[U] So… Hinderaker And Noem: Telling Tall Tales?! Again?!

Hilarious!

Here’s Hinderaker’s highly dubious claim:

…HOLY CRAP! Secretary Noem just revealed @ElonMusk helped find that a few DHS staffers installed SPYWARE on her phone and computer, as well as on the devices of of other political hires….

So… we are to believe that Noem handed her phone over to a DHS career employee who then was able to install spyware on the phone without her detection. Actually that’s pretty believable because she’s an idiot (at least insofar as the frother would suggest she didn’t know it had happened).

But if this were true, why would it be that we’re only hearing about Elon’s great (and sly anti-spy) efforts… a full year later?

Updated: with the benefit of eight hours sleep, it occurs to me that it is equally likely (if it happened at all), that Trump/MAGA loyalists at DHS were the ones who did it – after all, he is requiring loyalty oaths, and it is pretty well known in Republican circles that Noem fancies herself a presidential candidate for 2028. End update.

And isn’t it so… convenient that Noem may be on her way to being canned (as Abrego goes entirely free!) — she’s “sh!t through a goose” (in Tangerine’s eyes) and she’s trying to save herself?! Seems… plausible!

Inquiring minds wish to know. And of course, John suggests that it is only leftists that would’ve done this. Preposterous.

But not John — he’ll believe anything.

Out.

[U: Complete.] Live Notes — From Courtroom 5D, In The Morning…

This will go live (assuming lawyers’ cell-phones are permitted inside the well) shortly after 9 AM Central on February 26, 2026.

Hopefully the day ends in a dismissal — on all counts.

… ➢ We are about halfway through Mr. McGuire’s testimony… And it is not going well for him. He hasn’t been cross examined yet and it’s 11 AM. Cell phones are not permitted inside the court so only when we break will there be updates.

➢ Acting US Atty. Robert McGuire has claimed on cross-examination, that when the liaison with Main Justice was emailing him about including “the Baltimore information” in his speaking indictment, that he did not take that as anyone trying to help him draft his indictment.

➢ Yet in the next breath, he admitted that in high profile cases, he would expect to be submitting an indictment like this up the chain for “approval” — in other words, that Pam Bondi or Todd Blanche (or someone) was suggesting that counts should be added, even though there was no competent proof for allegations like “MS 13 — or gun trafficking.” That’s pretty explosive.

➢ And, in fact, this speaking indictment contained at least three clearly false statements about Mr. Abrego Garcia, which were never actually made part of any included charge. More as we get it.

➢ Supervisory Special Agent John VanWie, Homeland Security Investigations was on the government’s witness list, but the AUSA rested without calling him. Hmm….

➢ We learned that he was the conduit and keeper of the “Baltimore information“. Question: is it at least possible that the entirely sealed proceeding we mentioned early in the week has to do with VanWie, and how it came to be… that Kristi Noem herself repeated several of his lies — at a press conference she called, in Nashville? [It is nearly unheard of for a Cabinet level official like Noem, to traffic in lies in public press conferences — about a regional ICE indictee.] We shall see, but she’s never set the record straight….

➢ We are done — post hearing briefs in three* [nope; 30] days; then Judge Crenshaw will rule….

