The TRO In Boston (Against Tangerine 2.0’s NIH Slashes): Now Nationwide — Next Hearing February 21, 2025.

February 11, 2025February 11, 2025 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

The purported 15% cap that Tangerine is trying to force down the throats of grantees… would amount to hundreds of millions in lost research dollars at universities across the nation. And would threaten our leads in the life-sciences. [It is also contrary to the commands made by Congress several decades ago, at 42 U.S.C. § 241(a)(3).] Damn (all so Musk might be able to put boots on Mars?!). Here’s the latest memo of law from the universities.

[Backgrounder here.] The good news — like all the other Tangerine Black Sharpie scribbles… is that he will lose. This is beyond his remit, at 1600 Penn. He needs. . . an entirely new Act of Congress for this. [One he’s very unlikely to be able to push through.] Here’s STAT on it all:

…A federal judge in Boston ordered a nationwide temporary pause on plans by the National Institutes of Health to substantially slash research overhead payments to universities, medical centers, and other grant recipients.

Judge Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued the temporary restraining order late Monday night in response to a lawsuit filed that afternoon by associations representing the nation’s medical, pharmacy, and public health schools, as well as Boston and New York-area hospitals. The suit names the NIH, Department of Health and Human Services, and the acting heads of both agencies as defendants.

The [Tangerine 2.0] NIH order, which was announced Friday and was effective as of Monday morning, imposed a 15% cap on NIH support for indirect costs — administrative and facilities expenses linked to research. Institutions generally receive 30% to 70% on top of direct research costs, and there remains deep concern the plan would hamper institutions and stall biomedical research….

Now you know. Onward, resolutely — I think Trump is now about 0-15, on his lawless executive “orders”, in the courts. Grin.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker: Idiocy, On Gaza Cease-Fire / Hostages.

February 10, 2025 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Bad situations… beget more… bad situations.

Bibi is in over his head. And John knows it.

But not nearly as completely as Tangerine 2,0 is.

Tangerine probably just signed the death warrants for the remaining hostages, by trying to pretend that he, Trump himself… isn’t the coward we all know he is.

Hinderaker is encouraging Trump’s bellicose nonsense, so he too will be to blame for the next hostage who turns up dead.

These guys are competent at… essentially nothing.

The terrorists are very much blame-worthy, but Trump and Hinderaker and yes Bibi are making a bad situation… worse.

Onward.

“Night Court”: Treasury Payment Data / “No Access By MAGA Politicos” TRO Modified, Tonight — But Hearing Will Go Forward, And Tangerine Will… Lose.

February 10, 2025February 11, 2025 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

As instructed by the able USDC Judge Vargas in Manhattan, the two sides met (by conference calls) throughout the day, today — and now have agreed to a slight modification of the already in force TRO — largely to preserve the state of affairs that existed before Tangerine’s lawless actions.

In essence, that’s what the Engelmeyer TRO was originally intended to do — in the first place, late last Friday night. Here is the agreed change; and now we await the full briefing and a hearing:

…Notwithstanding the above, nothing in this order prevents (i) contractors on the approved outside contractor list maintained by the Department of Treasury’s Chief Information Officer who were engaged prior to January 20, 2025 to perform routine or emergency maintenance on BFS systems from accessing such systems to perform routine or emergency maintenance, or (ii) the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from continuing to access BFS payment systems as it did prior to January 20, 2025, pursuant to the letter of designation with the Treasury in effect prior to January 20, 2025. . . .

Once again, these tech-bro minions of Musk (and Musk and Trump — themselves) are learning that federal statutes govern almost every aspect of running a cabinet-level agency — largely to prevent the kind of political retribution Trump is vainly attempting.

And they are learning that workers in the federal government possess a much more powerful nearly “for cause only” right to avoid being let go. Musk’s land of “at will” (private enterprise/tech land) simply doesn’t exist inside these agencies. To do any of what these jokers seek to do. . . they will need new laws, from Congress. That is by… design. Out — time to hear the sheets chant my name, sweet and low — but chanting — just the same. Grin.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker Again Pretends NOT To Understand How Tariffs (Actually Don’t) Work… Sheesh.

