Author: condor

Good News! In 2024, Denmark Will Have… A New, Liberal And Environmentally-Aware… King.

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She abdicated on live television, after 52 years, did the now former Queen — his mother.

For over a thousand years, Denmark has been… a monarchy, at least formally (though for over a century, most of the real power has been in a parliamentary representative democracy / republican form of government). Even so, this is the big drama of the new year in the EU — with a generational “changing of the guard”, now in Denmark. Here’s a bit, of the latest:

…A rebellious teen turned “woke” family man, Denmark’s future king Crown Prince Frederik is the embodiment of the country’s relaxed, liberal monarchy.

Passionate about the environment, he has discreetly imposed himself in the shadow of his hugely popular mother, Queen Margrethe II, championing Denmark and its drive to find solutions to the climate crisis.

“When the time comes, I will guide the ship,” he said in a speech celebrating his chain-smoking mother’s half century on the throne in 2022.

His time at college included a stint at Harvard in the United States, where he was enrolled under the pseudonym Frederik Henriksen….

Now you know (and in some small ways, his youth echoes mine) — the times, they are… a ‘changin’… be excellent to all you meet, in 2024!

नमस्ते

If Hinderaker Thinks Hamas Is A Bunch Of “Animals”….

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Tonight — again likely several highballs in — John (properly, I think) laments the atrocities committed on 10/7, against Jews — by Hamas. Fine. I agree. Deplorable.

But then — based on absolutely… nothing — he tumbles off-topic to claim that all “liberals” are immoral and that they (we) supports said atrocities. What?!

And THEN he suggests we ought to look to Tangerine, for more “morally-grounded” bearings, on most matters.

What in the fresh hell?!

Trump is the last person on Earth I’d look to, for moral leadership — and I suspect more than 70 per cent of voting Americans feel that way, too.

Cheers, chucklehead.

Out.

Jack Smith Today, To DC Cir. Ct. of Appeals: Tangerine Is Just Dead… WRONG. He IS NO KING.

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With argument set for January 9, almost exactly three years after his insurrection, he should be nervous. These are felony indictments.

Jail is very plausibly in the offing here (forget about remaining on Maine’s or Colorado’s ballots — and focus on avoiding the orange jumpsuit). But he won’t. And if the GOP decides against nominating him… he will run as a third party candidate, and destroy the down ballots for the GOP as well. Sheesh. Here’s just a bit of the Special Counsel’s cogent 82 page argument on the law, just filed here on Saturday:

…No historical materials support the defendant’s broad immunity claim, and the post-Presidency pardon that President Nixon accepted reflects the consensus view that a former President is subject to prosecution after leaving office.

Nor can Presidential immunity be derived by analogy to the Speech or Debate Clause, U.S. Const. art. I, § 6, cl. 1; that textually explicit provision is defined and limited by its unique history.

More apt is the immunity for judges and prosecutors, who are immune from civil liability for official conduct, but not from federal prosecution….

That President Nixon was named as an unindicted coconspirator in a plot to defraud the United States and obstruct justice, Nixon, 418 U.S. at 687, entirely refutes the defendant’s efforts (Br.27-28, 41) to distinguish that case as involving private conduct. See United States v. Haldeman, 559 F.2d 31, 121-22 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (en banc) (per curiam) (explaining that the offense conduct included efforts “to get the CIA to interfere with the Watergate investigation being conducted by the FBI” and “to obtain information concerning the investigation from the FBI and the Department of Justice”) (internal quotation marks omitted). And President Nixon’s acceptance of the pardon represents a “confession of guilt.” Burdick v. United States, 236 U.S. 79, 90-91 (1915)….

Now you know. Tangerine is… lil’ more than a marmalade covered piece of burnt toast, now.

नमस्ते

Mirengoff Is Clear: He Thinks Mr. Biden Has Engineered A Remarkable Economic Recovery For All — From The Tangerine Excesses, For The Ultra-Wealthy…

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Shhhh… it’s a secret, but… I think Paul genuinely believes America will be a better place in a second Biden term, than in a second Tangerine one.

And he says so, here at the end of 2023 — in trying to explain why so many Americans are wary about the economy:

…The unemployment rate remains remarkably low. The GDP numbers aren’t bad. The stock market (in which 61 percent of adult Americans are invested) is booming. Inflation is high, but down considerably from its peak in mid-2022. Wage growth caught up with the inflation rate about a year ago and now exceeds it.

So why is America so down on the economy?

According to Betsey Stephenson, one-half of the couple in the Post’s story, voter frustrations are an understandable response to a very real phenomenon — the difficulty families have faced for more than a half-century in improving their material conditions, exacerbated by the more recent shock of inflation and, to an extent, partisan politics.