Onward — but now, I must sleep. ✈

नमस्ते

~~~~~~~~~~~~

* The New York Times reporter in the well thought Judge Crenshaw said “30 days”. Updated: he heard correctly; paper order entered 02.27.26 — but that would be the typical rule for full post trial briefs (of perhaps 30-50 pages…) this should come in at under 10 pages — as today’s two witnesses appeared merely at an evidentiary hearing. Moreover, a man has been indicted for felonies, and quite possibly the DoJ was acting vindictively (lawlessly) — in the judge’s own prior orders. I thought I heard three days, but I was wrong. Could the delay in Judge Crenshaw’s ruling indicate that the sealed matter involves a consensual transfer to Costa Rica — for Mr. Abrego Garcia? We shall see.

Mpox WHO Global Situation Report: As Of February 24, 2026

Globally, there are now over 54,000 active cases of Mpox (all Clades) — and 221 verified deaths, as all clades of mpox/sq-pox virus (MPXV) continue to circulate.

This will be a long, winding road ahead. Here is the latest, from WHO:

…In January 2026, 50 countries across all WHO regions reported a total of 1334 new confirmed mpox cases, including three deaths (case fatality ratio [CFR] 0.2%). Of these cases, 66% were reported in the African Region.

➢ Four regions observed a decline in confirmed cases in January, compared to December 2025, while the European Region reported an increase in confirmed cases.

➢ Twenty countries in Africa reported active transmission of mpox in the last six weeks (5 January – 15 February 2026), with 1142 confirmed cases, including four deaths (CFR 0.4%). Countries reporting the highest number of cases in this period are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Madagascar, Liberia and Ghana.

➢ One country, Comoros, and one territory, La Réunion (Overseas Department of France), have reported mpox due to clade Ib MPXV for the first time.

➢ Outside Africa, reports of community transmission of clade Ib MPXV continue in France, Portugal and Spain, including in sexual networks of men who have sex with men.

➢ WHO conducted a global mpox rapid risk assessment in February 2026; the overall global public health risk associated with the mpox multi-country outbreak was assessed as moderate.

➢ India has reported a case of mpox with the clade Ib /IIb recombinant MPXV. The strain sequenced is closely related to the first clade Ib / IIb recombinant strain reported by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in December 2025. As both cases are travel-related, these case reports suggest wider transmission of the recombinant strain, implicating four countries in three WHO regions….

Onward — headed… south — smiling, and hoping for a good outcome in federal court, tomorrow.

नमस्ते

[U] Hmm. There Is A Separate, Entirely SEALED Case — 26-mj-4029 — In The USDC In Nashville, Now Lised As “Associated” With Abrego Garcia’s…

Updated | 02.25.2026 @ 5 PM: Tomorrow we will undoubtedly find out more over in Courtroom 3D. Nothing at the court live, this evening, on paper. Onward. End update.

[Originally @ 02.24.2026 PM:] When I get situated tomorrow afternoon, I’ll go by the live in person docket, and see what I can find out. Likely not much — but it could be one of the cases against one of the supposed govt. “cooperating” witnesses. We shall see.

In any event, I am pretty sure it will all be made clear shortly after 9 AM on Thursday, in USDC Judge Waverly Crenshaw’s courtroom.

…26-mj-4029 | Sealed v. Sealed. This case is SEALED….

Onward, resolutely. On the Southwest small-jet by 2 pm….

नमस्ते

The News Is… Clearly Immaterial, Today. [Power Alley]

Merck is taking steps to segment the oncology wing of its businesses into a separate operating group.

Yawn. As I understand it, the team hasn’t even set up a separate holdco subsidiary for the pembrolizumab franchises. That is, these are simply spreadsheet entries at this point — not legal entities. [It will make it much easier for the internal management teams to track the fully-loaded profitability of the oncology wing, though — to be certain.]

The move is to make the company both more agile and “ready to go”, should someone be willing to pay the very last, tip-top dollar for those businesses. But until then — I can all but guarantee Rob Davis is not going to sell-, or spin- the franchises. [Query: I suppose he could sell the rest of the company off, and keep oncology… but that too is perhaps a decade away, yet. He could fund the dividend forever, with the oncology earnings.] So yes, all of this is definitively immaterial, today.

Here’s the stuff, from Fierce:

…Merck is reorganizing its current human health business into a distinct oncology division and a separate specialty, pharma and infectious diseases unit, the company said in a Feb. 23 release.

The oncology unit will, naturally, oversee Merck’s roster of current and experimental cancer meds, including Keytruda, which Merck has predicted will collect $35 billion in peak annual sales in 2028. . . .

Non-cancer products — including newer growth driver Winrevair and aging diabetes stalwart Januvia — will go over to the other unit, which will also oversee Merck’s portfolio of vaccines, according to The Wall Street Journal….

Largely a yawner — for the next five to ten years. Onward, to Music City, manaña… smile.