February 10, 2025February 11, 2025 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

For the second time in two weeks, Hinderaker intentionally, and falsely, conflates “customs duties paid” with… actual tariff economic effects in the US GDP.

[Here was his BS version from last week, which we answered with the graphic at right, and some logic — here. He knows his “argument” is in fact just a silly lie, to dupe the… ignorant / MAGAts. But I repeat myself.]

Now he’s trying to say that Tangerine 2.0’s 25% (at least announced) tariffs, on aluminum and steel… won’t dent the US economy. That is patently… false (if he actually sticks to his word). And worse, it won’t bring steel or aluminum production “back home” in any event.

The remaining US ore-bodies are just… too low grade. Uneconomic, even when China has to add one-quarter to the price of its like goods. It won’t be enough.

The only saving grace is that Tangerine never does what he belches all over the world about: his supposed tariffs will vaporize in the night — likely without him ever even acknowledging that he… blinked.

Xi will win out here, again, against the dotard’s fecklessness.

And only US based steel and aluminum producers will be the worse off, for it all.

Charming, John. Do tell me again: how exactly is that “America, First”?

Trans-Lunar Orbit Burn For Blue Ghost — A Complete Success: Now Being Captured By Lunar Gravity… Into A Tightening-Elliptical Orbit, There.

February 10, 2025February 10, 2025 ~ condor ~ 1 Comment

This will be a private soft lunar landing, in early March, if all goes 5 by 5. [That’s an “Earthrise” of sorts, at right — off her back deck… headed toward the Moon!]

All is right on track at the moment, after Saturday’s “white knuckle” engine burn. [Backgrounder here.] Now it mostly coasts, in a series of tightening loops, around the moon — for the next 16 or so days. Here’s the latest:

…Firefly completed its Trans Lunar Injection burn on Saturday, February 8… [The] spacecraft carrying NASA science and tech to the Moon has now departed Earth’s orbit — and begun its four-day transit to the Moon’s orbit. Blue Ghost will then spend approximately 16 days in lunar orbit before beginning its descent operations.

Since launching more than three weeks ago, Blue Ghost has performed dozens of health tests generating 13 gigabytes of data. All 10 NASA payloads onboard are currently healthy and ready for surface operations on the Moon….

We needed some lightening here. Onward!

नमस्ते

Trump’s Busy Day In The Federal Courts — And It’s Not Gonna Be Over For The Day — Until 11 PM EST. Trump Is Now VIOLATING Federal Court Orders.

February 10, 2025February 10, 2025 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

It is just. . . utterly silly — how precious little Musk and Tangerine understand about public entity employees — and employment law, in America.

So they will keep on… losing. See here, and here — as just two court ordered examples from this day — today, alone.

And I’d say… this pull-quote sums up nicely, where we are — from a labor law professor not involved in these cases — deftly outlining how incompetent Team Tangerine 2.0 is:

…”In the tech universe, ‘move fast and break things’ is a fine motto in part because they’re not playing with the public’s money, and it’s expected that most initiatives are going to fail,” Loyola Marymount law professor Justin Leavitt told ABC News. “Congress knows that, so in 1946 they basically said, ‘When agencies do stuff… they have to be careful about it. They’ve got to consider all aspects of the problem….”

[And from the 19 state AGs’ filing — just made, at 5 PM EST today:]

…Moreover, as five former Treasury secretaries have confirmed in an editorial published in the New York Times today, “[t]he nation’s payment system has historically been operated by a very small group of nonpartisan career civil servants,” including the Fiscal Assistant Secretary, whose duties have now been delegated to Mr. Krause (see Krause Aff. ¶ 1) but “for the prior eight decades had been reserved exclusively for civil servants to ensure impartiality and public confidence in the handling and payment of federal funds.” Rubin, et al., Five Former Treasury Secretaries: Our Democracy Is Under Siege, New York Times (Feb. 10, 2025)…. The former Treasury Secretaries explain with compelling force why political appointees would have no need to access the BFS records or systems…. [The signees are Robert Rubin, Lawrence Summers, Timothy Geithner, Jacob Lew, and Janet Yellin, all former Treasury Secretaries.]

