Author: condor

And… Bitsy, On DeSantis’ “Rotisserie League Baseball” Candidacy…

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Here this afternoon (perhaps having seen my suggestions — for more psychologically balanced column inches!), she would tell us that because people talk about him, he is the front runner.

Gosh — (for the sake of the Democratic chances!) I sure hope so. But that is simply her delusional thinking, once again, up in the sauce.

Either way, the Democratic Party will hold 1600 Penn in 2024, but a dog-fight between DeSantis and Tangerine will be a very good thing (for all of the Democratic candidates).

Bitsy tries to make this sow’s ear into a silk purse — but not even her own party faithful is buying that load of dung.

DeSantis is lethal to business interests — ones that fail his faux X-tian “moral edicts”.

That makes him a pariah in the GOP. Even if he is nominated he cannot win (unless Trump is his Veep). And we know that will never happen.

And when Tangerine fails to win the GOP nomination… he will run third party, and kill the field — leaving it wide open for a Democratic landslide, the likes of which were last seen when Mr. Obama secured his first term.

H I L A R I O U S.

Out.

The Question Would Be… Does She Have Some Obsessive / Compulsive Disorders? Or Just Wicked Hatreds?

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

Old Bitsy is just so hilarious.

She on average spends about 70% of her column inches at Powerline complaining about what she styles as “0.7% of the population“… does or doesn’t do.

Of course, none of whatever this tiny fraction actually is — and whatever they do or do not do… in no manner affects Elizabeth Stauffer’s life. [Or John Hinderaker’s life, for that matter.]

But there she is… howling at an imagined moon, in the gray dawn light… on a Memorial Saturday, no less.

She should probably think about… therapy, or stronger psychotropic meds.

Out.

Amazon Has Killed “Amazon Health” Nationwide? Who Knew?! And Tuesday Job Action Slated In Seattle

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The headline from the AP wire leads with a walkout Tuesday midday, in Seattle to protest mandatory return to office policies.

But for obvious reasons, the bolded bit below caught my eye: is the company really ending the foray into managed care? Seems unlikely. I’d guess only locally — in Washington State, or the Pacific Northwest region.

In any event, here’s the latest:

…”We respect our employees’ rights to express their opinions,” the company said in a statement.
Drew Herdener, senior vice president for communications at Amazon, said there has been a good energy on the company’s South Lake Union campus and at its other urban centers since more employees returned to the office.

Amazon has cut 27,000 jobs since November. The layoffs have affected workers in advertising, human resources, gaming, stores, devices and Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud computing division.

Amazon has also ended entire projects, including its health care endeavor, Amazon Care, and a philanthropic program, Amazon Smile….

Can this be accurate? The company doesn’t mean the nationwide doc in a box plans, does it? Perhaps a friendly insider will comment to clarify. Smile.

नमस्ते

So — The Settled Zetia® Antitrust Class Action May Not Be Quite… Over, Yet.

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We may yet see separate trials — for some of the insurers who’ve opted out of the global Zetia® antitrust settlement.

Which might (emphasis might) mean increased damages, beyond the likely $1 billion already known. Here’s the latest from Norfolk, Virginia’s federal district courthouse, this afternoon:

…ORDER.

In light of the concerns expressed by Opt-Out Plaintiffs Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Humana Inc., and Centene in their [2128] Motion Seeking Clarification of the Court’s Order dated May 3, 2023, and Plaintiff United Healthcare Services, Inc.’s [2130] Notice Regarding Forthcoming Motion for Remand, the court STAYS the May 3, 2023, order, ECF No. [2121], pending further briefing on this matter and a hearing, if necessary. Defendants are DIRECTED to state their positions regarding the court’s May 3, 2023, order and the Opt-Out Plaintiffs’ responses thereto within ten (10) days of the date of this Order.

Additionally, Plaintiff United Healthcare is DIRECTED to clarify whether it formally opposes remand at this juncture within seven (7) days of the date of this Order. Signed by District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith on 5/26/23….

Now you know. Onward, into a beautiful long weekend, here — grin.

नमस्ते

More Of Hinderaker Telling Others That They Must Live THEIR Lives… HIS Way.

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

Y A W N.

This is some of the dreariest nonsense Hinderaker writes. And he writes it with increasing frequency, as he ages into a stupor, cognitively.

Sad, actually.

Tonight, John wants (again!) to boycott Target, on account of the kinds of clothes and books its own customers — his fellow Americans — wish to buy from the retail outlet. [He’s anti LGBTQ+, to be certain.] But he thinks it deplorable for an American retailer to cater to its customers. Damn. Some capitalist (he no longer is, obviously).

But no — that’s not enough. He has to find (as ever) something more — something… to make it about race, as well. So he retreads his BS about the murder by cop of George Floyd.

Charming. There were several felony trials, John — they were in the papers. A jury of peers found the officers all guilty, on essentially all charges.

