Author: condor

Illinois Has The Upper Hand At The Supremes, Tonight — On Odious Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz”…

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The Tangerine 2.0 lawyers have again tried illicitly to cut to the front of the SCOTUS red velvet rope demarked line… and get Alito to rule that Trump can use the National Guard as a private army any time he likes. That will not happen. Not on my watch — nor on that of Gov. Pritzker or Mayor Johnson.

Here is how the excellent local lawyers have responded to the Manchurian Cantaloupe, at the Supremes (in 46 well-reasoned pages) this afternoon — and a bit:

…The Framers carefully apportioned responsibility over the “militia” — today, the National Guard — between the federal government and the States, granting the federal government the authority to call up the militia only for specific purposes and at specific times….

Although the district court concluded that those unusual circumstances were not present in Illinois, and so enjoined the federalization and deployment of the National Guard at the TRO stage, the Seventh Circuit’s decision partially staying that order — and permitting federalization — both safeguards the careful balance of power struck by the Constitution and affords the federal government appropriate solicitude while this fast-moving case proceeds in the lower courts. [Trumpian] applicants’ contrary arguments rest on mischaracterizations of the factual record or the lower courts’ views of the legal principles….

As the district court found, state and local law enforcement officers have handled isolated protest activities in Illinois, and there is no credible evidence to the contrary. The Court should decline applicants’ request to unsettle the equitable judgment reflected in the Seventh Circuit’s order and to take the dramatic step of permitting deployment of National Guard troops over Illinois’s objection for the handful of days the TRO currently remains in effect….

On September 8, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) announced “Operation Midway Blitz,” an effort to ramp up immigration-related arrests and deportations in and around Chicago, Illinois. Doc. 13-12.

Within two weeks, DHS announced that the operation had yielded over 500 arrests. DHS touted its arrest numbers again in another press release, declaring that it “remain[ed] undeterred.”

Within a month, DHS announced it had made over 1,000 arrests and that “Operation Midway Blitz is making Illinois safe again….” [On the contrary, all it has done is to teargas peaceful protestors asserting their First Amendment rights, on public sidewalks and streets.]

On September 26, ICE agents deployed tear gas and pepper spray on a group of about 100 to 150 protesters outside the facility. Doc. 13-5 at 8. Broadview’s police department requested assistance from Illinois’s law enforcement mutual aid network, prompting the Illinois State Police and several other local police departments to send support. Id. at 8-9. To ensure public safety, the combined law enforcement team closed three blocks of a nearby street for about three hours in the morning and another two hours that night. Id. at 9. The same day, DHS issued a request (which was not acted upon) to the Department of War for “100 DoW personnel” to “integrate with federal law enforcement operations, serving in direct support of federal facility protection, access control, and crowd control measures.” Doc. 13-2 at 15-16.

The next day, which featured only a small crowd of quiet protesters closely monitored by local police, federal agents told Broadview Police to prepare for a “shitshow” — specifically, that they intended to increase ICE’s presence in Broadview and escalate their use of chemical agents on the protesters. Doc. 13-5 at 9.

Throughout the rest of the day and into the evening, agents pushed the protesters up the street and deployed tear gas and pepper balls. Id. at 9-10. Following that incident, 11 protesters were arrested, id. at 10, but only five were charged with crimes, and federal grand juries declined to indict at least three of those five….

Do stay tuned. The Supremes, to retain credibility, should defer this case until a full trial on the merits of an injunction has occured — at a minimum. We shall see.

नमस्ते

The Final Permanent Injunction Order Is Now Published, In Boston’s Federal Courts: Trump Violated The First Amendment. He Loses.

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Harvard ought to sue the government for the likely over $1 million in legal fees and expenses it incurred in repelling this odious abuse of process by the Manchurian Cantaloupe.