नमस्ते

Take A Dangerous Ride Around… A “Dark Matter Dominated” Galaxy, 600 Million Lightyears Off, In Perseus…

William Butler Yeats had different beasts in mind, when he first penned the below — after WWI. That much is certain.

But consider that entirely dark galaxies are out there — and should you be unlucky enough to miss the gravitational waves, it might just swallow you… whole. But fret not — this one is over 600 million light-years out, in Perseus. We won’t fall in — by anyone’s accident or inattention.

“…Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere….

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again; but now I know

That [six million] centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare
by a rocking cradle,

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards [Perseus] to be born?
“

— William Butler Yeats (1919)

Hah! [Pretty… dark, and foreboding — like our current moment.] Yet, in any event, here’s the far more cheerful latest-, and a video- explainer, from NASA (on these stealthy enigmas):

…NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has revealed an exceptional discovery in the Perseus galaxy cluster: CDG-2, an ultra-low surface brightness galaxy composed of 99% dark matter.

This elusive galaxy remained hidden until astronomers detected a slight increase in globular cluster density, suggesting the presence of an underlying galactic structure.

Observations from Hubble, ESA’s Euclid observatory, and the Subaru Telescope confirmed a faint halo of diffuse light surrounding these ancient star clusters.

Analysis indicates CDG-2 has the luminosity of approximately six million Sun-like stars, with the clusters comprising about 16% of its visible matter. The galaxy’s normal matter was likely stripped away through gravitational interactions within the Perseus cluster….

नमस्ते

[U: TWO DAYS — IN A ROW?!] Hinderaker’s Pot — Calling A Kettle… Black?!

UPDATED: 02.24.2026 — same trope; different day. Hinderaker now is taking to his fainting couch because an aide to Gov. Newsom used a four letter word, in a written reply to a press person. “Oh! The humanities!” And John feels this is the chief cause of our incivility in politics. Uh huh.

John seems blissfully unaware of the nearly 12 years of on the record insults uttered by Trump — the supposed preznit (45 and 47). He seems unaware that Trump flipped the bird at a constituent, in a televised visit to an auto-factory last month. I could go on and on — you know we all have lists — [called someone an asshole on a hot mic]… but if this is what’s broken, in politics… it was Trump who broke it. More than a decade ago. He also forgets that Trump retweeted a meme that made the 44th President and his wife… monkeys. Damn — QED. End of update.

Tonight, preposterously, John bleats about an executive action that California Governor Newsom took last year… to set a man free.

John labels Newsom “pro crime” because of this. Huh.

Funny thing, Hinderaker hasn’t said so much as a peep about all the J6 felons that Trump has pardoned — with now double digits of those felons in all new — and often violent — subsequent legal trouble.

They are being re-arrested for everything from domestic violence to child sexual predator / trafficking offenses.

And that’s before we get to all the tax cheats and financial frauds. [It is my opinion that the guy right here has plainly been paying off a bribe that got HIM a pardon from Trump, by propping up and investing in Trump‘s crypto ventures — via CZ’s sprawling international crypto exchange properties.]

So John, who really is… pro- crime?

Out.

It Turns Out That… Trump Said — On An Open Line — “I Have To Invite The Women, Or I’ll Be Impeached”… He Said It, While Talking To USA Men’s Hockey.

This is… ultimately… just your average, or “normal” Tangerine 2.0 misogynist/hate-filled sentiment. [But if any of the Powerline boys or the Ringsiders had daughters who played sports — and Hinderaker claims to be related by marriage to “US hockey royalty” — and he/they do not condemn this… well, may they all burn in Hell.]

But he said it on a speaker phone being held by one Kash Patel (who was chugging champagne with the boys, at the time), in the USA Hockey locker room in Milano, by then a full day AFTER the women had already won gold. [He hadn’t put in a call to them — by that point.]

…It is unclear if the men’s team will attend the speech….

“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” Trump said when extending the invitation to the men’s team.

If he did not invite the women’s team, “I do believe I probably would be impeached….”

This man is… a pig. As is his boy, Kash Patel.

नमस्ते

Again, The Noemites/Homan-istas Have Directly Disobeyed A Federal Court Order Of USDC Judge Cummings, In Chicago. Ugh.

The Noemites are again flirting with contempt — and jail time — here.

This time, in a similar federal proceeding in Colorado, the Noemites told a judge in open court that its brodacsts would apply nation-wide — “so, not to worry about a separate order for Colorado.”

Then, not barely three weeks later, the able USDC Judge Cummings in Chicago ordered a similar broadcast order, to the one entered already in California. To certify it had complied, the ICE lawyers said that — despite two clear orders of his — the Noemites sent it only to Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kentucky, and Kansas.

