Author: condor

[U] Kristi Noem IS NOW OVER AN HOUR Late — On Her Required, Under Oath Abrego Garcia Status Report, For Tonight — Before USDC Judge Xinis… Damn.

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Updated at 6:45 PM EDT: Noem-ites just filed a truly snotty status report. I will put the worst of it in blue below, for the world to see. Tangerine orchestrated an agit-prop presser with the Salvadoran president — and then they made the presser the talking points of the sworn filing tonight. The problem is that they told completely different lies, and under oath too — just two weeks ago, now. Damn — end, updated portion.

This is what insolence… smells like.

Vanilla bean, and way too much concealer. She’s a… clown-like mess — masquerading as a former cow-girl. And she’s clueless.

…Abrego Garcia was… granted withholding of removal by an Immigration Judge. Abrego Garcia is no longer eligible for withholding of removal because of his membership in MS-13 [Ed. Note: this is a hearsay assertion, supported by no competent evidence. The claim of gang membership was made by an unidentified and non-cross-examined “government informant” who is also a gang member facing sentencing, who said Mr. Garcia was a gang member, in NYC (in order to get a reduced sentence). Mr. Garcia has never lived in NYC. Full stop.], which is now a designated foreign terrorist organization [but it is only Marco Rubio’s uncorroborated, secret hearsay that connects Mr. Garcia to whatever this “gang” is — no overt act, let alone any crime of any sort]….

DHS has established processes for taking steps to remove domestic obstacles that would otherwise prevent an alien from lawfully entering the United States. DHS does not have authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation. . . [Ed. Note: but the US President clearly said yesterday he has this power. And he does, with no need of force. It is within his contractual rights, to order the return of Mr. Garcia — exclusively]….

I am aware that the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, was in Washington, D.C. today to meet with President Donald Trump. President Bukele and President Trump held a bilateral summit at the White House this morning.

I understand that, in response to a question regarding Abrego Garcia, President Bukele said, “I hope you’re not suggesting that I smuggle a terrorist into the United States. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous….” [Whatever he might have said does not negate the contractual authority the US possesses — to order return of a temporary prisoner it sent to the Salvadoran prison — under a for-pay contract.]

I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct…. [That’s… rich.][will add here, if one ultimately appears]. . . .

I imagine she and Tangerine 2.0 have decided, after their Kabuki theater presser with the Salvadoran president at 1600 Penn., this afternoon — that they intend to provoke another trip to the Supremes (regarding Mr. Garcia). Just… damn. [There is a big hearing tomorrow, in Maryland — will she be a no-show there, too?].

Do recall: Stewart Rhodes was a felony sentenced terrorist (with a specific enhancement for terrorism, that was to last 18 years in lockup), but he was commuted, not pardoned by Tangerine 2.0 — four long years after J6.

Now, compare: Mr. Abrego-Garcia: never charged with any crime in the US — nor in El Salvador; let alone ever convicted of anything more than a traffic ticket. He paid his taxes; he worked a sheet metal job steadily, and supported his wife and three kids — for over a decade. Noem specifically averred in court that they grabbed him primarily because he had a black Chicago Bulls baseball hat on — and a neck tattoo (of two decades’ vintage).

Again — who is it… that molly-coddles REAL domestic terrorists? Trump — but only whyte ones, that do his bidding. Deplorable.

नमस्ते

[U: Rigby Fleshes Mine Out!] Hinderaker Apparently Can’t Read… Plain English. From the Supremes.

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

I’m waiting outside the courthouse, so I love it that Rigby wrote a full take-down of Hinderaker’s malign idiocy.

Here it is — in full: “…Hinderaker approvingly quotes Marco Rubio:

“That’s where you deport people — back to their country of origin,” he argued.

Right. That’s why so many Venezuelans were sent to El Salvador.

John goes on to ask (and I have trouble believing this is a serious question):

No one disputes that Abrego Garcia was here illegally, so why is there any debate?

Well, it’s probably because an immigration judge granted Garcia protected status in 2019, forbidding his removal to El Salvador due to the persecution he faced there—a fact John neglects to mention. (Maybe he forgot.)

The truth is that the government has produced no evidence—none—that Garcia is a member of MS–13. His initial arrest hinged on his Chicago Bulls jacket and hoodie, as well as a confidential informant who has never been identified, who advised of Garcia’s gang activity in a city in which Garcia never lived.

