Author: condor

In March, Britain Saw A Clade 1b Case — In A Patient With No Travel Connections.

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The patient also professed no known connection to those previously diagnosed.

While the overall risk remains low in the UK, these facts give rise to the inference that there may well be reservoirs of the virus in communities “in the wild” — in England. And that would be a rather worrisome development, for epidemic abatement efforts.

Here’s the latest, from Reuters reporting:

…Jonas Albarnaz of the Pirbright Institute described the case as “surprising” because prior infected individuals had recent travel history to an affected country or contact with someone who had.

Albarnaz added: “It’s likely that it was acquired from another infected person, via direct contact either with skin lesions or with contaminated surfaces or objects.”

The clade lb variant is a new form of the virus that is linked to a global health emergency declared by the World Health Organization in August….

Now you know — with a busy day from the courts in which Tangerine 2.0’s agenda is being blunted day by day. Most of his ideas about repressive governing are patently unlawful, or outright unconstitutional. Onward, resolutely.

नमस्ते

Do The Supremes Want To Clog The Courts — With Endless Habeas Petitions? Odd Outcome — In The Supposed Venezuelans’ Cases, Tonight…

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We have barely mentioned this set of cases, but hundreds of people supposedly from Venezuela face deportation under a very old, almost never used statute, by Tangerine 2.0 and Kristi Noem. Tonight the Supremes, over four dissenting voices, decided each person putatively to be detained and deported under that ancient act, must be afforded a notice and opportunity to be heard in habeas, in a manner adequate to vindicate their rights, BEFORE Noem tries to move them out of the country.

In sum, they get a hearing and a decision, from a judge — BEFORE she can put them on planes or boats. That means the ones shipped to Venezuela, and then returned — to El Salvador are also owed habeas hearings (as we are nearly certain almost none of them were given a hearing first time around; and not a habeas hearing, in any sense).

Noem is clearly a chucklehead — she sure has made a complicated mess for herself, and her agency. Here’s that bit:

…More specifically, in this context, AEA detainees must receive notice after the date of this order that they are subject to removal under the Act.

The notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs.

For all the rhetoric of the dissents, today’s order and per curiam confirm that the detainees subject to removal orders under the AEA are entitled to notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal. The only question is which court will resolve that challenge….

Now we wait for the Chief Justice to get off his duff (i.e., during halftime of the Houston v. Florida final, perhaps?), tonight at home — and put together the only possible order as to Mr. Garcia: an order commanding his immediate return to Maryland, to his family — his wife and three young children.

नमस्ते

[U: Mr. Garcia’s Counsel’s Answer Is A Day Early!] Chief Justice Roberts Says He Needs A Few Days To Review — And Mr. Garcia’s Lawyers Will Answer By Tomorrow At 5 PM EDT…

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UPDATED @ 5 PM EDT: Mr. Garcia’s lawyer has answered a full 24 hours early, and within minutes of the Chief’s largely showy order. Here it is, and it is a banger! End update, but this puts the pressure back on Justice Roberts: if this man is hurt or killed — because Roberts decides to watch the March Madness Final tonight, rather than authoring a very clear opinion before midnight — that will be his to explain in front of St. Pete, at the gates (assuming he ever makes it that far).

We must remark: here the ultimate outcome is not going to be in any serious doubt — Noem MUST have this man returned — and tout de suite.

Unless… of course, he dies in Salvadoran captivity, first. The Chief Justice might want to bear that in mind: all who’ve looked at it agree — Noem had no right to do this. And he is in peril. No one has been able to speak to him since he left Texas, over a week ago, for El Salvador. Not his family; not his lawyers. John Roberts is personally gambling with this man’s life — for no real point or purpose. Here’s the latest:

…UPON CONSIDERATION of the application of counsel for the applicants….

IT IS ORDERED that the April 4, 2025 order of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, case No. 8:25-cv-951, is hereby stayed pending further order of the undersigned or of the Court. It is further ordered that a response to the application be filed on or before Tuesday, April 8th, 2025, by 5 p.m. (EDT)….

Stay tuned. Disappointing, but onward resolutely, just the same. Justice will come.

नमस्ते

[U, At Noon. Appeal Failed.] Noem And Tangerine 2.0 Correctly Denied Any Stay, In Garcia Case In Maryland. He Should Be On A Flight Home, Already.

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Updated at Noon — the Fourth Circuit (see Appeal no. 25-1345) has denied Tangerine any stay of the order to put him on a flight home by tonight. That is clearly correct. End update.

Welp — once again, the hubris and malignancy of Kristi Noem was in high dungeon, this past week/weekend. As was that of Pam Bondi.