And the exceedingly able USDC Judge Burroughs has left that probability wide open below. Tangerine 2.0 is one stupidly-malignant spud. Here’s the morning’s order, closing the file:

…Judgment is entered for Plaintiff [Harvard University] on its claims under the Administrative Procedure Act for violations of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Judgment is also entered for Plaintiff on its claims under the Administrative Procedure Act insofar as they challenge the April 14 and May 5, 2025, Freeze Orders as arbitrary and capricious….

[Trump] Defendants, their agents, and all those acting in concert with them are PERMANENTLY ENJOINED from implementing, instituting, maintaining, or giving effect to the Freeze Orders and Termination Letters, or any conditions imposed therein, and from issuing further terminations, freezes, stop work orders, refusals to award grants or contracts, or withholdings of funding to Harvard in retaliation for the exercise of First Amendment rights, or on purported grounds of discrimination without compliance with Title VI.

The Court expressly reserves jurisdiction over the issue of attorney’s fees and costs. Any motion for attorney’s fees shall be filed in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(d)….

SO ORDERED….

Onward — smiling. Sanity is making a comeback. I will be in Music City At Union Station from the evening before, through the evening after, your 46th. . . just FYI. Could buy you a glass of wine at the bar. . . smile.

नमस्ते

Power Alley: As We Expected, The Supremes Have Let Stand The Immunization From Antitrust Liability, For Merck’s Mumps Vaccines…

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In general — under controlling US law and regulations — there are very few avenues to sue makers of effective, life saving vaccines.

That was a considered Congressional policy decision, over a half century ago — to encourage the provision of what are very low margin, but vital, vaccines to school children nationwide. [Rahway chose to withdraw this single-dose version of the vaccine in 2022 (in favor of a three-way combo vaccine — which more economically includes Mumps / Measles / Rubella) — but we’ve been following various versions of this vaccine litigation since early 2010.]

Here is Reuters’ prior piece on that litigation. This morning, the US Supreme Court dismissed an attempt to revive the claims barred by the so-called Noerr-Pennington Doctrine. [Our prior backgrounder from a year ago, is here.]

The latest — then, from Reuters, this morning:

…The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a bid by a group of physicians and healthcare providers to revive their antitrust lawsuit accusing drugmaker Merck of misleading federal regulators to maintain a decades-long monopoly over the mumps vaccine market.

The justices turned away an appeal by the plaintiffs of a lower court’s decision to throw out the lawsuit on the basis that the drugmaker was protected under a legal doctrine that immunizes companies from antitrust claims based on actions aimed at swaying government decision-making….

Now you know. Onward, grinning. Ever grinning.

नमस्ते

Nobel?!? Nope — Hell, In Gaza: “Thanks, Trump!”

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Gee — who might’ve guessed that Trump would make things worse rather than better for the Palestinians in Gaza?

This is what happens when you let a reprobate loose with lots and lots of power…

Strangely, in this particular case, unlike several others — his failings here were more the result of ignorance, than malignancy. He knows so little of the world — it was impossible for him to see… that just because he says something “ought to be” a certain way… it will not necessarily be… that certain way.

And, the people living in Palestine now are paying with their very lives — and Israel is now to blame. For listening to a moron — and a power hungry Bibi.

Please, Lord, let the Time of Trump… end.

Paul Mirengoff Is Right About Karoline Leavitt — She’s Too Young For Her Role. Lacks Any Real World Perspective (That Comes From Well-Rounded Experience, Not Indoctrination). Too… Bitter.

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That press secretary job can be a good one, and well-handled — even at 28 — if one has a sensible, diverse set of experiences in their youth. And balance and maturity. That is the opposite of one Karoline Leavitt. To be fair, she is the first person in her family to graduate college, but there the diversity in experiences… ends.