If the government has ample evidence of Garcia’s gang involvement, they should produce it, redacted if it threatens national security. That’s what would put an end to the debate. But it seems unlikely that the government has such evidence, since Garcia has never been charged with a crime, in El Salvador or in the U.S.

He absolutely entered the country illegally, but the judge’s protection order cannot be defied on Marco Rubio’s say-so (which came after the fact, of course, since Garcia was deported “accidentally”).

The idea that President Trump has no sway over El Salvador’s actions is absurd on its face, and only serves to make Trump look weak. He can’t negotiate with Bukele, a guy to whom he paid millions of U.S. taxpayers’ money, to release Garcia into U.S. custody? What kind of dealmaker is he, anyway?

The DOJ’s (and John’s, apparently) deliberate misreading of the SCOTUS decision is wilfully ignorant, unlawful, and just a little bit snotty….”

F L A W L E S S.

Thanks man — end, update.

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

He quoted it accurately… but apparently… can’t read it.

Not for comprehension at least — it seems.

And wholly forgets that Noem and Trump himself have repeatedly said that they made a mistake in sending him to El Salvador.

What a putz!

Out.

[U: Orders Entered Already!] Coloradans Bring Forward A Muscular New Challenge — To Noem/Tangerine’s Use Of Alien Enemies Act (17th Century Nonsense)…

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Updated @ 2:20 PM Mountain Time: The able USDC Judge Sweeney in Denver has already entered an opening order, preventing Tangerine forces from taking any potential class member out of the Colorado District, without her express say-so, thus:

…MINUTE ORDER: Before the Court is Petitioners’-Plaintiffs’ Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (TRO). ECF No. [2]. Pursuant to the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a), and in order to preserve the Court’s jurisdiction, [Trump] Defendants SHALL NOT REMOVE Petitioners from the District of Colorado or the United States unless or until this Court or the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacates this Order. See also Vizguerra-Ramirez v. Choate, et. al, Case No. 1:25-cv-881, D. Colo., ECF No. 11 at 4-5 (collecting cases); F.T.C. v. Dean Foods Co., 384 U.S. 597, 603 (1966); Local 1814, Int’l Longshoremen’s Ass’n v. New York Shipping Ass’n, 965 F.2d 1224, 1237 (2d Cir. 1992).

To the extent they have not yet done so, no later than today, April 14, 2025, Petitioners’ counsel is directed (1) to serve Respondents with a copy of the TRO motion and accompanying papers, along with a copy of this Order, by e-mail to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado and by overnight mail; and (2) to promptly file proof of such service on the docket. Counsel for Defendants shall promptly enter notices of appearance.

Defendants are further ordered to RESPOND to Petitioners’ TRO motion by THURSDAY, April 17, 2025. See, e.g., Gurchiani v. Garland, No. 23-9588, 2025 WL 46446, at *5 n.11 (10th Cir. Jan. 8, 2025) (noting “importance of adversarial briefing”).

The parties are hereby ORDERED to appear for a hearing on Petitioners’ TRO motion on Monday, April 21, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. in Courtroom A702 of the Alfred A. Arraj Courthouse….

By Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney on 4/14/2025….

End, updated portion — but this truly ties Tangerine’s hands — just as I suggested it would.

This is a new suit. And it is cleverly designed to be a winner — besting the issues that bogged the prior one down in the Supremes.

But the goal here is to say that Trump/Noem/Rubio cannot deport humans without a full habeas / due process hearing, and the Constitution doesn’t permit the government to force everyone into their favored West Texas courtrooms — these must be heard where the putative deportee is found, and they must provide a meaningful ability to challenge the government’s motions. Here’s a bit:

…To date, the government has not indicated the type of notice they intend to provide or how much time they will give individuals before seeking to remove them under the AEA. However, in a hearing in the Southern District of Texas on Friday April 11, the government said they had not ruled out the possibility that individuals will receive no more than 24 hours’ notice; the government did not say whether it was considering providing even less than 24 hours….

In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling that challenges to the Proclamation must be brought in habeas, Petitioners file this action on behalf of a class in their district of confinement. All five of the original petitioners in the D.C. litigation have likewise filed class habeas petitions and motions for temporary restraining orders for putative classes. The first was filed on April 8, 2025 in the Southern District of New York on behalf of two of the five, and the second on April 9, 2025 in the Southern District of Texas on behalf of the other three. Within hours, both district courts granted ex parte requests for TROs, ordering that the named petitioners and putative class members should not be removed from the United States or transferred out of their respective districts….