Bondi (likely on orders from Stephen Miller, Noem and Tangerine 2.0) has now effectively fired two layers of US Attorneys (who, in her view… “let” this order get entered). That is, she fired them for not engaging in what would have been a fraud upon the court, after her own agents publicly admitted they grabbed the wrong guy, and without so much as a cursory march past any judge, dumped him in the worst hell-hole in the Western Hemisphere. Damn.

And so, from the able USDC Judge’s 22 page opinion (a PDF) — denying Tangerine 2.0 / Noem any stay, as published yesterday (on a Sunday):

…In 2019, an immigration judge — acting under the authority delegated by the United States Attorney General and pursuant to powers vested by Congress [Ed. Note: Thus he was granted relief DURING Trump’s first term!] — granted Plaintiff Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia (“Abrego Garcia”) withholding of removal, thereby protecting him from return to his native country, El Salvador. ECF No. 1 ¶ 41; ECF No. 1-1. Such protection bars the United States from sending a noncitizen to a country where, more likely than not, he would face persecution that risks his “life or freedom.” See Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3)(A); see also 8 C.F.R. §§ 208.16–.18 & .24 (setting forth the standard for withholding of removal and the procedures required for its termination).

Six years later, without notice, legal justification, or due process, officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), a subagency of the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), put him on a plane bound for the Terrorism Confinement Center (“CECOT”) in El Salvador. ECF No. 1¶ 59.

Neither the United States nor El Salvador have told anyone why he was returned to the very country to which he cannot return, or why he is detained at CECOT. See Hr’g Tr., Apr. 4, 2025, 25: 13–14 (Mr. Reuveni: “We have nothing to say on the merits. We concede he should not have been removed to El Salvador.”); see Hr’g Tr., Apr. 4, 2025, 34:25–35:5 (The Court: “[W]hat basis is he held? Why is he [in CECOT] of all places?…” Mr. Reuveni: “I don’t know. That information has not been given to me. I don’t know.”).

That silence is telling. As Defendants acknowledge, they had no legal authority to arrest him, no justification to detain him, and no grounds to send him to El Salvador — let alone deliver him into one of the most dangerous prisons in the Western Hemisphere….

Having confessed grievous error, the Defendants now argue that this Court lacks the power to hear this case, and they lack the power to order Abrego Garcia’s return. ECF No. 11 at 3. For the following reasons, their jurisdictional arguments fail as a matter of law.

Further, to avoid clear irreparable harm, and because equity and justice compels it, the Court grants the narrowest, daresay only, relief warranted: to order that Defendants return Abrego Garcia to the United States….

Under her orders, then — he is due back here stateside by midnight tonight.

What sort of a monster must Noem be, if she instructed her AUSAs to argue that — once dumped in the hell-hole, BY these same ICE agents, and thus the US Government — that same US Government was powerless to right the known wrong?!?

नमस्ते

We Will Watch The Launch Live, In The Wee Hours Tomorrow, US Time — To The ISS, For Jonny Kim, And The Cosmonauts — On a Soyuz Rocket…

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NASA+ TV streaming promises to have the whole she-bang, come tomorrow.

See the below. And assuming Jonny Kim’s time at ISS is uneventful (from a health / space fitness perspective), he is presently slated to ride the first 21st Century crewed ship to the Moon, for NASA. Here’s the latest:

…NASA astronaut Jonny Kim will launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft to the International Space Station, accompanied by cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, where they will join the Expedition 72/73 crew in advancing scientific research.

Kim, Ryzhikov, and Zubritsky will lift off at 1:47 a.m. EDT Tuesday, April 8 (10:47 a.m. Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Watch live launch and docking coverage on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms.

After a two-orbit, three-hour trajectory to the station, the spacecraft will dock automatically to the station’s Prichal module at approximately 5:03 a.m. Shortly after, hatches will open between Soyuz and the space station….

Now you know — but in truth I’ll watch (the launch, at least) from my bed, on the iPhone. Heh.

नमस्ते

Mr. Abrego Garcia Should Already Be On His Way To An Airstrip — Protected By US Guards, Inside El Salvador… Right Now.

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“This case is certainly important to Abrego Garcia and his family,” the judge said. “In recognition of that, I feel like I can’t wait on giving my order….”

Updated — but now, we have the formal written order; and he is due back in the USA by midnight tonight, April 7, 2025:

…Defendants are hereby ORDERED to facilitate and effectuate the return of Plaintiff Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the United States by no later than 11:59 PM on Monday, April 7, 2025….

This preliminary relief is issued to restore the status quo and to preserve Abrego Garcia’s access to due process in accordance with the Constitution and governing immigration statutes….

Indeed, it must be said — when ~4.5 million Americans march nationwide, many in cold, windy weather — to chant “Hands Off!” — Ms. Noem, you and your tangerine handler should… take heed — and take care, that you hear the will of… the people, here.