She ran for Congress — in 2020. Per Wikipedia, which she has been able to edit, we learn this: “In 2022, Leavitt faced a Federal Election Commission complaint from End Citizens United alleging Leavitt’s campaign and treasurer illegally accepted campaign donations over the legal limit and never repaid her donors. In January 2025, Leavitt disclosed in 17 amended campaign filings $326,370 in unpaid campaign debts she had failed to disclose for several years. Roughly $200,000 of the debt was composed of illicit campaign donations made in excess of campaign finance limits she never paid back, in violation of campaign finance laws….”

Which of course, made her a highly qualified candidate — from Trump loyalty perspectives. She’s just like him — unafraid to… crook.

And so, it is no surprise that — after she derisively told “your momma” jokes to a reporter, while on the clock — in reply to official press inquiries of the White House… Paul is finally realizing that she’s not up to the role.

Here’s his, of this evening:

…[It is NOT] true that the Democratic Party’s “main constituency is made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens and violent criminals” — a claim that White House Secretary Karoline Leavitt made in a Fox News interview last week. Leavitt is only 28, too young, perhaps for her job, but old enough to know better. I suspect she does….

All of which simply goes to re-confirm that only the worst of the worst will work for (or even be offered a job by) the Manchurian Cantaloupe.

Nice (if deeply overdue) awareness, there, Paulie.

[And the notion that any of us marching yesterday… hate America… is a false and comical act of prevarication by the increasingly panicky MAGAts.]

Out.

Twin Comets, Visible With Binocs — In The Night Skies — Tomorrow Night, Through Tuesday Night… Excellent.

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They will be easiest to view about 90 minutes after sunset — but before the moon rises — and near the horizon, just below the Big Dipper.

Last year saw no comets visible to the naked eye — but now we have two, in the same week, in 2025. Here’s the latest, from LiveScience.com:

…If you want to see two comets, your best chance will be early this week. After a year without any comets bright enough to be seen without specialist equipment, two — Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) and Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN) — have come along at once.

Comet Lemmon may look more like a lime than its name suggests, but on Tuesday (Oct. 21), the dusty snowball from the outer solar system will reach its closest point to Earth and most likely shine at its brightest. It’s… about the same brightness as spring’s Beehive Cluster (M44) and only a little dimmer than the Andromeda galaxy (M31).

While Comet Lemmon is technically visible to the naked eye in very dark skies, you’ll need binoculars to glimpse another, fainter icy visitor, Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN). Remarkably, Comet SWAN will get closest to Earth Monday (Oct. 20), the day before Comet Lemmon, but it’ll be about three times dimmer, at magnitude 5.9. (In astronomy, the higher the magnitude, the dimmer the object)….

Follow the [handle, toward the horizon, while looking at] the Big Dipper — to “arc to Arcturus”; the comet will be about two-thirds of the way there. On Tuesday, it will be a little higher.

For Comet SWAN, look for the Summer Triangle of bright stars — Vega, Deneb and Altair — in the southwest. You’ll find Comet SWAN about halfway between Altair and the horizon….

Excellent — and I am eternally grateful that so, so many natural wonders depend, in no manner… on the whims of any earthly dotard. Onward.

नमस्ते

The Noemite Legal Team [As US Prosecutors, With Duties To The PUBLIC] Is Plainly In Contiuning Violation Of TN Rule of Professional Conduct 3.8(f)…

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Welp. Not surprising. But disgusting — just the same.

I could be forgiven for surmising that now, Noem knows she will never get to trial on this case — and so, she is just doing as much collateral damage as she can — to the rule of law, in the US. She likely has been briefed, that the Tennessee case is likely soon to be tossed, for her own misconduct — and the Maryland case will soon see Mr. Abrego Garcia walk out of PA — a free man. Also due to other — and vast — governmental misconduct.

