To say Kash Patel should lead the FBI is to admit that all you want… any longer, is to cheer Trump’s endless grievance parade as it rumbles through town.
And adding an ex-con (family member) “in-law / outlaw” as Ambassador to France — again, simply admitting that this is all just revenge-touring, not governing, in any meaningful sense of that word, as the founders understood it.
Tangerine has forever loathed the French: as they are — to a person — more sophisticated, more pleasant and more… intelligent, that he.
So, esa.int and the Indian Space Agency will partner to throw this massive pair of spacecrafts aloft, this Wednesday, on the Eastern coast of India — north of Chennai.
It will mark yet another milestone, in the cooperative efforts of these nations — largely without need for NASA input. Messrs. Tangerine, and Musk, should take heed. The world is going to leave them behind, if they insist on being “top dawg” in every discussion. But I applaud the cooperative work of science experts, across the globe — for largely ignoring artificial political lines on one map some General drew, now over a half-century ago. Here’s the latest, from ESA’s Paris HQ:
…Satellite separation is due to take place about 18 minutes after liftoff, with the first acquisition of signal by the flight control team at ESA’s ESEC establishment in Redu, Belgium, anticipated around a quarter of an hour later.
The latest member of ESA’s family of in-orbit demonstration missions, Proba-3 is in fact two spacecraft being launched together, which in orbit will separate to begin performing precise formation flying, precise to a single millimetre, about the thickness of an average fingernail.
By blocking out the fiery disc of the Sun, Proba-3’s ‘Occulter’ spacecraft will mimic a terrestrial total solar eclipse, to open up views of the Sun’s faint surrounding atmosphere, or ‘corona’, which is a million times fainter than its parent star. Proba-3’s second ‘Coronagraph’ spacecraft hosts the optical instrument that will observe the solar corona.
On Earth, total solar eclipses only occur every 18 months on average, and last just for a few minutes. Solar scientists have to travel all over the world to take advantage of them. Proba-3 will be able to create solar eclipses on demand, observing closer to the edge of the Sun than any previous Earth- or space-based instrument, down to just 1.1 solar radii. And it will do so for six hours per 19-hour 36-minute orbit. [Do see the YouTube explainer, immediately below]….
Do check back Wednesday, for a live feed of / window on the launch, here. Grin.
The French people should uniformly treat him like an undocumented immigrant is treated in the USA (by MAGA, at least), every time they see him in the street in Paris — which won’t be very often, BTW.
The French should be deeply insulted — that a Trumpy family member — to whom Trump owes vast 2016 and 2020 and 2024 campaign contributions/debts… and, a guy who went to jail for tax fraud, who Tangerine then pardoned in 2020 (as it was “only” the same kind of commercial real estate fraud that Trump himself regularly commits… and it was his daughter’s father in law!)… is going to be their US Ambassador.
The guy cannot even “crook”… competently (per the Beeb):
…Mr Kushner is a real-estate developer and the father of Jared Kushner, husband of his daughter Ivanka Trump. Trump pardoned Mr Kushner during his first term, waving away a federal conviction in 2020….
The nomination appears to be the first administration position that Trump has formally offered to a relative since his re-election….
The first relative?! Of course it would be… a felon. Amazing.
What a hugely fetid swamp these jamokes are assembling, and soon… running. Damn.
This was an independent origin point for the viral load. A traveler in this case returned from Uganda, to Leeds, recently. The prior four were all from a single household in London. [Our prior backgrounder, on Mpox in England may be found here.]
All close contacts of the Leeds case are being traced by UK health authorities, but the risk to the British population is extremely low. The Beeb has all the latest, here — on our long holiday weekend, stateside (with youngest son already jetted back to the Northwest last night):
…A new case of a strain of mpox spreading in some parts of central and east Africa has been confirmed in Leeds.
The infected person had recently returned from Uganda where Clade 1b mpox, which used to be known as monkeypox, has been found.
This is the fifth person in England to be confirmed with this disease in recent weeks — the other four lived in the same household in London and have all recovered.
The [fifth] individual infected is being treated at a hospital in Sheffield….
Now you know. CU needs a lil’ help today — the Buffs need at least two of these three to lose today: ASU, BYU and/or Iowa State (Kinda’ a tall order, indeed). That outcome would let the Buffs play for the Big 12 championship next weekend. Smile. Either way, Travis is a shoo-in for the Heisman, and the team will get a major bowl bid, now.
The line? Well, he had a drive killing interception, and barely missed picking off two more. Several solo tackles, and only allowed one completion of eleven yards. So, that was his defensive (game changing) effort.
On offense?
He caught three TD passes.
Amassed over 110 yards for the tenth time this season. Buffs win 53-0, to end the regular season. Now we watch ASU, BYU and Iowa State tomorrow. But I now think Travis might share his Heisman with Shedeur Sanders, his QB!
I am headed out for our traditional “day after” Dim Sum roundtable… so this will be short.