He better be on a government secured flight — headed home, by 7 pm Eastern Daylight time, tonight, Mademoiselle.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker Pretends The GOP Didn’t Just Slam Americans With The Largest Instant Tax Increase In A Century!

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Hey knucklehead. Uh, John…

Your boy calls them tariffs… But they are in fact instant, non-legislated, tax hikes. Tax hikes on ordinary working Americans — on what they have to pay for everyday goods.

The GOP is now the highest “taxing-est” party in one year — in over a century.

So our slogan — “hands off” means just what it says, hands off our money, hands off women’s bodies, hands off real science, and hands off people who have papers to be here, that you are snatching and putting in Salvadoran hell holes.

And yes, they were very well attended (well over 1.2 million nationwide).

The MAGA trade… is now dead.

Of its own stupidity — and hubris.

And so, you should be ready to get slaughtered in 2026 — at the midterms.

Cheers, chucklehead.

The Idiot Pam Bondi Places AUSA In Maryland On Leave, For Failing To “Zealously Advocate” A Patently Unlawful Course, In That Grabbed Dad Case… OMG!

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Well — at least the lawyer will get full pay indefinitely, now — and not have to go to the office.

And… they will have preserved their… integrity. They will be snapped up by any number of great law firms. Law firms that still respect the rule of law, in America. Here’s that story. In any other era, this would be considered “Twilight Zone” stuff. In the time of Tangerine 2.0, it is… a regular Friday:

…Sources said Erez Reuveni, the acting deputy director for the Office of Immigration Litigation, was told by officials at the DOJ that he was being placed on leave over a “failure to zealously advocate” for the government’s interests.

“At my direction, every Department of Justice attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement on Saturday. “Any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences….”

Since when does the “government interest” include KNOWINGLY dumping the WRONG MAN in a hell-hole Salvadoran prison without so much as a due process hearing?! Since… it embarrassed Kristi Noem and her $50,000 gold and diamond encrusted Rolex, in front of lots of shirtless prisoners — on her prison porn tour, in El Salvador last week. Damn.

Heh — old Pammy’s gonna find out that these [nationwide] AUSAs are not just political hacks [in Ruby-red Florida districts] any more. They are in the main — a much higher caliber of counsel. Ones who will not traffick in their integrity.

Buckle up, butter-cup.

नमस्ते

[U] With Duke’s Loss, Both 44 And I Are Done Scoring. I Win 118 to 107.

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Update: I’ve won the women’s bracket too, as UConn takes down the favored Gamecocks. Woot! End, update.

So… I get one. Finally. But in the women’s brackets, Mr. Obama bests me if South Carolina wins it all.

In any other women’s outcome… I beat him, even though my ultimate pick for the national champion, UCLA, is already out.

In truth, am pretty far ahead now, but I’d say the Gamecocks… are likely to be the women’s champ — giving BHO44 that crown. We shall see.

G’night, one and all — I am hearing there were probably 200,000 people marching in the Chi today — and maybe nearly a million, nationwide. Excellent.

नमस्ते

USW Local 10-86 President: Merck Offering “Worst Set of Proposals Ever” During Collective Bargaining…

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It is a highly uncertain time, for unionized labor, in general — with attacks from Trumpians, on all sides. This is then a “knock-on effect” story, as big businesses are no longer sure of their profit margins, under this insanely chaotic tax/tariff regime. So they “pull back” — in labor cost projections.

And so too, it seems, are large pharma concerns (and their CEOs) — via tough bargaining stances, with union workforces. In this case, at WestPoint, PA. Here’s the latest, locally:

…More than 200 members of the United Steelworkers Union Local 10-86 at Merck & Co. rallied outside Building 53 near Gate 1 at the Upper Gwynedd pharmaceutical giant Wednesday afternoon in support of its collective bargaining team, who are in middle of negotiations with the company on a five-year contract, which, according to the union president, has been “one of the worst set of proposals ever put across the table….”

“In light of the company’s insulting, one-sided proposals, it’s time we made our position loud and clear,” said the flyer. “We’re calling on every union member to stand together and show our strength.”

Local 10-86 President Kevin McCafferty said the rally is part of the action items the union does with every contract to show support…

“We’re at a midway point, with little to no movement on either side,” McCafferty said. “I’m in my fifth contract negotiation, and this is the worst set of proposals ever put across the table….

[T]he announcement of the impending closure of the Cherokee plant in Danville, PA, which will affect 163 employees starting next month, is on the minds of Local 10-86 as well. McCafferty said the Upper Gwynedd location continues to expand and build more facilities.

“The Cherokee plant in Danville was sold and bought back and closed,” he said. “A lot of the same proposals we are getting now, they were given as well….”

Now you know — back from a protest at Daley Plaza here, at noon — marched south. Onward, resolutely.

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