As several judges have already found, Petitioners are likely to succeed on the merits of their challenge and they are at imminent risk of removal to El Salvador, where more than one hundred individuals alleged TdA members have already been sent pursuant to the Proclamation and where they potentially face lifetime incommunicado sentences in one of the most notorious prisons in the world. Numerous accounts, both in declarations and public news reporting, have raised serious questions about the validity of the government’s designations of people as “alien enemies,” with no process provided for anyone to contest those designations. A TRO is needed because there may not be sufficient time for this Court to intervene before people are put on planes to remove Petitioners from the United States….

This is very smart lawyering: make the manifold procedural defects quite plain, front and center — a 17th Century statute lacks 21st Century embedded due process protections (so those must now be hammered out, all new!); and when accorded full due process rights, most of these petitions, and petitioners, in habeas will prevail. Onward, grinning.

नमस्ते

“Elect A Clown — Expect A… Circus.” 94th Edition, And Counting.

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The case is being made — even in some reliably very conservative quarters — that Tangerine 2.0 has damaged, perhaps for years — the US’s financial plumbing in a way that Japan’s Yen may now be the true reserve currency, globally. At least until the mad hatter’s tea party ends (Trump leaves office, or dies — whichever shall first occur).

But Paul Krugman’s (yes he’s a liberal) is likely the clearest walk through Tangerine’s present completely irrational mayhem and chaos posturing. Without added ado then, here’s Paul Krugman’s fine piece on these insane and wildly damaging (to America, and Americans) tariff flip-flops:

…Did I see this coming? No, not really. Unlike the sane-washers, I knew that Trump’s policies would be irresponsible and destructive. However, even I didn’t expect him to destroy credibility accumulated over 80 years in less than three months. But he has.

And even if Trump were to backtrack on everything he’s done, we wouldn’t get the lost credibility back. The whole world, sane-washers aside, now knows that America is run by a mad king, surrounded by enablers, who can’t be trusted to behave rationally….

I don’t know how this ends. In fact, I don’t know what policy will be next week. But that’s basically the point….

Yes — the markets hate uncertainty. But they especially loathe “manufactured” or self-inflicted uncertainty.

“Heckuva’ job, there, Trumpie.”

Out.

In The Rhode Island Federal Courts, OMB/DOGE/Musk/Tangerine 2.0… Just. Keep. Losing.

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And the American people, and the social services safety net. . . are the ultimate winners, here. [As a refresher, we have posted about ten items on the progress of this litigation; just search “Rhode Island” in the upper left box.]

Here is that clearly correctly decided seven page order — and a bit of it:

…The Court recently granted the Plaintiff States’ Motion for Enforcement of the Court’s March 6 Preliminary Injunction after finding that Defendant Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) was implementing a manual review process that violated the injunction. See ECF No. 175. The [Trump] Defendants now bring this Motion for Reconsideration of the Court’s Enforcement Order based on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on an emergency stay application in Department of Education v. California, No. 24A910, 2025 WL 1008354 (Apr. 4, 2025) (per curiam).

The [Trump] Defendants assert the ruling in California suggests that “this Court lacks jurisdiction to consider the Plaintiffs’ enforcement motion relating to non payment of various FEMA grants.” ECF No. 176 at 3. Thus, the Defendants ask that the Court withdraw its Enforcement Order or stay the Order pending resolution of their appeal of the underlying Preliminary Injunction….

Recall that the APA’s sovereign immunity waiver does not apply to claims for
“money damages.” 5 U.S.C. § 702. What Bowen affirms is that, even if a court’s enforcement order can be “construed in part as orders for the payment of money by the Federal Government to the State, such payments are not ‘money damages'” precluded under the APA. Bowen, 487 U.S. at 910. The Court’s Enforcement Order — and underlying Preliminary Injunction — do not grant “money damages” because money damages are a remedy at law that “providels] relief that substitutes for that which ought to have been done.” Id. The Court’s orders do not provide monetary relief that is a substitute for the harm the States experience from the categorical funding freeze.

