The Ethics Of A “Third Grade Bully”? Yep. Sounds About Right… Per The Ringside Boys.

In the past few days, on differing cases — but both involving Tangerine 2.0’s granting hall passes to what very likely are particularly abusive felonious public corruption indictees, and in one case, a felon… we finally see the boys say “enough is enough“. Though only half-heartedly.

Here is Bill Otis’s installment; here is Paul Mirengoff’s. [And I note each, in part, to point out that the Powerline boys cannot bring themselves to say… any of this. They are each in full on “boot-licker” mode.]

As a former prosecutor, I find it… surprising though, that Mr. Otis chose only to compare Tangerine here to Mr. Biden — and not Kamala Harris, also a former prosecutor (when rethinking the vote he cast in November 2024). [And by “surprising“… I mean to say… racist, sexist and dismissive. She was the candidate in opposition, you dolt.]

He failed to do so, largely because he’s afraid to admit that on this, and many other dimensions, he now realizes he cast his vote in a… mistaken fog of “hopeium“. Hopeium — that Trump would not be the person he’s been uniformly, for six long decades (minimum), in his second tour of 1600 Penn. [How stupid was that?!?]

There is zero chance that Kamala would have Pardoned the J6 felons ever, and certainly not without looking at each case — as Trump plainly admits. She was threatened that day, as well.

She’d never push her thumb down on the scale in the Eric Adams/NYC public corruption prosecution at Main Justice. She’s never ever going to give Blado a pardon. Ever.

And all this leaves us with the thought that the Ringsiders are getting exactly the chaos that they well-knew to expect — if they’d been honest with themselves.

Saying only now “What’s wrong with Trump?” is thus wildly duplicitous. This is exactly what was wrong with the 1.0 version — only distilled to its tarry, sticky essence — by the crucible of his own plainly just public corruption felony convictions.

To a person, Trump voters owe us all an apology. But I guess Musk is in fact Preznut now.

So it will only get… zanier.

I weep for Ukraine. Out.

[U] This Is What Happens — When A FAKE Govt. NON-Agency Is Created In Musk’s Bat-Cave, On An All-Night Rager…

Updated: Meanwhile, late night tonight, in a slightly related vein, Hinderaker tries to convince himself that somehow Musk is going be able to “send back” imaginary savings from equally imaginary “fraud” — into regular taxpayers’ pockets… all as part of his “actual” DOGE initiative. Hilarious. Um… nope. End, updated portion.

Well… no one should really be very surprised — at all. Elon Musk surrounds himself with teenage reprobates, many of them racists, and turns them loose — promising to bail them out if their “hi-jinks“… lead to felony indictments.

This may be one time, his bail card will be called. These jokers were seeking government records and electronic communications without authority, and under false pretenses, a five year felony under 18 USC §§ 1030 and 1031. When the surveillance videos are released, and they are ID-ed, as of course they will be… the full power of the SF DA should land on their foreheads. Here’s the ABC.com “you couldn’t be any dumber story:

…Three men in shirts referencing Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency showed up at San Francisco City Hall on Friday demanding access to city files, authorities said.

The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office does not believe the men were actually DOGE representatives, the office said in a statement.

The men, who were also wearing “Make America Great Again” hats, entered multiple offices in city hall around 12 p.m. local time, demanding employees turn over digital information related to alleged wasteful government spending and fraud, the sheriff’s office said….

Musk better be able to prove that these jokers are not among his merry band of hacker/idiots. Otherwise he may well be… an accessory. That’s five years — each offense. Damn.

नमस्ते

But Here… Paul Is Just… Malignantly… Silly.

Welp. Paul Mirengoff no sooner admits to reality — in one corner of the burning dumpster that is Tangerine 2.0, than he turns around and shills for truly demonic lies.

See this, on Trump being now 1-22 in the courts, with his odious Black Sharpie belches [Mirengoff quotes another liar here, approvingly]:

The tactic of judges granting unreviewable relief [Ed. Note: by this, I gather the moron means… that they have to wait a tick, for a final injunction order. Ooh / OMG — the horror of it all! Welcome to JUDICIAL REVIEW, son. See, Marbury v. Madison] to manage the internal affairs [Ed. Note: ordering people stranded in far-flung war zones without so much as a means of communicating with State Dept. about safe passage home… is NO “internal affair”, you dolts!] of the executive branch is a shocking escalation in judicial lawfare….

