congress. That comes from a statute. See, Marbury v. Madison.

Here’s Nichols’ order.

I think it is fatally flawed in its reasoning. But the evidence will eventually come in in favor of the USAID employees, and he will end up granting them back pay, front pay and reinstated positions — and filling in all these missing payments a month or two from now. This much is clear, this is not a real win for Tangerine — the plaintiffs will be able to show he acted lawlessly here.

Disappointing, but onward, resolutely — just the same.

नमस्ते

Musk, DOGE And Treasury Shenanigans: Enjoined Nationwide, Tonight In Manhattan By The Able USDC Judge Vargas…

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Musk, DOGE and most of all, Team Tangerine 2.0 have been enjoined in long form now — certainly until late March 2025 — and perhaps well beyond.

This is all simply in accord with very well-settled black letter law. Trump’s ignorance — and Musk’s fecklessness — both constitute… no excuse. Here’s the full 64 page opinion, and the summary order, below:

…OPINION AND ORDER:

The Court hereby ORDERS as follows:

ORDERED that, pursuant to Rule 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the United States Department of the Treasury and the Secretary of the Treasury are restrained from granting access to any Treasury Department payment record, payment systems, or any other data systems maintained by the Treasury Department containing personally identifiable information and/or confidential financial information of payees to any employee, officer or contractor employed or affiliated with the United States DOGE Service, DOGE, or the DOGE Team established at the Treasury Department, pending further Order of this Court;

ORDERED that, by Monday, March 24, 2025, the United States Department of the Treasury shall submit a report to this Court, as further set forth herein. Upon receipt of the above submissions from the Department of the Treasury, the Court will schedule prompt briefing to address whether the Treasury Department has adequately redressed the violations of the APA found herein, so as to justify the termination or modification of the preliminary injunction.

The Court hereby defers setting deadlines for the filing of a proposed case management plan or motions to amend the Complaint, and stays any deadlines for filing dispositive motions.

The Court will take up such matters after determining whether, and if so to what extent, a preliminary injunction remains warranted after the Treasury Department’s forthcoming submission.

For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction is GRANTED.

(Signed by Judge Jeannette A. Vargas on 2/21/2025)….

Booyah, baby! Now 2 for 25. Trump on the losing end, of all those contests, save two.

नमस्ते

Nothing About Steve Hayward Suggests… Any Serious Adult Level Thoughts.

~ condor ~ 2 Comments

So… Steve and his fellow at least theoretically whyte female bomb thrower “Lucretia” today suggest repeal of the Nineteenth Amendment; Steve would allow women to vote for school boards and local mayoral races… and city councils… but not for any national offices.

Charming.

There is nothing serious about this proposition — or him, any longer.

It is simply sh!t stirring for the sole purpose of stirring… sh!t.

He made up a chart that claimed as one’s BMI increases, the number of pronouns one claims also rise, geometrically.

He is a sad (and ironically… overweight!) loser. [Not that I care about such banal trivialities, but it is rather… telling, no?]

Nothing more.

Out.

Tangent: Every Small Act Department…

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Well, here in the city of the big shoulders — for many decades — The Reverend Michael Pflager, at Saint Sabina’s Southside Catholic Church… has taken a lead in offering Christ’s social gospel as a mandate, for political action.

Now he is asking that all people of good will who believe that opposition is right course of action, related to the proposed Tangerine 2.0 cuts to social services, science spending and Medicare and Medicaid — and unlawful immigration sweeps, particularly — to please fly your flag upside down all weekend through Monday night.

Let your neighbors know that this is not in any manner, a morally or legally acceptable approach to “smaller government”.

In truth, I never refastened my flag right side up again (but hadn’t flown it in four years), because I saw no need to fly it… upside down, ever since Tangerine 1.0’s time ended.

I flew it upside down on every major holiday, back then, though. [And if you need any more motivation to do it, it was exactly 60 years ago today that Malcolm X was assassinated.]

And so this was a super easy choice for me. See at right… grinning.

नमस्ते