Instead, the Court’s orders provide specific relief, as they “undo the [Agency Defendants’ acts effecting a categorical freeze of federal funds obligated to] the State[s].” Id. That the Court’s orders could give rise to the disbursement of funds to the States does not bar its jurisdiction under the APA-particularly when, as here, such disbursements are a “mere by product” of the Court’s “primary function” of reviewing the Agency Defendants’ “interpretation of federal law” and regulation. Id. Accordingly, Bowen makes clear that the Court has jurisdiction, under the APA, to set aside FEMA’s actions pursuant to its Preliminary Injunction…. [Denied.]

Now you know. Onward, grinning into the warm sunshine — for a bike ride by the clear lake waters… much to be grateful for, with my great, grown daughter in for a month-long visit!

नमस्ते

Johnson Wants His MAGAts To Hold Up On Labeling Him “Antifa” — Because His FB Contains MAGA/Anti-Biden Memes. Wise.

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Mr. Balmer is pretty clearly mentally ill — and even more clearly… evil (he should be held fully responsible for his acts of domestic terrorism).

Afterall, anyone who would firebomb a Jewish Governor’s Passover Dinner, in the mansion… is certainly evil — and likely deranged.

Here’s the AP, this morning, with additional gloss:

…Balmer’s mother told The Associated Press on Monday that she had tried in recent days to get him assistance for mental health issues, but “nobody would help.” She said her son had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The AP was not able to verify that information.

“He wasn’t taking his medicine, and that’s all I want to say,” Christie Balmer said, speaking at the family home in Harrisburg….

But the more-disgusting elements of MAGA hastily sought to paint him as a BLM or Antifa activist.

These things, he plainly is/was not.

He hadn’t posted in the last two years, but his 2020-22 era posts on FB were decidedly aimed at anger toward Mr. Biden.

So — MAGAts, please sit down and shut it.

Onward.

“Leads To”, Hinderaker?! What a Dipshit. Racist Dipshit.

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Hinderaker must be unaware that the phrase “leads to” implies… causality.

What an ass, even if he is not aware.

But I am virtually certain that (even in his decrepit, demented state) he knows saying “multiculturalism leads to mass rape“… is simply throwing firebombs — for the sake of throwing them.

Again — what an embittered old fart he is. He’s reaching way back, to more than a decade old (2014) largely false and discredited narratives, and in England, no less — all for no discernible reason.

I’ll leave it there — as it merits no additional thought — from anyone.

But I guess John is casting about — for anything, to take the focus off of Tangerine 2.0 having once again caused a market crash tomorrow morning. That’s YOUR “serious” guy, John — some “very stable genius” — or. not. so. much.

Out.

Sunday Night’s (Mostly Non-) Update: Garcia v. Noem (USDC, MMD)

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No surprise; Kristi Noem wants everything stopped… because the president of El Salvador is meeting with Trump on Monday. And so, she refuses to give any additional updates on Mr. Garcia’s status, or on the terms of the contract that the United States has with El Salvador to hold detainees for the US.

However, she all but admits that that contract exists. We will eventually see it — if she doesn’t release him.

Now, as I said previously, this is not a diplomatic matter at all; this is simply a matter of giving clear instructions under a written contract. Here’s the latest shifting sand from Noem, but I won’t quote it. I will only quote what Mr. Garcia’s lawyers asked for last night:

…President Trump confirmed that the United States has the power to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release from prison and return to the United States: “If the Supreme Court said, ‘Bring somebody back,’ I would do that…. I respect the Supreme Court.”

Of course, that is precisely what the Supreme Court did when it ruled that this Court’s injunction “properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” Noem et al. v. Abrego Garcia et al., 604 U.S. ____, 2025 WL 1077101, at *1 (Apr. 10, 2025). The Government should be required to comply with the Supreme Court’s order that it “ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” by taking all available steps to release and return Abrego Garcia to Maryland….

Onward, resolutely. For the first time tonight, these Noemites make a claim that in 2019, while Trump was in office the first time, some immigration judge changed Mr. Garcia status. But she offered no evidence of that supposed fact… nor what specifically was changed, and how Mr. Garcia was made aware of it. [Yes, I am more than a little skeptical that those events didn’t happen at all, but they’ve been “papered” — after the fact — by people loyal to Noem and/or Trump.]

But as I say, that could not have happened to allow his deportation without a full due process hearing — here in 2025. That hearing never occurred — everyone concedes that. He needs to return to the United States.

