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The Outbreak Of Clade 1b Mpox Continues To Reach New Nations, In Europe: This Time, Switzerland — Disconcerting News.

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Well… he sure picked a good moment to cut off international aid to arrest epidemics and pandemics, eh? Damn.

This is all rather repetitive, and iterative, at this point. He’s made the world a far less safe place, speaking from a human public health/viral spread point of view.

Per CIDRAP’s on the spot reporting, overnight — then:

…A traveler returning to Switzerland from Africa has been confirmed to have clade 1b mpox. This is the first detection of clade 1b in Switzerland, which is more virulent compared to the clade 2 virus that circulated the globe in 2022 primarily among men who have sex with men.

“The person concerned is in isolation. There is no risk of infection to others,” the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health said….

Separately, it looks to be another volatile day — down on Wall and Broad… as Tangerine 2.0’s self-immolating chaos tour rumbles onward, with neither a point, nor a purpose — even his own people admit it now.

And US House Speaker Johnson can no longer pretend everything is moving along fine, with this train-wreck — Trump’s funding blueprint legislation in the House had to be pulled overnight, as at least five GOP legislators have balked… at just this lack of any sensible, coherent goal… other than chaos, itself, out of 1600 Penn.

Charming. Remember of course, none of Trump’s black Sharpie scribbles mean anything without funding / appropriations from Congress. And he’s hit the wall there — even inside his own party. The lame-duckedness, is arriving a lil’ earlier than I originally guessed — but net, net… it is good news.

नमस्ते

[U: For Rigby’s Fine Additions!] The Crazy Old Coot Hinderaker: Tangerine “Made His Point” — By Patently Violating Constitution?!

~ condor ~ 2 Comments

UPDATED: Rigby offered some excellent additional color — and I endorse it 100% (with the minor caveat that no one had to sue Mr. Obama in federal court, and get a TRO — to get him to re-include the Fox “entertainment” network at press gaggles). Here is the whole of Rigby’s fine addition:

“…To be fair, in 2009, the Obama administration tried to exclude FOX News from press pool events, but in that case, every single other news organization rose up in protest, threatening to skip press events until FOX News was reinstated. The administration quickly relented.

A few stark differences to note: This time, no other news organization challenged the administration about the ban, not because they agreed with the administration, but because they knew that threatening to skip press events would mean nothing. The administration would be perfectly happy to speak only to reporters from OAN, FOX News, and deranged right-wing blogs like, well, PowerLine.

Also, Obama kind of had a point. I mean, why give oxygen to a network that devoted so much outrage to his tan suit and other nonsense? Unlike the AP, FOX News is not, nor has it ever been, a serious news outlet. Still, the First Amendment is the First Amendment, and good for all the real news outlets, I guess, for having the courage to stand up for their ugly step-sibling.

It’s a pity they can’t show the same courage now….”

Quite so, Rigby. End updated portion.

Overnight, Hinderaker admits what was obvious to anyone with a working forebrain: USDC Judge McFadden was absolutely right to rule that Trump violated the First Amendment — by imposing restrictions on only the AP news gathering organization.

But in a bizarre case of endless boot-licking, Hinderaker goes on to say that Trump was able to “make his point.” [What point is made by violating 250 years of our law, and to punish news gathering organizations — for doing their jobs, John? That he’s a… fascist?!]

Rather than criticizing an unconstitutional order out of 1600 Penn, John feels it’s a better idea to praise him — for doing something no other US president has ever done, despite specifically swearing an oath to uphold the US Constitution.

I find this sort of cowardly supplicant behavior… deeply disgusting — from a man who used to be a lawyer.

But I get it: John doesn’t want to be next, and see his revenue cut off, from the GOP.

It would be far more interesting of course if John would write about the fact that MAGA Speaker Johnson has pulled Trump‘s funding legislation, from its march along the approval process.

This would suggest that there are deep fractures inside the GOP, primarily probably driven by Trump‘s own violations of… yup, the Constitution (as found by multiple courts).