Yes. Yes. That Marbury fellow was quite the rioter — shocking “lawfare” in 1803, indeed(!). How dare he ask that his government deliver the promises he was made, and relied on (from Adams), to his detriment — when speaking to Thomas Jefferson?!

Oh. The. Absolute. Horror, of it all. [And that’s before we all agree that Tangerine utterly lacks these powers — those plenary powers belong to the Congress. Damn.]

Y A W N.

Give your pungent burpings a rest — the both of you.

Mirengoff’s Central Point Here Is Sound: Trump Is A Fool (Or Worse) To “Trust” Putin — On Ukraine. Which Is Why…

…if Paul were truly… honest with himself… he would say we patriotic Americans should NOT trust… Tangerine 2.0, hisself.

If he were fully honest.

Here’s his sensible quote — but he’s stopped two yards short of the goal line:

Ukraine doesn’t trust Putin, and for overwhelmingly good reasons. What does Trump’s assertion of trust signal to Zelensky? It signals that Trump doesn’t take Ukraine’s legitimate concerns about Putin’s willingness to abide by a negotiated settlement seriously. It therefore signals that Trump is prepared to sell Ukraine out.

I believe Trump is. I hope events prove me wrong….

Paul — you well-know: “hope” is not a strategy, in international affairs — and where we are talking about people dying daily in a brutal three year war… it looks like… sticking your head in the sand.

Say it.

Trump is getting ready to sell out American interests — to Russia — for some unknown (at the moment) favor. What will Trump personally get? The acquiescence from Putin to his desire to annex… Greenland?! And rename it KFC-land?!

I wish that were a joke.

It is not.

Out.

Another Litigation UPDATE, From Yesterday: USDC Modified TRO Order By Judge Nichols In DC…

This is the Tangerine appointed judge — who issued narrow rulings on J6 indictees.

He’s also the one who wouldn’t allow listen in by internet to this hearing yesterday. But he has extended his TRO, just the same — as the law requires of him:

…For the reasons discussed at the February 13, 2025 preliminary injunction hearing, the existing temporary restraining order in this case, ECF No. 15, is modified in the following two respects:

1. The TRO is extended by one week, and shall expire on Friday, February 21, 2025 at 11:59 PM.

2. The TRO’s statement that “[n]o USAID employees shall be evacuated from their host countries” while the TRO is in place is amended to state that “[n]o USAID employees shall be involuntarily evacuated from their host countries” while the TRO is in place.

SO ORDERED….

[And yesterday, out I went], smiling (makes Trump 1-for-22, overall!) in the steel and glass canyons… and into the frigid sunshine!

नमस्ते

“Two Steps Forward; One Back” — UAE Reports Its First Clade 1b Mpox Case… As Ebola ’25 Levels Off In Uganda…

No sooner do we mention good news — on the likely leveling off of Ebola in Kampala, Uganda… and a bit of bad news reappears.

But that is ever the way with biological/viral disease outbreaks. This time, it is UAE — Mpox, as of this past Thursday afternoon Eastern time….

Not much else to know, but here is the Reuters item:

…The World Health Organization said on Thursday that United Arab Emirates has reported its first detection of Clade 1b mpox in the country….

Onward, with all the snow shoveled, again — until tonight, I suppose. Stay safe — and dry — out there!

Be excellent to one another.

नमस्ते

Actually, John — The Non-GOP Skewed Polling Has Him… Underwater, AGAIN. Y A W N.

Hinderaker well-knows Rasmussen should be labeled as “Oversample GOP” as a pollster. [It shows Tangerine as 54-45 net favorable. That’s… just silly.]

The non-partisan You.gov polling, otoh — is printed in The Economist magazine now… precisely because it seeks accurately balanced samples.

All reliable polling for the past two and a half weeks (since his scribbles started appearing) has Trump’s favorables below 50%. But Rasmussen is five points outside the mean.

