Author: condor

Elon Musk’s “Ten Things I Hate About” Trump, Again Tonight?!?

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Global, and mutually self-destructive, war — Musk v. Tangerine — Part Deux returns!

I am 100% here for it — pour all the tea:

…Weeks after ending his war of words with President Trump, Elon Musk called the president’s bill “utterly insane and destructive; [it] raises the debt ceiling by $5 TRILLION, the biggest increase in history, putting America in the fast lane to debt slavery!….”

“The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!” Musk wrote in a separate X post, “It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future….”

Yup. In this limited instance… Elon is correct. Hilarious!

नमस्ते

Where Is Tangerine? Solidly Unpopular. And, On ALL FRONTS, Too.

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Here’s an accurate poll — for the moron Hinderaker.

…As of today, 45.3 percent of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing and 51.7 percent disapprove. That’s a net approval rating of -6.2….

Here’s how his net approval on immigration, the economy, trade, and inflation have changed in our average between June 10th and today:

Immigration: +4.0 —> -3.7

Economy: -10.9 —> -13.4

Trade: -7.7 —> -14.7

Inflation: -18.6 —> -22.6….

Hinderaker is trying to hide this — by talking up Rasmussen polls, tonight.

Primarily, he’s trying to obscure that Trump is deeply unpopular on his “signature” issue: immigration. Hilarious.

What a chump.

Out.

Why… “Mars — For Human-Crewed Missions…” Will Be VERY HARD: New NASA Podcast.

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The honest truth is… there are precious few “science-y things” that would require a human on Mars. Our existing, proven chopper-, and rover- technology — all robotic and semi-autonomous — is a far smarter choice. The radiation and cold and lack of oxygen (and / or potable water) bother them… far less. It is a simple fact — despite what the world’s richest loon sez.

While doing it all remotely takes more iterative mission-time, it is far safer — for the human scientists / astronauts. In any event, here’s this excellent podcast, and its transcription into text, at NASA:

…[As an initial matter,] Mars at its furthest, is on the order of 250 million miles away from the Earth, or 1,000 times further into space than the Moon or a million times further into space than the space station. . . .

You land on Mars, now I got to wait for my launch window to come back from Earth, and that happens a year after I land, one Earth year, half a Mars’ year. So, you’re going to go halfway around the Sun on the planet Mars, and then your launch window opens so you can come back to Earth. So, once you have left Earth, and no spacecraft that we can possibly design has enough propellant on board to come back, once we’ve done that burn and headed off to Mars, you can’t abort and say, no, I don’t like this, I’m coming home. You’re committed. You’re committed to nine months out, you’re committed to a year on the surface, you’re committed to nine months back. Now we can mess with things and say, well, what if we do a special different trajectory and we’re going to come back and go closer to the Sun than the Earth and do a swing by the planet Venus and get a little boost from Venus’ current gravity and then we’ll come back to Earth a little earlier.

That adds complexity to your mission, now I got a have a bunch of heat shielding because I’m getting close to the Sun. And as with certain other philosophical conflicts in spaceflight, there has been a great deal of discussion and no winner on whether it’s better to just suck it up and do the long haul or try to be fancy and do this faster thing.

The pros and cons on both sides have not shown a clear victor on that one. So, basically, when you are committing to Mars, you’re committing to two and a half to three years away from the Earth and nothing important can break, nothing important can run out. All those engine burns have to work right and you have to launch yourself off a planet without help….

And all of the above is before we discuss how we’ve not solved the issue of protecting a crew from interstellar radiation, on those three or so years. Cancer, on return will be a likely scenario, for anyone going out that way. Damn. 2050 at the earliest is my guess — after we solve the shielding problems. Onward.

नमस्ते

Well, Tangerine — It Seems It’s Not So “Obliterated” — After All… Damn.

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First, he lied about a cease fire. Then he lied about the contervailing intel coming out of both Israel, and our own federal agencies — tasked with using satellite imagery to assess the mission’s effectiveness.