On Wednesday night, the Fifth Circuit decided to reinstate a premlinary injunction against the US Border Patrol being able to cut land based Texas razor wire. But the exceptions in it — they are several truckloads wide. The decision specifically set the injunction only where US Border Patrol has immediate alternate routes of access, to asylum seekers there arriving, and never at any time, when life or limb are in jeopardy (on either side of the razor wire). See this, at the bottom of page three, specifically — and a bit of the dissent:
…Because Texas has not met its burden to show a waiver of sovereign immunity or a likelihood of success on the merits, I respectfully dissent….
Texas’s challenge appears to be directed at internal “communications between lower- and higher-ranking [Department of Homeland Security] officers regarding wire-cutting in the Del Rio Sector.” These emails, according to Texas, constitute the Policy.37 Texas alleges that the emails at issue are “changeable agency action authorizing line-level officers to tamper with Texas’s property,” memorializing Defendants’ alleged “policy, pattern, or practice of intermeddling with [Texas]’s concertina wire” along the border.
But in fact, these emails discuss federal agents’ responsibilities in apprehending, processing, and inspecting noncitizens,38 as well as the agents’ corresponding authority when doing so. They set forth informal field guidance for agents for when they encounter physical objects impeding their ability to apprehend, process, and inspect noncitizens. This guidance appears deliberately open ended, as it provides different advice depending on the circumstances. And even when the guidance runs out, i.e., when a “supervisor is not available” and “anyone is in distress,” the communications advise agents to “use their judgment regarding how best to proceed.” They never require cutting through or lifting fencing or other obstacles.
The emails, i.e., the Policy, are “more like a tentative recommendation than a final and binding determination.” Franklin v. Massachusetts, 505 U.S. 788, 798 (1992)….
Yep. USDC Judge Ramirez, sitting as a panel member, has the most cogent dissent. The Supremes will see it her way. Onward.
I get that Tangerine wants to obviate all future elections. That he hates the system of ordered liberty and checks and balances we’ve honored for 240 years.
And I get that Tangerine thinks he’s American royalty.
No John — Gen. Austin doesn’t answer to Tangerine. He serves at Mr. Biden’s pleasure, only. And following only lawful orders is the hallmark of our way of governing, again — for almost 240 years.
The top line here is that the trial on sanctions remains on January 16 — which keeps Rudy from attending the inaugural (cue the tiny violins!), he says.
But when Rudy heard he had to be in court in Manhattan all day on the 16th to 19th — he started shouting at the able USDC Judge.
The very capable InnerCityPress covered it, in real time, thus — over at X-itter:
…Judge: Your client was US Attorney here. The notion that he can’t apply for a title [is preposterous].
Rudy: You are against me! They have put a stop order on my Social Security account!
Judge: I permitted Mr. Giuliani to speak — but I won’t do so in the future — I’ll be required to act….
That too would be contempt — and a possible night in jail, courtesy USDC Judge Liman.
Hilarious — and a former US Attorney well knows that is what he means… by “required to act“.
…We shouldn’t be surprised. Arguably, Trump is the most ideologically diverse president of my long lifetime.
I would put it differently though. In my view, Trump is the least ideological president of my lifetime, with only Richard Nixon giving him a run for that honor….
That is no compliment.
Paul promises to elaborate, in a future post… but seriously: why bother?
Trump has only one principle — get as much pay (for himself) as he can, out of each position he can dangle. Out.
While I might personally prefer that most Americans exercise more — and eat less highly-processed fat-laden junk food… the economics behind this idea are beyond serious debate: most Americans aren’t likely to — en masse — change their lifestyles. So the far cheaper route (rather than, say.. 15 to 25 years of twice a week dialysis, for example) will be to pay for (the bulk of) the cost of the GLP-1 drugs… now.
This is smart health care policy making. [I do hope that Kennedy snd Oz recognize this, come late January of 2025.] But as a practical matter, if Mr. Biden is able to start paying for the first month or two, here and now — there will be no political willpower in January or March 2025, to undo the benefit — for perhaps 7 million people — all voters. Nothing prevents CMS from starting to cover this drug — in the first week of December of this year. Here’s the latest:
…The Biden administration, in one of its last major policy directives, proposed on Tuesday that Medicare and Medicaid cover obesity medications, a costly and probably popular move that the Trump administration would need to endorse to become official.
The proposal would extend access of the drugs to millions of Americans who aren’t covered now.
The new obesity drugs, including Wegovy from Novo Nordisk and Zepbound from Eli Lilly, have been shown to improve health in numerous ways, but legislation passed 20 years ago prevents Medicare from covering drugs for “weight loss.”
The new proposal sidesteps that restriction, specifying that the drugs would be covered to treat the disease of obesity and prevent its related conditions.
“We don’t want to see people having to wait until they have these additional diseases before they get treatment,” said Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or C.M.S., noting the growing medical consensus that obesity is a chronic health condition….
Onward — and grinning, as I head out for airport pickup runs… be excellent to one another, now and always.
There was a time when Scott actually thought the way the founders built our system was… wise.
And adding an ex-con (family member) “in-law / outlaw” as Ambassador to France — again, simply admitting that this is all just revenge-touring, not governing, in any meaningful sense of that word, as the founders understood it.