Thus this would explain why the government hasn’t turned over the “selective enforcement” memos and emails, that led to charging — as multiple felonies — a three year old traffic stop — where no misdemeanor tickets were issued, and no one even went to a police station (for a chin waggle)… they never will show their cards. They will just allow USDC Judge Crenshaw to dismiss it. But he must do more, and Mr. Hecker is correct — the involved lawyers need to see proceedings against their respective law licenses — locally:

…Mr. McGuire’s and Mr. Harley’s reports are facially insufficient under the Court’s Order, because neither report addresses whether Mr. McGuire and Mr. Harley have taken any steps at all to discourage those “assisting or associated with the prosecutor[s]” — which includes DOJ leadership — and “investigators” and “law enforcement personnel” — which includes DHS officials — to refrain from making prejudicial extrajudicial statements about this case. Id.

If Mr. McGuire and Mr. Harley have taken steps to comply with their ethical obligations, those steps have been wholly ineffective, which is plain from the extraordinary volume of prejudicial extrajudicial statements that have been made throughout this case. But at the very least, they should be required to report on any steps they have taken, including so that the Court may assess whether it is appropriate to order that additional steps be undertaken to discourage extrajudicial statements in compliance with the Rule. Accordingly, and for the reasons stated in Mr. Abrego’s motion (Dkt. 118), Mr. Abrego respectfully requests that the Court enter an order requiring (1) Mr. McGuire and Mr. Harley to file amended reports with the additional information required by Tennessee Rule of Professional Conduct 3.8(f), and (2) that all DHS and DOJ officials involved in this case, and all officials in their supervisory chain, including Attorney General Bondi and Secretary Noem, refrain from making extrajudicial comments that pose a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing this proceeding….

Damn. At the moment, this is still the time of… out of her (extensions-laden) numb-skull ICE-Barbie / Kristi Noem. But it is also soon drawing to a close, as that much will come from her lawyers being suspended or disbarred, for prosecutorial misconduct, against Mr. Abrego Garcia, down in Music City.

See you all on the third through fifth of November down there — at the old Union Station lobby bar. Out.

नमस्ते

As We Said — This Is Largely Due To The Fecklessness, Of US GOP Leadership… Damn. Clade 1b Now In Swakopmund, Namibia. Nearly Wholly Avoidable.

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And the collateral damage from Trump’s isolationism… rolls ever onward, and outward.

Here is the latest, this morning — from Reuters, in Namibia:

…Namibia’s ministry of health and social services on Sunday declared an outbreak of mpox in the coastal city of Swakopmund.

“Surveillance, contact tracing, and response teams have been activated to contain the spread,” the ministry said in a post on Facebook….

Try to be better (than him) to your fellow humans — it is a low bar, I know — but do try.

Onward, resolutely — we do not countenance… false kings, ever.

नमस्ते

Now Three [Not Two] Unrelated Clade 1b Mpox Cases — In Southern California — With No Recent Histories Of Travel… Disconcerting.

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When we decide against addressing outbreaks / epidemics on the other side of the globe — because a Tangerine dotard doesn’t want to help largely non-whyte humans, with USAID… we here eventually ride the lightning, too. This is so, because viral vectors spread readily when hundreds of thousands of humans — as they do — travel globe-wide, daily.

The first three cases of Clade 1b, the more serious strain of Mpox, have now been hospitalized in Southern California. The deeply troublesome factor here is that none of them personally were travellers outside the US, and did not (knowingly) interact with people who had recently come from any African locale. To be sure, there are also reports of one case in New York City… but here is last week’s news. It should worry us all:

…The California Department of Public Health and local health officials in Long Beach and Los Angeles County have identified three unrelated cases of clade I mpox in Californians who did not report recent travel outside the United States.

Prior cases of clade I mpox in the United States have been associated with international travel to areas where clade I mpox is circulating.

All three cases required hospitalization and the patients are now recovering. . . .

And, as if on cue — my next post when I return from brunch will be of a new outbreak in Namibia — again… when we choose NOT to address the small outbreaks. . . they become larger, and more lethal… and more of a global problem, rather than a local one. That’s how real bioscience works. Out.

नमस्ते