The reality is probably that he’s just about flat unfavorable to favorable — but both figures are under 50%. That’s probably reality: evenly spit; but no mandate nor majority view.

Here’s the NON-cherry picked data, John, at right.

Do put a sock in it.

Better News, On Ebola ’25 — In Uganda… Only A “Single Chain” Of Transmission Looks Likely.

CIDRAP reported yesterday that Ugandan health authorities, and the African CDC, now believe the entire ebola outbreak in Kamala traces to a single transmission chain / index case.

That would mean that the nearly 400 “contacts of contacts” — once cleared and/or vaccinated… may be the end of the outbreak. Here’s that encouraging news:

…Health officials from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) today said Uganda’s Ebola outbreak has stabilized and is under control, with the ongoing epidemiologic investigation suggesting a single transmission chain….

Authorities report that a vaccine trial with an initial supply of 2,000 candidate vaccine doses is under way now — in seven of eight rings that have been so far positively identified. Excellent; simply excellent… on the ground sleuthing.

नमस्ते

The HoldCo For Truth Social Reported Sales Of ~$3.68 Million For The Year 2024 — And SG&A Of… $136 MILLION?!

The DJT SEC Form 10-K is filed — on a dead news / Valentine’s Day Friday night. Y A W N.

And… no surprise, at all — the company’s sales revenue actually fell by over 13%, compared to the year 2023 (see page F-5, there).

This company is burning through $136 million a year in overhead expenses in Atlanta (including renting a house for CEO Devin Nunes for $7,000 a month; can’t the guy pay for his own house, out of his salary?!) — but shows a market capitalization of over… $6.6 billion, on just ~$3.7 million in sales?!?

That is simply… insane.

But the MAGAts just love getting fleeced by DJT and Devin Nunes and Melania. She “runs” a “company” called YA II PN Ltd. / Yorkville [See page F-19], that is apparently being paid tens of millions of dollars by Truth, to bring online streaming video content to the Truth Social website (in on-demand, scalable, bumps)… all with zero experience in online streaming video, or in… running servers out of some Central Europe geography.

Geez-la-wheez! Where was I? Oh. Right.

That means the company’s NASDAQ market cap is about 1,800 YEARS’ worth of sales.

That is, DJT/Truth Social needs to survive — thrive — and generate at least that amount in annual sales for a period equal to the time period — from the moment that Macrinus, the Praetorian Prefect under Caracalla in Ancient Rome, declared the Jews would no longer be taxed (they had been so taxed, since the time of Julius Caesar) — to this evening in 2025.

Did I say it already? Yep… that is simply… insane.

The company generated an operating loss of over $400 million, last year.

These guys are either the worst business-people on the planet — or they are all stone cold crooks. You decide.

Out.

Seems Hinderaker… Is Just Making Sh!t Up, Again… Re The EPA (Claiming Corruption). Damn.

Instead of giving any more oxygen to his, and Lee Zeldin’s lies… let us recall that the Supremes no longer follow the text of the Environmental Protection Act of 1976, as written.

This despite Scalia’s insistence that all conservative judges simply read the statute in its original form, and apply the plain meaning of the words and phrases Congress enacted.

We have seen, time and again, if powerful businesses have skin in the game — the Roberts court, usually with Gorsuch or Barret holding the pen — finds “entire gray elephants, lurking in tiny mouse holes“… (with the dissents of Kagan and Sotomayor and Jackson keeping them honest — about what it is they are ACTUALLY doing).

So spare me your lies — the entire thesis of the Hinderaker post — quoting Lee Zeldin… is false. It is pinned to a low level EPA functionary, wire-tapped/trapped on a hidden recording without consent, by an old Project Veritas skunk.

[Subsequently, the entire “Veritas” operation was bankrupted by its repeated pattern unlawful recordings of private conversations, and lies about those conversations’ content. The hearsay offered is corroborated by exactly zero documentary proof of any corruption — at all. Just “Veritas’ lies“.]

In sum, I’ll offer you two no tiny violins, buddy.

Suck it. And do see some more recent reality, in court decisions — about the EPA, as described by the dissents. Out.