Onward to the federal “night court filings” in Manhattan, next. Hilarious. And sad.

We should never have to live like this — daily, correcting fifth grader-level mistakes, by the supposed POTUS. [But we all know — and his own lawyers… well-know… these are not likely to be “mistakes“, at all. They are the feature: Chaos — not the mistakes / “bug“, to be resolved. Not at all.] Do not let it wear you down. Do not give in. Do not resign. Ugh.

नमस्ते

Look. We All Know Elon Musk Has A Burning Financial Interest In Sending The First Humans To A Soft Mars Landing…

February 10, 2025February 10, 2025 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

But even so, this sort of stupid… trolling (when he wants to be thought of as a serious statesman or ambassador for Tangerine 2.0!) is. . . off-putting.

Lately on his X-itter, and on Joe Rogan’s “show” — he’s been pushing the mantra that we need to get a crewed mission to Barsoom / Mars, “IMMEDIATELY(!)” — to “investigate the remains” of a fort, or settlement on Mars. Damn. His evidence? He and Rogan doctored a Mars Global Surveyor orbital image (from around 2006). They claim it depicts the corner of some ancient stone building, outpost or structure.

Here’s a bit of the more or less breathless coverage of this non-story, in glossy media:

…Social media has been buzzing with talk about a strange formation on Mars that looks like a giant square in the dusty terrain. The snapshot came from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), a mission that captured thousands of images from 1997 until its final transmission in 2006.

…Elon Musk and popular podcaster Joe Rogan have [shared] a cropped version online. . . [and they] are asking if a neat, geometric form could appear by chance or if something else is going on.

Dr. Sarah Johnson, a planetary geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), points to geological processes as the likely cause of these intriguing shapes.

She says that Martian landscapes often reveal features that appear artificial at first glance, but they usually have natural explanations tied to erosion or volcanic activity….

That’s correct, Dr. Johnson — and Elon seeks to raise and spend perhaps a half trillion dollars from the federal coffers to go chase a crewed mission to Mars. [As we’ve long pointed out, almost everything we’d ever need — in the way of science, on Mars will be done better, cheaper, faster. . . and most of all, SAFER — by robotic rovers and helicopters.]

That’s the sort of “conflict of interest” — as a disclosure, along with perhaps 70 or so others, which should be front and center, in every governmental communique Tangerine 2.0 issues — about Elon, SpaceX, Tesla or X-itter. [All for Elon… to secure a place in space exploration history — for his vanity.]

Yikes. What an oddly non-scientific time we are enduring, here at the opening of 47’s last stint at 1600 Penn. Out.

नमस्ते

Team Tangerine 2.0 Has Moved, After The Super Bowl Ended Tonight, To Vacate The TRO Keeping Non-Qualified People Out Of Our Private Treasury Pay Data.

February 10, 2025 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

The able USDC Judge Vargas in Manhattan has set a busy “call-and-response” calendar for both sides (all day and night tomorrow, Monday the 10^th), given the relative novelty (no prior Treasury Secy. would have ever let interlopers run wild inside the financial / payment systems which include private US citizen payor payee data) and thus the significance of the issues — and the fact that, absent this TRO, Elon Musk could keep violating several felony statutes [adopted to curb abuses engendered by the Nixon “dirty tricks” Administration operatives — like G. Gordon Liddy] in perusing private, sensitive financial data of individual Americans [since the current, newly-minted Treasury Secy. is… plainly, and willfully failing to do his own sworn job, here. .

Consider that Musk, who hasn’t sworn any of the required oaths (nor passed a background check — for security clearance), as a faithful government employee — and who hasn’t disclosed all his conflicts of interest, in accessing this data AND who has been in arguable violation of the lobby disclosure laws for at least the last five months (if you count Congress) — and three weeks, if you count 1600 Penn… is simply ignoring the legal framework every prior administration has abided by, for at least 65 years — and is in direct violation of several felony statutes in so doing.