John would be wise to take heed of what some (even MAGA winger) people are doing — in Congress. [And they are probably not very happy about the tariff flip-flops, which make all of them look like malign idiots.]

They are beginning to oppose his agenda — if pure chaos can even be called… an agenda. The real agenda is to numb people out — by overwhelming them with fearful sound bites… with the hope that the electorate will just let him stay on for a third term or beyond. And let him take their rights.

Nope. Not on MY watch — and not on Rigby’s (I strongly suspect).

Out.

Mr. Abrego Garcia’s Lawyers Are Doing An Outstanding Job Of Showing The Supremes… Noem’s/Tangerine 2.0’s Lies About What Happened To Him.

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First thing this morning, his lawyers filed a “sur-reply” in the Supreme Court. They did so to point out just how egregious the “shifting sands of lies” have been, as to his abduction, kidnapping, actually — and rendition to a Salvadoran hell-hole.

Wake up, Justices KBJ, Kagan and Sotomayor — demand a quick straw-vote, on the petition the Chief is… sitting on. Summarily order his immediate release — get him home — on a government plane today. Right now — here is that new filing, and a bit:

…The Government’s attack on the injunction’s use of the verb “effectuate” all but concedes that the order appropriately requires it to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return. To “facilitate an alien’s return” includes “engag[ing] in activities which allow a lawfully removed alien to travel to the United States.” Reply 6 (citing ICE Policy Directive No. 11061.1, § 3.1, Facilitating the Return to the United States of Certain Lawfully Removed Aliens (Feb. 24, 2012) (capitalization omitted)). The only thing preventing Abrego Garcia from returning to the United States is the Government’s arrangement to have him incarcerated in El Salvador. See SA096-100; Opp. 2. . . .

Recognizing that the Government’s concession below that it lacks a “satisfactory” answer as to why it “can’t” bring Abrego Garcia back is case-dispositive, the Government’s Reply (at 5) takes the extreme step of disavowing its own lawyer’s statements. Yet the Government still has not supplied a satisfactory answer to that central question. It points to no evidence—only pure conjecture about El Salvador’s general views on criminal enforcement. But Abrego Garcia left El Salvador as a teenager in 2011 and has not been charged with a crime there (or here). The United States arranged his incarceration and surely can arrange his release.

Nowhere in any of its briefs has the Government stated that the United States is actually powerless to facilitate and effectuate Abrego Garcia’s return. It can and it should….

Courts would cease to function if they could no longer rely on concessions by counsel at oral argument. There is no basis for the Government to withdraw the good-faith admissions of its experienced agent simply because it now finds them inconvenient….

This is an astonishingly deplorable position the US has taken, in the person of Kristi Noem. Onward!

नमस्ते

Update, On The Canadians’ Attrition Rates, In Getting Mpox Second Doses Of The Vaccine — Particularly Among Men Who Have Sex With Other Men…

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

The British Columbian health authorities are warning, overnight, that Canada is starting to become a higher risk geography — for mpox, particularly in the gay community. [My prior backgrounder from November 2024 — on the Canadian outbreak is here.]

For the love of Pete, people (literally!) — please do go get BOTH doses of the vaccine. It is highly effective, but only if you “take all your medicine“. Both doses. Seriously. Here’s the latest out of Vancouver, BC:

…Vancouver Coastal Health says there’s been a recent spike in mpox, the viral infection also known as monkeypox.

A statement from the health authority says the increase is cases is predominantly among gay and bisexual men who haven’t had two doses of the vaccine that prevents the infection.

It says the disease is prevalent in parts of Africa, and since 2022, one of the African strains has spread to more than 70 countries, transmitting from person to person.

Data from the BC Centre for Disease Control show 96 cases last year and 19 so far this year, most of which the health authority says have been in its jurisdiction.

The statement says that of the people in B.C. who have had their first shot of the vaccine since 2022, only 47 per cent have received the follow up dose….