That was, at a minimum, a lie — and a fraud, on the Colorado federal District Courts. So, Judge Cummings just today ordered new compliance proceedings — and they will be held this week:

…[The goverenment’s broadcast] is inconsistent with this Court’s orders both at the February 13 hearing and in the February 17 Order. Accordingly, the Court orders defendants to re-circulate the Broadcast Statement of Policy to all ICE agents nationwide by email and they shall advise the agents that the Broadcast remains in effect as the ICE policy governing warrantless arrests until further notification by DHS and ICE, period, full stop. Defendants are further ordered to certify their compliance with this directive in their February 27, 2026 certification….

Other courts have recognized that the Broadcast Statement of Policy is a nationwide statement of ICE policy. See, e.g., Ramirez Ovando v. Noem, No. 1:25-CV-03183-RBJ, 2025 WL 32923467, at *2–4 (D.Colo. Nov. 25, 2025) (discussing the origin of the Broadcast (“Broadcast I”), how it was prematurely rescinded by ICE (“Broadcast II”), and how it was reinstated by this Court’s October 7, 2025 Order (“Broadcast III”)); Id., at *15 (applying the requirements in “defendants’ own Broadcast statements”); Id. at *23 n.28 (“The standards for determining probable cause of flight risk for a warrantless arrest and documentation in a Form I-213 are substantially the same as those ICE has previously set out for itself in Broadcasts I and III.”).

Notably, in Ramirez Ovando, defendants themselves took the position that the Colorado district court need not enter an injunction governing warrantless arrests because a sufficient policy was “already in place” by virtue of the Broadcast. Id., at *14 (emphasis in original); Id., at *21 (“Finally, the Court rejects defendants’ argument that plaintiffs cannot show a likelihood of irreparable harm in light of Broadcast III, which was issued a week before the hearing, and already require[rs] ICE officers to comply with § 1357(a)(2).”) (cleaned up).

If defendants believed that the Broadcast only applied to the ICE Chicago Area of Responsibility, this Court would like to believe that defendants never would have represented to the Colorado district court that the Broadcast was in effect in Colorado….

All of this — this whole damn ICE dumb show — is simply… madness. Out.

नमस्ते

Now — The Revised Govt. Witnesses List — For Thursday Morning, In Nashville…

Well. This is going to provide some juicy moments — on cross examination!

And Mr. Hecker will put on a master class in it.

Mostly, I cannot wait to see the “lawyer as witness” problem confound Mr. McGuire, as he squirms to try to explain that “he alone” decided to indict — and then bring toward trial. . . a nearly three year old traffic stop — where not even a traffic ticket was issued. . . but somehow he charged it as… a felony — to the grand jury. And then explain how his impartial “justice only” facade will return, as soon as he is back sitting in the first seat — prosecuting for the Noemites. Yikes.

I will also particularly enjoy Agent VanWie’s repeated nonsense — he tried this gambit last summer, too — before USDC Judge Crenshaw [which is, in no small part, why the dismissal is pending, for this Thursday] re his silly explanation for why he reopened this old… non-case.

…COMES NOW the United States of America, by and through Braden H. Boucek, United States Attorney, and, pursuant to this Court’s prior order (DE # 162), provides the following amended witness list for the February 26, 2026 evidentiary hearing. This pleading amends the Government’s prior witness list, which was previously filed on October 30, 2025. (DE # 196.)

At the hearing, the Government intends to call:

➢ Supervisory Special Agent John VanWie, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI): the United States anticipates that Agent VanWie, who worked for HSI – Baltimore, will testify regarding his decision to reopen the [not even traffic-ticketed 2023 Tennessee] investigation into the defendant’s [early 2023, entirely unticketed] activities — on April 17, 2025….

➢ Special Agent In Charge Rana Saoud, Homeland Security Investigations: the United States anticipates that Agent Saoud, who supervised the HSI — Nashville office, will testify regarding the [re-]commencement of the [more than two year stale] investigation into the defendant’s… activities by HSI — Nashville….

➢ First Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert E. McGuire: the United States anticipates that Mr. McGuire [who, until now had been lead trial counsel], who was serving as the Acting United States Attorney at the time the indictment was obtained, will testify regarding the reasons he sought the indictment and who made the ultimate decision to seek the indictment….

[Bonus question: Will Mr. Hecker find a way to call the US Attorney who resigned rather than undertake this vindictive prosecution — he’s a long time Vandy law prof. — widely respected. Will we see him? I dunno.] In any event, buckle-up buttercup — these dullards / goons are about to be… unmasked — in Music City Thursday morning. See ya’ then.

नमस्ते