For what little it is worth (since it cites no case law — as there is none to support these overwrought “emergency” claims), here is the memo of law from Team Trump at Treasury. And below is the scheduling order entered by the USDC, in Manhattan, as the streets of nearby Philly filled with throngs of revelers — singing, dancing and drinking — to celebrate their “Iggles” improbable win, over the Chiefs burgeoning dynasty:

…ORDER.

The parties are ordered to meet and confer with respect to the Defendants’ Emergency Motion to Dissolve, Clarify, or Modify the Ex Parte Temporary Restraining Order to determine if the parties can reach agreement on a stipulation that either resolves or narrows the issues presented in the Motion.

If no agreement is reached, Plaintiffs’ response to the Motion shall be due by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, February 10, 2025.

Defendants’ reply papers shall be due by 11:00 p.m. on Monday, February 10, 2025.

HEREBY ORDERED by Judge Jeannette A. Vargas, USDC Judge….

Well — we will keep you informed — tomorrow. In the mean time — consider this your primer on the applicable laws being violated, as alleged under oath, by 18 State Attorneys General on Friday night, past — all absent the now in force nationwide TRO:

…The Privacy Act of 1974 “provides certain safeguards for an individual against an invasion of personal privacy,” by requiring governmental agencies to maintain accurate records and providing individuals with more control over the gathering, dissemination, and accuracy of agency information about themselves. Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records, 87 Fed. Reg. 16244, 16245 (Mar. 22, 2022); 5 U.S.C. § 552a. To accomplish this purpose, the Privacy Act sets forth conditions for disclosure of private information and precludes an agency from disclosing information in its files to any person or to another agency without the prior written consent of the individual to whom the information pertains. See 5 U.S.C. § 552a(b)….

Agencies are required to give 30 days’ notice of new or revised SORNs, allowing public comments. 5 U.S.C. § 552a(e)(11). A SORN must include information on the categories of individuals and records in the system, the routine uses of the records, and the agency’s policies on storage, access, retention, and disposal. 5 U.S.C. § 552a(e)(4)….

[Moreover,] Section 208 of the E-Government Act of 2002, codified at 44 U.S.C. § 3501 (“EGovernment Act”), mandates that an agency conduct a privacy impact assessment before “developing or procuring information technology that collects, maintains, or disseminates information that is in an identifiable form.” E-Government Act § 208(b)(1)(A)(i). The purpose of this provision “is to ensure sufficient protections for the privacy of personal information” maintained by government agencies. Id. § 208(a). Defendants failed to conduct a privacy impact assessment before adopting and implementing the Agency Action in violation of Section 208….”

These above in green, are the grounds which USDC Judge Engelmeyer (SDNY) called “particularly strong” — when issuing the TRO, Friday night.

In the end, I think only Treasury Secy. Scott Bessent will be “exempted” from this TRO, not any political staff — and no non-govt. employees.

We shall see — and all that’s even though Bessent’s shown a callous disregard for the felony statutes that apply inside his Department — Treasury. Onward.

नमस्ते

Mirengoff Concedes: Tangerine 2.0 Ending USAID… Would Be A Grave Mistake.

February 9, 2025February 9, 2025 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Of course, he couches his almost exclusively in preventing China and Xi from getting a leg up, on precious raw materials — in various developing geographies — by currying favor with aid.

He agrees this is a game the USA must play too. [I said as much last week — noting copper in Democratic Republic of Congo, in particular — and the crying need for mpox- (and soon, Ebola-, again) vaccines there.]

Here is what Paul had to say. In the main, he does get it:

…We should aid people in poor nations not because it is right (though in principle it is), but because the communists are doing it….

Never mind that he well-knows (and in fact quotes) John F. Kennedy — for why it is plainly our moral obligation to our fellow humans, as well. I’ll take the win — as JFK said, that cold DC Inaugural Day, in 1961:

…The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe — the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state….

To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required — not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich….

To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge — to convert our good words into good deeds — in a new alliance for progress — to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty.….