Now we are learning that Iran’s nuke workers are back at it (per CNN), already. Trump’s [largely impotent] response? “We will bomb ’em, again.” Idiot. Here’s ABC — and then, CNN — on it all this afternoon:

…Trump officials had a more nuanced take after news reports surfaced Tuesday about an initial Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that said the attack set back Iran’s nuclear program only by months….

The director general of the U.N.’s nuclear oversight agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said Wednesday that he believed some of Iran’s enriched uranium had been moved from the sites before the attacks….

According to the two people familiar with the DIA’s classified report, the bombing sealed off the entrances to two of the three nuclear sites targeted in the attack but most of the damage was done to structures above ground, leaving the lower structures intact. The assessment also found that at least some enriched uranium remained — possibly moved from the nuclear sites ahead of the blasts….

[There is renewed work at at least two of the sites, already — reopening the tunnels]….

Hey — here’s a much better idea: why not wait for the REAL intel to come in — then assess — and then… tell the truth? A nutty idea, I know, man. But that is what leadership… is.

नमस्ते

Time (Again!) To Praise Lenacapavir — And Gilead’s HIV Treatment Ethics…

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We last mentioned this in July of 2024 — but on Pride Weekend ’25, Time magazine has a longish story… on Gilead’s business ethics under CEO O’Day.

Excellent — and here’s a bit of it:

…Leading HIV treatment developer Gilead’s scientists spent 20 years developing lenacapavir, an antiviral drug that targets a specific protein on the virus’ shell. Vaccines have similarly targeted other outer viral proteins, and the idea is that priming the immune system to recognize this part of HIV can help it to generate defenses against the virus if someone is later exposed. Lenacapavir was already approved to treat HIV, and in June the FDA also approved it as a preventive therapy. Widespread use of the medication could bring the world closer to ending the HIV epidemic.

The company’s CEO Dan O’Day says Gilead is equally committed to ensuring that those who are at highest risk of getting infected with HIV have access to the drug. He signed a voluntary licensing agreement in 2024 that allows half a dozen generic manu- facturers to make lenacapavir for 120 low and middle income countries, where HIV remains a significant threat.

Close to 40 million people have HIV or AIDS globally, but a disproportionate number — about two-thirds — live in subsaharan Africa. “Not that many companies focus on virology,” he says. “And if we are going to produce a drug, and put our blood, sweat and tears into it, then it’s got to end up in everybody’s hands who can use it…”

Pride Run ’25 in the books, already. Done, and done! Onward.

नमस्ते

[Confidential — For Hinderaker.] “Come, Let Us Reason Together”: What Justice Barrett’s Decision DOES NOT Hold.

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Trumpie 2.0 is making all sorts of idiotic statements — lies, actually… about what this PROCEDURAL Supremes decision means, about so-called “birthright citizenship”.

All it really does, is give plaintiff groups around the country 30 more days, to amend their suits — to bring them on behalf of all persons in the US, as a class — who were born here. This is a silly decision, in the main (by the six conservatives). It in no manner contradicts the plain English commands, of the 14th Amendment. See below, from NPR.

…The amendment says: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” It was enacted in 1866 after the civil war and aimed at reversing the Supreme Court’s infamous Dred Scott decision, which had declared that Black people, enslaved or free, could not be citizens. It has always been applied to anyone born in the U.S. And the Supreme Court on Friday did nothing to change that 150 year understanding….

So yes — this is a punt, as the main merits case continues toward a plain reading of the Constitution — one which refutes completely, Trump’s “fringer-ish” theories. Do stay tuned.

Hinderaker today claimed — in a bit of frothy hubris / nonsense — that this ends nationwide injunctions. That is also a lie. Obviously, it only applies in THIS case — and in a few days, all people born in the US will be named as the CLASS of plaintiffs. That will plainly support a new nationwide injunction. What a putz.

Man — is he a terrible liar. [Out — outdoor movies in the park with grand-nieces, tonight to see “Wicked“ (again) — and a bocce ball picnic, before. Heh.]

नमस्ते

Now The Independent Adv. Comm. Backs Merck’s RSV Vaccine For Administration To Infants This Fall Season…

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Back on June 10 here, we reported the FDA clearance — and in prior times, the independent Vaccines Advisory Committee would have been a non-event, as it always followed FDA approvals. But with Kennedy/Tangerine 2.0 — there was a reasonable concern, that un-science might rule the day.