We are likely to see another very busy day in the courts, and certainly will see another blood bath — now stretching seven sessions, minimum — on Wall Street. F U G L Y.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker “Were For Pete Navarro — Before He Were Agin’ Him!”

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Sure — in the grand scheme of trillions of dollars destroyed, in four days, on capital markets around the globe… John Hinderaker being a hypocrite… is really the smallest of news.

But as the legacy graphic at right suggests, John was only too happy to shill for him (likely on zero due diligence, too) — even as the US Supreme Court (in Tangerine 1.0) called his theories of executive privilege law… bunk.

Once again, Hinderaker proudly shouts that he voted three times for a guy that, for the last two times he voted for him… he knew for certain surrounds himself with MORONS — and in many cases, felons as well.

That’s why it’s a lil’ precious to hear John whining about Jared Kushner, reading one very dubious treatise — on protectionist economic theories (to create a “reinforcing cognitive feedback loop” — for Tangerine), and then inviting the author to become Tangerine’s economic sooth-sayer.

The putz only now says he “didn’t believe Trump would go through with it.” Gee, that’s a tremendous theory — for choosing the leader of the free world.

Damn.

This is utterly a ship of malign, felonious fools — stem to stern.

Out.

In Which Musk Preposterously Argues (Again!) That DOGE Is A “Riddle Wrapped In A Mystery, All Inside An Enigma… “

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Elon once is again trying (as he did three weeks ago), through his lawyers, to avoid having to produce FOIA documents, as to what he did, and why he did it — in the firings cases, and in the raid on Social Security data, and his failed attempt at getting the most sensitive IRS data.

His preposterous claim is that since DOGE is a non-entity, and not part of government. . . it need not answer (as Churchill had worried about Russia, in 1939). [For an extended look at why that is all so much poppycock, take a look at this backgrounder from just a few weeks ago, via yours truly.]

CREW however has put all of that to the definitive lie. And now a federal judge in DC is very likely to order limited discovery into what DOGE real is, and does — to answer whether it must produce its records as any other part of Tangerine 2.0’s cabinet level entities must. Here’s Musk’s last ditch — and likely failing — effort filed tonight, in the case (and a bit of the double-speak, below):

…CREW cites the directive to “implement” the President’s DOGE Agenda in Executive Order 14,158, but [we’ve claimed this refers] to the entire DOGE structure (including DOGE Teams at federal agencies); the word “implement” is purely prefatory language [Ed. Note: but of course! Another instance of words meaning only what Musk says they mean!] that explains why the President signed the Executive Order; and even if the term “implement” standing alone was suggestive of something more [Ed.: it is; it suggests lots of action!], the term must be construed in light of the full text of the Executive Orders and presidential memorandum, which assign to USDS specific and purely advisory responsibilities. ECF No. 24-1 at 22-23.

CREW also cites Executive Order language directing Agency DOGE Team leads to coordinate their work with USDS, and directing each Agency DOGE Team lead to provide a monthly hiring report for the agency to USDS. [Obviously, he will lose, here.] Motion at 12-13….

I think you gave the ball-game away, there fellers. It is all a bit like being at some Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, on Ketamine, with these goofs. Onward, and well argued by CREW — it will win the FOIA documents — even if it takes a few months’ time.

नमस्ते

We Are Still Waiting For The Chief Justice To Get Off His Duff, And Set Abrego Garcia Free, Tonight Or Tomorrow.

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Well — tonight may come and go — without an order from the Supremes for Mr. Abrego Garcia to get on a US-chartered plane and come home, from El Salvador. But make no mistake: the unanimous Alien Enemies Act decision yesterday (i.e., on the putative Venezuelans’ right to due process) has now made it iron clad, that Justice Roberts must order Mr. Garcia flown home.

This is very well-put in that it makes it clear that Kristi Noem has been telling varying lies, right along, since the go in this case:

…J.G.G.’s [in the Venezuelans’ cases] due process holding supports Abrego Garcia’s position that the Government violated his due process rights by removing him to El Salvador.