Stephenson’s view, as the Post characterizes it, is that wages have been largely stagnant in the U.S. since the 1970s, while inequality has skyrocketed. After the pandemic-induced downturn in 2020, America’s economic rebound gave people a sense of optimism. However, the most severe inflation in four decades largely washed away the gains….

[Another economist] points out that, whatever they may be telling pollsters, Americans aren’t acting like they are unhappy with their economic circumstances. For Wolfers, signs of optimism include business owners making substantial investments; consumers spending at a rapid clip; and workers leaving their jobs in droves, reflecting confidence that they can find new ones….

[Paul himself concludes, thus:] Stated differently, I believe the economy is now performing well enough, other things being equal, to re-elect [even] an average U.S. president….

I agree. See ya’, boys.

A Minor Matter: Trump’s Lawyers, Defending Him In Manhattan Against His Filching Of Eddy Grant’s Music… Have Withdrawn.

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In the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) federal courts, Trump is being sued for taking “Electric Avenue” as written and performed by Eddy Grant (and, as filched by Trump in 2020, being used in) defaming Mr. Biden with it in a 2020 campaign ad.

It is undisputed that Trump and his campaign sought no permission, paid no royalty and flat out framed the song in a false light — one that damages its marketability.
This is so, because Mr. Grant wrote the song and recorded it in the 1980s, as a protest against British police brutality — against people of color in a Brixton, UK protest there back in the day.

Trump’s stealing of it is thus not in any serious dispute.

Here at year end 2023, after settlement talks (to pay Mr. Grant) have apparently broken down, and Tangerine’s lawyers see they aren’t going to be paid anything more for the case… they are resigning, and Trump is hiring new counsel.

Charming.

Out.

We May Be Near End Of Life, For One Of Juno’s Four Cameras

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Tomorrow, SWRI, JPL and NASA will begin receiving images from about 930 miles over Io’s volcanic, squeezed and stretched surface, from Juno’s cameras (all as we earlier reported).

But after 56 trips in close passes over the blistering radiation of Jupiter itself, one of the cams is showing degraded imaging processing capabilities, as well as some blank spot / striping. Indeed, this cam was only designed to function through eight passes, so it has exceeded design limits by a seven fold factor. Even so, now we may soon be down to three cams.

It is still a great triumph for space science — and more of NASA’s “dare mighty things” mantra in action. So, here is that bit:

…JunoCam was included on the spacecraft for the public’s engagement and was designed to operate for up to eight flybys of Jupiter. The upcoming flyby of Io will be Juno’s 57th orbit around Jupiter, where the spacecraft and cameras have endured one of the solar system’s most punishing radiation environments.

“The cumulative effects of all that radiation has begun to show on JunoCam over the last few orbits,” said Ed Hirst, project manager of Juno at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Pictures from the last flyby show a reduction in the imager’s dynamic range and the appearance of ‘striping’ noise. Our engineering team has been working on solutions to alleviate the radiation damage and to keep the imager going….”

Now you know — and like Juno, I dare all of you to close your year out… in a gracefully elegant but meaningful style! Onward!

नमस्ते

Again, Mirengoff — With Zero Skin In The Game — Wants to Widen The Conflict To… Sudan?!

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It is telling that he and Hinderaker want lots more civilian deaths inflicted — on all sides.

In many ways, the mayhem becomes… an end in itself, for these senile impotents.

In truth then, what distinguishes their view… from that of Hamas itself (or Isis or the now dead Saddam, and now dead Bin Laden)?

What a… putz. Here it is — in context:

…[The Western powers must] deter all Iranian backed aggression, including that emanating from Sudan. If this means strikes in Iran itself — and it might — then this option should receive serious consideration. In any case, our response should be neither “narrowly tailored” nor “proporionate…”

Insane. And malevolent.

Out.

[U] Maine Joins Colorado: Tangerine Bounced Off ‘24 Ballots.

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Updated 12.29.2023 @ Noon: California’s Sec. of State (as am I) is sure it is better to just beat the pants off him at the ballot box, come November 2024… and avoid his grievance whining altogether. So that state will leave things wherever the GOP settles, on its ultimate candidate. This in no manner makes Colorado or Maine wrong. It is just a “Plato’s wager” of sorts, now in the Golden Bear state. End, update.

I am virtually certain he’ll lose in any event, but the Fourteenth Amendment DQ is legally sound.

And each state should decide for itself, in the GOP’s own states’ rights philosophy. And so, here’s the latest:

…Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows paused her decision pending a potential appeal in state court, which Trump’s team said they intend to file.

The decision makes Maine the second state to disqualify Trump from office, after the Colorado Supreme Court handed down its own stunning ruling that removed him from the ballot earlier this month. The development is a significant victory for Trump’s critics, who say they’re trying to enforce a constitutional provision that was designed to protect the country from anti-democratic insurrectionists….

Onward, grinning… live by the sword; perish by it, as well.

नमस्ते