Thankfully that has not happened. So on to fall RSV season, and two competing providers of the mRNA vaccines, for infants. Price competition here is a good thing:

…The group, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, also voted unanimously to include Merck’s shot in the government’s list of recommended childhood immunizations that receive wide insurance coverage.

The votes in favor of the injectable antibody, Enflonsia, are a sigh of relief for drugmakers and the medical community after Kennedy earlier this month gutted the panel and tapped replacements, some of whom are well-known vaccine critics.

The signoff will allow the company to launch the shot ahead of the RSV season that typically kicks off around fall and winter and lasts through the spring. Enflonsia, recommended for infants during their first RSV season, will compete head-to-head with a rival shot from Sanofi / AstraZeneca, called Beyfortus….

Welp. This is good news. For both Merck, and the future of modernized vaccine science. We cannot let low information forces in dusty West Texas or rural Alabama decide to open all Americans… to a return of dread (and preventable) disease / pandemics. Onward, resolutely.

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Power Alley: Braidwood Decided At Supremes, This Morning — Unsurprisingly, The ACA Of 2010 (Or “Obamacare”) Remains The Law Of The Land. Appointments Stand.

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Here over 15 years after it became law, a 2010 package that offers coverage to over 44 million previously uninsured Americans is still being resisted in red states. The latest Texas case in now at an end.

The Supremes are saying — 6 to 3 — enough is enough. This is well-settled law. Attacks on the ACA have all failed. So too, this one. Here’s the opinion — and a bit:

…Braidwood’s arguments that Congress has not properly vested appointment authority in the Secretary fail. Braidwood first claims that the 1999 statute using “convene” does not confer appointment authority and is instead “agnostic” about who should appoint Task Force members. Brief for Respondents 22….

Braidwood’s interpretation would create a bizarre scheme where Congress was entirely indifferent about who would appoint members making legally binding healthcare recommendations. Braidwood next argues that even if the Director has appointment authority, Reorganization Plan No. 3 does not transfer that power to the Secretary because it applies only to the Director’s functions as of 1966.

This frozen-in-time reading finds no footing in statutory text or common sense. The Plan’s language “all functions” most naturally means an ongoing transfer of authority, including new powers granted by Congress after 1966. 80 Stat. 1610. Pp. 35–42…. The Secretary has properly exercised his appointment authority since June 2023….

It is also no surprise that Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch were the dissenters. Y A W N.

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[U: Govt. Responses] And New Govt. Lies Put The Nashville Abrego Garcia Release Orders Back “Up In The Air”, AGAIN?!

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We. Couldn’t. Make. This. Up. If. We. Tried. Damn. Damn. Damn.

Updated, X2: We will hear the Noemites’ response, by noon today [Updated — they actually filed two of them; both are nonsense — but they are linked here, and here]:

…In Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s supplemental submission filed yesterday, counsel advised the Court that, in light of the government’s claims that it lacked control over Mr. Abrego’s whereabouts, counsel in his civil action in the District of Maryland had moved for an order that Mr. Abrego be transported back to his home in Maryland following his impending release from custody in this District. See ECF 60 at 1 n.3. Yesterday, at an emergency hearing before Judge Xinis in the District of Maryland, the government represented that it intends to detain Mr. Abrego and remove him to a “third country” as soon as this Court releases Mr. Abrego from pretrial custody. This is the first time the government has represented, to anyone, that it intended not to deport Mr. Abrego back to El Salvador following a trial on these charges, but to deport him to a third country immediately….

Judge Xinis set a further hearing on that motion on July 7. Hours later, the DOJ told the Associated Press the exact opposite: that it intends to try Mr. Abrego in this District before removing him to a third country. Because DOJ has made directly contradictory statements on this issue in the last 18 hours, and because we cannot put any faith in any representation made on this issue by the DOJ, we respectfully request to delay the issuance of the release order until the July 16 hearing on the government’s motion for revocation. A short delay will prevent the government from removing Mr. Abrego and allow time for the government to provide reliable information concerning its intentions.