नमस्ते

Of Course, Jack Dorsey Is (Mostly) Just Looking To Be… Provocative. To Stir The Pot. But Too Many Morons Reside On X-itter Now… They Think He’s Serious.

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Intellectual exercises such as these, based on posers like this… are useful to challenge outmoded ideas — if nothing else. The proponent rarely seriously believes the proposition will be adopted, without vast modifications. And true, patent trolls are a problem — as is the evergreening of pharma patents. But it is all a lil’ rich, to hear Jack — sitting on tens of billions of dollars, from his own IP being out-licensed, to only now abolish the system… solely because it is getting in the way of his stealing other people’s ideas… to make ever more… billions.

How unfair it must be — how put upon, he must feel — to have to pay other smart people for ideas he wants to just slap on his own lunchbox, and sell it himself. Geez!

Here’s just a bit of the largely inspid discussion that ensued, when Elon Musk chimed in, in support of Dorsey:

…Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter (now X) and Square (now Block), sparked a weekend’s worth of debate around intellectual property, patents, and copyright, with a characteristically terse post declaring, “delete all IP law.”

X’s current owner Elon Musk quickly replied, “I agree.”

It’s not clear what exactly brought these comments on, but they come at a time when AI companies including OpenAI (which Musk co-founded, competes with, and is challenging in court) are facing numerous lawsuits alleging that they’ve violated copyright to train their models.

Indeed, tech evangelist and investor Chris Messina alluded to this while writing that Dorsey “has a point,” because, “Automated IP fines/3-strike rules for AI infringement may become the substitute for putting poor people in jail for cannabis possession….”

That’s just… stupid. And these bros think that the only IP that matters is in software and systems. They utterly miss that the drugs that keep them, and their parents… alive… cost tens of billions to develop — and no one will do that work, with the urgency we now need, and see — at least — without a solid profit incentive. And without IP law, there could be no real promise of… profits.

Here endeth the lesson, for Jack — and Elmo. Cheers!

नमस्ते

Power Alley: I Will No Longer Do Yearly Trend Reports, On Merck CEO Compensation… It Is ALL Ridiculous — But Now “Normal” In The USA…

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I just can’t waste energy on something that will never become rational, again. Pharma CEOs do very complicated, life-saving work — true. They manage immense complexity, and often conflicting regulatory environments, dotting the globe. And they make tons of money for shareholders — paying out hefty dividends for decades on end. So yes, they should be well paid. But $20 million a year means about $100 million in just five years. That is silly. Same way paying a baseball player $100 million on a five year contract is… silly.

There is no sense in which any of these people are objectively “worth the money“. But that ship has sailed. It is now what the “market will bear” pricing.

Said another way, I can’t boil the ocean away, with my Zippo lighter (as I don’t even own one, anyway!). So, here’s FiercePharma, on it all — for my last look at his pay, in all likelihood:

…Merck has handed out another hefty raise to CEO Rob Davis, boosting his compensation by 13% to $23.2 million in 2024, according to the company’s 2025 proxy statement.

Since taking the reins from former helmsman Ken Frazier, Davis has seen his pay scale up quickly, from $13.7 million in 2021 to $18.6 million in 2022 and $20.3 million in 2023.

The compensation package for Davis measures up to those for other U.S. pharma honchos last year such as Eli Lilly’s David Ricks ($29.2 million), Pfizer’s Albert Bourla, Ph.D., ($24.6 million), Johnson & Johnson’s Joaquin Duato ($24.3 million) and Gilead Sciences’ Daniel O’Day ($23.7 million)….

What I will still rail on and on about… will be these nutty crypto-CEOs — running vastly money losing operations, to essentially switch on a warehouse full of high end processor cores, and then wait around in the lunchroom, for them to find Bitcoin block mining rewards. That is a moron’s job — but Riot CEO Les paid himself in 2024 (wait for it!) over $83.5 million to do that silly job.

As I’ve said before, he made in 2024, about $9 million MORE than the CEO of Apple — Tim Cook. Cook runs a $2 trillion enterprise, that is wildly profitable, for decades now — globe wide. This Les guy sits in dusty West Texas, and comes in in the morning to throw on a circuit breaker. That’s it. Damn.

That is just stoopid — with two o’s. Onward.

नमस्ते