This one’s… decided. So do shut your pie hole, okay? You are the racist, still whining — Target is in no manner injuring your whyte nationalism, by respecting the lives — and dignity — of all humans.

Out.

On A Clear May Morning Very Much Like This One, A Half Century Ago — America Launched Its First “Semi-Permanent” Space Station

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Of course, 50 years ago, no one knew if longer term stays in space would be feasible.

But Skylab paved the way for what ultimately morphed into the ISS project, now a multi-national home to several scientists at a time — for many months on end. How the world has changed — we hadn’t fully withdrawn from Vietnam that morning, and we all watched the launch on a large bulbous TV, intercut with social studies sections on the moral failings, and logistical problems of prosecuting an undeclared war in Vietnam.

In any event, here is the video commemorating that historic first — and a bit from the YouTube side copy:

…Skylab helped pave the way for permanent operations in low-Earth orbit. Over the course of its human occupation from May 25, 1973, to Feb. 8, 1974, three crews visited Skylab, carrying out 270 scientific and technical investigations in astronauts’ physiological responses to long-duration space flight, Earth sciences, solar physics, and astronomy.

The research conducted on Skylab helped prepare NASA for living and working in space on the International Space Station, and our journey to the Moon, Mars, and beyond….

Now you know… onward, grinning. Be excellent to one another… out.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker Is Incapable — Of Seeing This Is None Of His Business.

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Let’s stipulate — as to some facts: Hinderaker never attended GW. He never applied. None of his kids went there. Nor did his dad or mom, or his wife’s parents — or his wife.

But he thinks it is his job to tell people there how they are “allowed” to refer to their own athletic teams. [We last saw this in his 2020 reaction to the renaming of the NFL DC franchise. He was an idiot then too — and a racist busy-body.]

The students voted to throw off the “Colonials” name for the mascot, but keep the images, and use instead “Revolutionaries” as the teams’ name.

I might speculate that the way some / most colonists treated the indigenous peoples that they appropriated land from… might make this switch seem sensible, John. I might also (less probably) speculate that perhaps these new millennium students don’t like the implication that they were subjugated by Britain.

But I can say it should be up to them, not you, John — to decide what they’d like to call their teams.

If you decided to write a $20 million check, maybe they’d agree to let you pick.

But moving away from “Colonials / Colonists” in no manner affects your life, son. It just… doesn’t.

So… just shut it.

[U] Stewart Rhodes — Disbarred Ex-Lawyer To Federal Prison For 18 Years: 01.06.21 Insurrectionist Leader

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Yep.

That’s… at least some… justice. [Rhodes was long ago disbarred, by Montana bar authorities, in 2015.]

F*ck that guy, as we celebrate Memorial Day, for all those who bled, and died to protect this nation — and all of us, from monsters like him. Yet there he was (at Tangerine’s urging) on 01.06.21, trying to kill people, to end our fragile experiment in ordered liberty — to take our clearly legitimate election results. . . away. The able USDC Judge Mehta just observed: “I dare say Mr. Rhodes, and I have never said this to anyone I have sentenced: You, sir, present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country, the Republic and the very fabric of democracy….”

Damn. [Update: Kelly Meggs, another co-seditionist / insurrection planner, was just sentenced to 12 years, by the able Judge Mehta.] Yep. F*ck that guy, too. He’ll be a sad, old broken man, by the time / if he ever earns his release — and… he may just die behind bars, given his various health problems. That too, would be some… justice.

Suck it, Rhodes.

Out.

Who Is More… Deeply Deranged? Trump, Or… DeSantis?! It’s A Close Call…

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We were largely planning to ignore the tech crashes Elon delivered for DeSantis’ Twitter coming out party, last night. But it does prove that both of those guys know far less about… everything… than either would be willing to admit.

These guys apparently think code fixes itself — all on its own. Hilarious.

However, I suppose more disconcerting is the idea that the GOP’s clear runaway front runner for 2024… is either (i) utterly senile, or (ii) self medicating in the evenings with Adderal, or worse, Ketamine — and/or brown liquor.

We come to this conclusion because he seems able to offer his usual word salad speeches between say 8 am and about 5 pm, most days. But when he posts at night, we see… truly LSD level hallucinating, in his texts.

At above right he uses the wrong first name for DeSantis (though that is clearly who he means to refer to), and talks of some “big red button” (nukes?! not likely, but maybe he’s claiming responsibility for using North Korea to jam up the Twitter Spaces?!) — and a newly budding friendship with an international pariah, and genocide perpetrator. [Plausibly, and thus most ominously, this might be read as his invitation to North Korea to hack DeSantis, in the coming weeks, just as he invited Russia, regarding HRC — in the 2016 cycle.]

I hope he thought he was making some sick joke. Because it would be a felony to solicit aid from a notorious enemy of the US, to attack a political rival.

D A M N.

But you may bet that Bitsy, John, Scott and Steve won’t utter a peep about this ugliness.

Bet on it.