The [Supreme] Court’s unanimous insistence on due process and on the availability of judicial review to secure due process underscores that Abrego Garcia — who was removed without reasonable notice or an opportunity to challenge his removal before it occurred, and in conceded violation of a court order prohibiting his removal to that country — must have a remedy for this constitutional violation.

The Government now alleges that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13, an allegation that the Fourth Circuit deemed “unsupported — and then abandoned.” Abrego Garcia v. Noem, 2025 WL 1021113, at *5 (4th Cir. Apr. 7, 2025) (Thacker, J., with King, J., concurring). Indeed because Abrego Garcia was deprived of any judicial review whatsoever, he had no opportunity to even respond to prove that he is not a member of MS-13…

So, again — we wait. And a man’s very life… hangs in the balance, Chief. Get it together, and get it done.

नमस्ते

A Federalist Society Guy — And Trump Donor — Owns “Simplified”, A Paper Products Company. He Just Sued Trump, Saying The Tariff “Emergency” Orders Are Unlawful.

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Well… “We must take pleasure in the little things….”

I do dearly love that it is the owner of the business that shepherded Tangerine 1.0’s SCOTUS picks through confirmation that now sues in Northern Florida’s federal courts — saying Trump’s tariffs are unlawful. The irony here is… delicious.

And the guy is not wrong — this is another unlawful power grab. One fostered by this same supplicant Federalist Society bigwig. Hilarious. Here’s the 29-page complaint, and a bit of it:

…If the President is permitted to use the IEEPA [emergency order on tariffs] to bypass the statutory scheme for tariffs, the President will have nearly unlimited authority to commandeer Congress’s power over tariffs. He would be empowered to declare a national emergency based on some long-running national problem, then impose tariffs purportedly in the name of that emergency — thus sidestepping the detailed constraints Congress has placed on the tariff authority it has granted.

The heavy tariff the President imposed on products from China has inflicted economic and competitive harm on Plaintiff Simplified, a small business that purchases products from sources in China and pays the related tariffs. the China Executive Orders require Simplified to pay significantly more in tariffs, thus inflicting severe competitive injury in the form of higher costs, competitive disadvantage, and lost profits. These Executive Orders also deny Simplified the protection the Constitution promised when it assigned Congress sole control of tariffs and the regulation of commerce with foreign nations.

The tariffs imposed by the China Executive Orders will greatly damage Simplified because it imports material from China each year, from December to March. Simplified has to pay tariffs as orders are received in the United States.

Under current plans, the new tariffs will impose hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs on Simplified. If it moves its manufacturing operations away from China, this would impose further costs. Either course would require Simplified to raise its prices to its customers and either reduce its already small staff or not hire more staff. Any raised prices for Simplified’s products will likely reduce demand for those products….

As I say: delicious! Do stay tuned. This is REALLY going to wax Trump’s skis!

नमस्ते

Mirengoff Is All About The “Will Of The People” Via Legislation — But Only If It Doesn’t “Offend” His Absolute Certainty — For Vengeance.

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Well — this is barely worth a mention.

Paul — as ever, sees only black and white. He cannot accept that when decades of time pass, some people’s views… evolve.

In fact, most people’s do. If they are… intelligent.

So it is that Paul bleats on and on, about Maryland giving a “discretionary second look” to / at older cases, where an convicted inmate who was 16-25 years of age at the time of offense has now served a full 20 years.

He makes the silly leap that these will primarily be heinous murderers — and the additionally preposterous leap… that lots of these cases will be “set free.” That’s silly — because the cases he gets vexed about… won’t make the cut. He gets all worked up — with exactly zero factual basis for doing so. [Leviticus 19:18, “You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against your people….”]

So spare us your faux outrage — your vengeful G*D… is not my master. We are a nation of law, not ruled by a G*D or king. [I don’t believe in the nonsense parts of that book.]

Do take a seat — and let the people who MATTER… show you that elections have consequences, son.

Geez — this is not a theocracy (yet).