The irony of this request is not lost on anyone. After illegally removing Mr. Abrego to El Salvador, the government retrieved him, brought him to this District, and indicted him on baseless charges. Mr. Abrego has spent the last two weeks contesting his unlawful detention under the Bail Reform Act. See ECF 29, 49. In a just world, he would not seek to prolong his detention further. And yet the government — a government that has, at all levels, told the American people that it is bringing Mr. Abrego back home to the United States to face “American justice” — apparently has little interest in actually bringing this case to trial. Instead, it has chosen to bring Mr. Abrego back only to convict him in the court of public opinion, including with respect to allegations found nowhere in the actual charges, while boldly announcing that Mr. Abrego “will not walk free in our country again….”

The government has done so while allowing a cooperator with two felony convictions and five prior deportations to be released from a 30-month sentence for human smuggling to a halfway house, in order to build up a sham of a criminal case against Mr. Abrego. And when Mr. Abrego revealed the weaknesses in that case — securing the pretrial release to which he is entitled — the government threatened to remove him to a third country….

Given these unique and unforeseen circumstances, Mr. Abrego respectfully requests a short delay of the issuance of the release order until July 16….

These are truly… banal, evil people — under Noem, at ICE/DHS. They repeatedly have called the Nashville charges “trafficking” — which they are not; the indictment is… smuggling (essentially giving a ride, without IDs” — with no proof of anyone being under age). They are lying to the press, in order to demonize an accused whose case they have woefully mishandled. Finally, now — they can’t even keep their prior lies / stories straight. Damn. Onward.

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On Wed., ICE Unilaterally (Against A Federal Court Order) Tried To Force Mr. Khalil To “Report And Check-In” To Its Offices, Periodically. That Will Be Squelched.

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I suspect this is a case of using a pre-printed form — without thinking.

But it may be worse that a mere error, too. Noem, at every turn — is trying to set traps for the unwary. This is one of those. USDC Mag. Judge Hammer specifically said there would be no reporting condition, when he released Mr. Khalil last week. Here’s the latest, by letter:

…The Court’s order setting bail conditions, which the District Court ordered would be exclusively operative in this matter, ECF 316, does not require Mr. Khalil to do any reporting or check in with ICE. In fact, at the June 20 release hearing, this Court explicitly rejected the Government’s request that Mr. Khalil be required to report to an ICE office following his release. See Tr. at 22 (June 20, 2025) (Judge Hammer: “I am not going to require Mr. Khalil to report to an ICE office. My understanding of Judge Farbiarz’s ruling today, as reflected in his order, is that he did not see in the record evidence, any basis, for that degree of scrutiny.”). And the Court’s written order makes no mention of an obligation to report to ICE. See ECF 317.

Nevertheless, upon his release from the LaSalle Detention Facility on June 20, 2025, ICE officials handed Mr. Khalil an “Order of Release on Recognizance,” which included a purported requirement that Mr. Khalil “report in (writing) (person) to [ICE] Duty officer… on 06/27/2025 10:00 as directed.” (A copy of this form is attached as Exhibit A.)

Out of an abundance of caution, Petitioner’s counsel emailed counsel for the Respondents this morning to confirm Petitioner’s understanding that ICE could not, in light of the Court-ordered bail conditions, require Mr. Khalil to report to ICE, either in writing or in person. Further, Petitioner’s immigration counsel wrote to the ICE Duty Officer at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City (copying Respondents’ counsel) to explain that notwithstanding Petitioner’s objections to any reporting requirement, “as a one-time courtesy, we will comply with the request in the form provided to Mr. Khalil upon release in writing by sending this email.”

We requested that Respondents’ counsel respond to us today (a request also made by leaving a voicemail message), confirming meaning of the Court’s order, in the event that any disputed interpretation would require seeking the Court’s attention. Respondents’ counsel responded by email at 5:24 pm that counsel was “still running this down….”

More evidence of either pure incompetence — or malignancy — inside Noem’s ICE. This will be toast, by next Tuesday. Baby girls here — to make me grin this aft…. yup!

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